by Tristan Vick
Checking her lip with two fingers, Lindsey looked down to see a smattering of blood. “What the hell did you do that for?”
Hurley licked the blood off her teeth and stared at Lindsey. Josh stood their looking at one woman and then the other as they glared at one another. Josh couldn’t tell what was wrong but Jennifer’s face had turned stone cold, vacant, as if all the emotion faded from her. Her eyelids hung low as if she was nestled in the arms of Morpheus. Her blue eyes were as cold as ice now.
Lindsey waved her hand in front of Jennifer’s face. “Hey Jen, are you alright?”
Without warning Jennifer grabbed Lindsey by her hair, jerked her back, and then slammed her into the nearby dresser. The blow knocked Lindsey unconscious and she rebounded off and then violently crashed to the floor.
Josh threw the sheet off and rushed over to where Lindsey lay. He picked her up in his arms and cradled her, but before he could check to see if she was alright, he suddenly felt something hard slam into the back of his head. Then he collapsed onto Lindsey’s naked body.
Jennifer looked back toward the bathroom door, which was half open, and saw a partial glimpse of her reflection in the mirror. Glaring with dim-eyed contempt was the dark version of herself. Hurley looked down at the two unconscious teenagers lying in a heap and smiled. “Some shall be pardon’d, and some punished; for never was a story of more woe … than that of Juliet and her Romeo.”
Jennifer licked her teeth as she drug Josh over to the bed. Unconsciousness was a lot like death, she thought to herself. In both cases a guy’s pecker could still get stiff. Gently laying Josh in bed, she adjusted his body as if he were a sex doll. Positioning him just right, she climbed on top, took him firmly in her hand and bore down onto his erection with salacious intent.
Josh slowly awoke to see Jennifer sitting on him. Realizing what was happening he tried to struggle, but she hushed him with a gentle finger to his lips, then slid her hands around his throat and slowly squeezed until he couldn’t breathe. Even as he began to black out again, she kept smiling at him—fucking him without remorse.
Whore, Josh thought. Then everything went black.
Zanato covered his ears. The moaning was incessant and enervating. It hadn’t stopped for even one measly second. How could those damn things even fill their lungs with breath enough to moan so goddamn loud if they never stopped to take the time to inhale? That’s when the airlock hissed and the light flicked from yellow to red. He heard footsteps approaching from out in the hall.
“Thank god, I’m saved,” Zanato said with a sigh of relief.
The door popped open and General Greer stood over Zanato, eyeing him with a disdainful look. “You’re not supposed to be here,” the general growled. “How in blazes did you even get in here? Never mind, I don’t want to know.”
Zanato scrambled to his feet. “What the hell kind of Frankenstein operation are you people running here anyway?” he asked crossly.
“We’re working on a goddamn cure, genius. But we need to find the Alpha strain first.”
“Alpha strain?” Zanato echoed.
“As in: the very first one to be infected. Patient zero, you might say. The closer we get to the genesis of this thing, the more effective an antiviral we can concoct, and the more virulent the treatment will be. The only problem is, this thing adapts too quickly, and there are already six different strains so far.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means a couple of things. First, the Hurley woman’s hunch was right. Breakouts occurred in almost every major city at the same time. So it seems this whole goddamn apocalypse was planned right from the very start. Second, it means we may not find a cure in time. And if we do find a cure for one of the strains, it may not effectively immunize the other strains.”
“Whoa! Slow down there, chief. Someone actually planned this? But what insane nut-bag would want to kill off the entire freakin’ planet?”
“Not the planet, kid. Just us.”
“Could it be religious zealots?”
“At this juncture, does it really matter?”
“I guess not.”
“What matters now is finding a cure. In the meantime, there’s only one surefire treatment we can be sure of,” the general said with a Machiavellian grin.
“What’s that?”
Pointing his finger to his forehead, the general replied, “A bullet right between the eyes.”
Zanato’s smirk revealed that he wasn’t impressed. “Riiight.”
“Yeah, well I’m glad we had this chat,” Greer said sarcastically as he reached over and grabbed Zanato by the arm and manhandled him up to his feet and into the decontamination room.
“Hey, let up! No need to get pushy.”
Greer gave him another jab just to assert his authority.
“For fuck’s sake, I’m going. So if you don’t mind, please get off my back already.”
“Less talking and more walking,” barked Greer. The General shoved Zanato again, this time just for fun.
Rachael stood captivated by the pools reflective light. She hadn’t slept in hours, but even so, she wasn’t very sleepy. That’s when she heard pounding on the glass behind her. She spun around to see two battered and bloodied teenagers. It was the boy named Josh, half naked, cradling a young girl, Lindsey, in his arms. Lindsey’s attire was equally as sparse as she only had on a t-shirt and hip-hugging cotton panties. Both their faces looked stunned, as if they were in a state of complete and utter shock.
Streaks of blood dripped from their fresh wounds. Josh’s chest had the omega symbol carved into it by what looked like a knife and Lindsey had the same on her forehead.
Promptly letting them in, Rachael helped them sit down on one of the padded benches. “What the hell happened to you guys?”
