Free Undead Rain (Book 3): Lightning (Fighting the Living Dead) by Shaun Harbinger Page B

camera.
    “Wow,” Sam said. “It looks like this dude fucked up big time.”
    Colbert looked at each of us. “Do you want to see the rest?”
    “We know how this one ends,” Sam said.
    “We still want to see some more,” I told her. I had been led to believe that the zombie virus had been developed in a government lab, but now it looked like a harmless serum had reacted with the flu virus in the outside world. There wasn’t some diabolical government plot to create monsters; the whole thing had just been a huge mistake.
    Doctor Colbert brought up another video and pressed play. This one was filmed in the bedroom again. Vess looked bleary-eyed as he looked into the camera. Only his face and the collar of his shirt were visible. “I went out tonight. I don’t know why. I still feel ill, and I’ve not returned to work yet. But I remember thinking I needed to get some fresh air, and see other people.” He paused and looked down for a moment before facing the camera again. “That’s the last thing I remember. I must have blacked out. I don’t know where I went, or how I got back home. But something has happened.” He moved the camera back, revealing that his shirt was covered with blood. “I don’t think it’s mine,” he said. “I can’t remember what I’ve done.” The video ended.
    “There’s one more,” Colbert said. “Vess came back here, saying he needed to be treated in our hospital. After he explained that he had injected himself with the serum he had developed for the treatment of CJD, he was taken to the hospital wing to be monitored.
    “What we saw alarmed us. Vess was showing signs of paranoia, loss of cognitive function, and violent tendencies. He had been away from here for a week, mingling with the general population. If the virus in his system was contagious, we had no hope for containment. We had no idea where he had been during that week, and Vess was in no condition to tell us.
    “The virus in his body was previously unknown, so we took a video record of his deterioration.” She pressed play on another video. Vess was in a hospital bed, surrounded by doctors, nurses, and scientists. His eyes were yellow, his skin pale. The veins in his neck and face were clearly visible. He was writhing in the bed as if in pain, sweat covering his face.
    A voice off-camera said, “Video record of patient Doctor Marcus Vess. The patient is exhibiting signs of rage and paranoia. Treatment will involve…” The voice stopped as Vess grabbed the arm of a nurse and bit into her flesh. She screamed, trying to pull away. Everyone in the room moved forward to restrain Vess, but he released the nurse and turned his attention to one of the doctors, grabbing the man’s lapels to pull him down and clamp his mouth around his neck.
    The man behind the camera must have rushed in to help, knocking the camera to the floor as he moved past it. The picture fell from the scene on bed and showed only the tiled floor while screams and shouts could be heard in the room.
    Doctor Colbert turned off the video. “I’m sure you can guess the rest. The virus began to spread around the building. We tried to contain it, but every time we thought we had it under control, we were wrong. At the same time, we began receiving reports of infected persons in the general population outside the building, in the local community. A team was dispatched to Vess’s house. Some of his neighbors were missing. He had done a good job of spreading the virus before coming back to us.”
    “So he was patient zero,” I said.
    She nodded. “Yes, he is.”
    “Is?” Sam asked. “Don’t tell me that fucker is still alive.”
    She looked at him and nodded. “He’s still alive,” she said. “I think he’s in the air vents.”

Chapter Thirteen
    T he walkie-talkie crackled . Tanya said, “Alex, we have a problem.”
    I pressed the button. “What is it?”
    “About two dozen zombies have just wandered onto your floor from the stairs.