At the mention of the solar-powered batteries, Charlie insisted on a more detailed tour. They left the root cellar and walked to the back of the bunkhouse to show her the solar power panel bank he had created for his father. They then went to the wall and walked the perimeter of the property. Rafe showed Charlie where the fruit trees were, where they picked from a tree of winter pears, filling a basket to take back to the house.
Evening was dropping across the house as they arrived back from their long walk. With the fresh pears, Rafe began the task of washing and drying the fruit. Charlie sat down heavily at the kitchen table and watching him.
“Too much for you today?” Rafe joked.
“No. It was fun. Thanks for showing me around. I haven’t been sleeping well.”
“Do you need something else in your room?”
“Your room you mean?” Charlie said with a small smile.
“Well it’s yours right now. If you need something to be comfortable, just let me know.”
“It’s been four days. It’s not your job to cater to me, Rafe,” Charlie said.
“I know. But it’s my house and I feel like it’s my responsibility.”
“It’s nothing to do with the house. Or the room. Or you. Tammy still hasn’t come back to work. I’m concerned. No one has heard from her. It almost feels like the first friend I had at the facility. She’s just disappeared. I want to go to her house and check on her.”
“Where does she live?”
“In town at a small townhouse that was rented for her I believe.”
“When do you want to go check on her?”
“Today?”
“Slow down, speed racer. We need a plan. Her house could be under surveillance since she hasn’t returned. But I don’t want you going there without me, in case it’s something worse,” Rafe said.
Charlie absently nodded, as if she were thinking of something else. Rafe was surprised that she agreed to wait. The woman was always ready to run head first into any dangerous situation. The smartest thing she had done in Rafe’s opinion, was come to his compound. They talked the plan out over the weekend. It was decided Rafe would follow Charlie in his own truck. She would lead the way to the townhouse but wouldn’t stop directly near it. Rafe would check Tammy’s house before letting Charlie know it was safe for her to enter.
Monday came, bringing all of their plans to a halt. Arriving to work as they had done the week prior, Rafe entered the security gate first, with Charlie’s little car following behind. Rafe didn’t watch the security guard as he drove away. He didn’t see the man watching their two cars and picking up the phone to dial the number he had on speed dial.
CHAPTER FIVE
The facility loomed in front of her car and Charlie just sat looking at the door she needed to walk through. She knew Rafe had driven to the back of the building, parking in his normal spot. He would be on his way to the security office now. But Charlie continued to sit in her car, just staring. She thought about just driving away. When that thought entered her mind, it immediately left, chased out by the fear she felt. 'The Suit', as Rafe liked to call him, was a formidable enemy. Though she didn’t have the proof on him she wished she did, deep down she believed he was responsible for so much more than just management of projects.
Charlie was in her own mind as she entered the building and headed for the locker room set up for the employees working in the labs. Changes of clothes were provided to keep the environments sterile. She changed into her scrubs and white lab coat before heading to her assigned lab. The halls were lined with white rooms, doctors just like her flitting from one place to another. It had always bothered Charlie they weren’t allowed to know what projects were being worked on in labs they didn’t belong to. The secrecy seemed odd when they all had signed the same non-disclosure agreement.
The air shower blew her loose hairs into her face. She closed her eyes and waited for the process to be completed. Once the beep sounded she opened her eyes to find the green light for her at the door. Stepping into her lab, she realized she was the first to arrive that morning. She checked the clock and found herself to only be about five minutes early. She began her preparations for the next solution she was creating. While the one they previously tested on the mice hadn’t been completed, they had a timetable to continue. They would circle back to the previously unfinished tests when they had open time scheduled.
From behind her, the air shower turned on again. Charlie was used to the noise and didn’t turn to see who was entering the lab. When the door opened though, Charlie looked up when she heard coughing. A lab technician, named Aiko entered the room. Charlie noted immediately how pale she looked.
“Aiko? Are you ill?”
