The Fall (Book 2): Dead Will Rise (22 page)

“Okay,” Chris said, putting out his hands in a placating gesture. “We get it.”

Nicole stared at him for a long few seconds. “You'd better. Because if I think for even an instant you'll run home and say a word, I'll leave your ass here. You understand?”

Everyone agreed, Chris somewhat faster than the others.

“Good,” Nicole said. “If we're not back in a week, assume we're dead. Be safe.”

As goodbyes went, Kell had heard worse.

The sound of engines faded into the distance as the four of them double-checked their packs and weapons, readying themselves for the unknown ahead. The reports Kell had read about the facility were sketchy; the scouts had been told to verify its existence from the greatest distance possible. Will's decision to use Nicole and her team was obvious, now. The scouts were driven by duty, and seemed to regard curiosity as a fatal flaw.

Just as Nicole's notes said, the road leading to the facility dead-ended with a blockage of abandoned military vehicles a thousand feet from the place. Taking her advice, they cut between two massive trees and gingerly drove across a walking path beside the road. The SUV was too large to go this way without damage, losing both side mirrors and gaining an impressive collection of scratches and dents from low-hanging branches. The idea was to have a vehicle as close as possible to the facility itself in case they needed to get away quickly. Basic survival.

As it turned out, the basics might not be enough. The path opened into a clearing, dense trees blocked by high fences. Not the chain-link Kell expected to find on the back forty of an abandoned farm, but solid metal planks affixed to heavy pylons. The defenses looked like they could hold off a small army. The path veered off to one side, following the outer perimeter of the fence, while the road next to it, only a dozen feet away, ended in a gate sitting open, the gap large enough for a person to walk through.

“Before we do anything else, we need to figure out a way to get the car turned around to face the way we came,” Kate grumbled. “And no one mentioned a fence to me.”

“It wasn't in the reports,” Kell said. “How much room do we have to work with?”They used the small open space between the path and the fence where the clearing began. In what closely resembled a slapstick comedy routine, Kate and Kell managed to use the space available to turn the SUV around. The cost was minimal; a few more scratches and dents, one cracked window, and two saplings cut down.

When the car was situated, Kate pulled everyone into a circle. “All of you gear up,” she said in a low voice. “That means everything you brought, including firearms. Yes, Kell, I know you don't use them, I know you aren't the best shot, and I don't care. We have no idea what we're walking into here, so we're proceeding as if it's a worse-case scenario.”

She took a long look at the open gate and the abandoned military vehicles littering the adjacent road leading to it. “If I remember, the reports we read said the scouts verified the location of this place from the north, and only saw it through binoculars. We'll assume the facility—whatever it looks like—is in that direction. You three are going to stay here while I run in and take a look around.”

“Absolutely not,” Kell said. “You're not going in there alone.” Chris and Scotty looked ready to argue with her also, but held back. Kate was scary. Truth be told, Kell thought so too but wasn't going to keep quiet on this. “At least take one of us.”

“Aren't you gallant,” she said, amused. “Let's be clear, guys; I'm not going in alone to spare you. It's the safest option for all of us. I'm faster and better in a fight than all of you. I'm a better shot. Alone I won't be slowed down by having to worry or watch out for you. So you're going to stand down and wait here, or we can wrestle over it. Spoilers; I'll win.”

Kell frowned at her. “You always do this, and you always get away with it. How do I let such a little person boss me around?”

She slapped him on the arm as she turned for the gate. “Dude, you're a scientist. It's just logic.”

While Kate was gone, the boys decided to do some exploring of their own. Though the fence was topped with angled pieces of metal and razor wire to deter scaling, the path around was inviting enough. The curve of the wall and the trees conspired to give them a limited view south of their position.

Chris and Scotty set off at a steady jog less than five minutes after Kate vanished into the compound, leaving Kell alone. The ear bud attached to his walkie-talkie remained quiet, and as radio silence was the rule unless an emergency happened, Kell wasn't all that worried.

