Rotter World (29 page)

Chapter Fifty-one

“So that’s where we stand.” Robson finished relaying to the rest of the raiding party the confrontation he and Natalie just had with Compton. Everyone who had thrown their lot in with him and Natalie sat around the mess hall, except for Daytona, who stood watch in the security room, and Tatyana, who was off wandering around the facility. Those two could fend for themselves for the next few minutes. As for the others, they listened with a growing sense of confusion and betrayal, still unable to believe the type of people they had allowed amongst them. Robson noticed that several of the Angels subconsciously cradled their weapons as they listened. Tibor clenched and unclenched his right fist, while Dravko visually struggled not to morph into his vampiric form. Dravko was the first to speak.

“So let me get this straight. Compton wants to inject us with the Zombie Virus, stun us when we turn into swarmers, and then kill us?”

Robson nodded.

Dravko turned to Natalie. “This is not an exaggeration?”

“No.”

“Doesn’t he realize that by infecting us, he’ll be creating swarmers with incredible strength that’ll be that much harder to destroy?”

“I don’t think he’s thought that through,” said Natalie. “To him, this is the most humane way of disposing of you.”

“Humane?” snarled Tibor. “I say you let me and Dravko take care of them. We’ll at least give them a fighting chance.”

“No.” Robson said forcefully, cutting off further discussion. “We’re not going to sink to their level. First, we’ll arrest the three of them and destroy the hypodermic needles with the virus. Jennifer, are there any prison cells here where they can be detained?”

“There’s a small holding cell across from the security offices in the admin building. It’s large enough to hold them.” Jennifer’s eyes searched the room. “I hope no one here thinks I had any part in this. This is the first I’ve heard of Compton’s plan.”

“Don’t worry,” said Robson, trying to sound reassuring. “No one here lumps you in with them. Shit, we were all taken in by the doctor.”

Ari raised her hand. “After we arrest them, then what?”

“Then we figure a way to transport them back to base and let Paul and Elena decide their fate.”

* * *

Compton and O’Bannon entered the medical lab. The doctor made his way to the table with the vaccines. He grabbed the pouch with the three hypodermic needles filled with the virus and handed it to O’Bannon.

“Take this and keep it safe in case we need it.”

“What about the vaccine?”

Compton took two of the steel briefcases from off the table, holding one in each hand. “I’ll take these. It’ll be enough to start inoculating Omaha when we get there.”

“Shouldn’t we destroy the rest?”

“We don’t have time.” Compton motioned to the clock mounted on the wall. “The power will go out in less than ten minutes. Go get the maps and meet me by the air filtration room. And hurry.”

The two men raced out of the lab and headed for the main thoroughfare.

* * *

Tatyana sat in the driver’s seat of the school bus, struggling with her emotions. She had long since gotten over the pain of what O’Bannon had said to her and how he had used her all these months. Right now she had enough to do trying to handle her own shame. Shame at falling in love with someone who obviously never cared for her. Shame at allowing herself to be treated so horribly. Shame of being taken advantage of by a human. She realized now that she had allowed herself to become his mattress out of her own sense of self-loathing at being a vampire. That ended as of today. Maybe she didn’t want to be the undead, and didn’t ask to be turned, but there was nothing she could do about that now. The reality was that she was a vampire, one of the few left in the world. As painful as the time she spent with O’Bannon was in retrospect, it had taught her one valuable lesson.

Tatyana was proud to be a vampire, and would never be pushed around again.

As the shame changed to anger, Tatyana wiped away the last of her tears. She would go to Dravko, explain what had happened, and ask him to forgive her for being so naïve. After that….

Tatyana saw Compton and O’Bannon exit the lab building. She slid down behind the steering wheel so they would not see her. The doctor held two briefcases in his hands, though she had no idea what was in them. Knowing the doctor, it couldn’t be anything good. She watched as he turned and headed for the opposite end of the facility. O’Bannon went in the other direction, ran a few yards, and disappeared inside the dormitory.

Something was wrong. They were acting too suspiciously. She thought of calling Robson on the radio and letting him know but then thought better of it, not certain whether he would believe her. No, she had to confront O’Bannon directly and find out what was going on.

Exiting the school bus, Tatyana crossed over to the dormitory and followed O’Bannon inside.

