Indestructible: V Plague Book 7 (19 page)

Rachel sat in the darkness talking with Joe, unhappy that
she hadn’t gone with John into the caverns.  Not that she really wanted to go
underground, and she might not have been any help, but she didn’t like being
left behind.  She knew how to fight, having proven that time after time, but he
had insisted on going in alone.  Of course, there was a big part of her that
was relieved.  Caves didn’t hold fond memories for her.

While still in college a guy she was dating had talked her
into going spelunking.  He was one of those who was always looking for the next
extreme adventure.  Rock climbing, base-jumping, snorkeling with sharks; the
list went on and on.  Rachel had reluctantly agreed and after their last class
on a Friday afternoon they’d loaded his Jeep and driven to Kentucky.  He had
heard of some caves that supposedly had awe-inspiring rock formations deep
inside them.

They arrived well after dark, and despite Rachel’s
objections he had decided they should make their first venture inside before
going to sleep.  She had argued that it was night, getting mad when he’d
laughed at her that it didn’t matter underground if the sun was shining or
not.  She almost hadn’t gone in, frightened by the cave and more than a little
pissed at his attitude, but she didn’t like to be left behind.

Getting in had been simple enough.  A steep cut in the
ground led to the first chamber, and they slid down a rope he secured to the
Jeep’s front bumper.  Once inside, Rachel had to admit the view was amazing. 
Mineral studded stalagmites and stalactites had met in the middle and created
massive columns that supported a roof as high as a cathedral.  The translucent calcium
glowed under their lights, flecks of what looked like diamonds and gold
embedded deep inside and reflecting back at them.

Half an hour after entering the cave they had moved through
several chambers, and that was when Rachel’s light went out.  Her boyfriend had
cursed, suddenly realizing that he’d forgotten to charge them before leaving
Atlanta.  Knowing it was only minutes before his light would die as well, he’d
turned and hurried Rachel towards the entrance they’d used.  They’d made it
across half of one chamber when his light shut down.

They had continued on in the Stygian darkness.  Their
progress was painfully slow and soon they were arguing.  Distracted, he had
stepped without checking his footing.  Instead of the expected smooth floor he
stepped into a small hole.  Rachel clearly heard his leg snap a moment before
he started screaming in pain.

“What did you do?”  Joe asked.

“I left him there,” Rachel said, scratching Dog’s ears and
smiling at the shocked expression on Joe’s face.  “I made my way back to the
entrance, climbed the rope and went for help.  There wasn’t any cell coverage
out there and I had to drive thirty miles to the closest town.  They finally
pulled him up about noon the next day.”

“Was he OK?”

“I guess he’d gotten really scared, trapped in there all
night.  It took me a long time to make my way out, then by the time I got back
with help he’d been stuck for hours.  Alone in the dark.  He thought I’d
deliberately taken my time to punish him and he said some pretty nasty things. 
So, when they took him away in the ambulance I jumped in his Jeep and drove
back to Atlanta.  Left it outside his apartment and never saw him again.”

“And now you’re mad at John for making you stay behind?  I’d
think you’d be grateful.”  He said.

They sat there for a long time, each of them constantly
scanning the area behind the other.  Dog lay stretched out between them,
seemingly asleep but his ears remained at full attention.  Rachel told him her
carefully edited story, then watched the pain in his eyes as Joe talked about
having to shoot his wife after she turned.

“So, this Terminator virus.  You really think that could
work?”  Rachel asked.

“Yes, I do.”  He said.

“How quickly would it work?” 

“You mean how fast would the infected die?”  Rachel nodded
her head.  “That I can’t tell you without some testing.  It could be as fast as
twenty-four hours, or it could take days or even weeks.  No one knows how
strong these things immune systems are, but I suspect they’re significantly
enhanced.  Maybe it wouldn’t work because of that?  I can’t tell you without
being in a lab and having some test subjects.” 

“Could this be done at your lab in Oklahoma City?”  Rachel
asked, forcing herself to suppress the hope that was growing inside her.

“It could, sure.  Why?”

“And you could do it?”  Rachel asked.

“Maybe.  I’ve done some very basic work like this, but
nothing nearly as complex.  You aren’t thinking about heading to the city, are
you?”  He said.

“Not without John, no.  Is there anyone still at the lab
that has done something like this?”

“There’s one guy, Rick Kanger.  He’s the one that was
talking about it in the first place.  He used to be with USAMRIID.  Retired and
working on a second pension.  Most of what he did for the Army was classified,
but the stuff that isn’t is scary enough.”  Joe was referring to the US Army
Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases.

