Pestilence: The Infection Begins (9 page)

“Yeah, I know what you mean. Do you think they’re gone for good?”

“From here maybe, but not from the hospital. Just like us, they’re sealed in!”

“Hey, we got some water and a few sodas in here,” Childs announced.

“Great, I could do with a cold water. I’d lay off the sodas. Too much sugar. After the stress we’ve been through and the running, we don’t need any one having a bad reaction right now.” Delaney, the most experienced doctor, warned.

Childs passed water to everyone as they sat against the far wall. A few deep breaths and a time out is what they all needed. All four drank their water and stared at the white linoleum floor just passed their feet. The eyes said it all as each one contemplated how close they’d come to being caught, having their blood drained or becoming infected—or all of the above.

“How are we going to get out of here now?” Childs’s question had everyone re—focus their attention. “I mean we’re basically stuck in here, right?”

“No, we’ll continue with our plan, to the roof right?” Delaney looked over at Tilford for support.

“Yes of course and there’s more room on the roof, we can probably keep the door locked but other than that,” Tilford fired back. “Our only avenue is the fire escape.”

“There’s a heliport on the roof.” Sanders added.

“And you have your own personal chopper up there waiting to spirit us away?”

“No I don’t. I was just saying!” her retort was full of barbs.

“Okay, okay let’s not lose ourselves. We’ve still got some distance to travel yet and that’s our only priority for now.” Delaney stepped in as the voice of calm and control.

“Okay, you people know this place better than me, how do we access the roof from here?”

“There’s a set of stairs,” Tilford told Delaney, “from the third floor straight to the roof.”

“We might not have any other choice but to take the fire escape into the waiting arms of the authorities below but at least we’ll be out of this hell hole.”

“Dr. Delaney’s right, we can’t just stay here until we die.” Childs sat on the office swivel chair—the only chair in the storeroom. It had no arms on the side, which made it easier for her to plop her ample rear end into it and was far better than the floor.

“Damn straight, we’ll give it another five minutes before we go. Any objections?” Delaney was pleased she didn’t receive any.

“Tell me about this Moya you were speaking to, won’t you?” Tilford asked as Delaney drank from her water.

“Sure.” She had no hesitations now about telling everyone what she knew or believed; not after what had taken place. She spoke loud enough for all of them to hear, but not so loud anyone beyond this room could. “He was one of the best doctors in Europe in the understanding of contagious disease and the treatment thereof. When this new strain of flu broke out and became a pandemic throughout Europe and the Middle East, we at the CDC were put on alert. I was selected to head up a team to begin vaccinations, the current ones we are conducting here. Well, he was the first person I contacted as I attempted to get as much information as possible on the situation taking place across Europe.”

“That last conversation you had with him sounded pretty heated.”

She raised her eyebrows, and stared Tilford in the eye: “If I had been within arms’ reach, I would have killed him with my bare hands, I can promise you that.”

“But he saved our lives. He gave us the combination to the office. If he didn’t—”

“Yes I know, Beth, I know, but it’s the things you don’t know about Moya for which I’d have gladly killed him.”

“Care to elaborate?” Tilford’s eyes showed an apprehension usually reserved for when meeting people that express violent tendencies and this was just such an occasion.

“I’d heard a lot about Moya over the years, about his idealism and beliefs. When I started with the CDC I met him on one occasion, briefly at a conference, but I didn’t have time to find out for sure. But when I spoke with him just before we started here at Riverside Hospital, I was shocked to discover he was now a consultant and advisor with Thorn Bio-Tech, the giant pharmaceutical company and the very company that is marketing the vaccine. Thorn was given the green light without so much as a basic test by the FDA and the CDC. Even Director Calgleef gave the president a glowing report on the man who controls the company, Noel Thorncroft, as well as the company’s good name.”

“So he’s now a consultant with the pharma company, what’s the big deal? Doctors do that all the time, don’t they? It’s no reason to want to kill him, is it?” It was more an accusation from Sanders than a question.

Delaney felt as if the cat’s claws had come out. Sanders could have asked without inferring that Delaney wanted to kill him merely because he’d become a consultant to the company.

“Thorn Bio-Tech manufactured the vaccine we’ve been using today. In the nearly twelve months that this, this pestilence has swept across Europe, there’s been not a single mention of a vaccine from Thorn or any company. Now, as soon as the United States talks of vaccinating its citizens against the flu… well, it magically appears.”

“I’m still not seeing the full picture.”

“Money, that’s the full picture. The Internet is full of inferences that Thorn—and other big pharma companies—don’t make vaccines that actually work. There’s no profit in that. Instead they manage it, hide it or treat the symptom or scare you into believing you must take X or Y to stave off the virus in question. This of course will require continual doses at regular intervals, usually twelve months. There are rumors big pharma actually spreads the diseases in the first place if not even develop them—”

“What? That’s preposterous! How can you of all people claim such nonsense?” it was obvious to everyone where Sanders stood on the matter. “That’s conspiracy theory bullshit!”

