Rye glanced at Blaze, surprised at the mention of Lianna’s cousin, who was also in the military. They’d all been friends since high school. “I thought Miranda was deployed.”
“I already got ahold of her. She’s here. I also called Angela but couldn’t reach either of you to tell you to meet me here. Seems some of the towers are down.” Lianna sighed. “I’ve already got Mir running some manifests and accessioning them for me. Seems I’m down several lab assistants today, and I’m not sure any of them will be coming back any time soon. Can’t get hold of anyone anymore.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rye frowned. Her insinuations were no help. It appeared she knew more than she was admitting. Getting information out of her in bits and pieces was just confusing the crap out of him.
“I’m just saying…. Look. What’s happening must relate to these bodies. I have several hypotheses, but they need testing. That’s our mission here.”
“Are these bodies what you brought back from Antarctica?” Blaze asked. He ran a hand over her shoulder, giving it a tight squeeze. Lianna’s hard gaze softened, and it was then that Rye realized she looked exhausted and was probably working on little to no sleep. Dark circles rimmed her brown eyes, her ponytail appeared disheveled, and her clothes looked like she might’ve fell asleep in them at a desk.
Nothing was adding up.
“Yes. Well, the two on the right are the specimens from Antarctica. But the body on the left we acquired about six hours after we arrived here. That’s my lab partner from Antarctica, Paul Leiber.”
Blaze’s arms dropped, surprise slipping across his face. “Paul’s dead?”
He must’ve known her lab partner better than Rye had thought, because he could see his cousin pale.
“Yes. Unfortunately, he must’ve slipped on quarantine protocols, because he became infected with an unknown type of infection upon arrival here. He died five hours later.”
“Five hours? That’s a hell of a short incubation period.”
Lianna nodded, choking on her words as she continued. “Y—yes. Unfortunately, it happened so quickly, we barely contained the infection. We believe some others may have also been contaminated, but they left the base before we knew anything was wrong with Paul. There’s no way to tell who it was; there were five people who signed out of here last night, and none have returned, nor have we been able to get in contact with any of them.”
“Were their homes searched?”
She nodded. “Yes. It appears only one of them made it home. None of the others’ vehicles have been recovered. I’m afraid they all more than likely contracted the infection and met the same fate as Paul. It’s too late to contain it, so the city is now under quarantine.”
Blaze ran his hands through his hair, blowing out a breath.
“So you mean this is what is happening out there, and we’re stuck in Vegas?” Rye asked. Fear sprung into him as he thought about Angela. “I’ve got to get to my wife.”
“She’s already on her way here. I told you I got hold of her already.” Lianna drilled a cold stare into Rye. “I told her to get down here as soon as possible. I’m sorry I didn’t get ahold of you both sooner. I wasn’t sure that the infection had gotten out until just an hour ago. We had it contained… at least, we thought we did.”
She wiped her forehead. Despite the cold temperature of the lab, she was sweating profusely. Rye watched her reach for a bottle of water and slam it down as though she couldn’t get enough. She groaned as she scanned her desk for another bottle. The frustration of not finding one seemed to break her down even more as she threw the empty bottle down and muttered under her breath as she headed toward a fridge in the rear of the room.
“How did you confirm that they contracted something?” Rye called out to her. Lianna looked sick. He wondered if she might not be ill too. Could she have contracted the same contagion? He swallowed as she returned with another bottle, struggled to uncap it and downed it as quickly as the first one. Lianna’s lips quivered as she looked away and back through the glass in front of them.
“Remember how I said only one of our lab workers made it home? We know that because she was found dead in her bed this morning by her roommate. She called the lab before the phone lines went down. Luckily, she didn’t touch the body, but she’s in quarantine now too.”
“Jesus.” Rye slid down into an office chair. This wasn’t going to go well. “But you think it has spread anyway?”
She nodded. “There are already reports at the hospitals about people dying or losing control and trying to attack other people, like they are losing their minds or abilities to function. I’ve been closely monitoring reports since last night. This contagion seems to be affecting people in different ways… doing different things to them. And some show symptoms right away, other don’t. We’ve instilled quarantines on all the hospitals with any violent patients or DOAs, but there’s not much more we can do. More and more reports keep coming in. We’d hoped all this… activity… was just a coincidence, but there’s no denying it now.”
“It’s not on the news yet.”
“The government has suppressed the media with a gag order for now, but it’ll leak pretty soon.”
“It’s going to be full on apocalyptic out there when it does get out,” Blaze said. “And what does this body have that can help? Where did you find it?”
“There was shift in the ice after an earthquake hit the continent, and one of our scans found an awkward shape sticking out of a crevasse. When we investigated it, we found two frozen bodies, perfectly preserved beneath the ice. We cut them out of the ice and took them back to the lab.”
“Then you defrosted them,” Blaze said, sitting in the chair next to Rye.
She nodded, taking a seat at one of the computer terminals before leaning forward, her head in her hands. “God. That’s not the worst part.”
