“Who told you that?”
“A guy I used to know. The secret will get out, sooner or later. The world will find out that they are not gone and then Gene-Pharm will go under. No one will trust you ever again.”
“People are idiots. They believe what we tell them to believe. And for those that don’t, well maybe they need reminded of what life was like before. Another outbreak and they will be clamouring to us, believe me. I control the population, I control the media and I will control the zombies. This country will be on top again. All I need to do is get rid of you and your family.”
“Hey, asshole.”
Breton turned to find Mom behind him. She punched him in the face, sending him staggering. I ran for the gun, trying to pry it out of his hand. Mom grabbed his other arm.
The gun went off, just before I got hold of it, and Mom fell to the floor.
21
Jenna
Mom groaned, clutching her thigh where the bullet had struck her. I rushed to her side. The leg of her maintenance uniform was already soaked in blood.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes, don’t let him get away,” she said, but Breton was already out the door.
“I can’t leave you,” I said.
“I’m fine! If he gets away, then this was for nothing.”
I raced after Breton in time to see him get into an elevator at the end of the hall. The doors closed before I could reach them. Where was he going?
Thinking fast, I hit the fire alarm, hoping it would halt the elevator. Sure enough, it stopped on floor five. If he wanted out, he would have to go down the stairs. Made a lot harder with everyone trying to get out. It bought me some time at least. Time I didn’t really have. How long was it until detonation?
Turning for the stairs, I was confronted by two guards. I wished I had my baseball bat.
The first one came at me, I managed to punch him in the face, but the second grabbed my arm, twisting it up my back. I stomped down hard on his foot, before raking my nails down his face.
The other one recovered and pulled out a pair of cuffs. When he got close enough, I kicked him in the balls making him drop the cuffs.
An elbow to the other one’s gut got him to release me. I quickly scooped up the cuffs and slapped them on the guard on the ground. When his friend came at me, I managed to cuff them together.
Racing off, I started down the stairs. That’s when a different kind of alarm went off. A contamination alarm. The lights around me dimmed and red lights flashed off the walls. It meant that there was a zombie loose in the building. Not again.
I stopped. Did Breton set it off? Were there zombies onsite? The door below me slammed open and a wave of people raced down the stairs. More appeared from the floors above and I was thrown into the wall as they tried to get past me. They appeared more panicked over zombies than a potential fire, can’t say I blamed them.
I would never get near Breton now. I had to go back for Mom. With a bit of luck, he’d get trampled in a stampede.
She had managed to get into a chair in the conference room and was tying her belt around her leg. There was blood everywhere.
“Did you get him?” she asked.
“No, I had to take down two guards. He has released zombies into the building. We need to get out.”
I helped her to her feet, worried about the amount of blood she had lost. We needed to get to a hospital.
“We need to get to the lower levels, we can get out there,” Mom said. “The others will be waiting.”
“Before the bomb goes off?” I asked.
“Hurry.”
***
Breton
The elevator halted when the alarm went off. I jabbed the button over and over again, but it was useless. Safety protocol meant that the elevators shut down, opening the doors on the nearest floor.
I was on floor five. I needed to get to the lower level before DeLuise caught up to me. I knew what she was capable of, Tom had his own little solider.
Tom, Tom, Tom. It all came back to him. The ever present thorn in my side.
Hurrying to the stairs, I wondered if he was close by. I knew him when we were younger. I would come by to talk to Dad and Tom usually spent his lunch break in the lobby, talking to the guards. He had a habit of running at the mouth, telling anyone who would listen about some new drug he was working on.
He was full of enthusiasm, always thinking of new ideas. Even though I wasn’t part of Gene-Pharm back then, I knew the part he played in reducing the zombie population. We could have used him on the team, if he hadn’t gone rogue. A conscience was never a good idea in this game.
I reached the next floor, turned and hurried down to the level below. A few people passed me, thinking the fire alarm was real. If the building emptied, I would be the only one here and DeLuise would catch up to me.
A bomb. Was it real? Most likely. Well, if they wanted to bring Gene-Pharm down, they were going with it. I could rebuild elsewhere, turn us into martyrs.
I pulled my phone out and called through to Parsons, my advisor.
“It’s Breton. Release the zombies from containment.”
“I think I misheard you,” Parsons said.
“You didn’t. There’s a bomb in the building. DeLuise’s brat is here, probably him too. Let the zombies out, if the bomb doesn’t get them, the zombies will. Meet me in the parking garage, we can override the gate and get out.”
Parsons inhaled sharply. “The system won’t allow you to do that. The building will go into complete lockdown.”
“I helped write the system. I know what to do. Hurry up.” I had a master’s in computer science. Dad made sure I was useful to him, even if I never wanted to work here.
I hung up the phone. I needed to get moving, who knows how long I had. A few minutes later, the containment alarm went off.
I need to hurry.
