Another panel near the high roof slid open. This panel was much larger than the other was and revealed a glass window behind it. A man stood up there behind a console. The guys jokingly referred to him as God because of his position, but in reality, the scientists were closer to that title.
“One at a time, you will enter the spray chamber…” the man in the high room spoke over some hidden speakers. Mathias tuned him out; he had heard it all before. Roy was probably the only one paying attention to the instructions. Unlike the grunts, the geeks didn’t get to go out all that often. Which was weird because they were allowed to own houses topside while the mercs weren’t. Someone tapped Mathias on the shoulder.
“Cole.” Mathias turned to find Chant standing before him. “Take this.” She shoved a bulletproof vest into his arms. “Hide it until you get into the sprayer, then put it on under your shirt.”
“Why are you giving me this?” Mathias quickly slid it between his bag and his back after he was sure no one was looking.
“It was part of my kit, but you’re going to need it more than I will.” Chant quickly glanced over at Edelstein, Coombs, and Roy, who were now giving her glances. “I’m sorry.”
Chant gave Mathias a quick kiss on the cheek and hurried away. Mathias and Chant had had a thing going for the last week or two, but the kiss on the cheek was out of character. And what would she be sorry for?
Suddenly, the whole room began to turn. The entrance was sealed off with a panel and the whole wall swung around so that it was on the other side of the room. Once there, the panel slid away again to reveal an ugly metal hatch. The company stopped caring about the aesthetics of anything outside the prep room.
“Silvia Chant, you’re first,” God spoke.
Chant quickly disappeared through the hatch. Mathias walked over to LeBlanc and East.
“What was that about?” LeBlanc tapped his own cheek. He had seen the kiss, although apparently not the vest.
“I have no idea,” Mathias shrugged. “East, you’re with her more often. You know what it was about?”
East shook her head and shrugged.
Mathias looked at the door Chant had disappeared through and scratched the back of his neck, just below his dark stubbly hairline.
“Mathias Cole, you’re up,” spoke God.
Mathias headed toward the door, which slid open. He stepped through and it slammed closed behind him, sealing out all light and sound. Trapped. A blue light came on ahead of him, the only illumination in the room. There were three doors that looked like they belonged on a submarine. Each of them had a light above it, but only the one on the left was on: the blue door, as it was called, because of the blue light. The middle one was the green door and the right side one was the yellow. You never wanted to see red; red was always very bad. Each door led to its own spray chamber and allowed for the processing of three people at once. Mathias walked over to the left side door and opened a hatch that reminded him of a garbage chute. He guessed it was symbolic, saying all his stuff was garbage. He dumped his pack, rifle, and the body armour into it. A conveyor belt inside started up and took everything away. He then began to strip off of all his other gear and clothing and dump them onto the conveyor as well. The only thing that stayed on him was his dog tags. He closed the hatch to the conveyor, shivering slightly from a chill that perpetually clung to the metal chamber.
Standing there naked always made Mathias feel very uncomfortable and vulnerable. He always expected some jackass, like LeBlanc, to pop through the door behind him yelling ‘Surprise!’ although it never happened. Today he felt especially uncomfortable knowing what could be going on topside. He didn’t have to stand there very long, maybe only a second or two, but it always seemed so much longer. There was a loud clunk and the door visually popped backwards somewhat. Mathias pushed it open and stepped through. He shoved the heavy metal door closed behind him and it sealed itself with a hiss.
This new chamber was tiny and even colder. The sides and ceiling were made of solid metal, and the floor of old-looking tiles. There was a sprinkler set into the centre of the ceiling and a drain in the floor directly beneath it. Once the door was sealed, the sprayer was turned on. Freezing cold disinfectant spray poured out of the sprinkler, making the tiny room fill with a torrent of rain. It wasn’t supposed to irritate the eyes, but it stung anyway. Mathias naturally shivered more and curled his arms to his chest on reflex but then relaxed and turned, making sure he got completely covered. Thankfully, the spray-down never lasted too long. When it stopped, another hatch popped open, and Mathias hurried through it, being careful not to slip on the slick tiles.