Rachel sat in the dark and thought.  She understood enough
about how viruses worked to believe that what Joe was talking about could
potentially destroy all of the infected and return the world to the survivors. 
Not that there were many of those outside of Russia, but there were some.  And the
last she’d heard there was no infection in Hawaii or Australia. 

That gave her hope that there were even more geographically
isolated locations on the globe where the virus hadn’t reached.  Destroying it
before it could spread any more wouldn’t bring back the billions that had died,
but it was at least hope for those still fighting to survive.

Now she just needed John to come back.  She didn’t have a
watch to check, but knew it had been several hours since he’d gone in.  Should
she be worried yet?  Of course she should.  He was in danger the moment he
stepped inside, but should she be concerned that he wasn’t going to come out?

Rachel had no doubt that he wasn’t coming out without
Katie.  However long that took, and whatever he had to do.  If she were alive,
he’d get her.  If she wasn’t, he’d probably die in his efforts to kill every
infected in the caverns.  Knowing he’d do the same for her should have eased
the pain of her broken heart, but it didn’t help.

Dog suddenly raised his head and growled.  Rachel and Joe
instantly got to their feet and raised their rifles in the direction Dog was
facing.  There was a low hill in that direction, separating them from the first
canyon, but neither of them could see any danger.  Rachel had John’s M4 with a
night vision scope and she raised it to check the area.

She saw nothing as she slowly scanned the slope of the hill
closest to them, then higher to check the horizon.  Still nothing.  Dog growled
again, stepping closer and pressing his body against Rachel’s leg.  She glanced
over at Joe without lowering the rifle, then turned her head to look at the
horses when she saw where his attention was.

All three animals had their heads up, ears pulled stiffly to
the front as they faced the same direction as Dog.  One of them snorted, then whinnied
quietly.

“What the hell?”  Joe asked her.

“I think I know,” Rachel said, raising the rifle to look
above the horizon at the night sky.  She could see a faint rippling that looked
like distortion in the scope’s optics, but knew it wasn’t.

“Bats,” she said.

“Bats?  Sure, we’ve got bats around here but they don’t
bother… oh, shit.  The virus?”

“Don’t know, for sure.  We saw razorbacks that were
infected.  Ran across about a million bats in Texas that we suspected were, but
nothing definitive.”  Rachel said, still watching the sky through the scope.

“John mentioned that.  Are they getting any closer?”

“Can’t tell for sure,” Rachel said, placing her hand on
Dog’s neck when he growled again.

“Maybe it’s a good sign,” Joe said, a hopeful note in his
voice.  “Maybe they got disturbed because John is down there in the caves
kicking ass.”

“Maybe,” Rachel said after a long moment.  “But I’m pretty
sure they’re coming this way, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to be out in
the open.”

Joe nodded, heading for the horses.  “About a mile west of
here is an old shack.  Nothing but some walls and a roof, but if they are
infected it will give us some shelter.”

It took them less than a minute to be ready to go, Rachel
swinging onto Horse’s back on her first try.  Joe led the way, urging them into
a run.  Dog ran behind them, but he couldn’t match the speed of the horses’
longer legs. 

A breeze had been blowing from out of the southeast all
night, but had been steadily picking up until it was a strong wind.  As he ran,
Dog was bombarded with a thousand different scents, his brain automatically
cataloging them.  Most were just miscellaneous smells, but some were recognized
as food, water, danger and pack.

To his canine mind, pack was family, and when the faint
scent he knew as John reached his sensitive nose he slowed.  The pack mate in
front of him was quickly drawing away, but the scent of the pack leader was
definitely to his left. 

Coming to a stop, Dog watched Rachel, Joe and the horses
continue to race across the prairie for a few moments.  She was escaping the
menace he could smell on the wind, but the alpha’s scent was in the same
direction as a strong odor of danger.  Turning directly into the wind, Dog
broke into a run, racing across the dark plains like a phantom in the night.

Irina kept the throttle wide open, the Bradley roaring
along.  The heavy rubber treads were throwing up a rooster tail of dirt and
grass in their wake, leaving a trail that a blind man could follow. 
Occasionally she would turn slightly to adjust their heading, keeping the heavy
vehicle on the computer generated route, but did so without any lessening of
pressure on the accelerator.

Driving with only the periscope to see through was something
that took some getting used to.  As Scott suspected she had trained on a
similar system used by the Russian military, but it had been a lot of years ago. 
Regardless, she was getting accustomed to the limited field of view, and kept
their speed up.  Barring driving off a cliff or into a deep river or lake,
there wasn’t much that could happen to them inside the armored hull.

