The guilt and grief nearly killed him. It was Shou, beautiful, incredible, inspiring Shou, that saved him. Her spirit shone through. She worried for him. She worried for him! Exactly 37 days after the incident, Tanaka woke from another restless night, and decided to create a new world unlike anything seen before. A world in which Shou could do anything she wanted to. A world so real that she would feel herself walking. Running. Dancing.
Everything else in his life, everything else, was to make this happen.
Yes, I know exactly what kind of man I am professor, Tanaka thought to himself.
Gathering himself, Tanaka spoke. "I am sorry Professor, please forgive me. Of course I will help Mr Harper. Now, it's saline solution you need?"
Skinner eyed Tanaka suspiciously. "That's right. Now - is there anywhere else in the building we should look?"
Chastened, Tanaka nodded reluctantly.
"Yes. Yes there is. You will find what you need in my apartment on the 6th floor."
Skinner raised an eyebrow "Your apartment. Why would a saline drip be there?"
Tanaka replied, distant. "In case my daughter Shou ever visits."
Skinner was about to respond, but a furious glare from Itou made it clear that would be unwise. Instead, he took a breath and replied as calmly as possible. "Thank you Mr Tanaka, you may have helped save Andy's life."
Skinner and Santos turned and walked slowly toward Harper and the technician, past the raised platform as Tait barked out commands to frantic technicians.
"Ok Ben, so how do we get past the pack out there, up into the apartment and back again. In 10 minutes!"
Behind them, Tait cleared his throat. They turned together and looked up at the engineer, who looked very pleased with himself.
"Professor Skinner, Doctor Santos. I might be able to help."
CHAPTER FIVE
Outbreak
Tait walked Skinner and Santos through the plan and - after a few refinements - they talked it through with Tanaka and Itou. Tanaka - and even Itou - seemed impressed by the ingenuity. Everyone felt it had a chance - a slim chance - of working.
Everyone except Hill.
As he had done since arriving back at the NOC, the young lawyer stood silently through both discussions. He kept his arms folded tightly across his body, and occasionally he would mutter under his breath.
As Skinner and Santos followed Tait and Itou into the corridor leading to the NOC entrance, Skinner nodded over at Hill. "What do you think about Alex?"
"He's scared Ben. Terrified really. He can't function because of the fear. There's nothing he can do to remove himself from the situation, so he's retreated into himself. He'll be like that until we're out of here - and even then I think he's looking at a long road back."
Skinner nodded. "I don't blame him. This whole thing is unreal. I'm still not sure if it's really happening."
"Well you better wake up fast Professor, because we've got some hustling to do."
Skinner grimaced. "Ok Doctor, but don't hold me up. I'd hate to leave you behind."
Tait put his fingers to his lips and pointed to the door. The pack were howling, and two or three times a minute the steel door would squeal as something large and heavy smashed against it. Skinner could see the metal had twisted horribly, the hinges on either side were now moving with each collision.
He nudged Santos and looked up at the door frame. Santos followed his eyes.
"That's not going to hold much longer Eva. Hopefully the cavalry arrives by the time we get back. If not, we're all screwed."
Santos nodded grimly.
Tait waved them over, and the pair crept forward until they were standing directly behind the clattering steel door.
Itou jabbed his strong thick fingers through the rubber dividing two large floor tiles, carefully prised up a large rectangular tile and gently placed it against the corridor wall. Skinner and Santos leaned forward and looked into the cavity. Orderly rows of blue, red, green and black cable - hundreds of them - disappeared under the tiles and into the distance. Every few feet the cables ran under thick steel bars, the floor support.
Tait whispered, going over the plan one more time. "Ok. The false floor runs the length of the building. Once you're in, you'll head that way." He pointed due east. "That will take you under the maintenance room, which has its own ladder system leading up to the maintenance room outside Tanaka's apartment. I'll track you on iSight, and open Tanaka's door for you when you're outside. All clear?"
Skinner and Santos glanced at each other, then turned to Tait and breathed. "Sure."
Skinner then gently lowered himself into the cavity, face first, so that his elbows, stomach and knees were resting on top of the cables. Santos squeezed in next to him. There was just enough space to crawl, not enough to kneel
Itou started to close the tile on top of them, when Tait whispered. "Wait!"
They turned gingerly, desperate to avoid making any noise, and looked quizzically at the engineer.
"Almost forgot. Since neither of you have your lenses on, you'll need these." Tait handed down two pairs of iSight glasses. They slid them on, and both glasses immediately sprung to life.
"I've preset the navigation instructions - the glasses will guide you through the cavity and will also let us talk. Or rather, I'll talk and you'll whisper." Tait smirked, before his head jerked up in fright as an enormous crash smashed against the door, followed by wild howls.
