“Have many responded to the signal?” I asked.
“Not as many as we had hoped. You were the fifth group…and the last. I can’t risk the retrieval team now that the Chinese have come as close as they have. In the first weeks after the Flu and invasion, we had teams scouting Lincoln and rescuing children from homes there. In addition to your group, we saved over a hundred souls. We still have teams going out to scout for food and supplies, but generally they are smaller and move quickly.”
The doors opened and the woman who had served us the bread rolls returned with a pretty girl of about sixteen. Both women were dressed in white shirts and black like us. Thinking back, I did notice the girl had a slight pot belly, but at the time I thought nothing of it. The older woman was wheeling a trolley with dishes of delicious smelling soup. I tried to catch her eye and say thank you as she served me but she kept her eyes deliberately lowered, as did the girl.
“I apologise for the meagerness of our meal,” said Professor Leahy, looking at me. “Given our limited capacity to produce food and the extra mouths, we have to ration quite carefully, although I did give special permission for a hearty lunch for your group after all of your…hardship.”
It appeared we would only be having one course this evening, and I couldn’t help feeling a little let down. At least the chicken soup looked as hearty as it smelled, loaded with chunks of chicken and vegetables. I inwardly chastised myself for being so ungrateful and was about to say something when Brooke beat me to it, “Believe me sir, we’re grateful for anything.”
Was that a flash of annoyance I saw cross his face as he turned to her? If so, it was gone as quickly as it came, replaced by a charitable smile.
“You’re welcome, young lady. Now, where was I. Oh yes, the food situation. I greet all of the new groups like this, with a meal and friendship. Here in the facility we welcome all, but we do ask that everyone contributes to our little society in some way. Does that seem fair to you all?” While it was a question for all of us, he was looking right at me. Obviously he had been told, probably by Colonel Randall, that I was the leader of our group.
“Yes sir, that seems perfectly reasonable.”
The others all nodded or said yes and he clapped his hands together before sweeping his hand around the table.
“Good, please eat before it gets cold, we’ll continue our discussion as we enjoy our meal.” He looked at the two women who had just finished filling his bowl and that of his nerdy friend. “Thank you ladies, that will be all.”
Dismissed, the two (serving?) women left the room and the doors were closed behind them. Was that their contribution? To wait a table for the Professor and his cronies? I let go of the uncomfortable feeling, after all I didn’t know enough of anything to be making judgments…not yet, anyway.
“Is it only children who have been arriving Professor? Or have there been other adults?” I asked as everyone began eating.
“Alas, only children young Isaac. The virus engineered by the Chinese was very effective, almost 100% effective in fact. Every adult you see in this complex was here before the attack. We had a regular population of 178, from janitorial and clerical staff right up to military and scientific personnel.”
I mulled over this as we began eating. The soup was delicious, as was the fresh bread roll, and the big helping meant that it would do just fine as a main meal. Again my mind returned to the young girl and the woman who had served us. I wondered if the woman had been employed as catering staff prior to the attack. I assumed she must have been, but the girl was definitely too young and must have been one of the hundred or so saved ‘souls’ that the Professor had mentioned. Had she volunteered or been forced to take up the role? I gave myself another mental kick for being so negative and looking for motives behind everything that I saw; it was hard to let go of my natural cynicism.
Of course, we were all full of questions and didn’t really hold back during our meal with the Professor. Allie was first to raise the subject of the President. “We heard that President Ryan might be here?”
Even though the Professor laughed good-naturedly, it was a fair enough question, the news reports near the end had been vague and contradictory. Several had said that the President and his family had been evacuated on Air Force One. Communications from the Whitehouse had ceased the day after Christmas and press, or what was left of the press, had only been able to speculate whether he was formulating a response to the Chinese attack.
“No, he’s not here. One of the last communications we had was that President Ryan was airborne, but of course communications shut down when the Pentagon was attacked.”
“Attacked?” I asked.
“Yes, you probably didn’t hear because by that time, the Flu had decimated the population and the media was all but gone. The Chinese launched several strategic nuclear strikes. One of them was against the Washington. I imagine the enemy was ensuring that any remaining organized resistance was destroyed. Since then, we’ve been unable to contact any other arms of the U.S government.
“While there is always a chance the President survived and found refuge overseas, we have to assume the worst and that this facility is possibly the last remnant of the United States government in mainland America.”
We were all silent as we digested this information. While Luke and I had assumed the worst, having it confirmed as true was almost like a kick in the guts.
“So we didn’t even have a chance to fight back?” asked Ben. I was interested in the English boy’s use of the term ‘we’. I guess he meant we as in the good side rather than the just the United States.
“Well, one of Randall’s men heard some chatter before we went dark. It appears the Chinese didn’t have it all their own way—two Pacific aircraft carrier strike groups and another out of Virginia engaged the enemy naval forces and inflicted much damage before they were finally subdued. There were also reports that the USS George Washington had launched a nuclear strike against selected Chinese targets from its base in Japan before it was also destroyed. We weren’t able to confirm that before communications went down though.”
