by Ellis, Tara
“Not dead,” Eddy answered. “But yes, they’re infected.”
“Then we’re back to a combination of factors, unless the environmental influence can be narrowed and retraced, which is impossible since those islands aren’t accessible anymore.”
“Correct.” Eddy took a sip of Jason’s cold coffee.
“Why are you telling me this?” Jason asked, surprised to find himself already thinking of Eddy as a part of some separate “team”. Though, to be fair, he had spent the day counting the tiles on the floor while Eddy was out gathering intel and at least figuring out what was going on inside his own head.
“Because we’re out of time.” Eddy sounded surprised by the question. “This afternoon, I had the opportunity to talk with Devon and Tyler. Those are two of the Immunes from the islands. They came here intentionally, much like ourselves. They have an interesting theory involving prehistoric thermophile archaea’s interacting with the prions, and—”
“You’re losing me,” Jason said, cutting him off. “Bottom-line it for me.”
A slight straightening of his shoulders was the only indication in Eddy’s demeanor of any displeasure. “They’ve got evidence that traces the origin of the prion,” he said simply. “While I question the validity of their belief that finding the source will somehow aid in a way to combat it, I do feel that your teaming up with them would be in your best interest.”
Jason frowned again. “Do I want to know why?”
“Social anthropology,” Eddy replied.
“Ugh,” Jason moaned. “Are you going to tell me that’s another minor you somehow managed to get in between your doctorate in medicine and degree in virology?”
Eddy wrinkled his nose and ignored the jab. “The study of patterns of behavior in human societies and cultures makes me rather confident in my assessment. Based on my own evolution, and from observing the other cured brought to this facility, I believe the Cured will seek out others like them. Just as the immune will seek other Immunes. Those who are immune will fear the Cured, because we fear that which we don’t understand. Human nature is to either control or destroy what they fear. As a result, the Cured will come to recognize you as a threat and seek to destroy you first.”
Once again, Jason took his head in his hands and physically tried to help himself through the processing of information. There was too much rolling around up there, making it increasingly difficult to concentrate. Having his best friend essentially lay out a future civil war between the few relics who managed to survive their extinction was pushing his limits.
“Aren’t we getting ahead of things here?” Jason urged, peeking out at Eddy through his splayed fingers. “Can we maybe focus on…oh, I dunno; getting out of this cement tomb first and finding a new purpose in life before we talk about killing each other over it?”
“I’ve already got that covered,” Eddy said quickly, as he stood and went to lay down on his cot. “As I said, you are coming with me in the morning. By then, I imagine the rest of the facility will already be falling into disarray. Most will abandon their posts, and the others likely won’t care what we’re doing.”
“And what are we doing?” Jason asked, feeling somewhat detached as he sat there, watching Eddy settle in to fall asleep.
“We’ll continue to do what we’ve been doing all along.” Eddy glanced at him briefly before turning to face the wall. “Staying alive.”
Jason remained sitting at the table, his food growing colder. He didn’t know if he’d be able to sleep. Or if he could turn off the light, or close his eyes without falling into a dark pit he’d be unable to crawl out of. He’d been around too many men who’d been willing to do whatever it took to stay alive, and it didn’t take a brain-eating disease or degree in anthropology to expose the ugliness of human nature.
In the small cement room, far below the surface of the California desert, Jason could feel the weight of his own existence pressing in. He was terrified to discover what he might be capable of.
Chapter 23
JESS
Amazon Jungle near Kumalu, Suriname
Northeast interior of South America
Jess had decided she didn’t like the dark. She used to be content lying under the stars, reading under her covers, sleeping with the door closed, and not having a source of light to guide her through the house when she woke at night. Since the power went out, she found herself expecting something horrifying to be lurking in every dark, pooling corner. Jess never went anywhere after dusk without a flashlight, and Akuba was concerned she’d burn the house down with one of the many candles she kept burning in her room.
