The alarm was deafening and ominous with three loud buzzes followed by a moment of silence on repeat.
"Does this happen often?" Maddy yelled over the wail of the alarm. At the sound of the alarm, we all slammed our palms over our ears to try and keep out the ear shattering screech, but the noise was deafening.
"No," I shouted back, "alarms only go off if there's an outbreak, but everyone here is already infected except the doctors. If a doctor had gotten infected, though, the alarm would go off in their ward, not ours!"
"So why's it blaring here?" Reed asked through hooded eyes. It was no secret Reed had a temper. If he was a trading card, he could probably glare his opponents to death.
By now, I was off my bed and on the ground with Reed. Maddy and Joe scrambled up from the bottom bunk and glanced around frantically. Reed opened his mouth, but closed it again, at a loss as to what to do. Then, a voice came over the loud speaker.
"All Infected inhabitants of Zones 4A through 4F, 5C, 9A, 9B, and 10A report immediately to Dr. Sanders."
The wailing stopped.
"What was that all about?" Reed asked lowly.
"You expect us to know?" Joe shrilled, nearly in hysterics.
"Joe, you need to calm down," I said softly, my gaze darting nervously to Maddy who looked more than a little freaked out. Her round blue eyes widened even further and she didn't bother to push away the sweaty strands of chocolate hair plastered to her forehead.
Joe ignored me.
"IT'S THE ANTICHRIST!" he continued to shout.
"Joe–"
"That doesn't even make religious sense," Reed deadpanned.
After another twenty minutes of Joe screaming "BLASPHEMY" for no apparent reason and running around in circles, Reed finally managed to calm him down. Emphasis on the finally. It took a lot of coaxing and chocolate-based bribery, but eventually, he did it.
"You're not even Christian," Reed muttered darkly every time a spastic limb had flown in his direction. Every time, Reed looked like he was about to bite Joe's head off. Every time, Joe sent a sheepish grin at my neighbour. Maddy found the whole thing very amusing.
Ten minutes after that, the alarm picked up again. The wailing burned our ears once again and this time, we weren't surprised to hear the announcement:
"All Infected inhabitants of Zones 5A, 5B, 5D, 5E, 6A through 6E, and 7C report immediately to Dr. Applebaum."
When the alarm ceased and the announcement finished, we fell silent.
"What the hell is happening?" Joe whispered.
"Damned if I know," Reed grunted, peering through a gap in my plastic tarp. "The hallway's empty– wait, no. Look!"
We scurried to peer through the nooks between Reed's body and the tarp. It took a second, but we finally located what he saw. A little ways down the hall from Zone 7A - my zone - was Dr. Applebaum's office. One doctor was assigned to each Zone. Applebaum happened to be Zone 7s. The doctors hated getting Zone duty because it was a known fact that the doctors' ward was far more luxurious - well, as luxurious as a converted hospital could get. Doctors assigned to Zones had quarters just like the rest of us, which often left the ones like Applebaum and Sanders sour and snappy. Waverley was a rare exception, but unfortunately, she was Zone 5. I digress.
A small group of Infected were lined up outside Applebaum's quarters. One by one, they disappeared behind his tarp before coming out looking nauseous and dizzy. Then the next one in line would enter. The procession followed like clockwork. Rinse and repeat.
I recognised the last Infected. It was Clara Matthews, the girl on the other side of Reed's Zone: Zone 7C. Since Reed's room was closer to Applebaum's than mine, she didn't pass us before disappearing into hers. I sent Reed a look. Understanding, he nodded and disappeared out of my tarp, slipping into Clara's.
"I repeat. What the hell is happening?" Joe panicked, his murky green eyes glistening with worry.
"Nothing, okay? They're probably just switching up the antibiotics system."
"You know as well as I do that's not true," Joe hissed. "We're all on the same antibiotics. Why would they call out random sub-zones instead of like 'the entire Zone 5 or the entire Zone 7'?"
