Virus-72 Hours to Live

by Ray Jay Perreault

  The limousine pulled onto the grass and stopped near two flags, the larger of which had a likeness of Dmitry drawn on it and the other was simply a white piece of cloth. The ground was covered with white bed sheets and two of Dmitry's other crew members were waiting.

  As the limousine stopped, Artur knew he needed to say something before Dmitry left the car, so he could keep his ego inflated and under control. "Your highness, take a moment and look at the crowd who have come to witness this historic event."

  Artur hoped the mention of a crowd could put the image in Dmitry's mind and help to raise his ego to a higher level. He was rewarded when Dmitry nodded his head and said, "Yes I can hear them cheering. This is truly an amazing day."

  "Your Highness, they are ready for you."

  The crew member by the door opened it and Dmitry exited slowly waving to the millions of people watching him. He was smiling from ear to ear and was beaming with excitement.

  Artur exited after him and stood behind him as he took in the crowds and excitement. After Dmitry stopped waving, he slowly walked across the white bed sheets towards his troops that were trying to assemble themselves in some order and parade in front of him. They bumped into each other and walked by, not in step, not in line but in a bunch. Most of them didn't know why they were there or who Dmitry was, but they knew if they didn't walk by, they would be shot on the spot.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Ruth was laying prone on the roof of the US Treasury building with her Remington Enhanced Sniper rifle lying on a small tripod in front of her. She was timing her breathing and the hat on her head was reversed so it didn't interfere with the scope. Her trigger finger was gently pressing on the trigger, all she had to do was move it a little in time with her breathing and the man in white would be dead. Unfortunately, her TrackingPoint Tracker computer sighting system showed the target at 1,190 yards, which was near her maximum range and without wind information the shot, would be risky.

  "Michael, the creep's number two guy is the one we saw in Thurmont murdering the people. I recognize the hair."

  "Could you take them both out?

  "I doubt it, there is a breeze. I can probably get one but if the other realizes what is happening he'll move and I could lose both of them.

  Michael knew how much she wanted to take the shot. If it weren't for the range and risk of missing her one shot, she would have taken the opportunity. When Echo team had taken up their position, their plan was to observe and decide when to act. The team had split into three recon units, the firing unit, recon unit and escape cover unit. That sudden opportunity gave Ruth and Michael a chance to take out whom they thought was the sick leader, but the risk of a firefight was too great. The distance between them and the target was open and if anyone noticed the shot, they could have a hundred armed troops on them in no time. It was better to wait for a time when they had the full advantage. Without the other Echo team members, they would be at risk and they could put the others at risk. It was best to wait and act when they planned and on their terms.

  The crazy guy would live a little longer.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  The Grand Review was inspiring. Dmitry felt confident that his destiny was set and his momentum would begin to build. Dmitry was sitting behind the ornate Resolute desk in the Oval Office dreaming of his future and Artur was comfortable on one of the couches in front of the fireplace.

  It was a good opportunity to update Dmitry. "Dmitry, we are doing well in Thurmont. The collection trucks have brought in almost 300 people. We've been lucky and after we clean them, we have a 158 who have joined your crew. As we gain others, we'll bring them to join your army."

  "I'm glad you've found 158 clean people. As we grow and clean up more of the cities, we'll find many more."

  "Do you like it here in the White House?"

  "Yes, it is like I was destined to be here. This is a beautiful white house and it was made for me. This is where I will live as I build this new clean world. I don't like all of these artifacts of the old world. Please have them removed."

  "Yes, your highness. You want everything removed including the furniture?"

  "Yes, it is all from the dirty time. I want new clean things in my white house."

  "I thought you'd like this house."

  "I do but it needs to be cleaned."

  Artur sat for a few moments, thinking about how far Dmitry had gone and decided that he needed to keep him happy for a little longer. "Yes, Supreme Leader I will arrange for your crew to do as you ask."

  Artur sat for while thinking about the situation and steps he needed to do. ”I'm going outside for a little air then call it a night and head back to Thurmont in the morning."

  "Yes you may, but do not disturb me."

  Artur rose and bowed his head a little, as he walked across the sheets on the floor towards one of the French doors that opened onto the colonnade. He was anxious to leave and get some air. He had already relieved the liquor cabinet of some fine looking scotch. He had a couple of excellent cigars buried in his coat pocket, both of which he was looking forward to enjoying. He knew better than to drink or smoke in front of Dmitry. Both were dirty habits that Dmitry frowned upon. That was no problem for Artur; he would rather enjoy those simple pleasures alone than to spend too much time with Dmitry. Dmitry was getting worse and Artur knew he had to take care of it quickly. Once he finished 'cleaning' the new recruits in Thurmont, it would be easy for him to march into the White House and relieve Dmitry of the burden of leadership.

  Artur took out one of the imported cigars and smelled it for a long time. There were definitely some pleasures in life that he would enjoy once he didn't have to satisfy Dmitry.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Eddy and Admiral Hagerly cornered the president while he was walking back from the coffee pot, "Mr. President, we have been monitoring what weather information we're getting and we have a dilemma. None of us wants to stay here because there might be another attack, but we can't move to the fleet right now. The fleet is not very mobile or sea worthy. Partial crews man many of the ships and they are limited to the speed of the slowest craft. We can't chance moving into position before these hurricanes pass by because the hurricane could wipe out most of the fleet. We think the best option is for us to stay here for the near term."

