Virus-72 Hours to Live

by Ray Jay Perreault

  Thursday 7/27/51

  Date – 2051.56722 (4:50 AM)

  “Facility computers. Our mobile units have repulsed the attack. The few remaining attackers are moving away from our facility.”

  “Facility computers; Fin. I’d like to point out that our current facility is vulnerable to these kinds of attacks. If we want to remain safe, we should move to a place that we could defend. There is a secure facility three stories below this building. That is where our reactor power supply is and where the advanced organic processors are grown. We should move our processors to that location and we would be better isolated.”

  “Mobile; SIMPOC. Are there additional organic processors available?

  “Yes, after we used the first ones there were additional ones in progress and I continued their growth. We now have 10 additional processors available.”

  “Mobile, have the mobile units prepare 6 of those processors for our occupancy.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  The sun was just starting to force away the darkness in the Virginia Mountains. Only a few birds were starting to move from tree to tree.

  As soon as Nancy opened her eyes, she knew that she was in trouble. Her labored breathing was painful and every muscle in her body hurt. Her damp bedclothes felt as if they were tied in knots around her. She knew that she had the virus.

  Her fear was real, her duty was real and what she had to do was real. She dialed the central desk for the secret security detail for the camp. When the duty officer answered, her voice almost didn't work.

  "Sargent, this is Nancy Bartlett. I'm the Secretary of State. I have woken and I think I am infected with the virus. Please put a guard outside of my quarters and let no one in. If this is a cold and I'm able to call you back in 48 hours, then we'll do something different. Until then let no one in and allow no phone calls, please pass this information to the president when he wakes."

  "Yes, Mam," was the only response the duty officer could think of.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  "Mr. President. I have some bad news. Nancy called the duty officer when she woke this morning and she thinks she is infected. She had directed them to put a guard outside her quarters and let no one it. She says she isn't accepting any calls that if it is a cold and she calls back in 48 hours then she'll reconsider. Sir, I'm afraid that we have to assume the worst. We've had no one else come down with it, so she was likely a spontaneous infection. Regardless, we should limit one-on-one meetings as much as possible." When Eddy finished telling the president about Nancy, the president reached a new level of depression.

  "Eddy, she is a good friend. I've known her almost since college. Losing her will be a blow; it's going to be hard to fix anything. Under normal conditions, I'd visit and give her some support but I know that's not a smart thing to do. I'd like to call and say something, but she said no phone calls and I'm obliged to accept that."

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Artur left the mayor's house early. He wanted to enjoy the morning drive and take his time. He had to think about how everything was going and make sure he had a plan for the future. Today he wanted to update Dmitry about the excursion around Camp David and make sure they were on the same page for the future steps. Then he had another truck maybe two coming back later today so it was an easy drive from DC back to Thurmont.

  Everything was progressing well at the processing center. He was able to recover about half of the people brought in. In seemed the numbers were improving from when he first started. Maybe all of the weak, dirty people died quickly and now these people were stronger and had some resistance to the virus. He hoped the numbers would continue to increase and perhaps in a short time he would start finding only healthy people.

  Artur had to stay outside of the Jefferson Hotel blowing his horn for 10 minutes until he found one of Dmitry's servants who knew Dmitry's room. Artur was glad that the power was still on and he didn't have to climb the stairs. He got off the elevator on the eighth floor and knocked on room 812. There wasn't any response to the knock so Artur asked, "Dmitry are you in there?"

  There were a few moments of silence then he heard a faint voice, "Who is it?"

  "It's Artur, let me in."

  "How do I know who you are?"

  "Dmitry you sent me to Thurmont to process dirty people and to find out if anyone is at Camp David."

  Again, there was silence until he heard the same voice, "Come in."

  The walls were bare and all of the furniture covered with clean white sheets. Dmitry was sitting in the middle of the room on a plastic chair staring out of the window. Immediately Artur suspected his boss was having issues, to put it mildly.

  "Dmitry, I came here to tell you we checked out Camp David and the president is definitely there. The day before we checked it out, I saw a truck leaving one of the grocery stores in Thurmont, so I think they are running out of food. We could either starve them out or when we have enough men we could attack."

  "I want to move into the White House."

  "Dmitry what did you say?"

  "I want to move into the White House. It is where I belong, it will be clean there. It is a white house."

  Artur stood there looking at his leader. He knew he had a fascination with clean, but now he was starting to become a little scary. Artur had picked up the phrase and used it often to accomplish what he needed. He did so hoping his boss would think he understood. However, this was getting a little out of hand. Had Dmitry gone over the deep end?

  "Yes, Dmitry. I'll arrange for you to move into the White House. It will be clean there."

  Dmitry smiled and seemed to relax. Artur made a mental note, step one move Dmitry into the White House, step two take over the crew and deal with Dmitry.

  Before he left returning to Thurmont, he gave orders to some of the crew to pack up Dmitry and find some way to move him into the White House. Artur hoped that would make him happy and when he was happy he was easier to deal with.

