Lockdown Nation Read online

  Table of Contents

  CANDICE LIM

  LOCKDOWN NATION

  PROLOGUE

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  ALSO BY CANDICE LIM

  Copyright © 2021 by CANDICE LIM

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any written, electronic, recording, or photocopying without written permission of the publisher or author. The exception would be in the case of brief quotations embodied in the critical articles or reviews and pages where permission is specifically granted by the publisher or author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  CANDICE LIM

  Candice Lim writes dystopian science fiction that she self-publishes on Amazon. Her works have also been published by Daily Science Fiction, Scientific Malaysian, and in an anthology by FIXI.

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  LOCKDOWN NATION

  CANDICE LIM

  Hershey is dead. Ronin’s gone MIA. The Council members have caught the virus, to be exact, the new asymptomatic strain that can telekinetically control the behavior of other Infected. Nothing like the scientists have ever witnessed or experienced.

  With Cranax spreading at an alarming speed, Roxy Riley and her friends must race against time to stop it from taking over their nation and species. Who can they trust now? When the ones they could trust might be Infected and those they thought were the mastermind could be a victim of Cranax after all?

  As Asia Nova spirals into chaos, Roxy is thrust down the memory lane where she will face her fears and learn a part of herself she’s never known.

  Lockdown Nation is the third book of the Cranax Outbreak trilogy fueled with dark humor and scientific puns that may offend some readers.

  PROLOGUE

  RONIN

  The chaos in the conference room mirrored the state of the nation. All Council members had been recalled from the National Day celebration after Ronin Yamashita discovered Hershey had bigger plans for them. Displeasure ensued after having the privilege of time-off revoked.

  Dr. Jane Hershey, the previously famed Queen of Genetics and Vice President of Asia Nova had been involved with the syndicate behind Project Hive Mind. The endgame of the syndicate remained unknown but the mass infection had to be an objective.

  The urgent footsteps ricocheted off the spartan corridor in the Alpha Hall. Prof. Ronin and the two ATP agents marched towards the conference room. The double door sprang open, all the noises fell at once as all heads turned in his direction. Ronin took his place at the other end of the conference table and scanned his audience.

  Evident displeasure etched on their faces. Ronin couldn’t blame them. In the light of the pandemic befallen Asia Nova, all in the Community working tirelessly to fight Cranax had been looking forward to this special day. Now, their excitement had been short-lived. Ronin had to do what he had to do.

  “In reason we trust, esteemed members of the Community. You must be wondering you have been recalled back to ANNUS in such urgency.” Ronin’s crisp voice rang in the room. “We have received new information about the Cranax virus and it’s not like anything we’ve ever known.”

  The disgruntled frowns dissolved into looks of wonder.

  “A new source has identified yet another mind-blowing characteristic of Cranax. This virus has exhibited a hive mind capability never existed to any lifeform, what’s more, in a virus species ever known to man.” Gasps and urgent whispers rose from the crowd. The bubble of voices that crescendoed into full volume burst when Ronin cleared his throat.

  “This is not even the scary part yet.” Ronin’s voice betrayed his fatigue. His age caught up with him. Though he had devoted his whole life to the Community, to serve in the scientific nation, fighting an invisible enemy had worn him down, especially when this invisible enemy was walking among the innocent.

  “It has come to my attention this piece of information isn’t new. Some Community members have known well of this unique characteristic and decided to exploit it.” With a clap of hands, the hologram display of the logo of Project Hive Mind appeared and rotated in the middle of the table.

  “We believe this is the underground syndicate responsible for the rapid spreading of the Cranax virus. With this new information and the rise of asymptomatic patients, typically prominent in first and second-class areas, we have come up with one conclusion―the mastermind behind this syndicate is trying to achieve a hundred percent infection rate. Looking at the current state, they are probably getting very close to their goal.”

  “Based on the data extrapolated from several hotspots, the epidemiology team detected a similar pattern. It usually starts from one single patient zero traveling from an infected area. The Infected, showing no symptoms at all, walks among the oblivious civilians, carrying their daily lives as usual. When it’s time, the Infected will go to a crowded place and transform, going full-fledge zombie mode and start attacking nearby victims. Most victims will die from injuries. Those who sustain minor attacks will survive. Rinse and repeat. The vicious cycle continues until the last person gets infected. And worse of all, we don’t know if they’re walking among us.”

  The chill had picked up in the conference room. Some inmates wrapped their arms around themselves, consoling themselves of the news.

