The Life of Jacob Track (Book Two of the 33X Series)

Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO

February 15, 2015

Andrew Thompson was a scientist and a damn good one.  He had studied biology and neurology and graduated at the top of his class.  At the end of 2014, Andrew was approached at his new job by Magnus Cain.  Magnus offered him double the pay and the ability to work on a project that could save countless lives.  Andrew, of course, had agreed.  Who didn't want to save lives and make money while doing it?  Isn't that why he went into the medical field in the first place?  He was employed by a secret government agency with no name.  He worked in a huge laboratory with special housing.  He was unfortunately on-call 24/7 with no real time away.  When he did have free time, he wasn't allowed to talk about his work at all. Even though they never said, he felt watched when he did take free time.  Sometimes he felt like a character from the Men in Black movies, stripped of his identity and freedom working in secret.  If the situation wasn't so serious, he was sure he'd laugh about it.

            As he worked in the lab, pouring over the data on the LZ Virus, a doctor named Larry Rumsfield created, he noticed something off.  The stories he had heard and the documents were not matching up.  He walked across the large lab over to Larry's desk.  Larry was deep in thought, reading files on the computer.

            "Excuse me, Dr. Rumsfield?" Andrew asked politely.

            "Yes?"  Larry replied, not looking away from his computer screen.

            "I was reading your files on the LZ Virus.  I must say it's quite impressive, really.  But I'm a bit confused by something."

            "Most are, son,"  Larry replied flippantly, his eyes still glued to the screen.

            "I'm sure...but that's not what I meant.  You wrote that after a few tests there were no positive results."

            "That's...true,"  Larry replied, finally turning his chair to face Andrew.

            "But sir, I heard the story that it did work.  Jacob Track was revived from the dead, correct?"  Andrew asked curiously.

"Have you not worked on the 33x files yet?"

"No, I was assigned to help with the LZ Virus formula."

"Aah ... I see.  Well if you would have read the files, you would know that Jacob Track was not dead.  He suffered injuries that would have been fatal, yes, but was nursed back to health by myself.  He never died, and therefore, was never revived."

"Wow! I thought for sure that the LZ Virus had worked.... everyone did!" Andrew scratched his head in amazement.

            "Yes, everyone did.  It was all part of the experiment,"  Larry said.  He loved fooling everyone with his schemes. Being smarter than everyone else had its perks.

            "Of course, I'm sorry to bother you. Thanks!" Andrew nodded and returned to his table across the large room.  He was surprised  how Larry had fooled an entire community into thinking a boy rose from the dead.  Some part of him was a bit awestruck; the rest was almost scary.  If Larry could pull off such an elaborate hoax to fool a town of 5,000 people ... what else could he do?  He had a lot of respect for Larry's work, but wasn't sure how a hoax was helpful to the experiment.

         In a battlefield, these drugs would be perfect weapon. You'd have a never-ending supply of soldiers to do whatever they were told to.  The US Army would be completely unstoppable.  The USA was already one of the most powerful countries, but this would take it even further.  Even the dead would still fight for the cause, being recycled for patriotism. No matter when the LZ Virus was completed, there had to be sufficient tests to check for side effects.  The last thing the world needed was a zombie apocalypse that everyone was so sure was coming. Andrew felt a shiver down his spine as he turned to his computer screen to finish working.  Working on something so controversial wasn't easy, but he knew it was the right thing to do. The LZ Virus needed to be complete, it was too important.