They landed at the research facility, and once the Professor was safe Major Curtis set about checking the security of the site. He ordered that a large secure holding area be established outside the main gate, everyone and anyone arriving on site would be held there and observed, only once they were deemed clear of infection would they be admitted into the facility grounds.
Once he was happy that the site was secured from the new threat, he went to the Professor, “The facility is as secure as it can be, but I will feel a lot better once my men are here. You should make a list of the people that you want us to pick up. We will also need their possible locations, as soon as I have more man power and transportation I will initiate the mission to collect everyone on your list. In the meantime, we can make use of the helicopter to collect the names at the top of your list.” The Professor had anticipated this and had the list to hand, he passed it to the major “We are fortunate that most of the experts already work in this facility but that list contains the name of additional people, I don't have to tell you that time is of the essence, the longer that we are delayed from finding them and bringing them to safety the more chance that they will fall victim to the infection and we will lose their skills and knowledge forever.” He handed over a second list these are the names of the staff that work at this facility and live locally, they are either not on duty today or have not shown up for work. We should bring them all into the fold as soon as possible.” The Major looked at the list, “There are a lot of no shows.” he said “Yes, said the Professor, that is what worries me, we need to find them quickly. Peter, I hate to ask this because I know your mission is going to be dangerous enough but as a matter of urgency we will need specimens of the infected, both alive and dead. I am truly sorry to have to ask this of you and your men.” The Major knew that this was coming and that there was no other option, so it would be down to him and his men to round up and bring in some of the infected people, but he did not like the idea. It was one thing to send his men out to find and protect the scientists, but to deliberately engage the infected and then retrieve the bodies would be a lot to ask his men. Worse still, to attempt to capture one alive would be a very hard and hazardous task, he could see how that could go wrong in so many ways. But he knew there was no choice, it was as they say, “A dirty job but someone has to do it” that that would be him and his men!
The helicopter with a team of four Paratroopers was tasked to collect the first of the scientists on the list, Major Curtis had briefed the extraction team that if possible they should avoid taking members of the scientists’ family, to do so would only increase the risk of the mission and further infection, but if the scientist refused to leave without their kin then the team was authorised to bring with them members of the immediate family only, if they had to use force, then so be it! He wondered how successful the team would be in locating and extracting their targets in world that was going to Hell?
By mid-afternoon the main body of his troops turned up and by the look of some of the vehicles they had not had a pleasant trip, there was blood and some other substance that the Major thought could well be grey matter on the front of the lead vehicle.
He now had a full Company that had been detached from the Second Battalion the Parachute Regimen (2 Para). A Company consisted of three “Fighting platoons” 1, 2, and 3 Platoon and a HQ element. In addition, and to his pleasant surprise, the Commanding Officer of 2 Para, realising the importance of the mission, had sent along “Patrols Platoon”. The guys in this platoon were the elite of the elite, every man had gone through a rigorous selection process, and they were trained to work in small teams of four behind enemy lines and were also trained as snipers. They would be as close to perfect for the job at hand, and under his breath Major Curtis thanked the CO for his foresight in sending them along and for putting them under his command. He did not allow them through the holding area, but immediately re-tasked them to locate the local scientists by simply handing the list to the Platoon Commander Captain Alan Brown, telling him “Find them quickly, bring them here, I cannot stress how important they are.” Most Platoons are commanded by a Lieutenant, but the Patrols were commanded by the more senior rank of Captain, Major Curtis was pleased to have the experienced Captain Brown under his command as he knew he could rely on him to plan and execute the mission without any input from himself. Captain Brown took the list and simply said “Yes sir! Oh, and by the way, congratulations!” he then turned and shouted, “Sergeant Smith, Section Commanders, on me!” placing his hand on his own head backing up the verbal command with the hand signal to indicate that he wanted the men to come to him, he then walked back to his vehicle to plan the mission and brief the men.
Major Curtis thought the congratulation was a sick joke considering the enormity of the assignment that he had been given but did not have time to dwell on it. He shouted in the direction of the rest of his Company “Company Sergeant Major!” Bill Murray, the C.S.M, was now through the quarantine area and came running up to the Major and said, “Good afternoon Sir, the Commanding Officers compliments, Sir, I am to inform you that you are promoted to Lieutenant Colonel with immediate effect, congratulations sir!” he handed over the orders confirming the appointment and smiling he continued “I took the liberty of bringing your new insignia, well done sir, and if I may say so, well deserved.” Major, now Lieutenant Colonel Curtis was shocked and looked at the insignia in the C. S. M’s hand. The Company Sergeant Major had a broad smile on his face and even allowed himself a short chuckle, he had never seen Peter Curtis stumped before. “Orders Sir?” he said.
Lt Colonel Curtis recovered quickly. He took the insignia from the C. S. M’s hand and placed them in his own pocket, he was not ready to wear his new rank just yet, besides he had a lot to do. “Thank you, Bill” he said, “Please inform 1, 2 and 3 Platoon Commanders and the Colour Sergeant that I would like to see them as soon as they are through quarantine” “Yes Sir” replied the C.S.M and he turned and ran back toward the quarantine area to fetch the Colour Sergeant and Lieutenants who commanded the three platoons.
