First Signs Read online

  First Signs

  A Never To Be Published Prequel Short

  Simeon Graves

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  1

  FIRST SIGNS

  * * *

  Phoebe Mayer pushed her hands even deeper into her coat pockets as she rushed down the street toward the off-site medical facility where ViraTech stored its excess supplies. She considered again calling up Daniel on her Omnis, but she couldn't afford an evidence trail. It was bad enough she was here in person, guiltily avoiding the cameras. But as long as the company had no reason to look into where she had gone, there was nothing to worry about.

  So she hoped.

  She waited until someone exited the building and then she stuck her foot in the doorway. She knew Keresian virus didn’t spread through simple touch, but she felt like she was crawling with it. She didn’t want to be the new Typhoid Mary. However, if her theory was correct, it wouldn’t matter anyway.

  The waiting room was pale blue and simple. It housed a few chairs and tables, a single plant, and two framed prints of landscapes that had long ago ceased to exist in the real world. Beyond the front desk was a long, white hallway devoid of decoration, peppered with steel doors, each sporting a scan pad as impenetrable as anything found at ViraTech.

  A sour-looking older man with graying hair sat at the desk, looking up as soon as Phoebe walked in.

  “May I help you?” he said, insincere in the question, uncaring of the answer.

  “I need to speak with Daniel Blake, please.” She tried not to look around the room like a paranoid nut, but her gaze automatically flickered to the camera in the corner. She angled her body so her back was to it.

  “Do you have any appointment?” the man asked, flicking through the Omnis on the inside of his forearm.

  “No,” she said, stepping forward. She went to lean her hands on the desk and thought better of it, jamming them back in her pockets. “He’s a family friend.”

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t—”

  “Please, it’s an emergency. If you could just call him.” She kicked herself for allowing desperation to creep into her voice.

  “May I see some ID please?” the man asked. She noticed his finger was hovering over the security button on his Omnis.

  Phoebe fought an internal war. If she gave him her ID, chances are he’d recognize her name and let her right in. On the other hand, he would definitely remember her if the authorities came by to question them.

  "Hang on." She raised her own Omnis up and began to swipe through to reach the file with her ID. She paused with her finger hovering over the button, only just realizing she had left her bag, and her blood sample, back at the lab. A chill ran down her spine. If they found it and decided to search through the compartments, they’d know she illegally snuck her own blood into the building. At this point, it would barely matter if anyone knew her name. ViraTech’s security would be flashing her picture everywhere.

  “Ma’am?”

  “Right. What if I don't have it?”

  "Pardon me?"

  A door to her left opened, and Dr. Daniel Blake emerged, crossing behind the counter and speaking rapidly, looking down at his Omnis. “Marcus, can you do me a favor and pull up the file on Beverly Majors? And can you do me a favor and don’t tell anyone I misplaced it?”

  “Daniel,” she said, her voice betraying her relief.

  The man's head snapped up. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

  “I need to speak with you. Immediately.” She noticed her teeth were clenched.

  "Sure," he said quietly, and motioned for her forward. "Come on."

  Phoebe pushed through the waist-high swinging door and made her way back behind the front desk, avoiding eye contact with the man behind the counter.

  “This is unexpected,” Daniel said in a falsely chipper voice.

  “I'm sorry. I know it’s been a while.”

  “No kidding.”

  She felt the tug at her conscience. There was hurt in his voice. She followed him down the hall in silence to the last room on the right, then gestured for her to enter ahead of him.

  His office looked as though it had grown over the years since they'd last spoken. The furniture was more lush, the plants taller, his desk larger.

  “You’ve done well for yourself,” she said. She sat gingerly on the edge of one of the overstuffed chairs.

  Daniel leaned against his desk and crossed his arms over his chest. “I do alright.”

  He looked her up and down in a way that should have made her uncomfortable.

  “What are you doing here?”

  She opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. Her eyes started watering, and it was all she could do to stop herself from weeping outright.

  “Hey," he said, his voice devoid of accusation. “What’s going on?” He made a move toward her.

  “Don’t touch me,” she said, throwing up her hand. “Please."

  “Okay, relax.” Daniel said, returning to the desk. The look on his face nearly broke her.

  “I'm sorry," she said, kneading her hands together. "There's a... problem. I don't know where to turn."

  "What is it?"

  Her stomach twisted. "You know I’m still working on KV?”

  “Of course.”

  "Think there's any reason why they wouldn't want me on it?"

  "I think they'd have to be pretty stupid not to."

  Something between a laugh and a sob escaped her mouth. “Maybe not.”

  “What are you saying?”

  She looked up at him with watery eyes. “This whole time, I've only been allowed to work on synthetic blood. But we’ve been at a standstill for way too long. I needed to see how the virus interacted with human blood. Real human blood.”

  “So, you used your own.”

  She closed her eyes and nodded.

  “If they find out, you could be reprimanded.”

  “If they find out," she said, "there'll be a lot worse than a reprimand.”

  He waved his hand and started back around his desk. “They would never fire you.”

