On the last night, the team and their three Japanese guides made camp about a mile south of the mountain. Bright lights could be seen at the base of the mountain through the dense woods. Someone had set up some kind of makeshift facility there. Through a good pair of binoculars, Darin Miles saw with his own eyes as they made camp for the night, the inflatable buildings built around sections of the forest surrounding the mountain. Roads were made in the areas where they had cleared out trees and armed guards stood at every conceivable entry point. Lieutenant Alexander Powers and Darin Miles sat up standing watch that night, when Powers gave Darin a gentle tap on the shoulder one hour before their watch was up. “Come with me,” he whispered.
They walked about fifty yards away from where the rest of them laid their heads. Powers looked strange . . . the look on his face worried. His eyes darted around everywhere. Darin had never seen him so nervous. “What’s wrong, Lieutenant? Something is bothering you.”
“I’ve been promoted twice in less than a year . . . rising to a rank that takes decades to achieve. I thought that was strange in of itself, but none of this sits right with me. Before we left, I took an unedited copy of their reports on Fuji before LYNN004 was created. These men we’re travelling with . . .”
“Wait a second,” Darin interrupted. “You took a file that you were not authorized to take? They’ll put you in front of a jury for that! Maybe worse!”
“Listen!” Powers whisper-shouted, grabbing Darin by the upper arm. He shrugged himself away and stood face-to-face with him. “These men we’re travelling with are not siding with us. They’re taking us to the base. Understand? Our job is not to destroy those plants. We’re here to bring them back. I stole a memo sent to General Teel three days before we left. The team we’re with is supposed to bring the Archies back and turn all four of you, including me, into the Japanese authorities. They’re planning on killing us.”
“What? Why?”
“Once they found out what Lynn could do, they decided to include the drug in its black project weapons research program. Doctor Winters had his funding pulled because they wanted the lab under their control. You were just a figurehead to run the place. It is standard protocol with black projects this sensitive. I’m sorry, Miles . . . but you would have disappeared eventually, anyway. Listen to me . . . it’s true. Black project soldiers silence people all the time. I’ve done it myself. Due to an incident when I was stationed in Afghanistan, I gained an ‘A’ clearance. This is the highest clearance that the military can give. It isn’t even on the books. Lynn destroyed the world, though . . . and after all I have done for my country, they want me dead right along with you. What I did in the past was wrong, Miles. I need to make amends for it. Now that I know what it’s like to be on the other end of this, everything’s changed.”
“Jesus . . . I feel sick to my stomach. Would you have done it? I mean . . . really done it? Killed us? Your friends?”
“You want my honest answer? Yes. Yes, I would have. Sorry to tell you that, but yes. I’m a rare breed of soldier. You may think of me evil or selfish for only re-examining my actions when I’m on the chopping block . . . maybe I am. I can admit that. What’s important is that at least I did.”
Darin felt weak. He plopped down and sat in the moist dirt and placed his head in his hands. “Oh, god . . . what the hell are we going to do?”
“We do exactly what we’re supposed to do. We play along like nothing’s going on. They’re not gonna shoot all of us on-site. If I know these people as well as I think I do, this operation needs to go off without a hitch. I brought something with me that they didn’t know about. Those gas canisters that the team has? They’re all just water-vapor. I had someone on the inside that helped me out and switched them for me.”
“Who?”
“Amanda Jackson. She was working with the volunteers to manufacture the canisters. She helped me secure a handful of the real ones and give the team nothing but duds. I snuck the working ones onboard. They’re taped to the inside of my ruck. The bunker also has a supply of them on-hand. After explaining what was really going on, she helped me do something else with the canisters at the bunker. I’ll take care of that situation after we focus on what’s going on here. Now . . . we have one hour left on watch. We cannot afford to wake all the others without the other team members hearing. It’s just you and me right now.”
“There’s a whole army over at that base, Powers. You have some sort of plan?”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
“What is it?”
“Just cause a scene, Miles. That’s all I want you to do. Give the squad leader no choice. I’ll take it from there.”
II
The next day, they hiked to the large base built around the forested area. It was absolutely massive . . . going around the entire mountain. “What the hell’s going on?” Dennis said as they neared the facility. “Why are we walking right up to the front gate?”
“Hey!” Darin yelled at the squad leader. He ran to the front of the small platoon and grabbed him by the shoulder, digging his hand in as hard as he could. Miles knew that the commander didn’t like him at all. Hopefully this was enough to piss him off. The team leader, a SEAL named Doggett, turned around with his gun drawn and pointed at Victoria’s head. Darin lowered his hand and snuck it around to the holster at his leg.
“Don’t . . .” Doggett said and cocked the gun.
“What the hell’s going on here, asshole?” Darin said to Doggett.
“This is the end of the line. The plants go back with us.”
“You sons of bitches . . .” Ana said. “I should have known something was up. You think we’re just going to help you take these things back?”
“Who said you were going back?” Lieutenant Powers interrupted. He walked to the front of the mutiny held back by gunpoint. Powers drew his service pistol and pointed at the two Japanese guides while the other arm trained the weapon on Darin Miles. “Get two of your men from the base and bring them here. We need assistance. Doggett, I’ll take the survivors. You take care of the mission and I’ll catch up.”
