by D N Simmons
“Did the police lock it down?” Vincent asked.
“Those things came out the front door. There must have been over fifty of them. Some of the police officers who went inside were among them as was Dr. Bloomberg.” Felicia lowered her head more from guilt, than from grief. “I didn’t bother to stick around to see anything more.”
Vincent remembered talking to her on the telephone when that all went down, and he understood. She did the only thing she could do. Hell, he’d run as fast as his feet could take him when the bodies started dropping and then rising at SciTech. He didn’t even know if Steve got away from the female attacker or not. He never bothered to look back.
“The last thing I saw out the rear view mirror was the rest of the cops being overtaken by those… things,” Samantha said.
Both Vincent and Felicia turned when they heard her speak.
“My colleague Dr. Henrick suffered life-threatening wounds when he was attacked. The arteries in his arm were severed and he was bleeding out fast. Fast... everything happened so damn fast! He must have died soon after he got to the hospital for it to be so quickly overtaken,” Vincent speculated. He zipped up one duffel bag and went over to his closet, pulling out another.
“So they rise up within seconds after dying, is that what you're trying to tell me?” Felicia asked.
Vincent nodded as he walked toward the kitchen and into the pantry. “That's exactly what the hell I'm telling you.” He looked at his watch. “Where the fuck is Sarah?”
He tossed the bag on the counter and quickly walked towards the front door. Before he could reach for the handle, Sarah opened the door.
“Oh thank God,” Vincent breathed as he pulled his fiancée into a tight embrace.
She hugged him back as hard as she could, silently praying that they'd never be parted again. He pulled back and looked over her, checking for injuries.
She noticed what he was doing and took her fiancé's face in her hands. “Look at me, I'm all right. I'm all right,” she said, hoping to give him some measure of relief.
“God, I thought something had happened to you. It took you so long,” Vincent said, hugging her again.
“That damn elevator must have stopped on every floor on the way up, then it had the nerve to get stuck. It was so frustrating!”
He nodded. “We need to leave as soon as we can. Can you finish packing some food while I gather my computer and drives?”
Sarah nodded.
“Hey, what's your password?” William asked Vincent.
“What?” Vincent turned, seeing the other doctor at his computer desk.
“I need to get into your system to download your files.”
“I can take it from here, you wouldn't know what to save,” Vincent said.
He walked over to his desk and began packing away Scan Disk portable drives, his two external hard drives and his laptop. William rose from the chair and Vincent took his place, typing in his password. He stuck another drive into the USB port and began copying files.
“Who are these people?” Sarah called to him from the kitchen as she looked around her condo at the unfamiliar faces.
“Scientists from the CDC, we're trying to get a lid on the situation,” Vincent answered.
“The CDC got here that quickly?” Sarah asked, shocked.
“We were in the city for a national health conference, but that isn't important right now,” Felicia offered her the brief explanation. She walked toward Vincent standing behind his computer chair. “Are you going back to SciTech?”
Vincent shook his head. “Shit, not by myself. I know we need to get into SciTech Labs to gather what information we can get our hands on. But I don't think we should try to do it ourselves.”
“I agree,” said Dr. William Bale. “Before we go in there, we need to at least figure out how to neutralize these things.”
“Don't you mean, 'kill'?” Sarah pointed out. “It's okay to say that word. We all want to know how to do that.”
“Did you see them?” Samantha asked.
“I saw what one of them could do to us. It was horrible,” Sarah said, her voice lowering a few octaves as her mind replayed the vision of a mother and her son being ripped apart by one of the... what was the best word to describe them? Zombies?
Vincent had stopped what he was doing on his computer and was studying her. He hated that something he did could make her feel such fear, such despair. At that moment, he was so angry with himself, so disappointed. Seeing how the memory was affecting Sarah, Vincent decided to redirect their attention back to him to take the load off of her.
“From what I witnessed, bullets aren’t stopping these things so it’s only a matter of time before the entire city is under siege. We need to get to my co-worker’s home, Dr. Pierce. He was the one who discovered the perfect compound. We need his research and I'm sure a great deal of it, if not everything, is at his home and the lab.”
Felicia nodded. “I'll tell headquarters about Dr. Pierce's research.”
“It's not just his research, we have to gather everything. We pumped so many compounds into that particular test subject; I need to be able to separate the variables that mutated its biology. Like I was saying, it was all but dead and then we injected the compound that gave us the positive result we were looking for in hopes that we could cure it of its illness. It didn't work. I still can't understand why not,” Vincent said.
“What do you mean... what is this compound?” Dr. Bale asked.
“To be perfectly honest, I don't really know. It was given to us by the military and Gen. Bradley Fuller was extremely tight-lipped about its origins. We were to neutralize its unstable elements to turn it into something we could use to help the human race,” Vincent said.
“There's that word again,” Sarah mumbled, referencing the word “neutralize”.
