Dead Ahead (31 page)

“One of them fell off the back of the buggy, Sir!”

“Locate that casualty Coleman! Good point, White. We have four insurgents, people; one of them is no doubt Ford, doing the sniping: Rigby would have been driving: leaving one on foot one riding shotgun and one in the back who was dropped. Hopefully Mr Woodward our resident computer geek at the bunker has been shot already and that leaves the boys with quite a problem. Coleman, Report!”

“I’m sorry, Sir. He’s gone!”

_________________________

Greg threw himself from the back of the Argo as the bullets riddled the sand in front of them; there was no way in hell he was going to remain on that sitting duck one moment longer. He landed heavily on his shoulder and tumbled dramatically towards the river hearing Cassie’s satisfying cries as he rolled across the sand. Gently he eased himself into the fast running water and let the flow carry him seaward, with a little help from himself of course, he did his best to look like a corpse.

Unfortunately the depth of the river decreased as it spread out over the sand nearing the sea and Greg had to slowly crawl towards the water’s edge. There was an almighty boom and a flash from the plant. Greg thought that the plant had exploded until the biggest lumps of hail he had ever seen started to pepper his back and legs; the wet clothes clung to his skin giving little to no protection from the icy balls of pain hammering down. Greg just lay there taking the pain for as long as he could until he heard another explosion from behind him, that must have been the Argo, he saw his chance and went for it; he got up and ran as hard as he could towards the water; with every footfall he imagined a bullet ripping through him, slowly ending his life as his blood seeped into the salty waters, left to be feasted on by the disgusting remnants of society; oh how he hated society, it would be a fittingly ironic end to his life.

But it wasn’t to be, his feet collided with the seawater and he dove in head first, hitting the bottom harder than he intended; he dragged himself in and under, away from the stinging hail. Once he was deep far enough out; he turned, with only the very top of his head peeking out of the water, to see the truck roll up the beach and blow a hole in the gate to make its way after Cassie and Caleb.

The hail turned to rain as he watched the truck disappear into the power plant.

Only one question remained; what to do now?

Chapter

24

Do You Want to Live

The sound of the siren was shrieking harshly in his ears but Caleb’s heart still pounding loudly through his body. As they splashed their way through the slush of the hailstones in the car park and round the side of the building, another hail of bullets ripped into the wall as they darted round and flattened themselves against the shelter of the cold concrete wall.

Caleb pointed to the huge gloss black building across the road, it had three bright red pillars leading from the third floor to the roof and an immense thin chimney at the back, “That’s the Thorp building just across the road,” Caleb said in a panic, “but the control centre isn’t till the other end, there is no way we can make it there before they catch up with us!” An explosion blew a good chunk out of the corner of the building they were leaning against, shaking the ground beneath them, showering them in fragments of rubble and sending them running again.

“When we reach the end of this building you two dart right and hide,” Ethan shouted over the cacophony as they ran, “I will draw their fire. Hide behind something solid, I think they have heat sensors on that thing, so don’t move till they are out of sight!”

“Ethan.... No!” Cassie shouted.

“We don’t have time to argue about this, just go!” Ethan pushed Cassie round the corner and carried on running at full pelt; Caleb had to grab her arm to keep her moving as bullets tore the ground apart around Ethan’s feet, with only seconds to spare they made it round the other side of the building and fell to the ground gulping down breaths of air.

“We have to help him,” Cassie said as loudly as she dared. Caleb looked over to see Ethan disappear into the building running parallel with the one they were hiding behind; the doors instantly exploded behind him and the tank quickly came into view.

“He is doing his job, Cassie; we have to do ours, now come on!”

Caleb raced down the other side of the building with Cassie in toe, circling the building and bringing them back to the corner with the hole blown out of it; Caleb used the blast hole to peer out to see where the tank had gone; it was now alongside the building that Ethan had gone into, firing every rocket and chain gun it had into the side of it, this had to be their chance.

“Ok, let’s make a break for it,” Caleb said and they rushed across the road flattening themselves against the brick of the Thorp building on the other side, “There is an entrance round the back, but we will have to weave all the way through to get to the control room. Are you ok to carry on?”

“I’m fine,” Cassie said through laboured breath, “Let’s do it!”             

