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"Yes sir."

Clark stared at me as he sucked on a tootsie pop. "What was that all about?"

Whatever was going on through out the rest of the world that day came slow to Fort Carson, Colorado. There were rumours of infected people being examined and treated at nearby hospitals in Colorado Springs a few miles down the road, but nothing as chaotic as Cedar Sinai.

The main worry we had at the time was when we were going to get our televisions and radios back. A few soldiers disregarded the commander's order and kept their cell phones on them. A roadblock made up of tanks and armoured personnel carriers had been set up at all the entry points to the post, but people with valid military identification and family members were still being admitted.

That night there was a mandatory formation at our Battalion. Colonel Piscol stood in front of us with some notes and proceeded to give us a briefing. The soldiers were becoming restless and rumors were running rampant about what was happening. The main one was that there had been a secret enemy chemical strike that was affecting the minds of those infected.

"Men," the colonel shouted. "I'm sorry about the delay of information but we needed time to sift through the facts. Let me apologise for putting you all on lockdown today and taking your personnel phones and what have you. Here's what we know for sure. Some of this is going be hard to understand so bare with me. Today at 1300 hours President Bush put the entire armed forces on Defcon 4 and declared a state of emergency for the entire country. He also declared Martial Law.

What that means is that as soon as we receive the order we will be moving into the downtown sectors of Colorado Springs and possibly Denver to keep the peace. If need be we will start evacuating uninfected people to safe zones. Gymnasiums, coliseums, hospitals and anything that can be used to house and shelter large numbers of civilians. If need be we will transport people here to Fort Carson.

"Now let me tell you what is happening with this infection. All of you are going to be medically screened before I send you out there. If you have any strange symptoms to report, tell someone in your chain of command immediately. This infection causes death in only a short amount of time. A few hours. Once your heart has stopped beating, the infection or whatever you want to call it, causes the brain and motor skills to remain active. In a sense it causes a corpse to walk, moan and become violent. The corpse will bite and attempt to eat anything living. If you are bitten you are to report immediately anyone in your chain of command so we can get you treated. If you come into contact with one of these infected persons, your orders are to stay away and not to open fire. I can't have you shooting uninfected people out there. If you do receive the order to fire upon these things, it will be only in a life or death situation. The procedures we have here are fire only at the head and immediately burn the body using any means necessary. Are there any questions so far?"

Every hand in the Battalion went up, including mine.

We were promised that phone calls could be made to family members as soon as time was made available. Clark managed to sneak his pocket television out of his room and we confirmed that what the colonel had briefed us on was definitely true. Endless news reports came in about people being eaten alive by these corpses. Below a steady stream of information about what shelters were receiving people in the Colorado Springs and Pueblo area. Images from New York City showed police

shooting at these things and one image came in of a firefighter being attacked by about ten of them.

It was a long night as we sat around playing cards and taking turns with one of the guy's contraband cell phones. I tried calling my parents in Phoenix, but kept

getting the machine.

Early the next morning, before the sun had risen, our unit's first armoured column departed for the Olympic Center. The center had been an established refuge sight for about twelve hours and our mission was to set up a command post there and defend it. I drove our armoured personnel carrier with Clark in the back handling radio communications. The track was slow and the only weapons we carried were M-16s slung over our shoulders. My only comfort came with knowing that if these

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