Death and The Divide (9 page)

***

Linc sent up a silent prayer of thanks that he’d brought his own vehicle to the border. He’d had about all of Skinner’s preachy directions as he could take. Why the South had elected the man as the group leader eluded him. But then Skinner made large donations to the government every year. Who cared if the South didn’t have taxes like the North when the donations expected from citizens amounted to the same thing? And the more a person gave, the better he had it. His kids were eligible to go to the best schools, he could apply for a better house in a better neighborhood, he received better food choices and even his job promotions depended on his donations.

This system had caused their current situation. The rich rose to the top because they had money to make large donations while the poor sank further and further from the privileges of citizenship. Now the rich used their clout to support voter suppression in low-income areas. Some wanted to withhold voting rights to those in the poverty camps completely, arguing they didn’t work enough to support their citizenship. IPP stood poised to strike at this broken system, but now with the current crisis, the coup might become impossible. Human survival might take precedent over political inequality.

In a brighter part of his brain that still believed in hope, he dared to think the attacks might be isolated and over. But his gut suspected different. This was bad. As bad as anything humans had ever faced. And instinct told him the dam was about to break.

Chapter Nine

Linc barely reached his apartment when alerts went off, sending a tingle of energy rushing through him. His phone, his tech pad, his home comm unit all lit with red emergency lights and blared their shrill call of alarm. He turned everything off but his home comm.

“Linc Butler,” he said, lowering his trip bags to the floor.

“Boss, we got another problem.” Jeff’s voice sounded shaky, scared.

“What happened?” His heart pounded. Damn, they hadn’t even had time to delve into the possibilities of the parasite Ria had found.

“It’s bad. Just got a call from an army unit in Cameron, Louisiana. People started killing each other. At this point, they think most of the people involved are dead, but at least one man who’d attacked others ran from the town, and another escaped in a small boat to Monkey Island.”

“Shit.” He balled his hand into a fist and sweat popped on his forehead. “I have to get down there. Have they been able to contain the area?”

“The National security forces just arrived, and the town is now isolated. But, Linc, they don’t have two of the people, maybe more. You know what that means.”

“The spread is not contained. I’m going to get a hover-copter to the town right away. Can you meet me and bring as much equipment as you can?”

“You’re going down there?” Jeff spoke quickly, his voice a little higher than usual.

“I have to. We need samples. I need to see the victims and what happened.” He shoved his tech pad into his backpack. Good thing he was already packed.

“But, what if this is, um, contagious?” The younger man’s voice quivered.

“It’s not airborne or we’d already have it. Bring your containment gear and meet me there.” He spoke in a terse tone. “That’s an order.”

He ran to his car and squealed tires backing from his driveway. After calling Skinner, who ordered a hover-craft for his use from the local military, he made a voice entry on the SatNet site for the entire group.

“Hey, gang, it’s me, Linc. We have another attack involving humans. The worst yet. I’m headed to Cameron, Louisiana where it occurred right now. I’ll send more information when I arrive.” He paused. “And guys, at least two men they identified as infected escaped. This problem just escalated to a whole new level.”

***

Ria stared at the printout, frowning. The whale brain scan on their big scanner did not identify
Pleistophora mulleri
. It didn’t list it at all. Instead, a code of 9999 showed, indicating an unknown organism. She rubbed her tired, burning eyelids. Was she hallucinating? The seagull and human brains had the same result. All showed a 9999.

“Louis, take a look at this,” she called across the lab. “The scanner is identifying this as a brand new species.”

He lumbered over from his desk and stared at the screen. “Hmm. Now that is very interesting. I think it’s time to look at our mystery guest. Now that you’ve finished the scans, go ahead and isolate this organism.”

She entered the information for the machine to extract the unknown parasite and contain it in a separate sealed slide. She tapped her fingernails on the side of the scanner, waiting. In a few seconds, the new slide ejected along with the old slide. Whatever 9999 was, it was invisible to the naked eye. The slide appeared like a piece of clear glass.

“Got it,” she said and joined him as he programmed the micro-vid device.

“All right, that should do it.” He ran a finger over the panel. “Let’s see what we have.”

