The Fight for Life Read online

  The Fight for Life.

  Ray King woke just before the alarm went off and lay there watching it; he was not a man to leap out of bed when he did not have to. When the final minute clicked over he switched it off, mainly so that it did not ring and wake his wife. He was thirty three years old but he had only been married for three of them and now after three years Miriam, his wife, was pregnant and he was over the moon with the prospect of becoming a father. He climbed out of bed.

  ‘I didn`t hear the alarm.’ Miriam said tiredly.

  ‘That`s because I turned it off so that it didn’t wake you!’ Ray answered.

  He dressed, had a quick breakfast, which, as usual, was all he had time for and after kissing Miriam goodbye, he rushed off to catch his train.

  Sometime after that Mustapha Qamot woke in a cave in Afghanistan. This was some cave, it had an outer cave where people could walk and search without knowing there were two inner caves, the one where Mustapha was sleeping with his comrades and the one occupied by the Great One, their leader. The Great One had plans which would cause upset for everyone in the world, including ray King. They had perfected a virus which when caught, killed the host in three days and no one had a cure, not even the Great One; although he had not told his members that! His plan was to get his gullible members to go abroad to their chosen target, inject themselves with the virus and lay waste to the whole community before they died a horrible death, all the time thinking that the placebo they injected themselves with after two days would save them! The Great One would be locked up in the inner cave with his minions to keep the world at bay until there was no more world to worry him and then, he and all the women he had chosen to take into the inner cave with him, would come out of hiding. The virus had been designed to have a six month life span before it became nothing worse than a common cold. He would then go about repopulating the world with his children and spread like another plague, killing any survivors as they went.

  They were all waiting when the Great One finally chose to come out of the inner sanctum.

  ‘My children, the time has come for you to rid the world of our oppressors. In this phial.’ He held up a glass tube with yellow markings. ‘There is a deadly virus which kills anyone who contracts it in three days, whoever they are! In this phial there is a virus which kills the first virus.’ He held up a second phial this time with blue markings. ‘You will all be given a city to go to, where you will inject yourself with the yellow phial, then for two days you will go to as many places you can, preferably places packed with people, to die at your hand. At the end of the second day you must inject yourself with the blue phial, then you can watch them all die round you. When there is no opposition to stop you, you will have done your work well and then must steal an aircraft to use to fly home, to a heroes’ welcome! I will greet you myself. You must come in by night and we will turn on the landing lights as you approach. The phials have been sent out to all our safe houses as medical supplies and that means you do not have to travel through their customs with them. When you arrive you will be given your phials and be told which town I want you to destroy.’

  They all cheered loudly. The men cheered and cheered, Armageddon was nigh.

  Mustapha took the route his master told him to take, to arrive it the city where he was to deliver his deadly cargo. Others of their calling were to inject themselves and give them selves up at the local army headquarters, thus wiping out the men who were hunting their hiding place, these heroes did not have the antidote with them as it would be taken by their captors and they would have the so called antidote. These were the martyrs as the rest would, supposedly, come back!

  Mustapha arrived at the airport, bought his ticket and handed in his luggage. At the other end, in New York he collected his luggage went through customs, including the customs thoroughly searching him, and walked out into the city. A taxi took him to his meeting place with his co conspirators.

  ‘Welcome brother.’ The man on the door cried and led him inside. ‘I have your pharmaceuticals here. You know what to do with them. You will not meet anyone else here but it is you who must steal a plane and wait at the airport for the other brothers to arrive, for your glorious homecoming.’

  Mustapha could fly an aeroplane. Another taxi took him to his hotel, where he injected himself with the virus, like countless others were doing in other countries and cities. He went back to the airport by taxi and walked among the milling crowds, then went to the cinema and any other place he could think of that would be packed with people. The more people he was near, the more he could infect and the more who would die. Once it was going round the city, it was designed to spread like wildfire and in three days half the population should be dead, with the rest dying! He slept well that night, well what was left of it when he finally went to bed. He was up at first light, doing his best to infect all of the population of New York the first time round!

  At the end of the second day he injected himself with the antidote. Now he walked out and watched the people coughing and spluttering round him, this was the first sign, the second sign was death. He had no cough and he mentally praised the Great One for his good work, he was surely a great man, worthy of taking over the world!

  After a week the city was decimated. People were trying to flee certain death with troopers holding them back at gunpoint, even though they had coughs themselves. After a fortnight Mustapha could not see a living person. He stole a gun from a gun shop and an expensive car to drive to the airport, where he fuelled up a private jet ready for the others to arrive. No one stopped him or even argued with him, if he did see anyone alive and they looked healthy, he shot them dead. The children of the chosen ones would only be the ones inhabiting the earth from now on! And some of them would be Mustapha’s!

  None of his fellow men was there already, so he settled down to wait for them to arrive.

