Night Shade Read online

  The second message was more direct. Someone left a disemboweled squirrel in front of her lab door, using the poor beast’s blood to write the words “you’re next” on the door panel above.

  Gagging, she’d disposed of the poor little thing as humanely as possible, burying it after dark under the bushes at the back of her building. It was clear that Rodriguez—the sadistic bastard—was tired of waiting for her to change her mind.

  She hoped it would end there. She hoped that Rodriguez would accept that she wouldn’t work for him and leave it at that. He’d threatened her, but what good would it do him to send someone to kill her? She obviously wasn’t talking, or he’d have heard it by now. He appeared to have easy access to the base. Chances were, he thought he would know if she’d told anyone about his approach.

  But she couldn’t have been more wrong.

  Matt had sent the combat team on night maneuvers in the woods surrounding the base after reports of strange activity out near the perimeter of the base. John and Donna had flown to Tennessee earlier that day in a continuation of their mission. Matt had briefed everyone at the afternoon meeting that lasted until dinner.

  The field operatives had moved out before dark and Eileen had eaten a quiet meal by herself in the base cafeteria before returning to her lab.

  Opening her laboratory door, she realized almost immediately that something was horribly wrong. Someone had left her a nasty surprise of the undead kind.

  The moaning was her first clue. That and the shuffling sound of human feet moving awkwardly along the concrete floor. It was coming from the small bedroom at the rear of the lab.

  As she listened in growing horror, that night in the lab turned morgue at Quantico came back to her in full force. The inhuman sounds coming from the creature’s mouth made her spine turn to jelly as her knees threatened to buckle. The sound of it drawing closer was the only thing that spurred her to action.

  Eileen reached for the cell phone she’d been issued, flipping it open and hitting the speed dial.

  “Sykes,” came the crisp reply as Matt picked up on the other end.

  “Matt, it’s Eileen. There’s a zombie in my lab.” She heard the tremor in her voice as the creature finally showed itself, emerging from the small bedroom into the dim light of the main laboratory. “Oh, my God, it’s Dr. Jennings. They killed him.”

  Jennings was still recognizable. He didn’t have the brown stains of old blood on his hands or the face the combat team had described or the grotesque wounds another creature would have inflicted on him as it attacked. No, Dr. Jennings looked whole, though his skin was gray and his eyes were blank. A walking corpse. And that was frightening enough.

  Even more daunting was the knowledge that he hadn’t been attacked and he apparently hadn’t had time to attack anyone else yet. No, Dr. Jennings had most likely been injected with the contagion deliberately and then dumped here in her lab. She was probably supposed to be his first victim.

  No doubt Rodriguez was aiming to kill two birds with one stone. He’d murdered Jennings and intended Jennings to take her out in the messiest, scariest, most gruesome way possible.

  “Get out of there, Eileen!” Matt’s urgent command barked from the tiny speaker on the phone.

  “I can’t let him escape.” Grim flashes of that open doorway through which the original specimens had escaped into the night sped through her mind. She couldn’t let that happen again. If Jennings got out and started attacking people on base, this terrible situation could morph into something much worse.

  She couldn’t have that on her conscience. Not again.

  “I’ll try to hold him in the lab until you get here.”

  “Stay on the line, Eileen. I’m on my way.” She could hear clicking sounds followed by doors opening and the pounding of feet as Matt made his way to her. “I’m almost there, sweetheart. Tell me what’s happening.”

  “He’s coming toward me.” Her legs were literally frozen with fear.

  “Where are you? Give me exact positions.”

  “He was in the bedroom. I’m at the doorway that leads to the hall. He’s about twenty feet away now, near the sink area.”

  Jennings let out an inhuman moan that Matt apparently heard over the phone.

  “Shit! Get out of there, Eileen. I’m at the stairs. I’ll be there in a minute, tops. Clear out and leave me an open shot.”

