Alien Virus (16 page)

“I’m sorry, Tony – it’s all just a bit too
convenient. I’m not convinced. I agree with Kate’s idea – we should
test him as soon as possible. None of the others are comfortable
with him – you can see it in their eyes. At least if he’s clean,
we’ll know he’s one of us – no matter who he is.” Tony nodded. He
couldn’t deny it was a sensible step, albeit, in his eyes, an
unnecessary one.

“All right – I’ll have a word with Kate
tomorrow…”

“Tonight,” I insisted. “I don’t fancy
sleeping in the same house as someone who could be infected with an
alien virus.” Tony nodded, and we went back to my chalet.

***

Twenty
-
One

We now had two problems: one, no salt
supply, and two, a man who claimed to be Frank. The latter didn’t
seem to be a problem for either Audrey or Tony – quite the opposite
for them. But for me and the others, it certainly was a problem we
needed to resolve, and the blood test seemed the best way of doing
that.

Tony took Steve Saunders to one side and
reluctantly conveyed our feelings. Even if the test was negative,
it didn’t make him Frank in my eyes; but at least I’d know he was
one of us. He was surprisingly eager to take the test.

“Of course, Tony,” I overheard him say, “no
problem. They should be skeptical about me – I know I would be.
Let’s do it.”

“What, now?” asked Tony.

“Why not?”

“Okay Frank. Shall we go somewhere private?”
Tony asked.

“No, here’s fine,” he replied. So Tony
nodded to Kate and she went into the bathroom to get her kit.
Minutes later she emerged with a black bag. Steve seemed to know
what was required and had his sleeve rolled up already. After she’d
taken the sample, she checked it out on her equipment. After just a
few minutes, she turned to us with a smile.

“He’s clear.” We were all relieved –
particularly Tony. I shook Steve’s hand.

“I’m sorry we had to put you through
that.”

“It was nothing – don’t worry about it. In
any case, I think we should all be tested.” He looked straight at
Sandi. I followed his gaze. She suddenly looked a little
uncomfortable. He turned back to me. “Don’t you agree, Kevin?” I
could hardly disagree. I nodded, and looked at Kate. She looked at
Tony.

“Do you mind, Sandi? You’re the only one who
hasn’t been tested.” She seemed put on the spot, and I felt for
her.

“Fine,” she said, trying to control her
haltering voice. “Only, I’ve got this thing with needles – makes me
faint.”

“We can do the urine test instead – it’s
just as accurate,” Kate said to Tony. He nodded. Kate took a small
plastic container out of her bag and held it out to Sandi. She
hesitated for a moment, then grabbed it and got up to go to the
bathroom. Only she made a quick u–turn to go out the front door.
But Gareth was too quick for her.

“Not so fast.” She struggled in his
grasp.

“Let me go, you freak! You’ll all freaks –
talking about ‘salt’ and ‘aliens’…”

“Do it Kate,” he instructed while Sandi
fought him. Without hesitation, Kate took the syringe and jabbed it
in the top of her leg. Sandi yelp in pain, and Kate drew out the
blood.”

As she tested the sample, we all waited with
baited breath.

“It’s positive.”

“Oh, shit!” I exclaimed.

“What do we do now?” asked Gareth. He was
still holding on to Sandi, but she had stopped struggling now.

“First of all, we tie her up,” replied Tony.
Then we’ll discuss it.

*

Gareth said he’d keep a watch on Sandi
whilst we went outside to talk. Tony and Steve stood with me,
looking out across the water to the Calf, whilst Kate took Audrey
for a walk. It had been a bit of a shock for Audrey – she really
liked Sandi. I couldn’t believe that she was infected by the
virus.

“When did this happen?” I asked.

“It could have happened at anytime,” Steve
replied. Probably when she was a child.

“You mean that all this time…?” Tony
nodded.

“I’m afraid so,” he replied.

“But what about all the salt she’s
taken?”

“Have you ever actually seen her take any?”
Steve asked.

