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A woman, in a lab coat, enters a lab and walks to a workstation. She sets her clipboard down next to a microscope and monitor. She adjusts the slide on the microscope and looks at the monitor.
“Jenkins,” says a man’s voice.
The woman looks up and sees a guard has entered the lab. “What do you want, Leroy?” she asks.
“That’s Corporal Johnson, Desiree,” says the guard.
“Whatever, Leroy. I mean, Corporal Johnson.” She gives him a fake salute.
“Come on,” says Leroy. “I could’ve had the Sarge with me. You know we are supposed to be official here.”
“We went to high school together Leroy,” says Desiree. “Heck, I’ve seen you in those goofy gym shorts you used to wear and remember how you had such a crush on DeeAnn back in the day.”
“Okay, I get it. No need to bring up old stories,” says Leroy.
“What do you want, Corporal?” asks Desiree.
“I’m just making my rounds. Have to make sure everything is good in here. That nothing strange is going on and that there hasn’t been anyone in here that shouldn’t be.”
“No, Corporal. Just me and the germs.” Desiree steps back from the microscope and points to it. “Want to see this little bugger? He’s a nice little germ that has been causing paralysis and blindness in the lab rats.”
“Ah no,” says Leroy. “I’ll pass this time. So, nothing out of the ordinary in here?”
“No,” she says. “Everything is as normal as it can be.”
“Okay,” Leroy says, marking on his clipboard. “Have a nice day, Ms. Jenkins.”
“You too, Leroy.” Desiree laughs slightly.
Corporal Leroy Johnson glances back at her as he reaches for the door handle and gives her an evil look. He opens the door and leaves the lab. Desiree shakes her head and goes back to making notes on her clipboard about the germ she has on the microscope. After a few minutes, she takes the slide off and pulls a new slide off of a nearby tray and puts it on the microscope. She types a few keys on a keyboard connected to the monitor and moves the computer mouse to make the microscope zoom in closer on the slide. This is a grouping of cells. A couple of them look damaged compared to the last slide. Desiree takes an eye dropper from a small vial and squeezes some reddish liquid from the vial into the eyedropper. She puts a couple drops of the reddish liquid on the slide and looks at the monitor and sees that the damaged cells start to heal themselves and look healthy like the others. Desiree smiles and writes some more notes on her clipboard.
Dean, Alex, and Danny turn a corner in a hallway and see Corporal Johnson leaving the lab and walk down the hallway away from them. Dean walks down the hallway and glances in the door leading into the lab. He sees a woman at a microscope station. He scans his card on the card reader and opens the door. He motions for Alex and Danny to get in quick and he follows in behind them. Dean motions for the boys to hide behind a counter.
“Corporal Johnson,” Desiree says. “I told you everything is normal in here.”
“I’m not Corporal Johnson, ma’am,” Dean says.
Desiree turns and sees Dean, dressed in military fatigues. “Who are you and what are you doing in here?”
“I’m, um,” Dean says. “I’m looking for Ms. Desiree Jenkins.”
“Are you supposed to be in here, Private?”
“Are you Ms. Jenkins?” Dean asks.
“Yes, I’m Desiree Jenkins. Now, who are you?”
“My name is Dean,” Dean says as he takes off his cap. “I’m here to warn you that there are some very bad people who are looking for you and think that you can somehow help them with creating a new version of the ‘Pulse’.”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Desiree says. “Someone is looking for me and think I’m going to help them kill millions of people? How do you know any of this?”
“I was recruited by a military group to infiltrate a terrorist cell that was suspected of plotting to create a virus deadlier than the ‘Pulse’ and had plans to unleash it on the government and military of various countries.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“I was sent to find a book for the terrorist cell,” Dean explains. “And your name was in it. Well, actually ‘Gamma 2’ was in it.”
“Gamma 2? I haven’t heard that in a couple of years.”
“Yes, Gamma 2. The book said that test subject ‘Gamma 2’ had proven immune to the ‘Pulse’ virus.”
“That’s right, but that is supposed to be classified information. Especially that I was ‘Gamma 2’.”
“My sons and I took the page from the book that gave the real names of all the test subjects. The terrorists don’t know it is you, but they may figure it out.”
“Your sons? You took your sons to meet with terrorists?”
