Born on the Fourth Day of Bloom
AN: Thank you reviewers, readers and followers for your continuing interest in this story. Your reviews always make my day. Again, small warning that there is a lot of swearing in this chapter. People are stressed.
Marcus pushed Baird's wheelchair into the lobby of one of the larger unexplored blocks of laboratories. The ground was littered with plaster and other rubble from the ceiling, and the air was thick with dust that glimmered in the shafts of sunlight. Marcus was wearing his armour and had his Lancer slung over his back. Baird was still wearing only a t-shirt and shorts, but since Bloom had turned into Bounty and the weather was even warmer than before, his attire was entirely appropriate. He couldn't get his armour on over his broken arm easily anyway, and he didn't think that they'd come across anything here that would attack them. He'd managed to retrieve his favourite pair of goggles, which Cole had kept safe for him, and was wearing them perched on his blond hair. He still felt naked without his plates and guns, but even he recognised how stupid an epileptic carrying a firearm would be.
Marcus hadn't been completely happy about the trip, but when had Baird ever cared about Marcus's happiness? It wasn't like Marcus was the one stuck in his room with nothing to do but stare at the peeling paint on the walls.
"If Hayman finds out about this then she just might kill the both of us," said Marcus.
"Yeah, and if I'd been stuck in my quarters much longer I just might have killed myself. Besides, a little dirt never hurt anyone," replied Baird, looking around at the large entrance hallway.
Cole entered behind them, also in armour and with his Lancer in its holster for now.
"Didn't I hear Hayman say something about resting and giving that brain of yours some time off," said Cole.
"Yeah, and I am, just not right this moment," said Baird. "Anyway, this doesn't even count as light duty, all I'm doing is sitting here while you push me places. It's not like you're letting me do much else."
Baird had watched most of a week go by on Azura, during which he had managed to hobble from his bed to the couch in his quarters once a day, and occasionally hobbled to his wheelchair and got taken somewhere by Cole, Marcus or Sam. He was mostly watching life go by on the island, rather than actually participating in it, and after ten days of it, he was fed up. He listened in to the Azura radio traffic and wished that time would pass more quickly. Except when he took his medication, and then he wished it would pass slowly so that his pills wouldn't run out as quickly.
Hayman had him keeping a record of his seizures so that she could track any abnormal brain activity, but that had bored him pretty quickly so he'd started to make it more interesting. It had turned into a note form diary. His handwriting was horrible though, and it was sort of hard work, so it had to be kept short. According to Baird's diary, the week had gone something like this:
Day one: Get out of Med Centre, tell squad members about medical discharge. They complain & generally freak out. Have 3 seizures (2.35pm, 3am x2). Sam acts weird.
Day two: "Friends" spend time trying to get signature on discharge waiver. Go back to Med Centre for more meds. Have 1 seizure (12.15pm). Give in & sign discharge waiver. Get dragged to senior staff meeting.
Day three: Get dragged to rescued prisoner interrogation at Med Centre, also endure medical torture there & excruciati v. bad leg pain. Play chess with Sam and she acts weird again. No seizures.
Day four: Delta still providing 26 hour babysitting service. Started PT with Cpl Thompson, which is just more torture by medical professionals. No seizures.
Physiotherapy left him worn out, because, since he wanted to walk again, he worked hard at the exercises, and he almost always napped afterwards, which he was sort of embarrassed by. And in general, Baird still tired easily, which was mainly down to the continued healing that his body was engaged in, so there wasn't much he could do about it. Thompson also wanted him to try putting weight on his bad leg, which sounded stupid, but in theory the frame should support him enough to do it. So far, every time they'd tried it, that had been too painful and he'd just have to wait for it to heal more.
Day five: Stayed awake long enough to get through more of the blueprints. Sam helped. No seizures.
Day six: I got to tell everyone to fuck off and leave me alone, after 72 hrs of no seizures. No one actually left me alone. No seizures.
