by Gayle Katz
Standing there, something inside of my head causes me to look in the direction of a man sitting across the gate with an open briefcase. When I look at him, he’s already staring at me. Why is he staring? Is it because I’m making a scene, or because of some other reason? I look around, desperate to figure out what’s happening. Other people are staring, too, but he’s the only one with a smirk on his face. Is this it? Is he going to kill me? Or, am I part of the plan to infect others, just like the army of Jane clones sent around the globe? JFK is the last airport on Malik’s target list. No. Trying to hold on to my sanity and accept the truth. That’s not possible. Malik is dead along with his evil plans. I shake my head, but the evidence is getting difficult to ignore. If Malik is indeed dead, why am I feeling this way?
Every square inch of my body is in pain. Sweat is pouring off of me. My legs are still rubbery, shaking under my weight. I can feel my body changing. I’m not one of the clones and I won’t succumb to his will. I won’t. I’m stronger than that. I can’t let this happen and do nothing to stop it.
I push myself away from the wall, stumble, and fall against the cop still standing in front of me. As I lean against him, I grab the small pistol from his holster, push him away, turn around, and try to aim at the man who caught my eye.
“She’s got a gun,” someone shouts in the crowd. People scatter and start screaming.
I step closer to the man across the gate. I have to make sure these bullets count. I can’t miss. With the pistol in my right hand, I hold my aching head with my left.
“Isn’t someone going to help me?” he pleads. He stands up and backs away from me. “Someone stop her!”
“You’re the one who needs to be stopped! All the pain and suffering you caused me and everybody else. You don’t deserve anyone’s mercy.”
“What? What are you talking about? I don’t know you.”
I step closer to him and look deep into his eyes. Despite going through the trouble of changing his appearance, his evil eyes betray him. It’s Malik. Without pity, I shoot the man with the briefcase staring back at me. It takes all of my strength to pull the trigger, but I squeeze it. The loud sound of the bullet exploding from the barrel momentarily tamps down the ringing in my ears. I squeeze the trigger again and again, and watch as the man falls to the floor.
He has to be dead now, right? Running over to the briefcase next to the man lying on the floor, I shuffle through papers looking for whatever device he used to activate me and inflict this pain. I can’t turn into a zombie and put an entire city in jeopardy.
An arm touches my back and I jump.
“Ahhh!” I scream.
“It’s too late,” the dying man on the floor whispers, revealing the destroyed remote in pieces in his hand. “You’re the harbinger of change, and change is coming.”
“How do I stop from turning?”
“You can’t,” he says, as his eyes close and his chest stops rising and falling.
“Oh no. No. No. No! Get away from me! Get away!” I repeat, staring at the innocent people standing around me and staring back at me. Turning around to see all the people I’m putting in jeopardy, my eyes scan the immediate area. All of these faces mean nothing to me, that is until I see Jack and Chris rush through the growing crowd. Upon seeing them, my heart beats faster, my blood boils, and my thinking becomes scattered and fragmented. I can’t put them in harm’s way again. Still holding the police officer’s pistol, I bring the barrel of the gun to my head.
“Jane!” Jack shouts, running up to me. “W-What are you doing? Put the gun down!”
“It’s the right thing to do. I can’t stop it, Jack. There’s no way to stop it now. I’m changing. It’s happening. I can feel it.”
Chris and his team are only a step behind Jack. Chris motions for them to set up a perimeter around me, guns aimed. With no less than ten officers surrounding me, guns pointed, I cry out. “You think I want to hurt anyone? That’s the last thing I want to do. Go ahead and shoot me. You’ll be saving the city and doing me a favor!”
“No! Don’t listen to her! Chris! Tell your people to stand down. I can handle this.”
“It’s OK, Jack. Baby, I’m dead no matter what. Whether I kill myself, they kill me, or I turn into one of those monsters, it doesn’t matter.”
“Yes, it does matter. It matters to me. Don’t do this.”
