Viral Evolution (Book 1): Retrovirus

by Winters, Leigh

  As he high fives with Sean, John plants his opposite hand on Sean’s back as he moves through the action.

  Sean turns moments later 180 degrees toward his Dad, both hands raised with the thumbs up and each index finger pointing in the air while walking backwards to follow the rest of the group.

  "Later Dad!"

  John does the same with his hands, although nowhere near as flamboyant as his son, then pushing one toward him again on the later with his eyebrows raised.

  "Later Son, and go easy on your Sister."

  Sean smile's at John knowing there is a gaming area as he turns to follow after his mother. John then turns his attention toward Danny with a smile and placing his hand on his son's shoulder.

  "Remember, Civi-Zones!"

  Danny returns with a cheeky smile, as John smile's back and knowing full well his son would explore the base during their previous time there as they move off away from one another.

  John and Mike make their way walking toward the briefing room with the General and as they get further from the group the General turns to John while they walk.

  "As you’d know John, all I’ve really seen is the footage coming through and hearing of Jim’s first hand accounts. My question is, do you think we can contain it, maybe close off and quarantine the city?"

  "At this rate Sir, no. We need more than every available unit in the country to keep it from spreading beyond the city."

  "Hm. I was hoping you wouldn’t say that, but I could kind of gather this would be the case. I assure you though, it’s not looking good for anyone who may be caught in the drop zone."

  Mike upon hearing the General's last words looks across.

  "The drop zone?"

  John upon hearing Mike's question answers for the General.

  "Code red, termination."

  "Are they going to bomb the city?"

  The General upon initially agreeing with John turns toward Mike. "That’s the last resort, but its on the cards."

  With Mike knowing full well the rate of spread comments on their predicament.

  "Knowing how fast they’re sweeping across, you’d need more than one?!"

  The General looks to Mike on his last words, knowing himself any possible means will be used to eradicate the strain and the infected.

  "Our troops are losing the fight fast, retreating back to the safe zones and I feel these too will soon become unsafe."

  The three men reach the side doors with the general opening, allowing John with Mike to enter first to begin heading into the corridor toward the briefing room.

  A few men who appear to recognize John on their entrance, acknowledge him on passing as the General continues with the conversation.

  "How long do you think an extraction would take?"

  "Not long, but getting down to it will be the problem!"

  Mike agrees by nodding his head while further adding.

  "There could be up to thirty Scientists down there."

  The general with John both look at Mike, who appears somewhat apprehensive on the thought of re- entering the lab.

  "You’ll have a good team by your side, the best units we have to cover your back. I guess the good thing is that most of the infected would have left the compound and headed for the city. So we have a better opportunity now to get in and retrieve all we need."

  "Can we send a plane in or something to find out first?!"

  "We have an infrared surveillance drone scouting the area on the whereabouts of the infected in the immediate vicinity.

  Mike nods his head, although comes back immediately with the question. "Even three levels deep?"

  The General appears to ignore the question as they continue down the corridor.

  "Like you Mike, I don’t want you going in there if it’s too hot. You also know where to find the information we need, and without either of you our team would be going in blind."

  Mike’s appears to settle from the words from the general. The three men come to the briefing room door, which the General once again opens for the two men to enter first and do so.

  As they enter, military staff along with personnel are all really too busy to even notice the men enter the room.

  "We’ll head through first and find out where we’re at."

  The general moves forward with John, and Mike who follows close behind taking in his surroundings.

  As they head over through the next door toward intelligence personnel who are monitoring with the surveillance drones and begins asking on arrival.

  "What’s the latest Jesse for the extraction team. Is it safe enough to go?"

  Jesse an average sized young man in his early twenties, who speaks well with confidence and takes his work very seriously immediately turns to the General to answer.

  "Most of the infected appear to have moved to the South and West into the city Sir!"

  The General pauses for a brief moment appearing in thought as he looks on to Jesse for the direction of movement from the infected before asking.

  "How many are we looking at within the immediate vicinity?"

  Jesse with eyes directed to his superior answers with a slight sideway shift of his head and shrug of the shoulder.

  "We obviously can’t tell for sure how many civilians or infected are in the building. There have also been reports from communications until the lines went down from people who had locked themselves in their offices on the top floors."

  The General turns to John with Jesse doing the same a moment later with John acknowledging the reports of colleagues barricading themselves inside and says to both men now with their gaze toward him.

  "We didn’t get a chance to lock it down, but someone else may have?!

  The General turns back from John to Jesse, with Jesse turning to the General as he moves on to say.

  "Go for a final sweep. See if you can make out who’s who out there and get back to me asap!"

  "Yes Sir!"

