The Freezer (Genesis Endeavor Book 1) (24 page)

Jack shook his head, laughed, and said, “Maybe the doc can
tweak her DNA a little and make her prettier.” Emmet’s expression suggested
that he was giving it serious thought.

He looked at Chuck and said, “Do you think he can do that?” Chuck
and Jack both laughed. “No, really, do you think he could make these women
prettier? Think about it! If the women were hotter they could get laid more
often and have more kids!”

Emmet was on a roll, but Chuck shut him up by saying, “I
doubt it, I mean, just look at you! You think if he was gonna fix anything it
would have been your ugly mug.” They all laughed and got on the elevator.

Chuck pushed the third button. “We don’t go down here much, there’s
a lot more freezer burn here, and most of the people here can’t be recovered. This
was where Wendy found your body. It’s way in the back.”

Jack was suddenly nervous. He wanted to see where he had
been for the last few hundred years, but didn’t know what he would feel when he
saw it.

The elevator stopped and opened, this time directly into the
storage area. It was identical to the one upstairs, only the units in front
were older and a little bigger, like the units toward the back of the first
level. As they walked toward the back, the units got larger and more ominous
looking. In the far back corner, the dust had been cleared away from a tube
that was fifteen feet long and eight feet in diameter. This one was not ovular
in shape, it just looked like a big chunk of pipe with caps bolted on to each
end. There was no screen or fancy controls, just a panel with a lot of buttons
and lights, none of which were lit. Fixed to the cap at one end of the tube was
a metal box, about fifteen inches square and six inches thick. The door was
hanging open and the box empty. Chuck and Emmet were hanging back a little,
allowing Jack to make his peace with this on his own.

Despite seeing his own final resting place, he really didn’t
feel anything. Morbid curiosity overwhelmed him again and he climbed up on a
platform that was welded to the side of the tube and looked through the glass. The
pale withered body did not look familiar in the least. Jack shook his head,
thinking that he couldn’t have weighed more than a hundred pounds when he died.
“I’m glad I don’t remember those last few months,” he said out loud to nobody. He
continued to stare at his body for a few more minutes then climbed down to
leave. He took one last look around, but was satisfied there was nothing of
importance here.

* * *

They rode the elevator to the third floor in silence. Jack
figured that both these men had seen their own bodies and knew that he would
probably not be in a bright and shiny mood. They were right. Despite not
feeling much when seeing his own dead body, it had seemed to drive home the
idea that this whole facility was basically a cemetery.

The third floor was familiar to Jack. He had more or less
completed it by the time he found out about the cancer. The massive reactor and
its steam powered generator sat side by side on the platform he had helped
pour. They were quiet and cold now, having been shut down four years ago when
they were replaced by new technology. Chuck showed him the unit that now
powered the facility, providing lights and running the compressors that kept
the liquid nitrogen cold and pumped through all the tubes in the levels above. The
unit was about six feet by six feet by four feet, and the four inch thick main
power lines that had been cut from the nuclear generator now fed off that
little black box. Jack marveled at it for a while, thinking of the
possibilities of such a small and powerful source of energy.

“And this unit will power this plant for a thousand years?”

Chuck nodded. “Crazy, isn’t it?”

They spent about twenty minutes poking around. Jack checked
out the ventilation system, surprised it was still working. Nothing
particularly useful was coming of this trip though, and he was disappointed. It
was time to go.

On the way up, Emmet said, “So are you gonna build a new
underground city for New Hope?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose I’m going to try.” Jack
was not optimistic. If anything, this trip had reminded him of how much trouble
it is to build on this scale.

“Well, if you need a crew member, I wouldn’t mind workin for
ya Jack. I’m getting tired of comin here.” His face was solemn; an expression
Jack had not seen much from him.

“Emmet, I would be honored if you would be on my crew.”

* * *

The elevator stopped and the doors opened up. Emmet stepped
off first, followed by Chuck and Jack. Two men appeared in the doorway, blocking
the light coming in from outside. They had their rifles trained on Emmet. Nobody
was expecting this, and Emmet had only one hand on his weapon, the other was
carrying the frozen head. “Drop the weapons, hoppers.”

