by Russ Melrose
Melzer stopped talking and seemed to be waiting for a response, but there was nothing I could say.
"There's a reason why I've told you these things, Jake. This is only the second time I've spoken to anyone about these things. I don't know if you grasp the meaning of what I've been saying. But I thought it important you know the reason why you're likely to die today."
Melzer abruptly stood up and pushed his chair back in its place and walked over to where I sat. He leaned down. "I apologize for lying to you, Jake," he whispered softly. "I'm afraid you and your friends aren't safe, and you won't be going with us. It's unfortunate this hasn't worked out. Becky would have been perfect for what we had in mind. But we'll find someone else. I can only wish the three of you good luck. I'm afraid you're going to need it."
I felt my face blanch white as I sat motionless in the chair.
He was quiet for a few moments, ruminating over something, and then he came out with it. "I got careless today," he said, clearly feeling uncomfortable. "And for that I apologize."
Then he walked away.
Chapter 20
Redemption
I listened as Melzer opened the stairwell door. I could hear him start up the steps, and I heard the airy exhale of the pneumatic hinge as the door inched its way shut.
I wondered what I should do.
I was still trying to comprehend what had just happened. Melzer was the voice on the recording. There was no doubt about that now. Otherwise, everything would have been fine and we would have been heading to the complex in the morning. It crossed my mind he planned to kill us. I kept telling myself he wouldn't, but I couldn't trust that he wouldn't.
Sarah and Becky were in the same boat. He'd included them in his threat. "You and your friends aren't safe," he'd said. Still, I couldn't imagine him ordering Alvaro or Coleman to kill Sarah and Becky. Then I wondered if he'd leave us here. But leaving us here didn't make any sense, not if I was "likely to die today." Those were his words. It had to be something else. Whatever he had in mind, I couldn't wait around.
I got up from the chair trying to decide what to do. Then I heard the stairwell door open and I froze. I had my hand on the back of the chair and I listened closely. After a few seconds, I heard another door open, a door close by. It had to be Sarah and Becky's room, or mine.
I removed my hiking shoes and carried them with me to the cafeteria door. I didn't want the shoes squeaking on the linoleum floor. I peeked around the edge of the door frame. The door to my room was cracked open several inches and someone was in the room.
If they were there to kill me, they would have already been out of the room, looking for me. Whoever it was must have been searching for the gun I'd told Melzer about. It would be the smart thing to do—make sure I didn't have a gun.
I could hear the murmuring of the infected outside. The crowd of infected around the building was growing.
Alvaro came out of the room and was stuffing something into one of the oversized pockets of his cargo pants. I stepped back out of sight. I could hear him heading in the direction of the back door.
I decided it was good news. If they meant to kill us, they likely would have done so already. I couldn't see any reason for them to put it off, but I couldn't see them letting us go either. Then I had a thought that chilled me to the bone. What if they forced us outside and gave us up to the infected?
Alvaro had to be close to the back door by now. Was he there to keep us from leaving? I had to do something. I stepped out of the cafeteria and walked quickly to a streetside window to see how many infected were out on the street. The windows were long and narrow and heavily tinted. At least thirty of them milled about in the street. There had to be more in the front of the building and the parking lot too.
I heard the squeal of an office chair caster as Alvaro dragged a chair with him. He had to be camping out at the back door. If we wanted to leave, we'd have to get by him. I crossed the carpeted floor and made my way to my room.
The contents of my backpack littered the couch. He'd removed everything. The desk drawers and file cabinets drawers were open too. My iPad and iPhone were missing. Everything else was still there, including my bat. I was surprised Alvaro hadn't taken it. Then again, they had real weapons.
I put my hiking shoes back on and repacked my stuff. I wanted to be ready to go in case we had an opportunity. I set the bat next to me on the couch. I thought about waking Sarah and telling her what was going on, but I was hesitant. I didn't know how she'd take the news. I'm sure she thought everything was fine.
