by Aline Riva
He left the wash room and made his way back to the bedroom to change his clothing, then find his gloves and balaclava, feeling sure if he hid New Justin for just a little while, there would be more food, so much more food - if he was very careful not to scare the warm and blood filled creatures who used to be his friends...
Out on the ice, the group had wandered over to a slope where frozen rocks met with sea, and they stood there at a distance watching penguins as they waddled about. Holly and Megan were taking pictures, while Ryan was more interested in capturing the strange patterns on a nearby wall of ice that seemed to have been carved as if by some ancient hand.
“Are you sure no one ever lived here years back?” he asked as he took another shot and glanced to Tara, who had been watching as the others wandered about the ice, taking random shots of the breathtaking landscape.
“There have never been native Antarcticans,” she confirmed, “Only visitors.”
“Mr Harley...” Samantha's voice came from a nearing ice tunnel that glowed blue and translucent in the morning sun, “I'm stuck...”
“She would say that!” Ryan snapped, and Tara shot him a look, then turned back to see Samantha's coat hood become stuck on an over hanging icicle at the entrance to the cave. David looked back at Tara with a weary glance.
“Guess I'm nearest, I'd better rescue her,” he said, and he carefully stepped into the ice cave.
“I said, no one goes into the ice caves, Samantha!” he told her as he reached up and untangled her hood from the solid ice. She stepped clear of it and breathed a relieved sigh that formed an icy cloud in the freezing air. Then she looked at him, with that look he had come to dread – the flirty, crushing look as she tried to chat him up.
“Thanks for saving me, David.”
“Next time ask your boyfriend,” he replied, stepping out of the cave, “I'm here to teach photography, not to prevent students getting impaled on razor sharp icicles!”
Her enthusiasm faded out along with the flush to her cheeks.
“I won't do it again,” she replied, “But the cave.. it looked so pretty.”
“And those icicles are not the pretty kind you find outside your window after snow fall back home,” he reminded her as she joined him outside again, “Those things,” he pointed to the icicles that glowed blue in the sunlight at the entrance to the cave, “Are tough and sharp. You could cut yourself to pieces on them, so keep out of the cave understand?”
She nodded.
“Now get off and take some pictures of the penguins.. the others have got some great shots although I don't think much of Sofia's I've asked her to re shoot, she's never been good with moving subjects in focus...”
“Okay, I'll do that,” Samantha replied, then she headed off in the direction of the slop where the others were watching the penguins, passing Ryan, who stepped back from the intricate iced wall to give her a filthy look as he felt sure she had deliberately tried to flirt with Mr Harley yet again...
A short while later the group were making their way back across the ice, staying together, making a slow and careful journey back towards the nearby settlement and the comforting promise of warmth and shelter at the hostel.
Holly and Megan were chatting about the penguins, Sofia was cutting in between Tara and David to ask David exactly why he didn't like her second lot of pictures and how perfect did a penguin need to be? While this was happening, Alex was strolling on ahead, pausing now and then to take random shots of naturally sculpted ice that caught his eye.
As Samantha shivered and broke into a sweat, Lauren glanced over at her as they made their way back, noticing how flushed her face looked.
“Are you okay, Samantha?” she asked.
She nodded, coughing hoarsely and then feeling thankful for the cold air that was helping to cool the sweat from her face.
“I think I must have some kind of reaction to that flu vaccine...Justin was like this yesterday,” she replied.
Ryan turned his head and looked at her.
“If you've caught nerd flu,” he said, “I'm not kissing you. Keep away.”
“With pleasure,” she muttered as he walked on ahead. Clearly, their quarrel had not ended. Sofia called her name and Samantha looked back.
“You okay?” she asked.
Samantha nodded, feeling anything but okay as the heat seemed to rise like fire rushing through her body, stifled and locked in by her layers of protective clothing.
“I... I can't...” she began, then it felt as if something inside her brain was boiling and she slumped to the icy ground, snow cushioning her fall in part as her head made a cracking sound on impact and the others drew audible gasps and words of alarm as blood began to slowly trickle through the whiteness of the snow.
“Okay, everybody get back,” Tara said, stepping forward as she urged the others to move away and give her space, “I think she's fainted... Samantha? Can you hear me?”
Samantha gave a groan and slowly opened her eyes.
“I feel so hot and dizzy...” she said weakly.
“Did you hurt yourself when you fell?” Tara asked.
“Of course she did, she's bleeding!” Ryan cut in, “Come on babe, I''ll help you up .”
“You shouldn't move her -”
Ryan had already reached down, helped her up, then put his arm around her to steady her. Now she was up, the cut to her head looked superficial, and she could clearly stand, but her face was flushed and she was sweating heavily again.
“I feel like I've got flu...” Samantha said weakly.
“You look how Justin looked yesterday,” Ryan said, “I bet he infected you with his coughing and throwing up, the dirty bastard! All those germs in the air while you were in the wash room!”
Samantha didn't pull away from his grip simply because she needed his support as they made their way back to the settlement.
“Are you sure you're okay to walk back?”
