The radio on his belt buzzed and he lifted it up, pressing a button on its side.
“Go.”
“Control rooms ours, boss. Can’t hold it for long though.”
He pressed his head back against the elevator wall and sucked in a breath. He looked weary and almost defeated. I had to admit that I was a little disappointed. I’d expected more from him.
“You heard from Nila?”
“Yeah. Almost everyone’s gathered at the rendezvous. Just waiting for confirmation that they can take their control discs off.”
“Will get to you as soon as we can.”
“Roger that.”
He looked over at me, brows drawing down and shook his head.
“My people, my daughter, need us to get this fucking flash drive into the control room.”
“One second,” I said as the elevator came to a stop and the doors began to open.
I pressed myself against the side, hidden by the thin panel between the wall and the door. When no one started shooting, I risked a look and let out a sigh.
“Good to go.”
“What floor?”
“Twelve,” I said after a glance at the panel and he let out a groan. “What?”
“This is where they keep all the fucking experiments!”
“Why’s that a problem?”
“Because if they can access the cameras and find us, all they have to do is open all the cages and we’ll be ass deep in bloody zombies!”
I shrugged and flashed him a grin and said, “they die as easily as the living,” before limping out of the elevator.
I hadn’t gone ten feet before a man wearing the guards uniform came running at me with a stun-rod raised above his head. I stepped to the left to avoid his wild swing and jabbed him between the ribs with the stun-rod I held. He went down hard.
“You need to train these guys better.”
“Wasn’t one of mine,” Isaac grumped as he pulled the clip from his handgun and counted bullets as his face grew grimmer. “We need real weapons.”
“This seems to work ok,” I said as I jammed it against the fallen man’s neck. He twitched for a little bit then went still.
“It’ll do fuck all against a zombie.”
“Fair point.”
“They have class three’s down here.”
I blinked and turned my head to look at him, eyes wide and mouth open with no words coming out. Reapers!
“Yeah, exactly,” he said and slammed the clip back into the grip of his gun.
“Okay, first things first, weapons. Then we need to get to the control room before they activate your device and leave me standing here with a freshly made zombie.”
“Your concern is touching.”
I flashed him another smile and paused as a thought occurred to me.
“Any of your people up on the first floor?”
“Nah, that’s Mark’s people. He isn’t with us.”
“Ah well. Shame.”
I glanced around but saw nothing more than empty corridors with doors set into the green painted walls. The lights flickered and I stared at them a moment before turning back to Isaac.
“Okay, this is your home so tell me how we get back to the fifth floor.”
“Can’t use the elevator. They can monitor that and will just have people waiting on each floor anyway. Stairwell will be the same. In fact, there’s probably people coming down them as we speak.”
“Suggestions?”
“There aren’t any. Next level up is labs and workshops, one above that is water reclamation and hydroponics, the next three above are residential. Dining is six and five’s control. Four is executive offices and three’s medical. Two is stores and one is the main entrance and guard barracks.”
“Stairwells and elevators the only route between the floors?”
“Yeah.”
“What about power?”
“That’s a separate area connected to the hydroelectric plant at the dam. Power is generated there and feeds this place through cables threaded through the earth.”
“Ventilation?”
“If you’re thinking about climbing through air-ducts you can forget it. That shit’s just for the movies. Even if there were any large enough for you to crawl through, they won’t take your weight and they have mesh screen running through them. Not to mention all the crap that will be coating them. You wouldn’t be able to breathe.”
“Right then. We either take an elevator and rush the gathered soldiers or we climb the stairs.”
“No fucking choice at all.”
“Or… I said with a grin. We let out the zombies and let them clear the way for us.”
His head moved from side to side and his mouth opened but there wasn’t much in the way of words coming out. I took that for agreement and set off along the corridor, looking into each room as we passed.
Isaac caught up with me easily as I was forced to limp on my injured foot. The pain was quite unwelcome and only served to increase my desire to murder each and every person in the bunker. He didn’t speak but simply walked along beside me, weapon in hand. I wondered, idly, how many bullets he had left.
“Here,” he said as we approached a door close to the end of the corridor.
I glanced inside and couldn’t see much of anything. There was a keypad and an electronic lock on the door and I was pondering it for a moment as Isaac lifted his radio and issued a quick instruction. The light on the lock turned green and I nodded my thanks to him as I opened the door.
Three lab techs were cowering inside and I left Isaac to cover them while I walked along the wide corridor between the cells that contained the zombies. There were a healthy number of them in all of the stages and I stopped outside the one that contained a Reaper and stared in at it.
Grey skin and seemingly blind eyes, a hairless body that was too long and thin, narrow fingers that ended in claws. It walked over to me in that hunched over manner they seemed to have and sniffed at the air.
I glanced at the narrow holes in the centre of the glass and smiled, taking a step closer so that it could truly get my scent.
