Extinction Horizon

-22-

The loud knocking startled Kate awake.

Cracking an eye, she looked at her wristwatch.

Shit!

She’d fallen asleep inside the office at the lab facility. Rubbing her eyes, she sprang out of the leather chair and rushed over to the door.

Ellis and Cindy waited in the hallway. Even though she was groggy she could see they both wore excited looks.

“What’s going on?” Kate asked. “Did you find something?”

Ellis handed Kate a coffee. “You’re going to need this.”

“Why?” Kate replied.

“Jensen’s technicians are preparing one of the infected for testing. Let’s go,” Ellis said.

Kate paused. She hadn’t authorized that, but she should have known they wouldn’t wait for her.

“Okay, show me,” Kate said. She took the lead and hurried down the hallway.

Ellis rushed after her, speaking as he walked. “Think this is going to work?”

“I hope so,” Kate replied. She paused in the middle of the corridor, suddenly remembering her request. “Did you test VariantX9H9 on a healthy batch of Rhesus monkeys?”

Ellis nodded enthusiastically. “Yup. No side effects. Since the VX-99 radically changes the proteins expressed on the cell surface, the synthesized virus only affects the endothelial cells of animals or people who are infected with the Hemorrhage virus.”

Kate breathed a sigh of relief and continued on.

The isolation chamber looked more heavily guarded than usual. Even from a distance Kate could see several soldiers pacing outside the white domed building. Some of them stopped to salute Jensen and Smith as they guided Kate and her team across the concrete walkway.

Kate shielded her eyes against the blinding morning sunlight and scanned the base. “Can one of your men radio Master Sergeant Beckham and his team? I’d like him to be present for the tests.”

Jensen looked confused, studying her for a moment. He turned to Smith.

“Major, can you see to Doctor Lovato’s request?”

Kate wasn’t sure exactly why she wanted Beckham with her when the tests were conducted, but part of her felt safer with him by her side. And if anyone deserved to see the results of her efforts, it was the man who had risked his life to make the test possible.

Inside, Jensen led them past several isolation rooms. Kate remembered them from before, but this time they weren’t dark. This time bright LEDs illuminated the white padded rooms.

Halting, Kate moved up to one of the thick oval windows.

“I wouldn’t get too close,” Smith said.

A humanoid face suddenly smashed into the glass. Kate grabbed her chest and gasped, stumbling backward.

“Told you,” Smith said with a nervous chuckle.

Kate sucked in several large gasps in an attempt to catch her breath. Slowly, she regained her composure. With clenched teeth she turned back to the window.

The infected boy flicked the glass with a swollen tongue. Vertical, yellow pupils contracted, back and forth as the creature tried to focus.

“I told you not to get too close,” Smith said.

Kate shot the officer an angry glare and then cautiously walked up to the next steel door.

The victim, a man in his mid-thirties or forties, blinked rapidly as she approached. A beard of crusty blood surrounded his sucker lips. Fresh blood oozed from his eyes and nose. He snarled, revealing a mouthful of sharp yellow teeth.

In one swift motion he lurched forward, clamping down on the glass and then pulling away. He roared with anger, pounding the pane with hands distorted into claws.

Kate stepped back and scanned the hallway. Dozens of doors lined the corridor, all brightly lit.

“How many are there?” Kate choked.

Jensen put his hand on his hips. “Colonel Gibson requested as many as we could capture. Beckham’s wasn’t the only team that went out. We currently have a total of twenty infected on the island, but don’t worry, these rooms were designed to hold—”

A terrifying scream cut him off.

Inside the cell, the man was spearing his head into the glass. The noise echoed down the hall, prompting more of the prisoners to pound on their doors.

Kate cupped her ears.

“You sure it’s safe?” Ellis asked.

Jensen frowned and said, “Yeah.” He suddenly looked unsure.

By the time they reached the end of the corridor, the entire hallway was alive with the croaking and shrieks. Like the infected rhesus monkeys, the human creatures had broken into a mad frenzy.

“Why aren’t these people restrained?” Ellis asked.

“We’ve had problems keeping them restrained,” Smith replied. “They can easily slip and twist out of straitjackets.” He stopped outside the door to the main isolation room and waved his keycard over the security panel. It chirped and the doors slid open.

“This is Patient 14,” Jensen said as they entered in single file.

Kate walked into the observation room in shock, her eyes glued to an infected woman in the holding area behind the wall of thick glass. The girl looked no older than a teenager, maybe fifteen or sixteen. It was hard to tell. The virus aged the host considerably. She lay on the ground, curled up in a fetal position. When she sensed their presence the girl suddenly sat up, her head tilting and nose sniffing the air like a wild animal. Blinking, her eyes darted from Kate to the others.

