Scourge - A Medical Thriller (The Plague Trilogy Book 3) Read online

  “I went upstairs to get a better view of the town from the window in the bedroom. The infected were like ants, crawling over every space. They broke into homes, jumping through windows and bashing down doors. I saw one leap through a window in what must’ve been a kitchen. He made himself into an arrow, shattering the glass. Inside, I heard the screams from whoever had been hiding in there. Everywhere was the same. The infected hunted down the people in the town one by one. Some were able to hide, but many were not. And then I’d hear those horrible screams that filled the air. The window was thick, and the other homes far enough away, that Jessica didn’t wake the entire night… but I could hear every single scream and every single prayer.

  “I’d never seen death like that. Not ever. And I’d been in the middle of Ebola Zaire outbreaks in Western Africa, smallpox epidemics in South America… and I’d never seen anything like it. They systematically killed dozens of people. At one point, several tried to break into the store. They pounded against the boards, broke the windows, but they didn’t hear anything, as we were utterly silent. Eventually they lost interest and moved on to easier prey. I could see it all from the window. One man… and I think about this at least once a day… one man almost got away. He ran out of a building and sprinted straight for the desert. I don’t know why he thought he’d have a better shot in the desert in his boxer shorts, but he did. He seemed like an older man, but it was hard to tell in just the moonlight.

  “He was fast and agile, darting between groups of infected, ducking and rolling when he had to. He got all the way to the edge of town when one of the infected flew out of the darkness of the desert like a ghost. He slammed into the man, taking him down, and then he grabbed the man by the hair and dragged him back into the town. I’d never seen that before, seen an ip act that way. It could’ve been random, again, just his damaged mind, but it certainly didn’t look like it. It looked planned… methodical, almost as though he wanted the man to suffer with terror while being dragged back to the town.

  “The old man was tossed into the center of the street. He rolled a few times and then lay on his stomach, just breathing. I could see his back move up and down with each breath. I think he knew right then it was done. Fate had issued its decree, and that’s a hard thing for anybody to accept, but given the circumstances, he seemed to accept it with honor. He sat up and looked at the sky as the infected circled him. They didn’t attack right away. They were savoring it. Then one ran at the old man and clawed at his back, leaving four streak marks across the soft skin. Another bit into his head, taking a chunk with him. They were like piranhas, each one taking a little piece. Soon the man dripped so much blood that he glistened in the moonlight, and that’s when they jumped on him… like a pack of wild dogs. I had to turn away, but I can still hear those gory, wet sounds at night sometimes, and it wakes me up.

  “Later on, near sunrise, I heard crying from outside. I peered through the window and saw a young woman, maybe eighteen or nineteen, stumbling through the street. She cried and howled with sobs and every few seconds would shout, ‘Please help me!’ Jason came up behind me and we watched her.

  “ ‘I can’t just let her die, not her,’ I said. ‘I have to do something.’

  “ ‘Look over there,’ Jason said, pointing to the darkened corners of the buildings. In the dim light of early morning it was difficult to make out, but if you looked closely enough, you could see it. The infected were still there, hiding in every darkened stairway and alley that could shield them. ‘She’s bait,’ he said.

  “If I hadn’t seen it myself, I wouldn’t have believed it. There’s this overwhelming belief that the infected had lost their minds, all sense and reason, but here they were, laying a trap for anyone left in town. They let this young woman live so she would cry for help and draw anyone else out.”

  Mitchell stopped her and said, “Wait, wait, that can’t be right. That’s displaying intelligence, even problem-solving intelligence, forethought. It’s been proven the infected, past a certain point in the incubation, lose all these traits.”

  Samantha shook her head. “Not proven, just believed. Like how nobody’s actually proven that if you eat fewer calories you’ll lose weight. What if you eat a thousand calories in donuts versus a thousand calories of vegetables? Will your body process them exactly the same? Will you lose the same amount of weight? Of course not, and we all know it. But we’ve bought into this belief that a calorie is a calorie no matter what. But a calorie’s a measure of heat; it has almost nothing to do with the way our body processes food. But everyone believes it does. I saw the infected plan and think. They knew we would respond… they remembered what it was like to be human.

