Broken Mirror: Apophis 2029 (16 page)

  During their first year in Fallhaven, the scientists worked on a secret project to enhance the virus while the medical division was attempting to thwart spread of the disease.  They had a staff of botanists that began a branch of study using plants to concoct a cure by incubating the infection and eradicating genetic markers in the process so they could introduce an effective antigen into the ecosystem.  Of course, this research was manipulated and bastardized by the military scientists to their own ends; being the curious little critters they were, throwing any ethics right out the window.  They, in turn, fed these modified plants cultivated with the virus to their test subjects, with alarming results. 

  These test patients mutated to a desirable effect but soon evolved to a point were they became exceptionally violent and uncontrollable, and were eventually placed in stasis chambers for continued testing under sedation.  During a lapse of protocols on one fateful day, a single test subject escaped, which indirectly spread the disease among the staff.  Unfortunately, for everyone else, those few scientists who became contaminated were the only technicians who would have been able to provide defensive treatment.  Everything swiftly went to hell after that episode and
those few victims with the MN4 syndrome were sealed off from the lower levels, and imprisoned within the mall wing of the building.

  No longer having the mental capacity to operate the subway system, the infected found themselves trapped within the plaza were unable to suffer the intense UV lights of the arboretum.  In the beginning, those few Weepers were arguably well off, since there were vast storerooms behind the numerous deli's and restaurants contained nearly unlimited supplies of food and water that could sustain thousands.  Those first few infected slowly rose in numbers as Kane and his entourage discarded any undesirables in their ranks to the mall level. 

  Outright murdering someone was simply not his style; since it would create the hassle of hiding the body, which could later be discovered and the method of their demise would come under suspicion.  Therefore, a plausible option was to lock them in the plant nursery where the victim
s
would either eventually eat the infected fruit or take their chances trying to cross the mall to the subway tunnels.  Even if someone actually made it that far, it would begrieve them to find the tram controls had been previously smashed beyond any possibly use by the feral Weepers wandering the mall level.  Overall, it was a grim fate.

  In the meantime, the General and his accomplice took the opportunity to exercise control over their subjects as their self-appointed protectors.  Then proceeded to mold and segregate the social order to their own liking.  They told whatever convenient lie to the community to keep themselves in a position of authority and would decisively silence those that questioned their judgment.  Down here, they were judge, jury and executioner.  While up top these two old scabs were useless and nonessential bureaucrats.

  Kane liked playing God; he wasn't about to let anyone know there was a safe way outside where they would be beyond his grasp.  I was perplexed by this situation, and there were odd pieces to their story that just didn't fit.  I understood Kane's self absorbed tactics, but I couldn't understand why he was be so utterly stupid as to allow those test subjects to live.  Why hadn't he just sterilized the stasis chambers when he had the chance and be done with it, and remove the threat?

  "What possible rationale would prompt you to let those things live," I stammered in contemplation of the absurd ignorance of it all as I pointed to the giant mutant on the screen as it lumbered on its rampage down the residential halls, "when you could have just unplugged those cryogenic units and remove the danger they posed?"  The General looked like he was searching for his words, choosing what he preferred not to reveal; but Beatrice had self-preservation in mind and beat him to the punch.

  "Those specimens were our only leverage for assistance when the Militia Commanders arrived." she blurted. 

  Their muddled sensibility slowly became clear; those giant mutated lab rats were insurance, a guarantee for a position in rank when they got out of here.  The problem was, the military brass never arrived; and they never would.  In recent years,  Kane had been forced to tighten his grip while playing King over his subservient subjects far longer than he had originally anticipated; while keeping one eye on the clock as months turned to years since the catastrophe.  In a small way, I could understand their dilemma; but I had no sympathy for their brazen selfishness.

  "We need to help these people," Thorn noted with urgency, breaking the rising tension in the air as he pointed towards the security feed while the monster continued on its murderous spree through the complex while people scattered for safety.  Anyone it had not killed was doubtlessly contaminated with the virus and would turn in a matter of hours, further spreading the pathogen.

  "How can we stop this thing?" I pleaded with earnest, as victims continued to be butchered on the security footage.

  "Caity, there were several empty service avenues below the maintenance rooms on the bottom level," Thorn answered, pointing to the area on the map where the manual laborers were stationed.  Most operational areas were for refuse waste and water filtering, but it was a convenient maze of pipes that we could try to redirect that creature too.

  "You think we could trap it?" I inquired with hesitation.

  "Nah, woman, we could kill that thing if we could lure it to the grinder!" Haiti mentioned with a half smile, pointing to the processor room.  The Grinder was the pet name given to it by the staff, which was a huge turbine fitted with interlocking blades.  It's function was to pulverize food and plant waste into fertilizer for recycling back into the tree nursery and organic gardens.  Problem was, that it was located several levels down, and there were a lot of innocent people caught in between.

  "Lure it with what, exactly?" I was afraid to ask.

  "...Maybe live bait?" Haiti suggested with a questionable pause.  The absurd thought of that made Kane laugh.

  "Ludicrous!  Why even bother?  We should make our way out of here while we still can," he bellowed in contempt at the idea.

  "What makes you think there is any '
we
' in that plan, old man?" Thorn shot back, "I'm all for leaving your sorry ass here, sir!" he finished sarcastically with a salute; his hand adjusted into a personal message of contempt with his middle finger. 

  "We have to do what we can to save those people.  How do we get them to the elevator on the level above?" I demanded towards our two hostages.  At that moment, one of the bound guards beside Haiti began to stir and was quickly silenced again with a swift kick to the head. 

