A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews and alerts! Sorry, sorry, sorry for the last cliffy…okay, maybe not.
As always, I don't own Twilight, Stephenie Meyer does.
EPOV
Fifteen minutes at most. That was all the time we had before the first horde would reach us.
"Where's the map?" I barked as everyone piled out of the Humvee. I handed the binoculars back to Emmett so he could keep an eye on the approaching shit storm. Marcus unfolded our map on the hood, our route already outlined in red.
Stabbing my finger at the small black dot that marked our current location, I trailed it perpendicular to the jagged red line. "We don't have time to go around…" I muttered as alternate scenarios spun in my brain.
"We need to move, Sarge!" Emmett yelled, his gaze never wavering from the looming threat.
"One fucking minute, Emmett!" Turning my attention back to the map, I quickly did the math in my head. Who knew my college professor would be right when he had smugly proclaimed that someday algebra would save my life. Peering over the desert landscape with its huge rock outcroppings and smattering of desert grass and shrubs, I quickly checked the wheel clearance on the Humvee before glancing back in the direction of Groom Lake. My eyes zeroed in on the Jumbled Hills in the distance and I quickly looked back down at the map. Seventeen miles straight shot.
"Eight minutes, Sarge!"
"Fuck!" I roughly tugged at my hair as I turned to face the others. Grabbing the now wrinkled paper, I thrust it back into Marcus' hands. "Alright, we obviously can't backtrack and the horde ahead has Highway 375 blocked. So, we're going off road. Move out!"
Without further instruction, everyone piled back into the Humvee. The last door had barely shut before I hung a hard left through the desert. The terrain was rife with small hills and valleys, making our journey that much tougher, but I had to keep the speed on if we had any hope of maintaining a head start. The girls bounced around like pennies plunking in an empty mason jar, choosing to forgo their seatbelts.
"Sorry, sorry!" I apologized as I hit a rather large crater that sent Bella plunging toward the floor board. Rosalie grabbed her shoulders at the last moment, probably saving her from some rather nasty bruises and a possible concussion.
Emmett promptly pulled weapons from the large duffel at his feet and began checking clips. "What's the deal, Sarge?" he shouted above the roar of the engine. Marcus leaned forward, gripping the back of Emmett's seat, intent on listening as well.
"We're going to cut across to the Jumbled Hills over there!" I answered, taking one hand off the wheel for a split second to point in the direction I was headed. "We were supposed to intersect with Groom Lake Road from Highway 93, and come straight in from the back side, but those fuckers cut us off. We can still get to the main road as it cuts through the hills."
Emmett lowered his passenger window and stuck his head out. "I hope this works, Sarge! That dust cloud's a hell of a lot bigger. I think those two hordes are joining forces and hunting dinner!" His voice barely carried over the whipping wind.
"Yeah, well this tin can won't make it over the foothills. We'll have to abandon the Humvee and hike the three miles over and down to the main road into the base." I knew the Humvee was leaving a trail of dust for the Dreg to follow, but we couldn't outrun them on foot from this far away…especially carrying Marcus.
I maneuvered the best I could over the rocky landscape, trying to take the most direct route to our destination. A hidden slab of bedrock caught me off guard and the Humvee tumbled to the right a bit as we catapulted over the edge, hitting the ground hard.
Marcus lurched to the right and yelped loudly as he came in contact with the Humvee's side panel. "Argh!" he growled though gritted teeth, cradling his right wrist against his chest.
"Daddy!" Bella screamed from my periphery. I held the steering wheel in my hands with a death grip and tried to zigzag around some of the bigger dips to avoid jostling Marcus as much as possible. One more mile…just one more mile.
Emmett twisted slightly in his seat to look at our backseat occupants. "Rosie? Are you alright? Marcus alright?" He words were slightly jumbled as he bounced in his seat.
"I don't…ugh…know! Fuck!" she shouted back as we roughly descended another small hill. Rosalie and Bella toppled against each other like bowling pins.
Eight hundred yards.
The Jumbled Hills loomed large in front of me and a trickle of fear crept down my spine. Maybe I'd made the wrong decision. A quick glance over my shoulder at Bella reaffirmed my resolve. I would do anything for her. Risk it all…even an excruciatingly painful death…for her. She was worth it.
