"Shit Briggs, we all try to make it down those steps and those things are down there, they'll tear our asses apart before we know what's happening," Sanchez stated.
"He's got a point, Kenny," Cowboy agreed.
Looking thoughtful she asked, "Do you remember where this trapdoor opens to?"
Cowboy looked confused for a second. "Third floor hallway, where only guest rooms were at I think. I remember when we snuck up there as kids, trying to figure out how to get up into the attic. We never could figure out why such a big fancy house like this had such an old fashioned, unfinished attic. We always thought it woulda made more sense to have the stairwell come all the way up here and this be a big oversized kids playroom."
"Yea, I know. I'm talking about the hallway itself. Wasn't there a big picture window on the opposite end of the hall from where the stairwell was situated?"
"You've been here more often than me, don't you remember?" he asked, a touch of sarcasm in his voice.
"No, I usually kept to the lower levels and the guest house the last few time I was here. It was one of the Senator's foibles."
"So what are you planning then?"
"If I'm right about the windows, I can rappel down from the roof, set myself up outside the window and provide cover fire. I think the trapdoor opens up somewhere between the window and the stairwell, it's not in one of the bedrooms or anything," she replied, pulling her rucksack from her pack and removing equipment.
Lifting an eyebrow at her, Marshall asked, "You always bring rappelling gear on a routine house search?"
"There isn't anything routine about this Marsh. I believe in being prepared for anything," she said, slipping a harness and rigging from her pack.
"I was wondering why you'd bothered with that rucksack," Cowboy said, stepping forward to assist her. The two returned to the roof together, quickly anchoring the rope to one of the chimneys that graced the roof of the house.
"Kenny, Charlie, what's going on?" Caroline called out, having watched the two of them re-emerge from the vent and move across the roof.
"No time Caroline, we've got work to do," Cowboy called out.
Turning to Cowboy, Briggs told him, "Wait until I radio the all clear before you start heading down."
"You got it Kenny. Just do me a favor and watch your ass down there," he told her.
"Yea, you too. I'll see you inside." She moved to the edge and began her descent. Cowboy watched for a moment, until her head disappeared from sight, and then hurried to rejoin the others.
Briggs brought herself level with the third floor window, situated exactly where she'd remembered it. Bracing her feet against the frame for support, she pulled her HK Model 23 into a ready position. Peering inside, she saw the hallway was clear at first glance, then a figure staggered into view. It was clad in a shredded business suit favored among the personal bodyguards of politicians as well as the secret service. Clearly this was one of the Senator's four bodyguards, she surmised. On its left side she could see that great chunks of flesh had been jaggedly torn from its leg, exposing the bone in several spots when the shredded pant leg parted. The staggering gait was due to its left foot, which flopped uselessly to one side of its leg, dangling off of a few unsevered sinews. Briggs was amazed that the thing could walk at all. As it turned to face her, Briggs' stomach clenched as she saw the entire right side of his face had been eaten away too.
"Cowboy, we've got one unfriendly in the hallway. I'm taking him down," she reported.
"Roger that, let me know when the hallway is secure," Cowboy's voice called over her ear piece.
"Affirm...Shit!" Another zombie lurched into view as Briggs spoke, standing directly before the window in front of her. She recognized Thomas the grounds keeper, or what was left of him anyway. As if sensing her presence he turned and lunged towards her, his arms breaking through the glass of the window just as Briggs fired off a single shot. He continued his forward momentum out the window, Briggs just barely managing to move herself out of the way as he fell to the ground below.
Cowboy's voice came calling over the radio, getting louder and more insistent. "Kenny. What's going on down there? Kenny! Dammit Kenny answer me!"
She returned to her position outside the window, the other zombie staggering towards her now, drawn by the sound of breaking glass and gunfire. Once more she pulled up her weapon, its laser aim shining just below the thing's left eye. She fired off a second shot, bringing it down as well before answering Cowboy's calls. "The hallway is secure, bring the rest of the team down."
"Jesus you crazy bitch," he laughed, "don't ever do that to me again"
In moments, the seven-man insertion team was beginning their quick search of the third floor. Moving in teams of twos and three, they swiftly checked all the rooms, making sure they were clear of threat before gathering at the stairs.
As they made their way down to the second floor, Sanchez grumbled, "What the hell do rich folks need huge ass houses like this for anyway?"
