Brian O'Grady - Hybrid

* * *

Amanda could feel his presence. He still remained shrouded, but an invisible cloud of malevolence that she could only assume was Reisch grew thicker the more they drove west. She carefully retracted her own mind and switched to a listening mode. “He’s close,” she told Greg as they parked at St. Luke’s. “He could be here, but I can’t be certain.”

“Can you handle this?” Lisa asked. “You were so exhausted last night.”

“I’m fine,” Amanda said quietly as Greg called Patton for assistance. “He is definitely here.” Her expression changed rapidly to confusion and then anger. “Don’t park here, Greg. Drive around to the main entrance.”

It took them only a minute to skirt the ER and the loading dock, and it became clear what the problem was. Father John Oliver was climbing out of an old Dodge Neon. “Damn,” Greg said at the sight of the priest. He honked his horn and Oliver looked over at them.

Amanda was burning with anger, and was out of Greg’s car before it stopped. ”Get back in that car and get as far from here as possible,” she demanded. She would have done more, but Reisch was far too close.

“He’s here, Amanda,” he said with excitement.

“I told you to stay put. You have no conception of what you’re doing and you’re going to get yourself and others killed.”

Oliver opened his mouth to argue, but before he could utter a syllable Amanda wound up and hit him with a closed fist across the jaw. His head snapped back and all three of them could hear the bone break. Oliver fell to the floor unconscious. ”Lisa, drive him home. Better yet, drive him as far away from here as you can get.” Amanda’s eyes were filled with rage, and Lisa backed away from her beloved daughter-in-law.

Greg reacted first. “No, he has to get medical attention.”

Amanda turned her gaze upon Greg, and he too took a step back. “He will be fine; he’s like me now.”

“Why?” Lisa asked through tears as she and Greg lifted the priest back into his car.

“Reisch was in his mind, he almost saw me.”

* * *

Reisch began laughing as he walked down the hall. So the priest had evolved; isn’t that interesting , he thought. So, the mutated virus could also induce the change. This could change the dynamics a little. It wasn’t important now; Phillip Rucker was important now.

The last thing the soldier who shot him saw was the face of Dr. Rucker, and there was every probability that like the priest, Phil had also changed. The new civilization was going to be bigger than his wildest expectations.

Reisch walked straight through the intensive care unit and into the isolation room without challenge. Phil was sound asleep, and Reisch sat down at the foot of the bed and searched Rucker’s mind. He saw Phil giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to his, neighbor and Klaus suddenly understood. He had killed Van Der at the height of a breakout, when he was most infectious. He had touched the man’s face, cradled his neck, and finally closed the dead man’s eyes, spreading not just the Colorado Springs virus with his breath, but also the original deadly Hybrid virus with his touch. It was a hardy virus and could easily survive the near-zero temperatures of a cooling body until someone came along and tried to revive the body. Phil was doubly infected and was going to die very soon.

“Walk up, Phil,” and Reisch gave Phil’s brain a jolt.

Phil’s eyes opened, and a look of confusion and then terror shone back at Reisch. Phil recoiled in bed. “Who are you?”

“Oh Phil, how could you ask me that after we’ve spent so much time together?” Reisch smiled and for the first time allowed Phil to see his true face. “I came by to say good-bye. My work here is almost done, but unfortunately, you won’t be here to see what I’ve accomplished. You’re going to die, and it’s not going to be pretty.” Reisch invaded Phil’s mind and filled it with horrific images of the Jihadists dying from the Hybrid virus.” Oh, and one more thing, that pretty little lab assistant, Melissa Shay,” his voice dropped and he leaned in close to Phil’s ear. “You killed her. That’s right. Your infection reached out and activated her pacemaker and it shocked her to death.” Reisch’s face had an insane smile painted across it.

For a moment, Reisch felt Phil’s torment, and he breathed it in like a favorite smell, but then it began to fade. Phil began to fight Reisch’s mental intrusion. “Oh, Phil,” he said and playfully shook his head. “Everybody fights, but nobody. .”

A deafening snap filled the room, and Reisch was blinded by a bright blue light. Phil’s hand had shot up and grabbed him by the throat; Rucker’s hand and Klaus’s neck began to blacken and burn, but Phil refused to let go. The grip was crushing his windpipe and a searing pain filled his mind. With almost his last conscious thought, Reisch ripped through Rucker’s brain like a chainsaw and he finally let go.

Reisch was thrown to the floor as soon as the connection was broken. Rucker was unconscious, not dead, which greatly irritated Klaus. He slowly climbed to his feet and gathered himself. Killing an unconscious man, especially one who deserved torment, was no fun, but it seemed to be his only option at this point. Rucker was severely injured, and the possibility that he could be roused now was very low.

Klaus moved to the bedside chair and sat down. He needed a moment to recover his strength. The tingling was back in his skin, and as the moments passed, it only intensified. The hair on his arm began to stand on end, and the monitor over Phil’s bed began to smoke and then finally exploded with a shower of sparks. The lights began to flicker and then dim. Reisch looked up to find Amanda at the door.

“Do you want to help? I’m a little tired,” he said. “Your pictures don’t do you justice, Amanda.” Her sudden appearance revived him; energy began to flow back to his fatigued mind, and he slowly rose to his six-foot-five-inch height.

The tempered glass wall exploded next to Amanda, but she didn’t move. The Screams of panic filled the ICU as computers, phones, and overhead lights exploded. The air crackled with static, and small fires spontaneously erupted everywhere. A few heroic nurses tried to put them out but then switched to clearing the ward of patients as the sprinklers suddenly filled the air with water.

“Is this all your doing?” Reisch had to raise his voice above the din.

“I thought it was yours,” she countered. “Now what; do we duel it out like a couple of superheroes?”

“I was hoping that perhaps you’d like to join me; after all, taking life is something you’ve done, and enjoyed.” He took a step closer to her, but the air literally began to sizzle.

“You truly believe that you have been chosen to, what. . to be our shepherd? Rather egotistical, I’d say.”

“Listen to your own words, Amanda. You’re not a part of this failed experiment any more than I am. You have no place in society because you are above society. The reason you’ve been so unhappy is that you’ve tried to fit into a place that can’t accept you. Listen to your aunt.”

“She told me to kill you in the most painful manner possible, or can’t you see that?”

“I can see the doubt in your mind. Scared of me, are you? I had thought that perhaps it was my duty to destroy you, but now I’m having doubts.”

“Pushkin,” Amanda snorted. “Am I pronouncing your hallucination’s name correctly?”

“I don’t see us as enemies, Amanda. I believe all you need to do is accept the possibility of a new world. You could even save those you want — Greg, Lisa, Aunt Emily. It is inevitable and preordained. Even now, people are evolving, just like your priest. It can’t be stopped, so why don’t you help us.”