I couldn’t believe it. They were talking about removing our vital organs, our brains and studying our bone marrow right in front of us, like we weren’t even there. We were cattle. Meat. We were a science experiment.

And what did he mean by evacuating North Sydney? How the hell did the military intend on evacuating so many people?

The thumping from the morgue fridge had stopped. One of the soldiers had moved over to a control panel next to the large sliding door. He was pressing buttons with a shaky hand, trying to lower the temperature of the fridge. The thumping then started up again, getting louder, stressing the soldier out even more. He was talking to himself, telling himself that it was OK, that he could do it, that there was no way they could break through the door.

I remember thinking, this can’t be happening. There’s no way that this whole crazy scene was real. I was in total disbelief. It’s like I was floating above my own body, watching everything unfold. I kept asking Kenji if they were serious because I just couldn’t believe what they had just said was real.

But Kenji was ignoring me. He was yelling at the doctor. “Sir! I’m not infected. None of us are infected! I’ve seen the virus in action. We’d be dead by now. You have to believe me. Cutting us open, harvesting our organs, it’s all a waste of time. It’ll all be for nothing.”

Doctor Hunter was preparing a shot of what could only be an anesthetic or something more deadly. “Private, it’s for the greater good,” he said in his calm and hypnotic voice. “You’ll be serving the military, and your country. You’ll be a hero.”

“Come on!” Kenji pleaded. “We’re not infected. Isn’t it obvious?”

My heart started to beat like a jackhammer. I was genuinely afraid now. Tied to a hospital bed in a morgue, I’ve never felt so helpless in all my life. I wanted to close my eyes and teleport out of there. But just like in the interrogation room, nothing happened. God, it would be so awesome if I could teleport.

I looked over at Jack who was quiet, a look of fear and disbelief on his face. Maria was repeating Jack’s name over and over. “Jack, they’re not going to kill us, are they? Jack? What’s going on?” But Jack was silent. There were no reassuring words to Maria because there was nothing to reassure her about. The truth was, it wasn’t going to be all right.

Doctor Hunter continued to prepare his instruments of death and Kenji continued to yell at him. The thumping from the fridge was also getting louder. I guess with so much going on, everyone sort of forgot about poor old Officer Dennis. Just then he began to twitch. The wound in his leg was oozing freely and his skin was a mottled and lifeless grey.

He had been asleep or passed out since I was wheeled in, so maybe that’s why everyone forgot about him. He coughed and then coughed again more violently. He started to convulse and spit up blood.

Maybe Kenji was wrong about us not being infected because just then it looked like Officer Dennis was about as infected as you could get.

Doctor Hunter stopped what he was doing and backed up against the wall. “Restrain that man!” he ordered one of the soldiers.

The soldier moved over to Dennis and tried to put weight on his heaving chest. Dennis snapped open his eyes. He leant forward and sank his teeth into the soldier’s arm. I’m not sure if his teeth punctured the space suit, but I heard a loud crack, as something, bone or ligament was crushed in Officer Dennis’s jaw.

The soldier screamed in pain and fell forward, on top of Officer Dennis. Dennis bit him again, this time biting right through the protective suit. The soldier screamed again and pushed himself free. He stumbled back, taking a few steps before he tripped and collapsed on top of me. He was holding his shoulder where Officer Dennis had taken a bite. He was grimacing in agony and something else; the realization that he was a dead man. The other soldier ran over to the door, closing it behind him.

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“Come back here!” Doctor Hunter shouted.

But the soldier was long gone.

Two seconds later an alarm started blaring.

The doctor slumped down in the corner and started rambling to himself. “Oh no. This can’t be happening. Not again. Not here. Not now. We were so close!”

The soldier who had been bitten regained his balance. He checked his wound and lowered his head.

“You’re infected,” Kenji said. “We can help.”

“How?” the soldier asked.

“I can stop you from becoming one of those things.”

He slowly came to his senses.

I don’t know why but he untied me first. The expression on his face was blank, emotionless, like he was coming to grips with what was just about to happen. Or maybe the virus was already starting to take hold. He kept grimacing in pain. I asked him if he was all right but he didn’t answer me. I thanked him for untying me and told him to untie Kenji next, that he was the one who would be able to help him. But again he didn’t answer me. I don’t even think he was listening to me. Instead, he dropped to his knees and handed me his rifle.

He made eye contact with me. “Do it,” he said. “Quickly.”

“What? No way! Kenji, you have to do this.”

I went to untie Kenji but the soldier grabbed my leg.

“Please,” he begged.

“You have to do it,” Kenji said. “It’s just like we practiced back home.”

“But that was years ago! And we were shooting paper targets and tin cans!”

We were shouting over the alarm and the thumping noise coming from the fridge. It was hard to think straight. In the corner of the room, Doctor Hunter was still rambling to himself as he buried his face in his hands.

“Why wasn’t this man quarantined?” He started crying and whimpering. “Why wasn’t he isolated? None of the other suspects were showing symptoms, why would he?” His voice was no longer soothing. It had gone from calming and hypnotic, to downright frantic and fearful.

The soldier dug his nails into my leg and he started to drool. He was beginning to turn. So just like Kenji taught me all those years ago, I flicked the safety switch off and jammed the butt of the rifle into my shoulder. I raised the barrel and placed my right index finger on the trigger. I could hear Kenji’s voice in my head, ‘squeeze the trigger, don’t pull’. I inhaled and breathed out slowly.

But I couldn’t do it. My finger was frozen. All I needed to do was squeeze the trigger and put this man out of his misery, but I couldn’t.

The soldier was kneeling down with his head lowered. “Come on. Please. Just do it.”

“Rebecca, you have to shoot him!” Kenji yelled.

“I can’t!”

“You can. You have to. There’s no telling how long it takes for infection to spread. He could turn any second now. You have to shoot him.”

The soldier started to cough just like Officer Dennis had done earlier. He was holding his shoulder and neck where he was bitten.

“Kenji, I’ll untie you,” I said. “You can shoot him.”

“No! There’s no time. Do it now!”

The soldier ripped his dog tags off his neck and a necklace with a cross on it. He then took a hand gun out from his side holster and put the barrel up to his head. He made eye contact with me again and pulled the trigger.

The noise of the gun scared the hell out of me and I jumped backwards and fell over. As long as I live, I will never forget those eyes. I see them sometimes, in the dark, or in my dreams.

Kenji was still yelling at me but I couldn’t really hear him. Maria, Jack, and Kim had been shocked into silence. I was breathing hard. I felt light headed again. There were voices in my head telling me to calm down.

“Rebecca, shoot Dennis!” Kenji yelled. “Shoot him before he breaks free!”

I snapped out of it. Dennis was struggling against the restraints. Growling at me, baring his teeth, the restraints were cutting into his forearms.

I aimed the gun at Officer Dennis. I distanced myself mentally so it didn’t really feel like I was the one killing him. I squeezed the trigger and shot him. I shot him square in the chest. But he kept fighting against the restraints, he kept snapping his jaw.

“What the hell?”

“You have to shoot him in the head!” Kenji shouted.

Dennis continued to fight against the restraints. His forearm began to tear and then suddenly his whole hand snapped off. He reached for me with a stump of an arm, oozing black blood everywhere.

I raised the barrel again, this time carefully aiming for his head. I took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. I squeezed the trigger and put Dennis out of his misery. He fell back and stopped moving.