When something slammed into the door, Ami yelped and darted into the animal annex. She climbed onto the cot in the empty gorilla cage, and tucked her knees under her chin. Her phone was the only light in the entire vacuous room and for the life of her, she could not remember her passcode. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to think. Normally the room would be atwitter with monkey chatter, but since the virus outbreak, the animals had been moved or had died. Every muscle was begging for release, her ears buzzed from straining to hear. She was stiff and felt like she’d been there for hours when she heard a faint voice.
“Ami?” Her eyes popped open. She waited, listening hard, then she heard Trips distinctly ask, “Ami? You okay?”
“Trips?”
Alexx, Ichiro, and Trips burst into the lab.
Ami sighed and lay down prone on the cot, pale and sweating. “In here. I’m back here.”
“What's going on?” Alexx asked, putting the keys away in the professor’s desk.
Trips turned on the lights, then knelt at Ami's side.
“There's something out there. Did you see it?” Ami asked shielding her eyes from the harsh light and sitting up.
Trips sat on the cot beside her, gently pushing the hair out of her eyes. “What happened?”
Ichiro and Alexx joined them in the annex as Ami looked up expectantly at the three of them. “I heard something. At first, I thought it was you, but...” She closed her eyes and took a breath. “There was a scraping sound, and the door handle rattled.” She glanced at Ichiro. “I couldn't remember the password for my phone.”
Ichiro ran his fingers through his hair. “I'll voice activate it.”
Trips glared at him. “I'll take care of it. Thumbprint app.”
“Then what happened, Ami?” Alexx asked, getting closer.
“I don’t know. More rattling? Then it was like somebody was trying to smash the door down. I freaked and ran in here. Where were you? It wasn't you, obviously.”
Trips shook his head, “No, baby, that wasn't us.” He tucked an arm around her, looking up at Ichiro and Alexx.
“You didn't see anything? Nothing?” Ami asked.
“We'll take care of it. C’mon, let’s go, dude,” Trips said, looking up at Ichiro and retracting his arm from Ami’s shoulders.
“No! Don't leave me,” Ami cried, pulling Trips back onto the cot.
“Shh, okay, okay,” Trips said. He turned to Ichiro. “Go check it out?”
“We're on it,” Alexx said, already out of the gorilla cage with her nunchakus and baseball bat drawn. Ichiro followed her out of the lab.
* * *
A few minutes later, Trips ears perked up.
“What?” Ami asked. “What is it?”
Trips bolted up like a spooked rabbit when he heard Alexx cry Ichiro's name. He exited the cage and pulled the door closed with a soft click. He met Ami’s shocked gaze. “I love you.”
“What are you doing?” Ami yanked on the bars of the locked cage, her eyes wide.
“Protecting you.”
Ami jammed her arm between the bars. “You can’t leave me locked in here!” She splayed her fingers wide trying to reach him. “You get back here, Mister! Trips!”
He ignored Ami’s cries as he loped into the laboratory. I'll be back, Ami. His jaw twitched as he drew his sword. I promise.
He hugged the wall in the darkened hallway and followed the passage into the stairwell. He listened intently, willing his eyes to adjust. Wispy shadows passed. He noticed a musky odor. Ugh, what is that smell? His breath caught in his throat when he heard clanking metal and something soft thud on the ground. He turned towards the sound.
Another clank. Alexx’s bat. He stared hard in that direction, but it was too dark too see. Then the ringing hollow chime of Ichiro’s sword and Ichiro cursing. Steady, Kentigern, don’t breathe a word.
His sweaty grip tightened on the hilt of his sword as he snuck forward. He had no spit to swallow trying to distinguished shadowy outlines, black on black. Three vampires were closing in on Ichiro trapped behind the bike rack. A body on the floor at his feet. Good show, Ich.
Trips picked up his foot and realized he’d stepped into a long puddle of black goo that ran from another body on the floor. Vampire blood? He crept closer as Ichiro climbed over bikes toward the emergency exit. Oh, man, Ich, don’t die.
The vampires were focused on their quarry and hadn’t noticed him. Ichiro maintained his distance flicking his Katana sword, just out of reach. Two creatures changed their tack closing in on Alexx. Ichiro tapped his sword on the bikes trying to attract them. “C’mon fuckers, over here!”
