Infected

Gideon chuckles as he takes another sip from his mug. "Though the circumstances aren't that pleasant, I'm glad we've had this chance to catch up."

I smile at him. "When I first heard that we were going to be stuck in your fortress I contemplated risking it out there," I joke.

He laughs. "So, you've managed to keep your sense of humor, Malachi. A lot of people lose it out there," he says motioning towards the far wall, to the outside.

"Well, I may not have had the same favorable conditions that you had, but I refused to forfeit my humor. Much to the annoyance of many of my officers."

Gideon looks up at something. I glance back to see Jordan, Doctor Jerome's second.

"Jordan," he calls out. Jordan looks over and waves. Gideon waves him over.

"Just a second," he calls back. He picks up a cup and pours coffee into it.

"You people here sure like your coffee," I note.

"Danielle disapproves, but that's just her doctor side speaking. She's practical enough to know not to challenge anyone on it," he tells me. "But yes, we do. The good doctor has gone so far as to call us all coffee addicts."

"How nice."

Jordan walks up to the table, drinking from his cup. He stops. "What can I do for you, Commander Hotchner? Hello again, Commander Scott."

I nod my greeting to him.

"Did Danielle finally let you take a coffee break?" Gideon asks. "I was sure she'd keep you as long as it took to get all of Commander Brink's men processed."

"We're just waiting on the results to come back, and actually, it was her suggestion that I get some coffee," Jordan replies.

Gideon scoffs. "Was it now? Tell her I said she's a hypocrite when you get back to the infirmary."

"Will do, if I remember. My tax is going to shipping to put in another order request. Which will be absolute hell considering how crazy shipping is right now trying to get even more supplies sent in," Jordan comments.

Gideon's face becomes puzzled. "What on earth could she have run out of in a day that's so important she can't wait until things calm down to put in a shipping request?" Gideon goes back to drinking his coffee.

"The answer is. . .," Jordan digs into his pocket and pulls out a folded-up piece of paper. He puts his cup down so he can unfold it. His eyes scan over the paper and his face goes white.

"Jordan?" I ask.

Jordan's hands start shaking. Gideon looks at him. His eyes narrow in concern as he stands.

"Jordan. Speak," Gideon orders.

Jordan shoves the paper toward Gideon. "Danielle didn't give me a shipping request. It's a request to put the infirmary on lockdown."

Gideon grabs the paper from his hands and scans the letter. "I thought you said you were still waiting for the results."

"That's what she told me before she gave me that and told me to go get some coffee." Jordan's hand flies to his forehead as his eyes widen. "Commander Brink was in her office. They were talking when I walked in. That's when she- oh hell- I left her alone."

I look between Gideon and Jordan. "What's going on?" I ask.

Gideon looks at me. "Commander Brink and all of his men are infected. Brink is at stage five, along with his assisting staff and a few of his soldiers. There's no way he didn't know. That any of them didn't know." He yanks his phone off his belt. He presses a button and holds it to his ear. "Lieutenant Nevil. I need all able soldiers to the med bay now. I need it put on lockdown stat. No one goes in, no one comes out. . . No. Do not shut and lock the doors without my order. Don't make it obvious until I get there. . . Good." He shoves the phone back into his pocket. "Jordan stay here," he orders.

I stand up. "I'll go with you. I can call my men as well if you want me to," I offer.

"No. I can't ask that of them. I'd rather you didn't come either, but I doubt you'll give me that option. Let's go." He turns on his heel and strides off.

I follow at his heels. I see a few of my soldiers in the halls as we head toward the med bay. They look at me curiously, but I don't acknowledge them. I keep my eyes forward and follow Gideon.

We reach the hall cornering the med bay. Lieutenant Nevil is there. He has a comms device set up, and he's talking with someone, I assume the group coming from the opposite direction. He glances up and nods to us. "Everyone is waiting for your orders, Commander."

Gideon nods. "Has there been any movement from inside?"

"Not that we can tell. We sent a couple of scouts across the hall, and from what they could gather without making it obvious as they passed by, all of Brink's men are still in there, but there is no sign of Brink or Doctor Jerome," Nevil reports. "We spoke to the other nurses and doctors, and they all said that Doctor Jerome had let them leave to get rest, saying she could wait by herself for the reports to come back. May I ask what's going on Commander?"

