“Ah, young Rebel,” he beamed, turning his attention to the girl. “You must cause much trouble with name like that?” He laughed again.
Rebel didn’t say anything but awkwardly tried to smile. It ended up being more of a grimace as the joke was not a new one to her. Her whole life she had cursed her mother’s accurately foretelling choice of name.
“We hear much about you! Marvellous girl with far superior genetics. Come, meet new colleagues,” Dr Leisenberg said, ushering them all to the front of the room.
“My name Doctor Petrov, from Russia,” said the biggest of the men. Dark haired man and imposing, his voice was like the grumble of thunder. His thick accent was unmistakable. “This Professor Novikoff, also from Russia. He is deaf, I interpret to him.”
There was a flurry of hand gestures as Dr Petrov introduced them. Professor Novikoff was slightly smaller with a stern looking face, he signalled something back and Dr Petrov nodded.
“Professor say it is good to meet you,” He translated.
“It’s a pleasure to meet him also,” Xin smiled. Her attention was snatched by another of them men who stepped forward to shake her hand.
“Doctor Siwinski of Poland, apologise my English not good.” He had a kindly face and smiled at them before pointing at another doctor. “Dr Elstad is of Norway. English is also not good.”
Dr Elstad nodded pleasantly at them upon hearing his name.
“Whereas my English is quite good, if I do say so myself,” said the last man to step forward. “Professor Allmendinger, I’m here from Switzerland. It is nice to meet you Dr Yao, and also your friends whose names I will try to remember.”
“Well, if you’re all happy I’ll take my leave now,” The commander put in. “We’re expecting one of our ships to be back from a reconnaissance expedition today. Please, let me know if there is anything I can do to help.”
“Actually Commodore, I would be particularly grateful if you had any protective suits that you could supply us with,” Professor Allmendinger requested as he turned to leave. The Commander turned back questioningly. “I believe a good starting point would be to investigate a carrier of the infection. It would be unwise to do so for long periods without adequate attire.”
“I will see what I can do,” The Commander nodded before taking his leave.
“It’s not just the infection you need to worry about. They’re carrying a tonne of other contagious stuff too. Aren’t they, Xin?” Frank said to break the silence.
Xin nodded. “Yes, the information we’ve pieced together seems to indicate all kinds of contagions.
“I knew it,” Dr Leisenberg exclaimed. “Dr Petrov and I, we speculate for long time that multitude of symptoms manifest in subjects. Also, hospital full of sick people! How do you know this is sure?”
“We came from ground zero,” Xin informed him. “I sifted through a lot of their data whilst I was there.”
“Oooh, fascinating,” Dr Leisenberg cooed with admiration. “By chance did you fetch this data with you?”
“No, we weren’t able to,” Xin lied, thinking of the memory stick that she had managed to keep close ever since she’d received it. She had been tempted to destroy it, but she may still have need of that information again. However, it was proof that Bao had disobeyed orders and, alive or dead, she would not shame him.
“Then I hope memory is good.” Dr Petrov said. “We have nothing.” His eyes betrayed his words when they fell on Rebel.
Xin drew his attention away before Rebel could Notice. “I’d be happy to summarise my findings for you,” She suggested.
“An excellent idea,” Dr Leisenberg beamed.
The language barriers hindered their progress and Xin spent tedious hours discussing things with the other doctors that, for the most part, her friends did not understand. Dr Elstad needed the most help understanding what she said, but the other doctors seemed to have an affinity with him and Pete’s many years of travelling had paid off in the language department. Together they made it work.
Pete listened intently, trying to keep up with what was being said and asking questions here and there so that he could pass information along to Dr Elstad. Lucy and Frank gave up after a while and chatted between themselves, flirting and laughing. Andy and Rebel listened too, but for the most part the conversation went over their heads. Andy understood much more than he let on and listened in, whilst he played hidden games of noughts and crosses under the table to entertain Rebel and pass the time.
“We should start immediately the tests of blood and tissue samples,” Dr Leisenberg announced animatedly. “Given what you have said, I think adequate investigations into certain factors could prove most illuminating.”
