Disease X

by Garrett Williams

  Danny stepped forward beside her and said, “If Elizabeth can do it, so can you.” Elizabeth just stood their smiling at the recruits. Then they stepped forward as boxes rolled up side by side. “Everyone, let’s get to work,” Danny announced.

  As the recruits began training and using their abilities, Danny quickly walked behind them, exhaled and thought, Man I really pulled that out of my butt. If he were to tell the girl the real reason why he did what he did, it would traumatize her. He saw someone having trouble, and proceeded in their direction to help them.

  Sunset had turned into twilight as Alex was setting up a homemade tent with some small cloth and a short piece of a gutter. It was a rather crude design for a tent, but he didn’t want to take the chances of getting into a gang. If the gang didn’t accept Alex, if he didn’t meet their standards, they would most likely ransack him for whatever morsels of food he had mustered up. Truthfully, Alex still had no idea what his new abilities were. He noticed that time had almost stood still in the gun shop, but it may have been the adrenaline of the moment getting to him. The most food he managed to find in his time in the quarantine zone consisted of two cans of peaches and a moldy piece of bread. His shelter was in a small but moist ally with water from the rain earlier that day dripping from the lowly towering roofs above him. He pulled his hood down further, so much so that it had been stretched out to hide his eyes completely, not just to protect him from the rain, but to hide him from the rest of the world. His shelter was finally finished. It was supported by a broken piece of gutter, and a trash can he had found in that very ally. He sat down in his new home to rest up for tomorrow. He heard his stomach growl and was reminded that he hadn’t eaten since breakfast at the foster house.

  He stood up to make his way to the pile of old newspapers he had made to hide the stash that he had been lucky enough to gather for that day. He removed the papers and reached for one of the cans of peaches, trying his best to hold off on the moldy bread. He placed the papers back over his food and made his way back to his shelter and sat down, only to realize that he had no way of opening the canned peaches with his bare hands. In frustration, He threw the can into the trash can supporting is home and buried his face in his hands. He still couldn’t believe that he was in the red zone; the home of serial killers, sociopaths, and freaks. It happened far too quickly. He was just with his friends on a class trip, and some stranger got murdered right in his face in the next minute. Worst of all, he had killed a man. What if he had family? Alex didn’t know who the man was at all, but suddenly he never felt closer to a complete stranger in his entire life. He also remembered the way Julie handed him over like that, knowing what kind of people were in the quarantine zones, so much for friends. Alex heard fast footsteps and looked up to see a woman wearing a black coat running and stopping by the stash he had made. She scooped up the rations he had gathered and kicked the gutter piece that was supporting the cloth of a roof above Alex, causing it to collapse onto him. In the confusion, Alex quickly removed the cloth that had fallen on him and sprang to his feet.

  “What the hell?!” He shouted at her as he began to run after her. He chased the strange woman as she tried to lose him by taking shortcuts and alleyways. It became clear that she had been their longer than he has. “Stop her! Hey someone, I need help here!” He shouted, but there was no response. He was starting to get tired. He had been deprived of food for the whole day, and he was starting to lose her. Then he stopped as he saw a pipe coming out from around the corner smack the woman in the face. It made a loud ping as the woman’s face made contact with it and she fell to the ground. Alex then saw a stocky black man carrying the pipe and then finishing off the woman with a powerful bash to the head. The blow created a gash in the woman’s still body, Alex had seen two homicides in one day now: one by him, and one in his first day here. Blood slowly trickled out of the gash in the woman’s head. The man then looked up at Alex and gave him an unnerving smile. Alex slowly began to step back as the man picked up the single can of peaches and the moldy piece of bread. Alex was on the sidewalk of a barren and cracked road with small and colossal buildings towering over him, and the streets were filled with dead cars. He heard footsteps behind him, he looked back to find two more men there walking toward him. They were a tall Latino man and an average sized Caucasian man. Alex tried to turn and run into the barren street. However, in a blur, the tall Latino man was suddenly in front of him and pushed him into the white man, who grabbed him by the throat. Alex had trouble seeing the two men in front of him from under his grey hood, but his vision improved as the two men started toward him. The black man grabbed his hood and threw it back to see his face. Alex could then make out the facial features of the man. He had scratches under his eyes and a large tattoo on his bald head. The scratches also covered his nose and chin.

