What Remains_Mutation (17 page)

He laughed. Damn, he loved her. “Right. Wouldn’t want that.” He held out his hand. “Come on. We should brace ourselves until Sully pulls this thing over. Can’t imagine where he thinks he’s going but… Guess we’ll find out when he does.”

Harper grimaced but knelt down beside him, wrapping one arm around the ladder mechanism before taking his free hand. She flashed him a tight smile, though he could tell by the firm press of her lips she wasn’t happy. Hell, neither was he. But Cogan had been right. They wouldn’t have lasted another two minutes let alone gotten the truck positioned and the ladder extended. Not with the numbers baring down on them and the bastards moving the way they had. He kicked at the metal as he leaned against the side of the truck.

They’d failed.

Again.

Only this time, they’d lost more than some arrows and ammunition. They’d abandoned the Hummer, not to mention a healthy portion of their supplies. And god only knew if the truck had enough gas to do more than strand them somewhere even worse. So much for not jeopardizing the mission. He closed his eyes, nothing to do but wait.

Chapter Eleven

Sully slammed his fist on the steering wheel as he eased the truck onto the gravel at the side of the road. They’d traveled several miles west of the facility, and he didn’t want to go too far in case the truck unexpectedly broke down and left them stranded. He’d only planned on driving to the perimeter of the grounds, until those motherfuckers had somehow latched onto the sides of the truck as he’d rammed into the horde. He’d seen Harper and Jake kill more than a few before disappearing from his side-view mirrors. He guessed they’d cleared the top, but with the increased speed the zombies had displayed, he hadn’t taken a chance they’d be on them again before they’d done more than lick their wounds.

Another goddamn train wreck.

The knowledge sat heavy in his gut as he shoved the truck into neutral, engaging the parking break. Turning the engine off would save on fuel, but he didn’t want to chance he wouldn’t get the damn thing started again. It’d been more than resistant the first time. No sense testing their bad luck even more.

Cogan gave his arm a pat. “It wasn’t your fault. You got this baby running. We couldn’t have anticipated there’d still be that many infected mulling around. I swear they just appear out of thin air.”

“Did you see the way they scaled the side of the truck? While we were moving? That’s wrong, bro. Seriously fucked up.”

“I swear they’re still getting stronger. It this keeps up…”

The man didn’t finish. But Sully knew how the story would end. In blood and chaos with nothing left alive worth saving. And all their own doing. He slammed his hand again when Harper and Jake jumped off the side, kicking up a cloud of dust. Jake looked about as pleased as Sully felt. Harper gave them both a grim glance then stalked to the front of the truck, scanning the area before leaning against the grill, back stiff, head shaking.

Sully winced. He knew that despite the fact she and Jake had killed dozens of the creatures, buying them the small measure of time that had probably saved their lives, she’d blame herself for their retreat. Their inability to access the building and get the damn samples Kace needed. It didn’t matter that they’d been outnumbered. It only mattered that they’d run.

He pressed his head into the seat then cracked open the door, making his way around to the front. She’d crossed her arms on her chest as she stared at the horizon, her expression neutral. He moved over to her, nudging her arm. She tensed her jaw, finally looking at him.

He kicked at the dirt, not sure how to make her feel any better when he felt like shit. “We had no choice, Harper. We wouldn’t have lasted another minute parked there.”

Her expression softened a bit as she nodded. “Funny how the truth doesn’t make me feel any better about it.”

“Maybe not. But at least we have a chance to come up with a new plan. If we’d stayed…”

She snorted. “What difference does it make? Nothing we’ve tried for the past week has worked. We’re just fooling ourselves. Face it. I blew it when I dragged Lelin’s ass out of that facility three months ago. Then I sealed our fate when I let him get away from me.”

“You saved Cogan’s life. And the bastard would have found a way to get himself killed sooner or later. Most likely with you right along with him. And we both know he wasn’t going to simply give you the serum, even if you had dragged his ass back to the compound.”

“Maybe Kace—”

“Could have what? Forced the man? Reasoned with him? Appealed to his sense of honor as a scientist?” Sully stepped closer. “You don’t create this kind of horror and have a change of heart. The guy wanted to destroy mankind. Simple as that.”

