AB (The Blake Reynolds Chronicles Book 1) (3 page)

Captain John Nellis had been stationed
on the USNS Mercy for almost two years. The 400-foot-long medical ship had
spent most of its time touring the Pacific, investigating reports of infectious
diseases, and rendering aid when they could. It had been a long tour, but John felt
a sense of satisfaction with the people they were able to help. However, he was
looking forward to heading home to San Diego and spending time with family and
friends.

During the second day on its journey
back, Captain Nellis had been ordered to change course. They were to head
toward the tiny island nation of Niue, located 1,500 miles northeast of New
Zealand. They were informed that a meteor was predicted to impact the Earth’s
lower atmosphere near that area, and they were the closest ship. Their orders
were to observe its entry and report the effects as it entered the atmosphere,
whether it burned completely or crashed into the ocean.

John stood on the deck of the ship. The
sun was low in the sky, since the day was only a few hours old. The spray of
the water on his face made him think of his younger days on the beach. Almost everyone
on the ship was on the deck to watch the event that had postponed everyone’s
shore leave. There was light talk amongst his command staff about how this had
better be something spectacular, or else they would be giving a piece of their
mind to someone. Who that would be, John didn’t know, but he had to agree with
their sentiment.

The Mercy was thirty miles upwind of
Niue when the meteor first started to enter the atmosphere.

John gazed up as several of his
shipmates pointed towards the eastern horizon. At first, it appeared as a light
streak high in the sky, similar to when a jet is flying high in the sky with a
trailing plume of vapor coming off its engines.

Suddenly, it started to trail a
plume of vapor that grew brighter and heavier. It swiftly turned to smoke, and
the leading edge appeared to be on fire. Once it reached the lower atmosphere,
the tail became smaller. It flew directly over their heads and had started to
head west when the explosion happened.

There was a huge flash of light. John
had to close his eyes as the brightness caused him a moment of pain. Seconds
later, a massive shockwave hit the ship. John and several others were knocked
to the deck of the ship.

As he struggled to stand up, he noticed
that to the west, thick smoke and dust filled the sky and the sun slowly
changed color to a blood orange. Once he regained his balance on the deck, all he
could do was stand there, eyes wide open and mouth slightly agape.

The island that had been on the
western horizon was no longer visible. It was obscured by the smoke and dust that
was filling the air.

As John scanned the horizon with his
binoculars, he couldn’t see any effects of the explosion besides the dust
falling over the area, and most of it was settling over the island.

Captain Nellis picked up the phone
and called Pacific Fleet Command to give them an update and send them a video.
After a few minutes of reporting, the Mercy was ordered to Niue’s port to
inspect any damage or ill effects from the explosion and render any aid that
was necessary.

The boat slowly waded through the
water towards the smoky air. It would be a few hours before they reached the
island, so Captain Nellis ordered the communication officer to contact the Niue
port authority.

After a few minutes of tuning the
radio to the correct frequency, the communications officer spoke into the microphone.
“Niue port, this is the USNS Mercy. Do you copy? Over.”

After several seconds of static, the
communication officer repeated his message.

This time, a man with a heavy
Polynesian accent interrupted the static on the radio. “American ship, what
just happened? Over.”

“We were sent to monitor a meteor
that was forecasted to hit near here. The fire in the sky and explosion you
heard was the meteor. We are ordered to verify if there has been any damage
done to the island or if the people have suffered any ill effects. Over.”

“To my knowledge, there isn’t any
major damage other than a few broken windows. I also haven’t heard of anyone
getting sick. Just a lot of scared folks out here. Over.”

“That’s great to hear, Niue. We will
be pulling into your dock in a few hours, if you don’t mind, to check things
out. Over.”

“As we say on the island, ‘You are
welcome here, and may the warm winds blow your way.’”

About
an hour out of port, the Mercy’s chief medical officers received an urgent
video call from the Niue medical clinic director, Dr. Una Pally. Captain Nellis
ordered the communication officer to transfer the call to the main screen. When
Dr. Pally appeared, Captain Nellis stepped in front of the viewer and said,
“Hello, Doctor. How are things going?”

”There
have been at least one hundred patients that have come into our small clinic,
and more are coming in every minute. All of them have symptoms of high fever,
severe body aches, and extremely bloodshot eyes. We are only a small facility
and can’t handle such a large number of patients. Can you help us?”

“We
are about 45 minutes away from your port. When we arrive, I will send a team to
the clinic and see if they can render some assistance.”

”Thank
you! We are a little in over our heads here. We don’t really know what to do.”

Once the call
ended with the doctor, Captain Nellis ordered the communications officer to
contact Admiral Marriott of the Pacific Command. Within minutes, he was talking
with the head of the Pacific Fleet.

After the
admiral appeared on the screen, he said, “How is the meteor-watching going,
John? I hear that this planet dodged a bullet today.”

Captain Nellis
took a quick breath to steady his nerves. “Admiral, I think we have a problem.
I just ended a call with one of Niue’s doctors. He has reported that over 100
of their citizens have become ill. I think that we may have an epidemic on our
hands. Given the timing and circumstances, I think we have to assume this has
something to do with the meteor.”

For a few moments,
neither one of them spoke. Admiral Marriott cleared his throat uncomfortably.

“Let me contact
the head of the CDC and the Pentagon, and I’ll get back to you. Send me your
report and proceed with level one contamination procedures.” The video screen
then when black.

Captain Nellis
ordered the communication officer to turn on the ship’s communication system.
After a few seconds, the communication officer said, “Ready, sir.”

