Barcelona, Spain
Daryl opened his eyes as he rolled onto his left side and he was startled when he saw Mark standing near the bed.
"What the hell?" Daryl grumbled and rolled onto his back.
"Mrs. Katherine told me to wake you up," Mark said.
Sighing, Daryl moved the bedding back as he sat on the edge of the bed and he reached for his work boots. He put the work boots on when he stood and Mark looked up at him.
"Are the others up?" Daryl asked.
"Chandler, Peter, Mister Connor and Mrs. Katherine are. Nikki, Mister Murphy and Miss Caroline are still asleep."
"Hmph."
Daryl watched Mark head for the main room when Daryl stretched his arms over his head, yawned and he shook his head. He put on the leather vest with the wings on the back and his denim jacket then he headed to the doorway to the other room. He leaned against the doorframe of one of the bedrooms as he looked at Murphy, Nikki and Caroline sleeping on the bed and Nikki had her head against Murphy's chest.
Caroline felt her brother's mind in hers as she opened her eyes and she looked over at Nikki and Murphy. She felt a warm feeling move through her when she heard Daryl clear his throat and she looked at her brother.
"Mornin'," Daryl grumbled.
"Hey," Caroline said after she carefully sat up. "Are we the last ones up?"
"Yeah. Breakfast's ready."
"Ok," she said with a nod. She watched Daryl walk off when she settled on her left side, placed the side of her head in the palm of her left hand and she watched Murphy sleeping. He felt like he was being watch as Murphy opened his eyes and he turned his head to look at her.
"Mornin'," she said with a smile.
"Hmmm….," he said and she saw a dreaming look in his eyes.
"When did she crawl in bed with us?"
Murphy looked down to see Nikki sleeping against him and Ebony was resting on his stomach.
"I have no idea," Murphy said. He noticed the sad look in Caroline's eyes as she sighed and he titled his head to one side. "Don't."
"Don't what?" Caroline asked.
"Don't be sad."
"I ain't sad. Just thinkin' about what could've been."
"I've done that."
She picked up his right hand as she kissed his knuckles and he smiled. Nikki made a little sigh as she opened her eyes and she looked a little startled after hearing Murphy's heart thrumming in her ear.
"Daddy?" she whispered and Caroline saw the sadness in Murphy's eyes.
"No. Jus' me," Murphy said and Nikki looked at him. "Mornin'."
"Hi."
"Why did you crawl in bed with us?" Caroline asked and Nikki looked at her.
"I had a bad dream."
Murphy wrapped his arms around Nikki then he started humming and Caroline recognized the song. He hummed the same song to her whenever she had been scared or upset.
"Time to get up. Breakfast's ready," Caroline said.
"Ok," Nikki said and she picked up Ebony, carefully crawled over Murphy, got off the bed, headed for the door then left the room. Caroline moved closer to him as he placed his arms around her and Caroline placed her head on his right shoulder.
In the main room, Daryl saw Chandler, Mark and Connor sitting at the consoles and Daryl walked to the high back chairs. He saw the images showing the outside beyond the walls from the security cameras and Daryl frowned.
"Fergot to ask. How do you power this place?" Daryl asked and Chandler looked at him.
"We have solar panels," Chandler said.
"What happens if they break down?"
"Some of the guys know how to fix those. The rest of the power comes from those guys you killed yesterday. Once they find out their leader's dead, they'll cut the power."
"Do you have any back-up generators?" Connor asked.
"Yeah. But they only have enough power for a few days," Chandler said as he looked at Connor.
Daryl leaned his left hand on the console. He looked at the screen with the green dot and he noticed the green dot was moving.
"Looks like Jeffrey's on the move," Daryl said.
"Yeah," Chandler said as he looked at the screen.
"Where is he?" Connor asked.
"He's almost at the gate."
"Wanna have some fun?" Mark asked.
"What are you gonna do?" Daryl asked.
