She took a seat on the recliner opposite the sofa. “You can protect me when all this is done, yes?”
The man nodded. “Yes, we will keep you safe. We’ll set you up with a new life and you can forget about this entire chapter of your life.”
Michelle grinned. The feeling of warm relief running through her stomach almost made her forget about her headache. “I am very grateful to you, Detective Marsh. You are my last hope.”
“And you are ours. Can you really help us bring down the Kahn prostitution ring? You have evidence?”
“Not evidence, but I can tell you everything. Not just about prostitution, but drugs, too. Mr Kahn is into everything. I know exactly what and where; all of his movements, all of his clients. I can even tell you where his shipments come in.”
Detective Marsh grinned. “With all that, Mr Kahn will ruined. You could expose his clients, humiliate them. The police could catch him red-handed with enough drugs to put him in jail for the rest of his life. You are positive you are prepared for all of that?”
“Yes. I want to destroy Mr Kahn, and all of the sick, perverted men that make him rich.”
Detective Marsh leant forward and took a sip from his tea. Then he just sat there on the sofa for several seconds. He seemed to be mulling something over.
Michelle was feeling anxious. Her headache was getting worse. “I can tell you everything,” she said. “Just tell me when to get started. I know everything.”
Detective Marsh stood up and let out a sigh. “No, Michelle. I’m afraid you do not know everything; but you do know too much.”
Detective Marsh took out the black-market pistol that Mr Kahn had given to him and fired it three times into Michelle’s chest. The blood spatter that found its way onto his shirt was teeming with a virus that had made its way all the way from the Mediterranean Sea.
LONG ARMS
Detective Marsh took a shower at home and then headed right back to work. The police station was unusually abuzz and several of his colleagues were frustrated that they had not been able to get a hold of him in the last few hours. He’d simply told them he was busy.
Busy killing a hooker.
Marsh felt beads of sweat running down his spine. It was not a hot day and he wondered why his skin was so clammy. He put it down to the stress of committing a murder – his first and hopefully his last. But if Kahn had anything to do with it…
Why the hell did I ever get into drugs and hookers? I’m the world’s biggest fucking idiot.
The dispatch floor was teeming with bodies as the telephone staff patched calls through to the relevant departments. It seemed like something was going on. Too many calls.
Something’s obviously hit the fan.
Marsh stomped over to the offices and headed for the Briefing Room. He’d had a feeling he would find several of his colleagues there, but he was surprised to find that half the officers on staff were standing inside.
“Marsh! Where the hell have you been?” It was DI Winters, and she did not look happy.
“Sorry, Ma’am. I was…otherwise engaged. What’s going on?”
DI Winters shook her head and cursed. “Chris, will you take him away and brief him, please. We need to get moving.”
Detective Chris Cox left the assembly and took Marsh out into the corridor. The first thing he said was, “You look like shit.”
Marsh shrugged the comment off. “I’m fine – just a cold or something. What’s going on?”
Chris shook his head and cleared his throat. “Nobody knows, really. Southampton General has been quarantined because of some super-bug. We’ve been hearing that people have gotten really sick, and that they’ve been attacking each other, as well.”
“Attacking each other?”
“Yeah. No one can make much sense of it, but some calls got through from within the hospital about an hour ago. There’s a group locked up inside that are claiming some of the infected people have gone mad and are trying to kill them. Winter is trying to figure out a way to respond without breaking the quarantine around the hospital.”
Marsh was shocked. It had never been an ordinary day at the office, but it was getting even weirder. “Do we know what the cause is?”
Chris nodded. “The World Health Organization have got involved. They’re saying something about that terrorist attack in the Med is responsible. They think some kind of virus got loose.”
“Shit! How the hell did it make it over here?”
Chris shrugged. “I don’t have all the details. We’ve been responding to so many calls that nobody really knows what’s going on.”
“Why so many? Are the cases not contained to the hospital?”
“Mostly, but there have been some strange calls from all over the place. We’ve been asked to help the NHS locate and detain any suspected locations of the virus outside of the hospital.”
“What? What locations?”
Chris sighed. “Whatever this virus is…it’s spreading.”
Marsh flopped back against the wall. “I don’t want to get involved with any nasty diseases. That’s not my fucking job.”
Christ, I just want to go home and get high. Smoke this day away into oblivion.
Chris shrugged. “Our job is to follow orders, and right now it’s all hands on deck. I was about to help set up a checkpoint at the train station. Winters wants us looking out for signs of sickness in high traffic areas.”
Marsh bit his lip and breathed out through his nose. “Goddamn it! Okay, I’ll tag along, but I swear if I catch smallpox, I’m going straight to the union for damages.”
“You’re not going to catch smallpox,” Chris said, chuckling.
But Marsh had already caught something far worse.
WHISTLE-STOP
Chris didn’t like the way his partner looked. Marsh was a hard-living kind of guy and would often come in with the tell-tale signs of a hangover, but today was different. No hangover could have made him look like the heavy-breathing bag of shit he looked like today, though.
“You feeling okay?”
