Steven Bennett re-gained his composure and took a breath before continuing.
“We thought we were safe, in that the effects of the serum could not be transferred as blood born pathogen. We learned too late, that life finds a way…”
Col. Bennett looked down at his hands again and gave only the slightest of smiles. As Nicole watched him, she too smiled forlornly, as both she and her father said “Jurassic Park” together.
“We had isolated the chemicals and enhanced them without realizing that what we were dealing with was… alive. Denied the ability to propagate, it found a way. It bonded with the simple bacteria found on human teeth in such a way that any bite that penetrated the skin also passed on the pathogen. As it germinated in a human host, it became highly aggressive. As was demonstrated in the lab, and later… in the world, what we had created was a highly aggressive subject that would reanimate in the face of death, had extreme unit integrity and a single minded purpose to become one with others that it tried to fulfill by… eating them… It’s why we seldom saw subjects moving alone. They almost always formed up in packs, moved in herds…”
Steven Bennett paused and took a deep breath before continuing.
“The serum was created from chemicals found in the brain, and that is where it resided, spreading itself throughout the body and replenishing itself when supplies diminished through blood loss. This is why only a head shot could put them down. There were protocols in place, of course, that if followed would have ensured that the events that have now become so obvious, would have never been allowed to happen. Francis Delroney ignored those protocols… and ultimately damned us all quite literally to Hell… Human Extinction Level Loss. We were able to apprehend him before he escaped Colorado, but he made it as far as actually boarding a civilian aircraft. In our hope that the project could continue, we naively assumed the… breach had been contained. A short time later, we realized how wrong we were. Perhaps beginning to exhibit the effects of the serum, Francis Delroney spread the pathogen to his girlfriend. In any war, you draw your battle lines. Those battle lines, after the breach, were drawn at the Colorado state lines. What was not generally known across the rest of the country was increasingly evident here in Colorado. We tried to contain the flow of information, first with a media blackout, and of course later with total communication blackout to include cell tower and internet. As what we had created here wreaked havoc on Colorado, we knew the threat would flood to other states as a result of human travel and interaction. More drastic measures were taken when panic in the citizenry caused them to flee. With all air traffic grounded, civilians took to the highways. In a last ditch effort to isolate H.E.L.L to Colorado, the most extreme measures were deployed and the order was given to conduct bombing runs on outbound traffic. The United States government authorized total destructive force against its own citizens. This is what we had come to…”
Steven Bennett paused and again looked down. He looked up again and attempted to straighten his ruined uniform.
“As events across the country unfolded, solidarity here within the base collapsed. In the face of that collapse, we became overrun and the facility was lost. Perhaps it is fitting that it should be so. Why should we survive when what we attempted to do here so devastated the rest of the country… and the world.”
Steven Bennett looked down and paused for so long, Nicole thought the video was over. Finally, Col. Steven Bennett raised his head a final time and addressed the camera.
“My last words are reserved for my daughter, Nicole…”
Nicole leaned forward, her eyes large but still focused on her father. She placed her hands on both sides of the laptop as if to hold it there out of fear of it going away.
“Nicole, no words can express the sorrow and regret that have become my legacy. My failure of you, in my mind is proportionate to our failures here within this mountain. My whole life I pursued my career and the national interest over that of a loving wife and daughter. When she could take it no more, your mother took you and left, but even that did not deter me from my wanton pride and neglect. When I knew what had been unleashed, I tried to get you to listen to me and… come to me, but I had lost that right a long time ago. I have no way of knowing your fate. I do not deserve the comfort that comes with knowing that you may yet survive and will make it here. The base is on lockdown and while threats still exist, it is my hope and prayer that some of what I have imparted to you will prove helpful in your survival. If you have survived to make it here, then you have been tested in the crucible of battle. Despite the loss of this facility, it still remains your best hope. When those of us as yet unaffected retreated deeper inside, I allowed certain protocols to lapse, namely the securing of the front blast door and one of the supply lift elevators, in the hopes that when you got here, you could gain access. The outer door to this command center is on automatic lockdown. If you are watching this, then you found a way around that. You’re a smart girl. Perhaps in your journey you have gathered others and they can help you… reestablish control here and that will… Nicole, I am truly sorry for all that has happened. I want you to know, that my last thoughts will be of you. Take what little I have given you and survive. Had I accepted what you tried your whole life to give me, you wouldn’t have to…”
Tears streamed down her face as she watched her father reach over and turn off the camera. The screen went dark and Nicole wept.
Fifty-Two
Hours later, Nicole still sat in her father’s chair staring off into space. A gentle tapping brought her around and she turned to look at the door. She watched as it eased open and Sam poked his head in.
“Can we come in?” he asked.
