Penelope’s eyes look sternly at me while I see a look of desperation in Fanny’s eyes.
“We have a right to know,” Fanny pleads.
“Alright,” I sigh, “a little over a week ago Mason brought me down to the sub-basement and showed me the laboratory.”
“Wait there is a sub-basement?” Penelope asks confused.
“Yes. There is an elevator in the third hallway that leads down to the sub-basement, it also goes up to the street,” I nod.
“Alright, but why were you in the laboratory anyway?” Penelope asks still confused.
“You know Natalie is with Doctor Fairfield right now,” I remind them.
“I know. I also know how unstable she can be,” Penelope reasons, “I need to know why she is upset before we find her.”
“Alright, the short version,” I say giving in, “Mason figured that I was having some doubts about being here, since we never heard back about our blood samples. He said he was going to show me the laboratory to help ease my mind, to show me that they can be trusted. But when I was down there I found an odd note. Doctor Fairfield scribbled down some odd things about the Omega virus and Doctor Ming. Mason showed me the blood results, they seemed normal. But then he showed me something that made me feel queasy, they were storing Zombies in the detainment area. I told Natalie when I got back to my room. I figured she was the only one I could trust at the time, seeing as how you were still being treated medically, and you’re too young.”
“That’s bullshit,” Fanny says. I’m slightly taken aback by her choice of words. She always seemed like such a timid young lady, I forget that she must have some pretty rough edges to have survived this long.
“It may be bullshit, but I was putting your wellbeing ahead of everything else,” I growl at her. That’s the first time I ever had to get harsh with her.
“So what? Now Natalie is down there confronting Doctor Fairfield?” Penelope asks.
“Most likely,” I sigh, “even though I told her it wasn’t worth confronting him yet. I wanted to wait, to gather more evidence. To talk to you.”
“We need to get to Natalie before she hurts him, or worse kills him,” Penelope nods.
“I’ll meet you there,” I call out as the three of us rush out of Penelope’s room, “I have to grab something first.”
I watch as the girls rush down the corridor and out of sight. I burst into my room and rummage through my belongings and grab both my journal and the note I found in the laboratory. I shove the note into my pocket once again and rush for the med lab. I’m out of breathe when I finally reach up with the others. Jeremy is cowering over in a corner, Connor is behind Natalie, his muscular arms wrapped around her waist holding her back. Mason is standing in front of Jeremy ready to protect him.
“Why don’t you stop lying you son of a bitch,” Natalie hisses.
“I keep telling you I have no idea what you are talking about,” Jeremy snivels.
“Damian tell him,” Natalie calls out when she notices me there, “tell him you have proof that he is a liar!”
“What proof do you have?” Mason asks.
“Yes, what secrets have you been keeping from us?” Kennedy asks from the darkened corner of the room, Matthew huddled behind her.
My hand fumbles around in my pocket, searching for the piece of paper in my pocket, “it isn’t much, but I found this in the laboratory,” I hand the paper over to Mason who examines it front and back before handing it to Jeremy.
“So what? It’s just a note, thoughts that Doctor Fairfield had after the virus began to spread. It’s no different than that journal you’ve been keeping,” Mason argues.
“Agreed,” I say tossing my journal to the ground at Mason’s feet, “but there is nothing in my journal that I’m hiding from others. You can read it for yourself if you don’t believe me.”
“My notes are available for all to read as well,” Jeremy says defending himself.
“Then why are you hiding them in a laboratory deep underground with several Zombies?” I ask angrily.
I can hear the gasps and groans from the others.
“You can’t seriously be honest,” Matthew cries out from behind Kennedy, “I mean those things they can’t really be in here are they?”
“Be honest Doctor, because our patience is running thin and I can’t hold Natalie all day you know,” Connor growls.
“It’s true, there are Zombies here in the sub-basement. But it’s not what you think, they are completely locked up with no way out,” He says assuredly, “there is nothing to be afraid of.”
