by Jon Schafer
Orders had been given to use their ammunition only if the walls were breached, so Tick-Tock unslung his M4 and sighted in on a dead face pushing its way between the gap. Flesh peeled away from its cheeks as twisted its head to force its way in, letting out a high-pitched whine as it saw food almost within its grasp. Before Tick-Tock could get his first shot off, numerous pistols, rifles and a shotguns from the nearest defenders rang out. As the dead thing and its fellows fell away under the hail of bullets and buckshot, more of the living moved in to throw their weight against the poles, slowly easing them back into place. Workers with boards and nails swarmed forward, hammering makeshift braces in place to reinforce the wall.
When the barricade was secure, Tick-Tock noticed that no cheer went up from the defenders at their success. Drained, they dragged their tools and planks to the center of the fort to wait for the next crack in their defenses. Watching them, Tick-Tock knew that sooner or later they would collapse from exhaustion, while the dead needed no rest in their relentless push to get inside the fort. This had been the fifth breakthrough so far, telling him that the walls were slowly being weakened.
Spotting Rick standing near Ginny as he directed the last of the crews tending to the wounded, Tick-Tock walked up to him and said bluntly, “You told Steve that you had an escape plan.”
Slightly annoyed at the interruption, Rick said brusquely, “Yeah, we did.”
“You did?” Tick-Tock asked, his hope flying away.
Ignoring the question, Rick waved a stretcher crew in to collect a man with a broken leg. When they had him loaded and were on the way to the infirmary, the Commander turned to Tick-Tock and pointed up to the radio tower as he said, “We planned to use zip lines to get over any big herd of dead-asses that surrounded the fort. We could also use them to get behind any living attackers.”
Not seeing anyone sliding to safety, Tick-Tock asked, “So what gives? Why aren’t we using them?”
With a futile shake of his head, Rick told him, “They only go as far as the tree line.”
Understanding struck Tick-Tock as he realized that the wires didn’t go out far enough.
“We weren’t expecting a herd this big to hit us,” Rick explained. “You can still use the lines, but you’ll end up stuck in a tree with a couple thousand Ds around you. I prefer to take my chances here.”
“So what else can we do to get the hell out of here?” Tick-Tock asked.
“I’ve had the radio room calling for help for the last hour,” Rick told him. “Fort Polk finally answered, but they have everything grounded. They put in a request for an airlift and are waiting for a reply. I spoke to the Lieutenant on duty and he told me about some internal strife in Washington DC. They’ve almost got it sorted out, but it’s going to be a while before they can get permission for a rescue.”
“What do we do until then?” Tick-Tock asked.
A loud crack split the air, letting them know that another part of the wall was starting to cave in.
Turning to run toward the latest breach, Rick said, “Keep patching holes.”
Russellville, Arkansas:
With the rage of seeing Heather trussed up on the floor surging through him, Steve was about to let loose on the man in front of him when a whining noise to his right caught his attention. Swinging his rifle in that direction, he spotted two of the dead with fresh blood smeared across their faces, pushed back against the wall like they were plastered to it. Focusing on the immediate threat, he shot each of them in the head before moving his sights back to the man directly across from him.
The fluorescent lights threw a brilliant glare over the lab as he squeezed the trigger, sending half a dozen rounds into the glass. Expecting it to shatter and the man beyond it to go down, Steve was surprised when his bullets only left blackened, saucer sized marks in its surface. The man in the lab coat looked surprised too, cringing back as the first rounds hit, and then looking down at himself in shock that he wasn’t spouting blood from numerous holes.
Trying to adjust to the situation, Steve looked for a door leading out of the testing chamber. Spotting a glass pane with hinges set into it, he quickly realized that there was no doorknob and the hinges were on the other side. In frustration, he fired off the rest of the bullets in his magazine at his initial target. Once again, they thudded into the shatter-proof wall, sending up tiny shards of glass but not punching through.
As he was changing magazines to try again, Steve felt Major Cage lay a hand on his shoulder and say, “Don’t bother. You’d need a fifty caliber to punch through that.”
