The Last Bastion of the Living (The Last Bastion #1)(25)

Shifting in her seat, her sore muscles aching, Maria lifted her eyebrows. “Oh?” She’d rather return to her quarters and take a shower than discuss the Inferi Scourge, but her curiosity was sparked. “What about the Scrags?”

“What do you know about them?” Mr. Petersen asked.

Maria’s mouth quirked into a sardonic smile. “Other than that they want to destroy us?”

“Exactly,” Dr. Curran answered.

“Well, I know what I was taught in school...”

“Which is?” The doctor settled back in her chair and crossed her long legs.

“That they’re the product of the Inferi Scourge Plague Virus that was created by terrorists over a hundred years ago.” Maria took a cue from the doctor’s more relaxed posture and slumped slightly in her chair, trying to relax her sore body.

“Continue,” the doctor urged, “tell me the history.”

Mr. Petersen didn’t appear to blink as he watched Maria.

Maria switched her gaze back and forth between them. Perhaps this was some sort of test of her cognizance or psychology. She cleared her throat.

“The first incident was in India. The Inferi Scourge appeared and ravaged the country. Within days the Scrags had the upper hand. Pakistan fired their nuclear arsenal on India claiming that they had to protect themselves. What remained of India’s government fired back, and the area was decimated. The world thought that the Scrags had been destroyed, and then they appeared in Israel a few months later. Israel’s government initiated a kill order. Anyone infected was immediately destroyed. The Arab nations attempted to invade while Israel was dealing with the Scrags; Israel used their nuclear arsenal on their enemies.” Maria furrowed her brow, trying to recall the details. “I believe that is when the world started an embargo against the Middle East.”

Dr. Curran nodded. “Go on.”

“I don’t see why-”

“Please continue,” Mr. Petersen urged.

Maria folded her arms over her chest, trying to recall her lessons. “I believe they traced the virus back to the Russian mob, or maybe it was the Chinese. The ISPV became the most popular terrorist weapon in the world. Every time there was an outbreak, it was stopped until around sixty years ago when it took hold in South America and Europe. It got to the point where no one could control it, and that is when the world started building walls. Eventually, there were more of them than us. The walled cities began to fall. Forty years ago a coalition of nations created The Bastion and airlifted the last surviving people here.”

“Basically, you’re correct. The ISPV was a terrorist weapon. It had a chilling effect on the nation it was being used against. It was difficult to fight. Do you know why?” Dr. Curran tilted her head, studying Maria.

“Because the Scrags are dead humans that the virus revives,” Maria answered. “I remember reading something about it being very hard for people to kill the Scrags when they first appeared because they thought they were just ill, not the reanimated dead.”

“Exactly,” Mr. Petersen agreed. “They look basically human except for their wounds.”

“And their eyes,” Maria said quickly. The eyes of the Inferi Scourge haunted her. They were blank and cloudy like the dead.

“You’ve fought them up close,” Dr. Curran said.

“Yes.”

“Did you find it hard to kill them?” the doctor asked.

Maria pondered the question. The Scourge didn’t decompose, and therefore they looked like wounded people in need of help. But their screams, their whitish eyes, and clutching hands were a nightmare. “It was hard at first, but I saw what they can do when there are enough of them.” She could still hear the screams of Vanguard Stillson as he died. “They eat us.”

“Actually,” Dr. Curran said with a slight smile, “they don’t.”

“I saw it,” Maria snapped.

“The virus that reanimated them prompts them to spread the virus. It’s transmitted through saliva, so they bite. And they bite hard enough to rend flesh,” Dr. Curran explained. “If there are enough of them trying to infect a victim, then yes, it would appear that way. But they do not actually eat us.”

“The ISPV created creatures that resemble some monsters from old horror vids from a very long time ago,” Mr. Petersen said with a slightly pompous expression. “People jumbled the facts with the myths of those old movies and altered the truth about the Inferi Scourge. The media was especially guilty of this.”

Shifting in her chair, Maria considered correcting them, but realized it would be fruitless. She had seen the Inferi Scourge not only attack, but start to eat Vanguard Stillson.

“The question remains: did you find it hard to kill them?” Dr. Curran persisted.

Maria shook her head. “Not after the first shot. Then it was easy.”

“Do you think it was easy because you didn’t know any of them? In the original days of the infection, many people struggled to kill loved ones that were turned,” Mr. Petersen said.

“Maybe. I don’t know,” Maria answered truthfully. Could she kill Dwayne or her family members if they were infected? Her mind told her that she could, but her heart whispered a solid no. “Why are you asking me this? The Scrags out there have existed since before I was born.”