by A. Giacomi
He gives me a smug look; I had already angered him again. I knew I should have just kept quiet, but it simply wasn’t in my nature.
“You may address me as Doctor, and only Doctor. To you, I have no name. If I gave you my name you might mistake us for friends and that we are not, and that we shall never be.”
For the first time in the history of ever, I may have regretted opening my big fat mouth. This man didn’t find me funny, or charming, or human. I could tell by the look in his icy eyes that he wasn’t interested in getting to know me; I was going to be his plaything, his prize. The result of the testing that would shortly ensue was unbeknownst to me, but I was almost certain that there was something in it for him. Whether it be some sort of claim to fame or perhaps a pat on the shoulder from the higher ups. None of this was truly about me at all; I was already being treated as if I didn’t exist as if I had reached my last moment. I wasn’t human, or zombie, I had been demoted to “thing”.
Deciding that speaking was a wasted effort, I lay on the metal slab staring at the ceiling as the Doctor continues to rummage around the room for god knows what. When the room goes quiet, I begin to panic and crane my head toward the last moment of sound. I am startled to find his face so close to mine when my head fully turns. He holds a needle above me as if it were a knife. It had been awhile since I had felt actual fear, but I was definitely feeling it now. I wanted to ask what he planned on doing with that needle, but he spares me my questioning by beginning to voice the dialogue going on in his head.
“Now this is just a sedative, nothing dangerous, I just need to make sure you don’t move a muscle during this first experiment, it could result in quite a mess and Agent Williams would not be pleased.”
I feel my eyes glow and burn at the mention of that man’s name. I thrash around on the table trying desperately to free myself. If Agent Williams were in charge now, then I was willing to bet that he wanted me to suffer. If this was his doing, then not very much of it was going to be scientific, but a lot of it was going to be recreational, and personal, and that terrified me more than anything.
“Hold still, Eve,” the Doctor warns as he steadies his needle above my neck. “Hold still and this will all be over quite soon.”
I continue to thrash in defiance until the needle plunges into my neck with a force that feels like it would have crushed my windpipe.
The room goes a bit fuzzy, but not completely dark. My body becomes limp and useless as the seconds pass. I was the conscious dead. Completely alert, but frozen. I want to look around and find out what was happening, but there was really no need, the answer comes in the sound of a mini saw filling the room. I am completely helpless to stop what happens next.
The sound nears, echoing through the room, mingling with Mozart playing in the background. I hear the saw make contact with something and struggle to complete its work. God only knew what he was removing.
Soon I hear triumph in the Doctor’s voice, “Eureka! We have another perfect cut!” He squeals with delight. He was clearly a madman who had stolen a lab coat or had been given one just so Agent Williams could justify him as my tormentor.
I hear him walk toward a corner of the room and begin tinkering with other materials. He had taken an interest in something and had even turned off the music that had been playing through the nightmare in my head. The silence in the room only welcomed sleep. I close my eyes, my body too weak from fighting hunger. I would have to feed soon if I were going to get out of here. I needed my strength, and evidently my healing abilities.
***
What seems like days later, I awaken from a deep sleep or perhaps I had passed out from sheer emotional exhaustion? My body quivers, not from cold, I was always cold these days, but from something else. The shuddering becomes more and more uncontrollable as the moments pass; it wasn’t seizure-like, it was as if something in my body was dying to get out. I call out for help but soon realize that I am alone in the room. The shuddering becomes somewhat painful as the moments progress. I begin to scream now, crying for help as if I was being attacked by something invisible.
Soon the Doctor enters the room and so does the man of my nightmares. The man I was hoping to never see again. I try to glare at him, but I only manage to grimace in pain. The doctor checks my eyes, my skin, and something under my hospital gown before whispering something to Agent Williams. Whatever he said only makes Agent Williams smile. That smile that sickens me, that smile that stunk of victory, he put a whole new spin on the term “stink face”.
He walks over to me, still smiling as he watches me clenching my teeth trying to say something along the lines of “asshole.” Unfortunately, nothing really courageous comes out of my mouth, just some chattering and a deflated, “What have you done?”
Agent Williams’ smirk grows larger as he caresses the skin on my rotten arm. I want to pull away from him, but even more so, break free, and run at him only to tear his head off. I should have killed him when I had the chance. I should have ended him the night he was bitten. For the first time, I regretted saving someone’s life. I guess being a hero isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, instead, it came back to bite me in the ass.
When he’d had his fill of staring, he speaks, “Eve, long time no see. I’ve missed you if you can believe it. Now I know you’re probably wondering what you’re doing here, but I assure you we’re not going to harm you. We need you. Like I’ve told you before, you’re important to our research and you’re important to our future.”
He was starting to sound a bit like a politician; blah, blah, blah important, blah, blah, blah future…but what was it going to cost me?
He goes to caress my arm again, and I finally manage to blurt out, “Don’t…touch…me.”
Williams backs away with that smug smile still on his face. “As you wish.” He nods toward the Doctor and then leaves the room.
