by Alex Siegel
They walked through the mirror and off the edge of the roof. She heard their bodies smack the frozen dirt far below.
I'm going to have a lot of fun with this.
Sheryl was hungry and very thirsty. She couldn't spend all day on top of a smokestack. She made a mental list of tasks to accomplish today. First and foremost, she had to call Aaron. She didn't know her location, but she could describe the building in detail, and that might be enough for him. At a minimum, she needed him to know she was still alive.
Next on the list was food and water. Starvation would make her too weak to be useful. Finally, she had to investigate the factory. She remembered seeing the laboratory last night. It certainly had something to do with the cannibal plague. As long as she was stuck here, she might as well do some real work.
She climbed over the side of the smokestack and descended the ladder. Leaving the warm airstream was a shocking experience. The sun was doing nothing to heat the freezing winter air.
She hurried over to the hatch in the roof and opened it. A ladder went down to a closet that held janitorial supplies. It looked safe, so she went down. She made sure to close the hatch silently. The warm interior of the building was a great relief.
She listened carefully before moving as Aaron had taught her to do. She heard the rattle of the heating system, but that was all.
She cracked open the closet door and saw a white, tiled hallway. A door at the end of the hallway had an electronic lock which used a keycard and a code. A surveillance camera pointed straight at the door. Interesting, she thought. She needed to see what was behind that door.
She looked in the other direction and saw a restroom. A sign on the door read, "Safety Shower Inside."
A man in a full-body biohazard suit made of white cloth came out of the locked door. The gloves, booties, and facemask were separate pieces, and he was carrying the facemask in his hand.
Sheryl closed the closet door. She waited until his footsteps went past before opening it again. She observed the man entering the restroom.
After a few minutes, he came back out and returned to the locked door. She watched him punch in a four digit code.
That's what I needed, she thought.
As soon as the hallway was clear, she went to the restroom. It had two toilets, two urinals, and two showers. She stripped off her armor and stuffed it into a garbage can. With the heavy material off her body, she felt much lighter on her feet.
She used the toilet next, which was another great relief. Finally, she drank water from the sink using her hands as a cup until her stomach felt full.
She was still wearing a gray sweat suit which had been under the body armor. The suit reeked of body odor. She considered taking a shower but then decided it was too risky. She put her gun in her pocket. It wasn't the best way to carry a weapon, but she had no alternative.
She went into a stall, stood on the toilet seat, and became still.
After a long wait, the restroom door opened again. She heard a man using a urinal. She silently emerged from the stall and saw that he was also wearing a biohazard suit.
She came up behind him and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned. She knocked him out with a spinning kick which was powerful enough to break his jaw.
Sheryl was intensely proud of herself. Aaron had made her practice that technique thousands of times, but she had never used it for real. She could hardly believe how well it had worked.
She dragged the body out of the restroom and into the closet with the janitorial supplies. Aaron had also taught her the proper way to drag a body, which was important to know for a lightly-built woman like her. It wasn't nearly as easy as it looked.
She stripped the biohazard suit off the man. He was just wearing underwear underneath. She realized she couldn't risk him waking up and sounding the alarm. She needed to kill him.
Sheryl took a deep breath before beginning this unpleasant task. Murdering a helpless, unconscious man just felt wrong. She wasn't a cold-blooded killer like Tawni. Nonetheless, it had to be done.
Sheryl used her foot to crush the man's throat. She watched him slowly turn blue. She kept her weight on him until she was sure he was dead.
She put on the biohazard suit including the booties, gloves, and facemask. A hood covered her messy, dirty hair. She found the keycard in a pocket, but unfortunately, the dead man didn't have a phone. All set, she thought.
She left the closet and strode confidently to the locked door. The most important part of undercover work was conveying the right attitude. The surveillance camera would only see somebody in a suit and a hood.
The code and the keycard worked as expected. She entered a sophisticated laboratory full of equipment she didn't recognize. It was the place she had seen through the window last night. Two scientists were working there, but they didn't look at her.
Sheryl walked over to a complicated machine which was processing a red liquid. It looked a lot like blood and was being sucked out of clear, plastic bags. She narrowed her eyes. What the hell is this?
She moved on before her behavior became suspicious. She went to a giant piece of equipment with many wide drawers. Each drawer had a glass window in front, and she looked through one. A low, red light illuminated a tray full of brown sand. She leaned closer and realized the sand was moving. It was actually millions of very tiny insects. She recoiled in disgust. A fine, red mist was being sprayed onto the bugs.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed one of the scientists looking at her. She continued forward.
The laboratory had another door on the far side. It looked interesting, so Sheryl headed towards it.
A man called out behind her, "Hey! Why are you going in there?"
She quickened her step and went through to the next room.
She gasped and froze. The scene was too horrible to be real.
About forty naked men and women were locked in rigid, steel restraints. Cuffs on their wrists, ankles, necks, and waists allowed almost no movement. Rubber clamps kept their heads from turning. The subjects were being forced to keep their arms and legs straight out. Tubes strapped to their faces seemed to provide food and water on a continuous basis. Other tubes below sucked away waste.
