Erebus: An Apocalyptic Thriller

by Steven Bird

  ���I don���t understand,��� interrupted Dr. Bentley. ���If they latch on to human hosts so easily, why didn���t you and Brett become their first vehicles? And how did they get loose here at McMurdo?���

  ���I���ve thought about that quite a bit,��� she replied. ���Brett and I never made direct contact with them. We were wearing our protective clothing and never directly touched them with our gloves. I used my knife to scrape a sample from the cave walls. Though they are accustomed to processing things such as iron, they usually make such a reaction with soft rock, not the hardened materials found in modern metallurgy such as the stainless-steel blade of my knife. They simply didn���t survive to transfer from my knife to me. That, and if there were surviving hitchhikers on my blade, they probably froze once we exited the caves. The rest were kept relatively warm inside the sample container deep within Brett���s pack. That���s another reason I believe the human body makes an excellent host. Have you noticed all of those who are infected have been sweating profusely? They seem to be replicating the heat of the caves and fumaroles that run throughout Erebus by heating up their hosts.���

  ���Heating up their hosts?��� Doctor Perkins repeated. ���You just said you weren���t sure if it was a chance reaction and now you���re acting as if these simple little microscopic creatures are consciously controlling us.���

  ���First off, they are anything but simple. And yes, I am still guessing at this point. These organisms may be single-celled, but they can group together to make a more complex organism in a relatively short amount of time. Secondly, we don���t know how long these things have been dormant, hiding deep within the bowels of Erebus. You know as well as I do that over one-hundred-million years ago, this continent was teeming with life. It had the climate of a rainforest. These creatures probably thrived then. They could have easily lived in the blood of myriad species, merely retreating underground, deep within the bowels of the Earth as the climate changed, trapping them deep below the ice. Fossil record proof of this may merely be hidden thousands of meters below the ice, just out of our reach.

  ���As an astrobiologist, I have traveled the world in search of the most extreme conditions where life might exist so that we may understand where life may also exist elsewhere in our universe. I���ve learned not to be surprised by anything. Life will find a way not only to survive, but also to thrive, and it won���t restrict itself to the rules of our narrow scope of understanding when doing so.���

  Turning back to the rest of the group, she continued, ���As to how it has spread so rapidly through McMurdo, there was an accident in the Ship Off Load Command Center. My samples and gear were packed away securely as always. Unfortunately, one of the forklift operators had a medical emergency of some sort and crashed into my pallet, knocking it off the stack and down onto a coworker below. I believe this is where the first transfer took place. The open wounds of the injured worker were the perfect ingress points for the freed organisms.���

  ���Whatever happened to the worker?��� Dr. Bentley asked. ���The one who was exposed.���

  ���In addition to the severe injuries he sustained during the accident, he immediately developed a high fever. He was too injured to transport without stabilizing him, so an emergency surgery was performed at the station hospital. He was then transferred to the next departing aircraft.

  ���The secondary exposures seemed to come from medical, and spread rapidly through McMurdo over the course of the next day. Even without a basis in facts, I immediately knew what was happening,��� she said, hanging her head low. ���I could feel it deep within my soul. It was my fault. All my fault. I brought this evil from deep within the bowels of the Earth and thrust it upon us all.���

  Placing his hand on her back, Dr. Hunter said, ���Linda, that���s nonsense. We���ve all brought samples from Erebus through McMurdo to get them to our university labs back home. It could have been any of us.���

  Looking at him with a tear in her eye, she replied, ���It could have been. But it wasn���t.���

  Chapter Eleven

  Crary Lab

  Listening to the thuds against the wall from across the hallway, a continued reminder of the violent struggle deep within the body of their friend and colleague Dr. Jared Davis, the group sat there in silence, contemplating their fate.

  ���We���ve got to work up a plan,��� Brett said. ���We can���t stay here in the Crary Lab forever. We have the food we took from the galley and that���ll get us by for a few days. Now, we need to figure out how we���re going to defend ourselves and what we���re going to do next. It���s only a matter of time before the station power grid goes down without workers to keep it up and running. That means no more heat and no more lights with the flip of a switch. That could happen in days or minutes. We need to act now.���

  ���Brett���s right,��� Dr. Hunter said, standing to face the group. ���This is a lot to take in, I know. Our long-term plans may have yet to be formed, but if we don���t take care of our short-term needs, it won���t matter. Once we���ve established a secure location, an adequate supply of food, and a way to provide warmth for ourselves, we can start to figure out what comes next.���

  ���And security,��� Mason said. ���All of that will be for nothing without security.���

  ���Suggestions?��� Dr. Hunter queried, knowing full well where Mason was going with this.