Three hundred yards.
"Em, is that cloud still gaining on us?" I hollered, looking over at my best friend.
Taking another look out the side window, he shouted back, "Yeah Sarge! There's no way we're coming back out this way!"
Two hundred yards.
Thankfully the terrain seemed to be leveling out a bit and I kicked up the speed a notch. "Almost there, almost there," I chanted. Emmett and I wouldn't have any problem with these hills. We had spent many months in the hills of North Korea before the virus outbreak.
Fifty yards.
The Humvee suddenly leaned sharply to the left as a well hidden trough swallowed up our front left tire. I slightly overcorrected and sent us careening out of control. "Hold on!" I shouted as the entire vehicle jerked to the right and flipped onto its side, kicking up dirt and pebbles into our faces. We slid for a good forty feet before we finally came to rest amidst a blizzard of dust.
"Dammit!" I pounded the steering wheel with my fists before pushing my door open. I hoisted myself out and then leaned back in to give Emmett a hand as we had landed on his side of the vehicle. As soon as he has out, I climbed on top of the overturned Humvee and damn near ripped the back door off the frame. "Bella! Are you okay?"
"Think so…" came her mumbled reply. Peering through the mass of jumbled limbs was my angel, seemingly unharmed except for a few bumps and scrapes. She and Rosalie were scrambling to right themselves and Marcus so they could climb from the wreckage.
I reached inside and pulled Rosalie out first as Bella was sandwiched between her and Marcus. Relief surged through me as I wrapped my fingers around Bella's wrist and hauled her up until I could get a grip on her waist, tugging her the rest of the way through the open door.
Marcus was struggling to sit upright; his hand bent at an odd angle, preventing him from gaining the leverage he needed. Bella and I both laid down flat on either side of the door. Reaching in, we each clasped an arm and pulled Marcus from the Humvee.
"We need to go, Sarge," Emmett mumbled as he and Rosalie pulled our bags from the wreckage, passing out weapons as they went.
Looking back at the approaching Dreg horde, I quickly holstered my pistol and tossed the strap of the AK47 over my shoulder.
"Which way?" Bella asked hurriedly as she strapped on her own weapons.
"Straight up and over, angel," I answered, pointing ahead to the rolling hills. We were actually really lucky. The Jumbled Hills mountain range was, in fact, much wider…and taller. But we had come up on the side nearest the base, so we would only have to traverse a few smaller foot hills before we met Groom Lake Road. The dried up lakebed was on the opposite side of the hangars closer to the larger set of mountains. The base itself was abandoned and mostly for show so we didn't have to worry about crossing any checkpoints.
I tossed our one remaining bag over my shoulder as Emmett hoisted Marcus onto his back. Marcus was still one hundred percent human and as such couldn't run and climb as fast as the rest of us, but we needed him with us regardless. Only his handprint would override some of the doors to areas we needed access to, so Marcus was a tag-along.
Emmett readjusted his weapons to accommodate his passenger. "Fuck Marcus, you're next in line for transformation as soon as we make it back to friendly territory."
Rosalie and Bella shared a worried glance before moving toward the first hill. Warning bells sounded in my head at their quick exchange, but I pushed it to the back of my mind. We had to get to that base. "Let's go!" I shouted, taking Bella's hand as we began our ascent.
It was only three linear miles between where we crashed and the gates of the abandoned base, but climbing these fucking hills while watching for Dreg and helping the girls made it feel like a hundred. I thought for sure that we would lose the Dreg in the brush, but they stayed right on course, which could only mean one thing…someone was bleeding.
As we crested the final hill, I looked down to the valley below. "Marcus!" I barked, surveying the landing strip and surrounding buildings. They didn't look very sturdy and would provide minimal protection if we couldn't get to that door right away. "Which building am I looking for?"
Emmett joined me on the hilltop, panting slightly from exertion, with Rosalie right behind him. Bella popped up next to me, shielding her eyes from the sunlight as she looked down over the airfield.
Marcus lifted a trembling hand and pointed toward a long steel hangar, its rounded metal roof glinting in the sun. "That one," he groaned, "Hangar B."
