by M. Van
Mars had his gaze locked on me, which made me feel better. His lifted his hands at his side in a nonthreatening manner. He hadn’t raised them over his head, but he might have well had. Angie had a similar posture.
It took a second for my brain to start working again, and I looked up from where I lay on the ground. The gun was gone from my hand and had found its way into the big, clumpy fingers of William. I glared into the barrel of the nine millimeter automatic.
He must have waited for me to get my shit together, because immediately after our eyes locked, he limped toward me. Mars protested, but William only had to point the gun in his direction for him to stop.
As he had done with Ash, William lifted me off the ground with one hand as if I weighed nothing. His hand gripped the fabric of the flight suit so tight that I heard it rip. He lifted me until our eyes leveled out. Nothing of his expression held the friendly, cheese-cracker-eating tree of a man that we had met in Bergen Beach. This time everything about him screamed stone-cold killer. It’s somewhat frightening to know what a person would be able to hide at face value.
“If it weren’t for Dr. Warren,” he said through clenched teeth, “I would snap you in half.” The hate in his eyes told he’d be capable of the literal act.
“Please don’t hurt her, William,” Ash said in a pleading voice. I didn’t see the puckered lower lip, but I knew exactly how her face must have appeared. The fragile little kid with her big blue eyes. She could have been playing William just as she had the airman, but I thought that to be a stretch even for Ash. Still, her voice got to me. It reminded me of the time William wanted to take care of Ash, so to speak, after she was bitten. Anger started to build inside me and morphed fear into rage. When William snapped his head to a side to face Ash, I didn’t hesitate.
My arms, first limp at my side, now reached up to grab William’s head. In that unguarded moment, I pulled him close and strained to lash out. My toes barely touched the ground as I sank my teeth into his ear. I refused to think about the taste of his blood in my mouth, the growl that came from William’s throat, or the crunch his ear made as it gave way.
As I spit out the chunk as he released me from his grip. My feet fumbled for balance I couldn't find, and I crumpled to the floor. I hit the ground while William stumbled backward. He grabbed the side of his head with both hands. Frantic eyes went from the piece of ear on the ground to me.
“I’m gonna fucking kill you,” he roared. He stepped forward, his arm already moved back so he could hit me. My eyes widened, and I scrambled backward on hands and feet but couldn’t dodge the trajectory of his fist. Blood spilled from my mouth as my jaw clamped shut, and I bit my tongue. White flashed across my eyes, and for a moment everything went silent.
As I opened my eyes, all I could see was the gray, concrete floor and the blood that had pooled there as it dripped from my mouth. My hearing returned a fraction later as the grunts and moans that accompanied a scuffle reached my ears.
“Hold your fire!” someone shouted.
I lifted my head and spit out some of the blood that didn’t seem to stop accumulating in my mouth.
A body crossed my vision as it slammed into the wall, and Mars slumped to the ground.
“I’m gonna crush your head,” William shouted as he raised a boot. Mars ducked, and William missed. With his attention on Mars, William missed the warnings shouted at him by his men and didn't see how Angie had come up behind him with a backspin kick to the back of his knee. His leg buckled under the impact, and he dropped to one knee.
It all happened so fast that I hadn’t seen a couple of the men in black rush forward, guns raised. The men in green still occupied the hall but didn’t act. Shit, had Whitfield caved under Dr. David’s pressure?
Mars raised his arms to the barrel aimed at his head. Angie hadn’t seen the men coming—she was too busy with William. I wanted to shout, but no sounds came from my mouth. She raised her foot, ready to kick William in the head, but he caught her boot in midflight. It took her off balance, and she fell to the ground. William seemed to have gone off the edge—he roared like a wild beast and went after Angie. He grabbed her throat and slammed her against the ground.
None of the men holding guns acted—they weren’t going to stop him. I spit some more blood from my mouth and then scrambled up on unsteady feet. There was no way I’d be able to help Angie against William, but I had to do something.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one with that idea. My heart sank when I saw Ash clinging to William’s arm. Enraged, she screamed before she sank her teeth into his black jacket, to no ill effect. William flung his arm out, and as Ash connected to the wall, she released his arm.