  Ronin scanned their faces one by one, scrutinizing for signs of Infected. A male scientist at the corner suppressed a cough and cleared his throat when Ronin shot him a suspecting look.

  Taking a deep breath, Ronin pushed his fists against the table and leaned forward. “They could be your friends, families, anyone. And the reason why you’ve been recalled back to ANNUS?”

  With a snap of fingers, the hologram transformed into Jane Hershey’s face. A few people sitting in front widened their eyes with evident shock.

  “I believe all of you have received a cordial invitation from Dr. Jane Hershey for a tea party in conjunction with the National Day celebration.” Ronin waved at the hologram to conjure the data from the Cranax sequence database.

  Next to Hershey’s photo, the nucleotide sequence showed a 96.23% match with Cranax. The fine print ‘New strain registered 13 minutes ago’ under the information.

  “Unfortunately, Hershey hadn’t sent out the invitations. She has been infected. Whoever behind this wicked scheme, they have sent out the invitations in hopes to infect you.”

  The horrified gasps and voices filled the conference room again. Ronin slammed his fist on the table to quiet them. “Many in th
e Council caught the virus and do not show any signs. They walk among us, waiting for the right time to strike. Our ally is shrinking, so we must protect one another whenever possible.”

  Ronin turned to cue at the ATP agents flanking the conference room door. The ATP agents in black exoskeletal armor opened the door where another pair of ATP brought in large containers they placed in front of Ronin. The inmates of the room craned their necks, curious about the contents of the containers.

  When the ATP agents had exited the room, Ronin turned to his audience. “As a safety precaution, all of you are subjected to a blood test to prove your innocence.” He retrieved the Sequencer Guns from the containers and them across the table.

  Some people had picked them up and took them to study. When everybody had got a Sequencer Gun, Ronin took a deep breath. “Now is the moment of truth. You have to pull the trigger on yourself. It will tell you if you’re safe from Cranax.”

  The inmates traded horror looks when Ronin withdrew a pair of Zappers and placed them on the table in front of him, not saying another word. He snapped his fingers to connect his tablet to the hologram that showed a blank query page of the Cranax sequence database.

  The dark-haired woman in the wheelchair sucked in a deep breath and pointed the gun at herself. “I’ll do it.” Squeezing her eyes closed, she pulled the trigger and cried out.

  Ronin’s eyes stilled on the hologram. The progress bar inched towards the end.

  The scientist gripped her hands together. She held her breath when the progress bar reached 100%.

  ‘No samples detected’.

  The scientist sighed, instantly relieved.

  Ronin nodded. “Next.”

  One by one, the scientists pulled the trigger. The result list populated on the hologram, the tension in the room uncoiled. When the last person put down the Sequencer Gun, all eyes affixed on the hologram, waiting to see a positive result. A few people had their hands on their hips, ready to pull out the Zappers if they had to.

  The last progress bar reached 100% when the door flew open, jolting everybody in the room. The ATP agent glanced at the people around the table and then to Ronin, “We have a serious problem here, Prof. Ronin.” His voice had vibrated with so much seriousness Ronin dismissed his sudden intrusion.

  “What is it?”

  The ATP tapped his tablet and flicked at the hologram to play the camera footage from the General Biology Lab in Zeta Hall. The ear-piercing scream of the victims blared through the speakers at the four top corners of the room, raising goosebumps. One by one, the Infected hunted down to their last victims. They slammed and scratched helplessly at the locked door and windows.

  The chill trickled down Ronin’s spine. The dwindling tension in the room recouped rapidly. The static in the air bristled his hairs.

  Ronin pursed his lips to stop himself from spewing curses. His eyes hot with fury, he turned to the ATP. “How did that happen? What happened to the security protocols?”

  “No security breach has been reported before the incident. The recruits showed no signs―” A shrill scream from behind the door turned heads.

  Ronin grabbed the tablet and flicked through the CCTV footage from different parts of the campus. The Infected had infested every lab, every hallway. They were everywhere, hunting down every single victim within their reach.

  As the blood froze over in his veins, Ronin heard a click. He looked up at the muzzle of the gun pointed at his temple. Petrified gasps broke out of the crowd.

  Ronin’s eyes sprang open. Before he could grasp the reality, the butt of the gun connected to the side of his head, knocking him out.

  The old man’s eyes rolled back into his skull. He collapsed into an unconscious pile on the ground. As the panic cries arose in the conference room, the ATP agent shushed the group. “No one gets hurt as long as you do what you are told.”

