Dying Planet

by C. O. Amal

  “We should move to a secure location. If possible, to a remote island. It’s our only chance for survival.” Rayan said.

  “But, with the presence of those hellish birds, nowhere is safe. They will fly everywhere in search for human survivors.” One of the soldiers said.

  “Those birds will not fly everywhere. They stick with only populated areas. If we could find an island filled with trees we are saved.” Johana said.

  “Okay, we will then go and search for a remote island.” One of the ship engineers said.

  All agreed.

  “Now that we are near Los Angeles we could go near Guadalupe Island which is remote and is filled with wooden landscape.” One of the soldiers said.

  “Then let’s move to that island. We don’t want to waste time here. There is nothing here for us now.” Johana said.

  The ship’s engine came to life. Ship slowly started to move in the direction of Guadalupe Island.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 15

  New Delhi, India

  “Mr. Prime Minister, we have blocked all flights leaving to and coming from United States and all other North American countries.” One of the men in black suit said.

  “But the news from all over the world had reported the presence of infected birds. Did we detect any of that?” Prime minister asked.

  “So far we haven’t detected any of that. But we are currently searching the skies for any of those birds. Our new laser guns will prevent those creatures from entering our atmosphere.” One of the men said.

  “Did we detect any infected persons?” Prime Minister asked.

  “So far we haven’t encountered any of the infected. Journalists claimed that the White house have fallen under Marselia. The entire North America is filled with the infected people. They are ravaging all the places. We also had heard news from Europe, South America, Africa and Australia about the hellish birds.” One of the men in black suit said. “We haven’t heard from rest of the Asian countries about this. But we can’t take any chances. We must prepare for the worst.”

  ‘What do we know about this Marselia disease?” Prime Minister asked.

  “According to our intelligence report, the Americans discovered some life form on mars. And they were experimenting on it by the code name ‘Project Mars’. Somehow the virus got outside and did what we saw. The infected people’s body seemed to be like plastic. They don’t rot over time. Only greater damage to their brain is fatal to them. This Marselia disease is spreading quickly because of the presence of airborne version of the virus. The infected people are emitting the airborne version from their body. This disease can even affect plants and other animal life forms too. This highly contagious disease must not be treated lightly. The entire North America has fallen under this disease.” The man in black suit finished.

  Suddenly a scream came from outside the building.

  “What is that sound?” Prime minister asked.

  The men in black suit went near the window and looked outside.

  “It seems that people are storming in our direction.” One of the men said.

  “What? For what? I haven’t heard about any problems for the last few weeks.” Prime minister said.

  The guards quickly closed the gates to the building and they closed all doors. The place is filled with a pungent smell.

  “What is that horrible smell?” Prime minister asked.

  “We don’t know.” One of the men said.

  Then the men saw it in the sky. The hellish birds have come for them too. A laser grid formed in the entire Indian hemisphere. Birds are falling from the skies when they touch the laser grid. Indian scientists’ invention is working well. But something is not right. Why people storm here.

  “The birds about which we heard are here, and our defense system is killing them down.” One of the men near the window said to prime Minister with excitement.

  Prime Minister went near the window to watch what is happening outside. He saw the fallen birds and the people who are trying to smash open the gate. Something is entirely wrong. It seems that the people outside the building are not normal. Their bodies are filled with bruises which can be clearly seen through the window.

  “It seems that the Marselia infected people are here.” One of the men said frightened.

  Suddenly the gate broke away from the wall and it fell inwards. The people or what was left of them stormed at the building in which prime minister and the other men were discussing.

  “God! Help us!” Prime minister said.

  “We have to get out of here.” One of the men in black suit said.

  “Where would we go? The only way out of here is by that helicopter parked in the yard. But those infected people are there. They are storming towards us.” Prime minister said while looking through the window.

  The scream of the guards filled the very air they are breathing. The pungent smell is sharper now. Some of the guards aimed their pistols and fired many times. One of the infected people fell. But it got replaced by hundreds of those things.

  “We should move to the basement of this building. It is with steel doors which may save us from those creatures.” Prime minister said.

  Prime minister led them to the basement but on the way prime minister fell down. Other men helped prime minister to stand up. But something wasn’t right. Prime ministers eyes are vacant. They are black as night and his hands and face quickly got filled with tiny bruises. Suddenly prime minister turned his head in an odd manner and he jumped on top of one of the men. The men frantically tried to push back the prime minister. But the prime minister was strong. He bit a man in the neck. Blood oozed down like water flowing through a tap.

  Other remaining men held down the prime minister but suddenly those men also fell down. A moment later they rose, reborn to kill, to infest the surviving humans.

  The creatures outside increased in number. They all rushed to the building. Creatures smashed open every door which had protected many humans before. The entire building got filled with scream of men and women.

  Outside a helicopter hummed. Commandos have landed on the ground armed with AK-47 guns.