Something nagged at me. What was the purpose of the recording? Misinformation? Or were they trying to make a scapegoat out of Francis Copeland? The only thing I was sure of was that Melzer wasn't trying to expose a conspiracy. Regardless of who might have been behind the attacks—terrorists of one stripe or another—Melzer and his superiors had prior knowledge. I never suspected Melzer of being behind the attacks. People behind terrorist attacks rarely got their hands dirty; that honor usually fell to foot soldiers, those willing to die for a cause. But Melzer wasn't a foot soldier either. He was more likely a cog in the machinery. Middle management, perhaps. And if that were the case, the agenda he followed wasn't necessarily his own. I doubted those he worked for shared his utopian vision for what was left of the human race. In the end, I had no idea what Melzer and those he worked for were up to, and I likely never would.
I wondered how much of the recording was fact-based. Some of it had to have been. Couching lies in the truth was a great way to hide them. I thought the recording might be a kind of shell game like Three-card Monte. A misdirection of sorts. I didn't know what their agenda was, but I believed Melzer and those he worked for were opportunists of one ilk or another, whether they were behind the attacks or not. I knew Melzer was right about one thing. There would never be a consensus as to who was behind the attacks.
I needed to focus on getting us out of there alive and I needed to talk to Sarah. Then I heard a smooth, metallic droning sound somewhere off in the building—the elevator. But why would anyone be using the elevator? It made no sense. The infected outside would likely hear it. Then again, maybe that's what they wanted.
I slipped into my backpack and grabbed the bat. For once, the bat didn't give me much comfort. I was no match for Alvaro or Coleman. If I ran into them, it wouldn't end well for me. I opened the door just enough to slide through and looked toward the back of the room. I couldn't see Alvaro. The cubicles effectively blocked the view of the back door, and I knew Alvaro had no angle to see me either.
I left the door slightly ajar just the way Alvaro had left it. I walked to Sarah and Becky's room and leaned my ear against their door. The room was utterly silent. The soft drone of the elevator came to a stop. I turned the door knob and eased into their room. Sarah and Becky were curled up together on one of the couches. Becky lay facing the back of the couch and Sarah was behind her. Sarah was awake and turned to look at me.
I closed the door quietly and walked over and sat on the edge of the couch opposite them.
Sarah gave me a surprised look. "Was that the elevator?" she whispered.
"Yes, I think so."
She rolled over all the way in order to face me. "What's going on?" she asked in a hushed tone.
Before I could answer her, I heard a sudden, discernible spike in the sounds coming from the infected.
"I think they're going to leave us here," I told her.
"What?" she asked, and she turned her head in the direction of the sounds coming from the front of the building.
I wasn't sure how to explain things to her. "Lukas Melzer isn't who we think he is. He may be involved in the attacks in some way."
"What? That doesn't make any sense." She said it as if it were a fact. "Mr. Melzer works with Homeland Security. How could he be a part of this?" She looked at me as if I were crazy. Becky stirred slightly behind her and Sarah stroked her daughter's back.
The elevator started to move again and Sarah
had a puzzled look on her face. She had to know something wasn't right.
"He told me we weren't going with them, and then he told me we weren't safe." I left out the part about Melzer telling me I would likely die today.
"Why would he do that?" she asked.
I lowered my voice even further. "Do you remember when he said we were all humans and that we all share this planet, and that we had to work together as if we were all part of one family?"
"Yes. I remember."
The elevator stopped again. It couldn't have moved more than one floor. Sarah sat up, careful not to disturb Becky, her face tight with worry.
"It was almost word for word the same thing I'd heard on a whistleblower recording a week ago. The voice was disguised, but I'm sure it was him. When he said it again today, I hesitated drinking my Coke. I stopped raising the can halfway to my mouth. He had to have noticed and must have realized I'd heard the recording."
"But they need Becky," Sarah protested.
