Plan.et Zero

The new morning sun brought uncertainty. The rains were a blessing and a curse, they would water our crop and somewhat cover our prescence outside the walls. But it always felt like downpours were signs from the gods, signs that signaled the end of times.

The day went quickly, too much work and not enough hands to complete it usually did make it feel like that. Kana had caught a bounty of wildlife, a pair of rabbit and a deer close by. Finding wild animals these days was difficult, they were the prey of the rot walkers just as we were. The camp did have a few other animals, however all were being fattened for the winter.

My work was much safer, breakfast was omelettes made from from the eggs the chicken laid the other day, along with a few spices and greens grown here. Dinner was a little easier, I’d managed to make a Frankensteined version of my patented Star burger. Oran and his gang watched from afar as always, holding his terrifying grin.

Once lunch service was done I met up with Kana. She had already finished her role earlier, they ventured into the city, scavenging for medicine and bullets.

They lost one today, young kid that got too cocky, thinking these walls would always protect him. He was itching to prove himself a warrior. Ended up taking one Walker, didn’t notice the second. When they got back, his mother heard the news. She had lost everyone but her son… now she had nothing left, a common story around here.

*-*-*

Junichi’s map showed us the entire zone, funny enough, everything was so uniform and together, other than this lab that was completely cut off.

When we got there, we understood why. I guess we were expecting too much, an actual building, some beakers and a few hazmat suits here or there… instead it was an enclosed tent. Sure, it was big enough to fit everything inside… but, a tent?!

“You think he gave us the wrong map?”

It seemed the doctor noticed us, he unzipped the entrance and waved us down.

“Unfortunately not.” Kana replied.

“You must be… wait, I’ll get there…”

“Kana and Hajime.” I responded sharply.

He clicked his fingers, “right you are. Sorry about that, old age is a scary thing.”

Neither of us responded. The others had given us an idea of what kind of person he was, most of which used words like: Quack, Crazy and some even called him Psychotic… seemed a bit mean to me, but then again, yeah I could see it.

The lab was, as explained, far from it. They’d left the guy with a few beakers, a couple of papers and a broken seat. But regardless of Junichi’s obvious disregard for this place, Alex was a chipper old fellow. Sort of reminded me of my grandfather, just happy to still be alive… though in these times, I’d bet the old man would be happy he lost to that infection.

“Junichi has told me you’d be by. My first question is of your knowledge of cancer and the cells. Are you aware of how a cancer forms and how the body fights it?” The old man asked.

“Yeah, vaguely. I was a fanboy of Dr Kozioł so I know a bit of his research. Cancer’s formed from cells that are damaged and either lose the function or refuse not to die.” I responded. Kana shrugged, I suppose they hadn’t taught that yet.

“Very good. These cells are incredibly dangerous because they act of their own benefit rather than that of the host. But because of that our bodies can fight cancer cells. Mainly through a process called Apoptosis, special enzymes called Caspase are triggered and basically execute the cell.”

“I’m guessing rot don’t have them”

“Possibly, possibly not. If they don’t have them then it makes things easier, but if they do have them, and they don’t activate then it doesn’t matter how much we know about them.”

“Is there any way to tell?” Kana asked.

“I suppose so. Unfortunately, you would have to have a test subject I presume.”

We’d all read the horror stories, wannabe geniuses that try to use the rot as a weapon or a tool. They all end the same way. Even if you kill the walker, their cancerous cells can attack your healthy ones if you so much as graze em. You’d have to be super careful, something most people can’t be when there are another horde of 'em surrounding them.

“Well, first we have to think of what people used to use to treat cancer. I’m sure Dr Kozioł would have gone through these. You have: Radiotherapy; Stem Cells; Immunotherapy; Hyperthermia; Hormone Therapy; Photodynamic Therapy and Chemotherapy. With things like Chemotherapy, Photodynamic Therapy, Hyperthermia and Radiotherapy we aim to target an area and damage the cells.”

‘Didn’t someone try one of those a while ago?” Kana remembered, “Tried to cure cancer with light?”

“Very impressive, Ms Kana! I do remember that. He used Photodynamic Therapy. Obviously it didn’t work, and he was turned into the curse he aimed to cure. Things like Photodynamic only really affect one type of cancer, like how the method he used would work well on skin deep cancers but wouldn’t do much to deep tissue tumours. For us to be successful we need a method that would target every cell.”

