Medora: A Zombie Novel by Wick Welker Read Free Book Online Page A

this year with more cases than ever reported. Many hospitals have reported symptoms of vomiting, fever, nausea and some bleeding. At this point, it is unsure what guidelines the Mayor might set forth for the city, but we anticipate hearing from him in just a few minutes. We have been told he will be appearing in a news conference in regards to this recent outbreak of the flu...” An anchorman in the news studio broke in over the news reporter’s voice.
    “Jan, have the hospitals given any instructions to patients that are coming in for the sickness in light of the large volume of patients right now?”
    The news reporter clutched her ear in her hand and responded, “There have been no official reports from any hospital in the city but you can see from this shot... if we can get a change over...” The screen changed to the view of a hospital on a busy street corner. A crowd of people was coming out of the entrance and led down to the end of the street. There was a vague semblance of an actual line, but people were crowding one another to get better access to the doors. The crowds had blocked the entrance to the emergency ambulance entrance, forcing ambulances to park in the middle of the street, blocking traffic. “Things are really getting hectic at this hospital. It doesn't look like any care is being given in a timely order. We expect to hear a citywide statement shortly from the Mayor on how to better manage this situation.”
    The abrupt silence that fell on the employees as they watched the news report began to build into immediate tension . It wasn't the kind of tension one feels with common stress like attempting to finish a project under a deadline or trying to get your kids to quieten down in a restaurant. This tension was a quiet dark fear that starts to build in someone’s stomach when they witness an event that they fear might quickly get beyond their control. Like suddenly watching the water level of the ocean sinking out beyond the shore in prelude to a tsunami. A small distinguished fear in the employees was growing, which perhaps went unspeakable to relinquish the sudden onset of the reality of the situation.
    Without speaking, Keith moved towards the windows of the building and peered downward into the streets. He saw traffic jams and swiftly moving foot traffic. The anxiety in his stomach began to diminish, because it looked like the normal operating streets of downtown.
    The office looked at him, knowing why he went to the window. “ Well, it looks pretty normal out there, normal traffic. Hopefully, we won't have too much trouble getting home today.” They continued to look at him as if he were going to give further instructions. Instead, he pulled out his phone and called his wife.
    She picked up on the other line, “Hey, what's up?”
    Keith realized that the only reason he called her was to try to sense panic in her voice, as if knowing her mood would help him to determine the current psychological state of the entire city. He felt an enormous amount of relief to hear her nonchalant voice on the line.
    “ Hey, I just wanted to see if everything was okay with you.”
    “ Yeah, everything's fine here. The carpet guys are here and they’re making so much noise downstairs that I can barely think up here.”
    “Have you seen the news? There are a lot of people sick in the city and... Janice here... something happened to her. I don't think she will make it.”
    “What? What are you talking about? What happened to her?”
    “She just got really sick all of a sudden and her face and arms have boils and blisters all over. It's bad, really bad. No one knows what to do and we can't get an ambulance here because the entire city seems to be sick.” He stopped there before he mentioned that Janice was also caged in a conference room.
    “Jeez, that is horrible. ”
    “Yeah. Well, Dave and I will make it back sometime. I still don't know what we're going to do about Janice, but we can't just leave her