A World Reborn: The First Outbreak (20 page)

“I’m sorry, Roy. I wish I could’ve gotten
here in time. I wish I could’ve done more.”

“You did more than I expected. Hell, you
were nearly killed coming here to try to rescue us. I still can’t believe you
made it through all those infected in the casino.” Roy added, as if as an
afterthought; something to say that took his thoughts away from the painful
scene in front of him. He was unable to meet Melissa’s gaze as it would have
meant looking in the direction of the body of someone he had grown fond of;
someone who at another time and another place might have been more than a
friend.

“I was just doing what needed to be done.”
Melissa countered. She turned to face Donna again. “That’s what I always do.”

“I should’ve done what needed to be done
and protected her. I’m responsible for her death. She was relying on me to get
her through and I let her die.” Roy said on a groan of physical pain. She shot
a look back at him, and then stepped closer to him, her back shielding Donna,
which allowed Roy to look at her. Melissa wanted to explain something to him.

“They told everyone that when the mining
town in Galgambwe was under attack and the Contractors I was with had been
wounded, I picked up a gun to defend myself, the injured and the dying.” She
began. “They made sure the whole world knew the story of Melissa Jones, the
reporter turned soldier who fought to protect the helpless.” She continued in
the same even tone. She had told very few people what she was about to tell
Roy, and she needed a certain level of detachment while recounting the story.

Roy gazed at her with a questioning
expression. “What does that have to do with what happened to Donna?”

Melissa swallowed hard, clicking the safety
catch on and off on the assault rifle, stopping herself when she realized what
she was doing.

 “When we first arrived, my cameraman and
I, it was just a fluff piece. Spend some time in the town, report how happy
everyone there was... which would spread to the country as a whole in the new
age of prosperity the gold strike was going to bring, stuff like that. The
mining town didn’t even have a name then. It was just that: the mining town. We
were due to stay there for a couple of months, sending back human interest
stories which would allow the people in the West to watch a tiny piece of
Africa starting to thrive, with fledgling programmes for education, health
care, housing and light industry to create even more jobs. And all because of a
mineral survey instigated by the President, because he was sure his country had
to have valuable deposits of something, as it was surrounded by countries who
owed their economic growth to similar surveys.” Melissa recounted, pausing to
take a breath.

“When we’d been there just over a week, the
Government brought in Private Military Contractors to train volunteers as
soldiers and police to protect the town. We were told not to film them. So we
didn’t. But in a town that consists of a few hastily built wooden structures
and a whole lot of tents, you’re all going to rub shoulders everyone once in a
while. I got close to them, and one of them in particular, Conrad, took a
liking to me. He was married, I was engaged, and we kind of bonded over having
left loved ones behind. He kept telling me it was a dangerous place and
eventually, he started teaching me self defence. He showed me how to use his
rifle too, and how to fire a pistol. I learned even more watching them drill
their trainees. It was fun, in a way; exciting for a girl who’s most exotic out
of town trip up until that point had been for a friend’s wedding in Scotland.
But Conrad didn’t want it to be fun. He was a hard task master.” Melissa smiled
briefly at the memory before continuing. “I got friendly with the locals too;
one of them in particular, a young woman named Sanaa. She was the sweetest
girl; she’d make fresh bread for the Contractors every day as a personal way of
saying thanks, since she didn’t know a word of English. We taught her, Conrad
and I, how to speak a little English over the time we were there.” Melissa
stopped recounting her tale and took a deep breath. She was reaching the more
difficult part of her story.

“I learned that Sanaa wanted to become a
doctor. And because we were friends, I began to wonder whether I could help her
to get a visa and come back to England, you know?” Melissa asked meekly, her
voice croaking with emotion. Roy remained silent.

