Rise of the Necrotics (Books 1-4) Read online

  So maybe I had been wrong and a little flirty banter between two young people in a highly stressful situation was acceptable after all. I didn’t fucking know. It seemed like there were so many rules for social etiquette. Including when and when not it was ok to ask someone out. How did you follow all of them? For that matter, was there a way to tell which women cared about which rules ahead of time? It was so fucking confusing it was bound to give any guy a complex. The one thing I was certain about, I’d feel a lot better about flirting with her once she saved Garfield’s life.

  I helped push her off me by placing my hands on her hips and giving her a little shove. The doctor grabbed the gurney to steady herself and started looking over the numbers on the attached machines. She pulled out a syringe just as the chopper was tossed around again. The way we were flying, you would have thought the pilot was trying to dodge missiles.

  “Keep it steady,” Holly barked into her headset.

  “You’d be better off asking God for the assist, ma’am,” the pilot replied. “We shouldn’t even be flying in this shit, but none of us were willing to leave a man behind.” His voice was tense, as if he was looking out at the hot coals of a firewalk and wondering if he could do it.

  “Ten seconds, I just need ten seconds.” Holly put the syringe into a few different bottles and then moved over to the IV line. The chopper shook, and she held the syringe steady waiting for a moment of calm. It kind of reminded me of an interview I saw of Michael J Fox at a golf tournament. The reporter seemed impressed that he could still play golf with Parkinson’s disease. Michael looked at the camera and smiled, obviously not offended by the question and said something like, “I just get up there and wait until everything stops shaking, and then I let it rip.”

  Holly was waiting for that same moment. The chopper tilted hard and dropped about a foot before leveling off. As soon as the helicopter leveled out Holly inserted the syringe and stepped away. She sat down heavily next to me and strapped herself into the seat.

  “That’s all I can do until we land.”

  There was one question running through my head like a sprinter on a short track. “Is he going to be ok?”

  Holly shook her head. “I don’t know yet? We’ve got to run some tests. All I’ve got to go on now are his vitals. Once we get samples of his blood to a lab, we’ll have a better idea of what we’re dealing with. Frankly, the way this infection is moving scares the shit out of me. Hopefully the antivirals I pumped him full of will slow it down.”

  It seemed like this situation was spinning out of control. I hoped the Hilltop had our area locked down. If this thing could spread from a bite or a scratch, we needed to have some isolation procedures in place. Even then, once a virus hit a populated area, containment was almost impossible.

  I looked at my partner strapped to the stretcher, trying not to think about how much the man lying there meant to me. He had taken the fat video game addicted kid I used to be, and turned him into the man I was today. A very in shape video game addict with a kick-ass job. Some would argue that didn’t change a damn thing about me, but I didn’t care what they thought. You can be a grown man and still love to game.

  Garfield was unconscious now, and I wondered if he’d ever wake up again. “Just do everything you can?”

  Holly reached out and grabbed my hand before giving it a brief squeeze. “I’ll do everything I can to save him.”

  “Might want to hold onto something,” the pilot’s voice crackled through our headsets. “This landing is going to be…interesting.”

  “Define interesting?” I inquired just as we were thrown three feet to the right by a gust of wind. “Is it the, oh God we’re all going to die kind, or something a bit more manageable?”

  “Maybe a little of both,” the pilot said, the strain in his voice evident as he tried to control the helicopter through the storm.

  The chopper banked again and then leveled out. We started descending slowly, now I could make out the lights on the roof of St. Luke’s Hospital. The wind battered us from side to side, but we were going to make it just fine. I shouldn’t have been surprised, Hilltop only hired the best.

  The pilot made one last correction, and we touched down on the roof as soft as a feather. People started running towards us as the blades whirling above started to slow down. Holly was on her feet unlocking the gurney as the co-pilot opened the back door. The medical team helped unload an unconscious Garfield, and they started jogging for the hospital door. Holly was barking out all kinds of numbers and instructions I couldn’t follow as she trailed Garfield’s stretcher.

  The truth was, I probably should have stayed on the scene, but I let my emotions cloud my judgment. Now I was feeling guilty for leaving, and hoping the men I left in charge didn’t fuck everything up. They had pretty simple instructions, don’t go into the room. Let’s hope they could follow them.

  Feeling useless wasn’t something I’d experienced much in the last five years, before that it might have defined my life. All I could do here was provide moral support, and I knew that I needed to go back. If I left now and Garfield died, I’d feel just as horrible as if I’d found out in the waiting room, so I might as well get out of everyone’s way.

  Despite the facts, I was still pretty optimistic. You didn’t die because someone bit your forearm. That wasn’t probable. Kind of like having your arms and legs amputated because a dog licked you, the odds of that happening had to be astronomical.

  The medical team crashed through a set of solid looking double doors and then turned right. They rocketed down the hallway until they turned right into a large open room. Plastic sheeting not unlike what had been in the basement hung from the ceiling. There was a large zippered door, and the team went inside and started shifting Garfield over to a surgical table.

  Holly stopped me at the door to the sealed room. “I’ve got Gordon’s blood, and samples are being sent over from the bodies in the bathroom, but what I really need is a sample from that thing in the basement.”

