The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion Book 2) (36 page)

Though it was difficult to look at the spot where Lindsey had died, Torran cocked his head to watch the two women arguing.

“Is this the same virus you gave Maria Martinez or not?” Solomon was shouting.

“It’s a very close variation,” Dr. Curran answered. “It should grant the exact same immunity as the one I gave her.”

“Without the Anomaly or Aberration side effects?” Solomon pointed a finger in the scientist’s face. “I want answers, Curran. The only person who could lead us to Martinez is dead thanks to you and Carter!”

Rage filled Torran, and he clenched his hands into fists. Lindsey had been so much more than a mere pawn, but the people standing on the other side of the glass would never comprehend that truth.

“Give it to the lab rat,” Yates suggested.

“I have to make sure the dosage is correct to avoid side effects,” Dr. Curran snapped. “There are many factors that I have to take into consideration.”

“Then take them into consideration and try it on him. I want to know if it works or not.” Solomon was obviously close to losing her temper. Her face was aflame with anger.

“We should have just given it to one of the dead bodies,” Yates uttered while giving the scientist a distrustful look.

Dr. Curran leaned toward Yates, her expression virulent. “Then you’d have an Abscrag on your hands. This virus has to be given to the living to take full effect and avoid creating a creature that’s smart enough to hunt us for our flesh. Abscrags
eat
us.”

“She’s not lying. They do. I saw it with my own eyes,” Torran said. “And though the idea of ripping your throat out is highly appealing, Yates, I don’t enjoy the thought of becoming a cannibal.”

Yates sneered at him.

“But didn’t Maria return to life?” Solomon asked.

“Yes, but she’s the only one. The others went feral,” Dr. Solomon replied. “That’s why the dosage is so important.”

It was then Torran realized she was lying. The SWD had only divulged certain details to the public and Constabulary, but Lindsey had told him everything Dr. Curran had disclosed. Maria Martinez had received a different virus from the rest of the Inferi Boon and that was the reason for her unique return to life. Dr. Curran was buying time, but for what reason? Torran was imprisoned, and she was under constant watch.

Torran’s heart thumped a little harder as he replayed Lindsey’s death. Running his hands through his hair, he almost hyperventilated when a wonderful, yet terrible revelation struck. Dr. Curran had been holding Lindsey’s hand. The woman was cold, aloof, and had a terrible bedside manner. That she would give Lindsey an iota of sympathy even at her passing seemed odd for the scientist. So what if she’d been holding Lindsey’s hand for another purpose?

It was madness to even entertain the idea, yet Torran couldn’t help his broken heart from wildly latching onto the possibility that Dr. Curran had given Lindsey the virus.

Which meant what?

The rest of the argument was lost to him as Torran sat in his cell, daring to hope on the impossible.

Chapter 34

Huddled in the Rescue Hub, Lindsey gnawed on a protein bar while observing the vid screens. It felt odd, returning to the location after escaping so dramatically two days before. Climbing up the ladder, she’d wished with all her heart that Torran was with her. In his place was the altered aerial drone. Hopefully together, their unlikely team could rescue the man she loved and humanity at the same time.

On the other side of the hub a mini-fuel revitalizer chugged away. She’d discovered it at a security depot and, with Teeny’s help, dragged it to the Rescue Hub. After raiding several more city security posts, she’d sent Teeny to deposit cameras and scanners around the rescue center where the Gaia Cult had taken refuge.

Swallowing the vanilla-flavored protein mush in her mouth, Lindsey was relieved she wasn’t craving anything red and fleshy. Her appetite seemed to be exactly same. After staring into the mirror in the sanitation station for ten minutes, she was certain her eyes were not tinged with red. She was definitely Inferi Boon, and not an Abscrag.

The door to the hub opened, and Teeny stomped through the entrance, clutching a helmet in its pinchers. At least she thought it might be stomping.

Lindsey eyed the drone thoughtfully. “Teeny?”

“Yes, Mother?”

“Are you having a temper tantrum?”

“I had to climb down to the lower city and recover the helmet from the
river
,” came the response. “Without fuel, I was unable to fly. It took a very
long
time.”

Leaning over, Lindsey eyed the little drone. “You mad?”

Tapping a claw against the floor, the drone’s camera-tipped stalks turned away from her.

It was definitely not happy with her.

“Heh, what do you know? That A.I. proggie is working. You’re developing a nice little personality. Just don’t turn on me and try to kill me in my sleep.” Lindsey straightened and took another bite of her protein bar. Spotting an issue in her code, she quickly typed a new string of text.

