HIVE

by Taylor, Dan

  Leitner and Jason sped along the motorway weaving in and out of traffic. The four-wheel drive engine roared like angry swarm of hornets. Jason touched the cold metal steel of the door. It was bullet proof he was sure. Not very conspicuous but fit for purpose. As Jason stared at out the tinted windows, he reflected on all he had learnt in the past few weeks. There was a virus which copied and replaces human cells which is transferrable through blood. The result is a painful death followed by a grim reanimation. The reanimated corpses were feral and had aggression and strength that science had never seen before in humans. They had samples of the virus but no vaccination as of yet. Jason was unsure on how long Leitner and HIVE were connected, but he was sure soon he would also be their employee. Th research and the equipment Leitner had in his lab was top of the range and there was no way that they came from university funds. It was odd that Leitner was in a team by himself. At first Jason assumed it was because he had just been employed recently to investigate the virus, but after looking through his files he saw notes from as far back as 2005. If he had been working on it this long why didn't he have a whole team devoted to helping him? Jason recalled the words the doctor had told him earlier that day.

  "Are you willing to put everything on the line and force change for the better even if it contradicts every ethical and moral bone in your body?"

  Forcing change and contradicting his ethical bones now seemed less glamorous that it did a few hours ago. There had been another outbreak of the virus and this time was not in some remote part of the world but in a small rural town in England. There was some talk of terrorism. Jason was unsure of what a scientist and his assistant were going to do to help the situation so he asked Dr Leitner who replied. "From what we have been told the capacity of the outbreak is quite severe. We are going to advise on how to control the disease and to take samples for testing. We ideally want a corpse who has very recently been exposed if we are to flood their system with the virus to see if we can create a wholly replicated human."

  "But Schaf, what about Robert Fischer? He is still back at your lab" Jason replied.

  "HIVE will dispose of Robert Fischer," a look of regret spread on Dr Leitner's face, "There is nothing we can do for him now. But with fresh specimens we can get to work to stop the spread of THIS virus."

  The pair sat in silence for a while. Jason stared out the window. He had a hundred questions running through his mind. On the one hand, he was excited to be doing some good and helping the living while being paid a substantial amount of money, while on the other had he was conflicted about where the money was coming from. After a short while he turned to Schaf and asked him if he worked directly for HIVE.

  "Yes. In fact, I was there at their inception. I am a lecturer employed by various London universities but I have also worked with HIVE to help on various research projects. Since Ken Lockhart has been Prime Minister, HIVE has taken on some of the defence contracts usually reserved for the Armed Forces including biological warfare defence. My role is to help to decipher different specimens of new diseases and break those specimens down to find a way to combat them if they should ever be used in Terrorism like they have today. I am also employed to research human genetics to see if there is way to engineer us to be more resistant to these outbreaks. I am not the only scientist they employ. They have independent scientists based all over the world who contribute research. Each one is the top of their fields. They study robotics, genetics, nanotechnology, cloning and a whole host of other industries. So yes, I am their employee. And now, you are too. You do not need to worry about HIVE. They only want to make the world a safer place. Do you have any objections to being employed by HIVE?"

  "No, not at all. I am just wondering, are we not just preventing diseases but genetically engineering humans to be more resistant to disease?"

  "Exactly. However, you make it sound much more dramatic than I would. The words genetic engineering makes people rather nervous. It has so many negative connotations. They think of Jurassic Park, grotesquely overgrown cows and human clones destroying the world. They forget about insect repellent crops for starving populations and organs grown in lab for their sick and dying children. We are on the forefront of science. Imagine if we could make it so that humans can alter their DNA to get rid of the defects that allow us to get these horrible diseases. AIDS, Ebola, Cancer, all gone with one injection. We can be stronger, smarter and immune. Wouldn't that be a great thing to give to the world?"

  Jason didn't answer. He paused and thought things over in his head. He was taught to work this way in pathology. When working on a corpse he needed to gather all the information to piece together their story. All he needed was the right questions to ask.

