Red Swarm by Massengill David

Author:Massengill, David
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Montag Press
Published: 2015-11-29T00:00:00+00:00

BOOK3

Population

control

An excerpt of minutes from the First Convention on Redbug-Borne Illness (RBI):

The Boise Delegate agreed that research on RBI is essential, but he suggested the Department of Health and Human Services officially categorize so-called “nest people” as a vulnerable population. He stated that this low status group is subject to exploitation by researchers. The San Francisco Delegate argued that such official categorization is unnecessary, as anyone currently living in the northwestern United States is part of a vulnerable population.

I. Clifford Stowe, CRA

“You guys have to go again?” Cliff asked as the two exterminators donned their helmets. He sat in the Humvee’s first row of seats. Beside him was Waverley, an 18-year-old nest person they should never have picked up on the outskirts of Tacoma.

“You’re the one who gave us the coffee,” Ted told Cliff. He’d been driving the vehicle since they left Harborview Medical Center, where Cliff had worked as a study coordinator in the Redbug Research Unit for the past six months.

Rand, the other exterminator, pointed through the windshield at the street, which was lined with leafy, thick-trunked trees and the occasional ornate gate that led to a sprawling property. Spring had caused daffodils and tulips of various colors to raise their bright heads along the sidewalks.

“I can’t think of a nicer place to piss,” Rand said. “Tony neighborhood, eh?”

Cliff sank back into his seat with a sigh, and Ted pulled his key out of the ignition. He dangled the ring of keys over the middle of the front seat and joked, “I’m taking these so you guys don’t make a getaway.”

Cliff shook his head in annoyance. The two exterminators left the Humvee.

Cliff knew he should just be grateful they were driving him to Portland, where he was going to start a position as a coordinator for a massive blood sampling study involving nest people and those who’d died as a result of redbug toxin. But he wanted the exterminators to move more quickly. They’d spent 45 minutes on the side of the freeway with Waverley, trying to figure out whether she had any living family or friends and if she wanted them to deliver her to a refugee center in Portland.

The main reason to hurry was the possibility of bombings in western Washington. Just before Harborview had shut down, Cliff and his co-workers heard rumors about the government bombing Spokane and smaller cities east of the Cascades. The government announced two weeks ago that due to the unrelenting redbug infestation, it was dissolving Seattle’s Secure Territory and urging occupants to immediately leave the state. Homeland Security would be closing all refugee centers and moving all exterminator teams to Oregon and California. Most of the Secure Territory’s occupants were gone by the time Cliff and the exterminators drove south.

Cliff doubted the government would destroy the cities of western Washington, which had been so densely populated before the redbug invasion, but he was still nervous about the idea.

He watched Ted and Rand standing side by side half a block away from the Humvee, urinating into a hedge speckled with pink flowers.

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