The Ranger collapsed in a chair, cupping his arm and shaking his bowed helmet from side to side. “It fucking got me, man!”
Beckham pulled back on Apollo’s collar again as the dog growled at the corpse next to Timbo’s feet. Bloody tears streaked down the monster’s collapsed face. There was no question it was infected with the Hemorrhage virus.
Closing his eyes, Beckham sucked in a breath of sour air. Instead of his men watching him turn, he was forced to endure the pain of witnessing one of his own brothers transform into a monster. His eyes snapped back open just as Timbo jolted in the chair.
Chow, Fitz, and Jensen slowly raised their guns. Timbo’s hand slipped away from his injured arm. He glanced down at the exposed muscle and then back up at his team.
“Do it!” Timbo roared.
“Maybe you won’t turn,” Fitz said, looking over at Jensen for support. The lieutenant colonel kept his gaze on the Ranger.
“He already is,” Chow whispered. “Look at him.”
“Wait!” Beckham shouted.
Timbo looked over at him and snorted. “It’s okay, man. I had a good run.” His eyes rolled up into his head then and a stream of blood trickled from his nose. A scream erupted from his mouth and he reached up to claw at his eyes.
Before anyone could react, he batted Chow’s rifle away and shoved him into a wall. Chow crumpled to the ground, his weapon sliding across the floor.
“Timbo, stop!” Beckham yelled a second too late.
Jensen was already firing at the bulky Ranger’s chest. The barrage of rounds cut through Timbo’s flak jacket and tore into his flesh as he charged Chow.
The operator jumped to his feet and kicked Timbo in the chest with such force it sent them both sprawling backward. Timbo crashed into an ops station. Blood gushed from his flak jacket, saturating his fatigues.
Jensen centered his weapon on Timbo but paused. The Ranger tilted his head and narrowed bloodshot eyes at his brothers in turn, stopping on Beckham. Past the crazed look, there was a flicker of sadness that vanished just as Jensen fired and took off the top of Timbo’s skull.
“I’m sorry,” Jensen said, lowering his rifle. “God, I’m so sorry.” He dropped to his knees and sobbed.
The hatch continued rattling, but none of the men were paying attention. In a few hours, the noise would fade away and the infected crewmen would join Timbo, Peters, Rodriguez, and Scottie in death.
The mechanical whir of chopper blades pulled Kate toward the tarmac. She ran after Major Smith as fast as she could in her bulky CBR suit. Ellis trailed her, yelling for her to wait.
“You know what to do if something happens to me,” Kate shouted back. Ellis was a gifted scientist and could continue their work without her if something were to happen. His footfalls faded away and she pushed on, battling the fierce wind from the rotors.
Horn was already at the chopper, decked out in a white CBR suit that fit snuggly around his muscles. He manned a viscerally terrifying machine gun that looked more like a cannon. He reached down and offered a gloved hand to help her inside. She took a seat next to Sergeant Lombardi.
“You sure you want to come?” Horn asked.
Kate simply nodded.
“You’re clear to go!” Smith yelled from the tarmac. He flashed a thumbs up, and ran back to the concrete barriers where Riley and Ellis waited with Horn’s girls. Kate didn’t wave goodbye as the Blackhawk lifted into the sky.
“He’s going to be okay,” Horn said. “Try not to worry.”
Three hours had passed since the aircraft had dropped their payloads. She had assured Smith that most of the people infected with the virus would have bled out by now. He’d reluctantly allowed her to go on the mission, but it had taken some convincing.
And now she was in the air, the water below sparkling in the moonlight. She watched the island become a dot on the horizon and then she turned away, searching the approaching Connecticut shoreline for the Truxtun.
Kate’s earpiece crackled. “ETA two minutes,” the pilot said.
Horn rotated the machine gun, and Lombardi moved to the door with his rifle. Both men were prepared for a fight that Kate hoped they would avoid.
“There she is,” Lombardi said, pointing toward the coast.
Kate followed his fingers to the outline of the destroyer.
“Alpha, Echo 1, do you copy, over?” one of the pilots said.
