by Jiny Lee
'Do you mean I'll be like him?' he nearly cried.
'Did he hurt you? Did you get any wound from him? A cut, a scratch?' I asked him. He said he didn't get any wounds like that. I told him that it would be safer for him and the others that he be isolated for a while. He agreed. So we put him inside the bedroom and the others who didn't have any physical contact in the living room.
Soon, I heard Purple saying he handled the situation with the last veteran. He said the guy was lucky enough to avoid the infection. That was probably because he was more of a marksman than a frontline soldier. He didn't have any physical contact with the night crawlers. Purple made sure he and his partner didn't leave the room in case.
In the meantime, most of the day walkers in the building went up to the top floor. It was lucky that the top 200th floor was spacious enough to accomodate all the day walkers. The counsel claimed that they should also use the 198th and 196th floor to accomodate the people. People who weren't day walkers on those floors were asked to leave, so the top three floors were filled with day walkers.
'We cleared the spot...' said Alex on the radio. He was panting. It seemed like he didn't handle it the easy way.
'... but we got a problem here,' He continued, 'Josh got hit.'
'Got hit? Is he bad? I'll send someone down...' said Bertie, but he was stopped by Alex.
'No, no... You don't need to. He's... it was...'
Alex didn't finish his sentence. It seemed like he wasn't able to.
'Oh my... what happened?' asked Bertie. Probably he put on Alex's camera on his screen.
'Hey, what's going on?' asked Wonder. 'Alex, is everything alright?'
'We cleared the place. There were several day walkers and one of them was suspected to be showing symptoms,' he said.
'So was the man infected?' asked Bertie.
'... he was,' answered Alex. His voice was trembling a little bit. He repeated 'he was,' for a couple more times and then started to say what just happened. And I swear to goddess that none of us knew at the time what his next words would bring forth.
'... he was turning I guess or, he had already turned. I didn't have to check with my own eyes cause the day walkers around him, must be his friends or family, they had already dealt with him. They were armed and they knew about the situation. They already had shot him on his head. I, I asked them if they had killed him, but they weren't listening. I tried to reason with them, but, they didn't try to listen. They chose to point the tip of their anger to a wrong direction.'
33
No one said anything on the radio. No one could. I was dumbly waiting for someone to just say anything. Then someone did. It was Jacques. It looked like he just turned on the radio.
'So what happened to those people,' he asked with a firm voice. 'What did you do?' he repeated his question.
'I killed them,' said Alex. 'I killed them or I would have been killed, too, just like the poor boy.'
'Were they also infected? Did they turn?' asked Jacques.
'No they weren't. They didn't seem infected at the moment,' answered Alex.
'Then why didn't you ask them to wait for a while and tell them there was still a possibility that they weren't infected?' asked Jacques again, but this time, with his voice exalted.
'What? No, listen. I tried to explain and they suddenly started to fire. They fucking killed Josh! So what was I suppose to do? Just standing there and say Oh you seem pretty angry so here's your next target, shoot me?'
Alex shouted. Jacques didn't seem to stand back. He continued saying back to Alex.
'They were petrified! They were just petrified to hear that their friend was turning into a monstrous creature and they were also subject to be affected by the virus! All just because they looked after their sick friend!' said Jacques.
'What the fuck? So was I suppose to died? Listen, you fucker, they fired at me like fucking rain falls. It was lucky that I wasn't shot on my head but only if it wasn't for the suit, I would also be dead right now!' said Alex.
'Yes, the suit! The Corsac armor! you were wearing the deadliest armor and what were they wearing? Were they also wearing armors like you? What weapons were they using while you were firing your AR and swinging your robotic arm! Hand guns, and simple semi auto maybe, weren't they!' Jacques exclaimed with his addressing tone.
'Stop it, my friend,' said Purple. 'I know what you're saying but please, this is not the right time. Alex, I'll send steve down to take the kid's body to the academy. Do him a proper funeral. And, it's a little too soon, but we'd need them cadets on duty now.'
I went to my place while listening to the conversations on the radio to see if Kimmy was in. She was there. She asked me if I was alright. I said I was. I took her to the Bertie's office. He didn't seem infected. He was actually showing no related symptoms so far. But he refused to open his door.
'Bertie, open the door. It's us.'
I knocked on the door.
'But what if you're carrying the virus on your body? You just killed the people who turned into the night crawlers! The virus must be clinging on your clothes!' he said.
'Okay, I understand. I'll leave you alone. Kimmy, let's go to Chris's. I'm sure they'll be alright,' I said and we headed to Chris's bar.
On our way, we met Fox and Wonder standing together on a corner. They were talking about something in a low voice.
I told them that I was on my way to the bar with Kimmy, and asked what they were talking about. They said they'd join us to the bar.
Their story was simple. The reason Purple sent Steve down to the academy on the 78th floor with Alex was to be prepared. I asked 'prepared for what,' and they looked at me like I just asked something so obvious.
'Didn't you feel anything from what Jacques said?' asked Fox. I said, 'What? He's upset. I can see that.'
