V-Virus Infected Prequel

by Dahlhaus, Jacky

  The overall experience the three of us had was that teaching was great. Despite the initial setbacks, it was great to interact with the children. It gave me a tremendous boost to see the light in the children’s eyes sparkle as they learned something new. Even though I liked the experiments I did with the kids, I enjoyed class discussions the most. To have the students interact with each other, dispute each other’s thoughts, give arguments, and interact. This was the world I loved; a world where people listened to each other and discussed other people’s visions without instantly dismissing them because they were different.

  If only the real world out there could be like this.

  Chapter 11

  Biosafety Level 2 Laboratory, unknown location

  Wednesday, September 29th, 2004

  Late that evening, Decker got out of bed in the shared bedroom and went to the bathroom. He locked the door and stood himself in front of the sink. He inspected his mirror image and didn’t think he looked any different. He leaned his hands on the edge of the sink and moved his face closer to the mirror. When he lifted his upper lip and saw the reflection of his teeth, he gasped. He stumbled backward and bumped into the post of the shower cubicle. In a reflex to stay upright, he grabbed the handle of the cubicle door and ripped it completely off. Having nothing to hold on to now, he fell on his butt on the floor, the broken handle in his hand. “What the fuck?” Decker said out loud.

  “Everything okay in there?” he heard Kaminski say.

  “Yeah, I’m fine. Just slipped on the wet floor.” He got up and moved to the mirror again. He threw the door handle into the sink and with both hands lifted his upper lip. Now he was sure it wasn’t a figment of his imagination. He really had canines a wolf could be proud of. No wonder his jaw had been so sore. “Bloody hell,” he muttered.

  A knock on the bathroom door made him jump. Decker let go of his lip and quickly picked up the door handle, holding it behind his back. “I told you I’m fine!” he yelled.

  “Sorry, Gov,” Kaminski whispered from behind the closed door. “Can I talk to you for a sec?”

  Decker frowned but opened the door. “What is it?”

  Kaminski glanced back over his shoulder. When he was sure none of the other soldiers were awake, he pushed his way into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

  “What’s up, Kaminski? You better have a bloody good reason to barge in here,” Decker said as he took a step backward. He was still holding the door handle behind his back and thought it might come in handy if Kaminski was up to something stupid.

  “Gov, I have a problem,” Kaminski whispered. He didn’t look Decker in the eye.

  “Don’t tell me you have a problem down under. You need to see somebody else for that.”

  “No, Gov, you have it all wrong! I haven’t got a problem down there. I have a problem up here.” He pointed at his mouth. Kaminski opened his mouth wide and sported a perfect pair of fangs. “My jaw has been bloody painful all day, and I can feel my teeth have grown. I feel like a vampire, and I’m not sure what to do!” He had a desperate look in his eye.

  Decker’s mind was racing. So, he wasn’t the only one whose teeth were growing. Could this be a side-effect from the virus? Was this supposed to happen? What were the implications? Could they use them in combat? Apart from the tiredness and the pain, he felt as strong as an ox.

  “Gov, what do I do?” Kaminski wiped his hand over his ultra-short hair.

  Decker had to put his man at ease and there was only one way.

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “Keep on smiling.”

  The man in front of him nodded a short nod and then realized what he had heard.

  “Um… What? What did you say?” Kaminski asked.

  “Just smile!” Decker said and made his grin as wide as possible, showing off his own pair of fangs.

  “Oh my God! You have them too!” Kaminski said. Together they laughed.

  There was knocking on the door again, this time louder.

  “What is going on in there?” It was Grover’s voice.

  Decker opened the bathroom door, and the two men stepped out.

  Grover stood with his hands on his hips, eying them suspiciously. “Having a secret meeting in there?” he asked.

  “Grover, why don’t you smile for a change?” Decker asked in return. He moved to put his hand on the man’s shoulder but forgot he was still holding the door handle. He stopped his move midway, staring at the item, and realized it must look a bit awkward.

