by Steven Bird
Looking around nervously, she pushed the straps of her overalls off her shoulders and began sliding them down to her lower legs. Hearing movement behind her, Jenny could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand as chills ran down her spine. She knew someone was there. She could feel it with the utmost certainty.
Slowly turning her head, she saw Dr. Jared Davis standing there, drenched in sweat and his eyes so bloodshot, they appeared as if they might burst out of his head from the pressure. The veins in his neck and the sides of his head were traced by the grayish-green film of the eukaryotes. Exposing his teeth as his rate of breathing increased, a thick froth of saliva oozed from his mouth as he seemed to be preparing to make a move.
���Jared… it���s… it���s me,��� she said. ���It���s me, Jenny. You know me, don���t you?���
Slowly beginning to stand while pulling her bib-overalls back to her shoulders, she began to back away as Jared dragged his right foot forward, initiating a slow, deliberate advance toward her.
���It���s me, Jared. We can help you. Dr. Graves can help you. She���s working on something to help you right now,��� she pleaded.
Taking another labored step toward her, his eyes fixated on hers with an empty, soulless stare. Her words seeming to have no meaning to him at all.
���Jared. I know you���re still in there. I can see it in you. I know you can hear me. We���re going to help you, Jared. That���s why Dr. Graves had you somewhere safe���so that she could return with help.���
With his breathing now heavy and thick with bubbles of mucus in his lungs, Jenny backed away, whispering softly, ���Please… please don���t do this.���
~~~~
���That���s been long enough,��� Brett said. ���Privacy or not, I���m gonna check on her.���
Walking past Dr. Perkins and pushing the door open, Brett heard Jenny unleash a blood-curdling scream. Shoving his way through the door, he ran at full speed toward the mezzanine where to his horror, he saw Jared standing over her body, fifty feet in front of him, alongside the water storage tanks.
���Get off her!��� he screamed as Jared���s head slowly turned toward him.
Exposing his blood-covered teeth in a primal, bloodthirsty manner, Jared began to walk toward Brett, quickly accelerating to a run as he unleashed a visceral, rage-filled cry.
With only seconds to act, Brett drew back his arm and threw his ice axe. Watching it tumble through the air toward his intended target, he was horrified to see it hit handle first, bouncing off Jared���s shoulder. Brett immediately turned to run, with Jared now only a few feet behind him and gaining fast.
Seeing Dr. Perkins behind him with his spear drawn back above his head, Brett dropped to the floor as Dr. Perkins thrust the spear overtop him, directly into Jared’s forehead, halting his advance. Jared���s grotesquely infected body went limp, crashing to the floor with the loud metallic thud of the mezzanine walkway echoing through the complex.
As both Brett and Dr. Perkins turned their attention toward Jenny, Brett cried, ���Oh, God. Jenny…���
Chapter Thirteen
McMurdo Station Ops
Sitting upright, his head throbbing with pain from his fall to the floor, Dr. Hunter asked, ���What do you mean by ���tell you everything?��� What information are you looking for?���
���Do not play stupid with me,��� the man said through gritted teeth. ���You���re a scientist here, are you not?���
���My name is Dr. Nathan Hunter. I���m a professor of geochemistry at New Mexico Tech. I���m the Principle Investigator for the MEVO research team.���
���So, you are from big volcano?��� the man asked with a curious tone.
���Yes, that���s right.���
���What has caused all of this? What disease has great world of science inflicted upon rest of us? This is no normal sickness. This is something more. Something scientists, perhaps like you, would need to travel to a very remote place to work on, to keep secret. Was this intended to be weapon that escaped your grasp?���
���No. It���s not a weapon���at least, not one that man has created,��� Dr. Hunter insisted. ���From what we have gathered, it was a previously unknown microorganism that resided deep within the ground on Mount Erebus. It survived in a very dormant state, feeding off the minerals in the rock, deep within the hot caves that riddle the mountain. There is no way it or the other microbial life found on the volcano could have been transported there. No, it came from deep underground.���
���And you brought it here?��� the man asked.
���A member of our team who studies extreme life-forms took a sample to study in her lab back home. That sample was involved in an accident before shipping and… well, it seems to have leapt to humans and has begun to spread, and spread rapidly. It wasn���t anything anyone could have foreseen. It looked just like so many other microorganisms, but as we���ve had the misfortune to learn, it���s nothing like the others at all.���
���Are they,��� the man started to ask, pausing as if trying to choose his words. ���Are they dead? The people infected by it. Are they dead?���
���No. They���re alive, but serving as a host for what seems to be a very aggressive parasite in microbial form. The host exhibits symptoms similar to rabies, where they become extremely aggressive and hostile. This is probably a function of the parasites��� need for its hosts to make contact with other potential hosts. Once contact is made, they can continue to travel and spread from one host to another before the original host dies from the sickness and physical stress induced by the parasites.���
Looking down at the floor and shaking his head in disbelief, the man asked, ���How do we stop it?���
���We don���t know exactly. At least, not an easy way that would spare the life of the host. They���ll die without a source of heat and energy, the same as us. But separating them from the host while leaving the host alive? Well, that���s currently a problem with no solution.���
���Then hosts can die with them,��� the man said, clenching his jaw.
