Emergence: Infection

by JT Sawyer

  They both took a step back from each other, their faces showing awkward expressions.

  “Wow, that’s, uhm, some timing,” said Reisner with a grin. “Did you and Tso have that worked out ahead of time, where he was just waiting for some code from you? You know, in case things got too edgy between us.”

  She laughed and shoved him back. “Ha, ha; you’re the one with the secret bro handshakes and passwords of the day.”

  Two attendants entered the room with a rolling cart and began restocking the supplies in the medical dispensary on the wall.

  Reisner reluctantly turned to leave, then waved his hand upward. “Maybe I’ll see you around soon, Doc. It’s not as big a ship as you think.”

  As he walked through the corridor, he wondered what he was thinking, approaching Selene like that. The world was crumbling and they both had their own battles to fight. Still, he couldn’t deny how he felt around her, at least now, during the past few days since arriving on the Reagan. There was an undeniable attraction, even if they were both stubborn as hell and could trigger each other at times.

  Reisner let out a long exhale and shook his head. He had to focus on his team and sorting things out with Connelly. It was time to re-evaluate their role as operators apart from the CIA and see where they fit into the new paradigm.

  Chapter 53

  The view from the fortified roof on the PLA facility allowed Lau to see sixty kilometers in every direction, and his facial expression grew more grim every time he panned the binoculars to examine the outlying cities.

  To the east and north, the skyscrapers, businesses, and homes looked like they had suffered from an inland tsunami, their windows shattered and doors knocked off the hinges from the violent attacks the day before. To the west, he saw miles of abandoned vehicles, many of them army trucks and tanks which now stood like silent sentinels.

  The battles during the past twenty-four hours had been brutal, and the death toll amongst the military on the front lines numbered close to half a million soldiers. The creatures had mounted an unrelenting attack that confounded even Lau and his other generals. He had initiated a bombing campaign midway through the battle, but by then the numbers of the enemy were too great. When the tide turned against them, Lau ordered his men to retreat, his eldest son Han, a lieutenant, being amongst the survivors. So many of my men gone. Even with all of our firepower, we were no match.

  Lau hesitated for a moment, hoping his assessment of the southern horizon would bear a different sight, but seeing Beijing, the country’s capital, in smoldering ruins made his head hang lower. The Temple of Heaven and Summer Palace were leveled, their historical splendor obliterated in mere days. The magnificent Forbidden City, which had stood the test of time through several dynasties, had part of its walls blown out, and the tattered remains of ancient Chinese artwork and the thrones used by various emperors throughout the centuries were strewn about the blood-soaked streets, which were covered in the remains of those who had resisted.

  A vein in Lau’s neck bulged, and he lowered the binoculars, then clenched his other fist.

  “It took thousands of years of labor and the blood of my countrymen to forge this nation, and we have been reduced to rubble in less than a week—because of the Americans.”

  Lau motioned to his assistant, a young sergeant with a flat nose, who moved up alongside him. “Bring me the device I spoke of earlier today.”

  The man trembled as he saluted, then he pivoted and walked down the steps that led to the interior.

  Lau’s son Han stepped closer, his weathered face squinting into the horizon. “Are you planning what I think you are planning—something on a nuclear scale?”

  “Such a weapon would certainly devastate the United States, but the fallout would eventually have significant repercussions on us, and on crop production, not to mention that their missile defense systems are still intact. Besides, it would destroy all the creatures on American soil, which would be more leniency than the survivors there deserve. There is another way to cripple our enemy while leaving them at the mercy of the devils they created.” He put his hand on his son’s shoulder. “They have provided the rope with which they will hang themselves with the monsters that are running amok on their soil.”

  A few minutes later, the sergeant returned with a metallic briefcase. Lau took it and placed it on a steel table next to the stairwell, then opened the latches on either side while motioning for his assistant to leave.

  “What is this?” said Han.

  “An equalizer. If our country has been thrust back in time, then the Americans will be sent to the dark ages. A cyber-attack on their power grid will cripple the survivors and render their labs useless for constructing a cure. The rest of them will then be at the mercy of the coming winter as much as the creatures that they unleashed upon the world.” He looked over at his son, noticing the disconcerted expression. “My cyber-security teams had previously constructed a worm—or botnet—specifically to infiltrate the less secure systems in the U.S. power grid along their East Coast, where their electrical network is the most antiquated.”

  Han cleared his throat and stepped closer to his father, lowering his voice as he spoke. “Are we certain that the Americans are the nation behind this virus, sir?”

  Lau narrowed his eyes as he studied his son’s face. He thought of the two U.S. Navy helicopters that had rescued the research staff from the facility in Taiwan. He was certain they had come for the woman scientist and the crew of the other helicopter that had departed from the mysterious ship in the South China Sea earlier. He didn’t know what Doctor Munroe’s involvement was in the unfolding of this virus, but he was almost certain that the release of this deadly pathogen was orchestrated by the Americans.

  “I do not have the time or the desire to present all the evidence that indicates their connection.”

