Contagious

Soren was relaxing in bed, enjoying the state between awake and asleep when a knock at the cell door woke him. Who knocks on a cell door? He kicks the mattress on the top bunk causing Ethan to jump up, lose his balance, and fall on the floor.

"Someone knocked on the door, go check it out."

Ethan dragged himself off the floor and walked over to the door. Soren threw the blanket back and sat up, a smile lit up his face when the door opened to reveal agent Issac.

"Agent Issac, what a pleasant surprise. My second day here and I already have a visitor, such a busy place."

Agent Issac glanced around the small room and walked in. Even with the warden's report, he was surprised to see Soren looking so well. His cellmate, Ethan, on the other hand, looked rough. Ethan sported a black eye, various scrapes, and bruises. The bruises were more obvious by the fact that he had been sleeping in only his underwear. Both had been.

"What was all that noise just a moment ago."

"Oh? My friend fell out of bed. His coordination is a little off.

"So, what brings you to my humble abode?"

"I'm here to take you back to Monarch."

Took less time than I thought. They must be pretty desperate. Soren leaned forward, his head resting on his hand in a thinker pose.

"I have one condition; Ethan comes with me."

"And if we don't agree to it?"

"This place is pretty comfortable. I could see myself relaxing here while the world goes to shit. It's not hard to escape from a place when everyone else is dead."

"Does that mean you're done playing stupid?"

Agent Issac fought to keep a straight face. He could understand why his partner had lost his cool. It was unprofessional, but he understood. He could have all the sympathies he wanted for the kid and none of that would change the kid's personality.

Some of agent Issac's earlier theories were more or less confirmed; Soren's chest was a minefield of scars, most of them were clearly from cuts, some from burns, and all were old scars. Living on the run can be dangerous, but agent Issac doubted all of them were from the last eight years.

"You asked about my father. The stupid part would be for me to offer up information for free. You saw the video, you know what I have to offer. If you want me to cooperate then he comes with me."

"Give me a moment."

Agent Issac pulled out his phone and stepped out of the cell. Soren stood and grabbed his jumpsuit.

"Get dressed, we'll be leaving soon."

Agent Issac returned a few minutes later. Both men were dressed; Soren was back sitting on the bed, playing with a cigarette in his hand while Ethan moved out cleaning the cell.

"All right, it's all been arranged. Are you ready to go?"

"Of course."

The check-out procedure was less invasive than when Soren arrived. When they stepped outside Ethan was wide-eyed and taking in the sights like a blind man who had been given back his sight. Soren could not help but chuckle at his actions. Soren did not feel anything either way, he had lived more of his life locked up than he had free.

"Any chance we could get some breakfast? We haven't eaten yet."

Ethan held the passenger door open for Soren, then sat in the back seat. Agent Issac did his best to ignore their behavior.

"I can send someone to pick up some food. Any preferences?"

"Ethan?"

"I'll eat whatever you get, boss."

"All right, then, something greasy and fast. I don't know if it's doable or not this early, but throw in a chocolate shake."

Agent Issac opened his phone and put together a text to send to the receptionist on the third floor.

"I'll see what I can do."

Before they left the parking lot agent Issac reached into the back seat and pulled out Soren's backpack.

"Do I actually get my stuff back?"

"You can check it yourself, everything is in there."

Soren moved aside the change of clothes to check the contents beneath it. His main goal was the syringe in the small cooler. Once he found that he made certain it was still cool. I think a show is in order.

His pack of cigarettes was sitting on top of the clothes, he took the pack out and put it in his pocket. After he added the remaining cigarettes that Ethan had gotten him.

"Maybe I should throw a party tonight, wanna join us?"

Agent Issac put the car into drive and pulled out of the parking lot without saying a word.

This time when they went to Monarch they went down to the basement. Agent Issac led them to a room halfway down the hall.

The room they stepped into was a lab. There were doctors in lab coats at various stations processing what he assumed were mutated cells.

They were brought to a second room, further back. The second room was set up as an observation room. There was a table with four chairs in the center of the room with tables up against the left wall covered with various medical tools and small machines.