  “These yours?” the man asked with that same insidious smile while holding up the food. Alex was silent as the white man’s arms tightened around his throat. The man in his face took a large bite out of the moldy bread and swallowed it, the sight made Alex sick. “What else you got?” the man asked again. “You’re on my turf kid. You have to pay for crossing.” Alex said nothing as he was too fearful to do so. The man’s mentality became clear when he smiled at him and at the bad food. He was a psychopath, and apparently the leader of a whole gang of them. The man then held up his index finger to Alex’s face and his finger changed into a spiked bone; he was a skeleton. “I love the audience, don’t you?” Alex had no idea what he was talking about until he suddenly remembered hearing the news when he was ten. The man in front of him was none other than the grim reaper, an infamous serial killer known for leaving the heads of his victims sitting directly on the sharp edge of a bone scythe he leaves at every killing. The sharp finger slowly slid down his cheek and close to his throat.

  Out of fear, Alex quickly spit in the grim reaper’s face, causing him to step back wiping his face. Alex then slammed his fist into the white man’s crotch, causing him to let go of him. Out of rage, the white man quickly exhaled black gas from his mouth and tried to breathe on Alex. Alex caught him and held him back by the throat, then that’s when things went sideways. Alex couldn’t let go of the man for some reason, and the man appeared to be in pain at Alex’s touch. Alex could feel a surge of power going into his arm and all throughout his being. The man was shouting for help as his two partners stepped back in disbelief of what was happening. The white man’s face began shrivel into his bones and his fingers grabbing Alex’s hands grew weak and shriveled into bone. His whole body had been sucked dry by Alex’s touch and with one more second of agony, he grew limp and slumped to the ground. Alex held up his own hands in shock as he saw what he did, a decrepit, shriveled corpse lied there in front of him. The people behind him began to run away.

  Grim shouted before he ran, “Crap! It’s a leech!” Alex noticed that Grim had dropped the food Alex was after as he ran. What have I done? Taking two lives in one day, what have I become? Alex thought to himself as he picked up his rations with shaky hands, he looked for anyone who saw that, and ran off to his home.

  Danny examined the newly infected as they continued their first day of training. In that one building there was at least ten different types infected. Danny witnessed the chaos of magnetism from Elizabeth and her newly discovered powers. When two bodies are close together, the force of magnetism acts upon them. There are magnetic particles all around the people in the world, and infected with the ability to manipulate his or her own magnetic particles can send electricity into the target. The target itself is the one attracting the electricity due to the sender manipulating their own particles into the air and keeping the electric beam balance by keeping negative particles surrounding the beam. Since lighting is typically negative, it will want to stay in the center of the particles until it reaches the positive particles at the end, which are attracted to the negative particles of the target. The reaction causes a blue aura around the beam and the target, and the use
rs hands. Danny felt a hand tap against his shoulder. He turned to find that it was Merrick’s finger.

  “I just got the news, were running low on living space,” Merrick stated.

  “Why wasn’t I informed on this when I came to train them?” Danny asked surprised.

  “Delsin found out, but he didn’t have the time to tell someone yet. He was out getting supplies.”

  Danny groaned at this response as he knew the exact reason he was out getting supplies. “Alright, I’ll improvise,” Danny said to Merrick.

  Merrick left thought a side door in the large factory room, his boots echoing throughout the large area. Danny made his way over to the main door of the room, at the front under a large window that had been shattered. There was another room on the other side of the window with a table that had been tipped over and chairs that had appeared broken and legless. Danny pulled the fire alarm at the side of the front door which had sounded off a piercing screech and sent red lights flickering through entirety of the building. He caught the attention of all but one, a man with snow white hair and blue eyes who was busy shooting ice, piercing the cardboard, those that hit at least. He walked over to the clearly disgruntled man and put his hand on his shoulder to get his attention. The man looked at him with disdain as he put his hands down to his sides. The man was breathing heavily and began to hold his head. Danny reached inside of the pocket of his holey leather jacket and pulled out a small canteen filled with water. He held it up to the man, the man took his offer.