Even on unsteady legs and a head pounding as if it was going to explode, I could feel the rage stir in my veins. I jumped on his back and wrapped an arm around his throat. I clamped it tight with my other hand. It didn’t seem to affect William; he kept his choke hold on Angie with one hand.
Underneath him, Angie sputtered and coughed as she tried to suck in air. William jerked his body like a bull, forcing me off balance before he spun me off his back, and I hit the ground next to him. I expected a backlash from the uninvited ride on his back, but he kept staring at me as I coughed up some more blood. I must have bitten off a piece of my tongue for all that blood to keep flowing.
William’s eyes grew wide as he looked down on me. A shaking hand rose to where a chunk of his ear had gone missing.
“What have you done!” he squealed. “What have you done?” His reaction almost seemed pitiful from a man his size. He just stood there, saying the same words over and over again. I looked at him, blinking, unable to understand his reaction.
Next to me, Angie lay gasping for air, along with an expression of surprise on her face at the big man’s wailing. I pushed myself up onto my elbows and reached for Ash, who crawled toward us. She eyed the squealing man curiously before she switched to me with a frightened look on her face.
William changed his mantra from what have you done to, “You killed me, bitch.” His words caught me off guard, but as I wiped a sleeve across my mouth and saw the blood that still exuded from my mouth and their meaning clicked. A glance at Angie told me she had come to a similar conclusion.
Commotion stirred where the soldiers and the men in black had their standoff. Questions were raised about what was happening. Mars turned to the direction of the men but kept his mouth shut.
William’s chest seemed to belong to a wild beast. It rose and fell so fast I doubted he’d be getting any air inside his lungs. His eyes were locked on mine and were terrifying to look at. They carried an intensity that grabbed me by the throat. Moments seemed to transcend into hours, but not even a minute had passed since he had thrown me off his back. William’s body jerked. His hands fell limp to his side. The rise and fall of his chest ceased. The crack of a gun drew my attention to the men still quarreling at the end of the hall. It seemed as if Sergeant Tyler had fired off a warning shot.
When I returned my gaze to William, my breath caught. White fog swam in front of his irises. His nostrils twitched, and his head shot up. The same ticks and jerky movements I had seen in every zombie rose to the surface of William’s body language.
Ash had caught on, and as she moved closer to my side, grabbed my arm. Angie scrambled back when William’s head snapped to the side, facing the direction of the men facing off. In an instance, he bolted to his feet. His nostrils flared, sucking in the smells around him, searching for the fresh blood that he needed to quench his hunger.
Without explanation, Angie crawled on hands and knees and grabbed Mars’s legs. He was standing with his hands raised, watching the scene unfold. One of the men holding a gun on Mars lowered his weapon and stared at a roaring William. With a nifty move, Angie took Mars down and covered his body with hers. She needed to hide his scent before William had a chance to trace it.
William didn’t even turn to Mars. He ran straight for the group of men.
The soldier he hi
t from behind had no idea what was coming for him until he felt the pain of William’s teeth digging into his neck. Blood spurted from the wound. The soldier screamed, and all heads turned to the bloodied bodies of the two men on the ground.
William didn’t hesitate to sink his teeth into the ankle of the soldier who stepped in next to him. The man screamed and jerked his foot to a side. The men in black rushed over to their leader, but William wasn’t their leader anymore. He didn’t care about anything anymore. His arms tore through the air at anything that came near him. Panic followed when one of the men in black was brought to his knees. This time William didn’t even bother to go for the neck. He tore a piece of flesh from the man’s cheek. Blood ran freely. William chewed and smacked as if his life depended on it before he lunged for the next. For a moment, it all seemed to happen in slow motion. Everyone standing in the hallway seemed to be stunned. We all knew of the zombie threat, but within the safe confines of this mountain, it all must have seemed as if it were a distant memory until reality kicked in.
