“What does it say?” Hugo asked as he came forward and leaned down looking at the computer screen.
“According to the information scanned from Chaz’ blood sample, his body has bonded with the Redeemer Strain on a molecular level…but the computer is saying that it’s a failed bond…that the ‘Collective’ has failed…” Desiree answered as she read from the screen.
“I-I’m infected with the Redeemer Strain…?” I asked as I just about choked on my own spit.
“We all are I would suspect…I think that we have finally unraveled the true nature of the Antitoxin Sample 3…look here.” Billy stated as he directed our attention to the screen of a laptop that was sitting off to our right next to a cryogenics freezer.
I led the way over to where he stood and I looked over the information and then slowly turned back to the others.
“It’s true…the Antitoxin Sample 3 that we recovered from the underground facility underneath Oklahoma City all those years ago…it was the Redeemer Strain all along.” I stated in a dark tone.
That was when a nearby security monitor came to life and we all looked up and seen that an image of a figure standing in what looked like an underground area could be seen—the figure started talking and I knew right then who it was, it was Darkbourne and he was taunting us.
“I must say that even I am impressed with the events that have transpired—I knew that you people stole the Antitoxin Sample 3 and released the original Entity bio-weapon but I wasn’t aware that you had injected it into your own bodies…you must have gotten desperate as of late.” The voice stated in mocking laughter.
“Hmm…wrong again dickhead—I guess in your all-knowing knowledge you didn’t know that we traveled to New York City years ago and made a vaccine from the Antitoxin Sample 3…we didn’t inject it into our bodies until after that!” I answered as I strolled forward and stared directly up at the monitor.
“No!”
“This…this cannot be true—arggh!” Darkbourne shouted in rage as the image shorted out leaving only gray snow.
“I’m going after him—he’s going to fucking pay for this once and for all, I am sick to death of him jerking us around!” I shouted in anger as I turned to glance at the others.
“The data transfer is complete…we’re with you.” Desiree stated as she removed the flash drive from the console and put it into her bag.
I turned and led the way toward the area where the marauders had come from minutes before with Jennifer, Sheila, Chloe and all of the others behind me—passing through several doors and hallways we came to a stairwell and I led the way down; it seemed like we had descended several stories before we came to the bottom—a long corridor spread out before us and I quickly led the way down it toward a solid metal door that we could all see at the end of the corridor. Once we were all before the door I pushed it open with some trouble and we came face to face with what was left of the marauder forces as well as Darkbourne who stood behind them on what looked like a platform of some sort—a long tunnel that was illuminated by orange colored lights spread out behind him and I could only guess that the platform Darkbourne stood on was some sort of an escape vehicle. There wasn’t hardly time to react before the enemy marauders opened fire on us and we were forced to fall back into the corridor behind the metal doors as bullets tore into the area around us, I glanced ahead and seen Darkbourne motion to someone off to his right and several dozen figures that looked like marauder bioengineers and scientists boarded the platform next to him and then it shot forward down the tunnel and was gone leaving Darkbourne’ sinister laugh to echo after him; there were more marauders joining the ones who were shooting at us and things looked grim for us—that was when Zaine stood up and raced toward the metal doors with his medieval blades in his hands.
“Let’s seal this door and get back to the homestead—the others could be in danger real soon!” He stated as he turned and glanced at me.
I nodded as I knew he was right—we had learned a devastating secret coming to this place and I knew that the knowledge of what we were all carrying had already hit the group around me hard; we had to escape back to safety so we could figure out what we were going to do. I helped Zaine lift several large fuel drums that were nearby and we put them up against the metal doors before Hugo set a plastic explosive charge on them—I then led the way back down the corridor and up the long flight of stairs until we were at the top, I hustled everyone out through the entrance we had used to come in through and I took out a cluster of grenades that I had attached to a belt and pilled the cord popping all of the pins from them and I tossed it into the laboratory area were we had discovered the information and I turned and ran out where my women as well as the rest of the group were waiting; we all got back into our vehicles as the grenades exploded inside creating smoke and fire as part of the ceiling and inner structure collapsed. Hugo pressed the button on his detonator and there was another loud rumble as the explosives he had left on the fuel drums down in the sublevels exploded, I turned our tank around and led the way out of the ruined facility before getting on the radio with Beau who was still above circling in the A-10 Warthog.
“Beau—you’re free to blow that shithole off the map!” I stated into the radio microphone.
“Gotcha.” Beau answered on his end as I could hear the engines of his fighter plane in the background.
Moments later the Ringgold facility was bombarded by a hail of AGM-65 Maverick air-to-surface missiles that destroyed the facility and much of the area around it—I continued forward toward our homestead with the information that we had learned echoing in the back of my mind; the dead-heads and other mutations were in the streets and on the roadway ahead of us but I didn’t think much of them and after around an hour of steady travel we were almost home.
“We’ll get through this…maybe we can use the information that Desiree copied onto that flash drive to make a real cure to this shit…” Jennifer stated as she placed her hands on my shoulders.