  “Keep pushing it and you’ll die of thirst before the days over.” Danny said staring at the white haired man. The man, still glaring at Danny, opened the canteen and took a gulp. Danny then walked back into everyone’s view and made this statement.

  “I have just been informed by one of our veterans here, Mr. John Merrick that we are running out of living space.” The recruits began to whispers and ask questions to one another. “However, there is plenty of room inside this building. The training room, the room you’re all in now, is open twenty-four seven. That means that you will be sleeping in the packaging room, this is the room where they create the boxes. Or it used to be at least.” Danny then pointed to his right, opposite of where Merrick left. Heads began to turn towards the door in seconds.

  “It’s a bit snug in there, but feel free to get to know one another. Who knows, they might just be the ones saving your life out there. You’ll all be positioned to your stations first thing tomorrow at six. There should be some emergency blankets in there, now just go and find a place to sleep.” With that, the new recruits made their way to the door right of the exit. Danny left through the front exit. A trash can fire was the only thing illuminating him in the darkness of night. It also made him notice the holes he still had in his jacket, he just sighed at them and made his way through the corridors of wooden and steel walls. He was making his way back to his quarters when he heard footsteps coming from the darkness. Danny reached for his back pocket which contained a berretta pistol, only to find that it was Delsin, who had gotten back from his supply raid.

  “There you are,” Danny said removing his hand from the handle of his weapon “Why didn’t you tell me that we didn’t have many more rooms?”

  “Why did you use all of our supplies?” Delsin asked in return.

  “Good God,” Danny said annoyed.

  “I have to get at least a thousand more LAG ammunition to so much as even make up for what we lost. Do you know how many people in the quarantine zone have a machine gun, or in instate New York?”

  “How much did you and the boys get today?”

  “Thirty pistol rounds, twelve rifle rounds, one RPG, and zero freaking LAG ammunition.”

  “So not much, eh?” Danny asked knowing full well it wasn’t enough.

  “It wasn’t all bad, I had an epiphany.”

  “Oh yeah?” Danny said crossing his arms.

  “Yeah, I realized that the last time I checked I didn’t have scales or spit acid or have a freaking tail. So what am I even doing here?” Delsin said in his typical southern accent.

  “You’re bluffing.”

  “I don’t bluff,” Delsin said as he took off his belt holstering a pistol and dropping it in front of him.

  “Fine, I’ll see you around,” Danny said as serious as ever. Delsin walked away, into the darkness until he couldn’t be seen. A moment had passed and then Danny, with a worried expression, gesticulated at the darkness.

  “Fine, you’ve made your point, come back,” Danny stated, but there was silence. “I know your there,” He said. Delsin then came back into the light of the fire.

  “Precisely as I thought. All of you still need me,” Delsin said with the smile of a braggart.

  “We only need your weapon knowledge and strategies,” Danny said with embarrassment. The resistance group mostly consisted of regular civilians; much like the militias that surround the rest of the state. However, none of them knew the military or their tactics. Merrick used to be a soldier, but he was nothing more than a common grunt. They needed Delsin for his military genius. Delsin often times made homemade weapons for the resistance and advanced weapons for the military when it all started. He left when he found out what was going on in the quarantine zones. It wasn’t getting any better for the infected being crowded in one dangerous place. The smile from Delsin then shifted into a solemn frown as he began to speak. “But I can’t do much good for you guys if I don’t have resources.”

  “I told you before. I’m strong, I can protect these people. You’ve seen what I can do to people that hurt my friends.”

  “You may be strong but you’re not God. That rough skin of yours can only take so much punishment. Why do you want notoriety so bad? There are already several hits on you,” Delsin said reminding him.

