The Amoeba From The Ash

by Prunty, Mercedes

  Then a warm droplet hit his chest from his face and he looked down to see blood, his own blood blossoming over his top, pouring down now from his eyes, nose and mouth. He knew it now, he was far too gone.

  Rosetta leaned in checking his pulse and heart rate, not even looking at him properly. The doctor was foolish to be this close to him, he was mad, upset and he wanted Alicia, no he wanted food and she was in his way. His head wasn’t strapped to the chair, only his arms and legs so he moved gently so she didn’t notice at first as she studied the vein. Then he lunged, his small mouth biting down on her shoulder.

  “NOOOOO!! AHHHHH!!” she screamed slapping him round the face and sending his chair flying to the floor. He fell and knocked his head hard, the ceiling wobbled and then he was out.

  ~

  No, no, no, no, Rosetta thought, Little bastard bit me!!! But he had the vaccine in his veins then, it might be ok, I might not be infected!!! She wanted to cry, she had come this far, could even be hailed a hero but now she might perish at the last hurdle by the hand or mouth of a kid. A flipping kid, a little defenceless boy!

  She looked at him out cold on the harsh tiled floor, blood pooled from his ears, either from the illness or from the head wound but she didn’t tend to him either way. What did it matter now?

  She waited around in a daze for a few moments, racking her brains again and feeling lost and hot, almost feverish all at the same time. She spotted a small T.V. in a corner of the lab and with shaking hands proceeded to turn it on. She switched it to the news channel, she watched the repeat of the incident with Alicia not too long ago. She could see it in the girls eyes she wanted her blood and now she had it. Not bothering to switch the telly off she left the lab, absently minded leaving the door a jar, where Daniels hands flexed and moved.

  A few minutes later she arrived down in the lower levels where Alicia and Glenn were being kept. She passed a guard who looked at her worryingly, “Doctor your bleeding, can I call anyone to help you?”

  She laughed, “It’s nothing”.

  “It looks pretty bad, shall I call Romaine?”

  She turned to him, grabbed his hand and bit him.

  He pulled back aghast, “What the hell you crazy English bitch”.

  “Go and tell Romaine that! Like the little lackey you are”

  He left his post to go and find the doctor, she knew she didn’t have long anyway, the ash storm would be here soon and someone was bound to find the boy. Her heels clicked on the highly polished tiled floor as she approached the cells and she could see Alicia looking out at her with pure venom in her eyes.

  “Where is my brother?” she snapped.

  “Dead on my lab floor”, she snapped back.

  Shock filled the teenager’s eyes but then they hardened over and a smile spread over her pretty young features, “Is that a bite doctor?”

  Rosetta breathed in deeply, “Yes it is”.

  “By Daniel?” she mused.

  She sucked at her teeth and smashed her fist against the reinforced door, “Yes it was but that’s why he’s dead now… You will never get to say goodbye because I killed him for it”.

  “No I won’t but at least he fucked you over bitch!” she hissed.

  Fury embroiled her body and Rosetta screamed at the teenager but as she did an alarm began to sound. Sticking her middle finger up at the girl Rosetta then ran.

  The Amoeba’s Arrival

  Joel and Maria hadn’t got more than a few blocks away from the CDC building in the hour since leaving Alicia and Glenn outside when people began to panic outside. A large flash and then whack of thunder erupted all around them, then came the rain, a murky and sloppy gunk that splattered over the cars like cement being poured from the skies.

  “Joel it’s here, the ash is here”, Maria said panicked.

  “Ok keep calm”, he breathed placing his mask on and handing her own one to her.

  She threw it on, “What do we do now?”

  “We go back, we hide in the CDC building until it’s stopped, then we grab the other two and go home”, he told her grabbing his bag and killing the engine.

  “We can’t go there, they won’t let us in, the guards will have it locked down”.

  “Who said anything about letting us”, he said and pulled out a handgun from his bag.

  “Joel we can’t just kill those people, they’re not all bad”.

