Dead Corona 2 Read online

  Dead Corona

  Book 2

  By

  Eric Gene

  Copyright © 2020 – Eric Gene

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying or otherwise without prior written consent of the copyright owner. Reviewers may quote passages or excerpt for reviews.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1 - Infiltration

  Chapter 2 - Phase Two

  Chapter 3 - Incoming

  Chapter 4 - Second Wave

  Chapter 5 - Escape Plan

  Chapter 1

  Infiltration

  "How the hell did this skip past you!" bellowed an angry Russian with a twitching moustache. He had his finger pointed fiercely at Mr. Mao who was still bowed in his seat with his hands supporting his head. The room was intense with different men and women shouting at one another. Mao took most of the hit.

  "You sly bastard! You made us agree to something so fishy. I should have known never to trust a Chinese!" barked Mr. Reagan who had just thrown his chair in anger.

  "But why did you have to kill him?! Why did you have to kill him so soon?! Why didn't you think?!" a shrill voice piped in. Mrs. Marjorie Sanders was a British powerhouse known only by the top elites. She had just enough power to topple the Queen if she wanted to.

  "Don't you raise your voice at me woman! I did us all a favour" Mr. Dimitri fired back. He had been the one responsible for taking out the doctor. A simple matter of signalling his second in command, and that one took care of things in the Russian way - no room for time wasting.

  Dr. Hans had ended the conference call, and they'd frantically tried reaching him to no avail when Dimitri told them what he'd done. There was no point in trying to negotiate with a puny doctor who had just played a fast one on them.

  "We Russians never beg, and I don't see why you all with your power, beg a small man" he had told them. That had only fueled the fire as the quiet room they were locked in, turned into a marketplace of high pitched voices against masculine roars.

  "Can I have everyone's attention" Mr. Mao called after the bickering had turned into murmurs. Each person had given up on shouting, and was now brooding over what would be their next line of action.

  "Please your attention, everyone" he called again. They had been too lost in thoughts to hear him the first time.

  "I have a solution that just might settle this glitch in our plans"

  "Well, spill it already" Mr. Reagan said flinging his hands. He had been stroking his goatee thoughtfully when Mr. Mao spoke up.

  "Listen, we all have the money and we definitely control the resources in this world. That accounts for something"

  "Sure it does" Mr. Reagan added tersely. Mao's eyes closed in on him, glaring. Both men stared each other down while the others watched. Marjorie Sanders who got fed up of the men's charade quickly tapped her fingers onto the black conference table that stood in their midst.

  At that, Mr. Mao gave a slight nod and continued,

  "I would suggest we continue as planned, but with a little adjustments to our plan" he said. His fellow powerhouses were finally quiet as they reasoned along with him.

  "Now, here's what we could do. First, we get our governments to build safe havens for the dark times ahead."

  "There'll be no need to stress too much, the media will do the convincing while we offer our help in building safe havens to contain the spread of the virus"

  "So you're saying, only those not infected, will be allowed into the havens?" Reagan popped in once again

  "Yes... Mr. Mao replied tersely, "in case you haven't heard the news from China, we may well be dealing with zombies in the long run"

  A few murmurs here and there told him continue, they weren't surprised about the virus. But none had really considered the possibility of it creating zombies. Zombies could only be found in science fiction.

  That aside, it was never part of the agreement seeing as they only wanted total control of the world's economy and to cut down on the excess population.

  "Yes, we've indeed been played" Mr. Mao continued

  "Although the virus would naturally take a mutation span of one month before forcing the victim into full dementia, but seeing as Dr. Hans said he had already programmed a launch sequence to the satellite, we might have to imagine the worst"

  "How do you mean? We'd already be overrun before the signal is emitted"

  "No, we won't Mr. Dimitri... As you all know, your governments will do all they can to keep the lid on the actual threat just like China. Those who're infected, will be isolated and most likely taken underground or forced to disappear once their health declines"

  "But those whose infection is still in its early stage would most likely have the switch flipped on them. I'm talking about a global chaos where every infected person goes into full dementia... and of course the violence that comes with it" he explained.

  "And that means we might not be safe either?" asked another female.

  "Yes Miss Lee... We might and might not be safe, so it's best we get rid of the virus in our system before then"

  "As I was saying" Mr. Mao continued, "those whose health decline will be made to disappear. Most governments will be forced to sponsor euthanasia as a last resort to dying victims"

  "That way, we won't need to get our hands dirty until the signal is emitted"

  "So where do we come in with the safe havens?" Miss Lee asked again

  "First, we would need to sponsor bits of fear news and let the media do its thing. Then we offer to build safe havens with or without the government's support. They'd be forced to support the safe havens to avoid validating conspiracies"

  "That bit sounds possible, but you forget certain governments are stubborn" Mrs. Marjorie Sanders said tersely, she had given a side eye to Mr. Reagan who smiled back.

  "America will no doubt be difficult, but when I'm sure each president will respond when things threaten to get out of hand" Mr. Mao replied. He knew that irrespective of the power they controlled, they were bound to face stubborn presidents.

