The Outbreak

by Shetty, Krishan

  “I do,” Dana said pulling out a hair pin from her pocket. “But why?”

  “Thanks,” he said ignoring her question.

  He inserted the pin expertly into the hole and fiddled for a couple of minutes rotating the knob simultaneously while prodding with the pin.

  Click!

  The door opened.

  “I didn’t know you could pick locks. Who are you?” Greg asked surprised.

  Sean grinned. It was the first time Greg saw him smile. It was strange to see a smile on a serious face. Looking closely, Sean was pretty handsome.

  “I have a special set of skills,” he said.

  “Yeah, it’s called being a thief,” Hastings said.

  “They don’t teach you to lock pick in the army?” Sean retorted.

  “That’s enough. Let’s get in,” Roland interrupted.

  They made their way inside and locked the door. Not really the safest place. Door’s weak. Greg though as they walked into the hall. Straight ahead they saw stairs beside two elevators. The elevator lights were on meaning the building had power.

  “I guess there are people here,” Sean said looking around. “There’s a camera over there,” he said pointing at a camera overlooking the entrance.

  “Not so sure, we haven’t seen a single soul,” Joanne said looking at the camera.

  A whirring noise grabbed their attention. The elevator began to move.

  “Hey the elevator is moving. It’s coming up?” Randy said puzzled.

  “Stay frosty,” Roland said raising his weapon as the number on the display between the two elevators changed from B-1, B and finally G.

  There was a ding and the doors parted.

  The soldiers and Randy aimed their weapons at the elevator as it opened. The rest held their weapons tight and their lives closer.

  A fairly short man donning a white coat stepped out. He had straight black hair brushed to one side and a thin strip of moustache pencilled above his upper lip. He was slightly taken aback by the reception.

  “Who are you?” Roland asked in his deepest voice possible.

  “I-I’m Dr. Kazuhira Scott. Please lower your weapons. I’m here to escort you to safety,” he said gesturing them to lower their weapons.

  Roland’s gaze slowly travelled down his neck and nodded once.

  “Safety? Where’s that?” Josh asked, sarcasm oozing from his voice.

  “The Biological sciences department is the only block that hasn’t really been affected. There has been activity from those vile creatures but they suddenly ran off.”

  “Towards the auditorium?” Greg asked.

  “In that direction, yes,” he answered slightly surprised.

  What the hell is going on there? What did they do to attract so many gonerz?

  “You were watching us through that camera weren’t you?” Sean asked pointing at the camera overlooking the entrance.

  “Yes. We were hesitant initially. Caution cannot be more emphasised upon. You understand don’t you?” he asked posing defensively. “But please let us talk comfortably, underground.”

  “Underground?” Joanne repeated.

  “Yes, our research facilities are underground,” he said stepping into the lift. “Come now.”

  Everyone walked one after the other into the lift. Joanne was surprised as to how spacious the lift was. There was a camera in the lift too. It caught everyone’s eye. The lift closed and Scott pressed B from the button selection board. The lift jerked slightly and began to move. Everyone was silent except for the whirring noise. There was another ding and the lift opened revealing a bright underground lab. The place was lit with bright LED lights. Clean white floors, Glasshouses and several whitecoats walked about only to pause to take a look at their new guests. A few gasped on seeing the fully armed soldiers. It seemed peaceful. Almost as if the outbreak never happened.

  “Have you guys been living here?” Randy asked looking around.

  “Yes. We don’t really have an option....and we aren’t fighters. So this is now our home now,” he said, his voice low.

  “What do you people eat?” Dana asked folding her arms.

  “Well, we have lots of genetically modified vegetables. So food isn’t really a problem. We have a near endless supply of food,” he shrugged.

  So they are feeding off genetically modified vegetables. Definitely beats starvation. Greg scratched his head.

  Kazuhira turned towards Westwood. “Mr. Westwood, what are you doing here?”

