The White Death (27 page)

Chapter 51

The coffee was hot, the sandwiches were fresh, and a stream of aides replaced both quickly. Inside PEOC, the Presidential Emergency Operations Center, buried below the East Wing of the White House, a document was being presented to the president that was so sensitive, it had been escorted by four military agents from the Pentagon. Thomas never liked the PEOC, and when he was first shown it, hoped never to be in it. Designed to withstand everything but a direct nuclear attack, it was a fortress underneath the symbol of democracy for the free world. Now, Thomas knew he faced a decision no president before him had ever had to even contemplate.

“The President of the United States,” said a White House staff member as Thomas arrived, flanked by Gail and his chief Secret Service agent. The doors were sealed shut behind them, and Thomas took his seat, at the head of the long metal table. The lighting was harsh, very laboratory-like.

“General, if you’d begin.”

“Yes, Mr. President.” Richards opened his briefing folder, then took a sip of water. “We have confirmed that New York has become the latest city on Earth to be infected by what we’re calling the Eugenics Virus. Only remnants remain of government services within the city, including the NYPD, fire and rescue department, and all general hospitals. Our analysts predict citywide infection within one hour as of the writing of this report, seventeen minutes ago.” The red countdown timer across the room updated to include this new period.

“We can all agree that was succinct,” said Thomas. “Now, this is not the time to argue and debate over how this happened. That’s for later. We, now, as the government, must decide how to deal with the most dangerous threat the United States as ever faced on home soil. I have asked General Richards and the Pentagon to provide us with emergency plans created to deal with such issues. Unfortunately, there is only one available. No other scenario the Pentagon has planned for allows us to effectively deal with a deadly viral outbreak in an American city such as the Eugenics Virus. Every single life in this country is now at risk. That’s over 350 million people.”

“With the size of New York, we can’t hope to contain the problem using conventional means,” said Richards as department secretaries sat in silence. While Richards spoke and went on to give detailed projections of virus spread and impact across the country, Thomas took time to study the face of each member of his cabinet. They were all new, and most had not been given time to become accustomed to their new departments. Knowing the reputation—but, more importantly, the survivability—of the government rested on them presenting a united front free from partisanship, he closely scrutinized their facial expressions as Richards continued. He needed to know who he could rely on in the coming days.

“You want us to unleash sarin on our own people?” asked the Secretary of State.

“No, that is not what the general is proposing.”

“Then what?” asked Kramer.

Thomas looked to her, then Richards. The general pressed the intercom button and instructed the four agents to be granted access to the PEOC.

“The Pentagon’s proposal,” began Thomas, “is what I also propose. There is only one copy of this plan, and it is only available on hard copy. The document itself is over 200 pages long and not practical for us to analyze in detail before making a decision. We are against the clock here, quite literally.” Thomas looked to the red countdown timer on the far wall. “General, if you would give us a brief summary.”

“Protocol 41X is a last resort protocol believed by the Pentagon, along with some of our best minds, to be the only failsafe we have against a deadly viral outbreak within the human population, in a metropolis area of the United States. The plan calls for the use of nuclear weapons on American soil.”

“What?!” shouted Kilmoran. “A metropolis is hardly a confined area. New York has over nine million American citizens.”

“And over 300 million live elsewhere within the United States,” replied Vanessa Kramer.

“You can’t nuke New York.” Kilmoran’s laugh shook with nerves. “Really? Am I the only one who finds this preposterous?”

“You’re not the only one who hates the idea,” said Kramer, “but I see the merit.”

“Carry on,” said Thomas, deciding to ignore the outburst. Everyone else remained silent.

“A modified B41 nuclear bomb is kept in storage. It can be dropped on New York within thirty minutes.”

“I thought B41s were all dismantled,” said Desmond, Secretary of War. They were large and unstable for bomber planes to effectively handle.

