In another corner was a pile of clay dishes. The dishes were old and cracked and heaped on top of each other. Sam was about to turn away and head out of the hut when she noticed something silver in the pile of clay. She reached down to the dishes and carefully removed a few of them. Underneath was a metal canister. It was about a foot in length with a secure black top that had been opened. The thick, black, plastic bottom had grooves cut into it.
“Duncan, get over here.”
He came up behind her and peeked over her shoulder. “Holy shit.”
“It’s a viral container.”
“Holy shit.”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Hold on.” He reached down and though he had on two layers of gloves, he used one of the dishes to flip the canister over. “That’s not just a viral container. That’s a military viral container. We use the same ones at USAMRIID.”
“The Russians use the same too. I’m sure the North Koreans and Iranians would as well.”
“Only one way to tell. On the very bottom we print a series of alphanumeric code. The Russians don’t do that. Neither does anyone else I’ve seen.”
He hesitated. Holding the dish in his hand, he didn’t make a move toward the canister and neither did Sam. Time seemed to slow and Sam thought she was holding her breath but couldn’t be sure. Finally, he flipped the canister the other way, turning the bottom toward them.
There were three lines of code.
“I was really hoping you wouldn’t see that,” a voice said behind them.
They turned. Standing at the entrance of the hut was Donner. His arms were on either side of the entrance and in his right hand Sam could see a gun.
“What is this?” Sam said. “This is American. What the hell’s going on?”
“Balance, Dr. Bower. I told you once. It’s all about balance.”
Duncan scoffed. “Our enemies have this weapon so our allies should too, is that it?”
He shrugged. “Or maybe our allies have this weapon and our enemies should too. Balance runs both ways. Do you know what happens when one civilization dominates the world for too long? Decadence, corruption…evil. Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon, Egypt, Persia, Rome, the French, British, Germans, Russians, and now us. We’ve learned our lesson. We need balance. It is the only thing in history that matters.”
Duncan turned and picked up the canister. “Just take it and leave.”
“I think we’re past that, Dr. Adams.”
Duncan looked down to the canister and then threw it at Donner. After the throw he rushed him but Donner was too fast. He punched at the canister sending it to the ground and lifted his firearm, getting off two rounds that slammed into Duncan and sent him flying off his feet.
“No!” Sam screamed.
She ran at Donner as Duncan got back to his feet. Donner fired off a round and missed as Sam threw her entire weight into him. He easily twisted to the side and sent her flying off her feet and onto her back. He smirked as he raised his weapon to fire.
Duncan slammed the canister into the back of Donner’s head. He toppled over and Duncan jumped for the gun in his hand. The two men started wrestling on the ground, each dazed and bleeding.
“Run!” Duncan screamed. “Run, go!”
Samantha got to her feet and sprinted out of the hut. She stopped at the entrance, unsure whether she should leave Duncan. She decided she couldn’t do it and started to run back as Donner elbowed Duncan in the jaw, knocking him unconscious with one blow. Sam froze as Donner pulled up the gun and fired two rounds, the slugs embedding first in the dirt and then in the hut behind her. She screamed and ran, heading to where she had left Benjamin and Cami.
She ripped off her suit and faceguard, tearing off her gloves and throwing them. She sprinted so fast she hit something that was sticking out of the ground and fell flat on her face. She sat up, glancing back at what had caught her foot. It was long and off white with a bulbous end and a thin middle. She thought perhaps it was a root and then recognition rang in her mind: it was a human femur bone.
Sam was up on her feet again and running before she had time to process what she had seen. She ran until her legs burned and realized she had already passed where they had left Benjamin and Cami. She stopped and looked behind her. There was nothing but jungle.
She jogged back a few paces and saw something in the road about ten feet up. It looked like some garbage drifting out from the bushes. As she got closer she saw the brown leather boots and the white socks that went up past the ankles.
Reaching the spot, Sam bent over the body. It was Benjamin. He had a black wound in his eye; a large hole where his eyeball had been. The round hadn’t exited and she checked his pulse, but it was too late. He had bled to death just moments ago. She quickly scoured the bushes and vine and weeds for Cami’s body. But she didn’t see anything.
There was a buzzing sound by her ear and she thought it was an insect. She glanced up to see Donner down the road firing at her. Another round whizzed by her head, closer this time, and she screamed. She turned and started running again.
CHAPTER 49
Samantha ran for over an hour. By the time she stopped her lungs burned and acid rose in her throat. She fell to her knees, her hands buried in the soft dirt, gasping for air. She knew it wasn’t a good position for deep, heavily oxygenated breaths so she slowly rose and held her arms above her head, stretching out her lungs as far as she could.
It took almost ten minutes for her heart rate to slow to the point where she felt comfortable walking and she held her hands to her hips and looked around. There wasn’t a single thing she recognized and she didn’t know whether it was because she hadn’t paid attention as they came up this road or because she was somewhere new. Either way, from the position of the sun, far west on the horizon, she could tell it was late afternoon. Night would fall soon and unless she could make it to a town she would be camping out here. Aside from the local tribes who might view her as an invader, she would be exposed to jaguars, snakes, venomous insects, and poisonous fire ants. Without something to keep her off the ground and a fire, she might not make it through the night. She checked her cell phone; no reception.
There was only one thing to do: she had to go back to the infected village. She had to check on Duncan and find their other cell phones. If she could find Cami they would have a much better chance of survival. Donner would be on the road. She glanced to both sides and chose east, going off the road about twenty feet. Enough that she could see her tracks but could duck under the jungle’s vegetation if she had to.
She took a deep breath and started walking.
Every few minutes she looked back over her shoulder and looked down the road. She would stop and listen to the jungle but it was such an alien environment she didn’t know what she was listening for. Someone could be walking right behind her but the noise of the insects and animals and river drowned everything else out.
Though the shrubbery wasn’t thick it varied from razor sharp to blunt and sticky. It tore at her clothes and the exposed skin on her ankles and arms. She tried to distract her mind from the itchy, burning pain by thinking about home and what she would do first thing when she got back. She thought about her relationship with Duncan and whether…
The thought of Duncan pounded in her head. She shouldn’t have left him. But what could she have done?
She thought of this and other things; her career, her relationship to Ralph, anything that would take her mind off the idea of reaching down and tearing at her flesh to relieve the pain.
By the time she looked up she was in familiar surroundings; the clearing right before the village where she had left Benjamin and Cami. The sun was setting but it was still light and she crouched down and watched the sunbeams glisten off the leaves and grass.