Omega Virus (Book 1): Beta Hour (13 page)

“God?”
I whispered.

“G.O.D.,”
Leon said, “An acronym with an unknown description.”

I
cocked an eyebrow. The AI had just cleared things up.

“Tell
me anything you know about G.O.D.”

“No
information found.”

I
sighed, of course.

Nothing
else in the room looked of use. I'd found no answers, only more questions. I
hissed a string of curses. I wanted to know more about Tiffany, my uncle, and
Beauregard.

I
sighed, falling to my knees. “I don’t remember Tiffany, but I remember Jessie.
What's going on? Where do the timelines connect?”

“Jessie
found.” Leon said.

One
of the many silver panels in the wall slid up. A thick glass panel blocked the
view of human shapes swishing past on a moving belt. A blurred figure appeared
behind the glass, and it opened. A girl fell out. I walked around the desk to
find Jessie lying in a heap, completely naked.

“Oh
my god, Jessie!” I cried.

I
fell to my knees and held her against my chest. She still breathed but
shivered violently. I held her as tight as I could, keeping her warm.

“Z-Zach?”
She mumbled.

“Jessie!
You're really alive! Thank the Gaming Gods!”

“I’m
freezing!” she whispered as she opened her blue eyes. “What’s going on?”

I
looked back at Leon. “I’ll get you something! Clothes. She needs clothes!”

“Clothes
found.” the AI said.

From
another wall panel, a drawer opened, and white scrubs popped out produced.

“Hold
on,” I said.

I
scooped up the scrubs and brought them to her. She tried to stand, but
struggled and fell over so I pulled the scrub top over her, my hand grazed a
breast, and I panicked, nearly dropping her. She whimpered, and I pulled myself
together. I got the pants on her, but there were no shoes or socks. When I
pulled the left pant leg down, I froze at her ankle.

I'd
found something terrible; something that made my eyes overflow with tears.

LEVEL 16 – ERROR

Jessie's ankle
had a bite wound; it'd stopped bleeding, but the flesh around the broken skin
had turned gray, and green veins spidered up her leg. In our time apart, she'd
been bitten.

Full-fledged
tears poured from my eyes. “Jessie, how?”

In
a delirium, she tried to stand, over and over, but kept falling. Finally, she
collapsed back into my arms. She tried to pull away, but I wrapped her in a
tight hug and held her to my chest.

“I’m
so sorry,” I whispered.

“It’s
not your fault.” Jessie hugged me back, still shivering.

In
my mind's eye, I could see Tiffany standing in the sewer, bitten. In her case,
I'd given her a gun to kill herself. Could I do that again? Had I come so far
just to see Jessie die?

I
gripped Jessie tightly, refusing to let her go. “Tiffany was also bitten.”

“S-She’s
gone?” Jessie gasped.

I
couldn’t bring myself to say it. I didn’t want to admit it, because if I did,
it would become real.

“I
see.” She said and pulled back to look at me.

A
soft sob escaped my throat when our eyes met. I never should’ve left Jessie at
the game studio. I felt so guilty for making out with Kessa; I felt so stupid
for never speaking to Jessie after the birthday incident.

“I
found your letter.” I ran my hand through her hair.

She
put her head against my chest. “I’ve wanted you to know how I’ve felt all these
years. I never blamed you for anything, and I had to make sure you knew
before--before--”

She
coughed, and I tensed. “Don’t talk like that. This isn’t the end.”

“Soon,”
she said.

I
couldn’t hold back any longer; I thrust my lips against hers, and I'd never
felt a more magical, yet tragic moment. A new level of elation came as we held
the kiss, eyes closed tight, but when I opened mine, mid-kiss, hers were
already open and looked scared. I pulled back.

“What’s
wrong?” I asked.

She
gasped. “You can't kiss me! I’m infected! I could spread the virus to you!”

“I
don’t care,” I said.

She
grabbed my shirt collar and twisted. “Don’t throw your life away! It’s the most
precious thing in the world, especially now.”

I
shook my head, but she reached up and wiped her saliva from my lips. Could life
be any crueler? I had come so far to find Jessie so that I could set things
right, and tell her I wanted to be with her. Love had driven me, despite having
Kessa by my side. But what could I do? How could anything be resolved?

Jessie
would soon die. Between the three girls, I never actually had a choice. Tiffany
and Jessie were victims of the virus. Somehow I had to accept Jessie and I
would never be together.

“How
did it happen?” I asked.

Jessie
sat down against the wall, moving her feet together to keep them warm. I took
them in my hands and rubbed them.

She
said. “Please don’t stop. Your hands are so warm.”

“I
won’t,” I promised. “I owe you this and more.”

Jessie
smiled, but then she hung her head. “I’ll start from the beginning, I guess. I
just hope I have enough time.”

“Then
hurry,” I said, feeling her soft, yet freezing skin under my fingertips.

She
playfully kicked me. “Okay, but careful. I’m ticklish.”

I
smiled through my tears.

“Dave,
Jeff and I were worried after you left. The Corpses were growing in numbers.
Everyone always knew my favorite genre was survival horror, and I loved killing
zombies.”

“I
didn’t.” I felt guilty.

She
smiled. “It’s okay. Even in D&D! Imagine? I controlled the dead and created
zombies. I was Shamil
Ningel
Necroglem
,
the mighty priestess necromancer.”

“You
played D&D?” I asked. “Sacrifice any chickens?”

She
giggled. “No, silly! That’s a misconception. No one playing D&D has ever
sacrificed a chicken, probably anyway.”

I
smiled. “Survival horror was one of my favorites too. Although once I was so
scared I scratched the disc so no one else could play it.”

“That’s
so not-gamer like!” She kicked me again. “You’re awful!”

