Later that day at the evening meal, Larkin was joined by Arthur Higgins.
“I heard you and Leesa are split up now.”
“What?” Larkin asked looking up. “How did that get around so fast?”
“One of the mechanical blokes was up there running wire for the sound powered phones we found in storage and overheard some talk in medical,” Higgins stated. Since discovering crates of sound powered phones in a long forgotten storage room in the basement utility area, wiring and placement of the phones had become a priority. Still, Larkin was a little shocked at the speed at which the news that he and Leesa were separated had spread.
Larkin was about to speak when he saw one of the soldiers rushed into the dining room, leaned over and began speaking quietly to a senior NCO that was at a table of other soldiers. The occupants of that table rose abruptly and ran from the room. Higgins witnessed the same commotion and looked back at Larkin with wide eyes. A loud claxon broke the silence with its shrill tone.
The remaining people in the room froze for a moment then leapt to their feet. It was unusual for such an alarm after all this time following a lower noise level. They knew what to do and had practiced the drill without the siren.
“What’s going on?” Larkin yelled above the noise and shouting.
“I think there’s a breach in the wall!” Higgins shouted over the noise.
“Stand to!” one of the remaining soldiers in the room yelled to his mates.
“Move! Move!” Someone yelled by the doors.
Larkin looked around the room, indecisively. He knew his station was in the North Tower but Leesa was in the opposite direction. Higgins grabbed him and pulled him towards the doors. In the hallway, both of them could see soldiers and civilians running back and forth then the stutter of a heavy machine gun vibrated through the floor. Higgins looked at his friend then pointed to the mechanical room. Larkin nodded as Higgins pushed through the crowd, unlocking and opening the door, standing in the doorway bracing it open.
Larkin shouldered his way through the crowd trying to get inside the dining room, a designated safe area. The soldiers had dispersed to their positions all with the increasing sound of weapons fire. Behind Larkin the doors to the dining room closed with a thud followed by the sound of the crossbeam being lowered into place effectively sealing the doors.
“In or out mate, I have to seal this door,” Higgins said nervously. Larkin stepped all the way inside and watched as Higgins closed and locked the door. They stood looking at the heavy door for several minutes before Higgins spoke again.
“That’s that.” Outside the door, weapons fire grew more intense. Larkin wasn’t sure but he thought he heard screaming as well.
“We should head down,” Higgins said. Larkin nodded then followed him down the stairs to another door, this one a solid metal door on heavy duty tracks. It was probably a hold-over from when the academy had been remodeled. Higgins slid it open, stepped through then motioned for Larkin to follow him. Higgins slid the heavy door shut then worked the odd locking lever.
“Fire door,” he said answering Larkin’s questioning look before heading off into the bowels of the building.
***
Leesa Tobias had been sitting on a rolling stool in one of the exam rooms when the siren went off. Jumping to her feet, she looked around the small room then at the hallway. At the end of the short hall was a solid door that she was supposed to close as soon as the alarm sounded. There was no one else in the medical bay; the military doctor had been at lunch. Running to the far door, she hesitated, listening to the increasing weapons fire before slamming the door shut, twisting the lock to secure it. Slowly backing from the door, she was assailed by the sounds of a battle outside the building. Quickly turning around and closing the doors to the other exam rooms, she ran back to the main office grabbing one of the pre-packed trauma bags along the way. Closing the door, she locked it then pushed a small, wheeled cabinet in front of it. Scared and not knowing what else to do, she ran behind the desk and squeezed herself into the knee hole, covering her ears to muffle the noises from outside.
***
“Where are these things coming from?” Major Hyde-Smythe muttered as he watched the Yorktown Gate get overwhelmed by the infected. He looked over at the Old College building. For some reason, the butchers were focused on that structure, plainly evident from the bodies trailing from the QA Boos Pavilion to the main doors of the building. At least it was a clear killing ground between the gate and the building. His soldiers had exploited that benefit by keeping the infected bottled up at the southeast end of Lower Lake. Combined with the snipers on the roof of Government House, the crazed invaders were paying dearly for their efforts. Hyde-Smythe brought the binoculars up to his eyes, concerned about how the infected had gotten this close to their perimeter and inside before the main alarm went off. Scanning the perimeter, he stopped then moved back to focus on the Staff College Gate.
