After the Pandemic: Variant C (1816 hits)
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Rating: 1.96 on 52 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Jack McCallum (View user info) at 2005-03-06 17:50:22 EST
After the Pandemic: Variant C
My name is Sonny Poole.
I'm leaving this report on this old laptop in case I don't make it through the night. In case it takes a few days for another D Squad to get here. In case nobody enters this room for another year, or ten, or twenty.
I'm a member of the Day Squad, Northeast Quad, Philapelphia sector. I joined up two months ago. It's been six months since we all started seeing stuff on the nightly news, images we all thought were some terrible joke, until the killing started in our towns, and the pandemic swept our streets, and death entered our homes.
I wanted to be a cop, back when the world was normal. Now I'd give anything to have the old pain in the ass gripes back in my life. Taxes. Remembering to wear a rubber before getting laid. Dust ups between races and cultures. That's all gone now. Nobody is paying taxes these days because the government is pretty much gone. If you can find a safe place and a warm body and clear your mind just long enough to enjoy a good fuck, who cares about wearing rubber? As for tensions between blacks and whites or Christians and Muslims, that shit is long gone. We all have the same red blood in our veins, and we all have to look out for each other to make sure it stays there.
I was in the Police Academy only a week before things started coming unglued. I never became a cop, but I guess I'm the next best thing now.
Day Squads have one job. Hunt down and destroy vampires and zombies.
Wow. I spent quite a while looking at the last words I wrote above.
Vampires. Zombies.
Jesus, who hasn't seen a vampire or zombie flick on TV? That Lugosi guy in the old black and white movie, Christopher Lee in the stuff from the sixties, Buffy kicking ass in her short little skirts. All those Dead movies from that Romero guy.
In those old stories the heroes almost always won.
I'm not so sure that's going to happen this time.
The flu turned people into vampires, plain and simple. Bloodsuckers. Human leeches, like something out of a swamp. The flu also turned some people into zombies.
Some people were immune. Like me and the guys on my squad.
It's been six months since the flu crossed the USA, and there haven't been any new cases reported in a while now. Problem is, both the vampires and the zombies can turn an immune person into one of them.
The vampires with their deadly bite, if they don't drain you dry, that is. Zombies are scarier. One scratch is all it takes.
Vampires are fast, smart, and hard to kill. You have to use hollow points and shoot them in the heart, or blow their heads off. Stop the heart or bleed them out. That's the rule of thumb.
Zombies are slow, seem to react only to stimulus like big bugs, and they are harder to kill. You have to cause massive destruction to the brain. One bullet won't do it. Take the top of a zombie's head off and he'll still come after you if there is anything left above the spinal cord. They are hard to kill, but you can outrun them, and take your time to do the job right.
Yesterday DSNQ Philly 14 was doing a daylight sweep in Drexel Hill. It was a clear and sunny spring day. April 3rd. We were doing a house-to-house sweep alone Devon Lane, a few blocks south of the cemetary.
We had to shoot a few guard dogs that had turned and a couple of slaves, son-of-a-bitch traitors keeping a sunup watch for their masters.
As for the vampires, they were killed quickly and quietly. Vampires sleep real deep, maybe because they burn up so much energy during the night. The job was made easier thanks to the tools at hand.
Our squad leader, Sgt. Ebbits, was a goddamn genius. He knew that destroying the heart of a vampire was essential. He also knew that there was a limited number of rounds for our weapons.
A month ago he loaded all of us into the deuce and a half and drove us to Philly. We raided the Medical College of Pennsylvania. He was looking for one specific tool, and every one of our twelve man squad got one.
Tissue coring tools. That's what we were armed with. Big-ass cylinders designed to take core samples from human tissue, with jury-rigged handles that gave us a good grip.
Center one of those beauties over a sleeping vampire's heart, slam it home once or twice, and you've removed enough muscle fiber from the heart to cause a massive, mortal wound.
Things were going well, until we got to #21 on Devon Lane.
We were working off of a list recovered from a D squad in NYC, where the vampires were really getting their shit together. The list of vampire safehouses was pulled off a database, and let me just say it still amazes me how many of our so-called smarter citizens are going over to the other side.