“Jack, I know you love her, but we can’t let this situation get out of control. If she turns into one of them, we’re risking the lives of everybody here. You know that.”
“I know. I got this,” Jack responds to Chris. Turning back to me, Jack continues his plea, “Please don’t do this. I love you. Whatever is happening, we can work through it together, just like we’ve done in the past. We’re a team.”
“You don’t understand. It’s in me,” I say, pointing to my neck. “That chip is buried deep in my neck. I’m contaminated. I’ve been activated. My life is over.”
“No it’s not. There’s nothing happening that we can’t fix, but we need to do it together.”
“We can’t. I have to do this alone. I’m sorry,” I say, crying and cocking the gun still pointed at my head. I can see Jack’s desperation on his face and I can’t bare it anymore. I close my eyes. If I don’t die immediately, I don’t want to see what it looks like when I pull the trigger.
As I’m about to squeeze the trigger for the last time, my anxiety goes away and I suddenly feel a sense of calm wash over me. I hear the same garbled, staticky noises from before, but now they seem to solidify into words and I recognize Ben’s voice talking to me.
“What are you doing? This isn’t the way it’s supposed to end. Jane, you’ve made it so far. Don’t give up now. You’re stronger than you’ve ever been before. You’re resilient. This is a new beginning for you, not an end, but you have to believe. Before you throw it all away, have confidence in yourself to take one last leap of faith.”
“What are you saying?” I ask.
“Don’t take the easy way out. Make your actions mean something. Make them count.”
“I think I understand now,” I say aloud to the Professor.
“Once you take this chance, everything will be over. I know I sound like a broken record, but I’m sorry for everything I put you through. No amount of apologizing will ever give you back the stolen years of your life, but I’m trying to do the right thing now. Goodbye, Jane.”
I pull the pistol away from my head and look at Jack and Chris, who begin to smile at the turn of events. But it’s still inside me and I can’t have that. With the gun still in my hand, I put the barrel up to my neck. “I love you,” I say to Jack.
“No!” Jack yells, rushing toward me.
I squeeze the trigger. The explosion of the bullet escaping the barrel of the pistol is loud enough to quell the noises in my head. Collapsing onto the floor, I see blood all around me. As I stare at the bloody landscape, my eyes catch a glimpse of a few dots of twinkling, which is soon covered over by my sticky, red blood.
Jack rushes over and scoops me up into his arms. Lying there in his lap, I can see his mouth moving, but I can’t hear anything now. As my peripheral vision starts to fade, I see people scattering about the airport. Jack leans over and kisses me. The warmth of his lips keeps me going for another moment or two. I do my best to stay with him. I don’t want to leave, but it's the choice I made to save Jack, Chris, and the rest of the city from an outbreak. It has to finally come to an end, no matter the cost. It isn't fair. It isn't right. But at least it's done. My limited vision gets blurry and everything goes dark.
Chapter 18
________________________________________
I wake up when I feel something hit my face. Eyes open, I’m surrounded by darkness. The only light is coming from above. Am I dead? As my eyes adjust, I see I’m stranded in a ditch and someone or something is throwing dirt down at me.
“Hey! Hey! I’m still alive down here!”
Another shovel full of dirt rains do
wn upon me.
“Stop it! I’m not dead! Can you hear me? It’s not my time!”
I look around the dirt hole frantically in order to find a way up or to signal to whoever is up there that I’m down here. There’s nothing. More dirt piles up around me. Maybe I can climb up the dirt walls and pull myself out of this hole?
Jamming my right foot into the dirt wall, I reach up as far as my arm will go and sink my right hand into the same dirt wall. As my hand reaches for something to stabilize my body so I can move up, I feel something long and bumpy. A tree root maybe? Where there’s one tree root, there are definitely more of them. I leverage the root in my right hand to help lift my body up a little more so my left hand can reach higher. Once I’ve moved as far up as possible, I dig my left hand into the dirt, hoping another tree root will present itself.