“Captain Abernathy!”
“Sir!” the young officer at Hyde-Smythe’s right replied.
“Get some men down to the Staff College Gate and reinforce it,” Hyde-Smythe ordered while still watching the gate.
Pressed against the fence were hundreds if not thousands more infected, all eager to get inside. Abernathy pointed to a few of the soldiers nearby then exited the roof of Victory Building.
“Where are these things coming from?” Hyde-Smythe asked again quietly.
***
Higgins led Larkin through the maze of utility tunnels that connected the basements to one another underneath Victory Building. Each tunnel was lined with cable trays and overhead pipes lit by a single, low wattage bulb. Larkin could see the difference in construction as they passed into a newer section. Glancing behind him, he couldn’t help but think about Leesa and how much further he was getting from her.
“Where’re we going, Art?”
“Into the heart of darkness,” Higgins replied, looking back and flashing his friend a wicked smile.
“Seriously, where’re we going?” Larkin insisted.
“To the heart of the building, the main basement,” Higgins answered. Larkin read some of the names on the doors they passed. Most of them were labeled storage of some kind of another followed by a numerical designation. They turned a final corner and Higgins used his keys to unlock another solid door.
“And here we are,” he announced sliding the door open all the way. Larkin stepped inside and looked around. This was the oldest section of the basement and it showed. Old brick work intermixed with drywall covered concrete wallpapered the room. In the center was a large table surrounded by chairs already occupied by some of the other maintenance workers who were focused on a card game. A small couch and kitchen area was off to one side and a series of bunks were against the far wall.
“Yo, Art, about time you showed up,” one player called glancing up from the cards in his hands. Higgins secured the door then walked towards the gathering. He nodded a greeting to them as he passed heading directly for the small stove that had a kettle bubbling on one of the burners. Larkin followed not knowing how to react as the workers appeared calm and collected not like the people that had rushed into the upstairs dining hall. He accepted the offered cup of tea from Higgins then looked around the room. Higgins walked over to the table and joked and chatted with the others leaving Larkin standing by the stove.
“We’re just going to sit here and drink tea and play cards?” Larkin finally asked. Everyone in the room looked over at him.
“Unless you got some other ideas mate, that’s what we plan on doing,” McEvoy stated before turning back to the card game. Larkin put the cup down on the counter.
“What about the people upstairs? Aren’t we going to help them?” he asked.
“Help them? How you plan on doing that? The soldiers have the guns we don’t have shite,” McEvoy replied.
“There must be something we can do,” Larkin said.
“Yeah, we can stay out of thei
r bleeding way and let them sort out the mess is what we can do,” Sewell, another of the maintenance workers said. “Hope they slot the bloody lot of those butchers. Serves them right to come prancing into our area,” he added.
Larkin shook his head and walked away from the group, he felt helpless. Standing in the far corner of the room he noticed for the first time that several of the interior doors were labeled storage just like the ones they had passed along the way. He looked over and caught Higgins eye motioning him over.
“What?” Higgins asked as he came over.
“What’s in all these storage rooms?” Larkin asked ignoring the men at the table.
“Stuff,” Higgins replied.
“What stuff?” Larkin asked with an edge to his voice.
“I don’t know, stuff,”
Larkin sighed.
“Does anyone know what’s in these storage rooms?” he said loud enough to carry to the group playing cards.
“It’s shit from upstairs. Display items for the cases in the history hall,” a voice answered back.
Turning to Higgins, Larkin looked at his old friend.
“Art, open these rooms, I need to see what’s in there,”
“OK, but it’s a waste of time,” Higgins muttered as he pulled out his key ring and began searching for the right key.
