Dead Life

by Schleicher, D Harrison

  Prologue

  Even though the ban on the use and stockpiling of chemical and biological weapons has been in force since 1925, factions of many governments have ignored this sanction.

  Several years ago a promising young scientist working on a cure for patients infected with flesh-eating bacteria had a major breakthrough. Taking DNA from a simple one-celled Amoeba Proteus and transplanting it into a common virus, he was able to create an organism that would basically eat the bacteria. The theory was that the body would then respond to the virus by producing enough white blood cells to destroy the virus.

  Cultured bacteria quickly succumbed to the virus in the Petri dish. White blood cells introduced to the virus quickly overwhelmed it. Testing on animal subjects went well. Mice, cats, dogs and even primates all responded well within the parameters to justify further testing. The drug had a ninety percent cure rate. The other ten percent suffered from a reaction to the medication and had to be taken off treatment. In these subjects, the infection ran it’s course inevitably ending in death. Still, a ninety percent cure rate was an amazing result. The drug was to be a success. It was time to gain approval to begin trials on humans.

  There weren’t a lot of cases of people being infected with flesh-eating bacteria. The people that suffered from this disease were mainly in third world nations. This drug wasn’t projected to be a money maker for the pharmaceutical company backing the research. It was to be a public relations project. The drug was anything but that.

  The pharmaceutical company took the trial phase world wide. Three hundred participants were recruited for testing. Half of these were given the new drug while the other half were given a placebo. Great results were expected. A huge media campaign was started. The pharmaceutical company boasted that results would be fast. It was projected that in one to two months, the one hundred and fifty participants receiving the placebo would be switched over to the new drug AmbeoPro.

  Within a week the one hundred and fifty patients receiving the drug were dead. White blood cell production could not keep up with the spread of the virus. The virus just spread faster in the human body. It was as if the virus was starving for blood. High fever and hemorrhaging soon occurred. Patients just bled out. The patients taking the placebo were deemed to be lucky not to have gotten AmbeoPro. They still had a slight chance of surviving the disease. Millions of dollars would be paid in lawyers fees and settlements. The pharmaceutical company could afford all of this. It was their image they were worried about. The promising young scientist was disgraced. He was promptly fired.

  Within a month he had a new job. The scientist was approached by a splinter faction of the CIA. He was told his new drug was seen as a possible bio-weapon. The research he had done could fall into the wrong hands and they needed him to reverse engineer a cure for the new virus. This was true. The CIA did want a cure for the new virus. They also wanted to stock-pile the virus for national security reasons. The virus could not be transmitted person to person. It could be introduced into an enemy nation’s water supply. They saw this as a way to destroy an enemy without ever having to go to battle. We could win a war without ever firing a shot. We could win without having any casualties.

  He was set up with a lab in Saudi Arabia to avoid prying eyes. Progress was swift. Within six months they had a cure. It was at this point a separate test facility was opened far away from the original facility. It was under a mountain in the Astir mountain range. None of the scientists or technicians from the original laboratory participated in these tests.

  A huge chamber under the mountain housed the testing facility. Twenty prisoners from American prisons were kept in twenty cells. Five technicians were to monitor their progress. Nine guards were to watch the prisoners, three men to a shift. All nine guards were CIA operatives.

  Each of the prisoners had his own water supply. The water they were drinking was contaminated with varying concentrations of the virus. They were trying to decipher at what concentration the water became lethal. Turned out that every concentration was enough to cause infection. All the prisoners were given the cure and they all got better at first.

  The water supply they used wasn’t free of it’s own contaminates. All water has microscopic life. The amoeba living in the test water consumed the virus that was introduced. This altered the amoeba. It’s DNA took on the DNA of the altered virus. That new organism took on the DNA of the cure. The new amoeba altered the DNA of the test subjects.

  “Guard, open this cell. Something’s wrong with Number 12.”

  “I thought that was the whole idea.”

  “He was fine when I checked him a half hour ago.”

  “Look around, Doc. Something’s wrong with all of them.”

  In each of the twenty cells all the test subjects were either on the floor or in their cots having convulsions. The “doc,” who wasn’t a doctor or even a nurse, ran to a red button on the wall and punched it. An alarm blared. Two minutes later, all the guards and technicians were in the chamber.

  “We need to open all these cells.”

  “I can’t do that Doc. These guys are bad ass. We’re talking murderers, rapists, and all sorts of deviants are in here.”

  “You have the guns. Open up! We’ve got to get in there.”

  “Alright, we’ll open five cells. That’s one for each tech. That’s it.”

  The five techs moved into the cells. The first test subject that had begun convulsing had stopped by now. The techs were bent over their patients trying to check their stats without much luck. As fast as it started, it was over. All twenty of the test subjects stopped convulsing.

  “Test patient Number 7 is dead.” The tech known as “Doc” called out.

  Down the line, all five techs had the same response. All the test subjects had died.

  “Wait a minute. This one’s starting to come around.”

  Test patient 7 was moaning and starting to move around again. The tech pried the subject’s eye open to see if there was pupil response.

