by JT Sawyer
Jared stayed by the entrance while the others moved inside. Duncan had already plopped down on a black swivel chair and slouched his body forward on a table.
“You guys didn’t bring pizza—didn’t you get my order?” he said in a faint voice, his face pale.
Carlie removed her pack and pulled out a water bottle, thrusting it towards him. “I’m good on fluids, thanks. We gave ourselves IVs each day to stay hydrated but I could sure use some grub.” She scavenged through her pack, pulling out an MRE packet of beef stroganoff and tearing it open.
“Don’t expect me to spoonfeed you, now.”
He smiled, his greedy eyes already consuming the contents before the food reached his lips. Shane and Eliza did the same for the other two men while sitting beside them.
“You’ve been in here the whole time?” said Amy.
Duncan nodded and slurped down a heaping spoonful of brown slop. “After we got down here, we were sifting through the videolog of the lead scientist when those things started pouring out of the hallway behind us. We sealed those doors using the computer but not before a shitload of those deeks got to us.”
He tossed the empty MRE packet in the corner then he clenched his fist, rubbing the knuckles into his forehead. “I lost more than half my team, goddammit.”
“We barely made it in here,” said Ruffalo. “We didn’t realize we’d be trapped in here, unable to open the door.”
“We saw what you were up against. We faced off with some creatures like those in Cuba,” said Carlie. “Those things are fast as hell. How can that be?”
“The video footage we reviewed—the head researcher said that once the pandemic broke out a few months ago they tried to reverse engineer the new virus to see how it compared to the old KAD97 strain. The super-soldier element was present in one out of two hundred zombies so they isolated that component.”
“They were working down here on this after the virus swept across the globe,” Carlie said, scrunching her eyebrows together. “Why would they do that when the world was collapsing around them?”
“They may not have known the full extent of what was happening outside of Alaska,” Duncan said. “The videologs point to infrequent intel updates from outside sources, almost as if they were intentionally being isolated.”
“Was there any indication of how they were all infected?” said Eliza.
“There was an outbreak in the research center on the floor above us. A lab technician was exposed to the modified pathogen when a centrifuge was damaged. It spread quickly after that before containment was possible,” said Duncan.
“No one escaped from here?” said Shane, after which Duncan just shrugged his shoulders.
“According to my initial survey of this facility there were ninety more personnel that are unaccounted for apart from the ones that have been dispatched,” said Carlie. “If we could locate them, they could provide some answers.”
“Hold on to your pants because here’s the best part,” said Duncan. “We found several data logbooks regarding research approval in the med lab that were dated from a year ago—one of which was approved by DOD.”
Carlie looked around the room and then back at Duncan, “The sec-def—is that what you’re thinking?”
“Lavine—he’s known about this place all along?” said Matias.
“Nothing I can prove but if this was a joint DOD-CIA facility then he would certainly have been involved with the funding,” said Duncan.
“Then why send us here knowing we could happen across that?” said Amy. “Besides, I thought this was a privately contracted firm?”
“Because he didn’t have the passcodes until Eliza showed up with the laptop. That’s why he hasn’t sent in a team here prior to this. He needed us to gain access and obtain the virus.”
“Why does he need the original? What good will that do him?” said Jared.
“This lab was clearly used for specialized research beyond mere contagion storage as we were led to believe. He may have provided the funding to make it happen,” said Shane.
Duncan reached into his vest and removed two clear shatterproof cylinders the size of a cigar. Inside the first was a bluish liquid with the inscription KAD97. The second only contained a quarter-sized piece of raw flesh. “This has to be what he was after,” he said, wiggling the second container with the putrefied pulp. “Once we had dispatched those creatures on the first level, I radioed back to Lavine about our position and forthcoming plans. He insisted that I obtain a sample from one of the creatures for lab analysis back at Fort Lewis.” Duncan slid the two vials back into his vest and let out a long sigh. “I’ve had many days to ponder his request—why would he want a tissue sample from a zombie up here?”
“He could be after the genetic material,” said Eliza. “With that he can replicate what was being done here rather than start over from scratch with the original.”
“Exactly,” said Duncan. “And as you’ve already discovered, these are not your average drooling meatheads. They’re fast as hell.”
“This is nuts. To what end would he want to do that?” said Jared. “The world has already fallen apart. Why would he want to create more of those things?”
“We’re not even a hundred percent sure that Lavine was in on this. It could’ve been someone else in the DOD ranks,” said Amy.
“I think it’s safe to say that whoever it is, their plans go back farther than this pandemic. The viral outbreak merely enabled them to ramp up the efforts of this facility.”
“We can discuss it on the way back,” said Carlie, grabbing her rifle off the table. “Let’s retrace our steps and get topside.”
After moving back into the main lab, she saw that Shane was at the elevator door hitting the button repeatedly and anxiously waiting for any movement of the floor numbers on the panel above. Matias shouted to him from the computer console after silently reading a passage from the monitor. “Don’t bother. According to this, each level is self-sealing. Escape is only possible with authorization from the first level or implementing the emergency override which will supersede all systems and unlock all the doors in this place.”
