The Living Dead Series (Book 2): World Without End

by L. I. Albemont

  “How are you going to test for that? Wouldn’t you have to operate?”

  “Whatever we do will be as minimally invasive as possible. Needle biopsies, scrapings using a scope. Don’t worry. She is very important to us.”

  “She is more important to me. What if I told you I’m going to take my entire family, including my wife, and leave tomorrow afternoon? What if a helicopter is scheduled to do a fly-over of the CDC and this was our last chance to get south?”

  The doctor finally looked up at him. She was a small woman but her assurance and air of authority made her seem bigger. She stepped closer, almost touching his chest. Ian looked down, noticing the make-up caked in the fine wrinkles around her slightly bloodshot eyes.

  “If those hypothetical situations were true then I would tell you that we will not let your wife go until we have everything from her that we need. She’ll be tested, analyzed, turned inside out if that’s what we need to do. This is not about personal freedoms, it’s about the greater good. If you want to take the rest of your family and leave you are welcome to do so but she is not going anywhere until we say so.”

  Ian was momentarily speechless, unable to believe what he just heard. Dr. Osawy turned away and spoke to the soldier keeping watch outside the room.

  “Corporal, No one is to visit the patient without verbal permission from me. That includes family members.”

  She turned back to Ian. “It’s going to be easier on her if you cooperate. Peace of mind and a positive attitude can make a big difference when a patient is recovering. We really do want her to get better, Mr. Dare, and we’re not monsters here. Nevertheless, she is still a means to an end.”

  “What do you want from her?” He spoke through clenched teeth.

  “Only what you would expect. At best a means to create a vaccine or antidote, at least a clue to point us in that direction. We still believe that, given a little time, her immune system will mount an antibody response. That would be of benefit to millions. If you can play along I have no problem with letting you and the children back in to see her. I want her happy. We are trying to save the human race, Mr. Dare, and right now we’re losing.”

  She made a few more notes on the chart she held and then left without speaking to him again. Ian contemplated shooting the guard and snatching his wife but realized he wouldn’t get very far. He needed a plan and he would need help.

  He left to look for David Chambord.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Before he got to the end of the hallway a soldier, the blond giant he had seen sent out on various reconnaissance squads, pulled him aside. The man looked uncomfortable but determined to tell him something. He looked around before pulling Ian into one of the empty offices.

  He spoke in a low tone. “You need to get your wife out of here soon if you can. This is not a doctor who hands out lollipops when she’s done with you.”

  Ian asked, “What happens when she’s done with you?”

  “The stuff I’ve seen, the experiments… she’ll try anything. The infected are not human to her, I’m not sure we’re human to her. Once she gets everything she thinks they need they’ll flay their patient alive. I’ve seen it happen.”

  “Can you help me get her out?” Ian asked.

  The soldier hesitated. “I can’t make any promises. The timing is-”

  He broke off. Beatrice and her brother walked by and seeing them in the office, stopped. Ian noticed that her usually clear, green eyes had violet shadows underneath and her hands, balled into fists, were stuffed deep into the pockets of her jeans. Both she and her brother wore the same wrinkled clothes they wore every time he saw them and the boy had on a pair of cloth tennis shoes that had seen better days.

  “Ian? How is your wife?” Bea asked in a low tone. She gave the soldier a quick look before turning back to Ian. She seemed to want the soldier to go away but he didn’t leave.

  “Better. Not completely out of the woods but better.” He had no intention of telling her the whole story and really wished she would leave so he could talk to the soldier.

  “That’s good to hear. I need to ask you something. I need to see if…” She trailed off then glanced at the soldier again and seemed to make up her mind. “Tell them, Brian.”

  Reluctantly Brian told them about the Potomac. Ian asked the same questions Bea had and Brian grew frustrated.

  “There’s no way to know how soon it’s coming. I just know the river is gone and that’s a clue.”

  “It’s not that surprising given what’s been going on in the Caribbean. There was a good-sized earthquake swarm down there a week before the big one hit and there was a small swarm in South Carolina just a few days ago. You can’t always feel them. We could have easily had little ones here. Almost no one’s been paying a whole lot of attention to the data from the USGS lately.” The creases in the soldier’s forehead deepened as he spoke.

  Bea asked him, “What will an earthquake do to this shelter?”

  “I don’t know. It might be okay but it was built a long time ago. The biggest problem I see is the surrounding terrain. Large parts of the District of Columbia were built over marshy areas and diverted rivers. A lot of the land here is fill land, wet areas that were built up with rocks, soil, sand or other debris. In a landscape like this, when an earthquake hits, the problem is-”

  “Liquefaction.” Brian said almost in a whisper.

  “Exactly. The ground shakes so violently that the soil itself becomes liquid. Cars, buildings, streets, and yes, bomb shelters can be swallowed up in just a few seconds.”

  Again Bea felt the weight of the earth above and around them as if it were pressing in on her. She hated being trapped in enclosed spaces. If an earthquake was coming she would rather be out in the streets, trying to escape instead of being buried alive in here.