“We kept three in case of emergency,” answered Richards. “They are the most powerful nuclear bomb ever created by the United States with a destructive yield of seventy-five megatons. The bomb we dropped on Hiroshima only had sixteen kilotons for comparison. This will obliterate New York and eradicate any remnants of the disease.”

Richards waited for questions. Thomas knew there would be none. Like any PEOC meeting, minutes were being taken by officials for historical record and congressional oversight. They were all now being very careful as to who said what.

Finally, Thomas asked the only question he could think of. “Can anyone in this room present me with a viable alternative we can enact within thirty minutes?”

Thomas waited, hoping.

“Anyone?” he asked again, almost desperate.

“What about Mayor Porter?” asked Desmond. He had rallied New York behind the president during the election.

“We’ve had no contact from the mayor’s office since initial infection. All routes out of New York are being monitored, with roads and highways being destroyed. We’ve repositioned several of our key surveillance satellites to the region so we can track any stragglers, but so far confusion is keeping people in their homes.”

That comment stopped Thomas’s train of thought entirely.

“You mean they’re waiting for us,” replied the president. Frightened families sat in their homes, waiting for the government to come and save them.

“Yes, Mr. President.” Richards wasn’t immune to the emotions being felt by everyone else. He could see the weight of this decision in the president’s eyes. But survival was the only objective.

Silence.

“Okay. With the nation in crisis, and as Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, I am issuing an executive order for the nuclear bombing of New York in accordance with Protocol 41X. Please note the date and time for the record.”

Chapter 52

At an undisclosed airbase, Captain John Wedding and Lieutenant Aaron Kingsway were going through another pre-flight check. Their stealth bomber had seen more action in the past few days than in the last ten years combined. Even with the constant bombing runs over Korea and China, they had kept upbeat and tried to concentrate on the job. Wedding always joked that it was what “professionals” had to do. Now, however, neither felt like joking.

“Flight checks?” said Wedding.

“Completed.” Kingsway was being deliberately quiet, and Wedding couldn’t blame him. When General Richards himself contacts you, it is never for a polite catch-up.

“Okay, Lieutenant. Let’s do this.” Wedding felt the engines vibrate. Quicker than he’d have liked, they were flying down the American East Coast escorted by eight fighter jets.

“Wonder how they were able to remodel the B41?” asked Wedding. “I had a friend back in the nineties who was working on them. He even let me see one once. They were huge. We’d have had a hard time getting one of the originals on board, never mind launching it.”

“On New York,” said Kingsway. “Launching it on New York.”

“I know,” said Wedding. “New York lost electricity two hours ago, and the government hasn’t restored it. I’d say they’ve probably cut them from the national grid altogether.”

“Did you hear they’ve also blocked mobile phone signals but are advising people to stay in their homes and wait for government intervention? I bet no one suspects it’s a fuckin’ nuclear bomb.”

“Aaron,” he began, “let’s just get it done.”

“Nine million Americans, John.”

“Inform fighter jets to break off in four minutes.”

“Yes, Captain.” Kingsway sent the encoded text message to the fighter jets, which began heading westwards. They didn’t have the necessary shielding and armor to be protected against such a powerful blast.

“Ten minutes until target destination,” said Wedding.

“Received,” said Richards.

There was no going back now.

Chapter 53

“How did you feel?”

Thomas stood before a picture of Harry Truman in an empty grand corridor of the White House. Truman was the first and only president, until now, to authorize the release of a nuclear bomb on a civilian population. The bombing of Japan in the Second World War devastated the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Even now, the decision was highly debated, with equal numbers agreeing and disagreeing with it. Truman died believing the decision had actually saved more lives than it cost. A land invasion of Japan was projected to cause over two million deaths compared to the 250,000 killed as a result of nuclear bombing. These thoughts and arguments fired through Thomas’s mind. He sat down on one of the luxurious red and golden chairs facing the grand picture. Coffee wasn’t working any longer, and 200 leg presses didn’t do justice to how weak he felt. 

“Truman saved lives,” said Gail, who had just arrived.