The voice echoed somewhat as she tried to focus. David. It was David who had asked that question. Purely because it was him, she managed a smile as she wondered if it was the cold to blame combined with the hot sweat that was making her skin feel like some kind of rubber...
“Yeah...I can do it,” she said, looking to the entrance to the settlement. It was close now, and knowing that brought her comfort. As they walked on she turned her thoughts to Justin and the passionate moments they had stolen together, those moments together in the shower, him and her, so close, so intimate...She guessed she had to have caught what ever he had, and it seemed to be a reaction from the flu vaccine. Maybe it was just a bug, maybe it was a coincidence and she was ill too, but she didn't want to think about it. Her head was aching and she had never been so glad of Ryan's support as they made their way back past the brightly coloured buildings and headed straight for the slope that led back to the hostel.
On returning, the others were glad to be back in the warm, shutting out the cold as the heated interior of the hostel offered instant comfort. After a few quick words with Sylvia, it was decided that Samantha would be better off in quarantine, placed in another room at the other end of the complex, where her condition could be monitored.
“If you're no better by tomorrow,” Sylvia told her, “I'll call for a plane to take you back to the mainland – we can't risk a virus sweeping around a place like this.”
Samantha nodded, feeling too exhausted to argue about it.
“I'll be fine,” she said, looking back at the others as she saw a look of concern on the face of her cousin and in the eyes of Ryan Henderson. Then she walked off with Sylvia, assuring her she was fine now, she just needed to lie down...
As the others headed off to their rooms, David exchanged a worried glance with Tara, waiting until the rest of the party had gone up the stairway before voicing his fears aloud.
“We need to talk about this now, before we all meet for lunch...can't have panic here. If she's got that new strain of flu she'll need to be airlifted out. And the rest of us
will have to sit tight for a while, make sure we're not infected too. I know we had the vaccine but that was very recently... any one of us could have carried that flu from the mainland, it could have been dormant.”
“Or it could just be a reaction to the vaccine,” she replied, “Justin didn't look too good yesterday but I'm sure he's fine now...Oh look, there he is!”
She looked up the stairway, where Justin stood, dressed in dark jeans and a black jumper, gloves covered his hands and he wore a balaclava.
“Are you okay, Justin?”Tara asked brightly. He stood there for a moment, his head tilted slightly as he looked down at them, saying nothing.
“Justin?” David called up, “Is everything okay?”
Then he nodded slowly and turned back and walked away from the steps, once more out of sight.
David looked to Tara in confusion.
“He's wrapped up like its below zero in here!”
“Well he can't have flu or he wouldn't be out of bed,” Tara replied, “Maybe he's feeling a bit of a chill... vaccines can have side effects, you know. Poor Samantha, I really hope she's okay. If it is the virus, we're all going home, the trips over.”
“Lets hope it's nothing,” David replied, his gaze still fixed towards the top of the stairs way where Justin Frazer had stood looking so bizarre. He wasn't sure why, but the sight of him with his face covered, the fact that he had not spoken a word as he looked down all added up to something strange that sent a horrible chill over his flesh making him shiver, but he was not quite sure why...
The wash room had been used by some of the others on their return, but no one had yet used the end shower cubicle, and so it remained shielded. Behind it the body of Matt lay ghastly white and drained of every last drop of blood, the body on its back, dead eyes staring upwards, the head tilted back, baring an exposed throat where flesh had been torn away by human teeth. The flesh was starting to turn a strange shade of grey and white, almost like the arctic itself as shadows fell upon its surface when dusk drew near.
It was almost as if the skin had suffered premature decomposition as the virus began to take over the body of the dead man and mutate again, creeping its way through dead flesh, much in the way it had done the same to Justin – except that this time, the virus was activating in a different way as it responded to playing host to a corpse. The skin bubbled up on the face of the dead man, cracking dry and grey as the flesh darkened down, the exposed throat wound started to shrivel, drying up as if to seal the wound, making ready the new host as the virus prepared to reanimate a corpse that hungered for blood and the flesh of the living.
Matt was not the first. Very soon, the reports would come in over the radio, regarding rare but horrific reactions in a handful of recipients of the M0-RBD-1 vaccine – rumours were circulating about bad batches, but very soon it would become apparent that the living affected would mutate, and those they killed would come back, but not as human beings, as something terrible that defied nature itself...
This was the beginning, but those out in the arctic were yet to hear the news of how the rest of the world was falling into a panic as the dead attacked the living and spread a terrible virus. It seemed to the others that life was going on as it always had. No one yet knew Justin was mutated into something terrible, nor did they know Samantha was infected – but they would soon, as sure as they would know that Matt would be the first reanimated corpse in Antarctica, that was a process already starting. As the others went off to lunch after their morning out on the ice, the dead body hidden in the wash room began to stir, its fingers twitching and its body jerking as the virus took hold, starting the terrible process of reanimating its dead host...
Chapter 5: Permission to Panic
“Samantha...wake up!”
