Free Outbreak (Book 1): Emerald City by Jay K. Anthony Page A

said. Blushing now, Tanner took out some kind of multi-tool and adjusted it so that it exposed a pair of wire cutters.
    “You’re really stuck,” he said.
    No kidding! Tasha thought but sat patiently while the soldier went to work. The silence grew awkward.
    “I’m ‘B-negative’” she blurted out, but to her it sounded stupid, like ‘bee negative’.
    “Excuse me?” Tanner replied, pausing.
    “My blood type. It’s B-negative,” she said, but he only stared at her, clearly not understanding. “The helicopter dropped leaflets,” she continued. “They need volunteers with B-negative blood.”
    “Oh, yeah?” Tanner asked. “No shit … I mean, no kidding.” He shrugged and went back to work on the wire. ”Hang tight, this might take a couple minutes,” he said, so Tasha blew out a breath of air and waited.

 
     
     
     
    CLARK
     
    Clark looked over the body of the man who had been resistant to the infection. Clark was dressed in full surgical scrubs with goggles, paper mask and gloves. A precaution the soldier at the door insisted upon when Clark tried to enter the gymnasium. The building had been turned into a well-functioning, rather state of the art medical facility. Unfortunately it was overwhelmed with the injured, sick and the dead. Clark now stood among the last group. He had pulled back the white sheet to see the corpse and completed a quick assessment. Other than the head trauma, which to Clark looked like a someone had literally taken a bite out of the side of the man’s skull, the only thing Clark found to note was the victim had B-negative blood. A very rare blood type , Clark thought. He remembered specific blood types were more resistant to certain diseases, something to do with the sugar concentrations, but he had no idea why B-negative would be of any significance.
    Finished with his examination, he turned to look at some of the other bodies of fully infected victims. He was surprised at the different levels of infection the victims had endured. One of the bodies appeared to have died of nothing more than a severe flu. Others looked to have been infected much longer and had everything from blisters and sores to broken bones and lacerations. Yet another had been in later stages of decomposition. Clark realized he still had a lot to learn about this virus but he needed a break. He was tired of looking at dead bodies. He wanted to know more about the blood, but knew he would get nowhere without a computer and network access to research diseases and blood types. It will have to wait until I get back to the ship, he thought. Whenever that is.
    Done at the gymnasium, Clark decided now would be a good time to go and track down the soldier who had brought in the disease resistant victim. Hopefully he can tell me about the condition the man had been in before he died . As Clark got cleaned up and prepared to leave the building, he realized he had no idea where to find the soldier. He asked the guard at the door and found out Special Operations guys liked to stick to themselves. “He could be anywhere, sir,” the soldier said. Fabulous, Clark thought as he stepped out into the rain. “But I’d try the cafeteria first,” the soldier yelled after him. Clark gave him a wave of thanks as he walked away. Looking around, he saw the cafeteria building and went inside. He approached one of the cooks on the food line.
    “I’m looking for a soldier,” Clark said. “His name is Rocha. Is he here?”
    “No, sir,” the cook said. “But he was earlier. Heard him talking about his rifle being damaged on his last mission so he’s probably at the firing range.”
    This is becoming a regular goose chase, Clark thought. “Okay, which way to the firing range?”
    “Football field,” the cook said. “Just follow the sounds of gunfire. Or wait, scratch that, we could be fighting zombies on the perimeter. No point in you going out there and getting yourself killed! Just go back behind the gymnasium,