“You manufactured this virus to weaponize it?” Rakan said.
“The ultimate bioterror weapon,” he said, appearing content. “A weapon so powerful not even a nuclear attack could eliminate the threat of it. It might slow it down, but eventually, it would unleash a wave of radioactive corpses, giving our enemies no options but to surrender. Think about it. For every fighter they lose, we gain one,” he snarled. “It’s like recruiting the enemy to fight for us.”
“This is not possible,” Deema said. “Medically speaking.”
“No, it’s genius. The pathogen attacks the antibody cells in the body and attacks the immune system then binding into receptors, it first neutralizes the cells' responses and takes over the cells, reprogramming them entirely.”
“This is crazy. You’re talking about lives,” I said.
“Do you believe in evolution?”
“How’s that relevant?”
“You need to see the whole picture. History repeats itself. It just changes the methods. Evolution finds new ways to improve humanity. See, the earth is overpopulated. And it will only continue to increase in population. But we learned from history, nature finds a way to decrease the population.”
“You’re murdering people,” I said. “This can never be seen as good.”
“Was the black plague good? Who knows, but I do know we can argue for hours on how tragic the black death was, yet it resulted in a lot of good. It paved the way for more opportunities and increased the standards of life. Wealth and education improved. It also created hospitals as we know them today. Without this interference, our life would not have been possible,” Abdullah said. “Something had to be done. Not to mention the inevitable—it’s only a matter of time before countries start using nukes and fight over water sources. Action had to be taken to secure our spot in the world. Not only as Saudis, but as humans.”
“This weapon sees no ally. It destroys everything in sight,” Malak said.
“As I mentioned before,” Abdullah said, clenching his teeth, “it wasn’t time for it.”
“I don't understand. We are not at war,” Malak said.
“On the contrary. We very much are and always will be. We are targeted. We’ve been in a cold war for decades which is a war, nonetheless. Look around. Most Arab courtiers have already fallen, and those which didn't, will turn on one another. Saudi Arabia is not far down the list.”
“How can you justify millions of innocent people killed?” Malak asked.
“It’s for a greater good.”
“This is genocide,” I said.
“No.” He grinned. “This is war.”
“You’re triggering War World Three?” Malak asked.
“No, it would be unfitting to call it War World Three, for it’s an entirely different war,” Abdullah said.
“How far has this thing spread?” I asked.
“Governments are already collapsing around the world.”
“But, there are people who are naturally immune,” I said.
“Well, there is a problem with that theory. See, we predicted such things. Nature always has a way to fight back. So immune people popping up everywhere did not come as a major surprise. The surprise came when we tried injecting an infected with an immune body. After a few tests, it was revealed to us the subjects infected were not cured, but the bodies quarantined the infected cells, which means they are carriers of the virus.”
I looked at Malak and Rakan then back to him. “You said you predicted such things, which means there were some measures taken to ensure the job will be complete, right?” I asked.
“Even if you’re immune and not infected, there’s a psychological warfare at play. The dead’s moans will drive the enemy mad,” he said. “The plan is perfect, had we had more time.”
They were tinkering with a virus, and little did they know it was our downfall. The dead brought down the kingdom, a powerful nation to a pile of ruins. The idea that everything we built can easily be eradicated is more terrifying than anything.
“Why are you telling us this?” I asked.
“We need you,” the other man said, adjusting his lab coat.
“We need your blood. Keeping you alive will make things easier. Your blood is the only unmutated form. As of now, you're the most valuable thing walking this planet,” Abdullah said.
The doors slid open. A tall guy came through with two soldiers of his own.
“This will be interesting.” Abdullah grinned.
Chapter 49
“Iwas told I can find you here,” the man said, pushing his chest out, displaying his army uniform proudly. So many uniforms in the room.
“What are you doing here?” Rakan asked.
I stood in silence and held Malak. Who was he? Who were they? Who could we trust?
The man glanced at Rakan then traced his focus along the arms of the guards holding him back. He turned his glance to Abdullah. Abdullah gave a single nod, and the guards relaxed their grips on Rakan. The man walked up to Rakan and wrapped his arms around him, embracing him for a few seconds. Then he edged closer to the seating area. He smiled at Malak and me. “You two are grown up. The last time I saw you, you were little kids in spikey ponytails and mismatched socks.”
“How do you know us?” Malak asked.
“I’m a friend of your father’s,” he said. “Girls, these people can't be trusted. You need to understand, the country is dividing. we are no longer only fighting an outside threat.”
“You mean the zombies?” I asked.
“No.” He shook his head and glanced at Abdullah. “We’re fighting them.”
The zombies dropped to second place on the threat list until we stepped outside. Abdullah was identified as the enemy, and he grinned and crossed his arms, watching like he was expecting a show.
I ignored Abdullah and turned back to the man who walked in. “Who are you?” I asked.
“My name is Abdulrahman,” he said. “I am happy to inform you your dad is safe in one of our controlled zones in Bahrain, and I am truly sorry about your mother.”
“What?” Malak said, her face changing to an expression of indignation. “Where’s Mom?”
