Fast (62 page)

            ‘Speak to me,’ prompted Harrison.

            ‘It’s the countdown,’ said Dana, shaking off her original shock. Harrison could still detect fear in her voice. ‘It’s going to activate all the systems that cause vibrations in this Center, and then when they’re all running, it’s going to automatically open the containment door. This countdown is activating all the systems in a sequence that will lead the creatures right in here to us.’

            ‘Can’t we shut down the system like we did before?’ asked Harrison urgently.

            ‘Not while we’re classed a quarantine risk. We have no control at all.’

            ‘Read out the schedule of systems in order.’

            Dana read out the systems: ‘Auxiliary pumps, secondary turbines, extraction fans, primary electricity generator, containment door.’

            ‘We can’t even reach those systems to physically sabotage them,’ said Harrison, shaking his head over the schematic map.

            He wiped a bead of sweat from his cheek. With the air-conditioning switched off, the center was hot and muggy. He stared down the evacuation tunnel.

            Why are they doing this?

            Whoever had set that countdown obviously wanted everyone in the Quarantine Center killed. That meant Third Unit hadn’t gained control of the main Complex. Harrison felt his hope slip a little further out of reach. It was a strategic scenario with no solution. It seemed no matter what they did, they would inevitably sustain a full frontal assault by the creatures.

            He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wished he was a smarter man. ‘When the creatures come through that containment door, we have
nowhere to run
. We have to make sure that door doesn’t open. Any suggestions?’

            ‘Only one,’ said Dana. ‘We could physically sabotage the door. We could try to jam it shut from the inside.’

            ‘That’s what I was thinking,’ agreed Harrison. ‘It’ll be tough though, it’s a big door.’

            Already walking, Harrison picked up his radio and started to call for Sullivan and the engineering teams to meet him at the containment door.

            Before he reached the plexiglass, Dana lightly caught his arm.

            ‘What about everyone else?’ she asked, glancing back into the main chamber where the evacuees waited. ‘I need to tell them what’s happening. They keep asking what they can do to help.’

            Harrison’s gaze went to the containment door. When he looked at Dana again, her hand still resting on his upper arm, he felt guilty about what he needed to say. Her hand felt warm and reassuring. He realized how very comforting her presence had become. He wanted to tell her, but there was a time and a place. Now and here was neither.

            ‘Tell them to start making weapons.’

#

‘This can’t be right,’ said Vanessa, sliding to another part of the workstation in the diving control room. ‘All these terminals are showing that the Evacuation Center has been quarantined.’

            ‘Is that a problem?’ asked Coleman.

            ‘It could be,’ she answered. ‘It looks like there has been some kind of staggered countdown initiated from the admin hub that…oh, my god!’

            ‘What is it?’ said Coleman, pulling his gaze from the surveillance cameras.

            Hand over her mouth, she was reading the computer screen quickly. ‘When the Evacuation Center is reclassified as a quarantine facility,
all
control of its systems is reverted to the administration hub. Someone in the hub has started a staggered countdown that will bring all the quarantine systems back online and then open the containment door.’

            ‘That will draw the creatures straight into the Evac Center with David and the others,’ realized Coleman. ‘How long do we have?’

            ‘It’s already happening,’ answered Vanessa. ‘The emergency generator just came online under the Center.’

            ‘How long before the containment door opens?’

            Vanessa frantically worked through the system, shaking her head in frustration. ‘It doesn’t say! It only tells you how long until the next system comes online, and then the countdown resets for the next system after that. It could be five minutes before the countdown finishes activating all the system and opens the containment door, or it could be half an hour.’

            Coleman needed them both to calm down and think rationally for David’s sake. ‘It’s definitely somewhere in between those times. Could Harrison shut down the systems?’

            Vanessa scanned the list of services that were programmed to initiate. ‘The Center is designed so that essential services can be maintained by staff safely outside the Quarantine Center. Harrison couldn’t even reach them to physically try to shut them off. Why would Cairns and Gould want to kill all the evacuees? They don’t have the templates. They’re not a threat to the terrorists. David has never done anything to them. He’s just a little boy! Our little boy, Alex!’

            Coleman put his hand on her shoulder. ‘I know. They’re not doing it because they see the evacuees as a threat. Once they retrieve the templates from us, all the creatures will be drawn into the Evacuation Center, and Cairns will have a safe path back up through the facility.’

            Vanessa was close to tears. ‘We have to stop him. What are we going to do?’

            ‘This changes everything,’ agreed Coleman. ‘What more have you learned about the creatures? Anything that can help us? Come on, Vanessa, think!’

