"The virus continues to regenerate and animate the subject perfectly for up to three months after death, but somewhere between then and the fifth week after initial reanimation it starts to die and the subject degenerates. One of the symptoms is a craving for fresh meat as the virus tries to maintain itself. If a subject deteriorates enough they no longer distinguish dead meat from live meat. The subject becomes extremely dangerous."
The next picture made Sarah feel instantly sick. There was a screaming, emaciated man in striped clothes being attacked by three zombies in uniform. One was clearly biting a chunk out of the victim's arm.
"As you can imagine, the Nazis shut down this particular program once the side effects became clear, however, luckily for us they did not destroy their research because their virus got out."
Sarah wasn't surprised at the revelation, but a few people gasped.
"Don't worry, we're not talking zombie apocalypse here, but this is where Special Order Seventeen comes in," Special Agent Lancaster said, drawing attention back to her. "Those infected with 8977 show no symptoms at all until death. It is a difficult virus to catch and infection rates are low, but all blood tests in this country, most of Europe and the United States are routinely screened. Those infected are flagged so that they can be dealt with when they die.
"When 8977 came to light it was decided it would cause panic if it became public knowledge and it was believed there are also elements in society who would use the virus to their advantage. My department, along with professionals such as yourselves are here to keep 8977 a secret and prevent lives being lost because of infection. You have all been psychologically screened and deemed capable of dealing with the information."
Sarah wasn't sure whether she was pleased or creeped out.
"The only way to kill an 8977 revenant is to introduce the anti-virus which causes almost instant physical shutdown."
SPOTLIGHT AUTHOR IWACA
22 | IWACA
REST IN PEACE