Burning Mold

by Jefferson Nunn

Jean could hear this but just barely. She had managed to escape through the conveyor belt and was already slowly making her way out of the airport as she hid from the incoming soldiers and tried not to get in the way of the sniper fire that was currently raining on the airport.

  She thought about taking her chance and making a mad dash. If she was lucky enough, the snipers would not aim at her but at the same time, it was too much of a risk, especially with soldiers moving into position and bullets coming from inside the building.

  Against her own survival instinct, she went back inside the building and below the conveyor belts she had been hiding under. She was safer there--out of sight and out of the range of everything that was happening.

  She would have to make her time when it was just the right moment. For now, she waited.

  Chapter 28

  Death by Committee

  Cheryl was tapping her left foot on the ground impatiently. She had been connected to the call and was waiting for confirmation on what had happened in the Dallas International Airport. The return of Colonel Baker and a retinue of government officials made the situation look very grim.

  “We are under constant fire from the inside of the airport. We have support taking action on the building, as well as our units moving in as fast as they can, but we are finding too much resistance inside,” said Colonel Baker. Desperate to get something done and his troops inside, he had already lost thirteen men and had managed to get two out of the hellhole that had become the airport. “Not to mention the fire that is completely out of control on the other side, we still have no sight of any helicopters or planes that will assist us with putting an end to this.”

  “And you will not, Colonel,” said Senator Mynard. Colonel Baker was not surprised at this development but was somewhat alarmed that a US Senator would so blatantly ignore the fact that such an important location was being destroyed by fire and the damages would prove to be far too extensive and costly, not just to the airport but to Dallas itself. “We have decided to let the situation continue to develop as such. In the meantime, we cannot allow such a threat to move out.”

  Colonel Baker knew something must have happened up above in Washington. Most of the politicians who had joined the call, as well as other federal and state dependencies, were no longer contesting him on the issue at hand and were trying to cooperate--everyone but one particular individual.

  “Colonel, care to tell me why the hell your boys are fighting my men over there?” asked Lieutenant General Michael Runkle, who was in charge of Fort Hood and the units stationed there. “I keep hearing you yapping about this entire situation, but I need to know what it is that you are doing there.”

  “Sir, with all due respect I am doing my task and your boys are in the way. I do not know if they are cooperating or being forced to cooperate, but whichever is the case this makes them terrorists in my own eyes and a problem that needs to be dealt with,” said Colonel Baker, who had received several reports from the sniper team about this incident. When trying to get a response back from anyone on the other side, he had found none. “Does that make sense, sir?”

  “No, it does not. You are coming here to tell me that my boys, good American boys, are simply joining some terrorist and are fighting you out of the blue, is that it?” asked General Runkle. Colonel Baker knew that he was in for some trouble but was also dealing with the situation himself through another angle. He still had to act.

  “That is what it would seem, sir. My boys are fighting a war here with your boys who are not hailing back. They are only pulling triggers,” said Colonel Baker. One of the engineers had let him know that the special unit he had sent in was already making their way through one of the conveyor belts and was pushing through the first floor and looking for another way to get up into the second floor. “I dare say also that reinforcements are needed urgently for this matter.”

  “Hold on a second here. You already have those reinforcements there, Colonel, and seeing how the situation is developing I am running this rodeo now,” said General Runkle. Colonel Baker had assumed that at some point the General would pull this card but he was ready to do anything necessary to see this mission run through completely.

  “That may be right, sir. You considerably outrank me and you are indeed running this rodeo, but I am riding the bull and I got it by the steers,” said Colonel Baker.

  “Do you, son, really?” asked General Runkle. Colonel Baker would not allow himself to be dragged along.

  “Sir, I am and we need to have this situation solved sooner than later, seeing how this combat continues to drag on without a firm resolution,” said Colonel Baker.

  “And that would be your problem now, wouldn’t it? It seems the bull has got you,” said General Runkle.

  “Enough of this damn nonsense. We need to get more troops on the ground. Then we get them there without exception,” said Senator Mynard. Other voices seemed to agree with him, while General Runkle complained that he was still in command of the situation. “General, you may be the highest-ranking officer in this call, but you still respond to us. Our decision is to get more people into the airport, and we will do it, so get your men ready to move from Fort Worth.”

  “Yes, sir,” said General Runkle, who disappeared from the call. Colonel Baker knew that this meant that while he was still getting reinforcements there, they would be delayed somehow, but he was already counting on it.

  “I need to intervene here, gentlemen,” said Cheryl, already at her wit’s end. “I know that the General is not being very cooperative at this point, but we still need him to authorize the BATAN protocol.”

  The BATAN protocol had been established shortly after the initial pandemic of the decade and the incident in Vienna. The Biological Answer Terrorist Antagonist Neutralized was specifically designed for this type of situations but would mean that the entire nation would have to become aware of the current threat, potentially even moving DEFCON to the next level, which would have them at DEFCON 2.

