“Upon leaving the examination area, please drop your belongings and clothes in the adjacent room,” William, who now stood at the entrance, projected. “They will be sterilized in antibacterial steam and returned to you in a day or so.” Jacob walked through the door across the hall. More curtained-off areas at the far end of this room were much smaller than those in the previous room.
“Please enter the room second from the right and change into these,” a voice said behind him. Jacob winced nervously before turning to find a tall man in a protective suit holding out a stack of folded clothes for him to take. “My apologies. I didn’t mean to startle you,” said the man.
“No worries,” Jacob returned with a weak smile, taking the clothing from him and proceeding to the changing area. The events of the morning and several days of travelling left him feeling uneasy. He replayed what transpired between Emelie and him. It seemed that somehow, he had pulled her into his mind- as though they shared the space for a moment, like they were two people in a singular body, reliving his memories as one. Through the confusion and bewilderment, Jacob couldn’t help but feel comfort in the sensation. Something was stabilizing in the intensity of the connection.
As he disrobed and tossed his clothing to the corner of the small space, Jacob heard his father’s voice telling him to fold his clothing neatly as he “had not been raised in a barn.” His attention stalled on the pile on the floor. After several moments of repeating his father’s words in his mind, he finally gathered himself, picked each article up, and carefully folded it. He placed the clothes into his backpack before dressing himself in the scrubs provided. Jacob felt himself gradually disassociating again, returning to the auto-pilot mode he fell into the day he left the flat he had grown up in. His body continued pulling him through the days, keeping him fed and stopping for rest whenever needed. He slowly moved away from home without any direction or destination to guide him. He moved South. Heading for the coast made sense. Travel was arduous, with many roadways blocked off by abandoned cars, particularly those close to the cities. He soon reached a deserted Marseilles. Dogs roamed the streets for food as the port continued to smoke after a fire burned nearly the entire waterfront. It was clear that rioting broke out in the panic. The anxious energy still lingered in the air. Jacob soon moved on from the port city, carrying on down the coast until he met Jules in Nice. Somehow, despite the great distance he travelled, he felt as though he never truly left home. It was after all, the first time he’d ever been away from Urrugne alone.
When his older sister left for college in London, they would visit her together every other weekend. His father regularly took members of the family on business trips. Jacob couldn’t remember a single trip he had ever taken without one or more of his children or Jacob’s mother. His father often said it made no sense to go to work if he couldn’t be with his family at the end of the day. Jacob realized he never experienced true loneliness in his life.
The memory of his last moments with his youngest sister suddenly struck him. Although he felt close to his entire family, Annabelle was at the centre of his world. He was seven years older than her, and she was the fourth very unexpected baby in the family. Jacob remembered how shocked his mother was for weeks after discovering she was pregnant again at 44 years old. He was elated, assuming an active role as the unofficial guardian of whom his family called “the little miracle” and insisted his mother teach him how to care for her needs so that he could help. Jacob spent hours playing with her, teaching her new things, and included her in as many of his social interactions outside of the home as he could. To him, she was an extension of himself. He fought back the lump in his throat and hurried to clothe himself in the cold, damp air of the bunker.
Once dressed, Jacob exited the closet and approached the group huddled near the room entrance. Still lost in thought, he vaguely made out what William was saying as he instructed them to follow him.They walked down the concrete hall a short distance before reaching a large mess hall.
Five people stood along the far wall before a food serving area. The woman standing in the middle of the group waved at them to approach. Jacob noticed Emelie standing with some of the people already facing those, beckoning them.
She stood parallel to him, but he noticed she kept a safe distance. Although he understood why, it didn’t ease the slight stinging heat he felt raising to his cheeks. Resisting the urge to walk over to her, Jacob moved to the opposite side of the crowd as one of the women standing before the group of new arrivals began speaking.
“Welcome all,” said the woman. She was tall, with a strong stature and squared jawline. The tailored navy blue suit she wore fit perfectly and was adorned with a yellow scarf around her neck, which to Jacob, made her looked like a flight attendant. She spoke with a strong West African accent, articulating each word slowly and clearly.
“I’m glad you have all made it here safely; however, I wish we were meeting under less dire circumstances. Thank you all for agreeing to help us save humanity from extinction.” Jacob saw Emelie glancing over at him a few times from the corner of his eye. He turned to look at her, but she quickly looked forward.
