The Vectors at the broken skylight had changed their course. We ran to the tower with Chloe loping beside us. No one was at the tower to greet us. I tried my best to open the iron door, but it wouldn’t give.
I raised the radio to my mouth. “Where are you?”
“On my way. Just hold them off for a minute longer.”
Chloe growled again. Some of the Vectors were faster than others, closing in from every direction. We could’ve jumped over the wall behind us if we wanted, but it was too high. The fall would surely kill us, or break our legs at the very least. Jewel went down on one knee and balanced her rifle while Kaylynn readied her bat with a practice swing. I set down my backpack, opened the zipper and loaded the rest of the shotgun shells. Then I remembered the flash bangs. I didn’t believe they could stop Vectors, but it was worth a try.
“Cover your ears!” I pulled the pin and threw.
BANG!
Knowing how bright flash bangs are would’ve been nice. The night was falling, so the flash nearly blinded us. My eyes stung, and the explosion made my ears ring. The Vectors closest to the blast were knocked to the ground, but it didn’t do much to the rest. I threw the next bang at the horde on our left. Same result. From here on out, we had to stand our ground and fight.
“Take the Stalkers, Kaylynn!” I said. “We’ll take the Runners.”
One of them was almost on us when Kaylynn sprinted to it and clobbered the monster in the face. It stumbled to the side and fell over the stone barrier.
“I’m way ahead of you, Jay!”
Boom!
The recoil of Jewel’s rifle made her fall back, but her shot still blew a Stalker’s head clean open. Jewel readied herself again, leaned into her shot and struck another hard blow. I raised the Maverick and aimed.
Boom! Schklikt—Boom!
Every shot met their target until I ran out of shells.
I threw the 12 Gauge down and took up the Glock again. I really wanted to conserve my ammunition, but I ended up missing twice. The rest of my bullets found their marks in a Vector’s skull, but soon I had to drop the empty magazine and reload. Dad had often told me what it’s like to be in the field. Real combat doesn’t have free bullets and health kits lying on the ground. He was right. No video game could ever come close to the real deal. And this was no game. We had to win.
Between Kaylynn’s swings and our shooting, we’d hardly made a dent against the mass of decaying flesh. The toxic combination of their moaning and the horrid stench of their putrefied hands twisted my stomach in knots and chilled my spine, all at the same time.
“Crap!” Jewel searched her pockets. “I’m out!”
Crap was right. I was about done with my second magazine. Eight rounds left. Kaylynn ran back and forth to keep the faster Vectors away. She was out of breath now. We then sent Chloe out to distract them. She couldn’t hold their attention for long. With less than twenty feet to go, we’d be dinner in a matter of seconds. Grabbing the radio again, I was about to scream into it when the tower door flew open. In a thick lab coat, wearing black-rimmed glasses, was Doctor Sanders.
He raised his black smartphone and pressed his thumb on the screen. At that moment, the Vectors stopped in their tracks and flailed back in pain. Kaylynn suddenly dropped her bat on the hard concrete, her hands flying to both sides of her head. She clenched her teeth tight, as if she were in pain, too. I couldn’t tell what hurt her, or why the Vectors were turning away.
“This won’t last long,” Sanders warned. “Get in!”
Jewel threw her rifle to the floor while I grabbed Kaylynn’s bat. Even with my help, Kaylynn could barely stand up. Wrapping her arm over my shoulder, I hoisted her up and we headed for the door. Once inside the vestibule, Sanders pulled the door shut. He lowered a thick metal latch and wrapped it with a chain. Hard fists struck against the padlocked door seconds later.
Sighing in relief, Sanders wiped his forehead and turned to us with a nervous laugh. “Good thing I saw you kids on the monitor. This is highly unexpected, and very reckless of you! What are you kids doing here?”
“What was that noise?” Kaylynn asked.
Noise? I glanced at Jewel.
We hadn’t heard a thing.
