As Andy dissapears behind the door, the fear in Tammy's eyes grows outragious. She tries to dive towards the door but as she does she is grabbed by two of the doctors that have been escorting them through the hallways. A couple of the soldiers restrain her as well as she frantically tries to make it to her brother now behind the door. They push her down the hallway, all of them trying all at once to assure her that he brother is in no danger at all. But her sister senses kicked in, her duty to keep Andy safe. She thinks of what they had said to each other just that morning at the park. No matter what happens, they would stay together. And yet here she was, once again separated from him, with no way to know what was happening, the way they had ripped them both apart was shocking. And no matter how many people told her that everything was going to be fine, Tammy knew that nothing was going to be. The fact was sticking in her head like a railroad spike, and the blatent hostility was a tell-tale sign that more was going on here than just protocol and procedure. They push Tammy into a room alone, the windows in this room have been tinted a shallow yellow color, as if someone had been smoking in the room for years, a small bit of brown had begun to creep up from the bottom of the window. But for the most part the room was nice, it looked more like a overloaded storage room at this point than anything, IV's and bags lined the walls. As she walked through the room she observed mostly medical equipment, Needles, Defibrillators and surgery kits. The door had been shut and locked behind her, and as she pushed against the door it didn't even budge, as if someone had braced it with something from the other side. She put her head against the door, and vaguely could make out her brother, screaming her name. She let out a small cry as a tear ran down her face, biting her tounge she wanted so badly to help him. But there was nothing she could do here, she collapsed on the ground, softly whimpering to herself, holding herself as if wanting someone else to be there.
In her head, she was screaming at the top of her lungs, lost in a sea of anger and helplessness. She had never felt like this in her life, what was happening to her, and her brother, had the horrors they suffered already not been enough? She rested herself against the door, still sobbing a little bit, but trying to pull herself together. She knew that if she lost it now, they would never get out of here, she had to keep it together, be strong and maybe she might be able to help him, she just had to bide her time. She took a couple of moments to composer herself, slowing her breathing back to a calm pace. She knew that she needed to get her brother out of here, the no doubt would find out that he was infected after they ran the first series of tests on him. But no sooner had she gotten the thought of saving her brother into perspective the door blew open again, there were two soldiers standing at the door, armed, and staring down at her sitting on the floor. They moved to the side and waved for her to follow them, making it clear that they would use force if needed. She nodded her head and walked in the space between them, they filed in behind her as she made her way down the hallway. They pointed to the right, the room looked like a bedroom, but instead of a big cozy bed she was met with the side of a stretcher, and one of the nurses holding a capsule for a blood sample. She pointed at the table and the soldiers pushed Tammy through the door. Tammy stumbled forward and sat down on the stretcher, holding out her arm so that the nurse could take the sample. As the nurse tied the rubber band around her upper arm Tammy looked at her.
"Wheres my brother, whats happening to Andy?" She asked, but the nurse ignored her, going about her business taking her blood.
"I said, where is Andy?" Tammy said again, the nurses eyes looked up at her for a moment, as if trying to not make eye contact with her, the nurse looks away again. Tammy shook her head and grabbed the Nurses hand, softly, calmly, the nurse finally makes eye contact with Tammy.
"Listen to me, I love my brother, just please tell me where he is?" She pleaded with the nurse, the nurse shook her head a little, not able to look Tammy in the eyes.
"I Dont know Miss, please just wait here and everything will be fine." She assured her. But Tammy wasn't buying it, she had her Andy scream for her, and knew that it wouldn't have happened unless Andy was really scared. The fact that no one wanted to talk to her was frustrating, but looking at the two soldiers standing at the door with assault rifles, she knew that there was nothing she could do about anything that was happening. The nurse's vile was filled with Tammy's blood, she pulled the needle out and covered the wound with a peice of cotton. She passed the sample to one of the soldier who quickly handled it to one of the medical officers stepping through the hallway towards the lab. As the nurse stepped out of the room, one of the soldiers did as well, the other stayed behind, lighting a cigarette before shutting the door behind him, locking Tammy in the room. She moved to the window, from here she could see Delta's tent, Price standing in the doorway of it, looking over towards the medical center smoking a cigarette. No matter how much had tried, he just had found it hard to fall asleep given the events of the last couple of hours. A light sprinkle had started from the clouds overhead, and as Price blew the remaining smoke out of his lungs he looked up and down the medical center. Something was going on in there, something that was definately not normal. Tammy watched him from the window, swearing to make eye contact with him on at least several occassions, but somehow he just kept standing, as if unable to see her face in the window.
