by Roger Hayden
Dr. Costa seemed perturbed. “Just what exactly are you talking about?”
Dr. Kagan leaned in even closer. “There’s talk of an uprising. We need to be on the right side of this.”
Costa stared ahead, trying to contemplate what he was being told.
"Just stay out of their way," Dr. Kagan added. "That’s what we need to do."
***
Specialist Santos escorted Hodder down the long hall past empty offices and plaques and military photos affixed along the walls. Major Greene's office was located at the end corner and across from it, on the right, was the Tactical Operations Center or TOC. Always busy, the TOC functioned as a hub of communications between Base 42 and various governmental agencies and departments, such as the Pentagon and the CDC. Major Greene was always in the TOC, constantly asking for more support and more resources. However, the idea of support seemed less and less likely with each passing week.
As Hodder and Santos reached the entrance to the TOC, Santos looked up and told him to wait. A large RESTRICTED ENTRY sign was posted on the metal double doors. Bill took a step back and waited as Santos punched in some numbers on a nearby keypad and entered the room.
Inside, there were flat screens attached to the wall displaying a map of the U.S. with infected areas colored in bright red. All of Nevada, some of California, some of Texas, and nearly all of Florida were in the red.
Numbers scrolled on another screen, displaying the number of infected in the millions, and those presumed dead in the hundreds of thousands. Another screen ran a news ticker detailing the pandemonium occurring across the country as a result of the outbreak.
There were three other soldiers in the room, all manning the phones—a captain, a lieutenant, and a sergeant. Major Greene stood in the center of the room monitoring the screens. A large cup of coffee sat on the table next to him.
"Tell 'em we need them to airlift support pronto. We got a crisis at this base, and I don't know how much longer we can hold out!" Major Greene said gruffly to the sergeant holding one of the phones.
Greene was a tall, bulky man nearing his sixties but seemingly unfazed by aging. He was in better shape than most of the soldiers at the base half his age. He had a thick white mustache, as if he were an old-time cowboy. The persona was certainly there, typical for a military man who had permanent residence in Sun Valley.
There seemed to be a lot of commotion in the room, and no one immediately took notice of Santos walking slowly toward the Major as he suddenly turned around.
"Santos! What the hell are you doing in here? Can't you see we're busy?"
"Yes, Sir. I know, but—"
Greene wasn't finished. "And how did you get in? This is a restricted area!"
"I have security clearance, Sir. They gave me a PIN."
Greene scoffed. "Well, we're gonna hafta change that real quickly. It's sergeant and above in here."
"Yes, Sir."
The three other soldiers remained on landline phones, not turning around to see what the major was griping about.
"So what is it? We gotta crisis on our hands and you’re distracting me! Spit it out!"
"Sir. Um. Bill Hodder is with me, and he wants to speak with you."
Greene took a step back, surprised. "Hodder? What the hell does that silver-spoon baby want to talk to me about? I don't have any time for his shit right now!"
Santos leaned in closer, shifting around nervously while trying to keep his voice down. "It's important, Sir. There's talk of an uprising."
Greene tilted his head and gave Santos a look. "Uprising? By whom? The Ebola patients?"
Santos was almost whispering. "No, Sir. The civilians on base. The healthy ones."
Greene backed away, disinterested. "Look, tell Hodder to go pound dirt. I don't have time for this happy horseshit right now. I got people dyin' left and right. You're dismissed, Santos.”
"But—"
"I said you’re dismissed!" Greene shouted, causing the other soldiers to turn around at last and look. Santos felt humiliated. Defiant, he remained and spoke loudly. "It's about last night, Sir. The dead civilians. Word is getting out."
Greene squinted and twisted the corners of his mouth to one side. It was clear that Santos had got to him.
"You tell Hodder..." he stated in a slow and baritone voice, "...tell him to wait in my office."
"Yes, Sir," Santos said. He scurried out of the room as the team inside went back to their business. Once the doors closed, Greene let out a big, exhausted sigh.
***
Hodder stood against the wall across from the entrance as Santos came out. "He said to wait in his office and that he'll be with you in a minute."
"Very well," Hodder said. He pushed the door open to Major Greene's office right next to where he was standing and began to walk inside. Suddenly, he stopped and turned to Santos. "Just wait outside and be ready for the signal."
"Wait, what signal?" Santos asked.
Without response, Hodder walked inside and shut the door. The office was decked out with military plaques and awards from Major Greene's long, distinguished career. He had a glass display case with miniature figurines, military coins, and numerous other items from his travels and deployments.
Hodder had a strange contempt for the military, even though his own father was a high-ranking Air Force general. He had spent half his childhood moving from military base to military base and had always found it difficult to adjust. His father thought his anti-social behavior was a weakness. Hodder had gone into politics to prove many things: he was able to show his father that he could connect with people and be accepted by them. He could also manipulate and control them.
Despite obtaining his law degree, starting a legal practice, running for office and becoming a Senator, his career was dwarfed by his father’s, who had a high-ranking position at the Pentagon. For a moment, his mind drifted back to the bad things: the disappearance of his first wife, that thing with his young female intern and the subsequent trial where he was eventually acquitted. His political career hadn’t survived and his father disowned him, just like that. But even after his father’s passing, Hodder still felt like he had something to prove.
