Outbreak (Book 2): The Mutation (17 page)

“Let’s hope it does the same for me,
”
said Jonas as he forced a smile onto his face.

David, though, won the praise of the others. After the candles were lit, David walked around and investigated the corners of the cellar. On a far wall, out of range from the candle light, he found a bounty of canned items. Whoever the previous owners of the house had been had loved to can fruits and vegetables. Among them, David found some potted meats on the shelves. The darkness and dampness of the cellar had helped to keep all the items from spoiling.

“Just avoid any ruptured cans or jars where the seals have broken,
”
warned Joe.

Everyone gathered around the shelves and started to choose their meals. Soon the cellar was full of the sounds of hungry people as they chewed and slurped their meals while they quietly talked and laughed. The battle inside the center seemed like it had happened ages ago, and as usual, no one wanted to dwell on the negative.

“It’s amazing how a full belly can change a person’s outlook, isn’t it Walt?
”
asked Cheryl as she licked the remains of a jar of potted meat off her fingers.

“Sorry. What?
”
Walt asked.

“What’s wrong, Walt?
”
Cheryl asked. “I know seeing Hector out there really freaked you out. It freaked us all out.”

Hector was one of the first people Walt had met when he’d taken over as director of the center. Hector had shown him around, and had given him the lowdown on all the patients who’d been there, as well as the inside track on the other staff members.

“It wasn't running into Hector that got to me,
”
Walt finally said. “It was looking into his eyes. I saw something all too familiar, and that’s what affected me.”

The others gathered around Walt with the remains of their meals.

“What is it, Walt?
”
Dennis asked as he popped a preserved peach into his mouth.

“Like I said,
”
Walt emphasized, “it wasn’t just seeing Hector that got to me. I’ve seen other loved ones and friends fall to the infection.”

Walt’s thoughts fell to Steven and how he’d died in his arms.

“It was Hector’s eyes that got to me,
”
Walt continued. “I saw something that I’ve seen in all of our eyes. Something that I used to see every day when I looked in the mirror.”

Nobody said a word or even moved.

“I saw a craving,
”
explained Walt. “A hunger, but it was that uncontrollable hunger we’ve all faced. Hector looked like an out of control junkie,
”
said Walt as his hands began to tremble. “He looked like someone who was completely lost inside their addiction.”

The others remained silent.

“You’re all more than familiar with my research into addiction,
”
said Walt. “Darren, in case you didn’t know, the house above us was actually an addiction treatment center.”

Darren sat and listened.

“Jonas, the fella with the M1, and myself,
”
continued Walt, “are the center’s doctor and director, respectively. Everyone else here was getting treatment when the outbreak occurred.”

The others formally introduced themselves to Darren.

“And I think I’m speaking for all of us here, Darren,
”
Walt said, “when I say thank you for saving our asses out there.”

“I’m glad I was there when you needed me,
”
replied Darren, clearly uncomfortable from the praise.

“I gotta ask you, Darren,
”
Cheryl said, “but we’re two miles from the middle of nowhere. How the hell did you find us?”

“I was stationed at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico when the shit hit the fan,
”
said Darren. “Pardon my language, ladies. I’d heard stories about other bases that housed military personnel and civilians,
”
Darren continued, “but at White Sands, it’d just been military.”

“How’d you end up in Spicewood?
”
asked Joe. “White Sands is damn far away.”

“Is that where I am?
”
Darren asked as he forced a smirk on his face. “The last few weeks have been
…
troublesome.”

“You’re about four-hundred-and-fifty miles east of White Sands,
”
Joe said. “What brought you out this way?”

“We ran out of supplies,
”
Darren said as he looked at the ground. “We held up at the base for as long as we could, but there were only so many MREs to go around.”

“Do you mind?
”
Darren asked the group as he walked over to the shelves of preserved food. “I haven’t had much to eat lately.”

“Please help yourself,
”
said Walt.

“We got word that the army base at Fort Hood was fortified and damn near impenetrable,
”
Darren continued.

“How many of you were there?
”
asked Jonas.

“There were just over two thousand at the White Sands base,
”
said Darren. “Most of them headed west to California. They thought there’d be less infected out that way.”

“We laid low here at the Center,
”
said Joe. “There’s a spring that supplies us fresh water, and there used to be animals to hunt around here for food.”

“You haven’t been eating the animals?
”
Darren asked as his fingers dropped from his mouth. There was a combination of concern and horror in his voice
.
“Right? Please tell me you haven’t been eating the animals.”

“Not for a long time,
”
Cheryl answered. “The animals seemed to have disappeared a while ago.”

“But that’s how the infection spread,
”
Darren said. “The animals were where the infection began, and then it mutated to humans.”

“Wait,
”
Walt interrupted. “Do you know about the infection?”

“But none of you got sick or infected from eating the animals?
”
Darren asked.

