by Tom Germann
No one at the table looked upset or as if this was unheard of. They simply accepted it and were planning for the survival of the people and the party.
At the end of the presentation, the major updated the numbers expected to survive the infection. “Comrade Chairman, the new estimates are that forty million of the people will survive this infection. On the positive side, the military was able to secure more provisions and supplies than originally planned for and we will be in a better position when it is time to take back the Motherland.”
The chairman nodded at the major. “Major, please stay behind. I have some issues I would like to discuss with you. Can you tell us how the colonel is doing in the infirmary?”
The major responded carefully. “The colonel will likely recover consciousness in the next week, according to the doctors. His bravery in standing on the front line during the attack on this base showed the power of the people and inspired our young soldiers to greater feats in stopping the rebel unit.”
The chairman nodded again. “I would expect no less from a hero of the people. Gentlemen, please excuse us.” Everyone else stood up to leave and started to file out while the major held the door open. After the last man exited the room, the major closed the door.
The chairman spoke quickly and there was no hesitation in his voice. “Major, report on the projects that are ongoing.”
The major nodded. “Project Zeus is secure and all personnel are in location. They have supplies for years if they are careful and the airfields are useable. Project Poseidon has been secured since before the outbreak. They have never been exposed and may have a problem if a vaccine cannot be developed. They have sufficient supplies to last for a very long time. Project Island Tiki is isolated and was already self- sufficient. They have had some outbreaks of infection but they are under control.”
Here the major paused, as if thinking of how to say what came next. “Comrade Chairman, Project Prometheus Burns is secured. Yet their project manager continues to make demands for more personnel and supplies as if nothing is going on. Some personnel tasked with ensuring security have stopped reporting. Others are asking for intervention as they have concerns about the professor’s stability.” He stopped talking and reverted to standing stiffly at attention while staring at the far wall.
The chairman considered him. “Maintain overwatch on all the projects and let me know immediately if anything changes on any of them. Especially on Prometheus. Do nothing and simply continue monitoring the professor. He is loyal to the party, even if he is insane. Carry on, major.”
The major saluted stiffly and then left the room, closing the door quietly. The chairman considered the closed door and sat there reviewing his thoughts.
OUTSIDE FREETDORF
Gabe looked at Billy and the rest of the people that had followed him out of New York all those weeks ago. He felt the ache in his bones. The weeks had seemed like months and he couldn’t remember the last time he had been able to have a good night’s sleep.
They all looked exhausted, and rightly so. They had just made it out of New York ahead of full martial law. And they had only been down the road when martial law had started to fall apart.
Within two days of the blockade being closed, the city fell. That damn flu was everywhere, including behind the lines. As they had slowly walked away from the city, people had started turning all around them.
No one had known what to do. But they had learned real fast. Freddy had been bitten by an infected person and they had just caved that poor soul’s head in. Freddy had turned a few hours later. Everyone thought that he had gone insane, but he had smelled bad – real bad. Gabe and Billy had caved his head in then to stop him from biting and infecting anyone else. Two of the boys had left then, as they couldn’t take it and called them murderers.
But the rest had kept walking.
They had known what to do then. They just hadn’t realized how bad the infection was – or what it really was.
The infection was from hell. Gabe hadn’t said anything to the others as he was old-fashioned, but there was no other way to explain what was causing people to die and come back as monsters.
After the first five days, they were all armed with whatever they could find and were walking along the road. They had been passing a small house off to the side when one of the creatures had come lunging out at them. Tim had been there and hadn’t hesitated. He had smashed that little old man down. All the dockworkers were big men. Tim had been no different.
But when he’d finished smashing down the man, he was covered in blood. He must have swallowed some as he started getting sick almost immediately. They hadn’t known what to do, so they let Tim come with them. Maybe they had hoped that he would get better. They certainly couldn’t have left him behind to attack someone else if he turned.
And turn he did. Billy had been getting himself ready to take care of Tim when Gabe came in from the side and caved Tim’s head in just behind the ear. Gabe had saved Billy the job of killing a friend. Instead, Gabe had killed a friend.
At least Gabe knew that he wasn’t an innocent like some of these kids.
They had been even more careful after that. Some places had seemed untouched while others were overrun. Everyone seemed to be heading to Freetdorf, as the government had called for an evacuation by the bulk carrier trains to the interior, where the old wartime industrial sector still ticked over.
It was getting harder to move ahead as there were more and more infected out there.
Yet they had been lucky in the way that only the damned can be. They had come to a small town that had been overrun, yet there were no infected left. The group had walked through the abandoned town and gone into a sporting goods store. Baseball bats were a nice find. But they had also found six crossbows and over three hundred bolts for them, along with quivers. Nice and quiet.
They had also found some food in the corner grocery and then the school. Gabe didn’t want to think about where the kids were or what had happened to them. The blood spray everywhere still gave him nightmares and likely would until he was dead.
But the school had an old bus. Most of these smaller schools had a bus driver that could do spot repairs to the vehicles to keep them running. There had been a small garage at the back and inside they found keys and everything needed to keep the bus running for a few weeks. Even enough fuel to fill her up twice over.
