“Why can’t I remember any of this?” I asked.
“It was part of the effect. Everyone has the virus. It somehow works with the virus. But the side effect was a complete loss of memory. No way around that.” Vincent leaned back in his chair and grabbed what looked like a packet of freeze-dried food. He offered some, but I waved it off.
“So… why use it then?” I asked.
“A last resort. Those things are dangerous. They attack on sound. Any part of them that was human was lost in the turning process. With so few remaining after the virus took out most of the population, we strove to protect the rest that were left.”
“So they were humans after all…” I whispered. I mostly already knew this, had witnessed Eve just begin the process.
“Those that didn’t die…” Vincent explained. “They mutated along with the virus. Don’t know exactly how it works but…”
I cut him off and said, “The antibodies reformatted the living cellular structure. They corrupted the white blood cells and destroyed the immune system.” The words came streaming out of my mouth without thinking. “Most died from their systems shutting down. Those who didn’t die saw their DNA transform, twisting them into something completely different.” My chain finally started to snap, but not fully yet.
“Atta-boy,” Vincent said with a nod.
My memories were forming, piecing together hints of the past. The process of the turning fit into place. I remembered how the subject would reject the drug treatment harshly, and a violent change occurred. The entire transformation only took a matter of days. The subject’s body would crack in places, bleeding internally, until soon after a black ooze would drip from the wounds. It was some biological reaction to the mixture of drugs in the system, corrupting the blood, turning it a dark color.
Their bodies would twist and mutate, losing all semblance of who they used to be as they lost hair, teeth, and all their senses. Not long after, they were screaming lunatics and walking beasts.
“It was meant to help…” I started. “I didn’t mean for any of this.” Visions flashed inside my skull, burning pictures of what happened into the back of my eyes.
“It wasn’t your fault. It was an accident, you know,” Vincent insisted.
“An accident?” I asked. I couldn’t recall how it happened, but the virus must have leaked through somehow. Though anything that caused a pandemic, and a shift in human nature, was far more than a mere accident. Vincent returned to the monitors, switching away from the ticking numbers and to another channel.
The monitors flashed with our history. The city we lived in was suddenly rebuilt, restored, and shining with brilliance. This I remember being Chicago. I recognized the Willis tower, John Hancock Center, and even Lake Michigan. The transformation of the desert must have dried up the entire lake. I remembered this city from my past. On the screen was a picture of the center of the city, one with a mass of buildings, and people still living normal lives. In the middle was Bennis Industries headquarters, exactly where I was ready to jump off and end it all. It was where the outbreak began.
“Of course it was,” I said. I had created the Alaco virus after all.
I suddenly thought of how the timer had died outside my jail cell, just a little while back. How those creatures came into the living part of this city.
“Why is the power failing?” I asked.
“Now that is why you’re here. Well, besides the turning too, I believe. The lights suddenly flickered inside the small room, and the screams outside picked up. Vincent stared at the roof, as if trying to look through the concrete walls and focus on the antenna above.
“The problem is when the power goes out the barrier drops. The five thousand effect will no longer protect the city, or me, I suppose,” Vincent sighed. “I think that is why the other installations went dark.”
“The others? Like this one? Where?” I asked.
“South Carolina, Russia, China, and a few other places. I lost communication with them a few months back. It’s been quiet ever since.”
Another memory snapped into place. The five thousand effect was launched two years ago at most of the installations through an aerosol blast that treated the atmosphere. The effect was what caused the barrier, the memory loss, and the darkness that surrounded the city’s center. The antenna above us was the launch platform for the aerosol.
The aerosol itself triggered a certain synapses in the brain when the host turned twenty-six and the dormant virus would mutate.
“Why didn’t you ever lose your memory?” I asked.
“We believe that the virus didn’t react with the five thousand effect in a host that doesn’t mutate after twenty-six.”
I was more than confused.
“Why is the number twenty-six so important?” I asked.
“We honestly never figured it out. We just didn’t have enough time. All we know for sure is that the virus can still kill a person at any age, but the mutation doesn’t occur until twenty six.” Vincent shrugged.
“Why would a virus even, or how…” I stuttered. A virus couldn’t determine age, could it? It must have been some physiological change.
“I don’t know,” Vincent answered.
“Well, the power…” I started.
“Right. But I haven’t a clue where the source lies. There are no cords or electronics showing a location. In fact, the power flows through the ground. That’s why the building’s still lit up outside,” Vincent explained.
The chain finally snapped and everything came flooding back.
“The serum! The serum I injected into myself before the five thousand effect was enacted. That’s why I remembered more,” I said out loud, not knowing what to do with all the memories that were suddenly available.
“Exactly lad. The serum didn’t fully block the effect, but it partly worked. Are you back now?” Vincent asked.
“Yes.” Everything from this past life flooded back. All the bad stuff was now lingering in the back of my mind.
“Here, I won’t need this,” I said as I gave the sphere to Vincent. “The five thousand effect surrounds the installation.”
I got up and paced to the middle of the floor. Finding a groove in the tile, I lifted the slab and pressed the revealed button. A small rumble shook beneath our feet, and a trapdoor lifted a few feet away.
“What are you planning on doing?” Vincent exclaimed.
“First and foremost, I need a weapon. If people were still in the installation they may have turned, and they may have adapted to the five thousand effect since they had nowhere to go.”
Vincent walked to a shelf and grabbed a pair of handguns and five clips, along with a flashlight. I wished I had those kinds of reserves just laying around back in the city.
“The installation is down there. The power supply is down there as well. We need to fix that right now, because if we don’t then the barrier falls,” I explained.
“But, you didn’t build the power supply,” Vincent replied.
“I’m no engineer, but we have to do something.” I took just one handgun and a couple of clips. Shoving one clip in, I cocked back the arm and put one in the chamber, making sure the safety was on. I put the gun in my belt, the clips in my front pockets, and twisted down toward the ladder that led underground.
“Be safe down there, Jackson,” Vincent advised.
“Be back in a few,” I said. I stepped onto the ladder and paused for a moment, looking up at Vincent. “You know, I can feel the turning coming. How did you know you were immune to it?”
“I didn’t. Lucky I guess.”
“Luck.” I said. “Don’t think I’ll be so lucky.” I knew I wasn’t going to be immune. Fate wouldn’t be so cruel as to have the person responsible for the fall of humanity be immune to his own plague. “I should be going.”