by JT Sawyer
“Great—where do we find another one of those? I thought we had obtained the only one left in the country,” said Carlie as they walked into A-Wing and up the stairs towards the briefing room.
Matias gave a sideways glance to them both. “That’s right—and the only other place Duncan knows where we can find another device is...” His last word was overlaid by Shane’s voice.
“Japan,” Shane said as he shrugged his shoulders, looking at Carlie. “That’s what I have been meaning to talk about with you.”
She rolled her eyes as her lips formed a smirk. Just before the entrance to the room where Duncan and the other team leaders were assembled she stopped and yanked on his shirt sleeve. “No—don’t tell me—you didn’t, did you? Tell me you didn’t volunteer to do a mission without discussing things with me first.”
Shane tried to force out a partial smile from his clenched jaw and then put his hand on top of hers. “Hear this out then we can talk it over when we’re done,” he said, motioning for her to follow him inside as she felt her stomach begin to coil in knots.
Chapter 2
Pavel started out the briefing, discussing his breakthroughs with the antidote and the need for a mass vaccine replicator. Carlie soaked up the intel while shooting an occasional glare at Shane across the table. She was fuming inside, knowing that she had been left in the dark about this potential operation and angry with Shane for taking on a dangerous assignment without discussing it with her first. Carlie had been used to running point on missions for so long she wasn’t sure if she was taking things too personally. Still, she found it difficult, if not downright unhinging at times, to balance her relationship with Shane, going from hellish field operations one day to passionate evenings the next. She had never been involved with a man for long interludes like this and the foreign soil she was treading upon could be nerve-wracking. However, she couldn’t imagine being without him regardless of how bull-headed he was, but right now she wanted to slug him in his jaw.
Her mind darted back to the scene at hand as Duncan walked to the front of the room and delved into the specifics of the forthcoming operation. As she heard more of his briefing her fury dimmed when she understood that Shane had been selected to head this mission because of his maritime experience in the SEALs.
“The device we need was last known to be in Osaka, Japan, on loan there from our navy medical corp for use in propagating vaccinations for an outbreak of Legionnaires’ Disease.” He flipped to the next slide which showed the cumbersome device from a stock photo used by naval doctors. The eight-foot-high-by-three-foot-diameter stainless-steel object had numerous spigots, pressure regulators, and flow tubes emerging from the top which led to a large rectangular control module to the right; the photo showed a technician in blue scrubs manipulating it.
“Regrettably for us, there were only a handful of these machines that were in the military’s hands even before the outbreak. As Pavel explained it to me earlier today, the centrifuge attachments,” he said, pointing to the square protrusions on the stainless-steel object, “are the most critical pieces of hardware for large-scale vaccine replication. Without these, we can only inoculate people here at an agonizingly slow rate over the next six months with little hope for doing much beyond our own immediate population.” He walked around the room and looked at each team leader. “However, if we have this bad boy then we can expedite production to take care of all the residents in the northwest as well as begin reaching out beyond our borders. The acquisition of this device is imperative.”
“And where is this pot of gold located, exactly?” said Carlie.
“Kitano Hospital in the heart of Osaka.” The next slide showed the fourteen-story tan structure towering over a bustling street of pedestrians below.
“What are the means for extraction?” said Hadley, a combat pilot seated by the shuttered window.
“Well, therein lies the first of three challenges,” said Duncan, moving to an aerial overview of the city of Osaka. “First, we have to get our team to Japan, which is a 13-hour flight on a C-130. Then the team has to get from the LZ to the hospital without incident. And frankly Japan has been a black hole since the outbreak. We only have limited imagery from our remaining satellites with their failing hardware. We’ve been pouring everything into analysis of the LZ which looks to be relatively clear of undead. As for the rest—you could be walking into a country of goddamned biters or one full of desperate survivors who aren’t going to take lightly to having us zip in and out.”
“And the third thing?” said Matias, who was sitting with his arms folded.
Duncan was silent for a moment, looking around the room and then letting out an exhale. “We only have enough fuel for a one-way trip in the bird.” Everyone looked at each other and then began mumbling concerns but Duncan raised his voice. “During these many months of running constant missions at home here to provide Pavel with what his staff needed, we have depleted our reserve aviation fuel supplies. Other jet aviation tankers that we’ve managed to scrounge up in other locales have fuel that is past its prime, having sat untouched for nearly a year. We are literally running our remaining helos and planes on vapors and will only have enough to muster for this single run to Japan.”
“Can’t we convert our tankers of vehicle fuel somehow or modify the engines in the plane to accept a lesser grade of fuel?” said Jackson, a sinewy operator sitting in the rear of the room.
Matias spoke up. “Aviation fuel is a high-purity fuel specifically designed to withstand colder temperatures associated with high altitude and has additives to prevent the engines from fouling. We can’t modify things on either end and it’s highly unlikely we could locate any operational tactical-grade birds in Osaka.”
