V-Day: (M-Day #4) (12 page)

Ignoring my question, the Doc shuffled over to me, staring down with wild eyes.
“
I have to tell you something, Vi. Something very important.
”

I nibbled on my bottom lip, studying him with narrowed eyes.
“
Yeah, what is it?
”

“
The Men-V is airborne ready. I
’
ve also adapted it so the virus can be added to the water system.
”

“
Okaaay,
”
I drawled, the hairs on the back of my neck rising.
“
But it
’
s not finished, or the virus still has some bugs to be worked out yet, right?
”

The Doc whirled around to face the soldier who was still tracking me with his eerie eyes.
“
It
’
ll be a gift to the world. A Christmas present of sorts. It
’
ll be a rebirth in honor of Jesus
’
birthday. But I want you to have a chance. I like you, Vi. I don
’
t want to just wipe everyone out. Things just need to change. Things need to get better.
”
He ran his hands through his hair, muttering,
“
Darwinism.
”

“
You
’
re scaring me, Doc. I don
’
t know what to think right now.
”

“
The Men-V will mutate to some degree, I
’
m sure of it. In the end, humans may get wiped out after all.
”
He patted my head and smiled.
“
Some of you will have a chance though. I know I shouldn
’
t be so soft about it and it
’
ll probably cause some survivors more suffering than I would wish on anyone, but
…”
His voice trailed off for a few moments before he resumed.
“
I am human myself after all. It just needs to be done. It needs to be.
”

I took a few steps back, fighting the urge to run directly to my commander to report the Doc. Instead I let myself be rooted in place by shock and fear.
“
None of what you
’
re saying is making any sense.
”

“
You need to be ready, Vi. And remember, your blood is the answer.
”

“
The answer to what?
”

“
You
’
ll understand soon. I can
’
t tell you any more now. I have to go. I have so many things still left to do.
”

I pulled my handgun and pointed it at him.
“
I
’
m sorry. So sorry, Doc, but I can
’
t let you leave. Whatever you did
—
or are doing
—
you need to stop. Please, I don
’
t want to hurt you, but I will.

He grinned, his expression one you might expect to find on a father as he gazed at one of his children.
“
You won
’
t hurt me, Vi.
”
He turned around and ambled from the room.

My hands shook as I tried to squeeze the trigger, but I couldn
’
t. I just couldn
’
t. The Doc really wouldn
’
t hurt anyone, would he?

By the time I followed, he was nowhere to be found. But instead of raising the alarm, instead of having him hunted down by everyone at our disposal, I kept yet another secret while I tried to find him myself. I was afraid what would happen if someone else found him before I did. The Doc may have lost his mind but I didn
’
t want to be the cause of his death.

Plus, he wasn
’
t a real threat, not really.

I can handle this. I will handle it.

December 20
th
, pre M-Day~

I
’
d passed out, exhausted, and woke up confused and disoriented. My small room was illuminated by red light, signaling the base
’
s alarm had been triggered at some point, but it was no longer going off.
How did I sleep through that?

I pulled on clothes, my all black basic uniform, and hurried from my room. The hallways were eerily quiet, everything cast in the same red light as my room.

“
Vi! Thank God!
”
Emilio called as he rounded the corner.
“
We were just doing a sweep to find you.
”

I rubbed my eyes, trying to shake off the groggy feeling.
“
What
’
s going on?
”

“
The goddamn apocalypse is what
’
s going on.
”
He grabbed my arm and tugged me along. I went willingly, dread having already seized my system.
It can
’
t be. Please no.

When we got to the command room, which was really nothing more than a military panic room, equipped with everything to temporarily survive a terroristic threat, I noticed it was packed full of S-Ops agents, but none of our top level operatives.

“
What the hell is going on?
”
I demanded.

Emilio shoved me into a chair facing a small monitor.
“
This will give you the highlights of what you
’
ve already missed in the few hours you
’
ve been out.
”
He swiveled around, squeezing my shoulder.
“
I
’
ll be back, there are still a few unaccounted operatives and we need to finish our sweep to hopefully locate them.
”
But he made no move to leave, his fingers digging into me almost painfully.

