Ravage: An Apocalyptic Horror Novel (24 page)

Chapter Twenty-Two

It took more than thirty minutes for
Annaliese to help Clark carry Charlotte’s body into the ground floor
office.  What made it more difficult was that blood spilled from the
girl’s body whenever they tilted her slightly.  It had been a challenge
not to get covered in it.

Is the blood infected?

Now she and Clark were in the middle of disposing of Tom’s
body.  The security guard was far heavier than Charlotte had been and both
Annaliese and Clark were sweating buckets.

“Did you know him?” Clark asked, nodding to Tom as he hugged
the man around the waist.

Annaliese shook her head.  “Never met him.  I
wonder what happened to him, though.  I wonder how he got infected inside
here all alone.”

“Maybe he came to work already infected.”

Annaliese reaffirmed her grip on Tom’s legs as she felt him
slipping.  They were almost back at the office with the corpse now and it
was going to be a relief to finally set it down.  “I don’t know how it’s
even possible for a virus to infect the entire world over night.  It
should be impossible.”

Clark kicked a chair out of his path and shuffled backwards
into the office.  He began to pivot around to find a space to set Tom’s
body down.  “Maybe whoever is to blame coordinated several outbreaks of
the virus at once.  Maybe a bunch of terrorists synchronised their watches
before tipping the biological motherload into the local water supplies.”

Annaliese bent her knees.  She and Clark set Tom down
on the ground beside a large photocopying unit.  She thought about the
theory that terrorists were responsible.  “You know, that sounds pretty
plausible.  If this was terrorists then it would make sense to release it
simultaneously in multiple locations.  I just can’t believe that anyone
would be so insane.  Surely no one is that much of a monster.”

Clark huffed.  “The only difference between Adolf
Hitler and an ordinary lowlife on the street is power.  When people get
the power to destroy their enemies and further their own agendas, then that’s
exactly what they do.  If any terrorists had the ability to wipe out the
western world then I bet all of them would press that little red button in a
heartbeat.”

“We don’t know that this is exclusive to the western world.”

“No, we don’t.  But maybe time will tell.”

“You’re quite the theorist for such a young guy.”

Clark sighed.  “I’m studying History part-time – not
that I expect to go to classes ever again.  You can learn a lot about
mankind from its past.  People aren’t that different now than they’ve ever
been.  Same nature, same behaviour; it’s just the technology that changes.”

“I wouldn’t know,” she said.  “I’ve always been more of
an animal person than a people person.”

“Well, then you’re in luck, because it looks like the human
race has been turned into a bunch of animals.”

She looked at Clark and tried to figure out his
condition.  He seemed to have snapped out of his shocked daze and was now
more than happy to have an engaging conversation with her; but he was being
very negative. 

“How are you doing, Clark?” she asked him.

“How do you think?”

“I know, I know.  We’re all doing shit.  But do
you need anything?  Are you going to be okay?”

Clark turned away, as if unable to look at her.  “I
really loved her.  She didn’t know that, but I did.  She was way too
beautiful for me.  I felt lucky when we were together.”

“You’re going to get through this, Clark.  We’re all
going to stick together and come though the other side, okay?”

Clark turned back around and nodded at her. 
“Thanks.  I’ll be alright.  I think I just need to be on my own for a
while.  Would you mind leaving me alone?  I want to say goodbye to
her in private.”

Annaliese looked down at Charlotte’s body where they had
positioned her under a desk.  It almost looked like she was playing hide
and seek with them.  “Okay,” she said.  “I’ll leave you to it. 
Just stay back from the window in case there’re any infected people that have
made it out from the manor.”

“Will do.  And thanks again, Anna.  Me and
Charlotte would still be cooped up in that hotel room if you hadn’t rescued
us.”

“No problem.”  She stepped out of the office and closed
the door behind her.  Mike was in the corridor and approached her as she
headed back to the staffroom.

“Hey,” he said.  “I was just coming to find you. 
Everything okay?”

Annaliese nodded.  “As well as can be expected.  I’ve
left Clark to himself for a while.  He’s not doing well, but I think he’ll
be okay.  He’s still talking and that’s the main thing, but he’s in a lot
of pain right now.”

