The Zombie Chronicles - Book 6 - Revelation (Apocalypse Infection Unleashed Series) (29 page)

“
He’s gonna pay for this,” Claire said. “I’m gonna go back and kill him.”

“
Claire, you can’t just—”

As if she didn’t even hear me, she continued, “I’ll wait until he forgets about me, then I’ll sting him so hard and fast that he won’t know what hit ‘im. He’ll regret ever meeting me and leaving me for dead. I’ll make him pay if it’s the last thing I do.”

“
Let’s focus on the task at hand. We’ve gotta find out what the scientists are hiding.”

“
Does it matter? The gang threatened to burn down the building. If there are any hybrids living there, they’ll be zombie shish kebob in no time.”

“
But what about Jackie?” I asked.

She pondered. “Right. We can’t let that lab be her final resting place.” She stopped and hugged me, looking at me as if she had just come out of a trance. “I’m sorry, Dean. I feel like…I think I’ve lost my mind.”

“
Who hasn’t in this crazy world?”

Chapter 28

As soon as we got back to the apartment complex, we met with Max and told him everything we’d learned.

His eyes welled up with tears. “So Frank’s dead,” he asked.

“
I’m so sorry,” Claire said.

“
Do you think the lab really unleashed hybrids on him, or was it just the zombies?”

“
I don’t know,” I answered. “We need to send a team into that lab. If they’re clear, we can rule that hypothesis out and move to the next one.”

“
I agree,” Claire said. “We need to start there and then check their sister lab across the street. If there’s another lab location, which we think there is, we need to check that too. If we don’t find any hybrids or anything, we’ll try something else.”

Max cursed under his breath. “We need those scientists to help us figure out the animal epidemic, but if there is any truth to what the gang says…”

“
We need to stockpile guns and ammo,” I said. “We also need as much manpower as possible. We have no idea when the gang is coming to claim Fairport, but they’re armed with plenty of guns, attitude, and vengeance on their minds.”

“
I’m sure they wanted us dead so no information would get back to you,” Claire said. “Z is no fool. He’ll try to catch the city off guard.”

“
Right,” Max said. “I can’t thank you enough. I’ll send a team to check out the lab with you. The rest of us will start getting ready for World War III. I’ll do everything in my power to fight for Fairport.”

“
We all will,” Claire said. “Besides, I owe Z a little payback.”

* * *

Two days later, Max sent a team with us to investigate the lab. We weren’t sure if they had hybrids or if they had anything to do with the infected animals, as it could just as easily have been a natural mutation or phenomenon. At that point, no one knew what the heck was going on. The only way to get answers was to do a little recon.

The team hid as I knocked on the door, with Val, Nick, Claire, and Lucas right beside me.

“
Who is it?” Charles asked.

“
It’s me, Dean.”

Charlie opened the door and let us all in. “Hi, guys. I know I promised you some more test results, but I need at least a couple more days to—”

“
Can you show us what you do have?” Nick asked, cutting him off rudely.

“
Um…sure.”

As soon as Charlie turned around to lead the way, Lucas put him in a chokehold and held him there until he passed out. “Whoa! It works,” he said. “See? All those weekends watching professional wrestling paid off.”

“
Stop that!” Claire said.

Lucas laid the unconscious scientist on the ground “Pssh, he’s fine. He’s just taking a little nap.”

“
That wasn’t part of the plan,” I argued, snatching the keycard from Charlie’s lab coat.

“
Do you want to look around this lab or what?” Nick retorted.

“
I’m sure he would’ve just let us in,” I said, “or somebody could have sneaked off.”

“
You tried that route before, Captain Kindness,” Lucas mocked, “and where did it get you? Nowhere.”

Val glanced up, just as stunned as I was. “I could’ve easily distracted him.”

“
He’s out now,” Lucas said. “Can we just get this over with already?”

“
We need to tie him up,” Nick said.

As Nick and Lucas made quick work of securing Charlie, the team raced in and divided the building into sections. About six men came with us, and the others went about their separate ways.

“
Dean, Claire, and I will look down here,” Val said. “You guys take the upstairs. Secure it and search it. We’ll meet down here in a few minutes.”

Our group searched every room, but we didn’t find anyone, undead or otherwise. The place was deserted, so quiet we could have heard a pin drop. Everything looked normal and in place.

We met Nick and Lucas in the lobby.

“
Nothin’ out of the ordinary,” Lucas said.

“
I didn’t see anything up there the last time I searched it either,” I said.

Nick motioned us to the corridor that led to the basement. We hurried down the stairs and glanced around.

I pointed to the room where I had previously thought I’d heard zombies. “That’s the place with the chickens, where I heard those growls.”

“
There’s nothing in there,” Claire said.

“
I say we check it out again,” Nick said.

Lucas nudged him. “Let Val and Dean check it out. The rest of us will head to the sister building. We need to get out of here as fast as possible.”

