by CT Grey
Acknowledgements flooded the channel at the same time as the floodlights filled the football ground with a bright white light. And just as the last shadow fled, a shot rang in the air, followed immediately by a wet smack.
In an instant soldiers ran out from the camp with weapons drawn. They shouted commands to the people in line, who were starting to panic as the growl inside the vehicle become louder and louder. And then I saw a zombie jumping from the wagon, holding a man’s arm in his hand, and I stopped.
I stopped because I recognised the man. He was the very same African I’d taken to the hospital. How he’d not turned into one of the walking dead before this, I couldn’t understand, but there was no doubt that he was one them, judging from a size of the massive hole a heavy sniper rifle round had blown into his torso.
“Shade, move,” the sniper crackled in the radio. “You’re in the firing line.”
As I took two steps left to get behind the wagon, another shot boomed in the air. Then another, and another. With the echoes dying in my ears, I saw the headless African falling on his knees, crashing over his latest victim.
“Tango down,” a sniper announced in the radio, while more soldiers moved closer to the massive African. They didn’t get long to look at the corpse before the camp commander ordered: “Search the vehicle, and make sure there are no more hidden surprises.”
“Shade.” A small, bulky man raised his hand. “Check it out. We’ll cover you.”
“Alright Sarge.” I raised a hand instinctively to the rim of my helmet and moved hesitantly to the back of the vehicle, while the rest of the team formed a semi-circle behind the wagon. Seeing no other option I jumped into the back and pulled a mag-light from my vest. Its beam cast away the rest of the shadows, revealing a police officer groaning on the floor. He was lying in an enlarging puddle of blood, groaning for the loss of his arm that the high-calibre bullet had separated from the shoulder.
Even though part of me wanted to give him first-aid, and another part said to feed on him, I shone the light on other prisoners. They were mostly in a shock, while a few were on the brink of panic; rattling their cage doors, shifting their gaze from me to the soldiers, to the bullet holes that had appeared on the walls.
“It’s all right,” I said. “We’re not going to shoot you.”
“You just did,” a bald man in a black suit and a red tie shouted.
“Well,” I calmed my voice. “Sir, I think you should calm down.”
“Don’t tell me to calm down. You have no right to tell me anything.”
“Really,” I raised a hand over my headset. “Just say a word and you’ll end up headless.”
That worked. The suit sucked it up in the same way as the rest of the prisoners. It didn’t take long before they were all lined up at the back of the vehicle; going through the same procedure I had witnessed before. But this time, the dog went absolutely berserk and started barking at all of them. Maybe it was because the headless African had spread all over the place, or because it sensed fear not only in the line, but also coming from the rest of the population that they’d managed to separate from the infected. Whatever it was, the handler didn’t care, and neither did any of the doctors or their military escorts, as they rounded up whole gang and walked them off to be checked in the tent area.
When the doctors started to gather up in numbers at front of the line, I knew it would only be a matter of time before they found the two bodies inside the tent. I needed to get out of the football ground and fast. And I could already see the sky lighting up at the horizon. In ten minutes, I would be smoking inside the garments.
“Excuse me, Sarge,” I said to the small man. “I need to go to the ladies.”
“Alright,” he said. “Make it quick.”
I saluted to him and then proceeded quickly towards the back of the camp, where I had seen a row of chemical toilets. But as soon as I was at the back of the camp, I started running. Almost immediately, I heard the radio crackling. “Shade.”
I daren’t stop. Not when I was able to see a way out.
“Shade, don’t make me to do this,” the sniper pleaded. Then there was no choice. I heard a shot, felt the buzz and a folding chair exploded next to me. “Stop, because the next one is going to hit you.”
That never arrived as I forced the demon to come out. Within an instant, I was at the edge of the ground, leaping over the boundaries and running up the stairs, where I could see a gap in the wall. The air whooshed in my ears as I leapt and plummeted towards the ground.
*** Henrik ***
“I see,” I said as I picked up another folder from the pile and quickly scanned its automatically-filling content. “You were right. And what you told me makes this so much more interesting.” And that was because what she had revealed about the events in Camp 4 had showed me a completely other side to the event, which had provoked Downing Street to sign liquidation orders on all camps. “Would you excuse me for a moment?”
“Sure,” Jane said even though she had a surprised look on her face. I didn’t let it stop me as I disconnected from the holo-drone and turned around to step out from the cocoon. As I opened the door and stretched my legs, I saw that my action had already stirred the pool in the Tank, as not only was Harry standing in front of it, he was also giving orders to the pool of secretaries to pull out the paper work from the classified executive order number 578.
“Henrik,” Harry said. “They are bringing you a chicken salad from the cafeteria.”
“Thank you Harry,” I said as I followed him into the tank. “But you know I don’t like processed chicken. It’s disgusting. So, no thank you.”
Harry stopped and turned around. “When did you stop liking chicken?”
