Resilient

by Toni Cox

  “Shit, what was that?” he asks.

  Another thud. The jarring throws Andrew’s head back, and he whacks it on the steel edge. There’s a dazed look on his face before he composes himself and shoves back.

  “Bronwyn, help Andrew hold the cabinet,” Hunter orders. “Erika, grab your rifle and come with me.”

  We race to the top floor; there are three windows on the same side as the front door. The windows are already broken, so we stick our rifles through the bars, and we start firing.

  I can hear the sound of bullets hitting flesh even over the sound of the shots. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but it’s making me sick. It doesn’t matter that they are just Primals. They used to be humans.

  There are hundreds of them, all piled in front of the door. Their combined weight, moving in a rhythmic to and fro motion, makes the entire building shake. The door will not withstand the pressure for much longer.

  We keep firing, but the dead just get trampled and replaced. When the rifles are out of ammo, Hunter uses his handgun, while I charge downstairs for more ammunition and the rest of the weapons.

  Pale as the Primals are, I didn’t think they can bleed so much. Soon, the area in front of the building is dark with blood. The Primals, unrelenting in their effort to break down the door, are covered in the blood of the fallen.

  The noise draws more of them from the bushes. I don’t know where they all come from. Some of them seem too weak to stand, yet they still attack. Is this their last-ditch effort to survive? Do they know they’re dying?

  I don’t have time to contemplate life, and I carry on shooting mercilessly at the heaving mass of pale flesh below me. When the sun starts to rise, the true horror of what we’ve done comes to light, but the Primals don’t stop.

  Andrew yells from below. The door is broken. All that’s holding them back is the filing cabinet, and Andrew and Bronwyn pushing against it.

  This is it. We know we will rather shoot each other than get eaten by those things. Andrew and Bronwyn have their weapons with them, too.

  Not giving up, we keep firing with the last clips of ammo we have. There is one round in the chamber of my 9mm; tucked into my holster. The same with Hunter. That’s for us.

  My rifle clicks; its last round has fired. Hunter looks at me. Screams from below. Footsteps. Bronwyn and Andrew come running into the room. Hunter closes the door behind them, and we lean against it, just as the Primals crowd into the narrow hallway, shoving at the door.

  Their shrieks ring loud in our ears. Morgan stands in front of us; barking, snarling. Hunter shouts encouragement, but we can’t hold much longer.

  The whine of a jet engine makes us look up. We redouble our efforts the louder the noise gets. Finally, we can hear the squeaking of tyres on the tarmac of the runway, which is just behind the building.

  We do not stop pushing against the door, even when there is no more resistance. Listening to the screams and gunshots outside, we stand there and wait.

  Then, there are footsteps and the static voices of people speaking through headsets. Hunter hesitantly opens the door.

  “We didn’t think we would find you here alive when we saw the infected swarming the building,” Captain Connor says. “I’m glad you proved us wrong.”

  “We’re glad we proved you wrong, too,” Hunter says, and we all laugh, still shaking.

  Connor and his team, dressed in space-age HazMat suits, lead us to their plane, and we meet their scientists. On board, they have a mobile lab, and we get a tour of all their fancy equipment.

  “So, who is the one who is immune?” Connor asks.

  “I am.” I step forward.

  Connor puts a hand on my shoulder. “You’re going to be a hero,” he says.

  “Um, Sir?” Bronwyn cuts in. “If you don’t really need us right now, could we go home to see to our animals, and, you know, um, get cleaned up, and stuff?

  “Home?”

  “Yeah. We promise to come back as soon as we’re done.”

  Conner raises his right eyebrow and then turns to one of his men. “Williams, take them where they need to go.”

  “Yes, Sir.”

  I watch Bronwyn and Andrew leave, but Hunter stays by my side, holding my hand.

  “We wouldn’t mind getting cleaned up ourselves,” he says.

  Connor smiles. “Of course, follow me.”

  The plane is huge. Connor and his men can obviously not make use of its facilities, as they are unable to take off their suits in here. That must suck.

  Hunter and I don’t have that problem, and Connor leads us to a room which I assume must be the captain’s quarters. It has a huge bed, a TV, built-in cupboards, and a big bathroom with a shower.

  “There are towels in the cupboard,” Connor says. “I’ll see if I can organise clothes.”

  He closes the door behind us, and Hunter and I look at each other for a moment. Shower, yes. Together?

  Hunter takes a step forward and slips the holster off my shoulders. Unbuckling the holster at my hips, he lets it fall to the floor.

  He smiles at me crookedly, hooks his finger into the waistline of my jeans, and pulls me along into the bathroom.

  Wearing army casuals, I sit in the lab, surrounded by scientists. They don’t have a steam box, and when I ask them about it, they tell me that the virus cannot be killed that way.

  These scientists are different; they ask questions first before they start prodding and sticking needles in me. I tell them everything we learned from the videos, and they confirm the events as they happened.

  World War III gone wrong. A weapon too powerful, in the hands of a nation too powerful.

  “There are certain natural remedies that, if you’ve taken them for most of your life, or any length of time, will render you semi-immune to the S1 virus. This is why your friends survived. As long as they carry on taking this medicine, they should be alright for a couple of years, but the effects will eventually wear off.”

