Carlie Simmons (Book 3): The Way Back (18 page)

Chapter 44

As the elevator reached the lowest level,
everyone sprang into their positions, their rifles leveled forward at the
polished steel doors. As the two doors slid open, Carlie saw the headless
corpse of a zombie lying three feet away then a wave of stench nearly bowled
her over—a thick scent of decomposing flesh hung over the chamber. She squeezed
the handle of her M4 and slowly moved forward, straining for any movement, but
only heard the low background hum of the facility’s fusion reactor and the
occasional bleep of a computer monitor.

She exited, sweeping her rifle to the right
while Shane covered the left and everyone else arrowed ahead. Spread around the
immense room were the mangled bodies of at least thirty other creatures, their
heads split open by .223 rounds. Spent brass glistened along the black tiles in
every direction as they proceeded towards the main computer console in the
center of the room. These rifle rounds were eventually replaced with 9mm pistol
rounds, followed a few feet later by two more of Duncan’s men.  

The room was a hundred feet long by sixty
feet wide. To either side were stainless-steel tables lined with laptops,
notebooks, computer tablets, face masks, and assorted laboratory equipment,
most of which was strewn haphazardly along the surfaces. They walked silently,
being cautious not to step on any broken glass or anything that could indicate
their presence. The bloody figures on the ground resembled lab workers with
their white coats and blue hospital scrubs underneath.
What the hell
happened here?

Behind the tables to the right was a
series of floor-to-ceiling metal shutters that were closed. At the rear of the
main chamber was a hallway that went to the right. Carlie raised her fist,
indicating everyone to stop. She scanned the inanimate zombies by her feet and
saw that their heads revealed gaping knife wounds.
Damn, Duncan and his guys
must have burned through all their ammo by this point.
She grit her teeth,
steeling herself for the image around the corner that she dreaded seeing, that
of Duncan’s body.

She motioned to Shane and Matias to cover
her while she prepared to cut past the corner and sweep into the hallway. She
counted down from three and then swiftly rounded the corner while the two men
moved in behind her. Twenty feet ahead were six zombies pawing at a large
window to the left. Before they had even turned to move, Carlie dropped two of them
with smooth headshots. The others pivoted and sprinted at her with blinding
speed, causing her to shuffle to the side so Matias and Shane could engage them
as well. A second later the shattered corpses were splayed over the tiled
floor. Carlie pointed two fingers at the end of the hallway to a single metal
door and both men bolted to its terminus to check for further hostiles.

“It’s locked shut,” she heard them say as
she moved before the window on the left and peered inside the med lab. Slumped
on the floor, leaning against a metal cabinet, was Duncan, who struggled to
stand up. Beside him were two more of his men, Ruffalo and Mendez, who were
similarly debilitated. She couldn’t see any signs of trauma but knew that they must
be weak from lack of nourishment if they had been locked inside all this time.

Duncan moved forward with a lopsided frown
and proceeded to talk but she tapped her ear, indicating she couldn’t hear him
through the thick glass. He pointed to a security panel on the wall opposite
the vault-like door of his room.

“I got it,” Jared said, moving over and
tapping on the red release button. The vacuum-sealed door popped open,
releasing an overwhelming smell that resembled that of a musty gym rank with
sweat and body odor.

Jared stayed by the entrance while the
others moved inside. Duncan had already plopped down on a black swivel chair
and slouched his body forward on a table.

“You guys didn’t bring pizza—didn’t you
get my order?” he said in a faint voice, his face pale.

Carlie removed her pack and pulled out a
water bottle, thrusting it towards him. “I’m good on fluids, thanks. We gave
ourselves IVs each day to stay hydrated but I could sure use some grub.” She
scavenged through her pack, pulling out an MRE packet of beef stroganoff and tearing
it open.

“Don’t expect me to spoonfeed you, now.”

He smiled, his greedy eyes already
consuming the contents before the food reached his lips. Shane and Eliza did
the same for the other two men while sitting beside them.

“You’ve been in here the whole time?” said
Amy.

