“Once you start vaccinating people in the regulated zone, people in the de-reg are going to find out about it pretty quickly. If the rebels already suspect that we might use a bio-weapon against them, which they might well, then they’ll be a lot more cautious.”
“You’re probably right. You’re a real credit to the military, you know that? If this works out I’ll personally make sure you’re awarded a medal.”
Over the next two months, we perfected our somatic modification to the immune system to make anyone who received it totally immune to Rebola. I delayed my part of the process as long as I possibly could, but there was only so much I could do without looking suspicious. If they realized I was delaying on purpose, I’d either be arrested, or at the very least fired, and our plan would be ruined.
Every day felt like a death sentence, not just for myself but for all those living in the de-reg zone. I imagined their faces, the effect that the virus would have on them all. Whole families, whole neighborhoods, whole towns of dying people.
Each night Annie and I tried to work out what more we could do, but apart from getting locked up ourselves, which no longer worried us, there was the larger problem: if this failed, the military would simply find another way. We were sure this wasn’t their only option — just the best one they had at the moment. They could blame it on the Indonesians, protect everyone in the regulated zone, and protect the infrastructure in the de-reg zone. It was the perfect weapon. A bomb would be much too messy, and far too inaccurate, and ground combat would take too long and cost too many soldier’s lives. A virus was perfect. But in the end — replaceable.
When the code was ready, the vaccines for all those who lived in the regulated zones were going to be produced at a factory outside Sydney, and I passed on this piece of information to Bruno.
A few days later, he got back to me and told me they’d managed to hack into the factory’s automated system and place an order for an extra ten thousand doses of the bio-vector which would be delivered to a warehouse in the de-reg zone. It was the most we could do without causing suspicion.
Annie and I debated whether we should go ourselves, but by then it was almost as if we had a death wish.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ANNIE AND I arrived back in Melbourne on a Wednesday evening. Over the last two months, the government had created twenty million doses of the vaccine to be spread throughout all the regulated zones of Australia, telling people they were protection against bio-weapons like the one the Indonesians had used in Darwin. Not only that, but they’d created ten million blank doses of the vaccine and were distributing them to clinics in the de-reg zone, telling them the same thing. They’d done a huge advertising campaign about how Australia was finally going to be united again, and how this was the first step of goodwill on the part of the government.
As soon as we arrived back, Annie and I drove out to the de-reg zone. We were stopped at the gate by guards but when they asked us what our purpose was we told them we were part of the vaccination program. They looked up Annie’s credentials and let us through.
After picking up the vaccines, our vehicle found a place to park as close as possible to Gilda and Sam’s street, which was now crowded with so much temporary housing our vehicle couldn’t get through. Dogs scattered at the sight of us, presumably hanging around the streets for food but afraid they might become food themselves. Malnourished humans, who didn’t look much healthier than the dogs, walked as if all purpose had been drained out of them. I looked at their faces and imagined what their lives had been like before the flooding and the rest of the environmental devastation and over-population problems — probably not too different from my own. We came across a whole group of people sitting in what was once a park. They looked up at us with gaunt eyes. A few of them held up their hands but neither Annie nor I had any cash. A couple of people were dragging away what looked to be a dead body wrapped in a blanket.
Then I saw a group of men coming towards us, laughing loudly. There was no time to turn off or around.
“What should we do?” I said to Annie.
“Just keep walking.”
We moved over so the gang could pass, but they blocked our passage.
“That’s a nice looking pair of shoes you’ve got there, mate,” one of them said.
I looked up at him. He was around twenty-two, with a set jaw and a glare in his eyes that was beyond his years.
“Yeah. What size are they?” another one said.
“Pretty nice looking pants as well,” a third man put in.
“What’s in that box there?” another said, referring to the vaccines I was carrying.
“We’re friends of the Mendoza family. Please, leave us alone,” Annie said. I was shaking inside, ready to fly into attack even though I knew I would be taken down in seconds. I could hear my breathing getting louder and faster. My hands were clenched and I scanned the ground for a weapon: a rock or a stick. I worked for the military — why hadn’t I brought a gun? Not that I would have known how to use it. And against so many assailants, it probably would have been turned against us anyway.
“And who gave you permission to be here?” An older man stepped forward. He had a tattoo down the side of his neck and his arms were scarred. His skin hung slightly loose around what was once muscle. He had a gold band around one arm — a luxury that very few could afford in this area and even fewer would dare to wear in public even if they could.
“We didn’t have time to get permission,” Annie said. “This is a medical matter.” We had tried to contact Gilda before leaving but we hadn’t been able to. It seemed the government had already started jamming communications.
“I recognize you.” A younger man stepped forward, and the man who had just spoken glared at him. “She works at the clinic,” the younger man explained. “She was the one who fixed my broken arm.”
“David, isn’t it?” Annie said.
“Yes,” the man said.
“What are you going to see the Mendoza’s for?” the leader said.