Sheryl recognized the signs of the cannibalism disease. All the subjects were painfully thin and lean. A few looked outright starved despite the food flowing into their mouths.
Blood was being drawn from their arms. It dripped slowly into the same plastic bags she had seen in the laboratory. Infected blood, she thought.
She had flashbacks to her own horrifying experiences as the subject of a scientific experiment. They had kept her locked in a filthy, little cage for two weeks when they weren't doing unspeakable things to her mind. She still had nightmares about it occasionally.
She wanted to throw up.
The door opened, and one of the scientists from the laboratory entered. "Hey! I was talking to you."
Sheryl went ballistic. Her gun was inside her biohazard suit, but that was fine. Her hands and feet were sufficient for this job.
By the time the red rage passed, her opponent's brains were splattered on the floor. He also had a broken knee and a compound fracture of the elbow. She stepped back to admire her work. She hadn't known she was capable of such violence. And Tawni thinks I'm a wimp.
Sheryl remembered the other scientist. He had probably heard the commotion. She ran back through the door and tackled him from behind as he attempted to escape. She grabbed a heavy microscope and bashed his skull with all her strength. She kept bashing long past the point where it was necessary.
Breathing hard, she tossed her crude, bloody weapon aside.
"Wow," she said.
Sheryl's stomach growled with hunger. The laboratory had a fridge marked "FOOD ONLY! DO NOT USE FOR SAMPLES!!!" She pulled open the steel door and found some brown paper bags inside. She opened one, and it contained a sandwich and a banana. She grabbed all the bags.
She returned to the room with th
e captives. Their eyes were closed, and they weren't moving. She went to one woman and slapped her face, but there was no response. She seemed to be comatose.
"I can't help you now," Sheryl whispered, "but my friends will be here soon. Then we'll set this right."
She heard yelling in the laboratory. It sounded like soldiers had arrived and had discovered the dead body. She took off running the other way.
She entered a section of the factory that seemed abandoned. Murky sunlight entered through filthy windows. Dusty, broken equipment was lying around. Water dripped from the roof, and there were a few icicles. She didn't see any good places to hide.
She came to a dead end. The only escape was an elevator, but the doors were stuck open and the lights were off. Even worse, the elevator was two feet below the proper level, so she could see the lift cables above the top of the elevator. Regardless, she jumped inside and pressed the down button. Nothing happened, which didn't surprise her.
She got back out and looked around. There still wasn't a good hiding place in sight.
Sheryl heard approaching footsteps. She didn't have any good choices. Out of desperation, she climbed on top of the elevator. At least it was dark in the elevator shaft. She crouched in the back corner where no light would reach her.
Six soldiers came into view. They were carrying assault rifles and looked prepared to use them. Sheryl regretted not having her body armor.
"Turn on the damn lights!" one man yelled. "We can't see anything in here."
After a minute, another man yelled, "I found the main breaker. It's off."
"Turn it on, you moron!" the first man yelled.
Lights switched on in the room. Suddenly, the elevator came to life. The doors closed and it rose up to the proper level.
Sheryl was plunged into total darkness. She felt around the elevator shaft and realized she was boxed in on all sides. She sighed with fear.
She heard the soldiers talking to each other as they searched the area. They clearly had no idea where she was, so at least she was momentarily safe.
She settled down. She was still carrying her brown paper bags of food, so she wouldn't starve to death, at least not right away. She was also well hydrated. She took a sandwich out of a bag and started munching away. It tasted like peanut butter and jelly and was delicious.
Several minutes later, the soldiers left the area, and the world became perfectly silent.
Chapter Sixteen
Commander Hess was sitting in his office. Morning had come, and his eyelids were drooping. No member of Unit K had slept a wink during the night.
A squad leader burst into his office. "Sir, there was trouble in the lab!"
Hess shook himself awake. "Oh?"
"The woman killed three scientists. We saw her on the surveillance camera in the blood extraction room. She was wearing a biohazard suit."
"And did you chase her?"
"Of course, sir." The squad leader paused and looked down. "We lost her again."
"What?" Hess roared. "How is that even possible? Is this woman some kind of magician who can appear and disappear at will?"
"She seems quite skilled, sir. She made a mess of those scientists."
"She certainly has no difficulty killing incompetent simpletons like you."
The squad leader frowned. "We're doing our best. The men are exhausted."
"So we should sleep now as a reward for our collective failure? I think not. Get out of here. At least we confirmed she's still in the factory. That should reenergize the search effort."
The squad leader saluted badly and left.
Hess looked down at the phone on his desk. It was the only one in the factory that still worked. He needed to make a call that he had avoided all night.
He sighed, picked up the phone, and dialed a number.
A deep, male voice answered, "Yes?"
"I have good news and bad news," Hess said. "We captured a member of the opposition last night, but she escaped when we brought her to the factory."
