Disease X

by Garrett Williams

  It was only moments before the sun would begin to rise in the form of dawn as Heather and Gabriela made their final preparations for their departure. They had torn off their dingy sheets from their bed and had stuffed and crammed things that they both believed would assist them. The room was picked clean by them and shoved into their homemade suitcases. They had taken everything but the bed and the pillow, as they would only weigh them down. Heather continued to cram as much as she could and tie a knot out of the bedding. Her mind began to drift to worry. She didn’t tell her friend, but she was more likely trying to convince herself that she had a plan. She knew the truth, she did not have one. She looked back at her friend frantically trying to tie her baggage together. To Heather, she was ecstatic to leave. If she told her now that she had no real plan, that she was trying to lie to herself, she couldn’t imagine what Gabriela might do to her. The world had hardened her, she was cruel, and if she wanted to she could kill Heather with her bare hands and take her items as well. Heather didn’t know if this was some sort of ploy, but she had no choice now, she had to get out with her.

  Her friend finished with her knot and asked, “You ready?” Heather quickly lit up and finished her knot at lightning speed and turned to her again and nodded. They tied their knots in a way that made them one strap backpacks that sprawled across their chests. They slung them on and Gabriela immediately, but quietly, walked over to the door and the darkness was soon lit by the shine from their own room. The light slowly began to sprawl across the floor as the crack got larger and larger for her single blue eye to peek into. Gabriela peered around and checked both ends and the stairs that led to their room. “Clear,” She whispered to Heather and they both stealthily walked into out into the dark corridors.

  “Why couldn’t we go out the window?” Heather whispered as they made their way down to the top of the stairs.

  “They keep guards on the night shift out there,” Gabriela responded quietly back. They tip toed down the stair well that lead from their former room and Gabriela whispered, “The doors right there, after that it’s up to you to give us a ride out.” She pointed at the door as she said it and Heather stared at it with growing concern for herself. She got her abilities just yesterday; she didn’t know much about them to begin with. How would she get them out, and where would they run to? They made it to the ground floor and began to crouch-walk across the large stomach that was the foyer. They were half way across the room while Heather still bared her desperate and terrified eyes at the door. She then heard the sound of a door clicking shut. Gabriela didn’t seem to notice, but in Heathers state of unrest, her eyes swung back around fiercely to a door that had a keyhole, revealing a morsel of light. She heard a continued sound of clicking, and like a moth to flame, she drifted away from her inmate. She made her way to the door and peeked one of her blue eyes into the hole.

  She witnessed what appeared to be a wooden table with decorative carvings on it in the center of the room. She stared at two people, one she recognized, and one that she hadn’t known but must have lived her a long time. It was Grey; he was with another person, a fully grown woman. The woman turned toward the door but had not seen Heather. What Heather saw was truly terrifying…the woman was faceless. She said nothing as skin filled her mouth and she was blind as skin coaxed her vision into pitch darkness. As Heather looked up and down the woman she became larger in form and seemed to bulge out as she looked downward more.

  Grey turned to her and stated, “Don’t worry; you’ve done this before haven’t you? It will only be a second, and you’ll regenerate. As for the gremlin, well…” Heather watched more intently as the woman turned to face his voice as Grey reached for something from a drawer. The woman had then shown the full length of her bulge as she faced Grey.

  Grey finally pulled out a small revolver, small enough to fit into the back of one’s pocket. He turned to the faceless woman and called to her, knowing that she cannot see him. “Lie down.” The woman did as he commanded and felt for the table. She faced Heather’s eyes again and then reclined back. The woman appeared to be a steep hill as Heather stared mesmerized at the moment.

  Gabriela then grabbed her by the shoulder and whispered coldly as she pulled her back with her, “There’s no time to stare. Get moving.” She pulled her back and before Heathers eyes had left the keyhole, she saw Grey lift the weapon. She was being pulled along by her escapee and then she heard a muffled bang from the room that she saw through the keyhole.

