Daniel turned on his heel and left the conference room, hearing the voices rising as soon as the door shut. He walked with a measured, fatalistic tread toward the nearest opening on the mountainside.

Daniel knew he should have just pushed it through. That’s what a military leader would have done. But this wasn’t a military operation anymore. He was leading a bunch of civilians, and they had to make their own decisions. Besides, Daniel thought there were enough in there that agreed with him to sway the rest. If not…he’d figure something out.

Jogging up flights of steps just to burn off energy, once he got to the hatch he opened it and sat down on a nearby log, within easy hearing distance of the telephone in the box just inside. He stared out over the low hazy West Virginia mountains, smelling the pine in the air, hearing the rustle of leaves in the breeze, wondering about the future.

It was less than a half hour before the phone rang. He took that as a good sign.

The conference room was silent as Daniel reentered. He sat down in the empty chair at the head of the table, and deliberately did not look at Elise. He didn’t want people thinking he was politicking with his wife.

Spooky cleared his throat. “Mister Chairman,” he said softly, “I believe we are of accord together. We are willing to bear responsibility with you. We will spread the Plague.”

Daniel released the breath he’d been holding and smiled. Spontaneous applause broke out, a relaxation of their nervous tension. He took the breath back in, deeply. Now for the first test of their resolve and unity. “All right, that’s talking the talk. Can we all walk the walk?”

“Meaning what?” asked Vinny.

“Meaning…we have to infect everyone here to start.” Daniel reached over to a side table where a small bag rested, unnoticed until now. Pulling out a cloth, he unrolled it to reveal five small syringes.

He didn’t think they expected him to throw it in their faces like that – to take concrete action after an abstract decision. But as it slowly sank in, he could see the acceptance form on every face, most especially those who were not yet infected: Spooky, Vinny, Cassandra, Roger and Arthur.

Cassandra spoke first. “I’m in. I’m fine with it. I’ve seen what it can do. Shoot me up, doc.” She rolled up her sleeve.

Daniel took the first needle and walked over to her. Looking in her eyes for a moment and seeing no uncertainty, he plunged it in. She smiled, a little strained, but determined.

The rest rolled up their sleeves as well, and he got it done as quickly as he could, before anyone got cold feet. “Everyone’s seen the effects. Be prepared for the appetite. We have no shortage of food. Just eat what you feel like. And keep an eye on each other, in case of anything strange. But now that that’s done, we have to give it to everyone else in the bunker.”

“What, against their will?”

Daniel stared at Vinny, who had spoken. “We’re talking about doing it to the whole planet. If we can’t do it to our own people, our own families, how can we justify doing it to everyone else in the world?”

There came another exchange of shocked glances. It was all becoming real to them, and fast. He’d had days and days to think it over and settle it in his mind, but they were getting steamrolled in real time. He had to do it this way, though, or the consensus might collapse.

“So what I propose doing, and you will need to ratify, is this. We start putting it in the drinks at our meals, and keep doing it until everyone is in. Nobody gets to opt out.” Daniel could tell some were very uncomfortable with this idea. The values of individual liberty and self-determination ran deep in American culture. He stamped on his own misgivings and forced the issue. “So that’s my first formal motion. I move the Bunker Council approve infecting everyone here, without their express permission.”

There was a pause. Then, “Seconded,” from Spooky. He shot a look at Vinh.

“All right, motion is on the floor. All in favor say ‘aye.’”

Ayes rang out, some tentative, but clear.

“Opposed?” Daniel waited for Vinny to object, but he didn’t. “All right, that’s settled. Now, here’s my first bureaucratic act as Chairman – watch this presentation.”

Turning on the computer screen, he laid it out for them then, in graphics and charts and pictures, how he proposed to plague the world. Coming to the conclusion, he looked around again, his hands clenched behind his back. “So now you’ve seen my plan, in outline. Everyone will get a chance to weigh in on the methods, on the how. But for the basic goals, I need to hear all inputs now, and I need everyone behind me one hundred percent on this.”

They talked and wrangled well into the evening, breaking for a meal and coming back, until they had worked through all the misgivings and everyone raised his or her hand and said, “Aye” again.

After that it was just details.

-21-

The Council spent the next week keeping peace and soothing hurt feelings as the Eden Plague took hold. The virtue effect made it simpler, and Daniel had counted on it. Better-balanced brains and more stable minds made it easier to accept the insult of their own destinies being hijacked for the greater good. Still, once everyone was confident they wouldn’t turn into zombies or pod people, their little community settled down remarkably well.

One afternoon Daniel looked in on the scientists, who had turned their efforts away from research, toward simply breeding as much virus as they could and making doses. They had enlisted the whole community, and there was a group of people in a big room next to the lab chattering away like a knitting circle. Except in this case instead of needles and yarn, they had hundreds of containers and were filling them with virus solution. Plastic water and soda bottles dominated. A few filled syringes – from small ones, to large and heavy with enormous needles, as if they were to inject horses. Part of the plan.

Elise came over when she spotted Daniel. “It’s a good thing the virus is hardy. Not like HIV, for example, which dies after a few hours in the air. This stuff is more like influenza. I sure wish we had time to make it airborne.” She looked accusingly at him.

“Sorry. We all agreed we couldn’t risk taking the time.”

“I know. We’re doing the best with what we have. At least it looks like simply ingesting a little bit is highly effective. Although injections use less.” She ran her hands through her hair.

“Yes, all but two people acquired it the first time around in the drinks, and those two got it the next time.”

“With a higher dose. We’re going to have to accept the fact that it’s not one hundred percent.”

“Anything over fifty and I’ll be happy.” Daniel kissed her, a little longer and harder than was usual, and then moved on to “manage by walking around.” He checked up on Larry, Spooky and Vinny’s work on the Bunker. They and some of the other men were laboring away with the heavy equipment, digging a new tunnel, covering everything with rock dust. This was also part of the plan. Then Daniel tracked down Cassie. He found her working with her kids and a few of the Nguyen and Nightingale kids that had come in, an impromptu school. The room smelled like old-fashioned paste and new magic markers.

“Hey, Cassie.”

“You know you’re the only one who calls me that.”

“I like to be different. What do other people call you?”

“Cassandra, or Cass.”

“You wouldn’t look good in a mumu.”

“I’m not going to admit to being old enough to get that reference. Call me whatever you want.” She raised her voice. “Class, take a ten-minute recess.”

The kids bolted out the door.

“Okay, what is it?”

“I need your tradecraft. I want to go get my dad.”