“What kind of side effect?” David asked opening his eyes and walking back toward the window.
“If used on a deceased human body it reanimated it, bringing it back to life!”
“What!” David yelled.
“At first it worked out fine,” his father continued to ramble. “At Trinity, we brought back a man and woman successfully.” David couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “But then the virus showed signs of mutations.” David shook his head slowly.
“What’s wrong David?” Destiny asked placing her hand on his back. She had been following him around the room deeply concerned. David ignored her and listened closely as his father continued to rant.
“We saw where it would escalate to and knew we had to do something about it. So let’s see um – there was me, your mother and Ellen and we set out to discover a way to tame the virus back into being stable!” His father began to sound like a mad man over the phone. David didn’t know what to say.
“Dad ...” David said, but paused in silence his father continued.
“So much to tell you son and very little time.”
“We have time now Dad, Ellen isn’t coming.” David said trying to calm his father down.
“I know son; don’t worry we took care of it. Now let’s see -” David’s confusion grew to such an extreme he believed he would never get the answers he asked for. His father’s thinking out loud over the phone was causing David to nearly tune him out. Why had his parents faked their deaths? Twice? How did they think they took care of Ellen coming to the cabin? What has happened for the last four years?
Then David got the answers to almost all of his questions. “Me and your Mother found it one day in the lab at Trinity, an answer to everything we had been hoping for. Using the same method that caused it to mutate we could, with fire and the virus, re-tame it so it would no longer mutate!”
“So you did find a cure!” David yelled excited.
“Well no … not really.”
“Dad you’re not making any sense. Look can we meet?” David’s impatience could be heard in his voice.
“Sure, come to the cabin. We can talk as much as you want.”
“Dad the building is surrounded by zombies. I can’t exactly stroll down to meet you but I will find a way.” David brought the phone away from his ear and went to hang up the cell phone but his father’s voice caused him to put it back up to his ear. “What was that?” David asked.
“You can!” His father said with excitement. “That’s what we discovered!” David’s head was spinning. He thought that maybe his father had lost his mind completely. “When the lab blew up at Trinity we were infected with the newly mutated re-tamed virus! After we had healed in the hospital we thought it best to continue our research alone.”
“Why?” David asked confused.
“We have our reason’s son.” His father replied causing David’s face to turn to anger.
“Reasons? I thought you both died four years ago and your best excuse is reasons?” David looked around the room trying not to draw any attention from the scientists nearby.
“No no, son we had our reasons for faking our death with Trinity but we didn’t want to fake it to you!” His father quickly said as he could hear David’s anger and confusion. “We had to fake our death from Trinity but it doesn’t matter why, that’s all you need to know about that!” His father spoke with a firm tone as if he was being a father once more.
“Then why did you fake your death for me?” David asked almost pleading to know.
“Well you see David, what the new re-tamed virus did was not only heal our burns but caused the old mutated virus to ignore our blood and tissue completely!” David scratched his head and a long silence once again overcame the conversation. “You see son, when we found out that we had caused the virus to ignore our cells we had to go further.”
“What do you mean further. What is further then a cure?” David stared out the window at the distant wreckage of Ellen’s helicopter.
“Well I suppose it is a cure but we made it so it not only acts as immunity but also a controller!” David sighed loudly leaning his head back as his lunatic father continued. “Those infected with the original strain of the mutated virus, the zombies and stuff you have seen outside, whoever had the immunity virus we developed could not only heal themselves, from almost any injury aside from head wounds, but walk freely past them undetected and with a lot of concentration would be able to will them to do anything they desired.” His father took a deep breath and continued eagerly. “That is why the accident you were involved in happened.”
“I am so confused Dad.” David said quietly.
“I know son, it is a lot. Long story short you have the immunity strain in you too, remember the accident?” David at that point believed his father was completely insane and shook his head in disbelief at what his father had become. “That is why it happened. Your mother and I were trying to infect ourselves with the newest version of the virus: The one that would let us control the original one.” David rubbed his eyes getting a slight headache. “We were going to have a planned experiment to infect ourselves but the people we were trusting were going to give us in to Trinity.”
“You mean the people who were with you at the cabin during the accident?” David asked somewhat clearer on what had happened. “You staged it so you got infected with the new immunity strain and could fake your death to them.”
“But then you showed up,” His father said softly. “So we put you in the car and crashed it on purpose to ignite the virus that was being pumped into the car from the trunk.” David’s eyes grew wide. “We didn’t know you would fly out of the car. After all, you being there wasn’t planned. You have to believe we never wanted to hurt you.”
“I highly doubt that dad.” David said quietly, his right eye twitching slightly. “Sounds like you became obsessed with playing god and didn’t care about anything or anyone else.” David’s voice trembled with sadness.
“Son, you’re missing the big picture. Me, you, and your mother are immune to everything out there right now!” His father raised his voice in anger.
“So give people the cure! Or the immunity or virus of whatever you’re calling it Dad!” David hollered into the phone.
