A New Purpose: Zero Day, #1

By David Mako

Over millennia the human species has cemented itself as the dominant life form on planet Earth. As their appetite for inexorable progress grew, the ominous warnings generated by the disregard they'd shown for themselves and their world grew increasingly dire.

 

From across a gulf of space and time beyond understanding another civilization had taken notice and would soon exact a terrible price on humanity. All to to prevent a tragic slide that these observers had seen too often since their own beginning in a time that the stars themselves have forgotten.

 

This story begins with the Schwarzkopf family in a small town in the Pacific Northwest of the United States of America as they learn all action comes with a cost and every choice has a consequence.

 

Aided by creatures from beyond as well as those that once called themselves human, Earth's civilization is given a choice, and a last chance.

 

An approximately 280 page book containing elements of Science Fiction and Fantasy, the story explores themes of self-identity, family, and the chaos that erupts when a not so benevolent alien race has grown impatient. Has some mature content including foul language, but nothing graphically sexual or violent.

• Language: English
• Publisher: David Mako
• Release date: Mar 22, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215888391

David Mako

An avid fan of dragons, David Mako has a number of stories in various stages of development in an alternate Earth where the impossible has become reality. Additional chapters of this long-running saga can be found at his user page on Deviantart.

Book preview

Prolog

Sitting up, I stretched the kink in my spine and resettled my body with a twitch as I thought over the story I had to tell and my place in the changes sweeping across the globe. My wife, the living hurricane, whose part in this tale was perhaps most important of all, rushed by outside with our children as she led them in a song praising how awesome she was. Ruining whatever their chances were for more balance than their mother. It made me chortle in amusement as their passage rattled our cavernous home. 

My head craned back to look at the pair of large pictures hung on the wall of our den. One held the image of our family before the fateful moment a scream shattered our lives, and the other, only a month later...

This is the story of my family that begins on the day that forever divided our lives when we learned we weren’t alone in the universe. A paradigm shift that separated a time when we knew what we were and what our place in the world was from when we did not. 

1

Ihad claimed the always contested study before anyone else could the night everything began. To eat while reviewing my latest medical notes in relative isolation, but where I could also still hear the sounds of my family. Such as Irma, my oldest daughter, typing away at her college homework from the living room on the other side of the wall.

Kim, my wife of twenty-three years, was in the kitchen on the phone with her employer, a backcountry helicopter outfit, discussing her flight schedule for the next week and difficulties she had been having with her radio and navigational equipment. Luke and Lucy, our nine-year-old twins, were with her. Hopefully doing the dishes and not trying to solve some unfathomable enigma only they would consider. As they were apt to do when they became bored with whatever chores they were supposed to be doing.

A red emergency alert that declared breaking news caught my attention as I contemplated my dinner and what I should change about the sauce next time. I unmuted the television to hear the breathless report on a strange spreading disease making people develop discolorations across their skin accompanied by intense pain and disorientation.

Blurry pictures and footage showed darting lizard creatures wearing tattered clothes. Chased by people or chasing people themselves. Another disjointed video showed men, women, and children seizing on the ground as those filming them screamed uselessly instead of helping.

What might have been happening to those victims, and the relationship between a new disease and a giant species of lizard, was not clear behind the labyrinth of conflicting reports. The whole thing seemed like a poor joke blown so out of hand it had spawned mass hysteria. Halloween was less than a month away, after all. As a first responder myself, if an outbreak had affected the area, I would have been called me to assist with the emergency. I’ll believe it when I see it. I thought instead, with no real impetus, to take what I saw seriously.

I didn’t have to wait long to be made a believer.

A loud gasp came through the wall from Irma’s direction, followed by the sound of furniture skidding across the floor and a yell. Her shriek of surprise ended in a pained grunt, followed by the wooden clattering of her chair hitting the ground and my wife shouting my name in alarm. Concerned, the forgotten bite of dinner still in my hand fell to my plate as I rushed to see what the hell was going on.

I came around the corner to see Kim holding Irma’s hand. My wife was as pale as the wall she stood in front of and demanding answers from me I didn’t have, What’s happening to our daughter?

Stunned, I stared as my thoughts ground to a halt. Only standing there frozen in mid-stride with my mouth gaping uselessly. The skin of her left hand had darkened to a grayish-black. Already I could see the charcoal stain had emitted tendrils that were advancing past her wrist. To say Irma was concerned would understate her biggest emotional outburst since high school.

