“So you all packed up the plant and took it back with you.” Dennis supplied when Dr. Hollowman stopped talking.
“You said that the plant was used to preserve meats, you lied!” Samuel accused.
“The project developers in the U.S. were ecstatic, having us rush the sample back. We managed to isolate the enzyme that preserves the tissue but in doing so, we also found the bacteria that infiltrates the preys body and keeps it alive.” Dr. Hollowman let out a little laugh, “They just about exploded when they saw that. A bacteria that keeps a body alive, they were going to find out everything they could and exploit that to the fullest.”
“Why did you let them?” Dennis questioned.
Dr. Hollowman sputtered, “Are you kidding me! It’s a scientific breakthrough and like all scientific breakthroughs we need to analyze the data to understand and predict the final outcomes. This bacterium could save lives.”
“Do you remember the Chimpanzee down the hall? He looks pretty messed up to me!” Samuel yelled, “He looks like a dead monkey who happens to be alive! How can that be scientific discovery?”
“I am not liable for any of that! Besides, we don’t know what the Chimpanzee is now, we need more data.” Dr. Hollowman responded, shoving her chair back to continue her walking. She knows that Samuel’s right. There is no way that the Chimpanzee is alive and what he is now isn’t completely dead.
Exhausted after his outburst, Samuel asked, “Why would Peter do that? What was his purpose? And what does BOB1 stand for?”
Dr. Hollowman sighed again, tired of thinking, “Beast of Brazil, species 1 and I don’t know why Peter would do this, money maybe?”
Dennis shook his head at the acronym, sat at the computer again, and continued searching. After a few minutes he had an answer to Samuel’s question, “He did it to delay the official release of TH12 while the company that he was really working for developed the same product,” Dennis replied as he spun the laptop around so the two of them could read his final report. “The bite he received was from an infected mouse and he has no idea what he created.”
“How long does it last?” Samuel was getting tired of the argument about whose fault all of this was.
Dr. Hollowman squinted her eyes, “What do you mean?”
“Can it be fixed?” Dennis asked. “As far as we know, the bite has only affected the chimp. Does anyone know if Peter is ok?”
Samuel shook his head, “At this point, I want to know more about the plants bacteria and enzyme combination. Does it decompose after a certain amount of time?”
Dr. Hollowman looked between Peter and Dennis. No one said a word for several minutes before Dr. Hollowman provided a response, “Listen, this plant isn’t the usual predator, we couldn’t just knock it out or put a muzzle over the head. When we took the plant it was only the stem, base, and roots.” She paused, creating a tense silence.
“What about the animals in the stem?” Dennis asked, “What happened to them?”
Dr. Hollowman tensed and crossed her arms in front of her body, “I don’t know.”
Samuel sputtered then slammed his fist on the desk, “Really?” he said sarcastically, “You, a scientist, never found out what happened to animals that were coated in the very enzyme that you studied and reproduced to preserve muscle tissue.” Dr. Hollowman looked away, turning her body away from Samuel’s accusations. “What? You weren’t interested?” Samuel walked to stand in front of her, “I don’t believe you.”
“Dr. Hollowman if you won’t tell us the truth, how can we trust anything you say?” Dennis may not be a scientist but he was very good at observation. He knew questioning her integrity was the only way to get her to talk.
“FINE! You want to know the truth? They never died!” She bellowed, fear starting to creep in, making the lines around her eyes and mouth more pronounced.
Dennis nodded his head, stood up from the desk and walked over to Dr. Hollowman. Slowly he reached out his hands and placed them on her shoulders, forcing her to look at him, “How do we fix it?”
Dr. Hollowman didn’t have the answers. Silently, she shook her head, then broke Dennis’s hold and walked back to lean against her filing cabinets. After a few minutes, Dr. Hollowman spoke, “Peter was bitten this morning. The monkey was bitten sometime last night. If he has the same reaction as the chimp, we have to find Peter now and bring him in for isolation and testing.”
Dr. Hollowman replied. “We need to keep this quiet for now. No reason to alarm the authorities or the board members.” She paced a bit while a plan formed. She stopped at her window to stare out at the night sky. “If he is feeling any of the reported effects that the chimp did, he will be feeling like death. I would assume that he would be at home. Will you two head over to his house and bring him in?” She walked over to her filing cabinet and grabbed a set of keys, “Take the van, it has a cage that locks into the side of the van for animal transport. Once he is in there, we do not have to move him out until we secure him into an isolation room.”
Samuel grabbed the keys and headed toward the door, pausing, he turned back, “Dr. Hollowman, I know you didn’t do this on purpose but we need to be able to trust you if we are going to find a way to stop what Peter did.” Samuel continued out the door with Dennis following him.
Dr. Hollowman turned back to the window, “I just hope we aren’t too late.”