The longer version of day six was that he'd taken great delight in telling everyone that it had been 72 hours without any seizures, he was therefore fine, and could now officially be alone. Everyone got the message and left him to it. As it turned out, he was alone for about three hours total, but it was better than nothing and it was the longest he'd been on his own in four weeks. Then Cole turned up to make sure he ate lunch, and ruined his attempts at making a pretence of independent living. Still, not much could dent his happiness at being seizure free for the required period of time to allow him to just be in his own quarters without anyone needing to watch him.
Day seven: Visit from Cpl Brennan. Workshop has not burned down despite my absence. Needed advice on a downed chopper. Persuaded Cole to push me down to the landing pad, but he wouldn't let me near enough to help out. Bastard. Argument ensued. No seizures.
Baird actually missed the workshop and the hands-on fixing of things. However, no one seemed to be in a hurry to get him back to work, in fact the opposite was true. They barely let him look at the blueprints for more than an hour a day, and then he was supposed to rest. Until the cast came off his arm, he couldn't get more than short distances on his own. That meant he wasn't going to be sneaking off by himself anywhere outside of the accommodation block, so he had to put up with the attentions of his well-meaning friends.
Day eight: More blueprints, more chess with Sam. Bored. Leg hurt. Didn't sleep well. No seizures.
Day nine: Finished off the blueprints. More chess with Sam. Still bored. Still not being left alone by Delta. No seizures.
By this point, he was getting a steady stream of visitors. Cole was there every evening, Marcus took him to his physio sessions, Anya dropped in to see that he had enough supplies and Jace stopped by to play cards badly. Clay Carmine was notable by his absence, but Baird didn't blame him for that given that apparently Daniel Carmine's pneumonia had taken a turn for the worse. Baird hoped he pulled through because anyone who actually read his intelligence reports deserved a break, and, well, to not be dead.
And then there was Sam, who turned up every morning to help clean his leg frame because he still couldn't bend over without feeling dizzy. And radioed in at lunch time "just to check in" but he knew it was really because she wanted to make sure he was eating. And arrived at his quarters in the afternoons with the chess board because "she needed more practise", but actually because she thought he'd be bored (she was right). There hadn't been a repeat of the amazing back rub incident, but then his leg hadn't been causing him such excruciating pain lately. He almost wished that it was so that he had an excuse for her to do it again. He found himself looking forwards to afternoon chess with Sam, which was such a weird feeling that he had no idea what to do with it.
Day ten: Persuaded Marcus and Cole to take me out to investigate building that looked interesting. Hoffman arrives today.
The blueprints which Marcus had brought over helped to pass the time and after ten days, they were almost all categorised into either "interesting", "very interesting", or "dull". The ones in the "very interesting" category were somewhat intriguing, and Baird was desperate to go and take a look. He still wasn't quite sure how he'd managed it, but perhaps they'd realised just how dull he was finding life at the moment. He'd actually caught himself wondering if he could build a bomb with the stuff lying around his quarters, and if he told anyone that then they'd never let him be on his own again.
Luckily Marcus and Cole had succumbed to pressure and so he was now exploring a crumbling building in one of the less well travelled parts of Azura. In front of them was a wide corridor with a marble floor and wooden doors. Each door led on to a lab area where scientists had worked on whatever crazy evil technology Prescott had wanted that week. The Locust had definitely been through here and there was evidence of old blood and bullet holes, probably where they'd just shot the civilian scientists on sight. It was all rather morbid stuff.
"What exactly are we supposed to find here?" asked Cole.
"Well, for starters, equipment," said Baird. "This was supposed to be a biochemistry lab, so they should have mass spectrometers, microscopes, gas chromatographs, centrifuges and who knows what else. Which means that we can set up our own chemistry lab and begin looking at making our own antibiotics, painkillers, insulin, and hopefully, anti-seizure medication. Assuming that I can work out how it all functions and that any of it is working."
"We might as well start somewhere," said Marcus. "Right or left?"