Until he stepped to the northern edge of the road, peering down the leg of the walking path they hadn't explored. A few feet away, half-uprooted, was what looked like a land mine.

“Chris,” Kell said, frantically keying his radio. “Both of you stop right now.”

The crackling response came back immediately. “What is it?”

“I think I found a land mine over by the road. You should come on back.”

A long pause. “Roger that. On our way.”

“Be careful,” Kell said, relieved. Of course, there hadn't been an explosion, and it would have been hard to miss in the eerie quiet.

“I'm pretty sure I asked you to wait back at the car,” Kate said through his ear piece. “I'm on my way back as well. I've got news.”

“Good or bad?” Kell asked.

“I'll let you decide. I don't know what the hell I'm looking at, exactly.”

Well,
that
was encouraging.

“What the fuck is this place?” Chris said angrily as he and Scotty returned. “The path was clear, but there were signs of battles all over. Once we knew what we were looking at, we saw craters just off the path where explosives had to have gone off. What kind of research facility is this, for God's sake?”

“I've told you everything I know,” Kell replied. “I was supposed to come here, and the information Will took from his old base said this was where my work was taken. Beyond that, I don't know. It's so much more than I expected.” Kate appeared through the gate while he talked, silently joining the group. “I mean, the government had to have put this together quickly, right? They didn't have a lot of warning about the plague. I thought there would be a few trailers hauled in, maybe some barriers, but this is insane.”

“You don't know the half of it,” Kate said. “Follow me.”

They squeezed through the gate one by one. On the other side a Jeep was parked against the open door, keeping it from moving any further. The clearing inside the fence was a strange mixture; against the wall sat vehicles and heavy weaponry, while the majority of the space was empty dirt shaped into familiar rows. Unlike the pervasive gardens in New Haven, which were kept clear of weeds by the constant efforts of the citizens, the farmland inside the compound was clearly out of use. Long grass, brown and dead from the winter, joined with choking weeds and fallen branches to create a thick mat covering much of the space.

And the space itself was huge. Walking past a rusting seed-spreader and hand tools sitting at the bottom of a gently sloping hill, Kell was taken aback at the scope. The fence curved oddly, keeping to the natural boundaries of the tree line, but seemed to go on forever. At the top of the hill this illusion was broken; the land beyond fell away for a quarter mile, a downward slope ending at a building to the northwest.

The fence ran between field and forest and ended at the building. At a rough guess, the place was a circle 1,500 feet across. Possibly bigger, as the northeastern half was wooded and obscured. The dimensions were an idle problem for Kell to occupy his brain with as he stared at the silvery building below. No matter how he long he looked at the thing, it didn't make sense.

“That,” Kate said, “was definitely not built within the last two years.”

It certainly seemed that way; rather than the hastily-constructed field research center he imagined, before them lay a structure two stories tall, at least sixty wide, and of indeterminate depth. A hundred feet of aluminum facade jutted out from the hillside opposite the one they stood on, the rest disappearing beneath the earth. The roof was layered in solar cells, the hill behind dotted with small wind turbines.

Scotty whistled. “I get what you said about needing to see it ourselves.”

“Do you think they knew ahead of time they'd need a place like this?” Chris asked.

Bewildered, Kell shrugged. “No idea. Let's go find out.”

Closer to the building were more signs of battle. The aluminum cladding was dented in places and pocked with bullet holes. The ground was uneven and studded with pieces of shrapnel. Whatever had happened here, there were at least enough people left on one side or the other to clean up most of the mess. Save for the minor damage, the building itself seemed to be in good shape. Kell moved in close, pointing up.

“Look,” he said. “Cameras.”

Kate nodded as Scotty and Chris craned their necks upward. “Yeah, I saw that when I came through,” she said. “They're spaced every ten feet or so.”

The cameras were compact, enclosed within plastic bubbles and tucked beneath the eaves. Heavy piping ran along the edge of the gutters, leading to a vertical drain that disappeared into the hillside. Water collection?

“Pretty damn self-sustaining,” Kell mused.

