Starting the Slowpocalypse (Books 1-3 Omnibus)

by James Litherland

  She rose and sailed over to the door, where she paused and smiled at them. “I suppose I should be a little more formal. By the power invested in me—etcetera, etcetera—I now declare you man and wife. As for me, my audience awaits.” Then she unlocked the door and disappeared into the hall, after locking it again behind her.

  Left alone together, Kat and Tony turned to face each other in silence, their eyes meeting across the room. She wondered what he’d do. It had been very clever of Caroline to do it this way. Without the excuse of not wanting to hurt his old friend’s feelings, Kat’s father, would Tony still have enough reason to deny his feelings for her? He could try, would try if his mind was still stubbornly set on it.

  Then she saw the look in his eyes as he stared at her, and she knew what he was going to do. She was about to begin a brand new adventure, one she had no training to prepare her for, no experience to help her know how to handle the challenges which would come. This was going to be fun.

  Epilogue

  Often Go Astray

  9:50 p.m. Tuesday, May 27th

  VERITY pulled the mask over her nose and mouth and walked into Jon’s office, gesturing with the pad she held in the crook of her arm. “I’ve just received the latest figures.” It was nice to have him back at work. “The flu is still spreading rapidly, but they’re confident they’ll be able to provide ample care to all who need it. I just hope everyone catches it.”

  Jon propped his elbows on his desk and considered her over his folded hands. “It’s been a long day for you, I know. But I also know the sisters told you I’m not likely to be contagious anymore.”

  She shook her head. “I’m not taking any chances. Can you imagine how you’d manage if I weren’t around to help you, sir? Everything would fall apart without me.”

  “You’ll have to ‘catch the flu’ eventually, just the same as everyone else. I’m sure I could get by for a few days.”

  “Hardly, sir. Even with just half the administrative staff out sick, you’d be helpless without me. As soon as everyone else has had the flu and recovered I’ll see to myself. With Toby and the rest of the staff to support you, it might be alright. For a few days.”

  Jon smiled. “And what if not everybody catches the virus?”

  Verity squinted at him. “I’m keeping track of all who get sick, and those who don’t. Those who fail to be infected in the natural course of the epidemic will just have to get the flu in a more direct fashion. The question for you is—which virus?”

  “You’re giving me a choice?”

  “The doctors agree that the new, severe strain is having the desired effect.” What they’d done was to hem and haw until Verity had pressed them for one definite answer. Though they still said they needed time to study what was happening. “But there is no evidence that Dr. Cummings’ original mild strain of the flu would produce the same or similar effect.”

  “I suppose he wants to test it again, this time on those who don’t manage to catch the severe strain?”

  “He does, sir. But the decision’s up to you.”

  Jon sighed. “At least it sounds like Dr. Harker’s not having a huff about how this all went down. I’d expected her to complain about the secrecy.”

  Verity shook her head. “I’m sure she’ll come to yell at you some, sir, about the secrecy and the ethical considerations. But later. At the moment she’s too absorbed in researching the Gravity Bug and the virus and its effects to have time for you. She and Dr. Cummings are working together on that.”

  “And what have they found so far?”

  “They’ve had a long day too, sir, while you have been lounging around at home.” Verity had pressed them on this question too. “Though Dr. Harker did express a theory, that the mutated form of the virus is somehow triggering some sort of upgrade hidden in the ‘junk’ portion of our DNA. It certainly seems to be improving peoples’ immune systems in quite a specific manner. One that likely goes beyond being able to kill off that horrible parasite. Perhaps there will be other unanticipated results.”

  Leaning back in his chair, Jon sighed with relief and shook his head. “The fact that this is working to kill that parasite, saving both David and Kat from its eventual effects—that’s good enough for me.”

  “Give them time, sir, and I’m sure they’ll discover what if any other changes were involved in the so-called upgrade.” She felt confident that Dr. Harker, at least, would find out the truth.