Back in the feild Price had rubbed her the wrong way, and at first she didn't really like him. But now looking out that window, she could see that something was bothering him. There was really no way to be sure, but by the way he was looking up at the building, whatever was bothering him had something to down with her and Andy. But there was a difference between thinking something was wrong, and wanting to take a stand against it, Price was a soldier, and she knew that. She knew that most soldiers like that were all about their job, got a kick out of being a dick to everyone, soldiers were just trigger happy nut jobs, cranked up on Monster Energy drink and miltary paychecks. But Price was the rookie, maybe he hadn't turned into one of those people yet, and right now, she was willing to hold onto any little bit of hope she could find. She wished that Price would be that one, like Doyle, the one who could make a difference. But where had that gotten Doyle she thought, where has helping them landed anyone. Her Father, Doyle, Scarlett, and now maybe Flynn. Nothing good had come from helping us, she thought. So why should she have expected Price to have done anything other than get himself into trouble, or worse.
Peyton and Bronze were fine-tuning their weapons for the training op that Davis was about to send them on. Peyton nodded his head, his want for information was really getting the better of him. He knew that he was probably overstepping his bounds, but there was just something about it all just didn't seem right to him. And now that he actually had a shot at exposing something, he wasn't going to let it go without the right kind of attention. Picking up his gun he headed for the door, but just as he was leaving out Peyton spoke up.
"Hey Rook, where you goin, Davis is gonna be back and if your not here he's gonna flip." he said, stopping Price as he stepped out the door.
"I'm going to canteen, try and cover, I'll be back before he comes though I swear." Price replied. Peyton nodded, knowing that there was something more about it.
"Alright, hurry up, we'll try and cover." Peyton said.
With a nod Price was off, quickly making his way across the yard as the rain begin to come down harder and harder by the second. He sprinted the length of the yard and into the breezeway in front of the medical center. Since the arrival of the new "Refugees" Security had noticably gone up around the medical center, the guards had become armed and were looking a bit more serious than normal. Price didn't notice however, he stepped through the doors expecting to see some sort of movement. But to his suprise the hallways were empty, he could hear sounds and conversation coming from the different rooms throughout the building as he stepped down the hallways. A radio sitting on a desk in a room on the left caught his attention. Through the static of the transmission, he could make out only a few words.
"This...Gen...Stone...Escaped...Dis...One...Elimina...threat..." It was like listening to a post-apocolyptic broadcast. He picked the radio up off the table and tucked it into his radio pouch on his shoulder. Moving down the hallways that were still eerily quiet. At the end of the hall the soldier stood guard, watching Price as he stepped towards him. Price took a few deep breathes before addressing the soldier.
"Hey man, where'd they take those two Refugees Delta just brought in?" He asked, the soldier looked him up and down for a moment.
"They are items of high interest, where they are isn't your problem, move along." The soldier replied. Price nodded his head. Making his way down the hallway he couldn't help but notice the sheer amount of Military personel to the Medical Personel. Something was definately going on. He moved along the wall for a moment, moving to a door marked "Oporational Intelligence." He knocked on the door a couple times, waiting a few moments to see if anyone would answer. After a couple moments of silence he pushed the door open, making his way into the room that was filled with filing cabinets and computers. The fax machine sat on the far corner of the room, and as Price started looking over some papers on a desk it started printing. His head snapped towards the source of the clicking sounds on the other side of the room. As he made his way across the room something caught his eye, a paper that had been left open on the desk right in front of the fax machine. It wouldn't have caught his eye if it wasn't for the gigantic red writing across the top of it.
