She turned to face me. “Turn around.”
I did as I was told. My back was to her, making it impossible to see what she was doing, but I felt her tugging at my suit. Seconds later cool air whooshed in, chasing away some of the moisture that had already collected on my mask. I inhaled deeply, allowing the fresh oxygen to fill my lungs in hopes that the familiar feeling would help chase away my anxiety.
Through my mask I watched as Helen attached the second tube to her own suit. When it was secure, she once again started walking. The tubes were only long enough to get us so far though, and once we’d reached a certain point we had to unhook them and attach new ones to our suits before we could go any further. I did the second one myself, catching on quickly, and Helen gave me a satisfied nod.
“The refrigerators are back here.”
I kept a few paces behind her, trying my best not to think about what this room held. The zombie virus was scary enough, but thinking about the other things that could escape this lab terrified me. I doubted very much that Star would lift a finger to stop an Ebola outbreak. He had, after all, wiped out most of the world without batting an eye.
Helen stopped at the far end of the room, right in front of a few stainless steel doors. I could hear my heart thumping, the suit somehow magnifying the sound. It was so loud that it drowned out the sound of the air whooshing into my suit and the hum of the machines that sucked the possibly tainted air out of this room and replaced it with clean, fresh oxygen from the outside world.
Helen passed over the first door, and the second, stopping in front of the third. I watched with my breath held as her fingers wrapped around the handle. She pulled and the door popped open, letting out a burst of light and cold air. It turned to steam when it hit the warmer air in the lab, and then rose up around us like an early morning fog that dissipated only seconds later, leaving the air once again clear.
Inside the refrigerator were a six shelves, each of them lined with dozens upon dozens of vials.
“It’s in here.” Helen’s voice crackled in my ear, making me jump. “I think.” She reached up and wiped her hand across the window of her hood, and then shook her head. “I’ve got steam. Help me read these labels.”
I stepped forward and the labels came into view. Ebola Virus. Lassa Virus. Marburg, Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever. I wasn’t familiar with any of them, but they made my legs shake anyway because I knew that if they were being stored in here, they were bad. No one would be required to put on one of these suits for something small.
There were other vials too, each of them labeled FLU with a year stamped behind the word. I scanned the labels and found four different years represented, including the current one. My hand shook when I reached for the vial at the front. It felt impossibly small beneath my gloved fingers. Like all I had to do was squeeze it and the glass would shatter.
“Is this—” My voice broke before I could get the question out.
“The flu Star released.” Helen nodded as her voice pounded against my eardrums. “They created it here in the CDC as a way to control the population.”
I let out a deep sigh. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe they did this. What’s the point? What is Star trying to achieve?”
“Only he can really answer that,” Helen said. “He likes power. He wants to control everything, but he’s smart enough to know that he has to start small and work from there.” She nodded toward the tray in front of us. “Help me find the right vial.”
I slipped the vial of death back into its spot on the tray and turned to scan the others tucked away in the fridge. There were so many. So many different names, none of which I recognized or understood.
“What am I looking for?”
Helen shook her head and the plastic of her suit crinkled. “I don’t know exactly. Jane never told me what the label would say and Angus didn’t seem to know either. It’s possible she told him and he forgot, or maybe she didn’t even know. Of all the scientists Star has ever had on his team, she was the one he trusted the most, but even she didn’t know everything.”
It was ironic that Jane had been Star’s most trusted scientist considering that she was the one who had ended up betraying him the most.
“Maybe we’ll know it when we see it,” I said as I scanned the labels.
“Maybe,” Helen replied.
There were so many vials lined up on the shelves that after a few minutes of reading labels, I began to feel like my head was spinning. Even worse than the sheer number of vials was the knowledge that so much death and destruction sat on these shelves. And they were man-made too. At least the strains of flu Star had released and the different strains of the zombie virus.
My heart leapt when I spotted a vial labeled vaccine on the shelf right below the ones holding the viruses. There was a date on the label, right next to the neatly printed name of that strain. I hadn’t even known the strains had names, and the knowledge made my heart beat faster. How would I know which strain Donaghy was infected with? What if I got the wrong vaccine?
My hands were shaking so badly when I pulled out the tray that the vials clinked together. I took a deep breath, hoping to calm myself down. But it didn’t work, so I gripped the tray tighter, hoping to keep it still long enough for me to read the labels. The vials seemed to scream up at me. There were so many and this was only one tray out of dozens. I scanned the labels, trying to figure out how they were arranged. The name of each strain meant nothing to me, but the dates printed on the labels did. The vials in my hand all had last year’s date on them, and when I looked into the refrigerator I saw that the next tray of vials had an earlier date. They were arranged in ascending order, meaning the strain I needed would be at the back.
I set the tray I was holding back on the shelf and then leaned down so I could get a good look at the vials at the back of the refrigerator. The one furthest back had a number one on it instead of a date, but the tray right in front of that was dated only one year after the outbreak started. This was the vaccine I needed.