  ���We need to get to Mac-Town Ops and find out for ourselves if firearms are, in fact, present at McMurdo. Even if we don���t find them there, there may be some sort of written protocol in the station manager���s office that will lead us to them.���

  Seeing Mason look at him as if awaiting a protest or response, Neville said, ���Oh, I agree. We need them. I apologize for my earlier remarks about you Yanks and your need to feel secure. That was merely my own social conditioning speaking up, I���m afraid.���

  ���Do we all need to go?��� Dr. Bentley asked. ���Don���t misunderstand. I am not trying to get out of it if you feel you need me. My concern is that our entire merry band being out and about will attract more attention from…well, the infected, of course.���

  ���That���s a good point,��� Mason replied. ���A small recon team may have a much better chance of slipping in and out undetected.���

  ���Recon team?��� Dr. Perkins said with raised eyebrow. ���That���s not something one usually hears in a scientific setting. Were you prior military?���

  ���No, but I���ve never had the mindset that the world I grew up in would remain safe and stable for the long-term,��� Mason replied. ���That���s just not the reality of things when you study history. War, tyranny, instability, and suffering are the standard of the human struggle, not the exception. I���ve always felt at peace when surrounded by the natural world, which would explain my penchant for long-distance, multi-day hikes. Getting as far away from everyone else and as close to nature as possible has always been my goal when not at work or school.

  ���That inherent mistrust of society led me, over time, to expand my knowledge of self-defense, both in the most basic forms of hand-to-hand combat and advanced weapons training.���

  ���Really?��� Dr. Jenny Duval asked. ���You seem so quiet and polite.���

  Responding with a confused look, Mason said, ���What���s not polite about being able to defend oneself and others?���

  ���I didn���t mean it that way,��� she said in an attempt to undo any unintentional insult.

  ���What sort of training did you attend?��� Dr. Bentley asked with peaked interest.

 
���I���ve had martial arts training from several dojos of various disciplines. I never stuck with anything specific for very long, though, as all my life I found myself moving around with my parents as my dad traveled for work. As far as weapons training goes, as a hunter I have used firearms all my life, but I���ve expanded my knowledge to the self-defense side of things with training at several schools, one of which was called Resolute Dynamics in Mt. Zion, Illinois. There, I received tactical rifle and tactical pistol training, as well as active-shooter response training.���

  ���Why is this the first I���ve heard of this?��� Dr. Hunter asked.

  With a chuckle, Mason replied, ���It���s not like firearms training and a belief in the fragility of our modern society is a popular subject on college campuses these days. No. The way things are, I figured I���d just keep those aspects of my life to myself.���

  ���Hell, I���d have asked you to go shooting with me if I���d known that,��� Dr. Hunter replied.

  ���And why is this the first I���ve heard of this?��� Mason quipped.

  ���Same reasons, I guess,��� Dr. Hunter said with a grin. ���Well, let���s see a show of hands of who agrees that a small group should set out for Ops to see what we can find or find out?���

  With a unanimous response, Dr. Hunter said, ���Good. I���m in, and I think it���s obvious that Mason is as well. Who else?���

  ���I���m in,��� replied Brett.

  ���I���d feel better if you stayed here, Brett. If anything happens to us, the rest of our team will need your survival expertise.���

  ���That seems to be a recurring theme,��� Brett replied.

  ���There���s a reason for that,��� Dr. Hunter said with a raised eyebrow. ���Your position here as MEVO���s official mountaineer is because those of us who feel we have brilliant scientific minds may not be the best to explain how to survive an avalanche. Your skills have always been in critical need with us.���

  ���I���ll go,��� Neville said anxiously. ���I���ve never been one who could sit and worry. I���ll go nuts here just waiting.���

  ���I think three will do just fine,��� Mason replied. ���Everyone suit up, and considering Dr. Graves��� concerns about the spread of this thing, I think we should wear our medical masks and gloves underneath our cold-weather gear. Our snow goggles should do just fine for eye protection if we come in contact with contagions.���

  ���That���s a mild way to say, ���fight off raving mad, prehistoric organism-controlled zombies,������ Neville remarked.

  ���They���re not zombies,��� Dr. Graves said sharply, correcting Neville���s use of the Z-word. ���I feel ridiculous even saying this, since we all know zombies aren���t, and never were, real. But even if they were, zombies were portrayed to be the dead, reanimated for the sinister, primal purpose of consuming the living. The infected in this situation are living, breathing human beings. A few days ago, you may have been sitting in the station galley having lunch alongside any one of them. Let���s not allow the world of science fiction to blur the lines of reality. For all we know, there may be a way to help them that has yet to be discovered.���

  Hearing a thud from across the hall, she added, ���That���s why I have Jared secured safely across the hall. I���m not giving up on him.���

  ���And Bob Muller?��� Jenny asked.