When the scream first woke her, Jess thought it was the remnant of a nightmare, and she lay there staring at the flickering light from the lone candle on her nightstand. It had a hypnotizing effect, and her lids were beginning to close when another scream drifted in through her open window.
Sitting up in bed with a jerk, she held her breath and listened.
“Help!” The woman’s voice was thin and from far away, but unmistakable.
Throwing the light cotton sheet off, Jess sprang from the bed and grabbed her coveted headlamp. She reached her door just as Akuba came running down the hall. “You heard it, too?” she gasped, when Akuba shone a flashlight on her face.
“Come,” was all Akuba said in reply.
Kavish was snoring on the couch in the living room, and Akuba kicked at him as they stopped near the back slider. Jess unlocked the screen before pulling it open, shrinking away from the bottomless night and whatever new terrors it held.
“Kavish!” Akuba whispered, poking at his chest with the flashlight. “Wake up!”
Grunting, once the man realized he wasn’t alone he came instantly awake. Rubbing at his face, he stood and then looked around anxiously. “What’s wrong? I’m up!” Another shout, this time from a man, made him freeze and his eyes widened.
The sounds were getting closer, and seemed to be coming from the front of the preserve and the long private driveway.
Bending over, Kavish retrieved a handgun from the floor. Jess was startled when he stood back up with it clasped tightly in both hands. While they kept a couple of rifles in her dad’s office, she’d never seen the smaller gun before.
“You should stay here,” he said, directing the command to both her and Akuba. “I’ll go find out what’s going on.”
“Dr. Davies!” The crunching of gravel under several feet underscored the plea. “Dr. Davies, are you here?” The woman’s voice was growing louder and more defined, and Jess thought she recognized it.
“Amisha?” Jess looked at Akuba as she spoke the name, unsure if the other woman could see her expression in the backwash from the headlamp.
“The girl from the resort?” Kavish asked, pausing in the open doorway to the back patio.
Jess nodded enthusiastically as the girl called out again, making her more certain than ever it was Amisha. She was only nineteen and worked the front desk at the Libi Nati Resort. Although she was older and part of what Jess considered the ‘cool crowd’, she always talked to Jess and even helped on the weekends to fish the money out of the springs on her own time.
Akuba brushed past Kavish and Jess followed, most of her fear having dissipated. She would have felt better if her dad was there, and the thought brought on a fresh wave of sadness. She’d already cried enough before falling asleep and wished the tears actually made the horrible feelings go away. The problem was that she didn’t know how she should feel. The fact that her dad survived the deadly illness was nothing short of a miracle, and for that she was incredibly grateful. But everything that had happened since overshadowed his recovery.
Akuba refused to talk with her about his claim that he wasn’t her father, increasing her suspicion that he was telling the truth. It was too much. Too much for Jess and Akuba to deal with, on top of everything else. So, she was almost relieved to pretend like he’d never said it…except that he had. In a casual, no big deal way, before gett
ing into his truck and driving away from her and the home he’d spent half his life creating.
Jess’s step faltered in the dew-laden grass, and she had to swallow hard to suppress the lump working its way up her throat. Strong. She needed to be strong and unknockdownable. One of the heros in her books had used that word a lot, and Jess repeated it several times in her head as she focused on Akuba’s back.
“Amisha?” Akuba called out while waving the flashlight back and forth in a widening arc. When the beam caught the movement of several people in the driveway, she stopped and put an arm out to prevent Jess from advancing any further.
Jess could see that it was Amisha, and she wasn’t alone. A woman was leaning heavily against her, and a man with a child hovered nearby. He kept looking back over his shoulder.
“Akuba! Yes, it’s me! Me and my mom. Please, help us!” she plead, half-dragging her mom further into the shafts of light. “They’re chasing us!”
The man behind Amisha knelt down in the gravel to put a protective arm around the small girl, and Jess thought he looked at least seventy. She didn’t recognize him, and had no idea why they would have come there, especially in the middle of the night.
