by James Harden
He had been asleep or passed out since I was wheeled in so maybe that’s why everyone forgot about him. He coughed and then coughed again more violently. He started to convulse and spit up blood.
Maybe Kenji was wrong about us not being infected because just then it looked like Officer Dennis was about as infected as you could get.
Doctor Hunter stopped what he was doing and backed up against the wall. "Restrain that man!" he ordered one of the soldiers.
The soldier moved over to Dennis and tried to put weight on his heaving chest. Dennis snapped open his eyes. He leant forward and sank his teeth into the soldier’s arm. I’m not sure if his teeth punctured the space suit, but I heard a loud crack as something, bone or ligament was crushed in Officer Dennis’s jaw.
The soldier screamed in pain and fell forward, on top of Officer Dennis. Dennis bit him again, this time biting right through the protective suit. The soldier screamed again and pushed himself free. He stumbled back, taking a few steps before he tripped and collapsed on top of me. He was holding his shoulder where Officer Denis had taken a bite, grimacing in agony and something else; the realization that he was a dead man. The other soldier ran over to the door, closing it behind him.
"Come back here!" Doctor Hunter shouted. But the soldier was long gone.
Two seconds later an alarm started blaring.
The doctor slumped down in the corner and started rambling to himself. "Oh no. This can’t be happening. Not again. Not here. Not now. We were so close!"
The soldier, who had been bitten, regained his balance. He checked his wound and lowered his head.
"You’re infected," Kenji said. "We can help."
"How?" the soldier asked.
"I can stop you from becoming one of those things."
He slowly came to his senses.
I don’t know why but he untied me first. The expression on his face was blank, emotionless, like he was coming to grips with what was just about to happen. Or maybe the virus was already starting to take hold. He kept grimacing in pain. I asked him if he was all right but he didn’t answer me. I thanked him for untying me and told him to untie Kenji next, that he was the one who would be able to help him. But again he didn’t answer me; I don’t even think he was listening to me. Instead he dropped to his knees and handed me his rifle.
He made eye contact with me. "Do it," he said. "Quickly."
"What? No way! Kenji, you have to do this."
I went to untie Kenji but the solider grabbed my leg.
"Please," he begged.
"You have to do it," Kenji said. "It’s just like we practiced back home."
"But that was years ago! And we were shooting paper targets and tin cans!"
We were shouting over the alarm and the thumping noise coming from the fridge. It was hard to think straight with all the noise. In the corner of the room, Doctor Hunter was still rambling to himself as he buried his face in his hands.
"Why wasn’t this man quarantined?" he started crying and whimpering. "Why wasn’t he isolated? None of the other suspects were showing symptoms, why would he?" His voice was no longer soothing. It had gone from calming and hypnotic, to downright frantic and fearful.
The soldier started to dig his nails into my leg and he started to drool. He was starting to turn. So just like Kenji taught me all those years ago, I flicked the safety switch off and jammed the butt of the rifle into my shoulder. I raised the barrel and placed my right index finger on the trigger. I could hear Kenji's voice in my head, 'squeeze the trigger, don't pull’. I inhaled and breathed out slowly.
But I couldn’t do it. My finger was frozen. All I needed to do was squeeze the trigger and put this man out of his misery but I couldn’t.
The soldier was kneeling down with his head lowered. "Come on. Please. Just do it."
"Rebecca, you have to shoot him!" Kenji yelled.
"I can't!"
"You can. You have to. There's no telling how long it takes for infection to spread. He could turn any second now. You have to shoot him."
The soldier started to cough just like officer Dennis had done earlier. He was holding his shoulder where he was bitten.
"Kenji, I'll untie you," I said. "You can shoot him."
"No! There's no time. Do it now!"
The soldier ripped his dog tags off his neck and a necklace with a cross on it. He then took a hand gun out from his side holster and put the barrel up to his head. He made eye contact with me again and pulled the trigger.
The noise of the gun scared the hell out of me and I jumped backwards and fell over. As long as I live, I will never forget those eyes. I see them sometimes, in the dark, or in my dreams.
Kenji was still yelling at me but I couldn’t really hear him. Maria, Jack and Kim, had been shocked into silence. I was breathing hard. I felt light headed again. There were voices in my head telling me to calm down.
"Rebecca, shoot Dennis!" Kenji yelled. "Shoot him before he breaks free!"
I snapped out of it. Dennis was struggling against the restraints. Growling at me, baring his teeth, the restraints were cutting into his forearms.
I aimed the gun at Officer Dennis. I distanced myself mentally so it didn’t really feel like I was the one killing him. I squeezed the trigger and shot him. I shot him square in the chest. But he kept fighting against the restraints, he kept snapping his jaw.
"What the hell?"
"You have to shoot him in the head!" Kenji shouted.
Dennis continued to fight against the restraints. His forearm began to tear and then suddenly his whole hand snapped off. He reached for me with a stump of an arm, oozing black blood everywhere.
I raised the barrel again, this time carefully aiming for his head. I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. I squeezed the trigger and put Dennis out of his misery. He fell back and stopped moving.