So they had driven off in the bus. It had saved their feet and probably their lives as there were a lot of infected on the way to Freetdorf. They hadn’t seen any other survivors that would come near them, and now in Freetdorf, they were slowly driving through an industrial section looking for an army outpost that was supposed to be here somewhere, according to some billboards they had seen on the highway driving in.
They were low on gas and tired. The area looked like some sort of fire had happened recently in several of the buildings, and they really wanted to find some soldiers and stop running. A meal and chance to get out to the old wartime sector would be welcome.
Gabe was standing next to Slick, the young kid who had always bragged he could drive anything and was doing a good job doing just that. He was keeping an eye out for anything that looked like a military outpost and wasn’t seeing much.
They were coming out of the burnt areas when two soldiers stepped out in front of the bus.
Slick carefully stopped the old bus so the brakes didn’t screech, and as the bus settled, he opened the door. Gabe stepped out with his hands up.
There were more soldiers that he could see in cover and there was someone in charge. If he only remembered those ranks. That’s it! A captain. A tall, skinny man looking stressed out. Gabe stopped walking forward and waited for the soldiers to tell him what to do. They didn’t look bloodthirsty; they just looked tired.
The captain looked him over. “How many people with you, and do you have any supplies?”
Gabe cleared his throat. “There are eight of us; no one is bitten or infected. We onl
y have a few cans of food left that we scavenged from a village down the road. We’re mighty glad to see you, sir.”
The captain kept looking him over and then nodded. “You’re lucky, then; a column is coming through in a few days and we have enough food. Follow us. We need to get that large, very loud bus off the street and into one of the old industrial buildings here. We are going to have lots of infected here soon enough. I don’t think an old bus like that could have carried on for much longer in this cold weather we’ve been having; you must be lucky.”
The Captain turned and walked down the road and the rest of the soldiers slowly fell back with him. Gabe turned and boarded the bus, and looked at everyone’s expectant face.
“Slick, drive nice and slow. We’re going to hide the bus inside somewhere and hopefully eat and get some rest. A convoy is due in a few days.”
The door to the bus closed creakingly and then it jerked into motion, moving slowly down the road.
NOW
The room was full of stale smoke. It was almost as if the vent fans had given up trying to keep up with all the meetings held by the committee.
There was a knocking at the door, and after a second it opened and the major stepped in, holding himself rigidly at attention. The door closed behind him quietly. His eyes never moved from a spot he had chosen on the far wall, and his body never moved except for his mouth. “Excuse me, Comrade Chairman. You ordered me to report to you directly here immediately if anything happened with any of the…” Here his voice became hesitant. “…projects.”
The chairman looked at the major, and the major continued after a second. “After the power interruption that happened, I have technicians monitoring the power usage from the different facilities. Ten minutes ago Prometheus Burns overloaded and absorbed all available power for five minutes. The facility appears to be back to normal, but there is no response from the personnel at that base. Iron Guard personnel are not answering. I would send a spotter plane to attempt to contact the base, but would need your permission, comrade.”
The chairman nodded and looked at the notepad on the table in front of him. “Major, there is no need to send a plane. Resources are limited for now. If they communicate with us, then they do. They may have been overrun, or it could simply be a breakdown in communication. Put the thought from your head and carry on doing the good job that you have been doing so far.”
The major came to an even more rigid attention. “Yes, Comrade Chairman.” He turned, opened the door, and left, closing it after him.
The chairman paused and then went back to watching the recessed view screens that were in the wall; only he could see them, thanks to filters. He pushed the button under the table and they came back to life, showing different shots of the base in the distance and also of the many hallways within.
He considered what he was seeing and thought of the impact that this would have on the future.
The images of the personnel moving around the base had suddenly changed. Just over ten minutes ago everyone had started running. A few had made it to the safe rooms while most others had run to leave the base.
When the power draw had started, the camera feed had been interrupted for the duration.
When the cameras came back online fully, they showed vastly different images. There was no one left in the base. The walls were not breached, the gates were sealed, and armoured vehicles were still in position. Several personnel were running.
The inside showed no movement and the few cameras in the safe rooms showed that they were empty even though they were sealed and impregnable.
He had seen the limited movement in the halls.
The base would stay as it was for now. They could address the issue later.
For a second the chairman considered the final option: having artillery fire on and destroy the base, then have bomber command drop some of their atomic bombs on it to ensure sterilization.
But they would need those items for later. If they could take back the region and then secure the base, there were other scientists that could perhaps follow in the madman’s footsteps, but more carefully.
The chairman switched the feed off and stood up. It was time to get some rest. After all, there were years of work to finish.
END
AUTHOR’S NOTES
I wrote the first book of Zombie Transference and had a story arc done for the entire series very quickly. It was like the series wanted to be written.
This prequel shows the beginning of when things go wrong. In this world there are no zombie horror movies and a great deal of disbelief. Most of their technology is not that advanced either.
Now so you are aware. I don’t want someone reading this and then buying the entire series and they are upset because they don’t see how the Soviet survives with tales of the bases, cities and chairman and what they do. This book shows the start at ground zero. The series is set in a slightly alternate USA, on the East coast and then central.
I hope you enjoyed!
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Other books that I are currently available for sale on Amazon include:
Zombie Transference
The Service Centre
Corporate Marines
Video Game Recruiting
Welcome To The Marines
First Deployment
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Have a great day and enjoy the season!