“I treated Sam for rabies last year. He hasn’t been into the clinic for a while. I need to check on him.”
The man stood there and looked at us for a minute longer, then finally said, “Come on boys. We’ve got work to do.”
Before we knew it they were flowing around us and kicking stones and laughing down the street behind us.
I took Annie’s hand. “Are you okay?”
She nodded, and we continued on.
We arrived at Sam and Gilda’s house to find Gilda stirring a pot of stew on a small gas stove out the back. She was happy to see us and hugged us both.
“Where’s Sam?” Annie said.
“He’s with some friends,” Gilda replied, and I was surprised that even amongst the turmoil of the de-reg zone children could still lead normal lives.
“I need you to bring him home,” Annie said.
“Why?”
“Come inside. We need to talk.”
Gilda looked up at Annie and was obviously about to ask her to wait, but then turned off the gas and followed us in.
“What we’re about to tell you must not leave this house,” Annie said. “We’re going to try to help people, but if word of what we’re doing gets out then all hell will break loose.”
Gilda sat down at her wobbly kitchen table and crossed her arms in front of her. “What’s wrong?” she said, her voice suddenly hard.
We explained everything to her, and she looked more afraid than I’d ever seen her before.
“They can’t do that,” she kept saying.
“They can and they will,” Annie said. “They think the rebels present too much of a threat to the regulated zone.”
“But that’s not true at all.” Gilda put her hands up to her hair and pulled at it gently.
“What do you know?” Annie said.
Gilda shook her head. “It’s just not.” But she wouldn’t say any more.
“We have to start vaccinating people,�
�� Annie said. “We’ll tell people it’s the same vaccine as the ones that are being given out at the clinics. That way we won’t cause any panic and word won’t get back to the military or the government that something’s amiss. I’m going to go to my old clinic tomorrow and start working from there, but we should start here, tonight, by vaccinating the locals.”
“How many doses do you have?” Gilda said.
“Ten thousand.”
“Why don’t we take some over to the clinic in Lilydale? And some more up to Belgrave? We can get it done faster if we spread out.”
“Do you know anyone there who you trust? We can’t let people find out what we’re doing.”
“Yes, I have contacts at both those clinics,” Gilda said.
I wondered for a moment how Gilda was so well connected, but then Annie said, “Let’s get to work.”
“I’m going for Sam,” Gilda said. “I’ll start telling people to come here.”
“Don’t forget. You have to tell them that it’s the same vaccine the rest of the clinics are giving out.”
Gilda looked at her with a flash of fear and then turned around and left, the curtain over the doorway swinging behind her.
Annie and I started preparing the syringes, putting needles on them. Twenty minutes later Gilda returned with Sam. He ran over and hugged us both and I clung on to his thin but lively body, spinning him around for a minute before putting him back down.
Gilda asked Sam to sit down, but just as Annie was about to inject him a tall, heavy set man in torn khakis came through the door, a gun in his hand.
“Get away from the boy,” the man said.
“Boon, it’s okay, they’re friends. This is Michael and Annie.” Gilda stepped between him and us.
“Do you know what these people are trying to do?” Boon said.
“They’re here to help us,” Gilda said.
“Help us my fucking ass.” Boon stepped passed Gilda with his pistol still pointed at Annie. “Now get the fuck away from him before I blow you both away.” He waved the gun between the two of us.
“Boon, calm down.” Gilda put a hand on the arm holding the gun, but it didn’t sway.
“Do you know what this shit is? Do you?” Boon picked up a syringe and turned to her.
“It’s a vaccine. These people are my friends. They’re here to help us.”
“This is a fucking virus,” Boon said, pushing Gilda out of the way and coming towards Annie and I.
“It’s a benign virus designed to modify the immune system,” I said. “It works like a vaccine.”
“Bull shit,” Boon said, dividing the word in two. “We’ve had our people run tests on this shit. We don’t know what the fuck it does, but we’re pretty sure it’s not going to be very nice.”
Annie and I looked at each other. What was he talking about? He obviously thought this was the same vaccine they were handing out at the clinics, but what did he mean by it being a virus? The blanks they were delivering to the clinics shouldn’t have contained a virus, and surely they weren’t handing out the actual vaccines.
And then it clicked. They were using the “vaccines” to spread Rebola.
By now Boon was over next to Annie, holding his gun at her and taking the syringe from her hand.
“Stop,” I said. “Look, you have to believe us. We’re here to help. I’ll show you.” I picked up one of the syringes from the table, took the cap off and injected myself with it.
I watched Boon’s tense body relax and the gun waver, but then suddenly it was pointing at me again.
“You’ve probably vaccinated yourselves,” Boon said. “Of course you wouldn’t be so stupid as to risk your own lives.”
“Is this true?” Gilda looked at Annie and I with anger in her eyes.
“Gilda, of course it’s not true,” Annie said. “Why would we have told you what we did? Why would we even be here if this was the truth?”