"I don't know, okay?" I snapped, my whisper a little louder than intended.
"Hannah?" Maddy asked nervously.
I forced a smile, "yeah?"
"Did you notice how dazed they all looked? They came out wobbling. One girl looked like she was about to throw up!"
I gritted my teeth. I had noticed that. I swallowed my anxieties with a gulp before shooting a genuine smile at my new room mate, comforting, "Maddy, it's okay. I trust these doctors. Some medications have weird side effects. If there's one thing I've learned since coming here, it's that there's a method to their madness. Trust me, it'll be okay."
Boy was I ever wrong...
***
The alarms and announcements continued every half hour for the next several hours. Reed never came back from Clara's room, but none of us were particularly worried. That boy had a habit of disappearing at weird times.
When he did eventually return, it was just before another alarm. There was something off about him. His dark hair was tousled and there was something strange in his eyes. Was that... Was it... Fear?
Just as I was about to ask him what was wrong, the alarm blared again. Irritated, I slammed my hands over my ears, waiting for the inevitable announcement:
"All Infected inhabitants of Zones 5F, 6F, 7A, 7B, and 8D report immediately to Dr. Carlson."
All four of us remained silent for a minute before Joe finally squeaked, "6F, 7A, and 7B... That's us."
One by one, the four of us filed out of Zone 7A and slithered down the hallway. All of our senses were on high alert. We passed Clara's room and I peered in through a gap in the tarp to see her passed out sideways on her bed, a small pile of puke next to her. I cringed. These side effects seemed a little intense.
Once out of Zone 7's hallway, we turned right and headed in the direction of Zone 8, where Dr. Carlson resided. Along the way, we bumped into a few other Infected residents of the Zones who had been called, all chattering nervously amongst themselves. I swallowed uncomfortably. Something about this whole endeavour just didn't sit well.
At Zone 8, we were asked to lined up just like we had seen the Infected do outside of Zone 7.
Dr. Waverly was there. She smiled weakly, her crows feet barely crinkling as she handed out labels and ordered us to write our names and sub-zones. The pen she handed me was filled with blood-red ink, which leaked all over my fingers as I wrote.
When I finished, my name tag was splotchy and full of ink blotches, but it read Hannah, 7A. I looked to Joe, who was struggling to peel off the sticky adhesive and caught a glimpse of Joe, 6F. Zone 6 was the smallest ward, so Joe - the last of the Zone 6s - had been thrown into an empty room in Zone 7 next to mine. Lucky for him or he'd never have such awesome friends.
Maddy and Reed joined us then, both avoiding eye contact, but each studying each other's labels with a detached interest. Another eye roll from me.
Reed, 7B and Maddy, 7A were scrawled in blue ink on each of their respective name tags. Before I knew it, Dr. Waverly had returned and started collecting up the pens. We were ordered to get back in line.
Dr. Waverly cleared her throat and spoke, "you all will be receiving a dose of an experimental virus," she announced.
"Sorry, what?" Joe floundered, "you're going to make us sicker?"
"No," she frowned. "The virus is designed to overpower the DNA of the original virus that infected you, or 'the plague', as you kids like to call it. Those of you who have taken biology will know that DNA consists of two polynucleotide strands twisted into a double helix–"
"English, please," Joe tutted. I elbowed him sharply in the ribs.
Dr. Waverly sighed and continued. "Okay, well think of DNA as two strands with links in between, wrapped around each other to form a shape like a spiral staircase..." She paused for a second before amending, "or, I guess, a spiral ladder. Anyway, the DNA is like the blueprints of any cell. It contains the plan for the creation of proteins, molecules, and systems of the cell. When a cell divides, one of the most important steps is DNA replication: the DNA replicates so copies of the DNA can be distributed to daughter cells (the cells that are being produced from the division). However, DNA is tightly packed into chromosomes and genes and so in order for replication to take place, DNA must first 'unpack' itself–"
"I thought you said it's shaped like a spiral ladder..." One of the boys - his name tag read Craig, 5F - said suspiciously.