22
Jenna
“Looks like Breton won’t be going anywhere,” I said, as we reached the lower level to find a black sedan in front of a closed garage door. The bodyguard I saw at the house was trying to get it open while Breton screamed at him from a control panel.
Mom took the gun from me and fired a shot above Breton’s head. He threw himself to the ground behind the car.
“You’re not getting out,” Mom yelled.
“Mom don’t shoot him,” I said, trying to grab the gun, but she pushed me away.
She glared at me.
“If he dies, no one will believe anything we say. But if we get him to confess…”
The truth was we didn’t need a confession. I had it all recorded thanks to the pin I was wearing. I just couldn’t bear the thought of watching my mother murder someone. I had no doubt that she has killed before, but I certainly didn’t want to witness it.
“He deserves to die.”
“Please Mom, give me the gun.” I held out my hand for it.
While we were arguing, I didn’t notice the bodyguard get to the control panel. The garage door started to rise.
Mom started firing at the car, taking out the back window, but she quickly ran out of bullets. Breton jumped in the car, ready to drive out, but when the door opened fully, it revealed a crowd, carrying weapons, gathered outside. And at the front was Dad.
The crowd surged forward, dragging Breton from the car, as more of his guards came in behind us. Mom and I moved out of the way of them.
“Mom, tell me how to deactivate the bombs.”
“No!” she snapped.
“Mom! We don’t have time to argue. Tell me!” There was no way I could get her clear in time.
Breathing hard, she propped herself up against the wall behind her. “Fine.”
She told me how to stop the countdown, which wires to cut. I hated to leave her in her condition, but I needed to stop the bombs. Dodging the guards, I got to the stairs and hurried off to deactivate the bombs.
The bombs were spread out in the boiler room, three in total. The timers read
eight minutes. I used a pen knife to cut the wires, holding my breath as I did. When nothing exploded, I moved onto the next one.
When I reached the last one, I found that it was wedged behind the boiler. I couldn’t reach the wires to deactivate it. Squeezing into the small gap between the boiler and the wall, I stretched out my arm, but my fingers only brushed it.
“Need a hand?”
I turned my head to find Wesley behind me. “You’re okay.”
“Told you it would work.”
Wesley grabbed me by the shoulders. “Listen to me. You know the serum that Tom injected me with?”
“The one that healed you.” I nodded.
“I’ve replaced the vial in the watch with it. This is a slow acting poison, if you give it to me, it will slow my heart rate and eventually stop it. I’ve set the watch to inject the serum into me after a certain time has elapsed. But we don’t have a lot of time. This is the plan.”
I prayed that it would work, but worried that it wouldn’t. Thank God he was okay.
“I’m sorry that it had to happen. Do you hate me?” I asked.
“Of course not. It was my plan. I’m just glad they didn’t throw me in the incinerator.”
He hugged me tightly. “You’ve no idea what it was like. Not knowing what was going on. If you were okay.”
“I’m sorry. I thought it would be better if you were back with Dad. I wanted to leave, but I was worried what she would do.”
“We can talk about it later, isn’t there a bomb to get rid of?”
“Crap!”
I almost forgot about it. I tried again to reach it. “Maybe if you boosted me up, I could get it from above?”
Wesley did as I asked and I managed to get hold of it. There were five minutes left on it. I pulled the wires, before breathing a sigh of relief.
“One less thing to worry about. We should get back,” I said.
“Do you plan on leaving with us?” Wesley asked.
“We’re all leaving together. We can worry about the rest later.” I would drag Mom out if I had to.
Wesley kissed me. “As long as I don’t lose you again.”
We turned to find a zombie charging right at us.
***
Tom
Where the hell is Jenna?
I searched the crowd but couldn’t see her. Wesley had run off, maybe he was with her. I told him his only job was to get her out.
The message came through less than an hour ago that Angela was spotted entering Gene-Pharm. I knew she couldn’t be planning anything good.
Twenty years together and I never even knew her. She was the enemy all along. She is the Phoenix.
She wasn’t going to suck Jenna into her world. I’d make sure of that.
A zombie made a swipe at me, but I dodged it, planting the axe I was using in its head. We were running out of time. If we didn’t get out of here, we’d all end up as zombies.
“Where are you, Angela?” I muttered. I was stuck near the door, trying to prevent any of the zombies from getting out.
For all the anger I had for her, the weird thing was, I wasn’t surprised. What did that say about me? She always had this ferociousness about her, this layer that I never got to fully see. Why would someone like her ever even look at someone like you? It was a question I pondered many times over the years and now I knew the answer. It was all part of her plan. Manipulating me, persuading me to return to Gene-Pharm, the X01 trials.
I swung the axe at another zombie.
Damn it, I loved her. Maybe I wasn’t always the best husband, but I always loved her. Now I would have to do everything I could to keep her away from Jenna. Assuming Jenna hadn’t already joined her. I wouldn’t blame her if she did. Angela was her mother, she trusted her. I was the parent who abandoned her, the one she blamed.
