REDLIGHT

21/01/65

I strolled into the conference hall with Sergeant Baker. Over one hundred soldiers were present. They were clearly desperate to hear the weekly update on REDLIGHT. "Fuck man, I wonder what the jizz will be today," whispered one of the privates standing at the door, clenching his rifle tightly. "Hell if I know," another replied, staring at the trio of men sitting at the front of the hall. Personally, I despised the weekly updates, since Command was often extremely vague with the details. It's been at least three weeks since I made an appearance in this very hall. Partially because I resented the whole concept of being part of this military experiment, and mainly because I was barred after decking Lieutenant Colonel Williams at the last conference I attended. Generally those kind of infringements would land you with a court-martial, but I got off pretty easy due to the fact that General Stillwell was very iffy with sending more troops to Idaho, which eventually increased my suspicion that REDLIGHT was more than just "biological research."

I think I've been there for almost six months at that point. I sniggered softly. I couldn't even remember the day I arrived there. I looked up. 2nd Lieutenant Peter Randall was present, sitting next to the Lt Colonel and the professor. He was a well built man in his early thirties, who had only arrived a couple of weeks ago. I spotted him on the field a few times, and he seemed to have earned the respect of quite a few soldiers. However, I could tell from his distinct lack of enthusiasm and emotion that he was an old fart, as well as his annoying habit of boasting about the fact that was he going to be deployed to Vietnam within a matter of months. At least we were well out of the line of fire in Hope, or at least that was the case for a relatively short amount of time.

I took my seat next to the window, unable to divert my eyes from a group of young women standing outside chatting away, oblivious to the military gathering was going on in here. The majority of the populace paid little heed to the military around here, mainly because there were no significant cases reported among the REDLIGHT carriers for several months. Regardless, I still found the whole concept sickening, worsened only by the fact that everyone seemed so passive with regards to the virus. Lt Colonel Williams stood up. "ATTENTION!" His yell was followed by utter silence across the room. Williams was a moron. He was second in command and always had to attend the conference meetings. He spoke for half of the meeting, before professor Higgins intervened with the REDLIGHT update. Williams was well into his forties, was a tad overweight and not once have I ever seen him participate in any skirmishes or patrols. A disgrace of a military officer, and his inability to retaliate to that punch I delivered to his forehead three weeks prior was proof of that. Not to mention the fact that he made no attempt to motivate his men, instead opting to spend the majority of his time in solitude at his quarters outside of the town.

"Today, we'll be..." I sat back and folded my arms. I couldn't have been bothered listening to this blabbering idiot, because he probably didn't know shit about REDLIGHT. He would have, if he had listened. But he never did, he just addressed the troops for five minutes before the professor moved in for the real deal. He would then retreat to the back of the hall and pretend to look interested. However, any man could tell from his rotund stomach and anxious body language that he didn't enjoy being there at all. I looked up and held my breath. He was looking at me, before immediately breaking off as our eyes locked. At that very moment, nothing would have sedated my anger more than another good punch to that flabby face of his. I had my reasons for assaulting him, particularly because he postponed our time-off by another 3 months. It's been two months since I've been at home, and I was getting sick of this REDLIGHT tosh. Even if it paid the bills.

Baker nudged me. "If you want to leave, go ahead." His rough Irish accent could have easily made anyone flinch, but I was used to it.

"Nah, I'm fine. I wouldn't mind getting a strike at him though."

"Heh, says you and one hundred other men."

"I'm not surprised. Ignorant fucker."

Sergeant Baker. He was a tall and hard headed man in his late thirties. He was easy to notice by his rugged patch of light red hair. The man had been stationed in Hope ever since the whole "project" began, right before I arrived and got lumbered in his squad. He was an intimidating fellow at first, with his extremely bulky arms being the most threatening part of his physique. However beneath all the muscle mass, he was a fair man and possessed extensive knowledge of the whole virus. Or at least it was extensive relative to most of the men there. I never really took much of an interest in his knowledge ever since I found out that he was a pure failure when it came to poker. I may not have bested him in the arm wrestling contests our squad held every week, but I sure as shit beat him when it came to logic.

" I can't wait to get home."

"Sir?"

"My family, Johnson, my family. It's my son's eighteenth birthday in two months time. I'm hoping to get a week to go back to New York around that time," he whispered, stroking the thin red goatee on his chin. "But it seems awful unlikely now that Williams has postponed our time-off."

'I'd love a week off too, sir.'

