Protocol 1337 (11 page)

“He seems to be establishing his territory, and in this case, it's the water feeder. See how he keeps running them off, and then drinks from it?” Cox Says. After another hour had passed, the situation got a lot worse. Zero was actively attacking the others, regardless of their position inside the aquarium.

“Look at his eyes doc! Talk about one creepy little critter.” I say.

“It looks like the blood vessels around his eye have burst. It is called a subconjunctival hemorrhage. It may look like it is a serious problem, but it happens to people all the time. Sometimes a simple sneeze can cause one.” Cox replies.

Another thirty minutes passes and Zero's behavior has changed dramatically. Zero bull-rushes one of the rats and bites at his throat. Zero keeps on him and within a few moments, it's clear the rat is dead. Zero starts dashing around the tank in a fury, squeaking wildly with every lap. It isn’t long before he finds his second victim, and a few short moments later, it too, was no more.

“The gladiator has claimed his victory. He is now master of the tank. He officially owns the water feeder!” I yell. Cox silently stares at the tank, and at times, takes a few notes on his notepad. I wave my hands in front of the doc, and it's clear his brain is too far distracted. Almost an hour passes before Cox says anything at all. He takes off his glasses and sets them on the table. I can tell by the look in his eyes that this is taking a huge emotional toll on him.

Zero races back and forth inside the tank, repeatedly smashing his rodent skull into the glass. Each time, he shakes it off and continues his scramble. Soon, Zero is hitting the glass more often and then the random pattern is abandoned. Zero is intentionally hitting the glass. The hits decrease in frequency and intensity until Zero just lies down. His body is motionless and his feet twitch a few times until there is no movement at all.

“Doc! HELLO! The rats are dead! Any information you wanna share with me? You know, before I run like hell out of here and never return.” I yell.

“He's blind.... The virus invaded his system... First signs are aggression followed by thirst. His body's natural defense called for water to try and flush his system of the toxins. When water fails to alleviate the symptoms, his brain went into a fight or flight response. Since there was nowhere to go, his body resorted to a fight response. He eliminated the weakest one. Again, his body went to the flight response, his vision was decreasing rapidly due to blood accumulation in his eyes. Then his body entered the fight response again. He then killed the final immediate threat. After that, he was left blind. At best, a blurred vision of red behind the thin blood layer. His body's last response was to flee, unfortunately for him, he was caged, and beat his brains against the glass till he died.” Cox says.

“So what now, doc? You have seen first-hand what it does. What's the battle plan?” I ask.

“There isn’t a battle plan. This is, however, what I am going to do. I am going to place a later generation sample inside the liquid nitrogen storage. I will keep this at my apartment for further research. I still have a lot of questions and very few answers.” Cox replies.

“What happens when your boss asks about the progress you are making?” I ask.

“I will simply tell them that I have hit a road block with the replication of the DNA and am still a long way out from finishing it. If they really press me for details, I will just use a bunch of technical lingo to confuse them such as the Near In-fared Spectrometer keeps giving me false readings that are not consistent with Terrestrially Accurate Sample sources.” Cox Says.

“OK. Mr. Know It All, how are you going to smuggle a liquid nitrogen container off base?” I ask.

“I don’t carry an exceptionally large lunch box for no reason, young Watson. I don’t make crap here for pay and I have been smuggling things off base for years.” Cox replies.

“Do what you gotta do, Doc! I haven’t heard a damn thing here. I am heading back to my bunk and I will see you in the morning.” I say.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Hitting The Fan

It is dark when I step into the open mountain air. It's refreshing to my lungs and a drastic improvement from the filtered musky air of the underground lab. I walk across the grounds towards my bunk. I don’t even bother turning on the lights when I enter my home away from home. I wander in the darkness, locate the edge of my bed, and toss my shirt onto the floor. I unbuckle my belt and drop my fatigue pants to my ankles. I slump down onto my mattress, untie my boots, and hastily kick them across the floor. “You’re late, soldier.” A voice calls out from the darkness.