Chapter 8
Cody led the group with Cindy by his side. They moved toward the closest body on the ground. Cindy reached out to check for a pulse when Cody grabbed her hand. Cindy looked up to see why Cody stopped her and saw that he was not looking at her. She followed his line of site and froze at the vision before her. Peter was crouched over a body and full of blood. At first, it looked like he is searching for something in the woman’s pockets. It wasn’t until Cindy recognized the line of intestine that she realized Peter was eating the body.
Cody stopped the rest of the group from coming forward, motioning them toward the snack bar to help the four people stuck behind the counter. When the four were retrieved from the counter, Cody and Cindy started to make their way backward, keeping an eye on Peter when the body in front of them started to move.
The transition happened quickly. It was clear when they reached the body that she was dead. Her throat had been torn out, leaving a gaping hole. They were so focused on Peter, they did not notice her eyes open. When they moved, she reached out a hand toward Cindy, almost catching her by the wrist as they backed away. The quick movement startled them both, causing Cody to yell out to the group to move toward the back exit. Three men in the group came forward with their guns raised and started to fire at Peter and the now three moving bodies. The impact of the bullets caused them to screech out and run toward the men firing. Two of the gunmen were brought down with bites to the face, neck, and arms, unable to fight off their attackers. The third man was let loose after the flesh was torn from the meaty side of his hand, just below his pinky finger of his left hand. The woman stopped attacking when her mouth was full. The brief reprieve allowed him to fire a bullet into the woman’s head and retreat with the rest of the group. They hoped to make it to the back of the building, to the emergency exit but it was clear that they would not make it as two more of their group was pounced upon, their screams echoing down the hallway.
The team was now down to three guns and Cody did not think that they would be able to outrun the creatures. “Get behind the doors!” he yelled to the group behind him. As they backed away from the counter, Cody noticed four more creatures rush through the broken windows. Cody could feel the blood drain from his face. Cindy must have noticed the eminent attack as well, and started to fire in all directions. Peter was at the lead of the pack. Cody knew he only had seconds until Peter was on top of them. With a heavy heart, Cody lifted his gun and fired a single round to the center of Peter’s forehead. Cody didn’t have time to watch as Peter’s body hit the floor, they needed to get behind the doors of the movie theater.
The doors opened in toward the theater. Cody and Cindy closed the doors and braced their feet, yelling for help. The impact of the creatures jarred the doors just enough for one of them to reach an arm through. Several people ran up to help hold the doors. Martin got too close to the opening and was scratched across the face. Martin let go of the door, holding his face as he screamed out in pain. “Jesus! Cindy we need something to slip through the door handle,” Cody huffed.
“I know, but I am afraid if I let go they will get in,” Cindy yelled back.
Chapter 9
At the burst of people through the door, Veronica lifted her gun and prepared to fire. “Victoria! They’re just people!” Bethann put a steadying hand on Veronicas shoulder.
“Help! Please help us!” Two young boys yelled as they ran toward the middle of the theater. Several people ran past the door toward the back exit.
Veronica watched as two men stood on each side of the door, while the one man with a gun prepared to kick the door open. The chaos at the theatre doors was escalating. She tucked the gun into the back of her jeans when Bethann let go of her shoulder.
“Stay here, but be prepared to run toward the back doors. If we get separated, head to my house on foot as fast as you can.” Bethann nodded her agreement as Veronica turned toward the entryway.
She headed straight to the emergency firebox. It held a fire extinguisher and an ax. Breaking the safety glass, she grabbed the ax. Someone screamed as she reached into the box, causing her to startle and scrape her arm on a sliver of glass still attached to the frame. Swearing at the sting, she pulled the ax out and made her way to the entrance with it tucked safely to her body. There were several people at the entrance and she did not want to accidently cut anyone with the sharp blade, she had to use her elbows to barrel through the crowd. Veronica reached the door, having to step over a man on the floor, and saw an arm reaching toward a petite blond on the right side of the double doors. The arm was angled at the elbow, clawed hand peeling grooves into the wood. Without hesitation, Veronica raised the ax over her head and cleaved the arm off at the elbow, causing the creature to screech in pain. The loss of the arm allowed the group to push the doors closed. Veronica was able to slip the handle of the ax through the doors handles, pulling it through so the hook in the ax locked the doors closed. Veronica stepped back to survey the damage to the door and to make sure it was going to hold against the weight of whatever was on the other side of it.
Cody and Cindy both let out a sigh of relief when the ax appeared to hold. They looked each other over to make sure that neither one of them incurred any injuries. The group holding the doors slowly started to retreat into the theater. Cody watched as Kathy and Tim helped to pull Martin up off the floor, Tim pulling off his flannel to hold to Martins face. When Cody turned his attention to the person who helped them, he was surprised to see the redhead from the lobby.
Veronica looked between Cody and Cindy and asked, “What the hell was that, what happened out there, why is there no blood when I cut that arm off, and what in God’s name is that smell?”
They could still hear the scuttling of feet and scratching nails on the doors. The order emitting from the other side was enough to make their eyes water and their noses run.
