and rethink my strategy.
When the six night runners have nearly faded from my sight, I slip silently around the corner and creep up to the doors. The double set of steel fire doors open outward with no windows, the fiber camera barely fits under it. I don’t have much time. I shield the glow as the screen comes to life. Inside, I see several long tables and chairs that give the impression of a large lunch room. A long counter lines the back wall and, standing near the middle of the room, is a single night runner looking off to the side.
I pan around and there, near the left wall, is Lynn. From this angle it’s hard to tell, but it looks like there’s another night runner directly behind her and holding her. My heart leaps at the sight of Lynn. I’ve found her and she’s alive. The problem is that I won’t be able to get a clean shot on the night runner holding her from this angle should I enter here. There’s another set of double doors behind and to the side of the night runner holding Lynn. Shrieks continue to fill the hallways.
It’ll be a tight shot on the night runner holding Lynn if I enter through the other set of doors, but the angle will be better. I withdraw the camera and swiftly head to the farther corner. The shrieks and cacophony of noise filling the halls allows me to move faster without the sound of my movement being heard. A quick peek around the corner shows more night runners streaking past an intersection just ahead.
I wait for a break and slide into the hall. I lie on the floor near the doors to minimize my silhouette to those that may flash by. If they turn down the hall, I’ll readily be seen though. I’m close but not there yet. I can’t fuck it up now by being hasty but I do need to be quick. I slide the camera under the door to verify nothing has changed. The two night runners haven’t moved. The one in the middle is tilting its head to the side as if trying either to hear something or puzzle something out. I don’t really care which as long as it isn’t calling the building full of night runners to this location.
Another pack enters the junction and pauses. Five night runners glance in all directions and begin sniffing the air. My heart freezes. I’m too close to be found out now. Fear that I have made it this far only to be discovered at the very door surges through my body. My heartbeat thumps against the cold, hard floor. My M-4 lies on the floor next to me but I don’t dare move. Any motion will be seen. Their eyes occasionally cast that eerie glow as their heads turn from side to side searching for something. The chances of them turning down the hall I’m in and consequently seeing me are high.
“Quickly, Horace, I need more gunfire into those windows,” I whisper.
I can’t hear the gunfire through the din of the night runners shrieking and running rampant, but I know Horace begins firing by the way the heads of the ones nearby turn sharply. They streak off to the side vanishing from view. I breathe a quick sigh of relief and rise, gathering the camera and my carbine. This is it, go time.
With one hand on one of the door handles and a finger caressing the trigger guard, I pull gently on the door to verify it’s unlocked. It thankfully is. With another calming breath, I swing the door wide open and step inside, raising my M-4.
The angle on the night runner holding Lynn is sufficient to get a clean shot. It turns its head toward me. The only thing that maneuver does is to allow it to see the muzzle flash that ends its life. The night runner’s head snaps back as my single round penetrates its hard skull, sending a spray of gore across the back of Lynn’s head. Blood flies from its nostrils and mouth as it falls heavily to the floor, bouncing off a table and knocking over a chair.
Lynn ducks to the floor as the flash of my shot fills the room and the grip on her is released. Faster than I could ever imagine, the night runner in the middle of the room turns, screams, and takes a lunging leap toward me. I bring my carbine around to center my dot on it. As quickly as I move, it seems to move faster; but I only have to move my barrel inches, whereas it has to move feet. My dot centers on its chest as the night runner, her greasy hair flowing behind her, prepares to launch into the air at me.
I squeeze the trigger three times, sending high speed projectiles out of my suppressor. Each finds its target and rips through flesh and bone. Some of the bullets hit bone and splinter, tearing through the soft tissue of the lungs before exploding out of the back. Splintered bone follows the path of the bullet. The night runner’s vocal scream of “Noooooo” fades to a gurgle. She falls to her knees and reaches out a hand.
“I warned you that I was coming,” I say, my barrel trained on the night runner’s head and finger hard on the trigger.
“You were meant to be with us…with me. You were mine.”
Convulsing, blood pours out of her mouth and nose in a torrent. The shine of her eyes fades and she slumps forward onto her face.
Aside from being stunned upon hearing a night runner verbally speak, what it said confuses me. However, there are more important things to take care of at the moment. There will be time to think about it and analyze it later — at least I’m hoping there will be a later. I turn to see Lynn kneeling on the floor, her head looking left and right.
“Lynn, are you okay?” I ask. Shrieks permeate the building.
“Jack?”
“It’s me, hon. Stay put. I’ll be right there,” I say, walking quickly to the female night runner.
I nudge her over with my boot and am a little sickened to see her slightly extended belly. It also sends a shiver up my spine knowing they can reproduce. The night runner’s eyes are open and staring at the ceiling, seeing nothing. I swiftly go to Lynn’s side and put my hand on her shoulder.
She flinches at my touch and I realize she is completely in the dark. I take out the NVGs and place them in her hand. She quickly dons them.
“I love you,” I say into her ear. I pull her to me and we hug each other tightly.
“Thank you. I love you so much,” she responds.
With the escalating screams filling the passageways outside, I pull back, hand her my sidearm, and a coil of 550 cord.
“We’re not out of this yet. We need to hurry and seal these doors. Tie them like we did at the high school. You take that set of doors,” I say, pointing to the set I just came through, “I’ll take the other.”
She turns and shakily walks to the set of fire doors. I run to the other set and begin lacing the cord around the swing handles, tying the two together. I barely complete the knots when pressure is put on the doors as night runners on the other side try to pull them open. I turn to see that Lynn has hers tied off as well. I make additional loops to give added strength. Assured that the doors will hold for the time being, I walk over to Lynn. I want nothing more than to embrace her hard again. It felt so good to hold her once more and feel her body pressed against mine. I didn’t know if I would ever see her again and didn’t want to let her go. Warmth floods my heart at the sight of her. With the night runners trying vigorously to enter and shrieking ferociously, we’ll have to put that off until we get outside.
The doors rattle in their frames as the night runners, more than likely angered by the demise of their pack leader — at least I’m assuming the dead female was just that — try to gain entrance. We are far from being out of the fire and may very well have just stepped into it.
“Is everyone okay?” Lynn asks, clearly exhausted and spent from her ordeal.
I can’t even imagine what she must have gone through — first attacked, then kidnapped and held in a lair of night runners. That has to be anyone’s worst nightmare.
“Yeah, everyone is fine.”
“So, what now, Jack?” Lynn asks, eyeing the shaking doors.
“Yeeeeeah…about that?”
She just starts laughing. Hearing her laugh at a time like this makes me think that being held by the night runners made her lose her mind …wait, I hope that didn’t that come out loud? No…good.
“You didn’t think this all of the way through, did you?” she asks, still chuckling.
“Yeah, I did. It’s just that…well, did you have to be in the exact middle of the building. Couldn’t you have chosen an outside office? That would have been helpful on your part,” I joke.
The night runners go at the doors with a renewed frenzy. The combined noise of those gathered outside now makes it hard to even hear a shout. The cord wrapped around the handles, although strong, won’t hold forever. The night runners will eventually manage to rip the doors from their very hinges.
I radio the teams letting them know that I found Lynn and our current predicament. I’m going to have to come up with something soon or, instead of riding off into the sunset on a white horse, we’ll end up like a
