Eves of the Outbreak

by Lilith Assisi

  Some websites estimated that up to 60% of the world’s population had been infected, though more believable sites set the rate at about 25%. It was particularly difficult to estimate this considering most of those that were surviving were doing so by staying off the radar, whereas those that were infected were roaming the streets in plain view.

  Judy continued on for her friends on what her latest research that didn’t involve much internet research had shown her.

  “I’ve been trying to read up all the banked articles and research they have on the known parts of the organism. Because if I can better understand what they were hoping to accomplish, maybe I can understand what went wrong,” she started.

  “It looks like the parts of the toxoplasmosis that they were utilizing were those that would make parts of the parietal lobe more pliable. This would result in a potential number of beneficial side effects: enhanced sensations like in smell or touch. And possibly an overall pain insensitivity.”

  “Genetically modified super soldiers is what you’re saying,” Greg said, sounding irritated. They had heard this before, but Greg was always the one who seemed to take the most offense to it.

  “That’s what I think they were trying to design. They were hoping the bug would manipulate parts of the brain to make people better soldiers or fighters. And then they added in parts from the extremophile. Parts that they hoped would result in a resetting of the hypothalamus and lower the body temperature. This was meant to protect the brain and help it withstand the changes toxoplasma was doing to it. You’ve probably heard about how people who sustain brain injury or even people who die and come back with CPR are kept cold, around eighty-five to ninety degrees Fahrenheit. Well that’s because for some reason those lower body temperatures seem to lower the metabolic rate of the brain and protect it while it heals. I think they were thinking that using the extremophile to lower the internal body temperature to closer to ninety degrees would allow for the brain to accommodate the changes the toxo was doing to it without resulting in brain damage,” she explained.

  “Can your body handle being that cold all the time?” asked Jason.

  “It certainly changes your metabolism. You have sluggish blood flow and all your organs don’t work as well, though it seems like it is a lot safer than having your body get too hot. If your body gets too hot, like over one hundred and five, your proteins start to denature and that kills you. Nothing like that happens when you are hypothermic, it’s just with all the slowed metabolism you normally wouldn’t be able to function day to day like normal. The combination with the improvements they thought toxoplasma would make in the brain might overcome that,” Judy answered. She looked around and saw everyone was enraptured in her explanation and continued.

  “But they spent a long time to first find the part of the organism that did that and only that. You know, eliminating the parts that damaged the brain. After some genetic modifications of their own and two years, they did it. They built a new organism from the parts of the toxoplasma that would just effect the brain in a positive manner. But then they ran in to their next problem: how to keep the body’s immune system from destroying it,” she explained.

  “So they had to find a way to hide the organism from its host. First they tried giving immunosuppresants like for transplant patients, but then the increased risk and incidence of infections made that plan a failure. Then they stumbled upon naturally occurring ways to hide the organism. And that’s where herpes plays a role. Most of us that have been exposed to Herpes Simplex 1 carry it for life. It lies dormant in our facial nerves, and when something happens in our body to lower our normal immune defenses, like excessive stress or an illness, herpes comes out of hibernation so to say and manifests as an illness. Luckily it is just in the form of a cold sore, but it stays with us for life.”

  She didn’t think this was news to anyone, but they were all hanging on her every word. Well, Linda and Jason were. Greg was listening but seemed upset and distracted. Judy wasn’t sure if he was upset about this company trying to make super soldiers without permission, or if he was still thinking about Daniel. Probably both, and rightfully so.

  “It’s quite frankly some of the most delicate and amazing work I’ve ever seen. You hear about splicing all the time in science fiction, but we really haven’t perfected it at all. Just like cloning. But they were able to isolate the part of the herpes virus that protects it from the host’s immune system, allowing it to remain hidden in the nervous system. They must have had researchers from dozens of fields working on this in order to identify and then extract the part of the genome that did this. Then to reinsert it in with toxoplasmosis, as well as combine various aspects of the code together with filler DNA?! It’s remarkable,” she finished.

  “Why don’t you think the other part of the DNA you found is filler?” asked Linda.

  “Because it’s a massive part of the code, and it wasn’t there between generations seven and eight. It had to have been inserted. Whether or not it was done on purpose, I don’t know.”

  “So what went wrong?” asked Jason.

  “People trying to make super soldiers is what went wrong,” mumbled Greg.

  “Well we all know that. But if there was ever to be a zombie apocalypse I always thought it had to be from one of those common tropes. You know: the cure for cancer, or the cold, or creating super soldiers. Maybe even some vaccine gone wrong,” Jason countered.

  “I don’t know,” Judy replied. They all turned back to her so she figured she should continue.

  “I don’t know what went wrong yet, but it’s what I plan to look in to next. I’m going to look in to their first generation experiments with ferrets and pigs. It looks like they didn’t experiment on people until generation five. I want to see what they found on necropsies and how the first couple generations of people to be experimented on responded. The more I can learn, the better our chances of figuring out how to stop it.”

  “Hopefully before it’s too late,” Linda said.

