Desolation (37 page)

“Hope! You offered hope the second we saw that plane land, you
fucking bitch!” he shouted. “Hope was what we needed to survive and
even now you’re too stupid to realize that! Now you're standing there and
telling me that there is nothing out there?! I will not accept that!”

Jerri took a nervous swallow and kept the gun centered on him.
“Just let me go my own way or I’ll shoot,” she threatened with
her finger lightly wrapped around the trigger.

 

Lt. Willow staggered towards her in defiantly, leaving drops of
blood in his wake.

Jerri squeezed the trigger.
The ‘
CLICK’
confirmed her worst fear.

Lt. Willow froze in shock for a moment and then started to
laugh.

“Funny how that’s always the loudest sound in a gunfight, isn’t
it?” Lt. Willow asked as he chuckled at his own star-crossed fate. A
devilish grin formed across his lips as he reached down and picked up a
large surgical knife that was lying on a nearby metallic push cart. “You
don't want to come? Fine. I'll use an outdated piece of shit map. But for
you... well... I’d suggest you run...”

Jerri threw the empty gun down and took off down the corridor,
away from Lt. Willow and the staircase. She looked absolutely ridiculous
with her hands cuffed together and one leg iron shackled to her ankle. She
hobbled away as fast as she could, dodging the toppled metallic carts in
her way.

Lt. Willow casually followed after Jerri. He let the knife scrape
along the cement wall as he moved and created an eerie screech that
echoed along the entire hall.

Jerri arrived at the end of the corridor and found herself at a
crossroads. To her left she saw a metallic door that read boiler room and
to her left she saw a silver door.

She heard the screeching approaching closer behind her and
quickly made what she felt was the safer choice; she ran towards the silver
door.

“Where do you think you’re going to go?!” Lt. Willow bellowed
out, laughing. “How far do you think you’ll get down here?!”

She fumbled with the door lever with her cuffed hands.
The door was unlocked.

She quickly ran inside, slamming the door shut behind her,
panting.

A row of white biohazard suits and gas masks hung on silver
hooks on the wall above a table. The lights in the room were dimmed and
the ceiling was sagging and moldy. At the far end of the room stood a
sally port similar to what she remembered seeing back at Camp 6. The
sally port doors were frosted glass and a sign above it read ‘All Personnel
Must Decontaminate’.

Her gut sank; she felt like she picked the wrong room but she
knew she couldn’t go back out in the hall.

 

The door lever moved as Lt. Willow started to enter the room…
Jerri ran over to the sally port and pressed the red button next to
the glass doors.

 

An alarm blared twice and the sally port door slid open with a
‘
HISS’
.

 

Jerri ran inside and the door slid shut just as Lt. Willow stepped
into the room with the knife.

 

Jerri backed away from the door, frantic, as her heart thumped
madly inside her chest.

 

Lt. Willow’s silhouette was barely visible through the frosted
glass.

 

“
Please stand still with your arms above your head. Stand by.
Decontamination process in progress,”
an electronic voice announced overhead.
Blue mist sprayed down from the shower heads and both sally
port doors started to fog up.

Jerri gagged on the alcoholic stench of the mist as it burnt the
back of her throat and made her eyes fill with tears. She forced her eyes to
open and stared at the door she came through... waiting...

A hand print formed on the outside of the glass door and ran
down the center, startling Jerri.

Lt. Willow pressed his eyes against the glass and tried to peer
inside; it was no use trying to see through frosted glass. He bashed the hilt
of his knife against the glass repeatedly, but not a single scratch formed.

The mist stopped.
“
Decontamination process is complete. Thank you.
”

The glass door behind Jerri opened and she stumbled into the
laboratory, coughing. As soon as she entered the overhead lights flickered
on automatically and old computer monitors powered up.

The lab smelled like mothballs.

Rows of silver tables and metal stools lined the entire lab and
were stacked high with boxes of old beakers, microscopes, and diagnostic
equipment. It looked like things had been in storage for a while judging by
the spiderwebs. Large cylinders of gas were stacked against the far wall
underneath another cryptic Project Lazarus poster.

