DYSTOPIA

chapter 1 (present day)

FEBRUARY 19th 2037

PRESENT DAY

"Where am I? What the hell is this place?" a man tied and covered in lead shielding screamed as he was thrown down from the vehicle's trunk. The blind fold placed over his head wouldn't allow him see anything, he was brought in from the university area, just outside of the damaged containment facility, it was weird he was still fully conscious after being there at all. The Humvee’s engine stopped abruptly when the Sarge jumped out of the vehicle's driver side seat.

"Rick! Take him to the container room downstairs"

"Yes sir" Rick answered "you're with me" he added assigning another armed man to himself. They both walked down a tunnel together.

“Where’s goddamn McCarthy” he paused and looked to me "there you are" He said pointing "get someone on the situation ASAP" he added

"I'm sorry sir, I don't think I we have the resources or personnel that could tend to the man, and he would have been exposed to dangerous levels of radiation... Or worse, Relilium" I said but he just looked at me and walked to the middle of the garage. "Gather round people, there's a new development" he looked at me and said "I don't care McCarthy, get someone on it yesterday or we'll cut him open. He was exposed to fatal radiations but is still alive, I need to know why" he stopped, "look here everyone, I’ll have the control room prepped for a station wide broadcast in 5 minutes…"

I left the garage through the tunnel opposite the Humvee while he was still speaking, the medical bay was a few floors down but I couldn't have the man checked there, it was too risky. The container bay could work but it was not designed to contain relilium radiation; I was a little confused. As I got to the elevator, I heard my name being called from behind me, I turned around and said upon seeing the person calling me "Doctor Ray, what's up?"

"Roselyn, I heard about that guy found in the devils playground, what's that about?" He asked

"Yeah the Sarge caught him on a drone camera on Tuesday; we've been watching him since then. Today he moved outside of the severely contaminated zone so the Sarge made a move on him"

"But we don't have a relilium radiation containment facility here, how do we keep him?" He asked

"I told the Sarge but he wouldn’t listen, I’m sure they’ll put him in the container room, it's on the lowest basement floor of the complex so that amount of concrete should block out most of the radiation"

"Let's hope so, we can't endanger everyone here you know"

"I know but when you think about it, it's worth studying right... I mean he was there for over 2 days and is still alive, that's weird right"

"Well I'll ready the biohazard suits just in case, and I would assume I should call that damn nuclear scientist right… what’s his name again?” he asked rhetorically, looking to the steel frame of the tunnel

“Walker” I said "That's right, call him" I said. "See you downstairs?" I asked as I got into the elevator

"Sure" he said. As the elevator doors closed, the thought of what was happening in the world crossed my mind, I couldn't shake of the fact that humanity was threatened, and it wasn't even our fault. When I was younger I used to think that if the world would end, it would be aliens or some nuclear war; guess I was wrong. The cranking elevator noise didn't help the thought at all, being in another confined space with loud annoying noise was exactly what I needed, but then again we didn't build the elevator and it was ancient. I wished my little brother was still alive, I wished he was with me; he knew how to cheer me up. Four years was a long time but the memories of my family still seemed fresh, the pain still seemed fresh. I sighed as tears rolled down gently down my face, I felt like I should die, I kept creating scenarios in my head of me rescuing them at the last moment, I wished every day that I was able to get them away from the house on the day of the explosion, if only I had come to visit they wouldn't have been home that day. As the elevator came to a stop, my attention was drawn back to the reality of things, the doors opened up and I stepped out of it and walked towards the container room

"McCarthy, get your a*s over here" Rick called rudely, I always disliked him because of his bad behaviour, he thinks we were all soldiers before the global outbreak of the Relilium infection. I guess it wasn't his fault, after the outbreak we all lost something.

"Yes Rick, that's exactly what I was doing" I answered and walked a bit faster to him, "any particular problem?" I asked as I got to him

"The guy is not talking to us; Sarge thinks your expertise on psychology might be useful"

“I thought I was supposed to get someone to handle him”

“Sarge thought it would be best if he handled him by himself, as you weren't anywhere to be found…” that's right, I was in the elevator longer than I thought, it was faulty and occasionally got stuck, I must have been lost in thoughts when it happened.

