I noticed one of the soldiers pulling a radio from a clip on his belt. He said something to the others, and then he left the gym, walking in the direction of the stairs leading to the locker rooms.
“What do you think that’s about?” Jordan asked.
“When you gotta go, you gotta go,” Matt surmised.
“No, I don’t think that’s it,” I commented. “He just got here, so he can’t know what’s downstairs. It looked like he plans on trying to use the radio, maybe to get more information.”
“Yeah,” Jordan agreed. “Information they don’t want the rest of us to hear.”
Harley’s eyes primed with tears that appeared ready to spill over her lashes at any moment. “Something horrible is happening. We’re all gonna die here.”
I reached for her shoulders and turned her toward me. I could feel her muscles quaking with fear. “No. Harley. We’re not going to die. Look, we made it this far. It’s going to be okay.”
“That’s right,” Jordan said. “The worst part has to have passed. They probably just set off the sirens to get everyone off the streets before nightfall.”
Things are never so bad that they can’t get worse.
The words again came to my consciousness, unbidden. They were an unwanted intrusion amid the calm I was trying to nail over my fragile psyche before the metaphorical hurricane that I feared would come barreling down on us.
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Harley cried, interrupting my thoughts. “Either we’re safe, or we’re not. Why won’t they tell us what’s going on?”
“Actually, it does make sense,” Matt said. “It might be a curfew. Sometimes they make people get off the streets to discourage looting and prevent other crimes.”
Harley looked hopeful.
I nodded in agreement with Matt. “Exactly,” I said. “This is probably a safety measure.” I felt Harley’s muscles give a slight release of tension under my hands. I pulled her into a hug. “As long as we’re together, we can look out for each other. It’s going to be okay. We just have to get through this.”
As I let her go, I wasn’t certain how much I believed what I’d just said. In truth, my fears ran wild behind my words. All we knew for certain is that unknown chemical weapons had been released and that people, perhaps many, were almost certainly dead as a result.
Matt nudged me. “Heard anything from your mother?” he asked.
I shook my head. “And I have no way of getting information about Derek,” I added.
“Maybe you should try calling the junior high,” he suggested. The thought hadn’t occurred to me, but I had no confidence that it would be helpful. “Do you think they’ll be answering their phone in the office?” I asked.
“You won’t know until you try,” he said.
It was a logical answer, so like Matt, who saw the world as orderly and logical. I stepped aside and searched for the junior high school number in my contacts. I clicked it to initiate a call and allowed it to ring several times before the call timed out. “No answer,” I told him.
Matt nodded and then cast is gaze to the floor.
Mr. Woods and the individuals who’d gone with him to activate the ESIP system returned to the gym. “Everyone, listen please.” He shouted toward a group that had wandered across the courts to sit on the bleachers. “You over there, gather around. I have instructions.” As the mass of people moved closer, Mr. Woods scanned the room, silently mouthing as if he were counting them out. He looked at the three soldiers. “Where’s the other man from your team?” he asked.
“He is establishing communications,” one of them answered and pointed toward the stairs to the locker room.
A suspicious expression darkened Mr. Woods’s face. “Downstairs in the locker room?”
“Yes, standard protocol,” the soldier answered. “We have to maintain secure communication until ordered otherwise.”
“Of course,” Mr. Woods said.
I noticed the dead stare in the soldier’s slack jaw. Under other circumstances, he might have appeared bored. Now, the effect was chilling.
“I’ll bet that soldier won’t get a signal downstairs,” Harley said. Phones don’t pick up well under the gym.”
“Amplitude modulation,” Matt offered as if that explained it all.
“Dude,” speak English,” Jordan admonished him with a light punch on the arm.
“AM radio waves travel along the ground and can be used for communication, even in low-lying areas. How do you think they communicate in trenches and foxholes?” he asked.
“I don’t think we think about how they communicate in trenches, or foxholes, or anywhere else,” I informed him.
Mr. Woods turned back to the group. “The building is now secure, and the ESIP system is operational. Again, and I cannot emphasize this enough, no one is to open any door or window while the system is engaged. I will give the all clear when it is safe to do so.”
Sounds of feet coming up the stairs announced the return of the soldier who’d been using his radio in the locker room. He walked to the others and exchanged comments with them before turning to face the small crowd.
“Attention, everyone. I need your full attention. I am Corporal Ronald Greer of the Army National Guard.” He gestured toward the other three soldiers. “Privates First Class Angela Jackson, DeMarcus Cole, and Vince Marrs. I have been directed to assume command of this shelter. My team and I will, of course, work in cooperation with local officials and officer--?” His voice trailed off as he looked toward the school security officer.”
“Woods,” the officer said. “Phillip Woods.”
Corporal Greer nodded in acknowledgment. “This afternoon at 1400 hours, a public lockdown order was re-issued across the region. Army chemical specialists have detected potentially dangerous levels of residual airborne substances drifting in the direction of the city.” The Corporal began to pace. He gazed intently at the crowd and appeared to focus for a moment on each individual as he continued. “There have been no additional explosions, but the plume is still considered a threat at this time. Operations to neutralize the chemicals are underway, and it is anticipated we will need to shelter for an additional twenty-four hours.”
