by Taylor, Dan
Jason ran to get a camcorder to document the awakening. Schaf pulled a pen light from his from coat pocket and shone it into Klutz's eyes to check his dilation.
"You have been in a terrible tragedy," replied Dr Leitner. His voice was full of practiced sympathy and caring. "There was an outbreak of a new disease and you were unlucky enough to be infected. You are at a special facility not too far from you home of Bayhollow. I am Dr Schaf and behind me is my assistant Dr Jason. Tell me. Do you remember anything from the past 24 hours?”
Klutz screwed his face together into a gurn as he pieced together what had happened and then he began to cry. His tears were a strange tinge of red and stained his pale cheeks as they trickled down. Jason made sure to capture this on film. "I do. I remember everything. I have done horrible things," he sobbed as the memories of the two campers and their child came back to him.
"Mr Campbell, nobody blames you for anything. The infection you received does strange things to people. It increases rage and violence which cannot be controlled. It is like rabies but on a much more extreme level." Dr Leitner put his hands on one of the straps.
"Please do not untie me," begged Klutz. "I don't know if I can control myself. I didn't want to hurt anyone. But I could not help myself. I might do it again." His concern was genuine. He had a good heart and hated the thought that he might bring pain to others.
Jason gave Schaf a look which told him that Klutz was right. They shouldn't untie him until they were sure he was safe and in full control of the virus.
"Okay Mr Campbell, I will not release you from this gurney. You know, no one blames you for what happened. You will have seen you were not the only one in Bayhollow doing these things. I do not expect you to tell me about the horrors you saw and were a part of. However, if you remember how you got this virus it could really help us to understand how we can stop it. Please if you could tell us about the first time you felt...ill."
Klutz was silent for a few seconds with a quizzical look on his face. He was overwhelmed with feelings. Not just emotions, although he was emotional, but he could feel the table beneath him. He could feel the temperature of the room and feel the blood pouring through his veins. It was as if for his whole life his senses had been dulled but today, they were heightened to a level no human could understand.
He remembered being surrounded by light and then falling onto the black and white floor. "I was in the Royal Duchess Hotel on a bathroom floor. I couldn't move. There was a light bulb swinging above me. I couldn't breathe very well. Before that was blackness." Klutz's head restraint was taken off him and he could move his head around. He felt new. His head moved freely. It didn't creak or snap. He was fluid, in control and he felt strong. As he turned his head, he caught a glimpse of another man strapped to a table. He was bald and much larger than himself. His body was badly scarred.
"M-M-Mr Smith!" he stammered, "It was you. The lunatic in room 201. You're the one who had done this to me."
Callum and Schaf looked at each other and nodded. Schaf pieced together the missing information. Mr Smith must have been the name Callum gave the hotel. "Yes. It is, unfortunately, as we expected. We believe that the other man in this room was the one who infected you and now this has confirmed it. Tell me did he inject you with something? Is that why you blacked out?" Asked Dr Schaf Leitner.
"I don't think so," replied Klutz, "I went to the room as there had been a noise complaint. When I arrived, the room was locked and Mr Smith was making a real racket shouting and knocking things over. I had to open to the door using the master key to see if he was alright. He was stood in the room with a belt strapped around his arm and he was injecting something into himself even though it was clearly causing him a lot of pain. I phoned for an ambulance and then he grabbed me. He threw me towards the window. I tried to get out but he pinned me down and bit a huge chunk out of my arm. I fell back and as he approached me ready to kill me, he fell backwards onto the bed. I figured whatever drugs he had taken had caused him to have a seizure. The paramedics arrived and tried to revive Mr Smith. He did wake up and threw himself out of the window. That's when I blacked out."
"Interesting, very interesting." murmured Dr Leitner and he turned towards Jason’s camera. "Patient 1 has been fully reanimated. The virus has completely taken control. In fact, I would imagine there is no longer any cells that still belong to the late Ronnie Campbell. This new life form is a clone. An exact duplicate of patient 1 but interestingly the virus has copied memories from the host."
