“Oh my God,” Carly whispered. “Girls, stay back. Stay back…”
The noise was screaming.
Screaming and gunfire…
…and more screaming…
CHAPTER 41
WILL
Thirty-six seconds.
That was how long it took the Door to open and close. Exactly thirty-six seconds. Will knew because he had timed it to the very second.
Thirty-six seconds.
It wasn’t necessarily a long time. He could do a lot of things in thirty-six seconds, including kill a man. Hell, he could kill a man in less time than that. A lot less time.
Thirty-six seconds was also more than enough time for a few hundred ghouls to get into the facility. His tiny shred of optimism was that there were so many of them out there, jammed into the clearing, that there might be a stampede effect, and they would somehow become a hindrance to one another as they all tried to make for the Door at the same time.
Bullshit.
It took the Door thirty-six seconds to open, then another thirty-six to close. However many made it through in the first thirty-six seconds, nearly the same amount would also get through before the Door could close back up. He had never been particularly good at math, and numbers were never his game, but even he knew that it was a hell of a lot.
The Door had been opening for two seconds when Danny raced forward and snatched the pendant from Kate.
It had been opening for four seconds when Will grabbed Lara’s wrist and screamed at her: “Go back to Carly and the kids and lock yourselves in their room! We’ll come for you! Go!”
Then Lara was gone, but he didn’t watch her go. He was too busy firing at the first ghoul that landed on the top steps, even as Danny backpedaled toward him, still pressing the pendant as if it were going to help. Danny being Danny though, that didn’t seem to deter him one bit.
The bullet didn’t stop the ghoul who glowered at him almost mockingly even as more ghouls fell through the opening above it.
Will backpedaled and shouted, “Danny, Armory!”
Danny slipped Ben’s pendant around his neck, turned, and ran. Will was right behind him, counting down the seconds in his head.
Thirty seconds…
He reached back and fired down the hall as the first two ghouls bounded down the steps after them. As he fired and ran, he saw Kate, staring back, blood pumping out of the hole in her chest.
The hole he was responsible for. He had done that. He had shot her. Had she done it on purpose? Made him shoot her? She pointed her gun at Lara. She must have known he wouldn’t allow that. Even if it hadn’t been Lara, even if it had been someone else, he would never have allowed her to shoot someone, not after she had already shot Ben and Rick and Davies.
But it had been Lara, which made the split-second decision a non-decision.
He watched Kate now, as the ghouls raced around her, like a black ocean parting, leaving her dry in its wake. The sight of it almost made him stop in his tracks.
Almost.
Then he was turning the corner, going left toward Operations, with Danny right beside him.
They hadn’t gone more than a few yards when the first ghoul slid around the corner. Danny shot it in the head, and the ghoul stumbled back and slammed into two others. He emptied the rest of his Glock into them, but they absorbed the bullets and kept coming. He might as well be throwing rocks at them.
No, that wasn’t true — rocks might have been more effective.
Twenty-five seconds…
Danny was running beside him. “The girls!” he screamed.
“Lara’s got them!” he shouted back.
He reloaded as he ran.
“You shot Kate!” Danny shouted.
“I know!”
“I can’t believe you shot your ex-girlfriend, man!”
Will glanced at Danny who was grinning, on the verge of laughing. “It was a rocky break-up!” he shouted back.
Danny burst out laughing, just as the ghouls caught up to them.
They emptied their Glocks back down the hall, watching the nearest ghouls cartwheel backward and fall, only to bounce back up onto their feet seconds later. The bullets weren’t stopping them, but the concussive force was enough to throw them off their balance.
Barely.
Twenty seconds…
He heard gunshots and screaming from other parts of the facility.
From the Quarters.
He prayed Lara made it to Carly and the girls in time. This was all going to be for nothing if they weren’t safe. She was important to him, and he was always better when he had something to protect, someone to protect. That was Lara, and he didn’t want to let go. Not now. Not after all he and Danny and the others had endured.
He had already lost Kate…
The radio bumped against his hip, and he fought the urge to reach for it and waste precious seconds trying to reach Lara. She must have made it to Carly by now. She had a good head start. Lara was smart. He was sure she made it.
Fifteen seconds…
He turned another corner and saw the Control Room up ahead. They ran past it. Were Ben and Rick still in there, where Kate had shot them and left them? He considered risking a glance but at the last second, decided against it. It would cost him precious seconds, and depending on what he saw, it could cost him more.
Not now…
They turned another corner, and each time they did the ghouls were gaining on them. Finally they turned yet another corner, and there, at the very end of the hallway, was the Armory with its steel door. Unlocked, like always.
At least, he hoped. Maybe Kate had locked it, to throw another obstacle in front of them. God, he hoped not.
Ten seconds…
He raced toward the Armory at full speed, loading his third and final magazine into the Glock. Danny was already on his second and last, and fired his final bullet, knocking a ghoul out of the air in mid-leap. Danny tossed the Glock to lighten his load.
Will shouted, “Go go go!”
Danny sped past him. Will slowed down long enough to throw his arm back and empty his final magazine into the mass of ghouls bounding up the hallway after them. He had forgotten how fast they were, how completely single-minded when they attacked.
Five seconds…
Danny reached the Armory and pulled the door open, lunging inside. Thank God it wasn’t locked. Danny was behind the door when it was Will’s turn.
He tossed the Glock, spun, and lunged inside. Danny slammed the door shut a heartbeat after he entered and turned the lever ninety degrees to lock it, and all it took was another heartbeat before the first ghoul crashed into the other side of the door, unable to stop its own forward momentum. Danny stumbled back, out of breath, as ghouls continued to batter at the door.
Zero.
“Now!” Will shouted.
Danny pulled Ben’s pendant out and pressed it. They kept perfectly still and listened to the gears grinding again after a brief pause.
The Door began closing, but it wouldn’t close completely for thirty-six seconds.
“How many you think got in?” Danny asked, doubling over at the waist, breathing heavily.
“A hell of a lot,” Will said, grabbing a rack of guns to catch his breath.
“That’s a lot.”
“That’s a hell of a lot.” He straightened up and looked around at the Armory, still gasping for air. “Come on, let’s get to work.”
He grabbed a pair of assault vests from a shelf and tossed one to Danny. He grabbed the magazines with silver bullets. They were marked with a white “X” along the sides. He grabbed a new Glock and reloaded it.