Omega Virus (Book 1): Beta Hour (12 page)

Smith
struggled and for a wire frame he had a lot of fight. He slammed me back into
the wall once and twice and a third time, each time knocking the wind from me,
but I didn’t let go. He fell to his knees, and I held tighter and clung to him
like a koala from hell.

The
doctor stopped trying to break free and laid his head on the floor. I waited
until he passed out. I didn't plan on killing him. For all I knew he could be
innocent beyond the grasp of Wayne.

I
dragged Smith into the nearest room, which turned out to be a utility closet. I
left him there. He would wake up eventually, and that didn’t give me time to
look for Wedge.

I
darted back to the security panel door. I quickly punched in the numbers
03-04-2014. The door beeped and popped open.

Following
my rash plan, I wanted to find Kessa safe and sound along with the vaccine.
Then we would get the hell out of the Cornelia facility, with or without the
Link Brigade.

As
I stepped into the hall, I shivered and could see my breath. I took a single
step forward, and the hall exploded with a cacophony of groans. On each side
were foggy windows, and inside each room were dozens of hungry Corpses. I shook
my head in disgust.

I
growled. “Eradicated my ass.”

LEVEL 15 – THE GOD REPORT

How far had the
outbreak spread? And how high did the corruption run into our government? I
always imagined that when the zombies came, it would be politicians such as
Wayne running and diving into secret underground bunkers. Instead, in Texas,
Governor Wayne didn't hide in a hole; he sat atop a castle watching the world
burn beneath him. He sent out his little toy soldiers to fight the rampant
flesh eaters and to do his bidding. For some reason, he wanted survivors.

The
door to the laboratory hallway slid closed behind. There I stood in the
freezing hallway. To my left and my right were labs, and each contained
groaning Corpses.

I
walked up to one window and wiped frost from the glass. Inside, they stood
almost
shoulder to shoulder
, dressed as they had been
in life.

I
couldn't blame someone for having a few pets, but these had been humans
;
intelligent, living, breathing creatures. Had he killed
them?

A
male Corpse walked past the window and seemed to notice me. He turned his head,
his jaw slack. Nearly frozen, he could barely walk; frost breaking off his
clothes as he shuffled to the window.

He
wore a tuxedo, and most of it looked pretty clean, except for the gore stain
where his neck had been torn out.

Given
he had once been human, I gave him a name. “I'm sorry, Bob.”

He
put his hand against the glass and gave a long, airy groan. For a moment, it
almost seemed he were in pain, but in a sluggish fashion, he smacked the window
with his palm. I placed my palm up against his. On his finger, he wore a
wedding band with a tribal pattern carved into it. Bob had a wife. I looked
past him wondering if Wayne had caught his wife too. He demanded my attention
by pounding again.

I
looked into his neon green eyes. “You poor bastard.”

Another
Corpse appeared and slammed her hand against the window. Her hair stuck to her
shoulders, frozen in place. She bared broken fangs, and foam bubbled on her
lips. The imprint of a bite appeared visible on her forehead. Even though they
weren't deep, still, she had turned. When I wiped away more frost to see her
clothing. A pang of sadness struck my heart. She wore a wedding dress and even
had a bouquet of dead flowers in her other hand.

Bob’s
wife's stood beside him, even in
undeath
. I swallowed
hard and backed up. What had caused the Corpse infection?
A
mad scientist?
Space radiation?
An ancient unearthed
virus?
If someone caused it, I wanted to be the one to pull that
trigger.

I
turned and rushed down the hall as fast as I could. I didn’t need to look in
any of the windows; they were all the same. As I went, I did see inside a few,
wanting to or not. One such
room,
had mostly nude
women, with a few in scantily clad stripper outfits. I shook my head in
disgust. The rooms just kept getting more horrible. I could only hope Kessa
didn't show up in one.

More
than thirty rooms down, just when the pounding and howling undead almost broke
me, I came to the final door at the end. This one didn’t have windows and rose
open as I approached.