The three men froze. Chuck eased in front of Jack, his rifle
hanging at his side, the other frozen head in his hand. Jack’s own rifle was
hanging from his shoulder by the sling as well. Suddenly, Emmet threw the head
toward the two men and pulled his rifle up, simultaneously squeezing the trigger
down. The burst of bullets tracked from the ground at the men’s feet and up
toward their bodies, but it wasn’t fast enough. The two men opened fire.

Emmet dropped to the ground. Jack was still reaching for his
rifle when Chuck fell back into him, knocking him back into the elevator. Something
kept punching him in the chest and helmet. He was on the ground and Chuck was
on his back, lying on Jack’s legs. Chuck had his rifle up, firing a long burst,
and one of the two men screamed and went down to one knee. Jack reached out and
got hold of Chuck’s backpack, and in one movement kicked both feet out pulling
them both back into the elevator. He reached up and punched the closest button.
The doors closed and there was a very loud roar, followed by an even louder silence.

The elevator was hazy with smoke. Both men lay on the floor
of the elevator, Chuck was in Jack’s lap, unmoving with a wisp of smoke coming
from both his rifle and his body. It didn’t take long for Jack to snap out of
the confusion. The first thing he noticed was the smell of burning flesh
accompanied by a faint sizzling sound. Not wasting any time, he pushed Chuck to
a sitting position, which released a bigger puff of smoke from under his armor.
He quickly got to his knees and examined the man. In front, there was a neat
hole in the right shoulder, between the chest armor and the shoulder armor. He leaned
Chuck’s body forward and reached down his back between his under suit and his
skin. His hand slid right in as if lubricated with oil, and he groped around,
feeling something small and sharp. Carefully pulling it out revealed a heavily
distorted but complete .202 caliber round, covered in blood and still sizzling.
He tossed the bullet aside and realized that the lubrication that allowed his
hand to slide in between the suit and Chuck’s back was blood. “Oh shit, this
isn’t good.” The elevator stopped at the first level and the doors opened,
allowing the smoke to quickly clear. He judged that about twenty five seconds
had passed since they stepped off the elevator into the maelstrom of gunfire.

Lying Chuck down, he stood up. Working quickly but trying to
keep his nerves in check, he reached down and pulled off Chuck’s backpack,
chest armor, and shoulder armor. He then unzipped the front of the under suit
and pulled it down. There was a small hole right above Chuck’s armpit. Dark
blood was steadily oozing out of the hole. Jack figured that the bullet went
in, hit his shoulder joint, then diverted deeper down, and exited somewhere on
his back. The hit was direct enough for the bullet to penetrate the material
but upon exit was stopped by the back material and sat there burning another
hole in his back.

Jack dropped his own pack from his shoulders, reached in and
grabbed the medical kit. He opened it and took a quick inventory. Much of it he
didn’t recognize, but he saw what looked like big band aids and grabbed two of
those, a roll of gauze, a tube that said antibacterial, and a tube that said
coagulant. He glanced at the instructions on the tube of coagulant. It said ‘squeeze
liberal amount into wound, cover wound with skin patch.’ Jack opened the tube
and shoved the tube nozzle into the small hole and squeezed. He then took some
gauze and wiped the blood away. By the time he got the first band aid looking
thing out of its package the bleeding in front had stopped. He slapped the
patch on and rolled him over. His back was a mess. There were three large burns
where the bullet had come to rest against his skin each time they had stopped
moving, and one hole about the size of a nickel that was bleeding profusely. It
was just above his shoulder blade, and Jack hoped the bullet hadn’t hit the
lung. He shoved the nozzle in the hole and squeezed most of the bottle of
coagulant in it. He wiped the area dry of blood, and waited for the bleeding to
stop. It took about six seconds, and he wiped it dry again and slapped the
patch on it. He then squeezed some antibacterial on the burns, which were
easily third degree.

He then stripped the under suit down to Chuck’s waist and
looked for more holes. There was nothing on his back, so he rolled him over
again. His chest looked like someone took a hammer to it. He had at least two
dozen small bruises, and three large bruises that had already turned dark red. Obviously
he had been hit by more than one bullet but the material had saved his life. Unfortunately
his body had to absorb the impacts, and it looked like he probably had three or
four broken ribs and possibly some internal bleeding, other than the obvious bullet
wound of course. The fact that the bullet had been more or less complete meant
that the armor had slowed it down enough so it didn’t come apart inside the
body. That was probably why Chuck was still alive, although there was no
question he would need real medical attention soon.

