Patient Zero

by Sylvester Barzey

  “Asshole!” Trinity shouted as she popped up from behind the desk. Christian quickly crawled up beside her and tugged at her dress.

  “What the fuck are you doing?” he whispered.

  “Trinity?” Vince said. Neil looked over at Trinity and then back at Vince,

  “You two got some kind of a thing going?” Neil asked. Trinity’s eyes glanced over at the infected who were all slowly getting to their feet. Neil rolled his eyes and pulled out his gun, “It doesn’t matter. We don’t have time for-“

  “No!” Vince shouted. He lept forward putting himself between the barrel and Trinity.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Neil asked, “Get the fuck out of the way.”

  “No, She’s coming with us.” Vince replied.

  “No, I haven’t dated in a while but last I checked Asshole wasn’t a cute pet name.” Neil said.

  “She goes or you’re not getting out of here.” Vince said. Neil’s eyebrow raised and then he looked over at Trinity. The baseball bat stood still in the air as Neil’s shoes made a sticky wet click as he move toward Trinity. The blood was more thick than it was slick, like left over grease when it cooled.

  “Fine,” Neil said. His hand went out toward Trinity and his fingers motioned for her to come toward him. “Hurry up, I don’t have all night.” Trinity shook her head. Neil turned around shrugged his shoulders. “I tried, let’s get the hell-“ Neil’s words were cut dramatically short by the cord of the front desk phone wrapping quickly around his neck. In a panic Neil’s finger pulled back on the trigger. A loud blast filled the lobby and a bullet sailed through the air hitting Vince in the shoulder. It spun him around and to the floor like a used rag doll. The phone cord tightened around Neil’s neck and he rolled from side to side. Through the built up tears he could see Trinity swinging her bat at the on coming zombies. The blast had sent them into a frenzy. The loud hollow Bwak was heard each time the bat connected with the skull of the infected. The cord tightened as Neil heard,

  “I told you, I can’t let you leave.” Christian whispered. Neil’s head swung back bashing into Christian’s face. Things went black for a moment. There was a sharp ringing in Christian’s ear and then he could see the barrel of the gun forming as his vision cleared.

  “I’ll give it to you, you’re a tough son of a bitch to kill.” Neil said.

  “Thank you.” Trinity replied. Neil turned around only to come face to face or jaw to aluminum, when Trinity’s bat smacked into the side of his face. Blood flung through the air and Neil tumbled over Christian landing beside him.

  “Bitch,” Neil said softly as his head rested on the cold tile floor.

  “Come on,” Trinity said. Her hand went out to Christian, their eyes locked. Christian pushed himself up, but before he could feel her soft skin in his own a loud bang was heard. It wasn’t in slow motion like in the movies, it was fast and ugly. Trinity’s body flung back and the mass of zombies quickly sped in her direction.

  “Trinity!” Christian shouted. Neil’s leg flipped over Christian till he was fully on top of him. The gun pointed into Christian face, but he grabbed the hot barrel with one hand and rammed his thumb behind the trigger with the other. The back and forth struggle over the metal wasn’t the main focus in either man’s head. They wanted each other dead, but more than anything they wanted what they lost back. Family, friends, loved ones. All taken from them as if it were predestined by fate. As if something made that infectious hell follow Neil and his crew back to the earth.

  “Just die!” Neil snarled. The barrel pushed up skyward and another bang echoed through the lobby. Christian had always heard, when someone was close to death, their whole life would replay before their eyes. A whole set of memories on some sped up highlight reel of death. That’s what he had been told, but Christian didn’t get that. He didn’t get to relieve play dates with Hector or Dee being born. He wasn’t forced to bury his father for a second time. There was no highlight reel of life, just quick shots of her.

  Smiling.

  Laughing.

  Living.

  The bullet cut through the air and before Neil could lower the barrel for a second chance he heard the first shot break through the skylight and then a drop of rain fell down onto his cheek. Neil looked up and watched as the skylight that was once the lobby’s best feature shattered and released a waterfall of rain and glass upon them. Neil ducked forward putting his hands over his head. He hide from it but Christian saw it all, every last bit of sparkling glass as it rained down on them. He watched it all until a large thin shard fell from the center. It dropped down like a dart from the heavens right into the bullseye that was Neil’s back and Christian’s chest. There was pain and then darkness.

