Tessa’s head snapped around at the sound of his voice and she nodded. The others went on ahead. When they reached Tessa, Simon noticed her limping. She pushed away Dodge’s arm when he offered it and continued on, teeth grit in pain.
The five of them slipped through the door behind the shelf. Simon’s heart pounded. For a moment he was sure they would see the lower door already shut, but Red stood on the lower level, holding the door open and waiting for them. Relief flooded Simon. He began to cry silently as they worked their way down the stairs. Up in the lab, Simon heard footsteps.
Fear slipped icily down Simon’s spine. The zombies were inside.
As they reached the floor, the chattering sound again reached Simon’s ears. He knew at least one zombie had managed to follow them, but he didn’t dare to look back. He saw Red’s eyes widen and knew whatever was following them was bad. Red reached out and pulled Simon roughly, dragging him and Tyson through the door. The other three hurried through and slammed the door firmly in place.
Tessa dropped to the floor, holding her ankle and crying in heaving bursts. Red helped Tyson while Simon dropped his bag, somewhat surprised to find he still had it. He leaned against the wall, slowly letting himself sink to the floor beside Tessa. Tears blurred his vision and he willed them away, embarrassed. They didn’t slow. He couldn’t stop thinking about Zeke, or Noah, or how close he had just come to death. Not his fault, not his fault, Simon had to keep reminding himself that it wasn’t his feelings for Tessa that had brought them to the edge of death. He knew everyone stood around them, but couldn’t bring himself to look up. Dodge squatted in front of him; Simon wiped at his eyes and looked away.
“Hey.” Dodge leaned down trying to see Simon’s eyes. “Are you okay?” Simon nodded silently. “It’s a real mess out there.” Dodge stood, clapping Simon on the shoulder as he did. “Glad we made it in time. Alright everyone, keep on moving into the lab. We gotta get this food put away; give them a minute to collect themselves.”
Simon dimly heard everyone shuffle away. After a moment, he looked up. He was alone with Tessa. She sat watching him. Her eyes were still wet, but she was no longer crying. He still couldn’t stop himself. Slowly, she reached out and hugged him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Simon let his head drop to hers and felt his tears begin to ebb. He sniffed loudly. Tessa pulled back and looked at him.
“Are you alright?” Her brow furrowed in concern.
Simon gave a strangled version of a laugh. “Yeah, just great.” He looked up at the ceiling and wiped his eyes. “I thought we were going to die right there, I really did.”
“But we didn’t. We’re okay,” Tessa said. “I told you, I’m not going anywhere.”
“I know.” Simon nodded, head still against the wall. “I was just thinking about Zeke and Noah, and how even if we all get out of this, it won’t change anything that happened.”
“I know.” Tessa nodded. “I’m sorry.” She leaned her head on his shoulder again.
“Is your ankle okay?”
“I think so.” Tessa pulled up her jeans. The ankle was swollen, but the skin wasn’t broken. “I fell and twisted it.”
She sat back and leaned against him again.
“Do you remember your family?” Simon sniffed.
“I had a cat,” Tessa answered slowly. “It was a tabby.”
“That’s all you remember?” Simon asked.
“Yeah,” Tessa admitted sadly.
“Lucky.” Simon took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. “I remember my dad, but I wish I didn’t. I had a sister too. I wish I remembered more about her.”
“She must have been important to you.”
“She was,” Simon agreed. “She was older, and I guess I looked up to her. I can’t remember her name though. How dumb is that?”
“It’s not dumb, Simon.” Tessa squeezed his arm.
“Yeah, sure.” Simon nodded and stood, pulling Tessa up with him. “We should be helping.”
“Yeah,” Tessa said. Simon slung the duffel bag over his shoulder and put his free arm around Tessa. Together they went deeper into the lab.
23
Coda Base
Jake sat alone in the living room of the apartment he was now sharing with Scott. The doctor had retired to a bedroom almost as soon as Gabe dropped them off. He had left them with two solar lanterns, apologizing if they didn’t last long. So far they were burning brightly.
