“What do you mean you don't have it? The broadcast said…”
“I know what the broadcast said. Wehadit. Now, we no longerhave it.”
Nick interrupted them.
“You can’t just lose something like that, so where the hell is it at?”
“We didn't lose it, it was stolen.”
“Stolen by whom?” West asked, forcing his way in the conversation.
“LIFE.”
Alex raised his pistol and pointed it directly into Agent Kim's forehead. “Stop fuckin’ joking around,” he cursed, cocking back the hammer. “My cousin is dying here!”
Despite most people's reaction to the same situation, Agent Kim took two steps forward and allowed the barrel to press against his skin.
“I'm not fuckin’ joking,” he replied through clenched teeth. “That bitch and her people from the Longevity Intrinsic For Everyone Company. LIFE. The woman and her team took it. They have the vaccine. It's not here anymore. So unless you can grow wings and fly after those choppers, you're shit out of luck.”
Alex's mind froze. He simply couldn't believe it.
“There's no vaccine?” he mumbled.
Then, Alex felt his stomach churn followed by an onslaught of physical pain. He looked around at everyone. No one knew what to say or how to respond to the news. Even when he glanced at Steve, and Steve back at him, Alex found no reciprocity of emotion. There was no hope for Collin.
Collin was coherent enough to hear the terrible news, but too weak to physically respond to it.
“Cully,” Alex said, lower lip trembling, “I'm-I'm so sorry. I-I thought we would get it…”
“Y-you did your best,” Collin replied, out of breath. He gathered enough strength and lifted his head. His left pupil was completely dilated, and the veins and arteries surrounding the tissue were all flared up. “Y-you kept moving forward...like you promised.”
A tear dropped unknowingly from Alex's eye.
“I'm sorry, truly sorry,” Agent Kim started to say, “but can we please get going. We don't have much time.”
“Where are we going?” Nick asked. “What is so damn important?”
Agent Kim turned around and put it bluntly.
“It's the President. We are trying to save the President.”
1131 hours
As Charlie performed the emergency surgery with Dylan assisting, the others, including the two agents, stayed clear on the other side of the room.
Nick tapped Agent Clint on the shoulder.
“So looks like we have some time. Mind filling us in on what happened here?”
The stout, physically unhappy little man growled and walked away.
“What’s his deal?” Travis asked.
Agent Kim turned to the group of exhausted, yet anxious faces.
“He doesn't like people.”
The others returned looks like "really? That's a bullshit answer,” so Agent Kim elaborated.
“No, really. He doesn't like people. I guess that make makes him a great agent. He holds no emotion, and only cares about his job.”
Alex tilted Collin's head back and poured a slow stream of water into his mouth. He kept his focus on Collin, but spoke to Agent Kim.
“I know we were late, but like Nick said, what the hell happened here?”
Agent Kim brought both hands to his round face, and then dragged them up and over his narrow eyes, to his sweaty forehead. The adrenaline dump and high stress were taking its toll.
“It all happened so fast,” Agent Kim said, shaking his head ever so slightly. “I'm not sure whatexactly happened, but I'll tell you what I know. What I heard and saw.”
The others stared at him and waited.
“The valley was full of people. Thousands. It looked like the broadcast had worked. Like you guys, people came from hundreds of miles away, just to make it to this first site. It was history in the making. President Tufase came out of the bunker and met them outside. Everyone seemed so hopeful. Shit, I felt empowered. It was one of those feel-good moments, you know? Anyway, he started giving a speech to the masses, and I should have been listening, but I was busy scanning the crowd...old habits. I don't remember what the President said, but I heard gasps from the crowd and people pointing up at the stage. I looked back and heard the President order the Marines to disarm and arrest that woman from LIFE and all of her people. Next thing I know, the Marines and that woman’s private security were in a standoff. Then...then came the first bang. A trail of red came seeping out of the President's stomach. Then all hell broke loose. We opened fire and brought the President back inside and kept him on lockdown. Outside, it was over before it started. We watched from closed circuit TVs in the panic room. The private security completely outnumbered the military and us Secret Service four to one, easy. The skirmish didn't last long.”
