Extinction New Zealand Box Set | Books 1-3

by Smith, Adrian J.

  She shook her head at him as he made thrusting pelvic motions. Dee knew he was just blowing off steam, acting all brave.

  The hold fell silent as each of the Renegades prepared themselves to enter a night that was full of terrors. She felt the bump of the chopper as it hit the ground a moment before she jumped out and spun left, checking for Variants. Leaves and dust whirled around them, agitated by the wash of the blades. She stared over the sight of her rifle, ignoring the debris. Dee risked a glance back and saw the muscular frame of Ben bringing up the rear. He waved her on. She took a few breaths to calm herself and jogged along the gravel road leading up the mountain.

  — 11 —

  Jack strode up the narrow gravel road, the sharp bits of rock crunching under his feet. He swept his rifle left and right, looking for any contacts, his ears straining for any noise. He had the route to the lab plotted in his head, so had no need to consult his map. He struggled to grasp the fact that there was a secret government lab hiding in this mountain. He and Dee had hiked this area extensively over the years. Once a source of coal, and more importantly, gold, the landscape was a warren of valleys, rivers and soaring andesite cliffs veined with quartz. The quartz had brought the early settlers, who’d had a tendency to dig mines, hunting for treasure like dwarves.

  A few buildings emerged out of the gloom; they looked like barns to Jack. He could see two to his left, and there was a large vehicle shed with a couple of tractors and a 4x4 sitting dormant inside, waiting for their owners. Owners who would never return. Directly ahead lay their target. A large corrugated iron shed, its dark paint blending with the bush behind it. The shed was nestled against the mountain, with its back end hard up against the earth. The people who had built this lab had been clever; they’d hidden the entrance within a working farm, so any strange vehicles coming and going wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. Jack wondered what was so important that the government had gone to all this effort. Pausing, he glanced to his left, checking Dee’s and Tony’s positions.

  Jack crept up alongside the building. It bothered him that they hadn’t heard any Variants yet. It was too quiet. He couldn’t even hear any of the birds that frequented the area. Jack took a deep breath, savouring the smells; the farm, the rusting iron, the long wet grass mixed with old manure. A strange chemical smell from inside the building reached him. He scrunched his nose at its pungency.

  Ben flashed the “Go” hand signal for him to proceed. Taking a calming breath, Jack sprang around the corner, keeping his rifle up and searching for hostile targets. He saw the sliding doors a few metres ahead and jogged to the far side.

  Dee ran up, and Tony and Ben crouched in front of the doors.

  With everyone in position, Jack pulled the door, straining with the weight. The door slid along a well-oiled runner, silently gliding open. Dee, Ben, and Tony disappeared inside.

  Jack searched into the gloom, looking for any of the horrors he knew waited out there. He sighed, struggling to keep his growing apprehension from bubbling to the surface. He needed to keep focus. Ben had said this scientist could hold the key, the key to their salvation.

  Did she have a cure?

  A soul-destroying screech shattered the silence, followed by a cacophony of howls and screeches. Jack glanced over at Eric, meeting his fearful eyes before thumbing his radio.

  “We have company. Over.”

  “How many?”

  “No visual yet. Over.”

  “Hold position, we’re on our way. Out.”

  “Wilco. Out.”

  Jack’s hand tightened on his AR-15 as he felt along and flicked off the safety. He’d known the bastards had been out there waiting, but he had hoped they could just do this one thing without being harassed.

  Bloody Variants.

  He heard muffled footsteps thumping onto the concrete floor as Ben, Dee and Tony emerged with the scientist, joining him in the doorway. Jack looked at Katherine. She was petite with toned, wiry muscles. Small-framed glasses perched on her nose, and her blue eyes stared back at him as if she was assessing him. He saw fear in her eyes, but also determination. He glanced down at the small metal case she gripped tightly in one hand. Was this the cure?

  Another screech tore through the night, grating on his brain as the thumping of the chopper reached him. Jack watched in horror as it lifted off above the trees, banking sharply away from the mountain.

  “LZ is hot! I’ve got multiple direction hostiles. Renegades, get out of there. I’ll extract you from somewhere else. Protect the asset. Find me a new LZ,” squawked his radio.

  Ben spun around. “Back inside the lab. Now!”