Fox desperately shook her head. Kimmy asked what was going on and Fox explained the whole thing to her. Kimmy immediately seemed to understand.
'Wait, are you trying to say that Jacques is preparing something? That's nonsense!' I exclaimed
'Endy. You're so naive,' said Nari. 'She right. You know how Jacques is when it comes to politics. He's not from the building after all. Did you forget what Nergui warned about?' said Fox. 'Purple sent steve to Alex with a message for sure. He'd come down here soon. We have to be prepared.' she added.
'What's going on? Be prepared for what?' I asked.
'Be prepared for everything,' said Purple from behind. 'Looks like this innocent boy is the only one who's not clearly seeing what's going on.' he said.
'So the choice Nergui offered you didn't mean anything, huh?' asked Purple to me. He said, 'We only gave them plenty of time to be prepared and a pretty damn good reason to stand against us.'
'What do you think Jacques will do?' I asked him.
'What he's good at,' said Purple.
I thought about what he was good at. I asked Purple, 'Revolt?' and he answered, 'Taking chance.'
'What about Bertie?' asked Nari. 'Shouldn't we have to let him go up, too?' she said.
Purple said, 'I don't know. If he stay with us, that would be a great advantage for us, but if he wants to go up, we'd have to let him go. Let's go and leave the choice upto him.'
So we headed again to Bertie's office. Purple knocked the door and asked Bertie if he was alright. He was fine. It was sure that he wasn't infected at all.
'Listen, my friend. The situation's getting a bit more complex than we thought. I'm sure you understand what I'm talking about.' said Purple.
'I get it. Damn! So, what choice do I have?' he said, with a trembling voice.
'I'm sorry my friend, but we both know what Jacques may be doing up there with all the day walkers. We both know that he's not someone who'd quietly do nothing,' said Purple.
'Just tell me what you want me to do,' said Bertie.
'Okay. First, I want you to stay, and help us. If you go up, you would have no choice but to follow as he says. I need you to stay here in case th
ings go wrong.'
'Okay, I get it. You need me in case things go... crazy. I know Jacques more than anyone in this building and he's surely not happy with the situation right now. And the way he spoke to Alex just a minute ago, he has definitely started something. But, what if he really did? What if he already decided to start a...'
Then Bertie stopped talking. Instead, Purple started persuading him again.
'Bertie, I don't want to force you to stay. You may go up if you want to. But even if you choose to go up, I want you to stop him from making a stupid decision. You have seen him since you were outside the building haven't you? You know what he would ask you to do if you go up, and I don't want to have you as an enemy.' said Purple.
Bertie seemed to be confused, but it didn't take long before he came up with an answer.
'Okay, I'll stay. I don't want to see this building split into two and fight until one demolish the other. Just promise me that I don't get infected.'
'Okay, I promise you, but won't you open this door please?' said Purple.
'No way. It's not one hundred percent clear that I won't be infected. Tell me what to do there, If you need anything, I'll hand it to you through the door mail slot.' said Bertie.
'But what about the dead body in your office? Will you stay with that inside?' asked Wonder.
'Shit! Okay, I'll open the door after I put my mask and everything on. Get the dead body and take what you want and leave me alone.' said Bertie and finally he opened the door.
We took out the dissected body of the night crawler and changed the batteries of our corsac armors. I asked Bertie to take a look at my jacket if it was not broken. He said it was a little bit overheated, and he changed the battery for me.
'Well, now, we need to clean up the areas and send people back to their places. Fox, Wonder, go to Sarny Sum and tell people that they can go back to their houses. Explain them nicely that everything is fine now. Nari, wait at the hall until Alex and Steve bring the whole cadets up to clean up the mess. And Endy, you go to the elevator and go down to see Nergui with me. We have to decide what to do with the sisters there and your friend Diane. We now have to bring them up here and let everyone in the building be cured,' Purple concluded.
He was right. We didn't have anything to be confused at all. The day walkers were already separated on the top floors, if we intended or not. That wasn't part of any plan at all, but consequently, it happened to be that way.
...
We came down to Nergui's lab by the elevator and he was waiting for us there. Nergui said he finished preparing all the things he needed. He was caring a big bag full of needles and bottles of the serum. I went to see Diane and I told her what was going on. She looked worried so I said 'Everything's gonna be alright.'
Everything had to be alright. We wanted to go back up without any delay, but Nergui said he'll need some more time to be prepared. Purple told me to get some rest.
I got into the room where Diane was waiting for me. I took off the jacket and the trousers. My body was screaming all over. The smash was over the limit. I realized that I was hit by a punch that could easily break down a concrete wall. Geez.
I lay on a bed next to Diane's. She said 'come lie next to me,' but I refused. It wasn't that I felt shy. I was just, I don't know. Maybe I was just being shy, yeah. As I didn't make any move, she came next to me and told me to make some space. The bed wasn't a double sized one but a small single one that barely fit to an average man. Well, I'm not that a big and tall guy but it wasn't big enough for me, like if I lie on that bed without rolling around, it just fit. So, yeah. I just pretended that I could hear nothing. I turned my back against her to make a little space and she lay.
