Dead in Love

by Colby Van Wagoner

  The rat had circled around the back of the tent and was now quiet, realizing there was someone standing at the opening of the tent. Melissa was looking out of the tent, holding the tent flap, just above her head. “Do you see anything George?”

  George was shining the flashlight all around the tent and replied, “I don’t see anything out here, whatever it was, it’s gone now. I have to go to the bathroom” George walked to the edge of the campsite as Melissa looked around the tent. She could still see nothing in the dark, so she went back into the tent.

  She climbed into her sleeping bag and zipped it up, lying on her side. “George!” Melissa cried out and screamed as George burst into the tent. He found Melissa, trying to climb out of her sleeping bag as quickly as she could. Her legs were bleeding and spraying blood all over the tent, the rat was attached to her right leg. She was kicking and screaming as the rat’s mouth was tightly attached to her leg.

  George rushed over to Melissa and began hitting the rat with the flashlight. The rat screeched and let go of Melissa’s leg. It scurried around the tent, discombobulated from the blow of the flashlight. George quickly began tending to Melissa’s wounds. Jeff and Max were awoken from the screaming and came running to the couple’s tent. They opened the flap and found George wiping the blood away from Melissa’s wounds.

  The tent was now soaked in blood and George’s face and clothes were covered, as he tried to stop the blood. Jeff reached to his belt and pulled his knife from the sheath. He looked down to find the rat squirming around the floor of the tent. He plunged his knife into the head of the rat, killing it instantly. Jeff and Max rushed for the first aid kit in Jeff’s tent as George attempted to calm Melissa.

  “It will be alright honey; I will get you out of her tonight. Just relax; I will take care of you.” Melissa was crying and holding George around the neck. “It hurts George, my legs are burning. They feel like they are on fire!” Jeff and Max returned to the tent, Jeff was fumbling to get the first aid kit open and Max was holding a lantern above Jeff’s head, “Hurry Jeff!”

  “I’m trying Max, just calm down.” Max was shaking and apparently in shock from all the blood. Jeff opened the first aid kit, began tearing open the larger bandages and applying them to Melissa’s wounds. He wrapped the pressure bandages around Melissa’s legs and bandaged them the best he could. Melissa’s breathing was slow and Max blurted out, “We need to get her to the hospital and fast!” He tied a tourniquet around her left thigh to try and slow the bleeding from the worst part of the wound.

  “Jeff, that’s good, she has all the bandages needed. We need to get her on a horse and down the mountain.” Max left the lantern in the tent and rushed from the tent. “Max, get the horses saddled and ready.”

  “I’m on it!” Max rushed to the horses and started putting the saddles on them, one by one. Jeff and George pulled Melissa from the tent, carrying her to one of the horses. George climbed onto one of the horses, as Jeff and Max handed Melissa up to George.

  He held her close to him and Max and Jeff climbed onto the other two horses. They rushed from the campsite and onto the trail, leading down the mountain. After a 30 minute ride down the mountain, the group arrived at the trucks and horse trailer.

  Jeff jumped from his horse and rushed to George. He took Melissa from George, “I don’t think she is breathing Jeff, check her pulse.” George climbed from his horse, as Max and Jeff were checking over Melissa. “She has no pulse, but her breathing is very slow. We need to get her to the hospital. Take her, get in your truck and head to Rush Valley. I will call ahead and let them know what happened.” George took Melissa and loaded her into his truck, he looked back to see Jeff on his cell phone and Max loading the horses into the trailer.

  “Go George, I am on the phone with 911, I’ll tell them what happened.” Jeff was waving his hand, motioning George to go. George started his truck, put it in drive and stepped down on the gas. The truck peeled out, as George sped off into the night.

  Max had finished loading the horses into the trailer and walked over to Jeff, who was on the phone with the 911 dispatcher. Jeff was in the middle of the conversation, “A rat, she was bitten by a rat and her legs are completely torn up.” Max couldn’t hear the dispatcher’s response, but it didn’t seem like the dispatcher believed Jeff.

