Rabid Attack by J.D. Huff

Author:J.D. Huff [Huff, J.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severed Press
Published: 2023-09-04T00:00:00+00:00

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The Kamchatka brown bear is the largest species in Eurasia. Thought to be the ancestor of the giant Alaskan Kodiak bear, it lives primarily in the rugged, remote eastern region of Russia.

This particular bear, a male known to the locals simply as Bolshoi (which means ‘big’), had passed all normal growth expectations, even for this large species. Weighing over sixteen hundred pounds, it towered well beyond ten feet tall when standing on its hind legs. Currently, Bolshoi was concerned only about finding something to eat.

As he scoured the forest floor and sniffed the breeze for any sign of food, he stumbled across something that was new to him.

Alerted by movement, he shuffled closer for a better inspection. There, amongst the leaves and saplings, a red breasted merganser was flitting about. This species of duck was known to have the fastest recorded flight speed of any duck—one hundred miles per hour! But this male wasn’t setting any records. Something was clearly wrong…besides the fact that they never land in the forest. Its dark green head turned towards the bear.

Bolshoi had never been attacked in his life, except for minor skirmishes with other bears when he was younger and smaller. He was caught completely unprepared when the duck uttered a strange squawking sound and flew directly into his face. The merganser gave a good account of himself, at least until Bolshoi swatted it with a paw that was capable of killing a moose. He bent his huge head down and sniffed at the twitching bird.

He had killed it, fair and square. And he was hungry. He decided to eat the duck, although it would only be a snack. It didn’t take long, but the duck turned out to be quite tasty. Sadly, it didn’t do much more than whet his appetite. He shuffled off in search of other food. He had no idea about the virus that he had just consumed.

Peterson looked up from the page he was reading. “This is it?”

Specht assumed he was referring to the size of the document. “We felt it was better to have information flow incrementally rather than wait until it builds up, so it’s a little abbreviated.”

“I already came up with most of this on my own.” He dropped it on his desk. “I have to admit, though, I like the idea of prioritizing development of the vaccine for animals.”

“Giving it to wild animals might be impractical,” Collins said, “but since livestock is particularly vulnerable, farmers could pre-emptively protect them.”

“And in the process, stop attacks like the ones we’ve already seen.” Peterson seemed to enjoy finishing her thought, as if to prove he was one step ahead.

“Exactly. And some of the other traits of the vaccine need to be improved as well.”

Peterson looked away, turning his attention back to desktop papers. “Stay on top of this. I’ll pass several of these suggestions on.”

And take credit for them, no doubt, Specht thought. “Thank you, sir.”

He and his partner wasted no time extricating themselves from their chairs and exiting the office.

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