I was happy to see him go, but the Doctor was not an improvement. He hums some wacky tune as he begins to gather items around the room. Something about the way he went around the room reminded me of Cinderella cleaning, except that he was mostly just concocting something vile for me to endure.
“Eve, I know you are experiencing some tremors, as I like to call them. I’ve been giving you some vaccines that I have been working on. Their job is to fight the blood cells damaged by the Azrael Virus and hopefully, extend your life, or rather half-life a bit longer. The Virus, however, doesn’t really like being toyed with. It fights against the vaccine with all it’s got and eventually will win unless of course, I keep injecting you. The tremors tell me that it’s time for another dose.”
He injects a needle into my neck and the shaking stops. I feel at ease and even allow myself a brief smile.
The Doctor heads back to his workstation to retrieve another needle.
“What’s that one for?” I ask timidly.
He grins unnaturally, “Oh this? This I call lights out.”
I didn’t like the sound of that…
CHAPTER NINE
DR. AUGUST
Although I know very well that she’s here, somewhere, they won’t let me see her. I could only imagine what they were doing to her. Agent Williams had become hungrier since losing her, and that hunger had nothing to do with the infected blood floating about in his veins. He was ravenous for power. It was no secret around the facility that he had murdered Vallincourt and taken over. He had told us all some stupid tale about Vallincourt attacking him, and having to protect himself. As silly as it sounded, no one questioned it since anyone who dared soon disappeared from the CSIS facility.
The underground lab seemed to be under military guard. No one was sure if it was for our protection or to make sure no one stepped out of line. I myself had decided to stay quiet. My stay in the facility was no longer voluntary; they had threatened my family and had shown me something that would keep me here, indefinitely.
W
hen Eve left, they knew that I would soon try to escape as well. They couldn’t lose me and all my research so they decided that blackmail was the route they would take. I had no idea what cards they held, what power they had over me. They had kept it a secret just in case a moment such as this arose. They were always two steps ahead no matter which direction you turned.
One morning prior to Eve’s return, Agent Williams led me to a section of the CSIS facility that needed special clearance. I thought that he was taking me to a cell or taking me away to be murdered. Instead, he walked me into a large cold room that felt much like a giant freezer. There was a cool mist in the air that created a foggy effect. William’s pushed me to the center of the room to view a rather large glass encasement. It was reminiscent of a sarcophagus. Williams slammed my face against the glass, impatient with my caution approaching the mysterious case. With my face right against it, I could make out a face, a body. “Vincent!” I gasped.
William’s had brought him to the facility for testing, but no one had been able to find him a cure, and keeping him awake had proven to be quite dangerous. He was like Eve, bitten by the evil directly, and that came with certain powers. If I couldn’t cure Vincent, I would surely have to kill him, he clearly had less control over the virus than Eve did. Somehow Eve was able to master it, although eventually, the virus would win, it was always just a matter of time, but in the meantime, Eve had managed to hold onto some of her humanity.
It was from that moment that I knew I would never escape this facility. They had my friend, and I owed him my life. His had been taken through my own foolhardiness and greed. I should have never gone to Hierakonpolis and I should have never taken Dr. Engel with me. I wished I had never agreed to help CSIS, and wished I could take back the poor choice of dragging students to Hierakonpolis and placing them in danger. What had I been thinking? I lived with so much regret some days that it became unbearable.
***
Two friends locked up in the very same facility had made me more productive these days. Although I wasn’t allowed to see Eve, working on a cure for Vincent meant potentially saving Eve as well. I was more determined than ever.
Most mornings I would head to the lab before anyone else was up. Sleep had become difficult, so by 3:30 or 4:00 in the morning I would be up and ready to start my day. This morning is no different. I throw on my lab coat and head over to my newly assigned lab, number 1955. None of the labs are labeled in the sterile facility; a number is all you got and there are plenty of them. The facility is maze-like, but as you navigated the halls you soon became used to the odd pathways and began to memorize your route.
On my way, I hear faint voices in the hallway behind me and decide to duck around a corner and hide. It sounded like they were lifting something heavy and I thought it best to move out of the way and be silent. As the voices draw nearer, I hear two men complaining, and a dragging sound between curse words. I press myself against the wall and wait for the men to pass. Each of them is holding a man by his arms and dragging him along. I squint to see that the face is none other than Cam’s! My breath ceases as shock takes me. I had hoped he had escaped, but clearly, he was now a hostage. After they pass me, I peer after them to see where he will be taken. They continue to head toward the special clearance area of the facility, the area where they held Vincent. That deepened my concern, nothing good happened behind those doors, and I quickly found myself plotting a way to meet with him and discover their intent.
***
It takes me a few days and a few tries to get in to see Vincent. I begged to inspect him so that I can compare his condition to Eve’s. They didn’t trust me, but my persistence soon became annoying, and rather than have me continue to rant about it, they said I had an hour with him and that would be all.
As my two guards lead me into the special clearance area of the building, I tell them, “I can take it from here.” I didn’t want them following me.
Visiting Vincent had been recent enough that I remembered my way around this sector. The guards remain at the doors and begin their timer as instructed.