  During the week Ray noticed people coughing around him and thought nothing of it, when Miriam started coughing, he bought her cough medicine. The next day he went to work as usual but as she grew worse she walked up to the doctor’s surgery. Little did she know that she was signing their death warrant just by going in there and any of the people she met on the way there or went on to meet afterwards.

  When Ray came home she was worse. He had noticed a lot of sick people at work and there were a lot staying home due to illness. In the morning she was bad enough for him to worry, he turned on the news but there were no broadcasts on any channels! When he took her to hospital later that day it was a shambles and although a doctor examined her and gave her the strongest anti-viral tablets available, she did not respond. That night he lay next to her listening to her ragged breathing and when she stopped breathing he cried, he knew there was nothing to be done. He just cried for her and the baby.

  When morning came he went downstairs to turn on the kettle but there was no power. He tried the gas, that still flowed and he had to find a match to light it with. He made a cup of tea then drove over to the hospital but that was a waste of time. He drove to the local cemetery, when he found hospital was deserted by all but the dead. He found a digger and started it up. He knew just where she wanted to be buried and chugged over to the place. It was trial and error when he dug the hole, as he had never used a digger before but he eventually had a deep hole, ready for her body, no carrion were going to feed off her and the baby. He left the digger where it was and drove to a nearby funeral home. There he found the owner in a coffin with a note on it, asking whoever found it to bury him. It was the only coffin there so he tipped him out and took it with him. He drove home in the funeral car, loaded his wife into the coffin while it was in the car and drove back to the cemetery.

  When he buried them, he said his piece over both of them a
nd shed more tears, then he turned his back on them and drove the funeral car to where he had left his car. He drove home via the local town, driving round to see if he could see any other living human being. He saw the gun shop door wide open when he passed it. He stopped the car and listened. A gunshot further down the street made him think whoever had raided the gun shop was down there and it was probably not someone to go and greet!

  The gun shop still had lots of weapons inside and he worried that anyone else who survived this plague, could easily get armed to the teeth. He chose to take the weapons, all of them! He carried them out in armfuls and loaded them into his estate car. By the time he had them all the car was over full but he thought it was something he needed to do.

  To make sure he did not go past the man or possible men with gun, he drove the wrong way up a one way street and it felt good. He drove back to his house, still looking out for other people but saw no one alive. If he saw a car engine running he stopped, turned it off, dragged the dead driver out and parked it by the kerb, leaving the keys under the front seat.

  Back home he made a drink and sat looking out of the window, what should he do now? He needed to set up home somewhere out of town, as there would soon be packs of hungry dogs running round and causing trouble. With no control the dog population would increase dramatically and he chose to arm himself ready to kill any dogs he saw!

  Now he needed a place to live and he could really choose anywhere! His memory took him back to the dentists last week when he had his check up. In one of the magazines was a big house with a walled garden right round it, the ideal place and it was advertised as vacant. He decided to go and find out where it was. He decided not to take their car but chose to use the key they held, which opened the house next door and use their car. As he expected they were both dead in bed. He searched to find his neighbours keys and took their car. Leaving his car loaded with guns in their garage under lock and key.

  He drove to the dentist’s surgery and had to force his way in. He sat looking through the magazines until he found the one he wanted. It had no address but it did say who the estate agent was so that was his next port of call. He searched through their filing cabinets, until he found the file for the house he was interested in. Next he drove home, collected his car with the weapons in it and his tools, just in case he had to break in and drove to the house.

  Mustapha tired of waiting, he had seen no one and the snacks available in the airport were running out. He made a decision and took off. Not checking with airport security, he just started the plane and took off! He liked that.

  He plotted his course and radioed to his waiting brothers in arms.

  ‘Ho Mustapha.’ His friend Mamoud cried when he heard the radio. ‘You are the first to return, I will turn on the landing lights. Over.’

  ‘There are a lot of dead people in New York Mamoud! I will see you when I have landed! Over and out.’

  He flew on and as soon as he was near enough he called in again. ‘Mustapha calling again, I will need the lights soon, over.’

  ‘I have told the Great one you are coming and he has told me what to do, he has gone into the sealed cave now with thirty women, all beauties, I thought some were for us but obviously not, over and out.’

  When Mustapha neared the landing strip he saw six lights, only six lights.

  ‘Where are the rest of the lights Mamoud? Over.’

  ‘The Great One said it would be enough just to turn on the first six lights Mustapha, just drop your wheels on them and park, over.’

  Mustapha did just that but an updraft made him miss the first run and he had to abort, as he climbed back up, with the lights on his jet he could see a mountain right in his path and had to fight with the jet to clear it. The stall warning light flashed but it did not stall and he was able to miss the mountain. As he flew he could see that the six lights stopped against the mountain! Had he got it right the first time, he would have flown right into the mountain. He turned the plane, swooped back down and used the lights near the mountain as the start of the runway and dropped down onto the ground from the other direction, braking hard and using the lights on the jet to make sure he did not hit anything! The plane slowed and he saw the mountain at the other end looming up. He did not worry, he knew he would stop before it and taxied round to get closer to the cave mouth before he turned the jet engines off.

