Glenn took down two males who lunged, he then knocked one over the railings to fall to their demise before he pounded one in the head with his metal pole smashing their delicate skull and brains all over the floor below them. The blood that now rained around them made the stairs wet and slippery and many of the turned slipped and struggled to climb up. The ones behind the fallen now climbing over their bodies to reach the fresh blood. Alicia could feel her arms tiring and knew they couldn’t go on for much longer there was just too many of them.
“We need to go”, she said looking up and spotting Rosetta just reaching the door to the helipad.
Glenn looked up and saw that they had made it, grabbing her arm he pulled her out of the way of some teeth that nearly made it to her arm, then they ran as fast as their tired legs could carry them up the stairs to the exit. Just as they reached it the door swung open again and Ned appeared pulling them in, kicking one of the turned in the chest knocking them back into the others and slamming the door shut behind them. Within seconds he had moved a large metal box in front of the door. The noise of all the turned called to them in frustration.
“Get in we’re leaving now”, Ned shouted and jumped into the pilots seat starting the engine.
Alicia climbed in with Glenn, they both sat opposite her mother. As the helicopter rose into the air she now saw how ill her mother looked, her skin was green and pale, the bandaged eye full of blood and the eye she could see was bloodshot and bleeding as was her nose and her breathing was wheezy.
“Is she infected?” She asked Rosetta.
She shook her head, “She didn’t get bitten and didn’t breathe in any ash”.
“Then why does she look infected?”
“It’s the concussion it can make people really ill if not treated, we need to keep a close eye on her… No pun intended”.
Alicia shook her head, “Rosetta I think she is infected, the bleeding from the eyes… It’s not normal”.
“She’s not infected, I would have known. I would have seen her get bitten and she never took off her mask!”
“The… Lab…” Pippa wheezed, “I touched some…dust…red dust…dried blood…then I, then I wiped my eye. I thought it was just…itchy…irritated…but no…I think I am…infected”.
“Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” Rosetta exclaimed pulling out a small box which she had kept from the hospital back in Eastbourne, it was the rest of the medicine from what she had used on Daniel. She stabbed in the needle into the vial before sucking up the liquid and then inserted it into a fat vein that was throbbing with the illness, Pippa hissed from the sting.
“Because I only just realised that’s why”, Pippa said, “It burns, the medicine it burns, the virus it burns”. Her mouth trembled as she fell back and closed the eye they could see.
“Will it cure her too?” Daniel sniffed from behind them.
“I hope so”, Rosetta smiled weakly, “I hope we gave it to her in time”.
Alicia’s Dream
“Miss Dawling, do you have anything to add to that?” Mr Goodyear asked from beside the whiteboard.
She snapped her head up, had it been all a dream? Had everything she had been through just been a figment of her imagination?
Mr Goodyear stood statue still by the whiteboard, his suit was clean, his hair gelled back, his stubble neatly trimmed, he wasn’t one of the turned.
“I’m sorry Mr Goodyear I zoned out, what was the question”. Inside she beamed, smiling to herself, she wasn’t in any danger, her mother wasn’t going to turn, her brother hadn’t been bitten, her dad wasn’t flying over the ocean to America and Rosetta didn’t exist. It also meant that Glenn didn’t really love her… But did that matter if all was really ok?
“The question was how long does it take for the Brain-eating Amoeba to kill someone?”
“3-7 days…” Her mind felt fuzzy, why was he asking that? She was in media studies not biology?
“And how do you know that?” he asked.
“Rosetta told me…” She bit her lip, Rosetta wasn’t real.
“Rosetta is keeping something from you”, he whispered walking over to her with an abnormally enlarged smile on his face making her shudder.
“No she isn’t”, she told him standing up, hoping the class would back her up, “She isn’t because she isn’t real, the Amoeba isn’t real. None of it is real!”
He moved faster than she had seen anyone move before, he knocked her to the floor, her brain buzzed and her ears rang from the impact of hitting the floor. “It is true, she is real and she is keeping something from you”.
“She isn’t real and what could she be keeping from me?”
“Ask her yourself?” he motioned to the back of the empty classroom, the only thing visible was a vision of a woman with curly hair and shoes, hundreds of abandoned shoes, thousands of bloody abandoned shoes.
“Rosetta…”
The curly haired doctor slumped to one side holding her abdomen, “Ra-Ha”.
“No…No it can’t be, you’re not infected”.
“HA-AH-RA”, she gurgled spitting blood down her chin and onto the shoes below her.
Alicia moved back, stepping away from it all, “Where am I?” Hot tears burned down her chin.
“You’re with us”, a familiar voice sounded from the doorway, looking up she spotted Ellen and Tabitha, both covered it blood, chunks eaten from their pale skin, hair falling out from their skulls. Their hands reached out for her, to bring the pain to her.
“No…No,no,no…I killed you both… You are both dead”.
“Maybe but then so are you”.
“No…” she breathed, “Did the helicopter not make it?”