  “There’s no response. Pupil’s fixed and dilated. The eye is clouded over. No pulse either.”

  “What the hell’s going on?” The tech exclaimed in a startled tone. “This guy’s dead. He sure as hell shouldn’t be moving around making noises.”

  “Doc” moved his face closer to get a better look. His patient reached out and grabbed him by the head and pulled “Doc’s” face down to his mouth. The screams coming from “Doc” were muffled. Test subject 7 was biting his lips. “Doc” pulled away losing a good portion of his face in the process. Blood poured from what was left of “Doc’s” mouth onto the man below him. Test subject 7 chewed and swallowed. As he reached out to grab his victim again, shots rang out. Two of the guards had opened fire. The patient was hit numerous times in the torso. He responded by looking at the guards, reaching up, and pulling “Doc” down to bite off his nose.

  They opened fire again. The shots were not as well aimed this time. “Doc” was hit several times. It was obvious he was dead or going to die quickly since he was hit multiple times in the chest. Test subject 7, also hit multiple times, threw “Doc” off of him. He got to his feet and started towards the guards. They stood on the other side of the bars staring in disbelief. Test subject 7 stumbled into the bars of the cell as if they weren’t even there. This stopped his progress. He reached out to the guard nearest him and was shot in the forehead. Bone, blood, and grey matter blew out the back of his head. He finally went down.

  “What the fuck?” Shouted the guard that had shot him in the head.

  Screams came from all around them. Different versions of the same scenario were playing out all around them. All the test subjects that were just recently declared dead were on their feet. Cells with technicians in them were scenes
of bloody carnage. Where the test subjects were alone they strained at the bars trying to reach the guards.

  The guards went from cell to cell shooting and killing all the test subjects. Only one of the techs was left alive and he was in bad shape. All the fingers on his right hand were gone. A huge chunk of his left forearm was missing and he had multiple bites to his face. The tech was screaming nonstop and wouldn’t shut up.

  “You stop that goddamn racket. I can’t think with that shit going on.” When he didn’t stop, the guard shot him in the chest. “That will shut you up.”

  “George, you need to get on the horn to headquarters and let them know what happened here. The rest of us will secure this area. After that this whole facility needs to go on lockdown.”

  While they were busy discussing what steps needed to be taken to prepare to evacuate the area, no one noticed “Doc” stumbling out of the cell towards them.

  After not hearing from the lab for two days, a crew was sent to check on them. All they found was twenty dead test subjects, two dead and partially eaten techs, and one dead and fully eaten guard. The whereabouts of the other three techs and eight guards went unknown for two more days.

  Chapter 1

  Somebody was ringing the doorbell. It woke me up around 2:30 in the afternoon. This was way too early. I’d been up late that day working out at the gym. Since I’d gotten older, the only way to keep the aches and pains away was trying to stay in shape. I hated all the crap at the gym. To me it seemed like one big meat market. Was anyone there really to “work out” or was the gym just a place for people to socialize and pick out their date for Saturday night? How come the women dressed in skin-tight matching outfits while the men looked like they picked their clothes out of the dirty hamper that morning. Probably smelled like that too. Needless to say, my body needed the exercise so I went every chance I could get. I was a night manager at the local grocery store, Meyers, and the job was physically demanding.

  I was alone again. The woman I’d been dating the past few weeks had dumped me when she found out I had “misled” her about my age. Hey, it wasn’t my fault she thought I was ten years younger than I actually was. She thought I was 35 and I figured “what the hell,” the truth would come out eventually and she’d be okay with it. I was wrong. She told me I was a lair and I guess she was right. It’s just that it was kind of flattering that she thought I was that young. The bad part was I really liked her and thought we might have had a chance at a good relationship. Her name is Gina. She’s 30 years old and sexy as hell. Truth be told, I missed her and regretted not telling her the truth before she found out on her own. Don’t get me wrong. I didn’t need to be alone. Working at the grocery store has it’s perks. A lot of women come in at night to do their shopping and these days, they’re not shy about letting you know they might be interested in something extra. Being six foot and 2 inches tall with dark hair and a muscular build always got the ladies’ attention. But at this time in my life, I just really want to focus on trying to fix this thing with Gina.

  I got up, put some shorts on, and went to the door. When I looked out the peep hole, no one was there. It was just as well. Who wants visitors when they first wake up. I don’t. There was work to done so I decided that since I was already up, I might as well get started. It was supposed to rain the next few days and the gutters needed to be cleaned. I hadn’t cleaned them in about two years and every time it rained they overflowed. I went out to the garage and got the ladder out. I leaned it up against the house and went to get the hose. There was a package on the porch. I stopped and looked at the little brown box on the edge of the concrete step. The gutters had already waited this long. They’d have to wait a little longer. So that was the end of cleaning the gutters and about everything else that was normal in my life.

  The shipping address was from Washington D.C. It was probably from my son, Tim. Tim was a lieutenant in the army. He is a liaison officer to Major Stevens. They’re both under General Simmons who is some big shot at the Pentagon. Tim was 10 when his mother and I divorced and since she had remarried and moved away a year later, it had been hard to stay in touch with him. He had grown up a very serious young man and entered the military. It seemed like a good fit for him. We spoke sporadically and saw each other even less. Since I hadn’t seen Tim for a few years it seemed unusual to be getting a gift from him. It wasn’t Christmas and my birthday was 10 months away. I wondered what was up.

