Particle Z (Book 1) (5 page)
New Acquaintances and Revelations
“Eric, go downstairs with Reid and close the parking garage gates before any of those things make their way in here, and make sure that
all
the doors on the first level are secure,” Mike said as he watched the crowd start to fan out into the streets below. “Hurry back so we can figure out what the hell to do. It looks like we’re in a world of shit.”
“Got it,” was all Eric said before the two of them took off.
Mike looked around for Ashley. He needed her to perform a quick gut check and get her shit together. “Ash, need you out here, girl, you can toss your cookies another time.”
Ashley walked out of the bathroom a few moments later still looking green, but at least she wasn’t puking any longer. Mike noticed she carefully avoided the window and the bloodbath transpiring below. She was usually tough as nails, but the day’s events must have unsettled her.
“Sorry, Mike, I’ve never seen such savagery, not even in a movie,” Ashley whispered.
Mike asked her to watch the video feed and check for any activity from Terra Corp next door.
Need to keep her busy for now
, he thought.
Eric and Reid returned as Ashley was sitting down at the monitor. “Everything’s locked tight, Mike,” Eric said in a ragged gasp.
“The crowd is already outside the garage and some of those things came at us while I was closing the door. Eric had to clobber them with a pipe he found. Good thing too, or else we’d probably be scratching at the door ourselves right about now,” Reid said, still looking freaked out over the close call.
“Damn things got right back up, and I heard ribs crack when I whacked ‘em,” Eric said in disbelief.
“I need to get across the street and inside that building so I can find Marlee,” Mike said, his worry for his girlfriend evident in his voice. “I doubt they’ll let us in if we just walk over and knock on the door.”
“Maybe they won’t let you guys in, but I’m sure they’ll let little ol’ me in,” Ashley gushed in her best damsel in distress voice. Mike was glad to see Ash was back to her old self.
“We may have no choice, Mike,” Reid said. “She can charm the rattle off a rattle snake if she wanted to.”
“Why thanks, Reid,” Ashley said, giving him a look that would have melted anyone that didn’t know her. Reid had built up an immunity to her considerable charms over the years, though, so he just grinned at her.
Mike smiled at her brazen idea. Ashley in action was a force to be reckoned with. “No need, Ashley, and it’s way too dangerous anyway,” he said politely. The crowd was getting thicker around the parking garage, and from the sound of it the attacks were escalating as more and more people were turned.
“Eric, let’s head downstairs and see if we can get to Marlee. The two of you stay here and be ready to let us back in,” Mike said while grabbing a couple of two-way radios off the shelf. He handed one to Reid and he slipped the other onto his belt loop.
“Keep the radio on Channel 4 and don’t call us, we’ll call you,” Mike told Reid and Ashley, neither looking distressed in the least about staying upstairs within the security of the storage area.
“Roger that, boss man,” Reid said, taking the radio and tuning it to the proper frequency.
“If we don’t make it back, get to a safer place,” Mike said, tossing Reid the keys to his truck. Reid and Ashley exchanged worried glances.
“Just make it back,” Ashley said, looking at both men.
“You’ll not get rid of us that easy,” Eric assured her with a confident smile.
Eric poked around the storage area for a minute before putting his hands on two long-handled axes, spares for the Fire Department. Mike grabbed the axe Eric offered him and took a few mock swings. This was the best they had so it would have to do.
Mike, with Eric in tow, left the safety of the storage area and made his way to the stairs leading to the ground floor. The further down they went the louder the dismal sounds of carnage filling the air. Careful not to attract unwanted attention, they zeroed in on the door closest to the road because it was directly across from the building Marlee had disappeared into.
“What are you thinking?” Eric asked Mike as they watched people run past in desperate flight from the Port.
“Let’s get to the maintenance door across the street,” Mike said, showing Eric a master key kept by all higher level managers in case they were called in on weekends or there was an emergency in the building.
“So we have access to the building; what do we do about the freaks attacking everyone?” Eric asked.
“Avoid contact at all costs. It’s maybe a thousand feet to the door at most. We go when the crowd thins, so be ready,” Mike said, glancing up and down the street from their vantage point inside the parking garage.
“Time to go,” Mike said suddenly after watching the street for a few minutes.
On Mike’s word, Eric swung the door open and they stepped out onto the sidewalk, heads swiveling in every direction as they looked for danger. Mike secured the door behind him so Reid and Ashley didn’t receive unexpected visitors.
As they began the sprint across the street, Mike‘s eyes were drawn to a figure rounding the corner of the parking garage, inhuman sounds emanating from its throat. They locked eyes momentarily before it changed course and headed straight for him. Mike couldn’t believe how fast the thing moved. Its clothing was torn, exposing deep wounds to its neck and arms. The face was slack, and perhaps the most disconcerting feature of all was the dull red glow buried deep within its pupils. Mike raised his axe as it approached, then swung for the tender area on the side of its neck. He felt the blade cut into flesh and bone; the force of the swing knocked his attacker to the ground, pulling the axe from Mike’s grip.
Mike bent over, putting his hands on his knees, winded from the violence of the encounter. As he reached to pull the axe free, he was overcome with fear and uncertainty. The crazed creature, once a man, was slowly and with jerky, uncoordinated movements trying to regain its feet, all while staring into Mike’s eyes with a singular focus: murder. Mike wanted to cover his ears to block the sound the thing was making, a wet hiss coming directly from its neck. Determined to put an end to the threat, Eric stepped forward and buried his axe into its forehead, dropping the thing back to the ground. This time, to Mike’s relief, it remained still.
“Mike, what the fuck is happening? Did we fucking die and end up in Hell?”
