The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition/Chapter 4

Chapter 4 is the fourth chapter of Book One of the Complete and Uncut Edition of The Stand by Stephen King. It contains the first appearances of Gen. William Starkey, Maj. Len Creighton, Frank D. Bruce and several other minor characters who are either dead or only referenced. It is the chapter in which it is revealed what exactly went wrong with Project Blue.

Summary
Gen. William Starkey sits popping downers and watching the monitors of the north tower at the Reservation, where Project Blue was conducted. Through the cameras, he sees all the dead people. The dead person who disturbs him most of all is Frank D. Bruce, who died in the cafeteria, facedown in a bowl of soup. Next to Starkey is a flimsy describing the 99.4% infectiousness rate and the Flight of the Campions.

Maj. Len Creighton enters and says they have quarantined Arnette, Texas. Of the people who first had contact with Charles Campion, all but Stuart Redman is sick. The media, Creighton says, has been told it is an anthrax outbreak. Creighton also warns of a Texas State Patrolman, Joseph Robert Brentwood, who stopped by Hapscomb's Texaco and then continued his rounds, carrying the virus from there.

The final bit of bad news Creighton gives Starkey is that Vic Hammer is dead by suicide. Hammer was the officer directly in charge of Project Blue. He was also Starkey's son-in-law, married to his daughter Cynthia. Starkey wonders how he's going to tell Cynthia, and how he can explain Campion's escape was possible because of a glitch in a "sniffer" that was supposed to shut the base down.

Starkey thanks Creighton. After Creighton is gone, Starkey returns to the monitors.