“I think we will find that each strain is significantly altered. Rebel told us that all of the infections took hold extraordinarily fast and symptoms manifested within the hour,” Xin explained. “They’re obviously mutated diseases, no doubt accelerated for their data collection. There is a good chance that the initial infection also has its own way of mutating them.”
“We shall see,” Dr Leisenberg nodded. “If we identify a way to cure these, then maybe people can still be saved.”
“Maybe,” Xin nodded. “I understand there is a quarantine zone. Can we obtain samples there?”
“Yes,” Dr Petrov said firmly. “These ‘important’ persons have no authority in current condition. I will make sure The Commodore allows it.”
“Be sure to do that,” Professor Allmendinger said in agreement. “I shall have a laboratory set up in here. Luckily I refused to leave Switzerland without my things.”
Dr Elstad noticed the others closing their notebooks and realised that they seemed to be finishing up. “We go... middag?”
“Middag?” Xin repeated, looking questioningly at Pete.
“It means dinner,” he told her with a chuckle. His travelling days felt so far away now, but he was glad to know that some of it had stayed with him. Dr Elstad smiled and rubbed his tummy enthusiastically.
“Oh!” Xin smiled with amusement and glanced at the wall clock. “Yes, middag!”
Dr Elstad beamed back at her. “Go... now?”
“Yes, of course,” she nodded at him. “I didn’t realise the time. Shall we start tomorrow?” Xin asked the room at large. The others nodded but Dr Elstad looked confused.
“Oh, uh...” Pete paused. “Starter... I morgen?” He was unsure that he had the translation right but the doctor smiled and nodded.
The team dispersed and headed for the dinner halls. When Xin and her friends were outside, she spun around and planted a kiss on Pete.
“You are amazing,” She laughed. “I’ve enjoyed watching you translate all day, it was impressive.”
“Yeah, I bet you didn’t know I could be useful!” He joked flicking at a strand of her hair and pulling her closer.
“Hey, if Dr Elstad was Chinese I would have been in my element,” Xin laughed, kissing him again.
“Once this is over, we’ll travel together. We’ll learn all the languages you’d like.” Pete smiled and tapped her nose.
“Oh, come on you two. We’re about to eat,” Frank whined jokingly.
“Do you want me to tell everyone exactly what you were whispering to Lucy in there, whilst we were busy doing some real work?” Pete asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Shutting up,” Frank surrendered.
4.
‘Laura was still being an insufferable bitch. Being trapped in the same goddamn store got old real fast, and she just got worse and worse. When her mom and dad left to clear out zombies, she would stop even trying to rein it in and it was already clear that she hated me. That day was the big day. After working tirelessly for so long, almost all of the stores were cleared. They wanted to get the last ones done so that they could tackle the atrium. I think everyone was amazed that they had actually done it, but nobody would say so. Except Laura, who would criticise Harry behind his back at every opportunity, which was really unfair, becaus
e he was the driving force behind our continued survival.’
Laura sat on her camp bed painting her nails. Her mom had brought her some nail polish back from one of the drug stores they’d cleared. However, of the wide selection she had accumulated, the one she was applying belonged to Jessica. Harry had taken a selection for her after noticing that Laura had no intention of sharing. He knew that Jessica’s only company whilst they were gone was Aiden and he tried to raise her spirits wherever he could. Even then, she spent many hours alone.
“Hey! That’s mine!” Jessica snapped when she noticed Laura’s shiny red nails.
“So? Get your boyfriend to fetch you some more.” Laura turned up her nose and looked at Jessy’s hands. “It looks better on my nails than those stubby things anyway.”
Jessica could have lunged at her there and then but Aiden appeared at her side.
“Hey Jessy,” he said. “Wanna play soldiers?”
She shot one last look at Laura before turning to Aiden.
“Sure thing, squirt,” She said, ruffling his hair.
“Yes, scurry off and play,” Laura called after her mockingly.