After Scott turned in, Jake looked through the kitchen cupboards. They were empty aside from dishes, but in a cupboard next to the sink he hit the jackpot. Bottle after bottle of booze stood in rows like soldiers. Jake dug through them until he found a bottle of well aged scotch. He blew the dust out of a glass and poured himself two fingers full. He swallowed that in two long gulps, wincing as warmth spread through him.
He took the glass and the bottle to the couch before pouring himself another two fingers worth. He sipped slowly, enjoying the grassy smell and smoky flavor. If there was one thing to be thankful for in this Godforsaken world it was that the scotch would last for years.
The alcohol began to make his head feel foggy, a familiar feeling he had missed in the past weeks. Grace adamantly refused to allow alcohol into the hospital, a rule the others grudgingly accepted. After so long without a hint of alcohol, the booze hit Jake like teenager’s first beer.
His mind drifted to Alice. She’d hit him like a stripper looking for tips. He leaned his head back on the couch and let his mind wander over her vanilla scented hair, perfect body, and the occasional bit of exposed midriff he had seen. She was young enough that she had probably never been with a man old enough to know what he was doing. Jake imagined taking off her shirt, the smooth skin of her stomach under his fingers.
Jake shook himself out of the grip of sleep just before it pulled him down for good. No doubt the dreams would have been good, but he thought the reality would be better. He poured himself another glass of scotch, still thinking about it.
*
“Here it is,” Cale said triumphantly. He waited for Zero and Alice to stand beside him before he started the audio. It was jerky and there was interference, but it was impossible to miss what the man said.
“We’re locked in, thought we were safe.” The man gave a ragged sigh, and then coughed wetly. “Maya and Jim are already gone, slipped into comas this morning. I don’t have the heart to kill them.” He coughed again, this time for longer. It was a wet, mucus filled sound. Alice had to restrain herself from shutting off the audio. When the man spoke again, his voice was slow and weary. “We found it though, found the cure to this damn disease. Seems like their brains-” Then there was only static.
“Damn it, that’s where it cut off for us too.” Cale slapped the desk, anger etched in his features.
“Chill out soldier.” Zero pushed Cale aside and took control of the computer. He opened a word document associated with the sound file. “Says here it was received three weeks ago.”
“Impossible. We got it a few days ago.” Cale leaned close to read. “There must be a mistake.”
“Nope.” Zero shook his head, still reading the file. “Seems they picked it up on a short wave burst, and then spent some time working on a way to send it further. I guess they were hoping to get a crazy person like you out this way, or maybe just inspire others with the knowledge that there was a cure to be found.”
“Crap.” Cale leaned back in his chair, lacing his fingers over his eyes to think.
“They who?” Alice leaned in to read over Zero’s other shoulder.
“Gabe’s soldier friends I suppose.” Zero swallowed. Alice’s body was warm pressing against him. He resisted the urge to pull her back when she straightened.
“But it was a short wave burst.” Cale up excitedly.
“So?” Zero asked.
“Those bursts have a maximum radius of maybe three hundred miles. I think.” Cale stood, motioning to Zero. They switched chairs and Cale dug through files on the computer un
til he found a map.
“So it must have been from somewhere close then,” Alice said, almost unable to contain her excitement at the idea.
“Yeah.” Cale nodded, eyes roaming over the map as he narrowed in on the area around Coda. “Problem is, a short wave burst doesn’t have to come from military. They make ones for kids even. My nephew had one; the thing could broadcast about two miles.”
“So what, we start going through people’s homes?” Zero asked.
“No. We know it probably came from somewhere official. We start with bases, then maybe hospitals, labs. I don’t know.”
“But if this didn’t come from a someplace like that, it could have come from anywhere,” Zero said grimly
Cale sighed. “Yeah. We check out the obvious places first. After that it’s a needle in a haystack,” he said, a hint of frustration bleeding through.
Zero leaned in to look at the map. “So what do we got for bases?”
