My stomach twitched. They didn’t need ammo. I did. Why wreck a working Jeep to get inside?
We scrambled out of our vehicle and followed the other soldiers inside the building. Dirk flicked on a flashlight, ran to the back of the warehouse, and used a pull chain to open a loading dock door, filling the space with light. A few offices sat in the front of the warehouse-type building, while wooden crates lined up in perfect military order filled the rest of the space. The guys fanned out looking for the bullets for our guns.
The small office to my right caught my attention. Ten bottles of water and a box of protein bars sat abandoned on a desk. “Hang on. There’s some bottled water in here.”
The guys came back. We all ducked into the room. Kalis and Zombie each opened a bottle, then we passed them around. The remaining bottles were quickly snatched up, and we evenly split the bars. The five guys turned slightly, like they were trying to hide something. I shifted so I had a clear view. They all reached into a chest pocket on their vests and popped a pill. I tried to catch Adam’s eye.
He crumpled the protein bar wrapper and tossed the paper aside. “I needed that.” He hadn’t seen the guys.
I turned. Rollins had to have seen what they did, but he didn’t say anything. Maybe it was a nutrition supplement pill. Them not mentioning it and trying to hide the pills made me wonder why they weren’t sharing.
“Look. Gear bags.” Rollins bent down and grabbed two empty duffle bags from under a table. As we were leaving, I spotted a small camo backpack and a black sweatshirt with US ARMY in gold lettering hanging on the back of the chair. I stuffed the water, food, and sweatshirt inside the bag, adjusting the weapon so the bag rested under the gun strap.
Adam and I followed Rollins to a stack of crates with 9mm printed on the outside. He tried to unhook the wiring that ran around the outside of the crate, but it didn’t budge.
“Let me try.” Adam offered. He grabbed the two ends where they hooked together. With a groan, he used his extra strength to release the wire.
Once the wire was gone, the crate opened like magic. Rollins stuffed boxes of 9mm rounds into one duffle. Adam went around opening crate after crate. Zombie followed behind him filling the other bag with M16 bullets.
“Val, come here.” Adam called me from the other side of the warehouse.
When I reached him, he had opened a crate labeled M4. I loaded the bullets into the backpack with the 9mm I had already stuffed inside. It was heavy, but with my extra strength it wasn’t a big deal. Once the bags were filled, we all loaded our weapons. A sense of calm blossomed in the center of my chest. I had more than three bullets. I was back in control. Back in charge of my fate. I was ready to fight.
The five soldiers nodded. Kalis gripped his weapon. “It’s time. Let’s get out of here. Back to base.”
“Where are you going?” I needed to find Megan, but I wasn’t one hundred percent sure where she was. My gut told me she was out west somewhere. If they were heading that way, it might be worthwhile to stick with them for protection if nothing else.
“Nevada.” Zombie made a weird clicking noise, then smiled and raised his eyebrows.
“Why Nevada?” Adam narrowed his eyes like he was trying to figure out if we should go with them.
“Our base is there. It has power. Food. Water. You should come with us.” Kalis’s voice was nonchalant, but a hint of his obey-me tone filtered into the words.
“We have to find our friend, Megan. General DeCarlo sent her somewhere. I think somewhere in the west.” I had to give them a shot. For Megan.
“We have enough tech to help find her. Transporation to reach her.” Kalis tilted his head to the side in a there’s-no-way-for-you-to-say-no way.
A military base full of soldiers was better than a bunker run by crazy doctors and scientists. A military base wasn’t Zigotgen. General DeCarlo was dead.
All my instincts screamed for me to say no. To do this alone with Adam. But my damn heart and the desire to help Megan made me say, “How will we get there?”
Zombie grinned so wide that he reminded me of a clown without the creepy makeup. “We ride the Worm.”
4
“The Worm? What is that?” Adam’s skepticism dripped sarcasm.
Zombie laughed. The whiteness of his teeth caught me off guard. “A train.”
