Lockdown Nation Read online

  I clicked on the folder ‘Lab’ and scanned through the files until I found one labeled ‘Lab Plan’. I tapped on it. The schematics setup of a lab appeared. I tilted the tablet at every angle until I noticed the numbers on the edge.

  I copied it to the car GPS. It pinpointed on the map at Whiteshore.

  “We need to go back to Whiteshore,” I said.

  Our eyes interlocked for a brief while. Sam took a left turn out of the freeway and followed the GPS back to Whiteshore.

  ☣☣☣☣☣☣

  The car pulled up right in front of my childhood house. Sam pulled the handbrake and looked at me like I told a bad joke.

  I plopped back into my seat. “I’ve no idea what’s going on here.”

  “So the tablet led us here? Are we missing something?” asked Sam.

  I shook my head and passed the tablet to Sam. “The lab plan led us here. I don’t even know anything anymore.” The pain hammered from within my skull. When was the last time I slept? Did I drink water today? All these clues pushed us from one place to another yet we found nothing significant.

  I squeezed the bridge of my nose when a neuron of thought fired into my brain. “Hang on. I know where is it.” I snatched the tablet and opened the blueprint. I peered over the edge of the tablet at the boatshed behind the house. “That’s right. It’s right there.”

  The excitement catapulted me out of the car. Sam killed the engine and joined me swiftly.

  The boatshed extended from the garage and joined to the side of the kitchen. It had remained dormant since the last owner or so I thought. The padlock and metal chain that secured the door looked rusty from inactivity. Why had no one broken in to steal or destroy whatever secret hidden inside yet?

  I dipped into my pocket and whipped out the key I retrieved from Vector. It fitted perfectly into the padlock that clicked open. Sam and I exchanged a glance. The chain and padlock fell on the ground like a nest of metallic serpents.

  The metal door creaked in protest like old joints being popped. The column of light pierced into the gap Sam and I slipped in. Flashing dots from the supercomputers twinkled like stars in the darkness. The blue light and bubbling from the glass container gave me flashbacks from Underlab. A BioTomb but smaller.

  Part of me hoped I would find my grandpa alive here, so many questions to ask him. But a certain relief washed over me when I didn’t. I wouldn’t forgive him for the pandemic and so many innocent lives lost.

  Instead of a body, a brain floated in the liquid. A bunch of cables dangled above the container, breathing life to the culture.

  “Hello, Roxy.” I jumped in the air at the shock of the disembodied voice. Reaching for the Zapper, I spun around for the source of sound from the glass container. “It took you so long to finally come here.” It dawned on me the owner of the voice.

  “Quillon?”

  A wicked laugh reverberated through the darkness. “I must admit I’m slightly disappointed by your decision to leave the Community. Shame I was rooting for you to continue this legacy after your parents decided to become peasants.”

  “You’re not my grandfather,” I muttered. The contents of his journal whirled in me. I shook my head. “He never talks down to me.”

  “You would’ve pulled your weight if he did.”

  “What’s up with Project Hive Mind?” Sam cut in.

  A snigger. “The human race has become too corrupted. It requires cleansing.”

  My doubts solidified. Quillon liked to experiment but he wasn’t a psychopath trying to control the world and think the human race should go extinct. I noticed the camera blending in with the polished black lid of the glass container. The voice came from the speakers next to it.

  The setup replaced Quillon’s organic body, preserving his life. Even though I doubted a life worth living. My gut feeling pointed in Robert’s direction. After all, he served as his assistant. He knew all his secrets. Perhaps, for his own selfish reasons? Perhaps, he was part of Project Hive Mind and there was important information he wanted to mine from Quillon’s mind.

  “Don’t worry, children. It won’t be long until the process is complete. We’re already winning the war.”

  The hologram appeared displayed the familiar Cranax map of Asia Nova. The red patches spread out like bacteria on a petri dish. At least 70% of the nation had been affected. It had been expected, since the lifting of Panic Protocol and people going out and about.

  The tiny hairs rose on my arms. Though I foresaw how things were gonna turn out, it still came as a shock. I stared at the hologram, watching the red grow by every second like the fear in my chest.

  I waved to zoom into the map. The individual dots appeared, multiplying, and stacking upon one another. I frowned at the bigger dot pulsing among others as an idea formulated in my head. I went to the city on the map, three more big dots. One in Whiteshore, pulsing in our exact location. The dots were connecting, filling the gaps, on the map and in my head.

  “It looks like you’re closing the finishing line. What’s next?” I asked.

  “You don’t have to worry. By the time, you would be well dead to the world.” The maniacal mechanical laugh roared through the air.

  I left the shed.

  “Roxy!” Sam followed suit.

  I glanced around the backyard and picked up a sledgehammer. Back in the shed, I glared into the camera. “After you.”

  I raised the hammer, too heavy for my arms.

