“I understand.” She says, slowly and determined. “My son Matt and I are hurt by Maslow, all the time”
“You will be alright now; I won’t let anyone hurt you.” I say.
She gets up and takes my hand.
“Home.” she says as she pulls me to my feet.
Home... I actually think I feel a shiver of comfort.
We walk through the streets of Manhattan. Infected mill about the stores and sidewalks, seeming to imitate the way they used to be, but I know different. They are looking at things in the stores and just walking around, but I see how Healthies would think we are brain dead zombies. Most of us look like we are, and people are prejudiced. A scared, ragged dog or cat would be cared for and attempts at attacking a person would be excused.
“He’s just scared and needs help.” Or “She’s a sick scared cat and we need to be patient and understand why she scratches and bites.”
But when an infected person does similar things, we are shot in the head. Thoughts like this would have made me furious in the past, but for some reason I am listless and comfortable and have no desire to lash out or attack anybody. I just walk with Gena to her home. It seems surreal.
We get to a brick building and walk slowly up the stairs to an apartment. We go in, and a small boy is sitting in the corner, facing the wall. I walk over to him and he cowers like he is expecting a beating. I leave him be. Pictures of Maslow are on a small table and there is one on the wall. I think Gena was Maslow’s girlfriend or something. She immediately picks up the pictures and smashes them against the wall. She then walks over to me crying and wraps her arms around me and lays her head in my chest. Her hair smells like a damp basement and her skin feels wet and oozes black to the touch. And I couldn’t love it more. We go into the bedroom and close the door. Just before, it closes I see Matt out of the corner of my eye looking at us and almost smiling.
I wake up holding Gena in my arms. I hadn’t experienced physical or emotional closeness like this in a while and, honest to God, I didn’t want it to end. I get up and let her rest. I go into the living room and Matt is asleep on the couch. I walk out the door and down to the street. I don’t know why, but I can’t stay. I’m uncomfortable with the situation and I can’t explain why. I will be back, but for now I need to head out. I begin to wonder how Maslow will spread the antiviral Eraser over the planet. So I decide to find out. By asking him...
Maslow is not a hard man to find; you just look for the crowds around him. But he is a hard man to talk to, unless he wants to talk to you. I walk to the building where his office is and I go in. After I go upstairs I see Dr. Stout. I decide to ask him my questions and if he doesn’t give me answers, I will kill him.
“How is he going to spread it? Eraser. How will he do it?” I scream.
He turns around smiling. “Dogs, Mr. Madden, dogs trained to attack your kind. They already naturally attack you, so they won’t need much training. The plan is to have the Army in the North infect canines with Eraser and release them, hundreds, thousands, in the lower United States to start. Communications to the Seat of North American Government have already been re-established by Mr. Maslow, and the plan is taking shape. We just need to get them the Eraser Antiviral. After we start the plan here, we will do the same thing all over the world. Initial experiments show that the healthy dogs will not become sick due to the Eraser in them, and further experiments with the mice show that Eraser is passed in the womb. Their litters will be weapons against you as well. It is a perfect biological weapon to eradicate our failed imperfect biological weapon.”
“But that will take years.” I say.
“Maybe, maybe not, but no matter. It will work and gradually allow civilization to reclaim what is ours. We will add to the fight with conventional means. Army Divisions with Eraser coated ammo, and with more Canine Units of infected dogs. Planes dropping shrapnel bombs that release piercing metal coated in Eraser. We will also release infected Alphas, like Bob, onto the mainland to attack and kill his own. You and your kind will be removed from the earth, and Maslow and I will be Gods! It also looks as if Eraser may be a working inoculation for the healthy and their offspring, but experiments on humans haven’t been done. It feels good to know I am going to be very wealthy as a result of this. To have expensive things and real women instead of having to resort in physical liaisons with Maslow’s various dead sluts, like her.”
He points to young infected Asian woman who just came in the room. She is very attractive, long black hair, completely naked, and looks very familiar. More familiar than Gina, I know this woman. She kneels down beside Stout and he pets her head. “I feel like a necrophiliac at times.” He says. “It’s disgusting, but she takes care of any need I could have. And as you see, she is quite beautiful.”
I become enraged and shout “I could kill and eat you right now you son of a bitch, what’s to stop me?”
“Go ahead then, do it.” He was right up in my face now. “Do it Het, do it!” he screamed at me, poking his finger in my chest.
But I couldn’t. I had no desire to.
“We have tricks of our own, Mr. Madden, which we use to control our little island. You will no sooner eat me than you would cut your own arm off. The experiments that I did to find a cure to destroy your kind led me to the discovery of many mind controlling drugs and the fat man you ate was full of them. And yes, Mr. Madden, it lasts a long time. Further doses will be given by hypodermic needle, in your food, and other ways. You have no blood to carry the drugs, but the Wrath passes it from cell to cell. You won’t resist. It’s rather perfect.”
