Dead Country 1 - State of Emergency E-Book

M. H. Steinmetz

• Herausgeber: Mantikore-Verlag
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Serie: Dead Country
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Seitenzahl: 804

Beschreibung

"Run while you can!" Young Markus is in Germany, hundreds of miles away from his family and girlfriend when he hears the shocking news: A disease is spreading extremely fast. Soon the entire country will be affected! While civilization is breaking down and darkness is spreading over a dying country, Markus embarks on the dangerous journey home with his friends – to a place which might not even exist any more. A gruesome race against time begins! Totes Land – first volume of the brilliant apocalyptic trilogy by Mario H. Steinmetz! – NOMINATED FOR THE GERMAN AWARD DEUTSCHER PHANTASTIK PREIS --

Leseprobe

Mario H. Steinmetz

DEAD COUNTRYState of Emergency

First published in Germany as

TOTES LAND – AUSNAHMEZUSTAND

by Mantikore-Verlag 2014

Published by

MANTIKORE-VERLAG NICOLAI BONCZYK

Frankfurt am Main 2016

www.mantikore-verlag.de

Copyright © MANTIKORE-VERLAG NICOLAI BONCZYK

All rights reserved

Text © Mario Steinmetz 2013

Translation: Deborah Barnett

Editing: August Hahn

Layout: Karl-Heinz Zapf

Cover: Niels Breidenstein & Matthias Lück

ISBN: 978-3-945493-79-3

Mario H. Steinmetz

DEAD COUNTRY

State of Emergency

Roman

“And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.”

Book of Daniel, 170 A.D.

Dedication:

For Anette, who stood faithfully beside me while I was writing, and by doing so inadvertently revealed to me the most important element of this story: Hope!”

Acknowledgement

My special thanks is for Sabine, without whom I would have never started writing and who has always encouraged me to go on, Kristin, Martin, Florian and Sascha for proof reading and the extremely productive criticism.

Without you I would have never managed this!

Content

The trench

The journey begins

Red barracks

Yellow barracks

Examination

Green barracks

The end

Horror show

Hunting season – part one

Nothing but assumptions

Berliner Ring

Open Sesame

Christmas insanity

Togetherness?

Rude awakening

City – Country – River

After the drowning

Dawn

State authority

A new companion

Molotov Cocktail

Leipzig potpourri

Somewhere

Shopping

Bus stop

Shopping Tour

A Temporary Refuge

Suicide mission

Wait loop

Different than expected

Insight

Convoy

Soldier language

Decampment

Through the forest

God’s blessing

Snap shot

Frankfurt

Hunting season - part two

Flaming inferno

Escape from a dying city

Kristin

On the river

Lonely hours

Creeping Death

Awakening

Downpour

Blackout

The trench

His pulse was pounding hard through his body, causing this unpleasant throbbing in the gums, which you know from little inflammations inside your mouth. A damned annoying thing.

The man with the insignia of a lieutenant on the shoulders could literally feel how his blood intermittently made its way through the veins beneath his skin. Dried sweat burned his skin under the thick army clothes, starting to distract him from his actual task.

The urge to scratch himself became overpowering. No wonder, because there had been hardly any time for hygiene during the last days. The pressure the mysterious enemy had put on them all was something they probably would not endure much longer. His unit was simply too small for this thing. To hold out just a little bit longer, nothing more could be expected here. Pressed tightly to the ground he lay in the wet snow of a drainage, which divided the spacious meadow in front of him from the dense forest behind it, and he was counting the drops of the melting snow, which were dripping down from a tall tree.

This shitty weather had been going on all week already, first the heavy snowfall, so dense that you could not see your own hands in front of your eyes. But as soon as the snow had touched the ground, it had begun to melt right away, turning everything into a muddy mush. How he hated this dreadful weather. Even his carefully trimmed chin beard was wet and sticky. He had been lying there now for over an hour already and he felt how the cold was creeping with icy fingers out of the wet snow into his protective vest, making it a torture to breathe.

In shortening intervals, he had to apply his dose inhaler. Damned asthma, the disease had been tormenting him now since his preschool years, lurking eagerly to remind him of his weakness as soon as an opportunity arose. He could not afford any weaknesses in this situation, not the slightest suspicion could be allowed to arise that he was unable to finish this assignment.

There were people who relied on him and who put their lives in his hands. They all trusted his skill to make the right call in the right moment. And therefore he had to be completely present.

His body was well trained and prepared for this thing, however this damp cold really got to him. The lieutenant pulled his cap off his head briefly and wiped the sweat from his shaved head. He was in good shape for his age. After all, he was over forty. But still this damned asthma brought him to his knees.

Every now and then the dense clouds drew apart, allowing the moon to bathe everything in a ghostly light with sharp defined shadows. To his right and left the other men of the unit were distributed over the entire length of the trench - dark motionless shapes in the snow. Like him, every one of them was willing to risk everything, because this was the final line, where in a few moments the decision over life and death would be made. Maybe even over mankind’s entire future.

His sergeant was right next to him. The tall, slender woman with the blond, mid-length hair held a bulky night vision device from the Russian army in front of her eyes. As always she wore a heavy leather coat instead of the uniform. He had to smile as he looked at her. You could not tell that she was just two years younger than he was. But that was not important now, because they were all here voluntarily and no one would care about trivialities like these. Here, all that counted was to survive and nobody had the time to care about such banal things like the correct uniforms. There was only one rule in place and it was called ‘Survive!’

He was glad to have the woman at his side in this situation, because he could count on the sergeant unconditionally. Besides that, there was something else which bonded them together. Something which extended beyond the ranking within their unit. And that was not only due to her endless long legs. It was simply a deep friendship for life, which welded them together.