***
Leesa heard the dim shouting from the main hallway followed by screams and gunfire. The room shook from a grenade blast, pieces of ceiling tiles rained down. Silence reigned supreme following the explosion. Slowly she crawled out of the knee hole under the desk and looked towards the office door. The noises from the hallway had stopped. She looked around the room searching for another exit or maybe a weapon. This had been the medical doctor’s office at the end of the hall with no other exit.
On the walls were diplomas, certifications and plaques commemorating the doctor’s years of service to the British Army and RMA Sandhurst. She searched the desk, pulling open drawers hoping to find something useful. She stopped and looked again at the pictures on the wall. In one, the doctor was holding a display case with some kind of knife inside. She looked around at the walls to see if that case was hanging somewhere that she might have missed. It wasn’t. Something like that wouldn’t be in any of the exam rooms nor would it be stuffed in a bookcase somewhere. That left only the doctor’s desk. She started opening drawers and looking inside. In the bottom drawer, way in the back most likely forgotten was the display case with the sheath knife. Like everything related to the military, it was a green handled knife in a matching sheath. She looked at the knife then up at the door to the office. Looking back down at the knife behind the class presentation case, she turned it over and smashed the glass against the edge of the desk, breaking it. Shaking the broken shards into the garbage can, she flipped the case back over and studied how to remove the knife from the red felt background. Turning the frame back over, she tried to pry open the back with a fingernail. Wincing as she bent her nail back from the effort, she glanced around the room looking for something that might help. Her search brought her eyes back to the spilled contents of one of the desk drawers. Quickly bending over and grabbing a pen, she jammed the edge of the pen into the seam at the back of the frame and was able to pry up one edge. Shoving the pen in deeper, she wormed a finger into the gap and was able to lever open the back. All that held the knife and sheath in place were a couple of wire ties. Removing those, she pulled the knife out of the sheath and looked at it. There was a strange hole in the blade near the tip that matched a stub on the sheath. Somehow the two items could be connected but she had no idea how or for what purpose. Sliding the SA80 bayonet back into the sheath, she tucked it into the back of her pants and dropped the now empty presentation case into the garbage before continuing her search.
***
Arthur Higgins unlocked another of the storage rooms then quickly stepped aside as Larkin rushed past to look at the contents. The previous rooms had contained furniture, paintings, partial mannequins dressed in uniforms, and boxed decorations. This room appeared to have items that would normally be placed in larger display cases. Higgins watched as Larkin searched the room then stopped and looked down at something in the back corner. Edging closer, he craned his neck to see what his friend was focused on. Larkin squatted down then stood back up holding something wrapped in a red velvet cloth.
“Oh yes! This will do nicely,” he stated before heading for the door grabbing Higgins arm along the way. “Art, you need to guide me through the access tunnels to the medical bay.”
Higgins stumbled along behind Larkin, snatching up a flashlight before he was pulled from the main room. The other maintenance workers watched their hasty departure then returned to their card game.
***
“Bloody hell!” Major Hyde-Smythe said aloud as he watched the defenses for College Town Gate collapsed and thousands of infected swarm onto the academy grounds.
Soldiers on the roof of the Old College building opened up on the intruders. The wall of firepower they put out obliterated the front half of the horde but more pressed through to replenish the fallen. The regenerated mass pushed through the barricades and split into two arms that swept over the soldiers out in the open before surrounding the small chapel and the northwest portion of Old College. Several Land Rovers roared into view firing into the infected with little effect. Hyde-Smythe reached over and grabbed the sound powered phone, cranking the handle then speaking into the handset.
“Sergeant Thapa, initiate the steam,” he ordered.
Along the base of the Old College building, pipes had been run from the boilers then roughed through the exterior foundation walls. Deep inside the boiler rooms, workers brought the pressure up then opened the valves. Hot, scalding steam shot out of from the base of the building and into the lower extremities of the mindless infected. Clothing and rotted skin was blasted off their bodies. The inner core of the horde dropped as their legs were knocked out from underneath them forcing them to fall head first into the pressurized steam blasts.