  “Her legs are completely torn up, she is bleeding. I have never seen a rat do this to anyone. The thing had chewed and torn Melissa’s legs up, real bad. They are on their way to the Rush Valley medical center now.” The dispatcher interrupted, “Is she breathing and does she have a pulse?”

  “She is breathing, but there is no pulse.”

  “Sir, that is not possible. Someone can not be breathing and have no pulse.”

  “Look I told you what her condition is, she has no pulse and her breathing is shallow and slow. We are going to be at the Rush Valley hospital. We are taking route UT-199E.” Jeff hung up the phone and turned to Max, “I don’t think they know how serious this is. The dispatcher sounded too relaxed.”

  Max grabbed Jeff’s arm and shook him, “Jeff, let’s just get in the truck and get to the hospital, we need to be with George and Melissa. We can come back later and get our equipment.” Jeff and Max climbed into their truck and drove off, with the horse trailer attached just behind the truck. The Stansbury Mountains disappeared in the distance, as Jeff and Max drove down UT-199E towards Rush Valley.

  “I can’t believe this, have you ever seen a rat do that to someone?” Jeff didn’t answer and kept his eyes on the road. “What do you think that was?” Jeff suddenly burst out, “Max, please. I am trying to focus on driving.” Just as Jeff turned and looked back at the road, he swerved to avoid a rabbit on the road. Jeff turned and jerked the steering wheel to the left and the right. The truck came back under control and Jeff slowed the truck to a stop.

  Jeff’s cell phone rang; he picked it up and pushed the answer button, “Jeff this is George.”

  Jeff responded, “How is she? Is she still breathing?” Jeff looked down at the phone and raised it back up to his ear frantically. “George, are you there? Hello, George?” Jeff looked back down at the phone and placed it back on the dashboard. George was driving east on UT-199E and 5 minutes away from the town of Rush Valley, when he reached down to check Melissa’s pulse, there was no pulse, but her breathing was deep and labored. George pulled into the hospital and placed the truck in park.

  “Melissa, stay with me, we are at the hospital now.” George reached over to Melissa, pulling her towards him. Melissa’s eyes opened and she looked up at George. George looked back into her eyes, surprised that she was awake. Melissa opened her mouth and bit George on the arm, just below the shoulder, “Melissa, ouch! What are you doing?” The bite wasn’t bad, but it barely broke the skin. George pulled Melissa from the truck and carried her to the hospital, through the sliding doors, placing her in a wheelchair.

  “Help me. I need help here, someone HELP!”

  A nurse came rushing to his side and immediately began looking at her condition. She pushed George back and stood behind the wheelchair, “I need to get her into surgery right away. You can come into the ER room, but you need to keep your distance until she goes under.” George was confused and still in shock from the experience. “What did this to her?” The nurse asked as they walked in the ER room. George answered, “A rat came inside our tent, up in the Stansbury Mountains. It chewed her legs up really bad. I have never seen a rat do this.”

  More and more nurses came in and a doctor entered, rushing to put on his lab coat and mask. The doctor looked over the wounds and the nurse informed him, “The man said it was a rat.” The doctor stopped, glanced up at George and replied, “A rat, you saw a rat do this?”

  George choked and looked up at the doctor, “Yes, I saw the rat that did this to her legs.” The doctor went back down to examining the wounds. He stepped back and turned to the nurse, “I need to get her into surgery immediately.” The remaining nurses were cleaning the woun
ds and administering an IV into Melissa’s arm.

  They pulled the gurney out of the room and left George standing in the ER, as he watched them taking his girlfriend into surgery. All he wanted was a nice weekend camping, never did he imagine it would end up in the ER. He looked at his arm and ran his hand slowly over the bite mark. Jeff and Max were driving along the road, 20 minutes from the hospital.

  Back at Dugway, a communications specialist was working in a small building attached to a large radio tower, stretching up 100 feet into the sky. It was equipped with various reception dishes and other antenna capable of intercepting radio, cellular and land line communications. There were numerous computer systems analyzing various voice patterns and signals. One of the computers began flashing and a warning system alarm sounded in the background. The specialist jumped from his chair and rushed to the computer. He began typing in codes to triangulate the position of the call and pushed record.

