Read The Z Infection for Free Online

from the scene suggest there were several walking wounded.  Emergency
services were on the scene very quickly, but have since withdrawn from the area
due to an unspecified danger.’
    ‘There are also several reports of
wide scale problems on the Piccadilly Line.  There have been widespread
disturbances within several stations and at least three have been closed.  It
is not yet clear if this is the result of a terrorist attack, or if it is
simply the result of numerous unconnected accidents.  More to follow shortly…’
     
    Anthony Ballanger
    08:45 hours, Friday 15 th May, Whitehall,
London
          I was in Whitehall, at around nine in the morning, preparing some papers
for the Prime Minister, when the first reports began to drift in.  I was one of
his most trusted people at that time, so what happened a few days later, when
he lost it, was difficult for me to come to terms with.
    There was mention of a bus crash near
Covent Garden.  An explosion.  People injured.  We considered a terrorist
attack but there was no intelligence to suggest something like that was
imminent.  Someone suggested a rogue group which were not on the radar but it
was generally guesswork.
           Then, about half an hour later, we began to get
the first reports that something had happened on the underground.  A number of
stations had been affected and the Piccadilly Line had been shut down as a
precaution.
           By the time it was half past nine we had
scattered reports of disturbances in the city centre at various locations. 
Police officers at the scenes were reporting numerous assaults and injuries. 
Some people had died as a result of their wounds.  A crowd was gathering at the
gates of Buckingham Palace and the fire crews who had attended the initial bus
crash had been forced to retreat after coming under attack.  The fire was
raging unchecked and out of control.
           The Prime Minister called me to his office as I
was watching a news report and told me to organise a COBRA meeting as soon as
possible.  He was an astute individual, despite what the media and his
detractors said about him and his instincts told him that something momentous
was happening in the capital.
           I spent the next few minutes telephoning and
texting as many people as I could, explaining the urgency of the situation. 
The meeting was arranged for two in the afternoon.  I think that was a record. 
If it was then there was no chance of it ever being beaten.
           One of the men I contacted was Dr Richard
Bryson.  He was a foremost disease control expert.  I had no idea what was going
on but I wanted to make sure I had covered every conceivable angle.  Luckily he
was in the city that day, as he often travelled around the country giving
lectures at universities and colleges.  He agreed to come to Downing Street
immediately.
           Then, everything changed.  A report from a
police officer suggested that some crazed survivors of the bus crash had
attacked several people, including police officers and fire fighters.  The
survivors appeared to be irrational, out of control and oblivious to pain. 
They were biting people.  I read the hastily scribbled transcript three times
before I handed it to the PM.  He looked at me, not comprehending what he was
seeing on the page.
           But it got worse, even more incredulous on the
next page.  It seemed that these people, who were attacking anyone who moved,
must have been infected with something really potent.  Their victims were having
fits and then expiring in seconds.  It was like the most venomous bite from a
snake.  But then, even more disturbingly, they were rising up again, as if
nothing had happened and then taking part in the violence themselves.
           It was the first time I had ever seen the PM
stumped for what to do.  On the one hand we had an obvious problem with public
order, but it looked like the perpetrators were suffering