“Charlie, oh my god. I’m not feeling so well,” Aiko started. She stumbled to a chair near the desk inside the lab and sat down. Charlie followed and when she stood next to Aiko’s seat, she noticed her arm was bandaged.
“What happened? Did you just come down with something today?”
“Yeah. But, I only came to work so I could talk to you. I don’t have a phone number—”Aiko’s sentence was cut off by coughing that shook her body.
“You needed to talk to me? Why?”
“Tammy. I went to see Tammy last night. It was late. I was driving by her townhouse and saw a light on and what I thought was someone moving around,” Aiko said. Her breathing was labored, and she gripped her chest as she tried to continue.
“Aiko, I think we should call someone to help you.”
“Tammy bit me,” Aiko blurted out finally.
“Bit you?”
“Yes. It was dark. But I know it was her. She didn’t answer when I knocked, so I tried the door. I was concerned, ya know?” Aiko’s words came out as a mumble, as she laid her head on the desk.
“Yes, we were all concerned. What happened next Aiko?” Charlie asked. She shook Aiko slightly, waking her from whatever daze she was in.
“When I opened the door, I heard a growl, so I stepped back out on the dark porch. Tammy doesn’t have a dog, right?”
“I don’t think so,” Charlie said.
“Well, it was dark on the porch. And suddenly she was on me. Tammy. She grabbed my arm as I was stepping back. And before I knew it, she bit into it! I was able to yank away and run,” Aiko finished.
Charlie took Aiko’s arm in her hands, inspecting the gauze that covered the wound. Looking closer, she saw what looked like very dark blood. If she wasn’t mistaken it was black, not dried blood, but black blood trying to ooze through the gauze. Her mind raced. She was qualified to be a primary care doctor when the need arose, but she wasn’t sure she knew how to handle whatever was wrong with Aiko at the moment. The woman laid very still, her breathing very shallow. However, there was one more question burning in Charlie’s mind.
“Aiko, did you call the police? Go to the hospital or anything?”
“Hmmm? No. I called here. Talked to the director. Told him I was hurt. He said they would send authorities to deal with Tammy. Isn’t that what we have to do? Call here? Not the police?”
The agreement all of the employees signed at the facility did specify, should there be an emergency, injury, or questions, they were to never call the local authorities. Always call the facility first. If you needed emergency medical attention, the staff at the facility would be sent to you by way of a private ambulance. All of this seemed like overkill to Charlie before, but now as her mind worked through these details, she realized how foolish she had been. All of their considerations. All of their rules. They were all ways to keep the lid on whatever happened inside or outside of the facility.
Charlie turned to the phone, knowing she needed help for Aiko. She first called the local emergency staff. Told them she had an injured and sick employee. Explained it wasn’t a workplace injury but she was extremely ill and needed help. Once off the phone with them, Charlie risked the call to Rafe she needed to make.
“What’s wrong with her?” Rafe asked immediately,
no hello, just right to business. Always the gruff one, Charlie thought. Charlie looked up to the nearby dome that held the camera she knew he was using to look at her.
“She’s really sick. She is saying Tammy bit her last night! I don’t know why Tammy would do that,” Charlie said in a rush.
“Charlie, are you sure the virus you guys created didn’t get passed to Tammy?”
“No. It couldn’t have. All of the viruses we create and test, have specific mutations to not allow crossover. It’s a safety protocol. And I told you, it was too fast. There’s no way Tammy got this from that mouse,” Charlie said. Her voice went into a hushed whisper when the air shower came on but was bypassed by the emergency team.
“Hang up so they don’t ask who you’re talking to. I’m watching for any signs of trouble,” Rafe said and then the phone clicked.
She did as he instructed and turned to watch the emergency team working on Aiko. Questions were shot at her in rapid-fire succession. Where was she when she first got sick? Was she infected in the lab? How long had she been ill? Her symptoms when she arrived? Charlie answered to the best of her ability, only having the limited information Aiko had relayed to her before passing out.