“American lives,” said Thomas, not looking up. “He never bombed his own people. I am now directly responsible for the death of millions of Americans. People who voted for me. Gail, can you imagine all those children who will never grow up?” He held his hands tightly, feeling forty years older than his actual age. He kept replaying the scene in his mind from just a few moments ago. Wedding and Richards had to repeatedly ask him for confirmation to launch.

“I choose not to.”

“Well, lucky you. I don’t have that luxury. I mean, what’s the point in all this?” said Thomas, standing up. He walked up to the portrait of Truman. “What was the meaning of all this?”

“The virus?” asked Gail.

“Yes,” said Thomas. “The virus. What did it accomplish? I don’t believe for one second this was a malfunction or an accident. This was a deliberate genocidal act by a race of beings who claim to be from a higher moral plane.”

“We can’t seek to punish at the minute, Mr. President.”

“I don’t even have a way of punishing,” he replied, “I don’t think nuclear weapons are going to do much against an alien starship. They are trying to exterminate us, and you know what the damnedest thing of all is?”

“What?” said Gail.

“They’ll probably succeed,” he said, looking down at his tie. “Gail, they will probably, by a wide margin, succeed.”

She didn’t know how to reply to that, and he sat back down again, feeling tight and uncomfortable in his suit. “I wanted to do so much once I reached the White House. I wanted to be remembered as a president who did what he promised. Who made the country a better place.”

The urge to scream almost took over him.

“Mr. President,” said Gail. “I know it’s horrible in here right now. The decisions only you can make are earth-shattering, and many lesser men would shake in their boots, but let me tell you something.”

He looked up at her.

“There is no one I would trust more, now more than ever, to be president than you. I wouldn’t trust anyone else to see us through these dark times. Let history decide upon our actions, Thomas. We’ll know we did all we could, and if American historians are analyzing our decisions 100 years from now, then I’ll take comfort in that.”

“Why?”

“Because it means the country survived, sir,” said Gail.

He hadn’t thought of it like that.

“We still need to run the country, Mr. President. That’s what we’re here for. That’s your duty.”

“If this virus doesn’t get us, sterilization will.”

“One problem at a time, sir,” said Gail.

He looked up at her. She hadn’t changed, even with everything that had happened.

“What are you planning?”

Thomas smiled for a brief second. He stood up and straightened his tie.

“To run the country, Gail—to run the country.”

Chapter 54

“Doctor, I feel like I’m going crazy!” shouted Nelson, smashing a computer screen before regaining his composure with a deep breath.

“Try and control your anger,” replied Ursula calmly. She had watched from the corner of her eye as he began pacing the room like a caged beast.

“I’m trying, but it’s not working. Why haven’t I turned into one of those … things … yet?” Even breathing was becoming a struggle, his chest getting tighter. His skin had turned red and blotchy in places, and his eyes were bloodshot.

“I released another supplement into the atmosphere. It’s experimental, but at this point we have nothing to lose,” she explained.

“What was it?” he asked.

“B24-07, an experimental drug for those who have HIV,” said Ursula. “It’s designed to dramatically bolster the internal defense of the body.” It was never going to be a cure, but it could help delay the onset for him.

“You think it’ll work?”

“Probably not,” she admitted. “I’m trying to give you as much time as possible.”

“How long have I got, Doc?”

“I can’t tell,” she said. “Your body is fighting the virus at every corner. We just need to wait and see.”

“But the virus will win?”

She turned to face him.

“If I don’t devise an effective solution within the next hour—two at the most—then yes. It will win. Your immune system can’t hold out forever. Think of the supplements I’ve given you as reinforcements, but they’re not enough.”

“Aren’t you meant to humor the patient?”

“Not something I ever practiced, Commander.” Ursula knew she’d never win accolades for her bedside manner. She was usually flown in to deal with a crisis, which meant marshaling a chaotic team into order and getting people treated as quickly as possible. People often hated her attitude but admired her abilities. “Commander, I suggest you stay calm, let your body fight the virus, and we’ll take it one step at a time.”

