Endurance (14 page)

‘
What did you
just inject into him?’ Danni growled at Miller.

‘
You need me
now, don’t you? He’ll die if you kill me.’

‘
What is
it?’

‘
It’s the
virus.’

‘
I’m immune
to it. My dad was too.’ Tom smugly said.

‘
This is my
creation. It’s far worse than his. I used it on myself and Anna
Reid. I think you know who that is.’

Tom screamed
at Miller, and then clutched his head. Tom’s pupils overtook his
eyes, turning them completely black. He shoved Danni away and ran
toward Miller. He grabbed Miller and smashed his face into the
table multiple times. Danni ran to Tom.

‘
Tom, stop.
We need him to cure you and try to stop the disease.’

Tom threw
Miller away and he landed on the ground face first. Miller wearily
got off the ground and felt his bloody face.

‘
Well, now
you’ve had your little tantrum, can we try to save
everyone?’

Tom looked
into Danni’s eyes. Danni looked into Tom’s pitch black eyes. Tom’s
eyes now looked similar to Miller’s eyes.

‘
Tom, we need
to save you and try to stop everyone in the world from getting the
virus.’

Tom
grunted.

‘
So what do
we do now?’ Danni asked Miller.

‘
I need to
get to the lab. We need to tie him down and get some of the cure
into him. We need to kill every infected person inside the lab;
then, I need time to warn the authorities of the
situation.’

Miller rushed
from the room. Danni and Tom followed closely behind.

17

Sarah was
still shooting at the infected. With only three left, she shot one
more and the gun clicked on empty. As she pulled the trigger again,
it still didn’t shoot. She looked down at the gun, and checked the
chamber. It was empty. Horrified, she threw the gun at one of her
attackers and began to scream. The mask over her mouth muffled her
screams and pleas.

Miller walked
into the lab with Tom gripping Miller’s shoulder. They paused,
assessed the situation, and allowed Danni to enter first so she
could take care of the attackers.

Sarah ran to
the door, attempting to escape, but she was grabbed by one of the
infected. It was Anna. She pushed Sarah onto the work surface
face-first into the liquid form of the virus.

Miller and
Danni ignored the chaos to lay Tom on a bed. They secured him with
handcuffs attached to the sides of the bed. They cuffed his wrists
and Miller ran to the computers to his right. The room was
surrounded by blood-stained glass, providing them a view of the
lab.

There was a
bed with some liquids in beakers on a table and a computer next to
it.

‘
Go out there
and help Sarah. The infected cannot come in here.’

‘
Who’s Sarah?
Why’s she so important?’

Miller
pointed to Tom, ‘It’s his mum.’

Tom turned
his head and tried to arch his neck to see Sarah in the other
room.

‘
Tom, lie
down, you need to try to relax.’ Miller said forcefully, while
pushing his head back down onto the table.

Danni ran
back into the other room to see the shot infected coming back to
life. Although covered in bullet holes, they pulled themselves off
the ground slowly but steadily and renewed their attack on
Sarah.

Anna threw
Sarah across a worktop; Sarah landed on the other side and stayed
on the ground.

Danni pulled
out her handgun, and aimed at Anna. As her finger clutched the
trigger, she was forced on the floor. Landing on her side, she lost
grip of her gun, it slid across the floor away from her. She moved
to lay on her back and looked up to her father’s dark face. His
pupils were black and surrounded by red, bloodshot eyes. The skin
on his face looked peeled, revealing the tender, red skin
beneath.

Danni put her
feet on his chest and kicked him away. He stumbled and fell on his
back. Danni got back up to see Anna stamping on Sarah. Danni jumped
on the work surface and dove toward Anna. She fell on her. Anna’s
back bent over the counter; her spine cracked .

‘
Code red!
The experiment has gone wrong. Warn all authorities and tell the
prime minister.’ Miller placed the phone back on its
stand.

‘
So, I don’t
have a kid?’ Tom asked Miller wearily.

‘
No, you
don’t.’