"The results already came back. They're all infected. Some are at level five, including Commander Brink. Doctor Jerome sent all of her staff out. She didn't make a big deal out of it. But someone must have thought something was up. Why hasn't anything happened yet?" He muses, thinking. Nevil looks absolutely shocked. "Do we have any sleeping gas-"

A cacophony of crashes echoes down the hall. All the soldiers go on alert, lifting their guns, safety clicking off. Gideon and I also draw our side arms.

"You just had to jinx it, didn't you?" I ask Gideon.

"Shut up," Gideon tries to say it lightly, but his voice is terse.

"Commander Hotchner," A voice calls calmly from down the hall, "I assume you're here by now, along with your men? Feel free to tell me I'm wrong."

"What do you want Brink?" Gideon calls back. "You must have come here for a reason. You knew you were infected."

Brink chuckles. "How clever. Why don't you come around the corner so we can talk face-to-face?"

Gideon clenches his jaw. "Their weapons were taken, right?" He whispers to Nevil.

Nevil nods. "Standard procedure, and you know how the doc feels about guns in her area."

"Come now Hotchner. Don't be so stubborn as to stay hidden behind a corner. If not for me, do it for the doctor," Brink taunts.

Gideon doesn't hesitate, he moves towards the med bay hall.

"Gideon," I hiss, reaching for him, but I miss. Growling, I follow him out into the open.

Brink may not have a gun, but he holds Danielle, one arm clenched around her chest, pinning her arms, the other hand holds what appears to be an empty syringe, the plunger all the way up, needle buried in the Doctor's neck.

Gideon actually laughs. "Of all the surgical tools that can be easily used as a weapon, you chose a syringe?"

"I gave the other instruments to my men, but you fail to understand just what's at stake. You see the syringe is full of air," Brink replies, gently tapping his thumb against the plunger. "Why don't you tell him, doctor? Go on." Danielle keeps her mouth shut. "No?" He asks. "Very well, I will. If I inject the air into her bloodstream, the air will create an air bubble in her bloodstream and when that air bubble hits her heart, she will have what is essentially a heart attack, but there's no restart. Unless you want her to go through that experience again."

Gideon cocks his gun. "Simple solution."

"Not quite. My men are right behind me, all of them ready to make sure the doc doesn't leave this hall if I go down."

"What do you want?" Gideon demands.

"Supplies. Food, water, ammo, lights, guns, trucks, gas, and bombs."

"What for?"

"I need to get my men to safety, and I can't have you following us."

"Fine. Release Doctor Jerome first."

"Nice try. Consider her my leverage. You try anything," he lifts his thumb and places back on the plunger, "And its bye-bye Doctor Jerome. I'll give you three hours to get everything together. Its shouldn't take longer than one or two, but I'm a generous man. For every second you go past three hours, I'll have my lieutenant give the doctor a cut." With that, Brink drags Danielle back into the med bay.

I lower my gun. Gideon follows after a couple seconds. Nevil walks up to him.

"Get him what he wanted. Double time," Gideon says. He turns on his heel and stalks off.

Nevil looks at me in surprise. "Just do it, I'll go talk to him," I say before taking off after him.

I follow him all the way back to his office. I shut the door behind me. "Gideon, what are you doing? You can't give them anything. You need to completely lock down the med bay. Danielle made sure to limit our casualties. I know it's awful, but you know the orders as well as I do. There are level five infecteds in there. You can't let them leave."

Gideon whirls on me. "I know that! I won't let them leave."

"You're going to risk them getting away. Danielle protected her staff, now you have to protect yours as well as all the people we've sworn to protect."

"I am not going to be the reason Danielle dies. I can't be." He falls back into a chair, burying his head in his hands. "I can't."

"Gideon. . . We all have to make sacrifices. Even Danielle knew that."

Gideon starts laughing. "You don't understand."

"That there's something more to your relationship with Danielle than the two of you let on?" He looks up at me in surprise. "Yeah, I noticed. Look, I know you want to protect her, but she made a choice. You have to respect that."

