Stage 6 Read Free

yelled back “Don’t call them ‘things’! They are real living people, and you have to treat them as such!”
    “The hell they are! Devin tried to kill Hunter back there, and his dad tried to eat him! Don’t tell me these are normal people. Normal people don’t vomit up blood on other people’s couches.”
    Before she could come up with a reply I brushed past her and walked to where the kitchen table used to be. I sat down in one of the old chairs, and thought about how amazingly different our house had become. In one hard work-filled day, we had transformed it from a comfortable home to a well defended fortress. Thinking about forts however, I remembered that the easiest way to beat a fort is to starve them out. I began to make plans.
    If we were being affected in a small county in Texas, then we could reasonably assume it had already spread through many other places. I hoped that this would get better, but it never hurts to think. Planning for the worst scenario was my philosophy, and it had served me well in the past. Where would we go? We couldn’t survive indefinitely here without any way of getting more food. My thoughts were interrupted as Lucy turned the volume up and I could clearly hear the T.V. from my room. Now there were a bunch of official looking people on the T.V., and the words STATE BROADCAST were splayed across the top. I walked into the living room. There was a politician speaking into a microphone, and a crowd of people in medical suits standing behind him. He started to address the camera.
“We now have the unfortunate responsibility, of informing anyone who is watching that this, ‘Infection,’ has engulfed the population. In the next few minutes, I will attempt to prepare you with the information we have. The state of Texas has been placed under military Quarantine. Nobody is allowed in or out, until this is dealt with. We are working on a way to fix this situation, but for now... Be on the lookout not only for Infected humans, but also any strange acting animals. We have reason to believe this virus can jump species. This virus spreads through body fluids, and can be transferred through saliva via bites, or contact with Infected blood. Once Infected the victim can feel no pain, and will be consumed with an irrational hatred for everything and anyone. It will see any living thing as its only possible food source. We do not have medical treatment. The only way to deal with the Infected is to kill them. In this state of emergency, we are lifting all laws regarding violence with the Infected. If you come into contact with an Infected, you MUST do whatever you can to survive. We estimate that at least twenty percent of the population is Infected, although this number is increasing extraordinarily fast. They tend to move in groups, and rarely act alone. Even just one will soon attract more to its location, especially if they have the scent of food. We have no way of knowing how long this will last. I must emphasize the military is organized and in control. Camps and forts are the biggest and best defenses we have going right now. There are trained soldiers waiting there to protect you. This will not last forever, and there are already many Nations mobilizing their Outbreak Control forces. They will help us soon. In the absence of a timely solution, you can expect electricity, power, gas, and water to shut off within weeks. Good luck to you all, and may God be with us. Any new information we have will be added to this broadcast. This message will repeat itself indefinitely.”
    As the broadcast began to repeat itself, we sat there in stony silence, digesting the horror of our situation. We were in a suburban area, with probably thousands of Infected rampaging around us. Almost certainly everybody we knew was dead. The T.V. had just told us that even one Infected banging around a house (like our predicament) would soon draw more to its location. It had now been over twelve hours since Devin’s