Baird pulled out the blueprint for this particular building from where he'd tucked it into his sling. It was labelled "Embry Labs" and hadn't given any indication as to its function on the plans. He'd had to work it all out from the services going into the building and the layout of the rooms.
"Try left. It's the largest lab on the blueprints," he suggested.
Marcus pulled Baird to one side of the door and he and Cole both drew their Lancers. Apparently they were going to do this the old fashioned way. It made Baird feel sort of lost and rather useless. He was used to being one of the people that kicked down doors and rushed through them, guns blazing. Sitting in a wheelchair while he watched other people work was not something he was going to enjoy, and this was the first opportunity he'd had to really get to grips with that. Of course, Marcus was being his usual over-cautious self, Baird was fairly certain that there wasn't anything left alive in here that could hurt them.
On a count of two, Cole thrust the door open with a kick and he and Marcus bundled through, scanning the corners for any movement. The room was as empty as the corridor.
"Clear," shouted Marcus, holstering his weapon again.
"I'm so glad we've got you to protect us, oh fearless leader," said Baird, from the corridor. "The ghosts of all those dead scientists that the Locust shot are all going to be quaking in their boots."
"Better safe than sorry," said Cole. "Who knows what Prescott's minions were doing down here."
Marcus was back in the corridor, pushing Baird's chair forwards again. "You were the one who said you didn't know what we were going to find in here."
"Yeah, I meant supplies and technology," said Baird. "This place is a science ghost town."
Marcus moved him through the double doors and into the huge lab that they'd just opened up. It was full of lab benches stocked with arrays of glassware, Bunsen burners and other lab equipment. There were banks of computers too, which almost made this trip worth it all on its own.
"Fuck me, this is like Winterfest come early," said Baird.
Cole put a hand on Baird's shoulder. "Oh yeah, baby, we've hit the jackpot." He wandered off to take a look at some of the other things around the lab.
"I wonder if any of it still works," said Baird. "Take me over there. I want to see if there's any power in this building."
Marcus rolled his eyes at the lack of any "please", but did as Baird asked. He positioned the wheelchair in front of one of the many banks of computers. Baird flicked the on switch and lights glimmered with life on the panels.
"Okay, well that's good, but where the fuck is it drawing the power from?" asked Baird.
"One thing at a time," said Marcus.
Baird looked at the screen for a moment. The letters danced around and try as he might he couldn't make the light green symbols on the dark green background stay still long enough to mean anything. He took a deep breath and tried again, looking more closely. This used to be so easy.
"What's the matter?" asked Marcus, who'd apparently noticed that Baird wasn't doing anything.
He sighed. There was no way of saying this without it being embarrassing.
"I can't read it," said Baird. "Dyslexia, remember? There's something about the green on green that's making it worse."
Marcus frowned for a second. "I'm your eyes then. It says "Embry Lab systems online. Enter passcode" and then there are six underscore lines with a flashing cursor by the first."
"I'm dyslexic not blind," said Baird. "I don't need you to paint me a picture, just read the words. Okay, so it wants a passcode. That's going to be a bitch to crack. Unless…"
Baird typed in "123456" and pressed Enter.
"It says "incorrect code"," said Marcus.
Baird tried "000000" and then "567890" both of which failed to work. He cracked his knuckles and typed: "Embry1".
The screen changed and Baird knew he'd been successful. "Who's going to break into a secret island base with a Maelstrom barrier?" he asked no one in particular. "No one, that's who. So, why bother with a password that's doing anything more than testing whether you have a human brain?"
"Did you get somewhere?" asked Cole.
"Yup," replied Baird. "It wasn't even a challenge." Then he looked at the words scrolling down the screen and realised that he couldn't read any of it. "Great, I'm so fucked. The secrets to the universe could be in here and I'd never be able to read them."
"We've got plenty of time," said Marcus. "Hoffman's not due in until this afternoon."
"If you have to read every word for me, this is going to take all of that time and more," said Baird.
"Then we'd better get started," said Marcus.