Sanders held out his hand and showed us his phone. “I discovered they are sensitive to a particular frequency. I developed this short-wave transmitter.” I found that hard to believe. Since when did Sanders go from a doctor to a techno guy? Now that I had a better look at it, the phone had no clear name brand on it. “This transmits a frequency that causes an unpleasant vibration in the cerebral cortex of the infected host.” Sanders’s apologetic eyes fell on Kaylynn. “I had almost forgotten. You have the infection inside you, right?”
“My head was in a church bell,” Kaylynn uttered.
“Really?” Sanders crossed his arms and raised a hand to his chin. “Curious observation. I never had the chance to test this on someone who wasn’t trying to attack me. This is very helpful.” Fists were still hammering away at the door from the outside. With the stone frame and thick metal door, it was clear that no Vector was getting in. “I apologize for any discomfort.”
Heaving a breath, Kaylynn leaned against the wall. Was this frequency some kind of sound? I didn’t hear anything. Chloe never reacted to it, and it kept the infected away? Sanders could easily win the Best Inventor of the Year award.
Sanders pocketed the phone. “If only it wouldn’t drain the battery so fast.”
Then again, maybe not—he’d have to settle for Honorable Mention.
“You didn’t answer,” he said. “Why are you here?”
“Where’s our Mom and Dad?” Jewel blurted.
“And Cody,” I said. “I saw our car outside.”
Sanders blinked, a look of confusion washing over him. “He’s inside. He never mentioned any of you.”
“He ditched us,” Kaylynn said. “Left us for dead.”
“Did he?” Sanders said. “I can’t imagine that—”
“What about our parents?” Jewel insisted. She wasn’t going to drop the subject. “Where are they?”
The doctor let out a long sigh that caused a pit in my gut. “We caught a few bits of David City’s distress call. I’m afraid your parents went back to find you.”
The way I deal with disappointment is to always expect the worst, so it relieved me that Mom and Dad went back to David City to look for us. Jewel was clearly disappointed, holding her tears back. And Kaylynn gave me this we-went-through-all-of-that-for-nothing look.
Sanders loosened his collar. “They’ll be back.”
“When did they leave?” Kaylynn asked.
Sanders adjusted his glasses. “Yesterday.”
Yesterday—when we were in Lincoln and Marysville. I should’ve worried, but I knew Mom and Dad could handle anything. They were alive and probably more anxious than us. We just had to sit tight and wait for them. Kaylynn touched my shoulder and pressed herself close with a half-hug. I wasn’t sure when I’d done it, but I had my arm around her waist, not that I was making a move on her. Jewel looked to me for assurance while she was wiping her eyes dry.
“Don’t worry,” I told her. “They’ll find us.”
“They better,” Jewel said, “or I’ll disown you.”
I laughed at that. I sure needed to.
“Good luck with that.” My eyes then fell on the radio at Sander’s belt. It kept the flap of his coat from covering his leg. “Hey, that’s my dad’s radio!”
“Yes, your father left this with me, in case you came here to look for him,” Sanders explained.
Dad had instructed us to find the circle on the map in case we ran into trouble in David City, so that was a solid backup plan on his part. If only we’d followed his route, we would’ve crossed paths for sure.
“What about Cody?” Kaylynn asked. “Where’s his dad and brother?”
Sanders nodded. “They’re here. Cody’s been very helpful since he arrived.” His phone buzzed. Sanders
took it up and swiped his finger on the screen. I couldn’t see it, but the screen had something that looked like a text message. It was nice to know that some of our technology was still working, even if my mom was the first to say that texting is the one thing the world can live without. An elated smile replaced Sanders’s deadpan lips. “This is great!” he exclaimed. “The new vaccine shows positive results. We may be able to fight this infection by morning.”
I shared a quick glance with the girls, who seemed relieved in more ways than one.
“Really?” Jewel said. “You can cure Kaylynn?”
Sanders put his phone into his pocket again. “Well, no,” he said. “You can’t exactly cure this infection, but we can contain it and immunize against it. We’ll run a trial—make sure it’s not lethal. I’ll bring the three of you to the lab later, after you’ve had something to eat.”
