The Rot (Post Apocalyptic Thriller)

by Paul Kane

  Kim had done a great job designing the trap itself, so good her dad would have been proud, I think. So, during one of those quieter periods we set to work. This involved running a rope over the length of the cinema awning – which stated that the last thing to be shown there had been Disney’s Pinocchio. Attached to it was a sack full of stones as counterbalance – everything treated so they wouldn’t just fall apart on us. We hauled this up together, using the awning as an anchor, then set the metal spring trigger, driven into the ground. There were a couple of unwanted visitors, but Kim soon dealt with those using the crossbow – headshots, as it was the only sure-fire way of shutting them up quickly enough.

  Then we just had to wait…

  Over the course of a week or more, we kept returning during those lulls to see what we’d bagged, Kim rejecting any specimens that were too far gone. At some point in the future we might be able to bring them back from the brink, but it was highly unlikely, Kim said. We decided to do them the favour of putting them out of their misery.

  Neither of us was expecting what happened that last time. A boy was in the trap, probably no more than about ten years of age, with tufts of ginger hair, wearing only a pair of faded and ripped jeans. The closer we came to inspect him, the more perfect he seemed for Kim’s purposes. It wasn’t until we were there, trying to subdue him and get him down – get him away from that place as soon as possible – that he started to scream. Kim used another of her concoctions – a bit like chloroform, she told me – to try and knock him out, covering the boy’s mouth with a cloth, but it wasn’t doing much good… not at first, anyway. Perhaps it was the Rot protecting him from those chemicals, just like the SKIN would have done with me. And by the time it started to have an effect, it was already too late.

  There weren’t supposed to be that many Rotten around, and yet this time there suddenly were, as if they’d worked out what we’d been trying to do. Or the Rot had. There were loads, beginning with a man and woman who rushed out of the cinema’s foyer, then rushed us. I only got a glimpse of them as they sprang towards us, rags of clothing flying at their back like speed lines in a cartoon. The woman’s face had completely fallen away down one side, like so much putty, while the man’s body was doing a similar thing – shoulders slanted, his gait causing him to lope. I had no idea whether these were the kid’s parents or not – probably not, because the parental instinct didn’t seem to be there with the Rotten; just look at what had happened at Jane’s school – but it made no difference anyway.

  I tugged on Kim’s sleeve, and we switched places – so she could fire at the couple and I could handle the kid. He was still fighting us off, so in the end I punched him – not scientifically correct, I know, but we were against the clock. Several of Kim’s bolts found a home in the torsos of the Rotten man and woman, but didn’t bring them down. What’s more, I could see dozens of figures bringing up the rear, flooding out of the showroom and into the foyer; we should have checked inside, but we had just assumed… Sloppy, very sloppy. I turned, hefting the kid onto my shoulder – then saw more of the Rotten behind us, appearing out of nowhere and confirming that this had to be an ambush.

  “Shit… Kim, we have to move!”

  She nodded and reloaded the crossbow with another cartridge, just as one Rotten woman came out of nowhere to shoulder her over and knock the weapon out of her hands. “Kim!”

  From the floor, she waved a hand at me – for me to go. But none of this would be of any use if Kim didn’t make it out. Besides, I was at the point by then that I couldn’t leave her, no matter what she wanted. I stooped and grabbed the crossbow – firing indiscriminately left and right, clearing the way for her to get to her feet. Then clearing the path ahead of us to escape.

  The crossbow clicked on empty and I threw it back over my shoulder, satisfied to see it tangle up in one of the Rotten’s legs and trip them. The noise they were making was beyond anything I’d heard before, more throaty and gurgling, as if their larynxes were severely damaged – but the sounds were finding another way out somehow. Kim slipped and almost fell again, but I turned and kicked back at the figure grabbing her legs.

  We turned a corner and… there was our escape: the Volvo Kim had treated so it would continue to run. It was how she made her way back and forth for supplies, and we’d parked it a short distance from the trap’s site in case we needed it. Boy did we need it then, with so many of the Rotten gathering together and trailing us. Kim opened the back door and I threw the boy in, then we both clambered inside – Kim wise enough to trust me with the driving this time. I gunned the engine and put it in reverse, delighted to have a vehicle that I could rely on at last. We slammed back into a group of the Rotten, knocking them over, and by turns those around them as well – just like the pylons I’d seen in the field that time; human dominoes… well, not quite human, as some of these splattered on impact with the floor; virtually exploding, such was the advanced stage of Rot they were in.

  I drove off in the other direction, both of us fighting for breath – then looking back; Kim over the seat, and me through the rear view. Both silently giving thanks that we’d been able to find someone who wasn’t that far down the line already.

  Someone we might be able to help, at last.

  Stop.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Record:

  The results were amazing, I have to say.

  Kim and I tied the boy up to a pair of wall-mounted candle holders at the back of the chapel. It was the only place where we could keep him secure and also administer the serum properly, as Kim needed easy access to his veins. But when we stepped back we both realised what it looked like, his arms out to each side like that.

  “Not superstitious, are you?” she asked me.

  “Well, he came back from the dead – maybe we can do the same for this poor kid.”