“Nothing to be afraid of?” I ask in a mocking tone, “Let me tell you a little bit of what there is to be afraid of doctor since your sense of pride is likely to get us all killed. These creatures, these Zombies are like nothing you could have ever dreamed of before, not in your wildest nightmares. These things have killed countless other people, many right before our own eyes, most our friends or family. We watched them killed before our eyes, gutted and eaten and we were powerless to stop them. They are the only things in our minds when we go to sleep at night, gruesome images plaguing our dreams. Maybe you have nothing to fear, but that’s only because you haven’t seen what they can do.”
“That’s not true,” Jeremy says with a whisper, pushing his way in front of Mason.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Natalie asks, still trying to free herself of Connor’s grasp.
“I do have nightmares,” Jeremy replies, his voice growing louder as he gains confidence to speak, “I have more nightmares and haunting visions then you will ever know. You see all those monstrosities out there, well I’m partly to blame for their development.”
“You had better start explaining,” Kennedy says pulling out a gun.
Mason draws his gun and aims it back at Kennedy. Jeremy intervenes forcing Mason’s arm down. I wave at Kennedy motioning her to lower hers as well.
“No, they have a right to be mad at me, I’m mad at me,” Jeremy admits.
“What happened?” Fanny asks with a shudder.
“It all started years ago,” Jeremy starts, “I had just obtained my Ph.D. in applied medical sciences and I was assigned to work with Doctor Xi Ming. He was a brilliant man with an incredible dream. He said he was on the verge of developing a serum, which would with all intents and purposes effectively ‘kill’ the patient. The serum would literally stop the heart and brain but still manage to keep them both alive for a short manner of time.”
“What’s the point of that?” Kennedy asks, “I mean if the brain is dead, even for a short period of time without oxygen, there would be some loss of motor skills, or brain damage.”
“No, that was the beauty behind the whole thing. The serum would supposedly keep the brain alive, still supplying it with oxygen. This would allow doctors time to remove foreign objects from the body that otherwise would kill patients. It also gave them a chance to go in and remove diseases. As a matter of fact, in one trial run doctors were able to use the serum to ‘kill’ a lab rat and successfully remove Cancer that was otherwise thought to be irremovable. It was a new age for modern medicine, we could cure almost anything. Imagine a world where people could live well past one hundred and still be functioning members of society. But something went wrong,” Jeremy says somberly.
“I’ll say something went wrong,” Matthew comments.
“No, before the whole Zombie apocalypse. It was years later when we were finally able to test the serum on human patients. The study worked several times, patient after patient survived the beta test and the serum was close to receiving F.D.A approval, but then patients started reacting differently. They would become enraged and lose all control lashing out at anyone near them. The worst case came from a military hospital in Washington D.C. a patient was administered and given the serum only to have the patient lose control and kill several staff and a civilian. The government heard of the incident and tried to shut us down,” Jeremy explains.
“I wi
sh they did,” Connor growls.
“It wouldn’t have stopped this from happening. If anything it would have just delayed it,” Jeremy reasons.
“That loss at a military hospital,” Connor snarls, “that was my wife. You bastards killed my wife, and my daughter.”
“I’m sorry for the loss of your wife,” Jeremy sighs, “but if she was given the serum then she was close to death anyway.”
“Yeah that’s true,” Connor drops Natalie before rushing over to Jeremy and hitting him as hard as he can in his jaw, “but my daughter, my daughter was a causality because you people were busy playing God.”
“We were trying to save lives,” Jeremy yells getting back onto his feet, his hand rubbing his jaw.
“And instead you helped cost millions of people their lives,” Kennedy rumbles.
“I say we kill him now,” Natalie says pointing her gun against his temple.
“No,” I say, unsure of what I just said.
“What?” Natalie growls, “This man just confessed to the murder of hundreds of millions of people and you tell me not to kill him?”
