Deadlocked 6 (23 page)

"Go ahead," I said while clenching my teeth. "Kill me."

Her eyes blinked and she opened her mouth, but couldn't speak. The wound in her neck pulsed with dark red blood and a trickle escaped from the corner of her lips. I felt the pressure of her gun in me again, but it was larger this time. I looked down, confused, and saw that she wasn't pointing it at me. She was holding it by the barrel, with the handle pressed into me.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

She couldn't say, but pressed the gun harder against me as the color faded from her cheeks. Her mouth was open, and she gurgled as she choked on her own blood. Then her bright blue eyes unfocused and her hand fell to her stomach as she stopped breathing.

I sighed in relief, but didn’t have time to ponder the woman's intentions. I took her gun and then searched her pockets. Next, I dragged her body into the room. I didn't have time to clean the pool of blood from the hallway, and anyone passing would certainly see the macabre evidence of my murder, but at least hiding her corpse could keep someone passing through a nearby hall from seeing her. I had no idea how large this facility was, or how long it would take soldiers to come looking for the source of the gunshots.

The facility was eerily quiet. The concrete walls had pipes running along their side and strips of red and blue wire, bunched together with plastic ties, that hung near the ceiling. It looked like the inner workings of a home's walls if one side had been stripped. I had to choose to turn right or left, and chose left. I stayed close to the wall and moved swiftly, searching each room that I passed.

I was disturbed by how quiet it was. Where was the soldier that the doctor had been speaking with? Where was the security? The doctor had mentioned they were flying in someone important to undergo the surgery that would kill Celeste - or at least kill her free will. I was still muddy on the specifics of the procedure that the black woman had revealed. Were the soldiers out meeting with this mysterious traveler? Or was I blindly walking into a trap?

"Levon!" I caught sight of him in one of the non-descript rooms and rushed in. "Come on princess, let's get out of here."

I expected him to appreciate the humor in me being the one to rescue him, but he looked ashen. I closed the door behind me before going to his bedside.

"You okay?" I asked as I unbuckled his right wrist.

"Yeah," he said, clearly not.

"Do they have you doped up?"

He nodded and used his free hand to rub his eyes.

Someone screamed
far off, and we both froze as we listened. It was a man's voice, and was too distant to be from him finding my victims. It was eerie, and made me feel oddly claustrophobic to hear him yell, as if I'd heard a mourner at my own funeral while I lay in the casket, buried alive. Then there were footsteps coming closer and I aimed my gun at the door.

The footsteps got closer, frenzied and loud. It was the gait of a wounded man, shuffling and slapping against the wall as he went. I heard a groan and then saw the shadow of feet from the space beneath the door.

The man sniffed, then scratched at the door, and his feet disappeared. He headed back the way he came. After the sound of his footsteps faded, I cursed in relief. "Fuck me. What was that about?"

Hero stared at the ceiling.

I snapped my fingers in his face and then walked to the end of the bed to free his legs. "Snap out of it. I need my Hero here, right now. Got it?"

"Are the doctors dead?" he asked, still forlorn and distant.

"Yeah, but we're still going to have to take care of the guards," I said as if reviewing a checklist of things we needed to do.

He seemed hazy, perhaps lulled by pain killers, and I shook his legs as I finished unbinding them. He closed his eyes, took a long breath, and then looked at me. "I'm good."

"Here," I offered him the black woman's gun. I'd already taken two shots with it, and wanted to keep the fully loaded weapon I'd taken from the doctor for myself. Hero seemed lethargic, and I was worried that he wouldn't be able to perform the way I needed him to.

"We're in this together," he said as he took the gun. "Till the end."

"There's my boy," I said and gently slapped his cheek as I smiled. We'd been partners for years, and there was no one I'd rather have at my side in this situation than him. If we were going to make it out of this alive, I'd need his help.

He seemed renewed and hopped off the bed as soon as I got his left strap undone. He was wearing a gown similar to mine, and his backside was revealed as he walked to the door.

"Hey, big guy," I said and nodded at his rear end. "Tie your belt. I don't want to stare at a big, black, hairy moon the whole way out."

He smirked as he wrapped the thin cloth belt around his waist and tied up his gown to end the peep show. I stood on the other side of the door, my back to the wall, in a position we'd performed a hundred times before. Hero was adamant about clearing corners properly, and frequently retold a story about when Captain Reagan saved Billy's life while clearing a corner during the apocalypse.

"Hold up," I said as I looked at my partner. "You're good, right?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I told you. I'm fine. Never felt better."

"That's a pretty big bandage on your head. And when I got in here, you were looking pretty out of it. Are you sure you've got this?"

"Kim, I want to get the fuck out of here. Can we get on with this, or are we going to play twenty questions first?"

"Okay, sure. No need to get snippy. Let's move left, I'll take lead. On three."

I counted down with my fingers and we moved out in our choreographed manner. I crouched and moved forward, while Hero walked backward
s, aiming at our rear. I had to remember that we were dealing with the living, and not the dead, which affected our movements. When fighting zombies we always gave corners a wide berth, and as I approached an upcoming hallway I debated how to move. The hall split off to the right, while our passage continued forward. If fighting zombies, I would've stayed on the left side, allowing plenty of space between our possible enemy and us. However, when dealing with the living it was better to hug the inside wall and peer around the corner. Hero and I had fought with raiders in the past, and had employed this technique then. The living carry guns, and exposing yourself with a wide berth leaves you vulnerable to getting shot.

