Chapter 22
Author: Maxwell
last update Last Updated: 2024-10-29 19:42:56

“Got it,” Jay said, nodding. Gabriel let him go and he hurried off to the car.

Robert came up and patted him on the shoulder. “Best of luck, young man,” he said, then hurried off to his car. Gabriel watched as all the vehicles pulled off, the SUVs headed away around the side of the building and his own car pulled off into the field. For some reason, in this moment, he felt a lot more alone then he ever recalled feGabriel ng before. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he turned and made his way to the parking lot.

Drawing two bats from his bag – one aluminum, one wood – he began calling to the creatures. “Hey, you zombies! Free meal! Come and get it!” He stepped right up to the closest one and swung his bat right into its face, knocking it flat to the ground. He looked around to get his bearings and stopped. Even still, none of the creatures took note of him. “Hey, come on! What’s the matter with you?” He shouted, banging his bats together for extra noise. He started to say somet
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    As one the group made their way across the room to a doorway presumably leading further into the building. Robert pressed his ear up to the door and listened. Seemingly satisfied he leaned back and reached for the knob. He held up his free hand and began counting down from three with his fingers.“Just open the door already,” Gabriel snapped.Everyone in the group cringed at the unexpected sound. Robert turned and glared at Gabriel . “What?” the young man asked, innocently. “What do you think is waiting on the other side of the door, a crack commando squad? It’ll be zombies if anything. Counting down in silence isn’t gonna keep them from hearing us. They’re dead. They don’t hear anything.”Robert sighed but didn’t argue. As if consenting defeat, he simply opened the door and stepped back, letting flashlights shine their way past him into the corridor beyond. It was empty as far as they could see.“All right,” Robert said, waving them on. “We’ll go in our groups. Stay sharp.”Rico, Lu

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    Jay caught up to Gabriel and followed his gaze around the corner. “The far door?” he asked after a moment, and Gabriel nodded his agreement. The door furthest from them was cracked open just slightly, almost even imperceptibly, but it was definitely open. All the other doors were closed.The two companions quickly stepped over to the door, and then pressed their backs to the wall on either side. They exchanged glances briefly, and then Gabriel reached out and pushed the door open. They quickly raised their flashlights into the room, flicking the beans about in the attempt to uncover something, anything, at all. Beyond the fact that this was another laboratory of some sort, however, there was nothing at all inside. Jay raised his gun in front of him, ready to fire, and stepped into the room, Gabriel hot on his heels.They moved cautiously, letting their flashlights dart about, covering as much ground as possible. Like the lab they’d been in a few minutes earlier, this one looked li

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    He was just in time to see a door click shut down the hallway. He lowered his arms again and let out a sigh of annoyance.“I said, what are you doing here?”Devin spun around back in the direction he had come from; back in the direction of the voice, weapon aimed and ready. No one was there, or at least no one aside from the group he had come with. For a long moment everybody froze, and then as if some signal had been sent they all realized where the voice had come from. Robert had left his radio on, and it was broadcasting. He unclipped the radio from his belt and raised it up for everyone to hear.“Take it easy, take it easy,” came the sound of Gabriel ’s voice. “It’s okay, we don’t mean any harm to you.”“Good Jay,” Robert said, realizing, correctly, that Jay was holding down the transmit button on his radio so everyone else could hear what was going on.“Boy, you break into a military base and you’re telling me to take it easy? Why did you come here? What do you know? Who sent you

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    “Maybe this is one of those places conspiracy theorists are always talking about: a safe bunker where politicians are supposed to go to wait out the end of the world.”“I thought those were supposed to be buried under miles and miles of rock.”“How the Hell would I know?”“And I can’t envision a politician being able to accept a mattress like this,” Jay added, lying back on his cot. “And another thing: what’s this ‘pathology lab’ nonsense? There’s something I don’t trust about Paul’s explanation.” His voice trailed off, but Gabriel did not respond. “What do you think?” he prompted, but Gabriel was silent. “Gabriel ?” Jay sat up just as a snore ripped through the air, grinding like a poorly oiled chainsaw. “Great,” he muttered, and fell back down onto the bed.When Gabriel woke he wasn’t sure at first that any time had passed at all. The room looked subtly different, but he was not familiar enough with it already to place what miniscule details had changed. The remaining bunks were

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