by Jessica Ward
I decided to take my mind off it for a while, and went to watch some mindless TV with Jared and Sarah.
The Professor had already taken it upon himself to thoroughly clean the living room and the floors as best he could. Even if Duckface wasn’t infected, we didn’t need remnants of the E Virus sticking around.
“Have you guys not had enough action for one day?” I asked as I walked into the room. They were in the middle of watching the first Die Hard; the remaining four films sat on the side.
“What do you mean?” Jared asked oblivious to my reference.
“It doesn’t matter.” I replied.
I scanned the remaining DVD collection. Lacey would have a field day, I thought. The DVD’s had no natural order whatsoever. I read across each film The Matrix, Bruce Almighty, Ocean’s Eleven, Meet the Parents, The Exorcist. This homeowner had pretty much dumped the DVD’s onto the shelves and left it at that.
“What are you doing?” Lacey asked as she watched me analyse each title.
“Oh, you’re going to love this.” I replied.
I showed her the shelves and the mishmash order of each title. Before I knew it, she was on one.
“No, I’m not having that.” She exclaimed.
She quickly pulled out each and every case and went to work reorganising them alphabetically, by genre.
“What’s going on?” Sarah asked confused.
“She’s on one; she has a thing about DVD organising. They have to be perfect. It’s a little bit OCD.” I explained.
“No. How can anyone find what they want to watch when the DVD’s are everywhere? There needs to be an order.” She defended.
The DVD’s now took up the whole floor. She placed herself in the middle and began to construct various piles.
Jared and Sarah were no longer interested in the film they seemed to be so engrossed in previously.
“King Kong, where does that go?” Jared asked holding up the DVD case.
“That pile over there, Adventure.” She replied.
“Are you sure? I thought it was more action?” Jared asked.
“No, these are action.” Lacey held up a few cases from the ever growing action pile.
Jared tilted his head as he read the titles. The Expendables, Mission Impossible and Speed came into view.
“Ahh, ok I get you.” He agreed as he carried on shuffling through.
“What about Rush Hour?” Sarah asked. “Is it comedy or action?”
We all stopped. She had raised a valid point. I actually held my breath as I waited for Lacey to respond.
Lacey sat and thought for a moment. “Action Comedy.” Came her reply. “Then when we put them back it will go Action, Action Comedy, Comedy.” She finished. She looked rather pleased with herself.
Paul and Nick entered the room; they saw the mess and groaned.
“I was hoping you wouldn’t find that.” Paul moaned.
“How could I not? Have you seen how it was organised?” Lacey defended.
“Yes, as soon as I saw it.” Paul replied.
Paul had been with Lacey long enough to witness all her quirks, first hand. He knew her obsession with order when it came to media storage. He had been told off many a time when leaving DVD’s out on the coffee table, putting DVD’s in the wrong cases. It drove Lacey up the wall.
“Have you checked the DVD’s are in the right cases?” Paul asked.
Lacey looked up at him in horror. “No, I forgot. Right, we have to start again.” She replied.
With that, she opened each and every box until she was back up to date.
“What did you say that for?” Nick scalded Paul.
Paul looked back at him and grinned. “I couldn’t help myself mate, sorry.” He replied.
“We’re fine guys.” She replied. “There all in the right boxes.” She breathed a genuine sigh of relief.
She turned to Paul. “Come on, start sorting. You know the order.” She instructed.
“Karma.” I whispered to Paul. He still hadn’t learnt to keep his mouth shut.
He sighed as he bent down to pick up the closest pile. He took a seat next to Lacey as he opened each box, just as she was. It was at that moment; you could tell who really wore the trousers in that relationship. For as manly as Paul seemed to act, he always knew at the end of the day, it was him who would be told what to do, certainly not the other way around.
After a good hour, the DVD’s were in a respectable order. Everyone had ignored the TV in the background, and all focused on the task at hand. By the time we had finished, the film had nearly ended.
Andy walked through with the Professor's door key in hand, just as we were settling down to watch another film.
“I’m just going to check she’s ok.” He told us as he shifted past.
“Rather you than me.” Leon muttered as he and Ryan came to join us.
We settled down to watch Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. We had decided on a nice family film to take our minds off the chaos around us, and after all, who does family films better than Disney?
“Professor.” Andy shouted from the bedroom.
The Professor came running in. “What is it?” He asked.
“I think she’s got a bit of a fever.” Andy replied.
Our ears instantly pricked up. This was how Ebola started at the very beginnings of the outbreak.
“Is she awake?” I asked Andy.
“Yes, she’s up but she’s sweating an awful lot.” He said sounding rather concerned.
I scarified my place on the comfy sofa and let myself into the room, barging Andy out of the way.
“Lola, we need to know this now. Were you or were you not bitten by the infected the first time?” I demanded.
She looked to me and scowled.
“It’s a simple question.” I snapped. She nodded her head.
“And you’re sure?” the Professor pushed. She nodded her head once again.
“Leave her alone.” Andy tried to defend her. I glared back at her, my arms folded. I wasn’t convinced.
“If I find out you’re lying.” I threatened.
“She isn’t.” Andy cut me off.