The bone ridges around its skull resembled a crown, appropriate for a zombie king or queen I supposed, and similar ridges had grown out along its forearms making for formidable weapons. I had faced several Reapers before and killed almost all of them. Each time I had been at full strength and still walked away from each fight with some degree of damage to myself. In the state I was in, I doubted that I could survive a direct confrontation with one.
“Where is the door to the stairwell?” I called out and grunted at the guttural moans that answered my question.
“One corridor over.”
The question then was how to get the zombies from the lab to the stairwell without being eaten by them. Not an easy answer. I headed back to the techs and prodded one with the stun-rod, without activating it. Even so, he jumped.
“How do we open the cells?”
“Y-you don’t!”
“Yes, yes I do. How?”
“Really, you can’t! You need Alpha access, we only have Delta!”
“That’s… irritating,” I said and grunted as I looked back at the cages.
I so very much wanted to open them but either the tech was lying and I didn’t have the time to torture the truth out of him, or he was telling the truth. Either way, the cells were staying shut. I looked at the three techs and lifted my shoulders in a shrug. I would work with what I had then.
“Bring them with us,” I said and turned towards the door.
“Why?”
“Just do it.”
He muttered under his breath, probably something insulting but I didn’t care as he gave the order to the techs to get to their feet. They did as instructed and I, carefully, led the way along the corridor towards the stairwell.
When I reached the door, I inched it open and listened carefully. I could make out the footsteps on the metal stairs and hear the voices as orders were given and
each section of stairway declared clear. I refrained from rolling my eyes.
“What now?” Isaac asked, licking his lips nervously.
“You said it was fast, yeah?”
“What was?” his eyes widened as he realised what I meant and he looked at the techs for a moment before closing his eyes and nodding.
“Good.”
I pulled open the shirt of the first tech and gripped the black disc. His eyes opened wide in terror and I savoured that for a brief instant before I pulled it away. Long, slim filaments were pulled out of his skin with it, leaving a slow trail of blood running from the small puncture wound.
His eyes rolled up and his body shook as I grabbed him to hold him upright. I pushed the door further open with my foot and shoved him through. Then I grabbed the next.
“P-please!” she whimpered.
I didn’t bother to answer her, just did the same to her and pushed her through the door with the other. The third whimpered but didn’t say a word, just opened his shirt at my bidding, tears in his eyes. A normal man might have had some sympathy for him, but all I felt was disgust at the weak way he gave up.
He joined the others in the stairwell and I closed the door as quietly as I could, then waited patiently, humming softly to myself as I imagined the carnage about to begin.
A voice called out, muffled by the door, then another, a question asked. A moment later, cries of alarm went up and gunshots filled the narrow space, then screams. I laughed aloud as Isaac watched me with something akin to horror on his face.
It just made me laugh all the harder.
Chapter 22
Two of the bodyguards were down as the roar of gunfire filled the room. Admiral Stuart dragged me to the floor behind an overturned table and gestured for me to stay down as he fired over the top of it.
The acolytes were defenceless against guns and could do nothing more than press themselves against the walls beside the door and watch helplessly as wood splintered and the screams of the wounded filled the room.
I risked a glance around the side of the table and breathed a sigh of relief as I caught sight of Cass crouched low off to the side of the room, holding tight to a straining Jinx. Her eyes met mine and I mouthed my thanks to her for thinking of the loyal hound before I turned my attention to the door.
“Throw down your weapons!” a man’s voice called out. “There’s nowhere for you to go.”
“We’re in the middle of a fucking invasion, you idiot!” I called back to him. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”
“Removing a usurper and restoring a righteous man to his God-given rightful place.”
Huh?
“Your black-hearted demons will not save you from the Lord's wrath!”
“Oh, good grief…” I shook my head in disbelief. “You realise that Wells believes in no one but himself, right?”
“We will not allow a death cult to spread their vile heresy here!” the man screamed, his voice almost incandescent with his rage.
They would be no arguing with him, no rational debate, he was clearly clinging on to his belief as that was likely the only thing he had left. I’d known there had been some friction with the various religious groups on the island when the Dead arrived but hadn’t thought the hatred ran so deep. I should have known better.
“Suggestions?” I whispered to the admiral.
“There’s no one coming to help us,” he replied wearily. “All our fighters are out there facing off with the undead. There’s no one but us.”
“Great…”
“Yeah.”
I thumped my head back against the wood of the overturned table and realised that there really was nothing I could do. There was, something that Ryan would do, however, and that was lie his ass off until he had them in a position where he could kill them.
“We’re willing to surrender,” I called out. “As long as you promise no harm will come to the people here.”
“The abominations shall not be allowed to live!” he called back.
“Okay, I get that. But the others, the Navy people. They’re just trying to keep everyone on the island alive. You can let them live, yeah?”
There was a momentary silence and on the very edge of hearing, some muffled voices engaged in a furious argument. I shook my head once more and rolled my eyes.
