“So what about the zombie state…or mode…or whatever it is?” Perryman inquired. There was a twinge of resentment in his voice, and Irene knew that it stemmed from her admission to taking part in the heinous experiments she was describing. She also knew that what she was about to say next would surely turn him against her.
“Based on what we had seen back in Kazakhstan, with the woman dying and then coming back, we decided to terminate the first subject who had been infected and see if he would reanimate.”
“Terminate,” Haddock said. “By that, do you mean that you killed him?”
“Uh…yes,” Irene hesitantly said. “The major administered a combination of drugs that caused the subject’s heart to stop. Within five minutes, he had come back. He was strapped with monitors and we were able to detect a small pulse. We also had him wired to monitor brain waves, and much to our surprise, there was evidence of some activity. We tried to get the subject to respond to different kinds of stimuli, from physical to visual, but the only thing that he was concerned with was the staff themselves. He was fixated on trying to bite us. Also, a white film-like matter had developed over the eyes, just like with the Kazakh woman, but we never were able to determine a cause for that.”
“So, these zombies, they’re not clinically dead?” Perryman asked as he tried to hide his displeasure with her. He was now also thrown off by her new demeanor. He didn’t care for the aloof and detached approach she was taking in answering their questions. He preferred the vulnerable, woe-is-me Irene better.
“Well, they died in a clinical sense, but then they returned from the dead—they reanimated. The reanimated subjects we studied all showed signs of brain activity, they were taking in oxygen, the circulatory system was operating, but at a very low rate, and they were urinating and having bowel movements—but not in the traditional manner.”
“Okay, I’m a little fuzzy on all of this, can you kind of explain it in layman’s terms,” Chambers asked in an agitated tone.
Well, it’s kind of like this,” Irene said with her gravelly voice. As she spoke, it sounded as if it was worsening. “They breathe, but not like normal, living humans. They take in a fraction of the oxygen that we do. That means that less oxygen gets into the blood stream, and the heart is barely pumping, maybe one beat every ten to fifteen seconds, so the oxygen takes a long time to get to the muscles. That’s why they walk either very rigidly or as if they are barely able to control their muscles. Also, they don’t vocalize much. Maybe a moan or a groan, but that’s about it. That also is a result from the small amount of oxygen that they have in their lungs. As far as bodily functions go, whatever they consume is expelled shortly after. They don’t have much control of their muscles, so it basically comes out when enough of it builds up in their bowels; almost as if gravity fed. Same for urinating”
“So then they’re alive?” Haddock asked.
“I guess some would say so, but this is what really throws everything upside down—they’re alive, but at the same time, they’re slowly decomposing.”
“Now I’ve heard everything!” Haddock exclaimed. His senses had been overwhelmed and he was total disbelief. “Do you know how incredible that sounds, how ludicrous that sounds?”
“I know sir,” Irene said. She could hear the skepticism in the president’s voice. She didn’t blame him for sounding unconvinced. What she was trying to explain was completely and totally unfathomable. She wouldn’t have believed any of it herself if she hadn’t seen it firsthand. “I know how crazy this must all sound.”
“So, they’re alive then, but they’re dying too?”
“Yes sir, and that’s where the radiation comes into play. We were able to test some samples, including skin, organ and brain tissues. They all showed signs of cellular decomposition, but at an extremely slow rate. The radiation is the key. Whoever created this agent encoded it with a radioactive element that prolongs life, but only after the body has been reanimated. Because the reanimated body is only able to take in a limited amount of oxygen, it’s not getting enough to keep it living. The organs, the extremities, the brain…they are all dying from lack of oxygen, but they are dying at an incredibly slow pace because of the radiation. Eventually the body will reach such a stage of decomposition that it won’t be able to function at all, but with this radioactive x-factor, that could take as long as a year…maybe two.”
“Then is this a chemical or biological agent?” asked Chambers as he nibbled on the nail of his right index finger. He too was feeling the president’s anxiety.
Repulsed at the sight of the man biting his nails, Irene looked away. She briefly envisioned him as a reanimated individual, hungrily eating away at his own fingers. “We don’t know,” she said.
“And what about them wanting to devour us?” Perryman asked. “Why eat us?”
“Roberts believed that somehow, the reanimated were trying to regain their lives by absorbing—by consuming—living people. He thought that somehow they are able to rationalize that process in their dying brains. I think it’s a far-fetched idea, but we really couldn’t determine why they sought human flesh. I don’t think they’re actually looking for nutrition because we placed several live animals in the room with them, and they didn’t pay attention to them. Not once did they ever try to eat any of the animals.”
“So then how do we stop it?” Washington asked.
“Well, we classified the infected into two groups—the infected and the reanimated. The infected are still living, breathing people who seem hell bent on the murder of other uninfected people. Roberts believed that somehow, the Russians had been able to create a two-stage agent, combining a rage factor or toxin with the reanimation agent. Anyway, this group displays elevated stamina, extraordinary strength, hostility and rage. They are impervious to pain, but they can be killed. The problem is, once they are killed, they reanimate into our second group; the reanimated. The reanimated move around slowly, they seem to have little thought process, they are easy to evade, but if they get ahold of you, they will attempt to devour you. A bite from either one of these groups will cause you to turn into an infected person. Also, if you’re exposed to their body fluids, you run a high risk of infection.”