  Heather suddenly wanted to scream. She realized what had happened. It was true what Grey had said, the sick are truly no better that the healthy. Gabriela glanced down at her face and noticed her whimpering silently, she was losing her composure. Her whimpering grew louder into a high pitched scream. Gabriela muffled her mouth and hoped that no one had heard her. Heather had just caught another glimpsed at the reality that was both worlds. Her whole being wanted to just scream through her friend’s hand that had been muting her. Tears began to roll down her face at the reality that she had ignored her whole life and accepted as normal until she truly witnessed evil. Darwinism was dominating in society, only the strongest could survive. Gabriela had practically dragged her to the front entrance and after using her own back to push open their escape, she released her hand from her mouth and struck her on the side.

  “What’s gotten into you?” she said at a louder pitch as she watched Heather melt to the ground and choke on her own tears. Fluid had come from her eyes and her nose as she stared at the black concrete. The sound of approaching footsteps alerted Gabriela and she already knew that the night patrol had come to investigate.

  “Come on, wake up!” she slapped Heather again and her face flew sideways and she held her cheek and let her leaking face stare up at her. “Pull it together damn it! You need to get us out of here!” Heather then remembered that she was supposed to take over from there. She began to grasp the hopelessness of their endeavor. She couldn’t focus, not with what she had witnessed. It was the death of the future, a welcome to oblivion for the soul and justified only by the wicked. The clock was ticking with only the sound of footsteps counting down the seconds. Gabriela looked at her ferociously and continued to yell and scold her to do what she had promised and liberate them from their slavery as cattle. Heather couldn’t move, she was paralyzed in her state of grief for the entity she never knew.

  Gabriela continued desperately as the footsteps drew nearer and nearer to get her to make good on her promise. She looked out into the open for a split moment to contemplate sprinting as far away as she could and leave her, but then she remembered what it was truly like to feel freedom. She felt the cool autumn air roll over her pale skin and she was hypnotized by the rising sun in the distance that would soon liberate them from the dawn morning into a vibrant array of light. She breathed the cool air in little gasps as it felt as though it would freeze her throat. She turned back to Heather, who would still not submit to her orders. The footsteps had finally arrived from the sound of the slamming door and from around both corners came men bearing automatic weapons and one of them finally spoke into a radio in his hand.

  “We have two escapees. We’re bringing them back now.” The men drew closer with weapons drawn and Gabriela continued to abuse Heather. “Don’t you want this?! You said we would make it out! What about our families? Don’t you want to see them again ever?!”

  Heather’s eyes then widened staring at the concrete that she collapsed onto her knees upon and began to remember again. Today was the day they would both return home. Her parents were gone for so long, and then she was captured. She then thought of how worried sick her own family would be recognizing that their only daughter, their only child, was now a mere bovine.

  The men closed in on them now in a single circle surrounding the pair. Gabriela turned toward the rest of the men and began to rise to her feet to face them.

  “Get back on your knees!” One of the men had ordered her. His order had gone through her as though she were deaf
. Gabriela felt the rush of truly trying to escape for the first time. She had felt what it was like for one brief moment to be free. “I said get down!” The same man barked at her.

  Gabriela then stared at them with true hate and disdain. She was determined to leave that sinister place forever, whether in life or in death, and she told them exactly what she felt.

  “This is not peace! This is just ownership! This kind of peace will never last! It doesn’t matter how many people come and lay down their guns for one night. It’s all the same! We’re all nothing but animals!”

  Heather ignored her words and her attention had been immediately drawn on her own family. She then realized that she couldn’t truly depend on anyone. She learned that the hard way. She was taken to sell herself in the name of “peace.” It was nothing more than a profit. Her innards filled with more rage with every word Gabriela had shouted. The men then drew closer in on her and had already snapped the safety off. The doors to the house then slung open, revealing Grey with the same single revolver drawn and aiming at the two. Heather’s glare moved toward the doors and over to the butcher. Her eyes grew with rage until she could no longer hold it and then there was silence. The veins in Heather’s eyes had once again narrowed and her blue eyes had once again filled with her own blood. The ground then began to rumble around every one of them and from behind the men, the concrete began to roll up like a ribbon.

