The Departed

by Chase McCown

  “Hey, Howard, can I ask you about something?”

  “Sure,” Howard said.

  “Do you ever feel like... Never mind, it’s stupid. Forget I said anything,” he said.

  “No, finish your sentence. Do I ever feel like what?” Howard asked.

  “Well, do you ever feel like we’re, I don’t know, small? Like we’re insignificant, even? Like nobody’s going to remember us, what we fought for, why we fought for it?”

  “Is this about that mission you guys took?” Howard asked.

  “Yeah, I guess so,” Jacob said.

  “Yeah, more than you know. Can I tell you a story?” Howard asked.

  “Sure,” Jacob said.

  “When I was eighteen, Uncle Sam called my number, and I flew off to serve my country in Vietnam. I didn’t ask why. Heck, I didn’t care. I had always wanted to travel, and even if it was to a war zone, to me, it was better than staying where I was. When I got there, though, it wasn’t what I expected. In my head, I had pictured an adrenaline-fueled action movie or something. And there were, in fact, those moments. The moments that hurt, though—the moments that were always the most real—were the quiet ones. The moments you had all to yourself. The moments when all you heard was quiet, and all you could do was count how many friends you’d lost. I wondered if it was worth it, and I beat myself up for not being able to save everyone,” Howard said.

  “What happened?” Jacob asked.

  “I nearly lost it. I just couldn’t handle all the loss, and I tried to internalize too much of it. Then they sent me to talk with the chaplain. I felt like I was being written off to see some quack, but when I got there, we just talked. It was something I hadn’t done too much of since we’d arrived in ’Nam. He finally said, ‘Son, if you die today, what’ll happen to you?’ I told him I didn’t know what would happen. He said, ‘Let me put it another way.’ He asked if I knew Jesus. I said I’d heard the stories in Sunday school. We all have. I told him I didn’t know what to think about them. He told me about Jesus and shared the story of the gospel with me, which I hadn’t heard before. Not really. I got on my knees and prayed, and I’ve never been the same man since, and I never wanted to be.”

  “So you felt better?” Jacob asked.

  “I felt at peace, I guess. I wasn’t worried anymore about what happened to me. I slept easier at night. Then, when I got out a few months later, I wanted to share the peace I had with other people.”

  “Thanks,” Jacob said. “Really.” He stood up and began to walk back to his room.

  “There’s a Bible in all the bedrooms, Jake. I think you should read it,” Howard said.

  Jacob nodded and walked into his room, closing the door behind him.

  Chapter 60

  January 29th, 2026. Washington DC, Capital of the New Union.

  Jacob pressed the button on the intercom but got no immediate reply.

  “Come on, I don’t have all day,” he moaned.

  Mike danced impatiently behind him. “I need to go to the bathroom,” he complained.

  “Well, if they’d ever ring us in—” Jacob said.

  “Yes?” the receptionist asked.

  “It’s Jacob and Mike. Can you let us in please?” he asked.

  “One moment please,” she said.

  “Finally,” Jacob said.

  A few seconds later, the door opened.

  “What can we do for you?” the woman asked.

  “We need to speak with the guy in charge here,” Jacob demanded.

  While they spoke, Mike walked past and headed down the hall to the restroom.

  “Ash— I mean, we can’t—”

  “Is he this way?” Jacob interrupted, heading to a staircase leading to the next floor.

  “No! I mean, you can’t see him now. He’s very busy!” she shouted, rushing to catch up to him.

  “I’m sure he is,” Jacob said sarcastically, “but he can make time for us. This is important.”

  As Jacob started up the stairs, the receptionist seemed to grow more and more frantic.

  “Really! You can’t go up there!” she said.

  Jacob came to a door with a simple piece of paper taped to it which read “Private meeting in progress. Do not disturb.”

  “I don’t have time for this,” Jacob said, knocking loudly on the door.

  The door opened slowly, and taking up its frame was a mountain of muscle, which responded with only two words.

