by Olah, Jeff
“First order of business.” Ethan scanned the crowd, finally landing on Owen. “Is properly welcoming our new guest ... well not really all that new, but whatever. And he’s not really even a guest, so you can pretty much disregard everything I’ve just said. I mean, you know, like you all already do anyway.”
There was laughter again, this time it was louder and sounded genuine.
“Anyhow,” Ethan said, “Owen Mercer, and his wife, and his children, and his friends are now part of our family.” He looked over the faces staring back at him. “And where we were many, we are now one.”
The group around him, the men and women he’d known for less than a week, responded with one voice. “Where we were many, we are now one.”
The group’s exuberance caught him off guard. It seemed a bit creepy at first, reminding him of a cult, or a self-help seminar, the kind of thing you’d see at a recruitment weekend for some low-end multi-level marketing company. But as he turned to look at the faces of those around him, it didn’t feel like any of those things. There was a true joy in their smiles and a look that told him that he and his friends were no longer alone in this hell.
Owen nodded and waved. “I can’t tell you how much my family and my friends appreciate all that you have done. Personally, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for this place. Maybe none of us would. So, thank you. All of you.”
Ethan held up his hand, again looking around the former food court. “We should be thanking you.”
“How so?”
Ethan motioned behind him. “We all know what you gave to get Dr. Gentry here, and that you’ve personally sacrificed more than any one person. I don’t take that lightly, none of us do. So, when we finally get this figured out, when we finally beat this thing, it’s going to be because of you.” And again motioning over his shoulder, said, “Because of them.”
Owen wasn’t sure how to respond. The whole thing seemed a bit over-the-top, but he also never liked being the center of attention. “I’m not sure I deserve all of this, but thank you all the same.” He looked to his right. “And without Devin, there’s no way my friends and I would have even made it out of the city.”
Ethan nodded. “Yes, he’s one of the reasons that this place is what it is, and definitely one of the reasons we’re gonna come through all of this at some point. He’s also the most resourceful twenty-three year old I think I’ve ever met … before or after the outbreak.”
Owen nodded. “I agree”
Ethan stared straight ahead, his mouth slightly open, as if he had forgotten what he wanted to say or was trying to form his next thought. But as the moment dragged on for a bit too long and the group began to collectively shift in their seats, the mood in the former food court seemed like it was about to take a turn.
Owen sat forward and held up his left hand. “I do have a few questions.” He glanced at Gentry and then Ethan’s sister. “And I hope I’m not speaking out of turn, but I—”
“Not at all.” Emma Runner now stood beside her brother, waving Gentry forward. “There is something we’ve been waiting to share with the group, and I’m sure your questions are going to be related to some of our newer discoveries.”
There was a female voice from somewhere behind Owen. It was hoarse but low, almost to the point of a whisper. “Discoveries?”
Another voice, a male. Gravelly yet monotone. “Whatta ya mean?”
Then the hoarse woman, again but louder. “Is this about the kid, Zach?”
Now there were multiple conversations, the voices low and quick, nothing coherent.
Emma paused, rubbing the bridge of her nose as the voices faded. “There’s nothing definitive just yet, but it looks like Zach, as well as Trina, have shown symptoms consistent with a regression of the virus.”
The room went quiet. Not a sound among the thirty or so residents.
Gentry moved to Emma side. “This could mean several different things.”
Owen slid to the end of his seat. “Zach and Trina?”
Gentry took in a breath and blew it out slowly. He looked smaller, weaker than he had even minutes before. “Two children, both infected weeks ago. Zach is eight, and Trina five. They were bitten, but never turned. That’s what we’ve been working on, what they’ve been working on, even before we arrived.”
“Infected, but didn’t turn? How is that even possible?”
“Long story short is that a child’s brain functions differently than that of an adult. There are different pathways, fewer networks to make sense of what the infection is asking it to do. We are working with the pair to find a way to slow down the progression, or to block it completely. We have a few options, but just need the time to work through them all.”
Owen noticed something in the way Emma turned to look at the floor as Gentry finished. She avoided the eyes of her friends and now shifted her weight back and forth between her right and left legs.
“What is it that you’re not saying?” Owen thought he knew what it was, he just wanted to hear it for himself.
Gentry appeared to soften. He peered out over his new friends as well as those with whom he’d spent the better part of the last two months, finally turning his attention back to Owen. He looked like he was going to smile, but then didn’t. “There’s a rumor that’s going around, one that’s not productive, and has no basis in reality.”
“So,” the man behind Owen said, a hint of sarcasm rising in his voice, “our children, you’re not here to ask us to turn them into guinea pigs?”
Gentry shook his head while eyeing the man. “No, that’s not what this is about.”
“What then, why are we here?”
“We’ve isolated the specific neurons that are responsible for activating the infection, but until yesterday we hadn’t been able to locate the exact pathway the virus uses.”
The man with the gravelly voice sat forward in his chair. “That’s not what I heard.”