  “Move!” One of the men shouted and they dived away, Grey stepped back into the house and watched from the safety of the foyer.

  The concrete then started to envelope both Heather and Gabriela like an egg protecting a baby bird. Darkness fell on them as Gabriela fell to the ground and began to feel around for her companion.

  “What’s happening? What are you doing?!” She shouted at her friend, but she got no response. Heather stared up with her blood eyes and she could see the seeds with every crimson root through the egg that sheltered them. One of the seeds fired a few bullets into the egg and there was absolutely no penetration. The weapons then flew from their bare hands and surrounded the egg. The cocoon was surrounded by the firearms that once belonged to the men. Their own tools had betrayed them and had sights set on them by invisible executioners sitting atop the egg. The men backed away in astonishment and tried to call forth abilities such as bone, electric, strength, frost, fire. They charged, but before they had the chance, it was over.

  The cacophony of loud thunderous barrages of lead had come down on them and Heather could see through her eyes that the seed’s roots had begun to come undone. Cerise flew from the seeds in her eyes and the roots had split open and whole silhouette limbs had flown off as the men had pounced toward the egg, only to be sent back by a maelstrom of alloy. In that instant the barrage had ended, there were no survivors. There was nothing left but shell fragments as the concrete had fallen to rubble around them and Heather’s eyes returned to their clear blue state.

  The sound of loud steps came from the front entrance as the weapons had begun falling to the ground from the heavens. A revolver was raised as both girls had drawn their attention to the man that took in the both of them. “Look at what you’ve done. This was a place of peace. If you had stayed with us – “

  “Shut up!” Heather said in a sudden burst of malice. Gabriela looked at her murderous and disgruntled friend. Grey then projected his attention toward her suddenly. Gabriela walked behind her friend to avoid the glare of her former superior. She began silently fumbling around with the weapons. Heather stood up uneasily with tears still in her blue eyes.

  “This is peace to you? These people have families. People that love them and are wondering God only knows what about them.” Heather scolded him. Grey stood listening intently, then retorted calmly with his weapons still drawn at her.

  “You’re still just a child. You’re infected. The only thing people care about is that they don’t end up like us.”

  “That’s not true!” Heather barked in a shaky voice. Her hair had been deranged beyond cleansing and shrouded her face.

  “The hell it’s not!”

  “Shut up! You’re nothing but a slave driver!” Heather accused. Gabriela had grasped a weapon and checked the ammo while behind her and loaded it once more. The two were too absorbed by their fight to notice.

  “This is the only way! I’ve tried, truly I have, people don’t love anymore, they just use!” Heather had not noticed before, but Grey had a small symbol of hope around his neck.

  “You sell people for a profit! What part of that is fair? Where are civil rights? How is that peace?!”

  “Cattle rustlers take cattle and sell their products for profit. Peace is business. It is very much a dirty one sometimes.”

  “People are held against their will!” Heather said with tears streaming down both side of her face. “We are born free and you take it from us!”

  “Freedom must be maintained! You have to fight for it! This is peace without the bloodshed.”

  “So people have to sell their own freedom for the sake of the more fortunate?!” Heather glared at him through her misty eyes and Grey could see what it truly meant to hate then.

  “Who said anything about the more fortunate…?” Grey then relaxed his small revolver and began to roll up his sleeve. Heather stared at him, waiting with cruel eyes for his next machination. Grey rolled up his sleeve and Heather then left her evil state and reverted to a shocked state. Grey bore the same mark as her friend: The toga muliebris. In that instant a shot was fired from near her ear, deafening her. Alloy filled his throat and crimson began to overflow from his windpipe and out of his mouth.

