Zombie serial: They Shall Inherit

[Tullaryx]

The Pale Horse

Traffic was hell once again. It didn't help that the weather was nearing 100 degrees with not a breeze in sight. He thought of rolling up the windows and turning on the AC, but with the bumper to bumper traffic ahead of him still, the last thing he needed was to waste gas before he even got off the bridge. So he bit the bullet, so to speak, and kept the AC off and all the windows down. Tomorrow I'll definitely take the subway, Paul thought to himself, It can't be worse than this road rage-inducing traffic.

Paul was already 40 minutes into the traffic and he was still a mile or so from getting off the bridge and hitting East I-80. He even left work an hour early thinking he'd avoid the rush hour traffic. Things looked up once he left the garage and he headed up to the bridge on-ramp, but once on the bridge things went downhill fast.

The news radio he switched his system to wasn't saying much outside of the current breaking news from Iraq and the other hotspots of the world. It seemed that whichever news radio station he switched to the news was always of some flare-up of sectarian violence in what was Iraq and the rest of the Middle East. He could hardly remember when he didn't hear such things on the radio, or see footage on the TV news. But that was the nature of the world since 9/11. Paul's thought of it all was that he was glad it was happening over there and not over here.

"...the head of the Iraqi Governing Council has declared that early news reports of a secret underground lab found near the town of Kut was inaccurate and unsubstantiated, and that no such lab had been found..."

He switched to the next station in hope that the news he'd be hearing was when the traffic should be letting up so he could get home. Not like he had any plans since his brother died a year ago and he was left with the house his parents had given them at their passing. His life had turned into a routine of work, go home, sleep then back to work again.

Paul thought many a night of just packing a backpack of clothes, some necessities and all his cash and just driving off to points unknown. But then who would take care of his house and pay his bills. What would his co-workers and boss say with him just leaving them without a word? It was always something that kept him from following his plan. Well, maybe tonight he'd finally just do it. He had enough money to live off on indefinitely from his parents' life insurance and the settlement he received as his brother's sole benificiary.

"...NASA and the CDC have reported that rumors of the Shuttle Atlantis crew being quarantined due to some unknown pathogen was erroneous and that more information will be released after all studies and tests have been conducted. On similar news, family members of the Atlantis crew have lobbied several high-ranking members of Congress to demand an explanation from NASA and the CDC as to why the release of the crew has been delayed for the last week..."

"Bah!" Paul angrily pressed the next button to get another station. "Just give me some traffic news, dammit. And some sports scores, too."

He must have been losing it if he was left to screaming at the radio. This heat would be the death of him if the traffic doesn't move soon. Maybe he should just turn the AC on. He had a little over half a tank of gas and he didn't think he'd be using it all just getting home.

Ah, **** it! Paul pressed the up-window buttons and proceeded to turn the AC on full-blast. His frustrating thoughts soon went away in a refreshing blast of cool air. Now this is why I don't take the subway.

It took him another 40 minutes to get off the bridge. During his AC cooled idling crawl off the bridge, more news reports came over the radio. He barely acknowledge the one about an unnamed source telling a Reuters correspondent of North Korea's accelerated plan to create a biological weapon as a way a deterrent to the United States current foreign policy of extreme persuasion and negotiations when dealing with rogue states. He'd heard so many unnamed sources telling of North Korea's plan for armageddon that he stopped worrying about it. If North Koreans wanted to commit mass suicide, well more power to them.

It was when he was off the bridge and into a good flow of traffic that he heard a tiny bit of report that peaked his interest. It was a report on a medical breakthrough on cell-regeneration for cancer patients. He couldn't understand half of what was being reported on, but it supposed to be some sort of magic bullet that would help save even terminal cancer patients. Something about stopping the spread of malignant cancer cells and repairing the affected cells. Well someone's going to make a ton of money if this turns out to be true, Paul chuckled to himself as he pulled into his driveway and into his garage.

It was already dark and he just realized that it was already 15 minutes past 8 o'clock. Two hours on the road and it was just to get home from work. He just shook his head and turned off the engine before closing the garage door. Paul never heard the last report on the radio before he cut the engine and went inside his house for a quiet dinner for one and some much needed rest.

"...vague reports of random attacks up and down the Eastern Seaboard have still be confirmed, but some local authorities in cities and towns from Albany, New York all the way to Miami, Florida have responded to a sudden outbreak of violence..."




