Infected Poppy Fields

by Alathia Paris Morgan

In the twilight darkness, the trucks stopped under the cover of the forest branches so that no one knew what we were doing on the wrong side of the battle.

  Karl helped open the truck gates as the prisoners filed up to receive their injections. At my nod the trained lab techs began to inject them and give them their final instructions.

  “Follow this path down into the trenches and let your instincts take you from there.” He grinned with the secret of what they were about to become.

  “What happens in the trenches?” One of the prisoners asked looking away as they put the needle into his arm.

  “The serum that you’re getting is going to help you become the warriors that our glorious army needs.” Karl explained with an excitement that the others took to mean was good for them.

  Once all fifty had been given the serum and placed in the trenches, the lab techs helped to quickly fill up the path that led downward.

  We were taking no chances that they would turn and come after us.

  All of the trucks began to make their way back over the bomb scared roads as Karl came to stand beside me.

  “Do you think it will work?”

  “It must if we’re to survive.” I mumbled focused on watching the helmets of the prisoners as they made their way to the first set of troops.

  Screams began to erupt as our prisoners became infected. The dead had found new people to bring into their newly formed unit. It was the most deadly unit in history.

  A chuckle erupted from at my own cleverness and I let it out with joy in the dark night unbroken until their screams filled the air.

  Using the binoculars I’d brought, I watched with growing happiness as my creations found groups of live men. Within seconds they were joining the race to the next area of fresh meat further down the trenches and closer to the massive amounts of troops waiting for them.

  Gun bursts began to go off as the stupid French, English and American men started to shoot at what they assumed were their own soldiers who were attacking them.

  Anyone who actually lived through this day was never going to trust their own troops again because it might just be a trick of the enemy.

  While I wanted to continue to enjoy my own handiwork I was needed back at the lab to continue with my experiment in creating the perfect German soldier. I was halfway there, but it was going to take some time before this virus that infected the dead could be used on the living without killing them.

  I rubbed my hands together in anticipation. Awards would be named after me one day for the scientific breakthroughs that my discovery had led to. I was about to become a German god.

  -------

  Trevor

  Weeks of being in the trenches had taken its toll. Much as we were promised a rotation and supposed to go on leave, they couldn’t afford for the few medics they had to take their turn.

  My feet hurt the sound of bullets whizzing by my head had ceased to even make me duck anymore. While I sincerely wanted to live, death would bring a welcome relief to all of the constant bombardment inside my head.

  Somewhere through the already smoky fog from the gun smoke, the signal rang that there might be a gas attack and everyone dropped their guns to quickly place their masks over their faces.

  It was always a hard decision on whether to wear the masks or not. It didn’t protect your body from the effects of the gas, but it would keep you from dying immediately from breathing in the horrible toxins that would kill you in second.

  Many times a new soldier would get nervous at some fog or see something and set off the alarms accidently.

  It was hot and bulky which made doing my job that much harder. I could barely see through the smoke as it was to see when someone needed me to fix their wounds and send them back through to the ambulances that would take them to the hospital.

  I left mine off and kept it close to my side. I needed to be able to work for as long as possible in this weather.

  Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

  Each section of trenches were separated by barbed wiring and guards in case the Germans made into our trenches it would give us a point to stop them from trying to walk through and shoot us like sitting ducks.

  Screams began to erupt from just a short ways from us and men started to pour in from the other section of trenches.

  “Close the trench.” One fellow yelled as he ran past me on his way somewhere as fast as he could.

  Men were stuck trying to get through a small space in a short amount of time and then a British uniformed soldier jumped on another one taking a bite out of his shoulder.

  I didn’t care who was in charge or if there were others trying to get through, I pushed my way to the emergency release that would collapse the dirt and fill the small entry into our part of the tunnel.

  “Evacuate.” I motioned the soldiers standing around me. “You two cover us and don’t let anything that moves come over that opening do you hear me?” I shouted above the screams that were growing louder.

  For the first time, I grabbed my riffle and stood holding it against the wall of dirt that was still settling and with a silence took over that sounded much scarier than the screams had.

  Everyone had paused for one second and then took off to do as I’d said because while I was a lower rank than our commander, I was still the medic and something about the situation made them spring into action.

  It was probably a stupid idea with the bullets flying in all directions, but I wanted to know what was on the other side and there were still men dying.

  Throwing a few sandbags against the wall, I climbed it while the other guys held my gun. I made it to the top of the trench and careful scooted along the ridge so that I didn’t draw attention to the fact that I was a target.

  On the other side of the wall, men were missing parts of their body as they began to feast on their fellow comrades in arms.

  “Oh, good God Almighty.” I whispered starting to move backward away from whatever it was that I was looking at. My foot must have hit a rock because all of those things eating the dead looked up at me.

