VOICE LOG, FACTORY 11417-D

Female Voice 1: Date: October 12, 21… Groans. You know the date. Doctor Martinez, reporting in.

FEMALE VOICE 1 IDENTIFIED AS LAURA MARTINEZ, ASSET 11417-D-03

Laura: As usual, nothing to report. Just… I mean. I thought we’d be doing something, you know?

Female Voice 2: Laura! Come quick! Check it out, there’s a guy freaking out!

Laura: Vicky, I’m recording.

FEMALE VOICE 2 IDENTIFIED AS VICTORIA DAVIS, ASSET 11417-D-72

Victoria: Seriously, this is something else! Come on, you know you always said you wanted some excitement.

Laura: Ugh. Fine. Let me pause this…

Muffled sounds of rustling.

Laura: Okay, that did it.

Male Voice 1: Down on the ground!

MALE VOICE 1 IDENTIFIED AS CONNOR RUSSEL, ASSET 11417-D-13

Male Voice 2: Drop it!

MALE VOICE 2 IDENTIFIED AS JACOB ANDERSON, ASSET 11417-D-15

Male Voice 3: Screw all of you! You’re killing this planet with your chemicals and your pollution! Well, you know what I say? All of you are nothing but animals!

Connor: Bomb! He’s got-

Explosion, screams of panic.

Laura: Groans. My head… Can… Why can’t I hear anything? My ears… Ah! No, they’re… Oh my God.

Jacob: Groans. Gas! Gas! Get clear! Everyone, get clear!

Laura: We can’t let it get to the purifier! Look at what it’s doing to us, if that thing gets

Screaming. Muffled groans, followed by a loud crack. It is believed that at this point, Laura fell onto her recorder. Heavy implications that a biological weapon was dispersed to Facility 11417-D. Subsequently, it is a safe assumption that it will be dispersed to Quadrant D of Sector 11417.

Attempts to remotely disengage facility have failed. Requests sent to National Defense for facility liquidation. All surviving Assets are advised to leave Quadrant D of Sector 11417 immediately.

 

Outbreak

 

“Today’s the day everything changes.” I smiled, looking through the trees. My voice was distorted by my air filter, a necessary evil. I was one of the lucky generation born with Sepler’s Cough before the vaccine was fully developed, meaning that I had to lug around a rebreather everywhere I went. Any exposure to impure air, and I’d be subject to fits of coughing, followed by uncontrollable vomiting, followed by death.

Lovely, I know.

But today was the day I was about to try living without it. Thanks to my parent’s will, I was finally able to get enough money to afford a filtration implant. The sucker is supposedly sustainable for a hundred years, which I think is probably about fifty longer than I’ve got left.

Either way… I paused, looking through the trees, feeling the humidity caused by my mask on my face. I hadn’t truly felt the outside air against my mouth in a long time, and I was looking forward to it. I pressed hard against my neck, finding the small switch embedded there.

My heart raced as I thought about what I was about to do, trusting my life to a device in my throat and a will for freedom. In case it went wrong, I had my rebreather at hand, and Heather was at home watching Brianna so at least they wouldn’t see me at my weakest.

Of course they’d tried to come with me, but… Well, hubby knows best and had just bought mommy that new gaming system she wanted. It might have been a low blow, bribing her like that, but I’d seen the look on her face the first time I accidentally swallowed a lungful of impure air. I wasn’t about to let that happen again.

I toggled the filtration unit on, then reached my hands to my neck. I was trembling, actually shaking with nervousness. I’d made it this far, so there was no sense giving up now. I swallowed hard, feeling the strange sensation of my saliva dripping down a partly artificial throat.

Then I unclipped my mask, holding it a few centimeters from my face and taking a quick, quiet breath. And another. And another.

Nothing happened. There was no coughing, no aching, no need to call for paramedics that likely wouldn’t care enough to come out here in the middle of the woods. In retrospect, this plan would have gone disastrously if it didn’t work-but it did!

I punched the air like I’d just kicked a winning goal in football, then shouted loudly, hearing my voice echo. That’s another thing that I hadn’t gotten used to, hearing the sound of my own voice echoing. That damned rebreather always blocked it.

Now I clipped the thing to my waist, laughing and shouting again. “SUCK IT, SEPLER’S!”