So they did. Marcus read the words and Baird typed commands. The computer banks were full of research data and they only scratched the surface of it, but they did come across a couple of worrying things including some files that were labelled "biological agent 491" and "biological agent 628", and an indication that the building had a basement which wasn't on any of the plans.
"If those idiots were messing about with bioweapons then we might have a big problem on our hands," said Baird. "Usually these things are kept in refrigerated containment and if the power fails…"
"Oh hell no, baby," said Cole. "You cannot be telling me that we just started putting this world back together only to get taken down by some weapons grade flu virus that Prescott was messing about with."
"Then I'll shut up," said Baird. "Because it's a distinct possibility. Unless the power source that's powering this computer is also maintaining containment on whatever these biological agents are, but we should really work out where these things are and destroy them, and if we could do that yesterday then it won't be soon enough."
"Shit," said Marcus. "We're going to need more manpower." He put a finger to his radio. "Control, this is Fenix. We've got a situation up at the East Labs building. We're going to need rapid response squads to help search the building for a biological agent containment facility."
"Fenix, this is Control. Did I copy that correctly? Confirm "biological agent"?"
"Yes, Control, you heard correctly. Make sure that Lieutenant Stroud is informed, but tell her to stay in Operations," said Marcus.
"Good luck with that," said Baird. If Anya sat this one out then it would be a miracle.
"Roger that, Sergeant. All response squads are being despatched to your location. Please keep us advised on the situation, usual check-in times for field ops," said Control.
"Understood, Fenix out," said Marcus. He turned to Cole. "Get Baird out of here."
"What?" said Baird, with both surprise and anger in his tone. "No way am I leaving you to do this on your own. You'll open the wrong door and we'll be knee deep in corpses before dinner time."
"You're injured and this situation just got dangerous," said Marcus.
"You need me," said Baird, indicating the computers in front of him.
"This isn't a debate, Baird," said Marcus, with some annoyance. "You're not cleared for active duty."
"Look, Cole and I can stay here. He can do the reading for me, and I'll use the maps in the computer to guide you," said Baird, trying to sound reasonable and persuasive. "We can't afford to miss anything because it could kill us later."
Marcus let out an exasperated growl. "Damn it. Okay, but Cole, at the first sign of trouble you get him out of here. I don't care if you have to do it at gunpoint."
"You got it, Marcus," said Cole, and Baird didn't like the look that the two of them exchanged.
"I hate you both," said Baird. "Come on, let's get this done."
Cole began to read for Baird as he navigated his way through the system, drilling down to the building security systems. Marcus paced nervously while he waited for their backup to arrive.
Zeta squad were the first to get there.
"What's he doing here?" asked Alex, upon seeing Baird sat at the computer. "Isn't he still supposed to be tucked up in bed?"
Baird flipped her off.
"Tech support," said Marcus, turning so that he was between Alex and Baird. Baird didn't know whether to be amused, flattered or pissed off that Marcus thought that he might need protecting from Alex Brand and her inanities.
Jace arriving with Kappa squad interrupted any further explanation or discussion, especially as this was then followed by Anya making her inevitable entrance, along with Sam and her squad, Lima. Gamma and Beta squads made their appearance about two minutes after that. Sam looked a little puzzled by Baird's presence, but kept any opinions on it to herself. Everyone was in their full combat gear and had their Lancers on their backs. It almost reminded Baird of old times, but then he'd have been standing there with them, getting ready to move out. He suppressed the stirrings of jealousy within himself and concentrated on the screens.
"What's the Sit Rep?" said Anya.
Marcus went through their problem in short order, glossing over how they'd come to be here in the first place. He definitely wasn't pleased that Anya was there, but wasn't going to have the argument in front of everyone.
"And why is Baird here?" asked Anya.
"We need someone to work the computers for us," said Marcus.
"Damn it, Marcus, he's not supposed to be out exploring buildings," said Anya, lowering the tone of her voice but not enough so that Baird couldn't hear her.
