The Rain In The Sky

by Antony J Woodward

  Then there was a metallic chink of something hitting concrete.

  The group recoiled as whatever mysterious metal object rolled to their feet.

  Then it exploded in a blast of white light. Blinding white light.

  “No!” A male shouted.

  The loud bang and subsequent cry was all it took for the infected to come around. They all, as one neural organism, suddenly turned in towards the group. Sky’s vision was a little burnt out but she could make out the sudden madness that erupted. Shotgun fire greeted the feral screams of the creatures but the zombies continued to swamp in and they quickly overpowered the gang. Despite the coordinated firepower, it just wasn’t enough.

  “Now!” Sky ordered rubbing her eyes. They were stinging, watering and intensely blurry, but she couldn’t let that stop them. She glanced to Nat who had been blinded by the flash grenade too, she was rubbing her eyes desperately trying to soothe the stinging.

  There was no time to waste, this was their chance! She took hold of Nat’s hand before she pulled the woman to her feet and the pair of them broke into a run for the lab. They skirted wide of the carnage, well clear of the mess of teeth and claws that was annihilating the group of mercenaries. They consciously turned their attention far from the sound of organs being torn from living bodies, of screams being strangled away by wicked teeth and the gross cruelty of the infected jostling over the meat.

  They clambered clumsily up the stairs, their blurred vision difficult and impeding.

  Nat stumbled, her foot clipping on the steps but Sky hoisted her onto her feet.

  They made it to the door and nothing had noticed them. They had slipped by unnoticed, for the moment. Nat couldn’t see, she was still scrunching her eyes and trying to blink her vision back. “The card,” Sky ordered.

  It was in her hand within a moment. Sky swiped the card through the card reader. The ping of invitation was the best sound both women had heard all day. They tore the door open and the pair of them stumbled into the lab‘s reception area.

  They were just in time to see a mysterious figure slip away through the next door deeper into the lab.

  CHAPTER SIX:

  The receiving room was spacious and clean, ascribed to the minimalist style. In fact it was so orderly the few magazines and leaflets in the room were assigned and filed to their own particular boxes. The few plants that lined the corners did little to warm the atmosphere of the room, probably because they were as plastic and as manufactured as the rest of the room. Everything was white, from the leather couches to the furniture. The connecting door was even made of frosted milky Perspex. Everything was so pristine and immaculately white. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to hypothesise that majority of the work force on the island was employed for the sole purpose of keeping this room, and the rest of the island, ungodly clean.

  As the main door shut and sealed behind them, Sky was already staggering for the next door. She reached it, intent on following the mysterious figure who’d exited the room just as they entered. The door didn’t budge, it was sealed electronically. To its right was a slot that demanded a key card.

  “Jesus Christ…” Nat moaned rubbing her eyes. She staggered to a nearby sofa and sat upon it. Her eyes were red raw and puffy. She blinked forcefully and found her vision had restored to about 80%. Sky was the same but she hadn’t been excessively rubbing her eyes so they were considerably less red and inflamed. She attempted to open the door again, but it didn’t budge.

  “What the hell happened back then?” Nat posed blinkling furiously.

  “Someone betrayed them,” Sky concluded grimly. She pressed the key card to the reader but it didn’t register. It let out a grating tone of rejection. She felt a flare of irrational anger in her chest for a second. Surely their hard earned key card wasn’t going to deny them access into the lab now?! She hadn’t just fought through Hell and back only to be barred by some stupid fucking door! She marginally resisted the compulsion to punch the door.

  Nat blinked again, then rolled her eyes around in a circle as she made a peculiar face. Sky hit the reader with a palm impatiently, she needed to follow that figure goddamit!! Whoever had exited as they entered had been the one responsible for the flash bang, and she suspected it might just be Rain herself. She was finally on her tail! There was no other door to use, not even a reception desk with controls to override it, so there was only one direction to chase. She was so close to cornering her and finally getting the answers. And right now her key card wasn’t fucking working…

  “Come on,” Sky commanded hitting the reader once again.

