The End of America

by Pete Thorsen

  I was careful to never mention your name or the CDC so I hope that you do not get into trouble. I expect I likely will and there is the distinct possibility that the government could tie you and I together using our phone records.”

  “I don’t care what they do. That information had to get out. I admit from our earlier conversations you had me starting to mistrust our own government. That is why when I knew the drug worked I convinced the police to round up all the drug they could find at the pharmacies and spread it out to all the hospitals in the area and I personally called all the local hospitals to be very sure that enough people knew what we knew and could start curing those that were infected. I am glad I did that too.

  They all started treatments right away using what drugs they had on hand. I know for a fact that some lives were saved last night here in Boston in those hospitals. When there was no announcement this morning I was at wits end and did not know what to do and then I saw you on the local news at noon and I was so relieved. Thank you for what you did.”

  “I am happy that we are in agreement. I was afraid that you would be mad at me for going public. I must admit I have been having some very negative thoughts about our government and their involvement in this. Even to the point of having the parasite checked to see if it was genetically modified if that is even possible.”

  “You think the government was behind this whole thing?”

  “I don’t know what to think just like I said on the TV interview. But there was no reason for them not to give out all the information that they had about this parasite. This whole thing stinks but I doubt that we will ever know the truth about what roll the government played in this, if any. In the interview I did not blame them directly but I think I planted the seed to others so it might be investigated to some degree.”

  “I have a friend that I might contact. She could maybe look into the genetics of this parasite as it is her specialty. I’ll call her and just talk a little and see what comes out. We’re friends and I know I can speak freely with her.”

  “Be careful. I would not use your own phone to call her. I don’t know what retribution the government might do but caution is certainly called for here.”

  “I agree and that is a good idea about using a different phone. Even if we are totally off base on this and our fears and thoughts are groundless a little caution won’t hurt anything. I’ll contact her and tell you about it tomorrow. We might as well keep using our regular phones to call each other as the damage is already done by now. I’ll try here when we hang up so she can get started on her end. Things might move pretty fast now.”

  “Just be very careful. I don’t want to see you take a fall over this.”

  “I’ll be careful but if we are close to being right you will be the one that is in their sights. I better go so I can hunt up a phone and make the call to my friend. I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

  I did some more reading in Dr. Renner’s notes and then went to bed. I don’t consider myself paranoid in the least but I did lean a chair under each doorknob and slept with my shotgun very close to the bed.

  Chapter Twelve

  The next morning’s news brought more reports of ‘cures’ which were attributed to my interview yesterday. After the news and breakfast I was just about to settle down and read more of the late doctor’s notes. I was getting close to the end and was anxious to finish them when there was a knock on the door. Looking out the window I recognized the Detective and promptly opened the door.

  “Good morning Detective. Please come in. Can I offer you a cup of coffee?”

  “Yes I’ll have a cup while you pack a bag for a week stay or so.”

  “I didn’t realize that I was going anywhere.”

  “Well you are so pack a bag so we can get out of here, pronto. And don’t forget your new shotgun and some shells for it.”

  “I guess that means I’m not going to jail. I’ll get you the coffee and you can explain while I pack.”

  I got a cup poured and we went to my bedroom where I started to throw a few things into a bag.

  “Lynn is worried about the Feds coming to pick you up and I have to say I am inclined to think the same thing. You likely saved many lives going on the TV like you did and for that I thank you. But now I want to help you keep your freedom and likely your life so you are moving to an ‘undisclosed location’.

  You can take your cell phone for an emergency but you will have to take the battery out of it. They can easily track your cell phone to pinpoint your location. They can even turn on your cell microphone so they can listen to everything said in the room.”

  “You think it’s that bad for me?”

  “I think the time to hide from the Feds is before they knock on your door. I got a good location with plenty of exits and police protection all picked out for you. I might even be able to provide some good company for you. But I want to vacate this place right away. If they are going to come to get you they will not wait a month to do it.”

  I finished filling the bag with some clothes and toiletries and a box of shotgun shells. Then with the bag and the shotgun I said I was ready. I put that load in my car and went back in for Renner’s notes and both his and my laptops which I added to my car. While I was doing that I saw the detective doing something to the front and back of my car. He added some tape the same color as the printing on the license plates to subtly change the plate number. When I told him I was ready to go he just said follow me and we left.

  We drove to the same hotel that Lynn was staying at and he directed me to a particular parking spot in the hotel’s parking ramp that was in a rather dark corner. He parked nearby and helped me lug my stuff into the hotel. We did not go to check in and instead went directly to a room which he opened after producing a keycard from his pocket.

  “Here are your two keycards. Your name is Matt Crowley. You are checked in and the bill is taken care of already. Feel free to use room service as much as you want but please do not talk or show your now easy to recognize face around too much. Remember you are here incognito so try to keep it that way. Lynn’s room is three doors down and the rest of her team are in rooms nearby.