Captain Nellis grabbed
the mic for the ship’s communication system. He cleared his throat and pressed its
button. “This is the captain. We have just received an urgent call from Niue Island,
and they need our help. I have talked with Pacific Command, and they have
ordered us to give assistance in any way we can. It appears to have something
to do with the meteor that exploded an hour ago. Since we don’t know what we
are heading into, I am ordering a level one contamination protocol. All
personnel will remain in their HAZMAT suits until further orders come. That is
all.”

The crew knew
the drill; all the members of the ship scrambled into their suits and prepared
for their next orders.

About fifteen
minutes out of port, the Mercy received another call from Dr. Pally. Once again,
Captain Nellis stood in front of the screen, only this time he was in his HAZMAT
suit. His voice was slightly muffled as it came through the filters. “What is
the update on how things are going, Doctor?”

“Captain, things
are getting much worse! It appears that nearly half the population has been
infected, including half the hospital staff. The first people that were
infected are starting to show signs of psychosis. Most can no longer
communicate and are becoming increasingly violent.” Dr. Pally’s voice became
even more panicked. “There have even been some unconfirmed reports of infected
people chasing and killing non-infected islanders. Those of the staff who
haven’t been infected have barricaded themselves in the commissary and their
offices. I have called the police station and government offices to request
help, but I have not received a reply.” Shouts could be heard in the
background, and suddenly the connection was cut.

When the call
ended, Captain Nellis could see the shoreline of the island. The Mercy had a
small contingent of Marines stationed on their ship, and he ordered them onto
the deck. They were armed and ready as they pulled into the port.

The captain
walked out onto the deck of the command bridge and looked at the dock and
shoreline through his binoculars. He was in utter shock at the carnage he saw. His
stomach started to heave, and bile made its way up his throat, having never
seen or heard of such carnage in his life. He had to grab the railing to steady
himself.

The smell of
blood filled the air. There were bodies of men, women, and children lining the
dock, their blood spilling onto the ground where their bodies had fallen. It
seemed as if they had tried to escape to their boats but didn’t reach them
before something hacked them to pieces. Even more appalling were the other men,
women, and children disemboweling and carving up the bodies of the dead. When
they turned to look at the ship coming into the dock, the captain through his
binoculars could see their eyes were yellow and red. Their faces and clothing
were covered in blood. Many had deep wounds on their bodies, probably from
machete slashes.

John yelled
down from the command deck to the sergeant on the main deck, “Take out those
things on the dock.”

“You heard the
captain,” the sergeant barked. Each of the Marines started firing short
controlled burst. Within seconds, the firing stopped, and all the infected lay dead
on the dock. Their dead bodies now lay crumpled alongside their victims.

All the sailors
and medical personal that had been standing on the deck as they approached the
dock were either leaning against the railing or had fallen to their knees after
witnessing this carnage.

After the ship
was tied up and the engines shut down, a high-pitched scream echoed from the far
end of the dock. The Marines trained their guns at the approaching two men,
four women, and two children. They were all running and screaming.

The captain
brought his binoculars to his eyes to see what was happening. He noticed blood-red
eyes on the three men that were chasing the group. When the women noticed the
ship, they started screaming in heavy Polynesian accents.

“Please help us!”
the lead woman shouted.

 
“Help, my baby!” another woman yelled.

The men in the
back of the group were doing their best to keep the infected away from the
others. One man carried a shotgun, and the other held a machete. They were
about fifty yards from the ship when the man with the machete tripped on one of
the bodies on the deck and fell to the ground. Within seconds, one of the
infected men was on him. He swung his machete with all his might, but the
infected beast snatched it out of his hands. Just as the infected demon was
about to plunge the machete into the helpless mans chest, its head exploded
from a bullet, shot by one of the Marine’s guns. The man on the ground wiped
the demon’s skull and brains off of his face and resumed his run to the ship.

 
The chests of the other two infected men chasing
the group exploded in a similar way.

The small group
of islanders finally reached the ship. They were all breathing heavily and could
barely speak. The sergeant ordered them to stay where they were until the
captain could speak to them.

John and the
chief medical officer walked to the edge of the ship, still wearing their HAZMAT
suits.

John couldn’t
help but feel pity on the small band. The men covered in blood and the women and
children had terrified looks on their faces.

Through his HAZMAT
suit he yelled down to the group, “What are your names?”

All six of the
survivors started taking at once.

John held out
his hands. “One at a time.”

The group went
silent when one of the men stepped forward and gave the names of everybody in
the group.

“So Doctor,
what do we do with them? We can’t just leave them standing on the dock all day.”

“I recommend we
bring them aboard. I want to run some tests and find out why they don’t seem to
be infected like the others,” the doctor replied with a concerned look on his
face.

“Will it be
safe for the crew?”

“It shouldn’t
be a problem seeing that we are already in our HAZMAT suits.”

After disarming
the men, the chief medical officer and two Marines escorted them to one of the
conference rooms in the front of the ship.

While the small
group headed to the conference room, the captain ordered the sergeant to
retrieve one of the infected bodies and take it to examination room one. He
called the infectious disease doctor on the ship’s phone.

“Doctor, the Marines
have carried one of the infected bodies into exam room one. I want you to run
every test we have to determine what happened to the infected.”

After he hung
up the phone he walked to the conference room.

“What is your
name?” John asked one of the survivors.

“Afu.”

“Please tell me
what happened here, Afu.”

 
Afu’s face was pale, and his eyes opened wide
as he tried to remember the events of the last few hours. Through a heavy
accent he started.