D Squads and resistance cells are made up of mostly of blue-collar workers. Cops, who know the neighborhoods and are fighting to get them back. Soldiers, still fighting the good fight, fighting an invader on American soil for the first time in over two hundred years. Truckers who are our lifelines, risking their lives to keep the underground trade in food and fuel and weapons running steady. Dock workers. Farmers. Electricians. Plumbers.
We have most of the nurses. They have most of the doctors.
The vampires are on the verge of taking over everything. They have the scientists, the lab techs, the computer programmers. The politicians, the lawyers, the university professors.
They have the architects. We have the engineers.
They have the ones who did more thinking than physical work, and now that they have all the vampire advantages, speed, strength, and incredible powers of recovery.
We are the hardware. They are the software.
We have the ones who have always made do working up a good sweat, and it's a struggle for us to buckle down and try and out-think these bloodsuckers.
So my squad was kicking down doors and trying to stay alive.
We entered #21 on Devon Lane. A plate on the mailbox said O'Herlihy. It was a nice home. Clean. We checked upstairs. All the beds were made. The bathroom was spotless. We checked the ground floor. Nothing. That left the basement. They were always in the basement.
Johanssen stayed by the front door. Quayle stayed at the top of the basement stairs, while four of us went down into the dark.
The other six members of our squad were across the street doing the same at #22.
Cpl. Fine was in the lead, wearing a headset that kept him in contact with Sgt. Ebbits across the street where Ebbits was leading three of his guys into another basement.
The lights were out. We had our weapons up, flashlights mounted on our automatic rifles.
The smell was bad. The smell was always bad.
There were two small windows high on the basement walls. They were painted black. At the far end of the basement was a big wooden crate that brushed the ceiling, eight feet on a side. There was a hinged door.
Lansky opened the door and took a step back.
Fine started shouting into his mike.
"What's happening over there! Ebbits? Ebbits!"
He turned to me and said, "Christ, they're screaming their heads off over over there."
A pale arm lanced out of the box, and a big kitchen knife was driven into Lansky's throat.
The O'Herlihy's came out of the box. They were wide awake, pissed off, and moving fast.
Fine and I got off a couple of shots, plugging the hearts of a small boy and girl who were coming at us, arms spread wide, fangs bared.
Dad pulled the knife out of Lansky and opened his mouth as a jet of blood hit his face.
Washburn shot dad in the head. Dad fell back into the box and Wash kneeled beside Lansky.
"Hang on, a'ight? Hang on, brutha."
The poor kid was already dead as he slumped into Washburn's arms.
Dad appeared into the door of the box again. He was a mess. His skin was gray-green, his clothes stiff with dried gore. His left eyesocket was a blackened hole. He looked like a zombie.
The kids had been slowed down, and I got a better look at them. They had fangs. Vampires. But they looked like dad... and the heart wounds had only slowed them a little. Zombies.
This was fucked up.
I put another few shots into the little boy, head and heart. He went down.
Fine was about to nail the little girl when I felt a draft and turned too late.
A big sheet of plywood that had been leaning against the wall was pushed aside and mom came out of a dark tunnel with a shotgun. She fired, and Fine's right shoulder just disintegrated. He fell to his knees and the little girl went for his throat.
"What the fuck," Quayle yelled from the top of the stairs. "What the fuck's going on down there!"
I shot mom in the heart just as she fired the shotgun again. She took out Wasburn's right kneecap and he went down, dad falling on top of him.
In seconds Wash and Fine had been scratched and bitten by zombies. Zombies that were eating their flesh and drinking their blood, like vampires.
I nailed mom again as I backed toward the stairs. Head, heart, head, heart. A final head shot blew her skull to pieces and she finally stopped moving.
There was a muffled boom and the ground shook.
I heard a distant shout from Johanssen. "Jesus fuck! They just blew the house next door!"
Dad was cracking open Washburn's chest with vampire strength, pulling Washburn's heart free from its mooring, as Washburn watched and shrieked.
There were shots upstairs.
I caught Fine's eye and he nodded to the stairs, telling me to go. He was holding off the little girl with one shredded arm and arming a C4 charge with his free hand.
I heard screams and a rumble behind me and jumped back just as Quayle, Johanssen, and two teenage boys tumbled down the stairs.