“There are three bases which could maybe be what we are looking for,” Cale said. “Mason, Culmore, and-”
“Haven,” Alice finished for him. She stared at the computer screen, breathless with the idea.
“Right,” Cale said. “Haven.”
“Alice, you can’t get your hopes up,” Zero warned, playing the voice of reason even as Alice began to stray.
“I know.” But her heart was wild over the possibility of it being Haven.
“Even if it was from Haven, it doesn’t sound like anyone is alive at this point,” Cale added. He could tell she was getting her hopes up, no matter how she tried to deny it. He knew just how dangerous that could be.
“I get it,” Alice snapped, but she was glad for the dose of reality. “Where do you go first?”
“I guess whatever is closest.” Cale shrugged. “Work our way out.”
“What about-” Zero hesitated, scratching his head. “Doesn’t each base have lists of employees or some such?”
“Yeah.” Cale’s eyes widened. “Yeah, they do. And they made it regulation that all lists are updated weekly and fed to all the bases! Zero, you are a genius. It’s not even secure data. We find the names of the people who died sending the message and we know where we’re going.”
Cale searched the computer for the familiar file. In moments he started printing the lists for each of the three bases. “These are gonna be big lists, but it’s better than nothing.” When the lists were done, he gathered them up and stood from the computer. “We should go. Gabe will be waiting on us.”
“We need to go over them tonight so you can leave as soon as possible,” Alice said. Now that it could be Haven base, she was much more eager for Cale and Zero to get going, no matter how much she would miss them.
“We’ll start it tonight, but there’s nothing we can do without a good night’s sleep anyway,” Cale assured her. He stepped aside to let Alice lead the way back to the cafeteria.
“Are you sure you won’t come with us?” Zero asked, his hand on her back as they reached the cafeteria.
“I can’t,” Alice answered with a shake of her head. When he pulled his hand away, she found herself missing the comfort of the contact.
As promised, Gabe waited patiently at one of the tables. He sat with his feet propped up as he leaned back reading. He looked up when they entered the room.
“Find what you were looking for?” He stood and marked his page in the book.
“I think we got a good lead,” Cale said. He hugged the pile of papers to his chest.
“Shouldn’t take too long for us to know where we’ll be goin’,” Zero agreed.
“Glad to hear it.” Gabe nodded to the table next to his. “I have a flashlight for each of you. I’ll walk you over to the apartment building.” They grabbed the flashlights and followed Gabe out of the rec center, walking across the street to the nearest building.
From the couch, Jake noticed lights bobbing across the street. He pushed himself to his feet, feeling the weight of scotch in his limbs. The solar lanterns were dim and he shut one off before going to stand near the window. The old man led Alice and the others to the building. A slow smile crept across Jake’s lips and he took another sip of the booze. With careful steps, he crossed the dark apartment to stand at the door. He heard voices and the creak of a door opening.
Gabe led the group to the second of four apartments on the first floor.
“I kept this one for you so we wouldn’t have to navigate the stairwell in the dark. Place gives me the willies at night. Grace and Quigley are in the apartment across from you. I’m next door and a couple of men from your party are in the last apartment on this floor. I’ve forgotten their names.”
“No worries.” Cale shrugged.
Gabe nodded and opened the door. The apartment wasn’t large. The living room and the kitchen were visible from the door and beyond that lay a hallway that led to bedrooms. Gabe swept his flashlight over all of this, breaking the otherwise deep darkness of the place.
“This looks like a good place to spend the night.” Cale’s flashlight beam played over a couch and armchair.
“Better than camping,” Zero agreed.
“Would you like your own place?” Gabe politely asked Alice. “I planned for you to stay with the men, but if you are uncomfortable I can make other arrangements.”
“No, this is just fine,” Alice assured him. The thought of spending the night in one of the apartments alone unnerved her. The zombies might be on the other side of the wall, but they were far from forgotten.
“Good,” Gabe said. “I’ll leave you then. Sleep well.” With a nod, he stepped out of the apartment and pulled the door shut behind him.
