Chapter XVI: Expertise

AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Double update today, this is two of two.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

The funicular took them down to a moderately sized reception area. The platform wrapped around three sides of the funicular - and the little gates on those sides folded down onto the platform as it docked. There were small sitting areas dotted around the platform. Ahead was a long steel wall with a single pair of double doors slightly to the left of centre.

"Well. That's not creepy at all."

"It's an office waiting area, Chloe."

"Exactly. Like the dentist." She shuddered.

"What?"

"What?"

"Would you two shut up? It's too quiet." David sniped. And he was right. It was too quiet. They'd all gotten used to the background noise of a zombie apocalypse. Down here, it was just quiet. "Stay ready. We need to move forward."

They headed in through those double doors and into a small reception area. A desk spanned the opposite wall (Prescott Logo emblazoned boldly behind it) with a door at either end. Two more doors lead off to the left (both fizzing lightly, and slightly ajar) and an open corridor lead off to the right.

David quickly strode over to the open corridor and peered down it. "Clear."

Chloe immediately went for the far doors and tried to open them. "They're locked!"

"Check behind the reception-" Dana said, "There's usually a button the receptionist uses to open the doors when they've checked people."

Chloe shrugged and went over. She couldn't find anything. "Can't see it if it's here."

The group spread out. David and Juliet were keeping an eye on the corridor - it stretched out about twenty meters before turning sharply to the right. Dana and Rose came to help Chloe, while Max and Rachel checked on the two doors.

"Nothing. Shit. What now?"

"I guess we take a look around? Maybe there's a security office somewhere that needs to unlock it."

"And what happens if that security office is somewhere else? Like, on the other side of the door?"

"Then we go back up to the surface and die, or we get buried down here and slowly starve to death. So, lets hope it's there, right?"

"Right."

Chloe headed over to Max and Rachel, finding them both mid-conversation.

"-think she'll ever forgive me?"

"I don't know, Maxie, I really don't. Chloe can be stubborn. But I hope so."

Chloe coughed. "Hey you two." They both turned to her, Max anxious and Rachel unfazed, and greeted her amicably.

"Do you think we can get these open?" Chloe asked, waving vaguely back to the doors. And ignoring the conversation. She was not remotely ready for that shit. Yet.

Rachel shook her head. "Not without some sort of lever. Whatever is holding them ajar is holding them in place."

"Shit."

"Yep."

"Well," Chloe sighed. "I guess we're going the other way, then."

"Unless you want to try shoving our more petite group members through the gaps in the doors, I would say so, yes."

Chloe looked back to the door, then to Rachel. Rachel snorted. "If anyone's trying the doors, Chloe, it's you, you beanpole."

As Chloe opened her mouth to retort, Rachel laughed, looped her left arm with Max and her right with Chloe and dragged them both over to the corridors. "Lets call the Cirque du Soleil shenanigans Plan B, hmm?"

—

The corridor was relatively short, and capped with four sets of bathrooms. Chloe was almost impressed - male, female, non-binary, and unisex toilets? Go Prescotts. They poked into all of them, following David's lead of clearing the rooms in proper military fashion (Chloe weirdly enjoyed the idea of 'slicing the pie' and David had actually explained it to her well - the two of them were both weirded out by how well it went and silently agreed never to speak of it again).

In the back of one of the bathrooms, there was an open panel leading to another room. A maintenance space, by the looks of things. Half-patched walls and basic furniture. "Huh. Secret room."

"It's-" Dana shook her head. "Is there anything in here?"

"I mean, you can see-"

"I meant was there anything useful." Dana smirked, fully picking up on exactly what Chloe was doing. As previously mentioned, Chloe had the subtlty, disposition, and ferocity of a feral sledgehammer.

Before she could pull back another swing, the rest of them pushed past and tore the room apart, finding a prybar!

"You think we can use this for the main doors?" Chloe asked.

David looked it over. "No, it's too big. But it'd work for the other doors." Maybe there'd be something more useful back there. So, they went and opened it up, stepping into what looked like a very expensive set of employee quarters. Staffroom, employee bunkhouses, kitchen and refectory, everything you'd need to support a small garrison.

And tucked away in the back there was a little - almost an office space? It looked half-built at best, so whatever it had intended to be it hadn't managed. A small desk sat in one corner, and a sheet-covered pile sat across from it. The desk did not have a chair. There was another door in the opposite wall - it was open, so they could see it lead to some kind of maintenance corridor. No lights were on in there, so they could only see a short way, what was illuminated by the single small light in the pseudo-office. A lot of big pipes ran along the office space and through the wall by the door, leading down that corridor into the darkness.