When he received no response in the negative, Sam eased the door open further and entered. Behind him were Paul, Jordan, Billy, Walt, with Ruby leaning on Walt’s shoulder. They gathered in front of Nicole. Nicole did not look at them directly. She kept her eyes down, her hands in her lap.
“I just thought I would come check on you… Nickel…” he said.
Nicole looked up at Sam at his use of her nickname.
“You said once, that your friends called you Nickel. I never really thought to, cause… but I am your friend, Nicole. I wanted to come up here and tell you how grateful I am for what you did for me… in the hopes that might… help you.”
Nicole did not look at Sam. Sam took a breath and continued.
“When you found me in that store, I was really in a bad place. I had lost everyone who was important to me, lost them in a way nobody should have to lose someone… If it wasn’t for you coming along and getting me out of there, helping me the way you did, I would have died there… I never would have gotten better, Nickel. You saved me and I just wanted you to know, before you slip off to the place I was, that I owe you my life and I’ll spend the rest of it paying you back for it.”
Nicole still did not look at Sam, but a fresh tear rolled down her cheek.
“The others have some things they want to tell you, too,” Sam said as he stepped to the side.
Paul and Jordan took a step forward. “Nicole, when you came along I was real mad that you had messed up the good thing I had for me and my daughter.” Paul said.
“Dad!” Jordan scolded. Paul ignored her and pressed on.
“The truth be told? You were our salvation. We couldn’t have made it forever in that stadium. I was in denial about that. Our food would have run out. Those Walkers would have eventually figured out where we were and we would have either died quick or died slow, but we would have died. You got us out of there and on the road to something better. I’m with Sam. You saved our lives and that’s a debt we can never repay. For me. For my daughter… thank you.”
Jordan looked up at her father and beamed. She and Paul moved off to the side.
Billy approached, staring at his feet. Finally he looked at Nicole. Nicole continued to stare off to the side.
“You didn’t want to take me with you when we first met, Miss Nicole. I ha
d sneaked aboard Walt’s bus and took things I shouldn’t have. I know I slowed you down and kept you from where you wanted to go for awhile. When I came off that bus, that man was waiting for me in those woods. I saw him and he saw me. If you hadn’t taken me with you, even when you didn’t want to, he would have gotten me for sure. He would have killed me, Miss Nicole. He would have killed me for sure. I never had many friends or even people that wanted me around, not even my parents. Now I got a bunch of new friends, and even a girlfriend… the best girlfriend any boy could ever hope to have… a girlfriend you helped me save when… I owe all that to you, Miss Nicole, so don’t feel sad, okay?”
Billy shuffled his feet and with his head down, took a place next to Jordan. Jordan wiped her eyes and she rested her head on Billy’s shoulder.
Ruby took her hand off Walt’s shoulder and stood straight up. She fixed a stare on Nicole.
“Nicole Bennett, you look at me now,” she said.
Nicole brought her eyes slowly up to Ruby’s.
“I am just an old country woman, who has seen a lot of days, good and bad. Up until you came along with your friends, I thought I had seen the baddest days I was ever gonna see and I decided I wasn’t gonna see no more. I cleared my land of those things with my harvester so they wouldn’t go to eating on me when I finished doing what I had set my mind to do. I finished making those brownies cause they made the place smell like home, then I sat down on that porch and was gonna do a foolish thing. I was gonna take that old police special, stick it in my mouth and blow my damn head clean off. Yes I was.”
Emotion threatened to overtake Ruby, but she set her jaw and continued.
“About the time I had worked up the nerve to do it, who comes up my dirt road but you and these others, and all of a sudden I didn’t want to kill myself no more. When you invited me to come with you, I said I had to think about it, but that was a lie. I just figured I needed to spend the night thanking the good Lord for being so much wiser than me. These others say you saved their lives, well you saved mine too. I don’t know how many days I got left, sweetheart, but I’ll spend them helping you in any way I can for the way you helped me.”
Ruby nodded at the others, then went back and leaned on Walt.
Walt looked at all the others then at Nicole.
“I wasn’t gonna kill myself or nothing, man… but that doesn’t mean I ain’t grateful for you coming along. I drove a bus, man. I like driving a bus cause a bus is for people, to go places they want to go… places they need to go. Busses take you on a journey, you know. And… we’re all on a journey, man. But it’s a journey we weren’t meant to take alone. I was on my journey alone for awhile and it was a bummer. You and Sam came along and it wasn’t a bummer anymore. It was awesome!”
Walt got excited and broke out into a big smile. Nicole stared at him and laughed in spite of her tears. The others laughed and looked at Walt. Ruby rubbed Walt’s arm and smiled at him.
Nicole looked down at her lap and fidgeted with her hands. Sam stepped up again.
