After Impact: After Impact Trilogy, Book 1 (8 page)

“So why would they continue to go?” Avalon asked.

“Because they are starving,” Ilium answered. “Starvation has interesting effects on the human brain.”

Avalon mulled over what he said. “I have been thinking about what you said. I think that the universal shot must be triggering something in the Compatios,” Avalon said.

Ilium leaned forward. “I agree with your hypothesis. Indeed, once triggered, the virus appears to do more than just make them sick. It appears to change them. At a cellular level.”

“That doesn’t sound too good.” Avalon said with a frown. “What is it doing exactly?”

“It appears to be enhancing certain elements of their genome. Like genes which control things like strength and intelligence and immunity. But the process looks downright painful.”

“So it’s a beneficial virus then?”

“Apparently. If one survives the process,” he said.

Then Avalon removed his shirt and threw it back at him.

“Why are we trying to fix this thing?” Avalon asked.

“Because everyone doesn’t survive the process,” Ilium answered as he placed the shirt back over his head.

“I really think we should blow the top off this thing and let others know,” Avalon said.

“No,” he said. “You sure you don’t want to keep the shirt? It looks better on you.”

“If you walk around shirtless, they will suspect something is wrong. Besides, you have been shivering this whole time as well,” she said.

“See you later, Sherlock,” Ilium said with a smile.

That night Avalon reflected upon all the events which had transpired, as she struggled to distill and synthesize the truckload of information that was thrown at her over the course of a few weeks. Michelle’s body was there one minute and gone the next. Compatios were sick with a virus they should have been protected from. A virus which if it didn’t kill you, would make you stronger, faster, and smarter. Yet it wasn’t communicable because the members of the Fulcio and Accipio sectors were not catching it. A young man had already ventured outside before, but the government deliberately kept this information hidden from citizens.

This whole thing must be bigger than one person—it sounded like an orchestrated series of events.
Who was working together to this end and why?
No matter what question she asked, it all circled back to the same conclusion. She was trapped inside this habitat— with a killer.

The image of Michelle’s dead body lying in her dorm and disappearing did not leave Avalon.

Before she found Michelle’s body, Avalon believed there was a chance she could lay low, do what was asked of her, and perhaps make it outside alive. Now, everything had changed.

Yet, Avalon could not reveal to the others her true emotions. She did not know who she could trust, besides Ilium, so it was safest to trust no one.

Day after day, Avalon diligently searched and looked for clues, careful not to leave a trail. Her keywords included, “how to activate a virus, how to create a retrovirus, trigger for retrovirus, virus promoter etc.” These terms pulled up about 656,000 articles per keyword, so it took some time to sift the wheat from the chaff. Many a night she fell asleep with the wallscreen still displaying search results.

Days began to take on a pattern. Work, eat, meet with Ilium. Her day to day job consisted of running full diagnostics on systems to ensure everything worked properly. Systems included things like the airlocks, oxygenator, air filters, water storage units, and backup power generator. If a system had problems, it was logged into her work queue.

Ilium stopped by every night and checked on her. Sometimes they played old fashioned card games into the wee hours. Other times they held each other as they whispered about what they missed from life before. Once he was assured she was okay and nothing out of the ordinary was happening, he returned to his dorm.

But one night he was late checking on Avalon. And then the walls in the dorm felt like they were tightening around her. Avalon kept her composure, and as soon as Ilium buzzed her door, she let out a sigh of relief.

“Sorry, I was late today. Had a bunch of paperwork and stuff to finish,” he said with a flushed face as he had run to her room.

But Avalon didn’t care about hearing why he was late. She was just grateful that he was here now.

But she also hated how much she had grown dependent on Ilium. And in such a short time span. What used to be something he did as a courtesy, she came to see as mandatory.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re here now,” Avalon said, staring into his sky blue eyes. A shiver ran through her.

What is it about Ilium? He is perfectly ordinary. He is not wealthy, or the President’s son. He isn’t exactly exciting. He’s risk averse. And yet…

He stepped closer, and rubbed the back of his hand against Avalon’s face.

“As long as I am here, you don’t have to be afraid. I don’t know exactly what is happening in the habitat, but it will have to go through me to get to you.”

Avalon stepped towards Ilium. His face moved towards hers. Her pulse quickened, but Ilium stopped short of meeting lips at the sound of his smartwatch beeping.

He frowned as he checked the message.

“Anything wrong?” Avalon asked.

“No, I just need to check on something,” Ilium said. His jaw clenched tight, however.

Avalon frowned, but let him go.

“You would tell me if something was wrong, right?” Avalon asked.

Ilium smiled before saying, “ I have to go. I will check on you again tomorrow. Buzz me if you need anything.”

The next day when Avalon woke up, displayed across the wall screen was a message from the President.

“Today is day one of survival training. It will commence at 1800 hours and end at 2000. It will be required once a week.”

Avalon and the group were led by guards to a new much larger room. The room corresponded to the one Avalon saw in the blueprints when she went snooping. He stomach instantly tightened. There were several different centers—including one with a cardboard target on the wall, one with agricultural skills, and one for tent-making.

Avalon headed straight for the gun center and picked up a small six shooter.

“Why do we need guns?” Avalon asked.

“Well most things were destroyed in the cataclysm, but we aren’t sure about smaller animals. Always better safe than sorry,” the instructor said.

“They would have mutated though, right?”

“Probably.”

Avalon’s hand shook as she grabbed the gun. Avalon had never held a firearm before. The smooth metal felt cold in her hand.

“Don’t worry. It’s rubber bullets,” the instructor added.