"I know, but that's not all of it. Doesn't something just feel off about this whole situation? Brink knows the orders as well. Why would he then knowingly request entry into the compound? He knew he was infected, and he knew that he'd have to be tested. He must have known that the result would come back as a positive for level five infection and he would have known what would happen as a result. So, why?"

I blink. I hadn't thought of that. "Supplies?" I suggest.

"He could have just requested that over shipping. There would have been no test and he would have gotten them."

The memory of my unit's doctor's death crashes to the front of my mind. He had given me that flash drive. I reach into my pocket. It's still there. He had made me swear to keep it safe, to keep it away from command. He had said it was vital. He had made me swear not to open it. He had said it needed to get to Baracus. He had sworn it was important to the cure. That it was only one of many. I was a stretch, but. . .

I yank the flash drive from my pocket. "Where's Jordan?"

Gideon looks at me in surprise. "He should still be in the cafeteria, where we left him. Why do you have a flash drive?"

I turn and open the door. "Which way?"

"What?"

"The cafeteria. Which way?"

Gideon brushes by me into the hall. "This way. Why do you have a flash drive?"

"It belonged to my unit's doctor. He gave it to me when he died."

Gideon glances back at me, confused. I shake my head and he looks forward again.

Reaching the cafeteria, he throws the doors open. "Jordan!" he yells.

Jordan jumps up from where he was sitting and runs over. "What's going on?"

I hold up the flash drive. "Did Danielle have a flash drive like this that she never let anyone have access to and was very protective of?" I ask him.

He blinks at the flash drive. "Yes, but no one knew about it. I only know because I walked in on her working one night. Before I saw what she was working on, she yanked the flash drive from her computer and made me swear not to tell anyone about it."

Gideon looks at me. "What is the significance of the flash drives, Malachi?"

"My doctor said it was part of a research project on the cure that was done under the radar, first at command, then the doctors were separated for some reason due to security concerns. That's all he would tell me," I tell him.

"They're here for the flash drive," Gideon says.

Jordan makes a choking noise. "I don't think it exists anymore." Gideon and I both look at him. "I saw a smashed flash drive in the trash bin in her office a few days ago. I didn't think anything of it then, but now that I'm thinking about it, it looked a lot like the one that I saw her using that one time."

"If there's no flash drive-"

"They'll take the next best thing," Gideon finishes.

"We can't let them leave, especially not with her."

Gideon is already on the move. I run after him. "That also means that he won't hurt her. Their threat is null." Gideon slides to a halt by Nevil. "Order the men to stop collecting their demands."

Nevil doesn't hesitate. Scooping up his comm device he relays the command.

I look at Gideon. "What's our next move?"

Gideon takes a gun leaning on the wall. "We follow orders."

I pull my gun and follow him into the hall. A few soldiers follow, and I notice a few creep in from the other end of the hall.

"Brink!" Gideon calls out. "I know why you're here! It's game over! Give yourself up!"

There is no reply from the med bay doors.

"Brink!" Gideon yells.

Again, silence. Gideon looks at me. I shake my head and shrug.

Gideon looks forward. "Move in!"

The soldiers rush the med bay from either direction. The silence continues. There are no shots or yells or crashes.

A soldier runs out of the med bay. "It's empty!"

"What?!" Gideon demands. He runs forward, and I follow. Sure enough, the only movement is from Gideon's men. "Where are they?"

"Sir! We found a breach in the floor into the underground section!" A soldier calls.

Gideon runs out of the med bay. "Lieutenant! Get air and ground outside now! All available units! Brink and his men are not to get away!"

Nevil grabs his comm again and begins relaying orders. The soldiers nearby are already on the move. a few of them drop into the underground section.

Gideon grabs my arm as he starts walking again. "Keep me posted Nevil," he orders.

He drags me along, stopping by the cafeteria long enough to get Jordan. He then marches both of us back to his office. He looks at me. "Plug in the flash drive."

I look at him. "I can't. I promised my doctor I'd give it to Baracus. He told me Baracus was in charge and would know what to do."

"Baracus was killed a few days ago. I hear rumors that it was actually an assassination and that he was a traitor. If the flash drives are just research on the cure and Baracus was heading it, why would no one know anything about it? We need to know exactly what is on the flash drive."

