Alien Virus (4 page)

“Sandi, Sandi, it’s me – Kevin.” She didn’t
respond, so I slapped her gently across the cheeks. She grimaced
and groaned. Removing the drip, I lifted her out of bed and on to
the wheelchair, putting a blanket from the bed around her. She was
obviously sedated with something.

Wheeling her carefully out of the room, I
tried to make a quick but quiet exit. But as I went through the
doors, one of them banged and a nurse called out.

“Hey, what are you doing? Where are you
going with her?” I didn’t want to stay to explain, so I ran with
Sandi down the corridor as fast as I could, pursued by the
nurse.

I got to the lift just as it opened. A nurse
was waiting to go down, but I pushed her aside and got in, pressing
the ground floor button frantically. The doors closed just as the
nurse from Intensive Care reached the lift, and I saw her angry
face for just a moment.

As the doors opened on the ground floor, I
sped towards the exit without looking back. For all I knew, the
nurse could have informed security, and I had to get out as quickly
as possible. My taxi was still there, and the driver helped me get
Sandi inside.

“30
Fulham
Road –
the legal way this time.” The driver seemed almost
disappointed.

As we pulled away, I could see uniformed men
rush out of the hospital and point in our direction.

***

Five

I took Sandi back to my flat. I knew it
wouldn’t be safe for long, but it was better than Sandi’s place.
The police were bound to go there first – and then to our office –
and that would lead to my apartment.

She was in pretty bad shape. I put her to
bed and let her rest for a while; but it couldn’t be for long: we
had to get out of London as soon as possible. After about an hour I
heard her moving. I went in and she was awake, looking up at the
ceiling – and then at me.

“Kevin?”

“Yes – glad you still recognize me.”

“I feel like I’ve been hit by a horse,” she
said, feeling her head. “How did I get here?”

“I brought you – in a taxi, and that.” I
pointed to the wheelchair.

“Oh, god…” It was all starting to come back
to Sandi now. I got her a drink of water and sat her up in the bed.
She sipped it slowly.

“Do you remember what happened?”. She
thought for a moment, waiting for the images to come back to
her.

“I went into work to catch up on a few
things – things I should have done on Friday. Trevor was there,
sorting out his accounts. I remember him giving me a coffee. It
didn’t taste quite right – I thought it could be the water, you
know how it is. I must have drunk about half. Anyway, the next
thing I knew I was feeling very hot – and then that feeling you get
when you’re about to faint. A sickly feeling. The next thing I knew
I was in a hospital bed. Do you think I was drugged?”

“It sounds like it.”

“By Trevor?”

“Possibly.”

She took another sip of water. I suddenly
remembered about salt and got some from the kitchen.

“Take some of this.”

“I will – but I just need a drink first. I’m
so thirsty.” I filled up her glass.

“I’ve got to tell you about Scotland.”

“Oh yes! I’d forgotten.”

“But it’s not safe to stay here. Do you
think you’ll be all right to travel?”

“Where to?”

“Edinburgh.” She thought for a moment,
weighing up her own condition.

“I think so. When do we need to go – and for
how long?”

“As soon as possible – but I don’t know how
long for. Until it’s safe to come back, I guess. There’s some
people I want you to meet in Edinburgh.”

“What about work?”

“Being drugged by the boss wasn’t enough for
you then?” She nodded in understanding.

“I’ll get dressed.” Then a sudden thought.
“Well, I would if I had any clothes.”

“Ah! Now you’re going to think this is very
strange...”

“Kevin…” she said in the playful reproaching
voice that always endeared me to her. “What have you done?”

“Nothing. It’s just that… remember those
times you used to stay over, and you said it would be a good idea
to have a change of clothes in my flat so you could go straight to
work?”

“And you never thought to give them back?
They’re hardly your size, Kevin.”

*

As we drove up the M1 en route to Edinburgh,
I told Sandi all about my trip to Scotland and the people I’d met.
It was nice being alone with Sandi again – it seemed like our past
differences were forgotten, and we seem to be getting on better
than we’d done for years. After talking for a bit, we put on the
radio, enjoying the music and banal chatter. Then a news item
caught my attention, and I turned up the volume.