“Give me something to do then, please—anything.” Nelson felt useless, literally twiddling his thumbs. He was used to being on the move, defending his country. To be confined to a small room doing nothing would feel like a slow execution.

“Take blood samples every five minutes and scan them at a workstation. That will allow me to look for specific changes in your blood chemistry, comparing it over a select time period.” She wasn’t a natural liar but tried to sound as convincing as possible. There really wasn’t much he could offer her. She had all the data already, and the sensors in his room allowed her to monitor him at a very detailed level.

“I’ll get on it right away,” he replied.

Ursula turned her attention back to the monitor in front of her, intent on working to the end, no matter what. Satellite imagery had shown even more infected humans congressing above them, and it would only be a matter of time before some made their way down to her level. Rescue was impossible, but she refused to shudder at the thought of dying here. As her grandmother always said, there’d be plenty of time to rest when she was dead.

“Keep talking to me, Doctor. Even if you know I won’t understand it, please, just talk.”

“The more I study this virus, the more confusing it becomes.”

Nelson grunted. “That’s not really what I wanted to hear.”

“I mean, it’s extremely simple in construction but complex in design. Each layer is connected, as we’ve said, but I don’t understand why they’re there to begin with, unless we go with my theory that the virus is actually working normally.”

“That’ll certainly annoy your scientist friend,” said Nelson. They’d lost the connection with Peter a while ago.

“True,” she agreed. “I still think this virus was purposely designed to delete the SRGAP2 gene in humans.”

“How important is this gene anyway?”

“It’s a vital gene, duplicated three times, which gave rise to human intelligence millions of years ago. It allowed our brains to develop complex neural connections, giving us more processing power. It made us human. No other animal on earth possesses the duplicates. Human civilization probably wouldn’t have developed without them.”

“Probably? You don’t totally accept the idea of it?”

“I prefer to give humanity more credit,” she said.

“Why would the aliens want to delete that?” Nelson starting withdrawing blood from his right arm. The needle stung like a bee, his skin a lot more sensitive since becoming infected. A red rash flared up across his arm, but she assured him that was a normal reaction now.

“I keep coming back to this neurotropic virus,” she admitted. “Layer two.”

She called up the full virus again.

“But Peter is studying that.”

“I know, but the more I look at it … well…”

“Doctor, have you seen it before? You said you’d never.”

“I know what I said,” said Ursula. “When you’ve had a career as long and varied as mine, it is difficult to remember every virus that has come under my microscope. I recognize parts of it. If the aliens did use a virus from Earth for layer two, I’m sure they would have had to modify it.”

“Ursula! Ursula, can you hear me?” said Peter, the connection restarting.

“Calm down. I hear you loud and clear.”

“I have that link with Commander Rodgers available,” said Peter.

“Excellent, put him through.” Section 51 had been fighting with Japanese authorities, looking to establish a video feed between Ursula and the quarantined American soldier. The Japanese government seemed to be in a permanent state of panic now. She called it anarchy.

“The connection won’t be great, but it’s the best we can do.”

The screen went blank, and Ursula watched, hoping for a data connection. It was poor quality, and the sound was distorted, but she could work with it.

“Commander Rodgers. My name is Ursula Barrington.”

“Hello,” he replied quietly. She noted saliva drooled from his mouth, which he was oblivious to. He’d been strapped down to a chair, and she could see the faint outline of guards in the corners.

“Have you felt any symptoms that could be attributed to the Eugenics Virus?”

“I dunno, Doctor…” He closed his eyes, trying to concentrate. “I don’t feel well at all. I can’t really seem to focus on anything or remember anything.”

“Okay, any problems walking?”

“No, well, um … not physically. I’m terribly dizzy. I want to go home? I really want to see my family.”

“I can’t allow that, Commander. I’m sorry.”

