by Jeff Olah
As Richard drove away from the house, Eleanor dialed her daughter and within a few hours met April and Justin out for the day. The spontaneous excursion included seeing a matinee, lunch, shopping and dinner overlooking the ocean. They spent the day laughing, smiling and enjoying one another. Justin was typically reserved with both women, although even he appeared to be having a good time.
The memory still fresh in her mind, Eleanor closed her eyes and concentrated on these images, as it was how she wanted to remember her grandson. Listening to her husband speak to the Laboratory Technicians, they hadn’t had much luck with any of the infected that were being treated. Though there was talk of optimism for the few that were labeled as being in Stasis, she knew better than to hope for anything other than keeping Justin alive. She opened her eyes once again, focused on her grandson and whispered to the screen, “Baby boy, please come back to us.”
. . .
The lock disengaging startled Randy as he leaned against the door, blood smattered from one side to the other. His arm had gone numb in the last few minutes as he watched the hall for any stray Feeders. He shook off the stiffness and twisted side to side, trying to get prepared for whatever came down the hall next. Letting Savannah and April know to be ready, he moved away from the door and checked his injury. With the amount of blood he had lost, he was surprised that he hadn’t slipped from consciousness more than once. The numbness began to creep into his neck as he struggled to remain focused.
Pacing from the counter to the door, Savannah continued to check the last row of monitors that showed Mason and the others about to exit the rooms less than fifty feet away. They most certainly would encounter numerous Feeders, although she prayed they’d get through without bringing any stragglers toward the lobby. Glancing one last time, her pacing stopped and her eyes grew wide. The soldier exited the room first followed by Parker, the woman in the lab coat and finally Mason. “Guys… here they come.”
. . .
To the right, six Feeders turned the corner toward them. In the opposite direction it was a clear shot to the lobby. Turning to the others Frank said, “Let’s go.” The group of four ran down the hall and as Frank stopped short the others slammed into his back, with Mason and Tessa falling to the ground. As they helped each other to stand, another horde of Feeders ripped through the door to the left. Mason was the first to his feet and withdrawing his weapon, turned to Parker for approval.
“Head shots…Go!”
Raising his weapon, he was met by Frank who had jumped to his feet and pushed past the others. Mason was able to get off three shots, taking out the first two before Frank leveled the next six, creating a bottleneck at the door. The ones behind began pushing and pounding on the large glass panel to the right of the door. Their decaying faces pressed against the other side, jaws snapping so hard the sound of their teeth smashing together could be heard over the hum of the air conditioning.
Helping Tessa to her feet, Mason moved backward down the hall as the sound of shattering glass filled the building. Frank stayed behind to give them some time and counted no less than ten Feeders pushing through the jagged glass of the window pane. With no regard for anything but their insatiable hunger, the first few that made it out of the room were met with a single shot to the head. Frank emptied his weapon into the first half dozen and the remaining overtook him as he was reloading. They pulled him to the ground clawing at his pant leg and his relaxed demeanor shifted into a controlled rage. As they piled in from behind, he drew his legs in close to his chest and kicked upward, throwing the first few to the ground and giving himself a few seconds to stand.
As Parker and Tessa continued toward the lobby, Mason doubled back to help. Approaching from behind, he was stunned as Frank finished reloading, swung to the right and knocked him off his feet. With the horde now incensed, Frank moved in and stood hunched over him. With the barrel of Frank’s weapon only an inch from his temple, Mason felt the heat from the rounds that had only seconds before left the chamber.
With Frank’s eyes wide and face flushed, he inched back the trigger, breathing heavy through his nose. Sweat dripped from his forehead as he snarled and twitched his nose. He was going to kill Mason as the trance that held him revealed something no one in the facility had yet seen.
“FRANK!” Mason screamed as he turned onto his left side. Pulling away and arching his back he could see Parker coming back up the hall, her face as pale as Frank’s.
“Frank, behind you!” Parker screamed as he was pulled backward and away from Mason. She grabbed Mason’s shirt and helped him stand.
Still confused as to what just happened, Mason went for Frank one last time, grabbing his collar and pulling him down the hall as the horde followed close behind. He fought to keep Frank upright as the group hurried down the hall, every step a battle with Frank not turning to face the group, his arms at his side and nearly tripping with each step.
Tessa reached the door first and spotted the others in the lobby. She turned to Parker and raised her eyebrows. “These guys ok?”
“Yeah, the boy’s been bitten, but he’s in Stasis,” Parker said.
“How long?”
Turning to Mason who was now trading stares with Frank, neither saying a word, Parker said, “It’s been hours.”
As Tessa reached for the handle, Randy, anticipating their arrival, pulled the door open and ushered them in just ahead of three Feeders only a few feet behind them. With everyone inside, he slammed the door and pushed his back against it, bracing for impact. He turned to look for Parker who was already at the controls locking down every door in the facility. Within seconds, the locks engaged and the group let out a collective sigh.
Tessa made a direct line to April and Justin as a loud crash pulled everyone’s attention to the middle of the room.