  Chapter 20

  The sound of heavy boots on polished tiles filled the air around Christian. He listened to the sounds and the muffled words being shouted, because that was all he could bring himself to do. Darkness had surrounded him, and all he had were the sounds and the pain that was running through his body.

  “Move.”

  Gunfire

  “Move.”

  Gunfire

  “We got a live one!”

  “Shit. Shit. Shit!”

  “Aliyah! Aliyah!”

  “What the fuck happened here?”

  “Are there anymore survivors?”

  “Boss, I think he’s alive.”

  Gunfire, gunfire, and more gunfire.

  The darkness faded in and out as Christian felt his body being passed along. Every so often his eyes would open only to see all white and then he would fade back into the darkness.

  “You did good Mijo.” Jorge said. Christian’s eyes opened to a dark room, with his father standing over him. The old man smiled down at his son and ran his fingers through his gray hair.

  “Am I dead?” Christian asked and Jorge shook his head,

  “No, you ain’t the dying type Mijo, you’re a fighter.” Jorge said softly. “You know when I was younger, I got into a lot trouble with your uncle. We were fighters too, just for a whole different reason.” Jorge ran his hands over his face and tugged on his salt and peppered beard. “I never thought I’de have a family. That kind of life just wasn’t in the cards for people like me.”

  “What are you talking about Pop?” Christian said.

  “I’m talking about love, Mijo. True and honest love. You only get that once in a lifetime. I was scared of it.” Jorge laughed, “I was more scared of your Mama’s love than I ever was of El Chapo.” Christian sat up in the darkness and stared at his father. “So like any scared little boy, I ran from it. I ruined it, I ruined you.”

  “No you didn’t,” Christian said.

  “Yeah, I did and I’m sorry about that.” Jorge said. He sat down next to his son and took hold of Christian’s hand. “You’re gonna have a whole life of things you can blame yourself for, don’t make me one of them Mijo. Don’t let my failures be your failures.” Christian stared at his father and then fell back into the bed. “I wanna say something profound and meaningful, but that’s not how I’m built. So take this with you, only a fool walks out on love.” Jorge said, he kissed his son’s forehead and stood up off the bed.

  “Pop?” Christian said.

  “Don’t be a fool Mijo.” Jorge replied.

  “Clear! I think we got him. Dr. Brooks I think we got him.”

  “Good.”

  Chapter 21

  “You’re not scared of a little needle are you?” The lab tech asked with a smile. The trucker cap quickly came off of his dirty red tangled hair. Bobby closed his eyes and inhaled deeply before the needle rammed into his arm.

  “Son of a bitch!” Bobby shouted.

  “Stop being such a damn-“ Reed’s teeth started to grind together as a needle pierced through the soft layer of his skin and into his flesh. The blue scrubs hurried about through the lab like small mice avoiding the glare of the ever watchful cats. The white coats stood on the other side of the lab, huddled over paperwork
and hiding behind whispers and sighs.

  “The geeks seem pretty damn busy over there.” Bobby said softly. Reed’s eyes glanced at the white coats. Within the huddle he could see her. She had her long back hair pulled into a bun and her glasses were the only thing that stood between Reed and the death daggers that were being thrown from her eyes. She pushed past the pack of white coats and marched up to the two men.

  “You two feel good?” Dr. Brooks shouted.

  “I’ve felt better, but a cold beer and I’m sure I’ll be as good as new.” Bobby replied with a grin. Another white coat came up behind Dr. Brooks, his hand went onto her shoulder. Reed watched as his palm softly pressed into her. Body language was a universal tongue that if mastered could carry you through any conversation in any nation. Reed wasn’t a master but it didn’t take one to understand the dynamic between the two doctors. There were feelings, ones that couldn’t be spoken.

  “You get all that superhero shit out of your system?” Dr. Brooks asked. Reed stared down at the clear tube connected to the silver needle that was sticking out of his arm, he watched as spots of red shot into the tube and then a river of blood started to fill it.

