“I’m fine, I swear,” her mother said. “Come on. We should help.”
Martina gave her one more squeeze, and they both got out.
The lid of the trunk was open, so Martina couldn’t see her dad or brother. As she walked to the back, she realized the lid hid one more thing.
Stopped at the spot where the driveway widened into the area in front of the cabin was the car that had been following them. Now that it was this close, she could see her brother had been right. It was the Webers’ car.
Mr. Weber was behind the wheel, his wife in the front passenger seat, and their three daughters in back. Martina knew the twins. She liked Riley but wasn’t fond of Laurie. For twins, they were nothing alike. She didn’t know the youngest girl, Pamela, very well.
Martina’s father was staring at the other car. In his hands was a rifle. She knew he had a few guns he’d inherited from his brother who’d passed away a few years before, but it had never crossed her mind that he’d bring them along. It was logical, she guessed, but surprising.
“Ken, what are you doing?” her mother said as she came around from the other side of the car.
“You and the kids, get in the house,” he said.
“Put that down. You’re going to hurt someone.”
“If I have to, I will.”
“You’re talking crazy, Ken. That’s the Webers. They’re our friends.”
Just then, the door on the other car opened, and Mr. Weber climbed out. He held up his hands to show he had nothing in them. “Hey, no need for a gun,” he called out. “Just looking for a place to hide out, like you.”
“This place is taken,” Martina’s father said.
“This is the Fullers’ place, isn’t it? I’ve heard them talking about it.”
“Get back in your car, Mark. Find someplace else.”
“Be reasonable. It’s just me and my family. We’re scared like you. Wouldn’t it be better if we worked together? Make things easier.”
“There’s not enough to take care of both us and you.”
“You mean food? That’s not a problem. I’ve got a whole car full of food. We just need a roof to sleep under. Someplace where we can stay warm.”
“It’s a small place. There’s not enough—”
“Just the floor. We can sleep there. Come on, you don’t want to do this.”
“He’s right,” Martina’s mother whispered. “This isn’t the type of people we are. And if they’ve brought food, that will help us, too.” She touched her husband’s shoulder. “There’s enough room inside for all of us.”
“You followed us up,” Martina’s dad said to Mr. Weber.
“Not on purpose,” Mr. Weber said. “At least not until we reached the mountain pass and I realized you guys were ahead of us. I just thought it would be good to stick with friends.”
“Ken, just let them join us,” Martina’s mom said. “You’re not going to shoot them, for God’s sake. They’ll freeze out here if they don’t find shelter.”
Martina’s father remained rigid for several more seconds, then his shoulders sagged. He lowered the rifle so that the barrel was pointing at the ground. “All right. You can stay. But if anyone else comes, we turn them away.”
“Sure,” Mr. Weber said. “Sure, of course.”
He brought his car over and together the families started unloading the two vehicles. They were only halfway done when the snow started to fall, so they rushed to get the rest inside.
“For a minute there, I was afraid your dad would shoot us,” Riley Weber said to Martina as the two of them made hot chocolate for everyone later.
“He was just trying to protect us, that’s all.”
“Yeah, I know. Still, it was kind of freaky.”
“Sorry,” Martina said.
Riley shrugged. “It’s okay. Dad’s been pretty crazy himself. When they started reporting about the shipping containers yesterday, he called my mom and told her she needed to get home right away.”
Martina looked at the other girl. “Where was she?”
“Christmas shopping. Down in L.A.”
Martina felt a chill run down her arms.
“Hey, don’t worry,” Riley said. “I know what you’re thinking, but it’s okay. There weren’t any of those things anywhere near where she was.”
“How do you know?”
“She didn’t see any and there weren’t any reports of them on the news. Look.” Riley glanced over at her mother in the living room. “She’s fine.”
Martina followed her gaze. Mrs. Weber did, indeed, look fine. If she’d been exposed, it had happened almost a day before, and surely she would have shown signs of something by now. Still, shouldn’t Martina say something to her parents, just in case?
She decided to tell her mom; she’d know what to do. Her dad would just panic.
“I think it’s ready,” Riley said.
Together, the girls poured the hot chocolate into mugs and carried them out.
As soon as she found a moment, Martina took her mother aside and told her what Riley had said. Her mother was concerned, but not overly worried.
“Should we tell Dad?” Martina asked.
Her mom patted her on the arm and smiled. “He’s under a lot of stress right now. Best I’ll have a little talk with Mrs. Weber. For now, we’ll just keep this to ourselves.”
In that, Martina’s mother was right.
22
PCN BROADCAST
1:10 PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME
“WE’RE SWITCHING NOW to our Pentagon correspondent, Brian Keeter.”
The image of the anchor, Carl Morgan, cut to a split screen, with Morgan on the left, and Brian Keeter on the right, standing in front of a wooden paneled wall that had several flagpoles in front of it.
