The Beginning of the End by Sean Kidd Page B

Splatters hit Sophie and dripped down her plastic hood
giving everything in the room a reddish tint, like she was wearing
ski goggles. Sophie screamed with every breath. Ted was losing his
battle and collapsed. The monster held on, not letting go, until they
were both on the floor. Bite after bite, the male who had now turned
into a relentless monster was ripping off pieces and chewing on the
leathery skin. Nothing could be heard over Sophie’s screaming until
a deafening bang silenced the room.
    Bob had been walking
back towards the nurses’ station with Dr. Marcil after Sophie had
pronounced the man dead. He spun in the direction of the bang in time
to see a small plume of smoke rising from the muzzle of the M4.
    The soldier approached
Sophie with his rifle still raised to his shoulder, the skills he’d
learned for urban combat, “Ma’am! Are you okay?”
    “Ted! Ted’s dead!”
Sophie stood there frozen with panic.
    “Ma’am come with
me.” The soldier grabbed Sophie’s arm with his left hand never
releasing the monster's head from his sights.
    Bob and Dr.Marcil ran
over and stood in awe, staring at the two dead men. He reached down
and rolled the man off from Ted, exposing his bones and teeth that
had once been covered with pink flesh.
    “Oh my god! It looks
like he tried to eat him.” Bob screamed as he reached down and
attempted to find a pulse on Ted. It was too late. Ted was dead and
partially eaten. “Dr. Marcil how could this happen?”
    Dr. Marcil was already
on one knee examining the dead patient, “I don’t understand it,
Bob. This man looks like he died from the Ebola virus hours ago. I
need to do an autopsy right away. I'm going to need your help!”
    “Why don’t you
start without me Doc? I sent Miranda downstairs to take a nap. She
needs to know about Ted.”

Chapter 12
    October 11th 8:45pm
    Chevy turned off the
TV, and we jumped into action. I grabbed my jacket while Chevy got
his truck keys. Chevy stopped when he touched the door handle and
gave me a serious look. “Ty, they’re gonna be alright. We’ll be
laughing about this in an hour.”
    I hoped he was right. I
saw what he went through last year when his parents died in a car
wreck. Going through the same thing scared me to death. It was weeks
of hearing him cry through his closed bedroom door. No matter what I
did, nothing seemed to help. A few months later, I talked to my mom
about it, and my parents invited him over for a family dinner. Since
Chevy had pretty much grown up in my house, my parents considered him
a second son, and my brother. It wasn’t uncommon for my mom to call
Chevy to make sure I was doing okay. On the night of our dinner, my
parents expressed their feelings to Chevy. They explained that they
loved him too, and they would never try to replace his parents, but
he should consider them his new adopted parents. That night he was
unofficially adopted into our family and has been my brother ever
since. He is a little older than me, and immediately took over the
roll as big brother. Consoling me at the door, before we walked out
to the truck, was his way of taking care of me.
    Chevy opened the front
door, we were blasted with hot rotten air. “Oh my god! What is that
smell? I’m gonna puke!” he said covering his mouth and nose with
his hand.
    “I tried to tell you
that when I got back from the store today. Remember? You were too
concerned about your soda!”
    “Dude, it’s like
rotten trash or something!”
    We fought the smell and
made our way out to the street, where Chevy kept his truck. The air
was still and stagnate. Our street was still empty, but there was a
commotion on the next street over. Chevy and I cut through the
neighbor’s yard to check it out. The back of the neighbor’s
property was lined with cedar hedges that were about five feet tall.
From just beyond the hedges we heard a girl screaming for help and
then glass breaking. We jogged to the hedge and peeked over the top.
There was a girl,