  The Renegades fled into the barn. It was piled high with fertiliser and drums containing God knows what. The stench was making Jack’s eyes water. He pulled up his buff.

  Up against the back wall was a smaller shed that reminded him of a cool storage area. Once inside, Katherine spun a wheel attached to a door, granting them access to an alcove. She raced to a keypad that was still glowing and punched in a code. A final internal door hissed open, revealing tunnels behind. Emergency lighting lining the walls threw out a warm orange light, illuminating the smooth concrete walls and ceilings. The floor was lined with a hard rubber mat. The Renegades crowded into the corridor and Jack was happy to hear the door slam with a hiss, locking out the Variants.

  His head swam as he stood apart from the other Renegades, looking around the inside of the lab. The concrete tunnel-like corridor stretched away, and Jack could see multiple doors on both sides.

  What the hell were they doing down here?

  “Jack,” Ben said, his voice sharp.

  “Yes, sir?”

  “You’ve got point. I need you and Doctor Yokoyama to find us a way out.”

  Jack nodded and turned away, looking down the long corridor. Find a way out? Where? He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked into the calming eyes of Dee, his rock. She gripped his shoulder, kneading his tense muscles. She didn’t say anything. She didn’t need to.

  Jack clasped her hand, thanking her with his eyes, and smiled at her.

  Right okay, a way out? Where are we? Karangahake Gorge. What’s here? Mines, trails, bush and rivers. So, how’s that going to help? How? It’s just trees and more trees. Those things out there will catch us before we can get anywhere. Trees! Yes, that’s it! Trees!

  Jack spun around, searching out Katherine. “Do you have another entrance to the lab? Like a back door on the other side?”

  “Yes. A maintenance entrance. Why?”

  Jack flicked his eyes to Dee and Ben, smiling. “There’s a treetop zip-line in the next valley. It goes right across to Dickey Flat.”

  “Yes, of course! But It’s new. Let’s hope they finished it before the chaos.” Dee smiled.

  Katherine was staring at Dee, her mouth hanging open, gaping like a fish. Dee turned towards her. “What?”

  “I can’t…I can’t believe it. Diana? Is it really you? After all these years?”

  “How do you know my name?”

  Katherine let out laughter short laugh, a grin spreading across her face.

  “It’s me, Katherine. Katherine Yokoyama. Doctor, if we are being formal. I’m a friend of your mother’s. I haven’t seen you since you were little. Look at you, all grown up!”

  Dee shrugged her shoulders. “Okay. I’m sorry I don’t remember you. Mum died a long time ago.”

  “Died?” Katherine took a few steps towards Dee. “Maybe now, after all this, but I spoke to her just as the Hemorrhage Virus took hold.”

  “What?” Dee backed away, reaching out for Jack.

  The shrieking, tearing sound of metal being torn apart preceded the desperate thumps of the Variants trying to get into the lab. Jack pivoted. The door shuddered as the Variants slammed into it, rattling the hinges. He glanced around at the metal framing, praying that it would hold.

  “We need to leave, NOW! Renegades, combat retreat spacings. Let’s go!” yelled Ben.

  Jack gave Dee a re
assuring embrace. She hugged him back, before breaking away and fiddling with her carbine, checking the magazine. He knew from experience that she would be troubled by the scientist’s revelation. It pained him to see her in distress, but right now they had creatures hunting them. Her eyes met his, and she gave a nod that she was okay. Satisfied, he took his place at the front.

  Striding along the tunnel, he glanced back to the Renegades. A seed of doubt was gnawing at Jack. Where was everyone else? It seemed strange that Katherine was the only one here. This lab was huge. A place this size would require a large number of people. Not just scientists, but support staff too. Janitors. Computer technicians. Electricians. Cooks. All kinds of people would be needed to keep a place like this going.

  Jack reached a T-intersection. A door labelled Stairs lay directly ahead.

  How many levels does this lab have?

  He swept his rifle around, searching for targets. Satisfied they were safe, he looked back at Katherine. “Which way?”

  Katherine pointed right and Jack strode on, eager to escape the lab. He held his rifle up and walked heel to toe, eyes sweeping over the doors as he passed them. He read a few of the labels on the doors. Genetics. Biosecurity. Behavioural Lab. Staging Area. He shook his head. The names meant little to him.