  It was Jeff on the 911 call. He turned up the sound on the speakers. “I have never seen a rat do this to anyone. The thing had chewed and torn Melissa’s legs up real bad. They are on their way to the Rush Valley medical center now.” The dispatcher interrupted, “Is she breathing and does she have a pulse?”

  “She is breathing, but there is no pulse.”

  “Sir, that is not possible. Someone can not be breathing and have no pulse.”

  “Look I told you what her condition is, she has no pulse and her breathing is shallow, and slow. We are going to be at the Rush Valley hospital. We are taking route UT-199E.”

  The communication specialist picked up a red telephone, which began ringing and on the other end General Conrad Raymond picked up, “This better be good, and who is this?”

  “General this is communication specialist Johnson. I picked up a cellular call to 911 services. A man reported a woman was attacked by a rat, she has no pulse, but she is still breathing. You told me to report any unusual reports involving medical conditions and animals.”

  The general stood up from his bed and replied sternly, “Play it back.” The communication specialist pressed down on the mouse and clicked the playback, “I have never seen a rat do this to anyone. The thing had chewed and torn Melissa’s legs up real bad. They are on their way to the Rush Valley medical center now.” The dispatcher interrupted, “Is she breathing and does she have a pulse?”

  “She is breathing, but there is no pulse.”

  “Sir, that is not possible. Someone can not be breathing and have no pulse.”

  “Look I told you what her condition is, she has no pulse and her breathing is shallow and slow. We are going to be at the Rush Valley hospital. We are taking route UT-199E.”

  The general was already getting dressed, “Call in order from General Raymond, code emergency response CU1OU2, clearance delta, zero, zero, nine, initiate immediately, give them the location of the hospital and specialist this is high level clearance, not a word to anyone. I will need to see you in my office tomorrow morning 08:00.”

  “Yes sir, 08:00, not a word to anyone.”

  “That is all specialists Johnson.” The general hung up the phone and rushed out of his room, down the hallway pounding on doors, as he walked down the main hallway and out of the exit. Moments later, men were rushing by him and into an oversized hangar.

  Outside the hangar, there were four; Boeing AH-64 Apache four-blade, twin-engine attack helicopters, with tailwheel-type landing gear arrangements and a tandem cockpit for a two-man crew. Six, UH-60 Black Hawks with four-bladed, twin-engine, medium-lift utility and one MH-6 Little Bird single-engine, light helicopter. The pilots and soldiers rushed to the helicopters, jumping inside and preparing them for take-off.

  The general climbed into the small MH-6 Little Bird and placed on his headset, “Soldiers, this is not a drill, this is the real deal. We are executing operation emergency response CU1OU2, this is General Conrad Raymond clearance code delta, zero, zero, nine, tower do you read me?”

  “Uh roger general, this is the tower. Your operation is clear for take-off.”

  “Gentlemen, please verify your radio transmissions.”

  The remaining pilots cleared their radios and verified all communications worked. “Pilots, fire up your engines. Ready teams, suit up and lock and load.” The helicopter engines fired up and the blades on each helicopter began to turn. The soldiers in each of the helicopters were suiting up in their bio-suits and loading their Colt M4A1 Carbines, with night vision scopes. The mission was underway and the helicopters lifted off from the tarmac.

  The general came over the radio, “This is General Raymond, we have four targets, one female and three males, two of which are already at the Rush Valley Hospital and two that are unaccounted for, but should be arriving at the hospital. Our operation is to locate these four individuals and asses them while at the hospital for signs of infection to the CU1 or OU2 compounds. We will restrain them and assess them at the hospital. From there, we will take any action necessary to remove any infected individuals and bring them directly back to base. Is that clear?” The complete team sounded off and recognized their orders.

  The helicopters were all in the air and headed towards the town of Rush Valley. Jeff and Max pulled into the hospital, rushed through the sliding doors and headed to the ER. George was standing just inside the ER doors. Jeff knocked on the door and was looking through the window, signaling to George. George had his head in his hands and looked up at the window of the door. Recognizing Jeff, he stood up, walked over to the door and pushed the button. The doors swung open, Jeff and Max rushed over to George.