  “I’m infected, Daniel,” she said.

  He froze and looked at her.

  She closed her eyes again, taking a deep breath. “I’m infected with KV.” She chuckled mordantly. "Even saying it out loud doesn't make it any more real."

  He sat down slowly. “How is that possible?”

  “You don’t have to be afraid. I’ve been... careful.”

  “I never said I was afraid."

  "I can see it in your eyes."

  "I know how it spreads, Phoebe. And I know you know the protocol. That said, are you sure? Did you double check?”

  “Of course I double checked, Daniel.” Phoebe ground her teeth. “And yes, I’m sure. I have it.”

  “How? There would be no way for you to be infected if you followed protocol.”

  “I don’t know,” she said, avoiding his eyes, for she felt his gaze on her.

  “But you have a theory,” he said after a moment.

  She chuckled again. “What kind of scientist would I be if I didn’t have a theory?”

  “So, let’s hear it.”

  “You're not going to like it.”

  “Probably not, but you obviously came to me for help. So let me help.”

  She looked up at him through her eyelashes. “I'll need access to the blood vault.”

  He stood up resolutely. “That’s restricted. Like, really restricted.”

  She stood up too. “Not to you, it isn't. And if I didn’t think this was anything other than literally life and death, Daniel, you know I wouldn’t ask.”

  He pinched the bridge of his nose and mumbled something unintelligible.

  Somewhere inside,
she smiled. In the past, he'd made her happy. It hadn’t worked out—her fault, she'd had to admit to herself as well as to him—and it certainly wouldn’t work out between them now.

  Unless her theory was true. In that case, nothing really mattered at all.

  “What do you need?” he asked, finally meeting her eyes.

  “Ten random samples from ViraTech’s employees. And ten random samples from Juniper Academy.”

  He circled his desk and began rummaging through one of its drawers. “You want your sister’s sample to randomly end up in the group from Juniper Academy?”

  She paced the carpet in front of his desk. “Yes, and Cutler’s, too. I have to know.”

  He pulled a key ring from the desk. “And mine?”

  Phoebe bit her lip and nodded. “Might as well.”

  He led her to the back of the room. There were three locks in succession, which he opened with the keys on the ring.

  “Manual locks?” she said, raising her eyebrows.

  “An electronic pad can be hacked. Besides, no one remembers how to pick locks anymore."

  “If I recall correctly, you remember how.”

  Daniel threw a smile back over his shoulder as he pushed the door open. “I’m one of a kind, honey. You should remember that. At any rate, these are only the first tier of security. The second tier requires my credentials.” He pressed his Omnis against the scan pad. “The third tier is a body scan. If it isn’t me, the alarms sound and the whole building locks down.”

  “So, I should stay out here.”

  “Yes, I'll only be a sec.”

  In her imagination, the blood vault Phoebe had envisioned was a cold, dark series of catacombs lit with torches. The cold was the one thing she got right. The blood vault was in fact a single room, blindingly bright, stark white, and utilitarian in design. The rows upon rows of refrigerated drawers gave the appearance of a miniature morgue. Other than that detail, the blood vault was not nearly as horrible looking as she'd thought. She knew the room existed, of course, but the lead technicians rarely left the building to visit any off-site facilities. That was left to the assistants. Phoebe either had her samples delivered directly to her desk, or sent someone to fetch them.

  Daniel seemed to know exactly what he was doing. The labels on the drawers were small and tidy. Taking what looked like a simple silver case from a shelf, he made his way around the room, opening drawers here and there, and placing the samples inside it. As far as Phoebe could tell, it was a random sampling. There was no discernible pattern to his choices.

  When the case was full, he put it to the side and grabbed another one. He walked further back into the room and began gathering more. After a few moments, he returned to Phoebe, handed her both boxes, and closed up the room.

  "I can't thank you enough."

  “Now what?” he asked.

  She bit her bottom lip. “Can I use your lab?”

  “You’re just about running out of favors, Ms. Mayer.”

  “Thank you, Daniel, honestly. I don’t know how I’m ever going to make this up to you.”

  “How about we start with you telling me what the hell is going on.”

  "I'll let you know when I know."

  She followed him out of his office and across the hall. The lights flickered on as soon as they entered, and Phoebe felt a rush of excitement scurry its way up her back. This is what she lived for, what she breathed for—science. When she had a hypothesis, there was nothing she’d rather do than to sit down in a lab and work on it until she found an answer. It’s what drove her and Daniel apart to begin with, her devotion to this ever-present master.

  He set up the room for her, even though she told him it wasn't necessary. It was little things like this that gave her the impression that a piece of her still resided within his heart. After all, he'd loved her for her ambition and her focus. He frequently reminded her how it had inspired him to be better. The only reason why he was working for ViraTech in the first place, instead of Juniper Academy, was because of her. He had wanted to provide her with a better life.

  But Phoebe had gotten scared. Her work never slipped in quality—she wouldn’t allow something like that to happen—but she began to find excuses to go home early. It was always her practice, her religion, to seize the moment of creative inspiration, never to put off till tomorrow what could be done today. Her reason was simple: science wouldn't wait for her.

