Exclusive Book Excerpt: The zombie virus is airborne in "Plague World" by Dana Fredsti

The briefing was held in a large room on the first floor that looked like your generic corporate conference room, big rectangular table and all. I fully expected someone to pull down a screen and show us a PowerPoint presentation on the digital marketing potential of zombies.

The only constant was Colonel Paxton, holding the authority position at the far end of the table, much the same way he’d dominated the podium in Room 217, our old briefing room at Big Red. He’d arrived on the same copter as Simone. His commedia dell’arte tragedy mask of a face was set in neutral as he waited for everyone to shuffle in and sit.

Tony, Gentry, Lil, and I sat clustered at the end of the table nearest the door, Lil didn’t say much to anyone, but the fact she’d actually gotten dressed and left her room was a good sign. Her hair hung in damp hanks down her back, which meant she’d also taken the effort to shower.

Nathan and Simone sat side by side, each making an effort not to look at the other, but still obviously connected. The two had a past—she’d been there when he’d been bitten by a zombie, had nursed him through his transition, and hadn’t been strictly honest when he’d demanded explanations. Given Nathan’s zero tolerance for bullshit, he hadn’t taken it well. Still, if the sexual tension between the two of them was any indication, they might have a future together, if they didn’t kill each other first.

Watching the drama unfold between them was almost like having access to a live zombie-themed soap opera channel. Jamie sitting on Simone’s other side only added to the drama, although for some inexplicable reason she didn’t find Nathan at all threatening.

Go figure.

The Gunsy Twins—Jones and Davis—leaned against the far wall, while Carl, the chopper pilot helicopter, sat glumly next to JT. I was surprised to see them both. After all, Carl hadn’t only signed up for dropping us off at UCSF. Then Red, his friend and fellow crewmember, had died on our trek across San Francisco. I’d been with Red when he died and still wondered if there was something I could have done to save him.

I gave Carl a tentative smile, and was heartened when he smiled back.

As for JT, he wasn’t a wild card or military. Even if his physical skills were off the charts compared to your average person, he was still a civilian, and I’d have thought he’d earned the right to hang out in safety, while the rest of us tried to sort out all this zombie shit.

That being said, I was happy to see him.

Dr. Arkin and Josh were there, along with my current least-favorite-person. Arkin and Josh sat next to each other, while Griff lounged in a chair he’d pulled away from the table, distancing himself from everyone else in the room. He stared at me from under hooded lids. I studiously ignored him.

Much the way Simone and Dr. Arkin were ignoring each other. They were an interesting contrast—Simone with her classic icy blonde film noir style, and Dr. Arkin, tall, thin, and coldly brunette. I’d once compared Simone to a Vulcan, but even if that were the case, at least she had some human ancestry mixed in there. Dr. Arkin was full on emotionless, and possibly sociopathic—too cold-blooded even to be cast as Saavik. Granted, I hadn’t spent a lot of time in her company, but I was pretty sure that peeling off part of her skull would reveal a cyborg underneath.

Colonel Paxton cleared his throat, and the room fell silent.

“As you all know, the Walker’s virus has breached quarantine,” he said. “The flu vaccines were sent around the United States to locations conveniently close to established DZN facilities.”

He picked up what looked like a remote control device and clicked it. A screen scrolled down on the wall behind him.

Okay, I was joking about the PowerPoint.

He aimed the control at the ceiling and pressed another button. Immediately the screen lit up with a photograph showing a building complex, several stories tall and all rectangles and hard edges, with lots of window banks. Those buildings were currently besieged by what looked like a shitload of zombies.

“This is the West Virginia University Medical Center, as seen from Chestnut Ridge Road.” A pause. “Professor Fraser’s alma mater, and home to one of the DZN’s top research facilities.”

He smiled ruefully, then clicked another button. The feed changed to show a several-story red brick complex with the American flag flying out front. Smoke billowed out of several of the buildings, and the scene in front could only be described as carnage. Ambulances, fire trucks, and other emergency vehicles lay smashed in an inadvertent piece of modern sculpture.

