Black Fever_A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller

by Mark Gillespie

Cody and Nick exchanged confused glances.

  “What is she got sick?” Crazy Diamond said. “How much would that scare the shit out of Mackenzie?”

  Crazy Diamond sat down cross-legged in front of Rachel. “What do you think sweetheart? Think you could pretend to be sick? Fool those people out there into believing it was real? That’s all you’d have to do.”

  Rachel smiled shyly. “Dad was an actor,” she said. “So was my Mom. But I’ve never done it before.”

  Cody looked at her and frowned. “Oh really?” he said. “What about all those mornings when you didn’t want to go to school? Remember? You tried to play sick even though I knew there was nothing wrong with you. Can’t kid a kidder honey.”

  Rachel giggled.

  “You think you could do it?” Crazy Diamond asked.

  Cody held both hands up in the air. “I don’t know about this Crazy Diamond,” he said. “She’s just a kid.”

  Rachel threw a furious look in Cody’s direction.

  “Hey!” Cody said. “I’m looking out for you. It’s my job.”

  “I’m not just a kid,” Rachel said. “How can you say that?”

  “I didn’t mean it like that honey,” Cody said. “It’s dangerous, that’s all.”

  Crazy Diamond nodded. “Your dad’s right Rachel,” she said. “It is dangerous. But it’s also our only chance of getting out of here.”

  She looked at Cody.

  “Mackenzie’s terrified of the Exterminators,” Crazy Diamond said. “He wants to put us off the idea of escape so much that he killed one of us, hoping it would scare us into submission.”

  Cody let out a long breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding onto.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  “Lots of people tried to escape here CD,” Nick said. “I don’t think anyone ever did.”

  “You heard Mackenzie,” Crazy Diamond said. “The Resistance were predictable – they tried all the usual methods – charging at the guards, trying to get out through the window. But we have something they didn’t have – we’ve got Rachel. She’s the grand prize. Right? If Rachel gets sick he’s going to have to take her out of here and get some treatment. They must have some sort of medical room in a building this big with all these people. Rachel gets out of here. And she insists that you go with her Cody.”

  Cody’s eyebrows stood up. “Great,” he said. “You know Mackenzie won’t allow it.”

  “Rachel needs her Dad,” Crazy Diamond said. “Rachel insists. You go out, you’ve got a chance to make something happen. You’ve got time to think. Get a gun – seems like you know how to handle one of those. Then come back and bust us out. We grab Rachel and run for our lives. Look I know it’s a lot to ask Cody but it’s all I’ve got. It’s either that or we just sit here and wait for them to take Rachel.”

  Nick nodded in agreement. “What do you think Cody?”

  Cody looked at Rachel and sighed. He dropped into a sitting position beside her sleeping bag.

  “Looks like this is your big break kid,” he said. “Showbusiness. It’s in your blood. Think you can do it?”

  Rachel looked excited at the prospect, like it was game and nothing more.

  “Yeah,” she said.

  “Don’t overact like your old man used to,” Nick said, winking at Rachel.

  Cody looked at Nick and raised an eyebrow. “Remind me of something Norton. How many times did you get nominated for an Oscar?”

  Nick shook his head. “It always comes back to that doesn’t it? A friggin’ statue. Who gives a shit about the Oscars anymore?”

  “Yeah,” Cody said. “That’s what I’d expect somebody who was never nominated to say.”

  “Didn’t win though did you?” Nick said.

  “Boys,” Crazy Diamond said. “Are we ready? Looks like we’re all about to do some acting today.”

  Cody looked at Rachel. “You sure you’re ready?”

  “Stop fussing Dad,” Rachel said. “We need to get out of here.”

  “Now remember,” Crazy Diamond said to Rachel. “You’ve got to scream for your Dad when they take you out. He has to go with you. You do what you have to do – you raise hell and tell them how much you need him. Got it?”

  “Got it,” Rachel said.

  “Atta girl.”

  Crazy Diamond got up and walked over to the table. She took an empty glass and filled it to the brim with the reddish-purple juice. Then she brought the jug over to Rachel, glancing at Nick on the way.

