Disease X

by Garrett Williams

  “Okay…I’m coming with you.” She figured that if she died she would finally be free of cruelty. Heather’s hand lowered to reveal a small grin that had developed in her lips.

  “Let’s get some sleep now. I think we’ll need it.” Heather didn’t want to hurt her friends hope, but she was unsure herself of what would happen. “Remember, I’m a specter. I can get us out.”

  Cross Deity nodded, turned back over on the bed and shut her eyes, her back facing Heather. Heather walked back over to the switch and flipped it and darkness was once again dominant. She could not see, nor feel as much as a switch of sorrow of her friend as she looked at her with blinded eyes. She lay back in her bed win a voice entered the darkness.

  “Gabriela.” Heather sat up at the voice.

  “What?”

  “It’s my name.” the voice was her friend that she could not see shrouded in the darkness.

  Heather laid back and rested her head on the pillow again and before sleeping, told Gabriela, “Good night.”

  The sun had not risen. It was just a preamble to dusk. Alex lay on the cold floor using his own coat as a blanket and resting his skull on the hard and chilling ground. The room that was his bunkhouse housed more than twenty people, forcing him to rest on the floor. The sound of the doors slinging open awoke Alex before anyone else. He raised his eyelids bit by bit until the hard touch of a foot slowly pressing on his shoulder caused his eyes to jump open.

  “Get up kid. Its training day for you,” said the slight southern voice echoing into Alex’s half-conscious mind. His bloodshot eyes gazed up to the sight of the man that had stood with him, Danny and Ashley last night. “Are you up now? The name’s Delsin,” He said as Alex began to slowly rise and sit up in front of him.

  “So you’re the one Ashley mentioned to me?” Alex asked groggily.

  “Yeah, that’s me. Me and my scavenging posse go out at about this time. If you’re good at it, you might be getting up like this every day.”

  “Goody for me,” Asked stated tired and sarcastic.

  “Get ready to go. You actually got to sleep in. we’re leaving at seven when the sun rises.”

  “Seven?!” Alex complained suddenly awake and rubbing his eyes.

  “Get used to it,” Delsin stated callously with his back turned to him, waiting for him to rise. Alex finally, but slowly rose to his feet, grasped his jacket and slung his arms into it then raised the hood.

  “Alright, let’s get this over with,” Alex complained further. Delsin turned to him and said with surprised eyes.

  “Really, you’re going like that. I said get ready. Follow me.”

  “What?”

  “You want to get your head blown off out their without at least trying to fight back?” Delsin sighed and continued. “Come on.”

  Alex was pushed along at Delsins pace as his hand continued to shove him forward. Alex looked back as though he had forgotten something. He had every reason to, he felt like he was a convict there. Everyone had watched him since his arrival yesterday. Moreover, he could especially fell the eyes of one human on the entire base…and it was not even dangerous eyes as far as he could know. He stared back and found small eyes peering at him for a second and then closing. It was a small figure laying crouched sideways facing Alex on a small bench attached to the concrete wall. The figure was wrapped like a cocoon and the eyes peered at him with a searing hatred that melted ice. The instant their eyes had met, the cocoon’s eyes shut and buried themselves in in the blanket.

  Alex stopped forcefully, forcing Delsin to turn and watch the stare down between Alex and the cocoon. In turn, Delsin met Alex’s reluctance with a greater force and jerked him by the back out the door. Delsin walked Alex down the middle of the empty factory and said to him as they neared the door.

  “Do anything to her, and I will kill you,” He said sure of himself.

  Alex could feel the hatred that had been assaulted on him. He was a mere rat to them. It would have been a favor to them if he were killed the minute he was taken into the basement. Why did Merrick let me live if this was going to happen to me? Alex thought to himself as they exited through the factory doors and he stared into Delsin scornful eyes. He felt the cool air dance across his covered face as the night wind entered the through the doors. Delsin walked Alex forcefully until he finally removed his hand and stated offensively.

