The Ark of Asylum (The Ark Series Book 1) (9 page)

Peter gasps into his headset, “I’m almost out of ammo, and I need backup at flag B. If we don’t take this flag now, we’re not going to win! Aw, damn it, I’m out, and they just got me. Oh well, we’ll get them next time.”              

Suddenly, Simon barges into his room and shouts, “Get off your game now, and head downstairs. This is not a drill, son. Move it now!”

Peter pulls his headset off and turns around to look at his dad. “Dad, I’m in the middle of a game. Why do I have to get off?”

“Now, son, let’s go; move it!” he walks over to Peter’s gaming system and powers it down.

Peter looks at him slack-jawed and in shock. “What? Why did you do that? What is going on, Dad?”

“I’ll explain later. Right now, get what you need and move to the bunker. Now move it!”

“Okay, I’m coming. Just calm down!” Peter grabs a few things and follows his dad downstairs and into the bunker. Simon presses a button, and the door closes, sealing them in. “Okay, so can you please explain to me what is going on? I’ve never seen you like this, Dad.” Simon walks over to the TV and turns it on.

“Just watch.”

The news is already on with a shot from a helicopter flying over a massive group of people. The reporter says,
“As you can see, Tom, what has usually been a somewhat peaceful protest has erupted into mass hysteria and violence from the protesters. The protesters are overrunning the police, and they’ve started pulling out where they can. Reports from all over the country are coming in, and they are all the same: widespread violence and rioting in every major city that had a protest this morning. We can’t confirm yet for sure, but it seemed to start right after the police decided to disperse some kind of new state-of-the-art tear gas in hopes of sending a message to the protesters. This new tear gas is supposed to be many times more potent and cover a much larger area than traditional tear gas. But what they got in return was obviously not what they expected, and some are speculating that the nation’s supply was tampered with by, most likely, a group of terrorists. We did manage to speak with a few of the protesters that were wearing gasmasks at the time and luckily got out safely, and they said they thought they saw masked people in the crowd dropping smoke grenades and added that they definitely weren’t police.”

Camera footage from the helicopter shares the screen with the reporter, bringing to life the unreal dismay and horrific chaos, revealing images of animalistic humans tripping over bodies as they attempt to savagely tear one another apart.

“We’ve been trying to get a statement from any kind of law enforcement or government entity, along with a statement from the manufacturer of the tear gas but with no luck so far. So, just to recap, there is mass rioting and chaos throughout every protest site in the country with numerous reports of casualties and wounded in every metropolitan area. You are being advised to stay indoors and wait until the tear gas that is still visible from the sky dissipates and, of course, until the rioting has subsided. We’re being forced out of the sky for now, but we’ll be back up here as soon as possible to bring you the most up-to-the-minute updates. This is Rachel Woods reporting live from the Anonymous Occupy Denver protest that has now sadly turned into mass rioting.”

Simon turns down the volume on the TV and turns and looks at Peter. “Son, I think my worst fear has come true. And this looks like it could be the start of something catastrophic.”

Peter looks at his dad, still stunned by what he just witnessed. “What—what are you talking about? Catastrophic?”

Simon hangs his head then looks up at his son. “I’ve seen this behavior before; this looks similar to a chemical-slash-biological weapon an unknown terrorist group used on a village in Afghanistan a few years ago. The effects and outcome were horrific. If this is what I think it is and if this was used on every protest in the nation, then what is about to unfold could be the worst catastrophe in this country’s history. Son, what this stuff does to the human body is devastating and irreversible; it attacks the central nervous system and the part of the brain that controls reasoning, the prefrontal cortex. It is almost like rabies for humans. It will make a human being lose all sense of rational thinking. It will make a person not feel pain and makes them extremely violent and aggressive, as you just witnessed. It can be transferred by a human bite and can be fatal, sort of, well, eventually.”

              “A bite? And what do you mean ‘sort of,’ Dad?”

              “This is hard to explain, son. I don’t think you’ll understand.”

              “Just tell me, Dad!”

“Fine.” He starts out slowly, “We were able to study a few subjects before the military shut us down, and what we saw was that after the humans that weren’t initially affected by the gas were attacked and bit by the infected, they would die and sort of come back to life with almost the same symptoms as the initially infected, just with much slower movement and without as much aggression.”

Peter sits there stunned and unable to comprehend what his father has just told him. He searches his brain for any kind of comprehension or understanding but with no luck, just a feeble attempt in a form of a question. “Dad what—what are you talking about? Human rabies—that’s impossible! How do you know for sure that this is what it is? It could be nothing at all, just an angry crowd.”

