Chapter 1 : They said it's an easy job

The patrol car slowly rolled onto the gravel parking lot, where an off-road vehicle and two other cars were parked next to a food truck. The sun was burning down mercilessly from the bright blue sky, making everything shimmer from the heat. In the van, a paw reached for the radio:

"We're here, but there's no one to be seen," said a deep male voice into the radio. An annoyed groan came from the neighboring seat.

"Don't be like that, Alex, it's just a simple job," said the voice.

Alex was about 1.94 m tall, had a Caesar haircut and looked more like a cross between a gorilla and a bear.

His uniform just about fitted. When he was in civilian clothes, some people thought he was a strongman. Alex's fatal flaw was that he didn't stick to a proper diet and had a paunch instead of an athletic build. 

Alex was about to say something when the speaker blew her nose loudly into her handkerchief and then reached for a bottle of herbal tea and drank from it.

"I'm telling you, Bettina, it's from your vegan diet."

Bettina was a petite woman of 1.70, fit as a fiddle and had light brown hair tied back in a tight ponytail. 

"More like that asshole the day before yesterday who spit and puked all over me when we arrested him."

The radio crackled.

"Watch it anyway, after that the next assignment is already waiting and another freak-out."

"You go, I'll enjoy the air conditioning and don't you dare go back for sausages and chips."

Alex opened the door and heat immediately flooded in. He got out and the car lifted slightly. 

The gravel crunched under his boots as he got closer to the car. The smell of burnt sausages was clearly in the air. 

"Hey Walter! Where are you?" 

Nothing could be heard. Alex came closer, the car was abandoned and so was the food truck. He could see traces of a fight and followed the trail of slime and blood.

It led around the car.

"That he always has to look for the most remote places," Alex muttered, following the trail. He came around the car when he found a leg. Flies were already buzzing over it. 

On closer inspection, he could see that it had been torn off with brute force and was covered in bite marks.

Alex reached for the radio.

"I've found a leg".

He heard a sneeze in reply. 

"So another one of those psycho assos?"

Alex pulled on his gloves.

"It looks like it." He looked around and followed the trail to the undergrowth where he found the remains of Walter - what was left of him. He was mauled and large chunks of flesh had been ripped from his body.

"Worse than the psychos," Alex muttered, the report of that alone was too much.

He heard the car roar and speed off, and with quick steps he was around the snack van and saw the patrol car driving away.

"Tell me, Bettina, what's this crap?",

It took a moment. 

"I've got someone bleeding in the back seat, I'll send you another car!" 

Alex looked after her, at a loss for words. 

"Kaiser here, Officer Schuller is on his way with an injured man and I'm still at the scene."

He went to the snack van and looked inside. He found a pack of cigarettes and lit one.

"All right, do you think you can make it to Bingen on foot?"

He blew out a cloud of smoke.

"Um, yes, but it'll take a while."

"I'll let you know you're on your way. We've just been ordered to secure a safe zone." "Alright, I'll be on my way then." Alex calmly finished his cigarette and then reached for the keys to Walter's car.

"Well then, I'll be on my way."

"Good luck, it's getting crazier out there."

Alex calmly finished his cigarette and grabbed the keys to Walter's car. Walter wouldn't be needing it anyway and had always left it in the same place anyway. He saw several staggering people staggering through the fields on the drive, but he blamed it on the heat. He stopped abruptly on a bridge over the highway and looked at the traffic jam that had formed.

"Holy shit..." came from his lips. Just as he was about to drive on, several Eurofighters thundered overhead, causing the glass to shake. Shortly afterwards, he heard the deep rumble of an explosion.

"Control, there's a massive traffic jam on the A60 and could it be that something has exploded near you?"

There was only a hiss, then the connection went dead. He tried the other channels, but apart from a chaotic cacophony of command requests, shouts and gunshots, nothing could be heard. 

Alex stepped on the gas and drove towards Bingen, dodging several people and vehicles, only to arrive in empty alleys and streets. 

He followed the signs. The streets had been abandoned in a hurry, doors to houses were partially open, as were the doors of cars on the roadsides. He then arrived at the Museum am Strom, where the zone was supposed to be.

But there was no sign of the totally devastated site. 

It looked as if a huge demonstration had taken place here, damaging and vandalizing everything. He slowly rolled up to the museum and got out.

It was still extremely hot and it stank of garbage, faeces and vomit. He looked around and went to one of the hastily erected tents, which was deserted. He picked up a flyer indicating evacuation zones due to a disease outbreak.

"Uh-huh..." He pocketed the flyer and searched the tent further. He found a map with the zones marked on it and pocketed it too.

He made his way to the car when someone staggered towards him. It was a woman about 40, she looked very sickly. Her skin was pale and covered in a film of sweat. She rattled with every step and yellow snot dripped constantly from her nose, staring at him with bloodshot eyes.

"Can I help you?" Alex asked.The woman opened her mouth and a phlegmy rattle came out. She moved jerkily in his direction and clenched her teeth. "Ah a psycho..." thought Alex. 

She attacked him, but he evaded her grip and kicked her feet away, sending her crashing to the floor. She tried to get up, twitching uncontrollably, while he saw several bite marks on her arm.

He wanted to take a closer look at them when he saw more staggering people approaching. He left them, walked unhurriedly to the car, got in and sped away, ramming into several who were thrown to the side. 

His brain had seen enough to understand the situation, and he'd seen more than one movie to know what kind of shit this could be. So his mind was made up to go to the next evaluation zone or get the hell out.