Mike nodded.  “Not surprised.  He’s what, twenty
maybe?  That’s pretty young to be stuck in a situation like this. 
Losing Charlotte probably left him feeling pretty alone.   But, hey,
what can you do?”

“Nothing, I guess.  We’re all lucky just to be alive.
 I suppose we should try and find the positive in that.”

Mike held open the door to the staffroom and let Annaliese
pass by in front of him.  The pool table was now home to a modest
collection of snack food and some bottled water.

“I’ve been checking around for rations,” Mike
explained.  “Found some odds and ends in people’s desks upstairs, but
that’s pretty much it right there.  We’ve got the vending machines in here
to go through as well, so we should be good for a day or two.”

Shawcross entered the room.  He was carrying a fan
heater in his hands.  “I found this in one of the offices upstairs. 
I’m thinking it might get pretty cold during the night so it might help to keep
us all nice and snug.”

“Good idea,” she admitted.  “But if things are as bad
as they seemed on the news, then I figure it isn’t long before the power goes
out.”

“Shit, I never thought of that,” said Mike.  “How long
do we have, you think?”

“There’s a backup generator,” said Shawcross.  “They
built it to keep the heated exhibits like the reptile house functioning even
during a power cut.  I don’t know how much juice they keep in the
batteries, but I think we’ll get at least a couple days.”

“How do you know about that?”  Annaliese asked
him.  “I didn’t think you had anything to do with the zoo.”

“I was here when they installed it.  It’s buried in the
woods behind the zoo where guests can’t see it.  Thing makes a terrible
racket up close, but thankfully it’s only been put to use once before.”

“Well, at least we have a little bit of additional grace if
the electrical grid fails,” said Mike.

“Or we’ll be lit up like a beacon.  The only place with
power for miles.”

“A beacon to whom?” asked Shawcross.

Annaliese shrugged.  “I don’t know.  I just think
our biggest asset right now is anonymity.”

“I think the opposite.  The news said there are still
rescue operations in place in some places.  Tomorrow we should light a
signal fire and let people know we’re here.  Smoke from all the way up
here would be seen for miles around.  We have a better chance than anybody
at being rescued.”

“I think that would be a totally dumb idea.  We have
something that everybody in the world will be looking for: a defensible
position.  The last thing we want to do is advertise what we have to a
desperate population.”

“She’s right,” said Mike.  “What if we light a fire and
a hundred people turn up on this hill.  What food we have left would be
gone in an hour.  And what if some of them are bitten on their way
here?  We could be crawling with infected before the day is through.”

Shawcross thought about things for a moment, but then shook
his head adamantly.  “If we still had access to Ripley Hall then I might
be inclined to lay low, but we’re all doomed if we try to stay here
indefinitely.  We’re too exposed.  Rescue is our only priority, and
tomorrow that is what we must work towards.”

Annaliese went to argue, but stopped herself.  She
didn’t have the energy.  She put her hands on her hips.  “Fine,
whatever you say.  I’m going to get some rest.  If the world stops
ending then you have permission to wake me.”

Without waiting for a reply, she ambled over to the
staffroom sofa and collapsed onto it face first.  The slumberous feeling
that immediately washed over her was heavenly.  The blood in her body
seemed to stop moving and settle in her veins.  Her muscles turned to
jelly.  Within seconds, she felt sleep coming to snatch her away.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Every time Annaliese went to sleep
without having drank alcohol first, she dreamt about her baby.  She dreamt
about the baby she never knew.  The little boy that never was.  She
dreamt about
Baby.

She saw her son’s face.  His closed eyes and tiny nose.
 Eyes that would never see and a nose that would never take a
breath.  She only got to hold her baby boy once, and he had been dead.

Once upon a time, Annaliese had given birth to a baby boy
with no name.  Every time he crossed her mind she thought of him as
Baby
. 
She thought about what Baby would have looked like now, ife he had lived to see
four years of age.  She wondered if Baby would have looked like his
dad.  She wondered if Baby’s dad would still be around.

Then she would wake up in tears.  Every night the same.

Until she found alcohol. 

Then the dreams stopped.  But the headaches and nausea
started.

