Extinction Horizon

-10-

Kate sat at her desk outside the BSL4 lab thinking she could hear the sound of sirens in the distance, but she knew that was impossible. Their lab wasn’t just airtight, it was underground. The faint noise reminded her she still hadn’t heard back from Javier. Her little brother was in the thick of the outbreak, and for the first time in her life she couldn’t do anything to protect him.

Frantic, she checked her phone again.

No new messages.

She’d told him specifically the night before to send her a text first thing in the morning. It was almost 6 p.m. in Chicago. Something had gone wrong. She knew it.

“Kate, I just got off the phone with Pat. He’s okay, but is stranded at Fort Bragg,” Michael said.

“What do you mean stranded?”

“All military aircraft are reserved for evacuations.”

“In Chicago?”

Michael shook his head. “The country.”

Kate froze. There had to be some sort of mistake. “Where did you hear this?”

“Haven’t you checked your email?”

She shook her head and jerked her chin toward her computer. “I’ve been waiting on the sequencing results. I want to get them into the bioinformatics software as soon as possible.”

He nodded but didn’t seem to be listening to her. His tone changed when he spoke again. There was a trace of fear. Something she’d never heard before.

“This thing is spreading like wildfire, Kate. Cases are popping up in Wisconsin, Iowa, even Ohio.”

“But how?”

Michael ran a hand over his bald scalp. “The incubation period varies. Some people don’t exhibit symptoms right away.”

Kate let out a long sigh of frustration. “I don’t understand.”

“Neither do I, but in a few minutes I expect we will learn more. Jed Frank is hosting a nationwide conference call.”

Standing, Kate eyed Michael. “I hope to God they know more than we do.”

“Me too,” he said walking across the lab to his station. “I’ll stream the call through.”

She pulled up a lab stool, dragging the rolling chair across the shiny floor. Michael sat a few feet away, pulling up the video software on his laptop.

Kate repositioned a few strands of loose hair. All of the key CDC players would be on the feed, and she looked like shit. She’d seen the worry in her features earlier that morning.

After fumbling with the computer screen, Michael managed to swivel the monitor in their direction. As they connected to the conference she saw the other CDC scientists shared the same exhausted looks. Everyone was trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

She scanned the small facial images at the bottom of the screen. They were all there. Faces she hadn’t seen in months: Jim Harper from Vermont, Angela Johnson from Ohio, Richard Clay from New York, and a handful of others.

Deputy Director Frank linked to the call a few minutes later. He wasted no time. “Talk to me, people. Someone tell me they know what we’re dealing with.”

There was no response.

“Michael, give me some good news,” Frank pleaded.

“We’re sequencing the genome. Should be wrapping shortly.”

Frank pulled away from the screen and then leaned back in with narrowed eyebrows. “Here’s what I know and the chain of events. Patient zero was a scientist named Jim Pinkman who’d been working for the Medical Corps. He arrived in O’Hare from a flight that originated at San Nicholas Island. He was part of a team working on a cure for the new strain of Ebola that’s active in Guinea.” Frank pursed his lips and shook his head.

“Colonel Gibson of USAMRIID said the lead scientist, a man named Medford, was using VX-99 to try and destroy the Ebola virus. But instead of killing the virus, the compound and virus bonded. The lab went offline several days ago. Gibson then called in a special team that included Pat Ellis to retrieve a sample of Medford’s work. The mission failed. We believe… I believe that Pinkman was infected with whatever the team was working on.”

“That’s what’s spreading in Chicago? Some sort of hybrid Ebola virus?” Jim Harper asked. “Are you kidding me? This is an outrage!”

“Calm down, Jim. Obviously no one knows exactly what we are dealing with. We only have theories. But whatever this is, it’s spreading fast. Due to varying incubation periods and the violent behavior of the infected, we’re looking at an unprecedented outbreak here, people.” He coughed into his hand and then looked up at the monitor with a grave stare.

