Stephen fell off of him, recovered almost immediately, grabbed his gun and was turning to fire when Daniel shoved the shard of mirror into Stephen’s heart. He twisted and pulled out, and plunged the makeshift knife in again for good measure. Stephen’s face grew pale rapidly. He looked surprised as his eyes froze over in death.
Daniel scrambled out from under Stephen’s legs and crawled over to Carl. After everything they’d gone through, Carl had to be alive. Daniel turned Carl’s body over, face up, and Carl opened his eyes, slowly, as if scared to see who it was.
Seeing Daniel, Carl was smiled. “Hey, you won!” He sat up as if nothing was wrong.
“You’re not shot?” Daniel asked.
“Me? No, why would you think that?” He saw the look on Daniel’s face and then seemed to understand. “Oh, yeah, figured it would be best if I played dead.”
Daniel would make Carl pay for this, later. For now, they had some servers to destroy.
“Get to work.” He ordered.
All in all, not a bad plan. Everything had worked out nicely.
Carl started operating a touch screen monitor attached to the first row of servers. Daniel had time to breathe, and to look around.
Lisa was lying prone against the far wall. He could only see her legs and the bottom of her dress. And the blood. He could see the pool of blood she was lying in.
Chapter 36
Mason knew enough not to look back. He continued to run as he got to Cate, grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the stairwell. Mason threw open the door and they stumbled in, him pulling the door closed behind them. They weren’t exactly safe, but there was a door at his back and he could take a second to come up with the next thought.
They couldn’t go back up. There were too many zombies up there. At least, he hoped they were still up there. They couldn’t leave. The main exit was swarming with zombies and they were almost out of bullets. They could try another exit. Once outside, they’d still have to head for the main gate, and that meant back towards the zombies. And since he hadn’t been able to get a cell phone, there was no way to call for help.
Except there was. The emergency phone in SCC would have power. There was a chance the vees who took over the building were still there. Mason would rather fight vees than zombies any day.
As Mason started to move forward, away from the door, Cate grabbed his arm and stopped him, pushing him back a little ways behind her. He followed her gaze to the landing just half a flight up. James was standing there, eyes fixated on Cate. He swayed as he stood, and his mouth hung open, as if trying to taste her through the air.
Mason wasted no time. He took aim and fired.
Only James hadn’t waited. He’d run down the stairs so fast, he seemed to have taken the flight in one jump.
Cate slammed back against the door so hard, she and James bounced and fell forward onto the floor, with Cate on top. Thankfully, the blow hadn’t knocked her out and as soon as they landed, she pushed off of James, falling to the side.
Cate clear, Mason fired again. His first shot took off a chunk of James’ skull. It wasn’t enough to stop James from jumping up and charging Mason.
Mason fired again, hitting James in the chest, but it didn’t slow him down. James knocked into Mason and they fell backwards, landing near the edge of the steps.
James snapped at his face. Mason had managed to brace his arm between them, keeping James’ teeth from reaching his face. His arm wouldn’t hold him off for long though. Mason rocked his body up and launched to the side, throwing James off of him and down the stairs. He’d used too much force and found himself rolling down the steps after. He tried to catch hold, to break his fall, but he only managed to slow it. Somewhere in the fall he lost the gun.
Mason came to a stop halfway down the stairs and started to scramble back up, to get to the gun. He felt a hand around his ankle and looked back just in time to see James pulling. Mason was jerked backwards, falling out and down, and landing hard against the floor.
Mason must have blacked out because it seemed like he blinked and James was on top of him, but Cate was there too. She had her arm around James’ neck and she was trying to wrestle James off of him.
“Cate.” He managed to say, despite the weight on his chest. “The gun.”
She pulled away and he didn’t see her for a second. James snapped at him, hadn’t stopped snapping at him, and Mason was afraid he wouldn’t be able to hold him off any longer. Then he felt a gun being pressed into his hand.
