The control room was desolate. Only one side on the elevators went up to it in an attempt to make it a more "secure" area of the facility, but that mattered very little now. The room was pitch black. So dark that not even the dark Nevada sky could comprehend the feeling of fear and isolation that this one room had if not for the eerie glowing light from one side of the room. It was a simple room, with the light you could see it was circular except for one side (the side the elevator was on had to be flat), but that wasnt even the most distinguishing feature. Along the rounded side were three large monitors that hung from the edge of the ceiling and glowed with dim grey light. occasionally they would flash the agency's warning message, telling people that help was on the way. Below the monitors were consols, wrapping themselves along the walls.
The humming of the elevator came into earshot of the room, getting louder and louder until it stopped. The doors of the elevator car slid open, flooding the room with bright light.
"Fall in." Sanderson ordered. All four of them (Sanderson, Stunder, and the two engineers) all walked into the room and immediately fixed their eyes on the center screen. Sanderson walked right up to it's consol and pressed the 'enter' button. The screen went black, the white, then black again with the white word: Pass code… appearing on it. Sandersons stared dumbfounded at the computer.
"Password?..." He said out loud. "Uhhh, does anyone have a password?" The two engineers came up behind him, looking around his shoulder and noded to each other. They both walked in front of their leader, pushing him back.
"We got this." They both said simultaneously, taking up positions at the computer. The two engineers begin typing walls of text onto the screen, cracking the security system. Sanderson pulled out his radio and pressed the switch on the side.
"Rodney?" He said. No response. after ten seconds, he pressed the switch again. "Rodney? Come in." After about twenty seconds he turned his attention back to his engineers. "Hows the coding coming?"
"Give us five minutes." One of them said.
"You can't do it any faster?" The other agent shook his head as he kept typing in code.
"I'm afraid not. Try to contact that soldat again." Sanderson turned around to face Stunder.
"Do you think he's alright?" Stunder stared at him a moment silently. Sanderson pressed the switch on the side of his radio again. "Rodney!" He waited five seconds before he heard an answer this time from Rodney the soldat.
"I'm here..." He heard the soldat answer. "We were over run." Rodney responded grimly. "I'm heading to the roof." Sanderson waited a minute taking in the agents words and tone then came to a dreadful conclusion.
"You were bit weren't you?"
Rodney slumped down against the wall of the elevator, blood smearing down the side of the car. He sat there holding his bleeding side and breathing slowly. "Sanderson," he said into the radio. He was in obvious pain from where the zombie bite into his body. "the first thing i'm gonna do when I get home is punch you in the face." The soldat chuckled to himself as he let go of the radio and closed his eyes slowly. He could fall asleep forever, but he knew he couldn't do that, he had a mission to complete… he had to survive this and much worse… zeds were not taking him down. He was drove in after things were getting more and more serious as the city fell from control. "Hey, Sanderson?" Rodney said as he gently pressed the side of his radio again. "You wouldn't happen to have a cure you guys were working on up there?"
There was a brief silence, probably Sanderson talking with his team. "We'll find something for you. Just get to the roof for now. Did anyone else make it?" Rodney hesitated. He broke the line when he was bit. Anyone could still be down there fighting while he rocketed up to the highest point in the building.
"Um… I don't know. I left them behind." He was waiting for the angry response of sanderson but it didn't come. What did come was the understanding:
"I understand." From his fellow agent. "I would have done the same thing. Just hang in there we'll find something for you." Rodney looked up at the flashing light above the elevator doors. He was only just getting past the twenty-second floor. He sighed and rested his head against the wall and put his hand on the floor and pushed himself up to his feet.
"Dammit." The soldat pushed himself into the corner and shot his hand to his side, clutching his wound. He went over the facts about zeds in his head. 'shoot for the head' 'they can move faster if motivated but are usually slow' 'if you get bitten you have about four hours before you transform into one of them depending on the damage'. He had about two hours in his head if he just stayed awake and stopped losing blood. "This was my last clean suit too goddammit!" He yelled out in the elevator. He looked down to his side and saw his degle on the floor.
He reached down and picked up his gun, almost falling over in the process, but he managed to stay standing. Rodney sighed loudly, as if anybody could hear him in this small room. 'Only a few more floors' he kept thinking.
"Hows it coming? Did you break it yet?" Sanderson asked impatiently as he looked over the shoulders of his teammates.
"Will," One of them answered "we are twenty seconds from cracking this open and getting to your-" Access granted flashed across the screen as a list of options opened up on the monitor. "We're in!" The options on the screen were lined up in red letter in one long row.
[Security cameras]
[Motion sensors]
[Staff list]
[Live staff locator]
There were many more, but the agents immediately scrolled down and pressed enter on the live staff counter. The screen zoomed out and a cutaway of the building appeared on the monitor. It was outlined in white and inside the cut away were a number of red dots. On the floor that they were on was a single red dot, probably representing Stunder. There were a number of red dots on floors fifteen, twenty eight, twenty six, twenty five, thirty two, and forty four. There was also one red dot heading up on the elevator, that was most likely agent Rodney heading to the roof.
"Okay," William said as he examined the map. "Stunder, where's the experimental cure you were talking about?" The doctor scratched the side of his head.
"I think it's on floor forty. It wasn't my department so-"
"We're looking it up now." One of the engineers stated as they backed out of the map and began typing in commands. "Okay, it should be on the thirty eighth floor. According to these readings there's movement in there so be careful." Sanderson shrugged.
