The Reaper Virus by Nathan Barnes

all part of my plan. He
declined and offered his slot to Christine. The plan was having
problems already… wonderful. Brad was the only one in the room
bright enough to notice that I was up to something. I couldn’t let
this slow me down. If this was going to work (emphasis on if ), action must be taken immediately.
    Erin had made the alarm monitoring station
her home. Luckily she was easily distracted. If not, it might be
harder to get her to look away from the screen long enough to
conceal my tampering. The computer at my cubicle campsite had the
alarm monitoring station program copied on it. I opened up the
manual actions and found the door leading to C. This was the same
door the late captain came out of.
    Even though most of the buildings were down,
all doors for headquarters were still controllable, at least the
interior ones, and the key locked doors would stay shut. The action
was programmed; all I had to do was hit OK.
    Once I submitted it, the action would show on
a recent events area at the bottom of Erin’s screen. I just needed
about thirty seconds and it should disappear from view.
    Unfortunately, I couldn’t bring everything
I’d packed. If I didn’t give the impression that I was just
stepping out of the room, questions would be asked. My excuse was
that I was taking my pack to the bathroom to change and wash myself
up in the sink. I figured that was reasonable enough.
    The plan had NO wiggle room whatsoever.
Everything had to be right on the dot; any deviations would likely
lead to failure and failure could mean death. The idea of my life
riding on something so constricted was nauseating.
    Here was the time frame:
     
    1) 1452 hours – draw attention away from the
computers and click OK on the manual action to unlock the kitchen
to C door from 1501 to 1502 hours,
    2) 1457 hours – use my bathroom excuse,
    3) 1500 hours – meet up with Lance,
    4) 1501 hours – make it through the door and
pray no one spots us crossing to the other side. After fifteen
minutes my absence will be noticed.
     
    My hope was that the kitchen area would be
vacated. If not… well we might be able to talk our way through it.
As far as everyone else knew the building was sealed. What was the
difference if we went in the admin side?
    Another concern was Lance not being there,
but I was pretty sure he’d do everything possible to get out of
roof duty. If he was not there when I got through the door I’d have
a twenty second window to prop it open before an alarm went off.
I’d rather not consider the possibility of him not showing up.
Leaving everyone in dispatch was enough to eat away at me. Having
to leave someone who saved my life the other day was just too much.
Assuming we made it that far, we’d head to the basement.
    If this worked we’d be out of there. Granted,
that would present a plethora of new problems. If it didn’t, then
either they would lock us in a room and the zombies would break in
long before they figured out what to do with us, or I’d end up back
in dispatch like nothing happened.
    I tried calling home to tell Sarah I was
coming, but it didn’t connect. I couldn’t afford the distraction of
thinking about why the call didn’t go through. I was just watching
the monitor to look for a grisly enough looking infected worthy of
people going to the window to witness. If we made it out and to a
safe place that would be reward enough. Otherwise I’d either be
dead or trapped.
    The butterflies filling my stomach felt like
they had fucking acid reflux. It was 1450 hours and I’d found my
distraction. Thank God for small favors.

Chapter 8
Into the Void
     
    1507 hours:
     
    Lance was waiting, as scheduled. He looked anxious
and confused, in other words, his appearance was mimicking my
feelings, but I couldn’t dwell on that. Getting to my family was
the most important thing right now, and if we didn’t seize this
chance then it probably wouldn’t happen at all. Thankfully Lance
had brought his bag of