The Last Days Read Online Free Page B

something. Two of my men reported that they have been bitten by the survivors. You want us to put a bag over their heads and bring them back to the Cumberland for treatment?”
    Tom Bolten, the Captain of the Ronald Regan sank back in his chair. He didn’t want to believe what he had just heard. From his briefing with the Pentagon, he realized what he had feared could happen, was happening. Not only was his ship in jeopardy, now the Cumberland had been infected.
    He knew the Cumberland could not bring any of the survivors aboard and have any chance of surviving themselves. If in fact the people the Cumberland had found were indeed survivors.
    He wanted to tell the Cumberland to leave their away team on the Chinese fishing boat and get the hell out of there. It was the only sure way for the Cumberland to survive. But that went against everything the U.S. military stood for. Their creed was that they would never leave anyone behind. He knew this was one time they should leave someone behind.
    He pulled the phone closer to his lips. “Negative Cumberland. Listen carefully. China has had an outbreak of a deadly virus. So far there is no known cure. I fear those people are beyond our help. Get your men off that boat now. I’ll notify the Chinese authorities what we found. They can handle this. The only way we can be sure the virus won’t spread to the Cumberland is for you to leave the away team on that boat and get the hell out of there. But I know that is not something either you or I can do. So get those men back to the Cumberland and put them into isolation. No one can have contact with them for seventy-two hours. Understand Captain.  That is an order you cannot afford to question” Tom Bolten said slowly.
    “Understood.” The voice from the Cumberland replied sounding confused.
    “I want an update on their condition every eight hours. Good luck Captain.”
    The Captain of the Cumberland stood stunned as he listened to the phone go dead in his ears.
    He had not been in on the briefing with the Pentagon. The fewer people that knew what was going on with China, the better. This was the first the Captain of the Cumberland had heard about a situation in China.
    The fact that command would even mentioned the possibility that it would think about leaving his men behind and abandoned scared the hell out of him. There was more going on than he was being told. That was life in the Navy. He accepted the fact he was only told what the Navy felt he needed to know.
    He couldn’t help but feel he was not being told something that he really should know about.
    But now he had a ship to worry about. He hung up the phone and picked up the mic. “Scout, reply!”
     
    Davis punched his mic as his body began to sweat. He shivered all over despite the warm wind blowing in off the South China Sea.
    “Scout here.”
    “Scout, get your team off that boat and return to base. The Chinese will pick up the survivors. Confirm.”
    “Confirmed.” Davis said as he let the mic fall back against his uniform. Sweat dripped into his eyes. He used his sleeve to wipe at his eyes to clear his vision.
    “OK, let’s go home.” Davis said as he glanced around at his team.
    There were no complaints from anyone except for the loud unintelligible sounds that came from the cabin.
    They all started for the side of the boat to climb the netting back to the skimmer.
    Everyone except for Carlson. He just stood and stared at the cabin door.
    “Carlson. Move your ass!” Davis yelled.
    Carlson slowly moved his head and looked at Davis.
    “You OK Carlson?” Davis asked.
    “I don’t know.” Carlson replied, his speech slurred. “I feel weird.”
    “Tell me about it.” Davis replied. “Get in the skimmer. You can go see the doc when we get back.”
    Carlson staggered as he shuffled his feet, following the others to get back on the skimmer so they could go back to the Cumberland.
     
    Lieutenant Paulson climbed down the ladder and hopped off the last