Bastian’s mouth
went dry as he entered the lab. Most of the lights were off but he followed the
soft glow into the center of the room where Elenor still sat. Her glasses
reflected her work on the computer screen. Her brown hair half up in a bun, the
rest dangling on the sides of her face. She was concentrating and hadn’t
noticed his approach. “Little late to be staring at a screen.”
She jumped but
only slightly. A smile creased her lips as she swung the swivel chair towards
him as he leaned against the dividing wall. “Little late to be bothering me in
the lab.”
He pouted but
only for show. “It didn’t seem to bother you last night.” Her cheeks flushed
red and he snickered. “Don’t worry...Your secret is safe with me. Wouldn’t want
the others to know you let some french officer steal a couple kisses.” He
winked and she smacked his arm as she turned back to her screen.
“Perhaps but
tonight you are bothering me. Unless you would like me to not be prepared for
your mission in the morning…”
He threw his
hands up in surrender. “Please, by all means, continue.”
“That’s what I
thought.”
Her eyes shifted
back to him for a second. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride that he
had won her gaze. “Lukas doesn’t seem worried. It’s an easy grab and go, in and
out deal.”
“You know how I
worry.”
He stepped
forward and pulled her chair away and turned her to face him. He tucked a
strand of her dark amber hair behind her ear. He felt lost in her emerald eyes.
His thumb caressed her cheek and she placed her hand over his. Her touch was
soft and gentle, a foreign feeling in this world of evil and chaos. “You don’t
need to worry about me. You’ll see. Tomorrow will be a good day and when we
return we will have some good news for us all.”
“I hope so.”
“Trust me.”
“I do.”
He kissed her
forehead and pulled her into his arms. It felt right, having her here in his
arms. Things hadn’t felt right for a long time before he met her. Of course he
would return. How could he not when she was here waiting for him?
~
Bastian pulled the
assault rifle closer to his chest as they flew through the air. He rehearsed
the plan over in his mind a million times during the night and as his crew got
ready. Thompson would set the helicopter down in the clearing outside the
compound. He and Sullivan would stay and be their eyes outside. Bastian, Lukas,
and Mel would head inside the compound, retrieve the vials and discs that
Elanor would guide them to via the headsets, and head home.
“We are nearing
the compound. T minus 2 minutes.” Thompson’s words rang through the headset and
all the men nodded as they readied themselves for whatever assault may be
waiting for them. They had no intel on what awaited them outside the compound
or within its walls. It had sat empty for the better part of seven years since
the first wave of terror had ignited the fire that still burned all over the
world. He zipped up his coat all the way to his neck to fight the biting cold.
How he wished for an actual fire to warm things up again. This winter was
lasting longer than most. He missed the sun.
The chopper
jolted and instantly Bastian knew something was going wrong. Before any of them
could speak he felt them plummeting to the ground. The chopper spun in circles
and he could just barely make out smoke from somewhere around them. The men
held on tightly as they descended in spirals to the forest below.
Bastian looked at
his men who were bracing for a crash landing. He watched helplessly as Mel was
sucked out the side of the chopper. It was the last thing he saw before they
made contact with the ground below.
~
Bastian opened
his eyes. His head was pounding and he could feel the blood dripping down the
side of his head. Lukas was half hanging out the side of the chopper. Bastian
couldn’t tell if he was alive or dead. He pulled out his knife and cut off his
seat belt, thankful it had stayed intact. He swung his rifle across his back,
thankful again that this too was still attached to him. There was no way he was
walking to the compound without any weapons. He pulled himself up and looked up
front to see Thompson laying across the two seats, definitely dead. He turned
his attention to Lukas who was groaning as he came to. Bastian cut him free but
didn’t grab before he toppled out of the chopper into the snow.
Lukas cried out
as he grasped his leg. “Legs banged up.” He gritted through his teeth.
“I can’t check it out here. We gotta make our way to the
compound.”
“I can't walk.”
“You have to. I’ll help you.” He returned to the chopper and
grabbed the two guns that had managed to stay inside and then helped Lukas to
his feet. He pulled Lukas’ arm around his shoulders. “Which way to the
compound?”
Lukas pulled out his compass
and looked around. “There’s a river north of the compound. If we find that it
will make finding the compound easier.”
They set off at a slow pace.
Bastian’s heart was racing as they headed north. They were vulnerable as they
walked. Injured, alone, and without backup was no place to be when deaders
could be near. He kept his eyes and ears vigilant and sighed with relief as
they found the river. They turned right and followed it for about a mile and
finally reached the compound.