"What do you think?"

"I think it's a waste of time, we should beat him" he said

"Wait you guys didn't remove him from the lead coated biohazard..."

"Relax, he's been tested and the dosimeter read only about 0.9 roentgens, doctor Osamu said that's the equivalent of a full body CT-scan"

"That's not possible!" I exclaimed "double check" I said

"They did, same results", I immediately rushed to the container room and barged inside, everyone turned to me, they were all surprised the way I stormed in,

"What is the problem McCarthy, where the hell have you been?" The Sarge asked “you refused to get someone on him so as usual I have to do it myself”

"You all shouldn't be in here it's dangerous" I said walking to the Sarge, I was actually pretty frightened but tried to hide it

"It's okay, we checked for radiation, he's clean that's why we need him talking"

"But he was exposed to dangerous levels of radiation"

"And you made that point clear earlier, get in there and talk to him" the Sarge said, every other person in the room including Efomo, a fellow doctor and my friend who I thought would stop the Sarge didn't, they were all waiting for me to go in, probably because I was the best human behavioral analyst they had. The container room had been modified a few weeks back, the Sarge turned one of the three rooms to a holding cell and another to a prison cell; the last was a research lab to handle anything that might have been in contact with relilium, I was there most of the time but that was the first time I was in the holding room.

“No way I’m going in there, I’d rather be shot” I said, the serge looked to me in disappointment and disgust

“Are you mad” he said, “get in the goddamn cell” he added pointing to the person inside the cell,

"Jamie!" I exclaimed as I looked through the door's vent

"I'm sorry what did you say?" Efomo asked, I closed my eyes and ducked while shaking my head, I refused to believe what my eyes had seen.

"Do you know him?" The Sarge asked, I'm sure he was thinking a lot of things at the time but I was as confused as a bat in daylight. I knew Jamie while I was still in school and he had somewhat of a temper and a short fuse but he was listed as a primary victim of the explosion of 33. I knew no one else was aware of that. I looked at the Sarge and stuttered a little before I could say anything, the look on his face clearly showed that he had gotten impatient with me and would have screamed at any minute.

"I'm sorry, we went to school together, and he was studying um... He studied biophysics while I read biomechanics. He should be dead 4 years ago, I don't understand" I said pointing to him

"So you know him, that's better, it'll be easier to talk to him" the Sarge said with a more excited look, he assumed it was progress. "Go inside now, think of something good to say" he added, I wondered how he thought at times, he clearly heard what I said but didn’t care besides the kind of situation I had found myself couldn't allow me to think of anything good, how did the Sarge want me to do it?, I asked myself. As arguing with the Sarge didn’t normally help, I walked in the container room and closed the door behind me without giving it much thought. Jamie had his head down, he was cuffed to the chair so he couldn't do much with his hands, I signaled the two soldiers Sarge had appointed to stand beside him and they surprisingly obeyed, perhaps because they knew he was outside and had sent me in. I walked and took a chair opposite Jamie and said

"Hey Jamie" he jerked a little in shock, he hadn't told anyone his name so he was surprised how I'd found out what it was but he still said nothing "look at me Jamie" I said again, he looked up and exclaimed in shock as his eyeballs grew so large as if they would explode

"Rose!" He stared at me for a few more seconds before he spoke again "wha... What! How... Sorry, you're still alive?"

"Of course I'm alive, how are you still alive? I mean everyone I knew said you had died in the explosion" he looked confused and scared and at the same time excited, perhaps because he’d seen a familiar face or perhaps he was thinking of what to say

"I was supposed to meet a friend at maingate that day but he cancelled last minute so I never went, I was at R.V service apartments when I heard about the explosion and I fled the city immediately, as everyone else did"

"You've been in the red zone for days, how are you still alive?" I asked him but he kept quiet "common Jamie you gotta talk to me, everyone outside want to cut you open and carry out experiments on you, I'm the only thing keeping them from doing that"

