As the other Hunter recovered his rifle, Meredith fired two rounds into the Skull’s face. The impacts shattered the creature’s cheekbones. Blood pooled out onto the floor.
“Skulls!” Renee yelled into her comm link. The screams and wails of the Skulls reverberated through the hallway while she helped Terrence stand.
Meredith shot off a volley to cover them. Two more Skulls charged through the open door. One of the beasts was cut down by the bullets, but the second continued forward. It was no more than four feet tall, scrambling on all fours, its clawed feet slipping on the polished wood floor.
“Watch out!” Meredith yelled.
The small Skull dashed at Renee and Terrence. Terrence drew his rifle up and fired. The monster fell face-first, its arms and legs going placid.
“Move!” Renee said. “Go, go, go!”
“What the fuck is going on?” Dom’s voice cracked over the comm link.
The trio took off down the dark hall. Skulls poured from the arena.
“Fucking Skulls,” Terrence said. “Hundreds of ‘em.”
The beasts stampeded, crashing against each other and the walls. Their snarls and howls and claws clicking against the floor chased after the Hunters. The beasts quickly filled in the hall, blocking the emergency exit. There was no going back out from where they came.
Meredith could practically feel the creatures’ body heat and their breath on her neck. There was no way they could outrun the Skulls.
Terrence unclipped a grenade from his tac vest when they reached a wide corner. “Frag out!”
He tossed the grenade. Meredith didn’t bother turning to see the results of the Hunter’s counterattack. Her quads burned, but she pushed forward, following Renee and Terrence. An explosion went off after they cleared the corner. Heat rushed through the hall. For a moment, Meredith thought the Skulls’ cries had been quieted, that they’d been defeated by the grenade.
Then the ringing in her ears started. She’d been temporarily deafened. Now she risked a quick glance back. The Skulls surged, spilling over the scattered corpses and torn limbs of their comrades.
“There!” Renee pointed toward another exit door. Only a single folding table was pushed up against it.
Adrenaline gushed through Meredith. She fired a spray of bullets into the wave of Skulls. She saw one, two, maybe three monsters falter. Their bodies were quickly trampled by the rest of the horde.
Terrence, too, fired off a barrage. But Meredith saw the pathetic impact of their attempts to fight back. She knew they didn’t stand a chance. Their only hope lay in that door. Ten yards away. Five now.
The din of the Skulls grew louder, a cacophony straight from hell. Renee reached the exit first. She shoved aside the folding table and threw her weight against the door. It opened outward. Meredith followed the other two Hunters out. They spilled into the harsh afternoon sun.
“Barricade the door!” Terrence yelled. “Got to find something—”
But the door gave way before the words came out.
Renee shouldered her rifle, and her weapon chattered away. Meredith and Terrence joined in. The bark of their guns accompanied the thud of Skulls falling to the wall of lead. The single door funneled them through one or two at a time, slowing the Skulls’ progress enough for the Hunters to catch their breath. Bodies piled up at the exit.
“Changing!” Terrence called.
Meredith performed a speed reload next, followed by Renee.
“Bravo, let’s rendezvous,” Dom called. “Abort mission and head north toward Alpha’s position. Charlie, provide air support!”
“Got it,” Renee said, backing away while still firing.
Meredith continued to squeeze the trigger, letting the automatic fire hose a stream of bullets over the hungry Skulls. But soon four of the creatures escaped the exit. They rushed across the lawn, leaping over the dead ones piled around them. As Terrence and Meredith adjusted their aim to take out the closest ones, more of the beasts rushed from the field house.
“Retreat, retreat!” Renee yelled. She waved Terrence and Meredith onward.
Meredith fired off a final three shots. Her rifle clicked. Empty again. She pushed out the mag and jammed in a fresh one as she ran. Terrence led the way, barreling between trees and over another sidewalk.
“Shit!” Renee called out.