I finger the flash drive in my pocket. "Fine." I walk to his computer and plug it in.

"Why am I here?" Jordan asks.

"To interpret any medical talk," Gideon says.

The computer registers the flash drive. A button pops up on the screen. It's a green X on a red background. I click on it. The screen goes black. A new screen pops up. It seems to be some sort of program. A series of files are on the left of the screen. A scroll bar tells me that there's more than what is shown. In the center is a work field. It's black with white writing stating "No Open Work in Progress. Open File to Begin." To the right of that is some sort of chat screen. Above the message board, it says "Welcome Doctor Flanagan. Online: *All members currently offline*"

Gideon and Jordan stand behind me. Both silently looking over the screen.

"Look at the last message sent," Gideon says.

I look. The chat records it as being from Dtr.D.J. I assume that means Doctor Danielle Jerome. I read it.

Harold, I don't know when or if you'll see this, but you need to know it's just you now. As you'll see from the previous messages, Nigel went missing. He was found dead last week, right before Baracus became sure they were on to him and had to destroy his flash drive. Yesterday, Baracus was found dead. They said it was a random murder at command, but there are rumors that it was a hit. I know it was. I'm sure you won't be surprised to know that my theory lead nowhere. It did bring up a new thought, but I'm afraid I won't be able to test it. I think they're now onto me. No one knows this yet, but I received a notification of transfer orders. I'm being moved back to command. Don't bother replying to this. I won't get it. I'm destroying my drive. Goodbye Doctor Flanagan.

"If they were working on a cure, why would anyone be trying to eliminate them?" Gideon asks.

"Open this file," Jordan says, tapping the first file on the list. "That will at least give us a hint."

I look at it. It has a red flag by it. It's the only file with a red flag. It's titled "Ground_Zero". I click it. The computer thinks for a second then the file opens in the center of the screen.

At the top of the file is a map. I easily recognize it. It's of the country. Red dots of varying sizes are speckled across it, with an X over the capital.

"That's incredible and impossible," Jordan says. "A virus of this intensity always has one Ground Zero. Smaller, less intense viruses can have multiple Ground Zeroes, but even then, they are usually all roughly the same size. This many Ground Zeroes of such variation in size is never seen for such intense viruses."

"And what's with the X over the capital?" Gideon asks.

I scroll down the page. Sure enough, there is writing. I begin reading aloud:

"I have completed compiling my data from around the country. Reference files with DayZero_*City/Town/Providence Name* to see immediate data for each separate Ground Zero. I know this is impossible, but we already know that there is hardly anything regular about this virus. As you can see, each Ground Zero is of a different size, but this anomaly is of little importance to the information that I created this file to share.

"Note that I have placed an X over the capital. I would like to specify that this X is to mark command. I have finished my travels, and our other research has helped me greatly in the Ground Zero creation. Keeping in mind the incubation period of the virus (one month), I asked those who had not been infected at each Ground Zero about events that had transpired the month before people began showing signs. The same report was given for the month before.

"They had received a surprise visit from traveling doctors from command, in regard to the coming flu season. The doctors had been sent out to give a number of volunteers of any age or gender a new test vaccine. I tried to check records, but all records regarding who and how many volunteered were gone. I did more digging into the names of the first to fall sick with the virus and in most of the cases where I could find someone who knew the person in question well, the person was one of the volunteers.

"I thought that perhaps there was something in the vaccines that allowed the virus to come out in these people, and once incubated, it was stronger and thus able to spread to those who had not volunteered. I did some digging into the records on this trial vaccine at command, but there are no records. When I asked the traveling doctors, they claimed that they had not been sent out with trial vaccines.

"Having said all this, I still find myself regretful to write my conclusion of what this means: This virus was most likely created by command and purposely spread by command. To what ends is yet to be determined, but I doubt it will be good in any way. The sooner we find a way to stop or at least slow the spread of this virus the better. Also, until we can be sure, for safety, it is my strong recommendation we keep our work silent. I am also compelled to write that I believe Baracus's motion to get an official research team on the virus up and running will hit a wall. I will not be shocked if, at some point in the future, we have to scatter."

We all sit in silence, staring at the screen.

The door of the office flies open and Nevil steps in. I see Jordan jump from the corner of my eye.