"We won't be long. You two head to floors twenty five and twenty six. We'll all meet on floor twenty eight then work our way down eventually heading to the lobby." The two engineers continued typing.
"Roger that." The other responded. With that, William and Sanderson walked to the elevator, pressed the down button, and waited for the doors to open.
The doors of the elevator car opened wide and let in the bright red sky of Nevada, flooding into the car. It was starting to get dark. Rodney lifted up his gun and slowly stepped out. Each step felt like a nail being pounded in a few inches into his lower ribs, but the soldat went on. Taking it like a real soldier was harder than he thought it would be. As he got out of the elevator, it closed behind him. 'In a hurry to get rid of me?' Rodney thought to himself. The roof of the building was bare, nothing but the elevator doors and an ac unit on the far side of the building.
He walked slowly over to the edge of the building, almost limping while going. "This is such bull shit." He said out loud. "It's not like I killed an civy…" paused as he reached the edge and looked over. "Well actually I did kill a civy, but I don't deserve this." The streets had zeds streaming into the agency building he stood on. Walking over cars and around corpses, ignoring the other fallen zed, focused on getting into the facility. His men were in deep shit. It would be lucky if any survivors made it out alive.
Sanderson sighed as he still went down in the elevator. "So we just get in, get the cure, then head to the other floors." Stunder noded as the doors of the elevator opened up revealing something very surprising. Something that Sanderson and Stunder would never forget.
Standing there in the white lab was a very strange creature, the size of a mag agent, made entirely of of blue slime and it was staring right at them. It had a long snake-like body with two tentacle appendages and a round distended stomach that had something stuffed in it that almost looked like a persons body. What was even stranger was that It had the head of a young girl with long slimy hair that reached down to her shoulders. It smiled a gooey smile that made Stunder shiver and Sanderson smile at it.
"Hello, handsome." It said to the two causing them to return it a look of concern.
'Ah shit.' Sanderson thought to himself. He could tell by the creatures tone that it was a girl. "Hello. We're here for the experimental cure." The creature twisted her head and flapped her snaky, slimy tail on the floor.
"I might." She responded. "Who wants it?"
"William Sanderson, I'm with the agency." the creatures eyes widened.
"I thought you looked familiar. You look a little more buff in person." She twirled her tail and started rubbing her gut. "It'll cost you."
"We don't have time for this. Our friend needs it." Sanderson stated stepping closer. He really didn't have time. His soldat needed this cure immediately. He might not have known the guy, but if he could help his men, he was going to help. "What is it you want?"
"Oh nothing special." The slime said rolling her eyes. Sandersons heart stopped when she gave her offer. "You stay here with me and i'll give you your cure." William shook his head. He hated making these kinds of deals. They were both dangerous and a lose, lose situation.
"I don't think that'll work. We all need to get out of here and I have an important job to do. Besides what would you want with me." The creature frowned and turned her body away. The gut sloshed as she did.
"I've been here for three days with no one nearby. I really need some company. Couldn't you stay for at least a week?" The girl said as if she was going to guilt trip a former politician. Sanderson had no choice though. This thing looked immune to bullets and could probably kill him if he tried to steal to cure himself.
"Okay," He said finally. "How about you give me the cure, we go save our friend, rescue the survivors in the other rooms, then I come back here." Sanderson walked around her to look her in the eyes and gave her a soft smile. The smile he used to trick people into a false deal. "You can trust me, miss… What was your name?" The creature looked at him with strange puppy dog eyes.
"My name is Katy." The monster informed him.
"Kate," Professor Stunder suddenly butted in. "I can offer you something better." The creature turned to face Stunder and stared at him face to face. Stunder seemed to know this creature, or at least to have heard of it because he made her an offer she almost immediately accepted. "There is a traitor to the agency. If we find him we could bring him back to you and pay you off that way."
"Okay." 'Katy' said as she held up a small bottle of orange liquid. "I guess that's as good as a date." Sanderson's face turned bright red. So that's what she meant by it. With that, he quickly swiped the chemical out of Katy's sticky appendage and shoved it in inside his coat pocket. "Oh and William?" The slime added just as Sanderson started walking to the elevator. What could she want now? He thought to himself as he stepped in the elevator car.
"What is it?" He asked. The agent didn't want to stay any longer as he started to feel uncomfortable in the presence of this creature.
"If you want to come bye and see me," She said with a smile. "I wouldn't mind." Sanderson felt could feel himself turning bloodier than red. Why did this monster want him all of a sudden and why offer such a deal?
"No ma'm," He answered back quickly. Kate gave a devilishly evil smile in return. She knew he was getting nervous and she liked it. "I've got a lot of work to do and need not be distracted."
"Well I can change that in a hurry!" Without sparing any time, Sanderson quickly pressed one of the elevator buttons and the doors shut closed.
"She's always like that if you're wondering." Stunder informed him.
"You know her?"
"Unfortunately yes." Stunder leaned up against the wall of the elevator. "She was a fellow researcher that worked along side me. She actually took one of my test samples a few days ago. She probably injected herself too."
"That's what it does?" Stunder glanced over at his fellow co worker.
"It wasn't supposed to, but yes." The doors opened and Sanderson turned himself out to the door. Rodney sat next to the end of the building, resting his head on his hands staring up at the sky.
"Can you believe it?" The soldat asked his leader. He turned his head to the side as Sanderson walked up behind him and pulled out the cure. "It takes three hundred years to build a city, only takes a week to break it."
"Shhh, don't talk. Heres the cure, drink it." Sanderson unscrewed the top of the container and held it up to the soldat's mouth. "We have to get a move on."