The next small room was just like the last, but without the drain in the floor, and with heaters in the ceiling rather than a sprinkler. A towel rack hung from one wall with fresh towels. They wouldn’t be fresh by the time everyone went through, but that was the advantage of having a last name that started with a C. The guys further down the alphabet hated it when large teams went out on missions. Mathias dried himself quickly under the heaters and then moved into the final chamber before it got too hot.
This final chamber was slightly bigger than the last two. The conveyer belt ended here and dumped everything into a bucket. Mathias had no idea what kind of decontamination his stuff went through, but everything always smelled like cheese. Whatever it was, nothing ever came out damaged and it was always dry. He quickly got dressed, making sure to put on the vest Chant gave him underneath his black T-shirt. It was a little itchy, being directly against his skin, but he didn’t mind. He was more concerned about how hot it would get. Thankfully, Keystone was on the cutting edge, and their vests breathed more than the standard kind did. They were slimmer too, so it was likely that no one would notice. He put his pack back on and slung his rifle over his shoulder once more. He thought it stupid that you were issued the rifle, and then sent it through decontamination. It was so pointless. Why didn’t you just get it on the other side? He had never known the mercenaries to need guns inside the complex, even during the rat hunt. They were given heavy gloves and cages for those because the company wanted them captured alive. Mathias often wondered how the other rats had gotten out. The place was supposed to be completely sealed against everything. So far, no one had given him a sensible answer to that
Once he was ready, he walked up to the final door. There was a slot in the wall next to the door with a little screen above it. Mathias stuck his arm into it and felt the sharp prick of needles. Some of his blood was taken for quick testing. The screen lit up green with a cheesy little thumbs up icon. Mathias was then able to open the door and head into a much larger room. Chant was already there, waiting.
“Hey. Is there something you should be telling me?” Mathias asked her. Even the way she was standing was out of the ordinary. Something was going on.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then the right side door opened and Coombs came through. He must have dried quickly and dressed at lightning speed to be through so fast. Chant closed her mouth again. Whatever it was she wanted to say, she couldn’t say it in front of Coombs.
They stood around in the ugly utility room while they waited for everyone, an uncomfortable silence in the air. You could tell that the big wigs never had to go through this way. There wasn’t even good lighting, just a bare bulb on a wire. The big wigs went through ‘heaven’, the upper area where God resided. No one Mathias personally knew had ever been up there, but apparently, it was completely sealed and separate from the labs it looked down upon, so they never had to worry about containment protocols. As if those protocols really mattered now. The worst thing that could get out did. Well, maybe not the worst. Mathias had heard rumours that there was a disease down here that would make you feel sicker than anything you could imagine, for three days, but then you’d feel fine. After feeling fine for about a week, and transmitting the disease to others, you’d just drop dead of sudden massive organ failure. That could be worse than zombies. Maybe.
Ev
entually, the whole team came through, Roy being last. He looked a little harassed or something. He clearly didn’t visit home very often and wasn’t used to the procedure. Maybe once every other month or so. The mercenaries were used to it, as they had to go in and out all the time for various exercises and the occasional field mission. Mathias remembered one day when they must have gone in and out about five times.
“Move out!” Edelstein barked. He was usually put in charge of missions, not because he was a good leader or anything, but because he was an ambitious suck-up and always did as he was told by the higher ups. Mathias hated him and usually tried to piss him off, but today he thought he’d follow along until the opportunity came to ditch.