  Greg turned to face Westwood. That’s right. He knew something about the crawler. He’s definitely hiding something.

  “Yeah prof. Why don’t you tell us how you knew about the crawler,” Greg asked taking a step towards the professor.

  The professor hesitated and nervously adjusted his glasses. Worry lines scurried across his forehead.

  Greg took another step forward. Randy sensing Greg’s growing hostility stepped between the two men and looking at Greg shook his head.

  “Tell them professor,” Roland egged on.

  The professor sighed loudly. “Just to be clear, I haven’t lied to anyone. Everything I’ve told you is the truth,” he said peering through the edge of his glasses.

  “No. You deliberately withheld the truth from the kids,” Roland countered.

  “Look, at that point...or this point for that matter, it would make no difference if I said it or not.”

  “No? Kiara is dead. If you could have shared your wisdom, she’d still be here with us!” Greg replied, his voice in a crescendo.

  The professor sealed his lips avoiding eye contact again.

  “If you don’t tell them, I will,” Roland threatened.

  His hands dived into his coat pocket and fumbled around. He pulled out the old pipe and lit it; all the while his fingers trembled. He took a long drag and let out a plume of smoke.

  He exhaled nervously. “I am an economics professor here at HU. My name is Mark Westwood.”

  “Mark!” Roland thundered.

  “And I’m a designated Z level scientist of the Harbinger Group.”

  “Z level?” Greg asked peering under raised eyebrows.

  “It’s the highest designation a scientist can get at Harbinger.”

  “Why the hell are you an economics professor?” Randy asked confused.

  “It was supposed to be my cover to oversee the developments of joint operations between HU and Harbinger.”

  “A spy you mean,” Joanne said.

  Mark hesitated for a moment. He took another long drag. His silence presented them with the answer.

  “What do you know about the gonerz?” Randy asked.

  “They were created jointly by the Harbinger group and the military,” he said looking at Roland.

  “Military? You knew about this?” Randy asked looking at his dad.

  “Jointly? Mark, Harbinger was contracted to develop an enhancement serum for the armed forces. This is NOT what we had agreed upon,” he said ignoring Randy.

  “Wait, wait. The army’s in on this too?” Greg asked slowly backing away from the soldiers.

  “Just listen to what he has to say will ya?” Roland said annoyed. “Mark?”

  “T-there were miscalculations during the development of the serum. I tried to correct it and have the project restarted. But my colleague refused to listen. He insisted we go through with this to meet the deadline. He even convinced the Director.”

  “Colleague?” Randy asked.

  “A fellow designated Z level scientist. The Director wasn’t directly overlooking the project and he would feed her only what she needed to know. He even threatened to kill me. He was totally obsessed with the project. He began sleeping in the facility, stopped going home, and stopped eating. H-He began spiralling into madness.”

  “Who was this colleague?” Greg asked.

  He puffed out a loop.

  “Matthew Tait.”

  Josh bit his lip. Sean ran his hand through his slick hair. Dana listened intent
ly.

  “Then a couple of days ago when I came to the college, I learnt that the serum had been stolen. It was still in the testing phase and hadn’t been cleared. I was certain Matthew had taken it. I’m sure he caused that explosion at Harbinger. I had no idea what to do....Then I saw those things. It was baffling. Things like that only existed in books....televisions, not real life.”

  “And this Matthew Tait caused the outbreak?” Greg prodded.

  “It’s quite possible. No one knows what happened once he took the prototype serum and made off with it. The serum could very well be the cause of the outbreak.”

  “But how can an Economics Professor spy on the Biological Sciences activities?” Joanne asked in confusion.

  “Professor Westwood would often drop by. He would spend a great deal of his free time here. He was always very interested in Biological Sciences,” Kaz added meaningfully as if he finally came to a realization. “I thought he must be really interested in the sciences. I never knew that was his motive. It’s disheartening really.”

  “Didn’t you people realize the serum made monsters, not soldiers?” Joanne asked crossing her arms.