“Stand back.” He put the gun in James’s mouth and opened fire. Mason closed his mouth and his eyes as the blood went everywhere. What remained of James landed on his chest.
Mason pushed the body off of him and stood up. Cate grabbed him and hugged him. “Mason, are you okay? Tell me you’re okay.”
“Yes, Cate. I’m fine.” He squeezed her tight, as he apologized under his breath. “We have to get out of here.”
As he pushed Cate in front of him, towards the stairs in the direction of SCC, Mason pulled his shirt sleeve down, covering the bite mark.
Chapter 37
There was a dead guard in the hall outside an open door. Cate had never actually been to SCC, but Mason stopped in front of the room like they’d reached their destination.
She hadn’t smelled anything rank on the walk down here, well, rank beyond the normal rot of dead, still human bodies. She hadn’t smelled any zombies, and didn’t now. She also didn’t hear any movement anywhere around them, but she waited, dutifully, by the corner across the hall, while Mason moved in to check the room.
He came out a moment later and gestured her in. She joined Mason in the room and he closed the door behind her, locking it with a dead bolt. They weren’t even going to have to build a barricade this time. They could be safe here, while waiting for help.
Mason picked up a phone in a big red box and dialed, just like that. He started speaking into it, saying his name and his ID number and getting through all the security type stuff Cate assumed was necessary for a call like this. In the meantime, Cate looked around.
The room wouldn’t have been comfortable on a normal night. The dead guards strung up in the back made the room downright eerie. From the look of it, most of the guards had been shot, but there were at least two with vee bites, and one who’d been bitten and shot. What had the vees been up to?
Cate watched Mason give his report. She felt like this was the end, like the night was over and they’d made it and she could let go of all her fear and just wait for Mason to sit down beside her and hold her until the sun came up.
“I believe some may have already fled the perimeter.” Mason stated flatly. “I don’t know how many. There were six to begin with, but we saw at least six others who looked like they’d been infected by the first batch.”
He looked over at Cate, right at that moment and she thought, “He knows.” But he only smiled at her, as if reassuring her. She was being silly. If he knew, he would’ve left her by now.
Then Cate remembered something she had forgotten for what felt like a million years, and had actually only been a few hours.
“Andrew.” Cate said, almost a whisper. Then, more firmly, “Mason, Andrew got taken to Fairfax Hospital.”
Poor Andrew. He was the best of them. She only hoped he’d died quickly and not turned into a zee, though she knew that was improbable. Her entire team was gone. Cate once again found herself the last one left alive.
Mason relayed the information to his boss. Cate could only imagine how his report must sound. She supposed they dealt with a lot of unbelievable realities as Special Agents.
Mason continued, “I can only assume all of the imprisoned vees were freed by someone working within the NVIA. Also, it looks like the computers are down here. They might’ve done something to them, or it could just be from the power going out.”
Cate looked around. All these monitors would normally have stuff on them, she supposed. The room was well-lit, seemingly with full power.
That made sense. You’d want your security to be up and running, even during an emergency, though it hadn’t done much good in this case.
“Sir, I have a woman with me, Cate McCready.” Cate’s ears pricked and she looked over at Mason and smiled. He turned his back on her and lowered his voice. She could still hear him just fine though.
“If the team gets here, to SCC, and anything has happened to me, let them know she’s here. She’s a scientist who works in the building and I brought her here to protect her.”
What was he talking about? What could happen to him now? He wasn’t planning to leave again? She wouldn’t let him leave her.
She stared at the back of his head, waiting while he finished his call. Finally, he hung up, turned around, saw her watching him and smiled at her, like they’d just won a prize. “The cavalry is on their way!”
She didn’t return his smile. “What was that about? What could happen to you, Mason?”
Mason frowned. “You weren’t supposed to hear that.”
Cate wouldn’t be deterred. “You can’t leave. We’re staying here. We’re safe here.”