She inserted the slide, and the mechanism whirred as it took in the sample and brought the item to focus. Louis leaned closer as the blob of 9999 came into view and sharpened.

“It actually looks like
Pleistophora mulleri
from here,” she said, looking over his shoulder.

He made a humming sound. “You are correct, except for this little difference. So small the portable scanner miss-identified it.” He pointed to a tiny green sphere. “That, my dear Miss Moralez, is a virus.”

“And the virus has changed the DNA…”

“Creating a whole new parasite, cleverly disguised as
Pleistophora mulleri
,” he finished, his eyes glowing from the new discovery.

“Do you think this is the culprit?” A rush of adrenalin forced fatigue from her body. Other than a few fifteen minute naps in the T-10, she’d gone without sleep for more than forty-eight hours.

“I’d say the chances are good, given the original parasite’s ability to turn shrimp into voracious cannibals.” He straightened and crossed his arms over his chest. “There were also no other strange findings in the samples.”

“True. So there’s a strong possibility this virus has mutated our friendly shrimp parasite into a multi-species killing machine.”

“An educated guess at this point. We’ll need more information, but I’m afraid the pieces of the puzzle are taking their place in the grand scheme.”

“There’s only one problem,” she said, rubbing her temples with her fingertips. “How do we kill it?”

“Not just how do we kill it,” he said. “How do we kill it without destroying the host organism? I’d further guess this parasite has invaded certain other strains of shrimp at this point. Somehow the Irish
Pleistophora mulleri
relocated to the Gulf of Mexico and became infected. It began to inhabit shrimp as it did in its home environment. However, what we’re seeing is this parasite adapting very quickly. Let me rephrase that, miraculously fast. It’s now able to transfer from the host shrimp to the organisms that eat the shrimp.”

“Dear God.” Her heartbeat thrashed in her ears. She placed a hand over her heart and staggered back until she hit a table. “This is…”

“A gigantic catastrophe,” he said. “We need to let everyone on the team know. If you’ll take care of that, I’ll notify the government.”

She gulped a breath and headed for her desk. When she arrived, her pad alarm lit. A message from Linc. As if things couldn’t get any worse. Infection moved too fast for her to process the calamity. Their world was in peril from a tiny organism so small it required special magnifying equipment to see. A strong urge to run from the lab and hide in her apartment nearly overwhelmed her.

“Ria!” The growl from Louis meant he’d seen the message, as well. He barreled to her desk, his eyes wide. “Did you see this?”

She could only nod, her voice frozen from shock and fear.

“I want you down there,” he said. “We can’t let these Southerners muck up the samples.”

“I…”

“Ria, come on. We have to stop this thing.” He grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to her feet.

“I know, I know.” She squeezed her eyelids shut, which made her eyes burn worse. Her sleep-deprived brain whirled like the windmills at The Divide, not pausing long enough for a plan to form.

“Look, I’ll get you a transport. They’ll have to let you through the air-space now that this has happened.” He raced to his desk. She’d never seen him move so quickly.

She pressed her palms on either side of her head until her mind cleared. God, she needed sleep. Louisiana. Samples. Right. They needed more information on the parasite. Maybe they’d get lucky and obtain live samples this time. Her wobbly legs managed to withstand her weight as she stood. She needed to get it together. People depended on her.
An image of Conner flashed in her head.

“Come on, grab your bag.” Louis hurried to her. “I’ll go with you to the military base. The Triumvirate has authorized you to use one of their hover-copters and they’ll contact the South about crossing over. Take the portable scanner, too.”

He thrust the pack at her and took hold of her upper arm as she looped the strap of her travel bag over one shoulder and her backpack over the other. Her insides churned with fear and anxiety, but her determination managed to force them aside for the moment.

“Wait, I’ll need a new sample kit,” she pulled from him and took a container from the shelf above the scanner and shoved it in her backpack.

“All right, let’s go,” he said and headed for the door.

In the end, the crossover wasn’t as simple as Dr. Manson had hoped. The South agreed to allow the Northern hover-craft to land outside the North’s side of the fortress, she was hurried through the gate and boarded a copter belonging to the South on the other side.