“Good news is it’s not airborne. The first phase of the virus seems to occur minutes after infection. The symptoms are hallucinations, agonizing pain throughout the body, and itching. Some patients also exhibit extreme paranoia. The second phase is vomiting and hemorrhaging. Depending on the severity of the case, this occurs anywhere from minutes to hours. What happens next is where the virus takes a strange and terrifying turn.”

He blinked twice then continued. “The final stage of infection occurs when victims engage in extreme violent behavior. There are hundreds of cases of self-mutilation and cannibalization. Even worse are the physiological changes to their bodies.”

“That’s science fiction,” came a voice.

Richard Clay was frowning in his window of the screen. One of the older scientists, the doctor had a controversial and tumultuous past with the CDC.

“Lesch-Nyhan syndrome is the only disorder I’m aware of that causes such atrocious sympt—”

Frank cut him off. “I assure you. This is not science fiction. Surely you have seen the videos.”

Richard waved off the comment.

“As I was saying, suspected cases all exhibit violent behavior. Doctor Chad Roberts has been on the ground in Chicago since this started. He believes the Ebola virus has mutated. Our theory so far is that this mutation has something to do with VX-99.”

Several outbursts erupted over the call. Kate watched as her colleagues argued back and forth. After a few seconds Frank said, “Calm down, everyone. Please.”

Kate used the opportunity to interject. “Whatever this is, we need to pull together all of our resources. Bickering won’t solve anything.”

Releasing an audible sigh, Frank narrowed his eyebrows. “Dr. Lovato is right. I know this sounds like a nightmare, and I know you are all worried about your families. That’s why we need to pull together and find a way to stop this.”

Kate pulled her phone from under the table. The display was blank; still nothing from Javier. She felt a wave of panic rush through her. Focus, she thought. He had ample warning. He’s probably on the move, evacuating with the others.

Frank spun in his chair as an assistant walked into his room. The man whispered something in his ear. He quickly returned to the monitor wearing a mask of worry. “Shit. I have to go. I want to know the second someone finds something. The second!”

The screen fizzled and faded. Michael bowed his head toward the desk, defeated.

“This is it, Kate. I told you.”

“What?”

“The extinction level event. The virus has already spread too far. I’m not sure we can stop it.”

Kate felt her phone buzz and frantically looked away from the distraught doctor. An incoming message from Javier popped onto her screen. She felt her heart race.

Couldn’t make it out of the city. Will call you when I’m safe. Love you.

“My God,” Kate muttered.

“What is it?” Michael asked.

“My brother, Javier. He never made it out of the city.”

Michael’s lips moved, but he didn’t speak. Kate knew what he was thinking. She was thinking the same thing. The likelihood of Javier making it out of Chicago was diminishing by the minute.

Kate stood and scanned the room. She couldn’t think. The fear and emotional stress was overwhelming. Stumbling forward, she braced herself against the desk.

“Kate, are you okay?” Michael asked.

Taking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes. Shimmering arcs of light crossed her vision. She couldn’t breathe. Gasping, she braced herself with her other hand.

“Kate…,” he reached out for her. “Kate, are you okay?”

Finally she nodded and said, “Yes, I’m fine. Just got really light-headed. I need to call Javier.”

“Of course,” Michael said, glancing up at her with concern. “I should call my wife, she’s probably worried sick.”

Reaching for her phone, she swiped the screen to see an incoming call. Her heart skipped a beat. “Hello?”

“Kate. It’s me. Pat.”

She slouched in her chair and pointed at her phone, lipping the word, “Ellis,” to Michael. He acknowledged with a brief nod.

“Good to hear your voice,” Kate said, trying to conceal her disappointment that it wasn’t Javier. “When are you coming back here?”

“I’m not,” Ellis replied. “Well, I am, but we’re not staying.”

Kate paused, her nostrils flaring in confusion.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“We’re being evacuated.”

“What? Where to?”

