Mydia's End

by Sean Davies

  “I’m telling you, David, for the last time—we’re not going to go and queue up in the middle of the night. It’s cold, it’s dark, and it’s dangerous. It hasn’t even reached this far yet,” her mum hissed.

  “If we don’t queue up now, we might not even get in. The people who used to live on the site get first pick,” Charlotte’s dad replied angrily, which was very out of character as he never got angry in front of her.

  “Then you can just go without us!” Sue shouted at her husband.

  “There was someone outside,” Charlotte interrupted nervously, trying to defuse the situation. She thought that maybe if they remembered she was standing there, then they’d stop fighting. “It looked like one of the angry people that are on the telly a lot now.”

  Both of her parents froze in terror, and they gave each other a long look before nodding mutely.

  “Honey,” her mum said gently, kneeling to meet her at eye level. “We’re going on a little trip, like a holiday—come on, let’s get you dressed.”

  “I’ll get the bags,” David said, his voice breaking slightly.

  Before they could do anything, there was a loud continuous knocking at the door. Once again, Charlotte’s parents looked at each other in silent communication, and David took a large knife out of one of the kitchen drawers.

  Charlotte’s dad went to the front door and her mum peeked around from the living room, holding Charlotte back and preventing her from following her father. David hesitantly unlocked the door and readied himself to strike, but it was only Peter from next door with his daughter, Leanne, who happened to be Charlotte’s best friend.

  “They’re here,” Peter blurted out. “We’ve got to go!”

  “What the hell happened?” David asked, aghast. “You’re covered in blood!”

  Peter shakily wiped his brow and looked down at the blood on his fingers; he seemed to be in a daze. “One of those things stumbled into our garden. It broke through the window and went for me... I had no choice...”

  “Was it the man I saw?” Charlotte whispered to her mother.

  Her mum shushed her and held her tightly.

  “Oh Christ, thank god you’re both alright! We’ll get our stuff and come with you to the checkpoint—”

  “There’s no time, David!” Peter said frantically. “It’s now or never!”

  David looked at his family and waved them over, and then despite Peter’s warning, he ran upstairs to collect the bags he’d been adding to over the past few days before re-joining them by the front door.

  “Come on, come on!” Peter shouted urgently.

  Outside, Peter’s car was parked on the front garden with the engine still running, as other cars loaded with bags and boxes whizzed by; their poorly fastened contents spilled out onto the road occasionally, but the drivers never cared enough to stop. Small groups of people hurried past carrying what they could, and some were even armed with makeshift weapons like gardening equipment and tools.

  Charlotte was scared senseless but refrained from asking the adults what was happening as she and Leanne were shepherded into the car. She knew that it had something to do with the sea-plant, but she’d been deliberately kept in the dark and didn’t understand the snippets of conversation she had overheard over the past few months.

  School had been cancelled to prevent the hay fever-like sickness from spreading, which had made all the children very happy, but their parents hadn’t let them out much and had been acting incredibly odd. The crazy exodus of the town unfolding before her eyes would explain why they’d been so gloomy; the adults had been preparing for the worst, and now it had happened.

  “What’s happening?” Leanne asked Charlotte in a fragile, frightened whisper. “Daddy... killed someone.”

  “I think some of the ill people are going crazy,” Charlotte whispered back. “But we’ll be okay. We’re going somewhere safe, I bet,” she added reassuringly.

  They heard screaming from the distance and the sound of gunshots, and people ducked and flinched instinctively; seeing a gun in England was rare, and hearing one go off was even rarer.

  The adults hurried to join the girls in Peter’s big white jeep.

  “What about Helena? Where is she?” Sue asked Peter as they approached.

  Peter shook his head slowly, tears welling up in his eyes. “The city...”

  David put his arm around him reassuringly but also steered him towards the vehicle.

  “I’m so sorry,” Sue said sympathetically.

  Inside the car, the girls could hear everything. Charlotte found that adults often forgot how easy they were to eavesdrop on sometimes, and she looked at her best friend sadly.

  Leanne played with her long, wavy black hair nervously. “Mummy’s stuck in the city traffic, but she’s going to meet us there.”

  “Yes, I’m sure she will,” Charlotte lied.

  Their parents got in the car and before they knew it, they were all driving off, weaving around people in their way with violent jerks and turns. The road out of town climbed upwards around a steep bend, and in the daytime you could see the valleys of the neighbouring villages, but at night it was usually just a sheet of darkness; this night was a very different scene altogether.

  Little beams of light waved around in the darkness, and Charlotte guessed it was probably some people holding torches and moving at a fast pace. A few uncontrolled fires were beginning to spread rapidly in the densely forested areas, and pairs of vehicle headlights could be seen as some people risked going off-road to attempt beating the increasing traffic. Spotlights lined a steel wall that had been erected around the nearest village, while inside searchlights roamed like it was a prison, and new building complexes, modern prefabs, and military tents had replaced the homely old houses. Helicopters hovered around the skies in packs, and the sounds of gunfire bursts increased as the two families left the town behind them.