“Then her brother came. She hadn’t seen him
in years, and he... I couldn’t say he forced himself back into her life but he
made it difficult for her, mainly because she wasn’t sure how to interact with
him anymore because she’d believed he was dead. The night of the attack, I saw
him arguing violently with her. When I went over to intervene, he ran off. She
told me he’d been trying to get her to leave the town with him, and when I
asked why she said she didn’t know. Less than half an hour later, we all
learned why. I found out later that he was the leader of one of the groups of
insurgents backing the President’s brother, who was trying to instigate a coup
after he’d been defeated by him in the election. I suspect Sanaa’s brother used
visiting his sister as an excuse to discover the strengths and weaknesses of
the garrison. Anyway, we came under heavy attack. Fortunately, by that time,
some solid building work had been done, which had made it seem like a real
town. If it hadn’t, if all we’d had for cover had been tents, we’d all have been
dead.” Melissa paused before continuing.

“There was a community hall that doubled as
a place where people ate together, and a hospital where anyone injured could be
treated before being air-lifted out if they needed it. Conrad, his men and the
ones they’d trained fought hard to protect us. They got as many people from the
town to hide inside the community centre. I have to tell you Roy, there was no
battle that night; it was just a massacre. A lot of my friends died without
even knowing what was happening. Gunfire was coming at us from all sides. It
was only thanks to Conrad that my camera operator, Sanaa and I were able to get
to cover in the community hall too.”

Melissa fought back tears, looking back in
the direction of Donna’s body and remembering the exact same expression on
Conrad’s face the last time she’d seen him that she could see on Donna’s now.

“Conrad took a bullet for me. He used
himself as a shield. It went below his armour and clipped his femoral artery. I
dragged him inside with us, but he died in my arms after giving me a letter to
take to his wife if I made it home. Tony, my camera operator was hit in the
shoulder, and Sanaa, although she wasn’t wounded, was so terrified she couldn’t
move. I took Conrad’s gun and we went and hid in the rear of the centre, near
the kitchen door. I had to drag Sanaa. Conrad’s men were truly incredible. They
kept the enemy at bay for what seemed like hours. Eventually though, some of
the insurgents tried a new approach. Without any warning they managed to sneak around
the back of the building and burst in through the kitchen. One of them shot
Tony in the head. His blood and God knows what else sprayed over my face. Sanaa
was next. She was shot in the gut. I reacted just fast enough to save myself;
using Conrad’s gun to blow the asshole that killed my friends away. Then I
killed more of them as they came in through the door; squeezing the trigger,
not pulling, just like Conrad had taught me. I managed to shut the door and
used their bodies to block it. I went to Sanaa. I could see the fear in her
eyes, Roy. I saw it, and I felt it as she held onto me. She died, and the last
thing she saw were the tears rolling down my gore stained face.” Melissa
revealed, scrubbing away the tears in her eyes now before looking back at Roy.

“The battle that followed did last for
hours. I fought on the line beside the Contractors. They were low on manpower
and on ammunition, and they needed everyone who could shoot straight to stand
with them. Truthfully, we only survived because some of the military loyal to
the government arrived... because Conrad had managed to get a message out. They
relieved us and killed some of the rebels but a lot more of them escaped. One
of them was Sanaa’s brother. And then, after I left, civil war tore Galgambwe
apart.”

“God.” Roy said under his breath. “But that
wasn’t your fault, Melissa.”

“Maybe it wasn’t, Roy. Maybe I can’t be
blamed. But it’s kind of like the position you’re in now. You did what you
could, but it wasn’t enough. That doesn’t make it your fault. I did what I
could to protect Sanaa, but it wasn’t enough. Plus, I never told a soul that I
saw her arguing with her brother that night. Not even Conrad. Maybe if I had,
something would’ve changed, maybe someone, just one person, would’ve made it
that didn’t. And after the battle, after she died, I tried to protect her one
last time. I never told anyone I saw her brother arguing with her and then
running away before the attack, or that I believed he’d been spying on the Contractors
and the recruits. And when I was shown his photograph later, I didn’t identify
him, because I thought they’d think she was part of it, that somehow she’d
become tarnished with the blood of the innocent rather than be regarded as a
victim herself. I don’t know what happened to her brother, whether he got what
he had coming to him during the civil war or not.” Melissa swallowed again.
“Trying to protect the people we care about and not being able to doesn’t make
it our fault, Roy. I don’t hate myself because of that. I protected Sanaa as
best I could, just as you did Donna.” Melissa concluded. She felt a slight lift
of the weight pressing down on her soul in confessing the full truth of what
happened that night.

