The men had relaxed: the large flying death boat was on the ground and its pilots were clearly not Russian military. Rob looked over the robust Scotsman, his wild hair and pile of rifles, and could tell he’d been through a hell of a lot. He looked back over to the man in charge and he looked a little embarrassed. The Scot turned and started to help others out of the hold. Rob returned his focus to the general.
“General McNabb,” he said, holding a hand out to the man. “I’m sorry about that cold welcome. You have to understand how concerning an unidentified craft is, especially at this time of crisis.”
McNabb watched him a moment then glanced over to the others; Rob could tell this was a man that had survived this long by being careful. He took the hand and shook it softly. “Alright, my people need rest and food.” He looked back as a tall and willowy blonde walked out, holding what looked like some kind of blackened thermos. “Ah, and coffee. Lots of coffee.”
“I’m Rob Carter, head of the CDC, or what’s left of it. If you are from Umatilla, then you have Dr. Irons with you?” He knew something was wrong the moment he said it. At first he thought he was sad and that they’d lost Irons. But what he’d quickly mistaken for loss was rage as the general’s cheeks flushed.
“Not if I could help it. I missed my chance to put a bullet through his head,” he said without a hint of being abashed by it.
“What do you mean? Was he turned?” Rob was completely lost.
“No, Mr. Carter.” McNabb was clipped. “He’s the reason for this outbreak. This is all some sick experiment.”
Rob felt his whole world drop out from under him, everything he’d been trying to do. The whole Ark project expected that the greatest minds in the world would be working together to save humanity. But if what McNabb was telling him was true, then they were in real trouble. He’d been assuming that everyone was playing on the same team.
This… it changed everything.
Assuming it’s true, and that he’s not lying or mistaken. Then he and CDC would be completely on their own without any military help.
“Are you sure?” Rob said stepping in closer. “There is no way that you could be mistaken?”
“I know what I saw. He tried to take survivors and use them for experiments. He’s got some genetically altered zombies to help him.”
They didn’t get to continue the conversation; there was an uproar around the other side of the helicopter. The two of them rushed around to the other side to find men running away, others were leveling their rifles at the side of the cargo compartment. “What in the world is going on?” Rob tried to shout over the others.
“Zombie!”
“They have one of them in there!”
The only people not moving away from the helicopter were the pilot, the dog, and the other people that had come from the hold. Rob looked at McNabb and he looked back as the men surrounded the aircraft with the rifles leveled at the group. He tried his question again, this time to McNabb. “What in the world is going on, General?”
He tried to look abashed. “Mr. Carter. We’ve learned that not all of them are trying to eat us.”
“W-what?” He couldn’t catch his breath. Now his quarantine was falling apart as well.
The tall blonde piped up, “Well, she wants to eat us I think, but she’s trying really really hard not to.”
General McNabb ignored her effortlessly. “Not all of them are trying to kill us, some of them still think, talk, and care as they used to.” McNabb started to move to the rest of the group. “Come on, I’ll show you.”
Rob didn’t hesitate he turn to the men. “Destroy that helicopter at once!”