Catalyst (Book 1): Downward Cycle

by JK Franks

  He was obviously very bright, as Kaylie only had to give the basic outline for him to pick up on what was going on. DJ looked up at Scott, “Thank you for coming to get her. I’ve been so worried that I couldn’t keep her safe. They have me and the doctor I work with under so much pressure that I barely get any time to see her.”

  “What do they have you working on?” Scott asked.

  DJ hesitated and hung his head. “I’m not supposed to discuss it with anyone.”

  Scott nodded and went on to ask about the grayshirts. “Do you know who they are or what they’re here for? Who exactly do you meet with?”

  The boy shrugged. “I don’t know who they are, I always assumed Army. Their mission, from what I’ve been told, is to “secure vital national infrastructure and resources.” Our lab is apparently—or was at least—partially funded by a grant from USAMARIID, the national research lab. I guess that gives them the right to be here. The person I meet with never gives me a name or rank, I just refer to him as ‘Sir’.”

  Scott wanted more information, but he was unsure how far to push the young man. “You work as a virologist,right?” he asked. “Should we fear a global pandemic or something? It sounds like your research is a top priority for this militia. That worries me. Seems like they would be trying to get the power back on or restore law and order.”

  DJ was looking down shaking his head, “I don’t know,” he admitted. “I know we’re just one of many labs that are doing priority research right now. I assume other facilities and research labs are working on the power grid, fuel supplies, crop yield technology who knows what else. The stuff I’m working on is very compartmentalized, so I only know a small piece of what’s going on.” The young man pulled Kaylie in for another hug, holding her tightly. “My study is more accurately on parasitic, bacterial infections and most of my work so far has been working on gene mapping something similar to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacterium.”

  “Tuberculosis? Didn’t we beat that a hundred years ago?”

  Kaylie answered. “No, we beat back the epidemic. What some used to call the American Plague. But it’s still around.”

  “In fact, many people still carry the dormant TB bacteria inside their bodies,” DJ added. “At its height in the early 1900s, TB killed one in every seven. The tubercle bacillus proved to be an exceptionally hardy parasite and could trick the body’s antibiotic defenses to ignore it.”

  The cure—or more accurately, the treatment—was eventually found in 1943 and was a new type of antibiotic called Streptomycin that was discovered occurring naturally in certain soil samples. The discovery of it was quite remarkable… it turned the corner on a very dark chapter in our country, that area of naturally occurring antibiotic cells and compounds. What I’m working on is closely related, but focuses on an even more dangerous bacterium than TB.”

  Scott was having a hard time getting his head around all this; none of it made sense. He decided, as he often did, to just keep gathering data and try to process it later. “Where did this virus come from?” he asked DJ.

  The tired young man said nothing for a long time, finally muttering, "I think someone made it.” He and Kaylie looked at each other, and he pulled her close before continuing. “The sample I have is labeled from a biocontainment facility in India. The military guys had it with them when they locked down the campus. My assumption right now is that it’s a weaponized pathogen. It shares much of the biological structure of TB but also aspects of a prion similar to mad cow disease that attacks the brain. It seems to have a more robust outer shell that, at least in theory, might allow it to live outside the host body for longer periods of time.”

  Scott, not really wanting to hear the answer, asked the question: “Why are you working on it if you think it’s already been engineered by someone?”

  DJ sighed. “Judging by the questions I’m being asked each day, I am assuming this bug has gotten loose on the planet somewhere. I don’t have enough biological material to know how deadly it might be or what the symptoms could look like, but I do know it would be bad.” He paused for a moment, shaking his head. “It must be bad. They’re desperate for a way to stop it. I am working with Doctor Colton. She is a renowned researcher and virologist. She was brought in from California. Used to be with the CDC until a big pharma lab picked her up.” The look of hero worship was evident on the boy’s face.

  “Wait,” Scott said, “You have something that’s deadly here, on a campus full of people, in an unsecured lab?”