Roy stood in silent contemplation. He understood
what she was trying to say, but he had a question, a question he didn’t know if
he had the right to ask.

“Melissa.” He started, pausing a moment and
then asked quickly before he changed his mind. “Is that why you’re so motivated
to save people?”

“It’s part of it.” Melissa answered,
lowering her gaze before speaking again. “Another part of it is that when I
picked up that gun and killed my first person, when I killed more than a dozen
other people that night, it came so easily. I told myself it was the grief, the
stress of the situation, that my desire to protect myself and those around me
enabled me to do it with an almost emotionless detachment. Maybe some part of
it was Conrad’s training too, I don’t know. But when I think back to it, and
when I think about the people I’ve killed today, I don’t feel in the slightest
bit bad about it. And that scares the shit out of me. What does it make me,
Roy?” Melissa asked, not able to look him in the eye. Roy shook his head and
then answered.

“A survivor.”

“Maybe. Whatever it makes me I know I can
do what needs to be done to save those people in the theatre. I’m going to save
the hostages, Roy, and you’re going to help me. We’re going to get them down
here; we’ll do it in memory of those we’ve lost and we’ll do it in the
knowledge that we can.”

Roy nodded. He looked a little shocked by
what he’d been told, but for the first time since they’d gone back to the
security room, he looked towards Donna.

“I’ll be slow on this leg but I’ll be right
at your side, Melissa.” He said firmly.

“No, you’re staying here. I need you to
keep this door open and to work that elevator to get them down here to the
security room. You keep that gun close and if somehow one of those Reborn
soldiers makes it past me, you kill him without a moment’s hesitation.”

“I don’t have any more bullets.” Roy
replied, a little meekly.

“Why were you lugging the gun around then?”
Melissa asked, bemused.

“I figured I could intimidate one of them
into giving me a gun if I got the drop on him.” Roy explained. They stared at
each other silently for a few moments. Melissa looked at the badly wounded man
in front of her; the man who could only move with the aid of an unplugged
office lamp, holding a gun with no bullets who had hoped to intimidate one of the
soldiers into giving up his weapon. Roy read the expression on her face, and
simultaneously, they burst into much needed laughter. It lasted only a few
seconds, but it broke the awful melancholy that hung over them.

“I really admire your spirit, Roy.” She
said as her smile faded. Roy took on a more serious expression.

“Melissa, you can’t do this alone.” He
pressed.

“You can’t run, and with that much blood
you’re going to attract every infected in the casino. I’ve got a plan, Roy, and
while I would’ve loved to have had you at my side, I’ve got to do this part
alone. We’ll both do what we have to do, Roy.” She looked him straight in the
face and then down to his hand, noticing his wedding ring. “And then you can go
home to your wife.”

Roy looked down and then back up, nodding
reluctantly at Melissa. “Alright.”

Melissa didn’t move, but instead took a
deep breath. “But now, let’s take care of Donna and put her somewhere safe.”
Melissa suggested.

