by Evans, Mike
“What’s a few more hours? Besides, it isn’t our fault that he wasn’t prepared, is it?”
Ellie snapped back, “Well, if it wasn’t for Andy at that surplus store, we wouldn’t have had a damn thing to take into those hills, would we? How the hell should he have known that he was going to need all his medicine? He was going to a damn homecoming rally for the volleyball team and probably figured he’d be back in less than an hour. He didn’t have the foresight to know that he was going to go hide in the woods with a bunch of strangers and lose everyone and everything that he probably has ever cared about in a matter of minutes.”
Shaun nodded, feeling a bit guilty about how he was approaching the situation. “Well, we can get him his drugs and maybe come back, depending on how things look. At least that guy gave us enough military surplus clothes that we won’t have to walk around naked,” Shaun added with a laugh.
Tina smiled playfully, saying, “So, you’re saying if we run out of clean clothes then you’ll be okay if we go nude around the cabin, Shaun?”
This comment sent immediate shivers up Shaun’s spine. He stared at Tina and then at Ellie, and his face grew red at the unbelievable thought of the two of them naked. He opened his mouth to try to reply and could not think of an intelligent thing to say that did not sound like a caveman.
Ellie sat back, shaking her head, and Tina punched Shaun in the arm playfully. “You can breathe now, stud. I was just screwing with you.”
He accepted the challenge happily and tried ever so slightly not to look anywhere but straight ahead. They came to the outskirts of town and Tina pulled to a stop. They rolled the windows down and listened. There were no sirens; there were no screams. There was only silence—the loudest silence that they had ever heard. They each secretly wished for some noise or a car to go by. Tina started to drive straight, and Shaun said, “No, don’t go that way. We don’t want to go through the middle of town; it’s too close to the school. They are probably in the middle of town by now. Hell, they could be everywhere. Who knows?”
Tina said, “Well, where are we going then, great navigator?”
Shaun read off the address from the license he’d snagged out of Patrick’s wallet and said, “Just go left here and take a right on Sommer Page Drive. We can skip the whole town this way.”
Tina looked over at Ellie. “But shouldn’t we find out? Shouldn’t we know?”
Shaun shook his head no and said, “Just think about it this way—if we have to go into town and then we get chased, we still need to stop at Patrick’s to get his drugs. If we are being chased by those things, we can’t stop and what was the point in coming this far if that happens? All we do if we go home empty-handed is hand him a sack of false hopes.”
Tina said, “Then when, Shaun?”
“Simple, we drive straight through the middle of town on the way home. We don’t care if they chase us then because we’ll already be so far out, it won't make a damn difference who is after us. There’s no way those things can run fifty-five miles per hour, right?”
They pondered that for a moment, thinking about it and a little worried that, yes, maybe those things were capable of speeds like that. If that was the case, they would all happily stay in those hills for a very, very long time.
Chapter 5: Puzzles
Day 2, Washington, DC
Mike stepped out when the elevator doors parted. Four men were already awaiting the opening of the doors; they handed Mike a security badge to clip onto the two he had already received after passing each checkpoint. The four military police officers led Mike and his soldier escort away from the elevators and configured themselves so there were two in front and two behind. They had white helmets and their fatigues had patches with the large, white letters MP embroidered on them. Mike looked around as they exited; it was an impressively large room with more technology in it than any room he’d ever had the privilege to enter before in his entire career.
A lower-ranking officer, Lieutenant Colonel Fredrickson, approached, walking quickly and with a purpose. He was a man who had no time to waste and was well aware of it. He snapped a salute to Mike who returned it, and the soldiers parted ways so Mike and Fredrickson could make their way to a private conference room.
When they were alone, Fredrickson sat down in a plush leather chair and said, “So, the boys upstairs advised me that you have information that is going to help save the country. I have to say that I am very interested and annoyed that you are just now stepping forward with this information.”
Mike nodded his head, taking a seat as well. He stared at the large display screen, which showed footage from somewhere outside of the Chicago suburbs. On the screen was what looked to be an eighty-year-old woman who jumped high in the air and ripped the head off of a much younger, stronger man. The woman tossed the head and put her mouth over his neck, drinking the fresh warm blood, and ripping greedily at the fat on his neck. The cameras were showing footage as they switched to different areas of the country. The carnage seemed to be never ending from state to state: Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Colorado, etc.
“Eight years ago, during the war, we were losing men by the hundreds and on some days, thousands. Our enemies were using illegal chemical warfare; we had to do something. We had soldiers dropping like flies as those bastards just kept using the gas. We brought in a team of scientists… the kind of guys who can create some scary shit. We wanted to keep our troops from having to suffer a death that was too soon.”
“What did they come up with?”
“Hell, death, and all things evil in a bottle. When they administered it, we thought we really had something. The initial reports were amazing; we thought we had the cure. Men who were in a deep coma came back—but when they came back, they were furious and in a rage, hungry and willing to take on anything or anyone. Only a bullet could take them out.”
“So they were vicious and they were eating people?”
“They took over a base in a matter of a half hour or less. We saw no way to get the troops out into the desert, so we sent in a plane loaded to the brim with bombs. We were forced to act in order to contain it.”
