Dehumanize: Rise of the Dead

By Robert Seyk

No one knows what horrors they are capable of when they are pushed to a point of no return. Dan Draden was living a normal routine life in a suburb outside of San Francisco along with his newly pregnant wife, Lillian, and his six-year-old son Galton. When Dan assists in the arrest and prevention of a terrorist attack, the group retaliates, blowing up Dan's wife and child. As chaos engulfs Dan and the city around him, a man approaches Dan with an offer to avenge the death of his family. Dan becomes part of an elite assassin group. When the team discovers multiple religious fundamentalist groups, normally at odds with each other, working together; they uncover a weapon with apocalyptic capabilities. The living dead. Dehumanize: Rise of the Dead utilizes historical events to illustrate the origins and beginning of a global apocalypse where the dead are creating genocide on the living.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Whiskey Creek Press
• Release date: Apr 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781611608106

Book preview

DEHUMANIZE: RISE OF THE DEAD

by

ROB SEYK

WHISKEY CREEK PRESS

www.whiskeycreekpress.com

Published by

WHISKEY CREEK PRESS

Whiskey Creek Press

PO Box 51052

Casper, WY 82605-1052

www.whiskeycreekpress.com

Copyright Ó 2014 by Rob Seyk

Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 (five) years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

Names, characters and incidents depicted in this book are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of the author or the publisher.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

ISBN: 978-1-61160-810-6

Cover Artist: Nancy Donahue

Editor: Dave Field

Printed in the United States of America

Dedication

To my grandparents Ed and Mary. Although you lived through many historical tragedies, you never let it affect the virtues of your character. You are both missed but your hard work and integrity will never be forgotten.

He who fights against monsters should see to it that he does not become a monster in the process. When you stare into an abyss, the abyss also stares into you.

—Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

Chapter 1

The tears had all dried up. She had nothing left, physically, mentally, and emotionally. Staring at the man she loved with an unquestionable completeness, Emily Skaric realized this would be the last time she would ever see him. The leather straps securing her to the cold metal chair bolted to the concrete floor were nothing compared to how her fiancée had been controlled. Thick metallic restraints circled his ankles, wrists and neck. A strong chain, no more than six links long, was securely fastened to a large, blood-stained cinderblock wall behind him. Emily couldn’t help but feel guilty for the situation they were both in and for the desecration of their lives. It was two years to the day they had met, a memory that brought a slight relief to Emily’s agony.

It was the usual hot morning in the central valley just a couple hours east of San Francisco. Emily was on her way back from spending a lazy summer break at her parents home in Pleasanton, California and was headed back to school at the University of California at Davis. Davis and Pleasanton were two completely contrasting cities but there were little things Emily enjoyed with both. The free spirited college town of Davis provided the perfect atmosphere to further enhance Emily’s creative nature while her home town of Pleasanton provided her with a sense of security and comfort with her family. There are two main mountain ranges separating Davis from San Francisco and each valley seemed to increase the temperature tenfold which made her home town of Pleasanton but the further inland town of Davis unbearable. Making her way past the second set of mountains, Emily decided to stop off in the city of Tracy for a quick latte from Starbucks. It was only a few minutes past seven and the temperature reading on her car showed eighty degrees which meant things were only going to get hotter. Despite the early morning temperature, Emily couldn’t resist the aromatic flavoring of a good Chi Latte. With the particular store already mapped out, she pulled off and headed toward the drive-thru. Even though school didn’t start for a couple of weeks, she wanted to get back to her new apartment and start setting things up. Her roommate from the dorms had agreed to get an apartment with her since the two got along so well during their stay in the cramped dorms. It wasn’t as though they were the best of friends but they worked well together as roommates.

Pulling up to the Starbucks entrance was when Emily saw him for the first time. His look entranced her so much that she made a quick turn into a parking spot to head inside rather than go through the drive-thru. Even though she was moving at a leisurely speed, the quick turn caused a squeal of the tires. Her face was becoming warm from the slight embarrassing sound of desperation. Typically, Emily would be the on the other end of such a move and had little problems finding a date which made it an awkward situation as well. Taking a moment to compose herself, making her best effort to appear as though she was looking for something in her purse, Emily took in a calming breath and let out a sigh.