‘
Why do it,
then?’

‘
It wasn’t to
be spiteful; I did it because it was an experiment. The second
part, whether the human brain can endure such trauma and
recover.’

‘
Do you think
I can have a normal life from this now?’

Miller
ignored Tom’s questions and continued to tap on his keypad, staring
at the computer and placing the test tubes in a machine.

‘
I’ve learnt
how to kill innocent people. You caught me on footage killing
innocent people who wanted me to kill them because they were
suffering. Anna has haunted me, the people I’ve killed have haunted
me, and now I find out that not only my dad was in this, and was
twisted, my mum is as well.’

‘
I am sorry,
Tom. I’m sorry it had to be you. I do feel sorry for you, I really
do.’

Miller put
the liquids into a syringe and walked to Tom. He tapped the needle
and injected it into Tom’s dark vein in his neck. Tom winced at the
pain as Miller injected.

‘
Why did you
have to tie me down for that?’

‘
In case it
doesn’t work. It could aggravate the virus and I’d have to kill
you.’

Danni got off
the ground and looked at Anna. She stood up and threw herself at
Danni. The force of Anna’s run pushed Danni into the glass wall.
Anna grabbed Danni’s neck and held tightly. Her sharp, skinless
fingers pierced the skin of Danni’s neck. As Danni gasped for air,
her vision darkened. She weakened; she stared at Anna’s dark,
revolting face. Half her face was shrunken and the other half
revealed the inside of her mouth which was black, covered with
white specks of mould.

Anna’s head
collapsed and she lost her grip on Danni. Sarah stood in Anna’s
place holding a metal stand and stamped on Anna’s head, cracking
her skull. She lifted her leg, revealing her bloody shoe with
pieces of brain clinging to it.

Danni stood
up straight and looked at Sarah’s old, withered face which is
covered in cuts and bruises.

‘
Thank you,’
she said.

Sarah nodded
at her and looked toward the glass door.

‘
Can I go in
there and see my son?’ Sarah asked.

‘
Errrrm.’
Danni looked into Sarah’s eyes that watered a little at the sound
of doubt in Danni’s voice.

‘
Please,’
Sarah whispered.

‘
I’m sure it
should be okay. We’ll lock the door in the lab, which should hold
them off.’

Danni and
Sarah both entered the room with Miller holding down Tom’s
head.

‘
What’s going
on?’ Sarah shouted at Miller.

‘
He’s having
a seizure. He’ll be fine any minute.’ Miller’s voice strained as he
used his bony arms to hold Tom’s head in place.

Sarah ran to
Miller’s desk where the computer sat. She grabbed a syringe and
injected two liquids into the syringe. She shook the syringe and
walked quickly back to Tom. She injected the syringes into Tom’s
neck and pulled Miller away.

Tom continued
to seize, his head moving side to side, shaking the bed. Saliva
pooled on his lips and dribbled down his chin. His arms tensed, his
veins became darker and thicker. His back arched and he stuck his
chest out and paused in that position. Miller walked over to the
bed. He stood beside it staring, at Tom. As he placed two fingers
on Tom’s neck, his eyes opened and one arm broke free of the
leather cuffs on his right hand and he grabbed Miller’s neck. Tom’s
hand tightened and Miller’s eyes closed. Danni ran to Miller and
tried to pull him away. Tom’s hand tightened more and
more.

Tom looked at
Danni. His eyes were a dark red and blood dribbled from the corners
of his eyes. His head was covered in purple veins. Suddenly, Tom’s
eyes shut and he let go of Miller’s neck, Miller collapsed to the
ground.

Miller
squirmed on the ground, breathing heavily. Danni pulled him up and
sat him in a chair at the desk. She looked at Tom who was now
unconscious. The veins on his head were gone. The spittle on his
lips disappeared, but blood still stained his lower
eyelids.

‘
Is he going
to be okay?’ Danni asked Miller and Sarah.

‘
I think so.’
Sarah said.

Miller sat up
straight and pushed himself out of the chair.

