Dead of Night - Part 3
by Ada Woods
Ada?
Hey, dad. What’s up?
Are you at home?
Yup.
I need you to pay attention and do exactly what I say
Is everything okay?
It will be if you listen.
Jesus Christ...pls tell me we’re not moving again.
God damn it, Ada, this isn’t a joke.
For once in your life would you do what I’m asking?!
Okay. Calm down.
Ur scaring me.
I’m sorry, baby.
Something bad has happened.
How bad?
And why r u texting me instead of calling?
I can’t talk where I am right now.
Where are you??
There’s no time to explain. You need to get to safety.
I’m really confused.
ADA PLEASE STOP ARGUING AND DO WHAT I SAY!
Or else what?
You’re not telling me anything!!
Or else you’ll die.
Why do people keep saying I'm going to die?
What do you mean? Who said that?
Some creep with an eye fetish texted me some weird shit earlier this morning.
Who was it?
Adam, I think. I don’t know… I deleted him.
But ur freaking me out worse than he did.
I want to talk to mom
but she’s not answering my texts
She can’t answer you, baby.
I'm going to her lab.
ADA NO!!!
Shit. I just heard gunfire.
ADA GET TO THE BASEMENT.
DON’T TYPE. JUST GO!
When u get there I need you to take everything from the gun safe
and load it in a duffel bag.
The combination is ur birthday.
When you finish there, pull my desk away from the wall.
You’ll find another safe there.
The combination is your mom’s bday.
Ada?
Did you get into the gun safe?
Jesus, dad.
What r these things?
Bullets.
Why r they glowing?
Later.
Right now I need you to load the 9mm gun with the glowing bullets
and load the other gun with regular bullets.
Done.
Good. Now get out of there.
Take the truck.
What?! I still have my learner’s.
I can’t drive without an adult.
Today you can.
Just get out of there and I’ll explain everything when I find you.
Out of where?
Off the base.
Why? What could be safer than being on an army base?
Because that’s where it’s starting.
Where what’s starting?
Ada, stop arguing and do as I say.
Someone just rang the doorbell.
Shit.
How many are out there?
Looks like just one guy.
Should I answer?
Dad?
I need you to open the door and shoot whoever is there and then get in the truck and go.
WHAT?!
Ada, I’m sorry but you have to.
Are you kidding?
I’ve never been more serious.
He’s coming to take you.
Ada?
I’m going out the back.
NO! The sun is setting. U don’t have time.
Too late...I’m out. Now what?
I can’t get to the truck without being seen.
Now run.
Where?
Head for the rear of the base
and stick to the backyards of the officers’ houses.
OK. but daddy, this is freaking me out.
Can u pls tell me what’s happening?
There was an accident at the lab on the base.
Something got out.
What got out?
Something your mom was working on.
Mom’s a secretary.
No, baby, she isn’t.
She’s a chemist.
What was she working on?
A weapon.
Something the government is calling a “synthetic necro-regeneration virus”
What the hell does that mean?
Reanimation.
Of humans.
She made zombies?
I don’t believe u... That’s absurd.
Sweetheart - I swear its the truth.
You have to get out of there before the sun sets.
Why is military police surrounding her building?
Jesus, tell me you didn’t go there?!
OH SHIT!
They just shot someone through the window!!
Why would they do that?
Ada, please, baby, you have to trust me and RUN!
I’m not leaving until I know she’s ok.
She’s not ok, Ada.
OH MY GOD!
What happened?
I can see her...through her office window upstairs.
Daddy, she’s ok.
She’s not, Ada. Please believe me.
She’s infected.
And the sun is setting.
Why do you keep talking about the sun?
Sunlight neutralizes the virus and makes it go dormant.
It was a failsafe designed into the virus…
to help us get a foothold if something like this happened.
They can’t infect anyone during the day.
But as soon as the sun sets…
But if there’s a failsafe, why do I have to leave?
It’s not the zombies I’m worried about…
It’s our response.
Huh?
Twelve hundred people work in that building. This happened thirty minutes ago.
By now they’re all infected. There was no time to prepare for that many.
Prepare for what?
Containment.
Right now, the army's just waiting for it to get dark.
What happens when it gets dark?
All hell breaks loose.
SHIT! They’re shooting again.
They’re shooting anything that moves inside.
Ada, you have to run.
NOW!
I can’t.
You HAVE to!
No, it’s too late...it’s dark and...they’re coming
If there are soldiers then there are Humvees.
Find one and get inside.
NOW!
ADA?!
I’M IN BUT DADDY THEY ARE ALL OVER!
JESUS WHAT DID MOM DO TO THEM? THEY R SO...ANGRY!
Drive.
Wait.
I see mom.
She’s coming this way.
OH GOD MOM?!
ADA GO NOW!!
I want 2 go but they r everywhere!
DON’T TEXT. DRIVE!
Run them down, baby.
Run them down and don’t stop.
Not even when you get to the fence.
Just drive through it.
Anything gets in your way...crush it or shoot it.
The glowing green bullets you took from my safe are for THEM.
I’m so sorry I’m not there for you
but I’ve made arrangements for Sgt. Delaney to get you.
Trust him.
I’m on a C-17 jet headed straight home and I WILL find you.
Ada, are you out?!
Did you make it out??
ARE YOU OKAY?!
I don’t know.
I’m out but I rolled the Humvee when I broke through the fence.
Shit, are you hurt?
Can you get out of there?
I’m out but I hurt my leg...bad
Stay calm. You only need a little more time.
OH GOD DADDY THEY R COMING!
I CAN HEAR THEM SCREAMING!
Ada please try and get up.
Please, for me!
Get on your feet!
I see headlights...
someone’s coming.
That should be Sgt. Delaney coming to get you.
Be ready to jump in.
What if it isn’t him?
Then shoot whoever it is and take their vehicle.
NO!!
Ada, they won’t be able to contain this.
You’re going to have to do whatever is necessary to stay alive and uninfected until I find you.
Ada?
It was Sgt. Delaney.
I’m in the back of his pickup.
he’s driving away from the base like a madman...
but I’m safe daddy.
No you’re not.
You won’t be safe until you’re far away from Ft. Hood and I’m with you.
Is mom really gone?
Yes, baby. I’m so sorry.
What happened, dad?
For the last 6 months, we’ve been developing a new weapon.
a biological weapon - more powerful and destructive than nukes…
Something no other country has.
That’s what you just saw, unleashed into the wild.
Except it was unleashed on the wrong country - ours.
Who is WE? You mean Mom made that?
Yes...for the military.
The plan was to create the weapon and use it as a threatening mechanism.
A way to scare places like North Korea and Iran without actually causing any harm to anyone.
It was never supposed to actually be released. Especially not this early.
We are still testing it. Developing a cure. It’s far from ready.
But 30 minutes ago that virus somehow got out in our lab.
And mom was in there?
She called in the breech.
Daddy?
Why were they coming for me?
That man who came to our door…
who was he??
Not now. I’ll tell you when I see you.
App