  Peter slowed to a halt as cars were being abandoned in front of them; people were progressing on foot rather than waiting for the traffic to pass through the checkpoint somewhere up ahead. He wiped his perspiring brow and runny nose with the back of his hand. “We’ve got to get out,” he sighed.

  Without saying a word, everyone left the car, and the group began walking quickly, weaving past deserted vehicles and slower people. Leanne and Charlotte held their parents’ hands tightly as they were led through the sea of traffic, while people all around them were doing the same and talking in frenzied voices. The feeling of dread was thick in the cold air. They walked for a long time before they saw the checkpoint itself; they had seen its blinding floodlights long before, but now the steel wall, guard towers, and white medical tents were visible over the growing crowd of people being held back by armed soldiers. Both sides of the road were littered with manned military vehicles of all varieties, including several tanks.

  David leaned down to address Leanne and Charlotte. “Stay close to us. There’s going to be a lot of people trying to get through and we can’t get separated.”

  “Just hold onto me, sweetie,” Sue said, pressing Charlotte to her side as they shuffled into the mob of a queue.

  “Daddy, hold my hand!” Leanne implored her father.

  Peter groaned, looking startled. “Oh... sorry honey.” He shook his head from side to side as if to clear it. “Hold on tight, now,” he said, finally offering Leanne his hand.

  “You okay, Pete?” David asked warily.

  Peter nodded, although it seemed to cost him a degree of effort. “I hit my head when that thing attacked me... it’s probably just a concussion.”

  “If you need to rest, let us know,” Sue said kindly. “It’s more important that we stick together than get inside in a hurry. The soldiers will keep us safe from here.”

  “No,” Peter said loudly. “No... we have to get inside, we have to get the girls inside.”

  “Daddy, you’re holding my hand too tightly,” Leanne complained.

  “Is that better?” Peter asked kindly. “S
orry, but Daddy’s a little bit nervous.”

  “Me too, but we’ll be brave together!” Leanne said determinedly.

  That made the adults smile, but Charlotte had a dreadful feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  Everyone shuffled forwards, the people around them sullen and scared, but not panicked; it felt like salvation was close at hand, and despite the size of the mob people were still passing through the checkpoint at a good rate. Closer to the front of the queue, soldiers passed through the crowd, asking people questions and requesting to see their identification. They occasionally selected people and guided them out of the crowd straight to the front of the queue, to the grumbles and moans of everyone else.

  A middle-aged female soldier barged through the tightly packed crowd. She had a kind face, with sharp blue eyes and platinum blonde hair tied back underneath an officer’s cap. The soldier stumbled upon Leanne and Charlotte and smiled pleasantly. “Hello, little ones—it’s so cold and dark tonight, isn’t it? I have a little daughter myself, though she’s a few years younger than you two. How would you like to get to the front of this line?”

  “You’re taking our children?!” Sue hissed.

  The soldier held up her hands defensively. “Not without you, of course! There’s plenty of room inside, but we’re trying to prioritise families and specialists.”

  “Oh...” Sue sighed, feeling a bit stupid for flaring up. “Sorry.”

  “It’s fine, tensions are understandably high tonight.” The soldier ushered them forward. “I’m Captain Jameson, by the way.”

  The two families introduced themselves, ignoring the angry backhanded comments of the people forced to wait around them.

  “Are we winning?” David asked apprehensively. “Is the... crisis under control?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say much,” Captain Jameson answered strategically, “but a plan to resolve the infection is in motion as we speak. The main thing is that you and your family will be safe.”

  “Thank you,” David nodded.

  “I feel important,” Leanne said happily. “Do you, Daddy?”

  Peter smiled fondly at his daughter. “Yes, Leanne, and we’ll be inside in no time at all now.”

  In front of the checkpoint’s thick steel gates were full body scanners, much like the ones at airport security, and they were attended by vigilant soldiers, medical staff, and scientists. Clusters of white tents were grouped together either side of the road, a moderate distance away from the checkpoint, and sometimes people were led towards them after they were scanned rather than through the gates. They looked frightened, and some were very irate; in some cases, family members or friends left the line to join them voluntarily.

  Jameson took them to the front of the line. “You all just have to be checked and cleared before entry—shouldn’t be a problem,” she added as reassuringly as she could, before joining up with more of her people near the gate.

  Charlotte was nervous. “Mum, Dad... I don’t want to leave you.”

  Her mother gave her a hug. “It will only be for a second, and then we’ll all be together again.”

  David ruffled her brown hair and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “See you soon, sweetie.”

  “Next, please—quickly now,” a soldier said, waving Charlotte forward.

  With a fleeting glance, Charlotte did as she was told, quickly walking into the plastic and metal scanning frame and standing there patiently as lines of light passed up and down it either side of her. She could see the people manning the controls on the other side through the pane; they looked confused and waved some more staff over. Charlotte began shaking with fright.

  “What is it?” a scientist asked quietly.

  “I’m not sure. Another weird case,” the person operating the booth said, pointing to his readouts. “I don’t know what half the data we’re getting is anymore. This case is...”

  “We’ve had others like that—kids, mostly,” a doctor said. “It’s not the virus though, so let her through.”

