by JT Sawyer
Travis saw little choice in Becka’s current fate. He was torn by wanting to take her with him but knew she would receive far better medical care in Montrose. He rubbed the back of his neck and stood up. “How long before we can be inbound for Denver?”
“We can leave in two days after this winter storm clears and when the rest of my flight crews return from Arizona. In the meantime, I’ll have a room prepared for you down the hall.”
Chapter 26
A few hours later, Travis was half asleep on his cot, restlessly struggling to push the memories of faces, jagged mountains, and windblown mesas away as months of recurring images crept into his slumber. He turned on his side and felt a hand glide over his shoulder. Reflexively, he grabbed it and twisted the palm back on itself while reaching down for the folding knife in his right pocket. As his eyes blazed opened, he saw Katy wincing, her face aglow with surprise and anger.
“Jesus, take it easy, Travis.”
He let go and sat up while Katy stepped back, rubbing her wrist. “Is this how it’s always going to be when I try and give you a hug?”
“Sorry, beautiful. I was in a light sleep and just reacted,” he said, biting his lower lip.
“The opposite reaction would be nice instead, don’t you think.”
“I am so sorry.”
He kept staring at her and began smiling, noticing her puzzled expression. “I was just marveling at the fire you have in your eyes when you’re mad. It’s both terrifying and alluring.”
She sat down next to him, still rubbing her wrist. “Yeah, well, if you want to see more of the alluring side you’re gonna have to be nicer.”
“Is that right—like how nice?” he said slowly, moving his hand over her wrist, massaging it.
“Oh, please; it’ll take more than some sweet talk. That little martial-arts move hurt.”
He continued rubbing her wrist while moving his other hand up behind her, stroking her golden hair.
“That’s better, but you’re still not forgiven.”
He moved his hand up her arm to the center of her fleece jacket, unzipping it while lowering his head towards her neck. He pulled the hair back from her shoulder while kissing the tan skin behind her ear. “Can you forgive me?”
She giggled, curling forward, placing her arms around his back. “Not even close, mister. You’ll have to be more convincing than that.”
He raised his hand to her chin, tilting her head towards him and pressing his lips against hers while his other hand slid the jacket off. He started to unbutton her flannel shirt, continuing to kiss her while she pressed into him. Travis felt his nerve endings tingle as he moved his hands along her. “What about now?”
Travis sensed her hands slide down by his belt and pull up his shirt. “I’ve almost gotten over it, but not quite.”
Travis’s cravings overtook him as he leaned over her, kissing her along her neck and moving down. He sat up for a moment and locked the bolt on the door behind him. Then he finished the last button and slid the shirt off her back as she removed his, their forms melting into each other as they slanted back onto the soft blankets.
Chapter 27
The next morning, as the phalanx of helos flew towards Denver, Travis kept running through his plan over and over. The same plan he had rehearsed nearly every night during the last few months. What would happen if he found them, holed up with other survivors, their faces aglow with his return? Or filled with confusion and resentment at how he had failed them—how he had left them behind to subsist on their own. He hunched over, grabbing his pack, and began doing an inventory check of the contents to clear his mind.
“So, what is she like—your ex-wife, I mean?” said Katy, who was crossing and uncrossing her arms.
“Jules? Ah, she’s a feisty one—Italian; ‘Julianna.’ Helluva temper on that woman. When she got pissed, kitchen knives would go flying. We were always butting heads at the end. But she’s a great mom.”
“How did you two meet?”
“I was stationed at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky. One night, I was out at the local watering hole with a few buddies and in walks this raven-haired beauty. She sat at the bar with her girlfriends and, a few minutes later, this army guy walks up and starts hittin’ on her. The whole nine yards about all of his confirmed kills, his uber-classified combat missions, and on and on. As I am watching this unfold, he put his arm around her shoulder and she just took her beer bottle and slammed it into his head, sending him to the ground. I leaned over to my friends and said, ‘that’s the woman for me.’ We started dating afterwards and got married seven months later.”
Katy looked out the window while rubbing the back of her neck. “Great, a hot-blooded beauty with a penchant for busting the heads of people she doesn’t like.”
“And you’re a fiery Scottish woman. I’m sure you two will get along just fine.”
Logan tilted his head back, motioning for Travis to move up so they could talk. He inched forward between Logan and Dane, who was at the helm. As he did, Talia leaned over towards Katy. “I knew his wife briefly. She was a real bitch—always nagging about something.”
“Thanks.”
“I’m sure they cared about each other and all, but I think he only stuck it out because he’s got a compulsive urge to fix things. When we first started working together, I discovered that that guy is devoted to the woman he is with though, so you have nothing to worry about.”
Travis returned to his seat, clenching his hands together and glancing at Katy. “Logan said we’re five minutes out from my old neighborhood on the outskirts of Denver.”
