jeopardizing it is you,” Carson yelled.
Frank went to punch in another number when a voice called out to them.
“Wait, I know the code,” a muffled female voice echoed from somewhere.
Frank pulled his FNP and almost fell off Lightfoot, who in the meantime tried not to drop his boss while drawing his M4.
“Who the hell are you, and more importantly, where the hell are you?” Frank demanded.
“I’m in the storage shed, last structure on the right. My name is Selena Harrison.”
Frank didn’t trust her. Someone appearing out of nowhere with the code, not to mention she survived the acid spray, reeked of a set-up.
“Anyone else in there with you?” Frank asked as he jumped off Lightfoot’s shoulders.
“It’s just me, I think the acid killed all of those… things…and the animals too,” Selena said with sadness.
Frank huddled with Carson and Lightfoot. “I don’t know if we can trust her, seems off to me. What do you guys think?” Frank asked, more interested in Lightfoot’s opinion.
“We don’t have a choice. I don’t see why she would lie to us. She’d be stuck in here when the acid started to spray again if she gave us the wrong set of numbers,” Lightfoot pointed out.
Frank didn’t mention the woman wouldn’t know the code if she worked in the agricultural area. Either Selena was part of the higher echelon of Sunset Inc., or she was something else altogether.
“Alright, give me the code,” Frank yelled as he hefted himself back onto Lightfoot’s shoulders.
Selena called out, “Four, seven, three, eight.”
Frank keyed them in and watched the red dots turn green and the acid sprayers return to their spot in the ceiling. He jumped down with his FNP at the ready. Carson and Lightfoot followed his lead.
“Ms. Williams, step out, please.” Frank aimed at the structure she claimed to be in.
The men waited a few moments as they heard several loud sounds and grunts come from the general direction of the remnants of the building. They watched as a tall woman with red hair and a gas mask came out of the room with her hands raised. She wore a black skirt that ended right above her knees and a white lab coat over an ivory colored blouse. Something about the way she moved set Frank on edge. She had a little too much confidence for someone who sounded so scared a few moments ago. He ignored the part of him admiring her figure.
“I’m not armed, so you can put your weapons down,” she said.
Frank pretended he didn’t hear her comment. He walked forward and as he neared the middle of the room, he saw half-eaten carcasses of animals in some of the structures in which the acid hadn’t melted the roof away entirely. This upset him; if he ever used this technique again, he would use a stronger substance so there was no chance of survival. For all he knew, there was an army of infiltrators waiting to jump out at him. He peered over his shoulder and motioned for Lightfoot to check things out.
When Frank was three feet from the woman, he realized she didn’t have any dirt on her, but several smudges of something black, like soot. Her fingers and nails were bloody and torn, and for the life of him, he had no explanation for his desire to tend to them. Women, he’d always been a sucker for a damsel in distress. The fact this particular one might be waiting for him to get close enough to stab him was an afterthought.
“What happened to your hands?” Frank asked.
“When the place went into lockdown we tried to calm the animals, but they were acting strange…like they were afraid of us. Then Charlie turned to me, threw up blood, fell to the ground, and convulsed. Mary and I went over to help. We thought he was having a seizure or something. He bit her and all of a sudden, Glenn came lumbering after us. We tried to run away, but Mary started to shake and stumbled to the ground grabbing her stomach.” Selena seemed lost in thought, so Frank gave her a moment before urging her to continue.
Selena fidgeted with the ripped part of a pocket and switched her weight from foot to foot. Frank noticed her heels and downgraded her threat to about a four. People in their line of work regardless of gender wore appropriate footwear. The only reason he kept her as high as a four was she might want to appear defenseless, and he tended to have terrible taste in women, hence his not dating them.
Her eyes cleared and she spoke, “Anyway, I saw the whole situation deteriorating fast, so I locked myself in the storage shed. Then the screams turned to moans. The ceiling above me started to melt and crack, so I pulled all the shelving that I could find over me. I figured the rescue team was on its way and here you are,” she finished with a smile.
Frank had so many questions, but too little time to ask everything, so he started with the obvious. “Why were you wearing a gas mask and not the others?”
“Oh, Mary was wearing one too. I assume the bite infected her. We had them on because of allergies to be honest. We were filling in for two people who called in sick today. Normally, we’re down in the med lab helping out, but Dr. Watkins said something went wrong and we needed to come up here,” Selena said with a sincere smile.
Frank wanted to believe her, but she knew the code and they didn’t, even though that was Frank’s fault. She would have known they weren’t the rescue crew based on that alone – if she was the suspicious type. The name Watkins rang a bell. If he remembered right, he was the guy testing on people. More questions for a later time. For now, they needed to move forward.
“I can leave you here or you can come with us, but I’m warning you, don’t slow me down, don’t get in my way, and do exactly what I say. And please tell me you know how to use a gun.” Frank looked at her with a raised brow.
“Come on, boss, we’ll take her with us for some fun,” Carson snickered.
Lightfoot punched him and returned to his ready stance.
Carson glared at him. “I’ll get you for that, prick.”
Lightfoot laughed. “Right, in your dreams, junkie”
“Alright boys, we have work to do and limited time to do it. Selena, those things you saw are all over the place. I have no idea what they are, but I think you’ll be safe here,” Frank explained.
Selena scrunched up her face. “That doesn’t make sense. If you keep going down, how are we going to get out?”
“I’m hoping to figure that out after we reach our target. Now let’s go. Selena, it’s your call if you come or not, either way you’re going to need this.” He handed her an M4 and made sure to switch it to a three round burst. “Make sure you don’t freak out and unload all your ammo in one go, and try to aim for the head,” Frank warned.
Selena laughed. “Right, stay calm when someone you’ve known for years vomits blood and then tries to eat you, got it.”
Frank quirked a grin at her and shook his head. At least she had a sense of humor about the whole thing. He walked to the end of the room and entered the stairwell. Level 5 was next and he sighed in relief, an office floor. Rows and rows of cubicles, full of scientists and their assistants, papers and computers, but that was okay, the security measure would be helpful for a change.
Marshall watched his screens show him the progress of his plan. So far, things hadn’t gone as smooth as hoped, but his people were prepared for the unexpected, and he’d helped as much as he could. The dead rising was most definitely a surprise, but interesting.
He punched the intercom. “Get the computers ready for a link up, my secret weapon is going to be in the server room soon and I want everything ready.”
A smile crossed his face as both groups moved forward, bound to meet in the middle, and then have nowhere to go. That’s when things would get ugly, and oh, how he looked forward to that.
Arthur took on the mantle of group leader, unwanted as it was, but since it was only Smith, it didn’t really matter. He tried to keep an eye open in case Benson popped up, but figured the guy was out saving himself, to hell with the rest of them.
“Arthur, what do you think we need to worry about on this floor?” Smith asked him.
He stayed his hand on the knob and wondered. “I really have no idea, Dixon didn’t either. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it.” He smiled in order to reassure her, but knew he failed.
