"Outbreak Tablas Survivors: Subject 313"

"Outbreak Tablas Survivors: Subject 313"

by:

Virgilio F. De leon Jr. MD

(My name is not important. I have been sent to gather information about the survivors on the island of Tablas. It has proven to be very difficult because they are so few. However , the Day Zero Project was able to secure a very unique individual after the Yawa infestation of the island was controlled.)

(I find myself in one of the islets surrounding Tablas that holds a secret underground research facility that the Day Zero Project has maintained for years. The burly security guard who escorted me to the subterranean facility was silent. In Contrast Dr. Bautista the man in charge of this place as well as Subject 313 could not contain himself and insists on chatting with me despite my subtle hints that I had no interest in whatever it was that he was saying)

"I must warn you , Subject 313 is very fragile. We require the strictest cleansing before meeting her." Dr. Bautista said in that pinched voice which suggested that he might have been kicked in the groin way too much during his adolescence.

"I understand" I said civilly. The Doctor who was a full feet shorter than me kept on looking at my chest. I have no doubts that  he had already set up cameras in the decontamination rooms. Oh well , it was not the first time that someone has seen me naked.

(After 3 levels of decontamination I was allowed to wear some white underwear that I found was too snug for me. The yellow bio hazard suit fit me like a glove but I had no complaints. Dr. Bautista must have been enjoying himself way too much somewhere. After I have attached the oxygen tube to my suit several doors opened to my left and I was instructed to enter. At the end of corridor of doors was a large amber-glazed window. In front of it was a was table , a lone chair and a recorder. I sat down on the chair and turned on the microphone in the suit.)

(As if on cue the darkened glass began to lighten to a reveal a very clean room on the other side. It looked like a hospital Intensive care unit with all its beeping monitors and tubes snaking from in and out of the patient who lay in the white bed in the middle of it all. She was covered from the chest down but you could still see all of the connections that she had to the monitors around her. Another window to the right of the patient lightened and Dr. Bautista was there fiddling dials on a panel. Adjusting Subject 313's medications most likely. He had told me that 313 was in constant pain and can only be lucid for 10 minutes. I had to make every second count then.)

( I was startled when the old woman's eyes suddenly opened and despite her weak looking state I saw something intelligent lurking there)

"You may proceed" Dr. Bautista said as he monitored Subject 313 from his panel. "Your 10 minutes starts now."

(For the record please state your name and age. I said.Subject 313s response was slow and metallic as it came back from the hazmats built in speakers. She was using a voice amplifier much like Professor Stephen Hawking was using.It was about this time that I noticed that the front of her neck was gone and its place was a cream colored plate.)

"I am Luzviminda Familara, 83 years old. Call me Nay Luzvi. What do you want from me dear?"

(I want to know your story. Tell me how you ended up here. I opened the recorder and began to listen.)

" You are probably curious as to have I survived all of that mess when I was already this old. I will tell you my story but in the end of it I need you to tell me something in return ok dear?"

(I nodded.)

" I was part of the convoy that was the last to leave the bridge in Odiongan. Our convoys trip was going smoothly toward the northern tip of Tablas. We hoped that Canduyong would be a safe haven. We hoped to live there or travel towards Romblon , Romblon."

"The roads were deserted and the jeepney that I was on sped on like there was no tomorrow. Thanks to my son the Governor the paved roads were providing a much smoother ride.Some of the passengers who were with me were still crying having said good bye to their loved ones just a few hours ago. I could not see very well and my hearing was no longer as it should be any more so I had my eldest grand child Nadine close to me. She was crying silently because her dad refused to go with us for this trip up north. We were still near the bridge when the gun fire started. When we could no longer hear the shots I just assumed that we were too far way to hear. It felt safe to think of it that way but others in my company already felt the outcome in their hearts but did not dare say it especially in front of the children who were peacefully snoring or looking out at all the fields that we were passing through. These children still hoped that their Brothers , Fathers , Uncles and Grandfathers would be able to join them soon. No one could say what the silence meant so the adults just cried and when the children asked them the adults lied some more , like the trip was too tiring or that there was so much dust around that their were things in all of their eyes. The Children remained oblivious to the fate of those on the bridge.

(Nay Luzvi blinked as if to remember something and continued her slow robotic voice)

"My granddaughter said that there was a couple of tricycles that ran ahead of our column to check the roads . Our driver was getting worried that no had radioed back in the last 15 minutes."

"Then there was static on the radio. Followed by a loud scream. The scream of a man that was being ripped apart. I did not notice when we encountered them but the Yawa were like a black moving wall. 

Several of them had been caught in the Tricycles wheels making these vehicles overturn trapping both passengers and driver in a thick mass of Yawa who was hungry for their flesh. Nadine pointed out several of the Yawa who were once with us. The jeepney ground to a halt and the driver barked out a warning on the radio that the Yawa were also in the North. With the big mass that was right in front of us we were sure that Canduyong and all the little towns in between were now gone. In a panic our driver tried to turn the jeep around but managed to fall in a rice plot instead. The jeep turtled and sent people flying away. I hit my shoulder and hip on the jeepneys steel ceiling and I was in so much pain that I could not move. Nadine , was unconscious right next to me.)

"I heard more than so that were behind us back away and drive off in a hurry. On one of those jeeps I thought I saw a small child in an over sized shirt clinging to the back , the child looked like it was graying. I could not be sure because of my eyes. Everyone thought that we were gone and no one even came down to see if there were those of us who survived. Those who were flung nearest to the Yawa were being eaten by what seemed liked Hundreds. They were barely a few feet from us when Nadine woke up. She grabbed a tree branch and swung at the undead that were coming near us. I told her to go but she would not listen. I had to watch as they tore at her. Grabbed her with those decaying arms and bite into her flesh. I knew I was next. An old lady with no way of defending herself."

"I lay there thinking that I would be with my family again. I would be on my way out of this nightmare. And then something happened that I could not explain even until this day. I felt one of them rip my throat here."

(Nay Luzvi pointed to the metal plating that covered her throat.)

"I was coughing blood and I knew I was dying...Only I did not. The Yawa who bit me stopped and nothing else came near me."

"I was on my back crying. Asking why I was spared when my grandchild was dead just a short distance from me. For what seemed like an eternity I looked at the dead faces passing me by ,blood and entrails fell on me yet nothing touched me ever again.It seemed like days passed. The sky brightened and darkened. And I was still alive.Then came the sound of the helicopters. I did not know it then but my eyes were getting clearer and I was hearing those choppers from miles away."

"2 minutes." Dr. Bautista said from the other room.

(I wonder what would happen to Nay Luzvi if the 2 minute mark was reached...)

(Oh you will see what I can do if I am no longer under all these drugs child...You see they are keeping me here against my will. They think that they can hold me here forever. It will only be a matter of time before...)

(Nay Luzvi was speaking directly in my mind but she was cut short when a huge electrical jolt was sent through out her entire body. The Window darkened)

"I still had 2 minutes Dr. Bautista..." I began to  complain in the sharpest voice that I could muster.

(There was no answer. Another door opened to my left and I saw the guard who accompanied me was waving me through the window. Signaling me to go through the decontamination chamber and to exit the facility. I later tried to access files on Subject 313 from this facility but I was blocked at every turn. It was as if Subject 313 never existed.)