"Gonna make it hard for them to know who's at the gate."
Daryl gave them a stern look as he thought for a few seconds then Daryl smiled, nodding his head. Mark typed on the keyboard then hit the Enter button and he leaned back in the chair.
"Breakfast is ready," made they look toward the kitchen and Chandler, Connor and Mark stood. They headed for the kitchen and Daryl saw Peter sitting at the table. Katherine was at the stove as she pointed for them to sit down and Connor sat at the head of the table while Mark and Chandler sat next to Peter.
"Where're Caroline, Murphy and Nikki?" she asked.
"Right here," Murphy said and he, Caroline and Nikki entered the kitchen. Murphy placed Nikki on one of the chairs around the table then he went to sit next to Caroline. "Mornin'."
"Mornin'," Connor said and smiled after Katherine placed the white coffee mug down in front of him. She sat at the other end of the table and Connor held out his hands. "Time t'say grace."
They held hands as they closed their eyes and Connor said grave. Once he was finished, they opened their eyes and they started eating.
"Any idea where we can find the information or the scientist Du Monte mentioned in his letter?" Daryl asked, placing some scrambled eggs in his mouth.
"When Dad found this place? He said most of the lab was overrun with…," Peter said and Daryl noticed the look in his eyes.
"With Walkers?"
"What's that?" Nikki asked.
"It's what we call those things out there."
"Mom said all the scientists and researchers were dead," Chandler said.
"Were they able to get into any of the offices?" Katherine asked.
"Most of 'em."
"Do you know the name of the researcher or scientist you're looking for?" Mark asked, looking at Daryl.
"No. The man who sent us didn't say," Caroline said.
"Do you know that man's name?"
"Yeah."
"Hmph," Daryl grumbled.
Mark got up when he walked into the main room and Daryl, Connor and Caroline went to follow him. Mark climbed onto the high back chair when he started typing on the keyboard and Daryl leaned his left hand on the console. They looked at the photographs of the staff members appearing on the large, center screen when Mark frowned and glanced at Daryl.
"Who gave you that letter?" Mark asked.
"His name was Anton Du Monte," Daryl said and Mark typed on the keyboard. Murphy, Katherine, Chandler, Nikki and Peter walked to the high back chairs and Chandler and Peter sat on the high back chairs next to the high back chair Mark was sitting on. Murphy held Nikki in his arms and Daryl looked at the large, center screen.
"What's he doin'?" Connor asked.
"I think he's tryin' to find the scientist Du Monte was talkin' about in his letter," Daryl said when the photographs on the large, center screen stopped moving and they looked at the photograph of a stern looking man with white hair and green eyes and Daryl looked at the information. "Doctor Miguel Montoya."
"Says here he was the head scientist," Caroline said.
"What was he working on?" Peter asked, looking at Daryl.
"He was workin' on the cure for the thing which ended the world," Daryl said.
"Why would someone make something like that?" Chandler asked.
"The people who created it didn't mean to," Katherine said.
"Here's Du Monte's name," Connor said as he pointed to the large, center screen.
"Hold on," Mark said as he moved Montoya's file onto another screen, highlighted Anton's name then pushed the Enter button. The large center screen went blank for a few seconds then flickered back on and a photograph of Anton appeared.
"Is that the man you were talking about?" Mark asked as he looked at Daryl.
"Yeah," Daryl said with a nod.
Mark looked at the information then he typed on the keyboard and Montoya's photograph appeared on the large, center screen.
"Does it say where his office is?" Katherine asked and Mark looked at the screen.
"Yeah. It's in the Old Section. Fifth Floor," Mark said.
"How do we get there?" Daryl asked.
"Uh…. None of you are claustrophobic, right?" Chandler asked. Daryl, Caroline, Connor, Murphy and Katherine looked at each other and Daryl sighed, rolling his eyes.
Claudia's office
Claudia sat at the large, wood desk as she scanned the screens for any sign of Daryl, Caroline, Murphy, Katherine, Connor or the kids.
