“Oh, damn. Yeah, what
did
he mean?”
“Did I hear right?” Jonah asked quietly. “That guy’s your dad?”
“So your mom might be here too?” Jake’s voice was becoming excited.
“Stop!” I held my hands up. “I can’t even think right now. Just…
shhh
.” I rubbed my temples.
The three started and Jake pretended to be taken aback. “Jeeze…take it easy.”
“I don’t know what…” My voice jumped an octave and my breathing hitched, but I kept my fingers pressed to my temples and my eyes squeezed shut.
Is this real or is this a dream?
“I don’t…I don’t…” I was on the verge of hyperventilating.
“Okay, okay.” Mia put one arm around me and covered my mouth and nose loosely with her other hand. “Breathe slowly. In your nose and out your mouth.” Her eyes slid over the other two, who had backed up a step and were chewing on their bottom lips. She pointed her chin in the direction of the main group and dropped her eyebrows. “Go.”
Jonah and Jake shuffled off while I focused on my breathing.
This is real, this is real.
Mia removed her hand and rubbed my upper arms, as if to keep some sudden coldness at bay. I swallowed hard several times and finally made eye contact. She uttered a few words of encouragement and continued rubbing.
“I’m good,” I finally said. Bile leapt into my throat and caught me by surprise. I turned from her quickly and braced my hands on the wall, bent over, nearly puking on my boots.
“Easy,” she cooed and rubbed my lower back. She glanced around, making sure no one had seen, and was disappointed when she caught Dad keeping a sharp eye on me. He waved Michael off and headed in our direction.
“Kasey, come on. Kasey,” he said over and over, pulling my hair back and doing what he could to comfort me. Once the heaving stopped and I felt steady enough to stand, I straightened, wiping my mouth on my sleeve and pressing one hand to my forehead.
Oh, God, it’s starting. I’m turning. I have to hurry, not much time left.
“Where’s Ryan?” I asked, facing the wall. I couldn’t bear to look at either of them.
“Whatever these scientists have been doing, they’ve already done it to him. He left earlier, with another group.”
“What do you mean, another group?” Now I faced him. Pieces of the puzzle were falling into place.
“I think, whatever they’ve been doing, they’ve been doing it in groups, then releasing them.”
“Releasing them where?” Mia asked.
Dad pointed behind us, toward the exit. “Outside.”
“And you know this for sure?” I asked. My voice was firming again.
“No, he doesn’t.” Rabbit joined us, followed by Michael and the others. “All we know for sure is he witnessed a group of people, alive as far as he could tell, being marched past his cell window sometime before we arrived. Other than that, he’s been kept in isolation, like the others.”
“Ryan was in that group?” I asked again.
Dad slowly nodded. “Yes.” His face twisted, just for a split second, yet it was enough to give away the weakness he felt underneath his stony exterior. “He didn’t even glance my way.”
I stepped forward and grabbed his arm. “We’ll figure this out.” Then I stood aside and gestured toward the locked door, the one leading to the laboratory. “We need to get this door open.”
“That’s the plan. Caleb, you and the others stay here. You know how to use a weapon?” Michael asked, stepping up next to the man and holding out his shotgun.
Dad looked at the gun, then back at Michael. “Yes. But I’m not too wild about letting my daughter go on without me.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“She’ll be fine,” Michael repeated.
It felt like time was speeding up. Everyone was checking their weapons and making sure they were loaded, double checking ammo supplies, and getting ready to engage whatever or whoever we might find on the other side of the door. Jake was standing at the lock with his pocket knife in his hand, watching Rabbit and Michael sharply, waiting for the go-ahead.
“We can’t do what we need to do
and
worry about protecting all of you,” the corporal stepped up and explained. “You seem the most stable, so we need you to hang back and keep everyone together. I don’t know what’s on the other side of that door, but whatever it is, it’s for us to handle. No more survivors are going to die today.” The tone of his voice made it clear to everyone that he was now taking it personally.
Dad and I met each other’s gaze and held it a long moment. I could almost see him wrestling with himself, to do what was being asked of him, or keep an eye on me. Finally I took the shotgun from Michael’s hands and shoved it against my dad’s chest.
“Take them down to the first set of cells. Wait there. If trouble comes, shut yourselves up in one of them and wait for us. We’re going to clear the lab.” I let go of the gun, of my feelings for him, and stepped away. “Go ahead, Jake.”
Dad curled his hands around the barrel and stock. “Alright, fellas. Let’s go.” He lingered a moment, letting his gaze fall across Michael and Rabbit, then turned and led the other men back down to the far end of the room. Thankfully, Gus went with them. At least I knew he’d be safe.
“Pop it, Jake,” Michael repeated my order. The rest of us stood back and raised our weapons.
* * *
Although we had prepared ourselves for anything, nothing came bursting out of the doorway. Jake pocketed his knife and raised his own weapon, stepping aside to let Rabbit lead us through. We entered single file and quickly noticed a distinct lack of sound. The area on this side of the door was cleaner and whiter than the rest of the complex had been. As before, the only noise was the squelching of our boots against the tile floor. One side of the hallway was nothing except a wall, but the other side was floor-to-ceiling windows, allowing for full view of the area beyond. We had only walked maybe thirty feet, enough so that we were in the hallway and standing in front of the windows, when movement caught our attention.
Rabbit balled up one fist, signaling a halt, but it wasn’t necessary. Everyone had frozen in place and was watching two people, a man and a woman in white coats, working at a station positioned in the center of the room on the other side of the window. Lining all four walls of the room were metal tables, being used as beds. On each table lay a body, strapped down, with IVs sticking out of both arms. I think Rabbit must have realized the two people inside weren’t armed because he suddenly started for the door leading inside the lab.