Before the man was even finished speaking, Ethan Runner stepped forward and rested his left hand on Gentry’s shoulder. “Yes, there is a rumor going around that we are looking to test a few of the children. That we are also looking at the possibility of using stem cells from their blood to fight the infection. And while I understand how invasive that all sounds, it simply isn’t the case. We discussed the idea and its potential, but never seriously considered moving forward.” Ethan paused to take in a breath and look around. “And now we don’t have to.”
Owen looked toward the third level and then back at Ethan. “What do you mean?”
Ethan nodded as he glanced over his shoulder. “Dr. Dominic Gentry has found a way to beat this thing.”
Before Ethan could continue, the room erupted in shouted questions and multiple side conversations. He looked back at Gentry and then his sister shaking his head. And when the group finally started to quiet, he took a measured step forward and increased the volume of his voice. “He’s created a vaccine that’s halted the symptoms in the children, and looks like it may be capable of retraining the mind of an infected adult.”
“Retraining?” Owen said.
“In short, this means that Dr. Dominic Gentry might have found a way for the human brain to ignore the commands sent from the virus.”
“Might have?”
Gentry held up his hand. He looked tired. “If this iteration of the vaccine does what it’s supposed to do, it could change everything. Now, I don’t like getting your hopes up and I’m reluctant to even say this, but it could mean a cure. It could mean an end to all of this. Another change in human history. A shift back to the way things used to be.” He paused, looking like he didn’t want to continue. “But we also have a pretty big problem.”
The man behind Owen shifted in his seat. “Problem, what problem?”
Gentry brushed the hair away from his eyes and relaxed his shoulders. “We have no way to test it.”
Owen didn’t like where this was headed. “What do you mean, why not? There are thousands of infected out
there, why couldn’t we just—”
“That’s not how it works. We aren’t that far along yet, and can’t just test it at random. There are certain qualifiers that have to be met, at least until we get a stable version of the vaccine.”
Owen grinned. “How about you run that back, this time in English?”
Gentry began to twitch. It was slight, but it was there. “Bottom line, we need to test the current version of the vaccine on a subject that’s been infected for less than four to six hours. For now, there isn’t any other way.”
It came clear all at once. For everyone in the room. Although as the others let the impact take their voices, Owen was unable to keep it inside. “That’s going to be almost impossible. Right place, right time doesn’t even come close. What you’re saying is that we have to run across someone that’s just been infected and then somehow convince them to come back here to let you run tests on them, before they turn?”
Gentry nodded. “I understand that the odds aren’t in our favor, but for now it’s the only way, the only option we have.”
“Odds,” Owen said, his heart beginning to pound in his chest, “that’s needle in a haystack odds.”
Again Gentry nodded, slower this time. “Yes … that’s about right.”
126
Day three hundred and eighty...
Owen rolled onto his side and kissed Natalie on the neck. He held it for a second, savoring the smell of the only woman he had ever really loved. “How about a date night, tonight?”
“Where are you taking me?”
“Dinner and a movie?”
Natalie pulled his face in close, kissed his lips, and then smiled. “You going to dress up this time?”
“Dress up?”
“The last time we,” she held up air quotes. “went out, you wore a pair of shorts and running shoes.”
“I don’t think that’s right.”
“Maybe you’re getting soft?”
He knew she was kidding, but it still stung. Before the world went to hell that may have been closer to the truth; although now, he preferred to think of himself as a much different version of his old self. Owen two-point-oh.
And even though Natalie smiled and fought back the urge to laugh, her eyes said that she knew it to. “You know I’m kidding.”
He leaned in close and kissed her again. “Yeah, I—”
Over his right shoulder, the two-way radio on the end table sparked to life. “You guys getting this?”
He started to turn, but Natalie reached for his hand and pulled him back. “How about you sit this one out?”
“I have to at least see what this is.” Owen dropped to his back and grabbed the radio. He glared at the display and placed his index finger over the volume knob. “I’m sure it’s nothing, but you know I gotta check it out.”
“There are more than enough of them out there, and they can’t go anywhere until you arrive anyway. So how about you take the morning off and see where this goes.” She slowly took the radio from his hand, turned down the volume, and set it on the bed behind her.
“But …”
Natalie put her index finger over his lips. “Shhhh.” Then pushing his shoulders back into the mattress, climbed on top. “Now, isn’t this better than whatever’s out there?”
Owen looked left, glancing at the radio. It was habit, and after more than a year living this way, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this was the one call that needed his attention. “Uh…”
“Stop it. Stay here, with me.”
“Okay, I am.”
“No.” She dropped forward, kissed him harder this time, letting her hand drift between his legs. “I want you here. All of you, not just your body.”
He looked up at her, now eighty percent in the moment. “Yeah, yes. I am.”
She pulled off her panties and then his underwear, wrapping her hand around him and squeezing gently. “Are you?”
A rush of blood shot to his head. He felt like he needed to take a breath, but couldn’t. He reached behind her with his right hand and unhooked her bra, letting it drift to the floor. Natalie arched her back and sucked in a quick breath.
With his left hand, he reached for the radio, but looked past her. “The door?”
“It’s locked.” Natalie fumbled to get the walkie away from him, but was already too far gone. She allowed it to slip through her hand, but locked eyes with him and shook her head. “No.” Her voice was low and throaty. “Put it—”
Owen grinned as he pulled back his arm and tossed the radio into a pile of dirty clothes, the speaker offering a brief burst of static as it slipped under a black and blue flannel. “Come here.”
Natalie’s looked changed from curiosity to surprise. She licked her lips and started to slide up onto him. “I love you.”
Owen placed his left hand on her hip and his right on her shoulder. He sat forward and quickly shifted her onto her side and then her back. She let out a short squeal as he reached for her waist and pulled her to him. “You’re right, they can handle whatever it is.”
Natalie’s skin felt warm and soft. He fought to keep his hands from shaking as he moved slowly from her arms down to the curve of her hips. He helped her out of her shirt and then quickly removed his own.
Owen pushed their clothes onto the floor and then leaned in to kiss her. Her lips were wet and she tasted like strawberry lemonade. She kissed him back, hard, and with a hint of pent up aggression.
He liked it.
Almost too much.
The world faded, and with it the voices in his head. The voices he had almost forgotten were there, the voices that used to control his every thought and his every action. They were still there, but now they were buried beneath the release of endorphins that had flooded his body as well as his mind.
They made love with little care for the world beyond. It was better than it had been in as long as he could remember, connecting in a way he thought they’d forgotten how. Just the two of them, everything else falling away behind the locked door of their makeshift bedroom.
“Hey,” Owen said, struggling to catch his breath, “I love you too.”
Natalie now lay by his side, her face on his chest. She was quiet for a long time, but then glanced up at him. “Where do you go?”
“Uh, what?”
“What is it, how have you been able to shut it off? I know it can’t be easy for you, but I just wanted you to know that I can tell.” She paused to kiss him. “Whatever it was, whatever you’ve had to do, it looks like it’s working. These last few months, you just seem … I don’t know, somehow better. I don’t think I’ve seen you like this in years.”
It was faint, but they both heard it. Owen’s name came over the radio. It didn’t sound urgent, but it sounded as though he was needed.
He began to pull away, but then looked at Natalie and laid back down. “How about that date night?”
127
There were three quick knocks at the door and then nothing.
Owen pulled Natalie’s face to his and kissed her one last time. “Must be something important, Ethan wouldn’t come all the way down here without a good reason.”
“Dad?”
Natalie shifted onto her side and pulled up the sheet. “Noah?”
Owen was out of bed and had his pants on before his son could answer. “Yeah buddy?”
“Dad, they need you. Mr. Ethan told me …” His voice trailed off, sounded like he’d forgotten what he was supposed to say. “Uh …”
Owen slipped on a t-shirt, reached for a ball cap, and opened the door. His son looked at him first and then around him at Natalie. “Dad, they need you.”
“What is it?” Owen rested his hand on Noah’s shoulder and peered out over the second level of the former shopping mall.
Noah reached for his hand and tugged him away from the door. “Come on, you have to hurry.”
“Noah.” Natalie draped the blanket around herself and stood from the bed. “What’s going on, is the
re trouble?”
The ten year old shook his head. “I don’t know, Mr. Tom and Mr. Bryce went out to the gates. Lucas said he thinks there are some people out there.”
“People?”
“At the gates?”
Owen moved back inside, slipped on his boots, and turning toward Natalie, reached for the two-way radio. “Get ahold of Ava and call me.” He held out his hand for Noah and stepped into the hall. “We’ll find out what this is and come right back, please stay here.”
With Noah tucked behind his left arm, Owen broke into a slow jog, his head on a swivel. “Where are they?”
“Who?”
“Ethan, Travis, Devin?”
“Uh …” Noah hesitated, looking toward the opposite end of the second floor. “I think over there.”
Owen saw it at the same time. There had to be at least two dozen people standing outside the former mattress store. He spotted Ethan at the door and a few others he didn’t recognize. A tall man with a thick dark hair stood out among the others, his voice carrying the distance. “I told you, we don’t know, we lost him a few hours ago.”
Past the escalator and moving in and out of the crowd, Owen came up behind Lucas. “Hey.”
“Hey.”
“How many?”
“Seven or eight,” Lucas said. “Four women, and three or four men. I think Emma and Gentry have one of them inside.”
“Injured?”
Lucas nodded. “Pretty badly I think.”
The man with the dark hair had moved off to the side. He continued to talk with Ethan, the volume in his voice again increasing. “Yes, I already told you.”
Owen turned to Lucas. “You and Noah stay out here. Don’t go anywhere.”
“Okay.”
Owen scanned the faces of the crowd as he moved through, counting five that he could confirm he’d never seen. He came up behind the dark haired man as he eyed Ethan. “Whatta we got?”
The dark haired man turned from Ethan to Owen and then back. He looked confused, like he hadn’t slept in a week. His face was dirty, his cheeks drawn, and his eyes were circled in charcoal rings.