  I shoot Hunter a panicked look.

  “This is where you come in. We’ve been looking everywhere for survivors, but they all yielded the same result. Then we stumbled across this girl in India. She looked to be our saviour. Immune, like you.”

  “What happened to her?”

  “We couldn’t use her,” the scientist, who we only know as Peter, hangs his head. “She had the right genes, and she was willing to help, but she was HIV positive. She survived the virus, but now lies dying with pneumonia even as we speak.”

  “Oh.” I don’t know what else to say.

  “Erika, I need to explain to you what this procedure entails. It isn’t as simple as taking blood and a sample of bone marrow. We cannot force you to undergo this operation, but if you don’t, there is no chance for us.”

  Chapter 19

  I lie awake on the king-sized bed, Hunter fast asleep next to me. Peter spoke to me in private, so Hunter doesn’t know.

  There are two options, both not exactly appealing.

  The first one is that I go with them to their base in London. I’ll be put on a machine that will artificially keep me alive while they harvest my marrow over a period of time. They will try to do it at a steady pace, hoping my body can keep up with the harvest, and produce enough new bone marrow so that I get to live after they have sufficient.

  The second option is that they operate right here. The quantity of marrow required is huge; it could kill me instantly if extracted all at once.

  Peter explained that there is marrow in all kinds of bones; not just the spine. If he harvested from different parts of my body, it would reduce the risk, but my chance of survival is still less than twenty percent.

  A darkness creeps over me, covering me with sadness. I look up at the ceiling, seeing in front of me all those I have ever loved. Loneliness envelopes, becomes me, even though Hunter is right next to me.

  I frown at my weakness, tell myself to grow wings, to fight the winds of change. The tempest that raged around me has altered everything
I know.

  Now, in the silence that follows the storm, my thoughts are the only things I hear. My strength is what they need. My strength is what they must take.

  Sometimes, only the ultimate sacrifice is enough.

  The floor is cold beneath my bare feet as I sneak out of the room. I have no idea what time it is, but Peter is at his little desk, looking weird in his suit.

  “I am ready,” I say.

  He looks up, searching my eyes, then nods.

  The lab takes up almost the entire bottom half of the plane and is fully kitted for all kinds of procedures, although Peter explains to me that some alterations were made before they came here, which is why it took them so long.

  Once the staff has assembled, I lie down on the last bed I will ever lie in. The scientists move around me, hooking me up to machines, which start blinking and beeping the moment they come into contact with my body.

  “What you are doing is very brave,” Peter says. “I will be here with you the whole time.”

  I just nod. I wish Hunter were here, but I don’t want him to see it. He must remember me the way I was.

  “Everything is ready, Doctor,” someone says.

  “We’re going to give you something to make you sleep,” Peter says. “Are you ready?”

  I shake my head. “Yes.”

  He smiles, then nods at the people on the other side of my bed. I stare at the bright light above me, watching it grow hazy in my vision. I count: Peter said to count to ten, but the numbers make no sense. Four, five …

  Beep

  Beep

  Beep

  Frowning, I try to open my eyes. The annoying sound is giving me a headache. Why won’t they let me sleep in peace?

  I am so thirsty; the back of my throat is as dry as a sand pit. When I try to move, my body does not respond. I still can’t open my eyes. Panicking, I start to struggle.

  Beep. Beep. Beep.

  “Shh, I’m here. You’re alright.”

  I can feel Hunter’s breath tickling my neck as he whispers in my ear. My heartbeat slows; and so does the annoying beeping.

  There’s some commotion around me, but Hunter keeps whispering, stroking my cheek.

  Something changes within my body, and I flutter my eyelids. There is a soft light outlining Hunter’s face above mine.

  “Welcome back, beautiful.”

  “What happened?” I can barely hear my own voice.

  More people fuss around me. Someone turns off the beeping noise. My bed gets raised a little, so I’m no longer lying completely flat. Everyone shuffles out of the room, and I’m left alone with Hunter, who sits on a chair next to my bed.

  To my surprise, there are tears in Hunter’s eyes. I lift a shaking hand, trying to wipe them away, but he catches my hand and brings it to his lips instead, kissing it.

  “I have missed you,” he says, closing his eyes, and holding my hand against his cheek.

  I am so confused. Did something go wrong? Did the operation fail? Why is Hunter in a hospital gown? I want to ask all these questions, but I am weak. The simple act of keeping my eyes open is sapping my strength.

  Besides, I don’t have the heart to take this moment away from Hunter. I have never seen him this emotional.

  “Welcome back, beautiful,” Hunter says.

  “You already told me that,” I reply.

  “That was four hours ago,” he says, smiling. “You fell asleep again. How do you feel now? Do you think you can stay awake longer than ten seconds?”

  “Are you going to cry again? Because then, I might as well go back to sleep.”

  Hunter laughs. “You’re feeling better already, I see.” He hands me a bottle with a straw in it. “Drink.”

  It’s a strange-tasting liquid, but I am so thirsty I don’t care. I drink it all. When I look around, I see we’re not in a room, but within the lab on the plane. Curtains surround us, giving us the illusion of privacy.

