O-Negative: Extinction

by Hamish Cantillon

  Joe clicked his tongue. “Ok so that leaves us the resupply ship. Dominic had any three week training courses on piloting a merchant navy vessel?”

  “Not on a merchant navy vessel but I’m a dab hand at a Royal Navy cruiser. I’d imagine it can’t be much different. Shit if I can fly an Apache helicopter from the South Pole I’m sure I can get a 50 tonner somewhere – the question is where. Argentina or Chile’s the easiest if we follow the coast but I don’t fancy spending my last days in an Argie prison cell. If they’ve got the right charts, which I’d imagine they will, the Falklands is probably our best bet.”

  Joe nodded “I agree. It’s our only option. I think we’ve probably given General Cartwright enough time to get back to us if he was going to. Time to ship out comrades. Falklands here we come.”

  Chapter 18 – JAVEIRA - January 2016

  She was a home with Rashid when their building started shaking. As they both jumped up off the sofa the lights flickered and plaster dust from the ceiling above fell around them. The tremor only lasted a few seconds ending almost as soon as it began but Rashid looked across at her with concern.

  “What the hell was that? An earthquake, do you get a lot of them in Jeddah?”

  “Not in my lifetime Rashid. I’ve never experienced one. I think there was an earthquake near the border with Yemen back in the 1960’s but that’s it”.

  There was a knock at the connecting door of their flat. She moved to open the door finding Rahmaniah looking like she’d come to a fancy dress party dressed as a ghost, obviously the plaster dust falling from the ceiling hadn’t just been restricted to their flat. She laughed at her friend’s somewhat incongruous state.

  “Mani I hope I don’t look as ridiculous as you. Are you, Salem and the girls alright?”

  Rahmaniah definitely looked a bit out of sorts. She wasn’t sure if this was because of the earthquake or because she had just realised she’d come round looking like a builder. Rahmaniah absently dusted the white dust from her shoulders and shook her head a bit to try to free the dust from her hair.

  “Well that was a bit of a surprise I can tell you. Salem and the maids are fine, he’s gone down to the basement to check that the cars are ok. I’ve set Lila and Melita to tidying up – I’ll send them over here in a minute. Bloody Salem as soon as he’d made sure I was ok he was off to look at the cars”.

  Rashid chuckled. “Well at least he checked on you first hey? It seems to me like no harm’s been done except perhaps to our pride.

  Rashid invited Rahmaniah in to sit down “Come in, I’ll get you a fruit juice?”

  Rahmaniah relaxed slightly as she sat down on the sofa and began to see the funny side of the situation. She sat down next to Rahmaniah while Rashid went into the kitchen. She wondered how many other Saudi men would consent to getting their guest a drink while their wife was in the room. She had wanted to keep a live in maid but Rashid wasn’t really used to being waited on hand and foot and he’d suggested that maybe the two maids that Rahmaniah now had living with her could manage to service both flats.

  Rahmaniah gestured towards the remote control on the coffee table in front of her. “Javi turn on the news let’s see what they’re saying about the tremor”.

  She turned on the large plasma television that took up most of the far wall and got up to wipe some of the building dust from the screen using a tissue she had in her pocket. Flicking through to the local Jeddah One channel she saw that they’d interrupted normal programming to make a report about the unusual earth tremor that had hit Jeddah. She sat back down to watch as the presenter’s face was replaced by a graphic showing where the epicentre of the quake had been. It seemed to be closer to Riyadh than Jeddah and she wondered whether there had been more damage there than here. At that moment the reporter said they were going to go over to their correspondent in Riyadh. When Rashid came back into the room with three glasses of fruit juice the screen flicked to a reporter standing outside Kingdom Tower the largest building in Saudi Arabia. Though the tower was as impressive as ever the camera zoomed into one side of the building where several windows were missing their panes of glass. The dark oblongs in the side of the building gave the building a bit of a broken look. Nevertheless the reporter was thanking Allah in his mercifulness for though the glass panes had fallen out from over 30 storeys up they had merely crashed down on to the concrete roof of the shopping mall below.

  She took a sip of her drink as she settled back into the sofa to watch the rest of the news item which largely consisted of various people describing their near misses from certain death – though she noticed none of them looked too hurt. The item was coming to a close and the camera was focused in on the reporter making his closing remarks when there was the sound of screaming and the camera panned away from the reporter to film people running down the street towards where they were located. As the cameraman started to focus the camera it seemed as if hundreds of metallic objects rose up from the pavement behind the running people covering them like some sort of silvery gloop. The mass of silver then continuing to ‘pour’ down the street without stopping. The reporter could be heard saying “What the hell is that” and then the camera crashed to the floor and went black. For a few seconds there was nothing on the television screen and she and the others started shouting “Hey what happened there”, “Did you see that”, “Did something just attack them?”, “Was that water?” The main newscaster in the Jeddah studio came on air looking somewhat concerned.