Zero Hour: Part One


Shelly shouldn't have tried to fight him when he made a strong pass at her. She was pretty much sending him signals all night that she wanted to sleep with him. Hell, she even invited him to her apartment after the club. But then she had to suddenly get sobered up abit and have a change of heart.

Did she think that she could tease him all night and then just get a free pass from paying up. John hoped that the guy --- he remembered her calling the young man Mike --- they passed by in the hallway was asleep. He didn't need any heroes to ruin his fun. She was feisty and combative at first but a few shots to the stomach and face quieted her down to whimpers. He didn't know why but after the beating he was harder that he thought he would be. Well, good for me and for her, he thought to himself.

It didn't take long for him to get Shelly on her back then on her knees afterwards. He did everything he wanted and she knew enough not to resist. If she wasn't so particular of keeping her looks intact she might've resisted enough to get away. He remembered grabbing her neck from behind as he continued thrusting and squeezing. She passed out close to the end and he really didn't care by then. John had gotten what he wanted and he'd broken her. She'll do whatever he wanted from now on. Maybe he'll even continue using her just so he can parade her in front of his buddies. It's not everytime he was able to bag himself a beauty like Shelly.

The night was still young --- though for some reason he could hear quite abit of gunshots and sirens out in the streets. He might just clean her up and take her to his buddies' place and have themselves a train of a good time. She won't resist. She knew better. In fact, he saw her stirring from where he left her.

"Hey babe, get over here and take this in your mouth," John motioned for the dazed and crawling girl. "I just realized I never got to use your mouth."

He noticed that the girl was really out of it. She did nothing but crawl towards his unzipped pants. She didn't saw a word but did continue to moan and mewl like a broke kitten. He must've really broken her good if she was this pliant so quickly. He felt the girls hands reach for his legs and begin to climb up until she was practically breathing on him.

Grabbing a handful of auburn hair in each hand he guided her in and closer until he felt her lips and mouth --- which part of him wondered why they were cool instead of warm --- close around him. Maybe it was the shock of what happened or disbelief, but he never could get a scream out as the girl's mouth and teeth suddenly snapped shut and started gnawing at him. Blood loss and shock took John down quick. He was spared the sight of her swallowing and savoring the piece of him she had ripped off and chewed.

Outside the apartment the sound of gunfire and sirens increased to the point they became one. Just beneath the noise one might even hear some screams. Inside the girl who was once Shelly caressed her dying rapist's stomach before ripping in with a growl and plunging her face in to pull out a steaming lenght of intestine....

[Tullaryx]

Zero Hour: Part Two


Jay didn't like working the late shift, but he needed the money. His company always paid double the rate for overtime work at the city general hospital. He liked the job well enough, but working security and being posted in the basement floor didn't do it for him. Maybe it was the fact that the basement floor held the hospital's morgue and cadaver storage units. He was not easily spooked and its not like was all alone down here. The morgue attendants --- all three of them --- always spoke to him when things were slow. Tonight wasn't one of those nights.

His shift was only an hour old and Jay already saw EMT crews bring down a dozen or so bodies who'd died on the way to the hospital. Mark and his two assistants, Rob and Morgan, were going to be busy tonight. Something about the night seemed off to Jay and he didn't like it. He just couldn't put a finger on why he felt uneasy with the whole situation. But he didn't have anyone to talk to about it. With Mark and his boys busy, he decided to patrol the rest of the floor. Maybe get his circulation flowing and get his mind clear.

The basement floor of the hospital was pretty big, but it usually only took him 15-20 minutes to patrol the whole area, but with all the weird feelings he was getting Jay decided to take special care and check everything. If the ghoul crew --- as he liked to call the attendants --- needed him for anything they could always contact the security desk up on the main floor to radio for him. And lo and behold, his radio squawked to life as the late shift's supervisor radioed for him to check the morgue. It seemed that Mark andhis assistants had called up about something but were cut-off before they could finish.

"I'm on my way," Jay answered into the radio then his curiosity got the better of him, "Unit 10 to base, is everything ok up there?"

"Other than the above-average rate of bodies coming in since the shift started everything's fine. News radio's been reporting about some sort of civil disturbance near the downtown area, but other than that everything is quiet."

"Ok, just curious. I'll see what Mark and the guys are up to, over and out."

