Levi looked down at George.
He could feel the stubby tail smacking against his side as he made eye contact with George.
“I’d put a muzzle on him but he doesn’t have a nose,” Levi grinned.
As they rounded the back of the restaurant, they could see the other members of the wedding party entering from a side parking lot.
Three little girls came running up to Levi, “Can we play with George?”
“Well I don’t know…..,” Levi began to answer.
Jamie grabbed George from under Levi’s arm and smiled as she held him out to the girls, “Sure, just don’t let him out of your sight and make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble.”
“OK,” the girls giggled as George wiggled in their arms and licked at their faces after taking a big swatch of icing off the cupcake one of the girls was holding.
They all turned and scurried away with George.
“I don’t know if that was a good idea,” Levi said looking worried as he followed the girls and George with his eyes.
“I needed a break,” Jamie said. “Come on, let’s go talk with Logan and Jamie.”
Logan and Jamie were standing over by the bar, talking with some of the bridesmaids.
It was a cool evening, a gentle breeze made the leaves sway above. The sky was beginning to grow dark. The little LED lights in the branches made the white table cloths glow softly. It was a comfortable outdoor romantic atmosphere.
A preview of the wedding reception to come tomorrow night.
A setting worthy of having its own photo album.
Jamie looked at Levi as they walked in to join the crowd, “Why did Logan have to marry a girl with the name Jamie? When someone says Jamie, how will anyone know who they are talking about? Maybe we can have her change how she spells her name or we could call her Jamie #2 or something. I can be Jamie #1.”
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” Levi smiled. “Everyone will call her Jamie and they will call you Mom, at least for a while. In a few months, I have an idea they will start calling you Grandma.”
“I like Jamie #1 better,” Jamie smiled then added, “Grandpa.”
Levi and Jamie mingled and talked for twenty minutes before the waitress came out and asked that everyone please be seated because the pizza and salad would be served shortly.
Levi was surprised to see that half of the wedding party had arrived for the rehearsal dinner after he did.
“I thought we were late again,” Levi said as he looked around at the arriving guests.
“Sorry Dad,” Logan smiled, “We ran into a little problem with Jamie’s wedding dress and I had to change to dinner time to 6:30. I’m sorry I didn’t have a chance to tell you. I hope it wasn’t too inconvenient.”
Levi grinned, “No it was fine.”
Levi and Logan laughed knowingly.
They were interrupted when Jamie walked up to Levi.
“I saved us a seat next to Jimmy and his family,” Jamie said. “They just arrived and I told them it was OK for them to sit at our table. Lottie and Matt are already at the table. Let’s go eat before Matt eats all the pizza.”
“See you later Dad,” Logan said. “Tell Jimmy I’ll bring Jamie over a little later to meet him.”
Levi and Jamie turned and had taken only a few steps towards their table when the three little girls that had taken George earlier, walked up to them.
“My Mommy said we had to give George back to you,” the one girl said.
“Yeah, he isn’t allowed at our table anymore,” the second little girl added.
Levi reached out to take George but stopped for a moment and laughed to himself.
George’s head and face were covered with tomato sauce.
A half-eaten piece of pepperoni was stuck to the top of his head. Some lettuce was stuck to the ranch salad dressing that was smeared down his side. Something, Levi was not sure what, was caked to his paws.
“It looks like George got into some trouble,” Levi said.
“No, he got into the pizza,” the little girl replied.
Levi grabbed a large white cloth napkin from a passing waitress, wrapped it around the little French Bulldog and took him from the little girl’s hands.
“Thanks,” the little girl said as the three girls turned and ran back to their table.
“Well, George, how are you going to top this one tomorrow at the wedding,” Jamie asked.
Levi laughed, “If they stick with the plan to let George follow Jamie up the aisle to the alter, George could end up wearing more of the wedding dress than Jamie by the time they get to the alter. It could be an interesting wedding ceremony.”
Jamie grabbed George and the napkin, which he had already started to eat, from Levi and started walking towards the restaurant.
“Hey, where are you going?” Levi asked.
“George is going to get a bath before he comes to our table,” Jamie shouted back over her shoulder.
“Where are you going to give him a bath?” Levi asked.
“In the fountain, out front,” Jamie replied, “You go keep Jimmy company. I’ll be back in a little bit.”
“No way,” Levi laughed, “I don’t want to miss this.”
Chapter 7
Charlie walked into the room as Eric sat at the computer, reviewing the video of their excursion into the observation room with Joe.
“Look at this,” Eric said, “He detected us as soon as we entered the room. Look at his face as he started at us. He wanted us. His expression changed to, if I had to assign an emotion to it, it would be one of pure hate.”
“It looked like he was trying to bite us,” Charlie replied.
“Tell me about it,” Eric said. “Those bloody teeth were only inches from my face.”
Joe staggered around in front of the mirror.
