Before he could utter another word, a bang sent a bullet slamming into the soldier’s head and he whipped back and fell to the ground. Everyone turned to see the smoking gun firmly gripped in Miles’ hand. The boy sighed and pulled his phone from his pocket. He moved his finger over the screen and double-tapped it.
“Zero. I’m out.” Miles said. “Are we headed back in?”
Chapter 5
Julia leaned over Nadine’s chair, staring at the monitor in front of her. She couldn’t believe her eyes. No one in the small room could. Lesly, Martyn, Ben, even Carver, were all left speechless as they watched Miles kill Bates in what looked like cold blood.
The major finally snapped out of his daze and was furious, “Did you see that? Did you see? These little bastards we’ve been keeping locked up in a room right next door to us are planning on killing us all!”
“We… we don’t know what happened out there.” Martyn muttered, finding it hard to believe the small, frail Miles would do something so shocking without reason. Killing the infected was one thing, they were senseless monsters, but this was a normal human being.
“We can see what happened right there!” Carver’s voice was booming. “He shot Bates! He killed him!”
“But look, Baker and the others aren’t tackling him or drawing their guns on him.” Martyn pointed at the screen. “They were all talking before he shot him. We don’t know what was being said.”
“Well I doubt Bates would’ve said anything that deserved that!”
“He was infected,” Julia said softly. She stood up straight, still looking at the monitor, and watched the men slowly make their way to the building. “The way they were talking, the movements they were making, the boys accused Bates of being infected and shot him to keep him from turning.”
“Bullshit,” Carver scoffed under his breath.
“It might be, but what other explanation can you think of major, besides your own paranoia. These kids don’t take chances. What benefit do they get from killing one soldier outside while their surrounded by three other men with guns?” She stared the major down.
He returned her glare and folded his arms. With no response to her question he closed his eyes and started heading for the interior of the store.
“Ben, go get Manson.” Julia turned to Ben and he was still stunned, looking at the monitor. “Ben!”
He shook his head and blinked rapidly. “Yeah… sorry.”
Julia softened her tone. “Go find Manson. We have to bring that body in here and check it.”
“Check it?” Martyn asked the question but his eyebrows lifted when he realized the answer himself. “To find out if Bates was truly infected.”
“Or Carver’s right and those kids are actually just psychopaths.”
“Ok. I’ll go find Manson.” Ben started to leave.
“What do I… what do I tell everyone?” Lesly squeaked behind Julia.
“Whatever it is you better figure it out before Carver gets out there and spins the story however he wants.”
Lesly cursed and went running out of the monitor room. Martyn turned to leave as well, “I better head out there too. They may need medical attention or help with Bates’ body… or something.” The medical doctor shook his head and rubbed his eyes as he left the room.
Julia sighed and looked back at the screen in front of Nadine. “I need a cigarette. And I don’t even smoke.”
“This is just… insane.” Nadine typed on the keyboard in front of her and cycled through different cameras covering the exterior of the superstore. “But they’re gone. The whole hive is gone. Those two pulled it off.”
“Yeah.” Julia leaned in when the monitor’s display stopped on the back dock. Besides the dead bodies splayed out everywhere, the space was empty again. “But let’s not throw a parade for them just yet.”
In the sterilized family bathroom in the back of the store, Manson looked through a microscope on the sink near the rest of the science equipment he found in the Costco. The body Manson was examining, sat up in the stall, propped on the toilet. Burrows stood across the room, clutching his gun nervously and looking in at the corpse from time to time. The infection wasn’t known for bringing the dead back to life, but it did make people hard to kill and stay dead. Every few minutes Burrows was sure he saw the thing move.
“Fascinating.” Manson said under his breath but the soldier in the room still heard him.
“What?” Burrows craned his neck for some attempt at looking at the microscope from where he was standing.
Manson looked up from the instrument and eyed the nervous gunman. “Really Burrows? It’s been two days now. The specimen is dormant obviously.” Manson kicked back in his rolling chair and slid across the linoleum floor to the stall. Then he slapped the dead freak in the face and its head moved and the mouth hung open. Besides the tongue falling out, the dead creature didn’t respond to the slap.
A shiver went through Burrows. “Yeah ok doc. Don’t mean I wanna touch it or even be near it.”
“You’re being ridiculous.” Manson slid back across the floor to the microscope. “This is a revolutionary moment in scientific history and you’re being squeamish.” The doctor let out a strange sound that might have been a chuckle.
“So what? Did you find out how to cure the virus after just two days of looking at that thing’s blood?”
Manson made the chuckling sound again, longer and louder this time. “No, not at all. But…” He licked his lips, staring at the blood splotch on the slide under the magnified scope. “This is an incredible find. Compared to the other samples I have from the infected specimens two years
