by Mark Tufo
‘I wouldn’t call it an attack,’ he said, picturing Jeremy and the woman. ‘It looked like...’
‘Like what?’
‘Like consensual sex, just out in the open. Two people having sex, oblivious to everyone and everything else. It was after they separated, though... it was like he’d been torn apart. Just like all the others.’
‘Who?’
‘My wife’s ex. Jeremy Williams.’
‘He was staying at the pub last night, and I’ll put money on him having been with young Heather Burns,’ Dr Kerr whispered. ‘It’s like I said, some kind of parasite. Will you listen to me now?’
‘Explain,’ Sergeant Ross said.
‘The parasite needs a body to survive. When it’s taken what it needs, it has to find another host. What Scott saw this morning, what you’ve seen the aftermath of, was that transmission.’
‘So what you’re saying,’ Scott interrupted, ‘is that this thing needs blood or whatever, and when it’s taken what it needs from one body, it’s passed on to the next through sex?’
‘That’s exactly what I’m saying.’
‘You make it sound like a vampire,’ he laughed, unable to quite believe what he was hearing. The doctor looked serious.
‘Vampyrrhic. That’s actually a pretty good way of describing it.’
‘I’ll go get a fucking crucifix,’ Scott said, and he almost walked away from the ridiculous conversation.
‘I’m glad you said that, Doc,’ Sergeant Ross admitted. ‘I’d been thinking along the same lines myself. I thought it was just me going mad. Do me a favour, you two, keep a lid on this. People are already scared. If word gets out, this place’ll be out of control.’
‘So what are you going to do about it?’ Scott asked.
‘Me? What can I do? Have you not noticed, we’re all in the same boat here. I’m not in charge anymore. The investigation was taken out of my hands, shall we say. I’d tell you who by, but I honestly don’t know. Like you lot, first I knew about all this was a knock on my door from a soldier who’s face I couldn’t see. All I could see was his bloody rifle and I wasn’t taking any chances.’
Mr Renner, the school pastoral teacher, spotted Tammy and Phoebe in the crowd and came over to speak to them both. He told them about Heather, though Tammy had already suspected something had happened. She’d seen Chez sitting alone with his head in his hands and had feared the worst. Mr Renner told her where she’d find Jamie and she went to look for him. He was sitting on a bench at the side of the gym with Joel. Tammy positioned herself between the two of them, hoping they’d distract her with pointless rubbish and immaturity, but fearing they were already past that.
‘Got anything to drink?’ she asked hopefully. Joel shook his head, Jamie didn’t even look up.
‘I can’t take no more of this,’ Joel said, getting up. ‘You deal with him.’ And with that he was up and gone, relieved to be away. Tammy cautiously put her hand on Jamie’s leg.
‘I’m sorry, Jamie. I’m really, really sorry...’
He lifted his head and looked at her, wiping his eyes. ‘We thought she was with Chez. Dad was doin’ his bloody fruit tryin’ to find her. We called Chez and he said he thought she was with us.’
‘What happened?’
‘She was all fucked up, Tam. Like the others...’
‘Where?’
‘The pub.’
‘My dad stayed there last night...’ She stopped herself. She didn’t want to think about what might or might not have happened in the Black Boy. Did it have anything to do with what happened to Dad this morning? Did he have anything to do with what happened to Heather? He couldn’t have, could he?
Jamie wasn’t listening. He couldn’t take anymore of this in. He reached out for Tammy and held her, pulled her close. And she responded. All she’d had from pretty much everyone since first arriving in Thussock was constant grief, and this sudden unexpected physical contact seemed somehow to make it all a little easier to cope with. She held him tight, then tighter still, both of them sobbing as they leant against each other, his face buried in her chest. Huge amounts of previously suppressed emotions were released, let out at long last after having being locked away for too long.
