by Giacomi, A.
When she gets up again, her eyes are different. She is standing with a new ferocity that frightens me slightly. I ready my battle axe as she charges towards me like a lion for its prey. She is quick, but I am quicker still. I duck down and take the axe to her legs, and she crumples to the ground, her shin bones sticking out. She shrieks in agony. I feel a tad guilty but not enough to halt training for the day.
“I’ll give you a chance to heal. I can see that your bones are showing. That can’t feel too nice. I warned you that you had to be smart, not fast.”
She is too busy cringing to answer. As she holds her legs, it is amazing to witness the bone reattaching itself and the wound closing up and healing within a matter of five minutes. She screams as the last bit of flesh pulls back together. It looks like Silly Putty being smashed together. She stands up slowly and places her fists up in a “ready for battle” manner. I charge at her with the axe. She manages to grab hold of it but cannot remove it from my grasp. She attempts to kick me several times, but I dodge them and flip her to the ground. I raise the axe, ready to take her head; her face is pricelessly terrified as I bring down the axe.
I halt mere inches from her throat. She lays there, her face filled with astonishment. “I could have decapitated you right here and now. That would have been awfully sad and downright pitiful. You’ve got to put more into it. Pretend that you are fighting for your life at least.” I throw down the axe in anger, and it clangs against the ground. I pace the room in an effort to control my frustration.
“Problem is I’m not fighting for my life.”
She doesn’t raise her voice when she says this; instead, I feel she might be on the verge of tears. I turn to look at Eve, who is now on her feet. Her head hangs low, and her feet scrape the mat.
“I’m not living, remember? I don’t really know what you can say I am. If I’m not fighting for my life, what am I fighting for? I don’t have people to fight for, so I suppose nothing…”
Her sobs fill the room. I walk towards her, but she holds her hand up, pleading me to pause. I don’t venture any nearer, and Eve storms off. I don’t follow her. I’m not even sure what I can say to make it better. I smack my forehead. It certainly doesn’t help that I reminded her of something painful. “I must be some kind of stupid…fight like your life depends on it…pffft.”
I spend a few moments thinking about what I can say to smooth things over, but nothing comes to me. I place the axe with the other weapons and leave the training room with no progress to speak of. I may have actually made things worse, and I have to have Eve ready for field work in a less than two weeks.
With training ending abruptly, I find myself, for the first time, with nothing to do. I decide to head over to lab #5; at least there I can discuss a few things with Dr. Augustus. On the way there, the alarms start to go off. A sound similar to that of an ambulance but more dire and deafening fills the halls. This alarm never sounds and can only really mean one thing.
“Eve!” I scream as I begin to sprint through the halls. The red lights that line the hallway become a solid line as I sprint through the semi-dark hallways looking for casualties.
Before reaching the lab, I hear sobbing, and as I round the corner, I see Eve sitting in front of lab #5’s doorway covered in blood. I take out my gun as a precaution. I have no intention of using it, but she doesn’t need to know that.
“Eve, I need you to step aside. I’m going to have a look inside the lab. I won’t shoot if you cooperate.”
She continues to sob louder and crawls away from the door, laying her body against the opposite wall. Her sobs continue as I assess the scene. Inside the lab, I see blood splattered everywhere. I feel something smush under my shoe; it looks to be a piece of intestine. I hold back my impulse to vomit and venture further into the lab. With a quick scan, I find five bodies strewn across the floor. Five unprepared and unarmed victims show no signs of fighting back; perhaps there was no time. Someone was supposed to be guarding these scientists, but there doesn’t seem to be a security guard amongst the dead. Just five white lab coats painted red. I have to check all their faces, and I pray that Dr. Augustus isn’t among them. I need him more than I let on. Without him, our entire mission here will fail.
I turn the first body over, and it is a female scientist. Her name was Lisa, and she had only been here a few weeks. She was your typical lab virgin, excited, antsy, and enthusiastic for new assignments. I check Lisa’s head for trauma, and thankfully it looks like she bashed it in quite well. That is good news. Less work for me if she doesn’t reanimate. I head towards the next body, but then I hear some banging. It sounds like someone is knocking on glass. I turn my head towards the storage room, which has a clear glass door. Dr. Augustus is banging his hands on the glass furiously, his eyes wide and his salt-and-pepper hair more insane-looking than usual.
I start to walk towards him, thinking that he is in danger but realize soon enough that he is trying to warn me. A hand grabs my shoulder and tosses me to the ground. My gun flies into the air and falls out of reach. The zombie limping towards me is another lab virgin named Ben, and Ben looks rough. The skin on one side of his face is peeling, and his eye looks about ready to pop out. I try to keep him at a distance by kicking my legs with all the strength I have, but eventually, he takes his full weight and launches down on top of me. He begins drooling with his teeth exposed, ready to chomp down at any given moment. As I fight to keep Ben off of me, another zombie to my left begins to rise, a female scientist whose face has been gnawed off so terribly that parts of her skull are exposed.