  “Roxy, no!” Sam stood in front of me. “That’s your grandfather.”

  “No, he’s not. Quillon Riley is long dead. It’s the virus talking.”

  Sam stepped away. I lifted the sledgehammer and swung it in the air. The hammerhead smashed the glass into pieces. The thick sticky liquid burst out of its container, splashing onto the floor. A pungent odor reeked the air, scorching into my lungs.

  A red light flashed inside the glass container where the brain flattened into a blob sitting in a puddle of the slimy fluid. “Warning. Low pressure. Warning. Low pressure,” said the disembodied female voice. The whirring whined off. A dead silence entailed.

  I looked at the map. The big dot in Whiteshore disappeared. I moved the map around when another dot spontaneously emerged in the city. The bile rose in my throat.

  “Was this dot here before?” I asked.

  “Don’t think so. It just appeared then.”

  I stared at the map. The realization presented itself. “We can’t kill Peyton or Cash.”

  “What? Why?”

  “There was a dot here in Whiteshore. I believed it represented the virus in Quillon.”

  “What made you say so?”

  I zoomed into the city on the map. “There are three more big dots like this in the city. They’re all in the Council. The only thing I can conclude from this is those represent Ronin, Peyton, and Cash.”

  “You’re saying these people might be the ones behind Project Hive Mind?”

  I stared at the new dot pulsing as it moved across the map. “For the time being, yeah.”

  “What do you mean by that?” Sam shifted his feet.

  “There was a big dot in Whiteshore before. But right after I stopped the machine, it disappeared and another one popped up in the city.”

  “You’re suggesting Quillon merely became a pawn of the virus, not the mastermind behind Project Hive Mind,” said Sam. “And since he’s gone, the virus in another host takes over?”

  “That means even if we kill Peyton or Cash, it wouldn’t solve anything because another virus will take over and continue this Project Hive Mind. We’re not fighting against individuals. We’re fighting an invisible enemy that has gained control over 70% of the human population.”

  Sam squeezed the bridge of his nose. “This is sick. We have to stop this.”

  The vibration on my jeans pocket scattered my thought process. I got out of the shed and picked up the phone. I sucked in a mouthful of fresh air, replenishing
my lungs with oxygen.

  “Roxy! Father of Science! They knew about us!” Mandy’s voice blared out through the speaker, almost erupting my eardrum. Sam would’ve heard her loud and clear without me turning to speaker mode.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Assunta is dead!”

  “What?” I snarled. “You’ve got one job!”

  “Right but this job is like a friggin subjective paper with sub-fucking-jobs below it.”

  “Fine. What happened?”

  “Don’t know. Seems like the whole coalition has been targeted. My guess is they made them talk for their lives. We don’t know who’s next. Might be us.”

  Sam and I traded worried looks.

  “Where are you guys?”

  “Whiteshore.”

  “Father of Science!” shouted Mandy. “Don’t tell me you guys went on your honeymoon while we were getting killed!”

  “No, I have new information. Get back to the safehouse. We need to talk.”

  “Fine.” Mandy hung up.

  Sam and I returned to the car. The radio blared as the engine revved to life. “As the Cranax cases reach a new height, President Professor Peyton calls for the next stage of Panic Protocol. Lockdown Nation will be commenced within the next 24 hours. All citizens of Asia Nova are encouraged to stock up on necessities and prepare for the new regime.”

  Sam and I traded stares.

  The fear trickled into my chest. “Mandy was right. They’re coming for us.”

  18

  VAXINE

  Sweat drenched Vaxine’s face and stung her eyes. She stretched her arms a little bit more until she heard the click. The handcuffs loosened. She wriggled them off and they clattered on the ground. She rubbed her reddened wrists and dipped into her back pocket to retrieve a Cranatol.

  Vaxine went up to Axon groveling on the floor. He glared at her through his crimson eyes and gnashed his teeth. She clicked her tongue and dropped to a crouch.

  Vaxine popped the pill into Axon’s snarling mouth. She held him tightly as he fidgeted violently against her embrace. As his face cleared and the jittering reduced into grunts, Vaxine covered his mouth and shushed him until he calmed down.

  Axon’s chest heaved and fell erratically catching his breath. “Blot my gel! That felt so horrible!” He blinked quickly at Vaxine and frowned. “Wait, where did you get that?”

  “I always keep one to myself after the incident.” Vaxine winked and removed his handcuffs. “Now, we’re even.”

  Axon massaged his temples. He perked up. His face laced with sudden concern. “They got Ronin. They’re gonna go after Mandy and the coalition.” His face crumpled with remorse and Axon buried it in his palms. “Father of Science, it was my fault. I told that bitch Cash about them.”

  Vaxine shushed Axon. Her eyes darted at the door and back. Though by the thickness of it, not a single decibel of sound could slip out for that exact reason. “Lower your voice. It’s not your fault. You of all people should know Cranax makes you do stupid things. We need to find a way out and get to them before it’s too late.”