Nooooo! she said. I’ve seen the videos. I’ve seen what happened to those people! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! Not me! Not me! No! I won’t become some freak! She frantically scrubbed at the discolored skin with her other hand before collapsing into Kim’s arms, howling denial while our frightened twins Lucy and Luke came racing out of the kitchen to see what was happening. The blood drained from their faces as their older sister sobbed in disbelief, leaving the auburn color of their hair a garish contrast to their sudden pallor.   

Lucy... I said, reeling and uncertain, ... call 911. She ran from the room while Luke continued to look on and twist his hands nervously. I followed Kim and Irma to the ground and hugged them both. It’s going to be okay, I said. This could be anything, even a simple rash or an allergic reaction. Stay calm, and we’ll figure it out.   

The only reaction my attempts at soothing my family elicited was a low moan of despair from Irma as she scoured the skin from her hand. Tiny beads of a nearly black liquid oozed from her graying skin that I alarmingly realized might be blood. The inky stain had encompassed her hand past her wrist, and as I watched, I saw the discoloration spread to the fingertips of her other hand. Darkening the nail beds until they were as void of color as the rest.

My eyes widened, but before I could respond, Kim was already on top of it. She grabbed Irma’s right forearm and moved it to her side to keep her from inflicting damage that might worsen the spreading infection. My wife looked at me, pale and shaken but still filled with the implacable resolve I knew her for. Tom, go get some gloves. I’ll be damned if I leave her here like this, but we can’t let it spread. On her or to us.

Right, I said, thinking quickly. There were nitrile gloves in the garage. Luke... I grabbed him on the way out of the living room, ... I want you to get sheets and blankets, as many as you can carry. Bring them to your mother. I ran to the garage as he ran the other way to the linen closet.

While looking for the box of gloves, I stumbled across a set of particulate masks. It couldn’t hurt to be careful. After securing the package of masks and the box of gloves, I rushed back in time to hear my wife yelling at the 911 operator.

What do you mean, there’s no one available? How many people have it? Don’t you tell me to remain calm! You’re fucking worthless!

A distinct whistling sound whirred past me as I neared the end of the hall, and I turned to see Lucy’s cell phone half-buried in the drywall. The cracked screen flickering before dying along with the garbled voice of the emergency dispatcher.

What... I said before the sound of Irma screaming drew my attention back to her.

My hands! My hands! she wailed. Make it stop, Mom!

Irma lay curled on the ground and clasping her hands together. She struggled against the pain with the tendons in her neck standing out vividly as something unseen set the nerves in her hands on fire. Lucy and Luke, kneeling on either side of her, looked on with filmy eyes. Kim stroked Irma’s head while she held it in her lap. I came forward with my sleeves rolled down to cover my skin and a pair of light blue gloves covering my hands. A precaution I made Kim, Lucy, and Luke take as well. As for the masks, I set them aside for now. We were already infected if what was happening to her was transmissible through the air.

A grim thought I kept from my family. 

Kneeling at Irma’s side, I saw the root of her latest agony. The fingers on both hands were noticeably longer, and her gray-black nails had thickened to envelop the ends of her lengthened digits. The appearance of her thumbs was increasingly malformed as, with an audible crack, she howled when they shifted and turned, losing dexterity. I could do nothing but watch in horror as bone, tendon, muscle, and skin shifted in starts until her hands were unrecognizable with the elongation of her palm, thickened fingers, and blunt claws. 

What did the operator say? I asked, staring at the savage look my daughter’s hand had taken on. This was no disease or virus. What I had seen was impossible. Biology doesn’t change like that. Something far more bizarre was working through her body, and I did not know what it was. Nothing from my years as a pararescue jumper in the Air Force or as a civilian emergency medical technician could prepare me for this.

That fucking bitch told me to keep her calm so she doesn’t attack us. Said it wasn’t infectious. Then told me we should take her outside and leave her there until someone could get to us. Said dozens of people in the state are affected and that they’re overworked.

Then why wasn’t I called? Something more was happening than we knew.

She can kiss my freckled fucking ass, Kim said. If she thinks I’m going to leave my daughter outside and hide!