I couldn’t think about food right then, not with my parents gone, a cure almost ready, or the thought of Cody nearby, hiding somewhere. I wanted nothing more than to return the knuckle sandwich he gave me.
“Where’s the lab?” I asked.
Brushing against the wall, Sanders moved down the narrow vestibule to a curved gate. “If you will follow me, I’ll show you.” He slid the gate open, revealing a small, circular elevator.
“Shouldn’t we keep a lookout for our parents?” Jewel asked.
“I’m afraid that’s out of the question,” Sanders said. He had read my mind. “You must wait about twelve hours for the Vectors to lose interest and move on before we can go outside.”
Having no other choice, I stepped into the elevator. Considering the five of us, including Chloe, we were about to travel to an unknown area in a tight spot, for who knew how long. The claustrophobic in me went into a squeamish fit. But after I’d stepped inside, I could tell that this elevator was meant to travel to an observation deck at the top of the tower, and we were on the main floor. The elevator only went up. The lab couldn’t be in the tower. It was much too small.
The others followed next, and Sanders entered last. He closed the gate and turned around, his black smartphone in his hand again. After swiping his finger across the screen a few times, the elevator jolted and then it made its way down. Down? I wasn’t expecting that. The tower door vanished as we descended. I should’ve known. We were about to enter a secret lab.
“That’s a nasty cut, Jeremy,” Sanders said. “You’ll need a butterfly bandage, I think.” Reminded of my lip, I touched it. In all the recent excitement, I’d completely forgotten about it. “And how did you find this place? Did you see your car and assumed we were here?”
“Not at first,” Kaylynn answered. “I don’t know how to explain it. I just felt drawn to this place.”
“Before the infected surrounded us, you mean?”
Kaylynn gave him a slight nod. “How did you—?”
She stopped abruptly and gave me a hurried glance. Something was troubling her. I had a good hunch as to what. She had mentioned something in Lincoln that made her want to stay in David City, right before the Vectors invaded the place and wiped the town clean off the map. I decided not to ask what was wrong. Not with Sanders present. The doctor smiled at her again.
“How did I what, Kaylynn?” he asked.
“How did you know we were here?” she said.
Nice recovery.
The elevator was slowing down. “This facility has a network of cameras. We saw you coming a mile away, a good thing too. If this vaccine works, we can immunize you. We’ll make all survivors immune to this atrocity.” The elevator came to a full stop. Stainless steel walls replaced the stone on the other side of the gate. Sanders pulled the gate open and led us into a lobby with a polished white floor, white walls and really dim lighting.
On the floor was an American eagle perched on top of three letters: D. B. C.
Sanders stepped to another elevator and motioned us to follow him. I couldn’t shake my weird feeling to run, or to ride back to the surface. Chloe was more receptive to danger than I was, but she looked fine, and Sanders didn’t seem to have a problem bringing a dog down there. We walked into the chamber where Jewel had pointed at the letters on the floor, brow scrunched.
“D. B. C . . .” Jewel paused for a second. “What does that stand for? Dysfunctional Butt Clinic?”
Jewel and I snickered while Kaylynn did this headshake, eye-rolling combo. As for Sanders, he had a serious frown and raised his phone. I wanted to know who he was communicating with. Just then, the thick metal doors closed and our elevator went up, effectively trapping us under the ground. “This is the Department of Biological and Chemical agents. Ever heard of it?”
This was a secret government facility. Called it!
All three of us shook our heads. “No,” I said.
“I’ll explain on the way down.” Sanders directed us to the other elevator, its doors wide open and waiting. We made it inside and we let Sanders take us down farther. “The museum was built as a front for biological and chemical weapons research and development shortly after the end of the First World War. It almost closed after the Second World War ended, but the research our soldiers captured from the Japanese has kept these doors open ever since. Secretly, of course.”
“What kind of research?” Kaylynn asked.
More importantly, I wanted to know how Sanders knew all of this. He wasn’t old enough to be considered a dinosaur, so it’s not like he was there to see it happen.