"Huh. This seems kinda shitty looking compared to all the other stuff. Must be a place none of the important people have to see."

Even David had to give a nod to that. They knew the drill at this point, spreading out to check out the room and the door beyond. Chloe found a note on the pile.

"Be careful with this shit, Davison. I know the Company said it was safe, but it's just cheaper to leave it here than transport it elsewhere. In case they need to mine anything else out down here, I guess. So, no flames, no radio, no gas, no nothing that could set it off. -A.G."

"Who's AG?"

"No idea. An employee here, I guess."

"No shit, Sherlock. I could gather that much."

"Well, why did you ask me who he was then?"

"I dunno, I thought maybe you'd know something about-"

"Come on, people. Lets get on with it."

Chloe tossed the note over her shoulder and looked under the canvas cover. "The fuck?" She flung it off, to reveal a large stack of odd-looking putty bricks.

David swore. "Get back!"

Chloe looked back at him. "What?"

Rachel flinched, grabbing Chloe and dragging her away from the pile, shaking slightly - Chloe didn't get it until David explained, "That's plastic explosive."

It took her a moment, but she looked back at the pile with a new curiosity. "…like C4?"

"Yes, Chloe. Now please, lets not go near it."

"Isn't that stuff like, mostly fine though?" She asked.

David shook his head. "Assuming there's nothing else in that pile, or it hasn't degraded, or one of you don't find some damn innovative way to set it off, yes. But better safe than dead."

"Fine, fine. We'll leave it alone. Call it plan B if we don't find anything else though."

"Anything else for..?"

"The door. Use a bit of this and we'll be through, right?"

"Only a little bit. Maybe a handful at most." He shrugged. "This isn't my field, Chloe. I just know enough to be wary. So, lets stay wary, and keep moving. Maybe there's something useful down here." He lead the way to the corridor, shining a torch down briefly before- "Ah. Found the switch." He flicked it, and lead the others along.

Chloe stayed to the rear, as did Dana. As the others headed further down the corridor, they fell behind. They looked at each other.

—

Chloe deftly set up the mining explosives and stuck them to the door. She wasn't 100% sure of what she was doing, but good god could she bullshit it well. And it worked. She set it up while Dana watched her back and then they both retreated back to the external doors, the detonator clutched tightly in Chloe's shaking hand.

Chloe counted down from three, then pushed the button.

The door exploded in a violent frenzy of fire and shredded metal. Even Chloe was surprised at the sheer violent force of it, staring along with the rest at the still-burning hole it left. They all waited a few long moments, hoping not to hear the screams of the infected. One moment. Two moments. Three moments. They breathed a sigh of relief. Clear.

Dana just looked at Chloe. "Destruction really is your thing, isn't it?"

Chloe shrugged, but couldn't hide the pleased grin.

"So, what did we actually blow our way to, anyway?"

Then the others ran back into the room at a full sprint. "What the hell, I ord- we agreed we weren't gonna do this?"

Chloe shrugged. "I knew I could do it."

David's jaw tightened. His fists clenched. Chloe shuffled back, a little nervously. Then Rose stepped forward. "David…" He took a deep breath, clenching and unclenching his fists as Rose spoke almost inaudibly to him.

Then he nodded. "Fine. What's done is done. But you will wait here while I check it out to make sure it is clear." He jabbed a finger at her. "Agreed?"

"Yes sir." Chloe threw up a lazy salute. David tensed further, then shook his head. He went over and carefully stuck his head through the burning hole that was once a door. "It's elevators. No other ways through or around. And the ceiling looks stable, so you didn't bring the entire city down on top of us." Chloe paled, and David looked almost satisfied. "It's clear."

"Great. I guess we're going even further down, then?"

"No other ways forward," Juliet said, "so it's our only option."

David groaned. "Fine. Lets go."

—

They chatted lightly, nervously as the elevator flew downwards. It took longer than they expected, but less than it should before their journey stopped and the doors slid open.

They stepped out into a charnel house.

It was a large space, the typical cavernous corporate atrium - an upper balcony wrapped around the upper level, stairs periodically leading down to the main floor and tinted glass the whole way around with several doors leading off in all directions. It was classy and elegant, smooth lines and serene colours that mixed to create an image of staid, solid management and professionalism. The downward level was dominated with a large sculpture of a winged man and the rest was covered in what looked like small hotel sitting areas - leather two-seaters and well-groomed plants. And it was all dead. Blood and bodies were everywhere, and the infected walked among them. Chloe could see a dozen, two dozen just shambling around. And gods only knew how many more there were through the many doors and corridors that spanned out from this nest.

"Fuck."