‘
This shows
how far we’ve come. This experiment was not a failure.’ Miller
said.

‘
You created
this virus, it’s only right that you make a cure. You’ve ruined
lots of lives, especially Tom’s.’ Danni sternly replied.

Danni looked
at Tom and held his limp hand. His eyes opened, his pupils shrank.
He sat up hard and fast and took a deep breath. He looked around at
his surroundings and at Sarah in confusion. He looked at Danni, and
grinned and attempted to hug her. As he did, he jerked violently to
one side. His right hand was still cuffed to the bed. Tom and Danni
both laughed.

‘
Let me get
that for you.’

Danni walked
around the bed and un-cuffed his wrist. Tom wrapped his arms around
Danni; she returned the hug.

Sarah looked
at the ground and Miller stood next to Sarah.

‘
The cure
worked.’ Miller began to laugh. ‘It really works.’

‘
We need to
get out of here now.’ Sarah told Danni and Tom.

‘
Yes, we need
to go to the authorities and help them stop the virus from
spreading.’ Miller told Tom.

‘
I’m not
helping either of you.’ Tom shouted at Miller and Sarah.

Tom released
his grip on Danni and gently moved her aside. He jumped off his bed
and walked up to Miller and Sarah.

‘
You’ve
ruined my life, both of you and you are not my mother, you’re dead
to me.’ Tom stared at Sarah, full of anger and rage. ‘I don’t want
you to find me after this; I don’t want any communication with
you.’ Tom turned around and walked to the doorway. ‘And you…’ Tom
pointed to Miller. ‘If you try to start another experiment with
these drugs, I will personally come and find you and I will kill
you.’

Miller and
Sarah both stood silently and stared at Tom. Sarah had tears
dripping down her cheeks and as she opened her mouth to speak. Tom
interrupted.

‘
Shut up. I
don’t give a shit what you think or have to say. You’re dead to me
and so is Dad, I made sure he was. Come on, Danni let’s
go.’

Danni walked
to Tom, staring at Miller and Sarah. As she reached Tom, he smiled
at her.

‘
Go out the
fire exit, Tom, you might not want to go back out there.’ Miller
said.

Tom nodded to
Miller. ‘You better stop this virus because I cannot deal with all
that again.’

‘
Don’t worry,
we will do our best.’

Tom and Danni
stood at the emergency exit in the lab and pushed the double doors
open. The red light above the door turned on and swivelled. Danni
walked out the door; Tom stood in the doorway looking into the
room. He looked at Miller and Sarah’s faces as they watched him
leave. The red light turned the room red and Miller’s and Sarah’s
faces a pale red.

‘
You’re lucky
I haven’t killed you two.’ Sarah and Miller continued to stare and
kept quiet.

‘
Good luck.’
Tom said as he left the lab.

18

I sit here in
my house, the same house where I used to live. It’s such a relief
to know that all that happened wasn’t real, well the destruction of
London.

Me and Danni
live here together, her family occasionally come over to see her.
Her family being Mum Lynne, sister Sadie and Sadie’s little boy
Jerome. They feel like my new family too. I think me being in their
family feels like the family is once again complete since Graham
died.

I’ve got a
new job too. I’m a manager of an ICT company where we fix and build
computers. Me and my assistant Trev, buy the parts cheap and then
build some cool computers. It’s not the dream job I want but it
gets the money for me and Danni. Danni also works for me, I trained
her up and she’s one of the best people I have.

The virus
hasn’t spread. I mean, there is news every now and then about the
outbreak and saying there is a lot of people infected, but they are
being cured when found. They say millions are infected and will
change slowly but you know what the media are like. Miller is on
the TV a lot, speaking about the cure and that he is getting the
support he needs to prevent an outbreak. He also released a book
revealing the dark side of the Endurance experiment. He went to
court for hundreds of charges and was found not guilty. I suppose
you can be found not guilty if you have the government on your
side. There have been assassination attempts on Miller, but we do
need him to help stop the virus from spreading.