Pathosis (A Dark Evolution Book 1) Page 20

  “You aren’t some kind of creep, are you Adrian?”

  He chuckled a little, then stopped dead and answered, “No, I’m not a creepster.”

  “Good,” Kala said, and pulled the revolver once more from her waistband, “because that girl is the closest thing I have to family now. Do not mess around.”

  Abbie rolled her eyes. “Come on, Kala.”

  “You understand, Adrian?”

  “I do.”

  “Good,” Kala said, and gave him a stiff smile.

  The television, a twenty-seven inch, late-nineties model Zenith, hummed to life. It was a good television, not high definition, but the picture had always been enough for Kala’s family. While Abbie watched, Adrian flipped through the digital guide and found the news. It was on almost every local station. He picked one at random.

  Immediately the screen showed a view of downtown Miami from above. They were filming from a rooftop, and it was obvious why. The streets were overrun with people - infected people. Some ran, most stalked with an uneven gait. They ran into each other, attacked each other. They were screaming, though the microphone wasn’t capturing sound, instead they heard the voice of Jerry the reporter describing the scene outside the station.

  As Abigail watched, she saw one of the infected burst through a door and into a shop. There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason behind the actions of the crazed individuals. They walked, they attacked, they died, or they kept going. It was a disturbing, macabre scene, made only stranger by the color of the street itself; it was a blackened maroon, the color of drying blood. Body parts were strewn everywhere.

  “Oh my God,” Abigail breathed.

  “It’s worse in person,” Adrian said.

  “So it isn’t getting better?”

  “No, soon it will spread over the whole city.”

  Abbie shook her head. “It will never get that far. We have the best scientists in the world here. They will figure it out. They will stop this.”

  Adrian resignedly remarked, “We don’t have the best scientists in the world. I think that India does, actually. But I’m sure they’ll figure it out. The thing is, it seems like a virus, doesn’t it? The way it’s spreading? And you can’t kill a virus. Just look at AIDS,” he said.

  “Well, first of all, AIDS is not a virus,” Kala said, coming in from the hallway. “AIDS is a group of symptoms that can be brought on by the HIV 1 and 2 viruses. Second of all, we don’t actually know how it’s spreading yet, do we?”

  “It does seem like it’s probably a virus, Kal,” Abbie said.

  Kala looked thoughtful, and for a moment she seemed a million miles away, like the old Kala used to get. That was the Kala that had not just lost her entire family in one terrible night.

  “I’ve been thinking about it all morning,” Kala said as she twirled a finger through her long bangs.

  Abbie knew what would come next; Kala would end up chewing that hair. And why not? Why not a comfortable bad habit? After all the bullshit, they deserved some kind of comfort, Kala most of all.

  “Of course you’ve been thinking,” Abbie said in a dramatic tone.

  Kala shot her a dark look and Abbie responded with a wink. Kala had it bad, far worse than Abbie, she knew. Abbie was sad, and mourned the loss of her sister. She had been a good friend to Abbie, and not too cruel, as sisters could be. She had loved her sister, but she still had a mother and father she could love. Kala no longer had that; Kala had lost all of them.

  Abbie didn’t know what that was going to do to her friend. Kala wasn’t the type to just break down and cry it out, pour out her feelings, and heal. Abbie shifted uncomfortably on the couch, thinking about the memories Kala would now be left with. She’d had to kill her own father to save her friend. Kala was now an orphan. Abbie thought it was awfulness of a high magnitude.

  “This pathogen, this disease, is either a virus or a parasite,” Kala said matter-of-factly.

  “Can’t be a parasite,” Adrian said, “they’re just tapeworms and stuff, they can’t spread like this.”

  “Here we go,” Abbie said, feigning exasperation and leaning her head back on the couch. This would ramp up Kala for sure.

  “Quiet down, pizza boy,” Kala said shortly. “Ever hear of malaria? Kills almost a million people every year.”

  “Malaria is a virus.”

  “Wrong again, but good try. Mind if I talk?”

  Adrian frowned and Abbie chuckled. Ah, Kala, my snotty little mean girl nerd. But I love her all the same.

  “It’s either a virus or a parasite. If it is viral, we are all truly screwed. We can’t cure a virus, only vaccinate against one, and developing a vaccine takes time, a lot of it. There’s no way the population could be inoculated in time.”

  Abbie noticed that Kala had started chewing her hair.

  “A parasite would be better for the general population, I think,” she paused, and gave them both a sad look, “just not for us.”

  Another shiver ran down Abbie’s spine. Something bad was dawning in her friend’s mind; she could see Kala working it out. “Why not for us, Kal?”

  Kala did not look at her. She glanced over to the television, which showed a national news broadcast. They were covering the Florida epidemic of attacks. A chart came up showing the progression of the outbreak within the last 24 hours. Each violent attack was being counted as an infected case. Twenty-four hours ago, there were an estimated sixty cases. Today that number had gone up to one thousand. The reporter said that the police had been overrun and were calling in support from across the state.

  “Kal?”