Chapter Nine

Melissa rode the elevator back up in
silence. She considered picking up the radio and talking to Roy, but she sensed
he needed to be alone right now. And if she was completely honest, she didn’t
really have time to spend with him. They’d put Donna in the paper money
counting room. It wasn’t the best place for her, but it was one of the few
spaces available. Melissa wasn’t sure if she’d reached Roy with her story, but
hoped it had helped alleviate some of the weight of the guilt he felt over
Donna’s death. He had desperately wanted to come with her, repeating his offer
to accompany her as he looked down at Donna’s body after they had moved her,
but she had convinced him he could still play his part. He’d be able to protect
the hostages - with a newly reloaded gun after Melissa gave him a spare clip -
if Melissa was able to free them from the theatre. And that was the only thing
that truly mattered to both of them right now; although Roy would dearly have
loved to come face to face with Jim. Melissa was aware that rescuing the
hostages was a much more difficult task now that she was doing it alone, but
she tried to remain confident. Doubts, however, were eating away at the back of
her mind. She’d learned how to shoot a gun. She’d watched the contractors train
other people how to fight, how to move and how to breach rooms, but she’d never
been fully trained to be a soldier. She was a journalist, a Witness if you
believed the Reborn doctrine, and she felt decidedly out of her depth. But if
she didn’t try, then who would? Who else even could? She asked these questions
of herself over and over, part of her brain asking them simply for reassurance
that she was doing the right thing, and another hoping that someone else would
appear so she could siphon the responsibility onto them. But there wasn’t
anyone else. She was alone.

The elevator stopped, dinged and the doors
opened, leading Melissa back into the corridor. She followed it around, going
past the staff room where she’d learnt a lot about the Reborn, past the doorway
to the private rooms on the casino floor which had been barricaded since she
used it, presumably to stop infected from getting through. Vaguely, she
continued in the direction of the next section of the main utility corridor.
She came to a stop with a kitchen on her left and a double hinged door on her
right, which she slowly approached. She pushed it open and discovered it led to
the service side of the buffet bar she’d seen earlier in the casino. Large,
clear window panels had prevented the infected climbing over the self-service
counter and getting into the utility corridor behind it, and the only door that
led into the casino floor had been barricaded, preventing the infected from
getting it open. She looked back towards the kitchen and then at the buffet
area, at the slats that were used to deliver ready cooked, hot food or
specialities cooked to order, depending what the guest wanted. None of the
infected had gone for the food and it was still arranged in a relatively
undisturbed manner. Melissa considered her options. She knew she’d need to have
use of these infected later on, to apply more pressure on the Reborn while she
stole the hostages out from under them, and so she began carefully and quietly
dismantling the barricade inside the buffet bar. The noise attracted a few of
the infected, who grunted and growled at the noise, but Melissa was able get
enough of the tangle of stacked furniture down so that she could open the door,
enter and then quickly shut it behind her. A few banged up against the door as
she slipped away from it, but it didn’t budge, and more importantly to Melissa,
they completely ignored her. The collar she was wearing seemed to be working a
lot better than the previous one, so she began to cross the casino floor
towards the closest blockade erected by the Reborn. It took a while because, as
before, the infected were at their densest near the obstruction, and once
Melissa started getting close, she had to hunker down as she knew the barricade
was visible from the theatre and she didn’t want any of the Reborn to see her,
and give away what she was doing. Nudging and budging them as necessary,
Melissa moved around the legs of the gathered infected. A few of them looked
down at her, others simply appeared to be confused, not understanding how they
could be pushed by something they apparently couldn’t see.

Melissa reached the barricade and looked it
over. She needed to weaken it enough so that when sufficiently agitated, the
infected would be able to break through. Her concern was that she could
over-weaken the structure so they broke through too quickly, and if that
happened she could find herself in an unpredictable situation. She pulled at a
chair, gently sliding it away from the base of the assembled barricade of
furniture. It didn’t seem to have weakened it much, so Melissa selected and
slid out a metal post. Gaining confidence when the whole mass didn’t cascade to
the floor with a resounding crash, she carefully picked away at the stacked
objects until she saw a very definite wobble from the obstruction, leading her
to nod her head in silent approval.

