by Dean, Jane
"Hi. What are you hoping for today?" A voice surprised her from the left. She looked over at a tall man about her age, she guessed, then looked back to make sure the pace bunny was still in sight slightly ahead of them.
"Hi. It would be a perfect day if I could come across in 3:30 but I'll take 3:34:59."
"Gotcha. Trying to BQ?" he asked.
"Yes. This is my fourth try. I ran three back home and I thought I’d get lucky on the West Coast. How about you? What're you hoping for?"
"I'd be okay with 3:30. That'd be the best this body can do. Boston's going to have to wait until next year."
Up ahead Ursa watched an official push someone back off the course. There was a struggle between a few men. She glimpsed the terror on the face of one of the men as she ran by. She assumed someone was trying to run without a number and dismissed the incident. She continued talking to Grant as they passed the kilometer markers. The forth kilometer marker was approaching. She checked her Garmin to see her split time. “Right on the dot.” She said to Grant. She was happy with the numbers glowing back at her, relaxed and continued at the same pace.
“Good on you! Hey, if we get separated, would you like to get a drink afterwards?”
“Sure,” she replied. “This is turning out to be a great weekend.”
“If you qualify, I’ll buy you dinner.” She smiled up at him and continued jogging.
“It’s a deal. How can I contact you?” she asked.
“Look me up on Facebook. It’s Grant Williams.”
“I’ll do that,” She said. Wow, she thought. A date, a job and a perfect start to the race.
"How're you doing for time?” Mark motioned to her wrist.
"Perfect." Ursa smiled and glanced up to see another squabble along the side of the course. "Hey did you see that guy back there? He didn't look so good."
"Yeah. There are a lot of nuts out here trying to get into the headlines."
Ursa nodded "I thought people were polite in Canada?”
"Usually,” Grant said. “I knew you were from the States from the accent,” he said. "What part? You don't sound like you're from the south."
"I'm from Washington originally."
"Have you settled in Vancouver?" Marked looked down at her briefly.
"I’ll be close to Vancouver. I’ve taken a job on a marine expedition.” She tried to pick up her pace at little to stay close to the bunny inching ahead of them.
"Oh." Mark looked down at his shoes and then away at the crowd again. "Hey. Look at that." He seemed to forget their conversation for the moment and pointed toward the sidewalk where a woman lay shrieking. A man was on top of her and she struggled to get away from him. Another woman screamed and ran away. Others were pulling at the attacking man trying to get him off the screaming woman.
"What the hell is going on?" Mark said.
* * *
Marshall nosed his cab up as close to the finish line of the marathon as he could manage. The large crowd milled around the barricades that blocked the road ahead. It had been a busy day. A lot of tourists were in town for the marathon and cruise ships were pulling in this afternoon. Up all night driving, he’d managed to maneuver through the streets to drop off his last fare at a good viewing point. He pulled the steering wheel sharply to the right away from the curb and made an illegal U turn to get out of the congestion backing up the street.
I need a coffee, he thought to himself. The yellow cab coasted noiselessly in the direction of the harbor and within a few minutes he was close to Canada Place and his usual coffee shop. The sun was shining off the water and he decided to take his coffee to sit and watch the sea planes landing and taking off in the bay. He tucked the small car into a spot across the street from the coffee shop and ran in to pick up his usual.
"Have you seen any of the race today Marshall?" said Trudy, the barista. The girl’s name and job were the only two facts that he knew about the young blond. She'd tried to talk to him every time he came in but without success.
"Yeah. It's been keeping me busy."
“Can you believe it? Like, who would want to run 42.2 kilometers for fun? That is, like, insane."
"Yeah. Crazy stuff." Marshall smirked slightly and picked up his coffee. He didn't want to stay and chat.
"Thanks Sunshine. See you soon."
"Sure Marshall. Have a good one." Trudy smiled and went back to cleaning the equipment.
Marshall opened the lid of his coffee, stretched his neck and ran across the street to walk the few blocks to the waterfront. H grimaced at the extreme heat of the liquid, but continued to take small sips. A man come out of one of the small side streets in front of him and Marshall jumped to avoid a collision. Coffee jumped out of the cup onto his shirt.
“Crazy bastard,” Marshall said to himself. He rubbed at the coffee stain and turned to look in the direction the man had run. He could see him still running but something about his gait seemed odd. Marshall picked up his pace and dodged slow moving tourists on the sidewalk to see where the man was going. Two massive cruise ships were docked and he forgot the man as he approached Canada Place. One of the ships was the largest he'd ever seen. He slowed down to take a better look at the tall glass elevator that scaled the outside and carried passengers up and down the decks with their luggage.
"They just keep getting bigger and bigger don't they?” A man, who looked like he was ready to play a round of golf stood with his shoulder against the wall looking at the ship.
"It must be sixteen stories tall. When do they say enough is enough and stop trying to outdo what came out the year before?"
"People just want more. They can't get enough of it,” Marshall shrugged his shoulders.
"You're right there." A police car pulled up next to them blocking traffic from getting down the street. Marshall watched as other police cruisers pulled up and the sound of sirens could be heard coming from every direction. He turned to watch fire trucks trying to get by cars further up the hill. Police jumped out of their cars and ran toward the ship.
