Pestilence

    Jessica woke up in the lab. As far as she could tell she was still nude. The straps held even as she struggled. The man in the lab coat walked up. She stopped fearing being raped. The subjects locked in the cages proved it.

Most of them were in various stages of decomposition. The scientist pressed a button on the phone.

    “You have Atwell look over your research,” said the voice on the phone. Jessica knew not to speak up. Marks across her stomach proved that point.

    “No,  Atwell’s a freak,” said the scientist.

    “Only because their experiment achieved results,” said the voice.

    “I’m having trouble with one subject. No one else has been a problem,” said the man.

    “I can always have some of Atwell’s enzyme sent to you,” said the voice.

    “I’ll consider it,” said the scientist. He pushed a button ending the call. “Asshole.”

    A door opened. His slightly overweight nurse walked in. She walked over to the scientist.

  “I’m having to leave early,” she said. “I think she’s anorexic.”

  “She just has a high metabolism. Which might explain why she’s been able to fight off every virus so far. So, what’s going on?” he asked her.

  “My husband crushed his hand at work. So, I have to go meet him at the hospital,” she said.

  “Ok, I think Harold will be here in about an hour, but before you go can you get me out multiple samples of each virus?” he asked.

  “Are you planning on injecting her with more than one at a time?” asked the nurse.

  “All if necessary. Can you set them up on the table? I have to use the bathroom,” said the doctor.

  After the doctor left the room, the nurse pulled out a syringe from a pocket. She injected the fluid into Jessica’s IV bag. Jessica realized what she had.

  “They already sent the enzyme,” she said.

  “Anything less than a hundred percent is failure,” said the nurse. Jessica lay back and dozed off.

  “I saw Natalie inject something into her bag,” said Harold the doctor’s other assistant.

    “Look at her she can’t stay awake,” said the doctor.

  “That’s the easy way to shut her up,” said Harold.

  “Shit,” said the doctor. “Why didn’t I think of that before?”

  “Knocking her out?” asked Harold.

  “Yes, lowering her metabolism,” said the doctor. “It should let the virus take hold while her immune system is suppressed. Too bad I wanted to test all the subjects as awake and active as possible.”

    Jessica woke up again. The doctor and Harold stood in a corner talking amongst themselves. The doctor walked over to her. Harold left the room.

  “Do you know what we’ve what we’ve been injecting into you for the last three days?” asked the doctor. She shook her head no.

  “If you look here,” said the doctor. A woman sat on the floor staring at a wall. “The first virus caused them to act like a zombie and do nothing.” He switched on a light in the second cage. The man ran up to it and slammed into it. He growled and scratched the door. “The second created a rage infused monster. But it could still die.”

  “The third was similar to the first, but it actually killed them and they became more active and very hungry. Like the second it can transfer the virus to a new host,” said the doctor.

  “I’ve heard you explain this before,” said Jessica. She suddenly felt extremely angry, hungry and sick to her stomach. Jessica wanted to throw up. The doctor pulled out a metal ruler. She shut up.

  “So, is she still a virgin?” asked Harold.

  “Yes, me and Natalie checked,” said the doctor.

  “I’ve talked to a couple of men online and they want a virgin and I’ve told them we have one,” said Harold.

  “What were you thinking?” asked the doctor.

    “That’s she’s a typhoid Mary,” said Harold.

  “Maybe she can transmit it sexually?” asked the doctor.

  “Or with any body fluid,” said Harold.

  “I hadn’t considered that,” said the doctor. “But won’t someone miss them?”

  “I doubt they’ll tell anyone that they’re going to go rape a virgin,” said Harold. The doctor thought for a moment.

  “Good point,” he said. “I’ve been up a while do you need anything before I take a nap?”

  “No,” said Harold. He watched as Jessica swallowed hard. “I think she might be about to turn.”

  “She also might have an upset stomach from us not feeding her enough,” said the doctor. “Document it anyway.”

  “Sure,” said Harold. He walked over to a cabinet and retrieved a camera and a tripod. “I put these up because you refused to change.”

  “I see we have some results,” he zoomed the camera to her mouth. Her mouth moved. “Do you have something to say?” He walked up to her, but stayed a few feet away. She felt her stomach rumble again. Letting her hatred swell up she spit. The huge wad of blood and bile hit Harold in the face. He panicked and tried to wipe the blood off. Harold backed into the nearest cage and then fell down. Using all of her strength she pulled at her restraint on her right arm. She suddenly saw herself. The image of her body disgusted her.

  Jessica opened her eyes. Harold stood staring at her. His eyes were red and bloody. Tears of blood dripped from his eyes. She knew he was infected, but he didn’t move. She moved her arm to pull it out of the shackle. He grabbed hold of her arm and pulled. The shackle broke. He let go as Jessica reached her hand up. Realizing her chance she reached over and unbuckled her other arm. A minute later she unlatched herself from the table.

  Jessica stepped off and ran to the door. Two things stopped her. She was naked and suddenly very hungry. Jessica decided to look through the cabinets and lockers. She felt them staring at her. Suddenly feeling weak she sat down in a chair.

She realized how hungry she was. Harold ran around the room knocking things off shelves and tables. He found a box and brought it to her. In it were snack cakes. Jessica pulled out a couple and ate them quickly. 

  She dozed off.

