Caldera Book 6: New World Order Read online

  “Precisely why I don’t think we should move him. His size means more mass. More mass means more flesh moving when he’s jostled.” She picked up her coffee again and shook her head. “I think he should remain here a while longer.”

  Hatcher blew his breath out hard and shook his head. “We’re going. All of us.”

  Vicky gave him a confused look. “Why? Seriously, what’s the rush?”

  “For one thing, we can’t know how much water is left.”

  She shrugged. “So we use bottled water. It’s not long term.”

  “Second, there’s no way we could defend two places at one time.” He pointed out the office window. “If you haven’t noticed, there’s a madman out there who wants to kill us all.”

  “I don’t need a lot of security. Leave me Hank and Wally.”

  Hatcher shook his head. “Absolutely not.” He looked up at her and grinned. “They have a moat to install.”

  Vicky snorted and came to her feet. “I heard about that. You’re not really going to let them dig a moat, are you?”

  Hatcher shrugged. “Once everything else is done, I don’t see why not.”

  Vicky groaned and reached for her coffee. “I’ve given you my expert medical opinion. It’s too soon for Mike to be moved. If we do and anything happens to him, it’s on you.”

  Hatcher opened his mouth to argue then quickly shut it. If there was one thing he had learned in the thirty-six years he’d lived with his sister it was that she was just like their mother. He chose to simply nod. “Your objection is noted.”

  “And taken under advisement, I hope.”

  Hatcher nodded. “And taken under advisement.”

  “So he stays? Skeleton crew?”

  Hatcher shook his head. “Tell his girlfriend to pack their stuff. We’re bugging out.”

  Carol tiptoed back and forth across the narrow ward, her eyes constantly darting to the air vent. “Dam you Broussard. Now you’ve got me all paranoid.”

  “It’s not paranoia if somebody is really out to get you.”

  Carol jumped at the voice and grasped at her chest. “Good lord! You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

  She slumped against the counter and stared at the researcher who had slipped into the lab. She wasn’t certain, but she thought he was a Biologist. She only knew him as “Kevin.”

  “I’ve got two experiments I have to check on.”

  “Where is everybody?” She peered through the glass entrance and saw only the red flashing lights across the walls.

  “They’re on lockdown.” He opened the incubator and pulled out a petri dish of growth media. “If this experiment wasn’t so important, I’d be in my room hiding under the bed.”

  Carol swallowed hard and eyed him carefully. “All of the researchers are on lockdown? That seems odd.”

  “The skipper thought we would all be at risk with Dr. LaRue being infected. He thinks maybe some part of her brain would remember her work and compel her to come back here.” He snorted a laugh. “The man has no concept of the changes that the subjects undergo once the infection takes over.”

  Carol slumped against the counter and stared at the door. “Maybe…I should go to my room as well.”

  Kevin made a few notes then slid the petri dishes back into the incubator. “After your encounter with Viv the Impaler, I would think they’d have you in an isolation ward.”

  Carol shook her head. “I wasn’t scratched or bitten.” Her face flushed when she recalled waking up nude on the examination table.

  “You’re the lucky one then. From what I’m hearing, Vivian acts like it’s her life’s mission to infect as many people as she can.” He sealed the incubator and stepped back, peeling the rubber gloves from his hands. He dropped them into the trash and gave her a tired look. “I don’t know how much truth there is to the rumors, but I heard that she made a mess of things in the chow hall. She ran through there, raking her nails across people as she went. She supposedly bit like three people then just disappeared.”

  Carol gasped. “Oh my god! How are we going to quarantine that many people?”

  Kevin shook his head. “I don’t think we’re supposed to.” He glanced toward the door then lowered his voice. “Word is that the military is just waiting for the sailors and soldiers to start turning then they’re going to blow us out of the water.” He shrugged. “That’s why I’m trying to keep up with this experiment.”

  Carol gave him a confused look. “What difference do the experiments make now if they’re just going to kill us all off?”