Beyond the meadow rose a black wall with dense bushes and behind it a vast forest area with dark, closely standing trees. Even now in winter the forest was nearly impenetrable. More so in darkness. He was searching the opposite edge of the forest with the infrared sight of his G36-assault rifle. The distance was about thirty meters, which was an ideal firing distance.

“Large tree, two meters to the right of it, down by the gap between the trunk and bush, one person.”

Her whisper was almost inaudible. The lieutenant’s G36 swung to the described position. He saw how the branches were moving and glimpsed at the dark shadow behind it, which roughly resembled the outlines of a human being.

“Another one, about three meters left of it.”

The presence of those things on the other side compressed itself into a massive threat. New sweat was building up between the fabric of his cap and the skin of his head and it was running down his neck coldly. The first figures stepped out of the woods, at the forefront the two which the sergeant had spotted already. They did not even bother to be quiet.

“Shit, this will be intense!”

The woman’s voice sounded strained. With a flowing motion she put the night vision device to the side and leveled the silenced M16. The clicking of the safety lever was barely audible. The lieutenant raised his hand slowly. Looking for weapons on those creatures was in vain. They looked rather like totally drunk people, who had gotten lost in the woods and who were now simply marching straight ahead, but still unaware of where they wanted to go. And yet it seemed that they were guided by something. It was hard to tell if they knew that the soldiers were waiting for them in the trench.

Only after they had already advanced ten meters onto the meadow and when their numbers had increased to about thirty, did their otherness become evident. It was an army of puppets, which had been deprived of their strings and who were now stumbling almost soundlessly and awkwardly through the area, looking for new support. And their numbers kept growing even more. As the clouds cleared away again, the cold light revealed the horrible truth.

There was an army of death, covered in rags, marching in front of them. Formerly human faces displayed only torn shells on their heads covered with bloody wounds. Formerly well groomed hands were now disfigured with scars and crowned by jagged, black fingernails.

The lieutenant waited until the sky took pity on them and the chasing clouds were covering the moon. Then he suddenly jerked his hand down. This was the signal the soldiers had been waiting for and they opened fire immediately. As different as their weapons and their uniforms were, they still acted like one man, because they knew what was at stake. If they died, the last refuge in this area would be hopelessly lost. Since the disease had broken out a couple of weeks ago, turning humans into wild beasts they had increasingly fallen back. And now they were standing with their backs against the wall. The sergeant coursed loudly, as her weapon jammed again.

“I should have kept my old weapon, damn it.”

These weapons were simply not built for this humidity. Suddenly there was a loud outcry within the left flank. More creatures had shown up out of nowhere on the edge of the trench. They were two runners and they were moving forward apelike, fast and coordinated. Immediately it came to a wild hand-to-hand fight. When an almost identical scene took place on the right as well, the lieutenant was grabbed by the arm by his sergeant.

“Those things work with a system, let’s get out of here as long as it is still possible.”

He pushed her hand aside rudely.

“The hell we do, we stay here and fight. I’m not running away from those scumbags again!”

When the monsters were only about five meters away from the dig, he threw his rifle aside and jumped up. With a movement practiced over a thousand times he pulled the rusty machete from his belt, storming out of the dig like a madman. The sergeant screamed something incomprehensible after him, when he felt the impact between his shoulder blades.

“What the hell…”

He fell to the ground heavily, right in front of the feet of the advancing creatures, which just let themselves fall onto him, starting immediately to lower their ugly faces in search of uncovered flesh.

When the sergeant saw how the lieutenant fell, she had exactly two seconds more to live. She had rolled herself onto her back inside the dig, had grabbed her back pack and wanted to leave over the rear end of the dig into the forest, as four figures in black gear and ski masks over their heads opened fire on her out of their automatic weapons.

“You fucking bastards, that’s…”

After the first five impacts into her upper body she stopped counting and closed her eyes. The same happened to the rest of the unit. Whoever managed to escape the monsters was literally executed by those weird guys. It was a horrible massacre. Then the shooting stopped and the battle sounds subsided quickly all over the battlefield. Only the sickening smacking sounds of the monsters were audible, who were eating away at the bodies of the fallen.

“Time out… time out… time out!”

When the chubby guy with the red baseball cap walked across the meadow, calling time out repeatedly, the lieutenant open his eyes, coming back to life. It was about time, damn it, because by now he was really freezing his ass off. There were about forty bodies scattered around him, which were starting to move again, coming back from the dead, in order to clean away the snow from their clothes.

One soldier stood at the edge of the dig, smoking and talking to one of the monsters, who was missing one hand, as if the fact that they had killed each other only a few minutes ago, was something totally normal. The sergeant came out of the ditch as well, walking over to the lieutenant with a smile.

„I don’t know what this was all about, working us that hard? But it was awesome, right?”

Sabine smiled broadly and stopped in front of Marcus.

„You’re right about that. However, I‘m wondering why Tim is ruining the whole scene, running over the meadow like a moron. I had been looking forward to wobble around as a dead soldier.” He nodded towards the guy with the red cap, who was now summoning the bystanders frantically in the middle of the meadow.

„I don‘t know, let‘s hear what he has to tell us, that’s so important.”

They could hear Tim‘s excited voice amidst the crowd. That was how they all knew him. Whenever something did not work out as planned or if there were some problems in the game, did he show up out of nowhere, trying to fix everything with his snapping voice. They had never seen Tim in anything else than his washed-out army pants and his old, washed-out Metallica hoody. In combination with the silly baseball cap and his shoulder long hair, which peeped out from under it, he gave the perfect image of a nerd.

„Guys, I really don‘t want to disturb you, but we need to cancel this game at this point. Immediately!”

One of the monsters, or better Steffen, who was under the mask, raised both of his hands.

„Cancel, are you out of your mind, we are in the middle of the showdown, in case you have not noticed. I‘m really curious what you have to tell us, that’s so important!”