Irma moaned and violently shook. Her eyes opened and looked up at us. One was her usual pale blue, the other now a fiery red. Her once round pupils had stretched into terrible slashes down the center of each eye. 

Mom? You’re crying? You never cry... she said, whimpering deliriously and repeating herself until the spasms left her in breathless agony. Part of her forearms were as dull and black as a moonless night, but the color was the least of the changes her skin underwent. A textured surface now emerged from the thicker, roughened skin on the back of her hands. Peering close, it horrified me to see fan-shaped plates were spreading open her epidermal pores until they tore on these new growths’ way to the surface. Rising and then settling into an overlapping pattern highlighted by traces of blood around the edges of the pitch-black discs.

My daughter was growing scales.

I held my face in my hands while Kim comforted her, and I fought against the spinning of the room. What else did the call center say?

Kim looked at me with unshed tears obscuring her emerald eyes. Shocked horror had washed away her slight tan, making the freckles across the bridge of her nose stand in sharp relief. The operator said the victims grew agitated in confined spaces and needed to be outside. Could we take her to the barn? The interior is unfinished.

Is that what you’d like, dear? I asked Irma.

Too close, too close. The sky, Dad. The sky. I feeaaaaaahhh... Her sentence abruptly ended in a wail of agony as she grabbed at her chest with ever-longer nails. The veritable claws easily pierced the cloth of her shirt and into her breasts, where flowers of blood blossomed across her top.

What’s happening! Kim and I said as Lucy and Luke drew back, cowering against each other with dismayed whimpers.

It burns! It burns!

While I held down Irma’s kicking legs Kim had her shoulders, keeping her from writhing into anything hard or sharp. Lucy, go to the kitchen and get our first aid kit. Lucy’s hands trembled at her sides, and her lips quivered as if to speak. She looked questioningly at me instead. Yes, the one I told you not to touch. Get it and open it beside me.

I leaned in to be heard over the growing torrent of Irma’s shrieks of pain. How long is this supposed to last?

They didn’t know. No one fucking knows anything; what the fuck is going on? My daughter is screaming in pain, and no one knows what the fuck is going on! I can’t fucking stand this! Luke, get some water for your sister!

When Luke and Lucy returned, I groped through the medical kit past antibiotics and antihistamines until I found the bottle of hydrocodone I had gotten through work. The twins took my place holding down my daughter’s convulsing legs long enough for me to shake out one capsule.

Irma flung her head wildly from side to side in between my halting attempts to get her to swallow the painkiller without choking on it. Luke gasped and pointed. She wet herself!

My brow furrowed. Irma’s in a lot of pain right now. It’s normal. Inside, I was heartbroken; my once proud daughter prostrated before us and losing control of her very body. I would give anything, even my own life, to spare her this torment. She didn’t deserve this. No one did. All those other people I saw on the news, and no one helping them. My God, what was happening?  

Irma’s screams echoed around me with a shrill, increasingly hoarse tone from her abused throat. At last, I got the pill into her mouth. I was thankful she swallowed it reflexively, uncertain if a drink of water would choke her or not.  

Irma. Irma. Listen to me! What we gave you was hydrocodone. Just... Just hold on, kiddo, for fifteen more minutes. Kim said. Our suffering eldest let go of her own chest and wrapped a hand full of needle-sharp nails around each of our own arms, drawing us close. I gritted my teeth as her claws punched through my sleeves to sink into the skin of my arm.          

Mommy... Daddy. Don’t ever... let me go.... she said between laboring breaths. With her eyes pinched shut, fear and pain etched were in the drawn lines across her face. Our tears dappled her brow and cheek as we both swore to her a vow we meant with all our hearts. 

You will never be alone in this, we promise. A faint smile briefly creased her dry lips before she fell into unconsciousness as the pain overwhelmed her. With her body limp, the iron grip on our arms relaxed, freeing us both.

2

We looked at each other , seeking relief from this tragedy unfurling before our eyes, but there was none to be found. Irma’s arms twitched again, causing Kim and I to groan as her claws moved within our wounds before the hardened nails suddenly withdrew as they snapped up against her chest. She didn’t awaken, but the distended veins in her neck still pulsing in time with her rapid heartbeat told us all we needed about her condition.

