A Darker Shade of Dead Read online

  “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.

  Sandra 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 Sandra’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 Sandra. 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 Sandra’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 Sandra 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 Sandra 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 Sandra. 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, Sandra! 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 Sandra 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, Sandra. 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.

  Sandra 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. Sandra 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.

  “Sandra? 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 Sandra 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.” Sandra’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.” Sandra 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.

  Sandra 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. Sandra 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 Sandra unlocked for him, then placed Matt on her bed. A few moments later, another set of convulsions hit and Sandra 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.”

  Concerned, 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,” Sandra 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.”

  Sandra 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 Sandra’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.

  “I’m already immune. It happened in a lab accident that turned out well for me, thank goodness. Nobody knew. Until now.”

  “Not even the commander?”

  She shook her head. “Nobody. It was safer for me to hide it.”

  He gave her a sidelong look. “I’ll bet.”

  Anything she might’ve said in reply was interrupted by a knock on the door. Simon was instantly on alert. He checked the peephole before he opened the door to admit Mari.

  After that, they spent about a half hour just cleaning Matt up, removing the blood and contaminated clothing from his unconscious body and the dirty sheets from under him. The two women worked together to remake the bed with him in it as he suffered through the biochemical reactions that would leave him immune from the contagion. Matt was also suffering pain as his back spasmed repeatedly.

  “Do you think it’s healing like Simon suggested?” Sandra asked as they examined the lower back area. It seemed to be getting less swollen as time went on.

  “It’s possible. Even likely, I’d say, from what I’ve observed with Simon. After all, the original intent of the research was to create something that would increase the body’s healing ability.”

  “I’d love to try to see what’s going on in there. I did some ultrasound images of his lower back a few days ago,” Sandra ventured, knowing Mari would pick up on the significance of having a recent baseline for comparison.

  But Mari picked up on more than just the medical significance.

  “Commander Sykes let you examine him?”

  Sandra tried not to squirm under the other woman’s scrutiny.

  “He was experiencing some pain during our first martial arts class. I convinced him to let me take a look.” She tried to sound offhand. “I’d done some work in orthopedics early in my training. Having those images could really help us figure out what’s going on. We could try to scan him again now and compare to the earlier images.”

  “Where’s the machine?”

  “Down in the lab. I thought maybe we could ask the cleanup team to disinfect it first and bring it up here. It’s small enough.”

  “Let’s do it.” Mari slapped her hands on her thighs and stood. “I’ll call down to the guys cleaning up the lab.” She moved off to one side of the room and pulled out her cell phone, placing the call.

  Sandra took the time
to examine Matt more closely. She brushed his sweaty hair away from his brow. He was still burning up, but the temperature wasn’t life threatening. He’d be okay for now, but she would continue to monitor him closely.

  The ultrasound machine showed up shortly thereafter, hand-delivered by one of the cleanup team members, newly sanitized. Mari set things up, plugging it in and flipping switches and dials until it was ready. She positioned herself and the machine at the side of Matt’s bed. Sandra was on his other side.

  “How do you want to do this?” Mari asked.

  “I don’t want to put him on his belly with the possibility of convulsions. How about I hold him on his side while you do the scan?”

  Mari agreed and they set to work. Rolling Matt was relatively easy. Keeping him on his side required Sandra to move in close to support his shoulders and hip. He was heavy and she had to bend close to him in order to get a good grip. His overly warm body was solid and deliciously muscular. As worried as she was about his condition, she couldn’t help notice how good he felt under her hands.

  Mari ran the scan as quickly as possible and printed out a few images. They rolled Matt onto his back within minutes. Sandra watched him carefully to make sure he was okay. She was concerned he might still be in for more convulsions, but he seemed to be resting peacefully for the moment.

  The two women settled in to wait in chairs, one on either side of Matt and the bed. All was quiet while they examined the two sets of ultrasound images.

  “I’ll be damned.” Mari whistled softly as she passed the flimsy paper to Sandra. “It looks like both the tissue and bone are regenerating.”

  “Yeah.” Sandra was preoccupied as she scanned the images.

  “See the way the disk tissue that was removed is starting to fill back in?”

  “I’ve never seen anything like it.” Sandra was truly amazed at what the machine allowed them to see in grainy black-and-white.

  “Me, neither. I have to admit, it’s pretty amazing. Simon has some incredible regenerative abilities, but even I didn’t expect this. The commander’s tissue was surgically removed. His bones were altered by a surgeon and yet they’re reconstructing themselves. He’s about halfway there right now, if I’m any judge. If this continues, his back could be good as new in an hour or two.”