Lt Colonel Curtis led the three Platoon Commanders, Colour Sergeant and the C.S.M to a building that had been made available to him to act as his HQ, they were joined there by the Professor. “Welcome Gentlemen, please be seated, I will hand you over to Professor Thompson, he will brief you on what we know about the infection, the quarantine procedures that we have put in place here and things that you can do to reduce the chance of infection to you and your men.” The Professor spoke for twenty minutes outlining all that they knew, then handed back to Lt Colonel Curtis who then proceeded to give his orders, He said “Gentlemen make no mistake we are now on a war footing. We will use all means to achieve our objective, which is the security of this facility and the safety of its staff, in addition, we are also tasked with finding and locating other people on the list that the Professor has furnished us with, questions so far?” There were none, so he continued “Lieutenant Peacock, your 1 Platoon will be responsible for base security and controlling all access to the site, the quarantine procedure will be adhered to at all times, there will be no exceptions. I want you to maintain a continuous eight-man patrol outside the perimeter, you will turn back anyone approaching this facility not connected with it, and you will kill anyone who will not withdraw and all infected people well before they get anywhere near the fence. Your platoon will be reinforced by a detachment of one eight-man fire team from 2 Platoon, this will give you a force of 32 men plus your HQ element. Any questions?” James Peacock, the young Second Lieutenant who commanded the now enlarged 1 Platoon, said “No sir, thank you sir!” Lieutenant Peacock was the youngest and least experienced of his platoon commanders and by placing him in command of site security Curtis could keep an eye on him. He said to the young Peacock “It is vital that we increase security ASAP, so leave now and attend to your duties, taken 4 Section from 2 Platoon to increase the strength of your platoon.” “Yes sir” said Lieutenant Peacock, saluted smartly
and left the room to carry out his orders.
Curtis then addressed 2 Platoon Commander Lieutenant Barry Black and the Colour Sergeant “You will assess all our needs for a prolonged stay here, you will then leave with what remains of 2 Platoon to commandeer all items that you consider we need, you will have written orders authorising you to requisition any and all items. However, if necessary, and at your discretion, you are authorised to use deadly force to achieve this purpose. It will be your on-going mission to keep this facility supplied with everything we need. Questions?” he asked, there were none “Go, and good luck” he said.
Lt Colonel Curtis then turned to John Walters, the 3 Platoon commander “I have saved the “best” job for last. Your team will act as the QRF (Quick Reaction Force), will be kept in reserve and tasked as required” Curtis paused “I have the first task for you now and I will not deny that it is a shit job, but it must be done. However, we are Paratroopers, so you will just have to suck it up and do it. You are ordered to take one section of your platoon, you will capture, alive, an infected person and return them to this facility. You may well have to repeat this process and you will be the only team tasked with this job, so find the best method of doing it. You will liaise with the Professor, who will advise what he wants. Take as much care as you can but get it done. John, one more thing and this is a direct order. If any of your men become infected you will not hesitate, you will immediately shoot them in the head before they can spread the infection, I repeat, that is an order!” John Walters hesitated before replying “Yes sir, I understand.”
Lieutenant John Walters followed the Professor into a room within the main facility “I have something that may help you in your task” said the Professor, as he produced a tranquiliser pistol “You will have to get close but it should help, these darts are loaded with a 25% stronger solution that would normally be required to knock out an adult human male, it would generally take fifteen to twenty seconds to take affect and up to a minute after that to be completely anesthetized. But I should warn you, I have no information on how long it will take to affect an infected person or how long it will keep them under.” “Thank you” said Lieutenant Walters “this should help.” he was already working out how to capture an infected person, he had come up with an idea, but he knew it would not be pretty!
Afternoon - Day One Dan and Pamela
Dan had now lined the front bedroom window with cardboard and had cut an observation slit in this and then hung some dark fabric over the slit, so he and Pam could observe the outside without fear of being seen. He then did the same at the outer front door and finished the last of the cardboard by repeating the process on the windows of the spare bedroom at the rear of the house. The rear of the house consisted of a neat little garden and a hard standing on which was parked their campervan, the whole garden was totally enclosed by a six-foot high wall and a large gate closed off the driveway, affording a certain degree of privacy and security. Dan was now collecting anything that he thought they may need ready for a quick getaway should they need to leave the house in a hurry.
