by J. Dursky
Chapter 15
In the car, driving to my house, no one says anything. In fact, they all seem to be in shock. Not the type of shock from witnessing a death, an accident, or even seeing an amazing sports play. They have a look that is the type of shock like they saw a ghost.
"What?" I ask the Doctor sitting in the passenger's seat.
"I get it now.” Doctor Hunter says. “I thought it was the camera messing up before. If I didn't see it, I wouldn't have believed it."
I look back at Lila who sits behind him. I’m confused. She leans forward from her seat to put her head up front. I see Jensen out of the corner of my eye, he seems afraid. I don't blame him. There are a lot of crazy things going on right now.
"Yeah, how the fuck did you do that?" She asks me.
"Do what? Kick someone in the back? I was in Tae Kwon Do when I was a kid..." I start to explain.
"No, how did you move that fast?"
"I don't know, adrenaline?” I tell them. “I didn't feel any faster, actually, I felt slower."
"Enough of the adrenaline rush I had, what’s going on around here Dr. Hunter? What are they? What do they want?” I demand.
"We still don't know. What we do know is that it does not affect everyone the same way. Some people it does not affect at all, obviously. When it affects someone it seems to overload their brain which causes them to lose all higher brain function. This makes them revert to their most basic instincts. Essentially, they become wild animals. But, it is not a virus. It is not transferred by touch, cuts, bites or even the air. It is not biological or chemical. We don't have a name for it so we named it after the closest thing we know of in the scientific community... Our best guess is that it travels through the nervous system. We call it Pandiculation. It is a reflex consisting of the simultaneous inhalation of air and the stretching of the eardrums and diaphragm, followed by an exhalation of breath."
"What does that even mean?" Lila asks him.
He continues his explanation. "It is still hard for us to try to understand. Do you know what the most contagious thing on the planet is?"
"A cold?" Lila answers from the back seat.
"It's not an illness of any kind, but it is contagious." The Doctor answers. "In a study published recently, of those exposed to it, 29% caught it and then repeated the action."
He looks at all three of us like he expects one of us to have the answer. He looks back and forth between us. Jensen refuses to make eye contact with him. He just sits there with his hands folded in his lap. I wonder if they have met before. I look at the Doctor and lower my eyebrows at him, I don't want a riddle, I want an answer.
"A yawn?" Lila answers in the form of a question.
"Exactly!" The Doctor says.
"I don't get it." I say.
"To be honest, neither do we." The Doctor says.
"We have not been able to study them for very long but what we think we know is, when the brain overloads, the eyes absorb light from the visible spectrum and somehow refracts it in a way to convert it to a different form of electromagnetic radiation." He pauses and looks at each of us.
He continues, "The eyes change the light, then reproduce the light. How the eye usually works is, they detect light and convert it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons. The simplest photoreceptor cells in conscious vision connect light to movement. In higher organisms the eye is a complex optical system which collects light from the surrounding environment, regulates its intensity through a diaphragm, focuses it through an adjustable assembly of lenses to form an image, converts this image into a set of electrical signals, and transmits these signals to the brain through complex neural pathways that connect the eye via the optic nerve to the visual cortex and other areas of the brain.
Only, whatever is going on now, this process, isn't visible to us. It comes out as extra-long wave lengths such as infrared or extra short wave lengths like ultraviolet."
"Wait, was that even English? So let me get this straight, they lose who they are and want to kill everyone like they are some kind of a Zom..." I start.
"Fallen." He interrupts. "We refer to them as Fallen."
"Okay, so, when one of these FALLEN," I glare at him. "Looks at you, you turn into one?" I ask.
"Not necessarily." He says. "Again, it is like a yawn. You don't ALWAYS yawn when you see someone do it. It has nothing to do with how smart you are or what you are doing at the time. All we know is, it’s very contagious! 99% of those who look, become Fallen. Well that is my best guess anyway. I assumed it was 100% until recently."
I think back, had I looked Ayla in the eye? I did, I saw how bloodshot they were. I saw that in both her and Ford. I must be one of the few it does not affect. Or possibly a delayed reaction. Since I have already looked twice I am curious if it will happen if I look a third or fourth time. I don't want to take any chances, I will not look them in the eyes.
We pull into my driveway and park the car. The Doctor pulls his cell phone out of his pocket and pokes the screen a few times.
"I wish we had a signal. The storm that passed last night seems to be circling the earth. I think it is messing with the earth’s atmosphere. We have never seen anything like it. It does not follow the normal jet stream and is larger than anything I have ever come across. It may have something to do with the unusual heat for this time of year as well, but that is not my department." He says.
I give him a look. I can tell he knows more than he is letting on. And I am not sure if I trust him.