The Fallujah Strain: Power After the Ebola Apocalypse

by Thomas Porter

  "Are you tired, Maya? Would you like to ride on the cart?" Pryce asked. Savane glanced at him but said nothing. Her face betrayed her annoyance.

  "This walking is crazy. Do you guys go this far all the time?" Maya asked.

  "Yes, Maya," Pryce said. "We go pretty far. It's a lot of work keeping everything working."

  "Wow. Let me ride. I'm really tired and my feet are killing me. Stupid idea, putting these other shoes on."

  As they pushed off, with Maya now in the wagon grinning widely, Savane grabbed the handle and helped Pryce push. After two hours, they reached downtown Wayton and Maya jumped off.

  "Cool lamp posts," she said. "Can we take one home?"

  "Sorry, Maya, not this trip. We are here for the big tank, remember?"

  "Okay. Maybe next time. This is fun, isn't it?"

  Savane answered. Applying what she'd learned from Pryce, she said, "Yes, Maya. This is fun." She then turned her head so Maya couldn't see her face and rolled her eyes again.

  "Are you ready to walk some more, Maya?" Pryce asked.

  "I can do that! It'll be fun," Maya said. "I had no idea how hard you guys work. Do you have to do this kind of stuff all the time?"

  "Yes, Maya, all the time," Pryce said.

  Thirty minutes later, with Savane pushing the cart, Pryce walking next to her, and Maya following closely behind, they reached Williams Boulevard and turned right toward the office park and Ceriel Labs.

  ~ - ~

  As Maya, Savane, and Pryce were walking the first mile toward Wayton, Gabe, Pancho, and Serge were riding south in single file. Pancho watched Maya's GPS tracking information.

  "Hold up, hold up," Pancho said.

  Gabe, who was in front, stopped and swung around on his saddle to look at Pancho, who was in the middle. "What is it?" Gabe asked.

  "I guess you might call this good news, considering the last tracking chip we chased didn't move, and now we know why. This chip is definitely moving. Roughly west. Slow but definitely moving," Pancho said.

  "That's good. Keep me informed," Gabe said. He raised himself on his saddle so he could get a better look at Serge. "You okay back there, Serge? Talk to me."

  "Hmmm," said Serge.

  "Is that a good 'hmmm' or a bad 'hmmm'?" Gabe asked.

  "Hmmmm," said Serge.

  "That's a good 'hmmm'," said Pancho, who had worked with Serge for several months and had learned to interpret his grunts. “I think.”

  Gabe said, "Okay. Don't be a stranger back there, Serge. Talk to me if you need to. I'm going to call this in to Sandra. The girl is moving."

  ~ - ~

  About the same time Gabe, Pancho, and Serge were trotting in single file toward Maya's ankle bracelet as it slowly moved westward, Anthony had his first four vials of blood drawn and four mixtures of immune blood/grasshopper hemolymph prepared for mutation in the incubator. His computer was open and running and he periodically looked at the screen intently. As a control measure, he also compared his serum with Hansen's recommendations. For the first time since he lost Savane, Gwen, Orel, Graves, and Hayes, he felt optimistic. This might actually work, he thought to himself.

  Anthony didn't know it but Hansen had previously manufactured this serum in his home lab and given it to his six dependents. In doing so, he poisoned them in an act that Chevault said was brought on by stress. “Obviously he snapped. Stress will do that,” Chevault had said.

  And now, in a corner of his mind, Anthony was raising the same questions Hansen had. If prepared improperly, if the incubation doesn't run smoothly, might this serum also be a beaker full of death?

  Chapter 21

  Anthony walked out of the lab and down the central hallway to the back door. He propped the door open and checked the natural gas tank. Valve is open and pressure is good. Should work.

  He returned to the lab, sat down, and stared at the three serum mixtures that were ready for the incubator. He linked his fingers behind his head and leaned back in the chair, walking through his preparation process step by step in his mind.

  He breathed deeply through his nose, stood up, gently placed the three mixtures into the incubator, closed and latched the door, shook the latch to make sure the door was solidly closed, and set the timer for 54 hours. Now I wait, he thought, and sat back down.

