Swarm (Book 4)

by Alex South

  His flicked through his options. A sort of clarity came – two things incriminated him. This man and Macy. They were both in this room. And they had to stay in this room.

  Chapter 36

  Adam watched Laura enter, already knowing what would happen. It had become an inevitability.

  “Okay then Laura, lie down over there please.”

  She lay down and moved out of sight.

  Adam moved over to the screen. His stomach tightened. He knew what it would say. It wasn’t fair. Everything was supposed to be perfect, planned to perfection. Fool proof. Predictable. He begged the screen not to do it – not to do what he knew it would.

  Up flashed the results.

  No…

  He took a deep breath. On the other side of the glass, the machine slowly returned Laura.

  Chapter 37

  Laura’s body was flushed with sweat. She felt hollow. She turned the corner. There it was. That impossible light. She ran towards it. She entered – the light falling on her like a terrible sea. She tried not to focus on any single crystal, but to instead keep moving to see as many as possible. She walked, then jogged, then ran, making circles around the room. The crystals turned into blurry points of light. A dizzy ecstasy overcame her. Faster and faster it all span, faster and faster the crystals circled her, like tiny angels, like spirits creating a whirlwind for her. They were going to pull her apart. They were going to rip her into infinite pieces.

  A slither of white appeared to her side – an open door. Could she stay? Would they notice? She made her feet take steps towards it. The crystals remained around her, keeping her under their weight. She crossed the threshold and broke out of the room into the corridor. She forced herself forwards, focusing on the guard walking ahead of her, telling herself not to look back. She felt weak – almost weightless, as if she had been hollowed out.

  She passed through another door – into the room where Adam made her learn stuff. The bright sunshine pouring through the glass wall made her feel a little better, and little less unwell.

  “Are you hungry Laura?” said Adam.

  “Coffee,” Laura said, without knowing if she wanted it or not.

  “Milk, sugar?”

  “Both.”

  “How much of each?”

  “Whatever, I don’t mind.”

  “Okay. It’s on its way.”

  Laura moved over to her usual chair and collapsed into it.

  “It’s ready,” said Adam.

  Laura couldn’t be bothered to get back up to get it. Her body was beginning to feel normal again – her thoughts beginning to shake off the light of the crystals.

  “Do you make the drinks?” said Laura, after a long silence.

  “No… it’s all kept in a special room. I just ask the computer to get it for me.”

  “So… there’s, like, a giant fridge somewhere in the building.”

  “Yes… well yes and no. Essentially yes…”

  “Can I see it?”

  “I’m sorry. Even I can’t see it, I’m afraid.”

  “What if we run out of food one day?”

  “Oh no… there’s plenty… actually they’ve got all those sweets that they don’t make any more… um… one moment… hang on.”

  Laura forced herself up, and over to the small kitchen area. The machine door opened, revealing a chocolate bar labelled ‘Cadbury's Secret’ lying next to her untouched coffee. Laura didn’t recognize it.

  “This one is really nice.”

  Laura opened it and took a bite.

  “What do you think?” said Adam.

  “Yeah that’s good. You have any Nerds?”

  “Nerds? Let me have a look… oh… something’s coming up.”

  Once again the door opened and there they were, just what she had asked for. She picked up the box.

  “You know, my favorite is gum.”

  “What kind?”

  “Well, give me something from the past. Something they don’t sell anymore.”

  The little door closed, soon opening again to reveal a pile of individually wrapped squares of pink, blue and white with the words ‘original bazooka bubble gum’.

  Laura unwrapped one and put it in her mouth.

  “This is bubble gum though,” she said.

  “That wasn’t right?”

  “I just like normal chewing gum. This is fruity, you know? Give me some normal gum. From like, modern times.”

  The door closed and opened again. Laura grabbed the gum, said “Thanks,” and headed over to her usual chair.

  “Are you ready to begin?” said Adam.

  Laura sat down. “Yeah.”

  The voice began:

  “In the last lesson, I explained the reason for Earth’s creation, and for the placement of humans. As well as touching on M.N.A.

  “Now I’m going to explain the events you may have personally experienced. Why they happened. How they happened.

  “Day one. We distributed the zombie infection randomly throughout the population by placing the infection into the water supply of various societies. We engineered it to only work on a portion of the population, as we did not want to infect everyone. The infection could enter the host through skin contact, or by consumption.

  “We have to do this, because this is the only way for us to activate the M.N.A. and harvest it.

  “M.N.A. can only be harvested in a very specific way, with a very specific timeframe. Any humans who got the zombie virus though water contact represent the first link in the chain. The virus then collects their M.N.A. codes, and moves on to the next person, the second link, then it collects their codes, and moves on, and so forth.

  “If it moves too fast, the codes are not compiled properly. If it moves too slow, the information is lost. To begin with we need the virus to move fast, passing from host to host relatively quickly. In the later stages, we require it to move slower.

  “A virus is the best way to do this. The first few days, the infection spreads rapidly to those not well positioned to avoid it. Later, pockets of resistance set in, with groups finding shelter and food, and hiding from the virus. Inevitably, some of those groups are compromised, but it takes time, which is what we need. We need the virus to be blocked by the survival efforts of the remaining survivors.

