Burlington, Vermont
December 20, 2020
DSS Special Agent Esther Pryzbylewski
One Foot In The Grave
"His pulse is absent!"Pryzbylewski kept her eyes on the road, focusing on driving. They needed to get to the hospital quickly. The principal was dying, suffering from a massive hemorrhage, caused by a fresh hole in his chest. His blood caked the back seat of the Chevrolet Suburban. Mere minutes ago he was conscious, now he was unresponsive. A pit was forming in her stomach. Shit had gone from zero to a hundred fast, and it seemed like everything was spiraling out of control. It was bedlam, and Sasser shooting himself out of the blue made things ten times worse.
“He’s non responsive!” Adams shouted as he began attempting the life-saving measure of CPR.
“Ah fuck! He’s fucking dying man!” The bulky man in his late thirties rhythmically thumbing up and down on his chest as he attempted to prolong his life just long enough to reach the hospital. Esther didn’t know him well, but he was panicking, his speech was unsteady and she’d yet to hear him curse. His panic was contagious, and she was coming down with it. His life was in her hands, and the selfish bastard that was bleeding all over the place had put it there. She did not know why he’d done it, but she surmised it had to do with his work at Burlington Hospital. The place they were taking him right back to.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” Adams spat rapidly, frustrations peaking as his breathing peaked, attempting to get air into his lungs.
”Come on! What the fuck is going on up there! How far out are we?!””I don’t know! few fucking minutes or somethin’!” Esther retorted in irritation, her own cajun accented voice faltering to dread now.
“I don’t know the routes in this town!”DSS had given them ill preparation, but she thought it wouldn’t have been an issue. After all, Burlington shouldn’t have been anything like a bad day in Bagdad. The GPS feminine voice vocalised that they required a right turn onto north avenue, so she did. Driving aggressively as she swung off, wasting a portion of the vehicle’s momentum as she turned, but she was still going well over the speed limit, continuing to speed up. The sirens blaring as the undercover light bar emitted the strobing emergency lights. Esther watched as people seemed to dash into the street to flag them down, some even breaking onto roads in front of them. A sequence of petrified and strangely blank expressions defined by a concoction of headlights, streetlamps and the red and blue strobe. But Esther powered through, neglecting them as her training prescribed. It didn’t matter if she had to smash right through them, her immediate aim was saving the life of the principal in the back. Nothing else mattered.
Gunfire and screaming was discernible over the siren and roaring motor. It was complete and utter pandemonium. The civil unrest had grown out of nowhere. She didn’t understand it. No precursor and no motive. They’d been told that there could be a risk of rioting and violence if the quarantine failed, and they’d been judiciously prepared for it. But this? Esther didn’t get it. It seemed to explode off everywhere at once. Her earpiece screaming in her ear told her as much. All three other DSS teams looked to be engaged or were trying to take flight. One was even requesting whatever reinforcements they could send, declaring that they’d been besieged. But command stated that they had nothing to send. Esther had even requested medical help, but that had been denied too. Something that she’d found to be unheard of. Tonight was a night full of jolts.
“Shit I think he’s done!” Adams spat again, turning his head down towards his patient’s collar.
”I think he’s dea…!” his exclamation was abruptly cut curt with a concise grunt, accompanied by an intense, brief scream. Esther forced her eyes on the road, keeping her hands on the wheel and her foot on the gas as she kept the vehicle rolling. Her purgative was to drive. Nothing else.
“Adams?!” Esther shrieked. Fighting the screaming impulse to stare back that was attempting to override her training, the boom of a skirmish occurring in the back, a losing one at that. It sounded like Sasser had regained consciousness and overreacted. But the absence of a statement from Adams had her brain functioning at a mile a minute. Why’d he scream? Why wasn’t he talking? The sound of the fight was dying down now. Esther knew she had to look. She couldn’t fight it anymore. She tilted her head back for a second, taking a glance into the backseat. Esther’s eyes widened as her brain tried to process what she saw, her face cringing up into an expression of shock and bewilderment. Completely unable to comprehend the events unfolding.
Adams held his throat, blood cascading from a raw wound in his neck. The good doctor, Sasser, who was now white as a sheet, had Adam gripped by the shoulders, and was tearing him down towards the seats, and by proxy, himself. Fresh blood was caked around Sassers lips, droplets drooling from the rims of his lip as his jaws snapped at Adam. The only factor keeping Adams from his snapping teeth was his free right hand. Which was clamped against the passenger side’s head rest, his fingers burrowing into the leather. Desperately holding him upwards from the overweight doctor that was now trying to kill him.
Her capacity to react however was cut tight. Her decision to look back came back to sting her. Within that same second, she suddenly found herself thrown forward violently, the seatbelt being the only thing that kept her from hitting the windshield as her head whirled. Her senses frying as her vision blurred and the shriek of crunching and churning metal took over. Her grip wrestling with the steering wheel as the vehicle’s airbags deployed into her face. The next thing she noticed was an unexpected jerk as the motion of the vehicle came ultimately to a standstill. It was the first thing she noticed. The absence of motion.
Esthers bones ached. Her senses groggy as her head stung despite the helmet’s protection. Eyes watering as they bounced around, trying to figure out what happened. Esther noticed the the vehicle was facing at a different angle, well off the route. Her vision locking onto what looked like another accident on the separate side of the street, a sedan partly slammed into a convenience store. It took her a second for it all to click, the immediate shock dissipating as the fragments fell into place.