  “Neither are Glenn and Alicia. And to be honest I think most people are going to get infected anyway. Just look outside”. She done as he said and saw people panicking at the falling sludge. Most of them didn’t have masks on and were breathing in the poisoned air.

  “Where are their masks?” she stated, “They told us to have masks, the CDC told them”.

  “Not enough time to get them, not enough to go around”, he replied kicking the door open and pulling her out into the falling Amoeba. He pulled out a large umbrella from the back behind the seats and put it up to stop them both getting covered, then they tried to run to the CDC building but everyone had the same idea and where banging on the locked doors.

  “Stand back!” he shouted and people all turned to see him pull out the handgun.

  BANG, BANG!!! Two bullets and the glass shattered but didn’t smash. Then in a panic people crushed against it forcing the glass to surrender and fall in. Joel grabbed Maria’s arm and hauled her inside. CDC guards arrived looking shocked, panicked and desperate to control the situation. Joel shouldered up to one and pointed his gun at their head, “Where is Alicia and Glenn?”

  “Who?” The guard murmured.

  BANG! He shot him in the leg and the guard crumpled to the floor, “Where?”

  “Lower levels, quarantine cells”, he cried out in pain.

  “Come on”, he said shoving Maria to the stairs. Everyone else was charging up the stairs, spreading out to make room for all the others whilst they headed down to the lower levels.

  They took them two at a time coming to a dead end when they reached a code locked door, peering through the glass he could see the cell doors. The very doctor Alicia had freaked out seeing on the television was there screaming and shouting at one of the doors, Joel bet it was the girls cell. Turning to the key pad he began to randomly enter codes in the hope that one of them might be right.

  “Joel that’s not going to work, there could be millions of combinations we can’t get to her this way”, Maria told him.

  “No but we can”, a new voice spoke behind them, it was Doctor Romaine and a few men, “Stand aside please”.

  Joel lifted the handgun and the doctor looked taken a back but didn’t move away, “We want Glenn and Alicia to come with us, they tried to warn you people and you didn’t listen, there is no need for them to rot down here”.

  “You are right, she did try to warn us and if you step aside I will unlock the door and let you in”.

  “Joel?” Maria said softly touching his arm.

  He nodded and lowered the firearm, “Fine, but do it now…”

  An alarm began to sound and a worried look finally crossed the doctor’s features, he lifted up a walkie talkie and spoke into it, “Johnson? Peters? Why the alarm?”

  “Sir the doctor is infected, she bit Peter’s, he has a fever already… The infection is inside the building, the ash is everywhere… We have gone to the lab to find the vaccine but it’s… ARGH!!!” A high pitched moan came from the man speaking at the other end of the receiver.

  “Johnson? Johnson?”

  “Sir…Gurgle…Cough…The boy, he’s turned… He’s on the loose in the building Sir… He’s….Gurgle… Splutter…” Then silence.

  “Get your friends and go, this place is not safe anymore”, Romaine told Joel and Maria.

  “It never was with Rosetta running riot”, Maria said.

  “We had to try, we had to believe her… We couldn’t let America fall like the UK and Europe”.

  “And now it’s too late”, she replied.

  “Yes… But maybe some people wil
l survive, to live on and rebuild”.

  “I plan on us doing that but unlock this goddamn door so they have a chance too!” Joel thundered.

  Romaine nodded and unlocked the door, they peered in to see Rosetta had vanished. Once inside the long celled unit Doctor Romaine went to a wall panel, swiped his card and all the cell doors opened simultaneously.

  Joel called out, “Alicia, Glenn come out it’s ok”.

  Alicia edged out holding a knife in her grasp, “It’s here isn’t it? It’s here already”.

  Maria nodded, “It is and…” She looked at Joel, “Your brother he…”

  “Has turned I know… Rosetta told me…”

  “We need to leave”, Joel told them.

  “I need to say goodbye first”, tears dripped down her cheeks.

  “Then do it quickly”, Romaine told them, “My guess is once the army arrive no one will leave here dead or alive”.

