Caldera Book 4: Countdown To Oblivion

by Stallcup, Heath

  “I’m sorry, buddy. You didn’t deserve that.” He pulled him to the rear of the building and rolled him down a gentle embankment. “But I can’t risk anybody finding out I’m not dead.” He stood and glanced back at the camp. “Not yet, anyway.”

  Chapter 14

  “You get this chopper out of the zone if you suspect anything.” Hollis checked his weapon as the craft made a slow approach. He tapped the pilot. “I’m serious, Bud. You get an itch someplace that shouldn’t ought to itch, you put this bird in the air.”

  “Read you five by five, Captain.”

  Hollis felt the landing gear make contact with the grass and felt the air from the open door before he even spun around. He waved his men out, barking at the last three to set a perimeter guard, then he stepped out. Dr. LaRue waited by the door of the chopper for a helping hand down.

  She didn’t get one.

  She huffed, her eyes boring a hole into the back of Hollis’ head, then she hopped from the craft. She began marching toward the main building, a non-descript brick structure surrounded by security fences and empty guard shacks.

  She glanced back over her shoulder and saw that the pilot had landed them inside the fences, with only feet to spare from the tail end of the craft. She cringed when the thought of being stranded here struck her. She turned back to the task at hand and pushed the thought from her mind.

  “We’re looking for a BSL-3 lab.”

  Hollis looked at her questioningly. “Basement level? Great. No lights.”

  She paused and rolled her eyes. “No. It’s a Biosafety Level Three. You’d know that if you had ever done any real work in one.” She threw her nose into the air and continued marching, taking a certain degree of pride in knocking the man down a few notches.

  Hollis shook his head. “You’re right, doc. The only trained monkeys allowed in your labs are the test subjects.” He motioned forward and two of his men entered the foyer through the open security doors. “Secure the area.” He watched as they cleared every corner, then stacked up on the stairwell.

  “Stay behind us, doctor. Let us do our job so you can do yours.” Hollis nodded to the lead breacher. The man blew the security lock with his shotgun and the team flowed into the darkened stairwell, torches flipping on as they cleared the stairs leading up and down.

  Hollis turned to Dr. LaRue. “What floor?”

  “Sublevel two.”

  “So, I was right. A fuckin’ basement.” He squeezed the shoulder of the man ahead of him and the message was relayed forward. The lead operator began moving wordlessly and the entire team worked their way to the second lower level.

  As they entered the floor, the team stacked up into two groups of three, each taking a different direction. Hollis held Dr. LaRue back while the team swept the floor.

  When both teams returned, they reported all clear in the open areas. Some of the labs were still locked and couldn’t be cleared.

  “Looks like you’re on, doc. Point out the lab and we’ll blow the security lock.” She referred to her notes and glanced to the wall placard. “That way.” She pointed to her right and the teams worked their way down the hallway. “Lab 5-2S.”

  They stacked on either side of the security door and Hollis motioned to his breacher. The man removed the deadbolt with one blast and the second man kicked the door open. They entered the space and a smell that was nothing short of concentrated death struck them.

  Hollis heard one of the men choke as he tried not to vomit. Most pulled their shemagh scarfs up, covering their mouths and noses.

  “I need a sweep!” Hollis’ voice sounded off as he tried to breathe through his mouth. He swore he could taste the stench every time he took a breath.

  Dr. LaRue was already sweeping through the file cabinet closest to the desk as the men worked through the lab. One man approached and whispered to the captain.

  Hollis perked and followed him inside the lab. He saw the source of the smell. A person was restrained on an exam table, a bite-guard strapped their mouth. He approached slowly and tried to lift an eyelid. Although the eyes were deteriorating, he could tell they had been full of blood prior to death.

  “Looks like your researcher had a test subject in here, doc.” His tone was accusatory.

  She stiffened, but chose to ignore his barb. “Look for any files he may have had out.”