The man’s eyes blazed. “Why not?” he shouted. “You’re going to leave me here stuck in Japan, which just happens to beside a country containing two billion zombies?”

Ursula was taken aback by his sudden outburst of extreme anger and took further notes.

“Commander.” She tried to be gentle. “I know more than most how you’re feeling right now. Believe me.” Her eyes wandered upwards at the ceiling, imagining the millions in this city alone that would love to get down here.

Rodgers squeezed his eyes shut and then opened them, shaking his head. “How can I help?” He spluttered and coughed.

“I need some more information. From the reports I’ve been reviewing, it seems you were the first person to actually spot infection.”

“Spot it?” he asked, confused.

“You called it in to General Richards.”

“Oh, right. The North Koreans started running toward us, going crazy, shooting their guns everywhere. Some even started running on all fours, like dogs.”

“Your report mentions a white-clothed woman. We have her contained. Can you walk me through when you first saw her? I need every detail. Spare nothing.”

“There isn’t much to tell,” he said irritably, shaking his head. She watched as he took a large gulp of water, before throwing it up. It was clouded with blood.

“Please. Every detail, no matter how insignificant.” She sat, pen at the ready.

He wasn’t showing much interest.

“Captain,” she repeated.

A masked Japanese guard came up from behind, threatening Rodgers with a gun.

“Okay, okay … um, it was night. Very dark. We’d just received word the North was pulling forces back from the border. One of my team noticed someone moving among the bushes on the other side. I checked it out for myself.”

“When you say checked it out—how so?”

“I took his fucking binoculars. I don’t have eagle vision, Doctor. It was a woman wearing a long white dress…or gown…or something. The Koreans grabbed her a few seconds later, poor woman. They dragged her into the trees. Probably treated her worse than the dogs around her.”

Ursula stopped writing, her mind focusing in on one sole theory now.

“Dogs?” she asked.

“Yeah, four or five or something. It’s nothing new. All of Korea is overrun with strays. They eat them. Soups, stews. I don’t know one soldier that hasn’t gotten bit by the pests. We’d use them as target practice whenever they ran across the border.”

“But they were definitely in contact with her?” she asked.

“I dunno … yeah, they were running around her.”

“Did the dogs follow her into the forest with the Koreans?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he said after a long pause.

Ursula knew it must all seem so confusing to him now. He didn’t want to remember any of it.

“Best guess, Captain,” Ursula said.

“Probably, yeah. Yeah, I think they did. Poor dogs, starving creatures. I love dogs, you know, Doctor. I’d do anything to see mine again…”

“Commander, thank you. I’ll be in touch.” She cut the link, and Peter appeared back on the screen before cutting out. The connection was lost, again.

“Dogs?” asked Nelson.

She knew Nelson hadn’t missed the expression on her face when that word was mentioned.

“Argh, I can’t think!” she shouted. She had so much flying around inside her head it was impossible to focus.

“Calm down,” said Nelson.

“Now the patient is humoring the doctor,” said Ursula. “God help us.”

“Well it’s either me or her,” said Nelson, pointing at the woman in white. “She’s not really that chatty.”

“I need my own database.” The Chinese library was fully loaded, but she wanted her own. “Dogs dogs dogs.” She was starving, and the constant fear of being invaded by hordes of infected was not helping her thought process.

“Will you calm down?”

“I’m trying to save the world, and we have a billion zombies on top of us,” she shouted back, echoing Rodgers’ comments.

“Remember, we’re the good guys, and they always win, Doc,” said Nelson. “Think of every zombie film in the past thirty years. We always won.”

She laughed at the silliness of his humor. If only it were that simple.

“I’m telling you,” he said, continuing the joke, “if you haven’t seen
Night of Smoke: Dawn of Maggie
, you missed a great zombie flick.”

She rolled her eyes.

“I guess it’s a bit tasteless for you,” said Nelson. “A killer outbreak of rabies, sending people crazy.” Nelson continued to giggle, remembering vivid images of the movie. “The best part was a completely crazy scene where a grandmother fends of a horde of them with a shotgun. Even funnier was she actually won.”

