Escape - 2. Getting Information

Chapter 2
Getting Information

Whatever Stephanie was talking about stuck in my brain and clogged my nerves the whole day. After the break it was still there, spinning in circles, taunting me: I’m going to bite you. Damn, getting bitten all over would hurt like hell. That was it. That was on my mind until the last period ended. Too bad for me because I felt that I would get my ass whipped at the sports complex. I hoped that wouldn’t be the case. You see, I’m average when it comes to school work but when it comes to defending myself I’m good at tearing someone apart - and I do mean bad-ass good. Anyone who thinks otherwise is welcome to try me. Thinking of this made me confident enough that I wouldn’t let anyone take a bite out of me. They would have to go through my fists first and I was prepared to bust every bone in their body.

I’m of American and Asian descent, hence my dark hair and height of 5’4. Max was a few inches taller than me, around 5’5 or 5’6 I think. But since I’m mostly American, I have pale blue eyes and a light complexion. I would really have liked to dye my hair dark brown to match my eyes. I have a cute up-turned nose any person would die to have. Yeah, that was a bit exaggerated but I think that I am around a 9.5 out of a point blank solid 10 on the looker scale. It’s not that I’m bragging about it; that’s how other people see me.

I’m humble enough not to give myself any kind of compliment at all. A girl once told me that I was really cute and a glance from my eyes alone could make anyone wet their pants. I’m not yet interested in that part though. I guess I’m too young or too childish for that right now. I don’t think it makes me gay does it? I’m not sure about my sexuality. Sometimes, there are certain boys that get my attention and eye-candies that make my head turn 360 degrees just to take a look at them so I guess I’m still at the confused and self-denial part. All I want is to know how to defend myself or someone who is important to me.

That’s the reason I learned martial arts.

I have studied many forms since I was little. I was now learning karate and achieved my black belt within three years. I focus on my rank only for tournaments and have raked up not a few medals and trophies of my own. And for the record, not all of them ended well. There were certain times I went home with a busted lip, a broken rib or a dislocated arm. No pain, no game. It brought both good and bad memories.

I think that sometimes you have to know what it feels like at the bottom so that you have the right motivation to reach for the top. Getting stuck at the bottom for the most part was a bad start but I got over it after a year. I studied judo and aikido so I’m flexible not only in striking, but also in grabbing and bringing down a person. My arms alone were enough to take down a fully grown man.

I have studied a few handheld weapons like the katana and the spear but I’m not an expert. Although I’m familiar with using these weapons, my little brother is the expert. I am an expert at hand-to-hand combat. I’m not really sure which of the weapons he had partially mastered are. Our dad pushed us into these things and we gladly accepted. He told us one time that he had always dreamed of protecting the ones he loved. That dream was evidently passed on to us.

My brother and I are alike in so many ways but neither of us were close. I really don’t know why. We didn’t get to fight. It’s a mystery why we never crossed each other’s’ paths. Since I found out I was partly Asian, I picked out another weapon and familiarized myself with it; the arnis. I discovered it when I was nine in an old trunk in our cabin rummaging through pictures of our dear grandparents for our family tree project.

That’s pretty much it…I’m a one-man army!

I was on my way to the sports complex when I heard a siren nearby and I was sure it was an ambulance. I didn’t see the vehicle but the sound of the siren sent another chill down my spine. The thought of that nasty disease returned. My heart skipped a beat. A bead of sweat rolled down my face. A lump formed at the back of my throat and I was having a hard time breathing.

Come on Zach, pull yourself together! What if it’s already here? What if someone suddenly bit you and what if you lose control?! It’s really keeping you agitated. Just hope that the CDC guys will manage to prevent it from spreading.

A few minutes later I finally made it to the sports complex. It was just a few minutes away from home and from school so I didn’t break out into a sweat from going back and forth…well maybe except for the ambulance part. A few seconds later, my mentor approached and he told me to warm up and practice some forms. I did it without complaint. After all, he taught me a lot and I didn’t want to disrespect him as he coached the younger kids. My mind slowly wandered off again to that ghostly topic. It scared the hell out of me.

The coach called my attention and told me to help the others with their stretching. I chose the cutest kid I could find. Believe me…you wouldn’t like to know how much it hurts the first time you’re stretching your legs until you split in half. I have had a lot of experience in this exercise but when I first practiced the splits I was a kid – and boy I held my crotch for days. It hurt THAT much. I approached this kid with the same rank as me. His name was Davis something. Around eight or nine, I couldn’t really tell. He had dark brown hair like my brother, only most of his stood up. I knew he would
turn out to be eye-candy someday. Coach told me he obtained his black belt a few years before me. Ok, that was some determination. However, he stopped for a year and a half and he was just getting back on his feet. That’s enough to get your skills rusty, trust me.