  “You didn’t hear me? Your boy had an infected person in here.” He stepped out of the lab and approached the desk. “Let me guess, he nabbed one of the first to get infected and was using them, right?”

  She paused and blew her breath out, trying hard not to smell the sickly-sweet stench as she breathed. “I’m not going to try to justify his actions.” She pulled the power cord from the laptop on the table and wrapped it loosely around the case. “But if any of this crap will help us find a cure, then I don’t care if he was clubbing baby seals, you understand me? It’s not our job to second guess what anybody was doing prior to the release, it’s our job to find a damned CURE!”

  Hollis looked down his nose at her then motioned to his men. “Gather up anything that looks like research notes. We’re bugging out in five.”

  He stepped to the doorway and she continued rifling through the desk. “I’ll need more than five minutes, captain.”

  “And yet, you’ll be done in that time or you’ll be left behind.” He scanned the hallways then checked his watch. “My orders didn’t include camping out here with the motor running, doc. Our ride will leave us behind if we don’t double-time it.”

  She huffed again then turned for the next file cabinet. She rifled through the top drawer when their radios crackled to life.

  “Captain, we have contact out here!”

  Stella eyed him cautiously. “What do you mean, settle down?”

  Savage shrugged. “I’m saying, what if we found a place where we could just…stop. Settle down. Maybe grow our own food. You know…live.”

  She sat down gingerly and wrung her hands together. “Without the others?”

  Savage shrugged again. “Maybe. Maybe some of them.” He looked up at her and smiled. It seemed foreign to her. “Maybe all of them.”

  She sipped at the instant coffee and averted her eyes. “What about the ragers?”

  Savage reached out tentatively and took her hand. “We’d be safe from them. Safety in numbers, you know that, right?”

  She nodded absently.

  “So, do you think you’d like something like that?”

  She gazed out the window at the children meandering around the playground equipment. “What about kids?”

  “Well, yeah. They’d come, too.”

  She turned back to him and he read the sorrow in her eyes. “I meant…what about…” she trailed off, unable to say what her heart so dearly wanted to know.

  Savage sobered and sat upright. “Wait. You mean like…our kids?”

  She looked away and nodded. “I know you’re gay and all, but—”

  “Woah! Back up the truck.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her attention back to him. “What do you mean, gay?”

  She swallowed hard and stared at him with wide eyes. “I haven’t told anybody, Savage. I swear. Nobody knows that we don’t…”

  He slid from the tiny dinette and paced. “You mean to tell me you think I’m queer? Because I haven’t—”

  “It’s okay! I promise.” She quickly lowered her voice and took his hands to keep him from pacing the small area. “I haven’t told a soul.” She probed his face for understanding. “I just…I want kids one day.”

  “Okay.” He looked at her expectantly.

  “And if you’re into guys…I was just hoping you’d still let me…you know.”

  He stiffened and his eyes bulged. “Look, I am not gay.”

  She nodded furiously. “Okay, sure. I believe you.”

  He grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly. “I mean it. I am not gay.”

  She shook her head. “I don’t care if you are. Really. I unde
rstand completely. My cousin is gay and…well, he was. I don’t know if he’s still alive.”

  “But I’m not.” He planted his hands on his hips and stared down at her.

  She studied him for a moment, then her face fell. “If you’re not gay…then…” She choked slightly and turned away from him. “Am I that hideous to you?”

  Savage could have been knocked over with a feather. He stared at the back of her head and he felt his jaw working, but no words would come out. He heard her sob and he did the only thing he could think to do. He pulled her to him and wrapped his huge arms around her.

  He held her and felt her crying in his arms. It broke something inside him and he turned her around to face him. He lifted her chin and stared at her tear- and snot-covered face. He wiped at her cheek with the back of his hand and whispered softly, “You’re the most beautiful gal I’ve ever seen.”

