“Thanks,” Arthur managed to say.
“Don’t thank me yet, I need to check you over for bites.”
Arthur stood still as Frank inspected him and Selena for potential infection. After a few tense seconds, he declared them clear and moved toward the door.
Arthur followed him. “I thought you cleared this floor? And those didn’t have any burn marks on them. They weren’t up here when we blew open the door.”
Frank grabbed him by the elbow and led him to a corner without any regard to the integrity of the floor. “I did clear it with Smith and Lightfoot, so obviously one of them didn’t do what they were supposed to. As for the lack of burn marks, I have no idea. They might have wandered down here from somewhere else. I have no idea what to think or who to believe. All I know is you’re the prize, Doc, so stick close.”
Arthur rubbed his arm as the words sank in. The prize? He was just a scientist who wanted to study rocks and prove there was more in space than people ever imagined. He thought back to how things fell in place and he felt like an idiot.
Sunset Inc. had stolen the samples for him to work on. They wanted him to discover something. No, they expected him to discover something. He knelt and pulled off his backpack. After he unzipped it, he pulled all of the rocks out and tossed them. Whatever they might contain wasn’t worth the death of hundreds of people, perhaps more if this had spread outside the silo.
“What are you doing?” Smith whispered.
Arthur felt his chest seize and almost screamed at her words. Either she’d snuck up on him, or his reflexes needed some serious honing.
“I’m getting rid of these samples. Whatever’s in them is killing people.” Arthur stood and walked away, not caring what her response was.
He thought of the flash drives and data. He would protect them with his life. They were the only proof that something illegal happened. He felt a weight lift off his shoulders as he gained purpose. He needed to live so he could expose the company known for research and development as nothing but a modern day group of mad scientists. The samples needed to stay with him, so he went back and repacked them.
He clicked off his flashlight and followed the beam from Frank’s at the door. Frank put his hand on the handle and lowered his head when it opened easily. He turned to look at Arthur. “They want you to go up. They’ll be waiting for you.”
Arthur nodded and smiled. “I know, but I’ll do whatever you think is right. I have no idea what they want from me. I didn’t find anything of significance in the few hours I was in the lab, so even if they do capture me, it’s not like I have anything to give up to them.”
“Well, I’ve had enough of this, time to finish it.” Frank pushed the door outward and walked out.
Arthur let Selena go after, followed by Smith. Taking up the rear, Arthur thought about the way the sliver of the sample shimmered in the light and about how the density readings were wrong. In fact, he was running a second diagnostic on the sample when the explosion happened, as well as testing a sample in the mass spectrometer.
If the machine was set to explode during a test in order to get the particles into the air and infect those inside the silo, Arthur realized in that scenario, he wasn’t the prize, he was collateral damage. A problem they would need to make sure went away and kept silent – forever.
“I can’t see a damn thing they’re doing in there, Barrow. What the hell’s going on? Who sent them a message to go to Level 8? I want you to use every satellite we have as well as every under the table, black market, behind the scenes dirty politician at our disposal to find out who the hell just sabotaged my ‘indestructible’ silo,” John yelled at his assistant.
Barrow nodded and wandered off to the corner to make the necessary calls. John didn’t know what to do. Up until this point, he’d been able to keep an eye on his team. His technicians were able to unlock the doors going down, so at least, he felt like he was helping them in some way.
He took another one of the white pills to ease the pain in his chest. The clock indicated only a couple of hours had gone by, but he felt as if he’d been going at this problem for a month straight.
“Sir, they say the explosion was massive, designed to take down all signals in or out. They were able to confirm it was an inside job. Someone on the original team set this in motion from the day the project broke ground.” Barrow slid his phone in his pocket and waited for his next set of orders.
“That Collins fellow, the one we talked to before. Did he seem off to you? I think he seemed nervous. In fact, I think he was lying”
Barrow nodded.
“Me too, get him back in here and let Mike question him.” John watched his assistant leave and hoped he’d get some answers. In his whole life, he’d never had a project go tits up like this one. If he was still the head of the company tomorrow, it would be a miracle. Though, if there was a company tomorrow, he would be surprised.
“And Barrows,” he yelled, “send a car for my wife. Get her over here now.”
Frank took each step one at a time. Cracks and other signs of weakness made him cautious. As they reached the door for Level 6, he cracked it open and shined his light inside. Several nasties roamed the floor, most of them naked. He thought back to when they came through here the first time and couldn’t remember who was supposed to take care of the showers. Didn’t matter now, there was a mess, and as usual he had to clean it up.
He pulled out his FNP, glad his preferred weapon fit in one hand, and whispered to the others, “We have some roamers in here, so use your light attachments and take these bastards out with short bursts.” Frank hated to make the ammunition sacrifice, but in such closed quarters, the risk of harm coming to Selena or the others was too great.
With the door fully open, Frank and Smith entered first, the sounds of gunfire attracting what was left of the mob toward them. This time they went in fast and hard, blowing off skullcaps, and shattering craniums. The sounds of bodies hitting the ground and the slopping of fluids had become static to them all; white noise in the background of a living nightmare.
Within seconds, the nasties were taken care of. Frank examined the floor as best he could, given the circumstances and waved them forward when he deemed it safe.
Ten feet away from the exit, something triggered his instincts. He slowed his steps and glanced around the room, that’s when it hit him. The door was open. Either something or someone came in after them, or left. If they left, he needed to hurry his group the hell up in case they were locking the place down after the person got out. Anyone who came in after them likely met the gathered flesh eaters and was no longer a concern.
Frank scanned the room once more and entered the stairwell. He listened a moment trying to tune out the rumblings of the structure as it fell apart. He took the steps quicker this time, paying less attention to security, more concerned about being trapped. His thoughts ran toward being buried alive and panic drove him on.
The entry to Level 5 stood propped open. A leg was caught in between the door and frame preventing it from closing. He recalled the charred bodies and walking Roman candles. This leg, however, didn’t have so much as a tinge of soot on it.
“Wait for me there,” Frank said to the three behind him. Anger and irritation pushed him when all he wanted to do was give up.
The leg twitched when he neared it. The owner seemed to struggle when they heard him. Whether they wanted to eat him or outrun him was the question. He moved closer and with gun raised, he pulled the door open wide. A man in a mask rolled over and held his hands up. Frank kept his weapon up.
“Who the hell are you and where did you come from?”
“I was sent in after your team to extract some samples from Level 12. I repelled in with a team, but something went wrong. The explosions went off early and all the others were trapped. I planned to follow you until I got what I came for, but when the explosions went off on Level 8, I ran.”
Frank eyed the man. “If you’re working for someone else, and were sent in here to do bad things, you have to know confessing all that gives me grounds to kill you.”
“You’re not going to kill me. I’m the only one who can get you out of here. Plus, all surveillance capabilities as well as communications have been knocked out permanently, so my boss will have no idea I spilled. We work together and then go our separate ways on top,” the man said with a smug smile.
