Free Humanity: After It Happened Book 2 by Devon C Ford

cameras outside of their immediate control there was nobody moving.
    Four senior politicians had got through the screening process, which was basically anybody that had the slightest raise in body temperature was deftly diverted to another room which did not lead to the bunker.  With those politicians had come some key senior military commanders and their bag carriers, along with a research staff who had been in place for some time by their pale complexions.  Add to this the maintenance staff and a handful of police officers assigned to escort and protect the politicians, there were thirty-six souls locked underground.
    There had been thirty-seven, but one man was determined to open the sealed entrance and condemn them all in the hope that his family were still alive.  One of the police officers had abruptly ended negotiations with the enraged man using a gun.
    Now it seemed, after months of living underground, there was no rescue coming and no contact from the outside world either.  Satellite phones, secure digital hard line networks, internet, radios; all had gone quiet weeks ago.  People started to say that this was a global event, and that they may be the only ones alive.
    Eleven similar locations on the UK mainland had been activated simultaneously, and communications between four others had been established.  Three of those showed signs of outbreak within twelve hours of lockdown, and all contact was lost shortly after.  The safe assumption was that they had all died.
    Only contact remained with one other bunker, site one, over five hundred miles away in Scotland.  It was in a very remote location, intentionally, and was the secret base of virology where bio-weapons were tested and constant theoretical war games were played.
    A modern day plague was the new nuclear option, it seemed.  Even better actually, as it was deniable.  The virology lab held synthesised accelerated samples of just about everything that could kill a person, then tried to find ways of juicing its lethality to biblical proportions.  Information security protocols were adhered to in the first few weeks, but as it started to dawn on everyone that this was very real so the story began to unfold.
    From what the scientists had seen, this was a form of influenza based on their observations on camera.  It had an unbelievably fast gestation period, and was lethal within forty-eight hours.  Exact cause of death was unknown as no test subjects were available to be autopsied, but the best guess would be fever and heart failure.  They swore it wasn’t one of theirs, and voiced suspicions that if it was a bio-weapon attack then it would probably be airborne and most definitely Chinese.
    There were some in the bunker with various religious beliefs.  Some of these hypothesised the coming of the end of days which led to counter arguments and eventually a number of heated fights which had to be split up more than once.
    An ageing Lieutenant Colonel with an impressive shock of white hair and a dazzling array of medals was all for their immediate departure; he planned to lead them all to a nearby barracks where they would be equipped as soldiers and he would lead them onwards. 
    Most people though the man unstable, and it was rumoured that the last time he had seen active service was before most of them were born.
    Their decision was made for them at the end of February, when the generator began to splutter and finally gave out.  This year’s resolution; don’t die of suffocation in a hole in the ground. 

BACK ON THE HORSE
     
    February ended, and the weather improved slightly.  A flurry of activity began on the farms and gardens; seeds were planted, animals were moved around and Chris spoke of his plans to introduce the young bull to their small herd of cows. 
    All departments loaned extra bodies to help, and some renewed purpose infected the group.  Dan decided to start pushing the fitness and skills of his Rangers, and had them in the gym