Jay retraced his steps as he headed back towards the morgue. It was the high-pitched scream of pain that got him moving faster than he thought possible. He had turned the corner of the corridor when he literally ran into one of the assistants. He couldn't recognize who it was at first. The man's medical smock was drenched in blood and his face was covered in it as well. It was only when the man spoke that he realized it was Morgan. The man was scared out of his mind. He just continued to scream and even backed away from him. Jay tried to calm the man down, but the assistant wouldn't cooperate. Jay finally smacked the man across the face. That did the trick as Morgan shut up long enough for Jay to ask him a question.

"What the hell is going on here?"

"They're dead! They're all dead, but they're not!" Morgan was in hysterics again.

"What do you mean they're all dead? You mean the people the EMTs brought it," Jay's earlier unease was rapidly increasing.

"Yes, them...but they came back. They came back got Mark and Rob. Oh Jesus, they came back and got Mark and Rob. They're dead...dead..they're..." he could see madness in the assistant's eyes. This was starting to be some weird **** and he didn't know if he wanted to know more. But it was his job and he needed to find out if Mark and Rob were ok.

"Morgan, go up to the main floor and tell them what's going on. I'll go see if Mark and Rob are ok."

"You're dead if you go in there!" Morgan screamed at him then bolted right quick for the elevator.

"Thanks for the pep talk," Jay unholstered his sidearm and cautiously moved closer to the door leading into the morgue.

With Morgan on his way up to the main floor he was able to hear rustling and movement inside the morgue. He tried looking in through the window built into the door, but as luck would have it the room was dark. Morgan or one of the attendants must've accidentally switched off the light. The door was still unlocked, but Jay's instincts were telling him to use the intercom on the wall to call into the room. He did just that. Repeating his question a few more times when no one responded. Jay looked in through the window one more time when a face suddenly appeared on the other side of the door. He thought it was face, but for the missing left eye and pretty much the left side of the face. The only reason he figured it was a woman was the long, bloody blond hair that way still attacked to whatever scalp still remained on the face's skull.

"****!" Jay backed away instantly and realized his mistake.

He had been turning the handle of the door to open when the face appeared. The door was now ajar and the face's body gradually forced the door open from the other side. What he saw almost made him lose his dinner, but he held on. The woman must've been one of the bodies brought in just over an hour ago. He didn't know then what might've caused this young woman to die, but he did now. It wasn't just the woman's face that had been mauled but pretty much all over the left side of her body and some of the right.

"I'm not getting paid enough for this..." Jay muttered to himself. With self-preservation first and foremost in his mind, he ran to the elevator. His luck was still going bad as he realized that Morgan had just taken the elevator up. Already he could hear shuffling and moaning coming closer. If the other bodies brought in tonight were like the woman then he knew that it wasn't just one body making its way down the corridor towards him.

"Come on already," Jay tried willing the elevator to come down quicker.

The shuffling was louder and so was the moaning. He glanced behind him and was in time to see the first body turn the corner to start making its way to him and the banks of elevators. Jay raised his firearm and let off one shot at the first of what was turning out to be alot of bodies. The shot hit the body he was aiming at. Blood and pieces of gore blew out the cadaver's back, but other than halting the its movement the body stayed upright. He shot off a few more rounds and still no effect. With just a few more shots left in the magazine, Jay did something he never thought he'd ever do in his life. Aiming abit higher, he squeezed the trigger and almost in slo-mo saw the lead cadaver's head snap back as the shot he fired smashed squarely into its forehead. The body dropped like a sack and stayed down and still.

It worked! Stupid movies didn't lie! he thought excitedly.

He didn't get to test it out some more as the elevator door behind him dinged open. He might've found out how to take the things down, but he was no fool and decided to go into the elevator car and just head on upstairs where help could be found and organized. Jay hoped that the other elevator was tied up as well. He wasn't sure if these things could operate the cars. If they could then things just got worst. But he didn't have to worry about things going bad. The elevator stopped on the main floor, opened its door just to show him that things were indeed going bad to worse. The main floor was a pandemonium of screams, shouts and panic.

Man, did he ever hate working the late shift....

[Tullaryx]

Small Beginnings

Jack's shift was just 30 minutes old when he and his partner received their first call of the night. It was a 911 call made from the Brooks Mortuary on 5th and Mission. The 911 dispatcher could only glean a few information from the caller. The dispatcher cautioned Jack and his partner that the caller was reporting some sort of break-in and that he had locked himself in a storage room on the main floor. Two other units were being dispatched to assist and an EMT unit was being called as a precaution.

