Dez brightened. “Eight hundred kids? That’s great!”
“No,” JT said softly, “eight hundred all told. Kids, parents, and everyone else. We lost more than half the kids when those monsters attacked the buses. Some ran away, but…”
Dez closed her eyes. “Ah … God…”
“I wanted to call in some backup,” said JT. “I wanted to tell the damn National Guard that we needed help, that we’re mostly safe in here. But they aren’t listening. They shot at us. They killed a couple of the teachers who were trying to help the kids. Maybe they thought the teachers were attacking … I don’t know. With the rain and all, I just don’t know. We can’t seem to get them to understand…”
“They’re not here to help us,” said Trout. He and Dez told JT about their encounters with the Guard.
“That’s nuts,” said JT. “We’re not infected. ”
“They don’t care,” said Dez. “They’ve been told to keep this from spreading at all costs. End of story. ”
JT shook his head. “Do they even know what this thing is? Is this something that’s happening everywhere or is it some kind of toxic spill? We don’t know anything about this infection. ”
“It’s not an infection,” said Trout. “Not exactly. It’s an infestation, and it started with Homer Gibbon. ”
“What?” demanded Dez. “Gibbon…?”
“His body was shipped here after the execution,” Trout explained. “His Aunt Selma was going to have him buried on her family farmland. It’s a long story, but the short version is that his body is infested with a genetically engineered wasp larva. Parasites. Most likely Doc got it from Gibbon and it spread from there. ”
“How do you know that?” asked JT.
Dez pushed past JT and grabbed a fistful of Trout’s shirt. “What do you know?”
“I know everything,” Trout said quietly. “And … you’re not going to like what you hear. ”
“Well, gee, Billy, I guess I’ve spent so much of today laughing my tits off that I suppose I could use some depressing shit to balance it all out. ”
Trout gently pulled her hand free and smoothed down the front of his shirt. He took a breath and told his story, starting with the call from the prison guard, the visit to Aunt Selma, and the horrifying discussion with Dr. Volker. He told them everything, and by the time he was finished, Dez had gone dead pale and JT looked like he wanted to throw up.
“This is totally fucked,” Dez said at last. “I thought this was going to be some kind of terrorist thing. ”
“Terror begins at home,” said Trout, and she shot him a withering look. “Oh, come on, Dez … you’re too smart to think that we’re only ever the white hats. Wake up. ”
“No,” she said, letting out a breath. “It’s just…”
She shook her head. There were no adequate words to express how she felt, and Trout understood that.
“Knowing how it started doesn’t help us much,” said JT, “’cause we sure as hell know how it’s going to end. I think the only reason they haven’t nuked us back to the Stone Age is the storm. ”
“No,” said Dez, “they wouldn’t nuke us. They’d firebomb us. It’s safer for them and the fire—”
“—purifies,” finished Trout. “I thought of that. ”
“Great,” JT said. “That’s just great. The storm’s already lessened. Pretty soon they’re going to be able to put birds in the air and fry our asses. ”
“I have a walkie-talkie,” said Dez. “We can talk to them. ”
“Let’s give it a try,” said JT. “We have eight hundred people in here. ”
Dez turned on the walkie-talkie and adjusted the squelch. There was steady, overlapping chatter and it took her several tries to get through. Trout produced a small video recorder and began taping.
“Break, break, break, this is Officer Desdemona Fox, Stebbins PD, calling for Lieutenant Colonel Macklin Dietrich. Please respond. ”
The chatter slowly died down and then Dietrich’s gruff voice responded. “This is a secure military channel, Officer Fox. You are not authorized to broadcast on this—”
“I think we’ve been through this already, Colonel. Let’s cut the crap and get right to it,” Dez said forcefully.