by Franks, JK
Scott realized she was pointing a gun, not at Skybox but at him. “Drop it, Michael,” she said with bitter vile dripping from each word. The mask of evil she wore made her nearly unrecognizable. This could not be the woman he loved, the mother of his child.
“Sky…no, the baby,” Scott yelled.
Skybox faltered briefly with a glance toward Scott before lunging after Gia who lightly stepped away.
The pain of betrayal came crashing into Scott like a train as the bullet entered his thigh. “That’s going to really mess up your cycling, Sweetie.” The laugh was unnatural. The pistol in her hand was very real, though. The pain in his leg somehow sharpened his mental awareness, and instantly, he knew the only mask this woman ever wore was when she was with him. How much effort and skill it must have required for her to seem happy, normal and loving.
“Why, Gia?” he asked through the pain.
An enormous blast shook the room and dust and pebbles fell from the rock overhead. “Your friends are determined,” she said easing farther from Skybox who was now on one knee ten feet away.
“Why?” he yelled again choking back the sobs.
“Let’s just say I was born into it, dear. I do have to say, Scott, I am truly sorry you got involved. I did everything I could to keep you away, even marrying that idiot Steve.”
“Where is the rest of the Council?” Skybox yelled. “You all have to go.”
“Oh, Sky, I’ve taken care of that already. Well, Archangel did. I believe he just eliminated the last of the six. Except me, of course. Their service to the republic was over. Just as yours is.”
The gun in her hand rose to fire. Scott stepped awkwardly toward her. His one functional leg pulling the nearly useless one behind. “Levy!” She turned casually to look at him. This wasn’t the face he dreamed of. “I can’t do this.” Her face showed the words hit home. “That is what you said to me that last day isn’t it? You thought I didn’t hear but…I did. Was it that you couldn’t marry me, have our baby, or you couldn’t do all this? Did you ever have second thoughts about all you have done?”
Her face softened, her expression morphed briefly into his Gia, then was gone again. “Do you remember my father? From the wedding? He didn’t like you very much, which is one of the reasons I kept you so close. I liked making him mad, sometimes in small ways, sometimes bigger. I was never really what he wanted. You were my escape from him, then and now, honey.”
Her words stabbed at him. He needed her dead, but even more, wanted to understand. “What made you this way?”
“You wouldn’t know this―few people ever did, Scott. My father was possibly the most powerful man in the world. Last of the old-school Levis. He sat at the head of the Council of Six. The seat should have gone to my brother, but he didn’t survive the test, I did. My father was a bastard, I hated him, and that is what made me. I was imprisoned, tortured and even exposed to an early natural form of the Chimera as a teen. It changed me, the epigenetic changes it made to my body were subtle but significant.” She absently rubbed a slender hand over her swollen stomach. “Mentally, I learned to escape my torturer by retreating into my own fantasy world. You, my sweet lover, are there. It is where I wished I could stay, but alas, it wouldn’t work. When I took over the Council, I learned many, many things. As Levy, I had real work to do…no matter how much I hated it…or him.”
Chapter One Hundred Four
Harris Springs, Mississippi
Steven Porter leaned over the ship's rail alongside Bartos. The two had developed an easy rapport since meeting just days earlier. “They are out there.”
“Si, my friend, yes they are. More every day.” They could hear and often smell infected on the far side of the canal. They’d raised the drawbridges connecting Harris Springs to the mainland and were using the AG’s PA system to broadcast the audio signal that kept them from coming closer, but the numbers kept growing.
They watched a small reconnaissance drone pass overhead, no doubt from the Bataan. “How long do we wait? On your friends?”
Bartos shrugged, “Todd’s call. We still have Patriots making it through; when that stops, he will have to decide.”
Steve relaxed a bit. As Sentinel, he’d been responsible for helping Bobby and Bartos get the word out as well. As a result of putting out the Patriot’s Call, the AG now had over 1200 passengers, but they had room for several times that number. Tahir had said they really needed about 2500 people to have a real chance at sustainable survival. A community that large would give them adequate genetic diversity to avoid any problems down the road.
“What’s the deal on that doctor and the dead girl, the one Tahir was talking about yesterday?”
Bartos’ jaw was rigid, the anger inside him at that remark was palpable, but the question deserved an answer. Tahir had dropped the bombshell news to all of them the night before. Gia had to be Levy, and she had kidnapped, then killed the missing girl. The fire blazed through him hot and bitter. “The doctor was convincing, brilliant even. I don’t know how the kid figured it out, but none of us ever would have. Scott is about as smart as anyone I ever met, yet he got her pregnant, was about to marry the crazy bitch.”
Steven nodded looking back out over the coast and the sun as it dropped toward the ocean. “My friend, Gerald, the original Sentinel, had a theory about a secret cabal that ran everything. He said if you could follow the money far enough, you would find the real power. Would Gia be that person?”
“According to Tahir, yes. She leads what he called the Council of Six. I can’t connect that to the woman we all knew, though. She seemed kind, funny…very unassuming. She was a scientist consumed by her work but very much in love with Scott. She gave us the cure. That was who we saw. I’m not sure if I will ever be able to think of her any other way.”