  ���He was going to die no matter what,��� Linda quickly replied. ���There was no reason to risk him spreading the microbes to anyone else just so he could live for a few hours or moments more.���

  Changing the subject, Dr. Hunter said, ���Mason, Neville, let���s get going.���

  ���Hurry back,��� Dr. Graves said.

  Dr. Hunter could see the stress and burden of the situation in her eyes. He could tell that, not only had she suffered through several days of horror, she also carried the burden of knowing, or at least believing deep within her own heart, that she was to blame for the spread of the menace that held McMurdo and the remainder of its inhabitants captive. She knew she was unknowingly responsible for the icy embrace of certain death for those who remained.

  ���It���ll be okay,��� he said with a reassuring smile. ���We���ll get back as quick as we can.���

  ���We���ll be upstairs on the second floor above the Core Pod,��� she replied. ���The lounge up there will be a comfortable place to wait���in the event it takes longer than we all hope for you to return. There���s also two sets of stairs, giving us an alternate point of egress if something… well, let���s just say there is a second way out if we need it.���

  ~~~~

  Slipping quietly out of the microscope room, Dr. Hunter, Derrick Mason, and Neville Wallace worked their way through Phase One of Crary Lab, down the inclined passageway leading to Phase Two. As Mason led the way, his ice axe in hand, Dr. Hunter brought up the rear, keeping a vigilant eye on their potentially threat-filled environment behind them.

  Exiting Phase Two and entering Phase Three, the aquarium pod, the men were surprised to see Bob Muller���s body and the transformation it was taking. Covering his face in a futile attempt to prevent the putrid smell from entering his lungs, Mason pulled his snow goggles down and said, ���What the hell?��� as the men noticed that Bob Muller���s body seemed to be collapsing in on itself.

  ���Look,��� Neville said. ���That gray film���it���s no longer following his veins and arteries. It appears to be gathered around his eyes, nose, mouth, and even his ears.���

  ���I guess when the blood flow stopped, they started expanding their search for nutrients,��� Dr. Hunter added. ���Just imagine what���s going on inside him right now.���

  ���I���d rather not,��� Neville answered. ���That���s why I study volcanology and not biology. Such things tend to make me weak in the knees.���

  ���Come on,��� Mason said, urging them forward.

  Stepping out and into the painful cold, Mason found himself relieved to breathe the painfully frigid air. I���d rather have my lungs frost over inside than breathe that wretched stench, he thought.

  Working their way to the south side of the Crary Lab, Mason led the group west, following underneath the structure as it was held above the frozen surface via its pier-style foundation.

  Seeing Mason come to an immediate stop in front of them, Neville and Dr. Hunter quickly saw the reason for his halt of their advance. A frozen corpse lay underneath the building. It was the young lady who Mason had met at McMurdo to have lunch with on several of his jaunts from MEVO to the station and back. She was a pretty young brunette in her late twenties who was at McMurdo to work in the greenhouse for the summer, as she had taken a respite from her hectic life back in Chicago.

  Placing his hand on Mason���s shoulder, Neville said, ���I���m sorry, mate. That���s the young lady you had a fancy for, isn���t it?���

  ���She was a nice girl,��� he replied. ���She had a bright future ahead of her. She wanted to be a social worker all her life, but was somewhat disenchanted by the bureaucracy of the system. She came down here to find herself. She just wanted to get away from it all and reboot.���

  ���That���s yet another common theme down here at the bottom of the world,��� Neville replied. ���All of us who aren���t sufficiently grounded to the rest of the world up there seem to fall off and end up down here together.���

  Changing the rather somber mood of the moment, Dr. Hunter said, ���Do you notice the difference between her and Bob Muller? She
was clearly infected, but she never advanced past the fever stage,��� he said, referring to the icy sheen that covered her exposed skin.

  Giving them a moment to look her over, he added, ���Bob Muller���s body rapidly advanced to a different stage after his death. When his body could no longer be used to generate heat, and when his circulation ceased, they appeared to move deeper within, consuming him from the inside. All of the bodies we���ve seen outside of the warmth provided by the facilities of McMurdo have remained the way they were when they died.���

  ���So, you���re saying the microorganisms can���t survive in the cold? The same as us?��� Neville asked.

  ���It appears so. Think about it. They haven���t been found anywhere on the continent except deep with the warm, gassy caves of Mt. Erebus. They do not exist beyond the boundaries established by the volcano���s warmth. Inside the lab, Bob Muller’s body had been kept relatively warm by the heat provided by the facility, so the organisms were able to advance to some further stage within him. Out here, they appear to die along with their host. That���s something we may be able to use when the situation presents itself.���

  ���What situation?��� Mason asked.

  ���Knowing where they can and cannot live will undoubtedly come in handy.���

  ���The problem is, we can���t live where they can���t live,��� Mason replied. ���That, we have in common.���

  ���Okay, let���s go,��� Dr. Hunter said. ���The chill is starting to work its way into my bones.���