LZR-1143: Redemption (28 page)

FORTY-TWO

“You given any thought to our exit strategy?”

She was sitting in the uncomfortable chair in which I had spent the night, long legs draped over the edge, hands enjoying the warmth of the mug of half-consumed coffee. There was a definite chill in the air in this facility, likely owing to a climate control system that was being operated on generator power, and a lack of windows.

“Some,” I said doubtfully. “But I need more information on the door controls. Obviously, in order to get to the roof for a helo evac, we will need to leave the building. Can’t go out the way we came in, since the lockdown affects that door too. According to Diana, we can go through an access door out of this facility into the main hospital, since that’s not considered external and isn’t locked down…”

“That’s something…”

“… where thousands of those things are waiting…” I continued.

“Oh, right. Forgot that part.” Her voice was flat, humorless.

“… and can try to get to the security control room, via the ventilation system. That’s our only shot of unlocking the doors and getting out, whether we go to the roof, or try for another location. Only problem with that is that we have to go into the main hospital for about fifty feet, since the ventilation system here doesn’t cross over into the main building, for obvious reasons.”

“So either way, we have to breach that door?”

I nodded, taking a sip of my now-cold coffee and grimacing.

Maria used to drink the stuff stone cold. I couldn’t stand watching it. Coffee had to be hot. Otherwise, it was just water with bits of bean in it.

Outside the door, Ky skidded to a halt, Romeo fast behind her.

“Guys. Come on. Doc says he’s got something for you.” Her eyes were wide and her smile huge.

In the largest of the laboratories, next to a softly glowing computer, Kopland sat reclined in a chair that seemed vintage compared to the modern decor of the rest of the space. A carpeted pad and polished wood armrests were a stark departure from the sleek, black ergo chairs and white table tops. He was holding a single vial in his hands, eyes staring at the thick liquid as it passed slowly back and forth as he rocked the vial on its side.

“Doc?” I said, interrupting. He looked up and smiled, and Diana slipped into the room after us with two syringes and a small wad of gauze.

I chuckled at the latter. I guess she hadn’t learned yet.

“We may have it, here,” he said, eyes bright. “To use an electrical analogy, I have installed a ‘switch’—it will tell your bodies that enough is enough. Essentially, it will bring you back to a stasis. In theory, you will retain your resistance to the bites, your immunity, and probably your strength.” His voice toned down slightly as his smile faded.

“I am afraid, however, that there is a high likelihood that the other… side effects… may be permanent. I can tell your body to stop killing itself by over-producing adrenaline and over-stressing the heart—these are simple instructions. It will affect how much extra strength you have, but your healing capabilities and your above-average strength should abide. However…”

“Shit, doc. Are you telling me we’re going to permanently be fucking vampires?”

He looked shocked at the comparison, then thoughtful.

“Well, you won’t need blood to survive, but you may permanently retain an aversion to direct sunlight. It has to do with the levels of radiation in the element—there’s no way to remove that component while retaining bite immunity.” He paused, corners of his mouth dipping in a disappointed way.

“I’m sorry.”

I looked at Kate, and we simply shared a long gaze.

“So… the thousands of troops that have already received this, and the thousands more that will… the entire human military will only be able to fight in the night time?”

He nodded.

“Well, yes. But they won’t turn. And they will have augmented abilities. This is what we can do. We can keep the vaccine from killing its subjects. This is what I can offer.”

He stood up, gesturing toward the chair that looked so out of place.

“This was my father’s. He studied in it all through college and graduate school and into his first few jobs. He swore by it as a lucky seat. A charmed device. He gave it to me as encouragement. He never thought I’d amount to much, and he never thought I’d be as renowned as him.” He paused, smiling sadly. “He’s right on that count, I suppose, given everything that has happened.”

His beard twitched as he rubbed his face.

“Every day I sat in that ugly piece of crap, thinking about him. Hating him. Wishing that someday, I could prove myself to him. Believe me, Mr. McKnight, I tried. I suppose he can’t be beat.” His voice dropped to barely a whisper.

“But I tried. God help me I tried.”

His shoulder was tense in my grip as I reached out, my voice no longer containing the irritated edge as I realized I was being unfair.

“You’ve given us a chance. Maria gave us an infinitesimal chance to survive, and you just tipped the scale. Darkness, light. It doesn’t matter. We’ll fight them until we can’t anymore. I promise you that.”