“What do you mean?” Rye asked, throwing her an exasperated look. Neither of them appeared to want to hear what she had to add to what she’d already told them. Any more tragedy would be too much. Plus, it seemed Blaze had not yet registered how pale Lianna looked.
“Once defrosted, one of them reanimated.”
The two men jumped to their feet, bursting into disbelieving chatter.
“No way.”
“Impossible.”
“I swear. The woman in the middle.” She pointed at the bodies in the freezer. “She sat straight up and then proceeded to get onto her feet. But she wasn’t normal. Not like you and me, anyway.”
“What was she like?”
“She acted like a wild animal, sniffing and jerking her head around the room as if looking for a source of food. She looked hungry. Luckily, none of us were in there when she awoke, or she’d have taken a bite right out of us.”
“She was aggressive?”
Lianna nodded. “Yes, and she had unnaturally long canines. Her irises were a dark red color.”
“Wait… like a vampire?”
“Not like a vampire. She was vampire.”
The two men looked at each other, processing the information.
“Is she dead now?”
“Yes.”
“How did you kill her?”
“She… we wanted to see how she would respond to another human. She lunged for—” Lianna swallowed and looked away from them. “She lunged for one of my coworkers, Brian, and attempted to bite him. He struggled with her and took her to the ground, but she was far more powerful than either of us… superhumanly strong. I shot her in the chest, but that had no effect. So I had to put an ice pick through her eye socket. I figured that killing the brain would do it.”
“And your coworker? Brian?”
“He was okay.”
“This is crazy. What can we do to make things better? You didn’t get contaminated, did you?” Right as Blaze asked, the building shook. The walls rattled and things began dropping off the shelves. Glass vials and beakers tumbled and shattered across the cement floor.
“What’s going on outside?” Lianna asked, interrupting their reunion.
“Turn on the television.” Miranda said to Blaze, who was standing by it. “And someone grab a radio. We need to see what the chatter is about that explosion.”
They scrounged through the lab, a few other laboratory workers joining them. The TV signal kept cutting out, but the snippets they did get showed that the chaos was worsening. Several buildings were on fire, looters were everywhere, and people were running aimlessly through the streets. Cars packed the I-15 and US-95 highways leading out of town, unaware that the military has closed the roads because of the quarantine. People were honking and yelling. Was it terrorists? Protest groups? The television news couldn’t pinpoint anything specific, but the radio was another story.
“Vampires! The public is instructed to stay indoors or pack up and head out of town as soon as possible. The most activity has been seen during the night hours near the northeast part of town and downtown. People are randomly dropping dead or turning on each other and biting flesh. We urge everyone who has not been out in public to barricade yourselves inside your homes as the police and healthcare workers figure out what is affecting people this way. The city is now under strict quarantine, martial law is in affect with a strict six pm curfew. Anyone out past seven pm will be arrested or shot on sight. Please refrain from leaving your homes at this time.”
“What the hell is going on?” Rye asked. He closed his eyes, rubbing his face from the fatigue. No one was sleeping tonight. He doubted anyone would be getting any rest for days, with everything that was going on.
“Maybe it’s the Rapture.” Miranda mumbled. “You know. Like in the Bible? The end is here.”
“Come on, Mir, that’s crazy talk.” Blaze’s frown deepened as he crossed his arms.
She shrugged and went back to looking on the internet for any info. Apparently, the rest of the world was also in the dark about what was happening. Rye had no doubt that social media sites were being scrubbed for any mention of what was going on in Vegas. Maybe they were part of an experiment gone awry.
And if this was ground zero for some new plague? What would they do?
“So how close are we to finding out more about this infection?” Rye asked. “You have samples, right? Are you working on an antidote?” He peered through the glass at the bodies again. They were another reason no one would be sleeping much; those creatures were sharing the same space as them. Luckily, it was a negative pressure room on a different ventilation system, but still. Any little crack in the building’s structure, and boom, the quarantine would be compromised. The shaking was concerning.
“Brian, the hematologist, is examining the blood samples now,” Miranda said. “I suggest we all get our blood drawn and looked at. Maybe something will stand out that could be of help.”
That was one thing everyone could agree on, so they lined up and waited as Lianna went down the line and drew everyone’s blood then took the samples down the hall to Brian’s lab. It was slow going, and they all agreed to stay in the laboratory area until further notice from the police or military. So far, nothing. Even the emergency channels had been left static, without instruction to anyone about anything.
“I need to get out of here.” Rye jumped to his feet. “We can’t remain here forever.”
Angela reached out, placing a hand on his arm. “We can’t leave. You know that. It’s too dangerous. I had the hardest time getting here as it was. Too many people on the streets. Too many chances to catch this bug.”
“I know, but we can’t just sit here like cowards. We need to help the emergency crews out there. Plus, is anyone even noticing that we’re not at work? What if they mark us AWOL? We need to at least report in.”
They looked around at one another, taking his words into consideration.
Blaze stood up and nodded. “You’re right. We do need to find our commander and at least check in. They’d have protocols for this kind of situation. If we just sit here, how will we be helping? Who’s going to come?”
