finally announced. “And I agree, it’s horrible, but it would be much, much worse if this new strain got loose all over America. If we can stop it on Manhattan, then we might have a chance.” She didn’t reply, kept gazing at the skyline, the flames erupting in small explosions when gas lines caught fire or automobile gas tanks went alight.
“They say the bridges are nearly all destroyed,” Burns continued. “Now they’re working on finding any other access out of the city. Boats, ferries, helicopters. They’re sending more planes to try and take out any news helicopters and hospital rescue copters that are parked on rooftops. I got a friend with Mount Sinai who’s gonna be pissed when they take out his bird.”
“And how many people are dying?” she asked. “How many people out there are being burned alive, shot while trying to escape? I did that in Cincinnati. I really don’t want to be a part of it again, especially…”
“Yeah, I know, especially with Sandy out there.”
“I’d say imagine your wife or kid out there, but … well …”
“I know,” he said with a grunt. “I’ve always been married to my job.”
“Well, other than the Army, she’s really all I have. Mom and Dad are gone. No other relatives to speak of. She’s pretty much everything to me. Knowing she’s out there while we’re isolating her on an island with every nightmare I’ve been fighting – it’s a little sickening to me.”
“Well, what do you propose we do? We’re on call right now. After they shut off any pathways the contagion can use to escape, we’ll have to take our positions and make certain none of the infected get off Manhattan. They’ve called in the rest of our team. They’ll be here in a matter of five or six hours.”
Nicole thumbed Sandy’s Blackberry number into her phone again. She looked up at General Burns, and she said, “I honestly don’t know. I hope to God that I can …”
The Blackberry stopped ringing suddenly, and Nicole heard her lover’s voice cry out her name.
Chapter 16
1:00 p.m.
Sandy was startled away from the windows when her Blackberry pulsed with her ringtone. She immediately put it to her ear and started talking. She didn’t know how long the signal would last, and, with everything else going on around her, she wasn’t taking any chances with losing a connection to the outside world. She knew she had to cram as much information as possible in the least number of seconds.
“Nicole, oh God, I’m trapped underground in the subway. Shut up, and listen to me. I got on at 42nd Street and headed back towards Brooklyn – the B Line. Orange, I think. You could follow it here. The train stopped after just a few minutes. You need to hurry. There’s some kind of killer rats all around the subway car right now. They’re everywhere.”
It was actually quite the understatement.
The two-foot rats had swarmed over the subway cars, targeting the people who had abandoned their shelter to stand on the tracks. The wave of rodents overran them as the screaming passengers tried to reach the safety of the cars they’d deserted only minutes earlier. There were thousands of the creatures, and they overwhelmed the humans, biting and scratching at the fleeing, panic-ridden people. Flesh was bitten, ripped, and shredded, and some rats sank their teeth into the terrified commuters and hung on to them, not letting go as the victims struggled to reach the cars they’d only just left.
None of them made it. As Sandy watched, a muscular young man tried to shake two rats off of his arms as another creature scooped long strands of intestines from his belly. A woman in a pink dress whirled in circles, stomping at the rodents, finally slamming into the side of the car where Sandy and her co-travelers watched in horror. She left a streak of blood across the window.
The rats seemed to be in a hurry, as if driven by a bloodlust and not hunger. Most of the horde took a bite or two
“They say the bridges are nearly all destroyed,” Burns continued. “Now they’re working on finding any other access out of the city. Boats, ferries, helicopters. They’re sending more planes to try and take out any news helicopters and hospital rescue copters that are parked on rooftops. I got a friend with Mount Sinai who’s gonna be pissed when they take out his bird.”
“And how many people are dying?” she asked. “How many people out there are being burned alive, shot while trying to escape? I did that in Cincinnati. I really don’t want to be a part of it again, especially…”
“Yeah, I know, especially with Sandy out there.”
“I’d say imagine your wife or kid out there, but … well …”
“I know,” he said with a grunt. “I’ve always been married to my job.”
“Well, other than the Army, she’s really all I have. Mom and Dad are gone. No other relatives to speak of. She’s pretty much everything to me. Knowing she’s out there while we’re isolating her on an island with every nightmare I’ve been fighting – it’s a little sickening to me.”
“Well, what do you propose we do? We’re on call right now. After they shut off any pathways the contagion can use to escape, we’ll have to take our positions and make certain none of the infected get off Manhattan. They’ve called in the rest of our team. They’ll be here in a matter of five or six hours.”
Nicole thumbed Sandy’s Blackberry number into her phone again. She looked up at General Burns, and she said, “I honestly don’t know. I hope to God that I can …”
The Blackberry stopped ringing suddenly, and Nicole heard her lover’s voice cry out her name.
Chapter 16
1:00 p.m.
Sandy was startled away from the windows when her Blackberry pulsed with her ringtone. She immediately put it to her ear and started talking. She didn’t know how long the signal would last, and, with everything else going on around her, she wasn’t taking any chances with losing a connection to the outside world. She knew she had to cram as much information as possible in the least number of seconds.
“Nicole, oh God, I’m trapped underground in the subway. Shut up, and listen to me. I got on at 42nd Street and headed back towards Brooklyn – the B Line. Orange, I think. You could follow it here. The train stopped after just a few minutes. You need to hurry. There’s some kind of killer rats all around the subway car right now. They’re everywhere.”
It was actually quite the understatement.
The two-foot rats had swarmed over the subway cars, targeting the people who had abandoned their shelter to stand on the tracks. The wave of rodents overran them as the screaming passengers tried to reach the safety of the cars they’d deserted only minutes earlier. There were thousands of the creatures, and they overwhelmed the humans, biting and scratching at the fleeing, panic-ridden people. Flesh was bitten, ripped, and shredded, and some rats sank their teeth into the terrified commuters and hung on to them, not letting go as the victims struggled to reach the cars they’d only just left.
None of them made it. As Sandy watched, a muscular young man tried to shake two rats off of his arms as another creature scooped long strands of intestines from his belly. A woman in a pink dress whirled in circles, stomping at the rodents, finally slamming into the side of the car where Sandy and her co-travelers watched in horror. She left a streak of blood across the window.
The rats seemed to be in a hurry, as if driven by a bloodlust and not hunger. Most of the horde took a bite or two
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