The Dead Series (Book 2): Dead Is All You Get (35 page)

“It must have been very stressful for you.”

“There was one time when Walt and that excuse for a police captain, O’Brien, met at the house. I was in the kitchen getting a snack for the boys. They were in the dining room. I overheard them talking about the experiment. They mentioned a name—I can’t remember who it was.”

“Bob Creasy?” I said.

“That’s it. Walt said he’d met with Creasy, and he’d convinced Walt that they were ready to move to the next phase.”

“Do you have any clue what that means?” Pederman said.

“No. I went back outside with the boys. Later, I told my husband what I’d heard. He said not to worry. Creasy had the whole thing under control.”

“Did Creasy ever come to the house?” Warnick said.

“No.”

“Ma’am, did your husband ever talk about when the quarantine would be lifted?” Pederman said.

“I used to ask him about it all the time. Right before the quarantine when you guys were hired, I begged him to let me take the boys down to my sister’s in LA. But he insisted that everything would be fine. He said he wanted his family with him. So we stayed. He was always insecure that way.”

“Yet he took off without you,” I said.

She shot me a look of hatred, then softened, her eyes welling up. “I can’t explain that,” she said. “Why would he leave us in danger? Unless …”

“Ma’am?”

“Unless he’s not really in charge.”

We sat there in silence for a time. The mayor’s wife pushed her tray aside and stood. We followed suit.

“We’ve set up a trailer for you and the boys,” Pederman said. “If you’ll step outside, someone will escort you. Please let us know if there’s anything else we can do for you.”

Though she was an attractive woman, she looked worn-down. There were dark circles under her eyes that makeup couldn’t hide. I imagined she’d put up with a lot as the mayor’s wife. I wondered if she thought it had been worth it.

“Thank you, Mr. Pederman,” she said.

“My pleasure.”

We watched as she walked towards the exit. We were about to sit down again when she stopped at Becky’s table, grabbed her coffee cup and threw it at her, screaming. “Bitch!” she said, and walked out amid stares and murmurs. Pederman looked at me and shrugged, and we slowly took our seats.

“The mayor was in it up to his neck,” I said.

“And she was just trying to cope,” Holly said. “I feel sorry for her.”

Warnick turned to Pederman. “What do we do?”

Pederman drained his coffee cup and spun it two or three times on the table. “I’ve already questioned Becky. Like the mayor’s wife, she doesn’t know much. She said her sole function was to take notes and keep the office tidy.”

“And service the mayor,” I said. “So you’re telling me she didn’t sit in on any private meetings where things might have been discussed?”

“She said there
were
meetings, but she wasn’t invited to many of them.”

“Or she’s lying.”

“Possibly. But I don’t think we’re going to get anything more out of her.”

Springer walked in and jogged towards us.

“What’s going on?” Pederman said.

“There’s something you need to see.”

Holly commanded Greta to wait outside. We entered what looked like a camo-colored shipping container. Inside, technicians operated the drones that constantly scanned the town and surrounding forest. Though most everything was shut down, Black Dragon maintained a private satellite-based communication channel that connected directly to the drones. This allowed us to not only control them but also to view the resulting video surveillance.

It was dark inside the structure, which was filled with computer and other electronic equipment. We walked single file down the middle aisle, with Pederman leading the way. We passed teams of men and women seated in front of dual computer monitors, the glow illuminating their faces. One monitor displayed tabbed menus with data while the other showed live black-and-white video of various points around Tres Marias. The only sound was of chairs squeaking. I stopped and watched one of the monitors as the technician used his joystick to zoom in and saw a horde moving through the forest.

“Can’t we arm the drones and take those things out real time?” I said.

The technician chuckled. “That would be awesome, but no. It’s not in our contract.”

“Too bad,” Springer said.

A team leader walked up and shook hands with Pederman. “Kelly, nice to see you. Glad you could come over.” He led us to a separate set of monitors, where another team sat. They used only keyboards and mice—no joysticks.

“This is where we analyze the video that’s been recorded. We’ve been going through it, trying to determine how we were attacked.” He sat at the keyboard and used a mouse to navigate through a list of time-stamped video files. Locating the one he wanted, he clicked on it.

“What am I looking at?” Pederman said.

“This is an aerial of the high school. It was taken before dawn. Notice that the streets are quiet.” He closed the file and opened another. “Watch. This is near the guard shack at the front of the compound.”

“What are those, draggers?” Pederman said, pointing at the dark figures approaching our command facility.

“No—watch.” We stood there staring at the screen as the intruders closed in. There was no sound, but muzzle flashes told us they’d fired on the shack. Then the file ended.

“Is there more?” Warnick said.

“That’s the end of that time period. These are autonomous drones, so they move on their own from one place to another.”

“So why the technicians?” Holly said.

“We can override them if we need to. Given the circumstances, we’re doing extra surveillance.”

Warnick turned to Pederman. “So this confirms that the attack was planned. They took out the guards and opened the gate.”

“But where did those draggers come from?” Holly said.

“I’m getting to that,” the team leader said, smiling. He navigated to a different folder and opened it. Squinting at the screen he found the file he was looking for and clicked on it. “This was taken by another drone the previous night.”