You’re acting like a giddy school kid, Em, she said aloud in the car. The words seemed to work as her face regained normal temperature and color. Walking into the store she did her best to pay little attention to the attractive dark haired man sitting at one of the metal tables on the outside patio. She placed her order then headed outside after a brief wait. Even though she was the only one ordering there was a new employee training and not doing very well. Normally, a situation like this wouldn’t bother Emily in the least, but the opportunity to flirt with the man outside was being impeded by the inexperienced employee. There were several seating areas that wrapped from the front of the store to the opposite side of the drive-thru. Emily strategically placed herself in a location to establish eye contact without invading the man’s space. She took a quick glance at the man as she headed toward a table. He was even more stunning up close with dark wavy hair, olive complexion and the deepest of blue eyes. He gave a slight smile as Emily made her way past him, which electrified a slight tingle down her neck. Her heart raced which made her feel even more ridiculous as this was something that never happened to her.

Gathering her composure and hiding her overwhelming desire to make the first move, Emily took a seat and began to sip her hot latte and gaze out into the empty shopping center parking lot. She had a look of contemplation trying to make her trip inside look more planned than her squealing tires indicated.

Couldn’t wait to get your coffee? the man asked, leaning slightly forward. His eyes were crystal blue and extremely hypnotizing. His facial features were rugged and strong but he had a soft demeanor in his voice. I know how it is. I’m never quite me until I get my first hit of caffeine. My name is Ahmed Aziz but my friends call me Abe. Mind if I join you?

Emily took a moment to gather the right words hoping to prevent an awkward moment or even come across like a babbling fool. An opportunity had presented itself and she didn’t want to scare it away. Sure, she replied with a smile back. He moved with confidence without a hint of arrogance and the closer he got to her table the less intimidated she felt. There was an unrelenting friendliness about his manner that put her at a comfort level one would have with a longtime friend. It was their first encounter that Emily continued to replay in her mind to avoid the reality of her current situation. It was also that first encounter that led to a year of perfect bliss as their relationship grew stronger with each passing week. He would spend most of his time at her apartment and was practically a third roommate by the end of the year. Abe had an older sister Rasha, and an older brother Nasser who were just as eye-pleasing as Abe with the same friendly persona. She would spend many nights with the three of them and her roommate drinking wine, playing games and talking current events. Rasha and Nasser were kind to spend as many nights with them as they did since Emily and Abe weren’t old enough to partake in college night life. While many of their colleagues attempted such a task prior to the legal age, the punishment for getting caught was not worth the risk. Besides, the time spent in the usually quiet comfort of their home was more stimulating.

It was during one of these wine-infused conversations near the end of the school year when a topic Abe, Rasha and Nasser seemed to avoid discussing the entire time. You know, you guys have never told me about your parents? Emily mentioned as she took a quick sip from her oversized wine glass. There was a brief and eerie awkward silence as Emily swished the cabernet in her mouth.

We don’t have contact with them anymore, Nasser said directly. His tone wasn’t angry but there was a sense that the topic should be quickly changed. Rasha took her aside later that evening and explained the harsh, fundamentalist beliefs that their parents held. They had set her up with an arranged marriage with the son of their father’s business partner. Rasha wanted nothing of it and refused to meet the man. As the topic became more serious Nasser quickly came to her defense creating a big rift between the older children and their parents. While it wasn’t unusual for kids to rebel against their parents, in the Aziz family it was an insult. Both Rasha and Nasser were banned from returning to the home or even speaking and neither of them seemed to care. For Abe, he was far enough removed from the situation to still have a relationship with both his parents and his siblings but neither had ever asked about the other. Emily could sense there was more to the story than what she was told but didn’t want to pry any further. This became a decision she wished she could have changed because if she did push the subject that night or any night thereafter, the situation she and Abe were in could have been avoided.

The school year had ended and Abe invited Emily to join him for dinner at his parents’ home on her way back to Pleasanton to be with her own family. While the only impression she had of Abe’s parents wasn’t very pleasant, she wanted to be a bigger part of Abe’s life and this was the best way to head in that direction. They both agreed that it would be best to not inform Abe’s siblings of the dinner since they would only try and talk them out of it. Abe had mentioned to Emily that his parents were strict with his siblings but never went into the detail and she figured he wasn’t aware of the arranged marriage situation.

