by Sawyer, JT
“I’ll leave you all to get settled in,” Young said. “Feel free to make yourselves at home on this level of the ship. The lowest level, which houses engineering and our missile storage area, is off limits unless your presence is requested.” Richards walked over towards Jared. “If you’ll accompany me, I can take you to the dentist’s office now.”
Chapter 33
President Huntington stood before his group of newly assigned advisors in the briefing room next to his office. Besides General Adams and Doctor Efron, the other individuals were comprised of the base security chief, the head physician, quartermaster, life-support systems analyst, signal-intelligence officer and the newly assigned political liaison, Phillip Alderman. Beside the double doors was Secret Service Agent Willis who was standing with his large hands folded in front of his gray suitcoat.
After the others gave their reports, they departed, leaving only the president, General Adams, Efron, and Phillip in the room.
“Where are we on making headway with any of our contacts in Great Britain, Europe, Russia—anywhere?” said Huntington.
“The House of Parliament along with MI6 is offline,” said Phillip, who was dressed in the three-piece suit he had arrived in a few days earlier. “They may have gone dark or have been completely wiped out. As for the rest of the world, I have made contact with what remains of the governing bodies of Spain, Italy, Denmark, and Japan. We did pick up a few brief transmissions coming out of Australia and western Canada but nothing since the initial outbreak.”
“What about any further communications within our own agencies or military installations in the U.S.?” Huntington said, glancing over at General Adams.
The general slowly lifted up a single sheet of white paper from the table. “This list contains all of the remaining intact bases that we have received confirmation from in CONUS.” The paper revealed eighteen places that were mainly in the western and northern regions of the country. “The largest facility is at Ft. Lewis in Washington. They have a full comms and intel center, several squadrons of men, and access to offshore naval capabilities in addition to having much of their 1st Special Forces group intact.”
The president was pacing around the table and came to halt after Adams was done. “As Ft. Lewis is better equipped for me to command from, I will be departing there in Air Force One shortly. I’ve instructed General Adams to stay on here until I arrive.”
“The plane is being refueled now and the rest of its inflight systems should be ready in a few hours, sir,” said Adams.
“Do we have any intel from that encrypted laptop that was uncovered off the freighter in New Orleans by Carlie?” said the president.
“The first level of security has been penetrated,” said Adams. “There are several files listed that were recently encoded before the outbreak. One in particular that is called Operation Clean Sweep is connected to a clandestine research facility in Alaska but that’s all we’ve unearthed. The other files, and there’s a ton of ‘em, are beyond our capabilities here. Once we’re at Lewis, we should be able to proceed with breaking through the security.”
Phillip was twisting around in his swivel chair. “And what about Ms. Simmons and her teams—any SITREPs on their mission?”
“That is information that doesn’t involve you, Mr. Alderman,” said General Adams, who was sitting across from him.
“She was under my command in Tucson, that’s all. Just wondering how she is faring out there in the world.”
Adams smirked, looking at the president and then back at Phillip. “From what I know you’re only sitting here today because of her.”
“Well, there are two sides to every story, sir. Perhaps you might want to hear mine some time?” Phillip said, straightening his wrinkled tie.
Before Adams could respond, a red alarm on the wall began flashing and the sirens overhead began blaring. Agent Willis was standing near the door and intently listening to his earpiece, then removed his MP-7 submachine guns from his shoulder holsters. “Sir, there are numerous outbreaks of mutants in the east and south wings on this level. We need to get you to Air Force One now before that route is impassable.”
Huntington sprung up and raced to the door. “Not without my daughter.”
Chapter 34
An hour before dinner, Carlie was walking from the bridge to her quarters after meeting with the XO briefly. She saw Jared standing on an open section of the lower deck. He was staring at the whipping saltwater spray and heaving waves that had increased since they arrived.
She strolled up next to him. “Hey, how’s the toothache?”
Jared pulled his attention back from the waves below and turned to face her while leaning his left arm on the railing. “The dentist said no more double mocha lattes with processed sugar though apparently aspartame is fine and isn’t conducive to long-term tooth decay.”
Carlie tried to hold back a smile and shook her head instead. “So you gonna tell me what was so important back at your uncle’s restaurant that we made that detour?”
Jared reached into his pocket and pulled out a tarnished bronze timepiece with the inscribed image of a butterfly on the front. He stared at it, rubbing his thumb over the mottled surface as if waiting for something to emerge. He pried back his fingers and handed it to Carlie.
She depressed the side button and opened the watch to reveal the faded photo of a young girl with a lock of her sandy brown hair partially obscuring the beautiful face.
“She’s a lovely girl. Who is she?”
“My sister, Beth.”
“Was she in New Orleans?”
“I have no idea. We were separated after my mom died over twenty years ago after both bouncing around countless foster homes. My drunken excuse for a dad only came to get me a few years later because he needed a male to help him with his street cons. Beth got lost in the system and I’ve never been able to find her.”
“Why didn’t your uncle take care of you and your sister?”
“Sometimes you’re only related to family biologically. I’ve been closer to my friends over the years than any blood kin of mine.”