Scott kept his eyes on the bats, trusting that Irina didn’t
need him to help pick out a path to follow across the terrain.  Quickly
glancing down at the navigation display he cursed upon seeing that the little flying
beasts would be over Rachel’s location before their arrival.  He noted that
Igor and Irina were having a discussion in Russian, but had gotten used to it
and blocked it out.

“Igor says he’s picking up something on thermal.  About a
mile ahead, thirty degrees right.”  Irina said over the intercom.

Scott took his attention off the bats, swiveling his
periscope and enabling the thermal imager.  Initially all he could see was a
blob that was hotter than its surroundings.  Zooming, the image resolved into
two human forms, standing close together.  Switching back to night vision he
could see a small, rickety shack.

“At our three o’clock,” Irina said.  “Igor says he sees
horses running west.”

Scott turned and spotted the animals, streaking across the
plains to the southwest.  Remembering something from the satellite image he
took his attention away from the scope and worked on the display.  When the
picture of Rachel came up he expanded the field of view, seeing three horses
standing a few yards away from her.

“See the small shack, Irina?”  He said on the intercom,
focusing the periscope’s thermal vision back on it.

“Da,” she said, uncharacteristically speaking to him in her
native tongue.

“That’s where they are.  Go there.”  Scott said.

The Bradley swayed on its suspension as Irina adjusted their
direction of travel.  Scott took a look at the bats, relieved to see that they
seemed to have changed direction.  He kept watch on them for a few moments,
looking at them with the thermal vision.

The swarm, or flock, or whatever the hell they were called
was large, and they appeared to be shifting to a more northerly course.  Back
to night vision he checked the shack, noting a lone tree bending sharply in the
direction the bats were adopting.  The wind!  It was pushing them onto a new
course!

Shifting his view back to the bats he activated the
Bradley’s laser targeting system.  Almost immediately it started displaying
information about their distance, their direction of travel and several other
data points that he didn’t understand.  What he did learn was that his visual
estimation was accurate.  They were turning and flying to the northwest, going
with the wind.

Irina slowed as they approached the shack, coming to a stop
a few yards from the rough, wooden door.  She hit a switch and bright
headlights came on, illuminating the rickety structure.  Looking through his
periscope, Scott could see the entire building swaying in the wind.  It looked
like it could collapse at any moment.

Releasing his seat harness, Scott moved around the tight
space into the passenger area.  Telling Irina to have Igor keep an eye on
things with the turret mounted chain gun, he hit the button to lower the
vehicle’s rear ramp.  With a whine it started moving down, the wind immediately
finding the opening and blowing dust into his face.

Squinting, he strode down the ramp and moved into the light
at the front of the vehicle.  From above and behind him he heard a faint whine
from the turret motors as Igor aligned the chain gun with the shack’s front
door.  They were fairly sure Rachel was one of the forms inside that had been
seen on thermal imaging, but Scott was happy to have Igor’s itchy trigger
finger ready in case it was someone or something else.

“Rachel?  It’s Tech Sergeant Scott,” he shouted over the
rushing noise of the wind.

A moment later the door opened and Rachel stepped out, a
tall Indian hesitantly following her.  She shielded her eyes against the glare
of the headlights, then Irina shut them off and all of them were momentarily
blinded as they waited for their eyes to adjust to the darkness.

“There’s a whole swarm of bats coming,” Rachel said, walking
up to Scott and looking over her shoulder at the horizon.

“Saw them, but the wind is pushing them away from us.  I was
hoping the Major was with you.”  Scott said, looking pointedly at Joe.

“There are some caverns a couple of miles from here.  He
went in to get Katie several hours ago.”

“What’s Katie doing – never mind.  Time for that later. 
Who’s this?”  He asked, nodding his head at Joe.

Rachel made a quick introduction and stepped closer to
Scott.  “Did you see Dog?  He was with us when we started riding for the shack,
but hasn’t shown up yet.”

Scott shook his head before activating the intercom he was
still connected to.  “Irina, ask Igor to scan for Dog.”

He heard her relay his request in Russian, then the turret
began moving as Igor used the thermal targeting system to survey the area.

“You need to take Joe back to Tinker,” Rachel said.  “He’s a
virologist and has an idea the Colonel needs to hear.”

“No way he’s a virologist.  Really?”  Scott blurted.

“Fuck you, white man!”  Joe bristled.  “You think I can’t
have an education because I’m an Indian?”

