Lockdown Nation

by Lim, Candice

  I uncoiled my fists and took a deep breath to unleash the pent-up fury in my chest. “This isn’t you, Dr. Cash. You’re doing this under the influence of the virus.”

  Cash stared at me as if I had gone out of my mind. She tilted her head to one side and cooed, “Oh, look at you, Roxy. Aren’t you still naïve?”

  I shook my head. “You could stop this, Cash. The virus inside you has a telekinesis ability to control the other Infected cluster. You could use this to deactivate the other Infected, then I can cure you next!”

  Cash burst into a maniacal laugh. “And why would I do that, Roxy?”

  “Because the world needs you. The world needs a hero and you are the one who has the power to save it.”

  Cash shut up. She gawked at me but no words fell from her lips. For the first time, I left her speechless and couldn't help being flattered. “And you’re still that stupid girl I met a decade ago.” She squeezed the trigger of her Zapper.

  But I reacted faster. I dodged to my left, whipped out the Genex, and fired at her chest.

  A snarl ripped out of her throat as she bent over clutching her chest. The Zapper slipped out of her grip and clattered on the floor. I kicked it out of her reach.

  My finger trembled on the trigger of the gene gun I pointed at her. My head twisted with questions. Did it work? What happened to her now?

  “Dr. Cash?” I reached out to touch her when she suddenly snapped up, making me stagger back few steps.

  “Roxy Riley…” Her eyes drilled into mine, spitting fire. I searched for signs of recovery on her face to no avail.

  My heart somersaulted in my throat when she pounced onto me grabbing onto my shoulders. I squeezed my eyes closed and tilted my head aside expecting she would sink her teeth on me.

  “Can’t you see the potential of Cranax, Roxy? Now that we know they have this unique telekinetic ability never seen before in any other biological organism. All we need to do now is find a way to manipulate it!”

  I opened an eye to Cash’s lit up face and shook my head. “No, we can’t. We have a program that could manipulate the genes in real-time.” Cash’s eyes sparkled with interest. “We tried it on Dismon but the virus elicited cell death and killed him.”

  “Silly girl, that means we’ll have to play around with the variables. It’s all a part of experiment.”

  “No!” I cried out. “We need to stop this problem.”

  “There is no problem to be stopped, Roxy!” shouted Cash. With a sigh, she lowered her voice. “I'm tired, Roxy. I’m tired of living in the shadow, to be underappreciated and unsung of. All I ever wanted is to be recognized and to be acknowledged for my years of hard work in the Community.”

  I shuddered when she clutched on my arms and looked straight into my eyes. “You’re still in the infancy of your career. I don’t expect you to see from my standpoint but you will agree with me in the latter days when you’re fed up and weary of how unfair the world is.”

  “No, please listen to me. There are not many of us left now. If you stop this pandemic right now, you will be hailed as a hero. There is still a chance for you to turn back—ugh” A sharp pain spread from the left side of my guts. When I looked down, a syringe stuck out of me.

  A vortex of emotions whirled in me. Cold fear gripped me. Was this the end? Was I dying? The daggers of betrayal rained in my heart. I was hurt. Mentally and physically, unable to crawl back into the pit I fell into. The pain fueled my anger. Not towards Cash but myself. I deserved this. Why would I be so foolish to trust someone who had proven many times she was the bad guy?

  A wicked smirk quirked the edge of Cash’s crimson lips as she plucked the syringe and shoved me off. I staggered few steps back and keeled over knocking my head against the wall. I clutched onto my chest where my heart palpitated erratically.

  “I’m sorry I disappointed you yet again, Roxy. I’m not the hero you think I am. But thanks for the antidote.” Cash’s voice warped. I saw double. “I must admit I’m awed by the times you’ve cheated death. Well, now you can finally rest in peace.”

  Cash’s face blurred. Her silhouette reduced into a white apparition that dissolved against the white lights and walls in the hallway. The corners of my vision darkened and sucked me into the abyss.

  With all the muscle left in me, I dipped into my pocket and squeezed the probe hard between my fingers. The jolt of pain sent me into oblivion.

  31

  CASH

  Cash stared at the comatose at her feet and sneered. “What a foolish girl. Can’t believe they took so long to take you out.” She rolled her stiff shoulders and stretched her arms. It’d been a while since she felt like herself. Cranax had taken a toll on her health and she made a mental note to treat herself to a spa day.

  As she brainstormed what to do with her prey, her smartwatch beeped.

  “Dr. Cash, we—we have a breach.”

  “What? Again? Take care of them and make sure they don’t cause any more damage to the facility. I will have a meeting with your security team first thing tomorrow morning!”

  A sigh dropped her chest. Cash picked up her Zapper on the ground and blew it. She turned to the camera on the scanner next to her door that clicked open a few seconds later. The clicking of her heels reverberated through the air as she stepped into her office.

