SurvivorZ: Grave Harbor

8

ELLIOT

As a virologist for the CDC, Doctor Elliot Bradshaw spent years fighting outbreaks all over the world. Ebola in the Congo. Yellow fever in Nigeria. The Marburg virus in Uganda. At one point or another, he'd seen almost every form of life one could find under a microscope. He was beginning to think the microscopic world had run out of ways to surprise him. Then he started working on the bug responsible for the end of the world, and all the old rules went out the window.

He pulled his hazmat mask away from the microscope eyepiece and stared at the sample in the Petri dish. For the pathogens he spent a lifetime pursuing, viral infection went hand-in-hand with viral reproduction. The one thing he never expected to see was the same kind of contagion coming from a parasite.

He spotted his voice recorder on a nearby table. After clearing his throat, he spoke into the microphone.

"Day 15, experiment 43, addendum. As we already determined, the organism goes into a state of dormancy when separated from its host brain. We believe this is how the creature originally staved off its own demise for years after the death of its host. If we can find some way to revert the mutated parasites back into this condition, we'll finally have the means to fight back.

"Subject exposure to 275 millisieverts of ionizing radiation shows promise. Despite the absence of a host body, the organism has revived in an agitated state. I've observed evidence of significant physical changes from its base form. It's presently unclear if the creature is undergoing cellular mytosis or if this is an indicator of continued genetic mutation. Further observation is required."

After two weeks of experimenting, they still didn't know how the formerly benign microorganisms living in brain tissue could have changed so dramatically, so quickly, into the deadly menace they are today. Before the internet went down, social media posts revealed that the dead's reanimation occurred almost simultaneously around the world. From that, Doctor Mueller inferred that interstellar radiation might have played a part in triggering the mutations on a global scale.

Unfortunately, the news was too preoccupied covering the end of the world to acknowledge the occurrence of any atmospheric anomalies. If Mueller was right, extraterrestrial radiation could have reached them after potentially travelling through space for thousands, if not millions, of years. Since its rays penetrated solid matter, it explained the effect it had on corpses everywhere, including the ones buried six feet underground.

Elliot put the recorder in a drawer and returned the sample to containment. He had to tell Doctor Mueller about his findings straight away. It wasn't hard proof that her theory was correct, but it did confirm that radiation had a visible effect on the microorganism's physiology.

He hurried across the room to the sealed, airtight passage separating the lab from the outside world. He didn't know how the army managed to get their hands on radioactive samples and the equipment to turn a classroom into a full-fledged radiation lab, but they did so in a time span that was nothing short of miraculous. Soldiers in protective gear had it up and operational within days. They even set up a plastic airlock for decontamination, complete with a portable shower.

He washed down the hazmat suit in the shower with a half bottle of bleach, and then stepped through to the outer chamber. A soldier in protective gear waved a detector over his body. The machine ticked and sputtered. Elliot exhaled upon noticing its needle fluctuating in the safe zone.

"You're good," the soldier pronounced a moment later, waving him on.

Elliot stripped off the suit and hung it up. While changing, he heard voices coming from further down the hallway. He recognized Doctor Mueller and Colonel Hayes. The others weren't as familiar.