The sounds she had inevitably made had
caused some of the infected to push up closer to the barricade and from her
vantage point, she judged it would definitely give way with sufficient
pressure. However, she was feeling a little cramped now and was concerned about
being crushed under the weight of their bodies, so she began to pick her way to
the edge of the barricade, where she peeked out into the main avenue. She could
see the Money Pit, and when she looked out further, she could see the
passageway between the theatre and the sports bar. The Reborn, about twelve of
them, were taking up defensive positions there, in alcoves and behind the
overturned tables and other furniture she’d seen them manipulating earlier.
Melissa realized the Ancillary had predicted she would be coming for the
hostages and had ordered her men to stop her. Melissa felt her confidence in
her plan faltering, but managed to push past it. As she did so, something
unexpected distracted her from her fear leaden thoughts; she saw a figure half-sitting
against the acrylic wall of the Money Pit, his hands behind his back. She
hadn’t noticed him at first as he was sprawled low, his face bloodied and legs
distended at unnatural angles. He was obviously unconscious as anyone in his
condition would have been moaning in pain. Melissa looked him over and then
began to withdraw in the direction of the buffet bar, pushing the infected out
of the way until she got to the door. She managed to get it open and then
slipped quickly through, shutting it behind her to prevent any infected
following her. She took only a few moments to rebuild the barricade but because
of her haste, she knew it wasn’t really good enough. She only hoped it would
last as long as was necessary for her plan to reach completion. Returning to
the corridor, Melissa brought the double-hinged door to a closed position, and
then grabbed the radio on her waist.

“Roy? Roy, are you there?” She summoned him
urgently.

“Still here.” Roy responded immediately,
though his voice sounded even weaker than when she’d last heard it.

“What does Jim look like?”

“Why?”

“Someone’s been left at the Money Pit and
he’s dressed like an employee of the hotel. His legs have been broken and I
think they left him out there for a reason.”

Roy didn’t reply straight away, so Melissa
waited quietly for him to speak.

“Bald, a little older than me. He’s kind of
gruff looking.” Roy described, and Melissa silently nodded.

“Yeah, sounds like him.”

“What are you going to do?” He questioned.

“He’s right between the Reborn and the
infected, but I’ve got to go past him to get to the fire alarm. I can try to drag
him away, but it’ll be difficult.”

“Leave him, Melissa. He’s not worth
saving.”

“Maybe, but I can’t just leave him to the
infected. If the plan works, he’s right in their path.”

“And so were all the other people who were
in the casino tonight. He knew what was going to happen and he let them die.
There’s as much blood on his hands as there is on those damned Reborn.”

Melissa ground her teeth. She understood
his position, but leaving someone to that particular fate... that was something
she couldn’t do. If he wasn’t turned straight away, then he’d be eaten alive,
and the thought of letting someone die like that made her feel sick.

“I’ll get back to you when I’m on my way to
the theatre.” Melissa said.

“Be careful.” Roy ordered.

Melissa clipped the radio back onto her
belt and advanced up the corridor until she reached a door on her right. It was
secured by a key card lock which caused her a moment of unease, until she
remembered the one she had found in the pocket of the armoured vest she was
wearing. Hoping that it would unlock the door, she extracted it from the pocket
and swiped it through the lock. It beeped and the light on it turned green, so
Melissa quickly put the card away then gently opened the door a crack. The door
opened inwards onto the main avenue of the ground floor, and was the ‘Staff’
door she’d seen beyond the theatre earlier. Melissa knew she was in the right
place, so she held the door open and mentally prepared herself for what she
needed to do. The fire alarm closest to her was the one on the wall of the
sports bar, and that was a good twenty or more feet from where she was now. The
Money Pit, where Jim was, was straight ahead, with the infected in the casino
on her right and the sports bar and theatre, with a corridor in-between, on her
left. As soon as she stepped out, she’d be right in the line of fire from the
Reborn waiting for her. Melissa cracked the door open a little further and saw
she had a clear line of sight to the sports bar windows, and it was then she
knew exactly what to do. She held the door open for a few seconds, took several
deep breaths while she mentally prepared herself for imminent combat, then,
after one, final, deep breath in, she pushed the door open. In one smooth
motion, she moved into a crouch and passed through the doorframe, her weapon at
the ready. Melissa fired off three quick bursts of gunfire at the sports bar
window.

