All that Survive

By basketballdemon

(A short dystopian horror tale written for The Multigenre Smackdown Round 3.1)

"Hold him down!" Commander Adams said as he helped strap down the zombie they had brought to the lab.

His subordinates did as he asked but one could see they were terrified as they held the infected man down. They looked between their leader and the scientist who slowly approached them with a syringe.

"Is this really necessary? This was one risk we didn't need to take." Commander Adam's second in command - Rhody Philips - asked with a raised brow.

As a soldier, his only job each day was to go out into the zombie infected world, take down hordes of infected and hopefully reclaim more land for the remaining population. From the year 2025 that was all humanity had been trying to do.

The three strongholds were all the safety humanity had left, the only thing standing between the survivors and the total annihilation of humanity. Fort Salvatore was meant to be the most impenetrable and yet here they were bringing an infected person inside the walls for some stupid experiment.

This was one thought everyone else in that room had but no one could voice that thought as Doctor Imogen walked closer with her syringe.

"That's it, just a little drop will be enough for the tests." She said as as took a blood sample from the zombie.

"Really? All this for a drop of blood?!" Lieutenant Philips said in disdain.

"Well you can't exactly get me a clean sample out in the fields." Doctor Imogen said with a shrug as she injected her sample into a test tube. "But don't worry, I may need some more from him."

She ignored the soldiers, even as the commander took out his rifle and shot the creature straight through its brain to end its existence before it could infect one of them.

"I said I may need more!" She complained but was cut off when Commander Addams gave her a stern eye.

"Not worth the risk." He said to her.

Doctor Imogen, frustrated, walked up to her little cage in which she kept a litter of white rabbits.

She stood in front of the cage a few seconds before she finally picked her lab rat.

"What is the purpose of this? You know we could have lost some valuable team members, right?" Phillips asked with a frown.

"We need to determine how the kid's genetic system has mutated to allow his DNA to merge with the virus." She replied as she injected her sample into the rabbit." By comparing his blood sample against that a fully turned individual perhaps we can ascertain what makes him special."

Hearing this, the Commander Addams tensed. By now it was no secret that his adopted son Jesse had at one point in his life been infected but - unlike everyone else - his immune system has somehow adapted to the virus and prevented him from turning into a mindless zombie driven by the need to devour humans.

In the era they lived in his immunity was something short of a miracle and yet there were some who still remained skeptical. Even in the year 2525, whilst the virus claimed numerous hosts everyone knew that it had a single central hive mind. An organism they have termed the Omega. Although that was just a theory the field scouts together with the research teams had come up with over the years, everyone collectively agreed that there were moments in which the undead acted in more intelligent ways and carried out co-ordinated attacks.

It was for this reason that bringing an infected person within the barrier of the stronghold or keeping one who seemed to have been infected for an extended time left many uneasy.

"This is messed up." Said another soldier who simply stood there. "So Jesse is now your lab rat? We're going to pretend we didn't grow up with him for twenty years? That he isn't the best soldier on the team?"

"Jesse understands that his blood holds the key for developing a cure for the virus. With the cure, humanity can eliminate this disease. He's being cooperative." Doctor Imogen replied as she continued to study her test subject.

"It's not like he has a choice! It was that or get gunned down because the higher ups believed some conspiracy theory about him being the Omega!" The soldier continued before turning to his Commander. "Tell them sir, you know Jesse as much as I do."

"That's not for us to decide." Commander Addams said with a prim expression.

"But sir..."

"When serving the greater good I leave my feelings out of it." Addams cut in, turning away so no one would see his true feelings. "At least he's alive. That's worth something."

"That's right, Commander." Doctor Imogen said with a smile before she frowned when she realized her subject was turning rabid. "It appears the virus has attached itself to the host's system. I shall observe the little guy. Hopefully I can gather some useful data."

She began to write down her log, ignoring the men around her as she focused on her little 'lab rat'.

Date : 20 September 2525

Time : 1457 hrs

Test Subject: #1

Condition: Actively Infected but stable

Time of contact : 3 minutes

"So we're done here?" Lieutenant Philips asked with a raised brow before he turned around and left.

Everyone else followed suite, with only their Commander remaining for a few minutes to observe what was happening before continuing on to his room.

He still couldn't get the young soldier's words out of his mind. As he paced about his room, he kicked something - an old and dirty yellow rubber duck he recognized. The toy had been Jesse's favorite when he was a child.

Had he abandoned his son? He tried to believe he hadn't. If anything he had volunteered to help with these tests and experiments hoping that it would buy the kid some time. Maybe he'd buy humanity another millennium to 3535. Angel numbers, there was just something about them.