  “I think it’s already too late.” Jason said. Linda turned to glare at him.

  A loud thud by the front door caught all of their attention. Almost everyone looked scared, except for Linda.

  “Haven’t any of you been in a snow storm before? It’s just the snow falling off the roof! I’ll go shovel us out last. You guys are all ready to jump out of your boots!” Linda laughed as she headed towards the door.

  Chapter 43

  Judy was depressed to see that the snow was still falling the following morning, though at a much slower pace. The sun was occasionally shining through the clouds, making the landscape no frigorific but somewhat less formidable.

  There was at least two feet of snow on the ground at this point, and the overnight winds had formed several drifts up to four feet high around the house. The windows at the back of the cottage were completely covered with snow except for the top one or two inches where rays of sunlight would dapple through. If anything it was good luck for them. With the wind blowing from the back to the front of the cottage they had an easier time clearing the path to and from the outhouse.

  All of them had gotten very used to the creaks and moans of the cottage throughout the night, as well as the intermittent loud thuds that was the snow falling off the roof. This was causing a couple areas of heavy snow in the front, but overall it had been easy to keep the path out front clear.

  Greg, Jason, and Linda had all been shoveling out the front stoop and path to the outhouse pretty regularly. Judy had insisted in participating in this task as well, though most of the time Greg would come take over for her seeing as she took two to three times as long as any of the others.

  Judy could hear the muffled scrapes and heaves of Jason outside on his turn shoveling the path.

  Gregory was currently pacing around the front end of cottage, his brow furrowed while he contemplated something intensely. Judy figured it was Daniel that he was thinking about.

  “I’m sorry Gregory, we’ll get to
Daniel eventually,” Judy said, trying to sound comforting, but sounding more frustrated herself than anything.

  “And what is he’s not there? What if he’s there, but like mother?” he asked.

  Judy flinched.

  “He won’t be. You were able to call him to warn him. He’s a survivor. He’s had you as a father to teach him. I know he’ll be ok.” Judy said. She believed it too. If anyone had a chance at surviving this, it was Greg and his son Daniel. She thought to herself how she probably wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for her big brother too. She told Greg as much and he told her she was wrong, and she shouldn’t discredit her ability to survive as well.

  Judy hadn’t realized Linda had been listening in to their conversation when she chimed in.

  “She’s right Greg. Of the little I’ve learned about you in the last week I know that our group wouldn’t have made it this far if not for your assistance. And I’m sure some of that leadership personality of yours rubbed off on your son. I am starting to think it is part of the Gau nature. Plus there’s no use in worrying about it. We’ll get there when we get there and all we can do is pray that Daniel is safe and sound like us.”

  Greg was trying to ignore them while he continued to pace.

  Linda moved her chair closer to Judy to start a conversation.

  “Your brother reminds me of my dad. Constantly in motion, gears always turning, and always stepping up to the plate when it’s needed,” she said.

  Judy just nodded at her.

  “You’re lucky, you know,” she continued, causing Judy to look up and wonder what she was referring to. After all, none of them felt very lucky at this point in time.

  Linda smiled at her.

  “To have a family member that you are so close to. Not everyone has that. Those that do tend to take it for granted. Were you close to your parents as well?” Linda asked.

  Judy nodded. “Well, our mother at least. Our father died when we were young.”

  Greg had told them that their mother had succumbed to the infection, so Judy knew why Linda’s expression filled with sympathy.

  “I really am sorry about your mom. But I mean it when I say that you two are lucky to have each other. And hopefully we’ll find your nephew soon too. I was never close with my family. My mother was, well, a prostitute. It paid the bills to get food on the table. But nothing extra. All the extras went to drugs. I had a little brother too. But like many people who grow up in that environment, surrounded by sex, drugs, and poor role models, he fell in to line with it and ended up hooked on drugs. The last time I saw him he was twenty-three and had been checked in to another hospital for an overdose. I tried to stick around and make sure he got on the right foot when he got out but he busted himself out of the hospital without telling anyone and that was that. Last time I tried to help him. Actually, last time I saw him. And that was six years ago.”

  She paused and chuckled to herself before continuing her story.

  “Of course, I feel sick saying this, but part of me hopes that he already kicked the bucket before this outbreak. Maybe he O.D.ed one last time. Or got shot in some drug dispute. It’d be easier for him than trying to survive this,” she gestured towards the outside.

  Judy didn’t really know what to say. I’m sorry didn’t seem to cut it. She just continued to listen to Linda.

  “My grandmother’s the only one that I give half a damn about. She’s in upstate New York with the rest of them. But she was the only family member with any sense of right and wrong. She did most of the raising of my brother and I. It’s a shame that she blames herself partially for not getting through to my brother, but she’s really the only one that tried to help us break out of that hellhole. She’s actually the one that inspired me to be a cop. I hadn’t realized how much I wanted to get out of Schenectady, my hometown that is, until I ended up in California for undergrad. I kept in touch with my grandma, but I just fell in love with Cali and loved that I didn’t have to face any of my broken family on a regular basis. Now here I am hoping to see if they’re alive when I get back, though it seems unlikely,” she finished, turning towards Judy again.

