Pulse: Retaliation (Anisakis Nova Book 2) (2 page)

3 – Dr. Adam Baker

Slumped in his chair, Adam Baker tapped his fingers against his desk as he watched the grainy video feed of the lab. Shelves of rodents and arachnids lined the walls. In the center of the room, one of his best scientists was administering doses of Anisakis Nova into rats. More often than not, his arm jerked uncontrollably and he skewered the animal straight through. Adam imagined the squeaking and smell of blood. The scientist's incompetence frustrated him, but the thought of violence against the animal was appealing.

In his previous life, Adam suffered his coworker’s ignorance. He went so far as to try to teach and support them. When someone wrote up a bad report or wasn’t doing their job correctly, he was patient. Understanding. People knew that and would transfer departments to work under him. Everyone liked him. In retrospect, it was all a lie. It was people using him as they’d always done, like Gina did with her pregnancy. Old Adam was easy to take advantage of. If he’d shown more aggression and set higher standards with consequences, perhaps his old life wouldn’t have been so bad.

Two forces of emotions clashed within him. That miniscule part of him that still felt human grasped at his doubt. It wanted to take hold and pull him away from the worms.

In a flash he leaned over and shut off the TV. He felt hopeless and stupid. Foggy. Quite unlike his usual self. Until he found out about MAC, he felt clear and ready to conquer the world. It was a matter of when. Never if. Since then Old Adam vied for attention more frequently than he had. Though sometimes difficult, he never gave in to those feelings. He let the familiar edge of rage seep into every fiber of his beings and redirected his thoughts.

That stupid whore
, he mused.
That stupid woman. How could she have outsmarted me?

Since Adam was royally fucked over by that Dom guy and his bitch, all his notes and the information he took from Marla Ainsworth were lost. But he thought the information was lost to the
world
. He thought he had deleted any trace of documentation the CDC had. The backups, the backups of backups.

Apparently not.

Every hour, Adam daydreamed about killing her again. The ways he'd torture her. She didn't suffer enough; of that Adam was certain.

No amount of dreaming changed the facts. Unaware of MAC, he spent months dead to the world. He gathered other infected he could trust, and searched for somewhere to put his base of operations. Finally he settled in an abandoned clinic in Tacoma. It took them even longer to get the right supplies and technology to start sequencing the parasite and begin attempting mutations. They had so much work to do. So much knowledge was missing. So busy with his work, he wasn't paying attention to society rebuilding itself.

Tacoma was hit hard during the initial infection last year and much of the town had been abandoned or quarantined. The clinic they were in now had been closed before the parasite, from what Adam guessed was likely financial issues. The 'Foreclosed' signs on the doors told him as much. Since no one was around, it made it the perfect place for his base of operations. They gathered supplies from a nearby hospital and medical setups that were quarantined.

Those were nice places. Adam enjoyed seeing the hundreds of decayed bodies piled in the hallways and exam rooms. The putrefying remains congealed together. Parasites picked over the scenes, unaware there was nothing for them there. The healthies were too lazy—or too weak—to deal with these mass graves.

At that point, his plans were running smoothly.

Then one of his minions brought back a crate from an airdrop containing MAC. His happiness came to a halt. He'd been living in his own world shooting up spiders and rats with the parasite when one of his people informed him a drug called MAC was stopping the parasite from maturing inside hosts. It had been available for months, only now reaching the Seattle area. At first, helicopters dropped crates of it in strategic spots around the Puget Sound. Then the humans grew more confident and took back a few hospitals to distribute it.

Adam flew into a rage and beat the messenger to death against the edge of his desk. With each blow a fragment of his clarity came back, but only for a moment. He killed more of his own until the rage blew over and he could think.

He immediately created a plan to shake things up by causing massive outbreaks of the parasite. By hindering the hospitals from administering MAC, it would start buying him time to reorient.

That was a month ago. Today the plan was put into action.

Adam was caressing the splintered area of his desk where he smashed the man's head in, when a knock on the door drew his attention. He swallowed to clear his throat and felt the tiny ends of the parasite living within him wiggle as his esophagus moved. His voice came out wet. "Who is it?"

"It's Henderson, Dr. Baker."

He'd been waiting for Ray Henderson. It was daily meeting time. He only found Henderson a few weeks earlier, but knew he was a valuable asset right away. The man saw Adam's vision as clearly as he did; he saw the parasite as the next step in human evolution and wanted to spread it. From the beginning, Henderson saw the infected as the superior race. Surprisingly, he also saw the need for a powerful leader like Adam to guide the masses. Set aside Henderson's unusual quirks and sadistic tendencies, and he was perfect.