Jensen responded a moment later. “Copy that, Echo 1. We’re on the bow, waiting for evac.” He sounded defeated, his voice brittle.
The chopper pulled to the left as the pilots prepared to circle the ship. Kate looked over the side as the beach vanished and a road clogged with abandoned vehicles came into focus. Corpses littered the asphalt between the cars. Kate hardly felt anything at all and realized in that moment she’d grown immune to the sight of carnage, something she never thought could happen.
Then she saw two smaller shapes sprawled on the road. Children, she realized. Their clothing flapped in the wind as the chopper passed overhead. A stab of despair ached in Kate’s gut then, reminding her that she was still human after all. She hoped Horn hadn’t seen them but knew he had. Since meeting Beckham and his team, she’d learned these men saw everything.
Kate shifted to the other side of the troop hold. They passed over a ridgeline thick with trees as the pilots circled the Truxtun. Branches whipped back and forth over a single Variant perched on a stump. It watched them pass, tilting its head at an unnatural angle. Horn saw it at the same moment. “Contact!” he yelled.
Lombardi scoped the trees. “We got more than one!”
Kate’s heart pounded as she saw the Variant bolt across the ridge and jump to the road below. Two dozen of the creatures burst from the thick canopy and pursued the leader, their naked bodies clambering toward several figures on the bow of the ship. They must have spotted Beckham and the others, Kate realized.
“Get me into position!” Horn shouted at the pilots.
The Blackhawk changed course with a sharp turn. The high-pitched whine of the heavy machine gun came a second later as Horn fired. Tracer rounds lanced through the darkness and slammed into concrete and cars. The barrage of projectiles splattered the road with body parts. Half of the pack fanned out for cover.
The pilots circled for another pass to finish the job. Two injured Variants crawled across the road, dragging stumps where their legs had been. Horn picked them off and then focused his fire on the more elusive creatures. He mowed down another four on the second pass. A third of the original pack continued toward the Truxtun in a mad dash.
Kate glimpsed four figures and a dog waiting on the deck of the destroyer. As they flew closer, she saw Fitz’s metal blades glistening in the moonlight. Jensen stood to his right and Chow to his left. They all had their weapons pointed toward the bow of the ship. Behind them another man stood watching, his hand holding the collar of a German Shepherd.
“Reed,” Kate whispered. The chopper pulled away and she spied a large body surrounded in blood behind him. Her heart skipped when she saw it was Timbo and then fluttered a second time when she realized the soldiers were trying to bring him back to the island.
The chopper maneuvered for a third pass. The remaining Variants were almost to the destroyer now.
“Kill them, Horn! Hurry!” she yelled.
Horn worked the gun back and forth, sending more of the monsters spinning into the darkness. Two made it through the gunfire. One leapt onto the roof of a minivan and looked up at the chopper, swiping with its claws. Horn centered the gun on the van and fired.
The Variant disappeared in a cloud of red as the rounds ripped through it. The windows shattered and the tires exploded.
The remaining creature galloped across the sand and leapt onto the side of the ship. It skittered up the metal, using its flexible joints and microscopic hairs to climb up the vertical side.
“Stop it!” Kate shouted.
Horn trained his machine gun on the ship just as the crack of
Lombardi’s rifle sounded. Red mist exploded from the monster’s back. It skidded down the metal and fell to the ground.
Kate worked her way back to the edge of the open door as the chopper descended over the ship. Chow and Jensen were dragging Timbo by his boots across the deck, leaving a trail of smeared blood.
“You can’t bring him!” Kate yelled.
“He’s coming with!” Jensen shouted.
“He’s infected!” she shouted back. “His blood puts us all at risk!”
Chow dropped one of Timbo’s boots, but Jensen held on and stared at the Ranger for a few more seconds. Fitz stopped to whisper something and patted Jensen on the shoulder before continuing to the chopper with Chow.
“Help them, Lombardi!” Horn shouted.
The sergeant pulled Kate out of the way and reached out to grab Fitz. The Marine clambered inside and collapsed onto the floor. Chow and Jensen followed, but Beckham hesitated.
“Come on!” Fitz shouted.
Kate reached out to him. “Now, Reed!”
