She had long since given up the idea of using a capsid to deliver rewritten nucleotides to overwrite the viral DNA. The body fought those even more aggressively. She was at her wit’s end on how to attack without the original primordial virus.
Her hopes were to study the primordial virus, discover a way to override the nucleotides within it, and basically inject hosts within it in order to eradicate the mutated forms. Without any samples of the primordial virus, she was lost. Of the dozen or so specimens brought onto the research vessel, none carried the original primordial virus. Either they had been infected with a mutated form, or the virus they carried mutated within the body.
She sighed and rubbed her neck as she stared at the specimens through the two-way acrylic window. The first infected they dropped into the holding rooms tried desperately to attack their reflections. It wasn’t until they brought in the ultrasonic frequency generator that the captives calmed down.
She often watched them, and other than their blood-filled eyes and haggard appearance, they almost seemed…normal. At least until feeding time. The subjects refused to eat any foods that were prepared for them. They even refused the raw meats. But toss a living creature in the room and they went bananas. Rabbits, sheep, hogs…anything tossed in the room when the frequency generator was turned off was quickly ripped to shreds and consumed. They would eat well past their bodies’ ability to actually hold the food. Some would regurgitate and start again. Others literally ate until their stomachs burst and their bodies would die a slow and painful death.
For that reason, they kept the generators on while the living creatures were introduced to the holding cells. They timed the subjects and not one attacked while the generators were active. But the very moment the generators were turned off, it was gory carnage. She had gotten used to feeding time at the zoo as the military personnel would say, but she still couldn’t handle the crunching of the bones. Skin, hair, hooves, even intestinal contents were all consumed leaving nothing but bloody smears where the animals had once been.
It took her a while to convince the higher ups to install the sea water showers overhead. The smells were simply becoming too much to bear. The brass had an issue with pumping sea water into a floating craft, however, the engineer came to their rescue by designing a floor drain that could be pumped overboard.
The first time they hit the shower button, the subjects didn’t look up to see where the water was coming from. They meandered in their cells as if nothing were happening.
She often wished she could get neuroimaging of the subjects both with and without the generators running to do a comparison. She couldn’t get the request approved. The risks were too high for such small dividends. How could they know the dividends?
A tech entered her workspace and set down an envelope. “It’s from Captain Hollis.”
Vivian sighed and reached for the envelope. The man has a degree in biology or chemistry or…something. Now he thinks he’s a doctor. She ripped open the message and read it. She rubbed at her eyes then read it again to be sure she read it correctly. “Natural immunity?” Her head jerked up and she reached for the door.
“When is Captain Hollis due back?” she asked the retreating form.
The tech turned around and shrugged. “He’s on his way now. Should be landing within an hour.”
A slow smile spread across her features and she did a fist pump in the air. She’d heard rumors of certain civilians having a natural immunity to the virus. But now she’d finally get a chance to study one.
Chapter 7
Hatcher stepped off the chopper and stared at the flurry of activity. He stuck his arm back inside and helped both Jason and Bren from the craft. “Looks like we’re here.”
Jason pulled Bren close and she clung to him as the pair were lead to a gray steel door. “We’ll get you cleaned up, get some food in you, and find you a place to rest,” a man in coveralls and a helmet informed them as he held the door open. “Just follow the ladder below and they’ll get you set up.”
Captain Hollis pushed past the other men disembarking the craft. “Get this bird checked out, refueled, and ready to go at first light. We have a long way to go tomorrow and we’ll be pressed for time.”
He trotted to the open door and grabbed the handrails leading downward. He slid down the ladder and landed hard behind Hatcher. “Get some chow and sleep if you can. We leave at first light and we have a long trip. We’re currently steaming northward up the coast. We’ll be leaving from somewhere around the California-Oregon border. As it stands now, even with extra fuel tanks, we’re going to have to stop over in Boise to refuel.”
“Stop in…I thought there weren’t any safe places left?” Hatcher felt his bullshit-o-meter peg.
“There are a few bases that are holding their own. But for complete safety, offshore is best.” He gave him a crooked grin. “Even if the Zeds could swim out this far, they couldn’t climb up the sides of these ships.”
Hatcher gave him a cautious stare. “But you’re saying there are viable places to refuel along the way?”
Hollis nodded. “A few. They’re heavily armed, and they fought tooth and nail until we got them the ultrasonic generators.”
Hatcher and Jason both gave him questioning looks. “What ultrasonic…whatsit?”
Hollis sighed. “It’s some kind of ultrasonic sound. It calms the Zeds. You can walk right through them and they won’t look at you twice.”
Hatcher opened his mouth to inundate him with questions, but Hollis held a hand up, stopping him. “Look, I don’t know the particulars, I just know that it works. We have them on the research vessel and it keeps them docile. It’s like tranqing