“You better hope for all our sakes she isn’t.” Lacey finished. She stood at the doorway. She held the same expression I did. Neither of us believed a word that came out of the vile little bitch's mouth.
“Come on girls, let’s get back to that film.” the Professor said ushering us out the door.
“That’s right, fuck off.” Duckface muttered under her breath.
“How classy.” Lacey retorted.
“Let’s leave it now.” the Professor said soothingly. “Be the bigger person.” He finished.
The Professor had a concerned look on his face. I felt my fears had been confirmed by the look in his eyes. As soon as we were seated again he took himself off to join George at the security console.
Lacey and I simply looked at each other. We had perfected the art of communicating with each other without saying a word. It’s hard to explain the look itself, but it basically said “Something’s not right, she’s lying and she’s going to turn soon.” In a nutshell that is.
We carried on watching the film as the infected continued to ransack the house below us. The minutes turned into hours as day turned into night. We were now in the middle of On Stranger Tides, which was the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean.
Sarah and Jared had already fallen asleep on the Sofa. We thought about waking them and sending them to bed, but it seemed we didn’t have the best sleeping arrangements, considering Duckface was taking up one of the rooms.
“I’m going for a shower.” I announced as the final film ended.
I walked through the bedroom Duckface was currently occupying as I made my way into the bathroom.
“The fever seems to have subsided now. She doesn’t seem to have any symptoms relating to the E Virus, so I think it’s safe to say she will be fine.” I heard the Professor advise Andy.
I let out a
sigh of relief. As much as I hated her, I was glad she wouldn’t pose a risk to the rest of us.
I locked the door behind me as I went to grab one of the towels. I fiddled with the shower, trying to get it working. Eventually, warm water started to trickle out. It wasn’t the most powerful of showers, but it was better than nothing.
I slouched down and sat in the shower cubicle as the warm water poured down my face. I thought about the events that had taken place since the outbreak struck the UK. I was missing my family. My mum, my dad, even my annoying little sister. I shed a tear as I thought about how I would never see any of them again. I thought about all the things I wish I had the chance to say, to tell them all I loved them, just one last time.
I thought about all the lives the E Virus had claimed. I wondered if Joyce was still alive. She was a colleague and a good friend of mine; she had been right there with me when the virus consumed Diane.
A knock on the door startled me. “Babe, you’ve been in there a while. Do you want some dinner?” Nick called to me.
“I’ll be out in a minute.” I called back.
I quickly switched off the shower as I grabbed my towel hanging over the cubicle door. I wrapped it around me and headed out the door.
As I passed Duckface, she was certainly looking a lot better than she was previous. If she had been infected, surely she would have turned by now.
“What’s cooking?” I asked as I stepped into the kitchen.
“Soup.” Jared replied blandly. I could tell by the look on his face he wasn’t overly thrilled with tonight’s menu choices.
“Sounds good.” I replied. I didn’t have much of an appetite anyway, so soup was fine by me.
We ate our late dinner in silence. None of us were in a talking mood. In fact, I felt we had spent that long together, we had run out of things to talk about. It was no use talking about what happened in our day, when spending 24 hours a day with the same people, they already know what you did, they were right there with you.
“The infected seem to have died down.” George started the conversation.
“That’s good news.” I replied.
“Indeed. We should maybe think of leaving soon?” George asked the group.
“It would be a good idea; although Lola may be immune to the E Virus she is still susceptible to other infections. We could do with finding a pharmacy if at all possible.” the Professor recommended.
Lacey rolled her eyes. “Ok then.” She sighed.
I decided to take a shift at the security console, and see for myself the way the infected were behaving. I took my seat and looked up at the screens. Only one of the infected remained in the outdoor swimming pool. He didn’t look like he was going anywhere, anytime soon.
The staircase had all but cleared. The juicy skeletal remains along with the odd straggler were all that was left. The feeding frenzy was well and truly over. With full stomachs the infected retired for the evening. Where they disappeared to I have no idea. Did they even sleep?
I watched the remaining souls wander the halls of the mansion. They had slowed right down, and were starting to look more like the slow movers we witnessed right at the beginning of the outbreak.
“Seen anything interesting?” the Professor whispered.
I jumped back as the sound of his voice startled me. He chuckled to himself. “I’m sorry my dear, I just couldn’t resist.”
“Professor. I want you to tell me all you know about these things.” I said pointing at the screen.
“We’ve talked about this before, but I’m tired of coming away with more questions than answers" I told him bluntly.
“Ahh yes. You do have a curious mind. Well, my dear, what would you like to know?” the Professor asked.
I wanted to know everything. I thought back to the behaviour I had seen amongst the infected in the past. I thought about the visual differences and the strange fungus which began to protrude from the virus hosts. I thought about the pack like behaviour and the ways in which they seemed to communicate with each other. There was so many questions, so many loose ends.
I wanted to know everything I could about them. I wanted to understand them, even put myself in their shoes. If I could do that, then maybe we could anticipate their next move, and keep ourselves safe for as long as possible.
Chapter 25 - Unanswered Questions
“Tell me everything you know.” I replied simply.