  “Never been the cape wearing type.” Reed replied.

  “They’re not practical. I mean what are they for? They can’t help you fly and even if you could fly, all it does is wave like a big ass come shoot me flag.” Bobby replied. Reed’s head turned so that he and Bobby’s eyes could meet.

  “Shut up.” Reed said.

  “I’m just saying, the Punisher’s the best superhero on God’s green earth.” Bobby replied.

  “Both of you shut the hell up.” Dr. Brooks said, she picked up a red folder and stared thumbing through the papers. there were charts and long columns of words like Transmutation, Infectious, Dormant. The doctor shook her head and drop the folder down on the desk before rubbing the brim of her nose where her glasses sat. “You’re little stunt not only lost us the package, we now have a room full of people-“ Dr. Brooks’ words were quickly cut short by Reed standing up. The gray haired man limped forwards only to be cut off at the pass by Dr. Brooks’ white coat lover. Reed looked down at the name tag and nodded,

  “Neil was dead before we got there. You and Dr. Connors here would have known that, if you weren’t too chicken shit to go get him yourself.” Reed said softly. Dr. Connors’ hand fell from Reed’s chest and he he laughed.

  “We have no idea what this virus is. Sending people in there was a suicide mission.” Dr. Connors said.

  “You sent our people in there.” Bobby replied. Dr. Connors looked over at Bobby and then back at Dr. Brooks.

  “You all knew what you signed up for.” Dr. Connors said. With that statement Bobby was on his feet and if it wasn’t for Reed stepping in the way he would have dropped the hammer on that white coat.

  “The white house wants a full report about night’s events.” Dr. Brooks said. She leaned back on the cold metal table and stared at the two men, “Should I inform them that your team, failed at it’s one mission and because of that, we are no closer in finding a cure for this thing? Or…” Dr. Brooks shook her head, “Should I try and sugarcoat it a little, maybe get you a little less jail time.”

  “Tell em’ we saved lives tonight.” Bobby said. Dr. Brooks looked over at Dr. Connors and the man smiled.

  “You two are confused about what’s going on here, so let me fill you in. You ran into a burning building trying to save a handful of people. We’re trying to make sure that building doesn’t turn into a wildfire.” Dr. Connors looked over at Bobby and then back at Reed, “Every person in that building put America at risk and now, they’re putting us at risk.”

  “Well run your little test and see if their okay.” Bobby said.

  “I’ve already ran my little test.” Dr. Brooks said.

  “And?” Bobby Replied.

  “And you ran into a burning building for nothing. They’re all infected.” Dr. Brooks said. Dr. Connors’ eyes fell upon the dark haired scientist as she shook her head and sighed.

  “No, Ayilah didn’t get bit-“

  “What you saw and what my test show are worlds apart.” Dr. Brooks said.

  “Fuck that.” Bobby said.

  “Fuck you hillbilly! You people had one job and you royally fucked it up. Not only is Neil dead, causing any hopes of a cure to die with him, but we lost any hopes of locating the rest of his crew.” Dr. Connors said.

  “Oh,” Reed said with a light laugh, his hand slapped into Bobby’s chest and he smiled, “So now the truth comes out.” Reed said, he pointed at the group of white coats. “They’re not mad that we fucked up.” Reed’s cold steely stare fell upon Dr. Brooks, “They’re pissing their pants, because they fucked up. You got to call up The Don and tell him you lost the last two carriers?” he said.

  “Neil knew where they were.” Dr. Brooks said.

  “Up until now, I thought you did too.” Reed replied. Dr. Brooks looked over at Bobby and then back at Reed, before pushing past Dr. Connors, her heels made a loud click with every step, but all Reed could hear was the time ticking down on Ayilah’s life.

  “I’ll send a lab tech for your samples shortly.” Dr. Connors said, Bobby and Reed sat still as they watched the pack of white coats quickly make their way out of the room. Bobby’s head turned toward Reed and he motioned to the camera in the top corner of the room. Reed eyed it for a moment and watched as the red dot stayed steady on them.

