Lockdown Nation

by Lim, Candice

  “I’d rather die than to work for a scum like you,” I spat through gritted teeth.

  Cash sneered. “You’re not gonna get much tips with that attitude, Roxy.”

  “Speaking of tips.” Mandy pulled out the pipette and stabbed Cash in the arm. “I’ve got one for you, bitch!”

  An angry snarl roared out of Cash’s throat. Venomous blood, almost as dark as Cash’s heart, spilled out of the other end of the pipette tip Mandy ejected, like the barrage of cuss words off her crimson red lips.

  “Oof!” Axon and I twisted our faces in disgust in sync.

  “Told you it would make me feel better!” said Mandy.

  “You fools!” Cash’s eyes spat fire as she plucked the pipette tip and grabbed onto her wounded arm. “I’ve allowed you rascals to live too long to ruin everything I’ve built! This time I won’t let you go so easily!” She gnashed her teeth as she whipped out her Zapper.

  Blood dripping off her trembling fingers as she pulled the trigger. The stun ray whizzed through the space between Mandy and I, distorting the air before striking the side of the glass door that opened behind us.

  “Blot my gel! What’s going on here?” Three of us turned around and met with Dismon. The siren rang in my head as Axon, Mandy, and I traded looks.

  Dismon’s widened eyes passed between us. “What?”

  Mandy socked him in the gut.

  Dismon bent over. His eyes almost burst out of the sockets as he clutched onto his stomach. He was groping for his Zapper but Axon reacted faster. Axon ripped the Zapper off him, wrapped his arm around Dismon’s neck, and pressed the Zapper against his temple.

  “Nobody moves or he will die!” snarled Axon.

  Panic engulfed me. “Blot my gel! What are you doing, Axon?” I muttered urgently.

  “We got the guy now! Let’s get outta here!”

  I rolled my eyes with a sigh. The stampeding footsteps crescendoed from behind Cash.

  “Move now!” Axon dragged Dismon down the other end of the hallway.

  “You think you can get away that easily this time?” Cash’s voice chased us as we broke into a run amid the advancing footsteps. The shadow of the ATP grew on the wall.

  Adrenaline spurred in my veins, catapulting my feet faster off the ground. My eyes stilled on the emergency staircase door when the elevator opened next to us with a ping. Mandy shot in first and held the door. “This way!”

  The ATP spawned in the hallway were only a few feet apart when the doors snapped open.

  My heart pounded in my chest as I whipped out my phone. “Uh, Sam? We have a situation.”

  “I know.” Sam’s voice sounded flat and unamused. “I’ve locked the ATP in and blocked external access to the elevator. It should lead you back to the ground floor. Get your asses outta there ASAP.”

  I hung up and sucked in a deep breath. Sam had never disappointed me. Every second in the elevator sent me over the edge. The mental images of the crash flounced in my head. Hershey, she had gone too soon. She was Infected. We could’ve stopped this if we found out earlier.

  What if Cash wasn’t herself and only acted in such way because of the virus? The slight hope I held in her ignited. Perhaps, it was all in her head. Perhaps, she had always been the innocent idol I looked up to?

  “What do you want from me?” Dismon broke the silence and snapped me back into reality. He glanced at us, expecting one of us to talk.

  Mandy propped against the corner and checked her nails. “You know.”

  The elevator door opened. The emergency gate had been lowered and blocked off the other parts of the hallway. I smiled to myself at Sam’s brilliance as the three of us bolted in the direction where we’d come from. The tinted glass door opened to Sam’s car.

  I opened the back door where Axon shoved Dismon in. Sam and Axon charged their Zappers at him as Mandy and Axon got into the back seat. I hopped into the passenger seat and Sam sped off into the highway.

  “That wasn’t the plan. Heck, it wasn’t even the backup plan,” snarled Sam through gritted teeth.

  “But it works and that’s all that matters,” said Axon.

  “Fine!” sighed Sam. “Vaxine, we’ve got the target!”

  “Excellent. We’ve prepared the best route to avoid all roadblocks.” The route was highlighted on the car GPS. “We’ll monitor your location and we’ll let you know if there are any changes.”

  Axon and Mandy secured their hostage with cable ties. Mandy pulled it so tightly it dug into his wrists.

  Dismon grunted and wriggled off the two. “If you think you could get away with this, you’re dead wrong. They will come to you soon!”

  Axon patted him down and tossed his phone out the window. “Thanks for the reminder. Anything else to say?”

  Dismon rolled his eyes. “You will regret this.”

  ☣☣☣☣☣☣

  “Welcome back, guys!” Carlisa opened the door to the garage as Sam and Axon dragged Dismon in and threw him on the chair where he was fastened to. Dismon writhed to no avail and could only glare at his two opponents and the rest in the garage.

  “How is it going on your side?” I asked Vaxine and Tameera at the bench. Vaxine’s laptop opened to the Cranax distribution map while Tameera was working on her program on the tablet.