Opposite the door was a large two-way mirror that showed another, smaller room. Inside the room were a doctor and a nurse. They both wore hazmat-style suits and were drawing blood from a mutated human who was strapped to the bed.

The mutated human was growling, it's dark red, pupilless eyes were watching the two. Every so often it would struggle to get out and bare its teeth. It bore a close resemblance to the classic mummy; skin that was dry and wrinkled shriveled up against bones. Its lips had shrunk and barely hid teeth that had turned a dark grey color.

Its fingers looked more like claws and whenever it shrugged against its bindings it would drag its nails along the metal bed it was laying on, causing a horrible scratching sound. It still had a full head of hair but elsewhere there was a lack of hair. This included the eyebrows, which added an even stranger appearance to its face.

"Is that what you were talking about?"

"It is."

Ethan walked up to the two-way mirror and got as close as he could to the glass.

"It really does look like a zombie, that's kind of cool."

"I'm glad you think so."

Soren grinned and his eyes lit up. The sight caused a cold chill to run down agent Issac's back. Ethan was too focused on the mutated human to notice the look his boss was giving him.

When the doctor had finished drawing blood he placed everything on the tray that the nurse was holding and they left the room. The moment they stepped out the doctor began taking off his hazmat suit. The nurse placed the tray on the tables at the side before taking her suit off.

"Dr. Reynalds, I'd like you to meet Soren Valle. Valle, this is Dr. Reynalds. He is our lead doctor and one of the top virologists in the country."

Both men nodded in acknowledgment, the doctor raised his hand to show the gloves on his hand. While he had taken off the gloves from the suit he still did not want to chance contact before fully cleaning up. He was still wearing the face mask that he had been wearing until the hazmat hood.

"You'll have to forgive me for not shaking your hand. Agent Issac says that you have access to a cure. Is that true?"

"Yes and no. What I'm giving you is a vaccine. In the long term, it will be better to stop the mutations before they even start."

"I understand the reasoning behind that, but it has such a slow growth rate, and everyone from the building the lab was in has been quarantined.

"We have the majority of it contained."

Soren shook his head, "There are several ways for the virus to enter a body. The route that is the slowest in inhaling. This is what those near the lab did.

"The quickest and most contagious is body fluids. It starts mutating the human body almost immediately. This can be done through saliva on a bite that breaks the skin. Killing one and having their blood splatter on an open wound, open mouth, or even an eye."

Soren walked over to the tables that were off to the side. The nurse was standing there, the tray of fresh samples sitting on the table next to her.

Before the nurse could react Soren picked up a syringe of blood and walked away.

"Blood is certainly the strongest carrier of the virus. You can go from human to mutated in a matter of minutes. Just like this."

He had moved to stand next to Ethan and at the end of his sentence he pressed the needle into Ethan's arm and pushed down the plunger.

Ethan was in shock over what had just happened and did not move until the pain hit him. Doctor Reynalds had moved to stop him and was instead stopped by agent Issac. Agent Issac had chosen to give Soren a chance to make his case before stepping in.

"Once a human has inhaled the virus they are contagious. Those five days that the lab personnel had before symptoms appeared were five days that they were out there spreading the virus.

"I ran into a co-worker the other day who had mutated. She was not directly involved in the lab incident but mutated on the same day that most of them did.

"The longer the virus is out there, the stronger it gets. Before you realize it those who have contact with the virus by breathing it in will mutate almost as quick as they do through the ingestion of body fluids."

As he spoke he took his backpack off and pulled out the syringe hidden within it. Ethan had nearly completed his mutation and was staring at the doctor and agent with drool leaking from its mouth.

"Once the mutation is complete they will immediately be hit with a desire to feed. The hunger drives away all other thoughts."

He held the mutated Ethan against the glass of the two-way mirror with one hand as he stabbed the second syringe into his arm.

Ethan's screams of pain were far more intense this time around. He fell to his knees and collapsed on the floor.

"What kind of monster would inject a virus like that into someone?"

The doctor spoke but it was barely loud enough for Agent Issac to hear it.

"Someone who grew up with it. Isn't that right?"

Soren smiled, "Agent Issac gets it. Not only did my father create this abomination but I was his favorite test subject."