Disease X

by Garrett Williams

  Weakness

  The rhythmic popping and clanging of metal on metal filled the training room with the fire of a three shot burst rifle wielded by Alex. Ashley sat behind him on a window sill, no longer covering his ears as the hours of their training had made his ears callous to the ring of the bullets. One new burst had been unleashed from the barrel of his latest weapon and he had finally struck the box in front of him from a few feet away. The box was riddled in holes and singe marks from the abuse it had received. The box fell to the ground with a soft thump as it collapsed from the punishment. Ashley looked up after hearing it and instantly walked toward the boy. Alex looked over to her and gave a satisfactory smile. She simply gave him a gaze and continued toward him and took the weapon from his grasp.

  “Clearly we still need work with your aim. You still know how the safety works at least, right?” Ashley asked as she gripped the handle of the weapon with one hand, letting it face the ground at her side.

  “Yeah,” Alex said happily. Alex became pleased with himself since he had begun to now be more comfortable wielding a firearm. None the less, what happened three days ago still haunted him. The death of that soldier from the gun shop he was in.

  “We’ll work some more tomorrow. For now, go into the room over there to get settled in.”

  “What? But it’s only been – “Alex glared out the window to see the orange tint of the light that had passed through. The entire day had passed, and he spent it just working the weapons.

  “It was a massive waste of ammo but everyone needs to know at least.”

  Alex’s smile then faded into shame as he looked down and said, “Sorry.”

  “Don’t be. Besides, that fight with Danny must have worn you out. You’ll go with Delsin tomorrow and he’ll teach field work.”

  Alex thought back to it and asked, “Worn me out? I feel fine.”

  “Right now maybe, but you still can’t push yourself.”

  “But I wasn’t even exhausted in that fight.”

  “I meant your powers.”

  “What?”

  “You don’t know either?” Ashley sighed as though she had to explain it to someone before. “You can only use your powers so much before they consume you, and everyone’s different.”

  “How so?” Ashley stopped and thought about his question, searching for an example. A moment had passed and she spoke again with a sharp intellect.

  “Well, you can’t use flame too often or you’ll run a fever and get dehydrated. You can’t use ice too much or else you’ll get hypothermia and get dehydrated. You can’t use bone frequently or else your bones will get brittle and break. You can’t – “she said as she counted off on her fingers, Alex interrupted her and asked.

  “Danny called me a parasite. Why?” Ashley put her fingers down, hoping that he would not ask that question. It was better and safer that he not know. Now, however, she would have to tell him, or he will figure out on his own and get the wrong ideas. She sighed and stated.

  “I guess he just doesn’t like you,” She deviated from the truth.

  “But I’ve never done anything to him. I don’t even know him.”

  Ashley had no other choice now. She couldn’t lie and she couldn’t change the subject, he seemed determined to find out what was wrong with him, and what he truly became. Ashley had never actually seen a demi-god in person, that is why she was reluctant to let the palms of his hands touch her, she especially didn’t want to scare him. “Your official name is demi-god. It means that through absorption, you can take on any traits that you want,” Ashley said reluctantly.

  Alex grew shocked and looked down at his hands. He saw a small, blue spark run between his fingers. He looked back up at her face and asked, “So does that mean that…I’m the entire infected in one?” She nodded her head in retaliation. Alex gave way to a now grim look in his pupils and asked with urgency. “Then doesn’t that mean that I have the worst backfire of them all?!”

  “…Actually no,” Alex’s worry faded to curiosity when she responded.

  “That doesn’t make any sense. There has to be a weakness, we all have one,” Ashley gave Alex a blank stare and responded.

  “We have weakness. We all do. That’s what binds every healthy and sick person, no matter who they are and where there from. That’s what we try to teach them, to exploit their own weaknesses. The world needs weak people just as much as it needs strong people, the strong to save the weak from danger, and the weak to save the life of the strong- headed one. That’s why people will always hate you; you have no weakness, which makes you inhuman. You kill others for power; you are other people’s weakness. That’s why they’ll call you parasite, and leech, and cannibal.”