  “When we didn’t come out, they attacked her and killed her the same as everyone else. Jason had been right; they were drinking blood for hydration. Though they would still vomit, it wasn’t as much as I had seen… they were learning. So that morning, nothing was left of the town. Maybe a few people hiding here and there, but I couldn’t see them. And then I looked across the street at the roof and saw movement, a man lying flat on his belly. It was Shui. He saw me, too, because he did a sad little wave, letting me know it was him. I waved back, acknowledging that I saw him, and tried to mouth the words, ‘We’ll come get you. Don’t move,’ to him. He nodded, but I don’t know if he actually understood.

  “Jessica woke and I sat with her. ‘I heard things last night,’ she said. ‘People dying.’

  “I ran my fingers through her hair, placing my chin against her head. ‘I know… I know.’ Luther came in just then and went to the window. He stared out for a long time before I said, ‘What?’

  “ ‘I’m just wondering if they’ve moved on. I haven’t heard them for a couple of hours.’

  “Jessica said, ‘Can I take another shower?’

  “ ‘I don’t think we should make any noise, sweetie. Just stay here and I’ll get you some breakfast, okay?’ She didn’t respond, but she lay down on the bed, her eyes blankly staring out the window. Luther followed me out, and as we descended the stairs, I said, ‘We can stay here. We have enough food to last us months, and the water and power are still on.’

  “ ‘I agree. Maybe we can even search for a phone once those damn things leave.’

  “Downstairs, Jason sat by the door, the shotgun between his legs. He had piled some more furniture against the front door, a fridge and a desk. He sat maybe five feet away, and though no noise came from outside, his eyes were narrowed with concentration. I knew it wasn’t the type of concentration anyone just had. It could only come with hard, painful training. I’d always taken everything Jason told me with a grain of salt, unsure what exactly to believe and what not to, but right then I knew he wasn’t lying about his training… He was a killer.

  “I stood next to him and said, ‘I need some food for Jessica. Where’d you hide it?’

  “He exhaled, breaking his concentration and turning toward me. ‘In the garage next door.’

  “My stomach dropped. I had thought he’d hidden it somewhere in the store or upstairs, a place we could easily get to it, although we could’ve easily gotten to the garage yesterday. But today was a different day. ‘How are we—’

  “ ‘I don’t know yet,’ he said. ‘I may just have to go out there.’

  “Luther said, ‘I haven’t heard them in a while. Maybe they’ve left?’

  “Jason shook his head. ‘No, they’re still there. We’ve got some pastries and stuff down here. Give her that for now. I’ll go out at night.’

  “ ‘Why at night?’ I asked.

  “ ‘I have no idea which of their senses are functioning well, but I bet their eyesight is the best one. We got the greatest shot of getting in and out in the dark.’”

  “I can’t tell you what it felt like that day, knowing we were going to open the door and head outside. We didn’t hear a peep, of course, but I had a sick feeling in my gut. If they were smart enough to have a young woman act as a lure, they were smart enough to hide
until nightfall. That first night, I convinced Jason not to go. That we should wait one more day before heading out. He agreed. The next day was spent doing not much of anything, looking through the same magazines, talking, and taking naps because we couldn’t sleep at night. I checked on Shui a lot, and he didn’t move, just stayed on the roof. I wanted to throw something to eat to him, but I knew I couldn’t make it all the way over there from the window.

  “Thoughts of a vaccine and Shangri-La at this point were almost completely forgotten. We were just trying to survive. It’s amazing how much of your thought processes and brainpower are devoted to surviving when your life is at risk. It’s as though you can’t focus on anything else.