  “What in heaven’s name have you two been up to in there?” Grover asked, frowning at the broken piece of metal.

  Decker laughed. “Well, it seems that the virus is working. I fell, and trying to hold on to something, I took the handle off as easy as if it was made of butter.”

  “You’re kidding?” Kaminski said.

  “Nope, I swear on my mother’s grave. It came right off when I grabbed it,” Decker said.

  The three of them laughed, and Decker didn’t fail to notice Grover also had a nice set of wolf-like canines.

  Decker woke the three remaining sleeping men in the room as well as the five next door. They all appeared to have long canines. The men gathered around Decker.

  “What does it mean, Gov?” Johnsson asked. He was the youngest of the troop. “Are we turning into animals?”

  “Would the Doc know this would happen, you think,” Kaminski asked.

  “I really don’t think so,’ Decker replied. “Turning into animals is a bit far-fetched, and I don’t think the Doc knows. Otherwise, she would have monitored the growth of our fangs.”

  The light turned on, and all the men had to blink. When they focused to see who had flipped the switch, they saw Walpole standing in the doorway.

  Chapter 12

  Biosafety Level 2 Laboratory, unknown location

  Wednesday, September 29th, 2004

  Walpole’s big frame was impressive, filling most of the doorway.

  “What’s going on, guys?” Walpole said as he scuffed his beard. “The night guard told me he saw you wandering in the hallway on the cameras. Is anything wrong?”

  Decker cocked his head and frowned. Looking at Walpole made him thirsty, very thirsty. He couldn’t see the man’s jugular through his beard, but did he hear it? He was pretty sure he could hear the blood sloshing through the man’s veins. Warm, liquid, thirst-quenching blood. Blood drenched from his head at the thought. Yet, he took a step closer toward the man.

  “No, nothing’s wrong,” he said. From the corner of his eye, he saw Kaminski flank him on the right, Grover was not far behind on the left. Both men took another step closer to Walpole. “Nothing’s wrong at all.”

  “Then why are you all out of bed?” Walpole asked as he shuffled back into the hallway. He didn’t like the look on the men’s faces, with eyes too intent. He glanced at the cameras hanging in the corners of the hallway. Looking back at Decker, he said, “Do you want me to call Dr. Bonnetti?”

  Walpole put his hand into the pocket of his lab coat, but when he found nothing, he realized he had left his phone lying on the nightstand. Somehow, he knew he made a big mistake.

  Decker had noticed the big man looking away at the cameras and quickly assessed the situation. He jumped forward and grabbed Walpole by the lapels of his coat. He pulled the heavy frame of the bearded man into the room and closed the door behind him. When Decker’s eyes met Kaminski’s, he realized his mate's eyes were asking. They weren’t asking what was going on. They were asking for permission. Decker blinked. Kaminski was asking him permission to kill Walpole. He had seen the look in the soldiers’ eyes before when they were on duty in Iraq, just before a kill. Only this time, Kaminski’s stare was so much more intense. Absolutely no doubt about it. The man wanted to kill, just like he did himself.

  Walpole threw a glance at the door. He thought of saying something but refrained from it as he didn’t believe these guys had any intention of listening to anybody at the moment.

  Walpol
e, a non-believer, crossed himself.

  The blow came out of nowhere, and Walpole was unconscious before he hit the floor. He never woke up again because the men of the 69th battalion immediately fell on him and quenched their thirst.

  Decker wiped the blood off his chin. He got up, and Kaminski and Johnsson joined him. Most of the others were still trying to get the last drop out of Walpole.

  “What have we done?” moaned Grover, who stood looking at the white corpse, his fists clenched to his bloodied cheeks. “What on earth have we done?”

