Rotter World (7 page)

Robson noted that the colonel did not say “we”.

Chapter Nine

Robson entered the dining hall a few minutes before the all-hands began. The din of dozens of people idly talking could be heard on the way up the stairs to the blockhouse. The dining tables had been folded and stored against the rear wall, replaced by rows of metal folding chairs. Almost all of them were filled. Robson scanned the crowd. The four vampires, except for Elena, sat in the rear corner seats, Tibor’s scarred face looking exceptionally disgruntled at having to spend any more time than necessary with the humans. The Angels sat next to them in the back two rows, talking amongst themselves in small groups. In fact, nearly everyone sat in their own cliques: Daytona, Clark, and Whitehouse huddled in the middle with Hodges’ motor pool crew; the cooks, farm hands, medical staff, and various work crews all hung out together. Even the newcomers seemed to have been accepted, for he noticed the two engineers joking with the maintenance crew and the Air Force non-com chatting with Hodges.

Robson looked around for Mad Dog, surprised to find him sitting in the front row near the podium Paul spoke from. Mad Dog always sat at the rear of the hall, pulling a chair over to one of the blockhouse windows to be as far removed from the group as possible, and that was on those rare occasions when he even showed up for such meetings. Robson knew that Mad Dog’s presence tonight was because of Compton, which did not bode well. Thankfully, O’Bannon sat between Mad Dog and the podium so he could intervene if trouble erupted.

Natalie sat directly in front of the podium, looking very attractive in her leather pants and white blouse that she filled out quite nicely, her long brown hair cascading over her shoulders. Robson suddenly remembered what Thompson had said about the Angels having a fetish appearance and smiled, knowing he would never get that image of her out of his mind. When Natalie spotted him, her eyes beamed. She greeted him with a smile and waved him over to the empty seat to her right. Jennifer, who sat in the next chair, turned to him and nodded.

“Any idea what this is about?” asked Natalie.

“None,” said Robson as he slid into the seat. He glanced over at Jennifer. “I hoped you’d know since this has to deal with Compton.”

Jennifer responded with a shrug. “The doctor kept me out of the loop on just about everything. I was little more than his office girl.”

Robson wondered what other services she provided for the good doctor, but chastised himself for thinking so crassly. Suddenly realizing that someone was missing, he scanned the room. “Where’s the colonel?”

“After supper he met up with the doctor and your bosses. I haven’t seen him since.”

“That figures,” grunted O’Bannon from a few chairs down. “This place has become too damn secretive ever since Compton showed up. No offense, miss.”

“None taken,” said Jennifer. “It’s been like this ever since the Pentagon assigned me to work with him. He and Thompson would go off somewhere and talk for hours, sometimes by themselves, other times on a VTC with Omaha. They never told me a thing. Half the notes I’d type up for him were so cryptic—”

A bustle at the door announced the arrival of Paul and the others. Paul entered first alongside Compton, the two chatting quietly. Elena followed next. Usually Paul took special care to show that Elena and he were equal, a deliberate effort to display the unity between humans and vampires. This time he and Compton took center stage, with Elena merely along for show. Robson definitely did not like the hold Compton seemed to have over him. Thompson followed several feet behind, the dutiful officer bringing up the rear and protecting his boss. The four of them gathered around the podium, with Paul in the middle and Elena and Compton on either side. Thompson hovered in the background. Paul stepped up to the podium and called out over the noise for everyone to quiet down. The talking died off as the room’s attention focused on the group standing before them.

“I know you’ve all been curious about last night’s raid into Portsmouth and whether it was important enough to risk so many lives, and to lose a good friend, just to rescue a handful of people. I apologize for all the secrecy. Trust me, it was worth it.” Paul gestured toward the doctor. “This is Dr. Robert Compton, chief biologist out of Fort Detrick.”

“He’s a fucking murderer.”

Everyone turned. Mad Dog had stood up, pointing at Compton, his face scarlet with fury. O’Bannon sat forward in his chair, ready to tackle Mad Dog if he tried anything violent. Robson noticed that Thompson took a few steps forward, ready to do the same.

As usual, Paul attempted to be conciliatory. “Mad Dog, please. You’ll have your chance to spe—”

“Did Compton tell you he’s the creator of the Zombie Virus?”

A murmur erupted throughout the hall.

“Is that true?” asked O’Bannon.

Paul started to respond, but Compton held up his hand and cut him off. He stepped up to the podium and looked O’Bannon straight in the eyes. “Yes.”

