Read Online Queen of Wands-eARC by John Ringo - Free Book Online Page A

had previously been evident, and charged, screaming a ululating cry of what sounded like rage and pain. He hit the shield of the guard with the syringe so hard the man was thrown off his feet, and the patient fell on top of him, screaming and scrabbling to get past the shield.
    The guard flipped the syringe out from under the pile and the second guard picked it up quickly then fell onto the patient, pinning him between the two guards and injecting him in the back of the neck.
    “And that’s about it,” Dr. Downing said, turning off the video. “The patient is fast and strong beyond the norm, but very clumsy. In part, I believe, because of the lack of reflex response. The patient’s balance is particularly bad probably because, at some level, he has to think about standing up. It’s notable that when the patient has had to be…restrained, he falls down quickly and tends to fight on the ground. The precise symptoms have never been recorded in literature. I’m considering doing a paper on them. It’s possible it may be an entirely new psychiatric condition. If so, I’ll have to name it.”
    “Chattanooga Zombieitis?” Kurt asked.
    “Thank you for your input,” Dr. Downing said dryly. “But…no. Among other things, ‘itis’ is the suffix for irritation and swelling.”
    “Neurological indications?” Barb asked. “For laymen?”
    “Due to the nature of the problem, we were, fortunately, able to fund a full neurological workup,” Dr. Downing said. “Various tests I won’t detail. Certain neurotransmitters appear to be out of sync as well as various hormones. Testosterone and adrenaline levels are abnormally high, for example. Dopamine levels as well. Which may explain the lack of reflex response. Glutamate appears to be inhibited and certain portions of the brain are acting in uncharacteristic ways. Mid- and rear-brain activity is overexcited, while forebrain activity is virtually quiescent. The medulla in some of the older patients appears to actually be swelled. We’re monitoring that because we’re afraid that if the condition progresses it will lead to death.”
    “Forebrain is conscious thought,” Barb said musingly. “Mid-brain is sort of higher animal, the puppy brain, and rear brain is the old animal, the lizard hindbrain.”
    “In layman’s terms, more or less,” Dr. Downing said.
    “So…they’re thinking like animals?” Kurt asked.
    “I would hate to put it that way in any sort of report,” the neurologist said. “But…yes. Very angry and vicious ones.”
    “What about treatment?” Kurt asked.
    “So far there doesn’t seem to be one,” the neurologist said. He seemed indifferent to the possibility.
    “Trust me, Kurt,” Barb said. “These things are beyond treatment. Not. Alive. Take my word for it.”
    “Wait,” Kurt said, his brow furrowing. “PCP is a glutamate inhibitor. Right?”
    “An NMDA uptake inhibitor,” the doctor corrected. “But it has the practical effect.”
    “So it’s like they’re on PCP?” Kurt asked. “Sort of PCP zombies. Ouch.”
    “Again, I did not say it,” the psychiatrist said. “But the effects have some similarity to PCP overdose. That was the initial finding of the admitting doctors. But it’s not PCP. What it is, we’re unsure. As I said, psychotic break, homicidal, cause unknown.”
    “Double ouch,” Kurt said. “Cannibalistic PCP zombies.”
    “And I don’t think that will be in any reports, either,” Barb said, nodding. “Good summation. That’s enough.” She looked at Downing and snorted.
    “I don’t know exactly why you let that thing ride you, but you did. And apparently with some understanding of what you were doing. It wasn’t a good choice. It wasn’t even an intelligent choice. But it was a choice. And for that, Doctor, you are damned.” She chuckled and shook her head. “Literally, not figuratively. How you could have been that stupid, I don’t know. I’ll just mention, in passing, that Jesus is pretty