"To make seeking out zombies holed up inside them all the more fun for guys like us," quipped Marshall.
"Shut the fuck up guys," Briggs demanded. "Steele, take Jones and Evans and clear the rooms down that way," she directed. "Marsh, Sanchez since you two have so much to say to each other, head on down that way and clear those rooms. Cowboy and me got the watch on the stairs."
Sanchez continued to grumble under his breath as he moved down the corridor alongside Marshall. Nearing the end of the hall, the two men paused at the sound of faint pounding noise emanating from the door at the end of the hall.
"Here we go Sanchez, you ready for this?" Marshall asked.
"No. How you want to do this?"
"You open up the door, I'll take it down when it comes out."
"Oh hell no! There ain't no goddamn way on God's green earth that I'm gonna be the one to open that door. That thing will bite all over me before you hit it. You can just kiss my ass. I'm the better shot, so I'll be the shooter, you open the door," Sanchez declared.
"Is there a problem here boys?" Steele's voice sounded from behind them, causing them both to jump, swinging around with their outstretched weapons pointed towards her.
"Steele you scared the shit outta me," Sanchez exclaimed.
"No kidding," she replied sarcastically. Gesturing towards the thumping noise coming from the closed door she asked, "So what's the problem here gentlemen? Why haven't you gotten that room secured yet?"
"Because Sanchez here isn't man enough to open the door for us," chided Marshall.
"What about you Marshall? I don't see you rushing to do it either," was Sanchez's belligerent reply.
Rolling her eyes, much like Briggs usually did, Steele said, "What a couple of fucking pussies. Jones, Evans, watch my back, let's show these guys how to clear a room."
Stepping past the two soldiers, Steele's trio took up positions in front of the closed door. Reaching out carefully, Steele tried the doorknob, discovering it was locked. Sighing she stepped back. Raising her right leg she kicked with all her might causing the door to splinter around the locking mechanism, allowing it to swing free. As her foot touched the floor she quickly dove out of the way a mere split second before the zombie came bursting into view. Evans and Jones both opened fire, turning the creature into a pile of bloody pulp.
Snarls sounded from the direction of the stairs, footsteps pounding up from below. Another zombie drawn to the sound of the gunfire and the scent of live human flesh.
"Sweep the room, make sure it's clear," Steele called over her shoulder to Sanchez and Marshall as she dashed towards the stairs to assist Briggs and Cowboy, the rest of her team following hard on her heels.
They reached the stairwell landing just as the zombie came into view. He wore a bloodied chauffeur's uniform and they were momentarily amazed he was standing at all. He'd been almost completely gutted, his stomach cavity torn wide open, even his ribs were visible in places. Most of his organs were gone, the remnants of his intestines trailing out onto the steps below him. Cowboy fired off a single round , blowing the top of the thing's head clean off. It's body tumbled backwards from the momentum of the shot, harmlessly rolling down the steps and coming to rest on the first floor.
Once more the seven of them gathered together. "Okay, if Felix's information was correct we have four down and only two left to go," Briggs stated. "There are three main corridors below. One branches off towards the family dining room, kitchen and garage areas. Just to the rear of the kitchen are two doors, the one on the left leads into the garage, the right one opens up to the stairwell for the old servants quarters. Steele, you'll take your team and do the sweep there. The second corridor leads to the formal dining room, the library, and the ballroom, Sanchez, Jones, that's all yours."
"What about you two?" Sanchez asked, gesturing towards Briggs and Cowboy.
"We've got the third corridor, the Senator's personal gym, the conservatory, and the study."
With their duties assigned, they proceeded to finish the last leg of their sweep. Sanchez and Marshall were relieved to discover their corridor was completely devoid of life. Death too for that matter. Everything was pristine and untouched wherever they looked in this monstrosity of a house. After completing their sweep, Sanchez collapsed into one of the dining room chairs.
"What the hell are you doing man?" Marshall called out to him from across the room.
"The area is secure and I'm not moving my happy ass until I hear the others radio back the same."
Marshall began to argue with him, then gave up. He too pulled up a chair, situating himself in it with his rifle in ready reach just in case one of those things appeared. The two men sat together in silence, waiting.
Meanwhile, Steele's team worked their way through the family dining room, entering into the kitchen with no sign of trouble. After clearing the kitchen, they approached to two doors to the back Briggs had told them about.
"Garage or servants' quarters first guys?" Steele asked her companions.