Tonight, though, she could not escape her dreams.  They
kept a hold of her and twisted and tore at her soul.  Tonight she dreamt
of Baby as a ghoul, back from the dead to come and drag her down to Hell where
she belonged.  Baby had died in childbirth, murdered by his mother who was
too weak, too inhospitable to bring him to term.  He was denied the most
basic gift of life, while his wicked mother lived on.  Now Baby was
back.  His tiny teeth were bloody, and coming for Annaliese’s flesh. 
They would tear her apart, chew her up slowly until there was nothing left but
her disembodied screaming.

And as she screamed, so too did Baby.

Baby screeched like the infected people.  It hurt her
ears and she begged for it to stop.

Stop,
she cried.

Please, Baby, stop.

I’m sorry.  I’m sorry.

I wish it was me who had died.

I wish you were alive and I was dead.

Please, Baby, stop screaming.  I’m begging you to
stop.

Annaliese woke up in darkness.
 Something covered her face.  She shot bolt-upright and clawed at her
neck, trying to get free of whatever clung to her.

It was a coat.  Someone must have covered her with it.

Annaliese’s kicked out with her legs and found the
floor.  Then she remembered that she had fallen asleep on the sofa in the
staffroom.  Then she remembered, with oily sickness in her belly, all of
the other things that had happened. 

All of the death.

Everywhere, death
.

The room was dark and Annaliese could hear snores from
several sources.  She also heard something else; something she was sure
was the reason she had woken up.

Wailing?

The muffled sound of someone – or something – in pain
floated into the staffroom like a ghostly visitation.  It seemed to echo
off the walls and entwine with the darkness.  Moonlight shone in through
the gaps in the room’s now-closed curtains and made things seem even more
ethereal.

Am I imagining it?

She straightened up and went over to the nearest
window.  She ducked her head beneath the curtain and peered through the
glass.  There was nothing outside but the narrow silhouettes of the trees
outside.

But the wailing continued.  It was a weak, pining
sound.

Eventually, she realised what the sound was, and where it
was coming from.

Lily
.

The female orang-utan was still pining the loss of her
family.

She’s lost everything.  She’s all alone now, not
even watched over by her keepers.

Suddenly the thought of such a noble creature being totally
alone and in such pain was more than Annaliese could bear.  Pain bloomed
in her chest cavity like a growing fist.  It was a pain she only ever felt
when she thought about Baby.

She fiddled with the bottom of the window and searched for a
catch.  She eventually found it, not at the bottom but at the top. 
It slid open with ease, letting in the cold air with a frosty
hiss
.

Against all of her common sense, she lifted her leg up onto
the windowsill.  She tried to keep her movements quiet, to avoid waking
the others.  She heard the soft whirring of Shawcross’s fan heater and was
glad for the audible cover it provided for her own soft noises.

She lifted her other leg and slid out through the
window.  Her wellington boots came down on soft grass outside.

Lily’s wailing continued, full of anguish, full of
pain.  Annaliese prayed for it to stop.  But it didn’t.

She rounded the corner of the building and headed for where
she thought the orang-utan habitat was.  It was disorientating to walk
around the park in the dark.  Bradley had always been there to guide her
around. 

Poor Bradley.

She missed her colleague.  She wished she had had the
chance to take him up on his offer of eating a lovely meal someplace in town,
instead of being in the nightmare she was in now.  There were many things
she regretted.

But do any of them even matter anymore?

Up ahead, the wailing got louder.  The ghostly
silhouette of a mangrove tree came slowly into view.  Annaliese found Lily
sitting at the base of the tall tree, staring down at the ground and weeping
loudly.  The body of Brick and the infant were lying in the centre of the
enclosure, placed together in a small huddle that resembled a cuddle between
father and son.  Lily was not looking at them.  Perhaps it was too
painful.

“You poor, poor thing,” Annaliese said softly as she
observed the heartbroken creature.

In the silence of night, and with keen animal hearing, Lily
heard her voice.  The orang-utan slowly raised her head up and scanned
left and right until she spotted Annaliese standing there outside the
enclosure.

“I’m sorry,” Annaliese said.  “I didn’t mean to creep
up on you.  I didn’t mean to invade your privacy.”