"Eyes Only"
"It has been confirmed, The 82nd Airborne Division's hold-out inside District 1 has failed, the virus outbreak has become uncontrollable, we are marked at 90% Casualties. A carrier for virus marked T-101 has left the quarentine zone and is now a direct threat to all facilities. If Brought into Contact with Subject take extreme caution in eliminating the target and alerting the correct authorities. Haz-Mat and CDC teams will be on location at all points around 12 pm. All squads under the command of the 82nd Airborne are order to full alert. Be prepared for full lock-down of borders on our order, we will send more intel on subjects when it becomes available."
As he read it he was overcome with a sense of distaste. What was the military doing? What had it done over in England? Was the outbreak that uncontrollable? And if so what had they done to the population? All these questions now crashed into Price's head. He turned his attention now to the printed peice of paper that was now sitting in the fax tray. On the sheet of paper were two printed pictures of the two subjects that the military had marked as HVT's (High-Value Targets). The faces on the sheet were familiar to Price, because he had just seen them. The pictures taken by the military in District 1 for the Identification cards, one Andrew Harris, and one Tammy Harris. As Price lifted the paper up to his eyes the writing across the bottom of the paper was clear, more clear than anything had been all day. The orders were simple, yet terrifying to the young private.
"If Encountered Eliminate IMMEDIATELY, NO EXCEPTIONS!"
The words burned into his mind, and suddenly he pictured himself, killing that boy. The image of throwing the boy down and holding a gun to his head, the boy looking up at him with fear in his eyes, one green, one brown. Price knew that if it came to it, he wasn't going to be able to pull the trigger. Andy was innocent, Tammy was Innocent, what had they done to deserve to be killed in that way? Why would the United States Army give the go-ahead to kill innocent civilians? The fear, the fear of contamination. Jason didn't understand the destructive power that the virus held, he hadn't seen the fall of london, and hadn't been there for the original outbreak. He crumpled up the peice of paper and tucked it firmly into his pocket. He had to think, but he didn't really know about what. He knew that Andy and Tammy were refugees, turned fugitives. And as he stepped back out into the hallway his mind was going a mile a minute. What was he about to do? Senseless Murder was wrong no matter what the justification was. They had no idea if Andy or Tammy was Infected, and from what Price had heard about the virus, it was obvious to him that neither of them were. He shook his head as he made his way back through the medical center. What the hell was he about to do? He knew that he couldn't just say anything...just saying it wouldn't have been enough. He had to think up a plan.
As he ran back across the yard the rain had begun to pour down pretty hard. He ducked into the tent and was met by Peyton and Bronze who were in full gear, ready to go.
"Where the hell you been at Rook?" Peyton asked, a bit pissed. "We've been activated!"
"Activated?" Price sounded surprised.
"Yeah, we're on alert, looks like we're about to see some action after all." Bronze said with a smile on his face, locking the clip into the bottom of his gun.
"Wait wait wait, what are we going to go do?" Price asked, holding his hand against Peyton's chest.
"Rookie, we've got a confirmed carrier who jumped out of the Green Zone." Peyton explained.
"I know, guys wait." He whispered, taking the sheet of paper out of his pocket. "Look at this."
The two look over the sheet, reading the red print at the bottom and examining the faces printed across the paper. They looked at each other for a moment, then back at Price.
"So what, we got em?" Peyton said, a small bit of confusion in his voice.
"Man their gonna kill those kids!" Price said, snatching the paper back from Peyton.
"So, Price they might be infected!" Bronze was down to earth about it, realistic.
"Man, from what i've heard about the virus...those kids aren't infected, they would be flesh eating monsters by now wouldn't they!" Price said, raising his arms into the air. The two men looked at each other, the kid was right. All indications of infection were absent in both Andy and Tammy. Flynn, the pilot could give them the insight they needed, although the only way to get to Flynn was to go to the brigg and talk to him.
"What are you saying Price, they've got the wrong kids?" Bronze asked.
"I dont know, what the hell went on over there? If these kids aren't infected they damn sure want them dead for a reason." Price looked back and forth at the two of them, but they didn't know. They hadn't seen it, hadn't heard the order. But everyone knew the protocol, Code Red. Everyone knew what it meant, and if the government had considered the hammer down protocol against London, than the outbreak must have been worse than they thought.
"What if we killed all those people?" Price asked nervously, the thought made the two think, Peyton shooks his head.
"Nah man, we wouldn't do something like that, theres an evac happening right now." He said as Bronze stepped in.