Shots were fired. Bullets ripped through William’s back, sending a mist of blood into the air. His body wouldn’t stop moving—instead he threw himself onto his next victim.
I watched in horror. Had I done that? Was I responsible for those deaths? Around me, I sensed movement. Mars had retrieved Ash’s chair while Angie had lifted her of the ground and seated in her chair. I, however, still sat on the ground. I caught Mars’s glare. I couldn’t tell whether the shocked look on his face had been one of disgust or concern.
Angie kneeled down in front of me, blocking my view from Mars. She called my name, but I couldn’t respond. Thoughts, feelings, and words they all collided inside my head at light speed. This was not happening.
“Mags!” Angie shouted before she slapped me in the face. The burn-like pain triggered enough sense in me that I lifted a hand to my face. She raised her hand again, and I held it off.
“Stop,” I said. My eyes focused on hers, and she cocked her head a little. Was that pity? I couldn’t stand pity, not after what I had done. I turned away and got to my feet. Unable to ignore it, I watched the men fighting for their lives. William seemed to be unstoppable. He also seemed faster than any zombie I had ever seen.
One of the men in black who had been one of the first to go down, started to twitch, first a leg and then an arm, before he lifted himself off the ground. It didn’t take him long to find the smell of blood, and he stormed into the crowd.
“We need to go,” Ash said. “Soon there will be too many, and Mars is unprotected.” She meant that the three of us carrying the cancer gene weren’t interesting for the zombie’s taste buds, but Mars didn’t have that luxury. If we didn’t get him out of here, he would end up like one of them.
Ash turned her chair in the direction we had initially intended to go before we’d run into William. Making sure Mars’s scent was masked by standing between him and the zombies, Angie and I followed. The growls, moans, and screams of pain faded as we jogged and Ash rolled her chair along the hall. Ash had the lead, Mars followed, and Angie and I took up the rear.
I felt sick to my stomach. The taste of my own blood lingered in my mouth. I couldn’t get rid of it. What had I done? Stupid! I hadn’t thought it through. The infection coursed through my veins; I knew that. I knew the possibility of me infecting someone existed. My own blood must have run from my mouth and mixed in William’s open wound that I had caused in the first place. What had I done? Thoughts hammered inside my head, giving me a headache, and then Ash pulled on the brakes.
| 26
I glanced around but didn’t see or hear anything. “Why did you stop?” I asked Ash. She faced me with a raised eyebrow.
“Does anyone know where we are going?” she replied. That seemed like a fair reason to stop. Mars overtook Ash and headed further down the hall. He opened a few doors, checked the rooms, and moved on to the other. He didn’t look as if he knew where to go.
I turned to Angie who had a similar I’m-trying-to-get-my-bearings expression. She lifted her shoulders in a shrug before shaking her head. Tyler’s soldiers had us on a detour from the moment we’d encountered the voices of William’s—or should I say Dr. David’s—men. I hadn’t set a foot in this part of the base before.
A sharp whistle screeched my ears, and I found Mars waving at us. He stepped inside a room and disappeared. After exchanging glances, we followed him.
As I stepped into the dimly lit room, my eyes fell on the abundance of monitors bolted to the wall and on the desks, creating a row on each side. Mars stood at the end of the room, hovering over a desk, with a computer centered between the two rows. I followed Ash and Angie along the middle lane, passing five desks on each side. The screens on the desks were filled with images of the rooms and hallways I might have visited over the past few days. This seemed to be some type of security station with an overview of the entire facility.
We joined Mars at the desk, his hands clicking on a keyboard, his gaze locked on a screen. It took him a while, cursing in the process, but he managed to find what he was looking for. A screen flickered, and the image changed to the boardroom. From having been there, I knew the room connected to General Whitfield’s office. The room with the large boardroom table sat empty. General Whitfield’s office also sat empty.