“Trixie!” I exclaim.

“Expecting someone else, soldier?” Says Trixie. She has been lying in my bed for who knows how long. Lying there silently, a tiger waiting patiently to pounce on her victim. Like a flash of lightning, she is on top of me. Her claws digging into my chest, she leans forward towards my ear. “I don’t remember everything that happened the other night, but I do remember you. I was rode hard and put away wet.” She whispers into my ear.

“Yes, it does! It's called insubordination. I am giving you a direct order, soldier!” Trixie screams. I don’t know if her threats could tread water or not. She was definitely determined, and I was pretending to be a soldier. Who am I to question authority? Who would have thought under such soft skin, there was such a rugged beast. My heart tells me this is wrong, but my brain tells me that I need to get Eve out of my mind. There is no future with her and there isn’t one here either. It's just a meaningless release of pent up aggression. No strings, no emotions, a textbook case of casual sex.

She leaves my room late in the morning and I try to grab a few hours of sleep before the morning sun rises. I try my best to get some sleep, but I can't escape the memory of Eve. After the heat of the moment is gone, I feel a deep sense of regret and I can't believe I went along with it. I tell myself that I can never let it happen again. It is wrong on so many levels and there isn’t anything I can tell myself at this point to justify it. I strengthen my resolve and promise myself it will never happen again. On a plus side, I will never have to explain this to Eve. It's all part of a past that doesn’t exist for her anymore.

It's almost dawn when I remember that I need to contact Reese. I scramble to the edge of my bed and hit the Dlink to Reese. It takes a few rings to grab him from his slumber.

“I’m up agent... What's the good word?” Reese says.

“Lots of new developments sir. Are you sitting down?” I reply.

“Sitting down? I am lying down to be exact, it's fpur O'clock in the morning, Haus. I am trying to sleep you narcoleptic fool.” Reese says.

“Glad I have your attention, sir! Cox has replicated the DNA, it's alien, and it's not pleasant sir. He has conducted experiments and has seen the affects first hand. It's similar to Rabies, sir. The first stage of infection is increased aggression followed by violent behavior. The next stage, the blood vessels in the eye burst, then homicidal tendencies, finishing with suicide.” I say.

“Agent, this isn’t news I wanted to hear. Who was subjected to testing?” Reese asks.

“Nobody sir, as far as the military is concerned, Cox has not replicated the DNA. He tested the virus on some rats and every one of them is dead. Cox seems to want to keep this under wraps until he knows for sure what he has on his hands.” I reply.

“Great, a rogue scientist! What is the method of infection? Airborne, food borne, direct contact?” Reese asks.

“I am not sure, sir. Each test rat was injected and the others were dead before they could show symptoms.” I reply.

“Well, I would guess it's limited to bodily fluid contact. If it was airborne, the others would have at least showed some signs. How fast of an infection are we talking about here, Haus?” Reese asks.

“Roughly, an hour till the first symptoms showed, and almost three hours before the final stage.” I reply.

“Well, that at least supports my hunch. It does trouble me how quickly it infects. Then again, since a human test subject wasn’t used, we can't be certain of all the details. Stick with it agent, and another bit of advice, double wrap it son! I mean go all out, this isn’t the common cold. Wear gloves, wash your hands, and keep yourself safe. I haven’t lost an agent in the field, and I don’t want to start counting bodies again.” Reese says.

“I was talking to General Stratton and he told me you fought with my dad in Vietnam. You were battle buddies, he also told me that he passed away years ago. You told me about Eve's father, and it's been eating me alive the way you took Eve under your wing and brought her into the program. The same situation with me and the circumstances that you decided to rescue me. The little pep talk you gave me about being gentle with Eve. Was that your way of telling me that I should lighten up without telling me she was my sister? I want answers, Reese, you told me to be honest with you, and I am calling out the skeletons in your closet.” I exclaim.