“Brian,” Morgan said. “What’s the latest from there?”
“Carl, while spokesmen here are not saying anything official at the moment, sources have told us that scientists working at the US Army Medical Research Institute have been able to confirm that the substance being released by the shipping containers is consistent across all the locations they’ve been able to test.”
“Biological?” Morgan asked.
“Again, nothing on the record, but yes, Carl. My sources say the institute has been able to precisely identify the biolo—”
The screen with Keeter’s image suddenly went black. Morgan looked momentarily confused, but quickly regained his composure.
“Apparently we’re having some signal problems with the feed from the Pentagon. We’ll go back to Brian Keeter as soon as we’re able to reestablish the link. In the meantime, we’ve received word that the planned test destruction of one of the boxes has been delayed. No reason has been given, but our experts speculate…”
THE MEDIA REHASH CENTRAL BLOG
NEW POST
1:16 PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME
NOT SURE HOW many of you were watching PCN a few minutes ago, but something I would classify as odd just occurred. Resident PCN talking head Carl Morgan was having a discussion with field reporter Brian Keeter when Keeter’s feed was suddenly cut off (Keeter was the reporter who broke the Martin Hills bribery story back in August).
I don’t know about you, but it sure sounded like he was about to reveal what these shipping containers are spitting out on everyone. He was able to at least report that it is biological, not that that’s a big stretch. We’ve all been presuming that. Still, I think it’s the first time anyone has said it as definitively as he did. Well, other than the woman purporting to be Tamara Costello in the viral YouTube video.
Morgan played it off like it was a satellite issue. I call bullshit. I think Keeter’s feed was cut at the source.
Oh, did I mention? He was broadcasting from the PENTAGON!
WHITE HOUSE BRIEFING ROOM FEED
CARRIED LIVE ON ALL MAJOR BROADCAST
AND CABLE NETWORKS WORLDWIDE
1:20 PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME
LOWER THIRD GRAPHIC over m
an walking to podium:
WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY LIONEL SCHULTZ
SCHULTZ: I have a brief statement, and will be taking no questions after.
(Groans from crowd, and shouts of complaint.)
SCHULTZ: Please, settle down.
(Noise diminishes, but crowd restless.)
SCHULTZ (reading from sheet of paper): Progress has been made in identifying the nature of the threat to our nation and our friends around the world, and steps are being taken to mitigate the problem.
PAUL LUNDEN, REPORTER, ABC NEWS: What steps?
SHEILA BLACK, REPORTER, ASSOCIATED PRESS: What’s the nature?
SCHULTZ (still reading): The president has been apprised of every new development, and remains focused on dealing with this issue head-on. At two p.m. eastern time, he will address the nation.
MARY WHITMORE, REPORTER, BBC: Will he be in here?
KYLE NORRIS, REPORTER, PCN: Will he be taking questions?
SCHULTZ (looking at the press pool): The president will be addressing the nation from the Oval Office, and no, there will be no questions. Thank you.
(As Schultz heads off stage, pandemonium breaks out.)
TRANSCRIPT
PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS
2:03 PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME
MY FELLOW AMERICANS and citizens in nations throughout the world, over the last day and a half, we have all watched as signs of what we now know is a massive, unprecedented terrorist attack have appeared. The shipping containers we have seen on our televisions have been found in hundreds of cities around the globe. We have been working in conjunction with other governments to 1) determine exactly what the threat is, and 2) figure out how it can be stopped.
I wish I could bring you better news. Scientists working at both the US Army Medical Research Institute and the Centers for Disease Control have been able to isolate the bio-agent and identify it. With the exception of a few minor variations, it resembles the Sage Flu virus that devastated the Mojave Desert area of California last spring, and caused a minor outbreak in St. Louis less than a week ago. It is believed that while quarantine measures have helped isolate many of these viral bombs, enough of the virus has already been released to cause catastrophic problems.
As you know, moving the containers has not worked, nor have attempts to disassemble them. We had hoped to destroy them, and, in fact, tried to do just that several hours ago. Unfortunately, much of the virus was not destroyed, and instead was carried off in the wind.
We continue to try to find methods of shutting the containers off, but I will not lie to you. We believe it will be too little, too late.
Because of this, I have ordered a complete shutdown of all nonessential government agencies, and all private and public businesses. I’ve also just signed an executive order declaring a nationwide state of emergency and instituting a twenty-four-hour curfew. Military personnel will be joining local law enforcement to see that everyone remains safe.
Contact with people outside your home should be avoided. To that end, we ask that you all go home, seal your windows and doors, and remain there until it can be determined that it’s okay to go outside again.
We continue working on solving this crisis. Once we do, we will then focus on bringing to justice those responsible.
Until that time, may God save us all.