“She’s gone crazy,” Josh stammered. His voice cracked as he spoke. “Totally bat-shit-insane.”
“Who has gone crazy?”
“That crazy fucking slut, Jennifer what’s-her-face,” Josh said. Lindsey rested on his lap sobbing lightly.
“Jen did this to you guys? Jennifer Hurley?” Rachael dashed over to the wall and found a hot-orange first aid kit and dismounted it. She took out some cotton pads and peroxide to swab their flesh wounds clean.
“That’s what I’m telling you. She burst into our room. She was saying something about wanting to have a three-way, then suddenly, she just flipped out and bashed Lindsey’s head in. I tried to react, but before I knew it she had pinned me down and was choking me.”
Rachael attended their wounds as she listened to their story. “This might sting a bit,” she warned, gently bringing the cleansing pad to Josh’s chest wound.
Josh grimaced from the sting then continued on with the story. “When I woke up she was,” Josh’s voice cracked, “She was on top of me. I felt warm. I felt … then I realized I was inside her and … I couldn’t hold back. I couldn’t fight her off. I just gave in and let her have her way with me.”
“She raped you?” Rachael asked in dismay. She knew that Hurley was an immoral tramp. But raping a teenager, even if he was eighteen, was beyond the pale. “Josh, this is serious. The question I need you to answer is: did you give her your consent?”
Josh’s eyes flooded with tears. Swallowing hard, he answered, “Yes. Goddammit. I let it happen. I could have resisted. I could have fought the crazy bitch off, but…”
“Was it because you feared for your life?”
“No,” he admitted, feeling ashamed. Josh turned his head away.
“Why did you let her do that to you?” Lindsey asked in disgust.
“I know it must sound sick and twisted, but I have no good excuse. I just didn’t want her to stop. It felt too good. I thought, hell, if she does kill me afterward at least I could enjoy my last few moments before eternal slumber.” Josh answered. His own sniveling guilt-ridden voice betrayed him. It was full of self loathing for the secret enjoyment he got from the mad whore’s sick sex fest.
33
Psychosis
Jennifer Hurley roamed the hallways holding the machete she had taken from Noble’s rucksack. A trace of blood trailed behind her as it dribbled off the still glistening blade and onto the pristine white floor.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” she sang melodically. Pausing, as if she heard voices, she listened for a moment as if it were relaying to her vital information, then responded, “No, they’re still hiding. But don’t worry, we’ll find them. Every last one.”
“Who are you talking to, dear?” Linda asked, stepping up to Jennifer from behind. She clutched her cross nervously in her hand and fiddled with it. Jennifer slowly turned around and made eye contact. Her expression was blank, but then she suddenly smiled at Linda. On her bare chest was painted the omega sign in fresh blood. “Are you my mother?”
Linda stopped in horror as she beheld Jennifer’s naked and blood-drenched body. Realizing Jennifer had gone completely insane. Linda clutched her cross even tighter. “No, dear. But I’m your friend.”
“My friend?” Jennifer asked curiously.
“Y-yes,” Linda stammered, trying to sound convincing. “I’m your friend. You trust me, don’t you?”
Jennifer’s eyes caught the gleam of the little gold cross clutched in Linda’s hands and she smiled as a deranged glee danced in her eye. “Now Lord of all he reigns above, and from his heavenly throne, he sees what children dwell in love, and marks them for his own.”
“What?” Linda asked, growing even more fearful. But Jennifer didn’t respond. She just stared vacantly at Linda’s golden cross. Raising her hands cautiously, Linda took several small steps toward Jennifer until they were standing only a few inches from each other. “Please, put the knife down,” Linda pleaded. “You need help, Mrs. Hurley. I can give it to you, if you just come with me. Just give me the knife and—”
Jennifer looked down at the knife she held in her hand and looked upon it as if she was shocked to see it in her own trembling hand. “I-I … I don’t know what’s happening.” Looking up at Linda with confused eyes, Hurley said remorsefully, “What have I done?”
“It’s okay dear. It’ll all be okay. Just hand me the knife and—”
Jennifer moved so fast that Linda could only flinch. Linda’s eyes widened in terrible realization as a red smile opened up across her throat. Her head rocked back as blood spurted out of the gaping wound on her neck and her fat body teetered then crashed to the floor in a heap.
Jennifer smiled, bent down, and dipped her fingers into a pool of Linda’s blood. As she examined the moist substance glistening on the tips of her digits she addressed Linda, who looked up at Hurley in shock as she struggled to remain conscious while she slowly bled out of her gurgling windpipe.
“You shouldn’t have said that. He used to say that. ‘It’s okay,’ he’d say. ‘It’ll all be okay.’ Each and every night he had his way with me, he clasped his sweaty palms over my mouth and made sure to remind me, it would all be okay.” Bending over Jennifer put her lips close to Linda’s ear and whispered, “Here’s the secret you need to get through your thick skull: It’s never just okay.”
Trembling, Linda raised her cross and opened her mouth as if she wanted to speak, but nothing came out except more blood.