  Jon grinned at her. “You mean to say you don’t know what this thing has done, or if there’s more to come?”

  “I have no idea, sir.” Maybe a little idea, but the things she knew were far, far outweighed by all that she didn’t. So Verity was wary of sharing even what she thought she knew for certain. Even with him. I have to let him make his own decisions, and try not to interfere too much. “I suppose we’ll have to rely on the experts.” Though she wouldn’t. After all, the virus that the mad scientist had created wasn’t what had saved her son. No human agency was responsible for that.

  “Alright. Tell them we’ll use the mutated virus, if anyone ends up escaping it by the time this is over with. The sisters should be able to help them recover, and at least we know it works. Since the parasite was called the Gravity Bug, I think we should name this the Lift Virus. What do you think?”

  “I think you must’ve had a hand in naming that parasite in the first place, sir.”

  He leaned forward and glared at her. “Since we don’t know who was affected by the Gravity Bug, or to what degree, how do we handle everyone’s recent bad behavior? Look at Kat, or your son, they’d been infected by the parasite, but you didn’t see either of them acting so uncontrolled. And I understand our new detention center is already overflowing.”

  Verity shook her head. “It’s much more complicated even than that, sir. We don’t know who might have been ‘legitimate’ protesters, even though their conduct may have been exaggerated by the parasite, and who were part of Dean Kittner’s coup attempt. At least, Chief Nelson is still trying to sort it all out. We do know that Sara King was involved with Alice and her shenanigans, but we don’t yet know whether she was under the influence of the parasite.”

  He sat back again with another sigh. “And as of yet, we’re still lacking a real system of jurisprudence for dealing with criminals, or even civil disputes.”

  “Perhaps you weren’t paying attention, sir. But that agreement we hammered out with the Community Council ended up laying out a lot of legal guidelines that will provide a framework going forward.” And Jon would certainly be surprised by some consequences of that agreement. However, Verity was not going to be the one to break that news.

  He ignored her comments and went back to the previous subject. “And what about Sara? I bet Anthony’s upset—betrayed by her and some of his former safety aides.”

  “He is certainly regretting promoting her to full officer. He’s afraid this will tarnish Security’s image in the community, but he shouldn’t be. Though the students are still far from a final decision, two of the heavy favorites to replace Sara as councilor are Paul Macklin and Susan Wellman, both security officers as well as students themselves.”

  “Isn’t Paul the one that got shot?”

  Verity nodded. “Shot by Sara in the shoulder. I understand it’s made him something of a hero with the student body, though I couldn’t begin to say why that would be, sir.” She questioned Paul’s judgment in having a relationship with Sara in the first place. Susan Wellman, on the other hand, had a very level head and would make a fine councilor. It was up to the students to choose, though.

  Jon was grinning at her. “What about the FedU administrators? Don’t tell me they’ll take forever to choose a replacement for Alice on the council.”

  “No, sir. They immediately asked the professor, Tracy Johnson, who had substituted for Dr. Harker on the council a couple of times, to step in for Alice both on the council and as interim Academic Dean. At least until they can make a proper decision.” By w
hich time they might as well have made Professor Johnson permanent in the position to begin with.

  “And who will substitute for Dr. Harker? Won’t she be busy between all this research she’s got to do and helping clean things up at the clinic? Which reminds me, I understand your son was quite the hero there.”

  Verity nodded. “He helped prevent the protesters from breaking into the building.” He’d also taken a nasty blow to the head, the fourth since he had come to the FURC. Perhaps she should force him to wear a helmet. “But so did others. Grace Cameron, Sgt. Tim MacTierney, Lacey Petrovich, and Officer Michelle Mori all helped defend the sisters and the patients at the clinic.” Though it had been David’s plan. “And your daughter’s judgment about giving Petrovich parole seems to have been validated. She was in a perfect position to betray us if she’d wanted, but she didn’t.”

