“Excuse me. I’m looking for a Captain Andrews?”
The white-suited person stared at her a moment as if studying her, then pointed to the other end of the tent. She nodded and marched off. Maggie Chappell had never been one to display fear, and she wasn’t about to start now, but as she walked through the different counters filled with scientific equipment, half-filled beakers of unknown fluids, slides and reagents, she stifled a shudder. Who knew what was growing in those beakers?
“Captain Andrews?” She approached another white-suited figure.
The figure turned and gawked at her, then hurriedly grabbed her arm, pulling her out of the tent. “Major!” His voice sounded muffled coming from out of the helmet’s speaker. “You shouldn’t be in there without a HAZMAT suit. You have no idea the things we’re working on in there,” he warned.
“That’s why I’m here, Captain,” she said authoritatively. “Colonel Vickers would like an update.”
She watched the captain’s mouth move, but nothing came out. He slumped his shoulders and his hands came up to remove the helmet. “Sorry. We’ve been having trouble with the helmet coms since we got here.” She found herself staring up at the bluest eyes she had ever seen. He was a ruggedly handsome man, and not one she would consider a ‘science nerd’ as the colonel had warned her.
Maggie cleared her throat and squared her shoulders. “Your report, captain?” Her voice all business once more.
“Ah, yes,” the captain said, turning to set his helmet aside. “Well, major, the preliminary subjects we’ve studied have all been deceased. As I’m sure you’re aware, the recon unit has done a remarkable job of tracking them down and bagging them, but unfortunately, they’re killing them all.” He frowned. “What I really need is to get my hands on a living, breathing specimen.”
“That won’t happen, captain,” she stated unequivocally. “Our orders are quite clear.”
Captain Andrews stared at her for a moment and she felt her insides quiver. It was as if he could see inside her and she didn’t like it. He leaned in close and lowered his voice. “That’s not entirely true, now is it, Major?”
She took a half-step back and cocked her head slightly, measuring him. “What are you getting at, captain?”
He cut a slight smile and nodded toward the Sheriff’s Department Mobile Unit, which had been cleaned out. “I mean that,” he said. “Aren’t we supposed to be using that for the colonel’s little special operation?”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She put on her best poker face and looked him square in the eye.
“Then I guess I better close my trap. If you’re not in on the game plan, then…” He turned and picked up his helmet again. “Best not say anything to the colonel about what I just mentioned. If you aren’t in the inner circle, then you might end up next to one of my specimens. Maybe a casualty of the operation?”
She reached out and grabbed his arm. Hard. “Pretend for a moment you are supposed to know…” She began to twist his arm. Andrews tried to resist at first, but soon found his knees folding as she bent his arm behind his back. “If I find out from the colonel you aren’t in the inner circle, then rest assured, I’ll be back. And I’ll have a bullet with your name on it,” she whispered in his ear.
Andrews hissed through gritted teeth. “Relax, major. We’re both on the same team here.” He slapped at her arm, effectively tapping out. She eased her grip on him and allowed him to regain his footing. “The colonel informed me of our real orders.” He stood and rubbed at his arm.
“And?”
“And like I said, I need living breathing subjects.” He glanced to the side to ensure nobody was within listening range. “We’re wanting to time the infection rate if we can, so if you can find any non-infected, that would be nice, too,” he added sarcastically.
She tried to stifle her surprise. “You intend to infect them on purpose?”
“Only in the name of science,” he argued, a smile crossing his face. “We need to know how fast the infection spreads if we hope to weaponize this thing.”
“Shouldn’t that be done at a real laboratory and not here in the field?” She did her best to stifle her shock.
“Yes, it should. But the orders already came down that there are to be no survivors. We can study this thing before it gets a chance to mutate,” he said emphatically. “All viruses mutate over time.”
She looked at him cautiously. “So, this is a virus?”
“Yes, of course it is.” He rubbed at his arm and gave her a dirty look. “It’s the one we’ve been playing with for nearly three years, but this…THIS, is the real thing. In its natural state. This is the untainted original, not some engineered shadow of the real thing.” He seemed nearly giddy. “No, this is a real Picasso, not some cheap art store print put in a gaudy frame.”
She took another half-step back and stared at him. “You’ve seen this before?”
Andrews nearly laughed. “Now who isn’t in the inner circle?” He shook his head and chuckled. “Of course I’ve seen this before! I’ve been working on perfecting it!” He tossed his hands out to the side to wave at all the activity going on. “This is all here for me! I’m the reason we’re here. This is my baby.”
“You created this?”
“What? No, I didn’t create this. Only nature could create something this perfect, this…this…pure,” he nearly whispered due to his perceived awe of the bug. “No, I found an article written by a couple of hack academics in some lame periodical about what they thought killed off Neanderthal man. We connected the dots, stole their research, stole some of the DNA, and, I’ll admit, the idea was brilliant, but the DNA was simply too old. It wasn’t truly viable anymore.” He sighed as he recounted the story. “Anyway, we went to work trying to repair
