The Last Five Days: The Complete Novel: A Post-Apocalyptic Thriller (9 page)

* * *

"
D
oes
she ever stop clawing at the door?" Melanie asked, packing a backpack with a few butcher knives, a flashlight, and a bottle of water.

Winston eyed the guest bedroom door. "No. She's hungry. Eating is the only thing she's thinking about. You ready to go?"

Melanie nodded and followed Winston outside. The smell of smoke nearly choked them. A house, about five down from Winston's, was on fire. A plume of smoke in the other direction drew Melanie's attention.

"Someone is setting fires," Winston said. He stepped off the porch and walked toward the smaller pillar of smoke.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going to find out who the pyromaniac is."

* * *

"
E
xcuse me
, General, but this is important."

General Hendricks broke free from the conversation with the scientists and stepped outside the mobile unit.

"A fire's been spotted."

"This cannot leave Black Dog. Get a copter there now. Put it out."

"But, sir, the agent could be in the fire. If it's in the smoke, the chopper could …"

"Get the fire out...and then down the copter... in town."

"Sir, we can't kill…"

"Either make the order, or I will." Hendricks grabbed the soldier. "If I have to do it, I have no use for you."

* * *

"
B
ob
, what the hell have you gotten yourself into?" Jones said.

"He's always been about the mighty dollar," Fisher said.

"I really thought I was doing something good."

"Bullshit," Fisher said.

"Listen, you can fight later. Right now, let's try to save these people," Richie said. "What's in the agent?"

Salk didn't answer.

"How are we supposed to help if you do not tell us what we're dealing with?" Richie asked.

"He doesn't know," Jones said. "Look at his face."

Salk scratched his bearded chin. "Hendricks had us each working in different labs. I'm not sure what the others were working with. I was in charge of DNA splicing."

"Cut the crap, Bob. What were you doing?"

Salk exhaled. "Trying to splice human and gorilla DNA."

Jones lowered his head. "Oh, Jesus. How many of you mad scientists are there?"

"There were five. I'm the last."

"What do you mean you're the last?" Fisher asked.

"The others died in a plane crash on the way here."

"Convenient," Jones said.

"I asked Hendricks not to invite you."

"That was so kind of you," Jones said.

"So, we're replacing them?" Richie asked.

"Hendricks said this was a summit to discuss infectious outbreaks in Africa," Jones said.

"That's what he told me too. I found it odd, but never thought he would lie," Richie said.

"I knew the bastard would lie, but my conscience made me come," Fisher said.

"The only goal now is to contain the outbreak. It cannot leave Black Dog," Salk said.

"What about us? Can we leave Black Dog, Bob?" Fisher asked.

* * *

"
L
ook
, there's another fire," Melanie said, pointing to smoke hovering about the pines behind Vera's house.

Winston changed direction and veered off the road into Vera's front yard.

"We can't let the town burn down. It's all we have left." Winston jogged toward the smoke.

"Well, wait for me."

Melanie caught up to Winston. They inched around Vera's house with their backs to the vinyl siding. Winston clutched the Colt to his chest. Melanie dug her nails into Winston's forearm. She pressed against his shoulder, putting pressure on his wound. Winston winced.

"Sorry."

"Is that Neal Harvey?" Winston forced the words through clenched teeth.

"Yeah. What is he doing? Is he..."

Neal Harvey lit a towel wrapped around a stick and torched a body on the ground in front of him. He watched the body burn and stepped back just before a stray flame grabbed his leg. Neal quoted Isaiah 4:4. "When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and purged the bloodshed of Jerusalem from her midst, the spirit of judgment and the spirit of burning…"

"Why is he doing that?" Melanie asked. "Do you think he's sick?"

Winston didn't answer. He stepped out from the side of the house and started toward Neal.

"What are you doing?" Melanie started to follow Winston.

Winston placed his finger against his lips and motioned for Melanie to stay hidden. He moved closer. Neal didn't notice Winston. When Neal bent down, flames latched on to the towel, and he burned another body. Winston aimed the Colt at Neal.

I can't shoot him in the back
, Winston thought as the image of Jimbo falling flashed before his eyes. All the deaths stuck with him, but the way he took Jimbo out gnawed at him a little harder. Jimbo wasn't violent when Winston shot him. That fact picked at his brain, but Winston knew at some point that Jimbo would try to kill him again. Winston had no choice. This virus threw predictability out the window. Winston wasn't sure of the extent people functioned when infected. Could they have enough cognitive function to torch bodies? Why would they? Fire destroyed flesh. And flesh was what fueled them. So many questions. If Winston killed Neal, he would never get the answers.

