by A. Giacomi
When I finally venture into the hallway I’m startled by the amount of young people crowding it. I feel a bit claustrophobic as I try to venture down the large hallway, wanting to scream at people who got in my way. The end of the hallway has a list of classes their room numbers and underneath that was a bunch of names. It looked as though we had been divided into different classes and we were to find our names and report directly to that class. Scanning the wall I find my name under a class called History of the Dead. It didn’t sound anything like combat training, but some of the other classes were definitely more physical, one class was a mixed martial arts one, and another was some sort of gun practice. Apparently, I had one of the “boring” classes I overheard another girl mention to her friend who happened to be on the same list as myself.
History of the Dead took place in Room 111, which I had not a clue where to find. As I dodge many people through the halls and get shoved around, I find many rooms, but none of them happen to be 111. Finally, I bump into what seems to be a Professor.
“Excuse me, sir…where can I find Room 111?”
He grumpily points to the end of the hall and then scurries off without a word. I was glad he wasn’t heading the same way, he was already on my not so favorite person list.
The end of the hall is barren and I feel as though I’m in the wrong place, but when I enter the door there is a classroom full of students who turn to view me. How had they all gotten here so fast? I feel exposed as they all eye me searching for a seat. Of course the only seats left were right at the front.
Our Professor stands behind a podium at the front of the class and behind him is a rather large screen that says, “Welcome to History Class…where brawn meets strategy.” Our professor is fairly old, but holds a great amount of energy in his smile. He is a bald short man who wears glasses and a rather old fashioned looking sweater.
“Welcome Pupils,” he utters with complete and total excitement. “Today we begin to build your knowledge about our common enemy. Where they come from, what makes them tick, and what the current situation is… I know some of you will deem this class ‘boring’ or ‘pointless,’ but I think you will find by the end of it, it is simply quite necessary. How can you fight what you do not know?”
He allows the question to hang in the air for us to contemplate. I suppose he did have a point. I knew very little about our common enemy. I knew they ate flesh, the virus can spread, and that apparently my mother had been a unique sort of infected zombie, but that was about it. A realization began to hit me, I think my father had kept a lot from me.
The Professor pulls up the first slide and I let out a rather loud gasp of surprise when I find a picture of my father staring back at me. Everyone looks at me once more, the boy next to me even asks if I’m okay, to which I respond, “Fine, thanks,” and continue to stare at the screen desperate for answers. Apparently, I knew very little indeed.
Under his picture it accredited his findings as the first documented cases of the Azrael Virus. His full name was there as well, “Dr. Walther Hugo Augustus”. I had never known his full name, or that he was a famous Archaeologist. As I look around the class, I half expect people to keep staring at me, but I suppose they didn’t know I was his ward, instead of staring at me, the students looked quite bored, apparently, I was the only one with a genuine interest in the class. Turns out this isn’t to be so boring after all! It is going to be a family history lesson.
My mouth hangs open as screen after screen shows images of Dr. Augustus working in the labs to come up with a cure, which he never successfully completed. Instead, he came up with a few reasonably successful medications that delayed the virus slightly.
“Now I started with the man who discovered the virus, but what the virus actually is, is a whole other matter,” the Professor exclaims ominously. “What Augustus discovered after much testing was that the virus wasn’t much of a virus at all, instead it was a curse. A curse brought about by Satan himself, the devil. A long time ago, an Egyptian King made a deal with the devil to protect his people, but when the devil came back to collect his price, the King was unable to pay and he was cursed to become the undead and eat the flesh of the living…”
Our Professor stops there, everyone is now at the edge of their seats, but he does not continue, instead he ends the class with, “And that my friends is where we will continue our classes next week. See you then!”
The entire room lets out a huge grunt of disappointment, just as the story was getting good it was time to go. However, it seemed like a smart move to leave them hanging and wanting more, this way they were guaranteed to show up next week.
Leaving the room I feel a bit shaken, my father had been much more than he appeared to be, what else could he have been hiding from me? As I drift off into my thoughts I barely notice the boy next to me until he taps me on the shoulder startling me out of my train of thought.
“I’m so sorry,” he says looking a tad embarrassed. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay. You looked a bit flushed the entire class. Are you well? I can take you to the nurse if you need.”
It was the boy who had been sitting next to me in class, I suppose he had continued to keep an eye on me even after I had told him I was fine.
Shaking my head I say, “No really I’m fine. I’m just new here and I’m realizing I don’t know very much about anything.” I’m shocked to hear my true frustration come out in my tone.
“I figured you were new. I haven’t seen you around here before. Not that I’ve been here very long. Only about five months. I’m still getting used to the place myself. My name’s Theodore, but everyone just calls me Theo.” The boy with the dark hair and emerald eyes holds out his hand to shake mine.
“Nice to meet you, Theo, I’m Beni, and yes I’m very new, like yesterday new,” I say laughing awkwardly. People still made me nervous I guess.