They went through a normal door for once and entered a large garage. Next to them was another door that led to more spray chambers, but in reverse order for those coming back inside. The garage was filled with an odd variety of vehicles with different purposes. Some were special vehicles built by Keystone, while others were simply normal civilian cars. The group headed toward a large, green military truck. They didn’t use the military gear too often because it looked suspicious, but apparently, they decided stealth wasn’t a big deal today. Coombs climbed into the driver seat, while Roy went around to the passenger side. This meant Mathias had to climb into the back with the others. The benches on either side of the canvassed rear were uncomfortable, and there wasn’t much to hold on to. Nobody liked sitting back there, but today nobody complained about it. Edelstein took up a position near the tailgate; he was watching everyone closely. Something was going on, but Mathias couldn’t figure out what. There was some piece of the puzzle he was missing that he couldn’t figure out on his own.
The truck’s engine started with a grumbling roar, and they began moving. They crossed the lot and passed through a massive pair of blast doors. They were large enough for a tank to drive through, because the company actually had a tank. Mathias had always dreaded the day when they would need it. The truck rumbled its way up a long, spiral ramp. They passed several pairs of blast doors just standing open until the horrible day came when they might be needed. If there was ever a blast that required all these doors, then there was sure to be nothing left of the world above but ash and fire. Keystone was big on overkill. The final door they passed through lead outside into the woods. A great big slab of stone lifted to reveal the entrance, and they bounced down a dirt road toward town.
Mathias and the others in the back tried to stay in place on the benches, but with very little to hold onto, and major bumps in the road, this wasn’t an easy task. They all sighed with relief when they got onto pavement.
“So this girl ends up in heaven, right?” LeBlanc started to say.
“Oh, God, not another one of your stupid jokes,” Chant sighed.
“Shut up, I haven’t told you this one yet. So she’s in heaven.” LeBlanc always told jokes when they drove somewhere. Sometimes they were funny, sometimes they weren’t. “And St. Peter is like, ‘Welcome to heaven. We only have one rule here: don’t step on the ducks.’ So this chick’s thinking, sounds easy enough, right? Little did she know that heaven is full of ducks. Like, super full. Ducks everywhere. So she’s trying not to step on these ducks, but there’s just so many. Eventually, she steps on one, of course.”
“Of course,” Mathias grinned.
“So St. Peter walks up to her, shaking his head. ‘You stepped on a duck,’ he says. ‘I’m sorry,’ says the chick, ‘What happens now?’ ‘Well,’ says St. Peter, ‘you have to be chained up to this annoying and ugly man for the next week.’ Of course, the chick doesn’t think that was too bad at first. By the end of the week though, she was so pissed. He really was annoying and ugly. After that, she was even more careful about the ducks. St. Peter had said the punishment would be worse if she did it again. So she’s being real careful, watching out for all these ducks. But wouldn’t you know it…”
“She steps on a duck?” Mathias actually liked LeBlanc’s jokes, even if they were stupid.
“Yup. So St. Peter comes back shaking his head again. This time the chick is chained to an even uglier guy who’s even more annoying. And she’s told she’s going to be chained to him for a month. Total disaster right? Of course, she’s super-pissed off and annoyed by the time the month is through. After that, she’s real careful about the ducks. She tries her absolute hardest not to step on any of them. And she does a really good job. She goes a long time without stepping on any ducks. One day St. Peter comes up to her with this gorgeous looking guy in tow. He chains her up to the guy and then walks away without saying a word. ‘Wow,’ says the chick, ‘What did I do to deserve this?’ The guy replies, ‘I don’t know about you, but I stepped on a duck.”
Mathias started laughing. The girls rolled their eyes but East was clearly trying not to laugh, hiding her mouth behind her hand but giving it away in her eyes. Edelstein sat like a rock with no reaction. He had zero sense of humour.
“Oh, I got another good one too,” LeBlanc grinned.
* * *
The ride continued with LeBlanc telling bad jokes the whole way. He was a well of never-ending jokes; Mathias couldn’t recall ever hearing the same one twice. He wondered where he had learned them all. Eventually they reached their destination and the jokes dried up. Once the truck stopped, Edelstein dropped the tailgate, and they piled out. Mathias’s legs felt numb from the constant vibrations. Clearly, Chant’s felt the same; she nearly fell over when she hopped out. Mathias took a quick look around. They were at the elementary school. LeBlanc walked over and stood with him.