A sense of rage erupted through the hall, interrupted only by Mad Dog yelling out, “Then you admit to genocide.”

“Nothing of the kind,” said Compton. His voice was firm, with no guilt or defensiveness.

“Bullshit!”

The colonel placed himself between Mad Dog and Compton. “You better watch your language, son.”

The entire hall was in turmoil by now. Compton quickly took control of the situation.

“Both of you stand down and let me explain.” Compton glared at the colonel. Thompson stepped back and took up his position by the wall. Then Compton faced off with Mad Dog. The two men stared each other down, neither one giving in. O’Bannon finally sat forward in his chair and whispered for Mad Dog to take his seat. Mumbling under his breath, Mad Dog dropped back into his chair, his arms tightly folded across his chest.

Compton took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Yes, it’s true I created the R Virus, or what you call the Zombie Virus, but I never intended it to be a bioweapon. My unit was trying to find a way to rejuvenate the scar tissue on vets wounded by IEDs in Iraq. We finally had some success with one particular strain, albeit minimal, and concentrated on that one. Unfortunately, the final variation of the strain not only succeeded in reanimating dead scar tissue, it also killed off all the living tissue and reanimated it. Once reanimated, the revenants possessed an uncontrollable urge to feed off of the living, as best as I can tell because the original virus needs to consume live tissue in order to replicate itself. Of course, we didn’t realize this until almost a dozen researchers and guards had been bitten and became reanimated as revenants.”

“Why didn’t you destroy the virus?” asked O’Bannon.

“We didn’t weaponize it, if that’s what you’re referring to,” answered Compton. “But you can’t just destroy something like this and hope it’ll go away. It’s like nuclear weapons. If one country knows how to make it, others do, too. So the Pentagon classified all information pertaining to the virus as compartmented Top Secret and restricted access to the data to myself and a few trusted members of my staff. We were working on countermeasures to the R Virus in case some other country developed it. Unfortunately, our enemies used the R Virus against us before we had developed a defense against it.”

Elena lowered her eyes at the comment. Robson heard Tibor in the rear corner mutter, “Fuck you.”

If Compton heard the mumblings from the vampires, he made no notice of it. “Once the outbreak occurred and Fort Detrick was threatened, the government moved us to a secret underground facility where we continued our research. It wasn’t easy working under such conditions and with limited resources, but after three months we completed our work. The government told us to bring it to the Portsmouth Navy yard and they would extract us. But, as you know, the Navy Yard fell before we got there. We lost everything when the revenants attacked us. That’s why we have to go back to the facility and get more.”

“Wait a minute,” Robson stood up, waving his hand to catch Compton’s attention. “You keep on referring to ‘it’. What are you talking about?”

Compton stared at him, a confused look on his face. “I’m talking about the vaccine for the R Virus, of course.”

Chapter Ten

A stunned silence filled the hall as everyone registered what Compton had just said.

Robson spoke first. “You discovered a vaccine for the Zombie Virus?”

“Yes,” Compton said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“Then you can reverse the outbreak?” asked Natalie.

Compton shook his head. “Nothing can cure the virus. Once infected, death and reanimation are imminent. The vaccine will only prevent its further spread.”

“That’s more than enough,” said Robson

“More than enough for what?” asked Ari, one of the Angels.

“To take the fight to the rotters.”

“But we face them all the time.”

“We avoid them and defend ourselves when necessary.” Robson shifted in his chair so he could face Ari. “Up to now we’ve always been cautious when dealing with rotters because even the smallest bite is a death sentence. Think about it. How many other camps fell when someone snuck in without revealing they’d been bitten, turned, and spread the virus? We don’t have to fear the rotters anymore. They can’t turn us. We can face them down and kill them.”

“We can start taking back the planet,” added O’Bannon with more of an optimistic tone than anyone had heard from him in months.

“Exactly,” said Robson. “With this vaccine, we’re the dominant species again.”

Mad Dog snorted. “If the fucking thing works.”

A somber mood returned to the hall,

“Trust me,” said Compton, “it works.”

The doctor stepped in front of the podium. He unbuttoned his right sleeve, pulled up the cloth, and held his arm above his head. Two sets of teeth marks six inches apart disfigured his forearm. The wounds were deep and left permanent scars, but they were old wounds, long since having scabbed over and healed.