Duncan nodded and slurped down a heaping
spoonful of brown slop. “After we got down here, we were sifting through the
videolog of the lead scientist when those things started pouring out of the
hallway behind us. We sealed those doors using the computer but not before a
shitload of those deeks got to us.”

He tossed the empty MRE packet in the
corner then he clenched his fist, rubbing the knuckles into his forehead. “I
lost more than half my team, goddammit.”

“We barely made it in here,” said Ruffalo.
“We didn’t realize we’d be trapped in here, unable to open the door.”

“We saw what you were up against. We faced
off with some creatures like those in Cuba,” said Carlie. “Those things are
fast as hell. How can that be?”

“The video footage we reviewed—the head
researcher said that once the pandemic broke out a few months ago they tried to
reverse engineer the new virus to see how it compared to the old KAD97 strain.
The super-soldier element was present in one out of two hundred zombies so they
isolated that component.”

“They were working down here on this after
the virus swept across the globe,” Carlie said, scrunching her eyebrows
together. “Why would they do that when the world was collapsing around them?”

“They may not have known the full extent
of what was happening outside of Alaska,” Duncan said. “The videologs point to infrequent
intel updates from outside sources, almost as if they were intentionally being
isolated.”

“Was there any indication of how they were
all infected?” said Eliza.

“There was an outbreak in the research
center on the floor above us. A lab technician was exposed to the modified
pathogen when a centrifuge was damaged. It spread quickly after that before
containment was possible,” said Duncan.

“No one escaped from here?” said Shane,
after which Duncan just shrugged his shoulders.

“According to my initial survey of this
facility there were ninety more personnel that are unaccounted for apart from
the ones that have been dispatched,” said Carlie. “If we could locate them,
they could provide some answers.”

“Hold on to your pants because here’s the
best part,” said Duncan. “We found several data logbooks regarding research approval
in the med lab that were dated from a year ago—one of which was approved by
DOD.”

Carlie looked around the room and then
back at Duncan, “The sec-def—is that what you’re thinking?”

“Lavine—he’s known about this place all
along?” said Matias.

“Nothing I can prove but if this was a
joint DOD-CIA facility then he would certainly have been involved with the
funding,” said Duncan.

“Then why send us here knowing we could
happen across that?” said Amy. “Besides, I thought this was a privately
contracted firm?”

“Because he didn’t have the passcodes
until Eliza showed up with the laptop. That’s why he hasn’t sent in a team here
prior to this. He needed us to gain access and obtain the virus.”

“Why does he need the original? What good
will that do him?” said Jared.

“This lab was clearly used for specialized
research beyond mere contagion storage as we were led to believe. He may have
provided the funding to make it happen,” said Shane.

Duncan reached into his vest and removed
two clear shatterproof cylinders the size of a cigar. Inside the first was a
bluish liquid with the inscription KAD97. The second only contained a
quarter-sized piece of raw flesh. “This has to be what he was after,” he said, wiggling
the second container with the putrefied pulp. “Once we had dispatched those creatures
on the first level, I radioed back to Lavine about our position and forthcoming
plans. He insisted that I obtain a sample from one of the creatures for lab
analysis back at Fort Lewis.” Duncan slid the two vials back into his vest and
let out a long sigh. “I’ve had many days to ponder his request—why would he
want a tissue sample from a zombie up here?”

“He could be after the genetic material,”
said Eliza. “With that he can replicate what was being done here rather than
start over from scratch with the original.”

“Exactly,” said Duncan. “And as you’ve
already discovered, these are not your average drooling meatheads. They’re fast
as hell.”

“This is nuts. To what end would he want
to do that?” said Jared. “The world has already fallen apart. Why would he want
to create more of those things?”

“We’re not even a hundred percent sure that
Lavine was in on this. It could’ve been someone else in the DOD ranks,” said
Amy.

“I think it’s safe to say that whoever it
is, their plans go back farther than this pandemic. The viral outbreak merely
enabled them to ramp up the efforts of this facility.”

“We can discuss it on the way back,” said
Carlie, grabbing her rifle off the table. “Let’s retrace our steps and get
topside.”