  “It’s more complex than that. We tested it on rats. The rats mutated into....something abominable. I realized that the formula needs some serious changes. But Matthew was adamant that it was because of the mice’s genetic structure.”

  Everyone listened intently.

  “With more tests, we realized that the serum caused different animals to react differently. It was perplexing. Even within a certain species, the mutation was different. As different as everyone’s DNA is. Some exhibited different characteristics. Some began to feed on it’s kind.”

  “Cannabalism,” Dr. Kaz pointed.

  “Precisely. Some showed different pattern of movements. Some died immediately on being injected with the serum. It was a lot of observations to make. I found it remarkable, but scary at the same time. By this time Matthew had immersed himself far too much. The Director herself thought this was the start of something big. We acknowledged the dangers but Science is all about taking risks. Or so they say,” Mark said grimly.

  “You knew about this?” Randy asked facing his dad.

  “Not quite. We weren’t really informed of the developments. All we heard was that it was in the testing phase. My Commanding Officer (CO) is in charge of the operation. We even visited the facility to check on it ourselves. They showed us nearly the same things Mark described. The Director convinced us that the formula would be different for humans so as not to tamper with the genetic makeup but it would require a lot more funding and human test subjects. We weren’t all that convinced but the creatures were far from ordinary.”

  “That’s right. The display for that day was controlled. We showcased the most stable of our test subjects. The Director didn’t want to compromise and risk the funding being cut off.”

  The other whitecoats began to crowd to listen to Mark. Their conversation had intrigued the remaining whitecoats.

  “But how do they function?” Joanne asked.

  “The source of nutrition required by the...err virus, can only be found in warm blood and meat. The hosts need to kill to serve the virus, to keep the host alive,” Mark said taking another drag.

  “That’s why they wanna eat us,” Chester said hands on his hips.

  “And they aren’t going to stop until we are all dead,” Josh said, eyes drooping.

  CHAPTER 7

  I wonder if Roland is alright. They should be in the campus by now. I hope they make it back in one piece. Col Mathers avoided Sharyn’s piercing gaze. “Why haven’t you saved Mark yet? Isn’t he your precious scientist?” Mathers asked his voice hinting a sense of mockery.

  “It wouldn’t be viable. A lot of my men would die. Unnecessary losses.”

  “It’s nice how you care about your men but dispose off an entire city. Very touching.”

  “Mock all you want Colonel. But it’s you at the end of the barrel. Not me,” she said with a deadpan expression.

  “That may be true. But tell me, wouldn’t it be faster if you had Mark working on that antidote?” he said testing her.

  “We have several scientists who could develop an antidote. Mark isn’t really-”

  “Oh I get it. He’s expendable. Just like the rest of Hale City,” Mathers interrupted.

  “You have an awful lot of questions today Colonel. Why is that?” she snapped

  “Probably because you kept us in the dark about the whole thing?” came the Colonel’s sharp reply.

  Sharyn cracked a feeble smile. A sarcastic feeble smile.

  “You are behaving a lot like my disgruntled ex’s, Colonel,” she snorted.

  “Too bad they’re probably dead.”

  This fucking geezer.

  She looked at Lou with a not so exalted expression.

  Lou stepped forward and with the butt of the pistol whammed it into the Colonel’s temple from behind.

  The strike was powerful enough push the Colonel a foot away on his chair.

  The Colonel examined the damage by running his fingers through the spot where he was struck.

  No blood.

  He stared at Lou with an expression that clearly meant I will kill you.

  Lou calmly chewed gum and stared back at him. He wasn’t backing down.

  “Watch yer yapping old man. Or I’ll put you down. For good. But before that I’ll humiliate you in front of your men,” he said ending it with a satisfactory snicker.

  Mathers opened his mouth to rebuke him but was cut off by Sharyn.

  “Colonel, don’t push it,” Sharyn said with a firm gaze devoid of emotion. She meant every word.

