The Doomsday Shift

Dr. Ron White Made sure that the Burke's had left the hospital without any problems before he signed himself out. He walked out of the hospital and was beside his van by 8:10 a.m.., He had just worked a ten hour shift and he was looking forward to his drive up north to his cabin. His two sons, Dan and Gary would be up there waiting for him. He was going to take the highway over the mountain instead of the more direct route because he found it more relaxing and there was less traffic.

Ron was on the road for about forty minutes when he realized that he was getting hungry. A mile up the road was a truckers diner and he knew that the food there was fairly good, so he decided that he would stop there and grab a bite to eat.

As he entered the diner, he noticed that it was busy, he saw a vacant stool and sat down and looked at the menu until the waitress came over. When the waitress finally came over to take his order, he decided to get a sandwich and coffee to go. He would eat it in the van while he was driving. It was 9:35 when Ron pulled out of the diners parking lot and was again heading towards the mountain. He noticed that he spent too much time at the diner and he was going to have to push it if he was going to meet his sons on time. Ron wasn't sure how much time his sons had off, with the military you would work on so many days and then the military would give them so many days leave.

As Ron was approaching the crest of the mountain road, his van swerved and it felt as if he had a flat tire. He got out of the van to check the tires when he realized that the ground was shaking, he thought that it was an earthquake. He knew the area well so he ran over to the clearing in the trees. As he came out to the clearing, he noticed that the wind had picked up and was becoming a gale. He remembered an old abandoned bear cave that was near, so he headed for it. He prayed feverishly that the cave was still empty because he wouldn't have enough time to check it out first.

As Ron entered the cave he noticed a large rock, he pushed and shoved it until it was up against the mouth of the cave. The ground gave such a high shake that it knocked him off his feet, he hit the ground so hard that it made his teeth click together with a loud snap, The wind was so strong it pushed the rock away from the mouth of the cave. It blew inside the cave with a vengeance, and the roar was deafening. The dirt from the ceiling of the cave started to fall all around him, he could feel the wind trying to push him from where he was sitting, it took everything he had to stay near the mouth of the cave, in case it caved in on him.

It took him a few minutes to realize that the weird storm had come to a stop. He looked overhead and noticed that the cave ceiling had held up fairly well.

As Ron was sitting there getting his breath back he heard an animal whining from the bowels of the cave. He wasn't sure what to do for a couple of seconds but started to inch his way towards the back of the cave. As he got closer to where the sound was coming from, he noticed a dog. Just at a glance Ron could see that the dog was injured. Ron talked softly to the dog to calm it down so that he could get a better look at him. Once he was able to get the dogs trust, he sat there petting it for a few minutes. As Ron petted him, he gave it a quick examination and found that the dog had a broken leg. He looked around and found a piece of wood that was fairly straight, and with the sleeves from his shirt he was able to put a splint on the dog. He also noticed that the dog was close to starvation. He rooted in his pockets and found a chocolate bar. As he fed the chocolate bar to the dog, the dog moved closer to Ron's side and started to lick his hand. He sat beside the dog and couldn't for the life of him , think how anyone could be so cruel to an animal. He petted the dog and asked him if he would like to come home with him. At that the dog wagged it's tail, so Ron took this as a yes. Ron looked at the dog and said " what do you think of the name Charlie?" The dog got clumsily to it's feet and started to lick the side of Ron's face. With that decided he picked up the dog and carried it back to the van. Ron made him comfortable and then got into the drivers seat.

They were at the top of the mountain driving along, heading for the crest in the downhill drive when Ron noticed that the sky had changed from the sickly green to the soft blue that it used to be, he also noticed that the clouds had gone to a fluffy white. The clouds had also slowed down to a crawl, Everything was starting to look normal once again. Ron noticed that it was getting quite warm in the van so he turned off the vans heater and rolled down his window for a bit of air. As the air started to come into the van , Ron could feel the warmth coming in with it. This was really strange for this time of year, It was usually cold outside this rime of year. The temperature is usually around thirty-two degrees, but it felt as if it was in the fifties at the present time.

When he was half way down the mountain he could see where the bay used to be, all that was left was a lot of white sand that surrounded a large brown spot. It looked like a canyon from this view point. Ron pulled his van over to the shoulder of the road and got out. As he walked to the edge of the mountain road he noticed that the sun appeared to be going down, from the position of the sun it appeared to be setting. Ron knew that was was impossible because it was only 12:45 p.m., but the way things were going today, anything was possible. He walked back to his van and decided that he would wit until daylight before he would attempt the road any further.

By 1:15 p.m. it was totally dark 0ut. Charlie started to whine to let Ron know he had to go visit the nearest tree. He walked around to the side of the van and lifted Charlie out, carrying him to a tree. As he was waiting for the dog to do its business, Ron relieved himself as well. Ron went to pick him up , but Charlie hopped off towards the van on his own. He put the dog inside the van and walked around and got into the drivers seat.

Ron was a lit5tle worried about his sons, knowing that they were at the cabin and there wasn't too much protection there where they could take shelter. He prayed that one of them would remember the root cellar that was at the back of the yard. It was over ten yers since they had even used it. He knew that they were survivor's but he had never seen a storm like the one that just passed.

When the germ warfare happened, his wife , Sara, was visiting her family, who lived in the States and they had all perished there. Sara's entire family had been infected with the germs and when they saw what they were turning into, they had all taken sleeping pills and had set the house to explode with their gas stove.

Dan and Gary had gone to fight in the war and had returned to find out their mother had perished. Ron didn't tell them how their mother and the rest of her family had taken their own lives, just that they had been overcome with the deadly virus. Both of his sons had gone to fight the war as young boys and had returned as strong good men. Sara would have been proud of them, the way they had grown up in that space of time. The war lasted just over three years, but it seemed to be a lifetime.

