Designated (Book 1): Designated Infected

by Ricky Cooper

  Anastasia’s eyebrows rose as she looked at her compatriot, he smiled down at her as he stopped several feet from the cell.

  'Watch.'

  He moved closer to the cell's wall and tapped on it lightly.

  Subject A launched himself at the glass, scrabbling and scraping in his desperation to feed on the supple living flesh before him. Stepping back, he flicked a switch on the pedestal box next to him and shut off the lights in the cell, plunging it into darkness. The assault instantly ceased.

  'Well that is new, anything else to report, Marcus.'

  The man next to her shrugged.

  'Not really, it all sits in line with the original notes you took and your findings in Russia; although his anger and aggression seems to be on the rise. I would put him, at roughly, stage four in progression, bordering on five.

  'Clive's group have a similar test running; although, their findings have been slightly more,' he paused as he glanced down at her once more his eyes locking on hers a shimmer of a deeply repressed urge passing over him before he managed to force himself to continue, 'accelerated than ours.' Anastasia nodded, ignoring what had just happened as she rolled to her desk and powered up her computer.

  'My original tests showed that it mutated from host to host and seems to affect everyone differently. The only things staying the same, are the initial symptoms and the desire for protein.'

  She tapped at her keyboard rapidly as she spoke. 'Keep watch on him and let me know of his development, and please remember to feed him; I have to go and speak to Baker and Colinson before reporting to the Head.'

  Marcus nodded as he watched her turn away from him and exit the laboratory, the doors thumping closed behind her.

  ****

  Baker sat behind his small desk, the smattering of paperwork cluttering up the pitted and scratched surface. He lifted the white coffee mug in his hand, the steaming liquid scalding his lips slightly as he let it flow. Gulping greedily he felt its rolling warmth slip though him, a small smile blooming on his tired face as he felt it hit his stomach, the warmth bursting forth as it settled.

  The sharp, almost caustic taste filled his mouth, he ran his tongue over his teeth as he set the cup back down, a soft knocking drew his attention as he began scanning the pages in his hand once more.

  Setting the small sheaf of papers on the desk he called out, the words ringing off the mushroom brown walls as he spoke. The door swung inwards with a soft squeak on poorly oiled hinges, his eyes were glued to the last sentence of the report as the “guest” entered.

  The sound of rubber, plucking at the short, worn, pile of his office carpet, made him look up, a pair of deep blue, almost purple coloured eyes locked with his. He felt himself pitching forwards and falling into those deep purple pools. Shaking his head, he pulled himself back to the normal world and smiled.

  'Doctor Stanislova, to what do I owe the pleasure?'

  Her smile seemed genuine, but Baker saw something in there, a festering seed of semi-crazed depression that made it a very saddening thing to gaze upon especially on a face as strikingly beautiful as the one sat before him.

  'Well Mr Baker.'

  A wry smile crept across his features as he waved a broad index finger in her direction.

  'You know “Doctor” that it is Lieutenant now, my promotion was last week.'

  He rotated his shoulder, showing the two diamond shaped pip badges on his shoulder epaulette. Anastasia inclined her head slightly in acknowledgement of her minor error.

  'I had forgotten that you had been rapidly promoted to avoid any more interventions from outside superiors.'

  Baker smiled at the slightly barbed remark, the smile faltering at the end as the still stinging memory floated back to the surface. Anastasia's voice sinking ever deeper into the vortex of his swirling mind; the echoing of her voice drifted away from him as images danced in front of his eyes.

  Shaking his head he dropped back into the room with a thump, his eyes showing just how startled he was at the sudden drifting of his mind.

  'Sorry, what was that?'

  Anastasia cast a disapproving glance at him, 'I was saying that I still cannot process the fact that this unit is under the auspice of the Royal Family.'

  Baker smiled at the quizzical look dancing across Anastasia's face as she questioned him in her usual roundabout way.

  A short sighing breath left him as he thought back to the dying days of the ninety’s and the unit's formation.