Tim licked his lips nervously, before he continued. The pissed off faces of the players made him even more nervous. But there was a good reason for his actions.

„Just listen to what I have to say and let me finish, damn it. What I have to tell you is dead serious.”

Sabine nodded, having his back. ”Tim may certainly have a good reason guys, so let us listen to what he has to say.”

“Thanks, Sabine,” Tim continued. “As I said, we have to interrupt this game immediately. Daniel has been to the city and heard it right from the news. Hell is breaking lose out there. This flu epidemic, because of which they had set up all those centers, has spread extremely by now.

“But it gets even worse. The people who have been infected with it apparently go crazy, attacking other people. It is so extreme that the government has declared a state of emergency.”

Disbelieving murmur broke out immediately. Markus looked at Sabine unsettled. But Tim had more to tell.

„And there is even more. The sick do not just simply attack other people. No, they gather in large groups and apparently they walk the streets murdering. Daniel has seen a broadcast, where they stated that those crazy ones literally tear their victims apart. Like wild beasts, do you get it?”

One of the soldiers shook his head in disbelief, then he laughed out loud.

“If you‘re trying to kid us, then this is the worst joke in a long time. My mum is infected with this flu as well and I can‘t laugh about this right now. So stop with this shit, okay?”

Marcus did not like this guy, but he had to agree with him. He thought of his Annette, who was waiting for him at home. Which would not be that serious, if his home was not in Speyer, Pfalz, and if he would not be near Berlin right now participating in an apocalyptic role playing game. At least 373 miles were separating him from his wife. He could see in Sabine‘s eyes that her thoughts went in a similar direction. She was from Frankfurt/Main, where she lived in the city center together with her boyfriend Pascal. Pascal was a funny guy and from Switzerland.

Markus and he had gotten along right from the start. Tim’s words brought him back to reality.

“So, we’ve talked about this as the game management and we’ve decided to cancel this game here and now and that you all go home as fast as possible. Who knows how bad this thing will keep on developing.”

For Markus this decision sounded logical, but some of the other players viewed it quite differently. They had paid a lot of money for this weekend and therefore thought that the game had to go on until Sunday afternoon.

It was obvious that a rather fierce debate would break loose at any moment now. Maybe everything will turn out to be a lot of nonsense or the game leaders had possibly thought of some sort of game within game scenario to give it a little more kick. But because of the game’s background, a zombie apocalypse without any hope of survival, they were all highly sensitized and therefore eager to believe Tim’s words.

Sabine touched Markus’ arm. “Listen, I really have a bad feeling about this. I think that we should leave right now, as long as it is still possible without any problems because I’m worried about Pascal, if everything that Tim has just told us is correct.”

Markus nodded towards her, because she just said, what he had thought about all along as well.

“I agree with you, Sabine. Let’s leave as fast as possible. Regardless of what’s really going on, the game is over anyway. And if everything turns out to be just fine then we’ll just make us a nice day, okay?”

Sabine agreed eagerly with her friend because they rarely had time to talk in private anyway. While the voices on the forest clearing were getting louder, the two of them dislodged themselves as inconspicuously as possible, making their way to the big cabin, which served as base for the entire game.

There was food there and it was the place to go to, when you needed some sleep or a break. At first their path lead them along the trench and then on a muddy path through the dense woods. Sabine focused on the slippery path before her. “It’s really our own fault that we’re stuck in this back country. I’m really freaking out the more I think about this.”

“Fuck, damn it!“ Markus cursed when his foot broke into one of the deeper mud puddles and water was running inside his boot. “You’re right. Believe me Sabine, I’m really worried big time. I’ll try to call Annette immediately once we’ve reached the cabin. It’s probably all just some bullshit hyped by the media.”

The last couple of days they had gotten used to observe the area around them at all times and nothing had changed about that now. To their right was a half-rotten raised blind by the road, around which a birch had twined itself. Routinely they checked if somebody was lurking on the seat. But the seat was empty of course. Somewhere a bird flew away, protesting about the disturbance, which was invisible to them. Involuntarily both of them winced. Sabine even reached for her weapon right away, which was useless in the real world.

“I’m getting paranoid. Seriously, do you believe everything that Tim has told us?”

“Somehow, yes, even if I don’t want to. You’ve seen his eyes. His fear was for real, Sabine. I know Tim, he’s not good at pretending. If this weird flu really makes those people crazy, then we’ll have a real problem, especially so far away from home. And that’s what really scares me, Sabine.”

“That’s how I see it, too. We really need our mobile phones, then we’ll call our people and find out what is really going on!”

There was nothing else to say for the rest of the way. Both of them were engrossed in their own thoughts, which were mainly concerning their partners, relatives and friends.

“What if“ – that was the main question now, which was hovering over their heads like a suffocating threat.

Around ten minutes later they had crossed the forest and were now walking onto a snow-covered meadow the size of a soccer field, their goal, the large cabin, was on the opposite side of it. Daniel’s red Opel Corsa stood in front of it.

That was also where the small road ended, which lead from the other side of the forest directly to the main road, which served as the connecting road to the Berliner Ring, the autobahn. There was the parking lot, where they had parked their cars. Maybe it would have been better to follow their instinct by going directly to their vehicles and make a run for it, but the two of them decided to go to the cabin in order to chat with Daniel first.

Perhaps some of their worries would clear away and everything was not as bad as Tim had described it. Sabine and Markus came out of the woods and went across the meadow towards the cabin, which outlined as one dark shadow. The windows had been covered with thick wood panels because of the game, in order to give the impression of a safe haven.

Normally some of the players would be hanging around there, but there was nobody there at the moment. They passed Daniel’s car and stopped in front of the half opened door, uncertain. It was not unusual for the door to be open, but the silence and the darkness inside worried them. During the game the hut had been humming with industrial music blaring out of fully turned up loudspeakers, in addition there would have been the flickering light from the effect lights in order to keep the players on their feet and to produce more excitement. Markus looked at Sabine with a skeptical glance, frowning.

