To distract herself, Vicky hunched down to check the power outlets near to where she stood, although most of her focus remained on the man she loved as he walked across the vast open space to the lifts. He had a card that gave him clearance to the control room. That’s all he’d asked for. Sure, it didn’t feel great that Vicky had stolen Artem’s card, especially when she saw the panic on his face when he realised it had gone, but he should have looked after it. She had more concern about when he would report it missing. Nobody would give a shit about the low-level card she stole in the canteen, but one that accessed the building’s security would raise alarm. It would also see Artem fired, which must have been why he hadn’t reported it yet. Maybe he hoped it would turn up.
The second the lift doors closed on Brendan, the ones next to him let out a light ping. Two security guards stepped out. Bang on time, the twelve o’clock shift had arrived.
The two uniformed men strode across the foyer to the front doors. Vicky pretended to write, but her hand shook so badly she wasn’t able to make a legible mark. When she looked back up at the men, one of them glanced her way. She quickly averted her gaze.
Another quick glance and she saw the man had also looked away.
Crouched closer to the doors than she had been on the first switch over, Vicky listened to the men’s conversation.
“It’s time to switch shifts.”
“What do you mean? We’ve only just got here.”
“But it’s our shift now.”
“No it’s not. We were told to do today, weren’t we, Bill?”
Bill nodded. “Yeah, I dunno what the mix up is, boys. Why don’t you go and find out while we hold the fort?”
When the men turned back into the foyer, Vicky dropped her eyes to her clipboard again. A shake ran through her entire body and she had to lean against a wall so she didn’t fall from her crouch. She kept her attention down as the men passed her on their way back to the lift.
When she heard the ping of the lift door, she looked up again to watch the lift close on the two legitimate guards. A glance at the main entrance and she saw the face of one of the fake guards at the porthole window as he watched the lift the two men had entered.
His face then vanished and Vicky knew the men would walk away at that point. They’d stood guard while Brendan entered just to avoid any unnecessary suspicion. They’d now done their job. Brendan hadn’t told Vicky what would happen next. The less she knew the better.
When Vicky looked down, she saw she’d scribbled nonsense all over the checklist. Not that it mattered anymore. The time to regret her actions had passed. This thing would happen now whether she liked it or not.
Chapter 15
“Come on!” Rhys shouted as he watched the mob dash down the hill. Their blood lust oozed from them as a shared intention. Ruthless in their desire to get at Rhys and Larissa, they shoved and pushed one another aside as they ran.
Larissa snapped the car into reverse, spun the wheels as she accelerated backwards, and turned the steering wheel to a full left lock.
The car jolted when they smashed into the curb on the other side of the road and a deep thunk vibrated through Rhys’ seat.
“Steady on,” Rhys said. “We want this car in one piece so it can get us out of here.” More than just a crowd of silhouettes, Rhys now heard their collective fury as it made its way down the hill.
Larissa lurched the car forward and hit the curb on the other side of the road. The impact threw Rhys toward the windscreen.
A glance up the road and Rhys saw the diseased had halved the distance between them since she’d put it into reverse. Panic clattered through him. “Come on, come on, come on.”
Red faced and wide-eyed, Larissa turned on Rhys. “You’re not fucking helping.” Veins stood out on her forehead and she looked ready to swing for him. She shoved it into reverse again and whacked the curb for a third time.
Rhys looked between Larissa, who shook so badly she struggled to put it back into first, and the diseased behind who were now less than ten metres away from them.
Another lurch forward and Larissa stalled.
Rhys bit his bottom lip as he watched her fumble for the start button and bounced up and down on his seat.
Five metres.
Larissa revved the engine so hard it drowned out the hellish sound of the diseased before she wheel-spun away. The front of the car seemed to bounce on the spot as a shudder ripped through the vehicle.
The lead diseased slapped the back of the car and got so close Rhys saw its bloody eyes through the back window. Several more caught up and smacked the car’s bodywork.