The smell of boiled, rotted flesh soon permeated the area. The Land Rovers engaged the outer edges of the mass dropping more into the deadly steam cloud. Other soldiers poured out of Woolwich Hall and the academy guardroom to engage the infected trying to gain entrance to the chapel. A city bus rumbled into view and was guided into position to block the damaged College Town Gate, sealing it shut. Not having to be concerned about more infected coming in behind them, the soldiers focused on clearing out those that had gotten inside their perimeter.
***
Leesa heard a loud crash from the outer hall. She froze; the outer door had been breached, probably weakened by the grenade. Slowly moving to the office door, she leaned close to listen. There was shuffling and footsteps in the inner hallway then gunshots and the sounds of a struggle followed by a scream that trailed off into a wet gurgle. She turned the knob to lock the door, crawled back under the desk and pressed her hands tightly over her ears in an attempt to block out the noise.
***
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Larkin asked. Higgins had a hand drawn map he was consulting as they stood at a junction.
“Yeah, yeah, I know where we’re at. Just keep it in your pants,” he reassured Larkin. He studied the map for a few more seconds then stuffed it into a pocket and headed down one of the tunnels.
***
Leesa slowly crawled out from under the desk. The battle in the hallway was over. Now eerie silence. She cautiously moved to stand by one side of the office door, her back pressed against the wall as she gripped the bayonet in both hands. The smell from the hall was making her gag.
***
“Here we go; this puts us under the ESS part of the building,” Higgins announced looking up at the stairs that led to the ground floor.
“What’s ESS?” Larkin asked as he looked at the door then at Higgins.
“Fuck if I know, mate. It’s what the map says it is,” he replied be
fore heading up the stairs to unlock the door.
***
Leesa looked down at the door handle as it slowly rotated back and forth.
***
Larkin and Higgins burst into the ground floor of the ESS only to find nothing but empty desks. Larkin moved towards the door that opened into the main hall with Higgins following behind. He opened the door slowly then leaned out and looked in both directions. He could hear gunfire from outside and an odd high pitched whistle.
“That’d be the steam pipes,” Higgins mentioned referring to the whistle.
“What?” Larkin asked looking back at him.
“The steam pipes from the old boilers were routed through the base of the building to the outside. It was something to do with security. The major had us running around looking for pipe and solder and all kinds of stuff,” he added. Larkin looked back out into the hall trying to remember where he was in connection to where the medical bay was.
Stepping out into the hall, he looked at the exterior doors. Damn. ESS was a separate building not attached to Victory. That meant they would have to go outside to get inside. Larkin moved towards the exterior doors, crouching low and looking out the window on the door.
The courtyard between ESS and Victory seemed devoid of infected. Larkin looked back at Higgins who was crouched by the wall watching him. He nodded then pulled the red velvet from the object he had been carrying to reveal an 1845 British Infantry officer’s sword.
“Bloody hell,” Higgins muttered as Larkin drew the blade then slid the scabbard through his belt before he gripped the edged weapon tightly; his hand against the quillon as he flung open the door and stepped outside.
***
The battle over ownership of College Town Gate degraded into hand to hand combat as a wave of Kukri wielding Ghurkas, bellowing their battle cry, waded into the remaining infected. Squads of soldiers with bayonets mounted on their rifles dispatched any of the stragglers that somehow made it past the Nepalese warriors. The infected, while dangerous close in, were incapable of dealing with the extended reach of the bayonet equipped rifle soldiers or the sharp blades of the Ghurkas. When the area between the gate and Le Marchant Square was clear, the human forces advanced towards QA Boos Pavilion pushing the infected back to the Yorktown Gate under cover of sniper fire from the Old College and Government House buildings. The dark of night was slowly being chased away as the first few rays of dawn lit the sky.
Up From the Depths: Book 4 Movement to Contact Page 4