I stagger out of the lab and into the hall. I need some air, and I don’t even breathe anymore. I know I have to stop them. I can’t let this happen. I can’t let the infected be completely eradicated... destroyed. I have to find a way to prevent myself from being controlled by Maslow. I just have to figure out how. I will avoid him and the doctor. But I have to develop a test to determine if any of the mind drugs are in my food or around at all.
I need to set up a lab and experiment, but that will take time. Time I don’t have. As I wander the streets, I notice a woman coming towards me. It’s the woman from Dr. Stout’s lab.
“Madden.” she says softly. “Read this and follow me.” She hands me a folded piece of paper. It says RED HOUSE. I see her heading toward it and I follow her. She moves much better now, as well as I do. We go inside and down a hall. She slides back what looks like a wall and we go into a good size room. It is full of equipment, lab equipment. There are 3 others in the room. 3 men. They are working on something.
“I know you. You are the woman from the CDC.” I notice the hole in her neck from where Michelle had bitten her. “Who are they? What are you doing? I thought you worked for Stout.”
“I am Dr. Christine Wells. These are Dr.s Allen, Brown, and Smith. We are working on an antidote to the control drugs that that pig Stout creates to keep us down. It is in the humans they keep for food. The drugs can even pass through the skin, though not as effectively. This makes it hard to prevent. I play the role of Stout’s brain dead concubine. It was hard work to get inside and maneuver my way into that lab, but now that I am there, I have access to all his secrets. As long as I do what he wants. Every disgusting thing. I would like you to join our group. We want to stop Maslow, too. And we aren’t the only ones. He experiments on our people but they are helpless to fight back. We want this island and we want him dead. You can help, I know you can.”
She is incredibly well spoken and intelligent.
“How did you get infected, you said you all were immunized? And why are you so smart? And why the Hell should I trust you after the way you treated me at the CDC?” Inside though, I want to trust her.
“Obviously our vaccination didn’t work Madden. After your friend bit me, I bled out entirely but did not die. Some of the other doctors who were also turned shot me with adrenalin and I found that whenever I used it I became more intelligent.” She points to several gallon-size
containers in the corner. There must be 50. “Methamphetamine has nearly the same effect on our kind as adrenaline, Madden. And we make it here.”
It’s a meth lab.
“Doesn’t Maslow have adrenalin? Can’t we steal it?” I ask.
“He does, but he is running out. We are self sufficient. We make what we need.” She answers.
“Should I be making air quotes when I call you people doctors?” I ask sarcastically.
“I am a Medical Doctor, Madden. The other three got there honorary degrees through time served. But I can assure you, they are the best this island had to offer and work well if kept on task. The meth sharpens our minds every bit as well as adrenalin and reverses the effects of Stout’s drugs, but the addictiveness is more pronounced. That’s the good and the bad in a nutshell. We can’t continually inject every infected person on the island. We can’t make enough meth. That’s why we need your help. We need something of an inoculation, given once, that will counteract anything he creates. Then the people will be equipped to fight back. And about any trust issues you have... I am one of you now. That’s all I can say. Do you want to help us fin..?” I stop her mid-sentence.
“Shoot me up and let’s get to work”.
I have a lab and a team, and I get to work immediately. I still don’t trust them, especially Christine, but I need them. I have her get me more samples from Stout. He creates new and different drugs all the time, knowing that the Wrath virus develops immunities and simply mutates enough to counteract anything that tries to control it. As I search for similarities in his drugs, I realize that the meth is making me more intelligent at an exponential rate. I also feel an addiction beginning to build up.
Continuing to work, I begin to think that maybe it isn’t about searching for the similarities in the drug but about creating a way for Wrath to recognize a drug and mutate faster to fight it. Christine brings me lab mice and I begin to experiment with my original Doppelganger virus. Maybe this would cause Wrath to duplicate and reproduce more quickly. Wrath was created from Doppelganger, and I don’t believe it is that far removed from it.
Then it hits me. Use Doppelganger in someone that is loaded with the meth. It has to be an infected person, a mouse won’t do. It will duplicate the meth laden Wrath cells at the injection site and spread from there. Then a vaccine can be made using that subject that can be used on the infected that aren’t on the meth. I tell Christine and she volunteers.
“No, you are too valuable.” I say. “We need someone else. One of the other three that are...”
“Dispensable?” says Dr. Smith.
“No, that’s not what he meant” Christine sternly says.
“Yes it is, and I understand.” He says. “I want to do this.”
“I will only be guessing on how much to use. I could be wrong.” I explain, but he is still in.
We strap Smith to a chair and give him a piece of wood to bite down on. I raise the hypodermic, flick it twice with my finger, and inject him with the Doppelganger virus. Nothing happens at first. Then Smith begins to shake and a thick ooze runs from his mouth and skin. He bites down hard on the wood, convulsing, and some of his teeth break. This goes on for a while and then stops. He is shaken and disoriented but otherwise seems fine. The question is: Has the Doppelganger united with the meth loaded Wrath cells in his body?
