Deadrise 2: Deadwar

by Steven R. Gardner

  “I-It’s a girl.” Doc Norris wiped the baby clean, examining it. She too was polluted with the infection, burning with fever and silent, barely clinging to life.

  The room remained silent. Then, to everyone’s surprise, the baby coughed, took a deep breath and began to cry, weak at first, but growing stronger with every wail.

  “Her blood pressure is dropping.” Said the nurse monitoring Susan. “Her pulse is erratic.”

  “Do something!” David exclaimed.

  “David,” Sharon said, hugging her son tight. “Let her go son… Let your sister go. Dad will be with her…” then they both burst into tears.

  “No pulse…” the nurse muttered.

  “Everyone out of the room please.” Doc Norris said, still holding the baby.

  “What?” David exclaimed.

  “Please. It will make it much easier for your family.”

  “What are you talking about?” David was approaching hysterics.

  “Control yourself David.” Jenkins intervened. “You know what has to be done. Do you or your mom want to be present?”

  “I do. But Mom will go.”

  “Are you sure? You don’t need to stay.”

  “Yes I do, Jenkins.”

  “Ok, Kid. Have it your way.” Jenkins turned to Patty. “Take Sharon out of here will you?”

  “Of course.” Patty said and went about it.

  Once everyone had left Doc Norris laid the baby on a nearby table and pulled a handheld, rechargeable drill from his belt. He walked over to Susan’s body and rolled her on to her stomach. He looked at David.

  “You sure your ok?” he asked.

  “I’m sure.”

  The Doc then looked to Jenkins who simply nodded.

  Norris put the drill bit to the base of her skull and pressed the trigger. The drill sprang to life and he quickly and efficiently plunged it into Susan’s brain and scrambled it like eggs, assuring that she would never reanimate as a zombie…

  Doc Norris, Jenkins, Patty, The Sheriff, even David’s wife and his mother wanted to put the baby out of its misery, to end its wails of pain and suffering. But David would have none of it. He knew it was the right thing to do; the wretched thing was in terrible pain. But there was something in him that just wouldn’t allow it. It was his sister’s child. His blood. The baby would be allowed to live and expire naturally. To enforce his point he snatched her up and pulled his sidearm, reiterating that he would kill anyone that tried to kill the baby before it died naturally.

  As before, the Council gave him his space but they also began pressuring Jenkins to take David into protective custody. Patty informed him they wanted to hold an emergency Council meeting and declare a no confidence vote against David. Jenkins was stunned.

  “No.”

  “What do you mean no? He’s obviously unable to execute his duties responsibly. He’s armed and acting dangerous.” He could hear her self-righteousness kicking into gear.

  Fuck.

  “David’s not going to hurt anybody.” Jenkins replied.

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Because I know him. He’s a good kid.” She made to argue but he cut her off. “Look, we’re not going to discuss this. He’s not out running around, waving his gun in peoples faces. He’s holed up in his room with Susan’s baby. I’d say we have him contained. The only ones he can hurt are himself and the baby. You and the others want the baby dead, so if he kills her what does it matter, right?” Patty just shook her head in disgust at his words.

  “What the hell do you want from me? I’ve been through hell with that kid. I’m not just going to feed him to your sharks because most of his family was just killed and he freaked out a little bit. David’s a good kid. He will pull it together soon. Once the baby dies he will come out peacefully and I’ll get him back on track. But right now were just going to let him get it out of his system.”

  “I love David too.” Patty replied, her self-righteousness gone. “But he just can’t go wild like that. If any civilian of the community were to do what he did they would already be jailed.”

  “But he’s not any civilian. That’s David. He’s better than any one of your civilians. He’s vital to the smooth operation of this entire community. He’s to be left alone. I will deal with him personally.” He and Patty stared at one another for several long seconds.

