Priest turned back to Doc, “I’m not ready to die just yet.” Doc raised his eyebrows looking from Priest to Lia. Priest lightly slapped Doc on the side of the head and put his finger to his lips in a shhh sign.
The Team had made their way down the Eastern Bay and were over Baltimore. “Captain,” Allison came over the internal comms. They patched Webb and Priest in.
“Go ahead,” Webb replied.
“We received a message from the CDC compound, but was cut off. I only got “We are being” and then it cut off. I haven’t been able to raise anyone else since.”
“Ok, there could be trouble brewing over there. Doug, get us there ASAP.”
“Copy that.” Doug cranked the RPM’s and increased their speed, heading for the CDC compound.
CHAPTER 27
As the chopper approached the CDC compound, they could see plumes of smoke rose over the trees. “Shit, that doesn’t look good.” Webb was staring at the smoke rising and he had a sinking feeling. He didn’t know if the place had been overrun or just one of those issues with someone not divulging that they might be infected.
It was sometimes hard to test people who had the virus before they turned. That, added with the basic need for human survival, often caused people to hide information on whether they were exposed. So many people had been affected felt perfectly fine, but that changed quickly and then they would have a serious problem on their hands.
People wanted to give others the benefit of the doubt, and it was that kind of thinking that had gotten so many people killed over the last few weeks. They flew over the last of the trees, which now gave them an excellent view of the compound area. It was a site they had witnessed too many times recently.
The military and civilian vehicles parked near the compound entrance had suffered incredible damage. Destroyed and on fire, the smoke everyone could see from miles away. There were a few bodies lying around and the door into the underground compound was wide open.
“Ok team, full battle rattle. Watch your lanes and keep your head on a swivel,” Priest barked. The chopper touched down, and the team exited and immediately went to one knee to provide 360-degree security.
Webb spoke into his comms, “Doug, keep the bird hot in case we need to exfil quickly. Allison, close all doors and provide a watch for any infected. You see the infected, you let Doug know, and you guys lift off. We will come up with an exfil contingency plan if it comes to that.”
Priest surveyed the scene, “Shaw and me first, then Neville, Shin, Lia, Doc and Webb will cover our six. The Team drifted to the entrance. There were definite signs of a battle here. The strange thing was that the signs of battle were from outside - in and inside - out. “Captain, signs point to soldiers outside wanting in and soldiers trying to keep said soldiers out,” Priest articulated in slight confusion.
“So, we may deal with infected solders who might still know how to fight?”
Priest nodded his head, “Looks that way, Sir.”
“Fuck, now we have to fight our own?” A black cloud descended on the group and an all familiar seriousness hit the team. The seriousness produced a feeling of trepidation and regret. Since this complete shit storm started, the killing of citizens and soldiers of their own hadn’t sat well with the Team.
Being a soldier meant always dealing with competing feelings and the best could compartmentalize them. They each had their own box, which you could open or close when you felt you could deal with it. There was almost a collective deep breath before the Team entered the underground compound.
The Team entered through a corridor that had staggered entry doors. One door stayed closed, while the other opened. This way someone didn’t have entry all the way into the building, but of these doors were now wide open and blood was smeared all over the walls. Pools of blood lay chaotically throughout.
The smell of cordite from spent rounds along with body waste and offal was nauseating. Everyone pulled their baklavas up over their noses. The sounds of electricity shorting out along with the haze of smoke hanging in the air gave the environment one of anxiety and heaviness.
The Team made their way out of the corridor into a larger hall. Priest broke out to the right of Shaw while the rest of the team filed in behind the two. This hall was like the previous one with revolting signs of battle, massacre and inhumane violence. Human heads with their spines still attached were hanging on the wall like a trophy displayed. Their faces frozen in a state of fear. Forever a reminder of how horrific their last moments had been.
“Jesus Christ,” Shaw whispered. “They aren’t just killing or infecting, they are mutilating in an almost ritualistic way. When did they turn the corner into this kind of shit?”
Priest turned to him, “Yeah, I’m not getting this. They said the virus increases the rage and violence while subduing compassion and sympathy. So, where the hell is this mutilating ritual type behavior coming from? We have heard nothing involving this kind of stuff.”
Suddenly, a scream came from inside the compound. “Ok, swift but smart. Let’s find out who is left alive here.” Priest turned to the team. They took off at a fast duck walk, covering doorways as they progressed farther into the building. They passed a small lunchroom, two offices, and came to an elevator with stairs to the right going down. Priest made a cut sign and pointed to the elevator and motioned toward the stairs. The screams came again, but much louder this time.
The team then moved to the second landing and noticed the door to this floor was open and damaged. They could see down the long dark hallway with multiple doors on each side. Some doors were open, and some were closed. They broke most of the lights down the hallway, which created eerie shadows that danced and moved, creating a surreal view. At the end of the hallway was an open door.
The room on the other side was also dimly lit, and a figure appeared with his back to them in the doorway. He was naked except for a pair of ACU pants, and his back had multiple deep lacerations going down it. He also had some strange hat on with a tail coming down his back and was dancing around with some items in his hands. As he rotated, he spied the team at the end of the hall, cocked his head to the side and stared at them.
A large unnerving smile spread across his face and he spoke to them in a husky voice, “I see you. I see you, yes. Yes, you could be brothers, but no poison. You need the poison to truly be brothers.” He started toward the team. “Brothers, brothers come. I know you wish to be one with us. Yes?” As he came closer, the team finally realized what the hat was. It was the skin stripped off of a young woman’s head and face, which he had on his head like some kind of animal pelt. The tail was her hair, braided down his back. There were bones from the spine braided in with it. He also had a severed arm in each hand that he was swinging around.
“That is some fucked up shit,” Doc uttered.
The infected man stopped and cocked his head again, but his demeanor changed to one of sadness. “You-you don’t want the poison? You don’t want to join your brothers? You are not here to join us?” Not waiting for an answer, his face changed from sadness to one of insidious rage. He yelled and launched himself toward the Team. He was foaming at the mouth as he screamed and ran toward the group.
Priest pulled his Walther PPQ and put a .45 round right in the infected forehead. That brought the world down around them as infected started pouring out of the same doorway the man had just came out of.