Against Zombies Series | Book 6 | Governments Against Zombies

by Morgan, Alathia

  “Oh, sweetie. Zombies weren’t any more real than vampires. You were so smart, but there were just a few things that we could never get you to accept.” She laughed at the memory. “You’re not still on that kick, are you?”

  “You know that I have contacts with the army because of John, right?”

  “Well, of course. How is he?” she inquired.

  “Good. So, something’s come up that we need to make sure we’re prepared for. The army is preparing for a worst-case scenario, and um…I’m not even supposed to know, but he wanted to make sure we were going to be okay.”

  “Now, honey, we’ve discussed this before. When they make an announcement on the regular channels, then your dad and I will follow whatever they tell us to the letter. Until then, we’re just going to do what we do every day and ignore all this gloom and doom.”

  “Mom, this is for real. They can’t announce it because of the panic it’ll create. Go to the grocery store and stock up on anything you think you might need to get you through. I know that you love me, but please, listen to what I’m about to tell you. Even if you think it’s silly, it can’t hurt to have some food and ammo on hand.”

  “Son, I do love you, but we aren’t going to be part of this. Now, make sure that you go to class, and we’ll see you when the holiday’s come around,” she responded firmly before hanging up.

  I must be the one who cried wolf one too many times. They just weren’t going to listen to what I was saying. Why was it that family never could take you seriously? Did I have to turn 85 before they would listen to me like I knew what I was talking about? I only had several degrees, and was working on a doctorate.

  Rather than call my sister, I sent her a text.

  Sean: Be safe. Zombies have been spotted. I told Mom and Dad.

  Sam: Got it. Proceed with caution. Silly goose.

  I shook my head as I went to the store to do exactly what I’d told them to do—stock up.

  It was just me and my roommates in our two-room apartment, but there were a few things that I wanted to pick up just in case. My favorite cookies were on the list, as well as a couple cases of beer. No point in dealing with the end of the world if we couldn’t drink our way through it.

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  Chapter 5

  Cooper

  I glanced over my shoulder as I ran through the trees, trying to avoid branches bent on hitting my face. Silence wasn’t possible anymore, and I needed to survive. I couldn’t let them kill me.

  Each step I took farther into the woods meant the odds of staying alive went up. I’d been raised in the swamps of Louisiana. Even the best trained Marines wouldn’t feel comfortable moving around the in the streams where I grew up.

  All my training was going to get me through this; I just had to remember it.

  A loud banging sound rang through the woods and I crouched out of sight, trying to determine which direction it was coming from.

  It came again—

  My body jerked awake. I ran a hand over my face as I wiped away the dream, realizing someone was urgently knocking on my door. Without a thought to what I was wearing, I yanked the door open, startling the person on the other side as they tumbled into the room.

  The flip of a switch illuminated the room, where I found Mike gaping up at me from the floor.

  “What’s wrong, Mike?” I reached down to help him up.

  “Uh, sir…” He looked away from my boxers with the words juicy written all over them. “They’ve called a meeting. It’s urgent.”

  “Was I invited, or were you just letting me know?” I crossed my arms over my chest, unashamed of my attire, or the fact that my wife had bought my boxers as a joke.

  “Yes, sir. All the heads of departments have been asked to gather in the conference room immediately.”

  With a sigh, I walked over and collected clothes to throw on quickly.

  “Any idea what the meeting is about?” I slid the dress pants on before sitting down to put my socks and shoes on.

  “There have been rumors, sir, that the president is dead.”

  “Yep, that would do it.” I didn’t bother with a tie. If this didn’t call for a little more casual attire, then I had no idea what would.

  I hadn’t even been here for more than a day, and already things had gone from bad to worse.

  “Nothing good ever comes of midnight meetings. How many are supposed to be there?” I inquired as I stood to button my shirt before slipping a jacket over it.

  Mike didn’t answer as he moved out into the hallway with me following behind, shutting my door with a click. It was locked, which wouldn’t keep everyone out, but might deter a few people that were up to no good.

  “Sir, do you think the world can be saved?” Mike hurried to keep up with me as I strode down the hall and through two checkpoints before reaching the other set of tunnels.

  “Yes, if they use the knowledge of what they’ve been working on for years. But, if they ignore all the common sense God gave them, then no. We’re all doomed.”

  Mike frowned. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  -------

  “Cooper, come on in and have a seat. They’re bringing the Vice President to get him sworn in so that we can get started.” Reid, the head of Homeland Security, informed me.

  “We were just making progress with the last guy, but maybe he’ll listen to reason and help us get out of this mess.” I took the tie out of my pocket and began to put it on. This was going to be a day for the history books.

  Reid shook his head as more members of the cabinet and military heads joined us.

  “Please rise for the swearing in of the president.”

  Things moved quickly without any issues, as this part of the government generally ran smoothly. No sooner had the words of his oath of office left his mouth, he was ushered to the head of the table.