I reached back, my arm only an inch above the trays, and the sleeve of my plastic suit skimmed the tops of the vials. The refrigerator was so deep that it seemed like I had to put most of my body inside in order to reach the one I needed, but I did and then my fingers were on it. I could feel the cool glass against my skin even through my thick gloves. I clasped it between my thumb and forefinger, feeling the weight of it as I lifted it from the tray. This vial, this tiny glass bottle of neon green liquid, would save Donaghy’s life.
I was pulling the vial from inside the depths of the refrigerator when another label caught my eye. I froze, the glass clutched between my fingers and my eyes trained on the vials lined up in the very last row. There were two words printed on the labels. Two words that were so ambiguous they would mean nothing to most people. But not to me.
The End. That was all the label said, but it was enough to tell me that this was what we had come here for. I palmed the vial I was holding, tucking it back with the last three fingers on my hand so my thumb and forefinger were free. Then I reached back into the fridge, back behind the rows and rows of vaccines, and grabbed one of the vials in the last row.
I tucked it into my palm, right up against the vial that would be Donaghy’s salvation. The glass vials clinked together when I wrapped my fingers around them. The failsafe felt heavy in my hand, like I was holding the future. Which I was. This vial, this tiny little thing, held hope and love and the promise of rebirth. If it worked it would give all of us a new life.
“I found it,” I whispered, but the words were loud in my ears.
I turned to face Helen just as she twisted my way. She had to turn her whole body so she could see me, but even through the moisture collected on the window of her hood I could see the hope in her eyes.
“You found it?”
I slipped the vaccine into my other hand, tucking it safely into my palm even as it called out for me to hurry. I could feel my pulse thumping against it; a beat
that refused to let me forget that with each passing second, Donaghy was being dragged closer and closer to his own end.
I twisted the other vial around so Helen could see the label and positioned it right in front of her face before repeating, “I found it.”
I couldn’t believe such a tiny thing could hold the solution to such a huge problem. Maybe we needed more than one. There were several rows of them on the tray, after all. What if the only way to stop the zombies was to release the virus near every settlement?
“You sure this will do it?” I asked Helen as she stood staring at the vial, looking as mesmerized by the contents as I felt.
“According to Jane, yes. She was a lot of things, but she wasn’t one to exaggerate. If this virus was created to kill the zombies, it will work.”
I slipped the vial into my other hand so it was side by side with the vaccine once again, and then curled my fingers around them before shutting the fridge. “Then let’s get the hell out of here and take these damn zombies out once and for all.”
Chapter Eighteen
Donaghy
My heartbeat thumped so hard against my eardrums that I started to wonder if the people around me were still firing. They weren’t, though. The guards who’d shot Parvarti were down, all of them dead now, and our group was taking inventory of the damage. The air in the hall was thick with the scent of blood, and as much as I wanted to deny it, I found myself wanting to reach out and run my fingers through the splatters that decorated the once brilliantly white floors. It was so red. So intoxicatingly red.
“Hang in there,” Jada was saying to my right.
I watched, almost transfixed as she probed the injury on Parvarti’s shoulder. Red seeped from the wound, coating Jada’s fingers. She stood and moved away, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the blood. How it glistened under the lights, how it seemed to call out to me.
“Shit.”
A hiss of pain to my right made me turn. There, Kelly sat leaning against the wall, her expression a mirror of Parvarti’s while a pool of blood collected on the floor beneath her leg.
“It’s not that bad,” Luke said as he tied a strip of fabric around her thigh.
Kelly hissed out a curse and shook her head. “I’ll be okay.”
“You better be,” he responded.
I couldn’t move. I knew that something very bad was happening to me, but all I could do was stare at the blood. It called out to me, the smell of it so powerful that I felt like I could taste it. The sharp, coppery flavor seemed to fill my mouth, and even though I knew I should be repulsed by it, I wasn’t.
“Hey.” I turned to find Angus at my side, his gray eyes focused on my face. “You alright?”
I shook my head, but before I could speak I had to swallow. “No.”
Angus put his hand on the knife at his waist. “You need me to end this?”
“Not yet,” I said, but the truth was, I had no idea how much longer I could hold on.
Angus nodded and his hand fell away from his knife. “You tell me.”
“I will,” I managed to hiss out.
And then I shut my eyes and forced my brain to stop thinking. Forced my body not to picture the blood around me. Forced my brain to repeat the same words over and over again. It won’t be long now. I can hang on. I am going to fight this.
Chapter Nineteen
Meg
The vials were in the palm of my hand when Helen and I stepped out of the lab and into the decontamination room. I wanted to squeeze them, to tighten my grip on them so they didn’t accidentally slip away, but I forced my fingers to stay relaxed.
Seconds after the door shut behind us water rained down from the ceiling. The sound of it hitting my plastic hood was deafening. Louder than the sound of Helen’s voice booming in my ears had been, louder than the pounding of my heart, which seemed to be beating at an impossibly fast rate.
The shower shut off as suddenly as it had started, surprising me with the sudden silence, and then Helen yanked the door open and moved into the other room with me right on her heels.
