Rectify the complete ser.., p.9
Rectify: The Complete Series (The Rectify Series), page 9
So, Tom wanted one beer.
He sat in the common room of the R-Team barracks, feet kicked up on the coffee table as he sunk into a relaxing vegetative state, trying to get tired enough to fall asleep despite the heat and the daylight.
The news wasn’t helping.
It was all talk about a cure.
Cure this. Cure that.
Tom thought it was ridiculous. They were far from out of the woods fighting the infected. In fact, he wished the news would focus on teaching people to be vigilant, to stop trying to care for infected family members.
Tom knew all too well how that ended. It always ended the same way.
There was never a single family member that got well. If they didn’t take the C0-D4 victim to a medical facility, if they tried to keep them at home, when they revived they infected others.
Tom got it, he understood. It was hard not to see that person as mom or dad, Aunt Mary or Uncle Joe. But they had to.
All the talk about a cure vaccine or immunization was going to fan the flame of people caring for their loved ones. If something to help them was out there, why would they take them to a medical facility where they would be, basically exterminated.
Tom was certain people weren’t paying close enough attention to the news. The so called cure wasn’t a hundred percent fix, and it hadn’t even been given at any clinical testing yet. However, it went so quickly from ‘Maybe we have a cure’ to ‘We’re gonna have this on the streets and to facilities as soon as possible'.
With news of a potential cure, people, soldiers, everyone would get lax, what would happen if the cure didn’t work?
Tom just wanted to watch reruns instead of the news, but that was all that played.
“Major Tom?” a soldier called to him.
Tim brought his beer to his lips and lifted his eyes. “What’s up?”
“There’s a doctor on the phone from Mon Valley. I tried to tell them you were on your sleeping break, but they said it’s important.” He showed Tom the phone.
Tom nodded then took it. He figured it had to be June Mannis. He had spoken to her quite a bit at the hospital. “Hello, this is Major Tom Leland.”
“Major Tom, this is Doctor James Ung. I need your help.”
Upon hearing the rush sound to his voice, Tom sat up. "Dr. Ung, what can I do for you?”
“I know you’re resting. But it’s June. Her daughter had been infected. She kept her at home. She allowed the child to revive.”
Tom closed his eyes and rubbed them. “When?”
“Her mother called me. It’s been going on for at least a week.”
“Jesus.”
“I went over to talk to June this morning. She looked bad. She wasn’t bit or sick, but it’s obvious this was taking its toll. She promised me she’d take care of it.”
“You’re calling because you don’t think she did?”
“No,” Dr. Ung replied. “I told her I would be back. I just left the house. I couldn’t get in. No one was answering. I think … I think things went bad. When are you back on duty?”
“In six hours but … I’ll go handle it now.”
“Are you sure?” Ung asked.
“Yes, I will personally handle this.”
“I appreciate it.”
“How many are in the house?” Tom asked.
“Just June and her four-year-old daughter. According to her mother, the daughter is in an upstairs bedroom.”
“So just the two of them, and one of them is contained?”
“Yes.”
“I’m on my way.”
“I’ll meet you there,” Ung said.
“Doctor, it’s dangerous for you to go,” Tom said.
“I’ll not be in the way. I have to be there. June is my friend. I need to be there.”
“Then I’ll see you there.” Tom hurriedly finished his one beer and headed towards the door. He announced on his way out, “I’m headed to a house with a possible hoarding and revival. Just two people.”
“Major, you need me to grab the team?” a soldier asked.
“No. No,” Tom shook his head. “I know these folks, I’m gonna go do this one alone. I’ll call for clean up to meet me there. Get some rest. I’ll be back.”
After leaving the barracks, Tom stopped by the weapons depot, retrieved what he needed and left. He knew he wasn’t supposed to go alone, but he wasn’t worried. He was good at what he did, not only that, he felt out of respect for June, he needed to do it alone.
On his way to June’s house, Tom notified the cleanup crew. He told them to expect one body, possibly two. But in Tom’s mind, June was fine. She wasn’t answering the door because she didn’t want to face Doctor Ung.
There was no way anything could have happened to her. She was too smart.
It was the second time he had been to the house. The first being when he had to rectify June’s husband, Stan.
Tom knew Stan. He was the camera man assigned to his unit. Stan was bit under Tom’s watch and never said a word.
He pulled up to the house and Doctor Ung was already there, parked in his car across the street. He stepped out of his vehicle as soon as he saw Tom.
Tom walked toward him. “Stay here. I’m going in.”
“How long until I know?”
“Hard to say. Did you try all the doors?”
“Yes, they’re all locked.”
Tom nodded and walked back to his car. He reached inside and pulled out a crow bar. He checked his weapon and then headed to the front door.
As always, neighbors started to gather.
Usually, Ton would plot out his entrance while playing music in his head.
Not this time.