I thought back to our chat in a café in
London, after we went to the hospital for the first time, and I
took a lick of salt:
‘
Don’t, Kevin – it’s bad for you,
remember? Look what happened to Frank Peters.
’

Then the time in my flat after taking her
out of hospital.
‘
Take some of this.
’ ‘
I
will – but I just need a drink first. I’m so
thirsty
.’

And right from the beginning, there was my
magazine article on salt:
‘
I showed it to
Trevor, and he told me to bin it – sorry.
’

Suddenly, a terrible thought crossed my
mind. I turned to Tony.

“The salt at Harry and Jo’s… you don’t think
that…?” Tony nodded sympathetically.

“I’m sorry Kevin, but I think it must have
been Sandi who informed the Police. Who else would know about it?”
What a fool I’d been. Steve had been watching me during this
time.

“Kevin, can we talk?” I looked at Tony.

“I’m just going to see if Gareth’s okay,” he
said. “Why don’t you walk down to Castles – Kate and Audrey have
gone that way. I’ll meet you there later.” Castles was an area of
caves set on a sandy beach along the headland – to the east of the
chalets.

We turned and walked slowly in the light
wind, pulling our jackets tight to keep out the cold.

“I know you’re finding it difficult to
accept that the person you met in the bar in London – Frank Peters
– is actually the same person you’re with now. I understand that it
doesn’t make sense, doesn’t compute with anything you’ve been fed
through the years. Most people call it education and schooling –
but I call it indoctrination. Most of us are given the impression
that we all have just one life on this Earth, and that’s it:
annihilation. So we cling on to that one life like grim death – if
you know what I mean.” He smiled at his own
humour
. “But the truth is, nothing dies. The real
you, what most people call the
Soul,
lives on. Okay, not
always in the same form – but it does not die. If it did, there
wouldn’t be any point to life – and I tell you, Kevin, there most
definitely is a purpose to life on Earth – in fact, on every
planet.” I couldn’t say that I completely accepted what he said,
but it made sense in a way. But it was what he said next that
stopped me in my tracks. “I just have to tell it how it is, Kevin,
that’s how I am: Frank by name, frank by nature.”

“What did you just say?”

“There’s definitely a purpose to life…”

“No – after that. You said,
‘Frank by
name, Frank by nature’
.” I looked deeply into his eyes, “Tell
me where I’ve heard that before?” I said earnestly.

“In a pub in London, Kevin, in the
Bells.”

Could this really be Frank Peters – the man
whom Tony said was from another world? Could this be him?

*

Gareth faced Sandi, who was tied securely by
her arms and legs with rope to a chair in my chalet.

“Why?” he asked.

“Why what?” she sneered.

“Why pretend – why go along with it?”

“You’re the ones pretending – but you’re
only fooling yourselves. Frank Peters was crazy enough, but you lot
win the prize. You’re all nutters – talking about an alien virus.
The only virus is in your heads – you need help. I’d hoped Kevin
would see it for himself – but he just got in deeper.
Sucked in by your
s
ect.
He told me all about
you when he came back from London – about the balaclavas, the
intimidation – you with your stick. And the death threat…”

“What ‘death threat?’”

“He said Audrey told him that if his blood
didn’t check out, you’d have to kill him.”

“She was joking – she wasn’t serious. No-one
would do that!”

“Really. Then what are you going to do with
me?
” Gareth hadn’t thought about that. What would they do
with her? Just then, Tony came in.

“All right?” he asked.

“Can I have a word?” replied Gareth.

“Sure. She’ll be all right for a few
minutes.” They stepped outside, keeping an eye on the window.

“What are we going to do with her?”

“I don’t know yet Gareth. We can’t let her
go straightaway. But we can’t keep her tied up either.”

“Can’t we cure her?” asked Gareth. After
having left Emily, he’d fallen in love with Sandi and he
desperately wanted her to be okay. “What about giving her a big
dose of salt?” Tony smiled and shook his head.

“I’m sorry, it doesn’t work like that
Gareth. You can’t cure anyone of the virus who doesn’t want to be
cured. We should have been more careful with Sandi – we all just
accepted her because she came along with Kevin. I just assumed
Kevin had vetted her. This is what we’re up against now; we can’t
trust anyone.”

“You’re not going to kill her, are you?” He
was suddenly very concerned.