“
Police are looking for a man, in his
late thirties, who abducted a woman from a hospital in London. The
woman was in Intensive Care and her life could be at risk. The man
is journalist Kevin Lee and the woman Sandi Green, though they may
be using aliases. Full descriptions of both people are on the
Metropolitan Police’s website. The public are advised
not
to approach the couple as the man could be
armed and
dangerous. Anyone with any information as to
their whereabouts is asked to contact their local police station,
or telephone
…
”

“Jeeze…they didn’t waste any time, did
they?”

“Why are they doing this Kevin?”

“It’s not them doing it Sandi – well not
directly anyway. It’s the virus – the alien virus.”

“I know you believe this, Kevin, but it’s
difficult to take in. I can’t help thinking that we could be making
a terrible mistake.”

“Despite what happened to you at the
office?”

“I don’t really know what happened there. I
know I could have been drugged – but why? If it was Trevor, what
has he got to do with all this? How would he know anything about us
looking into Frank Peters’ death?”

“You’ve just got to forget that people are
doing this – they’re only following orders from their
virus–infected minds. And it’s not unusual for extraterrestrial
things to come to Earth. Every day small stones and dust hit the
Earth from outer space. Is it so difficult to imagine that a virus
from another planet was carried by solar winds to the Earth? We
have lots of viruses on the planet already – why not another one
from outside our solar system?”

Sandi was pensive for a few minutes. I knew
it was difficult for her to take in. She was always the
down–to–earth one in our relationship. She liked to discuss
feelings and emotions, watched Audrey Hepburn movies, and read
things like
Cosmopolitan
and
50 Shades of Grey
. I, on
the other hand, got enthusiastic about the paranormal, ancient
civilizations and black holes. It was amazing we stayed together
for as long as we did.

But here we were side-by-side again – on the
run from the authorities, to meet people I hardly knew and Sandi
had never met, with the aim of eradicating an unseen alien virus
from this planet – before it eradicated us all.

***

Six

Tony Stood on Carlton Hill looking down on a
busy Princes Street. It was dark, and the street lights had the
feel of Christmas. Would they ever see another Christmas, he
wondered. What the fuck were they going to do? He was glad to have
met Kevin though – they desperately needed more help. He drew on
his cigarette telling himself for the thousandth time that it was
his last, but knowing it wouldn’t be. Perhaps they should follow
Frank Peters lead and go out on the streets, go door-to-door
telling people about the virus. It did bring Kevin into the ranks,
after–all. But it got Frank killed too. Win one, lose one aren’t
very encouraging statistics – not when your numbers are so low. No,
if they’re going to get the message out, they’ve got to get to
people in their millions. And the only way to do that is by radio,
television – or the internet. The internet, yes. Frank had wanted
to do that, but Tony was much more cautious. ‘What if they trace
website, or the twitter account – or whatever – to us? In no time
at all, we could be arrested for one reason or another.’

He didn’t realize that he’d spoken the last
thought aloud until he heard Kate’s voice behind him.

“Arrested for what, Tony?”

He turned to face her with a sort of guilty
grin.

“For setting up a website to tell everyone
about the virus.”

“ I thought you were against that?”

“Yes, I was. But I’m beginning to change my
mind.

“Well, in the first place, it’s going to be
traceable to us – particularly if we want email contact. Second,
99.99% of the people who look at the site are going to be infected
by the virus, and will either take no notice – unless you call
laughing their socks off ‘noticing’ – or try to have us stopped by
the authorities. And thirdly, I haven’t a clue how to set up a
website, and I don’t know how we’re going to find a virus–free soul
to set one up for us.”

“Okay, I know I haven’t thought this through
fully, but I think we should consider it. What other options do we
have?”