  Commandos shot down creatures from behind. A moment later about the whole of the Indian military arrived at the scene, wearing bio hazard suits. They all joined shooting. Some of the soldiers threw grenades towards the creatures. The infected people’s number considerably reduced. But then, a sharp growl came from soldiers’ back side. Everyone looked back.

  A big horde of creatures is approaching the soldiers. The speed of the infected is greater than that possible by a normal human being. Soldiers launched rockets from rocket launchers. But that only increased the creatures’ number. The creatures are quickly attracted by the sounds of gun fire and explosions. It’s like the whole city is storming at a handful of soldiers.

  Finally soldiers surrendered to the creatures. The creatures roamed free through the roads. Soldiers’ scream got lost in the growl of the creatures. Finally India too fell like rest of the countries.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 16

  Pacific Ocean

  The ship USS Enterprices glided through the Pacific Ocean. Rayan, Johana and the soldiers are in the control room discussing about the future plans. Sam and Josh are at the ship’s kitchen, eating nutritious food.

  “So, Guadalupe Island is totally remote?” Johana asked.

  “It is remote and the island is full of trees. Lot of natural resources. We can start a new life there, until things become normal again.” One of the soldiers said.

  “Do you think it will go back to normal?” Rayan asked.

  “As far as I know those things need food to survive. That means they need us. When the food becomes scarce they will possibly die out. Then we could live there again.” The soldier said.

  “As a matter of fact, you’re wrong. As far as I know, even if they die, their bodies continuously emit the virus. The virus even affects all other living organisms living around it.
The corpses will never rot. It will become like plastic. True plastic.” Johana said.

  “And who are you again?” The soldier asked.

  “I am Johana and I work for … worked for NASA. We are the guys who researched on the Martian’s body.” Johana said.

  “Martian? What Martian?” The soldier asked.

  “You don’t know? I thought the military guys know about everything.” Johana said.

  “Well, our superiors didn’t mention about any Martians.” The soldier said.

  “Well, we have found proof that once life existed on mars. It was a mining team on mars who had found it. They said it was some biological matter. But when we actually recovered the matter, it was found to be a corpse of a Martian human.” Johana said.

  “Martian human? Mars had humans?” The soldiers asked in unison, confused.

  “Yes. It indeed was a human. We have found that the corpse wasn’t decaying at all. We also found the strange gas emitted by the corpse. The corps’ whole body was emitting the airborne version of the virus.” Johana said. “But accidentally the virus got out. And this catastrophe happened.”

  “So, this virus plague once ravaged mars?” One of the soldiers asked.

  “Our conclusion leads to that. All our proofs suggested it. This Marselia virus seemed to affect plants also. Plants will soon wither and die out. If there are no plants on Earth, the carbon dioxide level will increase. It will lead to global warming and things go on until Earth will lose its capability to support life. At that time earth will be a barren wasteland, like mars.” Johana said with a deep sigh.

  “So, are you saying that we have no chance of surviving?” One of the soldiers asked.

  “There is a slight chance of survival. This virus is not resistant to saline water. That means the ocean water can destroy the virus. If we find a remote island such as Guadalupe, as you had said, we may be able to survive. The only thing on the way is those hellish birds. But supposedly they will stay only in populated areas. So, we could survive.” Johana said.

  “So, there might be a sanctuary for us.” One of the soldiers said.

  “Yes. In this case the Guadalupe Island could be our sanctuary.” Johana said.

  With that all the soldiers returned to their positions. “We will reach Guadalupe Island in the night. We are about hundred nautical miles away from the destination.” The ship engineer said.

  Rayan went out of the control room to get some air and to look whether there is an incoming danger. Everyone including Rayan is in biohazard suit. They couldn’t take any chances now. They all must take precautions. With the presence of airborne variant of the virus, the Marselia disease is highly contagious. Based on the position of the sun, it is evening. Sun is blazing in the horizon in red colour.

  Rayan remembered one of the movies in which presence of red sun indicated a death. He thought how true it is. Today millions of people died or became one of those mindless psychotic creatures who ravage the entire Earth now. Will Earth’s destiny be same as Mars’?

  Rayan is really afraid, after all those things he got through to get here. A moment later Johana joined Rayan in full biohazard suit.

  “I was looking for a perfect biohazard suit for my sons. So, how things are going?” Johana asked.

  “So far, so good. We haven’t seen those birds again. We may have to stay inside the ship throughout night. We can’t see if those things come at night.” Rayan said. “Did you contact your husband?”

  “No. I didn’t get a signal. It seems that the entire network is down. I am afraid for him.” Johana said.

  “So, where exactly is your husband?” Rayan asked with a deep breath.

  “He is in Africa. He is a nurse in South Africa. He used to call every day.” Johana said with a deep sigh. Her eyes are filled with tears. “I am afraid he is one of those creatures. Since he is working in a hospital, there is all the possibility that he might have exposed to the virus.”

  Johana began to cry.

  “Don’t worry about it. He will be alright. At least you could think that he is alive like us, surviving somewhere in a remote place. Don’t think about probabilities.” Rayan said.