There was only a single entrance, a large set of double doors set into eastern face of the structure. It was big enough to serve as a loading bay for a semi-truck, with a smaller man-sized door set into one side. There was a handle, a heavy steel tongue that didn't budge when pushed, pulled, or rotated. To the left was a keypad. Kell fiddled with it, hearing the clicks and clinks of metal against metal as he pushed the keys.

“Mechanical keys on the lock,” he said. “That's smart. Never worry about getting locked out if the power fails.”

“That's awesome,” Chris said sarcastically. “But how do we get in?”

Kate rubbed a hand across her jaw. “The other side of this hill is a meadow with a water collection station and what looks like a transformer. The north side is mostly trees. No wonder the scouts didn't write anything about the fence. From that direction, you can't even see it because of the trees here. Since the fence attaches to that corner of the building, I think we can assume the north face doesn't have a better way in.”

“You want to try to break through that door?” Scotty asked.

Kate snorted. “With what, exactly? Our good looks?”

Blushing, Scotty shrugged. “I thought you might have something that would do the trick.”

“No,” she replied. “I actually do have a little thermite in my pack—those New Haven people make the stuff in bulk—but it won't be enough to get through that door.”

“Besides which,” Kell said, still tinkering with the key pad, “we might want to retain the ability to lock the thing. I don't relish the idea of being stuck with a busted door if zombies show up. Or living people, for that matter.”

Kate turned to Kell. “So what's the plan?”

“Funny how I'm the leader when we're stuck, isn't it?”

Chris cleared his throat. “Guys, I have a thought. This place is set up for some serious long-term survival, right? So doesn't it seem likely someone is in there? I mean, if those cameras work, they probably know we're here already, but if they haven't noticed, maybe we should get their attention.”

With the butt of his machete, Chris pounded on the door. The distinctive pattern of 'Shave and a Haircut' boomed across the empty compound.

Much more quietly, from behind the door, came the reply.

Two bits.

There was a scrape of metal, heavy and deep, followed by a resounding clang. A pause, then muffled clicking and a sharp snap, as if a huge padlock being opened. The inner door popped in its frame, then swung open ponderously to reveal a man.

He was short, his clothes a mismatched set of fatigues. Beneath the open jacket Kell counted at least two more layers of clothes, but even then he could see they hung off him. His skin had the unhealthy pallor of stress run amok. Kell stepped up to help him push the door open, then put an arm out to steady the poor fellow as he stumbled.

Their eyes met and locked. The man wore glasses, had a bushy beard down to the base of his neck that matched his salt-and-pepper hair, shaggy and ragged as it framed his face. Despite the many differences and the time elapsed, Kell stood shocked to his core as he recognized that face.

“John?” he said, voice creaking. “John Leibowitz? Is that you?”

Mouth agape, the little man's eyebrows shot up. “Oh, my god. Kell?”

Ten minutes later, after helping John lock the door (a complicated procedure that strained even his muscles), all five of them sat around a small dining table. Kell made the introductions, explaining John's role as Kell's second in command before The Fall.

John sat like a cornered animal, nervous and twitchy. His eyes darted around the room, only stopping on a face for a few seconds before moving on. Every few seconds his hand would move for his beard, twisting the hair thoughtfully until he realized what he was doing and stopped.

“John,” Kell said quietly. “Are you okay, man? You look a little on edge. We're not going to hurt you.”

“What?” John said, looking confused. “No, no. I'm fine. I just haven't...you're the first people I've seen in more than a year.”

“You've been alone for that long? What the hell happened? And what is this place?” Kell asked.

John's eyes darted off again, this time to start blankly at the ceiling. “Fourteen months, five days. That's how long. There were a lot of people at first. Thirty-seven. Seventeen scientists from our lab, twenty soldiers. Half the soldiers left after a few months. The others all died when the bandits came. That left the rest of us alone here, you know? No one to protect us.”

His face strained with the memories. “The others started to leave. Groups of two or three. A few by themselves. They went, I stayed. I kept working. I was lucky to be here, after all. It's safe.”