“A train? Are you serious? Trains don’t work. In case you missed it, they haven’t worked since The Great Shit Storm they labeled a Great Discovery.” My words came across harder, bitchier than I meant them to be. But come on, these guys didn’t strike me as idiots.
I turned to Adam. He gave a slight shrug.
Rollins cleared his throat. I didn’t know if it was a warning to me or to his soldier buddies.
“True. Regular trains don’t work. But we’re not going by regular train.” Kalis’s tone reminded me of my Algebra teacher when I kept messing up the simplest equations that he thought the solutions to should have been obvious.
“So, a magical train then?” Adam added, I think to lighten the mood.
“It’s classified.” Kalis grinned, and the other guys in his crew laughed. “I’ll drive.”
Bowie took a square about six inches by six inches from a small backpack I hadn’t noticed before. He placed his palm on the top. A green light flashed, and when he lifted his hand, the square levitated and then flew.
“Is that a drone?” Adam watched the square fly higher and higher. “How do you control it?”
“It’s classified.” Bowie’s tone was devoid of any trace of emotion.
“Come on. It’s so cool. Please tell me how you’re controlling it.” Adam seemed one step away from begging.
“He controls the Hawk with his mind,” Kalis said like it was no big deal, then jumped into the driver side of the Jeep.
Rollins took the passenger side while Adam, Zombie, and I got the back. The others held on to the sides, with their feet on the running boards.
I leaned closer to Zombie. “The Hawk? A drone controlled by someone’s mind? Does he see what the drone sees in his mind? When did the military develop that level of technology?”
“You’d be surprised what the government keeps classified.” He nodded like it explained everything.
Adam leaned against the window to most likely see the drone. “I want one.”
“Everyone does.” Zombie winked at me, then tapped behind his ear. “Dirk, any hostiles?” He waited a second, then said, “All clear ahead.”
Kalis drove past the ammo depot into a wooded area behind the base. It didn’t seem like the dirt path he took was meant to be a road. We bounced up and down over the uneven ground made of rocks the size of my head.
A stabbing pain poked me in the eyes. I shut them to keep from being sick. When I opened my eyes, I was no longer in the Jeep. I stood on a small hill in front of a lake. A couple of picnic tables sat closer to the water. I walked forward toward a building that resembled a public restroom with entrances on opposite sides. The air smelled like my hair did after spending a long time in the sun: slightly charred. Yet, there were no noises. No sounds nature was carrying on. Then I noticed it. A white wispy substance filled with black dots covered everything. I stepped closer. My skin tingled and my body went rigid. It wasn’t possible.
Oh God. They weren’t black dots. They were thousands of black spiders crawling along their webs. There was no safe haven. They were everywhere. On the building. Hanging from the roof. Crawling on the ground. Filling the bushes. Draped across trees. Everywhere. All at once, they turned to me.
The Jeep slammed to a stop, and the spider vision evaporated. What the hell was happening? Maybe I was slowly losing my mind. I shook my head trying to clear the disturbing images. When I gained my focus back, I spotted movement off to the right behind a tree.
“Guys, there’s something over there. Behind that tree.” I spoke as quietly as I could but loud enough for everyone in the Jeep to hear.
The vehicle slowed as Kalis spoke sof
tly. “Bowie, the Hawk report?”
“Our eleven o’clock about a hundred meters.”
Zombie looked through the scope on his gun. “I see them. Ninety-one meters to the right.”
“How many targets?”
“I’m not sure.”
Adam drew his gun. “Should we punch it and get the hell out of here?”
“That will lure the Raspers in for sure. Since we don’t know how many, we need to play this cool.” Kalis parked the Jeep behind a tree.
“Rollins, stay here with the kids. Bowie, tell me what the Hawk sees. Zom, you and Dirk take portside. Dudas, you’re with me. We can’t get flanked. Keep the package secure.”
They all moved with speed and precision.
“I need to get out.” I opened the door before Rollins could tell me not to.
We eased out, keeping our weapons trained on the trees. Adam stood next to me behind the door.