I try to wrap a knee under Ben so that I can use it to help push him away. I am successful and knee him as hard as I can. He launches backwards just enough to buy me some time to roll as far away from him as I can get. As soon as I am on my feet, I notice the two living-dead scientists coming towards me. Shit, they are a little like Eve. I rise and jump over one of the lab desks. I am hidden from view on the other side but not for long.
I search my surroundings for my gun or anything that will suffice as a weapon. My eyes land on a pair of surgical scissors. I grab them quickly and without an ounce of time to spare. Ben rounds the corner and leaps onto me. I smash the scissors through his eye socket and pierce his brain. His body goes limp, and I am left underneath him yet again. I try to slide out from under him, but “missing face lady” is already heading my way. I try to retrieve the scissors from inside of Ben’s skull, but they are too far in and stuck in there pretty good.
As she approaches, I brace myself for impact, but there is a bang, and she drops suddenly to her knees and then topples over onto her side. Brain chunks spray the ceiling and inevitably rain down on me. What a delight. I find Eve standing behind her collapsed body, holding my gun and still looking a tad shaken. I hear another inhuman grunt, and Eve points the gun to my left. Bang. And another body thuds to the ground.
I wriggle out from under Ben and stand very slowly. I’m not sure what Eve is thinking or if she is really even in control. She looks insane with blood covering nearly her entire body and mouth.
“Eve, are you okay?” I question cautiously.
She nods slowly and doesn’t speak.
“Can I have my gun back?” I ask as I hold out my hand.
She offers it to me without a fight. I am relieved as I take it from her grasp.
Once the gun is placed back in its holster, I head over to the storage room and punch in a code that releases Dr. Augustus from the rather chilly room. Dr. Augustus rubs his hands, trying to warm up. Another scientist exits with him. “Only two survivors then?” I ask Dr. Augustus.
He nods. “Yes, she came in ravenous. I offered her some mice, but she couldn’t fight the urge with all these humans in one room. She began to attack, so I saved who I could. I grabbed Dr. Matthews here, and we locked ourselves in the medical storage room. It’s all I could do, Agent Williams. I’m so sorry. We had no way to stop
her.”
I let out a rather large sigh; he isn’t the one who needs to apologize. I will find out why our security team decided to take a “break.” This is not very professional, and CSIS will be the laughing stock of intelligence agencies everywhere if this gets out. Someone is going to lose their head for this.
Eve stands where I left her; she is shaking and unable to speak. I want to comfort her, but I also want to slap her. If she just stayed in training, five scientists wouldn’t be dead right now. I would have never let this happen. I remember the words that Dr. Augustus told me the other night: “She’s only a girl.” And that she is, a lost little girl who has no idea what she is doing or what the consequences will be. I suppose this is why he asked me to “watch” her, and in a way, I failed.
Soon, a team of security guards in riot gear fills the room with guns pointed at Eve. Without a sound, she raises her arms and faces them. One of them signals for her to follow them. She does as she’s told but looks back at Dr. Augustus and says something finally, two words: “I’m sorry.” And with that, she’s gone. I’m not sure where they will place her, but I think some solitary time might do her some good.
CHAPTER FOUR
EVE
I am placed in a small cell, definitely not as comfortable as my room, but at least it isn’t a blinding white from wall to wall. The cell is made of concrete, and the door is made of iron. This feels like a medieval dungeon, but I don’t mind. I enjoy being away from people. I’m not “people” anymore, and I am better off away from them and them from me.
I rub my stained hands, trying to wipe away some of the blood, but without some soap and water, it’s a lost cause. I don’t feel angry or sad or hungry. I just feel guilty for feeling so good. A full stomach makes everyone happier, and with the amount I just ate, I might not have to eat for a few weeks. The guilt comes in waves. Those were people, and they had families. Since there is nothing I can do about it now, I simply try to lay down in my cell and sleep.
***
“Eve! Wake up!” a familiar voice shouts.
“Alex? How did you get in here?” I look into her face in disbelief. There she is sitting in my cell with me. I didn’t even hear the cell door open.
Her blonde hair covers half her face, and I want to tuck it away, but I am too shocked to move. Instead, I take in every inch of her. I eventually rest my eyes on her hands; they are much like my own, covered in blood.
“Alex! What did you do? Why…”
She shushes me and places her hands behind her back. Guess she didn’t want me to ask questions about the blood on her hands and who exactly it belonged to.
“I just wanted to say thank you, Eve.”
My hands sweat as I try to focus on her. “For what, Alex? I didn’t do anything for you. I wish I could have been more of a friend, but I’m sorry I suck. I was stubborn, and I went into that damn tomb alone and got bitten, and now we’re in this awful mess. All because I couldn’t listen to people who knew better. I’m so sorry, Al.”
She shushes me again. “No, no, Eve. You did so much for me. I’m like you now.”
My throat tightens at those words. She can’t be like me. I left. I protected her and Cam from the same fate. She is home in Little Lake, and none of this is real! It can’t be real!
I want to get a better look at her and decide to move the hair from her face. When I comb the hair away with my fingers, I reveal rotting flesh. Half of her face is rotting away, like that of my victims, but I didn’t do this.
I begin to say, “Who did this?” but she interrupts me again.
