Infected

by Rolfe, Michael I

  Major Brown told the Colonel and Professor all he knew about Dan and finished off by saying “Sir, Dan was responsible for keeping alive the largest group of survivors that we have found so far, not only were they alive, but they were positively thriving and had beaten of an attack by an armed group of criminals. I believe that Dan would be a real asset to us, so once the Professor has finished with him, I would like to offer him a leadership position at Camp Pegasus.” The Colonel said, “But you believe this man to be a psychopath, do you think it is wise to put him in a position of authority over our own men, don’t you think that choice is a bit radical?” Alan Brown countered “Yes sir, a radical choice for these extreme times, but I am judging the man by his record, besides I have seen him in action and it is something to behold!” The Colonel nodded and said, “What position are you proposing?” Major Brown explained “We are fighting a war the like of which has never been fought before. To win back our civilisation we are going to have to adapt our tactics and be creative in the weapons and people that we use to achieve our goals. I propose that we create a hybrid force of volunteer civilian and military personal, and that this unit be trained and led by Dan. We can then use them to supplement our own forces.” The Colonel nodded his assent and said, “Okay Alan, you give your idea a go.” Then he smiled and said, “But the Professor gets to examine this Dan fellow first.”

  Dan and Pamela were led to the Colonel’s private quarters by the RSM, they arrived for the 19:00 meal early at 18:55, the RSM explained in his barking voice “This is the army, if you are not five minutes early, then you are late!”

  Pamela was in her element, a fantastic meal, served in a nice environment and she was surrounded by intelligent and attentive men. She already knew that Major Brown liked and respected Dan, however she was concerned by how Dan would be perceived by the other Officers and Professor Thompson. She need not have worried, they were gracious to her and did not show any apprehension when in conversation with Dan. However, Pamela was perceptive and quite good at reading others and did notice that the camps Second in Command, Major Patrick Jensen was not so enamoured with Dan, and she thought she saw Jensen looking at him in a hostile way on more than one occasion. Pamela thought that Jensen did not look totally comfortable in the company of the other men and she wondered why this should be until she caught him looking at her, she instantly recognised the blank expression and cold lifeless eyes, just like Dan would have in his unguarded moments. Unlike Dan, this man did not make her feel safe. She looked away and admonished herself, “I'm reading too much in to it!” she thought, “I'm over sensitive and feeling vulnerable because I want the Officers to accept Dan. I shall think no more about it, beside what are the chances of having two psychopaths at the same table?”

  Towards the end of the evening Pamela managed to have a quiet word with the Colonel, she asked “Colonel, do you mind if I ask you a question?” He shook his head and replied, “Not at all.” Pamela continue “In that case, I have a friend who has… a romantic interest in your Major Brown, might I enquire if he is single?” The Colonel burst out laughing as he remembered an earlier conversation that he had had with the aforementioned Major, and he asked “Might this young lady carry a bow and be called Janet? Because if so, the attraction appears to be mutual.”

  It was late in the evening when the others left. The steward came to clear the table, but the colonel dismissed him by saying “Thank you Pope, but you can leave that until the morning.” He was happy that Alan Brown had possibly found a young lady friend, but it made him think about his own wife who had probably died in the outbreak, and as he retired for the night Lt Colonel Peter Curtis was feeling melancholy.

  After breakfast, the next morning the Professor arrived in person to lead Dan to the research facility, Pamela intercepted him and said, “I shall be coming with you.” The Professor did not hesitate and replied, “You are more than welcome Doctor Charles.” The three of them made their way across the camp, passing through three quarantine points before finally arriving at the labs. “I must warn you we do have some infected people here, it is quite safe, they are in secure quarantine and restrained but it can be a little unsettling to the uninitiated.” Dan looked at the Professor and said, “I don’t think it will be a problem.” The Professor considered Dan’s expressionless eyes and nodded as he said “No, no. I don’t think it will…”

  The few scientists that had been saved during the initial outbreak were waiting in the main laboratory, their conversation quickly died away as Dan entered, the Professor looked embarrassed and whispered to Dan “I'm sorry about that, but you are a bit of a legend around here and they have been waiting for your arrival for months now.” Dan just shrugged his shoulders in a rare display of acknowledgement and said “That’s okay, I seem to be getting that reaction a lot lately… I just hope I don’t disappoint them.” This was not just a flippant remark on his part, in truth he did not care what others thought about him, but he knew that Pamela would care and care deeply, and more so in this environment where she was surrounded by her peers. So, Dan adopted his genial mask and strode forward with his hand held out to meet his would-be examiners.

  The Professor opened proceedings by stating what the purpose of the examination would be, he said “Simply put, we want to know if you can really walk unmolested amongst the Infected and if so why, and are there limitation to your ability?” he continued “So first thing first, let’s see how our resident Infected respond to you?”

