Aftermath: The Outbreak

Chapter 2: Safe Zone

I must have dozed off sometime during the flight because when I opened my eyes, the pilot announced that we have entered the Washington DC area. The helicopter was flying at a lower altitude now and we were given a good view of the capital. However, what I saw was something horrific. The city that was once known as the center of the most powerful country in the world was in ruins and was in total chaos. There were flames and smokes visible from the sky that somehow gave the city an orange glow. I remembered the orange glow I saw from the sky when I was still fighting in the battlefields in the Middle East. I never thought I would see it here. From this distance it was not hard to notice what was going on. I could hear loud gunfire from the ground accompanied with tones of screams of terror along with the growls and roars of the hordes of the infected. The helicopter passed by a busy street where I saw a lot of burning cars on the streets, a large crowd of infected and mutants, and soldiers on the other side with several Humvees fighting desperately. We then passed by the Library of Congress and its large front lawn where I saw several helicopters being overrun by the infected with only one helicopter managing to leave the ground only to fall again when another of those tentacled mutants pulled it down. A small number of soldiers on the Library's footsteps were making their desperate last stand with no way out. I could only look away from the carnage below. I noticed Agent Smith dotting on his tablet computer and dared to ask a question. "Hey," I said. "Where exactly are we heading again?"

"Washington Naval Yard," he replied. "It's now known as the Washington DC Safe Zone. We're heading straight to an aircraft carrier where I have just received word from that the president is expecting you, me, and Dr. Andrews over there, in a meeting at the situation room."

"Why does the president want you?" Dr. Andrews said to me.

"I'm not sure," I said. "But I know the guy personally. Might want to say hi or something."

"Well I guess we're gonna find out real soon." Agent Smith said. 

The helicopter passed through the large fences of the new Washington DC Safe Zone and from the windows, I saw a large crowd of people in the courtyard with soldiers gearing up. Trucks and Humvees were parked, some were heading towards the city with full loads of soldiers. Several tanks were there as well. We passed by the buildings when the helicopter slowly made its descent to land at the huge aircraft carrier by the docks.

The helicopter doors opened and we all went outside as fast as we could. It was then did a guy in his white service uniform along with four other guards approached us. "Gentlemen," he said. "I'm Admiral James Howard, captain of this ship. Welcome to the USS Olympus. The president is waiting for you at the situation room. He says to get you guys settled in before coming to meet him."

Captain Barnes and his men were already gone by the time I turned around to signal my team to follow. We were escorted to a large medical room where we underwent the same medical checkup once again only this time without the blood test and the series of questions. After passing the checkup again, we were told to drop our gear and weapons at a preparation room where we stripped down to our bear combat uniforms. We were then escorted to a large room below deck where a meeting table was in the middle and several monitors were at the walls. The moment I entered the room, I noticed a man with black hair with slight grey tones wearing a tan sweater and grey combat pants sitting at the other side of the room. The face was very familiar. The man stood up and approached me. "Well," he said extending his hand. "I never thought I see you like this."

"How are you Sears?" I replied, shaking his hand.

"Mr. President," one of President Gerard Sears' aides said. "We just received word on the VIP evacuation progress."

"Go on." Sears said.

"The Speaker of the House's helicopter crashed on the way from Florida. We've lost contact with him and his security team and we now presume him to have been killed. The CDC has activated his self destruct protocol and is now just a rubble. We've received unconfirmed reports that only two of the doctors we need from them have left the area safely and are now on the way. The Colorado Safe Zone has gone dark, we've lost all contact with them but the last news we've got from them was that the Joints Chief of Staff was there and was infected and had to be killed. Vice President Cowley has successfully been extracted from Texas and is already en route. Secretary of Defense is still at the Pentagon, sir, but they've locked it down already. And we still have no further update on what's happening with the CIA."