Marsh looked over from the passenger seat and sniffed. “I’m fine. Must have been something I ate. Just stop gawping at me.”
“Okay. Just let me know if you need to take off. You’ll be no use to me, sick.”
Chris brought the unmarked police car into the train station car park and pulled it into one of the spaces. It was the middle of a weekday so the station wasn’t as busy as it could have been, which would make life easier.
Especially if we have to lock the place down.
“So what are we looking for?” Marsh asked.
Chris turned off the engine and answered the question. “Sneezing, bleeding, sweating. Flu-like symptoms that progress to haemorrhaging and aggression.”
“Christ almighty,” said Marsh. “What kind of maniac unleashes something like that on purpose?”
“We don’t know anything right now. We just need to be vigilant. Better safe than sorry.” Chris opened his door. “Come on, there should be a couple of uniforms inside waiting for us.”
Marsh started coughing, but he opened his own door and stepped out with Chris. The sun was beginning to go down, which gave everything a dull orange tint. Chris always found dusk to be a depressing time of day, neither light nor dark. It was the day’s limbo and easy to get lost in.
Chris had to usher Marsh across the car park and towards the main building that housed the station. It was a medium-sized hub, consisting of six platforms, ticket office, and a row of shops and fast food restaurants. There was probably less than a hundred passengers waiting on the platforms. It would not be impossible to survey them all.
Up ahead, two uniformed officers stood in their fluorescent yellow jackets. They recognised Detective Cox when he approached them.
“Everything been okay here?”
The larger of the two officers nodded. “So far so good. Haven’t seen anything alarming. The staff here have all been asked to watch out for anyone suspicious.”
“Good,” said Chris. “We’ll take it from here.”
The two police officers nodded and left them to it. Chris decided to get himself set up with a coffee before he got to work. “You want a drink, Marsh?”
Marsh glanced at him. His eyes were red and bulging. His nose was running. “Yeah, cheers. Get us a tea; white, two sugars.”
“Coming right up.” Chris headed off to the small coffee shop that served the station. There was no one else inside except for an acne-ridden barista. He placed his order, stood and waited. A radio hissed away from a nearby counter.
Reports…mass sickness…Southampton General…police cordon…
Chris shook his head. Things were obviously no better. His radio had remained silent for the last hour and he knew that it was likely because everyone was so busy. Nobody had time to check in with anybody else.
Hopefully whatever it is has been contained to the hospital. If this thing spreads then the terrorists will have giant smiles on their goat faces.
Chris had lost a distant cousin in the 9/11 attacks. He could not claim any great loss, but the loss of a family member – however distant – gave him a connection to the atrocity that perhaps others in the UK did not have. To them it had been a horror movie unfolding on the news. For him it had been real. Punishing evil people for their torment of others had been his driving force ever since. Drug dealers, abusive husbands…nothing was too big or small to elicit his concern. His role in life was to stop the bad guys, but right now it seemed like they had scored a victory. It made Chris feel sick.
The barista came back with his order. He paid the young man and asked him a question. “Has anybody called in sick today?”
“Nope. We don’t need many staff on during the week. Just me and the manager at the moment. He’s in the back.”
Chris nodded. “Okay, just wondering. Thanks.” He took the hot beverages and headed back to where he’d left Marsh standing. His partner was still in the same position, but he was slouched like a bag of potatoes, letting all his weight hang downwards.
“Marsh!”
His partner did not reply.
“Hey, Marsh. Get your head in the game, man.”
Still no reply. Chris huffed and stepped around in front of him. He didn’t expect to see what he did.
“You’re bleeding.”
Marsh snapped out of his daze and looked at Chris. His nose was leaking blood all the way down onto the tip of his chin. “W…what you talking about?”
“Your nose! Here…” Chris pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and held it to his partner’s nose. The blood was coming thick and fast.
Marsh crumpled at the knees. Chris tried to hold him up but was only able to ease him to the ground slowly. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Marsh wasn’t responding. His body was rigid and he was going into some sort of seizure. Chris placed his hands gently behind his partner’s head and cried out for assistance. A moment later, the barista from the coffee shop and several nearby commuters had come to help.
Chris shouted at them as they stood around gawping. “Call an ambulance.”
One of the passengers took out their phone and begun dialling. The coffee shop employee dropped down onto his knees beside Chris and went to grab a hold of Marsh’s flailing body.
Chris shot out his hand. “No! Don’t restrict him. Just let the seizure end on its own.”
The young barista stared down at Chris’s hand clamped around his wrist. The stained handkerchief was scrunched between his fingers and blood had smeared all over his forearm. “Dude! You got blood on me.”
Chris withdrew his hand. “I’m sorry. Go get yourself cleaned up.”
The barista hurried back into the coffee shop, while Chris held onto his partner. Marsh’s seizure was coming to an end, but blood continued leaking from his nose. It had also began to seep from the edges of his eye sockets. The gathered spectators held their mouths and gasped.
It was then that Chris had a realisation. He has it. He’s caught the virus we’ve been sent here to look for. Shit, Marsh, what the hell have you been up to?