Still searching, my feet start to crush the dirt supports beneath them. As my body slides down the wall, I’m still holding onto the root with my right hand. I’m hanging there, trying to get a better grip on the wall and not having much luck. My right hand slips and I fall back down into the hole. Landing face up, I try to shield myself as more dirt rains down on me.
“Help me!” I try to shout, but my voice doesn’t sound louder than a whisper. The dirt is heavy and presses on my chest making it difficult to breath, let alone yell for help.
Lying there, I start to see movement on one section of the dirt wall. More dirt comes piling down on top of me, releasing a cloud of dirt particles into the air. A hand reaches out and tries to grab me. I pull away and back up into another wall, but this time something pokes me in my back. I turn around and see myself breaking out of the dirt wall, shrieking and pulling even more dirt down upon us. And then there’s another and another, until I’m surrounded.
I cover my ears to dull their horrible high-pitched screams until I don’t hear them anymore. Suddenly, one of them speaks to me.
“Don’t be afraid.”
“What?”
“Don’t be afraid. You’re one of us now,” one of my zombie clones puts her hand on my shoulder.
“No! I’m not.” I pull away from her touch. “I did everything to make sure I didn’t turn into one of you.”
“Then why are you here with us now?”
“I-I don’t know how this happened, but I’m getting out of here!”
“Do what you must, but we’ll always be a part of you. Always.”
Using the only tools available, I start digging into the dirt walls with my hands. More and more dirt falls on me and starts to bury my zombie clones. As I keep digging, I notice the piles of dirt begin to form what looks like steps. After some time, the light above me gets larger, and somewhat brighter. I have to keep going. This is my only way out.
***
“How is she, doctor?” I hear Jack ask.
“She’s healing quite nicely after what she did to herself,” an unfamiliar voice responds. “Her recovery is faster than I’ve ever seen anyone heal before actually. Nevertheless, in my professional opinion, I recommend getting her some counseling. No sane person does what she did today.”
“I know she wouldn’t have done something so drastic unless it was warranted, but it’s a good idea. I think we both need someone to talk to after this mess,” Jack says. “Will she fully recover?”
“I believe so, but one thing definitely stood out and I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention it to you. We took blood from her when she first came in and it looks like she’s got some sort of cellular degradation. We’re not exactly sure of the extent of the damage, but she may be in a lot of pain while she’s recuperating and healing. We’ll know more when she wakes up.”
When I open my eyes, I see Jack, Chris, and a woman wearing a long white coat. And I’m hooked up to a bunch of machines and have some tubes inserted into my arms.
“Welcome back, baby!” Jack says, smiling from ear to ear.
“How are you feeling?” the doctor asks. “Can you talk for us?”
I clear my throat. “I’m OK.”
“Can you tell me your name?”
“Jane.”
“Are you in any pain?”
“No. No, actually I feel fine.”
“Are you sure? Maybe I’ll ask you again once we ween you off of the pain meds.”
“I’m sure. You can stop the drugs. I feel pretty good.”
“Hmmm. Well, that’s great news. And, if I may say so, you’re one tough cookie. Anyway, now that we know you’re on the mend, you must have a lot of catching up to do, so I’ll leave you be. If you need me, I won’t be far and the nurses station is right outside the room,” the doctor says, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.
“How are you, baby? For real this time,” Jack asks.
“I guess OK. Just A little disoriented.”
“Is there anything we can get you?” asks Chris.
“Yeah, there is something. Can you tell me what happened after I blacked out?”
“It was horrible. Just horrible. I thought I lost you," Jack says. "You were limp in my arms, but you were still breathing. I stayed with you until the ambulance arrived. They moved you onto a gurney and rushed you here so they could patch you up.”
“Did they happen to find the chip, er… device that was in my neck?” I ask, looking at Chris. “When I was lying there on the floor, I saw something reflect light. It was in my blood on the floor. That’s the reason I shot myself. I’m not crazy. I had to get it out of me. It was turning me into a zombie. And that man I shot, he wanted to infect all of the big cities using the airports as entry points. It’s all in the compound. Search it. You’ll find evidence that confirms what I’m saying.”