“I am Dr. Hadiza Adeyemi,” continued the woman. “I’m sure you all have many questions. Today, I hope to give you answers. First and foremost, I’d like to explain the purpose of this Facility. For the last fifty-five years, my team and I have been researching a rare genetic mutation.” Jacob didn’t know much about genetic mutations, but he knew one thing: there was no way she had been researching it for fifty-five years. Even if she looked fantastic for her age, she could not possibly be in her sixties or seventies, as she was suggesting. Jacob noticed a few others in the crowd who seemed to catch this discrepancy, including Emelie, who had glanced at him once more, likely to see his reaction to the statement.
Dr. Adeyemi continued, “This mutation is so rare; those of us who began to study it would most likely have never come upon its existence if it weren’t for the fact that we had the mutation ourselves, as do all of you. This is why you are all still here. This is why you never had so much as a fever while everyone around you perished.” She paused for a moment. That same expression of anguish flashed across her face as it had all the survivors Jacob encountered over the last few days. She composed herself immediately and resumed.
“We call the mutation Longaevitate, the Latin word for longevity. The Longaevitate genetic mutation brings about several traits in those with it, notably a prolonged life span, immunity to all chronic and infectious illnesses, rapid healing from nearly all injuries, and a stunted physical aging process. We have found that in every case we have studied, the physical body will stop the aging process at the individual’s physical peak, which, for most, is between the ages of twenty and thirty. Hence, like many of you, I do not look my age of eighty-one.” Jacob watched Dr. Adeyemi as though she were disconnected from his current space and time. He could not process her words as fact despite the mounting evidence. It all seemed utterly impossible.
He scanned the faces in the crowd, noticing that every shocked and confused look seemed to be realizing that the doctor’s words were correct. Some were even nodding in agreement! Were these people also claiming to be geriatrics in the bodies of twenty-five-year-olds?
“I know for those of you who are still young, this sounds unreasonable, but I can assure you that you will all grow old in this same fashion. We are all blessed with this gift, which will ensure that humanity lives on.” She stopped as though she anticipated applause from this statement. The audience did not oblige. She continued, “We plan to save all those who have survived the plague. Cooperation from all of you will be necessary to achieve this.” A sense of disembodiment overcame Jacob as the woman’s words became evermore plausible.
Dr. Adeyemi paused momentarily, scanning the crowd of anxious faces. “Well, I know this is quite a lot for you all to process. I will leave it at that for now. We can answer any of your questions during your entry interviews over the next week.” She quickly cleared her throat before continuing, “I’d like to welcome you all to tour the Facility. Women will follow Abigail”, she indicated to a woman standing at the back of the crowd, raising her hand. “Men can all follow Mateo.” Again, she pointed to the far end of the room at a man with a raised hand. “Dinner will be served to you once you all have had a chance to settle in. I want to thank you all again for your cooperation. You are all the future.” Dr. Adeyemi quickly exited the mess from a set of doors in the back.
The crowd stood in place for a second, seemingly waiting for further direction. “Okay, ladies, follow me,” said Abigail in the loudest voice she could muster. “Men, this way!” hollered Mateo. Jacob saw Emelie hurry away to where Abigail was gathering the women. He quickly caught up to her and took her hand, “Please come find me when you can.”
He felt her resistance initially as she attempted to pull her hand away, looking startled as she twisted back to look at him, then, softening after a few moments of him grasping her hand.
She desired to console him; he could sense it. “I will,” she reassured him. He felt a warm sense of relief and gratitude wash over him. He knew that, somehow, she knew this was the first time he felt hopeful in many months. Jacob smiled widely and gently squeezed her hand before letting it go to follow the other men.
“This bunker was purchased in 1948, right after the war, and was one of the first military bunkers converted into a mass housing fallout shelter,” Jacob heard Mateo say as he approached. “Come, let’s start with the barracks.” The group followed him down a hall as Jacob took one last look back at Emelie. A strange revelation struck him: despite the mounting sense that reality was slipping away from him, there was something in Emelie that felt familiar.
******
It was cold in the small makeshift doctor’s office. The bunker had two constants: the air smelt of damp concrete regardless of the room you were in, and it was cold. The cold cut through clothing, shoes, blankets, everything. Amir reflected on the last three days in the bunker as he sat on a gurney awaiting the medical personnel conducting the entry interview. He had been picked up in Lima on Saturday and brought eight thousand miles and ten thousand feet underground to the last stronghold of humanity. He had survived due to a mutation in his genetics that made him immune to the illness that led to humans topping the endangered species list. It seemed surreal. However, that was not why Amir ruminated over these facts. He did this hoping to elicit a reaction within himself to these extraordinary revelations but couldn’t seem to muster anything. Was it possibly because Amir had always known what made him different? In his fifty-four years, there were many opportunities to exercise the extent of his capabilities. No. This wasn’t why the last few days’ events elicited more guilt than fear. He couldn’t shake the restless voice urging him to be rational and think objectively in light of the circumstances. What if this was a futile effort to save a doomed species that the planet was determined to rid itself of after thousands of years of havoc inflicted by it? Things were balancing themselves out. It was the natural way.