  “You’ll have a clear shot, Matt,” she said quietly. A burst of courage came from somewhere as she clicked the End button and discarded the phone. Talking to Matt now would only distract them both.

  Eileen shifted to one side of the room, taking the zombie’s attention with her. Matt would have a clear line from the doorway if he only got here in time.

  Matt cursed as the call was lost. He slammed the stairwell door open on the basement level of the building. That’s where Eileen’s lab was located. Below ground. Hidden. Safe. Or so he’d thought.

  Somehow, someone had gotten one of those monsters in, right under their noses. Heads would roll when he figured out how this had happened. If he lived through this encounter.

  Everyone who was immune was out in the field. Only now did he suspect that the activity near the perimeter of the base was probably some kind of diversion designed to isolate Eileen. It had worked all too well. Matt wouldn’t make the same mistake again. He’d spread his small team too thin, assuming the threat would have to come from the woods to get to the main base. How wrong he’d been. The sick bastards who were making the zombies had to have some way of getting on base without raising any red flags. He’d find out how they managed it if it was the last thing he ever did.

  Matt barreled down the hall at top speed toward the open door that led to Eileen’s laboratory. He was armed with a pistol specially fitted with the toxic darts that would dissolve the creature into its component parts. Given enough time and a few direct hits, the nightmare monster would be reduced to a pile of organic goo and whatever old scraps of clothes it had worn.

  The scene that met him when he skidded into the lab was utter chaos. Parts of the lab had been trashed. Glass crunched under his feet as he entered and did a quick sweep, stopping abruptly when he saw Eileen standing a few yards away, her face frozen in horror. She was screaming something, but the adrenaline in his system made his blood pound in his ears, and time slowed.

  He saw her motioning franticly behind him and he turned. Not in time.

  A handful of razor-sharp claws raked down his arm sending blinding waves of pain through the arm and into his chest. Shit! The zombie had gotten in behind him.

  Before he could do anything, the creature had the muscular part of Matt’s left forearm in its mouth, pointed teeth raking through flesh. Blood welled as intense pain snapped everything into sharp focus. Time sped to its normal flow as Matt turned on the creature, using its momentum to break the hideous grip of teeth and claws on skin and bone.

  Bringing up his right hand and the pistol, Matt let loose with four dart rounds in quick succession, nailing the creature at point-blank range. He jumped backward and placed two more darts—one in the leg and one in the arm—for good measure. If what he’d heard from the combat troops held true, the guy should start dissolving in about forty-five seconds.

  Matt just had to keep him away from Eileen for that length of time before he collapsed from the poison already working its fiery way through his system. He could feel it, pounding along with his pulse. The adrenaline only made it spread faster. He was going to die. And the true horror was that he’d likely rise again as one of these disgusting, mindless creatures. He had to leave enough darts to take himself out before that happened.

  He danced around the zombie, trying to keep it distracted and well out of reach for just long enough. The broken glassware made his footing uncertain until he hit a patch near the back lab bench that was clear. He was getting too damned close to Eileen. If that fucking corpse didn’t start turning to mush soon, Matt didn’t know what he was going to do.

 
“Get out of here, Eileen! Go!” He tried once more to get her to leave.

  She scuttled farther away, into the rear of the laboratory, refusing again.

  “He’ll dissolve soon. Just a few more seconds, I think.”

  “This is no time for bravery, sweetheart. I want you gone. Now!”

  “Sorry, I can’t do that.”

  “Can’t? Or won’t. You damned stubborn…scientist.”

  “Is that the best you can come up with?” She almost sounded like she was laughing, but he put it up to nerves. No way could she be so calm with certain death walking not ten feet from where she stood.

  Finally—finally—the zombie began to disintegrate. One moment it was walking, the next, it slid to the ground, coming apart on a molecular level. Within seconds, only a patch of slime and old clothing was left on the concrete floor.

  Matt could rest. After he took care of one last thing.