“Does something like that exist?”

“The most excessive method is something like a mist of mustard gas spreading across the earth, or a nuclear warhead.”

“A nuke?! Are you crazy?!”

“In terms of radiotherapy, a warhead should release similar wave patterns… though, then again they die from things like gunshots and stab wounds like us so at that point the radiation wouldn’t really matter. But nevertheless it would be an effective weapon to wipe out the rot walkers.”

“And us with it. There are still people out there fighting to survive, what happens to them?”

He didn’t respond with words, simply implying what I could assume.

“We don’t have the technology for warheads anyway, nor do I think it would be the best option. I don’t believe Immunotherapy or Hormone Therapy would work. I don’t think they’d play nice and let you test stem cells on them either.”

My first meeting with my former idol replayed in my head, the man I put on a pedestal as the smartest man alive, completely infallible… how the mighty have fallen. “When I first went back, Kozioł was explaining it in a sort of show. He said that larger animals like blue whales and elephants get something called Hypertumours, it was the basis of his research. Do you think it’s got anything to do with that?”

“Potentially, however I think we would need some concrete evidence. The issue with the doctor’s notes is that though they are from a brilliant mind, he was unaware of what he was creating. The genetic material of the rot would be completely alien to him as he’d never seen them before… that and I’d assume he didn’t completely test it, thinking he was too smart to fail”

“That does sound like him…”

“We have to make the assumption that a victim has Caspases up until they are infected. There’s one of two ways the rot can affect them. 1. It deactivates them, making the cell unable to die, 2. It completely removes the defence mechanism. Now, if it was possible to make Caspases and somehow add them to those cells we could see what happens to them in the rot. Whether the activation is stopped midway through or if it just disappears.”

“Then we need test subjects, right?”

“I’m sorry? I don’t believe you heard me before. It’s not possible, especially with Junichi’s iron rule. I’m one more mistake away from being fed to his soldiers

*-*-*

“Absolutely not!”

“Think about it, Junichi. We don’t need live subjects, we don’t even need a lot of it, just enough to run some tests.”

“Are you crazy?! You bring in rot, you’re putting everyone living here in danger. What if you mess with it more and it escapes? What if you fuck it up and get infected?”

“We have hazmats. Theoretically we should be safe.”

He looked at Alex like he’d just witnessed him slapping his kid, “Theoretically?! We’re risking everything on, THEORECTICS?!”

“Look, Junichi I get it sounds bad but…”

“Bad?!” He cut him off, “it sounds horrible. You don’t have a plan, you don’t have an idea, you have a concept. A concept that I can almost guarantee ends up with you idiots ruining everything we have. I will not let you destroy our chance at survival!”

I’d heard enough, this guy was so clearly trying to hide his cowardice behind a phony duty. He didn’t care about the people in his community, he cared for their work, he cared for the labour they underwent so he could sit in his cushy office and eat like a king without a care in the world.

“Get your fat head out of your fucking ass. Half the world went up in flames in the first hour after the first one broke out. We’re almost two years down the line yet you want to act like it’ll all blow over. There are people out there fighting just to see tomorrow while you live in luxury that your daddy put you in.”

“As I said before, the weak die. We’ll all die if you clowns bring that shit in here, all for what exactly? A small chance you can save a few people, what then? You gonna save the world?? Sit down little boy, the adults are talking”.

He didn’t get a chance to react. One swing and he hit the back wall, the pleasure I got from hitting him in his smug face while that shit eating grin mocked me, was unbelievable.

“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to do that.”

“Do me a favour, tell me your plans when this place fails. When the walls cave in, or when they find a way to climb over the walls, what then? You gonna come kissing my shoes begging for a cure when it’s already over?”

He didn’t respond. I needed to drive the point home. Getting close to his repulsive face was the least appealing thing out there, but seeing the fear in his eyes was enough to make it worth it.

“Nothing lasts forever, Junichi. Sooner or later these walls won’t be enough to save you. It’s up to you to decide what greets you when they do fall, a horde ready to tear you apart limb by limb and eat your innards like a nice roast… or survivors willing to fight for their future.

I sure know what I’d choose.”

*-*-*

We found ourselves beyond the wall, seems the message got through to the man child. He gave up trying to stop us, guess he knew that we’d beat him senseless if he tried again, little did he know I was the weaker one of the two.