Carrying the helmet over to Franklin’s armor, Teeny connected it and turned it on. “The helmet is operational.”

“Yay! Especially since you had to go
all
that way to retrieve it.”

“You are sarcastic, Mother.”

“Yeah, I know.”

Teeny clattered over to her side and crawled onto the chair next to her. It was the same chair Torran had sat on earlier in the week, and Lindsey fought back a fresh batch of tears. Though she could walk among the Scrags, survive death, and endure a substantial amount of damage, she still felt like the same woman she’d been before her transformation. Which meant she was worried sick about Torran, determined to save him, and anxious to destroy the Gaia Cult.

Directing its cameras toward the vid screens, Teeny hunched down. “The program is nearly finished?”

“Yeah. It’s almost ready. I still have my touch.” Switching to the camera and scanner feeds, Lindsey took a sip of her water. The scanners clearly showed human bodies moving about on the top floor of the rescue center. “The six remaining Cultists are all on the top floor. I’ve determined that four are always on shift, with two sleeping in this room here.” Lindsey pointed to the screen. “At least three are usually in the command center, and one in the lab with Dr. Curran and Torran.”

“Father is still alive,” Teeny said.

“Call him Mr. MacDonald. He’s sensitive,” Lindsey corrected.

“Yes, Mother.”

“So what we need to do is break into the building, go up the stairs, get through the security doors on the top floor, kill all the bad guys, and rescue Torran. Easy, right?”

“Actually, it sounds hard, Mother,” Teeny answered.

“Remind me to teach you to lie,” Lindsey grumbled.

“Yes, Mother.”

* * *

Lindsey chose the period right after sunset for her attack with hopes that darkness would disorient her enemies. The night would also provide cover for her and Teeny. She knew for certain that the Gaia Cultist did not have adequate equipment and would not be able to detect her and the aerial drone until they infiltrated the building.

An hour before the designated time, Lindsey suited up. Franklin’s armor was a bit big on her, but Lindsey had managed to adjust the straps on the arms and legs for a better fit. It was odd, wearing the dead woman’s stealth suit, but Lindsey didn’t want to risk further injury. Her wounds were fully healed and she felt fine, but she didn’t want to test the limits of her altered body.

After the fuel reviver finished its process, Lindsey re-filled Teeny. The little drone twirled around the Rescue Hub a few times, clearly relieved to be airborne again. She then made sure the drone’s guns were fully loaded before claiming a few firearms for herself from the weapons locker. The pack on her back carried ammunition, water and food, and a pad filled with information on the Gaia Cult. Another pad was tucked into one of the pouches in her armor. That one held the program she’d been working on all day.

When she finally started out toward the rescue center where the Gaia Cult was holed up, Teeny followed, clutching a remote generator. It was odd, being able to walk past Scrags without fear, but Lindsey was quickly adapting. Noting the helmet appeared to rile the creatures, she took it off and walked with it tucked under one arm.

Several blocks from the rescue center, she arrived at the edge of the massive crowd of Scrags gathered around the building. Most on the outer edges were in a stagnant state, but those closer to the building were in an uproar. The comings and goings of the tiltrotor over the last couple of days had kept those Scrags sufficiently riled.

As Teeny sailed over the Scrags, Lindsey pushed her way into the throng. The Scrags smelled incredibly awful, and she almost retched. Unwashed bodies pressed in around her from all sides. The reek of death was on their breath and their empty white eyes were chilling. Being up close to the creatures was disconcerting, but she swallowed her fear and advanced toward the building.

As she continued her passage through the horde, a Scrag screeched as she brushed past it. She immediately came to an abrupt stop and swiveled about to face it. Teeny swung back around overhead, extending the barrels of its weapons. The undead being stared Lindsey, and the soldier waited, holding her breath. Finally, the Scrag let out a querying cry, confused when it was unable to find prey.

Exhaling with relief, Lindsey resumed shoving her way through the increasingly compact crowd. In due course, she was forced to squeeze between the walking corpses. Near the front doors to the rescue center, she finally had to give up. It was impossible to pass through the crush of bodies anymore.

“Teeny, I need your help,” she called out.

Aware of the drone’s weight limitations, she handed Teeny her pack and ordered it to take it inside the building and leave it in the stairwell along with the remote generator.

For the next few minutes, she waited as the agitated dead flailed against the walls of the building and fought each other to get closer. The bottom of the building was smeared with blood and viscera from the Scrags constantly battering themselves against it.