  “Make him a real boy again, eh?” She smiled and I nodded.

  Leaving him there for the time being, we went into the back room – Kim to have a well deserved drink… of tea again, that was. She’d told me about a bottle of scotch she’d found and treated, but she was saving that for a really special occasion. Maybe when the boy showed signs that he might recover from the Rot, which we’d discovered was already attacking his feet and lower legs when we did an examination.

  I don’t know what it was, maybe the closeness to death we’d both encountered back there – although we’d both faced that a few times separately – but we eventually found ourselves sitting together on the camp bed that Kim had been using to sleep on; I’d claimed one of the pews out in the main body of the chapel for that. The camp bed reminded me a lot of the one inside my room at the facility, but I wasn’t thinking about that back then. I was thinking more about Kim’s hands touching my face again. My first thought was that she was examining the SKIN, feeling its texture – she’d been talking about a detailed study of the thing for a while.

  But it was more than that; much more. Kim suddenly kissed me, and it felt… strange, artificial. “Can you feel that?” she asked me.

  I half-nodded, half-shrugged. It was difficult to explain. Her hand reached down, into the pair of treated trousers she’d dug out for me not long after we met…

  I can’t believe I’m even saying all this. Can’t believe I’m going into detail about what happened that night, especially now there’s definitely a chance someone will listen to it.

  I should stop there. But, well, I don’t want to. It’s the most fantastic thing that’s ever happened to me and I just… Maybe I’ll just play it for Kim and then wipe it. I dunno…

  Let’s just say that when Kim touched me there, things happened – but it wasn’t the same, not through the SKIN. For the first time since I’d put it on, since the change happened, I truly hated the thing. Especially when Kim stood up in front of me and took her clothes off.

  “You can check me now… if you want,” she said.

  I reached a trembling hand up and cupped a breast – one of those oh-so-pe
rfect breasts of hers. And I could feel it, the weight of it, the smoothness… sort of. But I couldn’t really feel it. My hand dropped and I looked away.

  She looked hurt when I returned my gaze to her face. “What’s the matter, don’t you want to?”

  That was just the thing, I wanted to so, so much. Too much. I couldn’t explain it to her, but I didn’t want our first time to be like this. “I…”

  “It doesn’t matter you know,” she said. “We can still… do things. And if the serum works on the boy…”

  She didn’t, couldn’t understand. Kim was immune, she’d be able to feel everything – and here was I stuck inside this giant bloody frogman’s outfit. I’m sorry, but that’s exactly what it felt like.

  I got up, couldn’t take it anymore. Couldn’t take seeing her like that when there was nothing I could do about it. I rushed past her and into the chapel again, shaking my head.

  As I looked to the side, I happened to see the boy’s feet. Already, the Rot was clearing up; on the run from Kim’s “antagonistic organism,” as she’d called it, just like it had been in the building that surrounded us and kept us safe. I walked over, bending and taking another look. Yes, it was definitely improving – the battle being won. And hadn’t Kim said that not only would it reverse the damage in cases like these, it could also protect against the disease in others?

  Could protect me against it…

  I looked around, saw where Kim had left the needles full of serum – one empty, another quite full. Without even stopping to think, without waiting for the boy to wake up – he could have been completely braindead for all I knew – I grabbed the needle and searched my arm for a vein.

  “No!” I heard Kim scream from the doorway, covered up in a robe I’d never seen her wear before. It was satin, clinging to every inch of her, and did little to dissuade me. Then the needle was in, pushing through SKIN and skin alike, and I was pumping the yellow liquid into myself.

  Kim paused, seeing that it was already too late. “How… how do you feel?” she asked me.

  I didn’t feel any different, to be honest – but then it was immunising me against the Rot, not reversing anything. Saying nothing, I walked back over to her and took her hand, took her back to the room beyond the chapel.

  Smiling, I undid her robe and then pushed it back over her shoulders until she was naked again. Next I took off my own clothes.

  And then, in spite of Kim’s protests, I shed my SKIN.

  We made love on that camp bed, not just once but many times that night. Like I say, it was the most wonderful night of my entire life, being that intimate with someone. With Kim.

  When we were finished and she was lying there in my arms, I heard her give a little laugh. I thought I’d done something wrong, hadn’t been good enough to satisfy this wonderful, perfect woman. But it wasn’t that.

  “You want to know a secret?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” I said, suddenly very worried, “do I?”

  “My middle name…” Kim continued.

  “What about it?”

  “It’s Evelyn, after my mum.”

  Took a second for the penny to drop and then I laughed myself. “Adam and… You’re joking?”

  She laughed again, took my hand and kissed it, then she sat up on her elbow and kissed my mouth softly once more.

  SKIN; without the SKIN. There was simply no comparison.

  Pause.

  Resume record:

  So, there you have it – the night we finally got together.

  There have been a lot more nights since, but no need to harp on about all that. You want to know about the boy, I’m sure. The one we adopted in the end. Well, I said at the start of this particular recording that the results were amazing, and they definitely were. The Rot was beaten back in him, disappearing from his body completely – although Kim would continue to test blood samples to make sure things were progressing as they should. We were both tested, in fact, Danny and myself… Oh, Danny is what we called him; he couldn’t remember his actual name, probably something to do with the transition back, Kim explained.