“Yes,” I nod, “He may have helped create whatever it was that infected our friends, but that’s his sin and I believe it will hurt him more if he has to live with it. He’s not worth death, not yet.”
Natalie lowers her gun, an evil look on her face as she punches Jeremy in the stomach before walking away.
“What happened next?” Kennedy asks, “After the government tried to shut you down.”
“We stopped working on it,” he admitted, “We instead focused our energies into figuring out why the serum was causing adverse reactions.”
“What did you figure out?” Kennedy asked obviously taken by the conversation.
“Well as you know there are many genes that make up the human body, and for years we were only able to barely scratch the surface on genetic makeup,” Jeremy explains.
“Get on with it Einstein,” Natalie threatens.
“We did a study, found a new Gene in the human body,” Doctor Fairfield says excitedly, “it was an amazing discovery, and Doctor Ming decided to name it the Omega gene. It was the Gene that the serum effected. It seemed that the Omega Gene was responsible for basic functions in the body. More to the point it was the Gene that kept basic motor skills alive for some time after death. After some study we found that not everyone had this Gene, although it was dominate in ninety percent of all humans. The other ten percent had one of three different genes, the first was the ‘Kappa Gene.’ We found the Kappa Gene in roughly five percent of patients that we studied. The Kappa Gene was similar to the Omega Gene except the serum didn’t shut down the eye sight. It was interesting to say the least because it helped shut down the rest of the brain, but for some reason it left the connection the brain has was this eyes active. Three percent had the ‘Beta Gene.’ This is most likely the Gene your wife had,” Jeremy says acknowledging Connor, “with the Beta Gene we found that the serum shut down every part of the brain, just like the Omega Gene except this one had the added effect of sending ridiculous amounts of adrenaline to the feral side of the brain. This caused patients to become enraged and violent. They have no other basic instincts, all they know is how to attack and kill. The last Gene is the least dominant, with only roughly two percent of the population having it. Doctor Ming named the ‘Alpha Gene.’ This Gene is completely immune to the Omega serum, and virus as far as I can tell. Also as far as I can tell from your blood cultures each of you have the Alpha gene, which is probably the reason you are all still alive.”
“Does that mean that everyone who is still alive has the Alpha Gene?” Kennedy questions.
“No, not necessarily. For example, I don’t have the Alpha Gene, I actually have the Omega Gene,” Jeremy says. “It’s all a matter of environment. You see the virus is spread through oxygen, first infecting the lungs causing extreme discomfort and a burning sensation. The lungs then help distribute the virus to both the heart and the brain. But people like me who have spent most of their lives in places like this, with purified air. It’s all about where you were when the virus was unleashed upon us.”
“So those people have a chance?” Fanny asks trying to get involved.
“A slim one. You see as the virus mutates more and more, so do our Genes. As humans our bodies eventually learn to adapt. So eventually someone with a Beta Gene, or a Kappa Gene, or possibly even the Omega Gene can theoretically adapt themselves over time and eventually become immune,” Jeremy clarifies. “But that’s the theory. The biggest problem is time. Time is needed for one’s body to adapt, but too much time and the person will then become infected.”
“So really there is no way to protect people from this,” Connor tries to understand, “unless they have the Alpha Gene.”
“That’s what I’ve been working on here,” Jeremy nods, “I’ve been working on finding a vaccine of sorts. An inoculation if you will, that will help speed up the adaptability process and hopefully saving as many survivors as possible.”
“But how would you know who is left to inoculate?” Kennedy questions.
“The bunkers,” Jeremy says, almost as if we should have already known the answer.
“What about the bunkers?” Penelope asks breaking her silence.
“Well, all the bunkers are connected remotely through video communications,” Jeremy answers.
“Did you know that?” Connor asks Natalie.
“No,” Natalie replies, “there was much about the bunker we never knew about. Emmanuel kind of stumbled upon it.”
“So you never found the communication equipment?” Mason asks.