Chapter 45
Duncan sat down on a metal stool by the heavily shuttered wall, inserting a fresh magazine that Shane had provided into his M4. “There’s an emergency egress route behind to the right of the med lab that doesn’t show up in the plans. Two of my men discovered it but were killed on their way back here.”
“Alright, what are we waiting for?” said Jared.
“We don’t know what’s down that route or where it leads,” said Carlie. “Let’s stick to the elevator and get out the way we came in as we know what to expect.”
She nodded to Matias to proceed with the emergency override. He depressed the red button on the computer console. The overhead lights flickered for a moment and then a digital clock appeared on the monitor before them. “Commencing emergency evacuation protocol in five minutes,” the automated feminine voice on the speaker said as the clock began counting backwards.
“Let’s gather up as many of the external hard drives and data sticks as we can along with anything else that looks pertinent,” said Carlie. “It’s not like I plan on ever coming back here.”
As they finished hastily packing up, they could hear the turbo shaft of the elevator moving as the compartment made its way back down to them.
At the same time, the metal shutters behind Duncan began sliding up into the ceiling, revealing eight floor-to-ceiling windows. The glass panels were a foot thick, beyond which was an inky black chamber. The digital clock on the computer was now counting backwards from sixty seconds.
“This isn’t like one of those James Bond movies where the bad guy’s fortress explodes once that clock reaches zero, is it?” said Jared.
Carlie stepped forward to the glass as the interior lights began flickering on. The back of the cavernous room was illuminated first, followed by row of after row of lights until the entire chamber was revealed
. Everyone stopped gathering items from the desks and shuffled towards the glass casement. Some people sucked in a quick breath while others cupped their hands over their mouths. Carlie just stood frozen, her right hand clutching the grip on her rifle as her heart pulsed like a speeding train.
The immense lab before them was filled with nearly a hundred creatures. They were torpid at first but then began shuffling towards the glass, eventually moving with great fervor at the sight of the spectators. As they slammed their bodies against the thick glass, everyone instinctively stepped back, clasping their weapons tighter. On either side of the lab were two large pressure-sealed doors whose circular catchment locks had just released.
“Guess we know what happened to the rest of the personnel here,” said Eliza.
“That’s our cue to leave,” she said, yanking her pack off the table and heading to the escape door behind medical. Shane looked at the security screen for the interior elevator camera and saw that the inbound chamber was filled with a writhing mass of creatures that must have gotten on from another floor. The twenty or so freaks were pushing each other out of the way to get at the blood-stain on the elevator wall.
“Looks like we’re headed out the back way after all,” Carlie said, looking over his shoulder at the black-and-white image.
Carlie trotted down past the elevator towards medical and then into the passage that led to the escape route as she heard the overhead speakers count down from ten to one. She increased her pace, making a right turn and then running ahead, doing an abrupt left as the others followed on her heels. The corridor terminated at a single door that was cold to the touch. There was no security keypad on the wall and she grabbed the stout metal handle and turned. The door opened into a cylindrical chamber that was fifteen feet in diameter and made of smooth concrete that ran upward into the darkness beyond the reach of her rifle’s high-beam flashlight.
The only object in the room was a single wrought-iron ladder whose bars were embedded in the concrete.
“Whew—if this outing gets any rougher, I might start having a bad day,” she said, craning her neck upward.
She stepped out into the hallway and slammed the butt of her rifle into the wall, knocking a handful of drywall loose. She took this and went back into the cylindrical chamber and tossed it into the air. The fine dust particles revealed a crisscross layer of red lasers that emanated from tiny holes in the concrete eight feet above their heads.
“Jared, can you locate the deactivation system?”
He stood next to her, stroking his whiskered chin. “If I can find the manual override—there should be an external device that…” He paused, pulling his eyes away from the walls, and zoomed in on the floor. There was an area behind the door which had a square panel built into the tiles. He knelt down beside it and removed the metal plate. Inside was a security keypad.
Carlie reached into her parka and pulled out the tablet, scanning through the numeric passwords. “There’s only one code left which we haven’t used that we got off the laptop.”
“293426BNA.”
Jared typed in the numbers. A second later the keypad beeped and the code disappeared, followed by the distant echo of grating metal above. A round hatch one hundred-twenty feet up had opened, letting in a stream of sunlight that filled the shaft. Just to be sure, Carlie tossed up some more drywall dust to confirm that the lasers were disabled.
“Everyone up. I’ll cover you,” Carlie said, moving up to Duncan and his men. “This is over nine stories high and I know you guys are pretty spent already,” she said, handing them each carabineers from her pack. “I want you to clip into the ladder every twenty feet or so.”
Duncan nodded as he and his men attached the carabineers to their uniforms’ webbing system. “See you topside, Carlie. Watch your ass with those things. And when we’re all back at Fort Lewis, the beers are on me.”
She slapped her fist on his shoulder, then nodded for him to move up the ladder. “We’ll cover the hallway until you’re all up top.”
Shane led the ascent followed by Duncan, Mendez, Ruffalo, and Amy. Carlie backed out and re-entered the hallway along with Matias, Eliza, and Jared. They walked back to the first elbow-juncture and crouched down with their rifles at a low-ready. The hallway before them was humming with the sound of the emergency generators coming from the floor above them, drowning out any other noise from the main laboratory.
