Besides, Johnny Drake had died for this chemical so I wasn’t going to just leave it here.
Chapter Eighteen
I stayed away from the road as I crept through the woods toward the facility. I had the Desert Eagle in my hand, but there was no way I was going to get into a shootout with soldiers. I refused to shoot at living human beings. Also, I had hardly ever shot a gun, and I was sure to be killed instantly if I went up against men who were highly trained in the use of firearms.
I had no idea what I was going to do once I found out where they were holding my friends, other than try to liberate them from the army’s clutches.
Luckily, I met no resistance, and soon reached an area at the edge of the woods where I could observe the facility and remain out of sight, staying low and close to the tree trunks and undergrowth.
The military had built a camp within the perimeter fence of Site Alpha Two. Dozens of green tents huddled together in the compound. The parking lot was full of army trucks and Land Rovers. There were soldiers scurrying everywhere. As I watched, a Chinook helicopter descended onto a flat area of grass, the ramp at the rear lowering to allow even more personnel into the camp. After a few moments, the Chinook took off again, presumably to fetch even more personnel. It whirred away over the distant hills and out of sight.
The compound, which had been quiet yesterday when we’d arrived, was buzzing with noise and an atmosphere of expectancy. The fire in the building seemed to have died out. Black soot covered the outer walls above the second floor windows and a foul smell of burnt rubber and plastic hung in the air, but I couldn’t see any flames or smoke.
Teams of soldiers were being shown floor plans of the building on a large screen, the areas of interest pointed out by a large man wearing a maroon beret. I couldn’t believe they were going to send more people in there after what had happened to Recon One.
Somewhere, in one of the tents, Sam, Tanya, Jax, and Doctor Colbert were probably being questioned. Maybe they could warn the soldiers not to go into the building, tell them about Vess. I laughed at that thought. Would the men in charge listen? I already knew the answer to that.
There seemed to be nothing I could do to help my friends. If I tried to get into the compound, I was going to be caught. That wouldn’t help anyone.
I sat back against a tree trunk and checked my watch. Did any of this even matter when we had less than fourteen hours left to live? If Tanya, Sam, and Jax turned while being held in the camp, the soldiers were going to be sorry. I doubted that there would be anyone left alive in there by morning.
Was there anything I could do other than sit here and wait? It felt wrong to spend my last few hours sitting alone in these woods while my friends spent theirs as prisoners of the army.
I studied the compound again. Guards were posted at the gate and in the security-guard station that we had occupied earlier. I wondered if they were using the camera monitors to explore the interior of the building just as we had. How would things be different in there now that most of level 2 had gone up in smoke? The zombies in the stairwell had probably been driven up to higher levels or down to level 1. Probably both.
And where was Vess? Was he still roaming the air vents or had he found refuge elsewhere? One thing was certain; with the army sending more men inside, Vess was going to have plenty of prey to hunt down and tear apart.
The military presence seemed to be concentrated at the front of the building, the grassy area at the rear being deserted. With the amount of men they were flying in, they would probably have to extend the camp to that area too, eventually, but for now it was still empty of soldiers.
If I could get over the fence around the back, I wouldn’t have to worry about the guards at the gate. I’d have a good chance of getting into the compound undiscovered. But what would I do once I was in there? I couldn’t go knocking on every tent, asking if anyone had seen my friends.
I put the Desert Eagle in its holster. I had no ideas left. We had done well to get the H1NZ1 but in the end, a superior force had overwhelmed us. We couldn’t fight against the army.
My journey since the first day of the zombie breakout had been a harrowing one. I’d avoided army patrols, escaped from a zombie-infested lighthouse, been part of a mission to the Survivor Radio studios, and entered a secret government site to extract a chemical that would be used to create an antivirus.
And I’d fallen in love. My biggest regret about ending my journey here, among these trees, was that I wasn’t with Lucy. But I was still thankful that I had at least met Lucy and spent precious time with her, even if I couldn’t be with her at the end.
I looked down at the Desert Eagle in its holster. Should I just blow my brains out now? If I waited until I was about to turn, I might not have the will to do it. I had no idea what signs to look for that would mean I was on the verge of turning. And by the time I recognized them, it might be too late, my brain already under the control of the virus.
The army would probably kill me eventually but how many innocent people would I tear apart before they managed to catch me?
I sat staring at the trees around me, letting my thoughts zone out. When I checked my watch later, the countdown told me that I had been sitting there for over an hour.
I was wasting precious time. If I was going to end this on my own terms, then I needed to get on with it.
A distant sound caught my attention. Standing up to stretch my aching muscles, I saw the Chinook coming over the hills, probably bringing more personnel to the camp.
As I watched the chopper’s approach, a shout went up near the building.
Recon One had blown the main door off its hinges when they had gone inside earlier but no one had thought to seal the doorway afterward, and now dozens of zombies were shambling out into the camp, attracted by the noise and movement.
Shots rang out as soldiers began firing on the creatures. As zombies fell by the doorway, others stepped over their bodies, arms outstretched as they lurched toward the soldiers, their hungry moans filling the air.
