Ch. 7
All hell breaks loose
I picked it back up and logged on again. I stayed on my laptop till one in the morning but I couldn't find anything useful. I swore up and down as quietly as I could. Whoever purged the network was good. I couldn't find the transferred files. They were locked up in heavy armor. There was no way for me to get around them.
And the purged files? I only found bits and pieces of corrupted documents. Tidbits here and there. McMullen, General Randall, and Captain Cross were names that came up frequently. I glared at Cross's name. Day seven, still nothing.
In frustration, I slammed my laptop closed and threw myself down on the couch. I must've dozed off because I woke with a start from someone closing the door. I jumped off the couch, grabbed a jacket, and walked outside. Mercer was about to take off when he turned around.
"Where are you off too this fine morning?" I asked him.
"Dana heard McMullen was going to be dropped off about half a mile from Central Park. Apparently Blackwatch is quarantining a hive there. I was going to check it out; see if there's any way in luring him in," he explained.
"Mind if I join you?" I asked him. He nodded once and we set off. It took Alex ten minutes to find the hive that Blackwatch had quarantined. We landed on top of an apartment nearby and watched the patrols.
"You'll need a new form," Mercer said to me. I looked at him, not comprehending what he was saying. Then it hit.
"What?!" I said.
"It's only way to get past these guys. Besides the man you had chosen has already been recognized too many times."
"You may be comfortable with killing but I'm not." I placed my hands on my hips.
"Look," Alex said and stood up, "Blackwatch will kill you the moment they get their hands on you. You'll be dissected because apparently you're this new type of virus strain that's supposed to be making my life a living hell. Do you want that?"
I paused for a second. Want what? To be dissected or make your life hell? Then, I shook my head. "Alright then. Find a person and meet me over there." Alex pointed to a spot right behind the hive. I nodded and took off.
I found a guy, quickly knocked him out, and replaced him. "Why can't they ever be women?" I muttered under my breath as I got used to the new skin. God, I really hated this.
I met Alex in the designated area and waited. He didn't take long and tapped me on the shoulder. Gun in hand, I walked with him over to the first viral detector.
"This guy apparently knows how these things tick," he muttered under his breath as we passed by a couple of Blackwatch men. We neared a detector and immediately it began beeping. Alex got behind it and showed me how to trick it into thinking the area was clear.
Its beeping got louder but then disappeared.
"Huh?" We heard a voice over the radio. "Sector A is reading green." The person on the other end was surprised. "It's working," Alex muttered to me.
He nudged me over to one of the other detectors and I walked over as casually as I could. Once I got behind the detector, I quickly set to sabotaging the thing. Its beeping was driving me crazy. I pulled the right wire and it beeped green. There were two more and I saw Alex head over up one building. There must've been one up there too. I hurried over to the last one at the end of the lot.
I assumed the person on the other line was McMullen because he was expressing surprise. "It seems like infection levels are dropping," I overheard him say once Alex disabled the third detector. I took off the panel on the last one and disabled it.
That's when McMullen decided to pay us visit. Alex hopped down the building and radioed in McMullen. Two helicopters appeared on the horizon. "Be ready," Alex whispered to me, "Once I-we- get a hold of him, watch my back. And get ready to run."
"Gotcha," I replied as McMullen's helicopter came closer. Alex tensed as the chopper hovered just over the landing spot. We could literally see McMullen inside.
But he didn't get out of the chopper. He motioned for the pilot to take him out. I turned around and saw what McMullen was looking at. Several zombies had climbed over the fence and were advancing on us.
Suddenly, an alarm pierced the sky, wailing at the top of its lungs. The military advanced on us. "Go!" I yelled and practically dragged Alex out of there. I changed back as soon as I got the chance to, grabbed a discarded gun, and fired point-blank over my shoulder.
I heard Alex cursing loudly over the gunfire. We ran down another alleyway with them right on our heels. We hid behind a couple of trash cans and remained quiet as they passed us. Once they were gone, we got out from our hiding place. "I need to head over to Karen's lab and see if she's found a cure to this thing or not," Alex said to me. I nodded and we walked out of the alleyway and joined the chaotic crowds of bullets, screaming people and, of course, zombies.
