Level Six

by Dean, Jane

  "Sweet Jesus!" Will yelled doubting that they would get away. The small black animal with dead eyes was still clinging to the windshield moving to try to get around to the door. Will yelled at the Professor, “Did we do this?!” He looked quickly at subject 574 and wondered if she was going to change while he held her and attack them all.

  The pilot yelled back, "Dammit, someone close the door." The Professor grabbed frantically at the door handle with the officer. The monkey outside was small but had amazing strength. It banged its head repeatedly against the window. The pilot swung the helicopter back and forth trying to shake it lose. The first officer who had watched his partner fall to his death, reached for the door and fought against the wind to secure them inside. The small monkey moved across the windshield toward the opening. The officer had the door almost closed when a tiny hand shot inside and then was caught and secured as the door closed and sealed. The officer slumped heavily on the floor and sat for a while before looking to the Professor.

  "What the hell was that?"

  The helicopter lifted higher in the air and the four men sat noiselessly against their seats.

  FIVE

  Ursa ran quickly and silently and reached the small girl, picking her up without drawing attention to them. The little girl struggled and hit out striking Ursa and cutting her lip open. She reeled back losing her balance and looked up to see the half-man still dragging himself toward them. His mouth opened and closed oozing tar colored saliva. The girl stopped struggling as she watched the man approach. "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you. I'm trying to help." The little girl settled but remained rigid as Ursa positioned her weight over one hip. Ursa's knee bled as she ran quietly toward an adjacent alley.

  The little girl shifted slightly and wrapped her arms around Ursa's shoulder. They’d been walking from shadow to shadow through the city running from apartment building to building. Ursa didn’t see anything familiar and couldn’t think of her next move. The only moving creatures were the undead shifting in the dark moving along the roads toward the beach. She wondered if she should try to get out into the woods or find an empty house somewhere until the police or military came to help them. Stopping in the entry of an alley, she let the little girl down gently and looked into her face. The girl didn't look hurt and didn't appear to be changing into a walking corpse. No sign of the sickly white pallor covered her skin. The girl began to whimper.

  "It's okay. It's okay. We're okay. We're safe here. Try not to make noise. I'm with you. Nothing's going to happen." The little girl clutched at Ursa's leg. Her breathing was quick and shallow. Ursa removed one of her arm sleeves and tied it around the wound on her knee. How am I going to survive let alone get this girl out alive too? she wondered. She looked back to the girl in the darkness. "My name's Ursa. What's yours?"

  A small voice whispered, "Melissa."

  "That's a nice name. Okay Melissa. I'm going to run really fast. Have you ever had a piggy back ride?"

  “Yes,” the little girl said quietly.

  "Okay. Good. I need you to hang on as tight as you can and close your eyes. No screaming or peeking. Okay?" Melissa nodded again and Ursa pulled her up onto her back. "Okay sweetie here we go. No matter what happens don't open your eyes." As she stood up, Ursa was relieved to find that with the small girl’s weight distributed across her back, it was easier to balance and run at an easy pace. She wasn't sure where she was going, but she knew that they couldn’t stay in one place. It was too dangerous.

  "Can you take me home?" the little girl asked. Ursa hadn't considered Melissa's family. She assumed they'd been killed and Melissa had been too small to be noticed by the walking dead.

  "Do you know your address sweetie? Do you know how to get home?"

  Melissa sounded a little indignant. "I know my address. It's 249 Crocus Drive." Ursa didn't know the city at all and was sure the girl couldn’t help them to navigate.

  "Is that close to where we are? Do you know how to get home from here?" She caught a sound of shuffling to her right. "Melissa,” she whispered. "Close your eyes and let's be really quiet okay?" She stepped back into a door way. A teen-aged girl moved past them dragging a dislocated leg behind her. Blood and drool oozed from her mouth that was torn open to expose a line of teeth. Her eyes were vacant and stared out in front of her. The teen was almost 10 feet away when Melissa sneezed.

