Extinction Theory

by Lee Emerick

  A large man walked out in front of everyone. He was dressed smartly and was emblazoned with medals and ribbons. He quite clearly was the General.

  "Good morning Gentleman!" bellowed the General.

  "As you are aware we have a situation developing along Duke Street. We are doing our best to assess the situation and deal with it appropriately, I must ask for your help and support in this operation due to the scale."

  General Virgil looked across the seated emergency service personnel. They would not be allowed to leave now he thought. The risk of contamination was far too great. It is best that they be put to some use, even if it meant making jobs for them.

  "You will all be issued N.B.C. suits for your own protection." The General nodded and three officers walked in.

  "All EMTs or medically trained personnel I would ask you to assist our medical unit to assess and treat all affected persons. Please follow Lieutenant Davis who will brief you individually and kit you out.”

  Numerous EMTs and other various people took to their feet and follow Lieutenant Davis.

  The rest of you please follow Lieutenant Palmer for your kit and assignments. Shaun remain seated, he knew what was coming.

  "Shaun Irvine" the General said as he walked towards him. Fancy seeing you again, amazing what you can find when your not looking for it.

  "The feelings mutual Virgil" Shaun said getting to his feet. "Long time no see".

  "Amazing that when anything goes wrong I find you loitering around" the General said. He outstretched his hand and shook Shaun's hand.

  "How are you finding the day to day life of policing? Must be very humdrum compared to what you used to get up to."

  "Undercover operations lost its appeal to me General. Say what you will about policing but it’s steady and reliable."

  The General removed two cigars. He passed one to Shaun and then lit them both. He took a big puff from his then fixed his gaze on Shaun.

  "I've got something you could do for me. Would help no end with this situation."

  Shaun looked at his cigar and then looked at the General.

  "I always did enjoy your brand of Cigar's general." He spat a few bits of tobacco out of his mouth.

  "Before I agree to anything I want to know what's going on. Why are you and the boys here?"

  "We have some sort of biological outbreak. It was first found on a deep-sea drilling rig and was spread to the mainland by a Coast Guard. We are researching into a possible fix for the situation but what we really need is a sample from the original carrier who by all accounts is lying on the floor in the centre of the quarantine area."

  "Surely you have enough lackeys to go get you a sample from a corpse?" asked Shaun.

  "The problem is what will be happening any time now. This is not any typical outbreak we are dealing with, there are certain complications in this case" said the General.

  "Complications?" asked Shaun.

  "The outbreak appears to be fungal. The complication being it somehow takes control of the host in order to spread its self further. The bodies littering the floor will not be immobile for much longer. They will take to their feet to spread the infection. This has the potential to be the most serious outbreak we have ever seen" the General warned. Screams could be heard in the background, alarms sounded and gunfire could be heard. "And it looks like it has already started."

  "What can I do General?" asked Shaun, his face showing his concern.

  "I need you to lead a team into the quarantine area and recover me a sample. You're the most experienced for this type of situation and I need someone I can depend on."

  Shaun stubbed his cigar out and put it in his pocket.

  "When do I go in?" he asked.

  "If there is to be any chance of containing this I need you to go in immediately."

  Chapter 10

  Sydney looked at the facility he had be loaned to research a solution. It was a large facility fully kitted out with everything he could possibly need. He put on a N.B.C. suit and sealed the door to the lab. The samples obtained from the rig personnel were carefully placed in a sealed biological hazard unit ready for him to work on.

  He removed a sample and analysed it under a microscope. It remarkably resembled the fossilised remains he had examined before. Sydney reached for his notebook and compared what he saw to sketches he had previously made. It looked like he had the proof he needed at least for his theories he thought.

  He prepared a sample, loaded it into a syringe, and then injected it into a rat to observe the result. The rat squealed and ran around its cage in no particular direction. After a few minutes, it curled up into a ball and jerked vigorously before it passed away.

  Sydney made notes of what he observed then set a stopwatch counting to what he knew would happen shortly.

  Boils broke out across the rat's skin. Clumps of fur dropped out as open sores fought for space. The exposed skin was red raw, a milky substance began to ooze from new sores forming.

  After five minutes, the rat began to twitch again even though clinically it was dead. The rat got to its feet and charged the side of the cage towards Sydney. It repeatedly smashed its self into the side although it was clearly breaking its own bones in the process.