“Long time ago, Harry. Long time ago.”
He gestured me to take a seat at the other end of the table and said, “What’s on your mind, mate?”
“Her.” I pointed the screen that showed the interview room and its occupants recorded from behind the one way mirror. “If what she’s saying is correct, then I think that order was a bit excessive, to say the least.”
“Lad,” Addison said. “Do you really understand what you’re saying?”
I crossed my fingers, steeled my nerves and said, “Yes. I think it’s completely clear.”
“Thank you,” Harry said from the door. He walked at the other end of the table carrying a bundle of case folders under his arm and a bowl of a chicken salad in his hand. “There Addy, HJ doesn’t want that, so you can have it.”
“Are you sure?” Addison looked at me questioningly from under his furry eyebrows.
“Positive sir,” I said. “I don’t want the chicken and I stand behind what I said. We should have never given that order based on the lack of intelligence.”
“Lack of intel,” Lady Ping laughed. “You are really serious about this, aren’t you?”
Harry started opening the folders, while I gathered my courage together to really say what I was thinking. It wasn’t an easy thing to voice but taking into consideration we had given an order to slaughter a large number of innocent people, I saw no other choice. “Yes, it was wrong.”
“Why?” Lady Ping asked. “Why would you say such a thing?”
I took a deep breath and said, “Ma’am, at the end of the day I have to face my daughter and tell Casey, she cannot go out to play in the fields, or see her aunt, who she loved so much. All because we fucked up. So pardon my language but I think we made a grave mistake when we recommended the PM sign that order. It was not only wrong morally, but also scientifically, in my honest opinion.”
“Scientifically?” Lady Ping looked with disgust on her face. “I can understand the moral bit, but it’s a bit outrageous for you to claim that we didn’t try to understand the mutations in that bloody strain.”
“Did we?” I asked. “Did we really?” I shot a hand in the air. “Those people, they didn’t deserve to die just because we failed to capture two subjects, which could have opened up
a completely new investigative line on why the screamers emerged. You all heard what she said: she killed those two in order to get better, but we already know that she caused a screamer to wake up in the hospital. And that—”
“Now, hold on, laddy,” Addison said. He pointed a fork towards Lady Ping’s softly glowing screen and said, “Would you pull the footage from Camp Four, please?”
“All of it?” Lady Ping asked.
“No, you silly woman,” Addison snarled. “Just the bit from the morning.”
I held my tongue patiently while the Information Chief sucked in the huff and went through the archives, before she smiled and sent requested footage on our screens. It wasn’t an easy thing to watch. Not even when it was shot from high angle. But it made me to realise that in the aftermath of her escape, Camp Four’s security was strained to the limit. Not only had the commanding officer ordered the camp to be searched completely, he’d also given an order to reinforce the perimeter. While the soldiers locked the infected next to already-turned biters, the engineers had started rolling concertina wire around the stadium. And then it happened.
At first, it was hard to see what was going on, as all the medical tents looked pretty much the same, but then it started, with few NBC-suit-wearing medics running out from one of them at high noon. Soon after the soldiers started to rush in, first in pairs, but later on by forming a perimeter line around the large tent, when the first ones didn’t come out. By the look of them waffling around, and getting ready to storm the field-laboratory, it wasn’t easy thing to execute. Nor did I doubt that it’d been any easier for the commander to give the order to bring in a combat-engineer with a flame-throwing kit.
One squirt later, the large tent was on fire. While the thick black smoke billowed towards the sky, the soldiers waited for the occupants to run out, but it didn’t happen until a little later, when whole place was on fire. In a blink of an eye, a human torch ran out. First one went towards the perimeter, to only drop headless few meters later, before the second screamer headed out from another angle, streaking across the field towards the zombie pits.
“Now,” Addison pointed his screen. “Watch.”
I didn’t dare, but what choice did I have but to look, as the walkers went berserk and started pushing the walls down. It didn’t take long before one of the corners buckled and then a whole section fell to the ground, releasing a large number of biters onto the grassy field.
“Did you see that?” Addison asked.
“I did,” I answered vehemently. “But that’s not the point.”
“What is then?” Harry asked, as the shadow brokers turned to watch me. I could feel their optical sensors scanning my every move, every breath, as I opened my mouth and said, “The point is that by scorching the tent, we failed to investigate the only solid lead we would have had, if we could have transported those two to the main research facility.”
“Is that so?” Addison asked. “We failed to transport two bodies that looked like any other freaking corpse out there, just because they were attacked by a vampire. Which we knew nothing about until yesterday. And even if we would have done so. No…” He shook his head. “Just look rest of footage and you’ll see that the whole goddamn place was overrun as soon as the speedos got out. The place was a death trap, and the regiment commander did the right thing by asking the RAF to level the place.”
I frowned. “What you are saying—”
“—is that we made right decision and brought the Intel to the Cabinet,” Harry said. “And in that light the PM made correct choice by shutting down all of them.”
