BOO - Harrison Broyles

I crash into bed, drained from an overly stressful day. I check my phone one last time before I drift off, and I see a news headline- "New disease developed in Liberia- possible deadly strain of Ebola." I didn't take it seriously then. No one did.

I woke up the next morning, flipped on my phone, and, in the midst of my grog, read "Sickness spreading rapidly- all contact with Africa lost, scientists bewildered". I scrolled through some CNN reports, and started seeing videos, pictures, and eyewitness accounts sent before contact was lost. They detailed the symptoms, rotting skin, muscle fatigue, and damage to the nervous system- a reduced brain functioning resulting in incomprehensible speech and an inability to feel pain. Investigating further, I saw failed rescue missions, almost 50 planes and naval ships that just disappeared once they reached port. And then the conspiracy theories. God's punishment for the recent wars and atrocities in Africa, biological warfare from the Russians. and a plethora of other useless hypotheses. 

Within the hour, an official global crisis alert was issued by the UN- all flights and ship voyages were cancelled, borders closed, and only necessary movement would be permitted for government officials and medical teams. All flights and ships that had departed within the past 48 hours were forced to turn back, some straight to Africa, and all who had traveled from Africa in the past week were subject to immediate quarantine.

5 hours later, a myriad of airplanes and ships departed Africa. Military units were dispatched, and all  but one were sunk or shot down. That one was a small canoe, and had landed on the Southern coast of Europe, and medical personnel as well as armed forces awaited its arrival. The diseased were taken away, and that's the last anyone ever heard about them.

What we did find out though was more details about the disease. Afflicted persons were displaying signs of decay, similar to those post mortum- muscles were progressing through rigor mortus, bodily processes seemed to follow those after death, and the heart stopped beating. But somehow these people were still functioning. Science up to this point would have deemed it impossible for this to happen.

After my shift at work that night, they finally made a breakthrough in their research- these people weren't actually alive. They were zombies. No one was sure how it happened, or why, but they knew it needed to be stopped. Each nation was asked to donate military equipment and personnel to a new ops team that would go into Africa and obliterate everything in sight. Everyone there was presumed contaminated, and we didn't want to take any chances.

The op didn't go as planned. We lost contact with forces about halfway down the Nile River. Many countries began sending supplies and a few dozen people into space, preparing for the worst. But everyone knew that only a few would be able to make it up- and the rest would be stuck to fend for ourselves. And so, it began.