Resistant Box Set

by Perrin Briar

  They followed it into the forest, leaping over the fallen logs and scurrying animals beneath their feet. Hugo and Poe raced to keep up. The sound was quieter now, muffled by the canopy.

  It meant the helicopter had already descended somewhere. Dana ran through a fern that slapped her hard across the face, splashing her with dew. A ledge opened up onto open space. She skidded to a halt, hitting the deck and sliding across the ground.

  “Stop!” Dana shouted.

  The fern exploded. Dana curled into a ball. Whatever happened to the others, she didn’t want to sail over the side and onto whatever awaited them a hundred feet below. Hugo repeated Dana’s maneuver, hitting the dirt and sliding across the deck.

  They turned and looked up, waiting for Poe to come barreling through the fern behind them. But he didn’t. Dana and Hugo got to their feet, dusting themselves off. Only then did Poe appear, coming at a steady jog. It was easy for him to come to a stop.

  Across the broad chasm was a large rock. The helicopter had set down on top of it. In the front of the rock was the outline of a large door. Two soldiers in camo gear stood guard outside it, scanning the area. Half a dozen other soldiers unloaded supplies from the helicopter.

  “Oh my God,” Hugo said. “There it is.”

  “Yes,” Dana said. “There it is.”

  “What are we going to do?” Hugo said.

  “The same,” Dana said. “Max isn’t inside, but that doesn’t change anything. Someone inside this compound is responsible for what happened to her. They can’t be allowed to get away with it. If it wasn’t for them, Max would still be alive. Now, they’re going to die. They’re all going to die.”

  “What are you going to do?” Hugo said.

  “I’m going to make them pay,” Dana said. “I’m going to make them all pay.”

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Dana marched through the forest, Hugo hard on her heels, Poe hot on his.

  “Wait,” Hugo said. “Wait. Shouldn’t we talk about this?”

  “What’s to talk about?” Dana said.

  “Our plan for a start,” Hugo said. “I honestly thought—”

  Dana stopped abruptly, causing Hugo to almost run into her. She turned on him.

  “That after I found Max was dead and wasn’t in the facility it would be over?” Dana said. “That we would head back to the house and live happily ever after?”

  “Less of the fairytale ending,” Hugo said. “But pretty much, yes.”

  “No,” Dana said.

  “Why not?” Hugo said.

  “Because someone has to pay for what’s happened to Max,” Dana said. “As well as all the things we’ve been through.”

  “And you think the person responsible is behind those reinforced doors?” Hugo said.

  “Yes,” Dana said. “The undead chased the scientists out of their research HQ in the university. They didn’t expect that. They thought they’d be safe there. And look what happened. They ended up with nowhere to go but here. This is it for them. The country has collapsed. They can’t communicate with each other. This is their last stronghold.”

  Hugo couldn’t argue with her on her logic.

  “Except you’re forgetting one thing,” he said. “We’ve come all this way, done all these crazy things. We got here—we actually made it here!—and now you’re talking about throwing away our lives on something so stupid as this.”

  “You’re suggesting we should give up now?” Dana said.

  “Maybe,” Hugo said. “It depends on our options. We have to make the smart play.”

  “What would be smart now, Hugo?” Dana said. “Running away?”

  “If it’s the most logical option, yes,” Hugo said.

  “No,” Dana said. “That option is off the table. You might think I’m being stupid, but I’m not. We’ve finally found the place we’ve been looking for all this time. We have our target. Now we need to get inside. Even as angry as I am, how frustrated, I know the best way to get in there is with us working together.”

  Hugo nodded. It would take all of them. And that fact might give him a little leverage when it came to controlling Dana.

  “I’m sorry for not telling you sooner about your sister,” Hugo said.

  Dana’s bottom lip quivered and her eyes glinted with the onset of tears. The recent, and still raw, emotions of having lost her sister were very powerful. She couldn’t prevent the tears from rolling down her cheeks, but she could turn away and prevent Hugo from seeing them.

