Technosis: The Kensington Virus by Morgan Bell Read Free Book Online Page A

boxers addressed Sam.
    Sam ignored him. He’d gotten sick of trying to keep up with his mother’s boyfriends and this moron was just the latest clueless idiot to come home with his mom. Sam, at age eight, knew that there would be a fight, sooner rather than later, and his mother would be telling him what a horrible asshole the latest boyfriend was and how she’d never let this happen again. Sam had decided it was easier to tune out everything and just play his games.
    “You know where your mom’s purse is?” the creepy guy asked.
    Sam could have lied, could have ignored the idiot, but he’d learned it was better to be neutral and slightly helpful, even if it meant they got robbed. People didn’t hit you if you made it easy for them to rob you, well, they didn’t hit as hard. “On the corner table next to the front door.”
    “Thanks, little man,” the creepy guy smirked and went to the front of the apartment.
    He didn’t make much in the way of pretense about what he was doing. He went through the purse and took out all of Sam’s mother’s state and federal benefit cards. He also took her panel that all her payment services were linked to. While he was looking at the panel a message flashed on it. The creepy guy stopped and read it. His eyes narrowed and he felt his brain begin to burn with rage and then pain. He could hear the sound of his own blood swirling in his ears. He felt himself wanting to scream and gnash his teeth. But he said nothing. He just walked, read and went back into the bedroom where he had left Sam’s mom.
    Sam heard the door close. The fight was coming soon. He could tell. The dirt bag had cleaned out his mother’s purse and she was going to lay into him. He turned up the volume on his game. There were another three levels to go before he would reach anything that would require his attention. Sam played and waited.
    He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see the creepy guy dressed and his mom also dressed. Neither of them looked happy, but neither of them looked like they’d been in a fight either.
    “Hey, little man,” the creepy guy said, “we’re going to the mall.”
    ∞
    “We have thirty KVs in the mall, transmitting the virus,” Sergeant Abe Rosen addressed his team. “This is a dense population urban setting. No automatic weapons, knives not guns. Discreet is the watch word. Let Dr. Baxter lead and make sure you have his back. We go in two at a time. Spread out. Com contact with Dr. B, if you think you have one. Do not move until we confirm. Is that clear?”
    The ten soldiers in the transport answered as one, “Yes, sarge.”
    “Dr. Baxter, time for you and me to take a stroll,” Sergeant Rosen said, and threw open the back door to the transport vehicle.
    Jamie caught his breath when he felt the cold blast against his face. He’d been some cold places, but he was caught by surprise by the dry air.
    “Cold as a brass witch’s tits,” Sergeant Rosen laughed. “You’ll get used to it. I grew up not five miles from here.”
    “Just getting acclimated,” Jamie shivered, his teeth chattering.
    “We’ll be inside in a minute. But be ready for ugly, this is Paramus,” Sergeant Rosen said, releasing the clip that secured his service knife.
    Jamie had been on fifteen missions in the last three weeks. All of them had been straight forward. They’d gone to the healthcare campuses in seven different states. They’d gone to the rage bays and there they found the KVs, dead and texting, messaging, posting like maniacs. The virus churning through dead people back and forth from the internet and the phone service, killing, transforming and transmitting. They were efficient, they cleared the bays, destroyed the phone, tablets, and all the other tech the KVs were using. Then they burned the body. Those clean sweep operations were simple and fast. Jamie was nervous about this one because it was an “in population” strike. The KVs weren’t self-segregating here.