The Alpha Plague 2 (18 page)

Both Rhys and Dave jumped back and stared at it.
 

“Come on,” Rhys said, “if we’re going to get out of here, we need to go now.”
 

The pair took off again. Dave’s torch threw a hectic light around the place as his arms pumped. It brought the shadows to life and made it hard to see the way; not that it mattered in the mostly straight corridors.

***

When they reached another door, Rhys’ heart sank. “I knew it was
too
fucking good to be true. I bet it’s fucking locked.” But when he turned the handle, the door opened.
 

Both men rushed through and Rhys did the same to this door as he’d done to the last. Again, he pulled the rod through to make it harder for the mob to follow them. Again, the handle on the other side fell to the ground with a
chink
.

As Rhys and Dave ran, their laboured breaths bordered on embarrassing. Rhys may have been slightly fitter, but the pair of them still sounded like old asthmatics. It didn’t matter though; Flynn needed him and he’d push himself to collapse if he had to. If he could find Flynn again, that is. Rhys shook his head. It wouldn’t do to think about it now. Once they’d crossed the river, he’d get to his boy.
If Vicky’s done anything to him…
He shook the thought away again.
 

At the next door, Rhys paused and listened to the call of the diseased. Although distant, it still gained on them. “They’re still chasing us. I’m pretty sure they’ve made it through the first door.” He pulled the next door closed and smashed the handle off.

Before they set off again, Rhys heard the sound of rushing water. He reached up and placed his palm against the large metal pipe. It felt cold to touch. Condensation coated the outside of it. “No wonder the entire place reeks of damp.”

“Huh?” Dave said.

The pipe vibrated from the heavy water flow that ran through it. A couple of jabs with the end of his baseball bat and the pipe boomed. “Hear that? That’s the sound of a full pipe.”

“Full of what?”

“Water, I’d guess.”

After a slight pause, Dave said, “So what? Come on, man, we’ve got to go.”

The diseased’s screams grew louder and Rhys glanced at his watch. The hands glowed in the dark. In just over an hour, the entire place would be turned into one of the layers of Dante’s inferno.

Chapter Thirty-Six

As the pair ran, the wet slaps of their feet against the ground and the distant cry of their pursuers were the only sounds in the dark tunnel.
 

When they got to a door on their right, they stopped as one and Dave shone his torch on it. He moved his torchlight to the wall next to it and lit up another map. Dave read the writing across the top and his voice echoed in the hard space. “Building Fifteen.” He coughed several times. “We’re only one away. Thank god. This place gives me the
creeps
.”

They passed through another door that barred the way and Rhys smashed the handle from it like he had on all the other doors. The loud
crash
of it went off like a gunshot. A pull on the rod between the two handles and he listened to the metal
ching
as the handle on the other side hit the floor. The diseased screamed almost as if they understood his actions and knew their way would be barred again; although, their distant cries rang fainter than before.
 

“Good job, mate,” Dave said, “I think the doors are slowing them down.”

The pair set off again.

Within a minute or so, a stitch tore up Rhys’ side like he’d been stabbed. He raised a hand at Dave while he slowed down. “We have to ease up a little, man.” He hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “They’re far enough behind.”

Dave slowed down, but a haunted look drifted across his face. “They’ll never be far enough behind.” He covered his mouth to stifle a cough.

The men moved at a fast walk. The pain in Rhys’ side forced him to hold his ribs as they went.

“Thanks again for rescuing me,” Dave said. “I know you think I’m a fuck up—”

“I don’t think you’re a fu—”

“It’s okay, Rhys, you’re right. I’ve been doing fuck all with my life. Drifting for years and living like I’m still a teenager.”

When Rhys opened his mouth to respond, Dave cut him off again.
 

“But that’s going to change from now. No more. I’m not going to be that loser who’s always up for a night out and doesn’t get out of bed on the weekends until after dark. What’s fucking
wrong
with me? I’m an adult, so I need to start behaving like one. I’m going to ask Julie out.”

“Now steady on, Dave.”

