by Dawn, M. K.
“Did you and Archer not make sure it’s clear?”
Axel kept his eyes trained upward. “We walked the halls and checked all the rooms except for the OR. That section was locked. Seemed pointless at the time to bother with it since we were making all sorts of noise and nothing came after us.”
“And why did no one tell me the OR was locked?” Sloan kept her tone in check though her anger flared. “I am a surgeon, after all.”
Axel took a couple of steps backward, following the movement of the sound. “Sorry. Guess we didn’t realize you needed supplies from that particular area.”
The scratching stopped, leaving them in silence.
Sloan stared up at the ceiling. “Do you think there’s an infested up there?”
“Like I said, we didn’t see any sign of them. Not any alive.”
“Perhaps it was just a rodent. A rat, or raccoon, or an opossum. They tend to make a lot of noise.”
Axel reached for his walkie-talkie.
“Who are you calling?” Sloan stopped him before he had a chance to remove it from the waistband of his jeans.
“Archer. I assumed you were about to say we needed to head upstairs.”
Sloan glanced back at the pharmacy. “I had planned on searching for some pharmaceutical guides first.”
“If you need to get into the OR, we should do that now since we know the general location of whatever’s up there.” Axel tugged the walkie-talkie from his jeans. “Which means I need to let Archer know.”
Last thing Sloan wanted was for Archer to find out that there was something up there and not allow her to go.
“Do you really think it’s necessary to call him? There’s two of us, both adept in handling a firearm. You said the floor is clear, and we shouldn’t worry.”
“That’s before the scratching,” Axel said as he pointed toward the ceiling.
“Chances are, it’s just a rodent.”
Axel cocked an eyebrow. “You and Archer fighting?”
“No.” Sloan avoided his gaze.
“But...”
Sloan let out a sigh. “He tends to hover.”
“Because he loves you.”
“But I can take care of myself. I’m an excellent shot and have proven so on several occasions.”
“I don’t think he doubts that,” Axel said. “But protecting people is who he is. You’re not going to change that.”
Sloan brushed back the unruly strands of hair from her face. “Go ahead and call him. While you do that and we wait for him to come up, I’ll go look around the pharmacy for whatever else I need.”
Sloan reached for the door handle.
“Wait.” Axel groaned. “I don’t know if this is some kind of reverse psychology trick so I won’t call Archer because.”
“It’s not.” Sloan hadn’t believed that Axel would back down. “If you think we should call him, then call him.”
“Come on.” Axel started down the hall.
“Where are we going?” Sloan hurried after him.
“Third floor.” Axel swung open the stairwell door and peered in. “All clear.”
Sloan hesitated then followed him inside. After Archer and she had nearly died in the emergency stairwell in The Bunker, entering one made her leery.
“You okay? You don’t seem to like stairs too much. Don’t think the elevator is in working order.”
“Elevators are worse.” Sloan followed him up to the third floor, careful to keep her steps light and her ears open. The infested had no stalking abilities whatsoever. Once they caught the scent of their victim, they lost all control.
“Stay close,” Axel said as they entered the hall of the third floor. “Gun ready.”
Sloan had already readied herself on the way up.
“You take the left side of the hall; I’ll take the right. Just as a precaution. Don’t want anything sneaking up behind us.”
“Got it.” Sloan peered in and listened at each door she passed but heard and saw nothing.
It didn’t take them long to walk the unlocked portion of the floor.
When they reached the locked door of the OR, Axel lowered his gun. “Here we are. Still want to try and break in?”
“It’s strange the door is locked when there’s no electricity.” Sloan leaned in to take a better look at the card scanner. “Does the red light look like it’s glowing to you?”
“Impossible. Like you said. No electricity.”
Sloan cupped her hands around the light and peeked through her fingers. “This card scanner is working.”
“Are you serious?”
Sloan moved out of the way. “You can check for yourself, but without the sunlight’s glare, it’s obvious.”
Axel checked the scanner just as Sloan had. “Holy shit. How is that possible?”
“Are you sure there isn’t some kind of back-up generator running?”
Axel ran a hand through his hair. “Nothing that would last this long.”
“We need a keycard.” Sloan headed back down the hall.
“Wait a minute.” Axel came up behind her. “Need I remind you that there is something behind those doors. Something that someone has worked really hard to keep there. Maybe we should do the same.”
Sloan examined the bodies she passed until she came across one that still had a badge clipped on her lab coat. “Here we go.”
Axel seized her arm as she moved back toward the OR. “Hold on. Have you not heard a word I said? We don’t know why those doors are locked.”
Sloan wiggled out of his grip. “Whoever locked those doors are trying to keep people out. Don’t you want to know why?”
“Not particularly. Why do you?”
Sloan paused just as she was about to swipe the keycard and faced Axel. “I’m not sure.”
Axel held out his hand. “Give me the keycard. I’ll open the door. Maybe Archer won’t kill me if I told him it was my idea.”
“I thought you knew Archer better than that.” Sloan swiped the keycard and stuck it in her back pocket. “Now, when he asked, you can tell him I opened the door and you had no choice but to follow me in.”
