“Cut the chatter,” the lieutenant ordered. “Prepare for release.”
The tech cleared the image and sat back in his chair. He couldn’t have seen what he had just seen. It couldn’t have been real. Surely this was a training exercise to see what the serviceman’s reactions would be.
Wasn’t it?
*****
Colonel Vickers walked through the camp toward what would be his command center. As soon as he stepped into the tent, a woman in a business suit approached him, “Excuse me, are you the one in charge here?” Instantly, he was annoyed by her accent, but he had to admit, she was easy on the eyes.
“Yes, that would be me, but I’m too busy to—”
“You need to call off this bomb of yours!”
Vickers stepped back and looked down his nose at her. “And you would be?”
“My name is Dr. Vivian LaRue. I worked with Dr. Andrews. I am the one who co-discovered the virus,” she said rapidly. “Colonel, if you allow this bomb of yours to happen, you run the risk of—”
Vickers held up his hand, stopping her. “I cannot stop the bombing if I wanted to, Doctor.” He tried to sidestep her, ignoring her complaint.
“You do not understand, colonel!” She grabbed his arm. “Colonel!” she screamed. “You will not contain the virus, you will spread it!”
Vickers paused and turned on her. “What did you say?”
“You heard me,” she said, lowering her voice. “The virus is thermophilic. It likes heat. It lives in hot, moist environments. That is why it survived here in this thermally active area for hundreds of thousands of years, unchanged!” she tried to explain. “If you use a bomb like your soldiers are talking about, one that goes into the ground and explodes with a lot of heat, you will vaporize—”
“Yes.” Vickers smiled. “We will vaporize the virus and be done with it.” He clapped his hands and again tried to walk away.
“No!” She stepped in front of him again. “This virus lives…no, it thrives in waters heated by the earth’s core. It lives in waters heated by magma. Do you really think that your little bomb will vaporize it?” She set him back. “No, your bomb will simply spread it.”
“But, it’s supposed to kill the people, not—”
“Where is the bomb supposed to go off?” she asked, already knowing the answer. She had heard enough from the soldiers here to know exactly what was happening.
“At the hot springs at the top of the mountain,” Vickers replied softly.
“Precisely. A hot springs. An avenue for the very virus we are trying to control to escape, and you want to superheat it, vaporize the water, allow it to rise as steam and form clouds,” she explained. “It can then condense and be carried…where?”
Vickers stared at her a moment then glanced around the room. “Where are the prevailing winds blowing?”
One of his soldiers looked up from a computer and said, “Wait one, sir.” After clicking a few keys, he looked up again and replied, “Toward the west, southwest from here, sir.”
“You are about to send this virus along the Western Seaboard, colonel,” Dr. LaRue stated. “Call off the bomb!”
Vickers looked at his watch, then lifted his eyes to hers. “It’s too late.”
*****
Bill was laying back in the rear of the boat enjoying the breeze off the lake. For the first time in a long time, he was smiling. “I think we might actually make it, buddy.”
Richard turned the pilot’s seat around and grinned back at him, “It’s about damned time something went our way.”
Jason finally came to the rear of the boat from the open bow. He climbed into his grandfather’s lap and hugged him. “Can we just go fishing, Grandpa?”
Richard leaned back so that he could look at his grandson’s face. “What?”
“Can’t we just fish for a while?” Jason’s voice barely audible over the sound of the boat’s engine.
“Why would you ask something like that, buddy?” Richard asked.
A flash of light behind them caught Richard’s attention and Bill turned around so fast, he nearly put a crick in his neck. “What the hell was that?”
Richard quickly throttled down the boat and both men stared back behind them as a mushroom cloud began to form on top of a high ridge behind the lake.
“Oh, my God,” Richard muttered.
“Th-the volcano didn’t…”
“No,” Richard said adamantly. “That’s an explosion. And it’s forming into a mushroom cloud.” He gave Bill a panicked look. “Does that mean it’s nuclear?”
Bill shook his head. “No. If it was a nuke, it would have vaporized the lake.”
“Please, Grandpa.” Jason said with tears in his eyes. “Can’t we just go fishing for a little while?”
Richard turned his attention to the boy and stared at him for a moment. The boy had tears running down his cheeks. Richard stole a glance at Bill. Bill’s face fell as the realization hit him. There was no way out this time.
Bill turned a forlorn eye to Richard and simply nodded. “Let’s fish,” he said quietly.
Richard pulled Jason into a tight hug. “Yeah, buddy,” he said, his voice growing tighter. “Let’s do some fishing.”
Bill stood up and lifted the lid from the bottom of the boat and began pulling out the fishing gear while Richard killed the engine. “Fishing sounds like a heck of an idea.”
*****
Buck had worked his way around the station and was still following the creek up the hill. He knew that a creek wasn’t far from where they had left the RV. He just hoped and prayed it was the same creek he was walking next to. He felt fortunate he hadn’t seen any more zombies or soldiers since the chopper left, but he also felt it odd he hadn’t heard any kind of wildlife, either. He could understand not hearing or seeing any of the larger wildlife that was indigenous to Yellowstone, but he expected to hear some birds once in
