Before The Outbreak: Short Stories of the Apocalypse in the Z-Strain Universe

by Morris, SJ

Nathan returned soon and this time handed me $5,000.00 in cash.

  “Don’t say I never did anything for you!” He laughed as he jumped happily into the plane.

  I didn’t feel the same excitement Nathan did over the two passengers. I’d rather fly home solo without the money.

  Nathan nodded to our two new passengers and he was off to the cockpit to get us underway once more.

  I sat down in my seat behind the cockpit and belted myself in. Dr. Brigantine stared directly at me the entire time during takeoff and it made me very uncomfortable. I tried to look anywhere else, but I kept getting drawn to her glare as if I could figure out why she seemed so evil by looking into her eyes.

  After we were steadily in the air, I went back to our two doctors and asked them if they needed anything.

  Dr. Peters wanted a soda and Dr. Brigantine asked for another bottle of water even though she had yet to even touch the one I handed her previously.

  I complied and brought back the drinks.

  As I handed Dr. Brigantine her water she grasped my hand asking me to sit with her. Out of courtesy and the $5,000.00 sitting comfortably in my pocket, I obliged.

  “What is your name, young man?” She said ending her question with her signature yellow smile.

  “William, William DeFranco, Ma’am,” I replied.

  “Do you live near the Sussex airport we’re flying into?”

  “I do. I live about twenty minutes from the airport. Ma’am,” I said getting more and more uncomfortable with the way she was looking at me and questioning me about where I lived.

  “Do you live alone, Mr. William DeFranco?”

  “No, ma’am. I live with my partner,” I replied, not knowing why I was even answering her questions truthfully.

  “Well, that’s great. How long have you and your partner been together?”

  “We’ve been together for almost five years. Next month is our anniversary, actually.”

  “Aw, that is so sweet. Is your partner going to be home when you get there this evening?” She asked, reaching out to put her hand over mine.

  “Yes, ma’am,” I said, looking down at her hand uneasily.

  “That’s nice. It’s always nice to be able to go home to a loved one waiting for you. I wish I had someone. You see, being a doctor, I work on very important things and that leaves little time for a social life but I love to hear about other people being happy. It makes me feel less alone, I guess, knowing others are happy. You look thirsty. Here. Take one of my waters. I forgot you gave me one earlier,” she insisted, grinning like the Cheshire cat as she handed me the bottle of water.

  I looked at the bottle and the seal was already broken but it didn’t look like she drank any from the bottle as it was still filled to the brim. Maybe she started opening it and forgot she had the other. With her watching my every move, I went against my better judgment and took a sip from the water. I thanked her and excused myself, to speak to the captain about the expected flight time.

  I sat up front with Nathan and he was surprised to see me.

  “You never sit up here with me, Will. What’s wrong?” he asked clicking some buttons on the huge dashboard.

  “This Dr. Brigantine has me very uneasy. She just asked me a bunch of personal questions and the way she watches me is creeping me out.”

  “Oh, Will, you’re just reading her wrong. She’s some sort of doctor with the government or something. All doctors are socially awkward. They spend all their time behind a microscope or in books about crap we can’t even begin to comprehend. She’s just another oddball doctor, don’t worry,” he replied dismissively.

  “Well, if she’s a doctor with the government why is she flying on a personal jet and what’s her connection to Mr. Harper? It just doesn’t feel right to me. Something about her is just off,” I said, putting the bottle of water she gave me in a cup holder between us, not wanting to hold it anymore.

  “You’ll be fine. We have another two hours in the air and you’ll never see her again.”

  “Two hours is too long, speed it up would ya? Hit the gas or something,” I said, smiling to break up the tension growing into our conversation.

  “Ha, ha. Real funny. Hit the gas. You’re a funny guy, you know that?” He replied, returning my smile.

  I got up to check on our guests and let them know we would have another two hours in the air.

  Dr. Brigantine was writing something in a notebook and Dr. Peters was now the one staring at me oddly like he was frightened of me.

