Infectious

Chapter 6: Bennett

Hours pass by slowly as I pace around my cell alone. After failing to comply with the orders of the patrol I was taken into custody. What did they expect me to do? Simply stand by as I watch my wife dying, withering in pain, on the cold pavement? Of course, I fought back against their restraint. Nor do I regret it either, it was worth getting arrested. After the first few hours, my eyes began to dry up allowing for the restless anger to take over once more. Hands balled into fists I paced back and forth across the cell seeing Quinn's face twisted in pain every time I blinked.

"Alright," A patrol stood at the door to my cell, "Appears you are free to go, sir." He yanks the door back to allow me out.

"Free to go? Already?" How'd I get released so quickly? I should have had to see a judge before they let me walk out of here.

"Would you like to stay?" The patrol has a sense of humor I see.

"No, thank you." I shake my head in disbelief as I follow him out of the county jail. Once we get to the entrance I am handed my belongings, my wedding ring, old trifold wallet, and my cell phone. I slip the wedding ring back onto my finger with a shaky hand. Fighting hard against the new tears threatening to spill over I rush out the door seeking fresh air. Now what am I supposed to do?

Screams fill the air around the jail. People running by me in sheer panic. Patrols chase after them guns loaded, ready to execute anyone that might even slightly resemble being infected. I had heard over their radios no chances were to be taken, if you hear a cough or even just a sneeze you shoot. Not only was the virus going to kill people at an accelerated pace, but so will the patrols. What have I done?

Stepping as fast as possible off the front steps of the jail I meld into the chaotic crowd. I don't know where I am going, but I can't stay here staring at all these frightened people. My phone begins to vibrate in my pocket as it lights up with an unknown number.

"Hello?" I yell into the phone over the noise of those around me.

"Bennett, don't respond, just listen. I know what you have done." A deep voice of a stranger sets forth a wave of panic. Blood drains from my face as I begin to see stars. "Meet me at the pub on the corner of Manchester and Jackson in ten minutes. If you do not show up in the next ten minutes I will come to find you. This meeting is not optional. See you soon." The line goes dead. Clutching the phone tightly I turn around and start heading in the direction of the pub. How does he know? How would he have found out about my involvement? I was extremely careful to cover my tracks, no one besides the murdered men should have the knowledge of my crimes. My mind races with the thought of someone being able to expose me.

It doesn't take me long to reach the quaint little pub built into the bottom of an apartment skyrise. With a deep breath, I shove the front door open. The place is empty besides a taller well built man standing alone behind the bar with his back turned away from me. As he turns slightly in my direction I notice  his darkened hair is greying around the sides, a strong angular jawline faintly dusted with facial hair, and dressed to the nines in a navy blue business suit. Why would a bartender be so well dressed? Piercing green eyes locked onto mine urging me to join him. Here goes nothing. Trying my best to casually walk over I stumble over my own feet. The nerves are getting to me more than I noticed. Coming up to the bar, I slide carefully onto a cool metal stool in front of him.

"Hello." I  nervously place my fidgety hands into my pockets. Silently praying he doesn't see how shakey I am.

"Hello, Bennett. I am glad you made it." He raises his glass of what looks to be whiskey to his lips. "Oh, how rude of me." He juts his hand out in my direction, "I'm Noel. It's nice to meet you." A small grin shows off his perfect pearly whites. I leave his hand hanging there in front of me. "Alright then," he lowers his hand back down by his side . "Would you care for a drink as well?"

"Yes please." I watch as he pours a glass of the finest whiskey. Handing it to me he doesn't break eye contact. 

"Should I explain why I called you to this lovely establishment?" An eyebrow lifting with the question.

"I would love for you to explain." I take a sip of the drink he poured me, preparing myself for the worst.

"Okay then, the beginning would be a good place to start I suppose." He also takes a sip of his own whiskey before launching into his story. "I have asked you here to converse about the fact you created a virus aimed at the general public. Something so horrendous, that a part of me doubts you were prepared for the outcome, yet you staged a break-in of your precious lab to hide the release of the virus." He seethed. "You are responsible for the deaths of a few hundred innocent men, women, and children thus far!" He slams his glass down onto the bar top, shattering it. I jumped off the stool, startled by his outburst. Trying to put distance between us he stops me as a Glock .45 is calmly placed next to my glass. "Please Bennett, sit back down. I don't want to have to use this again today." Again? Having a proper look around the bar I see someone laying on the floor in a pool of blood, clearly an employee of the pub. Shot in the chest, he was most definitely dead. Noel notices I found the man he killed.

"Oh, yeah, did I forget to mention him?" He haphazardly shrugs, " If I hadn't shot him, I'm sure the virus would have. Probably saved him a lot of pain with one shot to the chest. Are you going to sit back down now?" I don't move. "Come on Bennett, there's no time to waste here." His fingers wrap around the trigger aiming the barrel at me. That gets my feet moving back to the stool. As I sit he smiles again, "Thank you for rejoining me. I appreciate your willingness to follow my requests." Noel takes my glass of whiskey, "you are done with this, aren't you?" I don't have a chance to respond before he has it gone and tosses the empty glass behind him shattering it.

I sat in front of him tight-lipped. Noel lets out a chilling chuckle. Making the hair on my arms stand on end. Casually he makes his way out from behind the bar, sitting down beside me on a stool he clasps his hands around the gun. Neither of us moves for a minute as he gathers his composure. An exasperated sigh escapes his nostrils.

"Would you like the chance to explain why you chose to endanger the entire world?" He asks, looking at me through the cracked mirror on the wall.

"I didn't endanger the entire world, this was a controlled release. We would never create a pandemic. Our community is overpopulated, and has been for a long time now, I was tasked with finding a way to help control it. A team of skilled scientists got together, myself included, and found we could release a small amount of the EC28 without a catastrophic response. However, in the break-in, we had a  miscalculation. It was stronger than we had expected it to be. More of the virus was released than what we had planned, and now... now we have a mess to clean up." I watch as Noel's eyes turn from an angry glint to pure rage. His dark-tanned knuckles became solid white with the grasp on the gun. "We tried to spread an antibody treatment throughout the community from a random draw of names. Except for the lowest class, we tried to protect as many people as was allowed. Our team thought we had done well with our plan, but we never calculated the possibility that people could reject the antibody. Clearly, that has begun to occur as more than what we had planned for are infected." I run a hand through my greasy, sweaty hair. "I don't know how it went so wrong... but now I have to figure out a way to fix this. To stop it before it spreads farther than the intended population."

"You want to stop it? Now that you have lost your wife, now you want to fix what you started?" He shakes his head in disbelief. "There is no stopping the virus Bennett. You have created a mass pandemic, and now you will pay for that."