"Attention: Unidentified vehicle approaching," the female computer voice said as the red lights flickered on and Claudia removed the Berretta out of the top drawer of the desk. She placed the Berretta in the holster on her right hip when she walked to the door, opened the door and she left the room. She headed down the hallway when she went down the stairs then headed for the sliding doors. The sliding doors opened when she saw Alexandro and Fernando getting into one of the golfcarts and she headed for the golfcart.
"Is it Hernandez' people?" she asked.
"Not sure," Alexandro said and she got in the other golfcart.
"Still no sign of our guests?" Fernando asked as he got in the golfcart.
"None. No sign of the brats either," Claudia said as she started the engine and steered the golfcart down the paved road. The golfcarts arrived at the front gate as they stopped the golfcarts and Claudia got out of the golfcart. She headed for the guard station as she opened the door and walked in the room. "Have you been able to identify the vehicle?"
"Not yet. For some reason, the computers aren't cooperating," the guard said.
"There's a reason," she grumbled and she looked at the screens. "Where are they?"
"They're at the gate."
Sighing, Claudia left the guard station when she walked to the ladder and climbed the ladder to the catwalk. She stood at the wall when she looked down at the black sedan with dark windows and she motioned for the guard to hand her the rifle. The guard handed her the rifle as she took aim at the sedan and she brushed the trigger with her right index finger.
"This is private property! Identify yourself!" she called out in Spanish. She watched as the driver's side window moved down and she lowered the rifle when a panda shaped backpack was slid out of the window and waved up and down. "Open the gate. It's Jeffrey."
"You sure? Someone coulda taken his backpack," the guard said. She knew the guard was right as she raised the rifle and pointed the rifle at the sedan.
"Leave the car! Now!" she shouted in Spanish. Claudia waited. The driver's side door opened as a tall man with dark hair got out of the car and he placed the panda shaped backpack on his back. He was also wearing a blue shirt, a black jacket, jeans and black work boots. He looked up at her as Claudia frowned then she cleared her throat.
"You're right. It's Jeffrey," the guard said.
"But that's not the car he left in," Claudia said then looked at Jeffrey. "Step away from the car and put your hands up."
Sighing, Jeffrey placed his hands up as he stood away from the car and the gate opened. Three guards ran to him as one of the guards led the man to the gate and the other guards carefully opened the driver's side and passenger doors. They quickly checked the front seats, closed the doors when one of the guards noticed Jeffrey had used the switch to open the trunk and the guard carefully opened the trunk lid. They closed the trunk lid after examining the trunk and one of the guards went to check under the car. He crawled out from under the car as he stood and they walked to the gate.
"All clear," the guard said as he looked up at Claudia.
Claudia released the breath she was holding when she climbed down the ladder then she headed for the guard station. She walked outside as Jeffrey lowered his arms and she placed her hands on her hips.
"Where the hell is your car?" she asked with a tiny smile and Jeffrey softly laughed as he shrugged his shoulders.
Inside the lab, Chandler led the way while they crawled through the vents and Katherine was at the rear. Chandler moved to the left as they followed him and Caroline had peeked through the vent cover slats to check for guards.
"We have to go down," Chandler said and Daryl crawled closer. Daryl looked down into the vent when he climbed down the ladder and saw he could stand up. Looking up the ladder, he signaled for them to climb down the ladder and he stood back.
"Looks like it's a maintenance vent," Daryl said while the others climbed down the ladder and he reached up to remove Nikki from the ladder. He handed Nikki to Murphy and Mark removed a small, black controller from his belt. Mark pushed the buttons as he looked at the small screen and he looked left then right.
"We gotta go that way," Mark said, pointing to the right. He walked next to Daryl as they headed right and Mark looked at the screen.
"Where are we?" Connor asked.
"Accordin' to this sign… We are headin' fer Power Station Three," Murphy said as he pointed to the sign on the wall.
