Omega Pathogen: Mayhem

by Hicks Jr, J. G.

  The scientists were ecstatic, but surprised to find that, when the virus reanimated after being thawed slowly in modern dog brain tissue, it transformed from the unknown rabies virus into what they knew and recognized. They then injected the virus into a live dog. With accelerated speed, the virus made its way from the dog's extremities to its brain. The previously healthy animal transformed into the classic picture of furious rabies, foaming at the mouth and extremely aggressive. The animal eventually succumbed to the virus and died.

  The scientists couldn’t understand why the rabies found in the Siberian tiger’s blood was some unknown virus and then mutated into what they knew. After many unsuccessful attempts experimenting with the tiger's blood being injected into the dogs, the scientists were finally able to retrieve the smallest of samples of the tiger's brain. They were shocked.

  The scientists expected the tiger’s brain sample to reveal the new and unknown rabies virus. But the rabies virus in the brain sample from the tiger was not the same as the rabies virus found in its blood; it was the known rabies virus. The confusion remained; they were dealing with two different types of rabies.

  The discovery of the human and tiger remains and the unknown virus attracted more attention from the government of the USSR. More specialists were assigned to assist in the research. Included were experts in virology and biological warfare. One of these scientists was a younger Dr. Grigori Kosktov.

  However, months had passed since the human and tiger remains were discovered and sent to Moscow. The death of Joseph Stalin in March of 1953 caused uncertainty throughout the government, and the study was suspended, like many other projects, until determination could be made as to whether it was of benefit to the state.

  The bodies and samples were put into deep freeze storage. What results the researchers did obtain were discussed occasionally among those involved, especially by Dr. Kosktov. He ached to be working with the unknown virus, to solve the mystery. He dreamed of it, and it preoccupied his thoughts every day.

  The project was not given funding or attention until 1964, when Leonid Brezhnev came into power. During this time, advances were made in DNA and RNA research. One of the advances increased the ability to obtain samples of RNA from brain cells. The process had always been problematic because of lipids mixing with the sample.

  Finally, after nearly thirteen years, Kosktov was able to immerse himself in nothing but work with the unknown rabies virus, not knowing that it would be another ten years until he would be able to find one of the complete unknown rabies virus cells hidden in the brain of one of the long-dead men found near the tiger, and revive it.

  So many attempts were made, each with equal failure. None of the samples contained a viable or complete version of the unknown virus; they were either not able to be revived, or they were missing all or part of the V tail. The samples that were revived and had a portion of tail missing merely resulted in the known rabies virus in test subjects.

  Then he knew. He knew he was right about what happened millennia ago. He had hypothesized that perhaps the tiger had not been infected when it seemed to have killed the men. Perhaps one or both of the men had attacked and infected the tiger, and then the virus mutated from the previously unknown rabies into the known virus inside the tiger.

  The answer was not popular with his colleagues in Moscow; they couldn’t see two humans confronting an animal like the tiger, even in a rabies-induced fury. Rabies, as they knew it, did not affect people like that. Kosktov now was certain it had thousands of years ago, and now did so again.

  He only wished he could speak to the entire science world about this discovery, telling everyone about the human rabies virus. His discovery might not be very interesting to the common man, but in virology he had no doubt that it would be one of the major discoveries of the ages; a previously unknown and ancient virus, perhaps the original rabies virus.

  Perhaps rabies began in humans and was then spread to the other mammals. Because the government now ultimately controlled it, Kosktov knew the world would never know about the human rabies virus. He was enormously wrong in this supposition.

  Chapter 2

  Present

  Jim knows his loved ones are looking to him for guidance and leadership. He hopes he can give them enough to get through this mess, and protect them at the same time. He’s been part of teams serving warrants for people suspected of some of the worst crimes; he’s planned for, and been part of a team or the team leader for, numerous convoys through high-threat areas in Iraq.

  These infected people are a far different situation than he’s faced before. Right now, he has only a slight grasp of the actual threat they face. That’s not good enough.

  Instead of trained police officers, or security team members who are used to reacting and know what should be done with little or no communication, his family is depending on him, and they have no tactical training.

  Jim is 46; he’s not a tall man at five-eight. He’s got more than average musculature, but is in nowhere near as good condition as in years past, Jim’s wife Arzu, is 40 years old. She’s an inch shorter than Jim, and is lean and fit.

  Both Jim’s older sons are smart and capable young men. Chris, at 24 years of age, is the oldest. He’s a bit taller than his dad but has much the same stocky build. Jeremy is 21 years old, leaner and taller than his dad and his older brother. Both have blue eyes and light brown, almost dirty-blond hair. Berk is third oldest at seven years old. He’s a spitting image of his father and older brothers, except for his dark hazel-green eyes, which are from the combination of Jim’s blue, and Arzu’s deep brown eyes.

  Kayra is five years old, and has dark brown hair like her mother. She is fearless. Before the world turned upside down, Kayra was already worrying her mother and father. Luckily, she’s not as accident-prone as her father was at a young age.