They sidled their way around the great grey building at the back of Thorp between it and a large building the workers affectionately called ‘the hangar’ at the back towards the rear entrance. It didn’t take much to break through the safety glass of the rear door, the pommel on the back of the Naginata made short work of it and they were quickly rushing by the faux black marble reception area and into the industrial inner workings at the centre of Thorp it’s self.

It was only when they had pounded their way along several of the cold steel gantries and up three flights of stairs that they finally paused for breath.

“How.... How far do we have to go?” Cassie asked leaning against a railing and placing her hands on her knees.

“It’s not too far now, just along to the left and up a flight of stairs; that’s the control room there behind that glass there.” Caleb said pointing to his left, “But watch where you’re leaning, that pool beneath us is where they keep all of the uranium; you don’t want to fall in there.”

Cassie all but threw herself from the edge of the railing and stared into the murky blue waters below the walkway, “No, I don’t think I do,” she looked at him with a smile, “What are we waiting for? Let’s go,” the smile on her face quickly dropped away though; and Caleb didn’t have to wait long to find out why.

“Oh
you’re
not going
anywhere
, darlin’!” the voice echoed around the concrete and steel around them and Caleb spun round to see a rodent looking man with piercing grey eyes stood behind them pointing a rather lethal looking rifle right at him, “Don’t even think about it, Romeo!” he said with a sneer, “Drop it! You ain’t going anywhere either!”

_________________________

“This is shite!” said Sullivan who was still in a strop. The hail had turned to rain but it still made more noise on the Land Rover roof than Del was happy about, “How come we have to sit here while everyone else gets to fly about blowing shit up?” Sullivan piped up again.

“Because, Sully you dumb bastard, we still have enemies unaccounted for and we are supposed to be on the lookout for them. If you’ve got a problem with your station then take it up with Knox; or better yet take it up with Deane, it’s his bloody fault you’re here.”

“But Deane’s dea....”

“I fuckin’ know Deane’s dead you fucker, and I would still rather have him here than you! Now shut the fuck up and get your eyes down them fuckin’ noculars!”

Sully really was staring to grate on Del’s last nerve, the prick just wouldn’t shut up; even now he could feel Sully’s tiny little mind ticking away just trying to put together some other mundane sentence to spoil the otherwise peaceful morning.

“All I wanna know is....” and there it was.

“Shut the fuck up, Sully!”

“.... how come....”

“Nah, I mean it Sully, I’ve spotted something!”

“What is it?”

“Oh, would you fucking believe it? It’s fuckin her, it’s Fosters’ daughter. Buckle up Sully my son; we’re going in!”

Del took off at full speed, bouncing the Land Rover over every obstacle in his way; it was only when he was ramming it through the plant gates and several of the zombies that he noticed that Sully was still desperately trying to put his seat belt on. It didn’t fill him with the mirth that it usually would though; not when he had that bitch Cassie Fosters in his sights. She was going to pay dearly for what she had done; this was all her fault, this whole thing, it was her fault that the bunker was compromised, it was her fault that they lost Conway in the bunker and all of the lads in the other Land Rover, then Gordo and Cookie, It was her fault that these fucking creatures even existed; it was scientists just like her that created this mess. But most of all she was going to pay for what happened to Deane, if he hadn’t had to leave the bunker then he would be just fine, it was her fault, all of this was her fault, and she was going to have to pay.

_____________________________

Ethan only just made it through the doors before they exploded into a thousand pieces behind him; he tumbled to the floor and rolled behind the solid oak reception desk. He gave himself a fraction of a second to look back to see how much of a lead he had; they were approaching faster than he had anticipated, he didn’t have time to dither. He threw himself back onto his feet and out of a door leading further into the building, he took a turning that led to a stairwell and rushed up to the first floor; he knew this would corner himself but it would also force them out of the tank and on foot, giving Ethan the advantage over most of the troops.

Ethan heard the vehicle stop and he edged his way towards the windows on that side, just enough for the heat sensors to pick him up; the windows erupted inwards throwing segments of glass around the room and Ethan retreated to the hallway a good distance from the stairwell but with a decent view of it; there he waited patiently to hear footsteps coming his way.

The rate of fire from the tank didn’t stop though, if anything it increased, and rather than aiming for Ethan they concentrated their fire on the ground floor. Had they picked up another heat signature? Had he knocked something over down there and started a fire? Cassie hadn’t followed him in had she? Ethan flinched at the thought.