Trips heard a slap overhead and zeroed in on the dark form scurrying along the ceiling radiator pipes heading right for Ichiro.
Trips lunged and missed. “Aw, nuts!”
“Shitty Calvary, dude,” Ichiro said, swiping at the creature as it swung around after Trips.
“Got it away from you!” Trips said, retreating back down the hall.
The creature was nearly on top of him when there was a loud clank, followed by a louder hiss. Trips scrambled away as the four conduits collapsed from the ceiling and a flume of steam and hot water erupted.
The creature screamed, writhing on floor as the hallway flooded. Trips could feel the heat. He couldn’t get back over there. Another clatter. He sliced his sword through the cloud of steam, trying to see his friends. “Ichiro!?”
The emergency door alarm sounded, and Ichiro called, “We're out! Get out, get out!”
Trips bolted back to the laboratory, his sword clanged the brass railing then struck something soft that snarled in the mist. He spun away into the lab and slammed the door.
“The keys! Where are the keys to the cages?” he yelled over the blaring alarm as the amber emergency lights blinked on.
“We have less than three minutes before auto-lockdown!” Ami called.
“Keys!” Trips repeated, as he piled furniture in front of the door.
“The drawer! The office drawer,” Ami yelled.
He backed into the annex. “Where?” he asked, breathing heavily, wide-eyed.
“Office, top drawer of the desk,” Ami pointed, mashing her face between the bars.
“Okay, I'll be back. I'm getting sick of saying that.” Trips glanced at the door barely holding from the pounding.
“Hurry up!” Ami yelled, rattling her cage.
Trips yanked on the office door. “It’s locked!” He called. He could see the desk through the etched glass door.
He turned his face away and crashed his sword through the side window of Felix's office. He skidded across the floor. The desk was locked. “Crikey!”
He yanked the top-drawer open. There was nothing but pencils, sticky notes, bits of string… He was about to blurt out he’d had no success when he found the keys. He ran back into the annex.
Ami clapped her hands and opened them to catch a toss. “Give!” He tossed her the keys, and she tried the first one with trembling fingers. The lock stayed fast. “Dammit.”
“Are they the right set?” Trips asked, his voice cracking from the strain as he glanced from Ami fumbling with the keys to the rattling door in the lab.
“This is why you don't leave people locked in cages!” Ami hissed, trying the next one. “Just give me a second!”
“And for the record, Ami, I will never leave you!” Trips pulled and yanked on the bars, making an impressive dent, but not quite big enough for Ami to fit through. “Ugh.”
“Trips go,” Ami said, fumbling with another key, “just go!”
“I'm not leaving you here! Find the bloody key, now!” he demanded. The next key fit and Ami flung the door wide. Trips ran from room to room. “Where? Out where?”
“The office window. The laptop,” Ami said, as another more piercing wailing scream reached them through the door. The door handle broke off.
“Forget it,” Trips said, running into the office. Ami wasn't behind him. He went back in the lab. “Ami?�
��
“I need it. I’ve got to.” Ami threw her laptop into her bag. “Where are my samples?”
“Who cares? Come on!” Trips slung Ami’s laptop bag over his shoulder. He ushered her into the office then slammed the door. The remaining glass shattered. Ami and Trips exchanged a glance. He leapt onto the wide windowsill and bashed out the window. “C’mon, up here!”
Ami scrambled onto the windowsill and Trips lifted her into his arms. “It’ll be okay,” he said extending his arms out the window.
“Wait. What are you…..”
He let go.
Ami gasped, as Alexx caught her, and said, “run!”
Trips leapt from the window as the vampires broke through the door. He kept moving until he caught up with them nearing the car. Alexx hit the keyless entry button, and they piled in as she peeled out onto the street.
“It's going to look like I broke in there,” Trips said, hoarsely, catching his breath.
“What? Why?” Alexx asked. “Why just you? We’re all fucked.”
“DNA. They've got his DNA, but it's my keycard swipe,” Ami said, breathing deeply.
“Well, yeah, but it's not that.”
Ami turned toward him. “Then what?”
“I labeled it, sweetie,” Trips grimaced, “with my name.”
Ami sat back. “Oh, Trips. You didn't.”
“Dumbass.” Ichiro snickered.
