The White Death (7 page)

Chapter 10

The team beamed down to the research lab. A thick, putrid smell overwhelmed Freda’s senses, and she blinked twice as her nose twitched in shock. There was hardly any light, and the decor reminded her of some of the darkest, most secretive prisons in the Alliance. This place was completely different from the blazing white color scheme of Section 51 or Grace’s ship. Computer consoles blinked on and off. Red and white smoke rose from different cracks across the room.

“The Bernay always were a dark, disturbing race,” murmured Freda. She was glad to have an armed team around her. She turned, a rustle in the far corner catching her attention. A small mouse darted across the room.

“Commander, let’s get started.”

“Scans show signs of a nearby nuclear explosion,” said Flint. His team was clad out in thick black combat gear, rugged and tough. “From these readings, it was an underground explosion. Two kilometers away. Crude nuclear device. Not us.”

“Agreed,” said Freda, looking at her own scanning device. “Where are we?”

“Coordinates 23.134.12.4,” replied Flint.

Freda pulled up a geographical display of the map.

“Oh no.”

“What?” Flint asked, continuing to scan his surroundings.

“We’re in North Korea, along the border.”

“What?”

“Never mind,” she replied. Trying to explain the political situation on Earth regarding North and South Korea would take too much time. “Let’s get this done.”

“Begin fanning out,” ordered Flint. He kept close to Freda.

“What the hell happened here?” she said. Numerous black-coated Bernay scientists lay prone around the room.

“All dead,” said another member of the security team.

“Someone try and download the databanks.” Freda knelt down to examine one of the scientists. He had deep lacerations across his body, and his whole face and head had been deformed, as if bashed through a dozen steel doors.

“I wonder what killed him,” said Flint.

“Surprisingly, he did,” said Freda, her scans confirming it.

“What?”

“This scientist was alive while being attacked. He chose to kill himself. Probably with that small firearm there.” A gray pistol lay a meter away, covered in blood.

“This doesn’t feel right,” said Flint.

“No, it doesn’t. Let’s keep moving.”

“Freda, I think we should call for—”

“What was that?” she said, swinging around to look toward a large opened door and into the darkness. Without warning the emergency power went off, and that same darkness was all around them.

“Weapons,” signaled Flint, raising his rifle to eye level. Freda took a small ball out of her pocket, and it went floating into the air, bringing some light to their close surroundings.

“Quiet,” she ordered. Her keen ears would notice the slightest noise. The team exchanged quick glances, and the commander signaled for them to go along with Freda. Slowly and carefully, she headed toward the doorway, a long pitch-black corridor coming into view. Telson security officers moved in to flank her on each side.

“Stop,” she whispered. Her eyes focused down the lengthy corridor, spotting the faintest movement of what looked like a person. The creature started scurrying around like a wild animal, before raising its head to look Freda directly in the eye.

“What is it?” asked a security officer as Freda shivered. Flint shone his torch down towards the creature. In that instant, Freda knew this was all wrong.

The creature let out a quiet grunt and began running toward her, on all fours. Freda found herself almost in a trance, watching in slow motion as it ran forward, mere seconds away, before the security officers opened fire. Two white shots hit it squarely in the chest, and the body collapsed without a fight.

“Stand back, ma’am.”

“Human female, middle-aged,” said Freda. She gazed downward at the crumpled, massively overweight body. Two large, gaping wounds oozed blood; she was certainly dead. Freda couldn’t help but stare—the scene was horrific.

“Hello?” said a gentle girl’s voice from the darkness, at the bottom of the corridor.

“Hello,” replied Freda, walking toward her.

The team’s medic was already examining the dead female body.

“Freda, I recommend you stay here.”

“Objection noted,” she replied, but continuing forward.

Flint motioned his head, and two security offers followed her, rifle torches locked onto the face of the frightened young girl. Freda guessed she was only thirteen or so.

“My name is Freda. I’m with the government of the United States of America. What’s your name?”

