Pandora 2: Death is not an Option (20 page)

Mike hurled himself through the bedroom and then ran up to the closed bathroom door. Hearing Jack and Carol racing up also, he opened it and ran inside. He saw the burned-out candle on the sink. The room was empty.

“Sue?” he squeaked.

Looking around, he saw the closed shower curtain. As his eyes traveled down, he gagged, as he could now see the spatters of blood on the floor.

With a hand shaking as if palsied, Mike reached up and grasped the edge of the curtain. Swallowing down a mouthful of sour bile, he ripped away the plastic fabric. Behind him, Carol screamed.

At first, Michael couldn’t quite comprehend what he was seeing. It just seemed to be a jumble of white and red. As he stared down with tears running down his face, the swirling images suddenly coalesced into a terrible, soul-searing image. Before the tears blurred his vision totally and unconsciousness overtook him, he knew what he was seeing.

Susan Tolliver was lying in the bottom of the bathtub. Her eyes were wide open and staring dully. A towel was stuffed in her mouth. Her naked body was splayed open from throat to crotch. Every one of her organs had been carefully removed from her body cavity and placed on her curled-up legs. Drawn on the shower wall in Sue’s blood were the words:

YOU SHOULD HAVE LISTENED
.

DR. DEATH

14

I
t was a changed world. For a good number of former nations, the apocalyptic events of the Pandora virus and its resultant sister, the Pandora 2 Mutation, foreshadowed a swift slide back into the Dark Ages. Communist China was thrown back, as if in a time machine, to an earlier period of warlords. The high proportion of government officials claimed by Pandora was the chief cause. Southeast Asia fared a little better. Though the entire continent had a very high death rate, small pockets of survivors continued to live as they always had in the past: living hand to mouth.

Japan’s government remained intact. Every moment was spent destroying the undead. Everyone pitched in. Bodies were burned in huge pits. It was gruesome and ugly, but it was starting to work. North Korea attacked South Korea, but soon the fighting died down as both sides realized the zombies were the only ones winning. India was a no-man’s-land. Like in China, there were massive, devastating outbreaks of plague, cholera, dysentery, and SARS. The extremely squalid and cramped quarters the vast majority of the people lived in contributed to the outbreaks that were freely wreaking viral and bacterial havoc among the surviving population. They soon became too weak and too sick to defend themselves against
the undead hordes. The zombies never tired, never weakened, and never stopped. They were relentless in their efforts to kill and spread the Pandora virus.

Russia took the opposite strategy as China. Vladimir Putin decided to act on a scenario he previously just had dreamt about. Sending his vast (although not as vast as before) army of secret police out, in one fell swoop they raided, overtook, and assassinated every Russian Mafia member that they could find. They were getting much too powerful, and he knew that if he didn’t act soon, they would. The city streets of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Odessa, and all the other big cities ran red with blood. When this was done, he then nationalized every single infrastructure that helped sustain the country. Any oligarch who protested was summarily shot. It seemed like a return to Stalinist Communism, but it was actually more like the rule of the tsars. Unfortunately for him, a severe Russian winter led to mass famine, and the disjointed and disgruntled military was not having the success he expected in combating the zombie problem. In short, zombies were winning.

Eastern Europe was indeed in the Dark Ages. The Christians fought the Muslims, the nationalists fought the separatists, one country fought another, and everyone attacked the multitudes of refugees. The undead took them all. Western Europe was much more stable. Their ruling bodies remained relatively intact. Forsaking bombing the undead for fear of losing too much of their long-cherished culture and monuments, they were reduced to a house-by-house recapture of their cities. Hearing of Australia’s success, they tried luring the undead to the autobahns of Europe. Sound trucks drove down the highways, leading as many as they could. These zombies were destroyed by either napalm or flamethrowers. This way they didn’t completely have to rebuild all of their many highways.

