Code Frostbite (STORM Book 1)

by John Darling

  “Everyone bear with me and we’ll get through this. I know you’re all tired from the early wake-up. Trust me, I understand your pain. Let me get through what I have to say and then I’ll let you guys go.”

  Everyone perked up as soon as he said that. I noticed the class as a whole responded well to breaks in the training. Maybe they all ran back to their rooms to sleep like Alexei and I had earlier.

  “So let’s talk about the Combat Division since that is why you are all here. Upon completion of this school, you will be assigned to one of our fifty-two strike teams around the world. Each Region has its own team. You are all in your twenties, so generally you’ll most likely be sent to a team in a country other than where you’re originally from. As you get older and want to have a family, typically High Command will re-assign you to a team in your home Region.”

  Commander Bradshaw went on to explain the importance of gaining experience in the field, as well as working together with everyone you met. He also explained how some of us may be required to learn other languages in addition to English, so we can communicate better with Stormers in other countries. After flipping through more slides with some interesting logos, he explained to us that every team, base, unit, and squadron has its own unique patch that is worn on the right shoulder of the standard issue jumpsuit. He pointed to the purple patch on his arm, which is worn by every Stormer that works here at the Eye with the exception of the Strike Officers. The “Heat Devils,” like all the others, have an orange patch on their arm, and I noticed it when I had first met Commander Knight, although I hadn’t known what it meant at the time.

  “Ok, that’s all I have for you today. Tomorrow we’re going to go over basic combat strategies and two pieces of equipment that are critical to every Strike Officer’s survival in the field. Congratulations to all for making it to Phase Two. Dismissed.”

  Chapter Ten: Natalie

  The time came for our wake-up call, but there wasn’t a single sound in the air. I expected to hear alarms and the screaming drill instructors like usual. It felt like it was five in the morning and after running around yesterday, I’d rather have slept for a few more hours than get up. Alexei and I had gone to bed right after dinner last night in preparation for whatever challenge Phase Two presented. I was hoping that decision would pay off for us today.

  I adjusted my position and felt my body rub up against an unfamiliar surface. The texture was rock hard and way too solid to be a bed. I suddenly felt a slow breeze on my face and quickly sat up. My eyes became fixated on the landscape around me, pointing to one indisputable fact; I was no longer in my room.

  To say I was lost would have been an understatement. Somehow I had ended up in the middle of a street in the center of a large city. Huge buildings towered over me, making me feel like an ant. I brushed some specks of gravel off my face while I tried to figure out why I was asleep in the middle of the road. Could this be another weird dream?

  The last thing I remembered was going to bed after coming back from the hot tub with Alexei. I pinched myself and smacked my face as hard as I could, but nothing changed in the scenery. I wasn’t waking up. I decided that this is going to be another dream that I have to play out until I regain consciousness. Perhaps I’ll be fine as long as I don’t run into any of those weird people again…

  Walking down the road I tried to identify any kind of landmark. Maybe this is San Francisco? Chicago? New York? I couldn’t tell. The buildings were generic and none of the street signs gave any clue to which part of the country I was in. It appeared to be an American city, then again I could have been anywhere in the world. What was extremely alarming was the lack of noise. Actually, it wasn’t even a lack, it was the pure absence. Not a single thing was moving around and there were no signs of life whatsoever.

  I walked into the center of an intersection and looked up at the fully operational streetlights. There wasn’t a single car coming from any of the four directions, which only added to the eeriness. The only cars in sight were all pulled over on the curb of the road in a scattered fashion. Doors and trunks were open, but there was not a single driver. Up ahead on my left was a flipped over cab and further down the road I can see an SUV on fire. I feel like I’m walking through a warzone after the battles have ended. Or was there an apocalypse of some kind? Where exactly is everyone? The further I walked, the scarier it became. Fear built up inside of me, but I kept walking.

