It seemed that patient zero had become a creature so strong and vicious that was capable of killing hybrids.
It was hunting for prey.
And it was in the air vents.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“WE DON’T HAVE A CHOICE, man, we have to go in.” Sam was pacing back and forth in front of the monitors, glancing at them every now and then. I wasn’t sure if he was actually as brave as he wanted us to believe, or if he was scared and dared not show it.
“He’s right,” Tanya said. “It doesn’t matter what’s in that building, we have to go in there and get the chemical. If we don’t, we’re as good as dead anyway.”
“Yeah, I know that,” I said. “I just wish we knew where that creature was so we could avoid it.”
“It won’t matter,” Sam said. “We’ll be in and out before that… thing… even knows we’re there.”
“We can’t just go blundering in there without knowing where it is. We’ll all be killed.” I wanted to add, “And then what will happen to Lucy?” but I didn’t.
“I have an idea,” Jax said. “What if two people stay here and watch the cameras while the other three go inside? It might give the three people inside a better chance if they get an advance warning of what’s ahead of them.”
“How do we communicate?” Tanya asked.
Jax pointed at the walkie-talkies lined up in the charger.
“So who stays and who goes?” Sam asked.
“We’ll draw straws,” Tanya said. “There must be something we can use in here.”
“There’s a filing cabinet in the other room,” I said. “We can cut up strips of a piece of paper.”
Sam went into the other room and came back with a deck of cards. “I found these. The guards must get bored in here.” He placed the deck on the table. “We all take a card. The two people who draw the highest numbers get to stay here.”
It sounded reasonable enough. I cut the deck and drew a card. The three of spades. I sighed as I showed it to the others. It looked like I was going into the building.
Jax took a card, frowned, and put it face up on the table. Five of hearts.
Johnny took the nine of clubs, Tanya drew the ten of hearts, and Sam ended up with the six of diamonds.
So Tanya and Johnny were going to watch the cameras while Jax, Sam, and I went into the main building. I took a deep breath and tried to prepare myself mentally for going inside a building full of zombies, hybrids, and something that was even worse. There was nothing I could tell myself that would stop the shaking in my hands.
I put one of those hands on the Desert Eagle at my hip. If the end came while I was in that building, I was going to make sure it came quickly.
We each took a walkie-talkie and checked that they were working. Sam and Jax stuffed theirs into their backpacks and switched them off to save the batteries. I clicked mine on. We would only need one between us unless we got separated, and I had no intention of letting that happen. I clipped it to my backpack strap, on my chest, so that I didn’t have to hold it. I could simply reach up and press the Talk button.
Tanya and Johnny took seats in front of the monitors, placing a walkie-talkie between them on the desk and turning it on. They switched two of the monitors to the level 1 reception area, and the level 1 elevators.
Sam looked at Jax and me. “Okay, guys, we can do this just like I said. A quick smash and grab. We’ll be back here in ten minutes.”
I wasn’t sure if he was genuinely trying to psych us up, or if he was trying to reassure himself that this was going to be all right. It didn’t really matter; his pep talk had zero effect on me. I was dreading going into that building, and the greatest motivational coach on earth wouldn’t be able to talk me out of my fear.
I picked up my baseball bat and stepped out into the night. The drizzle had become a heavy rain, hissing down on the parking lot, pounding the cars.
“Let’s move,” Sam said, jogging toward the main entrance of the building.
I picked up my pace but was in no hurry to go inside, despite the rain. This might be the last time I breathed fresh air, might be the last time I was ever outdoors. Once I went through that door, I might never come back.
We reached the glass doors, and Sam swiped his card through the lock on the wall. The doors slid open with a gentle whisper. The air that drifted out between them smelled foul.
“Ready?” Sam asked. Jax nodded. I didn’t feel like I would ever be ready, but I nodded, too.
We slipped into the building like thieves in the night.
CHAPTER TWELVE
WE CROSSED the reception area quickly, looking all around for any sign of movement. It was as quiet as a tomb.
The walkie-talkie crackled through the silence. “We can see you on the camera,” Tanya said. “Everything looks okay.”
I glanced up at the camera set high on the wall, its red light blinking. Under any other circumstances, I might have waved, but I felt too tense to do anything more than press the button on my walkie-talkie and say, “We’re heading for the elevators.”
We reached the three closed metal doors. Jax pushed the button and it lit up green, an upward-pointing arrow indicating the direction we would be traveling.
“Come on,” Sam muttered, pacing nervously. “Where is the fucking thing? It’s not like anyone else in here is using them.”
We heard the elevator arrive behind the middle door, clanking noisily. The doors slid open and we stepped inside. A recorded female voice said, “Going up.”
Sam hit the button for the fourth floor. The doors slid closed.
“Tanya,” I said into the walkie-talkie, “we’re going up to the fourth floor. Is it clear?” I had wanted to ask her that question before we were on our way—that was the idea of having them check the camera feeds, after all—but Sam had pressed the button without thinking.
“I think so,” she said. “Johnny, check the level four elevators.” Then she said, “Shit. No, it’s not clear. There are nasties in the corridor.”
I looked at the illuminated numbers over the door. The third floor came and went quickly. The next floor was the fourth. I hit the button for the fifth floor, knowing the elevator was going to stop at the fourth, but hoping it would proceed faster if it had another floor to go to.
Sam leveled the MP5 at the closed doors. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”
“Don’t shoot if you don’t have to,” I said. “We don’t want to make any noise that will attract that thing in the vents.”
He nodded but didn’t lower the weapon. “I’ll only shoot if I have to.”
The recorded voice said, “Fourth floor,” and the doors slid apart. The corridor, which had been empty when we’d left the guard station, was teeming with zombies. Even though they were a few yards from the elevator, the stench of their rotting flesh hit me like a putrid fist.
They turned to face us, a collective moan rising from their hideous dead mouths as they sensed living prey. As I repeatedly hit the button to close the doors, I estimated there to be at least twenty nasties. Where had they come from so quickly, and why were they here?
I realized then that the stench was not only coming from the zombies; the dead, eviscerated security guards lay on the floor a few feet from the elevator door. The scene had looked bad enough in black and white on a screen; it looked a thousand times worse up close and personal.
It looked like the guards’ spines had been ripped from their bodies. Their uniforms and the flesh beneath were torn open in a ragged line from the backs of their necks to their buttocks. The bodies sagged unnaturally, making me sure that the spine was gone. But with all the blood and organs everywhere, it was impossible to tell for sure.