“As I asked before, how do we stop them?” Washington asked with an impatient tone.
“The only way to stop both the infected and the reanimated is by destroying the brain. A gun shot, preferably from a high powered weapon, or severe blunt force trauma will do the job. If an infected person is killed, it is imperative that the brain be destroyed before reanimation can take place.”
“How about a chemical agent?” Washington questioned. “Did you try that?”
“Yes, we did. The major thought that if a nerve agent was introduced, the results from disrupting the body’s neurotransmitters would prove effective against them—the infected and reanimated. Unfortunately, there were no visible signs of debilitation on the subjects who were exposed to chemical weapons.”
“And you were able to figure out all of this within just a couple of weeks?” Perryman asked. He was shocked at the amount of research that had been accomplished in such a short span of time. “You guys must have put in some hellacious hours.”
“Around the clock,” Irene said in a grim tone. “We slept in shifts and we operated with very little sleep. It did help that we had several other doctors there to help with the work, but it was hard for all of us to keep it together, especially with the stuff we were working on. But all of that stopped when the accident happened. And then it was all over.” Irene took a moment to gather her emotions as she tried to block out the vision of Michael being torn to pieces and devoured inside of a laboratory. She took a deep breath and sat up in her chair as she attempted to show the men that she was strong—at least on the outside. “I know that it must sound a bit unbelievable that we were able to learn so much in such a short amount of time, but that’s what makes this outbreak so frightening. Usually, it takes months, if not years, to gather enough hard,
conclusive and reliable data on a new illness in order to provide some kind of educated guess as to what it is. Gestation periods, incubation periods, witness statements, examinations of possible infections, lab and clinical work…that all goes into typing and classifying something like this, and like I said, that takes a long time. But with this…this thing…the process that I just described took place within a few weeks, not a few months. It moved so fast…it spread so rapidly, that we had almost everything we needed to classify it within that short amount of time. The Kazakhs were referring to it as the ‘Ozersk Syndrome’ because they didn’t know what else to call it.”
“Ozersk Syndrome?” Haddock pondered out loud. “So then, here is the next question.” He started to write on the pad again. “What happens if you pass from natural causes or an accident or something along those lines? Will you reanimate?”
“Most likely yes.”
“But how so, especially if you aren’t infected by one of the two groups you just described?” the president asked in a frustrated tone. He looked over at Perryman and shook his head in disbelief.
“The fallout from the nuclear explosions—I believe there was a second one…right?”
“Yes, the Russians detonated two weapons over there.”
“Those explosions only helped to spread the agent across the world. A large portion of the global population has ingested the agent either through air or water or food.”
“Is there any way to tell if someone is infected?” Chambers questioned. “If there is, that would be monumental in trying to stop the spread.”
“Well, we checked each other for radiation and none of us were hot. That’s not to say that I’m not infected now. We checked each other right after we got to Maryland, before the fallout had time to reach there. We were in a secured facility for most of the time, basically in a bio-security level four environment, and so wouldn’t have been exposed to anything from the outside. Now that I’ve been out of there and have breathed unfiltered air, I’m sure that I’ve been exposed to the agent. I think the only way to tell for sure is by checking everyone for elevated radiation levels.”
“Everyone?” Washington asked in a dismissive tone. “You mean like the entire populace of the country? Isn’t that asking a little much?”
“You asked and I answered,” Irene retorted. She was offended at the general’s sarcasm. “I will say this, President Haddock,” Irene said grimly, “with every passing minute, we are falling deeper and deeper into darkness. I was able to see just how fast this thing spread in Kazakhstan, and within a matter of a few days, the countryside was devastated. Now I hear that all contact has been lost with that entire region, including all of Russia and most of Europe. Unless we come up with something, the same will happen to us. It’s inevitable.”
“I need to get on the air, that’s for sure,” Haddock said with a sense of urgency. He stood up and looked at Perryman. “We need to at least let everyone know what’s going on, what they’re looking at and what we’re doing for them. And we’ve got to make sure that we continue to work on trying to develop a medical, scientific response to this.”
“We still have a functioning biomedical research facility operating down in San Antonio,” Chambers said. “We have a large military presence there too, including a big army fort and an air force base. They have the resources there to maintain a safe environment that will allow our researchers to continue their work. Or at least right now they do. We can get Doctor Hopkins down there by the end of the day.”
“Excuse me?” Irene asked in an astonished tone. She couldn’t believe what she had just heard. Chambers had caught her off guard because she had no plans to continue with any type of work or research for the government. There was no way she could go through anything else like what she had been through over the past few weeks.
“I need to get back home to Atlanta,” she said emphatically. “You can find someone else to continue this, but count me out.”
“Atlanta is out of control,” Perryman said. “That place is about to fall. Your office has been overrun.”