“We just wanted to tell you that, Nicole. When you’re ready, we’ll be downstairs, to do whatever you want to do,” Sam said.
They all filed out of the room and left Nicole alone.
Fifty-Three
Fifteen minutes later, Nicole emerged from the office and slowly made her way down the stairs. The others stood waiting. She came up and stood before them. She wiped her eyes and tried to gather herself together. Nobody said anything, content to wait for Nicole, knowing she would speak when she was ready. Finally, she looked up at them and gave a weak smile. Taking a deep breath, she began to speak.
“My dad and I never got along… Seems like at times we weren’t even related, you know?”
The question hung in the air, unanswered, the others giving her the space to get her words out.
“There’s a lot me and my dad didn’t understand about each other, and after awhile, I guess, that was reason enough to not even try.”
Hot tears filled Nicole’s eyes and she quickly wiped them away. Ruby pulled a fresh tissue from the sleeve of her dress and tapped Sam on the hand, giving it to him. Sam handed Nicole the tissue. Nicole smiled through the tears, and with the tissue, dabbed her eyes before continuing.
“Just before all… this happened, he called me, wanted me to come out here. He knew what was about to happen, and… he thought of me. When he called… we argued. The last words I spoke to my father were in anger. Even when I had no other choice but to come, all I could think was how it was just going to be a big drama, him being right… me being wrong. I thought, maybe I should become more like him, when I got here, he would see that and… But the whole time I was trying to understand him, finally try to be like him, he was maybe starting to understand me a little, too.”
Nicole wiped her nose with the tissue and looked around at the group.
“My dad was a good man, he would’ve welcomed me and… would’ve welcomed you all too. He’s gone now, but knowing that… is enough.”
Nicole looked up at the group; she let out a deep breath and smiled. The group gathered in closer to her, their actions reflecting their hearts going out to her.
“What a long strange trip it’s been, huh?” she said.
Walt laughed. “You got that right, man!” he said.
Nicole and the others laughed together, then grew silent waiting for Nicole to finish.
“We made it this far together. We are all in this together… This is an empty place now, but it can be a good place. I want to make it a good place… and I would like… I hope you guys will stay.”
Nicole looked down, her words again hanging in the air. The others all looked at each other, unsure of who should speak first. Finally, all eyes set on Ruby. She nodded, accepting the unspoken request. She folded her hands in her lap and looked at Nicole. Sensing her, Nicole looked at Ruby.
“Whatever we do next, we should decide it together,” Ruby said.
Nicole looked from Ruby to the others. They echoed her sentiment with nods, and Nicole received them with fresh tears and a smile.
“Well… I guess the only thing to figure out is, what IS next?” Nicole said.
Everyone looked at each other, then Sam spoke up.
“Well… while we were waiting, Walt found something interesting. Walt, you want to show her?”
“Yeah, man. It’s over here,” he said.
Walt trotted over to the end of the closest row of terminals and pointed at a large red button. The others gathered around and looked at it.
“What is it?” Nicole asked.
Walt ran his fingers through his hair.
“Oh, man. That’s the off button of all off buttons. That turns off the internet, man,” Walt said.
Nicole leaned over and looked at the button. Underneath were the words “Internet Shutdown”. The button was about four inches in diameter and was covered by a square clear plastic box on a hinge. Next to it was a similar button under a similar box. Under it were the words, “Telecommunications/Television Shutdown”.
“I always knew the government had a button like this, man,” Walt said.
“What does it do?” Nicole asked.
Walt acted surprised. “Dude! It shuts the whole Web down. It’s why there ain’t no World Wide Web up right now. Big Brother cut it off, man!”
Paul looked at Nicole.
“What Walt is trying to say is, we think that if they hit these buttons once to cut off all communication… hitting them again should start them up.”
Nicole looked at the others. Then back at the buttons.
“What the hell, right? It’s worth a try,” she said.
Nicole reached out, and with both hands flipped up the covers on both buttons.
“Walt, you want to do the honors? Be the one to kick Big Brother off the line?”
Walt beamed. “Hell yeah, I do!” he said, then with both thumbs pressed down on the buttons.
There was an audible hum from deep inside the base
, then a female computer voice began to announce.
“Worldwide Web and telecommunications re-established.”
The voice repeated, as every terminal in the room began to beep, as high speed servers synced back up. All the screens sprang to life with connectivity messages. Along the line of terminals, cell phones left in chargers, and wireless devices sprang to life as they too re-connected.
“Hello, World,” Paul said as he watched the huge screen on the wall at the other end of the room lose its map of the infected, a browser window taking its place.
Nicole's Odyssey (Human Extinction Level Loss Book 1) Page 26