Major Greene’s large mahogany desk sat squarely in the middle of the room with two vinyl-covered chairs in front of it and one vinyl swivel chair behind it. The window behind the desk let plenty of light into the room, with the curtains drawn aside and the sun rising.
Hodder leaned against one of the chairs and scanned the room. He patted his jacket pocket for reassurance and felt something metallic and thick, on-hand just in case.
The door opened and Major Greene walked in, going straight to his desk. "Mr. Hodder, what’s on your mind?"
"Good morning, Major."
Major Greene told Hodder to sit as he walked around to his desk and sat in his oversize chair. The major seemed preoccupied and overworked. He began scribbling something onto a notepad, then threw the pen across the room, cursing. Apparently the pen had stopped working. He regained his composure, looked up at Hodder, and folded his arms.
"To what do I owe the extreme pleasure of this early morning visit?"
"Thank you for your time. There's some very important matters that we need to discuss."
"You don't say?" Greene said, tilting his head.
"Absolutely. The question is, where do we start?"
Major Greene looked flummoxed. His face appeared to turn red as he looked at his watch. "Santos said that you wanted to discuss last night."
"Sure," Hodder said, nearly smiling. "Let's start there. Who gave the order to massacre those civilians?"
Greene immediately put his hand out. "I'm gonna have to stop you there. Those civilians weren't shot for target practice. We were trying to protect the base. It was a hard decision. A tragic one. But none of those civilians had been in-processed."
"So you gave permission?"
Major Greene shook his head as his voice rose. "No, I didn't. It was my sergeant of the g
uard, and I completely back him up on this one. The soldiers were behaving within protocol and the rules of engagement as far as I'm concerned."
"I think that's disputable," Bill said.
Greene lunged forward, as if ready to attack him, but controlled himself. "Would you prefer if we’d just let 'em run off? Maybe they could've gone into your room, infected the whole lot of ya'."
"Were there any infected among the dead?"
Greene glared at Hodder with contempt. "I think we're done talking about that. What's your next concern?"
"Several things, actually," he began. "As you know, I speak for the majority of the people on the base."
"How could I forget?" Greene said, rolling his eyes.
"And we're all concerned by the gross incompetence and mismanagement on all levels." Hodder held out his hand and began to count off each finger with his other hand. "There's favoritism among the soldiers and reports of abuse inflicted on civilians, primarily female. Ebola patients are being shorted on medical care and resources.
“There are no effective measures in place to contain this disease. The invisible barrier between the healthy and the sick is a joke. And lastly, we’ve already reached capacity, yet the soldiers keep bringing people in. This is unacceptable."
Greene remained silent for a moment then slowly leaned back in his reclining swivel chair and smiled. "That's quite a mouthful, Hodder. I can tell you used to be in politics; however, used to is the operative word here. It's no damn wonder they threw your ass outta office."
Hodder tried to cut him off, but Greene wouldn't have any of it. He kept talking, his voice angry and loud, and stood up from his chair.
"No! Now you listen here. These soldiers have sacrificed everything to be here and man this outpost just so ungrateful turds like you can disparage them. Not on my watch. It ain't happening. You don't like the way things are done here, then how's about you leave? We're under strict orders not to let anyone leave these walls, but I'll make a special exception just for you."
"Not happening," Bill said.
Major Greene leaned forward with veins bulging at his temples. Undeterred, Hodder continued. "I have something better. You have one hour to gather your troops and vacate this base so we can ensure that it will be run properly."
Greene's eyes lit up and he erupted with laughter. Bill waited patiently for the major to catch his breath. Greene looked at him with near tears in his eyes. "And who's going to take over after we leave?"
"Me," Hodder said matter-of-factly.
Greene raised his hand and slapped the desk, laughing.
"I'm not joking," Hodder said.
Major Greene rose, trying to catch his breath. His face then took on a more serious look as he grabbed his landline phone. "Well, if you're being serious, I'm gonna hafta have you locked up, Hodder. I don't take too kindly to threats. Looks like Base 42 just got its first prisoner." He looked toward the door and shouted. “Specialist Santos!” But Santos didn’t respond.
Bill suddenly reached into his pocket and pulled out a 9mm handgun. Greene's face twitched as he stared ahead, stunned.
"Now whatcha gonna do with that?" he asked in a quiet tone. His face contorted once he considered the fact that Hodder was even armed. "And how in holy hell did you get a gun?"
"Put down the phone," Hodder said.
"Go to hell," Greene replied while pressing the emergency button on the phone.
Without further hesitation, Bill blasted a shot right into Major Greene's face, pitching his head back and tossing him out of his swivel chair. The gunshot was louder than he had anticipated. Predictably, the door swung open and Santos stormed in.
"It's OK!" Hodder shouted, putting his hands up. "I got it under control."
Santos scanned the room and saw a running blood stain on the wall. He looked down to see Major Greene lying on the floor, his chair knocked over, his motionless legs sticking out from under his desk.
