Tamarrud

Chapter 12: The Truth

Everyone sat huddled together, some tried to console distressed children who didn't know or understand what was going on. Drexel stared at the newly healed man. His unruly hair barely covered his eyes. He remained alone from everyone, nobody seeming to know who he was either. That came off as odd to Drexel so he walked over, picking his leg up awkwardly.

"Hey, how you holding up?" he asked. The man was nervous, his body releasing slight ticks and jitters. Drexel noticed each one.

"Okay I guess. Why are we in here? Where's my wife? What's going on out there? What were those things?" he loaded on the questions. Drexel continued eyeing him. There was something off. His ticks, his mannerisms, everything about him was off.

"What's the last thing you remember? Can you give me a date or something?" He needed answers, answers he hoped would denounce his fear otherwise he would frighten everyone in the room with his future actions.

"Uh... I don't know. I was walking home one night and this crazy person attacked me. She was all pale, her head looked extremely large. Like her brain was too big for the space. She did this weird teeth chattering thing, like when you just click them against each other," he explained, making Drexel frown. That's not the answer he was hoping for. "She bit my arm. I felt like I was in one of those zombie flicks you know? A few days later I got really sick. That's when my wife told me about the virus or whatever. We went to the doctors and they told us the same thing. Some virus or something got out of control."

"Pax-A. That's what's going on out there. People who get sick become like that woman, crazy, deranged, wanting to spread the virus more. So far we've found three final components of the virus. Adoration, surges in testosterone and estrogen hijacking the emotions to create a desire to spread infection. Devotion, the host constantly thinks about the worm triggering rushes of pleasure. Finally transcendence, treating the worm like some king of god," Drexel explained. He raised an eyebrow. "You said you were sick? Looking at you now, you look completely healthy. Besides a few ticking movements. What happened?"

"Some guy in a lab told me he was going to save the world or something. I don't remember his name. He just told me to follow the others through a filing cabinet or something," he said, trying hard to remember Geo's name and face. "He had an undercut, but he was sick too. I could sense it, you know? He might not look like it but I know for a fact he was."

"Rayne!" Drexel hollered for her. She came over, concerned. "What happened to Geo back at the CDC? This man is saying he was sick and that he talked to Geo. Now he's not sick. What the hell is going on?" he questioned. Rayne thought hard if she should give up the secret and she realized that she should since he wasn't there to get upset about it.

"I watched a woman try to give Geo the worm. Then he did some weird temple burning thing on one of the scientists. He's teeth were jagged and he really scared me I thought--"

"Where is he now?"

"I don't know."

Drexel went back to the man and grabbed him, "Where did the guy go? The one who said he was going to save the world?"

"I don't know. I followed everyone else here. Please don't kick me out, I don't want to die."

"Nobody's getting kicked out, just relax," Drexel released him, "I didn't mean to grab you like that. I'm just scared for my friend is all."

***

Geo stood in front of Sophia again. She had a smile on her face as she continued to circle around him. His hands were cuffed behind his back. He bounced on his heels impatiently.

"Looks like you found your way back, Geoffrey."

"Didn't have much of a choice now did I? What with you guys going all the way to our base to issue an attack when you could clearly see we were under siege by the scavengers."