Disease

Aspen’s POV

“Aspen.” Logan greeted me as I opened the door for him. He is still wearing a makeshift mask as I instructed him before.

“Hey.” I replied, “How can I help you?”

It’s early in the morning and he is already up and knocking on my door. I was about to complain but when our eyes met I knew there was something wrong.

“Can you wear a mask? I need you to see something.”

“What is it?”

“It’s Theo. He finally changed last night.”

My eyes widened as my heartbeat skyrocketed, “So it’s true.”

Logan nodded, combing his hair with his fingers, “I need you to see it and I could use your advice. Can you recall something about this project? Maybe anything.”

“I don’t but when I see him maybe I’d remember something.”

“Okay. Let’s go.”

I wore my makeshift mask and walked with Logan but I was careful with the distance to make sure I won’t infect him nor anyone who was also already awake and was busy with their chores. We made our way to the garage and there I saw Theo chained in the feet trying to reach for us. Just like the other sick people he has the same appearance.

“He almost attacked Vince earlier.”

“What?”

“He couldn’t recognize his friend.”

“That’s understandable since the experiment is about changing the behavior of a creature and restarting the brain.”

“So that caused him to not remember his best friend?”

“Maybe. What other things have you noticed?”

“He tried to bite us. Do you think he is hungry?”

“Did you try feeding him?”

“We did but he just spilled it.”

“Any chance he changes his appetite too? Maybe try something else.”

“I’ll talk to Erica.” Logan said as he left me there to go back inside as I observed Theo.

He has the same eyes as the other sick people and the primate that I saw before. Unlike the primate since it has fur it doesn’t show any veins just like the dark once that Theo has right now. However, what I noticed with the test subject before is the hair loss. It’s just a little time until Theo may also have hair loss if we can’t cure him.

I just looked at Theo entertaining myself with the rattling sounds of the chains and his movement. He is looking everywhere as if he is trying to hear something baring his teeth. I was so focused on his movements that I didn’t realize that someone was with me here in the garage. I was surprised to see Vince also looking at his sick friend wearing a mask just like I do.

“We should just get rid of him before it’s too late.” he spoked.

“What?” I asked confused, not sure if I am hearing right because he said it in a low voice.

“Just like what we did to the others when they tried to attack us in the car. We should just end him.”

I knitted my brows. Vince. The man who was very optimistic yesterday when we went to retrieve medicine and bring his best friend to the hospital was now thinking of killing the said best friend. How can he change within just a span of a few hours?

“The man was right and he died warning us.”

I just looked at Vince as if something in his eyes were different. I want to step back afraid that he might also be infected with the way he is acting right now. Drastic change in behavior is a sign. But I don’t want to provoke him so I just kept it cool but was vigilant.

“Hey, what did I miss?” Logan finally arrived with a plate of food full of vegetables.

“Theo doesn’t like leafy greens.” Vince said.

“Exactly the point. He might change his preference. And leafy food is also healthy for sick people, right?”

I just rolled my eyes, “Just give Theo the food.”

Logan put the food in the ground and used a stick to push it towards Theo and as expected he just stepped on it and was more interested in Logan’s arm.

“He didn’t even look at it.” Logan muttered.

“He is acting like a rabid animal. Maybe we should try giving him something uncooked.” I can’t believe I am saying this but I felt like we became researchers ourselves experimenting on our sick friend. But what else can we do? We can’t just stay here and wait for a miracle to happen.

“Like what? Raw meat?”

“Yeah. You have those?”

“Yeah we have but they are frozen.”

“You still know how to hunt?”

“I can set some traps.”

“Try looking for fresh meat, maybe that’ll help.”

“Okay. I’ll bring Jaden with me.”

“Okay. Update us. We’ll return back to our rooms. We might be out for too long. We don’t want to be exposed to others.”

Logan just nodded as Vince and I returned to our own respected rooms.

It’s been a few days since then and finally it’s the night before we finish our quarantine. Logan just brought me my dinner and updated me about Theo’s condition. He is still the same, not eating and trying to attack everything that he sees. Well more like hears according to Logan’s observation.

I just had a short chat with him about what we can do for the meantime while the government is still not doing something about this crisis and we both agreed that we’d just stay here until it clears out. After all we did stay here for a whole season before and we have enough stocks for that. Yes, with the company that we have there’ll be less for all of us but it’s not like we can’t do something about it. We just hope that it subsides quickly as it spreads while limiting our consumption and start rationing.

Once I was finished having my dinner I saw Myla and Logan talking. I just acknowledged them as Logan was leaving when Myla said something to me which was confusing because I thought I heard wrong but I think she is apologizing to me. Whatever the reason, I can’t think of what it is. I just shrugged it off and busied myself in my room.

I brought some work documents with me thinking that if I have extra time I could work with it but it looks like it will be useless now that we are in the middle of this catastrophe. I just shoved everything back to my bag however one document did catch my attention. I picked it up and read it when I realized it was the report about the experiment that may be the cause of all of this.

I immediately took out the rest of it and started reading. It was observations of the changes of behavior about the primate as well as the first testing in rodents. I quickly looked for any cures but no matter how I tried looking repeatedly reading the same document over and over again I couldn’t. It’s just the same thing: drastic changes in behavior, restart of the brain, and enhanced primal instincts. There are no records about how it affects the human brain’s reasoning and memory.

I just threw away the paper out of frustration. If I was even able to find a cure— granted there is— we can’t even produce it. We don’t have the knowledge nor the equipment for it. There is only one way to find the answers and that is in my company.

That’s why when morning came and we had our group discussion in the living room and Myla suggested that we should find a cure for Theo I immediately jumped in to volunteer to help her. I need to know what truly happened. Maybe they have some files there that can help me. Although it was just a small branch compared to the main one in the heart of the city, I’ll take what I can have. We don’t have the liberty to choose in this situation.

Just like when I was finally teaching Myla how to hold a gun but she refused to pull the trigger. She looks like she didn’t want to do it but I know she has to.

My father and Logan’s father taught us how to hunt just like a ‘real man’ should. It’s like a rite of passage to finally call ourselves ‘adults.’ I didn’t think that we’d be able to apply this knowledge in this kind of world where we are forced to kill fellow humans.

“I think I should just go alone.” I told Logan as we were busy practicing shooting. I told Myla that we should take a break first because I noticed that she is getting pale. I don’t know why but I think the idea of a gun itself just makes her uncomfortable. That’s why I decided to stop our practice for the meantime. I don’t want her to feel even worse than the situation we are already in.

“What?” Logan asked.

“I should just leave Myla and go alone.”

“Why? Myla is a capable woman if that is what you are worrying about. She won’t be baggage to you on the mission.”

I rolled my eyes. Logan knows me too well however that is not what I was thinking right now. Maybe if it’s a different person maybe. But there is this some sort of connection that I feel about Myla that makes me think otherwise. Which bothers me because I’ve never been the type of person to get attached to anyone. Not even my parents. Logan just wiggled his way in my life to be honest.

“That’s not it. I worry about her.” I said looking to where she was seated talking to Jaden. I removed the weird feeling in my chest when I saw them conversing. “She can’t hold a gun without shaking. I think she would hesitate to hurt the sick people out there.”

“Oh, you worry about her?” he teased, wiggling his brows but I just scowled at him as he chuckled before tapping my chest, “I have something in mind instead.”