“Doctor the simulation has completed. Would you like me to project the results or summarize them verbally?”
“Both Janet. Put up the raw data on the screen overlaid over the images of the specimens.”
A black window opened on the projected images and filled with data. It looked like hieroglyphs to Butch and Chun but meant something far more important to Joseph as he read them.
“Asclepius seems to slow the Wild Fire infection, but it doesn’t seem to be able to inoculate anyone against the virus. It seems to substantially block the proteins that Wild Fire feeds on in order to infect, but not completely.”
Joseph read over the data more and scratched his chin. He had forgotten that Butch and Chun were in the room with him. Until Chun coughed and stepped up in front, startling him. Joseph flinched and stared at Chun for a second, trying to bring his mind off the problem and onto the man in front of him.
“I am so sorry Chun, I kind of forgot you two were even in the room.”
Chun placed a hand on Joseph’s shoulder. “No worries Doctor. What does all this mean?”
“It means I was close with Asclepius, but not entirely perfect yet,” he slid his attention back to the data.
“Doctor,” Chun patted Joseph’s shoulder, bringing his attention back to him again. “I need you to explain this to me.”
“It means, I have more research to do. I am close, but not completely there.”
“This was a big operation to take Vegas, so you can produce the inoculation. I do not have the resources to hold it. I need to report back to the President and ask for more resources, but he is going to ask for a timeline. What do I say?”
Joseph took off his glasses and polished them on his lab coat as he thought. “This is not a science where I can give you a definite answer. It might be hours, days, heck it could be months.”
“Okay I’m going topside to call the President.”
“You don’t need topside for a call. I have full access right here from the lab,” Joseph turned from Chun and spoke into the air. “Janet, please open a satellite phone connection to this number,” Joseph turned back to Chun and motioned for him to hurry.
Chun gave out the number and waited as Janet linked up to a satellite. “Doctor, how is she gonna talk to the Reagan if they are encrypted, and if the Culling owns all the satellites but our two?”
“The Culling does not have access to my private satellite constellation. For the encryption issue, I wouldn’t worry. Janet has already scanned your comms when she became active. It is a security protocol built into her processes.”
Two rings echoed through the lab when a voice answered.
“Go,” a woman’s voice spoke when the line was answered.
“I need to talk to Elvis,” Chun answered.
“Elvis has left the building.”
Chun caught Butch’s curious look. “Can I speak to Sinatra?”
“Wait one,” the line went quiet, except for the hiss and pops from the encryption.
Joseph went back to studying the data flashing at him from the projection. Butch pulled up a big comfy leather executive chair and plopped down in it, closing his eyes. Chun found another leather chair and moved it over to a desk and sat down, swinging his feet onto the desk and letting out a contented sigh.
A gruff voice came over the line breaking the silence. “Report Chun.”
“We dropping the codes?”
“This is an encrypted channel, I am not too worried. Now report.”
“Well Kuppers, the good Doctor has informed me that his inoculation is not gonna work.”
The line was quiet except for Kuppers’ heavy breathing. “What is the good Doctor’s ETA?”
“He said it could be hours, days, or months.”
“Of course, he did. I have no idea how long we can hold Vegas.”
“Chun has already informed me of this information, Kuppers. Unfortunately, I need this lab and computers in order to have a chance to perfect Asclepius.” Joseph butted in.
There was a beat before Kuppers spoke again. “Asclepius, the ancient Greek God of medicine. I approve of the name. Doctor, we do not have an exhaustive supply of resources to hold that city.”
“Then don’t, nobody can break into my lab, even if they knew it was here. I would suggest pulling your people out and release the zombies from the pits. That should slow down Ridder, maybe make it too difficult for them to even think of it.”
“That kind of makes sense, Kuppers,” Butch growled from his comfy chair.
“I agree, but I need you and Aces for other missions. Send that little pain in the ass blonde FBI Agent and one of her teams down there to protect the Doctor.”
“Oh. She is gonna love babysitting duty,” Chun rolled his eyes.
“Tell her I said it was an order. If she doesn’t like it, she can deal with me after the Doctor has finished Asclepius. I am sending in some C-130s for extraction to take everyone out. I want Ridder to see us leave.”
“Aye, aye.”
“Anything else for me?”
“Where are you sending Aces next?”
“I have some stuff going on here and need to hide you for a bit. I am sending you out to a small base and then eventually back to the Reagan.”
“Sounds good, Butch has been missing his little Pauline.”
“Maybe he can get her to take a break and stop bossing everyone around.”
“I will try my best sir,” Butch interrupted.
“Be at the airport in seven hours, Reagan out.” The line died.
The Queen of what?
Doc entered into the cave with his night vision goggles flipped down over his eyes. I followed him but stopped and dropped to my knee checking out the blacked out, heavily customized 2012 Harley Davidson FLHR Road King motorcycle. Doc stood a couple of feet inside the cave, surveying the tunnel as far as his sight would permit. I came up to him, powering on my night vision goggles, as we moved on side by side. This entire mission had been pretty much zombie-free, since Nunzio and Kot detoured them away.
