by Dirk Patton
“Yes, sir. I think so. You were right about there not being any electronics. There’s a mechanical lock, or at least I think there is. It’s covered by a hell of a thick plate that has to come off first. Gonna take some time. You OK hanging on for a while?”
“Do what you gotta do, Sergeant,” I said.
Shifting arms that were hooked through the rung, I got a better view of where Johnson was working. He removed the light from his rifle and handed it to Rachel who kept it focused on the door. Handing his pack to her rather than putting it down on the bloody floor, he retrieved a small set of tools.
Fifteen or twenty minutes later the final bolt holding the cover came free. Johnson grunted when he removed the plate, turning slowly and dropping it onto the dead female’s corpse. Taking the light from Rachel, he pointed it into the new opening and bent to peer inside.
Waving her closer, he handed the light back and positioned her hand so it illuminated the spot he needed to see. Returning the tools to his pack, he pulled out a hard sided case and opened it. I got a look at several instruments that were obviously highly specialized before he selected two of them and turned back to the door. It wasn’t long before a loud click echoed through the shaft and Johnson stepped back.
“Wait!”
I shouted as he reached for the door. He paused with his hand in mid-air and looked up at me.
“We don’t know what’s on the other side,” I explained. “If there were a bunch of people that took shelter and the virus got to them, there might be infected ready to charge through the instant that door moves.”
“How you want to do this?” Long asked.
It took a few minutes, and lots of squeezing around each other, but we finally got re-situated. Long and I had joined Johnson on the floor of the shaft. Rachel was a few feet up the ladder. Not that she’d be any safer if we were overwhelmed by a tidal wave of infected, but because there just wasn’t room for all four of us.
I had attached Johnson’s light to her rifle, and since it was the only suppressed weapon we had, I’d be the first, and hopefully only, one to shoot if necessary. Long stood tight against my right shoulder, rifle ready in case I needed support. Johnson was waiting, hand deep inside the door on a lever that would free the catch holding it closed.
When I nodded, he pulled the release and leaned back to pull the heavy slab of steel open. He grunted, his boots slipping slightly, then the massive door began to move. Slowly at first, then it rapidly gained momentum and swung open on nearly silent hinges.
It seemed to take forever for a gap to appear. The door was incredibly thick. At least six feet, probably more. But it had been designed to protect the occupants from the blast and radiation of a nuclear war. I didn’t doubt it was capable of withstanding almost anything short of a direct strike.
When it finally cleared the jam, my finger moved to the trigger. I was ready to instantly fire if I saw anything that looked like a threat. Red eyed infected or Russian uniform. But all that was revealed by the light was a long tunnel with a highly polished concrete floor.
As the door continued to open, overhead fluorescent lights buzzed to life. I blinked in surprise. Hadn’t expected that, but wasn’t going to complain. Especially since I could now easily see that the tunnel was empty.
“Clear,” I said after a moment, then, “moving.”
I went forward, rifle up and scanning, though there wasn’t much point. The tunnel in front of me was long, at least fifty yards, and there wasn’t a single door that opened off its sides. It was nothing more than a blank corridor that ended at a T-intersection, probably only there for access to the shaft we’d come down.
Through the opening, I came to a stop ten feet in, Long stepping up next to me. Each of us kept our rifles at the ready, aiming at the intersection ahead. Rachel, then Johnson, came through behind us and they worked together to close the door.
“Sir, I think we should leave it unlocked in case we need a fast exit,” Johnson said in a low voice.
“Agreed,” I said without taking my attention off the far tunnel.
“Ready,” he said a moment later.
We set off, moving down the hall in a tight, box formation. Long and I were on opposite sides, shoulders brushing our respective walls. Rachel was close behind me, Johnson to Long’s rear. As we walked, I noticed how fresh and clean the air smelled. The atmospheric control system was definitely up and running.
I halted us a few yards short of the intersection with an upraised, clenched fist. Stood there for nearly a minute, listening. Absolute silence. I could hear my three companions quietly breathing. Someone’s stomach rumbled slightly. Wait, that was me.
With a hand signal, I got us moving again, slowly stepping to the end of our corridor. Approaching the juncture, I put my back against the wall and eased sideways with my rifle up and aimed at the steadily increasing field of view of the cross tunnel. Long was doing the same thing, the effect being that I was checking the open area to his rear as he checked mine.
Stopping with my shoulder at the corner, I cut my eyes to Long. He looked at me and nodded his head slightly, letting me know it was clear. I did the same. Carefully, we each stepped into the corridor and checked them again. Still empty.
“Got some kind of plaque on the wall down this way,” Long mumbled to me. “Maybe it’s a directory of some sort.”
I turned to see what he was talking about, and he turned to watch the area I’d been covering without having to be told. Damn, but I love working with well trained Soldiers!
The new tunnel stretched out in each direction from the one we’d just left. There was the occasional door, labeled only with a letter, a hyphen and a number. The closest door was A-83.
Knowing the military, that meant we were probably on the first level beneath the surface, and 83 most likely meant there were at least that many rooms on this level. Farther down, I could see what Long had referred to. It looked like nothing more than a slight variation in the wall, but on these perfectly smooth surfaces that could only mean something was attached.