I nodded numbly, my attention on the small screen as it blazed to life, flipping through clips of various news media reports
…

“
Super flu? Thousands of people flock to hospitals with a flu that hit suddenly
…”

“
The CDC warns against panic
…”

The screen went dark for a second before several recorded clips of military transmissions played, highlighting the opposition between the truth and what the media was reporting.

“
Hundreds of thousands are thought to be infected with a mysterious illness. No answers yet of what exactly it is or what caused it
…”

“
Epidemic levels
…”

“
The CDC recommends quarantines for the following cities stage 1, if it progresses beyond
…”

“
Jansen!
”

I spun around in my chair in time to see Jansen drop to the ground, convulsing. Instead of helping, everyone backed away slowly. I watched in horror, as in a matter of minutes, Jansen began to wither away, his tawny skin shriveling, his dark hair going white, and then
…
poof
…
he was gone like some fictional vampire that had been staked.

I stood, running a shaky had over my face. What I
’
d just seen couldn
’
t be real.
“
What the fuck?
”

“
It
’
s happening everywhere, Vi. Every. Fucking. Where.
”
Emilio
’
s eyes remained fixated on where Jansen had been moments before.
“
We think its chemical warfare. There
’
s no other explanation. But it
’
s not just here in the United States, it
’
s
—”

“
Yeah. Every. Fucking. Where.
”
I scrubbed a hand down my face.
“
How long was I out? I mean, how long
—”

“
Two, maybe three hours.
”
Emilio grimaced.
“
This thing is fast. Really fucking fast. And the thing is, we don
’
t know how to fight it. It
’
s invisible and it
’
s
—”

“
We need to track down Doctor Greensley. We need to use all available resources to find him. He
’
s our only hope.
”

Emilio didn
’
t question me
—
didn
’
t look at me with suspicion. No one but me knew that I
’
d let Doctor Greensley set all of this into motion. I should have stopped him using force of any means. I should have immediately reported his erratic behavior to my commanding officers back when I
’
d first noticed it. Instead I
’
d kept his secret
—
instead I
’
d let the apocalypse happen.

It
’
s my fault all those people are dead.

Present~

I sat there for what felt like hours, the words spilling from my mouth, me holding nothing back, censuring nothing. Finally I took a break, exhaustion pulling at my resolve.

“
I remember hearing reports on the news about people getting sick and dying,
”
Nyx whispered, her face paling.
“
I can
’
t believe I never connected the two.
”

Max stood, pacing.
“
How could you? It was a couple reports, something akin to the bird flu or some shit. And it was all of a sudden, like
‘
earlier today, a bunch of people got sick
’…
The next thing I knew
—”
She swallowed hard, her gaze glazing over.
“
I was waking up next to an infected Ricki and the rest is history.
”

“
I guess it was the same for all of us. M-Day seemed to come out of nowhere.
”
Evo narrowed her eyes at me.
“
Well, maybe not for all of us.
”

Zee stood, his face blank.
“
Communication broke down everywhere on the 21
st
. We
’
d been made aware about the illness, we were preparing to mobilize when
—”

“
Yeah, us too,
”
Ty interrupted.
“
There were no casualties like Vi is talking about for our base. We
’
d been notified that we might have to enforce some local quarantines, and then nothing.
”

“
Everybody had their own theories. But nobody knew. It was different everywhere, except for the men eventually being infected.
”
I was trembling, waiting for hatred to be directed my way. I
’
d just acknowledged, for the first time out loud, that I could have stopped the apocalypse. Not even Emilio and Tony knew about the guilt that was constantly eating away at me. All I
’
d admitted to was having some knowledge because of Doctor Greensley. But I couldn
’
t lie to my brothers. Or maybe a part of me wanted to be hated and punished for my crimes. Maybe deep down I even thought I deserved what that I-Man had done to me on the bathroom floor
…
or much, much worse.

Max met my gaze.
“
So all those empty cars, all those
—”

“
All those people are dead
—
literal dust in the wind.
”

“
Fuck.
”
Ty sat right where he was, hitting the floor hard.
“
I kept thinking people had to have been evacuated. I kept thinking we just had to find the answers and we could escape this hell.
”

I snorted.
“
My brother, the eternal optimist.
”
I wrapped my arms around my middle, trying to stop shaking.
“
But there
’
s more.
”