I
laughed. “And if I played D&D, I would want to be an alchemist. I'd name
him
Azteron
. Could I be a minotaur?”

“Up
to the Dungeon Master.” She sobered after a moment. “Back to my story. Jeff
ended up finding a secret cache of weapons in one of the offices. They really
had been preparing for a zombie apocalypse. We took turns going and trying to
pick them off from the 2nd floor using a rifle. It was going fine, and actually
was a lot of fun. I was out shooting with Jeff, and Dave stayed in the lobby
keeping watch. Next think you know I spotted a man dressed something like
Wesley, walking amongst the Corpses. This guy wasn’t one of them, but they all
just ignored him! He looked pretty cool I have to admit, with a long black
trench coat and a wide-brimmed hat.”

I
cocked an eyebrow. What would cause a zombie to ignore someone?

She
continued. “He came right to the hand scanner outside and put his hand on it. I
thought he was nuts. But the door opened, and the zombies flooded in. I heard
Dave downstairs screaming his head off. He ran upstairs to where Jeff and I
were sitting. That’s when we called you guys. The man attacked Dave, and he
ran, but not without taking a hit first.

There
was a lot of chaos. Jeff wanted to find the trench coat man and beat the crap
out of him. But I wanted to go. Dave was hurt, and we needed to get as far from
the Corpses as we could. Before we could get out, the man found us. He didn’t
say much, but his presence was something else. He had long white hair and
grayish skin like one of them. He could have spooked the virus out of a zombie.
All we could get out of him was what he called himself.”

“Which
was?” I asked.

“His
name was Dante, and he was looking for Wesley. I aimed my rifle ready to kill
him, but I couldn’t. I was so terrified; I froze. Then he left promising he
would see all of us again.”

I
shook my head. If someone had the ability to walk among the Corpses and not
even draw attention, could he be behind everything? Things were getting thicker
than I ever imagined. Wesley, Serenade, and Wayne were confusing enough.
Nothing really added up, but I had a feeling I'd missed a key element. The fact
that Dante wanted to find Wesley said enough. There were so many pieces to the
puzzle. Maybe I would have to find this Dante.

“Dante
was intense.” Jessie seemed to read my mind.

“We’re
going to get to the bottom of this,” I said.

She
smiled. “Yes, you are.”

I
kept quiet and bit back tears.

Jessie
continued. “We escaped onto the road and headed towards Houston. Somehow we
decided the bigger the city, the more likely there was a survivor camp of some
sort
;
Dave’s idea really. I don’t know why we listened
because in retrospect it was stupid. Along the way, these military people
picked us up. We were so happy to finally be saved. They brought us into this
facility, and we met with a man named Wayne. He asked to speak to me alone for
some reason. I didn’t see Dave and Jeff again. Wayne asked me about Wesley. He
got angry when I told him I didn’t know much. He pushed and threatened. Before
long he was so furious, he hit me! I never saw it coming, but when I came to I
was in an underground chamber; it looked like a stone arena. He had me tied up,
and naked, dangling over a horde of Corpses. I cried and screamed, begged and
pleaded but Wayne didn’t believe that I knew nothing about Wesley.”

I
grew angry, and Jessie flinching brought me back. I must have squeezed her foot
too hard.

“Sorry,”
I said.

She
shook her head. “Don’t worry. I had no answers, so Wayne lowered me just enough
into the Corpse pit to where one grabbed my ankle and chomped into me. Then he
shot it and lifted me back up. I began to lose consciousness, and the last
words I heard was that he wasn’t done with me yet. And then, well now, we’re
here.”

“Why
is everyone after Wesley?” I whispered.

“Forget
him,” Jessie said. “You can live a better life. Get out of here, but first,
find Jeff and Dave!”

“And
Kessa,” I looked away. “We have to find them, and then we can all get out of
here.”

“How
did you find me?” She asked.

“The
AI system,” I said. “It’s called Leon and seems to have a database of
everything here.”

“Ask
it to find the others.”

“Find
Dave Carnby,” I said.

“Affirmative,”
Leon replied.

The
thick glass panel rose again, and the frozen cells behind it started to shift.
Jessie frowned as she looked into my eyes.

“What
happened with Tiffany?” She asked.

I
stared at the wall. As I massaged Jessie’s feet they started to sweat, a sign
of infection surely.

“We
were in a sewer, trying to find the secret entrance to Epic Impossibilities.
One of the survivors we found turned into a Corpse, and bit her. I gave Tiffany
my gun, and she shot herself. I’m glad I didn’t see it happen. It was dark, and
we were facing away.”

Jessie
gasped. “Tiffany killed herself? She would never do such a thing!”
   

“She
was bitten,” I argued. “There was no other choice.”

“So
should I off myself too?” Jessie asked.

I
looked deep into her eyes again. “Don’t talk like that.”

“You
let Tiffany do it.” She said.

“It’s
not what I wanted!
Far from it.
What if she had been
one of the immune?”

Jessie’s
expression changed. “Do you think that’s possible?”

“I
don’t know.” I lied. I didn’t want to get Jessie’s hopes up about immunities or
vaccines. There was no guarantee it would work, even if we found it.

“Dave
Carnby.” Leon said.

The
glass panel came up again and deposited the
clothesless
form of Dave onto the floor. I hurried to Dave and kneeled next to him. Jessie
grabbed scrubs. Dave began to shiver and started mumbling. I couldn’t
understand, but I helped get his clothing on.

While
Jessie tended to him, I spoke to Leon.

“Find
two subjects. Subject One: Jeff Mason. Subject Two: Kessa Brea.”

“Affirmative.
Locating Subject One: Jeff Mason.” Leon answered.