"Yeah. We have to go by that, up, left, right, left then up again," Mark said and they went around the corner. They kept walking as Connor noticed Peter and Mark were getting tired. Connor and Murphy picked up Peter and Mark and they headed down the vent. Mark pointed to the ladder as Daryl walked to the ladder then Daryl climbed up the ladder. He looked left then right when he crawled into the vent and signaled for them to follow him. Caroline stayed at the bottom of the ladder until everyone went up the ladder then she climbed up to the vent. "We have to go that way."
Daryl led the way as they moved through the vent and Daryl saw the ladder. He went up the ladder as he checked to see if it was safe then he went in the vent. After they had finally climbed up the final ladder, Daryl led the way and he wondered where they were going.
"Just keep going. The hallway to the Old Section is on the right," Mark said. Daryl moved a little faster when he saw the vent cover and he slid his fingers through the vent cover slats. He moved the vent cover to the right then crawled out of the vent and he stood up. Daryl scanned the hallway with his eyes then he looked at the vent and signaled for them to come out.
"About time." Katherine grumbled and Connor helped her to her feet.
"Mister Murphy? I gotta pee," Nikki whispered and Murphy smiled.
"Any idea where th'bathrooms are? Nikki needs t'use th'potty," Murphy said and Nikki placed her right cheek on his left shoulder.
"Hold on," Mark asked as he removed the small, black controller from his belt. He pushed the buttons as he looked at the screen then smiled. "This way."
They headed down the hallway when they came to a door and Daryl held up his right hand to stop them. He checked to see if the door was unlocked then he thumped his right fist on the door. They waited as he opened the door enough to look inside the room and he opened the door wider.
"Looks like someone's office," Caroline said and they walked in the room. She walked to the door on the right as she carefully opened the door, checked for Walkers then she turned to Murphy. Murphy handed Nikki to her as Caroline closed the door and Murphy leaned against the wall.
"Got any idea whose office this is?" Katherine asked. She headed for the desk when she looked at the high back desk chair then sat down. She tried to get the middle desk drawer open while Mark pushed the buttons on the small, black controller and he looked at the screen. "What are you doing?"
"Checking to see if the security cameras are working," Mark said, pointing to the security cameras on the ceiling.
"Lemme see if I can get th'desk open," Connor said and Katherine got up from the chair. Connor slid under the desk as he went on his back and he moved his fingers over the sides of the desk drawer. He checked for a hidden key, but didn't find anything and he slid out from under the desk. "No key."
"What about the computer? Think there's anything on it?" Katherine asked.
Mark headed for the desk as the door opened and Caroline and Nikki exited the bathroom. Katherine got up so Mark could sit down and he looked at the computer. He powered up the computer as the screen flickered on and Katherine covered his eyes with her hands when the photograph appeared on the screen.
"Hey!" Mark said and Connor smiled when he saw what the photograph was.
"Hang on," Connor said while Daryl walked closer and Daryl's eyes widened.
"Damn," Daryl grumbled. Connor used the computer mouse to change the photograph and Katherine moved her hands away. Mark glared at her then he looked at the screen and he used the computer mouse to check the files. "Find anythin'?"
"Yeah," Mark said and Daryl leaned his left hand on the desk as he looked at the information.
"Says this computer belonged to a Doctor Matthew Parks," Katherine said.
"Is there a file on him?" Caroline asked, walking to the desk. Mark typed on the keyboard as the screen went dark then the screen came back on and they looked at the information.
"He was working under Montoya," Katherine said.
"Then he doesn't have what we're lookin' fer," Daryl said and Mark turned the computer off. He got up as they headed out of the office and they walked down the hallway. Mark removed the small, black controller as he typed on the keyboard and looked at the screen.
"We need to go that way," Mark said as he pointed to the left hallway and they walked down the hallway. At the end of the hallway were two, large doors and Daryl held his right hand up to stop them. He carefully walked to the doors when he checked to see if the doors were unlocked, but the doors were locked.
