by Brad Knight
The first place that Amber checked was the small food court. There was two fast food stalls and a coffee place. She was realistic enough to figure that there wouldn’t be any fresh food. Not even the mutant ingredients that they used would last almost a year without refrigeration. But anything in a can may have still been good. And those would do.
Most of the dead bodies were in the dining area of the food court. Amber had to tip toe around their bloated corpses to reach the counter of the first fast food stall. Once she did, she hopped it.
The rot from the food in the stall was worse than the dead. Or perhaps it was just that Amber was used to the smell of the deceased. Whatever the case, Amber searched with her hand over her mouth and nose, forming the least effective mask in history. She managed to find a can of plum tomatoes, some pizza sauce and mushrooms.
In the second food stall, Amber didn’t find anything. That was disappointing. So she moved on to the coffee joint. The first time she had a cup, she thought it was gross. Since the outbreak, she developed a taste for it. And she knew Mack loved the stuff. She took as much instant coffee as she could find.
I need a book bag. Where in this cemetery can I find a bag? The gift shop! Amber set down the food and coffee she found in the food court on the ground near the entrance of the rest area. Then she headed back in to try and find the gift shop, and maybe visit the little girl’s room.
I’m actually happy that there aren’t any lights in here, so I don’t have to see how filthy this seat is. Amber sat on one of the toilets in the rest room. She wouldn’t have been able to even see it let alone use it if it wasn’t for the small amount of light that bled through the only window.
Wait, what’s that? Amber’s stream of piss stopped when she heard what sounded like footsteps. Then she heard the sound of men’s voices.
Amber slowly rose off the bowl and pulled up her pants. She took out her knife. With the soft step of a prey animal, she made her way over to the wall next to the restroom entrance.
Every step outside was amplified in Amber’s ears. If she wasn’t so terrified, she would’ve pictured herself like a deer. Like one of those poor scared animals who heard a twig break under a hunter’s boot.
“Check the bathrooms,” Amber heard someone say from outside the rest room. “There might be some survivors in there.”
“Sir, there’s no survivors. Look at this place. It’s a fucking mausoleum. We should get the hell out of here before the smell sticks to our blouses.” There was another slightly annoyed voice.
“Check the bathrooms, then we’re Oscar Mike.”
Shit, they’re coming in. Do I fight or…? What the hell should I do? All I got is a knife. Amber looked around. The only places for her to hide were stalls. All whoever was coming had to do was kick them open. That was when she realized she had only one choice.
A heavily armed man entered the women’s bathroom. Amber couldn’t make out many details. She feared that he was from Galatea. If that were the case, she was fucked. The girl was in the middle of the bathroom with her empty hands in the air.
“Sir, we got a live one!” yelled the man who entered the bathroom. His gun was pointed at Amber. He moved into the light. “Put your hands down. Sir, in here!”
Are they from the army? Amber could see the man pointing his gun at her. He was dressed in desert camouflage, had on a Kevlar vest with more pockets than she could count, and he wore army boots and a helmet on his head. When he waited for his superior to come in, he took off his night vision goggles.
Another man came into the women’s bathroom. He too was decked out in military gear. Like his fellow soldier, he removed his night vision upon entering.
“Well I’ll be damned. What’s your name, honey?” asked the higher ranking soldier.
Amber didn’t answer. She just stared at the two soldiers and tried her best not to look nervous.
“You don’t want to tell us your name? That’s fine, hell, that’s smart. How many people are with you?”
Still, Amber didn’t answer.
“C’mon little miss, who’s with you. I know you’re not out here by yourself.”
Nothing from Amber.
“Look, its better you tell us than us finding out for ourselves. We’re not going to hurt you or anyone with you. We’re here to help.”
They might have a medic or someone who can help Mack. If they’re bad than they’ve already got you, so why not cooperate? You got nothing to lose at this point.