“I hope they gave it to the bastards…” said Ben.
I had the feeling that if Luke was here he would have echoed Ben’s sentiment and let out a ‘yee-haa’ at the possibility that we had been able to strike back at the Chinese in such a devastating way. Perhaps I would have too, but I was mindful of Indigo and her feelings after our own attack on the unsuspecting soldiers in the bar. If anything, celebrating the fact that thousands, perhaps millions of innocent civilians may have died as punishment for their government’s actions would upset her even more. It didn’t seem like something worth celebrating anyway.
“How many aircraft carriers do we have? There are more than four, right?” I asked.
“Yes, there are…were… ten that are active. We assume all of the others were destroyed by strategic strikes while in port. If any were at sea or had managed to elude the Chinese, we wouldn’t have heard. It’s possible they sailed to Australia or Europe once it became clear that things were hopeless.”
“How did the facility survive the infection?” asked Indigo, changing the subject slightly.
“Good question,” said the Professor. “Because of the nature of the research we were conducting here, the Drake Mountain Facility has a very sophisticated filtration system and quarantining protocols.”
“Weren’t you afraid of infection when you started letting people in though? Or sending your own people out?”
I saw the Professor reluctantly impressed by the veracity of her questions.
“No. I had already studied the pathogen and knew it had a built in obsolescence…a use by date if you like…luckily we were able to map the genetics of the virus before it degraded, something I bet they weren’t counting on.” I heard an unmistakable tone of satisfaction in his voice.
“Why would they build in a use by date?” Ben asked.
“It was probably twofold. Insurance that when th
eir invasion began there would be no question of the virus killing any of their own people of mixed heritage, but more importantly, I imagine that they were ensuring that our American scientists would not be able to study the virus. I’m sure they knew from their North Korean experiment that there would be no time for a vaccine to come into play, but there are other things they would have been concerned about...”
We asked more questions about the virus, about how it spread. “Well it moved very quickly, in two waves. It’s quite unique really, not only was it able to be dispersed into the air and carried on the winds, it is… or was… also extremely virulent. Based on the figures we were getting from the CDC, the rate of infection was around 97%. Those that weren’t infected directly by the deployment were soon infected by other victims.” Was that admiration I detected in his voice?
We asked more questions but the Professor seemed unwilling to discuss it any further and I almost got the feeling he perhaps felt he had said too much already. On the subject of the Chinese occupation, he was more forthcoming.
“We know that they began their ground invasion within 48 hours of the virus being deployed. Once the Flu had done its work, they didn’t even have to mount a full scale invasion, they just picked strategic cities along both seaboards and overran them with almost no resistance. Those members of the police, national guard and armed forces that weren’t dead were already very sick.”
There was silence at the table while we ate and digested all we had heard. I took the opportunity to ask something that had been bugging me a little since we had walked into the room.
“Professor, I was wondering why Colonel Randall didn’t join us for dinner? I was hoping to thank him again.”
“I prefer the military contingent eat with their own. That was the protocol before the attack and I want that discipline maintained.”
“They didn’t all seem that disciplined if you don’t mind me saying,” Ben said.
“What do you mean?” asked Professor Leahy, his eyes narrowing.
“There was one, Leroy I believe his name was, who insisted that Sonny be shot on sight. Not exactly the welcome that we were expecting, especially the use of excessive force to subdue Sonny when he hadn’t threatened anyone. And speaking of Sonny, we haven’t seen him since we were brought in…”
Ben’s English accent became very clipped and proper as his cool indignation was made clear. I couldn’t help but think that he must have been an effective debater at school. I was glad to have someone else asking the hard questions too.
“I apologise for that. One of the things we’ve had to do is bolster our security with…recruitment …from within the facility. Leroy was actually one of the janitorial staff before he was drafted into the Homeland Security force, he doesn’t answer to Colonel Randall but you can trust that Mr. Ragg here will make sure that he is disciplined properly. As to your friend Sonny, I hope you’ll understand that I have a responsibility to every man, woman and child under my care to ensure that they are safe. Your friend will be released into the general population after Mr. Ragg and I have had a chance to question him.”
The smaller man had been so quiet and unobtrusive that I had almost forgotten he was there, but at the mention of his name I saw Mr. Ragg’s spoon pause for a millisecond before it found his mouth. What was he, some sort of security adviser? Even while eating, he watched us without expression and his intense regard made me feel a little uneasy. Despite his harmless appearance, there was something vaguely sinister about him and I got the impression he was silently memorizing every word we said.
“Is this all because Sonny is of Chinese descent?” asked Indigo, not letting the Professor off the hook too easily.
“Yes.”
It was a simple and honest reply that I couldn’t really argue with. I remembered my own reaction upon meeting Sonny. I was sure that after Leahy spoke to Sonny, he would see him in the same light we all saw him, a loyal American and an honest good guy.
“Would you mind if one of us was present?” I asked, hoping to be there to support Sonny.