“I’ve got no idea, but if we don’t get moving I have a feeling we’ll end up like him,” Mike said, nudging the corpse which was lying in a pool of congealing blood and broken body parts.
Mike looked up only to see more people running toward them, most in abject fear of the blood-soaked crazies launching themselves at anyone within their reach. Traffic just down the street was stopped, with drivers gawking at the crowd coming their way. Mike knew there was no time to warn them if they wanted to make the maintenance door before getting overrun.
As they started for the door again, Mike glanced downtown past the gawkers in the cars. The view was surreal as he watched people going about their day, completely unaware of the devastation about to descend upon them. The city was heavy with people just getting into work. The losses would be staggering unless the spread of death could be contained. Mike didn’t think it was in the cards today.
“Let’s get moving, Mike,” Eric said with fear in his voice as he looked back over his shoulder at the approaching crowd.
Mike didn’t need to be told twice. They both took off toward the door and within a few seconds were standing in front of it. The crowd was closing in, gut-wrenching screams of pain, guttural growls, and the sobbing of the doomed all rolled up into a jarring chorus of the damned the devil himself would have enjoyed. It was quite the motivator.
“Open the damn door, Mike,” Eric said.
“Don’t make me any more nervous,” Mike said as he slid the key into the lock and with a quick twist, slid the bolt open. They practically fell inside the opening then slammed the door shut behind them. Both men jumped when a body slammed against the outside of the door with a guttural snarl. It wasn’t long before more were slamming themselves against the door, looking for the men that had just slipped from their grasp.
“Whatever this shit is, it’s getting worse. I’d say we have a zombie outbreak on our hands except those fucking things are fast, mean, and kill only to kill,” Mike said.
“There must be hundreds if not thousands of those things running around now,” Eric said, sounding overwhelmed.
Mike feared for all the poor unsuspecting people – family, friends, and children – who would soon be living a nightmare. A very painful and bloody nightmare. It was almost unfathomable, and if Mike hadn’t seen it for himself he wouldn’t believe it. He wondered where the first responders were. Had most been killed or transformed already? Mike looked at Eric, both having the same thought.
How in the hell are we going to get back to Reid and Ashley
?”
“So what now?” Eric asked.
“Let’s head up to the second floor conference room,” Mike suggested, knowing there was a window overlooking the lobby built into the room. Maybe they could figure out what Terra Corp was up to and, if they got lucky, see where they were keeping Marlee.
Eric nodded his approval and the two cautiously moved out, glad to be leaving the sounds of carnage behind. When they reached the hallway across from their destination, Mike cracked the door to see if they were still alone.
“Clear,” he whispered.
They entered the hallway then quickly slipped into the conference room. It was dominated by an oversized conference table and podium. The table would provide great cover if someone happened to walk into the room behind them. Their target was the large window across from them.
“Keep your head down, Mike,” Eric quietly cautioned as they crept closer to the window.
Mike pushed himself up and peered into the lobby below. As he scanned the lobby to see what Terra Corp was up to, they both heard the metallic click of multiple safeties being flipped off behind them.
“Hands where we can see them. Turn around slowly and drop the axes while you’re at it,” came a short, crisp command from behind.
“What now,” Eric breathed, his voice barely audible even to Mike.
“Now we do as the armed men in control of the situation say,” Mike said in a normal tone as he stood up, dropped the axe, and slowly turned around. Eric just shook his head and followed his lead. What more could this day bring.
Mike stared across the room at a man with an air of confidence and authority about him.
“Mr. Sullivan, isn’t it?” the gentleman asked Mike.
“Yeah,” was the best Mike could come up with.
“Julian Fairchild, Chief Executive Officer at Terra Diversified Corporation. My company has been granted jurisdiction over this facility by the federal government, and with that jurisdictional authority I could have you arrested for entering this building without prior authorization.”
“Jurisdictional authority? This building is owned by the city if you hadn’t noticed,” Eric scoffed.
Mike wished Eric would shut up right about now; these guys looked all business and with the shit going down outside Mike wasn’t sure what their orders were. Mr. Fairchild had six stoic men standing behind him. Each looked like they would silence Eric with no more thought than that of squishing a bug. The tricked-out assault rifles pointed at them didn’t lessen the uneasy feeling Mike had in any way. The room was full of tension with both groups staring across the table at each other.
Mike decided to break the silence. “You may have jurisdiction over this facility according to some obscure law, but the woman you brought in here earlier is an American citizen with constitutional rights not even the President can supersede. I want to know where she is right now.”
Julian stared at Mike for a few moments before responding. “Is she your wife?” he asked.
“In time she will be, and that has nothing to do with my question. Where is she and what is her motherfucking condition?” Mike almost screamed, his need to find out what happened to Marlee overriding his fear of the weapons trained on him.
Julian looked over his shoulder and barked a short order, telling his men to stand down. Mike and Eric breathed an audible sigh of relief. Having six automatic weapons pointed at you is nerve-wracking no matter how tough you think you are.
“That woman of yours is a handful and will not cooperate with us whatsoever,” Julian said with a wry smile.
Mike smiled as well. It sounded like Marlee was alive and well. “She’s an independent woman and doesn’t like to be told what to do,” Mike said, smirking at the thought of this corporate type trying to control Marlee.
“That became abundantly clear shortly after she arrived here,” Julian went on. Taking on a somber look, Julian motioned Mike over to the side of the room away from the others.
“Mr. Sullivan,” he began.
“It’s Mike.”
“Mike,” Julian continued, “Marlee is a very lucky woman. The ship she was on was overrun with the Changed.”