Beckham glanced down at his uniform and then back at Kate. “I have infected blood on me too!”
“But we don’t know if you’re infected,” Kate insisted.
“Move your ass, Beckham!” Horn shouted.
Beckham finally grabbed the dog and carried it toward the chopper. It squirmed in his arms, fighting to get free. The other men took seats at the opposite end of the compartment as Beckham set the dog inside and climbed aboard.
The pilots pulled the bird away from the ship and Kate scooted across the floor to Beckham. He held up a hand and said, “Stay back.”
“No,” Kate said, batting his arm away and sitting next to him. “No more pushing me away. You’re going to be fine, Reed. We’re going to get through this together.”
He offered a weak nod and turned to look out over the Truxtun. Fitz, Chow, and Jensen were all staring at Timbo’s body as the chopper ascended into the sky.
-13-
Fitz wasn’t sure what time it was. Five in the morning? Six? His biological clock had ceased operating after two days of virtually no sleep. That’s all he wanted now—a few wonderful hours of shuteye. The bank of LEDs in his isolation room was far too bright for that. He tried closing his eyes, but the light penetrated his eyelids and every time he came close to sleep, he jerked alert.
“Is this really necessary?” Fitz shouted.
“Yes,” came the muffled voice of Dr. Hill through a speaker. “We have to keep you quarantined until we’re sure you aren’t infected.”
Fitz squirmed against his restraints to see if he could spy Beckham in the adjacent room. The blinding light of the LEDs made it impossible to see through the glass panels. He felt like a rat in a cage.
But that was fine. He knew the blood running through his veins wasn’t infected, and soon enough they’d let him out. It was Beckham he was worried about. The tough son of a bitch had been through the wringer, and it would be a tragedy to lose him now.
“How’s Beckham?” Fitz asked.
“He’s doing just fine,” Hill replied. “So are Jensen and Chow. This is just temporary. I’m sure you guys will be out of here in no time at all. In the meantime, you should try and get some sleep.”
“Maybe if you turn off the lights,” Fitz said.
“I’m sorry,” Hill replied. “The lights are for your protection.”
Fitz was wiggling to get comfortable when he heard the chatter of approaching voices from the hallway. A moment later, the speaker buzzed.
“Fitz, this is Kate. I just got your blood test back. You’re all clear. Hold on one minute and we’ll get you out of there.”
The door creaked open, and relief flooded over Fitz at the confirmation of what he had already known. He wasn’t going to turn into one of those things.
The doctors walked into the room and unclasped his restraints.
“Is Beckham clear, too?” Fitz asked, rubbing his left wrist while Kate worked on unstrapping the belts holding down his blades.
The appearance of her dimples answered his question.
“His tests came back negative. So did Jensen’s and Chow’s,” Kate replied. She offered him a hand as he worked his thighs and prosthetics over the side of the bed.
Fitz exhaled and grabbed her hand. Good news wasn’t something he was used to, but it still did little to relieve the overwhelming weight of the losses on the Truxtun. Timbo, Peters, and Rodriguez—Fitz added their names to the growing pile of dead that was stacked high with his fallen brothers. He hadn’t known Peters or Rodriguez well, but he’d fought with Timbo back at Fort Bragg. Now they were all gone, and there wasn’t even anything left to bury.
“You okay?” Kate whispered.
“Tired as all hell, but I’m fine,” Fitz said. He let out a sad sigh as Kate helped him off the table. He followed the doctors into the hallway, and they gathered outside of Beckham’s room.
“Reed,” Kate said into the comm. “I’m coming in.” She unlocked the door and walked over to his bedside.
Fitz held back and grabbed Hill’s arm when he went to follow Kate.
“Give ‘em a minute, Doc,” Fitz said.
Hill nodded and crossed his arms. Fitz turned to the side, trying to be somewhat discreet as he watched from the other side of the glass. Even in the darkest of moments, seeing them together reminded him of what he was fighting for.
Kate unbuckled Beckham’s straps and helped him sit up. He rubbed his forehead and then cracked his neck from side to side. The white shirt they had given them after decon was stained scarlet over his right collarbone, and his face still showed the yellowish tint of dying bruises and small red cuts. Like so many other warriors, Beckham hadn’t had a chance to heal since the outbreak started.
