A Glimpse Of Decay (Book 1): Red Storm) (14 page)

“Does Massimov know about this?”

“Yes, but he wasn’t going to share that with you.  So far, you’re the only nation that has expressed any sincere interest in what’s going on, not the U.N., not the U.K. or France, just you.  He didn’t want to scare off any potential help.”

“I can see how your president would want to avoid provoking the Russians.  What really stinks though is the fact that within a few days, every country around this region is going to be mobilized, including the Chinese.  Not only will we have to worry about the further spread of the Ozersk Syndrome, but we are now going to have to worry about an armed conflict between nervous nations.”

Mamani took in a deep breath and looked down at her feet.  “What I can’t figure out is what are you Americans doing here?”

“We’re here to help,” Roberts said.

“Yes, I know that’s the ‘official’ response, but what’s the angle for your country?  You wouldn’t be over here if there wasn’t something in it for you.  I know that this may sound kind of harsh, but everyone knows that’s the American way.”

“I don’t know what you’re trying to get at.”  Roberts shrugged and raised his eye brows.  “You’re country asked for our help and we responded.”  He looked over at his colleagues, almost as if looking for their support.  They both gave him ‘fuck you’ looks.  “I don’t see any motives behind that.  It’s simple, we just wanted to help…that’s all.”

“Nothing’s ever as simple as that, especially when your country sends over a representative from your military.”

“Well, I guess I can see how that seems a bit suspicious, but I’m not here laying the ground work for an invasion.  I just happen to work with infectious diseases, as do my colleagues.”

As Roberts finished his last comment, the loud roar of jet engines filled the air.  The group on the roof looked up to see a flight of four fighter-bombers diving down from out of the darkening sky.  The planes leveled off and headed north, and within a couple of seconds, they were roaring back up into the purple sunset, their afterburners glowing bright orange.  A string of powerful explosions followed and the horizon was filled with vibrant flashes of red and white.  The concussion from the blasts sent shock waves through the hospital and everyone could feel the building shake beneath their feet.

“I hope those idiots know we’re still here on this roof!” Massimov yelled.

“Wow, I hope that’s your air force and not the Russians,” Roberts said.

“Yes Major Roberts, it is our air force.  Our president was serious about stopping any outbreaks here,” Mamani sighed.  “I just wonder how far he’ll go before he realizes he’s approaching this in the wrong way.”

The woman on the gurney had fallen silent.  She lay motionless except for her milky white eyes; they were busy following everyone’s movements.  As secondary explosions from the air strike ripped through the falling darkness, the thumping sound of helicopter blades began to echo from off of the surrounding buildings.  A Russian-built transport helicopter came in low and fast from the east.  It circled the roof, allowing the group to move away from the helipad.  The rotor wash whipped at everyone as the craft settled down on its wheels.

Massimov yelled over to the guards, “Hurry, get her on board and make sure she’s secured!”

The black clad guards carefully rolled the gurney to the back of the chopper and waited for the cargo ramp to lower.  As the crew chief, wearing a blue flight suit and a white aviator helmet, walked out on the ramp, he recoiled at the sight of the woman.  “What the hell is that?” he asked.

“It’s one of the infected,” said Alexei.  “Help us get her onboard, but make sure you stay away from her head and mouth.”

“Uh, ok.”  Although it was almost dark now, the crew chief had his tinted visor lowered on his flight helmet.  The guards could not see the fear in his eyes as he walked down the ramp towards the gurney.  The woman started shrieking and struggling at his approach, causing him to stop.

“Don’t worry, she’s strapped down good,” said the other guard.

Massimov trotted up to the men.  “Hurry,” he urged.  “We need to get to Astana as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, we need to hurry,” the crew chief agreed.  “They’re closing down the airspace to all civilian flights.  We’ve only got twenty minutes to get out of the no-fly zone, so we don’t have time to hang around here.  But before we do anything else, I need everyone to get onboard first before you load up that thing.  If anything happens, I want that woman right next to the ramp so we can throw her ass out.”

