Z-Virus

by M. D Khamil

  Chapter 15

  The Dead Bridge

  So this is the day. The day we would uncover the secret of the pendant and the map we have found inside it. The time showed 10:32 hours in the morning. We were now on our way to our next and probably our last destination. I have many things playing in my head now. I worried about Roger and I worried about Claire. I know that Claire could take care of herself without me but I didn’t know what would happen in the future. I’ve been thinking to myself what would happen if I lost both of them? I would be all lonely again. The journey to The Dead Bridge took longer than what I’ve had expected. I took out the map again from the inside of my kevlar jacket. Same route, same place to go and no changes. I wished that I could find another way, not wanting to cross The Dead Bridge. I must admit, I am afraid of Heights but I kept myself silence and put back the map inside my jacket. Claire noticed this strange behavior of mine and started to ask me about it. "What’s wrong Travis? Your mood seemed different today. Is there anything you wanna tell me about?"

  "No Claire. It’s just that our expedition took longer that I thought it was not. It’s almost been two hours now since we left home." I lied even though there was truth in it.

  "Well we can’t always trust the distance on the map now does we? It was probably just an estimation, not an accurate one."

  "I guess you’re right Claire." I replied. I looked through the rear view mirror and saw Roger was fast asleep. No wonder he was quite. Probably thinking too much about this mission made his brain tired. I wonder if he even slept last night.

  Along the journey I witnessed many horrible things. Dead bodies on the road, car crashed with corpses inside, mutilated hands, arms, limbs, legs and even severed heads on the ground with faces looked so horribly terrifying. The feeling when looking at those savaged faces and body parts were madly nauseating. Even animals, insects and fishes in the river were now couldn’t be trusted. Except for my dog Prince of course. Not even cats can be trusted to be your friend anymore. These animals were infected with the virus by feeding from the dead. Rats, snakes, eagles, crows and cows are all infected. Viruses are transmitted from little insects such as flies and mosquitoes, increases the rate of the spread. The only animals that I trust right now were sparrows, pigeons and butterflies, for they didn’t feed on the dead.

  We’re almost there, to The Dead Bridge and my heart start to beat faster and faster. I thought Claire might have heard the sound of my heartbeat for I imagined it was very loud. Claire suddenly slowed down the truck. I could not resist staying quite and asked her, "Why are you stopping Claire?"

  "There in front of us, a group of walkers crowding a big tree. I thought I saw something on the tree."

  "What is it?" I asked. Then a sound crying for helped was heard from the tree. Claire immediately took out her binocular and zoom it onto the tree.

  "Travis, there’s a little girl on the tree! We need to help her now!"

  "What?! How?!"

  "You take this sonic wave, while I sneak behind the bushes you distract them by shooting to the sky. Then once they come for you, you run towards them and throw the sonic wave. Remember, it lasted only for thirty seconds. I will take the girl down from the tree during that time. While they were paralyzed, you shoot each one of them in the head. Is that clear?"

  "Crystal clear Claire." I answered. I took the sonic wave and Claire went to the near bushes and waiting for the signal. I walked up ahead and saying a little prayer, I shot to the sky with my gun and they all stopped facing back to where I was standing. At this time I heard a "thug" sound from the truck, I saw Roger was awaken by the shot I made earlier. I signaled him to stay down and he did so. The furious walkers started running towards me and I did the same. When we’re about few distance meters away I threw the sonic wave and in five seconds the thing buzzing activated. Claire made her moved and run faster as quick as a cheetah. She reached the tree in seconds and asked the girl to jump down. While they were paralyzed I started shooting them in the heads as quickly as possible, it would be troublesome if they ever got on their feet again. I finished the job in time and killed all twelve of them. I ran towards Claire where she was trying to get the girl down. "Come on now, it’s okay. You’re safe now", said Claire trying to calm her down. She was still crying shouting mommy, daddy pointing her index finger toward the wooden house.

  "I want mommy, I want daddy!" Cried the little girl. She was dressed in white soaked with blood, holding a teddy bear but she looked fine. Claire signaled me to go and check the house and I did. I came to the house and found the little girl parents both dead missing their heads. I came back to Claire and told her about the little girl’s parents.

  "Sweetie, your parents are gone but you’re safe now, we want you to come with us. All you have to do is jump and I’ll catch you", she cried even more upon hearing what Claire had just said but she understood. She slowly released her grip from one of the tree branches and jumped down. Claire caught her perfectly in her arms. We immediately went to the truck and have the little girl rest at the backseat with Claire. This time I drove and Roger sat in the front of the passenger's seat. The girl was still crying in the backseat but not as hysterical as before. I drove my truck immediately as everyone was in.

  "What’s your name beautiful?" said Claire to the little girl.

  "Sarah", the girl said and slowly stop crying.

  "What happened back there sweetie? How did you end up on that tree?" Asked Claire.

  "Daddy carried me on his back and climbed up the tree, then he went down to save mommy in the house. Since then he never went out again. I thought I was gonna die. Daddy said everything will be fine but I know I can’t trust what he said, with them around that many".

  "Don’t be sad dear. You are a very brave young little girl. May I know how old are you?"