  Kala had a strange look on her face. She was a terrible liar; her face got all twitchy and her eyes darted around nervously. That’s because Kala was sweet and beautiful and smart as hell, but she was as blunt as a bacon iron. She had that strange lie face going on now, and it made Abigail very nervous.

  “Kala, don’t lie to me.” Abbie scooched herself into a sitting position, repositioning the blanket Kala had grabbed for her. She stared expectantly at Kala, as Kala looked from her to Adrian and back again.

  Then Adrian spoke up, “Please, tell us what you think you know.” His words were genuine and curious.

  “I don’t see a happy ending in this for us,” she paused, and Abbie held her breath, “or for anyone else in Southern Florida. This epidemic is spreading fast and hard,” she said, motioning to the TV, which now showed a map of Florida with hundreds of tiny red dots lit up across the Miami area. “We are at the epicenter of the epidemic - the starting point, here in Miami. The most logical course of action would be to cut us off. They’ll have to quarantine everything south of Osceola County.”

  “What?” Abbie exclaimed, jerking upright. This brought a sharp pain running up from her injured calf and she winced and cried out. Oh man, that hurt. It was a burning trail of nerve fire that had shot up her leg and into her belly. “Dammit.”

  “Are you okay?” Adrian asked, crawling across the floor toward her.

  Abbie grimaced, then answered, “I’m okay. Kala, that’s half of Florida. They can’t just cut us off from the world, like we’re some kind of … infected limb.”

  A strangely apt comparison, Abbie thought, looking down at her own limb.

  “Do you know what you’re talking about?” Adrian asked, his head cocked to the side a little. “I mean, really, are you super smart or something?”

  Kala shrugged and Abigail sighed and rolled her eyes.

  “Yes, she’s super smart. Going a little overboard though, I think.”

  “There’s something else. This isn’t just being spread by those spiders, not anymore. There are too many infected for that now. Also…” she paused, fiddling with her fingers. “My dad was never bitten by one of them, and he … turned … early this morning.”r />
  Abbie nodded and glanced at Adrian, whose eyes began to widen with realization.

  “My dad was in the same room with a boy who had been bitten the other day, before the kid went crazy. I don’t think the boy touched him or anything.”

  Kala took a deep breath before she continued. A cold wave was coursing through Abigail, crawling over her head and chest, making her shiver. This was bad.

  “So here it is,” Kala said. “This disease, virus or parasite, is either being spread through the air, from infected person to uninfected person, or there is a vector at work.”

  Adrian let out a low whistle.

  “You’re familiar with vectors?”

  “No, but that sounded smart as hell.”

  Abbie chuckled, so did Kala, then they were all laughing. It was a strange sound, a hollow, almost manic laugh, a little bit hysterical. It died down after a minute and Kala sighed.

  “These spiders that everyone is talking about are a vector for this disease, the zombie disease. They’ve brought it to us from somewhere else. A vector is an intermediary between host species. Do you understand?”

  “Vectors bring the disease from one victim to another. So, there could be something else besides the spiders that are spreading this disease all over. Is that about it?” Abbie asked.

  “That’s it. The way I see it, this disease is going to keep spreading until it takes over, and soon we’re all going to be dead or mindless homicidal freaks. All of us have been exposed to someone who was infected, so if it’s airborne, and that seems likely the way its spreading, then we’re screwed. If another vector is carrying it, then we’re also screwed because we don’t know what we’re looking for. We don’t have a chance.”

  “Jesus,” Abbie said. She had gone completely cold now, and there were beads of nervous sweat on her forehead.

  “Right. All they can do now is to quarantine the area until the disease burns itself out.”

  “You mean-”

  “Until it kills enough of us that it can no longer sustain its own life. Procreational suicide.”

  “But - we don’t really even know if it kills people, do we? I mean, I know a lot of people are dying, but that’s because it’s making the victims turn - crazy.”

  “Oh, it’s a killer, Adrian. We don’t know how long it takes the disease itself to kill a human, but it definitely does. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover it’s like rabies, attacking the brain and the nerves, driving its victims into madness. All those, zombies out there,” she made a set of air quotes, “are going to die off, I’m sure of it. Unfortunately, they’re taking a hell of a lot of people with them.”

  “So we just need to avoid them until they die off? Then we’ll be okay?” Abigail actually felt a small glimmer of hope fluttering around within her.

  “Maybe. Unless-”

  “Unless there’s another vector,” Adrian stated soberly.

  “Shit,” Abbie said, the tiny fleck of hope disappearing.

  “Exactly.”

  Chapter 26

  “That’s my parents!” Abbie exclaimed from the couch.

  The three of them had been sitting in silence, staring at the fast-moving images on the television. Kala had told them she did not think Southern Florida would survive. Adrian seemed to have the hardest time believing this so Kala hauled out several notable works on epidemiology and germ theory. Abigail couldn’t tell if he really understood it all, but it lent Kala some credibility that her opinions weren’t just pulled out of her ass.

  Now Abigail pointed at the television screen, “Turn it up!”

  Adrian complied, pointing the old remote at the box until the sound of a newscaster’s voice filled the living room.