  His inability to remember where this lab was located, as he was bicycling through downtown Wayton, worried him. Was that a normal lapse of memory, or is the virus really affecting his mind? Forget one step in the serum production process, or do one step incorrectly, and it could turn to poison. Remember everything and it could save lives. For a brief minute he also realized that if this works, this serum would break the iron grip that Infected Resource Communal Control holds over people's lives. But it all depends on his memory and attention to detail. Self-doubt nagged him.

  And so it was that when he heard Savane's voice, he gritted his teeth and tried to ignore it. He stood up from the chair, cursed his mind playing tricks on him, and checked the incubator temperature. Working perfectly.

  At that moment, a second girl's voice joined Savane's voice. Then a man's. This frightened Anthony. What a realistic hallucination, he thought. Is this what it sounds like to be schizophrenic?

  He stood again and walked out of the lab, into the inner hallway, and turned toward the window that overlooked the natural gas tanks. It was open.

  "Yes, Maya, you can sit on the curb if you like."

  "OK. Cool. Let me know if you want me to lift something or whatever."

  "Yes, Maya. Savane, are you ready with the strap?"

  "Ready ready. Got the strap right here."

  When he heard Savane's voice again, Anthony slowly walked the length of the hallway, filled with fear. His face contorted and his lips quivered. The lucidity of this dream terrified him. Crazy people don't know they're crazy, and now I know why, he thought. This is real, but not real. My mind has even conjured up two other people to complete the hallucination.

  He reached the end of the inner hallway, bent slowly at the waist and looked out the window. "Wow," he said out loud. I can even see them, he thought. Savane, just like I remember her. And the detail of the other two people. An immune person who looks just like my friend's daughter before the Ebola die-off, all grown up. What was her name? Maya?

  "Maya, can you help me with this strap?" Savane called out to Maya, who was sitting on the curb with her arms wrapped around her knees, hugging them close to her chest.

  Maya answered, "Sure thing. I can do that. Who's that, anyway?"

  "Who is who?" Anthony asked, looking over to Maya. He followed her gaze to the window and, when he saw Anthony's face in the opening, stumbled back two steps in surprise. He regained his footing, sidestepped to the cart, and put his right hand on the shotgun. "Who are you?" he yelled to the window, maybe a little too loud.

  Savane also looked to the window and said, "Oh, hey, Anthony. What's up?"

  "Is that Anthony?" Pryce asked.

  "Yup. Anthony," Savane said to Pryce. Then speaking toward the window, she said, "It's good to see you, Anthony. Where have you been?"

  "Where have I been?" Anthony asked quietly. Then, louder, he said, "Where have I been?" and his face disappeared from the window. A few seconds later, the back door swung open violently and Anthony ran through it. "Savane! Are you real?"

  Savane laughed. "Am I real? I hope I'm real. Of course I'm real!"

  "You are dead. You should be dead. They took me. There was nothing I could do. I couldn't leave a message, nothing. You're all dead!"

  "Not all, Anthony. Gwen is dead. I didn't see the three others. I tried to save Gwen, I really did. But there was nothing I could do. Nothing. I'm sorry."

  "No, I'm sorry, Savane. There was nothing I could do. They tied me up and took me. Then they chained me up and held me. They acted like they were doing me a favor. Yes sir, no sir. Sit down here, sir. Than
k you very much, sir. But they tied me up, took my blood, and killed you all."

  Maya looked at Savane and, for the first time since Savane peddled into the driveway with Gwen, Maya saw Savane cry. At first her lower lip quivered and then tears began to run down her cheek. Maya pushed herself off the ground, went to Savane, and put her arms around Savane's shoulders. With that, Savane put her head on Maya's shoulder and sobbed loudly. Savane's body shook rhythmically as Maya's shirt became wet with tears.

  "That's okay, Savane. That's okay," Maya said softly.

  Anthony stepped toward the two girls and put his arms around both. "I'm sorry, Savane. I'm sorry."

  Chapter 22

  Gabriel Sparrow, Pancho, and Serge arrived in downtown Wayton in the early evening.

  "She's just west of here, less than a mile," Pancho said. "I'm getting very slight movement in her tracker. She's definitely close, and definitely wearing it. These movements are too erratic to be faked."