Corporal Peter Johnson. I was merely twenty four years old at the time and I had a wife and two boys to worry about, so I had to join the army a little over a year ago. I was part of the 20% of the troops here who didn't have to transfer their families to Hope. Mainly because my family were living in Florida, and the vast majority of the 20% had families settled on the east coast as well, so the complications of relocating our families over such a distance would have been too much. I was glad though. I wouldn't have been very exalted at the thought of having my two sons injected with a virus I knew jack shit about.

Colonel Williams had just stepped down from the stage. Professor Higgins stood. A man in his early fifties, he was here for about two to three months. He led the research on the virus and had to update the military once a week. He never informed the villagers of the development of the virus, and only the military were allowed to listen in.

"Good morning." He harbored a distinctive English accent. "I understand that it's a very warm day outside, so I apologize for having to hold this conference so early in the afternoon." He started to rub his back vigorously, before clenching his teeth with pain. I just assumed that he had a bad back, but had I known what was the cause of such an injury I probably would have fled the conference room in terror, before barricading myself in the nearest building. "However, some very interesting anomalies have been detected within the population last week," he continued. All of the troops had their eyes locked on him, taking an apparent interest in the new update. "We have received reports from our local research station that significant manifestations in the virus have been detected in the newborn children present in the town." I sat forward, facing towards the professor. "Two children were born over the last few weeks, and our scans and tests indicate that they carry the REDLIGHT virus, but with some notable differences." I shook my head. I couldn't believe that they were even performing tests on newborn children. "One of the children has developed an extreme acceleration in intelligence. The aforementioned child is merely three weeks old, and has developed the build and intellect of a 6 month old. He is completely capable of drinking bottles of milk without assistance from his parents, and has already learned to respond to his own name." I gasped in shock. A three week old child that has developed that much in such a short space of time?

Sergeant Major Chalmers, who was the deputy commander-in-chief of the local forces in the town, raised his hand. "Are you saying that this here virus can make people grow and learn faster?"

Higgins gripped his back again. "Uh...why yes, it appears to be that way. We are still in the preliminary stages of completing all of our tests, but we are confident that the virus does accelerate the growth rate of the average human being."

Another man raised his hand. "So, by the time this child reaches his first birthday, he'll have the physique of a fully grown, prepubescent child?"

Higgins paused for a moment. "We're not absolutely sure. Once again, we are still in the preliminary stages, so we cannot confirm if he will continue to experience these kind of growth spurts." He shrugged. "All we can do is wait and see."

The troops could do nothing but stare at the professor. I honestly could not have blamed them. The fact that this virus could accelerate the growth of a mere newborn is incredible, but I felt that there had to be more to it. I raised my hand. "Sir, were there any side effects following the child's growth spurt?"

Higgins paused and glanced back at Randall. He looked back at me and exhaled heavily. "That information is classified at the moment. My apologies, private."

Williams stood and walked towards the professor. "Alright then, I think that's enough for today. All of you are to return to your posts immediately. Dismissed!"

I strolled outside with Sergeant Baker, trying to fix my posture after spending so long sitting in those extremely uncomfortable chairs. The sun was blazing, with a few clouds were scattered across the sky, but there was no sign of rain to come. I squinted my eyes and looked around. There was hardly anyone on the streets, bar the soldiers who came out of the conference hall.

'Market day.' I turned around, ol' Baker was behind me.

'Market day? I thought they were on Saturdays, sir.'

'They're being changed around a bit. Market day on Thursdays. No church on Saturday evenings anymore. They're thinking of holding conference meetings on Tuesdays from now on.' He concealed his forehead from the sun. 'Warm today, isn't it?'

"Yes, it is, sir. Interesting wea-"

"Right!", he interrupted. 'I'm going back to the base for something to eat. Ya coming?"

"Yes, sir."

We made our way out of the area, but I managed to steal a glance at Williams, Randall and Higgins, who just walked out of the hall's fire exit. Higgins caught my stare, before turning away almost immediately to follow his two commanders. "Why was that information classified?"

"Eh?"

"I just wanted to know why he would keep the side effects classified?"

"How am I supposed to know?" A great irony, considering that Baker knew a great deal more about the virus than most of the other men, but I kept quiet about it. "Probably keeping it a secret because there ARE side effects."

"Good point." Just as I thought. An accelerated growth rate like that could not, under any circumstances, be without any significant side effects. Despite having to spend a great deal of time listening to Williams, I was anxiously awaiting the next conference meeting.