Signing again, I got us moving in that direction. We passed several doors, the numbers incrementing from the 83 I’d already noted. How damn big was this place?
Passing A-88, I called a halt in front of a large sign. It declared this was the home of USSTRATCOM. It also had a directory, but no map. Lots of Lieutenants and Captains and had offices on the A level. B was Majors and Lieutenant Colonels. C was Colonel country, and D housed three Generals and a whole host of meeting rooms.
There were also labels for operations, space command, tactical air, and half a dozen other commands. Some were on the higher levels, but most were on the E and F levels. As far as I could tell from the directory, that’s as deep as the bunker went. But there could be a lot more facility that wasn’t listed.
And I didn’t care about any of it. I just wanted to find a way to the surface. We’d spent enough time getting in that it would be dark. If the Russians hadn’t already departed, we’d be able to move around and find them. Maybe. Unless more infected had arrived.
Rachel reached past me and tapped one of the first entries on the directory. Armory. There were actually three of them. One on A level, one on C and another on F. Someone had actually been thinking and spread them out.
“Think they’ll have some suppressed rifles?” She asked.
“Worth a look,” I nodded, checking the room number for the A level. “That way.”
I pointed to my left and we began moving again. We were looking for A-97. It should be right up ahead, but it took longer than I expected. As we kept walking, the doors were becoming more widely spaced. Larger rooms, I imagined, then slowed as I saw a bend in the tunnel.
We approached carefully, pausing at the corner. A-94 was right behind us, so we had to be close. Easing my head out, I froze and held up a warning hand for the rest. This was another long corridor, and only a short distance down its length was a large group of infected, completely filling the tunnel.
26
I pulled my head back and signed for a silent withdraw. Rachel and Johnson lead the way, slowing when we were a few yards down the corridor. I waved for them to keep going, wanting us as far away from the infected as possible. I was moving backwards, rifle trained on the bend in the hall. Long didn’t need to be told to do the same.
When we were back in the tunnel that ended at the airshaft, I positioned myself so I could see the length of the corridor in the direction of the infected. Everyone looked worried as they gathered around me.
“Infected,” I said quietly. “And a shitload of them. At least a hundred.”
The looks on their faces probably mirrored my own.
“What are they doing?” Rachel asked.
“They were pressed in tight around a door. Best guess, they’ve got someone trapped in a room. And they’ve probably been in there a while. The infected weren’t too agitated. They’ve had time to settle down.”
“What do we do?” Johnson asked. “Try another way?”
“Don’t think so,” I said, shaking my head. “I caught a glimpse of elevator doors and a sign for stairs. I might be wrong, but places like this will only have one way in or out, and that’s it. Maybe we could find another airshaft, but we aren’t going that way.”
“What about the people trapped?” Rachel asked.
“Don’t know there are people in there,” I said. “That was just a guess. And even if there were, we don’t have any idea if they’re still alive or not. There’s no way we can fight our way through to find out. There’s way too many of them.”
“What’s the mix?” Long asked, meaning males vs. females.
I stopped and thought for a second, trying to call up the image from my memory.
“I think more males than females,” I finally said. “All in Air Force uniform, but that’s to be expected. Males should outnumber the females, but I only got a quick look.”
“What if it’s the Russians in that room?” Johnson asked.
“Then fuck ‘em,” I growled. “They can stay in there until they starve to death.”
“We can’t be sure there aren’t Americans still alive in there,” Rachel persisted.
I hated to admit it, but the possibility that she was raising was nagging at me. And the more I thought about it, the more it bothered me.
Was this someone that had managed to barricade themselves inside? But what if they’d turned? There hadn’t been any uninfected people for quite some time. Then I remembered Titus in Mountain Home. He’d been immune. What if we’d come across another, and somehow they’d managed to survive? Shit!
I took a few minutes to explain what I was thinking to the group. Told them about the immune prisoner I’d encountered in Oklahoma, then Titus in Idaho. Rachel had heard the story, but Long and Johnson stared in amazement as I spoke.
“So you think there could be an immune in there?” Long asked when I was done.
“Didn’t say that,” I said. “I’m saying it could be a possibility. There could also be a rotting corpse inside that’s all that’s left of whoever hid from them. Or a rat could have knocked something over and the noise got them all excited. But whoever, or whatever, it is, I think we need to find out.”
I looked at Rachel as I spoke and she smiled at me. We’d been through this routine before. I’d get so caught up in trying to survive I’d not be thinking about the people that might need my help. She always managed to make sure I did the right thing.
“So what do we do?” Johnson asked.
I shook my head, trying to think of some way to get past the infected. All I was coming up with was a distraction. But how? If it was just males, Long or Johnson could lead them away and as long as they didn’t get trapped in a dead end, they’d be fine. However, there were some females in the group, and none of us were going to outrun them. But how many were there?
“OK, you three stay put,” I said. “I’m going to go take another look. Try to get a count of females. If there’s only a few, we’ll put them down with a rifle, then someone can lead the males away.”