            ‘I’ve been trying!’ Fighting back tears, she turned to the genetic data on the first computer screen. ‘Gould kept the creatures dormant in the walls until he triggered them with a pheromone. If I can identify the traits that allowed him to keep the creatures dormant, I might be able to -’

            Forest’s eyes hadn’t left the surveillance cameras during the conversation. He suddenly cut over Vanessa’s conversation. ‘The creatures have breached the first container. Some of them are starting to move this way. And here comes Cairns and Bora. They’re bringing forces from the west and the east. They’re moving quickly. They’re storming us. We’re going to be right in the middle. They’ll all be here in less than thirty seconds.’

            Coleman took note of the terrorists’ approach on the computer screen. Now only one thing mattered. The terrorists were between him and his son.

He’d already memorized the layout of the dry area of corridors and rooms directly around the diving arena. King and Forest checked their pistols. They knew what needed to be done.

            Coleman had no misconception that this was going to be the worst shit-fight yet. They had almost no ammunition and were pinched between the two incoming forces. This was the face-to-face standoff that Coleman had been working hard to avoid. His team were outnumbered, but they didn’t have a choice. They were Marines and they would never give up. Coleman saw it in the eyes of King and Forest as they waited for his instructions.

            He tossed the terrorist’s weapon with the super bullets to Forest. ‘Forest, you stay here and protect Vanessa while she works. Right now she’s David’s only chance. King and I will split up and try to buy her time to work.’

            Coleman turned to King, ‘You take Bora and I’ll take Cairns. This is purely hit and run. Move fast and don’t let them pin you down. There are more of them than there are of us, and they’re moving in groups, so they should attract more creatures. I want them to attract as many creatures down here as possible to give the Evac Center more time. Now go.’

            King nodded and dashed off across the pool room, his huge bulk gracefully disappearing through the northern hatch in a second.

            Coleman knelt beside Vanessa. ‘I’m going to buy you time to help David. That’s the only thing that matters now, right?’

            Vanessa nodded, already turning to the computer.

            ‘Can you do this, Vanessa?’

            She didn’t look up from the screen. She was typing and talking at the same time. ‘I need to decipher the genetic pattern that Gould took months to build. I’m focusing on the traits inherited from the
Impetus pespedus
genetic code.’

            ‘But if there’s any person in the world that can do it, it’s you, right?’

            Vanessa met his eyes. ‘You do what you do best, and I’ll do what I do best.’

            Coleman nodded then ran for the door. ‘Good luck.’

#

Cairns slogged through the waist-deep water.

            He held his rifle up in two hands, keeping the weapon dry. He glanced at his wrist monitor.

            Still one green light. The distraction is still active.

           
And thank god for that. The creatures had destroyed the first container in half the time Cairns had anticipated.

            If he stopped walking, he knew he’d feel the vibrations through the water, but there was no stopping now. They needed to reach the diving arena, retrieve the templates, and then escape as the creatures were drawn towards the Quarantine Center.

            Cairns cursed himself for letting the mission get so out-of-control. This was going to be their last chance to set things right. Timing was everything, and they didn’t have a second to spare. Any second now, all these corridors were going to be thick with creatures. Cairns imagined them coming under the water like sharks picking up the bloody scent of a wounded animal, moving in for the kill.

            As he crossed another four-way intersection of flooded office corridors, he glanced in both directions for signs of movement. They didn’t stand a chance against the creatures in the waist-deep water. Even their special ammunition would be next to useless against a submerged target.

            What the hell would the creatures even look like moving through the water? What should I be looking for?

            He didn’t have long to wait for his answer. Behind him, Gould and five gunmen plunged through the water in a single file row. The last gunman suddenly shouted, ‘Here they come! Hostiles at six o’clock!’

            Cairns glanced back down the struggling line of exhausted men. The corridor twenty feet behind them erupted in churning humps of white water. It looked like nothing less than a dozen wrestling krakens. The sight sent a chemical bolt of renewed strength into his legs.

            ‘Oh-my-god!’ shrieked Gould. ‘Go, go, go!’

            Cairns ignored Gould. They were
already
going as fast as they possibly could. As fast as they ploughed through the water, the creatures moved faster.

            ‘Don’t fire until we’re out of the water,’ Cairns yelled.
More
e
asily said than done
, he knew.

            White water started surging around their elbows, telegraphing the painful death just seconds away. The last gunman broke first. Ignoring Cairns’s order, he turned and awkwardly fired full-auto into the tangled mess of white water. Cairns saw the man collapse backwards under the unstoppable surge.

            There it is!

            He spotted their goal. Ten feet ahead, a short flight of five steps served a grilled landing. On the landing stood an oval hatch. The hatch had a submarine style rotating handle.

            He surged up the stairs, feeling the drag of the water disappear from his legs. The creatures almost had them. He didn’t need to look back to check.