She almost started to cry. To have made it this far, with him, she wouldn’t let anything else happen. They had survived. He had to stay with her. He had to.
He walked up to her and kissed her. As much as she wanted to melt into him, to let the kiss happen, she pushed him away. What was he trying to do? Placate her?
“Mason, what? What is it you’re not telling me?”
He looked into her eyes, all attempts at a smile gone. “I’m sorry Cate. I was hoping we could have a little more time before you had to find out.”
She shook her head, backing slowly away. She didn’t want to know anymore. She felt a scream building in her throat. She wanted him to stop, but it was too late. Mason rolled up his sleeve. He’d been bitten. She was too late. She was alive. He would die, or worse. There was nothing she could do to save him. She felt so helpless - useless. How could she be expected to sit here and watch him die? But what else could she do?
And then she did start to cry.
Chapter 38
Daniel leaned over Lisa’s body. She was alive, though, from the amount of blood pooling around her, gurgling out of the bullet holes in her chest, she didn’t have long.
She opened her eyes and looked at him. He sat down next to her and took her hand.
She spoke in a whisper. “My husband? Is Miguel really alive?”
“Yes. Well, that’s how I left him.” She closed her eyes as if she was fighting back tears and Daniel decided it might not be the best time for humor. “I left him safe. I swear.”
“Thank you.” She wheezed, but didn’t open her eyes again.
Daniel felt guilt. He’d planned on her surviving, or, at least, that he wouldn’t be responsible for her death. He didn’t exactly care about her, so much as he didn’t dislike her, and this was his fault. She’d been shot while trying to help him.
Lisa propped herself up on her elbow, opening her eyes. She was about to say something when she started coughing, and choking, as if blood were caught in her throat. Daniel was uncomfortable. Strange. He didn’t like to see her suffer. Daniel sat her up, hoping to ease her discomfort a little.
There was one thing he could do, to make himself feel better, to help with the guilt. He had to act fast for it to have any chance of working. When Lisa stopped coughing, Daniel said, “I’m going to turn you. You can survive.”
Her eyes went wide and she squeezed his hand hard. “No! No. You’ll kill the baby.”
Was she stupid? The baby would die when she died. He was offering to save her life. “You can have another baby.”
She just glared at him and he realized, of course, that no, she couldn’t. Maybe she didn’t understand what was happening. “You’ll die.”
She collapsed into him, her head lolled over onto his shoulder. She grabbed onto the collar of his shirt and sputtered, “Take the baby to my husband.”
Now that had to be a joke. Was she crazy?
She didn’t seem like she was joking. “Swear to me. Swear to me that you will take her out of me and get her safely to my husband.”
“I can save your life.” If he hurried, before she bled out, he could. “Just let me help you.”
“Please. Swear to me.” She wasn’t going to let him off the hook that easily. “Swear to me you’ll take her and keep her safe. Please.”
Realizing what she meant to do, Daniel was moved. Sympathy wasn’t something he was used to having. Nor was respect. What else could he do? “I swear.”
“Thank you.” Lisa started to cry. “I was looking forward to meeting her. I wish I could hold her, just once.”
She was sobbing and all Daniel could do was rub her back and keep her from falling over. He found himself wishing there was a way to fix this.
Maybe just some encouraging words. “I’ll take care of her. Your daughter will be safe.”
Lisa stopped crying enough to take in a ragged breath. “I don’t know how long we have.” She looked scared, but determined. “You better do it now.”
This wasn’t going to be easy.
Daniel laid Lisa down and ran past Carl, who was typing away, oblivious to everything around him. Daniel had no idea which piece of the broken mirror would be the best for performing an emergency C-section, so he grabbed a few that looked like they would make good knives.
Lisa had lost so much blood, he was surprised she was still conscious. He wished that she weren’t, as this was going to hurt.