  After a while, the behaviour ceased. The rat climbed up the side of the cage to the highest point and wrapped its legs tightly around the wire. The body heavily convulsed then through the cage wire exploded a large protrusion from its lower abdomen. It grew to several inches in length then opened up similar to an umbrella. Spores shook off, filling the air in the lab. Sydney switched on an air extraction and purification unit to destroy the spores and clean the air. The Spores were sucked through the machine and incinerated, cleaning the air in the lab.

  Taking another syringe Sydney injected the rat with a chemical cocktail. The protrusion went black and dropped off. The rat fell to the floor of the cage and withered. After a few moments, it stopped moving altogether. Sydney made another note of his findings.

  Although he would have to find a suitable way to disperse this highly toxic serum, and still required a sample from the main carrier it looked entirely possible to fight it. He smiled and picked up the phone.

  "Put me thought to General Virgil please, it's Professor Trent."

  Chloe Della's arm hurt. An EMT crunched the bone back into place and set her arm in plaster. Luckily, it did not appear as bad as she thought. She still could not believe what had happened. Her arm was placed in a sling and she was discharged to a waiting area to be assessed before being removed from quarantine. Luckily, she did not appear infected by what ever had happened to Erik. From what she had overheard, the infection spread very quickly so she would have known by now if she had contracted it. A pretty young Lieutenant came over to her and addressed her directly.

  "Chloe Della?" asked the Lieutenant.

  "Yes, that's me," answered Chloe.

  "My name is Lieutenant Laraine. I have been asked to debrief you with regards to your boyfriend Mr Evander." Chloe felt sick at the bottom of her stomach.

  What did they want to know about Erik?

  She was escorted to an interview room and sat down in the chair indicated. The Lieutenant sat opposite to her.

  "Miss Della, we believe your boyfriend Mr Evander was the initial carrier of the infectious outbreak. We need to know the details of how he appeared when you last saw him and his possible current location."

  "When I last saw him he was chasing me through the street. He had gone insane!" Chloe said.

  "There was something wrong with him, he was covered in sores. There was so much shouting and panic when I last saw him, it was difficult to make out what happened. As far as I am aware, he should still be outside the block of flats where he lives. That's where I saw him fall to the ground, at least part of him anyway."

  "Thank you Miss Della. Checks have shown that you are clean of any infection so you will be removed to a refuge area for your safety."

  The Lieutenant got to her f
eet and opened the interview room door. A guard entered the room and escorted Chloe to the refuge area.

  Lieutenant Laraine made her way directly to the General. Now Mr Evander's location was known, a sample could be retrieved.

  "General!" she snapped to attention.

  "I have the last know whereabouts of Mr Evander."

  "Fantastic news Lieutenant, its time to send the team in"

  The General picked up a radio and spoke to Shaun and his team.

  "Shaun, the location of the source is known. Coordinates are being uploaded to your GPS. Are your team ready to move, over?"

  Shaun looked around at his assembled men. Five of them in total, all wearing N.B.C. suits. Rifles were issued to each of them along with a sample retrieval case and emergency medical supplies. Shaun took a couple of grenades and placed them in his pocket. Best take some for emergencies he thought. He slammed a magazine into his rifle and took a few spares.

  "Make sure you take what you can carry," he said to the men.

  "We don't know how long we are going to be in there for."

  Once they were ready, Shaun contacted the General.

  "Virgil, we are ready to go in," he said.

  "Good hunting Shaun" replied the General.

  "The retrieval of the sample is of extreme importance, any action required for the retrieval is authorised."

  The door from the improvised airlock opened and the men walked out into the quarantined area.

  Chapter 11

  Ely Gordy and Estella Karena stood at an outpost to the south of the barricade. They were protected by N.B.C. suits and armed with a water cannon. Orders had been passed around not to let anybody out of the quarantine zone. They had been advised to use any means possible to ensure this.

  The outpost had been hastily erected to monitor a section of the barricade. They had been monitoring the quarantined area for a few hours now but as of yet had not really seen anything. Ten minutes ago, they saw a team sent into the quarantined area fully protected by N.B.C. suits but that had been all the life they had seen so far.

  "I'm bored," moaned Ely.