Kim caught my attention when she yanked the sleeve of my shirt up to expose the fresh gashes there, dabbing at the gouges on my arm with gauze before passing over a bottle of iodine. As we tended to each other’s injuries, I asked Luke to go get two jackets and broom handles from the closet. An improvisation necessary because I couldn’t remember where I’d put my collapsible litter. 

Take all but three of these towels and as many blankets as you can find to the barn. Strip the pillows off the couches too. The least we can do is make Irma comfortable. Kim said to the shocked Lucy. Too bewildered to move, she sniffled and wiped at her eyes dazedly instead.

Hey, Kim said, shuffling to bring Lucy into her arms, I know how you feel, honey; I feel the same way. But right now, we need to be strong. Strong for her. Imagine how scared your sister must be.

Lucy looked down as her ailing sister gave another loud groan and curled into a fetal ball on her side. Traces of black already reaching beyond the neckline of her blouse. My youngest unafflicted girl’s long legs folded, but Kim was more than strong enough to hold her up by her shoulders. Once she was steady, her mother swept Lucy’s bangs out of her eyes and cupped her cheek.

Please, Lucy. We need you right now.

She wiped her eyes, sniffed, and nodded as she began her mission. As we waited for Luke to return, we squeezed antibiotic cream onto our wounds, not taking any chances the iodine would be enough, and then bound them with dressings. Kim, what are we going to do? I said in a croak that I barely understood.

Whatever it fucking takes, that’s what. She passionately responded. I don’t care what she looks like; she is our flesh and blood. Our daughter. Our damn child! I brought her into this world, and we raised her! Whatever it takes. She sunk back against the living room wall as I heard her whisper once more, Whatever it takes.  

I drew her close and held my forehead against hers, resolving to stay at Irma’s side no matter what. Our fight, I said into the intimate space between us. Relieved to hear her echo me.

Kim pushed me back to wipe her tears away. You should go call your brother. Tell him what’s happening. He must have some idea what’s going on at the CDC. Irma needs some privacy as I clean her, anyway. I’ll call for you if she wakes up.

I rose and stumbled from the room, uncertain if the world could ever be the same again. My gait steadied as I returned to where my dinner sat, cold and forgotten. My military training whispered to me I didn’t know when I’d eat again. I glanced at the recent developments taking place on the screen in front of me as I shoveled the remaining food into my mouth as fast as I could swallow. 

The news studio was in pandemonium as the camera jostled madly when someone ran in front of it and clipped it. Offscreen, someone was screaming in pain as other panicked voices shouted.

Get him out of here!

"Oh my god, look at him!

It’s going to happen to all of us. Run!

The camera steadied and zoomed in on the reporters who tried to control the narrative even with the agonized cries continuing to come over the audio feed. As you saw only moments ago, the crisis sweeping across the globe has hit home as our very own Nathan Hernandez began exhibiting symptoms while live on the air. The woman looked at something offscreen and turned pale beneath her makeup. Her partner got up and ran the other way, covering his mouth and nose with his tie. Jesus... go... go to commercial! she said, scrambling to follow her coworker just before the camera swung to the side to reveal a stream of people racing for an exit. I turned the TV off, silencing a bellowing roar of agony mid-cry.

Don’t tell me about the crisis hitting home. It’s already here.

I brought my brother Alex up in the contacts. After three attempts to call, I finally heard his agitated voice. 

Tom? Tom! What is it? I’m kind of busy right now if you haven’t heard. Make it quick.

Your niece has the disease, I said flatly. I heard a sharp inhalation, and then he began shouting.

Everyone out! Tell Philadelphia they need to keep those people isolated and to stop transporting any new symptomatic. Our recommendation at this time is to shelter in place. There was the sound of shuffling bodies and muttered protests, then the slam of a door. Which girl? How long ago did she manifest?

My voice hitched on the words caught in my throat as I thought of her unconscious in the other room. It’s Irma. It started a little over twenty minutes ago.

Symptoms? 

He listened intently as I listed what we’d seen in Irma so far. His lack of reaction telling me he’d heard it all before. 

Did any of you contact her bodily fluids? From what you’ve described, she is symptomatic.

Is this thing infectious?

Tom! Has anyone been in contact with her fluids?

No, but she gouged Kim and me with her fingernails.

When he went silent, my heart rate tripled.