“We can’t do that son.” His father said on the other end of the phone. “We will talk more once you get here. You will see this is for the best son.”
“I will be right there.” David said sarcastically.
“See you soon son!” His father replied excitedly as David ended the call pressing hard on the button and making sure it was ended.
“What’s going on!” Destiny said loudly.
“My father is a complete lunatic!” David yelled at her. Her face flashed with fear. “I’m sorry.” He said, taking a deep breath. “He took the cure or whatever he made and it has messed with his mind.”
“Not much of a cure then.” Holiday mumbled. David nodded in agreement.
“He is insane and thinks he can control the zombies and is invisible to them.” David said as Holiday and Destiny looked at each other in disbelief. “Says I have it too.” David lowered his head and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Makes some sense I guess.” Holiday said jokingly. He smiled for a second and then his face lost all expression. “Actually makes a lot of sense.” He said seriously.
“What are you talking about Sheriff?” David asked with an unimpressed look on his face.
“Think about it for a second.” He replied. “Think back to Doc at the station.” David rolled his eyes and then thought about it.
“What about it? He attacked me and you beat him over the head.” David said quickly.
“Close your eyes.” Destiny said as David looked at her unimpressed by her helping Holiday. “Try it. It helps people remember things sometimes.” David sighed again loudly and closed his eye.
“O.K. my eyes are closed.” He said snarky.
“Just think about what happene
d with Doc.” Holiday said. Just then David thought back to the police station that first night everything went wrong.
“Doc died.” David said opening his eyes and looking at Holiday.
“Keep going. What next?” Holiday asked
“We don’t have time for this!” David said raising his voice.
“Yes we do!” Holiday said sharply. “This place is safe for the moment, now god dammit just keep going.” David closed his eyes once more and thought back.
“Doc stood straight up facing me when my back was turned. His eyes were pale white and he slowly pushed toward me, nearly pushing me over as I turned around.” David opened his eyes and looked back at Holiday.
“Why did he almost push you over?” Destiny asked as David opened his eyes.
“What do you mean?” David asked as if it was obvious. “He was trying to bite me.”
“Well I wasn’t there but why didn’t he just bite you. He was obviously close enough right?” Destiny asked. David hadn’t thought about it before but now he did. He closed his eyes and pictured it again. He tried to push Doc away as he snapped his mouth while turning his head toward Holiday. David had not realized that Doc was after Holiday the entire time. He yelled at Doc to “Get off!” and struggled to push Doc away. When David released his head and placed his hand around Doc’s throat; Doc nearly pushed him over and lunged at Holiday. The only thing Doc didn’t do was bite David and he could have easily done so. David opened his eyes startled with the realization his father may be right. Then he dismissed the idea.
“There were other times zombies tried to kill me O.K.?” David said trying to convince them as well as himself. “I mean the gun store? The Beast? Hell I would be dead in the Park if you hadn’t shown up Sheriff.” he said pointing towards Holiday.
“You sure about that son?” Holiday asked, slightly backing away from David not sure how he felt about all of this. David closed his eyes and pictured each moment in his mind. Then it came to him. No zombie had ever directly attacked David; Doc tried to push past him towards Holiday; the zombies in the park ignored him and attacked Destiny and Eric even though he was vulnerable on the ground; the zombies in front of the gun store were only a foot away and still didn’t lunge at him but continued toward Holiday and Destiny.
David thought back to the time the head rolled out of the duffel bag and how it started attacking only as the sheriff ran closer. Worker #938 was only pulling at his leg on that night and could have bit him but never did. He snapped its mouth towards Doc and after Holiday shot him he turned toward Holiday but all it had to do was lower its head and bite David’s foot which slid under his chin. The Beast had never directly confronted David either. At the Gun Store, it ignored his whispers and at his house, it attacked upstairs after he had went downstairs. It held on to the car as they left town but never swung at them which it easily could have.
“Not possible…” David said opening his eyes. “You’re right.” David looked out the window at the city. Destiny still stood beside him. She reached for his hand and held it tightly. David turned to her and looked into her eyes. He still felt the spark even after everything that had happened. He looked to Holiday who was back several feet at this point, almost half the room away.
“Holiday come back here!” Destiny shouted at him. “David aint gonna hurt nobody, you know that.” Destiny shook her head in disappointment as Holiday slinked back towards David slowly.
“I have to go to the cabin.” David said looking back out the window. “If they will ignore me I need to know for sure what is going on from my father.” Holiday raised his hand and placed it on David’s shoulder. David moved his head quickly pretending to bite it. Holiday yelped and snapped his hand away. Destiny and David started laughing loudly as Holiday slowly joined in. After the moment had died down, David spoke again. “I don’t know about controlling them, that sounds stupidly insane, but they could very well be ignoring me.” David was convinced his father was completely insane and mistook the zombies ignoring him for control over them.
“Feeling left out?” Holiday said as he smirked about David being ignored by the zombies.
