Omega Pathogen: Mayhem (9 page)

“What about Mom?” Chris asks, and brings an uncomfortable silence to the group.

“Guys, I’m going to do my best to try to find your mom as soon as we can get your grandmother and the rest of the family in Florida.”

“I know it’s too far to go all the way out to California and then turn back around to Florida, Dad. It makes sense to Jeremy and me. We were just wondering.”

“I’m sorry; I should have talked to you guys before now about it to let you know I haven’t forgotten about your mom.”

“Let’s do some more training tonight. It’ll be mostly discussion, and then get some rest. We need to make a run to a couple of stores tomorrow and get what supplies we can,” Jim finishes as he drinks the last of the water in his cup. They go over what they’ve learned today and more they haven’t yet. Arzu, Chris, and Jeremy ask several questions. Jim also brings up the likelihood of coming across other survivors.

Jim stresses the need to be cautious since those they may come in contact with may want to try to take what they have. “We aren’t thieves; we’re not going to be stealing from others. We will scavenge for what we need, but not by victimizing others. We also will do our best to defend what we have. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get away from anyone trying to take what’s ours, but if we have to, we’ll defend ourselves first and what supplies we have second.”

Jim takes first watch tonight, so he can not only observe the behavior of the infected but also do more mental preparation. He hates that his family has had to go through what they’ve recently had to, and hates even more knowing his family will have to go through much worse to come.

His instincts are to keep them from harm, and he will as best he can, but he knows they will be exposed to dangers that are unavoidable. Jim’s looking out at the street in front of the home at the darkened homes around them, and at the infected stalking throughout the neighborhood.

He hears Arzu whisper his name, and turns to see her standing at the doorway. “Can’t sleep, baby?” he asks. “No. Like everyone else, I haven’t slept well in a while,” she says as she walks to Jim and embraces him. Jim moves his AR-15 around to hang off his back by its sling, and returns her hug with both arms.

Jim kisses her on her forehead and then her lips, which she returns. They kiss more deeply, exploring each other’s mouths with their tongues. He begins to lower his hands toward her back and pulls her tighter toward him. Jim lowers his hands further and grips her buttocks firmly and pulls her to him.

“You have got to be kidding me!” Arzu says, pulling away from his embrace. “What? What’s wrong?” Jim asks innocently, with a mischievous grin.

“You can’t possibly think
NOW
is anywhere close to being a good time for
that.
”

“What do you mean, baby?”

“You horny old man, you know damn well what I mean. I come in here to give and get a comforting hug and you get all nasty,” Arzu says, putting her hands on her hips and trying to repress a smile of her own.

“OK, OK, I thought maybe we could . . . You know, take a little timeout.”

“No, we can’t,” she says as she shakes her head, smiles, and turns to walk out of the room.

She stops, turns back, and walks to Jim. She gives him another hug and kiss. She squeezes his butt with both hands, gives him a smile, and turns to walk out of the room.

“Shit, woman,” Jim says in frustration and, with a smile, she walks out of the room leaving him with his
thoughts
. Jim retrieves a bottle of water and takes a few gulps and returns to patrolling the second floor of the home, carefully peeking out each window he comes to. His turn on watch is uneventful. He quietly wakes Chris for his turn. Chris rubs his eyes and picks up the AR-15 that had been lying by him as he slept.

Chris and then Jeremy’s turns on watch go by without issue. Dawn arrives, and they go through their new normal routine and settle in for breakfast and coffee. Jim tells Chris and Jeremy to take a nap for a couple hours so they’re more rested, then they’ll go over their tactics and a few more before they make the trip outside.

While the boys are resting, Jim and Arzu go over plans for getting to the MRAP parked in their driveway. The day is clear, so they know they’ll need to wait for the sun to reach its highest, but more importantly, its brightest point.

They still have fireworks left, so the best plan is to do what worked before. The issue is getting everyone into the MRAP. Everyone needs to go this time because one person can’t expect to both secure and scavenge a building properly. They also can’t leave too few behind; it’s not guaranteed they can defend the home with only one or two adults.

They’ll figure out if they can get back in later. Jim and Arzu decide to get the extension ladder from the attic, in case they need it in the event the garage door opener motor is dead and the front has too many infected around to risk opening it manually.

The ladder can be placed out Berk’s window and butted against the high and wide lip of the turret on top of the MRAP. Arzu cuts a king-size bed sheet in two, and fashions each of them so that they can be used like papooses for Berk and Kayra if needed. Jim and Arzu, with the help of Berk and Kayra, get supplies moved into Berk’s room in preparation to be sent down to the armored vehicle, when and if the time allows.

Jim and Arzu are lowering the ladder down from the attic when Chris and Jeremy begin to stir and then argue about who will use the bathroom first. “Guys, one of you go downstairs and use the bathroom down there, for God’s sake. Just put the obstacles back on the stairs when you come back up,” Jim says, with some irritation in his voice.

Everyone spends the next couple of hours getting ready after Jim and Arzu brief them on what they’ve planned. No issues with the plan jump out at anyone, so they decide to go with it. Reminded by Jim that nothing usually goes according to plan, they need to be prepared to adjust as needed.

Chris does his thing with the fireworks like before, placing them in an old jar, with plenty of holes in the lid to allow air to enter. Finally, a little past one o’clock in the afternoon, they’re as ready as they can be. Chris climbs up into the attic again and gives the inner-tube slingshot a once-over to make sure it’s ready.

Chris gives a call on the radio, letting his dad know he’s ready for the word to light the pyrotechnics and let them fly. Jeremy stands ready downstairs, at the door to the garage, ready to hit the opener when given the word.