Plus—and this was Adam’s favorite feature about Henderson—the man felt like he owed Adam his life. It made him loyal. Adam was roaming the suburbs for more infected when he heard a struggle. He ordered his crew to check out the building. They found two humans trying to inject MAC into Henderson. Henderson, hog tied on the kitchen floor, was completely beyond what MAC could do for him. Adam’s people killed the humans and Adam released him. He’d only been infected for two days.

A fresh mind ready to be bent to Adam’s will.

"Come in," he said, sitting straighter in his chair. Although he felt tired and on edge, he couldn't let anyone see that.

Henderson looked ridiculous, but anyone who spoke a word about it died before they finished the thought aloud. He wore a white suit, with a white shirt and tie, and spotless shining shoes to match. His head was shaved bald and he wore a cheap plastic mask over his face that distorted his features. Many of the truly insane infected took on strange mannerisms and appearances, but it was almost always in a chaotic sense. Loincloths made of human flesh, necklaces of ears.

Henderson was the opposite.

Against the dinginess of the abandoned clinic, with its peeling walls and mold, Adam wasn't sure how he managed it. His own hands were dirty, his clothes stained, and he hadn't showered in weeks. Rage swelled up within him. Fucking Henderson. How many hours did that fucker put into looking nice when Adam was working and toiling?

He steadied himself. The parasite rippled within him, wanting him to lash out and destroy. He liked the feeling. Relished in it. But he'd indulge later. If the hundreds of infected he had in the clinic could keep quiet and discreet, he could too.

"Where would you like to start today, sir?"

"Did Marcus and the others complete their mission?" Adam's top priority was to know of their recent offensive move.

"Yes. Five hospitals are overrun and the military is scrambling. So far, none of our own have returned. We expected this, of course." A visible shiver ran down Henderson's body starting with his head going down to legs. He adjusted his mask. "People are afraid, Dr. Baker."

Adam smiled. "Good. They should be, those ignorant cows. Take a seat, Henderson."

The towering white giant looked at the rusted metal chair, then back to Adam. "I would rather not. What other updates do you need, Dr. Baker?"

Adam couldn't help but lean forward, his bloody eyes sparkling. "Up until a month ago I'd been trying to introduce the parasite into animals, but it isn't working. Total failure. I need to spend more time in the lab fostering parasites in accelerated human hosts and building a MAC resistant strain. I'm the only one who can do it. The rest of the help are pathetic."

Henderson nodded in agreement. "But the attacks at the hospitals were very successful. If we keep doing that, the parasite will take hold of the area again in no time. We build from there."

"I wasted months trying to get the parasite to infect other species. Do you know what the healthies were doing while I wasted all that time? I have no doubt they've been creating something that will completely kill larvae in the body instead of just causing dormancy. They could be forming a vaccine, and we might not be able to infect people anymore. We are losing a battle I didn't even know we were in until a month ago. Things are getting foggy and I need them to be clear."

Adam picked at a scab on his wrist as he spoke. Just beneath his skin, needle-thin parasites wiggled. He spotted the tail end of one as it wiggled past the open, bleeding wound. Sometimes he imagined he was made of them.

"I had Marcus and his cohorts attack the hospitals to start the chaos again while we worked on something bigger. We're going to keep doing it until we can't any longer. We want them afraid, Henderson. We want them scrambling and wondering and
afraid
."

"Then what
is
the plan?"

"I need people. Lots and lots of uninfected cattle I can experiment on. I want more of the MAC vaccine so we can see how it works. I want scientists and lab technicians—uninfected I should add—who I can use to work. The ones we have are fucking pathetic and would kill a healthy before they realized what they were doing." Adam clicked off his wants on his fingers as he named them. "And I need you to be my second in command, Henderson. While I'm in the lab, I want you to organize a group to abduct healthies. I need you to take care of everything so I can devote all my time to research. Can you do that?"

Henderson nodded. That gleeful shiver ran through his body again. "Of course. But, sir, what is the ultimate goal?"

Adam grinned. "You'll see, Henderson. You'll see."

4 – Mandy Sillvers

At first when she went into the bunker and sealed it off, Mandy Sillvers felt relief and pride that the End of Days was here and she was prepared. It was what she'd been waiting for, and knowing she would survive brought her immense satisfaction.

She didn't think the end would be because of a parasite. She and Matthias always thought it would be economic collapse or a second civil war due to the constant polarity of the country. Even a good old fashioned Judgment Day seemed possible. It would be something that was humanity's own fault.

