The Night

by Steinwachs, Mark

  Drake finished his drink and stared at his friend. He opened his mouth then closed it. Finally he spoke. “You have finally snapped. Two to three hundred people? How are we going to hide that from the police? That is like five or six times the number of people you are allowed to have in a group at one time. And use my old shop? You mean the shop where I used to work? That isn’t mine? That I don’t own? And get this all ready in one week?”

  “The police won’t care. They’re too busy to worry about a warehouse in a random office park in the middle of the city and we’ll be done before curfew. No one has heard from your boss, so I don’t think he’s going to be using the gear again. And, get it all ready in one week. So, yeah, that’s the plan,” Jensen said.

  Drake leaned back in the chair. “Let’s throw a fucking rave, my friend.”

  ***

  Jensen and Drake worked nonstop. All their free time was spent at Drake’s old shop. Drake worked on getting the production set up while Jensen boarded windows, blocked doors, basically tried to make the building as zombie-proof as one could make it without attracting the attention of the police. The two loading docks were walled in. Jensen reinforced the door between the office and the shop. The stairs to the roof were left free as a last-minute escape route where Jensen crafted a crude bridge that could be slid to the next building where they could, in theory, use the emergency ladder to get to the ground.

  Jensen used both his and Drake’s phone to spread the word about Remembrance. He sent half texts from each phone to make up one complete message. It wouldn’t throw the police if they, or anyone else, were watching, but it would slow them up. Jensen told everyone to keep it quiet, and either they were doing one hell of a job keeping it quiet or no one cared and this would be a huge failure.

  Jensen’s fingers touched the last few letters on the screen and he hit send. “Hey, Drake. Let’s go, man. We need to head for home now to beat curfew. Drake! Let’s go!”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m powering down now.” The lights blinked off and Drake went over to kill the breakers. “She’s as ready as she’ll ever be. How did you spend your zombiepocalypse? I threw a rave.” Drake shook his head as he killed the lights in the office and locked up behind them.

  “Now, Drake,” Jensen said as they walked to the car, “this is not the zombiepocalypse, remember? Just a zombie outbreak that is contained in our wonderful country. Tomorrow is the big day. You ready?”

  “Yeah, I think I am. Thanks, Jensen. This has been the best week in a long time.”

  “This is only the beginning, my friend.”

  ***

  Jensen opened the door for more people to come in. He didn’t know them but they wrapped him in their arms, thanking him for doing this. They were all smiles as they headed into the warehouse. Jensen looked at his watch. 9:57 am. He started letting people in at 9:00 to avoid a line forming outside. A few people had mentioned having to dodge some zombies but not near the building. That was a good sign. 9:58.

  Another knock on the door. This time Jensen opened it to a group of four people. Once more there was a round of hugs before they bounded off.

  Jensen saw his friend Scarlett weave past the group as she came up to him. “It’s almost time,” she said. “You know Kerri is so happy right now. I’ve got the door. Get in there.”

  “Thanks, Scar.” Jensen gave his hundredth or so hug of the morning and he went into the warehouse.

  Just as he stepped in, the overhead lights went out and the hundred people in the room cheered.

  Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump. TimZ had dropped his first track. The three video screens flashed to life behind the DJ. The first had the spinning heart logo from Summer Night. The third screen had the JK logo with the word Remembrance. The middle screen was a picture of Jensen and Kerri at the club on their wedding night.

  Jensen felt tears forming and he didn’t try to stop them. She was perfect. She was perfect and she was gone. She was gone. Now she was back, here in this room.

  The lights flashed on in blues and yellows, swirling across the room. Jensen looked over at Drake dancing behind his console as he pushed buttons tweaking the lights to the music. Jensen smiled as he wiped his tears aside and walked over to his friend.

  People kept showing up throughout the first two hours. TimZ and Cole spun great sets. At Jensen’s last count there were three hundred fifty people. The room was packed. The closest zombie sighting had been a couple blocks away but none were any closer. Micah kicked off his set. He spun some hard house and the whistle crowd was in full voice. Jensen jumped in for Drake behind the desk, taking over the lights. There was a picture taped to the top corner of it. It was him, Drake, and Kerri sitting in the park on a sunny day. There were no tears now.

  Micah finished his set. Jensen was standing next to Drake and smiled at his friend. They both knew what was coming. It was Kerri’s favorite DJ. Drake blacked out the lights. The crowd erupted. Whistles called to each other from across the warehouse and over top of it all came a deep, booming voice, “The Doctor is in.”

  Drake hit his cue and the center screen went white, backlighting the DJ.

  The Doctor slammed the fader across, the tracking rolling to a build. Drake followed his lead and strobes fired in time with the music.

  The track built to a crescendo and stopped in silence. The Doctor threw his hands up wide and the crowd devoured it.

  Then it hit. Drake dropped the light on the screen and kicked the lasers on for the first time. Green beams of light bounced all over.

  Jensen laughed. It was all he could do. They were happy. They were free.

