Kyle West - Apocalypse

“Everyone, to the showers,” my father said. He looked at me as he said this, though I knew he was not talking to me. “There is still a chance it might not be too late.”

There was an air of defeat in his voice.

“Stay here,” Chan said to us. “You are not to leave.”

They filed off for the showers, leaving Khloe and me alone in the med bay.

“Maybe…maybe they’ll be okay…” Khloe said. “It’s not impossible, is it?”

“I don’t know.”

We just stood there, not talking, for the whole time we waited. I could not suppress the sickening dread I felt. Ten minutes later, all four men reemerged wearing scrubs.

Before anyone else could, Chan spoke.

“Stay here,” he said. “Stay here, and wait.”

Officer Chan raised his communicator.

“Officer Hutton, report to the medical bay, immediately.”

Everyone waited in silence for the one minute it took for Officer Hutton to come. When he entered the bay, he stopped short, his normally stony demeanor shocked. He was of average height and a broad build, and had a trim black beard and short, black hair. Burt Hutton was Chan’s second in command.

“What is going on?” Officer Hutton asked, eyeing the four men’s scrubs up and down.

“Come with me,” Chan said. “All of you. Alex, Khloe, Hutton…stay on the other side of Dr. Keener’s desk.”

We followed Chan into my father’s office. He sat down in the chair. For the first time in my life, I saw Chan scared. His face was white.

Khloe, Officer Hutton, and I stood by the door. The other four men stood on the far side of the desk.

The room was quiet for a long while. Then, Chan looked up.

“There is not a small chance,” he began, “that me, Dr. Keener, and assistants Ybarra and Jones will soon fall ill and die.”

Hutton’s eyes widened. “What is this, some sort of joke?”

“Officer Hutton,” Chan said, “you know full well that the chance that my words are true far outweighs the chance that I would joke about a matter of such gravity.”

Hutton stared at Chan in shock. But Chan went on, regardless.

“In a matter of days – maybe even hours, I will likely be dead, along with everyone else who was in the room with the patient. We are infected with the xenovirus, a strain that targets humans.”

I searched my father’s eyes for some other answer – any answer that was not this. But he was grave and clearly believed in his own doom as much as Chan.

Chan was giving Hutton instructions on what to do. To assemble the officers, making them aware of the situation. To post a constant guard of four officers by the medical bay, allowing no one to enter or exit. Chan gave Officer Hutton full authority to do all this, and as Chan’s second, to assume control of the Bunker.

It sounded so clinical, the way Chan made plans for four eventual deaths. How could his mind work so clearly at a time like this? It made me hate him, the fact he did not even acknowledge the tragedy of the situation.

My dad was dying.

“Lead the children out, and return them to their families.”

“This is my family!” I yelled, pointing at my dad. “He is all I have!”

Everyone was looking at me – Khloe and my father, with tears in their eyes.

“It will be alright, son,” my dad said. “I’ll be fine.”

“How do you know that?” I asked, tears stinging my eyes. “You don’t.”

“You can stay with us,” Khloe whispered.

“That will do nicely,” Chan said, glad to have me out of the way.

“Dad, is this it? Will I ever see you again?”

He looked at me without a word. This time, he did not lie. His eyes told me everything.

I walked up, meaning to hug him.

“Stop!” Chan yelled. “You are close enough!”

I halted in my tracks.

“Chan,” my father said, “that is enough.”

“I will not risk any contraction of the disease. That I even allow this is a mercy. The children have both been in here long enough.”

I looked at my dad, tears beginning to sting my eyes.

“It’ll be alright, son,” he said. “You need to do as Officer Chan says. It may yet be alright. I feel fine now.”

“Dad…”

“Step away,” Chan said. “That is quite enough.”

I turned to him, my fists clenched.

“Alex,” my father said. “Do not waste words. This is not the end for you. I know you believe it is…but it isn’t.”

I stared at him through my tears.

“You must be strong, son. There are people depending on you. You are a man. Never forget that. What does a man do?”

I recalled the words he had told me what seems hundreds of times.

“A man does not do what he wants,” I said. “He does what he must.”

“Yes. Never forget it. I don’t want to stay here, Alex. None of us do. I must.”

“What will I do without you?”

He looked at me for a long moment, as if he didn’t know the answer to that. “It’s not over yet, Alex. You must not linger here any longer. You have a duty, to fill your role here. To help people. To protect people. To give them your strength.”

Chan nodded to Hutton. Hutton placed a hand on my shoulder. As he guided Khloe and me out of the room, I did not resist him.

“I love you, Alex. Never forget that.”

“I love you, too, Dad.”

“When you have escorted them out, Officer Hutton, return here,” Chan said. “I will brief you on what is to be done next.”

Hutton nodded. “Let’s go, kids.”

Grabbing each of us in his large, meaty hands, he pulled us out of my dad’s office and across the bay. I was trying to hold it together, but I knew it wouldn’t be long until I burst.

Khloe and I left the medical bay, and Hutton turned back inside, shutting the double doors behind him. Two burly officers in helmets stationed themselves by the door.

I walked across the corridor and sank against the wall.

Then, Khloe’s face filled my vision. She placed a hand on my right cheek, wiping my tears away.

“Come on,” she whispered. “Let’s get you home. He might be alright, Alex. He seemed fine when we were in there.”

“I hope so,” I said.

But even as I said it, I knew it was a long shot.

She sat down next to me. We sat like that, for a while. People walked by, asking what happened. I didn’t answer. Khloe didn’t answer. She just held me like I was a child. The guards would quietly explain that the medical bay was off limits, and gave no reason for why. They mentioned nothing about my father, Chan, or my father’s assistants.

“They don’t know…” I whispered.

Khloe did not answer. Soon, there was such a crowd that I couldn’t stand it. I needed to be alone.

I started to get up.

“Come with me,” she said, pulling me by the wrist. “You need to rest.”

“I need my dad.”

She did not argue. Gently, yet firmly, she pulled me with her. I felt a pulsating emptiness in my soul. The only thing connecting me to reality was Khloe.

We reached her family’s apartment. I lay down on her bed as she went to the main room to talk to her parents and explain what was going on. While there, I felt completely alone.

Her parents came in, but I don’t remember anything they told me. I just closed my eyes, tuning out everything.

When I opened my eyes again, the light was out. I had fallen asleep. I stared for what seemed hours at a picture on the nightstand of Khloe and her family. The picture was old – Khloe was smaller, and her little sister stood next to her, smiling. Abby had been dead now for two years.

Death. So much death. The Wasteland was not out there. It was in here.

It was night, and the lights were out. Khloe was sleeping on the floor next to me.