I did a little revising of this work. I felt like Abandoning someone being attacked wasn't exactly in Thai's character. anyway, I still don't really know what the Cyber Riots are.
Thai opened her eyes. She looked over at the digital clock on the end table. The TV blared with the morning news. The weather report said It would be clear and hot during the day while isolated thunderstorms would develop sometime around four PM. She sat up and looked at the sky through the windows on the other side of the room. Clouds must have moved in in the two hours she was sleeping. At that moment the door opened. Greg stepped in still dressed in his APF uniform.
"Hey," he said. "Hope I didn't wake you."
Thai shook her head. Greg placed a mug and plate onto the table in the kitchen area along with a towel and a fresh set of clothes.
"I got some doughnuts and coffee from the lounge. I also thought you might like to freshen up a bit. You can use the showers in the training facility downstairs if you'd like. Hopefully the clothes fit. I didn't know your size. One of the officers offered a change of clothes for you just in case you wanted to wash the old ones."
Thai stood up. Still groggy from her restless sleep, She walked over to the table and grabbed one of the doughnuts.
"Thanks," Thai replied. She looked down. "For everything. The past couple of nights have been...strange to say the least."
"No problem. It's a lot to take in. I'd hardly believe it myself if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes. Anyway my next shift will be starting in a few hours. I have a briefing to attend but I'll be back after that. We can order pizza or something. I'll leave a guest key card for you to get back in after you're all washed up."
After Greg left, Thai sat down at the little table. She sipped the coffee and ate half of the doughnut she took. She continued to think of everything that happened in the past few nights. One unexpected thought came to the surface of her mind; she'd have to find another job. For a minute Thai let out a little chuckle at how absurd the whole thing was. The city, possibly the world, was in danger of being taken over by whatever Jane and the strippers became and all she could think about was where her next paycheck would come from. She finished the coffee and ate a second doughnut. Then she stood up, took the new clothes and towel and left to find the APF training facility.
# # # #
Around fifty officers entered the briefing room including Commander Winters, Kira, the lieutenant, Greg and Andrew. The room was more like a college lecture hall. Long, white desks crossed the room only ending in the center and the sides to allow for three carpeted stairways that led to the exits at the back. Rows of extra seats were placed to the sides in the front. While the lower ranked officers sat in the seats at the desks, Kira, Greg and Andrew sat in the seats to the side. Behind the podium, the wall-sized white board turned into a gigantic telescreen. A conference room could be seen on the screen. Mayor White and a select few of his staff filed in and took their seats. The commander stood at the podium ready to start the briefing.
"Good evening," the commander said. "This is a bit of an update on our present situation with the disappearances as well as the so-called
infection
we are dealing with. Anything we talk about here is not to leave this building. The first to speak will be Lieutenant Savage updating us on the events at Zenith Memorial Hospital."
The lieutenant stood up. He was a burly man who had seen a number of major missions in his past. In one of his most famous he was a major player in the suppression of the cyber riots. Before he came to the force, he was a veteran of the Pacific War in the 2040s as well as a few other skirmishes the US fell into. In his entire forty-five-year career, using force against citizens of his own country had been the hardest thing he had to do. Unfortunately for him, it seemed things were going to go that way again.
"Right," Lieutenant Savage started. "So. Currently the situation at Zenith Memorial is under control. The infected women have been locked away. Unfortunately, it was at the cost of our best team. We can only assume that the women of the squad have all been turned and the men, well..."
A tear rolled from the corner of Lieutenant Savage's eye, down his cheek. A tiny little crack in his otherwise stern demeanor.
"Let's just say they sacrificed their lives for the good of the city. As of this moment the hospital has been in full lockdown. All barriers have been sealed and a force field bubble has been activated. We also have a security detail on watch as an extra precaution. None of the infected females can leave the hospital. If any of them try, they will be met with a number of high powered rifles. For the time being the Zenith Memorial strain has been neutralized."
Lieutenant Savage looked down at his notes. He flipped through the tablet until he reached the next bit of information.
"Our sources suggest the Zenith Memorial strain developed from a nurse by the name of Cassandra Mills who was in contact with a state prostitute, Lynn Mae. At the time of infection, they were both in a car with an officer by the name of Mike Black who, as we all know, was investigating the recent disappearances with Officer Ruiz. Previously, according to the recording devices on his uniform, he questioned one of the strippers who worked at the Red Lounge. It was during this interrogation that Officer Black was subjected to a parasitic infection from the stripper he was talking with. Everything seems to go back to the Red Lounge as the source..."
# # # #
Thai made her way down the hall passing the familiar old corridors and rooms of the police barracks. She remembered running up and down the halls when she visited her father. They followed the central hub further into the middle of the building. A little chip in the floor molding on the corner of the fourth hallway told her she was going the right way. The bartender made a small detour down the hall with the chipped corner. As she continued, she looked down, wondering if it would still be there. Finally, Thai found it. The diagonal crack in a tile near the wall. Her heart jumped from the nostalgia. A few more feet and she found what she was looking for.
The bartender looked at the number on the door.
Room 19
. She reached up and touched the brass sculpted number as she remembered coming to this room after school. Thai sighed as the memories flooded back. She'd go in and immediately throw her homework on the bed. Her father would already have pizza in the oven to keep it warm for her. A crispy, thin crust with cheese and pepperoni. She'd do homework at the table after eating then they'd watch a little TV until his first shift began. Sure, her father was a bit too busy for her but she knew what he did was important. She remembered other times with her father at the gun range in Central Command's state of the art training facilities. When she was legally allowed to use a firearm her father would bring her to the range and teach her to shoot some of the weapons they had.
