The elevator ride wasn’t very long, though it was a bit slow due to the grinding of the bearings, he would make it a point to remind maintenance (once again) to fix it. The sound of the screeches and whines of the lift lulled him into memory. It was one he was trying to forget, and for a time, had managed to do so. But, the sound sparked it again, nonetheless.

How he wished it would be about the birth of his daughter, or the moment he married his beautiful bride, instead it was the time he fled for the moon, straight to Lunar China City and having to go through the whole ordeal of getting to the last remaining ship. It seemed so long ago to him, the struggle to flee amidst all the chaos, it brought about thoughts of regrets and fear of all those he left behind.

Including his poor intern whom still believed in what he was doing, still thought him an heroic idol, one would fix problem with the research. He only remembered shouting at her in hysteria.

* * *

“What are you doing? Never mind those files, we’ve got to go now!”

The pandemic had reached critical in Hong Kong, Chan Li Yong scuffled with his young intern as she was scooping up every available file folder she could in the office. He quickly grabbed her arm and fled the room. The two lost in a sea of people rushing through the corridors of the facility. She begged him to let go while pointing back to where she had dropped all the files needed.

He wasn’t concerned about it. He pulled her closer and guided the frightened woman to the exit. Panic was everywhere they went. The office staff and security guards were in a flurry of activity as they all tried to salvage what they could and flee the building as soon as possible. Everyone (including Chan and his intern) were wearing protective masks and gloves. Distancing in such a tight space had become next to impossible. Though many tried to give way to each other as they hurried along. Yong wasn’t paying attention to the intern as she suddenly broke free and ran back to his office.

“Mia! Mia! There’s no point,” He screamed at her. “We need to get out of here!”

“The research!” She begged. “It’s important to you and to the world! We need it to survive!”

He couldn’t quite hear her as she continued running away. He was dumbfounded by her lack of judgement. Things were collapsing, the government was out of control, and anarchy was taking over the entire country. The virus had been released and mutated beyond anyone’s control. He couldn’t wait for the foolish woman to return, if he was going it had to be right now. He managed to escape the frenzy and found a military vehicle waiting for him.

The soldier saw him and waved him over. People were trying to get into it and brutally were being beaten by the armed escorts surrounding the large SUV. As he got closer, the ranking soldier pulled him in immediately and closed the door. The soldiers surrounding it stayed close until they could help it exit the parking lot without any others jumping in front. He could hear the screams and frantic words of the civilians rushing about.

Yong felt ashamed to look out the window. The pandemic had reached an ultimate peak and, by now, the infection wasn’t so much a question of how it will happen, but rather when it will happen. For many, it would be at any moment. The streets and roadways were littered with cars of dead people hanging out of them or laid on top of the hoods. The ranking soldier sitting with Yong constantly stared at him.

It wasn’t hate, that much he knew, but more of a look of wanting to be somewhere else. Yong was too important to not survive. The government wanted him on the moon as soon as possible. Only those that were vital to the survival of China were taken. In the distance, he could see the massive space rocket waiting for him. It overshadowed the whole city as it sat there like the Tower of Babel.

“How many more are joining us?” He inquired. The dead-eyed soldier simply snickered at the obscurity of the question and refused to answer. Yong pressed the man, “How many more?”

“What do you care,” He replied looking away. “You’ll be safe, nobody else matters.”

“I need to know.”

“No, you don’t.” The soldier scoffed. Yong grabbed the man’s shirt tight and held on with contempt. The officer slapped his hands away and shoved him back into his seat. “Sit down! I’m not above shooting you if you get in my face again. Just enjoy the ride until we get there.”

“Just tell me what I need to know!” Yong strongly voiced again.

“Ten!” The man yelled back at him. “There are ten. Ten of you are going—that’s all. Ten of the ‘rising stars’ that our country needs to survive. And that includes you…”

Yong bowed his head in distress. The answer was not what he wanted to hear. He was singled out with nine other contributors of this viral pandemic and had become an unwilling icon for the whole of China. Even now, as he glanced out of the window as they sped past through Hong Kong, propaganda advertisement and banners touted their names as heroes.

It made him sick to his stomach. He wanted to retch right there in the car, but felt he’d be ejected and left to the mercy of the crowds trying to flee the country. As the driver tried to avoid every obstacle (people, abandoned cars and trucks), the other military SUV ahead of them suddenly came to a halt and nearly took them out in the process.

The soldier siting with Yong demanded to know what was happening, as the three in front quickly replied with equal confusion. The lead officer got out in frustration and told Chan not to get out of the car. He shouted to the other vehicle and asked what the problem was. The driver struggled from the other SUV and flopped to the ground.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Upon observation from a distance, the soldier could see the driver was dead. His ears, eyes and mouth covered in blood; he knew right away what was the cause of that horror. The others struggled to get out of the military vehicle as well, something this officer demanded them not to do. He drew his gun out and instantly shot every one of them trying to walk over to their car.

Chan was horrified by the sudden and swift punishment. The sound of the automatic weapon caused him to wince and lower his eyes in fear. Once it was over, the soldier came back into the car and shouted at his driver to keep going. As they maneuvered around the other military car, Yong got a good look as they flew past quickly.

“Now there is eight of you.” The lead soldier said to him. He put his weapon on his lap and looked even more bitter than before. “We’ll all have to be screened again when we get there. Otherwise we’ll end up like them.”

“Why?” Yong sombrely questioned. “Why did you have to shoot all of them? They might all not have been infected? You didn’t have to shoot them all.”

