Read Online Extermination Day by William Turnage - Free Book Online Page B

people, otherwise we may have a riot on our hands for the suits.”
    “A lottery,” Farrow said, snapping his fingers. “Draw straws?”
    “It’s as good an idea as any. Can you get the straws? We’ll need fifty- nine long and three short. The three short ones will get the suits.”
    “Let me run to the mess and get the straws, and we’ll be ready to go.”
    “I’ll call a meeting in the main cabin on deck two. I’ll explain the situation and then we’ll draw. And send in Demetrius and Jones; I want to let them know what we’ve decided before the meeting.”
    A half hour later, President Paulson called a meeting of everyone on board, with the exception of the pilots. Moments later he was standing before them in the main cabin. Paulson had given many speeches in his lifetime, but the one he was about to deliver was no doubt the gravest.
    “Everyone has been briefed on the situation before us. It is unprecedented. We have no idea who or what is behind these attacks. The evidence indicates that much of the world’s population has been eliminated. Billions are dead. Our nation has been reduced to just a remnant of its greatness. And all this has happened in fewer than five hours.”
    “Sir, I’m sorry to interrupt.” A young congressional liaison, Richard, waved his hand. He was a representative of the Speaker of the House. He was, of course, from the other party, and had been a real thorn in Paulson’s side since the start of the Diaz administration. It seemed that Paulson couldn’t get away from politics even now, in a time of unparalleled crisis.
    “Mr. President, we’ve seen the feeds and all the news coverage and everyone just dying on camera. But we’ve seen nothing with our own eyes. We’re here in the air, thirty thousand feet above everything. We don’t know if this is some sort of ruse. The Chinese have hacked us before. This could be part of an elaborate hoax designed to compromise us and throw the government into confusion. The real attack could be coming later.”
    Hmmm. So others were starting to doubt the validity of the videos as well. Paulson was still waiting to hear back from General Rowan to get confirmation of the attack and the possible involvement of the Chinese, so he couldn’t go off half-speculating in front of everyone.
    “Richard, until we have information showing us otherwise, we have to assume that this attack is real. I know the whole thing seems incredible and that we don’t want to believe it’s really happened, but I’ve received firsthand accounts on secure channels from General Rowan in NORAD as well as other government and military officials in secure bases around the globe.”
    “But, Mr. President, I just don’t see how it’s possible that so many people could have been killed all over the planet so quickly.”
    “It is unbelievable, I agree, but the CDC has confirmed the numbers. They could be wrong in their analysis. There could be more survivors out there. We just won’t know until later. And as you’ve seen from the information I provided, this is an engineered virus. It was designed to kill us.”
    “But who would have done such a thing?” asked a woman to his right. One of the reporters, Myra Goldstein.
    He couldn’t tell them everything he knew, especially with reporters on board. Anything he said would be broadcast to the world, and that meant the Chinese would hear.
    He took a deep breath. Released it. “We’re still investigating at this time, and I’m not prepared to speculate. NORAD has informed me that this virus originated in the meteor dust cloud that saturated the planet yesterday afternoon. That’s all I can report right now. So, if you could please hold your questions and comments until I’ve said what I need to say. It’s the reason I called you here.” He deliberately took the time to meet the gaze of everyone in the room. “The pilots tell me that we’re running low on fuel and have to land. Air Force One is capable of being