  She looked up to him, hopeful. “Then why won’t you…”

  He shushed her and pulled her into another embrace. “It’s not that I don’t want to.” He sighed and stroked her hair while he tried to think of the right words. “You’re not property.”

  She stiffened slightly and pulled away from him. “What?”

  He stumbled over the words as his exhausted mind tried to search for the right ones. “Simon gave you to me. That’s not…that’s not the way things are done. You’re not a thing. You’re a person. With feelings and—”

  “And what?” Her voice was barely a whisper.

  “And, I would want you to care about me before we…,” he trailed off, the right words refusing to come.

  She actually snorted when she laughed and she pulled him tight. He could feel her body shaking against his own and he wasn’t sure if it was laughing or crying.

  “Stella?” He pushed her back so he could see her face. “You okay?”

  She nodded and covered her mouth. She fell into the dinette and wiped at her face, laughter still slipping past her.

  “What’s so funny?”

  She shook her head. “All this time, I thought you must be gay. And you only kept me around so the others wouldn’t know.”

  “No.” He sat across from her. “I really like you. I just…” He clenched his jaw and ground his teeth. “It felt like I would be forcing you if we did anything. You deserve better than that.”

  She stood on the cushion and crawled across the tiny table. She grabbed him by both sides of the face and pulled him to her for a deep, passionate kiss.

  Savage was shocked and stared at her with wide eyes. He leaned forward slightly and kissed her back. When she pulled away, she was still fighting back the laughter.

  “Am I a funny kisser?” he mocked.

  She shook her head. “I’m just happy. I laugh when I’m happy.”

  He pulled away from her and stared hard into her eyes. “Why didn’t you just say something?”

  “Why didn’t you?” She leaned back on her heels and he felt the table threaten to tip. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to be with you? I was afraid you didn’t like me.”

  He shook his head and lowered his eyes. “I didn’t want to hurt you.” He swallowed hard. “I swore I’d protect you from that kind of pain.”

  She leaned forward and whispered in his ear, “I asked Simon to give me to you.” She saw the surprise as it crossed his features. “I thought you were hot and I knew I’d be safe with you.” She leaned over and kissed him again. “I just didn’t think I was going to be that safe.”

  He growled low in his throat and scooped her from the table. “You’re not safe any longer.” He carried her to the bedroom and tossed her unceremoniously onto the mattress.

  She looked up at him with a feral ferocity in her eyes. “It’s about damned time.”

  Charles’ eyes snapped open and he struggled with the leather restraints holding him to the gurney. “What the hell is going on here?” He pulled until the veins popped out on his forehead and his skin began to tear near the edge of the strap.

  “Doctor, you need to calm down,” a large man in white scrubs ordered. “You’ve been infected.”

  “Like hell, you idiot!” Charles pulled at the other strap and his face began turning red with the strain. He collapsed on the mattress, panting. “If I were infected, I’d be trying to eat your face, you wingnut!”

  The large man reached for his chart and pulled it up to his face. He flipped the front page back and pointed to the test results indicating a viral load. “See? I wouldn’t lie to you, doc.” He held the page closer and Charles squinted, trying to read the data.

  “I don’t believe you! Untie me now dammit!”

  The door was kicked open and the young female researcher whose name he couldn’t remember walked in, a needle in her hand. “You’re disturbing the others, Doctor Carpenter. I’m afraid you’ll have to be sedated again.”

  “Like hell!” He tugged at the strap again and the large man gripped his forearms, trying to hold him down.

  Carol reached over the pair and injected a clear liquid into the saline drip. “I would tell you to count down from ten, but…” she trailed off. Charles felt the fight abandon him and he collapsed under the weight of the intern. “And, he’s out.” She patted the man’s arm and clipped the chart back to the end of the gurney.

  “He looks like an overcooked bowl of oatmeal. Who’d a thought he was that strong.” The intern said, rubbing at his shoulders.