"Well, it looks like were in for a long night partner," Jack glanced and grinned at his 5-year partner, Officer Guzman.

"I just hope this reported B&E turns out to be nothing but a bunch of frat boys doing their part for the University of Miami Pledge Week," Guzman just shook his head and continued driving to their destination. "Bunch of long-haired, rich kids who have nothing better to do."

"I'm hearing you, Gooz," Jack agreed and smiled to himself. Guzman's comment about long-hairs was just too funny, especially since Guzman had a tendency to grow and keep his hair long. As light the situation was at the moment, Jack shifted in his seat to check on his sidearm. One never could never be too careful when responding to B&E calls. One night it could be frat boys or a lost vagrant looking for a place to sleep. Another night it could be a two-striker willing and able to shoot down a couple of cops. Those two-strikes on a man's record just meant the perp had nothing to lose. A third strike meant it was die by cops or rot in prison for life --- either way it was a death sentence. He had a new wife and Gooz had a wife and three kids. No need to be careless, not with those waiting for them at home.

"Here we are," Guzman pulled their cruiser right next to the curb in front of the mortuary. Radio chatter in the cruiser had the other two dispatched units already in-bound and only minutes away from arriving. "How do you want to handle this? Wait for the rest of the guys or do we go in and check it out first?"

"I say we wait for the rest of the units to arrive before going in," Jack answered. Guzman nodded and clicked the mic on his shoulder for an update on the other two units.

"Units 4 and 11 should be arriving in five minutes. I say again, ETA at five minutes. Looks like a full moons guys. We have been receiving several more emergency calls since yoursfirst came in," the dispatcher's voiced squawked through the mic set on both the officers' comm units.

"I copy, dispatch," Guzman acknowledged, "Keep us updated."

Jack and Guzman unhooked the heavy Mag-Lite flashlights from their service belts and turned the lights in the direction of the mortuary. Even from the curb they could see that the entire place was blacked out. No lights could be seen from any of the windows. It was close to 9:00 pm but the sign on the door clearly stated that the place wasn't set to close for another hour or so. There didn't seem to be any sign of forced entry through any of the windows or the main door at the front. Jack was about to porpose to Guzman that one of them to go around to the back to check around when a they heard a loud crash come from inside the darkened building. They both froze where they stood and that was when they heard a loud pain-filled scream followed by another and another.

"Christ!" Jack unstrapped his service Beretta from its holster and glanced at his partner. "Did you hear that? Tell me you heard that, too."

"I heard it. I heard it," Guzman also had his Beretta out.

"Dispatch, this is Unit 20. We have report of a crash and screams coming from inside the structure. What is the ETA on those back-ups?" Jack clicked the mic on his shoulder and anxiously waited for a response.

"Unit 20, this is Dispatch. Back-up units are on their way. Accident on the corner of 1st and Mission have delayed their transit, but they are now moving in transit to your 20," the dispatcher replied with just a hint of nervousness evident in her disembodied voice.

"I advise caution if proceeding into structure. Be careful guys, Dispatcher out," she added.

Both officers slowly and carefully moved towards the mortuary, their guns drawn and pointed skyward. They both knew the routine. This wasn't the first time they had to enter a building of a possible B&E, but tonight something just seemed a little off. Something about this call just didn't sit right with both Jack and Guzman. But they had a job to do and they were both veterans who knew how to back each other up in case things got dicey.

With ease that came from years of teamwork, both officers reached the main entrance to the mortuary, checked the door and found it to be unlocked. They took a deep breath and waited for a three-count then forced the door open and entered the building with weapons aimed and sighted. The screams they were just a minute or two ago were gone, but they could still hear some movement beyond the door leading into the mortuary chapel.

Slowly and with their weapons carefully aimed in front of them, Jack and Guzman made their way toward the chapel doors. The noise beyond the double-doors just increased and was accompanied by a series of moans and groans. They both looked at each other. They didn't have to say anything aloud. Somebody in there was injured, maybe even dying.

"On a count of three," Jack held up his weapon and used his free hand to grab the door handle. "One or two of them might be still be in there."