"Hey," said Baird, "I'm right here, and you don't have anyone else that can access these systems, so I'd suggest everyone stops bitching and starts searching. All the super-secret stuff is down in the basement - the basement that isn't supposed to exist according to these plans." He waved at the blueprints that were now spread out on the bench beside him.
"Prescott and his secrets," said Anya. "Okay, how do we get to this hidden basement?"
"There's an elevator at the end of that corridor. It goes down as well as up. I can hack the systems to take you to the basement," said Baird.
"Okay, Marcus, Zeta, Lima, you're with me. We'll check out the basement," said Anya. "Kappa, take this floor. Gamma find the stairs and start on the next floor. Beta, you've got the top floor. No opening any locked doors without checking in with Baird."
"Yeah, and as much as I hate to suggest it, we should probably get Hayman over here too," said Baird. "She might have a hope in hell of understanding bio containment procedures."
"Okay, but she stays up here," said Anya. "Move out, Gears."
There were general shouts of "yes, Ma'am," and the Gears dispersed.
Baird turned back to the computer console, and waited for Marcus to let him know that they were in the elevator. Finally he felt like he was actually doing something useful, although Hayman was probably going to rip him a new one when she turned up and found out what he'd been doing. Every mission had its risk factors, he supposed.
The elevator descended, once Baird had done his thing, and Marcus felt his stomach twist with apprehension. He didn't like walking into situations without any knowledge of what he was going to find. The worst part of this was that the danger probably wasn't something that could be solved by filling it full of bullets either. Almost everything that they'd come across so far, Locust, Lambent, and the UIR, could be dealt with through the application of force. If there were biological agents in this building then they had no defences against them.
"Okay, the doors should open out onto a long corridor," said Baird's voice. He could hear Cole saying something in the background, probably telling Baird what was on his screen. "You've got secure labs down both sides. There are four in total, two on each side. The projects that we're looking for should be in lab three, but I'd suggest taking a look at the others whilst you're there. You know, just in case Prescott left any other nasty surprises down there for us. Lab two's a fair bit bigger than the others."
The doors opened onto a grey metal corridor with strip lights that shed a harsh greenish, white light on the area. It was narrow compared to the corridor that they'd entered the lift from, but wide enough for three people to walk abreast. There were long thin windows at about shoulder height, through which they could look into the labs, and already Marcus didn't like the look of them. Only part of each lab could be seen through the windows, and the walls were the same metal as the corridor.
"Roger that," said Anya. "Zeta, you've got lab one. Lima, take lab two. Marcus and I are on three. Whoever finishes first gets to move on to lab four."
"They've all got airlock doors. Once you're inside, you're going to have to wait for decontamination and airlock cycles to get out again. Don't expect a quick exit," said Baird.
"Understood, hopefully we won't need one," said Anya.
"Baird?" asked Sam. "What's the door for at the end of the corridor? You said there were four labs, but there are five doors."
There was a pause and they could hear typing, and Cole speaking in the background again.
"Cole, tell me I'm looking at this right," they heard, as Baird apparently asked Cole for confirmation of something that he was looking at.
"What's the matter?" asked Alex. "Having trouble with the big words, Baird?"
Marcus rounded on Alex, just as Sam gave her a stare of pure death. They hadn't generally informed people about Baird's neurological condition, because Baird hadn't wanted to tell lots of people, so Alex really didn't know just how crass she was being with that remark. Clearly Sam didn't appreciate it, and Marcus found that he wasn't too happy about it either. Unfortunately none of them had time for either explanations or arguments, so pulling Alex up on that would have to wait.
"Fuck you, Brand," was Baird's reply. "So, I have good news and bad news. Which do you want first?"
Marcus looked at Anya. "Lead with the bad news," he said.
"The bad news is that door at the end of the corridor leads to a nuclear reactor which hasn't had any maintenance done on it for over six months," said Baird. "Oh, and potentially all the fighting and building destruction shaking the island around might have damaged it. I can't tell from up here whether it's still functioning within expected norms."