“What!” Irene exclaimed. “Atlanta?” She started thinking about her friends back home and she shuddered at the thought of what might have become of them. She felt her resolve leave her body and she knew that her fear was now showing. “Then I want to get back to my parents. I haven’t heard from them since before I left for Kazakhstan. I don’t want to go to Texas. I want to go to Seattle! I don’t want to be a part of this anymore! I don’t want to end up like Michael or Roberts…or like the rest of those people back at that lab in Maryland. Michael was torn to pieces right in front of my eyes and Roberts shot himself in the head after he was bitten!”
“Irene, you don’t know how important you are to the people of this nation,” Haddock pleaded. “You’ve seen this up close, you’ve survived this, and you’re the only person who really knows anything about this. You’re vital to the survival of this country.”
“President Haddock, I don’t think this country is going to survive this, I really don’t.” She looked directly into his eyes and with an expression of resignation she said, “I’d rather die trying to get back to my family than die in some lab in Texas.”
“Irene, look at me,” Perryman said as he took her hand into his, “Seattle is burning right now. “We wouldn’t even be able to get you in there if we wanted to. Believe me, I know what you must be feeling.”
“Do you? Do you really?”
“Yes, I do,” Perryman said. “Don’t let all of this be in vain…your suffering, what happened to Michael, what happened to the doctors in Kazakhstan. You have the opportunity to do something about this. You can help us fight this and you can help us save people.”
“Are you telling me that my parents are dead?” she asked with tears streaming down her cheeks.
“We tried to get some confirmation on the whereabouts of your folks, but we couldn’t find anything. The authorities have lost all control. To put it bluntly, there are no more authorities left there.” Perryman gently tightened his grip on Irene’s hand.
Irene could no longer take it. She let go of her control and she began to cry. “I didn’t want to be a part of this in the first place,” she sobbed. Her emotions were on a rollercoaster and she felt like she was about to crash. “Why didn’t you try to save my parents? You knew what was happening. You knew who I was and that I was working for you. You knew who my parents were. Why didn’t you send them to a safe place?”
Haddock walked over to Irene and placed his hand on top of her shoulder. He knew that he needed her to continue with her work. She was the only real chance they had at figuring out what was going on with the outbreak, but he also knew that she was near her limits. “I’m sorry that we didn’t do more for you,” he said, “but to be honest with you, we just didn’t realize how fast this thing was moving and spreading. It’s overwhelming us.” He looked over at Chambers and nodded at him.
Chambers, seeing the president’s queue, went over and sat down next to Irene. “Doctor Hopkins, it is very important that we get you down to San Antonio. Like the President said, you are a very important part of stopping this before it’s too late. Please, if you’ll come with me, we can arrange to get you down there by the end of the day.”
Haddock walked away from Irene and Chambers and met up with Perryman. With a look of concern in his eyes, Perryman said in a hushed voice, “We need to get you out of here. I don’t know how much longer we can keep this place secure.”
“I know you already have my family in a safe location, just make sure they stay safe,” Haddock said. “Whenever we can locate Oscar, have him coordinate the evacuation of the White House, but I want you with me all the time. No need for you to stay behind. I just need you to know though, I’m going to stay active. I want to be on the frontline of this thing. I’m not going to be tucked away under some mountain in Colorado.”
“So, we’re pulling the plug here?” Perryman asked. Haddock could hear the resignation i
n his voice. “And to be honest Dom, I think your chief is gone. He’s either dead or he high tailed it out with his family. Oscar never was the one who could hold up under the heat.”
“Well, I hope he’s alright…he and his family. And yes, we have to pull the plug here. If I’m going to be leaving, I don’t want anyone left behind. There’s no sense in trying to hold out anymore. The city is about to fold and half of the White House staff is missing. If anyone stays here, it won’t be long before they’re trapped. Just make sure Chambers gets Doctor Hopkins on a plane for Texas.”
“Even if it’s against her will?”
“Yes. Even if we have to tie her ass up and load her onto the plane. She has to go down there, no matter what.”
Chapter 6
Day 20
San Antonio, Texas
“Hurry up Jennifer, we don’t have much time!” Trent shouted as he rummaged through the pantry. “You finish getting Diego’s things and I’ll start loading up the car.” Jennifer was running around frantically as she tried to gather some of her son’s clothes and toys. To make matters worse, the frightened child was crying.
Trent walked over to the couch where Diego was sitting. He wanted to reach down and pick his son up to calm him, but he didn’t have any time for that right now. He had just seen a news report on TV about a large traffic accident on Interstate 35; it was a bad one that had all the northbound lanes shut down just outside of the northern part of San Antonio. Unfortunately for them, it was the same direction that they were going to be traveling in.
“Can you be a big boy for Daddy and not cry?”
“But I want Momma,” Diego sobbed. He couldn’t understand why his mother wouldn’t take the time to play with him.
“We have to go on a trip and Momma has to get your things ready. And Daddy has to get the car ready, okay? When we finish, Momma can read to you in the car.”
A Glimpse Of Decay (Book 2): Staring into the Abyss Page 9