  “Get lost.”

  The door slammed shut once more, and Jacob—seeing no further course of action that could be taken—found Mike and left the headquarters.

  “What’d their boss say?” Mike asked as they walked.

  “I never got to talk to him. It was the weirdest thing. The receptionist didn’t want me to talk to him, but I went up to where he was anyway. I knocked on the door, and this huge guy came to the door and told me to get lost. Then he slammed the door in my face. Why would a bunch of scientists need a bodyguard? And why didn’t the receptionist want me to go up there? I don’t know. It just doesn’t add up,” Jacob said.

  They arrived back at the apartment. Howard and Susan were not there.

  “They must be out training,” Mike said.

  Jacob nodded.

  “I wish I knew what to do. I don’t have a good feeling about the whole New Dawn situation.”

  “Come on, Mike. Let’s go for a walk,” Jacob said.

  Mike nodded and hopped up to follow Jacob. The two went out of the apartment complex to take a walk around DC.

  As they walked, Jacob was deep in thought. He couldn’t get the encounter out of his mind. What were they trying to hide? The more he thought about it, the more uncomfortable he felt about the whole situation.

  After about thirty minutes or so, Jacob decided to head back to the apartment. When he got there, Howard and Susan were still missing. They usually didn’t get home until a little later, though, so it was no cause for alarm.

  He decided to heat up some of his rations and sit down for lunch. While eating, he mulled over the many questions buzzing in his mind and looked for answers.

  Chapter 61

  January 29th, 2026. Washington DC, Capital of the New Union.

  As Jacob and Mike were putting away their dirty dishes from lunch, a knock came at the door.

  “Maybe Susan and Howard left their keys. I’ll get it,” Jacob offered.

  He opened the door but was greeted by a strange, thin man with a beak-like nose.

  “Jacob Hoffman, I presume?” the man squawked.

  “Yeah, that’s me. And you are?” Jacob asked.

  “My name is of no importance. I’m from the New Dawn research facility, and I’ve come to inform you and Michael that your services will no longer be required. Good day.”

  The man turned to walk away, but Jacob spoke up.

  “Wait, what do you mean our services won’t be required?”

  The man ignored him and continued walking down the street until he vanished into the distance.

  Jacob closed the door and turned to Mike.

  “Who was it?” Mike asked.

  “Some guy from New Dawn. Apparently, our services are no longer required.”

  “Wait, what?” Mike asked, sitting up.

  “They said they don’t need us anymore.” Jacob thought for a few moments, and then his eyes lit up. “I bet it has to do with what happened earlier. I saw too much, so they’re trying to get rid of me.”

  “You think so?” Mike asked.

  “Yeah, I do,” Jacob said.

  After a few hours, Howard and Susan returned.

  “You’ll never guess what happened,” Jacob said to them.

  “What do you mean? Aren’t you supposed to be working at New Dawn about now?” Howard asked.

  “Well, we would be, except they let us go,” Jacob said.

  “What? What happened?” Howard asked.

  “I went there to see their boss and give him a piece of my mind for that death trap
they led us into, but the receptionist didn’t want me to talk to him. I ignored her and found out where he was, but when I knocked on the door, a huge bodyguard answered and told me to get lost. Next thing I knew, they sent someone to tell us our services are no longer required,” Jacob explained.

  “You’re probably reading too much into this,” Susan said.

  “Oh come on, New Dawn has to be up to something,” Jacob said.

  “It’s worth looking into,” Howard agreed.

  “I still think you’re getting all worked up over nothing,” said Susan.

  “Well, we’ll know for sure soon enough,” Jacob said.

  Chapter 62

  January 29th, 2026. Washington DC, Capital of the New Union.

  “Okay, let’s go over the mission once more so we’re all clear,” Staff Sergeant Robert said. He had gone over these same details seemingly thousands of times, and the whole crew groaned at the prospect of another rundown.

  “Command wants this to go without a hitch, guys, so we can’t have any mistakes,” he reminded them.

