Chapter 14 - THE QUARANTINE
Federal agents became trapped inside Lakewood with them.
The laboratory’s automated containment system divided the underground facility into sealed zones.
Evelyn, Nora, Daniel, Margaret, Ryan, Thomas, and Vale remained inside the central chamber.
A computerized voice repeated the warning.
AIRBORNE BIOLOGICAL EVENT DETECTED.
Vale laughed.
Everyone looked at him.
“You wanted to destroy it,” he said. “Now you may have released it.”
Evelyn looked at the blood flowing into the drain.
“You said it required controlled preparation.”
“It required activation.”
“Was the vial activated?”
Vale smiled.
“Your extraction unit was connected to the Helix synthesis system.”
Margaret moved toward him.
“You planned this.”
“I prepared for resistance.”
Daniel checked the chamber door.
“We need protective equipment.”
Nora searched the storage cabinets.
“Most of it is locked.”
Margaret held up Vale’s access card.
She unlocked the cabinets.
Inside were respirators and sealed suits.
There were only five.
Seven people needed protection.
Thomas began coughing.
Evelyn went to him.
His skin looked gray.
“You take one,” she said.
He shook his head.
“The vector came from you. You may already be immune.”
“We don’t know that.”
“Ryan may have partial compatibility.”
“What about everyone else?”
Thomas looked toward the air vents.
“If the vector is stable, exposure may begin cellular rewriting within minutes.”
“What does that feel like?”
“Fever. Pain. Neurological confusion.”
Nora touched her forehead.
“I’m already warm.”
Daniel gave her a respirator.
“Put this on.”
Vale demanded a suit.
No one moved to help him.
“I am the only person who understands the vector,” he said.
Thomas looked at Evelyn.
“He is right.”
Daniel opened the glass chamber and secured Vale’s wrists before giving him a respirator.
Margaret took one.
Nora took one.
Daniel gave one to Thomas.
One remained.
Daniel tried to hand it to Evelyn.
She gave it to Ryan.
“No,” Ryan said.
“Take it.”
“You might die.”
“So might you.”
He looked at Margaret.
“You knew this was happening to me.”
“I was trying to save you.”
“You used me to steal from Evelyn.”
“I gave you a purpose.”
“You gave me excuses.”
Ryan accepted the respirator.
Daniel wrapped a cloth over his own mouth.
Evelyn had no protection.
The temperature inside the laboratory rose.
Her heart monitor bracelet alerted.
Pulse elevated.
Rhythm irregular.
Thomas noticed.
“The stress is triggering your condition.”
“I’ll survive.”
“You sound like me.”
“That is not comforting.”
Nora accessed the facility network.
“The vector detection originated in the drainage system, not the air.”
Vale leaned toward the screen.
“Then it may not be airborne yet.”
The computerized warning changed.
WATER SYSTEM CONTAMINATION DETECTED.
Evelyn looked at Vale.
“Where does the drainage lead?”
“To the lower containment reservoir.”
“Can it leave the facility?”
“Not unless the emergency overflow activates.”
Another alarm sounded.
RESERVOIR CAPACITY EXCEEDED.
Nora stared at the monitor.
“That reservoir has been filling for years.”
Vale looked genuinely surprised.
“Impossible.”
Margaret slowly turned toward him.
“You continued experiments here.”
“Not biological waste.”
“Then someone else did.”
The overflow countdown appeared.
Twelve minutes.
If the contaminated water entered the municipal drainage network, the vector might spread beyond Lakewood.
Thomas pointed toward a manual control station on the lowest level.
“The overflow can be stopped from there.”
Daniel examined the map.
“The path crosses two sealed zones.”
“Can they be opened?”
“Only manually.”
Vale shook his head.
“The lower level contains unstable subjects.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“Human subjects?”
“Patients.”
“How many?”
“I don’t know.”
“You built this facility.”
“I lost control of it years ago.”
“Who controls it now?”
Vale looked at Margaret.
Margaret’s face went pale.
“I thought Julian was dead,” she whispered.
The lights flickered.
Every screen in the chamber changed.
A man appeared on the video feed.
He was older, with silver hair and deep scars across one side of his face.
Margaret stepped toward the screen.
“Julian.”
Julian Mercer smiled.
“Hello, Maggie.”
Evelyn stared at the man who might have been her father, her mother’s lover, or one of the architects of her entire life.
Julian looked directly at her through the camera.
“Evelyn, do not stop the overflow.”
“Why?”
“Because the vector is the only thing keeping the lower subjects alive.”
“You contaminated the reservoir.”
“I adapted it.”
“Release us.”
“I cannot.”
“You mean you won’t.”
Julian’s smile faded.
“Subject J has control of the facility.”
“Who is Subject J?”
Julian looked toward Daniel.
“Ask him.”
Daniel’s face became still.
Evelyn turned.
“You know.”
Daniel removed the cloth from his mouth.
“My full name is Daniel James Reed.”
Julian nodded from the screen.
“Subject J.”
Margaret stepped back.
“No.”
Daniel looked as shocked as everyone else.
“I was born before the Lakewood fire.”
Julian answered calmly.
“You were the first viable neurological subject.”
Daniel stared at the screen.
“My father was the security director.”
“The man you called your father took you after the fire.”
Thomas tried to rise from the bed.
“Julian, stop.”
“No more lies, Thomas.”
Evelyn looked at Daniel.
Every hidden connection suddenly became unbearable.
“You were investigating me because you knew?”
“No. I swear.”
Julian spoke again.
“He may be telling the truth. Subject J’s memories were altered.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
Fragments of his childhood had always been missing.
Evelyn saw it in his face.
The overflow countdown reached eight minutes.
Julian looked at Evelyn.
“You must choose.”
“Between what?”
“Stopping the vector and killing everyone below.”
“And letting it spread?”
“Which may save thousands.”
Vale laughed softly.
“That is the decision we were always too afraid to make.”
Evelyn looked at her father, her brother, her mother, Daniel, and the timer.
May you like
For the first time, every person in the room wanted something different from her.
And once again, the choice had been placed in her hands because everyone else was afraid to carry it.