Then again, maybe the parasite was their fault. Mandy was Christian and figured it could be God’s way of ending them. Or maybe someone made it in a lab and it wasn't meant to get out. It was the stuff of a cheesy horror movie. Regardless, she didn't see it coming.

But she was ready. The bunker was her husband's brainchild; a time consuming and expensive hobby, she could never support it considering they barely had any money to live month to month. Their financial situation was why they moved far outside of any suburb where the land was cheaper and their commutes longer. Matthias easily got the permits needed to construct the bunker. Three years into their marriage, a housing company snatched up the land around them. Always in desperate need of money, Mandy and Matthias sold their extra land in a heartbeat.

Most of that went into the bunker, which by then was already a bare bones structure underground behind the house. The rest went into paying off debt.

All the financial grieving was why they hadn't had any children yet. They both wanted them, both felt they would be loving parents and a good team, but the money aspect of it seemed impossible.

Her parents were always nagging about grandchildren. They wanted little kids to visit the farmhouse during the summer months, to hear the pitter-patter of feet in the hallway. Those were their exact words. That, amongst other things, was a point of contention for them that slowly made them drift apart. Set aside the occasional Christmas or birthday card, they never spoke. If they knew about the bunker, they'd harp on her about that, too.

Then Matthias was diagnosed with lung cancer and everything changed. It was sudden and devastating. Cancer didn’t run in his family. He was a healthy man who never smoked a single cigarette. He’d never even been around people who did. Her friends used the word ‘tragic’ like the drama of the word adequately acknowledged how terrible it was.

He desperately wanted to finish the project so he could die knowing she would have it should she ever need it. In the beginning she wanted to make sure his final days were lived in peace and happiness, so she went with it. Who was she to deny a dying man's last wish? Especially one she loved? They prepped together, researched together, and built together. On Sunday nights they watched bad shows on prepping and criticized—or sometimes got ideas—from them. They drank wheat grass juice and came up with over the top ways to describe it.

Fresh dirt from the garden with a hint of manure.

Once he was too weak, he would watch her carry out the work. It made him so happy. When he was happy, she was, and knew she'd do whatever it took to keep him that way. Matthias brought out the best in Mandy. The mere thought of him calmed her and made her joyful. It helped stave away darkness that sometimes ate away at her. Her true self was a bright, shining light. That’s how she wanted to be all the time.

Mandy figured once Matthias died she would put an end to it. In fact, she planned on dismantling the whole thing and selling it to make her money back. A practical choice, she always thought. The counselor she’d been seeing while Matthias was sick encouraged her to prepare for and accept Matthias’s inevitable death. She agreed with Mandy that it would help give her closure in the end to get rid of the bunker.

But it grew on her. The importance of being prepared for the worst resonated with her. Even before Matthias took his final breath, she knew the bunker was a part of her. It was part of their history.

She kept prepping. It was a way of life and she loved it. His mother and father died less than a year after Matthias, and ended up leaving her a huge settlement of money in which she invested in the stock market as well as in the bunker. Since they never had children, Mandy liked to think of the bunker as the child she never had. After all, she cared for it the same. She watched it develop the same. It was the product of her and Matthias.

In the evening she enjoyed taking inventory. She frequented many prepper forums and websites, and even had a successful blog about prepping that got thousands of hits a day. Mandy had a nice amount of income from advertisements and endorsements on the blog. She liked to think she made a difference in a few people's lives and helped them become more self-reliant. Plus, the traffic helped generate income for her to improve the bunker. It was a perfect cycle.

So when Anisakis Nova began spreading, Mandy wasn't one of the people scrambling to buy food and secure their families with no clear plan on how to do it. During the early signs, she packed up any extra items she wanted to take into the bunker, photos and books mostly, and descended. She was ready to wait it out for as long as her supplies lasted. Matthias would be proud of what she accomplished.

The only regret she had was that this hadn't happened about eight months later when she'd have a small underground garden setup. She was still in the planning and supply acquisition phase with Anisakis hit. It meant she'd be living off canned and dried foods, but really she had no complaints.

In fact, she practiced staying in the bunker for months at a time to prepare. There was no sense in having a bunker if you had no experience operating inside of it. She told her friends she was going on vacations. It
was
like a vacation for her. For a while she dropped off the face of the planet and could spend time with herself. During that time she handwrote blogs despite having a computer and caught up on reading. She only ate the foods she would have in a real life disaster scenario to simulate it as closely as possible.

The day she decided to go into her bunker when Anisakis Nova appeared to have the upper hand, she couldn't help but feel a little excited. Another extended vacation. Another chance to show she could do it.

She'd never been so wrong about anything in her life.