Quayle's eyes had been torn out, and most of Johanssen's fingers were gone. One of the teenagers was chewing furiously, something snapping and crunching between his teeth like pretzels.
The teens had been hiding somewhere upstairs. But to get here, they passed through the light. The fucking daylight.
Fine was in his own little world of pain. He initiated the timer on the plastic explosive and the LED display started counting down from ten.
I took a few steps, shining my light into the gap in the wall. Dad leaped at me and stuck me in the lower back with the knife. Once, twice. I smashed in the front of his skull with my rifle butt. When he fell to the ground I hit him again, turning his head to mash.
I went for the tunnel, entered the darkness, skinned my head on a beam, bent low, and ran like hell.
There was a jolt and a roar and I was knocked off my feet. Fire glowed behind me before the tunnel caved in.
I got up and ran. I saw light ahead. I looked at the little compass on my watchband. I was heading East. #21 Devon Lane and Ebbits were in that direction. I was passing under the street.
I slapped a full mag into my weapon and crept forward. I saw movement.
Stepping out of the flames were two big black guys, their skin as ashen as zombies, their mouths opening to show fangs. I emptied a full magazine into them, heads and hearts, heads and hearts.
To my left was another branch of the tunnel, I followed it, moving a litle slower now.
I found another basement. Another house. I'm pretty sure this one is empty.
I plugged my wounds with wads of cloth and tied them in place with strips of a bedsheet.
I'm in a nice study. I've had a few shots of bourbon.
I'm getting weaker, and night is coming. I don't have a radio.
I found a laptop. I hope another D squad gets here soon. If not, they need this information.
We are taught in orientation that the enemy comes in two flavors. Victor Alphas and Victor Bravos.
We are taught there were two variants of the Pacific Bug. Variant A created vampires. Variant B created zombies.
Now it looks like there was a Variant C, that created a hybrid of both. A near unstoppable mix of vampire and zombie. Fast, smart, quick-healing. Daylight able. You need to destroy heart and the brain to stop them.
Whether I make it through this or not, I hope this information gets out. People need to be on the lookout for Charlies, Variant C's. there could be more of them out there.
I'm feeling light-headed. I'm going to save what I've written onto the hard drive of this laptop and rest for a while.
If you are reading this and you are one of us, good luck.
If you are reading this and you are one of them, we will never give up the fight.
Good night.
--
After the Pandemic - Intro here http://www.ubersite.com/m/61238
After the Pandemic: Corrigan http://www.ubersite.com/m/61296
User Reviews
Submitted by Kent_Weirdo (user info) at 2007-12-15 04:20:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Re-read this after seeing that Will Smith abortion earlier this evening.
"All those Dead movies from that Romero guy.
In those old stories the heroes almost always won."
...The heroes always won in the Dead movies?
Submitted by MyNameIsTim (user info) at 2006-04-24 15:28:40 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by rad1101 (user info) at 2005-10-19 03:44:51 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
There are a solid four pages of +2 streaks with 30 or more reviews. That is stupid. I am weeding it all out by giving every one of them a +1; that way posts that have 1.99 with 200+ reviews gets best ever.
Submitted by RyuFu (user info) at 2005-09-30 15:51:00 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Yay!
Submitted by zakalwe (user info) at 2005-08-17 16:54:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
interesting.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-08-03 12:17:28 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Supreme Overlord damage control...
Submitted by Supreme_Overlord (user info) at 2005-07-21 22:28:23 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
shite
Submitted by notyou (user info) at 2005-06-30 17:34:21 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Coyote (user info) at 2005-06-30 09:41:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
A Ripping Yarn indeed...
I'm uncomfortable with all the intellectual/educated types going over to the altered side,
unless of course that's just Poole's perception. It'd be an interesting development to
take that aspect of things further. Probably not as gripping and suspenseful though...
Submitted by Jungle_Jimanee (user info) at 2005-06-21 11:14:44 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Really good!
Submitted by nrduncan (user info) at 2005-05-12 17:41:06 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I have just got done reading these all and I have enjoyed them all. Great work everyone, +2's for all!