  They currently make their home in Katy, Texas, a suburb of Houston. The city limit sign along Interstate 10 is the only visual cue that you’ve passed from Houston to Katy or vice-versa. Not too many years ago, it was easier to differentiate, but further urbanization and population spread has changed that. Jim knows they’re running out of time before they need to evacuate their home.

  “All right guys, here’s the plan for now,” Jim begins. “Jeremy, you stay here with the radio at this window so you can keep an eye on the back of the house. Arzu, you stay upstairs with Berk and Kayra, take them into the spare bedroom, and try to keep them from fighting with each other.

  “Chris, you take the second radio and stay upstairs to keep an eye on the front of the house.” Jim continues explaining his current plan. “Chris and Jeremy, make sure you keep the volume down, clip the radios onto your shirt necklines so that they’re closer to your ears and won’t need to be turned up as loud.”

  “Where are you going?” Arzu asks.

  “I’m going downstairs to double-check that we’re as secure as we can be, and make sure the blinds are all closed. We don’t want those things to see any movement from inside and decide to investigate. Then I’m going to the garage and shut off the main breaker to the house to make sure we lessen the risk of any noise from appliances, or the kids deciding to turn on the TV.”

  Currently, the infected seem to be just milling about, until something catches their interest and they rush to investigate. For now, they seem to pay little attention to the Matthews home, and Jim and the rest of the family would like to keep it that way.

  “Remember, guys, sudden or even regular human movements are picked up much more easily by people and animals. I’m not sure about these things out there, but I think it would be smart to move slowly if there’s any chance we’ll be seen. We have to assume they behave like animals hunting other animals,” Jim advises.

  “Or animals hunting people,” Arzu interjects.

  “I agree. So, when you get near windows to take a peek outside, make sure you move slowly. Understand what I mean?”

  Jeremy responds with “Yeah, Dad” and Ch
ris with, “Gotcha, Pop”. Arzu gives a nod, and heads off to try to occupy the younger kids.

  With no further questions, they go about their assigned tasks as quietly as possible. Jim makes a check of the downstairs area, the most vulnerable part of their home. It’s now turned into a makeshift fortress they hope will hold. Not finding anything they can reinforce now--quietly, anyway--Jim proceeds to the attached garage. He clumsily makes his way to the electrical panel, cursing himself as he goes.

  He makes his way through the mess of the boxes and items that he's scattered everywhere, looking for anything and everything to assist in their survival. Damn, I really need to get more organized, he thinks.

  After turning off the main circuit breaker to the house, Jim makes his way back inside the house and turns to ascend the stairs. He’s met by the sight of Chris a few steps down from the upstairs landing. Chris is signaling him forward with his left hand and looking in the direction of the game room and at the rear of the house and his father.

  “What is it, Chris?”

  “Jeremy said those crazy people look like they’re leaving. The ones in the front look like they’re looking toward the east and walking away, too. A couple came up near the house but then moved off.”

  “OK, let’s have a look,” Jim responds.

  Jim and Chris meet with Jeremy in the upstairs game room, and carefully spread a couple of the blinds and look out. As described, the mass of infected seems to be dispersing, and heading toward neighboring homes that had been broken into the previous night.

  Many of the infected periodically hold the front area of their head with their palms, and growls from many of them are heard from time to time. Looking at his watch, Jim notices the time, 6:52 AM. Taking note of the sun’s position, he guesses they don’t like the sunlight. Some of the infected don’t disappear inside neighborhood homes, but simply find shade where available.

  “It looks like they don’t like to be in the sunlight very much. They’re either heading indoors, or going to some area of shade where they can find it,” Jim points out. “This is something we may be able to use soon, somehow.”

  “What are you planning?” Arzu asks, coming into the room.

  “I don’t know yet, baby. But at least we know a little more about them, maybe a weakness. We’ll keep watching them as much as we can. We may be able to shore up our defenses during the day, as long as we’re quiet. This may also mean that we’ll need to adjust our security watches, too, focusing on evening hours more than daylight.”

  Deciding to take the risk of fortifying the home some more, Jim turns the main breaker to the house back on, so they’ll have power for drills and recharging batteries. As quietly as they can, they take more plywood from the garage and screw it to the walls over the windows. Several times during their work, they stop when one of the family members acting as a lookout informs them that infected are close by or seem to be paying attention to their home.

  While at the living room window in the back of the home, they hear glass being shattered nearby. Looking out the window, but unable to see the source of the noise, Jim and Jeremy go to the second floor to investigate, leaving Chris to maintain watch over the first floor. They hear the sound of dogs barking and growling, with a mixture of yelping as if in pain. Ascending to the game room, the approximate direction of the noise, Jim and Jeremy carefully peer out.

  Parting the closed blinds, carefully so they attract no attention, they’re able to get enough of a view in the area of the noise. Looking around at the houses behind them, Jeremy is the first to see. “Oh, man, those poor dogs,” he says in a quiet voice, and removes his hand from the blind, allowing them to close and shut off his view. Jim starts to ask Jeremy what he saw when he notices six human figures two houses behind theirs.