  The same skyline of Corn City greeted her in the panoramic ceiling-to-floor window. Her long fingers trailed across the glass executive table as she strutted towards the minibar where she picked up a bottle of whiskey. She popped an ice cube into her diamond glass and poured herself a drink.

  She took a sip and moved to the window overlooking the twinkling lights dotted the night sky and the distant streets where the virus she co-created traversed. Cranax would be embedded in the lives of these people, in their genomes, like her legacy.

  Her eyes met with her reflection in the glass. She smiled to herself. “Oh Adenine, your younger self wouldn’t have dreamed about this day.”

  She spun around in circles, looking at the hologram photo frames around the office at the old photos of herself. Her eyes were set on the picture on the far right when she became the poster girl for the National Junior Science Program ten years ago.

  She’d hustled in the Community since graduating high school when she joined the National Junior Science Program herself. But she didn’t have much luck in the Community. She was always not good enough, always the benchwarmer, the understudy, never the champion. But Cash wasn’t one to give up. She vowed one day she would give herself everything she deserved. And now, she did.

  Her eyes dropped to the tablet on her table, still showing the news of Hershey’s demise. All the resentment she had for her dissolved and erupted into a cathartic laugh. “Finally, Hershey, I am the one with the last laugh while you’re six feet underground!”

  Cash chugged her drink. It burned down her throat. Nothing had made her feel so alive since the infection. With a relieved sigh, she tossed the glass against the wall where it smashed into pieces.

  She turned towards the window where she glared into the distance. A victorious smile peeked from the corner of her lips. “Finally, no one will be in my way.”

  As she contemplated the future, her thoughts went to the conversation she had with Roxy Riley. She knew of a program that could manipulate the genes in real-time.

  It was all she needed to fulfill the next objectives of Project Cranax.

  Cash tapped on the glass table to wake up the computer and clicked on the security cameras. Her doubts were clarified. She snorted as her eyes fell on Vaxine and her circus in the hallways. “These brats are getting gutsier. Didn’t even bother to mess with the cameras this time.”

  Something else caught her eye. Among the group, the woman with the funky fashion sense was holding onto a tablet. Cash zoomed into the interface and her face lit up with interest. “Hmm, that must be the silver bullet Roxy spoke of. They’re even bringing it right to my doorsteps.
Perhaps, I am the one who is meant to lead and accomplish Project Cranax after all.”

  Cash hit the speakerphone for Ronin. “Prof. Ronin, there’s something urgent that requires your assistant.”

  32

  ROXY

  I knew this place. I was here before. The familiar musty scent of antiqued wood and lost times. But I couldn't tell. The memory part of my brain was broken, perhaps it had always been. The quiet endless hallway stretched ahead, a certain serenity drawing me into it. The soles of my boots clanked against the wooden planks. I stopped at a door. ‘Riley’ the gold leaf whispered.

  I reached for the knob and opened the door. The wall of bookshelves met my eyes but the titles of the books blurred out. I turned around and a silhouette appeared on the other side of the table. His face came to the light and my heart did a double somersault.

  “Quillon Riley?”

  I must be dead. I should be feeling all sorts of fear right now but a certain calmness settled on me. As if I had come to terms with my death.

  I sat down on the chair that had mysteriously appeared on my side. Quillon carried on with his work, fingers tapping constantly on the mechanical keyboard connected to the bronze cast laptop. His eyes bounced between the main screen and the two extended monitors folded out from the side of the laptop. Oblivious to my presence.

  I tried to call out to him but a heavy lump stuck in my throat.

  A muffled snarl snapped my attention to the door where the Infected filled the window. Their red angry eyes drilled into mine as diseased nails scratched the glass.

  “They’re winning,” said Quillon, not breaking from his routine.

  I found my voice again. “What do we do now?

  Quillon said nothing.

  I glanced at the door that threatened to cave at any time. “You’re upset with me for leaving the Community.” When I looked back, Hershey had replaced Quillon.

  I jolted in my chair so violently I almost fell back. She stared at me with a blank look. “If Prof. Zelda Rose had given up, we wouldn’t have a chance to live in this utopian world.”

  “I’m not her.” I shook my head.

  “Believe in yourself, Roxy. You can do it.”

  I turned to the muted horde as Hershey’s voice echoed in my head.

  “You’re right. I have to stop this,” I muttered to myself.

  “You may die.” Quillon replaced Hershey again and now he looked straight into my eyes.

  “I have died many times before.”

  Quillon nodded after a brief silence. “You are ready now.”

  My eyes dropped on the gene gun that appeared on the table where the old laptop had been. I scooped it up and stood up. The door was gone now and I walked out to the hallway.

  The Infected spawned in the far end of the hallway and sprinted in my direction. I raised my gene gun and fired. The shot was muted and warped like the time. The gene carrier glided through the air and sank into the Infected’s forehead where the content unloaded and the gene fused with the host’s.