Lily stared at Annaliese for what seemed like forever, but during
that time her weeping had stopped.  Then the orang-utan did something that
took Annaliese by utter surprise.  Lily raised up one of her arms and
waved.  It was a sad wave, a weak wave, but the fact that she now had
ceased whimpering made it clear that the animal did not want to be alone. 
She was glad Annaliese had appeared.  Lily was glad not to be on her own.

Amazing
.

Annaliese had an extremely stupid idea, but she was
determined to try it out anyway.  It was something she needed to do, but
also maybe something that the broken soul inside this enclosure needed even
more.

She headed around to the enclosure’s bungalow and approached
the entrance door.  It could be opened by a magnetic keypad for which she
knew the code.  While she had not examined the orang-utan herself in the
past, Bradley had once allowed her access to show her around.  She
remembered the number.

1235

She keyed it in and let herself into the bungalow. 
Inside was a cement prep area and a small office cubicle.  There was also
a wire mesh enclosure that housed an indoor sleeping area for the
orang-utans.  It led right out into the enclosure.

To Annaliese’s dismay, the caged area was locked with a
padlock.  She let out a sigh, but didn’t let it defeat her.  She
pushed on the office door and was happy when it opened. 

The room inside was dingy, but the glow from a computer
monitor gave her pupils enough light to make out a few details.  Her
attention was immediately drawn to a small metal closet, the size of a house
brick, on the wall.  She went over and fumbled with its edges. 

Please be unlocked.

She found a small catch and managed to slide it.  The
small metal closet fell open without any effort at all.

And inside was a single brass key.

She snatched it up and headed out the office.  She took
the padlock in her one hand and prodded the key into its base with her
other.  It slid in perfectly.

When the cage unlocked, she took a deep breath.  Was
she really about to do this?

Yes.  Absolutely.

With her mind made up, Annaliese slid inside the cage and
entered the small paddock.  Set into the concrete wall was a four foot
hole.  It led out to the mangrove enclosure. 

She crawled through it and went outside.

The smell of death hung around the enclosure, but so did the
natural musk of the orang-utans.  It was a strange mixture, one which she
put out of her mind as she crept towards the Mangrove tree ahead. 

Lily was still sitting in the same position, leaning back
against the base of the tree and staring down at the ground.  When
Annaliese got closer, Lily turned her head and snorted, and for a second the
whole thing seemed like a really bad idea.  The last time humans had been
in this enclosure there had been bloodshed.  Annaliese wondered if Lily
could distinguish the difference between her and the infected people that had
attacked her mate and infant.

If not then I’ve made a horrible mistake.

Despite her fears, Annaliese kept moving forwards towards
Lily.  The animal eyeballed her suspiciously.

“Hey, there,” she said softly.  “I’m not here to hurt
you.  I just want to make sure you’re okay.”

She was now within a few feet of the orang-utan and nothing
had happened so far.  The atmosphere was tense, but the primate seemed to
tolerate her proximity.

“There you go,” she said, reaching out her hand.  “It’s
okay, Lily.”

Unbelievably, Annaliese found herself within a single foot
of the great ape now and was beginning to bend her knees and sit down.

Letting out another billowing snort from her nostrils, Lily
extended one of her long arms.  Her huge fist struck Annaliese and made
her cry out.  But she quickly realised that the orang-utan was not seeking
to hurt her.  She was just being curious.  Lily’s fingers caressed
the fabric of Annaliese’s shirt.

“I’m usually a little cleaner than this,” she explained
without knowing why.  She sat down on the ground beside the animal.

Lily stared at Annaliese and hooted.  It was a curious
sound, but not aggressive in the least.  Annaliese shuffled up next to the
animal so that their shoulders were touching.

Is this actually happening?
she asked herself. 
Amidst all the horror and bloodshed, there was still joy to found in
life.  There were still connections to be made between kindred
spirits.  Nature was still beautiful, even if man had become so terribly
ugly.  In that moment, she remembered why she had become a vet.

To help amazing creatures like this.

Lily’s hand moved further up Annaliese’s shirt, rough
fingers probing at her face and fondling her hair.  The gentleness of the
gesture made her close her eyes.  It wasn’t long before she felt sleepy in
Lily’s protective arms. 

Before Annaliese passed out, she thought she could hear an
alarm going off somewhere in the distance.  But she felt too safe to
worry.