I could hear her breathing and her heart beating. She softly grabbed onto the back of my t-shirt. I felt so relieved. Feeling her on my back, I felt some inexpressible relief. Like a knight finally going to sleep after his quest. I fell asleep so quickly that I didn't even realize that I did. I slept quite deep until Purple came knocking on the door to wake me up.
He said that I slept for more than 10 hours. Diane was already awake and finished her preparing. Nergui said all of us were going up to the hole we made on the 100th floor.
I asked Purple how things went while I was asleep. He said it was not so good. He turned on a radio and told me that was the announcement Jacques was making all over the building. Jacques was blaming Alex and us about all these happening.
'What's he trying to do?' I asked. Purple said 'He's making a political move against us. In this situation, he has no other option but to make an independent state made up of day walkers on the top floors.'
'Why?' I asked again. 'Because he's the kind of person who wants to make the society which he believes is perfect.' he answered.
'What is a perfect society then?' I asked.
'There is no such thing as a perfect society. We are not perfect. How perfect can a society be when the members are not perfect? Endy, there are always people who claim that they can make world a better place but deep down in their heart, they just want control,' said Purple.
We went up to the 100th floor and told everyone in the building about Nergui. Words got around quite quick. We set up a small medical post in one of the empty rooms and people lined up to get an injection. We simply told them that the injection was a cure and they'd be a bit stronger after getting it. We didn't tell them anything about the bacteria and the genetic mutation because we were worried about any societal turmoil that could be caused.
Jacques strongly showed his disagreement and resist to the cure. According to what he said, the serum was against the basic principle of equality of all people in the building. He was trying to appeal to the day walkers by making them feel they were discriminated and oppressed only because they are outsiders, which I didn't agree with. He continually spoke on the building announcement to stop the outrage. He used expressions like discrimination, segregation, political oppression, and an arbitrary decision made without the consensus of all the people in the building.
Bertie seemed to be torn between us and them. He told us that he could understand our position and what it meant to us, but he was not one of us after all. We told him again and again that he could choose to leave anytime he wished to, and finally, he did. I thanked him and told him that I really appreciated all the help he lent us.
After he left, Kimmy took over his office. She had learnt a lot from him all the while, and soon, she became able to use all the machineries and devices in the office. We changed the sign that said 'Bertie's office' into 'Kimmy's office.'
The first thing she did after taking the position was to cut the announcement line from the top floor from the speakers and wired the lines to be connected to her office. She announced the schedule for the vaccination to all people in the building. All things went so fluently. We steadily injected all people. They orderly lined up, and didn't make any trouble. Everything was orderly being done.
In the meanwhile, Purple showed his intention to have a meeting with the counsel. Jacques said he wanted him to come up to the 196th floor. He agreed on a condition that he'd go up with me and Wonder as bodyguards. Jacques agreed. He said, 'Only if you and your bodyguards don't wear the corsac armor.'
We agreed to do so. We only carried a pistol each and went up to the 196th floor.
They were waiting for us. They were all wearing masks and protective suits. I could see immediately how frightened they were of the infection.
The talk was mostly about how unfair the measures were after the outbreak. Jacques even mentioned that there was a possibility that we intentionally let the veterans turn and die.
Purple tried to reason by saying it all happened so quick and there were no other options. Jacques continually blamed us. His point was that, the day walkers also had the right to participate in the decision making process of the building since they were also righteous members of the society, but we violated and ignored their right.
Purple said that nothing was
intentional, and we were not trying to set them out of any decision making process. He said, 'What's important at this point is not to argue upon who is right and who is wrong, but to talk about what to do from now on.'
After that, Jacques requested for more floors. He requested to have floors from the top to the 180th floor. Purple said that was too much. We knew why Jacques was asking for that much floors. On the 180th floor, there was a factory facility bigger than any other factories in the whole building.
'Okay, I'll let you have the floors from the 180th,' Purple suggested. He also added, 'but since there are so many people working now, I want you to give us time to have them completely moved downstairs.'
Jacques said 'I'll give you a week. And I want you to make the 178th an empty floor as a safeguard zone.'
Purple agreed on that. I thought to myself that it was a reasonable request. They were unprepared for that at all. None of all these were intentional but we were responsible to some degree. We also talked about what to do afterwards like what we should do about the counsel and everything. Jacques said we had to continue the current counsel. Purple said that was difficult cause the most of the counsel members were the day walkers, and the members who weren't day walkers were not able to meet in a same place because of the danger of infection. Jacques said, 'Are you purposing a political division?' Purple said, 'I'm not purposing anything at the moment. I'm just saying that the current counsel is hard to be continued.'
Jacques didn't seem satisfied with that, but we concluded in the end that we had no other way. So the final agreement was that, 'we have our own counsel and they have their own. until they day when it we could be united again.'
34
Purple and I came back down to tell everyone about the agreement. Well, I don't have much to say about what happened afterwards. We tried our best to put everything back to normal. Purple made a new counsel with Finlin. Nergui kept making the serum for all the people and Alex and Fox hurried graduating the cadets so that they would help stabilizing the system.