The Redemption Trilogy

by A. J. Sikes

  “You’re willing to burn those men alive without knowing for certain that they’re infected?” Doctor DuBois asked.

  “You have samples of their blood, right?”

  “Yes. We collected blood, skin, and saliva samples from all of them.”

  “Then test it. Do you have a lab here? Anything you can use?”

  “I don’t have much, but I should be able to confirm if the virus is present. If it is, what then? You’re still talking about setting fire to the only hospital we have and with your own people still alive inside it.”

  It cut deep to think about killing his own brothers while they were in comas, even though it meant saving them from a worse fate. But he hated waiting on the doctor for approval. As much as he understood her wish to keep the clinic intact, they had a live Variant inside and two kill sites covered in hazardous material. The CDC was a long way from here, if it even existed anymore. Nobody was going to clean that place up, not without risk of spreading the virus even farther.

  Sergeant Kipler and one of his Marines had proven Jed’s fears were well founded. They’d seen enough to know what they were dealing with.

  The Hemorrhage Virus was alive and well, and it had evolved to be more deadly than before.

  “If they have the virus in them, they’re not really alive. You know that as well as I do. Give me proof that they’re infected. We’ll go in and put them down. Then we burn the place.”

  — 27 —

  Jed’s squad, minus Garza, provided security for Doctor DuBois while she gathered lab materials from her office, including blood sample vials, syringes, and cheek swabs. They maintained watch up and down the halls, and moved quickly to rejoin the others, making the whole trip without sighting the Variant once. They heard it though, clicking and scrabbling around the second floor.

  After the doctor collected samples from everyone, she and her nurses went to the fire station where they would determine if anyone was infected. Jed and McKitrick followed her over as security while Keoh and Mehta kept watch on the clinic doors. Garza escorted his sister and her friend over, then went to monitor the clinic.

  Jed made sure the doctor was good to go, and he gave her one of the radios they got from Mercer.

  McKitrick tested it with her and confirmed good commo. That done, the doctor went to work examining the blood samples. McKitrick joined the rest of the squad outside, but Jed hung back for a moment. He needed to ask the doctor for a favor.

  “Let me know first if you find anything, okay? If any of my people are compromised, I mean. I want—I’ll deal with it.”

  “That’s fine by me,” Doctor DuBois said. “I’ll let you know as soon as I get any results. Fingers crossed they’ll all be good.”

  “We’ll be outside, watching the place in case any of Kip’s people wake up and get loose.”

  Kipler’s squad was still comatose as far as they knew. No new shrieks or screeches had been heard since they evacuated the building. But they still had one Variant loose inside.

  Jed joined the squad set in a perimeter around the clinic. It wasn’t much, with only five of them on the ground, but they at least had full visual coverage of the building. They would see any Variants that managed to escape. The building was a wide squat box with a second floor set back on the side nearest the fire station to make room for a helipad.

  The bird was gone, and probably smashed in a bayou somewhere.

  Jed called to rotate positions every fifteen minutes. Standing in one place, staring at the same stupid wall was a good way to let boredom sink in, and that would just make room for complacency to follow along for the ride. Even with rotations, Jed couldn’t stop himself from dreaming that they’d find a helicopter that would get them back to Galveston. Just as fast, his thoughts turned to the futility of doing that.

  Why the hell should we go back there? LT’s dead, Gunny’s a traitor, and the civilians are all beach bums.

  McKitrick’s radio crackled. “Sergeant Welch,” Doctor DuBois said.

  He walked over and took the mic from McKitrick. “I’m here. What do you have?”

  “All clear, Sergeant. Your people, that is. I’m afraid the men we have upstairs…”

  “I need confirmation, Doctor,” Jed said.

  “They’re infected. All of them. I’m showing signs of viral infection in all six men. But, of course, we already know two of them were infected, so it’s not surprising they all are. I’m sorry, Sergeant. I know they were…”

  “Roger,” Jed said.