���What?��� Dr. Hunter asked.
���Look around you! Look how quickly your plague has spread through McMurdo. It has almost wiped us out. Just imagine, if whatever this thing is makes it back to rest of world where things are much warmer, and possibly more hospitable for it. Entire planet may be in danger. In danger from something God had locked away, deep in fiery hell beneath Earth. Only now, it has been unleashed upon us. We need to send it back to hell where it belongs. We can���t let it escape this cold and icy place. It needs to die here.���
Knowing in his heart that the man���s words were words of wisdom and clarity of thought, Dr. Hunter put his hands on his head and said, ���There are others���other survivors who can help us. Most importantly, the biologist of our group. She���s an expert in the field of extremophiles.���
���Where are they?��� the man asked.
���Before I tell you where they are, you need to show me a sign of good faith that you won���t hurt them, or my friends in the hallway.���
Standing up and putting his knife in its��� Kydex sheath, the man pulled his olive-drab green scarf down to his neck, revealing a short, graying beard with an obvious scar across the left side of his face. Reaching for the door knob while keeping his eyes fixed on Dr. Hunter, he unlocked it and said, ���Is okay. Come inside.���
Entering the room, Mason rushed to Dr. Hunter���s side with Neville close behind him. ���Doc, are you okay?���
���Yeah. I���m fine. I just tripped and fell. I hit my head pretty hard, but
I���m fine,��� Dr. Hunter replied. Gesturing to his former captor, Dr. Hunter said, ���This is, um…���
���Vasily. My name is Vasily,��� the man replied, reaching out for Mason���s hand.
Shaking hands with everyone, Vasily said, ���I work in fabrication shop. I am metalsmith by trade, but good with all materials.���
���Nice to properly meet you, Vasily,��� Dr. Hunter replied.
���Why are you here?��� Vasily asked. ���Why at Operations?���
Giving Mason a look of uncertainty, Dr. Hunter said, ���We came to see if the rumors of weapons being in the possession of the station manager were true.���
���Ahhh,��� Vasily said with a smile. ���We think alike. I, too, am here for that reason.���
���Well, it���s good we���re on the same page, then,��� Mason said with a cautious smile.
���Now, come. We must find what we are looking for and get to your friends,��� Vasily said as he twisted his knife onto a five-foot length of steel tube, held in place by what appeared to be a homemade bayonet mount welded to both the knife and the tube. ���I have safe place for us while we work on solution.���
���Safe place?��� Neville asked. ���Why, I think I���ve forgotten what the notion of a safe place is by now.���
Holding his hands out in front of him, Vasily said, ���I can do amazing things with my hands.��� Pointing to his head, he added, ���Just as you do with your minds. I have safe place. Trust me. Now, let us get what we came for and go.���
Working their way down the hallway toward the station manager���s office, Vasily pressed his finger to his lips, gesturing for the men to be quiet. Walking up to the door, he placed his ear to it and began listening for sounds within the room.
Turning to Dr. Hunter, he murmured, ���He is in there.���
���Who?��� Dr. Hunter whispered.
���The station manager,��� Vasily replied. ���He does not sound healthy. I fear he is like others.���
���How do you know it���s the station manager?��� Dr. Hunter asked.
���I follow him here to Ops building two days ago,��� Vasily replied. ���From distance. He did not see me. I did not see his body anywhere in the building, so he must have made it back inside office. I have been keeping eye on Ops, waiting to see signs of being sick like others or if he sent for help. If anyone has access to resources, it is station manager.���
���What do you have in mind?��� Dr. Hunter asked.
���I will make contact. But if he is like others, if evil consumes him, I think it is best to avoid fighting. By avoiding fight, we avoid the sickness and not draw others near. Only fight if you must.��� Pointing down the hallway, he said, ���We have two main passageways with rooms in center. If one of us leads him down this hallway and around corner, another can quickly open door to one of center rooms, allowing decoy to escape, closing door behind him. Those two can then double back up other side of hallway and be let inside station manager���s office by other two. Once inside and secure, we can search for what we have come for.���
Looking to Mason and Neville, Dr. Hunter shrugged and said, ���Sounds like a plan to me.���
Placing his ear against the door once again, Vasily gently knocked and asked, ���Is there anyone in there?���
Hearing no response, he placed his hand on the doorknob and attempted to turn it to no avail. ���Is locked,��� he said.
Knocking once again, he was startled by a violent impact on the other side of the door. Taking a step back, readying his knife-bearing staff, he looked to Dr. Hunter and said, ���I do not know how we are to remove him without������
Interrupted by another violent crash, this time breaking the door from its hinges, Vasily jumped back to see a crazed man, sweating profusely, his veins bulging on the sides of his head, and with the tell-tale signs of the grayish film of microbes tracing the arteries in his neck and around the openings of his nose and mouth. The whites of his eyes were filled with red as his capillaries appeared to have begun to rupture from the pressure.