Kavish moved closer, holding the gun out to his side. “What’s chasing you?” he demanded, still sounding very nervous. “Why are you here at three in the morning?”
Amisha eyed the weapon, her smile wavering. “I’m not sure,” she cried, looking back at the still jungle and edging closer to Kavish. “But they’re big…and they’ve been stalking us since we got halfway down the driveway.”
Kavish went rigid and slowly raised the gun while gesturing at Amisha and the others with his other hand. “Come,” was all he said.
“Penitigri,” Akuba said in a hushed voice, as the first of the slick, muscular cats came into view.
Jaguars. Jess stifled a groan. She was discovering how much imagination she lacked, in spite of all the reading she did. Of all the things she’d thought they might face when they were walking across the lawn, jaguars didn’t make the list. Though one of the more feared predators of the jungle, she’d never heard of one going after someone on the preserve.
“Thank you,” Amisha gushed, making her way past Kavish. “I tried to take my mom to the hospital last night,” she rambled, turning to Jess and Akuba. The girl was obviously terrified. “Did you know it burned down?” Her mom almost fell, causing Amisha to reposition her arms. “She’s sick.”
Akuba again put a protective arm out in front of Jess and forced her to take a step back. While neither of them was infected by her dad, it was impossible to know for sure if they were really immune. It wasn’t worth taking any chances.
Amisha grimaced, but nodded in understanding. “I’m sorry, but we didn’t have anywhere else to go. My dad and brother are—” her voice broke and she took a slow, steadying breath. “They’re both dead at our house, and I couldn’t stand to go back there. When we were told by someone at the hospital that your dad was taking sick people here, we thought it would be okay to come. The gas station was shut down, and then we ran out of gas a few miles from here. People…well, the ones who aren’t already dead, are panicking. Some of them are acting crazy, and we didn’t know what else to do, but we can leave if—"
“Can the girl stay?” the older man interrupted, moving up behind Amisha. He was white, and spoke with a British accent. Jess figured he was a tourist who got stuck there when the airport closed. She’d heard people talk like him all the time at the resort.
Jess studied the girl. She couldn’t be older than seven and looked native. “Are you related?” she asked.
The man shook his head. “No. I found her wandering alone at the hospital, after my wife passed away. My name is Paul,” he added. “I don’t know her name. She hasn’t spoken a word in more than a day.”
Two shots suddenly rang out, as Kavish fired a warning, the reports echoing through the clearing and making them all jump. “The light!” Kavish shouted. “Point the lights back down the driveway!”
Jess did as he instructed, and her breath caught when several sets of yellow eyes were reflected back. “Akuba…”
Akuba responded to her hushed plea by grabbing at her arm. “This isn’t normal behavior,” she said, and Jess wasn’t sure who the comment was directed at. “Shoot again,” she spat. “Now!”
Kavish was already shooting, and instead of doing it harmlessly into the air that time, he aimed at the gravel not far from where the animals gathered. It had the desired effect, and the big spotted cats scattered, disappearing into the jungle.
Jess was pretty sure of a couple of things. First, that Jaguars didn’t intentionally hunt people. Though her dad always cautioned her to watch for any sign of them, most attacks were out of fear or territorial. Second, they certainly didn’t do it in organized packs. Before she could voice her thoughts, Akuba began giving orders.
“You will all stay,” she said to Amisha. After allowing the light to linger on the driveway a few seconds more to make sure the jaguars were gone, Akuba redirected it toward Mr. Van’s house across the yard. “There are two bedrooms in the small house,” she continued. “It’s unlocked. Here, you can take my flashlight.”
“Thank you,” Amisha’s mom slurred. She was favoring her right side, and Jess assumed she was suffering from the same sort of paralysis that everyone else did with the Kra Puru.
“Is that where Dr. Davies is?” Paul asked. “I’m pretty sure the three of us are immune, like some of the others I’ve talked to, but this woman is quite ill. She needs some medical attention.”