“Okay, let’s do this like always. There’s a chance that everything is all right and we’ll just look ridiculous, but I just want to make sure.”

Sabine nodded and positioned herself to the left of the door. “There’s no harm in it.” Her voice sounded uncertain.

Markus kicked against the door carefully, which swung open more easily than expected, crashing against the wall with a lot of noise. After that he raised his, in real life unfortunately useless, G36 Softair in the air, and marched into the darkened room.

Directly behind him Sabine sneaked a little offset into the room and went into a crouch immediately, prepared to shoot at everything that might oppose them. Markus stopped in the middle of the room and lowered his gun. It was better to wait until their eyes got used to the dim light.

There was no invasion waiting for them here; that was certain. It was just an empty room, which smelled of stale beer. Its well-worn wooden floor was sticking with dirt. The hall took up about half of the base area of the cabin. Tables and chairs had been stacked together on the long sides of the building in order to have as much room as possible, so that people could dance undisturbed. At the rear end were the doors to the toilets and the kitchen, in between was the staircase to the big dormitory. It still smelled like chili (last night’s diner), dry ice and spilled beer. The door to the kitchen was ajar. Markus risked his first attempt.

“Daniel, are you here? It’s us, Sabine and Markus!”

Nothing. Markus looked for Sabine and tried it again.

“Daniel? Hey, that’s not funny, so say something, damn it!”

Again, no answer.

“Hey, that’s really not funny anymore, buddy!” Then he crossed the room to the kitchen door and pressed his ear against the wood, listening. He thought to hear heavy breathing from inside, but he was not sure.

His senses were still hyped and strained from the game so that he was simply expecting everything behind this door. Even real zombies. He had not left his role behind him completely so far and the adrenalin from the last couple of hours was not spent entirely.

Suddenly he found his behavior awkward because Tim had ended the game and the area was located well away from every city in order to not be in any direct danger. Daniel was probably just snoozing on the cot which stood in the kitchen between the food racks.

On the other hand, it would be really odd if Daniel had returned from the city with this kind of news and would now be sleeping soundly.

“Okay, I’m going in. You’ll wait outside and…”

Sabine shook her head, eyes tight and serious. “Forget it Markus, we’ll do this together or not all. Nobody goes alone.”

Sometimes he hated her stubbornness with which she fundamentally waltzed through walls. She had always been like this ever since they met over twenty years ago during a role playing game. Of course it was during a game; where else could it have been?

He had noticed her because of her big mouth, but especially because of her consequent game play, which allowed her to lose herself completely in her roles. Together, they could leave the real world behind them and experience things non-players would not even dare to dream of.

And that is why it is essential to trust each other blindly. In every situation. At all times. However, they had always paid attention to never cross their self-imposed boundaries within their unusual relationship. They were friends for life and not even Sabine’s sleek, tall appearance and her endless legs would change that, because what the bond they had was too precious to risk for a quick fuck.

Or for a real relationship, for that matter, as it could easily and quickly turn into a merciless war once the daily routine got in the way of the friendship. Whatever the case, Markus ignored all concerns and walked into the kitchen. He did not want to lose any more time and he wanted to know what was going on inside.

Daniel was really on the cot, hiding under a thick wool blanket. Only his head was visible. Markus walked over to him immediately and was about to lower his head, when Daniel’s hand appeared from under the blanket, rising up warningly.

“Stop. Keep your distance… stay away from me. It got me really bad!”

Only with difficulty did he manage to utter the words. He really looked pitiful. Normally this guy was a source of energy, well trained and always alert. He always paid attention that his head was clean shaven, looking like a polished billiard ball. The small wirerimmed glasses and his endless smiling face completed the image of a nice guy, which he normally also represented in his behavior.

Things looked differently this time. The Daniel they normally knew was gone, together with his laugh, with which he normally wrapped women around his fingers. His face had lost all color and the red eyes stuck out like two bloody, nearly swollen shut glass balls. Long brownish-yellow snot was running down from his nose in streams, dripping to the floor, building sticky puddles there. Markus stopped in his tracks.

“Shit, Daniel. What the hell…”

They had seen Daniel last when he, in his role as a mutant, had tried to stop them storming their shelter (this cabin). Okay, he had been miffed already, but otherwise in good spirit and fit. And now, not even twelve hours later, he was lying mortally sick on this cot in the kitchen.

“Guys, has Tim reached you and did he interrupt the game?” Daniel asked both of them.

Sabine looked at him sympathetically and nodded. “Yes, he did. But they’re all still standing around in the woods, discussing. Shit, did you catch this weird flu in the city or what is wrong with you?”

Daniel was shaken by a severe coughing fit and spittle mixed with blood ran out of his mouth. “Not in the city directly, more on my way back at the gas station. That is not important right now. Guys, hell is breaking lose at this moment everywhere. I’ve not only seen it on TV how people attacked each other, but also with my own eyes. This is no joke.”

Markus frowned in disbelief. “What do you mean by people attacking each other? Tell us, damn it. Don’t just scare us like an ass!”

Daniel pushed himself onto his elbows with difficulty and nodded in the direction of the counter. Markus and Sabine followed his gaze unconsciously. “I’m getting crazy with thirst!”

There was a half emptied water bottle, with its cap opened. Sabine, who was standing closer to the counter, saw immediately that the rim of the bottle was covered with snot. She reached for the bottle regardless and placed it on the mouth of the totally weakened man, who drank with greedy gulps.

Only when the water was running down his mouth left and right and he had to cough she put the bottle down. In secret she was asking herself if and how far this disease was contagious and, most importantly, how it was transmitted. She had come pretty close to Daniel during the game the last couple of days. Closer than permitted, if she was honest with herself.

