He paused at the junction of the passageway.
Left or right?
He had decided to head left. The top floor of the complex where on a previous visit he had seen the communications tower and, below that, a track down the mountain. His only plan beyond that was to head for the armed forces in Thames and play the malnourished survivor.
They won’t know what you did or who you are.
A thought that had been festering away at the back of his mind since early that morning rose to the surface.
Where is Clubber?
He pushed it aside and kept his ears strained for any sounds of pursuit. So far, his fire and gas bottles stunt had bought him some much-needed time.
Derek made his way down the narrow passage and up three flights of stairs. He paused at the door that led to the largest of the labs in the complex. This was the quickest way to the exit. He had been in this lab once and shivered at the thought of what lay beyond. This was where Dr Marks carried out her “Research”, as she called it. Derek could only think of it as “Experiments”.
He looked down at Sophie and gently brushed strands of sweaty hair from her face. Seeing her smile up at him tugged at his heart. All the guilt he felt for his actions gnawed its way to the front of his mind. His anger at the Variants. At the men responsible for the beasts and the danger he now found himself in. Like any father, all Derek had wanted was to give his daughter a happy, loving upbringing. He sighed.
Instead, we have this.
“Close your eyes, okay, baby?”
Sophie nodded and shut her eyes tightly. He let out a breath to try to calm his nerves and opened the door.
The main laboratory was a long rectangular room, with workbenches on every wall filled with beeping machines and computers. In the far-right corner, Derek could see a space sealed off with plastic. Tubes disappeared inside it, a hissing sound emanating from them. He cast his eyes to the centre of the room and gasped, despite knowing what he would find.
Four soldiers were strapped to metal gurneys, recent prisoners, he guessed. Two were thrashing about, skin blotchy and blood seeping from their eyes. He had seen the virus take hold before, changing people in front of him. A normal functioning human one minute, a wild crazy animal the next.
A third soldier had been cut open, his ribs splayed and his intestines exposed.
“Keep your eyes closed, baby,” he whispered to Sophie, as if speaking any louder would wake the autopsied man.
The thrashing soldiers caught their scent and struggled against their bonds with such ferocity that Derek took a few quick steps forwards and focused on the bindings. The hand of the fourth soldier shot out and grabbed Derek’s hand, locking on with a vice-like grip.
Derek tried to pull away, but the man held fast.
“Help me, please.”
Derek had a flashback of Chang lying trapped under the bus, holding out his photograph. The man gurgled and sucked in breaths. Something moved under the skin, inside his throat.
The soldier gagged and choked, gasping for air. His eyes bugged out, and Derek noticed his lips were turning blue. Something was suffocating him. It moved under his skin again, and the man thrashed around on his gurney.
The object in his throat stopped moving, and the soldier’s mouth gaped open. Then a worm-like creature with tentacles crawled from his mouth, its fat body struggling to wriggle free. It wrapped its tentacles around the man’s head and yanked itself out with a pop, tearing the man’s jaw off in a sickening snap. It squeaked and stabbed its appendages up the nose of the soldier, tearing it, then scooped out yellow and grey brain matter.
Derek, rooted to the spot, gawked at the creature. The worm squeaked again, snapping him from his trance. Spotting the man’s dog tags, Derek risked snatching them off his neck.
He hugged Sophie closer to his chest and fled the lab.
As he ran down the last corridor, a thousand thoughts flooded through his mind. Derek glanced down at the tags. Lance Corporal Nathan Mauger.
He had been selfish up until now and had only thought about his and Sophie’s survival. All the things he had done had been brushed aside and forgotten about. As he ran down the hallway, guilt nagged at him like a voice deep in his conscious.
Help them. Put right what you did.
Derek paused outside the door to freedom. He knew it was the right one. Communications had been painted onto the grey door. He looked down at Sophie and back at the door. In that moment, he knew he couldn’t allow the atrocities of this lab to continue. Dr Marks was like the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele. Humanity at its worst. The devil wasn’t in hell. The devil walked these halls.