  Jensen was back at the desk with Drake when he felt a tap on his shoulder. The Doctor was about halfway through his set and Jensen was enjoying every minute of it. Each track was one Kerri played over and over again. There was another tap on his shoulder. He turned around and Scarlett grabbed him, pulling him towards the offices.

  “The fucking cops are here!”

  “What?” Jensen replied. It was loud and he thought he heard her say …

  “The fucking cops are here!”

  “Stay here,” he said and pushed past his friend.

  There was banging on the front door when Jensen entered the office. The door was shaking as the police on the other side tried to open it.

  “Open this door right now! Backup is on the way. You are in violation of the Noise Ordinance and Congregation Act. We will break down this door and we have the right to use any force necessary.”

  Jensen stood in the office. There was more banging on the door. The music from the warehouse was getting louder, The Doctor was taking the crowd even higher.

  Jensen knew what he had to do. He was free. They were free. The police on the other side of the door couldn’t take that away. He walked over, unlocked it, and stepped back. Two police officers rushed in and shut the door. Both of them had their guns out.

  “Put your hands up,” one of them said.

  Jensen stood there. “No. I will not. Please. It’s just another two hours. Let them have this.”

  “I said, put your hands up.”

  “No,” Jensen replied calmly. “Please go. Let us be free for a little bit longer. Then it’s over.”

  The policemen looked at each other. Jensen could see it in their eyes. They wanted it too. They wanted what he had. To feel what it was like before The Night.

  “I’m sorry. It’s the law. This is your last chance. You have to stop this. Now. Or we will stop it.” He raised his gun, pointing it at Jensen’s head.

  “You can’t,” Jensen said. “It’s too late. We’ve taken our freedom back. We aren’t scared anymore.”

  Jensen closed his eyes and started to dance. Kerri was there with him, moving with him, The Doctor spinning just for them. Kerri laughed as she danced. A white aura glowed around her. She smiled. “I love you, Jence.”

  A blinding flash of white radiated around her.

  The Discovery

  We are taught that the great d
iscoveries and great moments in history are calculated and born of planning, but in most cases it’s really a random thought or action that leads to it.

  We’ve all experienced times in life when the answer to a problem comes after you step away from it. It’s when you let your mind drift away that what you are looking for appears.

  Excerpt from “The Decade”

  Dr. Rudolph Graham

  Janice shut her office door behind William and listened to his footsteps fall away. She went back to her desk and slumped in the chair, looking at the email on her screen. Dr. Sato cracked the virus. There was no way it was natural, this was man-made, a thing of beauty. Slick and deadly. Most of the scientific community thought it had been created in a lab, but no one wanted to believe one of their own would create this. Sato unlocked every part of the virus. Now they had to cure it. The euphoric rush she expected to feel when they figured out this piece of the puzzle never came. All Janice felt was another weight added to her, and judging by the lack of reactions from everyone else, they probably felt the same way.

  Janice closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. It seemed so long ago that she was on the runway, watching people piling out of the planes, running in terror. In the last eight months she witnessed the best, and now, with proof, the worst humanity had to offer.

  She opened her eyes and reached down to pull the bottle from the bottom drawer of her desk. Janice took a long drink from it, feeling the vodka burn. She recoiled slightly and shook her head.

  She reread the email for the hundredth time, looking at the list of animals, parts of their DNA spliced together. Put together to make the Zombie Virus.

  She took another drink, the burn waking her up.

  Who would do this? Who would fucking do this?

  Janice threw the bottle across the room, watching it smash against the wall and her bookshelf.

  She folded her arms on her desk, put her head on them, and cried. Sobs racked her body. Her worst fears were true. Somewhere out there was a group of men and women just like her that made this … this thing. This virus. This was no accident. It was vile beyond anything she had ever seen.

  Janice’s sobs lessened and her breathing steadied as she succumbed to sleep.

  ***

  “Bosh?”

  She felt someone pushing her shoulder. “Bosh, get up. Come on.”

  Janice opened her eyes and looked up. William stood next to her. “What time is it, Will?”

  “Six-thirty. What the hell happened last night?”

  Janice looked across her office. Her bookshelf was still wet and glass littered the floor from the broken bottle. “I didn’t know who to be mad at, so I took it out on my bookshelf and a bottle. It didn’t help, I’m still mad.”

  “Go get a shower, Bosh. I’ll get this cleaned up. Sato and Pasek will be back in thirty minutes.”

  Janice nodded and left the room. She walked the nearly empty halls of the CDC. Even one of the biggest health organizations in the world ran on a skeleton crew since The Night.

  She turned into the women’s locker room. At shift change, this room used to be full of people engaged in idle chatter, the majority centered around Atlanta’s rush hour traffic.

  I bet people would give a lot to have that traffic now.

  She was alone, curfew was still in effect, and people that were here were sleeping in their offices. Janice turned the hot water on, letting steam fill the room.

  Somewhere in the world there are people like me, living at their office, showering at their facility, playing God. Twisting the natural order to create something new.

  Janice stepped in the shower, the hot water stinging her awake, her mind took off.

  God. God is gone, he left a long time ago. He left behind humans. Humans and science. He left a world where someone could create this.

