The vomiting and dizziness continued, and the only thing he could manage was to curl up in a ball on the hard rocky floor of the cavern. Holly lay beside him, retching as well, and the splatter of vomit hitting the ground echoed through the empty cavern, breaking the silence. Jeff’s body ached like a son of a bitch, and shooting, stabbing pains shot through his joints. Then his hamstrings, calves, and stomach all started to cramp, forcing him to scream out in agony. And still the room was spinning.
“Oh God, I’m dying,” Holly said between heaving lurches.
After several minutes, just when Jeff thought he couldn’t bear any more and was going to pass out from the pain, the spinning subsided and the nausea started to fade. The aching remained, however, deep down in his body, and when he moved, sharp pains still stabbed through his joints. He flicked on the flashlight that came with his combat MedKit.
He and Holly were deep inside Lechuguilla cavern, but there was no construction crew and no tunnel to been seen.
“Do we know when we landed?” Jeff asked. “Why isn’t the base being built?”
“I don’t know. Without my suit, I probably threw off the mass calculation for the jump. With less mass, we landed farther back in the past. How much farther, I can’t guess off the top of my head. Let me do a rough calculation on my portable.” Holly lifted her hand, then pulled it close to her face.
“Nanobots. There are nanobots under my skin.” She began frantically scratching at the fingers of her right hand and shaking it. “Get them out, get them out!” she screamed.
Jeff moved closer and held the light so they could get a better look. Little greenish-blue flea-like creatures were buried under her skin, but they weren’t moving. They’d apparently gotten on her when she reached for the infected data drive.
“It looks like they may not be working,” Jeff said. “Are they inert?”
Holly was still screaming and scratching her hands. “Please, please, get them out!” she yelled.
“Holly, calm down!” Jeff held her shoulders. “It looks like the time jump killed them.”
“But I can feel them twitching! Oh God, get them out, cut them out, please!”
Jeff held the flashlight closer in time to see the nanobots start twitching under Holly’s skin, as if they were coming back to life.
“Let me see what I can find in the suit’s MedKit.”
Jeff opened the case on the front of his bio-suit and started pulling out medical equipment. The kit included standard first aid gear, most of which was familiar, but a few items he didn’t recognize.
The AI clicked on. “State the nature of the health problem.” It spoke in a soothing female voice.
“Emergency surgery,” Jeff said.
“Further detail is needed.”
“Uh . . . Parasite extraction.”
Holly was still shaking her hand. “They’re moving, please hurry; get them out, they’re eating my hand!”
“Location,” asked the AI.
“Fuck, this is taking too long!” Jeff yelled. “Hands!”
“Please stay calm. Parasite extraction is delicate. If the subject is in immediate life-threatening danger, you need to keep him stable.” The AI’s voice remained gentle and soothing. “Most parasites will increase activity as the subject’s blood pressure and body warmth rise. Please place the scanner over the affected area so I can determine the exact location of the parasite infection and the best method of extraction.”
Jeff pulled out the scanner, and Holly started screaming. He grabbed her shoulders. “Holly, you have to relax. I know it hurts, but you need to sit down, and I can get them out.”
She had a wild look in her eye as she continued scratching and clawing violently at her hand. Tears of pain, reflected in the beam from the flashlight, streamed down her face. She looked at Jeff’s chest where the MedKit was located and reached inside, pulling out a small surgical knife. Before Jeff could react, she started cutting at her hand, screaming in agony.
“Ahhh! Oh God, it hurts. I can’t get them, they’re in too deep!”
Jeff tried to grab the knife from her, but she twisted away and hacked violently at her hand. Blood poured out, warm and dark. Jeff could smell it mixed in with the vomit in the damp, dark cave. And Holly was screaming. Blood-curdling screams.
