Walker thrashed in the water, unable to control his own body. He twisted and began to swim with the current, lit up with the desire to inflict pain. The lust for it kept his eyes open in the darkness, seeking Sophie. A glimpse of the glow of her headlamp reached him, but it winked out, and the current dragged him deeper. He struck a rocky outcropping, twisted around again, and much of the strength left him. On his lips, he tasted the blood streaming from his bullet wounds. He coughed underwater and swallowed a lungful.
Only then did the hate begin to seep from him. Fear became his new infection.
When he kicked his legs and tried to swim for the surface for air, he could not tell if it was his own desire to live driving him or the fear of this ancient cruelty, the horrid relic that had settled into his flesh.
He burst into darkness, no sign of any light. The echoes of gunshots danced from the ceiling overhead, but they were dim and muffled. Walker choked up water, gasped at air, and the last of his strength left him as the pain of his wounds dug in deep.
He sank into the river, and it carried him away.
Dr. Tang saw Sophie floating by, and she knew what they had to do. The gunshots were so loud in the tunnel that she wanted to do nothing but duck her head and scream. But Beyza could not go on without her. She glanced back, expecting to see the jihadis appear behind them in the tunnel any second. Instead, her light found gray figures staggering and floating toward them, blue mist in their eyes. Whatever violence and perversions these ghosts had been perpetrating on one another moments before, they had new targets. The sickness had rooted deep now, and however these ancient sins had grown awareness, they yearned to fill the space inside human flesh again, to infect again.
More gunshots rang out, but the eyes of those cruelties chilled Dr. Tang more than fear of bullets ever would.
Beyza stumbled again, went down on one knee, and from the pure weight of her, Dr. Tang knew they would not make it another step.
Kim had gone ahead a few paces, but she turned and came back for them, reached for Beyza’s arm with one hand while holding the strap of the contagion box with the other.
“No,” Dr. Tang said, half glancing at the ghosts as she dragged Beyza off the ledge. “Hold on to the box; don’t let the jar break. And for God’s sake, hold your breath.”
Lugging Beyza with both arms, she fell into the river.
Whether or not Kim followed, she could not be sure. Only in that moment did she realize that she should have made the other woman go first. After all, Kim had the jar. If she didn’t survive this, it wouldn’t matter if the rest of them got out.
Not for long, anyway.