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“The true test of a soldiers mettle is to see whether or not they will cling to what they believe in, even in the face of impending death.”
-Major General Michael Thur
The space had been arrayed without the slightest traces of pomp or ceremony. Only a folding divider separated him from the others, arranged in rows without the slightest hint of differentiation. It seemed like a minor injustice for a man who was, in his own right at least, very important. He was sure his own soldiers would have afforded him far greater luxuries.
As it stood, only a modest amount of privacy was necessary right now. Hence, the General had been assigned a bed like any other, but placed in far rear with a makeshift wall to avoid confusing him with the others. Unlike the others in the ten, he alone could be held accountable for his actions. Everyone else were merely pawns who found themselves on either side of a firefight, sent into the fray at the behest of someone else.
Graph stood at the edge of the folding wall for a few seconds and watched him as he lay there, breathing with the help of the apparatus and his body hooked up to half a dozen monitors. Only the beeping of the heart rate monitor and the gentle sound of the oxygen mask provided any true indication that he was still alive. The gore soaked bandages on his left side and the single bit of dressing on his right shoulder spoke of a rather terrible brush with death, which he had just barely survived.
And yet, he looked so perfectly serene right now, comfortable and resting despite the state of his body. Graph hoped he enjoyed it while it lasted. Soon enough, he would be forced to answer for all he’d done, and the toll it would take on him was not something he would be able to bear lightly.
A slight stirring on the man’s face and some movement in his fingers told Graph that he had awakened and was aware of his presence. He began to fumble for the mask and Graph moved to his side to help him remove it. He had expected a few more minutes of quiet observation, but it appeared that was now at an end. It was time to begin…
“Hello General,” he said quietly. “It’s been a long time.”
Thur struggled for a moment to get his breathing under control and looked up at him. He blinked a few times, his face tightening into a frown.
“Do I know you?”
Graph chuckled. “Yes, General. We met in the capitol many years ago. I was one of the many advisers the Joint Chiefs brought in to discuss the validity of enhanced interrogation techniques. I believe, at the time, you weren’t quite in favor of what I had to say.”
Thur moaned and looked away. “I remember you…”
“Good. I’d hate for you to be at a disadvantage here. I, of course, remember you. I’m also familiar with what you’ve done here. It’s quite impressive.”
Thur moaned again. The effort of maintaining this much of a conversation was an effort to say the least. But after a few more breaths, he was determined to talk again.
“You have no idea what you’ve done here today.”
“Oh, but I do,” Graph replied. “We’ve secured your base of operations, routed your soldiers, and assumed custody of the vaccine you were working on. Soon, it will be ours, you’ll be coming back to the capitol with me, and we can all put this little episode behind us.”
Thur frowned again and looked down at his feet. His eyes seemed to be focusing off in the distance somewhere, as if he really wasn’t listening.
“Who’s in charge?” he muttered.
“I beg your pardon?”
“I said,” he stopped to cough, “who’s in charge? Who are you taking your orders from?”
Graph couldn’t help but smile. Now that he knew he would be taken back east, his mind naturally went to the question of who he would be answering to. Always the soldier, sizing up his odds of surviving.
“Secretary Wallace was and remains in charge of the nation, sir. You may remember he was entrusted with the task of overseeing things when the Cabinet fell.”
“Lies,” Thur breathed. “He removed them, and the Joint Chiefs. You serve a traitor.”
“Traitor?” Graph said, his voice rising a few octaves. “I find it interesting that you, of all people, would choose to use that word. It was you who broke your oath when you decided to go rogue with this little operation of yours.”
“I had… no choice.” The coughing resumed and was becoming worse. Graph didn’t notice.
“If that’s your defense, you might want to rethink it. I doubt your tribunal will choose to be lenient based on that.”
“The man had already given up! He only… cared about protecting… one thing! He was going to let… the country rot to shit!”
Thur was coughing heavily now, his body spasming and the words only coming out with extreme effort. Graph waited a few second for the worst to pass and fetched the oxygen mask again. Thur refused it, pointing instead to a cup of water that lay on the beside stand. Reaching for it, Graph assisted him in taking several mouthfuls of water before he allowed their conversation to resume.
“Tell me something, General… is it right and proper that soldiers make policy? Or do they simply enforce the decisions made by civilians? You made the choice to become the law in your own neck of the woods, to carry on in this war single-handedly. But now we have the upper hand. We are reigning you in and putting this country right. And when we are finished here, we’ll have the last thing we need to complete the process. When that happens, men like you will no longer be necessary, and you will be forgotten. You’re actions, your betrayals, will have been pointless.” He let that hang in the air for a moment. “Tell me, how does that sit with you now? Will you still maintain you had no choice?”
Thur frowned and got that distant look again. His words were raspy and barely audible. “What do you mean, when you’re done?”
“I’m sorry?”
“You said ‘when we’re done here’. You don’t have it yet, do you?”
Graph frowned. Once again, Thur had focused in on a single point and ignored the rest. How he hated that! What was worse, in his haste, he had revealed something he really didn’t mean to. It was such a rookie mistake that it felt deplorable! He knew better than to surrender things, dammit!
