Jonathan Maberry - Patient Zero

THE DOOR BURST open and Sergeant Dietrich came in at a dead run, still in his skivvies but with a combat shotgun in his hands, with Grace Courtland at his heels. All of Alpha Team piled in behind them, and I saw Ollie and Skip, both of them looking scared and worried. Ollie had a bath towel wrapped around his hips and his hair was frothy with un-rinsed shampoo; Skip had a fire axe in his hands. They both looked terrified of what they might find. Dr. Hu trailed the pack, followed by a few lab coats with frightened faces and wide eyes. The doctors and techs faded over to the wall and stood there looking shocked.

“Stand down!” I yelled as the soldiers raced up. “All hostiles are down.”

Dietrich slowed to a stop. “Those idiots locked the bay door,” he said, clearly angry that he wasn’t able to help.

I pointed at Dr. Hu, who was standing against a wall, tears in his eyes. “Doc, we have an injured man in here. See what you can do for him.”

Hu didn’t move. “Was he… was he…?”

“Yes.” I cut a glance at the people clustered in the doorway and lowered my voice. “He was bitten.”

Hu pressed himself back against the wall. “We can’t do anything for him!”

“You’re a doctor, for Christ’s sake… he needs help.”

He flicked a terrified glance at the trailer and shook his head, unwilling to move.

I walked over and took a fistful of the front of his Hawaiian shirt and lifted him onto his toes. “Listen to me, asshole, that boy in there is hurt and he’s scared and he’s one of us, not some action figure. This is real stuff happening to real people. I want you to do whatever you can for him, and do it right now, or so help me God I’ll lock you in there with him.”

With a little push I let him go and Hu staggered back and then froze in place, legs bent as if deciding whether to run. He blinked a few times then he gave me a quick nod and went into the trailer, twisting by me so as not to make any contact.

I felt a light touch on my arm and turned sharply to see Grace standing right there. Her eyes searched my face and my body. “Are you hurt?”

“No,” I snarled, then bit down on my rage and tried it again. “No, Major, my men and I are fine. But the soldiers detailed here and all the lab techs are dead. So is the prisoner that we nearly died getting for Mr. Church and the docs who were working on him. And all the walkers, too; but one of your soldiers, a young kid… he’s been bitten.”

“Christ,” Dietrich growled. He had murder in his eyes.

Grace was appalled. “How did this happen? I don’t—?” She stopped, aware of the people around us, and gave me a significant look.

There had to be a hundred people in the bay now, some in fatigues, some in civilian clothes, all of them looking horrified and confused. We saw Church moving through the crowd toward us, with Rudy beside him looking frightened and out of place, so I went to meet them. I got right up in Church’s face. “Your security sucks!”

He looked at me for a long moment, and for the first time I saw real emotion bubbling beneath the surface of his professional calm. It was a seething, ice-cold rage. His lip curled back for a moment and then I saw him slam his control back in place, one steel plate at a time.

“First things first,” he said, and his voice was nearly calm. He took out his cell and hit a number. “This is Church. Security code Deacon One. Full lockdown.” Instantly a different set of alarms rang and revolving red lights mounted high on the walls began flashing. He disconnected and hit a second number. “Lock the surveillance office. Good, now I want all security logs and video feeds from the last twelve hours routed to my laptop immediately. The same goes for traffic cams in a twenty-block radius all directions. Code them eyes only. Stay in lockdown until you hear from me personally. And tell Colonel Hastings that I want two gunships in the air right now to monitor the grounds.”

He turned to Dietrich. “Gus, clear this room. Pick six men you trust and hand-lock everyone into their rooms. No electronics. Do it now.”

Dietrich pivoted and yelled at the crowd in a leather-throated roar. The throng of agents, soldiers, scientists, and support staff melted back and pushed through the doorways. Ollie and Skip backed out as well, flicking glances at the bodies, at me, and at Church. Bunny and Top stayed put.

“You okay, cowboy?” Rudy’s eyes were jumpy with shock.

“Ask me later.”

Again Grace caught my eye. I could feel something move between us, some subliminal telepathy, but I couldn’t translate it. Not then, not at that moment. With an effort I broke the eye contact and walked over to my guys. “Top, get the team together in one place and text me on my cell to let me know where.” I gave him my number.

Top murmured, “This don’t smell right, Cap’n.”

“No, it doesn’t. There’s no damage to that door. Someone let those things out, and that means someone just murdered four soldiers and all those doctors. I figure Church is going to start a witch hunt. That’s fine with me, but I’m going to start one of my own. You with me?”

Top’s lip curled back. “I didn’t sign on to get ass-raped, Cap’n.”

“Damn skippy,” agreed Bunny. Muscles bunched and flexed in his jaw. “What do you want us to do?”

“For now, circle up the wagons and sit tight. Keep your eyes open and your mouths shut. You catch wind of anything—I don’t care how small—I get to hear it before you take the next breath. Are we clear on this?”

“Sir,” they both said tersely. Their faces had to be a mirror of my own: horror, fury, and something else, some dangerous and predatory light that should not shine through the eyes of good people. I couldn’t define it any more than I could interpret what Grace had tried to convey, but I understood the sense of it, and I felt it burning in my own eyes.

I took a half-step closer and they leaned forward so that we were almost touching head to head. “Be best if you boys found some black coffee and had a couple of cups.”

“Christ, boss,” said Bunny, “I’m already so wired I’ll never get to sleep as it is…” His voice trailed off as he got what I meant.

“I’ll make sure everybody’s wide awake, Cap’n,” murmured Top. “You won’t find nobody sleeping on this watch.”

“Hooah,” I said.

Top punched Bunny lightly on the shoulder and they left, both of them throwing angry looks around the room as if what had happened had been a personal attack made against them. I watched them go, reading their body language. I’ve been wrong a few times in my judgment of people but not often, and I found it hard to believe that they would have come running unarmed into the bay if either of them had bypassed the security and unlocked Room 12. Even so, I was going to be keeping both eyes open every second of the day and night. As of that moment I didn’t trust anyone in the DMS—except Rudy, and he wouldn’t even know how to bypass a security system let alone one as sophisticated as this.

Rejoining Church and Grace, I said, “So far, Mr. Church, I’m not entirely sold on your supersecret organization.”

He didn’t reply.

Dietrich came over. “Room’s clear, sir. Building is in full lockdown. Gates are sealed and I deployed the entire security force in pairs. No one goes out of sight of his partner. We’re locking people into their rooms.” He paused for a moment, looking worriedly at the lab. “Sir, I checked on this guard team myself thirty minutes ago. I know those boys.” Dietrich paused, and then with sadness in his voice corrected that comment. “I knew them all pretty well.”

“Somebody opened that door,” I said, pointing. “Do you see any signs of forced entry?”