  “Ha! Sorry Judy. Didn’t mean to waste your time ranting and raving about my family problems. What I meant to stress to you is that you and Greg are lucky to be so close, and I hope you stick together in this new world. Don’t ever forget that. You two definitely seem to have each other’s backs, you should keep it that way. And don’t forget how few and far between good sibling relationships like that are,” she concluded.

  Judy turned back to watch her brother who was still pacing. They had been talking softly enough that he probably had not heard most of their conversation, otherwise she would have expected him to seem more embarrassed.

  As Judy watched him she realized something was off. She cocked her head to the side to listen more closely and realized that Jason’s shoveling had stopped. He might just be taking a breather, but as the seconds ticked by she thought it seemed odd. If he was done he should be coming back inside. It was nice when people were shoveling. Not nice that they were stuck outside away from the group. But nice that the noise of the shoveling was louder than the scarier noises, like the howling winds or creaking of the cottage. With Jason silent Judy could hear the swaying and loud creaking of the roof as the snow settled and adjusted, probably contemplating falling off in large sheets again.

  Judy felt the little hairs she had on the back of her neck stand up and a chill ran through her. She was just about to say something when the door burst open and Jason stood there looking concerned.

  “Hey guys, come listen to this,” he instructed.

  Judy grabbed her coat before heading his way and all of them quickly threw on their shoes before stepping outside in to the cleared space in front of the door.

  Linda shut the door behind them to try to keep the warmth in the house.

  “Listen. At first I thought it was the wind, but now I am not so sure,” Jason whispered to them.

  Everyone perked their ears.

  Judy thought it was just wind as well. There was an occasional whooshing sound. And some howling. But then her ears honed in on what Jason must have been concerned by. In the distance, over the howling winds, could be heard a more distinctive moan. Actually, it was a host of moans, an entire chorus of various baritones. Slow, irregular, and inhuman.

  Chapter 44

  “What the hell is that?” asked Linda.

  “The coming storm, so to say,” Greg replied.

  Linda looked at him confused. He turned to her and continued.

  “Sounds like a group of infected headed our way from the opposite side of the cabin. Sadly the way the wind is carrying the noise it’s probably impossible for us to guess how many are headed our way.”

  They continued to listen, and Judy thought she could also vaguely hear movement, like someone else shoveling the snow, on the other side of the cabin.

  “Let’s get inside and figure out what we do,” Judy said calmly.

  They all rushed inside.

  Once there no one seemed to want to sit, and they were all pacing or standing around at various points in the cabin.

  “Do we hole up here, give up the outhouse and wait for them to pass?” Linda suggested.

  “I think we should leave,” Judy said.

  “I’m sure they will be slowed by the snow, but if we wait here we’ll be stuck until the snow melts enough for us to get out and take care of them one by one,” Greg pointed out.

  “It’s going to take us ages just to get to the car, and then to get out of the driveway here. Then what about the roads? I doubt they are plowed. It’s going to be one hell of an effort getting out of this snow storm,” Jason commented.

  “How about we- what the hell?!” Linda was not the only one who jumped or yelped.

  A crunching noise had come from one of the back windows. It was now being followed by a creaking, scratching noise. A high pitched noise that could easily set you off as quickly a
s fingernails on a chalkboard. It was awful how strikingly similar those noises were.

  They all rushed towards that window and Greg pulled the curtain aside. Linda screamed. Everyone gasped.

  There, pressed against the glass, with a thick layer of snow between its body and the glass in most spots except its dead face, was an infected woman. Her eyes were cloudy and blue from corneal damage, her lips so lacking of blood flow they were the same color as her eyes. And her skin was a sickly pallor with a hint of purple. Her left hand was raised against the glass and fingers there clawed at the window, trying to grip the flat surface. One of her fingernails broke off in the process. Her face was above the snow and she chomped at the glass. She pressed ever stronger forward, the glass creaking under the stress.

  Greg was the first one in action. He rushed from the window and asked Jason for assistance as he reached a bookshelf.

  The two pushed the shelf up against the inside of the window and then pushed one of the futons up against it.

  “Ok, it won’t hold her forever, especially if there are a lot of them behind this one, but it will give us some protection,” Greg announced when they had finished.

  “Wait, we’re staying here?” Linda exclaimed. “I was all for it a couple minutes ago, but this girl is totally going to break through the glass and then our haven is no longer safe!”

  “Yes Linda, I know. We’re going to have to leave, but I thought it would be a good idea to try to cover our backs while we run out the front door,” Greg explained. Linda looked sheepish for having yelled at him before getting a full explanation.

  “Well, guess we’re off to the car. Better hope we can drive once we dig ourselves out,” Jason said.

  They only had one shovel, so Linda and Judy started stocking up their bags and equipment while Greg and Jason hit the snow. Jason was using the shovel and Greg just started using a giant tray he had pulled from the cabin’s kitchen to scoop up snow and throw it out of the way.