The Complex (The Omega Protocol Chronicles Book 3)

by Courtney McPhail

  He wasn’t about to argue with her about it. It might just be gut feeling, but he was willing to listen to her as long as it was good news.

  Her faith helped a little but he was still anxious. He hated knowing that they had at least another four hours before they’d get any answers about what happened to them. Four hours to sit here doing nothing, giving that reel of horrors plenty of time to keep spinning in his head.

  Subject File #749

  Subject: I know it sounds cheesy but life really is precious. It can be taken away so quickly. It makes you consider what is and isn’t important.

  Administrator: And what is important to you?

  Subject: The people I love.

  Janet sat up, gasping out the breath that had caught in her throat. Her heart was racing a mile a minute and cold sweat beaded on her forehead. It took her a moment to realize that she was on a cot in the hospital room.

  Her eyes went to the beds and she was relieved to see the boys there. She had been caught up in a horrible nightmare but the details of it were already fading away.

  Though she couldn’t remember what the nightmare was about, the sense of dread still clung to her, chilling her to the marrow of her bones.

  She pushed herself out of the cot, wanting to get as far away from it as possible. She didn’t want to fall asleep again and find herself back in nightmares.

  Not that the waking world provided much solace. Her boys were still sick, though they were sleeping soundly for the first time in a while. They had been restless last night and into this morning, their fevers spiking again and the accompanying aches causing them to moan and shift for hours on end. Quinton had done what he could to make them comfortable and ease their fevers. It seemed like it worked. That must have been why she had drifted off to sleep.

  She checked her watch. Close to four o’clock. More than ten hours since the others had left. She’d heard the radio calls throughout the day, muffled enough by the walls that she couldn’t pick out the exact words. That was fine by her. She didn’t need to know the details. It was enough to know that they were alive. As long as they were alive, it meant they were looking for the meds.

  And that meant there was a chance for all of them.

  She went to each of the boys, checking them over before doing the same for Hannah. The little girl was curled up on her side, her thumb in her mouth.

  Audrey was sleeping on the cot next to Hannah’s bed. Her mask was still in place, her gloved hands curled up beneath her chin. She’d been strong through it all and Janet admired the girl for that. Janet had tried to be like her. She’d done her best to not let the twins see her tears in their lucid moments but she felt like she was getting closer to the breaking point.

  Craig let out a groan and she moved over to his bedside when she saw his eyes flutter open. “Hey Craig, you okay?”

  “Feel...shitty,” he hissed out between dry lips, his skin nearly as pale as the sheets on the bed.

  “How about some water?” she offered, picking up the glass on the table and adjusting the straw so Craig could take it between his lips. It was a struggle for him to take even two sips and he dropped back down to the pillow.

  “Is there anything else I can get you?” she asked. He turned his head to look over at the row of beds next to him and the sleeping children in them.

  “Are they bad?”

  “No worse than you,” Janet told him as she dipped a cloth into the water basin on the table and began to bathe his forehead. “Don’t you worry about them. You just focus on getting better.”

  “Anyone...” He coughed as his words caught in his throat and she put the straw back to his lips so he could drink again. This time he took several long sips of the water and then laid back. “Anyone else?”

  She shook her head. “We’ve contained it so far. Only you four are sick.”

  “You okay?” He put a clammy hand over hers and weakly squeezed it. She let out a small laugh. Here he was, sick as a dog, and he was making sure she was okay. Clearly she looked like a mess if he was worried about her.

  “No,” she admitted, “No, I’m not. I’m scared for my babies and I’m pissed off there is nothing I can do to help them. I hate not being in control.”

  It wasn’t hard to admit. She’d known it for a long time and she had accepted it as a part of her. It had been easier to deal with in the old world. There had always been unknowns of course but there were so many things she could do to mitigate the dangers.

  Always wear seat belts. Eat healthy and exercise. Look both ways before crossing the street. Lock the doors. Take your vitamins.

  They might have been illusions of control but she didn’t mind. It helped her cope. But in the here and now, she didn’t have those reassurances.

  She had thought the island could be that reassurance. It was secluded and offered safety from freaks and strangers. Except she hadn’t thought about the danger of an invisible enemy. Illness hadn’t even been on her radar but maybe that was because she feared it. When it came to fighting illness, the outcome was in the hands of others. She hated that.

  “It feels like a test,” she confessed to Craig. “It feels like my whole life has been a test. I don’t know if it’s God or the Devil, but I am being tried and I don’t know what to do. I lost my husband but I had my children to live for so I made it through. If I lose my children, I don’t know what I’m going to do and it scares me.”

  Tears filled his blue eyes and his Adam’s apple bobbed in his throat. “I’m sorry. I did this.”

  “No,” she whispered, shaking her head as she put her other hand on his and clasped it. “It’s not your fault.”

  “I brought it from the island.”

  “But that’s not your fault,” she reassured him. “This isn’t anyone’s fault. It just happened. Blame doesn’t help anyone.”

  “Still,” Craig whispered, “I am sorry.”

  Before she could reassure him, she heard the front door of the clinic slam. Heavy footsteps sounded on the wooden boards as someone rushed by the closed exam room door. Something was going on.

