by Rachel Aukes
The professor watched me for a moment. “You don’t have the look of a soldier, yet you dress like one.”
I shrugged and looked down at the hunting clothes I’d found at the sporting goods store in Des Moines. “They have lots of pockets and they hold up.”
“I, on the other hand, am having a harder time each day ‘holding up.’” He came to his feet. “On that note, I’ll excuse myself for the night. We’ve had no problems since we’ve been here, so you can rest soundly.”
“Thanks,” I said.
Clutch waved as he walked away. The remaining Marshall survivors followed soon after.
“So…” Jase drawled out. “Are we taking them back to New Eden with us?”
Clutch spoke. “We haven’t mentioned it to them, but so far I don’t see why not.”
“I’m cool with it,” I said. “But, I want to find out why the prof is so protective of the priest’s quarters.”
“What do you mean?” Clutch asked quickly.
“He made it clear he didn’t want anybody in the priest’s crib,” Jase said. “I figured he’s keeping the good booze back there.”
Clutch motioned to Griz, who nodded and came right over.
“You have your weapon ready?” Clutch asked.
Griz patted his back, where his machete was strapped. “Always. We got a date?”
“We need to find out why Caler doesn’t want us anywhere outside this area.”
Clutch and Griz quickly filled in the rest of the squadron, leaving them behind but ready to jump into action in an instant. I grabbed a candle. The four of us crossed the altar and walked past the confessional booths and down the narrow hallway lined with robes. As the hallway continued, we passed doors, each with a sign conveying what lay behind. When we reached the sign that read Private Residence, we stopped.
Clutch eyed each of us with his “you ready” look. I nodded.
He opened the door. The room to the left was dark, but a candle glow filtered out from the room on the right. Clutch and Griz took lead, and Jase and I followed. I held the candle in my left hand and my machete in my right.
Clutch stopped cold inside the doorway. He glanced to me and back to the room, his sword frozen in the air. I entered and became a statue.
In the bed lay two kids—their faces all too familiar to Clutch and me. We’d seen them once before. Many months ago. I’d never forget their faces, and neither would Clutch.
“What the hell?” Griz whispered.
“It’s impossible,” I said breathlessly, and I felt Jase hold me up.
The kids opened their jaundiced eyes and sat up, removing any doubt that these were the kids…the two zed kids from the convenience store.
Chapter XIII
“Stop,” A man jumped from the darkened corner and stood between Clutch and the two zeds. “They won’t harm you.”
I frowned, my gaze flitting between the man and the pair sitting on the bed.
“They’re not violent,” The man continued before turning back to the two and stroking their hair. “But, they are special. Very, very special.”
The zeds watched us with droll stares. The younger girl cocked her head, but no sign of emotion flickered on her face. They weren’t like us, but they also weren’t like the other zeds. They were something different.
“They’re like Henry,” I said softly. “Zen zeds.”
The man frowned and eyed me. “You’ve found another survivor of the infection?”
I watched him for a moment. A sense of familiarity niggled the back of my mind. I raised the candle to illuminate his features. “Dr. Gidar?”
He blinked. “You know me?”
I nodded. “You were in Doctors Without Borders with my father, Dr. Ryan. I met you in Nigeria.”
His mouth slowly parted before a smile crossed his face. “Mia? My girl, you’re all grown up now. I didn’t even recognize you.”
“I was twelve during that trip,” I replied drily. It had been the best summer vacation I’d ever had.
“Your name is Mia? Seriously?” Griz asked with a smirk. “Like Mama Mia?”
I smacked his arm. “No, like Mia Farrow. My mom loved scary movies.”
“We can swap stories later,” Clutch growled. “Right now, I want to know why this guy has two zeds in a building with the rest of us with no security to keep them from us.”
“I told you,” Dr. Gidar said. “These children aren’t zeds. The virus didn’t take over completely. I’d thought it was something miraculous about their genes since they are siblings, but you said you found another. Tell me about him.”
“Later.” Clutch pointed to the kids. “Once you secure those two, you’re going to come out and tell us what you’ve been hiding in here.”
Without waiting for an answer, Clutch motioned for us to leave, and I found my feet hustling from the room. Too many months of being chased by zeds made me skittish around them. And those two zed kids had haunted too many of my dreams already.
They were the first zeds we’d come across that had a spark of intelligence in their eyes. They were also the first that hadn’t tried to eat us when they’d seen us. Instead, they’d stood there, holding hands, and watched us.
That happened before summer hit. Later, Clutch and I had racked our brains trying to figure them out, until we finally gave up. I’d done a decent job at not thinking about them again since we hadn’t come across any other zeds like them. Until we’d come across Henry.
Once we reached the hallway, Jase blew out a breath. “Man, Cash. Those kids threw me. They remind me of the pair you and Clutch talked about.”
“That’s because they are the same kids,” I said.
Jase frowned. “But you said you saw those two back near Fox Park. How’d they get all the way out here?”
“I have no idea.”
When we emerged from the hallway, the rest of the squadron was waiting for us, armed and spread out across the open area.