We continued on slowly till Doc put his hand out to me. I stopped and turned in a slow circle as I went to my knees. Nothing followed us down the tunnel, Doc tapped the barrel of my gun and brought my attention down to a thin line threaded across the ground. I traced the line back and found an alarm set with three cans filled with marbles. Doc followed the line to the other side of the cave and found it tied to three more cans filled with marbles. I was pretty sure these cans were for alerting the guards at the entrance of the cave to any zombies inside.
As I removed the cans, a though hit me. I pulled a flashbang from my vest and showed it to Doc. He nodded his head enthusiastically. I moved the line slightly higher than where it had been and tied the grenade into it. If anyone came at us from behind, this grenade would warn us and probably incapacitate the intruder. We continued on, only to stop at each intersection we came to. I kept the map in my head that led us to Morley’s cabin, but it was extremely difficult to keep my bearings so far underground. I was about to give up and turn back to explore the other side tunnels, when a ladder came into view. Doc moved up the tunnel past the ladder for another hundred yards, before coming back to me. While he was gone, I examined the ladder carefully for trip wires or alarms. Finding none I climbed up the first three rungs and examined the wooden hatch above. It had a no latch that I could find. I took out my Kabar and slid it slowly into the openings surrounding the hatch. I didn’t push high, I stopped at one inch and moved the blade around the perimeter, looking again for trip wires, alarms, and a latch. Again. finding none, I put the blade back into its sheath and tested the hatch. It moved freely up, I stopped at half an inch and put it back down. I looked down to Doc and showed him three fingers. He nodded his understanding and stepped up on the first rung of the ladder to keep it steady for me.
I counted to three in my head and put my back and shoulder to the hatch. I pushed slowly and lifted it about two inches, till a dim light broke throug
h. I looked through the gap and found nothing that was alarming. I pushed harder and opened it all the way to its stop points. I moved, quickly and quietly into the room and three steps away from the hole. Doc appeared behind me and we took our time looking around the bedroom we were in. It had a body on the bed, a diminutive LED camping lantern on the table next to the bed was switched on providing light to the room. Doc looked to me and was about to remove his knife. I shook my head no and tossed him a pair of zip ties. I examined the body and decided it was a young woman, I cut a swatch of the sheet and pulled some paracord out of my pack and cut off a small length. I reached down with a balled-up swath of cloth and shoved it into the quickly wakening woman’s mouth. I used the paracord to wrap around her head and secure the ball of cloth in her mouth, as Doc zip-tied her to the bed.
Once done, we moved to the doorway to the room. I tested the doorknob and was surprised to find it locked. That meant the poor woman on the bed was a prisoner. I looked back to Doc, who moved around me opening one of his vest pockets. He removed a small pouch and unzipped it, exposing a set of lock picks. He made quick work defeating the lock and slid back to his place behind me. I turned the knob and opened the door a crack and put my eye to it. I had to turn off my night vision goggles, due to all the light in the cabin. Seeing nothing in the hallway I slipped out and hugged a wall. Doc came out and looked down the other side of the hallway that ended in a door.
Doc moved off while I held our position. He checked the last door and found it unlocked. He opened it and cleared the small primitive bathroom and came back out. Together we inched down to the last door in the small hallway, before we came to the kitchen or common room at the end. I tested the doorknob and found it locked. Doc worked on unlocking it, as I guarded our precarious position. He opened the door and rushed in, as I backed into the room and closed the door. When I turned, I found two men and one woman in a bed. Doc had them covered with his rifle and looked very mad. I paid a little more attention and found the men had to be in their thirties and the woman, if you could call her that, was barely pushing fourteen. Tears stained her face and her hair was a wild mess. Bruises covered her small budding chest and face. I lost it and strode forward quickly, eating up the four feet to the bed. I grabbed one man, dragged him from the bed, and tossed him to Doc. The young girl jumped from bed and hid behind my legs, giving me clear access to the last man. This guy looked like an overweight office worker, except for the large drooping mustache. I reached down and wrapped my hand around his throat, before he could yell a warning. I squeezed my hand, cutting off his air and flexed my bicep, bringing the man out of the bed and into the air. His toes barely scraped the floor as his hands, tried to find a way to loosen the grip of my hands. As his face started to turn blue, he switched tactics and started punching my chest and arms. When I had enough of his shit, I brought my left hand up in a fast punch, connecting with his twig and berries. I would normally pull my punch but fuck this pedophile rapist piece of shit. I let him have my full attention and strength. I heard the crack of his pelvis as my fist stopped when it met bone. His eyes rolled back in his head and I tossed him back on the bed. I wasn’t sure if he was dead, but at the least he was out of commission and comatose at the moment.
I turned to take on the next man only to find Doc calmly chewing gum, his prisoner on his knees trussed up with paracord like a prized calf. I wanted to rain pain down on this man too when Doc gave me a wink. He used the tip of his boot to push the man onto his back. A big bloody gaping hole existed in the place of the man’s manhood. Doc had cut the entire offending appendage off and stuffed them into the man’s mouth. We turned to check on the young woman. She was definitely in shock and trying to cover her little body with her hands. I turned Doc around and retrieved his emergency mylar blanket, the kind that looked like shiny thick foil. I shook it open and handed it to the young woman and turned my back allowing her to wrap herself in it. Doc stood next to me, eyes tight on the curtains over the window. He was barely holding in his anger, his right hand shaking with rage.