“Well, if you are going to try to spin it like that, I will tell you the truth just to put all this nonsense behind us. Five of us got captured, Schlitz got a bullet, and four of us remained. It's true I knew your father, and he was my battle brother. Did it ever cross your mind that I could have more than one? The truth is, I had several, and I am obligated to each one. The truth is, yes, I promised Bennie to watch over his children. I know in your mind that would indicate more than one, but you have to realize we were young then. We had to plan for something that hadn’t happened yet.” Reese explains.

“I want to know the whole truth, Reese. You at least owe that to me.” I say.

“The truth is, Bennie only had one child, and that was Eve. Your father's name was David Hines. Dave couldn’t handle the toll of the war and it played hell with him. Your mother couldn’t cope with the nightmares and the violent flashbacks. She left him before she knew she was pregnant. After she left, things went from bad to worse. I got a late night call from Dave and he needed my help. I drove as fast as I could to the motel. When I opened the door …”

Reese stops speaking suddenly. I can see Reese biting into his hand. He slowly lowers his hand and lets out a large exhale. I can tell it's difficult for him to speak. He attempts to continue talking, but it is broken up by sobs of pain.

“I saw him there, the chord around his neck, his naked body hovering over the bath tub. I buried my brother into the earth, no ceremony, but that is how it goes for the Nam boys. Your mother gave you her maiden name after she found out. Eve isn’t your sister, not even remotely close.” Reese says.

“Now that I know... I am sorry I even asked, Reese. At least I know what happened to my dad and that he was once a good man. I always thought in my head he was some kind of irresponsible rebel child. If I had known all of this back then, I would have done something with my life. Maybe even followed in his footsteps served my country, and at least give him something to be proud of.” I reply.

“Haus, listen to me, the world is a different place now. The wars of old are over and there will never be any like it again. Someone like you can cause more damage with a few keystrokes than a million guns could ever do. Bombs can kill a few thousand men, but your skills can cripple an entire army. You can still make a difference out there. You can fight a new war, and more importantly, make your father proud. So put on your big girl panties and concentrate on the mission, son.” Reese shouts.

“YES SIR!” I exclaim. My Dlink goes silent and I fall back onto my pillow. It pains me to see the images in my head that I have of my father committing suicide. Even though I know it's all conjured up images I have of what my father looked like, I can see him in my mind as if I was watching a movie. I try to imagine what his voice sounded like and how he must have behaved. I try my best to piece it all together, but realize I am just painting a picture of myself to fit the part.

There is something else in the back of my mind that keeps pressing through. I have so much on my mind, and literally everything I once held as fact is no longer. Eve permeates into my thoughts and I have little control over it. My feelings for her were suppressed when I thought she was my sister. Now that I know she isn’t, they come back with overdue vengeance. I picture myself dressed in full army uniform walking up to our white picket fence. I open the gate and walk towards the door. She sees me from behind the screen door then rushes out to wrap her arms around me.

Her embrace could melt icebergs and she showers me in welcome home kisses. I spin her around then lean her back for a long sweet kiss. Queue the marching band, then the kids come out of every corner tugging at my pant legs. I drag children, clinging to my legs as I walk into the house then settle down into my chair at the head of the table. Eve brings out a large fresh baked pie and places it in front of me. I press my fork into it and it explodes into thousands of pieces. I drag myself to my feet. There are sirens wailing, and then, I realize it's the buzzer on my alarm clock.

I had drifted off into sleep at some point in the few remaining hours of the night. If I had a dollar for every good dream that was destroyed by my alarm clock, I would be a very wealthy man. I am in no particular hurry this morning and I take my sweet time getting ready. To my disappointment, once I was dressed I still had another hour before duty, so I head down to the mess hall for breakfast. The food they serve there is at best crap. Today, I am actually hungry and decide its best to utilize it. The idea of over-cooked eggs actually appeals to me.