The glass door behind Jerri slid shut and she heard the shower
activate; Lt. Willow would be inside any moment.

 

She scrambled behind the nearest table and frantically searched
for any type of weapon.

 

No time.

 

The decontamination procedure was complete and the door was
about to open.

Jerri quickly took one of the smaller microscopes out of one of
the boxes on the table and hurled it into the far corner of the room. She
quickly ducked down out of sight behind the table and held her breath,
waiting.

The microscope shattered against the far wall and clattered
against the floor just as the sally port door opened.

 

Lt. Willow's attention immediately turned towards the noise as he
entered the room.

“Why must you play these little games? We could have been
friends. Such a long journey together... We could have bonded,” Lt.
Willow said. Treading lightly, he crept towards the noise and gripped the
knife tightly in his hand. He kept one hand pressed against his wounded
abdomen and ignored the blood trickling through his fingers.

Jerri, elated that her plan was working, kept quiet and waited for
him to get further away...

“This is the room where we made it you know... You're treading
on some hallowed ground,” Lt. Willow said with a cough. He stumbled
and tripped over a stool, catching himself on the table. He kicked the
stool out of his way and continued to walk to the corner of the room,
keeping a watchful eye out for the girl.

Jerri peered out from around the side of the table and saw that
the sally port door was still open.

Lt. Willow looked down at his wound and grimaced. The
daunting realization that he would never survive the trip to Camp 6
started to become hauntingly apparent.

“The toxin lived up admirably to its name... But you don't believe
me because you're a stubborn bitch,” Lt. Willow said with a grin. He
walked along the side of the table in the corner of the room, tapping the
tip of his knife on the table with each step he took.

Tap.
“Canada is gone!”
Tap.
“China is gone!”
Tap.
“Europe is gone!”
Tap.

“And now,” Lt. Willow said as he turned the corner, “What was
left of America is gone thanks to you.”

 

He lost his smile as he stared down at the broken microscope
lying on the floor. He spun towards the door–

With Lt. Willow safely far away in the corner of the room, Jerri
got up from her hiding spot and hobbled towards the sally port as fast as
she could.

“No!” Lt. Willow screamed as he lunged towards one of the
cylinders in the corner. “You're not going anywhere!” He took the knife
and drove it into the side of the nearest cylinder and then pulled it out.

Green gas erupted out from the pressurized cylinder with a loud
HISS.

 

An alarm started blaring and the sally port door slammed shut
just seconds before Jerri could reach it.

 

She ran into the glass and fell backwards, dizzy and disoriented.

“
Warning. Biological contamination detected. This area is now under
quarantine
,” a automated voice announced overhead as red strobes flashed
throughout the room. “
Stand-by for assistance.
”

“It's time you witnessed Lazarus,” Lt. Willow said, coughing. “We
both know that you're not going anywhere... and neither am I.” He
dropped the knife and fell to his knees, gasping for breath as the fog
consumed him.

The green fog started to expand its way across the lab towards
Jerri.

 

Jerri scrambled back onto her feet and frantically pressed the
button next to the sally port.

The door didn't open.
“
Quarantine activated. Decontamination portal is disabled.
”

Jerri ran over towards one of the tables and picked up one of the
metal stools from underneath it as the fig gradually closed in on her.
Screaming, she spun and hurled the stool full-force towards the
glass door.

 

The door shattered and erupted in a shower of glass shards as the
stool barreled through it.

 

“
Danger. Containment compromised. FEMA security forces notified.
”
Jerri hurried into the sally port, picked up the stool, and hurled it
through the second door.

She ran out of the breached sally port, through the coatroom, and
went back into the corridor just as the green fog started seep through the
sally port.

She slammed the door shut behind her.

 

Red strobes started to flashed throughout the corridor and the
alarm blared.

“
Danger. Containment compromised. Facility-wide contingencies activated,
”
the few working speakers in the corridor announced.
“Evacuate
immediately
.”

Steel shutters started to roll down from the ceiling and cover the
other laboratory windows.

