Emergence (Book 4): Eradication Read online

  EMERGENCE

  Eradication

  Volume 4

  By JT Sawyer

  Copyright

  Copyright April 2018 by JT Sawyer

  Edited by Emily Nemchick

  Cover art by EbookLaunch.com

  No part of this book may be transmitted in any form whether electronic, recording, scanned, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  This is a work of fiction and the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, incidents, or events is entirely coincidental and not intended by the author.

  Join JT Sawyer’s Facebook page to follow his book research and to get updates on future releases. You can also sign up to be a part of his reading team at http://www.jtsawyer.com

  Chapter 1

  Phoenix, Arizona

  Reisner flipped down his night-vision goggles as the subterranean world beneath Phoenix took on a green hue. The rest of his team followed single-file behind him as they entered the immense storm drains underneath downtown, below the Heard Museum. Nash and Connelly followed in the rear while Porter and Reisner proceeded a few feet ahead, pausing every few minutes to scan the narrow tunnel.

  The voice of Andre Pacelle, who was working the intel side back at the CDC facility west of their location, spoke in their earpieces: “Thermal imagery shows a cluster of eighteen drones holed up in a subterranean maintenance room two hundred meters from your current position.” Although that had seemed like a short sprint back in the conference room when they were planning this mission, to Reisner it now felt like it was a few miles away.

  With each step forward, it seemed like he could feel the weight of the gas canisters in his backpack increasing. The aerosolized bioagent Selene had created had been loaded into each smoke grenade by Porter the day before. Based upon tests on rhesus monkeys at the CDC’s BSL-4 lab, Selene was confident that the designer bioweapon would kill the drones by decimating the parasites in their bodies. At least, she was ninety-eight percent sure but, right now, it was the remaining two percent that was on Reisner’s mind as they progressed down the cement corridor, which seemed to constrict with each step. He had hoped to test the bioagent on one or two drones instead of an entire cluster, but Selene needed a larger control group to study the effect and make certain the bioweapon would be effective across a broad spectrum of body types and ages. With Ivins and his nearby team providing overwatch on the streets above, he knew his fellow commandos could be down in the tunnels in minutes if they were needed, and Reisner hoped this operation was going to be as brief as it had appeared on the drawing board last night.

  “Seventy meters to the nest,” said Pacelle’s voice in their headsets. Reisner tightened the grip on his AR as he squat-walked through a low passage where two other tunnels merged with the main artery they were moving through. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see Porter pointing at the curved wall to the right, where there appeared to be dark slime running down to the ground. It was as if someone had flung a water balloon filled with oil against the wall, but this was a substance he couldn’t make out. Reisner moved closer, squinting, his world reduced to the subdued light of his night-vision goggles. Reisner could see hundreds of lifeless parasites peppered throughout the streaks of viscous fluid. In the middle of the syrupy mess was a clear sac resembling a collapsed soccer ball. Reisner removed the fixed blade from his belt and slid the tip under the paper-thin material, holding it up.

  He swiveled his helmet to make sure the videocam was picking up the image.

  “Are you getting this?” he said to Selene on the other end back at the CDC, where she and the rest of her staff were viewing the mission from the planning room.

  “Yes, I see it,” she said. “Looks like some kind of sloughed-off skin. I’m not sure what to make of the rest of the liquid—maybe it’s a digestive waste product. Can you collect a sample of that?”

  “Copy that.” He motioned back to Porter to gather some of the secretion in one of the biohazard bottles they carried.

  “And by ‘waste product,’ you mean this is where the drones took a dump?”

  Reisner glanced back at Porter, shaking his head.

  “What? It’s a legit question,” said Porter as he removed a long cotton swab from his med kit and then scooped up some of the soupy mess before depositing it into the small bottle. “These things are chomping on people for food so they must have to take care of business at some point, right.”