He lay Chuck down again, using his pack for a pillow. He took
a quick assessment of the situation, talking it through.

“Okay, there are bad men upstairs. They shot at us, probably
killed Emmet, Chuck is hurt and unconscious. I think I hit the panic button
when closing the elevator and judging by the sounds I heard, those turrets
probably opened fire. I need to get up there and get to the flyer. Shit! I don’t
know how to disarm the turrets, or to fly the aircraft.” Nodding as if confident
he had everything straight, he checked Chuck’s vitals. His heartbeat was strong
and he was breathing. Jack went to the medical kit again, looking for some
smelling salts. He found what he was looking for and cracked the tube under
Chuck’s nose. It took a second, but his nose wrinkled and he turned his head to
the side. “Chuck, can you hear me?” He slapped his cheek a couple times trying
to rouse him further.

Chuck moaned and quietly said, “What the fuck happened? Where
are we?” He wasn’t quite with it yet, but Jack needed help.

“Chuck, wake up. I need the code for the key pad so I can
get us out of here. There were soldiers at the door when we got off and they
shot you up pretty bad. I think Emmet is dead and I need that code!” Chuck
opened his eyes and tried to look at Jack. He closed them again and winced.

“Holy shit... did I get shot? I can hardly breathe.” Jack
was worried he was going to slip out of consciousness again.

“Chuck, stay with me! You have some broken ribs, that’s why
you are having trouble breathing. Listen to me Chuck, I need that code!” he was
about to get another tube of smelling salts out when Chuck opened his eyes
again, this time he focused on Jack.

“Jack, what the fuck! Where are we?”

“Come on Chuck, we are in the elevator on level one. I need
that code to disarm the turrets. Stay with me Chuck.” Jack’s mind was racing. Perhaps
five minutes had passed now, and he knew if there was a chance he was going to
make it out of here alive he had to act now. He was thinking maybe he could
take the elevator back up to the ground level and call for help on the radio,
then hole up here and wait for help to arrive.

“76362.” Chuck’s eyes were closed again but he repeated it. “76362.
Those were Cali men, and they knew we were from New Hope.” Jack felt relief
that Chuck was thinking coherently. “If it’s a patrol, there will be four of
them, probably three on foot and one at the flyer. How did we get out of
there?”

“I pulled you back into the elevator and punched the red
button.” Chuck actually smiled.

“Those two won’t be home for dinner. Goddamn bastards
deserved it though. You need to go up top and see if you can radio to base. If
you run into any of them, aim for the throat, it’s the most vulnerable point
and a shot there is usually a kill. Be careful.” He coughed once and then
winced in pain. “Hand me the med kit, I need something for the pain.”

He handed Chuck the med kit, and Chuck dug through it until
he found a small tube. He broke end off of the tube which revealed a small
needle, and he poked it into his waist and squeezed. Relief washed over his
face within seconds and he settled back onto the pack he was laying on.

Jack had dropped his rifle and helmet next to his pack when
he went for the medical supplies. He picked it up, and pulled the bolt to load
a round in the chamber. After putting his pack back on, he pulled Chuck’s under
suit back up, zipped it, and carefully put the chest armor back on. He stuffed
the various medical supplies in Chuck’s pack, then scooted him to the side wall
under the controls for the elevator and put his pack and his rifle next to him.
Chuck was semi-conscious but wasn’t moving.

He took a deep breath to clear his mind and pressed the top
button for the ground level. He moved quickly to the other side of the elevator
so he would have some cover if someone was ready for him up top. As the
elevator headed to the surface, he put his helmet on and shouldered his rifle. The
doors opened and he tensed up, ready for anything.

The room was full of smoke and Emmet’s corpse lay face down
in front of the elevator. Jack scanned the small room and stopped on what must
be the remains of the two Cali men. Aside from their armor, nothing much was
left. Bits and pieces of flesh and bone painted the walls and left a swath of
red on the ground outside the door. He reached up to the panel just outside the
elevator and punched in the code. There was a beep and a red light turned
green. He put his pack in front of the elevator door so it wouldn’t close when
he left.