  “Most M.N.A. chains fail. Either they move too fast, or too slow, at a crucial moment. However, with the huge population of your planet, it is inevitable that some will be just right. The M.N.A. chains move at the right speed, and eventually we get to the final link.

  “This happens to be you. You survived long enough that you became the final link. When you were bitten you did not turn into a zombie, rather…”

  I haven’t been bitten Laura thought, breaking her concentration, before turning her attention back to the voice.

  “.. you will have noticed powers, abilities to do things which you could never do before. This is the M.N.A., concentrated in your body in such large amounts, it makes a permanent home for itself, and expresses itself by giving you powers, along with certain thoughts and feelings. You have entered a symbiotic relationship with one of the most potent forces in the universe.

  “You may have been bitten more than once. If this happened to you, you will have noticed that the zombies die in a matter of seconds. You will have found yourself feeling very sick, as the M.N.A. in your body fights off the zombie virus. This is nothing to worry about. We tried to stop this from happening, but could not find a way. Your body keeps its original M.N.A. chain, and the new one is destroyed, and this is what makes you feel sick.

  “Once a certain amount of time has passed, we must choose which M.N.A. hosts we pick up and transport to our various laboratories around the world. We can only take a certain amount of people. To help choose, we release a special type of atmospheric energy, which would have appeared to you as a huge storm, lasting many days. This energy brings together nearby hosts of M.N.A. The hosts will sometimes cooperate to begin with, but sooner or later, they
turn against each other. The winner is the strongest, the one with the best relationship with their M.N.A. Sometimes the wrong one wins. But most of the time, it is survival of the fittest.

  “Once the storm is over, we pick up those with M.N.A. concentrated inside them, which brings you to being here, listening to my voice. There are two things we must do now. One, we must teach you the truth, which you will surely find ugly. But you must know your purpose and context.

  “Two, we begin processing your codes, which is simply mapping out the unique configuration of your M.N.A., and the way it has concentrated itself within your body, the way it interacts with your D.N.A. and so forth. This is what happens at the end of each day. This is why we have been asking you to enter periods of unconsciousness. It is a harmless process and is nothing to be afraid of. We need you to be unconscious because it can cause confusion, and affect your brain’s activity in a way that is often distressing for the participant.

  “Once this is done, once you have learnt everything you need to, and once we have fully mapped out your codes, you will come to one of our other planets. You will be a guest of honor, although we have put you though a terrible ordeal. That is now over. You will be given anything you want, as well as immortality and everlasting health.

  “In return, you will use your M.N.A. It may be to simply power our technology, at least to start with. But one day, we will require your power, along with all the others who have gained the same gift, for our ultimate aim.

  “You will recall in a previous lesson, I spoke of our need to leave our universe, and our difficulty in doing so. I explained that we needed to find ‘God’s up’. Well we think M.N.A. holds the key to that. Only M.N.A. from many people at once, such as yourself, all working together, has the potential to rip a hole in space and time, to give us a portal to what lies outside, and to what contains us.”

  Chapter 38

  Zack grabbed the man’s collar and dragged him from the pool of his own blood, making a fresh line of red like a slug’s trail. He moved to a box and grabbed some t-shirts, throwing them down. First onto where the body had started, then onto the new stain he had created.

  He stared at them, slowly absorbing the red. His eyes flicked to the glass panel in the door. He had to cover it. He turned, took another box and placed it underneath – then another on top, then another, until a stack of boxes blocked it. Macy watched him, standing at the side of the room, wide eyed.

  He froze, stuck between thoughts, then picked up more t-shirts and threw them down, trying to cover every bit of red. He looked around.

  Footsteps.

  He stopped dead – the footsteps grew louder, moving along the corridor outside. Zack scrambled for something to say. Gold priest… he was a gold priest. The footsteps stopped. Zack stared at the door. He heard something else, a room being entered. He tried to suppress his breathing. The footsteps returned. He listened to them move, projecting their location, placing them outside his door, but moving away, growing quieter, quieter, until they faded.

  He opened another box and frantically threw the blue over wherever he saw blood. Another box. Another. He moved over to the body – now silent and still, and threw some more, before taking the empty boxes, arranging them around him, pausing to put him on his side and bend his knees, so as to make him smaller, then returning to his task. He stepped back. He had made a wall, enclosing the body into the corner. But he could still see him. He turned and took a few more boxes and dropped them over the cardboard wall to cover the body fully.

  He stared. This was stupid – he could never cover it all. He moved away and began to make another wall in the opposite corner. Placing the last box, he called for Macy to get behind it, then joined her. A silence. Zack waited for noise. Nothing. A fragile silence. He thought about getting up, trying to do a better job. Darkness sprang through the room – as the automatic lights flicked off.

  Chapter 39

  Laura woke to half-light. Another morning dimmed by the glass’s filter. She stared at the sun. Like this it looked like a wormhole, with distorted edges.

  Where would it take me?

