Read Online Scourge - A Medical Thriller (The Plague Trilogy Book 3) by Victor Methos - Free Book Online

hold. The elevator was the only way. I didn’t even hear the ding over the screaming, but I saw the doors open, and we leapt on. I pressed the button for the bottom floor.
    “ Those five seconds as we waited for the elevator doors to close was the worst five seconds of my life. I saw their faces, the blood that poured from their mouths and eyes, and the wounds that wouldn’t heal. I looked into those black eyes, sunken back into their heads, and I knew that humanity might not survive this, that maybe Luther had been right, this was Armageddon.
    “One leapt, screaming. It landed a foot away and Luther swung with the axe, splitting its head in two. Blood spattered over the hallway, over Luther’s clothing and face. He pulled back just as the doors began to close. He couldn’t catch his breath, and his hands trembled so much the axe fell from his fingers. Lifting them in front of his face, he watched as the blood dripped down over his palms. ‘We have to wash that off,’ I said. Luther seemingly couldn’t move or speak; his eyes were as wide as golf balls.
    “The elevator stopped on the bottom floor and opened. I stepped out, Jessica still clinging to me. Quiet and dusty, the parking garage hadn’t seen anyone in a long time. No one parked there anymore. I don’t know why. I think it was something about being in confined spaces with other people. A hallway on the south end had another set of elevators, a drinking fountain, and bathrooms. We rushed over, Luther still unable to say anything. I pushed through the door and pulled him over to the sink. After turning the faucet on, I shoved his hands underneath and began wetting paper towels and scrubbing the blood off his face. I took off his jacket, which was spattered with blood, and tossed it on the floor.
    “ ‘I killed him,’ he muttered, his hands still trembling. ‘I… I killed him, Sam. I killed someone.’ I ignored him, focusing instead on cleaning off all the blood. Jessica stood away from us, and I motioned with my head for her to stand even farther back. I thought, I don’t want her to get infected , and then a deep sadness filled me when I remembered. ‘I killed him, Sam. I killed…’
    “I lifted Luther’s face with both hands, ensuring our eyes locked, and said, ‘He was already dead.’ This seemed to calm him , and I finished getting the blood off. When we were through, bloodied paper towels and pink, frothy water coated the sink. The three of us stood there, unable to move, listening to the sound of our breaths. Luther, powerless to hold the emotion back, leaned against the sink, his hand over his eyes, and wept. I placed my hand on his shoulder and allowed him to finish. Jessica folded her arms and stood against the wall, her eyes on the linoleum. Luther finally stopped and looked up. ‘You must think I’m such a pussy.’
    “The phrase, for whatever reason, maybe just to have a release, made me chuckle. ‘Well, a twelve-year-old girl went through the same thing and isn’t crying.’
    “Luther laughed, nodding his head as he used a dry paper towel to wipe the last of the moisture off his face. He said, ‘Whoever did this, whoever made this, they needed to start with live Variola .’
    “I nodded. I’d run through this analysis a long time ago. ‘There are only two places in the world to get it,’ I said. ‘Here, in the BS4, and a BS4 laboratory in Siberia where the Soviet Union held their stock.’
    “ ‘ Could someone have gotten into the stock here?’
    “ I shook my head. While anything was possible, the thought of someone stealing poxvirus from the CDC was insane, so unlikely as to be impossible. ‘No way,’ I said. ‘It’s locked in a steel crate, wrapped with heavy chains, and has two padlocks the size of my head. Only a few people even know about it, much less have the key. And the location changed every week. We had fifty-two different locations we’d cycle through, and only maybe five people knew where it was at