After moving back into the main lab, she
saw that Shane was at the elevator door hitting the button repeatedly and
anxiously waiting for any movement of the floor numbers on the panel above.
Matias shouted to him from the computer console after silently reading a
passage from the monitor. “Don’t bother. According to this, each level is
self-sealing. Escape is only possible with authorization from the first level
or implementing the emergency override which will supersede all systems and
unlock all the doors in this place.”

Chapter 45

Duncan sat down on a metal stool by the
heavily shuttered wall, inserting a fresh magazine that Shane had provided into
his M4. “There’s an emergency egress route behind to the right of the med lab
that doesn’t show up in the plans. Two of my men discovered it but were killed
on their way back here.”

“Alright, what are we waiting for?” said
Jared.

“We don’t know what’s down that route or
where it leads,” said Carlie. “Let’s stick to the elevator and get out the way
we came in as we know what to expect.”

She nodded to Matias to proceed with the
emergency override. He depressed the red button on the computer console. The
overhead lights flickered for a moment and then a digital clock appeared on the
monitor before them. “Commencing emergency evacuation protocol in five
minutes,” the automated feminine voice on the speaker said as the clock began
counting backwards.

“Let’s gather up as many of the external
hard drives and data sticks as we can along with anything else that looks
pertinent,” said Carlie. “It’s not like I plan on ever coming back here.”

As they finished hastily packing up, they
could hear the turbo shaft of the elevator moving as the compartment made its
way back down to them.

At the same time, the metal shutters behind
Duncan began sliding up into the ceiling, revealing eight floor-to-ceiling windows.
The glass panels were a foot thick, beyond which was an inky black chamber. The
digital clock on the computer was now counting backwards from sixty seconds.

“This isn’t like one of those James Bond
movies where the bad guy’s fortress explodes once that clock reaches zero, is
it?” said Jared.

Carlie stepped forward to the glass as the
interior lights began flickering on. The back of the cavernous room was
illuminated first, followed by row of after row of lights until the entire
chamber was revealed. Everyone stopped gathering items from the desks and shuffled
towards the glass casement. Some people sucked in a quick breath while others cupped
their hands over their mouths. Carlie just stood frozen, her right hand
clutching the grip on her rifle as her heart pulsed like a speeding train.

The immense lab before them was filled
with nearly a hundred creatures. They were torpid at first but then began
shuffling towards the glass, eventually moving with great fervor at the sight
of the spectators. As they slammed their bodies against the thick glass,
everyone instinctively stepped back, clasping their weapons tighter. On either
side of the lab were two large pressure-sealed doors whose circular catchment
locks had just released.

“Guess we know what happened to the rest
of the personnel here,” said Eliza.

“That’s our cue to leave,” she said,
yanking her pack off the table and heading to the escape door behind medical. Shane
looked at the security screen for the interior elevator camera and saw that the
inbound chamber was filled with a writhing mass of creatures that must have
gotten on from another floor. The twenty or so freaks were pushing each other
out of the way to get at the blood-stain on the elevator wall.

“Looks like we’re headed out the back way
after all,” Carlie said, looking over his shoulder at the black-and-white
image.

Carlie trotted down past the elevator
towards medical and then into the passage that led to the escape route as she
heard the overhead speakers count down from ten to one. She increased her pace,
making a right turn and then running ahead, doing an abrupt left as the others
followed on her heels. The corridor terminated at a single door that was cold
to the touch. There was no security keypad on the wall and she grabbed the
stout metal handle and turned. The door opened into a cylindrical chamber that
was fifteen feet in diameter and made of smooth concrete that ran upward into
the darkness beyond the reach of her rifle’s high-beam flashlight.

The only object in the room was a single
wrought-iron ladder whose bars were embedded in the concrete.

“Whew—if this outing gets any rougher, I
might start having a bad day,” she said, craning her neck upward.

She stepped out into the hallway and
slammed the butt of her rifle into the wall, knocking a handful of drywall
loose. She took this and went back into the cylindrical chamber and tossed it
into the air. The fine dust particles revealed a crisscross layer of red lasers
that emanated from tiny holes in the concrete eight feet above their heads.

