Water drenched the city as numerous limp forms littered the street. An isolated figure dashed amidst the disarray. Paralyzed mobs had naturally produced erratic piles while many of the luckier were slumped inside idling vehicles. Dashing amidst the sea of immobile forms, Evan paused to roll individuals from their backs and onto their sides. In one case, he pulled a soldier who had been face down out of a puddle and worked to drain the water from his lungs. A couple of times he saved someone from a drowning fate who bore an obviously broken bone or a bleeding injury.
Fortunately for Evan's sake as much as anyone else's, it appeared that the vast majority of the populace stricken by the peculiar malady had fallen forwards or to one side. But even with that fortunate happenstance, there were still far too many in need of aid he was not capable of helping. Puddles dotted the city streets and his eyes were inexorably drawn to someone new that required aid. Further into the downtown region, a wispy haze of smoke was battered by rain, clear evidence of flames that were being rapidly expunged by the precipitous rainfall.
As time urgently pressed onwards into minutes, Evan had been drawn increasingly further from his safe origin. Among the locus of idling buses and military transport, there were thankfully very few crashed vehicles, the product of drivers rendered unconscious during motion. Very few had collided with a building or one another vehicle, but it did happen. Sometimes with unpleasant, gory outcomes for those caught in their path. Luckily for the passengers, it appeared as if the collisions were mostly low speed, non-fatal and the vehicle damage had been mostly superficial.
The downpour filled the air with a steady hushed static; the faint noises of which Evan had barely been cognizant had subsided after a short interval. The agonized squealing of twisting metal or the snapping, sharp whistles had felt like products of anxiety or temporary derangement. In his harried impulse to help, Evan's lingering thoughts dismissed the perception as a confabulation spurred by anxiety and imagination. Yet upon passing beyond the edge of one building corner, he spied something that brought that perception rushing to the forefront of his conscious mind.
Only a few hundred feet away Evan witnessed numerous twisted, torn hulks of metal which littered the soaked pavement and sidewalks. Where once had presumably been an armored vehicle, only torn and dysfunctional scraps remained. Zombies could not do that, whispered a chillingly compulsive, instantaneous mental voice. Adding to the alarm, within the proximity of those remains- indeed anywhere nearby- there were absolutely no unconscious figures. Firearms had been strewn about as if their bearers had dropped them in a wild panic as they had fled.
A murmur of shuffling activity diverted attention before the sight had time to fully impress itself upon Evan. Startling movement spurred honed reflexes to leap away. The human horde around him had finally stirred, and now rose to their feet with startled, bare comprehension of what had taken place. Voices and murmuring speech filled the air as individuals checked on companions, retrieved fallen objects and tended to injuries sustained.
A few on the outer edge witnessed the evidence of wreckage and missing that Evan had spied and began shouting in alarm. Others came to with serious injuries or within sight of mangled bodies and shrieked. A sudden wave of urgency swept through the crowd as a disorganized terror swept over civilian and soldier alike. Amplified voices bellowed for calm and order as officers attempted to alleviate the fearful and impose discipline over the dense clusters.
Evan attempted to assist the efforts to reassert order, but his actions to subdue what was coming merely added to the growing maelstrom. Gradually people became horrified upon spreading realizations of their exposure spread. With the front line of their organized rescue shattered and its accompanying soldiers vanished without a trace, there was a growing mood of unease. Eyes darted nervously throughout the multitudes, as people neurotically regarded anyone within vision as a possible undead attacker. They were increasingly susceptible to zombie attack from anywhere and the thought compelled everyone to terrified distraction.
Evan watched in shock as a nearby bolting individual- very much still living- prompted a pop of gunfire into the edge of the assembled clusters, and that was all it took to dash any hope that order would be restored. A stampede broke out as nearby people naturally reacted to the gunfire with an impulse to flee. With no clear criteria to distinguish zombie from living, that initial spark created a cascading effect that swept through the street. More isolated gunfire broke out in spurts as chaos soon reigned.
Throngs bolted in random directions, a ripple of motion pressed against the enveloping human sea. Some assailed the idling vehicles in a desperate bid to acquire a space which did not exist; still others were trampled within the furor or crushed as alarmed drivers accelerated away. Babbled warnings of zombies filled the air as Evan wove his way through the tides, halting beside a building's heavy wall and remaining there until the throttling currents had dissipated.
Within a minute the gunfire and screams had retreated into the distance and the induced madness nearby had waned. The increasingly distant roar revealed that the havok within the local area had spread through the surrounding blocks. Carefully gazing in every direction for signs of the abnormal, Evan ventured carefully to where he had been standing just prior to the outburst.
Attention was momentarily drawn to Evan as the nervous soldiers regarded him as a possible hostile. Holding his hands up and walking slowly, he gained the uneasy trust of the minority of those who had remained in the vicinity. Those still present were actively attending to the wounded or in some cases, requesting urgent aid for the rapidly dying.
Rushing to assist where he could, Evan could barely hear the sounds of the world as the senselessness of it all overtook him. There were few zombies in the area and Evan was not sure he had actually witnessed any out here. Yet he had seen perhaps dozens die or receive fatal wounds due to an aimless spurt of paranoia.
With his adrenaline wearing off and without any protection from the rain, Evan could feel cold numbness seeping into his flesh and mind. With his ability to change the circumstances around him severely diminished, the reality of the situation had begun to impact him.
"Civilian! Stop at once! Return to your shelter!" Dull comprehension of the echoing commands came to Evan gradually as his attention was forcefully drawn away from a dying gunshot victim.
Few other living remained nearby who were not overloaded onto a military jeep. Most of the vehicles had vanished while Evan had not been looking. Those few others on foot were moving quickly away. How much time had passed was unknown, but those providing emergency medical care were withdrawing and numerous refugees had simply vanished. A medic came forwards to staunch the wound of the person Evan had been trying to help.
Reluctantly, Evan turned his attention away from the dying, walking through the streets splashed with blood. Sporadic gunfire still fired nearby and along the surrounding avenues as he proceeded to his dorm. Before much longer, the loud cracks halted and the last of the vehicles disappeared from sight soon afterwards. Evan was left alone, walking through familiar avenues rendered nightmarish.
It was almost as if the city had been a battlefield. Evan barely had enough presence of mind to check around himself for his own safety. A few times he almost stumbled over an immobile body. Eventually, he returned to the wrought iron gate of the Mansfield dormitory and approached as a familiar face gazed out at him from the other side.
"Evan! Evan!" The single figure waved, close to the bars and partly hidden under an umbrella. In the nearby street, one of the dormitory's residents laid in a pool of vermillion.
Still in his rattled, numbed condition, Evan approached without immediately recognizing or acknowledging the individual.
"Say something!" Zack had a look of surprise on his face. "Were you bitten? What happened? Evan!"
"I wasn't bitten." Evan exhaled with great effort to speak. "I am fine."
As he neared the gate, Zack allowed him entry. He said other things, but Evan could barely hear them as he was escorted into the building.
"What happened?" Jennifer asked from somewhere within the lobby.
"It's okay." Evan replied as he sat on the floor next to the closed elevator door. While doing so, he became aware of the blood on his own hands and clothing, adding. "This isn't my blood. I'm okay."
There were more voices, but Evan only focused on the one thing he had been able to see running through his mind ever since the first shot of the massacre had stung his ears. Despite only a hazy recollection of identifying traits, he was almost certain the human catalyst for the event- the first person who had bolted- had been one of those he had saved from drowning.
