Origins by Suzanne Sussex

Author:Suzanne Sussex [Sussex, Suzanne]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Zombies
Publisher: DHP Publishing
Published: 2018-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

Part Three - We All Fall Down

Ring-A-Ring O’ Roses a pocket full of posies

A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all fall down.

Cows in the meadows eating buttercups

A-tishoo! A-tishoo! We all jump up.

Chapter 1

Lima, Peru

A snowball starts its existence small and insignificant. If left alone, it will melt and fade away as though it never existed, but if pushed downhill it will grow. If that hill is long and steep, the snowball could become large enough to crush everything in its path.

St. Clair sat at a bistro table on the hotel’s veranda. The glass of Merlot sat untouched in front of him, the wine growing warmer in the sunshine. He stared out at the calming blue of the ocean and compared his existence to that of a snowball.

He could have ignored the auction, taken it for a hoax and moved on with his life. Instead, he pushed it downhill, now it was hurtling out of control, and he was afraid that it would crush him along the way.

When he’d sat with Sara and Zhang, and they explained their theories about the auction, he’d felt a glimmer of hope. As though three was the magic number. Three witnesses to the video. Three great minds working together to understand what the hell was happening. Between the three of them, they could stop this thing.

It was with a buoyed sense of optimism that he’d sat in front of the President and told him everything.

During the meeting, he realised that the Director was staying silent. His superior did not offer support or even belief in the events St. Clair was retelling, apparently unwilling to put his head on the chopping block to support his deputy.

On reflection, St. Clair understood the Director’s approach. After all, they were trying to convince the President that a zombie outbreak was imminent. It had taken more than a recording and the words of a British Agent and a Chinese defector.

Sara had performed admirably. Over video conference, she described her theory. She’d remained calm and confident as she talked. If the audience, which included the Chief of MI6 and the British Prime Minister, intimidated her she did not show it.

Yet still, her words weren’t enough.

St. Clair’s recording wasn’t enough.

Zhang’s defection wasn’t enough.

Support from the Director might have helped, St. Clair thought, as he sipped the warm Merlot. Magnus was certainly vocal in his belief of the situation, and the British PM seemed onboard. It was only the President who’d remained sceptical. He’d sat thin-lipped through the meeting, perhaps wondering if this was an elaborate prank.

It was the phone-call that interrupted the meeting that had done it. A call from the Secretary of State, who’d received a call from the CDC. Several small villages in Peru had fallen victim to a new virus.

Those infected had viciously attacked the healthy villagers. The military had arrived to offer help and they, in turn, were attacked.

St. Clair smiled at the memory of the blood draining from the President’s face as he received the news. Despite all the evidence presented to him, it was that one phone call that set the wheels in motion.

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