"Fuck" John thought inwardly.

He couldn’t believe that in just three days twenty-five percent of the zones had joined the original sixty-five percent.

Now ninety percent of the zones had been shut down as a major loss.

He shouldn’t have let Luther and the rest drag him into that silly project of theirs but at that time it looked like a good idea.

At that time it sounded revolutionary.

He knew now that he must have been a fool then.

He had to get back home quickly in order to check that his son and wife were safe.

He heard a roaring noise above him and poked his head out the window to see two military choppers fly southward.

Towards the zones.

He gunned the accelerator and the car picked up speed. He overtook a slow ambling car in front of him and turned left.

He was sorry because not much people knew that hell was soon about to break loose.

John turned right and suddenly came head on with traffic.

Fuck! He was losing precious time.
The road was a two way lane, large enough for two cars to use the same road but none of the cars were moving. From what John could see it was as if something was blocking them upfront.

He didn’t have time for this.

He got down from the car and headed towards where the source of the traffic seemed to have originated  from.

As he kept on moving forward past rows and rows of cars that had drivers hooting angrily at each other he felt a mounting terror growing in his bones.

When he reached upfront he saw a big truck parked in the center of the road.

The truck had been parked in such a way that no car could maneuver around it.

But that wasn’t what had caught his attention.

He could hear a soft thumping at the back of the truck in the cargo bed area like a noise that was there but wasn’t there. It was fleeting but it was enough to make John tremble.

In matters like this John didn’t joke with his instinct. And his instinct was screaming danger.

Stranger still, was the fact that the truck had no driver. He could see through the driver’s window and it was empty.

Everything in his bones was screaming a ploy but John pushed the thought away.

Was he getting paranoid over a deserted truck?

John stood there transfixed. His hair had suddenly stood up in ends as though a cold chill had passed through him even though the weather was stifling hot.

“What is going on Sir?” someone asked behind him.

John broke out of his reverie and turned to see a traffic warden behind him.

“I don’t know know. The truck was just parked in front of here, there was no driver and I was trying to check it out.” John replied.

The warden moved over to the truck opened the bonnet and looked inside.

“Nothing wrong here” the warden said, closing the bonnet and heading over to the driver's door.

He peeked inside the rolled up window.

“There are no keys in the ignition either, this is looking suspicious to me.”

“Maybe the driver went to take a pee” John offered trying to relieve himself of the tension he had felt earlier.

The driver cast him a funny look and headed over to the door leading to the cargo bed.

Suddenly the banging coming from inside the truck picked up again this time John felt with more intent.

The warden cocked his head at the sound and slowly took out his baton.
“What’s in there?” he asked John.

John shrugged.

The warden hit the door with his baton and the banging abruptly stopped.

“Maybe it’s an animal” the warden muttered as he eased the latch on the cargo bed door and threw it wide open.

The interior of the truck was dark so John couldn’t see anything.

The warden poked his head inside to get a better look when suddenly he was gone… without a single sound.
He blinked as if to clear his vision, not quite believing what he had just seen.

The warden was truly gone.

There was a thudding noise in front of him and a body fell out of the truck and onto the ground. The body was a bloody mess of blood and flesh but amidst the ruin of the body John could recognize the warden.

He couldn’t scream, his throat failed him at that moment. They just constricted and refused to open.
Something jumped out from the interior of the truck and landed beside the warden’s body. It sank its teeth into the warden’s stomach and bit.

John could only stand still in horror he was trembling like a leaf as beads of perspiration streamed down his face.

No it couldn’t be, not this early, not here, not now.

As he watched, the thing that was beside the wardens body looked up fixing its eyes on him and John felt recognition flood him.

It couldn’t be.

The thing emitted a low growl as it watched him.

  Suddenly someone screamed behind him and it turned its gaze away from him and  launched itself at the woman who had screamed behind him.

She had probably come out of her car when she had seen him standing there motionless.

John broke out of his paralysis turned and ran. Even as he ran he was aware that other creatures similarly identical to the first were jumping out of the car and launching themselves at people who were getting out of their car in fear and shock.

John kept on running. He had to get to his car.

The road was now a pandemonium of terror. All around him people were clambering out of their cars pure fear on their faces.

He could hear bloodcurdling screams around him.

He reached his car and dived for the front seat. He gunned the ignition and drove in reverse thankful that there was no other car behind him.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

It was happening too quickly. He swerved left  taking a detour and  raced for his house.

He had to see his son and his wife at all costs. He had to make sure that they were okay.

   *******************************

John scrambled up the front steps of his house and opened the door.

“Bruce, Janet!” he screamed, but there was no answer instead sounds of footsteps greeted him.

Someone was walking down from the stairs and the moment that John saw him  he felt his body fuel with rage and anger.

“You” he said coldly.

“Yeah, that’s right, me”.

He suddenly understood what had happened.

“What have you done?” John asked.

“Done? I haven’t done anything yet I just merely started the genesis of a great chapter.”

John couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He couldn’t even believe this was happening, it seemed too surreal.

“Look around you, this is no great chapter this is just another one of your failed experiments.” John scoffed his anger barely contained.

“In every great beginning there must be a mistake somewhere, it’s just the natural order of things.” He said.
“You’re insane” John spat.

“Call me whatever you like” he whispered.

“I won’t let you get away with this” John growled advancing towards the man.

“That’s the problem here, I will get away with this and more he said with glee. I hope you saw Dean, he is in a happy place now.”

With that the man sprang forward and even before John could think or react he felt something sharp slide into his chest.

It had all happened with lightning speed.

He coughed blood and sank to his knees.

“Fuck you” he said with difficulty as blood seeped out of his mouth.

“Doesn’t matter, at least you are dying” the man said heading towards the door.

“Oh and before I forget John don’t worry your little boy is safe” the man laughed as he left the house.

John fell to the ground panting. He could feel cold darkness starting to creep on him.

No, no, no he couldn’t die his wife and child they needed him.

But he could feel, it he could feel death spread its cloak around him.

“Jordi” he called weakly.

The artificial intelligence in his home powered on.

“Yes master, you called?”

“Yes, Jordi…”

“Master John your body’s vital systems are critically low you appear to be dying.”

“Forget…that…Jordi…” John said feebly.”

“Okay, what would you have me do?”

“Begin memory extrapolation.”

“As you wish”

He felt Jordi climb into his head.
A few seconds later he heard Jordi say.

“Memory extrapolation complete.”

“Save and upload to cloud.” John said his eyes slowly starting to feel heavy.

“Saved and uploaded.”

Rename 0093.”

“Done master.”

“Thank you, Jordi.”

“Should is stay with you master. I believe this is where we part”

“You have been of great help Jordi…."

“As always master John.”

John couldn’t believe he was actually dying.

He was so tired and his body felt warm. He had only one regret. He wished he had done things differently.

Do you like the book so far please drop a vote. Do you like the tension comment please.😋🤗

Dedicated to lavendareyes  sethquine
and those beautiful people who read this book without a read for read honestly it means a lot.