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    The Day Time Ran Out
    The Day Time Ran Out
    The Day Time Ran Out
    Ebook137 pages1 hour

    The Day Time Ran Out

    By Darrel Bird

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    About this ebook

    There was always time, until there wasn't! A Hollywood couple find themselves living in a world filled with the dead. The society they have known quickly breaks down as plague sweeps the land. They bind together with a few other survivors in an attempt to survive the last days on earth.

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    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDarrel Bird
    Release dateMay 28, 2011
    ISBN9781458036469
    The Day Time Ran Out
    Author

    Darrel Bird

    Darrel Bird has written and published 47 short stories. He attended Bakersfield college, and is an avid motorcyclist.

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      Book preview

      The Day Time Ran Out - Darrel Bird

      The daytime ran out.

      updated version

      Darrel Bird

      Copyright 2010 by Darrel Bird

      Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords License Statement

      This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      And I looked and beheld a pale horse; and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the earth. Revelation 6:8

      Atlanta burning

      At the CDC Atlanta, Dr. Vernon Sedgwick hooked the air supply hose into his biohazard suit and opened the door of the level 4 biocontainment, where a fresh slide of the virus lay ready.

      He nimbly moved the manipulator control, and then gave the glass slide a final bump as it slid under the electron microscope.

      Although the virus was small, it couldn’t hide from the best microscope in the world. No, sir, my tiny friend, you cannot hide your face from me no matter how small you are. Come to Poppa now and don’t be shy.

      He began adjusting the microscope one micrometer at a time, and as the dimness cleared, a shining metallic-like figure came into view. He stared at what had already killed half of Atlanta. The virus resembled a vortex, so unlike the Ebola virus, which killed quickly enough, this thing, was twice as deadly.

      He jumped when the virus he thought was dead exploded into a fireworks display of color, then settled back down, only this time it was larger and uglier. Fear like he had never known it filled his gut.

      "Lacy…Lacy!

      Yes, Doctor Sedgwick?

      I thought you said you treated this virus before it was handed off to me?

      Yes sir… it was.

      Then why is it still alive?

      The slender, good-looking woman on the other side of the inch-thick glass stared at him for a moment.

      We did treat the virus, Doctor. You know, I don’t guess at those kinds of things; that’s why I work at level 4.

      Well…Never mind, it’s just as good; get suited up and come in here.

      Doctor, you know the two of us are not supposed to be in there at the same time; it’s the rules!

      Well, to hell with the rules, just get your pretty butt in here; the rule makers are mostly dead!

      The 29-year-old graduate of Nova South Eastern and Cal-Tec donned the biohazard suit quickly and stepped through the airlock door as it slid behind her and sealed.

      What are you so excited about?

      Take a look at this.

      He readjusted the microscope until the virus was again clear; she stared at it for a minute, and then jumped back as it bloomed again like an ugly deadly flower.

      "Oh God!

      As she stared into the microscope, he reached over and hit the button that would seal their fate. She did not hear as the oiled 2-inch bolts in the door slid softly closed.

      He reached into a drawer for a small gun, and as she stared at the image, he put the gun close to her temple, just touching her biohazard suit, and pulled the trigger. Then he aimed the gun at his own head and pulled trigger again.

      The first time Atlanta burned was during the Civil War; the second time it burned was when the war against a man-made virus was lost, and Atlanta would never burn again.

      The biosuited bodies of Dr. Lacy Miller and Dr. Vernon Sedgwick would watch over the biocontainment level 4 long after the suits finally rotted off their bones and blank eye sockets as a testimony to what man could do to himself. They would stay a hundred feet below ground while Atlanta sank into oblivion.

      The virus hunter

      Thirty two year old Dr. Iris Pritcherd had worked for W.H.O. since college and was presently attached to the Atlanta Center for Disease Control when the call came in from Chicago that people were sick with a virus the doctors didn't recognize. The director at the CDC told her to take Fred Limpkin and go to Chicago. That suited her fine, as she was madly in love with Fred Limpkin. At the CDC, they called him The Lumpkin. That bothered Iris not at all because he was a handsome catch with a good personality.