Carlie gave the piece back to him then placed both her hands in her pockets while looking out over the waves. “I’m sorry to hear about your separation from her. There’s nothing like the bond between a brother and a sister.”
“No sweat. I’ve dealt with it, mostly. I only hope she is still out there making her way in the world. I’ve always had this fantasy that one day when I’m older, we would reunite and act like no time had passed. Now that seems even more unlikely.”
Carlie was quiet for a moment, listening to the rush of waves below. “Is that why you’re always pushing people away with your acid humor?”
Jared looked at her, taking in her hardened but enchanting eyes. “Pff…I’m just a naturally funny guy, Carlie. Some people have to develop such comedic talent but not me. Besides, when you’ve endured the joyous childhood I had, you’re only going to make it through life by poking fun at it.”
“Sometimes when you’re young, you make the wrong choices to get you to the right place later on.”
“I doubt you’ve ever taken a wrong turn before. I may have been mistaken earlier when I chided you about adhering to a code. It’s admirable to live for something beyond yourself, though don’t count on me to do the self-sacrifice thing any time soon. You Secret Service and DEA types are another breed of human being.”
“I have no immediate plans to immolate myself—not without a damn good reason,” she said, clenching the cold metal railing and scrunching her eyebrows together. “I also have family that I’m going to get back to one day.”
Jared frowned and looked at her with a half-smile. “I can totally see you as a bossy, over-protective big sister. I bet your siblings probably never had to worry about getting their asses kicked on the way home from school.”
Carlie felt something unfamiliar welling up inside of her—a feeling of comfort that she hadn’t known in a long time and
had briefly felt before around Jared. He was an enigmatic figure—a lawbreaker but at the same time someone who had a vein of deep compassion even if he tried to hide it with his cocky rebukes. Whenever she looked at him she found the logical part of her brain shooting up red flags because of his checkered past. But the other part of her, that she kept hidden away, felt at ease around him. He reminded her not to take herself so seriously. Carlie took a deep breath and forced the emotion back down into that compartment of discipline whose hinges had partially thawed. She pulled back from the railing and started to walk away.
“You’re a good man, Jared. I don’t care what the others say about you,” she said with a crooked grin.
Chapter 35
At dinner that night, Carlie sat across the table from Commander Young in the officer’s mess hall as they discussed the mission ahead amidst a surprisingly good meal of rehydrated beef stroganoff and instant cream of broccoli soup.
“General Adams informed me earlier of what’s at stake here and the critical intel that might be present,” said Young. “You said that there was evidence on the freighter which indicated it may have some connection with smugglers.”
“That’s right. There are several island chains in the region to the south of the mainland,” Carlie said. “The one of significance is Nuevo Gerona. Question is where on the island is the location of the rumored bioweapons site? If we could do a flyover in the choppers or send up a drone, that would expedite this search. I’m trusting that General Adams will have some new satellite intel on the location.”
“We will know more in another day but I’d say the approaching storm front is going to rule out aerial capabilities for now. Plus our com-link is down with White Sands now, probably due to the storm.”
“The Zodiacs are going to be our best bet for getting in and out and will draw far less attention from those creatures than a bird anyway,” said Shane, looking at the rest of the crew, knowing the XO was well aware of the limits of his machinery.
“Zodiacs are doable depending on the surf but my crew is stretched thin and will be acting as support from this end. I just can’t spare anyone to accompany you and with the operational experience that is needed to augment your ground element. If you get into the thick of it, then our big guns can pound the shoreline or interior if need be.”
Carlie wasn’t sure how much the XO had been briefed by the general and what he knew, if anything, about the Soviet items they had found on board the freighter. She didn’t think it would bear on the mission from his end and didn’t see the need in panicking the crew, whose nerves were already jangled from their bloody departure in Florida.
“After you get what you came for, we will set a course for the Florida Keys. There is a small naval support station there that is intact and free of hostiles…as of today anyway. From there, we will reconfigure and see what General Adams has in mind for us next.”
“How long can this vessel support its current crew?” said Matias.
“We’ve got enough canned food, stored water, a massive desalinator, and fuel to keep us afloat for two months if we’re not pushing things. Losing more than a third of our crew has extended our supplies but also will tax each of my people with the burden of additional duties. Hopefully, there are other intact ports around the Caribbean and the Gulf to allow for resupply but that is a big unknown.”
The commander placed his cloth napkin on the table and stood. “I will have my comms personnel get with you on coordinating your radio frequencies with ours and have my intel people go over contingency plans and exfil routes that we have examined in the past during mock scenarios for Cuba—something the navy has been doing for over forty years.”
Chapter 36
As Agent Willis cautiously opened the door leading out of President Huntington’s conference room, he saw two other agents nestled outside with their MP-7 rifles aimed down the hallway.
“Is the exfil route secure?” Willis said.
“For now, but Eliza is in the lab, behind the air-locked doors,” said the younger agent to the right of Willis.
“Then that’s where we are going,” said the president.