“What’d you find?” Marco asked, nodding toward the hallway.
“They’ve got two Henrys back there,” Griz said.
Marco frowned briefly before his eyes grew wide. “No shit?”
“What’s a Henry?” Tom asked.
“They’re zeds but they’re different,” Griz replied. “Not openly aggressive, but I still don’t trust ’em.”
“They have them in the open, with no restraints,” Clutch said. “I don’t know if they’re dangerous, but it would only take one bite to ruin a perfectly good day.”
“They won’t bite you,” The professor said as he entered with Dr. Gidar and Nathan at his side. Nathan carried his baseball bat, and I believed he would defend Caler to the death if he had to.
“They are the key to a vaccine,” Dr. Gidar said before taking a seat near the altar. “They are the first subjects we’ve found who were infected but didn’t fully succumb to the zonbistis virus or die, which means they carry the antigen in their blood. They suffered some level of neurological damage, but that their hearts still beat is a miracle in itself.”
My jaw dropped. “A vaccine is possible?”
“Yes, I’m sure of it,” the doctor replied. “I’m making progress on isolating the antigen, but it’s been slow. At the university, I had the resources available, but we didn’t have the children. I had hypothesized there would be survivors of the virus, but I had no proof until we found these children while we ran from the herds. The hospitals we’ve come across have either been bombed, are full of the infected, or have no generators to power the equipment I need to isolate the antigen from the virus and strengthen it to be replicable as a vaccine.”
“We have power at New Eden,” Tom offered. “And we have a medical staff. If you gave us a list of instruments you needed, we could search for them.”
Dr. Gidar lightened up. “You must take us with you. This can change everything.”
I glared at Tom for sharing information that no one outside New Eden needed to know.
“Tom,” Cl
utch cautioned.
Tom looked at Clutch and frowned. “Well, it’s not like we’d leave these folks behind. New Eden takes in all survivors who don’t pose a threat.”
“And, we haven’t determined these guys don’t pose a threat,” Clutch said.
“I can assure you that we pose no threat. Additionally, you don’t have to take all of us. At least take Richard and the two children,” Professor Caler said. “But, Richard’s work is far too important. Until we have a vaccine, we’ll always be a step behind this virus.”
“But, the government nuked the south,” Jase said. “The herds are gone. All that’s left are the stragglers.”
“There’s still a government?” the professor asked.
“They dropped warheads on the infected?” Dr. Gidar asked quickly. “That would’ve killed innocent infected as much as the violent infected.”
“Like Caler said,” Clutch chimed in. “We were always a step behind. We had to lower their numbers.”
“But, that’s not…well, I can’t condone what they’ve done,” Gidar said. “The south would now be a highly contagious zone.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Consider the case of the fungi found in the tropical forests. You see, there are several species of fungus lumped together and called the zombie fungus in layman’s terms. They control the behavior of their host body—ants in this case—until the host body can no longer continue. The fungus then creates spores so that it can spread.”
“But this is a virus, not a fungus,” I said. “I remember seeing the news.”
“Correct,” he said. “But this particular virus is operating in a consistently similar fashion, but it is far more potent. Zonbistis controls the behaviors of its host body until the host body can no longer continue, but the virus can be contracted long after its host body’s final death. You see, at the university, I tested the zonbistis life cycle in great detail. Not only did the virus survive in the host body nearly four days following death, it became tremendously more virulent until it finally burned itself out.”
I frowned. “I don’t understand. The virus spreads through bites and cuts. It needs contact with our blood.”
The doctor shook his head. “Bites from the infected are contagious, but zonbistis is far more devious than that. When the virus loses its host, it puts all of its energy into spreading itself. I call this component the ‘eleventh hour virulence,’ and this is the reason why the virus spread so quickly at the outset.”
“That’s why the blood-coated bullets took down our guys so fast,” Clutch mused.
“Bullets were coated with infected blood?” the doctor asked.
Clutch nodded.
“Well, that would certainly pose a high risk,” Gidar said. “It wouldn’t take someone long to succumb to the virus if it was outside its host body and within the four-day window.”
“Holy shit,” I said as the pieces began to click. We’d always been careful to avoid coming into contact with zed blood, but we’d all gotten it on us before. Plenty of times. I blew out a breath. “They said the virus started in a bad batch of lettuce and vegetables from the same processing plant. Something must’ve happened at the plant, and the virus tainted all the lettuce.”
“Yes,” Dr. Gidar said. “Produce was shipped across the country in under a day. The virus would’ve been at its highest potency at that point. It explains why people succumbed so quickly.”
I swallowed. “We’ve been lucky.”
“Very lucky,” Clutch added.
Dr. Gidar continued. “The ‘eleventh hour virulence’ of zonbistis is precisely why the virus will never be defeated until we become immune to it. Think of measles. We’ve eradicated it from the U.S. before, but outbreaks continue to occur as long as the virus exists somewhere in the world. We will never completely destroy the virus—that’s impossible, but we can better defend against it. There will continue to be outbreaks until we build immunity to the virus. Viruses can lay dormant for weeks, months, even years, and then erupt. We can’t be myopic and focus only on the risk of infection today. We have to make the world safe for tomorrow.”
