by James Harden
“They never came back?” Kim asks.
“No. They’re dead.”
“Or maybe they found their way out,” Jack says.
“No. I’ve seen some of the guys who tried to escape. I’ve seen them back here. Infected. So yeah, I know for certain that they didn’t make it. And I know for certain that we won’t make it. Our only chance of survival is to wait it out. This is a war of attrition. We need to be patient. And what the hell is at the other end anyway? More death? More infected? An airborne strain of the virus? A General who has lost his mind? His death squad?”
Harry has a depressingly good point. This prison is the best chance these people have of survival. It is their home.
“We just have to hope General Spears and his death squad leave us alone,” Harry says.
“Forget about the General,” I say. “He’s dead.”
At least I think he’s dead. What did Kim ask me earlier? Had I seen the body?
“Dead?” Harry asks. “How?
“I don’t know exactly. The infected stormed his compound. The inner-sanctum. And he had injected himself with a concentrated dose of the Oz virus. So yeah, he’s dead.”
Harry is confused. “Why the hell would he do that?”
“Because he had gone absolutely insane. He had been pushed over the edge. The pressure screwed him over. He thought he was a god or something. He thought he would survive.”
I sit up and swing my legs off the table. I try and stand but immediately feel light headed.
Ben is there. He grabs me and makes sure I don’t fall over.
A woman is there as well. “I think you should take it easy for a while,” she says.
“This is Anna,” Ben says. “She’s a nurse.”
“I’m fine, really. I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?” Anna asks. “You’re running a pretty high fever.”
“Yeah. I just need some water. I need to see Kenji’s cell. I need to see what he wrote on the walls.”
Anna hands me a canteen of water.
Ben says, “I’ll take her. You guys eat some food.”
There are no complaints from Jack or Kim. I couldn’t see what they were eating but it looked like dry cereal.
Ben leads me out of the cafeteria. “Are you sure the General is dead?” he asks.
He asks this question with disappointment in his voice. I’m guessing he is disappointed because he is hell bent on getting his revenge. He wanted to make the General pay for killing innocent people. The people that Ben had come to care about.
Ben wanted to bring General Spears to justice. But he was not going to get the chance.
“Yeah,” I say. “He’s dead. He has to be.”
“Good,” Ben whispers. “I guess I’ll see him in hell.”
I picture General Spears sitting on a throne in hell. Waiting for Ben to arrive. Waiting for another showdown. Another rematch. An epic gladiatorial battle.
“So why did you really come back?” I ask Ben. “Why did you fight General Spears, why did you take him on? They could’ve shot you; they could’ve ended your life in a heartbeat.”
“I told you. These people took from me. They took everything. Initially, I was in the General’s good books. My whole team was. We were good scavengers. We were useful. But eventually General Spears started using the scavenger teams as bait. He started sending them out to their deaths. He was killing us. Killing people who had survived the Oz virus. Strong people. Good, decent people. He began sentencing us to death. That is why I came back. That is why I chose to fight him. And it's why I'm going to finish it. I'm going to end him. His death squad. His regime. Everything.”
“I told you, the General is dead.”
“Did you see his body?”
There’s that question again. It was like the General had scared people into believing he was actually invincible. That he was actually a god.
“Doesn’t matter,” Ben continues. “I need to completely eradicate his presence, his rule, his legacy. His memory. This includes anyone who served under him. The death squad. If they're allowed to live, to wield power…”
General Spears was at one point the man in charge of containing the outbreak of the Oz virus. And when the rest of the military abandoned this country, and left him to fend for himself, he was the only military commander left. He was the only one who could’ve saved the country. Saved the survivors. But instead of being a savior, instead of being a hero, he turned into something evil and reprehensible. Like I said, he had gone absolutely insane. It is crazy and difficult to think about what humans are capable of.
I am about to tell Ben that waging a war against the death squad is probably not a good idea. But suddenly I hear a noise. A voice.
I feel someone tap me on the shoulder.
I turn around. But no one is there.
I hear Kenji’s voice. “Everyone is in danger. You must believe me. I will come for you.”
The voice is so loud and so clear that for a split second I think Kenji is standing right next to me. But he is not.
My mind comes back to my present surroundings and all of a sudden I am alone. Ben is nowhere to be seen, and I am standing in Kenji’s cell.
Chapter 24
I feel weird. My whole body is aching. The fever is getting worse.
I am starting to shiver and my brain isn’t working and I feel tired and lethargic and downright exhausted.
I’m trying to figure it all out. I’m trying to understand. I’m trying to make sense of everything that Kenji has written on the walls. But it is a mess. It is hard to read.
Journal entries.
Drawings.
Random words and random thoughts.
A couple of maps.
One of the Fortress.
Another one of the labyrinth.
Someone enters the cell but I keep my eyes on the wall.
It is Anna. “The doctor has some antibiotics for your fever,” she says. “He thinks that your head wound might be infected.”
No. It’s not.