Scott barked out a laugh. "Relax, dude.  I don't give a
shit if you're Indian or not.  I just can't believe that we find the last guy
alive in the middle of nowhere at the end of the world and he happens to be a
fucking virologist.  What are the chances?  It's like something out of a third
rate zombie novel."

“Jesus Christ!”  Rachel said sharply before Scott could say
anything more.  “Both of you shut the hell up for a minute!”

Scott stood there grinning, Joe breathing heavy, still not
sure if he’d been insulted or not.

 “Yes, he’s a virologist, and he’s a hell of a lot smarter
than you or me.  So, you need to get him to the Colonel.”  She said to Scott,
glaring at him before turning her gaze on Joe.  “And you.  That virus doesn’t
give a shit if you’re white or red.  Park the fucking over-sensitive bullshit
and see what you can do about saving those of us that are left.”

“You gotta admit, dude.  The ponytail and rifle in your hand
don’t exactly fit the image anyone is going to have when you tell them you’re a
scientist.  Maybe gain some weight, lose your hair and get a pair of glasses.” 
Scott still had a shit-eating grin on his face.

Joe finally relaxed a little, nodding his acceptance of
Scott’s comment. 

“OK, can we all play nicely?”  Rachel looked back and forth
between them with her hands on her hips.

“Yes, ma’am,” Scott said, a moment later Joe echoing him.

“Good.  Now, did I hear you say Irina and Igor are in that
tank?  Can they see Dog?”  Rachel asked.

Scott waved them to follow, walking to the ramp.  He led the
way inside, hitting the button to raise the ramp and cut off the dust storm
that was blowing in the opening once the three of them were inside.  Igor
looked down from the gunner’s seat, smiled and nodded at Rachel.

“No sign of Dog,” Irina said, working her way back to where
they stood hunched over.  “There are some infected moving around half a mile to
the north, but Igor doesn’t see any sign of him.”

“OK, where did the horses go?”  Rachel asked.  “I’m going to
go look for Dog and wait for John.  You need to get Joe back to Tinker.”

“That may be a problem,” Scott said.  “There are herds
closing in.  We got out ahead of them to come find you and the Major.  The base
is being evacuated.  Going to be something like thirty million infected
arriving any time now, then a whole hell of a lot more in another day or two.”

Rachel was stunned.  Thirty million?  She couldn’t even
grasp a herd of infected that large.

“But what was the plan?  How were you going to get back when
you found us?”

“Martinez.  Figured we could find a plane or something and
she’d fly us in.  We’ve still got time to make the last flight out.”  Scott
said.

“She didn’t make it,” Rachel said softly.

“What?”  Scott was stunned.  “What do you mean she didn’t
make it?”

“Roach shot her when we were getting away from the casino. 
After the crash we were taken by a group of infected, but she must have been
dying.  They left her behind in a river.  Her body was floating downstream the
last I saw of her.”  Rachel reached out and touched Scott’s arm.  “I’m sorry.”

Scott stood mute, staring at her.  He couldn’t believe
Martinez was gone.  She’d always seemed like one of those people that nothing
could stop.  And what the hell were the infected doing?  Taking prisoners?

“Scott!”  Rachel said, snapping him out of his reverie. 
“Can you still get back onto Tinker?  Can you get Joe to the Colonel?”

“Hold on,” Scott said, moving to the vehicle commander’s
chair.

It took a couple of minutes for him to establish a link with
the FSOC system, then several more to reach Captain Blanchard.  He filled him
in on their status and asked about the situation at the base.  They talked for
a short time then he held a headset out to Rachel.

“The Colonel wants to speak with you,” he said.

“Hello?”  Rachel said, adjusting the microphone in front of
her mouth.

“Ms. Miles.  Good to hear your voice.”  She recognized
Crawford’s baritone.  “Tell me what your idea is.”

Rachel started speaking, relaying her discussion with Joe to
the Colonel.  As she talked she saw amazement and hope flicker across both
Scott and Irina’s faces.  Crawford listened without interrupting.  When she was
finished he asked a few questions, then she could hear him turn to someone,
Captain Blanchard she assumed, and tell him to start looking for a scientist
named Rick Kanger.

“Tech Sergeant, are you still on?”  Crawford asked.

“Yes, sir.”

“That virologist you have with you is now to be considered a
high value asset.  Do not let him out of your sight.” 

“Yes, sir.”  Scott acknowledged, looking around at Joe who
glared back at him.

“Very good.  Here’s Captain Blanchard.  He’ll coordinate
getting you back to Tinker.”