  “Rightfully so,” said Selene in a stern voice. “But this looks different than the scat piles we’ve come across before near large concentrations of drones. This almost reminds me of the olfactory and visual markers that tigers use to mark their territory in the jungle. Notice how this starts about three feet from the ground and is spread out on the wall, rather than the clumps of defecated material found in latrine areas used by the drones. But the other object looks like some kind of egg sac.”

  Porter flung the cotton swab on the ground, then screwed the lid on the orange bottle securely before placing it inside a red biohazard bag and tucking it into a side pocket on his pack.

  Reisner saw Nash and Connelly moving up behind them. He swung his head around and glanced at the terminus of the tunnel ahead. Almost there—and not soon enough. I fucking hate being underground. He raised his hand for them to proceed and they continued stalking forward, with Pacelle counting down their distance in twenty-meter increments until they were at the end of the corridor.

  Ahead of them was a large circular room where six other tunnels ended. The ceiling was domed and thirty feet high, with a shaft of sunlight filtering in from a cast-iron grate in the center. The stagnant air smelled like a high-school locker room tinged with a coppery odor that meant there had most likely been recent victims consumed in the tunnels.

  Reisner flipped off his night-vision goggles and raised them up, studying the plethora of bare footprints in the muddy veneer coating the concrete floor. The tracks all emanated from a tunnel to the right which, he knew from his earlier planning session, led to the surface a mile distant. The slurry of prints ranged from feet his size to diminutive tracks he surmised could only belong to drones that were once children. For a moment, he forgot the tiny prints belonged to worm-riddled creatures and he associated the delicate footprints with ones he’d seen on beaches back in Virginia during the summer months when kids were lost in carefree play along the shoreline. He swallowed hard, thinking about the innocent lives consumed by the virus and how many of those must have been children. In his mind, he saw them playing, riding their bikes, and running in the yard with their dogs, then suddenly succumbing to a mysterious illness that transformed them—robbed them of their youth as it hijacked their bodies, turning them into these abominations. He thought of the bioagent canisters in his pack, wishing for a moment that it was a cure instead of a weapon so he could fling it into the nest of drones and reverse the horrible effects of the virus.

  He snapped back to the present when he heard Pacelle’s voice again. “The northeast tunnel leads to the cluster of drones. There are still sixteen of them, taking refuge in a small chamber that is thirty meters beyond your present location.”

  “Copy that, we’ll proceed inside and release the canisters then backtrack to this location and wait out the results,” said Reisner.

  “Remember to retrieve tissue samples from the dead drones,” said Selene. “I’ll need to study the effects of the aerosol upon the creatures’ cell structure afterwards.”

  Reisner replied, then began moving into the hub where the tunnels all met. Immediately, he heard Pacelle’s frantic voice in his earpiece. “Retre
at back to where you were, get in the tunnel and pull back—I’m picking up the heat signature of an alpha heading towards your location from the west passage.”

  Chapter 2

  Reisner and the others backpedaled thirty feet, slinking into a side tunnel then taking up defensive positions. He could still feel his ribs throbbing from the last time he encountered an alpha in Los Angeles, and the thought of engaging another one made his stomach churn. Though he and his team were well armed, the alphas moved with such speed and ferocity that they would burn up precious time trying to kill it while the drones in the other chamber could swarm in behind the creature, quickly turning this science-gathering mission into an all-out battle on the enemy’s turf.

  He tensed his lips, controlling his exhale as he strained his ears to hear any movement in the tunnel they’d just fled. A second later, Pacelle’s voice entered his earpiece again.

  “The alpha just veered into the tunnel towards the drones. It is currently positioned next to them.”

  Reisner felt his chest lighten. “I thought you said the area was clear of alphas?”

  “This one must have emerged from a lower level in the west tunnel,” said Pacelle. “That area showed no signs of life until a minute ago when that thing appeared, so there must be another passage below the one you’re in.”

  “Probably an older tunnel from when the city was being built up decades ago,” whispered Porter.

  “Or a maintenance shaft of some kind,” said Nash. “I didn’t see anything on the city schematics for this region, so Porter’s probably right.”