Tammy kissed the side of Jamie’s face. He looked up at her. Oh, those eyes... those deep brown, hurting eyes... she’d thought him good looking the first time she saw him outside the Co-op, a class apart from the other boys, but she’d not wanted to get too close because he was from Thussock and she didn’t want to be here and because it felt like there was a world of difference between them and... and none of that mattered now. She’d just been looking for excuses before, avoiding reasons to form connections with this hellish place. Jamie looked so pale and drawn, racked with pain, and yet he was still attractive. She felt his hands on her and it made her feel alive. She really needed to be held like this... to be wanted. They parted for a moment, then kissed – soft, light and unsure, then stronger. Eyes closed now. Tongues touching, lips locked. She reciprocated his every move, finding such unexpected comfort in his touch and—
—and they separated when someone screamed. Tammy pulled back and felt her bladder weaken. The space around the bench where they’d been sitting had emptied, people scrambling away from them in absolute terror as soldiers rushed towards them. Hundreds of them it looked like, sprinting through the crowds with their rifles raised, all of their weapons pointing at her and Jamie. Jamie slipped off the bench in panic, landing on his back with a sickening thump and winding himself. Stunned, he lay there helpless as they surrounded him.
Tammy couldn’t see what they were doing to him. There were hazmat suits all around her now too. She tried to look for Jamie, but all she could see now was her own terrified face reflected back in the visors of the soldiers encircling her. ‘Name?’ one of them demanded.
‘Huh?’
‘Tell me your bloody name?’
‘Tammy Williams,’ she answered, voice shaking.
‘Did you have intercourse with this man?’
‘What?’
‘Have you had sexual intercourse with this man?’ he shouted, pointing at Jamie, still on the floor, still surrounded.
‘No.’
The soldier took a step back. Tammy remained exactly where she was, feeling as if her legs would buckle with nerves at any second. The rest of the leisure centre was silent. It was as if everything and everyone else had frozen. Everything except Scott. He shoved his way through the stationary crowds to reach Tammy, only to find his way forward blocked by more armed guards. The harder he fought to get through, the tighter they closed ranks. He pulled back a fist, ready to punch, but a soldier dismissively shunted him away then raised his rifle.
Scott froze.
The stand-off was unbearable, the pressure increasing by the second.
‘No reaction, Sir,’ a mask-muffled trooper shouted.
‘Clear,’ another soldier confirmed, and all of the faceless, suited figures stood down. Scott pushed his way through them to get to Tammy who’d dropped to her knees now, sobbing. He picked her up and no matter how much she hated him and how sick he was of her, they walked back to Michelle together.
Chapter 77
The waiting was endless, unbearable. It was late now, dark outside. Their interminable incarceration had lasted most of the day and showed no signs of ending anytime soon. Frustrations were beginning to show. There were occasional glimpses of trouble, only for those involved to immediately separate when military interest was aroused. Much of the bad feeling seemed to be down to the dwindling level of supplies. What had appeared to be a virtual mountain of cardboard when Scott and Michelle had first arrived had been reduced to a few remaining boxes. There was a sudden change in mood when a door opened and the stocks were replenished. The smell of hot food temporarily soothed the tensions within the leisure centre.
There was an initial crush but the ever-present threat of military intervention kept things moving with civility. Scott fetched enough for him and his family
. He found himself sitting close to Dez, Sergeant Ross and Dr Kerr as they ate.
‘Can’t say they ain’t lookin’ after us,’ Dez said.
‘They can stick their fucking food,’ Scott said, poking with a plastic spoon at his dish filled with some kind of meat stew. His stomach was churning. ‘I’d rather be hungry and out of here.’
‘I don’t think you would,’ Dr Kerr said. ‘They’re keeping us safe until they’ve got this thing under control.’
‘Like hell.’
‘Much as I hate to admit it,’ Sergeant Ross said, ‘I think you’re right, Doc.’
‘I know I’m right.’
‘I’m not so sure,’ Scott said.
‘Why not?’ Sergeant Ross asked.
‘Think about it... why are they really keeping us here? Why would they want the whole of Thussock locked up in one room?’
‘To keep us safe,’ Dez quickly volunteered. Scott looked at him in disbelief.