  She got out of bed and her bare feet touched the slightly warm wooden floor. She walked over to get a better view. A few moments later Adam’s voice sprang up.

  “Morning.”

  “Morning,” she said, surprised at how friendly her voice was. Perhaps he was winning her over, and she didn’t realise it.

  “Would you like to get started?”

  “Sure…”

  The door opened. She took one last look at the view, then turned and crossed the room, coming to the corridor. Moving over the threshold, she saw the guard to her right. She headed towards him and followed him to the room with the MRI machine.

  She headed over to it and lay down on its sliding tray.

  …

  The scan room opened up around Laura. Every day here was the same – the same pattern. MRI scan. Then this. Then the crystals.

  A tingle began in her body. She grabbed her head and fell on the floor.

  “Argghhhh.”

  “Laura?” Adam shouted. “Laura…! Laura… What… what happened?”

  Laura groaned.

  “Laura! Laura!”

  “Don’t hurt me,” said Laura.

  “No I didn’t… I didn’t do anything.”

  “Let me go!” Laura shouted, getting onto her feet and screaming at the ceiling. “Let me go!”

  “No… L… Laura it’s. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I don’t know what happened.”

  “Why am I here?” Laura said, her voice turning timid and afraid. “Why am I really here? What are you going to do to me?”

  “Laura,” said Adam opening the door. “Step out. There… must be something wrong… step outside… go back to your room.”

  Laura staggered back into the corridor.

  …

  Chapter 40

  Zack wished he had some way to know the time. He had heard people pass by the door, sometimes a single pair of footsteps, sometimes a crowd. Each time adrenaline had coursed through him.

  But Zack believed.

  He believed that he and Macy would be saved. Belief had become the thing he could control the most. The noise of the stadium had slowly dissipated. The automatic lights of the corridor had turned off, no longer with any movement to trigger them. It must be safe, Zack tried to convince himself. Should he keep Macy with him? What if he came across one of them? This room had a kind of magic – it had got them this far.

  “I’m gonna find a bag,” he whispered to her. “I’ll sneak you out of here.”

  “I’m scared.”

  “Me too.” He hugged her tightly. “But we got this far, they’re not so clever. I just need a bag, and I can carry you, and we’ll get away from them. So you just gotta stay here.” Her face dropped. “No I know,” said Zack, “But you’re safe here, while I find a bag, or something. I’m going to go out and see what’s going on. You have to stay here.”

  She blinked back tears and nodded, unable to meet his eyes.

  “Okay. Just keep doing what you’ve been doing. Don’t make a sound. Don’t move. Don’t go to the door to look for me. Just stay right here. Okay?”

  Zack hugged her again, then stood up and crept to the door. The automatic light sprang to life. A terrible sensation passed through him as if he had trigged some sort of alarm. He passed the threshold and scanned the corridors, then kept moving.

  A few doors stood around him. He moved to the room next to his. He felt a sudden hope. Like the other room, it was full of boxes. He moved to the closest and looked through it. More football shirts. The boxes were grouped by size. He opened one from each group.

  The first contained trousers. Grabbing a large, heavy one from the middle of a huge pile, he moved it to the floor and pulled open the cardboard flaps. Several sports bags. He grabbed one and crept back to the room with Macy.

  “See if you can fit in,” he whispered, returning to her side.

&nb
sp; He put the bag down, and began to open it – the zip painfully loud. Macy stepped inside, lay down and brought her knees up slightly. Zack moved the zip back again. It got stuck halfway. He yanked it bit by bit, his other hand gripping the fabric, until he managed to get it mostly closed.

  “You okay?” he said.

  “Yeah.”

  “Okay.”

  Zack bent his knees and braced himself. He lifted the bag up and over his shoulder, the strap digging into his skin. Leaning to counter the load, he began to walk, telling himself that he could do it. His journey would be broken into stops and starts – he could tell that already.

  The corridors held an eerie silence. Zack looked for some signs. Each time he turned a corner, more lights sprang on, and a new stretch of white led away from him. He kept track of his general direction, making sure to keep moving forwards.

  Another turn, then some stairs leading upwards. That was it! He put the bag down, his ears straining for activity.

  Nothing.

  He lifted the bag, moving up the stairs, and through a dark corridor. The outside world opened up around him – shadowless and dark under a sky of grey clouds. A cold wind whipped the heat off his sweat-drenched body.

  …

  Adam rushed to his office, jumping into his seat and grabbing the desk with both hands, taking quick, deep breaths.

  One scan! They had told him one scan. One blast from the crystals. He closed his eyes. One… he was on three. What if the readings were wrong? What if her powers were gone the first time? What if he didn’t need to do this? What if he just left her alone?

  A terrible thought came to him – he imagined her body still and lifeless. What would happen if he put on the goggles? He pushed the idea away. Could the pain be in her mind? Anxiety? A psychological response?

  He wasn’t supposed to be dealing with unknowns. It wasn’t fair… a lifetime to prepare… What next? What could he do next? He had to put on those goggles, his second pair, sitting on the desk. He stared at them. If she was gone… he couldn’t… he just couldn’t… it would be the end.