Deadlocked 7 (31 page)

“Are you there?” asked Billy as he stared at the camera. “Are you going to send me another victim?” He pointed the gun at the device and closed one eye as he aimed down the sight.

The screen on the device suddenly blipped to life. “Reagan?” asked Billy as he saw
the old captain.

“Billy? Can you hear me now?” asked Reagan as he struggled to hold something. Billy squinted, unsure that he was seeing Reagan properly.

“Yeah,” said Billy. “Are you holding someone’s hand?”

Reagan lifted a limp black hand that had a silver bracelet on it. He waved the hand and smiled at the camera. “This asshole’s computer doesn’t work for anyone but him, so I beat him until he agreed to help.” He wiggled the limp hand again. “He’s being real helpful now.”

“Where are you?” asked Billy.

“I’m safe,” said Reagan. “I can get to a map of the facility on this dick’
s computer. I can also access all of the security cameras. What am I talking to you through?”

“It’s some sort of little camera thing,” said Billy.

“Is it portable?”

“Yeah,” said Billy.

“Okay, good. Can you walk? I saw you beat the shit out of that soldier, so I know you’re not in too bad of shape.”

“I’ll manage,” said Billy.

“Take the camera with you, and I’ll lead you through the facility. You’ll have to save Hero first, and then come get me. Okay? Are you up to this?”

“No,” said Billy as he forced himself to stand. “But I’ll do it anyway.”

“First thing’s first,” said Reagan. “Take that soldier’s clothes and put them on. No one wants to see your naked ass running around.”

Billy turned so his butt faced the camera and then slapped both cheeks. “Soak up the full moon, old man.”

Reagan groaned, but Billy heard him chuckle as well.

*   *   *

August 24
th
, 20 years after the apocalypse

Hero is in the control room of the transfer facility.

Hero fell back against the wall, devastated.

“It’s kind of hard to see,” said Jerald as he held his computer tablet up to the camera. “But you sure can hear them, right?”

He rewound the recording back to where Laura started to scream out her daughter’s name.

“No, Kim! Give me your hand.” Laura was reaching down from the truck, past the looped razorwire.

Kim responded, but the microphone on the camera wasn’t able to pick up her voice over the roar of the horde.

“Sorry I don’t have a better shot of it,” said Jerald as he smiled. “Your friends shot out all my speakers and broke most of the cameras in the process. But this isn’t a bad view, is it? Oh, this is my favorite part.”

An explosion blanked the screen, leaving it white for a moment as the sound cut out. Hero could hear Jerald enjoying the spectacle as he held the computer near the camera while still watching it.

“You son of a bitch,” said Hero through his grief.

“Shush,” said Jerald. “You’re going to miss the best part. The audio picks back up in a second.”

The video and audio clicked back on as Laura screamed out, "Kim! No, no, please, no! Kim!"

Jerald paused the video and then shook his head and grinned, like a man overwhelmed with pride over his creation. “Can you hear that heartbreak? It’s really stunning. Isn’t it? I can almost hear her will being crushed.”
He grit his teeth as if biting into his words as he grimaced at the camera.

“I’ll kill you,” said Hero, his voice all but lost as his throat clenched.

“What’s that?” asked Jerald as he cupped his hand to his ear and leaned closer to the camera. “It’s hard to hear you through this little speaker. Are you crying?”

Hero walked to the table and gripped the microphone that let him speak through the intercom in the cabin. “I’m going to murder you, mother fucker. If it’s the last God damned thing I do on this Earth, I’ll rip your head off for this.”

“Good, I look forward to it,” said Jerald. “Come on out of there and let’s get started. And make sure to bring that old bitch out with you.”

“I’m sorry,” said Jeff. He’d been monitoring Jerald’s occupation of the cabin above them, and had called Hero into the control room to witness the video of Kim’s death.

Hero wiped his eyes and looked like he was going to say something, but then his expression turned from sorrow to fury. He turned and started to punch the flat screen television on the wall that was displaying pictures of the rain forest. His first punch broke the screen, sending splits streaking to each of the corners like bolts of lightning as the television sparked. He punched again, this time splitting his knuckles on the broken glass. Then he grabbed both sides of the set and ripped it off its mount. He threw the television across the room and it exploded against the wall. Then he screamed out and he clenched his fists, a tower of tensed muscle and hate. Blood dripped from his hands and Jeff backed away, frightened of what the man would destroy next.

“Sounds like I hit a nerve in there.” Jerald mocked Hero from the computer screen, smiling up at the camera. He winked and then looked back down at his tablet as he played the video of Kim’s death again. “Oh, and one more thing, make sure to let Beatrice know I have
access to the main database.” He waved the tablet for them to see. “Make sure she knows I have the original version of these.” He winked. “I’ll let her explain why that matters.”

“Help!” The plea echoed through the nearly empty facility.

“Did you hear that?” asked Jeff.

“Help!” It was Beatrice.

“I’ll go,” said Hero as he headed out of the room. Jeff followed, but Hero stopped him at the door. “You keep an eye on that piece of shit. I’ll see what’s wrong with Bea.”

“Okay,” said Jeff. “Hurry. I don’t know how much longer we’ve got before he turns off the power.”

Hero raced through the dark corridors, now lit with only a dim red glow. Beatrice was crying out for help the entire time, and Hero yelled to her that he was coming before running into the lab. He skid to a stop when he saw the horrific scene within.

William was on the floor, a knife lodged deep in his jugular. There was blood everywhere, brilliant red against the white floor. William’s face was pale and his eyes were open, staring at the ceiling as Beatrice knelt over him. Her hands and arms were soaked with blood as she cried out, helpless as she looked down at the corpse.

“What the fuck did you do?” asked Hero.