“How long have we got?” the Professor asked.
“Take as much time as you need. Start from the beginning.” I pushed.
“Very well.” the Professor agreed.
The Professor started by telling me about the origins of the E Virus. According to the Professor, it started as Ebola, but we all already knew that. He told me of how Ebola was first transmitted to humans due to close contact with infected animals such as monkeys and fruit bats, with fruit bats considered to be the natural hosts of the virus.
The Ebola virus was then spread from human to human by close contact of blood, saliva and other bodily fluids.
He then proceeded to tell me about the symptoms one suffering from Ebola should expect to contract. The symptoms included a sudden onset of fever, intense weakness, muscle pain or sore throat, vomiting and diarrhoea and more worryingly so, internal and external bleeding. The hosts typically lasted up to 21 days before succumbing to the virus. He even told me that the virus remained alive, even when the host had died.
He told me stories of Ebola within rural communities in Africa. This particular strain of Ebola, which then went on to be classed as the E Virus was the first of its kind to hit an urban city. Sierra Leone, Guinea and Liberia were the first to be hit. It quickly spread to Nigeria where it wiped out over 20 million people within the space of a mere few weeks. It was in Nigeria where the Ebola virus started to evolve. It wasn’t long before the dead began to rise. This was triggered as the newly developed E Virus had found a way to harness the human body, even in death.
The E Virus spread past the borders as Government officials struggled to contain the virus. Mass graves had been dug, only for the bodies to reanimate themselves and attack all living creatures they could get their hands on.
The Professor explained that it was a unique part of the human DNA which caused the dead to rise, such DNA was not found in any other animal, meaning only the human hosts were able to rise from the dead.
In order to keep the human host alive, the virus needed to ingest as much protein as possible, in order to repair the damage the virus had itself caused. This triggered the most basic instinct within the host; they lived to feed.
The E Virus only strengthened as it tore through countless cities and states, wiping out entire nations along its path.
It reached the UK along its final stretch, no matter how much firepower each country had, it still wasn’t enough to contain the epidemic.
The Professor presumed the Virus came through the English Channel, even though our country had put measures in place to stop the infected from getting in, it turns out even our little island wasn’t immune. As soon as the outbreak reached London City, the Professor knew we would all be doomed. It tore a path up North where it hit all major cities, including the City Centre of Manchester.
Although the Professor had a highly experienced team on side, he knew the Ebola cure was still months if not years away from being discovered. With this new deadly strain reanimating the bodies, he soon realised even if they did have the cure or vaccination for Ebola, it would do no good.
Under instruction from the heads of Astra Zeneca, he carried on his research and tests, in a vain attempt to stop this mess from progressing further. With the help of the Sergeant and the Corporal on Woodford Airbase he was able to obtain samples of this new strain.
What he discovered was something he wasn’t quite prepared for. The virus was stronger than he thought. Not even the coldest temperatures could slow it down, he tried in vain to destroy the sample he had been given, there was nothing he could do t
o shift it.
The E Virus was evolving at an unchartered rate. For each obstacle the Professor put in its path, it was able to overcome. He was at a loss.
When the E Virus hosts swarmed the base, the Professor thought we were all in for it. He felt no closer to discovering the cure and turned his attention to the behavioural traits the infected seemed to be exhibiting.
It was only when the Professor joined our group he realised there was more to the infected than met the eye. He studied their behaviour, he watched the way they moved, and recorded how they had learned to use functions of the brain the Professor believed were long gone.
He took new samples of the undead we had disposed of, to see if there was any change in the virus itself. What he saw amazed him. The virus hadn’t changed at all, not physically anyway.
He decided to take another sample, this time he took it from Greg. He knew that Greg was infected and wanted a living specimen to test. After Greg had passed away, the Professor worked around the clock, trying to understand the new traits to this virus. Again, he saw no difference in the virus itself. He carried out all the tests he could, given his surroundings and still drew a blank.
Not long after, when our base was overrun, the Professor had no choice but to leave his research and his notes along with the rest of our belongings as we made a swift escape.
Alone in the wilderness, the Professor was unable to continue his work. With no samples and no notes to refer to, he began to try a different technique, the only technique he could in these circumstances. He observed.
He watched the way the infected communicate. The way they rounded us up that day when we were by the lake. What he saw astonished him as the infected gathered further intelligence and even showed signs they were communicating with each other. He focused on the leader of the pack; he compared the behaviour to that, not unlike Hyenas. He observed the hosts as they came into contact with a foreign terrain, water. He watched as they stayed clear, an act of self-preservation, again a behavioural trait he would not have deemed possible, had he not seen it with his own eyes.
When we came across Undead Pete, his opinion changed once again. He made the most of our surroundings whilst in Jodrell Bank and hurried to get out what was in his head onto paper. He studied Undead Pete in great detail and learnt more from his behaviour than he had any other. He saw for himself that the protein didn’t necessarily come from human flesh, they simply went for humans as they were the most abundant food source. Once their main source of food started to dwindle, they turned their attention to that of animals, anything they could get their rotting hands on. This was made clear when I pointed out the lamb bone sat in the fridge alongside Undead Pete.