"Don't worry, I got your back. Let's just do this by the book. With any luck the back-up will get here just in time to help us mop things up," Guzman answered back and tried to smile and keep things light, but both knew that this call was turning very serious very quickly. "Let's just do this and get it over with. This place is starting to give me the willies."

Jack silently mouthed one, two, and three then pull the door handle down and pushed the door open. The chapel was lit by some wall-mount lights arranged around the room. There was a coffin on the carpeted floor of the chapel nave. It was on its side and whatever was in it was gone. Flower arrangements were strewn all over the floor. Jack noticed that one of the doors leading out of the chapel into an adjoining room had been forced open and off its hinges.

"In there," Jack pointed at the direction of the shattered doorway with his Beretta. Guzman nodded and slowly followed his partner.

They were looking at everything and cataloguing everything and anything that looked out of place. Signs of blood could be seen on the coffin sides and in places around the room, but most seem to lead towards the shattered doorway in front of them. The sounds they were hearing earlier was coming from beyond that same doorway. The groaning and moaning they heard was now accompanied by a more gurgling type noise. It was as if some animal was rooting around in something wet.

Both Jack and Guzman were beyond having the willies now. Whoever or whatever was beyond that doorway wasn't friendly, but they had a job to do and someone --- probably the same caller who dialed 911 --- in there was badly hurt and in need of their assistance.

The noises grew louder as they got closer to the open doorway. Both guns were trained at the opening and both officers seemed primed for whatever surprises awaited them in the other side. It was Jack who first entered the breach with his weapon aimed....

[Tullaryx]

Small Beginnings (cont'd)


"My God..." Jack whispered as he saw where the noises were coming from.

There on the floor -- in what looked like the chapel office --- lay the originator of the 911 call. A gash and rip on the side of the man's neck lay open for all to see as blood slowly trickled out. Blood had pooled all over the floor. The stench of loosed bowels assaulted Jack's senses, but it wasn't that which almost caused him to vomit all over himself. Kneeling around and close to the body were three individuals covered in blood. One of the three seemed to have been an old man wearing what looked like a cutaway suit used by morticians to dress up bodies for viewings. The other two were dressed regularly and looked to be employees of the mortuary.

The man in the cutaway suit was busily pulling out a glistening rope of intestine from within the prone man's torso. With an almost nonchalance way, the old man raised the bloody and gray lenght to its mouth to bite and rip pieces off to chew. The other two were also in the process of biting and pulling off chunks of bloody flesh from the dead man's thighs and arms. One arm was almost devoid of flesh and muscles --- just strands of meat and tendons remained. As busy as all three were of their bloody meal, they were not too preoccupied not to hear Guzman noisily dry heave at the gory tableaux.

"Dios mio," Jack's partner uttered in disbelief even as he tried to keep his dinner down.

The shock the two officers were experiencing was suddenly replaced by fear as one of the mortuary employees looked up from the dead man's groin and groaned at the officers. Blood and chunks of gore fell out from the bloody hole that was the employees mouth as it tried to stand and reach with its hands in their direction.

Guzman was the first to recover and fired a shot in the reaching ghoul's direction. The bullet entered the ghoul dead center in the chest. The force of the bullet's impact shoved the ghoul back several feet, the pooling blood helping slide the ghoul even farther into the office. The other ghouls were now paying closer attention to the two living newcomers. With surprising agility and speed the other two scrambled their way closer to Jack and Guzman.

Both officers had now recovered from their shock and began to pump shot after shot at the two incoming ghouls. Shots shattered arms, blew out chunks of bone and flesh from chests and stomach, but nothing would keep the two ghouls from trying to get back up and moving in their direction. The third one shot just moments before had finally scrambled its way to a standing position and with a primal-fueled strenght lunged forward towards both officers.

Jack would've been the recipient of the ghouls charge if Guzman hadn't shoved him away and taken the brunt of the force with his own body.

"Gooz!" Jack shouted and tried to pull the ghoul off of his partner who struggled to keep snapping, blood-stained teeth from grabbing hold of his face.

Jack didn't forget the other two and sent a couple more shots their way. It seemed he shot to just keep them off-balanced as he tried to save his partner. If he had just looked more closely, Jack would've seen one of his shots drop one of the other ghouls dead with a bullet through one of its eyes, but he never saw as his attention was kept on Guzman.

