PRIME (16 page)

“I see,” Zero said. “Well I will take a shotgun, seeing as how my experience with shooting has pretty much been deer up until now.”

“Humans go down easier than deer,” Cale said, without a hint of humor. “Get these things in the head and they drop like a stone.” As he spoke he slid a handgun into the small of his back and hoisted a rifle to his shoulder.

“Can I get a gun?” A tall Hispanic boy asked Alice. He was maybe sixteen. “I did some hunting with my dad. I could probably be alright with a shot gun too.”

Alice paused only a moment before handing the kid the gun. He held it carefully, like he knew what to do with it. No doubt the kid had some experience.

“Must be terrible not to remember much from your life before you got sick,” Cale mused.

“You got no idea,” the kid replied. “Wouldn’t even have known my name if Alice hadn’t been there to tell me when I woke up. I’m Ian.” He held out his hand to Cale. Both Cale and Zero took a turn shaking it. Ian looked to be the oldest of the kids.

“Nice to meet you.” Cale nodded. He was only half listening.

Across the room, Alice helped the smaller children get into an orderly line. It was a touching sight, but not what had drawn his attention. A half-dozen feet away, Jake stood watching Alice. There was a look in his eyes that made Cale think the other man wasn’t noticing how good Alice was with the children. There was a predatory glint in his eyes. Jake caught Cale watching him and turned away. Cale frowned.

“Alright, no more lying around. Let’s get moving.” Grace took the lead, heading for the door that led to the basement. From there they would enter the tunnels that would take them over a mile away from the hospital. Hopefully it would be far enough from the zombies congregating there. If all went well they’d be at Coda by dinner time.

They fell into line as ordered. Cale, Zero, and Alice walked in front of the kids, while the other three civilians were behind the kids. They hurried through the basement without fear. It was cool and damp, but they knew it was empty of zombies. There was some comfort in that. It was what lay beyond the doors to the tunnel that they couldn’t be sure about. The echo of their footsteps slowed as they neared the wide double doors that opened into the tunnel. Everyone was stalling, frightened to leave the safety of the hospital. Cale was surprised to see Grace looking as nervous as anyone else. She took a deep breath and reached for the cold, brass handle.

“Everyone be ready,” she said softly. There was a rustle of movement as guns were raised. Grace threw open the doorway exposing a long, damp tunnel. Red emergency lights cast an eerie glow over the place. Nothing moved as far as they could see in either direction.

“Thank God,” Alice muttered, lowering her gun. She followed Corwin into the gloom of the tunnel.

Zero and Cale followed carefully behind her, followed by Ian and the rest of the children. They kept their guns ready as they started down the tunnel. Water leaked in from somewhere. What must have once been a safe, dry tunnel was now slick with slime and muck. A thin sheen of water flowed through the tunnel in a slow trickle. The dripping of water echoed around them, just loud enough to begin to drive you mad.

The group moved as silently and quickly as possible over the slick ground. Grace hardly hesitated at the crossways. She spared only a quick glance in either direction before moving on. Even though Zero quickly began to tire, he forced himself to keep up with Cale. They both stayed close to Alice, worried for her safety even though she seemed perfectly capable of handling the weapons she held. They moved on for nearly an hour before there was an echo of splashing up ahead. Something came toward them in the darkness.

“Get the kids in the middle. Anyone with a weapon fan out around front and back,” Grace ordered. Soon the group had formed a circle more instinctual than they would admit, protecting the weaker at their center.

There were minutes of tense waiting as the splashing drew nearer. There was a loud splash, and then a moment of silence, as if the creature had fallen and was taking their time getting back to their feet. Finally, in the red haze of the emergency lights, a figure appeared, limping a bit as it tried to make its way down the tunnel. Grace leveled her gun on the thing.

“Stay where you are,” she shouted out of habit, ready to blast the zombie away as soon as it moved.

“Oh thank God,” replied a girl’s voice as she slipped to her knee again.

“Wait,” Cale said. “Grace it’s a girl, not a zombie.”

“I see that,” Grace said, lowering her gun slightly. “Honey, I know you know how crazy it is around here. I am going to need you to walk forward real slow and you stop when I tell you to, alright?”

“Okay.” The girl sniffed and struggled to her feet. She began to limp forward again, keeping her hands raised as an extra show of compliance. When she was ten feet away and right in the center of one of the red lights, Grace spoke.

“That’s good, stop right there.” Obediently the girl stopped.

She was covered in dirt and grime, so much so it was hard to estimate her age, but she couldn’t have been over sixteen. Her dark hair fell in a stringy mess just past her shoulders, and she wore a tattered pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. The knee of the jeans was torn out on the leg she was favoring, and the lower fabric was covered in blood.

“Who are you?” Grace asked.

“Sarah,” the girl answered. Her voice sounded tight with fear as she stared down the barrel of Grace’s gun. “I’ve been down here for the last week.”

“Have you been exposed to Prime?” One of the doctors called out.

“Yes,” Sarah answered with a nod. “I was sick, and when I woke up I was alone in my apartment with a whole lot of food and a gun. My parents left me.” She whimpered a short sob and her hands dropped to cover her mouth. “When I ran out of food I tried to find another apartment. I went next door, but Mr. Gregory and his son were both in there. They were crazy, at least I thought they were. Then I saw the others.” She sobbed again, falling once more to her good knee.

“Grace, she’s just a scared kid.” Alice started to move for the girl, but Corwin held her back.

