Weekly Expression 3.2 - JK

  

            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.