No matter how good you are, you must maintain your grace. Otherwise, you’ll be having a hard time especially with your stamina.

I helped him spread his legs apart and they still were not stretched to their maximum limit. He had been here only a couple of times and I understood that if I pushed him too far, I could cause an injury.

Since most of the kids are of a far lower rank than me, I automatically made them practice their forms. Perfecting things like this is crucial. When you’re fighting for your life, you have to minimize mistakes or else it will be over. An assault from a hostile person will ultimately drive you to your end. But they wouldn’t get an easy kill from me. I would make sure they cried blood before they lifted a finger to me. The younger ones always seemed so jolly. I couldn’t blame them
really for I was exactly the same years ago. Their limbs were far more fragile than mine and just holding them firm could almost shatter their bones. My mentor didn’t do much when he saw me lecturing the other kids some tips in combat. I didn’t think he would mind that since he knew I know how to defend myself and after grabbing a few medals and trophies, he was already proud of me.

An hour later it was time to go home. Stephanie, Max and I agreed to Skype so we could continue our discussion about the virus. It’s a good thing Steph had a lot of connections around the world. I had no idea how or why and I never asked about it. She used to be Miss Popularity before but I wasn’t sure how she lost more than half of that popularity. The trend didn’t always last long. They were bound to go out of season either ways. I never thought that worked on people. Popularity for clothes and music, yes. Not humans. As soon as I got home, I changed into something comfortable and logged in. It took a while before my PC booted up completely and I stretched a bit to make sure I had no dislocated bones or anything but I’m not paranoid okay? They were waiting and had already started collecting information from other contacts.

[Sorry I’m late guys,] I typed. [I had practice this afternoon, I hope you understand Stephanie. I’m sure Max won’t need an explanation.]

[Don’t worry Zach.] She replied. [Max kept me company for a while, he explained that you were a one-man army and people shouldn’t mess with you otherwise they’ll end up in trash bins. Believe me, he didn’t have to. I obviously know that since I’ve known you for a long time now…fourth grade…I think?]

[You think I won’t need an explanation? Check this out…] Max said immediately, sending links to my screen. I quickly checked them out. It’s a good thing my laptop can handle multi-tasking and the bandwidth is fast enough to load multiple tabs on explorer. I give credit to my dad who is out there, always sending us the right amount of money to live. Too bad we seldom see him. I really miss him at times.

[Apparently, the guys from CDC that were brought back in yesterday are quarantined somewhere…] Stephanie started explaining. Her links, added with Max’s, made it more interesting. […those guys had already started showing the same symptoms. A contact of mine said they were dead on arrival.]

[However…] Max chimed in. […a friend of mine who also got interested in this piece of art said that he saw footage where one of the CDC guys bit one of the guards!]

[What do you mean?] I asked. [Steph’s source said they were DEAD right? How come they got to bite off someone? Dead people don’t bite.]

[Yeah, and our luck is running out…] Stephanie typed. [My friend is trying to get a link of that footage right now. Let’s just hope we’ll find it before it gets deleted by the government…again.]

[How do you explain dead people moving again?] I questioned them. It took a while for them to reply. I would have too. Something of this scale was unexplainable. It was a fucking hoax for sure.

[Let’s see. It’s magic for crying out loud!] Max said. [This is utterly unexplainable so I’m going with my theory.]

[I don’t know, we’re talking about a virus here.] Stephanie objected. [It’s basically a science fiction UN-fictionalized. Things like this are mostly experimental.]

[Then what if this is a bio-organic weapon?] I suggested. [I mean this could literally be used against millions of people. It’s probably still in an experimental state.]

There was silence among the three of us. This is probably an experimental weapon that was accidentally released. But why would they bring back dead people? It was a really creepy way of killing humans.

[You have a point dude…] Max started. [It’s more logical to think this way. I mean, you kill millions of people with a virus. Do you remember the Ebola virus? Its mortality rate was gruesome enough. I don’t want my ass bleeding!]

[You’re right…] Stephanie agreed. [But why would they create something like this? A virus could get out of hand. It’s something that can’t be controlled.]

[Nano-machine?] I suggested again. [What if they used nanotechnology to control the virus? They could put up targets and the virus would destroy the bodies of the selected ones.]

[May I remind you...] Stephanie objected. […this hypothetical virus of ours revives the dead and bites people.]

[We’re not yet sure of that until we get that footage.] I said. [We might have a wrong hunch. The media black-out isn’t helping. If it’s designed to spread by reviving the dead then they could be programmed to be neutralized upon selected people. They could take my DNA and when the nanomite that has the virus notices it, the virus is neutralized.]