The instructor stood behind Avalon and told her to use both hands to hold it by the handle, while pulling back the trigger. At first, the trigger was hard to pull, but finally, the gun fired. The recoil startled Avalon as her eyes closed briefly at the loud noise the shot made. When she opened them, she had missed the red circles on the target completely.

The instructor shook his head. “Never close your eyes. Better luck next time.”

The noise from the gun’s firing still rung in her ears.

“Maybe I would have done better with earmuffs?”

“In the wild, you won’t be wearing earmuffs. You need to get used to shooting a gun, feeling the recoil, and enjoying the noise.”

Ilium walked up and confidently picked up a .380 handgun. Without hesitation, he fired and hit the target dead in the center.

“Great job!’ the instructor said.

“How’d you learn to fire like that?” Avalon asked.

“I’m from the Midwest, remember? It’s what we do. Hunt and fish.”

Hmph. Makes sense.

“But, you were in an orphanage? So how did you get access to a gun?”

“I didn’t enter the orphanage until age nine. My Dad had taught me how to shoot by then. Small things like squirrels and such. But I was always accurate.”

Avalon wanted to ask more questions, but she was startled by loud applause. As she turned her head, Elena had fired a gun with deadly precision as well. Elena smiled her snake-like smile at Avalon.

Scanning the crowd, Avalon noticed Brody was absent.

“Have you seen Brody?” she asked Ilium.

“No.”

Everyone has to report to this. It is mandatory.

Panic began to swell in Avalon’s chest.

“Time to move to agriculture,” the instructor said.

As Avalon and Ilium were ushered towards agriculture, Avalon continued to scan the crowd in search of Brody. She barely heard the instructor speak about how to plant the seeds, and water them, etc. All the seeds in the habitat were organic so they could save and re-use the seeds to produce new plants. It was quite elementary stuff, but still important to go over.

The next day, as Avalon signed in, she noticed Brody was not there.

“Where is Brody?” Avalon asked.

“He stayed in bed today. Said he had a cold,” Xin said.

A cold. Avalon began to panic. No. It has to be just a cold. Surely it can’t be the virus.

Still, as panic rose in Avalon, she could not concentrate on her work queue. She videomessaged Ilium to meet her in the storage room.

“So, how is it going with the virus thing?” Avalon asked.

“Not so good,” he said.

“What do you mean, not so good? Maybe now is the time we should warn the others?” Avalon asked.

He fell quiet as he contemplated the answer. He looked at Avalon for several seconds.

Ilium shook his head. “No, not yet. I don’t want to cause alarm if it is unwarranted.” Ilium answered.

“Well, what have you found out?” Avalon asked, crossing her arms in front of her. “ I can tell by your answer you know something.”

Ilium let out a puff of air. “ It is mutating.”

Avalon’s eyes grew wide. “Mutating…into what?”

“I don’t know. But it is mutating, and I believe it now has the capacity to infect us all.”

Avalon sat down. “This changes everything.”

“I know. My original hypothesis was that the universal shot the Compatios received upon waking up from the cryochambers contained a retrovirus. While the one the Accipios and Fulcios received did not contain this retrovirus. So I believed the other classes weren’t in danger.”

“Ilium. Brody didn’t show up to work today. Do you think—?” Avalon couldn’t finish the words.

Ilium patted her on the back. “ No, I don’t think so. It is probably just a cold.”

“But if he does have the virus...we cannot afford to lose him. Or anyone else for that matter,” Avalon remarked.

“I know.”

Tears formed in the corners of Avalon’s eyes, stinging them. Her thick lashes clumped together as her lips trembled. Avalon tried wiping them away with the back of her hand.

“I have been working non-stop on trying to fix this,” Ilium said placing one hand on her shoulder.

Some of the tension melted from Avalon as she held his gaze. He moved his hand from her shoulder and placed his arm around her waist, moving her in for a side hug.

Her tears stopped their flow as he gave her a real hug. His heart was beating fast, and her eyes closed.

“A girl as beautiful as you should never cry,” he said, looking down into her face.

Avalon’s eyes met Ilium’s and a silence grew between them. It was not awkward, like most silences.

“Do you think the Council is behind this?” Avalon asked, cutting through the silence.

“I am not sure,” Ilium answered. “I definitely believe the President is involved.”

Avalon gritted her teeth. “We can stop him. Together. But this is teamwork. I can’t do it alone,” Avalon said. “I need your help.”

“You have my help,” Ilium answered. “I think we have come as far as we can with the knowledge we currently possess. We need more data on the immunologic biometrics.”

“So, how do you propose we get that?” Avalon asked.

“I don’t know. But I think the answer is in Viggo’s lab,” Ilium said.

“Why his lab? Viggo hasn’t done anything to us. Besides, he worked with my father. My father handpicked him.”

“Who else could orchestrate these events?”

Viggo’s lab was the logical place that the virus would have originated. But she hoped it wasn’t him.

“Anyone. The President. The Council. But I refuse to believe Viggo has anything to do with this.”

“I think you are blinded,” Ilium remarked.

“Blinded by what?” Avalon asked.

“The desperate attempt to hold onto anything related to your father.”

Avalon’s eyes stung and her face turned red.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Ilium said trying to grab Avalon’s arm. She jerked away.

“Listen, I take it back. I only meant we need to look at everyone. We can’t be biased. Remember what your father said. Trust no one,” Ilium stated.

Avalon took in a deep breath and calmed down. “Well, if we need to enter his lab, we will need to break in,” Avalon answered.

Ilium looked like he was about to choke on something. “Do you mean
trespass
?”

“Yes. Trespassing should be the least of your worries with all we have been through. I don’t have a way to trick the system with his biosignal. So we only have one way in.”