Theo smiles and bids me farewell, he has another class to catch and I was to meet with John Lessard for a full tour of the grounds. Finding his office, however, proved to be more difficult than I thought. I ask many people, most just shrug, some point me in the wrong direction. It is only when a man in military garb finds me that I am taken to Lessard’s office which appears to be well under the main floors.
When I reach his office he is on a call and looks quite distraught, when he looks up to see me he attempts to wipe away his look of concern. He didn’t want me to know something, but I had warned him that I was insatiably curious.
“Sir, is everything alright?” I try to pry.
“Yes, of course, Abeni, everything is quite well. Shall we begin our tour?” He wipes his salt and pepper hair from his forehead and escorts me out the door. “How was your first class?”
I stop a moment. “Why hadn’t he told me he was famous?” I ask, unable to hide the hurt I felt.
Lessard looks confused. “He never told you? He really never told you about all his findings? He’s the reason we know anything about the virus, or the Eye of Ra, or the Underworld. He was able to take myth and allow us to understand it as fact. So yes he was quite important, but what I can also gather is that he was quite modest. Perhaps this is why he kept it from you.”
I nod, but still feel the sting of his secrecy. “Sir, I would prefer you don’t do the same. If there is something to be told, I expect you to tell me. I want to help you, but keeping secrets makes me angry and I’m sure my father told you about what happens when I’m angry.”
“Indeed he did,” Lessard says looking away, “which is why you’ve been assigned a meditation class, one you must go to on your own once a week.”
“Meditation class? What’s that, sir?”
“It’s hard to explain, you’ll find out next week, but your father stressed its importance. It will help you control your emotions.”
I suppose anything that could control my emotions would be a good investment. Being an “exceptional
human” as my father used to put it felt less like being special and more like being cursed. I knew I was fast, and strong, and smart, but what I couldn’t control was what happened when my blood boiled. Not that it happened much when I lived with father, only a couple of incidents, but being around all these people made me nervous, all I wanted to do since getting here was hide in my room, but that would have made my father quite disappointed.
Touring the facility proves to be quite interesting. The lower level was for Mr. Lessard’s use and for military personnel this was where they watched from. Many screens showed different cities around the world. Lessard tells me there used to be many more cities, but since the dead devastated much of the population many cities just never grew again. This made it easier to keep them under surveillance, but more difficult to transport supplies with so few stops between cities.
On the main level, I am shown all the different classrooms and facilities for students. One of the classes that caught my eye put you in the middle of a staged zombie attack, that room proved to be my favorite, but apparently, it was for intermediate students, which I suppose I wasn’t only being a day in.
The upper levels felt more like museums. There was a library, an area where they held important documents, a film room showing document zombie attacks, a few labs for research purposes and an advanced weaponry room that remained locked at all times.
“Well that’s all, Abeni, what do you think of your new home?” Lessard says looking like a proud father of his prison.
“I think it’s very daunting actually. I’m going to be quite lost for the first little while.”
Lessard chuckles. “Well that’s to be expected, it takes the students a good month to get the hang of this place.”
Lessard leads me back to my room. “Here you are, dear, I suppose you’d like to get some rest now. The first day is always the longest, it will improve, I promise.”
Before heading inside I simply had to ask, “When are you going to tell me about why I’m really here? You said you were in dire need of me? Well, I’m here…so…” I leave the question open for him to fill in the blank, but Lessard doesn’t bite.
Clearing his throat, he begins to walk away. “Another time perhaps.”
Once he’s completely out of view, I head into my room and am startled to find I’m not alone.
“Oh for god sakes, Julia! You startled me!” I say breathlessly gripping at my chest.
“Sorry, I just, I just…I just got bored I guess,” she says blushing slightly.
“Is this going to become a very common thing, Julia?” I ask raising an eyebrow and crossing my arms.
She thinks about it a moment and then utters, “Ummm maybe?”
I laugh the first laugh I’ve genuinely had in a long time. “Well okay, perhaps it’s best we become friends then…it would make this situation a whole less awkward, don’t you think?”
She nods agreeably as the golden curls atop her head bounce with her.
“Okay, I’ll start…my name is Abeni, I’m sixteen and I’m an orphan now. My father passed away a few days ago and he said that this is where he had planned to send me for a long time. I’m not sure I like it here yet. I’m not used to so many people, but I like you, you seem nice. Why are you here?”
“Thank you!” she says beaming, “I am pretty nice. I’ve been here a year already. My parents died on a mission for Mr. Lessard. They were soldiers and when soldiers die their children come here to be taken care of and trained to do the same job their parents did. I guess that’s why so many people become soldiers now. It’s a way to know your kids will be safe when you’re gone.”
I hear a slight twinge of sadness trickling into her voice, and since I couldn’t bear to see adorable little Julia cry, I decide to change the subject.
“Hey so where can we get some food around here? I know the cafeteria is closed by now, but what do you do if you’re still hungry? Is there a place to get midnight snacks?”