Kate was quiet for a moment. She looked away
from Tony across to Princess Street and pondered. He was right –
they had no other options – except books and leaflets perhaps. But
then who would distribute them? Their main priority was not to get
caught – otherwise, it was all over – the virus would have won. She
sighed deeply and turned back to Tony.

“Yes, you’re right. Maybe Kevin could help
with a website – his magazine must have one, and he might know
someone we could trust. If someone could set up the basics, we
could add the juicy stuff.”

“You mean the bits where we say
We’re all
doomed?
”

“Yes, that sort of thing.”

“Well, we’ve got to do something. I’ll get
in touch with Kevin tomorrow.”

They were both quiet for a few minutes,
watching the shimmering lights below, the cars making their way
from Princes Street up South Bridge, or down Leith Walk, and people
milling about in the street below.

“You’d hardly know there was anything wrong
with this planet, would you?” Kate shook her head. Tony continued,
“And yet, there’s a time–bomb ready to go off – and it’s ticking
inside every one of those people.”

*

Gareth paid for the drinks at the bar: a
bottle of Carlsberg and a Vodka-coke, and took them over to the
dark woman who was sitting on her own at a table in a dimly-lit
corner.

“Thanks Gareth.”

“You’re welcome.”

“You’ve been very quiet tonight – is
everything all right?”

“Fine, yes. I’ve just had a few things on my
mind, y’know. Work things”

“Can you tell me about them?”

Gareth squirmed a little in his chair and
frowned. “Not really – it’s difficult to explain.”

“I’m a good listener – you know that.”
Gareth did know that. But he couldn’t really tell her what was on
his mind – not without betraying the secrecy of the group. His
relationship with Emily was becoming more and more difficult as the
weeks went by. Since he’d found out about the virus, all his
dealings with people had suddenly changed – but most of all his
relationship with Emily. She’d accepted him not eating meat any
more fairly easily – a lot of her friends were vegetarian; and she
even tolerated his over–use of salt, as she saw it. But she told
him clearly that she could never, ever go veggie herself – and she
was becoming increasingly suspicious of his meetings in
Morningside. He said he played rugby down there. Then one morning
(after staying over at her place), he said he was going straight to
the rugby pitch for a match – but he didn’t have his rugby kit with
him. Her first thought was that he had another woman.

Gareth loved Emily, but he knew the
relationship wasn’t going to work – not unless she could ‘come
over’ to his side – which would be his dream come true. But now he
couldn’t see that happening, and he felt under increasing pressure
to end the relationship before he said something he shouldn’t. But
that wasn’t going to be easy. He looked back at Emily. She was
still waiting for an answer.

“Hello, is there anyone home?”

“I’m sorry it’s just that... it’s not really
about work at all – it’s about us.”

“Emily’s heart started to pound quicker. She
didn’t like the sound of this – not one bit. Ever since meeting
Gareth on the rebound from a previous relationship, she had been
happy – happier than she’d been at any other time in her life. She
didn’t want to lose him now – not now, not ever.

“What about us?”

“It’s the veggie thing…”

“If you want to give it up, that’s fine by
me.
I
won’t think you’re a failure.”

“No, it’s not that… I don’t want to give it
up; I want
you
to give it a try.”

“Gareth, we’ve been through this before.
I’ve told you I don’t want to – and you said you respected that.”
Now he had opened this can of worms, he had to see it through to
the end – whatever that was.

“I know that…. but that was then.”

“What do you mean – ‘that was then?’” she
challenged him as he squirmed again.

“I’m not comfortable with you… you know,
eating meat. And then there’s the salt thing…”

“Look, I’ve been very tolerant with ‘the
salt thing’ – particularly now they’re saying that
any
amount of salt is too much. I’ve stopped already…”

“What? That’s very dangerous Emily – please
don’t do this!”

“You’re taking it too far, Gareth. And I
respect you for sticking to your principles – you know I do. Only
don’t try to inflict your views on me. Killing yourself is one
thing – trying to make me sink in your boat is another.” Gareth
looked at his feet and nodded to himself. Then he looked up at
Emily squarely. He knew what he had to do.