by Brad Knight
Some of the corpses washed up ashore. Their mangled bodies tossed by the tide and roasted by the sun. A couple of the boats were still anchored in the wet sand. Others slowly floated away.
Never in his life had General Xin seen so many flies in one place. It was as if a memo went out in the fly kingdom telling them all to converge at that particular beach. He didn't want to venture into their swarm but had to.
Why that box? What was so important, Dr. Ivanova? General Xin eyed the red box that was still on the same boat it was the night before.
Determined to make some kind of sense of the disaster that was the past week, General Xin headed down the hill to the beach. He hoped that maybe in that red box were some answers. If not, at least he tried. In his experience, trying, the effort, was important.
At first, General Xin tried to swat away the flies. It didn't take him long to realize that all his swatting was useless. He raised one hand to his brow and used it the same way people do when shielding their eyes from the sun.
Xin grabbed the red metal box. It wasn't heavy. A lack of food, water and sleep made it more hefty than it actually was. The man was a soldier though. There were no complaints.
It would be best to open this up out of view. General Xin dropped the red metal box he retrieved from one of the boats into the sand at the base of the small hill. Like a predator before eating it's kill, he looked around to make sure he was alone.
There were a couple of combination locks on the red box. Instead of trying to guess what the combo was, he bashed them with the butt of his gun. It took a couple of blows but they opened.
What are these? Put any gun or military schematic in front of General Xin and he could instantly identify it. Science and chemistry were a bit out of his comfort range. There was a vial inside a container inside another cylindrical container, that was nestled in thick foam padding.
Judging from the amount of protective measures inside the red metal box, it was clear that whatever it was, was important. General Xin knew he couldn't just leave it. Something that important would be safe with him.
There was no way to conceal and carry the big tube. It was about two or three times as thick as a paper towel roll and just as long. If he just put it under his shirt or in his pocket, people would start asking questions and he'd have no answers for them.
First I need to get that out. General Xin examined the small vial in the middle of the containers. He fiddled around with it, trying to find any way to open it up. The problem was he couldn't find one and it was frustrating.
“The top.” General Xin heard Dr. Ivanova's voice. She carefully made her way down the hill. Her feet had trouble finding any stable ground amongst all the sand.
General Xin looked over at her with one eyebrow raised.
“There's a finger print scanner on the top of the container.” Dr. Ivanova made it to the beach in one piece.
General Xin put his thumb on the indent on top of the container. A little red light shone under the hard black plastic. That light was accompanied by a beep.
“I'm sorry, General, but you're not authorized.” Dr. Ivanova held out her hand hoping that Xin would hand over the container. He just stared at her.
“What is it?”
“I'm afriad I can't tell you that, General. It's classified.”
“But you know what it is, yes?”
“I do.”
General Xin held the container down near his side. “I will ask again. What is it? You tell me, I hand it over. You don't and I toss it into the Gulf.” Both of his eyes were locked onto the doctor. His face showed no emotion. He was a statue.
She sighed. “It can end this. All of it. That's as much as I can tell you. Now will you give it to me or will you damn what remains of humanity?” Dr. Ivanova kept her hand outstretched.
General Xin handed over the container. “If I find out this is something other than you say, I will kill you myself. No more hiding things. No more secrets. Understood?”
Dr. Ivanova took the container. “Mrs. Meesang is waiting for us. It's time to leave.”
Xin followed Ivanova back up the hill. As the doctor said, Meesang was waiting for them with a small convoy of trucks. All of the remains of the General's men and women were packed in them ready to get the hell away from the death, sand and waves.
“Let's get going. All this noise is going to attract some unwanted guests. Best to get back to Borroloola.” Mrs. Meesang stood outside the lead truck. General Xin gave Dr. Ivanova one last glance, showcasing his mistrust, and got in.
The drive to Borroloola wasn't far. General Xin watched the tropical savannah landscape speed past his window. How can anything survive here? There's nothing but grass, sand and dirt. It is a wasteland. He knew about wastelands.
General Xin grew up in the deserts of Northern China. When he left he promised himself that he'd never again step foot in one again. Was Northern Australia technically a desert? No. But it was about as close as you can get.
There were signs of life every now and then. Cars and trucks were abandoned at the side of the road. Small neighborhoods smoldered. Gas stations with empty pumps lay subject to the harsh elements.
“Due to the remote nature of Australia, it took longer for the nanite virus to get here. The reports from China and India informed us on what to expect. We had plenty of warning and time to prepare.” Mrs. Meesang talked as they traveled to the Borroloola base.
I hoped that we would have beaten it here. If not, be in time to save some of those who were left. But it looks like this place is as dead as any other. Is this the end for us? Is this where we go extinct? General Xin was disappointed by what he saw out the truck window, though he didn't show it. He couldn't. That wasn't what leaders did.
“We eliminated and burned any infected and homes within a thirty mile radius in every direction in hopes that it'll give us and our base a bit of a safe zone. That failed. The infected are willing to travel. They came in from hundreds of miles, attracted by the smell of the living, I guess.”