“I know that you’re right, I just hope that we can find a way to right this wrong that we have been living with now for many long years—I feel so stupid thinking that anything that maniac created could have been for good…” I answered as I kept my eyes on the view monitor at the road ahead.
“You couldn’t have known that what we viewed as our last hope was really nothing more than another one of his viruses—at least it seems like our bodies have suppressed the effects that this Redeemer Strain was meant to cause…that counts for something.” Sheila stated as she and Chloe came up beside of Jennifer and placed their hands on my back.
“I know…we need to study more deeply into the data that Desiree collected and figure out if there is any way that the Redeemer Strain can be nullified.” I answered as I sped past the roadway that I had used days before when we had fled to the barn.
“Chaz—there’s something going on…I’m picking up a distress signal from the homestead!” Beau’ voice boomed over the radio.
“Shit—can you make out what the signal is or even what is happening?” I answered as I picked up the radio microphone frantically.
“It’s Yuri and it sounds like he is saying that they are under attack—I am going to fly ahead and see if I can see what is happening.” Beau answered on his end.
We shortly after heard the engines of the A-10 Warthog scream ahead over us until they were gone, I sped forward even faster toward home knowing that my kids and family were there—our trip to the Ringgold facility had left a bad taste in my mouth so to speak and I wasn’t about to let my kids and family as well as the others back at the homestead die; it took us another five or six minutes to get to the roadway in front of our parameter wall and that was when we saw it—a large mass of marauder ground forces had massed in front of the front gate and they had a large truck with anti-aircraft guns on the back of it as well as what looked like an AH-64 Apache Gunship like they had used yea
rs before and they were attacking our homestead. As we entered the area, a round from an enemy RPG hit the outside of our tank causing me to lose control and plow into the north end of the parameter wall—I struggled to get my women and myself out of the doomed tank as fire and smoke was starting to fill the operator’s compartment and I managed to get the hatch open and get us out to safety just before the tank exploded behind us; I watched as Beau came screaming down out of the sky with his nose cannon blazing and then I watched in disbelief as the Warthog was hit by a hail of shells from the anti-aircraft guns on the back of the enemy truck several hundred feet away. I could see Beau eject from the cockpit as the Warthog soared down burning and hit what was left of the large house that had been across the street in the field where it exploded making a huge fire cloud—Richard pulled his Gatlin Tank up seconds later and opened fire with the gun torrent on the truck with the AA guns causing it to explode violently; from the state of the walls around the gate I could tell that they had sustained heavy damage and the enemy gunship was coming around again—it launched Hellfire Missiles at the front of the wall causing a massive explosion that caused one of the front watch towers to collapse. Billy and Kayla appeared overhead and they launched Hydra rockets at the enemy gunship that hit the rear of the helicopter and caused it to fall and crash into the southern end of our wall where it exploded violently—I could see the dead-heads and other mutations now and they were attacking the marauder forces as well as us and I knew that I had to get everyone inside of the walls and check on the others before we were overrun by the armies of undead that were now pouring out of the nearby fields and woods. Beau came running up to us and I was pleased to see that he had escaped from the Warthog without injury before it had crashed; Hugo and the others pulled up beside of us in the M1134 Stryker and told us to get inside as he opened the rear door—I led my women inside and once everyone was inside of the APC, Hugo started forward through what was left of the marauder forces. Zaine who was on the top on one of the machine guns suddenly jumped off of the vehicle and started swinging his medieval blades at the dead-heads severing heads as the rest of us looked out on him with confusion—the others inside opened the gates long enough for Hugo to drive the APC inside of the walls as well as Richard and the others inside of the Gatlin Tank; more gunfire rang out as another wave of marauder ground forces approached the parameter walls of our homestead and as Hugo opened the rear doors of the APC I could hear Zaine screaming at Yuri and Marco to close the gate and it was then that a rocket from an RPG soared straight at him and exploded hitting what was left of the fuel tank of the enemy truck with the AA guns as well. I looked back in horror as the entire area where Zaine had been was consumed with flames and I knew that he was dead—he had sacrificed himself for the group but I knew that unless we killed the oncoming wave of marauders as well as the creatures outside that his sacrifice would be in vain. Several areas of the wall had been greatly damaged and that was when I saw the same marauders who had shortly before killed Zaine forcing their way into our parameter through a large hole in the wall that the enemy helicopter attack had created—bullets were ricocheting off the side of the M1134 Stryker and I knew that we were fucked if the same marauder who had the RPG got inside; I climbed up into the gunner’s seat and opened fire on the oncoming enemy dropping dozens of them to the powerful bullets and that was when I saw the marauder who had the RPG—they were struggling against a mass of dead-heads and I aimed at them and opened fire mowing the zombies and other mutations as well as the marauder to pieces. A sudden movement caught my eye as several marauders appeared on the other side of the hole in the wall—these were different than the others as they were shirtless men wearing metal masks that had respirators attached to the bottom of them over the nose and mouth, they each carried M134 Miniguns with ammo belts that were fed from packs strapped to their backs; there were at least four of these marauder units and they were all heading toward us. More marauder forces dashed inside of our parameter through the hole and they formed a firing line—several of them were females who were wielding combat shotguns and the rest of them were like the others we had faced before.