  He was in his early 20's and still acted like a kid. He was a fire fighter and had largely joined up to make himself sound more macho. It did not impress Estella at all. She had been a fire fighter for five years now and had seen true heroes in action. True fire fighters did not crave recognition or pomp. They just got the job done. They certainly did not join up to impress girls!

  Moans and screams could be heard in the distance. What was going on out there thought Estella. Ely slumped to the floor, his back to the wall. He pulled out a cigarette a lit up. He eagerly puffed away, boredom visible on his face.

  "When is something going to happen!" he moaned.

  "If you're so eager for action why did you not join the army instead?" Estella asked, what an idiot she thought.

  "What, and be far away from all my lovely ladies" smirked Ely. The moans sounded louder. Were they getting closer thought Estella?

  "So… Estella. You’re single right? Not that's it's a problem either way..." carried on Ely.

  "I'm not interested what so ever," snapped Estella. Did this lad every shut up or stop hitting on people?

  The noise was definitely getting closer, someone was heading there way.

  "Ely, get up here." Estella said quietly.

  Ely grinned and got to his feet. He stood by her side, back to the barrier.

  "So you changed your mind, huh? Told you I'm gorgeous" Ely went quiet. Estella was clearly not in the mood. Estella turned to face him

  "Give it a rest will you, there's something out there."

  She picked up a pair of binoculars and looked into the distance. It was difficult to see much as a mist was rolling in across the quarantine area. It slowly engulfed them. Estella turned her N.B.C. helmet light on followed by Ely. She raised the high-pressure water cannon that was mounted to the side of the outpost. She had better things to do than hanging out with a pervert playing soldiers she thought.

  A large groan erupted close by, but she could not make anything out. The mist was too thick to see through. She held out her hand and particles settled on it.

  "This isn't mist," she said to Ely.

  "Look at this!" Ely shone his torch on her hand, the particles clearly showed up on her dark gloves.

  "What is that, some kind of ash? Perhaps a fire has broken out?" asked Ely.

  "Shh…" said Estella.

  "Can you hear that?"

  Faint footsteps could be heard heading in their direction, then they started to get louder and faster. Estella backed away from the barrier. It was not one or two people. It was a stampede. Ely took control of the water cannon and brought it to bear on the mob rushing towards them. Estella looked at the faces of the crowd. They were horrifically marked, red-burnt skin covered with large boils and sores.

  Ely pointed the water cannon directly at them and shouted as loud as he could.

  "Don't come any closer otherwise I'll shoot!" but it had no effect.

  “I’m warning you, this hose has enough pressure to do some serious damage!”

  When the mob set eyes on the pair they picked up pace, they were not going to stop for anybody.

  Ely squeezed the release valve and began to fire. He held on tight to the water cannon as he shot long jets of highly pressurised water. The cannon vibrated as the water surged through it in a hurry. He watched in awe as the jet easily punched holes through the charging mob. Their flesh provided little resistance to the cutting power of the high-pressure jet. Even so, Ely was amazed by the results. Although the damage inflicted was extensive, overall it had little effect slowing down the sheer number of people in the charging mob.

  Estella reached for a fire axe and held it tight. Seeing that the water cannon had little effect even with the damage Ely had inflicted she changed her mind. Estella threw the axe to the floor. This was going to get messy quickly and anyway she was not paid enough for this hassle she thought.

  "I quit!" She shouted at the top of her lungs as she screamed and ran as hard as she could for safety.

  Ely did not even notice that Estella had run off. He kept firing the water cannon until the mob surrounded him. They barged into the barrier knocking Ely backwards who smacked into the floor. He hit his head hard and was stunned. As he lay there, the mob knocked their way through the barrier and surrounded him. He turned and tried to crawl away but he was pulled back into the mob. Hands were all over him pulling at his N.B.C. suit. With a rip, the suit gave way exposing his flesh to the nightmare in front of him. Ely took a deep breath and screamed. The spores that hung like a thick blanket of fog rushed into his lungs. Ely coughed and spluttered, unable to scream any more. He felt like his lungs were on fire, his eyes began to sting and streamed tears. The burning sensation spread across his exposed skin, the pain was unbearable.

  With his remaining energy, he reached out for the fire axe Estella had dropped on the floor but he could not quite reach it. Every time he tried to drag himself towards it, he was dragged back into the crowd. He waved his arms attempting to keep the creatures off him but it was too late. As he wheezed, the creatures eventually moved on, leaving him immobile on the floor.