“This is the nearby Monongalia Country General Hospital, where many people suffering from Walker’s sought medical care. We tried to ferry as many patients as possible to our facility, but the situation rapidly fell out of our control.”

Another quick click switched us to yet another building complex, this one high-tech, with curved blue-glass frontage, the type of structure used to convey “Hey, this is the future!” in movies like Gattaca and Lookers.

“And this is a high-profile pharmaceuticals company down the road that offered free Walker’s flu vaccines over the last month.”

He hit another switch and the static photography switched to a live video feed of about a half dozen people in lab coats running full pelt up a grassy slope toward the university. A mini-swarm of zombies followed them, with several other groups of the walking dead converging from all other directions. I shuddered as a woman was culled from the human herd and ripped to pieces as we watched. Her screams seemed tinny and unreal over the speakers, but horrific nonetheless.

“Oh god… Julia…”

I looked over at Simone, whose face had gone white. Silent tears slipped down her face. Nathan covered her hand with his, and she moved closer to him.

Colonel Paxton hit the remote again. The screen now showed the interior of a room that looked much like the one we occupied, except front and center were a man and a woman, both in gore-spattered lab coats. The woman, a thirty-something brunette with petite features, looked directly up at the camera.

“Someone set off the fire alarm and most everyone evacuated. When we got outside… they were everywhere. We are certain that the Walker’s virus has mutated … gone airborne.” The man tried unsuccessfully to hold back tears in the background. The woman kept talking.

“We were screwed. They’re slow, but there were so many…” She took a deep breath. “I’m Dr. Allison Hayward. Ben, Dr. Hodgson and I are the only doctors who made it back here. The only other survivors are Jeff Lucas and Jay Bachar, both ROTC, and three lab techs. I—” She pressed her hands against her head for a second, then looked back at the camera. “I can’t remember their names. I’m sorry, I should know them, but I can’t remember.” Another pause.

“We have a lab full of sick people. Jeff and Jay are—” She shut her eyes for a moment. “They’re putting them down. The infected. We don’t have the manpower to take care of them before or after they die. So it’s… it’s better this way. For them and for us. They—”

The door behind her burst inward and two blood-splashed young men, both looking like they’d just started shaving that year, dove into the room, slamming the door behind them. One fumbled for the lock while the other started piling any available and movable piece of furniture in front of the door.

“Jay, Jeff… What?—” The woman, Dr. Hayward, shot them a startled glance that quickly turned to terror when the one at the door spoke.

“Someone let the lab rats loose.”

Dr. Hodgson lifted his head.

“All of them?”

The other kid nodded. “All of them,” he said, knocking notebooks off a bookshelf before dragging it toward the door.

“Oh, crap.”

The looks of hopeless terror were clear even over the grainy video feed as another sound resonated through the speakers—the sound of meaty thuds hitting the door. Then the screen went blank.

Colonel Paxton set the remote down on the table and stared at all of us.

“That’s the last transmission we had from this particular facility. It’s just one example of what is happening all over the country… and is now spreading globally. In a world with jet aircraft, it only takes hours.”

Simone hadn’t been kidding when she said things were bad. And Paxton wasn’t done spreading the bad news.

“We’ve had reports of sightings in the United Kingdom ranging from London to Sheffield, with the infection originating at a board meeting for a multi-national company that sent representatives from India, Japan, China, South America, Romania, Poland, France, Norway… well, you get the picture.”

The silence in the room testified that everyone got the picture.

Someone had to break it. Since no one else was speaking up, I jumped in.  

“So we have to find the cure, right?” I said.

Colonel Paxton nodded.

“Yes.”

“Which means we have to find Gabriel. And Dr. Albert,” I added quickly.

“Again, that’s correct, Ashley.” Colonel Paxton smiled approvingly. I suppressed the urge to ask if I got a gold star.

Simone cleared her throat, dashing a quick hand across her eyes.

“We’ve tracked the signal in Gabriel’s microchip, and it points to San Diego,” she said. “Specifically at a location we thought had been shut down years ago.”

“Is this a DZN lab?” I asked.