“Get back!” Billy shouted over the radio of the APC as he and Kayla soared over our heads with their nose cannon blazing.
The minigunners opened fire on them but Billy managed to evade the hail of bullets that seemed to cut straight through the air as if it were nothing and Kayla fired several Hydra rockets down into the mass of marauders that exploded sending their bodies flying through the air as fire and smoke enveloped the area, once it had cleared enough to where I could see I seen that the dead-heads and other mutations were all that were left and they were starting to surge through the hole in the wall behind what was left of the marauders; I watched as the horde stopped to swarm around the corpses of the dead and they began to tear their flesh from their bones as we fell back to the well house where we were met by my family and kids who were relieved to see us alive and well.
“We’ve got to stop those things—those bodies won’t keep them occupied for much longer.” Hugo shouted as he pulled the M1134 Stryker around to where it was facing the horde.
“Form a firing line—let’s kill these fucking things so the walls and towers can be repaired.” I shouted as I grabbed my AR-15 and opened fire on the zombies and other mutations that were closest to our position.
Those fell dead after taking rounds in the head and the others beside of me joined in and we slowly killed all of the ones that had clustered around the pile of enemy corpses and then we killed the few others that came in through the hole in the wall—by the next morning the field around the homestead was littered with corpses of dead-heads and marauders alike and the fires from the explosions smoldered; Hugo and Beau positioned the heavy vehicles in front of the collapsed gate tower and the spot where the enemy and the undead had come through and it looked like we were going to be safe for the time being.
“What happened at the Ringgold facility?” My dad asked as everyone caught their breath and gathered around the fire pit in the yard.
“Well…we learned that we are all infected with the Redeemer Strain…” I answered as I stared off into the distance in deep thought.
“W-What…what the hell do you mean?” Kaitlynn asked in a disbelieving tone.
“I mean exactly what I just said…it turns out that the Antitoxin Sample 3 that we originally found in the sublevels beneath the Oklahoma City hospital was really the Redeemer Strain…we’ve been believing a lie all these years thinking that we were immune to the T.H.C.A.I.A Toxin.” I answered in an annoyed tone as I glanced over at her briefly.
“What about that M.I.M.T.W.B.C.A Strain vaccine that we found inside of Bowman’s facility in Romania?” Sheila asked as she sat beside of me.
“That one might have been the only real vaccine out of any of them…we may need to examine the compound of it as well…although back when I was starting to mutate after being infected by that creature that had been…that had been Angie…I was injected with that vaccine and it stopped and reversed the mutation—so I think that one was legitimate.” I answered as I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and brought Jennifer and Chloe close.
“What about this Redeemer Strain…if we’re all infected because of the vaccine we created from the Antitoxin Sample, shouldn’t we have already mutated or something?” Yuri asked in a confused tone.
“That’s the thing…when Desiree used the equipment at the Ringgold facility to scan my blood it said that the “Collective” had failed—I’m not sure what that means but there’s a chance that when we synthesized the vaccine in the Hudson Pharmaceutical Building in New York that some components changed…even Darkbourne seemed irate when he learned that his Redeemer Strain had failed to work on us.” I explained as I glanced around at the others.
“Is it possible that our bodies developed antibodies of their own against this infection?” Hugo asked as he turned to Desiree.
&
nbsp; “I’m not entirely sure—as I mentioned before, I am not as skilled with this sort of thing as Amy was…it is possible though that our natural immunities were enhanced by the vaccine that we created from what we now know was the Redeemer Strain; what I still can’t figure out is why Bowman went through as much trouble as he did to hide the Redeemer Strain away and even set the original Entity to guard it…” Desiree answered with a troubled look.
“Let’s look into the data that we collected on that flash drive—it may give us the answers that we seek.” Hugo stated as he handed a laptop computer to Desiree.
Desiree took a deep breath and inserted the flash drive into the laptop, shortly after she started going over the information on the drive as my mom cooked breakfast over the fire nearby; several times I noticed that a horrified or shocked expression would come over her face as she examined the data and finally around an hour later she turned back to the rest of us.
“The marauder forces that we have faced and fought since the Winterset incident have been mutated, enhanced versions of the dead-heads that were doused that day…it says that Bowman’s marauder forces rounded them up and took them to hidden underground laboratories where they were enhanced; the Redeemer Strain in the mix that we doused those creatures with that day actually changed them and gave about three fourths of them a sort of primitive intelligence while the rest of them further mutated becoming some of the creatures we encountered and killed on our trip to Romania—such as the Faces creature and others. These enhanced zombies I’m going to call them were outfitted and they became marauder elite commandos…that woman that attacked us the other night named Chryse was one of those enhanced zombies; born from the Redeemer Strain and assembled into the collective over-mind that this information seems to indicate happens when the Redeemer Strain mutation is successful.” Desiree read from the laptop screen.
[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles Page 60