  “It’s the virus.” She watched Charles for a moment, then shook her head with disbelief. “I just can’t understand why his reaction is so different than other people’s.” She glanced at her watch then marked the time and sedative dose on the chart. “Keep an eye on him. If he burns through that quicker than normal, we need to document it.”

  The intern stiffened. “You want me to stay in here? With him?”

  She rolled her eyes, then tucked her pen back into her breast pocket. “Just check on him from time to time. When he wakes, let me know.”

  The man nodded quickly, then rushed from the room. She stared after him a moment, then fell into step behind him. “Why are you suddenly afraid of him? Is it because of his increased strength?”

  The intern paused and sighed. He turned slowly and avoided her eyes. “I heard how he got infected. By one of the test subjects that was nearly cured, right?” He shook his head vigorously. “The dude that got him was on the mend and the doc still got infected.” He hooked a thumb toward the isolation ward. “He’s infected. He may not be bleeding out his eyeballs or screaming like a banshee, but he’s got the bug.”

  She nodded, trying to follow his logic. “And?”

  “And I don’t want to risk that son of a bitch infecting me!” He stepped farther away and glared at the door. “He’s one of them types that looks down his nose at folks like me. He wouldn’t give two shits if I got infected, much less if he was the one to do it during one of his fits. Thank, but no thanks. I want no part of it.”

  Carol sighed heavily and nodded. “Understood.” She looked up and searched the man’s face. “Just check on him. You don’t have to touch him; you don’t have to interact with him. Just check on him; make sure that his saline is full and report to me if he comes to. Can you do that?”

  The man nodded, his face still full of worry and anger. “Yes, ma’am. I can do that.”

  “Thank you.” She placed a reassuring hand on his shoulder and he glanced at it as though she had wiped a bugger on him. He turned and marched out of the room.

  She leaned against the counter and rubbed at her eyes. “I need a raise.”

  “What took you so long?” Candy was nearly frantic and Vicky hovered, waiting for an explanation.

  Roger slid off the ATV and blew his breath out hard. “I ran into some trouble.” He searched their faces, hoping they would interpret, understand, and drop it. They didn’t.

  “What kind of trouble?”

  He stepped away from the ATV and lowered his voice. “I got made. By one of the members.�
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  Vicky waved him on with her hand and Candy’s eyes widened. “What happened?”

  Roger clenched his jaw and shook his head slowly. “I had to remove him.” Candy’s face dropped and she turned to walk away. He fell into step behind her, talking quickly. “I had to. I couldn’t risk him going to Simon and letting it slip that he saw me.”

  She stopped and spun on him. “What do you mean, let it slip?”

  Roger balked, holding his hands up defensively. “I may have…I may have convinced him that Simon had me working undercover. To try and flush out your group.” He waved at his face. “That’s why I shaved the beard and raided an LL Bean…to convince you I was harmless.”

  Her eyes narrowed. “And?”

  “And…I think he bought it. But I couldn’t risk it. I got close and I…removed him from the chess board.”

  “You killed him.” It was a statement, not a question.

  He nodded. “I had to.”

  Vicky blew her breath out hard and eyed Candy. “He did the right thing.”

  Candy’s jaw ticked as she tried to play out the scenario in her mind. Slowly, she began to nod. “I don’t like it, but you probably did.” She glanced around the busy warehouse, then turned for her office. “I’m glad you made it back okay.”

  Roger’s mouth fell open and he turned to Vicky. “What the what?”

  She shook her head. “Give her a little time to come to terms.”

  “It’s not like I had much choice here. I couldn’t risk—”

  “I know.” She wrapped an arm over his shoulder and walked him slowly away from the foyer. “Just give her time. This whole running things is new to her. She has to make a lot of adjustments and something like this is just too much at once.”

  Roger stopped and stared into Vicky’s eyes. “You know this isn’t me, right? I mean, I don’t do something like this lightly.”

  “I know. And so does she. But you need to give her a little more time to make her heart realize it. Her head knows that it makes all kinds of logical sense.”