“I’m serious. I want to settle down. Start a family. I want to try on some responsibility. Engage with my emotions rather than get wasted so I don’t have to. I want to be a dad. Have kids who can be proud of me. It’s time to grow the fuck up. You’ve handed me a second chance, and I’m going to grab it with both hands. I’m going to live every fucking second like it matters, rather than run away from it.”
 

Rhys looked at his watch. “We’ve got to get off this island first.”

“We will.”

Anxiety stirred in Rhys’ bowels. Dave clearly didn’t get just how much more they needed to do to get free.

After he held the next door open for Dave, Rhys stepped through, closed it, and smashed the handle clean off. The loud whack boomed in the enclosed space and the diseased behind them screamed again, fainter still. “I know we’re putting distance between us and them, but I don’t understand how they’re still on our tail,” Rhys said. “What are they doing, tearing the fucking doors from their hinges or something? How have we not lost them yet?”
 

 
“We’re moving quicker than them,” Dave said. “That’s all we can focus on. It won’t be long before we don’t hear their screams any more. Besides, we’re nearly at Building Thirteen. After that we can leave the fuckers down here.”

At that moment, the bright glow of Dave’s torch dulled. The darkness that surrounded them grew as if it had been waiting for the opportunity.
 

When Rhys saw Dave stare at the screen on his phone, his shoulders tensed.
 

Dave looked back at Rhys. A frown darkened his brow as he said, “Oh shit. My batt—”

The light on the phone died.
 

The inky blackness that smothered them pushed against Rhys’ eyes as if to claw even the memory of light from them. Another scream called out behind them. Rhys’ own voice sounded louder in the darkness.

“It’s almost as if they can smell the opportunity.”

Chapter Thirty-Seven

The spark of the flint for Rhys’ lighter punched through the darkness. One, two, three times before the flame took. A slight breeze—neither man knew where from—shook the tiny light and animated the shadows that surrounded them.
 

Blind spots flashed in Rhys’ vision from the sudden change in light, and after a few seconds, he had to let the flame die. Hold it for too long and the plastic that held the strike wheel would melt, the spring-loaded flint would push against it, and the strike wheel, flint, and spring would disappear into the darkness forever. Better to have momentary flashes of light than none at all.
 

The men continued to walk at a fast pace. The darkness made Rhys move with greater stealth. Because of his lack of vision, he needed to keep his noise down so he could rely on his other senses. If only Dave would stop fucking coughing then maybe he’d hear something.

Every time Rhys stepped forward, uncertainty flipped his stomach in anticipation of a fall. At some point, he’d walk into something that would throw him to the ground. They didn’t have any other choice but to keep on though; if they stopped, the diseased would catch them.

Rhys quickly gave up on his attempts to keep quiet. Their feet scraped as they shuffled along. It joined the sound of their heavy breaths, the rush of water in the huge pipe next to them, Dave’s coughs, and the echoing screams of the diseased behind… It felt like they were trapped in a labyrinth with a Minotaur on their scent.
 

Every ten seconds or so, Rhys flicked his lighter. It punched through the darkness and the bright spark made him flinch each time. He half expected to see a wall of diseased in front of him in the brief moment of illumination.
 

A few seconds later and he lifted his thumb away from the lighter and plunged them back into darkness. Rhys finally spoke. “They’re going to catch us at this rate.”
 

Dave breathed in short, sharp bursts, but said nothing in response. Maybe he had a cough in his throat that he didn’t want to release. Maybe he had nothing to add.
 

Rhys passed through another door and handed his lighter to Dave. “Here, keep this on for a second.”
 

Dave lit up the tunnel and Rhys took a heavy swing at the door handle. It couldn’t have been louder than any of the other handles, but the bang this time sounded like he’d fired a cannon in the tunnel and the darkness amplified the noise.
 

The pair moved off again and Rhys took his lighter back.
 

After another scream behind them, Dave said, “We can’t be far. Once we get to Building Thirteen, we can get upstairs and get off this poxy island.”
 