As the team of three Secret Service agents huddled around him in a tight configuration, they glided down the cement corridor with the rest of the advisors in tow, and General Adams at the rear, armed with a Beretta 9mm.
They passed through two long passageways while the lights flickered overhead and screams could be heard over the intercoms on the wall, echoing throughout the hallways to the right and left. It sounded like they were in a zoo at feeding time only these were feral human growls followed by the sickening noise of crunching bone and flesh.
“Two hundred meters to the lab, sir,” said Willis, who was in the lead. He saw four yellow-faced creatures clad in civilian clothes rushing towards them. Willis froze in position and unleashed a volley of rounds from his MP-7 at the first two. The creatures’ flapping mouths emitted faint shrieks as the small-caliber rounds split open their heads. The next two staggered around the bodies and began running. Their milky white eyes fixated on Willis as he fired off double taps, dispatching each creature within arm’s reach. Willis and the others continued moving through the passage until they came to an intersection. To the right was the laboratory.
Willis saw two parallel streaks of blood on the floor where someone had been dragged off, and a half-chewed ear. As he approached the white vault door of the lab, he could see Eliza and two other technicians inside hiding in the corner by a table. Before them was a wiry Secret Service agent who was standing with his rifle extended towards the entrance.
Willis tapped on the thick glass of the door and motioned the other agent inside to come over. The door opened and Willis moved up.
“We are taking POTUS to Air Force One. I want to punch a line straight down this hallway. It’s three hundred meters to the entrance ramp leading outside and then we just have to clear the route to the plane. The pilots are on board and they said it’s half fueled.”
The other man nodded and waved for Eliza and the rest to come up. Huntington pushed past the agents and reached for his daughter, who rushed to grab his hand. “Sir, we need to go, now,” said Willis.
“For God’s sakes, can’t you people move any faster?” warbled Phillip, who was clutching one of the agents’ jackets. “I can’t go through this all over again.”
“We’ve got a group of hostiles at my six,” shouted General Adams, who was at the rear.
“Let’s roll,” said Willis. “Bring any pertinent research intel. This lab will seal shut permanently if the base mainframe goes offline.” Eliza and Efron quickly scurried to grab two tablets and a stack of notebooks off the front desk. Efron clutched the encrypted CIA laptop under his arm as he rushed to the door. Willis turned from the exit and began trotting as he and the rest of the group fled the incoming horde.
Willis could hear General Adams discharging his Beretta followed by rounds of automatic weapons fire from the agents at the back. As Willis passed by each hallway, he could see people fleeing or being taken down by savage mobs of crinkly-faced mutants. The subterranean air, which had smelled like a musty storage locker, had become filled with the coppery odor of freshly spilled blood and the stench of viscera. Willis jumped over the headless corpse of a nurse and then saw six creatures dressed in flight suits clogging the hallway ahead which ended at the entrance ramp to the airfield.
“I need another shooter up front with me,” he yelled back but only heard the sound of gunfire followed by the rush of footsteps. Willis turned and saw the other agents and General Adams firing into the approaching crowd which was closing in from three passages.
“Shit, we gotta keep moving,” muttered Willis to himself as the president, Eliza, and Efron clung to his back. Willis turned to his front and the oncoming group and began systematically firing off controlled bursts at the ravenous goons nearly upon him. He dropped two instantly, then followed up with another headshot which sent the closest creature tum
bling backwards into the other, its face exploding into a cherry mist. Willis continued firing, dropping two more, but the last one was upon him as his weapons ran dry. He immediately lowered his MP-7s and met the incoming creature with a fierce stomp kick to the chest, sending it toppling backwards on the slick floor. As it sprang up, he smoothly retrieved his Sig Sauer pistol and fired a round, striking the beast in the right temple in a shower of bone fragments, then he lunged forward with a kick to the bottom of the chin and unhinged the entire head.
Willis looked back and saw two agents were dead and a pile of twenty corpses lined the hallway. Adams was staggering forward with a bloody face, leaning over an agent’s body to retrieve a rifle. As the general stood up, two creatures dressed in cowboy clothing leapt at him. Willis sidestepped and dispatched one in mid-air with his pistol. The other flailing beast was swatted away by Adams, who used his rifle to slam into its chest as it reached for him. The ruddy-faced zombie landed on the back of Phillip and buried its soiled teeth into the soft flesh of his neck, spraying rivulets of blood onto the collar of his white silk shirt.
Adams slammed the butt of his rifle into the side of the creature’s head, shattering its jaw, and then fired off three rounds into the crumpled skull.
Willis walked up to the other agents and could see two of them were dead. The third man, a lean agent with a finely trimmed mustache who was on Eliza’s protection detail, was still alive and holding his arm, which had an oozing bite mark. He looked up at Willis and then back at the president and his daughter. “Go, I am done for,” the man said, reaching for his rifle and putting in his last magazine. “I’ll buy you some time.”
Willis looked down the rear hallway and saw another group of mutants headed their way. He clenched his jaw, looking down at the doomed agent’s wounds and then reluctantly pulled away and grabbed the president’s arm.