  “How are we supposed to work like this?” the operator complained. “We’re told to screen them before checking them in, but if we don’t even know what we’re looking at then how the hell are we supposed to do our jobs properly?!”

  “It’s not the virus,” the doctor replied flatly. “That’s all that matters.”

  “HQ hasn’t updated us, so that’s just how it is for now,” another scientist added sternly.

  Explosions boomed across from the town, and people began to scream as the sound of shouts and gunfire drew nearer. Everyone manning the checkpoint did their best to calm the crowd, but the waiting mob were becoming inconsolable and panicking wildly.

  “Hurry it up!” a soldier yelled towards the scanning station.

  Charlotte saw that the operator was annoyed but tapped at something reluctantly, and the plastic sections of the frame turned green as Charlotte was waved through to the other side, where she waited anxiously for the others.

  Captain Jameson put her hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. “See, it wasn’t so bad, was it?”

  Charlotte shook her head and tried to look brave for the nice soldier lady.

  Leanne was up next. She turned to her dad, but Peter was looking straight ahead in a daze, and as more explosions sounded in the background she was rushed forward by a nearby soldier. Charlotte could see the same thing happening at the other scanning stations, and the bad feeling in her stomach and her sense of dread increased dramatically. Nonetheless she smiled at Leanne, who was looking petrified, and gave her a thumbs-up.

  Before Leanne could be ushered through the checkpoint, Peter rushed forward, and at first Charlotte thought he was going to say something to his daughter but instead he knocked her to one side and carried on going.

  “Peter?!” David and Sue both shouted in surprise, having never seen their neighbour and friend act in such a manner.

  The soldiers quickly advanced on him, but Peter was in the frame before they could get close enough. The station flared red and started beeping loudly—something that hadn’t happened in Charlotte’s time at the checkpoint, or even with the people that had been led away to the medical tents. All the nearby soldiers advanced with their rifles, ready to fire, and everything that followed seemed to play out in slow motion from Charlotte’s perspective.

  “Daddy!” Leanne screamed.

  Charlotte looked Peter in the eye and could see that he wasn’t really Leanne’s father anymore. His eyes were wickedly bloodshot, and mucus streamed from his nose as if he was having a severe allergic reaction, much like the man she’d seen in her garden.

  Before anyone could open fire, Peter lowered himself onto all fours and sprang forward like a frog. He collided with one of the soldiers, causing them to discharge their weapon out of panic, and some of the people in the queues were accidentally shot.

  The crowd descended into uproar of screams, some people ducking and dropping to the floor, while others tried to rush forward towards the gate, where their paths were blocked by a human shield of soldiers threatening to open fire. Charlotte lost sight of her parents, but she could still see Leanne on the ground sobbing.

  Peter bit and clawed at the soldier, going for any bit of exposed flesh he could get to. The other soldiers opened fire and the bullets tore Peter’s sides apart, causing thick orange goo and fresh blood to seep out, but Peter still managed to spring to his feet. His jaw dislocated and dropped low, and a long, blistered orange tongue slithered out of his mouth like a snake ready to strike. It lashed out towards the soldiers’ faces. They narrowly dodged out of the way, and then Charlotte was deafened by the sound of a gunshot; Captain Jameson had shot Peter in the head.

  Leanne screamed as she watched her father drop to the ground, but it was muffled by the shouts of the hysterical mob. The soldiers continued to fire on Peter’s body, which was still moving, and another shot their heavily-wounded wheezing comrade in the head without any hesitation. The nearby medical tents were torn to shreds from inside ou
t by the infected—some looking like whatever Peter had turned into, and others even less human—and the nearby military vehicles sprang to life, dousing them in gunfire, explosives, and flamethrowers.

  “How did they turn so fast?!” Jameson said incredulously, her face pale. “It never develops this fast...”

  The sound of gunshots, explosions, screams, and snarls roared through the cold night. The whole checkpoint had devolved into total and utter chaos.

  “They’re coming up the road, too!” someone shouted over the din.

  The crowd began to swell forward, regardless of the threats, and some of the soldiers shot into the air in an attempt to halt them. Most of the mob retreated or ran, but others tried overpowering the checkpoint’s guards and were quickly gunned down without further warning.

  Charlotte tried to run back through the checkpoint and into the crowd, in a bid to re-join her friend and parents; she was filled with an energetic surge like she’d never experienced before, and the feeling of strength and power flowed through her like fire.

  Jameson pulled her back, surprised at the amount of effort it was taking to restrain the young girl. “Close it all down—containment procedures, now!” she shouted at her people.

  The fire in Charlotte died down, leaving behind only despair. Her ears were ringing, and her head was spinning as her eyes locked helplessly with Leanne’s. Jameson pulled her back through the gate, and the doctors and scientists ran inside, while most of the armed personnel stayed behind to try and get the situation under control. The last thing Charlotte saw before the thick steel gates closed was Leanne being scooped up by a soldier.

  Somehow, Charlotte ended up in the back of a truck with some other distraught people.

  “Where are we going?” a gruff man demanded. “Why can’t we stop here?”

  “This CZ is already full,” a soldier in the back barked harshly. “You’re going to another.”

  “I’m not with my family,” a woman cried, “I think they’re in this one!”