  “No,” DJ explained, “What we have is inert. The ability to fully replicate was removed. Essentially, what I’m studying is a bomb with no payload. But that also makes it very difficult to be accurate with our data. How the bacterium infects or reproduces and the damage it does are some of the main things we need to study. But like I said, it’s compartmentalized. We file our reports each day, and the computer backups of our logs and images are taken each night by the guys in gray.”

  Kaylie turned to DJ now. “Don’t be a dick. Come with us.” Scott saw her squeeze his hand tight. She already knew the answer.

  “I have to stay, honey,” he said, kissing her softly. “What I’m doing is critical to our planet’s survival. I feel it deep down. While I hate working for these assholes, I think they are fighting the ones trying to infect the world. They really want to save it. If I can be of any help, I have to keep trying, and I can do that easier now knowing you’re safe with your family.”

  Finally, the tears that had been welling in Kaylie’s eyes began to fall. She nodded her head, but said quietly, “No, no, no.”

  Scott shook the man’s hand and left the room to give the couple some time to say goodbye.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Scott leaned against the wall of the dorm and called Todd on the radio. “Overwatch, you copy?” Scott had not been broadcasting the discussion with DJ just in case someone might be monitoring. The response from Todd was nearly instant.

  “Hey man, how did it go?”

  “Brainiac is staying put, but he had some interesting information. They’re saying goodbyes now. Do you have any ideas on how we could try and stay in touch with him?”

  Todd thought on this for a few minutes. Nothing easy came to mind. “I suggest you leave him one of your little BaoFang radios and the slackline antennae. You have that on you?”

  “I got one. Just not sure the range is enough, even with the extra antenna.”

  “Leave it, during the winter, at night, it might reach us on the HF band. Give him our backup frequencies and a schedule that you guys can monitor.”

  “Roger, Overwatch, thanks.” Scott pulled the portable handheld unit and antenna from his EDC bag along with some spare batteries in a dry pouch. When a very sad Kaylie came out the door, he handed DJ the radio and gave him the frequency and time they would try to be listening in each week.

  DJ’s eyes were filled with tears as he reached out and took the unit. Scott also gave him his Cryptocat chat handle on a small slip of paper. “Just in case the Internet is ever back up.”

  “Thank you. And good luck.” DJ mustered a smile.

  “Same to you. We’ll be looking for you to come and see us as soon as you can.”

  DJ’s smile broadened, and he nodded unconvincingly. Scott walked off, and after the couple’s final short kiss, Kaylie turned and followed her uncle.

  Scott heard the single click and knew Todd had eyes on them. “Coast is clear for twelve minutes. Come on in.”

  “Roger, Overwatch," Scott responded.

  Back inside the old church building, the four of them planned their exit. DeVonte left soon after to help initiate a small diversion he had come up with. Scott took the short lull to brief Todd on some of what DJ had revealed. Todd nodded, unsure what to make of this new world that seemed to be in an escalating death spiral.

  “We should go back by the med building. I want to get a couple of survival bags of med supplies.” Against his better judgment, Scott was going to ag
ree—they would likely need that stuff.

  “No need,” Todd interrupted. He pointed under a tarp at four medium sized rucksacks, each with the medical caudex emblem stenciled on. "Just one of the things I had our new friend grab for us,” he said. “That kid is amazing, I really want to adopt him.”

  Laughing, Scott was pleased—and relieved. “What else did you get…or do I want to know?” Todd just grinned.

  As go time approached, they heard loud voices from down near the stadium. They could see more and more people heading down the hill toward the disturbance. Todd checked his watch, “That’s the signal, let's move. We need to get to our exfil site.”

  “He means let's get our bags, time to go,” Scott said to Kaylie with a wink. The three hustled out of the darkened building into the even darker night. They grabbed their hidden bags and continued to the fence, pushing the supplies through the widely spaced bars. Scott gave Kaylie a leg over and quickly followed. Todd tossed over Kaylie and DeVonte’s gear. They had planned all of this, and Scott knew Todd was going to go to ground here and wait for DeVonte. No way would the kid be able to find them and the Jeep on his own.