“So this area is not secure?” asked General Xin, still staring out the window.
“Unfortunately no. The base is though. We should be there in a couple of minutes. You can check it out yourself. Perhaps that would put your mind at ease.”
General Xin didn't answer. He struggled to keep his eyes open. The man hadn't slept a wink for days. Most of Mrs. Meesang's words went in one ear and out the other.
The convoy of trucks reached Borroloola. It was a very small town. Before the outbreak it only had a population of less than a thousand. Tourism and the McArthur River Mine were the only real sources of income.
Erected next to the McArthur River was a compound of rather plain looking buildings. Surrounding them was several layers of fences, not unlike those in Shanghai. Eight watch towers looked out over the landscape and provided a view that extended out to the Gulf of Carpenteria. The men posted in them had large caliber guns to defend the base with.
The convoy of trucks stopped about fifty feet from the first layer of fences. Four armed guards in Phoenix uniforms approached the vehicles. On their backs they had hefty looking packs with all manner of wires sticking out.
“Please exit the vehicle,” ordered one of the armed guards.
“What is this?” asked General Xin.
“Relax, General. It's standard protocol,” replied Mrs. Meesang with a smile as she got out.
This may have been a mistake. General Xin reluctantly stepped out. One of the guards had something in his hand that looked like a portable grocery scanner. He waved it over the General's body. It was not unlike someone with a metal detector wand.
“Clear,” said the guard who scanned General Xin. The same was echoed from the other side of the truck and Mrs. Meesang. With the drivers taken care of, they moved on to the rest of the passengers.
Each man and woman in the truck convoy was scanned individually. It was time consuming. More than one of the new arrivals lost their patience, but there were
no incidents.
Sensing General Xin own impatience, Mrs. Meesang felt it necessary to let him know what was going on. If for nothing else, an easing of tensions. “They're scanning for any signs of infection.”
That is... actually impressive. “We did not even have anything like that in Shanghai.”
“Unlike Shanghai we don't have many distractions here. Our labs aren't as advanced as those in the walled city but our techs were able to put those back together. I'm no scientist so I can't go real deep into the technical aspects. From what I know they look for the faint signals that each nanite sends to each other in order to communicate. As far as how? I don't have a clue. Looks like they're just about done.” Mrs. Meesang explained the purpose of the strange packs on the guards backs.
“You sure they work?” asked Xin as he watched the last of his men get scanned.
“We haven't had an outbreak in the base so they work well enough. C'mon, let's get back in. They're waving us though.”
General Xin joined Meesang in the truck. They slowly drove past the guards and the layers of fences. Before reaching the front gate there was a very deep and wide moat. What was strange about the moat was the barbed wire on the bottom and the wires attached to them.
“Those are to keep out the infected wildlife. We attached some leads wired to all the car batteries we could find. If anything touches the barbed wire, they immediately get electrocuted.” The smile never left Mrs. Meesang's face.
“That is some strategic thinking by a politician.” General Xin referred to the fact that before Phoenix, and before the outbreak, Meesang was indeed a politician. She was part of the Thai Prime Minister's cabinet. When the world went to hell, she did what any good politician would do, she survived. An invite to a coalition of Asian governments was too good an opportunity to pass up.
“Oh, I didn't come up with it,” laughed Mrs. Meesang. “That was Yamada's doing.”
“Your head of security?” asked General Xin.
“My husband. We don't have a head of security here. Everyone learns to shoot. Everyone takes turns up in the towers. Everyone pulls guard duty.”
“But you are in charge?”
“I was voted in. I don't have any real power. All I do is make some tough decisions every now and then. For that burden I get some privileges.”
That is ridiculous. How in the hell can you not have any real structure? This place should not still stand. The world that General Xin came from couldn't have been more different than the Borroloola base. Rigid was the best way to describe his life up to that point.
Xin's father was a career military man. His mother was a university teacher. As you might expect from parents like them, his upbringing was strict. If he was anything less than in the top five in his class, he was punished. Despite not being as smart as the others, he worked hard enough to consistently be a great student.
General Xin's parents forced him to work as soon as he was able. His young life consisted of school, home work, actual work then sleep. There was no time for friends or relationships outside of his house. Why? Because his parents didn't approve of anything outside of routine. Order was the key to success. That way of life never faded. It actually got more intense as he got older and joined the party and the army.
A life of rigidity, rules and structure made the Phoenix Borroloola base look like a hippie commune through General Xin's eyes. There were people tending gardens. Residents walked around in casual clothes. Those that wore uniforms wore them sloppy and loose. What bothered him the most? Their smiles.
It wasn't that General Xin was a particularly miserable person. He just came from a life where he and the other residents of Shanghai were assaulted daily. Fighting for their lives was an every day occurrence.
“Here we are,” said Mrs. Meesang after parking her truck. She turned off the engine. “I'll give you the grand tour.”
While getting out of Meesang's truck, General Xin looked back at the one that carried Dr. Ivanova. He hadn't forgotten about the vial full of the unknown substance that she was so insistent on not telling him what it was. One way or another he was determined to find out it's contents.