"What! Has humanity reduced itself to such savagery?" He asked me, without waiting for my answer, he answered "I don't know how okay, I was searching for Larry there, the last time we talked, his signal was broadcast from there and I was hoping I would meet him and get the key-card to the private bunker where he has a ton of goods. But when I got there, the draugrs weren't active and wouldn't attack me so I assumed it was also safe there, I assumed they were evolving or had developed a sense of same species kind or something"

"They didn't attack you?" I asked with a silly look on my face, he was telling the funniest joke at a time like that “did you also fall from the moon?” I added, taunting him

"No, they just walked pass me, while staring at me most of the time, sometimes they would just initiate a chase and then let me go"

“Don’t joke with me” I said staring through the corner of my eyes at him

“Does it look like I’m joking? Why the hell do you think I stayed there that long?”

"Amazing" I said surprised and turned to the two way mirror "I think he might be… I dunno… um…resistant or immune sir, to the Relilium and somehow that has prevented his thyroid from absorbing radioactive iodine or any form of radiation at all". The Sarge barged in along with Steve and pushed me aside

"What are you saying?" He asked Jamie

"I don't know why I was not affected okay; I just wanna leave this place"

"I need his blood sir" Steve said

"You're not taking his blood" I retorted, the Sarge looked at me in anger

"Doctor” he said looking at Steve “Take as much blood as you want, Rick get in here and hold him down". He looked at me "are you mad McCarthy? Aren't you supposed to be helping us?" He asked, I was pretty sure he wanted to shoot me that moment, he pretty much didn't like me, none of the soldiers did

"Sir I get that we're trying to cure the Relilium infection and save humankind but if we keep going down this road we'll lose our humanity on the way, we've already lost so much" I Said

"Shut the hell up and do what you're told McCarthy, next time you challenge me, you're off my base”

“Okay what if we take all his blood and we can’t cure relilium? What if we need someone to do a recon mission or something in the devils playground? We can’t study relilium but he can” I looked between the Sarge and the mirror “it’s like no one even thought of the good side of finding him, the advantages we could have”

"I know none of you would want to accept that what she said is correct but it actually is" Efomo Said, the Sarge just laughed, he knew I was right but he didn't care, he just wanted a cure no matter the cost at which it came, I guess he was already losing his humanity. Doctor Steve’s assistant; Eric Osamu rushed in with a plastic case that had the biohazard symbol drawn boldly with black paint on its cover; it was a containment cooler used to store highly radioactive or contaminated materials, I just kept trying to think of the possible things that could be inside. He opened it and simple pulled out an already assembled injection, it was large and really scary, they were in so much of a rush to get his blood, they too were desperate to get out of the base. Funny how the world works when men are desperate, they would begin to think like cows or something, I just shook my head and walked out of the cell,

"McCarthy!" The Sarge exclaimed, I stopped just under the lintel "you're not going to say anything?" He asked, I shook my head because even if I said anything, he would just ignore it so there wasn't a point, he just sighed and walked closer to me "look we're not blood sucking demons okay, the doc would only take a little for experiments" his tone was reassuring and it did get me off the edge, I believed him but I wanted to seem hard-headed so I just sighed and left, Efomo followed me and apologized for not saying anything sooner and kept trying to calm me down, it was fun to be respected like that, I'm sure everyone was amazed at the way I stood up to the Sarge and God knows I nearly s**t myself doing it. At least now the Sarge would behave himself a bit around me.

"Look Efomo just leave me alone okay, I'll be in my cubicle if anyone important needs me"

"Roselyn, the Sarge was there, I didn't want him all over me okay"

"Leave me the f**k alone" I said with a loud voice while I pushed him back a little, the expression on his face was so funny to watch, he was like a child that had f****d up and was scared, I should’ve been an actress, I was so good at it, and I didn't even know. He staggered a bit and stopped then and then he immediately and turned around, heading back to the container room. I took the stairs up about four flights to my floor, the damn elevator was taking too long to get down, why the hell will a station this big have just two elevators I would’ve ask myself but wouldn’t ever find an answer. My cubicle was the third room to the left from the elevator, it was home as I had come to know, my whole life’s work since the explosion was there, my computer and most of the time my best friend Vanessa was there, she lost contact with most of her family after the accident, she had only her father and little brother left, in one of.tge super cities, it was also a hard time for her. So she kept those thoughts at bay by looking through my stuff, I had a book I always wrote my random thoughts in, and Judging from the way my door was left open, she was inside "I have always told you to shut the door when you enter Vanessa" I said as I entered and shut the door behind me, she sat in the bed holding an old box about the size of a microwave;

"Sorry babe, couldn't help it" she said, I just signed and went to the desk where my laptop was open

"Did you use my laptop?"

"Yeah I was trying to find out how to fix this" she said looking down on the box

"Common Vee, it's hard to keep internet connection up, you have to be careful the way you use it"

"Yeah whatever" she said, even though she was very nonchalant and disorganized, I loved her, she was there for me when I first arrived here, after realizing my family was gone. We were all we had

"So what did the Sarge drag in today" she said without looking at me

"Remember the guy I told you about, the one we spotted on the black streak's camera"

"Yeah"

"The Sarge brought him in, his bloods been taken now for research"

"That guy is infected, why would the Sarge bring him in?" She exclaimed

"That's just it, the 9 hour incubation period is over, the longest delay before a person lose himself is 22 hours, this guy is still himself and he's been inside the school for at least 60 hours, he's clean"

"Don't f**k with me girl"

"I'm not" i said

"Go sell your bullshit to someone else" she said "you know what this is?" She asked; she was a guru at engineering so she would naturally be with broken machines and stuff, I didn't care all that much about computers only my exoskeleton enhancements power source which she was helping me design.

"Why the f**k would I know what it is" I said looking at her from my desk, she was disappointed and just frustrated, it seemed like it was giving her a hard time and what I said didn't help things, "alright I'm sorry, what is it?" She hesitated before she answered, but she loved me too much to walk out on me, I giggled a little and got up from the chair and moved to the bed

"It's a mother engine" she said

"A mother engine really, you can't get your hands on one of those, they're extinct, after the accident"

"I know, it came in with the scrap from the mission this morning, I almost didn't recognize it in the dirt"

"Wait are you kidding" I asked, the look on her face suggested otherwise, she had found a mother engine, the stuff was nicknamed mother engine because once connected to any onboard computer, it supercharges the power core, in come cases it acts as the power core and could releases insane energy that could move an aircraft carrier at 40% the speed of sound. They were manufactured by spacejump corporation in 2021 as the 'jump engine' they’re legendary equipment and Vanessa just found one of the first generations of it "you should tell the Sarge"

"I know, right after i get it to work, I would... there was a project the Sarge had put on hold but with this, it'll definitely be finished"

"What about the exoskeleton project" I asked, she dropped the box,

"s**t" she said "that's actually why I came, I finished rebuilding the software program all that's left is a power source"

"You're literally holding a mother engine in your hand" she looked at me in surprise,

"What!" She exclaimed "it's a heavy particle fusion engine; power from it would literally overload the exoskeletons until they explode"

"Really" I asked

"It was designed to power giant rockets and sky fortresses. The only power source I can think of that would power the skeletons is the star globe battery, but they're also extinct"

"Damn, so what do we do" I asked

"We have to halt that project too, the current batteries would only last a couple of minutes say twenty five…thirty minutes before they run out and you don't want to be out in the open when that happens"

"f**k" I said, "Don't tell the Sarge, it's the only reason I'm still among the elite class on this base" I said in a sarcastic tone, I was teasing myself, just to make me feel better, such stupid thing to do. I sighed and looked at her, I honestly didn't know what to do to make the exoskeleton work on less power I'm sure Vanessa was thinking too, in the middle of our brainstorming, an alarm went off and the whole base went on lock down, the power went out and air circulation stopped, the lights dimmed a little and fear gripped me, Vanessa was also frightened, I couldn't even try to think of what happened, it was the first time it happened, I didn't know what it meant.