  "I'm sorry." Ursa watched as the young biter turned her head toward them. Her jaw opened and closed. Ursa could feel the terror rise up inside her again. She couldn't look away from the bloodied face for a moment. It looked as though the girl had put a lot of effort into her looks this morning before going out. Breathing shallowly, Ursa couldn’t look away. The girl’s legs were still moving despite the skin being pulled back and down one side. The muscle was exposed but the blood had ceased to flow. An electric shock riveted Ursa to the spot momentarily as she realized she was looking at a walking corpse. The girl was getting closer and Ursa turned to run as the too familiar stench of feces leaking from the girl reached them.

  "Keep your eyes closed hon and hang on." Ursa gripped Melissa's legs and they took off at a full sprint. Ursa didn't know what direction to take. She gave up hope of finding her brother or shelter as she ran straight toward a small horde of biters heading in their direction. She had no choice but to run into another side alleyway. A car was parked in the middle of the narrow entry. She ran straight for it. The light from the street couldn't reach them between the buildings and Ursa ran as softly as she could hoping that the lack of light and sound wouldn't attract any attention. She glanced into the car and tried the passenger door handle. A few of the biters had turned into the street behind her. She didn't think they were seen yet. Maybe the biters would pass them by if she hid in the car for a few minutes. She’d be able to get her bearings again.

  The door opened and she tossed Melissa into the seat and jumped in after her, closing the door quietly. She lay down and remained still. Focusing up and out the window next to her. She had to stifle a scream when she shifted her attention up to the driver’s side in front of her. Two eyes were peering over the seat at them. Her brain didn't register what she was looking at for a moment. She clapped her hand hard over her mouth and blinked into dark hard eyes and black hair. The man lifted a finger to his lips and motioned for her to be quiet. She let her breath out slowly. The man looked intact and not dead. That didn't mean he was dangerous. From this angle he looked large. She could outrun him over a distance but not over a short space. He put a finger up to his lips and slipped down the seat out of sight.

  "What's wrong?" Melissa whispered, her eyes closed.

  "Nothing hon. We have to be quiet now." Ursa lay her head down onto the little girl and stared straight ahead. The moans of the biters sounded outside the car on both sides. She stared at the driver's identification on the back of the seat. She was in a taxi that belonged to Marshall Collins. She looked back up to Marshall's position. She assumed he'd lain down to wait for the biters to pass. A head moved past her window. The woman had wild hair and her mouth was hanging open. Ursa wondered if this is what she'd find at Melissa's house. Ursa's phone began to ring.

  * * *

  "Professor, what happened? The subjects were fine last night. Did the virus mutate?" Will yelled over the sound of the propellers cutting loudly above them.

  "I didn't tell you but there was a suspected break in at Base 10. A mutated strain of Ebola was stolen. I tested the modified vaccine on a larger test group.”

  Will put his head back on the car and looked up to the ceiling. “Will!” the Professor continued, “I’ve worked with Thantos a long time ago and have been testing for years. I know it looks bad but it’s all we have. That strain of Ebola was supposed to be destroyed. I had a feeling it would surface someday. They didn’t think any trace existed.”

  "I remember studying tests done with Thantos in an old text. Isn't it derived from a mutated form of Ebola?"

  "It's a mutation, yes. I worked on it with D
r. Hubert in '74. It wasn’t like anything we'd worked with before. Subjects didn't die. They turned into something not human. We thought we could create a vaccine.”

  "Is there a vaccine?"

  "No. Not a vaccine as such. This is different. Nothing that can stop the virus. We might be able to help humanity with what I’ve created but I don't know if we have enough time."

  * * *

  Marshall sat at the base of the Burrard Street Bridge and stared over the steering wheel. "Why did we stop?” Ursa asked.

  "Turn that thing off,” Marshall whispered sharply back at Ursa. Her phone had started ringing again.

  She swiped a finger across the screen to answer. "Hello? Callum is that you?" She tried to keep her voice even and low. "Where are you?"

  "I'm okay. When you didn't answer the first time I thought you were dead." She could hear his voice crack.

