End of Days (Book 2): End of Days, Part 2

by Castle, W. A

  My mind halts at her words though, “Every patient, you said? There are others who…”

  “Who have been infected with the virus and survived?” Dr. Halen looks at me curiously, “Yes.”

  I gasp, “How many?”

  “More than you’d think. You’re not rare in that aspect, Maddie. I’m sorry that sounds rude, but what I mean is that a lot of people survive infection with the virus, we’re sure a small portion of the population has natural immunity, but we’re interested in those that contract the virus and survive it after expressing symptoms.”

  “So you just drag people in here and infect them and see if they survive?”

  “Sacrifice a few for the good of the many. It’s not palatable but it needs to be done.”

  “So this virus was man made? How can you release a virus and not know anything about how it works? I mean…” I scoff, in shock by the information I’m being given.

  “My job is to prevent things like this from happening, but… I don’t know how this happened. And I’m sorry this is happening to you Maddie. But we need your help.”

  “You need to sacrifice me, don’t you? For the good of the many?” I say, my voice hard.

  “You are the only one that has survived the cure. In order to save the world we need to know what is different about you.”

  “Save the world? This has spread all over?”

  “There are places that have been quarantined; cities were the virus hasn’t reached, yet. But yes, it is speculated that seventy percent of the world’s population has succumbed to this.”

  I think about Dr. Halen’s words for a few moments. I’m the only one that has survived the cure? That is what Sargent Kellan had that soldier inject me with? The same cure that made me bloodthirsty, literally? Oh my god. That must be why all of their patients have died, they don’t know about the blood thirst.

  “I don’t know how to help you,” I say looking into her eyes.

  “We can start with new blood samples and some scans?”

  Maximum I have a week to find a way out here before my thirst cripples me. I have to find a way to escape, I can’t do that if I’m confined, tied down to this bed.

  “Sure,” I say, not bothering to hide my sarcasm, “Anything I can do to help, doc.”

  The sun is just beginning to set down when we near the high school community Ulises and Maddie made contact with hours before. Turns out the lights we passed on our way to the mountain is a community of survivors and now we’re on our way to them to ask for help to get Maddie back. She’s been gone for hours, she can be anywhere… we will get my baby back. I didn’t lose her to the virus I am certainly not going to lose her to some strangers.

  “You think those people are going to be able to help us?” Tom asks from the back seat.

  “They might know where Maddie could have been taken, or who those soldiers are. Maybe give us an idea as to where those soldiers could have taken her,” Ulises scratches his eyes as he continues to drive. None of us have slept, I know I haven’t. I just keep imaging my daughter off in a cell somewhere and I …

  “How do you know they won’t shoot us as soon as they see us?” Tom asks.

  “They won’t,” Ulises says with certainty.

  Ulises, Aaron, Tom and I are the ones riding to the high school community while Jax, Trevor, Nadine and Luis wait in the highway, in middle ground in case things here go south.

  We round a corner and the high school comes into view. There are people up in watch posts above the fence around the property with their scopes on us. I’m not nervous. My only purpose here is to get my daughter back. With every mother’s worst nightmare come true, nothing scares me right now.

  Ulises stops the car at the main gates.

  “Stay inside your vehicle and keep your hands up where we can see them. State your business!” a man inside the gates shouts the orders, his weapon at ease but ready to be used in a moment’s notice.

  Ulises rolls down his window, “We’re here to see Liam. We met him on the road along with a man named Erik. Liam said to give his name if we ever decided to come here.”

  The man behind the gates takes out a walkie-talkie, “Kim, call Liam and Erik, tell them to come to the main gates.”

  A few minutes pass until two men jog up to the gates.

  “Is that them?” I ask Ulises. He grunts affirmatively.

  “Ulises, you came!” a young man with red hair waves at Ulises, that’s Erik I recognize him by Ulises’s description. The older man, who must be Liam, speaks to the man with the weapon. Moments later the gates open and the men walk out. Ulises opens his door and taking his cue, we all get out.

  “I didn’t think I would be seeing you folks again,” Liam shakes Ulises’s hand and looks over at me and the others. “Where is Maddie?”

  “That’s why we’re here,” Ulises begins to say, but he’s not getting to the point fast enough to my liking.

  “My daughter was taken a few hours ago,” I pipe up. Liam turns to me in surprise then turns back to Ulises who in turn shoots me a look.

  “You folks better come in,” Liam ushers us into the community.

  “Unfortunately the vehicle will have to stay out here, don’t worry, it’ll still be here when you come out. I’m George by the way,” the man with the weapon says as he closes the gates behind us.

  “What happened?” Liam asks once we have settled in one of the repurposed rooms in one of the school buildings. A young woman named Missy offers us some water as the founder and leader of the community, a man named Ram, walks into the room.

  Ulises responds since he’s the one that was there when it all went down. Clara had wanted to come but there was no way I would let that poor girl expose herself to any more danger.

  “We’ve heard rumors of such acts happening, survivors being abducted by VIO soldiers but we all thought they were just that, rumors,” Liam scratches his cheek as he listens to Ulises’s telling of what’s happened.