“And your friend, Scott? How is he going to handle it?”
Bartos had no idea, he wished he was there to help him when he learned the truth. “It will be the end of his world.”
“Ok, listen up,” the younger Garret said the following morning. “The outpost radioed to let us know we have a large convoy coming in. They think it is the last of the people answering your call. They have supply trucks, equipment and livestock but need safe passage.” He walked to the center of the dining area. All eyes were on him. “You all know the infected are out there, and the numbers keep increasing. We have been observing them from the sky. The military up north lost control of much of a large horde several days ago, and they joined with a number of other packs.”
“So, what are we facing, LT?” one of the other Navy men asked.
Garret removed his blue ball cap and rubbed a hand through his close-cropped hair. “We need to clear the road for those people to get through. Estimates are, at least 50,000 infected are within ten miles of this spot.”
The collective gasp of the crowd was matched with calls for the ship to leave now before it was too late.
“Ok, stow it, ok,” Todd demanded. “We are relatively safe here for the moment, and we still have friends out there. This group coming has traveled thousands of miles, we are not going to abandon them. Lieutenant has a plan, hear him out.”
“Thanks, Cap.” Garret continued, “Look, your call to evacuate these people, what they are now calling the Patriot’s Call, was the right thing to do. Fact is, the Navy probably should have done it first. That is our mission, to protect you guys. Anyway, we are going to help secure a corridor to get this last group through, but it will be tough. We don’t have a lot in the way of useful weapons, mostly small arms stuff or heavy artillery. We already know the heavy guns are nearly useless. Every person who can shoot needs to be out there. Take the trucks and cars you have collected, fuel them up, and we will make sure you have all the guns and ammo you need.”
There were nods of agreement and voiced dissension from the large crowd. Bobby stood and walked to the center motioning for Garret to sit. He walked silently in a large circle making eye contact with as many of the peopl
e as he could. When he began to speak, it was with an authority and conviction he hadn’t felt in years.
“You know…I am not sure I would be here if these people hadn’t risked everything. Many, hell, most of you wouldn’t either. My kid brother is the one who made the call to save you. Now, he is out there somewhere trying to…” he choked up briefly, “…trying to give us a chance to save ourselves. You will not stay on the boat unless you fully understand that to be a Patriot, to be an American, means you have to fucking earn it. You work, you fight, you get up when you get knocked down. This may be our last stand on American soil before we have to just give it to those damn things out there, but by God, let's make sure we make it a good one. This group coming in deserves it just as much as any of us did, so shut the fuck up, grab a gun and find a target to shoot. Playtime is over, class is about to get started.”
Chapter One Hundred Five
Thunder Ridge Protectorate
She walked around a seating arrangement to face him. The look of tenderness and compassion returned with a practiced ease. “That leg looks bad, doll, you probably should put something on it before you bleed out.”
He cleared his tears and saw Skybox was struggling to stand again.
“As intelligent as you are, Scott, you really are a bit dim when it comes to women. Look at both of you, though. Do you feel it? You should really thank me.”
“Thank you for what, you bitch?” Skybox muttered.
“Michael, Michael, tsk, tsk.” Another distant blast, even more powerful, caused the overhead lights to flicker off and on.
“I turned on your warrior gene. Well, Sky, yours was already on, but I gave it a little boost. Scott, yours, though, well, I enhanced you all over. Had you not wondered why you had been so sick? Epigenetic changes, love. I modified your DNA.”
“You experimented on us?” Scott yelled.
“I did, well, I had to keep modifying the treatment. The 1297 did really get away from me, but it unlocked the berserkers, the rage within the MAOA gene―the warrior gene. That’s why you’re here now. Both of you should be unconscious, going into shock, but the anger, the drive—it keeps pushing you.”
“And all the other freaks out there in your menagerie of horrors. They are your experiments too?” Scott asked in disbelief.
“So why did you kill the girl—Diana?”
Scott looked at his friend in confusion. “She did what?”
“Yeah, Tahir figured it out. Her body was in cold storage on the Bataan. Gia’s door access code was the only one used when she went missing.”
“The girl, sadly, was a necessary step. I needed a live subject to test the final treatment on. Now, Scott. Let me ask you a question. When Tahir got you the documents on Catalyst, did you read them all? In particular, did you read the one on global warming?”
He shook his head, “That one didn’t seem to be a real issue anymore. With humans all but gone, pollution would cease to be an issue. The planet…” he groaned from the stab of pain, “…the planet would recover.”
“See,” she said as if she were talking to a small child. ”That is beneath you. Surely you haven’t bought into the media hype that humans are the only thing responsible for climate change.”
“Levy, we don’t have time for this,” Skybox said. “Scott, end her.”
“That document was the only one that really mattered, hon. It was the reason for everything else. Scott, honey, do you realize that 99.92% of all living things that have ever been on this planet are now extinct? The age of dinosaurs was 400 million years. Humans, barely a fraction of that. Why? Why do you think humans might be any luckier? Surely, you don’t feel like we deserve it more. The truth is, the only reason we have survived is because we adapted better than other life forms. We were also intelligent enough to adapt plants and animals to serve us better. To continue occupying this filthy rock, we have to adapt even more.”