  “Errmmh our apologies for the technical difficulties, we’ll try to get back to our team in Riyadh later in the programme.” He looked down at his prompt pages and continued. “Now in other news scientists in Antarctica have started using social media sites to broadcast pictures and footage of a strange structure that has appeared at the South Pole.” The video footage that followed showed some grainy footage of a huge black circular tower sticking up out of the white expanse of the Antarctic wilderness. As she was trying to get an impression about the scale of the tower in the video the power went off and the television and lights in the flat went dark.

  Rashid got up from the chair he’d only just sat down in and tried the light switches “Looks like the tremor has caused a few problems. I have to say that didn’t look too good for that reporter in Riyadh. Maybe a chemical spill or something? Well not much we can find out with the power out, Javeira do we have any candles?”

  She shook her head slightly as she responded to the first part of Rashid’s statement. “I don’t think it was a chemical spill, it almost looked like hundreds of little robots or something but I have to admit the footage was out of focus so it could be anything.” She went on to say. “If we’ve got any candles they’ll be in the store room, I’ll go and have a look”.

  As she left the living room she heard Salem coming in through the adjoining door of their apartments. “Good job I came up the stairs or I would have got stuck in the lifts. Our cars are all fine but the Mahasen’s Range Rover has some superficial damage to the roof”. The Mahasens were a middle aged couple who lived a couple of floors down. She moved into the store room and began opening drawers in the unit where she thought there might be some candles. She was just opening the bottom drawer when there were a couple of thuds from the living room and then a drumming sound from the side of the building. She moved to look out of the small window in the store room and then suddenly stepped back and screamed. “Rashid, Salem there’s something coming up the side of the building”.

  There was no immediate answer to her shout of alarm and as she turned to go back out into the main part of the flat the door which she’d left partially open burst inwards and a mass of metallic creatures attacked her. She screamed and then as a feeling of sheer terror enveloped her she blacked out.

  When she regained consciousness the room she was in was empty. The candles she’d been holding in her hand were scattered across the floor. She felt dazed and pulling herself into a sitting position called for Rashid.

  “Rash
id Rashid I think I’ve fainted. Are you there?”

  There was a deafening silence. A memory that couldn’t be ignored resurfaced and she shuddered uncontrollably at the recollection of hundreds of metallic creatures launching themselves at her. She got up from the floor and grabbing hold of the door frame to keep herself upright staggering into the corridor and out into the main living area. At first glance everything seemed as it had before; the Lebanon cedar dining table and chairs, the ornate 19th century lamp, the mahogany display cabinet over which she’d hung a panoramic picture of the Dome of the Rock Mosque all looked normal and then she saw Salem’s inert form lying by the shared apartment door. A strangled cry rose from within her chest and she moved towards the prostrate figure. As she stumbled towards him she had to move around the sofa and that’s when she saw the bodies of Rahmaniah and Rashid. Rahmaniah was lying face down on the floor while Rashid perhaps in some vain effort to protect her lay on top of her face up. His green eyes were staring motionlessly at the ceiling. But where before they had sparkled like cut glass they now looked milky and lifeless. She felt as if she’d been hit by a truck. Rashid’s mouth was twisted in an expression of pain and his hands were clenched into fists on either side of his body. But it was his thawb that drew her gaze. It had acquired a dark red stain down the front caused by the blood slowly oozing from a long thin wound reaching across the full length of his neck. She screamed and wrenched her head to one side to avoid looking but that wasn’t going to help anyone. She then dropped to the floor and desperately searched for signs of life, kneeling firstly in a pool of her husband’s congealing blood to check his neck and then Rahmaniah’s. Despite her frantic efforts to raise either of them she knew in her most fragile of hearts, a heart not yet healed from the death of her father and brother, that they and Salem were all dead.

  She lay beside her dead husband and cousin for some time not wishing to move, not wishing to think about what she was going to do or what had happened. In the end it was thirst that caused her to push herself up on to her knees and crawl towards the bathroom. As she crawled past Salem’s body she spotted the body of Melita lying prone on the floor in the other flat. Next to her rolled up into a ball was Lila their Pilipino maid. She heard Lila moan softly. Gods Lila was still alive? She stood shakily and moved into Salem and Rahmaniah’s apartment.

  “Lila it’s me. It’s Javi. Are you ok? Are you hurt?” Her voice sounded too deep and shook after sobbing for so long next to her husband and friends. She lent down and put her hand on Lila’s shoulder. To start with Lila said nothing merely pulling her knees closer to her chest but after she pulled Lila towards her and hugged her stroking her back and making soothing noises the maid slowly unfolded her limbs and moved her head so she could see her face.

  “Mistress Javeira. I thought you were all dead? Oh God those things they just came out of nowhere. There was nothing we could do. Melita was dead in an instant and I was sure I was next but they simply ran all over me and then by the time I screamed they were gone. Why are we still alive Mistress? Why did those things kill Melita? Where are Master Rashid, Master Salem and Mistress Rahmaniah?”