Dr. Waverly rubbed her temples in irritation. It was then that I noticed the dark crescents under her eyes. "You can visualise DNA as the double helix/spiral ladder consisting of two very long strands that have been intertwined millions of times resulting in it being tangled into knots. That's where the enzymes come in. Enzymes go through and slice through individual knots and reconnect strands in a more orderly way."
"So what does this all have to do with injecting us with a virus?" Allison, the girl from 8D asked with furrowed eyebrows.
"This virus will intercept the enzymes of 'the plague' so that once the enzyme slices through the DNA, it won't be able to reconnect it. The DNA will remain a sliced, jumbled mess, unable to replicate and subsequently will result in termination of the initial virus."
"But it'll make us sick," Reed added with raised eyebrows.
"Yes," Dr. Waverly swallowed, "but only for a short period of time. This virus won't be lethal. It will make you sick, but it will also save your lives."
"So how come we've been divided into groups?" Craig challenged.
"You've been divided based on the strength of your immune systems and karyotyping–"
"What's karyotyping?"
"A way to sort chromosomes. Your karyotypes are most similar to each other so we grouped you together for better results. Also..." Dr. Waverly trailed off with a nervous gulp, her short hair bobbing with the motion.
"Also...?" Reed prompted.
"The virus for your group is different from other groups."
The whole group erupted into a cacophony of protests.
"WHAT?!" Some screamed while others cried out angry remarks about the dangers of testing experimental viruses on children.
"Listen!" Waverley shouted, trying to regain control over the chaos, "at this rate, you'll all die in a few months. This is your only hope of survival!"
"What if another group's virus works and ours doesn't and we die anyway?" Joe challenged.
"Well then at least we save one group," Waverly looked utterly remorseful. "It's better than trying only one virus that ultimately fails and nobody survives."
We all quietened at that. She had a point.
"So what do the other viruses do?"
"Some stop transcription, others aim at terminating the virus as opposed to inhibiting growth, et cetera."
"I understood some of those words," Joe nodded seriously.
After that, everyone seemed to silently agree to become Infected 2.0. We lined up like the good little children we were and one by one, proceeded into the tarped room to stick out our arms to be injected.
I was second-to-last in line, behind Reed and in front of Craig. We were the last three waiting to be injected. Ahead, Maddy stumbled out of the tarp, looking like she wanted to vomit. She leaned against a nearby construction pole (the only support for our draped rooms) and clutched her stomach worryingly.
Reed glanced at Maddy, shot me a disgruntled look - the least composed I had ever seen him - before he sucked in a breath and stepped into Waverley's room *cough, tent*.
The minutes ticked past and soon, I started tasting blood. Apparently I had a bad habit of chewing on my lip when I was nervous. After what felt like an hour, Reed's tall, broad figure appeared behind the tarp. He stood rigidly before the flaps parted and he wobbled through. His normally mocha complexion was far paler than usual and, like Maddy, he looked like he was about to hurl. He shot me a look that I desperately tried decoding before Craig gently but impatiently nudged me forward.
The others had already disappeared after getting their shots. Reed was sweating buckets and frankly, I was surprised he was waiting for me. Next to him, Maddy was curled up on the floor. He watched her with hooded eyes - so maybe it wasn't me who he was waiting for...
It was amazing how quickly the side effects of the virus had kicked in. Why was everyone experiencing nausea so quickly? Didn't it usually take between 24 and 48 hours for symptoms to appear when you first get a viral infection?
Damned if I know.
Before I could look to deeply into what seemed to be a warning glance from Reed, I was shoved into the tarp. Unlike our sub-zones, Dr. Carlson's had a small arm chair in the corner next to her single bed. She also had a nightstand as well as a desk, which was piled high with hunter's green folders, each one packed with papers. Some had even spilled on to the floor.