Arzu has the second of the two radios in hand, ready to relay conversations and reports from Jim in Berk’s room upstairs to Jeremy below. Jim has the screen out of the window frame; the ladder lies on the floor beside him as he looks out through a small part in the blinds.

Chapter 14

Siberia, USSR 1974

   Vladimir exits the prisoner holding area with the rest of the guards, and the thick, heavy door is closed and locked.
Carefully, the guards remove their protective gear, dispose of it in the correct bins, and wash their hands.

They gather together to have a smoke and talk about the crazy things that the prisoners have become. Vladimir snuffs out his cigarette after only smoking half, excuses himself, and goes to the guard quarters. He feels the onset of a headache he’ll take a pain reliever to try to quell, to prevent it from worsening.
One of those damn soldiers probably brought the flu with him
, he thinks.

Arriving in the quarters, he starts to feel the onset of vertigo and general malaise. Vladimir opens his locker, locates his bottle of aspirin and takes four tablets, swallowing them without the assistance of liquid. He feels a bit more chilled than normal in the damp and cold bunker, odd, since he’s just exerted himself assisting in controlling and caging the two prisoners.

He decides he’ll lie down for a while and let the pain reliever take effect. Climbing up onto the top bunk, Vladimir feels the chill of fever worsen. He kicks off his shoes but leaves his clothes on, and pulls up his blankets to his chin. Curled in the fetal position on his right side, facing away from the entry of the guard quarters, he begins to drift off into a restless, fevered sleep.

Vladimir now realizes his joints are also aching; he hopes after a good nap and the medication he’ll find himself feeling much improved. These will be Vladimir’s final lucid human thoughts. Down below in the laboratory, overlooking the prisoner holding area, the group is still gathered, observing the two remaining men.

The hope of Colonel Azarov is that the surviving victim of the carnage released by the infected will not succumb to his injuries, or to the havoc released at onset of infection. Instead, he hopes it will survive infection to become the next new vector for the disease.

The Motherland will have the power to lay waste to any opposition, leaving the infrastructure of the country intact, but causing the collapse of its system of government. Most of the enemy will either be infected, or so incapacitated that they offer little resistance. Those infected left can then be killed, and the indigenous population easily subdued.

The only thing the colonel cannot yet determine is how to deliver this new biological weapon. He has no doubt a way will be found. “Doctor Kosktov, which of the dead prisoners was the one I saw first?” he asks.

“The live one, in the cell on our right. That prisoner seems extremely contagious. He turned the other prisoner in hours, instead of almost a day, which was how long it took for him to succumb to the virus,” Kosktov replies, and elaborates on the theory. Colonel Azarov spends the next few hours watching both the prisoners in their cells; one already reduced to a primitive and aggressive version of its former self.

The other prisoner is now unconscious and bleeding from his wounds: wounds that have introduced an infection that will either kill him in a few hours from the damage it will do to his brain; or, he will live, but the higher cognitive functions will be destroyed, leaving him in the same primitive and aggressive state as his attacker and former friend, and a new vector for the disease.

“Doctor Kosktov, make sure that all samples, documents, video, and audio recordings are collected and handed over to me as soon as possible”, orders the colonel in a calm but commanding voice. Doctor Kosktov looks to Colonel Azarov, and finds his gaze being met with cold light blue eyes that leave no doubt that failing to deliver the research will be met with quick and likely deadly retribution.

“Yes, Colonel Azarov. I will see to it personally”, he says, noticing an uncontrollable tremble of fear in his voice. The doctor has witnessed firsthand and heard even more stories of Colonel Azarov’s treatment of those he deems to be against the interest of the state.

The doctor excuses himself to begin his task of collecting the research material.

Doctor Kosktov leaves the colonel and several other scientists, and a smaller number of hardened, handpicked soldiers in the laboratory area to observe the last remaining prisoners. The facility guards are still in the room, but they seem to take little interest in, or don’t understand, the scientific and military implications of the events that have occurred as a result of years of work by the science division that’s been confined here for so long.

Above, in the guards’ living quarters, Vladimir is in a restless, febrile sleep. He regains some semblance of consciousness from time to time, only awakening periodically to realize he’s lying in a bunk and feeling ill.

After approximately six hours, the being that had been Vladimir awakens. He doesn’t comprehend the person he once was. He doesn’t know where he is, nor does he care. He feels thirst and hunger beginning to grow. His realizes his head hurts; he doesn’t have the higher level of consciousness any longer to actually know the name of any part of his anatomy, only that he has pain there.

Throughout the underground facility, people go about different activities; some of the scientists remain, observing the prisoners locked in their cells. Other scientists and guards go to eat a meal. Most of the soldiers up on the ground level have completed securing the helicopters and unloading supplies for their stay at the facility. The men begin cooking.

Doctors Kosktov and Levonen go about gathering all data and samples of the virus. Doctor Levonen seems almost gleeful, even with the lack of sleep. He asks Doctor Kosktov, “Are you well, sir? I thought you would be happier about the recent events.”

Doctor Kosktov pauses and turns to his younger colleague, “I’m fine, Doctor. You’re right, I should be happier. We’ve all spent too long here in this pit.”

Chapter 15

Present

   “Can you hear me, honey?” Jim quietly calls out to Arzu. “I hear you,” Arzu calls back to Jim, which lets him know she’s ready.

“Go!” Arzu hears Jim give the signal that he’s ready to make his run for the MRAP armored vehicle he parked in their driveway. She instantly calls Chris and repeats the same word. Chris, without hesitation, lights the fuse he’s altered, like before, as soon as he hears Arzu’s voice on the radio.

Jeremy hears the same command, and tightens his grasp on the deadbolt and prepares for word to do his part. Chris gives the fuse a fraction of a second to begin its burn, and draws back on the slingshot; aiming in the direction he had the last time, and lets the projectile fly.