“Why did they kill all the innocent people?” Kelly asked, mortified. “Why burn down the valley, too?”
West knew exactly why, without even being there. He answered for the agent.
“They heard something they weren't supposed to. They heard the truth, so I'm putting my money on clean up. This woman and her company didn't want any loose ends, no one to ask questions, no one to expose the truth…”
“And what might the truth be?” Agent Kim asked. But before he could get an answer, Charlie called over to them.
“I'm finished. I'm sorry, but I'm afraid that's about all I can do,” Charlie said, removing a pair of bloody latex gloves. Next to him was a tray of soiled medical utensils and bloody cloths. A forty caliber bullet rested at the bottom of a metal tray filled with water. “I removed the bullet, but…”
“BUT WHAT?” Agent Clint demanded.
“Maybe we should talk in private,” Charlie suggested.
“MAYBE YOU SHOULD ANSWER ME WHEN I ASK YOU A QUESTION.”
Charlie could, by all means, defend himself physically and articulately. Even still, Dylan took a step forward and literally backed up his friend.
“Look here pal-”
Then, quiet moans and groans coming from President Joshua Tufase interrupted the schoolyard confrontation. The two agents, Charlie and Dylan immediately turned their attention to him.
“Sir, everything is going to be okay.”
“Mr. President, lay still, please.”
The others watched as the President blinked multiple times and rocked his head back and forth. The clear plastic mask covering his face steamed with each heavy breath. By all outward appearances, Joshua Tufase was attempting to say something.
Despite Charlie's efforts and advice to keep the oxygen mask on, the President raised an unsteady hand and stubbornly removed it himself. He even fought through the pain rather than ask for help in elevating his upper torso.
It took multiple draws of breath for him to say, “Shut the hell up, Clint. I love you but show some respect to the man who is trying to save my life.”
“Sorry, Mr. President…”
It wasn't a direct order, but Joshua Tufase's tone indicated a strong recommendation. “Don't apologize to me, apologize to him.”
Agent Clint took everything from his Commander-in-Chief as an order. “I'm sorry.”
President Tufase extended his hand formally. “Thank you, son. By the way, I never did get your name. I believe I was unconscious by the time you got here.”
Charlie looked down, shocked. After the initial awe of meeting the President subsided, he shook the man’s hand and replied, “If only we were meeting under better circumstances, sir. My name is Charlie Snow.”
“Well thank you very much, Mr. Snow,” the President started to say, before getting cut off by a series of heavy coughs. He withdrew his hand from his lips, and wiped away the blood on his pant leg. “That being said, just give me the bad news. I’m a Marine, I’ve been shot before. I'm dying, aren't I?”
Charlie knew the words he was supposed to say, but he didn't know how to tell the President of the Unites States of America that he was dying. He l
ooked to Dylan then at the two agents, before finally coming back to President Tufase. He swallowed into a dry throat and answered, “Yes, sir. I'm so sorry, but there's still bleeding that I can’t see, and there’s no way to stop it. Without cameras and the proper equipment, there's no way to confirm, but I'm almost positive the bullet cut into the Celiac artery. You are going to die, sir.”
“How long?”
“Honestly, I have no idea, but if I’m right about the Celiac artery being nicked, you only have a couple hours at the most.”
An eerie silence filled the room. No one knew what to say.
Then, the President sighed and broke the silence. “Alright, well there's a lot to get done before I bleed out. Clint, get me to the communications room. I need to send out another broadcast.”
Agent Kim interrupted.
“Sir, I’m sorry but that’s impossible. We passed by it earlier. All the equipment has been destroyed, sir.”