“Plum Island. Colonel Rick Gibson, Commander of USAMRIID has requested the CDC to send us to that location.”

Silence washed over the line as she considered the ramifications of leaving now. They hadn’t even finished the sequencing yet. And then they would have to run the results through the bioinformatics software. That was just the beginning.

“Kate?” Ellis asked.

“Sorry,” she said. “We can’t leave. We’ve hardly started our work.”

“Atlanta isn’t safe,” Ellis replied. “Plum Island apparently has BSL4 lab stations and the military will be there to protect us.”

Kate cupped her hand over the phone. “They want to evacuate us to Plum Island.”

“What?” Michael mumbled.

She removed her hand. “When are you coming?”

“Tomorrow,” Ellis replied.

She looked at Michael. He stood there with his arms crossed, staring back at her blankly. She remembered what he’d said earlier, that the virus had already spread too far to stop. Kate wasn’t ready to accept that notion. She was ready to prove him wrong—she was ready to fight.

“We’ll be ready,” she said.

Chad Roberts wiped a bead of sweat trickling off his forehead. Slowly he pulled back the plastic curtain he hid behind. The darkness of the empty hospital room greeted him.

After escaping the isolation compartment, he’d made his way to the upper levels of the hospital. Shortly after he’d run up the stairs, all hell had broken out. The chief of staff had vanished in the chaos.

Now Chad was alone. Hiding in the dark, gripping the cold metal of a revolver he’d snagged off a dead cop.

A red glow from a bank of emergency lights flickered in the open doorway, revealing the dark hallway beyond. He peeled the plastic screen back for a better look, straining to hear any sound of footsteps.

The crack of sporadic gunfire rang out in the distance. The shots were evenly spaced and loud, likely from a shotgun. Glancing at the revolver in his shaking hand, he was reminded he was far from a weapons expert. In fact, he hardly even knew how to handle the thing.

He pulled his phone from his pocket and risked a glance away from the door to check the screen for messages.

A red bar blinked across the display.

Fuck, he thought. Out of battery. He had a charger in his bag. Before he reached for his gear, he peeked around the corner of the plastic curtain. The blinking backup lights from the hallway reminded him the power was off. He had no way to charge the phone even if he wanted to.

A howl traveled through the halls. The sound sent a chill down his spine, and he froze when the skittering sound of feet filled the quiet hallway.

Chad held his breath, gripping the revolver tighter. Slowly he pulled the curtain closed, leaving only a small gap so he could see the corridor beyond.

He squinted, checking the sleek metal surface of the gun. He fumbled with the weapon as another high-pitched screech broke through the stillness.

This one was closer. Possibly even on the same floor.

Chad chewed on his inner lip. He slipped behind the curtain and crouched next to the AC box. Glancing over his shoulder, he looked out the fifth floor window. Below he could see flashing lights from squad cars. Two military Humvees were parked on the curb, their doors still open. In the streets a FEMA semi-trailer had t-boned a CNN satellite truck. It was dark, but he could still see the smoke billowing out from under the hoods.

Focusing, Chad narrowed his eyes on the outlines of bodies lining the sidewalk. Puddles of blood surrounded the mangled corpses glistened under the moonlight. He pushed his face against the glass for a look at the adjacent street and gasped. It too was covered with corpses.

Skittering footsteps from the hallway pulled Chad back to the red flickering light. He waited, the rapping growing louder with each beat of his heart. They were heavy footfalls, like the sound a soldier’s boots made.

As he listened he heard another noise. A familiar sound he’d heard back in the isolation wing. It sounded like a twig bending and then snapping. The only explanation filled Chad with paralyzing fear. The noise was coming from the clicking joints of the infected.

A bead of sweat dropped into Chad’s right eye. He winced, ignoring the burn and focusing his aim on the hallway. Time moved slowly, the world frozen around him. His heart skipped a beat at the sound of yet another snarling scream. The noise confirmed what Chad had suspected. One of the infected was making its way down the corridor. It was hunting, and he was the prey.