He knocked on the door, then knocked again, calling out, “Major Tom Leland, R-Team, Doctor Mannis, open up.”
He waited.
“Doctor Mannis, please open up or I’m coming in.”
He gave it a few seconds, then jammed the crowbar into the seam, cracked it outward while shoving his shoulder.
The lock broke, but he didn’t immediately storm in.
Tom was smarter than that.
He wasn’t going in with gas, so he had to take his time.
Quietly and slowly he opened the front door. Immediately the horrid smell he was all too familiar with hit him.
Death.
Decomposition.
A single step into the house, he readied his weapon and prepared.
There was a sad sound that made him lift his head to the ceiling. The pitter patter of little feet.
Tom knew the youngest daughter had died and revived as he made his way up the stairs.
They creaked, alerting his presence and the footsteps ran to him.
Just as he hit the top of the stairs, the little girl appeared. From Tom’s experience she had revived over a week before.
Her face was almost green, with slashed from where her skin had split. He held aim on her, then reached to his belt. He grabbed the tube-shaped object and using his thump, pulled the retracting switch back.
He didn’t want to shoot her, not if he didn’t have to.
‘Hold still sweetie, don’t bite’, he thought and brought the mini rectifier toward her. “Rectify,” he said softly. All he had to do was place it to her temple and press the button. A small spear like object would eject into her. But the child leapt for him, Tom had no choice but to fire.
Even though it was his job, he never got used to rectifying a child.
It made him pause, hate the world and at times hate himself.
He stood on the staircase holding the railing when he heard a ‘thumping sound’. Getting it together, Tom followed the sound.
It continued, the sound led him to a closed door.
As soon as he reached for it, the door knob shook. It didn’t turn, it just shook. It was the scraping against the door that told him, whatever … whoever was on the other side had revived.
He took a deep breath and opened the door.
It was the sole reason why Tom never spoke to anyone before, he didn’t want to know them in case they revived.
June had revived.
At some point she had died.
When he met her, she was this vibrant woman with spunk. Shorter hair that she attempted to pull back, but strands were always hanging. He found her beautiful and even more so because she had faith and hope in humanity.
She believed that those who revived were somehow still alive within the shell of their bodies.
She tried to prove it to him, but Tom didn’t see it.
June had turned recently, he knew that by the look of her. She would of looked almost alive had it not been for her grey pupils and blood shoot eyes.
She stared at him.
Maybe, Tom thought, maybe this was the chance June had, the final chance to prove it to him. Prove she was in there.
"Come on June,” he beckoned in his mind. "Do something." he locked eyes with her. "Do something to show me you are still you. Please." he begged silently.
To Tom, she didn’t.
He waited.
He gave her a chance.
But she opened her mouth wide moving toward him.
He raised his pistol and sadly whispered, “Rectify.”
Bang.
He lowered his weapon. “I’m sorry, June.”
THREE – CLOSURE
When he was twenty years old, James gave up the habit of biting his nails. Yet as he stood on the street across from June’s home, he bit them until they bled.
He went through a range of emotions, sadness, guilt and relief when he saw Major Tom come from the house.
Major Tom walked directly to him. “I’m sorry, Doctor Ung.”
“I feel horrible for calling.”
“No, you did the right thing.”
“I just … I just knew. I couldn’t go into the house, I pounded on the door, she didn’t answer. I knew she was weak.”
“She was … she was more than that,” Major Tom said. “She revived.”
“Oh my God.”
“From what I saw, she took a bite to the neck.”
James closed his eyes briefly.
“These .. these were in there.” He handed him the envelopes. “She knew she was going. She took the time to write the note and it appeared she tried to rectify herself by suicide. It didn’t work. She died holding pictures of her children.”
“Her poor girls.” James looked down to the notes. “Did she … June believed a part of the person remained. Did you notice, or see anything like that?”
“For a second … a split second, I wondered,” Major Tom said. “Then she opened her mouth to bite. I’m sorry.”
“No. No.” James waved out his hand in a no worry manner. “I understand. I was just kind of hoping that for her sake, a part of her remained, and for all of her believing it, that maybe she was right.”
“For what it’s worth, I was hoping so, too.” Major Tom placed his hand on Ung’s arm. “Clean up crew will come by shortly then the family can come in and handle the effects. Do you need me to tell them?”
“No, I will.”
“Look on the bright side Doc,” he said. “A cure is on the horizon. It’ll be over soon.”
“That will be a good day.” James gripped the letters, one of which was addressed to him. He had to face her family, tell them the news. He had told them previously that she was ill and he would inform them she passed away from the injuries. He would leave out she had revived and became just another monster. Or that all of her insistence and determination attributed to her own death. They didn’t need to know she was wrong about Melinda, or that despite what she believed and wanted, the June they knew left when her heart stopped beating. He would simply tell them to know June went peacefully, holding their photos.
They were her last thoughts.
That was all they needed to know.