  "I managed to jump into a dumpster. Those things are everywhere. Where are you? Maybe we can get to you."

  "We?" Marshall said. She could see him shaking his head. "Oh shit,” he said. “They know we're here. Hold on. We're going for a ride." Marshall put the car into gear and drove directly for the horde.

  "What are you doing? We're heading right for them?" Ursa gripped the seat and watched as they ran into a group of disfigured people. Marshall continued to accelerate faster, dodging biters and skidding around smashed cars and bodies on the bridge. "We have to go back for Callum!" she screamed.

  "We're not going back for anyone lady. If we don't get over this bridge we're not going to make it out of the city alive."

  Ursa sat up and looked through the back window to see a biter hanging down from the roof of the car. Another was running to catch up. It was gaining ground on them fast. She could see it was missing a hand but didn't seemed bothered by blood loss. She banged on the glass as the biter started to lose its grip and slipped from the car. Marshall ran over dozens of bodies. The small car jumped up and down surging forward and then sliding into the rail along the side of the bridge. Melissa whimpered and curled into a ball on the floor.

  Ursa forgot about Callum for the moment and concentrated on the front window. A truck was overturned in the middle of the road blocking the end of the bridge. "Shit!” Marshall yelled and he drove as close to it as he could. A biter was pulling himself from a broken car window and was trying to stand on broken legs to get to their car.

  "What are we going to do?" Ursa reached down to pick up the little girl who stayed closed in a ball. Ursa felt an unusual strength in her arms and easily picked up the girl to follow Marshall out of the car and onto the sidewalk.

  Marshall looked behind them and then back toward the end of the bridge. "We'll have to run for it and find another car. Follow me." They ran along the sidewalk past bodies that were strewn on the bridge deck but still trying to sit up and reaching out for them. Ursa could feel the skin separate over her knee but kept moving, balancing the little girl's weight to keep up with Marshall.

  As they ran, Marshall looked in each car they passed. Some had people were still buckled into their seats half eaten and not moving or moving but obviously dead. He ran to a car that was left on a grassy area. The engine was running without a driver the door was still open. Marshall jumped into the driver’s side. Ursa ran to the back door and opened it. A little boy jumped out at them and clung to the little girl in Ursa's arms. His jaw was snapping and brown saliva flew out from his mouth spraying into Ursa's face.

  "Marshall!" she screamed. She saw him hesitate and worried that he would leave them there. He jumped out and grabbed the legs of the little boy pulling him off of Melissa and tossing him over the side of the bridge.

  "Get in." he yelled. Ursa recovered quickly, shoved Melissa into the car in front of her and shut the door.

  "Where are we going?" Ursa asked. She had only toured a small area of Vancouver when she and Callum arrived from Washington. There were so many trees and moving shadows. Marshall took his eyes off the road briefly to look into the rear view mirror at the bloodied woman and girl behind him. She had dust in her hair and streaks of dirt and blood covered her face and throat. She looked back at him and he looked away to study the road avoiding dismembered people.

  He pursed his lips, "I'm going home and you're getting out when it's convenient."

  He can't be serious, she thought.

  "I've never been more serious," he said. She looked at him with surprise and confusion. "It looks like you've been bit,” he said. He looked back at her again and repositioned the mirror. I saw your knee.”

  "Yeah. I'm fine though." She grabbed at her knee to cover it as Marshall swerved around another walking dead.

  “That means you’re doing to turn into one of them.”

  "What do you mean turn? Turn into one of those lunatics?” she rolled her eyes. "I was bit hours ago. Shouldn't I have changed by now?"

  "I don't know the rules. I just know that when people get bit they turn into flesh eating monsters."

  "Well, you can't just leave us out here. Look at us. We're fine. It would be murder." Ursa looked at the little girl huddled in the back seat. She began to feel faint again. The world began to move far away. Her head swung back and forth as the car careened and ran over pieces of things she didn’t want to think about.

  "Look at you. You're not fine lady."