“Can’t you just try to call?” Lianna asked, suddenly looking desperate. “If we tell them what’s happened down here, we may get thrown out and be sidelined while others take away our research. I won’t let that happen. This is my project, and if it spread because of me, then so be it. It’s my fault. I’ll take the fall, but I’m not handing this over to strangers who know nothing about what we do.”
“I’m not saying that, Lianna. We just need to get our bearings.”
“What if there’s no one at command?” asked Angela, who’d gone over to listen to the radio. She kept turning the knob, leaning in to listen through her headphones. “You guys, it’s really bad out there now. We’re lucky we’re down here, trust me.”
“What’s happening now?” Blaze asked.
“Well, it’s a lot more active now that it’s nighttime. One channel says they’re barricaded at the radio station because they can’t leave. There’s violence in the street surrounding them, and they’re afraid to go out. People acting crazy, like flesh eating zombies or vampires, whatever you want to call them. Straight out of a horror movie.”
Blaze shook his head. “This sounds crazy. You sure it’s not some radio station prank?”
“They sound pretty serious. I hear people crying in the background. Everyone’s petrified.” Angela looked up from the radio, tears floating in her eyes. “This isn’t looking good, guys. I think… I think this is it for all of us.”
“Don’t say that,” Blaze snapped. “I’m getting on the phone with command, and we’ll go from there. What we don’t need are people who give up so easily. What sort of an airman are you?”
Angela frowned and looked away. “I’m not an airman.”
“She’s a civilian,” Rye muttered, already tired of the situation. Bickering would get them nowhere and would only add to their problems. “Let’s find out what command wants. Enough speculating.”
They eyed him in silence. Blaze entered a side office to make the call. After several minutes, he returned with a tight frown pasted on his face.
“I called command. They cannot save anyone who hasn’t made it to any of the bunkers. We’re on our own. They’ve started to pull away from the city streets; it’s just too dangerous. It’s going to turn into a complete chaotic mess out there now. Especially now that it’s night. They confirmed zombies or vampire creatures roaming the streets. And they confirmed that whatever they have is contagious; hundreds died from the infection before they even knew what was going on. Others turn into these crazed monsters, which is worse than I thought. Once they turn, they are lost. I thought maybe we could save them with some antidote we extract from these bodies, but if people are dying….”
“No cure will help that,” Lianna confirmed. She sighed and walked over toward the glass overlooking the frozen bodies. “It’s all my fault. I let this happen. These bodies were buried in ice centuries ago for a reason, and I disturbed the site all too willingly and unknowingly unleashed this apocalypse on us.”
Blaze was at her side immediately, slipping his hands over her shoulders and giving her a gentle squeeze. “It’s not your fault.”
“How can you say it’s not?” Lianna brushed him off and began pacing the floor. “I should have known. There shouldn’t have been any people in Antarctica hundreds of years ago! Those things were lost to history for a reason. Stupid!” The others watched her agitation with interest. What she said was true, but none of them were willing to point it out. They only wanted the nightmare to stop.
“Are we in danger here?” Brian asked, appearing in the doorway. “If people are dying out there, we’re at risk of dying in here no matter how well protected we are. It’s airborne. It won’t matter much that we’re down here if those bodies
have already been in contact with us all.”
“I thought they were quarantined in there,” Rye said. He was on his feet, eyes bewildered. “You’re trying to say it’s not a complete separation?”
“The bodies are safely quarantined now, yes,” Lianna said. “It’s the ones who were exposed and have shown no symptoms yet that worry me.” She glanced at Brian, her eyes red from exhaustion or something else. She looked worse with every moment that passed.
The group erupted into an argumentative chatter. How could no one have mentioned they were probably already exposed? Why hadn’t they been warned when they’d entered? It was absurd and endangered them all.
“You don’t look so good, Lianna. Are you sure you’re not already sick?” Rye asked.
“Stop that.” Blaze glared at him. “We’re not going there. We need to get out of here and find a more suitable place to weather this. There are no provisions here, and any bunkers on base will already be packed.”
Rye threw his hands up, exasperated. “Well, I’m out of here.” He groaned and grabbed his jacket. At the door to the lab, he turned to look at Angela. “You coming?”
She nodded, biting her lower lip before hopping to her feet and grabbing her purse. She followed slowly behind Rye, avoiding everyone’s glares.
“Wait, Rye,” Blaze said. “We shouldn’t separate. It’s not a good idea.”
“Well, I’m not staying here if half the group’s contaminated.” He eyed Lianna.
Blaze stepped between them and shook his head. “We stay together. We find a cure. In the meantime, I think I know where a suitable bunker is that has all we need, including a lab.” He turned to Lianna. “Grab what you need, and the specimens too. We’re leaving.”
CHAPTER 8
Piling into Blaze’s and Angela’s cars, the group peeled out of the parking lot. It had taken them about two hours to gather enough supplies from the lab to take with them to the satellite bunker Blaze knew about. It was beneath the airport, and he’d worked to set it up several years back. It had been designed to remain closed and act as an emergency bunker for VIPs only if needed.
The Aching Darkness_A Dark Fantasy Anthology Page 11