Meredith spun to see Renee had fallen. Her rifle fell across the concrete, skittering away from her grasp. A thin Skull with shoulder blades like small skeletal wings wrapped its fingers around Renee’s ankles. She kicked at its bony face, knocking it back slightly. The rest of the Skulls would be on top of Renee in seconds.
Dread filled Meredith. She tried to sight the monster attacking Renee through her optics, but she wasn’t confident enough that she wouldn’t accidentally hit Renee. Terrence sprinted straight at their squad leader, probably sharing the same thoughts. The only way they could save Renee was by running back to her, back to the oncoming horde. Another Skull bounded ahead of the pack, a bloodied naval officer’s uniform whipping around it.
Meredith cursed. Renee tried to shove the Skull back again. Terrence was on his way, but she saw he’d never make it in time.
-26-
Lauren glanced over the historical documents Commander Shepherd had sent her. Most told her things they had already found out on their own. The Oni Agent had been developed by Japanese scientists during World War II. No surprises there. But she did find one interesting aspect: a short abstract on the early project claimed the complex came from livestock-derived proteins. It still didn’t provide a molecular or chemical structure for these early iterations of the Oni Agent, and she wondered how much had changed in the half-century between its development and now, when the Oni Agent had spread across the earth and left its debilitating, mutating marks on the human population.
She shuddered and put those documents aside.
Next she scanned the extended candidate list of neurological labs that Kara had come up with. She saw several names she recognized from scientific manuscripts. She’d found those papers while searching through the medical literature to see what potential cures might be waiting in research labs for her to adapt, like she’d done with the chelation therapy.
But she found only drugs with ameliorative effects. They would slow the progress of different forms of spongiform encephalopathy, but they never fully cured the disease. Nor did they restore lost neurological function.
She thought of the millions—maybe billions—of infected roaming the world. Their minds were destroyed by the prions pumped out by the nefarious Oni Agent nanobacteria. She found herself wondering what researcher or scientist could possibly have pursued this technology. Who would’ve approved of this and worked so hard to use their genetic engineering prowess for such a despicable act?
But cursing the guilty individual or organization responsible wouldn’t find Lauren a cure. She shook aside these thoughts and focused once more on the scientific papers on her computer monitor. There had to be an answer somewhere.
The longer she searched, her thoughts turned increasingly negative. Maybe there wasn’t an answer. Maybe there was nothing she could do about the Oni Agent. No way to develop a cure to help those who’d had it far too long for the chelation therapy to work. No way to develop a vaccine that would prevent those who hadn’t yet succumbed from turning into a Skull.
An alarm went off from the patient’s ward, jolting Lauren from her ruminations. She jumped from the stool and dashed to the lab’s exit, where she pushed through the door. Ivan and Scott were still in medically induced comas in the isolation ward, their breathing slow and their EKG readings normal.
Lauren burst into the infirmary where Sadie and Maggie waited anxiously beside Kara’s bed. Sweat poured over Kara’s forehead. Her mouth drooped open, and her skin was a sickeningly pale white.
“What’s wrong with her?” Sadie said.
“I need some room,” Lauren said, squeezing past the girl.
Sadie b
acked away and pulled Maggie with her. The dog let out a whimper. Divya and Peter ran in from the passageway.
Lauren checked the screen on the blood pressure monitor. “BP’s dropping fast.”
“EKG’s reporting tachycardia,” Divya said.
“Must be a side effect of the Oni Agent therapy,” Peter said.
Sadie piped up again. “Is she going to be okay?”
“I need her out.” Lauren pointed at Divya to take Kara’s sister out into the passageway. She didn’t need the distraction right now. She thought briefly of telling Divya to relay a message to Dom. But that would be stupid. There was no way she would risk his life and the lives of his team by distracting him. She had no intention of letting the captain return to find his daughter near death. She racked her mind, desperate to identify the cause of Kara’s drop in blood pressure and the simultaneous rapid heart rate. Possible causes scrolled through her thoughts as she tried to stabilize Kara. She doubted it was a coronary artery blockage—the girl didn’t fit the typical heart attack victim. Maybe it was an infection, but she guessed the antibiotics used to treat the Oni Agent would have knocked out any other bacteria in her system. Still, it could be a possibility.
