The Amoeba From The Ash

by Prunty, Mercedes

  “Any good?” Alicia asked watching the doctor intently.

  “Yes, I think your brother is going to be fine, this sample is dead, the vaccine killed it”, She smiled which grew when she saw the relief flood through the girls face before her.

  “So is that it, can we go?” Glenn asked.

  “Not yet, I just want to gather some of their notes to take with us”, she replied placing the Petri dish on the side and going to the strewn papers.

  She read through them and gathered more information about what happened.

  ‘Day 2…

  We have been here less than 24 hours since the alarm was raised about a virus and a meteorite hitting and leaking from the Volcano. The local residents are all ill, Doctor Stone is tending to them all in the Abbey which is still hot from the volcano but the only real safe place we can keep them. The local town has been cordoned off by the German army due to the ill attacking one another, they feel they can contain the situation so we have left them to it to try and study what has happened and if we can find a cure.

  We found part of the meteorite which is around the size of a large pebble and have now studied some of it. There is a strange microscopic organism living on the surface and inside the rock which excretes a liquid which we believe is the reason the Amoeba has mutated. We have not seen a microscopic organism like this one before and believe it to be an alien form of bacteria but we cannot conclude those results until we have taken samples back to the labs at HQ. There is also a strange heat coming from the rock but I presume it’s from being immersed in the hot boiling lava.

  Day 3…

  Doctor Stone came back infected from the Abbey, one of them managed to bite through her hazmat suit which should be impossible but I don’t think she done it up properly. She is suffering all the symptoms of the mutated amoeba illness, hot sweats, wheezing, bleeding from the nose, eyes, ears and mouth as well as stating she is feeling a hunger like nothing she has ever felt before.

  I have done a quick test on a sample of her infected blood under the scope and mixed it with the vaccine for the Brain-Eating Amoeba which we scored from the big pharmaceutical company near here which makes and supplies most of the vaccine to America and the results were… Positive, it works. I have since administered the vaccine directly into her blood supply and now we are waiting to see what happens. I am a little sceptical whether it will work due to the fact that even people who have had the normal amoeba back home and were given the vaccine have still died if it has been too far gone in the stages of the illness. I will report back later.

  Day 4…

  Doctor Stone died in the night which was unfortunately what I expected to happen. I really need to do an autopsy on her but I do not have the staff to help me or the equipment to do so here.

  I have tried to contact HQ back home but there is no response, I think the ash cloud has blocked signals to satellites back home, I will keep trying to contact them to tell them my findings so they can at least get things ready for when the ash arrives there and if I get home to study Doctor Stone. I know it sounds horrid but I know that’s what she would want, for her body to go to science.

  Day 5…

  Everyone is dead… A load of infected hit the base last night, I’m the only one still alive but I too have been bitten. If anyone finds this, please tell them I tried but comms were down still. I wanted to warn home about the virus but I couldn’t. I’m so sorry I failed you all. I have noticed though that the infected seem to be slowing down and dying off. The Amoeba is killing them… Like it will surely kill me…’

  “Why didn’t they just use the vaccine?” Glenn asked as Rosetta told them both about what she had read she stayed silent continuing for another paragraph or two of the NASA scientist’s ramblings before answering.

  “I have no idea, maybe they didn’t see the point if everyone else was dead. They had no way of communicating with anyone, they gave up hope”, Rosetta’s tone of voice now gave off that feeling of giving up, it didn’t sit right, it sounded wrong but Alicia caught her on it.

  “We have hope, we have you. You can tell America all they need to know about the Amoeba, you can save lives and the vaccine has worked on Daniel… It works, it really does… Doesn’t it… You can tell them that when we get there”.

  “I really hope we do get there to tell them”, Rosetta smiled.

  “What’s this?” Glenn cut in, he was looking in at a small cube like glass box that was on display inside a large glass incubator, with thickened glass. Inside was something shining and small. Torch lights had been aimed to shine in on it and a small magnified glass panel had been built into the box for it to be observed from a distance. “It looks like a large diamond or something”.

  Rosetta glanced in shoving the paperwork in her pocket hastily, “The space rock… It’s the particle from the meteor. The paperwork suggested they found it”.

  “It’s looks beautiful”, Alicia said looking over her shoulder.

  “But deadly”.

  “Will we take it with us?” Alicia asked.

  Rosetta thought for a moment, “In truth, for the American Government to give me any credibility in helping fight against it and in believing me I should take it to show them what caused all this but… I don’t want to risk it leaking out and… Damaging what is left of our broken world”.

  “Would they have taken it with them?” Alicia asked the doctor motioning to the lab and the people who had once been in it.

  “Most certainly”, she told her, “But we are not them, I do not have any of the right equipment to transport it”.

  “Then let’s find something, we are in a NASA lab after all, they must have something lying around”, Glenn added opening cupboard doors.

  “I’ll look over here”, Rosetta told them, “Alicia you look over there”, she pointed to the end of the lab, it housed a small mirrored window. It showed only the reflection of the lab, probably to make it seem less claustrophobic to the scientists. As they searched high and low for something to take the sample, they heard the door begin to open, turning in fear and getting ready for a fight they watched as the night seeped in.