  “I only meant that this will surely be viewed as an act of war. We don’t know how much of their government or military is left, but if they trace this back to our nation then—”

  Lau turned and took a step closer to his son, brushing a hand along the insignia marking of lieutenant on the shoulder of his uniform. “Do you recall who presented you with this rank?”

  Han arched his back and held his chin up. “Yes, sir. You did.”

  Lau gave him a forceful pat on the arm, causing him to wobble slightly. “I know you have backbone or you wouldn’t have made it through the last battle—nor would I even call you my son. This world needs decisive warriors now—not politicians who are swayed by sentiment.”

  Lau gave him a firm nod, then returned to the table and activated the ruggedized laptop, redirecting a satellite until the map on the screen indicated it was centered over a cluster of buildings near Baltimore. There was a spider-web of red lines that radiated out to other cities as far south as Atlanta and all the way up to Boston. He opened a file and confirmed the access code for delivery, then uploaded the worm. Three minutes later, when the virus was ready, his finger hovered over the Enter key. He took a deep breath and looked to the West, beyond the charred moonscape of his ravaged country. We will emerge from these ashes to rule this world. Lau grit his teeth and slowly lowered his index finger onto the illuminated button.

  Chapter 54

  The dirt bike that Runa had commandeered outside of Alexandria ran out of fuel two miles from his destination. He grabbed his backpack full of food and water and proceeded north on foot. Runa kept a Mossberg 500 shotgun held at a low-ready. He had scavenged all of the items from abandoned vehicles and a police cruiser during his day-long jaunt. The sun was setting and he knew he’d be at a serious disadvantage soon. Runa picked up his pace and trotted the last quarter-mile to Will’s property, then squatted beside a series of currant bushes near the dirt road that led up to the front porch.

  He could see there were fresh vehicle tracks on the ground, but no signs of them departing. Runa squat-walked a short distance to a large elm tree, then sprinted to the weathered barn beside
the house. Peering in through the cracks in the weathered wood, he could see Will’s old ’72 Bronco, which had dust on the windshield, followed by a minivan that still had fresh mud clinging to the tire flaps.

  Runa moved to the edge of the barn and studied the back porch of the house. He saw several pairs of boot tracks going up the steps along with some smaller prints that indicated there were kids present. A few minutes later, he heard the back door squeak open, and a thin man in his twenties stepped outside. He was carrying a bucket and had a shiny AR with a red-dot scope slung over his shoulder. The man stepped off the porch and walked straight ahead to a water pump jutting up from the ground near some lilac bushes.

  Runa stepped out and moved to the corner of the house, out of view of the windows. Once the man had finished filling the bucket and was walking back, Runa aimed his shotgun and emitted a faint whistle.

  The man stopped in his tracks, water splashing onto his boots from the swaying bucket. His face went ashen and Runa could see that he was younger than he thought, maybe no more than seventeen.

  “Set that down and walk this way, keeping your hands in the air.”

  The trembling man lowered the bucket and shuffled forward until he was at the edge of the porch.

  “What’s your name, son?”

  He cleared his throat while replying in a brittle voice. “Jason.”

  “How many are inside?”

  The man darted his eyes around and then started to shift the AR slightly.

  “You reach for that and you’ll have a hole the size of a football in your chest.” He moved closer, thrusting the shotgun at the man’s sternum. “Now, how many?”

  “Four of us. Me, my friend Jody, and two others asleep inside.”

  Runa noticed the porch light flicker then go off, followed by a transformer sparkling on a nearby utility pole behind the house. A second later it blew out, hissing sparks upon the damp ground. A power outage now—what the hell?

  Runa heard the sound of shoes crunching over crisp leaves near the corner of the dilapidated barn. A blonde-haired woman dressed in jeans and a down jacket, also with a new AR on her shoulder, came into view. Both hands were jammed full of firewood. Runa narrowed his eyes when he glanced at the woman, who had just frozen in place, her face looking frostbitten. He lowered his shotgun slightly, then motioned for Jason to move over towards the woman.

  “Easy—we don’t want any trouble,” she said. “Like you, we’re just trying to stay alive.”

  Runa gave the woman a hard stare. Now he was sure he recognized the face, though it had been a while since he’d seen any recent photos.

  She cleared her throat. “Mister, this is my place and you’re welcome to help yourself to some water and food before you head off to wherever you’re going.”

  Runa lowered his shotgun. “Actually, it belongs to Will Reisner, and if I’m not mistaken he had a sister named Jody—am I right?”

  The thirty-something woman gave him a once-over with her eyes, her arms slowly lowering as she set down the firewood.

  “How do you know my brother?”

  “I’m a friend of Will’s. His boss, actually. Name’s Jonas Runa.”

  “So, you’re the guy that’s always sending him away on consulting trips?”

  “Is that what he told you?” Runa let out a slow smile, stepping into the light. “No, my dear, Will and I work for the CIA, and he just may hold the key to taking back our world.”