“Okay, okay,” Massimov said in a resigned tone.  He turned to the group, yelling over the rotors, “Let’s get going, people!”  The doctor then ran up into the chopper without looking back at the others.  He wasn’t waiting around any longer as he sought safety inside of the aircraft.

Roberts tapped Michael on his shoulder.  “Let’s see if we can get up close to the pilots so we don’t have to be too close to that thing.”

“Sounds good to me,” Michael answered.  The three of them rushed onto the helicopter and they were followed by the rest of the group.

The guards pushed the gurney up the ramp as the crew chief hurriedly raised it.  Once inside, the gurney was dropped down and it was secured to the deck and to the walls.  The woman snapped at the guards as they nervously eyed her.  After getting the final okay from the crew chief, the chopper lifted off and everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.  As the craft gained altitude, Michael peered out of one of the portals and was shocked at what he saw in the darkness down below.

Most of the northern part of the city was ablaze and the roads leading south and east were choked with the headlights of hundreds of fleeing vehicles.  Roberts leaned next to Michael and also looked out of the small window.  “Looks like the populace is trying to run,” Roberts said, moving forward to get a better view.

“Looks like it.”  Michael tried to envision the terror and fear that all those poor people were probably feeling.  He closed his eyes and shuddered at the thought.

“Did you notice the roadblocks?” Roberts asked, motioning to his right with his head.

Michael opened his yes, readjusted his position and looked down at the illuminated veins of traffic.  Roberts was right.  Each visible highway was choked with the bright lights of the fleeing vehicles, but each of the illuminated streams all came to an abrupt stop, as if they had run into invisible barriers.  “God, they’re actually keeping the people from trying to escape?”

Irene heard Michael and she leaned back on the bench, drawing her arms up into her chest.  She was feeling scared and vulnerable.  She wished that she could call her parents.  She really wanted to hear their voices.  More than that, though, she wished that she was back at home, away from this hell that was threatening to overwhelm them all.  Closing her eyes she tried to shut out the shrieks from the reanimated woman.

After ensuring that the gurney was properly secured, the crew chief made his way up to Massimov.  He retracted his visor back up into his helmet and he angled the boom mic away from his mouth.  “What is the latest you’ve heard?”

“We haven’t heard much.  We were up in the hospital trying to observe several infected hosts when this lady came in,” Massimov said, pointing back to the gurney.  “It all happened so fast.  One minute we’re trying to deal with one subject, and the next minute, the city is falling apart.”

Roberts craned his neck as he tried to listen in on the conversation between Massimov and the crew chief, but the two were speaking in Russian. 
Damn you, speak English!
Roberts thought to himself.

“It’s spreading like a wildfire,” the crew chief said.  The soft red light illuminating the cabin interior casted an eerie shadow over his face.  He curled his top lip under his teeth and stared down at the deck.  “Things are getting bad out there.  Rudnny is lost and there are reports of an outbreak in Zhailma.”

“Good God,” gasped Massimov.

“Also, the Army was forced to fire upon a Russian train carrying almost a thousand refugees from Kurgan.  It derailed just outside of Petropavl.  It was bad.  Real bad.”

“The train made it that far in?”

“Yes, the conductor refused all orders to stop, and by the time the President authorized the Army to halt the train, it was already that far into the country.  We transported a combat team to Petropavl right after the train was stopped.  One of the Militsiya on the ground there told me that the train had some infected people on it and the Army was trying to cordon off the crash site.  They’re even talking about making preparations for evacuating Astana.”

Massimov covered his eyes with his palms, slowly drawing his fingers down over his mouth.  Roberts saw the doctor’s reaction.  “What’s going on?” the major asked in a concerned tone.

Massimov took a deep breath, turning to face Roberts.  “I think I should be asking you that question.  Just what is going on here, Major Roberts?”