She’d hit whoever drove that vehicle, and her vehicle wasn’t moving. Esther cursed wildly, her voice breaking as she quarreled with the seatbelt, trying to get free of the seat. Attempting to tear it off before the thought to unclip it developed a moment later. Free from the clasp of her seatbelt, her collar felt an immediate sense of relief. The plate carrier’s strap had given some padding, but a dull pain still presided underneath it. Likely bruising. Esther fell back into her training, and immediately checked on her partner and the principal. Whom she had little hope for.
She glanced backwards, seeing that the rear of the trunk of the SUV had wrapped itself around a tree. The unmovable object causing the vehicle to corrupt in forms that wouldn’t be conceivable. Pure luck had prevented the front from taking any major damage. But in the rear seat was a mess. It broke the two men. Pulverising them into a barbarous fashion thanks to the unmitigated force of nature that was gravity thanks to neither of them having their seatbelts on. She’d seen injuries like that before from vehicle crashes. Nobody would be responsive after that.
But they were still moving. Sasser was still moving. They were still somehow conscious. Without thinking, Esther leaned in to assist. But something clicked as she looked at co-worker. A blank expression occupied Adam’s eyes as his arms reached out for her, unable to get any further because of just how broken up he was. His neck wasn’t bleeding anymore. A chunk of flesh missing right out of it.
She recoiled backward. She recognized he should be dead. His wound had struck a crucial artery. He shouldn’t even be cognizant. Esther sat paralyzed, battling with the notion of mortality as she looked on a medical impossibility. Then Adams snapped at her, his jaws flapping in the motion of chewing. Like a dog impatiently going for a treat. That wasn’t him. Her instincts kicked in shortly afterwards.
Esther tried the door, racking the handle, but it refused to budge. The snapping of jaws behind her audible over the howling siren that was still sounding off. punctuating the panic was setting in as she leaned back in the chair. Esther had to get out, and the only way was forward, over the hood. She put all her force into kicking the windshield. The glass shattered into a spiderweb pattern as she brought several full force kicks into it. The frame eventually coming loose, clanging off the battered hood. She felt the clutch of Adam on her elbow, stiffening as he attempted to pull her back. Esther resisted, snatching her rifle from the weapons locker in the middle, wrestling with it for the first few attempts before jerking it free. Now more appropriately armed, Esther tossed it over out the window before climbing out herself. Crawling over the hood before sliding off, landing flat onto the snowy floor. Esther gave off a heavy groan as pain shot through her body. Her face crunching up in discomfort as the stiffness from the crash still lingering.
Clambering to her feet, she threw the sling of her rifle over her body and began pushing to the other wreckage. Breaking into a jog before evolving into a full on sprint as the pain subsided, keeping her rifle low as she approached. The cold winter weather of Vermont began its assault against her. Esther wasn’t used to it. She’d been in Louisiana for most of her life, and her service in the military had almost only been in the middle east. Her clothing, casual civvies comprising hiking boots, jeans, a black sweater and a black lightweight winter waterproof didn’t help. Her tan plate carrier that was draped over the top, along with the FAST helmet, helped a little to insulate but didn’t do enough.
She could see movement from the corner of her eyes. Shadows in the distance become clearer and clearer. Appearing and disappearing between strobes of red and blue. humanoid shapes clambering over to the commotion in what looked like a brisk but uneven jog, further adding to the sense of unease that had taken over. Esther saw a woman frantically attempting to get free of the smoking vehicle as a convenience store employee clambered inside. The guy looked dead, much like Adam’s and Sasser did, and he was trying to get into the vehicle.
“Federal police!” Esther yelled towards the driver, her cajun tone authoritative as bolted to the door, attempting to force it open, only to find it jammed. Her nostrils blocked with the noxious odor of petrol. The vapors almost overwhelming. Looking for the source, she quickly observed a gas pump that was wedged between the front of the vehicle and the store that was spewing it.
“Out of the car! Out of the car now!” She demanded, realising the precariousness of the position. Her feet were sloshing around in the combustible slush of snow and gas. One spark and she’d get cooked. As if to make things worse, she noticed a wiring from the ceiling was letting off a shower of sparks. She watched the woman attempt to get free of the vehicle, panicking as she began attempting to clamber into the backseat. Headed for the potential escape of the boot.
Thinking fast, Esther advanced immediately, thrusting the truck open as the woman climbed in the boot. Esther grabbing her and pulling her up as she threw her bag out.
“Go! Go! Go!” Esther cried. Pushing her forward towards the road, breaking into a full on sprint as she began running. Panting as she attempted to get clear of the building. Ultimately, that spark came. Causing the scene to erupt into a fireball as the slush of fuel finally caught fire. The car and building becoming a tinderbox. Smoke billowing skyward as the materials of the car smoldered.
Once at a safe distance. Esther keyed her radio, anticipating that she’d get into contact with anybody from DSS that could help.
“Blue Actual, this is Blue 2-1. Requesting medevac at North Avenue. Blue 2-2 and red 2 are KIA, I repeat. The Red 2 and Blue 2-2 are KIA. How copy over?” Her plea went unnoticed, however. Falling on deaf ears. Silence rang clear. She tired again, and again, until she realised the futility of the position.
The shadows were becoming more distinctive shapes, illuminated by the glittering blaze that was the convenience store. There were around twenty of them. Closing at a modest but unsteady pace. Normally she wouldn’t bat an eye, but something told her this was peculiar. She realized she had to run. “
Hey. We can’t stay here!” Esther warned the blond woman, who looked worse for wear and was still in shock of the situation.
”we gotta find a place to hunker down. If you have any ideas now would be the time to say. Come on!” Esther began running, heading in the opposite direction of the attracted crowd. Her mind focused on finding shelter to weather the situation.