  “Fine, let’s get it over with. I’m ready to eat,” a private named Sam said.

  “Okay, Bandit One is going to arrive via HALO drop to Jarvis Island. We have reason to believe this island may have been the source of the infection, so proceed with extreme caution. After landing, you will proceed here, where we have reason to believe the enemy holds their base of operations. Any forces are to be eliminated, and the base is to be secured for further research. You will then exfiltrate via helicopter at this LZ. Any questions?”

  “Yeah. What’s for lunch?” Sam asked.

  “Alright, we can go ahead and eat now. This mission is important, guys. We have to get it right. No mistakes,” Robert reiterated.

  “There won’t be any mistakes,” a private named Fred said.

  *

  The four soldiers carefully followed the sergeant until they arrived at a large fence topped with barbed wire. Robert crouched down outside the gate and spoke to the others.

  “Alright, you guys know the drill. Treat this like the real thing. If you see a target, call it in. Be smart, be safe, have each other’s backs. Let’s go.”

  The gate opened, and the four snuck in. The light from their night vision goggles helped them navigate in the moonless night, and the sandy beach silenced their steps. They reached the edge of the beach and paused, scanning their surroundings carefully.

  A clearing ahead was far too open for Robert’s liking, but a ravine to the far right might provide valuable cover for the squad. With a quick motion of his hand, the others knew exactly what he had in mind.

  As they crawled into the ravine, lights from a truck passed by overhead. Robert motioned for the others to get down.

  The truck stopped, and a man carrying a flashlight emerged from the driver’s side.

  “What’s up?” the passenger asked, emerging from the vehicle.

  “I don’t know. I thought I saw something,” the first man said.

  “Want to check it out?” asked the passenger.

  The light shone only a few inches from the squad before sweeping back and eventually clicking off.

  “Nah, it was probably nothing. Let’s keep going.”

  The two got back into the car, the engine started again, and they proceeded down the road on the way to the beach.

  “Let’s go.”

  *

  The squad proceeded across the ravine undetected, and soon their objective came into view.

  The lone building was protected by a small security detail, but the squad easily avoided their patrols, infiltrated the building, captured the intel they were after, and exfiltrated back to the beach.

  Eventually, they made it to the gate where the exercise had begun.

  After a short drive back to their barracks, the four were debriefed on how they did.

  “Good job, guys. I really think we accomplished what we wanted to here. I would have liked to have seen it done a bit faster, but I think we really did a good job, and our objective was completed with minimal difficulties. Get some rest, everyone, because next time it’s for real.”

  Chapter 63

  January 29th, 2026. Washington DC, Capital of the New Union.

  “Can you explain to me why we’re here again?” Mike groaned.

  “Because New Dawn’s up to no good. We’re spies, remember?” Jacob said.

  “Well, being a spy is boring. I want to be something else now,” Mike said.

  “Would you rather play a game?” Jacob asked.

  “I’d rather go home,” Mike pouted.

  “Oh, come on. Humor me,” Jacob said.

  “Fine.”

  “I spy something red,” Jacob said.

  “The soda machine?” Mike asked.

  “That one was too easy. Let me find a tougher one. I spy something orange.”

  “Hmm, the newspaper stand?”

  “You’re pretty good at this. Okay, one more. I spy something... white.”

  “White, white... Oh, that van?” Mike said, pointing to a white van like those used for construction.

  “Bingo.”

  The white van drove slowly up to the back door of the facility before idling to a stop.

  “Oh, here we go, Mike, here we go.”

  Two men got out of the van and walked around to the back of the van. Two scientists in white hazmat suits stepped out of the facility and greeted the two men, who pointed to the back of the truck. The door opened, and the first two men each grabbed one side of a stretcher that lay inside the van.

  The thing that emerged made Jacob’s and Mike’s stomachs turn. An infected was strapped to the stretcher, jerking and struggling frantically, frothing at the mouth.

