Dead Alive Trilogy (Book 1)-Before the storm

Test Results

Nock, nock, nock, went Noah's office door. He let the visitor in. It was a tall, younger man with blond hair and bright green eyes. This man was his personal assistant. He was new to the DoD, only about a year, but he climbed ladders quickly enough to be privy to the secret Project Zulu. His name was Henry Johnson.

"I got the autopsy results from Project Zulu," he said, plopping a file folder onto Noah's desk,  "Blood pooling says that the test subject was killed by the injection rather than the shooting."

"What? That's impossible," Noah replied, "I saw him get up and walk around."

"Yeah, you also saw him take three to the chest without flinching, and you saw him eat a pound of raw scientist guts."

"Don't remind me," Noah chided. As Johnson was leaving he asked, "Johnson, I'm going to take a vacation. Where do you think I should go? Greenland or Svalbard?"

"What the hell is a Svalbard?"

"It's an island about 500 miles east of Greenland."

"Well, I've never heard of ... Savlbard-"

"Svalbard," Noah corrected.

"I've never heard of Svalbard before, so I'd go to Greenland. Sorry, "Johnson stopped, "Revision, neither, I'd go to Fiji."

"Svalbard it is then."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Johnson almost shouted. He lowered his voice, "You asked me what I think so you could do the opposite?"

"Yes, I want to go to the least desirable place I can think of."

"What kind of weird ass vacation is that?"

"I... uh... want to teach Ham some geography."

Johnson almost caught the lie, but he always let his guard down when Ham was mentioned. He wanted to have his own kids but his wife wasn't quite ready yet. Since Ham was the only person he knew that wasn't old enough to drive, he was fascinated with him.

"How is that kid?"

"He's doing fine."

A subordinate opened the door, "Mr. Faulkner wants to see you, Hamilton."

"Terrific. Johnson, go see if I have anything in my inbox." Noah started to leave. Johnson followed.

"But sir, I wasn't able to finish reading you the report."

"Fine, on the way."

" The virus is lethal in a half hour to an hour, depending on where the entry point is. After just minutes of death, the victim "reanimates" and is then just a brain dead walking corpse-"

"How do they figure that?" Noah interrupted.

"Well, they continued to run tests on Project Zulu."

"That was supposed to the final test."

"That was before the victim went undead cannibal on that dumbass scientist."

"Watch the language," scolded Noah. The hall they were in was wide and white, like a really large hospital's. Every now and then they'd pass someone in a suit, but they didn't consume any attention.

"So they kept running tests. They say that these victims aren't alive or even human anymore. They only exist to eat the living."

"Did you say eat?"

"Yes. That guy didn't just want to bite someone, he wanted lunch. Anyway, they don't necessarily even need the meat, that's just how they spread the virus."

"Wait, how do they know to spread the virus if they're brain dead?"

"The way a virus works is it's introduced into the body, it can't do anything unless it gets to the right type of cell, in this case, a brain cell. Once the virus is able to get into that cell, it implants its genetic code into the chromosomes of the cell and when the cell duplicates, it creates hundreds, or even thousands, of new viruses. Inside the genetic code is a command that tells the host to spread the virus. The main way they do this is biting, but scratching and clawing can also have the same effect. Understand?"

"I think so," nodded Noah.

"Good, because I have no idea what I just said."

They reached the door. "That is incredibly usefull information," Noah responded. It sound sarcastic but he did actually mean it. "Now I have to go."

Johnson said goodbye and left. Noah was standing alone at the door. Usually he was only called in to Mr. Faulkner's office when he was in trouble. He hoped it was not the case. Reluctantly, he opened the door.

A short secretary in a ponytail noticed him and told him to go through a door in the back of the room. Quietly and slowly he opened the door. Mr. Faulkner notice him at once.

"Come, sit," he told Noah. Noah sat. The room contrasted against the rest of the building heavily.Everywhere else was white. White tiles, white plaster, white metal. Faulkner's office was fullof darkly stained wood. The office looked great and Noahcould've killed for it, but the aura that Faulkner put in it made Noah"It has come to my attention," Faulkner continued, "That you are planning a leave to Svalbard."

"How'd you know that? I only just decided that a few minutes ago. I haven't even told my wife."

"Mr. Hamilton, this is the Depatment of Defense. If we want to learn somethin, we will."

"But why are you watching me? What have I done to get in the crosshairs?"

"Mr. Hamilton, it's not what you have done. We just know your personality. You're strong yet kind and compassionate. You value human life, and you probably think that Project Zulu is going to blow up in our face and bite the nation in the ass."

"Since when is caring about humanity a bad thing?"

"I never said it was, Mr. Hamilton. We just think that in your pursuit to protect people you love from Project Zulu you will expose it. We can't have that happen. Do you know how much panic and distrust of the government that would cause?"

"I wouldn't trust you either."

"Just watch where you tread. As the bard says, 'They stumble that run fast.'"

"As God says, 'Be shrewd as serpents.'"

Noah left the room. Johnson was waiting for him in the hall. "What do you want?" Noah asked.

"I'm not done yet."

"Ugh, all you're giving me is bad news. I'm tired of bad news."

"Whoa, boss. You need your pills or something?"

"No." Noah was perturbed

"You on your period?"

"Shut up."

"But I need to finish."

"Fine," Noah realized he was being unreasonable, "I'm sorry, but no more bad news."

Johnson bit his lip.

"What?" Noah asked, rather annoyed.

"Well, um... We don't know how they die."

"What?"

"I mean we can kill them, but only in controled conditions. After tests, the room is blasted by an incinerator and the Zulus are pretty much cremated."

"Zulus?" Noah asked.

"Yeah, it's a term I thought of while waiting for you to be finished with Faulkner. I don't think it'll catch on though. Anyway, that's the only way we can kill them.What you saw in the trial when the guards gunned them down was a fluke. We still don't know what happenned."

"What are you saying?"

Jonson paused, "I guess... If these things were to burst out into the public, we couldn't stop them. As far as the real world goes, they're invincible."