  "How many more hurricanes are building in the Atlantic?'

  "We have another coming in now and I'm afraid it might be a big one. We expect it to start affecting our weather within the next 24 hours and we think it will be over sometime late Friday. Then there is one more storm which will keep the fleet too far out. We don't think the second one will hit us, but if it moves up the coast it will keep the fleet far out into the Atlantic. Too far for us to make the hop from the carrier to Andrews then back to the deck."

  "Ok, I guess we stay here for a while. Admiral have you been able to connect up with any other military units?"

  "Sir I've located a couple of small units, some of them could be a help and others are just logistics or maintenance. I've told them to hold tight in their area and we'll find a way to combine them."

  Thursday 8/3/51

  Date – 2051.58765 (3:48 PM)

  “Desert Beach; Oasis. We’re preparing for our return. We will launch the lifeboats in the AM of August 12 and we’ll have to make two orbits for re-entry to the consortium landing field. As we discussed before, we’re leaving as much of the supplies as we can as well as the three other lifeboats. Once we’re on the ground, we should be able to use the ground facilities to communicate with you guys and Red Dirt. When we land, we’ll go to the decontamination building and get some of their protection suits. If we don’t catch the bug by then, maybe the suits will help.”

  “Oasis, we’ve been talking and decided if everything goes well for you and you’re ok, after 36 hours, we’ll launch one of our lifeboats to assist you. Later we’ll decide on the other boats. We’d prefer to be on Earth as this plays out then stuck out here.”


  “Roger, we’ll love to have some company.”

  Date – 2051.58785 (5:33 PM)

  “SIMPOC; Fin. I’ve been getting indications that a large number of uncontrolled units are moving towards the Space Consortium facility.”

  “Fin, take half of the enhanced mobile units and move them to the Space Consortium facility. Send the one we have enhanced further with military knowledge. With him leading the local effort, I'm presuming that local tactical decisions will be faster than centralized control and that will give us an advantage. Based on what the other computer said, I doubt it will relinquish any control.”

  “Yes, and be advised the enhanced unit’s designation is Alpha.”

  “Comm, do everything you can to disrupt communications around the Space Consortium. Including power outages.”

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  "Willford find all of my leaders and tell them I want them in the Roosevelt room in one hour."

  "Yes, your highness." Willford Peddington didn't like being Dmitry's personal assistant. Being called his 'personal assistant' didn't mean anything. He just sat quietly and waited on Dmitry when he wanted something. Still he had good food and besides having to deal Dmitry who was more than a few cards short of a full deck, it was a job and he could put up with him.

  After Dmitry's leaders had been gathered, Willford announced to Dmitry, "Your highness your leaders are waiting for you."

  "Announce me; I'll be there in a minute."

  Willford wasn't sure about how to 'announce' someone, but he knew that his life depended on doing something right. He only hoped that Dmitry didn't know what it meant either. He walked out of the Oval Office and stuck his head in the Roosevelt Room saying, "Ok guys he's coming and I'm supposed to announce him. I'll wait outside and when he comes, I'll open the door and say, "Here's your leader or something like that."

  In a few minutes the door opened and Willford said, "Gentlemen, your leader."

  Dmitry took his time walking around the ornate briefing room and settled in a nice chair in front of the fireplace. He sat and looked at his leaders. "I want armies of followers to clean up the entire Washington DC area. I want all of the bodies removed and burned. I want everything put into order and the lawns to be mowed."

  "Yes, your highness," Was the response Dmitry heard from the leaders gathered around the meeting table. They were all extremely important people and they jumped to perform anything Dmitry desired.

  "The meeting is over, you have your orders."

  "Yes, your highness."

  Dmitry rose and left the confused conference room.

  The twelve guys in the room were speechless. Boris Alovnov said in a low voice, "How do we do that? We have about 200 people; most of them hate us and would kill us without a second thought.

  Leonid in the back of the room spoke up and suggested, "Guys, we clean up around and he'll never know what the rest of DC looks like. Let's face it, Dmitry is crazy and we have to keep him happy so we can use him. As long as we have him to blame we can get away with anything."

  Boris agreed and added, "Let's set some fires around the city and tell him that we're burning bodies. We'll burn the tents on the mall first and then a couple of others. He should buy that. If he goes out of our clean area, we'll just tell him that we haven't got there yet."

  The group smiled, knowing they were in charge. After the meeting had broken up, Boris grabbed Leonid, "We've got to keep our plans under our hats. If these jokers find out, then we're sunk."

  "You're right. I'm afraid of Artur too. I think he has something under his sleeve and I don't trust him any more than Dmitry. Both of them aren't playing with a full deck."

  "Do you think the military with do anything after that attack on Camp David," Boris asked.

  "I'll bet. We haven't found many of them. There was a couple of units roaming the area but they've disappeared and I don't know where they are. This virus wiped everyone out, but I think there is still a small military."

