Apocalypse

“You can’t keep thinking like that,” Khloe said. “You got to believe that you did right, or you’ll go crazy.”

I nodded. Anyone could have explained it to me using those words, but because it was Khloe, they stuck.

“Thanks,” I said. “You are right.”

Khloe smiled. “Of course I am. Girls are always right.”

“I guess so.”

“What happened to the guy you brought in?”

“He’s in quarantine.”

“Quarantine? Is he sick?”

“He’s sick with the xenovirus. Not directly, but there are infected microbes in his bloodstream that are killing him. My dad thinks he doesn’t have long, now.”

Even in the darkness, I could see Khloe’s face go white.

“The xenovirus isn’t supposed to affect people. Is it?”

“No. Like I said, it’s not affecting him directly. It’s getting him sick through the microbes, which are tainted. My dad is hoping to cure him, but I’m not so optimistic. My dad’s been working on the xenovirus for a long time.”

“Will you be alright? You were around him…”

“Well, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t worried. My dad said as long as I didn’t touch the wounds, I would be fine. I don’t think I touched anything.”

“Think?”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t.”

She sighed. “I don’t like that answer.”

“I feel fine,” I said.

“You need to wash up. You probably didn’t even wash your hands before eating.”

She smiled, and touched my face. I felt my cheeks redden – I hadn’t expected that.

She pulled her hand back. There was dirt on it.

“Told you.”

Before I had a chance to react, a shadow fell over us from the still ajar door to the corridor.

We both got up, and spun around.

It was Chan.

Chapter 6

Chan stood in the doorway, surveying us with his cold eyes. Khloe and I just stared at him, shocked. After a long while, he spoke.

“Miss Kline, please return to your family’s apartment. I must speak with Alex alone.”

Khloe nodded, casting me a worried glance.

“Mr. Keener. Follow me.”

I followed Officer Chan, my thoughts racing. What did he know? How could he know anything at all? My dad wouldn’t have said anything…would he?

We entered a hallway I rarely frequented – the Officers’ Wing. Chan’s office was at the end. A guard who I recognized, but whose name I did not know, was posted by the door. He cast me a suspicious glance and said nothing as Chan and I entered.

Chan’s office had a desk with a computer and papers on it. On either side was the same, nondescript wooden chair. On the far wall hung a large map, detailing southern California in the Old World. Red pins were stuck in key places, though only Chan and perhaps a few others knew their significance. The office was bare, utilitarian.

“You may sit,” Chan said.

I sat in the chair, though Chan remained standing, facing away from me. Though short, he appeared tall and domineering.

“Close the door, Officer Burton.”

The officer nodded, and shut the door. The silence that followed was thick.

“How was your first recon, Alex?”

It seemed a strange question, given he knew what happened.

“I wish it could have gone more simply.”

Chan wheeled around to face me, hands behind his back. I heard him crack his knuckles. His lips remained horizontal, but I saw him smirk with his eyes.

“I have called you in for two reasons. The first was to inform you that a new strain of the xenovirus has been discovered.”

I stared at Chan for a moment in mute shock. It was just thirty minutes ago that I had left the medical bay, believing that it was only the microbes that were infected, and not the man himself.

“What?” I asked.

“I watched as your father ran another test after you left. I personally saw him place the man’s DNA under a microscope, and clearly, whatever it showed was not entirely human. Your father never thought the xenovirus would be advanced enough to affect a human directly, hence why he would only think to test for the microbes to begin with.” Chan smiled grimly. “I’m glad that I insisted your father do this. I had a very bad feeling about this from the beginning.”

I was still so overwhelmed with the ramifications of a new strain of the xenovirus, one that affected humans no less, I could not answer. If the man were infected, then it could be communicable.

“I wanted to confirm this result to you in person first,” Chan said. “Since you help your father with his research, he will naturally share this breakthrough with you. You are not permitted, however, to share it with anyone else, under any circumstance. This is the main reason why I brought you here. You must promise me that this will remain hidden until I say otherwise. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” I said. “Of course. So, the xenovirus is actually transforming the man we found? As it would plants?”

Chan nodded. “Your father is still in the medical bay, working hard to understand this new threat. The man – whoever he is – is beyond saving. We can only watch as his body deteriorates, and take note of the effects the xenovirus has on him. Hopefully, we can learn all we can before he expires.”

I remained silent in the pause that followed.

“Now, Alex…did you tell anyone about the man? Perhaps you told Miss Kline?”

I felt a bit frazzled, so it was all I could do to look Chan in the eye. “No. We were talking about school, for the most part. I mentioned that the guy was sick, but nothing more.”

Chan nodded. “I hope that was all it was, Alex. Because if this gets out, then there could be one less Bunker in operation by tomorrow.”

He said nothing more on that subject, and neither did I.

“Now, I also wanted to know what happened on the recon. Recount everything, beginning to end, and spare no detail. Any piece of information could be important, even if you believe it is trivial. Please, be specific as possible.”

“Alright.”

I told him. He seemed uninterested in what I said, but I saw his eyes, calculating, when I could bring myself to look at them. When I got to the part of coming upon the man, he became more alert.

“I saw the man, and he had several wounds in his back. I watched Michael as he radioed back for help. We moved him…”

Chan stopped me there. “You saw nothing else? No one else? Obviously this man could not stab himself in the back. There had to have been someone else there, no?”

Here, my face twitched. I hoped it escaped Chan’s notice. I’m sure it probably didn’t.