"For Miltary Command Personel, the reports said nothing about Survivor extraction, or evacuation, which means that as far as the military is concerned, all those people that we sent over, are all dead." Bronze made it perfectly clear for all of them, and as the thoughts and facts sank into the heads of the other two soldiers it was all starting to become perfectly clear.
"I dont think they want those kids to talk, they are cooking up this bullshit story to make people think that they are a threat, they aren't infected guys and their going to kill them!" Price said, making the call that someone higher in rank should have been making.
"Price your talking crazy man, even if its all a lie, theres nothing we can do!" Peyton said.
"thats bullshit Peyton." Price replied. "There is always something people can do."
"Not always, I dont have the points left to go fucking around like that, if your actually talking about what I Think you are, your talking about fucking up the rest of your life, I can't do it man, I just can't." Bronze said, sitting down on the bed, the taste of regret on his tounge.
"So what? We're just gonna stand by and let a couple of innocent kids die because the united states can't admit they screwed up?" The anger in Price's voice was apparent. "I Can't let that fucking happen guys."
"Price listen to yourself! What are you talking about!" Peyton said, stepping into Price's face.
"I'm talking about why I joined up, if I knew I was going to be party to something like this I would have told them to take their 20 grand and shove it up their asses, this isn't me, and I won't let this happen." He said, picking his gun up from the dirt by his bed.
"What are you going to do?" Peyton asked, stepping in front of Price.
"Whatever I have to man, I can't let this happen." The look on Price's face told Peyton everything he needed to know. Peyton shooks his head, stepping out of Price's way. Both Peyton and Bronze knew that what was going on was wrong, crazy even. But there was nothing they could do from where they stood, they were only Privates, and looking forward to a nice long stay in the military, they were thinking about their lives, about the effects that something like that could have on it. They would be court-marshalled, dishonorably discharged, something like that could make you look terrible down the road. But that was all out of the question for Price, he knew those kids weren't infected, just like Peyton and Bronze knew, but he was the only one of them stupid enough to really try and do something about it.
With the pictures of the two suspects in Price's pocket, the rest of the base had no idea that they were holding the HVT's right inside the camp. As patrols started moving out into the country side the helicopters from the airbornes flight division took off into the air, with three men posted on either side, sniper rifles scoping down into the feilds. Price shook his head at the two of them as Peyton sat down on his bunk. He took the sheet of paper out of his pocket and threw it down on the floor at Peyton's feet.
"Maybe in 20 years, you can tell your kids what happened today..." Price said before stepping out the door of the tent.
As the helicopters dissapeared into the horizon Davis breezed back into the tent. Locking his radio into his shoulder holster and grabbing his assault rifle up off the side of the rack. He was just getting back from filing the report from Flynn. He looked around the two men, who right now were still reeling from the talk they had just had with their new squad mate, Davis could tell by the look on the two men's faces that something was wrong.
"What the hell is up guys?" he said. "Wheres the rookie?"
"Boss, what the hell is going on?" The question was something that Davis wasn't ready for, soldiers normally didn't question their orders. Never before had Davis encountered this, the orders were High Alert, and yet here they were, still sitting in their bunks.
"Doesn't matter guys, lets just get moving." Davis replied, trying not to make eye contact with either of them.
"No sir...this time it does...what the fuck is this?" Peyton said, picking up the peice of paper that Price had thrown on the ground. He handed it to Davis, who had obviously not seen it yet, he had the report, but what this said was different. He had been under the impression that the military would try and find a cure for the virus, but looking over this it was apparent that the United States wanted nothing more to do with the virus than to kill it, all of it. He looked at the words printed at the bottom of the paper. There was definately something hitting a chord with Davis as he read it, he crumpled up the sheet in his hand before throwing the newly formed ball of paper onto the ground.
"What the fuck is happening..." He said under his breathe, when he joined the military it was to fight for freedom, to fight for the rights of people the world over. But now here he was, faced with the undeniable truth that the United States was in this for its own protection, and the protection of its friends. They let the United Kingdom Fall, and they would kill a thousand more innocents if they had to.
"Sir, those kids aren't infected..." Peyton said with a sigh. Davis turned his head to the two of them now matching eyes with him. Both of them knew it, Davis knew it, those kids were just in the wrong place at the wrong time.