The gated compound sat on
ten square miles worth of land in the Colorado mountains. Seven buildings were
tucked into the trees. It was the perfect place for the scientific research lap
to operate. More so it was the perfect place to hide their deadly secrets. Who
would have guessed that something so evil was created in such a peaceful place?
Had they known what their drug would do, surely they would have stopped it.
The front gate was open, no
doubt from some poor fool’s previous attempt to break in and hope to find the
cure.
And now he was the poor fool
who was dragging another poor fool into certain death. Or maybe they would get
lucky and they would be alone here. But the place reeked of death and he knew
his hopes were futile. They weren’t alone. It was just a matter of where and
when they’d run into company.
“Lukas, I’m going to help
you get up this guard tower. You set up your sniper rifle.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to go open the
door to the main building and draw out any deaders that might be in there. You
drop them where they stand. I’ll then go inside and get what we need.”
Lukas nodded and Bastian
helped him up to the guard tower. Once he was settled, Bastian headed back down
and across the compound's front lawn. He stopped outside the front door and
turned back to Lukas who gave him a thumbs up. He took a deep breath and pulled
open the door. It creaked as it opened, probably hadn’t been used in years. He
stilled his breathing as he listened for any signs of movement in the dark
hallway.
“Come on, buggers. I know
you’re there…”
A floorboard creaked
somewhere in the darkness and Bastian took that as his sign to retreat as
quickly as he could. He slid to a stop and turned back around as he aimed his
gun towards the entrance.
Still nothing showed itself.
“COME ON! OUT WITH YOU
FREAKY LITTLE DEVILS!” Still only the sound of his own breathing reached his
ears.
He heard the moan from
behind him and jumped as Lukas’ shot echoed in the little valley. He spun
around and watched the deader fall to the ground. Lukas dropped a second that
was emerging from the little shack behind Bastian.
Another eerily sound caused
him to jump. He felt only a wisp across his shoulder before he leapt forward
and slipped on the snow, falling to the ground. He turned to his back as the
deader approached him. Lukas saved him again as he shot this one and turned his
attention back to more coming out of the main building. Bastian composed
himself, never getting used to the sight of a deader. He aimed and within a few
minutes he and Lukas had dropped at least fifteen deaders.
Minutes passed and nothing
stirred in the compound. Bastian stood to his feet, his eyes glued to the
deader that had almost taken him. They moved slow but quietly until their taste
for flesh caused a guttural moan to arise from their stomachs that were like ravenous
wolves. He took the butt of his rifle and nudged the corpse.
Bastian stared into the eyes
of the monster, the fear that haunted him for years returned. It was something
he tried not to think about but when the world revolved around a single horror,
it was hard to escape the fears. But he looked into those eyes and saw his own
reflected in them. How quickly could it all change...and how close it had come
today. It took not five minutes for the virus, once infected in its host, to
race through the body to the brain and flip every switch for the moralities of
man and turn a human into a ravenous killing machine.
The video games he played as
a child called them zombies. Now they called them deaders.
He shook himself from his
thoughts and waved to Lukas. He would be heading inside now. He hoped there
would be no more surprises as he made his way through the facility.
The hallways were mostly
straightforward and from Elenor’s preparation, he found his way to the lab
quickly. He pulled out his headset and set the frequency on his radio to their
channel.
“This is Freedom Search
calling home base. Y'all listening?”
“It’s good to hear your
voice, Bastian.” he could hear the quiver in her words and knew she had been
worried.
“Sorry, we had an issue with
the chopper and made a crash landing. Thompson and Mel are gone.”
“Damn...” He heard her sigh.
She didn’t swear often unlike most of the men on their base.
“I found the lab, El.”
“Alright..tell me what you
see.”
“A bunch of tables and cabinets.”
“Open one of the cabinets.
What’s inside?”
He pulled open the rusty
door. “Papers. Equipment. No vials.”
“Keep looking. I’m not
really sure what the vials look like.”
He made his way one by one
to each of the cabinets. Finally he opened one to reveal a treasure trove of
vials. “Found them.”
“How many are there?”
“Fifty a hundred. Too many
to carry.”
“Are they labeled?”
“No.”
He heard her curse again. “I
knew I should have come.”
“You might have died. Calm
down. I’ll look around and see if I can find anything.”
“Okay, listen look for
anything with…”
Her words cut short and
static buzzed through the headset.
“El? Elenor?”