The sick man wiped the red spittle away with the back of his hand and breathed his snot noisily back into his nose, before he continued with his story.

“As I said, I had been in the city in order to buy drinks for the final party. First I wanted to get some cigarettes in one of the supermarkets, you know, I can’t do without. Anyway, there was chaos inside the store. People were everywhere, with overfilled shopping carts, there were fights in the aisles over some containers of milk, really unbelievable. I was totally surprised by it all, stood there like an idiot.”

Again he pulled back is snot, which was running down in dogged threads from his nose. “Most of the shelves had been empty already and there were no cigarettes left, of course. Since I had to stop to get gas on my way back anyway it didn’t matter then.”

“Then suddenly a convoy of the Bundeswehr, our German military force, full with soldiers appeared outside. All of them armed to their teeth. With real weapons, do you understand? That was the moment when I realized that this was really serious. Screw it, I thought, back to the car and off to the beverage market. Get the preordered stuff and then get the hell out of there.”

Shaken by fits he suddenly screamed with pain and convulsed. Markus was about to bend down to aid him but Sabine’s hand stopped him. Her grip was determined and firm. She shook her head vehemently.

“Markus, don’t, leave it be!”

Breathing heavily Daniel stopped for a moment to catch his breath again before he continued his narration. “Some time later I was at the beverage market, standing in front of broken window screens. This store was totally devastated and dispelled as well. Directly next to it there was an angry crowd in front of an electronics store, starring magnetized at the running TV screens in the shopping window.”

“All of them showing the same image: a seemingly hectic reporter whose mouth opened silently, apparently describing what was going on around him. Mostly the people were afraid of the news ticker at the bottom of the screen where city names and numbers were running by in an endless stream.”

Sabine all of a sudden had a damn dry mouth and would have liked to put the bottle to her own throat. What did those numbers mean? Did they stand for the infected or even something worse? For sure it weren’t the stock courses.

And on top of it all, why was not just the police on duty to stop the scavengers, but the military, too? An internal deployment of the Bundeswehr was normally not allowed. Daniel kept on talking meanwhile.

“Behind the reporter you could see heavily armed police forces lined up in tight rows. Even some soldiers were among them and all of them were beating on a rather large crowd of people. But guess what, they didn’t care at all about the batons, they were even running against the shields with their bloody heads, again and again. It was pure insanity!”

Now Markus was sure that Daniel had a fever causing hallucinations or he was just lying to them. He could see in Sabine’s face that she had similar thoughts, because Daniel’s narrations were just too absurd. They were playing such things, but they were simply not possible in the real world.

“The reporter kept looking around hectically. You could see the fear in his eyes. Suddenly more people came into view, this time from a side street. They just ran right into the rows of the law enforcement officers, some even had red foam in front of their mouths. That was the moment when some of the policemen drew their weapons, aiming at the angry crowd and then pulling the trigger. I’m telling you, that’s what happened!”

The story got more and more bizarre. Policemen would never shoot at unarmed protesters, it did not matter if they had foam in front of their mouth or not. That was totally out of the question. Markus bent forward a little bit.

“Daniel, are you absolutely sure, that it really happened that way? I am having difficulty believing your story. Policemen who are just firing wildly at people, that is just insane!”

The addressed nodded vehemently and nearly got an angry sparkle in his eyes. “You can believe me or not. It’s up to you. I don’t care. But it gets even better. Cameraman and reporter started running. Suddenly the camera made a backflip and fell to the ground.”

“The next thing you saw in the picture was the feet of the fleeting man and a hand. And this damn hand had no damn ring finger anymore, because it had been bitten off. Do you get what I’m saying? I could clearly see the lacerated skin shreds and the blood running from the stump.”

Markus had to swallow. If everything that Daniel said was really true then hell was breaking loose out there right now. “You’re saying a hand? A bloody hand without a ring finger? Like in a shitty horror movie?”

Sabine’s voice went nearly manic. She had to fight to keep her cool. Daniel only nodded weakly. Meanwhile it seemed that the man did not care anymore if snot was running down his nose or if bloody phlegm was coming out of his mouth. Something was going on there, something was changing. With him. And with the world they were living in. Something, that was not supposed to happen.

“As surely as I am lying here! Suddenly the broadcast was interrupted and the emblem of the Home Office was shown. But instead of the Home Secretary some military guy came into view, holding a pile of papers in his hands. What he had to say was shown in the news ticker.”

He laughed rough and sad, as if he knew how ironic his next few words would sound. “I’ll keep it short. They declared a state of emergency, and in connection to it, a curfew. Effective immediately. The government has given the Bundeswehr the mission order to act on home soil. With orders to shoot. The public is advised to keep their distance from the infected – yes that’s correct, he said “infected”. Apparently the disease is transmitted via spittle and blood.”

“And that’s all folks. “Game over” if you ask me.”

Markus and Sabine instinctively took some steps back from Daniel. “Allegedly they are looking for an antidote already. If everything else fails the infected should be sedated, to keep them under, that’s what they said.”

Markus’ gaze fell on an empty roll of aspirin. He had been asking himself the whole time already who the heck had swallowed some many of them. Now he knew.

Daniel noticed her reactions as well. “Am I so offensive?”

Sabine shook her head, keeping her eyes on the sick man the whole time. “Not at all, Daniel. Please continue!”

“Ah, yes, something else. The infected are attacking humans with all their might. They are not just hitting them, no; they take bites of flesh out of peoples’ bodies, really. That’s what they said and in the end I even saw it myself.”

Sabine’s hand clasped around the handle of a frying pan, which she felt against her back. She nodded towards him.

“Continue, because now I want to know it all!”

“As you wish. I was on the run, just wanted to get out of there. Once I was on the highway again I stopped at this gas station, where you guys have gone shopping before as well. You know, for the cigarettes.” Both nodded.