Alex? Talk to me, brother.

Has she touched Luke or Lucy?

How bad is it, Alex? Alex... my family...

I’m on my way. No one at the CDC has witnessed anything close to the full progression of this infection. The director will have to let me go to collect the information. Brother, I’m sorry I’m talking about this like it isn’t Irma. There must be more justification to me leaving here than family. Tens of thousands of reports detailing trauma similar to Irma’s are arriving from across the United States. I hope you’re not infected, but you might be, and that is something you need to prepare yourself for. You already know the first symptoms. If you or Kim see any appear, keep the twins away from you.

The thought of my nine-year-old twins being left without their parents or sister made me gag. A... Alex... what can I... what can we do? I said, my words barely discernible over my pained sobs. Do you know if it’s infectious or not?

We don’t know. There is not enough information to give you a solid answer. We are awaiting an initial report that should arrive from Alaska at any moment. Their first cases started three days ago above the Arctic Circle. Diseases and viruses don’t move across the world from North to South which is the pattern we’re seeing here. Completely unnatural. In the meantime: stay with Irma, keep talking to her, and make her as comfortable as possible. Where’s Kim? She needs to hear this, too.

Wait one second. I said, walking to the study where Kim and Irma were, passing Luke and Lucy waiting in the entranceway, crying and holding each other. Luke, Lucy, please move food, water, and more pillows to the barn. Enough for all five of us. And Luke, I’m sorry for yelling at you earlier, okay, buddy? It was wrong for me to take my frustration that I can’t help your sister out on you. Just hang in there. Both of you. I said, roping him and his twin into a hug. Taking as much comfort from it as I hoped I was giving them.

They moved without a word after I reluctantly let go, their hiccupping cries trailing behind them. As they left to ready the barn, I reentered the living room to find Kim holding Irma. She was humming a lullaby to her towel-clad child that had been dear to mother and daughter since her birth. Gently caressing Irma’s face with soft brushes of her hand while gazing blankly at our oldest. Kim only looked up once I had sat down next to her and placed the phone between us.

Go ahead, Alex. It’s me, you, and Kim. Irma is here but unconscious.

Kim, how are you doing?

How the fuck do you think I’m doing? Kim said, exploding back at Alex with fire blazing to life again in her haunted eyes. All maternal softness and gentle lullaby gone in an instant. Irma is suffering right in my arms where she should be safe and I haven’t heard a single goddamned word yet about how I can help her.

About how I figured then. Look, I’m sorry this is happening, but I know Irma hates pity as much as you two, so I won’t beat around the bush anymore. When she scratched you, did any bodily fluids touch you?

I don’t know. There were solid growths tearing through Irma’s skin accompanied by blood, I said. Alex sighed, and an uncomfortable silence filled the air.

Then brace yourselves because there have been anecdotal reports that exposure to the infected during the change will spread whatever the mutagen is. Tom, I know I told you it is not natural, and I stand by that, but if there is something within the body being activated by... if it is being activated, then we cannot rule out secondary effects by exposure to bodily fluids. Nothing we have been able to prove or disprove yet, but you need to know about the possibility of transmission.

I noted he had stopped himself short of revealing something, but didn’t push it. The phone line was unsecured, and I didn’t want him jeopardizing his security clearance for something that probably couldn’t help us at that moment, anyway. If it was vital for us to know, he would have found another way to tell us. 

We cleaned the wounds immediately afterwards with iodine and an antibiotic, Kim said, ignoring my brother’s slip after I sent her a warning look. 

Contact alone might have been enough. You could be fine; you might not. If you aren’t showing symptoms within the next day, I’d say you’re in the clear. I will be there by tomorrow morning.

Alex? Kim asked. Isn’t there anything we can do for her until then?

Have you given her anything?

Ten milligrams of hydrocodone, I responded, recoiling with the memory of my daughter writhing against me as I tried to get her to accept the pill.

Good. Do what you can to keep your daughter unconscious. You’ve seen the pictures; you know what changes are to come. The pain she’ll experience could cause her to suffer a stroke or a heart attack, so it’s important to keep her heart rate and blood pressure as low as possible. When I get there, I’ll be able to put her into an induced coma to minimize as much risk as we can outside of a clinical environment.

At that moment, both of Irma’s now red eyes