He had resumed pounding against the mirror moments after Eric and Charlie left the room.
A two-foot section of the broken broom stick was still sticking out of his back. A dark red liquid oozed out of the wound and was soaked up by the jump suit Joe wore.
A blank lifeless expression was on his face.
He showed no signs of pain or discomfort.
“I can’t understand why during all of this,” Eric said as he re-watched the video feed of the entire event again for the fifth time, “his vital signs readouts never changed. According to the readouts, it was as if nothing had happened.”
“How did he know we were there and why did he attack us like that?” Charlie asked.
“I don’t know. It wasn’t by what I would call any normal senses. I don’t believe his sense of hearing or smell can function. It was as if something in him sensed us,” Eric replied as he continued to study the monitor. “But we definitely triggered something in him.”
“Did you finish running tests on the bits of tissue and blood we took from our Hazmat suits?” Charlie asked.
“Yeah, I just finished up a few minutes ago,” Eric replied.
“Anything?” Charlie asked. “I’m really curious to know if there were any signs of the cells burning themselves out.”
“No, they didn’t look any different than the blood cells I first injected with the agent,” Eric answered. “I was really curious about that too. The idea of a self-destructing biological agent seemed to make sense the more I thought about it, but Joe’s infected cells looked no different than the first cells I tested. It was also interesting to see that the original cells I had tested were not showing any signs of dying. Regular blood cells by themselves will die minutes after being placed on a slide. The first cells I tested are still just as active as the ones we collected from Joe.”
“We collected from Joe,” Charlie laughed out loud. “I guess possibly the time limited theory is off the table for now. That takes us back to the dead soldier that can’t be killed theory. The military really sat up and took notice when I mentioned that.”
“I know I should have never uploaded the video to them,” Er
ic said sounding disgusted. “What time will they be here?”
“They will have a transport here in about twenty minutes,” Charlie answered. “I told them we were just getting started and needed more time. They said we have two other subjects to work with, they wanted to take a closer look at Joe for themselves, now.”
“Damn it, that puts us back to square one,” Eric said. “Just when we were starting to make some progress at determining the characteristics of this thing, we have to start with a new subject.”
“At least we have the samples we obtained from Joe to study and compare to our next subject. We also have an idea what to expect,” Charlie said. “This all won’t be for nothing. We have gathered some useful information.”
“I was hoping to avoid infecting another subject,” Eric said. “Subjecting a living person to this agent seems unethical. Being subjected to this substance is inhumane. I know these guys were on death row, but this condition is worse than death.”
“Hey, they were going to die anyhow,” Charlie replied, “Joe doesn’t seem to be in any pain. In fact, he doesn’t look like he is feeling anything. Besides, if these subjects enable us to find a defense against whatever this is, think of how many lives it could save. Could you imagine this stuff infecting an entire city? The sooner we can figure this out, the fewer people that will die, in one way or another.”
“I know,” Eric said. “I know we have to do it this way whether we like it or not,” Eric sighed, “So let’s get started.”
The sound of someone tapping against the door to the room interrupted the conversation.
“It’s OK,” Eric shouted at the door, “come on in.”
An intern stuck his head in the doorway, “The men from the Air Force are here.”
“Thanks Dave,” Charlie replied, “tell them we will be there in a moment.”
The intern nodded and disappeared back into the hallway.
“Where are they taking him?” Eric asked then chuckled. “Area 51.”
Charlie laughed, “No, from what I understand, they are taking him up to Lake Arrowhead.”
“Lake Arrowhead?” Eric asked looking surprised, “What, do they think that after a relaxing week at the lake Joe will tell them what they want to know. Why are they taking him to a resort?”
“They aren’t taking him to the resort,” Charlie answered. “The military built a lab in the San Bernardino Mountains near Lake Arrowhead. I believe San Bernardino Trucking is the front for the lab. I guess they figured that hiding the lab in plain sight in the mountains was a good way to hide what they were doing. Who knows.”
“Military intelligence,” Eric said sarcastically. “Oh well, that’s not our problem. Let’s go get this over with and get back to work.”
Eric and Charlie got up and left the lab. They walked down the hallway past the observation room where they could still hear Joe pounding against the walls in the room.
They exited the hallway and went into the front office where two men in blue uniforms stood waiting.
One of the men had a pole with a noose on the end of it.
It looked like they had stopped at the local animal shelter on the way to pick up one of the devices dog catchers used to catch and control stray dogs.
The men were talking but stopped and faced Eric and Charlie as they entered the room.
They were both slightly built young men. Eric was sure that they would not be the men that would be analyzing Joe when they got him to their facility.
It was obvious that the Air Force didn’t expect transporting the subject to be a very complex operation.
“Hi Docs,” the smaller of the two men said and smiled, “we’re here to transport the subject to the base. Is he ready to go?”