  “Why the hell would it be here?” said Connelly. “I thought all of the alphas in these parts retreated to the Palo Verde Nuclear Reactor.”

  “A reserve force, maybe?” said Reisner. “Who knows?” He brushed a streak of sweat off his right cheek. “It’s going to be imperative that we drop that alpha without him catching wind of us down here—before we disperse the aerosol on the drones. If the bioagent is successful, we can’t allow that creature to relay the information back to others around the country.” Reisner tried not to sound surprised at what he had just said aloud. With all of the alphas around the U.S. mysteriously retreating to nuclear power plants in a massive troop movement three days ago, it was clear the human race was up against a constantly evolving enemy and one that could relay tactical information within their ranks and even beyond geographic boundaries. The alphas were more than just isolated leaders controlling their separate drone armies—they were somehow mentally interconnected and capable of sharing their experiences in combat against their adversaries in some kind of twisted hive mind akin to a termite colony on steroids.

  Reisner could still hear the haunting words of the female alpha in L.A. who spoke to him as she stood over his wounded body, the shrill sound of her voice reverberating through his fatigued brain:

  Your kind will be ours.

  He could still see the intelligence in the creature’s slit-like eyes as his mind reeled from the shock of hearing it speak. Reisner’s attention shot back to the present as he tried to slow his racing heart. We’ve got to destroy these things—and time is of the essence, before their learning increases any further. He clenched the grip on his AR and sucked in some stale air, then slowly shuffled forward towards the intersection of the two tunnels. He peered to his left then tapped on his ear-mic.

  “The route ahead looks clear—can you confirm?”

  “You are a GO—proceed back into the central junction then enter the north tunnel,” said Pacelle. “The alpha is inside the small chamber beside the drones, to the right of the entrance.”

  Reisner glanced back at the others, seeing their nervous expressions after learning about the alpha. “Normally, I’d say we should abort this op and wait for another opportunity when the alpha isn’t on site, but we don’t have that luxury anymore—the luxury of time. We need to know 100% if Selene’s creation works, and this is our best shot. Plus, we have the advantage of knowing exactly where this alpha is located, so there won’t be any surprises.” He dragged out the last word, aware of the danger of making such a bold statement, as if their success in combat was assured. He knew from experience that nothing could be further from the truth, but there were no alternatives. His team was on the frontlines of this war, and unlike other battles they had engaged in prior to the pandemic, their accomplishments here today would have implications beyond simply securing the safety of their fellow countrymen. Their actions could affect the fate of the human race.

  He took a deep breath, forcing the tense muscles in his neck to relax slightly, but only felt another knot forming. “Once we’re in range, I will take out the alpha while Porter sends the gas canisters with the aerosol into the middle of the drones. Connelly, you’ll provide cover support while Nash remains back by the tunnel entrance to keep the escape route secure.”

  Everyone gave a thumbs-up, then Reisner shuffled back into the main tunnel, wasting no time in retracing his steps. They entered the large concrete hub where all of the tunnels dumped out, then quickly made their way across the muddy substrate. The musky odor of mildew and rotting trash that had leached down from the drains above filled the stagnant air. As Reisner was about to enter the north tunnel, he paused to scan behind him. Porter had stopped and was removing a fist-sized clump of C4 and a detonator from his pack. The lanky operator pressed the malleable explosive material into a large crack in the wall of the north tunnel near the entrance. If the aerosol didn’t work out and the drones rushed after them in pursuit, they would need to seal off the tunnel behind them.

  As he watched Porter work, Reisner hoped that Selene’s bioagent would prevent them from having to engage the enemy in these narrow passages. Connelly and Nash were fanned out to either side of the north tunnel, keeping their weapons affixed on the numerous corridors around them. Connelly stepped forward and craned her head to the right. She took another step, carefully placing her boots in the mud puddles. She raised her hand up, pointing to the west tunnel that the alpha had just come from, and motioned to her ear, indicating she had heard something, then shook her head to indicate it wasn’t a concern.

  Reisner gave two taps on his ear-mic, which was the signal back to Pacelle that he was unable to speak aloud but needed assistance.

