Extinct (AM13 Outbreak Series), page 11
At least I can fully relax in the knowledge that it’s working.
I recall Dr. Jones’s conversation with Tom regarding this cure. It’s such a shame that he wasn’t sound-minded enough to recognise what he’d done. He saved me. He’s saved all of us. Without his work, his research—obviously not taking into consideration the conditions and duress in which he obtained this work—we would all be dead. He really is the hero of AM13 and it’s a shame he doesn’t know that. It’s a shame that he died before he could see his work in action.
At some point or another, we would all have succumbed to the virus. Without this cure, there would be no hope. I think I finally realise that now, more than ever.
I wish I’d thanked him.
“Pardon?” Melody asks me, suddenly making me realise that I’m muttering to myself. “Are you talking about my dad?”
“Erm…” I can feel the blush painfully creeping up into my cheeks. What the hell can I say now? I clearly was, but I have no idea how to deal with the memories I’ve now brought to the forefront. “I—”
“I think we go this way,” Andy says kindly, placing a hand on Melody’s back to guide her in another direction. I flash him a grateful smile, so glad to have him by my side—a thought I never thought I’d have.
“Can I ask you something?” Melody insistently asks in a quiet voice, refusing to be distracted by Andy’s attempts.
“Ummm…sure?” I answer, really terrified. I really hope she doesn’t ask me something difficult. What if she asks me what happens after we die? What if she asks me if her dad is a ghost? What if she asks me where her mum is? I hate the fact that I don’t know anything about children; I’m really not sure how much of that she should know. I look over to Andy again, pleading with my eyes, wanting him to take over this conversation.
“Why did your friend, Tom, shoot my dad?”
My heart stops beating, just for a split second. I flick my eyes away from Andy. For some reason, I no longer want him involved with this chat at all.
“No, you must be mistaken. He didn’t—he needed your dad. They were great friends. He was…” I speak quickly.
“No,” she insists. “I saw it.”
“You must be remembering it wrong, sometimes trauma can do that,” I say, as if I know what the hell I’m on about. There’s just no way Tom shot Dr. Jones—the thought of that is preposterous! I’m sure children invent stuff in this way, or see it wrong. Such a horrendous thing would make anyone confused.
She tries to speak again, but I hold my hand up to stop her. I can’t hear any more of this nonsense. It doesn’t matter what she thinks she saw, she’s incorrect.
I push Melody’s ridiculous statement to the back of my mind and pointedly ignore Andy as I examine the map once more. I refuse to allow myself to think about it. We all know she’s wrong. She probably just…needs someone to blame. Yeah, that must be it.
I can feel Andy’s eyes boring into the back of my head but I don’t look up—I can’t. I can’t bear to see what he thinks. I don’t want him to believe Melody; I couldn’t bear it if he did.
I don’t want to have misplaced my trust.
I’m so afraid that I’m wrong.
***
“What was that?” Andy hisses, shocking me out of my autopilot state sometime later. My eyes instantly swivel towards him and as we connect, a weird array of feelings shoot through me—the main one being that this is the first time we’ve looked at each other since Melody made her crazy announcement.
Behind the fear, the shock of what’s happening, I can see something else—I just don’t know what it is yet. I wonder if he’s feeling as mixed up as I am. He’s already voiced his suspicious feelings regarding Tom, but to have something like that said…it’s on another level.
“Look!” Melody almost shrieks, and it’s only that that breaks our eye contact, our moment.
We both turn to see the sludgy remains of an infected man dragging himself along the ground. His legs are in bits, partially coming apart and falling from his body now as he moves. He has barely any skin remaining intact; he’s mostly just a black mushy mess with bones poking out at all odd angles—there is no other way to describe him anymore. He’s naked, I think. By that I mean I can’t see any fabric hanging off of him.
I feel physically sick, but at the same time I can’t look away. Is this what people mean when they say that they can’t avoid looking at a car crash? That it’s so disgusting and revolting, but at the same time oddly riveting?
This is the first time that I’ve seen a zombie and I haven’t felt fear. All I feel is sadness for the guy, shame for looking at him in such a manner, and revulsion at what he’s become. I don’t want to instantly run for my life, to make sure that he doesn’t get to me—there isn’t enough of him left! The scent of us is compelling him to move, I can see it in his lustful gaze, his drooling mouth—what’s left of it—and the way he’s attempting to growl as he goes.
Even if we stayed here forever, not moving, not fighting, I don’t think he’d be able to do us any damage. It seems that Tom’s words were truthful—on this topic at least. They are dying out of their own accord. Even though I knew this, seeing it is something else. Something that should really be some sort of victory—after all, it seems the human race could survive this if they were smart enough for long enough—but I just feel hollow, empty. It’s a terribly pathetic end to an awful situation.
I hear Andy shoot his gun, I see the zombified man’s body fully slump to the ground and I finally turn my head away, unable to bear the sight anymore. I catch the eye of Melody who appears to be feeling nothing—her face still holds the same innocent look, the one that doesn’t fully comprehend what’s going on.