  Alex felt truly hurt by her speech, as he put his dingy hood back over his head. Ashley came out of the trance like state that was her lecture, and resumed her indifferent stare. She gestured toward a double door to the side of her. “You’ll be staying the night in there. It’s a bit snug, but I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Alex looked over to the doors; he could see at least three silhouettes in front of the blurred windows of the small room. He could see that she was not wrong about the carrying capacity of the room. Ashley walked off past him and toward the exit doors of the abandon factory. She opened the door and orange and red sunset filled the room in glorious harmony. Alex looked back and asked, “So do you hate me now?”

  “Excuse me?” She responded.

  “You told me you find out how others work before you like them. Do you hate me now that you know what I am?” Ashley looked back and asked him.

  “I believe the better question here is do you hate yourself?”

  Alex walked toward his new home as he lamented on the question. Did he truly know himself anymore? When he attacked Levi, it was out of pure selfishness, a hunger for sustenance. Ashley watched him slowly walk toward his shared quarters. Although his back had been turned, she gave him sympathetic eyes, she knew that scared child well, and it was her. She watched him enter the doors and as silence filled the entire room, every eye had landed on him. The doors slammed shut and Ashley was left alone in the sunset. She walked on and let the doors fall back into place.

  The impact of rough metal and plastic awoke Heather. She slowly opened her eyes to find that she was in the back of a strange vehicle she had never seen before.

  “Wake up. Welcome to your new home,” The voice of a soldier rattled in her mind as she struggled to regain consciousness. The tranquility of her sleep had been interrupted by harsh voices and engine sounds. The soldier butted her shoulder again, urging her to rise and walk through the gates. Heather finally marshalled the strength to rise and sit on the cushions of the military jeep and begin to slide out. She slid out and orange sunlight pierced her blue eyes, nearly blinding her.

  “C’mon, we don’t have all day,” The soldier rushed her as she tried to gain a sense of the location where she had been taken. The soldier then put cuffs on her and jerked her over to the gates. They stopped as they waited for the gate to open just enough for the adolescent to slip through un-electrocuted. The soldier then removed her handcuffs and threw her in, landing on her knees on the other side. The gates closed as Heather’s mind raced to gather her thoughts on what was going on. She was confused. She had trouble remembering what had happened at her house when the two purgers arrived. She sat on her knees until she remembered a woman staring down at her with a weapon and that was when her life ended.

  She stood up in shock and stumbled over to the gate, the sparks of the fence beckoned her to stop, so she did. Stopping short of the fence all she could see was the jeep disappearing off in the distance. She wanted to plead to them to not let her stay in there, for her to keep the life that she held so dear to her and the people that loved her. All of it was gone now. She turned to face the Yellow Zone where most specters go. She stared at the ruins of the once glorious Queens.

  Although in better shape than the red zone, Manhattan, it was not without its scars. Shat
tered glass littered the streets and concrete debris and rubble materialized from the unstable buildings around the inhabitants. If she had had the choice, she would want to be in the Green Zone, Brooklyn. They had regulations though, specter usually possess higher than average threat levels to the public. She stared off at the ruins, knowing that this was her life now. She was an adopted child to a cruel father.

  She heard a sharp whistle from her right and quickly turned to face whatever it was that she felt would be the very thing that would do her in. She stared for a few seconds until an older looking man, who appeared as though he were in his mid-forties, walked out from around the corner of the ruins of a small convenience store. He bore a rifle slung on his back and running shoes on his feet. He had short brown hair and soft brown eyes and a cargo vest upon his chest. Heather began to stumble back, still confused from the tranquilizer, and fell to the ground.