  “Can someone please tell me what’s going on with these infected things? And why we haven’t done something about it?”

  “We are doing something about it, sir. From what we can tell, several of our larger cities were infected with the virus less than a week ago. There are reports from all over the world, and we’ve pulled our troops back to the bases. We’ve started bringing some of them home, and have begun giving them the vaccine just in case they were near some of the infected.”

  “Did President Stark know about this or approve it? We haven’t given these vaccinations in years, so why start now?” President Hanks inquired.

  “It’s part of the protocol that ZURT established during the Gulf War. Any time there’s a chance our military could be caught up in an outbreak, they are given doses as soon as possible to keep them bringing it back home with them,” Secretary of Defense Stream explained.

  “Wasn’t there something passed about five years ago to discontinue this practice?”

  “No, sir. The budget committee, who weren’t aware of all the ramifications of what the injections were used to protect against, wanted to do away with all of it, but we were convinced we could stop giving the injections for all incoming military during boot camp. It was determined that if these things should rise up again, we’d want to make sure it wasn’t brought home. It was a compromise that the budget committee could get behind, sir.”

  I kept my mouth shut, because so far, the new president hadn’t been read in on what ZURT actually was. He seemed to think he was up-to-date on most things, so this was going to become more difficult.

  “I’m not sure how much authority I have, but I don’t like the idea of just handing out a vaccine that might or might not help. How sure are we that this works?”

  General Jeffers spoke up and advised, “Sir, in all the time I’ve been in the military, we’ve only come across this situation twice. Once when I first joined back in Vietnam, and then again during the Gulf War. The vaccine only worked on about half of those they were given to, but by the time the Gulf War rolled around, the odds were much better. It saves lives, and in my opinion, that makes it
worth the cost.”

  “Cost? I’m not concerned about the cost. I don’t want us just throwing spaghetti on the wall and seeing what sticks. You’re right, though. If this is saving lives, then I’m all for it. What does it do exactly?” He glanced around the room, waiting for an answer.

  “It keeps anyone who dies from reanimating. Basically, it gives them a normal death, or as normal as death can be,” General Jeffers offered.

  “Let’s leave that be for the moment since it seems to have a somewhat good track record. You mentioned bringing troops back. Is there a reason for this?”

  “Yes, sir. We’ve brought them back, because having them not on a base where there are extra walls and protections means we’re just leaving them to die out there. We need the manpower back here in the States to help keep the cities that haven’t been affected under control to keep looting and panic from spreading.”

  President Hanks nodded. “All right, then. How do we determine which cities need the most help? Can we keep this from spreading?”

  “That part is uncertain at the moment, but if we can start sending out the vaccinations, it will help keep things contained. We’re going to have pockets of infected, but it helps minimize the spread,” Secretary Stream acknowledged.

  “As soon as the first case was reported, we immediately activated the National Guard to begin working with their closest command center. At present, we have multiple cities that have been overrun. We’ve sent in returning troops to do kill, search, and recover missions in Charlotte, Nashville, and Richmond, to name a few,” General Jeffers advised.

  “Charlotte has been overrun, as has Nashville. Other major cities are reporting partial damage, but communication has been sketchy for a little while. We’re not sure exactly what the status is everywhere, but we do have most of the West Coast that hasn’t been infected yet. We believe that whoever did this came in on an international flight, and when they died from the infection, they started a chain reaction.”

  “Can we torch the city of Charlotte and the others that were overrun so we can keep these things from spreading?” President Hanks suggested.

  “I’m going to recommend against that, sir. We have civilians and troops in each of those cities that aren’t dead yet. If we can clean out the infected, then we can rescue those who are still alive.”

  “You really think there could be people who are still alive out there?” He appeared to find that theory doubtful.

  “There are a lot of people out there, but if we don’t get to them soon, they won’t be. Water, food, and staying in a safe place are going to become more difficult as each day passes.”

  “Let me have the rest of the night to think about it, and then I’ll give you my recommendation first thing in the morning.” He stood, and we all hurried to stand as well. “Night.”

  None of us left the room, but everyone relaxed as the door closed behind him.

  The five others already in the room took their seats at the table for a second time that evening.

  “Mike, would you please see that we have coffee made?” I walked around and took the last empty seat at the head of the table. No one else wanted to take the role of leader, and I wasn’t going to waste any more time on political maneuverings.

  “Gentlemen, I would like to hear from each of you since we’re already up.” I gave each of them a stern look, like the one I used on my kids to make them behave.

  Secretary Stream looked around before voicing her thoughts. “Well, the department of defense is not sure that the president is aware of all the options that are available to him. He didn’t have clearance to access them, but this is a state of emergency, and we’re just not sure if we should inform him so that he’s able to make a conscientious decision.”

  “Agreed. He’s trying to make decisions based on parts of the story,” General Jeffers added.

  “Since it’s just us, what do we think our odds of survival really are?” I addressed the elephant in the room.

