Dead Earth (old version)

Chapter three - Martin

When the apocalypse started Martin was in the middle of a job interview in the middle of New York City, New York. It wasn't going extremely well, at least, not as well as the last interview he did. 

The guy interviewing him was an extremely fat man in a wheelchair because his legs were too weak to carry him around. The guy, Mr. Monite, didn't look like he'd taken a shower in the past year, much less this week. He was also the kind of guy that blamed everyone but himself for his life, he'd spent the first 10 minutes of the interview ranting about the 'crazy homeless people' taking over the streets. 

So when his secretary crashed through the door almost hysterical and told him that a homeless man was just shot dead outside of the building and they were being told to evacuate, he just laughed like she'd told a joke. 

This made Martin dislike him even more, and decided that he would just wait until the previous interview's results came back. 

Standing up, Martin requested to leave. "I'll not be staying if you're going to treat people like dogs that deserve to be shot down, just because your lazy ass can't stand them." 

The secretary led him out  and, once the door was closed on the shocked silence of the fat man, she nervously smiled. 

"That's def' nitely not the first, or the last time someone 'as walked out on an interview with Mr. Monite." She gave a small laugh and showed him towards the front door, walking past the surprisingly empty  cubicles. 

"Be careful out there son, there's some real unhappy people crowdin' 'bout, shoutin' at the police. They're complainin' 'bout that dead homeless man. I dunno if he deserved to be shot, but 'e looked plenty dangerous ta me, rushin' the police like that." She opened the door for him then started to roll down the metal grate in front of the door. 

"What about the evacuation, ma'am? Shouldn't you be leaving too?" Martin asked, confused. 

"I gotta get a cab for Mr. Monite, then I'll be a leavin' too, just closin' this in case a' riots. You'd best be gettin outta here while you can young man."

With that she locked the grate and shut the inside door, disappearing into the building. 

Martin gazed across the street at a tarp-covered body surrounded by a large rectangle of 'Caution. Police Line. Do Not Enter' tape.  He couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but he could tell that there was just a single red spot on the tarp above the body's head. 

It surprised him a little, from what he knew the police were taught to shoot for the torso, it's a bigger mass than the head. 

Martin hurried down the sidewalk and towards his car when he saw a group forming near the body, people were shouting and throwing rocks at the officers standing guard near the body. What he didn't see was the hazmat team exiting a vehicle a moment later, fully dressed in their protective suits, and taking the body to a quarantined research zone.