He could remember the day he found Jesse. The world has gone straight to hell after the outbreak and everyone had fended for themselves before the strongholds were established. Amongst all that chaos he had found the young toddler, a boy of two, all alone, hungry and completely traumatized.

Back then he had gone against his teammates and taken the boy even at the risk that the two year old was infected. Fast forward twenty years later the young boy had grown to become one of humanity's strongest soldiers. The kid had talent, dedication and the IQ to carry out some of their most daring excavations ever.

But that had all come crashing down when one mission the poor boy has sacrificed himself to give his comrades a chance to escape. Back up had arrived shortly after and at that time they had expected that Jesse would be a lost cause. Surprisingly enough, Jesse never got infected. This had raised many eyes and thus the higher-ups had demanded he be thoroughly tested. That was how they had discovered that he had remained uninfected because he was already infected.

Somehow, for years, this poor boy had acted as a sort of host for the virus - retaining his humanity where others had failed to do so. He was a miracle.

Of course not everyone believed in miracles.

Making his way to the holding cells, Commander Addams took care to get a tray of some of the best rations he could find.

He found Jesse in his cell a few minutes later. The young man was seated on one of those thin prison mattresses. It seemed no one had bothered to improve the equipment in the holding cells even after all this time. Coming up to the cell, he took note of the young man's condition.

"Hey there kiddo." He greeted with a small smile.

He hoped that he could atleast cheer him. The poor kid looked pale and had bags under his eyes. He obviously wasn't sleeping. Not that anyone could sleep in that awful cell.

"Commander." Jesse greeted with a smile that barely reached his eyes.

"Wow, the reception in this place is quite shitty. I'm going to have a word with Ricco..."

"It's alright." Jesse intercepted with a smile. "I'm fine. It's more than I could ask for. A soldier should be content with whatever they get, right?"

These words moved his heart greatly.

"Yes, I suppose I told you something like that." Commander Addams said with a heavy sigh. "You're not sleeping, are you? This place is too uncomfortable, right?"

"No - it's not that." Jesse said with a frown.

"Then what is it?"

"I - I have been having nightmares for the past three days." Jesse replied.

"What kind of nightmares?" Commander Addams persisted.

"I keep seeing Fort Salvatore burning. Everyone dead." Jesse replied. "But it's not just that ... I've been hearing this voice for two days now. It comes and goes... A whisper but it always says the same thing."

"And what does it say?"

"It says 'let me in'."

Commander Addams was silent for a moment as he took in what his son had just told him. After a moment he finally spoke.

"Is the voice familiar?" He asked thoughtfully.

"I - it's probably nothing... But sometimes I swear it starts to sound like Doctor Francis." Jesse replied.

"Does it now?"

Doctor Xander Francis, another father figure to Jesse. He was a biological scientist who had been a key player in the creation of self sustaining green houses in the strongholds. The Commander had come across the man a few weeks after he had found and adopted Jesse. Because of some connection he has had to the kid's mother he had offered to help care for the boy. Doctor Francis was the one other person who had been in close contact with the boy besides Addams himself.

It could be nothing.... Or if could be everything.

"Have you told anyone about this?" He asked Jesse.

"So they'd have more reason to gun me down?" Jesse asked with a raised brow.

"Goo, you shouldn't. I'll see if I can do something to help you." He said as he handed him the food tray he had brought him. "Here, I made sure to get the best of everything."

"Thank you." Jesse said appreciatively as he began munching on the food. "But what do you intend to do?"

"Hm, I have some digging to do. Theories to debunk." He replied. He didn't tell him that one of those theories involved the identity of the Omega. "You should focus on taking care of yourself. Get some rest, you look like trash."

This made Jesse laugh a little.

"Yes, sir." Jesse said with a laugh.

"I'll be going back now. You should take care of yourself.

This made the kid frown a bit but he did well to maintain his cool.

After he was done, Commander Addams returned to his team who had been curious as to his where about.

"Hey, Commander, you can't just disappear on us like that." Lieutenant Philips said.

"Enough messing around, I need your help with something boys." He said to his team.

"Ooh, did we get a mission?" One soldier asked excitedly.

"Well not exactly, but the higher ups won't have a problem once they know what we're up to." He replied.

"And why's that?" Phillips asked, raising a suspicious eye at him.

"Because I have a theory on who the Omega is."

They stared at him as if he had grown an extra head.

"Wait, you're serious?"

"Like I said, it's a theory. I could be wrong." He said with a shrug.

"Or you could be right and we'll all get our asses handed to us." Philips added.

"That may be so, but then humanity would be one step closer to reclaiming it's freedom." Commander Addams pointed out. "It's a long shot but this is what we were trained for. We either win or die."