  7.50pm Laacher See

  Pippa was growing anxious, the darkness playing tricks on her mind, making her see things, monsters staring at her in the night. She knew deep down it was her own fault, she had not taken her med’s for her condition and now she would pay for it. Her bipolar disorder was going to wreak havoc on her mind and body. It had started a few weeks ago when she had seen Alicia go out with Ellen, all dressed up and looking pretty, as pretty as Pippa herself used to be at that age and now she wanted it back. To be pretty, to be normal… To not take the meds. Ned didn’t know but she could tell by the look in his eyes that he didn’t love her the same anymore, that his eyes began to wonder, looking at other women more attractive than her.

  “Daniel how are you feeling?” Ned asked their son as he sat next to her.

  Daniel nodded, “I feel fine, just a little tired”.

  “Well it is normally your bedtime soon and you have had a rather long and weird day. Why don’t you have a nap, we’ll wake you if anything happens”.

  Pippa watched as her son curled up against her side and tried to sleep, it didn’t take him long and he was out for the count. Pippa then knew the trouble was going to start.

  “When did you stop taking them?” Ned questioned her.

  “Excuse me?” She sounded confused but she knew full well what he meant.

  “Your medication, when did you stop taking it?”

  “Not this again”, she sighed, “I thought we’d been over this?”

  “Over this? We barely spoke about it! Now I want the truth Pippa, I’m not stupid”, he demanded.

  “I don’t need them anymore, I told you that already. They don’t agree with me and I don’t feel like myself on them”.

  “Really and how do you feel now?” He asked.

  “Fine”.

  “Right, so your attitude towards Ali
cia is past few weeks or months is normal is it?”

  She looked away from his daggered stare, “I told her why, I just don’t want her to end up like me”.

  “You’re lying, you are jealous of her. She is the spitting image of you as a teenager but unlike you she is free of ties and responsibilities. No husband, no babies, no weight gain, no stretch marks…”

  “Just stop it”, she hissed cutting him off.

  “It is true though isn’t it? You hate how I divide my time between you three. How you think it should all be for you?”

  “No, it’s not like that”.

  “Then what?”

  “I…Don’t know”, she whispered.

  There was a silence between them for a few moments before she absentmindedly said, “Do we have to stay here and wait for them?”

  “Where do you suggest we go? For a romantic walk along the volcanic lake? A date with the Amoeba?”

  She sighed again, “No I meant why are we waiting here? For them? Why don’t we just leave, go and find somewhere safe for us and Daniel. Ride this out until it clears”.

  “Are you telling me you would leave Alicia here?”

  She bit her lip, “She hates me Ned, I know it, you know it, everyone knows it. We could go, start again, be a family… Just us like it should have been”.

  “Like it should have been? I love our daughter with all my heart and my son. The thought of leaving one of them behind would kill me. How can you even think in such a way?”

  She shrugged, “Like you said, I’m Ill. I don’t think right anymore but in am right! Alicia isn’t good for our family. She is a murderous cow and would endanger Daniel and us”.

  “You really are sick do you know that Pippa”, he said glancing out the helicopter window and then back at her. He could see in her face something wasn’t connecting right in her brain. “Look, I know we were young when we had her but it isn’t her fault. She needs us just like we need her. You cannot punish her for something we did years ago, we made her together and we should love her together”.

  “What if I can’t anymore?”

  “I don’t understand how you can’t love a child anymore, our child. How has it changed so much for you?”

  “She… She looks like me at that age, you said as much yourself. She has my mischief in her eyes. I never wanted to lose it, not so young, I wanted to live life to the fullest”.

  “You chose to keep her Pippa and I stood by you with that decision, I said I would support you with whatever decision you chose”.

  “I know… But now I see her going out and doing all the things I should have, it done makes me, jealous”.

  “I knew it was jealousy. You know you could still have gone out more”, he pointed out, “I could have looked after them”.

  “It’s not the same, the innocence, the freedom of life, you never get that back”.

  “No you don’t, not when you become a parent and it’s a sacrifice I willingly took and so did you. No one forced you to keep her but you did and now you need to grow up and live with that”.

  “Why can’t we just go, why can’t we just make it us?”

  “What and then in a few years’ time you reject Daniel too? No I’m not leaving our daughter behind. If you make me choose Pippa it is you who I will be leaving behind”.

  His words cut her deep and she knew he meant it, “You, you don’t mean that”.

  “Go take a walk Pippa, cool off and come back when you are ready to grow up and be a mother”, he then turned away from her and looked out the windows into the night sky.

  “Ned? Ned? Don’t ignore me”.

  But he didn’t respond.

  Huffing she gently raised Daniels head from her lap and laid it back down on the seat. She then climbed out into the hot but cooling night air. She could smell the acrid smoky aroma the atmosphere around them gave off. She took her steps carefully, avoiding the small hotspot patches and made her way to the lab. She knew she would see Alicia in there but there was no avoiding her. As she thought of her daughter’s name a wave of grief came over her, a grief of losing her love for her daughter, a grief of losing herself. She knew she had to apologize to Alicia so she clasped her hand around the handle to the lab and pulled.