  “That evening, the one when Jason was supposed to go out, I sat on the couch that was blockading the door and Luther came and sat next to me. He looked weaker, pale and thin. He wasn’t a man used to strife, and his body wasn’t taking it well. ‘I don’t know if we should be going to Africa,’ he said. ‘I think maybe I just want to go home.’

  “ ‘To Boston? We haven’t heard anything about what’s going on out there. It could be overrun like Atlanta.’

  “ ‘I have friends and family there. I don’t even know if they’re alive. I’m tired, Sam. I just want to be somewhere familiar. I don’t know whether or not you or anybody can develop a vaccine, but maybe some things just aren’t in our sphere of influence. I don’t feel I’m adding anything to that or taking away. You won’t miss me.’ He looked at me and grinned. ‘You should come with me, you know. Look out for yourself and that girl. Forget Africa.’

  “ ‘If there’s even a possibility… I’m already dead, Luther. I’m infected. So is Jessica, and maybe even you by now. If there’s even a possibility I can save us, I have to try.’

  “He nodded. ‘Just make sure you’re not putting her more at risk in the process.’

  “Jason came down later. He gave Luther the shotgun. We stared at each other for a second and then he nodded. I rose from the couch and helped him move it away, along with everything else we’d put against the door. We worked as quietly as we could. Jessica came down and stood at the bottom of the stairs with her arms folded, her eyes wide with fear. I smiled at her, trying to comfort her, but I doubt it did much.

  “Once the furniture was clear, Jason peered out into the darkness. He looked back at me and said, ‘Five minutes. If I’m not back, barricade the door.’

  “I nodded, and he opened the door and ran out into the darkness. We shut the door behind him, and Luther locked it and moved the couch against it. We stood there silently. We couldn’t think of anything else to do. My stomach was in knots. I could see the garage from the crack between the boards on the window. I finally gathered the strength to move and went over there. I saw Jason sneaking around outside the garage. He stayed low and wasn’t wearing his shoes. The garage door had been left open. He slipped through quietly, and I couldn’t see him anymore.

  “Those few minutes, I felt like vomiting from the anxiety. I couldn’t believe I’d let him go out by himself. I should’ve gone with him. I could’ve stood at the entrance to the garage and made sure no one sneaked up behind him. As I was considering going out, I saw him slip out of the garage with two duffle bags and sneak back over to the store. Luther and I quickly pushed the couch aside and opened the door for him. He was maybe ten feet away when we heard the first scream.”

  14

  “When it’s as black at night as it was, your brain can’t process sensory information well. It can’t orient itself as quickly as normal, so it was difficult to tell which direction the scream came from. It seemed like it came from everywhere, as if the night itself screamed. Jason froze, his head whipping around in the dark. Finally, he sprinted for the store. And out of the alley between two buildings across the street, one of the infected dashed for him with almost superhuman speed. Jason got all the way to the door before he had no choice but to turn around. The infected leapt at him. He turned, pulling out his pistol as he fell back into the store’s entrance.

  “The rounds hit the ip but didn’t do that much. He landed on Jason and clawed for his eyes. Jason had his arms up, blocking his face, which seemed to be the ip’s target. I grabbed the first thing I could, a small chair the clerk had used to sit behind the register. I lifted it over my head and slammed it down into the ip’s head. He jolted and looked up at me. His eyes were black from the hemorrhaging with little red, bleeding centers. He screamed and jumped at me. Luther fired, and a spray of blood went over the room and the entrance. The boom of the shotgun had deafened me, and all I could hear was a ringing sound. Then the screams from outside slowly came into my consciousness, hundreds of them, all rushing for us at the same time.

  “Jason pulled himself up and slammed the door. ‘Hurry!’ he shouted, his back to the door.

  “We scrambled to get everything against the door. We blockaded it in under ten seconds, but it almost didn’t matter. The boards on the windows were creaking as the infected tore at them. I grabbed Jessica and sprinted up the stairs, Luther and Jason behind me. We got to the bedroom and shut the door, moved the large bed against it, and looked out the window. Swarms converged on the building, surrounding it on all sides, a sea of bloody faces and bodies. Shui watched everything from across the street. I hoped he’d make a run for it. With the infected distracted, it might’ve been his only chance.