  “It’s okay,” Dana said. “I understand why you didn’t tell me sooner. And maybe you were right not to. She’s the reason I kept going up till now. Otherwise, I would be dead in a ditch somewhere. But right now, I need this. I need to get them back for what they did to Max. Will you help me with that?”

  “Silly question,” Hugo said. “Of course I will. And that’s what I’m trying to do for you now. But this is a military facility. Even with the end of the world, you can guarantee they’ll have some advanced-level security measures going on.”

  “Which is why I need your help,” Dana said. “And I’m really not angry at you. I’m angry at them.”

  Hugo was surprised to find she actually wasn’t angry. He could tell by the relaxed expression on her face, the cold, broken smile she gave him. It sent a shiver through his body. It scared him to think what she was capable of when in this state. He felt sorry for those she held responsible.

  “Then where are we going?” Hugo said.

  “To tend to our flock,” Dana said, turning to leave. “Come on, let’s grab something to eat and I’ll tell you all about it.”

  “Our flock?” Hugo said. “I didn’t see any sheep.”

  He had a bad, twisting sensation in the pit of his stomach. He could tell he wasn’t going to like what was going to come next.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  The traps Dana had set the previous day had snagged a trio of squirrels. Even better, they were still fresh and untouched by other wildlife. They would be damn good eating. Odd, how they had snagged three considering that was the precise number of people who were to feast on them. It was an omen, Hugo said. Dana didn’t believe in them but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t enjoy the food all the same. Succeed or fail, it would be the last good meal they’d enjoy for a while.

  Dana opened herself up to enjoy every morsel of the food’s flavor. To her infected tongue, it all tasted in varying shades of plastic. The taste barely even registered.

  “Do you know much about facilities such as the one in Olympic Park?” Dana said.

  “A little,” Hugo said. “They’re not the kind of places they let in kids. But I saw some pictures, plans, images, heard rumors, that kind of thing.”

  “More than I know,” Dana said. “What are they like?”

  Hugo shrugged.

  “I don’t really know,” he said.

  “You lied to me once,” Dana said. “Don’t do it again.”

  Hugo tossed the remains of his squirrel in the fire and looked at Dana.

  “What do you mean?” he said.

  “I was in your house, remember?” Dana said. “I went into your living room because you wouldn’t.”

  “So?” Hugo said.

  “So, I saw your family photos,” Dana said. “You were an army brat. That’s how you know how to use a rifle, how you know where snipers will position themselves, what these secret facilities will be like. Your father was top brass.”

  “Okay,” Hugo said, holding up his hands. “You’re right. Caught red-handed. My father was in charge of research. We moved from place to place. I saw a lot of the world but the more I got to see, the less I saw my father. In all honesty, I can’t tell you exactly what this facility will be like. Likely something similar to what you’ve seen in movies. To the nth degree. It’ll be sterile, clean. Scientists in white overalls, masks.”

  “What about security?” Dana said.

  “Before the world became like this, I’d say it would have been super-
advanced, electronic,” Hugo said. “The soldiers would be used only on the outside and not allowed in the sensitive innards. The facility will be divided in half, major security between the two parts. And there will be some kind of safety protocols in place to ensure anything inside the facility can’t get out, and anything outside can’t get in. For the purposes of contamination, you understand. Perhaps that’s why it’s managed to last this long. Who knows. And these soldiers will be well trained. They’ll have been chosen for this job for their special skills. There will be no getting past them, not with our low level of rudimentary training.”

  “Luckily, it’s not going to be us that gets past them,” Dana said.

  “Huh?” Hugo said. “Then who?”

  “Our old friends,” Dana said.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Dana, Hugo, and Poe crawled toward a rise and peered over it. Hundreds, perhaps thousands of undead milled. The giant horde was the very same they’d stumbled upon a few days ago. Dana’s only hope had been they weren’t distracted by the helicopter. She was pleased to find they were in exactly the same position. They hadn’t budged an inch.

