Return to Dark Earth (15 page)

The man swallowed. “Damn, it hurts. What the
hell happened to them? How could she…come back to life?”

“I don’t think she was alive.” Nera was
watching the other bodies with a hawk’s gaze.

“It must be some sort of infection,” Nik
pondered.

The thud of running footsteps sounded and
Galen and his team, as well as Gunn and Solomon, poured into the
room.

“Holy shit,” Gunn muttered.

One uniformed woman hustled over and knelt
by Datarr. She had a green cross on her sleeve and a med-kit on her
back. She cut the remnants of his boot off and got to work.

Galen studied his dead team members with a
grim face. If he felt anything, he didn’t let it show. “What the
hell happened?”

“Agent Lambert…came back to life and
attacked Datarr.”

“We need to destroy the bodies,” Nera
said.

Avril nodded. “I agree with Darc.”

The medic hissed out a breath. “Sir?
Ma’am?”

They all turned and Nik got a look at the
man’s injured leg.
Uh oh.
The agent was clearly
part-aquatic, obvious from his large eyes and the pale blue tint to
his skin. There were bloody claw marks at his ankle, but that
wasn’t the problem. The problem was the black, sludge-like
substance they could see under the man’s blue skin, working its way
up his veins.

“What the hell?” Datarr’s face was sheened
with sweat. “Get it out. Please! Get it out.”

The medic lifted a medscope. “I’ve already
tried the medscope…it had no effect. I’ll give you an antibiotic,
but I think we need to get you back to the ship and into the
medbay.”

He gave a jerky nod, then he stiffened like
he’d been hit by an electrical shock.

Galen frowned. “Datarr?”

Suddenly Datarr swung out. He backhanded the
medic and she fell to the floor with a sharp cry. Another agent, a
tall, brawny man who towered over Datarr, dived at him.

Datarr’s hand shot out and he grabbed the
other agent around the neck and lifted him an inch off the
ground.

Fuck
. Nik took a step back and raised
his pistol.

Datarr pulled the struggling guard closer
and made a noise. A growl.

He turned and they all saw that his wide
eyes were changing, blackness leaking into them.

“God, what the hell?” Galen stared, his gun
aimed at his agent.

Suddenly, Nera flew forward and jumped into
the air, her sword glinting above her head. One quick, controlled
swing of her blade and Datarr’s head was removed from his body. It
hit the floor and rolled, and his body collapsed.

The tall agent stumbled backward, his gaze
horrified. The medic got to her feet, shaking a little.

Nera stood. Black blood ran down her sword.
“I suggest you check they aren’t infected, then have your team
decapitate the rest of the bodies before they also decide to feast
on our insides.”

Galen gave Nera a hard stare, then he turned
with a jerk and nodded to his team. “Do as she says.”

“Zombies.” Avril had a closed fist pressed
to her chest, her eyes as wide as moons. “They’re zombies.”

Niklas frowned. It was an old Earth term for
reanimated corpses that rose from the dead with a hunger for flesh.
He suspected there was a scientific reason for this. Most likely a
virus, no doubt mutated by radiation. Reanimation of corpses was
abhorred throughout the galaxy, but it did happen. Zayn and Ria
knew that better than anybody. He looked at the bodies littering
the ground. Still, this was something far, far worse than recycling
bodies.

“I suggest we get back to the ship and
recall the other team as well,” Galen said. “Until we have a better
handle on this situation.”

Gunn snorted. “I am out of
here
.”

Avril cast one wistful glance at the
artifacts, then nodded at Galen. “Do it.”

After the gruesome task of decapitating the
bodies was carried out, the group moved out together.

“It seems wrong to leave them here,” Avril
said.

“We can’t risk any contamination on the
ship.” Galen’s tone was as hard as stone.

They kept moving and everyone had their
weapons drawn. Nik stayed close to Nera. She held her sword in a
relaxed grip but was watchful. He was pleased to see Jonas move in
beside them, a laser pistol in his hand.

“Okay, Jonas?” Nik asked.

The younger man nodded. “Wasn’t expecting
zombies, though.”

“None of us were. Good job on the Olmec head
and the skull.”