Jeff looked into the MedKit to see if there was anything else to help her. The AI said, “You must sedate the patient.” It extended a hypo needle, which he grabbed. He lunged at Holly, trying to stab her with the needle, but she was too wild. She knocked his hand, and the needle went flying into the darkness of the cave. Holly fell to her knees, her screams and sobs bouncing off the rock walls. She was holding her bleeding hand up; one finger had already been eaten down to the bone.
“Subject appears to be going into shock,” said the AI. “Nature of infection unknown. Extreme measures required to prevent the spread of the parasite. Use a tourniquet, then you must amputate the infected appendage.”
Jeff pulled out the combat application tourniquet and quickly wrapped it around Holly’s upper arm, tightening it to stop the flow of blood to the lower arm. A small bone saw was extended from the MedKit. Jeff pulled it out. Jesus. He needed to find the sedative; he couldn’t just cut Holly’s hand off with her awake.
She sat on her knees, staring up at him, sobbing in desperate heaves. The surgical knife she’d been using fell out of her hand and to the cave floor, and the nanobots under her skin continued eating her flesh away. They were also multiplying. What had started as just a few were now hundreds. Holly’s finger bone disappeared as the nanobots swarmed over it, crawling and eating. Her body shook violently as a gnawing, munching sound, along with the metallic buzzing of the creatures’ wings, rang out into the cave.
Jeff had to act fast. He shoved Holly to her back and straddled her. He held her right shoulder down with his right hand, careful not to touch where the nanobots were spreading. Then he used his left hand to start the gruesome process of cutting just below her elbow. Holly let out another maniacal scream that boomed through the empty cavern. She tried to shove Jeff off, but he dropped his full weight onto her chest.
The saw screeched and shook as it ground through muscle and bone. Jeff had no medical experience whatsoever, and the sight of blood made him sick. The vomit started to build again, inching up his throat, as Holly’s warm blood splattered on his face. But he held firm, swallowed back the vomit, and cut deeper. Holly screamed once more and then fell silent, passing out from the trauma.
Finally Jeff was through the bone and Holly’s hand and forearm were free. He dragged her away from the nanobot-infested hand as quickly as he could, and the swarm continued devouring what was left of her hand. He pulled her farther and farther away, struggling to move her, his muscles and joints still throbbing from the time jump. He didn’t want to be anywhere near the nanobots when they were done eating the hand and started looking for more food. He didn’t know what their effective range was.
“You need to cauterize the wound,” the AI announced. “Bleeding is severe.”
As Jeff dragged Holly, he left behind a bloody trail, and blood was still oozing from her stump. The MedKit produced a cauterizing laser. “Hold the laser several inches away from the wound and press the on button. Back and forth motions work best. When the wound is temporarily sealed, apply the dress bandage and remove the tourniquet.”
Jeff followed the directions and was able to seal the wound and stop the bleeding. He applied the dress bandage, a techno-organic substance used in combat situations. It would bond with her wound and greatly accelerate the healing process. He’d heard about it on the news, how it had saved the lives of wounded soldiers. Holly remained unconscious, but she appeared to be out of immediate danger.
“Fabricating blood substitute and fluids for the patient. You must administer these as soon as possible,” the AI said.
Thank God for someone who could keep her head; Jeff had no idea how to treat the wounded.
The combat MedK
it had the latest technology. As the machine fabricated blood for Holly’s recovery, he flashed his light back across the cavern. In the distance, what looked like small gnats were flying in the shadows. Then they started to come closer, unhurriedly, but surely following the trail of Holly’s blood. It was the nanobots, flying now—a swarm—still hunting them.
Jeff rushed several yards closer to where they were swarming and stood between Holly and the creatures. The cave floor was smooth and slick with her blood.
He had to distract them, lead them away from her.
He started jumping up and down, yelling, “Over here. Come get me, you motherfuckers!”
He angled to the side, trying to move the horrible creatures away from their prey. The nanobots didn’t react but continued their slow and steady track along Holly’s blood trail.
“Hey, you bastards, over here! Can’t you hear me, you stupid fucks!” Jeff yelled, furious. He wasn’t going to let Holly die.
