Killshot (Icarus Series Book 1) (44 page)

              “Over there,” I said, pointing to the west side of the building. “There’s an entrance just past that big generator.”

              “That could work,” Zander said. “See that guard there, the short one by the barricade? I have been watching him make his rounds and he walks past there, maybe, every five minutes or so.”

              “If we go right after he clears his rounds, that buys us a few minutes to figure out how to through the door,” I said.

              “Got that covered,” Zander said, making a pounding motion with his blackened fist.

              “It’s bound to draw some attention, but it’s the best option we have at this point,” I said.

              “It may not be stealth, but it’s effective,” Riley laughed, fist-bumping his armored hand.

              “Once we are in, be prepared for all hell to break loose,” Zander said, squeezing my hand. “Stay close and stay focused. We cannot afford to get separated.”

              “Let’s do this,” Riley said, squaring up her favorite new toy (Banks’ rifle).

              “I swear to you, if we all get out of this alive, I am going to kill Jake and Falisha myself,” I said, smoothing my messy hair back under my camo cap. “Ready?”

              “Wait,” Zander said, pulling me back into the shadows. “Look over there, by the gennie.”

              “I don’t see—,” Riley said, squinting at the shadows behind the building.

              “There!” He pointed again, farther to the north side of the building. “Did you see that? Something…a shadow or something, just flew across the parking lot and—.”

              Before Zander could finish, an ear-splitting explosion split the darkness, shooting a massive fireball into the sky. The immense plume of orange flame billowed in on itself, as it floated up from where the generator had been, only moments ago.

              And as promised, all hell broke loose.

              “Go, go, go!” I dove from behind the tree, dragging Zander and Riley behind me. “West side door!”

              Soldiers ran in all directions, emerging in clumps, from all sides of the building as they fought their way through the smoke and flaming debris. The explosion had taken out the lights, which actually worked to our advantage. A handful of men sprinted past us, waving guns and shouting at each other as they searched for the cause of the massive explosion. Between the stolen gear and the poor visibility, we blended in with the rest of the mayhem.

              “Straight ahead,” I screamed over my shoulder, still dragging my friends through smoke and chaos.

              Soldiers raced around, dragging fire extinguishers and buckets, as they desperately fought to stop the spreading fire. Just as we cleared the barricade near the entrance, Private Fletcher stepped out in front of us.

              “Hold up, soldier,” Fletcher said, holding a cloth over his mouth and nose. “Where do you think you are going?”

              “Quarantine support for Kappa,” Zander offered from over my shoulder.

              “On whose order?” Fletcher barked, coughing into his kerchief.

              “Corporal Metz,” I said, squaring my shoulders. “We just pulled up when the shit hit the fan. Metz says we are to secure the civilians. Can’t risk contamination.”

              “Wait, Metz is
here
?” Fletcher asked, looking past us into the curtain of black smoke. “Where?”

              “With Banks and Nicholas at the south entrance,” I snapped, holding my gun across my chest to block the name patch. “Now get the hell out of my way, unless you want to explain to Metz how the half-assed orders of an E1 trumped his.”

              He hesitated for a second, then moved away from the door and took off at a dead run toward the front of the building. Zander slammed his fist down on the door’s handle and sent it clattering to the ground. We burst through it, thick black smoke curling in after us. We sprinted down a narrow hallway, as we made our way further into the belly of the beast. Every ten seconds or so, the emergency lights would flash and for a brief moment, our path was illuminated by a retina-scraping white glow.

              “Stay close,” I said, squinting against the harsh flashes, as my vision struggled to adjust to the stark emptiness of the corridor.

              The farther away from the entrance we got, the easier it was to breath. Even still, the air tasted heavily of dry smoke and antiseptic. I ran my hand along the edge of the chair-rail that ran the length of the passage and pressed on. My boots squeaked against the waxy surface of the glossy vinyl floor as I walked, ruining any chance we had at a sneak attack. A door slammed open from somewhere up ahead and within seconds a big group of civilians rushed towards us, scrambling and clawing their way down the hallway.

              “Out of my way!” A deep voice echoed down the corridor.

              A very large man, clad entirely in leather, barreled through the center of the group, tossing people aside as he rushed toward the exit. In his rush to escape, he knocked over an elderly woman who was carrying a young child. Even as she fell to the ground, the woman cradled the toddler protectively to her chest. The baby howled and began struggling in her arms. We rushed over to help her, but she fought against our efforts.

              “Let me go,” she shouted. “You can’t have her. She’s not sick! Don’t take my granddaughter, please!”

              “Ma’am, it’s okay,” I said, fending off her weak blows. “We are not going to take the baby. We are not with the army.”

              “You’re…you’re not?” She stopped swinging at me and once again swaddled the little girl to her chest, as she tried to sit up.

              “No way,” Riley said, smiling at the woman as she threw her camo hat aside. “Just playing a little dress up, that’s all.”

              “Ma’am, are you okay?” Zander asked, gently helping the woman to her feet. “Are you hurt? Is the child alright?”

              “No,” she said, hugging the wailing child even tighter. “No, I think we are okay, but we have to get out of here. You children should go. Go now! This place is not what it seems. It’s not safe. Those soldiers, they—.”

              “We know,” I said, placing my hands on her shoulders. “Please, ma’am, I need you to focus for a second, okay? Where were they keeping you? Where are the others being held?”

              “I…we were, umm,” she stammered, trying to back away.

              “Focus, damn it,” I screamed at her.

