CHAPTER 124
"I don't like this shit. We haven't seen a single one. Where the hell are they?" Bill was pulling his fingers through his sopping hair to keep it out of his eyes. His face was wild, as though he were getting into a panic.
"Shut the hell up." Ms. Murdock side eyed him as she kept the group at a steady jog.
"What, everybody is thinking it. I'm just saying it."
"Then there's no need to state it, so shut the hell up, or I'll put a bullet through your tongue."
Bill was beginning to remind Seth a whole lot of Kramer from Seinfeld. He had the same dodgy wild eyeballs and a mastery for unintentionally comedic peril. That aside, he did have a point, and everyone was thinking it.
They had been surrounded by trees on both sides for several minutes. Though the rain had subsided to a drizzle there were dense bodies of fog developing throughout the island's interior, and it seemed like the perfect cover for an attack. There had been nothing though, not even a fleeting shadow or a darting shape between the fog and trees. There hadn't been even so much as a disturbance of the underbrush. Beside the pounding of their own feet there were the mere remnant rumbles of the fading storm and a patter of large drops falling through the trees onto the foliage below.
Seth was seeing the glow of floodlights ahead. He hoped it meant that the bunker was near. As they reached the edge of the forested area the road opened up to a motor pool where the flood lamps shone down upon.
There seemed to be an unspoken feeling among the group to slow down and survey the area for danger until Ms. Murdock said, "no. Keep moving."
Seth didn't get a very good look around as the group crossed the motor pool, because he was only catching glimpses past the shoulders of those around him. From what he could see there were a handful of jeeps, a few pickup trucks, and some SUV's. Closer to them was a pair of gas pumps, and in the background was a garage with several bay doors that looked large enough to pull a tractor trailer through.
The thing that was concerning Seth was that there still was no indication of any emergency bunker in sight. He was almost compelled to ask how much further it was going to be, but he didn't think asking, "are we there yet?" would get him anything more than a bullet through the tongue.
Seth, along with the rest of the group was near startled when Ms. Murdock threw up a fist to halt everyone. When they saw her poise the barrel of her shotgun Dr. Conners and Dr. Johnson did the same. Others in the group were darting paranoid looks across the motor pool. Bill in particular was snapping his head around as though someone were tapping him on one shoulder and then the other.
As far as Seth could see there was nothing but a thick body of fog ahead of them, but he figured Ms. Murdock must have spotted or heard something. He fixed his gaze between the shoulders of Dr. Conners and Ms. Murdock. The dense fog drifted like an enormous barge, and it took Seth a moment to realize that there was a building in the midst of it. Judging by its resemblance in shape and size to the village bunker he surmised that they had found their destination, but why had they stopped just short of it?
The thickness of the fog fluctuated as it passed, and Seth began to see something, or was it really nothing? He couldn't discern. Now he felt the fog was playing tricks with his head. Was it fooling Ms. Murdock as well? Were they all so high strung that they were now seeing velociraptors where there weren't any?
Seth kept staring and only saw the shifting fog and the shadow of the bunker within. The shapes he saw might not have ever been there, but the voice that now shouted, "hey!" was undeniable, as everyone in the group snapped their head towards the sound.