Chapter 2: The Atrox Virus Spreads

“You fucking assholes!” David shouted. The soldiers dragged him to the room with the isolation chamber. One of them waved a keycard at the pad next to the door and it rapidly opened. Inside the room was a silver rectangular chamber. It looked like a vault to the average layperson. 

 

One soldier held David firmly as he struggled. He had no strength at all due to spending all of his days in the lab and not getting any exercise. Even the food he received was not large in size. He had lost a lot of weight since he had been forced to work at this lab. His clothes hung off of him. 

 

The other soldier swiped his keycard at the pad on the isolation chamber door and it opened slowly. David started to panic as it opened. The soldiers dragged him inside as David started to fight even more. He was able to yank his arm free and punch the soldier in the helmet which did nothing but bring on a sharp pain in his hand.

 

“No! You fucking bastards! Let me go!” David roared as he tried to slip past. The soldiers quickly grabbed him and flung him backward. He hit the ground and quickly got up. The door closed as David dashed forward.

 

“No! You fucks!” He yelled as he banged on the door. The light in the chamber turned on and David shielded his eyes as they adjusted to the light. He banged on the door for a moment longer but it was no use. They were not going to let him out. He turned around and looked at the chamber. Inside of it was a twin-sized bed and a toilet. Nothing else. 

 

The silence immediately began to hit him as he walked to the bed. The isolation chamber had been designed by the military for the penal system before the world had completely changed due to the rampant spread of the A-virus. It was an advanced form of punishment that took solitary confinement to new levels. 

 

David had spent many nights here during his time at Quonium especially when he failed to produce results for them. The first time he had felt overwhelmed by the silence in the chamber. It had almost driven him crazy but he had forced himself to think about various solutions he could do for what the organization required from him. When he was released after that first time, he was able to successfully produce results that pleased Nox. 

 

It had been a hard and devastating road from the start of the apocalypse to where he was now. David had been a pathologist in Westford for several years before the spread of the Atrox virus which had come to be known as the A-virus. He had been married to the love of his life but the marriage had been on the rocks, especially during the year before the Atrox virus went global. 

 

David was a workaholic. He spent many nights in the lab when he should have been at home with his wife Jenna. Even when she complained about not seeing him and feeling alone, David told her that he would spend less time at the lab but he didn’t. It wasn’t until one night when he came home and saw that Jenna had moved out that he realized how truly serious things were. 

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David tried everything to make things work and they reconciled. But, their life as they knew it as well as the world ended shortly after. The Atrox virus had been discovered in its first human in Shadow Creek. No one knew what this virus was but when it started to spread rapidly and the stories about bodily transformations were discussed on the news it caused a panic. David and Jenna had been planning to leave the city and head south to their vacation home in Florida but David had been called into the lab for an emergency. David told Jenna to go stay with her sister and that was the last time he ever saw his wife.

 

David had been working in his lab when he heard that the A-virus had had its first sighting in Westford. He stopped working and he saw in horror with the other pathologists the chaos that was taking place on the news. People were being chased down by deformed humans and what looked like monstrous animals. David called his wife’s phone and got no answer. He wanted to leave and go to her but the armed guards would not let him go. He and others in the building pleaded with them but they would not open the doors to the horrors that were going on outside. David’s lab was underground and the guards figured that they were in the safest place in the city. 

 

They spent several days down there watching the news and the horrors that were taking place throughout the world as the virus was now rampant. There was so much footage of deformed humans and monsters that was all David could describe them, attacking people. All of the news channels went off the air completely on the fifth day of the A-virus pandemic. 

 

David and the others spent several more days worrying about their loved ones. They had enough food to last them a while but they all wanted to get out. It wasn’t until several weeks later that a group of soldiers barged into the lab with their guns drawn. The scientists all raised their hands in fear. It was the first time that David saw Nox. That looming figure told them that they were all going to be moved to a facility where their expertise was needed to understand this virus.

 

Many of the scientists had asked about their loved ones, to which Nox had replied in a flat tone that they were all probably dead. Several of the scientists wanted to go see for themselves but the soldiers raised their weapons at the group. Nox said that this was not a request. They were going to this facility whether they wanted to or not. They were all marched out of the building and David saw to his horror what had become of Westford. There was destruction everywhere. Cars were overturned. Buildings were destroyed. There was blood all over the streets and he saw a few dead bodies on the ground. 

 

Several large helicopters were in the street and were gearing up to go when David saw his first infected person. The woman had large boils all over her skin and they were as big as basketballs and seemed to be getting bigger. Her face was a large boil as David could not see her eyes or mouth but she charged toward them. One of the soldiers raised his gun and fired at her. The bullets hit her constantly but she came forward still. It wasn’t until a bullet hit her in the head that she collapsed on the ground. All of those boils burst open and spilled out a greenish fluid. Several of the scientists vomited as they watched the fluid spread beneath the dead woman. 

 

A few seconds later, there was the sound of rapidly approaching feet and David saw in fear that a horde of these deformed people were coming toward them. Nox yelled for everyone to get into the helicopters. David and the others ran toward them and dashed inside. The horde kept coming. David stared out at the people whose bodies were deformed beyond all recognition. The helicopters quickly ascended into the air and David was able to see the total destruction of Westford.

 

Everything was in shambles. He saw so many hordes of the infected moving about the streets and to his horror, he saw a large creature that had to be about 10 feet tall. It was dripping fluid from its gray body. Its hands were claws that hung down at its side. It turn its circular head and David saw multiple eyes that covered it as it looked up at the helicopters. A mouth opened in that head and let out a terrifying roar. David and the others screamed as they looked down at it. 

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