"Neal."

Winston held out his arms in a non-threatening manner, but he still clutched the Colt with a death grip. Startled, Neal stumbled, barely avoiding the fire. He aimed his torch at Winston.

"Stay away from me, Winston. You're not going to stop me from doing God's will."

Winston kept a safe distance between him and Neal. He could end things with a bullet before Neal reached him, but a gunshot could bring unwanted visitors, and Winston's supply of ammunition was dwindling. He felt safe for the moment.

"Why are you burning bodies, Neal?"

"I'm killing the disease. It's my job now. God told me to."

"Piercing the brain kills the disease. There's no need for these fires."

"The disease lives on after the body stops, Winston. Infection is everywhere. Fire is the cure."

"You're going to burn the whole town down. There's no fire department. Who's going to put out the fires?"

Neal pointed the torch to the sky. "Only God can now. Black Dog is sick, Winston. Fire is the only way to cleanse the filth."

Winston took a few steps back.

"He's crazy. Just shoot him," Melanie said. "He's going to destroy everything."

"Who's that?" Neal asked.

"Melanie Carpenter." Melanie stepped out from hiding. "Black Dog is all we have left. We are not going to let you burn it down."

Neal laughed and swung the torch through the air. "Look around. There's nothing left but death and disease. Pestilence is upon us. Rapture is coming. I'm doing God's work."

Melanie leaned into Winston and whispered, "He's sick. Shoot him."

"I am not sick, Miss Carpenter. I am the way out of this dark hell and this…" Neal pointed the torch at Winston and Melanie. "...is the light."

"Let's talk about this like rational, healthy adults, Neal," Winston said, putting heavy emphasis on the word healthy. "If you burn down Black Dog, we all die."

"You don't get it, Winston. We are already dead. Judgment has been cast. God entrusted me with the duty of cleaning up."

"You're making a bigger mess, asshole," Melanie said.

Winston took her hand and squeezed. A gesture to try to silence Melanie. She broke free.

"No. I'm tired of people trying to destroy one another. If you're not sick, you need to put the damn torch down and help us find a way out of here. We need to stick together."

The sound of a helicopter drew attention away from the conversation. A solid black Huey came into view and hovered over a plume of smoke near one of Neal's earlier fires. Water rained down over the fire.

"No," Neal said. "This is God's work."

He ran by Winston and Melanie, torch still in hand. A flash of light pierced the clouds, followed by a boom. The helicopter exploded. Winston grabbed Melanie's hand and ran away from the explosion.

"We have to stop Neal," Melanie said, trying to free herself from Winston.

"The government just shot one of their own helicopters down. We can't be here." Dr. Byrd's words haunted Winston.
No one's getting out of here alive.
"If they don't value their own, how do they see us?"

* * *

G
eneral Hendricks looked
at his phone. Two brief chirps. A text message. It read.
Fire contained. Threat eliminated.
He stared at the screen for a moment.

"The explosion, I take it was your orders?" Salk asked.

"Any threat to national security must be eliminated." Hendricks clipped the phone to his belt. "I trusted you. I went against my gut. They weren't part of the program for a reason."

"We are threats to national security, Tom. You should have trusted me when I told you this was a horrible idea."

"Judas had to be tested. I chose the location I thought would produce the least amount of casualties and attract minimal attention."

"You're wiping out an entire American town. How do you plan to sweep it under the rug?"

"In a few years, in Black Dog, there will be a memorial. A touching tearjerker for the history books. It's the way of the world, Bob."

"Do you hear yourself? Nearly 800 people are going to die because of this."

"We are going to save billions of people. Judas will be the end of war."

Salk shook his head. "Judas does not work. We cannot control it."

Hendricks smiled. "It works; just needs a little fine tuning."

"I should have never given the OK to infect those men. It wasn't ready to be tested."

"You intentionally infected this town?" Fisher asked, stepping into the tent.

"How much did you hear?" Hendricks asked.

"Enough." Fisher turned to Salk. "When did you become a murderer?"

"It was supposed to be contained to the test subjects. They were brothers…"

"I get the name Judas now," Fisher said.