"What do you make of that?" The man had pulled himself away from the wall and was watching with Marshall as police and firemen ran by. Some tried to clear the roads of cars and started directing traffic.
"Terrorist attack maybe?" Marshall said and took a sip of his coffee.
"Maybe. I don’t think I want to stick around to see how this ends." The man walked away quickly up the street climbing the hill toward the business district.
Marshall closed the lid of his coffee and gave the running officers a quick glance as he turned to walk back to his cab. More uniformed men ran by him. I’ll read about it in the paper, he thought to himself. Gunshots were fired and he hesitated slightly before turning to jog down the sidewalk to his car. He heard a scream and watched as a man pushed a woman down in the middle of the road and bit into her neck. A police officer ran to the man and fired a shot into his head causing blood to spray up into the air.
Marshall dropped his coffee causing the scalding hot liquid to splash up onto his legs. “Get out of here!” the officer yelled at Marshall. Another man jumped onto the back of the officer and bit into him. Both men fell to the ground as the officer lay screaming.
Marshall began moving toward the scene as another officer began firing uncontrollably into the man's body. It didn't deter him from biting until a bullet hit him in the head throwing him back down to the ground where he lay still. More police started to arrive and ran around Marshall.
"What's going on?" Marshall yelled to one of the men. He couldn’t remember where he’d parked his cab.
"Just get the hell out of here!" the police officer yelled. Marshall continued back toward the coffee shop. People were running out of shops and restaurants onto the street in front of cars. Hundreds of people were running from the cruise ships. He ran back to his cab, jumped in and pressed the power button. A man was trying to get into the back of the car while Marshall drove away. He didn't want to get involved in whatever was going on.
* * *
Ursa slowed her pace, as did a lot of the other runners around her. She looked up at Grant’s face and saw a look of horror strain his features. He slowed down to a jog while she kept running a few steps. She looked ahead to where his eyes were locked. She saw something that didn't register in her mind for a moment. A cold sensation crept through her insides and took her breath away. She watched as a man ran into the runners and began biting and grabbing onto anyone he could reach. She stood for a moment unable to move. She watched, unable to move, as his teeth ripped into flesh. The runners around her were pushed forward by the runners coming up behind them.
Grant yelled to her, "Ursa get out of here!" She hesitated briefly and then ran as fast as she could, pushing by other runners. She turned once to look back at the gore. More people were tripping and falling down -- others were screaming. There was blood everywhere. She didn't know where to run as she kept moving and then stumbled over the curb into some spectators. The people around her stood and stared, others ran in different directions. No one could tell where the attacks here coming from.
An opening to a side street appeared in front of Ursa as she stumbled away from the road. She put her hand on a cold brick wall to catch herself and then ran down the small street into the shadows.
THREE
"What the hell happened here?" Will pulled his fingers up through his hair and stood stared into the banks of empty cages. "How many are missing?"
Paula sat silently on the edge of her chair. "I don't know. I got here a few minutes before you did. Did you make sure the lab was secure when you left?"
"Of course I did. They were all in their cages last night," Will said. He began pacing back and forth in the discussion room. His hands pulled at his hair.
"It only looks like one is still here. What do we do?" Paula stared beyond the glass into the blood splattered lab work room in front of them.
Will put his hand on the dividing window. "We shouldn’t sit around. Did you call the professor?” He moved to toward the access control to get into the locker area. “We’ll need help to try to find them. Call the Professor."
"Wait. I'll get in there and take a look. You call the Professor." Paula walked quickly to the grey internal door.
Will shook his head and typed his code into the keypad. She pushed him aside as she passed through the door labelled “BioSafety Level 4". It closed with a snap and sealed behind her. She leaned against the dark green wall and carefully pulled on the blue bio suit.
Will picked up the phone and dialed the Professor’s. The phone rang until voice mail picked up the call. He pressed his forehead against the window. “Hi Professor. It’s Will at the lab. He have an emergency here. Call me back as soon as you get this. We need you here.” He dropped the phone and pressed the intercom button. “Paula,” he said and waved at her through the glass. S
She ignored him for a moment while inspecting the cages. "Were you able to reach the Professor?" she asked not looking up.
"He isn't answering. We should go look for them. They could be outside."
“You’re assuming some of them are alive. All I can see is a lot of blood. They’re probably dead by now. Someone was able to break in and take them all. I don’t think they’re anywhere near the building now.”
Will ran a hand through his hair. "What if you’re wrong? They could be dangerous." He looked back at Paula's calm face.
“Let's not start running around until we know a little more. There's hair and a lot of this blood looks old. It's brown and already dry which is interesting."
"Why would someone break in and do this?" Will said.
Paula walked back to the cages and opened one of the small wire doors. "It’s unlikely that they broke out. It would take a lot of strength to do something like this.” She moved the little door back and forth and examined the broken wires. She bent down to look into one of the cages. “That’s funny. There’s a lot blood inside here too. Hey, there’s one still here.” She turned back to the window to look at him when he didn’t respond.