Chapter 16
I’m not sure what happened next. I was in this weird catatonic state. I think I was numb from shock. I remember we untied the others and I remember Kenji wanted to kill the Doctor but I told him not too. Even though Doctor Hunter was just about to cut us all into tiny pieces, I had seen enough killing for one day.
One thing I do remember clearly was the doctor on his knees, begging for his life. Maybe that’s why I told Kenji not to shoot him. He just looked so pathetic. Kenji tied him to the sliding door of the fridge and we left him there. Maybe that was worse than shooting him. I don’t know. I’m not sure what became of him but I do know that the noises, the thumping and the scratching and the moaning coming from the other side of the fridge door were scaring the hell out of him. And I wouldn’t be surprised if whatever was on the other side eventually broke out. But those noises would’ve been enough to scare anyone. Even now when I think about it, I get goose bumps.
We moved outside the morgue and thankfully the alarm stopped.
"Are you sure we should just leave the Doctor in there?" Kim whispered.
I was still in shock and Kenji was too busy trying to secure the doors to answer her. To my surprise it was Maria who voiced what everyone was thinking.
"He doesn’t deserve to be killed so easily," Maria said. "And he's definitely not coming with us."
It was disturbing to hear that coming from someone like Maria but I guess it was understandable after what he was just about to do to us. And of course she was right; we couldn’t just bring him with us. Not a chance in hell.
Kenji tied the morgue door together with his belt just to make sure it was nice and secure. He then checked the stairwell that led to the upper floors of the hospital and gave the all clear. Now that we were free I wanted to run away, run as far as I could. I think we all did. But Kenji told us to wait, forced us to be cautious.
"We can’t just go running through the hospital," he whispered. "We need to think this through."
What he said made perfect sense but I still wanted to run. I guess we were still stunned from the prospect of being chopped up into a science experiment. Maybe bei
ng so scared clouded my ability to think logically. I must have been in more of a daze than I thought because for some reason I was still holding the soldiers rifle. I handed the gun back to Kenji because I figured he should be the one handling the weapons. When he took the gun off me it was only then I realized how much my hands were shaking. Then it hit me. I had just shot and killed a person, another human being.
Kenji seemed to read my mind. "Feel better. He was infected. You were doing him and all of us a favor."
Kim patted me on the shoulder. "Yeah it’s OK. You did the right thing."
Their words did not make me feel better. It sure didn't feel like I'd done the right thing. And since when did shooting people become the right thing?
"Hey at least you’ve improved your aim." Kenji said, in a small attempt to make me feel better.
I barely heard the joke over my pounding heart. I wanted to be sick. But Instead of throwing up I said, "Point blank range was always my specialty."
And for some weird, macabre reason, joking about it made me feel better. I guess staying alive is better than the alternative.
"OK, let’s focus here," Jack said. "We need to make a plan. We need to get out of here. All in favor of going home raise your hand," he said as he raised his hand. Maria shook her head at him and gave a look that said now was not the time for messing around.
"I agree," Kim said as she turned towards Kenji. "But first, you need to give us some answers. You need to tell us what we’re dealing with here." She was pointing her index finger right in his face. "And I don’t want any more lies or secrets."
"Yeah what the hell was that all about? We were nearly turned into mince meat." Jack said, backing up his sister.
"This isn’t normal," Kim continued. "And what happened to Dennis? What have they got locked up in the freezer down here?"
"Keep your voices down." Kenji whispered.
"Just give us some answers," Kim said ignoring Kenji’s advice to lower her voice. "Or are you behind this as well? I’m beginning to think you’re in on the whole military quarantine thing."
"Excuse me? You think I had something to do with what happened in there?"
"It wouldn’t surprise me."
"Hey, I was about to be cut up as well."
I had my hands clasped together trying to make them stop shaking. Kenji was right. He was just as screwed as we were. But he had to know something. He had to know more than he was letting on. I was sure of it. That’s why he deserted his post with the Marines. That's why he showed up at my house and tried to warn me. I really, really wished I hadn't slammed the door in his face.
"He’s right you guys," I said. "This isn't Kenji's fault. He was in as much trouble as we were."
For some reason that shut them right up. It was like they already knew it wasn't his fault but they needed someone to blame and he was the one wearing the uniform. They all hung their heads, or turned away completely. They were frustrated, angry. I personally was feeling violated. Being tied up in a morgue and about to have your organs harvested for scientific research is not an easy thing to deal with. Even now it’s hard to think about just how close we came to death and how helpless we were.
"But Kenji, you know something," I said determined not to let him off the hook so easy without an honest explanation of what he knew, of what he was hiding. "I know you know something. Why else would you desert your post? Why else would you try and warn me?"
Everyone looked at Kenji then, waiting for an answer, waiting for some small sliver or information so they could make sense of everything that had just happened, of this whole crazy messed up situation
He took a deep breath, looking over his shoulder and up the stairs to make sure we were alone. "All I know is there was an outbreak at the immigration centre."
"We already know that!" Kim whispered through clenched teeth. "An outbreak of what? What are we dealing with here?"