When they pulled into his parent’s driveway, Emily had never felt more nervous but when they all sat down to dinner and Abe told his parents of their plan to live together the following school year, Emily had never witnessed such hatred. The moment the words left Abe’s mouth his father gave a glare that would have frozen hell and his mother stormed off screaming in Arabic. His father said nothing, just stared at Abe with the cold stare. His mother stormed back into the room pointing and screaming at Emily, No kafir! No kafir! She screamed over and over again. Abe had called her when she reached her parents’ house and explained what kafir meant—unbeliever, disbeliever and infidel. Emily wasn’t sure if this would be the end of their relationship or if it would weather the storm of closed-minded anger. Emily had feared the former as she didn’t hear back from Abe for a couple of weeks, but when she finally did it sent her into a panic. Abe had called her from his cell phone with a frightened plea to be picked up from his parents’ home and taken somewhere where they wouldn’t find him. The call was short and nerve-rattling. Emily didn’t hesitate and mistakenly didn’t leave a note for her parents where she was going. It would be a quick trip. Drive to Abe’s parents, pick him up and bring him back to her parents’ home. He would be safe and they would be together. The trip was anything but quick and they were both anything but safe.

It was August, 23rd when Emily Skaric met the man of her dreams, fell in love and had experienced the best year of her short twenty-year life. Now, just a school year from that point, Emily was experiencing terror she’d only witnessed in movies. They were both trapped in the basement of Abe’s parents’ home. Just as she was getting ready to put the severely-beaten Abe into her car and drive away, someone had charged her from behind and muffled her with a handkerchief covered in ether. When she had finally come to, any hope of freedom had been stolen. She was helpless and had witnessed Abe receive a series of vicious beatings at the hands of his father and another man who Abe was able to eventually explain, when they both left, to Emily, was his uncle. Emily was speechless, not only by the ferocity of the attacks but also the fact they were being delivered by the hands of family. After only being gone for a few minutes, Abe’s uncle had come back downstairs carrying a large black canvas bag. He removed a smaller case from the bag and removed a long syringe. After giving a couple of taps and a squirt of the syringe to remove any air bubbles, he leaned toward the severely beaten Abe, whispered a few things into his ear unintelligible to Emily, then stuck the syringe in Abe’s arm releasing half of its contents into his body. Placing the syringe back into the bag, the man pulled out a long thin metallic rod and began to whip Abe’s entire body with quick, wrist-snapping motions. Each time the rod made contact with Abe’s body it would split him wide open, blood spewing from the wound. The man had worked up such a quick frenzy it reached a point where all Emily could see were red showers of blood raining from Abe’s body. She wanted to scream but couldn’t release a sound. She wanted to cry but had no tears left. She wanted to run but was securely imprisoned in the nightmare.

After several minutes of beating Abe with the metal rod the man stopped and slowly walked over to Emily with the blood-drenched weapon. Emily took one glance at Abe, who was hardly recognizable any more. He’d been beaten so bad chunks of his skin and flesh had fallen to the ground. Abe was motionless with only a few gurgling sounds emanating from his mouth. Emily closed her eyes tightly, anticipating a similar beating. She could feel the man close to her and his warm breath against the side of her face.

Witness this, Kafir, he whispered into her ear. When she felt him move away from her, Emily opened her eyes and saw the man reach back into the bag and remove a hand gun, equipped with a silencer. He quickly squeezed four rounds into Abe’s tenderized chest, leaving him dangling like an unused marionette. Saying nothing more, the man placed all the items back into the bag then removed a small key from his pocket. With the bag draped over his shoulder, he unlocked the heavy metallic clamps from Abe causing his body to limply fall to the floor. Still motionless in her own restraints, she watched the man walk back up the steps shutting the main florescent lights off, leaving a single bulb that dangled above Abe to illuminate the basement.

Abe? Emily whimpered. She knew he was gone but held on to a strand of hope that his heart still beat a small amount of life into him, but there was no movement. As Emily attempted to wiggle her way out of the tight restraints she noticed Abe’s body begin to slowly move. This was no involuntary twitching a body will do when it dies, this was actual movement. Abe had slowly moved to his blood-stained hands and knees. There was a brief pause as he made it to all fours. Emily continued to try and call out to him but received no response. Abe moved his hands off the hard concrete floor and arched his back. Opening his crimson-covered mouth, he took in a long hard breath in a howling wolf pose. Emily could tell something wasn’t right about her boyfriend. The physical beating and gun shots should have killed him. The amount of blood that spewed from his body would have all but drained him of the life-sustaining fluid. Aside from the obvious survival of a deadly attack, there was something else about Abe that disturbed Emily. He had a look in his eye that terrified her. After taking a monstrous gasp of air, he stared directly at her. Abe’s eyes were completely black. There was no hint of his warm crystal blue tint left. Not even a hint of white surrounding the pupil. There was nothing left but two dark menacing bulbs. Slowly making his way to his feet, Abe, or what was left of him, continued to make painful mumbling noises. Emily started to squirm faster, hoping to loosen the straps securing her to the chair. The blood had stopped flowing from Abe’s body but still left behind the gaping wounds from which it had come. His body was completely mangled and slowly making its way over to Emily.