“Rabies,” she said, this time with no lightheartedness in her tone.

“Yeah, stupid, I know.”

“Rabies,” she repeated, sitting down. “Commander, you are a genius.”

“Come again?”

“A genius. Now, be quiet.”

Ursula pulled up layer two again and applied a new scanning algorithm. She watched each increase in percentage as the computer worked through it again. She also tried to reestablish the connection with Peter, but there was still no signal.

The computer beeped, taking her attention away from him.

“I knew it,” she finally said. “Commander, I HAVE seen this virus before.” Data streamed across the screens as her algorithm was now able to understand the second layer with much more ease, and that provided a lot more detail. It showed it from the inside out.

“What? Where? How?” Nelson was shocked. “Explain.”

Ursula sat back from the desk, taking a breath. It was such a long time ago.

“I first saw this virus in North Korea. The year was 2015, almost twenty-five years ago now. You remember the influenza epidemic?”

“Vaguely,” he replied. “I remember being in South Korea at that time, junior officer. A flu outbreak or something, which spread to Asia.”

“Yes. The South Korean government had convened an international medical conference to discuss the new strain of influenza. They were worried it would lead to a global pandemic.”

“What happened in the North?” Nelson stabbed his arm with another needle, watching blood leak out this time and splash onto the white floor tiles.

“Well, I was there for the conference,” she said, watching the blood trickled down him. “I was just a junior myself back then, just there with my team to take notes, really. During the conference, there was an outbreak of rabies in a remote farming village in the North. The North Korean government was so spooked they permitted a western medical team to cross the border.”

“Rabies, in humans?”

“Yes. My tutor thought it would be good for me to see rabies firsthand in humans. We went to investigate. The problem with rabies is that you must treat it within the first ten days of infection, or you lose the patient. It is a slow, gross death for any person to endure.” She recalled the numerous times she had seen patients strapped down to beds, screaming and losing their minds, while doctors could only watch and wait for them to die.

“I’ve seen troops infected with rabies before,” said Nelson. He sat down and started eating a biscuit.

“You’ve never seen this kind of rabies before. We couldn’t figure it out at all. It infected the host immediately, and you had to administer a large, extremely potent drug within one hour to avoid death. Thankfully it was an isolated incident in the village, and we contained it. But once I was back in the UK, I began analyzing my blood samples. It was indeed rabies, but so aggressive to any host it entered and so close to mutating into an airborne virus. I alerted the Korean authorities, who began a mass animal cull in the area.”

“Where does a highly aggressive strain of rabies even come from?”

“I didn’t investigate it much further. Suits came in and removed it, for ‘national security.’”
Suits
was a word Ursula used, knowing Nelson would understand, to refer to government agents that operated behind the scenes. Black ops.

“Incinerated then,” said Nelson.

“No way,” said Ursula. “Stored in some off-the-books lab somewhere for experimentation. But then I came across this particular rabies strain again, in 2026.”

“In Asia?”

“Siberia, actually. We were drilling deep into permafrost, looking to find untouched soil samples that had been frozen for thousands of years.”

“Permafrost?”

“Frozen soil,” she explained. “It can contain hundreds of exotic organisms in deep hibernation. With all our antibiotics useless, my team was looking to the far distant past for new ones. That’s what led us to the permafrost. I was able to determine one particular sample was almost 100,000 years old … and contained an ancient form of what I suspected to be rabies. I compared the two, from some notes I’d kept, and they were identical. The rabies outbreak in Korea had been the result of a dormant version of the virus from over 100,000 years ago.”

“Kept secure in the ice,” said Nelson. “How did it turn up in Korea?”

“I never found out, but we long suspected the North was experimenting in extreme biogenic weapons. I wouldn’t have put it past them to try and modify this particular rabies strain into an airborne virus and send it across the border. That would have been lethal.”