Surviving Rage | Book 1

by Arellano, J. D.

  CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

  Stopping the car, Daniel stared in disbelief. Standing on the rise of the grass, arms spread wide, head tilted to the sky, was the old man he routinely saw when he stopped to run at the bay on his way home from work. Daniel estimated that the man was in his late eighties. Thin and wiry, the man had long hair that was multiple shades of gray. His face was weathered, lined with deep wrinkles from too much time in the sun. Daniel had never spoken to the man beyond a simple ‘hello’ or ‘hi’, but the man’s welcoming smile had always given Daniel a sense of warmth when he responded, which was always done by the man saying ‘Greetings.’ He’d never been able to understand how the man gave him that connected feeling through such a simple, succinct interchange, but he’d always looked forward to seeing the man when he went on his runs.

  And now here he was, standing there in the middle of the grass, seemingly oblivious to everything going on around him.

  Pulling to the left side of the road to park against the curb, Daniel said, “Shit.”

  Paul looked concerned. “What are you doing?”

  “That man can’t be out here like that. It’s not safe.”

  “But it’s not safe for us to stop. We’re about halfway to your house, right? We should just keep going.”

  “I know we should, but I can’t just ignore him. At the very least I need to warn him.”

  Paul looked unconvinced, but knew he wasn’t in a position to question Daniel’s decisions. “Do you know him or something?”

  “Yes and no.” Daniel got out of the car, looking around as he did. He leaned in, grabbed his gun from the door compartment and stashed it behind his back. “Stay in the car and keep an eye out.” He closed the door and walked to where the man stood.

  The man’s eyes were closed, his head to the sky, a look of complete contentment on his face. His hair had been tied into a long braid that hung down his back. The wind ruffled his clothes, a loose fitting button up shirt and thin, loose fitting chino pants. His right hand was wrapped around a hand-carved, polished staff that reached his shoulder.

  “Sir?”

  The old man lowered his head and opened his eyes, fixing Daniel with his warm stare. “Ah, you’re here. Good.” With his free hand, he reached for Daniel’s. “Please, join me in prayer.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m not religious.”

  “It’s okay. I’ll do the speaking. Just take my hand and listen.”

  Feeling a strange desire not to disappoint the man, Daniel took the man’s hand in his gloved one.

  “Please take off the glove.”

  Daniel stared at him, for the first time concerned.

  “I assure you, you have nothing to worry about.

  Nodding, Daniel did as the man asked and clasped the man’s hand in his now bare one. It felt leathery, the skin worn and calloused.

  “Good.” The man said, smiling. “Now, close your eyes and look to the heavens.”

  Daniel did so, hoping that Paul was keeping a vigilant watch.

  After a moment, the man began to speak, and when he did so, his voice become strong, clear, and completely mesmerizing.

  “Oh, Great Spirit,

  Whose voice I hear in the winds

  and whose breath gives life to all the world.

  Hear me! I need your strength and wisdom.

  Let me walk in beauty, and make my eyes

  ever hold the red and purple sunset.

  Make my hands respect the things you have made

  and my ears sharp to hear your voice.

  Make me wise so that I may understand

  the things you have taught my people.

  Let me learn the lessons you have hidden

  in every leaf and rock.

  Help me remain calm and strong in the

  face of all that comes towards me.

  Help me find compassion without

  empathy overwhelming me.

  I seek strength, not to be greater than my brother,

  but to fight my greatest enemy: myself.

  Make me always ready to come to you

  with clean hands and straight eyes.

  So when life fades, as the fading sunset,

  my spirit may come to you without shame.”

  With the prayer complete, Daniel opened his eyes, surprised at the tears that had flowed from his eyes during the man’s prayer. While he’d never followed religion, he understood that some people drew strength and guidance from it, and he respected that, as long as they didn’t force it upon him.

  This had been different, and it had touched his heart. He and his family would need all the strength they could muster to survive what was ahead, and if the prayer helped, he would be eternally in the man’s debt.

