Fatal Reaction, Survival

by M A Hollstein

  “My car is by the entrance. I’ve been staying in a condo just off base.”

  “You military?”

  “Was,” Mike said, looking up at the dark mass floating in the sky. “Sheriff now.”

  “So, Sheriff,” Sgt. Cooper followed Mike’s gaze upwards, “what’s your take on the spacecraft?”

  “Not sure,” Mike answered. That’s when he saw it. A blinking white light in the center of the dark mass. It blinked several times, and then stopped. He stared at it wondering if his eyes were playing tricks on him. “Did you see that?”

  Sgt. Cooper grunted with pain, as they worked their way down the road leading away from the hospital. “See what?”

  Mike stared some more, keeping his eyes on the spacecraft as they walked. When it didn’t happen again, Mike sighed, “Nothing. Think my eyes are playing tricks on me.” The weight of Sgt. Cooper leaning into him was beginning to wear on him. The walk to the hospital didn’t seem nearly as long as the walk back. They’d finally made it to the main road and were heading back towards the front gate. Something in his peripheral vision caught his attention. The blinking light. He stared right at it. His mind wasn’t playing tricks on him after all.

  “You see that?” Sgt. Cooper asked, validating what Mike was seeing.

  “Yeah, I see it.”

  “First time I’ve seen something happen since that thing arrived.”

  Keeping his eye on the light, Mike prodded the Marine to move a bit quicker. Not saying a word, the two men were in silent agreeance. Something was about to happen, and they needed to get the hell out of there.

  ***

  Tossing the dishtowel at the sink, Amanda shook her head. Having Bill in her home was annoying the hell out of her. It was nice having him and his son Benjamin there so that she wasn’t alone, but at the same time it irritated her to no end. She wondered if it was time to have a talk with him. She didn’t want Bill to go away but maybe move into the abandoned apartment next door. That way they were still close, but not too close. She was tired of picking up after him and dealing with his bossiness. She needed her space.

  Remembering the hospital where she had met both Bill and Benjamin, tears filled her eyes. All of the staff had been either infected or dead. In fact, little Benjamin had also been infected. Somehow, he’d survived the virus.

  Some men that appeared to be military, had taken the three of them captive, but they weren’t our military. She remembered the ray gun that reduced one of the military men to ashes right before her eyes.

  Heck, Amanda thought, they weren’t even human military.

  She still didn’t know what to believe or what she actually remembered. Everything was hazy. Two scientists, or doctors, or whatever the hell they were, had helped them to escape the men. At the time, they pretty much stated they were scientists from another planet. Amanda hadn’t known what to believe, and Bill didn’t believe them at all. He thought they were covering up for the government. Until now. Now that the spaceships had arrived, everything was different.

  Amanda walked over to the sliding glass door and glanced up at the dark ship through the tree branches. She wondered who was inside the ship and what it was they wanted. Pretty much everyone was gone.

  Would they kill those of us still alive?

  Maybe they were here to help us. Or maybe they were staying inside their ship because they didn’t want to catch the virus that was killing us off. Amanda frowned, and hugged her arms to her chest.

  The scientists, that had helped them escape the hospital, had mentioned that the virus was an accident. It was something common amongst their kind.

  Were the people aboard the ship responsible? Were they the ones that had spread this virus?

  Then Amanda remembered something else they’d said. She’d forgotten this. Didn’t they mention a war? Some of them wanted to help humanity, and some were opposed. She couldn’t remember the details.

  Frightened, Amanda took in a deep breath. She hated waiting for something to happen. That’s when she saw it. Or at least she thought she saw something. She thought she saw a light.

  Unlatching the sliding glass door, Amanda stepped out onto the balcony to get a better look. She gripped the wooden railing in front of her and stared upwards at the smooth metallic ship. She couldn’t see anything but what appeared to be dark metal. No light. No movement. Nothing. Maybe she’d just imagined it.