The girl looked like she had crawled through a stormy mud-ridden battlefield. Her hair and face were mottled with dirt and debris.

“Jolene,” she replied shakily, putting her hands out to Freda.

Freda embraced the little girl. She was freezing.

“We’re going to get you out of this place.”

“Argh,” said one of the security officers, becoming very agitated.

“Benson?” said Flint, confused.

Benson began foaming at the mouth, dropping his firearm and shaking uncontrollably. Freda, eyes wide, stepped back, standing in front of the little girl to protect her.

“Benson, stand down,” ordered Flint. His lieutenant now started screaming, tearing at his face. He ripped layers of skin off, down to the bone. His eyes were bloodshot red, bulging and enlarged. The pupils split wide.

Flint aimed his weapon to Benson’s head.

“STAND DOWN,” he roared, but Benson had lost all sense of self. He tore one of his eyes out, firing it across the room, screaming in agony. Blood squirted from the eye socket, drenching the security team.

“Commander,” shouted Freda, “neutralize him. Now.”

Flint didn’t hesitate and fired two shots into Benson’s head. With a large clunk to the floor, Benson was dead, still twitching and bleeding.

“We need to leave this place,” ordered Freda.

Flint said nothing.

“Commander?” repeated Freda.

“This isn’t right…” he whispered.

“What is going on?” said Freda. She wished she’d a weapon now.

Flint closed his eyes.

“Flint?” said Freda.

His eyelids slowly opened.

“Freda … run.”

Fear began to creep up Freda’s spine. She could see Flint was fighting to remain in control of his own mind. He raised his weapon, but not at her. “Take the girl and run,” he said again as he quickly developed the same symptoms as Benson.

Freda could see something in his eyes, something maddening. Deciding not to wait to see if Flint’s theory was accurate, she took off down the corridor with the younger girl.

“Which way?” shouted the younger girl as they came to a junction.

“In here,” said Freda. She pulled the girl into a supply room. Jamming the handle with a metal brush stick, she tried to recollect herself and breathe slowly. Getting worked up would not help her or the little girl. They could hear Flint shouting orders, and then the piercing noise of gunshots, but it seemed too late. Freda and the girl stood in darkness, listening to Flint being ripped apart. Even amongst the screams, Freda could hear the young girl’s terrified breathing, and she wrapped her arms around the child. His agonizing cries haunted Freda, and she forcibly forbid herself from remembering previous dark times in her own life.

“Warning,” said Freda’s scanner.

“Oh no.” The power core in the facility was set to explode in thirty seconds. The supply room door began to shake, as whatever was left of her security team grunted and snarled like wild animals, trying to reach them.

This has to be some kind of virus
, thought Freda. She couldn’t risk transporting back to Section 51, in case she was infected, as well. She tapped her golden brooch.

“Freda to Grace, we need emergency evacuation. Beam us directly to a bio-containment unit.”

“We’re detecting a considerable energy buildup at your location—prepare for emergency transport,” said Grace.

“Captain, I’m having trouble locking on to Freda. The energy buildup is confusing our targeting scanners,” said the transporter chief.

“Options?” asked Grace as a map appeared on the view screen, showing the Korean Peninsula and the research base one kilometer down.

“The fact that it’s so far down is
not
helping,” he replied. The captain agreed, understanding the hint.

“Tactical, target the location of the base and fire one low-yield torpedo, enough to scratch the surface.”

“Ten seconds to core overload,” shouted another bridge officer.

“Ready, Captain.”

“Fire!” she commanded. The ship opened one of its torpedo tubes and launched a small white torpedo at supersonic speeds into the earth. It crashed down above the research complex.

“What the hell is going on up there?” shouted Freda, with the terrified young girl unable to speak. The facility was shaking with incredible force. She vaguely heard a transport comment, just as the facility began to explode around her. The intense heat of the explosion lasted only a second. She felt the transporter effect—she was safe.

“Are you okay?” asked Freda to the human girl in the sealed bio-unit facing her, but she didn’t reply. Grace came running into the room, followed by a team of medical staff. The white cells aboard the
Experian
were some of the most secure possible.