“One hour!” the taller guard shouts at me as he places one hand on his gun.
I nod and race off down the hall as fast as my old bones would let me. I see Vincent’s room and pass it. Sorry old friend, this boy needs me more at the moment.
I would tend to Vincent another time, but right now I had to find Cam. I try to open a few doors, most are locked, and the ones that open seem to only hold computers. I continue down the blinding white hallways until I see a large glass box at the end of one of the hallways, it looks like a holding cell and no one appears to be guarding it. I race toward it and see that there is a man sitting behind the large glass walls, his head droops forward, and I can’t be sure it’s Cam unless I get closer.
When I am mere centimeters away from the glass, I notice that there are a few small air holes, and a larger hole, perhaps to permit food. Other than that, the wall seems to have no entrance or exit.
“Cameron?” I whisper through the small air holes.
The drooped head shoots upright at the sound of my voice, and then he darts toward the wall with pure elation. “Dr. August, thank god! Have you seen Eve? Is she okay?”
To my relief, Cam still seemed fairly unfazed, which means they hadn’t hurt him, yet.
“Cam she’s here, but I have not seen her. I’m not permitted to see her, and I’m fairly certain that I should not even know that you are here. The mere fact that you are here means they have plans for you; otherwise, they would have just killed you. I don’t know what those plans are, but I will find out and do everything I can to get you out of here.”
Cam’s brows furrow, I had no good news for him. He goes back to sit on his rather uncomfortable looking plastic bench. He had been placed in white scrubs which added quite the contrast to the bruises on his face and arms. It took him a moment to speak again.
“I’m not getting out of here am I?” Cam says with a sorrowful grin.
“Cameron, listen to me, I will do anything to get you out of here. Just stay with me. Don’t test the waters, don’t lose your cool. They will kill you, and then you will be of no use to Eve.”
He nods to that. I knew if anything could keep him calm it would be the possibility of saving Eve.
“I don’t have much time, Cameron. I need to know…how did you get here? What happened?” I fear the answers, but I had to hear them.
Cam shakes his head; the response he was building seemed painful.
“They’re gone, Dr. August. Everyone!” He bites his quivering lip, trying to hold himself together with one small gesture. “We were preparing to escape, the zombies, they’re everywhere now. I’m not sure help is coming, I think this is what the Government wants, they want to start this whole shit show, then save us from it, build our trust and then build a whole new world.”
My mouth hangs open in disbelief. “Is this true? Has the virus begun to spread?”
Cam looks a bit confused. “Yeah, you didn’t know? It’s all over the news. It’s bad, Doc.”
Of course, Cam wouldn’t know that we were being kept in the dark down here. There is no news in this facility, except the news they wish you to hear. Cam was perhaps on the right track with his theory. With Williams going all power hungry, who’s to say he didn’t plan this or stage this entire pandemic? My mind races, who else was involved? How deep did this run? What was their endgame anyway?
I take a deep breath. “It seems there is much I need to find out first, and I will…but Cam what happened to everyone? Where is Alex? Is she safe?”
Cam cringes and looks away. “I don’t know… One minute we were safe, the next, agents show up at the house. Eve sort of collapsed before they arrived. I got a good smack on the head and woke up in a van, then a few more hits knocked me out again and here I am. I overheard one of the agents saying that ‘the old man was dead,’ I assum
ed they meant Eve’s dad.” He hangs his head solemnly. “I don’t know if they found Alex. I hope to God she got away.”
My eyes meet the floor; so many casualties will come from this, but for Eve to lose both her parents and her friends seemed especially unfair. For once, I hoped they had kept this information from her, this would surely crush her will to fight, and I needed Eve to fight, or we would all be doomed.
Cam didn’t seem very strong at the moment, and if he had any hope of getting out of here, he would need to find strength from somewhere.
“Cam listen to me. They will try to hurt you, don’t fight them. They will try to break you, don’t let them. If you are to survive, you will have to bend for a little while, I will figure out a plan. I just need you to remember that tragedy does not weaken us, it makes us stronger.”
He nods, understanding my message. I could see his courage hadn’t left him yet.
I check my watch and realize I must go. I try to give Cam a small grin, he needed hope, and I prayed that I had given him at least an ounce of that. As I walk away, I feel his terror growing, I didn’t know if he would survive this, and I didn’t mean physically. Cam was definitely a survivor he had proven that time and time again, but he had already been through so many nightmares. What would be left of Cameron Jackson after all this? I thought as I reluctantly hurry away from him.
CHAPTER TEN
ALEX
Janna and I didn’t spend much time mourning our parents. We cleaned up the mess the best we could and for the most part tried to block out any memory of that night. The next few weeks felt as though we were playing pretend like when we were kids. The beautiful cottage was where Janna and I began to play house. We would create meals together with what we could find in the fridge, cellar, or pantry. We found a large room full of books and game boards to keep us occupied now that the television and radio were no longer working. I found myself feeling grateful that we couldn’t hear any news. I truly didn’t want to know what was out there. I was perfectly happy in my ignorance and so was Janna.