  She went to the door and opened it to peek out. She saw the light on in the supply room, the dancing of shadows on the slice of wall she could see through the open door.

  “What’s going on?” she called out and Lorraine’s head popped into view, a giant grin on her face.

  “Javier just got back with the meds. We’re just getting them ready to administer to everyone.”

  Janet braced herself on the doorframe as her knees went weak when the relief swamped her. They would be okay. Her babies would be okay.

  Her knees gave out and she hit the floor without even realizing it. The relief was overwhelming and she did nothing to fight it back. A choking sob slipped from her mouth and she found it hard to breath as she began to cry. She tore off her mask and buried her face in her hands as more bone rattling sobs tore through her. Her babies would live. They would come back to her and her family would stay whole.

  She realized that there was someone next to her when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She raised her head from her hands, blinking away tears to see Quinton kneeling next to her, concern in his eyes.

  “You alright?” he asked her, touching her gently on the forehead.

  He was checking her temperature. He thought she might be sick. Why? Her knees throbbed, sending an ache through her joints.

  Oh, that’s right. She’d fallen because he’d told her that her babies would be okay.

  She threw her arms around Quinton, clinging to him tight as she began to cry again. “My babies are okay. My babies are okay.”

  “Yeah, they’re okay,” he said, his voice soft and his arms wrapped her in a hug. She buried her face in his shoulder and inhaled deeply, taking in his familiar scent. God, she had missed this.

  It felt good to have him hold her. She was tired of having to hold herself up. Having someone else carry the load for her, even if just for a moment, was bliss. It was easy to forget the anger s
he felt for Quinton if it meant she could lean on him.

  Lorraine came out of the supply closet, carrying a tray with several syringes laid out on it. “We’re ready.”

  Janet pulled away from Quinton and pushed herself to her feet, a little relieved at the interruption. That moment between them crossed a line for her and her emotions were too raw to deal with it. It was best she kept her distance from Quinton for her own sanity.

  As Quinton and Lorraine went into the sick room to begin administering the meds, Janet went to gently shake Audrey awake. Her eyes flashed confusion for a moment and then shot over to her sister, making sure she was still there.

  “They’ve got the medicine,” Janet told her. “They’re giving it to them now.”

  Tears filled the girl’s eyes and she choked out a sob, her hands covering her face as she was overwhelmed. Janet wrapped her in a hug, her own eyes tearing up again as she held the girl. She gave into the moment and cried with her. This wasn’t the time to tell her to calm down, that there was no need for tears because it would be okay. They had every need for the tears. They were happy tears and this moment called for them.

  Lorraine came over and injected the medicine into Hannah’s IV and Audrey wiped away her tears to watch Lorraine push the plunger home.

  “How long before it starts working?” Audrey asked.

  “It will start working immediately,” Lorraine replied, “But we won’t start to see the results for a few hours.”

  “But they’ll be okay?” Audrey asked, turning to Quinton, who had finished up Mark’s injection.

  “Yes,” he replied. “We got the meds fast enough. There shouldn’t be any lasting complications.”

  Janet sent up a silent prayer of thanks. Her prayers had been answered and her boys would be okay. And as much as God had a hand in what happened, she knew that she owed just as much thanks to everyone who had gone to the mainland.

  “Is Malcolm waiting outside?” she asked and Quinton and Lorraine exchanged a look. Quinton gestured for her to follow him out into the hallway. She knew immediately something was up. The elation she had felt moments ago dissolved, her stomach tying up in knots as she went out into the hallway.

  “Did something happen to Malcolm?” she asked, her voice trembling as she wrapped her arms around herself. She shouldn’t have let herself believe the worst was over.

  “We don’t know,” Quinton said in a low voice. “We haven’t heard from his group in hours. Mendez’s group got the meds and gave them to Javier. They’ve gone to look for the others.”

  Damnit! Why? Why couldn’t they ever have things work out? Maybe this was the cost of it all. They could have the medicine but not all their people.

  “It’ll be okay,” Quinton told her. “Mendez has been calling in. They’re over halfway to the hospital. They’ll find them.”

  She realized that he didn’t say it just to reassure her. He was trying to reassure himself. Both his sisters, the last of his family, were out there now. Her children would be whole but he might have lost his entire family.

  No, she wouldn’t think like that. He wouldn’t lose them. She wouldn’t lose Malcolm. They would all come home. Life could not be that cruel to them.

  She put her hand on his arm and he looked down at her. “You’re right. They’ll find them.”

  He smiled at her but she saw the pain he was trying to hide in his eyes. She wanted to pretend it was just his sisters’ fate that pained him but she knew it was more than that. The way he looked at her, his heart was on his sleeve. It was her that brought on that pain.

  She pulled away from him and took a step back, giving him a tight smile. He nodded and led them back to the sick room. While he went over to check the notations Lorraine had made on the charts, Janet moved back to her stool between the twins but kept glancing at Quinton from the corner of her eye.