  Axon picked himself up and dusted his clothes. His bloodied wounds had dried up and the bumps on his face turned into bruises. At least, the diseased red eyes and venomous veins had disappeared along with his aggression.

  Vaxine glanced around the room, relieved not a single camera in sight. Only one reason came to mind. Whatever they did in this room, they didn’t want it to get out to the public. Her gaze fell on the air vent where the cold breeze breathed in. A smirk quirked on her face.

  “I found a way out.” Vaxine jutted her chin at the ceiling.

  Axon raised a brow. “You kidding?”

  “Any better ideas?” Vaxine dipped into her pocket for the same multitool hairclip she’d used for the handcuffs and gestured at Axon. “If there are no other questions, will you lift me there?”

  “Pleasure is mine.” Axon dropped to a crouch.

  Vaxine hopped onto his back and held onto him. She almost forgot how strong and broad his shoulders had been. The last time they’d been skin to skin was after the fateful night at the bar and they were on the bike to Axon’s place with her on his back. The guilt crept into her system for what she’d done to Axon afterward.

  Though she didn’t agree and had no say that night, she hated to say it was one of the best nights in her life.

  His arms clung around her legs for support as he slowly stood up. He staggered back a few steps before stabilizing his stance and straightened up completely. “Alright, we’re good.”

  Vaxine reached upwards. One hand on the ceiling and the other unscrewing the bolts from the vent.

  Axon grunted and shifted his feet under her.

  “Hang in there. It’s almost there,” said Vaxine.

  “That’s what they always say.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “They always told me to hang in there during my doctorate. It’s easier said than done.”

  “You did it in the end, though.” The second bolt loosened and clinked on the floor. Vaxine shrugged and went on with the next.

  “After five friggin years of inactivity though. If I could turn back time, I wouldn’t break myself this way again.”

  “Break yourself how?”

  “I wouldn’t have worked myself to my breaking point. Even before the incident between you and Hershey, I’d considered giving up many times. I was burnt out. I couldn't do anything and start blaming myself for my own stupidity. I thought perhaps I wasn’t built for this…Until you came back for me.”

  Vaxine paused and glanced at him.

  “It was you who reignited the fire within me.” Axon smiled up at her. “Thanks, Vaxine.”

  The guilt amplified and gnawed in her. “I was programmed to protect Hershey. I did it for her…” Her voice trailed away. She shook her head and continued with the errand. “But I’m glad you’re back, Axon. We wouldn’t have come so far without you.”

  “So you’re blaming me for what happened now?” Axon smirked.

  Vaxine shrugged. “If that’s how you see it.” She removed the last bolt and tossed the vent cover on the ground. Reaching for the edge, she hoisted herself up and climbed into the vent. It reeked of dust and rodents. She extended a hand down and helped Axon up.

  Axon and Vaxine traded nods. They crawled along the claustrophobic tunnel and stopped at once when they heard the muffled cacophony coming from the other end. An exchange of knowing looks later, they crept closer to the vent and peered through the grills into a conference room.

  Peyton, Ronin, and Cash sat together at the end of the table. A bottle of whiskey sat between their shot glasses.

  “Even the coalition is down.” Peyton took a long pull at his cigar and downed his drink. “Every single one of them. Now nobody’s going to stand in the way of the cleansing.”

  Vaxine locked her jaw closed. The anger scorched her skin.

  Cash sneered and sipped her drink. “I told you it’s better to eradicate them to keep them imprisoned. They spread like weeds. If we don’t uproot them completely, it’s gonna get out of hand soon.”

  Peyton gestured at Ronin. “If things go down south, Ronin and the coalition would be our backup. But it seems like we don’t need to worry about it anyway.”

  Vaxine reached for her hairpin when Axon grabbed her by the wrist and shook his head. She wriggled off his grip and muttered, “We have to do something.”

  “There’s nothing we can do. They got the stronger strain of the virus. We don’t know what they’re capable of at the moment.”

  The knock at the door turned heads. An ATP opened the door and walked in. He glanced at the three. “We lost Mandy Berger.”

  Peyton’s face turned into bright red instantly. He clenched tightly onto the glass until it shattered between his fingers. “One job!” He sprang to his feet so abruptly the ATP stepped back a few steps. “I don’t care by hook or by cr
ook, you will have to find her and end her!”

  “Your weeding job hasn’t been completed yet.” All eyes diverted to Ronin who turned his tablet around to them. “Movements have been detected from Assunta’s phone.”

  “Impossible. Assunta is confirmed dead at the amphitheater,” said the ATP.

  Cash clicked her tongue and checked her nails. “Hmm, something interesting is going on here.” She leaned forward at Ronin. “Was Mandy at the amphitheater too?”