Screaming at the infected man to hold his stare, Vasily ran down the hallway, initiating a chase. He could hear the man running along behind him. Rounding the corner, he nearly slipped and fell on the tile floor, allowing the man to gain a few steps on him. Working his way around the bend at the end of the hallway and back up the other side, he saw a door open. Quickly ducking inside, Mason slammed it shut behind him, locking the door. Hearing the man slam into the door, they ran through the room to the other side, then back into the adjacent hallway. Once in the hallway, they ran back toward the station manager���s office where Dr. Hunter and Neville were nervously waiting.
���We can���t close the damn door!��� Dr. Hunter said in frustration. ���He broke it off the hinges.���
���Inside. Quickly,��� Vasily said, shoving Dr. Hunter and Neville into the room while Mason followed close behind.
Shoving a desk in front of the doorway, Vasily readied himself as he said, ���This will give me time.���
���Time for what?��� asked Dr. Hunter.
Just then, the door to the room where they had trapped the man smashed open. The crazed man stumbled into the hallway, turning to look at them with his evil, blood-filled eyes. Taking a step toward them, and then another, the man increased his pace from a slow, methodical walk to a rage-filled run, his feet pounding hard on the floor as he let out a primal scream with his teeth fully exposed.
Raising the steel tube with his bayonet affixed, holding the front with his left hand and the rear of the weapon with his right, Vasily flipped a small wheel on the tube that had previously gone unnoticed by the other men. As Vasily gripped the weapon tightly, a loud crack and a flash of flames and smoke erupted from the knife end of his weapon.
The man���s head whipped back violently, with the back of his head exploding into a mist of blood and brain matter.
���Holy shit!��� Mason exclaimed. ���What the hell is that?���
Staring at the man a moment longer to ensure that he was truly dead, Vasily turned to Mason and responded calmly, ���Is gun I made. One shot, though. That was it. They could prevent me from bringing weapons, but they could not stop me from making them.���
Looking down at the small wheel he���d flicked with his thumb, Vasily grinned and said, ���Zippo lighter wheel and flint. I was afraid it would blow up in my hand where is installed. I had not yet tested it and was not sure if hole drilled for wheel created weak spot.��� Looking back down to his weapon, he rolled his right hand over to expose a small powder burn from the hot, escaping gasses around the lighter wheel. Turning to the others, Vasily smiled and laughed, saying, ���Thank Lord Almighty, it worked.���
���I���m sure glad we stumbled across you,��� Mason said with a smile.
���Okay, guys, let���s get to it,��� Dr. Hunter said as he began searching the room. ���Neville, you keep watch at the door. We don���t want anyone or anything that may have heard that blast sneaking up on us.���
As Neville walked to the doorway, he looked to his left to see a pump-action, Mossberg twelve-gauge shotgun leaning against the trashcan in the corner. ���That was easy,��� he said, pointing to the weapon.
Noting the food that had clearly been stockpiled in the room after the outbreak had begun, Mason said, ���That bastard.���
���What?��� asked Dr. Hunter.
���That bastard locked himself in his office with food and weapons while people around him died.��� Looking to the radio on the station manager���s desk, he said, ���He ju
st sat here calling for help, trying to save his own ass. If he had weapons, he should have been out there protecting others.���
���Don���t be so quick to judge,��� replied Dr. Hunter. ���You don���t know that he didn���t try. After all, he was exposed somehow. It could have been while he was doing just as you said.���
Shrugging, Mason walked over to the shotgun and picked it up. Pressing the small slide release button on the bottom of the action, Mason racked out all the shells and began inspecting the weapon. ���Looks like it was topped off. It seems to be in good working order, too,��� he said as he began feeding the double-ought buckshot shells back into the magazine tube.
Turning to Neville, he said, ���Here. If you���re gonna be standing watch while the rest of us search for more, you���ll need this.���
Raising his hands as if to reject the offer, Neville said, ���I���m not comfortable with guns. We don���t have such things in the UK.���
���It���s time to get comfortable,��� Mason said as he began showing Neville how to operate the weapon.
���A shell is in the chamber, so all you need to do to fire the first shot is to flick the safety off, here,��� he said, pointing to the tang where the receiver and stock meet. ���After the first shot is fired, just rack the pump slide all the way back and then all the way forward again and it will be ready for the next shot. You only need to use the release button on the bottom when the gun has not been fired and you want to cycle through the shells to empty the weapon. This is the long-tubed, tactical version, so you have nine shots.���
Handing the weapon to Neville, he added, ���It���s a shotgun, so pointing it is generally all you need to do since it���s loaded with double-ought-buck, but to aim, look through this rear peep sight and hold the front side in the center of the circle. Oh, and hang on tight. This sucker will kick like a mule with those defensive loads.���
