Merman - Romance

Chapter 11

Chapter 11

‘Many, many years ago our fore parents lived on this world as land goers.  They were like these people, human.  It was a time when things were different, very very different.  It was a world where people walked about freely and life was good.  Knowledge was very high and was greatly respected.

A group of scientists, thought to be the greatest minds on the earth at that time came together to work on a cure for the most deadly disease known to men, a new strain of AIDS.  The illness had reached epidemic proportions and many were dying daily.  Governments all over the world funded these twenty great minds to seek a cure.

They worked for many years, their research was top secret.  The first test subjects were voluntary and were on the edge of death, they had nothing to lose or so everyone thought.  It turned out that the cure worked better than anyone could imagine the test subjects were up and walking around within minutes of receiving the medicine.  They were watched for two weeks and then allowed to go home to their families.  No one knew that those two test subjects were carrying a disease that would change the world as they knew it.’

“Does this cave even have an end?”  Kate muttered.

“We’re all in the same boat; we just have to see where it leads us and stop griping,” Kent said.

Ridec tuned out the conversation and focused in on Jessell’s thoughts again.

‘Just days after the test subjects went home they started to act strangely.  Reports indicated that one attacked his wife, children and neighbors and the other attacked people on a train.  It soon became clear that almost everyone they bit began to exhibit the same hostile cannibalistic traits.  They later learnt that the illness could spread through contact with bodily fluids.  The magnitude of the problem became apparent when police were called in and were forced to shoot the attackers, it was then they realized that the attackers could not be killed by conventional means.  The illness continued to spread like wildfire, people who seemed perfectly normal, when they died came back to life and started to attack people.  Each day was a new learning experience; unfortunately it was a learning experience that was costing them lives.  They eventually recognized that some people could live for years without showing any sign of the disease but when they died – regardless to the cause of death – they became zombies.  Mankind battled for years to try to bring the situation under control but to no avail.’

‘What of the twenty scientists?  The brightest minds?’  Ridec questioned, he had been so upset with the way the humans had treated him but now he felt sympathy for them knowing what they had been through.

‘The scientists tried everything to contain the epidemic.  They learnt that several bullets to the back and base of the head where the spinal cord connected to the brain could cut off the zombies ability to move and salt on any part of their body was like acid to a human.  It was one of the few things zombies seemed to feel and it killed them in minutes.  They believed that had something to do with the constituents of the initial medicine.  They hoped to use the information about the salt to wipe out the infected people, but their numbers were growing so quickly it all seemed impossible.  Once the infection got into the ranks of the armed forces it all became hopeless.’

“We’re going to have to spend the night in here,” Kent muttered coming to a stop and causing Jessell to run into him.  Ridec grimaced.  He didn’t like to think of himself as jealous, well hell, he was jealous but he just didn’t like to think of himself as jealous.  He hated the thought of any man touching Jessell, even if it was purely by accident, darn, he hoped it was accident.

“I can’t see anything in here,” Pete muttered gripping Ridec’s free hand nervously.

“It’ll be alright,” Ridec assured him trying to make his own voice sound a lot more confident than he was actually feeling.  Maybe the kid should be comforting him, after all the boy had grown up in this place and knew what to expect, who was he kidding anyway, he was completely scared out of his wits.