Andre felt his guts tighten as the infected ignored the gunshots and continued their full frontal assault. “Please…they’re people!” he cried.
Carol pulled him back towards the glass doors. “We should go inside.” She pulled him around to meet her gaze. “DEEP inside.”
He shook his head, tugging at her grip. “No, they…they could be saved. They don’t…” His voice trailed off as the soldiers slowly backed towards the main structure.
“It’s starting to give!” one of the men yelled.
The researchers watched as the fenced bowed and slowly began to bend inward. Andre pushed the door fully open and stepped out. “Fall back! Lieutenant! Have your men fall back before it’s too late!”
The soldiers either ignored him or couldn’t hear him for the gunfire. He stepped out further and watched in horrid fascination as the fence gave way and a swarm of infected rushed over their compatriots, scrambling up the hill towards the main building.
Soldiers turned and bolted for the doors, some firing wildly over their shoulders at the oncoming mass. Andre turned and ushered the few remaining researchers back inside then held the door as the soldiers darted through.
“Hurry!” He waved them on and watched as one of the furthest men was tackled and engulfed in a sea of rabid people. As the last man shot through the entryway, he pulled the doors shut and kicked the floor anchor into place, securing the door.
Everybody eased back into the shadows as the throng slammed into the doors, hands and faces beating against the glass.
“Please tell me they can’t break that,” Irene asked in a cracking voice.
Lieutenant Davis shook his head. “I think it’s reinforced, but…” He gave Andre a shrug. “I honestly don’t know.”
“Let’s not give them any more reason to try to break through.” Andre stepped back into the hallway and waved the others with him. “To the lower levels. Now. Everybody.”
Davis stood upright and squared his shoulders. “Somebody should stay behind—in case they get through.”
“No, Lieutenant,” Andre barked. “Nobody stays behind. The stairwell doors are steel and we can secure them from the other side.” He stepped forward and glared at the younger officer. “I realize that I am not your superior, but I AM in charge of this facility.” He tugged at the man’s arm. “And I say move it! Now!”
Davis cursed under his breath then entered the stairwell. Carol ushered them all to the lower levels while Andre secured the door. “We stay in here, keep our heads down.”
“For how long?” Davis asked. “It will be morning before we know it, but these new crazies aren’t sensitive to sunlight, are they?”
Andre sighed heavily and leaned against the wall. “We wait as long as it takes.”
Davis stepped around him and pressed his ear to the door. “They’re not going to give up.”
Carol looked to Andre, who slowly shook his head. “We have food. We have water. We can access the power relays from inside. Once we turn the power back on we can observe them from the security office.” He turned slowly to Davis. “We wait them out.”
Davis sighed and ground his teeth. “I’d rather be proactive.”
“I’m sure you would, Lieutenant. But you have neither the manpower nor the ammunition to engage them.”
Davis turned and gave him a smirk. “Not from here I don’t.”
Andre narrowed his gaze. “What are you suggesting?”
Davis snapped his fingers at his men scattered along the stairwell. “Do a weapons check then hit the armory for ammunition.”
“What do you intend, Mr. Davis?” Andre asked solemnly.
“The roof.” He smirked at the older man. “We may not be able to reach those beating on the doors, but we can damned sure thin the herd.”
Simon sat by the gate, silently chewing a blade of grass while his eyes probed the shadows along the road. Every whisper of the breeze or snap of a twig had his eyes locked on the location of the sound. He was actually surprised by all of the noises produced at night in the woods.
He slowly turned his head and tried again to peer through the dense foliage. He knew that the bikers were scattered up and down the hill, but to their credit, he had no idea where they were. He prayed that if he had to move, that none of them would fire on the shadows in the dark.
He leaned back slightly, adjusting his position to allow blood to flow into his lower extremities. If Tony came shooting up the hill at a rate of speed to blow through the gates, he needed to be able to move from the edges and get into firing position.
“You’re a hard man to track in the dark.”
Simon stiffened at the voice and slowly turned his head. “How did you get up here without me hearing you?”
Lana tsk’d at him. “I’m full of surprises.” He slowly nodded and tried to peer past her pale form to see if Tony was somewhere nearby. “Relax, lover. He’s down at the main road.”
“He sent you to do his dirty work then, huh?” She slid from his peripheral view and Simon stiffened, unwilling to turn around to face her.
She chuckled low in her throat and it sounded as though she were moving to either side of him in the darkness. “He’s an even bigger pussy than you are.” He could almost feel her breath on his ear as she whispered to him, “He’s so afraid of you…and I can’t understand why.” Her voice was in his other ear and he fought the urge to spin around on her.
“Why’s that, I wonder? Did you tell him what a badass I am?”
She laughed and it sounded to him as though she were hovering in circles over his head. “He knows your reputation…from before you became a pussy.”
Simon chuckled and shifted his weight, preparing to launch at her if he ever zeroed in on her actual location. “So,