With the great bomb, came the end of the war, and that's when everyone came home. When the bomb exploded it caused the gasses to rise into the sky and that caused a continuous cloud to rotate around the entire world. Since the first germ bombs were fired, everyone started to wear the surgical outfits for protection. In Russia and the United States, the surgical outfits had come too late. They had been the targets for the sick bastards when they declared war. That was when Canada got involved. Needless to say, we did win the was but at a great cost of lives. They had finally found the bastards who started the war and they were assassinated.

The war had caused so much destruction around the entire world that there was a massive food shortage. It had caused mutants which were put into communities that were being closely monitored by the government. This was to ensure that none of the mutants would infect the peopl who had a clean bill of health. The government thought that if the mutants were kept inside a compound that was contained, then the rest of the uninfected wouldn't have to worry about coming into contact with any of the germs.

Being a doctor, Ron came into contact with these mutants and was able to see the damage that had been done. The mutants foreheads seemed to have grown another layer of bone. They would grow to seven feet or more, they were more ape like then human. Their hair was sitting in clumps at different angles on their scalp. Many had broken out in blisters which were full of pus. When a blister would break open, the smell was of rotting meat that was left out for a week. They had also developed a gum disease, some of the mutants would have teeth that were as sharp as a razor, while others teeth would fall out. This caused them to have very bad breath. Once the blisters would break open the wound would never heal, in it's place was a gaping hole. Their brains were deteriorating to less then an animals level. These mutants took the law into their own hands . Even the government was nervous when they had to deal with the mutants. If they got the upper hand, then that would be another problem that nobody needed right now.

Ron had heard through the grapevine that the some of the mutants had escaped from their compound and were starting up their own communities, where the government had nothing to do with them. He only hoped that it was as far away from here as possible. No man, woman or child were safe around them. They were very dangerous, even animals would be prey to the mutants.

Ron closed his eyes and rested for a few hours, he woke up to Charlie licking his face. As he opened his eyes, Charlie darted over to his door and whined. He got out of the van and helped Charlie down to the road. The dog walked a few feet from where Ron was standing and started to do a little dance, Ron asked him what he wanted, the dog started to walk down the mountain road. Ron thought that this would be a good time to check out the road before he drove his van. He wasn't sure if the entire mountain road had with stand the earthquake or whatever it was. He didn't want to be driving down the mountain and all of a sudden there would be no road, he'd end up plunging down the side of the mountain, He thought that he would see how far Charlie could go before he got tired. Ron took the flashlight out of the glovebox and put his gun in the waistband of his jeans. He and Charlie headed off for their walk. They had walked for about two miles when he noticed that there was water below them but the mountain road had withstood the quake but as far as he could tell. They walked on for a bit more to see how far they could travel with the van once daylight came. Ron knew he should be able to see the streetlights of Collinswood from where he was, but all he could see was the reflection off the water of the moon. Ron knew at that moment that the water from the bay had somehow moved and had covered the town of Collinswood and the surrounding countryside.

As he and Charlie headed back towards the van, he wondered how the entire bay could shift to a new location without someone noticing some sort of change in the tides. About a mile from the van, Charlie had to stop for a short rest. He had started to pant and Ron didn't want the dog to do more damage to it's injuries. Ron sat down beside Charlie and gave him a pat. In a short span of time he had become attached to Charlie and Charlie seemed to have taken to Ron. After resting for ten minutes, Ron stood up, before he could utter a word to the dog, Charlie was up on his three legs and was ready to continue their walk back to the van. As they were walking back up the mountain road, Charlie started sniffing the air and started to whine softly. Ron talked softly to Charlie and the dog calmed down and they proceeded to the van without any other problems arising.

As Ron opened the door for Charlie, he got into the van without Ron's help. Ron walked around to his side of the van and got in. He reached over and gave Charlie a pat on his head and said that they may as well head down the mountain road until they reached the water. As he turned the key in the ignition he noticed the faint light of dawn. Ron sat back in his seat and watched the sunrise and it was a beautiful sight to see.

He was a mile from where he saw the water when he spotted several men coming down from the trees on the side of the mountain. It was the way the men were walking, in a hunch back way and the only ones that Ron had seen walking like that were the mutants.

Ron pulled his van over and turned off the ignition, so they wouldn't hear him. He sat there and was watching them until they entered another belt of trees. He wanted to see if they would come out of the trees. Just as Ron thought that the men or mutants were not going to show, they came out from the trees about a hundred feet ahead of where he stopped his van. As they got closer to the road, Ron realized that they were mutants. He watched their progress, he realized that they were too intent on their mission to realize that someone was watching them.

He thought of just going on his way once they had gone to where ever they were heading. It was the way the mutants were walking, with such an intent look on their faces that made him suspicious. When he was dealing with the mutants in the hospital, he saw that look and he knew that these mutants were up to no good.

Ron figured that this was part of the pack of mutants that the government was looking for. He started thinking about the area that was near the top of the mountain and he recalled the forest that was up there too. This was probably where they were hiding out.

As they went around the bend in the road, Ron put his finger to his lips and told Charlie to be quiet, then he quietly opened his door and slipped out, with Charlie close behind him. Not knowing if Charlie would stay at his side or if he'd run ahead of him, Ron thought that he better get some sort of leash to put on the dog. He looked in the back of his van and found a roll of gauze. Thinking that if h. e put several layer's through the dogs collar, this would do for the time being. Without a peep, Charlie walked along beside Ron. He knew then that Charlie would stay at his side without a problem.

He could hear the mutants up ahead, but from a distance. They were advancing on the mutants but still kept a good distance behind them, just in case they happen to turn around.