"Holy shit," he said, breathing heavily and staring at the major’s motionless body. "You really did it."
Hodder stood up and smacked him on the shoulder to get his attention. Santos jerked his head to look right at him. "We don't have much time," Hodder said. "How many soldiers in the TOC?"
Santos thought to himself. "Three—I think."
"I need your PIN." Hodder noticed Santos's hesitation and spoke calmly. "This is a matter of survival. We're all in now, and there's no turning back. We don't have to kill them all, only the ones who fight back."
Santos nodded. His heart was beating so fast he felt like he was going to hyperventilate. He walked with Hodder out of the room and put his PIN into the keypad.
"You ready?" Hodder asked, holding the pistol in the air.
"Yeah," Santos said.
The door beeped and he pushed it open. The three soldiers inside, already suspicious of the gun blast, were standing. Santos held his rifle up and pointed it at them.
"Hands up, all of you!"
They looked at each other, than back to Santos, confused.
"I mean it! Put 'em up!"
"Specialist Santos, what is this all about?" the young captain asked.
Suddenly, Hodder appeared at Santos's side and fired multiple shots into each man. The flat screen behind the captain exploded and shattered into pieces. The men hit the ground with shouts of agony followed by silence. The blasts left Santos’s ears ringing, even though he had dropped his rifle and covered them the minute Hodder started shooting. He turned to Hodder, enraged.
"I thought you were going to take them prisoner!"
Hodder scanned the room for any others but didn't see any movement. "They were too high ranking. We can’t trust them. Besides, the lieutenant was going for his sidearm."
"This is crazy," Santos said, rubbing his shaved head.
Bill lowered his pistol and looked to Santos. "Listen carefully. We need to destroy every piece of communications in this room. Phones, radios, computers, you name it."
Santos looked at him funny but could see that he was serious.
Hodder was emphatic. "The world's on fire right now and we have to keep the flames from reaching us. You're going to take my guys to the armory, just like we discussed. Then, we take the base."
Santos knelt down to pick up his rifle. He tried to quash the sick feeling in his stomach by blocking out whatever he had just done and the things he was about to do. Hodder walked over to a line of computer monitors and smashed the glowing screens out with the handle of his pistol as glass flew everywhere. Santos walked over to the phones and radios, battering them with the buttstock of his rifle.
***
Just as planned, they reached the armory with Hodder’s militia of thirty men who had vowed to help overtake the base. The operation was in full swing, and they didn’t waste any time disposing of the bunker guard who manned the door. Hodder would have preferred a night operation, but there was no sense in waiting any longer. They had to strike, and they had to do it fast.
Specialist Santos used his PIN code to open the armory, and the men stormed the vault, cutting the locks of the weapons racks with bolt cutters and taking every rifle they could carry. The next room over stored the magazines and ammunition, and they quickly loaded their weapons as Hodder held up his watch. “Five minutes, gentlemen. We strike in five minutes. Be mindful of any civilians. We don’t want them to get caught in the middle of this thing.”
The men, most of them ex-cons, were a diverse group of thieves, gang members, and felons. Hodder had sought each of them out with promises of sharing his vision of power and survival in the new world. They rammed the magazines into their rifles and were prepared for war.
“Remember everything we discussed,” Hodder continued. “We take the guards in the towers out first. Then we round up every soldier on base. If they surrender willingly, they live. But if they so much as hesitate, you cannot do the same. Remember your teams: first wave, crowd control, and treatment centers. And finally, we can’t let anyone escape. Today, this
base is officially going off the radar.”
The men nodded enthusiastically in agreement. Their weapons were armed and ready. “Let’s move!” Hodder said. The men swung their fists in the air and cheered, pumping themselves up for the raid.
They stormed out of the armory and into broad daylight as the men immediately started shooting. Hodder stood safely by the bunker, watching his plan come into bloody fruition as the men moved on with pure, hardened resolve. The guards in both towers were quickly eliminated. The first few shots startled the civilians on the base. They immediately started running for cover when they saw the herd of armed, wild-eyed men storming the area. Taken by surprise, many of the soldiers were slow to respond. Against Hodder’s wishes, many of them were shot on the spot. Hodder’s men dispersed and started rounding up all the civilians at gunpoint, ordering them back into the living quarters.
Shots rang out from afar, taking out some of Hodder’s men. A group of soldiers moved into position and began fighting back. A lengthy firefight followed, but in the end, the soldiers were overwhelmed. After the military threat was eliminated, an opposing group of civilians tried to fight back against Hodder’s men with anything they could find: rocks, glass bottles, and weapons from the dead soldiers. Hodder had expected this and had told his men earlier to be prepared for a resistant civilian force. They were soon extinguished as well.
After an exhausting and bloody battle, Hodder’s men soon had control of the base. However, one crucial task remained. They doused all eleven Ebola treatment centers in gasoline as the medical personnel fled in terror. The centers were soon lit on fire with all the patients inside clinging frantically to their beds, howling with pain. As the centers lit up like torches and burned to the ground, the screams of the trapped patients were the things that nightmares were made of.
Resurgence
Reno, Nevada: Two months after the outbreak