Submitted by Professional_Peon (user info) at 2005-03-12 11:52:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Here is my contribution - http://www.ubersite.com/m/61730
Submitted by Satansgotsyphillis (user info) at 2005-03-10 11:21:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
not bad, but still, don't ever do this again
Submitted by Spam (user info) at 2005-03-10 03:16:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I've only read half of these, but has nobody picked up on this and expanded it yet?
Submitted by TimeCop (user info) at 2005-03-09 23:57:23 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Excellent.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2005-03-09 18:10:21 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-09 17:05:01 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Zoidberg (user info) at 2005-03-09 00:19:02 (#)
Ranking: 2
very cool
in your post-apocalypse list you forgot the best one tho Jack
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
--
Fucking McCammon is awesome (he actually edited that collection called 'Under the Fang')... I heard that he quit writing his fiction to write history books instead. JESUS!
Submitted by engine13 (user info) at 2005-03-09 12:41:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Zoidberg (user info) at 2005-03-09 00:19:02 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
very cool
in your post-apocalypse list you forgot the best one tho Jack
Swan Song by Robert McCammon
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-03-08 23:21:09 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/03/08/high_school_zombie_threat/
Submitted by Id (user info) at 2005-03-08 20:07:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm glad you've started this, though I fear all my ideas will be taken by the other writers before I get a crack at this.....
oh well
Submitted by Phinch (user info) at 2005-03-08 19:02:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Adamdidit2u (user info) at 2005-03-08 16:15:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Glorious
Submitted by Kre8rix (user info) at 2005-03-08 16:01:44 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
no comment
needed, this is awesome.
Submitted by Dannie (user info) at 2005-03-08 13:47:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2005-03-07 22:41:20 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Fucking pusher.
Take your goddamned drugs elsewhere.
Submitted by jumpinjellyfish (user info) at 2005-03-07 12:24:36 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This story needs another one of these +2's!
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-07 11:26:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-03-07 08:14:35 (#)
Ranking: 2
Well written as usual. But there is a strain of anti intellectualism that seriously detract from the narrative.
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Whatta load of crap;)!
Submitted by jumpinjellyfish (user info) at 2005-03-07 11:11:30 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This is excellently written. Very engrossing.
Submitted by Badlands (user info) at 2005-03-07 08:17:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice.
Submitted by Judoka (user info) at 2005-03-07 08:14:35 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Well written as usual. But there is a strain of anti intellectualism that seriously detract from the narrative.
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2005-03-07 05:51:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Thanks for the suggested reads, probably hit up the ISU 'brary tomorrow.
I wonder what US reaction to bird flu outbreak would be. Guess we may actually see, but I'm not THAT curious...
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-07 05:19:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Another 'just heard' on Art Bell...
Researchers are saying that Bird Flu is the single biggest threat facing the world right now.
The virus is evolving, and may soon pass from person to person. If that happened, it could sweep around the world.
The fatality/mortality rate is 75%.
God fuckin' damn.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-07 05:13:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-03-06 23:47:45 (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice. I'm hoping to add something to this...done most of the research. Now if only I could decide on an ending...
--
In that case, use the oldest trick in the book.
DON'T write an ending... then write a sequel.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-07 05:10:37 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Art Bell is saying there have been 3000 earthquakes in the last 72 hours off the coast of NW USA. 3000. Jesus!
You guys may have no choice but to pick up the slack on the 'After the Pandemic' stories, because I'm not too far from the San Andreas fault and I may not be here next week...
Submitted by Avals (user info) at 2005-03-07 05:07:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Me love you long time.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-07 05:05:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2005-03-07 01:23:47 (#)
Ranking: 2
Variant - 6 months after pandemic.
Intro - 2 years (?) after pandemic.
Corrigan - 25 years or more after pandemic.
If the variants are known about prior to intro and corrigan, why no mention of them in those? I guess maybe they could be an anomoly(sp?), or by Corrigan they don't exist anymore (killed by the smarter leeches?)
--
You mean Variant C I assume? First off, take note that slang like leech and muncher isn't used in the time of Variant.
Maybe the C's have died out or were exterminated by the time of Corrigan. Maybe they are so smart they have their OWN agenda and have gone underground. Will they eventually surface and fight the leeches and humans? Will they join one side to wipe out the other? Who knows? That is yet to be told.
