Part 29 We Become Clean Again - Revised

We followed the man though a series of air-locks which in turn, lead us to a long rectangular room lined with tables along one wall and several small plastic baskets on top, like the kind you see at airport screening lines. Presumably for our personal effects.

Captain Blackstone had us stop there and explained the procedure, we were to empty our pockets of everything and place them in the baskets, there were a stack of 3X5 cards and a cup holding pens for us to write our names down and place in slots located on the outside of the baskets to identify the owner. After doing so we would be lead into separate booths to strip down and then we would go through a series of washes. The first was basic warm water rinse, then the second was a disinfectant wash followed by anti-bacterial soap then a final rinse. This would cleanse any surface contaminants we may be carrying.

He explained that all personnel exposed to the outside air would go through this on a daily basis to re-enter the main facility, which was basically germ free. Since they still didn't have any idea of the nature of the virus or plague, or whatever it was that was causing the dead to rise, and that the main biological labs were either destroyed or un-manned they weren't taking any chances. We stood for a moment looking at the Captain, almost not believing our ears, or eyes in James' case as his mother signed while the Captain spoke. No idea? After all this time? “What happened to the CDC?” I asked abruptly.

The Captain closed his eyes for a moment then looked at me. “If you don't mind, the questions I'm sure you all have can be answered by the General once decontamination has finished.” He looked over at Frank, “Begging the Colonel's pardon, my, err, clearance doesn't allow me to release that information,” he looked down at the floor, “not, that it really matters at this point anyway.” He lifted his head and held himself erect and was all business. Gesturing to the booths, “now, if you each would enter a booth, we can begin the process and get you settled in as soon as possible. There'll be voice commands telling you what you will be doing and what to expect next.” Maggie spoke up, “Captain, my son is deaf, how will he know what's going on or if he needs to shut his eyes or whatever?”

Blackstone looked at the boy, who was half-heartedly looking at his mother and also taking in his surroundings, he nodded. “Tell him, that each procedure has about a 15 second pause in between so the whole process will take five minutes tops, if he likes he can shut his eyes for that long...” Maggie interrupted with a twinge of anger in her voice, “Oh, so he'll be both blind and deaf through it all?” Frank tried to intervene, “Maggie...” he began, but she cut him off. “I don't think so Captain, in spite of outward appearances both he, and I, are a little ... intimidated by all of this.” She stood stolidly, but her voice was still edged with tight restraint. She signed throughout and James moved a bit closer to his mother. His facial expression was likewise tight and his body language as I learned how to read it was ready to move at a moment's notice. I took a step closer to the Captain as easy as I could without making it obvious. I hadn't a clue as to what would happen but Blackstone would be my first target if it came down to that.

The Captain seemed to be unmoved by Maggie's passionate defense of her son. “The only other alternative is for you two to shower together or have him go through alone.” His posture seemed to relax a bit, “Sargent... m'am, I can assure you that no harm will come to him during the decontamination process,” his voice took on a soothing tone, trying to re-assure her. Maggie turned to James and signed quickly and he seemed to think it over and then put his hand on her arm and spoke aloud, “I will bee o-kay Mom.” Maggie hesitated for a moment then gave in and hugged her son. From my vantage point I could see she patted him on the back in an odd manner, 3 taps, pause then two taps, pause then one long hug and two more pats. Code? Going to have to ask her about that later if possible.

They broke apart and went over to the table with the baskets and began removing things from their pockets. Frank and I did the same as the Captain watched with mild interest. The more I took out of my pockets the more naked I felt myself becoming. I was still taking stuff out when Frank was done, James himself was done about a minute later. Maggie was still removing stuff and her basket was almost full. She patted her pants down, felt something and dug in. I had to grin, it was a small swiss army-knife. I was finished and started filling out the card with my name. I shook my head when the “address” line was next and left it blank.