“Either Roy upgraded his place or I was lied to about this mission,” he said.
“We’re closer to my brother though, so I don’t care.” Mathias knew exactly where they were in relation to the house Danny currently lived in. This was his school after all.
“You two!” Edelstein barked.
Mathias and LeBlanc turned to face him.
“Stay out here and guard the truck with East,” he ordered. He grabbed the equipment with Coombs, Chant, and Roy, and they all headed into the building. Chant gave Mathias one last, sad look before disappearing into the school, her golden hair flashing in the sunlight.
“So I guess they are cutting us loose,” East smiled, clearly having thought it couldn’t be true.
“It just doesn’t seem right to me that they would,” Mathias frowned. Something was very wrong.
“I need to piss.” LeBlanc walked around to the back of the truck, ignoring Mathias’s misgivings. Mathias heard him unzip and then heard him peeing. He was probably peeing on the tire.
Suddenly there was a small flash and a crack from an open, upper window, and East’s chest exploded. Mathias reacted on instinct, reaching for his pistol, but something heavy slammed into his own chest, knocking the wind out of him and dropping him to the ground. A sniper. His chest was on fire but he managed to get his pistol out anyway. He opened fire on the window where he had seen the flash. Unlike the sniper’s rifle, his pistol wasn’t silenced, and the sound boomed across the play yard.
There was a movement of curtain as the sniper hid from Mathias’s shots, the glass around the open window cracking and breaking. Mathias had no breath to warn LeBlanc, but he got it anyway. LeBlanc had zipped up and come back around the truck when he heard Mathias’s shots. He now grabbed the handle at the top of Mathias’s bag and dragged him into cover behind the truck just as Coombs and Edelstein came back out of the school. One of them opened fire with a rifle, the bullets shredding and pinging into the side of the truck. Mathias gasped for air and clutched at his chest.
“You’re all right, buddy.” LeBlanc patted his shoulder. He dropped to his stomach and fired his own rifle underneath the truck. There was a loud grunt. LeBlanc must have gotten one of them in the legs. Probably whoever had the rifle because the sound of the shots stopped. Mathias had to hand it to the guy for not screaming.
The world was then filled with a terrifyingly familiar roar. Mathias w
as suddenly wrapped in heat.
“Gotta go!” LeBlanc hauled Mathias up to his feet. “Head for the playground equipment, it’s the only cover between here and the fences!”
Keeping their heads down, the two of them took off running. Mathias was still gasping, but burning lungs were better than burning flesh. The bastards were using a flame-thrower on them. There was another roar as napalm was launched in their direction. Thankfully, even the Keystone brand of flame-throwers had range limits, and, as a plus, all the fire and smoke were giving them cover from the sniper. Just as they made it to the playground equipment, the automatic rifle fire started up again. Bullets pinged off the metal bits and made hollow thumps when they struck plastic. LeBlanc grunted as a bullet ripped past his thigh. He got very lucky that it was only a graze.
Whoever was firing the automatic couldn’t see them any better than the sniper, but he probably had a lot more bullets to spray in their direction. Mathias and LeBlanc didn’t dare take a breather amongst the equipment, because a stray bullet was likely to embed in one of them sooner or later. They continued on to the chain link fence, LeBlanc ripping his dog tags off as he went, to get rid of the tracker, and quickly climbed up and over it. On the other side was a small path behind a bunch of backyard fences. LeBlanc gave Mathias a boost up and over one of the tall wooden fences. He landed heavily on his back. His chest was killing him. LeBlanc was over the fence in a moment and dragged Mathias back up onto his feet. He didn’t want to run anymore, but he knew he had to. His vision was tunnelling, focusing on where his feet needed to go. LeBlanc led the way around the side of the house. He fired off a single shot as they neared the front.
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