I placed my left hand on Hero's thigh and pushed gently to lead him to the right wall. We'd perfected moving silently over the years, and spoke as little as possible when in a situation like this. With anyone else, I would've been hampered trying to keep them doing as I wanted, but Hero and I worked like one mind; even our footsteps were in sync.

The hall I peered down was smeared with blood. It was fresh, and there were no bodies in sight that could've left it here. Crimson fingers had swiped along the wall, rising and sinking on either side as if a bloody drunkard had stumbled past.

"What
the fuck?" asked Hero, breaking protocol by speaking, although I nearly said the same.

I shook my head and shrugged. "No clue. I don't like the look of this though. How about we not go that way?"

He nodded and raised his eyebrows. "Agreed, kid."

From the other way, further down the hall, I heard voices. Someone was arguing and a door unlocked, then opened. We dashed into the bloodied hall to avoid being seen. The arguing voices grew louder as the door opened, and then quieted again once it was closed. I didn't hear footsteps, and wondered if someone had stepped out to guard the room, or if they'd just peeked to see if they were alone.

I dared to look, and saw the hall was empty.

I would've liked to stay and listen for other voices, to try and get a better idea of how many people we were dealing with, but we didn't have time to waste. It was a miracle that the soldiers hadn't come to investigate the gunshots already, and I didn't want to take any more chances by sticking around. Then there was the bloody graffiti behind us, which did little to still my nerves.

The floor was cold on my bare feet, and the air had an odd odor to it that I couldn't place. It felt like we were sneaking through a tomb, but the act invigorated me. Adrenaline coursed through me, and I relished the moment's intensity. I lived for this. Nothing made me feel more alive than holding a gun and being ready to use it.

I was in control of the situation now. They'd tried to tie me down, but I would never let that happen to me if I had the opportunity to fight back. I was confident, ferocious, and ready to kill. No one could stop me. My heart raced, but it wasn't from panic; I was excited.

We made it to the door where the voices were coming from and I lined up on the side, ready to break in. I looked at Hero, confused why he hadn't taken up position on the other side.

He glared at me and shook his head before motioning forward, down the hall. He wanted to avoid confronting the people in the room.

We shared a tense, silent argument. I was furious with him. What the hell was he thinking? We weren't going to leave these people here alive. Not only did we have to escape, but we also needed to find Celeste. Leaving any of these motherfuckers alive wasn't an option. I stood my ground and sternly pointed at his spot on the other side of the door. He begrudgingly did as he was told.

I counted down with my left hand as he knelt forward and took the handle of the door.

Three. Two. One.

He pushed the door open and moved in swiftly, as he was supposed to, but he didn't start firing. Instead, he yelled for everyone to get on the floor. I followed behind, prepared to kill the workers like I'd planned, and saw three men in casual clothes crowded around a central console. This was an operations room of some sort, with a series of whirring computers on the far wall and an island of computers in the center. There was another flat screen television on the wall to my right, displaying the same forest scene that had been on in my room.

The three men, each of them spindly and old, raised their arms and got on their knees like Hero told them to. They were pathetic, sniveling, and terrified. Hero walked behind the oldest one and knelt beside him. "Face down, arms out." He spoke with a calm, kind tone.

I was confused at first, but then realized what Hero was doing. He wanted to play what he referred to as good cop, bad cop with these men. If it had been up to me, we would've killed them already, but I assumed he wanted information out of them. It was smart, and I played along.

I always played the bad cop.

"Which one of you is in charge here?" I walked over them as they splayed their arms out on the ground.

No one answered, so I knelt down on one of them. The old man huffed as my knee pressed into his spine. "Answer me or this one dies first." I pressed the pistol to the back of his head.

"Kim," said Hero. "Don't."

I winked at him and smiled, enthused by our game. Then I continued to play my part. "Shut up, Levon. I'm sick of these fucks. If they don't do as I say, I'm going to cover the floor with their faces. Now which one of you is in charge?"

"I am," said the man to my right. He raised his hand while still
lying on the floor, and looked at me with fear in his eyes. "Please don't do this. We can help you."

"God damn right you can." I got off the other man and focused on the one in charge. "Get up."

"Kim," said Hero. "Calm down."

He was trying too hard to be the good guy. We didn't have time for this, but I didn't want to admit to the deception while our captives listened.

"No, these pukes are going to pay for what they did." I tried to grab the one in charge by the hair, but it was too short to get a grip. I pulled him up by his collar as he whimpered. "Against the wall, grandpa." I slammed him into the concrete wall hard enough to rattle a framed map that hung nearby.

He was a thin, weak man, with stick arms and skeletal hands. His eyes were brown, and as wide as they could get as I pushed my gun against his temple. His blue lips quivered as tears coursed down his frown lines. I put my left hand against the side of the gun to shield the splatter of bone and blood that would occur when I shot him.

"Kim!" Hero screamed at me and I scowled back. What was he trying to do? I was playing my part, but he was taking his too far. It almost seemed like he cared about these people.

"Stay back, Levon. I'm going to shoot this piece of shit. That's all there is to it."

"I'm not going to let you do that."

I looked at my partner and was suddenly staring down the barrel of his gun. "What the fuck is wrong with you?"

He looked scared, and I'd never seen him like that. "I'm done," he said and shook his head. "I'm not going to kill anyone anymore. Not unless I have to. Okay?"

"Hero, you're taking this too far. Snap out of it."

"I'm serious, Kim. This isn't a game. I'm telling you to put your gun down."

I stood agape, shocked at his betrayal. "What the fuck?"

"We're going to get our girl, and get out of here. That's it. No more killing."

I kept the gun on the old man's temple and tilted my head at Hero. "You need to stay off the drugs, buddy. They're seriously fucking with your head."