RESURGENCE

CHAPTER 29 & Conrad's diary

10 A.M.

June 16, 2034

“Come in,” said the general upon hearing a knock on the door.

The doctor entered the room and briskly walked towards the desk.

“What’s the latest?” asked the General.

“They’re all safe. All eight of them.”

“Good, I was worried. They looked in bad shape when they got out.”

“Of course they did. I had to revive them twice in the space of fifteen minutes before they made it out of the zone. I talked with all of them, and that’s made the picture a bit more clear.”

“What did you find out?”

“All of them experienced fear, pain, anger, anxiety, trauma, hallucinations, and ultimately complete loss of reality.”

“Loss of reality?” asked the general.

“Yes, they imagined things that were not actually present and lost touch with all that was around them. In simpler words, they went crazy.”

“Are they still crazy?”

“No, they are perfectly fine now.”

“How did you cure them?”

“I didn’t, once they got out of the zone, they got better with time.”

“Are they going to stay better or have recurring bouts of craziness?”

“I hope they stay better. Most of them said they had extremely violent thoughts inside the zone. It makes me wonder of all the people who are still alive and trapped in there.”

“Let’s put all eight of them under twenty-four hour watch. The last thing we need now is dealing with a soldier going nuts..”

“Better safe than sorry.”

“It is. Did you find out anything else?”

“I conducted air sample testing. There’s nothing to it. The air is as clean as it can be. I’m performing a scan on all possible radiation frequencies in the zone with help from a research lab in Arizona. I should have some answers in about a couple of hours.”

“Do you have a hunch?

“It might be a newly devised way of psychological warfare. The area could be getting bombarded with radiation from a satellite or a device placed inside the zone.”

“If it’s the case, it’s surely an act of war and deserves to be aptly answered.”

“It could be a terrorist group, too. Homegrown or foreign.”

“Either way, there’s about fifty-thousand Americans either dead or rotting in madness, and we have no fucking clue as to what’s the cause.”

“If the people inside the zone are still alive, there’s hope that they can be rescued.”

“Let’s go to the control room and check with Maggie if she’s got any updates.”

“Sergeant Jake did a good job today. I recommend a promotion.”

“Recommendation noted.”

They both walked out of the general’s office and made their way to the auditorium of Ellington Community College, which had been converted into a control room cum research facility. The general and the doctor entered the control room from a side door marked exit and went over to Maggie Kelly, who was sitting in the front row.