  Jon looked thoughtful. “It’s too bad we have no medals to award them. Maybe we can think up another kind of reward. Work on that, will you?”

  “Yes, sir. I’ll put the question to the council, unless I’m down with the flu. Then you’ll have to go in my place.” For once. And deal with those people.

  “I’m sure when you do have to take time off, the council will manage without my presence. Just for a session or two.”

  Until Verity was back on the job. “If you say so, sir. But I might remind you that you’ve given them considerable authority to exercise on their own, and it might be as well to watch them. In the end, you’ll have to deal with the decisions they make, however you feel about them. And I’m sure your wife will not hesitate to exercise her full authority as she sees fit.” There, she’d prepared him as much as she was willing—now it was up to Caroline to explain to her husband what she’d done. The woman was welcome to the task of justifying her actions.

  Jon nodded. “I’m sure she’ll be completely reasonable about it all. Anything else?” As Verity was not going to argue with him about his wife, she only shook her head. “Good. There’s one more thing I wanted to discuss. With the election over and the virus doing its work, we should experience a period of peace and quiet. And hopefully summer is coming soon, even if it’s running a bit late. So maybe it would be a good time to send Anthony out to scout around and see what’s happening outside our walls. As we no longer have any other way to find out.”

  “As you say, sir. Once things have quieted down a bit—” If that actually happened. “And if we don’t require Chief Nelson’s personal presence. Though if you do send him out, he’s likely to bring home some strays.”

  “That’s alright. We’ve got plenty of room, and I trust Anthony’s judgment. Leave the details of that expedition up to him.”

  “Yes, sir.” She had a feeling Chief Nelson would not want to go on that mission alone, but who knew what that man might decide to do. It wouldn’t be a honeymoon, but then they had time enough for that before any expedition outside the compound.

  A noise from outside drew both their eyes to the door, then a moment later Caroline came sweeping into the room. She ignored Verity and fixed a glare on her husband. “I just wangled a report out of Dr. Harker, about what’s really been going on with this whole ‘flu’ thing, what you’ve been up to behind my back. You should’ve told me from the start.”

  Jon stood slowly, faced his wife, and spoke in a soft, firm voice. “I thought you would rather be kept in the dark during your campaign. Otherwise you’d have had to hedge your answers to some questions, which would’ve been awkward for you, wouldn’t it? Besides, it wasn’t really your concern.” And he had been doing so well up to that point. Caroline’s putting him on the defensive at the beginning had been smart. Now she’d keep him there.

  “Not my concern? Do you mean as a councilor, with a responsibility to the community, or as a wife who you’re supposed to be open and honest with?”

  Verity eased the door shut on her way out, with her lips twitching as she left the office. It reminded her of the first real fight she’d had with her husband—that had been long overdue too, but they had both said things that had needed saying. It’d be good for Jon and Caroline as well, to clear the air. Maybe she would catch the flu from him if she hadn’t already—it was, after all, a crucible they’d all have to endure. It was probably the only way they’d all survive what was yet to come.

  Continue the Slowpocalypse Series with Book 4: Peripheral Encounters

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  Also by James Litherland

  Start the Watchbearers Series with Book 1: Millennium Crash

  Then Continue with Book 2: Centenary Separation

  Book 3: Uncertain Murder

  And Book 4: Prohibited Activities

  Begin the Miraibanashi Trilogy with Book 1: Whispers of the Dead

  Continue with Book 2: Enemies of the Batsu

  And Finish with Book 3: Endurance of the Free

  About the Author

  JAMES LITHERLAND is a graduate of the University of South Florida who currently resides as a Virtual Hermit in the wilds of West Tennessee.

  He’s lived various places and done a number of jobs—he’s been an office worker and done hard manual labor, worked (briefly) in the retail and service sectors, and he’s been an instructor. But through all that, he’s always been a writer.

  He is a Christian who tries to walk the walk (and not talk much.)

  Find out more at www.OutpostStories.com