Lockdown: The Arcadia Diaries

Journey to the Evac Point

Arcadia, ME

July 4, 2020

Terra M. Kimbrough

"You alright?" Larry asks me once we get to the parking lot outside the hospital. "No bites or anything?"

I'm breathing heavily but I nod my head. "Yeah, I think so...thanks."

"You can thank us later, when we're safe," Erica says, pointing at something out in the distance. When I look in her direction, another parasite emerges from underneath a car, poised to strike. Then she directs us to a small all-terrain light military vehicle. "Let's use that."

I zoom in to focus my camera on the car. "What is it?"

"Storm Search and Rescue Tactical Vehicle," Larry replies. "It's a beauty, ain't it?"

"How fast can it go?" I ask Larry.

"Pretty fast," He answers. "It's got a range of up to 350 miles!"

"Heads-up!" The Asian chick cries, pulling out an MP5 submachine gun and blasting the creature to kingdom come!

"Get the kids inside now!" Larry cries, getting in the driver's seat.

I help Faith with Gemma, then get in the back seat with Kyle and Charles. Erica sits shotgun, and the Asian chick gets on top of the car and mans the mini-gun mounted atop the car. Glenda and her cameraman sit in the back. "Contact! We got more of those parasites crawling atop the cars!"

"Light 'em up!" Larry calls out as he revs up the engine, then puts the pedal to the metal.

"Hold on!" I cling tightly to Faith. "Where's the seatbelt?"

Larry swerves right, then floors the accelerator down the highway. As Faith looks outside, she gasps. "Oh, no!"

"What is it?" Kyle looks outside, then freezes when he sees what Faith is reacting to: dead bodies strewn all over the road.

"That's a lot of dead people," Charles breathes.

"Seems like half the town," I reply. Then I glance at my watch. It's 11:55 PM.

Almost midnight.

We sit there in silence for about three minutes, before Kyle speaks. "Why seal off the whole town?"

"Hmm?" Erica looks at Kyle quizzically. "What do you mean?"

"I don't understand," Kyle elaborates. "They're locking down the city, cutting off all routes in and out of the city and leaving hundreds of people trapped in here. Uninfected ones, mind you."

Then Faith is seen grumbling at her phone. "That's odd. I'm not getting any signal on my phone." She turns to me. "Hey, guys, do you have cellphone service?"

I pull out my phone, then notice the words NO SERVICE on the top right corner of the interface. "My service just conked out too. That's weird."

"Damn," Larry growls. "I can't raise anyone in Bravo Team either. Did they just shut off all cellphone towers and radio towers in the city?"