LZR-1143: Within Read Online Free Page A

car during an avalanche, and his phone wouldn’t make a call. But he had internet service because the two services were different networks. When the first responders got to him, he was updating his status on social media and even posted a picture of them getting through the snow.
    “You got data on that?” Louis asked, and received a withering look from Cam.
    “Dude, seriously? How do you think I check the game center leader boards and my Twitter account? Come on.” Suddenly Cam’s eyes widened in understanding.
    “Right, gotcha. Hold up.” He punched a series of buttons and exclaimed briefly. “I’ve got a signal!”
    Antonio’s voice sounded from near the vending machine, where he had been examining the meager offerings.
    “Check the local news first, see if there’s anything. Maybe a tornado or something?”
    Cam nodded and punched the application icon on his home screen. Louis watched as the internet browser loaded the front page of the local news, and backed up as Cam shifted to follow a stronger signal, moving out of Louis’ view.
    “What the …?” Cam’s voice was bewildered and confused, and his finger tapped the screen once to zoom in.
    “What, Cam?” Louis was anxious and tired. Two AM was two AM, no matter what hours you worked, and he was starting to grow concerned.
    “God damn it, I can’t get the connection to load the page… Hold on, that might … What the…?” Cam’s voice was quiet and slightly disbelieving.
    His eyes were flying over the words, his finger scrolling quickly. Behind him, Antonio shifted his weight audibly and inhaled slowly.
    “Dude, out with it for fuck’s sake!” said Louis, his voice tinged with the anxiety he felt so strongly.
    “It’s … it looks like its some sort o f diseas e or something outside but the page keeps hanging up. Fuck!” he shook the phone and looked away in disgust.
    “That’s it,” he said, looking at them. “God damned phone decided it needed to reload the page and I lost what I had.”
    There was a moment of silence as all three men digested the limited news.
    Then, Antonio exhaled in frustration and cursed under his breath, even as Louis slapped Cam on the shoulder to get his attention, “Come on Cam, reload the page. This can’t be because of some bird flu shit. What the fuck is happening out there?”
    “Dude. Seriously. That’s all I got. The first paragraph is still cached though, I can show you…” His voice crackled slightly. His finger was scrolling through a half-empty page as Louis craned his neck to read over his shoulder. The internet connection bar slowly crept to the right, indicating a slow page load.
    “God damn it, Cam…”
    “See for yourself, man,” he said almost frantically, voice fearful as he shoved the phone at Louis. Louis took the phone, shaking his head as he stared at the small text, only half loaded on the small screen.
    The story was one of only partial information. Cam had only been able to save a quarter of the page from being deleted by his phone’s automatic refresh, and the news was incomplete and fragmented. A sickness of some sort, people falling down, and people dying. Overloaded hospitals and a spreading contagion. Spreading fast.
    That’s where the story stopped, mid-sentence.
    Louis looked up, and his heart started racing.
    This was impossible.
     
    ***
     
    The cases were no longer isolated. In cities across the country, hospitals reported mass casualties on an epic scale. Vomiting, nausea and fever were the first symptoms, then unconsciousness. Then, ultimately, death.
    But that wasn’t the worst of it. That was just the beginning.
    As the day wore on, hundreds of patients became thousands, and thousands became tens of thousands. Emergency responders were overwhelmed by a deluge of frantic calls from helpless people. As one patient was delivered to the hospital, ten more called in. Police and fire units began to respond, to give the affected some sense of normalcy. To help