by Morgan Bell
Sam heard the door close. The fight was coming soon. He could tell. The dirt bag had cleaned out his mother’s purse and she was going to lay into him. He turned up the volume on his game. There were another three levels to go before he would reach anything that would require his attention. Sam played and waited.
He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see the creepy guy dressed and his mom also dressed. Neither of them looked happy, but neither of them looked like they’d been in a fight either.
“Hey, little man,” the creepy guy said, “we’re going to the mall.”
∞
“We have thirty KVs in the mall, transmitting the virus,” Sergeant Abe Rosen addressed his team. “This is a dense population urban setting. No automatic weapons, knives not guns. Discreet is the watch word. Let Dr. Baxter lead and make sure you have his back. We go in two at a time. Spread out. Com contact with Dr. B, if you think you have one. Do not move until we confirm. Is that clear?”
The ten soldiers in the transport answered as one, “Yes, sarge.”
“Dr. Baxter, time for you and me to take a stroll,” Sergeant Rosen said, and threw open the back door to the transport vehicle.
Jamie caught his breath when he felt the cold blast against his face. He’d been some cold places, but he was caught by surprise by the dry air.
“Cold as a brass witch’s tits,” Sergeant Rosen laughed. “You’ll get used to it. I grew up not five miles from here.”
“Just getting acclimated,” Jamie shivered, his teeth chattering.
“We’ll be inside in a minute. But be ready for ugly, this is Paramus,” Sergeant Rosen said, releasing the clip that secured his service knife.
Jamie had been on fifteen missions in the last three weeks. All of them had been straight forward. They’d gone to the healthcare campuses in seven different states. They’d gone to the rage bays and there they found the KVs, dead and texting, messaging, posting like maniacs. The virus churning through dead people back and forth from the internet and the phone service, killing, transforming and transmitting. They were efficient, they cleared the bays, destroyed the phone, tablets, and all the other tech the KVs were using. Then they burned the body. Those clean sweep operations were simple and fast. Jamie was nervous about this one because it was an “in population” strike. The KVs weren’t self-segregating here. Here he had to know the living from the dead. The infected from the simply irritable. This entire mission was on him.
∞
Sam scanned the crowd for anyone he might know. His mother hadn’t committed to buying anything, but she hadn’t said, “No,” either. The trick was to get her into the store, get her to buy the game and get out. This was because he didn’t want to be seen with his mom buying a game at the mall.
Most of the kids in his school didn’t go to the mall. Their parents had credit and could get everything direct over the networks and the web. Right now Sam was having trouble getting his mom and her creepy boyfriend to do anything. They were just standing in front of the store sending messages on their panels. Sam was going to elbow his mom in the ribs when something caught his attention. He looked over to see two men dressed like characters from one of his games walking through the mall. Sam had seen the HDMP officers at the mall; these guys weren’t HDMP. Sam could tell, because they looked like they knew what they were doing and they weren’t swaggering around with a shock wand on their hip and a machine gun slung over their shoulder. These guys were serious; you could tell by how they were dressed, how they were walking and their weapons.
“Mom,” Sam whispered.
His mom ignored him.
“Mom,” he spoke more urgently, and pulled at her elbow.
“Hey, little man, let the grownups do what they need to do,” the creepy guy spat out, pulling Sam away from his mother.
Sam glared up at him and thought a hundred hateful thoughts. It would have comforted Sam tremendously to know that many, if not all, of his hateful thoughts about this creepy guy would come to pass and soon. But, even if Sam had known what was to happen to the creepy guy and his mom, he wouldn’t get to enjoy it for very long.
∞
Jamie motioned to Rosen; they had entered the mall near the F.Y.E and Game Stop. This was prime hunting ground. There were at least fourteen people on phones messaging and texting in the shops and walking along the concourse. “Next two in,” Rosen said into his com. “Be advised this area is definitely hot.”
Jamie put on his glasses. The heat signatures for the first four people he looked at were normal. Then he saw a figure who was just slightly less bright in their heat signature.
Jamie walked up to the woman in her late forties who was texting furiously on her phone.
“Children are unappreciative,” Jamie observed.
“You have no idea, my children never appreciate what a bastard their father is,” she agreed, not looking up from the text messages she was sending.
“No matter how much you apologize they won’t listen,” Jamie commiserated.
“I said I was sorry if I did anything wrong, but it was all their father’s fault. If he hadn’t been such a bastard I never would have had to do any of this.” She continued to text.
Jamie patted her on the back, placing a tracking chip on her coat. Then he walked back to Rosen.
“She’s been dead about twelve hours and has turned,” Jamie said.
“You sure?” Rosen asked.
“Dead sure. She failed the field screen. I’ve tagged her. Have them take her out in the parking lot,” Jamie replied, and then resumed the hunt for KVs.
Twenty minutes later Jamie was up on the second level.
“Are we clear?” he called in on the com.
“Everyone you tagged has been acquired and processed,” a soldier responded.
“What’s the count?” Jamie asked.
“I believe thirty.”
“You believe or you know?” Jamie demanded.
“I’ll get you a confirmation count.”