  I sit stoic as I hear him retell what happened. My Maddie was taken in a violent way while I was hiding out in the bunker. I have been trying to convince myself things will get better, that we will ride this out. I’ve been trying to hide.

  “And why have you come here?” Ram asks. He knows why we’ve come and the fact that he’s asking us this means he won’t help. Hell will freeze over before I walk out of here without the information I need. Someone here knows something; someone here will be willing to help. I am sure of it.

  “We have come here to ask you for your help,” I begin to say and when Ram opens his mouth to interrupt me, I talk over him, “at the very least we are hoping you can tell us where those soldiers could have possibly taken my child.”

  Ram sits back on his chair and looks at me, his eyes shift to my hair and then back to my eyes. “Before we decide to help you I believe there is someone you should talk to.” Ram stands up and motions us to follow him.

  We all follow Ram to outside the building and into the Quad. There are tents and small trading carts set up all throughout the Quad, it’s buzzing with activity. People are bartering for goods, some are cooking at various grills and campfires, and children are running around. My heart is racing as I take all of this in. These people have achieved a sense of normalcy. A small piece of the old world, of society, is alive here. How?

  “Are you seeing this?” Aaron whispers.

  “This is amazing,” Tom exclaims, “I never thought I would be seeing so many live people in one place again.”

  “Welcome to Leddington High,” Ram grins.

  “Who is it you want us to talk to?” Ulises asks as he looks around, his back straight and his shoulders tense.

  “Someone you used to know,” Ram replies dryly.

  We follow him to the repurposed Gym and I don’t know how to react to who is sitting behind one of the many microscopes.

  “What. The. Fuck,” Ulises gasps behind me.

  “Well, uh, I bet you’re a bit surprised huh?” Dr. Vincent
Shoemaker says, pushing up on his glasses.

  “Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep. May God guard me through the night, and wake me with the morning light.” The two little boys in bed beside me pray.

  After Doctor Halen took some vials of blood and did some scans I was escorted to one of the bedrooms in the facility. They have hundreds of patients here, I was told.

  Two small boys were in the room when I entered, twin brothers, Olson and Murphy. They have mostly kept to themselves; their prayers are the first I’ve heard them talk. They must be around Eli’s age, where are these children’s parents? Why are they here alone?

  I can’t remember the last time I have prayed but I remember a prayer my mother taught me as a child when I used to have recurring nightmares. “Lord, keep us safe this night, secure from all fears; May Angels guard us while we sleep Till morning light appears,” I whisper.

  “I haven’t heard that one before,” a small voice whispers in the darkness from the other bed across the room.

  “Who taught you that one?” another small voice asks.

  “My mother, when I was a child,” I whisper back.

  “Can you teach me that one? It sounds nice.”

  “It’s ‘may you’ not ‘can you’, Olson.”

  “Oh hush, Murphy.”

  I smile into the darkness at the children’s bickering. “I will teach it to you.”

  In the morning when I wake up the boys are gone. Moments later Dr. Halen and another doctor come into the room.

  “Good morning Maddie,” Dr. Halen smiles as she enters but the male doctor next to her has a grim expression and that has me instantlyon alert.

  “What’s on the plate for today, doc? More blood samples?” I try to hide the nervousness in my voice.

  “Today we will run a different sort of tests,” the male doctor opens his clipboard and writes something down. I don’t like his words.

  “What did you find in my blood?” I ask, standing up from the bed.

  Dr. Halen and the other doctor share a sideways glance. “We aren’t… sure.”

  After I get dressed and am fed some sort of premade frozen meal, Dr. Halen and the other doctor who turns out to be her boss, Dr. Clearmont, escort me to what can only be described as an interrogation room.

  “Tell us about how you got those bites,” Dr. Clearmont asks bluntly.

  I’m frozen for an instant both by his tone and by the fact that I don’t want to think about what he’s asking me. “I got bit. That’s all there’s to it.”

  “Maddie, what happened after you got bit?” Dr. Halen asks softly, “It’s imperative we know the details. Out of all our test subjects you are the only one that has survived the cure. The answer is in the details.”

  The answer is in the details. If only they knew.

  I swallow hard and clear my throat. “We got ambushed. I got pulled out of the car and was swarmed. I was bit. I didn’t turn. Fast forward to when your lackey shot me with your cure, nothing happened. Now I’m here.”

  “’We’? Who were you with?” Dr. Clearmont asks.

  “Where are the twin boys that were in my room? When I woke up they were no longer there.”

  “They are being prepped. We are trying a new vaccine today,” Dr. Halen replies, not calling me out on me ignoring Dr. Clearmont’s question.

  Everything stops. The boy’s small faces and big brown eyes come to the forefront of my mind. They are going to die if they receive that vaccine. And if I don’t stop this from happening it will be my fault.

  “Don’t. Your vaccine won’t work.”

  “What do you mean?” Dr. Clearmont straightens up, perking up with the promise of information.

  “What is it that your vaccines are supposed to do?” I ask the doctors, “If their purpose it to bring the infected back, why are you testing them in live, healthy people?”