There is something else giving me a fever. My body has realized there is a foreign thing inside of it. It is trying to fight it. Fight the nano-virus. But it can’t. And in less than forty-six hours, less than two days, I’ll be dead. My body will be gone. Eaten. There will be nothing left of me.
I don’t say any of this to Anna. She is only trying to help and I don’t want to scare her. I don’t want to give her the impression that I am some sort of threat. Even though I probably, definitely am.
No, I will not be a threat.
I will not harm these people. I will not harm anyone. I intend on being far away from here when this countdown ends. When my time is up.
Anna moves up next to me. She studies the writing. The drawings. “I know it’s hard,” she says. “Losing the people you love. I’ve seen so much of it. Even before the outbreak.”
“What do you mean?”
“I worked on the oncology ward. And I’ve worked in palliative care. I’ve seen so much of it. It never gets easier. It is always hard.”
I stare at the drawing of the gas mask. And I wonder if Kenji had seen the psychopath. Had he spoken to him? Had he been tortured by him? Had he been injected with a time release nano-swarm? Or maybe the gas mask was a warning. Maybe Kenji knew the Oz virus had gone airborne.
“My mother was a nurse,” I say. “She was in Sydney when it all went down. I never got to say goodbye. I never got the chance to tell her how much I love her. How much I appreciated her hard work. All the double shifts and night shifts. I never got that chance because…”
Because no one gave them a chance. They were written off. They were expendable.
This whole goddamn country was expendable.
“I was in Adelaide when it happened,” Anna says. “When it all began.”
She takes a deep breath because those first days of the outbreak, those first days of the end of the world are painful and scary and terrifying and full of death.
&nb
sp; “They started bringing the sick, the infected people in,” she continues. “They started bringing the dead in by the truck loads. Only problem was they weren’t dead. Not really. And the ones that were dead, they didn’t stay dead. The hospital became overrun. It happened so fast. We were helpless. We were completely taken by surprise. No one warned us. No one helped us.”
I know this is what my mother experienced in her last days. And I know that Anna is telling me so I can get some sort of closure.
And I want to thank her. For everything. For staying behind at the hospital when the shit hit the fan. For staying behind and trying to do the right thing, even though trying to do the right thing was pointless.
I don’t get the chance to thank Anna because another person enters the room. Again, I keep my eyes on the wall, on the writing.
It is an old man.
A patient, old man.
“Hello, Rebecca,” the old man says.
I’m staring at the walls and I wonder how the hell does the old man know my name?
His voice is soothing, almost hypnotic.
I turn around. And it is Doctor Hunter. In one hand, he has a small orange container with a child proof lid full of antibiotics. His other hand is gone. Sawed off. A testament and a reminder of human perseverance and survival instinct and adaptability.
Live or die.
Pure and simple.
Moments before Doctor Hunter was thrown into this prison, General Spears had described the doctor as a survivor. And I agree with the General’s assessment to a certain extent.
But Doctor Hunter is not just a survivor. He is a parasite. It’s like he poured some of his own DNA into the killer virus he helped create.
He throws me the antibiotics and they land on the small, single bed. “Take twice a day,” he says. “Morning and night. Take with food. Or not. It doesn’t matter.”
Doctor Hunter is standing in the entrance of the cell, refusing to come inside, refusing to come any closer.
He doesn’t want to read what Kenji has written. He doesn’t want to see the writing on the walls.
I ask Doctor Hunter about escape.
I ask him about survival.
I ask him about fixing this thing.
This thing.
A plague.
An extinction level event.
An apocalypse.
But Doctor Hunter does not answer my questions and he offers no solutions.
He looks at his severed wrist. He touches the scars, the stump.
He has given up.
He sees my watch. “That is a new watch.”
Doctor Hunter is old but he has eyes like a goddamn hawk.
I say, “Do you know who the man in the gas mask is?”
“He gave this to you?”
“Yes.”
Doctor Hunter finally enters the cell and he walks over to me and grabs my wrist and I let him. He looks at the watch face.
The countdown.
“A countdown,” he whispers. “Ominous. What does it mean?”
Nurse Anna is still there and I don’t want to say what it means.
“She won’t tell anyone,” Doctor Hunter assures me. “Patient confidentiality.”
“It’s OK,” Anna says. “I’m not gonna tell on you. I’m not going to say anything. Trust me, we need more females around here.”
“It’s a countdown to an event,” I say.
“An event?”
“I have been injected with a time release nano-virus. When this countdown expires, the nano-virus will become active. It will eat me alive. From the inside. The nano-virus will become a swarm.”
“I’ve never seen a swarm up close,” Doctor Hunter says.
“You don’t want to.”
“What’s a swarm?” Anna asks.
“A nano-virus swarm,” I answer. “Microscopic nano-bots. Designed and programmed to eat and consume. They were supposed to eat the infection, eat the Oz virus and all its hosts. The plan backfired. And now we have a new predator in the food chain.”
“Who did this to you?” Anna asks.
“A man wearing a gas mask. A psychopath.”
Again, I look at the crude drawing of the gas mask on the wall of Kenji’s cell. It is just above the drawings of the infected and the nano-swarms and the monsters.