For a second, I wish I was her.
As Andy is setting fire to the body—still holding onto the protocol from when he was over here the last time—I stare at my arm, at the wound. The thought that I might become a zombie was horrific enough, but the thought that I might end up that is simply unbearable. I’m so glad that I can feel the cure running through me, doing its work. I just wish it would hurry itself up and rid me of AM13 completely.
“Another one!” Melody yells, but before I get to see it, Andy has shot it down.
This one is nothing the last one, he still looks almost human-like. Like the sort of zombie you’d expect to see. I feel my body walking towards him, wanting to get a better look. As I stand over him, staring down at his remains, he reminds me more of the ones that were out and about in the first place—the ones I’m so afraid of.
I don’t know how I feel about there still being infected like this. It’s certainly terrifying that the threat of death still hangs over us, but something about the familiarity of what I’m seeing now compared to the mush from before, is oddly comforting.
“Shall we?” Andy finally says after his work is complete.
I nod slowly and we walk once more, none of us speaking a single word.
***
As the light starts to fade once more, my temper goes into overdrive. This was supposed to be a really short journey, and it’s taken two fucking days! Andy said he parked the helicopter as close as we could to where we needed to go, so how is that even possible? Where are we going so wrong? I should never have been trusted to navigate—that was a stupid mistake.
I don’t want to spend another night like this, I want this thing inside of me gone, I need to speak to the expert—and sooner rather than later. I don’t want to admit what this virus is doing to me, even to myself, I need a more permanent solution right away—even the confirmation that it’s definitely working would make me feel a little better. I keep telling myself that it is, but what good is my word? I know nothing about the damn thing!
The only thing I really know for sure is that I just don’t feel like myself, and that is pissing me off more than anything else. I don’t want to feel this way, I don’t like the angry bursts that keep spouting out from nowhere—I’m not the sort of person who has a short fuse like this—or the odd hunger pangs that it’s taking everything inside of me to ignore. I just want to be okay again. This odd in-between stage is unbearable.
This is not fair!
I keep glancing over to Melody in a way that I don’t like and that’s the hardest thing of all.
Then it hits me once more, in the most powerful wave yet.
I need to fucking find this guy now. The burning rage inside me, the desire to bite this young child becomes overpowering. It’s ridiculous, what the fuck is wrong with this Goddamn cure? Is it a lie? Did Dr. Jones make it up? If he wasn’t dead right now, I’d want him to be. Maybe me killing his daughter can be his punishment for fucking me over.
I stare towards her, the scent of her flesh is tantalising, but it’s more than that. The desire to bite this young girl is much stronger than just to taste human meat—there’s a compulsion pushing me, as if it’s taunting me inside my head, almost willing me to just get on and do it. I wonder if the virus affects everyone in such an abstract way, or if it’s a side effect of the cure.
“What are you doing?” a stern, unfamiliar voice breaks me out of my “moment” and I spin around quickly to face where the voice came from.
Instead of the lone, scientist guy I was expecting to see, we are faced with two extremely dishevelled men in what appears to be soldiers’ uniforms.
CHAPTER
SIXTEEN
“Erm…” I say, stunned into silence for a few seconds, before I shake my head, trying to grasp reality once more. Of course I knew there were still military people over here, clearing out the UK, but I just wasn’t expecting to see any of them. I look over to Andy, hoping he might know these people—or at least know what to say!
“We’re here under orders,” Andy says, remaining tight-lipped on exactly what it is we’re doing. I wonder why he’s always so untrusting. He worked with these guys, didn’t he? Surely he should have some sort of bond or connection.
One of the guys narrows his eyes and reaches around for his gun. “You’re lying,” he announces. “There’s no one left in charge—I’m sure you know that as well as I do.”
I flick my eyes between everyone, feeling my heart rate kick up a notch. My palms become sweaty with fear and I feel my hand cover up the wound on my arm. This is already going badly, one look at the bite and things are going to go downhill rapidly.
“Tom s—sent us?” I speak up, stumbling over my words as I do, speaking them as if I’m asking a question.
I see the men exchange a look and I start to feel extremely nervous, remembering that he’s been officially labelled “insane.” I guess I figured from Tom’s explanation that it was only the people in charge that had thought that of him—not his colleagues, but seemingly that assumption is far from the truth.
“We-We’ve come with some research and stuff from Dr. Jones?” I say in the same voice, hoping beyond all hope that they know who I’m on about. I have no idea how I’ll go about explaining it all otherwise. I can feel Andy looking at me, pleading me to shut up, to not say too much, but I can’t see how else we’re all going to escape from this unscathed. Clearly he isn’t about to use his position or knowledge to help us out here. For some reason, it’s come down to me.
A fact my insides aren’t taking too well.
“Who’s the girl?” the youngest of the men snaps gruffly in my direction.
“Dr. Jones’s daughter—Melody.” She steps out from behind my legs, acting extraordinarily brave in all of the hostility. I look down at her, shooting her a comforting smile. This is all going to be okay…
“Tom killed my father,” she says in a determined tone, zapping all the warm feeling I was just having towards her right out of my body.