* * *

Consciousness slowly returned to Thompson, fighting its way through a fog of pain and disorientation. His head throbbed, drowning out his senses. He had no idea where he was, and had only a faint awareness of muffled movements and moaning close by. He tried to roll over, but his left side was paralyzed. No, he slowly realized. He had movement in his arm, but it was limited. Something restrained him. Despite the agony, he rolled onto his left side and sat up. His back spasmed, the pain so powerful he nearly passed out. Summoning all his willpower, he steadied himself on the edge of whatever he sat on. The movement and moaning pounded on his eardrums, though it was still muffled. Taking a deep breath, he slowly opened his eyes.

The light scattered across his irises like a kaleidoscope, forcing him to squint. His stomach heaved, spewing its contents across himself and the floor. He tried to raise his left hand to wipe off his mouth, but it moved only a few inches and stopped. Thompson opened his eyes again. This time the pain, though intense, was not as severe as before. Through his blurred vision, he focused on his left hand, but could not make out anything. Only after several seconds did his sight clear enough that he saw the handcuff attached around his wrist, anchoring him to a metal examination table. Resting on the corner of the table sat a Taser.

Suddenly the memory came to him of pain radiating through his back until it shocked him into unconsciousness. O’Bannon. The son of a bitch must have used the Taser on him while he was arguing with Compton, and then they handcuffed him here.

But where was here?

Looking around the lab, his eyes fell on the steel container off to his left. The swarmers inside pressed against the Plexiglas, scratching and gnawing at the surface to get to him.

Shit.

Taking several deep breaths, Thompson tried to focus his thinking. He had to find a way to get out of here and warn Robson about what Compton planned.

* * *

Daytona coughed. The agony of that single action woke him up. He spit blood onto the floor. Not a good sign. Gasping a lungful of air, he cried out as his right chest erupted into a fireball.
I don’t have much time left
, he thought.

He rolled onto his hands and knees, nearly passing out from the pain that wracked his entire right side. He concentrated on standing up, tightly clutching his right arm against him to ease the torment, and using his left hand to grasp the console and pull himself to his feet. When he stood, the entire room started to spin. Daytona felt his legs become wobbly. He supported himself on the rim of the console, barely preventing himself from collapsing.

Glancing up at the monitors, he saw that someone had opened the front gate and released the rotters onto the compound. He reached for the radio to warn Robson and the others, and as he did his vision rapidly narrowed and his senses collapsed. In that instant, Daytona knew he was about to die.

Just before the life drained from his body, he summoned all his strength and slammed his hand against the red button. He fell onto the console and slid to the floor. The last sound he heard before death took him was the claxon of the emergency alarm reverberating through the facility.

* * *

In the compound, the blaring of the claxon cut through the silence of the night. Nearly four hundred rotters searched the sky for the source, knowing that sound meant food. A teenage rotter in a torn Goth girl outfit listened for a moment before looking up at the speaker mounted on top of the tunnel entrance. Slowly pivoting on a shattered ankle that caused its right foot to drag sideways along the ground, it lumbered toward the noise until it reached the tunnel entrance. An even louder noise echoed from deep within the tunnel. To its decayed mind, the louder noise meant more food. With a groan of anticipation, the Goth rotter set off into the tunnel.

Other rotters noticed and followed, which in turn attracted even more of the living dead. Within minutes, the entire horde of zombies was making its way into the access tunnel.

Chapter Fifty-two

Bethany startled when the claxon went off inside the mess hall. “What the fuck is that?”

“The emergency alarm,” replied Jennifer.

“What does it mean?” asked Robson.

“Could mean anything. It’s set off only from the security office.”

Robson removed his radio from his belt and keyed the microphone. “Daytona, what’s going on?”

No response.

“Daytona, are you there?”

Still no response.

“What is it?” For the first time since he had known her, Natalie looked truly scared.

“I don’t know. But there’s only one way to find out.” Robson withdrew the Magnum from its holster. He flipped open the chamber, checking to make certain it was loaded, and slid it back. “Jennifer, you know how to shut down the alarm?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Come on. Natalie, Dravko, Tibor. You’re with us. We’re going to the security room to find out what’s going on. The rest of you stay here until you hear from me. Let’s move.”