Shane had been silent during the briefing. The two men locked eyes and Duncan nodded at Shane to pick up the discussion. Shane rested both his arms on the table and clasped his hands together. “Exfil plans involve getting the device to the Yodo River which, as you can see on the map, is less than a click from the hospital. After part of our team commandeers a small vessel, we will head downriver five clicks to Osaka Bay where we will rendezvous with one of our fast-attack submarines that Duncan has already made contact with.”
Duncan interjected, “As most of you know, we’ve only got a few operational nuclear subs left around the globe that escaped the wrath of the virus. The USS Olympia is one of our smaller fast-attack subs currently off the coast of Hawaii where they’ve been operating for the past few months. They can make it to Japan within two days once they receive my orders.”
“Why not just have a few teams board the sub here and take it over to Japan, getting in that way?” said Carlie.
“It’s too much of a detour to have the sub divert here then reroute to Japan. We can’t wait on this—hours not days are what we’re up against.”
Duncan flipped back to an older satellite image taken a few weeks back. It showed the city of Kyoto to the north of Osaka. “We picked up a faint plume of emissions outside of Kyoto. Now, this could be nothing or it could be connected with emergency venting of the nuclear facility there. If it’s the latter, then our timeline is even more critical.”
The room grew silent as everyone pondered the information, the odds, and the implications of the mission. Duncan rested both his fists on the edge of the oak table. “Our numbers are so few in this world—we’ve been knocked down on the food chain to the point where the future of our race’s survival hangs by a thread. Once we can mass produce this vaccine, we will no longer be at the mercy of this virus and can start reclaiming what was once ours. Everything now rests on the success of this mission.”
What are the contingency plans in the event the sub doesn’t make it to Japan for some reason—how will the team get back home? thought Carlie, but she already knew the answer and refrained from positing the question. What a nightmare scenario. We’re surely doomed if we don’t go and very likely doomed if we do. How can our operational capabilities and options b
e so limited?
Duncan turned off the projector and set down the remote. “Shane will be the leader on this one.” He glanced over at Shane. “Assemble your own team and be ready for lift-off at 0600 tomorrow. And try to get a good night’s sleep—it’s only the future of our species that’s resting on your shoulders.”
Carlie looked across the table at Shane, who averted his eyes from her as she shot a confounded expression at him. She could see the lines of stress already creasing his tan forehead. She knew he would be detaching and mentally preparing for a mission that was highly stacked against him—probably why she had been so puzzled by his mannerisms these past few days. Any feelings of frustration she had felt, she would somehow need to push aside as these would only serve as a detriment going downrange. Her frustration at his lack of communication was considerable but also seemed frivolous compared to what they all faced. She took a deep breath, slipping back into the warrior mentality that she had tried to ratchet down during the past eleven days of being stationary at Lewis. Carlie brushed the remaining dried dirt from her fingers and thought about how her shoulders would once more feel the weight of her rifle sling and ballistic vest. Time to return to the storm front. Time to count my blessings each day for making it through one more sunrise in this insane world.
Chapter 3
As Shane pored over the gear roster on the clipboard in the armory, he thought about how poorly he handled things with Carlie. His mind kept racing over the image of her face, her eyes, her hair. Then he would feel a lump in his stomach when the satellite photos of Japan and the mission ahead seeped through his psyche. These past few months of living with Carlie had been blissful, like no other point in his life that he could remember. Until this mission reared its head, he felt like he could let go of his usual mindset of being the big brother to everyone around him and always worrying about Carlie’s safety on their separate missions. They both knew that there were no longer any certainties in this new world—regardless of your training and combat experience. There were simply too many variables to control. You might get overrun by zombies on the next resupply trip to the city or die on the road from the weather or at the hands of a desperate group of marauders.
He had thought of requesting Duncan to alter Carlie’s schedule of security detail rotation at the Grand Coulee Dam so she wouldn’t be present for his departure. Then he thought of just telling Carlie everything the night before the mission briefing. But every time he contemplated how to handle things, he got more frustrated at his lack of control over the outcome. The fact of the matter was that he didn’t want her coming. As skilled as she was, he needed to know that Carlie would survive if he didn’t return. Whenever he left on deployments in the SEALs, he always said farewell to his family and friends with the mindset that he would never be coming back. Detaching from everything he loved made the misery and hardship in his path acceptable and kept his emotions in check. With Carlie along, there was the risk that he might think of her safety first over the welfare of the mission, and they had never faced anything of this magnitude before. Shane’s entire life had been spent protecting others for as long as he could recall. From the time his mother died when he was eleven and he took on the role of raising his siblings, he had found himself in the role of eternal sheepdog with the loved ones in his life. Protecting others was woven into his DNA and, with Carlie complicating things, he knew it would only serve to impede his judgment on this already precarious undertaking. Still, she was coming and he knew there’d be no way of talking her out of it.
Chapter 4
Carlie was rummaging through her belongings in the private room that she shared with Shane when he entered. He solemnly closed the door behind him and leaned against it with his hands on his hips. “I should’ve told you sooner. I regret that.”
