The Blood Bargain (27 page)

I saw myself sitting in one of the two guest chairs across from the desk, my little legs kicking as I waited for my Dad to get off the phone. The room was still exactly the same. Same airplane picture, same desk accessories. I caught my reflection in the glass of the window behind the desk. No little pig tails, innocent eyes and chubby cheeks replaced with knowledge and high cheek bones. Same room. Different me.

Cole and Ben were still grumbling at each other while our resident peacekeeper tried to calm them down. I started searching the office.

Inside the top drawer of the desk was one memo of interest. I recognized the date. It was after all, a date burned into my mind for the rest of my life. The day he picked me up from school and we hightailed it south to Milo.

RE: Project Moses

Atten
: Steven Younger

Report to Agent Mineral at 41.2917° N, 93.4422° W on April 10th, 2012.
 

Assemble your family and supplies in according to the
list provided in

the last meeting.

Date and time of envoy to be communicated via telegraph.

I walked out of the office and cleared my throat.

“This is...this was to my dad.” I showed it to the others. “Project Moses.” I thought about the story of Moses. A flood to cleanse the earth, he grabbed two of every animal and put them on a boat to weather the storm.
Was Junction this life raft against the sea of undead?

I didn
’
t like the planning of that one bit. It reeked of conspiracy theories. I folded up the letter and shoved it in my pocket.

“I
’
m
gonna
look through some of the other desks, you keep searching
Liv
.” Cole announced. The other guys followed suit, spreading out across the cubical covered floor.

I turned my attention to the small grey filing cabinet. Tugging on the cold metal of the drawer lip I found the container was unlocked. This immediately signaled to me that it would hold no deep dark secrets. I thumbed
t
hrough financial reports and sick notes from staff. From a few of the files it looked like Agent Baker had been going to cancer treatments, pity. I had liked that old guy.

The soft hum of the fluorescent bulbs overhead stopped, in an instant we were blanketed in darkness.

“What the heck?” Ben shouted, there was a small crash as he stumbled into what sounded like a whole mess of stacked papers.

“The generator gave out.” Adam replied calmly and quietly. “ I
’
m surprised it even worked at all after this long.” There was the soft
tssh
of a match, then Adam was illuminated in candle light. “This is why I brought that wonderful invention called fire.”

“Bright light scare caveman.” Ben belted out as primitively as he could muster, scratching his head.

“Shut up Ben.” Adam retorted playfully, lighting a second candle for the burly guy. As the thin wax shaft traded hands, I took note that Ben looked even more menacing in its soft glow. In the quiet dark, we were missing someone.

“Hey where’
d Cole go?” I asked, taking a small candle from Adam as well.

“He was right by me a minute ago.” Ben looked over his shoulder, as if Cole would magically appear out of the darkness. He didn
’
t.

“Should we go look for him?”

“He
’
s been in the field more than anyone, I
’
m
sure he didn
’
t go far. Let
’
s finish our search.” With that I moved back into the dark office.

It was hard to rifle through the piles of paper with only a candle.

“I
’
ve got surveillance photos of deadheads dated two weeks before the outbreak.” Adam called.

“You
’
re kidding me.”

“Serious. The paper in the folder says Alpha
teams attempt at live containment of cannibals proving futile.”

“Cannibals? Really?” Ben snorted. “Morons.”

Heavy boots pounded echoed down the hall. We all froze on instinct. Such a sound was only triggered by the living in such quick succession. Which likely meant Cole. However because of my earlier run in with a
Scav
, I brought my bow around anyway.

A familiar muscular frame filled the doorway, he had apparently brought an emergency glow stick which had been cracked for light and hung at his hip. The light illuminated his body in a faint orange hue that bounced off his drawn sword around the room.

As he approached I saw the familiar look of panic in his eyes. There was blood on his shirt.

“We need to get on the roof now. This place is swarming.”

“Haven’
t seen a deadhead since we got in from the street.”

“I think they were dormant till you fired that blast. I just got mummy grabbed outside the file room.” There was something in the air...

“
Shhh
.” I hissed.

We stood, and listened.

It was all around us, somewhere in the massive building there was a slow methodical pounding. The muted cries of the dead echoing from the air vents.

Ben cursed, pulling his axe off his back.

I eyed the fire exit sign by the wall behind me. The little red line told me everything I needed. Stairwell down the hall to the left. Although I doubted we
’
d be proceeding in slow single file.

“Stairwell down the hall to the left, will take us to the roof.” I whispered.

“Move!” Cole barked taking point. Ben filled in behind him, then Adam. Having the only ranged weapon, I covered the rear.

As one we left the state office for the main hall. Our visibility range was nil, the sun had started to set so the little daylight that had seeped in previously was long gone. I cursed the generator up one side and down the other in my head for teasing us.

We passed the door to the agriculture office; there was movement behind the clouded glass. Nothing against the door though, unless they had learned to turn knobs we
’
d be fine from those ones.

