The common room was a rather large chamber, with broad windows lining the left and right sides. Large curtains were drawn tightly shut all around the room. There were a dozen circular tables scattered throughout the room with four to six simple chairs in front of each. At the far end of the room a large flat screen television hung on the wall. A couple couches were placed around the television along with low coffee tables.
Just to the right side of the door there was a counter top separating space for a small kitchen, to be shared by the residents. Several people had been standing in the kitchen area when Lucas entered the room, and were watching with concern as Rob and the blond girl walked to a nearby empty table and sat down.
About a dozen more people were scattered in small groups at a few tables, with three watching the television at the two comfortable couches. They briefly looked up from their conversations as the new people entered. An older black man Lucas couldn't recall the name of approached them and began to look after Rob's injury. Quiet murmuring mentioned the zombie outside the building as the others came in from the front lobby.
Lucas heard agitated chatting in snippets around him, but disregarded it as he walked towards the back of the room, focusing singularly on the television broadcast, its volume just loud enough to hear over the excited chatter. As he sat down on a couch close to the back of the room, the guy sitting beside him stammered. "T-There's one outside?"
"Yeah." Lucas said flatly without looking at him. The man stood up and rushed away.
"-stay inside with all your doors and windows securely closed and locked until the crisis has passed. The Center for Disease Control also recommends that if you see anyone behaving erratically, that you keep your distance, and find a safe place away from them until help arrives. If a family member bitten is showing signs of infection, it's also recommended that they are restrained or kept in a separate area of the house until help arrives." The slim man with a goatee on the television said. He had dark, short hair, wore a suit and tie and seemed remarkably calm, considering. "They also recommend that any water used in your home should be thoroughly boiled for five minutes before it is used for cooking, drinking or bathing. Although confrontations are not recommended if you do have to defend yourself from an attack by an infected, keep in mind that injuries to anywhere but the head appears to have minimal impact."
A text crawl steadily scrolled at the bottom of the screen, showing regional alerts and closures. The time at the bottom of the screen declared it was 12:47 PM. The other newscaster was a pretty young blond woman with a nervous smile. Names for both of them briefly appeared on screen, but Lucas didn't care to read them while they were there. He was distracted by the presence of a number on screen labelled 'infected reporting line'.
"Approaching hour twenty of this crisis, as new reports of -uh," The woman began, "New reports of infected are coming in from Florida and Michigan, and as we get reports we are updating the map on our website of sightings throughout the United States where this outbreak is so far confirmed to be taking place."
The screen changed to a broad green map of United States and Canada, with about a third of the land marked in red. All three west coast states were red, as were several nearby. A scattering of other states were also marked in red. Lucas noticed that Hawaii and Alaska were not marked.
"Since our last update, new sightings of infected have been confirmed in Brazil, bringing the total number of countries with confirmed cases up to twelve so far." The woman continued on. A list of countries appeared on screen as she read each one off, but Lucas was still staring at the map.
The map vanished and the calmer man with the goatee appeared on screen. "We now go live to images from the news chopper. At the scene of the earlier reported mob near the Oregon Convention Center and the Rose Quarter. We would like to first warn you that what we are about to show you may be disturbing for some viewers."
The image changed again, an overhead view of the downtown area being shown. The Willamette River was on the left of the screen and one of the many bridges was also visible. A few cars were seen driving down the raised highway running from the top and bottom of the screen. Elsewhere on the roads, few cars were parked, and an occasional figure was visible walking aimlessly through the mostly empty streets. In a few places a motionless body laid on the ground. The greenery of the Rose Quarter plaza was on screen and a group of zombies was pressed up against the building at the top left.
The camera slowly moved, panning over the area slowly and scanning, but keeping a wide angle. As it shifted down and to the right another swarm of figures were visible outside the other large building and a few people were standing on the rooftop. Although the camera was purposefully not zooming too close, Lucas could barely make out a few figures motionless on the streets surrounded in pools of dried blood. The helicopter circled around, the angle of view changing slowly as it flew over the riverfront.
"According to reports last night, over five thousand people were trapped in the convention center as of last night when the mob formed outside, biting those people they could reach outside. We don't have exact numbers, but we do have that minimum according to the Portland mayor's office. Again, authorities are recommending that if you are anywhere near one of the danger areas, to keep indoors until the situation can be controlled. If you see an infected, there is a hotline set up to report the sighting shown onscreen now."
As the man spoke, the camera suddenly shifted back up and left and zoomed only slightly, drawing focus on a small group of heavily armed people running from the large building along the top of the screen. The view shifted as it followed them, as they were quickly noticed and chased by several of the zombies closer to the building. "It appears some survivors are trying to make their way to safety, and are being pursed by a group of infected. This is not recommended for anyone to attempt."
Lucas watched as the scene unfolded horrifically before him, the survivors running towards a nearby parking lot, where several figures had lingered. As the people ran in silence, they split into two groups and began to weave between the parked cars. The people ran into the lot, followed closely by several zombies, and as they approached, the three lingering figures in the area turned and charged towards them between the parked cars.
The armed people in the group raised rifles and shotguns, firing at the few zombies already in the lot or trying to pick off the closest pursuers. A single zombie fell down and rose up again. Lucas heard a surprised gasp as either a newscaster or someone in the room with him reacted to the sight of the crowd of zombies gathered outside the building rippling suddenly with reaction to the gunshots. The swarm fractured into two groups and a tide tirelessly charged in the direction of the parking lot. From the other side of the street, twenty more figures emerged from the inside of a parking garage, closing in around the survivors as they were now surrounded.
Those armed in the group fired again and successfully dropped another zombie, falling behind in their run as they made their way to the near edge of the lot. The pursuing figures closed in, some now no further than a dozen feet away from those furthest back. A man in front cracked a zombie in the head with a baseball bat, knocking it down as he ran past. After he and the woman with him ran past, the zombie rose up again. They ran to a red car and opened the doors, climbing inside as a few of their companions behind fired at the pursuing figures with their weapons. Two turned to run but were knocked to the ground by their attackers.
It was hard to follow what happened next. In an instant the remaining survivors broke into a disorganized chaos, scattering in random directions and trying to run between the swarms. Some were only just barely able to move between pursuers for a moment, desperately running before they were grabbed by reaching hands and knocked to the ground. Someone jumped onto the hood of the red car and kicked at a zombie trying to bite his legs, firing wildly at the four zombies gathered around the vehicle. One door was still hanging open and a zombie was climbing inside the car.
When the car backed out of the space with a jolt, the man on top of it fell to his knees, and the swarm behind them spilled through the lot. As the car drove through the lot in a rush, it slammed into several figures and crashed into a parked vehicle, grinding to a halt. The man on top was thrown onto the pavement and disappeared beneath the mob.
After a few seconds with no sign of the survivors, the image returned to the newscasters, and the man with the goatee reminded viewers to stay indoors until the authorities could get a handle on the situation.