We joined those who were running so it wouldn't look strange to see two people running by themselves. We reached his ex's lab about fifteen minutes later. Alex opened the door and ushered me inside; he shut the door behind him. My eyes adjusted to the dim interior and I spotted a blonde woman hunched over a desk, typing on a computer.
"I was beginning to wonder you'd be back," she said and swiveled around in her chair. Her eyes rested on me for a second but flicked up to Alex. "The genetic material you provided me with helped me but I need more. This time you'll need to head into a full blown hive. There I'm guessing that the hive is producing new strands of the virus. If you can get me that material I'm sure I'll be able to make a cure for the infection. And Alex?" She paused for a moment. Alex and I looked at her. "I'm sorry it had to come to this," she said.
"Don't apologize," Alex said, "Just cure this thing." With that said, we left.
There was something in her voice that I didn't like. It was like she was saying goodbye.
We found a hive a few blocks down. It looked like Blackwatch had this one under surveillance as well. There was a hole drilled into the top of the infected building.
"That's our way in," Alex said. There were men posted on and near the hive.
"They obviously don't want us going in," I pointed out.
"Too bad for them because we are."
Great, I thought as we both jumped over to the building and fell through the hole. As soon as we landed, Alex showed me what to look for amongst the orange pus and slime. I grimaced as I dug around picking up bits and pieces of the genetic material Karen asked for.
We dug through the hive for about twenty minutes. I jumped when my hand hit something inside a pus blob that was pointy and very sharp. I drew my hand back quickly and saw blood pouring out from my wrist. It healed within a few seconds when something caught my eye. I saw someone descend from the opening.
"You're a hard man to find, Mercer," a man called down to us. Alex looked up and we both watched the man drop down into the hive to stand amongst us. "Who are you?! What do you want?" Mercer yelled at the man. I froze as I watched the man detached his grappling hook.
He had the same gray-black hair, the scar on his face, and the badass- "don't eff with me" look. It was Cross.
The same man who tried to detain me back at that holding facility where I was turned… into what I was now.
Cross looked up and saw my dumbstruck face. "I see you've brought her with you as well, Mercer," he said.
"Leave her out of it," Mercer growled.
"Gladly," Cross replied giving a dismissed gesture, "I wasn't after her anyway."
I got up and stood a few feet from Alex. "Do you think I'll let you walk out of here with Alex just like that without a fight, you asshole?" I threatened.
"Well, I'm sure the boss won't mind if I take you in as well," Cross replied simply. Alex lunged at Cross who threw him aside. I jumped into the air and threw a chunk of a couch that I found on the ground near me. Cross had to roll out of the way to avoid getting hit.
"I take it your being here means Karen's betrayed me," Alex called out as we took turns attacking Cross. "She was very helpful," Cross said but couldn't say anymore because I had snuck up behind him while his attention was focused on Alex. I swung at him. I had aimed for his head but he moved to the left just slightly causing me to hit him in his waist.
I still punched Cross though and he flew across the room. He got up slowly and pushed the button on his grappling hook. It grabbed the ceiling and he rose up out of harm's way.
"Looks like your friends are here," Cross called from up high and zombies and Blackwatch descended on us. Alex grabbed my arm and we were back to back fending off the infected and bullets. Once the crowd thinned, Cross descended on us again. This time we were the ones who jumped out of his way. He had an overcharged stun stick along with the rockets he had fired at us earlier.
"Oh, fuck!" I yelped as the stick had come extremely close to hitting me. The air sizzled near the stick. There were still a few zombies left. Oddly, they were leaving Cross alone. They were not even batting a rotting eyelash at him. "Grab one!" Alex yelled at me.
"What?!" I yelled as I dodged an infected's poorly thrown punch. I watched Mercer grabbed one of the zombies that was running full throttle at him by the throat and threw it straight at Cross just as he was reloading his rockets. It smacked him right in face. I grimaced a little as he hit the wall.
Following Alex's example, I plucked one of the zombies off the ground and threw it at Cross. He had seen it coming and ducked as the flying chunk of rotting corpse came at him. But it gave Alex the chance to catch Cross off guard.
Alex charged at Cross who had barely enough time to react. Then, I saw the spark of blue and white flicker in and out from under Cross. "Alex! Look out!" I yelled. Mercer turned his head slightly in my direction just as he got shocked. His whole body jolted as the overcharged currents rolled through him. He flew back ten feet and landed on the ground.
