by Chesla, Gary
All countries were given five years to dispose of any and all biological weapons in their possession.
After the five-year deadline, countries were to open up their facilities for inspections.
The inspections were to verify that all biological weapons had been destroyed and confirm that they no longer had the capacity to create any new weapons.”
“But you found something?” Chervy asked.
“It seemed in the mid-eighties that the Russians had developed an extremely dangerous biological weapon. We couldn’t find most of the files on the new weapon, but what could find we code named it File Z.
It seemed that the new biological weapon was designed not to kill the human body, but to affect the brain and drive the victim insane. The insane victims would then be driven to attack and kill everyone they came into contact with.
In other words, once the biological weapon was deployed on a population, the population would then basically destroy itself. Once the population had destroyed itself, all the Russians would have to do was send in a cleanup crew and the place would be theirs without any resistance.”
“That’s sick,” Chervy said. “Lucky that shit was destroyed.”
“But was it?” Doc added. “We couldn’t find any records of the agent being destroyed. All we found was a partial memo regarding its disposal.”
“But they did get rid of it, right?” Chervy asked.
“Yes and no,” Doc smiled grimly. “The Russian government was vague about what happened to the biological agent. They claimed that the old Soviet government had disposed of it. Since no one could find any traces of the agent, the diplomats signed off on the agreement saying that the Russians had complied with the treaty.
However, Anderson and I had reason to believe otherwise, we could never prove it, but from the partial records we found in the KGB files, we believed that the Russians had loaded their entire supply of agent Z onto three space capsules and sent them into space. That way they could have their cake and eat it too. They disposed of the weapon, but by putting it into orbit, they could still make use of it if they wanted.”
“So those sneaky bastards put it in orbit and our cluster-fuck brought it down on three of our cities,” Chervy said.
“Again, yes and no,” Doc replied. “The basic molecular formula is the same, but it has changed or mutated. After thirty years in space, it has changed dramatically. Remember how I said that experiments on the space station showed that being in space causes biological organisms to mutate, to change and to sometimes change significantly. I believe we have found the Russian supply of agent Z on those three satellites, but after thirty years in space, what it is now, what it will do to the living body is unknown. It obviously changed into something that cannot be destroyed by extreme heat, what else it is capable of at this point is also unknown.”
“Will the agent still cause people to go insane?” Chervy asked. “Is the Chief going to go insane? Is there an antidote against its effects?”
“Whatever this agent is capable of, I guess we are going to find out soon,” the doctor replied. “There was never any known antidote that we could find. We can only hope that the time in space caused it to mutate into an inert substance. If not, we could all be in deep shit.”
“All those men in the infirmary,” Chervy gasp.
Doc nodded, “And all the millions of people in the cities where this Russian agent came down.”
“Shit!” Chervy sighed. “How long until we know if the biological substance is dangerous?”
“We already know it is dangerous,” Doc replied. “The men exposed to it in the rain became ill almost immediately. However, unlike the original agent that drove the victims insane, the new mutated virus appears to be killing the body instead. I’m not yet sure of its effect on the brain.”
Chervy looked at the doctor, “Rogers pointed out something to me earlier. He said the Chief had a specific odor about him when he came back to get reports on the satellite that burned up over Salt Lake City. He said the Chief smelled like a vet’s office, wet fur and medicine. I smelled it too when I was at the infirmary earlier. What is that smell Doc? Is that what this Russian biological agent smells like?”
The Doc looked at Chervy for a long moment before speaking.
“No, that is the smell of the cells in the human body, slowly dying one cell at a time. The virus destroys the immune system so the body can no longer defend itself, then the infection begins to destroy the body’s organs. The smell first starts becoming noticeable in the victim’s breath. The lung and stomach tissue begin to die and the smell is expelled through the respiratory system,” Doc answered.
“Sorry I asked,” Chervy replied.
The doctor looked at his watch, “I better get back to the infirmary and keep an eye on my patients. The next few hours are going to be critical. I need to see what this new variant is going to do if I am going to have any chance of saving our men.
Perhaps doctor Anderson has more information by now. I should give him a call and let him know what I have confirmed.”
The doctor stood and walked to the door.
As the doctor started for the door, the phone rang.
Chervy grabbed the phone, “Chervanak here.”
He listened for a moment then hung up the phone.
“Hey Doc,” Chervy called out, “You have another call at the infirmary. It’s doctor Anderson from St Louis again.”
As he opened the door, the doctor called back, “Thanks Chervy.”
Then he disappeared, running out the door.
“Good luck Doc,” Chervanak said to no one as he stared at the back of the closed door.
Chervy quickly picked up the phone and dialed Scott Airforce Base near St Louis.
He hoped to find out if anything had happened in St Louis that would have prompted doctor Anderson calling Fallon again.