“I got out of the car and into the shop, because without those damn things, I’m starting to lose my mind, especially in a situation like this. I ran straight into the arms of this stupid attendant. It looked like a slaughterhouse inside there. Everything was full of blood. I saw an elderly woman without a face lying on her back, saw a Turkish man sitting on the floor between the magazines with his guts hanging out, whimpering.”

“That’s when this sneaky bastard bit his teeth into my arm. Here, look at this shit!” To emphasize his words he pulled his right arm out from under the blanket. Just above the wrist the arm was haphazardly covered with a kitchen towel, completely soaked through with blood. As he lifted his arm blood was dripping in long sticky threads to the floor.

“Shit!“ Sabine’s eyes widened with terror. Markus was shocked as well, longing for the other players to arrive. It didn’t matter who, just other people, to save them from this disturbing scenario. What Daniel had just told them was just too unreal.

“Daniel, that looks bad. Why didn’t you go to a hospital?” Markus wanted to know.

The weak, wounded man laughed bitterly, spitting a puddle of blood to the floor. Markus saw dark streaks in it. “One thing after another. So this guy clings to my arm, but I could shake him off somehow. After that I ran to the car and sped away. Hospital had been one of my first thoughts, too, then!”

Daniel choked, his body convulsed again, Markus was not sure but he thought he heard an obvious cracking sound, when Daniel pressed his teeth together. When he spat a broken piece of a tooth in front of their feet, heat rose up in his throat.

“Shit, guys, those damn cramps… getting… arrgghhh…worse… there is something inside of me, that…”

Daniel was twisting back and forth on the cot, then he sat up holding his stomach, bent over forward. Markus and Sabine withdrew even further from him.

“Shit, man, stop messing around!” Sabine screamed.

Then Daniel vomited an unbelievable amount of blood and stomach content directly on his feet. Still vomiting he turned his head and pulled himself to his feet with great effort. Markus felt Sabine’s hand cramping up on his shoulder.

“Markus, I don’t want to be here anymore!” she hissed.

That was their cue. Not only Markus broke away from this image, because Daniel as well stood up suddenly, moving towards him surprisingly fast. There was really no time to think. Markus struck out with the butt of his rifle and pushed it forward to keep his assailant at a distance, but the plastic splintered uselessly.

The madman pushed himself against Marcus and reached out his arms. Disgusted, Markus saw how more and more blood was spreading in the room, and he thought about the possible infection through bodily fluids. Then he heard Sabine’s cry.

“Get down, fast!”

Markus reacted on instinct, going to his knees. Just in time, because the heavy cast iron frying pan was already swinging past his head and directly into the face of the man apparently gone insane. Like being struck by lighting the man was lifted of his feet.

Sabine threw the frying pan away, turned around and ran for the door. Still numb from what had just happened, Markus ran after her blindly. Together, they managed to slam the door and to barricade it with a chair just in time before Daniel crashed against it from the inside. He struck it with such force, the door shook against its hinges.

Markus looked at Sabine with wide open eyes. “Holy shit, what was that?!” But Sabine was looking around the room hastily, looking for the fastest exit.

“I have no clue, I simply don’t get it. But we have to leave right now!”

They started to run. They had to reach the parking lot, where the vehicles of the participants were parked. As they left the building they could still hear Daniel raging in the kitchen. It was really heavy stuff to lose somebody in such a manner.

What had been just a game only a few hours ago had turned into a serious matter. Now all that counted was to save their own skin and to get home as fast as possible. Go home to support the people you love.

“Don’t you think that we should have waited for the others or to at least warn them?” Markus was coughing up those last words, because he could hardly breathe anymore. Not only the person in the game had this damn asthma, but he himself had it, too. Sabine shook her head vehemently.

“Are you nuts? Nothing keeps me here; all that counts is to get away from here. I have to get to Pascal and as fast as possible. Who knows what else will happen.”

Sabine was right. They had to go home, as fast as possible. He saw Annette before of his eyes and hoped desperately that she was safe.

Their path ran in curvy lines through the woods, outlining itself only vaguely in front of them. They had to slow down already right after the first bend, it was simply to dark. It would be more than bad to fall down right now, injuring oneself. Some minutes later they had reached the parking lot, where the cars‘ silhouettes appeared like dark rectangles against the muddy snow.

Besides, their own heavy breathing there was no sound audible near and far, so they stumbled on to their own cars, which they had parked on the right side of the entrance. The dried sweat was itching on Markus’ skin, reminding him that he was still wearing the dirty outfit of the lieutenant.

With difficulty, he fiddled with the lock of his old Defender, while Sabine was already getting into her Peugeot 206, looking for her mobile phone in the glove compartment.

“Please let it be charged enough, at least for one call!”

Markus could understand her pleading all too well. On his own mobile, the battery sign was blinking already as well.

Damn cold, damn mobile. Then he pushed the button on the side in order to power up the display. Three new short messages, all from Annette. The oldest had sent last night.

>> Markus, please touch base, I’m really worried. It looks bad it the news. Hamburg is burning and in Berlin they have stormed the Bundestag. I need to know if everything is okay with you. I love you. Kisses. A. <<

Then another on from this morning:

>>Please get in touch already! They have closed down our store and ordered a curfew in Ludwigshafen. I have no clue what’s going on. There’s police everywhere. The parents are okay so far, but we’re all really worried. Thousand kisses. A. <<

He scrolled down to last message with trembling fingers. It was only an hour old!