  “No wait! Please! I’m not here to hurt you,” The strange man said with a morsel of care in his voice as he held up his hand to her and lowered his rifle from his back to the ground. He reached into the back of his jeans and pulled out a small pistol, which he also introduced to the hard pavement. Heather watched with worry clearly expressed on her face as she tried to regain her footing. The stranger walked closer to her and she tried to crawl back to her feet and run, but she tripped and fell back down. She kept trying to crawl like a wounded animal until the stranger walked in front of her and stuck a tall plastic bottle of clean water in her path. She stopped suddenly and looked up at the stranger who had tried to offer the supplement to her, thinking of whether or not it was a devious ploy.

  “Go on, take it. Those darts have a tendency to dehydrate some people,” He insisted and motioned the bottle to her. She looked back down at the bottle and could not deny his opinion was a fact, she was extremely thirsty. She slowly took the bottle and sat down at his feet and opened the lid. She looked back up at him after examining the element again and a reassuring smile came to his face. She did not trust him, but she took the drink anyway. She felt a warm sensation run down the inside of her throat and across her chest as she swallowed the water.

  “I saw you get dropped off not too long ago. It certainly is a sight isn’t it,” The stranger said as he sat down beside her as she continued to drink the water. She looked over to him and after a moment had passed, she finally asked.

  “Why are you helping me? Isn’t it every man for themselves in here?” She asked as she eye balled a combat knife in his back pocket. If she could concentrate enough, she could lift it from his pocket and use it for herself.

  “Why wouldn’t I help? The people out there look at us like were animals. We have to prove them wrong don’t we?” he asked seeming sure of himself. Heather took another large swig of the container and swallowed. She couldn’t deny that it could be poisoned, but she was desperate, and if she tried to run any further, there was a chance he would kill her. She looked over again and asked.

  “Prove them wrong…through violence? Are you a terrorist too?” She accused him as she gestured to the weapons he had left sitting in the middle of the street with them. He smiled as though he knew she would ask. He looked off into the distance of the city and responded.

  “There’s already enough violence amongst us. Through that, we have learned that violence only begets more violence. If we can teach them to love each other and to love their powers, then maybe we can teach the healthy the same thing too. If you can teach a snake to be friends with a mongoose, then you can teach a human to be friends with a dog.”

  Heather thought about the phrase as she looked into the water though the bottle.

  “So you’re not a terrorist?”

  “No, I’m as peaceful as the water you drink.”

  A moment had passed and it seemed that he did not want to hurt her. He did not even try to touch her for as long as they spoke. “What are you?” The Stranger asked.

  “What?” Heather responded as she screwed the cap back onto the lid.

  “Your trait I mean?” He asked again with curiosity.

  “Well… a Specter.” Heather replied uneasily.

  “Perfect, we could use people like you. People that love peace.” He stood up and offered his hand to her to pick her up. She looked at his surprisingly clean hand and decided to take it. She wrapped her hand around his own and he pulled her back to her feet. He began to walk off toward his weapons and picked them back up. He slung his rifle back onto his back and shoved his pistol back into his pants. He looked over at her and motioned her to come with him. “C’mon, we’re burning daylight.” She looked over to see that the sun was gradually going down. She walked toward him, knowing that she had this feeling of distrust toward him. She couldn’t decide against him, what other options would she have in the Yellow Zone? She walked with him leading the way. She carried the bottle firmly as it bent in her hand. She followed him off into the distance, reluctantly, but convinced of what he told her.

  Sweat dripped onto the floor as Danny sat hunched over the on the side of his bed. He held a wet rag in one hand and a canteen of water in the other. He took a large swill of water and then wiped his face with the rag. His quarters were adorned with weapons along the walls, all of which were his favorites. At the side of his bed on a small table sat a picture of him with his arm around his girlfriend, Ashley. It had been some years ago, they couldn’t have been older than nineteen. They were the same age now, but Ashley would soon turn twenty four within a matter of days.

