Darkest Just Before The Dawn

Chapter 6: Evacuate

"Today we will all be heroes," Captain Hanson announces to the couple of dozen Atlanta P.D. officers.

"We're being called in to evacuate the patients and staff of Grady Memorial Hospital by bus, to a safe zone setup in Butler Park. The city is a mess. There will be looting and violence happening all around you. You're to ignore that and focus solely on the safe evacuation of the hospital. If you come in contact with the infected, orders are to kill on sight, and you must do it with a headshot. Anything other than destroying the brain is ineffective. Any questions?" He finishes.

"What about our families? Are they being evacuated too? I'm concerned about my son", Bob asks.

Officer Bob Lamson was my partner on the force for the past 4 years. I'm as close with him as I am with Captain Hanson.

"Yes. Military personnel has begun evacuating all civilians to their nearest safe zones," Hanson answers.

"What about us?" Gorman inquires.

Leave it to Gorman to worry about himself. I've only known him for a few months. He's somewhat new to the force, and has a reputation for being a dirty cop.

"We meet at the evac point after all the patients have been safely transported," Hanson tells Gorman.

"What are our orders if we're attacked by the looters, sir?" I can hear a female voice ask behind me.

I turn to see Shepherd. She's also kind of new to the force, but she's quickly making a name for herself as a good cop. She's not an asshole like some of the guys can be, but she's no pushover either. Very professional.

"Ideally, we'd like to not be bothered with them, but if it can't be avoided, treat them as if they were infected. I know that sounds bad, but it's worse than bad out there, and we need to be able to evacuate those patients and doctors to safety," Hanson explains to Shepherd.

"What's the deadline for this evacuation?" I ask.

"There isn't one. Keep going until the hospital is fully evacuated," Hanson answers.

"Can we expect military aid?" Tanaka wonders.

Tanaka is a senior officer. He's been on the force longer than all of us. Instead of taking promotions for a desk job he opts to stay on patrol. He says it keeps him on his toes. I would've taken the desk job long ago if I was him, but to each his own I guess.

"No. These orders come straight from Atlanta PD. We're acting on our own. The military has yet to contact us about the outbreak," Hanson tells us.

"Any more questions?" He offers, but nobody responds.

"Good. There are 6 buses out front. We're going to take them over to the hospital and start loading the patients and staff for transport to the park. There is over 1,500 people in there, and our buses can only hold about 25 to 30 at a time so it's going to take a while. Be patient and stay focused and we'll be done before you know it. Let's get started," Hanson instructs.

We all disperse and head for the buses. I hop into the first bus with Captain Hanson, Lamson, and Shepherd. The captain begins driving us to Grady Memorial.

Looking out the window, all I can see is complete carnage. Infected people are stalking the healthy and biting into their flesh. People are breaking into houses and businesses to steal what they can. There's random fires burning on the streets. Cars are smashing into each other as they try to flee the area. Guns are being fired wildly through crowds. Half eaten dead bodies are scattered about. People are throwing stuff at us, and trying to climb on top of the bus. I've never seen anything like this before. It's worse than I could've ever imagined.