I watched people’s reactions as the corporal spoke. Some seemed resigned to it, and others were visibly upset. Angry voices criticized how the emergency was being handled. I heard a woman crying and saying she had to get to her children.
“What’s going on out there?” a woman asked. “When can we get information on our families?”
“Right! And how can we trust what you’re saying? We were supposed to be out of here already,” a man retorted in an angry voice. Murmurs of agreement circulated through the group.
“The military is focused on one thing right now, and that is public welfare,” Corporal Greer continued. “We understand your concerns, but your cooperation is essential. You must remain calm as we determine the next steps for the coming twenty-four hours. For now, you’re free to make yourselves comfortable, but for your own safety, you must remain in the gymnasium until you receive additional instructions.”
“I know you’re not telling us everything!” a woman near the front of the crowd accused. “If you don’t tell us what’s going on, you’re putting us all at risk.” Greer stared at the woman for a long moment as angry voices wafted from the group. “That’s right,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going on out there, but I do know that we’re not being given the truth. Obviously, something is going on that you all,” she pointed at the soldiers, “you all don’t have a handle on.”
“Yeah,” a man agreed. “Those people who left the building before us; are they going to die out there? Come on, man. We have to know what’s going down!”
People in the crowd began pushing and shoving forward, yelling at Greer.
“Okay! Calm down. Everyone, calm down!” the corporal yelled. “I’ll give you more information, but you must calm down first.” He waited as the crowd fell silent, and people stopped sh
oving. “Just before the sirens sounded, we received notification from the emergency broadcast system that a mutated viral element is spreading through the population. We do not know at this time how this occurred. The virus was engineered by BioGenetics contractors.”
Greer rattled off a string of scientific terms I couldn’t understand. I glanced at Matt, and he answered my questioning look with a shrug. The immediate impact of the viral agent is unknown, but it does appear to be airborne. We believe it will pass through with the second residual cloud.”
The corporal regarded us with an intense stare. “As I’m sure you have already been instructed, it is vital that you continue practicing good hygiene. Wash your hands, avoid contact with blood, saliva, and other body fluids of other individuals.”
“Don’t you mean of infected individuals?” a woman asked. Her face was lined with worry as she stood holding a toddler whose nose was running.
“As I said, it is recommended you avoid contact with any other person’s bodily fluids.”
The woman’s face turned a sickly, sallow gray. She pulled the toddler’s face close to her chest and moved away from the crowd, her worried expression turning to one of fear.
“At this time,” Greer continued, “we are awaiting further instructions. For now, you are to cooperate as we continue lockdown of this facility. I will now return the normal operations to Mr. Woods.”
Throughout the day, the military personnel and Mr. Woods asked for volunteers to assist with the same tasks we performed yesterday like preparing meals, putting out mats, and performing cleanup duties. Most people seemed to settle into the same routines from the day before, but a heightened tension was palpable in the air. Like everyone else, I just wanted to be allowed to leave and to find my mom and brother, and an increasing sense of desperation threatened to take me over. My nerves were worn, and from the increasingly irritable tones of voice around me, I knew I wasn’t the only one feeling this way. Intermittent arguments erupted throughout the day. Two men broke into a fist fight, but no one seemed to know what started it. The soldiers separated the men and made them move to opposite corners of the gym.
After the evening meal, Matt, Jordan, Harley and I set up our ersatz camp in one corner of the gym. Like everyone else, we’d begun to bicker amongst ourselves, and our tempers boiled just beneath the surface of our polite conversations and mindless activities. We decided to turn in early. I hoped I would somehow be able to sleep and just pass this time to get to the future, whatever it held. It couldn’t be worse than what we were going through. I hoped for once my dad’s pessimistic philosophy would be wrong.
Chapter 4
I drifted in and out of sleep throughout the night. At one point, I woke up feeling the need to go to the bathroom. I sat up, and my stomach lurched as I noticed the building was shrouded in darkness. The exit signs that were typically illuminated over the doorways were now dark.
I checked my phone, and the time was 3:00 am, and the ‘no service’ indicator was still on. I clicked on the flashlight app and cupped my hand over the beam to soften its glow and avoid waking others. I moved to where Matt was sleeping and tapped his back until he woke.
He jerked with a startle reflex. “What is it?” he asked.
“Shhh, be quiet, Matt. It’s Casey. Keep your voice down, so we don’t wake anyone else,” I whispered. “I think the electricity is off.”
Even in the shadows, I could see creases of concern etching Matt’s brow. He groped around and found his glasses. He rubbed his eyes and put them on as he sat up. “How long has it been off?”
“I don’t know. I just woke up and noticed it,” I answered. Does this mean the ESIP system isn’t working?”
“Maybe. It depends on whether or not they have a backup generator or battery.”
“Wouldn’t the exit signs be lit?”
“Not necessarily. It depends on whether or not the backup is on a circuit dedicated solely to the system,” he explained.
“What should we do?” I asked. “We need to tell the soldiers.”
Matt cocked his head as if in thought.
“What is it?” I asked.
“I’m just surprised they aren’t on top of this already. Aren’t they keeping watch?”
