Thompson - A World Reborn (Book 2): Global Outbreak

Text Copyright Chris Thompson 2019

Cover created by Chris Thompson and is Chris Thompson 2019, and is an original image.

T he following is a work of fiction; no likenesses to persons, living or dead, or events is intended or inferred. The subject matter is suitable for mature audiences and features scenes of violence, adult language and horror. If you do not enjoy such content, or find it offensive, then do not read any further. Reader discretion is advised.

Prologue

G ENERAL PAUL ALLEN stepped into the conference room. It was, he mused as he found his seat at the head of the cream colored table, the definitive, secret dark room; the lights were dimmed, admittedly to help the contrast on the video call they were about to receive, and there were only people of importance and power present. People who could shape every aspect of life in America, and likely pretty far afield in the world as a whole; the Director of the FBI, Joseph Gill was present, along with the heads of various security agencies, all of whom he knew personally. He greeted them as he passed by, but today was a day for all pleasantries to be put aside. As he took his seat, the large video screen at the opposite end of the room turned on and a video call was connected. A rough looking, older male stepped into the video frame and sat down; he looked weary and his combat fatigues were ruffled and bloodstained. His name was Paul Lenns, and he was currently controlling the ground forces in the Washington D.C. area.

Gentlemen, lets begin with a few facts. Allen announced. The President and the Chiefs of Staff are secure. Were also redirecting all overseas military assets back home to deal with this virus. Whats the current term being bandied about?

Were currently calling it an outbreak of the Reborn Virus, but news services are labeling it as the Zombie Apocalypse. The FBI Director informed the group.

Thats if anyone is still reading or listening to the news. Lenns commented.

What do you have to report, Lenns? Allen asked.

Its all gone to hell; were losing ground to the infected and the Reborn hour by hour.

Do we have any more intel on the Reborn? How they operate, what their capabilities are?

No, weve learned nothing. They dont allow themselves to be taken alive; they self-administer the virus before we can capture them and remove their heart-rate monitoring device. All we can report is what weve reported already: theyre well armed, well prepared and, although the majority of their boots on the ground dont appear to be extensively trained, there are some amongst them who are clearly former special operations from a variety of military services from both home and abroad.

Is there any information on their weaponry? Allen probed.

Well, theyre nearly as well equipped as us; anti-vehicle and anti-aircraft weaponry, helicopters and even some black market, armored ground vehicles. Theyre using a highly encrypted method of communication that weve not been able to crack yet, while on the other hand, weve got multiple leaks in our lines of communication. And thats not even mentioning the infected. Im not going to lie, sir, were going to be overrun, its just a matter of time.

Allen sighed heavily, and then looked around the room.

Whats going on in the rest of the world? He wanted to know.

Reports indicate its the same in every country; massive deployment of the Reborn virus, leading to overwhelming numbers of the infected supported by Reborn forces. One thing we have observed is that the Reborn forces are more heavily deployed in Western countries; this isnt surprising, however, as their forces cant be unlimited. The evidence tells us that theyre focusing their efforts here, perhaps as a show of strength, and are relying on the virus to weaken infrastructure everywhere else. One of the intelligence agency representatives reported.

So what are our options? Allen asked. He felt like his report back to the President was going to be pretty dire and hoped there would be some good news somewhere.

Well, we still have the Ancillary in our custody. The FBI Director announced.

The Ancillary? Allen questioned.

Yes.

Remind me who that is?

We believe shes one of, if not the, second in command to the Teacher - the nut whos in charge of the Reborn. FBI Special Agent James DeWitt is currently escorting her and the so called Witness, Melissa Jones, to an extraction point. Were hoping to get them to an off the books location and then convince the Ancillary to tell us everything she knows.

Presumably starting with her name. Lenns commented sarcastically.

You dont know her real name? Allen asked incredulously.

No. He returned. Theres no record of her in any database, other than the fact that she was identified as being in charge of the Seraph attack.

And weve learned nothing more about the Seraph attack that might be of use in our current situation? Allen questioned.

Nothing more than is already documented: they deployed the Reborn virus then broadcast the slaughter via the internet. Melissa Jones was there on vacation. Shes a journalist who survived reporting on the civil war in Galgambwe, where she received some training by private military contractors on firearm usage. That training came in handy. She managed to rescue the last of the hostages from the Seraph Hotel and Casino, and defeated the majority of the Reborn soldiers to boot. She also learned that they call her the Witness, as the Teacher has identified her as the one who will essentially write the new gospel of how the world fell and was reborn to be a place where there is no corruption and the strong willed, the Reborn and those who join them, can thrive. To help her achieve that goal, they made sure she was immune to the virus, along with what we believe to be between one and five percent of all people across the world; everyone else is immediately turned. The unlucky bastards who are immune but arent deemed strong enough to join the Reborn dont get to walk away though. Theyre consumed by the infected while alive, and their flesh retards the decomposition process, enabling the infected to last longer. The FBI Director recounted. Allen nodded.

Well, gentlemen, its been two weeks since the global outbreak of the Reborn virus began. Lets hope the situation is looking brighter by the time we reach the third. Allen announced.

Chapter One

M iss Jones, please try to remain calm. Agent DeWitt told her, firmly but politely. It took every ounce of her internal strength to not slap his face. Instead she bit her cheek, a faint taste of blood as she bit a little too hard. Melissa had become a survivor out of necessity, and right then the survivor part of her brain screamed that sitting in the back of a truck being escorted by the FBI to a place they adamantly, even aggressively, refused to reveal, was the stupidest thing she could be doing. In addition, the fact that the Ancillary sat across from her smiling, just as she had been doing for practically the whole of the last two days, had gone past being frustrating: it was filling her with genuine rage. They hadnt changed her clothing, leaving her in the white robe and slippers - very much like the ones shed worn in the Seraph - but her wrists were secured with metal handcuffs. That hadnt put a damper on her relentless smiling, however. More frustratingly to Melissa, the Ancillary would occasionally try to engage Melissa in polite conversation, to which Melissa would respond with silence because she couldnt trust herself to speak without repeating a number of crude expletives learned from the mercenaries in Galgambwe, and she wanted to believe she was above that.