Tony laughed. “No – of course not!” Gareth
was greatly relieved. “We do need to decide what to do with her
tonight, though. As soon as the others…” There was a sudden crash
from the Chalet.

“Sandi!” exclaimed Tony, and they rushed
inside.

The chair lay on its side with the ropes on
the floor. The back window was wide open. “Shit!” spat Tony,
putting his hands to his head. He looked out the window and saw a
figure scampering off to the farm next door. “I thought you’d tied
her securely!” Gareth looked sheepish. “
Now
what do we
do?”

***

Twenty
-
Two

It was dark by the time we came back from
Castles, the small farm next to our chalets. After Kate and I heard
the news of Sandi’s escape, we tore Tony and Gareth off a strip for
letting it happen, but we agreed it was no use searching for her
any more at that hour. She had probably sought refuge with the
people at Castles and we didn’t want to show ourselves just then.
The best thing was to get a good night’s sleep and decide what to
do early the next morning.

*

I naturally blamed myself for bringing Sandi
into the fold. I’d known her longer that anyone else, after all.
Not that the others blamed me. I suppose each felt responsible for
not noticing she wasn’t of the same mind. Perhaps they were like me
and wanted her to be one of us – and that wanting had blinded us to
seeing the truth. It was an important lesson to learn.

Frank knew though. He was the one who
suggested we test her. There was more to Frank than met the eye,
and I decided to find out more about him. I didn’t have to wait
long.

“After the events of yesterday,” said Tony,
“We’ve got to think about not just our next move, but what we aim
to achieve in the future. Frank is going to talk to us about a few
things, and then we’ll have a brainstorming session to see what
ideas we can come up with. Okay?” Everyone nodded.

We were sitting in a circle – well, as close
to a circle as you can get with seven people. Oh, I didn’t tell you
– Frank had invited Harry and Jo too. We were surprised by this
move at first – particularly after the Sandi situation. But Frank
and Audrey said they’d met the couple yesterday when they arrived
on the island – before driving down to the chalets. They had no
doubt that Harry and Jo were like us, and they said they’d be happy
to be tested. Both negative.

Frank smiled at everyone and started
talking.

“Yesterday, we lost one person from our
group, but we’ve gained two more. That’s the way it’s going to be
from now on. No-one is irreplaceable. This virus we’ve come up
against, is stoppable. It is very cunning, as we know, but it has a
weakness – and that weakness is it’s predictability. The virus has
a pattern of operation, and it never veers from that pattern. We’re
going to learn how to understand it, and stop it. I’m going to tell
you things now that are going to be difficult for you to accept;
but I want you to keep an open mind, and don’t try to understand it
all at once. Above all, don’t try to fit in this new information
with your existing ideas – because it won’t fit.”

“I’ve been on this planet for the last ten
thousand years.” There were raised eyebrows. “And so have you.”
There was shock. My heart was racing. “You won’t remember the other
lifetimes you’ve lived on this Earth, because as soon as you change
from one body to the next, the memories of that previous life are
lost along with it. Sometimes, you have to change bodies before the
natural span has reached its conclusion. As happened to you,
Kevin.” Everyone was looking at me. “Isn’t it true? What do you
remember before your job as a journalist?” I cast my memory back
again – as I had done every day since the meal at Harry and Jo’s. I
could recall NOTHING. “It’s all right – there’s nothing wrong. It
happens to many other people on this planet. And there’s something
else I need to tell you: I knew you before you had the magazine job
– before you became Kevin Lee.” I was stunned.

“How… when? Who was I?” I asked, not sure if
I wanted to know the answer.

“John Philby – a property developer. You
worked in London, and we were good friends.” I was shaking my head.
I was in denial – but I had reasonable grounds. “What happened to
me?”

“There was an accident – when you were
inspecting a building. A roof fell in. You died instantly.” A
shiver went down my spine.

“I don’t remember anything…”

“No – you wouldn’t. And it’s better if you
don’t remember. Life is very complicated if you can recall all your
past lives – believe me.”

“Then what about you Frank?” asked Kate.
“How can you remember
your
lives?”