  "You will have to forgive me for asking this Schaf, but it sounds like this virus is not something that has be born through nature and evolved independently. Do you have any ideas where the virus has come from?" He looked at Dr Leitner intently. He wanted to push himself as far as he could go and although he didn't think he would have any objections to working for someone with a utilitarian view on ethics, he did not want to actively be involved in killing a few to save the masses.

  Leitner scratched his long nose while he thought for the right thing to say. He leaned in and lowered his voice so the driver could not hear what was said. "Yes Jason. I have an idea of where the virus has come from. I previously mentioned other scientists who work for HIVE. I believe it has been created by one of them."

  The Humvee slowed to a stop. The door was opened and they were greeted by the General they had seen behind the glass in the autopsy room that day. He looked taller and his face was sterner than either of them remembered. They were in a wooded area which had been turned into a makeshift army camp. People were running around both in HIVE outfits and British Army Uniform. Large razor wire fence surrounded the camp and a large tent was open in front of them filled with computer monitors. As soon as they got out the General Introduced himself as General Avram Holt.

  "Welcome to Camp Nectar. I didn't come up with the name." His expression was blank. "Please follow me to your research station that has been set up." As they walked, he spoke, "We have brought you both here to review fresh specimens to aid your research. We estimate the affected area is currently eighty five percent evacuated. Infected is estimated to be over a hundred. As soon as we are sure most civilians have left the quarantine zone, we will send in a special unit from the HIVE task force to retrieve a specimen. If you need more, we shall send the task force in to collect more. We have taken the liberty of moving your lab contents to this location so you can be as close to the outbreak source as possible." Leitner tried to butt in but the General did not pause, "Sleeping quarters have been set up in the far left of the base and you have been assigned all necessary clothes and comforts. Your families have been informed that you are on a special assignment from the government and have to be away for matters of national security. You can contact your loved ones but we ask you please be discreet and do not let any information out that you wouldn't want plastered across the national newspapers. So here we are."

  They were stood outside a white plastic tent that was a big as a two-bedroom house. A large generator whirred and buzzed outside. Two soldiers guarded the entrance. They wore black uniforms with to recognisable, yellow, honeycomb HIVE logo over the left breast.

  "Please go in and see if you have everything you need," urged General Holt.

  "Are you not coming in too?" asked Jason inquisitively.

  "After the demonstration you guys gave this morning, I want to stay the hell away from that virus." He gave a small smile from the corner of his mouth. Joking did not come naturally to him.

  The pair entered the tent. There was a small hallway with a glass door at the end which had a red light above it. Above them were two large decontamination shower heads and a metal chain. Leitner pulled the chain and the showers violently spayed them with a disinfectant gas. The noise was similar to that of a fire extinguisher going off and Jason c
ould not help but feel as if he was in a human car wash. The light above the door turned green and clicked as it unlocked. Through the now unlocked door the room was a massive cube. The ceiling was at least two stories tall and the room must have been at least thirty-foot-wide and long. It was a copy of their lab at Imperial College London but also much more. Their paper notes, both hand-written and printed, had been moved onto one wall. In the far corner was their PC's with sticky notes and pad and pens this time on a glass U shape desk which ran the length of three walls. They had their centrifuge and their fridges and their tubes and beakers and Petri dishes. They had gurneys, microscopes, and an MRI machine.

  Leitner looked at Jason and they both smiled. Time to get to work!

  Chapter 25

  "What is your name?" Asked Lydia.

  "I'm, John Smith?" Replied the bald man with glasses.

  "Nope that's too common. Your name is Tobias Mannford. People will see through John Smith too quickly. You are a reporter like me and we both work freelance for whichever newspaper will buy our stuff. You tried working for a national newspaper but were caught up in a scandal with the chief editor’s wife. Now you have been blacklisted by the big boys so have to work wherever you can. You are desperate for credibility but until that editor whose wife you screwed retires or dies your stuck working with me."