"Look up there." Will pointed up to an opening above her head. She looked up to examine dried blood splattered around the tiny hole. “I told you! They must have clawed their way out,” Will said. “Look at the scratches." She walked closer to see where the trail of brown smeared across the ceiling and lead up and out through the ceiling above. Will carried the phone with him as walked to the end of the long window and tried to look into the one cage that remained intact.
"That’s interesting,” Paula said. “They could have made their way out through the HVAC system." She looked around the near empty lab and walked around a grey table in the middle of the room to push it under the hole in the ceiling.
Will continued to stare into the small cage containing a monkey who sat silently staring out at him. "Why did she get left behind?"
Paula checked her yellow cord and climbed up on the metal table "Where did these guys go?”
Will was in the midst of trying to call the Professor again and then stopped. “Paula, wait a minute. Can you get a closer look at 274? She looks different."
"What do you mean?" Paula carefully hopped down from the table, moved to the far end of the room. She bent her long frame down a little to look inside at the little primate.
Will hesitated and looked up at the ceiling, unsure if he had seen something move. It was hard to look into the hole from his position in the office. He pressed the redial button again and listened to the Professor's phone as it continued to ring and then go into voice mail. "Come on Professor,” Will said. He could feel perspiration roll down his back.
* * *
Ursa continued to run far into the alley, tripping over a wooden pallet leaning against a wall, her hand scraped hard against the brick as she tried to catch herself from falling. Runners were scattering in different directions behind her and spectators screamed. She could see more people being attacked at the other end of the alley and in the distance sirens continued to sound. She stopped and pressed her back into the wall. She looked cautiously around the corner and watched as runners and spectators fell screaming as others jumped on them ripping into flesh.
Shots were fired and the sounds echoed around her. She slipped down to the asphalt and kept low inching back to a blue dumpster. A cardboard sign blew into the alley. From where she sat she could read the words "RUN LIKE YOU STOLE SOMETHING" scribbled in large letters in black marker. A shrill scream echoed from the entrance of the alley. Ursa froze and listened to more gun shots from the opposite entrance.
Her back bumped against the blue metal and she heard a creak above her. She looked up and crouched ready to run. A woman's voice called down softly, "In here, quick." Ursa could see a woman's long blond hair and a hand reached down to her. She took the hand, hooked her foot into a large metal handle and jumped in next to the woman, slightly relieved that the bags of garbage were closed underneath her and broke her fall. The two women closed the lid together just enough to be able to peer outside.
"What the hell is going on?” the woman asked Ursa. "Did you see what's happening?"
"No. I just started the race and this guy jumped out of nowhere and started attacking people. Then the gun shots started. Were you in the race too?"
"No. I was just watching for my friend and a crazy woman bit my arm. I got free and ran down here.”
"How bad's your arm?"
"I don't know. I didn't stop to look."
"Let me see." Ursa looked in the shadows to see blood running down to the woman's elbow. "It's bleeding but it doesn't look too deep." She grabbed the bottom of her t-shirt and ripped a strip off long enough to wrap around the woman's arm. "This should stop the bleeding until we can get to a hospital." Ursa finished tying the end of the cloth and could hear a noise from outside coming closer to the dumpster. She looked out and could see the outline of a person dragging something behind him down the alley. As he drew near she could see his grey face staring straight ahead. She closed her fingers tight
ly on the lip of the metal bin. Her finger nails bent with the pressure. The white of a bone stuck up through the fabric shoulder of his shirt. He didn't seem to be bothered by the wound and kept walking to the end of the alley. As she watched him continue shuffling into the light, a gunshot sounded and a bullet went right through his head. The man's brains and bits of skull hit the wall behind him and he slumped to the ground.
Ursa put a hand to her mouth and closed the lid as carefully as she could. It clanked closed and the small amount of light was cut off. She hoped that the sound didn't attract any attention. The woman shifted her position on the bags and Ursa could hear her breathing become labored. "Are you okay?" Ursa stared into the darkness beside her. A single line of sunlight came in through a crack allowing her to see the blood soaked bit of t-shirt. "We're going to have to get you out of here." Gun shots were still sounding from outside the alley. "It's too dangerous right now. Can you hear me?" She couldn't tell if the woman's eyes were still open.
* * *
"Do you think the Thantos had something to do with the monkeys? Maybe the Professor got it right this time?"
"No." Paula looked back toward the hole in the ceiling. "It looks like something went pretty wrong."
"Why didn't they all change?"
"I don't know. You injected them all last night?” Paula nodded to the monkey in the cage. “She didn't get missed somehow?"
"How does she look?" he asked.
"She looks okay physically. Just scared." The monkey moved to the front of the cage, took hold of the bars and stared at Paula and then to Will. Paula stood to analyze her samples at the work area.
"Wait." Will spoke into the intercom. "Look at her face. Do her eyes look bigger?" The small primate pushed her face against the bars of the cage.
"What are you talking about?" Paula asked.
"Take a look. Not bigger because she's scared. They look physically bigger than normal." A small movement above Paula caused Will to look up into the hole in the ceiling, but he couldn't see anything.