It was a little quieter out here, though it was to be expected with how close the base was. The area we were going to cover was further on the outskirts of the city, less danger that way and lots of cover in case something went wrong, we also had some of the soldiers on overwatch just as a precaution.

There were a few stragglers here and there. We even found one that had seemingly only attacked the plant life and as such got rooted in place, walkers didn’t exactly take the form of those they devour, but they end up stealing the cells, and stagnating. Some actually end up failing to find other cells to devour, so they basically become puddles of death we call Virus Pools, just touching them kills you and resuscitates them.

Any that we did pick off, we did silently, making sure to not draw unwanted attention. Any that were too dangerous to take on quietly, we asked the snipers to take down, drawing in the ire of any others nearby, away from us.

Inside the small hut, it was like a set of photos of the past, each bit of detail bonded together to tell the story. Empty food cans and tins, water bottles covered in dust, and two corpses embraced, one smaller than the other… the size of a child. In any other situation they’d at least have a burial, in this world, it’s a luxury most can’t afford.

I don’t know whether it was fortunate or not that they didn't seem to have been affected by the rot, they died naturally. We could move them without the worry of being infected, but it also meant there was no chance of an easy sample, no for that, we needed supplies and a good source of samples. That of course, was ahead.

“We need a plethora of cells. Some from moving rot, some from rot we’ve quote killed unquote.” Even did the hand sign thing.

“There’ll be a few at the base, they’ll be dead of course though.” Kana added

The dead ones were easy, they aren’t exactly going to jump you and take out your throat. But the burning question on our minds…

“How do we catch alive cells from these things, exactly?” She asked.

“Yeah, I was thinking that. Think they’ll let us take a swab?”

“No, I don't think they would.” The doctor responded. “The best we can do is utilise the hazmats to the best of our ability. Pick out one target and render it immobile with either a shot to the legs or using the mustard gas to choke them.”

Taking count of our supplies, it was clear the canisters were the better option. We made a few more at the new base, and Kana had been able to raid the armoury for more ammo for her rifle, we even had a couple rounds for the revolver. But guns were loud, what was the point of drawing away the walkers if we were just gonna make a racket? No, it was better to use the canisters, we had gas masks and hazmats to keep us safe.

“Ah, there’s one!” Kana informed us. It was a wanderer that seemed to have trouble hearing the ruckus back at base. It wasn’t far, out in the open with no allies in sight. It was perfect! “Hajime, gimme one. I’ll take it down.”

“No.” The doctor stopped her reaching for my pack. Neither of us were sure why either.

“Doc?” I asked, “We need to take it down. Guns’ll be too loud, the best option is the gas… right?”

“No. Follow my lead” He dashed ahead, leaving us staring at each other with pure confusion. But follow we did, right into it’s line of sight.

“Doc, it’s now or never!” Kana hissed. He drifted to the side, keeping low to avoid detection. We continued on, taking cover when he did. Just as it turned, he was already in its face. He’d picked up a broken branch from the bushes, smacked it upside the head, knocking it out immediately.

The thing dropped straight on its dome.

“Well… that went well…” Kana whispered.

“Now comes the difficult part, time to extract the rot.” The doctor announced our worry, it was truly time, to put everything on the line.

*-*-*

Junichi was lazing around in his office, looking as irritated as always. Each shot he heard made him rage more and more. He was paying so much attention to the ammo the base was spending, he almost shot out of his chair when his door opened.

“Jesus, learn to knock!”

It was Oran.

“Relax. Ya called me ‘ere, ‘member?”

The fat man watched him sit down, giving him the stink eye.

Oran dropped down onto the seat, smirked when he took the booze from Junichi’s desk and poured himself a glass. He took a sniff and a swirl.

“Ya get me ‘ere ta glare at me, or ya need me fer somethin’? I be ‘appy ta jus take ya whisky all tha same.”

“Where are they?”

“They in some shack, got some dead ‘uns”

“Good. Close the gate and if they try to get back in, get rid of them.”

He swirled his drink again. “Ya sure? Sum ya folk ain’t gonna be down wit dat.”

“I don’t care. If those cretins try to get back into this fort, you and your men will shoot them where they stand. Do I make myself clear?”

Oran stared back at him, smirking again.

“Crystal.”

He downed the whiskey and took his leave.