“Stop it!” I hiss. “Don’t start that now.” Fury builds up inside me once more. She has no fucking idea what we’re potentially dealing with here. “She just…”
I turn back to face the men, but none of them are looking at me. They are all focused on Melody, staring at her as if she’s speaking the absolute truth. Oh God, if they already think badly of Tom, this certainly isn’t going to help.
“You know what kids are like…” I say feebly, considering I have no idea what children are like.
“I think you should come with us.” One of them steps forward, extending a hand towards Melody.
She glances up at me and I shake my head vehemently. I know this girl has been a hindrance—slowing us down, but now that she’s in danger I want to protect her, and I have a bad feeling about these guys. I don’t want to entrust her in the care of two strangers. Andy brought her here for us to protect.
I watch her furrow her brow, actually thinking about it, before her hand slips out of mine and she rushes towards this stranger.
“What…!” I yell.
“No,” Andy finally speaks up, saying far too little, far too late.
I glare at him, allowing him to see all of my vehemence. This is his fault. This certainly shouldn’t have been left for me to deal with. He’s here to protect us both; he has more experience with things like this. He’s let us both down. I wish we were alone so I could really let him have it.
“That’s enough!” the soldier snaps at us. “I have my suspicion that the pair of you are working on Tom’s little project…”
“We are working for Tom,” I declare, clearly frustrated. “Of course we are! You lot have no idea what you’re on about. I have the cure here; I’m taking it to the scientist here who can replicate it, to give it to everyone, ending this! If you had any sense, you’d be working for Tom too. I know you’re still working under your orders and I know what you’re doing is good, but right now, with everything that’s happened, don’t you think that this is more important?”
As soon as these words tumble out of my mouth, I regret saying them. I’ve been so wary of who to trust and who to keep away from in all of this then just one comment and I’m spilling everything. They could quite easily kill me and Andy now then take the cure and keep it for themselves. I have no idea what sort of people they are.
“Tom isn’t—” the young guy starts, but the other interrupts, completely talking over him.
“And you—” He looks across to Andy, trying to gauge his reaction to my statement. “You have taken this ‘cure’?”
I nod, numbly. I wasn’t exactly wanting to tell these men that I’ve been bitten, but if they can see for themselves how real and effective the cure is—maybe they’ll trust me and we can carry on with getting this done. I step closer, displaying my arm. As I move, I gulp down, forcing back any thoughts about their tender-smelling bodies. The closer I get, the more my mouth salivates. Now is definitely not the time to be having those sorts of untoward thoughts.
“So you’ve been bitten?” he asks carefully.
“Guys…” Andy says, that warning tone in his voice once more, but something silences him.
I nod again. “But it isn’t affecting me. The cure is reducing the virus, slowly killing it off.”
“And you’ve had no…” He looks at Melody and then to Andy. “Urges?”
I instantly shake my head, reinforcing the lie. If this man suspects that I’m a danger for even one second, I’m dead and the cure is done for.
It isn’t a total lie. It is working, I’m sure it is.
“She’s shown absolutely no signs of being infected since I’ve been with her.” Andy speaks up, finally doing some good. “I was on the UK mission before—I probably brought you over here at one point, I flew the helicopter.” A flash of recognition crosses the face of the man who’s stood closest to me. “I know what to look out for, just as well as you do.”
“Okay,” he muses thoughtfully, almost as if he doesn’t trust any of us. “Well, I think the best way to go from here is for us to escort you to this scientist…”
“No, that isn’t necessary,” I immediately snap, shooting a panicked glance towards Andy. He looks as unimpressed with this plan as I feel. “You have your mission and—”
“If you have a cure, that is far more important. If Tom is involved in this, he will expect us to support you in any way possible.”
There’s something in his tone of voice that I don’t like one bit.
“I don’t…” I start weakly—not convinced that Tom would want any of these people to be involved with what we’re doing—before realising that I’m not going to be able to put up any effective argument for why they shouldn’t come with us. There’s nothing I can say to stop them, I can just see it in his eyes.
If we do it this way, at least Melody won’t be taken from us and I guess the more people we have defending this small vial, the better. I grip tightly onto it, internally refusing to ever let them have it. I have to do this, I was chosen to do this. I’m the one with the special blood, the one who has any experience with the cure.
This is the only moment of glory my life has held and I refuse to let it go.
“Shall we go now?” I say, full of determination, eager to get on.
“No. It’s too dark now. You can come back to our temporary base. We will go first thing.”
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
“Why the fuck didn’t you say anything?” I hiss at Andy—taking the first opportunity I’ve had to speak to him alone as he stalks back into the room where Melody is lying asleep at my feet.
It seems the “temporary base” that the soldiers were talking about was actually just someone’s house. It makes sense, of course; they have to move around a whole lot while completing this mission. Again, I think I was just expecting something…more.
“I’m not the one in the wrong here,” he snaps back, whispering angrily. “You said way too much back there. You got us into this mess. If you’d just stayed silent—”