Itou silently lowered the tile back over Skinner and Santos and let it softly click into place. For a moment, the pair lay motionless, stomachs pressed against rows of insulated cable, sharp cable ties and steel edging, their backs almost touching the thick insulated tiles. Skinner took the glasses off and put them in his back pocket. He didn't want to wear those damn things unless he really had to. Then he squirmed onto his stomach and turned to face Santos, lying next to him on top of the rubber cables, their faces inches apart. "Stick close, I'll use my glasses to navigate. Ready?" Skinner whispered so quietly that Santos struggled to hear him despite their noses almost touching. Santos nodded and, twisting onto their stomachs Skinner and Santos started their long shuffling claustrophobic crawl in the dark.
They made surprisingly good time, and the journey was mercifully uneventful. It was an unnerving experience crawling under the heavy feet of John Evans and his rabid pack. As they edged their way forward, they could hear muffled conversations and howls of laughter. The noise quickly faded away as they wormed their way toward the maintenance room.
According to iSight, they were less then 10 feet from the room when the tiles above them started vibrating. The sound built up until, a moment later, it seemed like an earthquake had hit. A few inches above their heads running boots and animal screams clattered and crashed. It felt like the tiles would collapse, and they'd be crushed under the weight of those lunatics. Santos' eyes widened in fear until Skinner nudged forward and kissed her deeply on the mouth. It was so unexpected that Santos simply stared back at Skinner. A moment later, as quickly as it had started, the sound subsided. The pack had past. Distant shrieks of terror meant they'd found another victim hiding in the dark.
In the distance, a small voice shouted "Skinner. Santos. Can you hear me?"
Startled. Mystified. They looked at each other, and into the gloom.
"Skinner. Santos. Are you there?"
They both pulled glasses from their back pockets and jammed them on. The voice coming from the earpiece embedded into the leg of the glasses was crystal clear.
"Sorry Tait - forgot about you for a second." Skinner whispered, as loud as he dared with the pack roaming above.
"We can see where you are, and which direction you're heading from your glasses. I'm hooking you guys up to the monitoring system ... Ok. Can you see a floor map with your position marked?
"Ok - got it", whispered Skinner.
"Good. Now, I'm flagging where you need to go. Once I tell you to stop, you'll be directly under the maintenance shaft leading up to the sixt
h floor outside Tanaka's apartment. Can you see it?"
As if floating in the air a few feet ahead of them, Skinner and Santos could now see a map of the floor, their positions blinking slowly. To their right Tait had crudely drawn an arrow pointing to a small room. The maintenance shaft.
"Yup. We'll be there in around 30 seconds."
As they wriggled forward in the tight space, Santos whispered, "Tait. We heard another gang running around, and they they found some poor bastard. They're on a hunting expedition now."
"Understood Doctor Santos. We'll keep an eye on the security cameras here just in case that pack shows up again. Don't worry - you're in safe hands. You have the best technology in the world taking care of you."
Skinner looked at Santos and raised an eyebrow. Santos rolled her eyes.
Skinner whispered. "Any word from outside yet? Where the hell are the police?"
Glancing back at Tanaka, Tait lowered his voice and replied "Look. The blizzard outside cut power and we've been running on fumes. It's back up now, and my people tell me that half of Sapporo is on its way. The storm is really bad. Every year they get worse and worse. But I'm told they should arrive real soon. In the meantime, keep as quiet as possible. Let's just get both of you and that saline back here as quickly as possible."
#
The pitch black turned to a gloomy grey as light leaked through tiny cracks between the tiles above their heads.
Skinner whispered. "Ok Tait, I see a concrete wall dead ahead, with six large steel pipes running up through the floor"
Tait kept his voice low - as if his voice might reveal Skinner and Santos to the prowling packs on level five.
"Good - you're underneath a maintenance room. It's concealed from the main floor and gives you access up and down the building. There's a pack of six roaming not too far away, so you'll need to make this as quiet as possible. I'll keep my eyes on them, and if they move your way you'll need to freeze on the spot. Ready?"
Skinner looked at Santos, who gulped and nodded.
Skinner replied. "Ready."
"Ok. Slowly pop up the tile and get out of there."
Skinner and Santos both wriggled onto their back, their shoulders scraping the tiles above them as they turned. Santos winced at her heavily bandaged shoulder. Skinner felt spikes of pain as the raw flesh on his back pressed against the steel and rubber.
Jammed tight together, they pressed their palms against the top and bottom of a large rectangular tile and pressed. Gently at first, then a little harder.
It wouldn't budge. Something heavy was on top.
They tried again. It started to move. Maybe it was a little tight. Tait had told them these tiles were hardly ever removed now that the centre was running at full capacity.