  Heather fell to the ground covering both ears in pain and time seemed to slow as she watched the cream of the crop fall before her eyes in his former glory. Grey truly believed that the only way to peace was distraction. Heather then realized as she watched his body fall, that now in death, he had eternal freedom. She then turned to her friend to find that she had readied her rifle over Heather’s shoulder. She lowered it somberly and looked down on her. After a moment she finally ordered, “Let’s go.” she began to walk toward the rising sun that had come from the horizon. Heather picked herself up and walked toward Gabriela’s path. She stopped short and stared back at the now abandoned ranch then finally turned back and continued on. She swore she would never forget the things that she witnessed, and the lessons she had leaned. The two walked into the warm sunrise.

  The faint sound of clinking and clanging surrounded the small armory as Alex was becoming more accustomed to the firearms they had gathered over the years. Delsin stood leaning his shoulder in the doorway already prepared for the morning run. He waited patiently for Alex to finally make his final decision on an alloy launcher that suited him. Alex fought with the weapon trying to load a chain of ammunition into the stock of an LMG.

  He beat the top of it with his fist, it continued to show resistance and popped back out resting on the chain leading to the small box that held the contents of more ammunition. The small box slid off as Alex then changed the angle of assault diagonally down and the contents spilled out and the chain receded from him and crashed on the ground. Alex sighed and resorted to picking up and refilling the box again. Delsin then walked over to him and calmly took the contents from him and loaded the small box and slid it onto the weapon and it clicked with ease. He loaded the top of it with the chain and slammed the top on, trapping the bullets in their place. The weapon was then ready for use. Alex looked up at him from the small stool that he had sat on and said harmlessly mockingly, “Show off.”

  “You’ll get the hang of it eventually,” Delsin stated as he took the weapon and mounted it back onto the wall that the boy had retrieved it from. He then walked across the room again and slid a small drawer open and drew two small nine millimeters from it. He tossed both weapons into Alex’s lap, along with four small clips loaded with twelve alloys.

  “Try these. See how they do,” Delsin said walking back to the door way leading to the stair
s back up above ground. He grasped his rifle in one hand and it rested slung at his side.

  “I was already taught how to use pistols,” Alex claimed.

  “Then show me,” Delsin said raising an open hand at the weapons. He watched as Alex slowly and carefully loaded the clips into the hilt and pulled back the stock. It flew forward with a mechanical pop and Alex aimed at the ground, reminding himself to aim down the small stump on the top.

  “Alright then, let’s go,” Delsin said satisfied and walked back up the stairs and through the door into the building.

  “Wait!” Alex exclaimed as he ran after him to keep pace. Alex ran through the door and jogged up to him putting his new weapons in the holsters that he had been given by Delsin. They rested around his sides. He jogged halfway through the building until he caught up.

  “Where are we going?” Alex asked meekly.

  “Wherever the supplies happen to be,” Delsin said blasé. Delsin opened the doors and red morning light had arisen from the developing sun over the horizon. The cold air made Alex zip up his jacket and raise his grey hood again. The grounds being engulfed by the behemoth mouth had become more bustling. People walked around on the top of the teeth with weapons in hand watching the outside and, to Alex, seemed to be keeping an eye on the inside at him as well. They walked across the dawn struck concrete yard until they came across a small lot with a crude homemade wire fence outlining it in a small square.

  In the lot rested vehicles that were dusty and ranged from two person cars to seven person vans and pickup trucks that could be used to carry troops in the bed. As they both neared the fence they came across a small wire door and they stopped short. Delsin reached into his pocket and felt around through the many keys he had obtained over the years. He pulled out a small ring with many of them attached and he cycled through them, testing one that he laid his eyes on. Alex looked through the gate and saw the many people that had been waiting in and around their own vehicles and as they heard the jingles of Delsin’s collage of keys, they turned to face the both of them, especially Alex.