“Freda, are you okay?”

“I think so, but I’ll need a full bio-scan.” Freda brought Grace up to speed on what had happened, and the Council was on its way to see her as the medical team gave her a clean bill of health.

“It affected the security team in seconds. We were only able to transport up the remains of Commander Flint. Everyone else was lost,” said Grace, reviewing the medical team’s report.

“The Telson species are obviously more susceptible to whatever this is.”

“What about her?” asked Grace. She looked at Jolene.

“I don’t know. We need a full medical work-up on her. Grace, how big was the explosion? Not your torpedo—the actual base explosion.”

“I’ll show you.” The chief medical officer deactivated the force field for Freda, and Grace replayed the recording of the explosion, seconds after they transported her out.

She watched as rock and earth was sent high into the sky, with earthquakes shooting out for miles in all directions.

“We almost lost you,” said the captain.

“Depending how big that explosion was, I might have preferred to have been lost,” she said gravely, watching the playback. “Oh no.” The explosion encompassed the screen, and reports were coming in of earthquake readings across the Middle East and Asia. With tensions between North and South Korea at an all-time high and war looking likely, this could be the catalyst that set everything off.

“What’s the meaning of this?” demanded Loretta. The Council members stormed into the room. “This ship’s weapons fired on Earth.”

“Freda was in danger. The research facility was set to auto-destruct,” said Captain Grace tersely. They headed to the bridge.

“Computer, replay time index 4293 of the away mission,” cut in Freda, throwing a stern look at Loretta. “Increase volume by sixty percent.”

The video was dark, but the advance sound system on the bridge spared no detail for all listening. The grunting, deep breathing and twitchy shuffling shook Freda. Then, the deranged, mutilated human came into view again before being shot down. It then cut to the Telson security team succumbing to whatever had infected them.

“Explanation?” asked Loretta.

“The Eugenics Virus?” said Freda. “Could it have escaped?”

“Even if it did,” replied Grace, “the Eugenics Virus was designed to correct human genetic problems. What happened to my team?”

“The virus may have entered their bodies and detected a completely different genetic structure. It would see their genetic makeup as a mutation, in need of fixing,” explained Loretta. “Obviously, that caused a complete mental and biological breakdown, resulting in eventual death.”

“You’re trying to tell me this virus was converting them to humans?” said Freda. “Really?”

“Yes,” said Loretta. “That would be my best theory without research.”

“But Freda is fine?” said Grace.

“Her species has always had multiple layers of protection against any pathogen.”

“Before this eventual death, the team went mad,” said Freda, fuming at the memory.

“The mental confusion would have been extreme,” said Loretta.

“That kind of violence wasn’t an effect noted in the human trials.”

“No, Freda, it wasn’t,” agreed Loretta. “But they have much simpler brains compared to the species on this ship. This virus has so much more it can wreak havoc with, and Telsons are known for their aggressive tendencies. It’s natural for them.”

“That Eugenics Virus turns humans into mindless weeping animals. We need to ensure it did not escape into the atmosphere. If this broke out into the general population…” Freda could barely even consider the words
worldwide pandemic
.

“Impossible. Freda, once the facility was breached, emergency protocols were put in place to ensure such an event could never occur. The explosion would have seen to any stray remnant that was left over.”

“Well, why was this girl not infected? She is the only survivor,” replied Freda.

The view screen changed to a video feed of the containment room housing the human girl.

Loretta’s cold, calculating eyes slowly came down until they settled on the frightened human.

“I don’t know.”

“We cannot afford to begin sterilization until we know exactly what happened,” said Freda. “We were able to download a partial copy of their databank. I’ll have my team look into it immediately, as well. I don’t want this spiraling into something we can’t control.”

“So be it,” said Loretta. She left, along with the other council members.

“You don’t trust Loretta?” said Grace, watching the elevator doors shut.

“Do you?” asked Freda.

Grace remained silent.