              “Liv, stop,” Riley said, pulling my hands away from the old woman. She stepped between us and turned toward the child’s grandmother. “Ma’am, I know you are scared, but this is important. Our friends were captured, and we need to get them out. They were brought in less than an hour ago. The boy is thin, about fifteen years old, with messy brown hair. The girl is about sixteen, skin like mine, with long black hair. Did you see them?”

              “I’m not sure,” the woman said, shaking her head. “Maybe? If they came in today, they would be upstairs in the lab. They always run tests on the new ones.”

              “Where is the lab,” I shouted over Riley’s shoulder.

              “Please, let me go,” the woman said, backing away from us. “I have to get Paige out of here. Her mother and father are— she is all I have left.”

              “Let her go,” Zander said, laying his hand on my shoulder. “Ma’am, follow this hallway. There is a door at the very end that leads out into the west side of the property. Cut straight across the lot and don’t stop. You will find an old camper hidden in the trees. Cut through the yard and get as far away from here as you can. Look for a house that has already been marked; one with an X if you can find it, and hide.”

              “Thank you! Thank you so much. Now, get out while you can, children,” the woman sobbed. She pressed the little girl to her chest and stumbled down the hallway out of sight.

              “Let’s go,” I said, nodding to Zander, as I grabbed Riley’s hand.

              Just past the reception desk was a large waiting area filled with vomit-colored generic seating. Stacks of old magazines and coloring books scattered the tables and floor. The dark hallway continued on the opposite side of the room, where old woman and her group had come bursting through, so we headed that direction.

              On the wall, just past the end of the waiting room, was a big plastic sign with arrows pointing in various directions. Outpatient Family Clinic, straight ahead. Radiology and Ultrasound were down the hall and to the left. The cafeteria was down the hall and to the right. The laboratory was on the second floor, west corridor. Across the hall from the sign, was the door to the stairs.

              “This way,” I said, dragging Riley.

              Our footsteps seemed to echo from all around us as we tromped our way up the winding concrete stairway. I pivoted around the corner and ascending the next flight before coming to a halt in front of a heavy metal door. I covered my hand with my sleeve (yeah, definitely still paranoid about hot door handles) and tried the latch, but it wouldn’t budge.

              “Let me take a crack at it,” Zander said, guiding me away from the door.

              He cranked his arm back and jacked it down onto the top of the handle. It shattered into a thousand tiny bits of metal that clanked and pinged across the hard concrete floor and tinkled down the stairs.

              “That’s so handy,” Riley quipped, as Zander wrenched the door open.

              Another huge explosion ripped through the building, shaking it in its foundations. Loose ceiling tiles and debris rained down on us, as we tumbled out into the corridor and flung ourselves against the wall. A high-pitched alarm started squealing somewhere outside. Another mass of bodies rushed towards us, as we scrambled to avoid being trampled. My heart was pounding frantically in my chest and my ears were ringing, as the throng of people rushed past us.

              “What about the others,” screamed an unidentified woman.

              “There’s no time,” someone else shouted. “Just
go
!”

              Terrified screams filled the hallway, as the swarm of frightened people piled into the collapsing stairwell. Without a second thought, they threw themselves into the dark and took off into the unknown. Next to the stairwell door was another directional sign, indicating maintenance was to the left. Labs numbers one through four were to our right, so I grabbed Riley’s hand again and we all took off down the hall.

              Thankfully, each laboratory was clearly labeled; a metal sign with the corresponding number dangled from small chains above the door. The door to lab number one was wide open, a broken chair leg wedged beneath it. The wired safety glass had been completely busted out. The makeshift holding cell was lit by three small lanterns. It smelled of feces and body odor. I covered my mouth and nose with my shirt and scanned the dark space. The fetid room was littered with piles of soiled clothing, abandoned blankets, and garbage… but no people.

              “One is empty,” I yelled.

              “Two is clear,” Zander shouted from across the hall.

              The door to lab number three had suffered a similar fate, its glass window hanging precariously from the frame by tiny shreds of wire mesh. A scuffle down the hall drew my attention, as an empty paper cup tumbled across the hallway.

              “Come on, Noah, we gotta go!”

              “One more bottle, Elijah!”

              Two small boys, neither of them much older than my little brother, burst through the door to lab three, as we approached. They shoved past us as if we were not even there. The two of them and sprinted off down the hallway, their little arms were full of water bottles and were gone before we could offer them any help.

              “Come on,” I barked, and we continued down the corridor.

              “Who’s there?” A shadowy figure at the end of the hallway shouted at us.

              We slowed our pace but kept moving in his direction. If our friends were inside that room, I was not going to let some random guy stand in my way. I was getting them out, no matter what.

              I could see the fear in his eyes as we inched our way closer to where the man stood. The guy looked like he had been through the wringer. His jeans were as tattered and torn as his T-shirt was stained with a mixture of dirt and blood. In his very shaky hand, he held a small pistol.

              “D-don’t come any closer,” he stuttered, waving the gun in our faces. “I— um, I have a gun. I will shoot you.”

              “So do I, buddy,” I bluffed, raising my rifle in front of me. “I’m willing to bet I am a better shot than you, too.”

              “I suggest you step away from the door, Sir,” Zander said, looking back and forth between the two of us.

              “Liv, this isn’t helping,” Riley hissed, pushing the barrel of my gun toward the floor. “Take it easy Sir. We are not going to hurt you. Look, she is putting her gun down,
aren’t you
Liv? ”