Jonas flicked a glance his way. “It’s a good
start. Sun Stone tops it though.”

Nik hid a grin. “We’re all sharing the pay
at the end.”

“It’s not about the e-creds. I want the
recognition.”

“You’re young. You’ll get it. It just takes
time.”

“I don’t have time.” Jonas stepped out into
the lobby, leaving Nik wondering what the kid was so desperate to
prove. And to whom.

Overhead, beautiful golden rays of sunlight
filtered through the dome casting bright stripes over the
floor.

“The other team is coming from the Special
Exhibitions Hall. They’ll be here in a moment.” Avril sighed. “I
did not want things to turn out like this.”

Nik felt a pang of sympathy for her. He’d
once lost a young trainee astro-archeologist on what should have
been an easy, safe dig. It had been a horrible experience. He
opened his mouth, planning to offer something sympathetic, but just
then Nera stiffened and his attention zeroed in on her. She was
staring at the collapsed eastern wing, her head tilted
slightly.

“What is it?” He asked.

“Something…” Nebula eyes met his.
“Something’s coming.”

Damn, her hearing was good. He lifted his
laser pistol. “Avril? Galen? Something’s heading this way. Eastern
wing corridor.”

The agent frowned. “I don’t hear—”

The first of them shambled out of the
doorway and into the lobby. It was moving faster than Nik would
have thought possible, with an uneven gait, like it no longer had
full control of its muscles. Despite the mottled skin and gaping
mouth, it was clear that it had definitely once been a man.

A part of Nik had initially hoped that
whatever had attacked and killed the team had been some sort of
mutated animal, like the mutant cat he and Nera had fought.

But as more zombies flowed into the lobby,
Nik knew he’d been wrong.

Some humans had clearly survived the nuclear
bombs of the Great Terran war…and over time had become something
else.

Laser pistols whined, green laserfire
filling the room. Nik aimed and pulled the trigger. He saw even
more of them pouring out of the eastern wing. Dammit. There were
too many of them. He was vaguely aware of the other security team
arriving, adding their weapons to the fight.

Zombies fell, but more kept coming. Nik
heard the sound of a blade swishing through the air and looked to
his left. Nera was leaping and twirling, her sword swinging in
dangerous arcs. Heads were lopped off, and zombie limbs hit the
ground. She had a focused look on her face—no horror, no strain,
just focus. But he knew even she couldn’t keep this up forever.

They kept fighting. Some of the Institute
agents were shouting. He saw one get pulled into the horde of
zombies.

“Get him!” Galen yelled. “Concentrate fire
around Mahmood.”

The creatures scrambled over each other to
get to their prize. The agent’s screams were abruptly cut off.

Nik shot another zombie in the head.
Suddenly, something slapped against his chest, splattering black
blood over his armor. He saw a severed zombie arm drop to the
floor.

He spun…and saw Gunn grinning at him. The
treasure hunter tossed another zombie body part in Nik’s direction.
Several hungry zombies raced after the trail of blood, rushing
toward Nik, eyes glowing and jaws open.

Asshole
. Nik pushed Gunn out of his
head and focused on shooting the zombies racing at him. They herded
him across the lobby, but he took them down.

“Everyone, get to the exit,” Galen roared.
“Get back to the ship!”

Nik looked up and realized he was now a long
way from the door. There were a lot of zombies between him and the
exit.

He caught Nera’s gaze through the mob of
zombies. Then a zombie rushed at him, making a horrible moaning
growl.

He kicked it. As it fell, he kicked it
again. As it hit the ground, it turned its head and he swore the
damn thing smiled at him.

“Niklas! Watch out.”

Nera’s shout came a second too late. Another
zombie flew into him, and together they crashed into the floor.
Pain radiated through his back and he skidded across the tiles, the
zombie sliding with him. Holy hell, the first one had been a decoy.
These things had some sort of intelligence and had been working as
a team.

He wedged his hands against the zombie’s
chest and fought to keep it away from him. It gnashed its gruesome
teeth furiously. Its eyes looked soulless in its bald head that was
covered by that ugly, mottled skin.

