Free The Neuropathology Of Zombies by Peter Cummings Page B

peeking over the top of the wall surrounding our headquarters. I was anxious to share our information and to hear what everyone else had discovered. Maybe all our pieces would come together and provide the solution to this problem and then we could all go home.
    “Hear you had some excitement at the hospital, Doc!” Fitch yelled as he slapped me on the back.
“Yeah, I guess that’s one way to put it,” I laughed.
“Good. Hope you’ve got some answers because if not, we’re screwed. But, the up side is I can get you some nice beach front property pretty damn cheap.” He said and walked into the barracks.
I entered the station behind him and a trail of people followed me. We were led to a small conference room. A round table in the center was taking up most of the space. A paper flip chart stood in the corner, and a clean white dry erase board was fixed to one of the walls. A window looked out in the direction of the main gate and allowed the room to fill with soft natural light. The central air conditioner was on high and the room was cold. However, it wouldn’t take long for the small room to heat up after everyone crammed into it.
The atmosphere was tense, but the room hummed with the murmur of small talk as people organized their notes on the table. I saw the man in the black suit slip through the door. He was tall and thin, his dark hair tightly cropped. He didn’t smile and his face was expressionless. He stood off to one side, behind the General.
General Fitch cleared his throat and began to speak, “Hello, everyone. Let’s get started, we’ve got a lot to cover. I’ll start by introducing the teams and their leaders, and then I will get everyone up to speed on what we know up to this point. After that, each team leader will summarized their results. Then, we’ll do a little brainstorming and come up with a plan for each team for the next 6 hours until the next briefing.”
The general spoke with such calm authority that I was instantly put at ease. I believed that if there was a single person on this planet who could figure a way out of this, it was him. I looked around the room and saw the group becoming transfixed by his voice. He was a born leader.
He continued, “To my left is security, followed by search and rescue. Beside them, in the middle, is science and medical, and finally on my right is the Governor of the Island.”
I looked around the table as the general spoke. The security team was represented by two middle aged men in gray fatigues. They were accompanied by a gentleman in a police uniform, I recognized him from the parking lot, it was the Chief. They all looked tired and their eyes were sunken and surrounded by dark circles.
There were four men with the search and rescue team. All were dressed in beige fatigues and had firmness to their stares while they scanned the table, as I was doing. I wondered how they were imagining me.
My science and medical team was made up of a total of seven people, myself, a virologist, a microbiologist, Dr. Allen, two medics and a medical technician. My group was represented at the briefing by the virologist and myself.
Fitch lowered his head, “Ms. Governor, I want to thank you on behalf of the President of the United States for having us as guests on your Island.”
“No, General, I want to thank you for coming. I’m not sure what we would do without the United States. We are all greatly indebted to you,” she replied.
The Governor was an older woman, maybe in her mid-60’s. She spoke with a humble, but self-confidant tone. I learned later that she had been the governor on the Island for 20 years, winning endless re-election bids. She was adored by her people and honestly cared deeply for them. I often wondered since, what life we be like if we had such politicians in the United States.
“Ok, most of us know the story by now. Close to forty hours ago two police officers responded to a domestic call at the Marina Star Hotel. They arrived to discover