"Awesome," said Marcus, sarcastically.
"And the good news?" asked Anya.
"That nuclear reactor is powering this building and potentially could power every building on the island, which means that bio containment failure due to the power going off is probably unlikely," said Baird. "Unless there's a problem with the reactor, in which case we're all screwed."
"That's not really good news," said Marcus.
"The first bit was," said Baird. "Sue me on the rest of it. Nuclear reactors aren't meant to be built and then forgotten about. They have to be either maintained or decommissioned."
"Great, more problems," said Anya. "For now, let's concentrate on the labs. The reactor's been fine for the last six months, we'll just have to hope it holds up a while longer."
"They weren't big on labelling things, were they?" said Sam. "There's not so much as a radiation alert sticker down here."
"Okay, I'm opening the lab airlock doors to the corridors," said Baird. "There should be hazmat suits inside the airlock according to this. You might want to put those on."
"Copy that," said Anya.
"Hayman's here," added Baird. "She looks pretty pissed off. I'd better talk to her before she has a coronary of something."
"Rather you than me," said Marcus, wryly and turned back to the door in front of him.
There was a hiss of doors opening and the Gears moved off to their various assigned directions. Marcus picked up one of the hazmat suits that was hung on a peg to one side of the airlock and began to pull it on over his armour. Anya did likewise. They checked each other's seals and hit the door release to move through to the next lab.
The lighting here was the same as in the corridor. It was harsh and had a slight green tint to it. It made everything look sharp and clinical. The metal surfaces shone slightly where they'd been polished by arms rubbing across them constantly.
"Where do we start?" asked Anya.
Marcus looked around him. The lab wasn't terribly large compared to the one upstairs where Baird was still positioned. It only had three rows of lab benches, each one metal and with lots of lab equipment set out on it. There were rows and rows of sealed test-tubes in racks. Across one side of the lab were sealed glass boxes with robotic arms and gloved access ports, and down another was a large bank of fridges with glass fronts. There were various machines, that Marcus couldn't even begin to guess the purpose of, dotted around the lab.
"The fridges," said Marcus. "Baird said that biological agents are usually refrigerated."
Marcus approached the fridges, and Anya moved across the lab so that she was beside him. They could see several bags of red liquid inside the cabinet.
"Is that blood?" she asked.
"It looks like it," said Marcus. "But it's not human. Look at the labels."
"Kantus, Brumak, Theron, Drone, Mauler…" read Anya. "This is Locust blood."
"I guess they needed something to test whatever they were making on," said Marcus. He was looking at the writing that the labels were scribbled in, it looked a little familiar. "That's my father's handwriting."
"Your father worked in this lab?" asked Anya.
"Who knows what Prescott had him doing," replied Marcus, but he did wonder how much of it was at Prescott's bidding and how much was his father's own ideas. He'd said "I'm an old hand at mass destruction" and it was true. He'd known about the Locust for a long time and Marcus couldn't bring himself to ask Baird what was on the disk that his father had given him. He wondered if Baird had even looked at it.
One of the other fridges contained what appeared to be samples of imulsion, which was now dead, of course, but had exploded in the fridge smashing open the door. Some of the Lambent had literally exploded when Marcus's father had deployed the imulsion countermeasure, so that was probably what had happened here.
"I'm glad of the suits," said Anya.
"Yeah," said Marcus. "Don't go near the broken glass, you don't want to risk putting a hole in it."
Anya nodded, moving towards the enclosed compartments. "This might be what we're looking for," said Anya. "There are bottles here labelled Biological Agent 491 and Biological Agent 628. Oh good god, there are more and they're all marked "Human contagion factors"."
Marcus came over to see what she was looking at, and could see the rows of bottles that Anya was talking about. There were others described as "mutated contagion factors" and some that were described as "mutated contagions for Locust trials".
"Great, now we just need to work out how to destroy them," said Marcus.
"And everything else in this lab," said Anya. "I don't want anything coming back to bite us later because we weren't smart enough to do a thorough job."
