The joint gave with a wet snap, Roach howling in pain a moment later. Not releasing the arm I dragged him twenty feet across the roof and rolled him over, intending to wrap him up and break his neck, but he slithered out of my arms and scrambled away from me.
Getting my feet under me I twisted and launched, driving my shoulder into his chest and up into his chin. He flopped back from the impact, but I had a grip on him now that he couldn’t break, pinning his throat with my left hand. Swiveling, I went to a knee with my left shoulder in the middle of his back and my hand still locked around the front of his neck. He struggled, trying to break free, but I wasn’t letting go.
Reaching up with my right hand I interlaced the fingers of both hands and jerked down with all the power in my arms and shoulders as I lifted up with my legs. I both felt and heard Roach’s spine snap where it contacted my left shoulder, all movement from him immediately ceasing. Releasing him I pushed his body off of me where it flopped to the roof with a dull thud. Standing, I looked down and met his eyes.
They were no longer filled with madness, only fear and pain. Without a word I bent over and grabbed the front of his shirt, lifting his upper body off the roof as I dragged him to the edge. Looking over I could see the large group of infected Zemeck told me had arrived. Dozens of females looked up, several of them screaming when they saw me.
Wrapping my hands in the front of Roach’s shirt I lifted him onto his useless legs, supporting his weight with his face inches from mine.
“God, please. No.” He said, unable to turn his head to see the infected, but able to clearly hear them.
“God’s not here. Only me.” I said, shoving him out over the edge and releasing his shirt.
Roach started to cartwheel as he fell, screaming all the way down where he landed on the infected waiting with raised arms. His screams seemed to go on a long time as they tore into him with tooth and nail.
48
Commander McFadden stood in the missile spaces of the Alaska, looking at the boat’s complement of Trident missiles. The team was working on the final missile, and once they were done he would order the submarine to launch depth. He wasn’t as confident as Admiral Packard that this would work. When he’d pressed the issue and demanded to know exactly how they were bypassing the built in safeguards he wasn’t happy with the answer.
They weren’t using the logic built into the warheads, they were installing newly written code that would supposedly fire the nuclear trigger at a predetermined time after launch. Basically the engineer had written a virus that could cause a detonation. His navigator and XO had stared aghast at this bit of information, voicing their concerns before locking themselves away and calculating the time to use for each missile.
They had completed their work before the engineering team had finished loading the code into all the warheads; having two other officers double-check their calculations. They’d been accurate on their first attempt and now stood watching as the time to detonation was programmed into the last Trident.
“We’re ready, skipper.” The weapons officer said after double-checking the entry against a copy of the calculations.
“Very good,” McFadden said, turning and picking up the handset of a sound powered phone that connected directly to the control room, telling the duty officer to ascend to launch depth.
Moments later the deck tilted slightly as the boat began to rise in the ocean, McFadden and his XO heading for the control room. Once there the CO listened briefly as reports flooded in. Nothing was on sonar. Nothing within detection range of the Alaska’s sophisticated electronic suite of listening gear.
“Boat’s at launch depth, Captain. Sonar is still clear. Ready to open doors on your order.” The XO said a few minutes later.
“Open missile doors,” McFadden said without hesitation.
“Open missile doors, aye, sir.” The XO repeated the order back, then turned and passed it on to a Petty Officer seated at a panel that controlled the Alaska’s missiles.
“Doors are open, Captain. We’re green across the board.” The XO reported a few moments later.