He put Sophie on the ground and looked into her beautiful eyes.
“Daddy has to go and do something, baby. I want you to go into this room and wait for me.” He took off his watch and handed it to her. “If Daddy isn’t back by 11:00, I want you to climb up the ladder and run down the mountain. You keep running until you find soldiers, okay?”
Sophie brushed a tear from her eye. “I want to stay with you, Daddy. Please.”
“I’m sorry, it’s too dangerous. The bad things are everywhere.”
Sophie sobbed into his chest, her chest thumping against his. Derek let the tears flows. Tears that he had locked away. He started to push his daughter through the door but she started screaming and holding out her hands. He stopped and lifted her up, clasping her against his chest. He couldn’t leave her again.
“Okay. Let’s go. But you have to stay close to me. If I say run, you run back here and outside. Okay?”
Sophie nodded and latched onto his first finger like she used to when she was a toddler.
Derek and Sophie made their way back down the corridor, avoiding the lab with the soldiers inside. He guided her down the main stairwell and let the door thud behind him. Shrieks and gunfire echoed up the stairs. He grabbed Sophie’s hand and risked a peek over the railing. Several floors below, he could see soldiers firing weapons at the white beasts.
Derek hugged the wall and snuck down to the next floor. Five minutes later they were in the service stairwell. It was wider and had rubber mats glued to the treads. Not for the last time, he wondered how they had transported all the equipment into the complex.
He could tell now that he was on the same floor as everyone else because of the rat-a-tat of the rifles and the howls and wails from Dr Marks’s experiments.
Derek sighed and gripped Sophie’s finger tightly. Pausing at the door, he listened. By his calculations, he should be at the far end of the long passage from the firefight.
He cracked the door open and peeped through the gap. White Variants swarmed in the passageway. He widened the opening and pulled Sophie behind him, then slowly edged through into the passage. Keeping his back to the wall, he crept into the workroom on his right. He could see the frizzy hair of the psycho that was the lady in white through the small windows.
Derek stole through the darkened room and flanked the gathered monsters. Letting go of Sophie’s hand, he checked to see how much ammo he had left. Two bullets.
Better make them count.
As quietly as he could, he clicked the selector to fire and chambered a round before crouching down to his daughter’s level. “When I say run, I want you to run for the soldiers, okay?”
“What soldiers?”
“You’ll see them when I open the door. Don’t look at what Daddy is doing, just run. Please.”
Sophie twirled her hair in her hand, then nodded. Taking a deep breath, Derek opened the door and pointed his rifle at the back of Dr Marks’s head. He could hear her talking but ignored her insane drivel. Derek hesitated for a fraction, thinking of all the death this woman had caused. How much pain and misery. Not only to humans, but other animals too. He felt something stir deep down in his soul. It was pity, pity for her madness.
Derek prayed for forgiveness before pulling the trigger.
— 25 —
Major Ken “Pig” Hind grasped the Glock 17
in his right hand and with his left caressed the barrel and felt the smooth nylon-based polymer. Despite the pain that throbbed through his body, he smiled. After eating the meal Dr Wilson had provided, he had blacked out and awoken to the sight of the beautiful, petite, pixie-haired woman who was doing her best to hold him up. Not a bad way to wake up from the nightmare of the last couple of days. He did a quick mental check of his injuries. The burns ached as usual. The gash and the bullet wound on his leg were seeping blood through the bandage. And his head hurt like a bitch. Ken smiled again.
I’m still alive. I can keep fighting.
He hobbled down the corridor and glanced at the strange group of soldiers. Up front was a tall guy with a bright green pack on his back and a red-handled machete strapped to his leg. He seemed to be the leader and glanced back at the woman a lot. Like all the time. Following the leader was a teenage boy with a prosthetic blade that clicked with every step he took. He was holding the hand of a young child. Ken cast his eyes back to the other prisoners staggering behind him. As a soldier, he knew how to assess a situation, and he knew that most of these people weren’t going to make it. The stronger Maori men adorned with tattoos had the best chance. Bringing up the rear was the cutest brunette he had ever had the pleasure of seeing. Hatchets peeked out from her back and she held the L96 rifle like she knew how to kill. She looked up and caught him watching. She frowned before casting her eyes down and smiling.