"It's a virus. A super virus. The military was called into contain it."
"Contain? Does it look like it’s contained?" Maria said.
"Shhh!"
"Sorry."
Jack raised his hand again like he was back in class and wanted to ask the teacher a question. "But didn’t we already know that? We already knew it was a virus. There’s gotta be something else going on. Why would they declare a national quarantine?"
"Because," Kenji finally said. "This virus, it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen. It doesn’t just make people sick, it doesn’t just kill people. It changes them. It takes away their soul."
Kenji was starting to scare us. If the virus didn’t kill people, what exactly did it do?
Chapter 17
"Oh come on," Kim said in disbelief. "What are you talking about?"
"It changes people," Kenji said. "They become extremely violent, dangerously violent, like a rabid animal. You saw what it did to those people at the police station and you saw what it did to Officer Dennis. A person infected with the Oz Virus will attack other non-infected people to spread the virus. Just one bite, just one scratch is enough to pass on the infection."
"So those people at the police station weren’t just high on drugs?" Kim asked.
"No. It was the virus."
Kim pushed Kenji in the chest. "Why didn’t you tell us? We could’ve been infected! We could’ve been killed!"
"The less you knew the better. If they were to question you, if they found out that you knew what was really going on, they’d kill you on the spot. They wouldn’t even think twice."
"Couldn’t be any worse than having your organs harvested," I said.
"I know. I’m sorry. I just thought that you were safer not knowing. I didn’t realize how bad it was. I didn’t know the virus had already made it here. I knew it was dangerous but I had no idea how fast it was spreading through the population."
"Hang on just one minute," Jack said as he held his hand up yet again to ask another question. "Let me get this straight. Are you trying to tell us that the virus not only kills people but then turns them into rabid, violent animals?"
Kenji nods his head. "They become aggressive, they don’t feel pain. It’s like the virus completely takes over."
"You mean like a freakin zombie? Is this what this is? Is this the god damn zombie apocalypse?"
"I don’t know what it is, exactly. I don’t think anyone does. But if this thing gets out of control it’ll be bad. I don't even want to think about how bad it could get."
"Yeah," Jack said. "Because you’ll have zombies eating people and then turning those people into zombies and so on and so on."
I thought about what Jack said. It sounded ridiculous but it also sounded terrifying. A normal virus was spread passively through germs but what if the host body was actively and violently trying to spread the infection. How many infected people could the military contain before they become overwhelmed?
"Is there a cure?" I asked. "Is there any treatment?"
"Not that I know of. The only way to stop the infection is to kill the host."
"You mean, kill the infected person?"
"Yes. A head shot is the only way."
"But you can’t just kill everyone who gets sick! What if I were to get infected right now? Would you kill me?" Kim asked.
"We’d have no choice. Sometimes the virus acts instantly, sometimes it takes longer. But one thing they drilled into us before we came here was that once you become infected, you will change. There is no stopping it."
"And so the military is supposed to be containing this thing? That’s why you’re here right? To fix everything?" Maria asked hopefully.
"That’s why they sent us. I’m not sure who is in charge, or who’s responsible but it was obvious to me that they had completely lost control. The quarantine is all part of a massive cover up. Keeping people out and shutting down communication networks is all designed to stop the flow of information. I mean, when we got to Woomera, it wasn’t just the people in the immigration centre that were infected. There were hundreds o
f cases reported in the township."
"You sound like the crazy lady we shared a cell with," Jack said. "What did they tell you, Kim? You’re a cop, surely they told you something."
"Yeah. They did. You know what they told us? Follow the military. Full cooperation. No questions asked. A lot of good that is doing."
Arguing was getting us nowhere. And getting nowhere was not a good thing. Especially since the thumping coming from the morgue fridge was in no way subsiding. It was actually getting louder. We could hear Doctor Hunter still begging for his life. The man had completely lost it. The fridge doors looked pretty solid but it wouldn’t surprise me if those things broke the locks or the hinges of the door any second now.
"So why did you run?" I asked Kenji.
Kenji sat down on the stairs and doubled over, like the implications of what had just transpired in the morgue had kicked him in the guts, like the seriousness of what was happening all around had just kicked him in the guts. "I ran because I was scared," he said. "I was stationed outside the Woomera immigration centre. My orders were to shoot anyone or anything that broke out of the containment area. My orders were shoot to kill.
"It made me feel sick," he continued. "I couldn’t do it at first. But then I saw what had become of the people who were infected. They weren’t human anymore. They were monsters. After a couple of days, more and more cases were reported. It started to get out of hand."
He lowered his head and ran his hands through his hair. "Once the virus broke the quarantine they ordered a nuclear strike. And that’s when I got the hell out of there."
"A nuclear strike?" Kim said her mouth wide open. "Why would they do that?"
"The overall objective is containment. By any means necessary."
"How can they nuke a whole town and get away with it?"
"The nationwide quarantine," Kenji answered. "Like I said, it was not only designed to keep the virus contained but it was also designed to stop the flow of information to the outside world. They shut down the phone networks, internet, everything. At the moment, Australia is completely isolated from the rest of the world."