Hugging the wall, he made his way to the entrance, stepping
over the remains of the two Cali men. He peeked around very quickly but didn’t
see anyone out there. He went back to Emmet’s body and checked for a pulse. Nothing.
Dammit.
He looked him over and saw that there was a bullet hole in his
throat and his left arm was nearly severed at the shoulder. He now examined the
two men at the entrance. The heavy turret guns were large caliber with armor
piercing rounds that had gone through their body armor as if it were cardboard.
He turned his attention back to the door.
Are they hiding or are they back
at the flyer or did they leave when the turrets armed?
He listened carefully
for a few seconds, but didn’t hear anything.

Remembering the camera in his rifle, he thumbed the switch
to turn on the video. A small window popped up to the upper left of his field
of vision showing what was in front of the rifle. He reached out with just the
rifle and scanned the right then the left. He didn’t see anyone.
Shit, I’m
going to have to go out there and look.
The surrounding hills were great
for hiding the entrance, but were just as good at keeping an ambush out of
sight until it was too late.

Steeling himself for the run, he adjusted the butt of his
rifle on his shoulder and took a quick breath. He sprinted out the door, and
immediately juked to the right and spun around to look on the hill above the
door. Just as he turned, about forty rounds landed right where he would have
been if he hadn’t broken right. He already had his rifle trained and he eased
into the trigger. A small burst burped out of the gun and a cloud of dirt was
kicked up in front of the person lying prone on the hill. Without stopping to
see if he had hit him, Jack turned a quick one eighty, checking all his
vulnerable points, then started running around the side of the door to get on
top of the hill where his enemy was. He kept a hill to his left and kept
checking his cover to the right while simultaneously watching the rear view
feed in his helmet with his peripheral vision to make sure someone didn’t try
to come up from behind. He crested the hill that covered the door, took a quick
look around before breaking cover, and went to the body. He had nearly taken
the man’s head clean off with his shot starting just above the chest armor and
ending at the man’s chin. Keeping a close eye on his surroundings, Jack dug in
the man’s pack to see if there was anything he could find that might help him. The
man had pretty much the same gear as Jack had, so he grabbed the PDP and dropped
it in his pocket.

Now that he was outside the complex, he grabbed his PDP to
call for help. He found the icon that represented New Hope and pressed it. The
message made his heart sink. ‘laser link down’.
Shit, they must have gotten
to the flyer. This is not good.

From the top of the hill he was exposed to anyone watching,
but he also had a line of sight for miles in every direction. He thought for a
second about binoculars, then remembered his little training session with Chuck
the previous day. He pressed a button on the side of his helmet and a screen
popped up in the center of his vision, overlaying what he could see. He fiddled
with the controls, working the zoom in and out until he had it set to ‘8x’. He
scanned a full circle again, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Nothing.
He pressed another button and the zoomed screen went away.

Back at the elevator, Chuck was still lying where he left
him. When he approached, his eyes opened. “Well?”

“Emmet is gone. The two men were cut to pieces by the
turrets. There was one waiting for me on top of the hill above the door. I took
care of him.” It had been a long time since Jack had killed a man, and he was
trying not to think about it. Thankfully, there were more important things to
worry about than his emotions right now. “I tried the radio but it says the
link is down. What do you think we should do?”

Chuck tried to push himself into a sitting position, winced
in pain, and stopped. Jack reached over and helped to pull him and scoot him
against the wall. He took a few painful breaths and finally said, “We have two
options. Either we can wait here and hope that a rescue team will be here in a
couple hours, or we – I mean you, can go back out there and make your way to
the flyer to see if you can find the other man and his transportation.”

He weighed the options and then said, “How sure are you
there is only one more Cali out there? Any chance there are more?”

Chuck shrugged, which made him wince again. “One of two
things happened. Either this is a patrol that just happened to spot us, follow
us here, and then wait until we came out to capture us, or Cali followed us
with their satellite and sent a party to the landing site and then tracked us
to here. If it’s the first one then there is only one person left, they always
have teams of four. If it’s the second, then there could be more out there,
and-”

“And they could be waiting for us to return to the flyer.” Jack
finished for him. “Worse, they could be waiting for our rescue party to come so
they can capture them too.” Jack cursed under his breath. He took a deep
breath, again weighing the options. “Look, I don’t want to risk losing a rescue
team here, but even if I can make it to the flyer, I don’t have a clue what to
do from there. I can’t fly it, and I don’t even know how to re-establish the
laser link.”