“We need to tell them and get the system back up if it’s not working,” I said.
“I’m not sure that matters,” Matt whispered. “If it did, we’d already be dead, but let’s tell them anyway.”
We made our way across the gym toward the area where the soldiers had been sleeping. Private First Class Cole was sitting in a chair by the door with his head lolled over to one side, sound asleep. The other two privates and the corporal were sprawled out on exercise mats, also sleeping. I approached Cole carefully, hoping to avoid startling him. Leery of touching him, I just stood beside him and began whispering to him. “Psst! Private Cole?” I leaned a little closer. “Hey, Private Cole…wake up.”
He suddenly jerked and sat up straight. He appeared confused at first, and then a scowl crossed his face. “What do you want?” he asked, his voice sounding dry and cranky.
“The power is out,” Matt said, keeping his voice low.
Cole pursed his lips and shook his head, his eyes widening. “And?” he asked.
Matt cast me an incredulous glance. “And, the ESIP system runs on electricity. Do you think that might be worth checking out?”
Angela Jackson’s voice came from a dark form rustling on the floor. “What is it, Cole?”
I heard more rustling, as her shadowy form shifted on the mat. “Marrs. Greer. Something’s up.”
“It’s probably nothing. Looks like the power is down,” Cole said.
“Damn it, Cole. That’s not nothing,” Greer’s voice sounded.
I heard more shuffling followed by a clicking noise. Greer switched on a flashlight, and I saw he had a radio in his hand. He shined the light onto the unit and cursed under his breath. “The radio battery is dead, so we have no outside communications for now,” he said. After a few seconds of silence, he stood up and continued. “Okay, first thing. Jackson, I need you and Marrs to get with Mr. Woods and determine the status of the ESIP. If there’s a generator or battery system, confirm that it’s working.”
“Yes, Sir,” Marrs answered. The two found their own flashlights, switched them on, and got up off their mats. They walked in the direction of the nurse’s work station, where Mr. Woods and Mrs. Hoffstedder were located. Greer and Cole talked in hushed whispers as I watched the others’ flashlights bobbing across the gym in the direction of the locker room. The beams disappeared as they made their ways down the steps.
“Why are they going down there?” I whispered to Matt.
“That’s where the unit is. It’s down the tunnel past the locker rooms,” he answered.
“Now, second thing,” Greer turned his light on me and Matt. “What are you two doing over here?”
“They were asking about the power being out, Sir,” Cole said.
In the small amount of reflected light, I could tell Greer was not pleased. “I see,” he uttered in a harsh whisper. “Enlighten me, Cole, on how these two made it all the way across the gym to ask you about the electricity being off before I found out about it? Why, exactly, did Jackson wake me up before you did?”
“Sir, I--.”
“You,” he said, interrupting Cole and gesturing toward us with his flashlight. “Was Private Cole sleeping when you came over here?”
Talk about an uncomfortable place to be, standing between Greer and Cole, who was obviously in trouble. “We don’t want to get in the middle of this,” I heard myself saying. I hadn’t meant to talk out loud.
“I was asleep, Sir,” Cole admitted.
I felt my shoulders relax with relief that he fessed up.
Greer glanced at me and Matt and then back to Cole, “We will deal with this later.” His voice was stern. “Understood?”
“Yes, Sir,” Cole responded.
Marrs and Jackson re
turned. “Sir, we’ve confirmed the air filtration system is down, and there is no backup,” Jackson said.
“What do you mean, no backup?” Greer asked.
“Officer Woods confirmed there is no generator or backup system,” Marrs explained.
Greer grimaced. “Why in the hell would there not be backup on a critical system in a building this close to a chemical weapons stockpile?”
“It was a funding issue,” Mr. Woods’s voice said from the darkness. A wobbling light was moving toward us. “The system was added to this building in the ’70s,” Woods continued as he caught up with Jackson and Marrs. “I was on duty here at the time, and the military determined there were not enough funds to provide the backup power supply for all the buildings in the city. They said it would be unlikely that a chemical release and a power failure would occur at the same time, so they put the funding on a lower priority.”
“Damn it!” Greer swore. “What the hell were they thinking?”
“They planned to add to the systems across the city in subsequent budget years, but then there was a push to dismantle the chemical weapons store, so the funding was never allocated,” Mr. Woods explained.
“And after 9/11, the military delayed the destruction of the chemical weapons,” Greer added, concluding the chain of events leading to the current situation.
“So, what do we do now?” I asked, forgetting for a minute that I was just a teenager. The adults turned and looked at me as if they were both surprised I would interrupt and a bit ticked off that I did.
“If I may,” Matt interposed. “There seem to be two possibilities here. First, with the ESIP system deactivated, and the windows and doors still sealed, it’s probable that there’s a slight vacuum effect that will either prevent or eliminate the possibility of pressure equalization,” he said.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“When the ESIP system is active, its filtration system cleans and recirculates only the air that is inside the building. That’s why it’s so important that the windows and doors are closed. It pulls air through the intake, filters it, and then releases it through the vent,” Matt explained.
Viral Series (Book 1): Viral Dawn [Extended Edition] Page 8