“Come again?” Felicia asked her, one eye-brow raised.
“It's not important,” Sarah begin. “Just a personal gripe I have. I'm not big on politically correct terms that beat around the damn bush and don't mean shit.”
“We can debate the legitimacy of politically correct terms when the city isn't in jeopardy,” Samantha said. “Can we please stay on topic,” she snapped.
Taking her overstated hint, Vincent continued. “In all of our previous tests, two of the subjects were injected with a tiny sample of the base component so we could see how it reacted with the animal's physiology. Our results were conclusive that the subjects showed an increase in strength, speed, agility and response time. They also healed faster, but unfortunately they became extremely addicted to the compound. So much so, they became unstable and had to be put down.”
Felicia frowned. “Unstable how?”
“Highly irritable, for one thing,” Vincent answered. “Nothing seemed to satisfy them. There were no treats we could give them that could quench their hunger or their thirst. Even water seemed to give them no relief. They stopped eating and drinking all together and when one died from lack of nutrition and water, we put the other one down to spare him that painful death.”
“My God,” Sarah gasped.
Vincent looked at her briefly and then looked away, not wanting to see the look of shameful accusation on Sarah's face.
Felicia turned to her. “You didn't know what he was doing for a living?”
Sarah took her eyes off Vincent and turned her gaze to the doctor. “I knew he did research for SciTech Labs. But it was never like this. They worked with natural remedies, things that weren't supposed to kill his test animals. It was supposed to be a cruelty-free laboratory. At least, that's what it boasts about.”
“Money changes everything,” Vincent began. “I said the same thing, but the contract from the military was... very generous, to say the least. The Board of Directors didn't want to turn it down and neither did our CEO.”
“What about you?” Sarah asked as her stare drilled into him.
Vincent lowered his gaze once again. He looked back up at her, eye
-to-eye. “I had a moment of weakness. I admit it. I thought with the money my department would get from this experiment, we could do so much more. Then when I listened to what they wanted us to create, I thought it would do the world a favor in the long run even if, in the process of achieving our goals, there would be casualties.”
“What about a loss of values and conviction,” Sarah shot back.
“I didn't think anything like this would happen, Sarah, damn it!” Vincent snatched the jump drive from his computer. “We were trying to help people, save lives. This medicine we created could cure cancer, do you understand me? It could cure AIDS, diabetes and every ailment that has brought mankind to its knees. We had evolved with this discovery, not only for our generation, but for future generations to come.”
Sarah scoffed as she shook her head. “And where has playing God got you?”
“Sarah, we had good intentions,” Vincent pleaded.
Sarah walked over to him, pressing her hand on his chest over his heart. “I know, baby. I know... you're not a cruel man. It's just I'm so scared and this situation is so horrible. Having good intentions just isn't enough.”
Vincent opened his mouth to speak but realized he didn't have the words that could defend his actions, so he closed his mouth and turned towards the other scientists in the room. “I want to fix this situation, but I don’t know where to begin or how. The only rational thought I have to offer you is the research. We need to get to the labs. Everything is there, our combined data, and the serums we were working on are also there. I don't know what else to tell you. Whatever we do, we've got to start there. We need those serums and the test subjects that might still be there. They might even be what we need to cure those infected.”
“Let's not sugarcoat it, those 'infected' are the dead walking,” William said as a matter of fact. “In all honesty, I don't think they can be cured.”
Vincent looked at him. “I'm inclined to agree. But the scientist in me would still give it a try.”
“What about the human in you?”
“The human in me fearing for his life however, doesn't want to take the fucking chance, if you know what I mean,” Vincent replied.
“I know what you mean,” William agreed with a knowing nod.
“We need to get to the roof ASAP. We need to get to the Health Department headquarters in Springfield, it's the closest,” Felicia said.
“When we get there, we need to find a way to get back into SciTech Labs safely. Hopefully with the time that will pass, the place will be cleared out... hopefully,” Vincent said.
“You said you got the base compound from the military right?” William asked.
Vincent nodded. “Yes”.
“Did they ever tell you where they got it?”
“No, and don't think that I didn't ask,” Vincent said. “It was one of the reasons why I started to have doubts about this project. Not knowing the origins of the base compound was frustrating, to say the least. Not to mention, its adverse effects on our subjects were a bit unnerving. Still, we had success in spite of it all.”
He wasn't completely willing to forget the fact that they had designed a serum that was revolutionary to the world and were well on their way to breaking barriers in the medical field as well.
“Success at what price?” Sarah asked absently as she flashed back to the sight of the mother and child being eaten alive. She couldn't help but wonder if they were one of those things out there.
“You don't understand,” Vincent stated. “We created a serum that could possibly slow the aging process, heal broken bones and every disease known to man in a matter of seconds. Can you fathom what that means?”
“And along the way to your history-making discovery, you created this brand new disease that can somehow resurrect the dead,” Sarah accused. “So what we’re dealing with is some shit straight out of a horror movie. I dare say zombies.”