  “We have some sedatives and morphine that may help. It would amount to a lethal injection, but in their comatose state, assuming they are all still unconscious, I doubt they’d experience any discomfort. You could administer the doses yourself.”

  “Thanks, Doctor.”

  Jed rounded up his squad and filled them in. “Think of it as a mercy mission. We’re doing this for our brothers.”

  “What about the one that’s already changed?” Keoh asked.

  “We see him, we put him down. Don’t hesitate. He’s not our brother anymore. That man is already dead and gone. You’ll just be killing a monster.”

  A nurse exited the fire station, carrying a small bundle. He held it out to Jed along with a set of keys and said, “There’s five syringes in there, loaded with the sedative-morphine mixture. It should stop their hearts. But you guys have guns if you need to make sure. Those are Doctor DuBois’s keys. She’ll need them back when you’re done.”

  Jed took the bundle and gave it to Mehta to carry. He pocketed the keys, then led the squad back to the clinic.

  They entered in teams, with him and Keoh on point, Garza and McKitrick at their six, and Mehta in the middle carrying the bundle of syringes.

  The bottom floor was quiet. No scrabbling sounds echoed from anywhere. No doors banged open. No shrieks pierced the stillness.

  Walking heel-toe, and checking every room they passed, Jed took them down the hall to the corner at the end.

  “I want to confirm the LT’s gone for good. Watch your feet and don’t get any of the blood on you. McKitrick and Garza, stay at our six, watching the hall. Keoh, cover the door at the end, where the Variant went through. We’ve got one in here with us; remember that. Eyes and ears open and we all come out of this. Errah?”

  They all replied with a grunted Errr and followed him around the corner. The blood had begun to dry and separate in areas. Spatters colored the tile floor in a trail, like the blood itself wanted to escape the LT’s room. Jed shook the horror movie ideas from his head and stepped carefully around the pools and streaks until he could see inside.

  LT Staples, or what was left of him, was lying in the bed. He’d been shredded by the sucker face and would not be getting back up, even if the virus did incubate inside him somehow.

  “LT is confirmed dead,” he said as he lifted his rifle and aimed. He had to be sure. Jed fired a single shot into the LT’s body, right in the heart. It helped that his target was visible.

  The team moved back down the hall and upstairs, maintaining formation around Mehta. At the top, Jed and Keoh breached and the others filed in behind them. McKitrick posted by the doors, watching the stairs for contact. Keoh and Garza kept security of the upper floor and hallway.

  Jed and Mehta went to the first room. One of Kip’s guys was in there, hooked up to the IV and lying silently on the bed. Jed unlocked the door and opened it a crack. He blocked it with his foot while he took the syringes from Mehta.

  They moved in with weapons up. He had Mehta take position in the doorway, covering the man in the bed.

  Without thinking about what he was actually doing, Jed readied a syringe and inserted the needle into a node in the IV line, whispering an apology as he pushed the plunger all the way down.

  “I’m sorry, brother. Semper Fi.”

  Seconds ticked by and the body slowly relaxed. Jed felt for a pulse and waited until he confirmed the man’s heart wasn’t beating.

  They proceeded down the hall in the
same way, working as quickly as they could and always against the fear that one of the remaining men would wake up before they got to him, or that the one who had already awakened would burst out of a hiding place. But they went through four rooms and four syringes with the only difficulty being the pain Jed felt at what he had to do.

  “What do we do with the last syringe?” Mehta asked.

  Jed held it in his hand, weighing its value. If one of them became infected… He stuck the syringe in an empty ammo pouch.

  “Let’s get out of here, and—”

  A Variant’s shriek cut him off. It sounded like it came from the first floor.

  “Downstairs! Rally outside! If you see it, kill it!”

  Keoh joined Jed and Mehta as they retreated down the hall, pivoting as they moved and covering every access point they could see. The telltale clicking of a Variant’s joints came to Jed’s ears, then the scraping of its claws.