“You do that.”
Jamie went over to the far side of the food court where he saw Sergeant Rosen talking to a woman in her late fifties. Jamie put on his glasses. The heat signature was off. He saw Rosen reach for the panel in his pocket. Jamie ran, yelling, “Don’t answer that!”
“Sir, the count is 29. I repeat the count is 29,” the soldier at the other end of the com said.
“This is my Aunt Anat,” Sergeant Rosen argued.
“Don’t answer your phone,” Jamie repeated.
“Why didn’t you become a doctor like your father?” Aunt Anat asked Rosen. She was also texting.
“Aunt Anat, we’ve talked about this before,” Rosen soothed, taking out his panel.
“Don’t answer your phone,” Jamie commanded, drawing his knife.
Rosen looked from his aunt to Jamie. He hurled his phone across the room where it shattered and he stabbed his aunt in the skull. Rosen was shaking.
“I could have sworn she was alive. She was complaining about my uncle, my cousins and my dad. The entire time I’ve ever known her that’s all she’s done.”
“I know,” Jamie said, patting the sergeant on the back. “I couldn’t tell when my ex or my sister turned. That’s the thing about the virus. It’s hard to tell if they’re dead or just abusive, kvetching, gossips who have nothing better to do with their lives.”
“She was the same. I gave her my number when she asked me why I was too good to give my only aunt my phone number.” Rosen shook his head.
“Everyone,” Jamie said into his com, “our frequency has been compromised and our private phones as well. Take no calls until tech updates the numbers.”
Jamie heard ten confirmations from the soldiers and the com went silent.
“At least we’ve cleared this one,” Jamie said, looking around the food court.
Then he saw a monitor menu screen flicker out to black and light back up. A text message was scrolling. “Close your eyes!” he yelled to sergeant Rosen.
Jamie drew his service pistol and sent two shots into the monitor, shattering it. Another monitor menu display lit up with the message. Jamie hit it once and then realized Anat was still texting.
“Screw me,” Jamie shouted, and kicked the phone from the dead woman’s hands.
“Is it safe to look?” Rosen asked.
“Give me a second,” Jamie said, swinging his pistol around to check the next monitor.
The monitor changed and he shot it. Then he proceeded to shoot out all of the menu monitor displays in the food court.
“Was that necessary?” Rosen asked, opening his eyes.
“Yes,” Jamie retorted, loading a new clip in his gun.
“This isn’t just a virus. Something or someone is now moving the messages onto public monitor displays. Either the virus can redirect itself or someone is helping it.”
“Com frequency updated,” they both heard.
“Check in,” Rosen said.
The count off went quickly but they were short two.
“Jackson, Sanchez, can you read me?” Sergeant Rosen asked.
No one answered.
“Where were Jackson and Sanchez before the coms reset?” Rosen demanded.
“They were holding position at the point of entry,” a soldier replied.
“Is everyone else out of the building?” Jamie asked.
“Yes. After the sweep we returned to the parking lot to process.”
“Good. Do not, I repeat do not, re-enter,” Jamie ordered.
“What the hell are you doing?” Rosen demanded.
“Whatever was going on in here with the food monitors, we have to assume was occurring everywhere in the complex. It was just dumb luck that only Sanchez and Jackson were in the mall when it happened,” Jamie said.
“Get back in the truck,” Rosen barked into the com. “Get back in the truck. Secure the vehicle and do not, I repeat, do not, look at any monitor screens, displays or tech until we provide orders in person.”
“Confirmed,” a soldier said. “Oh damn. Musky! Musky you stupid…”
There was an interference sound that may have been doors shutting or shots being fired.
The com line was quiet.
“What happened?” Rosen asked.
The com remained silent.
Jamie signaled Rosen to turn off the com. Sergeant Rosen nodded and disengaged his com unit. “We need to go quickly and quietly down if we are going to get out of here alive,” Jamie urged.
“You’re immune,” Rosen said.
“Not to getting shot I’m not.”
“What do you mean?” Rosen asked.
“Well there are two possibilities, either one, our soldiers shot an infected member, or two, an infected member shot our soldiers.”
“But…”
“Forget what we think we know,” Jamie said. “Something different is going on here.”
“How do you want to proceed?”
“We need to get you a blindfold.”
“Not happening,” Rosen said.
“Then I will have to go ahead of you and take out all the monitors between here and the exit.”
“That sounds fine by me.”
Jamie checked his ammunition and his knife, and then went down the escalator to the first floor. People were still shopping, which was not a good sign. Gunfire in the food court and possibly shots outside should have sent people racing for exits. But instead they were standing in front of store displays, some texting, some on tablets and others just staring.
“Is it clear?” Rosen called down.
“It most definitely is not clear. If it is anything, it is as far opposite of clear as you can get,” Jamie called up to Rosen.
Jamie put on his glasses; the heat signatures at the far end of the mall were nearly normal, but they were dropping. He walked forward down the main concourse. There were at least fifteen monitor displays in store fronts and three directory kiosk displays that were scrolling the message.