“You can turn around now,” the young woman said in a whisper. We turned as one and the young lady stepped forward and smiled up to us with tears in her eyes. “Are they dead?”
“If they aren’t already in hell, they will be very soon. No one will ever hurt you again, if I have anything to say about it honey,” Doc answered her.
“They have been hurting me and doing things to me for the last two days. They were also hurting my older sister next door in the other room.”
“Doc take her to the next room and help her sister. I am going to check the rest of the cabin.”
He nodded okay and led the young woman out into the hallway, and into the next room to untie her sister and reunite them. I slipped into the hallway and worked my way to the common room. A big LED TV hung on the wall connected to an Xbox. Two dirty green couches sat in an L position. No one was in the room. The kitchen was on the other side of a small wall which I could not see from my position. I would have to move laterally to see into the kitchen, exposing myself to anyone who might be in there. I had another flashbang left in my vest, but didn’t want to use it, in case the kitchen was empty. I would also have alerted half the camp with the device. I brought my SCAR-H to my shoulder and stepped into the common room and moved three steps back. The kitchen was now in front of me and all I had to do was continue stepping to the side to see the kitchen little by little without exposing myself to the entire room.
I moved silently foot over foot, my legs crossed and then uncrossed. I found two men sitting at a table playing cards. I kept moving till I could see the entire room. I counted five men sitting around the table, two young girls on the floor with dog collars and leashes attached to them. One looked up and saw me. I shook my head slightly and she dropped her head and closed her eyes tightly. I instinctively acted on my training, discipline, and fired quick spaced shots into the room, hitting each man's head, back, and chest. Doc came down the hallway and entered the kitchen securing the room. I made my way in and freed the young women.
“Follow my friend, he is going to take you to the other two girls,” I spoke quietly.
The girl who had witnessed me before I shot, came up to me and hugged my waist tightly, tears pouring down her face. “Thank you, my little brother is on the front porch with one of these pieces of trash. Please save and protect him.”
I patted her back and nodded my head. Doc took them down the hallway as I walked up to the closed front door of the cabin. I changed out my magazine and glanced out the little window in the door. I caught movement to my right, where a skinny dirty Mexican with a beard smacked a young boy on his lap. I moved my head and found Morley at the bottom of the stairs, talking to the other men who stood around guarding the front of the cabin. I had no idea how we we’re going to get outside without being seen or engaged. Doc came up to my side and I gave him a turn at the window. He watched for a while and turned to me with a smile on his face.
“What the fuck are you smiling about? We are trapped in here.”
Doc rolled his eyes and pointed to a ladder to a small hatch in the cabin’s ceiling. “I’ll go up and find me a nice little sniping position. I will fire when I am ready, giving them something to focus on, while your gorilla-like form busts out the door and takes out the guy on the porch, along with that dumbass biker.”
I thought out his plan and hunched my shoulders. “I guess that is all we have.”
Doc climbed the ladder and disappeared out the hatch. I sat at the door controlling my breathing and getting a sight picture in my head of the Mexican guy on the porch. I was reaching out for the doorknob when it turned, and the door started to open. I took a step back and in walked Morley with two big men behind him. I dropped my SCAR-H and pulled my pistol, and just as I was about to shoot, Morley moved supernaturally fast, throwing his arm up, knocking my aim off. I triggered two shots off, both hitting the far man next to Morley. I was pushed back by two hands in my chest. Not many pe
ople have enough strength to do that, but I realized Morley was close to my size now that I was next to him.
I backpedaled quickly as Morley grabbed the other guard and pushed him at me. The man knocked my gun out of my hand as he crashed into me. I brought my hands up and slapped them against his ears, hopefully blowing his eardrums and taking away his balance. I shot my head forward, dropping my head and crushing his nose flat against his face, pulverizing the cartilage. His blood splashed onto my helmet. I rocked my head upward and pushed with all my strength, knocking the man back at Morley, who had stood there watching us instead of taking the advantage to escape. Morley caught the guard and pushed him against the far wall, where he crumpled to the floor in a heap. Shouts and shots mingled together from outside, as my earpiece came alive.
“Sasquatch, I am on the roof trying to neutralize the guards outside. They are trying to make it to the house, but I keep popping them. I expect they are gonna be concentrating their fire on me soon…” he was interrupted with chatter of automatic fire. “Shit, that sucked boy, I need to ventilate some people, be right back,” he went off the air, but I could hear him continue firing from up above.
Morley moved to his left, trying to circle around to a better position to attack me. My SCAR hung on its sling and I thought about bringing it up. The problem was Morley was unarmed and believe it or not, a bullet was not going to be able to teach him a big enough lesson in pain for his actions. I unslung the SCAR and removed the magazine, sticking it in my vest, I triggered the round in the chamber onto the floor and dropped the SCAR-H on a table. Morley gave me a wicked smile and reached behind his back, drawing it back out with a large knife.
Zombie Theorem: Dark Times Book Five Page 23