“This is not just an angry crowd, son. I’ve been watching this since it started at noon! And, son, this is the exact same behavior I witnessed in that Afghan town, and it’s the same behavior in the close-up camera shots of the protesters. This is identical behavior, and what happened in the Afghan town was something we, as scientists, had never seen before, people killing each other, son, attacking every living and non-living thing they came across and destroying everything. It turned into something I cannot get into, got so bad that it forced the military to bomb the entire town so the infected people couldn’t spread to neighboring cites.”

“What do you mean ‘you cannot get into’—What the hell happened, Dad!” Peter looks at his dad with a fear he’s never experienced before evident in his shaking hands.

His dad just looks at him and shakes his head. “I can’t, son. Some things you’re just too young to hear. I’m sorry.”

“Tell me, Dad. I can handle it. Don’t you think under the circumstances I should be told everything?”

His dad’s hesitation is unnerving. Peter hopes it will be overcome by the sense of reality Simon always tries to apply in every situation. Peter knows his dad thinks that holding back will only hinder him in the long run. He is counting on his dad to remember that.

Simon takes a deep breath. Peter waits for it . . .

“Cannibalism, son. They ate other human beings, okay! That’s why the military bombed the town and destroyed it. They were eating each other!” Simon puts his head in his hands and shakes it back and forth. “Even though we were only able to study and research what happened in that town briefly, what myself and the other scientists witnessed was horrible, son. And something I never want to see in my lifetime again, but I don’t think that’s going to happen. If I am right, and this is the same biological or chemical weapon that was used on that Afghan town, then in a matter of days, the mobs will have destroyed the cities they are occupying and will be searching for non-infected human beings for consumption. The weaker humans will be consumed, and the stronger ones will survive and continue their reign of terror as long as physically possible. And because the village was leveled before we could get any viable information on the full, long-term effects of the chemical, we are in full lockdown.  I want you fully dressed in combat gear, including body armor, and locked and loaded in twenty minutes. Do you copy, son?”

Peter looks at his dad and tries to hold back his tears. He is doing his best not to hyperventilate. “Yes, I—I copy Dad, locked and loaded in twenty.”

Simon pulls the lever back on his assault rifle and looks up at Peter. “This is what I’ve trained you for your entire life, son. You need to man up and remember all your training and just stay calm. Okay, son? Can you do that for me?”

Peter quickly wipes a tear from his eye and takes a deep breath and exhales. “I can do that, Dad. You can count on me, and, Dad? Thanks.”

“For what, son?”

“Well—for treating me like a man.”

He notices his dad smiling before he gets up quickly to avoid an awkward situation. He puts on his combat gear, thinking to himself that he never thought he would actually ever have to put this gear on for real.

              John stares at the television screen, unable to fully understand what he just witnessed take place on the news. Stunned by his disbelief of what is happening all over the country in almost every major city, he doesn’t notice the blinking telephone light. John bewilderedly presses the button on the phone. “Wha—what is it?”

Adams voice is full of angst as he says, “Sir, I’m sure you’ve already seen the news. So, I’m letting you know I’m putting the Ark on high alert. Do you want me to sound the alarm and begin evacuation?” Adam waits for a few seconds, and after no reply from John, he says again, “Sir, this is Adam. Can you hear me? We are on high alert. Do you want me to begin the evacuation process to the Ark, sir?”

After a moment, John finally snaps out of his stupor and replies, “Ah, yes, Adam, I’m here. Ah, yes, evacuate everyone to the Ark. I don’t know how far the gas that was released in Denver will travel. And we have no idea how long it will stay in the atmosphere, so we need to get everyone below ground immediately!”

“Yes, sir, sounding the alarm now. We’ll reconvene in the Ark. Over.”

Soon after, the alarm sounds over the emergency alert system, and John jumps out of his chair and runs downstairs to where his family is. “Everyone move it now. This is not a drill. Everyone get to the basement!”

His family stares at him for a second, and then Kate jumps up and goes to pick up Markus. “What do you mean this isn’t a drill, John? What’s going on, John?”

John helps up Erica and Ashley and then grasps their hands. “Haven’t you seen the news?”

Kate moves toward the basement with everyone following. “No, I’ve been out with the kids all day and we just got back. What is going on?” They make their way down the basement stairs with John bringing up the rear and the dogs close behind.

“The police used some kind of new tear gas on the protesters today. It caused some strange reaction in the people, and everyone started going crazy. Riots broke out everywhere on a level that no one’s ever seen before. The police were overwhelmed by the protesters and had to pull out!”

They reach the evacuation point, and John lets go of the girls’ hands. “Alright, girls, you know what to do. Just slide down the slide, okay? Just like we practiced.” They look at their dad, their eyes wide and fearful but trusting. The girls nod their heads and then quickly slide down the slide and into the awaiting cart.