  Nat came up beside Sky, “isn’t it working?”

  “No, look.” Sky snapped angrily, she pressed the card to the reader.

  PING. The reader acknowledged the card and made Sky out to be a liar. She recoiled in surprised and glanced from the reader to the card, why hadn’t it worked before?

  Nat pulled open the frosted Perspex door without saying a word. The pair of them stepped into the next room and found themselves in a curious architectural structure.

  There was a sequence of rooms before her, each one a relatively large cube that was slightly lower than the one next in line, creating a sequence of ascending rooms before them. There was small white metal stairs that led into each subsequent room. Either side of each cube was long and narrow rooms that opened only onto the room they joined. It was a strange layout for a laboratory and because the inside walls were made from white plastic and both frosted and plain glass, it gave a curious atmosphere. It was like someone had drawn inspiration from stairs… A little glance upwards told Sky that the uppermost room was afforded a view down into the rooms beneath it. Was that a deliberate design choice?

  This first cube, in the sequence of six, was filled with couches and colourful stools. A side wall was dedicated exclusively to vending machines. The rooms on her left and right were compact labs full of equipment and research data.

  A glimpse of a shadow disappearing into the distance urged Sky to follow quickly. She reached the next door, swiped her card and stepped into the next room. The door didn’t open quick enough and Sky angrily barged through it. This next room was full of shelves and desks, shelving lined to the brim with document boxes and thick tomes. A solitary high end PC was mounted on the wall in the furthest corner.

  The rooms either side were shadowy.

  Nat stepped into the room after her. She was still blinking and struggling with watering eyes but she was coping. Sky rushed forward, entering the next room. She once again fought with the door, they simply didn’t yield quick enough.

  This room was filled with desks and computers, a large microscope dominated one half of the room. Again the side rooms were dark and unfathomable.

  Sky stepped towards the next room, but the key card denied her.

  “Oh come on!” she growled at it, as she jabbed the card at the reader furiously.

  “Where is everybody?” Nat whispered aloud. She glanced around the building and was surprised there wasn’t a single soul to be seen. Where were all the scientists?

  She stepped towards a nearby computer, she nudged the mouse and it awoke.

  “What are you doing?” Sky sighed angrily as she relented from jabbing the key card against the reader to no avail.

  “Seeing if there’s a lockdown on the system. Might explain why your key card isn’t working…” Nat answered. She clicked on a program and waited for it to load.

  Sky opened her mouth to say something, but nothing came out. She was frustrated and she was only going to say something shitty. She was so close on Rain’s ass and a stupid key card was yet again blocking her progress. If she didn’t think she’d need the bullets she’d have blasted her way through the doors instead.

  “The system, it’s on a complete lockdown. Someone’s locked it out with remote access…” Nat explained flatly.

  “Shit,” Sky kicked the door in a huff. Was that Rain’s doing as well?

  Nat navigated to a different
program.

  “Now what you doing?” not that Sky was really very interested. She angrily wiped her eyes and tried the key card again.

  “Looking for my brother, remember…” Nat lied. She had realised while access to the network was locked down, the access to the lab’s databanks wasn’t. She watched a distracted Sky intently as she discreetly removed a memory stick from her coat pocket. She then plugged it into the computer and set about mirroring the data across to her memory stick. She continued to observe Sky intently as she did so, lest the soldier turned around and noticed what she was doing. Her pulse begin to quicken with the thrill of it all.

  “Try the key card now,” Nat offered as Sky suddenly began to turn back around.

  “Why?” Sky shrugged defeated but she turned to the reader all the same.

  “I think the system is on a cool down, it might work…”

  “I thought you said it was remotely accessed?”

  Nat did, she was just stalling Sky. She glanced and saw the mirror was 36% complete. It was very fast working only because it took the data in its shrunken and compressed form, it would need cracking before it would be usable. But that wasn’t her concern.