“Did you ever even reach the helicopter? Did you even really kill us in the way you think? Or are you one of the turned too?” Tabitha smiled, one eye bulging out of its socket.
“Go away…I’m alive I know I’m alive”.
“Prove it”, Ellen snarled.
“I will”.
“How?”
“I’ll wake up”.
Just as Alicia stirred out of unconsciousness she could hear them all calling to her, “Rosetta, what is she keeping from you?”
3.02am Somewhere over the Ocean
Alicia sat with her arms folded over her chest as she slowly opened her eyes, Daniel’s head rested on her thigh and Glenn’s head rested on her shoulder. They were both asleep and Alicia had been until she awoke from a nightmare, the nightmare they were all still a part of, one she had hoped was the dream.
She looked over at Rosetta who hadn’t noticed she had woken up yet, her brow was furrowed into frown lines, something clearly bothering her. She noticed that Rosetta was reading the paperwork from the lab.
“Mind if I read it?” Alicia asked making the doctor jump.
“Alicia, I didn’t know you were awake”, she said shoving the paperwork into her pocket.
“I asked if I could read it”, she said putting her hand out as if to take something.
“It’s all science mumbo-jumbo”, she laughed, “You wouldn’t understand”.
“Try me”, she said her hand still outstretched.
“Really Alicia, I barely understand it myself and I work in the science field. Once we land I’m sure someone at the CDC can explain it to us”, she smiled weakly.
Alicia lowered her hand knowing full well the doctor wasn’t going to give it up and glanced at her mother, “How’s she been?”
“Her temperature has gone down and the bleeding’s stopped but her breathing is still bad”.
“Do you think she’ll make it?” Alicia studied the doctor carefully as she replied.
“I hope so”.
“So what’s the plan when we reach America?”
“We go to the CDC, we make them listen and we save lives”, Rosetta smiled.
“That simple?”
“Yes”.
“What about them?” she motioned to her mum and Daniel.
“What ab
out them?” Rosetta asked back.
“Will they let them in, they have both been infected? Would they cause a potential threat to their people?”
“No, they have been cured”, she glanced at Pippa, “If we weren’t too late that is”.
Alicia nodded, something wasn’t quite sitting right, the doctor had been off since the lab. She leant her head back on the headrest, the seat was getting uncomfortable, they had been flying for hours.
Suddenly the helicopter shook violently, throwing Daniel from her lap and sending her sprawling against the door.
“DAD!!!”
“We’re running out of fuel”, he called out, “we’re not going to make it”.
Dread filled her whole body as she grabbed Daniels hand.
“Are we going to die?” he whispered to her.
She shook her head, “No, not today”. She looked out the window over the darkened ocean. “There, DAD!!! There, there is a ship, a boat, something”.
“Ok, I’ll try and radio through”, he stammered nervously, “Now sit down, this could get bumpy”.
~
Ned looked out over the dark inky ocean below, sure enough Alicia had spotted an army carrier ship, one of the ones where planes and helicopters could land on. This could just work, he thought then checked the comms button and began to switch through the channels, finally hitting the emergency one that should put him through to the ship.
“Mayday, mayday, run out of fuel, need permission to land on your ship…” he called out the coordinates to where they were and the description of the helicopter and waited, the static making him feel nervous and sick.
“Mayday, mayday, this is the helicopter flying above your ship, United Kingdom passengers aboard, fuel is gone, I repeat fuel is gone, need permission to board ship”.
“Are there any infected aboard?” A male voice asked over the radio.
“No”.
“Then you have permission to land”.
“Thank you god”, Ned cried out, relief flooding his entire body.
Then pain hit him, a roaring flash of tearing pain filtering over his now damp shoulder and back. Turning to look he spotted Pippa with angered rage in her eyes, blood pouring from every crevice, his own sprang from her mouth.
“Pippa what have you done”, he whispered as the pain became too much and he passed out as she drove her teeth into his face.
~
“Nooooo!” Alicia screamed as her mother lunged over the small seating area, her nails just swiping at Daniels jacket as she pulled him out the way. Glenn had dived to one side and Rosetta sat there dumb struck, that was until she bit him…She bit their dad. Her mum had bitten her own husband.
She pulled out her knife but froze as time slowed down, she watched as the pure horror unfolded before her. She had killed her friends, the ones she thought she loved but for her mum… She couldn’t do it, she couldn’t kill her own mum.
Suddenly Glenn rose up, snatched Alicia’s knife once more and drove it into her mother’s brain, her body immediately falling limp and lifeless as she flopped to the small floor area. Blood leaking from almost every hole in her body.
“Why? Why did you have to bite him?” She whispered but her mother didn’t respond she just lay there with her glossy red eyes staring into space. “Open the door”, she croaked.
Glenn done as she said and opened the door, Rosetta holding a screaming Daniel back. Then Alicia pushed her body out into the ocean before Glenn slammed the door shut.
Alicia sniffed, wiping her nose and eyes. Trying to hold it together, trying not to cry, “Dad are you ok?”
No reply.