No one moved to follow him.
“Come
on
,” he growled.
“What are they doing to them?” Mia asked.
I think I can speak for everyone involved when I say we felt as though we were watching this from outside the situation. We were observers, sitting in a theater perhaps, our eyes transfixed on the twisted scenes that rolled before us. It was just a movie. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. A government would never have scientists perform experiments on its civilians. A government was supposed to protect its people. Scientists were supposed to search for ways to better our lives, not to end them. This didn’t happen in our country. Not the United States.
Of course, every one of us knew what governments and related agencies were capable of. Every one of us knew what sort of atrocities Man could and would commit against fellow Man, sometimes for no reason at all. We weren’t stupid. We weren’t that naïve or innocent. But I think, seeing those people strapped to those tables, helpless and being experimented on against their will after being held prisoner—held in a shithole, forced to sleep in their own filth, after being
promised
they’d be safe—I think it was the icing on the cake. Deadheads, zombies, folks coming back and eating us. Tearing and ripping us apart. We thought we had seen the worst. At that moment I think we were all traumatized just a little bit more. As if we weren’t jaded and cynical enough.
“Hey, let’s go,” Rabbit growled again.
The scientists inside had noticed us. Slowly, our wits returned to us and our mission became clear. This was the Command Center for the entire state of West Virginia, which had been divided up into four districts. Each district had been sending survivors to this exact location. We were staring at what apparently had been done to all the survivors that had been found and sent to them. We only had one choice: stop it. It didn’t matter that we didn’t know what “it” was. Whatever they’d been doing to people, it had to be stopped.
“Alright. Let’s get our heads out of our asses,” I finally spoke up, making my voice loud and clear. I shouldered my shotgun and stepped up to the other side of the door, opposite Rabbit. He had the key card in his hand. “You think that will work?”
“One way to find out.” He swiped the card.
The two scientists were scrambling behind the workstation, trying to hide from us. The noise of the door unlocking prompted everyone else to snap into motion. Weapons were raised, minds were set, even though a few of them still bore looks of disbelief. Months of training took over the second Rabbit and I entered the room. Michael and Jake moved past us and spread out, followed by Mia and Jonah.
“Get down! Get down!” Michael shouted at the scientists, who looked like they were trying to find something in a drawer one of them had pulled open.
“Hands where we can see them! Now!” the corporal ordered. Were they going for weapons?
“Please don’t! Don’t shoot!” the woman nearly screamed. It was plain to me that both of them were scared and neither looked like the type to whip out a gun and start mowing people down.
“Get down now!” Michael repeated and moved closer. In the excitement, his limp had disappeared.
Rabbit moved up along the other side of the workstation, and he and Michael came at the scientists from both sides. The rest of us split up and followed, flanking and cutting off any chance of escape.
“Please, stay calm, please,” the male scientist spoke up. He wasn’t shouting; his voice was very sedate.
“On your knees! Hands behind your head!” Rabbit barked.
We had inched into position and were waiting for the scientists to comply. If they didn’t, I wasn’t sure what would happen. I figured they’d be shot. To be honest, I didn’t really give a damn.
“Alright, soldier. Just stay calm,” the man said again. He caught the eye of the woman, nodded slowly, then eased himself down onto his knees and laced his fingers behind his head. “Do as they say, Evelyn.”
The woman, Evelyn, whimpered, but did as she was told. Tears were already spilling down her kindergarten-paste cheeks. Just who did she think we were? Bandits? Thugs? Another branch of the government sent for
them?
“Who are you?” Rabbit barked again. Neither of them answered. He stepped forward and shoved his barrel against the male scientist’s temple. “Name, now!”
The man’s head was pushed back slightly, either from cringing or from the force Rabbit was putting behind his pistol. I could see the folds of his white coat trembling.
“My name is David McAlister. I’m lead scientist for Center 35.”
Rabbit and Michael stared at one another a moment. We had seen this man’s name on a door earlier, but we had only known this place as the Command Center, not Center 35. I tried not to look around, to keep my focus only on the man and woman on their knees before us. I tried to keep my mind on the task at hand, forcing thoughts of my family as far back into the depths as possible. I could see, just in my periphery, the feet of someone lying on the table next to me, and another door, this one marked “Private”.
Don’t look
.
“Where are the others? There were soldiers here, where are they?” Rabbit continued his questions, killing the silence and bringing my attention back on what it needed to be on.
The scientist glanced at Evelyn quickly, but a jab of the corporal’s pistol brought his eyes back around. “They… gave themselves willingly in the service of their country.” His voice had started to waver just a bit.
“Explain.” Rabbit’s voice was wavering too.
I could literally hear Jake, who stood on the other side of the workstation behind Michael, breathing. That was usually a bad sign.
“We hadn’t received any shipments…” Something about McAlister’s answer rippled through us.
“Jesus,” Jonah moaned from behind me.
“Tell me what happened to the soldiers stationed here!” Rabbit shouted and pressed harder against the scientist’s head.
He didn’t answer quickly enough.
“We used them! We hadn’t had a shipment in days! If we didn’t use what we had, it would have all been for nothing!” Evelyn screeched.
“Evelyn!” McAlister growled.
Rabbit pulled back and brought the grip of his sidearm down across the scientist’s face, knocking the man forward onto the floor. Michael stepped up, adjusting his coverage, while Rabbit holstered his gun and knelt, sticking a knee into his back. He grabbed a handful of hair and wrenched back, locking his other hand like a vice around McAlister’s chin. The scientist gasped for breath; his neck being bent at an awkward angle made it difficult to breathe. His eyes looked frantic for the first time since we’d entered the room. They moved across each of us, pleading for help. None came.