  “I can walk! Just lead the way will you?” Delsin gave him another hateful glare and walked ahead of him, Alex followed. As they walked across the street, another figure met them at their paths crossroads. Alex had not met this man, he was cloaked in a pure black trench coat, and so much so that one needed a trash can fire to spot him. He was pale and appeared to have been given a teeth bearing smile from an evil unbeknownst to the both of them.

  “Evening Gents.” The man stated.

  “It’s morning,” Delsin said annoyed at his presence.

  “Who’s the fresh meat?” The man asked bearing his long, fang like teeth at Alex. Alex slowed his pace to stare uneasily at the man. He gave off the air of death and he could smell from his position that it was like he bathed in roadkill.

  “He’s not for you, at least not yet.”

  “Aww,” The man said like a child with his grin still standing prominent. Alex stopped to gaze at his deep black eyes. He was mesmerizing, like if one was stuck in a trance. The man’s eyes met his and in that instant, the man’s eyes became bloodshot and the veins zeroed in on his iris, coating them with pure blood. The man slurped and it made Alex speed up with Delsin. The man then pursued them with the same bloodstained eyes that peered into both of their souls. Delsin suddenly turned and faced the monster.

  “Back off will you Vlad! Go see if the brotherhood wants you to do something or…I don’t know, anything but bugging us.” The man giggled to himself amused and his eyes shut and reopened to the same pitch dark, mesmerizing eyes of before. He did a one-eighty turn and walked in the opposite direction. He stated with their back facing each other.

  “I’ll see you at dinner tonight kid,” He said in a gleeful tone. Alex turned confused and now concerned for his own safety. It was not like he didn’t feel it before, this time however, it felt far more eminent. The more he watched the man with the trench coat and pale skin with long shadowy hair walk from them, the more compelled and hypnotized he became to follow him. The gentle sound of Delsin’s snapping fingers regained the attention of the confused Alex.

  “Who was that?”

  “A headache, that’s all. He doesn’t even live here, don’t worry.” Alex walked with Delsin down into a building and into the cellar until them he stopped and opened the door. Alex stood stunned at what lay beyond. Behind the door were mounds and mounds of firearms and homemade weapons. Ammunition stacked on top of one another like rocks forming into mountains.

  “Suit up and take only what you think you might need. There’s no point in blowing it all on one supply run.”

  Alex walked in stunned, but still remembering the promise he had made to himself about Levi. If he were out there, he felt he would need just about everything in there to take his life. If he would kill him and explain it to them, they might be able to trust him at least a little then. He couldn’t help but have sympathy for Danny either. He was in pain; he lost what was to him his father. Alex had no idea what it was like. His was gone when he was born. Alex regained himself and walked into the chamber. Delsin followed closely behind him, watching him carefully with every step he took as though he were a murderer.

  The swishing and loud gulping of an elixir sounded from under the dimly lit street light that had over looked Gavin’s metallic art studio. It was early, only a matter of time before the sun would rise from the concrete horizon. Logan sat at the curb of the street with his own vehicle parked beside him. Logan heard the approaching sound of wheels rolling on pavement. He turned, only to have light flashed in his eyes and to see a vehicle approach him and stop short beside him. Logan sat between the two vehicles with
the elixir hanging loosely from his left hand, watching as the face he was expecting approached him.

  “A little early for that don’t you think?” Gavin asked being rhetorical and annoyed. Logan merely looked back down and thought of what had happened not too long ago. He could still hear the thunderous boom of the rifle as it protruded from the long and high tech barrel. The force was enough to where one would never need to adjust, a swift neutralization. He remembered as the shooter took its mark and ended a life.

  Gavin sat beside him on the curb and complained, “What’s happened this time? It’s too early for this. Logan continued to stare at the ground almost sullenly until Gavin had finally swiped the concoction away from him. “No. It’s not about the missions…you can’t keep up the act any longer.” Logan jerked his head up to him distraught with worry. He knew what Gavin had learned.

  “Keep what act up?” Logan asked unsure.