"Yeah, and I'm beginning to think that we should have checked out all of these buildings as a matter of priority. If Baird hadn't found this place, then we might be looking at a viral outbreak of some kind," said Marcus.
"Maybe he can come up with a way of safely getting rid of this stuff," said Anya. "I mean, is burning it going to be enough, or should we be considering radiation, or something else entirely?"
"Lima to Stroud," said Sam's voice. "Anya, you might want to take a look at this. We've found some dead Locust, and well, I'm really not sure what this is."
Anya glanced at Marcus with trepidation in her eyes. "We'll be with you as soon as we've cycled the airlock," said Anya. "Stroud to Baird, come in Corporal."
"Baird here. How's it going? Beta squad just finished their sweep of the top floor. It was all reassuringly dull," said Baird's crackling voice over the radio.
"We found the projects we were looking for. At the moment they're safely contained, but there is definitely evidence of damage to some of these labs. They had imulsion samples and it looks like they exploded. We're being careful," said Anya. "Lima squad have found something that they want Marcus and I to take a look at. Can you cycle the airlock for us on Lab 3?"
"Hah, I was just going to leave you down there," said Baird.
"Not funny, Baird," said Marcus.
"Okay, opening your airlock. Cole tells me there are showers, ultraviolet lights and positive pressure, so your ears might feel weird as you move through. It should take about five minutes to get you decontaminated and into the corridor. I'll let you know when it's safe to take off your suits."
Marcus and Anya stepped into the airlock, their ears equalising to the new pressure and the door closed behind them. Ultra violet lights flickered on, and they waited in silence for a couple of minutes. Suddenly there was a noise over the radio.
"This is Zeta, Baird we need those doors opened now," said Alex's voice. "Roberts is down. I repeat Roberts is down and we need casevac."
Someone was screaming in the background.
"Wait, Brand, this is important. Is his hazmat suit okay?" asked Baird's voice. "Is the material intact?"
"No, damnit," said Alex. "He touched some weird goo and it started eating his suit, then it started on him. It's like it's alive. Shit. Roberts, Sean, hold it together. Get that door open, Baird!"
"No!" said Baird. "Whatever that stuff is, it can't be allowed out of containment. I've got medics on the way to you."
"Baird, open the fucking door," said Alex. They could hear the other members of Zeta shouting at each other but it was impossible to make out what they were saying.
"I can't," said Baird, with desperation. "I can't. You'll have to treat him there."
"Baird…" began Marcus. There had to be something that they could do.
"He's right," said Anya, abruptly. "Baird's right."
"Fuck you, I have a man down," shouted Alex. "I need to get him to the medics."
"Sergeant Brand, we cannot allow anything out of these labs. It could kill us all," said Anya. "Medics will have to suit up and treat him inside the lab. That's an order."
"This is Hayman. I'm in the elevator and on my way down to you. I'll suit up and come to you. What are his symptoms?"
"He's having trouble breathing. His veins turned dark red, almost black. Now, uh… His skin is… bleeding, sort of all over… like it's turning to liquid," said Alex, haltingly, clearly having difficulty with the description.
"You need to look around for a counteragent. That's the only thing that's going to help him," said Hayman. "Whatever he touched should be labelled and there should be something nearby with the same designation, but called counteragent or antiviral. It should have syringes with it."
Alex could be heard swearing and trying to help Roberts, then her radio clicked off.
"Zeta, report. What is your status?" asked Anya. The shower had begun in the airlock and Marcus was finding it hard to hear his radio over the noise of the water on his suit.
"Fucked," said Alex. "Our status is fucked. Teucer is down. Coughing up blood. Roberts… Roberts is dead. Teucer was trying to help him, and the damn stuff got on his suit. It kills in minutes and I can't find anything called counteragent or anti-viral."
"Alex, you and Quinn need to get out of there now," said Marcus, as calmly as he could manage. "Get yourselves into decontamination."
