Yves Giraud - Kahnu

“Yes, sir?”

“I know you are worried about your family, Mike. I understand, trust me. We all are. I wish there had been more time. But we have to get to our destination. I’m sure they’ve been picked up already.”

Mike wasn’t sharing the President’s optimism. The fact that all communication with land had been suspended for the time being, part of the code red protocol while Air Force One was in the air, didn’t help reassure him. He wouldn’t be able to call the outside for the next five hours. That was best case scenario.

Meanwhile, Jack was pacing back and forth in his daughter’s living room.

So far, the news on TV had been of no help. All the channels were showing the same thing. Over most large cities across North America, the same scene was taking place. A handful of mysterious looking planes were spraying a strange yellow gas that seemed to rapidly spread across entire neighborhoods. All of them had appeared around the same time that morning along the west coast. The air force had managed to shoot down a few, but most were only being spotted after they had started releasing the unknown gas. Jack had also just learned from an old captain friend from his Desert Storm days that the foreign planes were undetectable by radar, and it seemed the air force was one step behind. Meanwhile, new planes kept appearing over all major cities. Some had already made their way to the central states. Within hours, they would reach the west coast. All they knew with certainty was that the planes were Chinese. Jack’s friend had also offered to come get Jack’s family to a military base nearby, but Jack declined.

“Thanks, Kirk. I’m sure my son’s people will be here soon.”

As the day went on, the news reports got worse, but all the media could advise was to stay indoors. They were very serious about reminding people of the curfew in place, and that no one should be outside. Also, due to the unknown effects of the chemical released by the intruders, and their rapid spreading all across the country, the government had issued an order to stop any evacuation. Of course, thousands of people were by now rushing through the streets of Sacramento, chaos was already evident, and for Jack, staying put seemed the best plan of action, for now at least. He just hoped that car would show up soon, otherwise, they would have to take their chance in the madness outside. But, to go where? That was the biggest question. It looked like no place was safe. His son had advised for him to wait for the car. So, wait they would. If no one showed up by morning, he would reconsider heading for the country side then.

As the hours passed, Lisa and her mother finally fell asleep on the couch while Jack desperately kept trying to find out whatever else he could, and hopefully a way out of their dire situation, but all the lines kept ringing either busy or dead. Eventually exhausted as well, he turned off the TV and opted to forego his comfortable bed upstairs to go lay down on the big living room chair, next to his daughter and granddaughter.

Four hours later, the loud siren of an ambulance screamed outside as it drove by the Larson’s house. None of them heard it, they were already dead.

Over the course of the next few hours, many more sirens could be heard all across the capital city, but gradually, like a carnival fair slowly closing down for the night, their number steadily diminished, until finally, all city noises one expected to hear any other day, completely vanished and the city became dreadfully silent.

The following days were abominable. Everywhere in big cities across the US, people were dying by the millions. The terrible disease was spreading like wild fire. Other countries across the globe were watching, helpless, as North America was quickly losing an impossible battle against time. In a secret Alaskan underground bunker, the American President and his staff were trying to assess the dire situation.

“OK, John, what’s the status on those planes? Are we taking the bastards down or what?”

“It’s more complicated than that, Mr. President. We have reports that the planes we have shot down so far caused even more damage once they got hit. The virus is released instantly in huge quantity when a plane gets damaged. They must use a safety release mechanism that goes off on impact. Bottom line, we can’t shoot them down.”

“Damn it! OK, so what do we do?”

“We have secured three of our four headquarters, Base Two in Morocco, Base Four, our last security option, near the South Pole, and Base Three, right here, of course. Base One, in Montana, was contaminated before we could seal it.”

“Yes, I know all that. I’m not asking you about us. What are our options to contain this epidemic and stop those Chinese bastards? How much of the population can we save?” asked the President in a demanding voice.

“I’m sorry, Mr. President. I’m afraid the situation has become much worse than we first realized. The Chinese unleashed a devastating chemical weapon on us, and it is spreading faster than anything we’ve ever seen. We’re losing people by the millions each day! I’m afraid there isn’t much hope to save most. Canada is already feeling the effects as well. We were able to get twenty or so planes to several safe locations here in Antarctica. Some of them contained supplies, but most were used for civilian transport. If everyone checks out clean, that’s about twenty-five hundred people. I’m afraid there’s not much we can do for the rest of the population at this point… This epidemic is moving way too fast. I’m sorry, David.”

The President fell back in his seat, devastated. “Twenty-five hundred? That’s it? This can’t be happening…”

After resting his forehead in his hand for a moment, he looked up again.

“What about our military? What’s our situation there?”

“Most of our ground bases have fallen. We have no one left there to man them. We pulled our units out as soon as we could. Those who made it are heading this way. We don’t know how many yet but hope at least a few hundred.”

“That’s insane! Are you telling me the entire US population has just been reduced to a meager three thousand people overnight? This is a nightmare!” He stood up and began pacing, his hand roughing his hair. “What about the rest of the world? Why can’t we reach anyone? What’s going on with our communication satellites?”

“As far as we can tell, the Chinese have taken advantage of the chaos to shot down many of them already. A few are still operational. Unfortunately, our ability to communicate with them is dwindling fast, along with our resources. Power stations are shutting down all over the country. At their current rate, we’ll probably lose all electric power plants in the nation within the next couple of days.” He grabbed the glass of water in front of him and took a long sip. “I’m afraid there’s not much else we can do at this point.”

A few hours later, in the main chamber of the underground Alaskan bunker, eight men and women were gathered around for another briefing.

“As you all know by now, the bio-chemical the Chinese planes released over our territory yesterday, was originally stolen from us, or at least its formula. So, we know a great deal about it and its lethal potential; and although I’m sure the Chinese experts are just as competent as ours, it seems they have underestimated the consequences of their actions. The virus is not only spreading across our territory at an exponential rate, but we now know it has also spread over most of South America and reached Europe last night. Even China itself is far from safe.”

“How?” asked the secretary of defense.

“The winds,” continued Dr. Byrd. The virus can easily survive in the air for months, even years. Africa, Australia, even Asia and pretty much every country around the world will be affected. From the last report, we received about an hour ago, China has already begun reporting some effects. On our end, the virus has managed to kill most of our population in less than forty-eight hours. The casualties in China will be ten-fold by the end of the week. The entire planet is in a state of emergency. In fact, our civilization has never lived through something this serious before. The death tolls will be in the billions.” He nodded to the man across from him.