  “Don’t be stupid,” Gavin accused with a growing grin. “The whole tough guy, ‘I don’t have anyone’, act was to protect someone.” Logan stared at him with growing concern. His eyes lingered on him like a prisoner before a judge.

  “You have a lady friend at home don’t you?” Gavin finally asked giddily. Logan suddenly sighed and looked back down as he took his prescription back from his friend.

  “I knew it,” Gavin continued satisfied, “You wanted us to think that you had nowhere to live, so that you can keep her safe by spending some nights here with us.”

  Logan finally looked up with disdain and frustration at his friend. “Fine, are you happy?”

  “Lighten up, I understand completely. I didn’t want anything to happen to my wife either when everything went to down the drain,” Gavin said reverently. Logan’s expression changed to that of the sympathetic.

  “What was she like? Your wife I mean,” He asked. Gavin looked at him and then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small necklace with a portrait inside. He gave it to him and Logan clicked the small switch on the side and the lid popped open. He set his bottle down and opened it with his other hand. Inside was a woman with a radiant smile with pitch black hair and blue eyes. She had a narrow nose and slender lips. Beside her was the man sitting beside him at that moment. They stood, both bearing grins, in front of the symbol of liberation for the healthy… and forsakenness for the sick. The colossal entity bathed in green…with a hand toward the heavens.

  “It’s from before everything. Actually, I got that framed only a few days before it happened,” Gavin said thinking back. “I can’t get her face out of my head as she pleaded for help. All I did was stand there too terrified. I fell to my knees and watched her die.” Gavin had begun to choke up as he retold his story to him. Logan looked at him and closed the locket and handed it back to him. “I always think that if things were different then, she would be here with me right now, and I hate myself for it.”

  Logan felt something that he hadn’t felt once for him, sadness, grief, and sympathy. He picked up his elixir again and handed it to his now closer friend. Gavin looked down at the prescription and took it in the same hand as the locket he received from his friend.

  “Do both me and yourself a favor: take care of the one you love,” Gavin requested as he took a drink.

  “I will. I promise,” Logan said after pausing for a moment and staring at his friend’s pain. A loud vibration and a louder ring had emitted from Logan’s trench coat pocket. Both men’s attentions were attracted toward it. Logan reached into his pocket and the screen read Industry again. It was Huntington. He answered and his voice came on. “What is it know?” Logan asked plainly.

  “Don’t worry, I secured this line. I’m calling to say that thanks to your efforts yesterday, we believe that we’re ready to retaliate.” Logan’s eyes filled with rage as began barking at Huntington.

  “Retaliate! What the hell was that yesterday then?!”

  “It was strategy, knowing their most powerful combatant, Daniel Levitz, will be in mourning, we have the perfect opportunity to strike while their morale is down,” The voice on the phone said calmly and surely.

  “You’re sick!” Logan said as he lifted the phone and shouted into the speaker in front of him.

  “I’m sick? Last I checked you were the infected one. I can call off the deal at any moment. Besides, what do you care about a bunch of terrorists? You signed up to protect the healthy no matter the cost.” Logan put the phone back into his ear and continued to listen.

  “Does the assassin actually have some sympathy for these monsters?” Logan listened silently and finally answered painfully.

  “Yes…sir.”

  “That’s what I thought. Don’t worry, I’ll make good on that usual payment of yours. In fact, Mr. Freeman should be at his studio by now.” Logan looked over to him, only to have a wad of greenbacks held in his face. He took his earning from him and listened to what he had left to say.

  “I want you and your friend to be their when it goes down. Come to this address I’m sending you, we’ll prepare there.”

  Logan hung up his phone and a mere moment later a message materialized on screen. 6250 Wingate Avenue appeared on his screen. He showed it to his sullen friend and he nodded in return.

