Adrian Smith - The Fourth Phase

Dee shrugged her shoulders. “Okay. I’m sorry I don’t remember you. Mum died a long time ago.”

“Died?” Katherine took a few steps towards Dee. “Maybe now, after all this, but I spoke to her just as the Hemorrhage Virus took hold.”

“What?” Dee backed away, reaching out for Jack.

He grasped her trembling hand and gave it a squeeze.

The shrieking, tearing sound of metal being torn apart preceded the desperate thumps of the Variants trying to get into the lab. Jack pivoted around, searching out the entrance. The door shuddered as the Variants slammed into it, rattling the hinges. He glanced around at the metal framing, praying that it would hold.

“We need to leave, NOW! Renegades, combat retreat spacings. Let’s go!” yelled Ben.

Jack gave Dee a reassuring embrace. She hugged him back, before breaking away and fiddling with her carbine, checking the magazine. He knew from experience that she would be troubled by the scientist’s revelation. It pained him to see her in distress, but right now they had creatures hunting them. Her eyes met his, and she gave a nod that she was okay. Satisfied, he took his place at the front.

Striding up the long tunnel, he glanced back to the Renegades, comforted by their presence. A seed of doubt was gnawing at Jack. Where was everyone else? It seemed strange that Katherine was the only one here. This lab was huge. A place this size would require a large number of people. Not just scientists, but support staff too.

Jack reached a T-intersection. A door labelled Stairs lay directly ahead.

How many levels does this lab have?

He swept his rifle around, searching for targets. Satisfied they were safe, he looked back at Katherine. “Which way?”

Katherine pointed right, and Jack strode on, eager to escape the lab. He held his rifle up and walked heel to toe, eyes sweeping over the doors as he passed them. He read a few of the labels on the doors. Genetics. Bio security. Behavioral Lab. Staging Area. He shook his head. The names meant little to him. It struck Jack just how silent it was inside the lab. It was the perfect place for the government to build a lab: inside a disused mine.

Where do you go if the pass is blocked? Do you dare enter the mines? He grinned. Always thinking in movies.

They reached another sealed door. Katherine moved past him and punched in a code. Before she pulled open the door, Jack grabbed her arm. “Wait. There’s something bugging me. Where’s everyone else?”

Katherine pulled her arm out of his grasp and turned her head to look first at Dee, then back to Jack. The ghastly sound of tearing metal echoed down the concrete tunnel, followed by the awful howls of the Variants. They had broken through. Katherine brushed past Jack, opening the door. “They all left, okay, to be with their families.”

“So why not you?” he asked with a shake of his head.

“To find a cure. Why else would I stay?” Katherine replied, a defiant look in her eyes.

Jack let it go and concentrated on getting through the lab.

Jack could see another intersection up ahead. He looked back at Katherine, his eyebrows raised. She indicated left, not meeting his gaze. Jack reached up and wiped the sweat off his brow. He was so tense. And the Variant screeches were getting louder. He took some deep breaths, trying to calm himself. He remembered what his grandmother had taught him: “Keep calm and carry on.” He had to do that now. Now was the time to stay calm. They had to escape with Katherine and whatever was in that case. The Colonel thought it more important than Mayor Island. Important enough to risk the Renegades, untried at combat as half of them were.

Jack reached the end of the tunnel. Doors stood to his left and right, both marked with the bio-hazard symbol. A door directly in front of him was labeled Maintenance. The other Renegades jogged up behind him, then turned and faced back down the corridor. The Variants following them screamed out. Louder. Jack caught a whiff of the tangy, rotten fruit smell that always hung around them as it drifted down the tunnel. A sudden flashback of the corridor in the dam flickered through his mind. He shuddered, shaking away the memory.

“Keep moving!” called out Ben.

Katherine punched in the code and pushed the door open. A hideous screech rang out behind them. Jack turned with the others, searching for the source. Seeing nothing, he spun around, passing into the maintenance room. Movement to his left caused him to jolt his head up. Several Variants were scampering over the pipes lining the walls. Katherine let out a blood-curdling scream that rang in Jack’s ears. He flicked his eyes to Dee. “Go back! Hostiles!” He pivoted around, grabbing Katherine’s arm.

“Multiple targets coming from our six,” yelled Tony.

Jack watched as dozens of Variants poured down the tunnel in a wave of hungry terror. He pushed Katherine back into the maintenance room and raised up his rifle, getting a bead on the lead Variant.

“Watch your backs. They’re on the walls,” he warned.

Jack moved in front of Katherine, protecting her, and fired, aiming for the nearest creature’s head.

“Inside!” Ben yelled.

Jack fired and ran, heading for the door at the far end.

The Renegades fought their way into the room. Ben slammed the door to the corridor behind him as the mass of horror slammed into it, shaking the door in its frame. He spun back around quickly, taking down a Variant running along the pipes.

“Move it! Protect the Doc.”

Dee pulled Katherine into the middle of the group, and the Renegades moved on as one. Firing, reloading, and firing again. Within a couple of minutes, they had dispatched the Variants.

“Jack! Go, before these other bastards break through,” said Ben, slamming a fresh magazine into his rifle.

Jack turned at Ben’s instructions. Tony was wrapping an arm in a bandage, blood seeping out. The body of a Variant stared up at Tony, its torso riddled with bullets. Jack jogged the short distance to a big grey door. It had several bolts and a keypad on it. He looked at Katherine.

“Code?” he yelled as he started to fling back the various bolts.

“NZLV-8675309,” she yelled back.

Jack punched it in and tried to open the door, but it wouldn’t budge. “Doc?”

She looked at him, eyes scrunched together. “That’s the master code. It should open everything.”

Dee pushed him aside, racking her shotgun. “Fuck this!”

She blasted the keypad, sending pieces of metal, wood, electronics, and plastic everywhere.

Jack stared in admiration as she then kicked open the door. He grinned at her, and ran past into the rock-strewn tunnel beyond, running towards the pinprick of light.

Emerging into the early morning glow, he glanced left and right, trying to get his bearings. He saw the Kaimai Mountains stretching away to the south. He could see Mt. Te Aroha peeking through some low clouds, its antenna soaring on top. Looking left, he could just make out the farmland stretching towards the Pacific Ocean.

The thumping of boots on the rocky ground alerted him to the others’ approach. Ben caught up to him and grasped him on the shoulder. “Where’s this zip-line, Jack.”

Jack nodded towards the farmland. “This way, about a kilometre.”

Ben gave his shoulder a squeeze. “Keep going, Jack. Lead us to safety. I know you can.”

Jack smiled at him, searching his face to confirm his words. Taking a breath, Jack turned and jogged into the awakening world as the hideous screeches of the Variants echoed around the Karangahake Gorge.

The chilled breeze blew off the sea. It did little to cool his growing frustration. James stared out into the darkness, watching the foreign ships. With each passing minute, his anger increased. He tightened his grip on the binoculars and planted his legs wide on the wet soil, trying to gain a better purchase.