by Dan DeWitt
So what did they have?
A mystery of how a guy caught the virus, not that it mattered much, because they also had a cure that didn't work.
Orpheus drummed his fingers against his lips. "Aw, what a cock up."
"I didn't write everything down," Jen said from right behind him.
Orpheus whirled in his chair and almost went ass over teakettle. "Jesus Christ! You're gonna give me a heart attack!"
"Quit being a baby. I've seen your last physical. Your heart's in great shape."
"Okay, how about people need to stop sneaking up on me or I start shooting?"
Jen smiled. She was in the process of putting her hair back in a ponytail. She looked somewhat refreshed, which was impossible, because he'd only let her nap for maybe twenty minutes. He looked at his watch out of force of habit. He'd been there for over two hours, poring over her notes, theorizing, and killing the pot of coffee. "Holy shit."
"Not going to lie. That was a nice nap. But we have to talk."
"I'm all ears."
"How much did you get from my notes?"
He gave her the rundown of what he'd read and what he thought he meant.
She nodded and said, "Not bad. I came to the same conclusion. Vincent kept an ace up his sleeve. That has to be it."
"So we're dead in the water on the cure."
"Well, I can't trace it. I consulted every relevant journal and spoke to one of the best researchers in North America. Nothing. So unless Dr. Vincent comes back from the dead and tells me what he used, it's a dead end. No pun intended."
She gave Orpheus a moment to process that. His safety net was gone. The job just got more dangerous, and the potential ramifications of another outbreak just got catastrophic.
"So what's the bad news?"
"Well, if you liked that theory ... which I can almost support ... I have another one that's even more creative."
"I don't like the sound of that."
"It gets better." She put on her coat. "Did you bring one?"
"Thermals. I'll be all right. Where are we going?"
"To the fridge." She picked up her radio and asked the guards outside to step in and watch their guest while she showed the captain something. Once they were at their post, she hit a button and the giant bay door rolled up. The crisp air felt refreshing on Orpheus's face.
They walked forty yards to a large storage container. Jen punched in a key code and removed the lock. Orpheus threw the heavy iron arm and opened one of the doors. The air conditioning unit at the far end hummed. It had to be just above freezing.
Jen produced a flashlight from her coat. Orpheus pulled out his own, a compact 300 lumen LED light. It went everywhere with him. The flashlights provided plenty of light to navigate by, but they cast a decidedly eerie glow inside the drab metal container. Once Orpheus had figured out what he was there to see, it got eerier.
Jen looked at a clipboard hanging at the end of a sheeted table. "Barr, the guard. He died right away, too fast for the virus to take over and bring him back. I don't want to sound callous, but I got nothing from him. He can be released, although I recommend getting his next of kin's permission to have him cremated here. "
"Can we even do that?"
"I already checked. There are at least three funeral homes with crematoriums on the island. You do your thing and secure whichever place, then I'm sure we can figure it out."
"Noted."
"So, nothing I can use from either the zombified Torres or Barr, because he died a natural death. Well, not natural, I mean, he was murdered, but you know what I'm trying to say."
"Keep going."
She sighed. "Well, I had three specimens, two of which were of no use. If this wasn't what it was, if it wasn't as ... huge, I would've been annoyed. But this is a potential world-killer. Some of us know for a fact that there were simultaneous outbreaks. As far as I know, we've never talked about it in any depth. It's just kind of a dirty little secret. But after what I found, we have to address that."
She pulled the sheet back on Falcone. Orpheus took a minute to process the catastrophic damage that he'd caused to the man's head. What made it something close to bearable is the work that Jen had done on him. His head was clean. And now bald.
"The first thing I did was pull his brains before they fell apart any further." She used her flashlight to spotlight an opaque bag on a shelf. "I didn't exactly have to determine cause of death, and I'm no neurosurgeon." She seemed almost defensive.
When Orpheus said nothing, she continued. "So I was pretty desperate to find something. I did everything I could think to do. I searched his entire body for clues, and came up with nothing. No bites, no open wounds, no injection sites. Like I said, I wasn't looking for cause of death. If I was, I would've stopped long ago."
Orpheus interrupted. "But you knew that there was still something to find, and you took that personally."
Even in the dim container, her eyes lit up. "Yes. You get me so much. I considered doing horrible things to him, just to get an answer. Pulling toenails, teeth, skinning him. The fatigue and the desperation made me a little psychotic, so I stepped away from it and took a walk. I needed sleep, but I needed to clear my mind even more."
"Uh, huh." Orpheus wished that she would just get to it, but he gave her a lot of rope. He was betting that she'd earned it.
"Do you know how many bald guys you brought with you on this mission?"
"That's a pretty random question, Jen, but no."
"Me neither. But out of the five or so guards that I encountered on my walk, three of them were bald or close enough to it. I started thinking about hair, and then I remembered how Lena had hidden the microSD card.
She'd taped it to her head, underneath a lot of curly locks. He was interested now.
Jen leaned forward and turned Falcone's ruined head. She grabbed his earlobe and gently pulled on it so she could expose the spot where the ear met the jaw. "Look here. It's small." She pulled a magnifying glass out of her pocket and offered it to him.
