by B. T. Wright
The most painful part of all of it might be that he was the one person alive that she did feel a connection to. But she won’t even be able to connect with him. Even if he did make it to Mount Weather, she would have to keep her feelings to herself. All that was happening in the world was terrible, but the worst of it for Emily was that she’d survived, yet had no one to share it with.
Karen could always come around. She is a really good listener after all.
Emily laughed out loud in between sobs. She pictured her playing chess with the infected woman. Even getting a high five for her win. Then it occurred to her that John Doe could play too. Apparently he and Karen had a lot in common. They both liked the name Amy.
“I like the name Amy,” Emily said to no one.
She dabbed her wet face with tissues and sat up in bed. She was tired of feeling sorry for herself. She laid back down, this time letting what happened in the room with Karen, Elaine, and Jennifer replay in her mind. Both Karen and John Doe had said Amy at the exact same moment. Meaning somehow that whatever happened to them, be it a virus, or whatever it was, somehow connected them. They, at least on that one occasion, shared a consciousness. So what could that mean?
Emily let herself extrapolate that shared consciousness thought to the rest of everyone infected. What if they all were interconnected now? What if, somewhere, one consciousness had access to all of them? What could that mean? How could it be possible, and what did it mean if it was? A virus could never do that. At least not the knowledge of viruses humans currently had. The closest thing Emily could relate to a mass of people having one conscious, at least in earthly terms, was the internet.
Obviously, at least on the surface, the infection had nothing to do with computers. Emily let her mind wander to places it had never gone. Humans didn’t have the capacity to meld their minds like computers. Well, maybe they did, but they hadn’t figured out how to do it yet. But that didn’t mean it couldn’t be done. It would have to be by a more evolved species, but it could be done. In theory.
“Is that what this is?”
She wanted to stay with that line of thought. So what if it was? If a more advanced species could have one consciousness, and they brought it to earth, what were they doing? Was it annihilation? Because it sure as hell looked like it on the surface. Did they need a new place to live? Were they microbial in size and they needed new hosts?
“This is absurd,” she said.
Emily rolled over and shut off the bedside lamp. If the virus that infected everyone truly was a new thing, theoretically, it could connect everyone that had it to a single consciousness. Whatever it was that had moved in on humanity, she wasn’t going to solve the mystery of what was going on that night, especially not with her ridiculous line of thought. And she really needed some sleep. With all the questions swirling in her head, though, it would be hard. She quieted her mind and was able to block all of the questions. All of the questions but one.
“Who the hell is Amy?”
39
“Amy!” Jess rushed from the passenger seat of the RV when she heard the thump behind her. “Amy!”
Jess dropped to the floor over top of her and began to stroke her hair.
“Amy, wake up, sweetheart.”
“Is she okay?” Tyler shouted from the driver’s seat. “Should I stop?”
“Amy, honey, wake up, okay?”
Jess could see that Amy’s chest was rising and falling. She pressed two fingers on Amy’s neck––her pulse was strong.
“No, keep going. I think she’s just passed out.”
All of her functions seemed to be working, though Amy’s face was much whiter than it had been earlier. Jess walked over to the fridge, grabbed a bottle of water and picked up a towel from one of the kitchenette’s drawers. She soaked the towel the began to dab it all over Amy’s face.
“Amy, can you hear me?”
Amy’s eyes shot open, and she sat upright on the floor. It happened so fast that it startled Jess and she scooted back toward the front of the RV. Amy was sitting there, staring at her, but Jess could tell she wasn’t really there.
“Amy?”
“What the shit, Jess? What’s wrong with her?” Tyler said.
“Just watch the road, she’ll be fine. She’s just exhausted. Poor thing has been through a lot.” Jess scooted forward, not far from the girl now. “Amy, can you hear me? You’re safe now. You can wake up.”
That’s when her eyes rolled back in her head.
Jess was frozen. She wanted to move, to take her by the shoulders and shake her, but all she could do was stare into those white eyes.
Amy started to tremor. Not a seizure, but a shaking equivalent to someone with Parkinson’s. Jess was getting scared, but still couldn’t move.
“NO!” Amy shouted, then fell to her back on the floor.
The shout had been so loud that Jess nearly jumped out of her skin. Tyler hit the brakes and the RV skidded to a stop. Jess moved forward and once again checked her vitals. Still breathing, heart still beating. She thanked God that Amy’s eyes were closed. Jess didn’t want to see that again.
“Tyler, can you help me get Amy back to the bed?”
Tyler put the RV in park.
Static crackled at Jess’s hip. “Everything okay up there?”
It was Bryan. The three of them were following behind the RV. He had tuned his hand radio to the same frequency as Jess and Tyler’s. She pressed the talk button.
“We’re fine, just putting Amy in bed. We’ll only be minute.”
“Copy.”
Jess grabbed Amy by the shoulders. “You get her legs.”
Tyler did as she asked and they carried her back to the bed.
