Fiction: Group 2
Viru et Zero
The International School of Macao, Liu, Luning - 11, Fiction: Group 2
flicked my tail in excitement as I took in the fabulous news: it was another glorious, sunny day. “Let’s
go play, Snow! I can’t stand slouching at home any longer! We gotta go play in the waves!” my older
sister, Abby, exclaimed. “Where are we going?” I asked, skeptical. “To the surface of the Pearl River,
of course!” Abby shot upwards, leaving a trail of bubbles behind her. “Okay, fine,” I sighed, following. We
reached the surface of the ocean, gazing at the people nearby, hurrying along in all directions.
“Look!” Abby yanked my fin and pointed. I followed her gaze and saw a grey machine with a sign
that read, ‘Pearl River Delta: Viru et Zero.’ “Hey! Dolphins!” a fisherman shouted, pointing at us. “Duck!”
Abby cried, and we swam under. I was wondering about the peculiar machine. “What was that bizarre
monster?” Abby asked. The words on the machine were confusing. “I think it’s a virus. Virus Zero. I heard
that dolphins around here started mysteriously disappearing a few days ago. I guess that’s when this machine
invaded our delta,” I murmured. Abby gulped. “We must inform everyone!” I exclaimed. “But how?”
Abby paused, “it’s too dangerous!” I shook my head, “If I don’t, everything might get destroyed! It’s a
sinister virus! We’ll find a way!” I urged. If I’d only known then that the virus was more menacing than it
seemed.
The golden sun was beaming at me from the azure sky as I made my way towards the monstruous
machine. Now that I inspected the area more closely, I saw a few silvery dolphins floating adrift nearby,
their glossy skins shimmering. I drew closer to them. She was drifting on the waves, but there was no sound
or movement from her body. I approached her face. Expressionless. “Hello?” I waved my flipper in front of
her eyes. No reaction. A nearby dolphin was chocking. “She… perished…” he managed to say, as he took
one last breath. “What? This is impossible…” I glared at the machine, “It must be that monster that caused
these dolphins to suffocate…”
Two workers walked out of a building, clutching a vast net. They glanced suspiciously in my
direction. I quickly dunked under the surface. I could still see their faint silhouettes. They fished up the
lifeless dolphins agilely and took them to the towering building behind the machine. I studied the banner
that hung over the two chimneys above the structure:
Viru et Zero Inspection Area
.
“Snow!” I whipped around and spotted Abby coming towards me.
“We need to warn the other dolphins!” I cried.
“Calm down. Why should we risk our lives? We’re not infected, so why should we care?” Abby
shrugged.
“And let everyone die? This machine is as threatening as a hungry shark!” I screamed. Abby rolled
her eyes, clearly irritated. “It’s not threatening.” She swam closer to the machine. “See? I’m touching it.
Nothing’s happening to me. This is all a joke!” She leaped out of the water and touched the green light
flashing on the machine. “Nothing happened,” she announced.
But something was definitely wrong. Abby’s pearly skin began to turn a hideous dark grey under
my very eyes. “Abby…” I whispered, terrified. “I cannot believe somebody thought of planting this fake
monster here just to scare away calves!” Abby muttered to herself.
“Abby,” I backed away murmuring. Abby looked down at her tail, and gasped in horror. “What’s
happening?” she shrieked, but the situation was hopeless. She started choking and a moment later, her life
finished.
“Abby!” I cried, my tears drifting away in the sea. A part of me desperately wanted to mourn my
loss and forget everything else, but another part of me knew I had to ruin the machine and save the
remaining dolphins. I was torn apart. Take my sister’s body to the depths of the river or strike at the killer
among us? Finally I decided: I was going to wreck the machine.
I swam to the machine, which stood steadily in the sand. It was powered off by now, so I was safe.
“Hmm… Which buttons control it?” I kept swimming around and around and did not notice the workers
approaching until I heard a voice. “Hey! It’s that dolphin again!” “Still alive?” Another worker exclaimed.
“We need to take it to the lab! Now!” the first worker hollered as the machine started to emit intermittent
noises. “Ha!” he exclaimed with glee, “
Now
we got you!”
I was confused for a moment, thinking about what he meant. When the machine released waves of
light, the thought struck me: they had turned the machine on. I tried to plunge back into the water, but the
vacuum caused by the machine pulled me like a magnet.
I