  Epilogue

  The lithe creature climbed up the twisted girders along the remnants of the Sixth Street Viaduct and paused at the halfway point to survey the surrounding regions around East Los Angeles. A few seconds later, it continued moving gracefully skyward until it snaked its way to a charred platform of concrete and steel. The bombing runs the air force had made in an effort to destroy the bridges and interstates in some of the larger U.S. cities had failed to contain the virus, and had instead prevented thousands of survivors from escaping. To the creature, it only meant more numbers that would feed its swelling ranks.

  From the platform, the creature stared to the west at the setting sun, which appeared as a red orb in the sky. It recalled a vague memory of the glowing sphere being a much less intense color, but the retinal changes in its vision since its transformation had accentuated everything in its world. Where once it was a sickly woman, now it was a being filled with unbounded energy and bristling senses that seemed to extend out beyond the shoreline. With its bare feet firmly planted, it looked down at its supple limbs, casting a gaze of familiarity at the strange red-and-black imprint on its inner forearm. The creature felt an affinity with the image, but its significance eluded its grasp. It clenched its spindly fingers into a fist and felt a surge of movement under the forearm that extended up beyond the shoulder to the throbbing mass at the base of its neck. With each ribbon-like movement under the muscles, a flood of electrical energy raced out from the cervical region.

  The deafening noise of movement below brought the creature’s attention to the cleared streets, the only occupants now standing in silence, gazing upward to its location. The creature looked at the faint trickle of water running through the aqueduct, following the flow to the massive sewers that led under the city, where each entrance was encircled with a half-mile-long pile of mangled vehicles that had been arranged as a fortification for the tunnels that were now home. The beast raised its arms, emitting a high-pitched shrill that echoed off the derelict buildings below until the piercing sound filled the city for miles in every direction. In reply, it felt the utterance of millions of others answering back, the base of the creature’s neck tingling with constant waves of satisfaction. A strident voice emerged from the depths of its being, a faint whisper at first, but then growing in strength and permeating the creature’s mind. Soon, the world will be ours.

  THE END

  Thank you for reading this book! I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This is the first book in the series, with many more challenges and adventures to come for Will Reisner and his team.

  If you are interested in my other post-apocalyptic or thriller books, please consider joining JT Sawyer’s Facebook page. If you would like to receive information on future book releases in the Emergence Series or wish to be a part of my reading team, please visit http://www.jtsawyer.com.

  Lastly, as an indie writer, your feedback is critical to continuing to refine my craft. If you wouldn’t mind posting a review on Amazon, I’d be grateful! Reviews make a world of difference in the life of a writer and help direct other readers to our works.

  Additional Titles by JT Sawyer

  First Wave Boxed Set

  Special Forces veteran Travis Combs just wanted to forget his weary years of leading combat missions while taking an extended rafting trip through the Grand Canyon. As he and his group complete a 22-day trip on the Colorado River, they find the world has unraveled from a deadly pandemic. Now, he has to show his small band how to live off the land and cross the rugged Arizona desert, while evading blood-drinking zombies, gangs of cartel bikers, and a rogue government agency. The bestselling First Wave Series is now available as a boxed set with all three action-packed volumes.

  Until Morning Comes, Volumes 1-5

  Secret Service Agent Carlie Simmons began her day surrounded by trusted colleagues in an inter-agency shooting competition in Tucson. It ended with a staggering body count as the world around her unraveled from a deadly virus. With her mission to extract the President’s daughter from the University of Arizona gone awry, she must choose between her sworn duties and her moral obligations to others as the city is overtaken by roving packs of flesh-eating mutants. If she and her small group are to survive the night and find a way out of the ravaged city, she will have to summon all of her training, mental prowess, and tactical abilities.

  Dead In Their Tracks: The Mitch Kearns Combat Tracker Series, Volumes 1-7

  Meet Mitch Kearns, a former Special Forces Combat Tracker who works for the FBI hunting d
own notorious criminals. Crossing paths with Israeli agent Dev Leitner, the two seasoned operators join forces to bring down terrorist cells, rogue assassins, and black-ops mercenaries in these adrenaline-soaked novels that span the globe.

  About the Author

  JT Sawyer is the pen name for Tony Nester, who makes his living teaching survival courses for the military special operations community, Department of Homeland Security, US Marshals, FAA, and other federal agencies throughout the U.S. He has over 27 years of experience testing long-term survival skills in the desert, mountains, and forest. He also served as a technical consultant for the film Into the Wild and has been featured on NBC News, Maxim, Discovery, Fox News, NY Times, and the Travel Channel.

  Non-Fiction Survival Books by Tony Nester (aka JT Sawyer):

  Survival Gear You Can Live With

  Bug-Out Gear for Travelers

  A Vehicle Survival Kit You Can Live With

  When the Grid Goes Down: Disaster Gear and Survival Preparations for Making Your Home Self-Reliant

  The Modern Hunter-Gatherer: A Practical Guide to Living Off the Land

  Bushcraft Tips & Tools

  Life Under Open Skies: Adventures in Bushcraft