  'It was the closing days of 1999, we had been doing deep cover operations in most of eastern Europe and east and northern Asia in a joint operation between, Four Two Commando and the Special Air Service.'

  He locked eyes with Anastasia as she settled in on the opposite side of his desk, her eyes willing him to continue as she sat there patiently waiting.

  'I was detailed to a new unit formed from a selection of hand picked soldiers, comprising the best and brightest of the armed forces.

  'It was unusual as it didn't fall under the ever watchful eye of the government.'

  Baker paused again, his mind weighing up just what he should divulge.

  'The Royal household had, for quite some time, been collating and collecting data on situations arising in Europe, and what had at one point been the British empire, goodness only knew why.

  'It is a fact that despite our pay checks being written by the current political administration, every soldier swears fealty to the monarch, be it king or queen.

  'Anyway, they, by which I mean the Queen and her counsel, had seen fit to reform an old sub-division of the British armed forces to combat what they saw as a growing threat to Britain, her people, and all mankind.'

  He stopped for a moment, gauging Anastasia's reaction to his words.

  'You mean Broadhead?'

  Baker nodded confirmation.

  'We were formed originally on the cusp of the Boer War, and were tasked mainly at the time with “Intelligence” gathering and Assassinations of high value targets.' He lifted his hands curling his middle and index fingers, simulating the obvious quotations surrounding the word Intelligence

  Anastasia had a very quizzical look slithering its way across her face.

  'It was a response to the call for help from a man known at the time as Moshoeshoe. He was a tribal leader and very popular man in the Bosotho nation, an area where he held dominion, although things with him were not always peaches and cream.

  'It kicked off several times between him and the British government but was quelled in a peaceful reconciliation in...' he paused, searching for the date. 'I think 1852. The same thing happened as well with the Boers who were a pain in the arse at the time for both Moshoeshoe and us.'

  He stopped again for a moment gathering his thoughts on his unit's life.

  'In 1854 we pulled out of the area and things began to kick off again between the Sotho and the Boers, which lead to a joint appeal to Queen Victoria in 1867, and to the Sotho nation being made a British Protectorate in 1868. As a result we were sent in to lend a hand in quelling Boer threats to any British holdings in the area. We have been operating in the dark corners of the world ever since.'

  Anastasia seemed shocked though she hid it well; leaning forwards she smiled as a question bloomed in her like a flower leaning towards the sun.

  'You said “reformed,” what happened to dissolve the unit?'

  Baker grinned at the probing question.

  'Nothing, we just became official again.'

  Anastasia's face contorted in confusion, as she weighed the answer against his impromptu history lesson. Baker chuckled softly as he watched her puzzled expression.

  'We never really were dissipated or disbanded, the unit has always been there, we were just never officially sanctioned.

  'Over the years, there have been hundreds of operatives, they have been hand picked to suit the situations that have arisen and then filtered back into the folds of the British army.

  'This has been the process since the initial
formation, as it was seen as expeditious for the nature of our work to remain “Anonymous.”

  'This has passed from commander to commander, so that upon the need of our “Expertise”, the current monarch, can if they so wish, call us back into being.

  'The only people who know about us are the Head of the British armed forces and The Monarch of the age, who are currently General Sir David Richards and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second respectively.'

  Anastasia nodded as he continued, a pale tinge of agitated boredom plucking at her as Baker launched back into his monologue.

  'As I was saying, we were pulled back together in answer to a rising biological threat.'

  He gave her a pointed look which drew an understanding nod from the woman before him.

  'The operation is still classified, so I can't divulge more than I already have except that it's safe to say that when you met me back in 2004 it wasn't my first contact with the virus, and neither was the situation in the Panjshir Valley.'

  Anastasia slumped back in her chair as she looked at the man before her, Baker smiled as he picked up his now cool cup of coffee and sipped at it, the bitterness making him cringe ever so slightly.