Alexx caught Trips’ eye in the rearview mirror, “They'll see my car anyway, Trips. We're all good as dead.” They sat silently for a minute as Alexx drove down a dark side street. “Where are we going? Our place, yours? Mexico?”
“Dewey's,” Trips said. Everyone stared at him. He raised his eyebrows and grinned at Ichiro.
“Beer.” Ichiro winced from the grin forming on his battered face. “And if we're lucky, little chickens.”
Trips gave Ichiro a sympathetic look, handing Alexx his phone with Dewey’s address on the screen. “Dude, I’m so sorry. Cracking your head into the dash was fucking stupid with vamps running all around town.”
Grimacing, Ichiro waved off Trips’ apology. “You got us out of there, dude. Call it even.”
Chapter 10: Love and Duty
Alexx turned off the highway into Lexington, near Hanscom air force base. Dewey’s house was the last on the block, a rambling ramshackle yellow farmhouse covered in blue tarps and scaffolding. It predated the fifties subdivision by at least a century.
The Honda’s headlights passed over the barn as Alexx parked the car next to Dewey’s truck on the cracked asphalt.
Dewey waved from the chipped slate patio. Ami watched Dewey exhale a flume of cigarette smoke and tuck his shoulder-length red hair behind his ears. He smiled, adjusting his cozy off-white fisherman's sweater as he stood up. He looks poetic, like he belongs in another century.
She dismissed the thought, as she scanned the dark expanse of green from the house to the barn. Ami linked arms with Trips and leaned in. “This place is massive. Not to be crass, but isn’t Dewey a bartender?”
“He was in construction for a while,” Trips whispered. “Think he's into network security or something, and I believe he’s got part ownership at The Club. His wife, I should say, his ex-wife, was some kind of corporate attorney.”
“Oh.” Ami brushed away the tickle of Trips’ whiskers on her ear. That explains it.
Ichiro and Alexx got to the patio first.
“S'up, dude?” Ichiro asked, tapping Dewey on the back of the head.
“Wow, that's nasty,” Dewey said, examining Ichiro's nose as he exhaled a long stream of smoke in his face.
Ichiro coughed. “No, that’s nasty.” Ichiro waved the smoke away.
“Come on in guys, ladies,” Dewey said, as he tossed his cigarette into the waterlogged urn and opened the sliding glass door. “Excuse me. This is late for me,” he yawned, extending his hand to Alexx. “Watch your step.”
“Great place, Dewey.” Alexx smiled, her fingers touching his palm.
Ami followed without taking Dewey’s hand and crossed the sitting area to the fireplace.
“C'mon, c'mon.” Dewey waved Ichiro and Trips into the house. “Make yourselves at home.” Dewey pointed at an antique teacart laden with various bottles as he padded into the adjoining kitchen. “I made pizza, one meat, one veg.” He clicked a remote control. Classical music began to play and the fieldstone fireplace blazed to life.
Ami backed up to the fire, relishing its warmth. Delicious - the food and the fire.
“Aww, I was hoping for little chickens,” Ichiro said, nasally.
“Yeah, sorry,” Dewey shook his head, “not doing Cornish game hen at three-thirty in the morning.”
“Whatever,” Ichiro said, plopping on a kitchen chair, and tilting his head back.
Trips held up his glass in salute as he crossed from the teacart toward Ami. “Thanks for your hospitality, Dewey.”
“Don't mention it,” Dewey nodded, glancing into the brick oven.
Alexx sat down at the gleaming wood-slab bar. “Fabulous. It's just fabulous,” she said, looking at the copper pots hanging from the antique wooden beams in the kitchen. Ami followed her eyes examining the high-end rustic kitchen.
“We renovated the kitchen and bathrooms first. And this room.” Dewey shrugged. “Guess you’d call it the den, or the living room, at this point.” He popped the cork on a large bottle of home brew. “You like beer, right?” Alexx nodded. “Try this. A well-rounded brown ale, quite drinkable, hints of chocolate with a hoppy finish, so it's not too sweet.” He poured a taste into a pint glass and handed it to her. “If you don't care for it, I have some red wine in the cellar.”
“Umm, smells delicious, Dewey,” Alexx purred. Their eyes met as she took an initial sip. Ami watched Dewey's bright green eyes watch Alexx as she swallowed. She tilted her glass at an angle for another pour. “Mm.”