  “Uhgn! A creep?” Jacob asked.

  Mike’s grew pale, and cold sweat fell in beads down his face.

  Jacob glanced in his rearview mirror and saw that his own face bore the same look. He gasped for air, realizing he had held his breath since he first saw the infected.

  “Why? I mean, is this why they let us go?”

  “Let’s get out of here, Jake. I don’t like this place,” Mike pleaded.

  “Yeah, okay.” Jacob put the car in drive and headed back to their apartment.

  They parked the car and headed in, both silent after what they’d witnessed.

  “What do we do?” Mike asked.

  “I don’t know. We don’t have any proof. Who’s going to believe us?” Jacob said.

  “But we have to tell someone. What if it gets loose? What if they’re planning to let it go or something?” Mike said.

  “Yeah, you’re right. We have to tell someone. How about this—we wait and tell Howard and Susan and see what they think.”

  “Good idea.”

  The two sat waiting for what seemed like days. After a few hours, the door opened, and Howard and Susan walked in.

  “Oh! Hey guys, what’s going on?” Susan asked, sensing something was wrong by the looks on Jacob’s and Mike’s faces.

  Mike and Jacob clamored over each other, both trying to speak at once and neither telling a coherent, intelligible story.

  “Whoa, whoa, hold on. One at a time. What happened?” Howard asked.

  Mike looked at Jacob, who sighed and then started again.

  “We were spying on New Dawn. Seeing what they were up to, you know?” Jacob said.

  “Yeah, and?” Howard asked.

  “Well, we saw this van pull up, and two guys stepped out. Then, two scientists came out of the New Dawn building in hazmat suits. They opened the back of the van, and you’ll never guess what they had in there.”

  “What?” Howard asked.

  “A creep. I almost threw up. They had it strapped to a stretcher,” Jacob said.

  “A creep? Are you sure?” Howard asked.

  “Of course I’m sure! You don’t forget what those things look like,” Jacob said.

  “Okay, okay. Did you tell anybody?” Howard asked.

&
nbsp; “No. We wanted to wait and tell you guys and see what you thought first.”

  “The President needs to know,” Howard said.

  “Yeah, I just hope he believes us,” Jacob said.

  Chapter 64

  January 30th, 2026. Washington DC, Capital of the New Union.

  “It’s time.”

  The air whistled past them as they stood, staring into the clouds. The pilot gave them a thumbs up, and they each, in turn, jumped from the plane.

  They landed softly among thick brush, but one squad mate named Jeff snagged his parachute in the branches of a nearby tree.

  “Need any help?” Robert asked.

  “I got it,” Jeff replied.

  He fell with a thud but recovered quickly without injury.

  “This way,” Robert said.

  The rest of the squad followed him for a few minutes until they cleared the thick brush. Then the group carefully progressed into an open area with the headquarters in sight. They quickly reached a rear entrance to the hulking building and looked over it for a way through.

  “The door’s unlocked but it must be barred from the other side. I can’t get it open,” Jeff said.

  “I guess picking the lock’s out of the question then,” Sam said.

  “I say we break it down,” Fred suggested.

  “Too loud,” said Robert.

  “With all due respect, we haven’t seen a single tango since we dropped. I say we go for broke and find out what’s going on here,” Fred said.

  Robert mulled that over a few moments before coming to a decision. “Alright, fair enough. Go ahead. We’ll cover you,” he said.

  The rest of the squad brought up their rifles and set up with some focusing on the doorway and the rest keeping watch behind Fred.

  Fred attempted to force the door open by ramming it with his shoulder, but the door didn’t budge. He gave it a hard kick, but it refused to open once again. Finally, he took out an explosive charge and mounted it to the door. Then he and the rest of the squad cleared the area around the door and prepared to detonate the explosives.

  “Three, two, one.”

  The explosives blew, and the door seemed to evaporate. The event was slightly less chaotic since they had used water-encased C-4, but it was still less controlled than the sergeant liked.