  “Very well.” She said softly, sadly, lowering her head. “I will inform the Council.” She leaned in close and hugged him, kissing the side of his neck. Then she turned and walked away…

  CHAPTER 40

  Friday, March 22, 2002

  Rainbow Lake, UT

  6:15 AM

  The baby had quieted down sometime ago and David had expected her to die, but she was a strong one and continued to breath through the night. The baby should have expired within a few hours, but amazingly she appeared to be recovering. Come morning, her fever had broken and her skin had lost the ashtray grey pallor and was returning to a normal newborn pink. And she was ravenously hungry.

  David quickly called for Doc Norris and Jenkins. The Doc was the first to arrive, and nearly fell down in surprise at her apparent return to good health.

  “What happened?” he asked, looking down at the child in wonder as she gulped from a bottle David propped in her mouth.

  “I don’t know. I fell asleep beside her on the bed. When I woke up, she was crying. Her fever had broken and her color was starting to look normal.

  “I-uh-ah-I-” Doc Norris stammered for the words. But he couldn’t find them. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but he was almost positive that the newborn child was immune to the necrovirus.

  Immune. And from that immunity, a workable vaccine could possibly be whipped up. The General could call in some specialists from Hill Air Force Base.

  ”I need to do some blood work on her. Right now.” Doc Norris said, never taking his eyes off her. This child. This newborn, innocent child could very well be the salvation of humanity.

  “Yes, of course.” David said.

  The Doc reached into his bag and began preparing the necessary equipment.

  When Jenkins arrived, the Doc was in the process of drawing blood from the infant’s leg.

  “What the hell?” he said.

  “Look at her. She is healthy!” The Doc was practically shitting himself.

  “It can’t be. Nobody recovers from the infection.” Jenkins was looking for the angle.

  “This newborn child did.” The Doc pulled the syringe from her leg and taped a cotton ball over the wound.

  “How?”

  “I don’t know. I have a theory, maybe, but not right now. First things first.” The Doc grabbed up his bag and headed for the door.

  “Where are you going?” Jenkins asked.

  “To the Hospital. I’ve got to test this blood.”

  “For what?”

  “Salvation!” The Doc whooped with joy and exited the room.

  “What the hell is going on?” Jenkins demanded of David.

  “Look at her Jenkins. She’s cured! It’s a miracle…”

  CHAPTER 41

  Friday, March 22, 2002

  Necrotura Island, The South Pacific

  2:15 AM

  Mordecai Necrotura opened his eyes, a twisted smile spread across his face. Things had changed drastically.

  He had spent the past year positioning his Templars into various human civilizations around the world, collecting information and manipulating events in a global chess game that stimulated his intellect as much as is served his purposes. His hybrid body needed little sleep, and playing politics through his spies and exploring the world via astral projection occupied almost all of his time.

  Closer to home, he had used Gabriel and his Templars to explore and raid the nearby islands. Many were uninhabited save for wild pigs and other animals, but several were tourist resorts and home to local tribes that worked them. There had been a dozen smaller skirmishes with enclaves of live humans, which
served to battle season his Templars and integrate Gabriel into the unit tactics. In the process he had acquired a slave labor force several hundred strong that with a careful breeding program would produce him a small army inside twenty years.

  Furthermore, several members of his extended global occult network had survived and had, or were in the process of, carving their own strongholds out of the wreckage of the old world; Zandor-Molech in Iraq, The River Dragon in China, Vuulga Velkor in central Europe. He’d had limited contact with each of them but had already begun pondering potential alliances, rivalries and conflicts of interest.

  But the child had changed everything.

  This child born in Rainbow Lake was a holy child, sent by the Universe. She belonged to him and him alone. He would raise her, nurture and mold her into a creature so powerful that the entire world would fall before her knees in worship. That she had been born thousands of miles away, in the heart of his old domain, into the hands of the blasphemers that had stolen it from him was a cruel irony. But the Universe was cruel and vengeful, especially to her chosen ones.