  They were looking at an aerial image of the airport, specifically the “parking area,” where the planes taxied in before docking at the gates. A plane had been stopped while taxiing in from the runway. The shot was zoomed in on a group of passengers gathered around the plane’s exterior.

  A banner across the bottom of the screen read, “Confusion and Anger at Miami International.”

  “This was the scene less than an hour ago at Miami International, where a Boeing 767 was stopped on the runway by county and state law enforcement. Air traffic control has confirmed that several other planes were turned away from Miami airspace, however, we aren’t being given any information on why this is. Obviously the spread of a violent disease is a factor, but there haven’t been any announcements regarding future air travel thus far.”

  The shot closed in even further and Abbie held a hand up to her face. “Daddy,” she breathed.

  The camera was now centered on a tall, graying man in his late forties. He was built firmly and made an impressive figure in a blue button up and linen khakis. He was arguing with one of the officers who had made a ring around the crowd of passengers.

  “That’s my dad,” she mumbled, and started to tear up a little. Just the thought of her parents so close by brought back the memories of her sister Mariah and her awful death. She felt a compulsion to rush to her parents, let her father sweep her up and hold her tightly. Not that he would. In her family, affection was given in small, carefully metered doses. Just once though, she would like him to crush her in a strong embrace, to drive the fears and worries right out of her.

  The officer her dad was talking to shook his head, pointing his finger at her dad’s chest. Her father, in turn, was gesticulating angrily and Abigail could almost hear his voice, rising with anger and in force. Her father stomped and pointed a finger at the parking lot. The officer again shook his head, this time puffing his chest out and taking a step toward her father. Her father didn’t back down. The officer let one hand drop to his side, where is rested on the top of his service weapon.

  The world became very quiet for Abigail. She could no longer hear the newscaster; she was so completely focused on the shaky helicopter-filmed image of her father, his deeply tanned face red with anger, and the police officer who looked ready to use force to end the confrontation. For several very long seconds Abbie prayed silently. Just walk away Daddy; just let it be, just leave it. Then a long-fingered brown hand came in from off screen and landed on her father’s shoulder. The camera panned a little and showed Abbie’s mother with a hand on her father. She turned him around and he walked back with her into the throng of people. Mama. Thank you, Mama.

  Abbie relaxed back against the couch and looked around the room. Adrian, with his dark face and long legs, was sitting cross-legged on the floor, watching the news. Kala was watching Abigail. Kala pantomimed wiping sweat off her brow. Abbie nodded.

  “I’m going to try to clean up a little. Adrian, can you help me?” Kala asked.

  “I can help, Kal.”

  “No, Abs, you just rest your leg. Check under your bandage to see how it’s looking.”

  Adrian unfolded himself from the floor and followed Kala into the kitchen. She paused to touch the table where she had eaten with her family just last night. A lifetime ago, it seemed. The pain was so new, so fresh. She could not let it calcify her; her father would have trusted her to take care of things, so she must stay strong. Kala pulled a box of large black garbage bags out from under the sink. There was also a pair of rubber scrubbing gloves. She pulled these out and handed them to Adrian.

  “What are we going to do?” he asked.

  “We’re going to have to fortify ourselves here and try to outlast this outbreak. Both my parents and my brother were killed last night in this house. I’m not going to be able to sleep here with their bodies just laying around. I need you to help me take care of them.”

  Adrian shivered but nodded his agreement. He really was a nice looking young man, she thought. They started in her parents’ room. Kala gagged as they entered and the smell of death and rot that had already permeated the room sw
ept over them. Her mother was lying on the floor next to the bed. Her head was broken, a pool of blood beneath it. There was a large hole in the drywall into which she had been thrown. They pulled her mother into a sitting position, pulled a garbage bag over her torso, rolled her over, and slid a bag up over her legs so she was totally covered.

  “What do we do with her?”

  The answer came without thought.

  “There’s a big freezer in the garage, we’ll put them all in there.”

  Adrian gave her a questioning look then shrugged. Together they dragged her mother out of the house and into the garage. Kala opened the deep freezer and was relieved to find it mostly empty. They heaved her mother up over the side of the freezer and watched as the large black plastic package dropped inside.

  Kala closed the lid.

  “Two more to go, Adrian,” she said.

  “Can you handle doing it again?”

  “We’ve got to get this done,” was all she replied.

  Pulling her father up the short flight of stairs was very difficult. There was no way Kala could have managed it on her own, and probably not even with Abbie’s help. Thankfully, Adrian was very strong. The muscles of his arms weren’t big, but long and sinuous. He picked up her father under the arms and dragged him backward up the steps. She could see the sweat bead up on his forehead and his breathing intensified with the effort.

  Adrian did not complain, and with Kala’s help, he was able to topple Jack Wolfgang’s big body into the chest freezer with his wife. The freezer could hold three big hogs, but only two people, unless Kala was going to stomp on them to try to make them fit, and already she was having trouble keeping her stomach settled down. She felt lightheaded and was ready to retch.

  Kala was a tough girl, but even tough girls have their limits. Hers seemed to be packing her mother and father into a giant chest freezer. They walked back into the house and Adrian put his hand on her shoulder. She turned quickly, startled by the touch.