by Hilaire, Tes
I turn my attention back to the debate that has lowered into hissed whispers and accusations. Convict has moved past the obvious complication my tits are going to cause and is now centering his argument around my lack thereof. In other words, he’s not going to be a babysitter. I find it hard not to scoff at this. They don’t realize it yet, but they need me as much as I need them. Theirs is a losing battle. Even if they do win this war, manage to eradicate the zombie threat, they’ll find there is a new war ready and waiting to be waged. And I, believe it or not, am their herald and their salvation all rolled into one. If I can gain their trust.
I glance at the ticking clock on the far wall of the bunker, then back at the other team members who have settled into various positions of repose. If their resigned faces are any indication, they expect this argument to go on for a while. They must be far more patient than I. Standing here twiddling my thumbs is not what I’ve signed on for. I push off the wall and clear my throat, drawing the attention of every eye in the room.
“With all due respect, sir,” I address Marine, knowing full well that to Convict it will be another insult on top of the one I’m about to deliver. “If your men are going to have such a hard time working with me, then maybe I should go in alone.”
“Alone?” Convict scoffs, not even glancing at me as he shakes his head.
I cross the room, planting my feet well within his personal space in a demand he look at me. Works. Hard brown eyes glare at me from under heavy brows. That’s nice. I’ve already been through far worse than what that look promises.
“I’ve been told you have men alive down there. Alive and uninfected. How much longer do you want to sit here and debate this? How much longer do you think those men have?”
***
So that’s how I find myself on this metal lift now, Glock in hand, my grandfather’s Sheriff Knife strapped to my thigh, and a wall of manly chests—yup, even the woman’s chest is manly—barring my view of anything. Talk about claustrophobic. Good thing I’m not.
I crane my neck upward, studying the profiles of my companions. There are six of us total. Convict seems to have the authority but Scarface She-Ra is a close, albeit silent, second in command. Then there is Roy. Besides me, he’s the youngest of the bunch. Former high school nerd, maybe college. He’s tall, scrawny and with a face like a parrot. He’s our tech guy, or so I’ve been told. With the way he’s frowning down at the gizmo in his hands, I have to wonder at his skill level. There is also the latecomer, John, who met us at the lift with the guns. Beneath the camouflage face-paint he’s just that, your typical John Doe. Not too tall, not too short. Not overly remarkable in anyway, well, other than the powerhouse of weapons he’s carrying. I feel way underdressed for this occasion standing next to him. Last, besides myself, is Herbie. A bit short. A bit of a pot belly. And practically bald. He likes to snap gum and throw me winks over his shoulder every few seconds. Creepy.
I edge closer to Scarface and receive a sharp look followed by a roll of the eyes. That’s fine. She can think I’m a wimp if she wants to. I don’t need her approval. I’ll get that soon enough.
We don’t really know what we’re going to find down here. Just that it’s bad. According to Marine, the first alarm indicating a possible breach went off almost twenty hours ago, during the middle of the night. Expecting the danger to come from topside, he’d started issuing orders to rouse the troops. Almost immediately it became apparent that was a mistake. Dazed and confused, the soldiers from B-level sprang from their beds, carelessly running into the halls… and into the waiting arms of their zombie companions.
The theory is one of the men had been bitten by a zombie infected with a less prevalent strains. The S-strain as it’s called. That particular twist of the virus can take up to thirty-six hours to completely manifest and the soldier either hadn’t realized the wound he’d received was an actual bite—it happens in fights, injuries you don’t know the source of when the adrenaline is pumping and the world is going to hell in a handbasket—or he was hoping against hope that he was somehow wrong, or somehow immune. Definitely some wishful thinking going on there. I haven’t met a human yet who is immune.
Anyway, said soldier then goes back to his quarters, crashes, and wakes up a zombie. Maybe there had already been some blood to blood transfer between him and his comrades when they were tidying up after the mission. Maybe they all decided to zone out, sharing a bowl of popcorn over a movie. Or maybe, after his nap, he shuffles into the cafeteria for a late night snack and, what do you know, starts gnawing on his friends. If that was the case, then I guess it took a while for what that meant to sink in as Marine said there had been at least a dozen fully transformed zombies roaming the halls when the alarm had finally been pulled.