These were not the sympathetic and caring words that Klutz expected to hear. A wave of panic struck him and he felt his heart rate elevate.
"The clone believes it is Ronnie Campbell. It looks and sounds and acts like Ronnie Campbell but on a cellular level it could not be more different."
Jason turned and whispered softly to klutz as not to be heard on film, “Clone is just a term we are using for the virus. We know you are who you say you are. The virus destroys your cells and makes a copy. Hence why you have been described as a clone. But there isn’t another you running around. You are Ronnie Campbell. HIVE picked you up and brought you back here. We are working on a cure and think we have done just that to you. I hope you are now feeling better. How do you feel?”
“I feel...fine,” replied Klutz although he felt better than fine. He felt new. Reborn into a better stronger body. He could feel his muscle mass had increased. He was no body builder but he felt stronger. The hunger he had felt when under the virus’s control was gone. “I don’t feel like I will attack anyone,” he stated.
“That’s good news Ronnie. We are just going to do some tests on you to make sure you are ok. We will do some reflex and motor neurone tests and put you through the MRI machine to monitor your brain function. And if you pass these tests, we may have a cure for the rest of Bayhollow and Patient Zero over there.” He pointed to Callum Jamison who craned his neck and made a crooked smile.
Chapter 34
Abel, Lydia and Angela were getting tired. Moving whist constantly keeping a diligent eye was wearing them out. All they wanted was to be safe and in bed. They were nearing the quarantine zone. Only five hundred meters or so to go. They could see the searchlights and the top of the barricade ahead. The problem was the closer they were getting the more infected there was shambling around. It made sense to Lydia that this was the ones who did not quite make it out in time. The ones who went back to their house and packed up before leaving. Maybe they tidied their homes and removed the fresh food from their fridges, knowing it would spoil when they were away. They would have gotten stuck in the traffic and been forced to walk and leave the bits they had packed. The night was cold and the road was filled with empty cars stuck in gridlock like large ominous icebergs in a ships path. The streetlamps offered little visibility and the shadows created would dance and play tricks. She took her phone out and snapped some photos. In the top right of her screen she could see there was still no signal.
The trio were cautious that something would jump out from under a car or behind a wall or bush. Every small noise stopped them in their tracks until they could work out if they were safe to proceed or not. It was like a sick game of capture the flag except if they were spotted before reaching their destination they would be attacked and most likely eaten alive.
Twenty meters down the road was one of those situations. There was a hissing noise that sounded human. Abel lay down on his stomach and crawled army style towards the source. In the middle of the road was a man lying on his stomach and wriggling. This noise and movement made him look like he was impersonating a snake. He crawled a little closer and saw the man was tied around the waist and ankles and had a hessian sack on its head. It was definitely an infected but how if got in this state was anyone’s guess. Seeing as the man was incapacitated and seemingly unaware of their presence they moved on slowly and closer toward the quarantine. They had to fight their natural urges to run for the finish line as the numbers of infected was growing. Blood and dead bo
dies were becoming more and more common place. It was a scene straight for a Hollywood horror set. If one of the freaks spotted them, they would be torn to bits.
They grouped together and Lydia suggested they needed to somehow signal the soldiers at the quarantine zone to let them know they were stranded. She suggested breaking into a building and somehow climbing onto the roof and make some a sign by painting on bed sheets. They had seen a helicopter going in and out the town after all. They agreed this was the best idea. There was no way they could get any closer without being spotted and chased down. Abel was particularly tired having completed the early morning shift and did not know if he had another fight in them.