I turned to look at Maggie who knelt down and was rolling up a pants leg revealing a small set of knives strapped to her calf. I edged my way over to her and whispered “you're not hiding anything elsewhere are you?” She turned to look at me then saw my grin and grinned back while whispering, “if I did, you'd found out last night.” I tried hard not to snicker and went back to my basket. I looked at the Captain with raised eyebrows, pointing at my basket. He spoke to all of us, “All your personal effects will be returned to you, you'll find them in your quarters, if you are finished then you may enter the decon booths, strip down and instructions will be relayed to you from there.

Maggie stood back up and gave the Captain a look. He held up his hand and went over to her and explained each step of the procedure so she could relay it to James. Clearly they hadn't thought of making concessions or accessibility for the disabled. In a few moments he was done and James went over to an empty booth and began removing his shirt. I took a moment to look at him. His frame was slender but one could easily see slender ropes of muscle along his shoulders, arms, and back, when he turned around I could see he had at least a four pack developing and a nicely defined set of pecs. The kid was definitely stronger than he looked. My guess from the years of farm-work and the past few months hauling combat equipment and setting up booby traps for the now destroyed tree-house.

He looked up at us and realized that he forgot to shut the door. With a smooth movement of his arm the door shut with a quiet click of the latch. Frank went over to the next available one and Maggie took one next to the one James entered. Part of me hesitated. “Mr. Handle, if you please.” Blackstone's voice behind me. I chose one next to Maggie's and went inside and shut the door.

I took a look around before starting to strip. The room was about the size of an average department store changing room with another door on the opposite wall from where I entered. On the floor was another basket, presumably for the clothes. I stripped down and waited. A woman's voice, calmly spoke from seemingly nowhere. “Please enter the decontamination chamber for the first phase of cleansing.” It made me wonder how it knew I was naked and ready. The door had no handle but when I stepped towards it, it slid back silently showing another room beyond. I was liking it less and less but stepped inside anyway. Soon as I was in, the door slid shut behind me and a heat lamp turned on above me. The voice spoke again and relayed instructions, thus.

“Step into the circle and keep your legs and feet spread apart, raise your arms to a 45 degree angle, ensuring full exposure to all skin surfaces.” I did so and looked down as a small door slid open between my feet showing a drain. Three more opened in a triangle around me, I looked up and saw more doors opening and nozzles appearing from each.

“First phase of decontamination wash commencing. Please keep your eyes closed until otherwise instructed” the voice said. I did and after a long moment heard a loud humming sound building up from all around us. Through my closed eyelids I could tell the light had increased in the room and it was getting warmer by the second. Soon I had to squeeze my eyes shut to keep from being blinded. Then it grew dark and I hesitantly opened my eyes. Almost immediately the voice spoke out. “Mr. Handle, please keep your eyes closed. Just then warm water sprayed out of the nozzles in a strong but fine mist from nearly all directions and I was soaked instantly. I risked a peek and saw the nozzles changing from one to the other.

“Second phase of decontamination wash commencing, please keep your eyes remaining shut to prevent injury”, I hurriedly obeyed and felt the nozzles spraying something on my body once more. I could smell the sharp tang of disinfectant, stronger than any lysol. The odor stung my nose but I held my eyes shut tight and fought not to breathe anymore than I had to. Soon the spray stopped. 10 seconds later the voice spoke again.

“Third phase of decontamination wash commencing, please keep eyes closed for the duration.” Again a warm strong mist hit my body and this time I could smell soap, I wondered if I needed to scrub and started to when the voice spoke, “please remain still during this phase of the operation.” I froze and then sheepishly put my hands back where I had them at my side. The mist stopped and while I was tempted to peek, I could feel what felt like soap suds running down my face and my eyes stung a bit at the corners, so I squeezed my lids tighter.

“Fourth phase of decontamination wash commencing” the voice finally announced and my body was hit once more with a warm spray, this time greater in volume. I hesitantly moved my hands and the voice remained silent. Great, I thought and started wiping my hands over my body, head and privates to hopefully remove whatever crap they sprayed on me. I opened my eyes and had to duck my head to prevent the spray from hitting them. I could see multi-colored soap suds running into the drain at my feet as I was being rinsed off. This phase was longer and I seized the opportunity to scrub away as much of the suds as I could. Moments later the sprays stopped and the heat lamps came on.