One more push. Santos started to panic. Suddenly she felt trapped. What if they couldn't get out? What if they were stuck here? What if the pack heard them and pulled them out? The adrenaline coursed through her veins, and a mixture of fear and new energy made her push a little too hard.
The tile popped open and with a loud echoing clatter a tray of steel cable clips spilled across the floor of the tiny maintenance room.
Tait cried into their ears "The pack is moving. Running toward you. Get out and up the ladder. Move!"
Bending forward at the hip, Santos heaved herself out of the cavity. Every muscle and bone aching, elbows, knees and stomach red raw and bleeding from the claustrophobic crawl. Skinner shuffled sideways and repeated the move. They could hear the deranged howls of an infected pack. They were only seconds away.
"Go," Skinner shouted and pushed Santos toward the ladder. Scrambling onto the steel ladder, wrapped in a circular cage, Santos started climbing. Exhaustion gave way to a raw fear. Skinner was right behind her, almost running up the ladder.
Skinner could hear nails scratching frantically at the wall outside, trying to find the discrete press-open door which led into the maintenance room. Above him, Skinner could see Santos enter the sixth floor maintenance room. Below him - just below him - the door swung open, and the long black hair of a podgy woman in her early thirties flew into the room, quickly followed by a man around the same age and two teenage boys.
The woman whirled around the room, before looking up at Skinner as his feet reached ceiling height. Red eyes, teeth bared, the woman screeched and leapt toward Skinner, just missing his feet and smacking hard against the steel step below. A loud snap echoed through the tiny room and three fingers twisted unnaturally, broken and disjointed. The woman ignored the injury, grabbed the ladder with her other hand and started hauling herself up toward the fleeing pair. The man scrambled up the ladder right behind her while the two teenage boys swiped and slashed at the room with large shards of broken glass.
#
An enormous crack ricocheted through the NOC. Every head turned as Itou sprinted into the long corridor and toward the sound. He scanned the door and quickly found the source. The incessant pounding on the door of the NOC had finally had an effect. The lower half of the door was breaking away from the frame.
Only Tait seemed oblivious to the situation, whispering urgently to Skinner and Santos while flicking and waving his hands in front of a glass monitor. Every other person in the room watched Itou as he jogged back to Tanaka. As Itou left the corridor, Hill stumbled into it. He walked silently toward the breaking door and stared. He listened to the vicious snarling and froze.
Itou reached Tanaka a few seconds later and leaned in close.
"Mr Tanaka. We are trapped here. Help won't arrive in time. I will have to remove the problem."
Tanaka nodded for Itou to continue.
Itou scanned the room. Frightened faces stared back at him.
In a calm, soft voice, Itou replied. "Sir. The security system shows there are only four out there. Three younger, one older. Stronger. The others are exploring near the maintenance room.
"What do you suggest?" Tanaka asked. His trust in the man was absolute. Tanaka had no doubt Itou would find a way. He always did.
"Sir. I will use Mr Tait's idea. I will crawl under the floor and behind them. On my signal, you can have a few people in here move toward the door and attract their attention. As they do so, I will approach them from behind and remove the threat."
The ex-special forces commander had a concise way with words Tanaka admired. Tanaka had seen Itou 'remove threats' before. In Hong Kong, he'd applied his unique talents to save his daughter, and he'd tidied up the mess afterward.
Yes. Itou would remove the threat.
"Alright Itou. Do it."
#
Santos grabbed Skinner's arm as he scrambled up the last few rungs and pulled hard. He tumbled into the tiny sixth floor maintenance room and immediately started looking for a weapon. All he could see was rows of neatly packed steel cans, prominent Japanese labels to the front.
Within seconds the swirling black hair of the infected woman appeared. She 'hopped' her left hand from rung to rung while holding her twisted broken hand just above her head. Pressed against a steel rack filled with tins, Santos was horrified. It looked as if the deranged woman was waving grotesquely to announce her arrival. Behind her, she could hear the man - her husband perhaps - snarling like an animal as he jumped onto the steel ladder and clanged his way upwards.
Skinner wheeled around the small room, desperate to find something - anything - to defend themselves against the infected players. Santos pushed past him, lifted her knee up to her chest and with an almighty crunch, cracked the heel of her boot on the crown of the woman as she emerged from the ladder. The woman's head tilted backward, and blood poured from her forehead. She stared up at Santos, her red eyes blazing with rage. Santos lifted her knee to her chest again, and this time stamped down on the fingers holding onto the ladder. The fingers cracked like dry twigs and the woman released her grip. She fell vertically down the ladder, taking the man below with her.
The Sapporo Outbreak Page 28