  “You know,” the soldier said reflectively, “When I was out last night running some wires through a weakened part of the fence there was quite a light show in the sky. I’d never seen anything like it before. It made me think of the Northern Lights you sometimes see near the magnetic pole.”

  “They might be earthquake lights. Scientists wouldn’t admit they were real until they were finally photographed in the 1960’s before and during a series of earthquake swarms in Japan.” Brian said. “I want to see them. Can I go with you if you go back out tonight?”

  “Absolutely not.” Bea said. “So that’s another indicator?”

  “Sounds like it. I wonder who else knows this. Maybe we should speed up the evacuation and get out before everything hits.” Ian looked really worried now.

  “That’s why we wanted to talk to someone. I know you guys are getting ready to evacuate (the soldier nodded) and you are leaving too, Ian. Is there any way that Brian and I can catch a ride out of the city?” Bea said.

  “Let me talk to David. I think they’ll take you when they leave-”

  The soldier interrupted him. “Not necessarily. We know it’s soon but we’re waiting for the final roster sheet. We’re breaking up into smaller groups. Some go to Cheyenne-, I never said that.”

  “I think it’s safe to say that Cheyenne Mountain is an open secret. We’ve all been to the movies.” Bea said.

  “Regardless, the situation is fluid. Every shelter and command center we have is under attack and most, like Quantico, we have simply lost. The virus multiplied so quickly and we didn’t understand that to start with which meant our ranks were easily infiltrated and ripped to shreds.

  The day the announcement was made the commissary was jam-packed with everyone stocking up on food and supplies. Fights broke out, especially over infant formula and diapers.

  Early in the afternoon we closed the barricades around the base and doubled patrols around the perimeter but of course the virus was already inside with us. No one knows who or where exactly but the first contact I had with it came from a domestic complaint call in the old section for married housing. I had pulled MP duty that day with my buddy, Paul. The milita
ry is really good now about offering counseling for families that need it but still we get called to our fair share of domestic violence scenes and this one seemed pretty routine when the call came in.

  Pretty routine until we got there. The neighbor who called it in was outside waiting for us to show up. She said the screams had stopped but no one had emerged from the house and they weren’t answering the phone. She had seen the family the day before at a hockey game over near Dale City. Both families had boys playing in this particular league and it had been a routine game except that the ten year old had been bitten by a player on the opposing team. She said she knew for a fact that her neighbor had taken her son to the ER to have the wound cleaned and dressed and apparently the attending physician gave the boy a tetanus shot as well. The husband had been deployed to Afghanistan two months ago. That was a new piece of information.

  Of course everyone had seen the announcement by then and it was pretty obvious what the woman was thinking even though she didn’t come right out and say it. My buddy called for medical back-up but went ahead and tried to rouse the family. We got no response. A blue minivan was parked in the driveway and had those sticker families on it showing a Mom, a Dad, two kids, a cat and a dog.

  A little wooden plaque by the door read ‘The Bryants’. A sandbox in the shape of a turtle had tipped over, spilling sand across the walkway leading to the door. Plastic shovels and sand buckets littered the yard. We tried the door and found it unlocked. Even before we went in we could smell it. A thick, cloying smell of decay like road kill on a hot summer day.

  The boy came at us as soon as we let the door close. It was dark in there and our eyes hadn’t adjusted yet so it was like he came out of nowhere. He latched on to Paul’s leg and bit through his trousers before Paul could shake him off. Neither of us wanted to hurt him, I mean who wants to use deadly force on a child? But the kid kept coming and pretty soon his little sister, organs blooming out of her abdomen and lips chewed off, joined him. Both children were emitting a sort of high-pitched gibbering. She managed to bite Paul on the ankle and he screamed and shook her off, unintentionally throwing her up against a set of tall bookshelves that tipped over on her. Only her legs were visible now and they soon stopped moving.

  In the meantime I had the boy on the floor with my knee in his back, cuffing him. That kid was strong and never stopped trying to bite me. I found a dishtowel in the kitchen and gagged him.

  We found the mom in the bathtub, brains splashed against the tile, gun still in a limp hand. She left a note telling her husband how sorry she was and having failed to protect her children, decided to join them in death. Her arms and hands were covered with bite marks from small mouths.

  The medics showed up about then and transported the boy to the Navy hospital. I didn’t have time to follow up but I’m assuming they put him in some type of quarantine. They took Paul too and I never saw him again.”

  “So they transferred you over here?” Bea asked. “What happened to the base?”

  “It’s theirs now. Dear God, you should see some of the barracks. Entire platoons went to bed and were never seen alive again. We chained the doors so they couldn’t get out and then we left.” His eyes looked haunted with loss and grief.

  “So with so many losses you should be able to make room for two people?” Bea pleaded.

  “It’s not that simple. We lost pilots too. That leaves us with only a few to fly us out of here now but I’ll help you if I can. I’ve got duty this afternoon so if you’ll excuse me.”

  He left and Bea tried to feel optimistic but it was a struggle. Brian wandered off to look for breakfast, leaving her alone with Ian. He was looking at her as if evaluating her and Bea was embarrassed. She knew she and Brian needed more clothes but almost everyone was looking a little disheveled if not actually dirty these days. Did he think she had walked across a dead-infested city with a full suitcase?