“Dad?” she turned to see that he had just passed out, his face hitting the controls, an alarm sounding off just as the fuel tank hit empty for good.
Then they went down.
4.25am Aboard the American Army Carrier ship
Rosetta woke up feeling sick, sea sick. Her body was exhausted, she was exhausted mentally and physically. She opened her eyes and studied her surroundings, she wasn’t in the helicopter anymore, nor was she in the ocean. She looked to be on board a ship, the ship they had communicated with moments before the crash maybe? She could tell it was a ship by the way it swayed, the noise of the ocean outside and also the décor inside. This was no luxury cruise liner though, this looked to be army.
Sitting up she coughed and spluttered up the salty taste of sea water. The door opened and in came a broad-shouldered man, “I’m Sargent Tesla of the Marines. Glad to see your finally awake. What is your name and reason for flying towards our country?”
Coughing again she found her voice, “My name is Doctor Rosetta Lawson from the United Kingdom, I worked for the Public Health Organisation which is like your CDC”.
“I know what it is”, he snapped, “Why are you here? And bringing the infection with you?”
“What? No? There are no infected with us”, she stammered.
“We searched the crashed remains of the helicopter to find the pilot had been bitten and died from his injuries, we also found a boy with a similar bite wound. A bite that has been informed to us to be lethal and highly infectious. The infection that has taken out half of the goddamn world”.
“I can explain”, she said lifting her hands to find they had been cuffed.
“Make it quick”, he snapped.
Nodding she began, “I… I know how to stop this thing but I need to speak to the CDC to stop it”.
“And how do we stop it?” He asked.
“When the ash cloud hits everyone needs to be wearing masks, it’s an Amoeba inside the ash from the Volcano blast in Germany that set this whole thing off. The mask will help prevent infection… There is a kind of vaccine too”.
“Go on”.
“It slows down the process, maybe enough to give the CDC time to engineer a better one”.
“So it’s not a true vaccine?”
“Not entirely but it could be”.
“And let me guess, you think you can be the one to engineer it?”
“Yes…I just need my case from the helicopter. Did you retrieve it?”
“We did retrieve a case yes. It’s locked up in the isolation room at the moment until we dock, then the government and the CDC can decide what to do with you and it”.
“Don’t open the case, you haven’t opened the case have you?”
“No…We thought it might be a bomb, a terrorist attack at an opportune time but after careful examinations we discovered it is not a bomb but does have high levels of radiation signals coming from it”.
“Just don’t open it ok”, she said, “But I need it to help produce a true vaccine”.
“Fine”, he said turning on the spot, “I will get someone to bring down some food and drink, in the meantime you will be spending your time in here”.
“Did…Anyone else survive? The little boy? A teenage girl and boy?”
“You are the only survivor we brought onto the ship”, he declared and walked off.
She sat back on the bed stunned but felt something like relief flood through her, at least she only had to buy herself into America and not all of them.
~
Glenn held onto Alicia’s limp body using the small metal plank from the helicopter that floated to help keep her above the water. She had a pulse and was breathing which kept his spirits high as he paddled tirelessly through the darkened night but she was out cold and he couldn’t tell if or when she might wake up.
As the sun began to slowly rise over the coast line he spotted land up ahead, a small beach with sand, trees and what looked like houses in the distance.
“We made it Alicia, we made it”, he breathed pushing his legs a little harder.
He made it to shore and pulled her lifeless body along with him onto the beach where he collapsed and lay still for a while, just breathing. He reached over to her hand and held it tightly, never wanting to let it go.
“Hey you?” An American accent asked.
Glenn s
watted away a hand that was checking his neck for a pulse, he tried to speak but his sea salted and crusted lips could only cough.
“Drink this”, The voice said again shoving water down his dry throat.
He coughed and spluttered but the water did feel good and he gulped down more.
“Hold on buddy, slow it down”, the voice told him and he took shallower gulps. The voice took away the drink, “You ok mate? You gonna tell me what happened to you and your gal?”
“Alicia”, he breathed, opening his eyes before shutting them tightly against the harsh light, “Is she ok?”
“She’ll be fine”, the voice said, “Look, my apartment is two blocks from here, think you can managed it. We can carry her between us?”
Glenn nodded and opened his eyes again slower, they were greeted by a cheery, rather sun burnt looking American man who had oak brown hair, a beach body look with surfer shorts and even a surf board to match.
He rolled to his side and pushed with his arms to get up, they felt weak and tired but he forced them to do it. The man lifted Alicia over his shoulder, “Here mate, you take the board I’ll take the girl, we can talk back at mine”.
The walk to the man’s apartment was quick but painful, his legs ached and all he wanted to do was sleep. The man helped him up a flight of stairs to a maisonette type home, complete with white cladding, balcony and sea views.
“Where are we?” Glenn asked as the man showed him to the sofa. The apartment wasn’t huge but it was spacious. A kitchen was integrated in with the lounge, a row of upper and lower cupboards making them feel like separate rooms. Swivel blinds decorated the windows as well as surfer gear on the walls.
The Amoeba From The Ash Page 13