A faint whimper joined the roar of my voice, and I paused, on edge. Something rustled to my right, and I began to edge towards it anxiously. I know, stupid idea. But to be fair, I was riding a wave of endorphins, and I’ve always been curious.

It was a dog. There, in the middle of the woods, was a Doberman bitch-and not just any Doberman. This one was wearing a lab coat, and some asshole had pierced its ears and put lipstick on it. I walked up to the animal, palms lifted to show I wasn’t a threat.

“Hey, hey, easy girl.” I was glad she wasn’t human. If she was, she’d probably have been freaked out at how widely I was smiling from the feeling of air on my lips again. Luckily, she didn’t seem to mind. The dog padded towards me meekly and tamely.

“Smart one, aren’t you?” I laughed, holding her head in my hands gently and undoing the piercings. You learn a lot as a veterinarian. Which, really, not the best profession for someone with my sort of condition. But I’d always loved animals, and could never own one thanks to Sepler’s.

Today that was about to change. I undid her coat and used it to wipe off her dark lips, smiling and patting her head. Her tail wagged madly, and I looked down to the nametag. “Laura Martinez, huh? I’ll see if she knows who you are, girl. If not, then welcome to the family.”

She panted and barked, setting after me on the long trek back to my house. I walked through the woods, everything in my life seeming to click for the first time. I could breathe for the first time, really breathe. I might have a dog-Brianna would love that. Even the sun was shining... Or. At least, it had been.

I noticed I couldn’t see my shadow. I looked up, finding a strange green cloud overhead. Not the normal thing you see in autumn, and it sure looked like it spooked the Dobie at my side. I scratched her ears, loving the warm feeling of her fur, before looking up to the sky once more.

“That’s… Unusual.” It was more than just clouds, I could see that now, just from turning around. It was a thick, greenish fog, one that had crept up upon me without my noticing. Slowly, I lifted my phone only to find it had no reception.

Again, another oddity. But it was one I set to the back of my mind. I’d walked this path before enough times to be able to do it blindfolded. Out here was my private retreat, an expedition that had once seemed so dangerous in spite of being absolutely mundane.

Fog or not, I could make it home with my eyes closed. This was a good thing, since I nearly had to. The damned stuff was thick, so thick I could barely see a few feet ahead at times. It dissipated the closer I got towards town, letting me see more.

Unfortunately, I could also hear more. There were sirens, screaming, and other noises that didn’t make sense. My brisk pace sped up to a jog. I could hear the dog following behind myself, but she wasn’t really my concern anymore.

The edge of town was a few blocks from my house, and I could tell the chaos swept far beyond that. I hadn’t expected my first real smells to include smoke, gasoline, the stale water from broken hydrants. The car to my right was leaking its oil on the ground, spreading it towards an open flame.

I ducked down towards it, seeing the silhouette of a passenger behind the wheel. Doctor’s instincts gripped me, and I reached out a hand towards her. “Hey! Are you okay?” My voice still sounded unfamiliar to me, but I set it to the back of my mind.

“Leave me alone.” She replied. It sounded like she was drowning, every word having to be forced through liquid.

“What? No, your car’s on fire, you need to.”

I stopped, getting a better look at her. Her hair had fallen from her head, which no longer looked human. Tentacles extended from the sides of her mouth, and her eyes were lifted on stalks. They swiveled towards me, revealing beautiful blue orbs brimming with tears.

“I know.” As she spoke, the wet slit in her face that made for a mouth spat a dripping bubble of mucus. She looked like some kind of slug-person, her body slick with mucus. Now that I looked closer, I could see that her sleeves were loose, that her pants were hollow and empty.

God help me for what I did next. I reached in and grabbed her, despite her protestations, despite her accusations. She spat and cursed, then choked on her own mucus, her words failing her. As I pulled she started to shrink more and more, until she was the size of an infant by the time I pulled her from the car.

By the time I’d made it back to the Doberman, the woman was a slug. It seemed insane, but this kind of thing would explain the state of the town. I set the slug on the ground, panic addling my mind and making it think that I could somehow fix this, get her back to normal, look at the human face that those soulful eyes had belonged to.

Then a fat sow ate her. Or maybe it was a boar. I didn’t really notice, because once the pig crept up beside me and bit the slug in half, I was overcome with a sudden urge to vomit.

The Doberman scared the pig off while I lost the contents of my stomach, a silent prayer in my head thanking whoever designed my implant to be sturdily lodged in my throat. I looked to her weakly, waving her away from the pile as she moved into eat it.