The Reborn, taken completely by surprise,
were slow to react to Melissa’s sudden attack and weren’t able to return fire
in her direction until she was already back behind the cover of the doorframe.
Melissa’s shots, however, had struck the sports bar window in several places
and, as the infected pressed against it, it began to crack and fracture. The
rising cacophony of moans was quickly eclipsed under a second salvo of gunfire,
but the Reborn’s barrage of bullets harmlessly hit the wall around the doorway
where Melissa was taking cover. She waited, holding her position until the
impacts slowed down, and then she turned awkwardly and stuck the gun around the
corner so that she could fire blindly in their direction, before pulling back
quickly after squeezing off only a few rounds, just before the Reborn blasted
in her direction once more.

Melissa shifted further away from the
doorway as a chunk of masonry flew off. She needed that window to break and so
far, it sounded like it hadn’t. The Reborn were solely focused on her, and that
was a massive problem. She sidled back up to the edge, standing up so that she
could attack from a different angle, then she waited for a lull in the gunfire,
and when it came she leaned out quickly and fired. She was aiming in the
direction of the window, where she could see huge, precarious cracks, but as
she thought, the glass hadn’t broken. Melissa shot off as many rounds as she
dared before getting back into the shelter of the doorway - then she heard it,
in the middle of the motion back into cover, the glass shattered; to be
followed almost immediately by the frantic calls of the Reborn to get the
infected under control. She’d done it, and, as she’d hoped, the sound of the
gunfire and the window breaking had forced the infected into action. Melissa
felt a moment of triumph, but that was quickly crushed under another salvo
spraying against the walls around her. She hunkered back, waiting for the right
time. She could hear them yelling to each other to get the infected back, but
it seemed as if the sound of gunfire was proving too much of an aggravation for
the collar’s to override and they were no longer docile. Melissa waited for the
gunfire to break off entirely and peeked quickly around the corner.

About twenty of the infected were moving in
the direction of the gunfire, the sound attracting them like moths to a flame,
with more quickly surging towards the broken window. The Reborn were grappling
with them, trying to prevent them from spilling out, pushing them with their
guns to stop them approaching the barricade, but they were unstoppable. So far,
however, none of them had openly attacked the Reborn. Melissa needed that to
change. She quickly aimed and fired at a group of the Reborn, hitting one
perhaps two in the arm and sending a mist of blood into the air; and that
seemed to be the catalyst the infected needed. They began snapping in the
direction of the Reborn, their focus shifting to the bloodied soldiers more
than the sound of the gunfire which erratically erupted. Melissa moved back
into cover, and while a few shots hit the wall near her, the majority of the
bullets were no longer aimed at her. They were firing on the infected, exactly
as Melissa had hoped.

Risking one more look around the corner,
Melissa saw that the infected were clambering against the barricades the Reborn
had erected to protect themselves. There were many more of them now that the
smell of blood was in the air. She couldn’t be sure, but it seemed there were
more than forty forcing their way towards the Reborn. A soldier had his arm
grabbed and was slowly being dragged away, with multiple infected holding onto
his limb and trying to get him to their waiting, snapping mouths. Melissa saw
there was one raised stone planter between her and the fire alarm, and she
broke into a run to try to reach it. Her leg was starting to hurt more, but she
pushed back the pain as she knew slowing down would be the worst thing in the
world right now. She dived into the shelter of the planter a second before a
stream of automatic gunfire would have cut her down. Once behind the planter,
she slid into an awkward, prone position, and looked to her right. Across the
way, maybe thirty or more feet from where she was, she could see the casino
infected. They were getting agitated and the barricade penning them into the
casino was wobbling, but she figured they needed more stimuli to become
ravenous enough to break through. She looked at Jim through the bloody acrylic
and saw he was starting to stir. She didn’t know how to get to him, but she
didn’t want to leave him behind either.