A small door opened midway in a wall next to me and I saw it contained a single folded towel. “You may dry yourself and exit the wash area.” I grabbed the towel and unfolded it and had to lift it up higher than my head as I saw it was huge, larger than an average beach towel, it was soft and unlike any cotton material I've ever felt. As I patted myself with it I found I only needed to go over my body once, as the towel adsorbed every drop of liquid from my body where it touched. A part of me grinned thinking if I could get away with taking one of these home with me like a hotel guest.

As I was finishing up, another door opened in the wall next to where I got the towel. What looked like another towel was actually a robe. “You may drop the towel on the floor and retrieve the robe from it's location.” I rubbed at my head once more then dropped the towel as instructed and reached for the robe.

It was a full length robe that reached the floor and felt like the same stuff as the towel, the overhead heat lamps went off and a door in front of me opened up. I belted the robe shut around me as I stepped out and found myself in a room with the others. In front of us were open lockers and an articles of clothing hung from within. I turned in time to see the door close behind me. The others were already out and getting dressed. Privacy was ensured by a shoulder height wall about the thickness of a bathroom stall. Maggie and James were signing to each other and beyond them Frank was finishing putting on the clothes provided. I asked Frank as a “by the way” what was the deal with the bright light prior to the washing. He explained that we had all been exposed to 100 times the normal exposure of the sun via a UV light wash. It was designed to kill off any germs or whatever nasties our bodies were harboring. This included fleas, ticks, lice and other arthropods that might've latched on to us during our travels.

I shrugged to myself and moved to the locker. The clothes had a unfamiliar feel to them. Thin yet even with my fingers I could feel that they were strong. I put them on, a shirt and pant set, then found a pair of slippers at the base of the locker and slipped those on as well. The room was of decent temperature, but I wasn't about to walk about naked. From there, I moved past the lockers and met up with everyone else. I immediately looked to James, wondering if they had clothes that would fit his small frame. Apparently they did, as his clothes sat on his thin frame without being too baggy or long. Frank caught my look, “Remember I told you John, that this facility was built with the idea that folks would be able to bring their families along. If we're lucky maybe James will have someone his own age to be with and he won't feel so out of place among us big people.” There was a wink in his eye. Maggie played her part of being a fussy mother, trying to comb James' hair with her fingers as he worked to avoid being fussed over. The voice spoke again.

“When you have finished dressing please continue to the next phase of decontamination.” At that a door slid open from the wall, lights came on immediately afterwards in the room beyond. Frank walked towards it without any hesitation. I looked at Maggie and she shrugged and nodded at me. I decided to stay with her and James and just follow her lead. She, obviously was following her father's who had intimate knowledge of this place.

In the next room were a series of chairs, six in all. Next to each was a narrow table set at one side of each chair. From each table was a arm with a keyboard attached to it. The arm was set out straight from the table but I could see a hinge of sorts meaning that when seated the keyboard could be brought in to type. Other than that the room was sparse, the walls were white blanks without anything to indicate anything. Something had occurred to me and I looked around then asked Frank, “Hey, where's the Captain?” Frank responded easily, “More likely he went back on duty to look after our stuff and the trucks. We'll see him again soon enough.” He took a seat on one of the chairs, “have a seat, this is the next part.” I chose a seat, sat down then asked, “How many 'decontamination procedures' will we have to go through?” As Maggie and James chose seats between us, Frank grinned, “This is just protocol and a one time thing for all new-comers, after that we'll only need to go through the shower process after each time we go out-side of the facility. There is just one more procedure for us to go through after this one. For now we'll answer some questions which will help in the decon process.

“Originally, mind you this was built for the advent of a nuclear war and people wouldn't have gone back outside until radiation levels were back to safe zones. Later they modified all the Wildfires to deal with biological and chemical warfare ...err, disasters.” His face frowned in thought, “obviously all of what's happened classifies it biological warfare.”

