Brett Battles - Sick

“Here,” Ash said, handing Chloe his gun.

He retrieved the box of little bangs, pulled out four of the gray crackers, and checked their numbers. He then activated the controller.

“You in the office,” a voice called out. “There’s only one way out of that room and we’ve got it covered. Toss your weapons out here, then step out with your hands where we can see them.”

The man had asked for weapons to be tossed out, so that’s exactly what Ash did. He threw the four crackers into the room, trying to arc them around so that they wouldn’t all fall in the same place.

“You have ten seconds to toss your guns out here,” the voice said.

“We’re not going to wait that long,” Ash told him.

He set off the little bangs, mentally crossing his fingers that they did what Pax had promised.

They did, and then some.

Even from behind the wall where he was, the bangs were so loud Ash immediately threw his hands up over his ears. Chloe tried to do the same, but was holding the two SIGs so was less than successful.

“Gun,” he yelled.

She didn’t seem to hear him, so he grabbed his pistol from her and raced through the door.

While the lobby looked basically untouched, the four men who’d been there were all on the ground. Two were unconscious, while one looked like he wanted to be. The fourth guy still had enough wits about him to try to aim his weapon at Ash, but Ash’s bullet hit him in the forehead before the guy had a chance to pull his trigger.

Chloe found some more ties and secured the other three men.

“You all right?” Ash asked her.

She touched her ear. “Ringing. But I can hear you now.”

Ash grabbed a security card off the nearest man’s belt, then used it to open the door to the rest of the building.

Dr. Karp had just left his room when a loud explosion reverberated down from the ceiling.

“What the hell was that?” someone said.

Several of the doctor’s technicians were in the hallway because of the alarm. Now most looked truly scared. Although their jobs were ultimately concerned with death, they were not interested in putting their own lives on the line.

Neither was the doctor, but he knew he couldn’t show that. There had always been the possibility his life might need to be sacrificed. It was something he understood from the very beginning. It was also expected that in the face of sacrifice, a full project member would still keep the goals of the project in mind, and carry out whatever tasks were necessary to protect it.

So, despite whatever the explosions on the floor above might mean, he knew he still had work to do.

“Learner, Ramos, I need you to come with me.”

Two of the technicians broke from the crowd and followed the doctor to the elevator.

Most everyone at Cryer’s Corner was asleep. The Flu Crew, as the segregated group had come to call themselves, was spread throughout the cafe. The only two who still seemed to be awake were Martina and Ben. They were lying on the floor next to the booth in the back corner.

Understandably, blankets were in short supply. The residences of Cryer’s Corner had been able to scrounge enough so most of the girls had one, but the men had to sleep in jackets and whatever else they could find to wear.

Thankfully, though, the heater in the cafe worked well enough that no one had to dress like they were spending the night in the Arctic.

“Do you think this might be the last night we remember?” Chloe asked.

“God, I hope not. I’m supposed to go to Europe this summer. I hate to think of all those Italian girls I wouldn’t be able to meet.”

“Ha ha. Funny. I’m serious. This flu is supposed to come on quick, and, and…that’s it.”

“Paul’s still around,” Ben said.

“Yeah, but he’s sick.”

“I’ll bet you a glass of orange juice he’s still here in the morning.”

She couldn’t help but smile. Ben had been optimistic since she’d watched him drive into the desert to get Paul. He was always trying to keep things light and put a good spin on what was happening. Too bad he was three years older than she was, and in college. Of course, she’d be in college in the fall…

Well, not of course, she realized. She wasn’t likely to be anywhere in the fall.

“What’s it like being on your own?” she asked.

He glanced at her. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

“Tell me.”

He looked back at the ceiling. “Well, I’m not as good a cook as my mom. And you get bills every month from all these people for water and electricity and your cell phone and your rent. I don’t like that part.”

“Yeah, but you get to set your own schedule. Stay up as late as you want. Go wherever you’d like.”

“True. That is nice. It’s a balance, like everything else, you know? You just hope the side with the good things is heavier than the side with the bad.”

She snorted. “Seems like the bad side’s pretty heavy right now.”

“It ain’t light, that’s for sure. But there are some good things.”

“Doubtful.”

“You learned how to use a CB. That’s a skill you never had before.”

Despite herself, she laughed.

“You got to climb up on top of a gas station.”

“You saw me?”

“Of course. You got to meet me. That’s gotta count for something.”

She held her tongue, worried she’d say something stupid.

“I promise,” he said. “Tomorrow won’t be the last morning you wake up.”

She looked at him.

“Second to last, maybe. But not the last,” he told her, then smiled.

She knew he was just trying to make her laugh, but suddenly an image of her mom’s face appeared in her mind. Her mom who’d been so proud of her, such a big supporter of everything she did.

Martina couldn’t help the tears that began to flow, nor could she stop them.

Ben immediately moved over to her, putting his arms around her. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m sorry. It was a bad joke.”

“No,” she said, her head tucked in his shoulder. “It was funny. I just…I just started thinking about…home.”

She continued to cry as he stroked her hair, whispering, “Everything’s going to be okay.”

Her strength drained way with her tears, and she could feel sleep taking hold. Maybe it would be all right. Maybe it would all be fine.

She heard a noise right before she fell asleep. It didn’t completely register, but somewhere in the back of her mind she knew what it was.

A cough.

Ash was under no illusion that the six men they’d left in the lobby were the entire security contingent at NB7, but he also didn’t want to waste time tracking down the other ones. He’d deal with them as they showed up.

The lower level was where he needed to get to, but how?

The hallway on the other side of the lobby door seemed to run from one end of the building to the other. To the left there were four doors, and to the right, two.

“This way,” he said to Chloe, heading left.

Three of the four doors were on the same side the lobby was on. The first they came to was one of these. Ash tried the knob, expecting it to be locked, but it wasn’t. The space inside was dark. He reached around the jamb, located a light switch, and flipped it on. The room was about twice as wide as the lobby. Set throughout were rows of heavy wide shelves that went all the way to the ceiling, but were all empty.

They checked the other two rooms on the same side and found identical spaces.

They then went to the door on the right. It was locked, but clicked open as he touched the security badge to the pad on the wall.

This time they didn’t find a storage room with empty shelves. They found a spacious warehouse that took up the entire back two-thirds of the building. It was clean and empty, with only half the lights on, probably so that security could walk through without running into anything.