  They led Dan to a small room which had an armoured glass window separating it from another room, there was a curtain drawn across the window, the Professor stood out of sight and said “Dan, there is an Infected on the other side of the glass, we are going to draw the blind away so it can see you, and we will observe how it responds.” Dan just said, “Go ahead.” and then turned his back on the window. The curtain slid aside to reveal an infected male of about thirty-five that was strapped to an examination table, until the blind was removed the Infected had been quiescent, but upon seeing the back of a human it immediately started to snarl and strain against its restraints in an attempt to break free and attack. Despite being professional scientists, the group gathered in the room let out a collective sigh of disappointment, they had all been working hard, day and night for months to find some way of combatting the infection but their labour had borne little fruit. They were all pinning their hopes on the man that now stood before the infected subject, but the response from the test subject was typically aggressive and it seemed that there was nothing special about the mythical Stone Cold after all! Dan could hear the familiar snarls of an Infected through the speaker that relayed the sound from the other room, he let his face fall in to its natural expressionless state, and then he turned to face the aggressor that was straining against the straps of the table on the other side of the glass.

  The scientists gasped in unison as the infected took one look at Dan and then ignored him completely, became silent and almost dormant. Professor Oliver Thompson said with a hint of incredulity in his voice “Well esteemed colleagues, it appears Stone Cold is not just a myth! So, the question is how does he do it, and can “it” be replicated and used to combat the Infected?”

  Dan was as intrigued as the scientists, he had experienced the Infected’s lack of reaction towards him before, but he had also experienced their aggression. However, this was the first opportunity he had to fully experiment with the phenomenon, he turned his back on the infected subject, expecting it to resume its hostility towards him, but the Infected just lay still and paid Dan no further attention, it had already assessed him and disregarded him as a target.

  The scientists were agog, and Pamela listened to them as they hypothesised the reasons for the subject’s response toward Dan, “Something to do with pheromones?” postulated one of the younger scientists, “No, Stone Cold was not even in the same room.” countered another, older scientist, who sported a greying beard. Professor Thompson, who knew somewhat more about Dan’s p
sychology than the others said, “I think it is more to do with his facial expression, attitude and perhaps his bearing, creating a… well for want of a better word an “Aura” leading to the test subject’s response… or rather, lack of response. Think of it like this: - it is akin to be confronted with a wild animal, how you respond dictates what the beast will do. If you show fear, or run then the animal will chase and attack, but if you remain calm and show no anxiety then you may just get away with your life.” The Professor looked at Pamela apologetically, and then continued “I think that the Infected look at Dan and sees… well, he sees a kindred spirit, he perceives Dan not as prey but as a fellow predator that is not to be trifled with!” The Professor should not have worried that his last statement would offend Pamela, because it only confirmed what she had long suspected.

  The Professor said, “I would like to try something.” he called Dan from the room and asked the young scientist who had hypothesised about pheromones to take his place, so the test subject could see him. As soon as the Infected saw the young man it became agitated and struggled to be free so that it could attack. The Professor called the young man from the room and after a while the Infected settled down once more. Dan and the others watched as Professor Thompson stood at the door and took a few deep breaths to compose himself, he adopted a blank expression and strode confidently into the room looking the Infected directly in the eye, trying to maintain a self-assured attitude. The Infected did not react, it returned the Professors stare, scrutinised the creature that appeared before him and assessed whether it was prey or not. The audience were amazed, the test subject did not immediately try to attack, it just lay there and watched the Professor.

  Professor Thompson kept looking at the test subject trying by force of will to dominate it, he tried to show no fear or reaction of any kind and attempted to keep his face neutral, but as he looked at the twisted drooling mouth and into the soulless eyes he felt his resolve starting to weaken and his repulsion was revealed on his own face. The Infected recognised the change in demeanour and instantly began to snarl and strain at his strappings.

  The Professor hurriedly retreated from the room, Dan slapped him on the back and said “Prof, I think you are on to something!” The other scientists rushed forward towards their Professor with their hands held out to shake his hand, for they recognised a breakthrough when they saw one. When the furore subsided, Pamela reached out and gave the Professor a hug and as she did, so she could feel that he was trembling with both fear and excitement.

  Throughout the remainder of the day, other captured Infected were tested to see how they reacted towards Dan, each time the results were the same. By the early evening, the Professor’s team of scientists were proposing ideas as to how the new information could be used to help the remaining human race obtain an advantage over the hordes of Infected that were roaming the throughout the planet. They would have to find a way for ninety nine percent of the remaining human population that did not have Dan’s attribute, to mimic the “Aura” that Dan seemed to project. The team speculated that there was two ways that this could be achieved, a select squad of soldiers could perhaps be trained to control their emotions and replicate the way that Dan reacted when in proximity to the Infected. The other way was to try to develop a drug that would lessen a soldier’s emotional state but without subduing or lessening their combat effectiveness, or perhaps a combination of both methods? When Dan and Pamela had left the young “Pheromones” scientist joked that “Perhaps we should try to develop a drug that turn you into a psychopath!” This did not get a laugh from his peers, but Professor Thompson did wonder if it was that kind of research that led to humans getting into this whole mess in the first place?