  I went in the house to open the package. Inside the box was a satellite phone with all the accessories. I didn’t know much about satellite phones but I could tell this was an expensive one. The instruction manual said it was a “Disaster Preparedness Kit”--a 9555 Iridian Satellite Phone. A disaster preparedness phone? I hadn’t heard of any disasters on the news lately. But then, this country seemed to always be on high alert, what with all our foreign enemies and such. We were always sticking our noses into other people’s businesses. I was curious what this was all about so I decided I was going to call Tim.

  I dialed his cell phone but all I got was a recording telling me Tim’s number was no longer in service. That’s when I decided to take the sat phone out and see if calling him with that would work. Following instructions was never my strong suit (just a waste of time) and electronic things were always a mystery to me so it took me awhile to get the phone set up. When I finally got everything ready, I’d pretty much figured out I wouldn’t be able to call Tim unless I had a number to call him at. Also, I’d read in the manual that I was going to need to buy minutes. I started looking for a number in the case the phone had come in. That’s when I found the envelope with the SD card in it and a note that said “Put this in your cell phone.”

  Chapter 2

  Of course, I had no idea how to make an SD card work on my cell phone. I didn’t even know where to plug it in. That’s when I had the bright idea of calling Gina to see if she could help me. Hey, any reason to talk to her was good enough for me.

  “Hey Gina, it’s Steve.”

  Click

  She’d hung up on me. However, she had caller ID so she had known it was me when I called and still picked up. I was encouraged. The next time I called it went straight to voicemail.

  “Look, I know you’re mad at me and don’t want to see me anymore but I need to ask for your help with something. My son sent me an SD card with a note saying to put this in my cell phone and I have no idea how that works. Would you please call me back? Thanks.”

  I went to the kitchen to get something to drink while I was waiting for her to call back. A half hour later my phone rang. It was Gina.

  “I have no idea how to do that.” She said.

  “Really?” I knew she was lying.

  “That’s right. Call your cell phone provider.”

  “Aw, come on. Can’t you just help me out here?” I wasn’t above a little begging.

  “Alright. Open the back of your phone and it should go in somewhere by your battery.” She said. “Is that all you need?”

  “Yeah, thanks. Hey, I was wondering…” Click

  Okay, well at least she’d talked to me. I took the phone apart and put the card in. From there it was fairly easy to get my phone to play the card. I’m not stupid. There are a multitude of things I can do that the average Joe can’t . I can use power tools to build all sorts of things. And I can even fix most things that are broken such as appliances, electrical gadgets, furniture, plumbing, etcetera. It’s just cell phones, computers, and things like that. I am limited in how to use them. I can make a phone call and surf the internet but that‘s about it. Anyway, I got the card in and played my message. The screen on my phone came on and it was my son talking to me.

  “Hey Dad. First of all, don’t try to call me. My phone’s been shut off. I over- nighted the sat phone to you so I’d be able to call you tonight. If your schedule is still the same, you should be off tonight. If not call, call in sick. This is important and it’s bad. I’ll call you at ten o’clock your time. If I can’t
call at ten, I’ll try again at midnight. Just leave the phone on. I’ll call when I can. Things are crazy here. Go on the internet and look for international incidents, riots, uprisings, things like that. The news on TV won’t tell you anything. Don’t bother with that. They’re not letting any of it through so the TV is useless. Don’t try to call me on the sat phone either. You can’t get through. Charge the batteries and wait. By the way, I bought you five hundred minutes. And Dad, don’t talk to anyone about this.”

  Chapter 3

  What the hell? Tim takes his job very seriously so I knew something was very wrong. The first thing I had to do was call in sick to work. I never missed work so this wouldn’t be a problem. At first the internet wasn’t much help. Most of the information on the websites about anything international had been shut down. There were a few things out of Egypt but they shut down after a few minutes. From what little I saw, people were running around chasing each other. There were groups of people scattering in all directions. They looked panicked. One guy looked like he was eating a lady. Wait. What? Bullshit! What did Tim think I was? A fool that would fall for this realistic looking mob scene from a B-rated movie?

  The longer I looked, the more I could see a pattern developing. These sites would come on line then after a few minutes they would shut down. It was like someone was watching for something to come online then shutting them down. One clip from Brazil lasted about five minutes. It was gruesome. There was a lady stumbling down the street with her intestines hanging out of her stomach. It looked like something straight out of a classic horror film. When a man tried to help her she attacked him. I could have sworn I just watched her rip his throat out with her teeth. I wonder how he thought he could have helped her. I would have ran my ass off in the opposite direction. The site disappeared, replaced with the message “You have been blocked due to national securities. Your username has been logged.” What the fuck? My username has been logged? What did that mean? Who was logging it? Where was it stored? Why? When I tried to go back, the entire computer shut down. I had to do a restart.