Shaking the restraining hand off, Steve reloaded his M16 and raised it to his shoulder, swinging the muzzle back and forth as he searched for some weakness in the barrier in front of him. His eyes coming to rest on the second man, now hiding behind Cindy, he screamed, “Open this mother-fucker up.”
This only caused him to cower even further behind the little girl.
Turning his sights back to his first target, Steve yelled at him, “If I hit it enough in the same spot, the bullets are eventually going to punch through.”
Seeing the situation, Hawkins replied with a laugh as he stepped to the right, “And I will simply move.” Spotting Cage and Fagan, he added, “I see the Major and his sidekick have arrived. Good to see you again, gentlemen.” Nodding to Steve as he gestured to himself and the second man, he said, “My name is Doctor Hawkins and this is my assistant, Jim. But I haven’t had the pleasure of making your acquaintance.”
Ignoring this, Steve glanced down to make sure Heather was still alive. Seeing her struggling as she tried to free her arms and legs, his heart filled with fury at what had been done to her. This, combined with the pompous tone Hawkins used caused his anger to pass the boiling point. Even though he knew it was fruitless, he still sent ten rounds smashing into the glass.
Hawkins flinched but stood his ground, the bullets striking only feet from his face. Taking a step forward, he studied the impact points as he said in a mocking tone, “Like they say on the firing range, nice grouping.”
Realizing the doctor was baiting him, Steve pushed his anger down. Instead of feeding into the man’s banter, he started searching for some way through the glass. Spotting a blood splattered hole, he knew there was no way he could hit the doctor from that angle. He might be able to get a clean shot at the second man, but by the time he reached the hole and took aim through it, Jim would be gone around the corner. Looking to Cindy, he saw her staring at Heather. The little girl was bloodied but alive, giving him hope.
From behind him, Fagan asked in a low voice, “Where’s Cain?”
“Who’s Cain?” Steve asked, his eyes scanning the surface of the glass for some weakness.
“Hawkins’ do-boy,” Fagan answered in disgust.
As if hearing his name, Cain walked through a door at the far side of the lab, shock registering on his face as he took in the scene. Seeing Cage, Fagan and another man inside the testing chamber, he pulled his pistol and raised it to fire at them.
Hawkins stopped him by saying, “Don’t waste your bullets, Mister Cain. They can’t get at us and you can’t get at them. It appears we are at an impasse.”
Understanding the situation, Cain’s mind spun as he tried to figure out what to do next. He could see by the marks on the glass that numerous shots had been fired, but he hadn’t heard anything until he walked through the door. Glancing at the noise suppressors on the invaders rifles, he understood why, while at the same time registering that his men hadn’t heard anything either and weren’t coming to the rescue. He thought of firing a few bullets to alert them, but realized that with the sound-proofing done to the entire lab area that it was unlikely they would hear the gunfire.
Doctor Hawkins was one step ahead of him though, as he said, “I however, have analyzed the situation and come up with a solution.” Pointing to Steve, he said, “By the way this one keeps looking at the woman that knocked you down, I would guess he’s got some kind of connection to her. Lover
? Sister? Fuckbuddy? Who cares? I want you to set an example, Mister Cain. I want you to put a bullet through her heart. After that, if Cage and his fellow cretins do not make their way back the way they came, I want you to hold Doctor Connors head against the glass and spray her brains all over it. This way, they will know we are serious. I don’t want any problems when we make our way to the helicopters.”
Looking down at Heather and then up at Cain, Hawkins said, “Whenever you’re ready, Mister Cain.”
***
Cindy understood what Heather was trying to communicate to her just as the Steve broke into the observation area. Thinking that they were saved, her heart fell when she saw his bullets bounce harmlessly off the shatter-proof glass. Hoping he would find a way to save them, she watched with dread as the man named Cain came through the door of the lab. In horror, she listened to the doctor’s orders to kill Heather.
Thoughts of how Ginny, Susan, Mary, Sheila and Linda had all died trying to protect her tore through Cindy’s heart. Remembering her vow that it wouldn’t happen again, she steeled herself. Her right side was almost immobile from pain, but she knew what she had to do.