  He gave her a weak smile. “I dunno. I guess there’s a part of me that hopes that if my experiment pans out, then there really is a chance for us and they won’t…you know. Kill us.”

  She looked toward the incubator. “What are you working on?”

  Kevin inhaled deeply and eyed her carefully. “Do you really want to know?”

  “Yes, of course. If you think it might save us, especially.”

  He shook his head. “It’s a long shot, but, I’m hoping that we can use temperature to beat this thing.”

  “I’m sorry?”

  “This is a heat loving virus, right?”

  “And?”

  “Okay, well, the retrovirus that Broussard cooked up? It might have a better mutation rate if the associated fever is allowed to run its course.” He pushed off the counter and approached her slowly. “Remember Carpenter? When his fever spiked, Broussard panicked and soaked him in an ice bath. The people out there? In the world? They won’t have Broussard there to push them into an icy lake.” He shook his head. “No. The primordial virus likes heat. It turned on Carpenter’s internal furnace because it wants to be in a warmer environment. When Broussard iced down Carpenter and forced his core temperature lower…the mutated virus took over and it won the fight.”

  Carol gasped as the realization struck her. “By cooling his core…” Kevin nodded, waving her on. “We inadvertently altered the primordial’s preferred environment.”

  “In essence, he signed Carpenter’s death warrant.” Kevin shrugged. “It’s all just theory though.”

  “We need to capture Dr. LaRue and test which version she has.”

  Kevin snorted. “Good luck with that. There’s a shoot to kill order out on her. If any of the military guys see her, she’s a goner.”

  “Wait, didn’t Broussard say that some of the people she infected turned in moments? Even faster than the original primordial virus?”

  Kevin shrugged. “Too many rumors to know what is and what isn’t true.”

  “We need to find out.”

  Kevin crossed his arms and gave her a droll stare. “Why would we do that? She was a bitch even before she was infected.”

  Carol pushed off of the table. “Because. If she is carrying the primordial, we have an effective treatment for it!” She pushed him toward the door. “Anybody she infected on the ship could be treated and then there’d be no reason to nuke the ship.”

  “Nuke? Did you hear something about a nuke? Nukes aren’t good.”

  “Just an expression.” She pulled the door open to the lab then froze.

  Dr. LaRue stood in the hallway, her head cocked to the side, staring at her two researchers. The crazed look in her blood-filled eyes was only surpassed by the blood dripping from her mouth.

  Carol held her hands up, hoping to calm the woman. “Easy there, Vivian.”

  She cocked her head to the other side, her eyes going wide. Carol took a half step back, her grip on the laboratory door tightening. Vivian threw her head back and loosed a scream that sent the researchers’ fight or flight response into full on “flight” mode.

  Simon rolled off of the couch with a snort. His arms flailed as he tried to right himself and he came up ready to fight. He quickly closed his eyes and held his head in his hands.

  “Feeling a bit hungover?”

  Simon found the couch again and sat down hard. He shook his head slightly. “Nothing a little hair of the dog won’t
fix.”

  Stinky sat up and scooted to the edge of the chair. “Tell me something, Simon. Are you ever sober?”

  Simon snorted and shook his head. “Not if I can avoid it.”

  Stinky pulled himself closer to the seat’s edge. “Why would anybody follow a drunk?”

  Simon stopped rubbing his temples and looked up at the man, pure hatred in his eyes. “What did you say?”

  “You heard me plenty good.” Stinky glared back at him. “You’re a drunk.”

  Simon came to his feet, his fists hanging at his sides. “Say it again.”

  Stinky snorted and sat back, his eyes boring a hole into Simon’s. “Drunks get people killed. They used to before and they still do today.”

  “Your mouth is about to get you killed.” He took a step toward the man and Stinky came to his feet. “Go ahead. You’re gonna get me killed one way or the other.” He stepped past the man and went into the dining room. “You damn near got Sinner killed.”

  “You don’t give two shits about that ex-con.”

