Title: Tech: Zombie Effect Chapter 4
Characters: Logan/Carter
Series: Tech: Zombie Effect
POV: Logan
Closing the door of the barn, Logan couldn’t help but think that he was going to have to get in better shape. As he looked at Carter, he thought they both needed to get in shape. His arms felt like wet noodles, and Carter’s face was red and sweaty. But they’d hauled all the food supplies down to the basement and stored all the stuff from the truck in the barn.
“Crap! I almost forgot,” Logan said and strode to the truck. Reaching into the back he pulled out two black cases and handed them to Carter. Then he reached back in and got the box of medical supplies he’d raided from the lab. “These we need to keep in the house.”
“What are they?”
Nodding at the cases Carter carried, Logan said, “You’ve got the guns. I’ve got the med stuff.”
“Guns!! Are you out of your freakin mind?”
“Shhh!” Logan hushed. He twisted his head both ways. Then he gave a self-depreciating laugh. The house and barn were a hundred yards from the street and the closest house was about a mile down the street. There was a new subdivision behind them, across the river, but Logan knew most of them hadn’t been sold yet.
In a quieter voice, Carter asked, “Guns? I’ve never used a gun. You’ve never used a gun!”
Logan walked up the steps and across the back porch. He didn’t want to continue this conversation outside. No one was around to hear them, but he just felt better...safer...inside. The little ball of tension that had started to form in his stomach loosened when he heard Carter’s footsteps behind him. Logan continued into the house, through the kitchen and living room to their bedroom.
“No. I’ve never handled a gun, but I’m going to learn. We are going to learn,” Logan said. “We’ll start tomorrow. Tonight, we’ll keep them our closet. The guns and the medicine. I want them hidden from sight, but not far from reach.”
He reached up to the shelf in the closet, Logan took down some boxes of old clothes that they’d stored. “Let’s put these upstairs. Who knows if we’ll need them at some point.”
Carter took the boxes and looked at Logan. “It’s so unreal. I can’t believe this is happening. How did you know what to get? The rice and beans and a food dehydrator. I mean come on, who thinks of getting a dehydrator?”
“I wouldn’t have if I’d not looked at some survivalists sites. I printed out some stuff too. Like the manuals for the guns, how to make a greenhouse. Things we might need if this gets out of hand.”
“Do you think it will?”
Logan didn’t want to scare Carter, but he did think...no, he knew, it was going to get bad. More and more of those videos were popping up and the emails that he’d secretly received became more and more frantic. Just the day before, Logan had seen a couple videos from inside the United States. Videos that showed the same violence as the ones from the medical clinic. That was why he had suddenly felt the situation was more urgent than ever before. “Yeah, I really do. You up to watching a couple more videos?”
Carter nodded. “Yeah. But let’s do it now before we eat. I’d hate to get puke on the screen.”
Pushing the box that had the medical supplies to the back of the shelf, Logan placed the two gun cases in front of it. He wanted them close. “Come on, there’s a couple that once you see them, I think you’ll understand why it’s going to get bad.”
They went to the kitchen and took a couple of cans of soda from the fridge. Logan grabbed some saltine crackers too. The videos were gory and saltines usually settled Carter’s stomach. In the study, Logan pulled Carter’s chair around so they could both sit comfortably as he showed him the other videos.
He leaned back in his chair once he started the first video. He watched as Carter leaned forward. Logan had watched this video several times the night before. He knew what was going to happen.
The video started with a woman in an airport filming herself, talking about the fun trip the family had just taken in a South American country. She turned her phone to show two teenagers smiling and a man, apparently her husband, who looked pale and sweaty. She turned the phone back to herself to explain that her husband had started to feel bad and they had visited a hospital while on vacation.
A sudden yelp echoed over the speakers, the phone turned toward her husband, showing a short clip of him biting one of the teenagers. Then the phone was dropped and the screen went black.
“Wait. What?” Carter turned to look at Logan.
“Just a minute, watch this one.” Logan started another video.
Again, this one was in an airport, but a much busier one. Someone was taping passengers coming in from a plane. In the background, people were welcoming family and friends. One passenger appeared to have had too much to drink as he wobbled down the aisle. He vomited blood and then fell face first on the floor. A flight attendant rushed to give aid. She turned him on to his back. As she leaned down to administer mouth to mouth, the man lifted his head and bit her on the cheek. The video stopped after a voice whispered, “Oh my God.”
“Were they here? In the states?” Carter asked.
Logan nodded. “Yeah. I saw them last night. That’s when I knew it was time to act. To get the stuff we need if this gets out of control.”
“Do you think it will? You don’t think it will be stopped?”
“I hope it will be stopped. But with all the secrecy I just don’t know. Here, there’s one more in the states. Watch.” Logan clicked on the video. Logan had watched the videos multiple times trying to determine where they were taken at. “I can’t figure out where this one was at. It’s not an airport.
Both men leaned forward, trying to look for clues. Suddenly, the screen went to static. Then a display came on with the words: Video no longer available.
“What?” Logan clicked on the link again and again. Each time, he was given the same message of video not available. Quickly he tried one of the other video’s they’d just watched. The screen said the same thing. Each of the videos they’d watched was gone.
“What does that mean?” Carter asked. “The videos are gone?”
Logan ran his hand over his face. “I don’t know, Carter. Either someone is censoring these videos because it’s under control. Or the shit’s about to hit the fan.”
End Chapter 4
Go on to Chapter 5