"My eyes are still 20/20, thanks." He focused his flashlight beam on the spot she indicated. He couldn't see it at first, and he began to wonder if his vision was still as good as he thought. He changed the angle of the flashlight so he could soften its impact.
He saw the incision. It was only a few millimeters. "Son of a bitch."
"Right? Whoever did it, they did it well. It probably never even bled, and Falcone would never, ever have seen it."
"Could this be anything, I don't know, routine? A common procedure?"
"I haven't confirmed this, but I'd bet my life that there's no medical procedure in the world that entails an incision this small in this particular spot."
"So what else did you find?"
She shook her head. "That's just it. I found nothing. I'd already removed the brain, so I looked at it from the inside. I couldn't find a thing, other than matching scar tissue."
"So it's nothing."
She showed the first signs of frustration. The old Jen would have turtled and gotten much more passive. But she was different. "I wouldn't have pulled you all the way out here like a damn spy for nothing. Whatever it is isn't there, but it's not nothing. It's every fucking thing."
He held his hands up and smiled. "Fish has been a terrible influence on you. Maybe I should've let you nap longer."
"Sorry."
"No need. If you believe this is it, I believe this is it. What should I look for?"
"Some kind of microchip. Probably flat, like a postage stamp."
"How small?"
"The smallest chips in the world are measured in nanometers."
"I'm sorry, that's billionths?"
She nodded forlornly. "I'm, uh, hoping it's a little more substantial than that. But that's probably why I can't find it. Either one of your thunder kicks shook it loose and put it somewhere I can't find it, or ..." Jen got quiet.
Orpheus prodded her. "Or?"
"More likely, I dropped it during the autopsy or
threw it out. Either way, it's gone."
Orpheus dropped his head in defeat. "Of course. Nothing's ever easy, is it?"
"I should've been more careful, I know."
"Don't blame yourself. This is good, it's way more to go on than I had before. Now, and I mean this with love, get your ass back to your quarters. You're officially shut down until further notice. Maybe see that boyfriend of yours."
She hugged him. It could've been awkward, standing among dead bodies. But it was too genuine to be anything else. "Bless you."
O
The intruder's words had made a terror unlike any Jackie Holt had ever known descend. She forced herself to speak, still disbelieving what she had heard. "Ethan? What do you want with my son?"
"I don't think that we need to get into details. Let's just say that he's one of a couple scores I need to settle."
Her fear made her aggressive. For the first time since he'd forced his way in, she was completely unconcerned with her own safety. "Tell me, you fucking psycho."
He reacted calmly. "I gotta be honest here, that was pretty hot, the way your eyes blazed with rage right there. I bet your husband pisses you off intentionally just to see that side of you. I would."
"Tell me."
"In time, Mrs. Holt. For now, I'd just relax. You'll have your time to shine soon."
O
Orpheus had spent the rest of the day thinking, trying to pin down his memories of the first day, the first moments, of the outbreak. He played it over and again in his mind. It was so vivid. There was so much going on all at once. The party, the outbreak, the sheer panic, the harrowing escape.
And Marcy.
At some point, he'd have to find her and do what had to be done.
Everything that happened in front of him on that day was still in crystal clear focus. The song that was playing, the beer that he was drinking, the conversation with Glenn. Even the time in the living room, as hectic as it was, played out like a movie in his mind.
But when it came to the swarm of freshly-turned zombies that he'd barely gotten away from, there were just no details. He had no idea which one of them had come after him or peeled off after someone else. He was trying to find a single face in that crowd, and he couldn't. If he pursued that, he'd be taking a pretty big risk with no guarantee of any type of payoff.
His choices were limited. If Ethan didn't have a better option, his decision would be made for him.
Orpheus was at the gate before the squads returned. He saw the first Rhino turn the corner, followed closely by the other three. He was always pleased to see them all coming back together. In the beginning, after Lena had sounded the whistle for the day, he'd watch them come in one at a time, sometimes separated by as much as fifteen minutes.
That was shitty teamwork.
He'd said nothing to his lieutenants, trusting that they'd figure it out in short order. They hadn't disappointed him. He was comforted to know that if he disappeared tomorrow the mission would still be in very good hands.
He recognized the lead Rhino as Tim's squad. He walked alongside them as all four vehicle entered the safe zone. He heard the satisfying double-thunks of the heavy-duty gates slamming home behind him. The Rhinos parked and the personnel filed out. Tim was the last out of his, as Orpheus knew he would be. Orpheus met him at the door.
"Yeah, boss?"
"Hang out a sec, I need a favor."
"Sure."
Orpheus gathered the other three. He handed a clipboard to Tim. "Handle the briefing. Nothing earth-shattering today, all routine. Fish, help him out. I need to speak with these two."
Fish looked like he wanted to make a wiseass comment, but he always did a good job of walking the line between irreverent and foolish. When the situation called for it, he was downright responsible. "You got it, Cap. LT, they'll be ready in five."
"Off you go," Orpheus said.
Ethan and Rachel both sensed an urgency, and they stepped closer. "What's up, Dad?"
"Let's go someplace quiet. Like right in this here truck."