Inside
stood a desk with a hologram computer screen and glowing red keyboard on its
surface. The temperature didn't improve here. I glanced around the rest of the
room. The walls were metallic, with symbols carved every few feet. I found a
giant V with an Omega symbol engraved into the floor.

At
the desk, the hologram monitor turned to face me. As I tried stepping around
the sides of the desk, the monitor continued to move, always facing me.

“Hello?”
I asked.

“Hello.”
A man’s voice repeated, sounding very much like a British butler.

“Are
you real?” I asked.

“Definition
of real: Adjective: actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not
imagined or supposed.”

I
nodded. “Okay, are you an A.I.?”

“Affirmative,
sir.” The voice said. “Allow me to perform an identification scan.”
   

“Wait,
what?” I asked.

“Voice
analyzed.” It said. “Profile found. You are Zachary Mastiff.
Student
at Milpeg Senior High School.
Sixteen years of age. Status: Single.
Hobbies include Video Games, Watching girls from afar, viewing adult rated
material on various websites, average time on each site--”

“Blah
blah
blah
!” I cried,
shoving my fingers in my ears. “Stop speaking! Blah
blah
blah
!”

“Affirmative
Mr. Mastiff.” It said.

My
face burned red, even in the cold temperatures. What kind of computer kept track
of me? Did it know everything? Again, I seemed to be of importance I didn't
understand.

“What’s
your name and purpose?” I asked.

“My
programmer named me Leon.”

“Okay,
Leon,” I said. “So you look up info?”

“Yes.”

“How
do you know about me?” I asked, wishing I had stayed off of social media.

“Searching.”

I
nodded and blew into my palms, trying to keep warm.

“Searching.
Files found.” Leon said.

“Then
tell me.”

“Files
have been altered. Most of the data files have been removed. Only the skeletal
structure of a basic data block remains. One word. A name actually.”

“What's
the name?”

“Beauregard.”
Leon said.

Beauregard?
It sounded familiar, and it felt like a deja vu. “Who is Beauregard?”

“No
profile found.”

I
frowned. “Damn. Why is that name related to me?”

“Files
found in relation,” Leon said.

My
eyes popped. “Tell me!”

“There
are two files. One audio. One video.” Leon said. “Select file to load.”

“The
video!”

“Loading
Video File dated June 2. Year unknown. The video has not been modified.”

A
screen rose into the air and spread out encompasses the entire room in a 3D
projection. The room looked familiar as if I'd been there before. It had two
beds; one normal, and one with
side boards
painted to
look like a racecar. A bathroom and a staircase were the only exits to the
room. An old, fat, rounded TV sat on a table, and beneath it, a video game
console.

“Play
video!” I said.

The
TV came on, and the game console hummed with life. On the screen
were big letters reading
, ‘PLAYER ONE PAUSE.'

From
behind me, a girl spoke.

“Press
Start!” She grumbled.

I
froze, afraid to turn around.

“I
said ‘Press Start!
’.”
She said impatiently. “
Unpause
the game or else!”

I
heard a boy’s voice then. “But I’m not any good! You always beat me!”

“If
you don’t press the stupid Start Button right now! I am going home!” she
screamed.

That
voice could belong to only one girl, and I'd heard a similar conversation
before.

“Okay,
Zachary! I’m going home! You’re no fun at all!”

The
fuzzy memory from my dream played out before me.

“Please
don’t!” the boy said. “I just need to look up some codes.”

“I’ll
give you one last chance.” Her voice
raised
. “If you
want to be my boyfriend, press start and play the game! Stop being such a
coward!”

I
turned around and stared, incredulous.

Sitting
on the floor against one large pillow were two children. The boy sat in a pair
of shorts and a tank top, and the girl wore an oversized t-shirt as a
nightgown. She had her long blonde hair even then and still wore that same
black baseball cap. How many years had she had that thing? The boy in the video
had to be me. We looked about ten years old.