  Wiping the tears from his cheeks with the back of his hand, Daniel spoke to the man as he pulled his gloves back on.

  “Sir, I am sorry to bother you - ”

  “Please, call me Takoda.”

  “Okay. My name is Daniel.” Daniel started over. “Takoda, I am sorry to bother you, but it’s not safe out here.”

  The man looked at him and smiled. “I know.” He looked back to the sky, closing his eyes. “The wind tells me what I need to know.” He stopped talking, his head held up to the sky, and Daniel knew he should wait. After several moments, the man continued. “There is evil walking the earth, looking to destroy mankind.”

  “Yes, that’s right, and they - ”

  “They are near.” The man nodded, looking towards the sunset. “I know.”

  Daniel looked around, his eyes searching for the threat.

  “We have a few minutes. You may relax.”

  “Okay, well then, you need to get out of here. Can I give you a ride somewhere? It will be tight in my car, but we can - ”

  “My son, I am right where I need to be. My people, the Kumeyaay Tribe, are from here. The government took our land, forcing us onto smaller and smaller areas they didn’t need. My people long for the relationship with the ocean that they once had, as do I.

  “My time is short on this earth, and I am ready to enter the Spirit World, and when I do, I want to be here, close to the sea, on the land that once belonged to my people.”

  Daniel stared at the man in disbelief, not knowing what to say. He wanted to help the man, but based on what the man said, Takoda wasn’t going anywhere.

  Suddenly, a snarling man, a blonde man with long, sandy brown hair, wearing nothing but board shorts, came over the nearby rise of grass, rushing towards where they stood. Instinctively, Daniel pulled his gun, ready to blow a hole in the man’s head.

  Takoda’s voice, filled with calmness, spoke. “If you fire that gun, many, many more will come. They are not far from us, but they are moving away from where we are. The sound of your weapon will alert them to our presence.”

  Daniel looked at him, unsure of what to do. How would they defend themselves against this thing?

  Looking back at the man in the board shorts, Daniel saw that he was now only ten yards away. Shaking his head, Daniel got into a fighting stance, pulling his sleeves all the way down and quickly checking his gloves as he did.

  Takoda stepped in front of him, placing himself between the threat and Daniel. The things snarled again, turning on a burst of speed as it sped towards them, legs churning, arms outstretched.

  In a burst of movement, Takoda’s staff became a whirling circle, spinning in his hands. In two quick movements he knocked the man’s down, and in a third, he planted the sharp tip of the staff into the back of the man’s mouth, pushing through his throat and into the man’s neck, severing his spine, killing him instantly. Takoda stepped to the side, withdrawing the staff in one smooth motion, letting the man’s body slide to the ground in a heap.

  “Holy shit.” Daniel said, stunned.

  Takoda looked at him. “Sometimes the silent weapon is the right one. The wind will carry sound to ears who wish you harm. Remember that.”

  “I will. I’ll have to work with Sera to bu
ild weapons that we can use in close quarters.”

  “Good. Now, you must go, my son. Your family needs you.”

  “Are you sure you can’t come with us?”

  “I can.” The man smiled. “But I won’t.” He reached out and grasped Daniel’s shoulder, looking him in the eyes. “Do not fear for me. I am where I need to be.”

  Daniel removed his glove again and extended his hand. “It was an honor to finally meet you, Takoda.”

  The old man shook his hand, still smiling. “The honor is mine. Take care of your family, Daniel. The challenge will be great, but if you work together and stay true to yourselves, you will overcome it.”

  “Thank you.” Daniel withdrew his hand and turned away, putting on his glove as he headed back to the car, where Paul was waiting. He heard the doors unlock as he approached.

  Opening the door and putting the gun back in its spot, he sat back down on the driver’s seat, closing the door behind him. He looked back to where the man stood, his head facing the skies above.