  “It’s up here, Sergeant,” Keoh said as she moved down the hall ahead of him.

  “I hear it. Sounds like it’s back where Kip was at. Keep moving.”

  Mehta was at their six. Jed tapped him on the shoulder and swapped positions. He wasn’t going to lose anyone this time.

  They reached the last room before the stairs. Garza and McKitrick were there, holding positions to cover the reception area and the landing. McKitrick aimed the 203 toward the door to the stairs. She only had smoke rounds left, but that might be just what they needed. If it confused the Variant enough, they could probably kill it before it could strike.

  “Garza, Keoh; watch our six. We follow McKitrick down the stairs. Move out.” Jed slapped Mehta on the shoulder, urging him forward. He turned back to check the hall behind him when a dark shape flew from behind the reception counter.

  Garza opened up with the M27 and Keoh added a burst, but they missed. The thing was too damn fast. It slammed through the doors and skittered down the stairs before they could correct their aim.

  McKitrick and Garza pushed after it, firing as they moved through the doors. Keoh waited for Mehta and Jed. They raced down the stairs after the others and grouped up by the door.

  “Anyone see it?” Jed asked.

  A chorus of No answered him.

  “It’s gone,” Garza said. “Motherfucker got out.”

  Jed checked the door. It didn’t show signs of a Variant passing through it. No scratches or claw marks showed on the surface. He checked the floor and ceiling tiles leading into the hall. A trail of blood led down to a door near the end. It was cracked a few inches and slowly closed as he watched it.

  “That room. Stack on me.”

  The squad filed down the hall with their weapons up and ready. They pivoted to each room they passed and confirmed it was empty. Jed’s finger itched to squeeze the trigger each time he rotated his aim into a room, but he forced himself to keep it extended along the receiver. He’d fire when it was time. When he could see his enemy.

  The door up ahead opened and a foot appeared. Jed focused his aim and almost squeezed the trigger. The foot was wearing a shredded boot below digi-cam pants that were just as torn up. The leg was human. It was one of Kip’s men, but…

  “Who is that? Are you hurt?” Jed called out.

  “N—no. It’s me, Sergeant. PFC Alford. Why’re y’all shooting at me?”

  “Ain’t shooting at you, Alfie. There’s a Variant in here. It was upstairs and now it’s down here. What the fuck are you doing down here? How’d you get out of your room?”

  “Doctor let me out,” Alford said. “She said I was good to go. Can I come out?”

  Jed waited before answering. He checked his people. They were all focused on their zones, and each of them was on full alert, adrenaline pushing them just like it was pushing him.

  “Okay,” Jed called. “C’mon out, Alfie. We’ll get you out of here.”

  The Marine stepped into the hall. He was one of the men from Kip’s squad all right. Jed recognized him even though he’d only seen him a few times before Kip bailed from Galveston.

  Alford moved with a limp as he walked down the hall. His other leg was bleeding from a gunshot wound in his thigh, and a trail of blood marked where an IV had been ripped from his arm.

  “Thought you said you weren’t hurt, Alfie. And why’d you rip out the IV if Doc said you were good to go?”

  Alford stopped and lowered his head. He looked up again and his eyes had turned a sickly yellow, lined with bloody veins. His mouth changed as Jed stared, unable to believe what he was seeing. Before Alford could fully turn, McKitrick opened up on him, sending the infected Marine tumbling to the floor with holes in his belly. He crashed down and scrabbled around, bleeding from the wounds. Jed double-tapped him and he went still.

  “Oh fuck, fuck!” Mehta said. “They can change back. They—Shit, how do we know, Sergeant? If one of us—”

  “We’re clean!” Jed said, eyeing every member of his squad in turn. “Doc said we’re all clean. She confirmed Kip’s squad wasn’t.”

  “Time to GTFO, right Sergeant?” Garza said.

  “Lead the way, Garza. You and Keoh.”