  “The old lady’s pretty damn mad.” Reed said softly. Bobby looked over at the gray haired man and then back at the camera.

  “Oh, yeah?” Bobby asked.

  “Yeah, if I don’t get home soon, I think she might throw supper away.” Reed said. Bobby nodded and turned his head back toward the silver door.

  “You don’t think supper needs to be thrown away at this point? I mean it’s cold.” Bobby said.

  “It ain’t cold.” Reed replied.

  “It ain’t?” Bobby asked.

  “No, It’s far from cold. In fact, I think it’s just now heating up.” Reed said with a smile.

  “I’m hungry.” Bobby said.

  “Me too Bobby, me too.” Reed replied.

  “No, really. My fucking stomach is eating itself.” Bobby said. Reed stood up and pulled the needle out from his arm. The red thick blood shot out onto the white lab floors. Reed stared at the long line of red that took what was once a clean, perfect floor and perverted it. Knowing those white coats they would have the whole lab burned down and rebuilt incase his bold was carrying the virus.

  “Lets go find you something to eat.” Reed said as he pushed his finger into the hole on this arm, slowing the droplets of blood that were escaping from his body.

  “I know that this might sound cold, but don’t lose you’re shit if I stop at a vending machine.” Bobby said.

  “You better Goddamn not.” Reed replied and he pulled open the metal door, stepping out of view of the camera.

  Chapter 22

  “Can I get some Advil or some Oxy! Hell I’ll take a bottle of Paul Mason!” Trinity shouted as her palm slammed into the glass window of the large metal door. Her teeth started to grind as the rain in her right arm exploded from the vibration of the hits. She placed her hand on the blue and white sling that held her right arm close to her body and rested her head on the door. Her eyes scanned around the small dirty room.

  “They don’t care how hurt we are. They’re not opening that door until the doctors give them the all clear.” Aliyha said. Her blood stained fingers ran through her hair and she rested her head on the cold brick wall, “That’s if they let us out at all.”

  “What do you mean by that?” An older woman called out from the corner. There were ten of them, most were people that Aliyha happened to find on her way out of that hell hole of a hotel and Trinity, who’s eyes were fixed on the blood stained and battled worn Aliyha,

  “Yeah, what do you mean by that?” Trinity asked. Aliyha closed her eyes, she was done wit
h this life, done with being a government lapdog, done with partners, done with caring. She wanted to drift off into the darkness of it all and she would have if Trinity’s fingers didn’t snap loudly in front of her face, causing Aliyha’s eyes to pop open.

  “Sleeping Beauty, we asked you a question.” Trinity said.

  “And out of respect for your feelings I didn’t answer, but the next time that door opens. The next time we see another human being gonna be the last time we see anyone.” Aliyha said.

  “You think they’re gonna kill us?” Trinity asked.

  “I think that hotel was full of sick people and they just blew it the fuck up.” Aliyha said and closed her eyes, “We’re ten people that know far too fucking much, what do you think is gonna happen to us? You think we’ll get a shoutout on twitter from the President?”

  “Then we need to do something.” Trinity said.

  “I am, it’s called coming to terms with my mortality, you should try it.” Aliyha said. Her eyes closed only for another loud snap to pop them open again.

  “We need to get out of here, they have my friend and-“

  “Listen! I’m gonna make this clear, it’s over. Done!” Aliyha shouted. “The next time that fucking door opens, we’re all dead and just incase you can’t read context clues. That means your friend is dead, along with mine.” Aliyha said. Her eyes quickly met the cement floor, it was a chilling thought but Aliyha knew it to be a stone cold fact. Even with Nile dead there were still other factors to account for, like keeping this whole fuck up off the world’s radar. Aliyha shook her head, “Just like everyone else we know. If this virus doesn’t kill them, they will.” A loud groan pulled everyone’s attention to the dark corner of the room. Trinity’s eyes rolled and she walked back over to the door, beating her fist on the glass once again,

  “We need a doctor, for this umpa lumpa!” Trinity shouted. The groaning started to get loader and then Vince slowly rolled from out of the cover of the shadows into the light of the little window, his head thumped onto the cement floor as his red sweaty skin came into everyone’s sight.