  “ ‘The window,’ Jason said. The window was maybe two feet from the roof. Jason held out his arms for Jessica. I hesitated a moment. When you’re in that spot, you don’t think clearly. You cling to anywhere that offers even a second of safety. So I thought maybe we could stay in the bedroom. A ridiculous thought, now. They would’ve gotten to us in a few minutes. Luckily, Jessica didn’t leave room for debate. She jumped into Jason’s arms. He lifted her out the window and to the roof. He then held out his arms for me. I didn’t move. Everything was in slow motion. Even the screams outside were dulled. It took Luther pushing me to get me out the window. The two of them pushed me up, and I climbed to the roof. I turned and helped Luther, then Jason handed up the guns before climbing up himself.

  “When we were all on the roof, we backed away from the edge. Out from the desert, more infected sprinted for the store, shrieking like crows. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a swarm of infected attack a single target, but it’s monstrous. They cared nothing about their bodies, about living or dying. Their bodies were just instruments to them, and they threw them into the building like they were invincible. Some even broke through the walls and then couldn’t get back up because they’d shattered probably every bone in their bodies.

  “We heard the door to the bedroom break, and then the ips flew out the window. They just piled out the window, one after another after another. They wouldn’t stop. And when they hit the ground, they just got back up again and ran inside the house.

  “I scanned the town. A few people ran out of the homes and sprinted into the desert opposite where the infected came from. But you could hear screaming from all around the town. They were coming from every direction, called by the screams. We had no escape route, no way to get anywhere. My first thought was that we would die from the elements and dehydration up there. But I saw that the ips were piling on each other. It wasn’t inconceivable that they would pile high enough to get up here in the next few hours. We were alone in the dark, without food or water and with only a handful of shotgun shells and bullets left.

  “ ‘Well, this is just great,’ Luther said. ‘Just fucking great. I’m so glad we decided to follow you, Jason. We couldn’t have gotten to this point without you.’

  “Luther seemed manic, twitching, rage building inside of him. ‘It wasn’t his fault,’ I said. ‘Everywhere’s overrun. It would have been like this no matter where we went.’

  “ ‘Really? How do you know, Sam? You’ve seen Atlanta, New York, and this shithole, and nowhere else. How the hell do you know?’

  “Jason turned away from the infected and looked at
Luther now. ‘Take it easy, man. We’re doin’ the best we can.’

  “Luther spit. I saw his hands trembling and his lip quivering. He looked wild then, feral. It was something I saw a lot of in the coming months. Society crumbled around us. All the institutions and formalities we knew were gone. People turned quickly to their baser instincts. I saw that in Luther that night.

  “He stepped close to Jason, so close I worried he might push Jason off the roof. The two men squared off. I rose and stepped between them. ‘Sit down, Luther,’ I said.

  “ ‘This man,’ he spit, ‘has led us to our deaths. We’re going to die up here, Sam, all of us, in the worst way possible, and it’s because of him.’

  “I pushed against Luther, getting him to back up a few inches. ‘No it’s not. We’re here because of a bug. That’s all it ultimately is, Luther, just a microbe. It has no emotions, no sense of vengeance or evil. It just exists, and this is the result,’ I said, motioning to the crowds of bleeding, screaming sick that surrounded the house. ‘It isn’t the fault of anyone here.’

  “Jason didn’t attack Luther. He just checked the number of shotgun shells he had left—seven. Not enough to do much of anything… except one thing. He looked at me and then Jessica and Luther. He didn’t even have to speak. I knew right then what he was thinking, so I said, ‘No, we can’t.’

  “ ‘Not yet,’ he said, ‘but they’ll be up here soon. I can do you three and then myself if you need.’

  “ ‘No, that’s crazy. That little girl deserves to live. She’s had nothing but a life of pain already. She deserves to get out of this.’