She quickly realized there was no hope of escape, the straps were too tight and the chair was too secure to the cold floor. When Abe reached her, Emily pleaded with him, hoping some essence of the man she loved still lurked inside. Looming over her, Abe opened his mouth wide and let out a hiss. Emily closed her eyes tight, still trying to talk her way into Abe’s mind, searching for a sign of life but there was still no response. Abe was merely a shell of his former self. His soul was no longer present. Emily’s fate had been sealed when Abe slammed his head down against her neck, sinking his teeth deep in. Emily could feel his teeth dig deep into her skin, slicing against her jugular vein. The light in the room began to dim around Emily as the life began to slowly leave her own body. Abe continued to devour her neck, moving Emily closer to death with the sound of her flesh being consumed by the man that she had fallen in love with. As darkness surrounded Emily’s eyes a feeling of deep nausea engulfed her. In the basement began two lives fully devoted to each other, willing to do whatever it took to stay together—but in the end only death remained for both Emily and Abe.

Chapter Two

A month away from my thirty-first birthday and I, Dan Draden, can’t help but crack a smile. An accident had created a massive traffic jam in both directions of the highway, one being the side where the accident happened and the other being where the gawkers slow down. I happened to be stopped the gawker side of the highway. Typically in a situation like this I would have been consumed by a massive feeling of tense irritation, moving a mere five miles an hour on a highway but today, out of the blue, a feeling of happiness came over me. The slow-moving traffic gave me a brief opportunity to reflect on the thing that keeps me going and pushes me through my trying day. Battling my way through the herd of motorized metal, I knew waiting for me at home was a night with my wife, Lillian, and my six-year-old son Galton. I’d just found out, while eating my usual breakfast of toast, coffee and a bowl of Cheerios, that my wife was three weeks pregnant with our second child. The worldly news had taken a back seat, this morning, to my household news. Everything was perfect on this hazy summer morning, at least perfect in the Draden household.

For the past six years I’ve been working for Lamparts Bank, a small but financially sound banking institution centered in Danville, California, a suburb about forty-five minutes east of San Francisco. It was founded by Jacob and Sam Lampart in 1855 and was mainly used for storing gold from prospectors. Many of the prospectors who deposited their gold in the bank were looking for a life away from prospecting after amassing a considerable sum of gold. This created a large sum of wealth for Jacob and Sam who began lending to others settling to the Danville area to open their own businesses. When the Southern Pacific Railroad was built in 1891 it opened the door for Lamparts Bank to extend their footprint into San Francisco. This led the town of Danville to switch from a small farming community to a residential one and by the early 1970’s residential property outnumbered farming land. Lamparts Bank grew right along with the community. By the mid to late nineties, the bank became one of the wealthiest institutions in the community. Despite many attempts by other larger banks, Lamparts remained localized to the Northern California area and a perfect model of efficiency. This is what made the company one of the top employers in the country and so difficult to gain access to. Graduates from around the country fought tooth and nail to get their foot into the door. It was definitely an employer of choice, one that people stayed employed with until they retired.

I managed to graduate from California State University at Hayward in just three and a half years, mainly because of the influence of my girlfriend and now beloved wife. She kept me grounded and focused during my college years, keeping me from excessive partying and skipping any classes. In fact, I never missed a single class in that three and half years which wasn’t the norm amongst my small yet close inner circle of friends. The hard work and dedication paid off when I graduated, landing a collection job with one of the most prestigious banks in Northern California. For many, a collection job might not seem prestigious, but it was the entry level job for lending operations at Lamparts. It was a coveted company and the list of candidates to get in the door was long and competitive. Fortunately, Lilly kept me on track which put me ahead of many of the other candidates interviewing for the same position. Competition was tough but made for a strong work environment thick with individuals who worked hard and maintained an unfathomable work ethic. The management force was dedicated to teaching each new employee the finer points of banking and lending which had been a long standing tradition from the day the company started. Each new manager had to undergo long and intense training on what it meant to be a manager. Not only did each manager have to show an overwhelming knowledge of banking and lending but they also had to show an equally strong ability to teach the material. The combination of knowledge and ability to teach had to be there if anyone wanted to become a manager. If someone was a top performer they wouldn’t be considered for a management position if they lacked the ability to effectively teach others the intricate details on what they do to perform at such a high level. It was a way to weed out anyone who would try to climb their way to the top over the backs of other people’s work. Throughout the years this led to a few of the top performers jumping ship to a competitor thinking performance was the only thing that made an effective manager. I was fortunate enough to be trained by a man who knew the fine details of his job and, more importantly, how to teach others effectively.