  He spoke. “Bea, if I could get you and Brian a ride as far as West Virginia, would you consider doing me a huge favor? It would be dangerous but we both know we have to get out of here now.”

  “How dangerous? Would it involve Brian being in danger? I can’t-”

  “I want you to pretend to be my wife this afternoon. Do you own a hat?”

  “Um. Yes.”

  “Good. Here’s what I’m thinking.”

  The plan, once Ian outlined it and then fleshed it out, was simple enough. He was going in to see his wife and Bea and the children would go in with him. Once there, she would change clothes with Virginia and take her place in the infirmary. Ian would then catch the chopper going south and would take Brian with them. There was a refueling stop in Bluefield, West Virginia and he would be sure that Brian stayed there in safety while waiting for Bea who should arrive a few hours after that once she got out on the next helicopter this evening.

  “What if they notice the switch?”

  “That is the biggest possible failure point and if it happens we’re screwed. I’m hoping the doctor will buy my ‘I’ll be a good boy’ act and not feel she needs to monitor the visit. The guards are posted outside the room so I’m hoping they’re not that familiar with my wife’s face. There are probably more weak spots in the plan since I just came up with it but I think it will work. You’re close to the same size otherwise I wouldn’t even try it.”

  Bea refused to think about how angry the doctor and others would be when they found that their patient had flown the coop but she doubted they would do anything to her. While they had never been especially friendly, they had allowed them to stay. The main thing was that she was getting Brian out of here. If they could just find someplace safe to go after that.

  Ian left, looking for David to iron out flight details, and Brian came back with somewhat stale bagels, a pat of butter and orange juice. While she ate she explained everything. Initially he didn’t want to go but she persuaded him that this was their best shot at escaping the city. He was still sullen and for some reason he thought that she was treating him like a baby since she wanted him to leave with the other children.

  “Brian, you’ll be armed with a revolver. I don’t think that’s exactly the way most people care for their babies. Or at least I hope they don’t.” She said dryly.

  That cheered him up immensely and he was soon playing on David’s computer and trying to break into his protected files. She left him to it and continued searching offices and closets for shoes, certain he couldn’t break into any sensitive information but she was wrong.

  “Bea, I got into the Z file! Come and read this.” He was so excited he practically pulled her down the hall.

  The famous Marco Polo, along with his father and uncle, spent much of his life among the Mongols and Chinese and his tales of his travels were initially disbelieved by his fellow Venetians. It is believed by modern scholars that he did embroider the facts somewhat to make his tales more sensational but there was at least a kernel of truth in the heart of most of his stories. His notes give an interesting account of a city called Sharhr-i-Gholghola known variously as the Silent City, the City of Screams, or simply the Cursed City. According to the renowned traveler,

  “The inhabitants of this City were practitioners of the abominable art of ‘soul collecting’ in which they murdered unsuspecting travelers after offering them succor for the night in their houses. Poison was placed into their skin by means of a small cut and a hollow reed and thus they brought about many deaths. This they did in quest of the great power they would gain by keeping these souls within their houses. The dead but still animated bodies of the unfortunate travelers were then released leagues away into the desert where they were sometimes seen wandering by the occasional traveler, many of whom reported vicious attacks by the soulless wanderers. They were said to be eaters of men.

  Stories of this reached the son* of the Great Khan and he rightly determined to put an end to the practice of such a great evil. Dispatching one hundred thousand troops (Polo almost without a doubt exaggerated the number h
ere) he caused the inhabitants of the Cursed City, man, woman, and child to be marched into the desert and having divided them by the hundreds put them to the sword in the usual way.

  The stones of the houses and walls were knocked down, freeing any possible souls trapped inside. Not even the plants were allowed to survive. Despite this, legends of roaming bands of deranged wanderers persist in the region to this day and wayfarers proceed with caution on their journeys, always posting enhanced watches over their encampments.

  Polo claimed to have been shown the ruins of a town of elevated structures approachable by only one path in order to guard against the cannibalistic wanderers. His guide remarked on the foolishness of anyone trying to gain advantage by creating such abominations. No one could hope to control a disease that spread as quickly as this one.

  *Tolui, who otherwise spent his time busily drinking himself to death, was the son of the famous Genghis Khan and the father of Polo’s patron Kublai Khan.

  There were more documents; one having something to do with a Marine expedition and another concerning the memoirs of a late 15th century Portuguese missionary. She remembered David mentioning those back in Sylvie’s apartment. They were longer and she didn’t want to be caught snooping so she made Brian get out of the file.

  The heat in the facility was out; no one was sure when or if it would come back on. Bea took Brian with her and they spent the rest of the morning rummaging through every office they could get into and this time they found folded neatly inside a filing cabinet a musty, dusty set of clothes, desert-toned camouflage complete with a tee shirt and very sturdy, lace-up combat boots. From the size of them she suspected they were for a woman but she didn’t tell Brian that. Once they laced them tightly around the ankles they did just fine. Bea took the rest of the outfit with her. She would need something other than a hospital gown for later.

  At noon they wandered back to the break room and ate lunch.