Rollins and Bowie stood alert and ready for a fight.
Bowie tapped behind his ear. “Hostiles, two meters to the left.”
I aimed at the spot. With a rumble, three Raspers ran from the trees. They were all dressed in fatigues. Soldiers themselves.
Kalis and the others fired, killing the Raspers.
Everyone waited.
Bowie used his comm again. “Nothing.”
Kalis made hand gestures to the other guys. Rollins climbed into the back of the Jeep, flipped open a hatch and stood behind the big gun mounted on the top. He pivoted it around, looking through its scope.
Rollins tapped behind his ear. “Hold position.”
He had a comm device too? I leaned forward and spotted a small scar behind his right ear. The damn things were implanted.
“Come back. Double time. I’ll cover.” Rollins sounded like he belonged with the soldiers.
Bowie looked up and caught the hovering square.
While the guys made their way back to the Jeep, Rollins kept sweeping the massive gun back and forth. The guys had just made it back to the vehicle when I heard a noise from behind me. I spun.
Adam turned too.
Raspers came at us from every angle except where the guys had been.
“They’re surrounding us.” My voice was just above a whisper, but it sounded like I shouted the words.
“Damn it. They were decoys.” Bowie threw the drone back into the sky. “I hate how they learn so damn quickly.”
Rollins spun the big gun around. Zombie dove to the ground and took up a sniper’s position under the Jeep. Kalis and Bowie took aim from the Jeep’s hood, while Dirk and Dudas covered the rear.
“Adam, Val, move.” Kalis all but hissed at us.
Adam tugged my sleeve. I shook him off. Maybe I could divert them.
“Kalis, let me try something.” I kept my gun aimed, but stepped forward.
“Val, don’t.”
They didn’t want me dead, right? The queen wanted me. I should be okay. Or so I hoped.
I walked forward a few more steps. The Raspers came closer.
“Abort, Val. This is a no go.” Kalis moved, but I couldn’t risk glancing back.
The Raspers marched forward, closing their ranks.
I held up my right hand. “Go back. Leave us alone,” I yelled to the Raspers. They paused for a fraction of a second, then they raised their pointed fingernails.
“Shoot them.” I fired, my aim true. The closest Rasper crumpled to the ground. I dashed back to the Jeep’s cover.
The soldiers opened fire, and within seconds, the threat was over. The Rasper bodies were scattered aross the black-spattered ground. They were dead.
We waited for more, but all was quiet.
“Not seeing anything.” Bowie looked right and left.
“Do you think—” Dirk’s question was cut off when a bullet slammed into the hood of the Jeep.
“Shit, we’re taking fire,” Kalis called. “Back in the vehicle. Now.”
More bullets hit the Jeep. We all squeezed inside.
“I can’t see the shooter. The trees must be blocking him.” Bowie drew his eyebrows together.
A red beam cut through the Jeep and landed on me.
“Punch it. They have a beam on us.” Zombie fired out the window.
Kalis jammed the vehicle in reverse while the rest of us who could fired in the direction the shots were coming from. Then the bullets stopped.
“Think we got them? Anyone see?” Rollins slammed another magazine home in his gun.
Kalis stopped the Jeep behind a line of trees. “Think the shooter was human?”
“I would say Rasper. I’ve seen them shoot before.” I squinted, trying to make every use of my expanded vision to see if I could find the sniper or snipers.
“Raspers?” Dirk kept his gaze on the trees.
“It’s what I call them. You know, because of how they breathe.”
“That works.” All the soldiers nodded their agreement. Perfect. Everyone liked my name for the damn things.
Now if I could just figure out where the queen Rasper was, I could destroy them all. I really hoped that’s how it would work. I was pretty sure no one had created a Plan B if I failed.
Rollins tapped the dashboard. “Let’s go see if we killed the sucker.”
When we got close, all the soldiers, except Kalis, got out and fanned into the trees.
In seconds, Dudas yelled, “We nailed the Rasper asshole.” He held up another M16 and slung it over his right shoulder.