“Sir, you know going alone is a bad idea,” Long protested. “I’ll come with you. Watch your back.”
My first impulse was to order him to stay behind, but he was right. If something went wrong, there was a better chance of survival if there were two of us.
“While you’re doing that, we’re going to go the other way and see where this goes,” Rachel said.
I opened my mouth to argue, but she cut me off.
“I wasn’t asking; I was telling you. You can order him to stay,” she pointed at Johnson. “But not me.”
I looked at her and she smiled back. Long and Johnson were doing everything they could to suppress grins.
“Yes, dear,” I said sarcastically, handing her the suppressed rifle. “Meet back here in fifteen, even if you haven’t finished exploring. And don’t leave this level.”
Rachel nodded and kissed me on the cheek before she and Johnson stepped into the corridor and headed away from the infected.
“What?” I asked when I noticed Long looking at me.
“Nothing, sir.”
He turned his head to hide a grin. Grumbling to myself, I ignored him and began leading the way down the hall.
We moved at a good pace for much of the distance, then slowed as we neared the corner. Taking short, quiet steps, we came to a stop just before the edge of the wall. Cautiously, I leaned out until only part of my head was visible from where the infected stood. I had one eye around the corner and focused on the figures in the hallway.
I didn’t bother trying to get a headcount. That was pointless. All I was concerned with were the females. And it wasn’t easy to pick them out in the crowd where everyone was in a uniform. The differences between male and female uniforms were subtle, even more so since everyone in the crowd was dressed in blues.
Dark blue slacks and a pale blue shirt. Men wore a tie and tucked in their shirt. Women wore more of a blouse style that was outside their pants instead of tucked, and no tie. Unfortunately, none of the females were in a uniform skirt, which would have made this much easier. I couldn’t rely on hair as the first few women I spotted had theirs’ up in a tight bun, or just cut very short.
So, in the crush of bodies, I had to try and spot the occasional form that was wearing a female uniform. It was even harder than it sounds as they weren’t exactly close to where I was hiding behind the wall. But slowly, I made progress. And came up with thirteen. That I could see. There could have been another thirty or forty hidden within the tightly packed mass.
Pulling back, I nodded to Long and we quietly moved away and returned to the airshaft tunnel. I had hoped Rachel and Johnson would be there when we arrived, but they weren’t. Long glanced at his watch as we looked around for them.
“They’ve still got four minutes,” he said. “How many females?”
“Thirteen. That I can see. There’s probably more that are hidden by males. And I think that group is closer to 200.”
“Shit,” he mumbled. “You sure we should try this? All due respect, sir, but we’ve got people back at the airport counting on us. Things go FUBAR down here and we don’t make it…”
“I haven’t forgotten, Sergeant,” I said, stealing a glance at his watch.
He looked into my eyes for a moment, then nodded when he was satisfied with what he saw. I started to say something else, the words dying in my mouth when I heard the distinctive sound of a suppressed rifle firing. It wasn’t loud, but in the near perfect silence of the tunnels it was very noticeable.
A moment later there was the scream of an infected female from the direction Rachel and Johnson had gone. I was already in the corridor, breaking into a run, when more screams erupted from the original group I’d found.
27
I pounded down the corridor, Long tight on my heels. We hadn’t gone far when I heard him curse, followed a moment later by several rounds from his rifle. The unsuppressed fire was
intensely loud in the hard surfaced hallway. If there were more infected that weren’t already aware of our presence, they were now.
Risking a glance over my shoulder, I was glad to see that he was still following. He knew better than to try and stand his ground against the females. Maybe, between the two of us we could have held them off as we thinned their numbers with accurate rifle fire. Maybe. But that was only if we weren’t having to worry about the other members of our group.
Behind Long, easily twenty females were charging after us. Despite the number I’ve fought since the attacks, their screams still made the hair on my arms stand on end. There were more screams ahead, from around a bend, punctuated with unsuppressed rifle fire. That most likely meant that Rachel and Johnson had encountered a group larger than could be handled with just her rifle.
“Grenade!” I shouted to Long without breaking stride.
“Got three,” he shouted back, then a moment later. “First one’s hot!”
Perhaps I imagined it, but I thought I heard the sharp impact of the metal body of the grenade when it hit the hard floor. Then, a few steps later, it detonated. A concussive wave washed over us, momentarily erasing our hearing. I glanced behind me again, without slowing.
Long had timed it perfectly. It appeared the grenade had only been a few yards behind the leading edge of the pursuing females when it exploded. Between the force of the blast and the razor sharp fragments it threw out, half the females were on the floor. They writhed, as if in pain, but I knew it was only in their efforts to maintain pursuit of their prey.
The overhead lights in a short stretch of the hall had been blown out by the blast. Before I turned my head back to the front, more females leapt over the injured ones as they emerged from the darker area.
“Save it!”
Long had been getting ready to pull the pin on a second grenade. While I agreed with his idea to use it, we might need it once we rounded the corner. I was worried about Rachel and Johnson, but as my ears recovered from the pummeling of the detonation I was able to hear their rifles still firing.