Ragnarok Rising: The Awakening (Book One of The Ragnarok Rising Saga) Read Online Free PDF

from my shift was grouping together.
    All four Jail Shift Lieutenants were there, counting heads and checking off names on their clipboards. By 0530 hours, everyone that they could reach was there. The place was so full you could barely walk. Between Corrections Staff, Patrol Staff, Detectives, Civil and support staff, there were nearly 300 of us there. It was standing room only, with many officers lined up down the hall towards the elevators.
    Major Wilson called us all to order and told everyone to quiet down. We barely heard him over the crowd. The murmuring of that many of us in such a small area was really loud and the noise didn’t immediately subside. When he bellowed out “Quiet Down,” we quickly fell silent. Major Wilson wasn’t very intimidating, but his temper was legendary. He was almost six feet tall and weighed about one sixty five, in body armor. He was in his mid forties, but looked ten years younger.
    Then the sheriff took over. Sheriff Rick Hawkins wasn’t a large man. He was in his early forties and stood about five feet eight in boots. He had thinning dark hair that he kept closely cut. But he could command a room with the sound of his voice. He was a good cop, but a consummate politician. His eyes are what really caught your attention. They were almost the exact same color as gun-metal and could stab into you like ice-picks.
    “I want to thank everyone for coming in on such short notice,” he began. “I wish it were better circumstances that brought us all together, but the situation is as bad as it gets. As you all know there’ve been riots going on for the past few weeks. Reports have been coming in from all over the place. Most recently, we’ve had reports from St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago. There have even been unconfirmed reports of rioting in London, Moscow, Berlin, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Dubai and Sydney.”
    That was new to us. We had no idea that this could be going on everywhere.
    “ Its gone pandemic ,” whispered Lieutenant Murdock, standing a few feet to my left.
    “No one seems to know exactly where it all started, ” he continued, “but its spread to just about everywhere, now. What you all may not know is that the Federal Government has tried everything to contain these riots, including military force. There have even been unconfirmed rumors about them using sub-tactical nukes in really bad areas. Nothing seems to be working. They’ve managed to slow it down, but it’s still spreading rapidly. Now they’re saying that these people aren’t really rioters at all, but carrying some sort of virus. This virus is spreading like wildfire. If you’re bitten by one of them, you will get this virus. There’s no known way to prevent or cure it. The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta has dubbed it the Reaper Virus and they have no idea what it is or how to stop it. Since the first reports that we know of came in from Mexico, the CDC thinks that it came into the U.S. from there. In order to protect people who aren’t infected, we’ve been ordered to stop an infected individual at any cost. I know this is hard to accept folks, but once someone is infected they become, a mindless…”
    Hi s voice trailed off at this, leaving a perplexed look on his face as he struggled for the right word to use.
    “ Zombie ,” someone in the back finished for him.
    I’m pretty sure it came from one of the patrol guys at the back of the room. I might have thought it, but there was no way I was saying it.
    “This is not some cheap-assed movie,” growled the Sheriff, anger rising in his tone. “There’s no such thing as a zombie , and I do NOT want to hear any of you use that word again. Clear?”
    No one dared to argue the point, but “zombie” was the word in everyone’s mind. Probably even the Sheriff’s. I know that’s what I was already thinking.
    “In the event that full-scale rioting should break out here, the CDC and the Red Cross have opened an Evac-center out