THE MEDIA REHASH CENTRAL BLOG
NEW POST
2:09 PM EASTERN STANDARD TIME
I’M NUMB, AND if anyone is actually reading this, I have no doubt you are, too. My first thoughts after listening to the president was to think back over the last thirty-six hours, and remember all the places I’ve been and people I’ve talked to.
There’ve been a lot. It also doesn’t help that I live in New York City, where I’ve lost count of how many containers they’ve found. I’m pretty sure I’m screwed.
I received an email from a loyal follower right after the president’s address. He said, “He [the president] didn’t say it, but what he’s done is declare martial law. I’m not sure he has the right to do that. We need to challenge this. Our personal liberties are at stake!”
Normally, I would agree. You all know me well enough to know that anything that encroaches so blatantly on our rights would be more than enough for me to raise the alarm.
But, brother, I’ve got to tell you, on this one you’re an idiot. What the president was saying is that we are going to get hit, and hit HARD. He’s just trying to save whatever lives he can. If that means we need to hermetically seal ourselves inside steel drums, then that’s what we should do.
This is about survival now, not our rights as citizens.
I’m going to take a break, see how this all plays out. And I’m also going to turn off comments because at this point, what’s there really to say? Hopefully, I’ll be back when it’s all done. If not, well…
23
THE RANCH
12:15 PM MOUNTAIN STANDARD TIME
ALL WORK IN the Bunker came to a standstill as the president spoke.
“It’s not going to work,” Rachel said once the short speech was over.
“It could save some lives,” Matt said. “It all depends on how long the virus stays active. If someone can wait it out, they’ll have a chance.”
“For now, maybe. But we both know it will come back, like flu does every year. It’ll become part of the biosphere. If it doesn’t kill them now, it’ll kill them next time.”
“We’ll just have to get them the vaccine first.”
She stared at her brother. “And how are we supposed to do that? We only have a limited supply.”
“At the moment,” he corrected her. “We’ll continue making it.”
“It still might not be enough.”
“Or it might be.”
“We’ve been doing all we can for years, Matt, and what did that get us? We failed. The Project won. They’re going to get their restart, and we can’t stop it.”
For the first time he noticed the circles under her eyes. “When was the last time you slept?”
She glared at him, then whipped around and half ran toward the door.
“Rachel!” he yelled. He tried to follow her, but with his leg, he could only go so fast. “Rachel!”
Just before he got to the door, Christina called out, “Matt, I’ve got the men at the emergency tunnel on the phone. They’ve got the door open and are about to go through. They want to know if you still want to go with them.”
Matt paused. If he kept after his sister, it would just make her more upset. What she really needed was sleep, not talk. Reluctantly, he said, “Tell them I’m on my way.”
__________
THE ONLY WAY out of the Bunker now was via a long tunnel that exited through a hidden hatch in the woods. Similar to the other two entrances, both of which were now unusable because of the fire, a large blast-like door had been slid into place when they went to full cover, sealing off the underground facility from the tunnel and the world above.
While closing the massive door was easy, the built-in safeguards made opening it again considerably more difficult. It had taken the team over an hour to slide it open wide enough for people to pass through. When Matt arrived, all six of them were standing by, geared up and ready to move.
“Let’s go,” he said, not wanting to waste any more time. Brandon and Hayes had been out there for over twenty-four hours now, and he would not relax until they were found.
One of the team members handed Matt a coat and a pistol. One by one, they passed through the opening into the tunnel.
The air grew colder as they approached the far end. When they reached the hatch, Matt toggled his radio.
“We’re ready to go up,” he said.
“All clear,” Christina replied through his earpiece.
The lead man, Miller, released the lock on the hatch and carefully lowered the unhinged edge, revealing a metal plate above covering the hole. On top of the plate would be a layer of dead needles and loose branches prov
iding the perfect camouflage to anyone looking for it on the other side. Working with two of his men—Reubens and Barlow—he maneuvered the plate up and to the side, clearing the way.
As soon as they were all out of the tunnel, they headed down the road toward the barn. Hayes and Brandon had been heading back to the Bunker from there when the helicopters were spotted, so that was the logical starting point for Matt and his men.
“I’ve got footprints,” Miller called out several minutes later.
Matt limped over, his knee bothering him more than he was willing to admit. Miller was kneeling down, studying several prints.
“Theirs?” Matt asked.
“Must be,” Miller said. He pointed at the ground. “There’s a big set and a small set.”
“This is as far as they got?”
“I think so.”
“Then they must have headed into the woods from here.”
“I’m not so sure about that.”
“What do you mean?”
“Looks to me like they headed back toward the barn.”
“Back to the barn?”
“Yeah. See?” Miller stood, pointed at some more tracks, and followed them down the road a dozen feet before stopping. He glanced at Matt. “They keep going.”
Pale Horse (A Project Eden Thriller) Page 16