  They reached another sealed door. Katherine moved past him and punched in a code. Before she pulled open the door, Jack grabbed her arm. “Wait. There’s something bugging me. Where’s everyone else?”

  Katherine pulled her arm from his grasp and turned her head to look first at Dee, then back to Jack. The ghastly sound of tearing metal echoed down the concrete tunnel, followed by the howls of the Variants. They had broken through. Katherine brushed past Jack, opening the door. “They all left, okay, to be with their families.”

  “So why not you?” he asked, his tone sharp.

  “To find a cure. Why else would I stay?” Katherine replied, a defiant look in her eyes.

  “Keep moving,” Ben said. “Don’t stop.”

  Jack could see another intersection up ahead and looked back at Katherine, his eyebrows raised. She indicated left, not meeting his gaze. On they went. Down long corridors, twisting left and right. Down several flights of stairs. All the while the Variant screeches were getting louder. Jack took some deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He remembered what his grandmother had taught him: “Keep calm and carry on.” He had to do that now. Now was the time to stay calm. They had to escape with Katherine and whatever was in that case of hers. Mahana thought it more important than Mayor Island. Important enough to risk the Renegades, untried in combat as half of them were.

  Jack reached the end of another tunnel. Doors stood to his left and right, both marked with the biohazard symbol. A door directly in front of him was labelled Maintenance. The Variants following them screamed out. Louder. Jack caught a whiff of the tangy, rotten fruit smell that always hung around them as it drifted down the tunnel. A sudden flashback of the corridor in the dam flickered through his mind. He shuddered, shaking away the memory.

  “Hurry,” Ben said.

  Katherine punched in the code and pushed the door open. A hideous screech rang out behind them. Jack turned with the others, searching for the source. Seeing nothing, he spun around and passed into the maintenance room. Movement to his left caused him to jolt his head up. Several Variants were scampering over the pipes lining the walls. Katherine let out a blood-curdling scream that rang in Jack’s ears. He flicked his eyes to Dee. “Go back! Hostiles!” He turned and grabbed Katherine’s arm.

  “Multiple targets coming from our six,” yelled Tony.

  Jack watched as dozens of Variants poured down the tunnel in a wave of hungry terror. He pushed Katherine back into the maintenance room and raised his rifle, getting a bead on the lead Variant.

  “Watch your backs. They’re on the walls,” he warned.

  Jack moved in front of Katherine, protecting her, and fired, aiming for the nearest creature’s head.

  “Inside!” Ben yelled.

  Jack fired and ran, heading for the door at the far end.

  The Renegades fought their way into the room and Ben slammed the door to the corridor behind him as the mass of horror slammed into it, shaking it in its frame. He spun quickly, taking down a Variant running along the pipes.

  “Move it! Protect the Doc.”

  Dee pulled Katherine into the middle of the group, and the Renegades moved on as one. Firing, reloading and firing again. Within a couple of minutes, they had dispatched the Variants.

  “Jack! Go, before these other bastards break through,” Ben said, slamming a fresh magazine into his rifle.

  Jack turned at Ben’s instructions. Tony was wrapping an arm in a bandage, blood seeping through it. The body of a Variant stared up at Tony, its torso riddled with bullets. Jack sprinted the short distance to a big grey door. It had several bolts and a keypad on it. He looked at Katherine.

  “Code?” he yelled as he started to fling back the various bolts.

  “NZLV-8675309,” she yelled back.

  Jack punched it in and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Doc?”

  She looked at him, eyes scrunched. “That’s the master code. It should open everything.”

  Dee pushed him aside, racking her shotgun. “Screw this!”

  She blasted the keypad, sending pieces of metal, wood, electronics and plastic everywhere.

  Jack stared in admiration as she then kicked open the door. He grinned at her and ran into the rock-strewn tunnel beyond, running towards the pinprick of light.

  Emerging into the early morning glow, he glanced left and right, trying to get his bearings. He saw the Kaimai mountains stretching away to the south. He could see Mt Te Aroha peeking through some low cloud, its antenna soaring on top. Looking left, he could just make out the farmland stretching towards the Pacific Ocean.