  “East Coast was hit hard due to overseas flights from Europe. The states that have smaller communities are going to be fine. When the alerts went out, they closed off the state and put up barriers to keep things from getting in. The larger the city, the larger the infected problem is going to be and harder to get rid of. It’ll take months before a small group is able to go door to door and clean out all the dead.” Reid, head of Homeland Security, revealed what I had feared.

  “The ships we already have at sea received deliveries, and every crew member has been given the vaccination. They’re following all the quarantine rules, and will be extending their stay at sea until we can get things on land under control,” Benjamin, the Chief of Naval Operations assured. “Those on land for leave were recalled immediately, and are helping keep the navy bases secure from these things.”

  “So what I’m hearing is that we’re not completely screwed with what’s happened. I know there are a few locations scattered throughout each state that have a weapons stash, vaccines, and can be used to help regain order. We’re going to need a few of our top leaders to get to these points with some troops and start the reclaiming process to take back our country,” I announced with determination.

  “What about the president? If he’s going to have us drop bombs, then we’d just be killing our own men,” Secretary Stream protested.

  “Since I’m the head of ZURT, it’s my responsibility to read in the president on all things infected or zombie related. I’ll do that and get him to wait on his orders. Proceed with getting everything ready to move out, and I’ll make sure he doesn’t kill the rescuers,” I promised, feeling like I was about to face the firing squad. “We’ll meet back here in the morning with as many exact details as we can to make sure we’re doing the best with the resources we have.” I dismissed everyone on that hopeful thought.

  Chapter 6

  Cooper

  When it had been decided—or rather, volunteered—that I would fill the new president in on one of the best-kept secrets in U.S. history, I wasn’t sure what my reception was going to be like.

  He was having breakfast in his lovely, well-protected home here at Camp David. We’d already cautioned him that he needed to remain in the bunkers, but he was ignoring our warnings.

  The secret service guards let me pass, and I walked into the large room where the lone man was eating his meal.

  “Ah, Cooper, they’ve sent you to talk some sense into me, eh?” The president wiped his mouth and waved for me to take a seat.

  “Not exactly, sir,” I responded. We hadn’t really had much to do with each other before, but I knew he wasn’t as aggressive as we needed him to be in regards to the current situation.

  “You might as well have some breakfast while you’re at it. No point in wasting the food, especially if the world is going to be ending.”

  I tried not to grimace as the man responsible for making all the important decisions for the Unites States of America, seemed to had all but given up. Maybe I could change his mind and convince him that all wasn’t lost, not yet.

  “Thank you.” I accepted a plate of food from one of the kitchen staff. “We’ll need to have the room cleared for a while. I’ve let the agents know.”

  They moved out of the room and closed the doors, making sure that no one was eavesdropping on this important information.

  “Well, get on with it. I’m sure it can’t be any worse than what we’re facing right now.” He gestured with his fork.

  “This is top secret information, and normally, even the president isn’t read in unless an incident actually happens.”

  “This has happened before, and the general public just thought it was something else?” He had pushed back from the table and was watching me carefully.

  “Yes, sir. We’ve never had a full attack on U.S. soil before, but the threat has been active since the First World War. Although, there have been mentions of this happening all the way back through history—” I had just started my explanation, but he interrupt
ed.

  “What you’re trying to tell me is that zombie infected things, or ZITs, as you’ve termed them, have been around for over a thousand years?” He couldn’t contain his doubt.

  “That’s correct, sir. If you think back to such things as the Black Plague, that was when the ZITs almost won out by erasing humanity. Then you also have such instances of the Smallpox virus, and the antidotes that were given to most of America at that point.”

  The President held up a hand. “Hold on. You’re trying to tell me that Smallpox was another version of the thing that’s infecting entire cities at this very moment? Why are we not vaccinating against it right now?”

  I nodded, understanding that most of this would come as quite a shock, but he needed to hear the whole story.

  “Sir, if I can continue, I’m sure that most of your questions will be answered when I’m finished…” He started to protest, but closed his mouth quickly, allowing me to begin again.

  “The first time, to our knowledge, that this virus reemerged was on the Titanic. From there, it made its way to the trenches of WWI, where a scientist had taken some of the virus and infected new people before sending them into battle. One of our doctors, who saved many lives while over there, was the nephew of the doctor on board the Titanic. When he came back from the war, he changed his specialty from a surgeon to a scientist, and began working to find out why some of those who had been bitten didn’t die. He, unlike the horrible German scientist, worked on a cure, and when the super soldiers were released on the allies in WWII, he was able to keep the amount of deaths to a minimum.”

  I smiled. “I know it’s a lot to take in, and we don’t normally read in the president with all these details, but since the very essence of humanity is at stake, we thought you should get all the details as soon as possible so that you could make an informed decision.

  “There wasn’t a cure, but we discovered a small, rare gene that would keep people from turning. Our specially picked group of people started working on a vaccine for when our servicemen came home, so they wouldn’t spread the virus to their families and friends.”