Teeny whirred overhead and extended its long legs. Lindsey clutched the helmet to her chest as the drone lifted her off the ground and carried her over the heads of the Scrags. Warning lights popped on its underside and the drone’s tiltrotors increased speed to keep them aloft. Tucking her legs up under her bottom, Lindsey tried not to snag her armor on the Scrags just inches below. Teeny dipped to get her through the front entrance and Lindsey found herself being dragged across the heads of the Scrags. The already agitated creatures swiped at her, and she clambered over them on her hands and knees until Teeny was able to lift her again.

The main floor of the building was so completely packed with the undead, Lindsey wondered how the building didn’t burst at the seams. Teeny hoisted her through several large rooms until it reached the stairwell leading up. The drone dropped her onto the wide, cement railing that edged the stairs, where her pack and the remote generator waited for her. Hooking the helmet onto the armor, Lindsey shrugged on the pack and slung the remote generator over one shoulder.

The Scrags filling the stairs constantly shifted about, clawing at the walls and each other. Lindsey managed to edge up as Teeny flew just ahead of her. The bodies crammed into the stairwell actually helped her keep her balance as she scooted up the handrail.

At every floor, she found the massive metal doors on the landing standing open with Scrags crowded inside, and she remembered how Solomon had said the Gaia Cult had helped the Scrags overrun the rescue center.

When she neared the top floor, Lindsey set down the remote generator and activated it. Instantly, the controls next to the massive security door lit up. She pulled her pad out of the pouch in her armor and activated it. “Teeny, remember to shoot anyone who is not Dr. Curran or Torran.”

“Or you, Mother?”

Lindsey eyed the aerial drone. Was it joking? “Yes,
don’t
shoot me.”

Unable to drop to the floor, Lindsey instead crawled on top of the Scrags to the door controls and pressed her pad against the wall. Within seconds she had the door hacked and unlocked. Activating it, she scrambled back over the Scrags and ducked down.

The massive door let out a warning beep as it started to yawn open.

Disengaging her weapon from her armor, Lindsey aimed over the heads of the increasingly excited Scrags. As the long hallway came into view, she caught sight of a soldier rushing toward the door, holding their weapon aloft.

The Scrags also spotted the human.

Screeching, the undead pushed their way through the entrance. Teeny sped past toward Dr. Curran’s lab. Lindsey leaped down as soon as she saw a bit of the floor and was swept along with them. Shouts of fear rose over the shrieks of the dead. Gunfire erupted, a sound that sent shivers down Lindsey’s spine. The front edge of the horde fell under the barrage of bullets. Lindsey attempted to cautiously circumvent the limbs of the fallen, but the crowd pressed forward, carrying her with them.

Up ahead, a blast door started to descend. Teeny dodged under it, but Lindsey grasped that to get through it before it closed, she’d have to break free of the Scrags and risk being shot by the Cultists.

Shooting the Scrags in front of her, she cleared a path for herself and ran toward the descending door. Someone on the other side saw her coming and stooped to spray the corridor with bullets in an attempt to cut her down. Several hard thumps against her armor caused her to stumble, but she dove under the barrier and rolled. She was almost on the other side, when the strap on her weapon caught on the body of a Scrag. Bullets ricocheted around her and Lindsey tugged on her firearm one more time, but it didn’t shake loose. With a cry of frustration, she released the strap and abandoned the weapon as she scrambled away.

Another shot hit her side, but the armor held. The sting slowed her down, but she aimed for a doorway to take shelter. The soldier at the end of the hallway continued to shoot, determined to kill her. Fear spurring her on, Lindsey rushed toward safety. Another bullet slammed into her arm, bounced off, and hit the wall.

There was a sharp cry then the person firing at Lindsey slumped to the floor.

Teeny spun about in the air over the fallen soldier and a smoldering remote generator. “I got her, Mother! And the generator!”

The screech of the Scrags grew louder behind Lindsey.

Looking over her shoulder, Lindsey realized the barricade had stopped descending. Without the remote generator powering its controls, the blast door had stopped.

“Uh, hitting the generator was bad, Teeny.”

“Oh. Sorry, Mother.”

Scrags scrambled under the barrier, their predatory screams filling the air.

“Teeny, get to the lab and protect Torran and Dr. Curran,” Lindsey screamed.

A second later, Yates stepped into the hallway from the command center, followed by aerial drones.

Lindsey ducked into a room as they opened fire.

* * *

Torran instantly woke the second he heard gunfire. Rising to his feet, he looked sharply toward Dr. Curran. The scientist froze at her workstation, her expression hopeful, yet frightened. Evins immediately pushed off the wall he’d been resting against and hurried to the doorway.