Fitz couldn’t hear what they were saying, but he didn’t need to. Their body language said it all. Kate brushed a strand of hair from Beckham’s eyes, and he reached out and wrapped his arms around her. Beckham locked eyes with Fitz over Kate’s shoulder.
Fitz smiled at Beckham and said, “Let’s give ‘em some privacy.” He continued down the hall with Hill to Chow’s room. The operator didn’t mutter a single word as they entered.
“You’re clear,” Hill said. “The test came back negative.”
Chow remained silent. He closed his eyes and jerked them open again like he had just woken from a nightmare.
Fitz stopped at Chow’s bedside and reached to unbuckle one of his restraints. “You okay, man?”
“Yeah,” Chow murmured. “I just want to get the hell out of here.” He sat up and ran a hand through his long black hair. “What time is it?”
“Almost 0600,” Hill said. “Just in time for breakfast.”
“Do me a favor, Doc,” Fitz said. “Go inform Jensen he’s okay.”
Hill nodded and left them alone. Chow scooted off the bed and stood. “I’m fine,” he repeated.
Fitz scratched an itch on his ear. “You shouldn’t be. I’m not. How many more of us have to die before it’s over?”
“However many it takes,” Chow said grimly. “You’ve done good. During the attack the other night, on the Truxtun, at Bragg. I’m glad you’re with us, man.”
“Thanks,” was all Fitz could manage to choke out.
“Let’s get out of here,” Chow said. He patted Fitz on the back and strode out into the hallway where Hill was waiting outside Jensen’s door.
“Hold up!” a voice shouted from the other end of the hall. Major Smith jogged down the passage with a pair of Medical Corps guards trailing him. Their footfalls echoed with urgency.
“Major, their tests came back negative,” Hill said.
Smith didn’t respond. He held up a hand, motioning for the guards to stop. Fitz took a step back, his heart racing. Something was about to go down, he could feel it.
“Give me the key,” Smith said. He glanced over at Fitz and gave him a quick up and down. Then he snatched the ring of keys from Hill and unlocked the door.
“About damn time,” Jensen snarled as Smith entered the room. “I need to get back to ops—”
Smith slammed the door shut and approached the lieutenant colonel slowly. Fitz could see the major’s lips moving but still couldn’t hear a damn word. Jensen struggled in his restraints before Smith was done. The major held up a hand to calm him.
“What’s going on?” Beckham asked when he and Kate joined Chow and Fitz outside. Hill had retreated to the other side of the hall, watching curiously.
“Not sure,” Chow said. “But doesn’t look good.”
They watched in silence as Smith finally unbuckled Jensen. Fitz could hear raised voices through the thick glass. A few minutes later, Smith opened the door and Jensen stormed into the hallway.
“Let’s go,” he snapped.
Fitz exchanged an unsure glance with Beckham and then followed. They rushed down the halls of Building 3 in tense silence.
When they got to the lobby, Jensen finally turned and said, “Beckham, Chow, Fitz, get some rest. Kate, I want you back in the lab. General Kennor has decided to take charge of the island. We’ll have a service for the dead at sunset.” With that he swung the doors open and staggered out onto the steps.
Fitz wasn’t sure what to think. Kennor was the four-star general behind Operation Liberty, the man who had ignored Kate’s advice and sacrificed thousands of his brothers and sisters. He trailed Kate and the others onto the stairs outside. They stood there in the quiet of the morning, all of them likely thinking the same thing: things were about to change drastically on Plum Island.
The chatter of voices sounded outside Kate’s room. The familiar sound of Riley and Horn with his daughters put Kate at ease. She relaxed her head on Beckham’s chest and closed her eyes.
Neither of them had said much since they returned to Building 1. They didn’t discuss Operation Liberty, the Truxtun, or General Kennor’s new orders. They simply lay there, taking solace in each other’s company.
The minutes passed by and Kate let them. She would join Ellis in the lab shortly, but for now all that mattered was this.
Extinction Age Page 13