  It surprised both women when the key card pinged and the door slipped open.

  Sky glanced at Nat, “Go, I’m still searching…”

  “No, we need to go together…”

  Nat’s expression darkened, “Really? After all we’ve been through, you think I could just walk away without knowing what happened to my brother?”

  Sky opened her mouth, but she realised that Nat was right. She said nothing.

  Nat’s face lightened a little, but the moment of darkness had been unmistakable. How unjust of Sky to forget, or to expect Nat to not find her brother. Surely Sky would want to find her own sibling… Well, Sky had found her hadn’t she… Now she couldn’t deny Nat the same. She didn’t like to leave her behind, but she knew this was important to Nat.

  “Ok, wait here till I come back…”

  Nat hesitated in a slight confusion, was it really that easy? She nodded and gave a half smile. She then dropped her attention back to the screen. A notification popped up that caught her by surprise. “Network access online”.

  The island was back online…

  Sky stepped into the next room and left Nat behind.

  This new room was almost surgical, a large whiteboard with names and annotations hung on the wall. A theatre trolley and a cleaning station stood unattended in corner, a shelf full of PPE and smocks in another. Sky slipped forward quickly, she swiped her way into the next room.

  This room was different again. It was almost office like, a large and impressive desk crafted of dulled metal took dominance. Certificates and specially chosen paintings hung on the glass walls, a chess set and table was placed decoratively in a nearby corner. On the desk that was cluttered with research data, pens and other office paraphernalia was a silver brief case. It was placed deliberately, it sure didn’t belong in this office.

  A whoosh of air signalled the door sliding shut after her.

  It effectively sealed her into this room and locked Nat out on the other side of it. She spied back through the Perspex walls and saw Nat look up from the computer in concern. Her face wrinkled up but she didn’t move from the computer.

  It suddenly felt like Sky had sprung a trap. A trap that she should’ve remembered to have expected. A sense of foolishness slid across her. She headed for the door to head back and was not surprised to find her key card suddenly didn’t work.

  “Hello Sky,” it was her own voice and it was coming from the speakers within the room. Nat recoiled and glanced around the room, it seemed the voice was broadcasting everywhere in the whole lab. Nat slowly focused a darkly suspicious look upon Sky, she recognised the voice but how could it be? The words came and Sky’s lips hadn’t moved…

  She saw a strange expression had spread across Sky’s face and it didn’t bode well. She decided that it was time she got out of here, she had achieved everything she needed. She spied the data mirroring had almost finished - 96%. Paranoia prickled over her skin, there was something strange going off. She glanced around herself overcome with a sense of paranoia. Whoever had remote access to the system was no doubt capable of knowing what she was up to… She slowly reached into her pocket and felt the hard drive. Who was in control of the lab? The look of worry spreading across Nat’s face only reinforced Sky’s own sense of dread.

  Slowly, because she could suddenly feel attention being bored into the back of her shoulders, Sky turned on the spot. Finally there was Rain on the other side of the glass door. She was dressed in the same militarised bodysuit as Sky. The exact same grey suit that fitted so perfectly and precisely. Her facial features were identical to Sky’s, only they had sunken in a little. Rain looked unwell, the tired and sunken eyes aged her greatly and her face looked a little hollow. Her short stark white hair, with no brunette at all, rested on her shoulders. She had a headset in her hand, one of those headsets that telemarketers used with the boom mic and singular earpiece. She had the microphone near her mouth.

  “Hello Rain,” Sky greeted. She wasn’t sure whether the woman could hear her, were the rooms soundproof?

  “I’m not disappointed that you made it this far…” Rain smiled. She coughed a little and it sounded wet and raspy. She pressed a palm to her lips and coughed hard, it was nothing new when she spied blood.

  “What’s going on here?” Sky demanded.

  Rain didn’t give an answer but she gave a small shrug of indifference.