Her arm screamed in agony as she moved it, causing sweat to pop out on her face and her breathing to turn shallow and labored. Forcing her hand down to her right side, she pulled up on the flap of material covering the cargo pocket of her pants. Digging inside, she felt the object she was looking for. With a rush of adrenalin at the ignorance of Hawkins and Cain, she rejoiced in the thought that while Heather had been searched and disarmed after she was knocked out, they hadn’t bothered to do the same to a ten-year old girl.
Pulling the pistol out of her pocket, Cindy dragged back on the slide and chambered a round. Lifting it, she sought out Cain. Seeing him smiling evilly as he lifted his own pistol and waved it mockingly at Steve, she thought she might be too late as he lowered it to point at Heather’s chest.
Not hesitating, Cindy lined up the sights on her little pistol with the center of Cain’s body and squeezed the trigger twice. Expecting the loud boom of Dirty Harry’s .44 magnum, the sharp cracks of the small caliber rounds took her by surprise. Also expecting Cain to be flung back by the bullets just like the people in the movies did, she thought she missed when all he did was let out a grunt and stiffen. Preparing to fire again, she saw two spots of blood on the side of his chest, merging into one as they grew. Knowing she had hit him, but ready to fire again if she needed to, she tracked Cain in her sights as he swayed for a second before collapsing to the ground.
Feeling hands grab her arm, she saw Jim was trying to wrestle the pistol from her grip. Twisting it in her hand, Cindy pulled the trigger again. The bullet went wild, but it was enough to make Hawkins’ assistant jump back and scurry away backward on all fours to pin himself against the wall.
Spinning in her chair, she leveled the barrel of her weapon at his chest and said in a strained voice, “Untie Heather.”
Jim stayed frozen against the wall.
Having seen how he had moved the last time she fired her pistol, Cindy pulled the trigger again. Only meaning to put a bullet into the wall to the side of him, she was shocked to see it clip the outside of his left shoulder. Tears sprung to her eyes and she started to beg his forgiveness, stopping when she saw him leap to his feet and run over to where Heather lay on the floor.
Turning her attention to Doctor Hawkins, Cindy saw that he was rigid with shock. White faced, his mouth opened and closed as he tried to form words. Seconds ago, he might have been in control, but now he was at her mercy.
Using a scalpel from a nearby tray, Jim cut Heather loose. Numb from being restrained for the past few hours, she rubbed her wrist and ankles for a few seconds before standing. As circulation restored feeling to her body, she gauged the distance to Hawkins. When she felt she was ready for any counter-attack, she jabbed out with her right fist, hitting him square in the jaw. Thrown back by the punch, the doctor dropped to the floor.
Turning a steely gaze on Jim, she said, “You have ten seconds to open the door to that fucking rat cage and let my boyfriend in or I’ll rip your balls off and feed them to you.”
It only took him three.
With a target to vent anger on, Steve stepped through the opening in the glass wall and slammed the butt of his rifle into Jim’s face. As the man fell to floor with blood spurting out of his nose, Steve turned and fired three times into the lifeless body of Cain. The man didn’t even flinch, telling him Cain was dead, so he turned his attention to Hawkins. Advancing on the doctor, he raised his rifle to smash it into the top of his head, but stopped when Heather screamed, “No.”
With his M16 raised over his shoulder, he looked between her and where Hawkins crouched down, cowering as he whimpered for mercy. With a snarl, Steve said, “This piece of shit was ready to have you killed, so I’m going to fuck him up.” To punctuate his statement, he reared back to bring the butt of his rifle down with as much force as he could.
From behind him, Cage shouted, “Don’t do it, Steve. Hawkins is a douche-nugget, but we need him.”
Stopping again, Steve asked, “For what? Target practice. Z bait?”
“We need him to get out of here,” Cage explained.
Gesturing toward the door leading to the coal chute, Steve said, “We can go back out the way we came. We left a rope to climb out.”
“But how are we going to get Cindy up it, out through the wire, along the woods and back into the camp?” Fagan asked.