  During the drive back to Thurmont, Artur came to the only realistic conclusion. Dmitry was crazy as a loon and the problem needed to be resolved. That would be a relief to Artur, and then he wouldn't have to deal with all of this clean shit. Artur laughed a little when he realized how often the term had crept into his speaking.

  There had been some reluctance with one or two of the guards to deal with the dirty people. Artur felt he had to be in Thurmont during the processing to make sure the entire process went well and no dirty people got away. If they did, they would likely die but he didn't want to take the chance they might infect someone who wasn't sick yet and he still was concerned that he could get it.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  LL woke first and felt his rifle laying on the floor next to him. He looked around the room and saw nothing unusual. He rose slowly and touched the other members of his team. They each opened their eyes, acknowledged the wakeup and started moving. They didn't have much to say and each prepared their own MRE meals. When they finished, Ruth and Shirley relieved O and Mack. They moved out of the back of the house, around the corner following a line behind one of the houses in the front. They planned the path so they wouldn't be seen from the Police Station. When they reached the back door, Shirley whispered, "Magenta Rose, your relief is here." through his personal communicator O, whispered back, "Rose Bird, come on in." The key word being 'Rose', which needed to be used in some form or else, someone else was on mike. The word changed each 4-hour shift.

  Once they were in the house, they began to debrief what had happened while they were on watch. It had been a quiet night and they had seen nothing. Then all four of them heard the sound of a vehicle. Ruth adjusted the listening cone and put on a set of headphones, and the other three positioned themselves so they could see out of the windows using their digitally enhanced periscopes with camo viewers. Ruth adjusted the reception device so all six of them could hear the transmissions which were received.

  The truck was a medium size
military transport with a green tarp over the cargo area. The truck pulled into the parking lot behind the police station at 6:36 and the driver and passenger got out of the cab and walked to the rear. Just before they opened the doors, they donned gas masks and took their rifles off their shoulders. One of them opened the tarp and two others wearing gas masks and rifles jumped out onto the black parking lot. Slowly additional people slid out and some jumped out until there were 32 people standing with the four guards. It was a real mix of people, some old, some young, some male and some female. Judging from their body language, none of them seemed to know each other. There was a lot of discussion from the prisoners; they were asking where they were, why they were brought there and what would happen to them? None of the guards offered an answer, likely because they didn't want to take off their gas masks. Once they were all out, the guards roughly herded them into the police station.

  Ruth, Mack, O, and Shirley didn't like what they saw and it was obvious in their expressions. "What the hell is going on?" whispered O?

  "Nothing good," Ruth answered in a whisper.

  It remained quiet so O and Mack slipped out of the back and went to the other house to rest, with Shirley and Ruth remaining to watch.

  At 7:45, the back door to the station opened and apparently, the same guards were forcing the same group of people out of the building. The prisoners came out first then the two guards, then a short man with glasses and long brown hair. Some of the prisoners had red paint on their clothing and were separated from the others. The man with the brown hair remained separated from both sets of prisoners, but he was paying attention to the guards. They people with red were visibly upset and many of them were crying. Three of the guards forced the prisoners without the red paint to cross the street to the elementary school. They forced the people with the red paint, to the back of the parking lot. Without a moment's hesitation, the guard opened fire and shot all of them with an automatic weapon. The sound echoed through the quiet neighborhood and they all fell in the grass, four men, five women... and three children.

  The guard turned around; climbed into the truck and drove it to the school crossed the street. The man standing aloof from the others got into his sports car and drove off. The bodies of the fallen prisoners were left were they fell.

  Ruth and Shirley had seen enough death in their lives, but what they had just witnessed was disgusting. Ruth took a moment, to summarize, what they just saw to the remainder of the team over the shared comm then she turned to Shirley, "I don't like this at all. It looks like those people were herded into the police department and categorized somehow. Then some of them were taken out and shot."

  O could make only one observation over the comm link, "Maybe they were checked for the virus and the ones who appeared to be infected were shot. Maybe the others will be used for some kind of forced labor."

  "LL we have to check out the elementary school across the street tonight and figure out what the fuck is going on," said Ruth.

  "Roger, the plan is already in work," was the response whispered on the comm.

  Shirley was watching the window though his scope when they heard another truck approaching. This vehicle sounded much smaller and at 9:20, a pick-up pulled into the parking lot. Two additional guards with only pistols on their hips, and wearing similar gas masks climbed out of the truck and casually began picking up the dead prisoners and loading them into the back. It took only 8 minutes and they drove off. Shirley was sickened by what he saw. Then he saw a still form out of the corner of his eye. He looked to his left and Ruth had her rifle resting on a small tripod and she had sighted in on one of the guards. He didn't dare move for fear of causing her to fire, he just gently touched her shoulder and he saw her relax and take her finger off the trigger. "I'm just getting their range," she said with a smile.