“And then the fun begins,” Rhys said with a sigh. Just the thought of it made his heart hurt.
 

“What do you mean?”

“Vicky! Who the fuck is she? What has she done with Flynn? I swear, if she’s harmed him…”

“We can’t think about that right now, man.”

“It’s
all
I can think about.”

Dave’s hand landed on Rhys shoulder and squeezed it. He didn’t say anything else.
 

Rhys fished his walkie-talkie from his pocket and flicked it on. For what good it would do. The sharp hiss of static bounced off the hard and close walls. Rhys depressed the button. “Vicky? Vicky?”

Nothing.

He put it back in his pocket.

When Rhys flicked his lighter on again, he saw another door barred their way. Like with all of the other doors, they stepped through it. Rhys gave the lighter to Dave again to light up the handle while he bashed it off.
 

A quick sweep of the area with the tiny flame and they saw another door. This time it was in the wall rather than in front of them. The pair walked over to it, and Dave handed Rhys his lighter back yet again. When Rhys flicked it on again, he smiled.

Dave looked at the door to Tower Thirteen and the sound of panic that had ridden his words abated as he said, “We’re here, Rhys. We’ve done it.”

Another distant roar called after them from way behind. After he’d looked back in that direction, Rhys sighed. “Thank god.”

Rhys held the light up while Dave snapped the handle down and pulled the door open. Before Rhys could look in, the scream of the diseased rushed out.
 

In one fluid movement, Dave slammed the door and brought his tyre iron down on the handle with a sharp crack. The handle fell to the ground. Like Rhys had done, Dave removed the connecting rod and a chink sounded out as the other handle hit the ground on the other side.

When Dave finally turned around to face him, Rhys shrugged, “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Stopping them getting to us.”

“But you’re stopping
us
getting out.”

“I ain’t stopping us getting out.
They’re
stopping us getting out. There are
hundreds
of them up there, Rhys.”
 

“Fuck!” Rhys said and kicked out at the damp wall next him. A sharp explosion of pain ran through his foot that turned nausea over in his stomach. “Fuck it! Fuck it! Fuck it!” The hands on his Superman watch glowed in the darkness. “We don’t have much more time to get off this damn island. Fuuuuuuuuck!”

His call echoed away from them. The call of the pack behind responded. Their cries filled the hallway.
 

“We have to move forward,” Rhys said. “If that means coming up through another building then so be it. The main thing is getting to the surface and getting away from both the diseased behind us and the ones in Tower Thirteen.”

When Rhys stepped forward, he stopped instantly at the sound of more diseased up ahead. His blood turned to ice. “What the fuck was that noise?”
 

Dave’s voice warbled when he replied. “There’s more of them up ahead, we’re
surrounded
.”

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Even though Rhys couldn’t see him, he heard Dave as he paced up and down. After several particularly heavy coughs, to which the diseased on all three sides of them responded with their cacophony of fury, he said, “What the fuck are we going to do? They’ve
boxed
us in, Rhys. We’re fucked.”

“The diseased behind us still have a distance to travel. There must be at least three to four doors between us and them. The door to Building Thirteen is stopping those fuckers in there. It’s just the ones in fr—” The scream from in front of them finished Rhys’ sentence for him.
 

Rhys flicked his lighter on and saw a door just up ahead. Like he had with all of the other doors, he bounded over to it and lopped the handle off with a swing of his bat. He swung from memory, but the satisfying
chink
of the metal handle sounded out as it hit the concrete ground
.

Dave’s voice turned shrill, “What the fuck are you
doing
, Rhys? We’ve got no way out now.”

“That was
never
a way out,” Rhys said.

The creak of splintering wood came from the door to Building Thirteen. Seconds later, a loud thud boomed as the ones in front of them hit the barrier Rhys had just created. The ones behind hadn’t caught up yet.

“What are we going to do?” Dave said.

The darkness made it harder for Rhys to keep hold of the panic that threatened to run away from him. The lack of visual distraction left him completely caught up in his head. Diseased screams came at him from every angle. He struggled to hold a straight thought.