  Janice ran her fingers through her hair, the fog of sleep fully lifted.

  The virus danced in her mind, bits of microscopic death swirling around a petri dish. Images shifted and blurred. The virus slithered out into a long strand, a scalpel cutting bits off. Strands being moved from one part of the virus to another, faceless people in lab coats manipulating the natural order.

  She reached back and twisted the handle, turning up the hot water. It burned against her skin but she didn’t move.

  Pain. Failure. They felt it. She knew they did. How many trials and tests did they go through? How many times did they think they had it only to watch it slip through their fingers?

  Tests.

  Janice shuddered.

  Doctors injecting humans with the virus. She thought of Dr. Mengele sticking needles into thousands of Jews in the concentration camps during World War II. What happened when it didn’t work? How many times?

  Test after test after test.

  Janice bolted out of the shower forgetting to turn off the water. She needed to get back to her office.

  ***

  She burst through the door, out of breath from the sprint across the complex. “I think I figured it out.”

  The group in her office, three doctors and the two FBI agents that had been with her since the beginning, looked at her, “Figured out what exactly?” Will said.

  “Tests. It’s all about testing. There is no way in hell this was a one-shot deal. And even after they got it right, they had to test it more. Then once they got it right, they had to tweak it and test it again. Then after they had it, they had to test for the time-release mechanisms. And while that was going on, they had to make sure that it was in people’s system and infected a person after they died. Did they infect people and then kill them or did they infect people close to death and wait for them to die? Figuring out how to get it to lie dormant while the host lived had to be the hardest part.”

  “We know all the variables, Bosh. Of course they had to do tests,” Dr. Sato said, looking at her.

  “Exactly, of course.” Bosh walked over to the map of the world she had put up the first morning of the outbreak. The small circles of red that dotted the map where minor outbreaks occurred in other countries had been crossed out. Each one of them traced back to someone that came from the United States.

  “Think about it.” She looked at the three doctors in the room. They looked back at her quizzically. “This bug was man-made. There are lots of countries that could make it, that isn’t the issue. The issue is where it’s made. What country could hide this from its people? We figure that out and we know who made it.”

  “Any country that could make it could hide it, Bosh.” Garrett said.

  “No way, Garrett. We aren’t talking animal testing here. Humans, and lots of them. It had to be humans. The virus doesn’t react to any animal we have tested it on.”

  “Yeah, but you don’t think governments could hide that? What kind of numbers do you think, Bosh? We aren’t talking thousands of people overnight. Maybe hundreds here and there.”

  “Listen to yourself, Garret. Hundreds of people, doesn’t that bother you? It’s too big. Someone would leak it, unless the government had total control. Toss me that Sharpie. Let’s play a game. We need to find a country that has the resources to create the virus, the government to hide it, and a hatred for the United States. Let’s go step by step so we don’t miss any. First up, who can create the virus?”

  “Germany.”

  “Russia”

  “Korea.”

  Janice circled country after country as the doctors kept throwing names out. There were minor squabbles near the end, but everyone agreed on the list.

  “Now, who could hide this project?”

  “All of them could, Bosh,” William said.

  “That’s not true, Will. Only the best of us have the skill to do this. Do you think Dr. Bernard would have let this happen if the French government tried this?” She crossed France out. No one stopped her. “What about Dr. Becker in Germany?” She crossed it off the list. “We have to narrow this down. I’m right. I know I am. It’s so close. I can feel it. Remember Ethio
pia, Will?”

  “Take Spain off the list,” Will said.

  More countries got crossed off as the doctors kept talking.

  Janice moved to the dry erase board, “Will, read off who is left.” Janice listed each one as Will read them off.

  “Iraq.

  “Iran.

  “North Korea.

  “China.

  “Japan.

  “Israel.

  “Russia.”

  “Seven countries,” Janice said. “Can we narrow it down any further?”

  Garrett said, “Take out Israel. If they had it, they would have let loose on the Middle East.”

  Janice crossed it off the board.

  “Japan,” Will said. “They wouldn’t have done it, but think about this. What if some of their people got bought out by another country? Does that change anything?”

  Janice looked at the men seated around the table. “I don’t think so,” she said as she crossed off Japan. “Let’s say someone did buy talent, I still think that country’s on this list.”

  “What about Russia?” Dr. Sato said. “We know they have the minds to do it. They still won’t open up a few of their facilities. And the rumors that they started this research have been out there since World War II.”

  Will looked up at the ceiling, “Are we still talking Cold War here? Really?”

  Sato turned his attention from the board to the doctor next to him. “Look, Will, do you fully trust them? I don’t. We got von Braun and company from Germany and that may have won us the space race. We didn’t get all the German scientists, and you know what Dr. Schreiber said when we got him out of Russia, not what the public was told. All I’m saying is I wouldn’t trust us if the roles were reversed. Think about smallpox. It could have been wiped off the planet except for the fact that they had to have some and we had to have some. So, this isn’t Cold War, it’s the truth. They could do it, they could hide it, they could want us out of the picture.”