The rope Mac improvised from the fire hose tied off to a lab table creaked and dropped them a few inches. Mac gasped and froze for a split second.
From below him Jack's unconcerned voice said, "You're okay, kid. The table just slipped is all. We figured that'd happen."
"Easy for you to say. You're closer to the ground," Mac mumbled.
"What was that, kid?" Jack called up, knowing exactly what Mac had said but hoping if he kept talking he'd feel a little better about their situation.
"I said, can you see anything yet?" Mac countered, making himself focus on the descent rather than the ground.
"Um …" Jack angled around, hanging down a bit to try to get a look at what was going on below him. He only had about ten feet to go anyway. "There's plenty of light. And some noise like wheels maybe. That's all I got."
"Nikki, you picking anything up with your sweep?" Mac asked.
No answer.
"Nikki?"
Nothing. Huh. Maybe this tunnel was too insulated for comms. Or something was jamming them. He looked down at Jack sort of instinctively to gauge his partner's reaction to their sudden lack of an analyst. Ugh. At least twenty feet to go. Why does that feel so far?
Jack dropped the last few feet into the floor. "Wonder if the Robot Legion of Doom is screwing with our comms."
Mac glanced down again. Less than ten feet. Well, alright then. He was about to respond when the "rope" jerked. Before he could think anything other than, "Oh, shit!" it let go.
It wasn't that far, and his landing hadn't really hurt, but as Mac started to pick himself up and look around he realized it was because Jack had broken his fall with … himself.
"You okay, pal?" Mac asked, starting to climb to his feet.
"You're a lot heavier than ya look, kid. Maybe I oughta quit tryin' to feed you all the time."
Mac smirked and offered Jack a hand up. "I'm gonna remember that the next time you start nagging me, old man."
Jack massaged his lower back, grimacing as he did so. Guilt about Jack's injury last year flashed across his young partner's face. "I'm fine," Jack said in a spot-on impression of Mac that made the kid flush. "Seriously though. Gun dug into me is all."
Mac smirked. His partner was definitely full of shit because Mac knew, with objective certainty, that Jack's back had bothered him off and on since the warehouse incident. And he knew what Jack said, but regardless, Mac felt responsible. "Okay, okay. Just sometimes I think it's good to remind you what you sound like."
"Brat," Jack snickered, then edged Mac behind him as he scoped out the hallway. Actually it was more of a tunnel than a hallway, wide but with extremely low ceilings.
Empty. Huh.
After a minute he glanced over his shoulder at Mac, who was craning his neck trying to see around Jack anyway. "Doesn't look like there's anything … Wait … You hear that?"
Mac frowned and nodded. "Yeah … I think maybe I … It's … oh, no …"
"What?" Jack asked, eyes going a little wider.
"Sounds just like I always thought robot zombies would."
Jack smacked him lightly on the arm. "Dick … I'm serious."
Mac shrugged. "Just the same mechanical sounds we've been hearing. Only … weirdly further away."
"Actually, kid, I was thinkin' the same thing."
Caution was getting them nowhere. Mac darted around Jack and crouched down to start up the tunnel toward the sounds. Jack swore under his breath and was right behind his partner a second later, mumbling under his breath about not much caring for being about bent double a hundred feet underground with probable zombie robots.
About ten steps in, Jack noticed an incline to the floor. "Uh, Mac?"
"Yeah, I know," he whispered.
"The floor …"
"I know," he repeated. "Shh. Listen."
"I don't hear anything."
"I know. All the mechanical noise has gone quiet."
Mac looked around for a minute, then started sliding has hands along the wall. Jack followed, frowning. "What're we lookin' for, Mac?"
"Not looking; found," Mac replied as he crouched down, taking out his Swiss Army knife and sliding the blade into a seam on the wall. "I heard movement behind this …"
Jack got closer so he could see what Mac was up to. There was light down here, but it wasn't awesome. He couldn't help but smile at Mac's little under his breath exclamation of victory.
Mac pried off the panel revealing another access tunnel. "What do you think of this?" he asked over his shoulder.
"That it's just about the right size for one of those robot thingys and that damned tunnel looks like it goes on forever."
"Yeah, that's what I think, too." Mac looked around for a minute, not really at anything, just thinking. "Can you cover the entrance here and I'll head up here to see where this side tunnel goes."
"Mac …"
"I won't go far. I have an idea."
Jack sighed. "Alright. But not far. I don't want to face the zombopocalypse by myself, kid."
Mac grinned. "Still got my Swiss Army knife, pal. We're apocalypse proof."
Jack grinned back, managing to keep his anxiety about being underground in a bio research lab surrounded by robots mostly under wraps. "If you say so, kid. Hurry your ass up and get back here though."
Mac nodded his reassurance and headed up the dim little tunnel, crouching down to do so. Before long he came to a fork in the tunnel. It was dark in both directions. Mac held his breath for a moment, trying to create enough silence to hear the subtlest of sounds. He thought maybe he heard something off to the right.
He took out his phone and turned on the flashlight. He stretched his neck a little. He was stiffening up from all this crouching. It was unlikely to get better until he could stand up and stretch properly. He headed up the new tunnel.
He'd gone probably 20 more feet when it occurred to him that if he found what he was anticipating, he'd probably want back up. In truth they had enough to call in reinforcements from DXS already. He started to turn and head back out to talk it over with Jack and caught the flicker of a shadow just in time to flinch before there was a sharp pain at the back of his ear.
Out in the main hallway, Jack was getting antsier by the minute. Mac had been gone long enough. They should've just called the damned cavalry in when they found the entrance to the freaking Umbrella Corporation. Jack shivered as he pictured those spooky zombie dogs from the movie with that super hot chick joining forces with undead i robots.
He turned and leaned into the access Mac had disappeared up about ten minutes ago. "Mac! C'mon back now. You've been down that there rabbit hole long enough."
No answer. Jack grumbled under his breath for a minute about stubborn geniuses. Then he tried again. If their safety wouldn't get his attention, maybe reminding him that his girlfriend was out in the van would drag his ass back here.
"Mac! Dude! Let's head back up to the surface and make sure Nikki's all good, huh, kid?"
When he was met with silence again, he swore more audibly. Then he started mumbling about how he was going to drag Mac out of that tunnel by his ears and enjoy every minute of making him climb back up that … damn, it … he'd forgotten their robe broke until just now.
Well, they'd just have to do the Mac improvising thing.
He was ready to head into the tunnel after his partner, where he was pretty sure he'd about have to crawl in to fit, a very quiet voice spoke from right behind him. "If you'll just place that firearm on the floor, you may just make it out of here alive."
Sonofabitch.