Absolutely pissed off, I threw my hands out in front of me and hoped I still had that one power.
Cross started laughing at me when nothing happened for a moment. I glared at him and concentrated on sending him packing. Suddenly, my palms began to quake and red, black, and silver goo sprung out from me and into Cross.
"Take that, you evil son of a bitch!" I spat and hurried over to help up Alex. Cross was stuck in the sickly orange wall and fell out a few seconds later on his face. I snorted and turned my attention back to Mercer. His jacket was frayed from where the baton hit him but other than that he was just stunned.
"That hurt," he muttered.
I laughed a little but my mirth died when I heard sizzling behind me. I turned around to see Cross standing over me, stun stick in hand. "See you in the morning!" he cackled and swung.
I arched my back just as the baton made contact with my jacket. I felt a tiny sting and looked up: tendrils had slithered out from my back and had stopped the baton from hitting me full on. Cross looked just as stunned as I was. "How in the-?" he never got to finish his sentence because with one flick of my wrist I sent him flying back across the room again.
I breathed out a sigh of relief and got up. I tried hauling Alex to his feet.
We both began to walk over to Cross. He scrambled up to his feet and triggered his grappling gun and pulled him up to the surface. Just as he was halfway, Alex jumped up on him. The man looked too weak to fight off his hitchhiker. Alex turned slightly and held out his hand to me which I jumped up to take.
As soon as Cross crawled over the hole, Mercer and I both stepped off him. I backed away from him and his little stun stick. Cross was still on the ground. He coughed once.
"You two have no idea what you've gotten yourselves into," he laughed.
Alex and I eyed him warily. He got up on one knee and heaved himself off the ground. Cross watched me critically, like he was looking for some sort of mistake. "You've surely matured," he finally said. I bristled at his comment.
Ass, I thought. "Looks like the injection was a success, be it half-assed," he continued. I sniffed and looked away from him, which was a mistake. As soon as my attention was elsewhere, he jerked forward and I took the baton square in the chest. I couldn't move as the electrical currents washed over me.
It felt like my heart was convulsing. It was going to burst. He drew back and I fell forward, twitching still from left over currents. I watched Cross walk around me, talking casually to Alex. I couldn't hear what he saying. I had gone temporarily deaf. Alex had made a move towards me but Cross threatened him with the baton. All I caught from their exchange were two words: Penn Station.
Alex went down on one knee and held his head as if it was about implode. Then, I watched as Cross' arm drew back, an enormous syringe in hand, and smack into Alex's back. Mercer arched back, the look of pain flitted his face as Cross pulled the syringe out.
He fell on the ground next to me, breathing labored. My hearing slowly returned and I heard Cross say, "Zeus is down and ready for transport. I've also found something you may like: remember the girl you injected with the Light virus? She's out as well."
We had to get out of here while his back was turned. I woozily stood up and pulled Mercer up with me. I slung one of his arms over my neck and slowly and quietly dragged him over to the side of the building. I stepped over the side and we fell down.
Luckily it wasn't that far of a drop. My knees nearly buckled as I landed, coupled with Alex's weight on me. "Come on, buddy. Just hang in there," I muttered to him. We had to get away from here before Cross found us again.
I hauled Alex off till we were about halfway to Dana's. When we were about three blocks away, Alex finally spoke. "Wait," he breathed.
I froze and looked at him. "Just… set me down… over there," he gestured to the shaded side of a building where we'd be free from the prying eyes of the public. I walked him over and carefully set him down. As soon as his back was against the wall, he leaned his head back and his hood fell slightly revealing short brown hair underneath.
I sat on the opposite wall watching him. I waited until he'd speak but then he convulsed for a second. I was up and by his side in a flash. He drew his legs in and clenched his hands. I placed one of my hands over his and he gripped tightly. I winced a little but held onto him until the convulsion passed.
He let out a breath he'd held in slowly and opened his eyes. They flicked to me and I watched him with concern. "You alright?" I asked him softly. "I-I feel better now," he said hoarsely. I gave him a small smile and stood. I gave him a hand and pulled him up.
"Let's head over to Dana's. Maybe she knows someone who can help," I said to him.