“No.” Simone said with assurance. “It’s an old naval base, now a national park. The underground portions were used during World War II, and the DZN was aware of it. It was part of a contingency scenario, but there were several other locations established in San Diego, all more strategically placed, that served our needs.

“So what’s the plan?” Tony leaned forward, ready to rock and roll.

“We go in and extract Dr. Albert and Gabriel.”

“How?” I pressed.

Colonel Paxton smiled, a scary expression on his face.

“That information will be given to you at the appropriate time, and on a need-to-know basis. Right now, considering the sabotage that was performed on the two helicopters that brought you into San Francisco, the details of our plans are considered highly confidential.”

Tony frowned.

“You mean we’re gonna go risk our lives, without even knowing what the fuck we’re doing?”

I nudged him. “We’ll know when we need to know.” I dropped my voice and added, “Would you rather deal with another whirlybird crash somewhere between here and San Diego, just because the wrong person had the right information?”

Tony shut up, taking my point.

“When are we leaving?” Lil asked. She’d been silent up to now.

“Tomorrow morning,” Paxton said.

“What about my cats?”

Colonel Paxton’s expression didn’t change, but his mental eye-roll was obvious.

“There are more important things at stake here than your pets.”

Uh-oh, I thought. Someone's IQ points just dropped sharply.

Simone stepped forward before Lil could explode, putting a hand on Lil's shoulder as she spoke.

“Someone will look after your cats while we’re gone,” she said soothingly. Lil visibly relaxed under the combo of her touch and voice. Paxton started to say something, but a look from Simone shut him up.

We? I thought. Is Simone going with us?

Nathan frowned, coming to the same conclusion.

“You’re not going,” he said firmly.

Simone raised a perfectly arched eyebrow.

“Oh, indeed I am, Mister Smith. Captain Drake’s condition is extremely unstable. Aside from Dr. Albert, I am the one person most familiar with his condition, and with the appropriate treatment.”

“Dr. Albert is with Gabriel,” Nathan pointed out with cold logic. “Seems to me that’s already covered.”

“We have no way of knowing if they’re together, or if whoever took them is allowing Dr. Albert to make any more antiserum,” Simone said firmly. “Dr. Arkin and I have cobbled together an antiserum derivative that may keep him stable until we can get him back to the lab. Since we can’t test it, I have to be there to administer it, and tweak the concentration based on his response.” She gave Nathan a look. “If we are to have any hope of bringing him back while he’s still human, still sane, I need to be there.”

Nathan turned to Colonel Paxton.

“Colonel, I thought the general consensus was that Professor Fraser’s skill set and knowledge base was too valuable to risk her involvement in the field.”

Colonel Paxton laced his fingers together.

“Captain Drake is also invaluable to our mission,” he replied. “From what I’ve been told by Dr. Albert and Professor Fraser, as well as Dr. Arkin—” He gave her a brief nod of acknowledgement. “—Gabriel’s blood likely holds at least part of the answer needed to the cure to this plague. So if that means Professor Fraser goes along… well, it’s worth the risk.”

Simone nodded. “Dr. Arkin has all the information needed to help synthesize the cure, and more practical experience than I. She and Dr. Albert collaborated on the Walker’s vaccine, and thanks to Ashley, we have Dr. Albert’s notes.”

I gave a modest shrug. All I’d done was scoop up his backpack, dropped when he’d been attacked by a zombie on our way to the DZN facility. So when the men in black took Dr. Albert away, his backpack, laptop, notes, and samples of Gabriel’s antiserum stayed behind.

“So if there’s anyone we need to keep alive at this point,” Simone continued, “It’s Dr. Arkin.” I could tell the admission pained her.  “Jamie will stay here and assist her.”

Dr. Arkin looked coldly pleased.

 “What?” Jamie shot to her feet. “But I have to go with you!”

Simone looked at her apologetically.

“I’m sorry, Jamie, but I need you to stay here. You haven’t had adequate training to go out into the field, especially into the conditions we’re going to face.”

“I can shoot!” Jamie said hotly.