She placed her hand over his and leaned forward, kissing him on the cheek before resting her head on his shoulder. As the helo descended, the azure sky before them quickly faded into a canvas of blackened homes and the jagged remains of storefronts. Dane angled the Blackhawk to the right as he circled the silent cul-de-sac below. Travis thrust his head against the glass, straining to make out his former residence. Instead, he saw a charred concrete foundation with debris strewn around a singed lawn. The rest of the homes in the area were similarly destroyed and only an overturned station wagon and crumpled swing set remained. He gasped, his eyes darting around the scene below, searching for evidence that he was in the right place. Maybe I gave Dane the wrong coordinates. How could this be the place where I played baseball in the street with Todd and had family barbecues? What happened to the house—the entire neighborhood?
He canted his head in the other direction, searching the rest of the subdivision, but only saw miles of scorched pavement and abandoned vehicles. He pressed his elbows into his sides as his breathing surged in and out. Then he shot his eyes forward beyond the rubble and focused on the snow-capped peaks in the distance near Boulder. They must have made it out of here. They must have. He kept looking at the mountains and mumbling the words as the rest of the people around him grew silent.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and numbly turned to see Logan’s face. “I’m sorry, Travis. Why don’t we fly this bird over to that location near the mountains you told me about and see what we can find there?”
Travis nodded in slow motion as a bead of icy sweat ran down the back of his neck. As the helo swung to the left, he heard Logan feverishly talking on his mic. All eyes were glued to the front as Logan turned on the speaker and the cabin filled with the intel report coming in from Montrose. “Go ahead, Lieutenant, and repeat what you just told me,” Logan said.
“Sir, we’ve got significant activity at a formerly unknown facility near Colorado Springs about twenty minutes to your south. This could be the suspected Pallas research area we’ve been looking for, where the two Delta teams disappeared a few weeks ago.”
“Copy that. Stand by,” Logan said as he twisted his torso to the rear and looked at Travis.
Travis stared out the window below and then to the backdrop of distant mountains. He rotated in his seat back towards Logan. He was torn between his overwhelming drive to find Todd and the need to e
nd the threat that could one day come back to destroy what was left of the world he wanted to raise his son in. “Let’s bring down the rain on Pallas and finish this for good, here and now,” he said in a gravelly voice. Travis knew Logan would do a mission shift regardless of what he said but he appreciated his old boss giving him the illusion of choice in the matter.
Logan gave the order to Dane and the other pilots in the region to follow them to Colorado Springs. He radioed back to Montrose and called in for additional troop support and all remaining Blackhawks to rendezvous with them.
Chapter 28
Nikki kicked the last bloody corpse out of the elevator and retrieved a new rifle and the security keys, then slammed her finger into the button for the last sub-level, which contained the facility operations room. She had stemmed the tide of tears from her inflamed eyes and wiped her sleeve over her soiled cheeks. She thought of what end her sister had met and felt a wave of nausea well up in her. Nikki bit down on her lower lip and tried to steady her wobbly knees. A few seconds later, the red-stained doors parted and she waited for a volley of gunfire. She steadied her breathing and listened for movement but only heard the distant sound of grinding machinery and hissing steam. Lowering her rifle into a ready position, she darted out of the elevator, sweeping her weapon along the dimly lit corridor.
She slid along the rough concrete wall, passing by a mounted glass cabinet containing gas masks. Smashing out the glass, she reached inside and withdrew a mask and then slung it over her shoulder. Nikki kept moving down the passage until she came to the generator station. On the right wall was a control panel that had each level and office marked. Her eyes floated over the knobs and dials until they came to the master switch for the exterior building doors. She pushed it to the right, sealing off the exits. Then she ran her slender fingers along the numerous dials until she came to the set of dials listed as “Sterilization.” These were covered under a clear polycarbonate lid with a keyed lock.
Without flinching she slid the security key in and flipped down the lid. Then she rotated the dials for each floor. She slung her rifle and slipped the gas mask over her head, securing it around her face, then punched the red activation button to the right of the dials. Immediately an alarm sounded off and the building began filling with a silvery gas. She walked a few feet over to an empty desk and casually pulled up a chair while flipping on the security cameras. She propped a fist under her chin and watched while people throughout the building succumbed to violent spasms as poison gas overtook them. She tapped a pencil on the table with her other hand and then rolled her eyes down to her watch while contemplating her next move.
A contamination breach will set off alarms back at central headquarters in the Midwest and they will dispatch more teams to investigate. They will be my ride out of here. I’ll take the fight all the way back to those maggot-eyed fucks until no one is left standing. Then I will recruit my own group of mercenaries and destroy Logan and his little remora, Travis. As these plans ran through her head, the anguish over losing her sister turned into a searing pain in her chest, burning in the kiln of her own rage.
Nikki tried to calm her racing heart and, after several minutes of futile deep breathing, she surveyed the camera footage on each floor instead. After finding no signs of life, she jumped up, kicking the chair back into the desk, and walked to the control panel. Nikki pressed a blue deactivation button, next to the sterilization dials, and then flipped open another lid and pressed the decontamination button. She heard the high-pressure venting system go on overhead as the poison gas was removed and fresh air was cycled back in. A half hour later, the green safety light on the wall started blinking and she removed her gas mask.
