“What does it say?” Rafe finally asked.
“It’s a lot of data. I didn’t work on this stage as much. My part was to find the cures to these pathogens. But I understand enough to know something is missing here. There is a protein that is supposed to be in every test pathogen. That protein ensures the inability for the pathogen to transfer to humans, no matter the vector. Looking at this, I don’t see that protein was added,” Charlie explained.
“Ok. That I can understand. Maybe that step hadn’t been done before the mouse attacked Tammy?”
“No. The protein should have been in the pathogen before the idea of tests even started. Someone messed up, or....” Charlie said.
“Or, someone did it on purpose?” Rafe finished for her.
“Why would someone do that?” Charlie asked. She sat back, letting her long hair down so it flowed around her shoulders. She began to twist a piece around her fingers in a nervous habit.
“I said it before. Biological weapon.” Rafe said. Charlie cursed and pushed away from the table. She paced from the kitchen to the far wall and back again.
“How did I not see this? Were they having us create illnesses they could use against enemies? Maybe I just wasn’t the one getting the orders. I usually only worked on the cures for the pathogens. There wasn’t many I couldn’t cure. Those that I couldn’t, none were deadly, so it was never brought up again. I feel so stupid,” Charlie said.
“You aren’t stupid. They probably only gave everyone a small piece of the puzzle. If you had all talked about the work, the pieces would have fit. But it didn’t occur to you.”
“There were four of us on these projects, so each of us got different instructions. We all put our details into a specific file and that is where 'The Suit' could pull the information he wanted,” Charlie said, as she worked things out in her own mind.
“That’s how I would do it. For something you want to keep a secret.”
Charlie stopped pacing and faced him, her face set hard in determination. Her eyes that so easily gave away her moods, were dark and clouded. She was worried and scared.
“I need more information, Rafe. The pieces I pulled, they are mostly just mine. I never got enough time to grab any other information from the folder we worked in.”
“How do we get that?”
“Only one way. Without the internet working, we can’t hack into the system from here, even if I could have figured it out.”
“Ok. So, what’s the way?”
“We have to go to the facility.”
The next morning, Rafe rose with the sun after a sleepless night. He tossed and turned thinking about having to go back into town. The facility was a windowless box, which could easily be a coffin if they weren’t careful. Rafe argued with Charlie for hours the night before, trying to find any other way to handle the situation. Charlie insisted if she didn’t have the other information, she couldn’t attempt the curing process. Looking at the documents she did already have, she didn’t feel there was a positive chance of her fixing whatever had been unleashed on the world. Rafe didn’t understand the depth of what the infection was so he couldn’t feel comfortable with the risk. However, he did know it was important to attempt to fix what had happened.
He wandered out to the barn and noted that all of the snowfall from the previous days had melted away. The day promised to be clear. He hoped that was a good omen. As he robotically went through his morning chores, Rafe thought about the news they had watched flowing in. The TV reception finally stopped near midnight, going to a static. Rafe and Charlie had sat on the couch staring at the black and gray for a long moment before Rafe switched the TV off. The stories from around the country were the same. Violent attacks, deaths, the word zombie was used often. International news was only talking about the states. Some countries had turned away any planes coming from the United States. Rafe couldn’t blame them. If there was a way to stop the spread, he would do the same thing.
His mind wandered to his sisters again. Alex and Max were the smartest women he knew. Might have to add Charlie to that now, Rafe thought. Charlie was clearly brilliant when it came to the medical field. Even if this plague was created in her lab, it wasn’t her fault that it was released out to roll through the human population. Part of Rafe wanted to scold her for not asking questions sooner. But that was the part of Rafe that was like his father, who questioned anything the government did. Rafe knew working at the facility that he was involved in government secrets. He had no idea it was biological weapons being created in those labs he watched on the security cameras.
Back inside the house, Rafe took his coffee back to his father’s room. Charlie hadn’t come out of her room yet and Rafe hoped she had gotten some sleep though he doubted it. Knowing that walking dead people were wandering miles away, made sleep pretty uncomfortable. He set down his coffee and went to his father’s closet. A footlocker was on the floor of the closet. After pulling out drawers and sorting through things, Rafe had five of the knives that Mitch had used to teach him to throw. Rafe didn’t know what they would be facing at the facility. His hope was whatever died inside found its way out, looking for a new meal. But in the chance that he had to go in fighting, he wanted to be prepared.
He was shrugging into the shoulder sheath he had for the throwing knives when Charlie knocked on his door. He turned to see her studying his knives. He tightened straps that had loosened over years of non-use. Once comfortable he picked up his coffee and motioned to Charlie for them to go down and have more. Once she had a cup in her hand, she breathed in the smell deeply before taking a breath and sighing.
“Didn’t sleep much?” Rafe asked.
“No, you?” Charlie answered with a shake of her head. This morning her long hair was secured in a braid down her back.
“No. Coffee is the fuel for today. I’m not sure what we will be facing at the facility. Or driving around town.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. But like I said last night if I have a chance at this, I need more data. Nice knives by the way,” Charlie said, changing the subject of the arguments they had the night before.