Nik spotted his laser pistol beside him. He
had one chance to get this right. He moved one hand and snatched at
the pistol. The zombie was already pushing forward, its gaze on his
throat. Nik jammed the pistol into the creature’s face and fired.
Even with part of its face gone, it was still trying to get at him,
moaning and snarling.

A sword slashed down and the creature’s head
rolled away.

He looked up. “You should have gotten
out!”

Nera extended a hand. “You’re welcome.”

“You were right near the exit.” Anger poured
through him. “Why didn’t you get to safety?”

She just raised a brow. “We need to keep
moving.”

“Phoenix? Darc?” Galen’s voice came across
the static-filled comm line. “We’re all out. Where are you
two?”

Dammit
. Nik eyed the distance to the
entrance, and the mass of zombies busy chewing on the agents they’d
managed to kill. “We’re on the other side of the lobby, we’ll—”

“No time.” Nera pushed Nik and pointed.
Another mob of zombies was loping in from a different corridor.

Completely cutting them off from the front
door.

Shit
. His chest tightened. Now they
had nowhere to go.

Nera looked around. “We need to climb. Up
there.” She pointed.

Nik spotted the mezzanine display level that
ringed the lobby. “What if they can climb?”

But Nera was already pressing a small button
on the wrist of her gloves. After New York, they’d both traded
their regular gloves in for these upgraded versions the security
team used. She pressed a hand to the wall and then climbed upward
like a spider.

She glanced back at him. “If you have a
better idea, I’m open to it. After we put a little distance between
us and them.”

He pressed the button to activate his
nano-gloves. The tech in them let them adhere to the wall like old
Earth geckos. He shot a final glance at the converging zombies, and
climbed.

He reached the ledge a moment after Nera did
and pulled himself over. He looked down at the lobby.

The zombies couldn’t climb. They could jump,
and a few of them were slamming themselves against the walls,
trying to reach Nik and Nera. But the ledge was too high.

“They don’t have enough coordination,” Nera
said.

Nik touched his ear. “Galen? Avril? We’ve
reached a safe location on a high ledge in the lobby. But there are
too many zombies. We can’t make it out.”

Galen cursed. “Dammit. Okay, hold on for
now.” He sounded a little out of breath, and Nik guessed he and the
others were running back to the ship.

“How long until we reach radiation
exposure?” Nik asked Nera.

Nera stared at her timepiece. “Twenty-five
minutes.”

He closed his eyes. There was no way they’d
make it back in time. “Gunn. That asshole made sure the zombies
herded me right across the damn lobby.”

“Really?”

That low, lethal voice raised the hairs on
his neck. Nik opened his eyes. “You can’t kill him. And you should
have gotten out when you had the chance.”

“Shut up, Niklas.”

He sucked in a breath. Then he reached out
and grabbed her hand. “Hell of a second date.”

She made a small choked sound that might
have been a laugh.

Galen’s voice was back on the line. “Okay,
Phoenix. We can’t mount a rescue. The streets are teeming with
those things. The sun’s setting and it looks like they come out at
night.”

“We don’t have much time left before we need
the radiation meds.”

“Yeah. I have a plan. I’m going to send a
drone in to you guys carrying enough meds to get through to
sunrise.”

They looked at each other. “But each
injection loses potency, right?” Nik said. “If we’re still exposed,
the antidote won’t work.”

“The antidote won’t work as well as it would
on the ship, yes. But the radiation levels are lower here, so that
helps. Not gonna lie, you guys are going to be feeling the effects
come morning. It’s the best option we have right now. Sit
tight.”

And trust Galen to save them. Nik rubbed his
brow. Maybe his brothers were right about this mission. He wasn’t
going to make it out alive.

***

Nera pulled food rations from her backpack.
“Kerala Curry or Vegetarian Pizza?”

“Both taste like crap, right?” Niklas
said.

“Yes.”

“Fine. The curry. I don’t know how you can
call something pizza when it comes in a tube.”

They munched on their replicated food in a
silence that was occasionally punctuated by the footsteps of the
milling creatures below, and the odd low moan.

Here they were, trapped, and likely to die
before sunrise of radiation poisoning or zombie attack, and all she
could think about was the man by her side. “I’m glad you’re
here.”

He turned his head, his face just shadows in
the growing darkness. “Me, too.”