  Danny was silent for a while and then spoke. ”I got news from our contacts outside earlier today, Michael’s dead,” Danny said changing the subject. Delsin’s face froze with sadness and disappointment. He then leaned on the wall beside the doors to the war room of the old factory and stated, “So much for getting him out.”

  “He went to such lengths to get out.”

  “Yeah, that gang messed him up good. If we hadn’t stopped by in the Yellow Zone…there’s no point in worrying anymore, He’s gone,” Danny said coldly. Delsin looked at him with disdain and left.

  Delsin found Michael on a supply run in the Yellow Zone, where a gang was initiating him. They threw rocks at him, making have to learn how to use his powers to protect himself when he got out. Delsin, with hesitation, got out his hunting bolt action rifle, loaded a bullet, and fired. He got one of the Members in the chest, killing him on the spot. Delsin then took cover as the members began to scramble and draw their weapons. Some had guns, some had pipes and 2x4’s, and others just took cover with no weapon. They all however, left Michael there in the open. Delsin whistled for his men and, in that instant, the gunfight was over before it began. His men were better equipped at the time. They took Michael to a small tunnel, their only way into the outside world, and the only way that they got information into the Yellow Zone. Delsin appeared distraught over this, as he must have understood his motives. Delsin finished staring daggers at Danny and left, leaving him alone in the light of the fire. Danny then sighed and left for his quarters.

  Alex was sitting there underneath his cloth, with his knees tucked into his chest and his face buried in his hands. A tear streamed down his face as he remembered the man that had shriveled up in front of him. How could have this happened? One moment he woke up in his room and had breakfast with his foster family and in the next moment he was held by the throat by a now dead psychopath. He had tried to go to sleep and hope that the whole day was just a dream, that it was still the middle of the night and he was sound asleep in his bed. It was no use, he was still in the worst place in America, and he was alone and scared out of his mind. What did the grim reaper mean when he said a leech? Did he suck his blood, his soul even? All Alex knew was th
at he had become a monster, the same one he had feared underneath his bed when he was three. He closed his eyes and tried to go to sleep again.

  Moments later he heard footsteps that awoke him. He sprang up, looked around, and grabbed a nearby stick that caught his eye. He felt stupid just using this as a weapon but it was all he had, and he had to keep his food safe. He waited for one minute before getting curious as to what was happening. He walked over and looked around the corner. There was nobody. Then he looked behind him, there was still nobody there. Then a can fell from the sky. He looked up to the heavens only to see nothing, until a black figure peaked over the edge of the building that Alex’s home had resided. The figure jumped down and splashed into a puddle. The figure did not seem to notice Alex. He took this to his advantage, readied himself to attack. As he snuck closer to the figure picking up the can, Alex began to make out more detailed features about the figure. He had on black shorts and had pitch black hair. He was wearing goggles as Alex noticed a strap on the back of his head. He also wore what appeared to be a grey scarf around his neck and mouth and a black shirt with several pockets on it. The figure appeared as though he was successful in the zones.

  Alex thought for a moment that if he were to knock him out somehow, he could steal whatever he had on him. Without thinking further, he brought down his flimsy stick and in that moment as well, goggles slung out from his side a metallic blade that was large and curved downward at the end and thin at the handle. It looked as though he made it out of a car door. In one upward slash, the stranger sliced Alex’s feeble weapon in two. The stranger then stood and stared at Alex with and eerie air about him. Alex panicked and ran off. The stranger suddenly jumped far and in front of him, with his car blade pointing out at him. Alex stopped and shouted in a panic, then black smoke arose from his mouth, blinding the stranger. Alex used this to his advantage and noticed that the stranger had another car blade on his other hip. Alex grabbed the blade and felt the heaviness of it, the stranger made it appear as light as a feather. He took one swing at the stranger and he responded with a slash at the blade Alex had stolen from him. The parry made Alex drop the blade on the ground and the stranger kicked him to the ground and reclaimed his lost weapon.