  “I’ll call over and have someone get it.”

  “This is important,” Holly countered, “maybe you should go yourself.”

  I got the message loud and clear. My presence here was going to make things harder. The medical team Holly was working with didn’t need me hovering over their shoulders, and asking for updates every five minutes. Holly didn’t need to remind me I was already kicking myself for leaving the house in the first place. All I’d succeeded in doing by coming here was wasting precise time.

  Holly reached out and grabbed my shoulder. “Hey, what you did by getting him up those stairs, might just be the thing that saves his life. You did everything you could for him, but I’m asking you to do more.”

  My face must have been a mess because she pulled me into a hug. When we broke apart, Holly turned and entered the surgical room. The plastic sheeting was zipped down behind her cutting her off from my view. Basic containment protocols had been put in place. I looked down at my blood soaked sneakers and wondered if it would really be enough. If there was something in that house, it was out in the world now.

  I watched the dark shapes in the cloudy plastic move like some abstract shadow theater for a few moments longer before turning and walking away. I hit the down button for the elevator while slipping my earpiece back into place.

  “Operations this is Max, I’m going to need a ride.” I wondered what they would think about me being out of communication for so long. With Garfield out of the picture, I needed to do more. Holly was right when she told me that she’d seen my best, and I needed to do better. Getting what she needed was going to be a good start.

  The earpiece crackled for a moment, and then a crisp business-like voice responded. “Max, we’ve been expecting your call. An agent is waiting for you downstairs.”

  The Hilltop never missed a trick, did they? It was almost like they had eyes and ears everywhere. I tried not to think about it too much, any one organization having that much power was kind of scar
y. Stepping into the elevator, I shook off the familiar sense of unease that seemed to press down around me. I’d been with the Hilltop for five years, and we stopped a lot of bad people from doing terrible things. If there was a right or wrong side to be on, I was sure the Hilltop Initiative’s side was the right one.

  The elevator started going down, and I wondered what the people in the lobby would think of me stepping out in bloody tactical gear with a gun strapped to my thigh. Maybe my partner was right and I needed to rethink my wardrobe if I was going to be seen in public.

  Thankfully the lobby was empty. Visiting hours must have ended some time ago, and the emergency room was on the other side of the building. I jogged toward the door and stepped out into the oppressive humidity. Anyone that tells you it’s nice when it rains in the summer hasn’t had to work in it before.

  Exiting the building, I started scanning the lot for my ride. Nothing jumped out right away, until a black SUV skidded around the corner. The vehicle accelerated towards me, and for the first time, I knew what it felt like to be one of the victims in Death Race. But not that shitty remake they put out in 2008. This felt more like the original with Sylvester behind the wheel. Thankfully this SUV didn’t pop the curb and mow me down for points. It just screeched to a halt right in front of me.

  The smell of burning rubber filled the air as the passenger door popped open. I almost expected it to be John Connor telling me, “Come with me if you want to live.” Instead, it was Sharon waiting inside, which in hindsight made much more sense.

  She motioned for me to hurry up and shouted, “Get in the damn car already!”

  I got in.

  “What in the fuck is going on, Max?” Sharon swerved around a slow car and then back into our lane. “Everyone’s been pulled back from the house, and they’ve started blocking off streets in and out of the neighborhood.”

  “I don’t know.” Whatever was going on, it was bad. Hilltop wouldn’t have pulled our people back from the house and created a wider perimeter unless things were bad. Explaining one house was easy, we could just tent it and tell people it was for termites. Once you start blocking off a neighborhood with hundreds of homes, things started to escalate quickly. Thankfully it was late enough that there wouldn’t be a lot of activity on the streets. We still had a chance to get in front of this situation before it made the news and spiraled out of control.

  “All we can do now is what Holly asked. We need to get a sample from the lady in the basement.”

  “Whatever you need to do Max, I’ve got your back.” Sharon turned to look at me, and it was easy to see that she was barely holding back tears. “Just promise me that we’ll be able to save him.”

  There was no way to know if my partner was going to come out of this on top, but if I had to put my money on someone beating the odds, it’d be him. There was no way Garfield would die without putting up one hell of a fight. “That’s why I’m here. I’ll do whatever it takes.”

  “I know he’d never tell you this himself, but Gordon is really impressed with how far you’ve come since joining the team. I just wanted you to know that he’s proud of you, in case he doesn’t get to tell you himself.”

  I’d always gotten the vibe that Garfield and Sharon were something more than coworkers. What she said confirmed for me that it was more than just a fling. It made sense the more I thought about it, I should have known their relationship was serious a long time ago. Garfield didn’t brag about his conquests like some of the other guys in the unit, he was more of the private type. It made me feel good knowing that he found someone he could open up to.

  “Gordon’s going to be just fine.” It felt weird calling him by his first name, and even worse to be lying. I had no idea if Garfield was going to be ok, but I knew that Sharon needed to believe that he was. “We’re going to get Holly whatever she needs, and she’s going to save him,” I said it to convince her, but I wanted it to be true.