  ‘How does she come up with bull?’ Abel thought to himself. He knew better than to argue about it. He was Tobias Mannford now. He ran his hand over his newly shaven head. He looked weird without hair. Alien like. His head really was not the right shape to pull off being bald and it made his ears stick out at the top. Lydia wanted to shave off his eyebrows too to give him the full 'alopecia' look but Abel had to draw the line somewhere. The glasses were borrowed from Lydia. They were thick black and had Perspex lenses. Lydia had them from Halloween last year when she dressed up as Where's Wally. Abel had been with her then. He went dressed as Columbo which meant wearing a trench coat and holding a cigar. He didn't like dressing up then and even felt silly now. The stab proof vest had gone and so had his badge numbers and belt. Now he just had Black trouser, black shoes and white short sleeved shirt which he left the top three buttons undone. Lydia had given him one of her backpacks to put his badge and truncheon in. It was bright red and well worn. He looked like a Mormon. An untidy Mormon with alopecia and a ridiculously bright back pack.

  They had spent way too much time in the apartment and they both knew it. The soldier outside had been gone for twenty minutes. He had banged on the front door and demanded that Lydia leave and get herself out of the quarantine zone before moving on round the cul-de-sac and banging on the neighbour’s doors. There was no movement outside. The evacuation was apparently in full swing. Lydia had stuffed her laptop, charger, tape recorder, note pad and pens into her brown satchel and after taking some photos from her mobile of the deserted street, was finally leaving he apartment.

  They ran down the empty building to the front door. Abel put his hand on the handle and paused.

  "There is one of those infected people on the ground floor. When I open the door, we got to run to the truck to get out of here," he warned Lydia.

  Lydia nodded in agreement. He took his truncheon out and slowly opened the front door. The street was empty. Everything was still. There was no noise from people, cars or even birds. They slowly walked down the front garden to the street. Lydia pushed open the gate which was warm and wet. She looked at her hand and it was red. The gate was smeared in blood. Past the gate and on the pavement was a large pool of blood and the dead mass of the Army soldier who was guarding the building.

  At times like this when you are faced with an unexpected horror, people will act in one of two ways. Either they will break down into a heap of hysteria unable to comprehend the gravity of their situation or they will block all emotion and get on with whatever they have to do. The second type will mourn and break eventually but it will be on their terms and when they choose. Being a police officer and hardy Journalist, Abel and Lydia were type two and scooted past the body knowing they had to reach the truck. They were halfway crossing the street when they saw the body twitch. It was its arms first and then its head. The face was twisted and elongated. He had his jaw broken and it swung loosely.

  Lydia unlocked the truck and jumped in the driver's seat. Abel was less quick and felt something grab his leg. The soldier had crawled at lightning pace towards him without him noticing. 'All his army training must have paid off' Able thought to himself darkly. The army soldier wrapped his mouth around Abel's leg but with a broken jaw was unable to bite down A swift kick to face and Abel was free. He jumped in the truck. The engine was already on and no sooner had his door shut they were away.

  They drove no further that the outskirts of the estate when the truck had to be abandoned as the one road in and out of Bayhollow was littered with abandoned vehicles. Cautiously they left the truck and decided to take the east exit out of town. There were fewer housing estates this way and so less chance of running into any crazies. They moved swiftly and quietly through the ghost town stopping only on occasion when they thought they heard a sound. The town was eerily quiet. No traffic people or animals. Abel had an overwhelming sense of déjà vu that filled him with dread. The last time he had heard silence like this, a giant bald man had attacked him and left him winded with a hand shaped bruise on his chest.

  When they did finally run into someone, Lydia heard it first. It was a shuffling noise coming from down the road behind them. Just one infected person about twenty meters away. It was slow and dragged itself as if its legs were injured. The one person soon became two people when a man staggered out from an abandoned car. Quickly the two people became four people which turned into seven people. Abel and Lydia were now running and decided to throw being quiet into the wind.

  "They are like damn magnets attracting each other!" Lydia exclaimed.