“Dammit, Sloan.” Axel took her arm again and shoved her behind him. “You don’t even have your gun out. I never pegged you as the reckless type.”
She withdrew the gun from its holster and disengaged the safety. “You’re right, I’m not usually reckless. I don’t know what’s come over me.”
“Just stay close.” Axel crept down the hall with a flashlight in hand and Sloan close on his heels.
The lack of windows down this wing made it nearly impossible to see much of anything.
Axel directed the flashlight along the baseboards on either side of the hall. “There’s a bunch of wires running this way.”
Sloan hadn’t even noticed them until Axel pointed them out. “What do you think they’re for?”
“One’s connected to the card scanner that’s been pulled out of the wall. The rest seem to be going into each of the two rooms on either side of the hall. The last room on the left looks to hold the source.”
“I hadn’t even noticed.”
“To be fair,” Axel jiggled the flashlight, “I’m the one with the light.”
This was the most time Axel and she had ever spent alone. If she hadn’t liked him before, she would have now. “Should we check out the room where the wires are originating first?”
“Yep. Though I think I know what we’re going to find.”
Sloan did, too. “A generator?”
“Do you hear it? The closed door is masking some of it, but I still can make out the sound.”
“The buzzing?” Sloan had noticed it, too. Funny how it didn’t occur to her that the sound shouldn’t have been there.
Axel reached the door and peered in the thin, rectangular window. “There it is, plus a dozen gas cans and a couple of work lights.”
“Do you think the gas cans are full?” Gas was a valued and rare resource that was becoming more d
ifficult to find.
“Only one way to find out.” Axel handed her the flashlight and inched open the door. “Keep the door open.”
Sloan caught the door with her back, keeping an eye out for Axel while watching the hall. With the door open, the generator made it difficult to hear, putting them in a dangerous situation.
Axel moved the gas cans, two at a time, by the door. “They’re all full. I’m going to need some help getting them and the generator downstairs.”
“We’re taking both? How? The SUV is out of room.”
“I don’t know, but we need to try. These things are hard to come by.” Axel surveyed the supplies. “Maybe we can find another vehicle around here. We passed quite a few on the way.”
“It’s finding one that still runs that’s challenging.”
“I’m going to shut this thing off. Let it cool down.”
Sloan shined a light on the card reader down the hall. “Do you think we’ll still be able to get out?”
“I don’t know. We should probably prop the door open, to be on the safe side.”
She was about to suggest the same thing. “I can run down there and do that.”
Axel handed her the keycard. “Hurry up.”
Sloan jogged down the hall and opened the door. “Dammit. I don’t have anything to brace the door with.”
“I’ll bring you a gas can.”
“Don’t bother.” Sloan reached for the handle of the room labeled OR-1. “I’ll just grab something from in here.”
“Wait!” Axel yelled.
Sloan jumped, clasping her chest. “What’s wrong with you? Why are yelling?”
“You can’t just go around opening doors when we don’t know what’s behind them.”
“Are you kidding me?” Sloan shot him a dirty look that she knew he couldn’t see. “I was going to check in the window first, just as you did. We need to go through each room, anyway.”
“I thought we were past that?”
Sloan shined the flashlight into the small window. At first, she didn’t see much, but as she scanned the room, the light illuminated several rows of bodies with what looked like IV lines running from the vein in their arm. “Oh, my God.”
Axel rushed to her side. “Let me take a look. Jesus, are those infested lined up on the floor? With IVs?”
Sloan’s heart hammered against her rib cage. “Call Archer.”
“What?”
“Call him, now! We need to get in this room.”
Axel backed away. “No. We need to get the hell out of here.”
“You don’t understand. I don’t think those IV lines are pumping fluids into their system. I think they’re pumping it out.”
“Shit.” Axel spun around. “Shit. Why would someone do that?”
“I don’t know. But I think we need to try and figure that out.”
CHAPTER SIX
The walkie-talkie on Britney’s hip crackled before Gus’ voice came through. “Britney, you need to come to the main gate. Immediately.”
“What’s wrong?” She was in the middle of feeding the pigs and didn’t really have time to run up there if it wasn’t important.
“Come. Now.” The seriousness in his voice caught her off guard. “Hurry.”
“On my way.” She dumped the last of the slop from her bucket into the pen. “Juliet!”
Juliet jogged inside the smallest of the barns. “What’s up?”
Britney handed her the bucket. “I have to run up to the main gate. Can you finish feeding the pigs? I’ve done the first two pens.”
“Of course.” She took the metal handle. “Everything okay?”
“I’m sure it is. Gus probably just wants to discuss something with me. He likes to do it when he mans the front gate. Something about not so many prying ears around. I think he misses our small group sometimes.”
“Do you?” Juliet asked with her big doe eyes. “Miss your small group?”
“No,” Britney said with a grin. “Who else would I get to do all the dirty work around here?”
The walkie-talkie crackled. “Britney! You almost here?”
God. Gus was persistent. “Yes. I’m comin’.”
She mounted one of the saddled horses and raced toward the gate. By horse, it only took a couple of minutes to reach the front of the property.