Daniel took off his shirt and wrapped it around his hand, making it easier to hold the mirror shard. He leaned over and whispered to Lisa, “I’m ready.”
She cracked open her eyes. “Not too deep. Be careful. Please.”
He placed his free hand on her forehead. It was cold. “It’ll be okay. She will be okay. I promise.” Lisa didn’t respond. She just closed her eyes. “Get ready.”
As he cut into her belly, Lisa screamed and arched up before passing out.
Daniel was glad she’d passed out, because he was making a mess of it. Trying to cut a person open, with a piece of glass, while trying to be careful not to cut too deep, was complicated. He had to slice through layers of skin and muscle too, before her belly opened up and he could see the baby inside.
It was amazing. There was a little baby in there, all snug and safe. Daniel was able to pull her right out. He wiped the goop off of her as best he could and she started crying immediately.
Daniel laid the baby on Lisa’s arm, her little body pressed up against Lisa’s chest, her face up to her mother’s face. He’d seen this maneuver in a million movies and, as Lisa was still breathing, he thought it might be best to put the baby with her mother. Daniel shook Lisa, trying to rouse her.
Lisa opened her eyes. He hoped she saw her baby girl. He thought she maybe even smiled a little, as she gasped her last breath and her eyes froze over.
Daniel cut the umbilical cord and tied it in a knot. It wasn’t pretty, but he hoped it would do. He wrapped his shirt around the baby, and held the little girl in his arms. She actually stopped crying and fell asleep. When she was lying quietly like that, Daniel could see why so many people liked babies.
Carl walked up to the two of them. “Aww, man, you got a baby?”
Daniel looked at Carl, who was looking at the baby like she was the cutest thing he’d ever seen. Sometimes it was hard to believe Carl was a genius. He wasn’t much, but he was what Daniel had to work with. Everyone had to start somewhere.
“You done over there?” Daniel tilted his head towards the servers.
Carl looked up in surprise, like he’d forgotten the whole reason they were there. “What? Oh, yeah, good to go.”
He walked to the exit and held the door open. Carl stepped out of the building.
“Hey. You gonna get that?”
Daniel pointed at the backpack Carl had left behind, the bag that held everything they needed, the hard drive with all the infor
mation they’d come here for. Carl had walked right past the bag, like he and Daniel hadn’t nearly died for it tonight.
Carl snorted, “Oh, yeah. Sorry.”
Carl picked up the backpack and slung it over his shoulder. Daniel held the baby close to his chest as they walked out into the night together. If Carl was what he had to work with, Carl would have to do. Everyone had to start somewhere. Daniel started with Carl. Soon, though, he’d have an army to work with. Wouldn’t that be something?
Chapter 39
Cate choked back her tears. Mason. No. She couldn’t let him die. Cate wouldn’t watch another person she loved die. It was as simple as that. He couldn’t die. She wouldn’t let him.
Mason just kept talking, as if trying to snap her back to the present. “I won’t make you do it. I’ll leave. You won’t even have to see it happen. For now, I just want to be with you, while we have time.”
“No.” He looked like she’d slapped him in the face. “No. I won’t let you die.”
“Oh, Cate.” He looked at her sympathetically, like he was going to have to spell it out for her.
She was the one who had to do the explaining. And more, she was the one who had to do the apologizing, now that she knew how to save him, or at least, how she was going to try. But it had to happen quickly. There was no time to be gentle.
“Mason, sit down with me.” She led him over to a corner of the room where there were no dead bodies and where there was a wall to lean against. Mason followed, but he still had that look on his face, like she was going to need his help. “Mason, please, sit down.” She said, more firmly.
He sat down next to her. She decided to start with the most important thing. “I want you to know that I love you.”
He smiled, relieved, like this was what he’d been hoping for. “I love you, too.”
She put her hand on his shoulder, keeping him from leaning forward to kiss her. There wasn’t time.
The V to Z Trilogy (Book 1): Caged Page 16