“Alright, Markus, you’re next, little man. Now, hurry, okay? Go ahead. Mom will be right behind you.” Markus gives a trusting smile and then slides down the slide followed by Kate; John then grabs the dogs and pushes them separately down the slide. He wastes no time and jumps onto the slide and into the cart. The cart propels ahead and is soon in the Ark. The security team is waiting as they arrive and quickly helps them exit the cart.

Adam runs up to them, waving his arm. “Sir, we’re already almost fully evacuated, just a handful of the younger children left, who should be here soon. We should be fully locked down and contained within five minutes, sir, maybe even less.”

John grabs his two daughters and starts walking hurriedly in the direction of everyone else. “Excellent, Adam. Let me know when we’re fully evacuated and in full lock down. Don’t wait for the zoo animals to get inside. Lock them down as they come inside, okay? They are not a priority right now. Like I said earlier, we don’t know how fast and how far that gas will travel. We can’t take any chances! Let me help my family settle in, and I’ll meet up with you later in security.”

They shake hands and walk in opposite directions, and Adam goes back to helping the arriving carts. Once the last of the evacuation carts arrive, Adam orders his men to follow everyone down into the Ark and for it to be locked down with only the remaining zoo animals to worry about. He will get the animals in if they can.

He presses the button on his radio. “Amanda, what’s the status of the zoo animals? We need to be in full containment in less than five minutes. Over!”

Amanda quickly responds, “Almost all in, sir. Should be set in just a couple minutes. We’re using special food that they can’t resist, so there’s only a few lingering. Over.”

“I don’t need details, goddammit! Just tell me when they are all in. Any of them left after another four minutes, and they stay outside. Do you copy?”

“Yes, sir, the last of the animals are entering the doors now, sir. You’re safe to engage the blast doors. Over!”

Adam breaks the Plexiglas box on the wall and hits the button then presses his radio. “We are in full containment. I repeat: We are in full containment. I want complete monitoring of air quality outside of the Ark ASAP!” The voice on the other end of the radio confirms, which can barely be heard over the announcement and alarm blaring overhead.

Adam runs as fast as he can to the command center, yelling upon entering, “Where’s my air quality report? And get me the live news feed of the situation in Denver on the big screen now! I also want any and all police and/or military communications pronto. We need to monitor this situation from every angle. Where is my fucking air report, goddammit!”

Lisa, the environmental hazards supervisor, brings up the air status on the screens. “Sir, we have green levels in and around the Ark, and every monitoring station within fifty miles is registering healthy levels. Bad news is, sir, a storm is coming in with wind gusts flowing in our direction. Monitoring stations less than two hundred miles out are registering unhealthy air quality, and we’re only to assume this is most likely the tear gas they used in Denver. As wind gusts increase, which they’re supposed to do over the next few hours, and if they stay on course, we are looking at severely unhealthy air quality levels in the area by possibly tonight. I’ll keep you updated on its progress, and if it changes course or speed as soon as I can, sir.”

Adam scratches his chin. “Alright, what is the current situation in Denver right now? Has anything changed, and is there any unusual radio transmissions going on within the police force or throughout the military?”

Chris speaks up. “Sir, I’ve been monitoring all military and police communications, along with all news feeds, and it appears the situation has elevated to almost out of control. The police are pulling out all personnel, and the National Guard is preparing to move in. Homeland Security has issued a statement for everyone to stay indoors. There are only a few news helicopters left in the sky, but they are being ordered down as we speak. But the footage of what’s going down on the ground is incomprehensible. People are tearing each other apart, and fires have started up all over the place. And what’s most disturbing is as these people are being burned, they aren’t acting any different until they appear to drop dead, but then they soon get up again. It’s not normal, sir. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Adam looks at Chris, perplexed. “The hell are you talking about, they aren’t acting any different when they’re on fire? That doesn’t even make sense, and did you say that they get up after being burnt alive?”

Chris hesitates but then responds, “Ah . . . I mean whatever the gas did to those people, it appears they don’t feel any pain and lack the natural instinct of fear, and after they fall to the ground and look dead, they eventually get back up again.”

Adam’s voice quivers as he says, “Jesus Christ, what the hell did they do to those people?”

“Also, sir, I thought you should know that the ATF has finally left our front door. But something tells me your lawyers weren’t the reason they—”

Lisa interrupts Chris and announces, “Sir, I’ve just detected unhealthy air quality at our monitoring station one mile out from Denver. Wind speeds have picked up substantially, and by my calculations this gas could be hitting the Ark earlier than expected.”

Adam replies, “Copy that. Alright, let’s get John down here asap. We need to brief him on the situation.”