"Locked," Daryl said.
Caroline went to stand next to him when she saw the indentations on the carpeting in front of the doors then she looked up at the doorframe.
"I need a leg up," Caroline said and Daryl cupped his hands. She took hold of his shoulders as he lifted her up and Caroline held onto the top of the doorframe. She moved her left hand over the doorframe when she felt something and she wrapped her fingers around what felt like a key. "Down."
Daryl lowered her to her feet as she handed him the key and Daryl used the key to unlock the door. Opening the door enough to look in the room, Daryl listened for growling or hissing then he opened the door a little more. He looked in the room when he opened the door for them to enter the room and Mark headed for the large, dark wood desk at the back of the room.
Three windows with unbreakable glass were behind the desk and the sunlight lit up the room. One either side of the windows were blinds and two wooden tables were under two of the windows.
A dark blue carpet spread over most of the hard wood flooring and three, black leather chairs were in front of the desk. Bookshelves were on either side of the doors and along two of the walls and video screens were in the third wall.
Large marble planters sat in the corner with the leaves of the dead plats on the floor and lights and security cameras were embedded in the ceiling. A large metal statue of a DNA strand was on the dark wood table at the center of the room and smaller metal DNA statues surrounded the larger statue.
"Daryl," Caroline said while standing near one of the bookcases and she removed the wooden photo frame off the shelf. Daryl walked to his sister when he stood next to her and he looked at the photograph of Anton Du Monte and a man with dark hair and eyes. The man was wearing a gray suit, white shirt, black tie, a black leather belt, a white lab coat and black shoes. "Guess we found Montoya's office."
"Looks like," Daryl said, turning to look at Mark sitting on the high back chair. Mark had powered up the computer as he looked at the information on the screen and Connor walked to the desk.
"Find anythin'?" Connor asked.
"Yeah. But it's encrypted," Mark said.
"You don't know how to unencrypt it, do you?" Katherine asked.
"Nope. Dad never got around to teaching me how to do that."
Daryl walked to the desk as he looked at the screen and he tilted his head from one side to the other. He then looked at Mark and he lifted Mark off the high back chair.
"Hey," Daryl said and Mark looked at him. "This ain't on you."
"Yeah," Mark said with a sigh.
Caroline was walking around the room while she examined the bookcases and she carefully moved the books forward. None of the bookcases moved as she sighed and Daryl walked over to her.
"Lookin' fer a secret passage?" he asked.
"Or a hidden safe," Caroline said when she heard a small click and one of the bookshelves popped open.
"No way."
"Find something?" Katherine asked as she, Murphy, Connor and the kids walked to them and Caroline moved the bookshelf back.
"I think I found a wall safe," Caroline said. They looked at the wall safe as Daryl smiled and she lightly nudged him.
Claudia's office
The door opened while Claudia led Jeffrey in the office and she watched him walk to the couch. He placed the panda shape backpack on the couch near the door and she closed the door.
"Did you find Becker?" she asked as she walked to the large, wood desk and she sat on the high back desk chair.
Jeffrey didn't answer. He walked to the desk as she watched him and he sat on the corner of the desk.
"What's with those graves? Noticed them as I was driving up," Jeffrey said.
"Hernandez showed up."
"What did that asshole want?"
"He wanted the laboratory. Said it's his since Sam died."
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him no."
"What happened next?"
"Those things showed up," she said then she explained what happened.
"Did you know about the mines?" he asked with wide eyes.
"No. But the brats did."
"What about those other guys? What happened to them?"
"I got no idea. They vanished once they helped us clean shit up."
"They left?"
"No. They went wherever those brats went."
"You think they're working with Becker?"
"Hell yeah."
"What are you going to do when you find them?"
"I'm going to kill them," Claudia said and Jeffrey frowned, folding his arms over his chest.