  She had been so mad at him, it had been easy to push him away. Now she could no longer summon up the white hot anger anymore. She wasn’t sure if she was just too exhausted to find it or time had simply worn it away. All she knew was that when she looked at Quinton now, she wasn’t angry. She was just sad.

  Subject File #745

  Subject: I ain’t sure I’ve ever been as scared as I was out there. Not even when I was in prison.

  Administrator: It makes sense. You were in a dangerous situation.

  Subject: It wasn’t the danger that scared me. Knowing somebody had Veronica, that’s what scared me more than anythin’ else I’ve ever gone through.

  The hospital was easy enough to find in town. Its six storeys had it looming over the surrounding area and the military barricade around it was obvious even from a distance.

  Mendez had suggested they circle the hospital, giving the others a chance to spot them if they were hiding. They’d made two laps around it, rolling slowly around the barricade. Jackson had practically hung himself out the back window, searching for a sign of the others.

  The only thing they’d found were the remains of a freak attack on one of the streets, blood and what was left of the chewed up corpses smeared over the pavement. They hadn’t seen any freaks roaming around but they were probably somewhere sleeping off the big meal.

  With no signs of the others, they had returned to the hospital, pulling up as close to the barricade as they could.

  They hadn’t seen any sign of the other SUV but Jackson knew that Malcolm would have made sure they had hidden it well, just in case someone came along and tried to steal it. Banks had been the one to suggest they not bother with hiding their own vehicle. The priority was finding the others and time was of the essence. Besides, maybe the others would spot their SUV and come find them.

  As they all climbed under the barricade, Jackson wondered if they were following the same path Veronica had taken. His eyes went to the windows looking over the lawn, hoping to some sort of sign from their people. Things might be calm out here, but maybe they were trapped inside somewhere.

  His speculation turned out to be wrong. The hospital was dead quiet when they entered, their footsteps echoing around them as they moved through the lobby. They found the stairs easily but the stench inside had them taking a pause to put on their respirators.

  Luckily all they found in the stairwell were corpses. Though the way they looked, maybe he shouldn’t call it lucky. The poor bastards had been rotting a long time and resembled mush more than people. It turned his stomach and he was glad when they reached the ICU floor and left the bodies behind.

  The hallway was dark and empty as it stretched in either direction. Jackson split off with Claudia while Mendez and Banks headed in the opposite direction. They passed by the nurse’s station, pausing a moment to look over the charts that were piled on top of the desk. There was always a chance the others had left behind a note for them. Unfortunately all they found were medical files.

  They continued down the hall beyond the elevators and then around a corner. There were hospital rooms on either side of the hall and Jackson was relieved to find the first one empty. Shit had been grim in the last hospital and he didn’t want to see that again. He was tired of finding rotting corpses. What he wanted to find was Veronica alive.

  Further down the hall he spotted the sign jutting out from the wall and let out a sigh of relief when he saw it read Pharmaceutical. He tried the door but it wouldn’t budge and so he went to the service window to look into the room. Half of the shelves had been cleared out, a bunch of boxes and bottles stacked on the counter next to the window.

  “Somebody’s been here,” Jackson said. “Just can’t tell when.”

  “Are the meds we’re looking for gone?” Claudia asked from behind him.

  “Not sure.” He could only read the labels of the meds on the counter. The ones on the shelf were too far away. “Can’t get in far ‘nough to see.”

  “Let me check,” Claudia said. She was tiny enough to fit through and he backed off so she could climb inside.

  “If they were here, Veronica w
ould have been the only one small enough to fit through,” Claudia said before moving to the shelves and scanning them. “Yeah, it’s gone.”

  A loud whistle rang through the hallway, a signal from the others. Jackson held out a hand for Claudia and helped her climb back through the window.

  They ran towards the others, passing the nurse’s station and more hospital rooms and rounding another corner. They found Mendez and Banks standing over a dead body.

  Blood was smeared across the floor like some deranged painting, a body in the centre, surrounded by a pool of blood. Mendez and Banks stood at the edge of it, staring down at the dead man.

  “Freaks?” Jackson asked, glancing around the dead end hallway. There were two hospital rooms on either side of the hallway and a door to the emergency stairs at the end. It was a good spot for an ambush.

  “Gunshot,” Mendez said. “His eyes are clear and there’s no foam around his mouth. Pretty sure he was healthy when he died.”

  “He hasn’t been here long,” Banks said. “The blood’s only just started to dry. Only a few hours at most.”

  “So he would have been here when they got here,” Mendez said. “You guys find any sign of them?”

  “Pharmacy had been half cleared out,” Jackson said. “The meds we needed are gone.”

  “But other stuff was taken too?” Mendez frowned. “The meds might have been gone when they got here. They would have gone to the next hospital.”

  “They woulda called that in,” Jackson said. Malcolm was a stickler for the rules. If they had to move on, he would have updated them.

  “I think I know why they didn’t call in.”

  Jackson looked over to Claudia who was kneeling beside an overturned supply cart near the wall. She pushed aside some of the fallen supplies and pulled out a familiar satellite phone. “They lost it or they tossed it. Either way, something bad happened.”

  A violent chill rolled through Jackson at the sight of the phone. Something very bad had happened here.