Vincent frowned, but nodded. “I swear I had no idea anything like this would happen.”
“Look, can we play the blame game later. We need to finish getting the research here,” William said, ceasing the tit-for-tat that was going on between the two lovebirds.
“I was just doing what I was told to do. I was doing my job,” Vincent said in his final defense.
William grunted as he shifted his gaze from Vincent to his companions. He knew full well the ramifications of scientists experimenting with something new and quite possibly lethal in the so-called noble pursuit of doing one’s job. But this shit was something completely different all together, as far as he was concerned. He seriously doubted the honorable proclamations Vincent spewed forth in an attempt to justify his part in what was going on.
William walked over to the window along with the other two doctors. At the height of the condo, they had a pretty good view of the city and things weren’t looking so good. They could see that fires had been set off in several buildings surrounding the location of SciTech labs. Flashing lights of emergency vehicles were scattered throughout the downtown area. Multiple sirens blared in an ominous chorus so loud it was almost deafening even from where they stood.
“What's really unfortunate is the timing of this thing,” Sarah said, joining the others in the living room. “Is that it’s summer here in Chicago. The Taste has attracted people from all over the country to the city and on top of all that, it's a work day. Millions of people in one location getting attacked is not something we need right now, but it's where we're at.”
“I'm going to try to call Philip's wife. If she's home, I can get her to pack up his research material,” Vincent said, picking up his cordless phone. He dialed the number, but there was no answer. “Shit! I think I've had my fill of people not answering their damn cellphones today.”
“Do you think it's spread that far?” Sarah asked “I mean, Philip lives in Skokie.”
“It's a possibility, I can't deny that,” Vincent said, looking at the other doctors.
“We need to get to the rooftop,” Felicia reminded. “Do you have everything you need?” She pointed towards his computer, not really caring about his other provisions.
“Yeah, but it's not all that I need,” Vincent reiterated. “We're going to need to bring something with us to barricade the rooftop door once we get there. If those things manage to get in here, they're going to be climbing each level looking for us.”
“You mean, for food?” William clarified.
“If you want to put it that way, I guess,” Vincent said, with a scowl.
He was on his way towards the hall closet when his phone began to ring. He answered it immediately. “Clare, thank God, you're alive. Is everything all right with you?”
“No. I've been trying to reach Philip all morning, after what I saw on the news, and I can't. Is he with you? Is he okay?” Clare, Philip's wife asked. Vincent's throat tightened with sorrow as he thought about what he was going to have to tell her. That her husband was the second casualty. That her two children, Thomas and Jasmine would never see their father again, or her, her husband.
“Answer me, damn it!” Clare shouted over the receiver.
“I'm so sorry, Clare, Philip—”
“No. No, no, no, no, please, God, no!” Clare began to scream and cry as one of her greatest fears came to life. She had prayed and held hope that her husband was still alive, but just having difficulty getting out of the city and that's why she couldn't reach him. She hadn't wanted to entertain the thought that he was dead or, worse yet, one of those things running around killing people.
“Clare, I know you're grieving right now. I can't imagine what you're feeling, but you have to get out of there, it's not safe,” Vincent urged.
“I have the security shutters down. We're safe, my children and I...” she managed to say through her tears and pain-filled gasps.
“You're not safe enough, Clare,” Vincent pressed.
“But those things are already out there, I can't risk it!”
“Jesus Christ, they're the
re already?” Vincent gasped. The speed in which these things had attacked and traveled continued to amaze and horrify him. “Listen to me. You can't stay there. I have a helicopter coming for me and I want to swing by and pick you up with the kids, but first I need for you to gather up every bit of research Philip had on our secret project. Papers, disk drives, vials of blood, everything.”
“What?” Clare asked. Her voice quaked with the fear she felt along with her sadness as she tried to stay focused on what he was telling her.
“Just pack every single hard drive, jump drive, scrap of paper, and modems you can find. Put it in a box. We need his research data, Clare. I can't stress how important it is right now that I see his data. Also, if you find any vials of blood, please pack those too, we need them.”
“All right, I'll gather what I can find. Please hurry,” she said, the anxiety in her voice seemed to increase from what Vincent could tell.
“I will. Trust me, I'm coming for you and the kids,” Vincent promised and then he ended the call.
“What's the ETA on that helicopter?” he asked Felicia.
“I was told thirty minutes, maybe a little less, which is why I said we need to get to the roof.”
He looked down at his watch, noting the time. “Good. We need some tools and materials to barricade the door. I don't want to be attacked if we're waiting to be saved.” Opening his closet, he pulled out a tool box.
“Getting back on track,” Samantha said to Vincent who turned to face her. “This Dr. Henrick was bitten? Is that how you think the virus is being transferred? Through saliva?”
“It would seem so, which is why I think those helmets you all are still wearing are unnecessary.”