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible Isaac. The security of this facility is paramount, I can assure you that I’m not going to torture your friend or anything like that,” laughed the Professor.
It’s not you I’m worried about, I thought to myself as I stared into the cold, strangely empty grey eyes of Mr. Ragg.
“When will that be sir? We would all like to see Sonny, he’s been locked up for days.” All of my friends nodded enthusiastically.
I saw another flash of annoyance in his eyes but his face was still fixed in a smile. “Well, he’s not locked up exactly. He’s just isolated and I can assure you he’s being well looked after. We were going to do it in a few days, but I can see how much he means to you, so as a gesture of good faith I will conduct the interview tomorrow morning. All right?”
“That’s marvelous,” said Brooke.
“Yes, thank you Professor!” Allie added.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to see Luke tomorrow too, if he’s well enough that is.”
“I’ll have the doctor give you an update and leave it up to him. If he thinks your friend is well enough for visitors, I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”
I’m sure he had already been briefed, but as we finished our meal the Professor began asking us questions. While they seemed harmless, the questions were pointed and he skillfully formed a picture of where we had all come from and how we had ended up coming together as a group. Just in case Randall had missed anything? Maybe. Naturally he seemed most interested in Sonny and his origins and how he and his students had saved me, Luke, Ben and Brooke from the Chinese.
I had no intention of mentioning Huian and her underground group helping us elude the enemy and I was ready to pounce if any of the others looked like they might mention it accidently.
About thirty minutes after we finished the main meal, I was surprised when dessert was brought in by the woman that had served us earlier. It was a huge apple pie with homemade ice-cream. The Professor explained that the facility had a large hydroponic garden and that apples were the one fruit in abundant supply. He also took the opportunity to explain that farming was one of the ways one could contribute to the facility. He called them disciplines. Farming, cleaning, security and mining. He focused on the girls when he was speaking about the farming and cleaning, and Ben and I when he discussed mining and security. I thought it was outrageously sexist but bit my tongue. I was surprised that Indigo didn’t speak up.
Apparently something more important was on Allie’s mind than sexism. “Wait, where did the ice-cream come from? Don’t you need milk or cream?”
“Good question,” said the Professor, clapping his hands together. “Another thing we have in abundance is powdered milk and other staples. This facility was designed to survive in the event of a worst case scenario, that being Nuclear attack. Consequently, we have an almost endless store of such things, and in the days after the virus had dissipated, I sent missions to gather more. I estimate with our current population we have about three years’ worth of food, that’s without our fruit and vegetables, although, for obvious reasons, I consider them a vital part of our dietary needs.”
“What about the meat and chicken?” asked Ben.
“The beef is frozen and we have a small battery of live hens for eggs, and more in frozen stock for eating. Of course those frozen supplies will run out, but our scouting parties should be able to keep us supplied with sufficient stock of fresh meat, and possibly fish. At least until we find a solution to the Chinese problem that is.”
“What do you mean by that?” Ben asked.
“Oh… nothing. Just a figure of speech. I basically mean waiting until they are occupied elsewhere. Your spectacular arrival has them crawling over the surrounding countryside like ants before a storm.”
The rest of the meal passed quickly and the Professor thanked us for joining him. He told us that while he couldn’t guarantee our preferenc
es, someone would be talking to us about which disciplines we would like to volunteer for.
He looked at his watch as he saw us to the door with the peculiar Mr. Ragg by his side. “It’s 7.30pm now, curfew is at 9.30. Reveille is at 6.00am. Williams here will see you to the Square if you like and you can spend some time in the recreation room, or you can head back to your new quarters for rest. Good night.”
“What’s Reveille?” Allie asked me quietly as we stepped through the door.
“It’s a French word for a wakeup call. They do it in the army to wake everyone up at the same time, usually with a trumpet.”
“Okay…well, let’s go to the Rec room, I’m not ready for bed yet.”
Williams was again waiting in the lobby for us when we emerged. I tried to take more notice of the turns and distinguishing features of our route this time. After two turns we emerged into a larger passageway. We were back in the Square. He took us to the open quiet area, where there were a few people lounging about, reading a book or chatting quietly.
“Okay. As you know, this is the Square. You can spend some time here in the quiet area or inside the Rec room before curfew if you want.”
The cafeteria was nearly full and it made me happy to see so many healthy adults enjoying their evening meal. There were a lot of teenagers scattered about and a big table near the back containing smaller children with an elderly woman at the head of the table. They were the first really young children I had seen for a long time and I wondered how long they had been at the facility.
Our interested stares were reciprocated and we returned several enthusiastic waves. The taciturn Williams observed the reception we received.
“You’re the first newcomers in over a month. At the last meeting the Professor said he didn’t expect any more arrivals given how bad the winter was and the fact that the Chinese were overrunning the state.”
“We got lucky,” I said. “We only just made it, and lost a lot of good people along the way.”
“We wouldn’t have made it without Isaac.”
On The Run Page 16