  Jesse turns to do as instructed, with the General immediately turning his attention to Beth over in communications and moves on toward her.

  Voicing on his approach, the general says quite loud.

  "Excuse me Beth?!"

  The alert young female communications expert of shoulder length brunette hair and who well spoken with full respect toward her superiors sharply turns upon hearing her name while also knowing it’s the general speaking.

  "Yes Sir!"

  Upon making eye contact with Beth, the general asks.

  "How many calls have been made from the VIROTEL?"

  Beth sighs briefly on the question as her train of thought goes out to those trapped before answering.

  "I believe it was over sixty calls Sir, but some unfortunately many of them ended abruptly. The top floor appears as though it may have as many as forty six staff still waiting for some form of rescue, Sir!"

  "Forty six?! Who was that call from?"

  "A direct call by a woman named Cynthia, who also said she’s the personal assistant to the C.E.O?!"

  The General looks to John, who upon hearing this immediately asks Beth himself.

  "Do you know if they had locked down?"

  Beth listens, with a slight glance to her superior before who gives her a slight nod before she turns back to John.

  "Sorry Sir, I don’t know. But staff had apparently barricaded the stairs and all fire exits."

  John and Mike glance to each other with Mike voicing.

  "The lifts?!"

  John continues on from Mike as he turns to both the general and Beth before mentioning.

  "There’s another button in Alex’s office, and if Cynthia got in there then they could of locked it down?!"

  The General upon hearing this briefly thinks before saying.

  "Okay, so we have some possible survivors then?! Although we will have to move faster and we’ll also need more units to evacuate."

  Mike with his attention toward the Gen
eral asks "What about the remaining floors?"

  John and the General look toward each other on the thought of the team entering the lower floors as the General politely thanks Beth for the information.

  "Thank you Beth."

  The general motions to both John and Mike to make their way through to the briefing room which begins to fill with soldiers, high ranking officials and government personnel.

  The general moves over toward the Secretary of Defense with John and Mike before moving on to introduce the two with all shaking hands briefly.

  An older gentleman with gray hair in his early sixties, the Secretary of Defense stands with a strong stature about him looks to John asking firmly.

  "I hear you’re with us to help clean up this mess?!

  John returns the gaze while nodding his head responds.

  "Yes Sir, we are!"

  Mike also nods to agree with John's firm tone as the Secretary of Defense looks over them briefly on their response.

  "Good, because we need it!"

  The Secretary of Defense turns toward the General asking

  "Are we ready to go?"

  Upon hearing these words, the General turns his attention away from John and Mike toward the Secretary of Defense.

  "Almost Sir, we’re just doing the final sweep."

  The Secretary of Defense appearing somewhat impatient replies.

  "Well I hope it’s not going to be too much longer as we have to think about the majority over a few."

  The General looks deep into the eyes of the Secretary of Defense while knowing there aren't many options left and motions slightly away before saying.

  "I understand Sir, and I’ll get what we have."

  The General turns away to go get the requested information from intelligence.

  Mike looks at John, who’s looking back and appears to agree with the Secretary of Defense.

  Mike looks back toward the Secretary who notices Mike’s apparent disgust on his comment, as he thinks of Cynthia and the staff on the top floor with many he knows on a first name basis.

  The Secretary of Defense notices Mikes discomfort on the idea of leaving trapped co-workers or civilians behind and voices firmly on his current position.

  "I have a nation to protect Son, and if it means losing a few survivors in the process then so be it!"

  Mike looks on in some form of disbelief while questioning.

  "But we’re going to try and rescue them though right?"

  The Secretary of Defense pauses briefly before answering.

  "If it means losing or endangering the lives of all personnel including yourself, then no!"

  The two men stand there looking at each other for a moment over the scenario, as the Secretary of Defense then moves away toward a group who appear to be high ranking military officials and government staff to further assess the situation at hand with John going on to say to Mike.

  "We have to put the files first in this case, we have to, for the future of mankind."

  With Mike hearing this coming from John his view begins to change from the thought of all mankind against the strain.

  John motions to a seat close by for Mike, as John then pulls one over with the two sitting down next to each other.

  Once the two sit, they both look on around the active room with information being relayed and passed on with more staff entering the room as Mike turns to John while asking.

  "Is this what it was like when you were in the military?"

  John looks around the room a little before answering.

  "During a conflict it was, we are now technically at war, at war with the infected and one we can’t lose at any cost!"

  Mike turns slightly toward and looks on to John to get his full attention from his next question.

  "So, they’ll do anything to win?"

  John nods his head slightly before he goes on to say.

  "Whatever it takes to win, sometimes we have to act on it swiftly, considering what is best for the majority, and even if it means a detonation over the city with civilian casualties."