“Wait, I remember that base. I thought that it was hit by terrorists. The Taliban had been responsible for—”
Mike cut him off. He knew, as well, how precious time was and didn’t want to—even for a moment—act like it was a commodity that could be wasted. “Those towel-headed, god chasing fools couldn’t have set off a bomb like that if we sent one of our men over there, showed them how to use the damn thing, and got them a plane to get it to the base’s remote location.”
“So, you’re telling me that the whole thing was just a cover-up so no one would be any the wiser as to what happened and what we created.”
“Bingo Lieutenant; we started a fire, and we had to put it out. I just don’t understand how this started stateside. Do you have the early reports on anything here?”
Fredrickson nodded, pressed a button that brought a fifty-inch plasma screen down from the ceiling, and punched some keys to start a slideshow that had the United States outline next to it. “The very first report—and I shit you not, Colonel Webber—came straight out of Des Moines, Iowa. We aren’t sure who she is or how she could have come in contact with it.”
Mike started speaking to fill in what he needed to know. “It is spread through nasal inhalers. When we are out in the field, if someone got hit with a dose of that chemical shit, the idea was that we wouldn’t have to worry about if we had a clean subject before injecting or having to have a single syringe for every man and woman out there. The inhalers were a genius concept as far as the diversity, because we could load up a hundred doses in one inhaler then switch out with a new tube and start all over again.”
“Well, Colonel, it started in Iowa. Here is the first person who came into contact with it; she is patient zero as of now. She was admitted to the hospital’s cancer wing. The report states that when she was admitted, she was already comatose. She was nev
er in the military, married once, divorced once, and had one teenage daughter. The lady’s name is Karen Randall; is there any reason that you would know that name?”
“Negative; never heard of her.”
“Her daughter is Ellie Randall, and it shows that her emergency contact is someone by the name of Frank Fox.”
“Excuse me?”
Fredrickson punched a few more commands into the computer and Frank’s driver’s license picture popped up on the screen. Mike read it to himself, Dr. Frank Fox. “Heaven, oh mighty. You have got to be fucking kidding me. That man is supposed to be dead.”
“What do you mean ‘is supposed to be dead’?”
“We were told by the head scientist that everyone was accounted for. That was just before the shit had hit the fan. We monitored the base from a plane’s aerial cameras, and we were confident that there was zero chance of containment. The only chance we had of saving the region and the continent was to take out the threat. How Dr. Fox’s absence from the base was overlooked, I have no clue.
“As you can see from the grandma ripping the head clean off of that unfortunate man, they aren’t going to be easy to stop. We need to know if there is a cure or a way, other than bullets, to stop them. I see this as an uphill battle, son, if not.”
“We can send in a SEAL team. We will figure out where he was doing his work. Our top priority is finding Frank Fox and his research. Give me an hour and we will have boots in the air, and in five we can have them on the ground.”
Mike watched the video feeds from across the Midwest, shaking his head. “Probably a good idea that we do a small remote team, or if one of them gets infected then you might as well consider the entire platoon lost.”
Fredrickson punched a button on his computer and said, “Get the SEAL team ready to roll. I want a plane in the air in twenty minutes. We can brief them in the air once we have the information that we need.”
Mike watched, a bit in awe. “Christ, nothing related to the government happens that fast. Did you find magic in a bottle?”
“No, I have something from the President saying that I can take whatever action to whatever extent is needed to keep us from becoming extinct.”
The word extinct hit Mike hard; he had a second to think about it and realized that the further red the country grew on that screen, the harder it was going to be to recover and rebuild.
Mike said, “You’re going to need to get some of the infected as well.”
“Research is our first priority. They don’t seem very intelligent from first reports—just hungry. Hungry like nothing we’ve ever seen... even animals will stop eventually. But these things just feed and feed once they’ve changed. If the victim doesn’t get finished off, depending on where they were bitten, the infection can take minutes or hours. Those who turn are all of a sudden jumping impossible heights and running at speeds that would win every goddamn medal in the Olympics.”
“Well, what else can I do to help?”
Fredrickson thought about it for a moment, tapping a pen on the paper. If the retired colonel hadn’t come in, they could have wasted weeks trying to find out why Frank Fox was even important. “Do you have anyone you need to take care of, Colonel?”
“Take care of?”
“Are you married, do you have kids? You know… take care of.”
“A wife. Why?”
“I suggest you get home to her while you still can. If you have the stock to do so, I suggest you stay put at home and do not leave your house. People will be acting insane in a matter of no time.”
“You expect them to be here then, don’t you?”
“People are fleeing the Midwest, and it can’t be determined if they are healthy or not. It is going to spread, but there is nothing else we can do until we get his research.”
Mike stood, looking at all that was going on through the windows. He placed his hands on them and looked down. He was feeling every ounce of guilt there was to be had on his back right then. He knew that if they had not tried to streamline science, this wouldn’t be happening. Mike thought about the other men and women who were there that night, wondering how so many can do so much wrong in such a short time.