“Mr. President, the woman’s security team destroyed everything. Inside, they set charges to the gardens, water purification tanks, medical bay, everything,” Agent Clint added before pausing. That news was terrible, but he knew how badly Joshua would react to the next part. “Outside, they killed the survivors along with the Marines and Secret Service personnel, and before they left, they set the valley ablaze. I’m afraid Eagle’s Landing has been lost, sir.”
“Damnit! All those innocent people,” President Tufase replied, chin dropping to his chest in moral defeat. “Okay, find a video camera to record me. I need to get something on record.”
“Roger that, sir. Kim, you’re with me.”
The two agents hustled out of the room, leaving Charlie to monitor the President's vitals. The rest of the survivors stayed huddled together near the table. Alex and Steve brought Collin over and sat him on a chair.
Within minutes, agents Clint and Kim rushed back into the room with a handheld video camera. The President instructed them to set it up in front of him and push play, and then added, “And no matter what happens, no matter what you hear, you keep recording. That's an order.”
What came next took almost everyone by surprise.
“My fellow Americans. My name is Joshua Tufase. I have come before you on many occasions, but this time I am no longer fit to carry the title of President. You elected a man with solid morals, a man who would protect you and your rights as Americans, as humans. I come to you today to admit my failure. I did not protect you…”
The President coughed severely, spitting up blood with each exhale, but he fought through the pain with steadfast resolve. Both agents moved to assist him, but Joshua waved them off. After he caught his breath, the President resumed.
“...Sadly, there is more to confess. I also come before you to deliver a horrible truth, to expose the largest cover-up in the history of the world. The infection that has taken over the planet was not a product of radical terrorists out to incite global destruction- so called "Intelligence" that I was fed and that the government in turn fed to the news and worldwide media outlets. In reality, this was a disease manufactured by the LIFE Corporation, under the allowance, guidance and supervision of top level officials throughout the world governments. Yes, including our own. So I urge you not to trust the LIFE Corporation. They are the terrorists responsible for this virus and the downfall of our planet. I had no idea until it was too late. I tried to expose and arrest the criminals responsible, but tragically, I failed, too...”
The President put a hand to and stared at his mortal wound.
“...In closing, I have one final point to address. The woman known as Elizabeth Baron and her LIFE Corporation have something else planned, something else in store for humanity. I don't know their endgame or what they hoped to gain from killing billions just to offer a vaccine...”
At that moment Joshua Tufase paused and looked down. He gazed blankly- maybe at memory or perhaps a flash-forward into what he thought the future might hold. Then, his eyes lifted, his jaw muscles clenched. And with a humble, yet powerful tone, he finished his speech.
“...I know I failed as your president, and I have no basis for asking, but if I can ask one thing of you, it is to fight back. To watch this video, to seek out answers of your own, to find those responsible and bring them to justice. Sadly, I cannot complete this journey with you, but those who survived here at Blue Springs will be able to speak the truth as to the actions of the LIFE Corporation. It is up to you now. Goodbye and may God be with us all.”
The President nodded- his signal for Agent Kim to end the recording.
“Whoa,” Alex murmured. “West was right. This is some serious conspiracy theory shit.”
“What are our orders, Mr. President?” Agent Clint asked.
“Damnit, Clint, I'm not your President, not anymore…”
“With all due respect, sir, until you die, are impeached, or publicly resign, you will be my Commander-in-Chief. So I ask you again,Mr. President, what are your final orders?”
Joshua Tufase cracked a small smile.
“Very well, you stubborn sonofabitch. Gather whoever you can, every able-bodied man and soldier still alive and take down that bitch. Do not let those bastards succeed. Do you understand me?”
Both agents straightened up and replied, “Roger that, sir.”
From the corner of the stone room, Harry Jones raised his voice.
“Are you guys serious? That woman just killed thousands of people, including dozens of Marines and Secret Servicemen, and youwant to go after her? Are you insane? Do that and I can promise you, you'll all die.”
“If that's the President's last order, I am sure as hell going to fight,” Agent Clint replied acidly.