  “This smells worse than your feet Nick.”

  “Very funny,” Nick said.

  Crazy Diamond dipped her index finger into the slushy liquid. Dropping onto her knees, she wiped some of the juice around both sides of Rachel’s mouth and then on her chin.

  “Make up done,” she said. “Looking good.”

  Crazy Diamond backed up a little and dropped the glass on the floor. It fell onto its side, the pulpy juice leaking out slowly onto the carpet.

  “Now we’re ready,” she said. “Everyone good to go?”

  “Let’s do it,” Cody said.

  Rachel looked a little more apprehensive this time. “Yeah.”

  Cody nodded. “3-2-1, action!’

  Rachel dropped down onto the floor, clutching her stomach in agony.

  “Scream,” Crazy Diamond said. “Make some noise Rachel.”

  The little girl screamed. It sounded like her toes were being dipped into a vat of burning acid. Her hands clutched at her stomach, as if she was pushing back some monstrous growth that was swelling up inside her body.

  “She’s good,” Nick said, looking at Cody. He was nodding along in appreciation. “She’s really good.”

  Cody nodded, slightly in a daze.

  “They’ll be coming in,” he said to Nick. “I’ll take the lead.”

  “Gotcha.”

  Cody ran over to the door and pounded his fists against the slim glass panels. Through the glass, he could see a couple of dark-suited guards sitting down in chairs playing cards. They looked up and ran down the corridor. Panic spread across their faces.

  They unlocked the door and rushed inside.

  “What the hell’s going on?” the taller of the two guards said.

  “What the fuck took you so long?” Cody yelled. His face was contorted with rage. “Didn’t you hear her screaming?”

  The tall guard looked stunned. Clearly he hadn’t been expecting that sort of response from the prisoner. Without saying anything, he looked past Cody towards Rachel who was writhing around inside her sleeping bag, next to the toppled glass and the juice stain on the carpet.

  Crazy Diamond and Nick were kneeling at Rachel’s side. Both had a look of anxious concern on their faces.

  “What happened to her?” the guard asked.

  “You’re trying to poison us?” Cody said. “Aren’t you? You’re trying to poison my daughter with that juice.”

  The guard turned a sickly pale color. “Oh shit,” he said. He looked at the other guard standing beside him. “Go get him,” he said. “Quick!”

  The second guard nodded. He turned and ran out the room.

  The remaining guard nudged Cody back to the other side of the office, using the pistol in his hand as a prod.

  “Get over there,” the guard said. “And get those hands up.”

  Cody walked backwards, his hands in the air.

  Mackenzie came storming into the room about two minutes later. The second guard trailed behind him.

  When Mackenzie saw Rachel on the floor, his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

  “What is this?” he said. “Is this a trick? After what happened earlier, you’re trying to trick me?”

  Cody knew he was going to have to put in the performance of his life to make this work. He charged forward and swung a fist at Mackenzie’s chin. Mackenzie ducked his head and dodged the blow.

  “You’re trying to kill my daughter!” Cody hissed. “After what you said? You’re the one that’s t
rying to trick us you bastard! Telling us how important she is and then trying to poison her.”

  Mackenzie’s eyes were bleak and stunned. “What are you talking about?” he said. “I need her alive you idiot.”

  Crazy Diamond was by now cradling Rachel, rocking her gently in her arms and whispering comforting words in her ear.

  “She took one sip of that purple poison,” Cody said. “One goddamn sip and now look at her.”

  Cody was secretly pleased at how horrified Mackenzie looked.

  Mackenzie gritted his teeth.

  “There’s a doctor in the building,” he said. “We’ll take her downstairs and have a look at her. Guard, pick her up.”

  The tall guard rushed over to Rachel and scooped her up in his arms, pulling her away from Crazy Diamond. He hurried back across the room towards the door where Mackenzie was waiting.

  Rachel pounded her fists off the guard’s barrel-like chest.

  “Dad! I want my Dad! I want my Dad!”