Amir looked down at his palms for a moment, then closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands, pulling himself back to the present. He tended to lose himself in thought and found it challenging to connect with others once he disconnected. After two failed marriages ended due to his inability to connect, Amir couldn’t deny this was a pattern of his.
A knock on the door signalled the arrival of the interviewer. “Come in,” Amir heard himself say as he attempted to regain his footing in the current moment.
A woman entered wearing the grey scrubs provided to all residents when they arrived to substitute their clothing while their belongings were being sterilized. “Hi, I’m Malory,” she said as she extended a hand. She was a tall, long-limbed brunette with a slim, long face and pointed nose. Amir took her hand and nodded. ‘Amir,” he replied. You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Malory sat down in a chair at the desk against the left wall and placed a tablet she had been holding before her. The room was so small that she blocked the entrance while seated.
“So the purpose of this interview is to walk you through some of the information we gathered from the tests conducted when you first arrived. I will ask you questions to better understand your abilities and skill sets for future work in the bunker. We will begin with the question portion as this is, first and foremost, an interview.”
Amir nodded. Once his mother discovered his and Fadil’s unique abilities, she cautioned him to keep the knowledge hidden, as it could be dangerous if anyone ever knew. Lines of questioning came with a sense of dread.
“So you were born in Valparaíso on September 9th, 1989?” Amir nodded once more.
“And you lived in Chiles your whole life?”
“No, My father was Egyptian, so my family lived in Cairo for five years after I was born. We then moved to Boston when he got a teaching position at M.I.T. I spent most of my youth there.”
“Any siblings?”
“Two older sisters and a twin brother.”
“Fraternal or identical?”
“Identical.” Malory’s eyes widened as she kept her gaze aimed at the tablet screen. She quickly composed herself, but Amir noted the reaction. He suspects she realized he and his brother Fadil would have identical D.N.A. If this was indeed her assumption, she was correct.
“What’s your brother’s name?” Malory’s attempt to maintain a neutral tone was evident. Amir suspected this discovery meant more than she wanted to let on.
“Fadil.” The revelation was not as grand as she may think at the moment, Amir reflected. No one would ever have the opportunity to test or examine the twin Longeavitates.
“Do you know where your brother is now?” Hopefulness clung to her question despite her best efforts.
“He has been missing for ten years, so your guess would be as good as mine.” Amir swallowed the pain slowly rising in his throat. He had always been able to sense his brother, no matter the distance between them. That was until two weeks after they had last spoken. Fadil had called from an unknown number and said he had found others like them. He suggested that Amir join him in Sacramento to be with “their kind.” When Amir refused and began to plead with his brother to come home, the line disconnected. Two weeks later, Amir suddenly felt Fadil’s presence vanish. He couldn’t explain it, but he somehow knew Fadil was dead. Amir hadn’t sensed his brother in a decade despite his many efforts to locate him.
Malory momentarily reflected on Amir’s words and then typed something onto the tablet. Amir sensed her disappointment. She moved on. “Had you ever noticed anything different about you before? Any experiences that would have led you to believe you had some unique abilities or talents?”
Amir instinctively wanted to say no. However, the gig was up in this case. She already knew about his abilities. “Yes, I did know. My brother and I - “Amir paused at the thought of revealing his secret and Fadil’s. He pushed through the reflex of denial once more. “We discovered it as children when Fadil fell 30 feet from a tree and not only survived but was unscathed. He was initially wounded but healed right before my eyes.”
Malory nodded, typing away. “And how did you know you also possessed the healing ability?”
“I was eight years old. If my brother jumped out of a tree and was uninjured, I would try it, too. The follies of childhood led me to discover my ability.” Amir began to notice something shift in him as he answered the questions. Although apprehension still dominated his mind, there was a sense of release. It felt liberating in some way to speak without fear of judgment.
“Was there anything else you noticed you could do besides the healing?”
“Fadil and I could communicate with each other without words.”