“Laura?” I asked, my voice raspy from the bile.

The dog’s ears perked and she barked, her tail wagging. Her tongue flopped from her mouth and she stared at me with something almost approaching recognition.

“Oh my God. Laura… If you were a person, please. Just… Bark once, okay?” I tried the first thing that came to mind.

She did. Then she barked again, and again after that. I turned and saw a cougar approaching me, its fangs bared. A pearl necklace dangled around its neck, and I stumbled backwards, landing against another car.

I opened the door, planning on climbing in and using the vehicle as a shield while I worked out my next step. A lizard scampered out from an empty police uniform in the driver’s seat, and another plan altogether came to mind.

I fumbled for the empty belt, undoing the holster and pulling the policeman’s pistol from his holster. Thank God American schooling taught shooting lessons from second-grade up. I turned back towards the beast, racking a round into the chamber and placing a shot in the asphalt before it.

The cougar got the idea, scampering away in sight of easier prey. Somehow the Doberman didn’t get spooked by this, and I smiled to her, patting her head. “Good girl, Laura. Come on. Let’s get home.”

Home… It should be safe. If whatever was going on was viral in nature, or aerosolized, then my hermetically sealed house would keep my family safe. It was ironic, in a way. I’d always hated how I felt the house felt like a prison thanks to my Sepler’s. Now it hopefully would save my wife and child.

A weight lifted from my chest once I saw that the windows were shut, and the place looked more or less intact. I stepped over a tarantula, not even caring who it had been. Right now the only thing that mattered to me was my family.

I stepped into the airlock, Laura in tow behind me. It felt wrong to think of her as just ‘the Doberman’ by now, especially because she had stuck with me this long. The door closed behind me and I clicked on the intercom, glad that at least something worked today.

“David? Oh my God, is that a gun?” Heather asked.

My heart almost melted. I’d expected some moaning animal sobbing to greet my ears, rather than the dulcet tones of the woman I’d fallen in love with so many years ago. Laura cocked her head at my side, curious as to why tears were dripping down my cheeks.

“Dad? Is that Dad?” Brianna sounded panicked, and I felt a little guilty for feeling happy when she was so distressed. It wasn’t my fault, I was just so glad to hear her voice again.

“Hey, how’re my best two girls?” I laughed, before a passing thought struck me. Quickly, I slapped the manual close button on the door-just in time. It shuddered with arrested motion, my wife’s signal overrode by my own.

“Did you… David? Did you just keep the door shut?” Heather asked, panic setting into her own voice.

“I’m guessing you know what’s going on out there, right? We don’t know if it’s because of the air, but I think it is. I’m fine, the implant works… I think it’s keeping me safe.” I began.

“Dad, we know.” Brianna laughed, relief finally overcoming her panic. “We saw the news, it’s okay for you to come in.”

I almost let go of the button before remembering the dog beside me. “Wait. What about Laura-I mean, another victim I found?”

“Laura? You seeing someone else?” Heather’s voice sounded strained, and I couldn’t tell if it was laughter or if it was genuine sorrow through the intercom.

“She’s the first person, well, animal I ran into, and”

“I figured, David. Jesus, you probably saw some dog in the middle of the woods and decided to adopt her right away.”

She knew me so well.

“David, it’s fine. It’s in the air. The airlock reads that you two should be fine to come in now, that you’re surrounded by your precious ‘pure air’.”

I actually hadn’t noticed it until now, but the crisp outside air had been replaced with the stale recycled air of my home. It was a scent that I’d become so accustomed to from my mask that it was second nature to me.

A smile spread across my face and I finally released the button, letting the doors slide smoothly open. My house looked the same as ever, which was probably more unsettling than the chaos outside. It was like walking into the eye of a storm, and I pet Laura’s head anxiously.

Brianna was the first to reach me, a smile on her face. My gorgeous daughter’s eyes twinkled as she practically tackled the dog, scratching her ears and petting her cheeks. “Oh my God, Dad! She’s so precious! Is this the girl that’s gonna make Mom jealous?”

“Funny.” I punched her in the arm lightly, an old habit that I’d kept up for a little over a dozen years. She laughed and returned the favor, and I knew that’d bruise tomorrow. Still, I didn’t show it on my face-I hoped-and instead hugged her tightly to my chest.

