Omega Outbreak

• Rinzen Tee, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2019

Our group has been travelling on military trucks for two days now, heading to Washington. From Los Angeles, we picked up any survivor along the way. My name is Barry Critz and I work in the virus research and vaccine development for Automated Technology Operating Machine (A.T.O.M) Industries. I was on a vacation when I heard of a worldwide outbreak caused by A.T.O.M. The Omega Virus infects the mind, shutting down the nerves which numb their body of any pain while increasing their aggression and strength for a short period of time. The virus then eventually shuts down the bodily functions of the host and kills them within a week.

It all started on the 6th of December 2035, when A.T.O.M Industries discovered a cure for a disease known as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). They brought in some test subjects with the disease to test out the effectiveness of the vaccine. It was known as the Omega Program. However, things didn’t go so well when one of the test subjects got an adverse reaction after being injected with the cure and his behaviour turned aggressive. The virus is airborne and replicates itself. It slowly rots away when the host dies which makes it impossible to harvest their DNA to develop a cure.

By noon, our group stopped for a break at Nashville. John, one of the older survivors, looked sick so we treated him with the medical supplies we had. He vomited and started gasping for help. “What’s wrong?” I asked, completely oblivious to what was happening. “He- Help!” gasped John. It then hit me: John is infected by the Omega Virus. Very slowly, John started kicking and grabbing us. We knew we couldn’t stop him so Jake Frags, the soldier, had to put him down. “You did the right thing Jake,” I told him, “There was no going back.” But almost immediately, Jake shouted, “Quick, get the sample tube!” The sample tube was designed to get DNA samples of the virus while tricking it into thinking its host is still alive so it wouldn’t die. We needed to get this sample to the A.T.O.M Industries in Washington immediately!

When we arrived, we noticed many survivors surrounding our trucks. A few men seemed to be calling out my name. “Are you Barry Critz?” asked one of the survivors. “I am, why?” I replied. “Please, you need to see this.” And she handed me a recording. I pressed ‘play’ and it said this:

“This is rapidly getting out of hand. Every city is estimated to be totally decimated within 48 hours. The remaining survivors are on their way to the last remaining city: Washington DC. Since World War Oblivion, our population is down to 15,541. Whoever finds this message, look for Barry Critz. He knows how to develop a cure…

Dr Raymond Smith”

“You know how to fix this right? You know how to make a cure right?” asked another survivor. “I do,” I replied, “But we don’t have much time…”