  1

  ROXY

  “I can’t hack this.” Sam Maximoff had a look of defeat. He fell back against the seat. Vaxine and Axon Zack sat opposite Sam and I, and Mandy Berger at the end at the tiny diner at the gas station.

  Two hours ago, we got in a car chase with Dr. Jane Hershey, my ex-mentor and the mastermind behind Project Hive Mind, what we understood now as a viral mass mind control scheme. Before we could dig more information out of her, an incoming train t-boned her car and took her life during the chase.

  The tablet with the cobwebbed glass became the puzzle piece that could connect us to the next one. Sam had been trying to bring it back to life since we arrived at the diner, yet all his efforts and our patience were to no avail. The black screen reflected the state of our hope.

  Sam unplugged the cable connected the tablet to his laptop and slammed his laptop closed. Picking up the tablet, he investigated the screen up-close. “My bet is the tablet has been secured with some sort of biometric authentication technology. So if anyone other than Hershey touched the screen, it automatically wiped the database, rendering the tablet useless.”

  He tossed the tablet on the table and stirred the strawberry milkshake left untouched. Despite the upbeat pop music playing in the air, it failed to lift the gloominess hanging over us.

  Axon, Vaxine, and Mandy nodded matter-of-factly. No one talked much since we left the scene. Nothing much to talk about. The car crash claimed Hershey. The reality seemed so unreal. She’d gone too soon.

  The only person who could shed light on the Cranax virus left us stranded on the island of confusion with so many loose ends waiting to tie up. If it wasn’t for Hershey, we wouldn’t be sitting around the table right now.

  What if some sick syndicate had come up with this nasty idea to bring us all together for a reason?

  My head hurt. I looked around the diner. The chatters reduced into background noise came alive along with the surroundings. The tables had been filled with patrons, mainly families.

  I checked the time on my tablet. 5.15 pm. Dinner time. It’d been a long day.

  At the top corner of the bar, the TV showed the footage of the crash. The headline read, “Breaking News: Vice President Dr. Jane Hershey dead in car wreck.” All the National Day celebrations had been canceled due to the fateful event.

  I turned away and noticed the crowd at the door waiting to get seated.

  Mandy suddenly poked up. “Edmund Ong. He probably can shed some light on this.”

  Vaxine shook her head. “He’s gone long before Hershey. She ordered a clean house on the sanatorium.”

  Mandy muttered a cuss. “What a nasty bitch.”

  “Before we do anything, we should return to ANNUS and hear what Prof. Ronin has to say.” I stood up, followed by the rest. Sam unplugged our Zappers and returned them to their respective owners. The waiter hurried to clear our table for the next customers as we made a beeline to the door.

  “I have a bad feeling about this,” muttered Vaxine. We walked towards Sam’s car parked right in front of the diner. “How can we tell Ronin isn’t a part of this?”

  “We did the test. He’s clear.” Axon opened the door for Vaxine to get into the back seat.

  “That doesn’t mean we can be complacent. Who knows what else this sick virus is capable of.”

  “We can’t be too critical. Our ally is shrinking.” Sam revved the engine and the car roared to life. “We should count our blessings at least not all in the Council are infected. Or I should hope so.”

  Sam’s car sped down the eerily quiet highway once hustling with traffic. We had traveled a lifetime's worth of mileage on this highway within weeks since the outbreak. I recognized every rock and tree along the way.

  The passing sceneries blurred in the window. I spiraled down the memory lane of everything that happened in a few weeks. It felt like yesterday when I found out George and Edmund had a plan to unleash a pandemic. Now, all the key players were dead. It all happened too suddenly.

  My mind grew weary from the mental gymnastics of deciphering the origin of C
ranax and my eyelids got heavier. The sudden jolt of the car snapped me out of the trance.

  Sam’s car pulled up in front of the gate of the Asia Nova National University of Science. The gate stood ajar. No security in sight. ANNUS had never been this relaxed with security.

  “Where are the bouncers?” muttered Sam.

  Vaxine sat straighter and whipped out her Zapper, all ready for a shootout.

  I peeked out through the window. The shrill silence in the compound had an eerie vibe. Like we were the only people left. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

  “Do you think the guards are getting time off from their duties because of the National Day?” suggested Sam.

  “It’s ANNUS. I doubt they even got washroom breaks,” said Axon.

  “Should we proceed?” Sam gripped onto the handbrake. “What if there’s an outbreak? They’ve got a holding center full of Infected inside.”

  “Prof. Ronin told me the facility is built for maximum security,” I said. “I trust him.”