Grace sat down and rested against the back of the chair. “We were concerned that one of you might have been exposed to the infection so we prepared this room for all of us. We’re quarantined for forty-eight hours.”
“We’ve laid out mattresses and made them up. Females over there. Males over there.” Luke pointed to two corners of the room. “There are spare clothes and bathing supplies in the bathrooms and enough food and water for two days. Although there’s more in the kitchen.”
Without warning Grace began shaking. She fell forward, resting her head on her arms on the table.
“Grace!” Luke yelled and started to get up to help her.
She held up a hand. “It’s just the adrenaline wearing off.” She tried to laugh but couldn’t. “And, total and complete terror.”
The cadets smiled. Sabrina giggled, and the others began laughing, at first softly, then muffling the sound as tears ran down their cheeks. After several minutes they stopped and one by one slumped back in their chairs.
“Holy crap, I’ve never been so scared in my entire life,” Damien said, and laughed again.
“Hell, I can’t believe we’re still alive,” Stephan said. “What the hell are those things?”
Neal shook his head. “I was so scared I think I need to change my pants.”
“Did anyone else notice how hard they are to kill?” Sabrina asked.
Mark nodded. “I swear I emptied an entire magazine into one and it kept charging me.”
Sabrina sat forward. “They were all around us. Where did they all come from?”
Grace sat up. “We have a lot to tell you about what’s going on but the first thing to remember is that these things are contagious.” There would be time enough tomorrow to tell them what they’d decided had happened. After watching the news they’d decided that an enemy of the United States had attacked with a biological weapon. The knowledge that anyone could do such a thing enraged all of them, and personally Grace hoped the infection had reached whoever had done this and destroyed them as well.
Luke stood up. “We did great today. We accomplished our mission and we’ve earned some rack time. This building is secure and everyone knows the locations of the bathrooms. We’ll have two people on guard at all times in case someone turns. We all know what has to be done. I know I don’t want to be one of those things. I’d rather be put out of my misery. Now, if something, or someone, tries to get in Security will notify us and we will maintain a silent presence.”
Grace set her empty water bottle down. “It may be only oh seven hundred but I’m exhausted and I’m going to take a nap. Wake me if anything happens.”
# # #
Forty hours later, Grace led all six of the cadets onto the elevator and pressed the down button.
The moment she opened the doors, Megan and Sherry ran forward and hugged everyone. “We’ve missed you all so much.” She stepped back then waved at the three newcomers. “Hi, Sabrina. Hi, Stephan. Hi, Damien. We fixed sandwiches, salad and chocolate pudding. It’s in the dining area this way.”
They followed her and she pointed to the buffet. “I have to get back to security but I’ll see all of you in the morning.”
“I’ll cover security. You stay and visit,” Neal said.
“I’ve slept all day so I’ll join you and we’ll keep watch until oh four hundred,” Sherry said. She and Neil grabbed some food and bottles of juice and left.
Megan sat down. “I can’t believe you all made it.” She smiled even though tears ran down her face. “It was so scary watching you and not being able to help.”
Luke sat down next to her and hugged her. “You did help by being our security line.”
They ate and visited for thirty minutes then Megan began cleaning up the buffet and putting the leftovers in the fridge.
“Thank you, Megan,” Grace said.
Luke climbed to his feet. “I’m going to talk to John and Sherry first.”
“You know where the sleeping dorms and the shower rooms are located. The linens are in the lockers next to each bunk. There’s also a cupboard stocked with the Academy sweats, socks, slippers and deck shoes in the utility room between the two dorms.”
“Thank goodness,” Sabrina said. “We didn’t have time to grab anything before we ran.”
“Sherry and I already have bunks, and so does John,” Megan looked at Grace and Sabrina. “I’ll help you make up your bunks if you like.”.
Grace smiled at the young teen. She was always willing to pitch in. “I’m going to turn off all the lights in the shelter but I’ll leave a nightlight on in the galley and shower rooms. Tomorrow I’ll make sure everyone has a flashlight.”
Forty minutes later, Grace adjusted the temperature of a shower and stepped beneath the steamy spray. Standing there, head down, she sent a silent prayer of thanks for Mr. Manning.
Four
May 3, 2015
Grace and Sabrina were on duty watching the cameras when one of the creatures crashed through the branches of a tree to the ground. It lay there, writhing. Its body jerked and spasmed as blood flowed from its eyes and ears. It opened its mouth and blood spewed from its puckered lips as it howled. It appeared to be dying a tortured death and it made her sad. It had once been a human, someone’s child. The thought brought tears to her eyes. Another creature fell, followed by another and another, until the entire area she could see was covered by dying creatures.
The first creature stopped moving, but the others continued to suffer until one by one they lay still, the surrounding snow stained with blood that was more black than red. Seeing, and realizing, how many of them had surrounded the building frightened Grace, and she gave thanks once again for Mr. Manning’s planning.
“Sabrina, go get the others.”
Sabrina nodded, but didn’t move. Grace looked at her and saw tears running down her cheeks. She hugged her, patting her shoulder. “It’s horrifying, I know, but at least now they’re at peace.” She felt Sabrina draw in several deep breathes as she tried to regain control. Finally, she nodded and moved back.