"Garage," Evans said.
"Servants' quarters," Jones called out at the same time.
"Shit, sorry Evans, my vote's for the servants' quarters too, so let's get this done," Steele told them.
Moving forward slowly, they each listened carefully for any sounds of movement. All seemed quiet. Evans was the first to reach the two doors. Reaching out, he grasped first the doorknob to the garage door, noting that it was locked. Satisfied, he reached for the knob of the other door. Twisting it slowly, he began to pull it open. A body suddenly hurtled into it from the other side, half opening it before Evans managed to get it under control again. The soldier braced his right hand against the door frame as he threw the rest of his body weight against the door, trying to close it once more. He almost had it closed when the creature lunged forward with a snarl, biting hard into Evans' forearm. The surging pain from the bite gave him just the kick of adrenaline he needed to finally slam the door shut once more.
"Sonuvabitch! That was close man," Jones said, having missed the zombie's bite. The creature in question continued to pound on the door before them.
"Yea, let's do it right this time," Evans muttered, keeping the bite on his arm concealed from the others. "I'll open the door fast, you and Steele bring the motherfucker down."
They took up positions in front of the door once more. This time, Evans stood with his back to the door. Grasping the knob with his left hand he said, "On three. One...two...three!"
The door whipped open and the zombie came lunging towards Steele and Jones. The duo opened fire as Evans crouched behind the now wide open door. The impact of the bullets pushed the beast back into the stairwell where it fell for the final time.
"Cease fire! Cease fire!" Evans yelled from his position. The gunfire came to a sudden halt. Evans stood, brushing splintered fragments from the door from his shoulders. The other two soldiers walked over to join him by the doorway, looking down at the corpse now sprawled across the steps. Turning towards his partners, Evans said, "Why don't you two go secure the garage, I'll check out the rest of the servants' quarters."
"Evans, are you sure?" Steele asked, puzzled. "Don't you think we should stick together?"
"Nah, it'll be cool. I'm pretty sure it's gonna be empty up there, if there was more they probably would have come down with this one," Evans answered, unable to meet her eyes.
"If you're sure," Steele hesitated once more.
"Go get the garage cleared, the sooner it's done, the sooner we can join up with the others and bring the civilians in." With a good deal of effort he managed to meet her eyes this time, a small smile touching his lips briefly.
Steele gave him a long questioning look before finally assenting. "Come on Jones, let's get moving."
Evans watched for a moment as they entered the garage before turning to make his own way up the stairs. Stepping around the corpse, he quickly made his way up the steps and into the small hallway. Five closed doors were spread out down the hallway. Opening the first one to his right, he was met with the stench of rotting flesh. Two corpses occupied the room, one male the other female, each with a single shot to the head. Presumably these were the first two victims. He walked out, tightly closing the door behind him once more. Continuing down the hall he carefully checked each room, finding them all to be empty.
Entering the last room, he walked to the large window, overlooking the stables out in the distance. It was a beautiful sight he thought and he moved to sit on the edge of the bed, still facing the window. Carefully he removed his Kevlar, sitting it beside him. Inside, nestled into the top was a picture of his family. Looking at the photo he pulled his 9mm Beretta pistol from its holster on his belt, cocking it. He turned towards the window once more, quietly whispering the Lord's prayer under his breath. Closing his eyes at last, he raised the pistol, pressing the muzzle under his chin. He took a deep breath and slowly squeezed the trigger for the final time.
Steele and Jones heard the single shot echoing from the servants' quarters as they made their way back into the kitchen from the garage. They flashed a quick look at each other before racing up the stairs, leaping over the zombies corpse as they went.
"Evans! Goddammit answer me!" Steel shouted. She and Jones moved along the small corridor, kicking doors open as they did. At last they reached the end of the hall and found Evans' body laying prone on the bed, blood saturating the bed spread beneath his head.
"Evans, oh my God why?" Steele cried out. "We were safe here, all we had to do was clear the house." Reaching out she grasped his now limp right hand, pulling it towards her chest.
"He was bit," Jones said quietly, pointing to the bite mark now revealed on the dead man's arm. "He did it to protect us, to keep himself from turning into one of those things and coming after us." He glanced down at Evans' helmet beside him on the bed, seeing the photograph inside. Reaching out he pulled it free, looking at it closely before placing it into his own uniform pocket. "Come on, we better go catch up with the others, there's still one more of those things in the house."