  There are two sets of everything in this room, and I can see that the other bed was only recently used.

  “What happened to you?” I ask Hunter, pointing at his hospital gown.

  “You,” he says and kisses me.

  “What happened to me?” I ask when my mouth is my own again.

  I see his face darken, and the pressure of his hand on mine increases.

  “When I woke up to find you gone, I went looking for you. They had already started the procedure and would not let me into the lab. They managed to keep you alive for five days before your body finally decided it could take no more.”

  Hunter takes a moment to compose himself, absently stroking the top of my head.

  “Peter says he has never seen anyone fight the way you did, but even your body has its limits. You were dying, and still, they needed more. I tried everything, but they did not listen to me.”

  “Oh, Hunter.”

  “I couldn’t let you die, though, so I put a gun to the captain’s head and told them to let me in.”

  “You did what?”

  Hunter shrugs. “I’m not sure why I never told you. We spoke about these things so many times, I always felt it had already been discussed, or maybe that it wasn’t relevant, or whatever.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You asked me once if I took any kind of medicine, and I told you of the stuff my mother brought for me. Well, that’s the only time I ever took it, and the only medication I’ve ever taken. I never took olive leaf tablets, never drank mint tea, or never did any of those things that make your friends immune.”

  My eyes widen as his words sink in.

  “I demanded to be tested. I may, or may not, have fired a shot or two before they complied, but in the end, they hooked me up next to you. I gave you some of my blood to help you regrow some of your bone marrow, and I gave them some of my bone marrow, so they wouldn’t have to take any more of yours.”

  “You’re immune?”

  He grins. “Totally.”

  “Erika!” Bronwyn runs towards me as we enter the operations deck of the plane. “Gosh, it’s good to see you.”

  Hunter and I finally got released from the lab, went to shower and change in our room, and then an officer brought us here.

  “Easy, Bronwyn,” Hunter admonishes, “she’s still weak.”

  Bronwyn eases up on her hug and just looks at me. I can see the pure joy on her face. Andrew stands behind her, smiling.

  “Come,” Hunter says, “Captain Connor would like a word.”

  We move across the space to where the captain waits for us.

  “Miss Marais, it is good to see you on your feet. How are you feeling?”

  “Better, thank you.”

  “We are the ones that owe you our thanks. You, and Mr Hunter here have just saved what is left of humanity. My scientists assure me that all the samples taken from both of you are viable and are ready to be made into the cure.”

  “Well, then, I am glad we could help.”

  “Time is of the essence now,” the captain continues. “The doctor advised us not to depart until your recovery, but now we cannot delay any longer. We have to get the cure back to England. We will depart at 11:00 hours.”

  I nod; of course, they need to go back. I was prepared to die to give them this cure, so now they need to take it to the people that need it. Somehow, though, something doesn’t feel right.

  Looking at Hunter, I see he, too, has a frown on his face.

  “What about Andrew and Bronwyn? How will they get the cure if they are here? Will you come back with it?”

  The captain turns to look in their direction, and Andrew, holding Bronwyn’s hand, comes forward.

  “Erika,” he begins, “we’ve been thinking about this while you were in there. In the lab. We didn’t know if you were going to make it. And,” he pauses, “we didn’t know what kind of future we’d have here.”

  “What are you saying, Andrew?” I ask.

  “We’ve decided to go with them,” Bronwyn says. “Start
a new life in England.”

  I gape at her.

  “They’ve promised to set us up. Give us a house, and all,” Andrew says, looking at the captain, who nods.

  “Will you come with us?”

  Bronwyn’s question startles me even more than their decision to leave. Africa is my home. I was born here, raised here. I almost died here.

  The captain clears his throat. “We leave in two hours. I will leave you now to discuss in private while I make our departure arrangements.”

  We watch him go in silence. I find a chair to sit on, my legs too weak to hold me up. Bronwyn has been my friend since we’ve been kids. In a world where we’re almost the only people left on Earth, she wants to leave me. I am devastated.

  Hunter drapes his arm around me, and I lean into his embrace. When I look up, I see Bronwyn tucked safely under Andrew’s arm, his hand stroking her cheek.

  They’re in love. Bronwyn has always wanted kids. Wanted a family. I guess she can’t really have that here. The captain promises them a normal life in England; with houses, infrastructure, people.

  “You don’t have to go if you don’t want to,” Hunter whispers in my ear.

  I close my eyes. He knows me so well.

  “I will stay with you; whatever you decide.” He kisses me.

  Tears slide over my cheeks as we wave from the side of the runway. I can just make out Bronwyn’s face in the small window of the plane, watching us.

  The plane taxies down the runway, leaving us behind. Hunter takes my hand, and we walk to where Connor’s men have parked our vehicles, stocked with fresh supplies from the plane.

  I hate to drive home by myself, but we decided to take both cars. I get into the Rover, while Hunter takes the Jeep. It’s a long and lonely drive back to the house, giving me a lot of time to think.

  Things have changed in the almost three weeks that we have been away. Every day nature claims back more of the city. In some places, the roads are barely visible.