“Now what the hell is going on out there!” Chervy said to himself as he listened to the phone ringing in his ear.
Chervanak waited, but no one answered.
Chapter 9
Friday May 7th, Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Linda walked into the living room and dropped down on the couch and smiled.
She had just put little Jamie in the bathtub for her nightly bath.
Linda didn’t have the problem that most parents had at bath time.
Getting Jamie to get undressed for her bath wasn’t a problem. Neither was getting her to get into the tub.
The difficult part came later.
Linda began pushing buttons on the remote.
She turned on the TV and was trying to find the Match Game.
She always looked forward to watching the show each week with Mike. They would sit and laugh at the stupid answers given by the contestants, but tonight she would have to watch and laugh by herself.
She figured she could handle that by herself for one weekend. It would be worth the sacrifice to know that Mike was having a good time and could relax.
“God knows Mike needs to unwind,” Linda thought.
She knew he was miserable trying to sell cars. She had tried everything to help him relax, but nothing seemed to work.
Hopefully a weekend with the boys and a complete change of scenery would do Mike good.
If only they didn’t have to take those guns.
Beer and guns was a bad combination. She knew Mike and Tony were careful, but she wasn’t so sure about Ryan.
Mike had assured her that they were all terrible shots and couldn’t shoot each other if they tried, but that did little to comfort her.
However, Mike did tell her that after Ryan had a few beers, they would take the shells out of Ryan’s gun when he wasn’t looking.
Ryan was dangerous enough when he was sober.
Mike said they weren’t stupid.
Linda sighed, she wasn’t worried about Mike finding a job, she knew they would get through this temporary problem.
After Mike had accepted his job at U.S.
Steel five years ago, he received a lot of calls from other companies where he had sent an application.
Mike had never considered any of the other offers after he took the job in Johnstown. He was just excited to be able to stay in the area.
With Mike’s education and with the good reference he would get from U.S. Steel, she knew he would find another good job soon.
It had only been two weeks, once companies started to read Mike’s resume, he would start getting calls.
If they had to move somewhere else, then they would move, but one way or another she knew everything would work out.
Linda would get a job if she had to, but that would depend on what the doctor said on Tuesday.
She and Mike had decided it was time for Jamie to have a little brother or sister and Tuesday would be the day she would find out if their decision was becoming a reality.
But Linda knew, one way or another, everything was going to be fine.
Linda hit the remote one more time and Alex Baldwin appeared on the screen.
He began to introduce tonight’s two contestants and the panel of celebrities that the contestants had to match.
Linda sat back and pulled the quilt up under her chin and smiled as Alex began to make fun of the celebrities.
“Alex is in good form tonight,” Linda smiled.
The screen changed to a reporter behind a desk in New York and the station announced they had a breaking news story to report on.
“Why do they always do this in the middle on my show?” Linda said as she threw up her hands.
“We have been informed of a major outbreak in Chicago of an unknown illness that has hospitalized hundreds of people in the last few hours alone,” the reporter said. “The airlines have said that they are suspending all flights in and out of Chicago for the next twenty-four hours due to this outbreak. The Mayor of Chicago has stated that he……”
Linda’s attention was distracted from the TV when a dripping wet Jamie carrying an unhappy looking kitten that was also dripping wet, walked into the room and hopped up on the couch next to her.
Jamie looked up at Linda and smiled.
“George wanted a bath too,” she said.
“Well I see you gave him a bath,” Linda replied. “Maybe you should have dried him off.”
“He said he is fine,” Jamie replied.
“He doesn’t look fine,” Linda laughed. “he looks miserable. I think you should get a towel and dry him off.”
“OK,” Jamie said, thrusting the wet cat into Linda’s hands, crawled off the couch and ran out of the room.
Linda smiled and looked at George, “I told you to hide, George. You have to be the cleanest cat on the block.”
Jamie ran back into the room with a towel and started to rub it over the kitten.
“I can’t believe George doesn’t scratch you,” Linda laughed as Jamie ruffled the cat’s fur as the cat purred.
“George likes baths,” Jamie grinned as she tossed the towel on the floor and climbed up next to her mother again and took George.
“Didn’t you forget something?” Linda asked.
“What?” Jamie asked as she pulled the quilt over her and George.
Linda smiled, sighed and shook her head as she looked down at her two little characters, “Maybe you should dry off too.”
“I’m almost dry,” Jamie grinned.
“How about your pajamas?” Linda asked.
“I’m not ready to go to bed yet,” Jamie replied and pretended to stare at the TV. “Daddy said I don’t have to wear pajamas until I go to bed.”
“But you’re a big girl now and big girls don’t run around without pajamas,” Linda replied.
“But…..” Jamie started.
“Never mind,” Linda said and smiled at Jamie and thought, “Daddy will handle this when he gets home, after I have a little talk with him. Mike thinks she is cute streaking around the house now, he won’t be so amused in a few years when Jamie gets older and the boys start coming around.”