      A virus didn't worry Iris because she had chased viruses all over the world and came out unscathed. She had returned from Africa the month before, tired, lonely, and looking for something different than poorly built, poorly furnished outback bush hospitals.

      Dr. Lyle Richards, also of W.H.O., took her arm at the airport and said, When you get there and find out what's what, report it immediately; it's probably nothing those hick doctors can't fix by themselves, but we get paid for the routine.

      Yes doctor.  She said, but her immediate thought was asshat! as she followed Fred through the gate to board the plane. She didn't like Richards because he treated her as if she didn't know what a virus was. As she walked down the covered ramp to the plane, she remembered Africa, where all the interesting stuff was. She had hoofed it through jungles to find the first victims of some real nasty stuff, such as Ebola.

      After they were in the air, she laid her hand on Fred's leg and squeezed. What say we take a little me time when we land? A day won't hurt.

      They told us to go directly to Chicago Medical Center, didn't they?

      Well, for cripes sake, Fred, if you don't want me, just say so!

      I didn't mean that, Iris; of course I want you. The sex is too good to pass up flashed across his mind like a rock skipping across a pond. He looked sideways at her out of the corner of his eye, as if she could detect his thoughts. Of course, she didn't know that he was using her just for sex. He knew the women they worked with laughed at her behind her back because they knew him as the biggest woman chaser in Atlanta.

      Let's just both turn off the phone and have some fun for once.

      Ok, I'm for that. Fred returned.

      They got a hotel room in downtown Chicago Tuesday at six p.m. and slept late the next day. They didn't emerge from the hotel room until Thursday morning at nine a.m. They caught a cab to Chicago Med, holding hands, with Fred thinking, "That's the best time I've had in years; she is like a teenager!"

      As soon as they walked up to the front desk, they knew immediately that something was terribly wrong and instinctively realized their mistake because the hospital was swarming with sweating doctors and nurses, and there were beds in the hallways almost out to the front desk.

      The woman answering the phones hardly looked up as they announced who they were; she just slung her head at the hallway and continued talking on the phone. They walked slowly toward the hallway when they spied a doctor. We are here to see Dr. Johnson?

      Second floor, take a left and down the hallway. Last room on the left.

      They made their way between the beds and found the elevator, which took a full two minutes to make its way to the second floor. Three nurses took the elevator with them, and they saw fear in the eyes of those nurses. There were beds in the hallways of the second floor too as they made their way to Johnson's office and knocked.

      What, What?  They heard someone yell on the other side of the door. Iris pushed the door open to find Dr. Johnson on the phone. Well, get me someone in Atlanta! He screamed and slammed the phone down: What the hell do you two want? He glared at each of them.

      I'm Dr. Iris Pritcherd from Atlanta.

      Where the hell have you two been? We've got a pandemic going on here!

      We came as soon as we could. She lied.

      He tossed a piece of film with a picture of the virus and said, We don't know what this thing is, and we think the incubation period is twenty-four hours.

      But that's almost impossible, Dr. She had looked at thousands of viruses, and this resembled none of them.

      Yeah, well, if you don't believe me, the hallways are full of specimens, with fresh ones coming in all the time.

      But we need to find the original carrier to isolate the virus, Doctor; that's our job.

      There's no way in hell to do that; a third of Chicago has it. Iris looked doubtful at the doctor.

      Go down to the front desk and interview, and at least you can determine the approximate time of incubation until death. He sighed.  I have to get back to work.

      Incubation until death? Her mind was whirring, and she had forgotten all about Fred. He followed her along like a lost puppy. He already knew he was in trouble because he had skipped all the serious diseases and bluffed his way along for years. Iris was the brightest

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