  “None of that happened in England”, she told him, “No one came, no one will come”.

  “This is America sweetheart, we prep for these things all the time. Apocalypse is our middle name. Believe me when I say the army will be here and ready for a fight”.

  She looked away from them all to behind them, “I need to see him, where is the lab”.

  Romaine sighed, “Fourth floor is the one Rosetta worked in but there are many scattered all over the building. My knowledge is that he has escaped the lab and is on the loose, he could be anywhere”.

  She turned to Glenn, Joel and Maria, “Go… Go back home and survive”.

  “No we stay”, Glenn said. “I won’t let you do this alone”.

  “Plus we’re taking you with us when we’re done here”, Maria added.

  “No… My mind is made up, I have to fix him…Me, not you guys. I have to fix this for him, he’s so young, only a kid, he didn’t deserve this”.

  “Neither did you”, Joel said, “All of you”.

  “But it happened and I need to stop him, I need to let him rest”, she sobbed.

  “Then we will find him together”, Glenn encased her in his arms but she pushed him away pointing her knife at him.

  “No, I’m going alone, I’m not risking anyone else I care about, now leave!”

  “You wouldn’t hurt us Alicia”, Maria said.

  “You don’t know me? You don’t know what it is I’ve had to do to survive… I could hurt you…not intentionally but if something happens, something goes wrong, if you get infected. It would all be my fault for needing and wanting to say goodbye to him”.

  “It won’t be your fault because we chose to”.

  Alicia slumped against the wall, her hands going to her head, “I just need to find him… And it’s selfish I know but he’s my brother, my little kid brother”.

  “We know and we will help”, Joel smiled.

  She smiled with tears in her eyes, “Then the fourth floor is where we start”.

  They went to set off but Romaine spoke, “If you see Rosetta on the way, will you guys send her my regards?” His tone was cold, deadly and held no warmth for a real friendly ‘regard’.

  They all turned to him knowing what he meant, he meant to dispose of her, “We will”, Glenn said sharply and the group exited the cell bloke and ventured further into the building.

  ~

  Rosetta stumbled through the corridors, flashing lights now echoing the alarm but she couldn’t tell if they were really flashing or whether the fever in her body and veins was causing her eyes to think it was so. She had only been bitten by the boy less than 20 minutes ago and she was already feeling the rawness of the illness. Something about his bite was worse than what she anticipated. Maybe the vaccine had made it worse, made his bite more potent so it flew through others blood streams but not his own. Yes he was turned now but how long had it taken, a whole 24 hours maybe? It had slowed for him but was that the vaccine or his own immune system that caused it? With her own infection she knew within the hour she was going to be fully turned, she could feel her throat contract and flame, her eyes water and burn, soon they would be bleeding and there was no going back, not from that.

  She had no idea where she was going, her body just carried her and moved her around the building. She stumbled through a door into another lab, or was it her own? She could no longer see straight. Two bloody bodies lined the floor, one held a walkie talkie.

  Holding the side so she could lean down to inspect them and not fall flat on her face she noticed both of them had small bite wounds… The boy had done this! She now knew she was back in her loaned lab and that the vaccine was here somewhere, maybe it would work for her. She rushed to the other side of the room and pulled out the cases she kept together, the vaccine and the space rock… The space rock… As she pulled out both of the cases she noticed how the one holding the meteorite was warm, not boiling but warm. Placing her hand over the front she felt the metal bend easily.

  “Radiation? From the rock?” She said out loud, “Is that why he turned, the boy… Is that why those people turned back at the NASA base… The rock counteracted the vaccine when in close proximity… The vaccine could indeed work…”, then she fell to her knees, “The boy… Daniel… He could have been cured and I re-infected him on the helicopter… But the paper work said… Yes I know what it said”, she snarled angrily at herself, “But it was wrong… The rock mucked up the findings, the rock needs to be destroyed or the turned will keep turning… The vaccine could work… The turned will keep turning”, she held her chaotic thoughts in her hand just as footsteps signalled someone approaching. Opening her eyes she watched as a blurred movement as Alicia and the others came in.

