by N.W. Harris
Steve and Shane took Kelly’s arms, and Tracy pried the M-16 out of her hands. Her eyes stared straight ahead and her face was pale, like she had become a zombie.
“Kelly? Can you hear me?” Shane asked. His worst fears coming true, he waved his hand in front of her face, hoping to bring her out of the murderous daze.
When she didn’t respond, they tried to turn her around. Without a change in her empty expression, she resisted, like every muscle in her body wanted to go down and kill the teens fighting in the street below. Steve and Shane had to lift her off the ground to get her to face the other way.
“Take her inside,” Shane said to Steve.
Steve nodded and lifted Kelly in a bear hug. She kicked and clawed at him but didn’t make a sound. He carried her between the large, limestone columns and into the dark building.
Turning around and looking at the five stunned kids from Shamus’ gang who remained on the capitol’s porch, Shane shouted, “Now do you get it? This weapon is going to kill us all if we don’t stop it soon.”
The kids, all boys who looked to be about fourteen or fifteen years old, glanced at each other and then back at Shane. Their faces were slack with shock, and they suddenly looked very young and innocent.
“You know how to stop it?” one of them asked, a mixture of fear and desperate hope clear in his voice.
“Yeah, but we have to keep the rest of your pals from killing us first,” Shane replied, pointing his gun at the two mobs engaged in a shoot-out at the bottom of the capitol building’s steps.
Only a small contingent of Maurice’s people remained. One of Shamus’ thugs must’ve dropped their torch, because the building across the street was on fire. It created enough light for Shane to see a flock of crows swoop out of the dark sky and attack a girl off to one side of Shamus’ gang. He worried the animals would be coming after Kelly next.
“We’ll hold them off,” the boy said, shouldering the butt of his shotgun and aiming down the steps. “You go shut that thing down.” The others followed his lead, turning their backs to Shane.
Grateful these guys had a handful of common sense, Shane spun around and rushed inside.
“Help me,” Tracy called after Shane stepped through the doors and shut them behind him.
He rushed over and got behind a large, antique desk, helping her push it in front of the doors to block them. The emergency lights around the perimeter of the room provided dim illumination, so they weren’t fumbling around in total darkness.
“The stairs are over here,” Steve said, carrying Kelly across the room. She kicked and fought him, her face still blank as if she were under some kind of deep hypnosis, but Steve was so big and strong that he didn’t have trouble hanging onto her.
Pulling flashlights out of their packs, they made their way down the marble steps and into the basement of the building. A small plaque at the bottom of the steps had the words Federal Offices printed on it and an arrow pointing down a pitch-black hallway.
“That has to be it,” Steve said and rushed down the hall.
They came to a door at the end of the hallway with B101 painted on the glass, and Shane opened it and peered inside. The emergency lighting in the room illuminated bodies lying everywhere. Some suffered gunshot wounds and others had their heads smashed in, like they’d been killed with office equipment used as weapons of opportunity.
“Eew, this place stinks,” Kelly said. “Where the heck are we?”
“Kelly, you’re all right?” Shane asked. Overcome with relief, he turned his flashlight on her face. Steve released her, and she stood on her own two feet. She no longer attempted to escape.
“Yeah, I think I am,” she replied, shielding her eyes. “I must’ve passed out for a minute.”
“Maybe the weapon only makes her go all weird when she’s near other older kids her age,” Tracy observed. She walked to the opposite side of the office and studied a large, stainless-steel door that looked like the entrance to a vault.
A scurrying sound made Shane look down. A rat ran across the floor and jumped on Kelly’s leg, sinking its teeth into her. Kelly screamed, and Shane kicked it off and stomped on its head.
“This means the animals and bugs are gonna come after me,” Kelly said. She sounded frantic, and her face turned white with fear.
“Don’t worry—we’ll protect you,” Shane said. He looked over at Tracy. “Can you get that door open?”
“Yeah,” she grunted, pulling on the large, shiny handle. “It’s unlocked.”
Shane latched onto Kelly’s arm and tugged her across the room, kicking another vicious rat along the way.
“Shut the door,” he ordered once they were all inside.
Steve helped Tracy close them in the vault. Shane searched the floor for more rats, but didn’t see any. The small room’s metal walls had racks against them, each one stacked high with file boxes.
“This can’t be it,” Steve said, sounding distressed. “There’s no way out of here besides that door.”
Tracy walked over to the left wall and pulled on a rack of boxes. When nothing happened, she worked her way around the room. Realizing she might be onto something, Shane started at the opposite corner and did the same.
“Got it,” Tracy announced a minute later.
The rack she pulled on swung away from the metal wall. Shining his flashlight on it, Shane could see the outline of a door. When he pushed on it, it swung inward, stopping halfway when it hit the body of a woman, laying facedown on the tunnel floor.
“You think she’s the scientist who recorded the message?” Steve asked, standing over the body.
“Could be,” Tracy replied. “She is wearing a lab coat.” She reached down and grabbed the woman’s arm, flipping her over onto her back. The dark-haired woman’s face was bloated, one side of it flat from lying against the hard floor. “Yep—says Dr. Gunderson on her name tag.”
“Looks like she got shot and dragged herself in here to try and shut the weapon down,” Shane said, pointing his light at the trail of dried blood leading back into the capitol building.
The tunnel walls were made of cinder block, and the ceiling was a smooth, continuous arch of concrete. The air smelled dank and stale, with a hint of rotten meat that made Shane feel sick to his stomach. A large, black beetle scurried out of the darkness and headed straight for Kelly. She shrieked, and backed against the wall. Shane managed to step on the beetle before it got to her.
“More bugs will be coming after her,” Tracy said, sounding overly casual as usual. “Rats too.”
“No, really?” Steve said, glaring at Tracy to scold her for her insensitive tone. “I think she already realizes that.”
“Look guys,” Kelly said, sounding like she was trying to muster her courage. “I’m right here, so no need to talk about me in the third person, like I’m already gone or something.” She shined her light down the tunnel. “Can we just get going now, please?”
“Yeah,” Shane agreed. He stayed close to Kelly, and they headed into the darkness.
“Look up.” Tracy shined her flashlight at a black sphere hanging from the ceiling. “Cameras.”
“And they got juice,” Steve pointed out. “See the red light on the backside?”
“What did the scientist say? The secret laboratory is protected by an automated weapons system?” Kelly pulled her M-16 up to her shoulder and aimed it into the darkness.
“I wonder what that even means,” Steve said. “Like flying drones with laser beams or what?”
“I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough,” Tracy replied.
“Keep your eyes peeled for a door on the side walls,” Shane ordered. “The recording said the battery compartment would be outside of the laboratory. If we can cut the power, this will all be over a whole lot quicker.”
They walked along at a rapid pace, the sounds of their footsteps echoing off the concrete walls of the passageway. A small herd of spiders rushed out of the darkness toward Kelly.
She screamed and jumped behind Shane. He, Steve, and Tracy stomped as fast as they could and managed to kill them all before they got to her.
“I wonder how deep we are underground?” Kelly said once they started walking again, obviously trying to calm herself by thinking out loud.
“I’d guess we’re pretty deep,” Steve answered, sounding like he shared her need for a distraction. “We started at least twenty feet below ground level, and the floor has been sloping down for—”
“Shhh!” Tracy put her hand up to stop everyone.
Shane held his breath and listened, looking at Tracy’s wide eyes and worrying about what could have spooked her. The unnerving answer came in the form of a mechanical buzzing sound echoing from the dark tunnel up ahead.