James Takashi or Jimmy, as he liked to be called, was my department manager when I started with the company. Within a few months of service on a collection desk Jimmy took me under his wing to teach me everything he knew about collections and the lending process. This upset a few of the team leads in the collection department at the time but they showed their true colors when promotions came up. Many of the team leads spent more time trying to make others look bad in order to prop themselves up, a trait the company despised, and Jimmy wasn’t going to be fooled.

Jimmy had been with the company for over thirty eight years which put him at the helm before computers became a factor in business. He was the youngest son of Japanese immigrants and always maintained a positive and humorous outlook no matter how stressful things became, which he attributed to his parents. They had to endure life in internment camps during the Second World War and never let their situation overtake their lives. His family had been relocated to the Manzanar Camp a little over two hundred miles north of Los Angeles. Jimmy’s father had effectively grown several different types of crops in the normally unmanageable soil and was awarded several acres of farm land in Northern California when the war ended. Their family farm activity consisted mainly of tomatoes and it had become the largest tomato farm in the country. Despite all the wealth his father had amassed, Jimmy had to go out and find his own way in life. Jimmy put himself through college and graduated with honors from University of California at Davis. He was heavily recruited by Lamparts upon graduation and reached second level manager within two years. Jimmy had many opportunities to move even further up the ladder but turned down the opportunities. He considered himself a filter for future managers and to ensure the highest level of employee were the only ones who moved up the ladder.

You get it, Jimmy once told me during a one-on-one career development meeting. I didn’t know what he meant at the time but now I have a better understanding. It wasn’t just the job that I understood but coexisting with my coworkers as well. When I had received my promotion after only a year on the job no one objected. While many managers in the past received harsh criticism from their peers after being promoted, I received several requests to move to my team after mine. This is when I knew what Jimmy meant and when I moved over to the credit underwriting team, Jimmy reminded me to not forget what I learned in collections, all of it. I knew only a fraction of what he meant dealt with the job itself.

Pulling into the driveway of the fancy two-story brick building my usual thirty minutes before everyone else, I noticed Jimmy sitting outside in the building’s smoking section. Over the past ten years smoking sections in California seemed to be diminishing. They had recently passed a law stating the section had to be a minimum of twenty yards from the building. The building manager had placed a park bench and red velvet rope surrounding the section to comply with the new regulation and also give the smokers a sense of a VIP club feeling. The building manager was a smoker himself and felt the new regulations had done more to insult smokers than to protect second-hand smokers.

Jimmy had a less than thrilled look on his face but not at all angry. He seemed more contemplative than normal. While it was never easy to find a parking spot, this particular day was even more difficult. Managing to find a parking spot at the furthest point from the side door where Jimmy was, I was thankful I kept up with my martial arts classes with my son. My job is extremely sedentary and this bit of exercise would have killed me otherwise. When I finally reached the smoking VIP section I could tell Jimmy was in deep thought. I hesitated for a moment before saying something as I wasn’t sure if I was interrupting his thoughts. Before I could speak, Jimmy broke from his trance.

Doesn’t matter how fast and efficient the smaller fish are, when they are confined to more restrictive space the bigger fish will eventually swallow them up. I didn’t really understand where he was going with this and before I could get some kind of clarity from his statement, he motioned for us to go inside. There was a sudden tightness in my chest and the joy that had moved me through the morning traffic was suddenly absent. As we walked down the long corridor not a word was spoken. The three flight elevator ride seemed to take an eternity and when we finally came to our floor Jimmy placed his hand on my shoulder. Keep working hard no matter what life throws at you, Dan. As long as you know you’ve done everything you could to accomplish the task at hand you will be successful.

Jimmy’s unusual philosophical behavior was farfetched from his normally