“Ignore her,” Aiden said taking her hand. “She’s horrible.”
“I know,” Jess squeezed his hand.
“Alright kids, we’ll be back around lunch time,” Kristy called, although nobody listened anymore. Laura bade her farewell without so much as looking up from her nails. Sean was sat on the bed beside hers, totally absorbed in a comic book.
Laura’s parents hadn’t been gone for long and her nails were just about dry when she looked around for something else to entertain her.
“Hey Sean,” She said, trying to get his attention.
“Sup?” He asked, barely tearing his eyes from the page in front of him.
“I’m bored,” She groaned in response. “God, I miss Facebook... and Twitter.”
“Why don’t you just make friends with Jessy? She’s a girl. You can do girl stuff together,” He replied and went back to reading.
“No way,” She dismissed, wrinkling her nose.
“She’s not that bad,” Sean told her. Then he sighed and reluctantly closed the comic book. “Alright, what do you want to do?”
Laura’s gaze wandered to the doors that separated them from the rest of the mall.
“Go shopping...” She said dreamily.
“Too bad, we can’t do that until they’ve cleared everywhere,” Sean said, following her gaze to the doors.
“Sure we can,” Laura retorted. She looked over to where Mr and Mrs Hakeem were sat. Zahra was knitting and Ahmed was lost in a puzzle book. Courtney, as always, was taking a nap. “They won’t even notice.”
“It’s not safe out there.” Sean was arguing with her, but secretly the idea filled him with excitement. “What about the zombies?”
“They’ve killed so many in the rest of the mall that I bet there aren’t even that many left now,” Laura flipped her hair nonchalantly. “I mean, come on, if there were they would be pressed up to the doors trying to get in at us.”
“But there aren’t any at the outside doors, we still know they’re out there,” He countered.
“Sean...” She whined, dragging out his name. “Come on! It’ll be fun, I’m so sick of being trapped in here.”
He felt the same, but, as exciting as the idea was, he was still unsure.
“I know where the rest of the guns are,” she added with a smirk. She knew that she had him with that.
“Alright, fine,” he said. “But I want my own gun.”
Laura snuck across their makeshift home without being noticed and stole two small handguns from a satchel she had seen her mother sifting through. When she returned, she held it up casually in front of Sean with her index finger hovering over the trigger.
“Told you,” she goaded him.
“I want mine,” He pouted. Laura held out the other gun, but pulled it back when he reached for it.
“Be careful with this. It’s not a toy,” She sniggered.
“Whatever. Just give it here,” Sean said with irritation. She passed it to him and tucked her own into the waistband of her jeans.
Sheltered from view behind two large shelving units, the pair silently unfastened the restraints that held the doors closed.
“Ready?” Laura whispered daringly.
Sean nodded nervously and watched her push the door open. Laura leaned her head through the gap and looked both ways before ducking back inside.
“I told you! It’s all clear,” she punched his arm and then cockily strode out into the foyer. When she was a few meters from the door, she turned back to her brother and threw out her arms. “See!”
Sean reticently followed her, looking anxiously from side to side and expecting the worst. When he saw for himself that it really was clear, he straightened up a little.
“Okay, we’re out here. Now what?” He asked.
“Now... we shop!” She said excitedly.
Inside the roof, it was a long crawl to get to the shops at the other side of the mall that hadn’t been emptied yet. The next one on their map was a beauty salon.
“Here’s the tile we marked,” Harry called back. He dug his fingers into the groove around it and eased it out. Below him, the shop was darker than many of the others they had dropped into. The salon wasn’t on an outer wall and so had no windows to provide them with natural light. Harry pulled his torch from his belt and pointed it inside.
“There’s enough light enough to see by if you want to get into position about six tiles down. That should put you right by the doors,” he told Stephen and Kristy.
“Can you see how many are in there?” Stephen asked.
“No, but it’s a fairly open space. They shouldn’t catch you off guard if there are any,” Harry said. They’d encountered a few shops that had already been joyfully empty when they arrived. He hoped that this would be another.