  The air was cooler than usual outside. It was August, the hottest month of the year, and Amanda was chilled to the bone. She had on jeans and a long-sleeved shirt. She figured the temperature change was due to the spaceship casting a good portion of Oceanside in shadow. A big black bird rustled the leaves in a nearby tree, startling her. Amanda’s breath caught in her throat. She’d jumped backward, pressing a hand over her heart.

  “Geez!” she yelped, feeling stupid. She couldn’t believe how on edge she was. It was only a bird. She began to laugh at her silliness. That’s when she saw it again. There it was. Blinking. It was a light. A small, white, blinking light was coming from the ship.

  “Oh my God,” she whispered. Chills encompassed her body. Panic rose in her throat. A deep, overwhelming fear embraced her. Something was finally happening.

  “What’s that?” Benjamin asked, stepping out onto the balcony, pointing at the light.

  Amanda spun around, put her arm protectively around him and ushered him back into the apartment. “I think it’s time to go inside,” she said, trying to keep her voice calm.

  “Why?” Benjamin looked over his shoulder trying to get another glance at the blinking light.

  “Because,” she said, remembering how much she hated that answer as a child. The word because was the only answer she could come up with.

  “Because they’ll be here soon,” Benjamin said.

  “What?” Amanda asked. “What do you mean? Who will be here?”

  “They will,” he said, sitting down on the couch. “They’re ready.”

  “Ready? Ready for what?” Amanda asked, sitting down next to him. “How do you know?”

  Benjamin shrugged. “I hear them.”

  Amanda furrowed her brow and stared at the little boy. He was hugging his teddy bear close to his chest.

  “You hear them?” she asked.

  Benjamin didn’t answer.

  “You hear the people in the ship?”

  He still didn’t answer. He closed his eyes as if deep in thought.

  “Benjamin,” Amanda prodded, “what is it you hear them say?”

  Benjamin opened his eyes and turned his teddy bear around. He scrunched up his nose as he examined its furry face. It was as if he hadn’t heard Amanda’s questions. She decided not to press the issue any further. She figured the little boy was probably just as nervous as she was about the spaceship. And being a kid, he was just making things up.

  Looking around the apartment, Amanda made a quick decision. She needed to grab a few more supplies in case of emergency. Sitting around doing nothing was making her anxiety grow worse.

  “You know what, sweetie?” Amanda said, patting Benjamin’s shoulder. “I’m going to run to the store and pick up a few more things. Okay?”

  Benjamin continued to play with his bear. Amanda got up from the couch and walked over to the small table in the eat-in kitchen. She grabbed a set of car keys belonging to one of the neighbors, out of the glass fruit bowl, placed in the center of the table. The car still had some gas in the tank and a working battery. She felt the overwhelming need to get out of the apartment. To go somewhere. To do something before they arrived. Before whatever it was that was going to happen, happened. She honestly had no plan. She just wanted out.

  “Benjamin… Benji?” She knelt down in front of the little boy sitting on the couch. He seemed to be in a daze. It was as if he didn’t see her or hear her. “Benjamin, do you hear me?” She placed her hand on his knee and gently shook it. He looked at her, confused.

  “Huh?”

  “Didn’t you hear me talk
ing to you?”

  “Their voices get loud,” he said, scrunching up his nose and covering his ears. “Sometimes I can’t hear anything, but them.”

  Amanda looked at him puzzled. “Whose voices?”

  Benjamin took his hands off his ears and scowled. “Theirs.”

  “What are they saying?”

  “I don’t know,” he said, shrugging. He then patted his teddy bear’s head.

  “You don’t know?” she asked, trying to make sense of what he was saying. None of it was making sense. He was probably just frightened of the ship.

  Benjamin shook his head.

  “Okay. I’m going to get some stuff for us at the store. You stay here. All right?”

  Benjamin nodded.

  “Your dad will be back in a little bit.” Amanda knew he was scouting the neighborhood across the street from the apartment complex. Each day he ventured out a bit further, looking for more supplies, food, and survivors.

  “What if my dad doesn’t come back?”