Gus stood on the platform on top of the sheet-metal wall, binoculars held against his eyes. Mac hovered close to his right while one of Archer’s soldiers from The Bunker, Brizzi, stood to his left.
“Gus?” It surprised Britney none of them had acknowledged her presence. Horses weren’t what one would consider quiet.
“Come up.” Gus waved.
Britney hesitated. The platform wasn’t built to hold many people. Three looked to be its max at the moment. Especially with Mac up there. His huge frame nearly took up half the space. “There’s no room.”
Gus lowered the binoculars. “Mac, let Britney take your place. Give her your gun. God knows she might need it.”
Mac scrunched his face. “Are you sure that’s wise?”
“She’s a better shot than you.”
“Fine.” Mac started down the ladder.
“Why do I need a gun?” Britney pictured a hoard of infested headed their way. “Do I need to put the town on alert?”
Mac handed Britney the rifle. “Get up there and see for yourself. Then decide. If it were up to me, I would say yes, the town needs to be aware of what’s going on. But Gus wants more information. Doesn’t want to scare people unless it’s necessary.”
“Scare people?” Britney didn’t like the sound of that.
“Just get your butt up there and take a look.”
Britney slung the rifle over her shoulder and climbed the ladder, skirting around Brizzi to take Mac’s spot.
“Here.” Gus handed her the binoculars. “To the left a ways.”
“What am I looking for?” Britney scanned the area, but all she saw was trees.
Gus took hold of the side of the binoculars and began to inch them to the left. “Tell me when you see it.”
“Stop!” Britney adjusted the lenses to get a clearer picture. “There are people out there.”
“Yep. A pretty large group, as far as we can tell.”
Britney counted at least twenty vehicles. “How long have they been there?”
“They just showed up about an hour ago,” Brizzi said.
“You saw them driving?” Britney continued to search the area. “Doesn’t look like they’ve set up a camp.”
“Nope,” Gus said. “We spotted them as they drove up and stopped. People got out and headed into the woods. I assumed to make a pit stop, but they haven’t left.”
Britney lowered the binoculars and turned to Gus. “But you’re worried. Why?”
“Did you notice anything strange about their vehicles?”
She hadn’t paid much attention, more concerned about the people. “I didn’t.”
Gus guided the binoculars back to Britney’s eyes. “Take another look.”
It took her a few seconds to find them again, the change in distance throwing her off. Nothing jumped out at her when the first truck came into view. “What am looking for?”
“The doors.” The unease in Brizzi’s tone caused her to hesitate. The man had nerves of steel.
With a shaky hand, she dropped the line of sight a few inches lower. A red cross was painted on the side of the truck. She’d seen countless of crosses in her life, but never one that scared her as much as this. “Are those claw marks slashed over a cross?”
“Pretty damn sick if you ask me,” Brizzi mumbled. “What the hell kind of people desecrate a cross that way?”
Britney tore her eyes away from the side of the truck and scanned the area once again. “People we don’t want—shit!” She jumped backward, bumping into Gus.
Gus grabbed her arm, keeping her from falling off the platform. “What’s wrong?”
“He had binoculars.” She struggle
d to get the words out, her heart pounding.
“Who?” Brizzi asked.
“A guy in their camp.” Britney whirled around and caught sight of a smoke cloud hanging over the canopy of trees that surrounded the house. “Call someone on the walkie-talkie. They need to put the fire out now. Try to keep the smoke to a minimum.”
Brizzi didn’t ask questions. He ripped the walkie-talkie from the waist of his jeans and made the call.
“Do you think they saw you?” Gus asked.
“I don’t know. He had the binoculars pointed this way. It all happened so fast.”
Gus stared off in the direction of the group. “Should I chance another look?”
From this distance, they were almost invisible to the naked eye, which made this whole situation a hundred times worse.
Brizzi hooked the walkie-talkie back on his jeans. “Angie was pissed since she’s right in the middle of cooking lunch and I refused to provide an explanation. But they’re putting it out.”
“Thanks. I’ll explain when I get back. Right now, we need to figure out what’s going on. Gus.”
“I’ll look.” Gus took the binoculars from Britney and stared through them. “Dammit. They’re loaded up and getting back onto the main road.”
Of course, this had to happen after Axel and Archer left. “Can you tell which way they’re headed?”
Gus lowered the binoculars and sighed. “This way. They’re headed this way.”
***
“What’s taking them so long?” Brizzi asked, rocking back and forth. “It’s been, what, thirty minutes? They couldn’t have been that far out.”
Gus kept a close watch through the binoculars. “They seem to be taking their time. Can’t be going more than forty.”
Britney wiped a sweaty palm along her jeans, trying to stay calm. “At least we had time to put the town on radio silence and bring in backup.”
Twenty men and women waited on the ground with guns in hand, hidden behind the wall. No way would she let these strangers know they had more than a couple of weapons and people who knew how to use them.
“You would think they’d want to get here as quickly as possible.” Brizzi cracked his neck. “Get the upper hand on us.”
“Pretty sure they figured out we know they’re comin’.” Britney went through the motions of checking her rifle again, even though she’d already checked it half a dozen times.