  A snarl ripped from the Infected’s throat. His angry eyes shot daggers at me when I realized he was Dismon. The other Infected were approaching and they were clones of Dismon. An endless supply of them marching towards me.

  I wasted no time. My finger squeezed the trigger repeatedly, taking down the Infected one by one. It didn’t seem to end. If anything, they were coming at me faster and faster. I wanted to duck back into the room but the door was gone. I was standing on the dead end of the hallway with nowhere to go. The perfect metaphor of my life.

  I continued to fire relentlessly until a warped muffled voice called my name. I gasped and spun around, seeking the source of the painfully familiar disembodied voice.

  The Infected pounced onto me, knocking me on the ground. All I could see was sharp jagged teeth and eyes red as blood before everything ceased into the dark. No pain. No feelings.

  A silhouette emerged from the shadows. The distinctive clicking of heels echoed through the bubble. Adenine Cash’s face came to light. Fiery red lips with matching hair contrasting against her pale complexion.

  “Aren’t you a disappointment, Roxy? You thought you could be a hero to save us all but you can’t even save yourself now.” Her warped voice sounded like it had come from all directions.

  I picked up the gene gun and fired at her. The shots went straight through her.

  Cash’s lips quirked into a sneer. “My turn.” She pulled out a gun and pointed it at my forehead.

  I squeezed my eyes when a shriek ripped from Cash’s throat.

  “No!!!”

  I opened my eyes to Cash bending over. When she snapped up, her face became distorted and died away with her incoherent voice. The ground tilted out of the axis.

  A pounding pain hammered in my skull followed by a sharp ringing in my ears.

  33

  MANDY

  There was a storm brewing in Mandy’s head, coupled with the beer she had, her mind became fogged, like the road ahead. The endless abyss stretched beyond the car headlights. Sam better be right with his navigation or she would lose her license. Not to mention this wasn’t her car. That poor cab driver was probably trying to make ends meet during the pandemic.

  The grunt derailed her train of thought. She glanced at Sam in the passenger seat, who buried his face in his palm. She shook her head with a sigh. “Don’t bother calling. She won’t pick up her damn phone.”

  Cuddling Roxy’s backpack close to his chest, Sam squeezed the bridge of his nose and returned to the GPS. “Turn right.”

  Mandy swerved into a quiet street.

  “Stay on this road. MAD is right in front.”

  The whole city seemed dead except for the mercuric skyscraper that lit up the entire place. Mandy glanced at the back seat where Vaxine, Axon, Carlisa, and Tameera were jam-packed. “You guys still awake?”

  Axon, sardined between the women, gave her a thumbs-up.

  Mandy’s eyes searched in the dark for ATP and Infected when they fell on the black car parked by the curb next to the building. “Hey, Sam. That looks like your car.”

  “Pull up behind it.” Sam hopped out before the car even fully stopped.

  “Wait up!” The rest followed suit, bursting through the doors as if they couldn't wait for another second as Mandy scrambled to kill the engine. “How do I turn off this thing?”

  Sam made for his car first. He peered through the tinted window and muttered a cuss. “She’s not here!”

  Vaxine peeked into the backseat window. “At least she’s left us some Zappers.”

  Sam pulled out his phone, pushed a couple of buttons, and the doors unlocked. “Grab all we need. We have only one chance to do this right.”

  Mandy managed to shut the engine a minute later and rejoined the group. “What’s going on, guys?”

  Vaxine thrust a Zapper into her palm. “Take this. We going hunting. Does anyone not know how to use a Zapper?” She glanced at Carlisa, who inspected the Zapper close-up to her face.

  “All set.” Tameera clutched her tablet close to her chest. “I’m not using Zappers. I’m against it.”

  “That’s fair. Stay close to us then.” Vaxine spun on her heels getting ready to go when Tameera cried out.

  “Wait! I think I’ve got a signal from the probes!” The group hovered around Tameera as she pulled out her tablet. Her brows crumpled in confusion. “I stand corrected. There’s a beacon coming from only one probe.”

  “Can you still tap into their genome?” asked Axon.

  “Yeah, but the connection will be much slower—”

  “What are you guys doing there?” The distant holler snapped them up at once. The searchlight bleached their faces and vision.

  “Why don’t you come here and find out?” smirked Vaxine.

  “You tryna be a smartass, ain’t you?” The ATP marched up to Vaxine. “You tryna be—argh!”

  Vaxine swung the barrel of
her Zapper across his face and kicked him in the guts, knocking him on the ground. The men took over, pouncing on top of the armored guy. Sam duct-taped him while Axon roped him up with the items they’d retrieved from Sam’s car.

  “Now what?” said Mandy.

  “Put him in the trunk,” said Vaxine.

  Axon and Sam lifted their hostage. Axon was moving towards Sam’s car when Sam shouted, “Not my car!”

  Axon rolled his eyes and moved to the car behind Sam’s where Mandy had opened up the trunk. She snatched the ID card off his hips as Axon and Sam tossed him in.