  Not moving seemed the best idea as I held my breath hoping they would go back to the horrible thing they were doing. I know I hadn’t cared just moments earlier if I lived or died, but now it really sounded like a great thing to stay alive.

  In horror, I watched the clouds of colored smoke begin to move our direction from miles away on the left. They hadn’t been joking about putting our masks on because of a gas attack because we were the ones doing the attacking.

  Giving the things below a minute to return to what they were doing, I started to move carefully back along the ridge and slid into the trench on my side.

  “What did you see?”

  I shook my head and held a finger to my lips, “We need to get out of this section and close off the next area as well. Then we’re going to call the commanders and let them know what’s going on over there.”

  My gas mask in place, I motioned that it was real and took off running hoping they would follow me to the next section of trench that could be closed off quickly.

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  Chapter 13

  Joseph

  It felt like I had only been asleep for a few moments, when someone was shaking me awake.

  “Sir, they say you’re needed in the field hospital immediately. We’ve had group of wounded come in and they need all hands on deck.” The private moved off to wake another doctor that had crashed nearby.

  Glad that I had fallen asleep with my boots on, I didn’t have to do anything, but head straight into the chaos.

  The room was overflowing and men were writhing in pain all over the room. It was like an entire platoon had shot each other in the dark trenches. This wouldn’t be the first time something like this had happened, but it wasn’t the norm.

  Waiting for the nurse to pour the antiseptic over my hands, I glanced around trying to assess where I would be needed the most.

  These poor soldiers had bite mar
ks all over them and not bullet holes. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It had to be a bad dream, but instinctively, I knew it was the same thing that had taken down my uncle’s ship the Titanic and caused that fateful voyage. This was the bad thing that had been brewing from the lieutenant’s warning.

  “Strap them to the cots.” I yelled out to everyone in the surgical tent. “Don’t let them scratch or bite you.”

  Nobody was listening because they were all working in emergency mode. After days of working on the injured from this offensive, everyone was too tired to care of pay close attention to a crazy doctor screaming at them.

  One of the soldiers had a whistle that had fallen out of his pocket and I grabbed it blowing loudly.

  Every head in the tent and a few outside the tent looked up and glanced around to see what was happening.

  “I’ve seen this before,” I lied knowing it was the only way to get them to listen to me, “These people have been infected with a disease. They must be strapped to the beds or they’ll kill everyone around us. Don’t let them bite you or scratch you. It’s a highly contagious virus and it will spread quickly so please take extreme caution. I’m going to go alert the generals and get some help so that we can stop this new type of warfare.”

  “Why should we trust you, blokes?” An English doctor retorted.

  “Remember the Titanic? This is why it sank and unless you want us to lose the war then this is what needs to happen. You may not like it, but if you get bit, then you’re practically dead.”

  “You mean I’m going to die?” A soldier who was still conscious wailed. “Don’t let me die.”

  I reached over and squeezed his hand, “We’re going to do our level best to save you, so hang in there with us.”

  A pile of rope had been left in the corner after putting up the tents and I grabbed it to start strapping the wounded to their cots. It might not hold them, but it was better than nothing at the moment.

  Entries from Nora’s journal ran through my mind and I knew we had to get this thing under control quickly. We were on land and there was nothing stopping this from spreading to the villages and country side around us. The only blessing I could see from this was that most of the surrounding area had been evacuated and soldiers were the only ones for miles around.

  The doctors were still standing there immobile. “Our patients are dying, let’s get a move on.” I yelled hoping to galvanize tem into action.

  “Right, you heard the man. Strap them to the beds and then get to fixing their injuries. We’ve got more coming in from the trenches as we speak.” Dr. Pittman took over and since he was the highest ranking surgeon, everyone jumped to action. He must have arrived after I had fallen asleep.

  “I’ll get a few soldiers to bring more rope and they can do that while we fix their injuries.” I nodded in approval to him before I ran from the tent to get help.

  “Hey,” I grabbed the first three people that were in sight, “Take as much rope a you can to the surgery tent and do what the doctor tells you immediately.”

  With a sinking feeling, I continued on toward where I’d put my duffle next to the cot provided when we were lucky enough to be able to sleep. I hadn’t even been asleep in the right tent earlier. I was just thankful that the soldier had found me before this got out of control.

  Anxious to know if I was correct, I dumped the contents onto the bed and searched through them frantic to find the gauze covered package.

  It was gone, but the journal from Nora was still sitting there amongst my belongings.

  I sank to the floor, unmindful that I was kneeling in the dirt.

  “She tricked me.” This whole time I’d thought that we had something special and now to find out she had been giving information to the enemy was too much. Vivi deserved to rot in prison. She was the reason that this was happening. Why had my mother sent my uncle’s stuff?

  “I’ve got to let someone know and see if there’s a way to fix this.” I raced out of the tent holding the journal in my hand as the only proof of what was really happening.