Gilda looked at her and then she lowered her guard. “Boon, they’re telling the truth. Sit down. Listen to what they have to say.”
Annie and I repeated to Boon what we’d told Gilda and then I told them all about how the virus worked and how the military was spreading it.
“How do you know all this?” Boon said.
“I work for a company who works for the military,” I said, not wanting to tell him everything.
“How long have we got?”
“A couple of days at most. Once people are injected they’ll be dead within twenty-four hours. And within a few days pretty much everyone within a hundred kilometers of here will have it.”
“Why didn’t you come earlier?”
“They only just came up with the vaccine.”
“We could have gotten away.”
“There’s no escaping this thing,” I said. “It’s airborne, and can last outside of the body for days.”
“Why only ten thousand vaccines?”
“That was all we could get without being noticed. And if too many people survive, the military will just find another way to wipe them out.”
Just then another woman came through the doorway. She looked at Annie and at me suspiciously.
“What is it, Macy?” Gilda said.
“Does anyone know why the gates have been shut?” she said, obviously referring to the gates leading back to the regulated zone.
“Since when have they been shut?” Annie looked at me with panic in her eyes. We had thought we had another few days at least.
“Since about an hour ago. Nobody’s going in or out.”
I tried to check the net, but there was no signal.
“You know this has absolutely nothing to do with the rebel situation, don’t you?” Boon turned to Annie and I.
“What do you mean?” Annie said.
“They know there’s no longer enough food left for everyone and most of the food growing regions are in the de-reg zone,” Boon said. “That is the real reason they want to get rid of us.”
“What do you mean they’re going to get rid of us?” Macy said.
“Macy, go and get your children,” Gilda said. “Bring them over here. There’s a nasty bug going around. We need to vaccinate them against it.”
“What’s vaccinate?”
“It means protect against.”
“And who’s trying to get rid of us?”
“Nobody. It’s just Boon talking crazy again. You know what he’s like?” Gilda went over and put her hands on Macy.
Macy looked doubtful, but then Gilda said, “Go and get your children.” And Macy left.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes,” Boon said to Gilda. “We have to start getting people in here. If this is a real vaccine.” He shot one more questioning glance at me.
“It is.” I nodded.
Boon and Gilda hugged in a way which told me their relationship ran deeper than just acquaintances, and then Boon strode away.
“Who is he?” Annie said.
“He’s Sam’s uncle,” Gilda said. “My late husband’s brother. You probably saw him at the funeral.”
“I don’t remember him. Are you sure you can trust him?”
“I’d trust him with my life.”
“Do you think that’s true? What he said?” Annie said.
“Yes. The rebels are only trying to protect the people here. They’re not trying to take over the regulated zone.”
Annie looked at her and shook her head. “Okay, here’s what we do. You stay here with half the vaccines, try to spread them around as much as you can. Make sure whoever’s doing the vaccinating has vaccinated themselves first. We’ll go down to my old clinic and start vaccinating people from there. It’ll be the quickest way.”
Half an hour later, Boon came back with two other men.
“Let’s go,” Annie said.
“Will we be able to carry the vaccines between us?” Boon asked.
“Yes,” I said.
The five of us went out into the night and headed for our vehicle, moonlight p
aving our way.
“What are we going to do?” I whispered to Annie.
“These people are going to need our help,” she said. “The government isn’t going to let people back in for weeks and once the virus goes through there’s going to be so much that needs to be done. Getting rid of the bodies, for one thing. Without a good cleanup this place is going to become an infested swamp of disease, and even the ones we do vaccinate are going to die.”
My heart and stomach ached as I thought about the deaths of all these people from a virus that I had helped the military make useful by creating a vaccine for. Even if I hadn’t, it wouldn’t have mattered. They had my research. Others knew how to use it. There was nothing I could have done to stop them. I suddenly understood how those who had been working on the Manhattan project felt when they heard the atom bomb had been detonated over Nagasaki and Hiroshima.
We got back to the car and Gilda and the two men loaded up with vaccines.
“I’ll stay with you two,” Boon said.
“Okay.” I was glad to have a gun on our side.
The car drove us towards the clinic and on the way we stopped at a few people’s houses and told them they needed to come to the clinic immediately. We told them to tell others, and for those others to do the same.
We arrived and started setting up. Instead of using the consulting rooms, which would only slow down the flow of people, we set up small tables in the waiting room, a box of vaccines on each with accompanying needles and syringes. If only we had more. The five thousand we’d kept were not going to last very long.
People started arriving fairly soon after we got there, and Boon directed them to form a line outside while Annie and I called them in one by one. We sat them down, gave them a quick shot, and told them to tell their friends and families to get down here quickly. I looked at each one as they went through: old people, young people, small children, families. People from all over the world — Australia had always been multicultural. It was early in the morning and they seemed surprised to be there, as if they weren’t quite sure what they were doing.
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