‘You’re so bloody naïve. It’s never about us, it’s always about them. If the doctor’s right and there is some kind of fucking weird, previously unheard of, sex-starved parasite-thing running loose around here, where do you think it is? Do you think there are even more soldiers outside trying to hunt it down?’
‘There are. I seen them in the fields.’
‘Yes, but the bloody fields are empty. If this is a parasite, then it’s almost certainly going to be in here, isn’t it? It’s where the people are, not where they aren’t. Those soldiers out there weren’t looking for the parasite, they were looking for us, the people of Thussock. They want us where they can keep tabs on us.’
‘He’s got a point,’ Dr Kerr agreed.
‘Wait... didn’t someone say you seen an attack this mornin’?’ Dez said to Scott. ‘Can’t you find who it was? Point her out or sumthin’?’
‘I’ve looked and I haven’t seen her. Anyway, who says she’s still the carrier? She might have had her wicked way with someone else. It could be any one of us by now. Could be you, Dez.’
His words had a noticeable effect on the others. They all stopped to consider the implications of what he’d just said.
‘So it has to be about finding the carrier and isolating them now, doesn’t it?’ Sergeant Ross said. ‘That’s what all this is about. They’re waiting for them to show themselves.’
‘So can’t we jus’ find them?’ Dez suggested. ‘Dob them in?’
‘And how are you going to do that?’ Scott sighed. ‘Fuck’s sake, if it was that easy, don’t you think they’d have already done it? They don’t know, that’s why we’re all left hanging.’
‘This is all well and good,’ the doctor said, ‘but what if it’s someone we know? What if it is one of us or worse still, one of our families? You were the one who had a close encounter this morning, Scott. How do you know your wife wasn’t infected?’
‘Because I dragged the dirty fucker off her and kicked the shit out of him before he could get near her. And I saw him infect someone else, that’s how.’
‘And are you sure you weren’t infected?’
‘I’m sure I didn’t get fucked, if that’s what you mean.’
‘But we don’t know for sure that this thing is only transmitted sexually, do we?’
‘No, but the only contact I had with Jeremy was to drag him away from the house and punch him in the face. I didn’t share a drink with him, didn’t kiss him...’
‘And was this morning the first time you’d seen him?’
Scott paused. ‘No. He came around last night. He had dinner with us. I swear, everything was normal back then. He’d only changed this morning. His behaviour was completely different...’
‘I don’t think you’re infected, Scott,’ Dr Kerr said, sensing the other man’s patience was wearing thin. ‘For the record, I don’t think your wife is either. But you can see the point I’m making here, can’t you? We just don’t know. We don’t even know if there’s just one of these things or whether there are more...’
‘Jesus,’ Scott said under his breath. He hadn’t thought of that.
‘Think about it... there are hundreds of people in here, how do we know how it’ll react to these numbers? Maybe it behaves differently in crowds... maybe it divides or reproduces...’
‘I’m getting out of here,’ Dez said, suddenly agitated.
‘How?’ Sergeant Ross sighed. ‘Don’t be an idiot, Dez.’
‘I’m not an idiot. I jus’ think...’
‘But you don’t think, do you? Never have.’
‘There’s no need for—’
‘There’s no need for what? Fuck’s sake, do you understand what’s happening here? They’re playing it all light and friendly, giving us food and water and trying to make it like everything’s going to be all right, but our lives might be on the line here. Scott and the doctor might be right. Your life, Jackie’s life, your kids’ lives... Do you think they’re going to let any of us go until this thing gets found and neutralized?’
‘Who says they’re gonna let us go anyway?’ Scott said, fuelling the flames.
Dez was beginning to panic. ‘I’m not stayin’ here. You can all piss off. There’s no way I...’ His voice trailed away. They were all looking at him. Staring at him. ‘What?’
‘Calm down, Dez,’ Sergeant Ross said, wishing he was in uniform. ‘You’re making me nervous.’
‘Calm down! You’re tellin’ me to calm down at a time like this...’
All still looking at him. All uneasy. All starting to think the same thing. Scott vocalised their concerns. ‘Is it him?’