  Frantic, I began looking around for the highest ranking officers and then it dawned on me. The Hello Girls were able to reach all of the generals that were on the battle field.

  They had a small tent area set up to help keep things flowing from the front to the troops behind in various positions all across France. Communication was key and General Pershing had taken care to make sure that we were able to get a messages to the front without delay.

  I raced toward the tents where I’d last seen Emma. Hopefully, Lieutenant Romans was still there because I was going to need his help to make sure that the girls stayed safe.

  ------

  Emma

  The 100 day offensive for the Meuse-Argonne had begun days ago, but it wasn’t until this morning that things took a strange turn.

  Calls were coming through at a rapid pace, but they weren’t making a lot of sense.

  “Help, they’re eating people.”

  “Send bombs, even if it hits our guys.” One ordered.

  “We’re being overrun here and our guys are trying to kill us.”

  I turned to May, “Any idea where these calls are coming from?”

  She paused, “The very edge by the German side of the trenches.”

  “What do we do?” Holli whispered wide-eyed answering a call from another frantic soldier.

  “May, you get the general on the phone. Let me know which section is having difficulty. Holli, keep answering calls and be as reassuring as you can.” I didn’t have a plan yet, but was interrupted by someone racing into the tent.

  “Joseph?” I questioned until getting a good look at his face, “What’s wrong?”

  “It’s the infection. It’s in the trenches and there’s only two ways to stop more of our troops from being killed.”

  I stood and helped him to take my seat as he gulped in air trying to catch his breath.

  “Now, start from the beginning.” I instructed calmly. Getting excited wasn’t going to help us solve this problem. “What infection are you talking about?”

  “Yes, General. There’s a situation.” May spoke into her headset, but Joseph’s head popped up from between his knees.

  Before I could stop him, he’d grabbed the headset from off her head and was speaking quickly.

  “General, sorry to butt in, but we have a huge problem. I’m Surgeon Fitzgerald at the main field hospital tent. Sir, the Germans have released infected men. What that means is that these men are dead, but they’ve been reanimated with a virus and are biting our men. When that happens our men die and do the same thing too others or they fall into a comma and it take days before the infection overtakes them with the same deadly consequences.”

  “Good grief! How on earth did the Germans come across this infection?” The General let out a string of cuss words that had Joseph holding the headset away from his head.

  “Sorry, he does that a lot.” May whispered.

  We were all listening while continuing to take calls. We couldn’t let them go unanswered and miss sending aid to a critical point.

  “Sir, I think there may be a way to get this under control before it reaches all the men.” Cringing even as I interrupted his words.

  “Well, speak up son.”

  “The operator is telling me that most of this is coming from the left side where our trenches almost meet the German ones. Is there any way we can pull our men out quickly and send some gas in that direction?”

  “That’s a thought, but what if we can’t get all of them out?”

  “Sir, I’m not a strategist, but if we don’t stop this now, you won’t have an army to command in as little as a day and this continent will be overrun with these infected dead. We may lose a few men, but it’s worth it to save the lives of everyone else. I can get those here taken care off, but you’re going to have to give the order for this part.”

  My mouth dropped open and all of us looked at him like he’d lost his min
d.

  “You can’t talk to a general like that.” I spat out in amazement. “It’s not how things work.”

  I yanked the headset out of his hands, “General, I’m so sorry. He just took the headset from May. It won’t happen again sir.”

  “No need to apologize. He’s right and we’re going to start evacuating now. Call the fifth post and have them sound the alarm for gas masks. We’ll tell them to be on the lookout for these undead. Tell the third platoon to take out any and all stragglers that look to be dead and don’t hesitate.” The General gave the orders quickly and I waved to the others who read the notes as I was writing them down.

  “We’ll do it, General.”

  “When this is over, I’d like to speak to that Doctor. He might just be the hero that saved our lives today.”

  He hung up and I sat there trying to work through my head what I’d just heard.

  May and Holli, along with Susan and Ruby were busy sending out the new messages and making sure that our troops were prepared for this new type of attack.

  The signal began to ring through the air warning of a gas attack and everyone, including those of us in the tent put on our mask.

  Joseph had recovered from his run and discussion with the General enough that he started barking orders.

  “I’m going to find a few soldiers besides the Lieutenant to guard your tent. Anything that tries to get inside will be killed, but just in case make sure that you aim for the head.” He looked pointedly at the guns that were sitting in the corner for emergencies. “That’s the only thing that kills them.”

  He grabbed me by the arms and planted a kiss on my lips.

  “This constitutes as an emergency. Be careful.” With that warning he was gone.

  “All right ladies, you heard the general and the doctor. Let’s save some doughboys today.” I placed the headset back in over my ears knowing that Lieutenant Roman would do everything he could to keep us safe for as long as possible.

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  Chapter 14

  Joseph

  If I’d thought that I’d been overworked before, there was no stopping for anything now.