  But Mordecai could not ignore the sign. The synchronicity of the Universe had come into alignment. The time to act was now. He had already contacted his spies within the Rainbow Lake community, putting his plan into action. The seeds of chaos he had been nurturing there were now ready to bear fruit. He had dispatched Gabriel and two-dozen of his most highly trained Fedayeen to Utah to assist in the child’s extraction. In a matter of hours they would land at a hidden, private airfield located fifty miles southwest from Rainbow Lake that he had scouted via astral projection. Once there they would prepare the plane for take off then secretly make their way to Rainbow Lake. Once they were in position, Mordecai would astral project there and telepathically lead them to the child, alerting them of guards and obstacles. It was a suicide mission, as all of the Templars would be wearing martyrs vests and if they were unable to acquire the child they were to blow themselves up, causing as much death and destruction as possible to the Rainbow Lake community.

  Mordecai turned his mind to another matter, namely the deaf, mute and blind quad-amputee with the hardwired brain that he had found at Outpost 7. The files on the subject listed him as Colonel Stephen Bannister, US Army Intelligence. He had been critically wounded in a covert black-op inside Central Africa in 1995. The medics had been able to save him, but should they have? He’d been doomed for a hellish existence until he had been transferred to Outpost 7 by order of a General Strickland. Mordecai smiled at the name. General Peter Strickland. He’d had several encounters with the General over the years, the first coming in 1964 when it had been Captain Strickland. He’d been one of the Special Forces assigned to neutralize the problem on the island. He wondered where his old nemesis had gotten off to when he fled Outpost 7?

  Colonel Bannister had been transferred to the island and the mad scientists there had went to work on him; hardwiring his brain for direct access into the emerging world wide web. Apparently they had been successful…Too successful, and in 1998, less than a year before the outbreak of the plague, Bannister’s mind had infiltrated the bases central computer, turning its defenses against the mad scientists that had…created him. Eventually Bannister had been contained and cut off from the web. They hadn’t destroyed him because he was too valuable a weapon. They just needed to figure out a way to control and utilize it. Until that time he would be left alone, his body kept alive by the bases life support systems and his mind occupied by a powerful Virtual Reality engine running an expansive, fantasy setting world. And then the deadrise had begun…

  Mordecai could sense a powerful mind inside but all attempts at contact were blocked by electric white noise. Mordecai had ordered his doctors to keep Bannister’s mind offline. It would remain offline until such a time as Mordecai could penetrate the mind block and make contact with Bannister, dominate him and bring him under control. He wondered how much of a mind would be left. Two years, completely cut off from all external stimulation, lost inside an expansive video game world. But if he could be brought under control, what a weapon! Despite the collapse of global civilization, much of the web still remained. One just had to know how to access it. Given that access, Bannister would prowl like a killer shark amidst a dark sea, going anywhere, seeing everything. He could penetrate any security network, learn any hidden, encrypted secret; the ultimate, all seeing Third Eye. Mordecai writhed with pleasure at the thought of such a thing…

  CHAPTER 42

  Sunday, March 24, 2002

  Rainbow Lake, UT

  12:56 PM

  The meadow on the northern side of the lake, where Adam and Kelly Preston had been buried was deemed the official community cemetery. They had taken time out from salvage and repairs to hold a mass funeral for all of those who lost their lives in the attack. Matt and Susan were buried in the same coffin. The crowd had looked to the General to deliver some kind of a eulogy, but he hadn’t. He had simply left after the service was finished, his head held low.

  Afterwards, Jenkins had returned to his office in the Main House. He had been sleeping here the past three day as things had gone cold as ice between he and Patty. It was the nature of their relationship. She had been offended at how he put David up on a pedestal, calling him better than anyone of the civilians. And he was. So was Patty. She was just too damn pig-headed and self-righteous to shut her mouth and realize it. Losing Matt and Susan hadn’t helped matters. He grabbed a bottle of whiskey from the cabinet behind his desk, popped the lid and took a long pull.