Divya returned from the passageway. “Thomas is watching Sadie.”
“What do you want us to do?” Peter asked, his face scrunched in worry. The team had dealt with battlefield injuries, and they’d overcome the challenges of treating patients with Oni Agent infections, but now they were faced with something entirely different: a young woman presenting signs of heart failure.
Lauren found herself wishing they had a more extensive radiological imaging suite to get a better idea of what was going in Kara’s body. But wishes didn’t heal sick patients. So she called for the next best thing: “Grab the ultrasound.”
Divya nodded and sprinted to a corner of the ward. She moved past an empty patient bed and pushed out a cart containing the ultrasound monitor and probe. The device didn’t provide the highest resolution medical images, but it was reliable and could be stowed away easily on a smaller ship like the Huntress. The doctor applied a cool gel to the probe, and Lauren pulled aside Kara’s hospital gown. Mottled bruises covered the girl’s ribs—evidence of her bout with the Skulls.
Most concerning to Lauren was the slight bulge near Kara’s stomach. Her heart dropped as she felt the spot with her fingers.
“Ultrasound ready.” Divya held up the probe and turned on the monitor. “Where do you want it?”
“Here,” Lauren said, pointing to the suspicious spot. She feared she already knew what the answer to Kara’s steadily dropping blood pressure was.
Divya maneuvered the probe. A puddle of dark shadows showed across the grainy image.
“Oh, God,” Lauren said. “Peter, prep the OR.”
The surgeon ran toward the OR and started scrubbing his hands.
“Divya, get her set up on anesthetics.”
The other doctor nodded and ran toward a locked cabinet full of medical supplies. She started to dig through the bottles, and Lauren unlocked the wheels to Kara’s hospital bed. After she unhooked Kara’s IV drip from its stand and mounted it to the bed, she pushed Kara to the OR.
If what Lauren suspected was true, then her attempt to save Kara from the Oni Agent might be the reason the girl was dying now.
***
The cries of the crazies grew louder and bounced off the walls of Mass Gen. The monsters were close. Just steps away. Navid had one more chance. With everything he could muster, he ran at the door, leading with his shoulder. He crashed into it, and more pain seared through his bones and muscle. But the door didn’t give.
“Oh God!” Abby screamed when one of the crazies lashed out at her.
By some miracle, the laboratory door opened a crack. “Quick!”
Navid didn’t hesitate. He kicked the crazy reaching for Abby and simultaneously pulled her through the door. The crazy gripped Abby and didn’t let go. It howled louder as its mutated brethren drew closer. Navid sensed other people in the room, but his eyes were glued to Abby and the grotesque thing trying to drag her back into the hallway.
Someone sliced down with a heavy steel pipe. The improvised weapon hit the crazy’s forearm, and the bony plates snapped. Its wrist went limp, and its grip loosened. Navid gathered Abby into his arms, and they tumbled backward onto coarse green carpeting.
Another person slammed the door shut. He had a crown of gray hair and a bevy of wrinkles lining his face. The man pushed a tall bookcase filled with medical texts in front of the door. He grunted as another man, dropping the steel pipe, joined in. This man wore a set of navy coveralls drenched in dried blood. As they pushed another bookcase in place, a woman in slacks and a collared shirt dragged a large conference table toward the door. All the while, the growls and thuds of the crazies trying to get in resonated through the small conference room.
Navid joined the trio and bolstered the makeshift barricade with all the remaining chairs, bookcases, and trashcans. The three older individuals took a moment to catch their breath.
“Thank you,” Navid said. “Thank you so much.”
The man with gray hair scowled and adjusted a set of chairs. The crazies continued throwing themselves at the door.
The man in the coveralls, a custodian Navid vaguely recognized, gave him a slight nod. “It was only right.” He narrowed his eyes and stared at the man with gray hair. “Told you we could do it.”