"Something happened over there sir, something terrible, and they dont want those kids to talk about it." Bronze implied. It was true, Davis had read the full report. He shook his head, considering whether or not to tell them the truth, how would they take it? What would they say? He ran his hands through his hair and turned away from them.
"Sir, what happened over there." Peyton asked, there were a few tense moments were Davis was still hesitant to tell them. But he shook it off, smirking to himself as he nodded his head, turning back to the two men.
"They said they found someone...a woman..." As he explained the two pictured the woman, Alice, running through the woods, becoming infected.
"They said she was immune, but that was quickly taken back, and she was labelled a genetic carrier." His words echoing into the minds of the two men as they pictured what they must have done to her, the washing process, the taking of blood, a woman strapped to a gurney while her children waiting to see her.
"She had two children, a young boy and a teenage Girl, her husband was a section officer in District One, they said that when they found her she was infected. But not showing any of the symptoms, no rage, no anger. They said, she was...completely fine." He Regretably explained.
"The virus broke out, they assume from her, her husband accessed the medical labs, and she infected him. They said that it moved quickly, and within fifteen minutes the entire base had been overrun. They tried locking it down, tried holding up the civilians in a bunker, but as soon as it got to them, it got them all." The two men pictured the soldiers shooting, the infected screaming as frightened people fled. "The two children are presumed dead, killed in the firebombing, the United States instilled a state of eradication. They killed everyone, infected or not, no one made it out of the city alive. The children were presumed dead...but according to my reports, there were only two children ever sent over the channel." As these words are uddered, the facts begin to sink in.
"So what your saying is..." Peyton began.
"Those two kids are the ones that they are looking for, they say they want to find a cure, a Major Ross of the medical department of the United states Army made a report." He remembered what it had said, because it had made alot of sense to him.
"These children are presumed to be extremely valuable, their blood could hold the cure to Infection." He said, nodding his head to the floor.
"They dont want to find that cure bossman..." Peyton muttered. There were a few moments of silence between the three men, Price had been right. Whether or not they wanted to come right out and say it was still in question, but there was definately something wrong with the way the military handled the entire situation. And it was only now that the fact was starting to get to Davis. The entire time he had been in the military he thought that they had been doing the world some good, but now it was all coming so clear. It was something so hard to comprehend for him, so hard to understand. His two companions on the other hand could see it clear as day. And as Davis' head lifted again the two men sitting in front of him nodded their heads. Whatever was about to happen was about to be a big mistake, and they knew it. But none of them could deny the truth, that if they went with their orders on this, they were be walking down the same path that everyone else did, the easy one. The one that ends with the eradication of infected, and the burning of their own souls. They didn't sign up for this, to commit an act of Genocide, to kill children.
Davis choked back the lump in his throat and pulled the hammer back on his assault rifle. He turned to the window, the rain was still pouring down, making the dirt beneath their feet turn into a dark shade of brown, mixing into mud and splashing onto his ankles as the hard rain poured down. He could see the squads of men moving out, the helicopters flying back and forth across the sky. This was the life he loved, he had been accustomed to living like this for the passed however many years it had been for him, it all didn't matter anymore. Because this was something different, these people weren't terrorists, or enemies on a feild of battle, they were victims. And the only thing the military could do for them was to kill them all...then what had they really done? This was the thought that ran through his head, the thought that drove him now. What Had They Really Done? The answer was simple...made it all worse, made everything worse. Davis turned to the men now sitting up on the bunks, their rifles on their laps.
"What you guys thinking?" Davis said, looking back and forth at the two.
"Price was right, like fucking Bob Barker." Bronze said with a smirk on his face.
"The kid said he was going to make a difference, he's going to do it alone. Sir, he's not going to make it if its just him." Peyton said, but Davis already knew this. He looked to the medical center on the other side of the yard. And sure enough Price was right there, taking his first steps through the door of the building. As the doors shut behind him, Davis made the call.
"Lets go, he'll need our help." the two men lock and load as the sprint across the yard against the hard rain. Where they were about to go from here was all a variable. But one thing was for sure, Andy and Tammy weren't going to die...not today.