“Jared, can you locate the deactivation system?”

He stood next to her, stroking his
whiskered chin. “If I can find the manual override—there should be an external
device that…” He paused, pulling his eyes away from the walls, and zoomed in on
the floor. There was an area behind the door which had a square panel built into
the tiles. He knelt down beside it and removed the metal plate. Inside was a
security keypad.

Carlie reached into her parka and pulled
out the tablet, scanning through the numeric passwords. “There’s only one code
left which we haven’t used that we got off the laptop.”

“293426BNA.”

Jared typed in the numbers. A second later
the keypad beeped and the code disappeared, followed by the distant echo of
grating metal above. A round hatch one hundred-twenty feet up had opened,
letting in a stream of sunlight that filled the shaft. Just to be sure, Carlie
tossed up some more drywall dust to confirm that the lasers were disabled.

“Everyone up. I’ll cover you,” Carlie said,
moving up to Duncan and his men. “This is over nine stories high and I know you
guys are pretty spent already,” she said, handing them each carabineers from
her pack. “I want you to clip into the ladder every twenty feet or so.”

Duncan nodded as he and his men attached
the carabineers to their uniforms’ webbing system. “See you topside, Carlie.
Watch your ass with those things. And when we’re all back at Fort Lewis, the
beers are on me.”

She slapped her fist on his shoulder, then
nodded for him to move up the ladder. “We’ll cover the hallway until you’re all
up top.”

Shane led the ascent followed by Duncan, Mendez,
Ruffalo, and Amy. Carlie backed out and re-entered the hallway along with
Matias, Eliza, and Jared. They walked back to the first elbow-juncture and
crouched down with their rifles at a low-ready. The hallway before them was
humming with the sound of the emergency generators coming from the floor above
them, drowning out any other noise from the main laboratory.

“There were a ton of those things. Why
aren’t they headed this way?” said Matias.

Carlie shook her head and then reached
inside her parka and removed the small tablet. She pulled up the schematics for
the lowest sub-level and scanned the thermal imagery. Her eyes grew wide with
each enlargement of the globular image moving their way. “According to this,
they’re only one hundred yards from here and closing—this is a massive cluster.”

Everyone gripped their rifles and leveled
them at the opening ahead.

“Sixty yards.”

Jared jammed the butt of his rifle harder
into his shoulder and tensed his face. Eliza was squinting and breathing hard
while Matias had tilted his chin up, straining to hear.

“Thirty-five yards.”

“That’s inside the perimeter,” whispered
Matias.

“I don’t see shit—maybe there’s something
wrong with the imagery,” said Jared.

“Twenty-one yards,” she said, shaking the
device and focusing on the throbbing mass of red images headed towards them.

“That’s right on us,” said Eliza.

“Ten yards.”

She looked at the device, pulling it
closer to her face and squinting. Then she gasped and tilted her head up to the
ceiling as everyone’s gaze followed her movement while their ears strained for
any sounds beyond the drone of the generators.

“Behind us!” said Carlie, swinging around
as creatures began raining down from a ventilation shaft, sealing off their
escape route. As they turned to fire, they heard a rumble of movement from the
opposite direction as more ravenous beasts began pouring into the hallway they
had been watching.

There was only forty feet of space in
either direction between them and the incoming hordes which were moving like a
wildfire sweeping through a parched meadow. Carlie and Eliza faced the zombies
to their rear while Matias and Jared squared off against those coming from the
lab.

The tension quickly broke as gunfire rang
out simultaneously from both parties. The hallway was filled with the constant
staccato of semi-automatic weapons as both groups engaged the swift-moving
current of yellow-faced zombies springing off the floors or bounding off the
walls. By the time eleven creatures were down, Carlie was already on her third
rifle magazine. The hallway filled with a fog of gunsmoke and pink mist that
wafted along the ceiling. The rattle of rounds emanating from their weapons
followed by the shrieks of skulls yielding to lead projectiles, drowned out the
predatory growls emanating from Carlie and the others as they tried to keep the
tidal wave of undead from grasping another inch of their diminishing world. But
the creatures kept coming as they continued firing at each wave, and the next
and the next. Carlie’s vision was a blur of snarling teeth, clawing fingers, and
shattered heads. The smell of spent gunpowder and acrid sweat streamed into her
nostrils. Despite the ear-splitting sound of their weapons she could still hear
the murderous screams, so great was the fury of the advancing horde.