He grunted and pulled the
headset off and let it fall to the floor. He scanned the cabinets for any clues
to what they were looking for.
“It’s a needle in a
haystack.”
Bastian spun around and
aimed his gun up at the intruder.
The man raised his hands. He
looked like ex military. “I’m a friend. At least I wish to be. You and your
buddy beat us to the punch.”
“What did you do to Lukas?”
“Other than having our medic
take a look at his leg,nothing. Why don’t you put the gun down so we can talk.”
“Can’t talk. I’m busy.”
“Looking for the cure...I
know.”
“Who are you?”
“Name is Brentley. I was an
officer in the army before all this.” He picked up a pile of dusty papers on a
nearby desk, inspected them for only a second before replacing them. He looked
back up at Bastian. “I’m in a new brigade now. I take my orders from General
Trumm.”
“Trumm isn’t exactly buddies
with who I take my orders from and my orders are to find the cure and bring it
back to our lab.”
“I’m well aware of Trumm’s
less than peaceful negotiations with other brigades in the area. But that
doesn’t have to stop you and I from talking.”
“I’m not sure what all there
is to talk about. We NEED a cure.”
“We don’t need the cure,
friend. We need a new start.”
“We can have that when we
free those enslaved by this sickness.”
“You and I both know it
isn’t just a sickness that has stolen their minds.”
Bastian wasn’t buying it and
Brentley could tell.
“Can I show you something….eh?”
“Bastian.”
“Bastian, let me show you
something. Please?”
Bastian reluctantly nodded
and followed Brentley back outside. Brentley’s men had put the bodies of the
deaders in a row. Bastian nodded towards Lukas who sat against the guard tower.
Brently stopped in front of
the row of bodies. “I lost my wife and son in that first wave. Their loss has
tormented me for years. I’d give anything to have them back in my arms one last
time.”
Bastain sighed. His own
story wasn’t too far from Brentleys but then again, you wouldn’t meet a single
person alive who hadn’t lost it all.
“That’s why we need the
cure, Brentley. What if they can be saved? Shouldn’t we stop at nothing to
bring the ones we love back?”
“Would you want to come back
from this?”
Bastian was taken aback. He
stood silent as he watched Brentley.
“You’ve seen first hand the
dead evil in the eyes of these lifeless corpses. I don’t think there is a way
back. But even if there was.I know I wouldn’t want to return after that. God
knows what that would do to a person. To be haunted by a nightmare you can't
escape...because that nightmare is you.”
He had a point, something Bastian and the others never considered.
They were fueled by their own survivors guilt and selfish need to restore what
was lost. Never once considering the peace of those still plagued by this
living death.
“Bastian, we came to destroy this compound. To remove any chance
of finding a cure for them. I know it sounds as if we are the villains but we
are protecting those lost to this madness. Our efforts should be focusing on
putting them out of their living hell. Wiping the slate clean so that we can
all start over and make a new life out of what’s left.”
“What you are asking me to do is to go against everything I’ve
been working towards...to disobey direct orders.”
“I’m asking you to do what’s right.”
“Give me a minute.”
He left Brentley and knelt by Lukas. “You okay?”
“Don’t think it’s broken just banged up.” Lukas sighed as he
looked down. “They want to destroy it all.”
“I know.”
“And you know what? I want them to.”
Bastian didn’t answer, his own heart wanted to agree.
“I lost my parents. God, I miss them. I can still smell the
cookies my mom would bake every sunday after church. I’d give anything to have
one more Sunday with them. But I wouldn’t want my mother back after she’d just
chewed out some guy’s neck...ya know?”
“Yeah, Lukas, I know. They are right.”
“Besides, there’s like twenty of them and two of us. We don’t have
much of a fighting chance.”
Bastian stifled a laugh. “You got a point there too.” He stood and
nodded toward Brentley who approached them. “We won’t stop you.”
“I appreciate it. We’ll give you a lift back to your base or
wherever you want us to drop you off at.”
“Thanks.”
Brentley left them and they watched as his men brought explosives
into the facility. Within minutes they were running out. “Gentlemen, I suggest
we retreat outside the gate.” Brentley ushered them out past the gate where
they all stood and watched. One of the men handed Brentey a detonator. He
turned to Bastian who gave a nod. Not that Brentley needed the permission but
he wanted him to know they were on the same page.
With that, Brentley pressed the button and instantly the
facilities around the compound went up in glass shattering flames.
Bastian sighed. Elenor
would never forgive him for this.
