Containment

It was a Tuesday. August 5th. The time was about 7 AM. Maybe a little bit before. When the sirens went off, nobody thought too much of it. They always do that on the first Tuesday of the month. But this was different. Normally, they did the test of the system around 10 AM. It was too early. Michale got out of bed, grabbed his phone, and checked the weather. According to Weather Bug, it was going to be a beautiful day. But the sirens were still blasting.

He sat down and turned on the TV. On every channel, there was a red screen and the sound of a siren. He couldn’t figure it out. As he went to wake his parents, every cell phone in the house started to sound the alarm. Everybody jumped to action. Before anyone could respond, there was a knock at the door. It was more of a pounding than a knocking. It seemed as if they were trying to break down the door. That’s exactly what they did.

A group of men in full biohazard suits burst into their home. They were all yelling commands that nobody could understand. Only spotty words, not complete sentences were heard. Danger, Follow, Decontamination.

The Canon family was led out of their home never understanding why. As they stepped outside, they saw that the entire city was being evacuated. HazMat crews were everywhere. They were leading everybody to the old bomb shelters at the edge of town.

“Where are you taking us?”, Michale asked, “What’s going on?”

“The less you know, the better.”

The answer came from a man in a yellow HazMat suit with the number 315 on the back. He pushed him, forcing him to continue walking.

“Don’t ask questions. They will only slow us down.”

They arrived at the bomb shelters and Michale was separated from his parents. They went to Bunker 21 while he was taken to Bunker 17. There, he met with 4 of his friends from school.

“So, what do you think is going on, Mike”, asked Todd Philips. “They forced us down here without telling us anything.”

“Didn’t you see the bio-hazard signs”, Michale asked, “Don’t you watch the news. Russia has made outright threats against the United States. Everybody is looking out for some kind of nuclear threat, but that’s not it at all. There’s some sort of biological warfare going on. I should have expected this.

“Did you ever meet Dimitri Sokolov? He was an exchange student in my Geometry class. Very smart. Straight A’s in math and science. Chemistry. He was the one who made that stink bomb on the last day of school. A month ago, his entire family packed up and left quickly. He looked right at me. He had fear in his eyes. They went into the Russian Embassy and were never seen again. I think they knew what was about to happen. The Russians were planning on a biological attack.”

Dimitri Sokolov’s father worked at the Embassy. He was being called back to Russia for another assignment. While it could have been possible that they were planning an attack, it was highly unlikely. Todd Philips was aware of this. He knew Dimitri and his father well.

“Biologic attack!”, said Todd. “I don’t think so.”

“Well, what do you think that all of this is for?”, said Michale.

“Have anyone heard what’s going on inside the buildings on the other side of town? I’ve heard that they are doing all types of crazy experiments there. Both human and animal. The other day, Fabian Ryans said that he personally witnessed one of the creatures escape. You know that both of his parents work there. Fabian often gets the low down. I never believed him until now. I think I saw something myself.

“I was taking the trash out to the ally. I heard something big in the trees. It didn’t bother me at first. I’m always seeing cats, raccoons, or possums in the trees at night. They tend to run from humans. But this was big. It was a large animal. It may have been a bear. I don’t know. It had these red glowing eyes. I picked up a paint can that was sitting outside and threw it at it. It hit the beast and busted open. Paint was all over it. Then it let out this horrible roar. I never heard anything like it. It tried to run up the tree, but it was so heavy that the tree broke. I’m telling you, the government is doing top secret experiments on animals. People too. Some, maybe all of them escaped.”

Eddie and Bob were listening but didn’t say anything until now. Eddie spoke next.

“I don’t know about escaped mutant animals”, he said, “or the Russians attacking. I will tell you what I know. Y’all know my father works for the EPA. He’s often called on to inspect the oil refinery in Bonneville. They always seem to keep odors and gas emissions lower than any other refinery in the country. That’s because they collect the toxic byproducts and sell them to the science labs in Greensburg about 50 miles away. The quickest way to ship it is by train.

“I don’t know if any of you heard that loud crash last night. It had to be about 2 o’clock in the morning. My father got a phone call shortly after. He had to get up and leave right away. He didn’t say anything, but I think it was a train carrying waste from the refinery. It that is so, there could be a toxic cloud headed this way. Hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid, just to name a few. These clouds could eat your skin right off your body before it kills you. That could explain everything.”

Nobody said anything for a while. Biological warfare, escaped government experiments, toxic gas clouds. It was a little too much for them to deal with. They started to wonder what was happening to their houses, their things. They worried if everybody was safe. Many of the people in bunker 17 were separated from their families. What was happening to them.

“Oh, My Lord”, Bob suddenly shouted out. “I just figured it out.”

“What”, the other 3 said at the same time.

“Did any of you catch what President Schwarzenegger said on the news the other day. He said that an attack from North Korea was imminent. There is a threat of nuclear war. What if North Korea and Russia have teamed up?”

“That’s not what he said at all.”, Michale responded. “He said that there is no imminent threat.”

“Then why did I see the radiation warning signs?”

Before anyone could answer, Greg cut in and said, “I didn’t want to say anything, but…... Nothing. Y’all would just think that I’m crazy.”

“Go ahead, speak”, Bob said.

“OK. I did hear that crash last night. I also saw the strange lights in the sky beforehand. 8 glowing spheres hovering in the sky. They were right above the woods. They formed a circle, spinning around and around as they came close to the ground. 5 years ago, there were lights in the sky also. The same way these did, those did. However, at that time, 8 lights came down, only 7 came up. Then, men in black suits and dark glasses started to patrol the area. Mr. Cartwright, who used to live next door to me, saw it up close, 5 years ago. Then his memory was wiped.

I think this one was a search and rescue mission. They were looking for the lost ship and crew. I think they found them. At least their bodies. The aliens have declared war on humans.”

All 3 just stared at him at first. Then they burst into laughter.

“You will see. We are all about to be slaves on an alien ship.”

The laughter continued. Then, Oliver Sandhill came in. He was distraught, out of breath, hysterical.

“You wouldn’t believe what’s going on out there”, he said. “I didn’t get any sleep until 2 in the morning. There seemed to be a lot of commotion outside. To block it out, I slept in a sensory deprivation chamber. It’s designed to give the best sleep ever. But I slept past the sirens, past the home invasions. When I stepped outside, I saw little green men running everywhere. Military personnel were preparing to detonate a nuclear warhead. The green men were fighting back with toxic gas. I heard that they found their missing friend in a government test lab. Now ships were filling the sky. The humans had already used biological weapons, but it only made them madder. When the military saw me, they sent me to decontamination and brought me here.”