  They both stood and Gavin offered, “Want me to drive you. God knows how long you’ve been drinking that stuff.” Logan looked at him and nodded his head in acceptance. They wandered over to Gavin’s small car and Logan moseyed to the passenger side of his car. The elixir rested in his lap as the hum of the vehicle altered into loud crumbling of motion. “I know that place, you know?” Gavin stated nonchalantly as he directed his vehicle around a corner that was his studio. Logan looked at him curiously. “I went there a lot after she died. My wife I mean. I think it’s what this world could use.”

  The dark morning cast into oblivion as Danny observed the sky closely from the watch tower Ashley had done her duty in only two days ago. He grabbed a rifle that he brought with him to scout the area. He picked it up and surveyed the darkness on the ground outside to colossal walls that surrounded the home. The sound of the metallic clangs of the ladder caught the attention of his ears and his head whisked around to look at the approaching sounds. Fingers then erected from the bottom of the floor and a head covered with black hair rose from the bottom. Familiar beautiful blue eyes peeked up from the floor. Danny knew who had been coming to visit. Ashley climbed to the top and set foot on the tower that Danny currently resided on.

  “What are you doing up so early?” Danny asked when he turned his head back toward oblivion.

  “Couldn’t sleep much, I guess we’re similar in a way. I come here to think too.”

  “I’m not thinking. I’m just doing the night shift,” Danny stated as he turned his head back to her and pulled it back into his rifle scope. Ashley bit her lip and shoved her hand into her pocket. She felt and shuffled a thin object, it was as thin as paper. She pulled it out and held it in both hands, it was in fact a small, and soot cloaked paper. The white was barely visible by the normal human eye. She walked over, carrying the paper nervously in both hands. She placed one hand on his shoulder and asked.

  “Danny…”

  “I said I’m fine,” He raised his voice as he spoke coldly. Ashley backed away from him for a moment, and then pursued him again.

  “I know what’s wrong. I’m hurting too,” Ashley said feeling remorse and grief.

  “He was a father to both of us,” She continued. She stared at her feet and at the slip that sat in her palms. Danny lowered his rifle for a moment, and then raised it once more.

  “I know you don’t like this feeling, and that you don’t show it. But we both know how you feel, all of us do actually. But we need– “

  “Did he tell you the story?” Danny interrupted Ashley, grabbing her attention. He turned back at her with reverent eyes.

  She shook her head and asked, “What story?” Danny stared back off into the oblivion and began to speak.

  “He saved a boy years
ago, when everything happened. He had to turn on the people that he loved to make a choice. They hated him for it, but he had one idea. All he wanted was to see the day that there would be peace.” Ashley kept listening intently; he continued. “He became infected to send a message that he accepted us. When negotiation wasn’t an option, he took that boy and met people. He raised that boy when everyone to do it died or already hated him. He taught him to love his people, to protect them in adversity. He was that boy’s father, his true father at least. Because he loved him, he wanted to see him truly become a man before he left this life.”

  Ashley listened and she detected a new tone in voice in her beau. He had become more morose. She walked toward him as he continued. “That boy though, he never became a man. He was nothing more than bull-headed, loose cannon. He loved to kill those that took his life from him. It was the life that he could have had right? When they fired those first shots, it took two important things from him. Those things created his sense of being loved. He could never love in return.” Danny lowered his rifle and stared again into the oblivion of darkness. Ashley placed the black stained paper on the flat corner of the rail and wandered closer to him. “He died in vain. There is no peace, and the boy became nothing more than a monster.” Danny then stared down with his eyes clenched and fluid draining from the black and white blur of his vision.

  Ashley stared at his pain as his body shook in sorrow. She closed in on him and wrapped her arms around him from behind his neck and stood with him. His tears fell and stained the wooden complexion of the floor. “You were right. If it weren’t for these…these curses …we would have the life we wanted.” Her arms wrapped around him firmer as she brought the side of her head down closer to where his side was contacting hers. She rested her chin on his shoulder and held him with all of her consolation. She looked over to him to see the tears fall from his face and she kissed his side and brought her face back down on his chin. They stood there, in each other’s embrace, in the bleak darkness.