That’s when I noticed all of the guys were right-handed. If they got stung, they were all dead, not turned into Raspers. My stomach soured and my legs itched to run. Run till I was miles from the guys, from the base, from Site R, from all the death.
Bowie brought the drone back to him and stowed it in his bag. We drove for about a half mile, then we all climbed out into an area full of trees where the ground was covered in pinecones.
“Let’s move. Zombie, take point. Bowie, cover our asses. Stay alert. There might be more mutants hiding.” Kalis grabbed the duffle bags and handed them to others.
“Does this feel off to you?” Adam whispered, knowing I was the only one who could hear him.
“Yeah. It seems too easy,” I said super softly.
“Wanna make a break for it?”
I did. I wanted to get away from these guys and continue our search for Megan. But if they had access to a train, I wanted to know where it was and how it worked. And Kalis seemed so sure he could locate Megan. “We don’t have a choice.”
He gave my arm a quick squeeze, refocusing me. We snuck through the trees. Kalis stopped at a small cement-block building that reminded me of a super-duty outhouse. “Dirk, sweep the inside.”
Dirk dashed through the door and called back out a few seconds later. “Clear.”
“Ladies first.” Kalis waved his gun at the building.
Normally I would want to go first. However, I had no idea what was inside the little structure that now, as I stared at it, looked more like a mausoleum. Their goal could be to trap me. No, I was being dumb. If these guys wanted to trap or kill me, they wouldn’t have gone to these great lengths just to lock me in a cement closet.
“Yeah, sure.” Holding the Glock tight, I stepped into the darkness, then leaned back out. “Can I borrow a flashlight?”
Dudas removed one from his pocket and slapped it in my open hand.
“All right then.” I clicked on the light.
The building was about the size of a half bathroom. But instead of a sink and toilet there was a hole with a metal ladder that led down into the unknown. My palms slicked. I had to wipe them on my pants to keep a grip on the gun. Even though I had been underground more times lately than I wanted, fear and memories of my basement made my chest clench and my stomach tighten. Blowing my hair out of my eyes, I shined the light down the hole. It reminded me of a manhole tunnel. I couldn’t see the end, but there was no way I was chickening out now. Dirk must have already gone down, but he wasn’t shining his l
ight up to help cut the darkness.
I slipped the Glock in my pocket, made sure the M4 was secure, then tucked the flashlight into the middle of my bra with the light shining up. My face probably held that ghoulish look that I used to do to freak my mom out.
When I went down the next rung, the flashlight slipped and fell. It clanged against the metal and, from the sound it made, landed a ways down. I risked a glance and wished I hadn’t. It had to be like thirty or forty feet.
I was so focused on how far down it was that I almost slipped when Adam said, “Whoa. Didn’t expect that.”
“Me either.” I climbed down another rung. “Ready?”
“Right behind you.”
It made my heartbeat slow a bit knowing it was Adam coming down behind me.
The scent of wet dirt filled my nose even though the shaft was made from cement. It made me curious about when this was built and for what purpose. Another tunnel that led to some secret space like Site R had connected to Camp David? Or more like the water drainage system that had led to the old monastery with the black ooze?
To keep from totally panicking, I counted the rungs. Thirty-three. My chest burned. I had to remain calm. I tried to further distract myself by remembering what some History Channel show had said about the significance of the number.
My boots touched the cement floor. The viselike tightness in my chest loosened. I picked up the flashlight and gasped.
5
I stood in a completely circular cement tunnel the size of a one-story house. The smooth light gray sides contrasted with the large red human-size letters that read “FT Detrick.”
A large metallic object glowed before me. While not the gleaming red magic steam train I pictured, a sleek silver object resembling a bullet hovered over the old railroad tracks. It was like something straight out of a Star Wars movie set.
Adam dropped down next to me. “Holy shit.”
“You can say that again.”
“How is it hovering there? Think it’s some kind of alien technology?”
The Hive (Rasper Book 2) Page 3