"He said they'd find someone else," I told her.
I looked down at the floor, afraid to look Sarah in the eye.
"You're sure about this, Jake?"
"Yes."
"What are we going to do?"
This was the hardest part of all for me, because I had no idea what we should do. With Alvaro guarding the back door, we couldn't leave, and the building was surrounded by the infected. We were trapped and Alvaro and Coleman were well-armed.
The door to the stairwell creaked open. Sarah's eyes grew wide and she craned her head to listen. I eased my backpack off and grabbed the bat. I gripped the bat handle and faced the door, ready to spring.
A moment later, a shadowy silhouette passed by the opaque windows. It was impossible to tell who it was.
After he'd passed by, I whispered to Sarah, "I don't think they plan on harming us, but they've got something in mind."
"What do you think they'll do?"
"Maybe they'll leave us to the infected. There's a group outside. They've surrounded the building." And while I was hesitant, I knew I had to tell her. "The one who grabbed Becky is out there too. The same one who killed Raj this morning."
I hadn't said anything to Sarah about the Swimmer killing Raj and she looked surprised at the news though not frightened. She looked resolved and determined.
"But there's plenty of food and the infected can't get in. Right?"
"Yes, that's true. But I don't think Melzer plans on just leaving us here. They have something in mind. I just don't know what."
I could hear faint voices talking low and Sarah heard them too. She perked up, alert and ready. The voices dissipated into silence as the blurry shadows of two men passed by Sarah's room. It had to be Alvaro and Coleman.
Sarah and I looked at each other and neither of us knew what to make of what was going on. We kept silent and didn't move. I expected to hear the stairwell door open and close, but it didn't happen. I wondered if they'd gone to the cafeteria or to the restroom.
The only good news was that Alvaro was no longer guarding the back door. If an opportunity arose, we would at least have an exit.
I leaned close to Sarah and whispered to her, "You should pack the backpacks in case we have to leave in a hurry."
She rubbed Becky's back and rose silently from the couch. Their things were neatly organized and laid out on the desk.
I walked to the door and knelt down and listened. I thought I heard a grunt but couldn't figure out what they were up to.
Ten minutes passed. Sarah was almost finished packing when the stairwell door creaked open and then slowly closed.
I listened attentively for a minute, then opened the door a crack. As I inched the door open, the front of the room came into view. The barricade was gone and both double doors were wide open, held back against the wall by chairs.
Then, as if on cue, the air conditioning droned to a halt. They'd cut the electricity. Suddenly we could hear the infected pounding on glass in the area of the lobby.
I turned to Sarah. "Hurry! We've got to get out of here."
Becky rolled over, facing us, and rubbed her eyes. "What's going on?"
There wasn’t time to tell her. I stepped cautiously out into the room, clutching the bat in my hands. I looked around but didn't see Alvaro or Coleman anywhere. As soon as I was sure they weren't around, I ran to the double doors.
I grabbed the first chair and pulled it out of the way, letting the door close on its own. As I headed for the other chair, I glanced into the lobby. Dr. Nardone was displayed near the glass wall next to the front door like an exhibit at a museum. She sat in a chair in front of the clear glass wall, tightly trussed up with duct tape. The infected were going crazy trying to get at her. At least twenty-five were frantically pounding on the glass wall. Dr. Nardone desperately tried to move herself and the chair, but it was hopeless.
I ran in after her. The infected were so focused on Dr. Nardone, they didn't seem to notice me till I was right behind her. They went wild when they saw me and became even more frantic. Dr. Nardone turned her head and saw me behind her. Her eyes were wide and she mumbled incoherently through the gag covering her mouth. She was in her white lab coat, wrapped up like a mummy. I didn't have my knife with me and didn't want to take the time to remove all the duct tape with my hands.