“I am so sorry.” Abdulrahman shook his head. “I thought you knew.”
“I did,” I said, looking at Malak. A single tear ran from my eye. “I’m sorry. I was waiting till you got better to tell you.”
Malak pulled away from me, and I felt like I was dropped from the sky, falling to the ground. “What happened to Mom?” she asked.
“Divide and conquer.” Abdullah laughed sinisterly. “I didn't have to do anything.”
“Dad called. He said that—Mom is gone,” I tried to explain and realized with every syllable coming out I should have told her sooner. It was not my secret to keep. Keeping it would not make it easier.
“You hid this from me.” Malak took a step away.
“You disappeared, Malak,” I said. I wanted to shield her from this bitter reality, give her another day without the pain of this loss.
“When did you find out?” Malak asked.
I hesitated and looked at Rakan then to the white marble ground. “The night before.”
“When you were checking your messages?” Malak said, looking at me, not blinking.
“Yes.”
“And the baby?” she asked, holding her breath.
I shook my head and bit my trembling lips. “I’m sorry, Malak.”
“The Bahraini causeway was blown up,” Malak said, looking away from me as if the sight of me disgusted her. “Why didn’t they want anyone to get through?”
“The army eradicated all bridges and direct links to other countries, as part of an effort to stop the pathogen from crossing borders,” Abdulrahman said.
“Since we are revealing secrets,” Abdullah said with a soft clap, “why don't we keep this party going. Did you girls figure out who alerted us to your exact location, room, and even which bed to check.”
I turned around and l
ooked at Rakan, a tear dry on my cheek. I trusted him.
“Nope,” Abdullah said, following my eyes. He shook his long index finger, drafting a sneer on his face. He pointed his index finger at Deema then sat on a stool and observed us.
“That can’t be true,” I said and turned to Deema. “No.”
“Deema?” Malak said.
Deema's eyes were drowning. She wiped the tears with her shoulder and took a step back. “You don't understand.”
“Understand?” I said, absorbing the trauma and swallowing the pain. “You helped in Malak’s kidnap and said nothing. You made me think it was Faisal!”
“They said they know where my parents are, and they will fly them in safely if I helped,” Deema said, her voice cracking. She placed her palms under her eyes. “I thought my family was dead.”
“So you decide to kill mine?” I said, an emptiness on both a mental and a physical level swelling up inside me. Blank for words. In a moment of frustration, you are willing to lose everything for a stance that you might have been willing to compromise in any other context. But when it gets to the matter of family, you’re blinded with rage and refuse to settle. The shock was cutting a scar. I turned to Malak for comfort but she looked away.
“They told me they wouldn't harm you,” Deema said between sniffs.
“This is fun,” Abdullah said. “Oh. And, Deema, one more thing. We lied. Your family was dead. The hotel they stayed in Spain was burnt to its very foundation.”
“No.” Deema sighed and shook her head hysterically.
“Enough,” Abdulrahman said, his hands gripping onto air. “You are no longer in control.”
“What are you going to do?” Abdullah said, sighing. “We had you stripped of your weapons the second you stepped onto the premises.”
“It’s over Abdullah. Black Desert operation has been set in motion. We will be taking over now.”
“Black Desert operation?” Abdullah repeated, tasting the words in his mouth, searching for a familiar association. He looked at the guy in a lab coat next to him. “Fahad, do you know anything about this?”
Fahad shrugged then shook his head, taking a step forward.
“Let’s say it’s a backup plan for when things go south, and you fucked up pretty bad,” Abdulrahman said.
“Dad,” Rakan said, “you knew about this?”
“He’s your dad?” I asked, my head spinning. I no longer knew who was who. The line between enemies, allies, ex-friends, and new friends got blurry.
“No, son. We had no idea they were working on anything like this.” Abdulrahman pressed his lips together. “But we did know it was a virus that could go airborne, so we took some protective measures.”
“What are they?” Rakan said.
“We only found out about the dead coming back to life a couple of months ago. We have been working on a vaccine ever since.”
“I assure you this will not last long. Zombies are in a constant state of decay. They might be somewhat fast when they are freshly bit, but they will slow down as they decompose. And we have the privilege of having one of the hottest climates on the planet. The Arabian sun will expedite and weaken the zombies faster than anywhere else.” Abdullah lifted his chin.
“And that’s where. You. Are. Wrong,” Abdulrahman said, walking up to Abdullah. The four armed men drew out their guns and aimed them at Abdulrahman. He paused and then said, “Based on our research, the dead tended to show vulnerability to ultraviolet light, which suggested sunlight could impact some functions. Now that being said, noting our geographical location and nature of our lands, we thought we were at an advantage. While other countries would take a bigger hit, we would be spared. We were wrong. The dead here showed symptoms of resistance. The sun only expedited their decay, which triggered more aggression and hunger. What we thought was our advantage turned on us. And lack of rain and dryness slashed the chances of our survival.”
Abdullah grunted but listened. One of the men hesitated to keep his gun aimed at Abdulrahman as if he wasn’t sure which side was the winning one.