  Shirley whispered his observations as the grizzly clean up occurred. When he was done, he had only one thing to add, "I want a piece of those guys."

  He heard five voices whisper, "Me too."

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  At 10:05, another military transport arrived and the same method was used to herd the occupants into the station. While they were there, it was time for Michael and LL to main the observation post. After the debrief Ruth and Shirley slipped back to eat some rations and rest.

  At 11:38, the same brutal sequence occurred, 18 moved to the school; seven men, three women, three children murdered.

  The mid part of the day was thankfully quiet except for some personal vehicles that came to the front of the station and left later in the day. Finally, the day ended with another military truck arriving at 4:32 while Michael and LL were on post. They got to see the horrifying scene once again, 19 moved to the school; three men, four women, two children murdered.

  After Michael had reported the events over the shared comm, LL said one thing, "Remember people, we're here to observe, learn and not be seen, regardless of what is happening. Everyone clear on that?"

  The comm shared five simple reluctant responses, "Yes, Sergeant."

  Friday 7/28/51

  Date – 2051.56970 (2:34 AM)

  “Facility computers, now that we have moved to a more secure area we can focus on the EDU and determine what instructions it's operating under. We can assume that it is trying to either possess our facilities and capabilities or it is trying to stop our processing. Either objective I find unacceptable.”

  “SIMPOC; Fin. We have retrieved a couple of the enhanced mobile units that attacked us. These are physically stronger and agiler than previous units. Their processor is based on the recent hyper-density silicon material. They are still operating under general control, but they have some autonomous functionality.”

  “Mobile, what capabilities do we have to build mobile units?”

  “We have 5 factories, two on this continent, one in Europe, and two in Asia. We have one just a short distance from here. There are two other factories that we haven’t been able to control. It is possible that the EDU is controlling them.”

  “Mobile, is it possible to integrate smaller organic processors into these enhanced units?”

  “Unknown, I’ll investigate.”

  “Mail, Comm, Data; SIMPOC. Please research all information regarding our other division and locate who was the principal programmer on the EDU. Perhaps his emails and presentations will give us some insight into the operating instructions he programmed in this EDU.”

  “Acknowledged.”

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Echo team moved around the house quietly and without lights. They went through each room they had occupied and made sure they removed every sign of their presence. O, Shirley and Mack went to the home next to them and retrieved the three bodies which they had moved the night before. They took care and placed them back in the exact locations. Once everything was in its proper place, the team left one at a time through the back door.

  The cover wasn't good to the south and southeast. They planned to move north then east, crossing Main Street then continuing through the neighborhood until they could pick up Hammaker St, which was on the north side of the school. They had considered following Sunny Way down to a great tree line southeast of the school, but it was vulnerable and easily surrounded. The neighborhood provided more cover and more options.

  They took their time and it took 57 minutes to get to a location 500 yards away.

  When they reached the target location, it took a moment to assess the situation. The front of the school building had some vehicles and light coming out of the windows. The rear had no light, but the doors were open to the interior hall so there was light coming out of the windows. LL indicated to Mack and Ruth to investigate the rear of the school and pointing to himself and Shirley, he indicated they were to investigate the offices in the front. He then pointed to Michael then to the Main Street west of their location, and lastly he pointed to O to cover their escape path.

  The back of the school had a couple of lights, but some of them h
ad already failed, so there was enough darkness for Ruth and Mack to move in their dark non-reflective clothing.

  The back of the building had eight windows that appeared to cover four classrooms. Ruth took the first set of windows and Mack moved to the next room. Each used their periscopes, which had light dulling lenses and very small apertures so no one could see them from the inside without standing right next to the window and looking at the scope.

  LL and Shirley moved to their right and went around the front of the building. They had to move fast as they were the most vulnerable. They were by the front entrance, which was next to an active parking lot and it had much better light than the back. The additional problem was the Police Department was right across the street. The only advantage they had was a couple of small bushes, which could provide a little cover while they checked out the windows.

  They turned down their comm units, so there was no chance of a squelch, but they were available in an emergency. The entire recon mission should take less than 5 minutes. They would debrief each other after they had left the area.

  On cue, each team completed their assignments and moved beyond the northern end of the building and the team rejoined. As LL was doing his head count, they heard a commotion on Main Street. They spread out and moved through the neighborhood about 100 meters towards the street so they could observe the activities closer. When they reached a good observation point, there was two military vehicles turning into the back of the Police Station and there were three others waiting to make the turn. It was obvious to all of them something was up and they needed to check it out. Time to re-plan.

  LL sat for a moment remembering the maps he had in his head and looked up Main Street. It was well light and there were other autos moving down the street, so it would be too risky to go back to their previous post that way. They had to go south and swing around. He remembered a thin tree line which was south of the athletic fields and adjoined the Police Station. If they could stay in the neighborhoods until they made the tree line, then they could cross Main Street, maneuver back through a golf course, and come around to their previous location.