  “We have only tested our vaccines on those who have been infected with the virus,” the doctor replies.

  I let that sink in. “So, the cure Sargent Kellan injected me with was a failure then?

  “You are still infected with the virus, yes. But, the cure didn’t kill you,” Dr. Clearmont says.

  “No, but it’s done something else…” I trail off.

  “What has it done?” Dr. Halen leans in.

  “I will tell you why your vaccine has failed only if you stop Olson and Murphy from receiving your lethal vaccine,” I offer.

  “Tell us what the vaccine did to you and then I will personally make the call to stop the boys from receiving the latest cure,” Dr. Clearmont counters.

  “The reason your patients have died is because they starve. Or more accurately they die of dehydration.”

  “There is no indication of such thing.”

  “The cure creates a thirst for blood, for infected blood.” I don’t tell them that the longer you go without it the faster you mentally deteriorate. I can’t show them my entire hand. I can’t let them have the upper hand. I may need to negotiate for my life at some point.

  “Vance,” Dr. Halen says softly. Dr. Clearmont smooths out the lines between his eyebrows and then stands up from his chair and walks across the room to the phone that is hanging from the wall. He types a few numbers and then gives the order to stop the kids from being vaccinated.

  After the call, he turns to me and then to Dr. Halen and gravely says, “There is a lot of work ahead of us Georgie. Now that we know this missing piece of the puzzle, we need to go back to batch number four.”

  I sit up straighter, momentarily lightheaded by my realization. I just gave them what they needed to continue with their testing. They know their ‘cure’ is no cure, yet they want to continue testing it? It doesn’t make sense.

  To continue with their tests, they must infect a whole new batch of people and weed out those who are immune and those who for some reason are able to survive the infection. A lot of death is going to happen here. And it is all because of me. I saved two lives but cost many more people theirs. I grip the table hard to keep from toppling over, what have I done?

  “Wait,” I reach out, “You have to stop this. You can’t keep doing this!”

  “If we stop, what then, Maddie?” Dr. Halen asks. “What happens to everyone that is counting on that cure?”

  “But it isn’t a cure!” I look at her, searching for an answer. Some people must die for others to be saved, but why?

  “One day it will be.”

  That night the boys are brought back in to the room. And that night is when I learn that a scientist’s word should never be trusted. Murphy and Olson had been given cure batch number four.

  “I’m pretty thirsty,” Olson touches his throat and swallows hard.

  “Do you want more water, Olson?” Murphy hands a bottle of water to his brother.

  My own throat is closed with grief and anger. What’s going to happen now?

  “Do you think we’ll be able to see our mama soon?” Murphy snaps me out of my brooding.

  I lift my head to him, surprised. “We’re is ya’ll’s momma?”

  “Umm,” Olson swallows hard again, “We were all taken here together but we haven’t seen her in a long time.”

  “I’ll ask one of the doctors and see where she is,” I smile indulgently at Olson.

  “We’re not going to see her again, are we?” Murphy looks at me with such knowing in his eyes that my throat restricts further. These kids may be young but they’re not dumb. “I thought so,” he says gravelly.

  When Olson bursts into tears Murphy scoots closer to his brother and holds his hand. I get up from my bed and kneel next to their bed. “I’m sorry.” I reach out to comfort them and I’m taken aback when Olson throws his arms around me and cries into my neck. Murphy just sits and stares at me.

  I wish I could tell them I will get them out of here. That I’ll get them far away from here. But I’m beginning to doubt that I myself will ever escape from here.

  -one week later-

/>   “How far are you going to take this? Huh?” I yell as I pull on the restraints keeping my arms immobile. I groan as I let my head loll to the side. I don’t know how much time has passed. Have the boys been fed? How much death has happened since the doctors found out why their cure failed?

  I haven’t fed since the store and I’m not feeling myself right now. I’ve seen others get infected, most turn, others die but few survive. The doctors here feed some and let others starve. I tried to escape, I did but there was no way. There are guards everywhere, cameras that cover each inch of this place.

  I also haven’t seen either Dr. Halen or Dr. Clearmont since that day I told them about the thirst. Ever since then I have stopped being a human being and become little more than a lab rat. The doctors here have cut me, burned me, injected me with heaven knows what all to just know more about my healing powers. If the rooms weren’t sound proof, I bet I would be hearing the screams of torture of the other people tapped in here. They sure would be hearing mine.

  “I’m a human being!” I yell until my throat is hoarse. No matter what others here say, I am still a human being. I’m going to die soon if I don’t get out of here. They’re going to kill me. There’s no doubt of that anymore. They’ve done just about everything to me, the only thing left is an autopsy.

  The door opens and Dr. Halen rushes into the room looking out of breath. I lift my head ready to cuss her to Sunday morning, but I don’t get a chance to because she begins to undo my bindings. “What’s going on?” I ask her.

  “I’m getting you out of here. Look, I know I’m not free of guilt here, but I never wanted, I never expected this to get so out of control. I…” the doctor looks down at her watch. The numbers there are counting down to something. “We truly, genuinely want to find a cure, a real cure for this pandemic. VIO… there are branches of VIO that are doing alternative research…”