  “Let me go with her,” Cody said. His voice cracked. It sounded like he was on the brink of tears. And if Cody MacLeod needed to cry on cue, he could do it. “She needs me,” he said. “She doesn’t know anyone down there.”

  Mackenzie shook his head. “No chance. Nobody else leaves the room.”

  “What the hell am I going to do man?” Cody said. A tear spilled down his cheek. “Don’t you want her to recover?” he said. “How’s she going to do that in a roomful of strangers, all of them standing around her with guns? She’ll be scared out of her mind. Watch me, don’t let me out of your sight – but let me go.”

  The guard lingered at the door with Rachel howling for her dad in his arms. He was waiting for Mackenzie to make the call.

  “Dad!” Rachel screamed.

  “Please,” Cody said, not taking his eyes off Mackenzie for a second. “She needs me.”

  Mackenzie glared at Cody.

  “You’re a clever man,” he said. “You’re trying to fool me, aren’t you?”

  “No,” Cody said. He was acting as intensely as he’d ever done before. “I’m just a father who’s petrified. I’m angry too – I’m very angry Mackenzie. Your lifesaving drink has poisoned my little girl. I don’t want her to die in this prison and if you’re being straight with me about how important she is then neither do you.”

  Mackenzie signaled to the man standing at the door. “Go,” he said. “Get her downstairs.”

  He turned back to Cody.

  “Just you,” he said, pointing a finger at Cody’s chest.

  Cody nodded. “Alright.”

  “Let’s go,” Mackenzie said. “You’ll be watched every second you’re outside this room. If I find out this is a trick…”

  “It’s not a trick,” Cody said. “We’re wasting time talking about it.”

  He followed Mackenzie to the door.

  Chapter Twelve

  Mackenzie and Cody followed the guard and Rachel downstairs. They walked along a labyrinth of cold corridors until they approached a door near the front entrance of the Public Safety Headquarters building.

  “The doctor will be here in a minute,” Mackenzie said to Cody.

  The guard walked ahead of the others, pushing the door open with his back and entering the room. Cody watched through the open doorway as the man placed Rachel onto a single bed.

  The medical room was a small, plain-looking space. White walls surrounded the single bed, which was tucked into the side of the room. There was some equipment sitting on a countertop – a stethoscope, a variety of medications – but it was hardly a high-tech affair. Most of the higher end medical equipment in San Antonio had probably been lost amidst the chaos of the last days.

  About a minute later, a dumpy little man and a woman with tied back reddish-orange hair came hurrying down the corridor. They were both approximately in their fifties. Cody looked at the doctor, who wasn’t dressed to impress. The flustered-looking man was wearing an open dressing gown and Cody could see his crumpled, striped blue pajamas underneath. The woman, who Cody assumed was the nurse, was wearing a dark suit and tie, not unlike what the rest of Mackenzie’s posse wore.

  The chubby doctor glanced at Cody through narrow slit-like eyes.

  “This is our doctor,” Mackenzie said.

  Cody extended a hand towards the man.

  Mackenzie coughed. “No that’s the nurse,” he said to Cody. Mackenzie then gestured towards the woman. “Helen, she’s our resident doctor.”

  Cody cursed himself silently. Had Kate, his ex-wife heard that, she would have clipped him over the head.

  “Sorry,” he said looking at the doctor. “I…”

  The doctor looked at Cody like he was a clump of dog dirt stuck to her heel. When she turned to Mackenzie however, her blue eyes lit up. They walked over to the medical room together and the nurse followed like a worn-out lackey.

  Cody walked at the back of the procession.

  “I think it’s best if you wait outside,” the doctor said, turning back to Cody.

  “That’s my daughter in there,” Cody said.

  “I understand that,” the doctor said. “But it’s a small room and we don’t have a lot of space. We’ll have a better chance of finding out what’s wrong with your daughter if you’re not in our way. Thank you.”

  She smiled but her eyes were like daggers piercing a hole through him.

  “There are seats in the corridor,” the doctor said. “I’ll update you as soon as I have more information.”

  Cody’s jaw dropped “Now wait a goddamn minute…”

  Mackenzie pointed at two plastic chairs tucked up against the corridor wall.