“Looks like he did a damn fine job.” She pushed off the grill, taking three heavy steps away before turning to face them. “I’m starting to think the only thing left to do is burn the bloody building to the ground. Take as many of them with it as we can.”

Cogan inhaled sharply. “Burn? Fuck, that’s exactly what we need to do.” He pounded his hand on the hood. “Sully, kiss the girl. Kace was right. She’s brilliant.”

Harper stared at Cogan, brow furrowed, as the man grabbed Jake by the sleeve and pulled him toward the rear of the truck. She took a step to follow when Sully snagged her around the waist, smiling at her gasp of surprise as he tugged her into his chest, his mouth coming down possessively over hers. Her muscles tensed until his tongue slid past her lips, a soft moan sounding between them. She relaxed, moving with him when he deepened the kiss, fisting his shirt as if wanting to keep him close. He savored the moment, aware it’d be over before he’d gotten enough of her. Shit, he’d never get enough of her.

She hummed contentedly when he finally eased back, her eyelids fluttering open. A sea of deep green stared up at him, her lips still slightly parted as if inviting him back for another round. He accepted, allowing her to control this one, loving how she arched against him, the subtle scent of her arousal drifting to him. He pressed his erection against her stomach. Damn little minx affected him too easily. He’d be lucky not to have his balls turn blue before they were done.

She rested her head against his chest when they parted, her fingers making patterns on his shirt. He drank in the scent of her skin, her hair. The subtle aroma of flowers from some soap they’d found in the bunker.

He smiled against her hair, running his hand through the long strands. “Cogan did tell me to kiss you. I couldn’t disappoint the man.”

Her laugh was real. Gut deep. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll tell you to make love to me, too.”

“I don’t need to be told to want to do that.” He glanced at their surroundings. “Though I’d hate to be caught with my pants down out here.”

She slapped his shoulder. “Buzzkill.” She eased back. “I suppose we should go see why Cogan thinks I’m a genius.”

“Easy, Einstein. I believe he only used the term brilliant.”

She winked at him. “Jackass.”

Sully offered his hand, and she laced her fingers with his as they walked to the rear of the truck, watching as Jake and Cogan removed supplies out of several different compartments. Sully glanced at the objects they separated from the rest, pieces of the puzzle clicking into place.

He shook his head, scrubbing his free hand down his face. “Damn. Please tell me you’re not thinking what I think you are? ‘Cause, bro, that’s seriously messed up.”

Harper pulled her hand free, stepping over to Cogan. “What? What are you thinking?”

Cogan stopped to look at her, excitement playing across his features. “It’s like you said. We should burn the facility to the goddamn ground.”

“Whoa. Wait a second.” She held up her hands. “I wasn’t serious, I mean… We can’t destroy the place until we get the serum. While I agree it’d take out a bunch of those bastards, we can’t risk losing those vials. Regardless of how good it’d feel to watch the birthplace of this godforsaken infection burn.”

Cogan smiled. “I never said we wouldn’t get the vials first.”

“Now I’m just confused.”

He shrugged. “We’re firemen, right? So let’s set some shit on fire.”

Her face paled and Sully didn’t miss the way she had to force herself to swallow as her hands twitched at her sides.

She plastered on a fake smile. “But the point of your job is to put out fires. Unless you guys do some pretty weird crap where you’re from.”

“Think of it in the same terms as setting a back fire to stop a raging wildfire. Only we’re going to start one in order to give us enough cover to get in and out. Let’s see how good our friends are at hunting us in a building full of smoke and flames.”

Harper’s façade faltered as shook her head. “I’ve seen these things walk right through flames. They don’t even seem to register they’re on fire.”

“That was the old strain. The ones that didn’t display these higher functions. Kace said something about the parasite turning on more of the brain in order to gain better control. If that’s truly the case, there’s got to be some drawbacks to go along with the advances we’ve seen. And I think one of them is a slightly increased sense of self-preservation. Not to the point they don’t still attack on sight, but a bunch of them back in the lot tried to get out of the way of the truck. They actually side-stepped.”

Sully slapped his leg. “Fuck. You’re right. I saw a group of them move to the side. Didn’t think much of it at the time, but I’ve never seen them do that before.”