“Not well enough,” Nathan said bluntly.

Jamie glared at him.

“I’m not staying here, not when Professor Fraser needs me.”

 “Jamie, trust me when I say that your assistance will be much more important here,” Simone said soothingly. “After all, you know my work nearly as well as I do, and no one else can decipher my handwriting.”

“That’s true,” Dr. Arkin agreed.

Simone didn’t dignify that with a response. Instead she got to her feet and put a hand on Jamie’s shoulder.

“I need to know there’s someone here I can trust to make sure the work we’ve already done is built upon, rather than replaced.”

Ooh, points for a nice subtle parry and riposte. Dr. Arkin’s slight frown showed that the riposte had been on target, too. What I’d give for a time machine, to go back and find out what exactly happened between the two of them.

“Besides, I won’t have to worry about your safety if you’re here,” Simone added. I could see Jamie melt, all arguments born away on a tide of warm fuzzies.  She sat down without another word.

Well played, Simone, I thought, albeit a bit cynically.             

Nathan cleared his throat.

“Fine. Now that that’s settled, we’ll be divide into two teams as per usual. Team A will be Ash, Lil, myself, and JT. Team B will be Simone, Tony, Gentry, and Griff.”

Tony raised his hand.

‘What is it,” Colonel Paxton said with more than a touch of impatience.

“No offense to JT,” Tony said in a tone that made it clear he didn’t give a shit, “but he’s not exactly a wild card.” He nodded at JT. “I mean, dude, you have some wicked skills—”

JT gave a modest nod of acknowledgment.

“—but if you get gnawed on by a zom, you’re dead.” The way he said it, though, I could tell he wouldn’t necessarily be sorry to see it happen.

If JT noticed, though, he didn’t show it. He just shrugged.

“Maybe I’ll turn out to be a wild card after all, and be able to leap tall buildings in a single bound.’“

Colonel Paxton cleared his throat.

“We’ve lost three wild cards in the last two weeks, along with several other key personnel. This man—” He nodded toward JT. “—has exhibited physical skills that match any of yours, even without the benefit of being a wild card. He’s willing to take the chance, and we cannot afford to turn down his offer to help.”

“How do we know we can trust him?” Griff said unexpectedly.

“You have got to be kidding,” I said without thinking.

Griff shrugged. “From what I understand, he showed up miraculously when you were coming close to this facility.”

“Actually, he showed up leaping across the tops of cars near Golden Gate Bridge,” I corrected.

“And then he followed you all the way across San Francisco,” Griff countered. He shot JT a pointed look. “Seems a bit convenient to me.”

JT folded his arms and shrugged again.

“If you had no place to go,” he said, “Wouldn’t you follow the hot chick with a katana, and the rest of the people wearing uniforms, looking like they at least had a clue?”      

“Yeah, and he saved our asses by risking his own life,” I said, glaring at Griff. “I’d trust him before I’d trust you, any day of the week.”

Dr. Arkin spoke for the first time since we’d started the briefing.

“I can assure you, Ms. Parker, that Griff is entirely trustworthy.”

“So says the woman who helped create the vaccine that brought the dead back to life,” I snapped. She raised an eyebrow, and sat back in her chair.

“Go, Ash,” Tony drew closer to me in an unaccustomed show of support and I thought I heard …

Did Lil just growl?

I think she did.

“There are very few people on the list of who I’d trust with my life,” I continued. “Especially since someone on our side brought down our copters and cost us the lives of five people. Five good people. JT actually risked his life to help us.” I shot a scathing look across the table. “The rest of you sat on your asses and watched while our friend Mack died. So please do not tell me who we can or cannot trust.”

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence that that really needed to be filled with a slow clap. None was forthcoming, though, so Colonel Paxton cleared his throat and looked vaguely pissed.

“The decisions have already been made,” he said. “We don’t have time for a debate, and I will not hesitate to pull rank to move this operation forward. Do I make myself clear?”

He did. Everyone drank a big glass of “shut the fuck up.” Paxton looked around the room, and nodded in satisfaction.

“Good. Be ready to leave at dawn.”