“
All right,” Val said. “If none of us finds anything, I say we head over to the hospital lab.”

Nick nodded. “Sounds like a plan.”

“
Half of us will go with Nick,” the man said, “and the other half with Dean.”

Nick’s group ran down the dark corridor, their flashlights beams waving around in front of them.

Val had brought a bagful of gadgets in case we had to break in. She pulled out lock-cutters and snipped the lock right off.

I held my breath, pointed my gun, and opened the door. Chickens fluttered and clucked.

Val shined her light around until she found a lantern. The illuminated room was exactly as Claire described, nothing but plants and chicken cages everywhere.

“
There’s nothing here,” one of the men said. “Let’s catch up to the others.”

“
Yeah, this was a waste of time,” another answered. “Let’s go.”

The men left, and I could hear their footsteps echoing off down the corridor. As I looked around and listened, a thought hit me, and I was quite troubled by it.

“
Dean,” Val said. “are you ready?”

I stopped at the door. “Little Ben told me he’s afraid to come into the basement. He said there are monsters.”

Val shrugged. “Little kids imagine things, Dean. I’m sure its worse nowadays, since they’ve all been caught in a living horror movie.”

“
No, he specifically said the basement, and he seemed genuinely scared. Maybe he did see something down here. Besides, I know I heard zombie moans.”

She tapped her chin. “Well, if you’re that sure, maybe we’re overlooking something.”

“
Let’s look it over one more time. Look for anything unusual.”

Val and I went back into the room and started feeling the walls. We had no idea what we were looking for, but when I moved the potted plants in the corner of the room, I found it: a hidden door with a padlock.

“
Val! I need the lock-cutter.”

She hurried over and cut the lock. When the door creaked open, we were staring down at a set of stairs.

“
Where do you think this leads to?” Val asked.

“
Only one way to find out,” I answered, “or should we wait for the others?”

“
Maybe it’s just for storage.”

“
But what if it isn’t?” I retorted.

“
Let’s go check it out,” she said.

Holding on to the wall, I climbed slowly down the five-foot wide, rickety stairs that creaked and groaned with every step I took. A little part of me wanted to run straight back to the others, but the curious part demanded that I keep descending into that darkness. About twenty feet down, there was a white, heavy, metal door.

“
It’s locked,” Val said as she tried to open it.

I reached for the key card I borrowed from Charlie and swiped it. The door opened with a click. I noticed a narrow archway to the left, which I assumed to be a tunnel or tight corridor. There was a maze of corridors, and I had no idea which one to choose.

Chapter 29

Finally, our eyes adjusted to the dim light.

“
What the heck is all this?” Val whispered, stunned.

I shined my flashlight into rooms filled with microscopes for analyzing samples, workstations, tables, shelves, and state-of-the-art equipment. “It’s a fully functioning research area,” I answered, staring down the dimly lit corridors. “They’re tapping into electricity down here.”

“
While everyone upstairs is living like
Little House on the Prairie
, with no lighting or modern conveniences!”

I shined my light around. “Yeah, tell me about it. Clearly, they’re reserving all the power for whatever they’re doing down here. They’ve gotta have a generator down here.”

“
Dean, I’ve got a feeling there’s way more to this lab than we thought possible,” she said. “Why didn’t they tell us? What do they have to hide?”

“
It definitely makes me wonder,” I said. I held my flashlight up to a map encased in glass.

“
There’s nobody down here,” Val said. “Let’s take a quick peek at A Block.”

“
Make it fast,” I said.

“
Lucas used more than a few Boy Scout knots on Charlie. He won’t be calling for backup anytime soon.”

“
With our luck, somebody will come in and let him go.”

“
Nobody’s coming in till morning,” she said. “I know how they operate. Besides, I’m not scared of those lab coats. If they give us any trouble, we’ve just gotta knock their bifocals off and steal their pocket protectors,” she joked. “C’mon.”

The girl had guts, and I was inspired by her curiosity and courage. Besides, I was also dying to know what was down there. “I bet they brought Jackie down here,” I said.

“
And that’s why you found her ring in the hall. It makes sense. They put on a show for the women, buried another zombie, and had a fake funeral just to pacify everyone, us included. Meanwhile, they brought Jackie down here and…” Val said, respectfully ending her sentence there.

When I thought about it, my blood began to boil. I’d been deceived, just like the women who thought they were doing a good deed by saving Jackie’s body from experiments. I was sure the scientists would never waste a good opportunity to dissect their first hybrid. The thought made me sick. I couldn’t believe how cold, merciless, and heartless they were.

Val tried a door to one of the rooms, but it was locked. “Dean,” she said, nodding toward the keypad, “swipe that badge you took from Charlie.”

I slid the card through, and it reminded me of the hotel my parents and I had stayed in on our last vacation. The door clicked, then slid opened.

Val flashed her bright beam around. “It’s so dark in here.”