They stepped into the Rhino and shut the door behind them. They sat around a small circular high-top table. Orpheus grabbed two empty Styrofoam cups and tossed them into a nearby trash can. "Okay, the first thing I want to say is have your men clean this thing, Ethan. Come on, your mom would be ashamed."
"I'll be ashamed enough for her, I promise." Rachel put her fist out and Orpheus pounded it.
Ethan rolled his eyes. "I hope you both are having fun."
"Totally am," Rachel said.
"Dad, what is it, really?"
"What do you two remember about the outbreak? The first day?"
"It sucked. Are you looking for anything specific?"
"How did you get involved with the outbreak? What were you doing?"
Ethan started. "We were at the movies."
"Where?"
"Up in the projectionist's booth with JD." He shared a look with Rachel. They'd left JD behind when he refused to go with them. Tim had confirmed that at some point JD had killed himself. There was only a small bit of comfort in knowing that he was never turned into a zombie.
"Doing what?"
"Just chilling. I had Raisinets. I say 'had' because she took them. Then everything went nuts."
"Nuts, how?"
"One minute it was a movie theater. The next, it was chaos."
"Hmmmm."
"There was the woman, remember?" Rachel said.
"Right, right," Ethan agreed.
"What woman?" Orpheus asked.
"She just attacked the guy sitting next to her. Killed him on the spot. Then attacked an usher, who turned. It went pretty poorly after that."
Orpheus scratched his cheek. "So she was normal, and then just went nuts?"
Rachel said, "As far as I know, yeah."
"Hmmmm."
"That's two hmmmms, Dad. What's going on?"
"Let's go talk to Lena."
O
When they walked in, Lena was hunched over a table, using a grease pencil on various maps. She noticed them and said, "Hey, guys."
Orpheus said, "You know, Lena, I figure you know that there's a lot of high-tech stuff out there. I can get it for you."
She got up and walked around the table, her eyes never leaving the maps. "I know, I already have everything you can think of and tons you can't. But this is still the best way to move the pieces around." Then, unprompted, "We're making really good progress. At this rate, we'll be ready for the building reclamation mid-Spring-ish."
"Or earlier," Orpheus said.
"Come again?"
"In a sec. Can you get the aerial maps of downtown?"
Lena scoffed. "Can I, he says."
She put the grease pencil behind her ear and walked to the back wall. She reached up to what Orpheus thought was an old style school map, but when she pulled it down, Orpheus could see that it was totally blank. Lena touched a button on the front and the screen was suddenly filled with color. "Told you I had it if I needed it." She grabbed a wireless keyboard and started typing. After a minute or two the entire screen was filled with an aerial image.
Orpheus said, "That's too far south."
"Hold your horses. What do you need to see?"
"Specifically, the movie theater."
Lena's smile slipped a bit. "Why on Earth do you want to see that? I figure that's nothing but bad juju, especially for you two lovebirds."
"There's a reason," Rachel said. "Maybe. I'm not really sure what it is, though. Someone won't tell us."
"Let's just focus for a second," Orpheus said.
Lena brought up another aerial view. "Better?"
Orpheus looked at it. "Yes and no. That's the theater, all right."
"Is it just me, or is that building completely collapsed?"
Lena said, "It's tough to tell from that angle. Let me see if I can find another one." She cycled through a few more shots until she found one from farther away that showed the theater.
What wa
s left of it, anyway. The front of the theater had collapsed and was now a pile of rubble that was only recognizable by a few relatively intact neon letters from the marquee. The three buildings on either side had fared no better.
"Shit. That air strike was ill-conceived and sloppy in its execution, but it managed to knock down a lot of concrete. What about the back? I want to see if there's any way in or out."
Lena cocked an eyebrow at him. Orpheus knew that look.
"Tell you what, while I'm intentionally dragging my ass finding that photo, why don't you explain what's going on? I should find it at about the same time you finish." To emphasize her point, she held up her index finger and punched a key in slow motion.
"All right all right. Just see what you can find."
He filled them all in on Jen's findings. When he was finished, they all sat in silence for a long moment. Jen had said it before: They all already suspected that the outbreaks were simultaneous, but they'd never given it much thought due to having nothing whatsoever to go on.
Rachel asked, "Does anyone else outside of this room know?"
"Not yet. I'll bring Fish and Tim in if and when they need to know. Right now, I need them to focus on this mission."
"So you want to find this woman? Our patient zero?"
"It's worth a shot, Ethan. Finding a ... I can't believe I'm about to say this ... an intact zombie head is our only lead."
"Cam?"
"Yeah?"
Lena pointed to another aerial photo. "That goal's not particularly realistic. The back's down too, and no way to get in that I can see."
"Maybe we can get heavy equipment in there, dig her out." He didn't sound all that enthusiastic about it.
"Yeah, if we want the whole world to know," Ethan said.
"Hey, if it's a choice between that or not getting it at all ...”
"Guys ... " Lena tried to get their attention.
Rachel jumped in. "If she's still in there, she would've been crushed. I mean, look at that place."
"Well, she has to be in there. We didn't leave the doors open when we left."
"Yeah, but didn't you headshot everything in there before you left?" Ethan said.