  Jessica woke up as Harold pulled on the cages. She looked at him.

  “Turn it,” she said. Harold turned the latch on the door. The woman zombie walked out slowly. Jessica opened the second door and the zombie walked out. It looked at the woman and then at Jessica. She realized something about the woman.

  “Go, eat a snake cake, or two,” she said. The woman walked over to the table. “Let’s get the last ones open.”

Jessica walked back to the girl. She had eaten three cupcakes. Jessica grabbed the last one.

  “You’re still alive,” Jessica said to her. She watched how the other zombies didn’t react to her. If Jessica knew more about science she could figure it out; she touched the woman’s face. It was warm; she didn’t find any bruises or other blemishes.

  Jessica knew how to find out what’s outside the room. First she had Harold retrieve her clothes from a locker. Harold opened the door.  The young woman walked out. He closed the door. Jessica closed her eyes and saw what she saw.

  Two security guards sat in the hallway. One sat in a chair reading a book while the other slept on a bench. The girl bumped into the first guard’s feet.

  “Matt,” said the guard. He threw and unopened Snickers at the sleeping guard. “We have an escapee.”

  “This isn’t the dangerous one,” said Matt. Jessica snuck up behind him and pushed him against a wall, she covered his mouth with her hand. Harold and two other zombies attacked the second guard. Matt’s eyes glazed over. Jessica wondered if she caused it. Matt joined their ranks along with the other guard.

  “Let’s find him,” said Jessica. She couldn’t  believe she said that.

    The girl walked down the hallway and around a corner. She stopped. A sign said the name of the doctor. She couldn’t read it anymore, but recognized the doctor abbreviation. Jessica saw what she saw and had the girl peek through a crack in the door. The doctor sat inside at a desk. He read a magazine. On the cover was a man holding a trout.

He looked up briefly. Jessica had her back away. Jessica sent the guards to check the building for others. They still had their basic knowledge and memories. She led her first group to the door.  The doctor  put a glass on the desk and pulled a half gallon of milk out of a mini-fridge. He looked to see Harold staring at him. He saw the blood on Harold’s face.

  “Hi,” said Jessica. She walked in. The doctor reached behind the desk. Two shots rang off. One hit Harold in the chest while the other hit her in the head.

  Jessica woke up. She realized it had only been a few minutes. Her hands were covered in blood. She opened her mouth a chunk of flesh fell out. Jessica looked over to see the body it came from. The doctor lay on the ground,  pants on his right leg were torn off and parts of his calf was missing.

  The doctor convulsed on the floor. She ran from the room. A restroom was nearby. She ran in. Jessica looked at herself in the mirror blood was caked on her forehead. She wiped some of it off. The area skin under it was tender and bruised. Jessica felt the back of her head. She pulled parts of her brain out of her hair. Skin and skull fragments came dropped out her hair as she ran her fingers through it. Jessica cleaned herself as best as she could. She realized something else, but first she knew they were hungry.

  “Alright eat,” she said. Jessica walked back to the office. They were eating the doctor. She looked at the door, blood and brain covered the area where she stood. Jessica put her hand on her gore and smiled.

    She realized the guards had recruited more members. The recruits were using computers in the building for credit card fraud. “Find me something else that’s good.” The guards showed her rooms with other failed experiments, a few she could control.

Jessica pushed open the double doors and walked outside.  She looked at the vehicles in the parking lot, seeing an ambulance she asked, “Who can drive?”



  Natalie had hoped for a quite dinner with her husband, but her mother was busy so she had to bring her ten year old daughter along. Carrie stared at her stepfather’s arm.

  “No, it doesn’t hurt,” he said.

  “I have to use the restroom,” said Natalie. She went to the women’s room in the restaurant. She had  some doubts about introducing her daughter to her new husband, but after meeting Jessica it gave her some faith in humanity.

She walked out and saw her daughter staring at a young woman standing in the center of the restaurant. Natalie walked up to her and recognized her.

  “Hi,” said Jessica. She leaned against a wall. The young woman started eating food off a plate. “We’re still kind of hungry.”

  “We didn’t mean to hurt you,” said Natalie.

  “I know that’s bullshit,” said Jessica. She walked over to Natalie’s table and several zombies walked in. Screams came from outside. “I discovered something about them and about myself.”

  A zombie, a former guard, walked up to her. Natalie saw the injuries on his face.

  “Mistress the police are beginning to arrive,” he said.

  “Stall them. Talk to them,” said Jessica. She pointed to a zombie. “Pull up my steed.”

    She walked up and put a hand on the mouths of Natalie’s daughter and husband. Both of them shook.

  “Look I’m sorry for what we did. Just don’t kill my daughter,” said Natalie. The girl’s eyes glazed and then returned to their normal color. Natalie’s husband’s eyes became bloodshot and started bleeding, blood came out of his mouth.

  “I’m not going to kill her. She’s going to remain pure, chaste and unbroken like I am for the rest of her unnaturally long life,” said Jessica. A white suburban drove up. “Go.” she said to Carrie.

  “Why are you doing this?” asked Natalie.

  "Its not my doing. While in the lab I heard the angels horns blow and the seals being broken and I knew who I am. I am Pestilence,” she said. She smiled. Carrie climbed into the vehicle. Several zombies surrounded Natalie. “Rip her apart.”

Jessica walked away.