  Sharon took a quick right on red and then blasted around two cars. We were flying through the streets, pressing our luck against getting pulled over. She needed to slow down, but there was no way I was going to be the one to tell her that. I climbed in the back seat and then shimmied over it into the flat space in the back. Once I was settled, I popped the lock on the gun safe and started refilling my magazines.

  I didn’t know what was going on back at the house, but I was going to be armed to the teeth when I went back inside. No one was going to get close enough to bite me. We were going to be there soon, so instead of climbing back to the front, I made myself comfortable.

  Sharon was stopped once at our makeshift perimeter and was waved through. This was going to be a full-on shitstorm by the morning if we didn’t have things figured out. I couldn’t even imagine explaining why we quarantined an entire neighborhood or worse yet, what kind of mess it would be to try and do it to an entire city. The Hilltop couldn’t let that happen.

  The SUV slid to a stop in front of the house, and Sharon got out. She opened the back so I could scramble out and then picked up her MP5. Always be prepared, the motto wasn’t just for the boy scouts. I motioned for Sharon to grab a vest while sliding on my gloves. This was going to get messy, and the last thing I wanted was anything in there on my hands.

  I started walking toward the door with Sharon a few steps behind me. Something was wrong. “Shouldn’t there still be men posted outside?”

  “There should be two men out front. When we pulled everyone back to start locking down the neighborhood, we left two men in the front, and the two men you assigned to guard the fridge were still in place to keep anyone from going into the basement.”

  I pulled out my flashlight and shined the light on the door. It was open just an inch, but there was something on the side of the frame. “Blood.”

  Sharon fanned out to the side, getting another angle on the door. “Lots of it.”

  “Call for backup and then we go in.” I kept my eyes on the door as Sharon called operations.

  She shook her head and then tried changing channels. “I don’t know what’s wrong. I’m not getting anything but static.”

  “Then I guess it’s just you and me. Stay behind me, and stay close. We run into anyone that isn’t Hilltop, shoot them.”

  “Lead the way.”

  The Sharon I knew was back in control. She’d shut off her emotions so she could get the job done. Somewhere deep inside she was still concerned for Garfield, but until she had what we needed to help him in hand, her focus was on completing our mission.

  A genuine smile spread across my face for the first time since Garfield collapsed. Despite my reservations about being thrust into danger on a weekly basis I actually kind of enjoyed this part of the job. Running forward I kicked the door open and then stopped. There was more blood on the ground than my glimpse from outside revealed. With the door hanging open I could already see the reason why.

  One of our men was down in the entryway, his vest had been torn away, and his guts were lying in a pile around him. The enjoyment I felt at kicking the door in evaporated instantly. I looked back at Sharon, and she had turned away from the body on the floor.

  I looked at the body and then back at Sharon. “You still up for this?”

  “I have to be,” Sharon managed through gritted teeth.

  “Then let’s do this.” I walked into the house pulling my gun. The body on the ground twitched for a moment and then went still. Part of me was tempted to shoot it, just to make sure, but for all I knew that could have been one of Sharon’s friends. She might think I started going over the deep end if I fired bullets into dead bodies as we walked past. Shit, a week ago I would have thought the same thing, but now I wasn’t so sure.

  Standing by the body, I let my light follow the trail of blood into the kitchen doorway. Slowly I moved into the room and confirmed what I was pretty sure was my worst fear. Nothing said fuck this, let’s just burn the place down, like a trail of blood leading into a secret basement bio-lab. Garfield was cou
nting on me, so I found the strength to take a step forward and gripped the handle to the fridge.

  Chapter Seven

  Holly Bowmont

  I wouldn’t sugarcoat the situation to myself. Gordon Garfield was in a very literal fight for his life. At least Max was gone. Having him standing outside of the surgery room doors wasn’t something I wanted to deal with. There was a very real chance I was going to have to take drastic action. When that time came, I didn’t need any distractions.

  Thinking about what might have to happen wasn’t doing Gordon any favors, so I started sprinting to catch up with his gurney. My team from Hilltop was still being flown in, which meant I was working with the hospital’s normal staff. They had no idea what they’d just been roped into, and that might pose a real problem.

  We didn’t have bio-suits here. The hospital wasn’t set up to be a containment zone. Everyone needed to be careful. Until I found out how this thing spread, no one was going to take unnecessary risks. “I want everyone to double glove. If you don’t have a role that involves touching the patient, try and replace yours with the thick rubber kind. Everyone in the room needs a mask and glasses. Let’s get to work people.”

  I didn’t need to look up to know the nurses were already following my instructions. They could be upset if they wanted to, the fact was they were here now and wouldn’t be leaving any time soon. If it were any consolation to them, I would have preferred to be in my own lab, surrounded by my team, but that wasn’t an option. Looking around the room filled me with confidence. Everyone here looked capable, but none of them had seen anything like this before.

  When my hands were clean, one of the nurses put my gloves on and then another set. It made moving my fingers a bit clumsy, but it was a risk worth taking. Not that two pairs of gloves would stop a scalpel, but I really wanted to make sure none of his blood touched me until I could verify the infection couldn’t be spread that way.