“Silly cow, God can’t save you,” Hurley said, her voice dripping with contempt. “No one can save you now.”
Linda’s eyes fluttered, her hand went limp and fell to her chest, and the last gargle of blood spurted out as her last ounce of breath wheezed out of her. Jennifer gently pried the cross out of Linda’s dead fingers and then placed it in Linda’s open mouth. Looking at her handy work she smiled.
Jennifer stood up and extended her wet fingertips to the wall. Walking down the hall she drew a crooked crimson line on the white wall with her bloody appendages. When there was no more ink to be had, she clanked the red glistening knife on the metal railing in the hall, tapping it melodically as she went along.
Clank. Clank. Clank-itty-clank.
Quietly, she repeated those last few lines of that ominous poem, twisting them into her own. “Now Lord of death she reigns below, and from her ghostly realm, she sees what children dwell in fear, and claims them for her own.”
Alyssa’s eyes popped open. In the pit of her stomach she felt something was terribly wrong. She didn’t know how she knew, just that, somehow, she knew.
Throwing on her clothes, she flew into the hall and made her way toward Rachael’s room. When she got there she discovered a strange symbol painted on the door.
“Omega?” she found herself whisper. “What on Earth?” Just then she noticed the door was ajar. Cautiously, Alyssa poked her head in and checked to see if everything was alright, but it was too dark to see. Pushing on the door a bit harder, it swung open to reveal Levi Hurley lying on the bed gutted like a fish.
Levi’s lower intestine had been torn out, wrapped around his neck, and crudely stuffed back down into his own mouth. His eyes were wide with surprise, as if he never even saw it coming. In addition to this horror, his chest was cracked wide open with the sharp bones of his ribcage fanned out like open fingers. His heart was nailed to the wall with a simple ballpoint pen, and painted all around his heart, like an upside down horseshoe, was that damned symbol again. The symbol for the end of all things. Omega.
Alyssa’s voice seeped out of her vocal cords without her even realizing it, and standing in the middle of the hallway, her lungs rattled and her body torqued as she screamed with every ounce of strength her shaking body could muster.
34
Z Day
“NO, NO, NO!” MITCH SHOUTED. “Power it down, now!” Mitch rubbed his bald head, as if he was rubbing his fingers through non-existent hair, and then continued yelling into the walkie-talkie. “If you don’t power down the main system before you install the backups you’ll blow all the fuses.”
After a crackle of static a voice came out from the other end of the speaker. “But sir, if we power down the main system now there won’t be any power for several minutes.”
“I know that,” Mitch barked in agitation.
“Just a quick question, sir, but what about our guests in the basement? Shouldn’t we be just a little bit concerned?”
“No, that system’s backup is separate from the mainframe. The doors remain locked at all times. Besides, there’s no way to bypass the security settings unless you have the codes. And the General, Linda, and I are the only ones with access to the codes.”
Down in the generator’s maintenance room, four men wearing bright blue safety helmets worked on resetting the backup generators. With all the additional bodies, Mitch didn’t want to risk an all-out power failure if they somehow managed to overload the system. So he desperately wanted those backup generators fully operational.
Suddenly everything went dark.
From his radio came the voice of his engineer. “They’re powered down now, sir. What next?”
“I’m going to reboot the system,” Mitch said into the two-way, “We’ll be back in business before you know it.”
“Roger that. Ready on your signal. Over.”
“In three, two, one … now.”
A large clunk of giant fuses switching out was heard and then the electrical hum of equipment dissipated and the air rushing through the ventilation system died down and an eerie silence took over the underground base.
General Greer and Jesse Zanato froze in their tracks.
“What the hell is going on,
man?”
“It’s just a blackout,” grumble Greer. “Don’t get yourself worked up. The backup generators should kick in any moment.”
“Hey, whenever the lights go out something bad happens.”
“I think somebody has been watching one too many horror films.”
Within a minute the lights flickered and came back on.
“See, I told you,” Greer said. “Nothing to worry about.”
Suddenly there was a loud clank. The heavy pressurized door slammed shut behind them. But it failed to pressurize. Somehow Zanato’s discarded shoelace snagged on the door and prevented of the magnetic pressure seals from closing securely. Suddenly an alarm went off, the lights changed to a cerise hue, and a woman’s computerized voice rang out: “Warning: Obstruction. Compartment pressurization failure imminent. Failure imminent.”
Both men turned to see the containment door whistling and hissing through the small opening in the seal. Without warning the door exploded off of its hinges and flew toward them. Reacting instinctively, the general tackled Zanato and they hit the ground just as the heavy metal door lodged itself in the wall where they had been standing.
Looking back, Zanato saw that the lab door to the main room was torn wide open as well. The bottom half was peeled upward into the main room.
“Containment breached,” the woman’s voice said.
“Goddammit!” growled Greer.
“See, I told you!” Zanato said. “Bad things always happen when the lights go out, randomly, for no good reason.”
From inside the other room they heard moaning. Then the sound of a door handle rattling. They looked at each other with frightened faces.
“Can dead-heads open doors?” Zanato asked.