Page 26 of Alpha Infected
Hazard looked at his pack. They exchanged exhausted but satisfied smiles. Once again, the 448 had managed to come out on top. Hazard locked eyes with his mate. The alpha looked awful. But he was alive and on the mend. That was all that mattered.
“Told you I’d get you back, Captain,” Hazard said, knocking his boot against Ice’s bare foot.
Ice couldn’t speak around his makeshift muzzle. But the love that filled his eyes told Hazard everything he needed to know.
Chapter 8
Saturday, October 29th, 1983.
1930. Thirty-two hours after outbreak
US Legion Base Fort Grove
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma
Lieutenant Colonel Gibbs was waiting on the brightly lit tarmac when they landed at Fort Grove. He wasn’t alone. Dr. Burke was there too, plus a couple of soldiers from the science unit. And a row of armed soldiers in protective suits stood behind him.
One by one they disembarked from the helo as it powered down. Ortiz hopped off with the three cases containing the antidote in hand. Jax assisted the woman and child Ice had rescued. And Hazard helped Ice to stand. He was moving better now, but occasionally he went still, his muscles locking up as shudders racked his tall frame. He must be in terrible pain, but he didn’t make a single sound of complaint.
The colonel smiled at them all. “Good work. I-.” He abruptly stopped, his bushy red eyebrows shooting up in surprise when he got a full look at Ice.
His shock was warranted. The alpha was barefoot, bare chested, and bald. And muzzled. He looked like an ill yet still dangerous beast they’d had to restrain.
“What happened to him?”
“Got bit,” Hazard said.
Ice snorted a laugh behind his gag at Hazard’s short and extremely to the point answer. Ortiz threw Hazard an exasperated glance before she explained more fully.
“Captain Anderson was bit at approximately nineteen hundred hours. He received a dose of the antidote twenty minutes post bite. It began reversing his symptoms almost instantly, but we took precautions to be safe,” she finished with a wave at the cloth covering his mouth.
Dr. Burke took notes while Ortiz talked, his pencil quickly flying across a battered notepad. He looked up with a relieved smile once he was done.
“It worked.”
“Yes, it did,” Ortiz replied. “Now you just have to get it to work on the people of Tulsa.”
“I will,” Burke said with a firm nod.
Ortiz handed the cases to one of the science unit soldiers. They and Dr. Burke left to get started mass reproducing the antidote.
“Logistics is coming up with a plan to corral and cure the infected,” Gibbs said. “We’ll save everyone we can. Your efforts retrieving the antidote and the lives you had to take will not be in vain.” His gaze moved to the woman and child they’d brought back with them. Gibbs smiled, clearly trying to put them at ease. “Speaking of saved. Who do we have here?” he asked in a friendly tone.
“Hello. I’m Cynthia and this is my daughter Stephanie. We owe our lives to your soldiers. Especially Captain Anderson.”
“Mr. Monster saved me,” Stephanie whispered.
The little girl had been an excited chatterbox on the helicopter ride to Fort Grove. Now she looked sleepy and shyly hid behind her mother.
“That’s wonderful,” Colonel Gibbs said to her before directing his attention back to Cynthia. “We’ll need to examine you both for infection,” he kindly explained.
“Of course. I understand.”
Cynthia thanked them all before picking up her daughter and following a soldier to the medical unit.
“What about the people in the bathroom at KVP?” Jax asked.
“An extraction team is being organized. They’ll get them out. Those folks are damned lucky you came across them. And Captain, I’m happy to see that you are recovering. But you understand we’ll need to secure you in quarantine lock up until we can verify that you are completely cured.”