“We are already cornered. We are surrounded by the dead. They will crawl in from every direction possible. The flaw in your plan is underestimating them. They won’t stop. We will have to. They will multiply, we will subtract. They will not run out of resources, we will. They will not rest, we will. They will come at us with all they’ve got, and let me make myself clear, they will bring this whole place down with us standing dead and center.”
“Abdulrahman, we are perfectly safe here,” Abdullah said, a little less sure. “The dead can’t come in here.”
“The mosquitoes will come in, the rats will come in, and the sounds of their moans will creep in,” Abdulrahman said, “but this is your creation. You should know this already. The design of the pathogen is to spread like wildfire and recruit as many mindless soldiers at warp speed, is it not?”
“Are you saying there is no way out of this?” Deema asked.
“The Apis mellifera team has been deployed,” Abdulrahman said.
“What?” Abdullah asked, his eyebrow creased.
“We recruited fighters and activated a program called Apis mellifera. Training an army against the dead in different regions of the country. Apis mellifera is the scientific name for a particular type of bee we named the serum after. We injected a group made up of a special force team with this serum.”
“Bees?” Malak asked.
“The serum makes you resistant to the disease. It has similar traits to a breed of a bee.”
“A cure?” I asked.
“Not exactly. Once the soldier is infected by a bite, he’s dead for good, but he can no longer spread the pathogen,” he said. “The serum will prevent a virus from taking over the bloodstream. Think of it as a computer. Like an antivirus. When something tries to enter and destroy your computer, it works as a first defense and stops the virus from entering the computer or spreading further. It’s still there, but it’s isolated.”
The insignia on the dead soldier’s uniform on the Saudi Bahraini causeway wasn't a wasp. It was a bee. All I could think of was how everyone injected with this bee serum was paying the ultimate price. And were not expected to come back. Phase one. “What’s phase one?” I asked.
“Phase one is recruiting uniforms. The best of the best, only the individuals exceeding expectations and scoring highest in their fields. They are trained killers and our first defense. They were deployed to assist the epidemiological threat and control the situation. Phase two, another wave of soldiers injected with the serum, split into two groups. The first to take up positions protecting our holy grounds, the second group tasked with search and rescue. Phase three, zombie resistance. Fortify the headquarter here in Riyadh and hold it at any cost till the need for phase four is instated.”
“What is phase four?” Rakan asked.
Abdulrahman sighed. “The country’s population has been reduced dramatically. Millions are dead. Phase four makes sure we don’t go extinct. It triggers Mission Chamo 324, the final stage.”
“Chamo?” Rakan asked. “Like camouflage?”
“Yes, short for camouflage. It’s also Haitian Creole for the word camel,” Abdulrahman said. “But first, we have to take care of this situation.”
Abdulrahman nodded to his son, then to the two armed men who had their weapons pointed at him. The pair quickly switched positions and turned their guns on their partners in black. Bang bang. They dropped on the floor. Fahad stepped away from Abdullah and drew his gun at him.
“You don’t know who you can trust these days.” Abdullah smiled. He stared Abdulrahman down. “You won’t order them to kill me.”
The two men in black turned the guns on Abdullah. “I prefer not to,” Abdulrahman said, “but you have to be contained.” One of the men in black crouched down next to the dead bodies and picked up a gun. He then inched over to Abdulrahman, passing him the gun.
Abdulrahman held the gun. “I need to know how you did it?”
“Did what?” Abdullah replied.
“Get so many to turn against their country, against their beliefs and work for your personal vendetta,” Abdulrahman said.
“Abdulrahman.” Abdullah shook his head. “There is so much to this you will never know.”
“That doesn't answer my question.”
His smile widened. “That part was one of the easiest steps. Recruiting people who are willing to die for a cause comes easy. The key is merely to target those who have enough information for a motive and ignorance of everything else. I knew I could not win them over with money. Oh no, they strive for things way beyond earthly possessions,” he said, showing no remorse. He brought both hands in front of his stomach and laced them together.
“You used religion to further your cause?” Abdulrahman said. “But everyone knows Islam is about peace, and it never advocates initiating attacks.”
Abdullah laughed. “No. Not everyone knows that. Only those who are educated do, but the media has done a great job making sure that fact doesn’t get out,” he said. “Think of those who came from small villages. People that don’t possess extensive knowledge in either religion or politics. How hard do you think it is to misinterpret a few verses from the Quran and convince them they are doing God’s work.” Abdullah pulled out a gun and aimed it at me. I took a deep breath, and Malak’s body shuffled in front of me in an attempt to shield me.
“What are you doing?” Abdulrahman asked.
“You won’t risk me killing the vaccine,” Abdullah said, staring at me like a mad scientist looking at his specimen.
An alarm went off, the room went dark, and red flashing gave me snaps of what was happening. The red glow heightened the anger. Rakan took a step forward, placing himself between me and the threat. The sound triggered Abdullah. Everything happened fast. A gunshot. A body hit the ground. Abdulrahman moved. There were two other gunshots. A sound of a body dropped to the ground. Rakan called out to his father. I froze. Malak held my hand. Another body dropped.
Chapter 50
Zombies In Saudi Arabia Page 34