Danny and Alex stand up from behind the counter. “We are here with him still,” Alex says. “We are here to get you to safety.”
“How do I know you aren’t working with the terrorists and are going to take me to them?”
“Our mother was killed by the ‘Pulse’, just like your son was,” Danny says. “Besides, if our dad was working with the terrorists, why would we be here? Heck, we are teenagers.”
“How do you know about my son? No one was supposed to know about my son or about my time as ‘Gamma 2’. Not even the CDC.”
“As far as we know, the only ones who know are those that took the time to read your HR file and put all the pieces together,” says Alex.
“Tell me why I shouldn’t call for help or sound the alarm?”
“Because we want you safe, and know that there is a very good chance that as soon as the terrorists figure out that you were ‘Gamma 2’ that they will contact their agents in the CDC to track you down and take you to them.”
“What makes you think they have agents in the CDC?” Desiree asks.
“We were in their headquarters while they were trying to recruit us. I was in military intelligence before the ‘Pulse’ and I saw some papers in the headquarters with the CDC logo and an identification badge.”
“Dang it,” Desiree says. “So, what do you need from me?”
“First, I need to ask you about the project where you were ‘Gamma 2’ and then how it is you were able to come back and work unnoticed at the CDC.”
“The project,” Desiree sighs. “A group of military scientists from various branches was studying the effects of the ‘Pulse’ in the early months of it. Trying to figure out how it was spread, the incubation period before it was fatal if there was anything that slowed its incubation or could cure it. When I was there, they had about forty subjects. I don’t know any of their real names or really that much about any of them. Well, after a couple of months, and more blood tests than I care to remember, I was chosen to be the next to test a serum that was a potential cure. They injected me with the ‘Pulse’ and waited to see some of the symptoms develop. Problem was, I didn’t show any symptoms. Not even after a couple of days. They were waiting for symptoms before they injected me with the serum and I never showed signs of being sick. They did a full blood workup on me and there was no sign of the ‘Pulse’ in my system.”
“What? No signs of the virus,” Dean asks.
“Nope. Nothing.”
“So why didn’t they lock you up in a lab and study the heck out of you and come up with a real cure?” asks Danny.
“Well, they tried. They told me that they had to transfer me to another facility. They couldn’t tell me where or what they were going to do to me, but when I overheard one of the scientists say that they were going to do whatever it took to figure out why I was immune, even if it killed me, I knew I had to get out of there. So, when they were transferring me, I jumped out of the vehicle and ran. They didn’t have any information on me other than the code name ‘Gamma 2’, so I hid for about a month with a friend. I then came back to the CDC and got my job back.”
“Didn’t they ask where you had been for all that time?” asks Dean.
“They did, but I told them I had a sick relative back home in Trinidad that needed me, so they didn’t question it. I was a hard worker and knew so much that I was a valuable person to have in the labs.”
“Okay,” Dean says. “Well, now we need to get you out of here and hide you someplace until we can figure out our next step.”
“If I disappear again, there are going to be questions.”
“If you stay here, the terrorists are likely to figure out who ‘Gamma 2’ really is and come looking for you. If they find you, there is no telling what they will do to you.”
“Okay,” sighs Desiree. “How are we going to get out of here? There are guards all over this building and on the campus.”
“We will go back the way we came in. We will go back to the underground passage between this building and the one next to it. Take the emergency stairs up to the level that connects to the parking garage and then go back to the hole we have in the fence.”
“That won’t work,” Desiree says. “If it was only you and I, we could slip by a little easier but with those two,” she points at Danny and Alex, “we are going to get caught. Also, the emergency stairs have an alarm on them if opened from the lower levels. They are designed to go down without the alarm, but trying to go up will trigger the alarm. They did that so guards wouldn’t try to sneak up top and smoke.”
“So, do you have another idea?” Dean asks.
“Well, I’ve got some lab coats that your sons can put on. They are tall enough to pass for some of the interns we have had around here. Then we should be able to take the main stairwell up to the ground level and go out the side door. There is less security and no cameras at that door. You will just pretend to be escorting the interns out.”
“I guess that will work,” Dean says. “Boys, grab a couple of those lab coats over there and put them on. Make sure to slide your knapsacks to the front so it doesn’t look so suspicious having a hump on your backs.”