Their bodies hit the floor in a heap as both weapons slid in opposite directions. Mason struck Frank multiple times before Randy had a chance to intervene. Frank didn’t fight back; he didn’t move other than the reflexive flinches of his eyes and facial muscles.
Randy’s one arm wasn’t enough to pull Mason from his grip on the man getting pummeled below. It wasn’t until Parker stepped in that they were able to reign in Mason’s anger. Both men got to their feet and Randy played peacemaker by standing between them.
Hunched over, hands on his knees, Frank spit a mouth full of blood to the floor between his boots, shook his head and finally addressed Mason. “I’m sorry, I got lost in there and couldn’t see you through the mess of Feeders.”
Mason stepped forward, picked up the weapon at his feet and held it to Frank’s forehead. “Are you serious? You were going to kill me and would have if those things hadn’t grabbed you. What the hell was that?”
Tessa turned from April and moved to Mason’s side. She slowly took hold of the gun and looked Mason in the eyes. “We have to deal with this later. Your son needs help and it should have happened hours ago.” Turning to Randy and Savannah still holding Mason’s weapon, she continued, “You two know how to use these things?”
They didn’t answer; Randy simply grabbed both weapons and headed for the door, followed by Savannah. He whispered to her, “Keep your eye on Mason; I’ll watch the new guy.”
Taking Mason by the wrist, Tessa marched him back over to his son. “Are you done with that? Your son needs you right now and I need you to focus for the next couple of minutes and forget about everything else. Can you do that for Justin?”
Looking down at April, he said, “Yes.”
“Good, let’s go.”
88
Parker once again took care of locking and unlocking the proper doors within the facility, this time the group didn’t have to worry about coming across anything looking to do them harm, other than one another. As the locks disengaged, they crowded around the second door and marched in unison to what was referred to as The Cage. Mason carried his son near the front, flanked by Savannah and April. Randy stuck to Frank’s hip, not letting him get
one stride on him as Tessa led the way passing the side entrance to the Command Center, unable to see Eleanor from their vantage.
Only three doors on the entire grounds of Blackmore remained unlocked and the one ahead opened to the main medical research room that also doubled as a pseudo surgery center just weeks ago. Tessa reached the door first and addressed the group. “I’m only taking the two injured in with me. The rest of you need to get to the Command Center and patch me through the video feed. I will let you know what I’m doing and you can observe from there. I don’t have the time or patience to have any of you in here.” She turned to Mason. “No weapons beyond this point, and I need you to carry the boy and lay him on the table to the left, after that follow the others out.”
Kissing her son on the head before Mason walked through the door to lay him on the table, April continued down the hall with the others watching over her shoulder as Justin was strapped to the table, wrists and ankles bound for obvious reasons. Mason spoke quietly to his son before turning and helping Randy painfully climb onto the table next to Justin.
Waiting until Mason caught up to the group, April tugged his sleeve, pulling him close and whispered into his ear “What happened back there in the lobby?”
He didn’t lower his voice as she did; in fact he raised it wanting the others to hear. “I really don’t know… I really don’t care. We need to worry about Justin. None of this makes any sense. We’re getting some answers… NOW!”
As they reached the back entrance to the Command Center, Parker spoke directly to Mason. “Can you keep it together? We’ll explain everything to the best of our abilities. Can you just stay away from Frank until we get this done?”
“How about we find out what you have to say first? I’m not interested in anything but my family at this point.” The rage began to flood back in as April rubbed the back of his neck. “This man almost blew my brains out and you want me to what… stay clam? Let’s just get on with it; standing in this hall playing nice isn’t getting us anywhere.”
Raising his head to meet Mason’s glare, Frank, still shaken, blinked through the fog that still weighed him down. “Mason, I’m sorry.”
Mason moved around Parker before turning to Frank. “No, not yet… not yet.”
April recognized the room from the video feed and scanned the area, finally coming upon Eleanor. “MOM!” She ran across the room, moving around rows of desks, chairs and overturned trashcans before throwing her arms out and pulling her mother in close. They hugged and cried as the others followed Parker to the front of the room. Her mother pulled back and looked over her daughter’s tattered clothing and beaten body. April nodded, wiping the tears that carried the soiled mess of the last twenty-four hours. “Mom, I’m ok… extremely scared, but I’m not hurt.”
With everyone seated, Parker turned on the flat panel television and made her way back to the computer to insure that the proper areas were locked down. Returning to the others, she hurried to power up the tablet and sync it to what they were viewing on the ninety inch screen.
The first image to appear out of the grey static was the layout of the entire facility. It showed the six buildings and the encompassing walls of the compound. Three of the buildings near the back of the facility were overlaid in a red translucent flashing indicator. Parker warned that these buildings contained the most animalist Feeders they’d encountered. These monsters not only fed on humans, but also animals and each other. They couldn’t be sure of the status inside these buildings as the video feed was destroyed ten days ago.