Stephen and his wife crawled their way further into the dark, using the feel of the tiles beneath their hands to count how many they passed.
“Alright mould-bags, I’m over here!” He called loudly into the store, waving his torch to catch the attention of anyone who might be down there.
Nobody appeared in the patch of light he was aiming and when Kristy and Stephen were in place, he gave the nod for them to enter. Stephen dropped down first and raised his gun, looking around cautiously. Kristy shadowed him and did the same.
There was no movement inside the salon. It was eerie and quiet. Harry moved his torch along a wall that was papered to look like real red bricks. The pink chairs that sat in front of the mirrors on that wall were all empty.
“It looks dead down here,” Stephen said to his wife. “You start on the doors and I’ll scope out the back.”
No sooner than the words were out of his mouth, they heard a piercing shriek. It sounded distant but definitely came from the main plaza.
“Was that Laura?” Kristy questioned whilst Stephen stood in shock. “Oh my God, it was! ...LAURA!” She screeched.
She didn’t wait around as the second scream cut through the air. She flung open the doors and was gone.
“Shit,” Stephen cursed. Panic registered on his face and he looked back at Harry, then hurried off after his wife.
“Come back, it’s not safe!” Harry bellowed, but it was too late. He thought for a moment and then swore under his breath. By the time he’d crawled all the way back it would be too late. Instead, he swung his legs over the edge of the tile and launched himself into the salon below.
Harry landed funny and felt pain jolt up his leg. His ankle buckled beneath him and he lurched sideways, banging into a large cupboard. Harry grasped it for support, unable to hold his weight on the bad leg. Beneath his hand, the cupboard door started to shake violently and he fell backwards in surprise.
With his weight no longer holding it closed, the cupboard door flew open and a figure spilled out of it. It was male and definitely should have been dead.
A name badge pinned to his chest said that his name was Ryan.
Who could say how long Ryan had been shut inside the cupboard? He looked worse for wear with an eyeball missing and the ragged skin around the socket all blackened and puckered. He groaned loudly once his remaining eye caught sight of Harry sprawled on the ground.
Ryan was small, slight and young looking. His hair still formed the shape of a quiff that had long since lost its substance. The tattoos that had once crept over his skin were marred by putrid sores and seeping cracks in his skin. The fetid smell was overpowering. When he stretched out, reaching for the prey before him, Harry caught the glimmer of a pair of styling scissors protruding from his neck.
Harry scrambled to back away as the creature fell upon him. He grunted in pain as it grabbed at his bad ankle, then yanked back his other leg and directed his foot straight into Ryan’s face. The zombie’s head whipped back but he recovered himself in no time.
Harry fumbled for his gun but it wasn’t at his waist. He looked around and saw that it had skittered across the black tiled floor when he’d fell. He didn’t bother to reach for it. It would take too long. Instead, he leaned forward and grasped the scissors that were lodged in its throat. They wrenched free from the degraded flesh with an easy squelch and a trail of bloody mucous.
“You caught me on a bad day, Ryan,” he grunted and then thrust the scissors into the boy’s skull. The lights went out immediately in his cloudy eyes and Ryan’s body slumped on top of Harry.
In the wake of the tussle, Harry could hear much more screaming echoing around the mall. He shrugged the body off and shuffled over to a broom that was propped against the salon’s reception desk. He used it to regain his feet and then to support his weight as he retrieved his gun and limped off after the others.
He staggered along the plaza. The ruckus had drawn the attention of all the remaining undead, making it easy to follow the noise. Gunfire cracked out in ear-splitting bursts and Harry struggled to move faster.
When he came upon the scene, he was dismayed to see the doors to the Super Target hanging open. His mind flashed to little Aiden, who he couldn’t see anywhere. The horde of encroaching zombies was packed too tightly for him to see exactly what was happening, but he saw a corpse that looked like Laura, struggling to rise beneath the feet of the crowd. The pool of blood surrounding her was too big for her to still be alive. Some of the zombies slipped on the slick puddle and crashed down around her.
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