He caught the look on my face and held up a hand, “No, this whole zombie thing isn't the result of a war or any weaponized germ or virus. Remember I told you back at the house that it was the result of an accidental exposure to ...” he was interrupted by the unseen voice.

“Please remained seated and watch the screen in front of you.” At that the room darkened a bit and the wall in front of us began getting lighter. “Please draw the keyboard located on the side of the table next to you and draw it in towards you and set to desired, comfortable height.” I reached out and did so. I looked around and saw everyone had done the same. James was roughly a half second behind his mother, imitating her movements. The screen in front lit up brighter and words formed.

“Welcome to Wildfire. You are now undergoing the second phase of our decontamination process. This is to ensure the safety and health of all personnel. Please follow the instructions given to ensure complete decontamination.” Then it switched to a set of questions which each of us would type our answes. Presumably each keyboard was wired to individual data banks. The questions, I thought were pretty basic, like the type you would fill out at a doctor's office prior to seeing the doctor. Medical history, family and personal, Maggie helped James with that portion, signing yes or no to each so he would answer correctly using the arrow keys to move the cursor to the appropriate selection and hitting enter. About 35 minutes later (by my guess anyway) we were all done. There had to been at least a couple of hundred (yes/no) questions, asking for detailed information about our health history. I found out why was it all necessary in the next few minutes.

“Thank you. Please watch the screen.” the voice said. The screen went black then a small spot of white in the center, which grew larger and began filling up with various colors. It seemed awfully familiar to me but I couldn't quite place it. The circle continued to grow until it took up nearly half the screen in front of us. The colors flashed and blended in what looked like an acid flashback nightmare. Suddenly I felt something against my arm and before I could turn and look, I was jabbed by a needle. As I looked at what jabbed me the voice spoke. “You have just been inoculated with anti-bodies and immunizations specific to your body's needs and to that of known pathogens which would threaten this facility.” The lights began brightening in the room and the images on the screen were turned off.

A door opened in the wall next to the screen. “If you would please exit the room and into the final stage of the decontamination process.” I was a bit slow to get up, not for feeling woozy or anything like that, just stunned that they found a way to zap me full of drugs without my being aware of it. An arm had come out of the table with a needle in a gun type of device. Apparently in the rod holding the rod was loaded with dozens of tubes connected to various vials of meds and other drugs and according to the answers I gave to the previous questionnaire set up a specific cocktail tailored to me. What bothered me was the “other known pathogens that threatened the facility?” Was it the same stuff that caused the zombies? Did they have a cure or at least a immunization to it? If we gotten bit would we be able to fight off the virus? I had to know, but felt the automated voice would give me no answers. I began finding myself looking forward to meeting this general and hopefully with Frank's help, get some answers.

I finally got up out of my seat and found the three of them waiting for me. “You okay?” Maggie asked. I nodded silently and joined her. We walked into another all white room and two sets of doors opened. The autonomous voice spoke, “Gentlemen please enter the room to your right and ladies enter on the left.” I got the impression that it would state that irregardless of how many “ladies” were in the room at the moment. Maggie signed quickly to James and Frank stood by the door waiting for him. The three of us entered and Maggie gave me a wink, “see you on the other side” and went in. The door closed behind her. I was last in behind Frank who escorted James with a comforting hand on his shoulder. Our room was at the end of a short corridor that zigged right and I guessed Maggie's must've zagged left. The voice spoke again, “Please remove all clothing and place them in the receptacle located in the floor.” There was an awkward moment then I shrugged and began stripping off my clothes. When I was done I saw that both Frank and James were nude as well. Frank walked over to a hole in the floor and dropped his clothes into it, including the slippers he wore. There was a muted flash a whoosh of flame and his clothes were incinerated instantly.