Heather rested a hand on my shoulder, anxiety clear in her eyes. “David, I think we need to talk about… This.”

“Probably.” I sighed. I ran a hand through my hair, looking up to her. “Did the news say anything about what we should do? Wait at home, head to a shelter?”

She shook her head. “They just said to evacuate it. There’s something in that fog that messes with electrical signals, shuts off every kind of system we have. It’s coming from a factory, but they can’t even sic a drone on it. We’re just lucky that this house is decently shielded.”

“Hey, it’s analog.” I replied.

“That’s not how-” She began, only to pause as she saw me winking. It was an old joke we’d had since seeing one of those old millennium movies, and of course she’d hated it. Something about her electrical engineering degree kept her from suspending her disbelief. “God, you’re such an ass…”

“Luckily not literally.” I tapped my throat with a wink. “I knew this thing would come in handy.”

She opened her mouth to reply, then the window broke.

Time moved in slow motion. I could see Laura opening her mouth to bark at the intruder. I could see the look of panic on the intruder’s face. She looked like she was a pretty thing, once. Now the woman’s neck was long and clad in feathers, with a pair of ugly looking talons for legs. I wondered idly if she was a crane or a heron before realizing that green fog was already starting to slip into the house.

My rebreather was still at my side, and I panicked. I had only a second to choose, and before I knew what had happened, my hand was shoved onto Brianna’s face. Her eyes widened as she sucked in a healthy mouthful of its filtered air, then she looked to Heather, to her mother and my beautiful wife.

The changes began, and time seemed to resume. The crane/heron/person squawked indignantly and flew towards out kitchen as a bear lumbered towards the shattered window. It was definitely a man in his past life, judging from the tie and button-up that his form was currently bursting from.

I sent a quick snapped shot his way, scaring him off but also spooking the bird even more. Then I looked to Heather, struggling for words. Her nose was flattening out on her face, and as her breath hitched her neck lengthened.

Her fingers and toes coalesced into hooves, and I tried to hold them, so she’d be able to feel my fingers on hers one last time. It was too late, and I ended up gripping a pair of hooves numbly. Her arms and legs lengthened and she kicked them, her long neck bobbing as she waved her head towards our garage.

“David. Hnngh. Car.” She grunted, clearly having to force the words to her mouth. She blinked rapidly, her eyes glazing as she met my gaze again. Then her face started to stretch out into a deer’s, and I could watch no more.

I grabbed Brianna, hugging her in my arms and lifting her with a strength I didn’t know I had. I don’t know how I made it to the car, how I kept myself composed as I buckled my daughter in. I only knew that I was numb, from head to toe.

It was an utterly indescribable sensation, like my world was pulled out from under my feet. One second we were a family, and the next… Everything was gone. I turned the key in the ignition, looking to the backseat and making sure my daughter was okay. Laura looked at me with concern from the passenger seat, and I realized I was still holding the gun with trembling hands.

I clicked the safety back on and shoved it into my belt, swallowing hard. Everything was blurry, starting to spin around me. I needed to… I needed to breathe, to focus.

“Bri? Honey? Don’t take that mask off, okay?” I asked, checking she was okay in the rearview mirror. She gave me a thumbs-up, not so much as a shiver passing through her body. Kids were tough sometimes, and Brianna was always good with that kind of situation.

“It’s okay, really.” She said quietly, her voice muffled from the mask-had mine always sounded like that? “Because you’ll find a way to fix mom.”

My heart almost broke at that. I didn’t have the ability, the strength to tell her that a veterinary degree wasn’t anywhere near close to… whatever was needed her. Not a veterinarian.

I turned to the windshield so she couldn’t see the anguish in my eyes, thumbing the wheel-inset ignition. The car quietly thrummed to life, its motor kicking in. There was a gallon in the tank, so that’d last for a few hundred miles… Hopefully enough.

I drove towards the garage’s door, watching it slowly lift.

In a way, I didn’t want to leave. I didn’t want to abandon this quiet sanctuary, abandon my home. A deer bleated from somewhere in the house and I hit the gas.

The first few miles were terrifying. Then… It started to get easier. I didn’t know if I was getting numb to the changes, or if my brain had simply run out of whatever hormones made distress. I looked out the window at a passing chicken, watching it peck at a bespectacled raccoon holding an egg.

