“Dan, I don’t know what’s going on with you, but you’re not taking a bite out of me,” I tell him with an even tone.
He looks at me for a moment and then shakes his head and says, “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I feel so hungry,”
“I know buddy. We’re almost there. Just hang tight,” I say.
I’m getting really worried. Dan’s clearly infected by what Jenny’s got. He’s getting worse and worse. How long will it be before he loses complete control?
“Shit,” I swear as I hit the brakes. We’ve just hit a traffic jam. There’s been an accident, with three cars piled into each other, and even though I have my sirens on, nobody is trying to pull to the side, like they normally would.
“Whaatt’s goinnng on?” Dan asks. Jenny shrieks.
“Uhh, hang tight Dan. I’ll be right back,” I distractedly say.
I put the ambulance in park and hop out the driver’s side door. I walk down to the next car and knock on the window. The man gives me an irritated look, but sees my uniform and rolls his window down.
“What do you want?” He defensively asks.
“I want to know why you aren’t moving to the side of the road for me, giving that my siren’s sounding,” I tartly reply.
The man sighs and says, “I can hear the damn siren. But the gridlock here isn’t making it easy lady, so cool that siren down and just wait like the rest of us.”
“Sir, you are aware that obstructing an ambulance is a crime, correct?” I ask.
“Yeah, but I can’t do anything about the rest of the people.”
“Just pull your car to the side of the road. I have people in critical condition.”
The man gives me a cross look and turns the ignition on in his car and then pulls his car to the side of the rad. The people after him see what he’s doing and start pulling their cars to the side. I shake my head and then head back to the ambulance. I open the driver side door and haul myself into the driver’s seat. I look into the back of the ambulance. Dan and Jenny are both gone.
“Shit,” I say.
I grab the com and push the button.
“Dispatch, this is ambulance 2901. We have a situation,” I say.
“Report,” The dispatcher barks back.
“Dispatch, I was transporting an infected patient and my partner who got bitten by said patient. I got stopped at a traffic jam and started directing traffic to get out of the way. When I came back to my ambulance, both the infected patient and my partner are gone.”
“Ambulance 2901, was this the zombie call we sent you on?”
I hear a tapping on the driver door. I look out and see the man I was talking with earlier. He looks annoyed and holds up his wrist and points to it.
“Uh, correct dispatch,” I say.
“They’re probably pulling one on you. That whole situation seems like a hoax.”
Tap, tap, tap.
I wave the man away.
“Negative dispatch, this is not a hoax. I repeat this is not a hoax. The patient was infected with something and she infected my partner.”
Tap, tap, tap.
I roll down the window.
“What?” I tersely ask.
“You made me move my car, but you’re not driving. Get a move on.”
“I’m busy reporting on a situation to my dispatch. Now go back to your car.”
“No! I’m not going back to my car until you turn that damn siren off and apologize for making me move my car. And I want your badge number, so I can report you.”
“Sir, I have an emergency situation with two infected patients who are no longer in this ambulance and could be infecting other people because I had to get out of the ambulance and ask you to move your car. The only one doing any reporting here is me. Now shut up, get back in your damn car and sit tight.”
The man looks taken aback and then shuts his mouth. He starts to walk back to his car, when Dan tackles him from behind and then bites him on the arm.
Author’s note: This is a short story excerpt set in the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center Universe. Each week I’ll write another part of the story on here. If you enjoy, check out the Zombie Apocalypse Call Center series and my free story, The Zombie Apocalypse Convenience Store
You can read part 1 , part 2, part 3, and part 4 of of the story here.