I eyed the long, skinny needle perched delicately in Dr. Carlson's knobbly fingers. From behind her, Dr. Waverly shot me a comforting smile. Like I said, she was the nicest of the sub-zone confined doctors.
The needle scintillated in the fluorescent lighting. Dr. Carlson held it in front of her face, flicking it gently to get rid of any bubbles before testing to see if it worked. After a thin stream of milky liquid shot out of the nozzle, Carlson held out an expectant hand. Gulping, I complied, opening my bare arm to her.
If there's one thing I hate about getting shots, it's getting them in the crook of my elbow. I've always hated it. I don't know why. I can do shoulder shots, but the elbow? No way. I'd take another month of quarantine and a slow, painful death over an elbow shot any day. Okay, maybe not, but you get my point.
Carlson poked around for the vein a little bit, squeezing my arm to make the bluish colour more vivid, before sliding the needle into my poor elbow. I bit down on my lip, once again tasting blood from the scab that hadn't quite healed yet.
As Dr. Carlson started compressing the needle, I watched the milky liquid disappear into my arm. It was a lot colder than I anticipated. The icy liquid crept its way through my veins; I could feel it dispersing throughout my chest before the feeling finally subsided. Without the cold, my veins felt hollow, like one of those caves created by magma drying and caking and then emptying from the crusty shell it left behind.
It took far too long, but when the needle finally retreated from my arm, I was left feeling dazed and woozy. My whole head throbbed and my throat burned with the sensation of bile creeping its way up from my stomach.
I took one step towards the exit and immediately toppled over.
"Woah there," Carlson lunged forward, catching my arm and steadying me. "Slow down, careful movements," she instructed, but I slipped from her grasp and fell over again. Dr. Waverly watched me worriedly the whole while. I'd always felt like she harboured a soft spot for me and now my suspicions were confirmed. Her anxious stare gave away everything.
Scurrying backwards as best I could, I turned and crawled out of the tent. Reed was there waiting for me.
"We need to get out of here," I choked out, my words slurring together as Reed wrapped my arm around the back of his neck and pulled me to my feet. His arm snaked around my waist before he turned to Maddy.
"Are you okay to walk?"
She nodded meekly.
The three of us set off for Zone 7. Normally, it Zone 7 was a hallway away, but some time between the time we had entered Zone 8 and now, the hallway connecting the two Zones had closed down. We were forced to go the long way.
"What spooked you?" Reed whispered when we were far enough away. Behind us, Craig entered the tent, looking terrified after I had practically tumbled out on my hands and knees like I was running - crawling? - for my life. "Park!" Reed prompted.
"W-Waverly–" I stuttered as another wave of nausea threatened to knock me over. Reed's grip around my waist was strong, but my knees wobbled, my head swam, and I didn't know how much longer I could keep up the 'pfft, I'm totally fine' charade that clearly neither Reed nor Maddy were falling for.
"What is it? Did she do something wrong?" Reed asked through gritted teeth. His jaw was clenched so tightly, I expected it to snap. Beads of sweat dribbled down his forehead like raindrops. Oddly, it was distracting. I felt so lightheaded, I almost played a game I used to play with my sister where we would each pick a raindrop and race them to the bottom.
"Hannah?" Maddy asked worryingly. Apparently I looked a lot worse than the other two.
"I'm fine," I ground out. "Waverley just... She gave me a weird look."
"That's it?"
"Something's wrong Reed," I pleaded with him to understand. Reed just clamped his mouth shut and stared straight ahead, but I knew he believed me.
We were passing through Zone 4 when my legs gave out. I collapsed, moaning more out of the frustration that Maddy and Reed had seen me fall than any of the aching in my thighs (seriously, it felt like doing a round of squats and then taking the stairs two-at-a-time). Flustered, I waved off Reed's extended hand, refusing his offer of help. Scrambling to my feet was difficult enough, but something stopped me. Reed paled and Maddy looked like she wanted to die right then and there.
Because all around us, all six of the Infected in Zone 4 had started screaming.
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