“Eve, without you, none of this would be possible. Now we can all join you. Infect everyone, and then we’ll be like you. You don’t have to be alone anymore.” She strokes my cheek, and tears begin to stream down my face. Part of me wants that, but whatever is left of my humanity knows that I can’t allow that to happen.
I try to grab my best friend’s bloody hands, but they dissolve in my palms. I look at her face one last time as it begins to fade away. A dream, I should have known, and now I am truly alone again, in my cell with only my thoughts to keep me company, and what poor company they prove to be.
***
I can only assume it’s morning when I hear metal clanging together loudly. This is my wake-up call? When I open my eyes, I find Agent Williams clanging a large knife against the bars of my cell.
“Must you?” I say as though I am recovering from a hangover. He smiles in that way I despise as I look up to greet him.
“Yes, apparently I must. I tried calling your name, but you weren’t responding, so it was either this or cold water. I thought you’d appreciate going to training dry and warm.”
“Training? Are you out of your goddamn mind? Don’t you remember what happened yesterday? Do you want that to happen again? Leave me here! It’s safer.” I kick my cell wall in frustration. I pray he won’t argue with me, but it isn’t in his nature to accept defeat.
“Eve, the only thing I remember from yesterday is a cowardly little girl running away from her problems. You are what you are, and you can either rot in that cell or you can do something about it. When did you stop fighting?”
I don’t have a response to that. I am angry with him but most likely because what he said is true. I am a coward; I hadn’t thought about that until now. Nothing I’ve done so far has been brave. I have only been trying to stay out of everyone’s way, hoping that I will just disappear somehow. The only thing is that that isn’t going to happen, so it’s time for a plan B.
“Fine, let’s go. I am willing to learn, but you have to do a better job of keeping me away from the living.”
He chuckles. “Oh trust me, I have to! I’ve been assigned as your guardian. Do you know what that means?”
“No, I don’t. Enlighten me.” I snort.
He grins that crooked smile, which is both handsome and devious at the same time; he must be a Gemini, I think.
“I have to be with you twenty-four-seven,” he says as he taps the bars with his knife.
Silently, I let those words sink in. Did he really just say that? That I am not allowed out of his sight, ever? Not ever?
“You’re joking?” I say with a slight chuckle of uncertainty.
“Fraid’ not, Eve. You killed five people yesterday. I’m sure you can imagine how Vallincourt reacted to that sort of news. You’re very lucky that it’s only me you have to room with. He thought a few armed soldiers watching you as you slept would be healthier.”
I can feel my eyes growing wide, and I am about to scream at the top of my lungs.
“I have to share my room with you?” I can’t hide the disgust in my voice.
“Our room, darling, our room.” He smiles with that grin, and I’m ready to tear his arrogant little head off. He is wise not to have opened the Iron Gate yet.
I scream in frustration and pace my cell for a few moments. Calming myself down is difficult, but I know that I have no other choice. I deserve this, after all. Forced to share my days with the man I despise seems like the perfect form of punishment to me.
When I’m calm enough, Agent Williams opens the gate, and I follow him to the training room without another word. Instead, I just kept thinking, Welcome to hell, Eve.
Once there, I sit in the middle of the room on the mat and await my instructions. Agent Williams walks towards the “Bin-O-Weapons” and pulls out a few knives to go with the one he already had. One of the knives is a rather large machete.
He walks towards me and places the knives between us, and he asks me to choose. I look up at him, and his light eyes are very serious. I decide on the machete. I figure the larger the weapon, the better. Agent Williams smirks at me, giving me the impression that I have made the wrong choice, but I stick with my decision regardless of his judgmental expression.
I ask him what today’s training will entail, and he l
ights up, believing that I asked out of interest. Truth is that I just want to get on with it.
“Today’s lesson, and perhaps your lesson over the next few days, is how to control your hunger. Not an easy task but essential. We can’t have any more casualties by your hand or Vallincourt will…”
He clears his throat and doesn’t finish the sentence. I can only imagine what Vallincourt would like to do. I’m not sure he wants me working in the field anymore, but somehow Agent Williams convinced him. I guess I have to be grateful for that.
“I just had a big meal the other day. I’m not even hungry. How can we train for something if I can’t produce the reaction you need?”
He wiggles his finger at me. “Now, now, you forget I’ve been watching you, analyzing you. It’s what makes me so good at my job. I notice things…and I notice that your hunger is directly attached to your emotional state. If Eve gets mad, Eve gets hungry.” He says that last part in a sort of monster tone, which I don’t appreciate, but I don’t bother to comment on it either.
“So how do you plan on making me angry? You gonna just be yourself?”
He covers his heart and pretends to be wounded by my words. He then laughs it off and selects a small dagger. He plunges it into my thigh. I scream at the sudden jolt of pain. I deduce this is his plan to aggravate me. I hate to admit it is working.
I get back on my feet, a bit wobbly, but I manage to get into a proper fighting stance with my machete elevated and ready for his next attack. I charge at him and aim for his stomach. He darts to my right and avoids the blade. Instead, he spins out of the way and positions himself behind me. He knees me in the spine, and I crumple to the ground. I feel my eyes igniting.