“I didn’t want to take the chance.” The soldier coldly replied. “Incase you didn’t notice the virus is getting harder to predict. It might even be airborne now. If I got close to them then all of us would have gotten it—or died from it. Either way, its a matter of survival now…”

“It wasn’t airborne originally.” Yong stated. “It must have mutated again. That’s why it’s getting more widespread.”

“You made it? Right?” The soldier sneered. “This is all your doing? How does it look to you? The price we all have to pay for doing what’s best for our country.” He held on to the door as the car took a sharp turn around a corner. “You’ve killed us all. You get that, right? This isn’t about politics anymore.”

Chan nodded hesitantly. He couldn’t begin to explain how this all happened to him, but knew full well the implication of that meaning. The virus was meant as means of leverage for the government, a way to control population and weaken enemy nations for possible invasions. While he did have a hand in the creation of the deadly virus, he was an unwilling martyr for the politics behind it.

Over the SUV’s radio, the orders came in that all surrounding military were to withdraw from their locations and return to the spaceship launch site. The soldiers glanced at each other for a second with a shocked expression. The bickering of which street to turn onto next died down as they suddenly realized what that order meant.

Yong watched their faces and seemed like he needed to ask the obvious (even though he probably didn’t have too).

“What? What’s the matter? What are they talking about?”

“This is it.” The soldier grimaced at him. “This is the last ship out. We’re making our final stand there.”

Yong’s eyes grew wide as he looked out the window. The vaporous clouds of smoke increased around the rocket as it started its countdown and prepared for lift off. A swarm of helicopters swooped in and encircled the ship like a flock of birds weaving about. They carried the last supplies, equipment and high paying civilians who managed to bribe their way onboard.

* * *

The drive didn’t take long for them to reach the entry to the rocket site. The driver’s lead foot tactic and steering aggression got them to the location at record speed. Yong had been silent for the rest of the drive, contemplating the devastation and panic he witnessed along the way.

It would be the last time Yong would see the city, or the planet ever again. They drove past blockades building up around the base of the ship, and were granted access immediately as they overshot other vehicles waiting in line. The soldier looked at Yong with distain in his eye and nudged him with the butt of his weapon.

“All of this because of you; doesn’t seem right to let you live when so many have died and will keep dying…”

Yong didn’t know what to say back. He simply kept looking out the window watching the many faces of distraught families, workers and military staff as they headed for the rocket’s entry area. It made him wonder of his own family, still trapped in Canada, and wept for them deeply.

“Did anyone send for my family?” He asked (trying to hold back tears). “Did they get my wife and child so they could be on the ship with me?”

The soldier shook his head in disbelief. Even now, this pitiful scientist was asking for things he knew full well was an impossibility. What comfort could he give in return? Everyone’s family was in danger, dying or left behind. He had little sympathy for this man or for his family that may or may not be dead by now. He gave him nothing back. Not a word, not a glance, not even a gesture. He wasn’t worth it. All this soldier had left was his duty, and that was small comfort to him.

The military car came to a stop. They exited out and headed over to the main entrance. The soldier shoved and ordered people out of the way as they brought Yong over to be processed for the flight. Once he was registered as a ‘special dignitary’, the soldiers felt their duty was done and returned to the vehicle.

Yong ran over to the man and blocked his path, he wanted to at least tell him he was sorry about everything and show his gratitude for bringing him there. He nervously stumbled in his words, but soon collected himself long enough to talk to them.

“Thank you, I just want to tell you and your men, thank you. That’s it…”

“Thank you?” The soldier gruffly repeated. “I spit on your ‘thanks’ to us. We’re staying behind, do you get that? We have to stay here and die a slow, painful death. Not because we’re to volunteer our time or get the next ship, which there isn’t any, no—we are to die because there is no more choice left to us. You will live, and we will die. Don’t thank us for that, because we didn’t want it in the first place.”

The soldier forcefully bumped into Chan’s arm as he walked away and left the scientist looking bewildered by his comment. Chan Yi Yong will be remembered as a hero on the moon, and the bringer of death to all those that are left behind on the planet. Holding on to his boarding pass, he noticed a woman crying on her knees to the military men keeping her from stepping onto the ship.

“I need to be with my son!” She wailed. “He’s only a boy! Please, I need to be with him.”

“There’s no more room.” The soldier coldly stated to her. “No more seats left. Turn around and go.”

She kept repeating it over and over, “My son, please, he’s just a child!”

Yong looked at his pass, and then at the woman on her knees. He walked over to the soldiers, the woman stopped crying as she saw him approach, and gave a passing glance at her and handed over his ticket to one of the soldiers. He took the ticket in hand and looked at him with confusion.

“This for her?”

“No,” He stated. “I just want to get on before I see any more of this.”

Yong stepped past them and entered into the checkpoint. As he was being sprayed down with anti-bacterial mist and the UV light beamed over head of him, he turned to see the woman beyond looking at him in shock. She thought he was going to save her, to give her a chance to be with her son, but instead he saved himself.

The door closed while he continued to see her kneeling before the guards with a distraught face, and missed the last few seconds of her getting slapped down by the end of the soldier’s gun. At this point, he didn’t care anymore, he hadn’t the sympathy to give to anyone. They were the unfortunate ones, the ones to die on this stricken world, but not him—no, not him. He was the ‘rising star’ the only hope they had to survive. That’s what they were led to believe—and now, so did he.