The houses in this corner of town were sparse. Big expensive properties with big gardens and driveways. This was the where the wealthiest Bayhollow residents resided and rumour had it that a well-known national game show host also had a property here but would only stay in the summer. They crawled on their bellies down the large gravel driveway and towards the front door which had thankfully been left ajar. Abel swung the door open enough for his body to slide in. The entrance foyer was as large as his flat. It was lit up by two wall lights which had been left on. The floor was polished yellow marble and a small chandelier hung above them. There was a grand stair case in the middle of the room which split at the top in two directions. A vase had smashed onto the floor in a million pieces and a bloody handprint stained the left. The blood stain slid down as if whoever had left the print had fallen over or collapsed after leaving their mark. Abel ushered the others to come inside but when Angela saw the blood she froze up. Lydia had to guide her inside before she closed the door and it bolted shut.
“If there’s a freak in here we are going to be trapped with them,” Abel said, stating a fact rather than complaining.
“No,” Lydia replied, “They are trapped in here with us.” She gripped her knife tight in her right hand. There was a wild look in Lydia’s eye Abel hadn’t seen before. Maybe the events of today had affected her worse than they had affected Angela. It reminded him of a documentary he had seen about a chimpanzee that was raised in captivity and released in the wild. When the Chimp’s carers had come back to visit him a year later, they were attacked and the Chimp had bitten one of their noses off. It had seen the wild and this had tapped into its animal instincts. No longer was it a pet but had been changed by its surroundings. He wondered if Lydia had been changed too. There was a fire in her eyes which Abel could not work out if it was arousing or terrifying.
The blood trail led up the stairs and onto the thick cream carpet. Large pools dotted the floor like a red and cream Rorschach test. The rooms upstairs were open and empty. Beds were unmade and draws had been left open. The people who lived here had left in a hurry. The blood stopped at the end of a large hallway to a closed door. Lydia assumed this must be the master bedroom as they were yet to stumble across it.
“Angela, you stay outside the room and be our backup.” Abel pulled a silver lamp off a side table ripping the cord out the wall and handed it to Angela, the only one in the group without a weapon. “Lydia, you open the door and stand back. I will look around and see if there is anyone in there,” he sounded readier than he felt, but as he was a police officer it was only right that he went first.
Angela stood by silently brandishing her lampshade in front of her. A silent tear rolled down her face. Abel gave her a reassuring smile. He knew she was not ready for this and the day had left her broken. Lydia, nodded at Abel and he nodded back. She pulled open the door as fast as she could and stood to one side. She had seen this on the TV show ‘Cops’ so was sure that was what Abel needed.
The room was large and dark with off white walls with gold accessories. The large four poster bed stood in the middle of the room and was covered in blood. The bloods source seemed to be the middle of the bed but had clearly been dragged across the room and into the en-suite. The room smelled sickly of death. In the dark room, next to the blood-soaked bed stood a man. The man waited in the shadows breathing hard. His arms were dripping a crimson liquid and he was shaking violently. The man’s eyes burned brightly through the gloom in a supernatural way. Abel and the man waited. Staring at each other through the darkness and the horror. Lydia reached around Abel who was frozen in the man’s gaze and switched on the light.
The darkness disappeared and illuminated the blood-soaked bed and the man who they all recognised. It was national game show host, Roy Barrett. Bewildered, scared and covered in blood.
Chapter 35
Roy Barrett was the host of Mouse Trap. A human size version of the popular board game which pitted families against each other through a massive obstacle course. Only by answering general knowledge questions correctly would they be able to proceed through the obstacle course with the aim of getting to a big stack of money the size of a small coffee table in the shape of a giant Swiss cheese. His show had been on the air for ten years and he was considered a national treasure. His trademark yellow sweater and bow tie could be bought in fancy dress shops and was a favourite costume with university students during fresher’s week.
He looked almost unrecognisable now. His big cheesy grin was gone. His soft caring eyes were now hard and distant. His busy dyed golden quiff was now flat with sweat and blood. The yellow bow tie and sweater was stained red up the arms and chest. The bright yellow gave a gruesome contrast like a strange military camouflage pattern.
Abel gripped the cool truncheon in hand. He waited for Roy to make the first move. He was trapped in the room with nowhere to go except the en-suite bathroom but Abel suspected he would be like the rest of the infected and attack him dead on.
