Deirdre Gould

Before the Cure Deirdre Gould

The December Plague started weeks before the massive Children's Parade. But Neil Newton didn't know that. Neither did anyone else, not at first. It didn't matter that he was wrong, in Neil's mind it started with the man in the park. Or, more specifically, with the vicious bite the man had given Neil. The parade had been horrific, devolving into a senseless brawl within moments. Neil was sent to the hospital for treatment without having the chance to see his young daughter in the crowd. One by one, the hospital staff stop checking in with him and when he tries to leave, he finds his room door is locked. Then the gunshots begin outside his door. The early symptoms were so mild that almost no one noticed them. A scratchy throat. A feeling of lethargy that you just can't shake. But then the slurring started. And an intense irritability. Finally, an irresistable urge to chew and an uncontrollable rage. The Infected cannot be reasoned with and there is no known cure. They cannot recognize even their closest friends. Anything that attracts their notice risks being torn apart, including one another. Quarantined in a desperate attempt to contain the December Plague, the patients and staff of Wing Memorial hospital are left to fend for themselves. When the small security force sent to aid them are wiped out, the Infected run loose in the halls and Neil is trapped inside with them. Even worse is the knowledge that containment has failed and Neil's little girl is alone in a crumbling world.
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