Regardless, as soon as Marine realized the danger was coming from below and not topside, a full- fledged lockdown had been called for. Soon enough to save the other sub-levels, but not in time for the rest of the hundred soldiers who live and train on level B to get to safety.
That’s why we are headed down now. We have to get in, take out the infected, and see if anyone is holed up and waiting to be rescued.
I find myself tapping my foot impatiently. This is the slowest lift I’ve ever been on. And could the gray walls inching by be anymore drab?
Eventually, the lift stops, jerking to a halt before a set of heavy metal doors. Roy gets to work, plugging in his electronic doohickey to override the mandatory shut-down. The rest of us wait, guns raised and ready, eyes trained like watchdogs on the cut down the center of the metal.
“Got it,” Roy calls triumphantly. The crack splits open three inches, stops, then haltingly jerks another six before sticking again. Roy pouts. “Kind of.”
Convict grunts, his Harbinger tracing a frantic path up, down, back, forth, up again before his gaze locks at some point in the distance down the poorly lit hall.
Nobody home.
“This it?” I ask and receive an incredulous glare from Convict.
Okay, point for him. The flickering lights, the warbling alarm, the narrow hallway made even more eerie by its lack of occupants… not to mention the smell of blood. Yeah. This is it.
“Just wondering what we’re waiting for.” I try to cover, but not a single set of eyes seem convinced.
She-Ra takes pity on me though and leans in close, saying, “Brice likes to meditate before embarking on his ass-kicking routine. He’s very in touch with his feminine side.”
This receives a growl and a, “Shut up, Juanita,” from Convict, but he nudges the tip of his rifle against the stuck doors to see if they will budge. Nope. With another growl, he glances over his shoulder at John, jerking his head forward.
I wing my brow up as John brushes by me, stepping up to the plate. What is he, stupid? Doesn’t he know it’s always the minority character or the forgettable one who gets offed first in the horror flicks? And last I knew we’re living the biggest reality horror show of all time.
John must not have seen many horror movies. He squeezes through the slim opening, taking up position a half-dozen feet down the hall. Convict still seems reluctant to leave the relative safety of the lift. We wait. Ten seconds. Twenty.
Getting rather sick of this.
I start to push forward, but Juanita beats me to the punch, snapping out a chastising, “This isn’t a party, Brice. Don’t pay nothin’ to be fashionably late here.”
Convict glares at her, but stuffs himself through the opening and out into the flickering light of the hall, taking up post two feet back and opposite of John. All this time, John hasn’t moved an inch. Completely on task, almost scary in the intensity of his focus. Gotta admire his dedication, even if it is going to get him killed.
Juanita and I slide through next and move out, shoulder to, um, well her torso. Sucks being short. I can’t but hope this means we might have bonded though.
When we’re all out in the hall, Roy sets to work with his doohickey again. Moments later, the metal doors clang closed. Trapped.
You can tell I’m not the only one feeling this way. Beads of sweat have sprung out across Herbie’s brow and Roy’s parrot nose is twitching like it’s stuffed with gunpowder. Convict’s eyes are wandering like a tourist in Rome, and John, if possible, has gone even more deathly still. Only Juanita seems unaffected. I know I am. But in a different way. I’m energized. It’s been a bit since I last kicked zombie butt. Or fed. Damn I’m hungry.
“Okay. Let’s move out.”
Guess Convict has decided to stop sitting on his thumb. He starts forward, motioning with a quick jerk of his hand for John to flank him.
We follow. Juanita falls in behind them leaving me beside twitchy Roy and Herbie, who are obviously not cut out for this sort of mission. Herbie is sweating so bad that every few steps he stops, his gun drooping down as he wipes one or the other sweaty palm on his cargo pants. Sad thing is, I’m betting that unlike John, this schmuck will have the self-preservation instincts to get if the going gets tough.