>>I’m at home and there’s no one in the streets. I’ve heard shoots before. Everywhere sirens and helicopters. The curfew is effective now. Some say that the sick are eating people. They are eating people!!! I refuse to believe that. Damn media lies. Please come home fast. I need you. I’m scared. Endless love and kisses. A.<<

Stunned, Markus looked at the display, until it died down after a few seconds by itself. He was relieved and shocked at the same time. At least she was at home and safe, because their shared flat was on the third floor and had windows to all sides. In case of emergencies, the third floor was high enough to get a good view over the whole city. The entrance door was solid, and he knew that Annette had always enough provisions at home to survive a while on them. He had gotten upset about that only a few of days ago, claiming that she bought too much stuff, but now he called himself a fool.

Even still it was not easy to digest the last words from her short message. THEY ARE EATING PEOPLE. Those four words kept repeating themselves inside his head, he could not get them out and he could not fight the growing feeling of panic, which slowly took root inside of him.

The Defender, the forest, Sabine, simply everything was drowning in an impenetrable fog. There was only the mobile phone in front of his eyes. The palms of his hands were moist, as he was frantically typing his answer.

>>I’m coming home. Don’t leave the apartment, UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES. I’m with you soon, I promise. I love you. Never ending kisses. M.<<

He had just sent the message when the mobile bleeped twice and shut down for good. The battery was totally empty now. Aghast, he looked at the little black device in his hand, hoping that the message would still have made it out.

“Shit, damn it, shit!” he cursed. Suddenly he noticed that Sabine was standing beside him, starring at him.

“I’ve reached Pascal. He’s in Frankfurt and on his way to our apartment. They have closed his bank as well. He was just about to tell me how the situation is in Frankfurt when the connection was lost. At least I know that he is healthy and in safety real soon.”

She could not keep the worry out of her voice. Markus took her by her shoulders. “Listen, we’ll make it, okay? Annette is at home as well, I’ve sent her a message that we’re on our way. Let’s get moving, right now, do you hear? We need to get home, at all costs. And, Sabine, we can do this!” Sabine was exhausted. They both were exhausted, they were afraid of what was coming. Of the way that lay ahead of them. That was the reason why Marcus did not tell Sabine about the four words which kept repeating inside his head in a never ending loop, burned in there, starting to deconstruct his image of the world.

THEY ARE EATING PEOPLE.

At last, after some while, she freed herself from him. “You’re right. Let’s go, right now. You’ll lead the way and I will be close at your heels.”

They embraced each other, squeezing each other for desperate copmfort. Then they each got into their car and started the engines.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

Date: 15.12.2013 05:25:12 a.m.

Subject matter: Bad things

My love,

I was about to write to you already yesterday, but everything was just too horrid.

First I had no connection and then I had fallen asleep too exhausted. You know me, how it is once I’m lying on the couch. But that’s not what I wanted to tell you.

You know, there’s military on the streets now everywhere and it scares me. And even the gas station across, which is usually the cheapest one in all of Speyer, has raised its gas prices drastically. You have to pay over two Euros for one liter of gas now. But people are still getting gas like crazy regardless. The prices for groceries went up extremely as well, some of it already costing double now and still people are emptying the shelves. There have even been fights over it in the shop already.

Thank goodness the police was there, taking care of it.

They are always standing in front of the shop now.

Oh yes, I’ve been to the flu center to take a look at it.

You know, right where the east gym is. It’s sealed off like a prison now and there’s military everywhere. They are wearing protective clothing and protective masks. It all scares me big time.

They bring all of the sick to a treatment center, but I do not know where it’s located. Your parents are fine so far, they are at home and they have everything they need. Your dad thinks that this thing will blow over in one or two weeks and that I need not worry. But I worry because you are not here.

I miss you particularly at nights and I am freezing often. Please come back to me fast because here I’m scared all by myself, longing for you.

I love you,

yours Annette

The journey begins

The plan was to go around the capitol on the Berliner Ring keeping as much distance as possible, because if this insanity had reached the little backwater village already where Daniel had met his fate, then Markus did not want to imagine what was going on Berlin.

Once his engine was running Markus first plugged his mobile phone into the cigarette lighter with the help of the charging cable and turned the heater up to dry his wet clothes at least somewhat. The phone should be working again after half an hour at the latest and be able to receive new messages.

Markus had the route in his head vaguely and tried to calculate the approximate driving time. If everything worked out fine he should be home in about eight hours. Maybe some time later, but at least in a foreseeable time frame.

In his rearview mirror he could see the pale face of Sabine behind her steering wheel, who was moving her vehicle behind his. Slowly Markus let the Defender roll out of the exit. The highway lay deserted and gloomy ahead of them, not even one vehicle seemed to be about. Everybody had surely holed themselves up at home, to simply sit this thing out. Maybe the empty roads were also a result of the curfew.

Markus accelerated, making a left turn. Soon the exit, and the adjacent playground, had vanished behind them in the darkness. In Germany simply everything was regulated and there were emergency plans for every situation. Thinking back on the news of the last weeks, on the moment, when this novel flu virus had spread at first in Russia and then across the entire European continent, he was still fascinated with how fast emergency centers and contact points for immunization had been set up.

Regardless, whatever they had given the patients, their conditions only worsened even more. Slowly at first, as if the virus was still adapting to the human organism, and then consistently faster.

There had been deaths at the beginning, of course, which had been attributed to the virus, but that was nothing new when it came to such diseases. One only had to think about how many people die every year because of the normal flu. Numbed, as a result of the bird flu, BSE and finally EHEC, Markus and Sabine finally had gone near Berlin - ignoring all the signs successfully - in order to participate in the long desired role playing game.

They had just shared the common view that nothing would happen to them, especially not in Germany. Markus was jerked out of his thoughts suddenly when the gas station, about which Daniel had told them, appeared on the left side of the road.

The whole area was bathed in glistening floodlight, it stood out of the all engulfing darkness like a bright island. Typical gas station structure, in front the covered area with gas pumps, behind it the main building and on the right two large doors, through which one could reach the repair shop area. Some cars were still standing around the gas pumps, one car still had a gas nozzle stuck in its gas filler neck.