That was unless they walked through the windows, not likely considering it was a government building. The stuff was probably reinforced enough to withstand an elephant stampede.

According to the little diagram on the wall the stairwell was at a T intersection in this wing of the building, two hundred feet in front of us. The hall was too dark for comfort; I handed my candle to Adam and brought my crossbow around. In the dim orange glow at Cole
’
s belt, I saw movement.

With a war cry Cole struck forward with his drawn weapons. The thud as his attacker hit the floor echoed in the darkness.

So did the increasing wails of the dead, partially masked by the ones banging behind closed doors. They were close but it was hard to pinpoint the distance and our visibility was nothing. We moved slow, not because we wanted to, but because we had to.

My light so
urce shook as Adam’
s hands were unsteady.

The mangled face of a crawler came into view at my feet across the hallway to the right. I didn.t even think before I fired. The thing fell in a slump at the edge of our visibility.

That was another arrow I wouldn't be going back for.

Another thud in the foreground signaled Ben and Cole had their hands full.

Knowing we had to be close, I grabbed one of the candles from Adam
’
s shaking hand and threw it down the hall over Cole
’
s head into the darkness.

It illuminated the outline of a wooden door with a small plate that read a marvelous word; stairwell.

No other bodies shown in the light between us and our destination.

We picked up the pace, guard still drawn.

Cole got to the door and flung it open, doing an initial check of the stairwell behind.

One in. Ben ran followed close behind.

Two.

I was next.

Adam banked around the corner of the door to the stairwell. A two fingered hand reached from the darkness to the left, grabbing his shoulder.

Black coated teeth sinking into his forearm.

Blood poured, there was screaming. I was screaming.

An axe protruded from the thing
’
s head, causing it to release and crumble to the floor.

Cole pulled me back, my feet refused to comply with the weight change and I fell against the metal stairs. I didn
’t feel the pain I’
m sure it caused my limbs.

Ben pulled Adam into the stairwell, swinging the heavy emergency door shut behind him.

There was blood everywhere. Adam
’
s arm was
gushing like a broken water main, there was a circular tear
w
here his muscle and skin had been ripped out, I could see a small white tint of bone in the dim light.

“He
’
s been bitten.” Ben barked at Cole, taking off his tee shirt and wrapping it around the wound. His hands were shaking so I took over, holding pressure against the bite. It happened so quickly. I couldn
’
t do anything. Why
hadn’
t I taken up the rear...

“Leave me...I
’
m screwed. Get out of here.”

Adam mumbled to no one in particular, his eyes didn
’
t
focus, head rolling from side to side. It had to have been shock.

“We.re not leaving you behind!” Cole barked.

Something bumped against the emergency door.

“Ben can you carry him?”

“Yeah...slow going up those five flights.”

“We have all night.” Cole reassured the giant; although I
’
m not sure Adam had all night.

“Come here you sack of potatoes.” Ben lifted the frail guy up and over his shoulder. I took a deep breath.

“I
’
ll keep on the rear, if he starts to turn...” I stopped. This wa
sn’
t any he, this was Adam. My friend. I looked at his unfocused eyes, trying to make contact.

“Adam. If you start to turn I
’
m
gonna
have to shoot you buddy.” I
’
m not sure he heard me. Hell, I
’
m not sure I heard me. My mind was a muddy field at the moment, eyes blurry
r
egardless of how many times I wiped them.

The walk up that flight of stairs was purgatory.

Not just because we had a man with a death sentence in tow, but because we were all filled with regret that his death would be for next to nothing. We had the name of some stupid project. That was it. The others didn
’
t have to speak; I could see the pain in each of their faces echoing

my own.

We had been so confident not thirty minutes before. Laughing and joking. We had beaten this. The alpha team.

Really we were nothing but stupid. Stupid and brash. How could we not have learned? How come I thought this would be so much easier than last time?

Cole kept trying to make small talk, asking Adam what girl he was going to go after at the bar that night.
Telling him now he’
d be good at working over the wall rather than in lookout.

All wishful thinking.

I remembered how mean I
’
d been to the guy
when we’
d met. After all he had easy street. Up there in that protected tower while we were in the wilds. I wished I could take back every mean face I had given him years ago, every snide remark.

Dimitri had been right. Coming here was a mistake. This investigation wouldn.t change the past. Worse, it had cost Adam his future.

I do
n’
t know how long it took us to get to the roof, I didn.t have a watch. When Cole kicked out the roof access door I was thankful for the moonlight, my candle had burned low in my hand. I chucked it over the ledge of the roof, watching the little flame until it blew out from the velocity.

I could see them in the streets below the building.

Hundreds. Active. Their joined sound the new crickets of the night. I shivered in the fall night, wrapping my arms around myself.

“What now?” Ben asked pacing.

“We wait for D.” I said quietly, moving to sit by Adam. Fever was setting in, so was a cold sweat. Both signs he didn
’
t have long. Soon his breathing would stop.