“What do you mean by that?”  Deep down inside, the major knew that Massimov had every right to pose that question.  He knew that it was only a matter of time before the doctor and the others began to look at him with suspicion, but he also knew that he had to keep up his ‘I’m just here to help’ story until he was able to get a better idea of what was going on.

“I can understand why your civilian colleagues are here, but why does your country send a military representative along with them?”

“I explained this earlier to Doctor Mamani.”  A hint of annoyance could be heard in Robert’s voice.  “I work with infectious diseases...just so happens that I work for the Army.  We have more resources than most of our civilian agencies do.  If we can figure out what’s going on here, maybe we can use those resources to battle this threat.  Believe me, this isn’t about nationalism or exploitation.”

Michael bit his lip and struggled not to speak his mind.  He wanted to blurt out what he knew, but at the same time, he wasn’t sure what the Kazakhs would do if they figured out Roberts’s true intentions.  Hell, who knew, maybe they would just throw all three of them out of the helicopter?  He decided that it was best to keep his mouth shut…at least while they were still up in the air.

“I think the only reason you’re here is to find out what the Russians are up to,” Massimov said, resentment building in his voice.  “We all know that this whole calamity originated in Ozersk, and we all know that Ozersk is one big cesspool of nuclear and chemical weapons.  My best guess is that something happened over there and something was accidentally released.  And now your government wants to find out what little secret the Russians were working on.  That’s what I think.  I’m sorry Major, but you can’t convince me otherwise.  I know that we briefly spoke about it back in the lab, but from the very beginning, I’ve had my suspicions about you.”

“Doctor Massimov, let’s be realistic for a minute,” Roberts said as he gestured with his right hand, “we’re here to try and organize a combined response to this.  The quicker we can get a hold on what’s going on, the quicker we can calm everyone down.  If we can do that, we won’t have to worry about closed borders and mobilized armies, we won’t have to worry about failing economies, possible wide-spread panic and military confrontation.  Unless we work together, we run the chance of losing control.  Also, once the rest of the world sees what we’re doing over here, the better the chances are that they will get onboard with us in this fight.”

“Well, Major, I’m just not sure our responses are built around the same intentions,” Massimov said in a lowered voice.  He refrained from saying anything else and chose to remain quiet, nervously rubbing his hands together as he mentally replayed the conversation he had just had with the crew chief earlier.

As the copter flew through the night sky, all conversation dropped off and the only thing that could be heard was the rhythmic
thumpa
thumpa
of the rotor.  Amazingly, even the infected woman rode in silence.  Everyone was quietly reflecting on their own situations as they pondered their personal responses to the disaster that was unfolding before them.  Even the usually confident Roberts was feeling a twinge of uncertainty and he could feel his hairs standing up on the back of his neck.  A feeling of impending doom was weighing heavily on him and he couldn’t shake it.  He liked to consider himself savvy, always in the know and never in the dark, and he always saw himself as being one step ahead of everyone else when it came to situations like this, but not even in his wildest dreams would he have guessed at the Russian response that was looming in the dark sky just outside of Ozersk.

***

Russian Bomber Approaching Ozersk

The lumbering bomber roared through the night sky as it made its approach towards its target.  Its silver body gleamed in the moonlight as it climbed above gray and ashen clouds.  The giant turbo props gave the craft an antiquated appearance, making it look like some ghost from the past that had flown into the present.

The crew traveled in silence, only uttering the required verbalization needed to pilot the giant bomber through the frigid air.  They knew what they were about to do, and the horrible reality of it numbed them.  Fighting against doubt and uncertainty, each crew member attempted to focus on his own task as they tried to purge their minds of any distractions.  As the weapons officer prepared to release his deadly payload, he whispered a prayer to himself and he quickly made the sign of the cross over his chest.  In the next instant, a sleek white missile was darting away from the bomber, the tail of the weapon glowing bright hot white as it streaked through the dark sky.  With the missile gone, the rumbling behemoth pulled away, its engines roaring in protest as it made a violent turn towards its base.