As if to emphasize my words, the lab was suddenly shrouded in darkness as a loud klaxon-like beep accompanied a switch to emergency lights and we were all shrouded in red.

“Uh, I didn’t mean darkness
now
,” I muttered, looking around.

To my left, Kate held up a hand.

“Did you hear that? Sounded like a door opening.”

“Doc?”

“I’m not sure… Diana…?”

“Gotta be the jenny, Doc. We’ve been living on borrowed time for a week now.”

“Ky, go check on Rhodes. Kate, let’s check it out. Doc, where’s the door to the hospital?”

“I’ll show you. Diana, prepare the injections,” he said, handing her the vial. As an afterthought, he explained as we walked out of the room. “I’ve also prepared an integrated solution with the vaccine and my additions. It can be administered to anyone who wishes it. I have also begun the process of aerosolizing it.”

We passed the room where Ky nodded once as she sat down next to Rhodes, who was moving slightly in his bed, the drugs finally wearing off.

“Meaning that we can administer it faster?”

“Meaning,” he said, reaching the end of the hallway and pushing open another thick door, taking us into another, slightly darker and very short hallway that turned sharply to the right. “That you could spray it from an airplane or a helicopter, like you were dusting a crop, and anyone that inhaled it would benefit from the effects.”

I stopped walking, as did Kate.

He moved several steps ahead before realizing we had stopped in the darkness.

“Uh, Doc. That’s… that’s
amazing
. Do you realize how many people that could save? We could fly over entire cities, camps, forts… anywhere that people are making a stand, or fighting for their lives. We can stop this thing from spreading any further.”

He thought briefly on it and his lined, young face turned up as it dawned on him.

“I suppose that’s something.”

From the darkness beyond, we heard the sound of the door again, and the movement of feet on the floor. We rushed ahead, pushing him back and turning the corner.

The hallways here were even mustier, the air thick with disturbed dust and the smell of unused air. A utilitarian hallway, whitewashed bricks and two glass-enclosed cases with fire response equipment were the only things to break up the monotony of the dreary walls, now bathed in red light.

At the end of the hallway, a door was closing behind three shambling forms, who staggered forward when we appeared. Two men and one woman, the former two both clad in bloodied scrubs and badges still stuck to their chests. The woman was nicely dressed, in a pencil skirt and bright white blouse that had somehow avoided the all too common splashes of blood and gore. Her face was drawn and pale, the lines of death pulling her skin back tightly. She had been pretty once. Possibly a doctor, or an administrator. She had been here when the doors closed.

She had died inside.

A bloody wound was clearly visible on her left hand, a piece of gauze tightly wound over several small spots of blood, behind a hand adorned in a moderately priced watch and a nice wedding band.

That was it. That was all it took. That life was gone. Now she was one of them. And we were us. It was all so fucked.

The three of them moved slowly, and deliberately. I didn’t bother with the machete at my hip. I activated the spring-loaded blades in the arms of my suit and approached the first slowly. The small man’s jaw was broken, hanging uselessly from his head underneath a bloodied face. I grabbed his left arm and pulled him to the side, pushing the blade behind the ear and through the brain quickly, pulling it out immediately. He fell soundlessly. No hiss, no scream, no moan. Just flesh on the floor.

Kate was using her machete, taking the second man across the throat, but somehow missing the spine. He closed in, and she cursed, thrusting the blade through his torso and releasing it, grabbing his scrubs with both hands and pushing him back against the wall. Instead of the blades in her arms, she simply grabbed both sides of his head and twisted. I heard the pop as the skull detached from the spine at the top of the column and the body started to slip down the wall. She grabbed the handle of the blade as it slipped down, turning to the last creature with machete in hand.

The woman had stopped. She looked back and forth between the two of us. Her mouth opened once, and she moaned, the cold air from her dead lungs reeking from disuse and decay.

I nodded to Kate, and I slipped by her, pushing her from the back toward Kate as I moved toward the door, which was opening inward once again, more bodies on the other side. As I stopped to pull a fire hose from the wall, I heard the whistle of her blade, and the sound of the head hitting the floor.

The door opened inward into the hallway, and there were several more curious bodies on the other side. I approached the door from the hinged side, trying to avoid letting the creatures on the other side know that there were living bodies on our side of the fence.