Things were definitely looking up.
The leader took them to another stairwell and ushered them inside. The prisoners and the soldiers crowded behind them, filling up the cramped space.
The leader turned and looked at Pig before glancing away. “We don’t have much time before those bloody Variants sniff us out, so I’ll be brief.” He looked at the woman holding up Ken. “I’m Jack Gee. We’re what’s left of The Renegades. We were sent on a mission to retrieve a logbook from this complex. Things went a bit south after we answered a distress call and ended up in here. I know of a way out, but it’s going to be tough. We’re low on ammo and fresh out of luck. Best we can think of is to aim for a Pa that’s a couple of clicks to the east.”
One of the Maori men lifted his head. “You get us out of this death trap and I’ll get us to our Pa.”
“Okay. I know most of you can’t run. Once we go through the next door, it’s a short way to the maintenance room that leads to one of the old mines and out.”
Pig was about to say something when a high-pitched wail broke his train of thought. He exchanged a look with the woman holding him up. “I think I’m okay. You’re going to need both hands free to fight these pricks.”
“Are you sure?”
“Not really, but what choice do we have?” He took his arm off her shoulder and put his weight on both legs. His left knee buckled, but he managed to keep upright.
“Thank you for what you did back there. I’m Major Ken Hind.”
“Dee Gee. And you’re welcome.”
“Dee Gee? You guys are married?”
“Sure are. Wait? Major Ken Hind?”
“You’ve heard of me?”
“Ben mentioned your name a couple of times, that’s all. Something about a mission to Wellington?”
“You know Ben? Captain Ben Johns?”
“Yes. He trained us. He’s overseeing operations with Colonel Mahana in Thames. Operation Utu.”
“Operation Utu?”
The door to the corridor thudded in its hinges, shaking the metal framework. Dee handed him two spare magazines for the Glock. “Fill you in later.”
Shrieks filled the stairwell as Pig hobbled up the stairs after the Renegades. He smiled to himself. It would be just like Ben to gather a ragtag band of brothers and sisters to fight. He saw it in their eyes. Determination. Pride. Sacrifice. A willingness to die for your country, a willingness to fight for your loved ones so they could live free. It was what all armed forces wanted. In his mind, the people who believed it were the people who succeeded. A keen student of military history, he often smiled at a quote he had found that affirmed his opinion.
“In war, both sides think they are in the right.”
The blood flowing through his legs loosened his muscles enough to allow better mobility. Pig dropped back and helped some of the other prisoners. He made eye contact with the cute brunette. Her forehead was covered in sweat as she staggered under the weight of two females.
Pig signalled to the men who looked able. “Help the others. Hurry.”
He limped down the stairs and took the weight of the female on the left. “Hey. I’m Ken,” he said, glancing over at the cute brunette.
“Yalonda.”
Ken gritted his teeth, lifting the woman. “Yodanda?”
“Yalonda.”
“Yomama?”
“All right. Pen. Time for being a smartass later.”
He grinned at her, giving his best smile.
The door below them smashed open and thundered against the wall, the sound echoing up the stairwell.
Pig quickened his pace. “Contacts!” he screamed in warning.
White Variants poured into the stairwell, clawing over each other, snarling and hissing. He growled and pushed the woman in front of him. Finally, he reached the landing. Dee held the door, urging them through.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Bullets pinged off the handrails. Splinters of metal and paint flicked into the air. Pig ducked through the doorway and turned to cover Yalonda. She raised her rifle and let off a volley of her own.
He squeezed the trigger of the Glock at the head peeking over the railing. The head snapped back and dropped out of sight. He felt Yalonda tug his arm and he pivoted, then followed the staggering group of prisoners.
Pig looked around. The corridor had smooth concrete walls and soft orange lights glowed along its length. He scanned the doors that lined the passageway, fearful of the threats they posed.
