Omega Pathogen: Mayhem by J.G. Hicks Jr Page A

reliever to try to quell, to prevent it from worsening. One of those damn soldiers probably brought the flu with him , he thinks.
    Arriving in the quarters, he starts to feel the onset of vertigo and general malaise. Vladimir opens his locker, locates his bottle of aspirin and takes four tablets, swallowing them without the assistance of liquid. He feels a bit more chilled than normal in the damp and cold bunker, odd, since he’s just exerted himself assisting in controlling and caging the two prisoners.
    He decides he’ll lie down for a while and let the pain reliever take effect. Climbing up onto the top bunk, Vladimir feels the chill of fever worsen. He kicks off his shoes but leaves his clothes on, and pulls up his blankets to his chin. Curled in the fetal position on his right side, facing away from the entry of the guard quarters, he begins to drift off into a restless, fevered sleep.
    Vladimir now realizes his joints are also aching; he hopes after a good nap and the medication he’ll find himself feeling much improved. These will be Vladimir’s final lucid human thoughts. Down below in the laboratory, overlooking the prisoner holding area, the group is still gathered, observing the two remaining men.
    The hope of Colonel Azarov is that the surviving victim of the carnage released by the infected will not succumb to his injuries, or to the havoc released at onset of infection. Instead, he hopes it will survive infection to become the next new vector for the disease.
    The Motherland will have the power to lay waste to any opposition, leaving the infrastructure of the country intact, but causing the collapse of its system of government. Most of the enemy will either be infected, or so incapacitated that they offer little resistance. Those infected left can then be killed, and the indigenous population easily subdued.
    The only thing the colonel cannot yet determine is how to deliver this new biological weapon. He has no doubt a way will be found. “Doctor Kosktov, which of the dead prisoners was the one I saw first?” he asks.
    “The live one, in the cell on our right. That prisoner seems extremely contagious. He turned the other prisoner in hours, instead of almost a day, which was how long it took for him to succumb to the virus,” Kosktov replies, and elaborates on the theory. Colonel Azarov spends the next few hours watching both the prisoners in their cells; one already reduced to a primitive and aggressive version of its former self.
    The other prisoner is now unconscious and bleeding from his wounds: wounds that have introduced an infection that will either kill him in a few hours from the damage it will do to his brain; or, he will live, but the higher cognitive functions will be destroyed, leaving him in the same primitive and aggressive state as his attacker and former friend, and a new vector for the disease.
    “Doctor Kosktov, make sure that all samples, documents, video, and audio recordings are collected and handed over to me as soon as possible”, orders the colonel in a calm but commanding voice. Doctor Kosktov looks to Colonel Azarov, and finds his gaze being met with cold light blue eyes that leave no doubt that failing to deliver the research will be met with quick and likely deadly retribution.
    “Yes, Colonel Azarov. I will see to it personally”, he says, noticing an uncontrollable tremble of fear in his voice. The doctor has witnessed firsthand and heard even more stories of Colonel Azarov’s treatment of those he deems to be against the interest of the state.
    The doctor excuses himself to begin his task of collecting the research material.
    Doctor Kosktov leaves the colonel and several other scientists, and a smaller number of hardened, handpicked soldiers in the laboratory area to observe the last remaining prisoners. The facility guards are still in the room, but they seem to take little interest in, or don’t understand, the scientific and military implications of the events that