“No. At least I never did. Emmanuel was quite good at keeping secrets though,” Natalie laments.
“Do you have regular communication with the other bunkers?” I ask.
“Fairly regular. I dealt mostly with other scientists and doctors who were secured in the Denver and Houston bunkers and I know Mason had weekly chats with his superiors. I don’t know where they are located though,” Jeremy replies.
“What did you talk about with your superiors?” Natalie demands.
“That’s classified,” Mason replies with a slight nod.
“Well then, where are they?” Connor asks annoyed.
“That’s also classified,” he says becoming more frustrated.
“What isn’t classified?” Connor asked, his voice becoming more annoyed.
“My name is Lieutenant Mason Daily of the United States special forces. Serial number 2046458,” Mason calls out, his voice lacking any emotions.
“What is he doing?” Penelope asks.
“Name, rank, and serial number,” Connor answers, “He’s refusing to speak. He’s acting like a prisoner of war.”
“Good. Then maybe we should throw him in detainment,” Matthew snickers.
“No we need him,” Kennedy says, “he knows too much.”
“He’ll never talk,” Connor says cocking his gun and aiming it at Mason’s head, “not unless he is ordered too.”
“Put the gun down,” Jeremy orders, “I’ll talk, tell you everything I know.”
Connor thinks about it for a moment, you can almost see the gears cranking in his head before he lowers his gun. “Alright. But if you can’t deliver, my gun will. What are you working on down in the lab?”
“I told you already, I’m working on an inoculation to stop the virus,” Jeremy says in a stern voice.
“Stop the bullshit,” Natalie barks standing beside Connor, trying to box the doctor in.
“It’s the truth. I’ve been working on making amends for the mistakes I made,” Jeremy defends.
“Are you making any progress?” Kennedy asks.
“Honestly? No,” Doctor Fairfield sighs.
“Then it’s pointless,” I sigh trying to keep tension down, “I think the best thing that can be done now is for you to stop working on the whatever, we kill those undead fucks, and send them back up the elevator and out of our lives f
or good.”
“Is that really the only way?” Jeremy asks.
“The only way we’ll be able to trust you,” Penelope says before I can answer.
“Fine. We’ll go down to the laboratory now and take care of everything,” Jeremy nods.
Everyone agrees to the terms of the arrangement with the exception of Mason who is still standing still, unwilling to talk. One by one Jeremy walks us through the bunker toward the elevator. Kennedy grabs my arm and pulls me backward when the others leave the room.
“I don’t know why you didn’t think you could talk to the rest of us about finding that note, but I just thought I should let you know that it doesn’t help us trust you anymore,” Kennedy says in a soft evil tone.
“Say what you want, but I believe it was you who said you didn’t want to talk to me anymore. If you want me to be able to trust you with information I find, then I need to be able to trust you too,” I bark back at her.
“I guess we’re at a standpoint,” Kennedy growls.
“Guess so,” I snicker back at her before leaving her alone in the medical area, rushing to catch up with the others.
I manage to reach the rest of the group just as they arrive at the elevator, I can hear Kennedy’s boots stomp behind me as the doors open up.
“Are we all going to fit in there?” Penelope asks.
“Probably not,” Jeremy answers.
“Alright, then perhaps Matthew, Penelope, Kennedy, and Fanny should go back to the dorm area and wait for us,” Connor orders.
“That’s not fair,” Penelope whines.
“It’s not about fair,” Connor spits, “it’s about getting this done.”
The girls and Matthew reluctantly agree before turning around and walking back to their rooms, the rest of us pile into the elevator. Jeremy gives the elevator orders and we descend to the sub-basement in silence. The doors slide open and we pile out one by one.
“All the records I have on the virus and the inoculation are on my computer. I also have hard copies in the filing cabinet. After that we’ll have to release the neuron toxins into the detainment room so that the Zombies don’t try to attack us,” Jeremy sighs.
Omega Virus (Book 1): Surviving the Horror Page 15