“I’m sure you were focused on planning and what lay ahead,” she said without looking up while vigorously stuffing some t-shirts into a backpack.
“I was waiting actually.”
“Waiting for what? Were you going to discuss it over dinner tonight?” She stood up and faced him, her arms folded across her chest. “I mean, there were two other team leaders with waterborne ops experience in that room that Duncan could have chosen. But you…” She paused, shaking her head as her cheeks turned red. “You just had to toss your hat in the ring, didn’t you?” She lifted her arms in the air, raising her voice. “Is this becoming too much for you—what we have living together—you had to sign up for a fucking one-way deployment? Did you think that I’d just stay here?”
“I had hoped you might but knew there’d be no convincing you.” Shane felt like there was a thick veil of sea fog rolling over his brain. He had rehearsed what he would say to Carlie but now it was all swept aside in his confusion as his feelings for her wellbeing crept to the forefront and obscured his rational side.
“So, this explains your distance the past few nights. What I don’t get is why you decided to spring this on me at the briefing.”
Shane removed his camouflage ball cap and ran a hand over the black stubble on his head. He arched his head up to the ceiling and sighed. “I had hoped this would all turn out differently. Duncan and I spoke about this mission two days ago and…you know…things were just going so nicely between us…I didn’t think…”
Carlie interrupted him. “That’s your problem—you didn’t think this through. It became all about you—did you plan on me just waving at you from the runway as the plane took off?”
Shane moved forward, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Carlie, stop. It’s not like that.” Shane was trying to hold back the tidal wave of emotions that was beginning to seep through the steely walls of his hardened exterior.
She stepped back, shucking off his grasp. “Then why don’t you tell me what the hell is going through that thick head of yours. Apparently Duncan knows—you seemed OK talking about it with him before me.”
“Would you shut up for a minute…Duncan mentioned last week, before all of this, that he might be adjusting the security detail rotation at the Grand Coulee Dam and that you might be heading that up. When I found out about this mission, I half-hoped that things would already be set in place and you’d be locked into another assignment.”
Carlie’s eyes narrowed and the muscles quivered in her clenched jaw, nearly bursting through the sides. Shane instinctively stepped back like he’d trained himself to do if he sensed a physical altercation coming.
With her lips trembling and her face flushed, Carlie raised up a balled fist and extended her index finger, pointing at him as she readied her verbal volley. Shane put his hand up, palm out, and felt his heart pounding. He gazed into the fiery eyes of the woman before him—the one woman he’d ever known who, even now with her tempestuous glare, could pierce the innermost chambers of his soul. “I knew you’d want to come with me if you were here…” he said.
Carlie’s face was still filled with fury as she lowered her poised hand. “I just don’t get you—with all we’ve been through, how can you think that you’d convince me to not go with you and the others? That I’d stroll along the walkway of the dam, whistling a sad song while watching the skies for your return. You’re forgetting the hundreds of tight spots we’ve been in since this world went to hell and acting like I’m now simply your woman—and a woman who needs coddling at that.”
Shane’s head was swirling, the helm of his thinking gone astray from the bungled navigation afforded by his feelings. “Look, you can stay or go—it’s your decision,” he said, raising his hands in the air and shaking his head. He turned back towards the door. “I can’t deal with an outburst between us like this right now.” Before closing the door on his way out, he paused. “If you come then I need us to just focus solely on what’s ahead and not have you second-guessing me.”
Carlie picked up her pack and slammed it on the bed. “I’ll have your back as always. As for the second-guessing part—you’re already handling that on your own just fine.”
C
hapter 5
Osaka, Japan, Seven Hours after the Pandemic Began
Shiro looked down at the blood on his hands and wished that it was his instead of his younger brother Takumi’s. The two of them, along with fourteen other survivors, narrowly escaped the carnage of the streets above the subway. As he squatted in the dank service tunnel one sub-level below the railway, he could still make out the faint screams of distant survivors being attacked on the streets above.
Shiro tried to make sense of the horrors he had witnessed today: the mobs of flesh-hungry cannibals mauling anyone in their path, the burning cityscape, and the police barricades being overrun by a tidal wave of fleeing humans. If only he had been able to make it to his brother’s location sooner, they could’ve made it below ground into the tunnels that Shiro knew so well from his early years of involvement in Yakuza smuggling operations. Just one minute sooner and he wouldn’t have been attacked—I could have saved him! Now the spirits may take all that remains of my family in this world.
He barely noticed the panting and crying coming from behind him as the others tried to contain their panic. Shiro lifted the soiled bandanna from Takumi’s shoulder and inspected the gaping bite-mark again. The seventeen-year-old’s face was turning slightly yellow and his wet cough had increased. What is happening to him? That old lady who bit him on the street corner must have been infected with something like the others—but what? I need to get him to a doctor, if any hospitals are still open. He looked at Takumi’s face and marveled at how much he had grown up in his absence. It had been two years and three days since he had last seen him aboard their uncle’s fishing boat in Osaka Bay. Before Shiro had been put temporarily in charge of Yakuza operations abroad.
