Hannah shook her head to clear it. What was she doing here? Her knowledge about the facility began and ended with the outside. She glanced at the building. Check, they were at the right place. Now what?
“Let’s get you over here to cover,” the soldier who’d asked her if she was okay said. He gripped her elbow gently, pushing her toward one of the big shipping containers.
She watched in detachment as several soldiers bounded toward the facility’s loading dock. Behind her, the C-130’s engines increased thrust as the plane pivoted in a circle to spin around, preparing the bird for a quick takeoff if they had to leave in a hurry. Prop blast scattered the detritus on the ground around her feet, revealing a long, dull white bone. It was thick, like a femur bone or maybe the humerus—Hannah had done terrible in biology at West Point, thankful that their engineering program relied little on the life sciences or else she might not have gotten her first choice to become a pilot.
“Ma’am, are you okay? What’s wrong?”
She focused on the man who’d helped her. “Uh… I’m fine. Really. I just… I never thought I’d be back here.”
“I’m gonna get the major.”
“No. I’m fine,” she reasserted, lifting her rifle into the pocket of her shoulder. “Just point me to the command section. That’s where they wanted me to stay.”
The soldier grinned. “Well, you’re here, ma’am. I’m Specialist Tunde. I’m one of the medics. Major Edmunds is coordinating the assault. Then we’ll move up.”
Hannah glanced back at the jungle, then along the line of shipping containers. “Is anyone securing the back side of the perimeter or are they—”
“We’ve got this, ma’am,” Tunde said. “There are troops positioned on the other side of the containers. We’re actually outside of the perimeter right now.”
They walked beyond the first loose row of shipping containers where soldiers knelt behind the concealment they provided. Hannah heard the aircraft engines turn off. The plan called for hiding their movements as much as possible from any potential infected in the area, so powering off the loud engines was important. Doing so added time to a potential escape if the mission had to be ended quickly, but the need to end the loud sounds from the engines outweighed the need for speed. Already, inhuman screams echoed from the jungle. The infected were out there, they just didn’t know how far away.
Hannah and Specialist Tunde walked quickly toward the building. The command post was set up at the final row of shipping containers before the open cargo dock area. Four people stood around a large aerial photograph of the facility, while another soldier knelt with a radio on his back. Major Edmunds glanced at them as they walked up, but he didn’t say anything. So far, Hannah had gotten a cold shoulder from the mission commander. He didn’t think she needed to be on the mission and viewed her as a distraction.
The radio operator held the handset out for the major and he took it, placing the receiver to his ear. She heard him say, “Yes, engage with snipers. All other elements, hold your fire.”
Several dull reports echoed down the artificial canyons created by the rows of shipping containers as snipers positioned atop the metal boxes fired at infected that had appeared at the edges of the jungle. When they’d planned the operation, they’d hoped the infected had starved to death over the many months, as the ones near the desert city of El Paso had done, but that was a pipe dream. The jungle provided ample edible foliage and insects for things like the infected to survive on. Distance and isolation were their only real hope.
“How are we coming inside the building?” the major asked into his radio. Hannah was too far away to hear the reply, but he turned to the small command element and said, “Okay, we’re going in. Prescott, you’re in charge of the perimeter defense. Use the suppressed weapons as long as we can and remind guys to stay as quiet as possible.”
“Yes, sir,” the captain replied.
“Alright. Miss Dunn, you’re with me.” He didn’t wait for her reply. Instead, he jogged toward the loading dock where a smaller side door was held open by a soldier.
When they entered the site, her nose was immediately assaulted by the smell of decay. It hung heavy in the air, clinging to everything. Hannah felt as if it wound its way around her body, wrapping her in death’s cold embrace. She lifted her shirt up over her mouth and tried to avoid breathing through her nose.
“This way, sir,” a soldier said, beckoning.
They walked single file down the hallway, following color-coded arrows labeled with two clearly distinct types of alphabet, which Hannah assumed to be Korean and Arabic since they looked similar to the book that Grady had found in North Korea. The words meant nothing to her, but since their guide chose the orange arrows at every intersection, she assumed that he knew where he was going.
They passed the remains of bodies almost everywhere, which was the source of the stench. The facility had suffered the same fate as the rest of the world. They’d tried to play God and He’d destroyed them for it.
“We killed four of them inside,” their guide said over his shoulder. “They were surviving off the bodies of the others, but they were barely a threat at all. Doc said that their bodies had basically shut down on them because they were eating the rancid, spoiled meat.”
“Dumb motherfuckers,” someone behind her muttered.
Hannah hated the infected, they’d taken everything from her, but somewhere in the back of her mind—or maybe it was her heart—she felt sorry for them. They didn’t ask to be this way. They’d been fully functioning human beings and now they were reduced down to this. It wasn’t fair