I turned my head back in the direction of the approaching horde. Extending my senses out around me, I found them about three hundred yards back, approaching quickly. "We need to hurry, they aren't far behind." Tugging Bella by the hand, we took off down the mountainside at a dead sprint, pushing through brush and overgrowth while thin branches whipped around us, raising welts where they came in contact with our exposed skin.
The moment our feet met pressed dirt road, we were off like a rocket, finally clear of the Jumbled Hills and racing toward the airfield. As we approached the twenty foot reinforced chain-link fence that surrounded this part of the base, I considered just charging straight through, hoping my strength and speed would be enough to shred the steel links. My brilliant little mate had other ideas. She picked up her pace and then vaulted over the fence, turning a flip mid-air before landing gracefully on the other side.
That little gymnastic stunt stopped me dead in my tracks as I stared at her, slack jawed and drooling. My limber angel was so fucking hot. Her little giggle at my complete ineptitude had me hard as a fucking rock. At this point I could use my dick as a pole vault to get me over that fucking fence.
Having heard my inner ramblings, she giggled again as Emmett and Rosalie finally caught up to me. "Just take a running start and jump, Edward. You'll clear the top…I promise."
"Rosalie first," I motioned, "then Emmett. That way I can give him a boost since he's carrying Marcus. You and Rosalie will be there to help catch him on the other side." I looked behind me to see the first of the Dreg just clearing the bottom of the hill. "Rosalie go! Now!"
Nodding her head, she took a running start and tumbled straight over the fence, landing almost as gracefully as my angel. Emmett shot off right after as I knelt down to one knee with my hands laced together in front of me. Emmett's foot met my netted fingers perfectly and I tossed him over the fence to the other side, where he landed with no assistance needed. Marcus' face was ashen from all the movement and I honestly feared he might pass out before we reached the hangar. Casting another glance over my shoulder I could see at least thirty Dreg clearing the trees. The front runners were only about a hundred yards back.
"Edward, come on!" my angel screamed. "Move your ass!"
Turning back toward the fence, I sped forward, waiting until the last possible second before leaping into the air. My jump was clean, almost like laying up a basketball, as I landed smoothly on the other side. Grabbing Bella once more, we raced toward Hangar B. Halfway to our destination, I heard the sound of flesh hitting metal and the loud groan of straining links. The Dreg had made it to the fence, but weren't attempting to jump over. Instead they just piled into it, trying to claw their way through.
"Do you think the fence will hold?" Emmett asked as we lengthened our strides.
Shaking my head, I replied, "Don't know." I had my doubts. Truthfully, that fence was never designed to withstand this type of barrage; it was constructed more as a deterrent. As we reached the door to Hangar B, I gave one final look back toward the fence to see it bulged inward under the immense pressure of the growing mob. Deep down, I already knew that within an hour this base would be crawling with those fucking things. There wasn't a chance in hell we were coming back out this exit.
The steel side door groaned loudly in protest as I yanked it open, careful not to rip the damn thing from its hinges. I pulled Bella inside the musty hangar, followed closely by Emmett and Rosalie. Sporadic beams of light cut through the inky blackness from various holes and missing panels in the roof, providing a soft glow to the murky interior.
"Over there," Marcus pointed to a small glassed in office on the opposite wall. Jogging over and through the open doorway, I was hit with a feeling of déjà vu. The floor was covered with a ratty rug on top of which a wooden desk sat, unused and discarded. Bella pushed the desk to the side and pulled the rug from the floor, swirling a myriad of dust motes into the air and revealing the hidden metal hatch underneath.
Emmett gingerly lowered Marcus to his feet and quickly ushered him over to the identification panel. Marcus activated the hatch and it slowly slid away, revealing a ladder descending into blackness. "It's identical to the other entrance so there is nothing down there to be frightened of."
Swinging my legs down into the hole, I pulled my pistol from its holster just in case, and slowly climbed down the rungs. As my feet met the grated floor the motion sensor activated, illuminating the empty corridor. I quickly motioned for everyone to move down into the tunnel.
Bella was the last to climb down sealing the hatch behind her. I hadn't heard any noises from above, so I hoped that the fence was still holding. Marcus strode ahead and activated the door, revealing the wide, well-lit corridor on the other side. I pushed Marcus back behind me as Emmett and I advanced into the hallway, weapons drawn. The white walls gleamed at me, in no way depicting the chaotic state that Garrett mentioned.
