Since the research they were about to conduct together was top secret, Professor Martin Sorensen moved from Blackberry Ranch to Rock Fortress, becoming neighbors with Dr. Jenner and Milton.
The dining hall was crowded and noisy, and it smelled unusually good. Apparently, the cooks had found a can of cinnamon powder in the storeroom that was about to expire and added some to the big pot of soup.
At dinnertime, Dr. Jenner carried his tray through the packed rows of long tables, looking for a seat, until he spotted Martin sitting alone in a corner.
Spring had already arrived, and Martin's old friend Howard had recently been spending most of his time at Blackberry Ranch working on the crops. The biochemistry professor, still new to Rock Fortress, sat by himself, carefully using a small spoon to spread butter evenly across a slice of bread.
"Mind if I sit here?" Dr. Jenner asked as he took the seat across from him.
Martin looked up and nodded without saying anything.
The two ate quietly for several minutes.
"I heard you're a professor at UTK, and UTK has worked on quite a few joint projects with Oak Ridge National Laboratory." Dr. Jenner casually stirred the mush in his bowl with his spoon.
Martin clearly already knew what kind of research he would soon be helping with, so he saw no reason to hide anything. "Yes, that's true.
"Oak Ridge mainly focuses on energy and materials science, and most of its projects are energy-related, so I didn't work with them very often.
"I only spent three years there as a visiting scholar, working on a biocompatible materials project."
"Hmm. Sounds interesting." Dr. Jenner took a bite of his cracker and chewed slowly.
"The main focus was using biodegradable polymers in neural interfaces. In theory, the goal was to develop a new generation of prosthetics for people with disabilities."
Dr. Jenner caught the faint implication in his tone. "And in practice?"
Martin glanced at him knowingly. "Dr. Jenner, before the apocalypse, how many U.S. military-funded projects were ever really just for 'civilian' use?"
They both fell silent for a moment.
Jenner decided to approach the subject from another angle. "Have you ever worked with neurotoxins? I've been going through some old data recently, and I came across an Oak Ridge project involving 'bio-derived neural inhibitors.' I think the codename was... 'Silence'?"
Martin set down his spoon.
It was only a small movement, but Jenner noticed it.
Martin wiped his mouth, glanced around the dining hall, then gave him a polite smile. "Dr. Jenner, I'm finished eating. Maybe we should take a walk and digest our food. It's a little too noisy in here."
Jenner paused, then realized there were far too many people around them. He immediately picked up his bowl, swallowed the remaining mush in one go, and set down his utensils.
"I'm feeling a little full myself. Let's go outside."
The two doctors took a leisurely walk together, gradually making their way to a secluded area without needing to say anything about it.
Martin lowered his voice. "Dr. Jenner, where did you see that codename?"
"In the pile of hard drives we brought back from UTK. The data was incomplete. It only mentioned a collaboration between Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the university involving something reversible that could control the human body through neural transmission. Have you heard of it?"
Jenner told a small lie.
It was actually a subproject mentioned in the Black Fire Project logs. Professor Martin Sorensen had been told that he would be helping research the walker repellent, but for now, the Wildfire virus and the Black Fire Project were still being kept secret from him.
Martin shook his head. "The project I worked on was a different one. Its stated goal was to develop comfortable prosthetics for people with disabilities. Officially, it had nothing to do with the U.S. military. At least, that's what the paperwork said."
Dr. Jenner felt a surge of disappointment. "So you never heard of it..."
"But I did hear about 'Silence' while I was at Oak Ridge National Laboratory," Martin interrupted, turning his full attention back to Jenner.
"Not through any official channel. It came up during a casual conversation over a meal. A colleague of mine, also from UTK, mentioned it a few times."
Jenner's heart gave a small jump. "A colleague from UTK?"
"Richard Worth. He was a pathology professor at our medical school," Martin explained. "Our time working on collaborative projects at Oak Ridge overlapped.
"One day, while we were talking on campus, he complained that his project had lost resources to 'some more exciting research.'
"I asked him what he meant, and he laughed and said, 'Those people playing around with viruses. The "Silence" group. Supposedly, they're working on something that could make an army of walkers from a movie stand perfectly still like statues.'"
Dr. Jenner forced his expression to remain calm. "And then?"
"Then?" Martin gave a faint, humorless smile. "Back then, who would have believed walkers were real? We weren't making some movie about walkers, so I didn't think anything of it."
Then Richard had said something Martin still remembered clearly.
"He told me, 'Martin, sometimes I think we're opening boxes that should stay closed. Some viruses, once they get out, can't be put back in.'"
A chill crept down Jenner's back. "What exactly was he talking about?"
"At the time, I thought Richard was speaking metaphorically about research ethics." Martin shivered as he remembered that casual conversation, lowering his voice even further.
"But looking back now... he said that in March 2010. Five months later, the world was full of walkers."
"Did Professor Richard Worth ever say anything else? About Oak Ridge, or about... other projects?"
Martin narrowed his eyes, searching his memory. "Once, Richard told me he ran into a group of 'people in strange uniforms' in a hallway.
"They weren't wearing Oak Ridge lab coats, and they weren't dressed in standard military uniforms either. They wore some kind of all-black work suits with silver reflective strips.
"They were escorting a cryogenic storage tank. There was a symbol on it he didn't recognize. A black flame."
Dr. Jenner's eyes widened.
Martin gave him a puzzled look.
Jenner forced a smile.
A black flame.
The emblem of the Black Fire Project.
"What happened to Professor Worth afterward?" Jenner asked urgently.
Martin remained silent for so long that Dr. Jenner began to think he would not answer.
"In June 2010, he ended his visit early and returned to UTK."
Martin spoke slowly. "In early July, Richard sent me an email. He said some things were 'keeping him awake at night' and that he wanted to meet and talk.
"But around that time, my wife's condition got worse.
"She had late-stage cancer. She didn't make it, but... but maybe that was for the best. At least she never had to see the world become this terrible.
"I took some time off and didn't reply to him right away."
As he spoke, Martin removed his glasses and wiped the lenses with the corner of his shirt. The elderly professor's hands were trembling slightly.
"On July 18, I received a message in our university staff group, along with a mass email from the university.
"Professor Richard Worth and his daughter had been in a car accident on their way to Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Their vehicle went over the edge of a ravine.
"They were both killed."
...
If you'd like to support my work and unlock advanced chapters, you can follow me on p-@-treon.
p-@-treon/GhostParser (70 Chapters Ahead)
You can also follow as a free member to read a few advanced chapters.