One EMT laid Aiko flat on the floor to start checking vitals. It was then they realized she had no pulse and wasn’t breathing. Charlie cried out and covered her mouth with her hand. She stepped back, in shock and dismay. This young girl had always been bubbly and sweet. And now she lay lifeless on the floor of her lab. The EMT ripped open her shirt, to place the pads of the defibrillator in place, while the other worked an oxygen bag at her mouth. As they waited for the charge on the machine, the EMT started manual compressions, counting out loud.
Charlie’s mind was a jumbled mess. She stepped to her work console and pulled out the thumb drive she had in her pocket. She was no longer afraid of anyone seeing what she was doing. What if Rafe is right? She thought. What if the virus jumped species? What if Tammy has it? Those questions pushed her to begin the download of all information about virus 302RD onto her drive. She thought about the name of the virus. The 302 was put into place before she had come to the lab. She never figured it was for 302 tries, but now she guessed it was. The RD stood for “Rage Disorder” describing the desired effect of the virus.
“Clear!” One of the EMTs yelled from Aiko’s side. Charlie tried to not cringe as she heard the sound of the defibrillator doing its job.
“Nothing,” the other EMT responded.
“Wait...she’s moving....” EMT number one said, his voice incredulous.
“She doesn’t have a heartbeat. You’re seeing things. Resume compressions,” EMT number two said.
The EMT fisted his hands together and laid them back on her chest. Suddenly Aiko’s hand snaked out and she grabbed the EMT doing compressions and pulled him down. Charlie at first thought in her foggy mind, Aiko was playing around and was going to try and kiss the EMT. The scream that tore through the lab next, cleared Charlie’s mind of that thought immediately.
“Oh my god, what the hell!” Screamed the other EMT as he pushed away from Aiko on all fours. Blood poured from the EMT in Aiko’s grasp, pooling around her face and onto the white tile.
“Aiko! What are you doing?” Charlie screamed. The words were out of her mouth before she thought and almost immediately she knew it was a mistake. The EMT with the face half gone was pushed to the side. Aiko’s dead body moved to sit up and then climb to her feet. Charlie felt rooted to one spot, not able to comprehend what was happening. It was Aiko’s eyes that finally shook her from her stupor. The black orbs, which used to be Aiko’s brown eyes, stared at Charlie where she stood. Charlie stared into the darkness, her mind trying to determine where the whites had gone.
Aiko’s body stepped toward Charlie, completely ignoring the man moaning on the ground with a large hole in his face. The growl that split the air, made Charlie think of what Aiko had said about Tammy’s house. No, she didn’t have a dog, Charlie thought. Convinced then that Aiko was no longer alive, Charlie grabbed her thumb drive and bolted for the door to the air shower. She reached the door two steps before Aiko, whose hands were now up in claws, attempting to swipe at her.
The gauze that had covered Aiko’s wound had been removed by the EMT as they inspected her body. Charlie gasped when she saw the round black mark with flesh missing from her arm, that looked like a human bite. Tammy had bitten her and now she was dead, but not? Charlie didn’t want to wait around to find out. She tried to slam the door between her and Aiko just as the infected woman was reaching through to grab her. The door tried to close with a crunch and Aiko’s fingers stopped moving as her arm fell at an awkward angle. There was no response from the infected woman and Charlie stared at her face in horror through the glass.
The black depths of her eyes were dead but focused clearly on Charlie. Her mouth chomped before a deep hissing growl seemed to come from her throat, though Charlie was sure she had never heard that noise from a human before. Aiko continued to throw her dead body against the door, trying to get into the air shower. Charlie held onto the doorknob with all her strength. Making a decision, she opened the door wide enough to push Aiko’s now broken arm back into the lab. Once clear the door slammed shut and locked for the decontamination sequence.
Charlie stood in the middle of the air shower, shaking as she watched Aiko through the glass window. Charlie knew as soon as the shower stopped the doors on both ends would disengage, allowing the person to leave decontaminated. She wasn’t sure if Aiko could open the door once it was unlocked and that had her pushing herself against the exit, so she could escape. As she did this Aiko’s face suddenly moved away from the window. Charlie waited but she didn’t come back, so she crept back to peek into the lab.