  The displayed map showed there were multiple routes, though we were aware it was outdated as many sections were inaccessible or had collapsed.  It turns out that Kane's daughter was one of the rare victims of Haven who died in an authentic accident, rather than by foul play.  He would cooperate to save his own skin, though his contempt was unwavering.

  "On one condition, we both come with you," the General demanded, nodding across the table towards his accomplice, Betty, as the sole addition to that bargain.  As figured, he didn't actually give a crap about the two lackey guards lying unconscious on the floor.  In his eyes, they were expendable.

  Reluctantly, Thorn untied Kane but kept his gun in hand and sat him at the console.  His first step was to turn off the blaring alarm, and when he did the creature we had been tracking on the cameras, gave a curious pause.

  "Hold on, turn that alarm back on for a second," I suggested.  When he did, the mutant became agitated again.  Kane turned it off once more and this seemed to pacify the brute.

  The deformed beast continued to advance its way down the halls, only becoming irate when some poor soul was unfortunate enough to come within sight of it. There were a few people didn't jump out of its way fast enough, only to have their heads promptly removed from their shoulders. 

  "Can you turn that alarm on in certain corridors?  Maybe we can lure it by sound?" Thorn suggested to his captive at the console.  Kane set up a line of site where the embedded alarms could be disabled, as they led down towards the recycle chamber located on the lower level. 

  "It's taking the bait," Kane conceded, "and what's this grand plan of yours to get it to jump in to that machine?" he huffed at the entire idiocy of our proposal.

  "Maybe a bit of live bait would actually work," Thorn answered as he nodded in agreement towards Haiti who had offered the suggestion.  With that, Thorn grabbed up Kane by the shoulder, "and
you're it
; time to earn your stars!"

  Beatrice was quick to assist us, and helped devise a plan to instruct any survivors towards one of the sealed halls, while Thorn and Kane found a route to flank the creature and make their way to the lower waste process chamber and attempt to lure it in.  Kane vowed he would only repair the bypass to the central elevator once he was back safely as insurance.  As little as we liked the idea, Thorn finally agreed; knowing he had to at least make a half-assed effort to keep the arrogant prick alive.  I instructed Haiti to stay in the control room to keep a guarded eye on Beatrice and the monitors while I went to help guide the survivors to safety. 

  "Stay here and route us to the elevators once I get everyone into the upper mess hall," I briefed, and Haiti affirmed without argument.  I was suspecting he would rather stay here anyways, judging by his quick response, "Exactly how is it that you plan on getting that thing in there, really?" I asked Thorn with a breath of skepticism, referring to the recycling apparatus.  Thorn just shrugged with a lack of immediate concern.

  "Eh, I'll make something up," he replied with a thoughtless grin, as we gave him a worried glance in response. 

  Yanking the old man out the door, I followed close behind.  We only had two pistols, so Thorn took one and Haiti kept the other to keep Beatrice in line or in case either of the bound guards awoke and decided to give him a hassle.  My mission was only to gather anyone I could find and guide them back to the secured corridors.

  We backtracked towards the exit to the Ballroom and took a side passage that weaved its way through multiple service tunnels.  This area had been off limits and designated as a restricted area to the residents, so only Kane and his guards had ever been aware of the scope of its breadth through the edges of the perimeter.  Once we hit a junction with an access door out in the security hall, Kane entered the code and unlocked it.

  "Be careful." I offered to Thorn, with an almost idiotic thought of kissing him right then and there; which I admitted would have appeared overly dramatic.  Looking like a fool, I caught myself leaning into him and quickly regained my composure.  He just gave me a nod, though I might have imagined a puzzled flash in his eyes.  I felt entirely like an embarrassed ass at that moment, but did a damn good job of hiding it.

  Thorn escorted Kane around a corner and was gone from sight, looping their way past the creature's current position as Beatrice would guide us both on our separate objectives from the control room and communicate through the local intercoms.  I ran off on my errand, and it didn't take long before I encountered several scared residence hiding among the rooms and behind counters.  I simply could not go around knocking on every door and had to keep the survivors as quiet as possible, so as not sabotage our efforts and distract the mutant from its immediate course.

  Beatrice gave vocal instructions through the video screens for all inhabitants to make their way to the mess hall level and meet me there.  I led several terrified individuals towards the main hall, pressing upon them that it was vital they kept silent.  Many turns later through the corridors, we crossed the carnage left in the wake of the rogue monstrosity.  Blood and body parts were scattered everywhere and their red painted upon the walls.

  It soon became painfully clear that these people had been kept so sheltered down here that they had forgotten any protocols of how to deal with contaminated scenes.  I turned back to see one middle aged step directly into a pool of blood, not realizing he had just tainted his footwear.  I screamed at him as quietly as I could while advising to avoid touching anything.  Once we got past the gore, I had the man kick off his contaminated shoes.

  This endeavor was going to be a lot trickier than I had imagined; finally realizing to myself, that Kane might have been right.  Any one of these individuals might have inadvertently contaminated themselves already.  Many were holding hands, carrying their children and supporting one another.  It was this faultless human contact and compassion that had exasperated and ultimately escalated the transmission of the plague in the past; it was a set of precautions necessary to exercise that they had lost all familiarity with.

  My heart sank in despair while I was forced to pass up several wounded victims of the attack as they called out in pain
,
  not realizing that they were now beyond all help.  Even if I had my own firearm, I don't know if I could bring myself to give them the only kind of mercy left to offer.  This genetically enhanced mutant infected everything it touched.

  As I passed a bank of desks in an alcove, a movement caught my eye.  Calling out if anyone was there, a little girl poked her head out from underneath the cover where she had hidden when the raging creature had passed through this way.  With wide scared eyes, she turned
towards me, tears beading in her eyes.  I motioned for her to be quiet and come to me so I could lead her to the others.