by J. L. Harden
Thomas does not want to believe in monsters and he does not want to leave his cell. “What’s the alternative? Running blindly through a maze? A maze that is swarming with the infected and monsters and god knows what else?”
“It’s the only option,” Kenji says, pointing to the labyrinth. “In there, we can outsmart them. We can outrun them. It’s your only chance of survival.”
“Survival?” Thomas says. “Are you kidding me? We’re not going to survive in there! We’re not going to last five minutes in there!”
Kenji is fed up. “Look, I’m not guaranteeing your survival. Far from it. It is a dangerous place. It is designed to kill. It is designed to confuse and disorientate. It is a death trap. But we can beat it.”
“Yeah, but you can’t guarantee it. You’ve been running around in there by yourself. Now we’re a group.” Thomas does a quick head count. “Nine people. They’ll find us in no time.”
“I can’t guarantee you’ll live,” Kenji says. “But I can guarantee that if you stay here, you will die.”
Should we stay or should we go?
They were both terrible options.
“We’re dead if we go in there!” Thomas says. “It’s dark. It’s a maze. And it’s full of zombies. Why the hell would you want to go in there?”
Should we stay or should we go?
I have already made up my mind. I am going.
“It’s the only way out,” I say. “It’s the only way.”
This is how we find Maria. We make our way through the labyrinth. We find the research labs. We find the main control room. The main communication room. The nerve center. And then we find Maria.
We kill anyone or anything that gets in our way.
This is what I am going to do.
I am about to tell Kenji that we should go now, and that we should forget Thomas because he is a lost cause. I am about to suggest that maybe we should load up with food and ammo and weapons and essential survival tools. A torch maybe.
But I don’t get the chance.
Suddenly an infected man falls through the air and lands on the hard concrete floor. He fell all the way from the top level, throwing himself over the railing. His virus riddled body is splattered and squashed and completely flattened, and it’s a miracle that it didn’t land on top of one of us.
We all jump back and crane our necks to see where the damn thing fell from.
We see more infected up there. Lots more. They are piling in through the entrance to the prison. They are being funneled through the narrow corridor that leads into the main cylinder.
“How the hell did they get in?” Thomas yells.
The man in the gas mask, I think to myself. This is his work. It has to be. It is a not so subtle hint. He is sending a message.
Hurry up.
He was forcing us into the labyrinth.
Why?
More and more infected spill out on to the top level. It will not take them long to stumble their way down the stairs, through the barricades. But then we realize they didn’t have to do that. They simply threw themselves over the balcony. Like the first guy.
Like a bunch of lemmings.
Ten floors.
One falls right on top of Thomas’s bag of food. Another one hits the concrete ground. And another one. Luckily most of them don’t survive the fall. They splatter on impact. They are flattened on impact. And the few that did survive were severely crippled.
We begin backing away, closer to the labyrinth.
“We have to go,” Kenji says.
I am ready and so is Jack and so is Kim and so is Ben.
Thomas and Harry are still hesitating. I’m not sure what Anna and Doctor Hunter are going to do. But they are wisely standing behind big Ben.
The infected keep coming, they keep falling. And eventually because there are so many, they begin to pile up. And this pile of zombies, this pile of undead flesh, softens the landing for the next infected body, and the next.
And the next.
Eventually they begin surviving the fall.
Eventually they begin getting back up.
The time for hesitating is over.
“Let’s go!” I yell. “We can’t stay here any longer. There’s too many of them!”
Thomas makes a lunge for his gym bag that he has packed with food. This is such an unbelievably stupid thing to do. I mean, I can kind of see the temptation. But come on, man. The bag is practically underneath a mountain of infected people.
Thomas is unable to retrieve his bag of food. Harry grabs him and pulls him away. And we all start backing away, closer to the one and only exit.
The labyrinth.
“We can clear them out,” Thomas says. “We’ve got enough ammo. We can clear them out. And then we can re-secure the prison.”
Ben raises his shotgun but Kenji stops him.
“No!”
“What?”
“The noise will attract more,” Kenji explains. “Stealth and speed are our only options.”
Ben reluctantly lowers the shotgun.
We are about to enter the maze when suddenly we hear gunshots. Lots of gunshots.
Rapid fire.
Heavy duty.
I look at Ben, at Thomas and Harry. No one has taken a shot. Thomas’s and Harry’s rifles are slung.
Who is shooting?
Where are the shots coming from?
What the hell is going on?
No more infected are falling over the railing. They are being shot.
By who?
Ben finally gets in on the act. No point in playing this quiet anymore. He takes out a few of the infected. The closest ones. The biggest threats. He is a goddamn surgeon with that shotgun.
Suddenly, more and more infected are being shot. Their heads are exploding. Their entire upper bodies are being shot to pieces.
The noise is deafening.
I crouch down and cover my ears. We all do. Except for Ben.