“Thanks. It’s been a while, but it feels like riding a bike. Muscle memory and all that,” Rafe said. He pulled a knife and flipped it a few times in his hand to make the point.
The shotgun was loaded, and the extra rounds were added to the shell holder. Rafe reloaded his 9mm and added two extra magazines to his cargo pants pockets. He was sure he would never feel prepared enough to handle what they were going to face at the facility. Charlie loaded the truck with their bug out bags, just in case, and a cooler of food she put together. Rafe commented on how being prepared was coming naturally to her, to which she just snorted in response.
The drive to the facility was quiet. Along the roads, there were cars abandoned, crashed and smoldering. No explanation was needed for some, where the scene was clearly marked with blood and gore. The infected bodies found their meals wherever they could. Rafe drove slowly through a congested section close to town. The road was blocked by green military grade hummers, both with large caliber weapons on the top. Charlie gasped and pointed to one, where a hand was holding onto the gun still, but no other body was visible. Rafe looked away, finding no need to stare at the horror story unfolding in front of them.
“They didn’t know what they were dealing with,” Rafe said quietly.
“They should have. They wanted it created,” Charlie said defiantly.
“Maybe. But these soldiers, they are just following orders. They don’t know what happens up the chain.”
As they slid through the tightly packed vehicles, Rafe started noting a trend of bullet holes that ripped through many of the cars. Holes that size could only have been made by the weapons on top of the hummers. Either the soldiers didn’t care about killing civilians or there weren’t healthy people there when the fighting started. The situation haunted Rafe, a sick feeling gnawed at his mind. Something didn’t feel right about the scene. He tried
to shake off the distraction as they pulled up to the entrance of the facility.
The security gate had been obliterated by people escaping from the outbreak. The security guard station at the gate was, of course, empty but marked by bloody handprints on the outside and inside. Though the man was never kind to Rafe, he hoped he didn’t meet a painful fate. Rafe tried to judge the closest door to the lab Charlie needed. She realized what he was doing, and she pointed out where she always parked because it was the easiest access for her. He parked the truck and left it running for a moment, waiting. Nothing stirred around the parking lot. The door they needed to enter was closed in front of them, but blood marked the outside.
“When we get inside, you need to stay with me. And do exactly what I say. You see something don’t scream unless that’s the only way I’ll hear you. Try to stay calm,” Rafe said. He looked over at Charlie, who already had the crowbar in her hand.
“Got it,” was all she said in answer.
The pair approached the door carefully. Rafe continued to scan the parking lot for any threats that may be nearby. He guessed any infected would have been drawn by the noise and movement of the truck. But nothing was popping out from dark corners yet. At the door, Charlie swiped her badge. The power was still on to the building and security of the doors was still intact. Rafe wasn’t sure that was good or bad. He didn’t want to get caught against a locked door when an infected was attacking him.
The door swung out toward them. Rafe had his 9mm in his hand as he rounded the door to confront anything that was waiting directly inside. His heart was slamming against his chest, waiting for the first nightmare to jump out at him. The entrance hall was empty. But the pristine white was no longer. Blood washed the walls and windows of the labs. Handprints showed where people may have tried to pick themselves up or possibly the infected bouncing from wall to wall. Drag marks were on the ground, bodies dragged by the infected was Rafe’s guess. Slowly he stepped into the building, his eyes easily adjusting from the sunlight to the florescent lights still on inside.
The quiet was eerie to his ears. Though the facility was never loud, it was always full of people. Doctors, security, custodians, and suits wandered the halls day and night. Now it was silent. In the distance, deeper into the facility movement could be heard. It was loud enough to reach them at the entrance. Rafe knew it was infected bodies, with no direction, slamming into walls and doors. He carefully picked his steps around the blood splatters, pointing for Charlie to do the same. They made no sounds as they made their way to Charlie’s lab. It wasn’t before long that they reached one of the middle security doors. Charlie handed her badge to Rafe, who swiped it, cursing silently at the loud beep the reader made.
They stepped through and after two more turns, they arrived at Charlie’s lab. Rafe looked at the air shower, realizing that it would make quite a bit of noise when they stepped in. But once in, as long as no infected found out a way in, they would be safe for Charlie to gather her data. He looked back as Charlie grabbed his arm. He wasn’t sure where it came from, but an infected who was once a custodian was trudging toward them. Rafe didn’t want to shoot anything until it was totally necessary, knowing the noise would echo throughout the entire building.
He walked away from Charlie, pulling his hunting knife as he approached the infected man. Rafe tried to look at him without really seeing him. The man was a worker that was in the building during the day, like Rafe, and they had crossed paths a number of times. Seeing him now, flesh hanging from his teeth, blood caking his face and clothes, made Rafe want to vomit. He hung on to the idea that ending the man’s dead walking, was releasing him from the horrible existence he was trapped in. As Rafe reached the man, the infected had his hands out immediately trying to claw at Rafe’s skin. Rafe blocked his advance, sending the infected into the wall with a hard redirect. Before he could turn back to attack Rafe again, Rafe had sunk his hunting knife into the man’s skull.