The Middle East almost ceased to exist. The extremist jihadists used Pandora as an excuse to try to destroy Israel. They knew when the United States and other Western powers withdrew forces from around the world that they wouldn’t or couldn’t stop them. However, they didn’t realize the extent of Israel’s resolve. When the first attack started against the Jewish nation (either from the Islamic countries themselves, such as Iran and Syria, or from government-sponsored terrorists armed with suitcase bombs), Israel understood that for them it was the beginning of the end. With what was left of the soldiers and citizens fighting against the slew of rampaging undead, they couldn’t fight the second war against all the attacking fundamentalists too. When a small, tactical nuclear weapon, possibly smuggled in, went off in Haifa, the Knesset saw the writing on the wall and unleashed Israel’s entire nuclear arsenal on its Arab neighbors. The ancient regions of shepherds and goat herders were reduced to just that.

Africa was now an almost human-free zone. The rate of human to zombie was now ten thousand to one. What the zombies didn’t kill, disease and tribal killings took.

In South and Central America, the big cities were almost given over to the zombies. Towns and regions were governed locally, and anyone entering was shot on site. They felt it more prudent to be careful and alive than humanitarian and dead.

The United States and Canada were using a similar version of the Australian “Operation Pied Piper” that Europe was using. In rural areas, they used sound trucks to lure the undead to farmland, and then they bombed them there. However, in the urban areas, they would airlift the sound truck in by Chinook helicopter and place it onto one of the highways in the middle of the city. These would then be used to draw in zombies until the freeway was mobbed with undead. Then
incendiary smart bombs would be guided in and reduce the undead to ashes. This, combined with the “base-jumping tactic” already in use, was proving to be a big success.

The biggest and greatest victory was the United States and Great Britain’s joint success in finding a cure for the Pandora virus. Scientists working together in the two countries were able to crack the secret to the alien virus. It was actually a prion-based disease. The alien protein had used its own unique DNA that was attached. The protein attacked the prions in the brain, causing them to become diseased and replicate. The DNA part would, at the same time, take over and then replace parts of humans’ DNA. The prions would cause brain damage to the frontal lobes and cerebral cortex. The DNA taking over the body would kill its host and then wait for the alien DNA to reactivate the dead body. It wasn’t a total control event, as the alien virus couldn’t reanimate every part, and after a time that body succumbed to everything that happens to dead bodies: they decay. However, this process was very much slowed down. The brain was there basically to guide the host body around to walk, see, hear, and, most importantly, infect other humans and spread. Even the zombies’ voice was used almost as a “mating call” to let others know their prey was near.

While this cure couldn’t help anyone who was already a zombie (after all, dead is dead), if given to a bite victim before any major organ or brain damage occurred, it would stop the Pandora virus from working. The scientists found a way to break the DNA strands from the prion proteins. They were codependent on each other, and when the death-causing alien DNA was separated and killed, the prions, now having no other function, “turned off” and became dormant. This was a huge success. If the spread of Pandora stopped and there was no chance of any new zombies being turned, the dealings with the rest of the undead would be much easier.

Production of this cure was immediate and massive. Every country in the world was given the cure. For the most part, the leaders did the right thing and put their resources into developing the vaccine.

At last, a light at the end of the tunnel. However, to get to that light, you actually had to make it through the tunnel alive.

15

D
awn had begun. The sun was just starting to peek its face over the horizon. It was going to be another hot day. There was a little moisture in the air still, but that would burn off in a couple of hours. Dill was sitting at the open door of the office for a shipping company. He had just finished stripping down his rifle, cleaning it, and then reassembling it again. Rube, who was sitting next to him, had done that earlier and was now honing the blade of his KA-BAR combat knife. Rube found the rhythmic whetting of the blade soothing. Comfort in repetition.

“So,” Ruben began, “what do you think?”

“’Bout what?” Dill answered, slapping the magazine back in place.

“Our new wards,” Rube continued.

“They’re not our wards,” Dill scoffed.

“The hell they’re not,” Rube said, glancing at his best friend and comrade in arms. “The minute we saved their lives, they became our wards.”

Dill took a big breath and blew it out. “Yeah,” he said, “I know.”

“You think they’ll be able to keep up?”

Pursing his lips and absently scratching his beard, Dill said, “Well, Steve looks to be in good shape. He’ll be okay. Luke, though, could afford to miss a couple of meals.”

Rube snorted out a chuckle.

“I think he’ll do all right, though,” Dill continued.

“I’m not so sure about the old guy,” noted Rube.

