Degeneration (41 page)

             
“Ramirez, sir,” he answered. “We… had… to lock the others… inside.”

             
“Ramirez, where is the operations center? I need that DSN terminal,” Mathis asked.

             
“We had it sat up in the Belk department store at the other end of the mall, sir. But… like I said, we had to seal the shutters shut,” Ramirez said.

             
“Yeah, trust us. You don’t want to go in there,” another soldier quickly added.

             
Mathis looked over and spotted a walkway that connected the side he was standing to the side that the soldiers were on. He started to walk towards the walkway, slinging his rifle over his shoulder.

             
All of the soldiers quickly aimed their weapons at him.

             
Mathis stepped back, startled.

             
“What… are you doing?!” Mathis asked.

             
“Sorry, sir, but we can’t let you come any closer,” Ramirez said. “Not with that infected civilian lingering with you.

             
Mathis looked over his soldier at Richard and shook his head.

             
“No! He’s not infected! He’s immune to this. Trust me, he’s harmless,” Mathis explained. “Lower your weapons!”

             
The soldiers kept their weapons aimed at Mathis.

             
“Look,” Mathis said, taking a step forward, “I’m an officer and I am giving you a direct–”

             
One of the soldiers fired a single shot at the ground in front of Mathis’ feet, chipping into the floor’s decorative tile work.

             
Mathis leapt backwards, startled.

             
“No offense, but I don’t think that all that rank shit matters anymore… sir,” the soldier who fired the shot said.

             
Mathis paused a second and threw his open palms out towards the soldiers in a pantomimic begging manner.

             
“Look, please, I am
trying
to get someone in here to save us all, so you need to just–”

             
“No offense, sir, but we all know that’s a load of bull,” Ramirez said. “We know they’ve been shooting down aircraft and the jets aren’t letting anybody leave.”

             
Mathis gave an exasperated sigh and then held up his two index fingers, wiggling them as he took a step backwards.

             
“
Yes
, that is true – but!” Mathis turned and pointed at Richard, “They will come and rescue us since we have him! He is immune!”

             
“Nobody is immune, sir,” Ramirez said, tone neutral. “Some people are just slow to show symptoms. We can see that he has been bitten on the shoulder and we see his wounded hand. We’re not dumb, sir.”

             
“He just wants to get close to us and steal our ammunition,” one of the soldiers said to the group.

             
“I don’t give two shits about your weapons!” Mathis shouted. “I just want you to do your job and give me some back-up so that I can get to that DSN terminal!”

             
The soldiers kept their weapons aimed at Mathis for a few moments and then lowered them back down at the infected below.

             
“We’ll cover your back from here, but we’re not coming with you,” Ramirez said. “We sealed that place off for a reason and we’re not looking to go back, sir.”

             
“I’ll go with them,” the CDC white-suit sheepishly said behind the soldiers. “I’ll… I’ll show them were the command center is.”

             
The CDC white-suit cautiously stepped forward, trembling.

             
“Then bug the fuck out, doc,” a soldier replied sharply, coughing.

             
The CDC white-suit ran past the soldiers and hid behind Mathis, staring uneasily at Richard.

             
Mathis turned and walked back towards Richard but then paused and turned back towards the soldiers.

             
“If you know that you’ve been written off, then why are you still trying to defend this place?” Mathis asked. “What’s the point?”

             
“We’re Marines, sir, not the Army,” Ramirez said. “We don’t go without a fight.”

             
The Marines laughed and a few of them erupted into a spasm of coughs. They started firing down aimlessly into the infected horde on the lower level.

             
“This isn’t going to end well for any of you, especially if you stay here and waste your ammunition,” Mathis said.

             
“No offense, sir, but this isn’t going to end well for you, either,” Ramirez said. “The only difference between us and you is that we’ve accepted our fate. Now go, before those tangos figure out another way up here.”

“Some free advice, sir? Save one bullet for the very end,” another soldier added.

             
Mathis turned his back on the Marines and walked towards the CDC white-suit.

             
The white-suit was staring at Richard, circling him, slowly, eyeing him up-and-down.

             
Richard stood still, face muscles twitching, staring back at the CDC white-suit. His fingers opened and closed around the pistol’s grip and his feet fidgeted.

             
“What’s your name?” Mathis asked the CDC white-suit.

             
“Doctor Lewis Medford, immunologist from the Centers for Disease Control,” he proudly responded, looking over at Mathis.

             
“Well, doctor, lead the way towards the operations center and take me to the DSN terminal,” Mathis said, gesturing ahead with his rifle. “I’ll be right behind you.”

23

             
M
edford led the way along the second-story of Crabtree towards the flagship department store at the far end of the mall, gripping his pistol tightly. He was sweltering inside his white-suit.

             
Every storefront that they passed had their steel security shutters buttoned-up tightly.

             
The Belk department store was coming into view, visible by the moonlight reflecting through the skylights.