  They moved as a unit, with Mehta in the middle and Jed and McKitrick stepping backwards. His gaze went from the dead Variant on the floor to the doors they passed on the way to the exit. At the bottom of the stairwell, Garza and Keoh breached the door leading outside, and the squad filed out in a column, exiting the building for what Jed hoped would be the final time.

  — 28 —

  The squad rallied at the fire station. Doctor DuBois came out from the engineer’s office, where she’d set up her makeshift lab. The fire chief was with her, and didn’t look too happy to see Jed and his people anywhere near Baytown.

  “We need to blow that place,” Jed said to the chief.

  The man shrugged and looked at Doctor DuBois. “You tell him how things work here?”

  “Briefly,” she said, then, to Jed, “Sergeant, the council will need to accept your proposal before we can do anything. I’m inclined to agree with your assessment that we cannot properly address the biohazards inside the clinic. But I’m not sure such a drastic move as demolishing the building is necessary.”

  Before Jed could reply, his radio crackled. Greg came on.

  “We’re heading back now, but we’re doing another run in the morning. You need to be on this one if you want to make things good with the council.”

  “Copy, Six. Wait one.”

  Jed let the mic hang and looked at the doctor and fire chief. “Y’all are on the council, right?”

  They both nodded.

  “So, approve the demo. We need to make sure the virus is dead and gone.”

  The fire chief spoke up first. “How about you make sure we’re supplied. That seems like a fair trade to me.”

  “Fair trade? You’re talking about the deadliest biohazard on earth being inside that building right there, and you won’t burn it down or blow it up until I come back with a hammer and nails and some wood? Y’all are fucking crazy.”

  “Sergeant, please,” Doctor DuBois said. “I’m sure the council will see the wisdom of your suggestion, even though it means destroying our only functional clinic. The safety of the community is paramount. We’ll address the issue in the morning, you have my word.”

  “Why not now?”

  “Because I am exhausted, and the threat is neutralized. Nobody needs to go inside that building tonight, and you killed all of the infected persons, right?”

  “Yeah, but there’s no way to know for sure if the virus won’t spread. We don’t have PPE. The place has to burn.”

  “It will. I promise.”

  “You got demo somewhere?”

  “Yes, the council maintains a—”

  The fire chief put a hand up to cut her off. Jed sniffed at that and said, “Great. Get it, and some kerosene or propane tanks. We need fuel. We’re blowing the place.”

  “I’ll take care of it in the morning,” the fire chief said. “We’
ll run a controlled burn exercise. Can’t risk it tonight though. Too much chance something goes bad, and in the dark, when we’re all tired, that means people die.”

  Jed had run out of argument. And he couldn’t disagree with the chief’s point. Just like a firefight at night was far worse than one by day, he could imagine how fighting an actual fire would be far more dangerous when visibility was limited to only what the flames revealed.

  “Where can we sleep?” he asked.

  “Day room’s good to go,” the chief said. “Plenty of bunks in there for y’all to rack out and catch some shuteye. Shower works, sort of. There’s a bucket in there, and a case of baby wipes. Don’t use ’em all, okay?”

  Jed smirked at the guy, then turned to his squad. They’d been going almost twelve hours straight, and with not much to call rest or relaxation.

  “Okay, y’all. We’re bunking down. Clean your weapons, grab some chow. We’ll shower in the morning, and let’s not use all the nice man’s baby wipes.”

  Doctor DuBois stepped aside to let them into the building. The fire chief showed them to the day room and left them alone there.

  The Hellhounds circled up and went through the ritual of unwinding. Garza dropped his body armor first and stripped off his jacket. The rest of the squad followed suit and soon they were all either scraping carbon residue from their upper receivers or ripping into one of the MREs they’d pulled from Mercer’s supply.

  As Jed ate, he thought about the virus, imagined it as a living thing, with its own mind and desires. Its own needs for safety and security, for food and a way to maintain its presence in the world.

  Those thoughts followed him into his dreams, where he was a monster hiding inside a house he couldn’t escape.

  — 29 —