“Come on now! We don’t have all day, the undead are already on the island.”
“We… we agree to your terms. Throw down your weapons.”
“What are you doing?” Admiral Stuart hissed and I gave him a sad smile.
“Whatever I can to keep everyone alive.”
I tossed my gun over the top of the table and sucked in a deep breath as it landed with a heavy thud close to the door. I hoped that my aim had been right and that they wouldn’t shoot me without at least a little gloating and showing themselves.
With my eyes tightly closed, I rose to my feet and waited, stomach tensed for the bullets to riddle my body. When they didn’t come, I raised my hands and stepped out from around the table.
“Now the others,” the voice called and I gestured for the Dead bodyguards to do the same.
The four-remaining black-clad acolytes threw their knives onto the floor near where my gun had landed and moved into view of those hiding in the next room. There was a tense moment before three men and two women walked into the room, assault rifles held before them and gaze full of suspicion as they swept the room.
“Everyone up! Against the wall!” one of the men called out then turned to the others and added, “search them.”
Lisa’s eyes met mine and I nodded, the barest movement of my head. She held her hands to her sides as she was brusquely frisked. The others were treated in the same manner and no weapons were found before they were pushed up against one wall.
Cass, the admiral and the other staff were sent to stand against another wall which didn’t bode well for the Dead.
“Erm…” Charlie said from where she still sat by her computer. “The zombies are massing. There must be a good ten to fifteen thousand moving towards the barricade and the Reaper has been sighted. Now would be a good time to give any orders you need to give.”
“No!” the leader of the fanatics said. “Get over there with the others!”
“But…”
“Move!” he screamed, raising his weapon and aiming it directly at her.
“Calm,” I said soothingly. “Everyone remain calm. Charlie, join the others.”
“You too bitch!” one of the men said to me and I cocked one eyebrow at him and gave him my best, disapproving look.
He had the grace to look a little abashed but gestured with his gun for me to join the others. I couldn’t help but frown as I realised they were sending me to stand with Cass and the admiral. I waved for Jinx to stay where she was and she waited patiently, seemingly ignored by the armed men and women.
“What’s your plan?” I asked the leader.
With one hand, he wiped glistening sweat from his heavy brow and brushed too long, dirty brown hair from his eyes. He was young, barely into his twenties and lean like almost everyone else on the island.
There was a look of innocence about his face that didn’t suit him as he waved his gun around. It was a military weapon and I had to wonder where he’d managed to get it from.
“We’re gonna put you in your place and have Mr Wells back in power,” he said. “He’s a fine man and you shouldn’t have done what you did to him.”
“Deposed him?” I said with a wide smile. “Oh, sweetie, he didn’t care about the people on this island. He was just in it for himself.”
“Don’t lie, bitch!” the other young man shouted, raising his gun and pointing it at me.
That was the second time he’d called me that I was damned sure they wouldn’t be a third. When I’d taken power, I’d realised that I could be as idealistic as I wanted but there would be times when I needed to be strong, to be ruthless.
The arrest of Shahid had be
en one of those moments. I had the choice of showing mercy and giving her the chance to rot in a cell, wasting our resources on keeping her fed, or I could do what had to be done and let everyone know that behaviour like hers would not be tolerated.
Apparently, my message hadn’t gotten through to everyone.
I moved over to the wall and lowered my hands, moving them ever so slowly around my back to where I kept the razor blade hidden in the secret pocket behind my belt. The black-clad acolytes would have the same hidden weapon and probably more besides.
Each of those acolytes was watching me intently, waiting for the moment I gave the word for them to strike. They knew some or perhaps all of them would die, but that was their purpose. To die so that others could live. To kill so that others didn’t have to.
I hadn’t truly understood that until that moment, standing there with armed thugs spewing their pointless rhetoric at us before they were going to kill us all. I glanced across at Cass, at Charlie, even the admiral and realised that I too would die so they could live, that I would kill so they never had to.
It was an odd realisation. As much as Ryan complained about my infecting him with my ‘goodness’ and need to protect the innocent, he, it seemed, had had a similar effect on me. I could make those hard decisions, I could do the things I would need to do because it would mean that the people I loved would have a chance to live without having to do the same.
That was a choice I would willingly make and at another time I would have needed to take some time to think about that. But just then, with the idiocy being shouted at us by the leader of the little band of idiots, I simply had to take action and worry about it later.
“Can I have a word with you,” I said, cutting him off.
He blinked rapidly as though he had been lost in his own little-deluded world and need a moment to return to reality. He looked at the others and had no help there.
“Why?”
“You have us under your control. We are your prisoners and we fully accept that you are putting Wells back in charge. But, we still have a war to fight and there is crucial information that you need to know”
“What is it?”
“Ah.” I made a point of looking at each of the others of his group before returning my attention to him. “This is something that only the man in charge should know.”
Killing the Dead (Book 14): Enemies Unknown Page 15