  “He will, sweetie,” she said, wondering if maybe she should take him with her to the store. However, she felt he would be safer locked inside the apartment. “Did you want to come with me?” she asked, feeling guilty about leaving him alone.

  Benjamin nodded.

  “Um, okay,” she agreed against her better judgment. She didn’t want to deal with Bill being upset with her for taking his son out of the apartment without his permission. However, she didn’t want to be just sitting there all day, doing nothing, waiting for him to return. “You can come with me. Let’s leave a note on the table for your dad. I don’t want him to worry.”

  “Okay.” Hopping up from the couch, Benjamin ran to his room and grabbed a notebook and a red crayon. He scribbled a note saying, “Dad, Went with Miss Amanda, love Benji.”

  Amanda then added to the bottom of the note, “Be back before dinner! Going to check out some local stores for more supplies.” She left the note in the center of the table, next to the fruit bowl, where she knew Bill would see it.

  “You ready?” she asked.

  Benjamin nodded. With his teddy bear under one arm, he grabbed hold of her hand with the other. They walked down the stairs and out to the parking lot. Amanda kept eyeing the little flashing light on the spaceship wondering what it meant.

  Chapter 3

  Every turn she took, Ellie ran into traffic jams. It was driving her nuts. There were abandoned cars everywhere. What was I thinking?

  This was the first time she’d ventured from the condo since returning home after the virus struck. She wasn’t thinking straight. It had been a nightmare when Mike had helped her to get home from Las Vegas. Why would she think that the roads would suddenly be better? They had to cut through the desert and take less traveled roads in order to get to California and then to San Diego County. She should have thought this through before leaving home.

  The clinic that she’d recognized in the video was near downtown San Diego. How the hell am I going to make it into the city with all of these abandoned cars? She wasn’t sure, but she knew she had to at least try. That poor boy’s life was in danger. If it hadn’t been for Mike helping her when she had been stranded in the desert, she probably wouldn’t be alive right now. And if she could help another human being, the way Mike had helped her, she’d be honored.

  Ellie was traveling South on Interstate 5 towards San Diego. When she’d first gotten on the freeway, it had been a bit dodgy, and she had to carefully maneuver around a few wrecks in the middle of the highway, but once she was around them, she’d been happy to see that the freeway was fairly clear. Max was sitting in the passenger seat, tongue lolling while he happily peered out the window. For a brief moment, life felt almost normal. And she was feeling almost normal. For the last several weeks it had been like she was trapped in a never-ending nightmare, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t wake up. The only bright spot in her world was Mike, and her dog, Max.

  Without them, she would have given up. She doubted her family was still alive. She’d like to go on pretending they were, but she knew the odds. In her heart, she knew they were gone. Her family, her friends; everyone that had meant something to her was gone. Even her co-workers, even the annoying ones that she couldn’t stand, they were all gone.

  Life was incredibly awful. The last few weeks, especially. She’d been doing nothing but stumbling around in a haze trying to survive, and it was wearing her down. Her hope for some kind of normal life in the future had been diminishing. They’d been ransacking empty neighboring homes in her complex, searching for food, bottled water, batteries, and anything that could be useful. And then there were the bodies. They were everywhere. The putrid smell. The insects and scavenging animals. Ellie’s stomach lurched. It was all too much. She’d been somehow managing to live through it, but it still didn’t seem real. Nothing was real anymore. And now the ship. She glanced up at the daunting spacecraft hovering above.

  Mrs. Marshall. Poor, Mrs. Marshall, she thought.

  Mrs. Marshall had depended on Ellie for her survival. Ellie felt like she’d let the poor woman down. She wished there was a way she could help her. But she knew it was too late. There was nothing she could do. Mrs. Marshall was going to die just like the rest of the infected. No one survived the infection. Not that she was aware of anyway. She wondered if the old woman was still alive, thrashing about, destroying things in her condo.

  Ellie tried to push away the burning fear growing in the pit of her stomach. The normalcy of driving on the freeway had only lasted a few seconds. “Crap!” she cussed, slowing down. There was a massive pile up. She slowly drove up to the mass of cars. She steered to the right, hoping to go around them. Unfortunately, the shoulder of the road was blocked. She scanned all four lanes. There was no way around the accident. Throwing the SUV into reverse, Ellie did a three-point turn.