Too many entries.
As if the Variants read his mind, a door twenty metres away burst open, expelling more white Variants and two new horrors. They had the torso of a Variant but the body and legs of a weta. Mandibles extended from their mouths. Pig swung his Glock up and fired a couple of rounds as he ran for the door Dee was holding open.
“Forget them! Hurry!” she called out.
Several of the former prisoners were lagging behind. The teenager with the prosthetic leg ran back to help them. Pig glimpsed white Variants behind him. The white Variants shrieked and, with an incredible burst of speed, sprinted at the retreating humans. Pig made up the last couple of metres and turned, firing the last of his magazine. He felt a whoosh of air as Dee brushed past him, then gawked at the sight of her swinging a katana, cutting down the leading creatures.
Variants bounced off the walls and overran the stragglers, tearing into their flesh. Pig jammed a fresh magazine in and unloaded into the mob, screaming.
So many noises surrounded him, Pig was having trouble focusing on the important sounds. Shouts. Screams and shrieks. Gunfire. Metal cutting through flesh.
Jack flashed past him swinging his machete, and hacked into a Variant’s head. Pig glanced down at Yalonda’s hatchets and grabbed one. He joined Jack in chopping down the lead group. With their combined efforts, they finished them off. Jack pulled a dead Variant off Dee. She then kicked it off her katana and took Jack’s offered hand.
Pig swivelled his head, looking down the corridor. White Variants stood thirty metres away. They parted, allowing the lady in white through. Dr Marks.
“There is nowhere to run. Nowhere to go. Your attempts to escape are futile.”
Jack pushed Dee and waved away the remaining humans. Pig did a quick head count. Ten. The dog barked and snarled at Dr Marks. Make that eleven.
Jack glanced at Pig. Pig nodded. He knew what Jack was thinking. Die on your feet.
“We’re leaving, you crazy bitch!” Jack shouted.
“We’ll just chase you down.”
Pig watched the exch
ange out of the corner of his eye. He was assessing the Variants and the distance between them. The distance to the door. Variables and possibilities ran through his head. He glanced back at Dr Marks. She had her hands on her hips, glaring at them.
Crack!
Dr Marks’s head exploded in a shower of brain matter, skull and blood. Her body stood rigid and upright for several seconds, blood spurting from the stump that was once her head, before toppling over and hitting the floor with a sickening thud.
Pig gasped. Standing a few metres behind and to one side of the slain scientist stood a man grasping a rifle in his shaking hands, a young girl clutched to his legs.
“Run!” the shooter shouted, before firing his weapon at the nearest Variant.
— 26 —
Jack gulped at the sight of the scientist’s head exploding. He had seen plenty of Variants die in such a manner, but never a human. He shook away his revulsion and reacted. The shooter had a little girl clutching his legs. There was no way he was going to leave either of them to a horrible fate. He was a Renegade and proud of it. Rescue and recon.
Taking advantage of the white Variants’ confusion, Jack swung his rifle up and quickly shot the two creatures standing closest to the shooter.
Yalonda, Ken, Boss and Dee joined in. They took down several more of the Variants before the creatures comprehended what was happening.
Jack called out to the shooter, “Hurry! C’mon!”
The shooter batted away a lunging Variant and sprinted towards him. Jack kept firing until his rifle clicked empty, but still the monsters came for them. Finally, the shooter and the little girl made it through and brushed past him. Jack felt a hand on his shoulder, tugging him backwards. Drawing his Glock, he shot a white Variant at point blank range. A gaping hole opened up above its right eye, showering Jack in black gunk. He snapped his mouth shut and prayed none of the sludge entered his bloodstream.
The door slammed shut behind him and Dee and Boss jammed metal pipes through the large handle. Desperate, he searched for something heavy to further block their pursuers. He smiled to himself despite the growing fear. Here they were, back in the same maintenance room they had escaped from all those months ago. He cast his eyes around to familiarise himself with the room.
Extinction New Zealand Box Set | Books 1-3 Page 55