Looking to where the little girl sat strapped in the chair with a torn arm and blood staining her shirt, Steve felt his anger leave him in a rush. Lowering his rifle, he went to her and started loosening her bindings as he talked softly to her about what a good job she had done protecting Heather. Thinking by her lack of reply that she was in shock, he was relieved when she said in a calm tone, “I didn’t want to shoot him, but he left me no choice. He was going to hurt Heather. He was a bad man.”
Heather had joined him in freeing her, and in a calming voice said, “You did real good, Cindy. You saved me. Now we have to get out of here. Do you think you can walk?”
As they were about to lift her from the chair, Hawkins said. “She’s been bitten. You need to leave her tied up until we know if she turns.” Having regained some of his arrogance when he saw that he wasn’t going to be beaten, he added in a haughty tone, “You people are so ignorant. I’m surprised you’ve lasted this long.”
Everything that she had experienced since she entered the farmhouse came back to Heather in a rush. Being knocked out and held hostage by the doctor and Cain, watching Cindy being strapped into a chair and used as a human guinea pig, and then almost being shot flowed through her mind at once. Although she had tried to stay calm and keep Steve from killing Hawkins, she reached where the doctor was being held by Fagan in two steps. Watching as his eyes went wide, she gave him three quick jabs in the stomach, listening in satisfaction as the breath whooshed out of him.
As Fagan started to drop the gasping man, Heather told him, “Hold the son-of-a-bitch up. It makes it hurts worse.”
Fagan laughed as he hoisted the doctor upright and asked, “You military?”
“I used to be a cop,” Heather replied. “We had to deal with a lot of scumbags like him.”
Turning to tend to Cindy, she heard the man named Cage say to Hawkins, “You have two choices now, Herr Doktor. You can get on the intercom and have your people stand down, or I’m going to lock you in the testing chamber with a couple of the dead we bypassed in the coal bin.”
Hawkins’ eyes went wide and he wheezed out that Cain’s men would never take orders from him.
With an evil smile, Fagan squeezed a pressure point on the inside of Hawkins’ elbow and said, “Then tell them an airborne strain of the HWNW virus was accidentally released.”
Still defiant, in a strained voice, Hawkins said, “You idiot. For that, all you have to do is set off the biohazard alarm.”
Irritated that he had forgotten
about the alarm, Staff Sergeant Fagan nonetheless gave Hawkins’ a good squeeze on the pressure point that brought him to his knees.
Looking toward a red box mounted on the wall with a biohazard sticker next to it, Cage turned to Steve and said, “Get everyone ready to move.” Pulling a two-way radio from his pocket, he adjusted the channel to contact the entire compound and pushed the transmit button before saying in a calm voice, “Attention, attention. This is Major Cage. We will be conducting a biohazard drill at the farmhouse in five minutes. Don’t be alarmed and pass this down the line so we don’t have a panic. I say again, this is only a drill.”
After repeating the message twice, he switched channels to contact the men and women he had quickly assembled into a reaction squad in case their mission went south. Hitting the transmit button again, he said, “This is Major Cage. The biohazard alarm is going to be set off in a few minutes to clear the farmhouse. I want all personnel exiting the building to be detained, over.”
“Detained by what means, sir, over?” A voice questioned.
Without hesitation, Cage replied, “By whatever means available, just be on the lookout for Lieutenant Perry. We’re going to give it two minutes after the alarm goes off before we come out. There will be eight of us, over.”
Freed from her restraints, Doctor Connors said, “I will stay behind with the girl. Every second we waste in developing the anti-virus means that more people are infected. The sooner we start, the more people we will be able to save.” Seeing Cage hesitate, she added, “The farmhouse will be deserted except for us, and you will have total control of the base, Major. We will be in no danger. If I can start working right away in locating the strand of DNA that was missing from the other woman, I can possible have the anti-virus ready in two to three days.”
“I’ll stay with her,” Heather chimed in as she retrieved Cain’s pistol. Looking down at the dead man, she added, “Besides, this piece of shit took my rifle and I want it back.”