  A few blocks from where I had first woken up, nothing still made any sense. I didn’t know how I had gotten here, where here even is or how to get back to my room. There has to be at least one person here. How can I be the only one in this gigantic city? Clearly something bad happened, but what? I started to go crazy asking myself all these puzzling questions that I couldn’t answer.

  It bothered me not having anyone to talk to except myself. Ever since I went to sea, I had found myself doing it a lot. There had only been twenty-two people including me on my ship, so I spent most of the day working alone. I constantly got lost in my thoughts until the next meal or coffee break. Even though I was only on the ship for a little over two months, I had gotten used to living like that. Unlike then, this was messing with me and not knowing if anyone is out there was freaking me out. I called out in every direction, hoping at least one person would emerge from this quiet metropolis.

  After half an hour of walking and screaming out, I started to run. I ran down random streets looking for any signs of life. My run quickly turned into a full on sprint. Suddenly, I heard a noise and stopped dead in my tracks. Off in the distance, I heard a sound similar to that of a girl crying. Although it sounded rather terrifying, I’m relieved. Someone else is here.

  I followed the crying religiously. All of my energy is focused on getting to wherever this girl is. Well, I assume it is a girl. I concentrated my hearing on the noise and continued running toward it without any reservation. With each block that I ran through, the crying got louder and I determined the source to be nearby. Then all of the sudden the crying paused for a moment, and I stopped running. Thankfully, it resumed a few seconds later and I started running again. Listening as hard as I could, I swore I could hear the tiny breaths in between each sniffle.

  As I turned around a street corner, I caught the image of a person in the corner of my right eye. I immediately ran in that direction down the road. Dead ahead of me was a small child. I slowed down as I approached; she looked to be about seven or eight year’s old, standing right in the middle of an intersection directly under the traffic lights. She wore a baby blue colored dress with a small blue bow arranged neatly in her curly blond hair. Her face was buried in her hands as she continued to whimper. I cautiously approached her so I wouldn’t startle her. She was the only person around here and I didn’t want to scare her off. She could very well have been my only source of information. I slowly reached out to her.

  “Excuse me…..are you OK?”

  She kept crying like I wasn’t there. I tried again.

  “Hey there, it’s OK. Can you tell me what’s wrong?”

  Two big blue eyes appeared from behind her hands. Her eyes were red and swollen, implying that she had been crying for some time now. She slowly dropped her hands to her sides and looked up at me. I watched her lip quiver and then made eye contact with her.

  “Hey, I’m not going to hurt you. My name is Trevor. Are you lost? Do you know where your mommy is?”

  She shook her head and watched me as I kneeled down to her height.

  “Ok, do you know where your daddy is?”

  She wiped a few tears away with her sleeve before responding in the most innocent voice I have ever heard, “He’s dead.”

  The response through me off guard for a moment. However, I decided to take this opportunity to try to connect with her. I took her hand and gently placed it in mine.

  “My daddy is dead too. I’m so sorry about that, but you’re going to be ok. Do you know where your home is?”

  Instead of answering me like I expe
cted her to, she stretched out her arms and hugged me. I felt her turn her head as she leaned into my shoulder.

  “I knew my big brother would find me one day.”

  Her words immediately startled me. What does she mean “big brother?!” I’m not a…and then it hit me. Can this be…no it isn’t possible. I separated myself from her and looked at her closer. A shiny necklace on her neck was the first thing that caught my attention. The diamond covered word is the one word I was afraid to see. My stomach turned upside down and I put my hand over my mouth as I read it.

  “Natalie?”

  I instantly hugged her again. Tears rained down from my eyes as I clenched her as hard as I could. I had cried profusely all those years ago when my mom had found out that she had lost that baby. My entire family had mourned the loss for months. We had all been so excited to have another person in our family since it was the first time my mom had been able to get pregnant since me. I had never thought I would get the chance to meet the girl that saved my mom’s life and here she was.