"No!" she exclaimed "were you serious about the Sarge bringing in that guy from the contaminated area" she Asked, I nodded in fear and curiosity

"What happened" I asked, she seemed to know something about the alarm that I didn't,

"About a year ago, the Sarge had me install a software program in the system computer's mainframe, once Relilium is detected it shuts the whole base down and starts to cycle through the levels to determine the contaminated areas and keep them shut down, keep the infection there"

"That's what you were working on in the ventilation system that time?" I asked

"Yeah, took us seven months to complete it, it should release the locks on the door and open the vents in a cou..." A clicking sound came from the door as the lights brightened right back up "it's not this floor" she said

"Jamie" I spoke in a very low tone, she turned around and asked

"Who's that?"

"It's the guy the Sarge brought in" I answered "could it be that his incubation period was delayed?"

"You've seen him?" She asked

"Yes" I answered more politely than usual

"Then it's unlikely, this floor wouldn't have been released" she stormed out of the room and looked down both corridors, she ran the other way, to the stairs and I followed her, the elevator was on lockdown still, some soldiers ran past us downstairs to the basement floors and we followed them, Jamie had to know something about it. As we got there, we saw the Sarge and everyone else in front of the lab's door, inside was Doctor Steve and Eric, they'd been locked in

"The hell is going on" Vanessa asked, Efomo turned around and said

"Steven dropped the injection with the prisoner’s blood and it broke, wounding him, then the system triggered an alarm and locked down"

"Apparently, Doctor Ray said the relilium in the blood is still infectious if directly administered to another person. Steve is infected" Rick said

"And Eric" I asked

"He's probably not but the system won't allow the door to open so..."

"Damn" Vanessa said "Sarge you gotta burn him"

"What" I exclaimed, along with Efomo and Rick

"Are you mad?" He paused "he's one of us"

"No he was one of us, now he's a draugr, his being alive on the base means doom for us all, and there are at least 300 people on the base now"

"It's not a trade we can make, one for three hundred" Doctor Ray pointed out, the argument intensified and the Sarge just kept quiet, I know he had a longer backstory with Doctor Steve so I couldn't imagine him doing it.

"We can't burn him" he exclaimed, everyone kept quiet for a while and then Vanessa spoke

"Life isn't always fair Sarge, if we don't burn him, the lab as Well as the entire base could go down in a day, I know its hard but we don't have a choice"

"I'm right here" doctor Steve said banging the metal frame of the door, "I can hear you all, you're like actually making things worse for me, you want to burn me and you're saying It to my face" he said, then he looked at me "McCarthy why aren't you saying anything?" He asked “Jesus Christ; the hell is wrong with you people? The Sarge was in a Humvee with that guy for two f*****g hours, I mean they literally drove like a hundred kilometers to get here, they’re not infected” he said

“Yes but they weren’t drinking his blood in the Humvee or… he wasn’t breathing into their mouths so they didn’t get the infection that resided in his blood” Efomo explained

"I'm thinking" I said replying to Doctor Steve question, the Sarge looked to me,

"Thinking of what McCarthy"

"The best line of action sir"

"And"

"Well even if we burn him here, we'll still need to move the infected body and clear the lab. Burning him isn't the best line of action here"

"What the hell are you talking about Rose" Vanessa said "you hate his a*s"

"Yeah but the best line of action would be to use him as bait to draw the draugrs away on our next movement outside, that way we won't lose anything" doctor Steve looked at me on shock, as did the Sarge, they were confused and irritated, I'm sure they didn't see that coming

"You're crazy McCarthy" Rick said taking some steps back, I could see the fear all over his face, that would teach them not to look down on me anymore "karma is a b***h isn't she doctor" I said to Steve "I told you not to take his blood but you insisted and now you're f****d" the Sarge looked at me as did Efomo who wanted to talk but didn't, Vanessa was really happy inside, even though it was sad what was happening, I felt like he deserved it, I must be a horrible person then again they probably thought i was joking. And then a buzzing alarm sounded and the lights came back on completely, the door was released and an automated computer voice from inside the lab said “relilium samples analyzed, contamination contained, lab extension secure” then the lab was depressurized and the door opened, we were actually all in a literal state of shock in that moment, I mean what on earth, he was infected and now the system is letting him out, how does that happen? Could it be a faulty system and now were all infected or could be a simple misunderstanding...

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