  “I have two darts left in the pistol and another clip in my belt.” He took out the spare clip as he spoke and slid it toward Eileen along the cold black surface of the lab table, along with the pistol. “You have to take me out before I rise, sweetheart.”

  “No way in hell.” Her vehemence surprised him even as she scooped up the pistol and spare clip and shoved them in a drawer.

  He was starting to fade as he watched her grab a long needle and some glass vials off one of the lab benches that hadn’t been damaged. She looked determined as she headed straight for him.

  “Stay clear, Eileen. I mean it. Everything’s contaminated and I’m infected. I can feel waves of heat coursing through my body and I’m beginning to lose feeling in my hands and feet. I don’t want you to die, too.”

  She ignored his warning and dropped to his side as he slipped to the ground, losing strength fast.

  “Don’t worry about me. I’m already immune.” She tied a tourniquet as she spoke, reaching for things she’d put on the lab table above them. “And if I have anything to say about it, you will be, too. Dammit, Matt.” She cursed as she filled a syringe with her latest experimental serum. “I don’t want to lose you to this. Especially not after you came to my rescue.” She gave him a watery smile as she injected him in the heart with the new, improved formula. “This had better work.”

  “If it doesn’t—” He grasped her hand in an almost bruising grip as he began to fade. “Don’t worry. I always wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. My only regret is that I never got to kiss you.”

  “I beg your pardon?”

  He smiled a little drunkenly. “Always so proper. I’ve been wondering if I could chip away at that cool demeanor. I guess now I’ll never know. I’d like to think I could…” His voice drifted as his eyes closed.

  Eileen cradled his head in her lap as he slid lower on the floor, going almost boneless as he headed toward unconsciousness. She stroked his stubbly cheek, tears forming in her eyes.

  “I bet you could have at that, Commander.” Giving in to impulse, she leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on his lips.

  As she pulled back, his eyes popped open.

  “Did you just kiss me?” He looked more amused than surprised as a gentle smile slid over his lips.

  “I must not have done it right if you have to ask.”

  “Maybe you should try it again, just so I can be sure.”

  She was about to kiss him again when his body went rigid and his eyes rolled back in his head. Eileen sobbed with relief. He wasn’t going to die. At least not yet. His body was responding to the serum like Sam’s had. If all went well, he’d be immune when he came through to the other side of the convulsions and muscle spasms.

  She nursed him through the first round of reaction but knew there would probably be more to come. She needed help, but she didn’t want to leave him. Chancing a quick run to the other side of the room, she grabbed the phone from where it had fallen and brought it back to where he lay on the floor. She dialed with shaking hands, calling for help from the other team members.

  The hunting parties were still out on patrol, but she might be able to get someone from the tech side of the team to assist. Donna was gone, somewhere in Tennessee with John, but Mari was probably in her quarters at this hour. She scrolled down the list until she got to Mari’s listing and hit Send.

  “Eileen? What’s up?” Mari answered on the third ring.

  “There’s been an incident in my lab. I had to inject Commander Sykes with the new version of my serum. So far it looks like he’s responding well, but I could use your help with him. We’ll need a cleanup team here, too, but I can’t spare the time to track anyone down. Could you call it in for me?”

  “There was a zombie in your lab?” Mari sounded alarmed and Eileen could hear noises in the background as Mari got her keys and opened and closed doors.

  “Yeah, it was lying in wait for me when I came in from dinner. I called Matt and he came over with the darts and took care of it, but he got bitten, so I had to inject him. I had no choice. He’d have died otherwise.” Eileen’s voice shook as nerves set in.

  “I’ll be right there,” Mari assured her.

  “Don’t come alone. So far I’ve only seen the one creature, but there could be more.” Fear began to surface as she thought through the possibilities. She wasn’t a soldier. It had only just occurred to her that there could be more dangerous surprises in the building or anywhere on the base for that matter. “You’d better call the combat team. I think they need to check things out and maybe put the base on lockdown or something if they can. If this thing got in here, someone had to place him here. Who knows what else they did while they were here?”