For the next few seconds, Rhys watched the diseased ease up as the gap between them grew. The red glow from the car’s taillights showed the slumped forms of defeat. They knew when they were beat. When he turned back around, he sniffed the acrid smell of the burned clutch and looked at Larissa. She panted as she hunched over the wheel. “Good work,” he said as a relieved sigh.
“You didn’t fucking help. Why did you shout at me?”
“I’m sorry. I panicked.”
“Yeah, you did.” A dark frown crushed her face as she continued to stare straight ahead.
Rhys reached across and rubbed her left shoulder. The knot of tension eased a little at his touch.
It took Rhys several more deep breaths to exorcise his adrenaline-induced shakes. He pulled the phone and the dead lady’s severed finger from his pocket. The cold digit brought a rich shot of acidic rot with it. He screwed his nose up and looked to see Larissa had the same reaction to the smell.
“Fucking thing stinks.”
Larissa didn’t reply. Instead, she focused on the road ahead as she tore through the small town’s tight streets.
As she negotiated their escape route with sharp turns, Rhys snapped one way and then the other. He had to hold the phone with both hands to steady it enough for him to hit redial. He lifted the phone to his ear and the purr of a ring tone made him straighten in his seat.
“It’s ringing.”
Larissa eased off slightly and looked across at him.
At that precise moment, a diseased sprung from the darkness to be lit up by the car’s headlights. Rhys pulled his legs up in the chair and Larissa screamed as they crashed straight into it. The thud struck through the car like a sledgehammer blow and the diseased man spun away into the darkness on Larissa’s side of the car.
With the phone to his ear still, Rhys nodded ahead. “Keep your eyes on the road!”
Although Larissa replied, Rhys didn’t hear it because Vicky answered the phone at that moment.
“Hello.”
“Vicky? Where the fuck are you?”
She breathed heavily down the phone and lowered her voice. “I’m trying to get away from Brendan. I can’t see him, but I know he hasn’t given up on our trail. The guy’s a psychopath.”
The scream of the diseased near Vicky roared so loudly it sent needles of pain into Rhys’ eardrum. He had to pull the phone away from his face. When he put it back, he listened to the chaos that clearly surrounded her.
“Is it bad where you are too?” he asked.
For a moment, Vicky didn’t reply. After several heavy breaths she finally said, “London’s fallen, Rhys. It’s fucked. When I was waiting for you in the police car, I saw a helicopter fly over with a cage of those creatures. I think they’ve dropped the diseased into London. Flynn and I are going to have to turn around and head back toward Summit City.”
“Flynn’s okay, is he?”
Larissa slowed down some more.
“He’s fine.”
A look across at his ex-wife and Rhys nodded at her.
“Let me speak to him,” Larissa said as she reached for the phone. The car swerved and she almost lost control.
Rhys pulled away. “Focus on driving, Larissa. Vicky, we need to think of somewhere we can meet.”
“I agree. We need to go south to get away from London. How about Biggin Hill Airport?
There’s an old industrial estate next to it. I can’t imagine there’ll be many of the diseased there.”
More screams hurt Rhys’ ear.
“Okay,” Rhys said, “we can get to Biggin Hill Airport. Can you meet us there in an hour?”
Vicky fought for breath and then finally said, “Yes, I can.”
“Can we speak to Flynn?”
Although Vicky didn’t reply, Rhys heard her pass the phone to his son.
“Dad?”
“Flynn, are you okay, mate?”
“I’m scared, Dad.”
“It’ll be okay. Just do what Vicky says and you’ll be okay.”
“Like fuck will he be okay,” Larissa said and ripped the phone from Rhys’ hand. “Flynn, baby.”
Despite the short distance between them, Rhys heard the beeps before she’d said anything.
Larissa looked at the phone. “The connection dropped.”