Some reads-
I Am Legend, by Richard Matheson (50s)
The Earth Abides* by George Stewart (50's)
The Stand, by some guy I can't remember (70s, the better uncut version 90s)
Empire of Fear, Brian Stableford (80s, I think)
Under the Fang, collection of vampire world stories, (90s)
Book of the Dead, collection of zombie world stories including some REALLY over the top shit, (90's)
*No vampires, but this is an awesome tale of a simple flu wiping out 90% of the world's population and the simple efforts of Americans to regroup and survive. It was written long ago but still holds up today. Highly recommended. I'm pretty sure King used it as the basis for The Stand.
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2005-03-07 01:23:47 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Variant - 6 months after pandemic.
Intro - 2 years (?) after pandemic.
Corrigan - 25 years or more after pandemic.
If the variants are known about prior to intro and corrigan, why no mention of them in those? I guess maybe they could be an anomoly(sp?), or by Corrigan they don't exist anymore (killed by the smarter leeches?)
Er, hmm, this is a really interesting world to me. I've always loved zombies and such. I really hope this becomes something big. This is the most fascinating uber project EVAR!1
Jack - any suggested reading that maybe inspired you or something to tide me over until you write more?
Submitted by chipolatte (user info) at 2005-03-06 23:52:31 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
These are kick-ASS.
Submitted by thecaes (user info) at 2005-03-06 23:47:45 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Nice. I'm hoping to add something to this...done most of the research. Now if only I could decide on an ending...
Submitted by LadyPlural (user info) at 2005-03-06 22:29:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
It's a fixer-upper. What's the problem? We get a bunch of priests in
here ...
-- Homer Simpson
Treehouse of Horror
Submitted by DonovanMD (user info) at 2005-03-06 21:32:17 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
This is really entertaining stuff Jack.
Submitted by spedmonkey (user info) at 2005-03-06 21:25:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Awesome.
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2005-03-06 21:18:04 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
It's too bad actually good writing doesn't usually make heated.
I wish I was talented enough to contribute as well, but I know I'm not, I'd make a mockery compared to this.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-06 21:17:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by tlozoot (user info) at 2005-03-06 20:56:46 (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd love to write something but I wouldn't do your stories justice.
--
Remember though, it's YOUR take on this world. Tell it however you like.
Stories.
Diary entries.
News clippings.
Mock CNN web pages with breaking news.
Anything.
Just remember, use the 'Main Title First: Then Your Contibution Tile.'
Submitted by tlozoot (user info) at 2005-03-06 20:56:46 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd love to write something but I wouldn't do your stories justice.
Submitted by Kent_Weirdo (user info) at 2005-03-06 20:50:58 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-06 20:36:03 (#)
Ranking: 0
70 hits and two reviews.
Welcome to Silent Sundays on Uber.
---
Same thing always happens to me.
And also, Sundays are never a good day to try and do ANYTHING.
Submitted by Kent_Weirdo (user info) at 2005-03-06 20:49:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-06 20:36:03 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
70 hits and two reviews.
Welcome to Silent Sundays on Uber.
Submitted by Jack_McCallum (user info) at 2005-03-06 18:59:38 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2005-03-06 18:21:08 (#)
Ranking: 2
I'd like to see the story advance with some characters, instead of new people each time though...
--
That is intentional on my part. My stories so far are offering set ups, showing what can be done. I've left other things vague. For instance, why are the vampires doing so much rebuilding? What caused so much damage that they are still rebuilding in Corrigan's time? Was there a war in the time between Variant and the first story?
Somebody will have to explain that stuff.
And I hope that when oter writers start in, ALL the stories will be linked under the common title to make one big index.
The timeline so far...
Variant - 6 months after pandemic.
Intro - 2 years (?) after pandemic.
Corrigan - 25 years or more after pandemic.
Submitted by DavyJones (user info) at 2005-03-06 18:21:08 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Best thing Uber has going right now. Hopefully some of the other accomplished writers start putting things up on it. I'd like to see the story advance with some characters, instead of new people each time though...
Submitted by RideJohnnyRide (user info) at 2005-03-06 18:03:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
These are so good! keep them up!