Then he had another, more frightening thought. He’s infectious. I need to close this whole place down. God knows how many people he’s passed this onto already.
Chris let go of Marsh, letting his body slump to the ground. He shot to his feet and pulled out his radio. It crackled as he spoke into it. The panic in his voice was obvious. “Dispatch. This is Detective Cox. The virus has spread.”
BEANS
“I can’t believe I got that dude’s blood on me,” Danny said to himself as he marched across the car park. His shift had ended at the coffee shop and he’d been heading out. He didn’t even know why he’d stopped to help that guy.
What else could I do? He was flipping the fuck out.
Danny had cleaned himself up in the coffee shop’s kitchen and then headed out the back door to the car park. He didn’t want to get drawn in to any of the commotion that was happening out on the station’s platform. There seemed to be some sort of panic going on, which was hardly surprising given the state of the dude having the seizure.
What the hell was wrong with that guy? Epilepsy?
Who gives a shit? I gots to gets my party on.
Danny had been looking forward to seven-o-clock all day. The time where he could finally skip out of work and catch his ride to Birmingham, where Joey would be throwing the party of the century. Joey was one of his best buddies and grew up in a house the size of a supermarket. It had tennis courts, a swimming pool, snooker tables, and everything else his millionaire parents could think to buy. And for the next week, the house was in Joey’s care while his parents were on a cruise. It was going to be the best few days of Danny’s life. A whirlwind of booze, drugs, laughs, and clunge.
Nirvana baby!
Danny picked up his pace and headed up the hill towards the bus station. Coming down the road, in the opposite direction, was a police car. Its sirens were on and its driver eyeballed Danny as he passed.
What you looking at, pig?
Danny rounded the corner and stopped just outside the bus station. He wasn’t due to catch a bus; Joey would be picking him up in his parent’s Audi. It was a sweet ride and if it was warmer they could have had the top down all the way up the motorway.
Oh well, can’t have everything.
Sure enough, Danny spotted Joey idling in the sleek black Audi and quickly dashed towards him. He slung open the door and hopped in.
“Hey, D-Man, how’s it going?”
“Yeah, good. Except some dude just bled all over me.”
Joey looked at him. “For real?”
Danny shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just get this party started.”
“Hell yes!” Joey gunned the engine and the two of them got going. They sped right past a row of police cars heading towards the train station.
“You know what all these pigs are doing?” Joey asked him.
Danny shook his head and looked out of the window. “No. Maybe it had something to do with the dude that collapsed on the platform.”
“A guy collapsed?”
“Yeah, was bleeding everywhere like a stuck pig.”
“Gross.”
Danny let out a long breath as he thought about getting the guy’s blood on him. “Yeah, gross.”
“Well, I’ll be doing some pretty gross things with Stephanie later tonight. If I can get it up, that is, with all of the booze I’m gonna drink.”
Danny smiled. “Tonight is going to be hardcore.”
Joey bashed the car’s horn three times. “Hard-fuckin’-core!”
Danny sneezed.
Joey opened the electric windows on both sides. “Dude, I can’t be doing with getting sick. You gonna start sneezing and shit, do it out the window. I can’t be driving three hours with Mr Sniffles.”
Danny wiped his nose with the back of his forearm. “Sorry, man. I don’t think I’m getting sick. I feel fin
e.”
Then he sneezed again.
PARASITES
Stephanie had just given Joey the shag of his life and he felt epic. His friends were having fun all around and it was all because of him. He would go down as a legend for this.
The motherfucking party master.
Joey slid off his bed and got dressed while Stephanie used the shower in the en suite. The thought of her all wet and naked was enough to get him aroused all over again. But there would be time for that later. He had to play host; make sure his guests were having a time they would never forget.
He checked his watch. It was two-thirty in the morning. The night was still young.
He headed out onto the landing, passing by necking couples and chatting friends. They all gave Joey the thumbs-up as he passed them. Someone handed him a beer and he broke the tab merrily. He had never felt so good.
Except for the headache.
And a sore throat.
That git, Danny. I knew his sneezing was gonna get me sick.
Joey headed down the stairs, shoving people back against the wall if they dared get in his way. He knew it was stupid to blame his friend for passing on a harmless bug, but it was the worst timing. So much planning had gone into this party that he would kick off big style if he wasn’t able to enjoy it.
I’ll wring his bleedin’ neck.
He knew he would find Danny in the billiards room. The guy was a whiz with a cue and would no doubt be hustling the other guys out of their money.
Someone was coughing nearby. Somebody else sneezed.
Goddamn it. Did Danny catch the lergy or something?
The billiards room was just up ahead, off from the main lounge. Joey headed inside and spotted Danny on a stool behind the bar. He was chewing on some girl’s neck.
“Danny!” Joey shouted.
Danny moved the girl aside and looked over at him. “Hey, dude. How’s it going?”
Joey marched across the room. The girl that had been with Danny left, sporting a huge hickey on her neck.
Classy.
Danny headed behind the bar and stood in front of his friend, who was teetering unsteadily on the stool.
Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel Page 37