Lydia stepped behind Abel. Her arm gripped the knife and she held it above her head ready for a quick strike. So far, the infected she had seen were all strangers but this was a celebrity, she was not sure how she would feel about knifing him. Angela was shaking in the corridor she did not look into the room as she was terrified about what she might see. The gruesome image of the skinned priest blazed hot in her mind like the red stained-glass window depicting St Bartholomew.
Abel, Lydia and Roy stood for a full twenty seconds not moving. This unnerved Abel as the only crazy so far to hesitate was the large bald man he had seen. Roy raised his bloodied hands into the air his palms were flat toward the trio.
“Please, it’s not what it looks like,” he begged softly as big fat tears streamed down his face making tracks through the crimson blood stains. “Please, you don’t understand. They didn’t give me a choice.” As he said these words he dropped onto his knees and then crawled into the foetal position.
“Watch him,” Abel commanded to Lydia, “But don’t get too close.” Abel followed the blood trail to the en-suite bathroom. The drag marks gave a clear picture of what had happened. In the middle of the large, well-lit bathroom was a freestanding bath. Abel first saw the arm which hung out the bath limply. It was white, skinny and had a delicate bracelet with silver charms on it. It was a female arm for sure. As if by instinct Abel got out his notebook and started making notes. The bath contained two clothed bodies laid nose to toes. One a young woman. Maybe twenty-seven to thirty years old. Her light brown hair covered her face. The other a young girl who was maybe twelve years’ old. Her head rested in an unnatural position. Her neck was snapped. She wore a summery knee length dress. Her skin was soft and pink. Abel brushed the woman’s hair to one side to reveal her bashed open skull. The eyes had been smushed into the sockets and the jaw bone was broken. She was probably very pretty but it was impossible to tell in this condition. She wore a vest with sting straps. A large human bite mark was on the shoulder. Green brain bits clung to the white porcelain tub. Abel had seen enough. He stepped out the bathroom and back into the bedroom to have a quick look around. There was a full-length mirror on the far side of the bed which had a large crack down the middle. Roy was still curled up on the floor.
“What happened here? The woman and the little girl?” Abel asked Roy in his
most policeman-like tone.
He was looking directly at Abel and sobbing uncontrollably. “My wife. She attacked me. Something had changed in her and they tried to kill me. It was self-defence. I dragged them into the bathroom because I didn’t know what to do.”
“Why haven’t you gone to the quarantine zone yet?” Questioned Abel.
“Quarantine? What are you talking about?” He replied genuinely confused.
“The outbreak? The disease that has taken over this place. The one which infected the woman in the bath.” Roy continued to look at Abel dumbfounded. Abel continued, “There has been a terrorist attack. The disease is spread through biting like rabies. It causes intense rage and violence. That’s why she attacked you. We’re trapped here. We are trying to get to the quarantine zone but there are too many infected.”
It took a little while before the information sunk in. When getting to grips with the position they were in, Roy looked up. “The helicopter. I have a personal helipad on the roof and can fly us out.” He looked at Lydia and Abel with pleading eyes like a murderer awaiting sentencing in the dock.
“What happened to the little girl?” Abel asked.
“Same thing as her mother. She must have been infected. She attacked me and I had to, I had to…” He held his hands in front of his face.
“It’s ok we have all had to do terrible things today,” Lydia reassured him still holding the knife above her head. She had killed and infected woman but she was unsure about killing an infected child. She was in no way maternal but this still seemed excessive. The line for was clearly drawn at killing adults and the thought that this television personality had killed a child gave her an uneasy feeling. She knew she couldn’t judge him as, thank god, she has not been in the same situation but the fact that he was capable of doing this was disturbing. “Why don’t you get changed into a clean set of clothes and then we can get out of here but you have to be quick we need to get out of here as soon as humanly possible.” She tried to smile sweetly but could not hide her unsettled feelings. Her knife was still raised above her.