The small group exited the mess hall. Robson stopped them and pointed to the staircases leading to the third floor. “Dravko, you and Natalie take the middle stairs. Tibor and Jennifer will take the one at the far end. We’ll meet outside the security office.”

The others nodded and rushed off, climbing their respective stairs. Robson walked the length of the building to the front stairwell and began ascending them, his weapon drawn and at the ready. By the time he reached the third floor hallway, the others were already waiting for him.

“Any signs of Compton?” asked Robson.

Dravko shook his head.

Robson pushed open the door and stepped back out of the doorway.

“Daytona, are you there?”

When he got no reply, he quickly stepped inside and placed his back against the wall just to the left of the jamb. He kept the weapon aimed as he scanned the room. Natalie followed behind him, her firearm drawn and held down in front of her. She fanned out to the right, moving to the end of the room and vaulting over the counter. Landing on the other side, she raised the firearm into firing position and walked the length of the room, looking for anyone waiting to ambush them. No one was there.

“Clear,” she said as she lowered the firearm, though she still clutched it in her right hand.

Dravko and Jennifer slid by Robson and entered the monitor room. Jennifer’s gasp confirmed Robson’s worst fears. Rushing in, he saw Daytona lying crumpled on the floor in front of the console in a pool of blood. Clearly visible on his right side was a gouged-out wound. It looked thick and deep, as if it had been made by a bayonet, and only one person in the group carried one of those. Though Robson knew it was useless, he knelt down and placed two fingers on Daytona’s carotid artery. As expected, no pulse.

“Fucking O’Bannon. He must have done this a few minutes ago. The body is till w—”

“Jesus. Fucking. Christ.” Natalie drew out each word as if each were its own sentence. The quiver in her voice turned Robson’s blood cold.

He looked up at Natalie, about to ask what was wrong, when he noticed her staring at the console. His gaze followed hers to the monitor displaying the scene just outside the tunnel. It showed nearly four hundred rotters spread out across the compound, almost all of them shambling toward the tunnel entrance, attracted by the sound of the siren.

“We’re fucked,” said Dravko.

“No we’re not.” Natalie unhooked her radio from her belt. “Ari, do you read?”

“Loud and clear.”

“Gather the Angels and meet at the blast door.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ll tell you later. Now haul ass.” Natalie slipped the radio back onto her belt.

Robson reached out and clasped her hand. “You can’t do this. There’s no way the Angels can take on so many rotters.”

“What choice do we have? If those rotters swarm the entrance, we’ll never get out alive. Our only chance is to stop them before they get here.” Natalie sounded confident enough, but her eyes betrayed her desperation.

The worst part was that Robson knew she was right. “Go kick ass. And be careful.”

“I always am.” She gave him a quick kiss before running out of the security room.

Dravko leaned forward, examining the monitors. “What I don’t understand is how Compton plans to escape. If the rotters trap us in here, won’t they also trap him?”

“Not necessarily.” Jennifer maneuvered her way to the console and pressed a button that shut off the alarm. She then toggled through the views until one of the monitors showed a long shot of the thoroughfare with Compton heading for the far end. “I thought so.”

“What?” Robson also leaned closer.

“He’s heading for the air filtration system. There’s a ladder there that leads topside.”

“But aren’t the vents sealed?”

“Yeah, but he has the access codes. Plus there’s a couple of Hummers stored near the vents in case of an emergency evac. If he reaches them, he’ll be home free.”

“Then we have to make sure he doesn’t make it topside.” Robson started for the door, but Dravko stopped him.

“I’ll go.”

“It’s my job.”

“He has too much of a head start. You’ll never catch up with him in time. I can.” Dravko bared his fangs. “Besides, I owe the fucker for what he planned to do to us.”

Robson nodded and watched as his friend departed.

Jennifer continued to flip through the various security cameras. “O’Bannon and Tatyana are in the dormitory. It looks like she’s following him, but I have no idea where they’re going. I can’t find the colonel anywhere, but I don’t have connectivity to either the research lab or Compton’s private lab. He could be in one of them, but I can’t be—”

The security room plunged into total darkness as all electricity to the facility was cut. The pitch black lasted only a second before a red emergency light came to life in the corner behind them, bathing the room in a crimson glow. A second later, the monitors came back to life, displaying snowy screens before coming back on line. They showed the entire facility as being without power, save for the occasional red emergency light.