“Please, I hurt my leg. It’s cut pretty bad,” Sarah pleaded. Grace gave a nod and Corwin let Alice go.

Alice went to the girl, the others following warily. She knelt beside Sarah, gingerly feeling at the girl’s leg. There was a long slice of open skin on the outside of her knee; it ran from just above her knee to a few inches below it. When Alice touched the swollen skin, Sarah hissed in pain.

“What happened?” Alice asked, helping the girl to her feet.

“I slipped down here yesterday; I landed on this piece of metal. God, I was so scared. You know they smell blood right?” Sarah leaned heavily on Alice as the group continued walking.

“No I didn’t,” Alice admitted. The thought was terrifying.

“Why are we going this way?” Sarah asked, her voice rising in panic. “They’re down this way; we have to go the other way!”

“There’s nothing back that way,” Cale told her. All the same, Grace stopped the group again.

“How many?” Grace asked.

“I don’t know,” Sarah shook her head. “Five, maybe six.”

“We can take that many.” Grace waved the group forward again.

“No,” Sarah whimpered and it took both Alice and Cale to tug her forward.

“Listen kid, these people are loaded down with weapons,” Zero tried to comfort her. “They are military; they can take down a few zombies.”

“They don’t die.” Sarah shook her head, eyes wide. “Won’t die. Won’t lie down”

“She’s cracked,” Cale muttered over his shoulder to Zero. Zero nodded slightly.

“Shoot ‘em in the head, and they’re down just like anyone else.” Cale patted Sarah’s arm reassuringly.

“Shoot them.” Sarah nodded, not looking at all convinced, but clinging more tightly to Cale. Alice almost smiled at how uncomfortable Cale looked.

“How old are you, sweetie?” Alice asked, letting Cale take the weight of helping the girl along.

“Fifteen,” Sarah answered, looking around nervously. “I just turned fifteen.”

“Good.” Alice smiled. “You’re going to be okay now, Sarah. You’re with friends. We’re going to take you somewhere safe.”

“Okay.” Sarah nodded again. Her eyes were focused on the distant end of the tunnel.

The group lapsed into silence again, ears straining to hear the first sign of zombie movement in the distance. Occasionally, Grace would motion for everyone to stop. They would all stand, hearts beating wildly, as they listened for anything unusual before moving on again. They came to another intersection of tunnels; Grace looked both ways before motioning the group across. As they crossed the tunnel Sarah began to scream.

“They’re here. They’re here!”

15

Chicago Underground

Alice spun, drawing her gun as she turned, and came face to face with the undead. The man had been young and attractive in his lifetime, with thick dark hair and long eye lashes. All this was lost to Alice as he sank his teeth deep into her hand. She screamed in pain, dropping her gun as the muscles in her hand snapped in the thing’s teeth. A terrifying numbness crept up her arm. Alice kicked wildly, connecting with the man’s knee. He grunted and lurched sideways, but didn’t let go of her hand. He reached for her, his fingers fumbling to get a grip on her clothes. Alice composed herself enough to take good aim at his knee and kicked him again. This time she felt his knee snap. He let go of her hand as he fell to the slimy ground.

Alice clutched her hand for a moment, trying to stop the flow of blood. She let out another gurgle of pain. Just as Sarah had said, the thing was drawn to her blood. Even without the use of his leg, he was trying to push himself towards her. His teeth snapped in anticipation of flesh in his mouth. Alice grabbed her gun clumsily with her left hand. Head swimming in pain, she took aim at the thing. The shot rang clear and loud in the small tunnel. The bullet tore through the zombie’s forehead. It looked shocked for a moment before slumping lifelessly on its side.

Only when the thing was dead did the rest of the world come back to Alice. Screams and gunshots rang in the small tunnel. She turned and saw another zombie on Bailey. Its teeth tore at Bailey’s neck, snapping viciously as blood spurted over its face. Alice took careful aim and shot. Both the zombie and Bailey fell to the ground. Alice turned in time to see Ian blast another in the face, blowing half its head off and sending the monster reeling to the ground.

The tunnel was eerily quiet as the echo of the last gunshot faded. Slowly, sound returned, and a distinct smell of fear as acrid as smoke filled the air. For the moment, the threat had passed. Forgetting her hand, Alice fell to her knees beside Bailey. She wanted to help him, but his eyes were already staring blankly up at her, dead to the world.

“Is he?” Jake asked hesitantly as he knelt beside Alice.

“Yeah,” Alice answered. She shut Bailey’s eyes and stood, turning her back on him. She forced herself to think of other things. She felt Jake’s arm around her shoulder and turned into him. It felt good, like when she was little and a hug from her dad could make the world better. Before her mom died and everything changed. Sarah’s voice pulled her back into reality and away from Jake.

“Oh God, he’s really dead. He’s going to become one of those things isn’t he?” Sarah whimpered, backing up into Cale. Jake wanted to smack the girl for pulling Alice away.

“He’s not going to,” Alice assured her as she tried to take charge. “How’s everyone else?”

“Excuse me, I believe that’s our job,” Markus huffed. Alice watched warily as the doctor stepped forward from the crowd.

“Then do your job,” Alice said. “But I know enough about medicine to tell you Bailey is dead.”

“Let’s make it official then, shall we?” Markus said. He squatted beside the body and tried to find a pulse. A moment later he nodded. “Yes, he is dead.”