MUTATION: ZOMBIES AMONG US

Chapter 15: The Monster in Wallace

     A few days passed by, and during those times I was up and about, helping the others in one way or the other, except Wallace, who isolated himself in an observation room, experimenting on my blood. He gave me no reports of discovery yet, but always said that my blood was somewhat interesting, something he had never seen before. He'd spend hours in that room, and sometimes forgot meal times, which worried the others a lot. But he would always come back with his bright face that cleared their worries, and we would joke about our normal, previous lives and laughed them off.
     The mystery behind the strange genes in my blood was still yet to be solved, but I had other things to worry about. We needed food, supplies and defence. So before the hospital food ran out, Blue and Lukeman would go out and savage for food, while I would later follow either of them to get weapons or tools to forge more. We were lucky enough to not be spotted by any zombie in these past few days, and while it gladded the others, it worried my heart.
     General Max had been in the opinion that," If the enemy don't attack, then be on your guard". In other words, if you haven't been attacked by an enemy, then be careful, because they will be waiting for you in ambush, ready to pounce on you like powerful tigers. And whenever that happens, the prey will always suffer losses. But Max also suggested that," Sometimes, the only way to win a clever enemy is to imitate their strategy, seize control of the area and prevent them from hiding". To him, it was better to kill the enemy by their own game than be the victim.
     He was right after all. He once told me when he and his men were ambushed by the enemy. He suffered and was hotly pursued by fifty of the remaining enemy soldiers, plus the commander. Their first mistake was to spread out in the jungle and surround the area. One by one, their screams echoed throughout the night, the sound of guns blazing and missing their target wildly. The shocked commander was the last to get killed by the legend himself, and the death was so brutal that he preferred not to tell me.
     I held on to those words because whatever Max said seemed to be true and not fallacious. And seeing that all was peace and quiet made me more nervous than before. But I couldn't show this side of my fear to my friends because it would discourage them or make them say," Come on Joe. Stop letting that get to you!". They'd be right though, but as the consequenctial philosopher Machiavelli once said," The end justifies the means".
     Moving back to weapons, we discovered that the hospital had a helicopter on the rooftop. Wallace was of the opinion of getting on board and leaving Mexico, but after a brief arguement, we decided to add some modifications to it and use it as a last resort to escape from a sudden invasion. To be prepared for that, Lukeman and I ravaged the streets and got as much tools, wires and bullets as possible. With these, we constructed a make Shift chopper with bullets, sharp tools and grenades as weapons. We really did a number on it though, making Wallace to comment," You really are a genius Joe".
     To be honest, I had good memories in those days, forgetting my worries, lessening my fears, accepting the situation I was in with the hope of solutions. But there was one thing that sparked back that fear every night, the tormenting voice.
     The voice never spoke again after the Erik jet incident, and although I was glad to never hear from it again, those dervish words repeated in my dreams every damned night. Most nights I dreaded sleeping, and those nights were always the worst. My dreams were more like repeats of the events of the Outbreak, especially the recent ones. The spirit of the Crusher laughing at the possible deaths of my friends; the haunting voice ringing in my head; the loss of Erik, with the voice and that of Musa's blaming me for not saving him; the horrid flashbacks of the vision I had; and much more. Most times I jumped out from my sleep, and to return back was almost impossible.
     It was in the early morning of a fateful day, that I had experienced the most dreadful of all dreams. I woke up in a foggy building, with the mist surrounding me on all sides. I looked round in all directions, wondering where I was. I called out to the others, but no one answered. Only my voice was heard, as it echoed in all directions, informing me that I was in a wide area. I tried to make out my movements, but the fog was as thick as lead, blocking me from finding an exit. Just when I thought I might be heading the wrong direction, a very familiar voice asked me," Trying to leave?".
     I paused as fear gripped my heart. I looked back slowly and saw Ana, wearing only the torn hospital apron with the bloodstain on it. Her smile was that of the devil, and her face radiated evil.
     " Ana", I muttered slowly, fear slowly increasing.
     " It's pointless dear. You can't run from what you and your father caused", she said coldly.
     " What do you mean?", I asked as I took bold steps towards her.
     She suddenly appeared behind me, grabbed my shoulders so as to startle me, but relaxed her strength and spoke calmly, while ghostly figures of people becoming infected appeared right in front of me," You did this Joe. You and your father did this to me. And you also did this to all these people, who didn't do anything wrong to deserve this"
     " It was an accident Ana", I said as tears tickled down," None of this was ever suppose to happen".
     She grabbed my face and looked me straight in the eye," I can feel your pain. You want to see me again, don't you?".
     " More than anything".
     She smiled and replied," You will find me, but it will cost you everything".
     " What do you mean?", I asked, horrified at the statement.
     " Take a look yourself", she said and looked forward.
     I followed her gaze and was shocked to my bones at what I saw. Part of the fog cleared to reveal Blue laying horizontally in the air, with something hidden pulling both hands and legs. His screams echoed as he cried out my name repeatedly for help. Seeing this, I rushed forward to save him, but was stopped by an invisible wall. In horror, I watched as I heard several of his bones cracking, blood spilling from his nostrils and his fight for survival decreasing by the moment.  Then I heard a song being sang behind my back, and in tears, I looked back and saw Ana singing with delight in her eyes:
     " Somebody said lu lu lu lu. Somebody said lu lu lu lu. Somebody said luu luu. Somebody said lu lu lu lu lu lu".
     That was the only dream that made me fall out of the bed. I didn't tell the others about it and had my meal on the rooftop. Blue, however, perceived that something was wrong and decided to check up on me. He met me on the rooftop, sitting on a bench, my food untouched and my face staring at the sunrise.
     " You aren't gonna eat?", he asked.
     " Sorry. I was just looking at the sunrise", I replied.
     He sighed and sat beside me." You mind telling me what's wrong?".
     " It's not important".
     " Don't lie to me Joe", he said with a look of seriousness," Something's bothering you and I want to know it now".
     " I said it's nothing important", I said with a little agitation," I'll eat it later".
     " Come on Joe. Silence kills the depressed man. You guys won't tell me what Wallace is up to and now something's bothering you which will kill you from the inside. Please", he said and placed his right hand on my left," Talk to me".
     I kept mute and looked away, unwilling to speak up. He sighed and got up from the bench. Instead of leaving, he prayed to God on my behalf, ignoring my presence but seeking mercy from God on my behalf. I looked at him and was touched by his words, wondering whether there was any other person like him.
     He finished his prayer and looked at my tearful face. He confronted me as I cried for sometime." Ready to talk?", he asked.
     I nodded my head and opened my mouth to speak, but suddenly my walkie-talkie buzzed(we managed to get some of these in our search for weapons). I picked it up and answered," This is Joe. Do you copy?".
     " Copy that Joe", replied the sinister voice.
     My face went pale white as I paused at the response. Blue too was alerted. I summoned some courage and asked," What the hell do you want?".
     " To deliver the good news my friends".
     " We are not your friends", replied Blue sharply," And what do you mean by,'good news'?".
     " I withheld my minions from ravaging your shelter because of the fascinating determination by Wallace. His experiments were really quite unique, and after days of research, he discovered a cure to the apocalypse, a thing not even Joe could discover".
     We both paused as we looked at each other in bewilderment. But after reasoning it out, we knew where this was heading." What did you do to him?!", I yelled as I stood up from my seat in fear.
     " Max once told you that,' The predator kills the uncautious prey'. Since Wallace was so fascinated about the cause, I decided to let him be part of this cause. And for that reason, Chapter three: The Monster in Wallace, begins".
     The line went dead, and we knew we were dead as well.