Domain of the Dead by David Moody, Iain McKinnon, Travis Adkins

door! Get the friggin’ door,” Tricia hissed.
    Tricia’s keys were still in the door and around the barrel of the lock were gouges where the keys had scratched into the paintwork. A scream echoed up the landing and Sarah thought she saw figures in the hall below. She didn’t wait to get a good look. Instead, she had yanked the keys free and shut the door.
    “What happened? Are you okay?” Sarah blurted out.
    “No, I’m not okay!” Tricia sobbed, tears streaming down her face. “Some fucker attacked me! There’s a riot goin’ on!”
    Upon Tricia saying that, Sarah had become more attuned to the sounds from outside: breaking glass, shouts and screams all punctuated by distant sirens.
    This had been Sarah’s induction into the Rising and Tricia was only the first person Sarah would lose to it.
    “Will the soldiers shoot her when she turns?” Jennifer asked.
    Sensing Sarah’s mood darken, Nathan tried to shut down the conversation. “Let’s not talk about this just now.”
    “I’d want to be shot,” Jennifer added. “I don’t think it would be nice to come back. I wish we were all here.”
    “I wish that too, Jennifer.” Sarah said hugging her close. Tears started rolling down her cheeks and onto the little girl’s hair. “I wish they were here, too.”
    Nathan sat down on the bed next to Jennifer and put an arm around both girls. “You made the right decision, Sarah,” he said, trying to comfort her. “You made the only decision.”
    “What about the rest of them, Nathan?” Sarah asked, more tears in her eyes. This morning the last of her hope, exhausted by melancholy and the chorus of moans outside, she had decided to die. Now that disregard for her own life had brought the reckless deaths of her friends. “It wasn’t the right decision for them .”
    “Ryan’s with those Marines. He’ll be all right,” Nathan said, feebly trying to placate her.
    “It’s my fault,” Sarah sobbed. “If we’d just have stayed put, maybe signalled the helicopter or something, rather than running for it…”
    Nathan squeezed his fingers gently into Sarah’s shoulder. Her soft warm skin had an addictive quality to it. Her vulnerability just made him long to be close to her. He said, “If we’d have stayed, we would all have died of hunger, or been overrun trying to get food.” He squeezed her shoulder again and stroked his palm down her arm. “Remember the Hanson brothers. And if we’d have signalled the chopper there’s no telling if they would have seen it and we would still have had to gone outside. No, you made a good call and we all agreed with you. No one argued against it because we knew it was our only hope.”
    “It’s just so wrong, it’s all so wrong,” Sarah protested at the injustice.
    Nathan reached over and kissed her tenderly on the cheek. “We’re safe now.”
    “Nathan don’t,” Sarah snapped and pulled back.
    Nathan let his embrace slip and he sat back.
    “Don’t what?” Nathan rubbed at his eyebrows with his thumb and forefinger. “I mean, I’m just... We’re only...”
    Not for the first time, Nathan couldn’t find the words. He stood up, grabbing his jeans and his wet T-shirt.
    “Fuck it. I’m going to find an iron,” he said, discarding his towel as he hopped into his jeans.
    “Nathan,” Sarah reluctantly called out in a weak voice.
    Nathan ignored her, and barefoot he padded out of the cabin, clutching his wet T-shirt.
     
    * * *
     
    The door to the laboratory burst open and Doctor Robertson stomped in. Cutler smiled without looking up from his work. When Amy got into a mood like this it reminded him of little girls pretending to be grown up, chastising dolls with stern looks and wagging fingers while they clomped around in mummy’s shoes. A snort came from behind him.
    “The Captain just threatened to have us executed!” Doctor Robertson exclaimed.
    “Just in time with the liquid nitrogen. I want to preserve some of these samples.” Professor