  Matt and Susan were dead…cold and buried in the ground. Only David and his mother, Mac and himself were left. He took another pull from the bottle. It had hurt when Ron and Rick had died, but Matt and Susan… There was no describing the anguish he felt. It was like a black hole of dull, gnawing anxiety eating its way into his stomach and brain simultaneously. He took another long swig, grimacing hard against the soothing fire that flowed down into his belly. It wouldn’t fill the hole, but it would soothe it for a while. Soon enough he was able to turn his attention to other business.

  Council elections were to be held in a week’s time. That would allow natural leaders to emerge from the salvage and recovery from the attacks, giving the people natural choices to choose from. As expected, Samantha Young had already risen to the occasion. She had naturally assumed Susan’s duties, and with the Councils full support was sure to take the seat. More than likely she could be counted on to vote lockstep with her husband and Jenkins. Norris was also a shoe in. His treatment of the wounded the past three days had become legendary among the rainbow lake population. He had barely slept. Moving from patient to patient with a fierce intensity, actually wrestling two different patients back from the brink of death with his skills. He too would be a guaranteed victor, and would have the full support of the Council. Jenkins was unsure of how much he could influence Norris on Council votes. Unlike Doc Reilly who had been content to focus on the hospital and let the other Council members worry about the rest of the community, Doc Norris seemed eager to focus his attention community wide. He had some ideas and opinions about what could make things runs more efficiently. Jenkins was always open to new ideas and opinions, so long as the one giving them didn’t forget the chain of command.

  Jenkins shook his head. His paranoia was trying to run rampant again. Doc Norris was a good man. He had been a soldier in the United States National Guard when he first arrived at Rainbow Lake, a medic to be precise. Doc Reilly had needed an assistant desperately so Jenkins had granted him a discharge from the Militia so he could apprentice under Doc Reilly. Jenkins would arrange to meet with him later today. He took another swig from the bottle. The warm glow in his belly was beginning to spread throughout his body, calm and soothing…

  CHAPTER 43

  Friday, March 22, 2002

  Rainbow Lake, UT

  11:28 PM

  Late that night, Zack came. He radioed ahead an hour before his arrival and landed a mile away in the woods. W
hen he arrived on foot at the cemetery, Jenkins, David and the baby, Doc Norris, Lucas Casey and Patty were all waiting for him. He didn’t say a word to any of them, merely striding past to kneel at Matt and Susan’s grave.

  He thought back to the day, almost a year ago, that he and Matt had first decided to flee their house. Susan’s family who lived next door had joined them. That had started a tragic chain of events that had culminated in Matt and Susan’s death and his own transformation into an inhuman monster. He didn’t think of these things often as they had a tendency to cause pain and anxiety.

  He began to weep.

  He could sense the humans standing about grow tense and uncomfortable…such human emotion from his inhuman form unnerved them all but Jenkins and David. Those two knew his pain. He could see it in their eyes, their faces, and their very stance. David walked over slowly and laid a hand on his shoulder. That simple gesture of human empathy and compassion overwhelmed him and he began to sob harder…

  After a couple of minutes Zack composed himself. The time for mourning was over. He stood and faced the Council.

  “I must examine the child.”

  “Why?” Jenkins asked.

  “She is special.”

  “We know that.” Jenkins said.

  “Do you?”

  “We know she’s immune to the plague.”

  “Please…let me examine her. I will not harm her. David, please?” With some reluctance, David handed him the child. He held her close, taking several deep sniffs, breathing her scent in. It was different. She was human, but different than the rest. He licked her flesh, tasting her. There to was a distinct difference. A tangy, wild gaminess that was not present in other humans. And finally he probed her mind, which was radiating an aura like a lighthouse.

  “This child is very, very special. Not only is she immune to the plague, she also has a strong, latent psychic ability.”

  “What do you mean?” Jenkins asked.