He took several steps closer to the swarm until he was within about ten feet or so, and then it reacted. It paused, hovering, as if calculating, and then instead of the whole thing coming after him, it split in two. Half the swarm continued the slow flight to Holly, and the other half veered off to pursue him.
He stepped back quickly, moving several paces to the side, and the swarm that broke off after him continued toward the spot where he’d been standing and then wavered. These nanobots were much slower and not nearly as smart as those they’d left behind in the future.
Jeff checked on the bots flying toward Holly. They were almost on her; he had to do something. He found a few rocks on the cave floor and threw them at the swarm. The rocks did nothing to slow or deter its progress. Then Jeff watched as the swarm that had broken off to pursue him split again, this time into four groups going in different directions, as if following compass headings. One flew toward him and when it got within ten feet, it started to speed up.
He could see the sensory range of the nanobots now, but what could he do? He looked on with agony at Holly lying motionless in the dirt. One of the swarms blocked his return path to her. Jeff quickly flashed his light around the cavern to see if there was anything else he could use to stop them, but there was nothing other than rocks and crystals.
The swarm chasing Jeff kept coming but as he stepped farther from it, he was also moving farther from Holly. The swarm would be on him in seconds. He started to panic, feeling the fear building deep down in his core ready to explode. He had to get away.
Just behind him was another tunnel, to another cave perhaps. He could run through and hope to get out of range of the attacking swarm. But he’d have to leave Holly behind. To be devoured. He wasn’t a coward, but he didn’t want to die either.
Shit! The swarm was almost on him, stalking him, ready to start burrowing into his flesh.
“I’m sorry, Holly!” he yelled when the swarm was inches away. The guilt and sadness he felt was horrible, yet an intense fear for his own life clawed at him. The swarm was coming relentlessly. He turned from Holly and started running toward the other tunnel.
The second he turned, a blinding flash lit the darkness and an ear-piercing explosion rattled the cave. He couldn’t see anything after the flash, could only hear what sounded like a pulse weapon firing.
He rubbed at his eyes until he could make out a shadowy figure, bobbing lights attached to it or pulsing from it, standing in the cavern right in the middle of the nanobot swarm near Holly. The person was firing the weapon again and again at the nanobots.
The pulse hit the swarm that was closest to Jeff, and flying nanobots fell to the ground, tinkling as they hit the cave floor, like tiny metal nails. He moved toward the shadowy figure, stepping on and gleefully crunching the dead machines under his feet as though they were nasty cockroaches.
The shadowy figure was still firing. Most of the flying bots had been destroyed, kept from reaching Holly. But the heroism wasn’t without a price; the remaining bots were swarming Jeff and Holly’s savior, and he was desperately trying to shake them off.
“What can I do to help?” Jeff yelled.
The figure pivoted, and Jeff saw his face. Saw his own face.
“Oh my God! It’s me!” he said, choking on the words.
It was a much older Jeff, face wrinkled, hair nearly completely white. He wore combat fatigues and defensive gear, including a clear helmet.
“Take Holly and go,” the older Jeff said. “My suit will hold the bots off for a while, but not forever. When they get through, I won’t have much time. I didn’t plan on landing right in the middle of the goddamn swarm!”
“But how?” Jeff’s thoughts were spinning.
“I’m you from the future. Years ago I ran like a coward and let her die.” The older Jeff pointed at Holly. “I couldn’t live with myself; the guilt was horrible. I had to come back and make it right. Holly needs to live. And you need this.”
The older Jeff threw something through the air and fired his pulse weapon at it as it flew. The object landed a few feet away from Jeff. He reached to pick it up. A data drive.
The older Jeff started twitching, shaking his arm. “They’re getting through the suit, little bastards! That portable has all the information you need. Take it to Patrick Chen. The weapon didn’t damage it, just purged it of nanobots trying to tag along. Now take her and go! Follow the tunnel as far as you can that way; don’t look back.”