  Suddenly the ship came to a halt. Rayan looked in front of the ship. Then he saw it. Everyone saw it. A cruise ship is in front of their ship. That ship seemed to be dead silent. It is about night time. Around seven O’ clock. Rayan blamed himself for not wearing a watch. Everyone looked at the ship with great expectation. There could be survivors inside the ship. They may be hiding from those hellish birds. Or there may be creatures aboard, if they are unfortunate.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 17

  Pacific Ocean

  Soldiers created a bridge between the two ships using a plane metal sheet. Ten soldiers went to the silent cruise ship pointing assault rifles. Soldiers are wearing NVGs for night vision. Rayan also joined the soldiers with a revolver in his hands.

  The ships blistered in the moonlight. The control room is empty. Blood stain is everywhere. Soldiers carefully moved inside the ship. The ship is huge.

  “We will split in to two groups. We could clear more areas in short time.” One of the soldiers said.

  “Guys, I don’t think that’s a good idea. We should stick together.” Rayan said.

  “We will split in to two groups. We can’t waste time in this ship.” Another soldier said.

  All other soldiers agreed to that. Rayan forcefully agreed. They split in to two groups and started to move in two directions. The group with which Rayan is part of moved to the base of the ship. They all said it’s a good idea to start from the bottom.

  “I hate to ask you this, but do you have, in any chance, a device that could detect the presence of the virus?” Rayan asked to the soldier in front of him. Rayan is the last person in the group.

  “We don’t have none of those things.” The soldier replied.

  The group moved farther into the ship. Darkness is everywhere. Ship’s emergency lighting systems must be down. All the guns soldiers took have flashlights on top of it. Finally the group reached the bottom of the ship. Suddenly gunfire erupted from somewhere on top of the ship. Soldiers become alerted. They searched their surroundings for any sign of creatures. None of the infected was at the bottom. Soldiers opened a door to a room and stepped inside the room. Flashlight on top of the gun lit the room completely.

  The room is completely empty. Then something caught in Rayan’s eye. He found a secret compartment in the room. He opened the small latch. Inside the secret compartment lie two young kids. Both are female. They wore face masks and they seemed to be sleeping. Rayan reached near them and touched one of the kids on the hand. Suddenly the kid woke up startled.

  “It’s Okay. We are the good guys. No need to worry.” Rayan said.

  Soldiers looked at them patiently.

  “That’s what the man who came earlier said to us. But then, he turned out to be an asshole.” One of the kids with silver hair said.

  “What other guy?” One of the soldiers asked.

  “A man with same uniform as yours. He became one of those creatures. And he tried to eat us. We somehow managed to get away from him, and found this room and this secret room.” Other kid said.

  “Did that infected guy happen to be here in this level?” Rayan asked.

  “No. He is in the second level trapped inside a room. We dead bolted the room from outside. He won’t be coming through that door easily.” The kid with silver hair said smiling.

  “Do you know how long it’s been after you saw the creature.” Rayan asked.

  “It has been about two hours now.” The kid said looking at her small watch.

  “Do you have any idea what happened to this ship and its passengers?” One of the soldiers asked.

  “We were warned about the infected through news. We all wore face masks and prepared for the bad thing to happen.” The kid with silver hair said. “Then it happened in the form of those hellish birds. We both were in the cafeter
ia when those birds hit. Those things cleaned out everything. About all of the passengers died. Rest of them exposed to the virus and became the infected. That’s when the military came in a helicopter. Few soldiers safely landed on the ship and exterminated some of the creatures. But then we saw the helicopter on fire and it crashed into the ocean. We don’t know what caused it, but that’s what we saw.”

  “Look, we don’t have time for this. We need to clear this level and find the rest of the soldiers.” One of the soldiers said.

  “I am Jenny and this is Rose by the way.” Jenny said.

  “Well, Jenny, it’s glad to meet you two. We have to move quickly, we are going to a safer place and you’re welcome to join us.” Rayan said.

  The kids nodded and everyone started to move out of the room. The moment one of the soldier entered the corridor, one of the creature jumped on top of him. The hallway got filled with the soldier’s scream and gunfire. Rest of the soldiers quickly went outside and shot the creature in its head. The creature went down. The soldier was already covered in blood.

  “Don’t leave me like this, please. I don’t want to become one of them.” The soldier cried out loud.

  “One of the soldiers came forward and pointed his gun at the fallen soldier’s head. And he fired. The soldier became motionless. Nobody said anything.

  “Quick, move forward.” One of the soldiers yelled.

  But then, a sharp screech came from their front. Everyone looked carefully. The site in front of them was unexplainable. A horde of creatures that are possibly attracted by the gun fire are running toward them. Quickly everyone got inside the room from which they had exited earlier. Rayan shut the door behind him.

  “Quick drag that table over here.” Rayan said.

  The soldiers dragged the table in front of the door and blocked the door. The creatures began to thrash at the door. The door vibrated. Soldiers dragged all the things in the room and piled all of the things in front of the door.

  “Now they won’t come through.” One of the soldiers said.