Mars clicked another set of keys, and the imaged switched to the lab. I sucked in a breath at the sight. The images were in black and white, but the layout of the room was visible—the people inside the room perfectly recognizable. The camera zoomed in on a group of people standing near Dr. Matley’s work table.
At first, his back faced the camera, but it couldn’t hide who he was. His posture, sleek haircut, and the gesturing with his hands immediately told me who he was. Dr. David Warren stood over Dr. Matley’s limp form. Matley, who still wore her biohazard suit, had removed her protective mask. She lay on the floor and even in black and white, I could tell the pool of liquid spilling at the back of her head had to be the dark red color of blood.
Dr. David waved his hand to the men standing around the fallen body of Dr. Matley. Three men dressed in black coats and suits stepped into action. I hadn’t seen them before, or at least I couldn’t remember them, although they looked a lot like the men we’d faced earlier in that hallway. It seemed Dr. David had gathered quite a bunch of broad-shouldered, thick-necked muscle men.
The men honed in on the computers standing around the lab. One sat down at a station, clicking at the keyboard while another rummaged through the papers on the desk. The third man held a hand to his ear, and I could see his mouth move.
“Do we have audio on this?” Angie asked. Mars didn’t look up from the screen but started tapping keys. He flipped a switch, and a crackled voice came over the speakers.
“Copy that,” the man spoke before he lowered his hand.
“Dammit,” Angie said under her breath. With that, she voiced my thoughts. I would have liked to know what he was talking about and to whom. The man moved to Dr. David. It made me hopeful we still had a chance to find out. We needed to know Dr. David’s plan—what did he expect to find here, and more importantly, what was he willing to leave with or without? Maybe we’d get lucky and all he wanted was Dr. Matley’s research. Maybe he would leave without pursuing us.
Dr. David raised his head at the man’s approach. “What is it?” he asked.
“We have a problem,” the man spoke. His voice was deep, and I imagined it would make his message sound even more eerie. I had a feeling I knew what he would say. “There has been an outbreak.”
Dr. David let out a deep sigh. “Where now?” The man cleared his throat, and his head shifted, looking everywhere except at Dr. David.
“Here,” he said. Dr. David chuckled a laugh.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” he said amused. “There hasn’t been a sighting on this side of the river. This is a safe zone.”
“I’m sorry to say, sir,” the big man said, “but I just received word from
one of the teams. They barely escaped with their lives.”
“But how, dammit,” Dr. David snapped while he slammed a fist on the desk. The big man started to look more and more uncomfortable. His black-gloved hand rubbed the back of his beefy neck.
“They think it started with Mr. Darrell,” he said. At the mention of the name, my brows furrowed. Who the hell was Mr. Darrell? Dr. David’s shoulders tensed. “He had reportedly captured both subjects 101 and 102,” the big man said. I glanced down at Ash, who looked up at me with a frown. “Something happened, soldiers interfered, and all we know was that within seconds, Mr. Darrell attacked the soldiers along with our own men in a violent matter.”
Dr. David seemed struck by the news. He pulled out a chair and sat down.
“He’s infected,” Dr. David said in a distraught voice.
“Yes, sir, and it is spreading fast.”
Without further acknowledging the man, Dr. David waved a hand. The big man distanced himself while Dr. David seemed to be staring off into space for a moment before he spoke. His words came out in a soft-spoken whisper. “You should have known better, William.”
William Darrell—I hadn’t even known William’s last name, but now the name would forever reside in my head as the man I’d killed. The thought made it hard to breathe, and my knees weakened. I pulled out a chair and sat down. Ash moved in next to me while Angie watched me with careful eyes. Mars avoided looking at me. I couldn’t bear to think what they thought of me, although Ash tried to reassure me with a faint smile.
While his men searched the lab, Dr. David spoke on the phone. It seemed that losing William hadn’t hit him hard for long. He spoke with someone about sending a helicopter. Dr. David wasn’t a man for staying around zombies for too long—at least not if they were running around freely.
The three men converged on the middle of the lab and spoke with each other for a moment before the big man addressed Dr. David.