Dewey corrected her angle with his fingertips. He smiled. “You have to watch the pour, make sure it's gentle and slow.” He flashed his eyes up to hers. “Your eyes are the same pretty brown.” Dewey said, as he handed her the glass.
Trips poured a second glass of whiskey at the teacart, raised an eyebrow as he passed Ami and entered the kitchen. He set the glass in front of Ichiro at the kitchen table. Ichiro was leaning his neck back over the chair. “You bleeding?”
Ichiro sat up. “I don’t know. Yeah, I guess.” He wiped his nose, took a sip and coughed, squinting at the back of Alexx's head. Trips nodded, and crossed back to the teacart to freshen his whiskey, then stood next to Ami in front of the fireplace.
Ami clutched at Trips glass then took a sip. She turned so that only he could hear her. “Trips, this is serious. What the hell are we going to do?”
She could tell Trips was watching Ichiro watching Alexx. “Relax, Ami. We'll talk about it later.”
Ami turned back around as Ichiro walked over to the bar. “When do the girls get the nickel tour?”
“Caribou Slobber for you. Okay, kid?” Dewey said, placing a pint of the brown liquid on the table in front of Ichiro. He stepped back into the center of the kitchen balancing the pizza shovel on his fingertip, when he lost his balance, the wooden shovel fell into his hand. He smiled and twirled it making eye contact with Alexx, then opened the oven. “Give you the tour after we eat. Pizza's almost done, but you can go look around if you want. Just be careful in the formal living room, the roof might cave, but it’s tarped.”
Trips rocked on his toes and raised an eyebrow at Ami. “Good luck they don't kill each other.”
“Dewey wants the roof to fall on Ich,” Ami whispered back.
Ichiro tossed the rest of his whiskey back and started coughing.
Alexx slipped off her stool. “We should go look at your nose again, Bunny,” She held Ichiro’s head back and applied a paper towel to his face. “Dewey, where's the bathroom?”
“I know where it is.” Ichiro glowered, standing up straight.
“You want some ice for that?
” Dewey asked. He opened the freezer and pulled out a plastic bag. As he turned, Ami could see he was crushing a bag of frozen peas in his fist.
Alexx looked worried as she pulled Ichiro along by his fingers through the living room. “You got bandages in the bathroom?”
“Yeah, upstairs,” Dewey said, nodding. “Ich knows where.”
“Want to come with for a wander?” Alexx asked Ami, her brown doe-eyes large and luminous.
Stay out of this, Ami. Ami angled behind Trips. “I like the fire.”
Ami heard the thud of Ichiro’s catch before she realized Dewey had thrown the bag of frozen peas across two rooms – right at Ichiro’s face. She snuggled in, hiding behind Trips. Christ.
In a flash, Dewey was pouring himself a whiskey at the teacart. “Good catch.”
Jeepers, what a double entendre, Ami thought. Dewey’s smile made her shiver. He’d say ‘don’t let the door hit you on the way out,’ if he could.
Dewey sipped his drink, and sauntered back toward the kitchen. “Don't drip blood on the Persian.”
“Come on, Ichiro,” Alexx pleaded, shoving the frozen peas over his eyes and leading him into the hallway.
Trips exhaled with a snort. “How's that pizza coming?” He crossed the room and took Alexx’s seat at the wooden bar. “Smells great.”
“You know, Alexx in her Kevlar kind of looks kind of cool, like an X-men. You guys,” he shrugged, “not so much.” He looked from Trips to Ami as she joined them and smiled, a warm friendly smile. “You're more like weird elves.”
“She's in yellow—like Wolverine,” Trips said.
“Oh, Yeah. Guess that's it.” Dewey nodded.
“We’re in red and green,” Trips said referring to his costume and Ami’s. He smiled and looked at Ami. “Like Christmas elves.”
“Weird elves,” Ami added with a chuckle.
Dewey spun the wooden paddle on his finger then shoved it under the pizza pulling it from the brick oven. “So how long have they been together?”
Trips turned to Ami. “Like, what? A month?”
“Yeah, but they're like, really together.” Ami nodded, watching Dewey put the pizzas onto large flat wooden platters.
Boston Under Siege (Book 1): Virus: Page 7