  The risk of taking such an action could be considerable, and other nations would have to follow suit in order to assess, identify, and neutralize any potential biological warfare threats inside their own national territory.

  The United Nations had also warned that activating the BATAN protocol inside the United States could have dire consequences in the international scenario and considerably civilian resistance due to the almost authoritarian rules needed to be put in place for it to work as intended.

  Cheryl was aware of all of this but had weighed the current situation and knew that if Steve was successful in getting out of the airport, then it was all over. Activating the protocol as a preventive measure was potentially the only way to prevent a worldwide spread of the mold.

  “We will consider this option,” said Senator Mynard. Cheryl was surprised that they were not ready to jump into it as soon as they could. “For the time being, we will search for other ways to have this situation resolved.”

  “Homeland Security is also taking additional measures, together with the NSA and CIA. You can be sure that while BATAN is a good preventive measure, we are still doing everything we can before we enact it,” said Reliable, who continued. “We are also putting a temporary stop to all flights and halting all air traffic until the situation is resolved. All air traffic from Dallas has been rerouted to nearby cities.”

  “It’s unfortunate that one did not get the signal in time,” said Colonel Baker, referring to the airplane that had crashed into the airport. “Our situation would be very--”

  There was a large explosion followed by the sizzling of laser fire. Colonel Baker had for a moment been caught by surprise. Outside one of the helicopters that was patrolling the area had crashed onto the ground next to a platoon that was moving to another location in the airport area.

  “What the hell just happened?” asked Colonel Baker. Reports came in with mixed references. Some said they had seen lasers coming from the second floor, while others claimed that the helicopter had
just come crashing down without any apparent reason. “Damn it.”

  “Colonel--” said Respulsive. His voice was cut off and was filled with garbage noise that made whatever he said incomprehensible.

  “What is going on?” asked Colonel Baker. The engineers reported a considerable grade of interference coming from inside the airport in the form of electromagnetic pulses. These were coming in sporadically but were strong enough to interfere with more of the devices that they had there. “I need to get communication back again with the rest of the Brigade. Get me back online.”

  The engineers worked as fast as they could. They decided that the best solution was to relocate further away from their current position in order to be away from the current range of the pulse, but they were very clear that this would not solve the communication problems they were having with the rest of the team.

  Colonel Baker was furious, not with his team, but rather with this terrorist who was using every trick in the book to cut his communication. But he knew that his orders had reached the right team and that they were already on their way.

  --

  Able team was already on the second floor. A group of four men had been formed for the task and had succeeded in reaching to the top and to where the sniper team had reported was the location of the terrorist.

  Once they were in the sights of Steve they were horrified. The entirety of his body was crawling with the mold. Part of his clothing and skin were consumed by it and replaced by large black spots. His sight was lost into something that they could not see and he would simply move his head and arms in strange patterns as if he was giving orders or talking to someone.

  The team communicated rapidly through hand signs and moved as fast as they could so they could engage Steve. Once they were all in position, a continuous beam of lasers dropped onto Steve, who dropped to the ground like a rag doll.

  As they moved forward to confirm the body’s identity, they were shocked to find a pool of some black liquid and pieces of cloth, but not a body.

  “What? We saw it,” whispered one of the members of Able team, but the leader stopped him right on track and reminded him that they had to keep quiet at all times.

  “Sometimes things are not what they seem to be,” said Steve behind them. As they turned to fire at him a wave of black mold came over them. The push so great that they flew a few feet away. “And sometimes you are way over your head.”

  Able team panicked. Steve sent one of the members from the team flying through one of the windows. The fall and impact produced from the force had completely broken him. The three remaining soldiers began to fire in panic, the mold absorbing whichever bullets were impacting and converting the resources for the Collective.

  The team’s mission had failed and they were doomed.

  --

  Colonel Baker had recovered communication with the outside but he saw that his clock confirmed that Able team should have already finished its task. He was worried that the laser fire inside continued and reports from the teams indicated the situation was becoming more and more complicated by the minute.

  The intensity of the firefight continued at the same level, but Colonel Baker knew that batteries should be running low for the terrorist situation. As for the fire it had been eating large portions of the airport and was not too far from reaching the area where they were currently fighting.

  “My boys are on their way there. They should be arriving in thirty minutes,” said General Runkle. Colonel Baker complained and was backed by Senator Mynard who also found it unacceptable for him to be taking this long since Forth Worth was so close to Dallas. “We are on our way. We will be there if possible in a shorter amount of time, but my boys tell me that thirty minutes would be good for all of the teams to be there.”

  “You need to have them work faster. Colonel Baker needs all the support he can get. We have already contacted General Marshalls and he is also en route,” said Senator Mynard.

  “Marshalls is also into this. My boys are the only ones needed for this,” said General Runkle.

  “Sir, I need immediate support and General Marshalls offered his assistance. Currently, I am running out of men and combat is not under anyone’s control,” said Colonel Baker. He sighed and continued. “I am running out of men at this point. While the enemy may be going low on batteries, they are going to fight tooth and nail to the last inch of this airport.”

