already overrun. The screams of the living joined the shrieks of the dead for several agonizing minutes.
The shooters kept firing.
When Mia’s gun clicked empty, she simply held the rifle’s scope on Nancy and watched.
* * *
While Mia witnessed the carnage from her side of the wall, I was busy trying to pin Jake to the floor of the watchtower. He was going out of his mind, having seen and heard every second of the slaughter. Eric was slumped over the ledge, puking his guts out, and John and Jonah were still firing into the runners. I didn’t realize until later, after everything had calmed down and I’d had a chance to think over what had happened, that I’d been crying as hard and as loud as Jake. We probably looked like runners ourselves, babbling and yelling like we were, fighting and pawing over each other. I knew with absolute certainty that if I didn’t stop him, Jake would do something very stupid.
As it turned out, I couldn’t stop him, and Jake indeed did something very stupid.
Chapter Five
November 19th: Pency
“I’m tellin’ you, we need to get outta here while we still can,” the technician mumbled.
He and his coworker, a short plump woman, sat at a control panel watching several small television screens arrayed in front of them. It was a joke to call them security guards; a month earlier they’d been part of the custodial team working the facility. As time went on, and everything started breaking down, employee after employee hit the bricks. Took off without a word, the hell with a two weeks’ notice. That wasn’t counting the soldiers and handful of loyal employees the scientists had taken, to fill their “quota.” Now there were only a handful of scientists left, a few guards, and these two.
Oh, and the breathers. Can’t forget about them.
“What are you talking about, man? We’re fine right where we are. You think we’d eat this good on the outside? Hell no. Least here we got a safe place to sleep and as much food as we want,” the female tech replied. Her colleague grunted and stared at one screen in particular. After a long moment, he leaned forward and tapped the screen.
“There, you see that?”
“See what?” She shook her head and went back to her Sudoku. “You’re so full of it, Adams.”
“I’m serious! That breather keeps staring at the camera.” Adams leaned closer, his nose nearly touching the screen. “Wonder what he’s thinking…”
“He’s thinking about breaking your neck, he ever gets out of there. Now shut up already.”
Adams fell back in his chair, anxious and more than a little bored. Same shit, every day. Watch the security feeds, sleep. Watch the security feeds, sleep. It didn’t help he had to share the small room with the meanest bitch he’d ever known. If only she’d been one of those the scientists had taken last week. Adams knew he’d never be lucky enough to get rid of her. He knew what was going to happen to him though. Eventually the scientists would come for him. He saw what they did, every day on the monitors, to those people. Watched and said nothing. Until now.
His eyes roamed the screens. A few showed the lockups, like that man who kept staring at him. A few showed the Cage. Others showed worthless shots of empty hallways here and there. The most interesting was the laboratory. The room adjacent to the lab with the big, bolted door didn’t have a camera, so Adams couldn’t see the goings-on inside. But he had a damn good feeling what was on the other side of that door.
Runners.
He sighed deeply and turned his focus back on the Cage. A hundred breathers, all in different stages of defeat, sitting or standing around, heads down and shoulders slumped. That’s where the scientists held their “shipments” until they were ready for them. What Adams wouldn’t give to be able to set those folks free on his way out of there. Of course he wouldn’t though; he didn’t have a death wish. The guards watched
The shooters kept firing.
When Mia’s gun clicked empty, she simply held the rifle’s scope on Nancy and watched.
* * *
While Mia witnessed the carnage from her side of the wall, I was busy trying to pin Jake to the floor of the watchtower. He was going out of his mind, having seen and heard every second of the slaughter. Eric was slumped over the ledge, puking his guts out, and John and Jonah were still firing into the runners. I didn’t realize until later, after everything had calmed down and I’d had a chance to think over what had happened, that I’d been crying as hard and as loud as Jake. We probably looked like runners ourselves, babbling and yelling like we were, fighting and pawing over each other. I knew with absolute certainty that if I didn’t stop him, Jake would do something very stupid.
As it turned out, I couldn’t stop him, and Jake indeed did something very stupid.
Chapter Five
November 19th: Pency
“I’m tellin’ you, we need to get outta here while we still can,” the technician mumbled.
He and his coworker, a short plump woman, sat at a control panel watching several small television screens arrayed in front of them. It was a joke to call them security guards; a month earlier they’d been part of the custodial team working the facility. As time went on, and everything started breaking down, employee after employee hit the bricks. Took off without a word, the hell with a two weeks’ notice. That wasn’t counting the soldiers and handful of loyal employees the scientists had taken, to fill their “quota.” Now there were only a handful of scientists left, a few guards, and these two.
Oh, and the breathers. Can’t forget about them.
“What are you talking about, man? We’re fine right where we are. You think we’d eat this good on the outside? Hell no. Least here we got a safe place to sleep and as much food as we want,” the female tech replied. Her colleague grunted and stared at one screen in particular. After a long moment, he leaned forward and tapped the screen.
“There, you see that?”
“See what?” She shook her head and went back to her Sudoku. “You’re so full of it, Adams.”
“I’m serious! That breather keeps staring at the camera.” Adams leaned closer, his nose nearly touching the screen. “Wonder what he’s thinking…”
“He’s thinking about breaking your neck, he ever gets out of there. Now shut up already.”
Adams fell back in his chair, anxious and more than a little bored. Same shit, every day. Watch the security feeds, sleep. Watch the security feeds, sleep. It didn’t help he had to share the small room with the meanest bitch he’d ever known. If only she’d been one of those the scientists had taken last week. Adams knew he’d never be lucky enough to get rid of her. He knew what was going to happen to him though. Eventually the scientists would come for him. He saw what they did, every day on the monitors, to those people. Watched and said nothing. Until now.
His eyes roamed the screens. A few showed the lockups, like that man who kept staring at him. A few showed the Cage. Others showed worthless shots of empty hallways here and there. The most interesting was the laboratory. The room adjacent to the lab with the big, bolted door didn’t have a camera, so Adams couldn’t see the goings-on inside. But he had a damn good feeling what was on the other side of that door.
Runners.
He sighed deeply and turned his focus back on the Cage. A hundred breathers, all in different stages of defeat, sitting or standing around, heads down and shoulders slumped. That’s where the scientists held their “shipments” until they were ready for them. What Adams wouldn’t give to be able to set those folks free on his way out of there. Of course he wouldn’t though; he didn’t have a death wish. The guards watched
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