James did the same and got the exact results. He looked up with the expression of a “now how cool is that?” grin on his face. I walked over and looked down into the hole. Frank put his hand on my shoulder, pulling me back a bit, “uh, not a good idea, there are sensors that activate the burners and you'd end up frying your ... uh, bits off. Go ahead and drop your clothes in, they're completely made from paper by the way. Cloth tends to hide even the tiniest germs.” I did and stepped back just in time for the clothes to turn into ash. Soon as that was done three doors opened in the wall and inside were what looked like motor cycle helmets, only they were unlike any I've ever seen. The voice spoke again, “Please remove a helmet and place it firmly upon your face, ensuring the face plate is down, stand on the yellow circles on the floor and spread your feet apart at a 45 degree angle and hold your arms straight out at a 90 degree angle.” I watched as Frank signed this to James and then directed us to the helmets in the wall. “What's this phase?” I asked.

Frank winced a bit, “well it's probably the most uncomfortable part of it. Better to just go through it and I'll explain when it's done. It's uncomfortable for a moment but harmless.” I was really starting to get nervous now. Were all of these steps truly necessary? Did everyone go through them each time? I gotten a helmet and saw that the face plate was a tight wire mesh which would block my sight, flipping it over the bottom was lined with a rubber collar of sorts. I walked over to one of the yellow circles and stood there for a moment. Frank was trying to explain it to James while trying to sign one handed as the other held his helmet. James looked about as nervous as I felt. He followed his grandfather's instructions however and chose a yellow circle between us. He glanced over at me and all I could do was shrug and start putting the helmet on.

The rubber collar was a bit tight but slipped over my face and wrapped itself around my neck, conforming to the contours of my throat. I looked down at where my feet were supposed to go, there was a faint outline of footprints on the floor within the yellow circle. I aligned my feet and then lowered the face plate and stood there in the dark waiting.

Through my helmet I could hear the other two breathing and soon that was covered by a low hum, which got louder. The temperature of the room began to rise and it felt like I was inside an oven. The whole thing lasted for about 30 seconds before the room didn't feel so hot anymore. “John, you can take your helmet off now” Frank's voice called out. I did so and looked down at myself. Just then the voice spoke, “You may notice that your body is covered with a fine white ash. This is the remnants of your body hairs which have been burned off. Please move on to the next room to have your body washed and rinsed.” I looked down even further and saw indeed that I was totally hairless. Even my pubes were gone, part of me wanted to reach behind me but I saw Frank was moving towards another door that had opened. “Don't touch yourself until you've been washed off thoroughly” he said and signed quickly to James to prevent him from doing the same.

As I walked I felt awfully funny. Uncomfortable was right. Sheesh. As we entered the next room there were a series of shower nozzles embedded in the walls and as we walked they began spraying what Frank told me was just pure distilled water, totally germ free. I saw him walking with his legs opened wider to ensure that all the ash got washed out from all the cracks. Soon we were past the sprayers and found ourselves in front of yet another set of lockers with again, a pile of folded, paper clothing. “You may now get dressed. This concludes the decontamination process. Thank you for your cooperation . Enjoy your stay at Wildfire.”

We got dressed again and went though another set of doors finding the Captain and Maggie there waiting for us. He stepped forward and spoke, “I apologize if any of that made you uncomfortable, it's a necessary precaution to ensure the integrity of the base.”

“Yeah well, I just hope I won't have to go through all that again.” I muttered. The Captain seemed to be anticipating this response. “It's a one time thing, with the exception of the first showers that you took upon entering. Your body hair will regrow and be germ free thanks to the inoculation that you received earlier. Even if you go back outside and roll around in the mud, for whatever reason, you'll only need to take the 4 stage shower sequence and you'll be directed through a different set of doors to the work and living quarters of the base.” Maggie was busy talking with James and checking him out.

“Uh, Captain, just one short question.” I asked. His eyebrows raised “Yes?” “If all our body hairs were burned off what about our heads and facial hair?” The Captain seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, was he worried about a different set of questions? Ones that he couldn't answer? The 4 stage shower sequence took care of, and will continue to take care of, any pathogens that may have lingered in your cranial and facial hairs. I would suggest that you do shave later when you reach your living quarters. But for now the General is waiting.” He held out his hand towards an opened doorway. “If you please follow me.”