Read Online Dead Air (Book One of The Dead Series) by Jon Schafer - Free Book Online
Authors: Jon Schafer
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pistol magazines and started feeding bullets into the first one. When they were both loaded, he slapped them on his palm to make sure the cartridges were seated correctly and wouldn't jam when they fed into the pistol.
Steve then moved to the bedroom where he opened the drawer in the night stand next to his bed and reached all the way in back. His hand quickly found the familiar grip of the Glock he kept there for emergencies.
After ejecting the magazine and clearing the pistol, he tested the spare clips to make sure they slid in and out without hanging up. Satisfied, he took one bullet from his extra loose ammunition and laid it aside. After loading the pistol, he chambered a round, extracted the clip and topped it off. Then he put the loaded spare clips, extra shells and a cleaning kit in the book bag he used as a briefcase. It went wherever he went so it would be a good place for the pistol too, but not just yet.
He walked back into the living room and placed the pistol under the cushion on his side of the couch. Feeling prepared for most anything that might come along, he turned on the television and switched to the news.
Steve noticed right off that the media was still down playing the crisis. While the HWNW virus was the lead story, it only received a few minutes of airtime on each news cycle, with the talking heads skimming over any of the details. Like people eating each other .
He was about to switch channels to hear what the other twenty-four hour news services had to say when he heard the sound of a key in the lock. Ginny had arrived. Steve switched to 'DVD' with the remote, causing the screen to go blue and cutting off an ad for investing in gold, and then took a moment to compose himself. He didn't see anything to be gained by scaring Ginny with tales of the dead coming back to life to chow down on people. Right now, things were still fairly normal in Clearwater and St. Petersburg. And if the feds got a handle on the problem, there wouldn't be anything to worry about. Resolving that he would sit down and talk to Ginny if things continued to go to hell, he stood up to greet his girlfriend.
Tonight he would carry on as if everything was normal and see what tomorrow brought.
CHAPTER FIVE
Washington. D.C.:
An aide to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff handed a folder to each of the men seated around the table as his commanding officer spoke.
"The operation I'm about to brief you on was approved by the President at 1800 hours this evening. It's called Operation Re-detente. As you know, the practice of detente, in relation to nuclear arms, means we don't have it and you don't have it. This was brought about by the Nixon administration to relax tensions during the Cold War. In its new context, Re-detente means that since the United States now has dead people running around eating the living, every nation in the world should have them too. We've got them, and now you've got them. It helps to keep the playing field level."
A few men chuckled briefly at this explanation.
"Our lab located in-, " the Chairman turned to his aide for help on this.
" Russellville, Arkansas." The man prompted.
"Right, Russellville, Arkansas, after we temporarily lost the CDC lab in Atlanta to contamination," and lost a good chunk of the city of Atlanta, the Chairman added in his mind, "and before they could reestablish their labs, the military took over research into the HWNW virus. Since the initial outbreak was in Little Rock, it makes sense that we position our resources nearby while trying to find a cure. Meanwhile, working off the initial tests done by the CDC, our people have managed to isolate the virus and replicate it. They say they're months away from any type of cure or immunization for the disease, which led to the President's decision to institute operation Re-detente. Right now the disease is isolated in North America, with a few scattered cases in Europe and the Far East, so we decided it
Steve then moved to the bedroom where he opened the drawer in the night stand next to his bed and reached all the way in back. His hand quickly found the familiar grip of the Glock he kept there for emergencies.
After ejecting the magazine and clearing the pistol, he tested the spare clips to make sure they slid in and out without hanging up. Satisfied, he took one bullet from his extra loose ammunition and laid it aside. After loading the pistol, he chambered a round, extracted the clip and topped it off. Then he put the loaded spare clips, extra shells and a cleaning kit in the book bag he used as a briefcase. It went wherever he went so it would be a good place for the pistol too, but not just yet.
He walked back into the living room and placed the pistol under the cushion on his side of the couch. Feeling prepared for most anything that might come along, he turned on the television and switched to the news.
Steve noticed right off that the media was still down playing the crisis. While the HWNW virus was the lead story, it only received a few minutes of airtime on each news cycle, with the talking heads skimming over any of the details. Like people eating each other .
He was about to switch channels to hear what the other twenty-four hour news services had to say when he heard the sound of a key in the lock. Ginny had arrived. Steve switched to 'DVD' with the remote, causing the screen to go blue and cutting off an ad for investing in gold, and then took a moment to compose himself. He didn't see anything to be gained by scaring Ginny with tales of the dead coming back to life to chow down on people. Right now, things were still fairly normal in Clearwater and St. Petersburg. And if the feds got a handle on the problem, there wouldn't be anything to worry about. Resolving that he would sit down and talk to Ginny if things continued to go to hell, he stood up to greet his girlfriend.
Tonight he would carry on as if everything was normal and see what tomorrow brought.
CHAPTER FIVE
Washington. D.C.:
An aide to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff handed a folder to each of the men seated around the table as his commanding officer spoke.
"The operation I'm about to brief you on was approved by the President at 1800 hours this evening. It's called Operation Re-detente. As you know, the practice of detente, in relation to nuclear arms, means we don't have it and you don't have it. This was brought about by the Nixon administration to relax tensions during the Cold War. In its new context, Re-detente means that since the United States now has dead people running around eating the living, every nation in the world should have them too. We've got them, and now you've got them. It helps to keep the playing field level."
A few men chuckled briefly at this explanation.
"Our lab located in-, " the Chairman turned to his aide for help on this.
" Russellville, Arkansas." The man prompted.
"Right, Russellville, Arkansas, after we temporarily lost the CDC lab in Atlanta to contamination," and lost a good chunk of the city of Atlanta, the Chairman added in his mind, "and before they could reestablish their labs, the military took over research into the HWNW virus. Since the initial outbreak was in Little Rock, it makes sense that we position our resources nearby while trying to find a cure. Meanwhile, working off the initial tests done by the CDC, our people have managed to isolate the virus and replicate it. They say they're months away from any type of cure or immunization for the disease, which led to the President's decision to institute operation Re-detente. Right now the disease is isolated in North America, with a few scattered cases in Europe and the Far East, so we decided it
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