Abruptly the firing stopped. It must have been at least three minutes of constant firing, it would be a real mess down there; it wouldn’t be easy getting out. He heard a repetitive clanging like someone striking metal with a hammer,
‘All that could be left down there is the.... oh shit, the steel struts supporting the upper floors!’
Ethan was up and running towards the back of the building before he had even finished the thought process. He heard the tank engine roar and moments later the floor beneath his feet started to twist and contort with a series of momentous explosions.

Ethan shot out the glass of one of the windows on the other side of the office as he ran through, but the whole world was sinking behind him; the rest of the windows shattered under the strain covering him with shards of glass, still he ran. He reached the window only to see the second floor above him slowly sinking down and found himself with no option but to hurl himself from the building. As he fell he saw the gaping hole beneath him contorting like the mouth of an angry creature; he pulled in his arms, holding his rifle close to his chest, and braced his legs for impact. He landed with the grace of an aging hippo on to a pile of rubble but received no injuries for his effort short of a mildly twisted ankle.

But just as he was blessing his remarkable good luck, the darkness of the first floor collapsed down on top of him with a deafening crunch.

__________________________

“Sully, can you hear me?” Harper shouted into his radio; Cassie couldn’t believe she was now at the mercy of this cretinous bastard, “Pick up you stupid bugger!” a crackle came from the radio before a muffled barking voice, unmistakably Staff Sergeant Knox, broke through.

“Keep off the radios, Harper!”

“Shit!” Harper said before pressing the button on the radio and talking into it again, “Sir, we have Miss Fosters and another civilian here in our custody.”

There was a long pause before Knox replied, “Good work, Harper; give us your location.” it sounded like there was heavy static through the radio as Knox spoke.

“We are in the big black and red building, Sir; apparently above a big pool of water filled with plutonium. Sully is round the back in the land Rover.” There was another pause.

“Stay put, we’re coming to you!” Knox replied eventually.

The smile that spread across Harper’s face was repulsive, God how she loathed him.

“Looks like the jig is up, Missy”

“Oh? I don’t think so, not by a long shot.” Cassie said stubbornly.

Harper barked a laugh, “Back up from the gun, Romeo; and drop the stick too.”

Cassie could see the reluctance in Caleb’s hands as he placed his staff against the railings; suddenly there was a loud boom from outside which shook the platform forcing Harper to take his hand away from the rifle and reach for the handrail; Caleb took the opportunity and with a quick flick of his hand and foot he used the staff to send the rifle that was lying on the gantry flying up towards Harper’s face. Shots were fired but Cassie was too busy running towards the opposite end of the walkway, she made it through the door and was more than pleased to see Caleb follow her through.

“Which way...?” Cassie cried.

“Follow me!” Caleb said before disappearing down a hallway to the left; it wasn’t far, but far enough to allow Harper to take a few pot shots before they disappeared round the corner and up some stairs. Shortly they came to a door and Caleb hammered in a code on the keypad, the door opened with a clunk and they dived inside, slamming the door behind them. Cassie heard bullets ring against the door as it closed but they didn’t seem to do much damage on their side.

“Don’t worry about him now, that door is solid. Now we have to kill the core!”

Caleb danced around the room, turning knobs and flicking switches, occasionally punching codes or commands into computers. She knew there was nothing she could do to help so Cassie tried her best to keep out of his way.

For a while she heard pitiful tapping on the door to the room which must have been Harper trying to break his way in, but eventually it stopped; it brought Cassie to a sudden realisation though, there was only one door into the room.

“We’re not going to make it out of here are we?” Cassie asked with grim certainty.

“I don’t know about me, but I think you could make it.” Caleb said absently.

“What do you mean?” Suddenly the incessant shrieking of the alarm stopped, Cassie had grown so accustomed to it that the silence it left made her uneasy, “What do you mean
I
could make it?” she almost shouted.

“Just give me two minutes,” Caleb said calmly holding her gently by the shoulders and sitting her at a computer, he moved over to a computer at the other side of the room, “Now type in ‘Command code Atlantis dash M.R.’ now hit return on three.... two.... one.... punch it!”

“It’s flashing up a load of zeroes at me now!”

“That’s fine,” Caleb rolled his chair over to her and took control of the keyboard, “It’s just the countdown sequence,” he typed in one zero, zero, zero and hit return. The countdown started immediately ticking down.