‘It ain’t me,’ Dez said quickly, almost laughing at the preposterousness of it all, then almost pissing himself with fear when it dawned on him they were deadly serious. How could they think it was him? ‘Come on, Doc... Sarge... you both know me. You know it ain’t me...’ The longer they watched him, the more he began questioning himself. He tried to remember where he’d been recently, who he’d been with, how they’d behaved... then common-sense kicked back in. ‘You’ve both known me for years,’ he said with a little more certainty in his voice. ‘If there’s anyone you wanna worry about, it’s him.’ He turned and looked directly at Scott.
All eyes shifting. Slow, subtle, shuffled movements away from the others. The doctor shook his head, exasperated.
‘Bullshit,’ Scott protested. ‘I already told you—’
‘That you had a physical encounter this morning with a man who was infected and who’s now dead,’ Sergeant Ross said. ‘Dez is right, we hardly know you.’
‘An’ you arrested him,’ Dez continued, grabbing the sergeant’s arm. ‘You wouldn’t a done that if you never had good reason. He was there when them others died. Jackie told me. It’s him... he’s the one.’
More definite movement now. Whether their actions were subconscious or not, they were all trying to put distance between themselves and Scott. Or was it distance between themselves and each other?
‘You’ve got this all wrong,’ Scott started to say before Dez cut across him.
‘That’s what a carrier would say. Ain’t that what a carrier would say? It wouldn’t wanna get caught out. It wants to hide and keep killing.’
Scott shook his head. ‘Are you completely fucking stupid? We’re talking about a parasite, not a murderer. It’s not killing or even thinking about killing, it’s feeding.’
‘Same difference.’
‘No, it isn’t. If I’d had contact and I’d been carrying it, wouldn’t I be dead now? I’d either be dead or trying to fuck someone. I wouldn’t be sitting here talking like this with you, you bloody moron.’
A moment of silence. ‘He’s right,’ the doctor said. ‘We need to take a step back and calm down, not let our emotions get the better of us.’
‘It’s like The Thing, ain’t it?’ said Dez, relaxing slightly. ‘Remember that?’
Scott, Sergeant Ross and Dr Kerr just looked at him. ‘Bloody idiot,’ the sergeant said. ‘Don’t you know when to give up
?’
‘I’m serious. Did you see that film, The Thing?’
‘Long time ago. Why?’
‘Because this is like that, isn’t it? All those people trapped together. One of them’s an alien, but they don’t know which one. They might not even know it themselves. You see it, Doc?’
‘No. Doesn’t sound like my kind of film.’
‘There’s this bit when they’re trying to work out which one of them it is,’ he continued, oblivious to how infuriating he’d become. ‘They figure out a test, an’ they all sit round in a circle while everyone has it done.’
‘I remember,’ Scott said. ‘Can’t remember what happens though.’
‘What do you think happens? The bloody monster doesn’t wanna be found out. It goes apeshit.’
‘How exactly is this helping, Desmond?’ Dr Kerr asked.
Dez paused. His face dropped. ‘Sorry. Bit nervous. All I was thinkin’ was why ain’t they doin’ sumthin’ like that?’
‘It’s a fair point. Maybe they will. Maybe they just haven’t worked out the test yet?’
‘Should be pretty easy though, shouldn’t it?’ Sergeant Ross said. ‘All they have to do is look at the last body. The carrier’s DNA will be on them somewhere. Or in them.’
‘Sounds too easy,’ Scott said. ‘So why aren’t they doing it? Because you’re right, if they can work out who the carrier is, they should be able to check us all then isolate that person.’
‘Maybe it’s not that straightforward,’ the doctor said, struggling to keep up with the increasingly surreal situation. ‘There could be any number of reasons why. Maybe they’re waiting for an exchange. Maybe they can only stop it when the parasite’s in the process of passing from host to host?’
‘You think that might be the case?’
‘It would explain why they over-reacted when your daughter was with that lad,’ he said, looking at Scott. ‘If I’m completely honest, I don’t know what to think anymore.’
‘It’s all down to perspective, isn’t it?’ Sergeant Ross said. ‘We look at things from our point of view, don’t we?’