“Shhh. Calm down. The authorities are searching the facility now. To answer your question, though, no. There wasn’t anything to find at the scene in the airport terminal. If there was something, whatever it was in your neck was completely destroyed,” Chris says.
“That’s good. Wait. You don’t believe me, do you?”
“Of course we do. We’re just glad to get you back in one piece.”
"And the guy she shot?" Jack asks.
"As for the man she shot, he doesn't exist. There is no record of him so it makes it difficult to press charges."
Just then, my hospital room door swings open to reveal a few old, familiar faces. Two women were there, who helped years ago with the cure to the original strain. Kelly, the ex-wife of a military scientist who was caught mutating the virus, and Liz, a former intern at a local hospital, who helped us catch him. They’re both standing at the doorway, taking in the scene.
“We came as soon as we heard. Jane, how are you?” Kelly says, rushing to my side.
“Getting better. Thanks for coming down. How is your daughter, Julie?”
“Good. She’s good. Thanks for asking. She just graduated from her training wheels and is riding a two-wheeled bike.”
“Awww. That’s great!”
“We also have another reason for visiting. You won’t believe it,” Liz says. “The strangest thing happened. We received an email from Chris over there with details on the newest zombie virus cure. It’s supposed to help cure and possibly reverse all of the latest outbreaks. Can you believe it?”
“I hope it works,” I say.
“It should. Chris also forwarded the researchers’ clinical trials, which after some failures and tweaking of the formula, seem to be successful. We’re baking a batch right now in conjunction with the WHO. If we can aerosolize it, theoretically we could fly over and cure entire cities and countries at once!”
"It's my pleasure, ladies," Chris said.
“That’s the best news I’ve heard in a while. Uhhh. I’m afraid to ask, what about my clones? What’s happening to them? They were activated to turn and spread the zombie virus, just like I was.”
“Most of them were killed alongside the zombie fighting. There shouldn’t be many, if any, of them left. You should be the one and only Jane left.”
I
know I should be happy, but somehow I’m a little sad. Not all of the clones were bad. The two who helped me fight off the zombies while we were in the compound seemed to be good, along with the one who stayed with Damar. They sacrificed themselves to help and save me. And the Professor’s clone wanted to atone for his previous transgressions.
As I’m digesting all of this information, the door opens again to reveal a man dressed in a very nice, expensive looking suit, holding a bouquet of flowers.
“Hey there, Mr. Roberts,” Liz says.
“This is the CEO of Scrycor, Scott Roberts,” Kelly says.
“I know,” I reply. “I’ve seen his commercials.”
“Anyway, he and his company continue to help the government in their recovery efforts. He’s given millions of dollars in aid to affected families for whatever they need, some of which have lost the ability to provide for themselves. They’re also contributing funds and countless resources to help combat the spread of the infection.”
“Is that so?” I question.
“Yes! And Scrycor has been instrumental in furthering our research. Now that we have a new, more versatile cure, they’ll be right there at the forefront helping until the last zombie is killed or cured.”
“We will. At least, that’s the plan. It’s the least we can do. I was briefed on your situation, and I wanted to stop by personally to say thank you for your help in bringing this ugly situation to a close. I’m so sorry about what’s happened to you. There were some bad actors at the company who were going rogue. I know I’m the head honcho and it was on my watch, so there’s absolutely no excuse for it, but we’re doing what we can to make the situation right.”
“Uh-huh,” I say, not sure if I believe him or not.
“I brought you some flowers. I thought they would make your room brighter.”
As he steps closer to my bedside, I scoot to the other side so as to put as much distance between us as possible.
“I know you must have a lot to sort through, but if you need anything, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I want to help everyone affected by the zombie virus move past it and start to live normal lives again.”
