James Knapp: State of Decay

Have you seen the prisoners they keep down here and the experiments they’re conducting on them?

To defeat an enemy, you have to understand them, Agent. I designed those experiments. It’s one thing to know people can influence the minds of others; it’s another thing to understand how it’s done and if anything can be done to stop it. Those experiments are the result of years of brain-pathway data amassed at Heinlein Industries. If the experiments hadn’t been necessary, I wouldn’t have to take the risk of breaching Heinlein’s system.

Or killing Cross.

These people knew someone was on to them and they were starting to figure it out, with the help of the likes of you and your friend Dasalia. They traced it to Heinlein, and one of them, Rebecca Valle, decided to influence Cross and her own son. They dragged them into this, not me.

But you had them killed.

We have to win at any cost. I know you understand that.

The floor shook underneath me again, making my teeth rattle. Whatever was happening, it was getting worse.

It’s time for you to wake up, Agent.

I went to trigger the Leichenesser capsule—even if it meant losing what was left of Faye—but before I could, the connection dropped. The blue sky went dark. Somehow he’d managed to isolate the virus and get control back.

His command functions all dropped off and my JZI reset, then began to reinitialize. As soon as the system came back online, I fired a stim into my bloodstream.

My eyes snapped open. The big revivor was kneeling over me, its shirt sticky with black blood. For the first time, I noticed the explosives strapped underneath its coat, the blue light of the timer counting down slowly. Its right forearm was splayed apart down the middle and the tip of the blade inside was inches from my neck. It was waiting on the order from Fawkes, but the command spoke was still cut.

Faye was next to it. She was looking down at me with what I wanted to believe was concern or compassion, but the truth was I couldn’t be sure.

“Nico—”

My gun was gone. I swatted the revivor’s arm away, and the point of the blade slammed into the floor next to my ear. I grabbed its coat and reached behind my back for the field knife tucked in my belt. Pain bored into my chest as I pulled myself up and planted my shoulder in its gut, pushing it back. When it braced one foot, I dug the knife in behind its Achilles’ tendon and sliced through it.

Off balance, the revivor began to fall. I followed it down, then straddled it as it hit the floor. It bucked underneath me as I put one knee on the side of its face and jammed the knife in the back of its neck. With a violent jerk, I severed the spine.

“Nico!”

According to the counter, Faye had only minutes left before the Leichenesser capsule triggered. The Special Forces team was close. It was only a matter of time before they found the clean room. I opened the revivor’s coat and saw the LCD ticking down in the mass of wires. There was no way I could defuse it, but it had a reset mechanism …a dead- man’s switch in case the revivor was taken down. The revivor watched, unable to move as I pushed the button and the timer reset.

“Faye, come here,” I said, pushing a chair toward her. “Sit there. Hurry.”

She did as I said, then turned suddenly as something crashed behind us. I saw her hands go up as the door flew open and Calliope stormed in with a gun in her hand.

“Don’t shoot!” I yelled, holding out one hand. Zoe was with her, blood smeared under her nose as she lingered by the doorway.

“We’ve got to get out of here,” Cal barked, and there was fear in her voice but not panic.

“Hold on,” I said.

“Now!”

I spun the chair around and used my knife to cut through the skin at the base of Faye’s skull. As I scanned through the muscle and bone, I could see the revivor components clustered there. I had to go deep, but not too deep. The tip of the blade shook and I grabbed my wrist with my free hand to try to stop the tremors caused by the stim.

“What the hell are you doing? Let’s go!” Cal snapped behind me.

Faye, hold still. This won’t take long.

Okay.

If it doesn’t work, I’m sorry.

I dug the tip of the knife through to the casing where the Leichenesser capsule was housed. The black fluid was greasy under my fingertips as I coaxed it back.

Using the edge of the blade, I pried the casing free and pulled, breaking the connections. It slid out of its chamber and I pulled it away. The unit popped in my hand and white smoke began to pour off my fingers as it consumed the revivor’s blood.

“Faye?”

Black fluid leaked from the hole, branching down the back of her neck, but the Leichenesser hadn’t touched her. She turned back and looked at me from the corner of one eye. Cal was still sticking the gun out, not sure what to do. I waved the remaining smoke from my hand.

“Faye, you’re okay,” I said. “You’re okay; I’m going to take you out of here.”

“What happened to Fawkes?”

“He’s shut off from the rest of the revivors, but it won’t last. We have to get out of here.”

Footsteps were clambering up the steps toward the clean room. Two figures barreled through, and I caught the glow from their eyes before one turned to shut the door behind them. They were both armed with automatic rifles.

“This way,” Faye said, pushing a narrow panel open. Her voice was swallowed by a high-pitched shriek from the stairs. Flames poured through the space in the doorway, crawling across the ceiling, before one of the two new revivors managed to push it shut and cut off the flow in a puff of blue. Its palm sizzled as it held the door shut and then locked it.

“Cal, Zoe, this way!” I shouted. Cal was one step ahead of me, and Zoe followed her. I pushed them through the narrow opening.

“Where does it lead?” I asked Faye.

“I don’t know. He said away from here.”

Something hit the door to the clean room hard, and charred paint chips scattered to the floor. The two revivors ignored us and took up positions at the corners of the room. Each took aim at the entrance, waiting for the Special Forces team to come.

I took Faye by the wrist.

“Faye, come with me,” I said. She didn’t move. Cal grabbed my arm and pushed a gun into my hand.

“Faye, come on,” I said. “Come with me. I’ll take you out of here.”

She just put her hand on mine, though, and pushed it away. She gave it a gentle squeeze, her palm and fingers cool and dry.

“Faye—”

She put one hand in the middle of my wounded chest and shoved me back.

That was the last time I saw her.

Cal pulled me the rest of the way as the panel slammed shut.

Go , Faye said; then the link cut out.

When I looked back at them, Calliope was shouting something and Zoe was just staring up at me like she was seeing me for the first time. Even for her, there was something strange about her expression. It was like she had forgotten who I was.

On the other side of the panel, I heard gunfire and the shriek of a flamethrower. I felt the heat on my face as it radiated from the panel in front of me.

I checked the magazine of the gun Cal had handed me. Half the rounds were left.

“Stick close,” I told them. The heat was starting to get intense, and at this depth, between the fire and the smoke, the air would get used up fast.

We didn’t encounter any soldiers on the way back. We ran through the passageway until we came out near the elevator, which was shut down, so I followed the route Cal had taken us when we came in. We headed back up the stairs, back out through the bombed factory entrance and into the underground parking garage, where the shells of the cars were still burning.