Sadness washed over him as he leaned down to clean his knife on the man’s uniform. Rafe didn’t even know his first name but saw him almost every day as he decontaminated labs and took out the trash. Walking back to Charlie, he pushed her into the air shower and followed. The shower came on with a loud hiss and the doors locked while the decontamination happened. Rafe didn’t speak, though he could feel Charlie’s eyes on him. He knew she wanted to ask him questions, ask him if he was ok. He didn’t have the words for how he felt, so he avoided her gaze and avoided the subject.
Once inside the lab, Charlie went directly to the computer station that all of the doctors loaded their files on at the end of the day. Each small station in the lab had only a tablet for working throughout the day. At the end of the day they were required to take all of that work and put it on the network files. Rafe searched the room to ensure they were alone. The blood for Aiko’s kills a few days before was still dark on the stark white tile. He stepped around the murder scene and checked all corners just for good measure. They were alone in the lab.
A bang on the window from the hallway informed Rafe that it wasn’t the same case outside. The sounds of the keypads and the air shower had attracted two infected so far. They could see their desired meal and were working themselves up into a frenzy to get to them. Rafe watched them, studying their movements, their facial expressions. Teeth gnashed and snapped at the glass, with clearly no understanding of the barrier between them. Every few moments they were back up and slam back into the window. Rafe knew if the glass was anything less than what it was now, they would find a way to break through. He didn’t believe that showed specific intelligence, just luck that they would throw themselves against whatever was between them and food.
“How much longer?” Rafe asked.
“I’m trying to access the files now. Once I find what I’m looking for, it’s just a few moments to get the data to the external drive,” Charlie answered from the computer.
“We have a few guests. I’m not sure if the attendees will grow, so move as fast as you can,” Rafe said.
“Doing the best I can under the pressure of imminent death,” Charlie shot back.
“Oh, is that what it takes to get you moving? I could let one of these lovely guys in to visit?” Rafe said, gesturing toward the infected at the window. Charlie just looked at him with a perfect eyebrow raised in challenge.
Rafe turned away from the infected, doing the best he could to ignore the noises coming from them. He wandered the lab looking through things. A first aid kit caught his attention and he pulled it out to inspect it. Inside were all of the normal items you would find in a basic kit. He set it aside, deciding on a way to take it with them. It made him think of the large med bag that was in security. Looking back at the window to see now a third infected there, Rafe started to plan in his mind. He wanted to get to security, get the med bag. There he could grab a security badge and enter other labs. They would also have useful items. He didn’t doubt that he could handle the infected at the door to get them moving toward security.
Ten minutes later, Charlie felt she had moved all of the files onto the external drive she had brought. She tucked it safely in an inside pocket of her denim jacket. The same three infected were still at the window, their threat rising as they saw their prey moving around inside. Standing at the door of the air shower, Rafe told Charlie to wait until he was out and had ended the infected. She protested at first, but he asked her to just listen. With a stubborn huff, she crossed her arms, crowbar in her hand.
Rafe entered the air shower. The noise of the alarm and the machine whirling pulled the infected over to the door to watch for him to exit. He came out prepared, 9mm at the ready. He shot the first infected at almost point-blank range in the forehead. The body was blown back off its feet, knocking into another infected. Rafe pulled his knife and shoved it into the head of the infected on the ground. He left it before standing and heading toward the third who was just moving away from the window. He palmed a throwing knife and with quick precision the blad
e embedded deep into the infected’s face. The body crumpled to the ground unceremoniously and stopped its movements.
Behind him, the air shower turned off and Charlie stepped out with crowbar raised. She brought the metal whistling down on an infected that was coming up behind Rafe. The blow was enough to crack the skull and impact the brain, throwing the infected to the ground truly dead. Charlie stood there looking at Rafe as he put two and two together. He hadn’t heard the infected coming, as he was concentrating on the three in front of him. He realized Charlie had been watching his back from the lab and saw the threat before he could be bitten. He pulled his knives from the skulls of the infected and cleaned the blades, before sliding them back into their sheaths.
“Thanks,” Rafe said.
“Next time don’t leave me behind,” Charlie replied.
CHAPTER TEN
From a bunker miles away, 'The Suit' watched as the intruders entered the facility. As soon as the outside door was opened, an alarm had sounded on his system. Immediately the cameras were activated for him to watch the pair walking through the halls. When they entered the lab, he immediately recognized Charlotte Brewer, the nosey doctor that had been hired for the Mars Project. Of course, those hired didn’t know the project they were associated with. 'The Suit' found the doctors worked better not knowing the whole picture.
He sat forward in his plush office chair, watching as Charlotte went to the main terminal in her lab. She had a small black drive and 'The Suit' knew immediately what that meant. The separate parts they worked so hard to keep secret, Charlotte would pull them all together. It would be like a puzzle for her, but all of the pieces fit into a large picture that she would understand. The Mars Project.
Charlotte had become a thorn in his side a few weeks prior when it was discovered by IT that someone was taking information out on a portable memory drive. After scouring through camera footage, it was finally discovered that Charlotte was taking home her information. His men broke into her house but weren’t able to find the drive she was using. A search of her private computer didn’t show that she had been storing the information there. Now she was clearly adding pieces to her information.
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