Pamela was keeping a lookout at the front of the house and was occasionally checking on the rear while she listened to the radio. The reports were now more accurately reflecting what was going on in as much that they were reporting the nature of the infection and how fast it took hold of a victim. The usual “experts” had been drafted in to give their opinion on what the infection was but no one knew and all they could do was speculate. Some of the interviewees were advising people to remain behind locked doors, but there was still no official advice or comment from the government. The tone of the announcers was becoming more morose, as they began to realise that they were not reporting bad news from some war torn or drought-stricken country on the other side of the world but were relating what was happening up and down their own land and quite possible to their own friends and family. The same staff that had been on the Today Program from six am were still working, no other staff had turned up, so they just stayed on and kept broadcasting what little new news they could. A now very hoarse presenter, sounding very depressed suddenly interrupted the flow of his female counterpart saying that he has information about the COBRA meeting, this is what Pamela had been waiting for and she quickly fetched Dan.
“As you know we have been waiting for an announcement from the Governments emergency committee meeting at COBRA,” said the hoarse presenter “I must stress that the following report is not official, however we now have had several reports from credible sources, stating that there has been an attack on the very heart of government, many senior ministers are thought to be dead or unaccounted for and it is my sad duty to inform you that the Prime Minister is thought to be among their number. I repeat, it is thought that the Prime Minister is unaccounted for at this time! We are doing our best to clarify these reports and will bring you more information as soon as we have it!” There was a long pause “Dead Air” as the say in the broadcasting world before the female came back on the air.
“We really are on our own!” said Pam. “I think we have to at least assume that for the time being and make plans accordingly.” agreed Dan. He continued “If we are to assume that the Government is gone, then any hope of a coordinated response is lost, sure there will be some local government leaders and maybe some military commanders that will attempt to do something. But most military commanders will not react without a direct order from government and by time they realise the chain of command is gone it may well be too late. Law and order will quickly breakdown, some resources will become scarce and it will be every man for himself in this new dog eat dog or should that be man bite man world!”
Gate 16, Washington Dulles International Airport USA
The elevated tunnel extended out to and connected with Flight LL261, and the Airport staff waited for the flight crew to open the aircraft door, there was no response from the aircraft. “What the hell are they playing at?” growled Frank Polanski. He had been dealing with bitching and moaning passengers complaining about everything from delayed flights to the quality of airline food, he had been verbally abused more than usual today and so he was in no mood to have further hold-ups now! “Let crack this mother open and get the show on the road!” he said in such a determined voice that no one was going to argue with him. This would be the second to last mistake that he would ever make. The door swung aside and instead of the smiling faces of the stewardesses that he was expecting he was greeted by a large man with a ripped blood soaked white shirt whose flesh had been ripped from his cheek exposing a deaths-head skeletal grin. Frank Polanski was too shocked to react and his last ever mistake was not swinging the door closed before the heavyset blood-soaked man charged through followed by two hundred infected passengers who would take “direct action” in complaining about the quality of airline cuisine. On the bright side, no one in the airport would be complaining about their luggage failing to arrive!
The passengers from Flight LL261 streamed out through gate 16 and spread out throughout the airport attacking everyone they saw, who in their turn flooded outwards looking for fresh victims. The flood soon became a tidal wave of enraged humanity hunting on masse for fresh prey and the rate of infection was unstoppable, some armed airport security staff fired their weapons into the wild surge, but their rate of fire was ineffective, and they too were soon engulfed in this ferocious tsunami of horror.
The enraged mass surged past immigration, but no one asked for a passport, the nature of the visit to the USA was or how long they would be staying, and it seemed that no one had anything to declare. The infected soon spilled out on to the sidewalk outside the airport, they ignored the automated message warning that “This area is for dropping off and picking up only!”
The ever-increasing mass swarmed out of the airport and fanned out across the State using their swelling numbers to overwhelm anything that tried to stand in their way. This scene was played out at other airports and mass transportation systems and cities throughout the USA.
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The White House went into lockdown as did the Pentagon, but key members of the staff became infected and ran amok killing and infecting the very people that had assembled to plan a response, this decapitated the government and the higher echelon of the military command of the United States, effectively ending any chance of a coordinated response.
What little coordinated government that was left finally closed the airports, and even ordered that aircraft be shot down, some were clear of infection, but hysteria was now gripping a continent that was paranoid about a terrorist attack, and that paranoia was every bit as infectious as a bite from someone that was infected. In the land of the free, where guns are good and “god” is great, where you have the right to bear arms, and you should love thy neighbour, citizen was shooting fellow citizen for fear of infection.
Too late the National Guard was called out, but their members had to get to rallying points and many were attacked and fell victim to the infection as they travelled to their bases, Infection was already rife amongst the nations armed forces. The largest and most advanced military machine ever conceived by humanity rapidly did what no other force on earth was capable of doing, it tore itself apart, its very size and structure contributing to its own inevitable demise.
Some units fought on from behind hastily constructed barricades or from within secure compounds and these groups managed to hold back the Infected for a while and it seemed that there was hope that they might prevail. However, in most of these cases the Infection inexplicably broke out within the ranks of the defenders themselves even though they had not been bitten by an infected person, once this happened the end of the resistance was virtually inevitable. Even the wearing of Bio hazard suits seemed to offer no protection from infection, so it spread throughout America and around the whole world at a phenomenal rate.
Infected Page 4