  "With each haven comes a vaccination... Err, I would advise that our private doctors culture a vaccine out of our blood to inhibit the virus for the time being. This should serve as a temporal vaccine for the governments while we continue research based off Dr. Hans notes and laboratory to get rid of the virus in our systems" he added, glancing around.

  "I thought we're immune to this virus? What's the need for another vaccine" piped up another female in the room.

  "Madame Lestrange, I wouldn't want to test our immunity when the signal is emitted... The best we could do is to get rid of its traces in our body before December 25th"

  "Err, I have a suggestion" Mr. Reagan piped in, his hand had gone up into the air drawing attention to him.

  Nodding in response to Mr. Mao's, he said "why don't we just take down the satellite?"

  "I mean, we should be able to reboot the whole system and flush out whatever program Dr. Hans sent in. That way, we won't have to worry about spending money on creating another vaccine"

  "How did he even get in?" quipped the Russian among them. No one had an answer for him.

  "If we assemble a number of hackers..."

  "The US President will be a tough but to crack... And that's beside President Vladimir of Russia" Mrs. Sanders tossed in.

  "No one said we needed to go through them. After all, I doubt Dr. Hans is in league with the president as to warrant free access to the satellite" Mr. Reagan fired back.

  "If we shutdown the satellite," Mr. Mao said aloud, drawing attention back to himself

  "it will take a while to restore without the r
ight authorization... and that's if everything goes according to plan" he said

  "And that's why we need the right set of hackers" Mr. Reagan piped again.

  "We're looking at months of blackout Mr. Reagan, and I highly doubt we would make much headway with it. As it stands now, we're much too connected online to risk a blackout"

  "Researches would be brought to a standstill while the pandemic rages. I doubt we would live through the night if that happens" Mr. Mao added coolly.

  The going back and forth continued well into hours until there was nothing further to say. The cult of world powerhouses were faced with a glitch in their plans that threatened the continued existence of the human race. Any little slip could spell total doom.