  Stinky shook his head and glared at Simon. “Maybe not at first. But he’s part of this…whatever the hell this is. And when he was shot and bleeding out, you wouldn’t even hold something over the wound. Like you didn’t want to get blood on your hands.”

  Simon glared at him questioningly then looked to Sinner. “I…I thought he was milking it.”

  “Milking it?” Stinky stepped forward and pointed at him. “Have you ever been shot, Simon?” Simon didn’t respond so Stinky pushed his luck. “Have you ever been cut? No? ‘Cus you damn sure cut Savage. Nearly gutted the man. And for what? To see if he was loyal?” He shook his head and snorted a laugh. “Loyal to what? A drunk?”

  Simon nodded, his lips pursing. “Okay. That’s it. I ain’t gonna stand here and be talked to like that from the likes of you.” He reached behind him and gripped his pistol. He swung it around and leveled the barrel on Stinky. “Say goodbye and prepare to meet your dear and fluffy lord.”

  Stinky stepped forward, closing the distance. “Go ahead. Then you’ll be one man shorter in your holy crusade to kill the locals. Sinner may well die if I’m not here to try and keep him breathing. That leaves the deserter.” Stinky stepped forward until the barrel was pressed to his chest. “How long do you think Shooter will stick around when he finds out you killed me? Especially after you refused to help Sinner?” He shook his head at him. “You’ll be alone, Simon. Is that what you really want?”

  “It beats sitting here and listening to you whine like a bitch.”

  “Whine?” Stinky threw his hands into the air. “You might as well pull the damned trigger. If you don’t kill me here, your drunkenness will get me killed out there. Better to die here on my feet then out there as a midnight snack for a Rager.”

  “You’re a crass son of a—”

  “Shoot me!” Stinky yelled. He turned back around and grabbed the pistol, holding it to his chest. “Just do it and get it over with.”

  Simon ground his teeth and pulled the trigger.

  Chapter 4

  Hatcher rubbed at his eyes as people loaded every kind of transport they could find. Boxes of equipment, supplies, personal goods, anything of real value was stacked as best they could. He pulled his sunglasses from his pocket and slid them on, praying the shade would lessen the headache he suffered from.

  “Here.” Vicky held her hand out.

  “What is it?” Hatcher reached for it, knowing she only had his best in mind.

  “I know you didn’t sleep. That headache is from too much adrenaline from last night and no sleep to burn it off. This is a mixture of aspirin, acetaminophen, and caffeine.” She handed him a coffee to wash the pills down with. “Basically an over the counter treatment for mild migraines.”

  Hatcher chewed the tablets to get them into his system faster and soon regretted it. “They taste horrible.”

  “What doesn’t kill you, dear brother.” She patted his shoulder. “How is everything going?”

  He shook his head. “I honestly have no idea. I’m standing here watching people pack up their lives into worn out boxes and milk crates so I can drag them off to some promised land of milk and honey, only the milk’s sour and the honey comes with beestings.” He tilted the lukewarm coffee, draining the cup. “I can’t help but second guess my every action since the attack.”

  “There’s nothing you could have done, Daniel.”

  He snorted and handed her back the cup. “If I’d had the foresight to put a guard on the other side of the damned roof.” He sighed and rubbed at his temples. “Stupid me, I thought a roving patrol was enough to that end, since there weren’t any doors.”

  “Nobody would imagine that somebody, especially a burnt-out biker, would weaponized the Zulus.” She turned him to look at her. “Only a psycho thinks of something like that.”

  “Well, it worked. Crazy or not, he pulled it off.”

  “Now you can tell yourself ‘lesson learned.’ Don’t let him get the drop on us again.”

  Hatcher sighed and turned away from the stream of people. He lowered his voice as he shared his fears. “Vic, I don’t know if this move is the right thing.” He looked away and back at his sister. “We have to have water, that’s a given.”

  She nodded. “Especially in this environment.”

  “And the individual units are nice. Like, nearly new. There’s a nurse’s station and medical supplies still there.”

  “But?”