  7.51pm The NASA Lab

  Alicia flexed her fingers over the kitchen knife she held in her grasp but soon relaxed them when she saw her mother stroll in. She turned away from her, the look of pure guilt written all over her mother’s features and she knew that her and her father had been arguing. Pippa always held that look after an argument, especially one she started for no apparent reason.

  “Alicia can we talk?” She asked from behind her. The other two said nothing and carried on looking through the lab for something.

  “In a minute we’re busy”.

  “It’s important”.

  “So is this”.

  “Look I’m your mother the least you can do is as I ask”.

  Alicia turned to her mother, “The moment you act like one is the moment I will listen to you”, and with that she turned back around to look for something to put the stone in when suddenly there was a loud thump from where the mirrored window sat.

  “What was that?” Pippa asked from beside her.

  Alicia looked over at the mirror, only seeing her own reflection, then it moved. “Whoa!” She exclaimed and Rosetta and Glenn rushed over.

  “What is it?” He asked concerned.

  “I saw something move, behind the mirror”.

  “You sure? I don’t think it looks outside”.

  “Outside?” Pippa said, “There must be another room, this isn’t the only part to the lab, it looks longer than this on the outside”.

  “You sure?” Rosetta asked, she couldn’t remember.

  Pippa nodded, “Yes, I just came in, there is another door down the side a bit, it’s hard to see in the dark”.

  “Could it have been your dad? Or Daniel?” Glenn suggested.

  “No”, Pippa replied, “Daniel is asleep in the helicopter and Ned is with him”.

  “Do we check it out or just leave?” Glenn asked.

  Alicia could see Rosetta was mulling it over, “It could be a survivor, maybe we should check it out. It might be one of the NASA employees, they could explain it quicker to the American Governments about what happened”.

  “We’ll go”, Alicia said pointing to herself and Glenn, “We’re armed, you’re not”.

  Rosetta nodded, “Be careful”.

  “Always”, Alicia called out, knowing full well it should have been her mother telling her to be careful and not the doctor.

  Glenn got the door and led her out into the night, there were no stars around, just the smog of the ash which she thought looked more dispersed here, like it was washing away, in the breeze, travelling further and infecting more.

  Neither of them said anything as they ventured into the unknown, the smoke and fog swirling around them until they came to the door her mum had mentioned. “You ready?”

  “Yup”.

  “Let’s go”, she pulled the handle and both of them waited to see if anything would come at them but nothing, nothing stirred inside, no noise, no monsters, just darkness.

  “Do you have a torch or something?” She asked him.

  “My phone”, he turned on the flash light and handed it to her. She took it and shone it into the gloom. At first she still couldn’t see anything, then the light shone on something and something reflected back. A pair of infected bleeding eyes.

  “Crap”, she hissed and lifted her knife up just as the infected person charged at her, she didn’t have time to slash at the person and it knocked her back as it’s body pounded into the door hitting her. She wheezed as the wind was knocked from her body, then she felt the warm, sticky and coppery smell of blood. ‘Bit. I’ve been bit!’ She felt light headed and sick.

  Slash, Snick, Squelch.

  Glenn snatched her knife from her hand and stabbed ferociously at the infected person on
top of her before kicking its dead weight off her.

  “I’ve been bitten”, she cried out.

  “No…No way, where?” He said grabbing her close and looking her over, “Where?”

  “I dunno, I dunno, the blood, it was warm, it…it…”

  “Wasn’t yours”, he grinned letting out a shy nervous laugh, “It wasn’t yours it was his”, he pointed to the dead NASA scientist laying a just meter away from her.

  “Oh my god”, she breathed, “I thought… I thought I was infected”, the blood thrummed in her ears at the fear she had felt moments before. “We need to check if there are anymore”.

  Nodding he took the phone and entered the second part to the lab which turned out to be a small hospital like room with bunks and containers. And lucky for them no more infected.

  They had a quick search around, Alicia found a photo of a family belonging to one of the crew, she traced her fingers over the plastic frame. “So sad, all these people had lives and now they’re gone, their loved ones not knowing what has happened to them”.

  “I know”, Glenn sounded sullen in his voice.

  “I’m sorry, that you never got to find out what happened to your parents or Tina”.

  “I do hope, deep inside that they are all safe, that they got to safety somehow. That Tina was evacuated on holiday to a safe place but I guess I’ll never know and I’ll just have to live with that. But I’m here with you, the one I love. I like to hope that they would know that and be happy that we’re ok”.

  “Even after we broke up?”

  “I was a mess, they told me I was a fool”, he admitted, “She was just a… Mistake…I know that for sure you are the one I want to be with for the rest of my life. However long that might be”.

  She smiled and took his hand in hers, “I know it was a mistake and I forgive you. To be honest I never stopped loving you even when you hurt me. I want to be with you till my life ends too”.