“Telepathically?” The word made Amir cringe, but he nodded regardless. Although it was the correct term for the action, it seemed to cheapen it with supernatural connotations. Amir had always wanted to believe it had some basis in science, although it was difficult to determine how it could fit into the constraints of scientific explanation.
“Anything else?”
Amir did know of another ability, but he refused to share that one. It was the part of himself that worried him most, a part that led to him actively detaching himself from those around him for the sake of protecting them. He shook his head. Malory nodded and pushed on.
“What was your profession?”
“I was an aerospace engineer before…” he trailed off. Connecting the current reality with a past that seemed decades behind him was hard. A sympathetic look came over Malory’s face. She knew this feeling. All of those left knew it all too well.
“This skillset may benefit some of the work we are conducting here at Rydal James.” Amir nodded, although he found this to be a curious statement. What “work” could they possibly be doing here?
“Married?” Mallory said, abruptly changing the line of questioning.
“Twice divorced.”
“Did you have any children from these marriages?”
“I had two stepsons with my last wife, Jolene.”
“Any biological children at all?”
“No.”
“Thank you.” Mallory placed the tablet on the desk before her and turned to face Amir. “I’m now going to go through the test results from your physical and explain a few more details about the mutation.” Amir noticed her expression shifted; it was now somehow more neutral in an almost uncanny way. He wondered if it was part of some special training to maintain this degree of neutrality in these interviews.
“I believe you have heard quite a bit about the Longeavitate mutation in the last few days. You may have also heard people using the term ‘Avis.’” Amir had heard it and inquired about it with his fellow bunkmates. They had mentioned it was a nickname the founding members of the Facility had given themselves before knowing much about the mutation. Amir nodded once at Mallory, and she continued.
“The full term is Rara Avis or Rare Bird, and it was the name given to those with the mutation that first came at the Facility’s inception. The name stuck around even after there was an official name for the mutation and has evolved to serve a new purpose. Rather than being a label for any person with the mutation, it now described one evolved strain. Once genetic testing began, a division of the original six founders began seeking out other Longeavitates. The recruits were offered a place to stay if they wished in exchange for partaking in the testing. Slowly, the facility membership expanded. The researchers noticed that the genome mutation seemed to occur quite quickly. While most genetic evolution gradually happens over hundreds of thousands of years, some even taking millions of years, ours seemed to have evolved only over the last twenty thousand years. Since evolution happened so quickly, a new mutation strain had already emerged. The second one was discovered about fifteen years after the Facility began their research. A man was recruited that exhibited far more evolved versions of the abilities granted by the mutation.”
“The most evident trait difference between those that had been researched previously and this man was that his ability to heal was far more sophisticated. On average, the healing rate of a Longeavitate was 1 hour to a few hours, depending on the severity of the injury. It may take up to 24 hours for all traces of injury to disappear, such as scar marks.” Amir began to put together that he was of the other group, as it took minutes to heal completely from all forms of injury. He had tested the limits many times with Fadil in their youth. Mallory resumed her history lesson.
“There were a few more differences documented in relation to the sensory field, but I will leave that portion of your education to Mateo, as he understands those differences far better than I do. And so, the two mutation strains became known as the Avis, which represents the vast majority of Longeavitates, and the Palilas. “The rarest of rare birds.” Amir recognized the name Palilas as an extremely rare bird species native to only one of the Hawaiian islands.
“How rare are the two strains?” Amir asked.
“The odds of being an Avis are 1 in 2.5 million. Palilas are one in 129 million. We’ve actually only had 3 in the Facility over a 50-year span and entire team of people dedicated to scoping them out. There was only 1 left here until the Apocalypse exposed most likely all Palilas living today. There are 78 now at the Facility. 78 of 4000 current residents, and you happen to be one of them.” One of two percent of the remainder of the species, Amir thought.
“I’m sure you may have noticed that some of the residents are quite old despite no one looking it. You yourself are in your 50’s and look no older than a man in his mid 20’s. Others in your life may have already begun to notice.” She was right. Most of his friends and family often commented on how youthful he looked, however, he was still young enough that they seem to pass it off as having incredibly good genes. Incredible genes indeed, Amir thought to himself.
“Without succumbing to specific types of injury, starvation, or drowning, our kind could essentially live indefinitely at peak form.”
“What types of injury?” Amir was already familiar with one type of injury they could not heal from - the complete severing of a body part. Fadil’s 4 toed left foot could attest to that.