  “On the desk before you is a case. Open it.”

  Sky wasn’t pleased to be commanded and she hesitated.

  “I’d open it Sky, because if you don’t I’ll release the infected civilians on your little friend in there…” Rain promised. Sky glanced back just in time to see the dark shadowy side rooms illuminate in a flicker of lights. There were several groups of infected civilians in the side rooms. Some were dressed in lab coats, others dressed in the same military garb as Sky and Rain. Now Sky understood the fate of her fellow soldiers, it seemed Rain had betrayed them too. They were clawing against the glass panels, just itching to be released where they would undoubtedly shred Nat to pieces. Nat stepped away from the computer, pocketing the memory stick back in her jacket unnoticed by the two other women. She went for the door that interconnected the room and the one Sky had been shut off from. Anything to distance herself from the creatures waiting in the wings. The door slid shut on Nat’s approach and she banged against it in surprise. She shouted something to Sky but it was muted on the other side of the glass. She glanced around the room, there was little to protect herself. She took out her gun just in case but a worried shooting look in Sky’s direction illustrated how Nat didn’t like her odds in the slightest. Sky didn’t like them either…

  “What did you do?” Sky turned back to Rain.

  “I suppose at this point I don’t have anything left to lose do I…” Rain murmured aloud. “I set this up for you, but I guess you might already know that,”

  “Why?” Sky demanded angrily. To hear her frank admission of the betrayal enraged her greatly. How could she be so blasé about it? This wasn’t a simple game, this had involved innocent people!

  “Because dear Sky there is much to this equation that you don’t understand. And you won’t ever fully understand…”

  “Try me! I need to know why you released a bio weapon on this island…!” Sky hissed.

  “They’re just research data,” Rain shrugged nonchalantly.

  “Research? Into what?!” Sky returned frustrated. It wasn’t research, it was a massacre! Goddamit she wanted a straight answer! Why did Rain have to be so vague and enigmatic? The pragmatic sensibilities in her just wanted to know the truth already.

  “It’s a viral type of spore, they’re calling it ‘Rage’. It’s capable of infecting and weaponizing entire populations.”

  “A spore? The mercenaries you employed to
release it thought it was a virus…”

  “It has viral properties sure, but its not a real virus. That was just the easiest way to explain it to those idiots. You see its not actually transmittable from host to host like a virus, so while its very infectious it’s actually very containable. There‘s no further infection after initial exposure…”

  “Someone engineered it didn’t they?”

  “Of course. Research based on Ophiocordyceps Unilateralis, which you might not know is actually an entomopathogen that makes ants kill themselves in the pursuit to be eaten by birds. A remarkable organism that was meshed with the rabies viruses… Its quite beautiful, wouldn’t you say… And think of the possibilities, infect an entire town and turn them into an army. But the epidemic will never spread, will never grow out of control… making it all so very… controllable,” Rain smirked.

  “Is there a cure?” Sky growled.

  Rain coughed once more, then she offered a little laugh, “A bullet?”

  “How did you get it? There is nothing on any Rain Corp file about the spore…” or so Sky reckoned. She was angry that Rain had so coldly used the island’s population as a canvas for her experiment. She hadn’t considered that perhaps Rain Corp was the one responsible for it, but right now it didn’t matter.

  “A third party has interests in what happens on this Island, they‘re very interested in the potential of what they… cooked up…” Rain casually glanced to her watch. She was beginning to run out of time.

  “A third party? How did you manage to secure that?” Sky demanded. How had Rain managed it, when she was kept on just a short a leash as Sky herself?

  “You think I didn’t have the time? That all I did was following the corporations commands like an obedient lapdog? Grief Sky!“ Rain coughed again, “…I don’t have any time left for this conversation Sky. Open the case or I’ll let them loose on your friend…” Rain ordered in a cool threat. She knew Sky would follow her commands because she had a strong sense of justice and morality, Rain knew that because she had once been the same way.