  For operational and security reasons, it was decided that the two paths of developing an answer to dealing with the Infected would take place at different locations. Research into a drug code name “Aura” that would allow a person to be near an Infected without being attacked would take place at Porton Down. A hybrid force of civilian and military volunteers would train to learn how to create their own “Aura”, this force would be based at Camp Pegasus. Any lingering doubt that Dan had about being welcomed as a permanent resident at Pegasus, or what role he could perform there was quickly dispelled when he was placed in charge of this force.

  Before flying back to camp Pegasus, Professor Thompson, Colonel Curtis, Major Brown, Dan and Pamela took a walk around the Porton Down base. Dan, looked at the defences at the perimeter and at the Quarantine Points around the base and he noticed that any type of “Water defence” was conspicuous by its absence. His parting gift to occupants of Porton Down was to inform them of the Infected’s aversion to water.

  Aura

  Upon their arrival, back at Camp Pegasus Dan and Pamela were pleased to see that the rest of their group had arrived, June and her grandchildren Mark and Polly, along with Kevin were making themselves comfortable in the civilian compound, Heather had decided that David Peterson was a better long-term prospect than taking up with a different Paratroopers each day, they were fast becoming inseparable and the new couple decided to join June with the other civilians.

  Janet, Salim, Peter and Amanda all opted to join Dan and the volunteer Paratroopers in the small hybrid unit that were to train to specifically confront the Infected. The team was only fifteen strong and they would be the people that would endeavour to mimic Dan’s ‘aura’, so they too could perhaps ‘walk amongst the Infected’. The team were to be located in a remote corner of Camp Pegasus, and this area was out of bounds to all other personnel and two separate quarantine zones had to be passed through to get to and from the area. This was for a good reason, for live Infected were also housed in there, they would be essential for the work that lay ahead.

  A small secure compound was to be constructed and Infected could be released into it remotely from holding cells that adjoined, the whole system was being built along the same lines of a dangerous animal’s enclosure at a zoo. While the secure compound and other facilities for Dan’s team were being put in place, Major Brown and Dan spent considerable amount of time developing an initial syllabus for the course which would be amended as knowledge and experience were gained over time, much of their deliberation was planning for the safety aspect of the course, the last thing anyone wanted was for someone to be become infected because of the training. If the unit proved to be successful, the Major planned to rerun the course, initially to increase the numbers in Dan’s team, and then he would rotate all his soldiers through the “Aura” training, he hoped that if they could all obtain the skill, they would all be a lot safer.

  Every precaution was taken to ensure the safe handling of the Infected, snipers were to standby in elevated positions and would shoot an Infected in the head if things got out of control. Other measures included being able to incinerate everything within the enclosure with a turn of a key and a strike of a button, “You do not want to be within the enclosure if that button is pushed, it will be hotter that hell in there!” said a Sergeant from the Royal Electrical & Mechanical Engineers that was overseeing its construction and was demonstrating how the system would work.

  Amanda was to be the team’s medic so when she was not training with Dan’s team, she was at the hospital continuing her training as a Doctor under the tutelage of Pamela. Amanda and Pam had become fast friends and when the girls got together it gave them plenty of time to keep up with the latest gossip, and the hot topic of the conversation was the blossoming relationship between Janet and the Major which was given a mighty push forward by Pamela herself, “It was good to see “Normal life” reasserting itself.” she thought, and she caused Amanda to blush bright red when saying “You and Peter make such a nice couple, it’s about time that you two did your bit to help repopulate the planet.”

  When the new facilities were completed, and they had their first assembly, Janet made a striking figure when she arrived, she strode in towards the rest of the team already there carrying her bow and s
cythe and she looked every inch an amazon warrior. However, there were no “Cat calls” from the assembled troopers, they were all professional warriors themselves, besides like Dan’s, her reputation had preceded her, and they also knew that Major Brown had a ‘thing’ for her, and no one wanted to fall foul of the “Boss”!

  Every member of the team was instructed on how to operate the fail-safe incinerator, and all had orders not to hesitate if the Infected looked like they were going to escape. Major Alan Brown said “You will take no chances with the safety of the rest of the camp, if necessary you will initiate the incendiary device even if some of our people will be caught by the blast.” he glanced at Janet and then added “But I’m sure it won’t come to that!” then he continued “I will leave you in the capable hands of Dan, although he is not officially in the military make no mistake, he is in charge of this unit and holds the equivalent rank of an Army Captain. Any questions?” There were none, everyone there was a volunteer and knew that they had joined a hybrid unit made up of both civilian and military personnel, the second in command was the newly promoted Sergeant (formally Corporal) Jenkins, he had been a member of Patrols Platoon when Major Brown was the platoon commander and he had recommended him for the position. Sergeant Jenkins was respected by the military personnel and would have no problems keeping them in line. As there were no question Major Brown said “Right, I will leave you to it, good luck!” he gave a virtually imperceptible nod to Janet, then strode away toward the first of the two quarantine gates.