[That’s too far-fetched don’t you think?] Stephanie objected again. I suppose she’s right. I was getting paranoid; thinking of fictional stuff. My mind skipped the boundaries of reality. I just hope I wouldn’t lose my head in the process. [You’re thinking too much. I don’t think there is a country that is capable of doing something THAT advance.]

[I guess you’re right. That stuff is surely overrated.] I said, admitting to my ingenious faults. [But may I ask, where exactly did the CDC get the virus?]

[According to another of my sources, the flight came from China.] She explained. [Actually there were two flights. The first one was from China to London then to Washington. She said the team was composed of eight members. Two were already dead when they arrived at London which means they possibly left it there. They can’t afford to contaminate the whole plane on the way.]

[True. Which part of China exactly?]

[Northern part, near the national boundary with Mongolia and Russia.]

[I’m still getting the gut feeling that Mother Russia would want to use it as a weapon. What if it was a leakage or just a test drive on a small group or something? I don’t think that’s fictional enough.]

[I’m not so sure with that dude.] Max interrupted. [We can’t accuse a big country like Russia with something like this. We don’t want another war. The United States has been through hell.]

[Hey guys…] Stephanie stepped in. [My friend finally got the footage. It was taken today inside a CDC facility in London…precisely 1400 hours.]

She sent us the link and I quickly clicked on it. It opened to another tab and took a few seconds before buffing up.

It was a taken from a camera inside the facility, the whole room was white and two bodies lay long tables. There was another table below them with tools laid out. I figured they were used for dissection. My imagination kept rolling as morbid thoughts crept into my mind. Both bodies were covered in white blankets and looked dead. Their skin was already gray. A minute later, a man in a white robe entered the room and approached the tool table. He had a serious look on his face. He put on latex gloves and lifted a scalpel from the table, then removed the blanket off the first body. It was a middle aged man, witha bite mark on his right forearm; probably one of the team members that Stephanie told us about. It looked gruesome enough even from the view of the camera. Besides, the camera was HD. I could see most of the details. My brain wasn’t bothered much with the hideous wound. I had seen far better visual effects than this, and I hoped I wouldn’t see something like that before my eyes.

The man took the scalpel and sliced the first body but as soon as the scalpel was at the midsection, particularly at the stomach region, the body suddenly grabbed his arm!

What the fuck?

The ‘dead’ body lunged its head forward then bit the man on the neck and blood gushed out of the gaping wound on the man’s neck. I never thought one could get this bloody with a bite wound. The man screamed in pain and agony but no one helped him. He was infested.

The video ended right after the second body moved just as the first one was gnawing on the man’s neck. My stomach turned a few times when I saw the blood and gore from this footage. I didn’t think I could believe this. This was seriously fake.

[This is some SERIOUS SHIT! It’s fucking unbelievable!] I said in our chat box. [Are you sure this is fucking REAL?! It’s a fucked up hoax for Christ’s sake! It’s fucking ridiculous! The body was already sliced open when it fucking moved!]

[This is out of our league man. We couldn’t deal with something like THIS!] Max tuned in. I totally agreed with him. My mind was spinning at a thousand miles per hour. It’s a miracle I didn’t puke from all the gore that video had spilled upon us. [The CDC is being secretive obviously. This could scare the whole world! If news got out, they’ll start doing something crazy. Where the hell did you get this Steph?!]

[Zach, I believe every pixel of it is real. You can’t deny that. Max, my mom is a professional surgeon. She had a few ties in CDC so I kept strong contact with a few of her colleagues.] She explained briefly.

She had already taken the precautions since it wouldn’t hurt. All I could hope for now was that the virus wouldn’t leak out. [Mon must never know. My guts told me to make a connection to a few organizations. For example, I could get a few things from CIA.]

[That’s smart you rascal!] Max praised her. I couldn’t agree more. [But something like this is illegal, isn’t it? They can’t obviously leak out something as crucial as this! You bribed that person didn’t you?]

[Of course not! It’s called getting their trust you dumbass! I’ve had a few hard nights before making a errands for them. Apparently, they care for mom and me so she leaked it out for our sake just in case.]

[Now that we’ve seen the dead walk, what are we supposed to do?] I asked.

[First…] Stephanie started. […let’s get some sleep. We’ll talk about that some other time. I have homework to do and so do you. Besides, the astronomy club has already started looking for members. Their seniors are all worked up. We could join them and talk about this. Goodnight guys!]

And after that, she logged off. Oh well, back to square one. I doubt Max would still be eager enough. I’m pretty sure that footage disturbed him as much as it disturbed me.

But more importantly, how do we kill something that is already

dead?