The gunfire is the loudest thing in the world and it feels like it goes on forever. In reality, it lasts for maybe thirty seconds. Maybe less. Whoever showed up with their guns blazing are good. They are trained professionals. They are using military grade weaponry. It suddenly dawns on me that even though they just took care of the infected and possibly saved our lives, the fact that these guys are military is not a good thing. I look up at the top floor. Standing there triumphantly, pointing the smoking barrels of their military grade rifles down at us, is a group of twelve soldiers.
Some of them are shirtless, their bodies covered in camouflage paint. All of them are wearing gas masks.
These soldiers are what are left of the General’s men.
They are the elite.
They are tough bastards.
They are the death squad of the Fortress.
And they have just saved our lives.
But this is not a good thing.
Not by a long shot.
Chapter 29
There are twelve men. Twelve soldiers. Some are shirtless and covered in camouflage paint. Some are dressed in full desert style uniform. Some are wearing bullet proof vests. They are all wearing gas masks. The man who appeared to be their leader takes his mask off. His face is covered in green and black camouflage paint. He is covered in sweat. He is breathing hard.
“Nobody move a goddamn muscle,” the leader says. “We have you in our sights and we have the high ground. Do. Not. Move.”
These men have no doubt just cleared out the entire horde of infected that were located right throughout the holding cells, and the interrogation rooms, and the administration offices.
They have been working hard. Working up a sweat. Killing is a tough job.
I wonder if they encountered the rogue nano-swarm that is now on the loose.
I raise my hands as a reflex. Jack and Kim do the same. I tense up as I feel the smoking barrels of the death squad’s guns pointed at my head and chest.
Ben has not raised his hands. He hasn’t even lowe
red his shotgun.
Neither has Thomas or Harry.
“Drop your weapons,” the leader of the death squad says. “No need to get in a fire fight. It will not end well for you.”
Ben reluctantly places his shotgun on the ground.
Thomas stands defiant. So does Harry.
This is not a smart move.
This is downright idiotic.
“How do we know you won’t just kill us?” Thomas shouts up at the death squad. “What guarantee do we have?”
“We are trained professionals,” the leader says. “We’re not in the business of shooting and killing innocent people.”
He says this with a smirk on his face and I get the feeling he is lying through his teeth.
Thomas is still hesitating. His gun is still raised and armed.
One of the soldiers turns on his infra-red laser sight. A red dot appears on Thomas’s forehead.
Another red dot appears on Harry’s forehead.
Ben tries to help Thomas and Harry. Tries to save their lives. “Do what they say, Thomas. You can’t win this. We have no choice but to do what they say.”
But Thomas is not willing to budge. “This is bullshit. How do we know you are who you say you are?”
“You don’t,” the leader answers. “But if we wanted to kill you, you’d be dead by now. All of you.”
And I believe him. One hundred percent. These guys are the General’s best men. They are the Special Forces soldiers that enforced his rules and his law when this facility, this Fortress, and this entire nation became cut off from the rest of the world. These guys are the muscle. They are the weapons. The spear head. The hammer.
Had they killed?
You better believe it.
Both Ben and Doctor Hunter had warned Maria and I when we first arrived here, that these guys had started killing people. They had started killing the civilians and all non-essential personnel. They were rounding them up and slaughtering them. This is how they had earned the title of ‘death squad’.
So when this guy says we’d be dead if he wanted us to be dead, I totally believe him.
The question is; when is he going to kill us? If not right now, when? What is he waiting for?
Why the hell is he letting us live?
Why are we still alive?
This is a death squad. We should be dead.
I sneak a glance over my shoulder at the dark entrance to the labyrinth. At this point in time, it is our only exit point. Our only chance of escape. Our only chance of survival.
“Come on, Thomas,” Ben says. “Lower the rifle.”
Suddenly, a selfish, awful, horrific thought enters my mind. Maybe Thomas could start shooting.
This would occupy the soldiers long enough so that the rest of us could make our escape into the labyrinth. Thomas and Harry would die. But we would live. At least for a little while longer.
I hate myself for thinking like this.
“Why are you here?” Harry asks with fear and desperation in his voice. “Just leave us alone. We’re not causing any trouble. We’re just trying to survive.”
“You people represent a problem for us,” the leader says.
“A problem?”
“Yeah. You people are spreading the infection. You are potential hosts. Potential threats.”
I do not like where this conversation is heading.
“We need to make sure you are not infected,” the leader continues. “We need to make sure you’re not going to be a threat to our operations.”
“We’re not a threat,” Thomas says.
“Well, as long as you got that rifle pointed at my men, yes, you are.”
“Drop it, Thomas,” Ben says again, louder.
I get the feeling that if these guys don’t kill Thomas, Ben will.
Harry looks at Thomas. He shifts his weight. He is nervous and terrified and I can’t blame him. He is not trained for this. He is not prepared for this.
None of us are.
Harry is holding on to his rifle as tight as he can.
“Gentleman,” the leader says. “Drop your weapons. This is your final warning.”