  "I am eight years old".

  "As long as I’m here, you’ll be saved. Just think of me as your guardian angel, who protects you days and nights." Said Claire trying to comfort the little girl. Sarah only nodded and wiped her tears from her cheeks and hugged her teddy bear tightly.

  The mist starting to get thicker and I could hardly see anything in front or around us. This made me to drive slowly and reduce the speed for a safe drive. Then the thing that I feared the most is right in front of me. We just passed a massive sign board which wrote "The Dead Bridge" then another sign board "No trespassing. Bridge Closed" and the last sign board wrote "Danger! No vehicles are allowed to cross the Bridge". I stopped the car just after I passed the third sign board, which was the last one. This was what I feared the most. The mist around the bridge was very thick it came from the nearest waterfall to the right from the other cliff. Below was an extreme river, deep, rocky and have a very strong current. At the end of the river was another waterfall. Roger looked at me in a sight that I know he too was afraid. The wind was very peaceful and sometimes made way across the bridge and I could see the end of the other side. I walked out from the truck and cleared up the blockage at the entrance of the bridge to the side of the road. Then I went back to my truck and had a plan on how to cross the bridge.

  "Okay now everyone listen. Roger, Claire and Sarah, all of you are going to walk crossing the bridge. Claire, you’ll lead the way and carry Sarah. Roger you’ll follow Claire. And all of you please, watch your step. Keep your distance close. The only reason I did this because if all of us cross the bridge in my truck, the bridge will probably collapse because it cannot support the weight. I will drive this truck alone, once you reach to the other side you just wait there. Also I’ll switch on the hi-lights of my truck so you’ll be able to see me from across the bridge. Claire, we’ll communicate through a walkie-talkie, get one for your self, leave one for me." They did as what I have instructed and immediately went to the bridge and slowly missing into the mist. I kept on contacting Claire if they were still on the bridge, she did reply few times. After waiting for about fifteen minutes Claire informed me that they had finally crossed the bridge. I
was relieved, and that I can always count on her.

  I inhaled and exhaled in nervousness, my truck probably weigh forty or fifty of me if total altogether, or probably more. I drove slowly to the bridge, keep the speed safe and focus. Some of the planks were missing and rotted, being eaten by old age. I had to move left and right to avoid those broken areas. So far, everything was running smooth, Claire seemed to be worried as she kept on talking through the walkie talkie making sure I am alive. At the middle of crossing the bridge, suddenly the bridge felt like swaying left to right, cracking and creaking sounds was heard from no where. I got really worried, and felt like my heart was about to explode, I even quiver inside my truck. Then the wind cleared up the path in front of me, and also at the back. I looked through my rear view mirror. Things I don’t want to happen, actually happening. A crowd of the undead rushing to cross the bridge from behind me, I only have to pray that God would spare me, I drove and sped up my truck. The bridge was collapsing; I hope I could make it in time. The undead was getting nearer for my truck, I sped up more, ignoring any small hole on the bridge, I talked to Claire through the walkie talkie, "Claire I’m almost there, once I reach to the other side, throw two grenades on the bridge. Please make way!” Soon after, I saw them waiting for me and Claire is ready to do what I told her. "Incoming!" I yelled. Fast as lightning Claire threw the grenades, "Boom!" The bridge finally collapsed and the undead fall to the extreme river down below.

  Chapter 16

  An Old Friend

  "That was closed." I said.

  "You mean instant death." Claire replied.

  "Thank you Claire."

  "That’s what friend is for." She added. Roger was looking after Sarah inside the truck. I could see he was trying to cheer and calm little Sarah. He might think of her as her own sister.

  "That was strange"” Claire said.

  "What is?" I asked.

  "Them. How did they find us? I thought we had killed them back there. On our way to the bridge there were none of them wandering around accept the one that we had killed."

  I understood what Claire meant. Then I saw a bloodied torn piece of cloth on a piece of plank at the end of the bridge. It belonged to Sarah.

  "Claire, I think they found us because of this." I showed her the bloodied cloth.

  "Blood? Oh no, Sarah! We need to change her clothes or cleaned her immediately! How can we be so careless!" Claire ran to the truck and found her sleeping. I was glad to see her sleep, she must have been so tired. Roger was a good brothe, I know because how he was able to take care of Sarah, even though she has no relation with him at all. We are getting closer to the marked place on the map in Fort Knox but we had to stop in a fashion boutique store, which was long abandoned. We need to change Sarah’s dress for a new one as it would less attract the walkers. She had got cleaned up and wore a new outfit, and we got back to the truck and continued our journey.

  Fort Knox was a very big city. There were many skyscrapers, retails shops, beautiful gardens and parks but unfortunately this city was also haunted. The place was so quite and sometimes we saw a couple of walkers wandering around looking for something to feed on. We had to be very careful, as they were very sensitive to sound and smell. As I drove, Claire kept on telling me which way to go, avoiding any necessary obstacles and looking for shortcuts. After several minutes we arrived to the place as marked on the map. It was "Newton’s Future Technology and Past Relic Museum". Claire and I got stared with each other. We should have expected that. The museum was very big the wall were painted and decorated like ancient world such as those times in ancient Egypt, Rome and Greece. The four pillars at the entrance looked like somewhat there were many ancient writings or codes that seemed impossible to be cracked. We discussed about our planned before we entered the building. I asked Claire to keep Sarah with her while Roger were going with me. We had to go separate ways to figure out this puzzle and to have more chances that we were able to uncover it.

