Kyle West: Apocalypse

Chan looked up, trying to decipher what I knew. Finally, he spoke.

“It is a matter of governmental security that I cannot relay to you,” he said. “That he died in transit was most unfortunate. How he came to be infected in the first place…” Chan frowned, lost in thought. “That is all I have to say on that subject.”

“Yes, Officer Chan.”

I left Chan to his work, closing the door behind me.

Questions raced through my mind as I walked home. By the time I returned to mine and my father’s apartment, it was 21:00. Only then did I allow myself to relax. As soon as I shut the door, I heaved a huge sigh. Chan was the one person whose bad side I didn’t want to be on. Up until now, I had done well in not drawing attention to myself. And now, this. Chan would forever remember this, and it might make things difficult.

At least I had my dad to help with things. Tomorrow, after class, I would speak with him. He would know what to do.

I closed my eyes, trying to find peace. When I opened them, I looked at my familiar surroundings. Our apartment was two rooms – a bedroom, and a small living room. The living room contained a couch, several bookshelves filled to overflowing, and a large desk littered with papers and yet more books, where I did my homework and my sketches.

I went to the bedroom, and lay down on the corner bunk. It was a while before I fell asleep. After what Chan told me, it was a wonder I could sleep at all.

I could only hope the morning would bring answers and resolution.

That morning, I went to class. It was hard to concentrate as Mrs. Watson introduced the class to geometric proofs.

When lunch break came, Khloe walked up to me.

“What happened last night?”

“It was fine. He didn’t get anything out of me.”

I turned around to leave.

“Wait. Where are you going?”

“I need to go see my dad. He didn’t come home last night.”

“Is he not sleeping?”

“No. And he probably won’t until he’s solved this. I’m his voice of reason. That, and I need to figure out what to do about Chan.”

“Need company?”

“Sure. I could use the moral support.”

We left the classroom, and headed for the medical bay. It wasn’t far. We were there within a minute.

It was completely empty. Not even my father’s assistants were there.

“Did everyone go home?” Khloe asked.

That’s what I thought, at first. Then I realized…

“He must be with the patient.”

We walked toward the operating room. Through the small window in the door, we could see the patient sprawled on his back, motionless. But that’s not what worried me. CSO Chan was standing next to my dad and two assistants. All wore breathing masks.

We ducked out of the way, before any of them could see us.

“What is it?” Khloe whispered.

“Chan’s in there,” I said.

“Should we leave?”

“No. I want to listen.”

“Oh, Alex. Do you really want to get into more trouble?”

“I’m already in trouble. Besides, this is too important.”

Khloe sighed. “Fine. I’ll stay too, I guess.”

I leaned against the door, and listened.

“Will he expire soon?”

It was Chan. I heard whispers from the assistants. Then, my father’s voice.

“Yes. He is dead now, in fact. But the virus is changing him. He is no longer human.”

“What do you mean?” Chan asked.

“Just that. The DNA is so changed as to no longer be human. All of his hair is gone. The muscles have thickened, and an MRI has shown that there has been a great reduction in brain matter. There are so many changes being made that it is impossible to take note of them all, much less determine their implications. But of note is a strange knot forming in the brain – not a tumor, or cancer, but a great nexus of neural activity in the amygdala and hippocampus that far exceed that of a normal human.”

“What does that mean?”

“We have no idea. Those areas of the brain are related to memory and emotion, to put it simply. Why there is growth in both of them and deterioration in other areas, I don’t know. It may not even matter. By this point, the patient is dead. His body temperature is the same as this room. No one could survive that.”

They were all quiet.

“Well,” Chan said. “Perform what tests you need to. Learn all you can. When you’re finished, have him incinerated. I will not risk him infecting others.”

At that moment, Chan’s voice dropped off. I leaned closer, thinking they were only speaking more softly.

“Is…is he moving?” one of the assistants asked.

There was a long pause. I stopped breathing. Then, my curiosity won over caution, and I lifted my eyes to the window.

All of them were so transfixed on the body that they were not looking in my direction. The body appeared still, just as it had before.

Khloe stood next to me, also watching through the window. Chan was facing away.

Then, the body jerked, causing all the men to jump back. The legs convulsed, planting themselves on the floor. The eyes opened, two completely white orbs. The arms reached out for one of the assistants.

“Get him away!” he screamed.

Chan pulled out a handgun, pointing it at the patient. “ Freeze !”

The patient pressed forward, paying no heed. He leaned into the assistant.

Chan fired. The bullet entered the patient’s head, splattering the wall and the assistant with purple and grayish goo. The patient collapsed to the ground. The smell was so foul that it permeated the door. I gagged.

Immediately, Chan turned, his eyes burning into me like fire. They narrowed as he scowled, his left cheek twitching. It was the most emotion I’d ever seen out of him, and it terrified me.

He still held the gun in his hand, and he holstered it.

“Clean this mess up,” he snapped to the assistants.

My father was now looking at me with his soft, brown eyes, wondering why, of all places, I was here. I felt guilty – doubly, because I knew I had gotten Khloe into trouble, too. I would take the fall for that as well.

But Khloe was not even looking at me. She was still looking at the body with widening eyes. She pointed through the window.

“Oh my God…”

The body on the floor was bloating, fattening, swelling in all the limbs and chest like a balloon.

Everyone stared at the body in horror, now fat and trembling uncontrollably. The skin stretched as liquid beneath it bulged outward. Then, it erupted with a sickening plop. Purple, gray, and red splattered the walls, the ceiling, covering the window through which I watched.

The stench made me vomit in my mouth.

I turned aside to spit it out. Khloe grabbed me by the shoulders, pulling me into the main part of the medical bay.

I didn’t merely feel physically sick, but emotionally sick. My dad was in there.

My dad, who was probably now infected with the xenovirus.

Khloe pulled me away from the door and back into the medical bay. We stood there, unsure of what to do.

“Stay here,” Khloe said. “It might be okay…”

No words could describe the horror we had witnessed. The man had come back to life and exploded. I didn’t see how it was possible. But there was no denying what I had seen.

The door opened. The four men walked into the medical bay. The purple slime covered their heads, their bodies, their mouths, their eyes. The odds of them escaping the xenovirus were slim to none.

They stared at us. I could see nothing but horror. My father, having removed his glasses, stared at the floor. Chan, however, was eerily calm. I could see the hate in his eyes, as if I were to blame for what had happened.