“I’m going to need access to more weapons, food, and water while I hole up here,” she muttered to herself while searching for the “Unlock Interior Doors” button on the panel. She pressed the master button, unlocking all of the interior doors. Then she slammed the lid down and strode back through the corridor to the elevator. “I declare this building secure,” she said with a mocking grin.
Chapter 29
“The power surge came from an abandoned warehouse twelve miles to the southwest of Colorado Springs,” said Logan, staring down at the information on his laptop which was being relayed via satellite from Montrose. Travis and Talia were leaning over his shoulder, looking at the faint thermal images on his screen. “This is the place we’ve been looking for. A lot of good men died trying to pinpoint its precise location.”
“What’s the significance of the facility, other than that it belongs to Pallas?” said Travis.
“Replication studies,” replied Talia. “This place was their foothold in the western states where they were purported to be working on a parallel strain of the original virus in addition to being a resupply base for their black-ops teams.”
“Our resources have been stretched thin in recent months and there wasn’t a chance of reallocating men to find this place until now,” said Logan, cutting into the conversation while zooming in on the images before him.
“So, why not just deliver a drone strike like you indicated earlier?” said Travis.
“Believe me, I’d love to but we need to get our hands on their research and any lab personnel so we can get a fix on their central HQ in the Midwest.”
“Shit. I thought this was over with the completion of Gummerman’s vaccine,” Travis said, rubbing his chin.
“Based upon recent interrogations of captured Pallas subjects, we know they are also stretched thin—perhaps more than we are—but you can bet they’ve got some contingency plans in place. If we take out this facility, that may give us the edge we need in mowing down the rest of them,” said Logan. He pointed his finger at the screen, shouting, “There’s an entrance on the north end of the building that has one heat signature by it, on the ground floor. The rest of the place looks to be devoid of life, though an hour ago it was filled with around sixty personnel.”
“Do you have any infra-red capabilities?” said Travis.
“Stop readin’ my thoughts,” said Logan. “Switching to IR now.”
Travis saw Dane manipulating the helo controls as they glided over the treetops a few miles from the facility. Travis turned back to the laptop and saw the ghastly images of dead bodies splayed out on each level of the building.
“There must have been an accident at the lab and the place has been breached. Hopefully we can get to that lone survivor hiding at the north end.”
“ETA to LZ is thirty seconds, sir,” said Dane. “We’ve only got a few more minutes of sunlight left, though.”
“Change of plans—take us to the rear of the building and set us down in the parking lot. From there, we’ll make our way inside,” said Logan.
Travis sat back in his chair and grabbed his AK, clutching the faded wooden stock, then zipped up his tactical vest over his heavy fleece jacket. He glanced over at Pete, Nora, and Rachel, who were gathering their weapons, magazines, and packs like they had done so many times before. Katy hastily tied her hair in a ponytail and slid on a thin pair of gloves, then retrieved her rifle.
The helo came to an abrupt halt on the blacktop with newly fallen snow whirling around the parking lot. The doors swung open on either side and everyone jumped out, dashing for the side emergency exit in bounding moves. As he ran, Travis could see hundreds of zombies clamoring at the gates and security fence in the distance. The place reeked of ammonia—an odor that still made the hair bristle on his neck. As they made it to the building, he and the others placed gas masks on their faces.
Talia made it to the thick metal door first and was busy planting four charges on its outline. She checked on the position of the others to make sure they were clear, then she stepped back, holding the detonator, and blew the door. It teetered and fell outward with a heavy thud; warm air from inside drove a cloud of smoke towards her.
Talia raised her M4 and nodded to Travis beside her to move inside while she provided cover fire. Logan wen
t next and then Talia followed while the others trickled in behind her. Once they reached the main lobby they split up, with Katy and the others accompanying some of Logan’s men downstairs to search for hard drives and sensitive data. Travis served as point for Logan and Talia as they made their way to the rear of the building in search of the survivor.
Travis saw six crumpled bodies spread along the gray-tiled floor ahead. Their sunken faces and blue lips revealing death from asphyxiation. He moved around them while keeping his body hunched forward with his rifle extended. As he neared the intersection, he paused, straining his ears to make out a noise echoing off the sterile walls. The sound was faint but he heard a woman’s voice crying out for help down the hallway to his right.
Further down the corridor, tucked into the rear security office, Nikki had a slow smile on her face that was building. She stared into a TV monitor at Travis, Logan, and Talia, who were prowling along the hallway in her direction. “How delectable,” she whispered with a lusty glint in her eyes.
Chapter 30
Nikki flicked a switch on the security desk, opening the front entrance gates in the parking lot. Within minutes, the area was swarming with hundreds of zombies, who made their way to the facility. Some of them were cut down by Logan’s snipers while the rest of the undead made it to the front of the building. Nikki disabled the front locks and swung open the double doors leading into the lobby, twenty yards away from Travis and the others.