Legion by Dirk Patton

Author:Dirk Patton [Patton, Dirk]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: UNKNOWN
Published: 2019-06-27T22:00:00+00:00

42

Rachel was still rattled fifteen minutes later when she pulled to a stop near the jet’s nose. Before stepping out of the Hummer, she took her time scanning the surrounding desert. Dog waited patiently, familiar with the routine of checking the environment before leaving the relative safety of a vehicle.

Seeing no sign of the children, or any other infected, didn’t make her feel any better. They’d caught her by surprise earlier, and because the wind had been out of the opposite direction, Dog hadn’t been able to scent them. But sitting paralyzed in fear wasn’t improving the situation so she released the latch and stepped out.

The rifle was up and ready as she dashed to the aircraft’s open door. Dog ran at her side, surging ahead and leaping aboard without need of the stairs.

“Close the door!” she snapped at the pilot as she rushed into the cabin.

“What’s wrong?” Joe asked, peering through the windscreen with a worried look.

The Russian stared at her a moment, then did as ordered. Rachel didn’t relax her grip on the rifle until the locking lever was in place.

“How’s John?” she asked before Joe could inquire about her dramatic entrance.

“Unconscious. He’s in a lot of pain. Did you find some blood?”

Rachel stared at John’s unmoving form. Mavis lay next to him, clinging tightly. She was wide awake, big eyes watching them.

“Rachel,” Joe said softly, touching her arm.

She turned to him and he winced after trying to frown at the haunted expression on her face.

“What happened out there?”

“Here,” she said, thrusting the plastic bag with the child’s fingers into his hands. “Will this work?”

Joe held the bag up to examine the contents, going still when he saw what she’d handed him.

“These are a child’s fingers,” he said softly.

Rachel nodded but didn’t offer any explanation.

“What’s with the nails?”

Rachel took a deep breath, considering shutting down Joe’s questions and pushing him to get to work. Then thought better of it and quickly told him what she’d seen.

“I think that may be what happened to Chapman’s Marines. They came under attack from a jet or a helicopter and bailed out because they couldn’t outrun an aircraft in a Hummer.”

“You mean these kids got them?”

“Maybe.” Rachel shrugged. “Only explanation I can come up with for why there wasn’t even a trace of them.”

Joe looked between her and the severed fingers for several long beats.

“Any babies the infected have had can’t even be a year old yet,” he said. “The attacks were only eighteen months ago. Even if they started mating immediately, with a nine-month gestation period that would make these kids---”

“Nine months old,” Rachel finished for him. “Assuming the gestational period hasn’t been shortened by the infection.

“That’s not physically possible.”

“Look, Joe. I’m not saying that these have to be the infected’s offspring. In fact, I don’t even care. What’s important is, can you isolate and utilize the virus from those body parts?”

“Sure. The tissue is fresh and I can see what appears to be viable blood. But what you’re describing...”

“What?” she prompted when he didn’t continue.

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