  'So what did you want anyway, Anna.'

  A deep melancholic sigh escaped her as she rubbed at the bridge of her nose, scrunching her eyes against the migraine still threatening to break through.

  'Subject A. He has broken all recorded data with the length of time between exposure, infection, and symptomatic change. It seems that it mutated again as soon as it entered his system.'

  The small pager clipped to her lab coat vibrated drawing her attention, slipping the small black rectangular device from her pocket she read the scrolling message on the small screen. Spinning her chair on the spot she called over her shoulder as she made to leave the room.

  'Follow me.'

  Baker slipped out from behind his desk, coffee and paper work forgotten as he sped after the doctor's rapidly diminishing form.

  35

  The hermetically sealed door hissed as the air was slowly purged from its piston hinges, the eighteen inch thick door swinging open almost silently.

  Baker watched as the leading edge passed a foot from his face, the four inch diameter retaining bars shinning with the flat glint of dull steel the grease surrounding them glistening like wet leather as the strip lights above cast their pale light over the world beneath.

  Stepping forwards he watched Anastasia roll past him the soft shushing ripple of her chair's tyres announcing her approach.

  Marcus turned, his ears pricking slightly at the familiar sound gently assailing them; a broad smile broke through as he turned and watched her approach, the smile was short lived, it died on his lips as the broad darkened backlit figure of Lieutenant Baker approached. His eyes and smile soured as he watched him following in Anastasia's wake.

  A short, sharp squeak echoed through the room as the heavy rubberised wheels of her chair slid over the ceramic surface of the tiled floor.

  'What is it Marcus?'

  His smouldering hate filled gaze alighted on Baker for only a second. The accusing death filled eyes did not escape Baker's watchful stare as he locked eyes with the stick thin scientist, a sardonic, condescending smile twisted Baker's lips as he watched the scientist try and hold his gaze.

  'Well, it's......uh.'

  Swallowing, he motioned to the darkened cell at the far end of the room.

  Anastasia spun her chair and rapidly rolled off in that direction with a slightly jogging Baker following behind.

  Slapping her palm against the bulbous power button next to the reinforced Lexan glass, she gasped, then mashed her hand against her mouth as he looked upon the carnage in the room.

  'Dear god, what the hell happened here.'

  Marcus fell in beside them a few seconds later.

  'It happened only twenty minutes ago, staff shut the lights off, they couldn't stand the sight of it any more'

  Baker spun and stared at the spineless scientist.

  'Doesn't answer my damned question.'

  Marcus all but sneered at Baker then seemed to think better of it, tugging the collar away from his throat he gulped slightly.

  'He, uh, he did it himself'

  Baker's eyes widened sharply.

  'He what?'

  The scientist shrank away slightly at the sight towering before him.

  'He did it himself, we couldn't stop him for fear of him infecting one of us, he simply chewed through his own flesh, and we are beyond any idea as to why he would'

  Anastasia studied the scene before her, the flesh hung from subjects A's limbs in ragged clumps, bone and ligaments showing through starkly against the greying bloodless lumps surrounding them.

  A weak pleading groan gurgled up from his throat as his head pivoted, searching for something to lock onto.

  'Did you feed him?'

  Marcus looked away shamefaced, Anastasia's eyes widened at the subconscious admission of guilt.

  She opened her mouth to scream at him but a soft movement drew her attention, Baker's understanding gaze took hers for a fleeting moment as he gently shook his head.

  'We can't leave him like this, he was a willing participant, he at least deserves the courtesy of a swift end'

  Her wide pleading eyes locked with Baker's as he watched the pitiful creature try and move. Nodding Baker tapped a four digit code into the panel beside the door and stepped in his fingers dancing over the catch on his holster as he began to draw his pistol. Thumbing back the hammer he lifted the nine millimetre slowly, a prayer finding its way to his lips, one that he hadn't even thought of since the days of his youth spent in the Carmarthen boy's choir. The deep, heavy scent of the burning incense filling his nose as the intoned preachings of Father Matthews danced through his head.