Well, maybe she didn’t trust her fully. Finding Wesley on the doorstep shocked me to my core. I really believed that Jenna had killed him, thanks to the scathing note Angela sent with the body. A present from your daughter. We’re through playing your game.
When the serum revived him, he was able to explain everything to me. I wanted to storm the place and get her out, but I couldn’t. I had to wait. The team was always prepared though, the second I got the word, I was out the door.
“Angela!” I bellowed. I wasn’t letting this lie. She was going to face me. She was going to look me in the eye and tell me if it was worth it. If her play for power was worth destroying our family over.
23
Jenna
I hit the ground as the zombie rammed me. Before I could recover, it had a hold of Wesley, teeth gnashing at his throat.
He tried to block it from biting him, but its teeth caught on his sleeve. I grabbed it around the legs, tipping it over. Once it was down, I got to my feet and swung the knife I had for the wires at its head. Driving it into its temple, it eventually stopped moving. Flashbacks of my Chaos training rushed through my mind, but I pushed them away. I needed to keep it together.
“Did it get you?” I asked.
Wesley tore the sleeve open to check the skin below. “No, its fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, we should go. If there was one there will be others.”
We headed back to the lower level, finding a three-way fight between Dad’s people, Breton’s guards and the zombies. I could see at least six of them. There were bound to be Chaos members in there too, but I couldn’t remember what they looked like. The main thing we needed to worry about were the zombies.
I ran back to where I left Mom, to find her lying on the ground next to a generator. Her face was ashen, her eyes closed.
“Mom!” I cried, dropping to her side. Wesley hurried off to help the others.
She was barely conscious; she had lost too much blood. I shook her.
“Mom, can you hear me?”
“I have to go…” she groaned.
“I’ll get you out of here.”
One of the zombies spotted us and lurched our way. From the state of him, it looked like he had been a zombie for a while. They must have been held somewhere in the building. I looked around for a weapon and my eyes landed on a night stick that a guard must have dropped.
Grabbing it, I swung it at the zombie’s head. I kept hitting it, trying to do enough damage to take it down. Body fluids and brain matter spattered across my face.
“Just die!” I screamed, hitting it as hard as I could. The body crumpled under it and it fell to the ground, landing at Mom’s feet.
Breathing hard, I returned to Mom’s side. “Come on, Mom. We need to go.”
As I was trying to get her to sit up, she let out a scream. I turned to see the zombie I thought I put down, with its teeth in her leg.
“NO!” I screamed, I tried to pull her leg away, but it clung to her, tearing flesh and drawing more blood.
One of the guards heard the scream and fired a shot at its head, knocking it away from her, but it was too late.
“Oh God, Mom.” I cradled her. “I’ll get you some help. Dad!”
I searched the crowd for him, but there were too many people. “Wesley! Someone help.”
Mom opened her eyes. “Jenna.”
“It’ll be okay,” I said.
She gripped my arm. “Listen to me. You have to take command. You can change everything.”
“What? No, I’m going to get Dad. I’ll get him. He can do something.”
I tried to get up, but she clung to me. “Don’t leave. Stay with me.”
Tears streamed down my face. She couldn’t die. Not like this.
“Mommy, please,” I whispered.
She smiled at me, placing a hand on my cheek. “You haven’t called me that in forever.”
Her hand dropped, as she went still.
“Mom?”
She was dead.
***
Tom
Time seemed to slow down. Angela, she was gone. She lay in a pool of blood on the floor.
&n
bsp; It hit me like a gut punch, it couldn’t go down like this.
Jenna was holding her, my poor girl, she didn’t deserve to witness this.
I was struck by the memory of her holding Jenna, the day she was born. The smile on her face and that shocking moment when I finally saw our child and realized that she was no longer the foetus or the embryo, she was an actual living child. Our child. I’ll never see her smile again.
A shout went up, the zombies had increased in number and they were trying to get out. If they got to the street, a lot more people would die. I could mourn Angela later, right now, I needed to get Jenna out of here.
Angela would have to stay.
24
Jenna
She can’t be dead. This isn’t happening.
I could hear someone calling my name, but it sounded like they were underwater. I couldn’t stop staring at Mom’s face. There was a smear of blood on her cheek, she looked like she was sleeping.
Hands encircled me and I was pulled to my feet. “No!” I cried. I can’t leave her.
“It’s me,” Dad said in my ear. “We have to go.”
“No, I won’t leave her.” I fought against him, but he dragged me away.
“Jenna, she’s gone. Please if we don’t get the door closed the zombies will escape.”
I looked around to see that the humans were losing. The number of zombies had doubled. If they got out onto the street, it would start all over again. I should have left the bombs alone, I thought bitterly.
I allowed Dad to lead me to the door, my eyes on Mom until the last moment, to check that she stayed where she was. A few people were working on getting it closed, including Wesley. I couldn’t see Breton anywhere. Did he get away again? Was that monster out there, planning how he would spin this to the media?
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