Chapter 1

The infected mutated quickly. People who had lost the ability to speak turned into mindless brutes within hours. They changed from humans to humanoid creatures that walked crouched with their knees bent. These creatures, a reporter had nicknamed “Links” after the missing Link, turned violent toward humans who had not mutated. News reports showed footage of masses of the creatures attacking and killing every human in their path.

Luckily, Nicole Roberts was in class in the main building at the hospital when the university closed its campus. She immediately gathered bedding, bottled water, snacks from the nearest machine, and the contents of her hospital locker. She secured a small back office and made it as livable as she could. Many medical personal slept at the hospital when the plague victims began arriving. Other staff found places on each floor. Spread over the hospital, they controlled immediate access to all the emergency facilities, ORs, and patient rooms.

Before the end of the first semester, Nicole had decided not to go home for the holidays. She opted to work at the hospital to cover for the personnel going home for Christmas. The money was great, and she hoped to make some contacts she could use later. Plus, working with the doctors could certainly help when she applied to their med school in two years.

A few days before the quarantine, Nicole’s dad called and did everything he could to talk her into leaving. He stopped just short of actually ordering her to come home. Nicole remained firm. After all, how bad could it be? She was already at the hospital. She remembered the bird flu and how dire the warnings had been. It never really amounted to a significant danger. The hospital was prepared for contingencies and this new virus should not present a serious crisis. Only a few infected cases were quarantined in the ER. No one at the hospital expected the outbreak to get worse.

The catastrophe struck, and overnight, masses showed up unable to speak. At this stage in the mutation, patients were still manageable. The staff admitted small numbers and secured them in restraints in case they became violent, but the number with active infections increased. Hospital personnel began to mutate. The hospital ran out of room and the remaining staff locked the doors. Security prevented people from breaking in to get help because there was no help to be given. The National Guard arrived to disperse the hordes outside with orders to shoot to kill anyone who became violent.

A mob of the Links collected at the bottom of the hill below the entrance to the hospital. A few still wore ragged clothes. They wandered aimlessly around the park, nibbling grass and berries and the buds on the bushes. One male paused to look at the building and noticed the guardsmen. His mouth opened and he uttered a horrible, shrill scream. It sounded like the word “die” drawn out into a high piercing shriek.

When the one Link screamed, the entire mob screamed. Seconds later, they charged in mass up the hill. The guardsmen opened fire. Blood splattered as bullets ripped through their targets. The Links at the front fell by the score. Many of those, torn in the hail of bullets, got up and charged again. The troops lay down a withering barrage of fire, but the mob surged over piles of their dead and smashed into the soldiers.

The mob ripped the soldiers apart. In moments, the last guardsman’s headless torso fell against the hospital doors. When the last guard died, the mob stopped screaming. They milled about, some of them gnawed on the dead bodies and pieces of the dead. Some of them wandered away. Some nibbled on the buds of the winterberry shrubs. A few wandered toward the hospital entrance. The Links’ sole purpose in the attack was to kill the human beings.

Nicole was on the third floor helping Dr. Kennedy analyze blood samples when the Links screamed. The sound penetrated the walls and filled the hospital. They covered their ears—the sound made Nicole’s teeth ache. Quickly, they hid in a small, windowless storage room behind the nurse’s station. Metal shelves stocked with supplies filled the tiny space. Nicole locked the metal door. They listened to the shrieking and the gunfire. Nicole’s heart pounded in her temples. The shooting stopped. The hospital went deathly quiet.