  Ben caught up and grasped him on the shoulder. “Where’s this zip-line.”

  Jack nodded towards the farmland. “This way, about a kilometre.”

  “Keep going. Lead us to safety. I know you can.”

  Jack nodded and took a breath, he jogged into the awakening world as the hideous screeches of the Variants echoed around the Karangahake Gorge.

  — 12 —

  The chilled breeze blew off the sea. It did little to cool James’s growing frustration. He stared out into the darkness, watching the foreign ships. With each passing minute, his anger increased. He tightened his grip on the binoculars and planted his legs wide on the wet soil, trying to gain a better purchase.

  Every attempt to make contact with the vessels had failed. The three Indonesian Navy vessels had anchored in Port Abercrombie and were just sitting there, dark, silent and confronting. Not a soul moved on the decks. It was as if three ghost ships had sailed themselves into the calm waters of the harbour and stopped.

  The warrior in James wanted to open fire and destroy these pesky invaders. He could think of no other reason for their incursion into New Zealand waters. If they sought refuge, wouldn’t they just ask, instead of all this cloak-and-dagger stuff? The Brigadier had ordered him to exhaust all possibilities of contact before responding with force. If there was a possibility of capturing the ships, then great. If not, then he was authorised to use deadly force. James struggled to remember if New Zealand had ever fired on a foreign ship? Maybe during World War Two? Well, now they might have to.

  The sound of boots crunching on the gravel road alerted him to Badminton’s approach. He turned and made eye contact. He glanced at the short, stocky man who strode alongside Badminton. James swept his eyes up and down, getting a better look at Lance Corporal Qasim Hassen. He had jet black hair and high cheekbones and his muscular frame strained the buttons on his fatigues. Hassen met his gaze and stood to attention.

  “You wanted to see me, Sir?” said Hassen.

  James let the question hang in the air for a moment. “You were part of the communications detail, were you not?”


  “Yes, sir.”

  “What can you tell me about the mobile radar you set up?”

  Hassen paused and pulled on his ear. “Well, it was…I mean, we adapted it from one of the luxury yachts. It took us a bit to get going, but it was working fine yesterday.”

  James glanced at Badminton, getting the barest of nods in confirmation.

  “And you were the last person on duty, were you not?”

  “Yes, sir.” Hassen stared at the ground and shifted his weight from foot to foot. James waited for him to look up. He wanted to look this Benedict Arnold in the eye as he confessed to his transgressions.

  “So tell me, Lance Corporal, why didn’t you report any faults in the radar. Can you tell me why it conveniently happened to go dark just as these ships sailed within range?”

  Hassen frowned. “Is this because of my name? Have you just picked out the only Muslim-sounding person and brought him to trial? This is crazy! Bloody racists!”

  “Being Muslim isn’t a race, Lance Corporal, it’s a religion. The term you are looking for is sectarianism or religious discrimination. But the fact of the matter is, you were on the work detail that installed the radar. You, Lance Corporal, were on duty and failed to report a fault. Are you telling me it’s just coincidence that three Indonesian ships show up a short time later?” James could see Hassen’s cheeks flushing, and his left eye was twitching as he continued to hold James’s gaze.

  “No, sir. I’m not denying those facts. But I’m not a traitor. My family has been in New Zealand for fifteen years. We love this country, but the racism I’ve had to endure, the hatred… People tell me to go home, go back to my country. They call me a terrorist. All because I’m from Kuwait. No, I didn’t report the fault in the radar, Sir. It’s been glitchy ever since we installed it. I don’t know who these people are. Why would I?” Hassen flung his arms out, gesturing wildly.

  James stood there watching, his hands clasped behind his back. “You’re talking to me about racism? Let me give you a quick history lesson, Lance Corporal. My people have occupied this land for over twelve hundred years. Then the Pakeha show up with their ‘culture’, with their alcohol, tobacco and guns. Once, my people were warriors. Once, we were a proud race, looking after the land, living with the land. Before them. The Pakeha turned my people soft. Oppressed us. Banned our language. Tried to beat our culture out of us. Stole our land. You dare stand here telling me about racism!” James glared at Hassen, daring him to retort, but the Lance Corporal refused to meet his gaze, his head lowered, eyes staring at the muddy clay underfoot.