“That’s not the orders I were given, Lieutenant. My orders were to get them to assist and neutralize them. Myself.” He still had his gun drawn at Victoria’s head. She stood frozen, scared to even breathe. This guy was nobody even remotely normal. This man was former Special Forces. If he wanted to kill her, he didn’t even need the gun.
“Circumstances have changed. If you hadn’t drawn your goddamn pistol before we actually arrived at the gate, I wouldn’t have offered. Instead of getting all of us in the compound by all means available, you draw your weapon and expose all of us within running distance of the front door? Teel told you to wait until we all got inside. You know how he is. You just disobeyed a direct order on a black project mission, my friend. You know what happens next. Commander Doggett . . . let me take them. We can say anything we want. You were in Vietnam, man . . . don’t fucking tell me for a second that you never disobeyed orders to save your own ass.”
“You threatening me, Powers?” Doggett said, shooting Powers a hateful glance.
“Not threatening. Just being realistic.”
Doggett smiled. To anyone, the smile would be strange, but largely unreadable. Powers knew why he was smiling. Doggett knew for a fact that Lieutenant Alexander Powers wasn’t going anywhere. He’d say yes just out of sheer spite. “Fine. Take them. And do it quietly.”
“Yes, sir.”
A handful of armed men rushed into the woods to greet the team sent by Teel. The second they got there, they all trained their weapons on the four survivors. Powers walked to Darin, Victoria, Dennis and Ana and took away their guns. Doggett insisted that two men from the base accompany Lieutenant Powers. While Teel’s team walked to the base, two Japanese army stayed behind and kept their guns drawn on the four. Darin tried the best he could to play along. A fear crept into him . . . that Powers was just blowing smoke up his ass to see what he knew. What if Powers re
ally did want to kill them? As the Special Forces team walked off, Doggett turned around and saluted Powers. Powers returned it and stood behind the two Japanese guards. “You men speak English?” he said.
“Yes we do,” one of the guards replied.
“Good, then you can follow orders.”
“Why, Alex?” Dennis said. The survivors all stood . . . not moving a muscle. Even Darin looked frightened.
“Why, Dennis? Because you know too much. Simple as that. There are plans for those plants and unfortunately, you are not a part of them. Guards . . . give me one of your guns. I’ll do this myself.”
One of the men handed Alexander Powers his hand-cannon and stepped to the side. Alexander Powers raised the weapon in Ana’s direction. She closed her eyes tight and whispered to him. Please . . . please . . . don’t kill me. I don’t want . . . Powers turned the gun to his left side and shot the Japanese guard in the head. The one that still had his gun. He fell to the ground and dropped the weapon. The survivors stood in shock, but Darin was waiting for this moment. Well . . . more hoping for it than anything. He lunged forward and grabbed the weapon. That gun was fucking huge. Probably the size of a .44 Magnum. Darin and Powers both turned to face the other guard, who had taken off running toward the base. It could barely be seen from where they stood. The base sat right at the edge of the treeline . . . where the people that built the place cleared out a section of the forest. Alexander Powers fired one shot and hit the man in the calf. He screamed and stumbled to the ground, landing in a muddy puddle. Struggling to get to his feet, he finally managed to stand up, but another bullet fired from Alexander Power’s weapon hit him in the lower back, keeping him down.
Ana opened her tear-filled eyes and looked for the two guards. One was dead at her feet, bleeding from a large hole at his temple. The other was attempting to crawl away toward the base . . . just barely out of earshot. “Stop crawling!” Powers yelled after him. “I know you can understand me! STOP crawling!” The man managed to get to his feet and continue to lurch forward, screaming himself hoarse. With a look of sad disappointment, Powers fired another round. No one saw where it hit . . . he was a good distance away, but it dropped him still and silent immediately. “I didn’t want to shoot him,” Powers said, reloading the gun.
“Would you have stopped?” Darin said.
“I suppose not.”
“What the hell’s going on?” Victoria yelled at Lieutenant Powers. She walked up to him and shoved him into a tree. He hit it with his back, but she was on him before he had a chance to react. She got in his face, inches from it, and stared him down. “What is going on . . .”
“I couldn’t say anything to all of you. Darin knew, but we couldn’t risk anything getting mucked up. It is obvious, isn’t it? They were supposed to kill us. Teel . . . I knew something was going on.”
“What are we gonna do?” Dennis asked, staring across the forest to the base entrance ahead.
“I lifted five live canisters from the bunker before we left. Teel has always hated me. Couldn’t wait for a chance to do me in. I got to him first, though,” Powers said.
“Where did you get the canisters?” Ana and Victoria said nearly in unison.
“A friend. Your wife, Dennis. When I told her what Teel was planning to do to us, she said she wanted to help any way she could. The team with us has Lynn bombs, but they were all switched out with duds. As for the ones who double-crossed us, don’t worry about them. I took care of the bunker before all the volunteers and relief teams left, too. The only people left there are the ones who are behind this. The black project division. You know the Lynn canisters they have to defend the bunker? That was their only defense, right? I had Amanda toss them into the fucking garbage incinerator before she left. Now, all they have at the bunker are empty cases. I did something else too.”
