Chapter 17- Creeping Death

Chapter 17

Creeping Death

Villa Cyranno, Venezuela

Oscar had tried his best but the older soldier wasn’t interested.  Oscar watched him turn away, a radio in his hand.  Oscar tried to catch the attention of the leader of these soldiers but to no avail.

“Someone else, someone’s got to listen to me,” Oscar said almost to himself.  He watched the semi-circle of American’s talking amongst themselves.  A helicopter had come down to carry their wounded man away.  Things were not right; there was a tense look on their faces.

One of them looked less fierce than the others so Oscar decided he was the best bet.  Oscar followed him for a moment as he walked away from the others.

“Excuse me, excuse me,” said Oscar to the officer.

“What?” he snapped.  Oscar’s English was pretty good but it didn’t need to be good to figure that the man was in a state of high tension.  His wide eyes and his expression was quite hostile.

“You are looking for someone?” asked Oscar, trying to get straight to the point.

“What do you mean?” replied the soldier.

“You’re looking for someone.  A man?”

“No, we’re trying to secure this place.  It’s dangerous here,”

“But you are looking for someone, a man who got away?” asked Oscar.

The man closed his eyes briefly and Oscar thought it was irritation on his face.

“Someone who got away.  Yes, maybe we are actually.  Did you see someone?  Perhaps in uniform?” asked the man.

“No, not in uniform.  But not a villager either.  He was with the priest when your man arrives in the village and then he leaves going South,” said Oscar.

“Ok, can you show me where he’s going?” asked the man.

“Yes I can,” replied Oscar.

Wharton unfolded the map to show Oscar the village and its position.  Oscar looked at it once and Wharton watched him closely.

“Here, he head this way.  The next village maybe?”

“That’s twenty miles away.  Ok, thank you.  What was your name?”

“Oscar Cordoba,” he replied.

“I’m Clarence Wharton.  Stay here for a minute,” he said and then moved away quickly.  Oscar watched him rejoin the other soldiers.  There had been something different about him, something about his eyes, his movements, he wasn’t the same kind of soldier as the others.  His uniform had been the same as theirs but Oscar had seen something different about him.

Ivan wondered over, looking nervous.

“What’s going on?  Your English is better than mine,” he said.

“Your English is fine Ivan.  You just want to know what I found out that you didn’t know already,” replied Oscar tensely.

“Oscar I…”

“Don’t worry.  I don’t care right now.  They have been talking about some kind of infection, a disease or something,” said Oscar.  He was amazed that saying it didn’t make him any more scared than he already was.

“A disease?  Then we are in danger?”

“Great danger.  But I doubt it’s airborne.  If it is, we’ve all got it already,”

“Did they say what the symptoms of the disease are?” asked Ivan.

“No they didn’t.  But I’m trying to get some answers,”

Wharton came back out of the church, a quickness to his step. 

“They need you to come in and show them where this guy went.  Now it’s pretty horrible in there.  You going to be all right?”

“Yes,” Said Oscar, not really knowing what he was agreeing to at this point.  Ivan watched him walk away into the church.

Oscar could smell it before he’d even gotten into the church, the rank, sweet smell of burned flesh.  Oscar began to breathe through his mouth as he’d been taught.  He walked in, a soldier was leaning against the door smoking a cigarette.  As Oscar walked past, he nodded curtly to him.

“What’s he doing in here?” asked one soldier as Oscar walked into the church.

“He’s the one I was telling you about,” Said Wharton to him, not stopping to talk.

Oscar looked around the church in horror.  The chairs and pews were now pushed to the sides of the room, copies of the Bible were scattered across the floor.  There was blood splattered on the walls and in the corner, a pile of blackened remains.

Oscar tried to focus but felt his head swimming.  A female soldier looked over at him.

“Are you ok sir?” she asked him.  Oscar nodded but felt faint.  The smell was unbearable.

“So the question is, what are we dealing with here?” asked an older man.

“I think we’ve got time later to figure it out.  According to Oscar here, one of them is getting away,” said Wharton.

“Show me,” said the oldest soldier, the one who had ignored Oscar earlier.  Oscar walked over to the map which was pinned to the wall.

“This way, he goes this way towards the next village,” Oscar managed to say.

“I see,” said the man who was clearly in charge.  “Ok I’ll call in for a helicopter to go after him but otherwise we may have to begin a foot pursuit,”

“At that range?  We’d never catch him now,” said a different soldier.

“There’s a goat path that may help you catch him,” said Oscar, trying to breathe.

“That’d help,  Thank you,” Said the leader of the soldiers.

Satcom, somewhere in Virginia

Colonel Sickles stood near the back of the room and watched the officers and non-coms work.  They were a good group, they didn’t need a lot of checking, they didn’t need micro-managing.  But the problem was starting to get away from them.

“That’s confirmed then,” said Colonel Adams, putting down the phone.

“What is?” asked Sickles.  Adams gave the younger man a look and walked over to the General.

“Sir, it’s confirmed.  Someone got away from Villa Cyranno before the team arrived,”

“Damn it,” said the General.  “Someone get me a damned coffee!”

A staff sergeant put a cup of coffee down almost instantly.  Colonel Sickles looked over at the big board and wondered how long they had to tie this infection down.

“Sir, we need to move right now,” said Sickles.

“I know we do,” said the General.  “One of them is loose.  Ok, we cant take any chances at all.  I want a marine landing team at Villa Escobar.  I want them in full haz-mat gear.  Flame-throwers on the load out,”

“Sir, hazardous materials suits may not have any effect,” said Sickles.

“I don’t care, I’m not exposing these men to any needless risks.  Their orders are to shoot and incinerate anyone arriving at Villa Escobar on foot,” said the General gruffly.

“Sir?” said Adams, incredously.

“We don’t have time to dick around here Chris.  Give them the fuckin’ order,” growled the General.

“Sir,” said Adams and began relaying the instructions over the radio.

“That’s the right call, “said Sickles softly to the general.

“You think I don’t know that?  It’s the best fuckin’ call available.  But it still turns my stomach.  Innocent people are going to die now,”

“Collateral damage,” said Sickles coolly.

“You don’t know the meaning of the word, Colonel,” said the General.

The General fixed him with a baleful look and Colonel Sickles was aware that he didn’t want to make eye contact at this point.

“You take the star seriously at least,” growled the General.

An alarm broke the tension.

“That’s the medevac chopper arriving,” said Adams.

“Ok, Colonel Sickles I want you down there to supervise what’s going on,” Said General Petersen.

“With all due respect sir, I was instructed by the Secretary to keep an eye on this room and this operation,” Sickles kept his tone firm but low.

General Petersen raised his hands in exasperation.

“Fucking great. Ok Chris you get down there and keep an eye on things.  If anything doesn’t seem right, isolate them instantly.  Don’t think twice,”

“Yes sir,” said Adams, pausing only briefly to give Sickles another loaded look.

Colonel Sickles grabbed a non-com as he bustled past.

“Get me a cup of coffee Sergeant,” he said.  The non-com looked at Sickles like he’d lost his mind.

“A cup of coffee?  You can manage that cant you?” he snapped at him as he got into gear.

Another phone line lit up and a sergeant picked it up.  His face betrayed his fear and his shock at who he was being asked to speak to.