“Fatal injuries for Avis included anything that could kill them before they can heal, such as severe damage to vital organs or arteries. For example several years ago, one of the facility residents was hit by a tractor-trailer. They were dead within 5 mins of the impact. Palilas, however, are far more resilient. Basically, if the injury doesn’t kill them instantly, they will recover from it completely within 2 mins or so. Starvation is very much a vulnerability for all Longeavitates. Our bodies do run at maximum efficiency expelling only the unusable aspects of our nutrition, however, we could not survive more than two months without food.” Amir nodded.
“How is this gene passed down?” Amir asked.
“The science is quite complicated and beyond my full understanding, but it is essentially passed down by the mothers who possess more rudimentary forms of the mutation in their genetic code. No maternal relative would have the fully mutated gene themselves, as it’s occurrence is simply too rare. Safe for in the case of identical twins.” Mallory gave Amir a coy smirk.
“What would happen if a female Longeavitate gave birth? Would the child have a higher chance of having the Longeavitate mutation as well?”
“Ah. With all the gifts this unique genetic makeup grants us, it takes away a most basic human ability. Female Longeavitates are completely infertile. Although they have fully functional ovaries producing eggs, every female we have tested in 50 years has never produced a viable egg. There is not a single recorded case of a fertile female Avis or Palila. We don’t even bother putting women who come to the Facility through the process of testing fertility anymore. About half of male Longeavitates, however, are fertile, although they have extremely low sperm counts, making conception nearly impossible. “Actually,” she swiped around on the tablet for a moment, “you yourself are fertile.” This brought no comfort to Amir as he was never able to father children and was certainly not ever going to be able to now.
“So we are the last of humankind and are unable to reproduce,” Amir thought out loud. Mallory frowned and looked to the floor momentarily. Amir noticed her cheeks redden slightly. She continued to look down for a moment longer, then composed herself and sat up once more. She would not make direct eye contact with him, but it was clear by her still glassy eyes that she had been fighting back tears. Amir noted the twinge if guilt in his chest. His first wife Sam often pointed out how cold and insensitive his words could be. He never intended to hurt people but didn’t seem to know how something should be said to soften the delivery. It was only now, as he reconsidered his framing, that Amir noticed flickers of sensation within him reminiscent of what he experienced with Fadil. A tightness in his chest came and went. He felt the hot flush of embarrassment in his cheeks for a fleeting second. It was enough to surmise that Malory was connecting with him, and he could piece together an understanding he could not previously manage without this insight. It made perfect sense now that Malory struggled with her infertility and that pointing out the inability for the survivors to “rebuild” in a sense, could have come off as putting the blame on the women.
Just as Amir began to apologize, Mallory changed the subject.
“So that covers a high-level explanation of the physical components of the mutation. I believe the next portion of the introduction will be your first sensory training session with Mateo.” She stood up and grabbed the tablet off of the desk and proceeded to exit the room without another word.
-----
Dr. Hadiza Adeyemi stared at the concrete wall before her. Even after eleven months in the bunker, she could not ease the tightness that set in her stomach when she was alone, having to face these walls.
When the virus hit Australia the Facility scientists gained a sample and began decoding it. What they found was a highly contagious, rapidly evolving superbug that seemed to have every element needed to wipe out a species in a short time. It infected its host, laid virtually undetected in the basal spinal fluid for a week or two, then would launch a full assault on the body with a mortality rate of 100%. The virus could hibernate on any surface indefinitely and only become active when introduced to a viable host. Traces of it can even lie dormant in the spine of an Avis, undetected by the immune system as it conservatively leeches the body’s resources evolving within its host. It could be killed by sterilization; however, it was so difficult to detect that finding it before it spread was a near-impossible task. Some twenty Avis were rejected or expelled from the bunker when discovered to be carriers of the virus, which would evolve enough one day to kill even the Avis. The Facility soon went into complete lockdown to protect from further contamination. Dr. Adeyemi felt those walls closing in around her again.
A knock rapped at the door, followed by a woman entering with a folder. Without a word, she placed it on the desk before Dr. Adeyemi. She looked up at the woman’s stern face. Katherina was never one to smile, but today, it wasn’t her standard severeness etched across her face. Without lifting her eyes from the folder, Kathy nodded forward, silently urging Hadiza to open it. The doctor obliged, and as she read, she felt a sickness brewing in the pit of her stomach.
“How certain are we?” She asks.
“Completely,” replied the other. “We will need to action protocols 10 and 34.”
“Won’t this raise suspicion among the residents?”
“We will need to move quickly. Surely, we will find one within the newfound recruits.”