  “My friend managed to deliver the gene while you’re out.” Tameera winked and stroked the gene gun on the bench. “But before we use it on our guest, there’s something else I would like to test out.”

  I arched my brow with interest.

  “I’ve also been working on this in-vivo DNA sequencing prototype that allows me to probe into any living organism and detect any real-time genetic changes,” said Tameera. “We can monitor any genetic changes when we administer the gene.”

  Dismon pursed his lips. “What do you think you are doing?”

  “Taking things into our own hands,” said Carlisa. “Prof. Zelda Rose will be so proud of us.”

  Dismon’s face relaxed as he burst into laughter. “You think you can single-handedly save the world with your homemade remedy? What is it made of? Lavender oil and kale?”

  “Why are you jittering then? Too excited for some vegan smoothie?” scoffed Vaxine.

  “Now all I need to do is insert the probes into the subject which will allow us to look into his genetic information.” Tameera retrieved diode-like components from her backpack and went around behind Dismon. “Gentlemen, will you please calm our guest while I do this?”

  Axon and Sam clutched onto each side of Dismon’s arms while Tameera prepared the back of his neck for insertion.

  I screwed my face and looked away as Dismon’s agonized scream roared through the garage.

  “Easy there, big boy,” coaxed Tameera.

  Dismon gritted his teeth. His eyes almost burst out of his skull. I was a little surprised he hadn’t transformed yet and made me wonder if he did catch the virus.

  I looked at Tameera’s tablet to distract myself when a message popped up, ‘Target Detected. Connecting to Genome Database.’ The progress bar inched across the screen.

  “The probes are connected via Bluetooth to my computer,” said Tameera. “Roxy, can you check if it’s connected to the program?”

  The progress bar reached 100% and the program connected to the Cranax database. “Yes, and it’s a 99.89% match with Peyton and Hershey’s strain. We’re on the right track.” I updated the details on the database and stepped aside when Tameera reclaimed her seat.

  Her fingers clicked on the keyboard. “The results look similar to your previous findings.”

  “Can we disable the virus on other Infected with this program?” asked Sam.

  Tameera sighed. “I could try but the thing is I don’t know what genes are responsible for that action.”

  A despondent silence hung in the air.

  With a sigh, I went up to Dismon, who deepened his glare at me. “I told you it’s over. You are wasting
your time here. If I were you, I’d go and enjoy my last few days.”

  “I know you’re in there, Dr. Dismon.” His eyes looked hollow as they interlocked with mine. “You’re being controlled by the virus and this isn’t what you want to do. We can help you fight it if you let us help you.”

  Dismon laughed. “You’re wasting your time fighting a losing battle. There’s no cure for this and Cranax will win. Rest your case.”

  Vaxine sneered and took my side. “And you think you’re winning because?”

  Dismon’s eyes flashed murder as he bared his teeth in a wicked grin. “Haven’t you heard? I could raise shit anywhere I want. It surprises and disappoints me at the same time that you guys didn’t know we could telekinetically control the other cluster of Infected.”

  A message popped up on Vaxine’s laptop. “New outbreak in Corn City”.

  Dismon’s laugh reverberated through the four walls of the garage as Vaxine hopped onto her laptop and zoomed into the map where the area was flashing in red.

  “Vaxine, this isn’t helping. Don’t trigger him,” I said.

  A smirk quirked up the corner of Vaxine’s lips. “Oh yes. It does.”

  “It’s working! Increased gene expression detected!” Tameera beavered away on the keyboard and tapped ‘Enter’. Her face lit up. It suddenly dawned on me what Vaxine was doing. “Eureka, guys. We’ve identified the group of genes responsible for telekinesis. I managed to remotely tap into their genomes via the gene cluster and now I’m going to reverse the infection.”

  Dismon shut up at once. His widened eyes darted between us as Tameera’s fingers danced furiously on the keyboard. “What’s going on here?” His face paled to the shades of white. A horrendous cry ripped from his throat as he jolted violently as if he had been struck by a lightning

  He shook so erratically I thought he might break the plastic chair. His head jerked back as he arched his back. Sam and Axon hurried to hold him down.

  Tameera’s victorious smile split her face. “It’s working great, guys. I’ve reversed over 200 Infected now—wait, I’ve lost connection to the Infected!” Her face fell. She tapped on the screen, the frown etching deeper between her brows. “The gene cluster is deactivated.”

  All heads turned in Dismon’s direction. When his head snapped up, the black veins crawled all over his face. His eyes were bloodshot. An animalistic roar rolled up his throat.

  “Blot my gel!” My heart somersaulted in my throat.

  “He’s turned and I can’t access to the gene cluster if it’s repressed.” Tameera’s eyes widened more as the blood drained from her face. Her hand shot to cover her gawking mouth. “Father of Science, the genes responsible for apoptosis have been activated and expressed!”

  “Um, what’s apoptosis?” Sam asked.

  “Programmed cell death, a process where the cells in your body commit suicide. It usually happens when your body wants to get rid of damaged or cancerous cells,” said Vaxine.