  He sat on his grey wool blanket and moved the shirt underneath his jacket to show the small burn left by Alex. The longer he stared the more his wished it would go away. He felt weak, and he felt incapable. His fingers moved toward the scald on his stomach and as soon as they made contact he cringed in sharp pain. He put his shirt back down and left it alone, he didn’t want to tell anyone about it, especially not Delsin. He had been on him about how if keeps pushing it he’ll kill himself. The boy was the first one in ages to so much as make him feel pain, let alone make a mark on him. He could still feel the electricity surge through his body when he grabbed his wrist. The door opened suddenly and he instinctively reached for the pistol he had left behind him sitting on the bed. The door revealed Merrick. He somehow knew he would be there. Danny relaxed and didn’t say a word as he brought his arm back to his front.

  Merrick broke the silence and stated, “You look like hell.” Danny looked at him with frustration and looked back down at the ground. Merrick walked over to a desk that had sat by the door and grabbed a chair with one hand and set it across him. He sat down and continued.

  “I’m not going to sugar-coat this, I’m not your daddy, and we both know that. I saw you two in the factory.” Danny looked up disdainfully and finally spoke.

  “So you trust the cannibal more than you trust me around him?”

  “I know you started the fight, Dan.”

  “I don’t trust him. One of us is already going to be burned tonight. Who knows how long it will be until he accidentally, or purposefully, kills another one of us. He’s a kid.” Merrick sighed, looked at the ground in disappointment and then reached into his shirt. He brought out a glimmering pair of metal plates from around his neck and showed them to him.

  “Did I ever tell you why I left the Army?” He asked as he held the plates from a chain around his neck. Danny thought and he was shocked to realize that he never did truly tell him why he left. He was there when he left, but he never understood why. Merrick continued.

  “I first joined because I wanted to make something of myself, to show the world that I wasn’t useless and without purpose. Then, as I first saw battle when I was eighteen in Afghanistan, I saw my friends die right in front of me. I saw the light in their eyes fade as they left me when I wanted to help them. But the thing is, I was only focused on what was happening in front of me. I never thought about the woman I had promised to marry after I left. The thing that kept me going in that time was the thought of the people I had bac
k home. If I didn’t survive this, I would never know if they were safe or not.”

  Danny began to look back to his face as he continued his story.

  “When the extraction chopper came in they saw me with blood running down my face, not just mine either, some of it was when I checked my friend’s heart from their bleeding chest. As I got in and I left the scene, I saw the bodies of the men and women that I had grown to think of as brothers and sisters in arms fade from me in the distance until they had been erased from me. Since that day, I promised myself that I would protect the ones that I loved when danger hit home. Sure enough, it did one year later, when I was pulled from the kill zone and thrown into hell. My first instinct was to run for my fiancé, when I was ordered as soon as I arrived to eliminate a certain target. A little boy was the target me and my squad were assigned. When we found him…. I believe you know this part of the story.”

  Danny nodded in awe and began to speak.

  “You killed your own squad and saved that boy. Why?”

  “Because even though I had to get to her, even though I had orders, I couldn’t kill a child, because I wanted one of my own. I knew that saving the boy surrounded by corpses would be a mutiny to my country to serve justice in what was happening. But I saw the fear in that scared child’s eyes and I remembered the eyes of my comrades in Afghanistan. I saw the tears fill that seven-year-old’s iris as the ones he cared for died and burned before him. And I couldn’t forgive my own squad for killing one of the boys own. That was the day was the day I turned in my resignation…and left my fiancé. I infected myself to make a statement to the country. The statement that if a soldier can learn to forgive and love the ones who cause pain and grief, and a soldier who sees the world as bloody, then there is hope. They just took me as a traitor though, and my wife moved on. That’s why I founded this group, because I gave a little boy a chance to be human, and trusted him to do such.”

  “Do you have any regrets now?” Danny asked feeling sullen all of a sudden. Merrick merely smiled and put his plates back into his shirt comfortably. He then rubbed Danny’s head and stood up again. “The only regret I have is that fact I can’t see into the future.” Danny looked up at him and smiled. He stood with him and they walked over to the exit of his quarters.