We reach the end of the hall. Before us is another locked metal door. If the schematics we poured over before we took to the lift are right, in front of us will be the mess hall for this floor. From there will be three other doors: one in the back that leads to the storage and service areas and one on each side to the living quarters.
“Ready?” John asks, his eyes dark and stoic in his camouflage painted face.
“Let’s rock and roll,” Convict says.
John pulls a key card out of the back pocket of his cargo pants and swipes it through the reader. Now that we’ve gotten past the blast doors exiting the lift, the cards we’ve been given should open the rest of the doors down here.
The light flashes green. John quickly bends down on his knee giving both Convict and Juanita clear shots above him, which leaves me bobbing to see around them. The panel slides back. Yup. There be zombies.
Rapid gunfire erupts, covering the zombies’ shuffling and moans. The two closest go down, then another, and another. The room is clear before I can even count them. John stands and moves into the room, the muzzle of his rifle dancing between the lumps of bodies on the floor. One must not be dead because he raises the barrel and pops off two shots into the head.
Maybe John Doe will last a bit longer in this movie than I thought.
“Secure,” John says, but doesn’t lower his gun. Convict and Juanita take a step inside, I squeeze in behind them, looking down at the nearest zombie. Definitely dead. Doesn’t stop my stomach from growling, trying to claw its way up my esophagus into my throat.
Down girl. Plenty more where these came from. And I prefer to feed in private if possible.
Juanita seems particularly interested in identifying the corpses, peering into faces and even patting down the bodies to find identification on the two whose heads have been blown off. She finishes with the last one and looks up at Convict.
“He’s not here.”
Convict nods. “We have a lot of area to cover. We’re going to have to split up.”
An uneasy hush falls in the room. Guess no one is stupid enough to not realize this is a risky tactic, no matter how necessary. That is, necessary if we hope to find any survivors holed up down here, maybe in a heating duct, or a locked closet or something. In general zombies are pretty stupid, acting on instinct alone. But when their stomachs are controlling those instincts there isn’t much that can stop them. We have to get in and get any survivors out and into quarantine. Quick.
“You’re with me, kid,” Juanita says, gesturing me over with her gun.
I curl my lip at being called a kid, but move up to flank the other side of the door she’s standing by. Her card isn’t working. Figures. That is going to make things definitively more difficult.
“Come on, Roy! You might have all day, but the survivors down here don’t!” Juanita says, then presses some more random buttons. Wow, a woman as blood-thirsty as I. Gotta love that.
Herbie and Roy are still doing their little back-to-back dance, sweat drenched and shaking. I glance in time to see them exchange a meaningful look, which is followed by a quick nudge to Roy’s doohickey. My eyes narrow. These boys are as tight as sticky Chinese rice, and I don’t trust them anymore than I would a hawker in Chinatown either.
Convict is considering them intently, his brows drawn together and his top lip sucked in between his teeth. Could it be that he isn’t completely incompetent? I’d say he knew these two better, but I am starting to think that at least Roy and maybe Herbie are not typically members of this team. Had to wonder who they’d replaced…and what happened to them.
Same thing that happens to everyone in this world, Eva. The big bite, or the big bang-bang. Unless… I look across the dented metal at Juanita. Her face is drawn tight, emphasizing compressed lips and a feverish determination in her eyes. She knows someone down here.
“Roy!” she snaps again.
“I’m coming, I’m coming.”
“No.” The voice is deadly low, and carries more weight than all the cement and dirt above us. Everyone stills, eyes training in on Convict. “Change of plans. I want Herb with Juanita and Roy with Eva. John will remain with me.”
I eye my new partner warily. His nose is ticking again. Nope. I don’t trust Roy any farther than I can throw him. Which, since I haven’t fed in a while, isn’t all that far.
John looks at me, then Roy as if concluding the same thing—at least about my abilities. “Sir, with all due respect—”
Convict cuts him off, addressing Roy with an outstretched hand. “And give me the decoder.”
Roy scoffs. “As if you’d know how to—”
“Now.”
