Fitz turned toward another snapping tree branch that brought a mound of snow down. When he looked back at Mapes, the man was gone. His head slumped against his chest.
“I promise, brother.”
-5-
The lab entrance was easier to find than Fitz had thought. All he had to do was find the poles with Variant and human corpses flung up on display outside a bluff covered in snow and trees.
He pulled his bandana and scarf up over his nose to keep out the stench. It didn’t matter that these bodies were frozen; they still reeked of rot and sour fruit.
The sheets of snow had lessened, providing a view of the entire graveyard. There were dozens of the monsters hanging from crucifixes, plus the soldiers from the tape recording Team Ghost had listened to on the flight in. The human bodies were torn apart, their faces unrecognizable from deep gashes and swollen flesh, now frozen. Behind the bodies was the tunnel leading into the hills.
“It’s a warning,” Dohi said. “My grandfather told me stories about something like this when I was a boy.”
Fitz remembered a book in high school about medieval armies posting their enemies on pikes. Dohi was right, this was a warning, but it was also a psychological game designed to scare the enemy.
Team Ghost would not be deterred.
The mission would continue, but at what cost?
Fitz was down a man, and the other two fire teams were wiped out. At least he knew what monsters were out there. According to Mapes, the creatures that had done this were the locals — some sort of hybrid beast. From what Fitz had seen, they could use weapons and set traps. Not the type of traps or ambushes Alpha Variants or Juveniles were known for. These things were experts at hiding. Even Dohi couldn’t find them. And apparently they saw any outsider as a threat — human or monster.
“Sir,” Rico said. “What should—”
“Watch for bobby traps and keep your eyes on those trees,” Fitz said. “We’re proceeding with the mission.”
Rico hesitated, but didn’t protest. She continued with the rest of the team. They spread out through the maze of corpses. Fitz knew each and every member of Ghost was on edge, but they were prepared for this, and he was proud to have them by his side. Most men and women wouldn’t dare follow him and Ghost into the fray.
He walked up to the corpse of a Juvenile hanging on a cross a few feet away. Every single plate of armor was gone, leaving exposed flesh and stringy muscle.
Fitz continued on with his gun shouldered. A bird pecked at the face of a human soldier near the entrance to the lab facility. It continued stripping away ribbons of flesh with its black beady eyes on Team Ghost.
Above the bird, the concrete lip of the tunnel had been etched into a bluff topped with a forest. Fitz couldn’t read the sign, but he had a feeling it said, No Trespassing. An iron-rod gate was left ajar in front of the tunnel and a pickup truck covered in snow was parked outside.
Fitz continued through the macabre display of corpses, sweeping the area with his M4. A mini-forest covered much of the foothills in this area, leaving multiple blind zones. His first scan revealed nothing but branches and frosted trees, but he could feel something watching him — something was out there, waiting to strike.
Dohi and Apollo stopped when they got to the pickup. Rico and Tanaka took up position behind the vehicle and Fitz approached the door. He glanced down at Apollo, his heart leaping when he saw the dog’s tail. It was down. For the first time today, Apollo could sense the monsters.
“Something’s watching us,” Dohi said. “In the woods.”
Fitz raised his rifle toward the tree line. He swept the crosshairs across the base of trees and the branches, but nothing moved in the winter wasteland.
Lowering his rifle, Fitz considered past missions. Back then he was just a Marine following Beckham. Now he was in Beckham’s role. What would Captain Beckham do? He had to have known when he infiltrated Building 8 seven months ago that there was something inside. But he proceeded anyway. That’s what soldiers did.
Every member of Team Ghost looked to Fitz for orders, and he felt the burn of the heavy burden all leaders carried when they led men and women into battle.
There was only one thing to say. “Stay frosty, and stay sharp.”
Fitz jerked his chin around the side of the pickup toward the tunnel entrance, trying his best to manage his heart rate and breathing with positive thoughts.
Dohi was first past the gate. He squeezed through the opening and walked into a long tunnel that stretched deep into the hills.
Fitz and Apollo went next and then Rico and Tanaka. The concrete ceiling was low, maybe ten feet, but the walls were wide enough for vehicles to pass through. Snow covered the ground through most of the tunnel. Fitz searched for tracks, but saw none.
“Dohi, you think there is another entrance to the lab?” Fitz asked.
“I’m sure of it,” Dohi said. “My guess is those things have a back door.”
Rico stopped and studied the wall to their right. “Where are all the bullet holes?”
Dohi spat on the ground and adjusted his rifle. “I’m sure we’ll find some soon.”
Fitz nodded. “Keep moving. We should be coming up on the main entrance.”
They walked for several minutes, the light and the screeching wind dwindling behind them. It felt good to be out of the cold, but Fitz had a feeling he was trading the freezing temperatures for something much worse.
He turned to check his six and pulled up his goggles just as a curtain of flesh darted on the other side of the fence. It was gone in a blink of an eye.
“What?” Rico asked. “Why are you stopping?”
“Thought I saw something.”
Dohi halted at the corner ahead where the passage narrowed. He balled his hand into a fist and waited.
Fitz glanced back at the gate once more and then motioned his team to continue around the bend. Side by side they approached a blast door that was wide open. Apollo sat on his hind legs a few feet from the steel and stared into a hallway that led inside the facility.
“What do you make of it, sir?” Dohi asked.
“I was about to ask you the same thing,” Fitz said.
Rico dipped her head from side to side. “I really don’t like this.”
“Why would they just keep the door open?” Tanaka said.
“We’re going to find out. Shoot anything that moves like a Variant. “ Fitz put a hand out and touched Rico’s sleeve. “Stay close to me.”
She pulled the gum from her mouth and stuck it to her helmet. “You stay close to me, sir.”
Fitz almost grinned. Instead, he flicked the tactical light on his M4 and nodded at Dohi. One by one, beams shot out and angled into the hallway. The tile floor was covered in snowy footprints. There were boot and shoe marks as well, but the majority seemed to be bare feet.
Dohi bent to examine one, then glanced back up at Fitz. “Looks like Variant to me, sir. Nothing human could walk around barefoot out there for long.”
“On me,” Fitz said. He had a rule: never let someone do something he could do himself. If they were walking into a trap, he was going to be the first one in.
The team entered the hallway single file, lights dancing across the ceiling and the glass windows framing the sides of the passage. Fitz had no idea what the layout of the lab was, or where the weapon they were looking for might be, but this didn’t look like any BSL4 lab he had seen.
They passed windows overlooking offices furnished with leather chairs and metal desks. The walls were white, but there was no lab equipment, and there was no entrance to the offices from the hallway. The odd architecture gave Fitz the chills. What kind of lab is this?