  All are obviously infected. Two of them are kneeling over a medium-sized dog, rending its flesh with their hands and teeth. The other four have another larger dog cornered between the privacy fence and the outer wall of the back of the house. The dog attacks, but so do the infected.

  After a few moments, the second dog is brought down by the other four as they continue to strike it with fists, pouncing on the animal and ripping away pieces of its flesh in their teeth. They chew the dog’s hairy flesh like starving hyenas.

  Seeing enough, Jim lets go of the blinds and turns to Jeremy. “Come on, son, let’s finish boarding this place up.”

  Depleting the remaining plywood and 2x4s, they decide to eat and see if they can learn anything new about the condition of the city and the rest of the world on TV. Colored bars and a continuous tone greet them. Some channels from lightly populated areas are still broadcasting live and running recordings of video and views from helicopters, with reports giving narrative to what’s below. There’s no reporting from anyone on the ground at any of the scenes playing out.

  Most of the video Jim and his family haven’t seen yet, and they wish they weren’t seeing it now. “Damn, this is getting out of control,” Chris says, staring at the TV as they watch reports and video from different cities across the U.S. and from numerous other countries. It’s all the same; just the locations are different, and the extent of chaos varies only slightly. All of the reports are of cities becoming more and more out of control and descending deeper into anarchy.

  “I need to call Mom and the rest of the family in Florida,” Jim says while digging around in his pants pockets. Immediately after the words leave his lips, he feels heartbroken for Arzu. Her family is in Turkey, and they have no feasible way to get them. She’s tried calling numerous times to no avail. All her attempts were met with only the sound of a rapid busy signal.

  Finding his phone, Jim dials his mom’s cell number. It rings once and then begins the rapid beeping tone. The sound is normally just irritating, but now strikes him with fear. He tries his sister’s, his brother’s, and friends’… nothing but the same beeping noise.

  Chapter 3

  Present

  The next evening, the family is gathered around on the second floor landing so they can keep an eye on the first floor and talk, while eating some reconstituted freeze-dried food. They talk of normal things, joking and making small talk.

  Jim and Arzu have talked about it and feel they need to try to explain to Berk and Kayra about what is going on with the world. They decide the best way is simple but not overly graphic. The six of them are gathered together when Arzu brings up the subject to Berk and Kayra. “I want to explain to you two about what’s happened to a lot of the people in our neighborhood, and the world.” Kayra looks up from eating and says, “You mean all the people that turned to zombies, Mom?” No one speaks, not knowing exactly how to respond, until Berk says, “Yeah, we learned about zombies from school. All the other kids told us about zombies a long time ago, from movies they saw.” Arzu clarifies, “These sick people aren’t really zombies; they’re infected with a disease and it makes their minds not work right.”

  Surprising everyone with their seemingly nonchalant view of the new world, Berk and Kayra continue to eat. “They are scary,” Berk adds, and Kayra agrees, “Yeah, they’re creepy.” The adults turn back to conversations about supplies, with Jim bringing up the subject. “I’ve been thinking of making a run to one of the sporting goods stores nearby. The Academy store is the closest, so I think that’s the best choice,” he says. Arzu, having been looking away to wipe some food from Kayra’s chin, whips her head around to face Jim.

  “You can’t go out there. Even if they are less active when the sun is up, you know they come running when they see or hear something. Look what they did to the poor dogs from the house behind ours.”

  Realizing what she said in front of the kids as soon as it left her lips, she looks back at Kayra and finishes wiping her chin. “What happened to the dogs, Mom?” Kayra asks, not missing the mention of the animals and the tone in which her mother mentioned them.

  “The sick people hurt the dogs, honey. They don’t know any better.” Arzu hates to do it,
but she tells almost an entire truth, sparing her daughter and son the mental imagery of the animals being attacked and eaten alive.

  “Baby, I have to check it out. We need more ammunition; we could use more weapons, too, along with camping equipment, not to mention more food and some way for water purification, like chemicals and filters. All those things that outdoor sporting goods stores have,” Jim says as Arzu’s attention comes back to the conversation.

  Jim continues, “If we’re going to have any chance to get to Florida, we’ve got to stock up on supplies. We’ll have to distract them away from the house somehow. I don’t know how yet, but that seems to be the only option.”

  Several more attempts throughout the day and evening by Jim, Arzu, Chris, and Jeremy to call family members and friends are unsuccessful.

  Prior to sundown, they decide it best to turn off the TV to reduce the possibility of the animal-like infected becoming interested in their home. They divide their security shifts again between Jim, Chris, and Jeremy for watching over the home. Like the preceding nights, they can hear the occasional distant shattering of glass and what sounds like beating on doors or sides of houses. The occasional report of gunshots is heard as well.

  Morning comes with Jim being on watch; he picked being the last on their rotation, knowing that the predawn hours are usually the most difficult to stay alert in. He trusts his sons, but he’s more accustomed to working with little sleep.

  Shortly after dawn comes, Jim informs them that they’ll need to use the stored water to complete their morning rituals, explaining that in the pre-dawn hours the electricity went out. The family gathers for a breakfast of reconstituted freeze-dried breakfast packs of food, with the water having been heated by a Coleman stove near the fireplace.