  “You!” Alicia snapped rushing to her and slapping her hard across the face, it stung so much more than it should have. It felt like she had burst her skin but as she felt it she knew it was ok, there was no burst cheek, no blood pouring down her face. “Romaine send’s his regards”, and Alicia lifted the knife ready to strike and Rosetta’s eyes widened in fear and shock at how pathetic her life had now become. How she now knelt down at the feet of a snivelling teenager.

  “Wait… No… I have to tell you…” she cried out hoarsely… “The rock… It’s the rock!”

  Alicia lowered the knife annoyed, “I know it’s the rock that started this Rosetta I was there remember when you found it”.

  Rosetta shook her head, “Radiation… Radiation…” She coughed and threw up blood all over her clothes, spattering the clean cupboards and tiles nearest to her.

  “What?” Maria asked, “Radiation did this?”

  Rosetta shook her head, her curly hair matted and sticky, “Not quite… The rock had bacteria which mutated the Amoeba, NASA found that out, we found that out… We had the vaccine and it work back home… It worked for Daniel…”

  “I’m sick of this crap”, Alicia cried and took the gun from Joel’s hand and pointed it.

  “Please let me finish”, she cried out.

  “Alicia?” Glenn soothed, “Let her finish”.

  “GO ON THEN”, Alicia screamed the anger and hatred so venomous in her voice.

  “But it didn’t work in Germany the vaccine… The Amoeba still grew and consumed those it infected even with the vaccine applied right away… Because… Because the rock gives off a radiation… It cancels out the vaccine… It’s presence awakens it again in those who are better… Daniel was fine… The Amoeba had gone dormant due to the vaccine he would have been fine it would have just become a dormant cyst, sleeping but… The radiation woke it back up and re-infected him faster… It was all my fault… I exposed him to it”.

  “What about those not already infected? Does the radiation affect them?” Maria asked.

  She shook her head, “No… Only those with the Amoeba in their body, whether awake or dormant. Those without it are fine”.

  “Is that why you look like crap so quickly compared to the others”, Alicia laughed.

  Rosetta nodded, “Yes… I am exposed… Highly exposed. The radi
ation is probably all over my skin… Probably on yours too Alicia, you have been near it too”, she pointed to the practically melting case on the floor beside her.

  “We need to destroy it”, Joel stated.

  “How?”

  “Burn it, blow it up…”

  “Bury it… On a land no one will ever walk on again”, Rosetta told them, “To burn it or blow it up could cause it to become an airborn virus… Bury it far away”.

  “But it’s already airborn”, Alicia spat.

  “In the ash yes but if the particles get smaller even the masks won’t stop it, it will be truly airborn, unstoppable, no one would survive”.

  BOOM!

  An explosion rocked the building on one side, “What the?” Glenn said but Joel was already at the window.

  “The army are here and they have heavy fire powder”.

  “Take the case, bury the rock”, Rosetta begged as she cried out holding her stomach and throwing up more blood, her insides becoming her outsides.

  Joel picked it up, “We need to leave now”.

  Alicia turned to Rosetta, “Where is Daniel?”

  She shrugged wiping blood from her mouth, “He’s gone”.

  “Then so are you”… BANG! Alicia shot the gun missing the doctor’s head but hitting her neck making her breathing strained as she gasped and wheezed. Shooting the gun was harder than it looked, so she took back out her knife and stabbed her in the head and stepped back as the doctor flopped lifelessly to the floor.

  “Alicia time to go”, Glenn said touching her arm making her jump. He then gently removed the handgun from her hold, “Alicia”.

  “Daniel where are you?” Was all she could cry.

  ~

  Small eyes watched the group leave from behind a window that connected to the other room, the eyes flushed with blood and anger at how their meal was leaving and taking it with them, taking the thing that called to them all…So it moved and chased after them in the flashing corridors.