He turned around and walked back to Doug, who was shouting over the whine of the engine and beating of the rotors. ”We’re ready to go, bring your boy in.”
Shaw nodded. “Cotton to Father, do you copy?”
“Go ahead, Shaw…. WHOO hoo!”
“Time to put your toy away and get the fuck out of here.”
“Shit, copy that, on my way.” Priest spun the car around one last time and sped toward the news chopper. With that 700 hp, he reached 140mph, then dialed back before executing a power slide to a stop. He jumped out with a grin on his face five miles wide and ran to join Shaw and Doug.
Shaw just shook his head, “Get your dumb ass in here.” Priest got in the copilot seat and belted in.
They jumped in, Doug took off and flew over to where Doc and Allison were on the roof. Shaw helped Allison in and Doc right after.
“Get us the hell out of here!” Priest shouted.
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Doug ascended and then directed the chopper northeast toward Dearborn.
CHAPTER 13
The Dearborn CDC facility was not in the condition the Team expected it to be. They immediately entered the stairwell and halted to gage their bearings.
Webb turned to Dr. Costa. “Do you know the building layout?” She shook her head. “Ok, we have zero intel on the layout so we’re going in blind. Do you have a guess on where we should look first?”
“Well, if it is like most labs, most of the elements we use like nitrogen and oxygen are usually in tanks on the ground floor. I would think reception and offices are on the first floor, so starting on the floor below that would be our best bet.”
“Sounds solid to me.” Webb looks to Abarra & Kennedy, “Any objections?” They both shook their heads. “Ok, we are on the fourth floor, so we have to traverse four floors. I will take point, Kennedy will follow, Dr Costa behind him and Abarra will cover our ass. Questions?”
With Webb in the lead, the team made their way down three floors, encountering no infected. As they approached the first-floor landing, Webb gave the visual for stop and he cocked his head to listen to the varied sounds.
The fires on the first floor were loud and sounds of building debris falling everywhere made it even harder to make out anything. This made listening for the infected almost impossible, but Webb shook his head and continued down the stairs toward the first underground level. There was a strange sound coming from below them, sounding like a wet thunk, thunk, thunk in the stairwell.
Webb signs stop to the Team as he slowly continues down the stairs. As he turns the corner of the landing, a graphic scene unfolds in front of him. A shirtless man with his back to Webb had a weapon in his hand, chopping into a body at lying at his feet. His weapon looked like a chair leg, which had a chunk of metal sticking out from the end that resembled of a hatchet. Long open wounds trailed down the man’s back and blood was dripping to a pool on the floor.
The body at his feet, which looked like a woman, had no head, and the man was working on removing one of her legs. On the left stairwell railing were the woman’s bowels and other entrails, spread out like on display at a posh art gallery. As the man brought the object down again and again, his head was tilting left and right like Webb had seen many times before, along with a clicking noise he made between giggles.
The man stopped chopping on the body to turn and admire the display of insides on the railing. He was moving his hand along the intestines slowly like they mesmerized him and had a look of reverence on this face. His daze cleared as he turned a little more to the left and noticed Webb standing there. The man’s face was completely covered in blood so thick; it was difficult to make out his facial features. All Webb noticed was the man’s wide eyes projecting out from the mask of red. He tilted his head to regard Webb for a few seconds, then pointed his “hatchet” toward the woman’s body and spoke with a hiss.
“She didn’t want the poison. The sweet, sweet poison. She paid the price. She has lovely pieces though,” he said as he strokes the innards hanging on the railing. He points his hand made hatchet at Webb, “You want the poison, yes?” It was more of a statement than a question as far as his tone.
Webb thought quickly and answered, “Yes, I want the poison.”
The man smiled and hissed. “Yes, yes, you do. You see, don’t you? You see, the joy it brings?”
“Yes, I do. I want to join my brothers.”
The man smiles even wider, opened his mouth and hissed as he approached Webb slowly. Webb hadn’t seen this behavior before and really never had a conversation with one of the infected.
Kennedy looked at the Dr. Costa and then Abarra. “Is he talking to that fucking thing?”
Abarra shrugged, “Sounds like it.”
Dr. Costa whispered, “They seem to keep their mind and skills for time, albeit, a very distorted mind.”
“That’s even more creepy,” Kennedy added as they continued to listen to what was going on below them.
The man approached Webb with his arms open wide, “The poison will embrace you. You can join us and truly know.” As the man got wit
hin arm’s reach, Webb moved like lightning, pulled his combat knife and shoved the blade right under the man’s chin, up through the roof of his mouth and into his skull cavity. The infected man’s eyes rolled back in his head and his body went limp, with his arms still opened wide. Webb removed the knife, wiped it on the man’s pants, then sheathed it. “All clear,” Webb said, and the rest came down the stairs.