  I have a police detail still watching over the CDC team so they will be posted here whenever the team is here. You are perfectly able to protect yourself with that bazooka you have. But it is unlikely the Feds will find you here if you do not draw attention to yourself. You have my number. Use if you need to. I’ll be in touch if anything pops up that I find out about.”

  The Detective left shortly after and I got my stuff sorted out and then got back to reading the notes. I was getting to the end so anything I was going to find would have to be soon. I ordered a sandwich for lunch and propped the door open partially so room service could come right in. I kept reading with my head down and just had them leave it so they did not get a good look at my face.

  Late in the afternoon I finished the notes and it turned out to be a block buster at the end. As I sat thinking about what I had just found out and what the implications were there was a knock on my door. I opened the door after a brief look through the peep hole to find Lynn smiling at me.

  “Yes I made a call to the Detective last night and I’m glad I did.”

  “And I’m glad you did also. I found something today and I think our worst fears are well grounded in facts. Come in. We have a lot to talk about.”

  Lynn was anxious to hear what I found and I sat her down and opened the notes to the pertinent section to let her read while I started up Dr. Renner’s laptop to look at some videos he had on there. We both got done about the same time. Lynn started the discussion.

  “There is no doubt at all now that this zombie plague was released on the world. The only question is by whom and what are we going to do about it.”

  “I think the first thing we should do is order some supper. We have a lot to think about and talk about. We will have to be very careful with our next steps at this point. Do you have your cell phone with you?�
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  “Yes it’s right here.”

  “Take the battery out now. They can track you and listen to you with that thing.”

  While Lynn was doing that I grabbed the menu and then we made our selections and ordered from room service. I was out of sight when the food was delivered because we thought the service people were used to seeing Lynn since she had been here for awhile now.

  We were done eating and just lingering over our coffee when it sounded like a ruckus in the hallway. I jumped up and looked through the peep hole to see two cops lying on the floor and some black clad men taking two people away very quickly. In just a few seconds the hallway was clear of any movement. We cautiously opened the door and with me holding the shotgun Lynn ran to the downed cops to see if they were still alive.

  “How are they?”

  “They are both dead. They were both shot in the head.”

  “There is so little blood. I thought they were just knocked out.”

  “They died instantly, that’s why there is so little blood.”

  “I assume the two people they took with are your team members.”

  “I see their doors standing open so that is likely what happened. I see my door is also standing open. I am here now only because I was with you. Pretty obvious this was done by some elite government unit.”

  “We’ll check their rooms to be sure and then call the Detective.”

  The two rooms were empty so we went back to my room and called the Detective and told him what had happened. He told us to stay in the room and he would be down shortly. It wasn’t very long and he knocked on our door.

  “Did you see who did this?”

  “I only looked through the door peep hole so it was distorted some. What I saw looked like SWAT guys taking the two CDC team members away. That’s all I could see.”

  “You did not hear any shots?”

  “No shots. I think we heard the two policemen falling to the floor and that’s when I ran over to look out.”

  “Looks like they likely used suppressed twenty two caliber handguns to take out the two cops. Must have been some well trained guys to pull this off so smooth.”

  “We guessed it was some elite unit. We just found evidence that this zombie plague was all done intentionally. We don’t know by who but a good guess would be a government. Either ours or another or possibly two or more working together.”

  “What did you find?”

  “One of the original monkeys that had this infection was accidentally killed by being run over by Dr. Renner’s truck. He did a necropsy and found a wrist band on the dead infected monkey, like a hospital wrist band but this one was black and not very obtrusive. It only had a series of numbers on it.

  My guess is that the group of infected monkeys was released and this one wrist band happened to get missed. The Doctor had accidentally killed two monkeys and the other had no wrist band. He had also taken a lot of video of the strange acting monkey group and after looking closely at some of the video I could see the wrist band on only one of the monkeys.”

  “I would agree that is pretty damning evidence. The only question is what to do next. Whoever did this snatch obviously means business and will stop at nothing. Apparently shooting two policemen in cold blood means nothing to them. No way will they allow the two CDC personnel to live after any information they have is extracted from them.”

  “I could make another TV interview. I have the wrist band, Dr. Renner’s notes, and the video to back up my claims. That may help protect us. If they catch the three of us we are toast it seems right now.”

  “I could do the interview with Ray and my CDC credentials could bolster our credibility.”

  “Maybe I should go with you two. I could report about the two kidnapping and the fact they executed two policemen during the crime.”

  “No. You’re our ace-in-the-hole. They don’t know about you yet. Let’s keep it that way. You can help the most by staying in the shadows as our protector.”