  “You’re lucky to be here,” he said. “Sit your ass down or go back upstairs.”

  Cody backed off. He looked towards where Rachel was lying on the bed. She’d toned down the noise a little but her hands were still tightly clasped over her stomach. The occasional groan floated out into the corridor.

  “I’ll be right outside,” Cody called out. “Hang in there honey. These people are going to help you.”

  Mackenzie and the medical staff walked into the room. Brief words were exchanged between Mackenzie and the barrel-chested guard who’d brought Rachel downstairs. The guard listened to every word, nodding intently. A moment later, he stepped back out into the corridor and closed the door behind him. Cody saw the black pistol tucked into the man’s waist.

  “Take a seat,” the guard said.

  Cody sat down. It was cold in the corridor and he rubbed his hands together. The guard took up position beside the door, his back pressed up against the wall.

  There were noises spilling out of the medical room – muffled voices, the dull clunking of equipment being moved. Cody heard Rachel groaning and didn’t know if it was real or fake anymore. He couldn’t stand the thought of her being alone in that room with those people.

  Especially Mackenzie.

  Cody leaned his head against the cold wall. His nerves were jangling and he couldn’t help but think that it showed on his face. Did he look like a man with something to hide? What was he supposed to do now? According to Crazy Diamond, he was supposed to take it to the next level. Get a gun, she’d said. He racked his brains, trying to think of a way to lure the guard in, maybe try and coax him away from the medical room. It was a big ask.

  Mackenzie opened the door and stepped back out into the corridor.

  Cody leapt to his feet.

  “Well?” he said. “How is she?”

  “Sit down,” Mackenzie said, pointing at Cody’s seat. “They’re still checking her over. She’s complaining about a dull pain in her stomach. Might be there’s something going on. Mild food poisoning perhaps.”

  Cody wiped a layer of sweat off his brow. “She’s not dying?”

  Mackenzie looked at Cody like he was crazy. “I doubt it.”

  “Thank God for that,” Cody said, sitting back down.

  Mackenzie gestured to the guard standing by the door. “You can go
,” he said. “I’ll wait here for a while.”

  “You sure?” the guard said, looking surprised.

  “I’m sure,” Mackenzie said. “Go back upstairs. Finish the rest of your shift.”

  “Yes boss.”

  The guard hurried down the corridor, like he couldn’t get away fast enough.

  Cody was left alone with Mackenzie in the corridor.

  Mackenzie walked over and sat down in the vacant seat beside Cody. He let his head fall back against the wall and yawned. There was only a few inches gap in between the two chairs. Cody squirmed in silence.

  They didn’t talk for a couple of minutes. Mackenzie appeared content to keep it like that but Cody wasn’t sure he could suffer such an unnerving silence for too long. He sat up in his seat, his body stiff like a wooden board.

  He had to say something. Anything.

  “Where’d you get the recipe for that juice?”

  Mackenzie’s eyes were fixed upon the corridor wall directly opposite.

  “It was inspired,” he said. “A gift. They know more about nutrition than we do. About what our plants can provide us with.”

  “What’s in it then?” Cody said. “Why did Rachel react so bad to it?”

  Mackenzie looked uninterested at the prospect of going into details.

  “There are lots of things in it,” he said. “Nothing dangerous to the average human. Does she have allergies?”

  Cody shook his head. “No,” he said. “Not that I know of. How many kids have you given that stuff to?”

  “Just Rachel.”

  “If anything happens to her…” Cody said.

  “Then we’re both dead,” Mackenzie said. His chiseled jaw tilted outwards as he leaned his head back against the wall. Cody imagined that the man came from good breeding stock with his rugged good looks and refined manner. Good family, good school, and a good job. Who was he? Was Mackenzie still recognizable as the man he’d been before the Black Storm?

  “You said you had a daughter,” Cody said. “Is that true?”

  Mackenzie smiled through pursed lips.

  “Once it was true,” he said.

  “What happened?” Cody said.

  “The Black Storm,” Mackenzie said.

  “That’s what I don’t understand,” Cody said. “Now you’re helping them.”