Chapter 16
About twelve hours ago
They hadn’t discussed what would happen next and they hadn’t discussed what Vicky should do at this point either. She’d make sure the fake guards had a minute before the real guards turned up so they could let Brendan in. She’d distract the real guards if necessary, and then she’d … what the fuck would she do?
Still in the foyer of the Alpha Tower, Vicky looked around. Surely someone had rumbled her. What if Brendan didn’t destroy the CCTV footage like he’d promised? Someone would see her in the foyer, aimless with a stupid clipboard. They’d be bound to review the footage from the day.
Vicky hunched down again with her clipboard and wrote more nonsense on the form. She’d have to replace it with a legit one later. If they asked to see her paper trail, they’d uncover the ramblings of a mad woman … or a terrorist.
Adrenaline surged through Vicky’s blood as she remained hunched by the socket. It didn’t take anybody that long to examine a plug socket. Not even Vicky.
When she stood up she nearly fell down again.
Fear had turned her legs bandy as she walked across the foyer. If she looked at the cameras now, it would be obvious she had something to hide. She had to style it out, walk like she owned the place, and get back to her office as soon as fucking possible.
As she crossed the space, the lift doors pinged and the two legitimate security guards from a few minutes before returned. They marched across the room and their heels clicked in unison with one another’s.
When one of them opened the door, his loud voice echoed in the open space. “Where are they?”
A lady in her mid to late forties entered the building and the security guard stepped in front of her. “Have you seen them?”
“Who?”
“The two security guards.”
The woman looked at the security guard and then at his colleague next to him. Although her mouth moved up and down, she didn’t say anything.
“Fine,” the guard said, “show me your pass.”
The woman did as she’d been ordered and then moved on when the guard let her through.
The first guard must have been the senior of the two because he lifted his walkie-talkie and said, “Check the labs. Check the labs now.”
The other guard made eye contact with Vicky. It was the same one who had looked at her before. Her pulse soared and every part of her screamed that she should run, but she wouldn’t make it to the end of the foyer before the guy caught up with her. She’d worn her trainers to work that day, but the guys in security were serious athletes.
“You,” the guard said. Vicky pointed at herself and he nodded. “Yep. You were down here when the two fake guards were on watch. What did you see?”
Her body temperature went up by what felt like a thousand degrees and her shirt stuck to her clammy body. “I … uh … I …”
The ping of the lift cut through her pathetic response. The gold-plated doors slid open and inside, amongst blood and guts, stood a family of four and two scientists, or rather they used to be.
Not anymore.
Chapter 17
“I hate that that woman has our boy,” Larissa said as she frowned deeper than before and the car sped up.
After he’d looked down at her foot on the accelerator, Rhys said, “She’ll look after him. I’m sure of it.”
“Forgive me if I don’t trust your judgment, Rhys. After all, you were the one who left him with her in the first place.”
Maybe she had a point. “I did the best I could do at the time. He wanted you back so what else could I have done? I should have fucking left you to die in the city.” Before she could answer him, Rhys said, “Anyway, I trust Vicky. She’s given me no reason to think I shouldn’t. Besides, Oscar was a certified lunatic so I can’t take his word for anything.”
Rhys looked at Larissa’s slim hands as they wrung the faux leather steering wheel. She ground her jaw and accelerated even harder than before.
Although Larissa had switched the car’s full beams on, their visibility had been seriously reduced by the lack of streetlights now that they were out of the town. Rhys’ eyes stung as he stared into the darkness, afraid to blink. Another glance at her accelerator foot and he said, “You could slow down a little, you know. The last thing we need is another diseased springing us and writing the car off.”
“If you’re going to criticise my driving, Rhys, why don’t you do it?”
Despite the tension in the car, Rhys laughed.
Larissa glanced across at him with a hard frown on her face as she barked, “What’s so funny?”
“It feels like we never broke up.”
“And we wouldn’t have if you hadn’t fucked another woman.”