A studious looking man with a bald spot on the top of his head, flanked by long gray hair came out to greet Dr. Ivanova, She handed him the mystery container. They both headed inside one of the buildings in the compound together.
If I can not get answers out of her, I will get them out of him. And I will not have to be as gentle. General Xin watched the gray haired man and Dr. Ivanova until they were inside and out of view. He made a mental note of which particular building they entered. All those memorizations and studying drills his mother put him through became useful yet again in his life.
“Everything okay?” asked Mrs. Meesang.
“Everything is fine,” replied General Xin. He turned his attention to his host.
“Good, follow me.”
***
Finally. After showing him around the base, Mrs. Meesang showed General Xin to his room. He waited until she closed the door behind her to start undressing. Every article of clothing, except for his beater, boxers and dress socks were meticulously folded and placed on the night stand. His shoes were put right next to the side of the bed.
Within minutes of getting into bed, Xin was fast asleep. After all he'd been through, he earned a little rest. It was unfortunate that it was only a little.
In one of the guard towers, facing the Gulf, a young resident of Borroloola base climbed up the ladder to start her shift. Her rifle, that she just learned to shoot a couple weeks earlier, was slung behind her shoulder. And she wasn't thrilled about having to stare out into the darkness for hours on end.
Being in the watchtowers was better than being on the ground guarding the front gates. It wasn't nearly as dangerous. On foot they'd have to worry about infected humans, lizards and the most insidious and lethal out there in the dark, the snakes.
The guard in the tower went through the same routine she did whenever on duty. Long periods of daydreaming and talking to herself were interrupted by her checking the area through a worn pair of night vision goggles. It was tedious but the price to pay if she wanted to be part of the community.
Most of her time was spent thinking about the life she once had. Back before the outbreak she lived in Albany, Australia with her parents and two little brothers. Things were good. Funny thing was, she used to hate her life. To her it was boring. Now all she wanted was to go back to that same slow boredom.
The guard in the tower had a hard time keeping both of her eyes open. She knew the day before that she was going to have to pull an overnight the next night. So she planned on sleeping during the day so she'd be alert and awake when she was tasked with watching over the base.
Sleeping was strongly discouraged while on guard duty. The last guard to get some shut eye in one of the watch towers found themselves cleaning out the moats for a week, by themselves. That man's ordeal encouraged everyone else not to slip up during their shift.
The guard in the tower slowly felt herself submit to the Sandman. She caught herself each time, but just barely. Then she saw something in the sky that woke her up.
After picking up her night vision goggles, and taking a look, she was shocked. She couldn't remember the last time she'd seen a plane in the sky. The one she spotted through the goggles flew low, really low. It flew only fifty feet or so over the Phoenix Borroloola base.
Everything in the base shook as the 787 flew overhead. The noise was enough to wake everyone up, including General Xin.
The guard in the tower kept watching the 787 through a green night vision filter. She could see that there was a huge hole in the side of the plane. Various objects flew out, such as papers and other miscellaneous items.
With a very loud boom, akin to a bomb explosion, the 787 crashed into the ground several miles from the Borroloola base. Soon after hitting the sandy dirt, there was an explosion that lit up the pitch black North Australian night. It lit up th
e guard's night vision goggles causing her to throw them away for the sake of her eyes.
General Xin popped up out of his bed. All the noise from the 787 flying over so low was what woke him. He didn't know what the noise was. Then he heard the sound of it crashing. That got him scrambling to get dressed. Lastly there was the explosion. By then he knew that a good night's sleep would have to wait.
Chapter 9
: Maluku
“Next stop, paradise!” said a voice over the Haven public announcement system. There were cheers from the crew. Mack, Amber and Stephanie's were quiet.
Paradise? What the hell do they mean? Where are we going? Mack stared up at the bottom of the bunk above him. In it laid Stephanie.
Amber was up on the deck, helping out in the gardens. Mack wasn't crazy about being separated from his teenage ward. But she needed something to occupy her time. Plus they all needed to work in order to earn their keep.
Stephanie worked in the infirmary. Her medical background definitely came in handy and was much needed on the freighter. During her shifts she was open to hearing what her fellow Haven residents had to say about God and the role of religion on the vessel. That worried Mack. When he looked he saw a bunch of fanatical cultists. She saw good people and a ray of light in a dark world.
Mack was asked to produce a newsletter for the Haven crew. The job was offered after he told Jeanine about what he did for a living while civilization still existed. True, he wasn't a writer or journalist but he decided to do it anyway.
Typing a newsletter every couple of days wasn't hard. The most laborious part was finding something to report on. Majority of each letter consisted of rants from Jeanine he transcribed.
Mack swung his feet off the bed and onto the cold floor. He yawned and managed to summon enough energy and will to stand up. After he stretched his back he looked over at Stephanie. She was reading. It was a black book with large gold letters that read “Bible”.
Really, Stephanie? Now you find God? Good timing. Mack wanted to confront her but in the end realized that he had no say in what she did or didn’t choose to believe. Plus it was fight he couldn't win. How can you disprove faith?