Horror gripped Charlie like a vice. Aiko was on her knees, leaning over the EMT she had bitten earlier. The man tried to weakly fight, but it seemed he couldn’t get the small woman off of him. Blood spilled from where Aiko was biting into his exposed middle. Charlie began to gag when she realized that Aiko was eating the man, eating his skin. Just as the air shower stopped, Aiko dug her fingers into the hole she had made, ripping at the EMT’s insides. The man stopped struggling, lying dead on the lab floor.
She was so focused on the nightmare happening, that she was caught off guard as someone threw themselves into the door, throwing her to the ground. The other EMT, who had somehow hidden from Aiko’s attention escaped through the open exit door. Moments later Rafe appeared in the doorway. With no hesitation, he reached into the air shower, grabbed Charlie off the ground, and drug her out the exit door. The EMT was nowhere to be found.
“What the hell is happening, Charlie?” Rafe yelled.
“I....I.....she.....” Charlie stuttered.
“Charlie!” Rafe yelled as he began to pull her down the hall.
Charlie looked back in bewilderment, allowing herself to be led away. Behind her, she could see Aiko making her way slowly from the air shower room. She focused on them trying to flee and began to amble their way. Charlie found herself categorizing symptoms in her mind. Her body didn’t move fluidly like a living being. Each joint seemed to move and pop on its own, not moving with the entire body. And yet she was still moving forward at a speed that could catch someone walking along unknowing.
The tug on her hand had Charlie moving faster to keep up with Rafe’s long strides. He led them straight to the security fishbowl and locked them inside. He then began to flip through the cameras, until he found his counterpart walking the halls. From what Charlie could tell she wasn’t far from her own lab, not far from Aiko and the murderous scene that happened there.
“Liza! We have a situation. There is a woman who has murdered an EMT in the halls. There’s...well there’s something wrong with her. Approach with caution,” Rafe said into the radio. They watched as Liza listened to his message and then began walking as Rafe gave her instructions to Aiko’s location. Aiko, now that she didn’t have sight of Charlie and Rafe,
was wandering aimlessly around the halls near the lab.
The pair watched Liza approach the lab. She looked into the glass windows and her hand flew up to cover her mouth. She reached for her radio and began yelling into it, the sound echoing in the security room.
“Jesus, Rafe, call the police!” Liza called.
“Liza, we need to follow protocol,” Rafe said, his voice calm and soothing.
Liza didn’t answer again, her radio dropped from her hand and just hung. She turned in the direction that Rafe had instructed. They didn’t carry weapons in the facility, leaving Charlie to wonder what Liza was going to do when she got to Aiko in the first place. As Liza turned the corner, Charlie saw something that turned her blood to ice. She grabbed Rafe’s arm and pointed at the monitor that was showing the camera directly outside her lab.
“How is that possible?” Charlie whispered.
They watched as the dead EMT, with his stomach contents dripping down his legs, stumble out of the air shower. With the doors both open there was nothing to stop him from exiting and getting into the building. Charlie had a grip on Rafe’s arm as they watched and Rafe let loose a string of expletives under his breath. He grabbed for the radio and tried to raise Liza. The dead EMT was following the same path as Liza and Charlie realized the panic from Rafe was because Liza would be caught between the two with no weapon.
“I have to go help her,” Rafe said, not taking his eyes off the monitors.
“You won’t make it there in time,” Charlie replied.
Not listening to her, he grabbed a baton that sat in the corner of the security center. Giving her swift instructions to lock the door behind him, he was gone. Charlie looked at the buttons in front of her and the screens Rafe had left up. She couldn’t see Aiko anymore; the infected body had wandered away from the cameras that were pulled up. Charlie didn’t know how to change anything, so she watched in fear as events unfolded where she could see.
Alive (Sundown Series Book 3) Page 5