“Why did the soldiers leave in the first place?” Kell prompted.

“Oh, that,” John said, his voice falling back into its nervous patter. “They found out about the directions. They had orders to stop anyone showing up here.”

“Directions? I don't—”

Swiping a hand through the air, John cut Kell off. “The first few months, there were still military units operating. Not many, but some. We were in touch with them. Our soldiers found out about the messages sent to bases in Kentucky and Ohio. They were supposed to look for you and bring you here. We all thought you were dead.”

The little man looked down at his hands and took a deep breath. In a calmer voice, he continued. “Our guys left to go find those messages. They had directions here. They couldn't risk that information being out in the world. I mean, there were precautions, you know? The base commanders weren't to make copies or even tell anyone this place existed unless you were found. But we had to be sure.”

“You were worried someone would find this place?” Kell said. “Like the bandits eventually did.”

John nodded. “Oh, yeah. I mean, the bandits killed the rest of our soldiers, sure. But that wouldn't have happened if they'd been at full strength. It wasn't bandits we were worried about, man. This place is secret even from the other shelters.”

There was long, confused few seconds in which Kate, Kell, Scotty, and Chris all looked at each other.

“What shelters?” Kate asked.

John laughed. “The ones down south. The ones you came from.”

Chris scratched his head. “We don't know what you're talking about.”

Staring at them in disbelief, John frowned. “I don't get it. If you're not from the shelters, where did you come from?”

“We're from New Haven, most recently,” Kate said slowly. “It's a community of survivors in Kentucky. We've never heard of these shelters you're talking about.”

With a look of profound relief, John leaned his head into his hands. “Oh, thank God,” he said. “We were given strict orders not to let the research go anywhere else. The Captain in charge here told us it would be too risky to let anyone remove it. Anything could happen to it out there. I was afraid you were here to pack it all up and make me go out there.”

“No,” Kell said cautiously. “But I was hoping to get copies of my research. I'm going to work out a cure if I can.”

John stared at him hard, and beneath the tangled hair and wild eyes, Kell saw a glimmer of the man he had been. “There were other reasons the Captain didn't want the people in the shelters to get our work. Early on, when we were still getting news from the outside, we heard a lot about what went on there. Chaos, a lot of the time. A lot of civilians, a few soldiers, and politicians leading the pack. All of us talked about how potentially bad it could turn out if our work was treated as a political football. I think that's the main reason he didn't want it out in the world until we had a cure. To keep short-sighted men from using it as a tool.”

Kell took a deep breath. “If you're not willing to let me take what I can, at least let me spend a few days looking at it. I might be able to—”

John held up a shaky hand. “Look at me,” he said. “I'm not stupid. Not blind. I see you sitting there and I see me, and I know what this place has done to me. I'm not near my best, and I've done everything I can with Chimera. I'll show you whatever you want, explain anything you want, and when you leave you can take it all. I'd rather you have it. Besides, if what I've been hearing is true, it won't be long before they find this place anyway.”

Kate inhaled sharply. “What do you mean?”

Shaking his head sadly, John pointed to a large radio fixture across the room. “I can't turn that thing off. It's not made for it. But until a few months ago it was quiet. Then I stared hearing them talk, the people from the shelters. From the bunkers. Which would be impossible if they weren't in its range. So they're out there, close, and I've heard them talk about things they've done. I didn't believe it when one of them said they'd raided a town, killed the people there. Hell, I didn't think it was even possible to have survived in the open. Not until you guys showed up. I started logging everything they said as best I could. It's all in the little notebook on the table.”

With an effort, Kell controlled his voice. “One more question, and we can take a break.”

Wearily, John nodded.

“Have you heard them say anything about people driving pickup routes? Getting supplies from hunters or scouts, anything like that?”

John nodded. “Oh, yeah. Even heard something a few weeks back about an ambush on the road. Hijacked one of their supply vehicles. Yellow Hummer, I think it was.”

After fifteen minutes of back and forth between Kell's group, John watching in nervous fascination, the conversation petered out.