  Mike stares at John with those thoughts in mind as his heart sinks on the thought of the innocent lives lost.

  "Just the sound of it you know, it’s fucked up. All those people?"

  John hears what Mike is going through from the tone of his voice and appears to want to help him come to terms with their predicament.

  "I know Mike, but we could lose a whole lot more?!

  Mike ponders for a moment in thought before slightly nodding while looking back to John before he appears to think more on their experiences thus far.

  "I can see how we could."

  As John looks on who’s also thinking on those final words, Mike then notices the General from behind coming back into the room with papers in hand as he heads toward the Secretary of Defense and turning his attention back to John.

  "Hm. Here we go!"

  John looks at Mike noticing the direction he is looking, following his gaze to the General moving in toward the Secretary of Defense with Officials.

  The General joins amongst the standing group appearing in discussion.

  CHAPTER 21

  Debrief

  As the General prepares his notes amongst the group of officials, moments later Jim comes back through the main entrance and catching the attention of John before making eye contact with both him then Mike as he approaches the pair while voicing.

  "Hey."

  John with Mike respond to Jim who pulls up a chair along side John and goes to sit down beside him while asking in the process.

  "So what’s the news?"

  Mike immediately responds with frustrated thoughts in mind. "It’s not looking good for civilians left in the city!"

  Jim looks on to Mike who notices his view, and while raising his eyebrows to help push his point across says to Mike.

  "They might not be civil?!"

  Mike looks to Jim briefly while coming to the realization from what they had all witnessed in the city. "True."

  Jim then moves on to say, "Throughout all my years, I’ve never experienced an enemy like this!"

  John agrees strongly, while thinking on the previous words between the two men before him. "Neither, besides it’s our protocol."

  Jim knowing protocol voices, "Yep." before turning to his old friend asking while knowing already. "So you’re back with us then?"

  John looks at Jim realizing he’d mentioned the term "Our" and somewhat smiles noting before answering.

  "I always have been."

  Mike and Jim look between themselves before they both turn to John. Jim while somewhat still nodding upon Johns comment briefly looks at the two before getting up and voicing.

  "I’ll go find out what the plan is."

  John with Mike acknowledge Jim as he stands pushing the chair away from behind himself in the process, then moves of toward the group reviewing the information at hand leaving both John and Mike seated at the table while the room fills with staff and personnel.

  Jim reaches the officials and fellow personnel, then proceeds to listen in on the conversation as the members acknowledge and welcoming the entrance. The General continues on toward the group.

  "I’m not risking all these men, to lay them all out on the car park as sitting ducks. These things are faster and a lot stronger than the average man. We have to go the

  roof, with multiple distractions outside the compound to pull them further away from my men."

  The Secretary of Defense slightly shrugs his shoulders before saying. "If it’s our only option?!"

  The General then points to some plans laid out on the table, as he begins to share with the group explaining how they will approach the compound as they listen.

  "The plans show the lift shaft maintenance port holes here on the roof. We’ll pull some units in from the city until more reinforcements arrive. Cover fire is essential to distract the infected for a safe entr
y and extraction. If we can get into the building without really being noticed then any survivors also have a better chance."

  There is a slight pause between them all before Jim asks his superior. "Excuse me Sir. How many units do we have available for this?"

  The General responds, although somewhat hesitant. "As many as we can bring in."

  A silence gathers over the table as though all has been discussed, with the General turning to the Secretary of Defense who is looking around to the other members within the group who moves on to ask.

  "Is there anything else to add?"

  Moments later, with no response from anyone while seeing the General has said all that he needed to, the Secretary Of Defense goes on to say.

  "Okay that’s that, lets get this done!"

  All the men turn toward everyone standing or sitting in the room, and as the General steps forward a Military Officer immediately shouts out to all in the room.

  "Attention!"

  The room quietens down to a mere murmur, as the Military Officer turns to the General who then acknowledges the officer before moving on to speak to the audience in the room moments later.

  "Thank you. As you are all aware, from what you’ve learned here or seen during first hand accounts we can tell you now that all reports have since escalated to the worst case scenario and code red. Firstly though, a team is moving into the grounds of VIROTEL CORP. Entry will be from the rooftop, then through the maintenance port holes of the lift shafts. We cannot risk anyone going through the stairwells at this point. The extraction team will decide which lift shaft will be used once they arrive on site. The rescue team will head down when the extraction is complete."

  The General pauses momentarily on the thoughts of the civilians before going on to say.

  "We have up to forty six people on the top floor, we also need any survivors to remain calm and quiet so no further attention is drawn to anyone upon evacuation. With an enemy such as this, I urge you to be extremely vigilant and the safety of you and your comrades at all times is crucial."