  After a few seconds, she hugged me back. I still don’t understand how this was possible. It had been eight years since we had made a memorial for Natalie. Only in my wildest dreams did I ever picture meeting her.

  We released from our hug and I wiped another grouping of tears from left eye. The curly blonde hair and the sparkling blue eyes looked exactly liked my mom’s. Could this really be the little girl we lost all those years ago?

  “I’ve missed you so much, Trevor.”

  Hearing her voice was like hearing a beautiful song for the first time. This was one of the greatest moments in my entire life and I don’t want it to ever end. I’ve found my little sister. I actually found her. It made absolutely no sense how she and I were here together in this mysterious city, but I don’t care. She took my hand and we began to walk down the street together. I didn’t know where we’re going but she appeared to. I was hoping she would lead us to some other people or a sign of civilization. What if Mom is out there waiting for us?

  She pulled harder on my arm, forcing me to pick up my pace. For someone as small as she is, she was quite strong. With the sun setting behind us, I realized that we’re going to need to move quicker if we want to get somewhere before it’s completely dark. There were hundreds of vacant vehicles in this city and I set my sights on one of them. I found a tiny red sedan with its keys still in its ignition and helped Natalie into the back seat. She looked up at me and gave me the cutest smile. It made my heart melt. I got in the driver’s seat, turned the car on and started driving down the road.

  Every road we drove down was about as abandoned as the ones behind us. Yet, I continued to drive with the hope that we would find more signs of life. Natalie and I made light conversation, but after a few minutes, she asked if she could take a nap. Before she fell asleep, she told me to keep driving straight until we came to a gray and blue house. Without knowing if there were even any houses nearby with that description, I followed her instructions with the hope that there would be.

  A few minutes later, I heard snoring from the back seat as we reached the outskirts of the massive city. The car was getting low on gas and we were going to have to find a gas station or steal another vehicle if we wanted to continue driving. There were several rows of cars up ahead so I pulled over and stepped out of the car. I turned around and looked at Natalie, who was fast asleep and cute as ever.

  I couldn’t believe that she’d been alive this whole time. It still didn’t make any sense whatsoever how she was here but at the moment, that didn’t matter. I remembered what Mom had told me right after she lost the baby. It was several days after we left the hospital and I came downstairs and apologized for what she had been through. She had sat down at our kitchen table next to me, looked right into my eyes and said; “Sometimes in life, you have to be thankful for what you have, regardless of how you got it.” I’m certainly thankful that I’m here with Natalie right now.

  After searching through a dozen cars, I found a van with keys and a nearly full tank of gas. I walked back over to get Natalie from the sedan but to my surprise, she’s not there anymore. Frantically, I searched the entire backseat, but she was gone. I called out her name, but there was no response. I continued to yell out her name in the dark, yet, there was still no response. Not knowing what else to do, I decided to get into the van I’d found. There was no point in continuing to yell; all I could do is wait for her to return. I closed the driver-side door and turned the ignition. As soon the engine revved up, I heard an odd growling sound from behind me.

  Before I could get a good look at her she lunged at me. She was drooling like a dog all over the place as she desperately attacked me. I tried fending her off gently but she wouldn’t let up. I felt her teeth brush my shoulder and realized that she was trying to bite me! I pushed her face away and immediately tried to get out of the car. As I reached for the door, the eight-year-old-monster found her opportunity to strike and wasted no time in biting me right in my thigh. I instantly became dizzy and fell out of the van. She landed on top of me and I felt another sharp pain in my shoulder. I begged her to stop with the remaining strength I have, but the damage had been done. My eyes fluttered as my vision faded in and out. It became difficult to focus and I fought to maintain consciousness.

  I woke up to the sound of police sirens and paramedics yelling at each other to lift me up. An oxygen mask had been attached to my face while my body was strapped down to a stretcher. My vision came into focus as I was placed into an ambulance. A paramedic leaned into my ear.

  “Trevor, can you hear me?!”