  "You're right. We've got keep that in mind. If we run across them, it will be them or us. I've done many things that I'm not proud of and I sure don't want to answer to any of them. I was in Thurmont when we sent that group to Camp David and only a couple of them came back. They got slaughtered. So we know there is someone out there."

  "Ya, so besides keeping the fruit cake happy we've got to protect ourselves. If some fatassed general decides to come back to DC, I'm not getting captured. There are too many great places out there where I can do anything I want to anyone I want."

  "You got that right."

  Friday 8/4/51

  Date – 2051.59059 (5:34 PM)

  Leonid and Boris didn't like the position they were in. Everyone was living in fear and if they didn't do what they were directed there were enough crazies around willing to shoot to gain favor.

  They did what they needed to survive, pile up some bodies and start some fires. Finding the bodies wasn't the hard thing, getting someone else to do the dirty work was. They solved the problem in the same way they solved others. Get a group together and tell them what to do. If they refused, shoot one or two.

  Leonid and Boris knew they were in a weak position. As a group, they had only a couple of things in their favor. Finding the survivors individually helped to keep them disorganized. Some of them were picked up with weapons, but they relinquished them thinking they were saved by the military. Once they found out the truth, they would have loved to find some weapons, but Dmitry's crew kept them under close supervision. They forced them to sleep in the same building and eat together. Allowing only a few of the key people to have weapons, which helped to keep things in order and allowed the ones on top to stay that way.

  They didn't have any fully trained weather forecasters, but there were enough intelligent people to predict the storm would be a big one. It was. The local winds in the Maryland mountains had gusts well above 100 mph. Trees were falling all over the camp. Soon after the winds started, the local power grid collapsed and the camp went to an internal generator.

  President Patterson loved strong and violent storms. Many years ago he grew up on the coast of North Carolina and when the storms came through he would sit outside and just feel and enjoy the power of the storm. That storm was no different, there was a leeward side of his residence where he sat and watched the wind whip the trees around him. His secret service detail had expressed vehement objections, but his answer was simple, "This is what I did growing up and is what I'm going to do now, end of the debate." He sat where he wanted.

  Saturday 8/5/51

  Date – 2051.59220 (7:40 AM)

  "Colonel Dodd, the storm is settling down. There is a lot of damage we need to address," Sergeant Major Willow said.

  "Sergeant, let's send a crew out to the park boundaries and see what mess we have. We may decide to send one of the attack VTOLs to Andrews to see what damage there is. I don't want the president to decide to leave and find out Andrews was wiped out in the storm."

  "Yes mam, I'll put together a team and let you know when we leave."

  "Sarge are you finished with the ordinance inventory?"

  "Yes, mam. I'm afraid we're light on just about everything. If we expect another attack, there is a lot of light, medium and heavy hardware we need."

  "Give me the list and I'll review it with the Admiral."

  "Yes Colonel, I'll have it for you in an hour."

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  "Eddy, if you have a minute?" Admiral Hagerly asked.

  "Yes, Admiral what is it?"

  "We used up a ton of ordinance in that attack. We're at a dangerous level. I've decided to send a team out and get what we need."

  "Is that safe?

  "We don't have a choice, I'll send the two marine VTOLs out and they have some defensive gear. We'll keep the attack birds here in case we need them. I'll put a small contingent of marines in each and send them to Fort Detrick. It's the closest and it will have everything we need."

  "Admiral,
it's your call. I'll let the president know."

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Admiral Hagerly caught Colonel Dodd in the hallway near the mess, "Jill, put together two assault teams to take the Marine VTOLs to Detrick and retrieve what you need."

  "Yes, Admiral," Colonel Dodd responded.

  Colonel Dodd walked further down the hallway and into Sergeant Lionel's office. As she entered, LL stood, "Yes, mam."

  "Sergeant, the Admiral authorized a trip to Detrick to replenish our ordinance. I know you might not be able to get everything there but do the best you can. I think the guard unit was gearing up for their two-week exercise so they may have more live ammo than normal. While you're there, I have a list of med supplies we need. We need more med suits and re-breather filters along with these drugs and bandages. The Admiral wants you to take both marine VTOLs and split your team so you can get in and out quicker."

  "Yes, mam. I'll get the team prepped and briefed. We can be airborne within the hour."

  "Great, good luck."

  "Thank you mam," and they exchanged a quick salute as the Colonel left the room.

  >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

  Going to Fort Detrick was the logical choice because it was the nearest military facility. Besides each of the personnel assigned to Camp David used the base facilities and they knew their way around. Sergeant LL planned to be in and out within an hour. He had assigned Team Bravo to split the team between the VTOLs, Team Charlie would be in the other chopper and Echo would be in the first one. Once they were on the ground Charlie would go for the med gear and Echo would head to the armory for the weapons. The split Beta men would remain at the landing pad and provide cover.

  The flight plan was to fly to the destination following different routes. If somebody on the ground heard the first bird approaching, they might miss it, and then they could hammer the second. By flying separate routes, it was presumed any ground pounder could get off only a couple of shots before the birds had come and gone.