“My name is Amber. And no one else is here. But my dad isn’t far away, and he’s hurt.” Amber broke her silence.
The higher ranking soldier walked up to Amber with his gloved hand outstretched. “I’m Lt. Spence.” The lieutenant pointed at the other solider in the rest room. “That’s Private Marks. We’re from the third battalion eleventh marines out of twenty nine palms.”
Like I have any idea what any of that means. “What are you doing here?” asked Amber. She looked down at Lt. Spence’s hand but didn’t shake it.
Spence retracted his hand. “You don’t trust us. I don’t blame you. There’s a whole hell of a lot of bad people out here. I’m sure if you’ve survived this long you’ve run into a couple. But I assure you, we aren’t those people. We’re marines. Our job is protect civilians like you and your dad. So we’ll earn your trust.
“Come with us and you can lead us to your dad. We have a medic with us that can help. Once we have him we’ll go back to our town. You’ll both be safe there. And there’s other kids there, too.”
“I’m not a kid.”
Lt. Spence laughed. “No, I guess you’re not. Do we have a deal?”
Amber took a little over half of a minute to answer. “Yeah, we have a deal.”
Spence smiled. “Great! Pick up your knife and follow us.”
Amber bent over and did as Lt. Spence instructed. Even though there was kindness in the lieutenant’s voice, there was also a sternness that demanded obedience.
The second any of you assholes try anything, I’m going on a stabbing spree. Amber cautiously followed Lt. Spence and Pvt. Marks out of the bathroom. She decided she’d go with them only to help Mack. For the moment she’d trust them. But only for the moment.
There were other soldiers in the rest area. Amber counted five. She passed by the gift shop, but it was completely emptied out. She saw Lily sitting by the feet of one of the soldiers, her tongue lolling. That at least made her smile.
Outside the Paul Duol Rest Area was a LAV (Light Armored Vehicle) and a military cargo truck. Next to the vehicles were three other marines, bringing the total up to ten marines. They were all armed and covered from head to toe with gear generally reserved for wars.
These guys mean business. Amber was wary of the professional killers around her. But she needed their help. Throwing her lot in with them was a risk she would have to take.
Lt. Spence leisurely walked over to Amber. He offered her an MRE (Meal, Ready-to-Eat). She was starving, so she took it, and started to eat.
This is horrible. Is this supposed to be food? It tastes like ass.
“Good huh? Let’s go find your old man.”
Chapter 6
: The Board
Ted Gorman entered the conference room of the Galatea Systems Los Angeles facility. Waiting for him were twelve company executives from different facilities worldwide. Behind him trailed Sebastian and Denise.
“Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. I thank you for your patience. I took a bit of a detour on my way up.” Ted was the only cheerful person in the room. Everyone else was annoyed and angry that they were kept waiting for so long. But none of them said anything about it. Instead they had other more serious concerns.
“So… what can I do for you?” asked Ted as he sat down at the head of the long table. He looked at his execs who hailed from every continent but Antarctica.
At first none of the board members answered Ted. They looked away, angry, or they looked at him, angry. Finally after an awkward mi
nute or two, the head of the Hokkaido, Japan facility stood up.
“Mr. Okada,” Ted addressed the man.
“Mr. Gorman. Can you explain to us what you are doing? What you’ve done?” Mr. Okada spoke good English, although with a heavy accent.
Where’s my damn cheeseburger? I asked for it almost a half an hour ago. Ted motioned for Denise. His assistant leaned in. “My cheeseburger?” asked Ted, just loud enough for everyone else in the room to hear.
“Mr. Gorman! This is serious! You released the nanites without even so much as a warning. It’s decimated my whole country!” Mr. Okada was infuriated by Ted's indifference.
Okada wasn’t alone in his anger towards the CEO of Galatea Systems. Vladmir Ivanov, the head of the Moscow site also stood up. “You did not even ask for our input. Now the world’s in chaos. And this is your fault. Instead you order cheeseburgers and laugh at us!”