A small smile crimped his cheek. “The human condition,” he answered. “What the human body can endure. What foreign agent causes what? Unit 731 was a terrible experimental program, which cost the lives of thousands. I’m certain you never heard of it in school. They focus on Nazi Germany, for some reason.”
The second elevator stopped and the doors opened to a small commons area with a long corridor ahead of us. On either side of the corridor were two doors: one read Security and the other read Canteen. That word made my stomach growl like a famished wolverine.
“Place your weapons on the security counter,” Sanders said.
I nearly balked. “Why do you want us to do that?”
“This facility has sensitive agents. It’s a safety—”
“I don’t care if this place has a nuclear bomb,” I said. What’s with all these grown-ups taking our guns away? “We’re not going anywhere without our stuff.”
“This place has a particle accelerator . . . very much like a nuclear bomb.” Sanders’s blistered tone made me gulp. “One stray bullet could turn this part of Kansas City into a hot crater, hotter than the eruption of Mount Saint Helens.” Sanders gestured at a cloth on the counter and pulled it off. Under it was a pink, camouflaged bow. “I promise, no one will touch them.”
“I left my rifle up there.” Jewel pointed up.
Talk about a pickle. I wasn’t willing to leave my Glock out where anyone could grab it. Besides the .500, it was all we had. At the same time, this was the last place we had to worry about Vectors coming to get us.
“What about this?” Kaylynn twirled her bat.
Sanders smiled. “It’s not necessary, but harmless.” With a nervous twitch, Sanders picked up his phone. “I’ll find you some food while you deposit your things.” Leaving us like that, Sanders walked to the canteen.
I huffed. “Better do what he says . . .” I tossed the empty shotgun on the counter, but Kaylynn grabbed my wrist before I could set the Glock down. She whipped that purple bang from her eye. “What’s wrong?” I said.
She looked back and whispered, “Something’s not right about this place.”
I think I understood what she meant. It’s not every day you stumble into a top-secret facility that you’ve only seen in the movies, and a strange acronym that you’ve never heard of before. Now was my chance to ask. “You felt the same way in David City, right?”
She nodded. “Exactly the same way.”
“What does it mean?” Jewel asked, but we couldn’t answer. Sanders was coming ba
ck.
Like the other people we had run into before, he didn’t know about my .500. I decided to leave it in my pack, just as the doctor returned with bagged snacks, a six-pack of generic soda, and a first aid kit. “Is that everything?” he asked, examining the hardware that I had discarded. I nodded, and so did the others. “Good. Come with me. I’ll show you to our rec room.” The way he said that buried the needle on my Creep-Meter.
Sanders led us to a four-way corridor, each hall as long and dim as the tunnel that we had just come from. Sanders marched on. In passing, I read signs above the halls: Biology to the right and Chemistry to the left. And then there was another sign that said Research and Development. The corridor ended at what resembled a military-style barrack, complete with private rooms, showers, restrooms, and lounges. Several lab coats hung on small hooks, and around the corner was a room with a big screen plasma TV. Nice. After weeks of dealing with the undead and crazy people alike, I was in desperate need of a seriously long boob-tubing session.
“I’ll let the other researchers know that we have new guests.” Sanders gestured at the TV room while handing each of us a snack bag and a soda. “Please stay here and make yourselves at home until I come back.”
“What about Cody?” Kaylynn asked.
I grumbled. Why did she keep asking about him?
“I’ll be sure to let him know you’re here as well.”
“Thank you, Doctor Sanders,” Jewel replied.
I frowned at my little sister. Little traitor . . .
Jewel and Chloe stepped in first. Kaylynn and I entered next. A sliding door closed on us, accompanied by a click. I didn’t have a chance to know if Sanders locked it before Kaylynn and Jewel sat down with their snacks. They pried the bags open, finding applesauce, cheese crackers, and thawed frozen burritos inside. Tasty, but for reasons I didn’t understand, I was no longer hungry. I was uneasy. A cold feeling in my bones was so strong that I didn’t bother to treat my lip.
My Zombie Summer (Book 1): The Undead Road Page 16