Carlie barely comprehended something
pressing against her hip and realized it was Jared as both groups of shooters
were now back to back. She inserted another magazine, letting the empty one
fall below into a crimson puddle flowing outward from the growing pile of
bodies before her. Swift, close-range headshots were the norm but they just
kept coming, climbing and clawing their way over the heaps of mangled corpses.
Carlie felt her trigger finger trembling after realizing she had just inserted
her last magazine. She wondered if she was going into shock as she saw the
creatures moving in slow motion over one another, then glanced at Eliza and saw
the woman was down to using her pistol, watching the slide move back and forth as
if it was suspended in clear honey. Above the din of gunfire, she heard Jared
yell that he was out of ammo as the hissing sound of mutants behind her
increased. Then she heard Matias’ rifle run dry followed by his voice snarling
and the sound of a blade cleaving through bone.

Two zombies were clamoring to get over the
shattered bodies before Carlie as she emptied her last rounds into their heads.
She removed her Glock and shot four creatures only to see eight more drop out
of the ventilation shaft in the ceiling.
God, how many more can there be?
We are down to the wire.

With a brief pause in movement before her,
she turned and fired off several rounds at creatures moving in on Jared and
Matias. “Out of ammo,” said Eliza over her shoulder. Carlie returned to the
slaughterfest in front of her and then saw her Glock’s slide go back with the
expenditure of her last round.

She reholstered the weapon and then yanked
out her 9-inch tactical blade, shuffling forward in a boxer’s stance with Eliza
by her side. Three crazed freaks in soiled lab coats rushed them. Carlie
smashed the outermost one in the temple with the steel butt of her blade,
feeling the bone splinter inward as the creature collapsed. She pivoted and
drove the tip directly into the ear of the other one beside it while Eliza
cleaved open the head of the one on the far left.

Carlie was breathing hard and sweat rolled
off her forehead into her eyes. She looked ahead and couldn’t see any more
movement from the overhead ventilation shaft. There must have been sixty bodies
piled up around her as the ceiling and walls were coated with a sheen of brain
matter and blood.

“Keep your eye out for more,” she said to
Eliza and then turned to help the two men.

Matias was slashing and hacking as a
scythe moves through a field of wheat, his arms coated red to the shoulders
while Jared provided follow-through cuts on anything that was missed. Their
strikes were becoming slower as each man tried to power through another round
of assaults. Even Matias, who had great endurance with a machete, was slowing
down and panting. Matias split open two creatures and then backpedaled, his
boots skating along the wine-colored glaze beneath him.

As Carlie got into the fray she yelled at
the two men to slowly retreat. “Fall back to the escape tunnel. There are no
more creatures behind us.”

Like dueling fencers, the three fighters
kept slashing and backpedaling, moving a foot forward to attack and then
shuffling three feet back until they were on the cusp of the pile of corpses to
their rear. “I want us all to do a blitz forward and make a dent, then we’re
all going up and over this pile of bodies,” Carlie said, removing her blade
from the severed skull of a creature with lopsided spectacles.

They rushed forward shoulder to shoulder
and lashed out with one final attack, their weary arms expending the last of
their adrenaline. Three out of four creatures were killed, creating a temporary
glut as the others behind them lost their footing and tumbled backwards. Carlie
and the others quickly turned and dove onto the mass of slick bodies behind
them with mortified expressions, elbow climbing over the disgusting glob of
tangled limbs and torsos. When they reached the other side, they helped each
other up and sprinted down the hallway with Carlie in the rear. With the
shrieks of approaching zombies from behind, they made it to the metal door of
the escape tunnel just as the remaining group of creatures rounded the last
corner.