“You knew there was someone else here this whole time and you’re just now telling me a week later?”
“No, I suspected. When I overheard about the problems you were having with the security systems, that confirmed it for me. You’ve been able to get the ones outside working just fine, but the internal ones… That’s because they shut them down hard to protect themselves. It’s what I would’ve done in their place. Though if these people were anything like me, most of us would be dead, picked off one or two at a time to even the odds, which makes me think these people, whoever they are, aren’t looking for a fight. They’ve had their chance to strike first and they let it slip by.”
“So you’re saying we shouldn’t be worried?” Darren asked.
“No, I didn’t say that. We need to find them. We need to let them know we’re not a threat before they get so desperate they do something stupid.”
“I’ve got it!” Mike shouted. The security console came to life. Not just a random screen here and there but the whole board of monitors, showing eight of the interior rooms, including the one they were in. They could now cycle through the cameras and, in theory, see most of the base, but more importantly the bio-scanners were online too.
Darren double-checked Mike’s work. The last thing they needed was for the system to short out or blow.
Mike clicked on the bio-scanner screen and a two-dimensional map of the base appeared. Little green dots spotted the map, most of them moving.
“Those dots represent everyone alive in the complex. See how there are four dots here?” Mike pointed at the room they were in. “That’s us. So five of you came back from the fuel run and eighteen of us escaped the attack on the convoy, so how many dots do we have?”
“Twenty-four,” Warren answered. “One person too many.”
“But how do we know which dot isn’t one of us?” Darren asked.
“Normally, I would say we couldn’t,” Mike said, “but luck has made it easy for us.” He pointed at the screen again. “He or she is camped out in the number-four lab. We haven’t been able to get into the high-security labs yet, so there’s no way that’s one of us.”
“I think it’s time we paid them a visit,” Warren said, ready to get down to business.
“Hold on,” Mike urged. “We may have gotten these systems online, but we still can’t open those doors. I don’t think going down there and banging on them is a good idea for any of us.”
“So what do we do, Mike?” Warren asked, clearly annoyed. “Station a guard by them twenty-four seven and wait for whoever it is to get desperate enough to come out on their own?”
“Actually, I was just thinking we’d use the base’s intercom. We can talk to whoever it is in there without putting any of our people at risk.”
Warren thought it over and nodded. “Agreed. But I’m still going down there, just in case whoever’s in there gets spooked and comes out, guns blazing.”
“Take Brent and Michelle with you. No sense in taking unneeded chances; besides, Michelle’s a hell of a lot more diplomatic than you are.”
Warren scowled. “Give me ten minutes to round them up and get in position.” With that said, he stormed out of the room.
“Damn,” Darren commented. “That man is ready to kick some ass.”
“He’s always ready,” Mike said. “I’m just glad it’s not ours.”
Four
Kyle stirred on his makeshift bed. His dreams had not been pleasant, hadn’t been since the darkness came. Hell, they never had been pleasant, he admitted to himself. He wasn’t the kind of person who had nice dreams.
He sat up, dropping his bare feet onto the metal floor of the lab and scratching his eyebrow. His back ached from using a lab table as a mattress.
Ever since he had gone into hiding a week ago, he hadn’t been able to shower or shave properly. It bothered him more than the dregs of shit food he’d been living on since he’d locked himself in the lab.
When the intruders first broke in, he had cursed himself for not repairing the outer doors. He should have done it as soon as he arrived, even before he brought the base’s systems online. But he’d thought the world was dead, and to save time and energy he’d decided to turn on systems as needed. The intruders had taken him so off-guard, there was no way he could’ve sealed them out. So he’d taken what precautions he was able to, locking down security systems, disabling a few key systems—or at least turning them off again—and grabbing what he thought he’d need to survive until they were gone. Kyle had never imagined they would take up residence in the base. In the heat of the moment, he’d only seen them as looters, not refugees, and now he was paying the price.
He dressed and began to search through his dwindling rations for something he’d be able to stomach for breakfast.
Suddenly a voice filled the room, startling him so bad he dropped the granola bar he’d just dug out of the pile.
“Hello,” the voice said. “My name is Michael Stevenson. We mean you no harm. Please use the base’s intercom to respond if you can hear me.”
Kyle raced to the lab’s door and snatched up one of the two M-16 rifles propped against the wall.
They’d found him. Though he had hoped he wouldn’t be discovered, some small rational part of his brain knew this would happen.
“Hello. Please respond if you can hear me,” the voice continued. “My name is Michael Stevenson. I am a former director of this facility. Please, we mean you no harm.”
Kyle stood by the lab’s door, knuckles white from his tightening grip on the rifle. His eyes darted to the intercom panel on the far wall.
Had they been able to access the base’s security measures despite his efforts, or were they merely guessing that someone else was here with them? Were they military or civilian? From the glimpses he’d caught of them on the exterior cameras, he was inclined to guess the latter, but if so, why would they have a former director with them? Was the voice lying about who he was? If not, then Kyle knew he was screwed. If the man was who he claimed to be, then surely they’d repaired the scanners and would know exactly where he was at all times, even if he made a run for it. Worse, they would know he was alone. Likely there were armed men already waiting on the other side of the door.
Guessing he had no other option, Kyle set aside his rifle and walked towards the intercom panel.
“Still nothing?” Darren asked.
Mike scowled at him. “You’re sitting right here. Have you heard anyone?”
“Maybe the intercom in that lab just isn’t working,” Benji said.
“I very much doubt it.” Mike pressed the intercom button again and started to repeat his message. “Hello,” was the only word he got out before another voice came over the comm.
“I heard you the first few times. What do you want?”
Mike blinked, taken aback by the eerie, calm sound of the voice. “Well, for starters we’d like you to come out and talk with us face to face.”
“I’m sure you would,” the voice answered. “The question is, if I open the door to this lab, are we going to talk, or are your men going to put a bullet in my head?”
“We mean you no harm.” Mike tried to sound reassuring.
“You’ll have to forgive me if I don’t take your word on that.”