“Woman, you are as bad as Hitler trying to build your perfect race,” Skybox said.
Gia just shrugged, “Hitler killed millions, and they call him a monster. I will kill billions and be called a savior.”
“So, you are trying to save humanity? Give me a fucking break,” Skybox said, hands fumbling awkwardly now, the effects of the blood loss causing his preternatural skills and coordination to finally falter.
“Maybe…not the entire world, Michael. Much of it doesn’t need saving. Like the Council, like you, like me. We are relics, but yes, I want the species to survive.”
“The research labs, they had nothing to do with the CME, or even the pandemic, did they?”
“Ah, there is my fair-haired golden-boy. Beginning to figure it out, are you? Work the problem, Scott. Put together the clues.” She spoke like a middle school teacher urging her prize pupil to discover something on his own.
The pain in his thigh was nearly unbearable, but Scott focused on her words. Then the experiments, thinking of them as data, part of something bigger, rather than individual items. Something else occurred to him. Something in Gia’s papers back on the AG. “AMOC?”
Despite the situation, Gia’s eyes brightened. “Yes, love.”
“What in the fuck is she talking about, Scott?” Sky yelled from across the room. The man had slumped even further to the floor.
“Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation? The thermohaline circulation collapse of the Gulf Stream ocean current. Warming temperatures increase glacial melt at the poles changing the salinity of seawater.”
“Not just the Gulf Stream, nearly all of the ocean currents are slowing. The Gulf Stream will likely be the worst. It is already at a 1600 year low, and our projections are it will come to a stop in the next fifteen years.”
Scott’s mind was considering all the ramifications. He knew that scientists had discovered that climate change could be gradual for long periods, then suddenly change, often with catastrophic circumstances. The ocean currents act like a conveyor system regulating the planet's heat. Moving warm water into colder regions and cold water into warmer areas. The oceanic system is one of Earth’s tipping points. Would it be possible for it to suddenly stop? “So, Catalyst literally meant a catalyst for change?” he asked.
Gia nodded, “The planet will become a place of extremes. Northern latitudes will become much colder. The UK, Russia, Canada and much of the US even. Other areas will become hot and arid. Our computer model shows a Sahara-like desert covering most of the deep South, Texas and all of Mexico.” She lowered the pistol slightly. “Mankind must adapt to have any chance of survival. SA1297 was our last hope of making those changes. To protect our future, we had to modify our genes so we could better tolerate the heat, need less fluids and generally become more physically capable. Some of our changes actually rolled back the DNA of modern man to something more ancient. Our ancestors lived off the land, often in harsh environments. By flipping the switches on and off, we could see what works best.”
“So, Tahir didn’t give you the breakthrough you needed to solve all this. You knew it all along.”
She smiled, “Well yes…and no. The lab here was working on the DNA modifications. I was working on the epigenetic virus. His ideas just got me to look at the problem in a new way.”
“But you had the treatment all along,” Scott yelled.
“True, but the earlier versions had…drawbacks, side effects, you might say. Tinkering around with the human genome is risky as you will soon realize when you become a risk to everyone you encounter. The version you received was paired with the new genetic treatment. In time, it may become lethal to anyone around you. Then, you will find all your friends becoming like them because of you,” she pointed up and away. “They, too, will survive, of course…in a way. Perhaps a few humans with natural immunities…we could have done more if we’d had more time.”
The vitamins and antiviral injections she’d regularly given me, Scott thought.
“This is madness. You are responsible for all of this.” Sky said.
Scot
t saw Skybox’s eyes and knew he was marshaling his remaining strength to attack. His own rifle wavered between saving his child or saving the world. Briefly, Scott thought to Roosevelt’s warning that he would have to make a terrible choice. Sky eyed him, and he knew what was coming.
Instead, the entire cavern shook as several massive explosions tore through the base. The pressure wave hit them knocking each of them to the floor. Gia recovered faster than either of them and leapt for her pistol which had skidded away. She had blood draining from her ears and nose and a cut on her face. Scott’s first instinct was for the baby. Skybox’s first instinct was to knock the shit out of the woman.
She rocked back, “You are going to regret that, Michael.”
Chapter One Hundred Six
The A10 Warthog screamed over the battlefield, unleashing a stream of 30mm rounds from its autocannon. The nearly forty-year-old ground attack plane was mainly used for close in support. Today, it was clearing a path through the thousands of infected. The horde was so thick nearly every one of the 4200 rounds fired each minute found a target. “Goddamn,” Major General Daly said to no one in particular. A cloud of red mist rose over the valley like a demonic fog. Neither he, nor any of his troops, had received the treatment, and many had begun to fall to the Chimera virus. Reports of soldiers killing fellow soldiers were now being ignored. They’d all known this was a one-way mission. “They’re making us a road, son. Take it before it fills up again.”
The Abrams M1A1 revved its engines and began to plow over and through the scores of infected. Its treads made snapping noises as the bones of the dead were ground deep into the blood-soaked mud. The Warthog made more passes farther down and circled high and wide as two more came screaming down the wooded valley to take its place. “Update, Captain.”