  "She's ours," Gabe said. "Let's find a place to bunk for the night. We're going to need two hour watches overnight, to make sure her signal doesn't move again. I'll take first watch."

  "Why not just grab her now?" Pancho said.

  "After she's in custody I want to head straight home. I don't want her tied up and screaming or crying or whatever all night. Let's get some sleep tonight, then snatch her in the morning and head home. That alright?"

  "Alright then," Pancho said.

  "That alright with you, Serge?"

  "Hmmm," Serge said.

  "Yes, that's alright with Serge," Pancho interpreted.

  ~ - ~

  As the sun was settling below the horizon in the west and the hallway window darkened, the two immunes and two dependents settled into the reception area of the lab. Anthony and Maya sat on the couch while Savane spun around in the receptionist's swivel chair. Between the couch and the swivel chair was the door leading into the inner hallway. Pryce lay on a blanket on the floor opposite the couch, next to the door leading to the lab. While the sun was at its lowest point, but before it dipped below the trees, Anthony had drawn two vials of blood and given them to Pryce and Savane.

  "Those tanks you guys came for, they were the key," Anthony said. "The serum has to incubate for 54 hours minimum. The computer says it should work, but temperature and time are critical" Anthony said.

  "What did you do for batteries?" Pryce asked.

  "Batteries? For what?" Anthony said.

  "For your computer. They've been getting harder and harder for me to find."

  "I don't know. I didn't think about it. Once I got the parameters set, the calculations can run in the background with the monitor turned off. That doesn't use too much battery. I didn't really need that many," Anthony said.

  Maya, who had mostly been quite to this point in the conversation, offered, "We've got lots and lots of batteries if you need them."

  Pryce added, "Lots of batteries, that's true. I'm the meat and fish collector, the water collector, and the battery collector."

  "And a good one, too," Maya said.

  Pryce lifted his head from the floor and looked up at Maya. "Whoa. Thanks Maya. That may be the best complement you've ever given me. Maybe the first one, too."

  "Well, it's true," Maya said. At the end of the couch, she pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Only her eyes were visible.

  "That is true," Savane said to Anthony. "After I showed up in their driveway, they've helped me a lot. Pryce helped me bury Gwen, you know."

  "Thank you for that," Anthony said. "It means more than you know."

  "My pleasure. If she was like her sister, I'm sure she was a great person," Pryce said.

  "Yes, she was," Anthony said. "So here's the deal. If you and Savane want to stay here, I can give you transfusions tomorrow and the next day. But the day after tomorrow, you've got to make a decision. Big decision. The serum should be ready early afternoon that day. That's a little before you'll be due for transfusions. You can't have both a transfusion and the serum. That would be pointless."

  "So do we take a transfusion or do we try the serum?" Pryce said. "It makes sense for me to try the serum first. I can go up to 48 hours without a transfusion."

  "Really? Forty eight hours?" Anthony asked.

  "Yes. Don't ask me why. Lucky, I guess. So if I could get a transfusion tomorrow, that should hold me for 48 hours or so. The day after tomorrow I'll take the serum. If it doesn't feel like the serum is working I could still get a transfusion in time."

  "I want to try the serum too," Savane said.

  "Not a good idea, Savane," Anthony said. "Pryce has a good idea. Let's see if it works for him first, okay?"

  "Alright, alright. I've been dependent on transfusions for years now. What's another few days?"

  Anthony remained quiet. His mouth opened to speak but he said nothing. Savane looked at his eyes and said, "What is it, Anthony? What do you want to say?"

  "You should know...you should know that there are no guarantees. The serum, my blood, goes through a mutation process. The mutation process needs to finish. That's critical. During the metamorphosis, the chemical composition goes through several stages, each of which must be completed before the other can begin."

  "So we have to wait 54 hours, I get that," Pryce said.