“Come on guys, do what he says.” Anna is now pleading with Thomas.
Thomas shakes his head. “No. You’ll just kill us. You’ll murder us.”
“I’m giving you three seconds,” the leader says. “And in three seconds, your weapons will be on the floor. Or you will be dead.”
“What do we do?” Harry asks.
“Put the guns down!” Anna shouts.
Ben is backing away. So is Kenji. I do the same.
“Three,” the leader says loudly.
Doctor Hunter lowers his head and looks away. He knows what’s coming. He has seen it before.
Kim has a hold of Jack. She is making sure her brother doesn’t do anything stupid.
The leader points at Harry. “Two.”
And the countdown never reaches zero.
Harry is executed.
His head snaps back and he is knocked clear off his feet.
Thomas is silent as he stares at Harry’s corpse. He is about to raise his rifle and return fire, but Ben tackles him to the ground, saving his life.
Chapter 30
We are stunned.
Harry is dead. I hardly knew the guy, but I am stunned and speechless and I feel it.
I feel his death in my chest and I fall to my knees and I don’t think I can keep going. I can’t live in this world. I don’t want to live in this world. And then my watch beeps and it says I have twenty-six hours left, and this reminds me that I won’t have to live in this world for much longer. I don’t have a say in the matter.
So I better suck it up. I better get my head together. I better toughen up.
There is no time to grieve for Harry. Harry, a normal guy. A survivor. Like me. Like us. Like all of us. A man who had probably seen horrible, God awful things. A man who had probably lost his home, his family, his friends. Lost everything.
At least he would suffer no more.
At least he died instantly.
He died before he hit the ground.
This terrible fact gives me comfort for some weird reason and I think I’m going to be sick.
After they shot Harry, the leader man told none of us to move. “You move; you get a bullet to the head.”
The death squad climbs down to us. Some of them clip a rope to the top railing and abseil down, while the rest cover them from above. Then once the first group of soldiers is on the ground floor, the rest climb down the fire escape ladder.
We have all moved away from Harry and the pool of blood that is steadily growing underneath his corpse. Once all the soldiers are on the ground floor, they start making double sure that all the infected who had fallen over the railing were really dead.
I look at Kenji. I can tell he is worried. He is ready to run. He knows our only chance of survival is in the labyrinth. He knows the only way we get out of here alive is to solve it.
Would we even get the chance?
The leader arrives on the ground floor. He moves over to Harry and picks up his rifle. He also picks up Thomas’s rifle.
He leaves Ben’s shotgun on the ground.
“I’m sorry you folks had to see that. But we gave you fair warning. This is what happens when you don’t follow orders.”
Thomas is silent and shivering, and he’s as white as the bed sheets that are hanging over the bars of the cells. Thomas has gone into shock.
“You were all told,” the leader continues, “When you first arrived here. You were told that this Fortress was a military installation. Under military command. You were all told you had to follow orders. You were all told to obey the chain of command if you wanted asylum.”
Ben steps forward and confronts the death squad. “Why are you here? What do you want?”
The leader does a kind of double take. He is surprised to see Ben. “Well, look who it is. Benjamin Wallace. I thought for sure you would’ve died d
own here. The General did quite a number on you. Turned your face into a Jackson Pollack painting. How the hell are you still alive?”
Ben does not answer. He is not intimidated.
He is not intimidated by a death squad.
Sometimes Ben scares me.
“Answer the question,” Ben says. “What are you doing down here? We’re not causing trouble. These are good people.”
“Yeah, I’m sure they are. I’m sure we’re all good people. Deep down. You know what I mean?”
“If you’re here for food,” Ben says. “You can take what you want. Take what you can carry. There’s plenty to share.”
“Food? Sounds nice. But we’re here for something more important.”
“What are you talking about?”
The leader points at Doctor Hunter and Kim. “We’re after security.”
Two of the soldiers step forward and grab Kim and Doctor Hunter. They do not struggle.
But Jack does.
He has only just been reunited with his sister. He is not prepared to let her go so soon.
“What the hell?” Jack shouts. “Leave her alone!”
The leader draws his sidearm and points it at Jack’s head. “You want to end up like your friend there?”
Jack backs off and shakes his head.
“Then calm the hell down.”
“It’s OK,” Kim says. “I’ll be fine.”
“What are you doing?” I ask. “Why are you taking them?”
“We are taking these two as leverage.”
“Leverage?”
“That’s right. The company is coming. And when they get here…”
He trails off.
“So we need these two,” the leader continues. “They are bargaining chips. Security. Leverage. The good doctor here is a fountain of knowledge about the Oz virus. And Kim is an extremely valuable specimen. We know for a fact these two are high priorities for the company. So that’s why they are coming with us. Any questions?”
We are all silent and I am secretly praying they don’t execute the rest of us.
They got what they came for. What’s stopping them?
What’s their next move?
Suddenly, more infected arrive on the top level of the prison. And I never thought I’d be happy to see a bunch of zombies.