  “How is Melissa?” Max looked extremely concerned and was pacing back and forth. “This is serious. Real serious, did the doctors say anything yet?”

  George turned and pointed towards surgery, “She’s been in surgery and no-one has come out yet. They took her in as soon as they saw her wounds and took her vitals.” Just as George finished, a surgeon came out of the room. He lowered his mask and looked at George, “I am sorry sir, but she didn’t make it.” George broke down and fell into a chair, crying. “No, all we wanted to do was have a nice weekend camping.”

  “Well, she has been pronounced dead and has no vital signs, except that her lungs are still expanding. It is not a coma, since we have no registered brain activity.”

  “What?” Jeff replied with a confused look on his face.

  “It is not completely unheard of for someone that has just passed, to still have some involuntary muscle contractions. So I am assuming this is what is occurring.” Jeff gripped George’s shoulder, as the sound of rumbling rose in the distance. The rumbling became louder and louder, until it was heard over the hospital, it was the sound of helicopters.

  “ I want three Blackhawks in the front and rear of that hospital. Ground support teams move in from the front and back. Apache choppers you remain as air support and make sure no-one leaves or enters that facility” The general then came over the loudspeaker and began an announcement, “This is General Conrad Raymond” the loudspeaker rang out through the hospital and the choppers landed in the front and to the rear of the exits.

  Spotlights shown through the doors of the hospital and soldiers began jumping out of the helicopters, with their weapons raised. The general continued, “Remain inside the hospital. No-one will leave the facility or you will be fired upon. Again, remain in the hospital and under any circumstance do not try to leave.”

  The soldiers swarmed into the hospital, ordering people to step into the rooms, closing the doors behind them. One soldier remained at the hospital exits and the rest secured the employees and patients in the hospital. The admitting registry was checked and Melissa’s name was found, the soldiers rushed to the ER surgery and kicked open the doors, pointing their weapons all around the room. Melissa was zip tied to the gurney and strapped across the legs and chest with restraints. George, Jeff and Max were taken into a separate room and prepared for testing. The soldiers quickly had them zip tied and secured to chairs.r />
  A soldier reached to his shoulder announced, “Area secured General Raymond, the subjects are in custody and prepared for testing.”

  “Excellent team leader.” The general stepped from his MH-6 Little Bird and rushed into the hospital, carrying a lab case in one hand and a Glock pistol in the other. He entered the hospital, rushed down the hallway and into the room where Jeff, George and Max were being detained. “Gentlemen I am General Conrad Raymond, director and head of Dugway Proving Ground.” The room was a small hospital examination room, with a table in the center and bright, fluorescent lights shining brightly on the white floor and the walls of the room.

  “What is this all about?” Jeff demanded.

  “Just a little blood test, it won’t take long at all and then you might just be on your way.”

  The general motioned to each of the soldiers and they held out Jeff’s arm. Jeff began struggling and trying to get away. The general pointed his Glock into Jeff’s face. “Do you want to do this the hard way, or do you want to cooperate with a general of the United States Army?” Jeff immediately relaxed and held out his arm. “Good boy.” The general pulled out a syringe and stuck it into Jeff’s arm.

  He drew the blood and injected it into a test tube. He turned and walked over to a microscope and poured a drop of blood on the slide, placing it under the lens. He looked at the blood for a few minutes, adjusting the focus of the lens on the blood. The blood swirled around in the light and the general backed away from the microscope.

  “Let him go. Go on, take him out of here.” A soldier lifted Jeff to his feet and led him out of the hospital. The general then turned to George and reached for a syringe, there was no hesitation from George and he held out his arm. “You need to understand why we are doing this son, remain calm.” George looked up at the general, as the general slid the needle into his arm, there was no pain and the general finished, stood up and walked back to the microscope. He dripped the blood onto a glass slide, slid it under the lens and zoomed in on the slide.