gut. The officers down below in the garden busied themselves setting up stakes and rolling yellow tape, marking off the area for safety reasons. Most of the deadly activity was confined to a small area.
“Something like you see in the movies,” Dr. Cain said, standing next to Phoenix on the steps of Lutrell. “Sure, you watch it and think, okay, this will never happen.”
Chief Cobb, his nice suit splattered red from shots fired against assailants barely two feet in front of him, walked over to where Phoenix was standing. He approached Dr. Cain. “You must be Dr. Cain. I’d shake your hand but, as you can see, I need gallon of alcohol and a bath. What do you have for us?”
“Viral, no doubt,” Dr. Cain said. “Mixed with, of all things, Psyke.”
“Is there a chance this is Dr. Carson’s work?”
Dr. Cain pressed his lips together and shuffled his feet. “The science part of me says, yes. This looks like something only he could make work. The other part, the carnage, tells me otherwise. Dr. Carson is not a killer. In fact, he’s just the opposite. Have you ever considered that---?”
“Considered what?” Phoenix asked.
“That maybe somebody wants us to believe that Dr. Carson is responsible for this?”
“You wouldn’t mind coming in for questioning, would you, Dr. Cain?” Chief Cobb asked.
“Oh, no I wouldn’t – and I’ll gladly comply,” Dr. Cain said. “And that rat I was testing? It looks as if a student other than the girl assigned to it had handled it prior to all of this.”
“And that’s how the virus jumped?” Phoenix asked. “By the rat?”
“I came back from an early lunch and saw someone bandaging a student’s hand,” Dr. Cain said, with his hand on his chin. “The guy said he got bit by one of the rats and, naturally, I just assumed he’d been bit by one of the fifty or so we keep in the lab. They do bite sometimes. So, I went into my office to grade papers and, an hour a later, I heard screaming, so I opened the door. And that’s when I saw a student being attacked, bitten in the throat, by the student wearing the bandage. I saw blood going all over the place, so I closed the door and called the police. The rest of the story you know.”
Phoenix, Dr. Cain, and Chief Cobb looked at the mess in front of them. Four police officers, six paramedics, and thirty of more students lay dead, all of them by bites or gunshot wounds to the head. In a minute, there’d be over a hundred police officers and every paramedic in Davidson County, including every reporter ever spawned, on the campus of St. David’s University. Sirens could already be heard wailing, almost mourning, coming from every point of the compass.
Alaia came jogging up the sidewalk from the left, waving and calling out for Phoenix. She came quickly through the grass, keeping herself tight up against the building, trying her best to avoid the unpleasant mess. Then she came up the steps. “So, this is the virus, then? The Psyke virus, from your syringe?”
“Not my syringe,” Phoenix said. “From Albin’s blood sample, or – heck, I don’t know anymore. June injected me, but I don’t have the virus. Twilight Zone stuff.”
“And how is it spread?”
“I didn’t get infected by handling it,” Dr. Cain said. “The rat must have bit a student.”
Alaia nodded.
Phoenix looked back out over the now-restricted area, rubbing his hand over the top of his head. “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Can we account for every person? I remember that kid who ran past us when we first got here. Where’s he?”
“Oh crap,” Chief Cobb said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He pulled out his phone. “Calling the governor.”
Dr. Cain bit his lower lip, wrinkled his brows, and shook his head. “I shouldn’t have used the rat.”
“We need the National Guard out here,” Chief Cobb yelled in his deepest and loudest voice. The
“Something like you see in the movies,” Dr. Cain said, standing next to Phoenix on the steps of Lutrell. “Sure, you watch it and think, okay, this will never happen.”
Chief Cobb, his nice suit splattered red from shots fired against assailants barely two feet in front of him, walked over to where Phoenix was standing. He approached Dr. Cain. “You must be Dr. Cain. I’d shake your hand but, as you can see, I need gallon of alcohol and a bath. What do you have for us?”
“Viral, no doubt,” Dr. Cain said. “Mixed with, of all things, Psyke.”
“Is there a chance this is Dr. Carson’s work?”
Dr. Cain pressed his lips together and shuffled his feet. “The science part of me says, yes. This looks like something only he could make work. The other part, the carnage, tells me otherwise. Dr. Carson is not a killer. In fact, he’s just the opposite. Have you ever considered that---?”
“Considered what?” Phoenix asked.
“That maybe somebody wants us to believe that Dr. Carson is responsible for this?”
“You wouldn’t mind coming in for questioning, would you, Dr. Cain?” Chief Cobb asked.
“Oh, no I wouldn’t – and I’ll gladly comply,” Dr. Cain said. “And that rat I was testing? It looks as if a student other than the girl assigned to it had handled it prior to all of this.”
“And that’s how the virus jumped?” Phoenix asked. “By the rat?”
“I came back from an early lunch and saw someone bandaging a student’s hand,” Dr. Cain said, with his hand on his chin. “The guy said he got bit by one of the rats and, naturally, I just assumed he’d been bit by one of the fifty or so we keep in the lab. They do bite sometimes. So, I went into my office to grade papers and, an hour a later, I heard screaming, so I opened the door. And that’s when I saw a student being attacked, bitten in the throat, by the student wearing the bandage. I saw blood going all over the place, so I closed the door and called the police. The rest of the story you know.”
Phoenix, Dr. Cain, and Chief Cobb looked at the mess in front of them. Four police officers, six paramedics, and thirty of more students lay dead, all of them by bites or gunshot wounds to the head. In a minute, there’d be over a hundred police officers and every paramedic in Davidson County, including every reporter ever spawned, on the campus of St. David’s University. Sirens could already be heard wailing, almost mourning, coming from every point of the compass.
Alaia came jogging up the sidewalk from the left, waving and calling out for Phoenix. She came quickly through the grass, keeping herself tight up against the building, trying her best to avoid the unpleasant mess. Then she came up the steps. “So, this is the virus, then? The Psyke virus, from your syringe?”
“Not my syringe,” Phoenix said. “From Albin’s blood sample, or – heck, I don’t know anymore. June injected me, but I don’t have the virus. Twilight Zone stuff.”
“And how is it spread?”
“I didn’t get infected by handling it,” Dr. Cain said. “The rat must have bit a student.”
Alaia nodded.
Phoenix looked back out over the now-restricted area, rubbing his hand over the top of his head. “Wait, wait, wait, wait. Can we account for every person? I remember that kid who ran past us when we first got here. Where’s he?”
“Oh crap,” Chief Cobb said, closing his eyes and shaking his head. He pulled out his phone. “Calling the governor.”
Dr. Cain bit his lower lip, wrinkled his brows, and shook his head. “I shouldn’t have used the rat.”
“We need the National Guard out here,” Chief Cobb yelled in his deepest and loudest voice. The
Similar Books