  “Good point. I’ll call Simon. He’ll know what to do.”

  “He’s going into another round of convulsions. I’ve got to go.” Eileen disconnected the call, discarding the phone on the floor as she ministered to Matt.

  It felt like hours, but it was only about fifteen minutes later that she heard a voice call her name from the hallway. It was Simon. She met his gaze as he flipped the switches near the door that flooded the entire lab with light.

  “You okay, doc?” She noticed he kept his weapon raised and ready, his eyes never settling anywhere for long as he checked every inch of the lab and connecting rooms.

  “I’m fine.” She watched Simon move methodically through the room.

  When he reached her side, he made some hand signals to men in the hall. Men she hadn’t noticed. They looked like a cleanup team, dressed in protective gear as they moved inside on Simon’s signal and set to work.

  “Can we move him?” Simon asked, looking down at Matt.

  Eileen still had his head cradled in her lap. His face was ashen and sweat beaded his brow, but he was quiet for now.

  “Yeah. If we make it quick, I think he should be okay. We can take him up to my quarters. It’s the closest uncontaminated place. I want to get him settled before any more convulsive episodes can take place.”

  Simon bent and scooped Matt’s unconscious body into his arms. Eileen stood and followed him to the door, discarding her outer layer of clothes and shoes just inside for the cleanup team to take care of. She’d wash thoroughly when she reached her quarters and be careful not to touch anything on the way up. She didn’t want to contaminate anything, but she also couldn’t leave Matt. They’d have to decontaminate her bed after she treated him, but she didn’t care. She’d deal with that—and the inevitable questions—as soon as Matt was in the clear.

  Simon carried Matt up the stairs and through the door Eileen unlocked for him, then placed Matt on her bed. A few moments later, another set of convulsions hit and Eileen was beside him in an instant, helping him through the agonizing episode.

  “Is that normal, doc?” Simon asked quietly. She looked up at the soldier who stood at Matt’s bedside, looking down at his back. Matt had curled onto his side as the last of the convulsions faded.

  “What do you mean?”

  “His back. You should look at this.”

  Concern
ed, she stood and walked around to the other side of the bed, bending to examine Matt’s lower back. There was a distinct bulge in the area where he’d been injured. She could see it rippling through his clothing and grew worried.

  Quickly, she pulled his shirt up, tugging it forcefully from his waistband until she could see his skin. The area where the scars crisscrossed his flesh was distended and rippling slowly in an unnatural motion. She held her hand out hesitantly to touch his skin and was shocked by the heat that met her fingers. The surrounding skin was cooler to the touch, which calmed her somewhat, but she had no idea what was going on beneath the surface near Matt’s spine.

  “I’d heard he was injured,” Simon said from behind her. “Looks like old scarring there.”

  “Yes,” Eileen confirmed, but didn’t go into detail.

  “Could be he’s healing.”

  “What?”

  “Well, one of the side effects of immunity is that old injuries seem to heal. I had a bad knee—nothing career threatening, but something I had to watch out for—and now it’s gone. Not even a twinge.”

  “Was it soft tissue damage or bone?”

  “Little of both.”

  Eileen thought quickly. “Same for Matt. He had cracked vertebra and disk rupture.”

  Simon whistled through his teeth. “I had a friend with something similar. He can barely walk with a cane.”

  “The commander hides his pain well,” was Eileen’s only observation.

  Simon’s phone rang and he stepped away to answer it. He came back a minute later.

  “Mari’s on her way. I asked Sarah to escort her. They stopped by the hospital and gathered some equipment so Mari can help you safely. Why is it you’re not worried about cross-contamination, doc?” His voice was soft but his words were significant. He no doubt suspected something wasn’t quite right here.

  The time had come. Time for truth. Or at least a portion of it.

  She didn’t care anymore. Not with Matt’s life hanging by a thread.