When he saw them carrying out her body, James almost found his own closure … almost. There was something he had to do, first.
FOUR – TO BE SURE
It was a vision forever set in stone in James’ mind just as he was told it would be. He had seen countless dead bodies, a hundred rectified remains, but June’s body was different, this was his friend.
After Major Tom handed him the letters, James could have walked away, got in his car and went home. After all, it was his only time to sleep before his shift. Instead, he went into June’s house using his medical identification as his pass inside.
Melinda’s body had already been removed and the clean-up crew was inside, probably retrieving June’s body.
The rotten egg mixed with skunk smell had lessoned some since he was there in the morning. The windows and doors were open and Melinda’s body gone, which was the main source.
James heard voices up above him on the second floor and he followed them up.
The two men wearing the clean-up uniform were by the bathroom.
“Grab the bag,” the one guy said.
“No,” replied the other. “It will be easier to bring her in the hall and bag her.”
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“Wait,” James called out to them. “Please.”
They both turned around and looked at him curiously.
“Please, before you take her.” James held up his hand in a halting manner. “Let me see my friend.”
“It’s not a good thing, man,” one said.
“I’m a doctor. I’ve seen many.”
“Yeah, well how many of them did you know personally?” he asked.
“None.”
“You’ve been warned. It stays with you. I know.” He stepped from the way to let James in the bathroom.
The bathroom was narrow and not very big at all, so James was immediately greeted with the sight of June’s body.
There was a single bullet hole to her forehead, she had been thrown back from the force and was wedged between the toilet and tub. Her shirt was burnt and her hair was singed badly.
James looked around the small room. The bathroom vanity was a mess. Staple gun, bloody gauze, a scalpel. The sink had dried blood and there was old blood on the floor. It was probably where she sliced her own flesh like some sort of luncheon meat for her child.
“He said she killed herself,” James looked at the clean-up crew. “Do we know how?”
“My guess,” one of the cleanup crew replied and pointed to the filled tub. “Blow dryer. Her shirt was burned. Probably tucked it in her shirt and jumped in.”
“Nah,” Second Clean Up Guy replied. “She fell backwards in. The shower curtain is off. She was either sitting on the edge of the tub or lost her balance while getting ready.”
James assessed the situation. If June was trying to be the subject of her own experiment, she would have timed it. She wouldn’t have killed herself to get there, she knew the process. She had to die first ... June had spoken about what it would take to rapidly revive the body, and James believed she figured out how to accomplish that. To do so, she would have had to be electrocuted shortly after death. Only way for that to happen would be to position herself to fall in when she died.
“Only thing I can’t figure out,” Clean Up Guy One said. “Is how she got out.”
“Yeah,” Clean Up Guy Two said, agreeing. “You’re right.”
“Excuse me?” James asked.
“Clearly she was electrocuted,” Clean Up Guy One said. “Clearly, she’s wet, she was in the tub. But how did she get out? They don’t. I mean …” he looked at the other Clean Up Guy. “How many have we found in their tub? At least a dozen. Death by suicide, sliced wrist, plastic bags.”
“And they stay in the tub,” he replied. “They lack the physical ability and agility to get out, especially with water. And in a tub that full? It’s baffling.”
“Maybe she didn’t die in the tub,” Clean Up Guy One said.
“Maybe she was already half out,” replied the other.
James didn’t respond out loud, but he thought it. ‘Or maybe … she knew exactly what she was doing’. He stepped closer to June’s corpse and stared. ‘Did you, June? Did you know?"
Unfortunately, for James the answer to that question would never come.
FIVE – TRAPPED
It wasn’t as simple as going to sleep under a veil of normalcy only to awaken the next day and find most the world had transformed into maddening, undead-ish creatures.
It wasn’t that simple or scary.
It was more heartbreaking.
There was a plague, or at least that would be how Ella Hoffman would describe her eye witness account to her children, should she ever have any.
The news had it all wrong. Not even in the vast faux news of the internet did the stories even come close to the reality of it. At least not in Ella’s recollection.
She had heard about a new virus, one making the rounds as a final hurrah to the cold and flu season. This one had a fever, chills, body aches and blood shot eyes.
When she first heard of it, she knew of no one that had it, then within two weeks, everyone seemed to contract it. But there weren’t any, “How long were you sick until you felt better questions bobbing along between friends and family."
No one got better.
They all fell like dominoes.
Ella was newly married, then in the same breath she was newly widowed. Most of their month long marriage was spent facing what they both believed was the end of the world.
In fact, it was.
A lot of the world just didn’t know it yet, or they were too blind to want to see it.
Before that, Ella lived a normal life.
She and her husband, Bruce lived in an apartment in a large apartment community. Her grandmother lived in the same community in the building next to her. It was an awesome place to live, the grounds were country and suburban-like, but two blocks away down the hill was the bustling south side area of the city.