  Sensing Daniel was deep in thought, Paul quietly asked, “Is he going to be okay?”

  Daniel thought about it for a second before responding. “Yes. He may not survive, but he’ll be okay.”

  After a moment, Paul responded. “I don’t understand.”

  “Neither do I, Paul, Neither do I.” Daniel turned in his seat and looked at the young man. “And that’s alright. We don’t have to understand other people’s choices. We only have to respect them.”

  With that, he started the engine, put the car in gear, and resumed their drive home.

  CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

  Mount Weather Emergency Operations Center, Virginia

  3 a.m.

  “Yes!” Jonathan Reed’s outburst was loud and decisive, startling Doctor Chang and Doctor Bowman, who had both been working quietly, reviewing the reports and other information they’d gathered for the umpteenth time.

  “Everything OK there, Jon?” Sipping the fourth cup of coffee he’d had this evening, Chang turned away from the dry erase board and looked over at the tall black man. He was standing in front of his desk, looking back and forth between two pieces of paper, which he held in each hand.

  “I think I found something.”

  Chang set his coffee down on the table and quickly walked over to where his colleague was. Doctor Bowman set her papers down and followed him as well, absentmindedly tucking a few loose strands of hair behind her ear. Across the room, the Sergeant Mason, Corporal Richards, and Corporal Johnson stopped what they were doing and looked up.

  “What do you have?”

  Doctor Reed looked up at him. His eyes showed fatigue, and his usual ramrod straight posture was slacking. The team was tired. Regardless of the mandated breaks, most of them had trouble sleeping due to the stress of the situation. Inevitably, they ended up returning to the lab, choosing to continue working over lying awake in bed.

  Doctor Reed set copies of the autopsy reports on the desk. “The great majority of the blood work results didn’t show anything outright, and that just didn’t make sense to me. However, two - just two - showed the presence of a strange combination of pharmaceutical drugs, something I’ve never seen, so I started making calls to get further tests done.”

  He took a deep breath, shaking his head. “Unfortunately, nearly two-thirds of the forensic pathologists I called have not returned my call. Given the urgency, I doubt they would ignore my call, which probably means we can assume the worst.

  “In any case, I did get through to six of them, and they were able to perform a hair follicle tests. When I received those results I saw the same thing. Here, take a look.” Chang and Bowman leaned in as he pointed to a line on the first test report, then to a similar line on a second test report.

  Both showed the presence of Oxytetracycline, a broad spectrum antibiotic, Metronidazole, an antibiotic used to fight infections caused by anaerobic bacteria, Calexcitin a calcium-binding protein known to have an excitatory effect on neurons, and, of all things, trace amounts of Epinephrine, a synthetic form of adrenaline typically found in auto-injectors used to revive a person after a heart attack.

  Chang stepped back, thoroughly confused. “What the hell?”

  “I know.” Reed also pointed to the line right below it, titled “Unknown/Unlisted Substances - Synthetic.” The line read “TGN1421.”

  Andrew cocked his head, thinking. “Is that - ”

  Lisa Bowman finished his sentence. “- Professor Hünig’s drug?”

  Reed and Chang both looked at her, surprised.

  “What? Just because I’m a neurologist, that doesn’t mean I don’t research other fields.”

  Jonathan smiled. “I understand. Well, actually no, it isn’t, although I initially made the same assumption. Hünig’s drug nomenclature was nearly identical, but it ends in one-two.”

  Chang made the connection. “This helps, though.” He rushed over to the board. Reed and Bowman followed him, anxious to hear what he was thinking.

  On the board, he wrote:

  SUBSTANCES

  Oxytetracycline

  Metronidazole

  Calecxitin

  Epinephrine

  TGN1421

  From the TGN1421 line, he drew a line and listed two items:

  Possible Costimulator

  New drug - Clinical Trials?