Tests over time prove his level of intelligence does not change when denied the meth. Success, it seems. I draw samples from him and begin to create a vaccine. This will take a while and will require more tests. I think its time I went home...
I go back to Gena and Matt. They see me come in and both smile. Gena has a small woman bound and on the dining room table. I guess I made it home right at dinner time. Matt runs up to me, takes my hand and guides me to the table. We all three sit down to eat the woman. I know it contains Stout’s drugs, everything on the island we can eat does. But I will find a cure, and I have access to the meth.
I notice our meal has been blindfolded. Gena doesn’t look at the woman’s face. I throw a rag over it and she smiles. I tear off some flesh and serve it to them as the woman screams. We three slowly eat, sometimes pulling flesh off, sometimes biting, and the woman eventually stops moving. I eat until gorged. They don’t eat much at all, but seem satisfied. I wonder what Maslow has in store for me next. I love my family. I will protect them no matter what...
11
Ties That Bind
Hell hath no Wrath like a woman scorned...
I wake up with a terrible headache. Must be the meth wearing off. I touch Gena’s face and watch her lying there for a while. I smile and let her rest. I get up and out the door and head to the lab. Food was waiting for me on the table before I left the house and I eat it as I walk. When I get there I take a hit of meth. I still feel horrible.
Christine walks in and out of nowhere says. “Madden, what’s your living situation?”
I tell her about Gena and she just looks at me.
“You live with one of Maslow’s whores that he gave you?!” She says incredulously.
The other 3 turn to look.
“It’s not like that.” I reason. “She wanted out and I saved her.”
“You SAVED her? She wanted out? Come on Madden are you that gullible?” She responds in disbelief. “Maslow is setting you up. Who knows what she will do?”
“Well you’re Stout’s current whore, what makes you any different?” I counter. “You do what you do to survive, don’t you? She has a small child that she needed to take care of, so she did what she did for him and now I’m there and I am going to protect them.”
She stares at me, then turns and walks away. I went too far. I walk after her and she turns around.
“You’re absolutely right. I am no one to talk. Can I meet her at least? I can’t risk this operation on the outside chance that she is still working for Maslow. Can I meet her, so I will feel better?” She says calmly, but firmly.
“Of course you can.” I say. “Soon. I’m sorry, I was out of line. Let’s get to work.”
With several different types of Stout’s drug supplied by Christine, Smith’s blood to create a vaccine, and infected and healthy mice for subjects, I feel I can hone a vaccine that will eliminate the power the drugs have on the infected. It will take some time, but I will make it happen. Unfortunately these aren’t lab mice, they are wild, but they will work. I just wonder if they aren’t already infected.
I notice that the steady stream of methamphetamines is improving my mental and physical capabilities incredibly. I have normal conversations and think intelligently. But only right after I take the drug. And it does nothing to take away the pain. I guess I just need to get used to them.
After a long day I head home. Again, food is on the table as I walk in.
“You read my mind.” I say happily. I sit down to the kill. Gena, looking right at me, approaches the table with a large butcher knife and trips into me.
“Watch it!” I shout as I try and dodge the knife. I don’t make it totally out of the way and the knife cuts into my neck. One more inch and my head would have been nearly cut off! I look and she is horrified.
“I’m sorry.” She says.
I tell her not to worry and we start to eat. I gorge myself, but again the two don’t eat much. I guess they ate earlier; I am very late getting home. I start to feel dizzy and need to sit down. Any good effects from the meth must be wearing off quicker now. I try and stay alert but I black out.
I wake up and almost can’t stand the pain. It is unbearable. I head into the lab with some meat Gena gave me. I just seem to feel worse as I walk in.
“I don’t think the meth is working for me.” I call to them.
“It takes a while sometimes. Take an extra hit for today.” Smith says.
“What happened to your neck?!” Chris shouts. “I cut myself shaving.” I joke.
She is not amused.
I am now doing experiments with uninfected mice, infected mice, and infected mice
on a steady stream of meth. It takes awhile but studies over time show that infected mice on the meth that are given the vaccine become quite immune to anything Stout has created and keep the increased intelligence and agility meth provides without having to take any more of it. The vaccine does contain Doppelganger duplicated Wrath cells that were full of meth so this is not unexpected. It obviously duplicates the subject’s cells and locks in the meth’s effects so the Wrath cells are imprinted genetically with the meth. The mice have also developed the desire to kill healthy mice. We got what we wanted and more.
I decide to waste no time.
“It’s time to test what we’ve got.” I say. I grab a needle and jam it in my arm. That’s the last thing I remember.
I wake up on table... I can’t see very well and am dizzy. Christine and the three doctors are over me.
“That was stupid Madden! We hadn’t completed our tests! What were you thinking?” Christine shouted. Black ooze, like what came out of Smith, was all over me.
Het Madden, a Zombie Perspective: Book One: WRATH 2012 Page 10