The Zombie Virus (Book 1) Read Free Page B

not to
touch him.
    “He was already here,” she stated bluntly,
taking a seat at the head of the table, crossing her long legs
demurely even though they were clothed in the digital gray, tan and
greens of her Army combat uniform trousers. She looked much more
soldier than scientist/doctor in the camouflaged uniform. I didn’t
miss those days of uniform wearing… much.
    “By the time both of us realized he was
showing signs of this illness it was too late. Two other personnel
that I could contact have agreed to come in and be our lab rats,
they are both also symptomatic.”
    I looked up again at Anwar’s flushed face.
“You should have quarantined him immediately!” I hissed.
    “Dr. Rafik is on his way down to Level 6 now
to get suited up.” She looked directly at Rafik as she said that.
He nodded to her and gave a sad smile to me before turning and
leaving.
    Worry played freely across her stern, sharply
contoured face, something I didn’t think was possible for her. As
always her dark hair was pulled tightly back into a bun adding to
the severity of her overall appearance. She had a brilliant
analytical mind and not only ran the Facility, but was often
involved in the research. She was the driving force that had
recruited me from Dietrich when I was leaving the Army.
    “Look, Steve, if I had known I was walking
into this facility with a hot patient walking around possibly
infecting every surface that he touched, I would have met him
suited up. This took us both by surprise when he started displaying
symptoms not more than ten minutes ago. He has agreed to stay as
one of our guinea pigs. He has no family locally anyway.” She
swiveled her seat and looked up at the TV screen. “Staff Sergeant
Yeop will be in shortly, along with two of our Army techs that are
supposedly symptomatic. They are living here on the base so I
ordered them in as additional case studies.” She took a deep breath
and glanced back up at the television screen.
    “Right now, Steve, our roster of staff that’s
not showing suspected symptoms of the illness is you, me and Yeop.
I believe our one Marine who showed up for duty may be exhibiting
signs of infection, although I couldn’t get him to admit to it.”
She paused again before continuing. “If this illness progresses we
are in for a world of hurt.”
    “Three!” I exclaimed loudly, that acidic fear
in my gut now twisting into pangs of terror. “Out of ninety-some
people who work here, only three aren’t symptomatic?”
    She looked at me hard and nodded. “I couldn’t
get hold of many of our personnel, so it’s supposition,
nevertheless, I think it’s that bad.”
    “What do we know?” I asked, still dazed by
the news.
    She steepled her fingers on the table in
front of her. “I was just on with Ken Patterson at the CDC a few
minutes ago. Most, if not all of their research staff has come down
with the illness and he expects that they will be severely short
staffed. We tossed some ideas about. Bioterrorism is low on the
probability list due to the reports of the illness coming in from
every country, no matter how small. I haven’t been able to confirm
any of this with anyone at Dietrich.” She looked at me ominously.
“I’m having trouble reaching anyone up the chain.” She looked back
up at the screen again, maybe to hide the fear radiating like
furnace heat in her eyes.
    “One hypothesis,” she continued dryly, “is
that some pathogen was released from the comet. It would explain
the worldwide infection rate that’s being reported.”
    I laughed nervously. “That was one of my
first thoughts. But I just can’t wrap my head around anything as
fragile as a bacteria or even a virus surviving the kind of
temperatures involved with the friction of hitting our atmosphere.
Anyway, I thought the alien virus theory through this type of
vector was put to rest a long time ago.”
    “I tend to agree with you, however, you have
to admit it fits the facts. Ken said he’s heard