An infected man hurtled himself head first into the glass and the glass wobbled from the impact. He was thickly built through the chest like a construction worker. He wore dusty jeans and a denim shirt with the one of his sleeves still rolled up. He took several steps back and then moved briskly toward the glass wall again, slamming his head into the glass with reckless abandon. His hair was filled with muddy blood that dripped down over his face and ears.
I set the bat down onto her lap and grabbed the back of the chair and tilted it back till it felt balanced. I dragged her and the chair back toward the double doors, taking short steps to maintain my leverage. The infected construction guy launched himself into the glass wall again, and once again it wobbled. This time the incessant pounding of fists kept the glass oscillating and it quivered like a taut sheet in the wind. It wouldn't hold much longer. Dr. Nardone continued to mumble through the gag as if I could understand what she was saying. We were halfway to the doors. I kept my eyes riveted on the infected as they battered the glass wall.
And suddenly he was there in the front of the crowd, his eyes riveted on mine. He cradled a large, smooth rock in his hands, the kind you might find in a stream or a flower bed. He raised it above his head and held it there, poised to strike. At the exact moment the construction guy rammed his head one more time into the glass wall, the Swimmer smashed the large rock into the glass with everything he had.
The glass cracked straight upwards ten or twelve feet and made a sharp screeching sound, glass grating against glass. Then two of the infected threw themselves into the wall at the same time, and a huge dagger of glass broke apart and came crashing down. The opening in the glass wall was three feet wide and they all tried to squeeze through it at once. Everyone except him. He stood to the side and watched, almost passively. I dragged the chair and Dr. Nardone past the threshold of the open door. I closed the second door and slid the deadbolts up and secured them. I grabbed the chairs and jammed them up as tight as I could into the underside of the door knobs. The doors were thick, but they wouldn't hold long.
Sarah and Becky were standing behind me with their backpacks. Sarah had mine too.
I looked at them. "Quick, Sarah. My backpack."
She handed it to me and I opened the pouch with the Swiss Army knife. I opened the knife and began to slice through the rows of duct tape surrounding Dr. Nardone's legs.
I heard the thropping of rotor blades whir to life as the helicopter warmed up on the roof. We all looked up in unison.
"Sarah, please check the stairwell door," I asked her, trying to keep my voice on an even keel. Since Melzer and his group were leaving, we could use the upper floors to hide in.
The first of the infected slammed into the double doors and the doors rattled from the collision.
I looked at Becky who had taken a step backward. She was shuddering and her shoulders were hunched tight.
"It's going to be all right, Becky," I told her. "They're not going to get us."
Dr. Nardone kept grumbling into her gag. I'd removed the duct tape around her legs and began to cut through the duct tape that bound her upper body to the chair.
It only took me a few seconds to convince myself that staying in the building was the best option. If we used the security bar, there was no way they could get to us on the upper floors. And if we had a couple minutes, we could grab plenty of food from the cafeteria. We might be able to hide out for a week or two till they lost interest.
"Jake," Sarah yelled. "I can't open the door. I think the security bar is in place. It won't budge."
Sarah came back and held Becky tight and Becky clung to her mother.
There was no choice now. It would have to be the Tundra.
I was hoping the ruckus in front would draw the infected from the back of the building.
I looked up at Sarah. She appeared hyper alert. "Sarah, you and Becky get to the back door," I told her. "The keys are in the bed of the pickup truck near the back corner," I told her. "Just in case."
They took off running.
I was nearly finished emancipating Dr. Nardone from the chair. The infected were pressing and pounding against the door now and the drywall that held one of the deadbolt chambers began to crack.
The only duct tape left to remove was the duct tape holding Dr. Nardone's gag in place. But I didn't take the time to remove it. It could get us both killed. I dropped the knife into the pouch and put my backpack back on. I grabbed the bat off her lap and pulled her out of the chair and began to drag her away. She jerked away from me and stopped in her tracks and struggled to take the duct tape off her face. I thought she was nuts, but I helped her get it off.