Ask? I don’t have to ask any of you for anything. What a bunch of ungrateful assholes. I handed them whole countries and now they give me shit? Let them air their grievances. Then I’ll deal with them. Ted leaned back in his chair. “Is that it? Does anyone else have something to say? Now is the time.”
Three other executives stood up and spoke their minds. All of them were very upset. Ted didn’t warn any of the other facilities that he was going to release the nanite virus at every site at the same time. He didn’t want them to know. There were contingencies that the head of each facility could’ve used to prevent the release. That would have been unacceptable.
Ted's cheeseburger came in the middle of his executive’s yelling at him. He went ahead and started eating it. That incensed them. Again, he didn’t care. As their ire reached a fever pitch, he chewed away.
That was just as delicious as I thought it would be. Now that that’s done, it’s time to deal with the problems in front of me. What to do? What to do?
“What are you going to do about this?” asked Mr. Ivanov. Every other member of the board stared at Ted with a look on their faces that said they wondered the same thing.
Ted calmly wiped his mouth with the napkin that came with his burger. Then he stood up and stretched his back. There was a bit of a crunch and he groaned.
“Sorry about that,” said Ted as he pointed towards the plate that his burger came on. “I was famished. As to your concerns, they are understandable. I get where you’re coming from. But that’s only because you aren’t aware of the whole picture.
“First off, I want to commend you all on your handling of this… situation. I know it’s been hard. I get that you’re angry. Let me explain to you the particulars of the company plan.”
Ted started to walk around the table, behind the chairs of the Galatea Systems Board. It made them all a little nervous. And it was intentional. He had a reputation of being unpredictable and at times violent.
“Are you going to take that from these bastards?” Ted’s dead dad was at the other end of the table. As per usual he had a cigar in his mouth and was puffing away. Even though Ted knew that it was all in his head, he looked around to make sure that no one else saw his father. “You always were as soft as baby shit.”
I really want to tell him to shut the fuck the up. But I can’t let Sebastian know just how nuts I really am. “As you all know, the company was in trouble. The US military was going to cancel their contract with us. In order to cover their tracks they gave us up to the FDA and FBI. That left us with only one option.”
“Destroy the whole damn world?” asked the executive from London. There was mix of sarcasm and anger in the way she asked it.
“Pretty much. Yeah. I figured the only way to go was to release the nanites. I knew there would be catastrophic consequences. I knew that a hell of lot of people would die. But in the end it would be worth it. Because out of the ashes, not only would we have the government off our backs, we’d be one of the most powerful entities on the planet.” Ted finally explained his motives to the board of directors.
As Ted explained his actions, Sebastian held his tongue. He didn’t believe a word his boss said. It was clear to him that there were other ways to handle the investigation into the company. There was no reason to release the virus and essentially destroy civilization. Ted just wanted the carnage and chaos that would follow. Why? Because the CEO was out of his mind.
“That still does not answer why you did not tell us,” said Mr. Okada.
Ted waltzed over to Okada. He put his hands on the older Japanese man’s shoulders. “I’m telling you now.”
Three Galatea Security Team members entered the conference room. They had modern automatic shotguns in their hands. All of them looked as if they meant business.
“Personally, I don’t like any of your tones. I don’t think you guys and gals are fit to lead your respective facilities. So I’m afraid you’re all fired.” Ted walked towards the exit as he talked. He pointed at the security personal. “These gentlemen will give you your severance packages.”
Ted left the conference room with Sebastian and Denise following. Seconds after the frosted glass door closed behind them, they heard loud gunshots. They made his assistant yelp in surprise.
“Denise,” said Ted.
“They… you…” Denise was in shock.
“Denise!”
The young assistant snapped out of her shock and horror. Denise didn’t want to upset her boss. Lest she would suffer the same fate as the board members. “Yes, Mr. Gorman.”