“I’ll get them,” she said and left the room.
Several minutes later the cadets gathered around the monitors, pointing out creature after creature.
“Gross,” Sherry said. “Look at all the infected gore.”
“What’s killing them?” Megan asked.
Grace shrugged. “I don’t know. They just started falling from the trees and dying.”
“Damn, that means they’ve been there all along and we didn’t know it,” Luke said.
Grace nodded. “I wish we had audio. Maybe we’ve missed the sounds of planes flying over us. From now on we need to watch the views of the sky that we have on the cameras.”
Stephan turned on the television and flipped through the channels getting static on all stations. “No broadcasting. Not even civil defense.”
Luke scanned through the radio frequencies and was about to give up when he picked up a station that faded in and out.
“It sounds military.” Mark moved closer, taking a knee by the radio.
The room grew quiet as they listened and tried to make out the words.
Luke handed a paper and pen to Sabrina. “Log these words—depletion. Survived. Evolving. Dangerous. Longer contagious. Countryside. Variants.” The signal faded again and this time he couldn’t get it back. “Damn it. That’s it.” He looked at Sabrina. “Read the words back one at a time.”
Sabrina put the pen down. “The first word is depletion.”
“I think they’re talking about how the creatures died. The military sprayed some kind of poison and depleted the number of creatures,” Neal said.
“I agree,” Luke said. “Anyone have another idea?”
“It could mean the human race has been depleted,” Grace said.
“True,” Luke said. “Okay, next word.”
“Survived.”
“So maybe some humans like us have survived or some of the creatures survived. Aren’t t
he next two words ‘evolved’ and ‘dangerous?’” Damien asked and Sabrina nodded. “So, the survivors have evolved and now they’re more dangerous than ever so I think they were talking about the creatures.”
“Does everyone agree with Damien’s conclusion?” Luke asked, and the others nodded. “Okay, next word.”
Sabrina held up two fingers. “Longer contagious.”
“I’ve been thinking about that phrase ever since I heard it,” Megan said. “I think they probably said no longer contagious. That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“I agree, but the next word was ‘countryside,’” Sherry said. “I think that the ones in the cities died but not in the countryside.”
“Because they only dropped the poison on the larger cities, like Denver, and it spread to the area around the cities, like us. They haven’t had time to drop it everywhere yet so the creatures in the countryside are still contagious,” Stephan said.
“We’re over a hundred miles from Denver as the crow flies,” Neil said. “It wouldn’t have spread that far.”
“We saw them die so we know the poison was here. Maybe it drifted on the wind or they began spraying too early. We have no way of knowing,” Luke said. “Next word.”
“It’s the last one,” Sabrina said. “Variants.”
“That means another version of something,” John said.
“So, all together—the military depleted, or reduced, the number of creatures by poisoning them. Some survived and they’ve evolved and are more dangerous than ever but they’re no longer contagious—.”
“Except in the countryside where they didn’t drop the poison,” Neal said. “I think they’ll complete that operation soon.”
Luke nodded. “Does anyone disagree with our conclusion?” The others shook their heads. He pointed to Neal. “Try the shortwave again.”
Neal did but couldn’t pick up anyone. “I don’t think there are any civilians left alive out there. At least none with shortwave radios.”
“That means we’re on our own.” Sherry slid to the floor with her back against the wall and her knees drawn up. “I chose to come here to the Academy, but I wasn’t planning on dying here.”
“It’s only been two weeks,” Grace said. “Your father and Dr. Matthews know we’re here, and maybe some of your parents received your text messages. Someone will come. Until they do, we’re going to continue training and surviving.
# # #
May 5, 2015
“Grace, we need you in the security room,” John said from the doorway between the storage and dining room before he hurried away.
She dropped the knife with which she was chopping vegetables and hurried after him.
The second she stepped into Security Luke pointed to the camera monitors. “Mr. Rogers showed up a few minutes ago.”
Grace leaned down and spotted him. “How can he be out there? Where are the monsters?”
Luke zoomed in on Mr. Rogers. “Maybe they are all dead. He’s walked around the building and they haven’t shown up. He tried to open the exit door and elevator then got pissed when he couldn’t open them.”
Grace took the chair John vacated and watched Bruce stomp around the corner and reappear at the front of the building. His mouth was moving, and it looked like he was cussing up a storm. He picked up a rock and threw it at one of one of the cameras then made a rude gesture.
“He knows we’re in here,” John said.
“No, he thinks we’re in here. There’s a difference,” Grace said. “The night of the attack, he told me he was going to leave the gate unlocked so the truck drivers and I could leave when we finished. I put my car in the faculty garage so unless he’s been in there he doesn’t know I’m still here. There’s no way he can know about the nine of you.”
“What about the noise we made when we rescued Stephan, Damien and Sabrina?” John asked.
“The sound of gunfire echoes all over this valley. Where ever he’s been hiding, he couldn’t have known it was us shooting,” Luke said.
“He knows you changed the codes.” Neal gave her a ‘gotcha’ look.