Gray Hair snapped, “Are you kidding? Are you joking?” He held his hands out in exasperation. “We’re stuck in here, worse than before, and now we’ve got all those goddamned monsters breathing down our necks. And for what?” He held out a hand to indicate Navid and Abby. “For a couple of kids? What the hell can they do for us?”
“Relax.” The woman placed a hand on Gray Hair’s shoulder. “Come on, James.”
“Oh, come on, Sandra!” James said, his voice rising to mock Sandra.
“She’s right,” the custodian said. “You need to relax. I saved your ass. You wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t helped.”
Navid cowered next to Abby, who still hadn’t gotten up from their fall. He put an arm around her shoulder, and she whimpered. Her face remained ghost-white.
“Don’t pretend you were being a hero,” James said. “You ran in here to hide!”
“I trusted fate,” the custodian said, “and you should, too. If I hadn’t, you’d be dead.”
James stepped toward the custodian, but Sandra jumped between them and put her arms out to hold the two apart. “You boys both need to cool it. What’s done is done, and there’s no use arguing about it. Instead of fighting with each other, we’re going to need to figure out how to avoid fighting those things.” She gestured toward the door hidden behind the jumble of furniture. The books on the shelves shook each time the crazies slammed into the door.
“She’s right,” Navid said. “Those things won’t stop for anything. I had to...I had to burn a whole group of them just to get away earlier.”
“Didn’t burn enough of ‘em, did you?” James said, folding his arms across his collared blue shirt.
“Ignore this asshole. He’s still sour because he has to share his office with a dirty janitor.” The custodian held out his hand. “I’m Geraldo.”
Navid took his hand. “Navid, and this is Abby.”
Abby’s face contorted in pain. “I...I think I’m hurt.”
Navid immediately let Geraldo’s hand go and knelt by Abby. “What’s wrong?”
“She’s going to turn!” James said. “Just like Kaitlyn. I told you this was a mistake.” He took the heavy steel pipe Geraldo had picked up and cranked it back like a batter ready to swing.
“My ankle...I think I twisted it,” Abby said.
“No!” Navid yelled at James.
“Move out of the way.” James shoved Navid back. The steel pipe was still cocked over his shoulder.
Geraldo grabbed the pipe and yanked. “Stop!”
Sand
ra threw herself between James and Abby. Rage filled Navid. His heart thumped almost as fast it had when he’d run from the crazies. He stood and pushed James backward. The older man tripped and fell on his tailbone. Geraldo stole the pipe from his loosened grip.
Sandra stood over James, her hands on her hips. “Her ankle, James. She wasn’t bitten. She wasn’t scratched.”
James’s face went red as he took the scolding. “I couldn’t risk her turning... she’d kill us!”
“But she won’t turn because of a twisted ankle,” Sandra said.
“Kaitlyn came to my office with a broken arm...then”—he pointed at Geraldo—“you saw what she became!”
Geraldo’s eyes dropped for a second, his hand with the pipe falling to his side. “I didn’t like doing it, but it had to be done. I saw too many of them in the first couple of days...changing and going crazy because of a scratch or a bite.” He shook his head, and Sandra placed a hand on his shoulder.
“See?” James asked. “You can’t blame me for wanting to protect us.”
“There’s no ‘us’ about it,” Sandra said. “You wanted to save your own ass.”
Abby whimpered. “God, I could really use some ice.”
The barricade shuddered. The crazies’ growls and cries filtered under the door.
Geraldo jolted toward another door in the back corner of the conference room. He started to open it, and Navid cringed. “Don’t worry—it just goes to James’s office.” He came back out a moment later with a first aid kit. “Brought this along with me. Thought it’d be useful.”
He tossed it. Navid caught it and unzipped the small red canvas bag. He tore through the gauze, antibiotic spray, and bandages until he found a sealed foil package with ibuprofen tablets. It wouldn’t be much, but the pain relievers would have to do. He ripped open the package and gave the pills to Abby.
“Anybody got water?” Navid asked.
The Tide: Breakwater (Tide Series Book 2) Page 18