  The very idea that someone could have the same influence over her frightened her.

  "So?"

  "So what?"

  "Talk to me."

  Phoebe took a deep breath and sat down. She stared at her hands for a moment, but forced herself to look up at him. “I think we’re all infected.”

  It took him a moment to process it. “With Keresian virus?”

  Phoebe nodded her head. “Well, let's start with me. There’s no way I was infected at work. We have too many protocols in place. If there was a breach, a thousand alarm bells would’ve sounded and the whole building would’ve been quarantined.”

  “So, where outside of ViraTech would you have contracted it?”

  “Well, you know me. I’m practically a germaphobe. So there’s very few people I could’ve gotten this from.”

  Daniel froze as he opened the first case. “Somehow I'm getting the sense you're indirectly referring to me.”

  She felt her face flush. “Not necessarily. But I was with you the longest. It stands to reason...”

  He took a deep breath and blew it out loudly. “Okay, let’s start there, then.”

  “Then we'll move on to my sister’s and her husband’s.”

  “And then everyone else.”

  She scooted closer to the microscope on the countertop. “And along every step, we'll just hope I’m wrong.”

  “That's what scares me. You’re never wrong.”

  She went through ever sample twice. They wrapped everything up, and she pecked him on the cheek, promised him dinner, and left the building with tears in her eyes.

  She paced her apartment, tasting the chill night air that blew in through her living room window.

  The only thing keeping her sane at the moment was the one anomaly she caught in a single sample out of her test group. A single anomaly didn't make for good evidence, nothing that would stand up to peer review anyway. But it would have to do. She couldn’t risk being caught pulling a bigger sample size.

  She called Victoria on her Omnis and told her to come over straightaway—and to bring her husband with her. Her sister was perplexed. Not that Cutler was unwelcome – he and Phoebe got along just fine. It's just that they weren’t close. And it wasn’t often Phoebe invited Victoria over to her place without planning ahead; and even if she did, it was usually for a reason that wouldn’t interest Cutler.

  But Victoria had acquiesced without too many questions. Phoebe couldn't hide her mood with her. One raise of the eyebrow or twitch of the nose could speak volumes, and whatever it was that Phoebe’s face was doing on the Omnis screen, Victoria must have picked up on right away.

  When the buzzer sounded, she ran to meet Victoria and Cutler, opening the door with such vigor that it made both of them start.

  “Phoebs, what’s going on?”

  “Nothing a good stiff gallon of wine couldn't cure. Hello, Cutler.”

  “Hello,” Cutler said, stepping through the doorway.

  He was a handsome man with a sturdy face. His hair was close cropped now, a far cry from the bedraggled worker bee he was when Victoria first brought him over to meet her. He’d grown a moustache since the last time she saw him as well, and it gave him a brooding expression. To Phoebe, it looked ridiculous. Victoria seemed to love it, silently gushing over him with her eyes. Phoebe always wondered what made Cutler Copeland so special. Now she wondered the same thing: What made him so special?

  Special enough that he, above everyone else, was the single anomaly in her research?

  “You’re scaring me, Phoebe,” Victoria sai
d, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “I’ve never seen you so shaken up before.”

  “Let’s go in the living room,” Phoebe said, gesturing with one arm. “Wine?”

  “If you can spare the gallon,” Victoria said, pulling off her coat.

  “Thanks,” Cutler said, sliding his off his jacket. He took Victoria's from her and hung both in the closet.

  By the time Phoebe had gathered the wine and brought it out into the living room, they had comfortably settled themselves on the sofa, leaving the armchair open for her.

  “You usually work later than this, don’t you?” Victoria asked, casting a glance outside the window. The smog prevented them from seeing the sun, but the light shades of gray outside indicated it had yet to sink beneath the horizon.

  “I left early today.”

  “Are you okay?” Cutler asked.

  She tried to suppress the bubble of hysteria that crept up her throat, but a strangled sob came out anyway. She quickly took a seat on the edge of the sofa.

  “Phoebs, you’re really scaring me. Please, just tell us what’s wrong.”

  Phoebe nodded her head a few times before she found her voice enough to talk. “Okay,” she said, steeling herself, her hands on both knees. “Give me a minute.”

  After another wary look, Victoria pursed her lips and sat. Phoebe placed her wine on the table and took a deep breath. No amount of preparation was going to make this easy. She stood up and paced the room.

  “I know I’ve never been able to tell you this directly, but I’m sure you both have realized by now that I’ve been involved in Keresian virus research for the last several years.”

  “We figured as much,” Cutler said. He put an arm around Victoria as she settled in next to him. "We just thought it was better not to ask."

  She nodded her head slowly. “Well, I discovered that there was a chance—a ridiculously small chance, mind you, but a chance nonetheless—that there could be a cure.”

  Cutler leaned forward. “So it can be cured after all."

  “What's the big deal?" Victoria said. "It's not like there are cases in the real world to worry about."