“What did you do?”
Powers smiled and tossed Darin one of the live Lynn canisters. “I returned a favor.” He looked at his watch and smiled. “Open sesame.”
III
“Any report back from the team yet?” Teel said over the small radio attached to the console.
“Not yet, sir. Waiting on it now.”
“It’s been too long. I should have gotten a report back already.”
A light turned on from within the many lights on the security console. This room controlled all the doors, locks and many of the life support systems at the bunker. General Teel flipped up the clear housing switch and moved it. Nothing happened. From somewhere off in the distance, the General could hear an alarm going off. He leaned into the console and tried the alarm switch again . . . now pulsing red. “Sims! What the hell is going on down there? I’m getting an alarm at the Blue Sector entrance!”
The radio buzzed to life, but all Teel could hear was static.
“Hey! Anyone read me?”
It wasn’t until Teel saw one of his men, an Ensign Trillo, run past him with his hands covered in blood. “Breach! We got a breach! The loading areas, the emergency exits, all of them . . . they just OPENED!!” The young, bloody man ran off in a panic, not apparently aiming anywhere. Teel grabbed his sidearm and opened the little clear cover the housed the main lockdown switch. Something appeared to be taped inside. Teel ripped off the little plastic cover and saw that someone had stuffed a piece of paper inside. Unfolding it, The General’s eyes widened when he looked at the piece of paper. It just had a signature on it. Powers’ signature.
“Jesus . . .” Teel whispered and ran into the hallway outside. On either side of the hall, about as far as the eye could see, were the living areas. They were all empty now. There was a case of the canisters placed there . . . but they were gone. Teel ran up to one of the wall-mounted containers that contained Lynn canisters and masks, but found only another slip of paper with a signature on it. One of the medical personnel walked straight into the General, nearly knocking him over. He was carrying something in his hands. Teel looked down to see that the man had been crudely cut open, nearly in half. He was holding his guts together. The man walked with a million-yard-stare on his face with his intestines running in between his fingers. He made it about halfway down the hallway and collapsed, losing his grip on his stomach. Everything fell to the freshly-waxed floor and the man turned over on his side . . . hollowed out at the torso.
Men were yelling incoherent orders over the radio. Nothing was decipherable. They kept talking over each other. A siren blared right above Teel’s head and he screamed, accidently shooting a hole in the wall in front of him. Powers . . . that little shit. He had clearance for the loading areas. It seems the young man was far more resourceful than realized before . . . and with more of a moral compass than the President had thought. Teel protested his inclusion as an officer training the other survivors. It was good to gain their trust, yes, but now it had backfired. They were inside. Teel might have just as well painted targets on the blast doors.
General William Teel heard a scream. It was bloodcurdling. Such an awful scream, like someone being tortured. It echoed through the hallway that lead to the medical hub. Each hub, all four of them, were spider-webbed with hallways that lead to other hubs and certain areas. He was wandering the medical one now with an old Gulf-era service pistol in his hands. At the end of the hall, he entered the medical hub and saw his President sprawled out on the floor with a dripping syringe in his hand. Teel ran up to him and felt for a pulse. Nothing. He was dead. Teel searched the small lump in his former superior’s jacket pocket and found one of the glass vials from Holding Area A7. This area wasn’t used for anything medical at all. It was where all the cleaning chemicals were kept. Willis had injected himself with a mixture of drain cleaner and bleach. “Coward . . .”
From the medical hub, Teel ran with his weapon through another hallway nearly a mile long. It lead to the main area. The place where the shuttle driver docks were, two of the greenhouses and a training area. The second he ran into the large hub, he saw the infected crawling on their stomachs to get
into the small crack made by an open cargo blast door. From the outside, it looked like just a loading area for a big truck. Just like anywhere else where freight would be loaded. However, instead of a storeroom or warehouse, the tunnel ramped down deep underground. Right into what was once the most classified bunker in the world. Now, the things were swarming in like flies. They crowded around each other, shoving their way in. The others that came inside immediately ran down one of the hallways, seemingly at random. They all just took off in every direction. They weren’t just running everywhere. They could hear everything. There were already about fifty of them inside the building. The entire team stationed at the front of the facility were already taken out. Spent ammunition was everywhere. Bullet holes dotted the walls . . . there were dents in the slightly open blast door that lead to the tunnel outside. Four bodies in their military gear were on the floor, missing their heads. There were seven men station to the area. They were no doubt part of the crowd now.
Teel raised his weapon and fired it into the air. They all shot their heads in his direction. They stared at him . . . their bleeding eyes wide. They barred their teeth at him . . . yellow and black with rot and decay. Teel tossed the useless gun across the room. It loudly clanked against a far wall and spun on its side. “Well . . . come on, then.”
The General stood at-ease as all of the intruders ran to him.
IV
“Back so soon? Taken care of our little problem, Powers?” One of the Japanese officers said. He had surprisingly very good English. Not too hard to understand. Still had a bit of Engrish to it, but the guy sounded like any other officer anywhere.
The Zombie Letters Page 26