“What the fuck happened?” Robson slammed his fist against the top of the console.

Jennifer ran over to the fuse box and opened it. “Shit. Compton programmed the computer to shut off the electricity. All we have is emergency lighting, the security cameras, and the locks to the blast door.”

“Can you fix it?” demanded Robson.

“Yeah,” Jennifer began punching codes into the control panel, “but it’ll take me several minutes to reboot the system and get power back on line.”

Robson spun around to Tibor. “Go get O’Bannon and bring him here. I’ll tell you exactly where he is.”

“What if he resists?”

“Then break his legs and drag him here.”

A sardonic sneer twisted Tibor’s lips. “With pleasure.”

Robson turned back to the console, his eyes darting from one monitor to the other. By now the first fifty rotters already had entered the tunnel and were slowly making their way to the blast door.
Christ
, he started second-guessing himself.
I hope I’m making the right decisions
.

* * *

The Angels and Caylee were waiting for Natalie when she arrived at the blast door. They all seemed nervous, which was natural under the circumstances. When they saw Natalie’s expression, though, their apprehension turned to outright fear.

“What’s going on?” blurted Ari.

“Compton opened the main gate and let the rotters onto the compound. And thanks to that damn alarm, rotters are entering the tunnel and heading this way.”

“H-how many?” stammered Stephanie.

“All of them.”

“Dear God.” Tiara swallowed hard, and for a moment she looked like she might vomit.

“We’ve never faced odds like this before. And if any of you don’t follow me out that door, I promise you no one here, least of all me, will think any less if you. But we have to try. If those rotters swarm around this door, we’ll be trapped.” Natalie looked at each of her Angels as she spoke, searching their eyes for any signs that they might not be able to handle this battle. “Who’s with me?”

All fourteen Angels responded in the affirmative.

Caylee stepped forward and partially raised her hand. “I want to help.”

“You stay here.”

“By myself? No fuckin’ way. Besides, you need all the help you can get.”

Natalie raced over to the twin Hummers parked near the blast door, removed one of the M-16s and several boxes of ammunition, and rejoined the Angels. She handed the weapon and the boxes to Caylee. Caylee pulled back the bolt on the M-16 to make sure it was loaded.

“Are you ready?” asked Natalie.

Caylee slid the bolt back into its firing position. “Let’s rock.”

Natalie smiled and nodded. Under the circumstances, it was the only response she could think of. Taking her radio, she called the security office. “We’re heading out.”

“Roger,” responded Robson.

Natalie moved over to the blast door, which was already partially ajar, and pushed it open all the way. The Angels tensed, half expecting to see rotters stream through the opening. Thank God they were not that close yet. Natalie quickly ushered her girls into the tunnel and followed the last one out. She paused in the opening to key her radio.

“Mike, can you read me?”

“What’s up?”

“Once I’m in the tunnel and have closed the door, bolt it shut behind me.”

A pause before Robson responded. “You realize if I do that, you may not be able to get back in?”

“I know. But we can’t risk any of the rotters getting by us.”

No response.

“I’m in charge of security around here,” Natalie barked at Robson in a stern tone she didn’t mean. “Do as I tell you and secure the door behind me. Understand?”

Another pause, but this time he responded with a half-hearted, “Yes.”

Natalie slid the radio back onto her belt as she stepped out into the tunnel, then pushed the blast door shut and waited. With a metallic whir, the bolts slid back into place. The click they made as they locked sounded like a death knell. She placed a hand on the cold metal, wondering if she would ever again see anyone on the other side. Looking up at the security camera, she mouthed the words, “I love you.” She hoped to God that Robson saw them, because deep down she feared this would be the last time she said them.

Turning to face her Angels, Natalie saw them standing around her. She could see fear and uncertainty in their faces, yet not one of them had opted to stay behind. They would face the rotters together, even if it meant they all died together.

“All right, Angels.” Natalie stood straight, trying to project a confidence she did not feel. “You always said you’d follow me to Hell and back. Now’s your chance.”

Natalie marched off for the tunnel entrance, with her Angels falling in behind her.