Richard glanced down over the brass railing at the lower level. He spotted row after row of red steel cages. The cages were chained shut and full of trashing handicapped men, women, and children. All of the cages shook violently as their imprisoned feral occupants struggled to escape. The cages were adorned with the FEMA logo and had signs labeling them as ‘Medical Observational Holding Area ’.

             
Even though the Marines were now far behind them, the sound of their automatic gunfire bursts echoed down the atrium through the mall, making all three men flinch with each shot.

             
“They’re right, you know,” Medford finally said as they walked past a looted jewelry store, breaking a long stretch of silence. Glass shards crunched underneath his feet.

             
“About what?” Richard asked, scratching his arm with his pistol as he walked, throwing paranoid glances over his shoulder.

             
“You’ve been bitten, so you’re infected,” Medford casually said as he walked. “That’s not even taking into account the virus’ airborne qualities...  and you without an environmental suit… Nobody is immune to this. You are just one of the rare ones that show symptoms later. Trust me. I’ve seen your type in this very center all night long until all hell broke loose.”

             
Mathis raised a hand up dismissively.

             
“Enough, enough,” Mathis said. “Let’s just get to the operations center, okay?”

             
“I’m just saying… he’s a liability,” Medford said. “Once he turns, he will kill us both.
If
you get ahold of anybody on the DSN, they will never pick all three of us up… not with those bites. Please, listen to reason!”

             
Mathis shook his head and gave a humorless laugh.

             
“Now wait a goddamn minute here. You–”

             
“Is that the only reason you volunteered to tag along, doc? Are you afraid to go down with the ship?” Mathis said, interrupting Richard mid-sentence.

             
Medford threw his arms up in the air, shaking his head.

             
“Those imbecilic jarheads were on borrowed time and they knew it! They were all getting sick! Their gasmask filters were useless by the time you showed up. They might as well have worn N95 masks,” Medford said. “I’m not just some soldier; I’m an
immunologist
with ten years field experience. Ten years! Do you have any idea how important someone like me will be outside, especially during an event like this?

“Look, I don’t want to die here, and I know that you want to get out of here. I can be your bargaining chip! They will send an evacuation helicopter for someone like me. They
need
me! Just get rid of
him
so they’ll take us! Surely, you can’t honestly believe that he is immune! You can’t be that naive!”

             
Mathis grabbed Medford and pinned him against the brass handrail, leaning the man halfway over the top of it.

             
The infected on the lower level below went into frenzy at the sight of the prey above. They clustered tightly around the floor below, reaching up towards Medford, moaning.

             
Medford panicked and struggled, trying to free himself from Mathis’ grasp.

             
“Please! Just listen,” Medford begged, “I was simply stating–”

             
“Enough! I get it! You don’t like him around,” Mathis shouted inside his soiled white-suit. “Just shut up and quit pestering me with your opinions! Otherwise, when the rescue does come, you’ll find yourself left behind, understand me?”

             
Medford’s eyes drifted past Mathis and grew stark with terror.

             
“Stop eyeballing him and look at me!” Mathis shouted. “I asked if you understand me, doctor!”

             
Medford’s gaze remained transfixed beyond Mathis. He tried to speak, but all that came out were incoherent stammers.

             
Richard, puzzled, turned to see what the doctor was staring at.

             
Next to them stood a sporting goods store that still had its glass display windows intact and didn’t have a security grille protecting it. Inside, nearly one-hundred infected men, women, and children were lining up against the display windows, slapping the glass, staring at the three men outside.

             
“Mathis!
Look
!” Richard cried, backing away from the windows.

             
Mathis let go of the doctor and turned towards the store. He was immediately taken aback. He fumbled with his riffle and aimed it at the infected behind the glass.

             
“I thought they said that the second floor was secure!” Mathis said, rifle shaking.

             
Medford stepped away from the railing and wearily pointed his 9mm at the infected inside the store.

             
“The second floor was secured! Sure, there were a few scattered here and there, but… all of those?! There- there must have been a maintenance stairwell in the back of that store that we missed!” Medford stammered.

             
Mathis looked over at the Belk department store in the distance. Heavy security grilles protected the store’s entrance, but he couldn’t see inside the dark storefront.

             
In order to get there, though, they would have to walk past the sporting goods store that was festering with the infected.

             
Mathis debated it over in his head, because he knew that walking near the infected would send them into frenzy and he knew that the glass offered limited protection.

             
Finally, he shook his head, defeated.

             
“We don’t have any choice,” Mathis said, “We can’t go back the way we came and use that crossover… Those men will shoot us the second we step over on their side. Let’s just move fast past the store, okay?”

             
Medford was hesitant, but knew that he was right.

             
Richard stood staring at his reflection in the glass, lost in a whimsical moment of confusion. Inside the store, he thought he saw Andy walking among the ranks of the dead.