She didn't waste any time as she started to ran down the hall,
glancing over her shoulder. She dodged the multiple overturned medical
carts along the way and bounded over the decomposed corpse of a
researcher.

Two FEMA officers wearing blood-soaked riot armor and
carrying shotguns ran out of the stairwell a few yards ahead of her and
looked at her in surprise.

Both officers leveled their shotguns towards her.

Jerri turned her attention back ahead of her and nearly screamed
as she skidded to a halt, knocking over one of the carts as she crash
against it.

“Whoa! Hold it right there!” one of the officers shouted. “What
the fuck is going on?! Where is Lt. Willow?! He said he was coming down
here to get you!”

“He didn't! He went back there!” she shouted, terrified. “Get out
of my way! We have to leave! NOW!”

 

“Back there?” the second officer asked. “Back where?!”
The steel door to the coatroom flung off of its hinges and
slammed against the drywall.

Lt. Willow stepped out into the corridor with his hands down at
his side. His skin looked leathery, his eyes sunken, and his mouth was
fastened in a scowl. Black bile seeped out of the corners of his mouth and
ran out from his nose.

Both FEMA officers, frightened, took a step backwards and
pointed their weapons at Lt. Willow.

 

“S-sir?” one of the officers yelled down the corridor.
“He's infected, you idiots! He exposed himself to Lazarus!” Jerri
shouted.

Lt. Willow made a guttural growl at the sound of her voice and
started to quickly walk down the corridor, hurling the metallic carts out of
his way. He knocked the dangling fluorescent light fixture out of his way
and continued pushing forward, moving even faster.
Both officers opened fired.

The shotgun pellets did little to impede Lt. Willow. Large sections
of his body were eviscerated by the blasts but quickly regenerated.
He started to sprint towards the officers.

Jerri panicked and quickly ran in between the two officers
towards the stairwell. She snatched a pair of handcuff keys of off one of
the officer’s duty belt and started to unlock her handcuffs as she ran.

The officers stood too transfixed to try to stop or even notice
her. Instead they continually fired on their lieutenant.

Lt. Willow reached the first officer and knocked the shotgun out
of the man's hands. He then grabbed the man's face with one hand and
crushed his skull like a rotten tomato. Red mist, bone fragments, and
mushy pulp erupted out of the man's contorted head and trickled inbetween Lt. Willow's fingers and ran down his arm.

The officer's body convulsed and then went limp.

 

Free from the handcuffs, Jerri dropped the cuffs on the floor and
ran into the open staircase.

 

Lt. Willow dropped the lifeless heap on the floor and walked
towards the second officer.

 

The officer pointed the shotgun at Lt. Willow's chest and fired.

Lt. Willow growled and stumbled backwards as a gaping hole
formed in the center of his chest; his innards were splattered back on the
wall behind him. He looked down at his wound and then looked up at the
officer as his chest cavity started to heal and close itself back up.

The officer, terrified, quickly chambered another round–
Lt. Willow grabbed the officer by the throat and picked him off
of the ground.

 

The officer panicked and dropped his weapon as he struggled to
get free from Lt. Willow's boney iron-clad grasp.

 

Lt. Willow brought the man close and regurgitated a black bile
into the man's face.

 

The bile went into the man's eyes and mouth and made him gag
and choke. His body started to convulse madly.

 

Lt. Willow dropped the man onto the ground and stepped
towards the staircase as the final marks on his body healed.

 

The officer stood up behind him. His eyes were black, sunken,
and black bile foamed out the corner of his mouth.

 

Lt. Willow and the officer glanced at each other and then hurried
towards the staircase together.

Jerri bounded up the winding stairs two at a time, breathing
frantically. The stairwell was dimly lit by flickering bulbs that ran the
expanse of the wall. The handrail was rusted and the air smelled like
burning gasoline. The staircase seemed to spiral up endlessly into the
darkness above.

She tripped on her dangling leg iron and fell backwards down a
set of five stairs, dropping the handcuff keys beside her.

Winded and disoriented, she groaned and forced herself to sit up.
She snatched the keys off of the ground and hurriedly unlocked her
remaining leg iron and hurled them over the handrail.