“My guess is… That in order to move more like humans, they have to become more human. Well, as human as ‘still wanting to eat us’ equates to.”

Harper glanced away, her back uncharacteristically hunched. She seemed divided. “So you think that these advanced zombies will shy away from fire. Like animals do instinctively.”

Cogan sighed. “God, I hope so. I can’t know for sure but… Either way, it could be our last chance. Even if they aren’t afraid, we should be able to stop more than a few between the smoke and the fire. Avoid the rest.”

“You boys do know I said all those things about wanting to bring firemen along for Barrett and Rhys’ benefit, right? There was never any question as to who I wanted as backup. I also knew your superiors would need a better reason than that I wanted to be alone with you guys to send you along. I never really thought we’d have to deal with fire.” She shivered. “I’m actually not fond of them. Fires.”

Sully laughed. “Yet you get involved with three firemen?”

“Trust me. I see the irony. But all joking aside. I’m not used to navigating buildings full of smoke, either. Didn’t come up in my line of work that often.”

Sully moved over to her, taking one hand as he placed it on his chest. “We’ll be right there with you. We’ll guide you through. Trust us.”

“I do trust you. It’s the flames I’m not so certain of.”

“We’ll take care of the fire. You just need to get us to Lelin’s lab.”

“And you call me reckless.” She huffed, still looking as if she wanted to jump out of her skin, before giving them a reluctant smile. “Fine. Just don’t disappoint me.”

Sully grinned, remembering the first time she’d said that to Jake. “Wouldn’t dream of it, darling.”

* * * *

“Well, it doesn’t look like much, but for better or worse, it’s all we’ve got.” Cogan stared at the supplies, hoping his idea wasn’t about to kill them all.

Sully shouldered up beside him, nudging him in the ribs. “One hell of a plan, bro. I just hope our assumption’s right.”

“That’s why we’ll try the ring around the truck first. If those advanced bastards run through, we’ll bugger out of there. If not then we’ll commit.”

Harper moved forward, tugging at the protective gear she’d donned. “How the hell do you guys move fast in all this shit? I feel like I’m wading through water, and I don’t even have the damn oxygen tank on yet.”

Sully smiled. “We weigh a lot more than you do, darling. The suit doesn’t equate to almost half our body weight.”

“Still.” She sighed. “I take it back. I’m not sure I could best any of you on a good day, kung-fu moves or not.”

“Now you’re just being nice.” Sully stepped closer. “You could stay somewhere safer and let us handle this. You seem a bit…reluctant.”

She punched him in the shoulder. “Jackass. I said it was heavy, not that I couldn’t go. Besides, we’ve already had to kill a dozen of them all the way out here. Nowhere’s safe. And you guys don’t know where Lelin’s lab was.” She released an oddly shaky breath. “But for the record, normal people don’t run
into
burning buildings. Only you guys would think this shit up.”

“We’ve got fire in the blood, darling. And it was worth a shot asking.”

She snagged her bottom lip. “So does this mean we’re ready?”

Cogan nodded. “Unless you’re having second thoughts?”

“I’m already way past second thoughts.” She gave him a concerned furrow of her brow. “You sure the fire won’t get out of control so fast we’ll get trapped in there?”

“What’s got me more concerned is that the damn sprinkler systems will kick in and end it early, leaving us with nothing but some smoke. I have to assume they’re still functioning, what with the power grid operational.”

Harper scrunched her face up, creating a delightful crease across the bridge of her nose. “Yeah, about that.” She pursed her lips. “When things got bad near the end, the few of us still breathing decided to activate the failsafe.”

Dread turned Cogan’s stomach. “Do I even want to know what that means?”

“It means no sprinklers. We needed to be able to burn the place down if it got overrun. Destroy whatever else Lelin had brewed in there. But it happened too fast. One minute I was heading off duty, the next there were infected everywhere. I didn’t have time to do more than grab Lelin and bug out.”

“Somehow I think that was much harder than you make it sound. I seem to recall you offhandedly mentioning something about a second-story window and a couple of broken ribs.” He ran a hand through his hair. “So no sprinklers. I can live with that. Anything else? Some deadly form of nerve gas or self-destruct bullshit we might trip?”