Fredrickson looked up, already consumed by the tasks of the day, and saw Mike resting against the window. “Are you all right, Colonel?”
“Not really, son, but I wish you all the luck in the world.” He opened the door and was escorted through the facility, back to the elevators.
Chapter 6: Medicine
Day 2
Tina drove slowly until she got to the street that Patrick lived on. She punched the gas, revving the engine and bringing the vehicle up to forty miles per hour on the deserted street. Shaun looked at her with shock written all over his face. “What the hell are you doin’?”
She was holding the wheel tightly then she let go with her right hand and turned the engine off. “Just thought that maybe we should coast into the street instead of having this thing backfiring every five seconds and sounding like we’re setting off grenades.”
Ellie patted her on the shoulder. “Tina, sometimes you have moments of pure brilliance.”
Tina coasted the van and brought it to a stop in front of the house. Shaun got out first, looking around the neighborhood. It looked like any other day, which was somewhat relieving to him. He glanced down, seeing the rifle in his hands and figured there was a great chance that anyone who looked out their window and saw the teens walking the neighborhood armed to the teeth would be more than a little concerned. The street that Patrick lived on seemed quiet enough. They went up to the door and knocked, waiting for someone to answer.
Ellie said, “Well, do we just go in or what?”
Tina laughed. “No, best to wait until somebody comes home.”
Shaun tried the doorknob and it was locked. They walked around the side of the house to the rear, almost guaranteed to have a deck or patio, and they were rewarded with a large sliding glass door. It also was locked, but when Shaun pulled on it, it had some give. He yanked the door back and forth, but it wouldn’t budge off the track. He turned to Ellie with a shrug then went back to shaking it, with no success.
Ellie stopped watching Shaun get nowhere fast and found a rock that was part of the family’s simple landscaping. She sent it sailing through the air, smashing into the glass door to his right. Shaun jumped a foot before spinning on his heel. He threw his hands up in the air, shaking them as he spoke. “Are you insane? You could have hit me.”
Ellie nodded with a serious look. “You mean if I’d have thrown it four feet to the left?”
Shaun thought about it and realized that maybe it wasn’t really that close of a call. He used his assault rifle to go around the edge of the glass, breaking the loose pieces away to make it safe to enter through. He took the barrel of the rifle and slid the curtains to the side. He wasn’t about to enter the house blind. He wasn’t going anywhere until he knew what they were going into.
Shaun called out, “Hello, is there anyone here? Uh, sorry about your window, I guess.”
No answers came back, and Shaun walked through the opening of the door, the glass cracking under his feet. He walked into the kitchen, rifle up and safety off. It looked clear. It was absolutely silent. Nothing. Not even an air conditioner running this time of year. He moved into the living room, and when he saw nothing, he motioned for Ellie and Tina to come in. The girls entered the house; it was too quiet to be peaceful, but it was nice to be in a home, much different and way more inviting than the rustic log cabin.
Shaun pointed at the kitchen and said, “Probably a good idea if we take any food that can be easily taken back up the hill with us. At least until we get a chance to come back down and get some more supplies with the others.”
Ellie shook her head no, setting the rifle down on the small kitchen table. “What we need to do first is find Patrick’s medicine.”
The two girls started looking through the cupboards, quickly finding what they were look
ing for. Ellie squealed, pulling out a box and holding it up for all to see. “Got it.”
Shaun gave her a thumbs up. He was feeling uneasy about being in the house. “Since we are already here, I’m going to go get some stuff from his room, and then we should get out of here. It will be one less place that we need to stop on our way back through town.”
Shaun headed down the long, dark hallway typical of any single-story home. He opened the doors, one after another, lighting up the hallway as he made his way. The first door was a bathroom; the second, sadly, was a little girl’s room, most likely to be forever empty. When he opened the last room’s door, what he saw took him by surprise. It took a moment for him to realize exactly what he was looking at. He concluded that it must have been Patrick’s mother. She lay on the floor with her chest ripped open, blood and guts all around the room. Her blood had sprayed everywhere.
Shaun walked in and looked out the window. The door began to creak behind him. He turned around slowly, feeling the creeps. A red-haired, pigtailed eight-year-old girl stood in the corner, swaying. She had pieces of her mother's neck dried on her pink and red “Polar Bears are Cool” sweatshirt. She looked up slowly at Shaun, tilting her head sideways. Shaun gasped, realizing that her hair was actually blonde, but the front of her was covered with blood.
Shaun reached for where he expected his slung rifle to be waiting and realized with horror that it was still in the kitchen where he’d set it down. He looked around the room; he was cornered. The only exit out of the room was directly in front of him with a blood-soaked little girl standing in the middle of it. He pulled his pistol out, and she jumped the bed, lunging for him. Shaun jumped to the side, rolling over the bed. He thought about the girl as he ran into the hallway. He hadn’t seen a child Turned yet and quickly made the decision that she would meet the same fate as any other Turned would. He tripped in the hallway, knocking off a long line of hung family photo frames. He looked back into the room and saw that the little Turned girl was crouched, filled with rage that her next meal was getting away; within seconds, she was in fast pursuit.