  Scott and Kaylie were loaded down but made it through the hedges and across the road into the woods. Scott took the lead. “Stay close, Bubbles,” he said.

  “You aren’t losing me, Pops,” she replied. Scott was not completely sure he was heading in the right direction. He knew the Jeep was due west of Kaylie’s dorm, but they’d left the campus several hundred yards further south. When they entered the thick woods, Scott had angled slightly right, hoping it would put him close. He knew at some point they would come across the railroad tracks and could navigate from that, but he didn’t want to waste time. Todd would be coming in along his original route to pick up the weapons and gear he’d stashed earlier.

  He could hear Kaylie struggling behind him and felt they should be in the clearing by now. He took the GPS unit out of his bag and was debating on checking his location when the woods began to thin. Soon after, he saw a familiar brush pile. They had emerged from the forest less than fifty feet from the Jeep. Thankfully, no one seemed to have discovered it. Scott cleared the brush away as Kaylie walked to the rear of the 4x4. "Uncle Scott, you brought your bike, really?”

  “Hush,” he said, “It was a nice day to get in a ride,” Scott smiled as he stowed the gear and checked the now empty fuel cans, making sure Todd had refueled. He was debating starting the engine, just to be ready, but wasn’t sure how far the sound might travel. Scott noticed that none of the interior lights came on when he opened the door. The battery was still fully charged, but, using his hand to shield his tactical light, he saw the small pile of interior light bulbs in the console tray. Todd was thinking ahead today.

  Kaylie got settled in behind Scott while Scott changed out the weakened batteries in the FRS handheld radio; the headset had been dead for a while. The familiar click-click came over the radio as the last battery went in: "DorkOne, DorkOne, coming in hot. Be ready to roll, may have pursuit.” Todd’s voice sounded anxious and out of breath. Scott kept all lights off as he started the engine, pulled the Jeep out of hiding, and faced it down the overgrown two-track drive. Using just the light of the fading northern lights was not very easy. Scott had the large M4 pointed out the window when he saw the faintest glimmer of a flashlight beam blink twice. Then the rear door opened, and someone, DeVonte he assumed, got in.

  Scott could just about see Todd getting in the passenger’s seat by the illumination of a glow stick Scott had dropped in the floorboard. “Go, go,” said a breathless Todd, “But keep the lights off for now.” Anticipating this, Scott had found his cheap night vision monocular from another bag. Putting it up to his eye, he saw the world in a dark greenish cast. Unfortunately, it gave no depth perception. “Don’t hit your brakes… just go slow if need be. Break lights will show up for miles,” Todd advised.

  “Are you all okay?” Scott asked.

  “Mostly,” Todd said. “DeVonte may have a slight concussion. Bastards beaned him in the head with a rifle butt."

  Scott told Kaylie to check his head for a wound. “There should be a cold pack in your bag.”

  “Already on it, Pops,” came the response from the darkened back seat.

  The sounds of movement as Kaylie dug through her bag were followed by a muffled cry of pain as she put the compress on the boy’s wound. For several minutes, while Todd caught his breath, the rising odor of sweaty bodies was the most noticeable thing in the darkened car. Scott was concentrating on the road although the cheap night vision was not helping as much as he hoped. They could all see what had to be several jittery flashlight beams working through the woods in their direction.

  “DeVonte’s distraction drew a little too much attention, and they went after him. The grayshirts caught up with him about half-way up the hill and knocked the shit out of him. Thankfully, they didn’t notice me until I got close.”

  “What did you do?” Scott asked. “I tazed one of the fucks and popped the other with a dose of Ketamine.”

  “Ketamine, the horse tranquilizer? Where the fuck did you get …” Scott started to ask.