As she heard the rasping voice she did not recognise, she turned over on her back, shivered as sweat soaked through her clothing and on to the sheets. She had taken off only her outer layers of clothing, then crawled into bed for a long sleep, the last thing she recalled was Sylvia bringing her some water, painkillers and then half an hour later, some hot soup. She had barely touched the soup because her body ached and the shivers seemed to make her bones rattle. If this was flu, it was unlike any flu she had ever experienced before. And now there was a stranger with a weird voice calling her name...
“Samantha!” he said again.
She snapped her eyes open, giving a gasp at the sight of the guy who sat at the foot of the bed, looking down at her. Her was sitting on a chair taken from a nearby table, and wearing gloves and a balaclava. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth to scream but he put a gloved finger to his lips in a weirdly fast movement and drew it away again.
“Hush my love...hush,” he said, “It's me, Justin.”
And he tilted his head to one side as he looked at her, smiling beneath the balaclava, then straightened his head once more, another swift, jerking movement...This was odd. She could tell now, it was Justin, she recognised his smile and his eyes - although they looked reddened. But why he was wearing a balaclava and gloves in the hostel, where it was so warm, was beyond her... Perhaps he was still feeling the chill of the bug or the flu vaccine reaction, she guessed, but his voice...it sounded terrible.
“What are you doing in here?” she asked, looking at him in confusion as she felt too weak to raise her head from the pillow. Whatever this virus was, it was hitting her hard now.
“I came to watch,” he rasped, “To see you share the gift. New Samantha is coming soon.”
She blinked, her head aching as she shivered again.
“Don't play stupid tricks on me, Justin...I feel like shit!”
He remained seated, looking at her with interest clear in his eyes.
“Your pain and the fever will pass. It did for me, now I'm a new man. New Justin.”
She laughed softly as she closed her eyes, dismissing his game.
“You think I'd be more impressed with a new Justin? Come on, you know how I feel about you...and this thing you're doing...that voice...stop it. Seriously Justin, it's creepy.”
His head tilted again, he regarded her from that odd angle then straightened his head once more.
“Soon,” he promised her, “You will see for yourself...Oh, there is nothing like it! You and I...we shall share this...we shall rule together in this world of ice and warm blooded creatures. We shall hunt together!”
She rolled her eyes.
“Oh please cut the crap, I feel like death! Go away, Justin, you're really putting me off you with this stupid fantasy game...And take the balaclava off, it's way too hot in here to be wearing that!I hurt so much...I don't need this...Leave me alone!”
As she shivered again and sweat shone on her flesh, he noticed she had not yet transformed, but her face was very pale, her hair was starting to look dry, too...
“Let me help you,” he said, “Then I'll go...soon.”
She gave a sigh and closed her eyes, feeling too weary and somewhere between numb and tormented by flickers of aches deep in her body. Justin's touch felt gentle as his gloved hand swept over her hair.
“I can't forget what happened with us.... It will happen again...”
She smiled as her tired eyes stayed closed. She had no idea how stroking her hair could make her sweaty body feel so much better but the ache that had cut through her head seemed less now, as if the fever was cooling every time he stroked her hair, taking away a little of the heat. She cast her mind back to the shower and his kisses and all they had shared.
“Okay Justin...so you're being weird but I still like you...”
He leant closer, kissing her lips briefly as his eyes locked with hers.
“Is something wrong?”
“You feel so...cold...” she whispered, shivering again.
“It will pass,” he promised her, sweeping his hand to the back of her head as she closed her eyes, taking hold of the last lock of her hair and gently sliding it away from her now hairless head as he placed the hair on the
neat pile beside the rest.
“We shed when we change,” he whispered.
She murmured something, not understanding what he had meant by shed, then as her eyes stayed closed, she told him he should go, she needed sleep.
“No, no...I'm waiting,” he told her.
For what? Was the question she never got ask, as she gave a shiver and a gasp of pain as the aches drove bone deep and her head spun sharply, the wave of dizziness hit her hard, as her eyes closed she gave another weak breath and then her chest fell still. Her flesh took on the glow of arctic snow, but no movement returned to her body.
“Samantha?” said Justin, tilting his head and blinking as he tried to process what was happening, “Samantha?”
She gave no response, her face was pale and her chest had fallen still. She was dead, killed by the virus...killed swiftly, before the mutations had time to take place...
Justin drew in a sharp breath, rose from the seat and went up to her bedside, then he sat down on the edge of the bed, ran his hand over her smooth head as he studied her face, looking so peaceful with her eyes closed and her lips still parted.
“You must wake soon,” he whispered, “New Samantha...She must awaken!”
Then the door opened and Sylvia came into the room. Justin stood up, blocking the view of the woman in the bed.
“How is she?”asked Sylvia.
Justin nodded and made an okay sign with his gloved hand.
“She doesn't look okay to me...”
He then stepped aside as Sylvia leant over the bed, then her eyes widened as she saw the girl was bald now, her hair placed neatly in a pile beside her on the pillow, then she took in her strange pallor and the blue tint about her lips, noticing at once the girl was not breathing...