Episode 1: Hot Coffee, Hot News

Rain. A constant theme in my life. And you know what they say: “When it rains, it pours”. What they don’t mention is how loud the thunder is. How blinding lightning can be and how terrifying falling through the air truly is…

Especially when the bridge you’re being thrown off was in the middle of a lake, with the closest island being home to the world’s first zombies. Slow, mindless, great at camouflaging, supposedly contained, but no one knows how they got sick with the virus or if it can spread. And I just had to investigate; poke my nose somewhere it didn’t belong and found some juicy info. Now… Well, now I’m falling three stories into ice-cold water next to a blocked off zombie infested island after being kidnapped.

Sorry. I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m sure you’re wondering what info was so juicy that it caused a young reporter to be thrown off a bridge during a flash flood. Well, to get that answer let’s rewind a bit. Let me take you back to when my reporters’ intuition led me onto this dark road. I guess that would be about a year ago now…

One Year Earlier…

Another rainy Seattle day, another coffee, and another blank page staring at my green eyes on the computer. I had hoped that having a different atmosphere like a coffee shop instead of my living room would have given me inspiration; but being paid to write a report on ‘Why Polyester is Better than Cotton’ wasn’t exactly the riveting story I had hoped to write when I got out of college. Granted, wearing workout clothes to a coffee shop was surprisingly comfortable, but didn’t lend itself to the inspirate of an article as much as I had hoped.

'I’m a freelance journalist. I should be out on the streets, reporting breaking news but not one news station has called me back… I have to earn a living somehow…'

Taking another sip of my coffee, I stared out the lonely window, my pale reflection staring back at me in boredom.

'Isn’t there something more exciting I can do today?'

My stoic stare was broken by a military jeep racing down the street with little regard for anyone else on the road.

'Odd… I wonder where it’s going.'

An ambulance raced after the military Jeep, but it wasn’t a city ambulance, made obvious by the golden pyramid logo that blurred by. It was an ambulance that was privately owned by the drug company Trifecta. They were known to help the military, so it was not too unusual for them to send out aid, but the rate of speed and the direction of travel made it suspicious.

'They’re going the opposite way of the hospital and the base… Did something go wrong on a local military maneuver? Wouldn’t they have a medic on maneuver or send out a city ambulance? Could there be some drug test going on? No, they would do that in house…'

My gut and reporter senses started going off and the call to the unknown beckoned me.

'Well, I’m not going to get answers sitting here, nor do I have any motivation to finish this article. I’ve got three weeks until the deadline, so a little detective work won’t hurt.'

Packing up my stuff, I resolved to follow this odd chain of events.

Rushing out to my car, unlocking it, I quickly opened the door and tossed my stuff in the front seat. Flipping on my emergency radio and placing my phone to record next to it, I turned on my car and took off in the direction I had seen the vehicles disappear.

“Unit 509 and Unit 770, a call for assistance has been issued. Military maneuvers went wrong. Meet up with the Trifecta Ambulance at Ravine Trail in Pioneer Park on Mercer Island,” the radio ordered, chirping to life. “Keep all civilians away from the area. There shouldn’t be anyone close by as the area was blocked off for the maneuvers. The military is on lead and will release you once their back up comes. Possible dangers to public health. Health officials have been alerted.”

'Are they gonna take the call? If so, I have two units I can investigate for a lead if the trail goes cold or I can’t get close.'

“Unit 509, responding. We’re on the way,” a deep man’s voice replied. .

'Is the other unit going as well?'

“Unit 770, responding. We are on the way as well,” a younger man’s voice responded briefly after the first.

'Holy shit! Right time, right place much? This is the scoop of a lifetime. I need to get over there now and avoid getting detained.'

Revving my car into high gear, I took the backroads and tons of side streets to avoid the cop’s usual routes as well as get past the usual traffic. If I was lucky, I’d make it on scene before them, and be able to find a spot to watch. Hopping onto Interstate 90, I raced across Lacey V. Murrow Memorial Bridge towards Mercer Island.

'If I can get close enough to the scene, I can put up my black hair in a ponytail, use my gym sweat band, wireless headphones, and water bottle to pretend I’m a runner on the trails. This is Seattle. A little rain isn’t enough to deter the local health nuts.'

'They said there was some health danger… I can zip my jacket all the way up and use it as a makeshift face mask; the cloth is pretty thick. I’ll take a shower and toss my clothes when I get home, just in case.'

Exiting the bridge, I took the quickest roads to Ravine Trail and parked a few blocks away on S.E. 69th Street. Getting myself into my disguise and flipping up my raincoat hood, my mind wouldn’t stop racing as the rain turned into a soft drizzle.

'Did a military chemical get released? It’s so close to the neighborhood though… Was there some kind of weapon accident? I had heard they had booked Pioneer Park for maneuvers about a month ago. I did think it was unusual, but they had given a press release that it was just to do military PT and survival training. I’ll have to remember to investigate that press release.'

Keeping my phone recording, but turning off my location, I jogged towards my target.