“He has taken Maria,” I say. “He is going to kill her. He is going to execute her on camera. And show the world.”
Doctor Hunter is silent.
“Do you know who he is?” I ask.
“Yes. I do.”
“Who is he?”
“He is the devil. He is Lucifer. He is the Angel of Light.”
“What?”
“He will show us the error of our ways. He will show us all the possibilities. He will make us all see. This is what the devil does. This is what the Angel of Light does. He provides illumination.”
“Don’t give me that bullshit. Who is he? Who the hell is he? Tell me!”
Doctor Hunter lowers his head. He does not answer me.
And he does not get the chance.
I see movement in the corner of my eye.
I see the black monolithic doorway to the labyrinth sliding open.
It is opening silently.
Smoothly.
And unannounced.
Chapter 25
The door to the labyrinth is open.
What time is it?
Is it six pm?
No. It can’t be.
These people are too well prepared. They are too well organized. There’s no way everyone would still be on the ground floor when that door opens.
Doctor Hunter sees it. So does Anna.
“The door is open,” Anna says. “It’s open early!”
In the distance we can hear moans and howling screams. These noises are coming from the darkness of the labyrinth.
We move out of Kenji’s cell, looking for the others.
“What the hell do we do?” I ask.
“We need to get up to the top floor,” Anna says. “We need to go right now. We shouldn’t be down here.”
Doctor Hunter appears to be unnaturally calm. And I think to myself that he has definitely given up. He has stopped caring. He is ready to die and he is not afraid.
Thomas and Harry and everyone else have heard the noises coming from the labyrinth. They move out of the cafeteria, unsure of what to expect.
“What the hell is going on?” Harry asks.
“It’s open,” Anna says. “It just opened. We need to go.”
Thomas can’t believe it. He is backing away from the entrance to the labyrinth, backing away to the fire escape.
“Why?” Harry asks as he checks his watch. “It’s early. It’s so early. What the hell is going on?”
“We have to get back to our cells,” Anna says.
Thomas points at me. “You did this. You guys showed up. You changed everything! He wants you dead. He didn’t care about us. But now you’re here and he wants you dead!”
“Who are you talking about?” I ask.
“The General.”
“General Spears is dead,” I say.
“Well, someone opened the door. Someone is sending a message. Someone wants us dead.”
Someone opened the door.
I can guess who it was.
“We have to move,” Thomas orders. “Into the cells. Now. Let’s go!”
Together, we all make the painstakingly slow climb up the fire escape ladder. Each time Thomas lowers one of the ladders so we can climb up, the metal makes an incredibly loud and unnerving noise. Squeaking and squealing. The metal obviously hasn’t been greased in a long time.
We continue to climb as quickly as we can, and as quietly as we can. Harry and Anna check and re-secure the barricades on each level, making sure that no undead monsters can make their way up the stairs.
“This is not good,” Harry says. “We usually do this while the door is closed. We’re making too much noise. We’re making way too much
noise.”
“Put a sock in it,” Anna says. “We’re nearly done.”
Ben brings up the rear. He is a few levels below us. He is crouching down with his shotgun aimed at the darkness of the labyrinth entrance.
“Come on,” Thomas says. “Move your ass!”
“Keep your goddamn voice down,” Ben says.
After a few more tense seconds, Ben reluctantly slings his shotgun over his shoulder and begins the climb. As Ben climbs each level, he pulls up the fire escape ladder and secures it in place, so nothing can climb up after us.
We finally reach the top level. Everyone has moved off to their own cell. They are getting their bed sheets ready to hang over the bars.
Thomas quickly explains the rules of our new accommodation. “This is where we sleep. This is how we survive. While the door to the labyrinth is open, you make no noise. Not even a whisper. If you snore, don’t. And make sure you put a bed sheet over the bars of your cell. You need to be completely hidden. Do you understand?”
Jack is trying to move the door to our cell so he can close it. But it won’t budge. “Um, how the hell do we close these bars?”
“I have to close them,” Thomas says. “The doors are automated. One person sleeps in the control room so they can shut the cells at night, and open the cells in the morning. We take turns. It’s not so bad. The control room is basically as secure as one of the cells. Basically.”
Another howling scream echoes from the distance, from somewhere deep inside the labyrinth. We look down at the ground floor of the prison.
Nothing. No movement. No infected.
“They shouldn’t be able to get through the barricade on the stairways,” Thomas adds. “But still, I do not want to hear a single noise from you people. We don’t want to take any risks. If you make noise, any noise, I will kill you myself.”
Jack, Kim and I move into the nearest cell, and a few seconds later, Thomas closes the doors.
We hang a sheet up over the bars.
We hold our breath.
And we wait.
Chapter 26
The prison has fallen completely silent.
In our cell, there is only one bunk bed. A top bunk and a bottom bunk. Someone is going to have to share. At the moment, Kim and I are both sitting on the bottom bunk. Jack is sitting on the floor, leaning against the back wall.
