Villains of the Apocalypse Read Free Page B

somewhere.”
    “There probably is. But I don’t have access to it.”
    “Who does?”
    He shrugged his shoulders.
    Bashir held onto the syringe like a knife. “I will pump you full of my blood.”
    “Do it. I’ve watched so many of you people die. I’ve always wondered what it would feel like.”
    “Tell me,” Bashir repeated. “Who has the anti-virus?”
    “If anyone has it, it’s Doctor Hunter.”
    “Where is he?”
    “He’s on his way.”
    “Good.”
    “No. Not good. He’s a goddamn butcher. You’ll be sorry. He’s a crazy son of a bitch. He thinks he’ll be a hero for doing all this. This, killing. This, mass murder. Trust me; you do not want to meet him. You should pray to God that you die before he gets here.”
    “I no longer believe in God.”
    Bashir drove the syringe into the doctor’s chest. He pushed down on the plunger, pumping him full of a virus that was designed to be used as a weapon of mass destruction.
     
    CHAPTER 5
     
    Doctor Hunter had arrived at Outpost Six. He was trying to contain his anger. His research assistant, John had quarantined himself.
    “It’s bad,” John said through a plastic sheet with black bio-hazard symbol on it. “Something bad. We didn’t know. He was too fast. He was like a Special Forces soldier or something.”
    “Slow down,” Doctor Hunter said. “What happened?”
    “One of the test subjects, the guy who murdered Farid. He attacked us. He was too quick. He killed Frank for crying out loud. Broke his goddamn neck.”
    “Had the subject been administered the virus?”
    “Yes.”
    Hunter kicked a nearby chair. This was the last thing they needed. “Who knows about this?”
    “No one. We’ve been operating with a skeleton crew for months now.”
    “Did you call Doctor West?”
    “No. Last I heard he was in Sydney meeting with investors.”
    “Where is the patient?”
    “He’s gone. He ran off.”
    Hunter knew he had run off into the desert. It was a stupid and desperate thing to do. But people were capable of stupid and desperate things when they were faced with certain death. Fortunately, this person was already dead. The virus would’ve killed him within the hour. Probably sooner.
    “There’s something else,” John said. “He injected me with his own blood. He infected me. I’ve given myself a double dose of the new anti-virus. But I’m scared. What if it doesn’t work? I mean, it hasn’t been effective since…”
    “Do not worry, John. We have been manufacturing an extra-strong version of the anti-virus. You will be fine.”
    “I’ve been here all night. I’m too scared to leave. What do we do about the patient?”
    “I will deal with him later. Remember, we will be looking for a corpse. Provided the wild dogs haven’t gotten to him first.”
    “Thanks, Michael. This means a lot to me. I’m so damn scared. I can’t believe what happened. I can’t believe Frank is dead. What do we tell his family?”
    “Do not worry. I will deal with this. It will all be over very soon.”
    Yes, it would be over soon, Hunter thought. There was no anti-virus. John was right. It had stopped working. Over the past few months it had slowly become less and less effective. And right now? Right now it was as good as useless. Hunter had told an outright lie about manufacturing a new batch. There was none. Nothing was working. The virus was one hundred percent deadly. Once infected, you die. It was only a matter of time.
    The good thing was the alarm had not been raised. And John had not told anyone else about this incident.
    As far as far as everyone outside of this room knew, it was business as usual. Hunter was determined to keep it that way.
    The last thing he needed was for his superiors to get wind of this. He did not want any more setbacks.
    They were close to perfecting this virus.
    Doctor Hunter made sure John was handcuffed to the bed. He would let the virus kill him. And then he would study the effects of the virus on his body and