It was dark, but I could make out faint lights and the outlines of buildings. “That looks like Robbin-Sear,” I said. A large, grey mass slowly made its way past the gate. Ahead of it, a vehicle driving slowly away from the facility. “What is that?”

“Draggers,” Warnick said. “Hundreds of them. They’re following that truck.”

“You mean to tell me this horde
walked
from Robbin-Sear all the way to the high school?” I said.

The team leader nodded. “This recording began around twelve-thirty a.m. Other drones captured them at various points along the way. I’m guessing it took them a little over five hours to make the trip.”

“What makes you so sure this is the horde that attacked us?” Pederman said.

“I’m making a reasonable assumption that it was. We have video of a bunch of these things approaching the high school. I can dig it up if—”

“No, I believe you. But how in hell do you get a couple hundred of these things to follow you?”

“Easy. You use a carrot instead of a stick.” The team leader stood. “This morning, I learned that one of our patrols found an abandoned truck out by the railroad tracks.”

“The suspense is killing me,” I said.

“There was a half-eaten body chained to the tailgate.”

“The carrot,” Warnick said.

“Time for another visit to Robbin-Sear,” Pederman said and walked out.

There was still plenty of daylight as we rode out to Robbin-Sear, hoping to discover what the mayor, Walt Freeman and the rest had in mind for Tres Marias. I believed in my dream, where Jim had laid it all out. I knew it was my own mind talking, but it made sense to me. There would be no way to return things to normal without wiping the slate clean and burning the evidence. Towns can be repopulated. Over time, people forget. After a generation, it never happened. Or the story morphs into a new urban legend. Horrible chemical spill kills the good people of Tres Marias. Cleanup crew is sent in. Danger is removed. Medals are awarded. End of story.

When we got there we found the gate open. Not a good sign. Many of the buildings had sustained damaged during the shootout with the cops. We would have to comb through each one. Our squad got to work. It would take us the rest of the day. Fortunately, we didn’t encounter any draggers. As we explored the property, we found two incinerators behind the main building. I opened one of them. It was still warm inside and was filled with fine ash and the partially burned remains of what might have been lab animals. Pederman directed operations but mainly stuck with our squad. After two hours, someone from the other squad came running.

“What did you find?” Pederman said.

The soldier led us to a far building that resembled a ranger’s cabin. The front was beautifully manicured, with a green lawn and flowerbeds. A sign over the door read
RECREATION ROOM
.

“This grass isn’t real,” Holly said. “And neither are those flowers.”

“What’s in there?” Pederman said, indicating the building.

The soldier walked over and opened the door, showing us the interior. “There are some ping pong tables, pool tables and some other stuff. A kitchen. All brand new. Looks like it’s for show. We think the entrance is somewhere over here.” He and another soldier got down on their hands and knees near the edge of the lawn and felt around with their hands. We moved in to see what they were looking for. “Here!”

Pederman knelt down and stuck his hand in. “It’s a latch.” Then to the rest of us, “Spread out and look for a control box.”

After a few minutes Griffin jumped up and down, causing Greta to start barking. “Over here!”

Fabian patted her head playfully. “Good job,
guera
.”

We joined them and saw a green plastic box in one of the planters. It reminded me of an irrigation timer. Warnick popped it open. Inside was a single switch. Before pressing it, he turned to the rest of us. “You might want to get off that lawn.”

Warnick waited for us to move and pressed the button. Somewhere a motor whirred as the entire lawn lowered several inches and retracted underneath the ground we were standing on. The hole it left was dark and looked to be around twenty feet to the bottom. Another motor kicked in, and a metal platform ascended. When it reached the surface, flush with the ground, it stopped with a clunk.

“Hydraulic,” Springer said.

Below, a series of lights snapped on in sequence. A metal post stood in the corner of the platform with three buttons—
DOWN, UP
and
EMERGENCY STOP
. Pederman signaled for our squad to get aboard.

“The rest of you continue searching,” he said. He pointed at a few men nearby. “I want you four to remain here, in case we’re attacked. Use your radios.”

Taking the dog, we got on the platform and Springer hit the DOWN button. I wondered if the lower level ran the entire length and breadth of the property. We found, offices, supply rooms and labs—one hermetically sealed and secured by an electronic lock system. Next to the keypad on the wall, a sign read
STOP! PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT REQUIRED BEYOND THIS POINT!
Inside lay dozens of trays marked
RS-6160
. All empty. We continued past it.

It took us a while to make our way through. Up ahead we discovered an area filled with Plexiglas cells resembling the ones in the isolation facility. Against one wall a strange-looking machine with a hole in the center faced us. The hole looked big enough for a man’s head. Around it stood computerized displays and controls and next to it, some kind of console. There was something familiar about the contraption—I couldn’t quite place it. Then it hit me.

When Jim went missing, I searched for him at his house. As I learned later, this was after Creasy took him and kept him prisoner at Robbin-Sear. After Jim escaped and found his way home, he got drunk and built a bizarre-looking sculpture out of beer bottles and iron rebar that resembled the machine I was staring at. Had they done something to him using this contraption? I remembered Larry telling us they used a machine to induce fear in test subjects. Was this what he’d been talking about?