"Sir, Brink and his men have been located. They're headed toward a fleet of their own vehicles. Our men are moving in, but Brink had weapons stashed outside," Nevil reports.

Gideon nods. "Let's go," Gideon says. I stand up to follow. "Jordan, keep looking. Find out what you can about what exactly happened."

We leave the room, following Nevil. All the choppers were taken, so we ride out in a car. By the time we catch up, Brink and his men have been subdued.

Gideon steps out of the car and scans the area. There are casualties on both sides. "Where is Doctor Jerome?" Gideon asks one of the men running by.

The man stops and points toward one of the vehicles.

"Was Brink taken alive?" I ask.

"Not quite. He was shot. Unless he gets medical attention, he probably won't make it," he reports.

"Where is he?" Gideon asks.

The man points to a chopper.

"Carry on," Gideon tells him. "Nevil, see Doctor Jerome back to the base. All of Brink's men are infected. See to it that they are properly dealt with."

"Yes sir," Nevil says then trots off.

"Let's go see Brink," Gideon says, starting towards the indicated chopper.

We reach it just in time, stopping it before it can take off. The pilot is surprised until he's told that Brink is actually infected. He's then more than happy to leave us with him.

Brink is laying on a stretcher in the chopper. Gideon steps into the chopper and sits in one of the chairs by his head. I follow his lead. Brink watches us carefully.

"How did you know?" Gideon asks him.

"Know what?" He asks.

"About the flash drive," I say.

He looks at me in surprise and then starts laughing. "I was a part of eliminating their team. How did you find out?"

"That's none of your concern," Gideon snaps. "So, it was alright to get rid of them, but when your life was suddenly in the balance, to hell with commands?"

Brink starts laughing even harder. He starts coughing. "Boy, you are so far in over your head, and you don't even know it. We were told they were traitors. We were doing a good deed for our country. We were to find out who was involved, eliminate them, and get rid of the flash drives that they were using for communication. Sure, we found it odd. Why not open the drives? It'd make it a lot easier to find out who was involved. I was with some of my men, and we got caught by the others. They told us the truth, then they purposely infected us. They told us if we wanted to live, we needed to get a hold of the flash drives. We knew where Jerome was." A coughing fit takes over and his breath comes in heaves.

"What was the truth?" I ask him.

"Take this advice. If you want to live, . . . " Brink's voice trails off and his head lulls to the side.

I reach out and place my fingers on his neck where his pulse should be. There's nothing. I look at Gideon. "He's dead."

"Just what exactly is going on?" He asks.

"I think Danielle could tell us."

He nods. "Let's go."

We take a chopper back to the base. Jordan is in the hangar waiting for us. He looks agitated.

"Jordan? What's wrong?" Gideon asks.

"I kept looking like you asked. They managed to trace the origin of the virus. Baracus was trying to get an actual research team going, like the document said. It shut down real fast, but he kept pushing. That's how he learned that the virus had been created by command. After that, he had the team scatter. They kept doing research and found that the virus works in stages. Stage one is incubation, whether or not the virus can survive in the host. Stage two is fever-like symptoms. Stage three is when you feel better, and you think it was just a fever. Stage four is a second incubation. Only this time, if it chooses to run its course it's bad news. Stage five begins slowly and takes time. First, it's just drowsiness. You sleep a lot. After that, its nausea and a very high fever. You're disoriented, anything you eat comes back up. This is the stage that kills people, or rather most of them."

"What?" I ask.

"There's a sixth stage. It turns out that the reason for them requesting stage five infected to be sent to special containment facilities is so that they can make it seem like stage five is it. One of the doctors found that some are immune and found a way to test for it. Another doctor upon realizing they were immune managed to keep one of the infected from going into the containment facility. The patient survived stage five. The doctor was making notes on what happened after but was found out and had to destroy their flash drive. They never got to finish their notes."

"What is stage six?" Gideon asks.

Jordan fidgets. "At stage six, the infected aren't exactly human anymore."

We're both silent.

"Their DNA shows signs of being altered on the molecular level. It's humanoid, but defiantly not human. The stage six individual showed signs of advanced speed, strength, and sight. They were also highly aggressive and psychotic. They were highly intelligent but in a deranged way. The doctor with the individual was concerned that they would kill them for no other reason than they wanted to or were bored."