  "Less than 54 now. The process started about 6 hours ago. But that's not what I'm trying to say. I'm saying during the mutation process, some of those interim stages can be less than helpful. Worse than that. Taken at the wrong time, or if I didn't do one of a hundred steps exactly right, the serum could cause a mutation process in the recipient's blood-forming tissue. In your blood-forming tissue. Like a cancer. The mutation would probably occur in your bone marrow. I'm talking at the DNA level. Basically, instead of being a cure, it would give you leukemia. But not normal leukemia. Warp speed leukemia. You'd last hours, maybe a day, and there would be nothing I could do about it."

  Pryce looked at Savane, who had stopped swiveling in her chair. "It's alright, Anthony. We trust you. We'll wait," she said.

  "Don't worry about it," Pryce said. "You've done the best you can. More than anyone else would have. I'll wait until the process finishes and then we'll see. Whatever happens is not your fault."

  "Savane, if I could give you the mutation I have, you know I would. I don't know how I ended up immune and everyone else ended up dead. I really don't. Lucky? Unlucky? I don't know."

  "If this works, it will change everything. You know that, right?" Pryce said.

  "I'm not worried about that. If it can save some lives, then it will do what I want."

  Maya peaked over here knees, which were still pulled in to her chest, and watched Anthony. Unbeknownst to the other three, an unfamiliar feeling was taking shape within her. Admiration. Admiration and respect.

  "Can you two girls sleep on the couch together? There's not much other space," Pryce said. "I'm sleeping right here. As soon as you guys go to bed, I'm out."

  Savane said, "We can both fit on the couch, don't you think, Maya?"

  Maya remained silent, but managed a nod.

  Anthony said, "Good. I'll find a place inside the lab, then. See you guys in the morning."

  Chapter 23

  Anthony was the first to wake up. He opened his eyes and immediately turned them toward the incubator timer. Nineteen hours until 1 a.m., when the serum should be ready.

  He lifted his upper body off the blanket until he was in a sitting position and listened. No one was stirring in the reception area, although he could hear Savane snoring lightly. He stood up and walked to the door, cracked it slightly, and peaked out to see if Pryce was awake. He put his mouth close to the crack in the door and whispered "Pryce. Pryce." But the room remained silent save for Savane's snoring.

  As Savane softly exhaled, the door burst open and slammed against the wall. Three men, two very big and one
very small, jumped into the room. The two big men swiveled their rifles left and right, sweeping red dots across the walls, until the small man said "Her!" and pointed to the couch. At that, three red dots converged on the blanket covering Maya.

  Anthony pushed the door closed, stepped backward into the lab, and froze. His eyes were wide and his arms moved away from his body reflexively into a defensive posture.

  Anthony heard Pryce say, "Hey! Hey!" and then he heard the small man say, "Secure these other two. I'll get the girl." A second man, in a much deeper voice with a slight Hispanic accent, answered, "I got the other girl. Serge, you get that guy." In seconds, Anthony heard some scuffling and then a momentary silence.

  "Got him," a third man's voice said.

  How did they find me, Anthony wondered. He involuntarily looked at his left ankle, which was still healing. Then he slowly looked up to the door leading to the reception area. Maya! They've come for Maya! Why would they come for that harmless girl? He turned silently to the blanket on the floor, took five steps toward it, picked it up, took three more steps to the incubator, and slowly covered it. He stepped away from the incubator, now hidden, then heard the small man say, "Pancho, Serge, check that next room."

  Anthony didn't bother to hide and there was nowhere to run. Just protect the serum at all costs, he thought. Seconds later, the door swung open wildly and Pancho and Serge stepped briskly into the lab. Anthony stood facing them, then looked down at the two red dots dancing on his chest.

  Pancho spoke. "Sir, we request that you identify yourself."

  "Identify myself? What are you talking about?"

  "Thank you for your cooperation, sir. We are here under the authority of the Infected Resource Communal Control. We need you to identify yourself and we request that you place your hands behind your back."

  "You request that I place my hands behind my back?" Anthony said and smiled. "Well, since you asked nicely, here you go," he said, turned to face away from Pancho and put his hands behind his back. He felt his hands jerked backwards slightly, then heard the click-click-click of the plastic band tightening around his wrists.

  As Pancho grabbed Anthony's right elbow, Anthony stepped toward the door. He wanted these two men out of the lab as soon as possible so he walked steadily into the reception area. They followed him closely, as he hoped they would.