  I summoned up enough strength to nod my head, and gave the paramedic an indication that I understood him.

  “We’re with S.T.O.R.M. and are going to get you treatment. You’ve been bitten several times and are now infected. You only have a short while before you turn. We are going to give you some drugs to fight off the effects of the infection for the time being.”

  A few seconds later, one of the other paramedics in the ambulance approached me with a huge needle.

  “All right, Trevor, relax. Everything is going to be OK.”

  That was the last thing I heard before passing out again.

  Chapter Eleven: Shots Fired

  I immediately jumped up and frantically ran my hands up and down my body. I expected to be in a hospital bed and screaming in pain, but I appeared to be OK. My heart rate had spiked and I quickly tried to focus on slowing it down. My hands continued to search for the bites but my body was perfectly intact. There was not a single scratch and not a drop of blood on my clothes. Sirens are going off, and suddenly I realized that perhaps had I just awoken from another horrible dream. Something must be seriously wrong with my sleep cycle. I have never had two nightmares like this before, especially one where I was attacked by my non-existent sister. How did my mind concoct such a far-fetched scenario?

  “Hey Trevor, are you OK? You look stunned.”

  “No, no, I’m good. I think we need to get going.”

  Just then, Commander Knight banged on our door and two minutes later we rushed out of our room. We stood at attention while we waited for the rest of the class to get ready.

  “Good morning, recruits. Welcome to Phase Two of your training. Today, we will see how good you all are with a weapon in your hands. Marksmanship is one of the most important skills that you need in order to excel in our line of work. Without it, you’re going to have a tough time combating the enemy effectively. For those of you who don’t know, the range and armory are located down on Deck Three. Time to see what we are working with.”

  We all gathered in the armory where we found Commander Knight waiting for us. There were several different weapons laid out on a table surrounded by ammunition and other weird looking gadgets. I expected Commander Knight to yell at us just like Lieutenant Ward and the other OICs did, but he spoke in a calm and reserved tone. I found it peculiar how he could switch his mood and mannerisms so much. One minute he’s sc
reaming at someone, and the next he’s calming teaching the class a lesson like a normal college professor.

  “First rule of the range, never, under any circumstance, point a weapon at anyone. Is that understood?”

  The entire class replied in unison “Yes, Sir.”

  “Good. Now, look here. This is the standard issue M-9 pistol and your last line of defense should your main weapon run out of ammunition. If this is all you have left, you better plan on taking out the enemy with some headshots. It’s the only way you’ll be able to effectively use your ammunition while increasing your chances of survival. We don’t fight hand to hand with the infected.”

  Commander Knight put the gun down and paused.

  “Everyone listen to me. If you run out of bullets, the fight is over. There’s no hand to hand combat, no sacrificing yourself, and no being a hero. Pick the best escape route and run as fast as you can. You’re no use to the human race if you’re dead, or even worse, on their team.”

  Commander Knight successfully scared me for a moment. His dark tone gave me second thoughts on being a Strike Officer. I imagined he had seen some intense stuff, and maybe even lost a friend or two. We can hope every mission goes well, but my gut was starting to tell me that every now and then things don’t go as planned.

  Commander Knight picked the pistol back up, took it apart, and put it back together piece by piece. He showed us how to load it, as well as how to hold it properly. Most of the recruits, actually just about all of them, looked bored out of their minds. With the exception of Alexei and me, I bet everyone in here had fired a lot more than pistols.

  We left the armory and followed Commander Knight into the range area. There were several shooting lanes and Commander Knight instructed the other OICs to place a pistol at each station, as well as give us a pair of eye glasses and earmuffs. The class split up and formed lines behind each lane. For some reason, I wound up first in my lane and Commander Knight instructed us to walk up to the table and to load a magazine into the pistol. I followed his instructions and then looked at the full body target about twenty-five feet away. I took a deep breath and reaffirmed my grip on the weapon. It was probably extremely obvious to all of my classmates that I’d never done this before.