“I tried out the vaccine on myself six weeks ago.” Compton lowered his arm and pulled down his shirt sleeve. “I didn’t even run a fever.”

A stunned awe greeted Compton’s remarks. Even Mad Dog seemed impressed, though that did not prevent him from still being argumentative.

“I don’t buy it. You gotta be naturally immune.”

“Really?” Thompson approached Mad Dog, unbuttoning his right sleeve in the process to reveal a pair of scarred-over teeth bites on his arm. “I suppose I’m naturally immune, too?”

“My God,” mumbled Natalie.

“God had nothing to do with this,” Compton replied pleasantly. “This was all science.”

“What good will it do us?” asked Dravko. “You said the vaccine was destroyed when you were attacked at the Navy yard.”

“It was. But before we left, I made extra vaccine and stored it. I also stored away a portion of the virus sample from which I derived the vaccine, and several copies of my notes. The vaccine is not permanently lost. We just have to go back there and get it.”

That uneasy feeling began to creep down Robson’s spine. “And where’s ‘there’?”

“Site R in Pennsylvania.” Thompson stepped forward, taking over his part of the briefing. “It’s an underground military facility just outside Gettysburg. Washington originally built it for continuity of government in the event of nuclear war, but gave up on the idea when the Soviets designed nuclear weapons large enough to bust it open. But it’s more than strong enough to keep out the revenants.”

“Unless one of them has a ten megaton bomb,” quipped O’Bannon. No one laughed.

“Logistically it’s gonna be a nightmare, boss.” Hodges directed his remarks to Paul. “We’d have to carry enough supplies to get us there and back, which means taking along the tractor trailer.”

“We only need enough supplies to get there,” said Thompson. “Site R is well stocked with fuel, MREs, ammunition, and anything else we’ll need. When we left, we locked down the facility and secured the compound so nothing could get in. We can open it up and walk right in.”

Paul stepped forward and forced his way back into the briefing. “Elena and I have discussed the situation with Dr. Compton and Colonel Thompson. We’re sending a group out to Site R to retrieve the vaccine and bring it back here. The group will consist of the doctor, Colonel Thompson, the raiding party, and the Angels.”

“Are we included?” asked Dravko.

Elena quickly moved forward. “Of course. We’re all in this together.”

Dravko shook his head. “Unless you plan on driving like hell and getting there in one night, what the hell happens to us after the sun rises?”

“We’ve got that covered.” Paul responded. Elena slinked back a few steps, clearly having lost much of her authority with the arrival of the newcomers. “Hodges’ team is preparing the Ryder for the trip. They’re covering the trailer with sheet metal and are installing two sets of blackout curtains behind the rear door. You’ll have a mobile dark room for the journey.”

Natalie shifted in her chair, looking between Paul and the rest of her girls. “Is it a good idea to send the Angels on this mission?”

“Afraid?” asked Thompson, the derision evident in his tone.

“No.” Natalie bristled but maintained her composure. “But is it a good idea to send both the raiding party and us at the same time? You’ll be stripping the camp of all its defenses.”

“It’s a risk I’m willing to take,” said Paul. “We’ve never had any significant rotter activity around here, so the camp should be able to defend itself while you’re gone. And it’ll only be for a week, ten days at most. Just long enough for the doctor to produce enough vaccine for the camp and to prepare copies of his notes and the core sample.”

“How accessible is this facility from the outside?” asked Robson.

“You’re referring to revenants?”

Robson nodded. “You’re bringing a lot of fire power with you. I want to know what we can expect.”

Thompson smirked. “There are more revenants around Site R than you and your girls can handle.”

Natalie bristled again and started to say something, but Robson reached out and gently squeezed her hand. She bit her tongue. He noticed, though, that she did not pull her hand away.

Thompson continued. “Most of the revenants are effectively contained, so you don’t have to worry. Besides, we have a special way of getting in.”

Compton moved in front of Thompson, preventing a further clash of personalities. “The biggest threat doesn’t exist at Site R, but on the way. I don’t think you realize how dangerous it is out there. I requested that Paul send all his best trained personnel to make sure we get to the site and back. He concurred.”

Paul took over the briefing again. “Everything’s settled. Robson and Natalie, prepare your people. Hodges’ team will finish getting the vehicles ready. Besides the Ryder, you’ll be taking the school bus, one of the gun trucks, and the armored car. Any questions?”

The tone of Paul’s voice indicated none were to be asked. Robson asked anyway. “When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow at midnight.”