“No,
”
said Dennis. “It’s not like we were eating the animals raw. We cooked the shit out of them.”

“Interesting,
”
Darren said.

“Hold on,
”
Walt said. “What do you know about the infection? Do you know what it is? We all assumed it was a virus, but it really doesn’t behave like one, does it?”

“No, it doesn’t,
”
replied Darren. “How far from Austin are we?”

“About thirty-five miles,
”
Joe said. “Why?”

Darren saw everyone staring at him like he held all the answers.

“I’m sorry, everyone,
”
Darren said. “I don’t mean to dodge your questions. Tell ya what. Just answer me a few questions, and then I’ll tell you everything I know.”

“Go ahead and ask away,
”
said Walt.

“So we’re about thirty-five miles from Austin,
”
Darren continued, “and you’ve all eaten the animals around here and haven’t gotten sick, right?”

“Right,
”
said Jonas. “No one got so much as a stomachache after eating the animals.”

Darren suddenly looked around the candle-lit cellar. He studied all the faces looking at him.

“You guys didn’t know, did you?
”
asked Darren.

“Know what?
”
asked David, the frustration was obvious in his voice.

“Austin,
”
continued Darren, “was ground zero for the infection.”

Darren looked at everyone, seeming unfazed by the surprised looks on their faces.

“There was a black ops lab in Austin that was conducting research when something went wrong,
”
Darren explained. “Whatever they experimented with mutated and escaped the lab.”

“What does that have to do with the animals we’ve been eating?
”
Jonas asked.

“The animals there were the ones that spread the infection,
”
Darren continued. “It spread like wildfire through zoos and ranches and eventually into the wild.”

The others sat there, stunned, as they listened to Darren.

“There was a family that visited the Austin Zoo and became infected from the zoo animals,
”
Darren continued. “Both animals and insects spread the infection to the suburbs and the cities.
”

“Wait,
”
Cheryl interrupted. “How do you know this?”

“A military base not ten miles from White Sands was doing the same kind of research,
”
said Darren as the tone of his voice deepened.

“Are you talking about Holloman Air Force Base?
”
Joe asked.

Darren nodded.

“So this is a man-made virus?
”
asked Jonas, breaking the silence. “It’s some kind of super bug, right?”

“There is a virus component to the infection,
”
Darren replied, “but what’s doing the real damage is worse.”

“I think it is time you tell us everything you know about this infection,
”
Walt said softly. “We need to know what we’re up against.”

Darren exhaled deeply. “Absolutely,
”
he said. “Just keep in mind that there was no malicious intent with this research. The research being done in hundreds of black op facilities across the world was supposed to help thousands of injured soldiers.”

“Well, that didn’t go as planned,
”
said Dennis under his breath.

Darren told them everything he knew about the research and how it had mutated. He told them how Holloman Air Force base was overrun in minutes and how lucky they’d been at White Sands to be left standing.

“So those infected fuckers out there,
”
said David as he broke the silence, “are machines?”

“Not really,
”
answered Darren. “Think of the nanites more like robots—really tiny, programmable robots.”

“That really doesn’t help,
”
said David.

“The nanites were built and programed for two functions,
”
Darren explained. “They were programmed to replicate and build more nanites, and they were programmed to repair the human body from the inside.”

“‘Repair from the inside?’
”
Jonas asked. “That’s amazing. Was there any success?”

“The research proved to be hugely successful,
”
answered Darren. “Animals with various diseases were cured, and animals with broken bones were healed within days.”

“So what happened?
”
Samantha asked. “If everything was going so well, how did those things lead to the end the world?”

“All we know for certain is that the nanites mutated,
”
Darren said. “Around that time was when a militant animal rights group managed to break into the lab and release all the infected animals into the wild.”

“Damn,
”
said Joe.

“From what I heard,
”
said Darren, “the scientists never got a chance to study the mutation before everything went to shit—and everything went to shit fast.”

“I could kiss you, Darren,
”
said Walt as he jumped up off the ground where he sat.

“Uh, this isn’t good news, Walt,
”
said Jonas. “This is actually way worse than we originally thought.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah
…
We’re all pretty much fucked,
”
said Walt as he walked around the basement. “But this also explains so much.”

The others looked at Walt like he’d lost his mind.

“Are you okay, Walt?
”
Cheryl asked, standing next to Walt.

“After I looked into Hector’s eyes,
”
explained Walt, “I realized I’d looked at the face of someone who was completely in the grasp of their addiction. His body was still ‘Hector,
’
but his mind was focused on only one thing.”

Everyone looked at Walt, waiting for the punchline.

“Hector wasn’t in control of himself any more than any of us were when we were in the depths of our addictions,
”
Walt said. “Now with Darren’s information about the nanites, I think I know what happened to the infected.
”
Walt stopped to catch his breath.