  She wondered where Callum was. If she could find him they might have a chance to get away from these people. Was he running after people now trying to eat them or was he being eaten alive? The thought caused her to lose the last hold she had on consciousness. She could smell her own blood mingled with the blood of the woman still on her t-shirt. Her head was beginning to ache again and she wondered why smells were becoming as distinct as colors. She could tell them apart as she fought faintness.

  SIX

  "We're glad you're here Professor." A military officer ran had opened the helicopter door and took one of the cases the Dr. Myers was carrying. The officer held his hat down on his head and led Will and the Professor across a large open field. To a wooden shed about the size of a small home. "I'm Major Simmons. I heard you had a hard time escaping."

  "Thank you Major. We almost didn't get away. Let's not waste any time. We've got to make plans to rescue survivors and stop this pandemic. I also need to ask you to find my son and daughter. They were caught out there before I could get to them." The helicopter lifted off from the field and flew westward out of sight. The wind was picking up making the new bits of grass flatten down on the ground around them. Will could see barbed wire surrounding them on all sides before they entered through a plain door. The three men and the still caged monkey stood in the darkened shed until a blue light shone overhead and a lift emerged in front of them.

  "After you Professor." The Major waited as the two men filed into the elevator in front of him. “I’m sorry to hear about your family. We’ve all lost loved ones.” The Professor started to object but the Major continued. “Even if we knew where they were, all personnel are needed to bring experts to facilities like this one. We need to save as many people as we can and we can’t fly all over the world. We need a concerted effort to overcome this threat.”

  * * *

  Ursa realized that she was no longer in the car. A thick blue comforter covered her and she stared up at bare walls from a single bed. She threw the blanket to the bottom of the bed and stood up. Pain hit her between the eyes. She walked out of the room clutching the door frame and the wall down the stairs to find Marshall. Voices were coming from the bottom of the stairs and she sat heavily on the landing step.

  A deep voice called up to her. "Are you okay?"

  "Ursa looked down at a tussled head of hair and a dirty t-shirt coming up the stairs toward her.

  "I think so. My head aches though. Where are we?" She leaned against the wall for support.

  "You're at my place and this is my roommate Tod." Marshall nodded up at the man who stopped short looking at Ursa's bitten knee. "I'm just bringing him up
to speed about what we've seen out there."

  "You haven't been outside?" she asked Tod.

  "No. I just woke up. What the fuck? What are we going to do?" Tod ran back down the steps to the front door and looked out the window. "Oh my god! Oh my god! That's Jordan. That's my goddamned next door neighbor. What happened to him? What the hell's going on?" Tod sat on the floor with his head in his hands.

  "Calm down. I don't know. I got in the cab by the waterfront after people started attacking each other and luckily made it this far. It looks like they die and then come back as those things."

  "Well we can't stay here. We've got no food. We'll only last a few days and what if they get in? My cell's not working and I didn’t pay the damn cable bill. How far do you think this has spread?"

  "I don't know,” Marshall said. “All I saw were people being attacked everywhere. One minute, things were fine and then people started changing and attacking and running all around me." Marshall looked back out the window. A biter was walking up the path to the front door. He dropped the curtain and backed up. "We don't want them to see us in here. Ursa, come down. Let's get into the kitchen away from the windows.” She carefully made her way down the stairs and he glimpsed her damage knee. “We should bandage that leg too." Melissa looked up briefly from the kitchen table at them entering and continued staring straight ahead.

  Ursa followed them into the kitchen. Her phone began to ring. "Reception.” Tod yelled.

  “Shh.” Marshall jumped up and put his hand over Tod’s mouth.

  “We've got reception,” Tod whispered and reached for Ursa’s phone. “We can call someone to help us." he said.

  Ursa pulled the phone out of the armband and held it to her ear whispering, "Callum? Is that you? Are you okay?" The call was dropped and she held the phone out to Tod. He tried to call 911 but there was no connection. He dropped the phone to the kitchen table as a moan came from the front of the house.