Trying to show his displeasure for having to sit and be lectured to, Mason raised his hand as if in grade school. Parker acknowledged Mason and gave him the floor. “I have two questions,” he said. “First, how on earth do you still have power?”
“I haven’t been here since day one to confirm, although I don’t believe the power ever went out here. The way this facility was built, between the solar panels and generators, if it did go out we would be fine for quite some time. Also, the other buildings have been powered down to conserve energy.” Parker paused for a moment. “Your next question?”
“This was asked before and appears to be the elephant in the room, but where’s Major Daniels?” Mason asked.
For the first time since they pulled her away from the front of the building, Parker looked agitated. “I’ll get to that. Let me give you all a quick rundown of the area and what we know. Then I’ll get into some of the things that we don’t have all the details on… fair enough?”
Mason simply nodded and went back to studying the images on the screen.
Back to the tablet, Parker double tapped Building One and a digital blueprint flashed across the screen. She indicated which zones had become overrun and where the safe areas were. They’d used all the resources at their disposal to secure the Command Center, The Cage, men’s and women’s lounges, the kitchen and two other connecting rooms. Most of the rest of the building was off limits. She asked that no one venture into the restricted zones and explained that it wouldn’t do any good anyway as they were locked down.
Sitting next to her mother in the rear of the room, only half focusing on the information, April asked, “Can those things break out of where they are now?”
“The individual rooms have occasionally been breached, although the larger zones that are locked down have a T-Ten rating.” Parker said.
Before she was finished, a defiant Mason raised his hand and spoke before she even turned to her. “A what?”
Still addressing April, Parker continued. “In layman’s terms, anything short of nuclear explosion will do little to compromise the integrity of those individual zones.”
“Really?” April asked.
“Just about. We are safe… at least from those things, for now anyway.”
Pushing his chair back, Mason needed more. “Ok, explain to me what happened here, where is Major Daniels? Eleanor told us they took him, who are they and why did they take him?”
“Mason, I realize you are still a little shaken,” Parker said.
“A little shaken? What we’ve gone through in the last few weeks is beyond anything you can possibly imagine! My son is lying comatose in the next room and you think I’m a little shaken… You have no idea. We are here for your help, but it also looks like you could use our help as well. Why don’t you stop trying to make me feel better and answer the question?”
Taking a long moment to focus, Parker swiped her index finger quickly along the tablet until reaching a photo of six men in black fatigues, donning night vision goggles and shouldering AR-15 assault rifles. The image appeared to be of an area at the rear of the facility with a wooded backdrop, the night snowfall dusting the ground they traversed. “This… This is what happened.”
89
Beginning to come to, the pain in his temple was exacerbated by the ice cold water hitting his face. Blindfolded and nauseous, Major Richard Daniels struggled against the half inch nylon rope that bound his arms and legs to the back of the metal folding chair. Unable to speak coherently through the cloth soaked in hour’s old blood, a few distorted grunts were all that escaped. He didn’t need to see their faces; he already knew who they were and what they wanted. The pain he would be put through in the coming hours would be so indescribable; he prayed they’d just quickly kill him instead.
. . .
As she continued, Parker spoke directly to Mason. “We don’t know exactly who these men are, although we know that they were specifically sent for Major Daniels. We believe they are private security employed by BXF Technologies, the company responsible for the…”
“Yes, we’ve all heard of BXF Technologies, they pioneered the first lifelike, fully functional robot,” Mason said.
“Among other things, yes, they mass produced that complete piece of garbage that was obsolete before it left the factory. What they produced next slowly changed our reality, and two weeks ago devastated human kind forever.”
Now slightly more confused
than angry, Mason tried to clarify. “We thought this… this infection started with some project the military was responsible for. They were trying to make some sort of super soldier and of course turned it into a complete mess.”
Turning back to the giant television, Parker tapped out a few instructions on the tablet, bringing the live video feed from The Cage onto the screen. April and her mother gasped at seeing Justin bound to the table and Randy four feet away talking with Tessa. Another few seconds and the audio came to life after three audible beeps. They must have heard something similar on the other end as they both turned to the camera. Parker tested the feed, “Tessa, can you hear me?”
“We hear you fine. The video isn’t perfect, although we can see you and it’ll have to do.”
“Ok, I’m giving everyone a bit of a rundown of the entire situation from top to bottom and wanted you to listen in. If I miss anything, feel free to join the conversation,” Parker said.
“Perfect, I’ll keep working here and jump in if needed.”
Pacing back and forth, Parker continued, “The military had very little to do with the infection. The injection administered to the test subjects was engineered by scientists working with BXF Technologies. They met with the Federal Government years ago while still in the testing phase about the potential to sell them the end product. Of course this led to a world of other problems and the Department of Defense threatened to shut down the entire company.”
“Why?” Savannah asked.
“The potential risk of altering human DNA was something they weren’t interested in pursuing and saw no long-term benefit. When the Department of Defense said they weren’t interested, BXF threatened to relocate their entire organization to another country and sell to someone else. Within five years, an agreement was reached for BXF Technologies to finish work on the project with oversight by the Government.”