Cody turned to thank to person that saved their lives and was surprised to see the dark haired girl, “Thank you.” Cody smiled, “You didn’t even hesitate. Why?” Cody asked after a moment.
“I know what you are thinking but I don’t go around chopping arms off of people.” Veronica set her hands on her hips. “It was very clear that something was wrong with that person, sick or not, it was going to do some damage if it got in here.” Veronica waved her hand toward the door again, “Care to explain?”
Cody couldn’t argue with her observation so continued, “We were in the last theater. Cindy and I were going out to check on my friend when we saw a mess in the lobby.” Cody took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes. “We saw Pete, our friend, hunched over a body, tearing it apart, eating it.” Cindy put a hand on Cody’s shoulder and continued to explain.
“There were three bodies on the floor. Cody and I reached the closest body to check for life while the others provided cover for rescuing the people behind the counter. The woman should have been dead. Her throat was torn out but she wasn’t. She grabbed out for me.” Cindy swiped a stray tear from her cheek. “The other two on the floor responded to the noise and started moving. Our reaction caught the attention of Pete, he let out a screech and it was answered by all three.”
Cody took up the telling of the events, “The screech scared the shit out of us. Three of our friends started to fire at the ravaged people, causing damage but not stopping their progress.”
Veronica stood there listening to them but kept her eyes on the movement of the door. There was no longer any scratching but the door appeared to breath, as it slowly moved back and forth.
Cody started up again, “I don’t know how many people were in the lobby when Pete went crazy or how the people became what they are now, but I did notice that more of them came through the broken windows when the gunfire erupted.”
“Is is safe to assume that noise attracts them?” Cindy asked
Veronica wasn’t sure what to make of the whole situation. She did think that it was time to move away from the entrance doors.
Cody and Cindy trailed after Veronica; Cody continued describing the intense situation, “The bullets were popping into their chest but they would not stop coming after us. We started to back down the hallway toward the emergency exit but they were just moving too fast.”
Veronica paused at the opening and looked at the people huddling together around the room. She looked over to see Bethann comforting a couple of teenage boys. Charlie was talking to them, patting them on the shoulders. Whatever he said to them seemed to calm them down some.
“Who are those people over there? How were they injured?” Veronica asked pointing toward a small crowd of people.
Cindy looked where she was pointing, “They’re with us. The hand you chopped off scratched Martin, the one holding his face with a shirt. One of the people that Pete attacked came back and tore through Thomas’s hand. We lost two out in the lobby when we went to help.” Cindy looked back at the doors, making sure that the ax was still holding. They came in with 12 people, 13 including Pete. They are now down to nine and only three of them had guns.
“What about the three at the door, are they part of your group also?” Veronica asked.
“Yes, they are. The one with the gun is Jake, the big guy on the right is Lucas, and the one on the left is Caleb.” Cindy replied, and then asked, “How long do you think we can stay in here?”
“I’m not sure,” Veronica replied. “Why are you all carrying guns?”
Cody was once again surprised by Veronica. Her line of questioning was very direct and went straight to the facts.“We came in to celebrate the end of our probation period with the highway patrol. Some of us registered for a conceal and carry. I know we’re not supposed to have them in the theater but Charlie knows us and I know he would not worry about us having them.”
Veronica was nodding her head in understanding when a familiar figure caught her eye. She was not sure but she could swear that Ian was standing along the far wall with a girl. Veronica had not noticed that the movie had run to credits during the commotion and was surprised when the lights came on and she could see everyone clearly.
“What a jerk.” Veronica said as her ex boyfriend came in to clear view. Ian was trying to hide behind who she assumed was his date. He must have noticed her when the group came running in and stood as far from her as possible.
Veronica noticed her slip when she saw the confused looks and Cody and Cindy’s faces.
“Sorry, not you two,” she replied and turned her attention back toward Ian. Cindy followed her gaze while Cody continued to look at Veronica.
“Ex boyfriend?” Cindy asked with a smile on her face as she watched Cody
’s face go from confusion to happy.
Veronica turned back, taking a good look at Cody and for the first time noticing his bright green eyes, “As of earlier tonight, yes.” Veronica replied with a smile as she saw interest bloom in Cody’s eyes.
With the sound of the movie gone, they could make out the sounds of approaching sirens. The couple that stayed in the theater with Bethann and Veronica approached them, “We heard the sirens, is it safe to leave?”
“We were told to wait until they come to get us.” Cindy responded but she could hear activity outside the double doors increasing. “We may have to leave through the back exit if those things out there keep pushing on the doors.”
“Why aren’t they going away, toward the noise of the sirens?” Cindy questioned as she watched the shuffle of feet under the door. “I really thought that noise would make them move away, we have been quiet in here.”
Veronica, Cody, Cindy, and the couple were watching the doors when a foul smell took over the whole theater.
Veronica could hear the woman tending to the injured people. One of them just vomited and let loose a watery discharge, leaking through their pants onto the theater chair.
Infection Series (Book 1): Preservation Page 4