Beasts Among Men: The Outbreak

Chapter 1

The day that the world began to unravel beneath her feet started out normally enough for Katherine Burke (or Kat, as she preferred). She and her dad had a peaceful breakfast together before he went into the garage to tinker with his latest pet project, and Kat grabbed her sketchbook and a light lunch and headed into the woods behind her house.

The Burke household was located just on the edge of the town's boundary. They had neighbors, but there was enough land and trees in between to feel isolated. The forest behind the house stretched for several miles, filled with birdsong and the scent of damp soil and rotting leaves. This had always been Kat's favorite place to go to escape. It was where she went when school became too much, where she ran to after her mother died of cancer three years before, and one of the places she could just relax and enjoy herself.

Kat wandered into her favorite clearing and sat on a moss-covered log, opened her book to a clean page, and zoned out as she began to draw. The birds and nearby burbling creek gave her a soundtrack to work by, while the dappled sunlight filtering through the leaves helped illuminate her page.

Finally feeling that her masterpiece was complete, the girl let loose a small sound of triumph and examined her work. She had intended to draw a majestic eagle soaring over a valley with mountains in the background. She scowled to herself when she saw that what she had actually drawn was a misshapen blob with triangles that could possibly-with some stretching of the imagination-pass for wings in front of a bunch of triangles. Underneath the blob was a thick squiggly line that was supposed to be a river. With a huff of frustrated determination, she roughly shoved her auburn hair away from her face, turned to a clean page, and started again, adding another abomination to her sketchbook.

Kat decided it was time to call it a day when the light filtering through the leaves changed to gold and began to fade. She stood, stretching stiff muscles, and headed back towards home, breaking into a run part-way. She was no athlete-certainly not like her brother James-but something about being in the woods just made her want to run with wild, reckless abandon. She leaped over a fallen log and made a sharp turn in the direction of home. Her pace slowed when her house came into view, and she paused to allow her breathing to return to normal from its quickened rate.

Kat carefully knocked the dirt from her shoes before she went inside. She made a detour to drop her sketchbook off in her room before she went to the kitchen, where she found her dad and James already seated at the table.

"Well look who decided to join us for dinner," her dad teased lightly.

"Finally," James muttered sullenly. "Can we eat now that the pipsqueak is here?"

"Hey Dad," Kat greeted happily. "Hey squirt," she added to James, giving him a light slap to the head as she passed. Honestly, she knew that calling James "squirt" wasn't very accurate. Although he was only fourteen and two years younger than her, he was tall enough that anyone who saw them together for the first time thought he was the older sibling.

Kat took a moment to study her family as she sat down and filled her plate. Her father, Henry, was tall with lightly-browned skin. He kept his brown hair cropped short, giving a clear view of laughing hazel eyes behind glasses that looked like he got them in the 1970s. James was almost identical to their father, other than his floppy hair and blue eyes.

"What have you two been up to today?" Henry asked before taking a bite of his mashed potatoes.

"Dylan and I went deer hunting out on old Mr. Smith's property. We didn't catch anything, though." At their father's disapproving stare, James raised his hands in defense. "We asked before we went out there this time, I swear! You can call him and ask if you don't believe me."

Henry stared at his son for another moment before nodding, choosing to believe him. Kat took this as her cue to speak.

"I went out to the woods. Explored a bit, drew some, the usual," she finished, shrugging. She glared at James when he snorted.

"Of course you did. You're so boring, pipsqueak."

Kat glared at him, her blue eyes burning. "Oh sure, this coming from you! All you do is play sports and act like you're some big-shot hunter. I bet you can't even hit the broad side of a barn!"

"Why you little-"

"That's enough you two," Henry cut off, well accustomed to Kat's spats with her brother. "You two are very different people with very different interests. Now apologize."

"Sorry Dad," the siblings said in unison. This earned an eye roll from their father.

"I meant to each other."

Two pairs of angry blue eyes met across the table, silently debating who would speak first.

"Sorry Katherine," James bit out, managing to sound not sounding the least bit apologetic.

"Sorry Jamie," Kat replied sweetly. She made a point to use her nickname for her brother, which she knew he hated.

"Now was that so hard, you two?"

Yes, it was, Kat thought to herself. She knew better than to voice this thought, though.

Before anything else could be said, a piercing beep could be heard coming from the television in the living room, which up until that point had been playing some old sitcom.

"We interrupt this program to bring you an important message from the Emergency Alert System," an automated voice blared from the speakers.

Henry frowned and stood, moving into the living room. Kat rose from her seat and followed him; Jame was seemingly content to be left to his food. The multi-colored bars across the screen were quickly replaced by a shot of a black-haired news anchor.

"Hello, I'm Andrew Lyman. We have interrupted regional programming to bring you news of a national crisis. There has been a biohazard breach at a lab located in the Great Lakes region of Wisconsin. A genetically modified virus was released from this lab and may have potentially entered the water supply. In that area, there have been reports of people developing open sores, hair loss, and other negative effects. The CDC is urging people to remain calm, but does highly recommend that anyone in cities near the St. Lawrence, Illinois, or Mississippi Rivers boil their water prior to consumption for the foreseeable future. We will keep the public notified of any further developments. You will now be returned to your regularly scheduled programming."

Kat and her father stared at the television as the sitcom flashed back onto the screen.

"Well, that doesn't sound good," Kat quipped weakly. She was honestly at a loss for words after what she had just heard.

"It certainly doesn't." Henry frowned, his expression thoughtful. "We should probably stock up on supplies, maybe make a crisis plan or something." The father sighed and shook his head. "Come on. Let's head back to the kitchen. Your brother isn't exactly known for leaving leftovers."

Kat nodded and followed her father into the kitchen, going through the motions of eating even as her mind was still reeling from what she had just heard. Subconsciously, she knew one thing: life would never be the same from this point on.