  “I might even agree with that. But this time the interview has to be done with a police presence. You will ride there in a police car and with a police escort. A larger detail will remain with you at the studio and you will leave with the police. I’ll come up with some shenanigans when you leave to make tracking you very difficult. We will not call the TV station ahead of time it will be a spur of the moment thing for them and that should help provide a little more security. I’ll set it up some tonight but will not provide full details or exact times even to the police until its time to go.

  I’ll shoot for picking you guys up around nine thirty tomorrow morning. I think it might be safer if I leave no police here at all. It will look like there is nothing here to guard anymore. I would suggest staying together. Keep the batteries out of your cell phones. Call no one and I will show up in the morning. And I mean me; I will not send anyone else to pick you up. If someone says I sent them they will be lying and you should take any action at that point that you can to protect yourselves.”

  We talked some more and when all the police left and the coast was clear Lynn went back to her room and got her stuff which she brought to my room. Luckily mine was a double room with two beds. We went over what each of us would say tomorrow in our TV interviews. We did not have a lot of material to go over so the interview should be only a few minutes.

  Chapter Thirteen

  In the morning we used room service for breakfast and were all cleaned up and our bags packed when the Detective knocked on our door. We gathered our stuff and put it all in my car but then left my car parked and went in a marked patrol car to the TV station. Three police officers stayed with us in the station and their heads were on swivels the whole time we were there. It was very clear that they would not be surprised and killed like the two were last night.

  Having the police detail added quite a bit to our credibility and the station agreed right away to do an interview (my last interview had been picked up by not just all the national news shows but also many spots in the world, a huge deal for the local station). We went over a little of what we wanted and soon the interview started.

  “Dr. Miller it is nice to have you back after your revelations you made here at our station previously proved accurate and saved countless lives. What do you have for us today?”

  “Thank you for the kind introduction but as I say again I was only the messenger of that information. Today when I am done you will all meet the star player in finding the cure for the zombie plague. But first I want to relay additional findings that the people of the world will be most interested in.

  Through research I have discovered what I think is proof that the zombie plague was NOT natural and was instead manufactured and released on the world to wreak havoc. Before I stated that a colleague of mine inadvertently and innocently brought the plague to Boston and that is true.

  I have since gone over his notes from when he was in Guatemala studying the monkeys. It turns out just before he returned to Boston he was attacked by these zombie monkeys. He was not bitten but was very close to one that sneezed. When trying to get away from these monkeys he ran over and killed two of them with his truck.

  Later he went back and examined the bodies and on one of them he found a wrist band very similar to those that are used by hospitals everywhere. This one was small and very dark colored and only contained some numbers. The other dead monkey had no wrist band.

  My hypothesis is that the whole group of monkeys had been released after they had been infected and this one wrist band had been missed when they were removed from all the other monkeys. Now I have no way of knowing who was responsible for releasing this plague but I am convinced that it was done on purpose for a yet unknown reason. There have been new developments but I will let my friend Dr. Bates tell you about them.”

  “That brings us to you Dr. Bates. I understand that you and your team from the CDC were sent here and were responsible for finding all about the zombie plague and you guys were the ones who actually
found the cure. What new things have happened that we should know about, Dr. Bates?”

  “I actually have no new information about the plague. And I would tell the world that Dr. Miller was indeed a key player in finding the cure. But today I came here to relate the actions that took place last night that is tied in with what Dr. Miller has just uncovered.

  Recognizing how important our work was with the zombie plague the police department here assigned us a full time security detail to protect the CDC team so we could find the cure and for that I thank them. Last night unfortunately an elite group of mercenaries came to kidnap the whole CDC team.

  They executed the two police officers that were assigned to protect us and kidnapped the other CDC team members and I would guess they have likely been killed also by now. I only escaped because Dr. Miller was at that very time sharing the information with me that he just shared with you.

  Only the fact that I was away from the rest of my team saved my life. I feel sorry for the two police officers that were killed and my team members who were only doing their jobs. None of these people were a threat. They all were just normal people doing the jobs assigned to them and those jobs only involved helping other people. The killings and kidnapping that occurred last night is proof that someone with no regard for human life does not want any of the information we have to be shared with the general public.

  To any genetic researchers that hear this message I ask you to investigate the Zombie parasite and see if it has been genetically modified. If so that would be additional proof that this plague was no act of nature but instead an act of man. Personally I have no doubts at all that man designed and released this horror upon all of us.

  My only hope is that the government of the United States of America is not involved in this in any way. Somewhere there is a trail to those that did this. I ask everyone to help track the culprits down so justice can be served.”

  “Thank you Dr. Miller and Dr. Bates. The people of the world are in your debt. To our viewers Dr. Miller has shown us here at the station the proof he has and I must say that it is very compelling. I should also mention that the two Doctor’s arrived here with armed police escorts and even now the police are watching over them.