Free The Village of Dead Souls: A Zombie Novel by Michael Wallace Page B

assistance." Titus replied as he addressed the group.
    * * *
    With his whiskey flask in hand, General Brown stood at the end of the conference table and addressed the room full of military officers. At the opposite end of the table, a monitor teleconferenced Daniel and Lisa from their lab. "How long until you have the cure?" He said to the scientists. Daniel moved closer to the camera , causing his face to have a fisheye lens effect. He cleared his throat and with a nervous tone said, "Dr. Tower and I have made great strides in finding a cure. We have isolated what appears to cause the re-animation effect."
    "So you found the virus."
    "No , General. We can't classify it as a virus at this time. Truthfully, we don't know what this is."
    "You don't need to know what it is, just figure out how to kill it." The General turned to the other men in the room. "Until they come up with a cure, we need to step up our efforts. I have reports coming in from several countries the re-ans are fighting back only not in the soccer riot fashion. They are organized and using military tactics. Albeit, rather ancient strategies, they are still effective methods for this type of street fight."
    One of the officers at the table asked, "Are the re-ans capable of communicating with other groups in different countries?"
    "As far as we can tell, they can't even communicate with each other when they are only feet apart. These rebellious outbreaks are isolated incidents , but they are similar in execution. This is why we can no longer rely on our first responders to take care of the situation. The President has given me the go ahead to bring in reservists and eliminate the threat."
    Another officer asked, "But bullets and conventional weapons have no effect on them. What will we use?"
    "Everything we have. They burn extremely easy. Once you squish them under a tank tread , it's just a matter of cleaning up." He pointed to the folders on the table in front of all the men. "You have your objectives in front of you. When you get back to your home state, use whatever tools you have at your disposal. Try not to break any building or infrastructure , because we would have to go back in and re-build it. This whole operation has already thrown us way over budget." Brown took a swig from his flask and glanced at his cell phone. He saw a text from Pink, which said, "How about you take me to dinner?" He became so captivated with the message that he did not notice Daniel had spent a few minutes explaining the progress they had made on the anti-virus. He came out of his trance and focused back on the meeting.
    On the video screen, Daniel continued, "…so it acts more like a parasite than a virus taking control of the nervous system , much the same way as the parasitic fungus Ophiocordyceps unilateralis takes control over the brain and nervous system of an ant. Only, this is a much larger scale with more complexity to the operation of the host body."
    Hearing the words "parasitic fungus," caused Brown to take another sip from his whiskey. "Why does this fungus want to take control of an ant?"
    Daniel moved to the side as Lisa moved into view of the camera to answer the question. "Hi General, it's me , Dr. Tower."
    "Yes, Doctor , I know who you are."
    "Okay, the fungus has the same purpose as all living entities. It simply wants to reproduce. When it takes control of the ant's brain, it forces the ant to climb to a high point , so it can spread its spores. We can only assume the virus, fungus or parasite controlling these re-animated bodies is using them for the same purpose. It will eventually cause the body to go somewhere or do something needed for the reproduction cycle of the entoparasite ."
    Having an expression of dissatisfaction, Brown responded, " So, can we just spray them with bug killer and then be done with this whole thing?"
    Daniel moved his way back into the screen. "Actually, that gives me an idea, General. I'll go over some theories with Dr. Tower and