  “That doesn’t sound good,” muttered Sam.

  “Not at all!” cried Tameera.

  “Halt the process!” shouted Sam.

  Tameera furiously tapped the tablet. “I can’t stop it!” She sprang out of her seat. “We need to cure him with the gene now!”

  I scooped the Genex off the bench. Finger on the trigger, I was about to shoot when Vaxine’s cry stopped me in my tracks.

  “No! It’s the wrong gene. We have to use the original anti-Cranax gene on him!” Vaxine turned to Carlisa. “It’s on the second tray in the fridge.”

  Carlisa popped open the fridge and tossed a silver box at Vaxine, who then opened the box and tossed the vial at me.

  My fingers were trembling as I removed the original vial and popped in the anti-Cranax gene. When I looked up, blood was spewing from every orifice on Dismon’s face. His flesh sank and shrank around his bones as if someone pricked at him and his whole body deflated.

  I was about to pull the trigger when the mental images of Robert Tan’s last moments flounced in my head. Sucking in a breath, I lowered the gene gun.

  “Roxy, what are you doing?” screamed Vaxine. “Shoot him now!”

  “No, I can’t do this.” I placed the Genex on the bench. “Dismon is long gone now. If I brought him back now, he would wish for death.”

  Dismon’s head dropped as life escaped him. Blood dotted and blossomed on his gray shirt. The silence followed was deafening. Dark clouds loomed over the garage where all eyes set on Dismon’s body. A chill crept up my spine, sinking claws of guilt into my flesh.

  Axon sucked in a breath and kicked at the wall behind him. He let out a barrage of cusses. No one stopped him. Not even Vaxine. If anything, it served as a great emotional catharsis for the rest of us with a limited vocabulary. “We’ve wasted our time and effort for nothing!”

  Tameera plopped back in her seat with a tired sigh. “I wouldn’t say it’s for nothing. At least we’ve learned two things from here. First, Cranax can elicit apoptosis when the host is being threatened. Second, we can control the Infected via the stronger strain. We’ll just have to come up with a better plan now.”

  “What are we gonna do with this guy here?” Mandy gestured at the body.

  “We shall honor him with a memorial for his contribution to our research,” said Vaxine. “But right now, the best we can do is to give him a proper burial in the backyard.”

  ☣☣☣☣☣☣

  The words on my tablet glazed over. The numbers became a meaningless pattern on the screen. The total reported cases reached 1,562,938. It became a challenge to be optimistic. Perhaps, Dismon was right we were fighting a losing battle.

  I put away the tablet and rubbed my eyes, hoping to be distracted by the reality except it didn’t look any better. All lights were flicked off to avoid the attention of possible patrolling ATP. The garage sat in the dark, faces illuminated by the dim light of handheld devices, the perfect metaphor for the fate awaiting us.

  Sucking in a breath, I pulled out my phone and looked through my photo album. The first photo had been the one Sam took of me. I smiled to myself and flicked through the rest until one caught my eye.

  It was a photo of Cash’s poster, the same one I had on my dorm room wall. I was too afraid to lose it I took a photo of it. The bold print read ‘IN REASON WE TRUST’ across the picture.

  The words Cash had said to my naïve younger self rang in my ears. “Step into the world of science, these answers are yours to discover.” Ironic because I’d been going round in circles since I entered academia.

  The anger surged in me. My fingers hovered on the ‘Delete’ button when a stray thought hit me. Why was Hershey so adamant Cash was not the villain in Project Cranax? Perhaps she had been infected all the while but somehow the truth being kept in the dark?

  Mandy’s flip-flops scuffling the ground snapped into my reverie. I pocketed my phone while she walked towards me and dropped to sit next to me at the door. “Hey, have something.” She passed me an energy bar and bottled water.

  “Thanks.” I popped the bottle and chugged it down.

  “We did well, bro.” Mandy clapped me on the shoulder and chugged her beer. “We’ve come so far.”

  My head was still fuzzy from long hours staring at the screen. The question burning in my head hung at the tip of my tongue. With a sigh, I turned to Mandy. “What if we prosecuted the wrong people?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “What if, you know, everything Cash, Peyton, and Hershey did were under the influence of the virus and they were victims themselves?”

  “You mean, there’s a possibility Peyton and Cash might be victims?” Mandy stared at me for a few minutes making me wonder if I said something crazy. “Look, personally I don’t think so. Especially Adenine Cash. But then I might be biased. I never liked her to start with.”

  “What if she turns out to be innocent?” I glanced at the space where Dismon had been. The boys had taken him
to the back of the garage where they buried him.

  Mandy shrugged. “So what if she was? She still unleashed the virus that had taken tens of thousands of innocent lives within the span of half a year. These innocent people whose fate in the hands of the Council, who couldn't fend for themselves. Who pledged their allegiance to the people whom they thought would protect them. What’s so special about Cash? She’s just another human being like us.”

  “I suppose.” My shoulders slumped with a sigh. Mandy was right and I hated it.