“He isn’t here,” Jess replied with more emotion than she intended. When Amisha frowned at her, she regretted saying anything at all. “Sorry, Amisha. He’s at the Libi Nati Resort. He’s taken the…um, people who’ve gotten better and the other sick ones from the hospital with him. He said he needed the extra rooms there.” Her voice faded as she realized she was making excuses. Jess bit down on her bottom lip. She knew it was about a lot more than some extra rooms.
“You’ll be safe here,” Kavish said as he backed away from the driveway, gun still pointed at the dense foliage surrounding them.
“How about we discuss all of this in the morning?” Akuba said as they began to make their way across the lawn. “I will bring you breakfast, and we can talk more then.”
As Jess watched the new arrivals scamper across the yard, she couldn’t help but worry about feeding them. Her dad already took over half of the stored supplies, and the preserve would only provide so much food.
The high-pitched wail of a large cat emphasized the more pressing issue, and made Jess think of the strange behavior of the animals. It made her think of Goldie.
“I’ll stay out here until sunrise,” Kavish said, stopping on the patio and taking up a perch on one of the lounge chairs.
“I’ll join you,” Akuba said, “After I get a rifle from the office.”
Entering the dark house with only her headlamp to light the way, Jess reached out and took Akuba’s hand. “It’s doing something to the animals.”
Akuba stopped and turned to face Jess, her eyes shining starkly. “What do you mean, Lobiwan?”
“Goldie,” Jess whispered, not knowing why she felt the need to be quiet. It was like she was afraid to say it too loud. If someone else heard, then it would make it real. “I’m pretty sure Goldie was sick, and now the jaguars. What would the Kra Puru do to the animals, Akuba?”
Akuba blinked several times. The glaring aura of the headlamp bathed her face in moving shadows, making her expression of terror even more ominous. She took a shuddering breath. “I think they will do whatever is necessary to stay alive, without the fear of man that has taken thousands of years of instinct to develop.”
Jess left to go in search of the matches. She had a lot of candles to light.
Chapter 24
PETA
Black Site, CDC Bio Level 4 Lab
Southern California
“If the p
resident’s dead, then who’s in charge?” Peta asked, rubbing at the bridge of her nose. She glanced over at the only entrance to the Level 2 lab, frowning at Ann’s absence.
The soldier adjusted his mask to take a brief sip of coffee before answering. “Last I heard, they were down to the Secretary of Defense, so…sixth in the line of succession, I think.” The man who’d introduced himself the day before as Sergeant Edmonds yawned and gazed longingly at the mug in his hands through the CM gas mask. Minimum precautions were being taken on the higher level, but Peta still questioned whether he should be risking his life for the caffeine. Edmonds claimed it was perfectly safe since the mask was designed to accommodate drinking without exposure.
“How are you getting the information?” she pressed, glad to have someone to talk to while she waited. It was nearly six-thirty, and Ann didn’t strike her as the sort of person to run late. After two hours of tossing and turning, Peta had given up on sleeping and returned to the lab at four, much to her escort’s irritation. Edmonds had been assigned to ‘chaperone’ her as she moved about the building, though she wasn’t entirely sure why. To go between the levels a keycard was required, which she didn’t possess.
“We’re still getting some intermittent connections to the government servers, but most of it’s being relayed over a couple different radios and word-of-mouth,” Edmonds explained as he leaned back in his chair and set the cup on the table. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we’ve lost the servers by now. Some guys who brought supplies Friday said everything’s already gone to hell. Infrastructure has collapsed everywhere, and between the natural disasters and now The Kuru, there aren’t enough healthy people left to keep things going.”
It was Sunday. Only ten days since the MOHO eruption, and it may as well have been a lifetime. It was hard to fathom how everything had fallen apart so fast. Even in the beginning, when things were at their worst, Peta couldn’t have imagined how complete the devastation would be.