  Decker thought exactly the same thing. He hadn’t wanted to kill Walpole, but his thirst had taken over. His body had demanded to take action to quench this immense need, and killing Walpole and drinking his blood had been the obvious solution. He wasn’t proud of it, but what was done was done. His career was shot. He could hand himself in, resulting in a dishonest discharge. He could live with that. But they would probably do everything in their power to cancel the side-effect of the virus in him as well. That was something he couldn’t let happen. Not while he felt so fucking good. He felt like his body had changed for the better, into some sort of superhuman. Why would he want to go back to what he had been before?

  “We’re doomed! We’re all doomed!” wailed Grover. The soldier paced the room, shaking everyone by the shoulders.

  Decker sighed as he watched the frantic man. Johnsson took this as a sign to take action. He grabbed Grover and pushed him up against the wall, his lower arm pressing against the man’s throat.

  “You want me to take care of him?” Kaminski asked Decker.

  After a short moment, Decker gave the slightest nod upon which Kaminski moved to Grover and Johnsson.

  “Grover, are you going to shut up?” he asked.

  Grover stopped whimpering. He stared at Kaminski intently before he talked.

  “You’re evil! We’re all evil! We’re all going to hell!” he yelled into Kaminski’s face, who kept surprisingly calm.

  “No worries, mate, I’ve already been there and back again,’ he said as he indicated to Johnsson to let go of Grover. “Why don’t we go and find the Doc, okay? She can sort out this mess.”

  Kaminski put his arm around Grover’s shoulders and led his fellow soldier toward the door. They were about three paces away from it when Kaminski put both hands on the sides of Grover’s head and broke his neck.

  Johnsson stared at the body of his mate in horror as Decker addressed the rest of the men.

  “Anybody else wants out? No? Good. Now listen up. We need to get out of here, and fast. If we stay, we’re doomed like Grover said. We’re going to extract ourselves out of this hostile situation. And don’t get me wrong, this will be a hostile situation as soon as they find out we killed these men. Kaminski, get Walpole’s key card. We’re going to visit our security friend first.

  Chapter 13

  Biosafety Level 2 Laboratory, unknown location

  Wednesday, September 29th, 2004

  Ricardo Ricci sat with his feet up on the desk. He was filling in a crossword puzzle when his eye caught movement again on one of the monitors. He lazily glanced up at it, expecting it to be Walpole returning. Instead, he saw the group of soldiers walking his way.

  “Now what?” he said as he moved his feet off the desk.

  A few minutes earlier, he had woken the fat bastard Walpole because he had seen his test bunnies roaming the hallway in the middle of the night. They probably had the shits or something. During the few years as a guard here, nothing exciting ever seemed to happen, which was just the way Ricci liked it. What had gone wrong that Walpole wasn’t with the soldiers? Ricci got out of his chair and opened the door of his office.

  “Hey, guys, what’s up?” he asked as the soldiers approached. Just in case, he had taken the clip off his hip holster and kept his hand on the gun.

  Before Ricci had a chance to move, Decker rushed up to him and bit Ricci’s neck, sucking at his jugular. Ricci screamed his lungs out. He didn’t have a chance getting his gun out as Decker wasn’t a fool and had twisted Ricci’s right arm behind his back when he attacked. The man was as strong as an ox, and Ricci couldn’t move one way or another. After a minute or so, Decker let go of Ricci, taking the gun out of its holster as he did. Shaking on his legs and clutching at his neck, Ricci stared at the men who were staring at Decker.

  “Why didn’t you kill him?” Kaminski asked.

  “Why would I?” Decker replied. He was a trained killer, but he didn’t see the need to kill innocent people if he could help it. He had bitten the man as that had been the fastest way to disarm him. Besides, he was of more use to them alive.

  “How do we get out of here?” Decker asked Ricci.

  Ricci didn’t say anything. However, Decker did note the man’s eyes go to the door at the far end of the hallway.

  “Look, this is the situation,” Decker told Ricci. “We’re going to get out of here, whether you like it or not. You can come with us, or we will kill you. Your choice.” Decker stared into the guard’s eyes.