Briggs and Cowboy had swiftly moved through their area of the house, systematically clearing the rooms. At last they found themselves standing before the double doors of the Senator's study. It was locked, a security keypad mounted beside the door. Stepping forward, Briggs rapidly typed in a series of numbers, but the door remained sealed. "Clever Senator, very clever. You changed your security codes," she murmured.
"Can you open it?" Cowboy asked.
"Yea, just give me a second to think. The Senator may like his high tech security systems, but he's so vain he thinks the simplest security protocols on pass codes don't apply to him."
Narrowing her eyes in concentration, Briggs tried two more quick number series, both failing to open the door. Suddenly she laughed, "It couldn't possibly be this simple," she said, typing in a third number series. A light on the keypad suddenly flashed green and the smooth sound of the locking mechanisms sliding open met their ears. Turning to Cowboy Briggs smiled. "Bingo."
Pulling her HK pistol out, Briggs told him, "Be ready for anything." He nodded in reply and together they moved as a single unit through the door. As they burst through, shots whizzed past their heads. They dove for cover behind a large leather sofa positioned near the door. More shots fired.
"Senator Kelmsley!" Briggs called out. "It's Kendra Burke and Charlie Tyler!"
There was a moment of silence before the Senator responded. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the two of you, of all people, made it through this thing alive. Why don't you come out from behind that damn sofa so we can speak like civilized people."
Briggs grabbed Cowboy's arm as he started to stand. "Whatever you do, don't let your guard down. If that wily old bastard could leave his own wife out there to die, we mean less than nothing to him now that his house is secure."
Slowly, the two soldiers emerged from behind the couch. Coming into the Senator's view now, the older man sat his revolver onto the desk in front of him, uttering, "It's about goddamn time the cavalry got here." He sat down in the high back leather desk chair. "Well don't just stand there gawking all stupid like, tell me what's going on out there."
Carefully keeping her expression blank, Briggs asked, "So you were expecting us Senator?"
"Maybe not you in particular, but of course I was expecting relief to arrive. You don't really think I got this far in my career without gaining some influential friends did you?" he said by way of reply.
"I guess it would all depend on who you consider those friends to be," Cowboy said, earning him a dark look from Briggs.
"I'm a very powerful man Charles. It only stands to reason that people with influence wish to ally themselves with me."
"It's too bad then that your influential friends couldn't keep the zombies out of your home," Briggs said.
"Yes, well, unfortunately they failed to let me know that the timetable had been moved up, otherwise I would have been safely entrenched here from the start. But, I still made it here, and the losses were minimal. I knew my stepson would send in a rescue team after I'd sent him word of my situation here. I just never imagined that he'd send you."
Briggs was so busy pondering the meaning behind his first statement regarding the moved up timetable that she almost missed the significance of his last remark.
"Timetable?" Briggs queried.
"But of course, Operation Clean Sweep. Surely if Riley sent you here you know all about it..." he trailed off, understanding filling his eyes. He made a wild grab for the revolver, but brought himself up short when Briggs fired a warning round into the desk before him.
"What's Operation Clean Sweep?" Cowboy asked.
"Operation Clean Sweep was designed to usher in the new world order. It merely got out of hand somewhat. Like the Great Flood, we've eradicated the undesirables of the world, leaving only the strong!" the Senator ranted.
"You're fucking insane," laughed Cowboy. "Do you even realize what your madness has done? You've killed off most of the world's population!"
"That's a gross exaggeration, Charles," the Senator scoffed. "Our plan is an unmitigated success," he boasted.
"You call the senseless murder of all those people a success?" Cowboy demanded, becoming incensed.
"You're not looking at this clearly my boy. In one crushing blow we've eradicated famine, civil wars, even terrorism across the world. Those who've survived this outbreak will usher in a stronger new world order. We'll break down the barriers of countries, nationalities and unite under one leadership.
"How can you claim to have put an end to terrorism when what you and your little friends have done is the greatest single act of it that this world has ever known," Briggs said quietly. "And how do you know for certain that you've eliminated all the world's terrorist cells? Seems to me they'd be the most likely people to be dug in with tight defenses, your so called strong survival instinct types.
The Senator looked momentarily taken aback by the thought.
Continuing on, Briggs asked, "So how long have you been a part of Unit 8, Senator?"
"I guess you could say I was one of its Founding Fathers," he replied, once again sounding proud of his actions.