Chaos reigned as soldiers and zombies went to war. The soldiers were in possession of enough firepower to take over a small nation, but the zombies were among them, making it difficult for them to shoot without hitting other soldiers. The large number of personnel in the camp was a drawback when it came to fighting at such close quarters.
Some of the soldiers, seeing the futility of fighting a large number of zombies when they were unable to fire for fear of hitting their comrades, ran for the gate. Others tried to use their weapons as clubs. Some must have thought it better to risk shooting a fellow soldier if it meant they had a chance to kill a zombie and they fired their rifles. Soldiers and zombies dropped to the ground as shots rang out in the morning air.
The Chinook had reached the compound. It hovered uncertainly above the fence for a moment before flying to the grassy area at the back of the building, the pilot obviously deciding it was safer to land there. As it descended, I broke cover and ran for the gate, seeing an opportunity to get into the compound. The guards who had been stationed at the gate were running toward the melee in the camp to help their comrades, their posts abandoned.
Sprinting past the security guard station and across the parking lot toward the grounded Chinook, I saw the rear ramp descend to drop off a group of soldiers. They ran around to the front of the building to enter the battle raging there.
I crouched behind a blue Nova while they passed me. Their attention was focused on the chaos in front of them. No one even glanced in my direction.
As the last soldier ran past, I sprinted for the rear of the Chinook, taking the Desert Eagle from its holster. When I got to the top of the ramp, I ran up to the open doorway that separated the cockpit from the rear of the helicopter and leaned through, pressing the muzzle of my gun against the pilot’s helmet.
“Get us in the air,” I said.
The co-pilot looked at me with a look of astonishment.
“Do it,” I said, “or I
’ll blow his fucking brains out.”
“Okay, okay.”
They both began to flick switches on the control panel. The rear ramp lifted up and closed.
“Get us up!” I demanded.
They complied, taking the Chinook up until it was above the height of the building.
“Now what?” the pilot asked. “What do you want us to do?”
“I want you to do exactly as I say. We’re going to pick up some precious cargo.”
Chapter Nineteen
I told them to take us over the building to where the fight was raging. The situation on the ground had gotten worse. Bodies of soldiers and zombies were strewn everywhere. It was obvious that some of the soldiers had been shot by their colleagues, their blood staining the grass around them.
The ones that had been bitten were staggering toward the gate and into the woods, muttering the words, “Leave me alone” as the virus combined with the vaccine in their blood and compelled them to seek a quiet place to turn into hybrids.
Still more zombies were coming out of the building. There was such chaos in the camp that the creatures were able to get outside through the doorway without even being shot at.
In the mass of olive-green uniforms and white lab coats, it was easy to spot Sam, Jax, Tanya, and Doctor Colbert. They were fleeing the fight, heading for the gate.
“See those people?” I said to the pilot, the Desert Eagle still pointed at his head. “We’re going to go down there and pick them up.”
He shook his head. “There’s nowhere to land down there.”
I pointed at a small area near the parking lot. If we got there quickly enough, we would be there before my friends made it out of the gate. “There,” I said. “Land there.”
“There are zombies everywhere,” the co-pilot protested.
“We only need a few seconds,” I said. “Now do it, or I will shoot both of you. Believe me, I’ve got nothing to lose.”
They must have detected the desperation in my voice, because they took the Chinook down to the exact spot I had indicated.
The helicopter’s side door was located just behind the cockpit, so I could open it while still keeping the pilot in my sights. I was never going to shoot him or the co-pilot, but they didn’t know that, and I probably seemed crazy to them, which was enough to make them comply.
I opened the door and shouted, “Sam! Tanya!”
They saw me and changed the trajectory of their run, heading for the helicopter at full speed.
A zombie that had been in the area when we landed came around the side of the Chinook, moaning at me, his arms outstretched. I used the Desert Eagle to dispatch him, aiming between his eyes and pulling the trigger. The gun recoiled in my hand like a striking snake. The zombie fell to the ground and lay there, unmoving.
The sound of the gun spooked the pilot. He began to lift us back into the air. I whirled on him, pointing the gun at his face. “Don’t you fucking take off until I tell you.”
He removed his hands from the controls as if they were suddenly hot. “Okay, just stay calm.”
I noticed two hybrids break from the pack of shambling zombies and begin to chase Doctor Colbert and Jax. Doctor Colbert was the slowest runner, and Jax was hanging back to encourage her to move faster.
The hybrids were both ex-security guards at the facility, dressed in dark uniform, but both without their caps. They had once been a dark-haired woman, and a bald man with a moustache and beard. Now, they were monsters. They fixed on Doctor Colbert like a pair of lions selecting the slowest gazelle from the pack.
I knew there was no point in shouting at Doctor Colbert to run faster; she already looked like she was about to collapse. She was sucking in air like crazy, her face red and sweaty. Her legs were weak and unable to keep the pace Jax had set.
Tanya reached the Chinook and ran in through the door, closely followed by Sam. “Watch the pilots,” I said. “Don’t let them take us up.”