“As ready as he is ever going to be,” Eric replied. “Is it just the two of you? You are aware that he isn’t going to go quietly.”
“Just the two of us,” the same man answered. “The Sergeant said the guy was crazy and gave us this noose to control him until we got him to our vehicle.”
“I hope you aren’t planning on letting him ride in the back seat of your car?” Eric asked.
“No, we brought an MP van from the motor pool,” the guy answered. “We are going to put him in the back of the van.”
Eric sighed, “Follow me.”
They led the two men back to their lab.
“That’s him in the observation room,” Charlie said as he pointed at the two-way mirror.”
“What happened to him?” the first man asked.
“He looks like he just escaped from a funeral home,” the other man added. “What’s that sticking out of his back?”
“He has been exposed to a biological agent,” Eric replied. “I think you should wear a Hazmat suit when you take him to your vehicle. That thing sticking out of his back is part of a broom stick. Charlie had to spear him with it to get me out of the room after I was attacked.”
“And he likes to bite,” Charlie said, “so watch yourself and don’t let him get his face close to you.”
The two men from the Air Force stared at Joe in amazement, “Why isn’t he dead?”
“That what we are trying to determine,” Eric replied, “but your superiors decided they wanted to transfer him to your facilities before we were able to determine the answer to that question.”
“I’ll go grab a couple of suits,” Charlie said and left the room.
“How dangerous is this guy?” the second man asked.
“Dangerous,” Eric replied, “How dangerous I can’t say for sure. Just watch him. If Charlie hadn’t intervened, he would have probably inflicted some serious bite wounds on me.”
Is he contagious?” the first man asked.
“Determining that factor was going to be our next test,” Eric replied. “I would proceed as if he were if I were you. There is more we don’t know about him than we know. I just wish your commander would have given us a few more days before taking him, but I guess it is what it is. Again, just be extremely vigilant until he is secured at your facility.”
“You got it Doc,” the man answered. Both men were starting to look concerned.
Charlie came back in the room a moment later wearing a Hazmat suit.
“Here, put these on,” Charlie said. “I’ve had a little experience here, so I’ll go into the room first and put the lasso around his neck then the rest is up to you.”
“Thanks Doc,” the smaller of the two men replied. “Doc here has been filling us in on this guy. I was beginning to wish they had sent a little more muscle with us on this trip.”
When the men had finished putting on their suits, one of the men went out to open the back of the van as Charlie
led the other man towards the observation room.
Eric turned his attention back to the computer screen to watch the video of their trip into the observation room, for the sixth time. There was something about the way Joe looked at him and Charlie when they entered the room.
Eric hadn’t noticed it before, maybe because he was too consumed with fear when it first happened, then remembering the fear he relived each time he had re-watched the video, but he noticed it this time.
When Joe got close to Charlie he couldn’t see it, but on the video when Joe cornered him, and grabbed on to Eric’s arms, the amount of dark red spittle coming from Joe’s mouth seemed to increase.
It reminded Eric of a rattle snake getting ready to strike. When a rattlesnake got ready to strike, the venom in its fangs would begin to drip from the fangs, as if in preparation to inject the poison into their victim.
It gave him an idea and Eric wrote this observation down.
All he could think of at the time it was happening was that Joe was acting like a rabid dog and wanted to bite his head off. But as he watched the video, an idea crossed his mind. The desire to bite his head off was only part of it. The biting could only be what Eric had been distracted with and not the purpose of what Joe was trying to achieve.
Eric
looked up as he tried to think this through, but he was distracted when he saw the door in the observation room open.
He put down his pen and watched as Charlie moved into the room.
Joe had already turned and was focused on the door. He had begun staggering towards the door before Charlie had made it fully into the room.
Eric turned up the audio so he could hear what was going on in the room.
Charlie began to circle to the right side of the room.
Eric heard him telling one of the men to come into the room and start shouting.
A man, Eric couldn’t tell who was who through the Hazmat suits, entered the room and began to shout, “What do you want me to yell?”
Charlie had stopped moving and stood quietly.
The other man turned and ran from the room when Joe moaned, turned and started towards the sound.
If it wasn’t all so grotesque, Eric would have laughed.
Charlie took the opportunity with Joe being distracted, to move in behind him and slip the noose over his head.
He let it slide down over his head, then Charlie tightened the noose around Joe’s neck.
Joe began to thrash around frantically when he realized he wasn’t able to continue towards his intended victim.
Charlie pulled Joe back into the center of the room, barely able to control the wild frantic lunging body.
Charlie called out and the two men came into the room. They circled hesitantly around the outreached arms of Joe as Charlie struggled to keep him in place.
After the two cautious men had taken the long pole from Charlie, he informed them he would go out and open the doors so they could lead Joe out to their van.
It wasn’t easy, even for the two men working together, but they finally got Joe out of the room and the intercom fell silent.
Dead Man Walking Page 5