  Ricci was no fool. He had a sense of duty, sure, but he knew a lost cause when he saw one. Sticking to his patriotism at this very moment was one of those.

  “You can’t get out, you need two key cards,” he said, “and I only have one.”

  At this, Kaminski smiled a broad grin and showed Ricci the card he had taken from Walpole.

  Ricci led the men to the car park. There weren’t many cars there, but enough to get the men out. Decker made the sign to gather and waited until every soldier was within hearing distance.

  “Okay, listen up. This is it. This is where we split our ways. As soon as you leave this car park, you’re on your own. You’re trained to survive, and that’s what you’re going to do. Don’t go home. Don’t get in contact with your loved ones. This is a life or death situation. Your life or death. Go out, sleep during the day, travel by night. It’s the best chance you have of staying under the radar. Speed and power!”

  “Speed and power!” came the unanimous reply.

  As the men spread out into the world, so did the virus.

  Chapter 14

  Bullsbrook

  Friday, October 8th, 2004

  On Friday evenings you could always find us in the Celtic Frog, the local bar in Bullsbrook. It was owned by Enrique, a French guy with a Spanish name. He reminded me a bit of that guy from the funny TV series ‘Alo, alo’, what was his name again? Ah, René, that was it. Enrique was also a bit chubby, with a receding hairline, and he thought the ladies quite liked him. However, in contrast to René in the series, who couldn’t keep the women at bay, Enrique didn’t attract the attention he so imagined. Miraculously though, he was married to a really gorgeous, Celtic woman, named Abby. Her real name was Abigail, but everybody called her Abby. She was a voluptuous, big lipped, red-haired lady. She was very chatty and definitely in charge of the place; ‘au contraire’ of what Enrique thought. Because of their names, we often planned our get-togethers for the Friday night at the ‘A&E’, coincidentally also the English term for the ‘Accidents & Emergencies’ department in hospitals. When we said we’d meet at the ‘A&E’ instead of using the pub’s name, we received some funny looks from bystanders. We never told anybody what we meant, which made it extra special.

  Charlie was ordering another round of beer for us when we heard about the infected for the first time. Sue and I were watching the news on the TV in the corner when Charlie returned from the bar with his hands full.

  “Listen to this, Charlie,” Sue said.

  “Yeah, please take this out of my hands first, my lady, and I will do your bidding” he replied. Charlie always pretended to be Sue’s jester. Sue didn’t think anything of it, but I always thought that Charlie wanted to be more than that to her.

  We quickly took our beers from him, raised them, and said, ‘All for one and one for all.’ We took a big gulp of the cool, golden liquid, and the three of us turned our heads to the TV screen. The newsreader just ended her senten
ce with ‘…disturbing images,’ and we were shown footage of what was happening in Portland. People were being chased by others and, quite dramatically, being bitten in the neck. The images were a bit vague as it was all filmed in the dark.

  “New vampire movie coming out?” Charlie asked.

  “No! This is for real! This is really happening, man,” I blurted out.

  “You’re kidding me,” he replied with disbelief written all over his face.

  “It’s true,” I said, “Otherwise they wouldn’t show it on the news now, would they?” And I took another big gulp of my beer.

  The drunk-one has spoken.

  Charlie stared at me, then at Sue.

  “You’re kidding me,” he repeated.

  I could understand his reaction. The images on TV seemed so unreal. Like a war in some far away country that didn’t affect our personal lives in the slightest, and this war being paranormal fiction instead of real. Sue and I stared back at Charlie with big eyes.

  “Wow! That’s unreal. Is it bad?” he finally said.

  “Only if you get killed apparently,” I informed him. “If you live you get to be a vampire.”

  “Cool!” he said and grinned. “But I am sure you mean, ‘if you die, you get to be a vampire.” He finally sat down.

  I thought about what the newsreader had said on the news. I was pretty sure she’d said you became an infected when you survived an attack.