  The group knew that Costimulation was a vital part of the development of immune response. That tended to lend credence to the second entry. Someone had taken a combination of antibiotics, synthetic stimulants, a neuron excitor, and possibly an immunomodulatory drug, and tried to cure something.

  Sergeant Mason, who had been listening from the other side of the room, approached the group. “I don’t understand most of what you all are talking about, but if they were testing a new drug, the patients must have thought it worked, since they were celebrating.”

  Chang nodded in agreement. “Great point, A.J.” He pointed at the names on the board near the military members’ table. “So is that an experimental group?” Experimental groups were part of clinical studies for new pharmaceutical drugs. The control group was given a ‘sugar pill’, something that would have no effect on the body, while the experimental group was given the actual drug and monitored for the drug’s effectiveness and any side effects.

  Doctor Bowman shook her head, doubt showing on her face. “I don’t know. If it is, it’s a really small one.”

  Doctor Reed nodded in agreement. “I was thinking the same thing.”

  “Me, too.” Andrew looked at the board, perplexed. An experimental group would make sense, especially considering the cocktail of drugs that had been found in their systems. “And we’re sure the other victims weren’t part of this group?”

  Jonathan Reed shook his head. “Nope. Triple checked.”

  “Damn.” Chang took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes. What was he missing? “Thoughts?”

  Bowman and Reed looked at each other, each waiting to see who would go first. After a few seconds, Jonathan motioned for Lisa to go ahead.

  “I think we assume it is an experimental group. We’ve got an unknown drug in the system, it just makes sense, even if the group is really small.”

  Andrew nodded, considering her input. “Jonathan?”

  “Thinking the same thing. Maybe there are more people out there that haven’t had a reaction. Maybe they did and died without hurting anyone else? Maybe they’re immune. I don’t know, but this feels like it was part of a clinical study.”

  Andrew turned back to the board, looking for an answer. If it was an experimental group, it was the smallest he’d ever seen. Even so, the presence of TGN1421 screamed experiment. He turned to the team, placing his hands on his hips. “Alright, so it appears there was a clinical trial for something, and whatever it was, the patients thought it was successful before they became infected.”

  Doctor Bowman spoke up, taking off her reading glasses as she did
so. “You know, it must have been something significant, for people to spend large amounts of money celebrating. People wouldn’t do that for something like Athlete’s Foot or Dry Scalp.”

  “I agree. It must be something major.” He walked back to the dry erase board where he’d listed the substances. Picking up the pen, he spoke as he wrote.

  Next Steps

  Find out what TGN1421 is

  Find out what this combination does to the body

  Find out what the people were celebrating

  He drew a line from the second entry to the list of drugs, then pointed at the third entry. “Finding out what they were celebrating will tell us what the drug supposedly cured, and we can cross-reference that to determine which doctors or groups were running clinic tests or which ones had recently applied for patents. Make sense?”

  The group responded affirmatively.

  He looked at his watch. 4:00 a.m. “Damn, I’m tired. Gonna need some more coffee.” Walking toward the coffee maker, he decided to rest his legs for a bit, and detoured towards the couch. Within minutes, he was fast asleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

  Serafina was working furiously, cutting vegetables and pouring them into small bowls as she prepared a massive feast. She assumed that they were leaving in the morning, and there was a lot of stuff they wouldn’t have room to take with them, so she wanted to use what she could. Like a master chef, she working to prepare several dishes at once, a soup with bamboo shoots, mushrooms, carrots, mini corn, and tofu, a stir fry dish with vegetable protein, bell pepper, onion, dried red chilis, and peanuts, a salad with glass noodles, thinly sliced cucumber, and baked tofu, and, of course, rice.

  While the desire to use up the perishable food was a valid justification to make such a huge feast, she also found solace in cooking, giving her something to think about other than Daniel. He’d been gone for about three and a half hours now, and it certainly seemed to her like he should have been back by now. She’d resisted the urge to call or text him, not wanting to distract him, but if she didn’t hear from him soon, she’d eventually give in to the urge.