Marcus pulled a handheld monitor identical to Bella's from his pocket and attached it to his uninjured wrist. Pressing a few buttons, the screen came to life. After a moment of studying the digital map, he pointed down the hallway and to the right, holding up two fingers, signifying that we were to take the second intersecting corridor on the right.
I led us forward, moving quickly but stealthily through the twists and turns as Marcus guided us toward Sector 1. "Marcus, are you picking up anything on that fucking thing?" I questioned as unease blossomed in my gut. "I was under the assumption that there were a lot more scientists and soldiers on this side of the compound, but we've been traipsing around for half an hour without coming across a single person, human or Dreg."
Marcus shook his head and bumped the monitor with his injured hand, hissing through his teeth. "The digital map seems to be functioning, but I'm not picking up any bodies within one hundred feet of our location."
"And you don't think that's odd?" Emmett retorted.
I don't know what to think anymore," Marcus sighed, stumbling behind me.
We continued through the maze for another ten minutes before Marcus put a restraining hand on my shoulder, stopping me in my tracks. He pointed to his wrist at the same moment that I heard a muffled thump from a room at the end of the corridor. "There are eight people in that room," Marcus confirmed, looking down at the monitor.
"People or Dreg?" I whispered.
"People…probably personnel," he answered, his voice full of hope.
"Alright." Inching forward, I took position directly to the right of the small viewing window. A quick glance into the room showed eight men scattered about the small space. A few of them seemed to be in a heated argument, invading one another's personal space and flailing their hands about. A blond haired gentleman in a white lab coat jumped to his feet from his crouched position in the corner, thrusting his body between the quarreling men, his mouth moving furiously as he pointed at the door.
"I need to go in first," Marcus mumbled, having witnessed the same scene. "They'll panic if you go in guns blazing. They don't know you."
"Fine, but I follow right behind you," I acquiesced.
Nodding, Marcus pressed his hand to the identification panel and the door slid away, revealing the haggard group of men inside. "Marcus!" the blond haired scientist cried out, lurching forward as Marcus entered the room only to stumble back as I made my appearance right behind him.
"Yes, William, it's me," Marcus answered with his hands raised, trying to quiet the chaos that had erupted in the room at our sudden appearance. We were bombarded with questions as the scientists rushed forward, excited by Marcus' arrival.
"Quiet!" I hissed, finally raising my gun when my demand was ignored. The pompous bastards eventually realized I meant business and silence ensued.
My attention was drawn back to the doorway as Bella stepped through, her eyes wide with panic. "Edward, listen," she beseeched, holding her finger in the air and turning her eyes toward the ceiling.
I closed my eyes and concentrated, extending my senses while trying to ignore the reverberation from the enclosed space. Groans and grunts…gnashing teeth. Dragging feet and clawing fingers. The foul stench of blood and decay…the Dreg. We were being hunted.
Snapping my head back to Marcus, I grabbed at his uninjured wrist and pulled the monitor up to my face. The device was showing ten Dreg signatures about ninety feet away approaching quickly down this main corridor.
"Everyone get in here and seal the door!" William hissed quietly as he pulled Marcus further into the room. "You'll let those things in here!"
"No, we can't stay here," I disputed, pulling Bella to my side.
"We can't take them with us!" Emmett whispered from outside the door. "How the hell are we supposed to get everyone past those fuckers and get to the lab in one piece?"
"Marcus, how far are we from Garrett and Kate's location?" I asked hurriedly.
"Roughly nine hundred feet," he answered, looking back down at the digital map.
Running the various scenarios in my head, I quickly came to a one conclusion. "Marcus, give Bella the monitor."
He unstrapped the device and handed it off to his daughter. "What do you have in mind?"
I pointed at him and motioned to the rest of the men in the room. "You are all going to stay here while we take care of this. We'll come back for you as soon as it's clear."
"But-"
"No buts, Marcus. Seal this fucking door behind us," I argued, holstering my pistol and unsheathing my knife. I grabbed Bella's hand and pulled her from the room, silently pleased when the door sealed shut behind us without further argument from Marcus.
"What's the plan, Sarge?" Emmett asked, holstering his own gun and withdrawing a large ice pick from his belt loop.
"We hunt."