Jeff ran to Holly, swept her up in his arms, and ran to the other end of the cavern. When he got to the entrance to the tunnel, he did look back. The older Jeff was scratching and pulling at his suit.
“And the future?” Jeff hollered to his older self.
“My future doesn’t exist anymore. You have a new chance now. Make the most of it. Go, go, go!”
Jeff turned and headed down the narrow tunnel, moving as fast as he could with Holly in his arms. The tunnel curved sharply, and there was nothing but darkness ahead. As he rounded the turn, an explosion rocked the cavern.
The blast impact hit Jeff squarely in the back and swept his feet out from under him. Holly went flying. When Jeff hit the floor, his head slammed hard into rock, then everything went black.
Chapter 20
1:00 pm EST, January 16, 2038
Greenbrier Resort
How could Farrow be the traitor?
He must have sent the signal out to the attackers. He was responsible for the deaths of everyone on Air Force One, including the President of the United States. Everyone except her.
Melinda’s heart was racing. She had to get away. She ran back down the hallway and ducked into the kitchen again, praying that the swarm didn’t see her. She dared a peek around the corner just in time to see the sphere slipping out of the sleeping quarters and gliding silently in the other direction, followed by the Secretary.
Melinda let out a sigh of relief.
She thought about going back in the freezer again and hiding, hoping that the whole thing was just a nightmare. How could one of the most trusted and respected leaders in the United States government be a traitor to his own country? His betrayal cut deep, and she felt as if someone had punched her in the gut. Melinda had looked up to the Secretary so much. Hell, she had wanted to be like him someday. But not now. She didn’t want to be like that monster. She wiped some dust from her bio-suit mask, unbelieving. He was . . .
No! There must be some other explanation for what Melinda had seen. She needed to find out more.
She stole back into the corridor, still carrying the automatic weapon, moving slowly, carefully, and quietly. She didn’t want any lurking spheres or other flying creatures to find her. She’d seen what they could do and shuddered at the thought of them crawling over her body. The Secretary and the sphere were up ahead, and he was still talking in that strange guttural language. Was it Chinese or something else? She couldn’t be sure.
Melinda was no secret service agent and not used to sneaking around. She again considered crawling back inside the free
zer, but too many people had died, and she needed to find out the truth. The burning question still remained. Why was Farrow betraying his country?
She’d see what he was up to next, find a safe place to hide, then figure out what to do, how to defeat Farrow and his friends.
She headed for the main lobby of the bunker, where the swarm had torn its way through the blast doors. She paused, allowing the Secretary and the sphere to move ahead of her. It was obvious they were headed for the exit. Knowing where they were going, she could hang back, not risk being discovered.
Unwittingly, she looked around the room. Littered among overturned chairs and tables were bits of bloody clothing, pieces of bone and hair, and chunks of metal, the remains of weapons. This was where the survivors had made their last stand. From what Melinda could tell, they’d had no chance at all.
She continued sneaking down the hallway to the main blast doors, which had been melted away. She stepped through them and entered the auditorium where bodies lay in painfully disfigured contortions. These were the ones who hadn’t worn bio-suits and had succumbed to the deadly virus. Flies were already buzzing around them. Melinda was glad she had clean oxygen filtering through her bio-suit, because the smell must be horrible.
She followed the corridor back through the fake blast doors and down the elegant hallways of the resort until she came to a spot where the hotel just ended. The mid-day sun was shining down where the roof should have been. Outside, the beautifully landscaped grounds were still covered in fresh snow from the night before, yet there was something subtly different. The carefully manicured lawns had become overgrown and new shrubs had sprouted up. They weren’t the common azaleas and boxwoods typical in mountainous West Virginia, but something else, something bulbous and red, like pods ready to burst.
Melinda walked into the changing world and noticed that the asphalt driveway and concrete paths around the resort were starting to crack, with strange weeds bursting through the seams. She bent down for a closer look and saw small creatures crawling all over the weeds and moving through the cracks.
Extermination Day Page 18