  “But the wall is just adobe. It was a pretty way to keep old people with dementia inside.”

  “If it could keep people inside, then it can be adapted to keep others out.”

  He nodded. “That’s what I thought, too.” He sighed again and shook his head. “Until last night.”

  “Daniel, you will figure this out. And if not you, look at how many others there are that can help you.” She pulled him close and held his face in her hands. “I have faith in you. You’ve got this.”

  Hatcher snorted. “Yeah, if we get attacked by a herd of senile old folks, we’re golden.” He pulled back from her and stared at the rag-tag group loading their lives into trucks. “It worries me that a biker and a couple of thugs could damn near take us out in one night. What if he thinks of something that I don’t?”

  “Then we’ll learn from it and go on.” Vicky sighed and stepped in front of him again. “Have no doubts, Danny…we will lose people. Hell, we may lose everybody. But nobody will fight harder to save these people than you will. I know this.” She turned and pointed to the crowd. “They know that.”

  “But—”

  “But nothing!” She punched him in the arm. “You need to stop this. Don’t let this crazy asshole get in your head. He got lucky this time. Next time we’ll be waiting for him.”

  Hatcher looked up at her and nodded. “Because there will be a next time.”

  “Easy there, doc.” Carol gently pushed Kevin back toward the lab. “You don’t want to do anything aggressive, now do you?”

  Vivian LaRue cocked her head to the side again and sniffed at the air. A low growl came up from her throat as she focused on Carol.

  “I don’t think she likes you,” Kevin uttered nervously as he stepped back into the lab.

  “I got that impression before she was bitten.” Carol slowly reached behind her, hoping to feel Kevin there.

  Vivian stiffened, preparing to launch as Kevin dragged Carol back inside by her jumpsuit. Carol’s hand slipped from the door just as Vivian smashed into it, latching the scientists inside, out of her grasp.

  “Get to the isolation ward! Now!” Carol turned and pushed the rollaway cart up against the glass door as Kevin ran for the isolation ward. She watched as Vivian smashed her fists against the reinforced glass, smearing dark brown ick across it. She imagined that it was mostly blood.

  Carol stepped back slowly, watching as Vivian threw her entire body against the door. She could still see her in the hallway, the red lights from the alarm reflectin
g off her blood soaked clothing. Carol had just stepped into the isolation ward when she heard the tell-tell crack of glass.

  Kevin pulled the heavy steel door shut and latched it. They took up positions on either side of the door’s viewing window when they heard her bang against it.

  Carol closed her eyes and listened, praying that Vivian would think the room empty and leave. She could hear sniffing just beyond the door and imagined a drug dog inspecting the seal.

  “She can’t see us, can she?” Kevin asked.

  Carol held a finger up to “shush” him when Vivian let loose another hair-raising scream. She stepped deeper into the shadows and out of the line of sight.

  Carol’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and she watched as Kevin dropped to his hands and knees. He pulled open the lower storage unit on a stainless steel cabinet and tried to climb inside.

  “What are you doing?” she whispered.

  He shook his head nervously at her. “I should have stayed under my bed.” She watched as he tucked himself into a ball and pull the door shut. At that moment she wanted to call him a coward and join him at the same time.

  She watched the door bounce in its frame as Vivian threw her tiny body against the exterior. She remembered Charles throwing his body against the door, but he was easily three times Vivian’s size. And he was trying to push the door open the way it swung. Vivian was trying to get in by slamming the door shut.

  She was never so thankful for small design ideas as she was right then. The door was made to open backwards so that the room could be drawn under a vacuum in the event of an emergency. If the door had opened the other direction, there was the possibility of blowing it open.

  She slid down the wall and listened to her boss claw and sniff at the edges. After a few moments, the noise stopped and Carol had to remember to breathe. She gulped large amounts of air and slowly pulled herself to her feet.

  Her entire body shook as she crept closer to the door. The viewing pane was smeared with streaks of brown ochre and the flashing red lights were beginning to affect her in ways that she couldn’t afford at the moment.