  One thing was certain, no matter how powerful man grew, he could never cheat nature. And nature had a great way of evening out the odds.

  ~~~

  Jason had taken Ben's advice. He took time to monitor the goings on in the haven before acting. Night was his best bet, and he had just taken out a guard before venturing deeper into the research unit's tent. A little bit of snooping around, avoiding guards and oblivious research unit members, he found himself at the entrance of a makeshift elevator. The research tent true to his thoughts, was much too small to house any secrets. That was except if it was more than it seemed. An elevator made of a wooden carriage with ropes to pull, was his access point into the underground part of the research tent.

  Without hesitation, he stepped in and began to pull at the ropes. One was static, while the other sent the elevator downwards into the ground.

  Knowing he was going to encounter guards at the base, Jason had stolen a hazmat suit thank to Ben, and used it for his operation. As he made his descent, he kept his head low to avoid piercing gazes that might see through his mask.

  Once down, two guards stationed at the entryway, asked for his name and purpose. He made mention of a name Ben had given him "Dr. Maurice sent for me".

  "I'm supposed to be there in about five minutes, and you know he hates lateness" he added once he noticed their hesitation. Although he could knock them out, he preferred playing it safe at least till he found what he was looking for.

  Dr. Maurice as the guards knew, was the head scientist in charge of the research unit. Most thought him to be crazy for his constant muttering. He had a habit of talking in gibberish to himself, and had ended up using five of his previous assistants as test subjects. They had been taken aback when Jason claimed Dr. Maurice sent for him. No one would willingly sign up as his assistant.

  "The Commander made you do this huh?" one of the guards asked. Jason stuttered a bit before shrugging. It was best to make them draw conclusions by themselves.

  "You sure don't know what you're in for... Be safe" the other added, patting him on the back. Both men had allowed him to venture deeper into the underground laboratory without asking much questions. True to Ben's words, the name worked like a charm. But he wasn't yet sure as to why it did.

  Although Ben had given him a fair map of the research laboratory, Jason found himself wandering around. Although since he was draped in a hazmat suit like most of the scientists he found underground, he hardly had to explain himself.

  "Uh hello, can I know which direction leads to Dr. Maurice's office? I'm his new assistant" Jason said to one of the scientists he found after wandering for much too long.

  "Oh, you're Phil's replacement huh?" the male scientists replied absentmindedly. He was scribbling on his note when Jason bumped into him.

  "Yeah, you can say that"

  "Anyway, just take a walk to the end of the lab, turn right and walk past five offices. You should find Dr. Maurice holed up at the end of the office row" the scientist said, pointing towards the path Jason had just come through.

  Jason turned to leave and grunted a quick "thank you" to the scientist. He got an absentminded wave that was followed with a "be careful in there". He was the third person giving him a warning about Dr. Maurice, and that made Jason's skin crawl.

  Scientists were never known to be fighters or threatening in a physical way. But as Jason was soon to realize, mad scientists weren't restricted to the field of science fiction. True to their warnings, Jason found himself in an office that had papers with rough scribblings, scattered around. Different test tubes laid carelessly on the lone table of the office. One could hardly tell the surface of the table as it had papers, test tubes, pens and smears of different colors on it.

  In the midst of the chaos, Jason saw Dr. Maurice bent over his table with his hands servings pillows for his head.

  While it would have been easy to dismiss anyone in such a position as asleep, Jason could not be sure if the doctor was asleep or dead. One thing was certain, he was unconscious despite Jason's repeated greeting and eventual poking.

  Exasperated by the unyielding scientist, Jason pushed him backwards so that his body could fully recline into his seat. Dr. Maurice's head went with the flow and hung backwards on the chair while his hands drooped around him.

  Scanning through the stacks of paper on his desk, Jason took a mental note of what he was reading. Different sketches helped him understand the impossible handwriting of the scientist. From the looks of it, Dr. Maurice was a typical doctor with a terrible handwriting.

  "The sequence, I'm almost there" mumbled an unconscious Dr. Maurice. He was finally coming around, but Jason knew that would be a bad idea. If Dr. Maurice was as crazed as his office depicted, he wasn't going to wait to be tested on. As it turned out, the papers he had gone through, had ample information on the tests he had carried out on a number of persons. The ones on his table were more recent, and they were matched sided by side some other test results that would most likely make meaning to a scientist.

  Hesitant, Jason looked at the paper and back at the doctor. He knew he wouldn't understand half of what he read no matter how hard he tried; Ben wouldn't be of much help either. He needed the doctor.

  Stashing the papers roughly into his suit, he replaced the empty spot with other papers scattered around before turning back to the doctor. If the doctor was indeed a crazed scientist, then he was bound to spill the beans without him asking much.

  "Dr. Maurice... Wake up" Jason tapped repeated on the old man's shoulder. A few mumbling here and there, but Dr. Maurice never budged.

  "OK, here we go" Jason said with a shrug. Taking a deep breath, he flexed open his right palm, raised his hand and brought it down in a flash. His palm connected with Dr. Maurice's cheek, and gave off a loud smack. That did the trick.

  Dr. Maurice's eyes jerked open moments before he rolled off his seat. His hands cupped the reddened cheek as he stared up at the stranger who had just roused him up. His mouth opened and closed in confusion, screaming was out of the list as he was much too dazed to scream.

  "I'm sorry I had to wake you up sir" Jason said, and crouched down to the level of his face.

  "I'm just looking for answers, and you just might have them"

  "How dare you... Who the hell are you?!" Dr. Maurice sputtered, his cheek smarted from the impact.

  "I'm your new assistant sir, and I really do apologize for my method in waking you up" Jason replied calmly. The doctor stared at him for a while, his eyes narrowed as he tried to figure out who was behind the mask.

  "Oh, you must be the one Commander Bronson sent" he said. At that, he rose to his feet, staggering slightly.

  "And why are you putting on a suit... There's no contamination here" the doctor told Jason who stepped back once the doctor reached for his face.

  "Sorry sir, I'm just new to everything..." he stammered. Jason knew that if he was to get his answers, he would have to feign ignorance and fearfulness. He was playing it by the ears seeing as the doctor had a crazed reputation.

  "Oh let me guess, you've been told about me right?" the doctor asked, arms folded.

  "No sir, I was only instructed to keep a safe distance"

  "Oh alright then" the doctor pouted. Dusting himself, he turned
around, his head turning from the left to the right as he scanned his office.

  "Looking for something sir?"

  "My papers... I'm sure I kept them somewhere here" the doctor said, crouching low to check a small cupboard behind his desk chair. It had a stack of books on it.

  "Don't just stand there, help me find it..." he pouted as he continued searching

  "It has a bit of sketches, names... It's my latest discovery on the zombies" he added. Jason went down to his feet flipping through the papers scattered on the floor.

  "What's in the papers sir? The discoveries?" Jason asked casually as he kept turning papers over and glancing through them.

  "Oh just a few test results that should be good news to Commander Bronson... That should tell him I'm not a fraud" Dr. Maurice said absentmindedly.

  "I don't understand sir? Why would anyone think you're a fraud?" Jason asked.

  "Well, everyone has enemies, and I'm not excluded..."

  "Let me tell you something" Dr. Maurice said hesitantly. He had stopped searching.

  "My methods may not be reasonable to some, but I assure you I am making a lot of progress in figuring out this madness"

  "Listen" he said suddenly, he had turned abruptly to face Jason.

  "The zombie virus was cultured from patients with regular dementia" he said, his voice had dropped to a whisper.

  "But that's not all... It looks like it's being remote controlled" he added, momentarily taking a peak over their heads. Jason listen intently, his eyes wide with involuntary surprise.

  "Tell me, what do you think about billions of people going berserk at the exact same time? Think about the beginning... Christmas morning" the doctor whispered excitedly. Jason's mind reeled as he thought about the night he had taken out his wife. He hadn't cared to look at the time when it had happened, but it was all over the news by the time he woke up to the blaring of sirens on the streets.

  "Look I know I might not look like a reasonable man. Trust me, I've heard a lot about myself... But I can't help it, not when the world itself is mad" Dr. Maurice said with a sigh, his head hung dejectedly on his neck. He had turned his back to Jason once more.