  “DeVonte had access to the Veterinary Science Building, so I had him pick us up some party favors. Sorry, though, man, it took us a bit longer to get over the fence with the kid nearly passed out. The guard I zapped came up full of piss and vinegar and wondering where his shit went. Thought I was going to have to shoot the fucker. He and another one may have spotted us just as we went over. They didn’t see where we went into the woods, though. I think I managed to get most of our gear along the way.”

  “Damn, that was close,” Scott exhaled. “Ok, I have to ask. What was the distraction?”

  A groggy voice came from the back seat, “The Black Student Union protesting military brutality – they heard some of the white soldiers beat one of our own before dragging him away today.”

  “DeVonte, where in the hell would they have heard that?” Kaylie asked with a laugh. Scott could see the boy’s smile even in the darkness of the rearview mirror. “Black folks will protest shit like that at the drop of a hat. I barely had to say anything at all.”

  The drive down the side road was taking much longer that it had for Todd to drive up it earlier. Driving with the night vision in one eye was also giving Scott a headache. After hitting a nasty rut that threw everyone forward, Todd called out, “Hang on….”

  Going through the gear on his lap, he handed something to Scott. Reaching out to take the dark object, Scott realized it was a full night vision headset.

  “Holy shit,” Scott exclaimed as he flipped the unit on. “These must be military grade.” They were, in fact, much better than the little handheld he had been using. He could see fine detail, had some depth perception, and relatively good contrast.

  Todd smiled, “Yeah, I was a bit envious when I saw what great gear the grayshirts had. I relieved both of the guards when I took them down. That set is yours, as well as a tactical vest and what I believe is a sub-compact H&K MK416 Assault Rifle,” he chuckled.

  “Holy shit.” Despite his nerves, Scott was amused. “Merry fucking Christmas again, Santa.”

  “Yeah, the problem is they want them back… we have to move.”

  Even with the improved optics, it was still a welcome relief to get back out to the main road, flip on the headlights and head west. Soon, Tallahassee and the lights of the campus were fading in the distance. “Wait,” Scott thought, slowing the Jeep. He was sure there had been no lights at the campus.

  Becoming clearly visible in the night sky, though, were two twin beams of high-power searchlights. Scott nudged Todd, but he was already looking back. “I think we may have gotten someone’s attention," he said. “They may also be launching drones with NV cameras.”

  “Should I kill the lights?” Scott asked, driving nervously now.

  “Won’t help, those birds can probably see in the dark too. Everything they have seems to be next generation te
ch,” Todd said. “Just drive, drive fast and once out of town, get off this main road. You need to get lost down some quiet side road. We should have about ten or fifteen minutes before they move this way. We need to be out of sight by then.”

  Chapter Forty

  Day 12

  They parked the Jeep along a desolate stretch of country road canopied with oaks and towering pine trees. They hadn’t heard or seen anything since losing sight of the campus twenty miles to the east. Todd had wanted to use one of the captured radios to see if there was any pursuit but didn’t dare until he disassembled it to make sure the units couldn’t be tracked. They were all hungry, and each devoured a couple of MREs. Kaylie was mostly silent, and DeVonte had a huge bump on his head, but otherwise he was deemed in good shape. As Scott restarted the engine to begin the long trek toward Harris Springs, he couldn’t believe that it had not even been twenty-four hours since he and Todd had left home; he felt like he had been up for days.

  Todd drove while Scott navigated. Their plan was to travel through the night, avoiding all towns—especially larger ones—though this was not as easy as it sounded. The first town they neared had been burned to ashes. Smoke still curled from its charred remnants.

  Outside another small town along the lower panhandle, the stench of decay caused them all to gag. The foul smell stayed with them for many miles; it would not be the last time they endured it. How quickly everything was falling apart, they all thought.

  They didn't see many people, but campfires seemed regular occurrences along most roads and towns. Society had begun to break down, and Scott knew it would only get worse.

  They had been driving for about four hours but weren’t making very good time; they had had to change the route they had used earlier to avoid some of the likely trouble spots. The large Eglin Air Force base now lay between them and the gulf.