It wasn’t until I caught a glimpse of the hallway through the window that I remembered the scene we’d left behind. I ripped my hood off and took a deep breath, filling my lungs with fresh oxygen as I hurried to the door. I peered out, expecting to see a bloody battle raging in the hall. It wasn’t, though.
“What’s going on out there?” Helen asked as she peeled her suit away.
I set the vials gingerly on a bench and began ripping off my own suit, all the while looking out into the hall. There were bodies on the ground, but they were the CDC guards. Our own people were alert and waiting, but seemingly uninjured. Except Parv. She’d been shot before we went in, but I couldn’t see her now and I had no clue if she was okay. Donaghy was also out of sight, and no matter how hard I pressed my face against the window, I couldn’t spot either one of them.
“They have it under control.”
I pulled my suit off and kicked it aside. Underneath I was wearing scrubs, and I started to grab for my clothes, but then I realized it was wasted time. I was already dressed and I doubted Jada had any sentimental attachment to the leather she’d loaned me.
“Is there any reason to assume these clothes are contaminated?” I asked Helen.
She ran her hand through her short, blonde hair almost absentmindedly. “No. Protocol is to change and wash these with bleach, but screw protocol.”
“My thoughts exactly,” I said.
There was a pocket on my scrub top, and I slipped the vials into it for safekeeping, thankful that it had a small square of Velcro that would help keep it closed. Helen had already scooped up her gun and was heading for the door, and all I had to do was grab my own weapons before heading after her.
The door hissed open and I stumbled out. It probably wasn’t any brighter in the hall than it had been inside the lab, but it seemed like it. Although it could have just been that I was having a difficult time taking everything in at once. The guards on the ground, the blood streaked across the white floor, Parv leaning against the wall with her face scrunched up in pain, Donaghy next to her with sweat beaded on his forehead. I wasn’t sure where to look first.
“We got them. Both of them,” Helen said as she ran out ahead of me.
“Is everyone okay?” I asked.
Jim shook his head. “We’re alive, but we have a few injuries.”
That’s when I saw Luke supporting Kelly. Her leg was bloody above the knee, and a tourniquet had been tied around her thigh to stop the flow. She had to be in pain, but she looked more pissed off than anything. Luke, however, looked ready to get the hell out of here.
My gaze moved to Donaghy. “Are you okay?”
“I’m okay.” He dragged himself up off the floor, working hard to stand but obviously determined. “I can work through it.”
“What about the fever?” I reached for him, wanting to feel his head, but he jerked away and out of the corner of my eye I saw Angus take a step toward us.
“Keep your distance. I feel…” He swallowed. “I’m hungry, but it’s not like anything I’ve ever felt before.”
No. The virus was working harder now, moving faster. He was running out of time.
I turned to Helen. “I need to give him the vaccine. Now.”
“No syringes down here,” she reminded me. “We’ll have to get one on the first floor.”
I wanted to protest, but I knew there was no reason. She wasn’t withholding it on purpose. If she said there were no syringes on this level, there were none. Which meant we had to move. Now.
“What’s the plan?” I asked, looking between Kelly and Parv. It was impossible to imagine that we’d be able to get far with two injured people in tow.
“Luke is going to get Kelly and Parv out of here, and Tony is going with them for backup,” Jim said. “They’re hurt and they’ll slow us down, but they also need medical attention, and soon.”
That left eight of us to get through the CDC, get a
syringe so we could give Donaghy the vaccine, and then head out into the city to release the bacteria. I didn’t know how many guards there were in this building, but I did know that the odds were not in our favor at the moment.
“Help me up,” Parv said, holding the hand not pressed to her shoulder out to Jada.
The blonde woman reached down and my aunt clasped her hand around hers, pulling herself up with a great deal of effort. Something had been tied around her wound, but it took a moment for me to realize that they’d ripped up the shirt of one of the dead CDC guards.
“How are you doing?” I asked her.
Parv shook her head. “I feel like shit, but I’m stronger than a damn bullet. I’ll be okay.”
I believed her.
“Let’s get a move on,” Angus growled, but he didn’t sound angry necessarily, more stressed or anxious to get things done. Or maybe even anxious to get out of this building and know that he wasn’t going to get thrown back into a cell.
We had to go up the same stairwell we’d come down, so we all headed up together. Al helped my aunt and Luke helped Kelly. We still moved at a fast pace—as fast as the injured people in our group would allow us—but we worked hard to keep our steps quiet this time.
Donaghy walked at the back of the group like he was afraid to get too close to anyone. His hands were clenched at his sides, his jaw tight. He looked like he was barely hanging onto his control and I couldn’t keep my eyes off him as we made our way up. His expression reminded me of how I’d felt when we’d first met, how my life had felt like it was careening out of control and how he had been an anchor for me to hold onto.
I slowed just enough so we were side by side and took his hand, prying his fingers open with a great deal of effort.
“Meg—” he began, his voice as tortured as his expression was. “—it isn’t safe.”
Twisted World Series Box Set | Books 1-3 & Novella Page 88