Markus‘ focus however was shifted towards four heavy vehicles of the Bundeswehr, which were standing with their motors running in front of the area. The first and last one of them were heavy armed Dingos with attached MG3s, the two vehicles in the middle were big, edgy MAN with container like superstructures. The MAN at the rear even had a long telescopic arm extended, on which halogen headlights were attached, bathing the whole area in cold light. Between the vehicles, heavily armed soldiers with gas masks and rubber gloves were busy with some activities. Two of them were just about to lay an apparently heavy black plastic bag on the side of the road, which formed, together with the other bags already placed there, a long row. Markus swallowed hard. Those were surely for body bags.

But no, that was just not possible. Not here, not in this country. It did not escape Markus that behind the MG3 in the first Dingo was a rifleman who followed the movement of his Defender with his weapon. Scared he slowed down in order to not make the soldier even more nervous. When two soldiers stepped on to the road with a red glowing signaling disk, he slowed the vehicle down and finally stopped.

When he was about to lower his window it dawned on him that he would probably be an odd sight for the soldiers. There is this guy in his old, rattletrap Defender, wearing this used army outfit and a protective vest from the British Army. The man with the disk was shining a light in his face with a Maglight and moving towards the driver‘s door, while the other one stood a little off to the side with his G36 at the ready.

“Please turn off the engine and place your hands on top of the steering wheel. In a way that I can see them. I‘m moving towards you now in order to check your documents.”

Markus followed the orders without hesitation even though the soldier‘s voice sounded young and insecure. The guy with his sandy hair in his camouflaged armor was not much older than twenty-five years of age, at the most.

The men made a strained impression and he could imagine just too well what was going on inside their heads. It was not everyone’s cup of tea to be on duty with an uncertain outcome on a deserted highway, while ones family had to fend for themselves at home.

The engine noise of Sabine‘s Peugeot behind him died down as well. The man looked systematically through the interior of the car with the beam of his flashlight. Daniel had not told them bullshit after all - the Bundeswehr was doing the police‘s work.

Internal military deployment, something that before had seemed nearly unthinkable.

“Where are you coming from and why are you on the road during the curfew?”

This question had to come. Markus decided to not tell some flimsy story but to tell the truth instead. “We, I mean myself and the woman in the car behind me, we‘re coming from the recreation area of the KJG and we‘re on our way home.”

“What were you doing there?”

“Role playing.”

“Role playing?”

“Yes, role playing. You think of different characters and a plot and then...”

“I know what role playing games are!”

There was something about the tone of the soldier‘s voice that Markus did not like. Something different than the usual rejection when he told people about his role playing. Normally he earned incomprehension or a weak smile at the most, but this man was annoyed by the topic right away.

“What‘s inside the aluminum box in the back of the car?”

Markus had forgotten all about the box. He stored some medieval reenactment weapons inside it. A mace and a homemade crossbow to be exact. Marcus’ real hobby was acting as a sergeant of the Milites Templi from around the year 1250. Actually Daniel had wanted to buy those two weapons after the game, but that would not be the case anymore now.

“A couple of things for medieval reenactment.”

The soldier frowned, but did not ask anything more. It was for the best. “Do you carry any modern weapons with you?”

“You mean firearms?”

“Yes.”

“Not that I know of.”

“YES or NO!” The man really seemed pissed.

“No.”

Right at this moment his mobile phone came back to life with a loud signal tone. The soldier flinched, reaching right away for his weapon, the barrel of the G36 which had been aimed at the windshield jerked up as well. Markus raised his hands reassuringly.

“Guys, that‘s just my mobile! Just my mobile, understand?”

The soldier nodded curtly instead of giving an answer and withdrew with Marcus‘ documents in order to check on them. He could observe Sabine through his rear view mirror. She seemed really nervous, smoking a cigarette, agitated. He had no clue what would happen next.

Finally the soldier returned, giving him his papers through the open window. “Everything is in order so far. We‘ll take care of your safety now. Our convoy is about to leave, we‘ll escort you to the checkpoint Platkow. Then we‘ll go from there.”

Markus was thinking hard while he drove his Defender onto the parking lot beside the military vehicles. They were losing precious time right now and he was sure that once they had reached this mysterious Platkow that they would not leave it for awhile. As soon as he had stopped, he already held his mobile in his hand.

>> Stuck at a checkpoint. Hope we‘ll be moving soon. I‘m ok. Everything is fine. Will touch base again. Take care. Many kisses. M.<<

What followed was endless waiting. The soldiers were kind enough to bring them hot coffee and Bundeswehr blankets. Sabine wrapped up in hers thankfully.

They had already been sitting in the parking lot for over two hours and were able to watch with a strange feeling, how the men loaded the body bags on the truck with the lighting post. On the doors of the gas station big yellow signs, bearing the symbol for biological hazard, were put up, that cryptic sign one normally only knows from movies.

There was nothing left to do but to watch the soldiers at work. Markus was so tired that his eyes burned everytime he opened them. The moist cold had succeeded to crawl into even the tiniest gap of his clothes, letting him shiver. Not even the steaming coffee could change that.

It was the same for Sabine. Systematically she had used up her last cigarettes one after another. Besides that, she was cold and had a backache again that had been plaguing her for some months now. The doctor had told her something about deterioration and he had prescribed her some pills, which she had never taken. The cold intensified the pain multiple times.

It was her own fault, but because of it she had to crawl through wet ditches in the forest, in the snow, whenever her back would give out. Again and again she looked at her Smartphone, hoping for a new message from Pascal, only to time and time again see the mocking zero besides the mail symbol. She would have loved to throw this thing against the head of one of those idiots who held them up unnecessarily. She was annoyed by every little thing, especially by the splashing noises when Markus was playing around in one of the oily puddles with his foot.