Danny and Alex slide their knapsacks around to their chests and put on a lab coat each. They button them up. Desiree hands Alex a clipboard and Danny a briefcase that is on a nearby counter. She puts some things in her messenger bag and leads them out of the lab. They walk down the hallway towards the main stairs, Alex and Danny close to Desiree with Dean behind them. Corporal Johnson is coming down the hall towards them.
“Keep your eyes down a bit and follow my lead,” Desiree says. Danny and Alex nod.
“Ms. Jenkins,” Corporal Johnson says. “Who do you have there?”
“Some interns from lab three. I’m escorting them out as they have to return to class.”
Corporal Johnson looks at Dean. “You got babysitting duty, buddy?”
“Yes, Corporal. Like she said, just escorting them out.”
“Very well,” Corporal says. “Carry on.” As they pass Corporal Johnson he says, “Ms. Jenkins, how about lunch when you are done with that? I’ve got my break coming up.”
“Maybe tomorrow, Leroy. I mean Corporal Johnson. I promise.”
“Sounds good.”
Desiree, Alex, Danny, and Dean continue down the hall past Corporal Johnson who walks the other way, glancing at his clipboard. They reach the main stairwell and start walking up. They pass a couple other men in lab coats to which Desiree just says hello to them. They get to the main level and walk around the far side of the stairwell behind a wall and head down a short hallway to the side entrance. They are out of sight of the cameras now so Dean uses his card key to open the door and they all walk out.
Once out the door, they follow Desiree to the back of the building. She stops at the corner and points to two guards in a Jeep driving away towards the fence. Dean says, “our exit is near the guard tower.” They see the guard tower off to the right past the parking garage.
“We need to get to the parking garage,” Dean says. “Once we are there, it is an easy hop out of the fence.”
“Are you sure?” Desiree asks. “The Jeep just went that way. And what about the guard tower?”
“Don’t worry,” Alex says. “We got in and we will get back out.”
“Let’s go,” Dean says.
Danny and Alex take the lead walking quickly from the corner of the lab building to the parking garage lower level. Once they get to the parking garage they see a guard heading into the stairwell on the far side. They stop and crouch down behind a couple of cars. The guard goes up the stairwell and comes out on the level above. Dean and Desiree move up next to Danny and Alex and crouch down next to them. The four of them move around the inside of the left wall of the parking garage and down behind some cars. They work their way around to the corner near the stairwell.
Inside the lab building, a man comes out of the room near the tunnel to the parking garage and goes to the storage closet. He stops and looks toward the double doors near the tunnel. “Where is that damn guard?” the man says back towards the room he just came out of. “That idiot is probably on another smoke break hiding behind a car out there again.” The man shakes his head and starts to open the door to the storage closet. Suddenly, there is a loud explosion and smoke fills the hallway. Alarms go off and the sprinklers turn on in the building. The other man and woman run out of the room coughing and look towards the storage room. They head towards the emergency stairwell.
Danny, Alex, Dean, and Desiree hear the explosion. “What the hell was that?” Desiree exclaims.
Danny starts laughing. “I guess somebody was looking for cleaning supplies,” Danny giggles.
“Come on,” Dean says urgently. “Let’s get to the fence before the guards come to check out that explosion.”
The four of them, with Alex and Danny in the lead, head under the guard tower as the base alarm blares loudly. Alex gets to the fence, looks around for guards and then starts to unhook their closures to the fence opening. No need to worry about the fence alarm now. He pushes the fence aside and slides out, followed closely by Danny and Desiree. Dean looks back and sees guards running to the parking garage and lab building. Dean slides out of the opening in the fence and closes it back up and reconnects the ties. By the time Dean catches up with Danny and Alex, they are already on their motorcycles, with the lab coats thrown into the nearby bushes. Desiree takes off her lab coat, pulls her messenger bag over her head and shoulder and looks to Dean. Dean mounts his motorcycle and tells Desiree to get on the back.
“Aren’t these things going to make a lot of noise?” Desiree asks.
“Nope,” Alex says. “They have silencers.” With that, Danny, Alex, and Dean press the button on the gas tank to silence the engines and start up the motorcycles. They turn and ride up the hill away from the CDC facility.