Tense silence descends. I wait, the Jeopardy theme tickling the inside of my mouth. This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad.
I sigh instead and swipe the decoder out of Roy’s hand. He yelps a “hey” at the abrupt move, but doesn’t shoot me so I figure I’m good.
Convict’s eyebrows rise. He wiggles his fingers. I ignore that too and jab the decoder into John’s chest instead. There’s a flicker in the impassive depths of his eyes, but he closes a hand around it and nods, confirming, in my mind, that I picked the right person. Out of all of the peeps here, John’s the only one level-headed enough to trust.
“What the…you little …. You think you can undermine my orders?” Convict makes a grab for me but I quickly scoot out of range. Just as quickly John is there, blocking his path.
“We doing this, or not?” he asks, offering the decoder to Convict.
I tuck my tongue behind my lips, unreasonably disappointed with John. Of course he would hand the decoder over. Convict may have been a bit of a jerk, but he was our quote, unquote leader and John obviously bowed down before authority. I’m thinking John must have been deep in training to be a “Sir, yes sir” grunt when the virus hit. Maybe I’m prejudice (having come from a family of scholarly sorts) but I’ve never understood brainless followers.
Sighing discontentedly I turn my attention back from my speculations. I don’t know if Convict actually answered or if the entire incident has just been brushed under the rug. He and John are bending over the decoder which is now plugged into the door Juanita was trying to get through earlier. Roy seems content to stand and watch, a sneer on his lips. The sneer falls off as the door lock clicks off.
“All right, Herbie.” Juanita pumps a round into her rifle. “Let’s lock and load ‘em.”
They disappear into the dim hall beyond, Juanita confident at point and Herb quickly falling further and further behind. I send her a dash of silent luck.
John moves to the back of the room and starts on the door to the service and storage areas. I note he has the decoder back in his possession and reevaluate the brainless label (though I still stand by the yes man bit). A few low beeps and the door clicks.
“You’re good,” he announces and moves over to the last door.
I shift my gaze to Roy. The skin around his nose is pinched, making the beak more pronounced. He’
s also developed a twitch under his left eye as he looks longingly at the decoder in John’s hands. Oh yeah. Roy had been so ready to aid and abet Herbie on the skip town and lock us in down here plan.
If there is one thing I hate, it’s a back-stabbing coward.
I don’t even bother to wait for my “partner” but raise my Glock and reach for the handle. The door swings open, revealing the kitchen beyond. Something has gone down in here. Plates are scattered over the floor, various food stuff strewn across counter and tile, and though I can’t see it, somewhere a pot is still on its burner, as evidenced by the acrid smell of burnt vegetables filling the room.
I open my senses, blocking out the scent of scorched vegetable soup and tuning out Roy’s rasping breathing. No smell of blood. No decay, though it would be early for that. And the only heartbeats in the room are mine, Roy’s, and the fading pair of Convict’s and John’s as they move away into their own area to search. But there…
My feet pad silently as I move past a pair of tall kitchen carts, one standing, one not. The kitchen opens before me. Along the back wall are two doors. One looks like a vast walk-in freezer, the other I’m guessing is a wide door to the storage areas. There is nothing in the freezer. At least, nothing alive. But behind door number two: Pay day.
I glance over my shoulder at Roy. He’s yet to step into the room. In fact, he’s backed up slightly, his gun wavering between the three doors leading out of the mess hall.
I smile, tucking the Glock into my waistband as I cross the kitchen. One lone zombie and a chicken partner. What better opportunity will I have than this?
I don’t even have to pull out my card to see if it works, the handle depresses under my touch—someone’s going to have to talk to Marine about doing some maintenance on the systems down here. I push it open and stride into another hall lined with doors that lead to the various storage rooms, zeroing in on the source of the stuttering heartbeat.
It’s noticed my presence, the heartbeat is not only getting stronger but I can hear the muffled shuffle of its boots across the aged linoleum. Taking a deep breath to settle my thudding pulse, I push open the second door on the right.