“Max?” Dill said. “Yeah, he’s seen his best a couple of wars ago…but he’s got balls, though. He’ll make it, if he doesn’t have a fucking heart attack first.”

“I hear that,” Rube said with half a grin. “How ’bout the lady?”

“I dunno. Maybe yes, maybe no. She’s apparently kept up so far. We’ll see.”

“I really don’t want to be dragging their asses all over south Florida,” Rube said.

Dill put the rifle up to his shoulder and sighted down the barrel. Satisfied, he put it in his lap and turned to his friend. “Maybe it’s time to look for some transportation.”

Rube rested his head back against the concrete wall. Taking a breath and letting it out, he said. “Yeah, I guess so. I’d rather hoof it…a lot quieter that way, but I imagine commandeering a car would make the whole process a bit easier on everyone.”

“Yep,” said Dill. “I saw a couple vans at the loading dock of this place. I’m going to go back in and see if there are keys hanging somewhere and check them out.”

“Roger that,” Rube said, sheathing his knife. “I’ll go back and wake our new crew.”

Both of the ex-SEALs went inside. Dill searched the office, finding a few sets of keys. He then went out to see if any of the vans would start. Rube went back to a larger room that looked as though it was a lounge for the drivers. There were chairs and couches as well as a small office refrigerator and coffeemaker. Both of the latter were now useless. The four people they were speaking about were sprawled out still asleep—except for Max. He was putting on his shoes. Glancing up as Rube came in, he said offhandedly, “I never could sleep past six o’clock.”

Rube smiled and nodded. “Okay gang,” he called out. “Wakey, wakey. New day, new adventure.”

Everyone started to stir. They all reacted with varying degrees of wakefulness. Max was already out the door; Steve stood, stretched, and then followed Max. Luke sat on the edge of the couch, looking a little befuddled. Smiling up at Rube, he said, “Morning.”

“Rise and shine, Sunny Jim,” said Rube laughing. “A new dawn awaits.”

Laughing softly to himself, Luke rubbed his face vigorously with both hands and stood. “Places to go, things to do, zombies to kill,” Luke mumbled as he passed Rube.

He slapped Luke on the back as he left. “That’s the old spirit.”

Ana was up on one elbow on the couch in the far corner. She looked at Rube sourly. “You’re awfully fucking happy so early in the damn morning.”

“What can I say?” Rube shrugged. “I’m a people person.”

“Great,” she huffed.

“Come on,” Rube said as he started walking out. “Let’s chow down and see if we can get us a ride.”

“Finally, you’re making sense,” Ana said as she threw off a ratty blanket that she had draped over her.

They all gathered in the large warehouse portion of the business. Unfortunately, all they stored there were office supplies. Rube put a ream of copy paper into a metal trashcan and lit it. They boiled water that they obtained from the water cooler, and Rube produced a can of Folgers coffee, with which he made them all good and strong “cowboy” coffee. Dill walked in a little later, smiling. He had found a small delivery van they used for local calls. After dining on canned baked beans and crackers, they were ready to roll.

“I siphoned gas from all the other vans, so we have a full tank,” Dill mentioned as they were packing up.

Rube was driving with Dill riding shotgun. The rest piled in the back and made themselves comfortable on the boxes stacked inside. As they were climbing in, the beans had already started to work their magic. As they hauled Max aboard, the sudden exertion caused him to let rip a loud fart. Unfortunately, Ana was standing behind him, next in line, and she caught a face full. For the entire first fifteen minutes of the drive, she cursed him up and down while everyone else was rolling on the floor in laughter.

As the group settled in and quieted during the ride (except for the occasional snicker, which drew Ana’s dagger stare), Dill turned and said to the group, “The turnoff for Alligator Alley is up ahead. I don’t see any undead near, so we’ll stop here for a second. I’ll go and reconnoiter up ahead.”

Rube pulled off to the shoulder. Dill got out and trotted up ahead. Rube said, “If you want to stretch your legs, now’s a good time to do so.”

They all got out and worked the kinks out. Some bottles of water were passed out, and they took this opportunity to hydrate themselves. Luke munched on a stale protein bar. Max walked over to Rube and started asking him about SEAL training. He was reluctant at first, but Max’s age and enthusiasm prevailed. Plus, he had been a Marine in Vietnam.