“Miss Moralez, I’m Erin Graves.” A young woman with brown hair in a severe bun at the nape of her neck greeted her as she entered the copter. Her smile seemed genuine, although with a trace of concern. “I’ll be your escort to Louisiana, and I’ll answer any questions you have.”

“Thank you,” she said as she took the seat Erin indicated. “How long until we arrive?”

“Two hours approximately,” Erin said. “May I get you anything?”

At least the seat was comfortable. Soft recessed lights lit the interior, and plush seats adjusted to different positions. This rode more like a commercial craft than a military one, although the paint on the sides declared it a unit of the ROS army.

“Thanks, I’d love a pillow and a blanket. I haven’t slept in a couple days.” She yawned.

“Of course. Anything to drink?”

“A huge cup of coffee when we get there,” she said.

***

Linc stared through the window of base headquarters as the copter carrying Ria arrived. Dr. Manson had alerted the group that she headed Linc’s way, and the South’s government had given him the details of her arrival. He still couldn’t believe they’d allowed her to travel here. At least the governments took this threat seriously.

She stepped onto the tarmac, still in the same black leggings and blue silk tunic from yesterday. Had only one day passed since they’d met at the wall? Then he realized he also hadn’t changed and chuckled. She probably needed sleep as badly as he did.

He left the building and met her. “Ria, you made record time.”

She shook his hand. Circles under her eyes darkened her face. “Seems the governments can work together when they have to. Tell me what you know so far.”

“I have a truck over here. I’ll give you the details as we travel.”

Her gaze widened. “You still use these gas-powered modes of transportation?”

“Yeah, the South has a lot of petroleum resources that make it cheap.” He didn’t want to get into that. He had his own opinion of off-shore drilling, given its obvious effect on marine life over the years. But the government didn’t want to hear anything about that. Cheap gas allowed them to spend money on their military instead of researching new energy sources.

Once inside the truck, she let out a sigh. “Are you as tired as I am?”

He pulled from the lot and headed for downtown Cameron. “Exhausted. I got the call about this mess right when I walked in the door to my home from the trip. I caught a few hours on the transport here, but that’s it.”

“More human victims?”

“So far what we’ve tracked is a local fisherman brought back a load of shrimp and lobsters. He sold them to a seafood market who then sold them to a sushi restaurant. Everyone infected came from that restaurant, either having eaten or handled the shrimp, or worked on the boat.”

“Dear Lord, that means it doesn’t have to be ingested?”

“I’m not sure yet, but the suspicion is there. It could spread like the common cold through contact with something like mucous membranes that allows transmission inside the body. I personally think it still has to be ingested. The people who handled it could have licked their fingers after handling the shrimp. We don’t know for sure.”

“Did you see Dr. Manson’s report on the virus in the parasite?”

“Yes, I received it through the SatNet group a couple hours ago. I’m frankly stunned this transition is possible in a natural sense.”

“Where are we on containment?”

He took a deep breath. “That news isn’t as good. Local emergency response forces did react quickly, but they know of at least two people who escaped who showed signs of the infection before they left.”

She turned in her seat to face him, her face pale. “Are you serious? There are infected people at large and this thing might spread by mere contact?”

He gritted his teeth at her tone of accusation. As if the North would have done better at containment. “One of the men took a small boat to Monkey Island. There’s a large LNP facility there.”

“LNP?”

“Liquefied natural gas. We transport it from here to different areas of the South, and also internationally.”

“Have you found him?”

“A search of the facility is underway.”

“And the other escapee?”

“At least one person that the authorities know was infected escaped the town before the military had the containment perimeter secured. They have local and federal forces hunting him.”

She slumped in her seat, staring through the windshield. She murmured, “Oh, no.”

“What are you thinking?”

“Something’s different.”

“What do you mean?”

“The other cases.” She gestured with both hands in a frantic manner. “The infected victims killed each other in a murderous cannibalistic frenzy. No one survived. These individuals escaping shows thought process based on survival. It required conscious deduction and sentience.”