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The Darkness. Matt Brennan
Читать онлайн.Название The Darkness
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781925819410
Автор произведения Matt Brennan
Жанр Учебная литература
Издательство Ingram
But instead of continuing towards me, he changes direction and walks towards Lyssa’s hangar. If he rounds the corner and sees my track, the element of surprise is over.
It suddenly hits me that I’m actually thinking about shooting someone. This isn’t a video game and he won’t get a second life. I’m planning on shooting a man I have never met before and who has not injured me personally at all.
What planet is this?
When he reaches the shed, he tries the fake front door. I know it’s fake because I did the same thing when I first arrived. He cups his hand over his eyes and tries to peer in through the dusty window. He must have seen all he wants to see because he spins around and starts walking back towards me.
I think I’m going to puke.
He’s going to have to get so close to me, that I’ll be able to see the look in his face when I shoot. This is so surreal.
He stops again, and shakes his head. Then he walks back and stands in front of the door, giving it a strong kick. When he does, all the snow that was on the roof above the fake door gives way, and a tidal wave of snow hits him dead in the face, knocking him to the ground.
I almost jump out from m cover, either to rush in to attack him or perhaps to dash into the hangar, I’m not sure which, but he jumps back to his feet faster than I would have thought possible, and so I stay put. He trains his gun at the shed, chambers a bullet, but stops short of firing.
I’m close enough so I can hear him say, “Screw this! If Jacques wants this place searched, he can come here and do it his damn self, he can, eh!”
Then he spins and begins trudging off in the direction he came from. I lean back on the door, breathe a sigh of relief, and switch the safety back on. I can’t believe what I had been just about to do.
When he is out of sight, I dash back to the hangar and grab a broom. Then I go outside and cover all our tracks as best as I can. I’m hoping the constant snowfall will hide my efforts even more.
By the time I’m back in the bathroom, hitting the switch to open the panel so I can join Lyssa, I’m exhausted. That’s probably why I didn’t see her fist coming before she hit me dead on the chin. I fall like a sack of potatoes.
Lyssa stands over me and kicks me in the ribs a few times before I manage to grab her leg and take her down.
“Hey, it’s me! It’s only me!”
“Why do you think I’m hitting so hard?”
I finally grab her arms, roll her over on her back, and pin her to the ground, “Look, stop! I’m sorry, but I couldn’t leave my mother’s hard drive behind and hope they didn’t find it!”
Lyssa spits in my face and knees me in a place it never occurred to me to protect. I instantly double over in pain and curl up into a fetal position. I can quite honestly tell you from experience, it hurt way worse than getting The Darkness did.
You know, the plague that killed everyone? That’s what we call it anyway: The Darkness.
I don’t know how much history you’ve had, but the plague isn’t just one virus—it’s actually three. No one I’ve talked to (including my parents, which says a lot) could explain to me exactly how it works, but somehow the genes of three completely different viruses ended up melding together inside a human host. You can catch two of the strains, but not all three. Like, I had one—the measles. The other is a simple foamy virus that scientists used for gene therapy. It’s nothing special really. In fact, on its own, it isn’t even harmful to humans, but as a retrovirus it’s the force that makes the darkness tick. It was released by accident when some technician messed up and got infected back in 2013. Believe it or not, the third one isn’t even a human virus at all, but rather a bacteriophage, which is a virus that only attacks bacteria. Unfortunately for humans, this one infects the most common species of bacteria on the planet—that crap is literally everywhere.
At first, the outbreaks were isolated. It was a lot like the SARS epidemic and the West Nile virus outbreaks of the early twenty-first century. There were a few fatalities, but the World Health Organization (WHO) was more than ready for the outbreak and started an aggressive isolation and treatment regiment.
They even attempted to quell the spread of virus by re-inoculating folks for rubella because, before we understood the melding, doctors had made the connection that only those who had contracted German measles seemed affected, at first.
But then get this, some nutcase in Hollywood said the vaccines were actually the cause of the mutation, not the solution; which was a brilliant deduction since the vaccines were started after the outbreak had already begun. Anyway, she claimed that some additive in the vaccine caused the mutation in the strain, not to mention it had horrible side effects. All total bull of course, but it led to this huge revolt against the mandatory immunization process.
If it weren’t for that twit, there’s no telling what might have happened. Maybe everyone would all still be alive today. I wish I could remember her name, but then again who cares! No need to glorify that reckless idiot. She died in the first outbreak, so there was at least some justice left in the universe.
My mother would never say one way or the other if the vaccine could have avoided a worldwide epidemic; after all, it wasn’t a cure. It just slowed the spread of the virus down. But she did think it would have allowed more people to reach safety. You see, according to my mom, the vaccine put inert antigens of the rubella in your system. These antigens forced the body to make antibodies to prepare for an infection, should it attempt to assert itself. But according to her research, it was these antibodies that were crucial in the melding. Something about a special protein or something in the antibodies, I don’t know. My mother insisted that since the amount of antigens were so miniscule in the vaccines, if the person then got the foamy virus and bacteriophage, the development of the darkness would be considerably slower and might even burn itself out before total infection occurred and more antibodies were made. It had something to do with competition for resources with the healthy cells and evolution or something.
I dunno, I can’t remember why exactly. It never made sense to me.
Keep in mind though, the darkness, can also be contracted without the melding. If you come in contact with someone who has it, then you’re dead.
Crazy, huh?
Lyssa stands and grabs her assault rifle, “You ever do anything like that again, you won’t have to worry about those monsters out there!” She kicks me in the ribs, “Because I’ll kill you myself! Now, get up! Because of you, we don’t have much time.”
With that she dashes down the stairs in the opening in the wall. I, on the other hand, do not move. I’m afraid to do anything actually. I can’t help but feel moving will make the pain in my stomach and crotch worse somehow. I’m not sure how, but I know deep down inside that staying completely still in this position is my only chance to avoid further agony and eventual death.
Lyssa pokes her head back. “If you don’t come now, I’m leaving without you.”
I manage to just groan out, “Go ahead. I’ll just lay here and die.”
Lyssa rolls her eyes. “Aww, come on! Don’t be such a wuss. I can’t hurt that bad.”
I glare at her. “I only wish I could put them on you and kick them again so you would know just how wrong you are!”
Lyssa smiles and sits. “Look, it’s possible I over reacted.”
I snap, “Ya think?”
She