“Jess, what the hell was that? That wasn’t exhaustion.”
“I don’t know, Ty. Maybe it was exhaustion and she was just having a lucid dream.”
“Yeah, keep telling yourself that.”
Jess covered Amy with a blanket, then shuffled Tyler out the door and shut it behind them. “Keep telling myself that? What’s that supposed to mean?”
Tyler’s face was dead serious. “We have to quit beating around the bush here. Something is going on with Amy. It’s no coincidence that she’s not infected, even though she hasn’t had any Beritrix. Come on, Jess. Wake up!”
“All right, calm down. Let’s go back up front and get moving. We can talk there. You want me to drive?”
Tyler shook his head. He couldn’t wait till they were siting. “I’m telling you, there is some sort of connection we’re missing here.”
Jess sat in the passenger seat, Tyler put the RV in drive and rolled forward. They weren’t far from the university now.
“Connection to what? I don’t get what you’re saying.”
“She’s the only person that hasn’t been infected after a long period of exposure, and no Beritrix. That has to mean something!”
“It doesn’t have to mean anything. You know that.” Jess tried to keep her voice calm, hoping it would bring Tyler’s level down a notch. “We have too small of a sampling. There could be many more like her, we just don’t know it yet.”
“Really? Really, Jess?”
Her calm voice hadn’t calmed him down at all.
“Because look around. We’ve seen about seven people alive in over a hundred miles, and all of them had one thing in common. Beritrix. You’re telling me that’s a coincidence?”
“No, Tyler, I’m telling you that we don’t have enough information to go on. There could be thousands like her.”
“Okay.”
It was a dismissive okay. Jess could tell that his mind had already leapt to places she wasn’t going to be able to talk him back from. She let him have a moment to at least cool down before she said anything else. The image of Amy’s eyes rolling back in her head kept replaying in Jess’s mind. She had told Tyler it was exhaustion, but did she actually believe that? The tremors, the eyes, the passing out, the screaming of the word no at the top of her
lungs. Was it just a dream, or had she seen something?
“Good God, you’re starting to rub off on me.”
Tyler looked over.
Jess pointed to the right. “Turn here, we’re almost there.”
“You’re thinking about it aren’t you. There has to be a connection somehow, between Amy, and these things. Right?”
“I don’t know. She isn’t infected. So, there’s no way Amy could be connected to them, right?”
“Connected to who?”
Both Jess and Tyler jumped and Tyler almost swerved off the road. Amy had come up from behind them.
Jess was breathing heavy. “You scared us, Amy. Are you all right?”
“I don’t think so. I think they’re in my head.”
40
It took Jake by surprise how different everything was when there was zero power. Sure, when the sun goes down, it’s dark. But he never realized how much the light of houses in suburban areas, and buildings and street lights in commercial areas made a difference in being able to signal where you were going. Nothing looked the same. Driving straight through powerless traffic lights felt odd as well. Despite all of this, Jake was pulling up to the University of Cincinnati. Only one wrong turn along the way that was fairly easily corrected.
Now the real hunt would begin. Though he’d been to the stadium here at UC, he had never actually been on campus, and certainly nowhere near the science department. He assumed like any other university, there would be signs posted, but the thought of just strolling out in the open on a campus full of thousands, seemed entirely counterproductive. He’d seen the way the infected rallied outside the house he’d blown up an hour ago. If they were still hanging around here, it was going to be virtually impossible to get to the professor.
The first thing he noticed when he momentarily pulled into one of the student parking lots along the outskirts of campus to get his bearings was the fact that there was no sign of a helicopter. Not that he expected it. He figured if they had come, they were probably long gone at that point. Which made him question the decision to go on this little danger-filled field trip at all. If Emily wasn’t getting her information from the president himself, Jake wouldn’t even consider going near this place. However, when the commander-in-chief finds a person interesting enough to send a helicopter for in the middle of an apparent apocalypse, that was good enough for Jake. Even if the professor was already long gone.
Jake knew Nippert Stadium was pretty much in the middle of campus, so he pulled out of the parking lot and drove to where he knew it would be. The stadium was also the destination of the directions he had left with Jess. So if they were lucky enough to make their way there after their forced stop, this would be where they would be.
After a couple of turns, Jake was in the main stadium parking lot. So far it was an absolute ghost town. He made a lap around the entire lot, then turned down the main drag toward the stadium’s entrance. There were quite a few cars in the lot, but nothing like it would have been on a game day. He supposed the stadium’s lot was used by students during the week. Of course it was just an assumption as Jake had never been to college.
Jake’s attention shifted when he noticed a large vehicle parked out of place toward the front. His headlights and a strong moon were the only light to guide him. He felt both relief, and exhilaration when he could tell it was the RV they had taken from his neighborhood. Jess would know not to leave the RV until Jake got there. But as he pulled up, there were no lights on. Which would be smart, seeing as how light attracted the infected. However, it also seemed like the RV was empty. Maybe it was just his mind jumping to a negative conclusion, but the three trucks parked in much the same way behind the RV didn’t give him confidence anyone was still around.