  “You’re still clear. No movement in any direction. The alpha is still in the chamber ahead with the drones.”

  Reisner raised his right hand up, waving Connelly back over. Whatever the noise was that she had heard, he hoped it wasn’t another alpha. He felt a trickle of sweat rolling down his cheek. Let’s get this goddamned mission over with already.

  Once Porter had finished securing the explosive device, they continued down the passage, with Nash remaining behind at the central junction. Reisner moved with a controlled haste to his steps, acquired from numerous covert missions abroad when the Agency was bent on eliminating human threats to the world in the days before the pandemic. He felt another measured burst of adrenaline slipping through his veins as his senses prickled, like he was walking on a tightrope above an obsidian canyon.

  Stepping over a rusty iron grate in the floor, Reisner paused for a second to scan the murky sewer below, wondering if it was connected with the region the alpha had come from. He pressed on, swinging his head back up.

  “Sixteen meters,” said Pacelle’s voice.

  “Twelve.” Reisner kept his rifle aimed ahead. He knew the headshot on the alpha would have to be quick so it couldn’t react, and more importantly, so it wouldn’t be able to transmit any visual information on the attack to the others.

  “Eight meters.” He could smell a combination of body odor and rotting meat as he neared the dark chamber ahead.

  “Five meters.” The green image in his night-vision goggles showed the eerie sight of a cluster of drones slumbering in the middle of the room, their backs pressed against one another like they were one entity.

  “Two meters—alpha is starting to move.”

  Reisner quickened
his pace. He had to kill the leader now. He rushed into the chamber, immediately swinging his rifle to the right. The beast sprinted to close the distance, its maniacal eyes widening as it leapt towards him. He fired off three rounds, the first striking the alpha in the upper lip while the other two sliced through the right cheekbone, sending a spray of bone and blood onto the cement wall behind it. As it dropped to the ground, he saw a rope-like parasite emerge from the fissure in the side of the skull, its segmented body trying to free itself from the shattered cranium. Grey fluid throbbed from a web of mangled tissue beneath its triangular head where a bullet had torn through its flesh. Reisner stepped back, slamming the butt of his rifle into the center of the undulating parasite until the creature stopped writhing.

  The chamber filled with a cacophony of shrill screams, deafening Reisner as he shuffled back towards Porter.

  “Do it—release the aerosol, now!” he said.

  Porter was about to tear the pins off the first two modified smoke canisters when he was struck from above. The lanky operator crumpled to the ground as two drones dropped off of a cement overhang twelve feet above the entrance. Their predatory faces were just as terrifying in the green hue of Reisner’s night-vision world as they were in broad daylight. Reisner gulped and shot the first one climbing over Porter’s back while Connelly shattered open the head of the second with a controlled volley of rounds. The enraged mob of drones to the right now began rushing towards the muzzle blasts.

  A cluster of four drones were bolting towards Porter as he stood up and grabbed the canisters, yanking the pins. Reisner swung his rifle to the right, shooting a stocky beast charging at him, then immediately followed up on two bald creatures near the corpse of the dead alpha. The chamber began filling with a fine yellow mist that began obscuring Reisner’s night-vision goggles as he shuffled back towards the entrance, stepping over a half-dozen bullet-riddled bodies. The mustard cloud of aerosol swept through the chamber quickly, judging from the violent commotion inside. Within seconds, the throng of creatures was splayed on the ground, gasping their final breaths as gray fluid leaked out of their eyes and ears. Reisner swept his rifle around the room and then up at the ceiling, looking for any further surprises, then back down at the heap of lifeless figures. He stepped forward a foot, tapping a carcass with the tip of his boot and watching its muscles jiggle like the bone underneath had dissolved. He could see hundreds of inanimate parasites lying in a pool of gray fluid near the right ear. It worked—holy shit—it really worked! He felt his heart racing, as much from the adrenaline dump as from the incredible breakthrough that Selene had made. Now, we have the means of turning the tide.