The Outbreak

A car slowed to a stop outside of the sectioned off area crawling with police. A tall woman with a serious aura got off the car and walked over to the crime scene area.

"Detective Sanders, it's good that you're here. I've seen many cases but I've never come across one so weird." A man holding a cup of coffee approached the woman with obvious confusion.

"Who is the victim?" Sanders, who's first name was Irene looked at her fellow detective who looked to be upset about something.

"Victims. Plural. Two officers from our city. We got a call about the bodies and a nearby police car still idling. We came over and found this..."

The man led Irene over to the covered bodies, lifting one of the tarps to reveal the body of a man in a police uniform with his neck twisted too far around to be humanly possible.

"Forensic experts say that whatever did this completely shattered nearly every bone in his neck. The other one is worse."

Irene frowned and steeled her nerves, walking over to the other tarp and gesturing to Terry to lift it. With a pale face, he did as she asked.

What Irene first saw was the blood drenched ground. Her eyes drifted upwards and she shivered when she saw the headless body.

"W-where is the rest of him?" She subconsciously avoided saying more and Terry shot her a look of understanding. He lifted the tarp fully and Irene saw a head laying on the ground, eyes frozen forever wide open in terror.

"We don't know who did this or why. We haven't even called their families yet." Terry whispered sadly, but his attention was drawn to something else. A black SUV drove over and a woman got out, her clothes neat and tidy despite the bags under her eyes.

"That is Doctor Kira. The higher ups said that the government sent her to aid in this investigation." Terry sighed and walked away, headed to an officer who was calling him.

Irene turned her attention back to the crime scene and looked around for anything that could have been missed. Doctor Kira finished talking to the forensic team and approached the body.

"I'm Kira Verne. It's nice to meet you Detective Sanders." Kira held out her hand and Irene shook it, not sure why she had come over to talk to her.

"You seem confused. I had the choice to have someone assigned to me for my duration of this case and I chose you. Your credentials are outstanding."

"You asked for me?" Irene wondered if she had underestimated the scope of this case. If someone was called in and had someone assigned to them, it wasn't normal.

"I work for the CDC." Kira offered some information so as to not keep Irene guessing blindly. Irene was now extremely confused because the CDC usually only had jurisdiction during pandemics and such, not gruesome murder cases.

"Well, I used to. Last week, the CIA, NSA, and FBI Directors recruited me into a newly formed organization called the Viral Prevention Agency."
"This is a murder case, not a pandemic or something. Why were you sent here then?" Irene looked at Kira who crouched and inspected the body with the broken neck.

"I need you to sign a Non Disclosure Agreement if you want to know. This concerns National Security and a breach of contract will be counted as treason of the highest degree."

"What is going on?" Irene half wondered aloud as Kira fetched a tablet and handed it to Irene. Her meaning was clear, sign to know.

Since it was obviously government sanctioned, Irene made up her mind and signed her name while Kira inspected the headless body quietly.

"Here." Irene handed the tablet back and followed Kira to the SUV and got into the passenger seat. Kira got into the driver's seat and took a computer from a hidden compartment.

"Since you're assigned to me, you'll be briefed on the situation. What do you think happened to those officers out there?" Kira nodded at the corpses and logged into her account.

"Someone probably used a blade or something to decapitate the first and probably smashed the second's neck with a blunt tool?" Irene answered to the best of her ability.

"First things first. What you saw was not caused by weapons. I studied to be a doctor and the wound on the decapitated victims neck isn't caused by a blade. The second victim's neck is twisted around, and a human wouldn't be able to do that easily without the victim putting up a struggle."

"So you're saying whatever happened happened so quickly that they couldn't react? How could that be?" Irene tried to imagine the attack and failed.

"Roughly a month ago, three viruses surfaced into different parts of the world with unknown origins. I'm not supposed to say this, but based on the discoveries of the viruses since then, the human race could be wiped out."

Kinda short too. I'll make sure to stay above 1,000 words from now on. 😅