  Lou stepped back, his shoulders swaying left to right, his gaze firmly locked on Mathers. Mathers watched him vengefully as he returned to his spot leaning against the pale wall.

  “Let us be civilized about this. Nobody has to get hurt. But speak out of turn, you will get hurt,” Sharyn said.

  Sunlight streaked through the sky as birds chirped with a renewed vigour. Sunshine pierced through the window squirming through the infinitesimal gap between the blinds.

  Sharyn stood up and sighed. She walked slowly over to the blinds and opened it. The blockaded sunshine gushed into the room finding every nook and cranny of the room. The light lit up miniscule particles of dust floating about.

  She enjoyed the warmth the light bought along with it. She wallowed in the pool of warmth for a while before looking through the windows. Everything was peaceful and quiet.

  “It’s incredible, isn’t it?” she asked admiring the scene before her.

  “What is?”

  “This peace; this quiet; this serenity,” she said her lips crawling to a smile.

  “It’s only a matter of time,” came his bleak reply.

  “Indeed,” she said enjoying the view.

  The Colonel was confused. What does she mean? This woman’s definitely insane. Does she have something planned out?

  “I know what you must be thinking. I’m not insane,” she said almost as if she knew what he was thinking.

  “I don’t know what part of this is not insane,” he said watching the events unfold on the big screen.

  “Colonel, this should have never happened. We wanted to develop a serum.....No....not just any serum, something that we could look upon proudly and say was ours. This was...an opportunity of a lifetime. Our best scientists toiled day and night to make this a reality. Never before has anyone attempted to do this. But....somewhere....something went wrong. Matthew’s betrayal and this....outbreak,” she sighed with a breath of regret.

  “I told you it isn’t too late. We can still control it as long it’s localized to Hale City. We cannot let this leave Hale. If it does, it’s all over.”

  Sharyn listened silently.

  Her musings were interrupted when one of Mathers’ men’s walkie talkies crackled. A surge of static strangled the device. Gargled sounds sporadically filtered through
the static and then went quiet again.

  “What was that?” Sharyn asked, swivelling around to face the soldier.

  “Radio interference perhaps. Happens all the time,” Mathers intervened before the soldier could answer.

  Sharyn didn’t seem convinced. Her eyes were restless. She walked towards her chair and sunk into it.

  “Hmmm,” she hummed rotating her chair back to it’s zero position.

  The Harbinger Group’s Biotech facility was a rather large building with state of the art facilities. It consisted of eight floors with underground parking for employees. It had only one entry and one exit. The entry and exit point was manned twenty four hours, seven days a week, three sixty five days a year by well trained security personnel. Harbinger chooses to hire men who boasted of prior service in the military or served as military contractors. It was easier this way as their loyalty could be bought with the almighty greenbacks. They did their duty diligently and efficiently. Since the Biotech facility was a key source of revenue for the Harbinger Group, they left no stone unturned in making sure the facility got everything it requires from security to facilities to pay packages and an inordinate amount of funding for projects. But recently with stricter rules and regulations being imposed by the government, it put the biotech facilities business into a straightjacket. Profits began to plummet and the Director in charge was questioned. The Chairman was unhappy with the new results and reduced funding drastically further tightening the straightjacket.

  “You said this was an opportunity of a lifetime, what did you mean?” Mathers asked.

  Letting her head rest against the soft headrest of her colossal chair, “We both very well know the answer. It’s the very reason you approached us isn’t it?”

  The Colonel’s lips fanned out into a sheepish grin.

  Turning back the Colonel looked at Lou. “Luke Saunters isn’t it?”

  Lou’s head slowly descended to meet the Colonel’s penetrating gaze as if he’d been punched in the gut.

  “I know about you boy. You had quite the....reputation.”

  “You don’t know jack old man,” Lou rebuked in a throaty growl.

  “Oh but I do. You were born in the south. Thirty six years old, divorced twice, one kid. What was her name again? Clarissa was it?”