I narrowed my gaze upon the doctor. “So, Dr. Gidar, you’re saying you can produce a vaccine, which will keep any of us from getting infected?”
“I believe so, yes. But, I need resources, including this Henry fellow you mentioned. He, too, would carry the antigen.”
“Give us tonight to talk about it,” Clutch said. “If what you’re saying is true, it can help end the zed threat. But, you’re also talking about bringing zeds into a town filled with innocent people.”
“I assure you, they pose little risk,” the doctor said. “And, I’m sure we can work out an arrangement where they are secured from the general population.”
“We’ll be back up here in the morning,” Professor Caler said. “To give you time to make your decision. I hope you understand that what you decide can change the entire world.”
They came to their feet and headed toward the hallway.
“Wait.” Tom jumped up. “You’re a doctor, right?”
Dr. Gidar nodded. “I am.”
“You need to help Jack. He was bit.”
His lips tightened. “I’m sorry. I can’t do anything for your friend.”
“You don’t understand. He was bit by a dog, not by a zed.”
“Did the dog look ill?”
“Yeah. It might have had rabies.”
He held out his hands, palms facing us. “I can’t help him. There’s no vaccine.”
“He’s got zabies,” Nathan said. “We lost two of ours to dog bites.”
“What Nathan calls zabies is a mutated form of the zonbistis virus,” Dr. Gidar said. “It’s a less severe strain, where the virus functions much like rabies.”
“Are you saying the virus mutated?” I asked.
“Viruses constantly mutate,” the doctor replied. “It’s their nature. At least this strain only makes the infected sick and doesn’t turn them into what we call zeds. In the case of animal bites, the virus runs its course in roughly forty-eight hours for humans. I don’t have a lab with the security and equipment to determine a timeline for infected animals.”
I swallowed. “What happens after forty-eight hours?”
He watched me for a moment before he understood the repercussion of my question. “At least your friend will not become a zed. Like rabies, this virus has a high mortality rate. He will succumb to the virus and die.”
By the tone of his words, it was clear he believed death wasn’t a bad alternative. By the raised voices in the room, everyone believed differently.
“There has to be something you can do,” Tom demanded.
“I can offer some painkillers. It will ease the pain.”
“That’s not good enough,” someone else said.
“You can’t just let him die,” another said.
“I am sorry, but I don’t have anything to combat the virus,” Dr. Gidar said. “Without equipment, power, and support staff, there’s nothing I can do.”
“Are you saying if we can get you those things, you can help?” I asked.
“No, I’m afraid even with unlimited resources, it could take weeks, or even months, before I make any kind of breakthrough in terms of a vaccine, and that’s assuming a breakthrough is even possible. However, a vaccine is a prevention, not a treatment. As I said already, as is the case for rabies, there is no cure.”
“What you will do is check on Jack every three hours and make sure he’s doing okay,” Clutch said after a long silence. “My guys and I are heading out at sunrise. We’ll let you know if you’re coming thirty minutes before we leave.”
“We’ll be ready,” the professor said before adding with a smile, “In case you say we can accompany you.”
Once they left, Clutch walked over to the pew he’d claimed earlier and shrugged off his backpack.
“Dr. Gidar is brilliant,” I started. “My father admired him, which says a lot. If
anyone can find a vaccine, I bet he could. I don’t see how we can leave them behind.”
“We’ll take them to New Eden and hold them in quarantine until we talk with Justin,” Clutch said. “That way, we can ensure they’re safe without putting the town at risk. Now, if you’re not on watch, get some rest. We head home tomorrow.” He laid down on the bench seat and closed his eyes.
I glanced at Jase and smirked. He nodded. Clutch had never been one for long discussions. That I hadn’t disagreed with him tonight was a relief. I was too tired to argue with him. Clutch was a lousy debater—he never gave up, no matter how lost his cause was.
Jase and I laid down near Clutch, and my world slipped away within seconds of closing my eyes. Somehow, I managed to sleep until my early morning shift, when Marco woke Jase and me. I was glad to be awake. I had been deep into a vivid dream where the two zed kids were chasing me, and I was trying to run through a deep stream. No matter how hard I pushed myself, I wasn’t getting anywhere, while the kids kept walking toward me, holding hands.
I was still breathing heavily when I sat up, grabbed my gear and walked softly around Clutch to not wake him. Jase caught up to me, and we started to walk our first round, stopping to look out every window. He looked grumbly, like he did anytime he woke up, but he never complained when he was on duty.
At the third window, I looked out onto a world bathed in moonlight. As I tried to figure out the constellations, Jase fogged up the glass with his breath and used his fist and fingers to make little footprints on the glass.
“Cute,” I said softly and started walking. “I should pick you up some finger paints.”
“Watch out. I’d be the Michelangelo of the new world. All the girls would be chasing me,” he whispered.
“And Hali will kick their collective ass.”
He chuckled and then faked a straight face. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever you say, King of Denial.”