  “I’m afraid they are all dead as well Lila.” A small sob rose up again unbidden. “I don’t know what’s happened. I think whatever’s happened here has happened all over Jeddah and maybe from what we saw on the television across the whole Kingdom”.

  “What are we to do Mistress? Should we call the police?”

  “I wouldn’t hold out much hope of a response Lila. Those things came up 10 storeys. I don’t think they’ll be too troubled by the police. Allah have mercy this is awful. I don’t know what to do”.

  “Oh Mistress I’m just so relieved that you’re not dead. If I’d been left alone I don’t think I could have gone on living. Oh poor Master Salem and Mistress Rahmaniah”. She burst into tears and Javeira couldn’t stop herself from crying along with her.

  “Oh Lila I know. Don’t cry don’t cry. Maybe if we’ve survived there are others too. Come on back to my apartment. Maybe we can use my mobile to try and reach other people?”

  Arms around each other they went back into her apartment. She tried to shield Lila from the sight of the other bodies but it was no good Lila whimpered softly next to her as they passed them. Out of sight of the bodies in her own bedroom she didn’t feel any better but at least she now had something to occupy her mind. She turned on her mobile and was relieved to see it still had some charge left. There also seemed to be a normal level of reception. She dialled her mother’s number and let the phone ring until it went to answer machine. She tried Aunt Maya’s number next but it too went to voicemail. She went through the list of her closest friends and colleagues to no avail. Either they were also dead or away from their phones. She even tried her father’s drunkard brother Masood but there was no answer from his phone either. After 20 minutes of getting nothing but voicemails she realised she’d been sent a text from her telecom provider.

  “This is an emergency alert. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is under attack. All citizens are to report to their nearest emergency shelter. A full list of which are available from www.ministryofinterior.sa.gov”.

  She showed the message to Lila and then realising she couldn’t read Arabic read it out to her.

  “Oh thank God Mistress other’s have also survived. We should go to the emergency shelter at once. Where is the closest one?”

  “I have no idea Lila. I didn’t even know we had any. But we shouldn’t get our hopes up. This message could be entirely automated. Let me try the web address. She typed the address into the default web browser on her phone but whichever way she entered the address it came back with the message ‘IP address unknown. Please contact your service provider’. She gave up and lay back on the bed.

  “Lila it’s not working. I’m afraid we’re going to have to decide what to do ourselves. I think we should try to get over to my parents’ house in the suburbs. I have to find out if my mother is alive or not. The only trouble is the house is 10 km out of town. Can you drive Lila?”

  “I’m afraid I can’t Mistress. I came to the Kingdom when I was 18 and never got the chance to learn back home and obviously here it’s not possible….”

  “Well neither do I but maybe it’s time we learnt? Are you up for trying to make it over to my mother’s house?”

  “Of course Mistress. There’s no way I want to stay here on my own.”

  “We should probably take some water or something with us in case we have to walk. Can you get some from the kitchen while I put on some more suitable clothes?”

  Lila looked a bit worried at venturing out into the flat on her own but she got up and went out while Javeira removed her long shimmering green dress. Perfect for lounging around in with her husband at home but not very practical for driving or walking across town. She called after Lila “And Lila please stop calling me Mistress. Javeira will be fine. We’re both in this together now for better or worse”. She heard Lila call back “Yes Mist...err .Javeira”.

  She put on a white long-sleeved top and a pair of jeans. She also threw her oldest abaya over her arm. Much as she would have liked to have left it in the flat she wasn’t sure what she was going to find out on the street and the last thing she wanted was to be arrested for not wearing the proper clothing. Thinking of Lila she also pulled another abaya from her wardrobe to give to her.

  Lila had put some bottles of water and a couple of packs of biscuits into a shopping bag and they wordlessly went back into the living room to pay their last respects. She closed Rashid’s eyes reverently and gave him a last kiss on each cheek and then repeated the process with Rahmaniah, Salem and lastly Melita. She noticed Lila lingered for an extra moment or two over the body of Salem but then that was it. They then left the flat with tears in their eyes. She told herself they would report the deaths to the authorities so that they might be given a proper burial but she didn’t feel at all confident about there being any authorities to report their deaths too. It was wit
h sorrowful hearts that she and Lila began the descent to the ground floor.

  They didn’t come across any bodies in the emergency stairwell. The stairs were rarely used given there were modern lifts all over the building. But when they reached the lobby there were several bodies lying in various positions around the reception area. The glass entrance doors remained closed but contained several ‘creature’ sized holes. At the sight of these and the dead security guards it had taken her several minutes to convince Lila that they had to try and go outside. In fact this was easier said than done. With the power out they couldn’t get out of the main doors which were electronically operated. They’d had to smash the emergency release on the small side door used by delivery men before they could exit the building.