“That’s what I used to think, and as a senior member of the CDC I had the opportunity to run tests on vaccines. They all came up positive as vaccines, nothing abnormal about them. But the rumor is that big pharma only provides these grade A vaccines to the relevant authorities for testing—these aren’t the ones that are made available to the public.” Delaney did her best to sound knowledgeable on the subject. “When you look at certain diseases and afflictions, even though we’ve supposedly had vaccines to combat them, they’ve risen rather than declined. At the same time the rate of vaccinations is now at an all-time high. I now believe there is a correlation between the two, yes. This new vaccine, which just appeared overnight practically, didn’t have to go through the usual procedures and tests. It was given the green light by the president on advice from Calgleef from the Center for Disease Control and others in high standing. You’ve witnessed firsthand the results of the inoculations, so you tell me, is it really conspiracy bullshit?”

“No testing? How can that be, that’s against regulations—”

“I know that, Isaac,” Delaney said, “but Calgleef pressed the case, hard. In later conversations I had with both of them, I felt there was more than a professional liaison between them.”

“You’re saying that the director of the Centers for Disease Control and an eminent doctor from Europe have conspired with a multinational pharmaceutical company to spread the Baltic flu throughout the world so they can profit from the sale of a vaccine to billions of people every year, is that it?”

“In a nutshell, you’ve got it!” Delaney was impressed with how Sanders—though totally unreceptive—had it all figured out.

“Well I’m not—” Tilford was prevented from continuing by Delaney’s extended hand.

“Shh,” she said and crawled hands and knees to the door.

“What is it, are they back?” Sanders asked.

“Quiet, just be quiet!” Delaney put her ear to the door, which didn’t help here. But still, she was positive she’d heard a growl like that uttered by the infected as they’d followed them up the stairs.

“Well I thought—” A menacing screech resonated from behind.

“OH SHIT!” Sanders jumped and staggered back.

“Holy fuck!” Tilford also scooted backward along the wall, both eyes were as big as tennis balls as fear and horror took hold. Nurse Childs, all three-hundred-plus pounds, launched at him. Her eyes were now pools of blood a streak of which ran the length of one cheek, and her skin had an off—white pastry like appearance. She howled like a coyote infected with rabies, as she mounted him.

“Grace, help… help—”

* * *

C
hilds straddled him like a horse
, one massive thigh on either side of his torso. Even at around the six foot mark, give or take an inch, Tilford was no match for the nurse’s weight. She snatched at his shirt, tore it, tossed her head about vigorously, enraptured with the delight that awaited her—Tilford’s blood. She rapidly thrust her tongue in and out, saliva running down her chins, all three of them, and over the spare tire that was her neck before she made a gurgling sound, reached up and grabbed the top of her uniform, hers was a button up front type, worn by the desk bound nurses—and pulled downwards, splitting the top in two. Her bra received the same treatment. A modern marvel of construction in itself, it could have comfortably seated two toddlers or a week’s worth of groceries. Her boobs were the size of watermelons and flopped to her mid—riff with their weight all. Her tits were so large that Tilford momentarily wondered how she managed to fit both of them inside her bra. Strange the things people think of when they’re staring at death or in this case two giant—sized breasts. Tilford began to struggle; not only was Childs about to tear into him and drink his blood, she was crushing the air from his lungs.

She swung her huge tits from side to side, enjoying the freedom of the fresh air. “Arghhh hahaha haa…” she screeched, like the wicked witch in Snow White then grabbed Tilford by the ears, pulled him, into the cleavage. His head disappeared inside as she then rubbed his head from back and forth into her tits while she jiggled up and down on his body. Sanders, meanwhile, had staggered behind Delaney who leveled the revolver and took aim.

“Arghh haha,” she screeched. “Arghh ha ha—”

* * *

T
he sharp report
of the .38 ended Childs’s frenzy and her life, if that’s what it was. Delaney loaded the gun in under ten seconds, without a speed—loader, which was something she’d practiced over and over again at the gun range. Like many martial arts where the techniques always work in the dojo, the real world was an entirely different matter and you never really know how good you were until you had to do it in the real world. Delaney’s aim, however, was true. She didn’t miss; the distance wasn’t great, but her hands shook so badly she could very easily have done so. She remembered her range training from the former Marine instructor, “Breathe in, let half of it out, hold it, then fire…” and she did.

Childs wobbled at first from the impact, then started to sway forward. Her tits swung like twenty-gallon garbage bags filled with water, and her bloodred eyes glazed over.

“Roll Isaac, roll!” Delaney commanded. If Childs crashed down on top of him, he might have trouble getting out. Delaney was also concerned with the blood that ran from the wound to the side of her head. She knew all flu’s, diseases and viral infections were contagious through bodily fluid contact especially blood. They couldn’t afford to lose another now. Tilford rolled to his right while pushing Childs’s body from her left side. As she began to topple over, he squeezed out.

Was it only a matter of time before we all turn on each other like Nurse Childs had? Delaney considered as she tucked the gun into her pants. She watched as Tilford took several deep breaths, she was sure he needed it. Hell, they all needed a few.

“Are you all right, Isaac? Are you—”

“Yeah, yeah, I think so thanks to you, but I ‘m just thinking what might have been if there wasn’t a gun in here, you know?” He forced a smile at Delaney, a nervous looking smile but it was all he could manage at this time.

“Did you get any of her blood on you?” Sanders asked as she stared wide eyed at the body of her work friend, Jenny Childs, whose fingers still trembled and her huge tits jiggled.