  Abel decided to take a detour into the Police station to try to lose their pursuers and Lydia followed. The car park had enough vehicles that they could weave in and out of cars to confuse their followers. Once they had run inside the reception Abel blocked the front doors using a waiting room chair. Judging how violent the crazies were at the hotel he knew this wouldn't hold them for long. He scrambled over the large pine reception counter but found the door to the offices was locked. Lydia tried the door next to reception and this one was open. Through the door Abel spotted something unusual. A spot of blood was on the carpet. Automatically he opened his red backpack and grabbed his truncheon. He was in detective mode. The blood spot was elongated on one side like an arrow which would suggest whoever dropped it was moving in the direction of the holding cells. Towards the door he spotted another drop of blood.

  "Stay back Lydia, whilst I check this out," he said protectively.

  "Like hell." replied Lydia who reached into her satchel and pulled out a kitchen knife she had taken from her apartment. There was no way she was going to be left on her own with a pack of cannibals chasing her. Abel pulled open the large metal door which creaked loudly. On the other side a man and a woman were clawing at one of the first cells. Their fingers were red and bloody which left disgusting streaks down the door. The woman noticed them first. She screeched and flung herself at Abel who hit her in the forehead with the truncheon. He didn't hold back and she fell awkwardly past him. A spray of foamy blood misted from her mouth. Survival instincts kicked in and Lydia drove her knife into the woman's eye socket. She pulled out the blade and the woman instantly stopped breathing and moving. She was dead.

  In shock of what she had done she dropped her knife to the ground. The man had been stood still this whole time but now staggered towards Abel. Abel grabbed the man, who seemed a lot dopier and more docile than the woman, and pushed him into the second cell. Abel slammed the door shut and the locks clicked into place. He turned to Lydia who was sat crossed legged on the floor next to the woman she had just killed.

  "What have I done?" She asked solemnly t
o nobody in particular.

  "You didn't have much of a choice. If she had bitten you, you could have changed like her," Abel replied. He was unsure if Lydia was listening.

  Lydia pulled out the small tape recorder from her satchel.

  "Ground Zero, or at least very close to ground zero. Bayhollow has had an outbreak of a terrible disease. The disease is spread through bites and makes a sane person crazy. The crazy person will attack anyone it sees except other infected people. As a matter of fact, I have witnessed two infected trying to break down a custody cell door together. Working in unison. They were trying with their hands which suggests that all reason is lost when infected. There is no negotiating or communicating with the infected and you most likely will not get a chance. I don't know where this outbreak came from. It may be biological or manmade. But I will find out who is responsible.". She clicked the tape recorder off and placed it back into her satchel. Then she took out her phone and took some pictures of the dead woman.

  Abel was about to ask if there was anything he could do when he heard something.

  "Hello?" a faint voice cried. It was coming from the cell the cannibals were trying to get in. A person, a survivor. He slid open the food hatch and cautiously took a look.

  "Angela! Your alive and locked in a cell," exclaimed Abel stating the obvious.

  She passed the keys through the hatch and sobbed, "Please get me out of here."

  Chapter 26

  Abel, Lydia and Angela left through the back of the police station. Angela did not like leaving the front of the station unlocked but her priorities had severely changed. She felt stupid for locking up the building when she should have been getting out of Bayhollow. The front car park was teeming with the shuffling freaks. They acted like fish in an aquarium. As soon as one fish becomes active or spots food all other fish in the area join to see what is going on. Lydia explained their plan to Angela which was to continue east towards the quarantine zone. Their detour had cost them some distance and they would have to double back on themselves. Abel noticed that Angela was unusually quiet. This was to be expected. She was always the life and soul of the police station but after what had happened to her today, she was in a semi-catatonic state. Her brow was furrowed as if thinking deeply. Lydia on the other hand was struggling to keep still. She pulled the straps on her satchel and gripped her knife. She was ready for action and seemed to have come to an understanding that what happened in the police station had to be done. This quality impressed Abel. He had always been a fan of strong, independent women and was a quality that had originally attracted him to Lydia.