Looking at him coolly, Briggs asked quietly, "And Riley knew about your plan?"
Cowboy shot her an incredulous look.
"Well aren't you just the clever girl," the Senator mocked. "Finally putting two and two together are you? Of course he knew, he's my son," the Senator proclaimed.
"Don't you mean stepson, Senator?" Briggs pressed.
"My Son," he intoned sharply, "has been on board with us for nearly a year now. He understands true genius." Smiling now he added, "In fact, he should be along soon to take care of you and your team."
Nodding, Briggs looked away for a moment. "So he set me up by sending me here, is that it?" she asked, turning to face him once more.
Looking momentarily frustrated the Senator replied, "I don't know what was going through his mind when he sent you here. You've always been a weak spot where he's concerned. Perhaps he thought he could persuade you to listen to reason and join us, but you and I both know what a foolish notion that is."
"You bastard," Cowboy began to say, but the Senator paying attention to Briggs alone.
"What's the matter Kendra, did you expect to hear something else?" the Senator taunted.
Turning towards him once more she replied almost inaudibly, "No, that's the problem."
Kelmsley frowned at her response, this meeting clearly not going the way he'd planned.
"Don't worry Senator, I'll be long gone before Riley arrives," she said, causing him to look at her in surprise. "But then, so will you," she finished, swiftly raising her weapon and firing, the shot catching him squarely between his eyes.
"Holy shit Kenny!" Cowboy uttered as Kelmsley's body sprawled across the desk before them.
"He was infected," she said coldly, walking around the desk and the Senator's body to a bookcase situated behind them. Reaching out she grasped the right side and pulled. The bookcase glided open smoothly, revealing a room filled with computers of all description, their quiet hum pouring out into the study. As they entered the room they saw a row of monitors along one wall displaying images captured by the video cameras mounted around the outer walls as well as throughout the house. She walked past them, barely sparing them a glance, too focused instead on the state of the art communications equipment located along the back wall. Taking a seat in a chair before it she pulled up a scrambled video conference call. A dark haired man, slightly graying at the temples appeared on the screen before her.
"It's about damn time you called in," he stated bluntly.
"Can it Dillon, obviously Scarecrow hasn't been notifying you of my reports and I don't have enough time to go into detail right now. Everything we suspected about him was right on the money, the Senator confirmed everything. Now I need to know how long ago Scarecrow flew out of your location."
"Approximately three hours ago. Said he'd received an SOS call asking for assistance."
"I'm initiating plan Alpha. I'll be leaving the civilians here, they'll be safe for the duration. The rest of my unit will move on to my alternative command post."
"What about the civilians? You don't think Scarecrow will use them as leverage to try to lure you out do you?"
"His mother is alive and among them, she's the one person on God's green Earth that he would never harm. I'm counting on her persuasiveness to keep the others safe if it should come to that."
"Keep me posted on your progress. Oh, and Kenny," he said as she began reaching out to terminate the connection. She paused. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry about Scarecrow."
"Don't worry about it. And from here on in, Kenny's dead, I'm reactivating my code name." She swiftly terminated the connection.
"So, uh, you gonna fill me in about what's going on?" Cowboy asked. "How long have you known about this shit with Scarecrow being involved with Unit 8?"
"Dillon and I had started to suspect him a few months ago, but just like the rest of the group suspicions were all we had, it's been a bitch finding anything concrete until now."
"And the part about the alternative command post and leaving the civilians?" he asked.
"Little bit of bullshit on my part about the command post, but don't worry we'll take care of that fast enough. We're going to have to move fast and hard if we're going to avoid being here when Riley's attack force arrives. The civilians are just going to get in the way and slow us down, they don't have the training to keep up so they'll be safer here," she replied.
"Attack force?" Cowboy asked, paling slightly.
"You don't think he's coming to discuss the weather do you?" she replied sarcastically.
Chagrined he replied, "So what now?"
"We locate as much detailed Intel as we can on Unit 8, refuel and re-supply the birds and then haul ass out of here," she told him.
Moving to one of the room's many computer terminals, she went to work hacking into the Senator's files. Calling over her shoulder to Cowboy she said, "You gonna just stand there or are you gonna get your happy ass over here and help?"
Smiling, Cowboy moved to take a seat next to her. The sound of clicking keys filled the room until Steele's patrol arrived, minus one man.