“There were a ton of those things. Why aren’t they headed this way?” said Matias.
Carlie shook her head and then reached inside her parka and removed the small tablet. She pulled up the schematics for the lowest sub-level and scanned the thermal imagery. Her eyes grew wide with each enlargement of the globular image moving their way. “According to this, they’re only one hundred yards from here and closing—this is a massive cluster.”
Everyone gripped their rifles and leveled them at the opening ahead.
“Sixty yards.”
Jared jammed the butt of his rifle harder into his shoulder and tensed his face. Eliza was squinting and breathing hard while Matias had tilted his chin up, straining to hear.
“Thirty-five yards.”
“That’s inside the perimeter,” whispered Matias.
“I don’t see shit—maybe there’s something wrong with the imagery,” said Jared.
“Twenty-one yards,” she said, shaking the device and focusing on the throbbing mass of red images headed towards them.
“That’s right on us,” said Eliza.
“Ten yards.”
She looked at the device, pulling it closer to her face and squinting. Then she gasped and tilted her head up to the ceiling as everyone’s gaze followed her movement while their ears strained for any sounds beyond the drone of the generators.
“Behind us!” said Carlie, swinging around as creatures began raining down from a ventilation shaft, sealing off their escape route. As they turned to fire, they heard a rumble of movement from the opposite direction as more ravenous beasts began pouring into the hallway they had been watching.
There was only forty feet of space in either direction between them and the incoming hordes which were moving like a wildfire sweeping through a parched meadow. Carlie and Eliza faced the zombies to their rear while Matias and Jared squared off against those coming from the lab.
The tension quickly broke as gunfire rang out simultaneously from both parties. The hallway was filled with the constant staccato of semi-automatic weapons as both groups engaged the swift-moving current of yellow-faced zombies springing off the floors or bounding off the walls. By the time eleven creatures were down, Carlie was already on her third rifle magazine. The hallway filled with a fog of gunsmoke and pink mist that wafted along the ceiling. The rattle of rounds emanating from their weapons followed by the shrieks of skulls yielding to lead projectiles, drowned out the predatory growls emanating from Carlie and the others as they tried to keep the tidal wave of undead from grasping another inch of their diminishing world. But the creatures kept coming as they continued firing at each wave, and the next and the next. Carlie’s vision was a blur of snarling teeth, clawing fingers, and shattered heads. The smell of spent gunpowder and acrid sweat streamed into her nostrils. Despite the ear-splitting sound of their weapons she could still hear the murderous screams, so great was the fury of the advancing horde.
Carlie barely comprehended something pressing against her hip and realized it was Jared as both groups of shooters were now back to back. She inserted another magazine, letting the empty one fall below into a crimson puddle flowing outward from the growing pile of bodies before her. Swift, close-range headshots were the norm but they just kept coming, climbing and clawing their way over the heaps of mangled corpses. Carlie felt her trigger finger trembling after realizing she had just inserted her last magazine. She wondered if she was going into shock as she saw the creatures moving in slow motion over one another, then glanced at Eliza and saw the woman was down to using her pistol, watching the slide move b
ack and forth as if it was suspended in clear honey. Above the din of gunfire, she heard Jared yell that he was out of ammo as the hissing sound of mutants behind her increased. Then she heard Matias’ rifle run dry followed by his voice snarling and the sound of a blade cleaving through bone.
Two zombies were clamoring to get over the shattered bodies before Carlie as she emptied her last rounds into their heads. She removed her Glock and shot four creatures only to see eight more drop out of the ventilation shaft in the ceiling. God, how many more can there be? We are down to the wire.
With a brief pause in movement before her, she turned and fired off several rounds at creatures moving in on Jared and Matias. “Out of ammo,” said Eliza over her shoulder. Carlie returned to the slaughterfest in front of her and then saw her Glock’s slide go back with the expenditure of her last round.
She reholstered the weapon and then yanked out her 9-inch tactical blade, shuffling forward in a boxer’s stance with Eliza by her side. Three crazed freaks in soiled lab coats rushed them. Carlie smashed the outermost one in the temple with the steel butt of her blade, feeling the bone splinter inward as the creature collapsed. She pivoted and drove the tip directly into the ear of the other one beside it while Eliza cleaved open the head of the one on the far left.
Carlie was breathing hard and sweat rolled off her forehead into her eyes. She looked ahead and couldn’t see any more movement from the overhead ventilation shaft. There must have been sixty bodies piled up around her as the ceiling and walls were coated with a sheen of brain matter and blood.
“Keep your eye out for more,” she said to Eliza and then turned to help the two men.
Matias was slashing and hacking as a scythe moves through a field of wheat, his arms coated red to the shoulders while Jared provided follow-through cuts on anything that was missed. Their strikes were becoming slower as each man tried to power through another round of assaults. Even Matias, who had great endurance with a machete, was slowing down and panting. Matias split open two creatures and then backpedaled, his boots skating along the wine-colored glaze beneath him.