“Here we go again.”
Larissa finally eased off the gas and looked at him. “I’m sorry, are you getting bored of talking about how you broke mine and Flynn’s hearts?”
“Look …”
Larissa glared at him again. “Look what?”
“I was scared.”
“Scared?”
It did sound pathetic. “It was scary being a new dad. I freaked out and I fucked up.”
Larissa shook her head and the car shook with it. “Oh, well that’s all right then. Silly me. Everything seems so much clearer now. You lost your bottle a little bit at the prospect of becoming a parent so you decided to go off and fuck some old tart.”
Her glare took on a new level of malice that made Rhys physically recoil.
“What do you think I did when you went off with her?”
Any answer would be wrong so Rhys didn’t respond.
“I womaned the fuck up and took care of our little boy. You keep giving it the big I am about how you’ve saved me from Building Seventy-two, but we wouldn’t have a beautiful little boy that wanted me back if I hadn’t been there to change his nappies and read to him at night. You want to know why I fought you for the custody of Flynn?”
When Rhys opened his mouth, Larissa cut him short. “That was a rhetorical question. I fought you because I felt like you didn’t deserve to have any part in his life.”
Some of the tension appeared to leave Larissa’s body as she slumped back in her seat with a sigh. “I’ve hated you for the longest time.”
“I understand.” Rhys leaned across and squeezed Larissa’s shoulder again. “I’m going to be here now. It can’t make up for what I’ve done, but I’ll be here whenever you need me. I hope that one day you’ll find it in your heart to forgive me.”
A tremble took over Larissa’s bottom lip and her emerald eyes glazed. When she blinked, a single tear rolled down her cheek. “Why did you have to fuck everything up? We could have been great as a family. Even now, with Clive more of a dad than you’ve ever been, Flynn asks about you. He really needed you.”
Grief caught in Rhys’ throat as a sharp lump. “He does?”
“Of course he fucking does.” The tears now streamed down Larissa’s cheeks. “They say that young kids forget their early years, but Flynn has never forgotten you. We lea
ve a photo of you on his bedside table. I wanted to take it down but Clive insisted we left it there.”
The air left Rhys’ lungs and he couldn’t find the words.
“He did it because he felt that Flynn should always make the choice who his parents were. As much as he loved Clive he always chose you.”
The bubble burst and hot tears ran down Rhys’ cheeks. “Why didn’t—”
His words were cut dead by a loud bang! Rhys looked in front and flinched as a body flew toward him and hit the windscreen. A spider web of cracks popped across the glass and Rhys spun around to see the diseased hit the road behind, jump to its feet, and roar at them before it gave chase.
Larissa weaved her head to try to see as she drove. “I can’t see anything. The window’s fucked, Rhys. I can’t see a damn thing.”
Another loud bang and they hit another diseased. It took the same path as the first and hit the windshield with another crunch.
More cracks blinded Rhys and Larissa screamed, “Rhys, do something. I can’t drive like this.”
They hit another diseased with yet another loud thud!
All the while, Larissa kept her foot down and the car raced through the dark streets. If she had a similar view to Rhys, she couldn’t see fuck all at that moment. “Do you think that’s the last of ’em?” she asked.
“I dunno, I hope so.” Rhys then popped his seatbelt off and lifted his feet up in front of him.
“What are you doing?”
Instead of a reply, Rhys kicked out at the screen. It didn’t budge and the shock ran all the way to the base of his back. The pain from his bike accident returned as a numbness at the tops of his legs. With clenched teeth, he growled and kicked out at the window again.
The top left corner came free from the frame.
Rhys kicked again and it came free a little more.
When he kicked again, the entire window moved.
He kicked out one final time and yelled. The window flopped forward. A rush of wind filled the car before the window flipped back into place. “Fuck it.”
The Alpha Plague - Books 1 - 8: A Post-Apocalyptic Action Thriller Page 42