  As he locked his eyes with the twisted mangled creature on the floor a stillness filled him, his lips moving, disembodied words leaving him.

  'Requiesce in pace.'

  His finger curled round the trigger, twelve pounds of force sent the small curved piece of steel back against the trigger guard as the gun bucked slightly in his hand.

  The sound of the shot reverberated through the sound proofed room, Baker's ears thrumming as the bullet left the muzzle.

  He watched as a mashed mix of brittle flaked bone and pulped grey matter scattered over the surface of the floor mingling with the congealed mass of faecal matter.

  Closing his eyes, Baker breathed sharply through his nose, the sight repulsed him slightly as he stared at the corpse at his feet.

  Sliding the pistol into its holster, Baker turned, and walked from the room, ignoring the questioning, yet thankful gaze of Anastasia as he strode past. Marcus stood there rooted to the spot as Baker advanced towards him, the stick thin, bean pole of a scientist didn't know what to make of the six foot tall power house until it was all too late.

  Marcus left the floor as Baker's fist connected with his lower jaw, his eyes spun in his head as he sailed through the air. The muffled thumping crunch made everyone flinch as he crashed into the hard merciless concrete backed tiles at the foot of the steel gantry.

  Baker made to advance upon the quailing form, his blood boiling in his veins, and yet he didn't. The seething pillar of rage, stopped by a soft, yet strangely firm, grip locked onto his upper forearm, pulling him back.

  Turning, he glanced back, his eyes lowering as he latched onto the source of his immobility, the slim digits curled around his arm, their pressure causing the fabric of his jacket to ripple as they slowly tightened. Nodding his confirmation to the unasked question, she let go. His footsteps echoed off the sheer concrete walls as he walked away, grating against them as they watched him leave, two dozen sets of eyes locked on his rapidly shrinking silhouette.

  Marcus' prostrate form started to stir as the vague glimmers of consciousness began to force their way through the haze of pain and shock induced fear. Blood pooled at the base of his chin, the cong
ealing mess running over the bottom of his chin and down his neck in thick strings, staining the collar of his lab coat as the heavy cotton weave soaked it up like a sponge. The claret stain ever expanding through the fibrous weave as more and more made the undaunted journey across his sickly pale skin.

  His feet slid and slipped as he struggled to rise, Anastasia watched as the pale stick thin creature before her tried to right itself, disgust rising high into her gullet as she watched him begin to slowly gain traction on the smooth polished floor.

  Pushing her chair forwards she shifted her course by millimetres sending the chairs reinforced wheel rolling across his splayed fingers. The high pitched girlish scream that issued forth from the man made her smile as she pushed on the left side of her chair rising and falling as it rode across his knuckles crushing them into the uncaring floor beneath the pale, torn flesh.

  ****

  The street door thumped home as Baker dropped his kit bag underneath the small table in the hallway. Running his hand over his hairless head, he sighed as he tossed his beret onto the table, and walked slowly towards the kitchen. His legs felt like lead as he struggled to force life into them, his booted feet thumping against the exposed wood treads of the stair case as he made his way upwards, his body aching, yearned for the sweet blessed comfort of a hot bath and the wanton embrace of his bed.

  The water bubbled and steamed as he watched the bath fill, the hot cloying fog of water vapour rolled about him, shrouding the walls from his view as he stood there. His scarred body ached with the tiring strain of his world, the pressure of his life bore down on him like the shadow of death as he lifted his foot and stepped into the water.

  The heat struck him like a hammer as he sank deeper into the pool beneath him. The liquid rising, enveloping him as it washed away the worries of the day and let him finally sink into the calming quiet of his home.

  The warmth soaked into him, lulling him as he sunk deeper into the fatigue that all but drowned him completely. His eyes slowly drifted closed as he faded deeper into himself and before he could even register the need to sleep his eyes had closed completely.