The airlock for lab three had finally finished its cycling and Marcus and Anya rushed over to the windows that allowed them to see into lab one. They could just about see two men down on the ground between the lab benches, Quinn hunched over them and Alex standing, looking for something on one of the lab benches. She turned as she caught the movement at the window.
"Sergeant Brand, move your ass," said Marcus, with more feeling.
"Yes, Sergeant Fenix," replied Brand, angrily. "Quinn, come on."
"Sorry, Sarge," said Quinn, and held up a hand. Marcus could make out the disintegrating rubber. It was brittle and flaking away, revealing his bare hand underneath. "I think I'll be staying here."
Alex made to move towards him and Quinn backed away. "Oh no, we don't need you going down with this too," said Quinn. "Come back with flamethrowers and burn this stuff. Promise me that, Brand."
"You have my promise, Quinn. I'll burn it all."
Alex turned and walked to the airlock, glancing back at the rest of her squad. Behind her Quinn collapsed to the ground and Marcus could see the veins in his skin turning dark red.
"Baird, open the airlock," said Marcus.
"Done," said Baird. Alex stepped inside and he shut the door behind her. "Cycling."
"Zeta squad's last stand," chuckled Quinn. "Taken out by a jar of slime." He fumbled with the seals on his suit.
Marcus turned around as the elevator doors opened and Hayman and Jensen dashed out. They came to a halt as they saw Anya and Marcus's faces.
"You're too late," snarled Marcus.
Behind him there was the crack of a rifle going off, twice. Everyone turned towards the window to see that Quinn had put a bullet in Teucer's head, followed by one in his own. It was probably better than drowning in your own blood.
"It would seem so," said Hayman, dryly, with a glance towards the lab. "I doubt I could have done much for them."
"What the hell's going on out there?" asked Sam, over the radio. "I thought I heard gunfire."
"Sam, we lost Roberts, Teucer and Quinn, but everyone else is safe," said Anya. "Just be careful with your suits. There's some deadly stuff down here. Doctor, get Sergeant Brand up to the surface and then take her to the Medical Centre. I want her to have a full check-up."
Hayman nodded, just as Alex emerged from the airlock, now without her hazmat suit. She strode past the waiting Gears and doctor, towards the lift.
"Alex…" began Anya.
"I don't want to hear it," said Alex. "Whatever it is, I don't give a fuck. I'm getting a flamethrower and I'm sterilising this place. Then I'm going to beat an apology out of Baird for not following an order."
"Stand down, Sergeant," said Anya, making the command unmistakeable. Marcus didn't hear her use this tone of voice particularly often. Anya very rarely needed to raise her voice to get people to follow her orders, but she certainly wasn't above using her tone to make her displeasure clear.
"Stand down? Stand down?!" shouted Alex. "My squad are dead. My squad who made it through everything that the Locust threw at us, until we came to this island. You let them die! You could have opened that door and we could have decontaminated him…"
Hayman was shaking her head. "Whatever this was, it was already inside his body. There would have been no saving him without the antigen."
"You don't know that," said Alex. "You can't know that."
"I can make educated guesses based on symptoms and what you told me," said Hayman.
"Get out of my way," said Alex, heading for the elevator again.
"Marcus, Doctor Hayman, go with her," said Anya. She caught hold of Marcus's arm as he started to move forwards and said very quietly. "Keep her out of here and away from Baird."
"Yes, Ma'am," muttered Marcus, following Alex towards the elevator. Hayman was half a step ahead of him, looking eager to get out of the basement.
He didn't need to be told that Alex was a ticking bomb at the moment. Zeta had been together a good long while and they were a team. If he'd just lost Baird and Cole then he'd be looking for someone to blame too. When Dom had died, all Marcus had wanted to do was to hit the Locust and hurt them. He'd taken great pleasure in killing every single grub that he could get his hands on, although none of it really helped the inescapable fact that Dom just wasn't there anymore. But you couldn't hit something that came from a petri dish, and that was Alex's real problem.