  The museum was very big, it was dark inside, since there was no electricity. We had our torchlights with us and other important gadgets for this mission. Ancient artifacts were kept secure inside a glass display and there were statues of different times from the past and many machines that I guess were the foundation of what devices we have today. We patiently inspected each and every one of them to see if there were any hidden clues or messages within them. But unfortunately, every time we thought we had figure it out we found a dead end. We never gave up and kept on going with our searched.

  Claire and Sarah were inside another room, which I guess was art gallery. There were many paintings from the ancient times. It was that moment Claire started yelling my name, telling me to come and see her. Roger and I rushed toward them to know what had happened.

  "What is it Claire?" I asked.

  "I think I found it." She replied.

  "Do you see that massive painting in the middle at the far end of the wall?" Added Claire.

  "Yeah, it’s a picture of a red dragon. Wait, did you mean . . ."

  "Yes. Do you remember when we solved the pendant puzzle? It says, "As red as an angry dragon, by the flame which it breathes fire, only then I will shine." The painting over there shows a red dragon, it breathes fire toward that circle thing which I guess the sun, and it lights up the dark."

  "Claire, do you think there was something behind that painting?"

  "Let’s find out."

  Just when we were about to move, the power was activated and all the lights were switched on. We immediately moved to another room and hid ourselves behind huge round pillars that supported the room. Then a female voice that sounded familiar to Claire started talking through the announcement speaker. "Well, well, well. Isn’t it agent fourteen? It’s been a long time since we last met. How are you? Come out now, meet me here on the stairs at the entrance room."

  "That bitch!" Roger almost shouted. I ordered him to stay calm. I whispered to Claire to be careful. But before she left, she handed me some few gadgets to continue with our mission. She handed me an x-ray scanner device, password encryption device and few balls looked like Sonic Wave but in different color. She went out from her hiding place and met her at the entrance room.

  "Agent twelve. I am well and I missed you too" Claire replied in a mocking tone.

  "Oh, such a cutie little pie. Why don’t you just stop what you’re doing, I know you’re not alone here, if you don’t want them to be dead, then just give up and tell me what you’re up to?"

  "You wish." said Claire.

  "I wish? Ahh, well I wish that you would join me and stop being a bother like an annoying fly perhaps?"

  "Enough Viana! What exactly is it that you want? Power? Glory? Praises? Stop this nonsense already. None of this is important anymore. Look the world around you. There’s nothing left. Nothing! No laughs, no smiles, no happiness but all there to see now are darkness and sadness!"

  "Oh my, I didn’t know that you can play drama right here. Amateur. I’m sure you know what I want. You have it with you. Don’t lie to me. Tell me now, I’ll let you go and that three other brats hiding over there!"

  "Over my dead body."

  "You’ll regret this agent fourteen!"

  Chapter 17

  Unforeseen Consequences

  I asked Roger to help me out to uncover the secret behind the painting. Roger, Sarah and I went back to the art gallery room. Claire and Viana were fighting furiously at the other side. First, I scanned the painting with the x-ray scanner device. It’s clean; nothing was hidden inside the painting or any secret codes. I asked Roger to help me lift up the big painting and put it down on the floor. Then, I scanned the wall behind the painting. "Beep!" There was a beeping sound as I scanned the surface of the wall. I took out the password encryption device from my pocket, it was a very thin device like some ten pieces of paper bind together and as big as a soap. I activated the device and stuck it on the wall and let it ran doing it's job. Then I asked Roger to help me out again to pick up the p
ainting and put it back on the wall, so that no body would noticed if we had done something to the painting.

  "Roger, I want you to stay here with Sarah, I am going to help Claire and can I count on you to look after Sarah?" I asked Roger.

  "Yes Travis, I will look after her. Don’t worry."

  "Stay alert and keep yourselves hidden, okay?"

  "I will."

  "Good. I'm counting on you."

  I left the room and start joining Claire at the other side. I hid myself behind one of the statues near the entrance door. I took a peek from behind the statue and saw Claire having such a hard time fighting Viana. She was no ordinary opponent. They shot toward each other creating messed around the room. The walls, pillars, artifacts and even chandeliers were destroyed from non-stop repetitive shootings. It was definitely hard for me to move fast in my SWAT uniform, though it gave me full protection against bullets. Claire saw me immediately after I waved her a sign to keep distracting Viana while I tried to snipe her from my location. Claire went out from her hiding place, with her hands up in the air holding her guns.

  "Viana stop! I give up. I surrender!" Claire said.

  "Oh, you’ve changed your mind now? Well that’s good because if you insist on fighting me you would die for nothing." Viana said confidently.

  "I know. That’s why I surrender. I am no match for you. Besides, I am running out of ammo." Replied Claire.