  “Is there anything I can get for you, Dr. Peters? A refill on your soda, perhaps?” I asked.

  “No... no... I’m good, thank you. Where’s the rest room?” he asked, his voice almost shaking.

  “It’s right there in the back, sir,” I replied, pointing out the lavatory door behind him.

  Dr. Peters unbuckled himself quickly but clumsily and practically ran to the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

  “You’ll have to forgive Dr. Peters, William. He doesn’t like flying much,” Dr. Brigantine said not looking up from her writing. “How are you feeling today, William?”

  “I’m fine, thank you,” I responded to her odd question.

  “Well, as you know, I am a doctor and you are looking a little pale. Did you eat yet today?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I think you should come sit back down and let me have a look at you.”

  “No, thank you, ma’am. I’m feeling quite fine. It’s been a chaotic day, to say the least.”

  “Oh yes, chaotic is a good word for today. Have you seen the news footage from overseas?” she said, now looking up from her notebook and smiling; which was odd, considering what was on the news about people getting sick and the situation turning violent in China.

  “Yes, I saw some of the news out of China briefly this morning.”

  “It’s just terrible, isn’t it? All of those people getting sick and no one knowing what it is. The hospitals are going to be overwhelmed soon. It’s a very good idea for them to be shutting down all international travel. I think they should actually do more. Viruses like to spread from person to person through accidental fluid exchange and this one seems to be spreading like wildfire. If someone sneezes towards you or wipes their nose with their hand and then shakes yours and you touch your mouth or your eyes, you’ve just contaminated yourself and not even realized it. Although I’m sure with your profession, you know how to handle yourself and sanitary conditions.”

  “Yes, ma’am. We’re sure to wash our hands frequently and we have the hand sanitizer as well. We also make sure to keep surfaces clean with bleach. We clean the plane after every flight.”

  “Well, it seems during the hustle and bustle of the last stop you weren’t able to wipe everything down,” Dr. Brigantine said pointing to a black blood smear on the chair Mia had been in.

  “Oh my goodness, I am so sorry Doctor. Let me clean that right away,” I said, embarrassed as I rushed to get the cleaning supplies.

  I turned on the exhaust fans, sprayed down the entire chair as well as the ones next to it and wiped everything down clean. I looked around for anything else to clean and found no other surfaces I might have missed. I turned the exhaust fan off and put the cleaning supplies away. As I turned Dr. Brigantine was right behind me, startling me.

  “Sorry to surprise you, William. Do you happen to know what happened to Mr. Harper’s daughter, Mia? I heard briefly that she was ill and my colleagues would be taking care of her at the compound but I hadn’t heard exactly what happened.”

  “Emma, Mr. Harper’s older daughter, told me Mia had been bitten and fell, hitting her head when a janitor at their school had a breakdown of some kind.”

  “Wow. What is this world coming to when people start biting each other? It’s unimaginable what would drive someone to do something like that,” she said, hiding a smirk as she went to the bathroom door knocking and talking softly to Dr. Peters through the door.

  I couldn’t hear w
hat she was saying but it sounded like she was telling him it was safe to come out, which made no sense. I guess he really didn’t like flying at all.

  For the remainder of the flight, I sat behind the cockpit, belted into my seat as Dr. Brigantine watched me from across the plane. She would look at her watch, look at me and then scribble something in her notebook every few minutes, which added a whole new level of uncomfortableness to the remaining two hours.

  Dr. Peters eventually came out of the bathroom and sat back down next to Dr. Brigantine. He too was watching me but he still seemed more scared of me than the plane, which I didn’t understand. I did nothing to the man except ask him if he wanted more soda or if he needed anything. This whole plane ride home was just all types of weird.

  I looked at my watch and there was about fifteen minutes left before we should be preparing to land. I stood from my seat to check with Nathan if we had any issues landing and I had to sit back down immediately. My head felt like it was spinning, and I had a flash of hot run through my body like fire. I caught my bearings and looked up at Dr. Brigantine. She was smiling at me like she was pleased with herself.

  I shook it off and stood slower this time, my head still spinning but not as badly as the first time. I sat next to Nathan and asked him if we were still good to land in the next half an hour and he looked much worse than I felt. He was sweating like crazy and rubbing his head. He reached for the bottle of water I had left previously but it was already empty; he had drained the entire bottle.

  I quickly put two and two together turning back to the main cabin.

  “What is going on here, Dr. Brigantine?” I demanded.

  “I’m not sure what you mean, William,” she insisted with a smile.

  “What did you put in the water? The water you gave me earlier! I had a sip and now I’m not feeling well and Nathan drank the whole bottle and he’s practically sweating through his clothes. What was in the water bottle?” I demanded again.

  “Are you accusing me of doing something to you, William?”

  “Yes! What was in the damn water bottle?”

  “Water, my dear. Why would I do anything to make you and possibly the captain sick? He’s flying the plane, after all. What sense would that make? He is okay to land the plane, isn’t he? Or do you need assistance?” she responded calmly.

  My head began to spin more and I looked over at Dr. Peters, he had the same expression of fear he had before but more intense as he looked between Dr. Brigantine, the cockpit, and myself.

  He looked like he was putting everything together too.

  We might be crash landing if Nathan couldn’t get it together and I was sure Dr. Brigantine had something to do with it.

  Not getting the answers I wanted from the Doctor I went back to Nathan.

  “Nathan, are you okay? Can you still fly? Can you land the plane or should I mayday for assistance?”

  “I’ll be fine. I just need some more cold water. I could land this old girl with my eyes closed,” he assured me, although his strength waned by the second.

  I ran to get some ice water and some of the cold wet towels from the refrigerator I put inside previously for Mia.

  Mia… did she infect us? Was I wrong about Dr. Brigantine putting something in the water? Was this the virus the news was talking about from China?

  I had so many questions and I knew I was not going to get the answers anytime soon. I just needed to make sure I took care of Nathan as he landed the plane. To pull me out of my thoughts, the plane took a quick nosedive and then corrected itself. I ran up front and Nathan was shaking his head like he just woke up.

  “Here, Nathan, cold water, and cold towels,” I told him as I handed him the water and started sopping up the sweat from his face with the towels.

  “Agh, that feels so good. Thank you, William. You have always been such a great friend. Mason is so lucky to have you.”

  “Oh no, you aren’t going to start talking like that, Nathan. Let’s just land this plane and I’ll take you to the hospital.”

  “No, no hospital. I hate hospitals. Just drop me off at home and I’ll sleep it off. I’ll be fine after some sleep.”

  “Whatever you say, boss, let’s just land this plane.”

  Nathan took the cold towels from me, laid them on his head and grabbed the yoke. He put the headphones on to radio the tower that we would be landing shortly. I buckled my seatbelt and prepared to help if needed.

  I turned around in my seat and looked at Dr. Brigantine who was still smiling mischievously.

  It had to be her. I was sure this had to be her doing, even though it didn’t make any sense.

  Well, she didn’t know that I would leave the water bottle where Nathan could drink it but still, why would she want to do anything to me? Who the hell was I to her?

  Chapter 4

  The landing was rough, to say the least, but we made it in one piece.

  Now, I needed to get Nathan to my car and get him some help as quickly as possible. I had radioed to the tower to have an ambulance standing by when we landed but they said all emergency personnel were unavailable. There was some kind of active multi-casualty incident at the hospital and no one was responding.

  Well, if there was something going on at the hospital, I might be better off just tossing Nathan in my car and heading home. Mason was a nurse. He’d know what to do.

  I tried calling him but all of the circuits were busy and I couldn’t get a call to go through. By the time I hatched my plan, Dr. Brigantine and Dr. Peters were already gone. They had taken their trunk with them, along with Mr. Harpers SUV.

  I didn’t know what to make of the fact that they were gone so quickly or that she had the keys to Mr. Harper’s truck but it felt like all of this was planned in some way.

  I felt another hot flash run through my body and Nathan started to groan about how hot and thirsty he was, so I knew I was running out of time before I might not be able to function myself.

  I needed to get Nathan to my house and quickly.

  I tossed Nathan’s arm over my shoulder and lifted him from his seat. He started babbling about regretting not having kids or a wife to share his life with, but I ignored him. We were getting off this plane and we were both going to get help.

  I got Nathan to my car and myself in the driver’s seat just as another dizzy spell hit me. I shook it off and started the car, telling Nathan as much as myself that we were going to make it to my house and Mason would help us.

  The drive to my house was uneventful and I only had one additional dizzy spell, but I was thankful to be able to avoid running us off of the road. I heard sirens the whole drive home but I couldn’t tell where they were coming from. Out here in the sticks sounds seem to travel pretty far.

  I pulled into the driveway a little quicker than I had wanted to, but I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Mason’s car still under the carport. He was home and he would help us.

  I laid on the horn and Mason came running out of the house. I got out of the car too quickly and almost fell over.

  Mason came to help me and I told him to get Nathan first. Mason refused to leave me, but I was finally capable of standing and we were able to get Nathan into the house and to the couch.

  “What the hell happened to you guys?” Mason asked, running to get his medical bag.

  “I don’t know. I think we were exposed to whatever virus is on the news by this crazy bitch doctor we flew from Canada back here to the US.”

  “What? I thought you were flying some rich guy and his family to Canada?”

  “Yes, we did and then when we landed there were two doctors who were associates of the guy we flew into Canada who needed a ride back into the US. One of the doctors was really creepy and I think she infected us both.”

  “What the hell, William? I told you something bad was going to happen!”

  “Now is not the time, Mason, just figure out how to help Nathan because I’m pretty sure it won’t be long before I’m just as bad as he
is.”

  “His fever is 105 degrees, that’s insane! We need to get him to the hospital or he’s going to have brain damage.”

  “There’s some kind of mass casualty incident at the hospital so I don’t think that’s a good idea. Let’s just fill the tub with cold water and get him in there.”

  “Okay but I don’t know what else to do for him or you. I think we should be putting you in the tub right away to hold off this fever as much as possible. We can’t really do much for Nathan since his fever is already this high. What’s yours at?” Mason said, sticking the thermometer in my ear. “Oh my goodness, William. I can feel the heat radiating off of you, your burning up too,” he said, with tears in his eyes as the thermometer beeped that it was done. “You’re at 103 degrees. We need to get you in the bath now!” he said, running to the bathroom to start the water. Mason ran to the hall bathroom as well and turned the water on there also. He knew I wouldn’t get in if Nathan wasn’t getting taken care of also.

  I looked over at Nathan. He had stopped babbling and it was because he was finally out; he was unconscious.

  I was starting to feel extremely light-headed and my vision started to blur a little but I shook my head and my vision came back. Mason returned, throwing Nathan’s arm over his shoulders and picking him up, dragging him into the bathroom.

  Nathan was out cold so he was dead weight, but when I tried to stand and help I couldn’t. It felt like I was paralyzed. My vision blurred again, and I heard a scream from the bathroom; it was Mason.

  I tried as hard as I could to yell or get up, but I just couldn’t move. There was a huge commotion in the bathroom, and I heard things being tossed around. Glass was being broken, there was a moaning noise and then, another scream.

  Mason fell out of the doorway into the hall grabbing at his throat. He was bleeding through his fingers from his neck.

  “He... bit me! Nathan bit me! Call for help...” Mason gasped as he fell to the floor, almost unconscious from blood loss.

  I still couldn’t move, I could barely breathe and I felt my world closing in around me in darkness. I couldn’t help Mason. I couldn’t help Nathan. I was dying and I had no idea why.