“Damn,” Jamie groaned; he knew he didn’t have enough ammo to take out all of the monitors. Especially not if the KVs turned on him. He doubled back to the escalator. “Rosen,” he called up.
“What?”
“There are too many monitors for me to take out and the whole first floor is infected. Anyone who was down here when the monitors started sending the message is toast.”
“Options?”
“One, I spend the next hour cutting through power and data feed lines to clear a path to the door. While the KVs get restless and come to text at me or kill me. Two, I find the breakers and shut down power to the complex and we are in here with them in the dark with only the emergency lighting. Or three, we get you in a blindfold and I lead you out of here,” Jamie said.
“I’m leaning toward one or two,” Rosen said.
Jamie did not respond.
“Fine, I’ll put on a damn blindfold.”
A few minutes later a blindfolded Sergeant Rosen came down the escalator. Jamie guided him off.
“Now what?” Rosen asked.
“You put a hand on my shoulder and we walk out of here.”
“That simple, huh?”
“I’m hoping,” Jamie answered.
They walked slowly down the concourse. The people in the mall were transfixed, staring at the monitors. “We’re doing fine,” Jamie said. “They are calm. I’m going to pick up the pace.”
The two men began to trot, with Jamie guiding them in an arc that would take them to their point of entry.
“How many clips do you have?” Jamie asked.
“Six, why?”
Jamie looked at the crush of people gathered at the far end of the corridor. The monitors flickered out to black and the people turned as one toward him and Rosen. “No reason, just might be a good idea to have your gun ready.”
“With a blindfold on?”
“I think we can ditch the blindfold,” Jamie said.
Rosen took off the blindfold. He did a quick mental count and said, “Wonderful.”
The people moved forward, en masse, converging on them.
∞
“What are you doing?” Sam yelled, as his mother dragged him down the concourse of the mall, just a few steps behind her boyfriend.
His mother said nothing. She just shuffled faster. People were crowding in either side of Sam. “Hey, watch it!” he yelled.
No one took any notice. “CHILD ABUSE!” Sam yelled at the top of his lungs. Then he looked around expectantly.
The crowd continued to lurch. The HDMP and Family Emergency Services Evaluation Team Response (FESTER) failed to materialize and he continued to be dragged toward the area where two armed officers were standing.
“Mom! This is a bad idea!” Sam was now negotiating as he tried to twist free of his mother’s grip. “They are federal; they are going to kill us!”
His mother slowed, but she didn’t stop. Sam saw a blur to his right and felt himself being thrown sideways.
∞
“Why aren’t they texting or complaining?” Rosen asked.
“It’s different; something is changing it,” Jamie said, then fired into the skull of one of the KVs.
“Think it’s time we go low tech,” Rosen said, shooting four of them.
“Knives?” Jamie asked, shooting three more.
“No, old school,” Rosen replied, detaching the long flat blade strapped between his shoulders.
Jamie followed suit. The two men swung machetes through the necks of the pressing crowd, kicking falling bodies out of the way. After hacking their way through more than twenty people they managed to reach the entrance to the mall.
“We make a run for the truck?” Rosen asked.
“On three,” Jamie agreed, hacking down another KV who used to be an insurance salesman.
“One,” Rosen said.
The glass of the entrance doors exploded. Rosen and Jamie dropped to the ground. Jamie looked over his arms that covered his head and saw where the
gun fire was coming from. Two soldiers were firing into the mall. They were strafing the entrance.
∞
“You okay?” a voice behind Sam asked.
“Where’s my mom?” he demanded.
“If she is lucky, dead.”
Sam looked up expecting to see one of the adults, instead he saw a girl, maybe fifteen years old. “Follow me.”
Sam got up and set out in the opposite direction to the girl. He found that she had dragged him into one of the clothes stores. He stepped out and saw gunfire ripping through his mother’s creepy boyfriend.
He looked for his mother and was getting ready to run out into the concourse when he felt something pull him back.
∞
“It’s Jackson and Sanchez,” Rosen said. “What the hell are they doing?”
“They aren’t doing anything,” Jamie said. “It’s the virus.”
Rosen took aim with his firearm and shot Jackson and then Sanchez. The two soldiers fell, but kept firing.
Glass continued to shatter as the fallen soldiers, heads all but obliterated, continued to send a hail of bullets into the front of the mall. Then there was a moment’s silence. Both soldiers ran out of ammunition, and their hands wandered across their bodies, probing and feeling their way until they found their ammunition clips.
“Now!” Rosen yelled.
∞
“Let go of me!” Sam yelled, as hands pulled him back.
“And watch you die? No thanks,” the girl spat out, dragging him backwards through the store.
Sam spun around, “Who do you think you are? I’m going to get -”
“Killed. Killed is what you are going to get if you don’t follow me out of here,” she insisted, not slowing her retreat to the back of the store.
She came to a doorway and cracked the door open. Peering out she saw a black federal transport van in the parking lot. “You see that over there?”
Sam looked out through the gray and black of the Paramus, New Jersey winter night at the vehicle, and nodded his head. “Yeah, so?”
“When they leave, we leave,” she said, and retrieved a back pack from behind a shelf in the storage room.