“Me?” asked Beatrice. “I didn’t do anything. I swear. I would never…”

“Bullshit, you psycho! What happened?”

“He was working on the cure, and he said he’d finished.
” She was sobbing as she wiped blood off on her blouse. “He said he was happy that he was able to save you, and then he apologized. I didn’t know what he was doing when he threw my tablet against the wall and then picked up that knife off the counter. He said he couldn’t live with himself anymore. He said meeting you made him realize how wrong he was to be a part of The Electorate’s plan in the first place. I swear. I tried to stop him, but he just…” She put her hands over her face and broke into a fit of sobs, William’s blood smearing on her face as she wept.

Hero didn’t know what to do as he gazed at the horrible scene.

Beatrice looked at him, her face covered in the scientist’s blood now. “You do believe me, right?”

“I don’t know what I believe.”

“Watch the video,” said Beatrice as she pointed to a security camera in the room. “Go watch the video and you’ll see that I’m telling the truth.”

“We had to turn off all the security feeds except for upstairs,”
said Hero.

“Oh,” said Beatrice. “Well, you’re just going to have to trust me. I’m a lot of things, but I’m no murderer.”

“Except for the slaughter of six and a half billion people,” said Hero.

“Think whatever you want,” said Beatrice like a petulant teen. “I know what happened
. He made a cure for you, and even showed me how it was reacting properly with the microscope. You can see for yourself. He labeled the slides. Put the one that says ‘Hero – Infected’ under the microscope and you can see the black dots attached to the cells. Go ahead. Then compare it to the one that says ‘Hero – V Three’ and you can see for yourself. Usually viruses are too small to see, but this strain clumps together. You can see tiny black dots, or almost like little whiskers around the cell wall.”

Hero kept his eyes on her as he moved to the
large microscope. “Stay there,” he said as she started to walk toward him. “Keep your boney ass right where it is.”

“I’m standing in a pool of blood,” she said as she looked down.

“Good, that’s where you belong. Stay there.” He picked up the sample of his infected blood pressed between two slides of glass and put it under the microscope. He inspected the cells, unsure what he was looking for. He saw the miniscule black specks on the outer rim of the cells and then switched the slide out for the supposedly cured one. In the second slide, the black specks had come detached from the cellular walls and were floating independently between.

“See,” said Beatrice. “All you have to do is inject yourself with that needle on the counter and you’ll be cured. You have to
at least be happy about that, right? After all, if there’s anyone down here I’d like to see dead, it’s certainly not poor old William. I’d much rather kill you off, you daft bastard.”

“The feeling’s mutual,” said Hero as he picked up the syringe. “This is the cure?”

“Yes,” said Beatrice, still standing in the pool of William’s blood.

He shook his head. “I fucking hate needles.
And if anything weird starts to happen, or I feel like I’m going to pass out, or get sick after I inject this, I’m going to run over there and start biting the shit out of you. I don’t even care if I’m a zombie or not, I’m just going to bite your ass to death because I hate you.”

“Want me to inject it into you? You have to get it into the vein. I can do it if you want.”

“I won’t have trouble,” said Hero as he took off the syringe’s cap and squeezed the plunger until the air bubble was pushed out. “I’ve done this more times than I’d like to admit.”

“I thought you hated needles,” said Beatrice.

“I do,” said Hero as he tapped the vein of his right arm. “Not because they hurt, but because I came damn close to getting sucked into a life where all I did was stick myself with needles. If it weren’t for my brother, I would’ve been a junky just like my mother.”

Beatrice watched as he stuck the needle in.

“Where’s your brother now?”

“He died,” said Hero as he finished with the injection. “Thanks to you.”

She didn’t have a response.

Hero tossed the empty syringe onto the table top beside the microscope. “But you were never able to take him from me completely. Mark will always be with me. I’m reminded of it every time I look in the mirror and see this,” he pointed to the tattoo of a pistol on his neck.

“Why? Were you both gun nuts?” asked Beatrice, unable to keep her question from sounding snide.

“Nope, the exact opposite,” said Hero. He leaned his head to the side so the tattoo was easier to see and then used his finger to follow the barrel. It pointed to the back of his neck. “Mark was paralyzed by a drug dealer that shot up our house. I got this tattoo so I could show him I felt his pain
. When he got shot, it was like I got scarred too. Every time I see this tattoo, I think of how fucking tough that kid was.”

“Well,” said Beatrice, her tone softer now. “I guess I owe you an apology. I just assumed you had it as a gang tattoo or something like that.”

“Yeah well, you know what they say: Assumptions make you stink like an asshole.”

Beatrice smirked and squint her eyes, aware that Hero was joking but commenting anyhow. “I’m pretty sure that’s not how the saying goes.”

“Whatever,” said Hero. “You know, my wife thought the same thing about my tattoo. When we first met, she assumed I was a thug too. When I finally told her what this tattoo really meant, she apologized. After that was when she finally gave me a chance, and a few years later we got married.” Hero smiled at the memory and then saw Beatrice’s computer on the table. “Jerald has one of those. He said it’s an older version and that you’d know why that was important. Any clue what he means?”

Beatrice’s eyes grew wide and the color faded from her cheeks. “Oh my God.”

“What? Why does that matter?” asked Hero.

“If he has what I think he has, then we have to get out of here. Now.”

“Why?” asked Hero.

“
Only a few members of The Electorate were given the original tablets. They were connected to all of the facilities, but those were destroyed when it was discovered that there was a group of defectors inside of The Electorate. He can’t have one of the originals. He must be bluffing.”

“And if he’s not?” asked Hero.

“Then he could activate the purging of this facility any time he wanted to. He would have control of everything in this place, even the intercom.”