“It’s a bit like having a butler isn’t it?” Cale grinned.
“I feel like I’m at some five star hotel,” Zero agreed. He flopped down onto the well worn couch. “I mean aside from the lousy furnishings.”
“And no electricity,” Cale added.
“You two are horrible.” Alice shook her head and sat down on the couch beside Zero, finding it comfortable despite what he said.
“I figure we each take a list and start scanning for the names from the recording, Maya or Jim. Maya will be the less common I’m sure.” Cale handed Zero and Alice each a report and sat in the arm-chair. They focused their flashlights on the paper in front of them and began to scan the lists.
After an hour, Zero paused. He sat blinking and squeezing the bridge of his nose. A splitting headache had been building over the hour and now had a hold of him in a painful way. He looked over at Cale. He too had put aside his list. Cale motioned for him to look at Alice, and Zero smiled. Alice leaned the arm of the couch, sleeping soundly. The papers hung half off her lap. Zero carefully set them on the coffee table without disturbing her. He put his own papers beside them and stood to stretch.
Cale followed suit, giving a wide yawn and moving past Zero to pull Alice’s legs up onto the couch. Alice muttered and rolled over, but didn’t wake up as Zero spread a throw blanket over her. He grinned at Cale when she curled into a tight ball. Softly, Zero tucked a stray piece of hair away from her face and resisted the urge to kiss her forehead. Quietly, they headed down the hall, finding two bedrooms and falling into bed. Within minutes, they were both asleep.
24
Coda Base
Alice woke to a weight settling on the couch beside her. For a moment, she didn’t remember where she was, or why she had such a crick in her neck, but then it came back to her.
“Zero?” Alice asked groggily. She tried to sit up so Zero could have room on the couch.
Before she had gotten far, the blanket was pulled from her and someone was on top of her. It was a far more crushing and less welcome weight than Zero. The man who lay on top of her was easily twice the size of Zero or Cale. He began to kiss her roughly, grinding against her. His mouth tasted like alcohol.
“Ummphaa!” she tried to scream, but his mouth covered hers. As soon as he moved his mouth away, he covered hers with his hand.
She tasted sweat.
“It’s okay, Alice. Sweetie, it’s just me. Calm down.” Alice recognized the voice, but it took her a moment to process it. He was kissing her again before it came to her. Jake.
She began to buck her hips, trying in vain to throw him off her. It was no use; he weighed too much. When she stopped, lying exhausted, she could feel she had only made him more excited.
He backed off slightly, still kissing her. He fumbled between them, trying to undo his pants as well as hers. She slapped at him, scratching at his exposed skin until he took her hands, holding them roughly over her head. As he began to push his pants down, she bit down on his lips as hard as she could, letting go only when she tasted blood and he pulled away.
“You little bitch,” he cursed softly, holding his mouth. For a moment she lay terrified, unable to understand why he looked so surprised that she had bitten him. Then he moved for her again, snapping her out of her daze.
“Cale, Zero,” Alice screamed with all her might. “Help!” Jake back handed her, making her head ring and her vision blur. She was too weak to fight as he continued his assault.
Zero woke with a start, sure that he had heard something. He sat up in the twin bed and listened. “Help!” That time he heard it for sure. He jumped from the bed, not bothering to pull on his shirt or shoes.
In the hall he almost ran into Cale, and they both sprinted to the living room. On the couch, a large man’s back was visible, while small hands slapped at him repeatedly. Zero looked around the room. With nothing better in sight, he grabbed a chair from the kitchen table. In one motion he ran to Alice’s side and slammed the chair down on the man. Together, he and Cale pulled the stunned man from on top of her.
Alice hurriedly pulled herself into a ball on the end of the couch. She watched, wide-eyed in the pale moonlight, as they flipped the man over. Zero recognized him immediately, but Cale stared at him a moment in slack-jawed disbelief.
“Jake?” Cale asked.
PRIME Page 17