Travis felt the call to service inspiring. He took steps toward Harry and asked, “What's your deal? Why are you so adamant about tucking tail and hiding?”
The multimillionaire shook his head.
“Look, I know that woman, Elizabeth Baron. You think I'm a racist asshole? I've got nothing on her. She's one mean bitch. A fucking ice queen. She owns a private army, and you want to hit her head on? It's called knowing a good investment when I see one, and I absolutely do not see one. No offense, Mr. President.”
“You're a coward, we don't need you anyway,” West said simply. “Mr. President, I'm Sergeant Major Craig West, US Army Delta, retired. You have my word, I will fight.”
Then, the room started to split like a schoolyard game of dodgeball. The line was drawn and sides were chosen. Everyone had their reasons. For some it was patriotic duty, a select few craved vengeance, while others believed in doing their part as witnesses to the atrocities. One by one, everyone moved to the President's side until Harry Jones stood alone.
“So what’s it going to be?” Travis asked.
“Well I'm not leaving here by myself, so it looks like I'm tagging along,” Harry declared, moping to the other side. “But so you know, it's going to be dangerous. Look to your left and right. Many of you will die before this thing ends. Just remember what you're fighting for.”
“Hey, I'm with you guys to the end,” Charlie started to say, “but do we even have a plan? Do we know where we are going? Do we even know where to find these people?”
“The trucks with the vaccine will be heading to designated sites I broadcasted about. Follow them. They'll lead you right to ‘em,” the President answered.
Alex looked down and shook his cousin.
“Cully, did you hear that? We’re gonna get the bastards who did this. Cully...Cully?”
Sitting motionless on the chair, Collin looked like a decrepit old man. His palms rested upward on his thighs, shoulders were sunken forward, and chin brushed up against his chest.
When no answer came, Alex dropped to a knee and examined his cousin. He put his ear up to Collin’s mouth, but heard no respiration. Placing two fingers over Collin’s carotid artery, he searched for a pulse but found none.
Sometime during the speech, Collin Jacobs had passed away.
&n
bsp; Steve noticed and paced over to Alex. He said nothing, but placed a hand on Alex’s shoulder.
The first tears began to trickle down his cheeks. After a moment, Alex looked up and mumbled, “He-He's gone. Cully's dead, Steve.”
Steve simply closed his eyes.
Just like that, another cousin was taken from them. Another brother, gone.
Then came an ear piercing scream that shattered the silence.
“Look out!”
The following sequence of events happened so fast, no one else reacted.
Collin had succumbed to the effects of Trinity. His will to live was not enough to fight off the virus, and sadly his heart stopped beating. Within seconds, a monster returned, using Collin’s body as a shell.
Collin's head snapped back. His eyes were dilated and surrounded by vibrant red veins. His lips peeled back and exposed a mouth full of frothy mucus. He flung himself off the chair and slammed his body into Alex and Steve.
The three cousins rolled around on the cold stone floor. When they came to a halt, Steve’s skull whipped back and thumped against the solid ground. It caused his vision to swim and rendered his motor skills useless.
Alex found himself uncomfortably sandwiched between Steve’s concussed body and Collin’s ferocious teeth. He used his knees and arms to defend himself from Collin’s vicious attacks, and when an opening finally presented itself, Alex utilized his martial arts training and flipped Collin onto his back.
Alex straddled Collin in a full mount, and through a face full of tears whispered, “Cully, please forgive me.” He drew his sidearm and pushed the barrel into Collin’s mouth. Then he closed his eyes and looked away. “I love you.”
The sound of the firearm discharging rang throughout the small rocky cave. Then, the ringing echoed and echoed until silence filled the airwaves.
Alex’s head collapsed on Collin's chest and he wept. Hard.
After her own shock subsided, Lisa rushed over, placed her head on Alex’s shoulder and wept with him.
Nick and Travis helped Steve to a seated position. They performed a few quick tests and diagnosed him with a mild concussion.
The Longest Road (Book 2): The Change Page 41