"It's done," Sarah said taking the last disc out of the computer. "The most direct route to the room that holds the virus is shown here," she said pointing to the large computer screen.
"Okay. It isn't far from here. Can we print this out?" asked Jess.
"Yeah, hang on a minute," Sarah replied hitting a few buttons on one of the keyboards. When the map had printed out and they were ready, they walked out.
"Where's Pickard?" demanded Jess looking around. He was nowhere to be seen. "Oh well, we can't stop now, we'll just have to hope that he'll catch up with us later. Let's go," said Jess moving ahead.
They walked through the metal door and through a few labs. They were all the same. Metal walls, doors and floors, few windows and lots of tables covered in multiple illegal experiments. Very few of the lights were on and everything was trashed. There were papers and upset vials that had contained who knew what. Some of the few windows that were in the lab were cracked (they were all made of reinforced glass) and bloodstained.
This look of total devastation and ruin was becoming sort of a normal sight to Jess, though it was never a comfortable one. She hoped it never would be. They had had agents who had become "comfortable" with these surroundings before. They all wound up going crazy and eventually being killed.
They walked on without a word and finally came to the room where the samples were held. "There aren't supposed to be any security systems online but it would be best to be on alert, just in case," advised Sarah.
"Noted, let's do this and get it over with," said Jess. They walked into a room with the same dismal scene as all the others. At the far end of the room was the freezer where the viruses and the anti-viruses were kept. Sarah and Brad abruptly got to work, while Jess stood guard.
Suddenly there was a loud crash at the far end of the room; where they hadn't been. "I'll check it out, Brad stand guard until I get back."
Jess slowly moved forward pointing her gun straight ahead. She walked around the corner and wasn't very surprised at what she saw. There were three zombies in front closest to her, two in the middle and four in back all in lab coats. She hastily opened fire, putting a bullet in each of their heads as they came at her. When all of them were dead, she made a final check and walked back to the others. "All set? Everything's secure over there," she asked.
"Yeah let's go, I have the samples in my bag," said Sarah.
They walked out the door, on slightly higher guard than when they had first come through. They went through the first two rooms and suddenly ran into Packard.
"Where have you been?" asked Jess a little more than annoyed.
"Give me the samples," Packard said pointing his gun at Jess.
"What?" Jess said backing up. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Give me the samples now," Packard said grabbing Jess and holding her by the neck. "Give me the samples or I'll shoot her."
"We didn't get them. The computer malfunctioned and gave us the wrong route, we have to go back," Jess said.
"You're lying, I watched you collect them, now hand them over," Packard said.
Brad lunged at Packard, trying to catch him off guard. Packard noticed and moved to the side at the last minute. As Brad began to pick himself up, Packard hit him in the back of the head with the butt of his gun, knocking him out cold.
"Brad!" Sarah exclaimed.
"Give me the samples or they both die," Packard said.
"Fine," she said beginning to dig in her bag.
"No, Sarah don't," said Jess.
"Here it is, now let us go," Sarah said holding out her hand with the vials in it.
"Come closer," Packard said. When she made no move to comply, he cocked his gun.
She slowly walked toward him. He took the vials, then knocked her out as well. "Well, now I have to go, good-bye," said Packard. She stepped forward a little when he let go of her neck. Suddenly there was a sharp pain in the back of her head and then everything went black.
15
Packard ran out of the room leaving the other three behind. They didn't matter; he would blow this place up soon enough anyway. He walked down the halls and went into the main control room.
Something made him stop. Something was telling him to go back, to lock them up. He turned then thought about it a moment. Finally he continued on back down the hall.
He came to a room that had a jail cell. "That'll work," he said aloud. He dragged Jess, Brad and Sarah inside and locked the door. He left their things on the table outside their cell and took the key.