“I need you to get someone in there to clean up. And I don’t want any other employees to see. Make sure the custodial staff is discreet.” Ted acted like the dead board members were nothing more than trash or debris to be cleaned up and thrown out. The grim fact of the matter was that he was right. There was no one to hold him accountable or to care that they were gone.
“Yes sir. Right away, sir.” Denise took out her radio and got on it. She couldn’t do so fast enough. It gave her an excuse to not think about the room full of dead people she walked away from.
“This is really hard for me to say, but that was the right move. Did those pricks really think they could fly over here and tell you what you should or shouldn’t have done? Did they think there would be no consequences?” Thomas walked next to his son. A thick cloud of smoke that only Ted could see followed the dead man.
Do my ears deceive me, or did my old man actually say that I did something right? Is the world coming to an end? Is this the sign of the apocalypse? “Thank you. I guess,” replied Ted.
“For what, sir?” asked Sebastian.
Damn it. I actually replied to him. Out loud. Seb already thinks I’m nuts. This isn’t going to help.
“What’s that? I didn’t say anything.” Smooth. Deny it till the end.
Sebastian gave Ted a queer look. He shook his head and moved past it. “What next?”
“Next we choose new execs to head the rest of our facilities, seeing that those that did are now very much dead. So, get London on the LAN line…” Ted was interrupted by the muffled sound of an explosion. The vibrations could be heard throughout the facility. Little pieces of concrete and dust fell from the ceiling.
“What the hell was that?” asked Ted as he ducked and covered his head. As if that would protect him.
Sebastian took out his radio. “Security team Alpha, what was that?” He took his finger off the button on the radio and waited for an answer. One did not come. “Alpha, come in.”
Ted and Sebastian heard gunfire. That made the reality of the situation clear. Someone was attacking the Los Angeles facility. And they already took out the twenty man Alpha security team that manned the perimeter and the entrance.
“I’ll mobilize Bravo and Charlie. You should probably retreat to the panic room, sir. Denise can show you the way down,” advised Sebastian.
“Not gonna happen, Seb. In fact I’m going to do exactly the opposite. I’m going to go and personally make sure that these invaders are properly dealt with.” Ted had a sick smile on his face. He to
ok off his suit jacket and handed it to Denise.
“That’s not a good idea, sir. It is way too dangerous.” Sebastian’s warnings didn’t sound very sincere.
“Seb, shut the fuck up. We both know that you want me dead so you can take over. You should be jumping for joy.”
“Just be careful, sir.”
“I will. Before I head off to slay our enemies, I’m going to have to make a stop at the lab.” Ted’s smile got wider before he strode away.
The concrete tunnel that led to the entrance to the Los Angeles facility was filled with gunfire. Attackers armed with a variety of assault rifles, hunting rifles, handguns and whatever other firearms they could scrounge up slowly made their way towards the door. Remnants of Alpha and some newly arrived Bravo team members tried to repel them but were simply outnumbered.
“Keep pushing!” yelled the leader of the invaders as he reloaded his rifle. “They’re about to break!”
Bullets few by both sides of the fight. Those that didn’t get hit heard the lead projectiles whiz by their heads. Not an inch of the tunnel went unaffected by the gunfire.
“Push!” The invaders slowly moved forward. Security team members dropped like flies.
It didn’t take long for Galatea Security to get overrun. Not one of them were left alive. One of the invaders stuck high explosives to the thick door that served as an entrance to the facility.
“Fire in the hole!” yelled the leader of the invaders. Every one of his men and women took cover.
The high explosives were detonated but didn’t successfully breach the entrance. On the other side, a row of security team members aimed their guns directly at the door. They were ready to mow down anyone who came through, while staying far enough away not to be killed by the impending second explosion.
Sebastian and Denise headed towards the Los Angeles facility panic room. Frightened staff ran by like chickens with their heads cut off. No one seemed to know what to do. Spinning yellow emergency lights and emergency sirens added to the bedlam.