His partner and friend who just screamed like nothing he ever heard a man scream before. The ghoul had found a weak spot in his partners defense and lunged forward to bite and tear a piece of flesh from Guzman's shoulder. Jack pulled at the ghoul with all his strenght and pried the thing from his partner and tossing it towards the other remaining ghoul.

"****! He bit me! He ****ing bit me!" Guzman was close to hysterics as he put a hand to the wound on his should to stop the bleeding. He tried to stand, but the blood on the floor caused him to slip and slide. It was at this time that both of them saw the dead man who was just minutes ago was being used like a buffet table begin to move and shift in an effort to stand.

"Die! Die you mother****ers! Die!" Guzman and Jack both screamed and kept pulling their Berettas' triggers. Shots rang out and echoed loudly within the office and chapel. Smoke and cordite filled both rooms to mix with the stench of blood and loosed **** and ****. Soon the booming sound of gunfire was followed by clicks of firing pins dry-firing on empty chambers.

Through the smoke and haze they saw with unbelieving eyes all three ghouls still moving towards them, clawed hands reaching out to them and dead eyes staring at them with hunger. As Jack pulled his wounded partner and as Guzman hurriedly tried to eject the empty magazine from his Beretta, they both had the same thought go through their minds: I can't believe I'm going to die like this.

Almost resigned to the fate that shambled and reached for them, Jack and Guzman jumped almost out of their uniforms as a hail of gunfire ripped into the three incoming ghouls until all three were finally brought down by several shots to their heads. With a dumbstruck look on their faces the two officers looked up and behind them to see several of their Miami PD brothers with guns drawn and smoking. Their backup had finally arrived.

"Hey guys, what took you?" Jack almost lost it then but held it together when he heard his partner groan from the bloody wound on his shoulder.

"Medics! We have an officer down in here!" One of the newly arrived officers shouted behind him to the waiting EMT unit that also arrived with the back-up.

"Don't worry, Gooz, help is here," Jack tried to grin at his partner who was trying to stem the flow of blood from the wound.

"At least they got here," Guzman gritted his teeth as a paramedic began administering aid to his shoulder, "Better late than never I alway say."

More police units arrived and a couple more EMTs were called in to deal with the mess inside the chapel office. More than one officer relieved themselves of recently digested dinner after seeing the salughterhouse that was the office.

Jack was right. It was going to be a long night. A night he was going to spend alone once he left the hospital where his partner was admitted in after initial on-site treatment. He wanted to stay, but Gooz was in good hands when his wife and kids arrived a half hour after Gooz's admittance to Emergency. He found out the next day that his partner was released later that night to go home with his wife and kids. The wound at his shoulder wasn't too deep. No major veins or arteries were damaged from the attack. Other than some redness at the edges of the bite, his partner was given some pain medicine and some antibiotics and ordered to stay home for the rest of the week to rest and heal.

Gooz was lucky. Other officers weren't as fortunate as a couple had died from other attacks that had suddenly sprung up all over Miami. To make matters even worse in Jack's mind was these same fallen officers had suddenly risen up to attack their fellow officers and attending coroners. What seemed like a small routine call was turning out to be a nightmare of a night for Jack....


* * * * * * * *

"...reports from the Florida Office of Emergency Services say that the sudden outbreaks of violence from the previous night had been put under control. Fires that had broken out during the night have been largely contained. Total number of casualties are unknown at this moment, but unconfirmed sources within the OES office have put the number of dead to as low as 340 to as high as 1200. The number of injured have flooded hospitals and clinics all across the state. The governor have asked the President of the United States to declare Florida under a state of emergency. This proclamation would free the governor to put units of the Florida National Guard to help quell the rioting and looting that followed the outbreak of violence..."

"...as of 7 a.m. Eastern Standard Time, several National Guard units can be seen setting up triage centers to help treat the injured and displaced of the previous nights violence and rioting. Similar outbreaks have been reported as far north as Albany, New York and as far west as Mobile, Alabama. So far, this phenomena of violence has only affected the Eastern part of the United States. Both Canada and Mexico reports no sign of such outbreaks. So far, Europe, Asia and the other regions of the globe have remained unaffected..."

"...rumors have begun circulating amongst the population that this may be the small beginning of a new terrorist attack by the remnants of Al-Qaeda and its supporters. Words such as biological and chemical have been heard as the form of this rumored new offensive against the U.S..."