Linda looked back up at the TV, smiling as she imagined the horrified expression on Mike’s face in the not too distant future when his free spirited teenage daughter has a pajama party with some of her friends and decides she doesn’t need to wear her pajamas until it’s time for bed.
“Mike is in for shock,” Linda grinned as she thought, “when his little girl starts to grow up, she is going to give him nightmares.”
“We will continue to monitor this developing story and inform you as the situation changes,” the reporter announced. “We now send you back to your show which is in progress.”
The TV switched back to the Match Game.
“I like this show,” Jamie said then added, “I wish Daddy was here to watch it with us. Do you think he is watching it at the cabin?”
“No, they don’t have electricity or a TV at the cabin,” Linda answered.
“Can we call him?” Jamie asked. “We can let him listen to the show over the phone with us.”
“No, Daddy needs some peace and quiet,” Linda answered. “Remember we promised not to call him unless it was an emergency.”
“I forgot,” Jamie replied.
Linda smiled as the soggy kitten climbed over her arm.
Chapter 10
May 7th, Fallon Naval Air Station, Fallon Nevada
Rogers and Davis rushed over to where Chervanak sat.
As he hung up the phone, Rogers and Davis spoke almost in unison, “We didn’t mean to listen in on you and the Doc, but did we hear you correctly?” they asked, “Are we being attacked by some Russian biological weapon?”
“It looks like that is what’s happening,” Chervy replied. “When the Airforce screwed up and shot down the Russian satellites, we unleashed their cargo on half of the United States.”
“But how?” Rogers asked. “Shouldn’t it have all been destroyed when the satellites burned up in the atmosphere?”
“According to the Doc, biological organisms change or mutate over time in space,” Chervy replied. “That shit has been up there for thirty years and the Doc said it must have mutated into something that can survive the extreme temperature of a satellites burning up and it has somehow managed to be spread across the U.S. from Chicago to Salt Lake City.”
“We better get some gas masks,” Rogers said.
“What do you think Cherv, should we go find some gas masks?” Davis added.
“I wonder why the Doc didn’t say anything about gas masks?” Rogers asked.
“Good question,” Chervy said.
“Maybe he just has a lot on his mind,” Davis said.
“It could be, he has a lot of sick patients to worry about,” Chervy replied, “But maybe he doesn’t think that gas masks would be effective against this stuff.”
“Don’t you think we should find out?” Rogers asked. “Shit! Do you think we are safe in here? Is the air conditioning unit and the environmental system for the situation room enough for us to be OK in here? This gives me the creeps.”
“Me too,” Davis added.
“I better give the doctor a call and ask him if we should be doing anything to protect ourselves,” Chervy said as he reached for the phone. “The only thing he told me was that when I was off duty was to just stay in my quarters. So hopefully that means we are safe as long as we are inside.
But before he could dial the infirmary, the sound of sirens began to blast around the base.
Rogers and Davis ran over to the door and looked outside.
When they looked out the door, dozens of armed MPs were running towards the infirmary.
“I think something is going on over at the infirmary Cherv,” Rogers called out. “It looks like they have every MP on the base heading that way.”
Chervanak dialed security instead of the infirmary.
The phone rang about ten times, then Chervy heard someone answer, “Martinez.”.
“This is Petty Officer Chervanak,” Chervy said into the phone, “what’s going on?”
“We got a call from one of the nurses over at the infirmary telling us to send a security team,” Martinez replied. “Something about all the patients going insane and trying to kill everyone.”
“Is anyone hurt?” Chervy asked.
“I sent three MPs over to the infirmary figuring that they could handle things,” Martinez answered. “Five minutes later my men called for reinforcements, so I sent another half dozen men. The next thing I knew I got another call saying we were taking heavy casualties. So I sent everyone I had. To tell you the truth, I don’t know what the hell is going on over there. At least I haven’t heard any gun fire coming from that direction.”
“Thanks Martinez,” Chervy said and hung up the phone.
“What’s going on?” Davis asked.
“Security said something about the patients at the infirmary going crazy,” Chervy replied as he got up and headed for the door. “Keep an eye on the monitors, I’ll be back.”
Chervy ran out the door before Rogers and Davis could ask any more questions.
As he began to run, the first thing he noticed was the muffled sounds of people shouting.
Then the smell hit him. It smelled like Roger’s vet office smell, but only now it was worse, even much worse than it was when he visited the infirmary this morning.
Chervy rounded the last building between him and the infirmary.
He stopped and stared at what he saw.
In front of the infirmary were dozens of MPs struggling to get men in hospital gowns under control.
The patients were growling and biting fiercely at the MPs.
Most of the MPs were bloody, with large blood stains on the arms and legs of their uniforms.