  She began driving back the way she came. There was a cement divider separating both sides of the freeway. She’d have to find an alternative route. It felt odd driving the wrong direction on the freeway. The first exit she came to, she accidentally drove past it, stopped, and then turned around, so that she could exit. She hoped to be able to navigate her way through the side streets and pick up the freeway again just past the accident. She wasn’t very familiar with the area, but she knew she was headed in the right direction. She could see smoke from a fire in the distance. There had been an apartment building on fire in the boy’s video. That meant she wasn’t very far away from the clinic. She just needed to follow the black billowing smoke. She only had a few more miles to go.

  When she got off at the exit, she veered to the right. She figured she’d turn left at the next street and hopefully find another entrance to the freeway. She slowly pulled up at the flashing street light and looked both ways. There were a couple of abandoned cars blocking the street. She drove down to the next intersection and peered down the street. It seemed clear. She made a left turn, entering a neighborhood. She wondered if there were any families still alive in the homes. She slowed down and stopped at a stop sign. She shook her head. “Guess I don’t need to do that anymore,” she said to Max. Max looked at her, panting. He was enjoying the car ride. Ellie looked both ways out of habit. “I’ll drive a little further and see if I can find another freeway entrance. What do you think, boy?”

  Max resumed looking out the window. Ellie rolled it down just enough for him to stick his head out. She always worried about him falling out. She reached over to pat his back, taking her eyes off the road for a second.

  Bump! Bump!

  “What in the world?” Ellie slammed on the brakes and peered in the rearview mirror, and then her side view mirror. That’s when she saw it. Her stomach lurched as she noticed she’d run over a body.

  “Oh, God!” Ellie stared at the woman’s long blonde hair scattered on the asphalt. The woman’s head was turned in the opposite direction. She then noticed her designer blue jeans and fitted cream-colored tank top. There was no moveme
nt. She wondered if she should get out of the car to make sure the woman was dead. But what if she wasn’t? The thought made her stomach turn. Ellie knew she had to check. She’d never be able to live with her conscience if she didn’t.

  Putting the SUV in park, Ellie rolled up Max’s window to keep him from trying to get out. She slid out of the driver’s seat and shut the door before the little dog could follow. “I’ll be right back,” she said to him, tapping on the window. Max jumped over the center console and landed in the driver’s seat.

  On trembling legs, Ellie stood in the middle of the street feeling the cool ocean breeze ruffle her hair. She glanced at the little yellow house to her right with a white picket fence and a postage stamp yard. She then looked at all the other cute little homes surrounding her. They were small houses, probably built in the 1950s, ranging from 700 to 1200 hundred square feet at the most. The majority of the houses appeared to have been remodeled; each with cute, tiny landscaped yards. Even though they were small and older, she bet they’d sell somewhere in the half a million dollar range. The neighborhood was only a couple of miles from the beach.

  Well, she thought, they would have sold in the half a million dollar range. Now they’d be worth nothing. Absolutely nothing.

  Not for the first time, Ellie wondered if life would ever return to the way it used to be. Ten, twenty, thirty years from now, what would life be like? Would things ever go back to normal? Maybe there were more survivors than she realized. Maybe they were all in hiding, waiting for the virus to pass. Maybe families were still in these homes. She looked up the street and could see what looked like a man’s body sprawled out in one of the yards. Two large black birds picked at the carcass. She then looked across the street and noticed the windows broken and the front door that’d been left wide open.

  Returning her attention to the woman, Ellie tried to gather her courage. She forced herself to swallow the bile creeping up her throat. She refused to throw up. Not now. Balling her hands up into tight fists, she took a few determined steps in the direction of the woman. Ellie could hear Max frantically scraping his claws at the driver’s side window trying to open the door. Another breeze picked up, and Ellie watched the woman’s long golden hair move away from her face and wave surreally across the asphalt.