Briggs slowly worked her way down the hallway to the main lab area, carefully making note of the surveillance cameras mounted overhead. The cameras seemed to be the only security once you entered the hallway. There had been two scared looking soldiers guarding the entry point to the hall. They couldn't have been more than nineteen years old, probably fresh out of basic, judging from how clumsy they handled their weapons. She probably could have taken them both out with their own weapons, but a quick radio call to Dr. Frankenstein spared her the effort. Dr. Frankenstein it seemed was eager to see her again.
Midway down the hall she realized there was a blindspot where one camera's range ended,
and the next began. It was just the sort of opening she'd been looking for. Smiling to herself, she checked down the hallway for signs of movement before pulling a small device from one of her uniform pockets and mounting it on the back of a camera. She did the same for the next dozen yards, not wanting to go any further for fear of pushing her luck one too many times. It was then that she would have sworn that the sound of the living dead snarling and moaning seemed to emanate from behind some of the doors she passed. Looking more closely at the door nearest to her she slid open a panel covering a viewing window. Peering inside she saw a sight that actually shocked her. In a barred cage at the back of the room stood one of those creatures. It appeared to be wearing one of the standard white lab coats favored by the researchers here, there even seemed to be a ID badge still hanging rather haphazardly from the lapel. Seeing her face through the window, the creature tried to lunge at her through the bars, an amazing feat considering the way it's abdominal cavity seemed to have been torn open, remnants of intestines and other organs spilling out still. A voice suddenly sounded from her right side.
"I was beginning to wonder what was taking you so long Sergeant," Dr. Frankenstein said.
"Thought I'd take the opportunity to do some sight-seeing," she replied.
"Well, then, let me give you the full fifty cent tour." He smiled at her, then gestured at the door through which she had been looking. "That poor creature was one of our scientists. Took the misguided approach of testing his vaccine model on himself rather than another subject. After he was bit, we managed to bring him to this room before he expired and became re-animated."
"His stomach was tore out that bad but you still had time to move him?"
He cleared his throat noisily, obviously not expecting her to question what she'd been told. "Well, I suppose we should continue on to the main research area," he said, ignoring herquestion entirely.
They walked about another dozen yards, turning a corner before coming upon the main area. There were roughly a dozen researchers, dressed similarly to the corpse she'd just viewed, bent over microscopes and computers when they entered. None of them even glanced up when they arrived, either too engrossed in their work to notice, or else sensing a need to appear that way.
"My researchers are still working on a vaccine that could prevent people from succumbing to the infection spread by those creatures. We're trying various derivatives from the original compounds that caused the virus." He pointed towards a researcher who appeared to be working with what appeared to be human flesh of some sort. "Dr. Stevenson is using tissue samples from infected specimens to ascertain how the virus spreads and what chemically occurs to allow the bodies to be re-animated. We have samples from infected specimens before their normal life functions have terminated as well as after the re-animation has occurred."
Briggs looked thoughtful for a moment before saying, "And how exactly have you been able to obtain these samples?"
"Quite simple really. I'm sure when you flew in you saw the creatures circling the barricades outside." He paused for a brief moment, so she nodded to encourage him to continue. "In the back our lab area here is a holding pen, it was originally used for the receiving of new research livestock. The chute leading to it from the dock area, while cut off from access to the docks, allows the creatures entrance to the paddock area. The paddock area is behind bars of course, the bars are behind safety glass. We bring in the specimens as we need them, the paddocks were designed to be able to separate out individual animals from a herd type environment. It's a somewhat complicated process to safely bring in a single creature and move them to an observation pen, so we've enlisted some of our military personnel to assist us with the collections."
"With all the research you've been performing have you even come close to some sort of vaccine? I mean, you should have access to the original chemical compound that caused this mess."
"You have to remember sergeant, it is a very time consuming process to develop something of this nature. There's a lot of trial and error involved."
"And how many people have you subjected to this virus?" she asked, not even trying to keep the derision from her voice.
He looked at her darkly, "We all have to make sacrifices for the greater good Sergeant, it would do you well to remember that."
Briggs remained silent for a moment, lost in thought. Finally she asked, "And what exactly is it that you think I can do?"
"I told you before, I think you could prove invaluable to helping my researchers look outside the box so to speak. They're so focused on certain aspects of the antivirus creation that I'm afraid they may be missing something."
"How about we finish this tour," she said, making a show of checking out the watch on her wrist. "I need to be back on duty in less than an hour."
"But I was to the understanding that you pulled the duty last night, 12 hours on, 12 hours off isn't that how you people run things?" he asked, soundly more than a little put out at the idea that she wasn't at his beck and call.
She favored him with a brittle smile that had caused more than one man to fear for his safety. "Yes, but that was before we started suffering from a mysterious shortage of manpower around here. But of course you wouldn't know anything about that now would you Doc?"
Ignoring her question Frankenstein gestured towards a set of doors on the far side of the lab area. "As you said, time is short so let us continue."
1500 Hours
"Have you managed to get the charges set?" Cowboy asked.
"Affirmative sir, last night on patrol. Squad power has been cut in half since we arrived so it was easy to slip out and take care of things undetected."
"When are you next scheduled for patrol?"
"Not until tomorrow night, 2300 hours."
"Good, Briggs wants us to be ready to cut and run tonight, 2000 hours, while it's still somewhat light, something she either heard or saw in the labs today convinced her to move out ahead of schedule. Be ready, full battle rattle, just like you're heading out on patrol. Spread the word to the others."
The soldier nodded. "What's the rally point?"
"Escape tunnel leading to the docks and the secondary helipad. Randall and Marshall are bringing the remaining civilians from the cafeteria. Masters, Henry and I are getting the helos prepped to dust off in a hurry."
"And the others?"
"Sanitizing the lab and setting the charges."
"What about the command center?"
"Already set to blow."