The handle was a thick metal latch that allowed it to be tied down with the heavy nylon hose. I looped it through the handle, and secured it to a thick bolt extending from the wall that supported a large, side-mounted trashcan. Pulling it tight, the latch secured and the door shut tightly. I started tying it off, and then I heard Kopland’s voice.

“Mr. McKnight!”

Kate was on the floor, face down and unmoving.

FORTY-THREE

“There are no other risks, right?”

“None that I know of,” he said, panting as he kept up. I was running down the hallway.

“Not good enough, Doc. What could go wrong?”

“There are always risks! We can’t know! It hasn’t been tested, but I’m fairly— no I’m
very
certain that it will work.”

“Get the stuff,” I said curtly, putting her down on the bed she had shared with Ky.

“What’s wrong?” said the young woman, coming from Rhodes’ room, where I heard more rustling.

“She’s having problems with her heart,” I said, feeling her erratic pulse once again. Her breathing was in short gasps, and her eyes were fluttering.

Jesus.

I couldn’t lose two. Not now. Not like this.

“Doctor!”

Diana sped into the room with the injectors, Kopland behind her.

“Get her chest exposed. I’ve altered hers by adding a stimulant to get it into her bloodstream faster.” He climbed on the bedside, needle exposed, as I pulled the reinforced zipper down her chest, exposing the thermal layer beneath. It tore in my hands as I pulled up, exposing the gentle, soft curves of her chest.

It was a chest that had stopped moving.

Tears were in the corners of my eyes.

The needle touched her chest as Kopland found the site.

My hand on her chest started to shake.

The needle slammed into her chest up to the plunger, and Kopland pushed the fluid into her body.

“Mike, you need to take yours,” said Diana, tapping a finger against the plunger of the second needle to clear the air bubbles.

Mindlessly, I pushed the metal reinforced sleeve up my forearm, exposing a thick vein, even as my other hand on Kate felt for life.

The needle entered my arm as I stared at Kate’s face. Her hair was a halo on the white fabric of the bed, her eyes closed and unmoving.

Kopland slowly withdrew the needle and checked for a pulse.

His hand stayed on her neck for nearly a minute.

“It… could take a while. I’m hesitant to do compressions. If her lungs were damaged, or her heart, we have to rely on the healing mechanisms of the vaccine to…”

I nodded absently as he trailed off, still staring.

Diana pulled the needle from my arm and I felt a sudden wave of nausea hit me like a freight train. I swayed slightly, catching myself.

He looked up to me, frowning. “If it’s nausea or lightheadedness, that’s normal. It’s integrating with your blood now. Give it time. Here,” he said, pulling the chair from the corner of the room. “Sit.”

I shook my head, staying on the edge of the bed with Kate.

“How long?” asked Diana softly.

It took me a moment before I understood.

“One, two hours, max.” I said softly, fighting the urge to vomit.

“Shit,” she whispered.

That was how much time we had before the hose eventually succumbed to what I knew would be a rapidly increasing press of bodies against the entryway.

“Diana, stay with Mr. McKnight,” said Kopland.

“Mike,” I interrupted.

“Mike,” he corrected. “I will gather the material we need.”

“I’ll help,” said Ky from the doorway, her voice cracking.

“I’ll watch the door,” said Rhodes, disappearing quietly from the doorframe.

It was all a blur of movement and sound. I had eyes for one thing.

I was watching Kate’s chest.

Somewhere, in the dark room, in the dull red light, something moved. The rustle of flesh over fabric was like a gunshot. Then, a hand held my own.

Her chest inflated suddenly and her eyes were open. She breathed deeply, the air rasping in her mouth, and her hand tightening on mine.

I laughed as the tears came faster, leaning over and holding her tightly to my chest, burying my face in her hair.

“Why am I lying… on a bed… with my breasts hanging out?” she gasped in spurts.

I laughed again, pressing my hand against her face.

“You collapsed,” I said, helping her pull the remnants of her under layer off, and zip the suit back up. She looked around absently.

“Did he give me the…”

“Yeah, that’s why you’re alive,” I said.

“Oh,” she said, contemplating.

“And we only have about an hour before we get invaded by zombies. Again.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay then. Do I have time for a cup of coffee? I really feel like shit.”