Jake pulled close, and his headlights were positioned on the cab of the first truck behind the RV. No one was inside. There would only be two reasons Jess would leave the RV. One: she thought Jake was dead and wasn’t coming. Two: She had been forced to leave.
The reason didn’t matter to Jake. The outcome for him was the same. He would have to find her first, then worry about the professor. He didn’t know who had forced Tyler and Jess to stop earlier, and both of them could be in danger––either from the people that stopped them, or from the infected that were most certainly lurking somewhere on campus.
Jake put the truck in park and stepped out. He left it running in case he needed a quick exit. The summer night was muggy and damp, but Jake was focused on the RV and, more importantly, its unlocked door. Jess was smart, she would never have left the door unlocked with all of their things in it unless she hadn’t had a choice. Jake jumped in the RV, gave a quick look to make sure it was empty, then rushed back to his truck. He threw the AR-15 over his shoulder and strapped on his bag. He then quietly shut the door to his truck, and made his way toward the entrance of the stadium. It was the logical place to start, given where the RV was parked. If forced to run, either from the infected, or from the trucks that may have given chase and followed them there––directly into a place full of bathrooms, concession stands, and a myriad of other hiding places would be an ideal place to go. Especially because it had multiple exits to escape from.
On any other night, there would have been too much ambient noise to hear much of anything. But in the new world devoid of electricity, it only took a couple steps inside the gates for Jake to make out the unmistakable sound of a group of infected hissing and groaning. Jake fought the panic that rose in his conscience. He fought the urge to just rush in, because action without thought yielded unwanted results in terrible situations. Then two men emerged from the shadow of the stadium, out into the moonlight. Jake froze.
Were they infected?
Were they human?
The still of the night was broken, and Jake’s questions were answered when one of them made a sound Jake had never heard before. It was somewhere between the howl of a wolf and the scream of an eagle. Every hair on his body stood on end. Then a crowd of infected filled in behind the two men. Shooting would do no good. There was only one way out of there.
Run.
41
Jake turned from the stadium and broke into a full sprint. He had no idea where he was going, but he knew he wasn’t going to hang around the mob of infected. He felt light on his feet. Though he had a full go bag on his back, an axe hanging from it, a pistol on his hip, and an assault rifle in his hands, it was nothing compared to the gear he was used to carrying in the Army. He and his fellow Deltas would train with free-weights in their bags, just in case of situations like this one.
The stadium shadowed the moon, so every corner of the part of campus he was in was dark. And each time he came to one of those dark corner, the thought of infected running at him kept him sharp. As he focused in on a building that was partially lit by the moon off in the distance, the near-paralyzing thought that if Jess and Tyler were actually in that stadium, there was no way they could have survived. It was overrun with infected. Almost like they had been holding some sort of meeting and Jake had interrupted. Which wouldn’t even be a surprise at this point. Not after what he had seen the way they had come together back at that house.
There was a large fountain in front of him that he almost ran right into. He rushed around the right side of it, and as he did, he fought against the growing anxiety inside him. The worry that something happened to two of the five people left on the planet that he cared about began to filter through his nervous system like a fast-moving cancer. He also needed somewhere to go in a hurry. He couldn’t just keep running. He had to find a place to—
A blinking light came from the bottom of the building in front of him. At least that’s what he thought it was. Was he seeing things? Was he like a man stranded in the desert? Was he seeing some sort of mirage?
Then the light blinked again.
It must be Jess.
But how could she see him?
It didn’t matter, but when he surged forward, helped along by a surgi
ng boost of adrenaline, his foot caught on something that was sitting at the break between the concrete and the grass, and he sailed forward, a full-on sliding dive onto his stomach. When he popped up to his feet, he felt something tighten around his ankles, then he was right back on his ass. But that wasn’t the worst of it, because he was also being pulled—dragged—back in the direction of the oncoming horde. Their moans and groans grew louder as he was pulled. He glanced back over his shoulder and saw the doors of the building open and a few people walk out. He couldn’t tell if it was Jess, but right then it didn’t matter.
Jake was almost back to the concrete where he’d tripped, and he had to stop the momentum of the pull fast or he was a dead man. He rolled to his stomach, and the grass turned into concrete below him. As he scrambled to free his axe from its hook, gunfire erupted from the direction of the building. Whoever had come out was trying to help him. Jake’s hand found the axe, but when he pulled it free, the handle caught in a break in the concrete and was yanked from his hand. It bounced to his right, and with a desperate lunge his fingertips caught the handle and he squeezed with all he had.
He rolled to his back, being dragged even faster, and could see the front line of the infected was just on the other side of the fountain. Not twenty feet from him.
“JAKE!” he heard a woman scream behind him.
Jess.