  With the few keywords Dana had informed Hugo about her plan, Hugo was already nervous. Zombies. Facility entrance. Soldiers. It didn’t take a genius to piece it together.

  “I suppose it won’t help if I told you we don’t stand a chance of controlling the undead,” Hugo said. “They’re as likely to kill us as those we direct their attention toward.”

  “Can you think of another way to get into the facility?” Dana said.

  No.

  “How do you want to do this, then?” Hugo said.

  “We’ll do it the same way we always have,” Dana said. “Only this time it’ll be on purpose.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  This was it. The big tamale. She was going to shepherd these undead toward the entrance of the facility. Get them there, and the zombies would massacre the soldiers for them. At least, that was the plan.

  Dana stepped out from her hiding place and shouted. The undead, one by one, like a giant game of dominoes, turned to face her. Then they let out a groan, beginning with those at the front, the closest. The groan was taken up by the others as it spread through the ranks, creating a cacophony of voices. Deafening and deadly.

  They began to follow her. Dana took off at a jog. She couldn’t get too far ahead of them, nor risk getting snatched if she went to slow. It was a long way to the facility’s front entrance. She needed to pace herself if she was to make it in one piece.

  She leaped over fallen trees and zipped through foliage that slapped wetly against her bare skin. Every few minutes, she stopped to turn and ensure the undead were following her. Fall and twist an ankle, and she would be doomed. They would overrun her. She placed her feet carefully to avoid such a scenario. She did not get tired nor feel any pain, but that in itself was a problem. She wouldn’t be aware if she was hurt and needed to slow down to prevent further injury to herself.

  She was relieved when she came to the end of her section and handed the reins over to Hugo. But first, he had to help her climb a tree. She didn’t feel exhausted, but that didn’t mean her infected muscles weren’t tired. They were. She could see how difficult they found scaling the tree. With Hugo’s help, she managed to get high enough where she wouldn’t be seen.

  “Remember,” Dana said. “Right up to the entrance.”

  “I remember,” Hugo said.

  “And make sure not to lose—” Dana said.

  “The zombies,” Hugo said. “I know. I won’t.”

  Growling from the foliage to their right.

  “I’d better get going,” Hugo said.

  “And Hugo,” Dana said. “Good luck.”

  Hugo smiled and then took off into the forest. His glasses were already wet and steaming from the humidity. Dana only hoped his mop of unstyled hair wouldn’t hang in his eyes.

  Chapter Thirty

  The distance wasn’t far, but it was winding and put Hugo through his paces as he traversed the fallen logs and swung from each vine like a fat Tarzan. He fell and hurt his ankle. He thought it was the end, that the undead would fall upon him, but he was lucky it was just a sprained ankle. He continued to limp on. Good thing he didn’t feel pain any longer, otherwise, he’d have been doomed.

  He wondered how much farther he had to go to reach the entrance of the no-longer-secret facility. The air rushed out of his throat. He was exhausted but suffered no discomfort from it. His lungs might still collapse but at least he wouldn’t feel it coming.

  Then, finally, he came to it. The clearing that led to the facility’s opening. It came to him a little too quick, faster than he was expecting. He ran right through the outer limits of the forest and emerged without cover, vulnerable to the soldiers’ attack.

  “Hey!” one of the soldiers shouted. “Hey! You!”

  He could hardly have been speaking to anyone else. Hugo raised his face to the solider. The soldier’s expression turned dark. He raised his rifle in Hugo’s direction, who was already hot stepping back into the foliage. No matter how long he was infected, he would never get used to looking like a zombie.

  The soldier opened fire. The bullets’ whip-cracked and struck the thick veiny leaves behind him. Hugo turned and ran into the outstretched arms of the undead heading in the opposite direction. Hugo hit the brakes and turned left, bolting into a new slice of undergrowth.