  He took the torch he had with him to be able to see his way into the outer cave and there stood Mamoud.

  ‘Welcome home brother!’ Mamoud greeted the sincerity plain to hear in his voice and he put his arms round Mustapha.

  Mustapha responded and they walked inside together.

  ‘So I am the first.’ Mustapha asked for confirmation.

  ‘Yes my brother.’

  ‘The landing lights must be changed for the next ones to land or they are likely to hit the mountain!’

  ‘They should be up the other end of the landing strip.’ Mamoud declared, pointing where he meant.

  ‘That I understand but they must be cross wired so that only the lights this end work, if the sleek jet I stole did not have good lights I would have hit the mountain!’

  ‘Tomorrow we will sort them out so that the next brother has an easier landing and I shall see this new sleek jet of yours!’

  Mustapha opened the fridge, took out his favourite drink, goat’s milk and celebrated his homecoming.

  Ray arrived at the iron gates and tried to open them. They did not move and there was no visible lock, which meant they were electric gates. He reversed close enough to be able to climb on top of his car and make the top of the wall. He chose the tools he thought he would need, put them in his tool belt, they were a Christmas gift from Miriam. He shinned up the wall and on to the top. Then he had to lower himself as low as he could on his outstretched arms and drop to the floor. Now he was inside he looked about, just in case there was a guard dog but all was quite. He walked to the gate and sought out how to open them. They were operated electrically but one bolt loosened on the main control arm allowed him to pull one gate open. He returned to his car and squeezed it through the gap, rather than loosen the second arm. Once inside he closed the gate behind him but left the bolt loose. Until he had power at his new house it would stay loose! He drove up to the front door and took the keys he had liberated from the estate agent, out of his pocket. The front door key was easy to find and he unlocked the front door, pausing before he stepped over the threshold. This signalled the end of his old life and the start of his new life, only now it was dog eat dog!

  He stepped inside, it smelled musty but it would soon smell like home. It was quite dark inside even though it was daylight outside. He walked back to his car and collected his torch to explore. He tried door after door to see what lie on the other side, one led down to the cellar and he walked down there. It was very dark down there as the only window was blacked out with a dirty curtain. There was rubbish strewn everywhere, as though someone had sorted out what they wanted hurriedly and left the rest. The window was too small for someone to get through and the door was sturdy enough for him to unload the weapons into the cellar. He uncovered the window to let some light in there while he did it. When the weapons were down in the cellar, he covered the pile of weapons with old curtains and some of the rubbish, to hide them. He kept two pistols, two rifles and a crossbow for protection. He felt the crossbow was the best option as it was a silent killer and he could make new bolts when the ones he had wore out.

  He walked up to the kitchen after blacking out the cellar window again and checked it over. There was a gas hob which surprised him as he was out in the sticks and there was no gas there! A glance out the window told him the answer, red gas bottles stood against the rear wall with a pipe disappearing into the ground. Next to it was an oil tank, showing that the house was heated by oil. He found a range and looked to see what fed it, another thing running on oil at least he would have heat and be able to cook as soon as he had something to light the gas and oil
with. Large pipes ran upwards from the range and he wondered what they were for but without lighting the range, he would not find out. He came to the conclusion that there were no matches in the house, in fact there was nothing of any consequence to be found, anywhere in the house. He needed to shop!

  Morning came and Mustapha found Mamoud having breakfast and Mamoud had the same cough now that all those he had stayed near in New York had developed.

  ‘That is the virus I was carrying my brother, did you not take the antidote?’ He asked worriedly.

  ‘I did, as we all did, we will ask Sharqe to check out the batch to see if it is still good although all the main equipment is sealed in the inner chamber!’

  They both walked into the depths of the cave to find Sharqe, their chemist.

  ‘Sharqe, Mustapha here thinks I have caught the virus but I had my antidote like everyone did, do you think it has gone off?’ Mamoud asked.

  ‘Gone off!’ Sharqe replied with a smile. ‘These things do not go off, they will be as good in ten years as they are today unless they are messed with. I will run a little test on one to see what makes it tick.’

  ‘You do not know?’ Mustapha asked.

  ‘I made the virus and the Great one designed the antidote but I am sure they are all the same.’ Sharqe answered.

  He ran a test and looked at the answers quizzically. He tried another one then tasted a third!

  ‘What is it brother?’ Mamoud asked.

  ‘Sugar water brother, it is a placebo.’ Sharqe answered.

  ‘So there is no antidote, only time?’ Mustapha asked. ‘And by coming back I have killed all who are here with the exception of the great one and his two companions.’

  ‘And the beautiful girls, who he took in there to start to repopulate the world with his prodigy.’ Mamoud added.

  ‘I have seen this monster kill and it does not care who it is!’ Mustapha cried. ‘The president of the United States of America lay down before it. I have killed you unless we can make an antidote. I have survived so far does that mean that I have something to help you inside me?’