Chad contemplated jumping out the window. If he landed on one of the Humvees maybe, just maybe, he could survive the fall. Anything would beat getting torn apart by one of those things, he thought.

When he turned back to the door he saw it was too late. The crooked silhouette of a man stood there, the red light flickering around him like an evil halo. Every blink revealed a glimpse of his twisted features. The tattered fatigues soaked in blood, a right arm hanging oddly from the socket, and finally the blood trickling down his ghostly white face.

Chad swallowed, his finger gripping the trigger.

Seconds passed, and the man tilted his head, raising his nose into the air and sniffing for a scent.

For his scent.

He wanted to hide, to run even, but he was captivated by the horror in front of him. And the man couldn’t see him from this angle. With one hand on the gun and his other holding the curtain, Chad waited.

The light blinked again, and the ex-soldier viciously licked the blood around his swollen lips, moaning in delight. Then he stopped, tilting his head toward the curtain.

Chad backed away and raised the gun with both hands. The doctor closed his eyes and applied pressure on the trigger, but he didn’t fire. Not yet. Even if he could kill this man, others would be drawn to the sound. Shooting was his last resort.

When he opened his eyes, the man was gone. The emergency light flashed in sync with Chad’s thumping heart. After a few agonizing seconds, he held his breath and inched back the curtain with a free finger.

A pair of crimson eyes stared back at him. He saw with perfect clarity that the man’s pupils had morphed into yellowish slits. They flickered as if adjusting to the light before locking onto Chad.

The doctor didn’t even have a chance to fire a single shot before the infected man was on him, knocking the gun from his grip. Chad went down hard. The back of his skull bounced off the tile floor, and flashes of red broke across his vision. He thrashed his arms in the air, trying to bat the man away, but he was fast and had him pinned down.

Desperate, he punched the infected man in the side of the head and swatted away his only working arm. That only enraged his assailant. The man’s eyes burned with hunger and rage.

Roaring with anger, he rammed his forehead into Chad’s ribcage. Every bit of air exploded from Chad’s lungs. The sharp pain rushed through his entire body. He saw more stars and sucked in a wild, desperate breath of air.

Swatting blindly, Chad strained to get free. His wild swings were futile. He was trapped under the sheer weight of the man. When his vision cleared, he saw a set of jagged yellow teeth snarling behind a pair of pale bulging lips. They pursed in and out, making a sucking noise and then a loud pop.

The click-clack of chomping teeth behind the lips sounded distant, but Chad could see the razor sharp teeth as they inched down. The sound intensified, the doctor’s fate closing in.

Chad screamed in terror. Reaching around for his gun, he found the metal handle and swiftly jammed the barrel into the man’s mouth.

“Die, you fuck!” Chad squeezed the trigger.

Click.

The revolver was empty. It was fucking empty!

The man’s reptilian-like eyes grew wide with confusion, as if he understood how lucky he was, but a second later primal instinct took over whatever hint of humanity remained. The man clamped down on Chad’s cheek, tearing a chunk of flesh free in one swift bite.

Screaming in agony, Chad kicked helplessly as the man fed. Red filled his vision. He blinked it away and saw a new figure standing in the doorway.

Had someone come to help him?

A jolt of adrenaline filled Chad with a brief moment of energy and hope. Swinging as hard as he could, he smashed the revolver into the man’s head. The he dropped the gun, grabbed the soldier’s neck with both hands, and pushed as hard as he could. The man growled as bloody saliva webbed across his lips. The brief reprieve gave Chad just enough time to lift his head off the ground.

“Help!” he screamed.

The emergency light flickered. Red light revealed the man in the doorway.

Chad let out a painful gasp.

Standing there was Doctor Ted Lucas, his face covered in blood. He tilted his head, blinked several times, and then locked onto Chad with eyes that radiated hatred…

…And hunger.