"We need to speak with Danielle," Gideon says right before he takes off walking.

Jordan and I take off after him. Upon reaching the infirmary, we're told that Danielle was resting in her room, so we head to her room.

Danielle lets us in, surprised that Jordan and I are with Gideon. Once the door is shut, Jordan pulls out the flash drive. Danielle looks more than shocked to see it. She looks at Jordan. "Where did you get that?" She demands.

"I gave it to him. My unit's doctor was Flanagan. He gave it to me when he died, asking me to give it to Baracus," I tell her.

She looks between the three of us, then shakes her head. "You opened it, didn't you? You really shouldn't have."

"Danielle, you should have told me," Gideon says.

She looks at him. "Told you what? That command released some kind of super virus? That this virus might be changing human DNA? That they're determined to keep their involvement secret? That I was researching it with a group of others? That this research put me on a potential hit list?"

"Yes."

"Would you have believed me?"

Gideon glances away.

"Danielle," I cut in, "Before Brink died, he said that 'the others' had sent them here for your flash drive for answers."

"The others? Why?" Danielle looks slightly on edge.

"He didn't elaborate. Were any of you aware of any other group that was aware of what you were doing? Or that you were nearing a cure?"

Danielle shakes her head. "No. We weren't aware of anyone else knowing of our work, and without the flash drive, no one could have known what exactly we were doing."

"How close were you to a cure?" Jordan asks.

Danielle looks at him, then looks away.

"In your last message, you said you thought of something else to test."

"That's not what we were working on," she whispers.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"We were trying to reverse engineer the virus. Trying to figure out just how it worked. Why it worked in stages. How it changed the DNA. What made someone immune."

"Which would help in making a cure," Jordan points out.

"That's just it though." Danielle looks up. "There is no cure. Either you're immune or you're not. Then it's a matter of survival." She says it's like it's some kind of chant.

Jordan steps back. I look at him.

"Danielle, that random test you made the base take. You claimed it was just to be safe. You were testing for the virus," he says.

She nods.

Jordan takes another step back. The questions click in my mind, and I also take a step back.

Gideon also seems to understand, but he doesn't move. "How long?" He asks.

She looks down. "I'm not infected."

"Then why?" Gideon demands. Danielle starts shaking her head. "There would have been no reason to test. We had all been on lockdown in the base for two months. If someone had been infected, they would have been noted."

"I was running a test with my blood. I knew it was pointless. We had long since established that there was no cure, but I had to keep trying. I noticed something off about my blood, so I tested it." Danielle looks up with tears in her eyes. "I wasn't infected infected. I'm immune. It shouldn't have been possible."

"What shouldn't have been impossible?"

"My blood wasn't clean. My DNA was mutating. It still is."

I feel floored. None of us can say anything.

"I had somehow picked up the virus at some point, but it never registered in any of the tests. I was scared that I had accidentally infected someone. That's why I ordered the test. Thankfully, no one had been infected."

"You never mentioned that on the flash drive," Jordan says.

"It was just Flanagan and me with flash drives at the point. He was also immune, but he was out there. I didn't want him to have another possibility to worry about," she says.

"How long ago did you notice?" I ask her.

"That was nearly four months ago," Gideon says.

She nods. "I've been monitoring myself. My DNA is still changing. It's happening at a much slower rate than the one case we managed to document, and it's getting worse."

"Meaning?" Jordan asks.

"It didn't bother me at first but now I can feel it. It burns and it hurts. Most days it's just a dull ache, but sometimes it feels like I'm dying." She shakes her head. "I'm stage six and I'm on command's hit list. It's like some kind of sick joke."

Gideon walks up to her and wraps her in a hug. "I can't do anything about stage six, but I can promise you this: You're not going anywhere. I know my men. Once we tell them the truth and show them, they'll stand with me against them."

"Along with me and any of my men willing to as well," I say.

Gideon glances back at me.

"I swore an oath to protect and defend the innocent. I can't do that if I'm working for the very people who purposely put them in harm's way."

"The traitor's route it is," Gideon says, giving me a thankful smile.