"Escaped?"
"This woman is very tricky. She's still in the factory... somewhere. We'll find her."
"How many of you has she killed so far?" the voice asked in a blithe tone.
Hess furrowed his brow. "Thirteen."
"And how did the battle at the chocolate store go?"
"Four of them killed thirty-five of ours and escaped."
"You have definitely found the people we seek," the voice said. "Congratulations."
Hess frowned. "Who are these people?"
"That's none of your concern."
"I've lost a third of my Unit! That fact makes it my concern. This woman is tearing up the factory like she owns the place. We keep finding dead bodies. I'd really like to know what kind of monsters I'm dealing with."
"Good bye, Mr. Hess," the voice said. "Keep up the good work. You'll soon have your reward." The phone clicked.
Hess hung up the phone and stared at it. That hadn't been the conversation he had expected. His employer had sounded very pleased if anything.
What the hell have I gotten myself into? Hess wondered.
* * *
Norbert stirred his bowl of cereal with his spoon. He was too depressed to eat. He kept thinking about poor Sheryl. He didn't let himself speculate about what kinds of torments she was suffering. Even though Norbert wasn't responsible, he felt terribly guilty for just being involved.
Tawni walked into the kitchen in headquarters. She was wearing a simple, black shirt and black jeans.
"You look like you're in mourning," Norbert said. "We can't assume Sheryl is dead."
"I'm sure she's not."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because that skinny, white chick is the sneakiest bitch I know," Tawni said. "That's why Aaron likes her so much. She'll figure out some trick to get out of whatever mess she's in."
She rooted around in the refrigerator and pulled out a box of leftover pizza. She tossed the box onto the table with a damp smack. She poured herself a huge mug of coffee from a pot that Norbert had brewed.
He raised his eyebrows. "Pizza and coffee for breakfast?"
"Why not?" She shrugged.
She sat very close to him even though the table had plenty of empty chairs. With her right hand, she stuffed a piece of pizza into her mouth. She placed her left hand on his thigh.
He stood up abruptly. "I can't believe you."
"What's wrong?" She smiled innocently.
"The world is going to hell out there, our teammate is in desperate trouble, and you're horny."
"All that bloodshed last night got me worked up." She licked tomato sauce from her lips.
He rolled his eyes. "You're crazy."
She stood up and walked towards him with an evil smile. He backed up until a wall stopped him. She kissed him on the lips and grabbed his butt at the same time.
"You need a little crazy in your life," she whispered.
Norbert pushed Tawni away and left the kitchen. He stood outside the door while a baffling mix of feelings washed over him. He needed to talk to somebody. He had no idea what to do. This kind of situation was completely outside of his experience.
As usual, the twins were hard at work building the aperture. Bethany was standing on a ladder and firing a green laser through the exact center of the torus. Leanna was collecting readings using a device that looked like a small radar dish.
Norbert walked over to them. The twins were experts on many subjects, but relationships and sex weren't anywhere on the list. On the other hand, he loved them and wanted their opinion, however naïve it might be.
"Bethany," he said softly, "I have to talk to you about something."
"Tawni?" she said without looking at him.
"How did you know?"
"Jack told us. He thought we would be interested."
Norbert looked at one of the surveillance cameras attached to the ceiling. They were everywhere in headquarters, and he hardly noticed them anymore. Jack saw everything.
"Yes," Norbert said. "Are you upset or jealous?"
"We do not have the capacity to feel those emotions," Bethany said in her computerized voice. "Are you attracted to her?"
He decided direct honesty was the best policy. She wouldn't understand anything else. "Sexually attracted. She has a fantastic body. But I still love you."
"You have our permission to sleep with her. We understand that a human male has physical needs, and we haven't satisfied your needs for a long time. We've put you into a difficult position. It's unfair for you to suffer even more."
He stared at her. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. It was a logical statement, but at the same time, it was completely inappropriate and insensitive. He was offended that she would even suggest such a thing.
"Is that a standing offer?" he said angrily. "I can cheat on you anytime I want?"
"Until the project is done," Bethany said.
"Then what happens?"
"Other arrangements will be made. God wants our loving relationship to continue. It was a requirement of the project."
"Could you please be more specific?" Norbert said.
"I'm sorry. We must terminate this conversation now."
He crossed his arms and glared. Leanna was playing with her gadget. If she had heard a word of the conversation, she was showing no sign of it.
He walked off in a huff. He needed to lift some heavy weights.
* * *
Aaron was staring at police reports in his office. He had nothing better to do. He certainly didn't want to think about Sheryl's plight.
He thought back to his first days in the Society. The team back then had been Ethel, Marina, Victor, Jack, Nancy, Yvonne, Edward, and Kamal. Of that group, four were now dead and three had moved on to bigger and better things. Nancy was the only member of the original team who was still around. It was a shocking amount of turnover for just a few years. Now Aaron was facing the possibility of losing one of his new recruits. He shook his head in dismay.