“Hey, Bri. That one’s a couple… I think married for ten years. She found out he was cheating on her, and he wanted the kid.” I offered, and she laughed. “You like that? Okay, you try one.”

She looked out her window, her breathing quiet in my old mask. “Um… That squirrel. She was a hooker who’s now addicted to the other kind of nuts.”

I belly-laughed at that before realizing what my kid had said. I turned back towards her, a father’s scowl on my face. “Where did you learn to talk like that?”

She went pale, fidgeting in her seat. “Um… It was my friends at school.” She blinked, then her eyes finally began to mist. “My friends… They don’t have houses like ours. I don’t think… I’m not going to see them again, am I?”

I blanched as well, then looked to the road hurriedly. There! A Shiba Inu in a military uniform. I pointed to him, nodding. “Look at pudgy! I bet he was a real ranking officer, right? Giving all sorts of orders?”

She sniffled, then smiled weakly. “Now he’s a good boy and has to take them?”

“Yeah, exactly.” I smiled, turning towards her and sighing as she smiled, her cheeks still wet from tears that were no longer falling. I would need to watch conversations like that in the future, I didn’t want to risk upsetting her again. “Hey, no matter what. We’re going to be okay, right? I’ve got my implant, you’ve got my old mask. Just keep it on, and things will be fine.”

She screamed. I had enough time to turn towards the road again before we ran into a bison.

PIPIPIpipipiPIPIPIpipipi

I groggily waved my hand to hit my alarm, brushing against fur instead. I jerked my hand back in confusion, then Laura barked. I opened my eyes, seeing the crumpled hood of my car. Then I looked to my right, finding a panting Doberman in the passenger seat.

“Jesus. They say that those Ford Inertial Dampeners aren’t worth crap, but you seem fine.” I laughed weakly, stroking her cheek. She barked again, then lowered her ears and nodded to the backseat.

PIPIPIpipipiPIIIIIiiiiii

The beeping finally made sense. It was the filter alert on my rebreather.

Everything went numb again, but it was so much worse this time. I spun to the backseat, but Brianna had already begun to change. I couldn’t move fast enough, even the few seconds it took to open my door and tear hers open were too many.

By the time I reached her side, Brianna was more canine than human, gray fur covering her body as she twisted in her clothes. A shaggy tail burst from her backside and I wrapped her in my arms.

“No, no, nononono…” It was all I could think of saying, all I could think of at all. I’d lost Heather today, I couldn’t take losing her too. Not Brianna, not my baby.

“Grrymm sowwrry can’t keep mask on…” Brianna’s gold-tinged eyes brimmed with tears as she pressed her paws to her muzzle, trying to hold on a mask that didn’t even work anymore. Then the intelligence faded from them, before I could get so much as a word in.

“Bri, no, it’s not your fault, it’s not… It’s…” I held her tightly in my arms and sobbed. I tried to think of what to do, of anything to do. All I could manage was to hug the little wolf tighter as she completed her transformation.

For a few minutes we stayed like this. Then she bit my arm, hard. I instinctively relaxed my grip, and it was too… Something. Too much? Too late? I didn’t know, I didn’t have the strength for anything approaching articulation.

All I could do was choke as the wolf bounded from my arms into the fog. I couldn’t cry, couldn’t scream, couldn’t come up with any response that seemed appropriate. My mind was torn in a dozen different directions at once, and they all led to despair.

Laura made as if to chase after her, sensing that the wolf’s departure was what had broken me. I half-lurched from the car, skinning my knees on the ground as I wrapped my arms around the dog. “Please, no… Not you too. I… I can’t.”

She stiffened, and I worried I’d aggravated her. Dogs don’t like to be hugged, especially when it’s by surprised. Thankfully, this dog had to have at least a bit of human in her mind. She relaxed and rested against me.

For the first time, I realized just how much the fog smelled like air. It was the same thing I’d smelled since undoing my rebreather that first time-was that really the outside world, or was the fog there all along?

I didn’t have an answer, didn’t have any answers. I looked to the rebreather as it beeped a mournful shutdown tone. Then I pressed my fingers against my neck. Laura must have known what I was about to do, because she looked up to me, licking my face with that flat tongue of hers.

I pet her head gingerly, but I didn’t stop. My digits pressed harder, nails digging into my skin as I felt for that pressure of the implant. It took a few seconds because my hands were shaking so much, but I was able to find its small embedded stud.

Then I clicked it off, and took a deep breath.