Debbie (© Rich Restucci) This contribution is part of a series:- 1. Unlikely Hero (16-Apr-2010)
| Assistance is always welcome when the living dead come stumbling. | 2. Run! (14-May-2010)
| Runs alongside Unlikely Hero with new characters, and some you might remember. A man and his daughter head for safety when the undead plague hits San Francisco. | 3. Debbie (11-Jun-2010)
| A flight attendant holes up in a school with some kids and one of San Francisco’s finest. Runs alongside of Unlikely Hero and Run! | 4. Novocain (13-Feb-2011)
| Sometimes the living dead aren’t the only pain. | 5. The Rock (15-Jan-2012)
| The survivors on Alcatraz get some new friends... and new enemies. | 6. Crossing (28-Apr-2013)
| Rick, Dallas, and a team of Navy SEALS traverse an infected United States to meet up with some scientists who just might have a vaccine for the plague. | 7. Foray (10-Oct-2013)
| A trip into fallen San Francisco reunites some survivors with an old friend, and old enemies. |
Page 1 Debbie wept. She sat on the roof of the Gardner Elementary School and wept for all the loss. She glanced up and could see thick plumes
of smoke coming from the Transamerica Pyramid, and huge flames shooting from
the center floors of 555 California Street Tower. Two of the largest
skyscrapers in San Francisco probably wouldn’t see the light of another day.
Neither would the countless people trapped inside those burning buildings. She
wept for all the people she had seen dead or dying in the last two days. She
wept for the children she couldn’t save. She wept for her sister. Debbie was a flight attendant. She had heard things about a
strange disease in Boston, and she hadn’t wanted to make the trip, but she
really needed an extra shift this month. She had gotten there and back without
incident, gone home and gone to bed. She awoke the next morning at seven to get ready for another
trans-continental flight. She turned on the TV to keep her company while she
got ready for her shower. She was in the process of getting a mug to make her
coffee, when she actually started paying attention to the television. She
walked over to the couch, and with brows furrowed in confusion, used the remote
to turn up the volume. She initially thought there was an action movie on, and
wondered where the news was, but she quickly figured out that some sort of
disaster was happening in her city. The anchor on the screen looked frantic. Debbie
started getting scared at what he was saying. "...not attempt to reach family or friends, but get to a
designated rescue shelter or military convoy immediately. The shelters listed
on your screen are no longer safe. Do not attempt to go to a hospital if you
are injured! San Francisco General and St Mary’s are totally overrun. All
avenues out of the city are clogged with vehicles. If you are trapped, try to
signal authorities for help, as most of the cell phones in the city aren’t
working. Do not attempt to engage the attackers, as they are extremely violent
and will not listen to reason." The anchor man puts his fingers near his
ear and looks down for a brief moment. "We now transfer to Garrett Rhodes
live on scene at St Mary’s Hospital. Garrett, what’s happening down there, can
you see anything?" "Jim this is nothing short of total chaos! As you can see
behind me, the police and Army forces have converged on St Mary’s in an attempt
to rescue some people trapped on the upper floors. There has been no word from
anyone inside in over a half hour, and repeated attempts to speak with anyone
inside have failed. I can…WAIT! Wait there’s someone smashing a window on the
fourth floor! They are lowering something out the window, it looks like sheets
tied together, Jim this is incredible! I can… OH MY GOD! There are infected
pulling her back inside! I can’t see her anymore, but there’s thrashing going
on and I can hear someone screaming …" As the reporter continues a woman comes hurtling out the
window to land on the asphalt forty feet below. "Jim did we get that? That poor woman just jumped out the
window! An army medic is on his way to attend her! Wait a second…It looks as
if the ground forces here are attempting to get inside the hospital." The
units dressed in black are SWAT, and they have teamed up with regular army.
They are about to breach the front doors. There seems to be something blocking
their way in, they’ve stopped just short of the entrance. The front glass gives way and at least a dozen infected
spill out onto the street. The soldiers and SWAT team fire into the crowd.
Dozens more infected are behind the first wave, and they are shot piecemeal as
they emerge, but there are too many. "The security forces here are backing up, there are many
more infected than previously thought! They seem to be coming out in droves!"
Gunfire erupts in the background and the reporter ducks, while
simultaneously throwing his hands over his head. The haggard reporter looks
around before continuing. "That was not a shot from the police, it came
from…" The reporter looks past the camera into the campus parking lot, the
camera pans around quickly, a large mob is approaching from behind. Gunshots
can be heard, much closer now. Voices other than the reporters are heard
yelling. [ Continue to page 2 ] |