“A little.” David replied giving him a similar smirk.
“If we go with you …” Destiny said looking up at David. “They won’t ignore us, will they?” She looked at the floor sadly. She knew he would have to go alone.
“I will be back once I get the immunity or cure and everything will get sorted out.” He kissed the top of her head and began walking to the elevator. “Stay here. It’s the safest red dot on that map afterall!” He shouted as the elevator doors opened, letting out a few more scientists and doctors onto the floor. David entered the empty elevator and pressed the ground floor button. Holiday and Destiny waived goodbye as the elevator door slid closed and he descended toward the ground.
Chapter 13 – End Thy Name is David
The elevator opened on the ground level revealing the giant front room of the building. Scientists and doctors rushed around as small groups of military men stood guard at the front door and the elevators. David walked forward into the room; the guards looked at him once and then looked away. Ellen had obviously told them he was O.K. to walk around before she had died. David walked to the front door and peered outside through the revolving glass doors. Things looked differently from the ground level, he couldn’t see much past the Humvees or fences and the sandbags made it even harder. He walked through the rotating door and emerged outside. It was colder outside then he had expected. The sun was slowly lowering in the horizon; it had obviously been a few hours since David was last at his house. He felt the night would never come. The cold was proof that soon it would be dark but David didn’t care. If he was immune and invisible to the creatures then he could pass freely across the city to the log cabin his father was waiting at.
David rushed up to a small group of Humvees that looked like it might be a way through the perimeter. Straight in front of the building, the fences opened and sandbags parted as a large group of military men pointed guns off into the city.
“I have to go out there!” David yelled towards the men as he headed for the opening.
“Nobody leaves into the city without permission.” One of the guards said to him as they walked in front of him and raised a hand up to stop him.
“I – I have permission.” He said stuttering slightly.
“From who?” The guard asked, skeptical of David. David thought quickly and answered the only thing he could think of.
“Doctor Ellen Page - founder of Trinity Corp.” He said looking around at the men. The guard lowered his hand and stared at David.
“Look we don’t have time to check, you really wanna go out there fine.” The guard said, moving to the side as David smiled. He walked past the guard and neared the fence. “We won’t be able to let you in without clearance after you leave.” David stopped and turned towards the guard giving a quick nod. He rushed through the opening and headed off into the city towards the forest.
It was about five blocks until he would reach the cabin. David looked around at the destruction he passed. Bullet holes riddled everything he could see. Bodies were lying almost everywhere. Some bodies were intact but most were missing limbs and even heads. Ahead of him he saw a gigantic Beast like the one he had faced earlier, but this one had deteriorated badly over time and looked like it had been dead for a day or two. David continued down the middle of the road not seeing any movement of zombies or Beasts. It was almost too quiet for him. He wished Destiny was with him or Holiday. He remembered conversations they had with him or bickering or just chuckling together. It comforted him a little but not enough to help his feeling of being completely alone. Ahead of him, a zombie bolted around the corner towards him. David froze, terrified and pulled out his massive pistol ready to fire. The zombie got close very fast and just as David was about to shoot, he thought of something else to try. David lowered his gun and walked to a destroyed car on the sidewalk. He leaned up against it as
the zombie ran pass, it clearly had not seen him. David whistled sharply toward the zombie but it ignored him completely and continued running down the middle of the road toward the Trinity building. He watched as gunfire erupted from the guards. The zombie fell head-first, smashing into the ground. David began to believe his father’s words. At least, he was beginning to believe his words about the immunity making him invisible. David continued to walk down the road as more than thirty zombies came around the corner. They moved slower than the last one and again headed down the middle of the road toward David. David continued walking, the moans and disfigured faces of the zombies caused him to wince slightly as he walked into the group. The zombies pushed around him but didn’t make any threatening moves toward him. He smiled and laughed at a few zombies brushing past him but they didn’t respond to him. He raised his massive pistol and fired a shot into the head of one of the zombies. Its head nearly exploded and splashed a few nearby zombies with blood. The one he shot fell to the ground dead, as the others continued moving forward. David sighed loudly, relieved to have such a massive advantage. He started thinking about how everyone would benefit from this cure. How humanity might stand a chance with it and all he had to do was convince his now power-hungry father to do the right thing. Then a thought flashed through David’s mind. His father was responsible for this outbreak; David may have to hurt him - or worse - to get the cure. David thought about how it might happen; what he would do and if he even could. He had dreamed of being reunited with his parents for so long, he doubted he could shoot them. He didn’t know how his mother was doing through all of this, or if she was even at the cabin. David grew angry at the thought that she may have wanted to do the right thing but his father wouldn’t let her. She was always a very gentle person and loved life whenever she could. But she did follow his father with whatever he said. David’s thoughts were not helping him feel better, and the guessing was only making him feel angrier towards his father.
Infestation (Book 1): Infestation Iowa (A Zombie Survival Series) Page 11