“If you’re referring to the vaccine, General, then no. You’re staff was quite thorough in destroying it and all information pertaining to it. But we did manage to procure the cooperation of your doctor, and he was quite eager to be of assistance. One would think he didn’t like you much.”
Thur scoffed and looked away. Graph had him on the defensive again, a far preferable state.
“What’s more, we know you evacuated the remains of Patient Zero before we struck. But you must know its only a matter of time before we find it, don’t you? You only had so much warning, and your people couldn’t have smuggled it outside the city grounds in time. And there really is only so many places such sensitive biomaterials could be stored.” He leaned in close to Thur, letting his words sink in again. “So tell me… given that it’s only a matter of time, and people will continue to die until we find what we’re looking for, what is the point in resisting?”
Thur rolled his head back and looked Graph in the face. They were mere inches apart now and both men could see the pattern in the others’ eyes. Graph noted the hazel green and black flecks of Thur’s, almost a cammo pattern in themselves. How appropriate, if somewhat predictable. He was sure Thur was equally taken aback by the pale blues of his own, and the piercing effect they were known to have in a weaker adversary. And Thur was nothing if not weakened right now. He hoped he sensed that too, and responded accordingly.
“You want to me to surrender my people,” he said obviously. “You honestly think they’ll go for that.”
“They’ll know if it comes from you,” Graph replied. “And I have a feeling they will obey, if they – and you – see reason.”
“They’ll know it’s being coerced,” Thur said with a smile. “Besides, I trained them too well. There’s no way they’d lay down their arms to save my ass.”
Graph shook his head. “You disappoint me, General. I had hoped you would put the lives of your people ahead of your own vanity.”
“Don’t speak to me about lives!” A loud, heaving cough followed the words. Thur almost sat up in bed from all the spasms. Still, he bellowed like a man determined to have his say. “You and that bastard were happy to let people fend for themselves while you sat back and watched. The only reason you might come out of this winners is because of what I did here. Now you want to steal it from me so you can be the saviors?”
His words trailed off as his body became wracked with coughs. When Graph tried to help get him more water, Thur pushed him aside and grabbed it himself. Several mouth fulls drained the cup, but failed to stop the coughing. It was several moments before Thur was quiet again and Graph felt like he could respond. They were clearly getting nowhere, so he decided to skip ahead to the only salient point that remained.
“General, if you truly were motivated by the plight of others, consider this. It’s not just the lives of your own people that hang in the balance now. As long as you withhold the location of the remains, as long as your soldiers continue to fight, people will continue to die. If anyone is going to stop the spread of this virus and put an end to this entire unfortunate episode, we need to stop this madness and get to the business of making a vaccine again. What does it matter who has it or who distributes it? One way or another, this war has to end, and that can only happen with unity, don’t you agree?”
Thur breathed heavily. His words were barely intelligible anymore. “I did… once. Then I learned an important lesson.”
“Oh, and what’s that?”
Thur coughed several more times. He had to practically yell to get the words out.
“When the chips are down… the man you need to fear the most is the one next to you.”
In the corner, the hea rtate monitor began to wail like a klaxon, the spikes coming closer together and reaching higher than at any point in their conversation. When he was done, Thur fell back against his pillow, exhausted and struggling to breath. For a few seconds, Graph just stood there. Eventually, he came forward and grabbed the oxygen mask.
“We’ve talked long enough, General. You should get some rest,” he said, placing the mask back over his face. “I hope you change your mind before the day is out. Otherwise, more people are going to die. A lot more people.”
Thur’s eyes closed and his body began to still. The heart rate monitor slowed and resumed a sound, even pace. Eyeing his bandages, Graph noted the presence of what looked like fresh blood. He would have to find the medic before leaving and recommend the dressings be changed.
Stepping outside the tent, Graph looked to the west where the sun was finally beginning to descend. They were likely to have a few more hours of daylight. And then, depending on what Thur decided, they would either be in for a long night as all sides dug in and awaited the morning, or they could all look forward to a fitful sleep.
But he knew which way this would go. No compromises, no quarter. Thur’s people would fight it out, and they would be forced to fight them to the point of capitulation. No telling how many would be taken prisoner in the end, but it was safe to say that it would be a small portion of his soldiers, the ones that remained only after all hope of escape and victory had perished along with their comrades.
And once that was over, there was no guarantee they would even have anything to show for it. For all they knew, the remains of Patient Zero had been destroyed, its protectors and their vehicle taken out by a missile or armored column during the initial advance. In the end, they could scour the entire state only to find that all traces of the perished along with the vaccine itself.
One step forwards for them, two step backwards for the nation. The battle won but the war prolonged. He wondered if Thur saw it in those terms and was hoping to twist the knife, to get some Pyrrhic victory amidst the general defeat.
“Damn you, General,” he said to himself, the sound of rotors and boot steps drowning out his voice. “End this, you stubborn bastard!”
Image may be NSFW.
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Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.