Julia giggles. “I know just the place! Follow me!” She nearly bounces out of the room.
We walk down quite a few hallways, I’m impressed by her navigation of the place, I was already lost by the second hallway. Soon we are standing in front of a large metal door, it has a keypad that required a code, and Julia punches in a four digit number releasing the doors and allowing us inside.
“How do you know all this stuff?” I ask in surprise.
She shrugs. “I get bored a lot and I guess no one ever expects a nine-year-old to listen too much, but I listen to everything.”
I have to laugh again, this girl is something else.
As we enter the kitchen, which is supposed to be closed, Julia leads me to what looks like a giant refrigerator. She tries to pull the doors open, but they are quite large and look very heavy, so I ask her to move aside so I can have a go at it. The door easily flies open by my hand and we both walk inside the refrigerator that seemed big enough to be someone’s home.
The shelves are stocked with cans and pre-made foods, but what really catches my eye is something in the form of cookies. As I get closer I can see the box reads chocolate chip. “Shall I take these?” I ask Julia in a whisper. She nods excitedly and claps her hands, I took that as a yes and swipe the box off the shelf.
Before we can leave the kitchen, I hear something shuffling about. I pull Julia to me instinctively. I can smell something foul now. What was that? Silently we wait for the sound to reveal itself, but nothing could have prepared me for what I saw next. A man slowly and awkwardly approaches us from out of the shadows of the kitchen. He still wears an apron smeared with today’s meal preparations. He was definitely one of the cooks, but he didn’t seem quite right. His feet slide awkwardly as he moves toward us, it barely resembles a walk.
“Are you alright?” I call out as a frightened Julia clings to me.
The man doesn’t answer; he just continues to walk forward. I can see it now, his skin has that purple twinge that I saw in my nightmare. He’s not human. Not anymore.
“Julia, run to the door!” I shout.
She doesn’t hesitate and attempts to open the large metal doors we entered from. I can see her fiddling with the code, but it doesn’t seem to be working. Julia looks panicked.
“Abeni, I don’t think it’s the same password to get out. We’re trapped!” she yells.
Sweat begins to bead on my forehead. This wasn’t a good sign.
“Back up,” I say to the slow creature before me, and that’s when he finally looks up at me. His eyes were as I expected, red and glowing with hunger. He growls as he grows faster and lunges at me. His arms wrap around me and his teeth aim straight for my face. I turn away so that he becomes tangled in my hair. Using my arms I peel him off of me and he takes some of my dark strands of hair with him, the locks still hanging from his teeth as he tries to lunge at me again. Looking around the kitchen I try to find anything that resembles a knife or weapon. I find a pot hanging from one of the racks and decide it will have to do. Pulling it down from above I ready myself for impact. The former man lunges at me again and I strike him clean in the jaw. Teeth go flying from his mouth and trickle onto the ground. However, this doesn’t stop his advances. I ready myself for another blow when the lights come on and a soldier enters with a gun at the ready. He blows a hole through the cook’s head, and his body slumps down to the ground in a crumpled heap.
“Are you both alright?” the soldier asks frantically.
Before I can answer, Lessard comes running in breathlessly. “Did we have another incident?” he asks the soldier before discovering who was in the room. “Abeni? What are you doing in here?”
Holding up the box of cookies I exclaim, “I’m sorry we were just hungry.”
Lessard doesn’t look angry, simply concerned.
“What do you mean by another incident?” I ask blatantly.
Lessard rolls h
is eyes. “Officer please escort this one back to bed,” he says pointing to Julia. “Abeni and I have much to discuss it seems. Also, if you could please contact the bio-hazard crew for clean-up it would be much appreciated, thank you.”
With a, “Sir, yes sir!” the soldier leaves with Julia following behind.
It takes Lessard a moment to compose himself before responding. “Look Abeni, I know you want answers, but I don’t have them all. I have very few answers which is why I need you. I know you are the key to so much of this, but I haven’t figured out how yet. I’m sure as you’ve realized from what happened with your father, that they aren’t necessarily being bitten in order to turn. It seems a new war is starting and this is the devil’s game plan, those who die, simply return. He’s gaining soldiers without any of the work he had to do before. It’s almost as though he’s poisoned all of our souls, so that if we die, we come back no matter what. It’s absolutely terrifying and I have no idea how to stop it. People die every day from health complications, to old age, to fluke accidents. So every day his army grows and they have the power to bite and infect others.”
Processing this information was difficult, it was contrary to what I had been taught by my father, but I suppose information changes, and although he had never mentioned anything about a devil being the route of all this, I could only imagine it would have to be someone very powerful causing all this chaos, someone who held dominion over the dead seemed like a good place to start.
“How do we get in contact with this devil?”
Lessard laughs. “What do you mean? It’s not possible! No one has a conversation with him unless they wish to make a deal with him, and even then his information is not to be trusted.”