The bright LEDs revealed fresh wounds on the girl’s arms. Bite marks and deep gouges lined her right bicep.

Kate approached the glass with her hand covering her mouth, her heart throbbing. The effects of the Hemorrhage virus were the most awful she’d ever seen. The symptoms took her breath away.

Reaching for the observation window, Kate pressed her fingers against the cold surface. Patient 14 rotated her head on her neck, pivoting her chin from left to right and scanning the men behind Kate. Then she tilted her head and snarled, bending and jerking until she was on all fours.

In the blink of an eye, the girl jumped to her feet and launched her body toward the glass. She landed with her hands and feet twisted into claws and quickly skittered across the panel like a spider moving across a wall.

“Damn,” Smith said. “Never seen one of them do that.”

“I have,” came a voice from the doorway.

Kate spun to see Beckham standing there, his eyes locked on the girl behind her.

“Saw the entire side of a building crawling with those things,” he said coldly. “They move like insects.” He jerked his chin toward the window. “Check her hands and feet. The only good thing about how they move is you can hear them coming.”

“Disgusting,” Smith said. “The sooner we get VariantX9H9 deployed the better.”

Jensen stepped up to the glass. The girl jumped away and landed a few feet away on the floor, her back hunched and teeth snarling.

The soldier flinched.

“I was told to report to the isolation chamber,” Beckham said.

Kate nodded. “I wanted you here for this.”

“For what?” Beckham replied. He walked past Cindy and Ellis, who were too focused watching the girl to acknowledge him.

“I’ve completed my work,” Kate said. “I’ve created a bioweapon of my own.”

Beckham’s eyes lit up. He looked back at Patient 14. She slowly crawled across the ground, her back still hunched like a lion waiting to pounce on prey. Blood trickled from her face onto the white tile floor.

Jensen punched a red button on a control panel. White gas hissed from vents in the ceiling. The girl screeched and clawed at the chemical cloud.

“What’s that?” Beckham asked.

“They are putting her out,” Kate replied.

Within seconds Patient 14 slumped to the ground, falling asleep peacefully. A trio of technicians moved into the room. They wore space suits modified with combat armor. They looked more like a SWAT team than scientists.

“Can’t take too many precautions,” Smith said when he saw Kate’s reaction.

After restraining the girl, the technicians placed her on a metal table in the center of the room. One of them bent down and pulled a curtain of hair away from her face. Yellow slits stared up at the ceiling. The man held a syringe in the other hand and quickly pushed the needle into one of the blue veins bulging from the girls forearm.

The entire team rushed back to the exit as soon as the engineered virus was inserted. None of them looked back. They moved quickly, anxious to get out of the room.

“What happens now?” Beckham asked. He moved closer to Kate. His shoulder brushed against hers.

“We wait,” Ellis said. Running a hand through his neatly combed hair, he cautiously approached the observation glass for a better look.

Kate could hear the doomsday clock ticking again and thought of her parents in Europe. Every minute that passed was another minute the infection spread outside Plum Island.

Behind her, the ruckus from the other holding cells echoed in the hallway. The victims were suddenly active again, beating on the doors and walls. Their enraged screams were louder. They sounded desperate.

It reminded her of something she’d seen in the forest years ago when her team was searching for the western lowland gorilla in Cameroon. The journey had taken them into a very remote area, but when they had finally located the group, they weren’t able to get close due to the gorillas’ violent behavior. She could still remember their panicked cries. They sounded…

Primal.

Kate couldn’t help but wonder if the same thing was happening in front of her and if the infected patients knew the girl had been given a dose of the synthesized VariantX9H9 bioweapon. She shook the thought away. That was impossible, but then again, this all seemed so impossible.

She waited there for two hours, watching Patient 14 twitch and kick. The technicians reentered the room sporadically to check on her, sweeping flashlights over her body. Another one entered vigilantly, shining his light over the girl. Then he bent down and illuminated a flow of blackish blood dripping into a puddle under the metal table. The technician stood and moved the light over the thin white blanket covering her chest. The cloth moved up and down slowly as blood gurgled from the girl’s bulging lips.

Kate’s stomach rolled at the sight. The virus was once again attacking the endothelial cells and causing massive internal bleeding, and it was doing so very fast.

A few minutes later Patient 14 took her last breaths.

One of the technicians gave a thumbs up. A wave of nausea hit Kate like a freight train. She felt lightheaded. Stumbling, she reached for the glass to brace herself. She knew exactly what she’d done. She’d created a weapon that would kill millions of people infected with the Hemorrhage virus.

No.

Billions.