  “His memory might return in time, or it might not. The brain’s a complicated thing, Adam.”

  I’ll never forget his screaming though when he woke up in the chapel, not the cries of a Rotten this time but that of a scared lad not knowing where… or who he was.

  “Help… Please help…” we heard, and came rushing out. I was reminded a little of Lara and the bridge, because she’d said exactly the same thing and then still turned out to be infected. Danny wasn’t though, that much was apparent by the questions he began asking as soon as he saw us.

  “What’s happened to me? Why am I tied up like this? Are you going to kill me?” Poor little guy.

  We explained as best we could, but I’m not sure he got it all the first time – it’s a lot to process and for him it must have been a bit like waking up from a coma. It’s gradually sunk in; he couldn’t really deny it when he saw what had happened to the countryside around here. When he saw his first Rotten on supply runs with myself and Kim.

  “You mean… I was like them?” he spluttered. Takes some getting used to, I guess.

  “But it means we can probably help the others… a lot of them anyway,” Kim said to Danny.

  Oh, by the way, we named him after Dad: Daniel William Keller. Seemed as good a name as any until his own came back to him. Was it wrong that I hoped a little that it didn’t, that none of his past came back? Because even if that couple at the cinema had nothing to do with him, chances are his own folks were either turned or dead. Besides, we were getting used to him being ‘ours’ by then. We’d have family dinners – still do – where we’d chat and laugh and just do the things that families do. It was something I don’t think either of us, Kim or me, thought we’d ever have.

  And we made plans, Kim talking about refining the serum and how to distribute it. I suggested finding a serviceable plane and treating that, then flying over a town or city and spraying the formula – like crop dusting. That was okay as far as tests were concerned, but Kim broached another idea, something a bit more drastic: creating another ground zero effect.

  “You mean like a bomb?” I said.

  “Something that would scatter a concentrated version of the serum over a wider area, which should then spread.”

  “Like the Rot did in the first place,” I said, rubbing my bristled chin. Have I mentioned how nice it was just to grow hair again, and to be able to feel that hair. Not that I wasn’t grateful for the SKIN – which Kim is still running tests on by the way, having detached the recording device for me to carry on using… obviously.

  Not sure I’ll need it much longer though, because we’re almost ready. Ready at least to try. And if we can pull it off, then…

  Just one more thing to report before that happens. Kim’s pregnant. Yeah, I know… When she started being sick all the time, I immediately jumped to the wrong conclusion – thinking negatively again, that everything was going so right something had to go wrong eventually. But it wasn’t the Rot, she just had morning sickness… which, for the record, is a complete misnomer. She was sick morning, noon, and night.

  Danny’s been brilliant, I have to say. He’s very much looking forward to a little baby brother or sister.

  I look back on those first recordings now and shudder. Things have gradually turned around for me, and that’s what we’re hoping to do for the world. I’ll let you know how it all goes, don’t worry, though I’m fully expecting you to see for yourself. To be making recordings of your own before too long.

  Kim can’t really drink that whisky now, in her condition, so it’s left to me to toast the future. Well, here’s mud in your eye…

  Ugh, tastes like fucking mud as well! Remind me never to drink treated whisky ever again.

  End Recording.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Record:

  I… I know what you’re expecting to hear now, but you’d be wrong.


  Been a while since I’ve had the heart to pick this damned thing up and speak into it. Not… not sure I’m ready even now, but…

  Not enough mud-whisky in the world.

  I… no, sorry. Not yet… I can’t talk about it yet.

  Stop.

  Record:

  Shit.

  Look, what do you want from me? Okay, they’re dead… Both dead.

  Fuck… I thought I was prepared for this, it’s been a long time, but… hold on… Can’t seem to stop crying. Wait, I think I’ve… yeah… So, that was cutting a long story short, wasn’t it? Kim and Danny, both dead – them and… Oh God, my baby… my little…

  Would… would have been my first born.

  You want to know how, though, don’t you? Fuck, I don’t know if I can even… Everything was going to be so great, everything was going to be good again. There was hope again.

  It happened while I was out on a run, scrounging up more supplies for the bomb we’d been building. We were almost there, as I think I told you when I last picked up the recorder, just a few more parts and—

  As soon as I opened the door to the chapel and called out to Kim and Danny, I knew something was wrong. I’d found a working shotgun during one of the excursions, which we’d treated, and it was this I raised when there was no reply from either of them. Then I saw the altar had been knocked over, and one of the stained glass windows was smashed.

  “Kim!” I shouted again. “Danny…”

  I made my way through into the back room, saw the scratches on the wood of the door. The Rotten, had to be – they’d got in! Kim had another crossbow by this time, but if there were too many of them… I shook away the thought, reminded myself what a good fighter she was, how long she’d survived for until I crashed into her life.

  I toed open the door, saw broken glass and wood on the floor, books scattered about. Swallowing dryly, I stepped through and…