Grace smiled. “I change them around the middle of every month and then email them to Mr. Edgars. He sends them to Rogers. He probably figures he didn’t get the email because all hell broke loose.”
Damien leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Maybe the evolved creatures don’t come out during the day. We’ve never seen them.”
Luke shook his head as if that didn’t make sense. “We’ve never seen them at night either but that doesn’t mean they’re not out there. These cameras only show a small part of the campus, but John and I have caught movement in the trees at night. We don’t know if it’s the wind or the creatures.”
Grace glanced at the silent television, wishing once again that they hadn’t lost the signal. While they talked, Rogers stood in front of the building staring at it before he hurried away. “I wonder what he’s up to now.”
“Probably going back to his cottage.” John made the gesture of someone drinking from a bottle. “The guy is an alcoholic.”
“I have a bad feeling about him,” Luke said. “He’s up to something, and he’s not going to give up. He knows the food delivery was made, and he always ate in the cafeteria so he couldn’t have had very much food at his cottage. If the infected stayed in the dorm after they attacked the cadets they probably destroyed the food in there. So what has he been eating and how did he escape being caught by them?”
“He and Hilda Baker were the people stealing food from the kitchen so he probably had a lot stashed away,” Grace said.
“Hey, guys, look at this.” John pointed to the middle monitor where a huge pickup drove over the sidewalk then turned and drove across the grass away from the building. It stopped and Rogers stuck his head out of the window and backed toward the building until the bed of the truck lined up with the stairway. He stopped and drove forward again.
“He’s going to ram the doors,” John said.
Grace laughed. “He’s an idiot. The first floor is raised six feet from the ground and the stairs were put in front of the doors so they couldn’t be rammed.”
John pointed at the monitors. “Look.”
The pickup pulled farther forward then backed up, picking up speed as it closed in on the stairway. The truck bed slammed into the brick walls on either side of the steps and crumpled like an accordion. The truck came to a sudden halt. The cab bounced into the air then crashed down and bounced once again. The building didn’t even shake.
Grace smiled. “Hope he had his seatbelt on.”
Sabrina gasped and pointed a shaking finger to an area beneath the trees. “Look, oh my gosh, what are those things?”
“Hell fire,” Grace said, “Is that what the creatures have become?”
“It looks like they’ve grown an exoskeleton,” John said.
“They look sort of like scorpions but much, much bigger,” Sabrina said.
The creatures’ arms and legs had evolved. The arms now had pincers tipped with long, blood-crusted talons where the hands used to be. Another pair of legs had grown out of their sides giving them six limbs. They skittered across the campus, sometimes running over each other, their movements so rapid it was nearly impossible to keep track of them. Their necks had thickened and lengthened, allowing them to swivel their heads nearly 360 degrees.
John pointed to the creatures swarming Rogers’ truck. “Well, at least now we know they’ll go into the sun for food.”
“I never liked Rogers but even he doesn’t deserve this,” Megan said.
The creatures climbed over the sides and top of the truck. Several stopped and looked through the windows. One raised its head and sniffed the air.
Rogers pushed the door open and staggered out. The monsters gathered around him, several of them actually running their talons over his body before they scurried back to the trees. Rogers shook his head and stumbled away.
“Well, I’ll be damned,�
� John said. “Why didn’t they attack him?”
“I don’t know but look where they went.” Luke pointed to the trees. “They’re all around us.”
Grace stood up. “We need to move supplies into several rooms just in case he, or they, get in here.”
# # #
Luke stood at the end of a table. “We’ve all seen the footage of what happened today with Bruce Rogers. I believe there’s only one conclusion we can reach—he’s collaborating with the monsters in some way.”
“I agree but I wonder where Hilda Baker is now? She was at his cottage the night of the attack,” Sherry said
“She spent every night at his cottage,” Sabrina said.
“She’s probably dead,” Megan said.
“I agree. I doubt if he would’ve protected her,” Luke said. “First order of business, what rooms are we going to stock with food and water?”
“I say the security room for sure,” Stephan said. “And, Grace’s office.”
“Agreed,” Luke said. “Any other suggestions?”
“The dorms and the armory,” Sherry said.
Megan picked up a pen and began writing. “We need to move other things as well. Mattresses, blankets, clothes, flashlights and medical supplies.”
“If we decide they might get into this level, then we’ll fight our way to Grace’s car and get out of here. Mark and I will plan two evacuation routes along with destinations,” Luke said.
Damien pushed his chair back from the table. “Okay, we have a plan. Let’s get busy.”
Three hours later they’d moved supplies into four areas of the shelter—the upper kitchen, Grace’s office, the storage room and Security.”
In the dining area, Grace set out a platter of sandwiches and a large bowl of salad.
Once they settled at one of the tables, Luke said, “We’re going to spend the next three days gathering intel, practicing advancing, clearing rooms, and fields of fire.”
“I’m too old for this and these boots are killing my feet,” Grace said with wink.
Sherry laughed. “But, Grace, they’re so fashionable, and I have to say those cammies make you look twenty years younger.”
Extinction Cycle (Kindle Worlds Novella): Resistance Page 5
