In The Falling Light by John L. Campbell

Author:John L. Campbell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: vampires, horror, suspense, anthology, short stories, werewolves, collection, dead, king, serial killers
Publisher: John L. Campbell

AMERICAN TRAGEDY

The situation room under 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue was crowded. All the civilians had their jackets off, ties loosened and sleeves rolled, but the Joint Chiefs looked starched in full uniform, chests heavy with medals. At the head of the table, the president sat with his palms on the polished wood, staring at the video feed at the far end of the room, entranced. How was this even possible?

Sherwood, the top ranking Air Force general in the country, slid a dark blue folder in front of the president. Its cover read, TOP SECRET, Z-71. On screen, the president watched one of the living dead drift in zero gravity through the shuttle’s cargo bay. Its face was half gone and it was missing an arm. The name tag on its blue jump suit read, CMDR. MARKHAM. The president had shaken the man’s hand only weeks ago, wishing him well before his launch. Another body floated in the background, a woman trailing her intestines from a gaping rip in her belly. She was clawing the air in slow motion and gnashing her teeth.

“Mr. President,” said Sherwood, “Z-71 represents our best choice scenario. We all concur.” The Joint Chiefs nodded.

The president scanned the folder’s contents. “Dear God, you actually have scenarios for this?” He gestured towards the screen.

“We have multiple scenarios, sir.”

The president read. It was brief and to the point. “Those are our people up there, General. We should try to bring them home.”

“They’re not people anymore,” said Sherwood. “You saw what happened in the earlier video.”

Something had become lodged outside near the shuttle’s tail, out of view of the exterior cameras. Mission Specialist King went out on a space-walk to clear the debris, and minutes later there was a scream over the intercom. When the crew hauled King back inside, they discovered his suit had been ripped open, and a large piece of his abdomen torn away. Loss of oxygen, pressure and the deep cold of space had killed the man almost instantly. But he came back minutes later, and started biting. The entire crew of seven was lost inside thirty minutes, and now they floated up there, dead but somehow not as their craft traced a lazy orbit around the planet.

“We can see they’re highly infectious and aggressive, Mr. President. Some have suggested they could be contained and studied, but the overall consensus is that we cannot risk allowing even one of them to get down here. If it got out, our government, our country, would cease to exist.”

The president reread the scenario, then closed the folder. “Are we ready for the questions?”

The general nodded. “We have scenarios to handle that as well, sir.”

“Do it,” the president said, pushing the folder away and walking out.

A phone call was made. In Houston, a shuttle pilot entered a highly restricted room which looked like a flight simulator. Using a satellite link, he tapped into the Explorer and flew it by remote, lining up its glide path around the planet, then guiding it through its descent into the atmosphere.

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