I
watched her drop the game controller and pull his away from him. He grabbed for
it, and she giggled, holding him back with one arm. He struggled, and they fell
onto the bed wrestling around, and at one point she landed on top of him and
pecked him on the lips. They sprung away from one other and sat aside facing
opposite ways. They both blushed. Of course, they would, they were just ten. I
became witness to young love in its earliest form. Even though this hologram
showed me the reality of my dream, I still felt confused. I had no memories of
the event.

“Do
you like me?” Tiffany asked the boy.

“Actually,
I think--I think I love you.” He mumbled.

I
fell back onto my heels, had I just said that?

“I
knew it!” she smiled wide.

“You
did?” he stammered.

“You
have to promise me something.” Tiffany took Zach’s hands.

“Anything!”
he grinned.

“When
you get back from your uncle’s place. Find me. And if the zombies ever come,
like in our games, you’ll come to my rescue!”

“I
promise! I’ll never forget.” he hugged her tight.

“Zach!”
a man’s voice called from the hallway. “Are you packed for tomorrow? It’s a
long trip to Rockport!”

Then
the video faded, and the cold and empty room sat before me again.

“But
I did forget,” I whispered. “I forgot all of this. And was that my Uncle? Why
was he taking me to Rockport--A trip I also don’t remember.”

“No
data found.” Leon said. “Would you like to listen to the audio file?”

I
hadn't digested what I had just seen. How could I have forgotten? What happened
after I went to Rockport?

“What’s
the title of the file?” I asked.

“The
G.O.D. Report.”

I
peered at the hologram projection. “The what?”

“The
G.O.D. Report,” Leon repeated.

“Play
file.”

The
stereo sound filled the room as Leon announced, “The G.O.D. Report: Authored by
Beauregard White.”

That
name again.

“December
24.” A man’s deep voice spoke. “I have been in contact with G.O.D. for one
month now. I don’t care about the riches I have been offered. I care that it
has something to do with a viral outbreak. G.O.D. doesn't want any secrets
revealed. There is still much to learn, but I fear I do not have the time.
G.O.D. has a sick plan. Not only are the soldiers here to bring in any and all
survivors, collecting them under one roof. But the orders are to put them in
stasis, for what reasons I cannot say, but I don't like the idea of any of
this.

Wayne
is an evil man. That is all I can say. He brought in more survivors this
morning.
A girl and two boys.
And the Link Brigade is
out again as we speak looking for more victims.

If
they don’t find the living, they will bring back more Level Ones. I fear the
massing of all of these undead. What good does it bring? Are we to experiment
on them?
To find a cure?
If that were the case, I
would stay and do my damnedest to fix things, to save the human race. But
G.O.D. seems to have other plans, and Wayne is fixated on being a pawn; by
extension, the President of our once proud country is as well.

I
act as if I do not see the soldiers in black entering the facility late at
night, bringing in the crates of who knows what? Am I not the lead scientist
here? Do I not deserve to know? I can only speculate what is inside.

Nothing
I do to the virus has any effect! It truly is unlike anything I've ever seen.
The Level Ones are bad enough. They spread the infection through scratches,
bites and bodily fluids, but at least they are slow, weak and stupid. That
hasn’t stopped them from covering the country in just one week. But does G.O.D.
care? No. G.O.D. embraces the undead.

My
time is limited unless I get to Rockport. I almost had come up with a cure, and
I needed a subject already infected with the virus. I refused to use any
survivors as guinea pigs, so I used myself. I allowed one of the Level Ones to
bite me. It was minor, but I feel it in my veins. I had to do so in a
controlled environment. Thankfully Rockport isn’t too far.

Are
you ready, Leon? When you’ve finished downloading and deleting the related
data, I’ll sync you, and I will see you in Rockport.

I
may have to go up against G.O.D., but I am confident he's given me allies, by
accident, all to save
himself
. There’s still hope.

This
is Beauregard closing The God Report part 1. Part 2 will be recorded in Rockport,
should I make it.”

I
waited for a few seconds after it ended and tried to contemplate everything.
The scientist, Beauregard, meant to go up against God for a cure?
To save the human race?
What did he mean?