I ran out of the chopper, the Desert Eagle in both hands like I had seen on cop shows. But I was no cop, and this wasn’t television. I didn’t dare fire while Jax and Doctor Colbert were in the way.
But if I didn’t shoot, the hybrids would definitely catch them. Even now, they were only ten feet behind their prey. “Get down!” I shouted.
Jax looked at me as if I had gone crazy. She knew they were being chased, so why would they stop?
“Trust me and get down,” I said, trying to hold the gun steady.
For a moment, I thought Jax was going to ignore me and keep on running, only to be brought down by the hybrids. But she must have decided to trust me because she grabbed Doctor Colbert and pulled her to the ground. Unable to slow their momentum, they crashed and rolled in the dirt.
I fired my first shot, hitting the bearded hybrid in the chest. Unlike zombies, hybrids were alive, so a shot that could kill a living person would kill a hybrid. The bullet stopped this one dead in its tracks.
Jerking the gun sights to aim at the other hybrid, I pulled the trigger just as the creature reached Doctor Colbert. Its head was flung back as the bullet tore into its skull.
Jax scrambled to her feet, pulling a huffing and puffing Doctor Colbert along by her arm. When they reached me, Jax whispered, “Thank you.”
We got on board the Chinook and I told the pilot to take off.
“Where are we going?” he asked.
I grinned. “Have you ever heard of a place called Apocalypse Island?”
“No.” He looked at me as if I had asked him to fly us to Middle Earth.
“It’s not on your maps,” Sam said. “I’ll give you the coordinates.” As he stepped past me to talk to the pilots, he put a hand on my shoulder. “Good work, man.”
I nodded and went back to the seating area where the others were recovering from their ordeal.
“I knew you’d come for us,” Tanya said. “Even though we only had a few hours left, I knew you’d try to rescue us.”
“It’s like Sam said in the lab,” Jax said, “You’re an optimist, Alex. You don’t give up.”
I didn’t mention the fact that I had been about to take my own life when I had seen an opportunity to get into the compound and seized it. Maybe I would never tell anyone that, not even Lucy.
I took a seat next to Jax and said, “Thanks for trusting me.”
She smiled. “Thanks for saving my life.”
Her face was drawn into a grimace of pain, the skin beneath her eyes dark and blotchy.
“Are you okay?” I asked her.
She nodded and gave me a tight-lipped smile. “I will be. Once I get the antivirus. The stomach pain is still there, and I’ve been having… strange thoughts.”
“Strange thoughts?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “We’re on our way back to the island. Everything will be fine.”
I smiled at her but I wasn’t going to relax until we’d all been injected with the antivirus. My optimism only went so far.
Only when the antivirus was pumping through our veins would this nightmare be over.
Chapter Twenty
Apocalypse Island looked different from the air. I had gone up to the cockpit, impatient to get to the island, and unable to sit on the seats because I was full of adrenaline. Through the windshield, I saw the island, sitting solidly in a rough sea beneath the sun.
When we had approached it in the boats, it had seemed a dangerous place, surrounded by lethal spurs of rock that would tear up any boat that came too close. The cliffs had looked daunting and impenetrable.
From the air, Apocalypse Island looked neat and green, the woods covering almost the entire area except for the central grassland where Site Alpha One stood. From up here, you would never guess that zombies and hybrids lurked in those woods.
Sam pointed out the area where the two Chinooks sat by the hangar. One of those choppers was supposed to come and collect us from Site Alpha Two tomorrow. It would have been much too late by then.
“Take
her down over there, man,” Sam told the pilot.
We descended gently, the rotors kicking up dust and flattening the surrounding grass as the pilot took us down. I opened the side door. Doctor Colbert and Jax climbed out, followed by Tanya and myself. I heard Sam say to the pilot, “Remember, man, this place doesn’t exist. You were never here,” before he climbed out to join us.
The Chinook took to the sky, turned toward the mainland, and flew out of sight. I wondered what the pilot and co-pilot were going to tell their superiors when they returned. I was sure they’d come up with a plausible story that didn’t involve being hijacked and forced to fly to a secret island.
The hangar door opened and Hart came walking out with a handful of his men. He didn’t seem surprised to see us at all. He had told me before we’d left here that he thought we were resourceful. Our presence here now simply proved him right.
“Alex,” he said, standing with his hands on his hips. “You’re early.”
“We have the H1NZ1,” I said, handing him the backpack. “The scientists need to work on the antivirus right now. We don’t have much time.”
Doctor Colbert stepped forward and explained that we only had a few hours left. She volunteered to help the scientists, some of whom she knew, to produce the antivirus.
“You’ll have to be isolated,” Hart told us. “It’s purely a precaution. Now that we know the real speed at which the pure virus works, we can’t take any chances. We’ll have the antivirus ready in an hour, so you won’t be waiting long.”
We were taken to the rooms downstairs and locked in. I paced around my room, but I didn’t feel anywhere near the level of anxiety I had felt the last time I was in here. Then, I had thought that I had nothing more than a slim chance of saving Lucy. Now, she was hours away from a cure.
Undead Rain (Book 3): Lightning (Fighting the Living Dead) Page 11