“But—”
“There’s no buts, laddie,” Addison weighed in, “and only now we speculate from hindsight, we could had done so much more, but the truth is, we did our best with what we had in our hands. And the PM made the right choice. There’s no two ways about it. And that’s the end of the line. Yes?”
I shut my mouth. There was no point on trying to argue with them. They had obviously made their minds up and there was no turning back. Not even with all the paperwork in front of them. But what we knew now was that the screamers were an advanced version of normal monsters. Not only were they faster and much more ravenous, they also had an ability to influence the normal ones. And that was what frightened me.
“The truth is,” I said, “we know next to nothing about how the screamers evolve. You cannot deny that, can you?” They didn’t say anything, and that sent cold shivers down my spine. “What we know is that somehow the vampiric virus mixed up with another and produced an offspring that now spreads faster than we can contain it. And when the order was made, we lost our only solid lead on how they came to be—”
“I wouldn’t claim that in your shoes HJ. We still have her.” Addison pointed the screen.
“True,” I nodded. “But it’s also clear that she’s not producing these abominations any longer and all that was once there, has been lost.”
“Do we know that,” Lady Ping asked. “Really?”
I looked her and was getting ready to say yes, when she continued: “No we don’t, and she hasn’t finished her story. And when she has, we’re going to subject her to a full medical examination to get to the bottom of what makes her tick.”
That I could approve, but there was one thing I needed to make sure: “You’re not going to put her under D-notice, are you?”
“That,” Harry said, “is nothing you should be concerned about, Henrik. We appreciate what you do, and what sort of insight you bring in this case, but what happens next is unfortunately above your classification grade.”
“Don’t you think I should know?” I asked, before I even realised how stupid it sounded. Never before had I done anything like that, and in all of the cases I’d interviewed before I’d never formed an emotional bond. What was wrong with me?
“HJ.” Harry stood up. “Would you walk with me?”
“You’re not going to take me off from this case, are you?”
Harry glanced at the observers for a moment and then said, “Just walk with me.” He extended his hand and then placed it on my back as I opened the Tank door. It felt warm, but also as firm as his decision to cut me loose from their inner circle. We stopped just before the back row of operators’ desks and stood there for a moment, watching the military waging a war on the undead on the main screen.
“Henrik,” Harry said. “I know how good you are and I’m sorry I took you away from your daughter at this time, but we needed our best to handle her case. So why don’t you go and pick Casey up from day care, and have the rest of the week off?”
The offer really tempted me, but I couldn’t just walk out. “Who are you…?”
“That is nothing for you to worry about. We can handle this,” Harry said as the C&C Centre door slid open, and the one person I hated passionately walked in, with a big grin on his face.
“Him.” I turned towards Harry. “You cannot let him take over my case.”
“What other choice do I have?” Harry looked me curiously. “Please, tell me.”
“Anyone other than him.” I raised my voice. “Use Addison.”
“Addy?” Harry laughed. “He wouldn’t be able to get out from the telepresenter even if we would manage to get him in there. So, the only real choice I have is Romeo… or you.”
“Me.” I looked down, thinking about my daughter and the four days we could spend together doing whatever we wanted, and we would not have to worry about anything. Not a single thing, while Romeo would get his slimy hands on the case I’d been working from the beginning. “Would you at least give me until the end of the day before you bring him in?”
“HJ,” Harry said. “You are too emotionally attached to the subject.”
“And you think he’s going to do any better?” I shoved my finger in Romeo’s direction, knowing the rumours on how dirty he’d got with the female subjects. “What are you going to do when she has him and his team for the breakfast?”
“She wouldn’t do that.
”
“You know what I know, and that is exactly what she would do, when he steps in her cell to do conduct ‘his’ investigations. Trust me. That is what’s going to happen, if you pull me off this case now.”
“Mister Jackson,” Harry said loudly. “I am not going to allow you to—“
“Watch me.”
***
I simply turned around and left him standing there like a fool. And the only thing that went through my mind was to get into cocoon before he would react in any way. But just as a thought of them stripping the neuro-helmet from my head as the system fed in a lethal dose of electricity, I heard: “Stop him!”
Immediately, a number of control crew turned to watch me, and a couple of close-shaved military types from the front rows stood up and started moving my way. I stopped, raised my hands and then turned around only to see Romeo grinning next to a pissed-off looking Harry. It was all I needed to know. There was nothing they needed to add. I had lost the case and what was going to happen next was none of my concern.
So as I walked past the couple I didn’t say anything. I just kept my head high as I went through the doors with one idea in my mind and that was to get some fresh air. Not the facility’s own supply, but real, fresh air that would taste fresh and not just same old stuff that had been regenerated by machinery somewhere below us. But the problem was that no matter how much I wanted it, that sort of thing wasn’t readily available at the London base, only on the other side.