  He ran and was only saved because of the loud gunfire over his shoulder where the soldiers were still shooting. The soldiers had made the opening salvo to the mistake that would cost them their lives, not that they knew it right now.

  Hugo kept running. Funny how less tired you felt when your life was on the line.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Dana remained up the tree longer than she’d like to admit. She didn’t want to come down until the undead had passed. If they got a whiff of her up in the branches she would never escape.

  Three times already she had begun to lower her feet to the ground, and every time she had come close to the zombies seeing her. She would not take the same risk again. And so, she waited. Waited until there were no longer any groans, until the foliage no longer shook, until that quiet unease in the back of her throat eased and she could lower herself to the ground without her stomach twisting. The horde was larger than they had realized, with extra groups unseen among the trees.

  Feet firmly back on the ground, Dana crept through the forest, but not too fast. No matter how quick Hugo went, not all the undead would keep up with him. That was why Hugo had argued so strenuously against Dana doing the first part of the run. The most dangerous part. Because right then, Dana was potentially heading into the most dangerous part of the entire plan. An undead could come at her at any moment. She held her sword in both hands, ready to strike and thrust or parry at a moment’s notice.

  A growl to her left in the back of something’s throat. Dana raised her sword along her sightline before edging forward. She pressed into the foliage and moved through it. The undead, wherever it was, wasn’t there. Dana, nervous as hell, stepped to her right to get back on her own path through the woodland. The growling, wherever it had come from, quietened. She was distancing herself from it. Dana put it out of her mind and continued onwards.

  Besides the remains of a single undead that lay curled around an exposed tree root, there were no other signs of the undead horde. Finally, she got to the facility entrance. She hadn’t heard gunfire the whole way, and that had her panicked.

  Perhaps Hugo had failed to make it to the entrance. Then what would they do? But she told herself to stay calm. There would be another opportunity. There always was. She was careful as she pressed aside the foliage, exposing a few dozen undead. They milled about, limping inside the facility. There were mounds of bodies, five deep in some places, with pools of blood making the earth swampy and sucking. The majority were the mutilated undead, but here and there were fully uniformed soldiers. There were f
ewer of these but far more than the two who had been posted on duty earlier.

  The doors that had seemed so impenetrable before, so thick and unbreakable, no longer looked the same. They were a poor, damaged imitation. There were more gunshots, coming from inside the facility. They were what drew the zombies inside. There were even a few backup screams and shouts from the throats of men and women alike. The undead had breached and done so in a big way. Just as they had hoped they would.

  The final few undead entered the facility, stumbling in and following the loud noises.

  “Dana!” Hugo said. “Dana! Over here!”

  Hugo hid on the apex of the entrance to the facility. Poe was beside him. They couldn’t take the risk he might get discovered, so they had hidden him as best they could. Dana walked up the steep incline of the rock and crouched beside them.

  “I see our plan worked,” Dana said.

  “Better than we hoped,” Hugo said. “Not only did they manage to beat down the doors but they’re wiping out the rest of the defenses too.”

  “How much longer do you think it’ll take?” Dana said.

  “Until the firing stops,” Hugo said. “I say we take it easy, wait until everything is clear, then make our move. We can afford to take it easy a little bit.”

  Yes, they could. But the finger of impatience was already racing up Dana’s spine. She wouldn’t wait long. She would wait for the long dark silence that would steeple the end of the soldiers’ lives and then wait a couple of hours before heading into the facility.

  The screams came slower and less frantic than they had at the beginning. While the survivors enjoyed their wild berry fruit salad the gunshots became less sporadic and controlled. Then there was the occasional howl of pain, an explosion of a tossed grenade that shook the ground beneath their feet, and the slow, steady and unflinching scratching and howling from the undead. It was taking longer than Dana had expected, but she was willing to wait. There would be no benefit to her or the others if they were to go running in now. None at all. They needed to keep their heads.