  “I’ll see what I can do,” said General Runkle. “Have General Marshalls pull out his men from this.”

  “We are the ones calling the shots, General, not you,” said Senator Mynard. For once Colonel Baker felt that he had some support in DC, even if it was in the worst of situations, or maybe it was the best of situations.

  “Sir,” said a field medic who had intruded into the communication array. “I just got Perez from Able team in my tent.”

  Colonel Baker tightened the grip on his right hand and gritted his teeth. If the mission had failed, then he had to hold his current position. As he was about to give the order to form a smaller defensive perimeter, one of the reconnaissance airplanes that had been watching the airport from above came down at rapid speed towards the control tower and impacted it.

  The explosion caught the attention of everyone and the collapsing structure came down with a loud rumble. Morale slowly dropped and Colonel Baker realized that he was into something way over his head.

  “Colonel, what the hell was that?” asked Senator Mynard.

  “We just had one of our own planes crash into the control tower of the airport. We have lost part of our sniper team and at least one team that was watching the tower,” said Colonel Baker and with pain in his heart, he continued. “I need immediate support to stop this massacre. At this point if anyone arrives they may find only corpses and the damn airport ablaze. We cannot hold much longer if this damn terrorist is going to be dropping helicopters and planes all over us.”

  “Colonel, were you able to get the chemical spray ready as I mentioned? This may be the only choice you have to stop this man right here and now,” asked Cheryl. Colonel Baker had discarded the idea as too stupid when Cheryl had mentioned it the first time, but right now he was willing to test anything if it meant saving the remaining lives. “Colonel?”

  “I hear you, lady. I am thinking how I am supposed to explain this to the men back at the base,” said Colonel Baker. “Are you sure this solution will work as you say?”

  “It will work, Colonel. I am sure of it and with the information provided to me by the CDC I can guarantee it with scientific backing,” said Cheryl, who continued. “I will be more than glad to work with your team to have this working in no time.”

  “I want to know more about this solution, too,” said General Marshalls. His booming voice somewhat inspired Colonel Baker and reassured him that real help was on its way. “Please patch me also into this conversation so I can understand what we are about to do.”

  Chapter 29

  Time to Move

  “Aries, I think we need to move,” said Chad. He observed how the troops were slowly moving back and forming a defensive perimeter outside the airport. They were covering for each other as the teams took positions and moved their wounded back.

  “Should we?” asked Aries. Chad was surprised at the reponse.

  “I know it’s very stupid for me to say this but we should, yes. Just look at the massacre,” said Chad. While pointing at the airport, they had seen hundreds of soldiers move in at one point, yet only a handful was able to make it back. The word massacre had been redefined at that point for Chad, who had never seen combat in his life or a situation like this.

  “It’s a death trap. The flames are going to end up eating up everything. The reason why they are pulling back is to let everything go down with Steve inside,” said Aries. He also wanted to do something but the risk of doing so would mean that they would have only one exit and with the military in between, he knew they were ready to shoot at anything moving in or out that was
not them.

  “Right but--” said Chad. His cellphone began to ring and he jumped out of fear. After figuring out it was his cellphone, he answered without looking to see who it was. “Hello?”

  “Chad, can you hear me?” said Jean. Chad laughed as he heard her voice and looked at Aries.

  “It’s Jean. She’s alive!” said Chad. Aries was as surprised as Chad was. He had forgotten all about her and could not have even imagined what she would have to do in order to keep alive during the whole ordeal. “Jean, where are you?”

  “Not so loud,” said Jean. She had managed to get back into the airport and keep herself hidden inside one of the luggage areas of the airport, witnessing how soldiers went in trying to get into the second floor and how they had not managed to push through the people under the control of Steve and the mold.

  She had also seen the Able team member dropping into the ground, managing to contain herself from screaming out loudly or crying out of fear that Steve could somehow sense her. At this point she knew that escape would not be possible with the military pulling back and Steve potentially coming after them with everything he had.

  “Listen, I am stuck in one of the luggage pick-up areas. I don’t know which one it is, but I can see the military pulling back,” whispered Jean. She saw how two soldiers were carrying a wounded man back outside when a group of those creatures rushed to them and began tearing them apart. Soldiers covering for them were unable to react in time to protect them but they were still giving it their all to prevent anything from coming out. “They are tearing them apart. Oh, my God!”

  “Aries, that’s where Jean is. You have to push it and get us in,” said Chad. Aries could see himself becoming a hero but also remembered that graveyards were full of them. He hesitated and Chad was becoming infuriated. “Damn it, Aries, what is wrong with you?”

  “Hey, hey, listen. Yeah, sure, we can try to save her, but what are the possibilities that we can make it out?” said Aries. He also saw more of the moldies rushing through to the first floor and eventually flooding the defenders outside. “It’s hopeless.”