Tamarrud

Chapter 8: New Base

           

"Did I ever tell you I'm afraid of the dark?" Geo joked as they stood on the hard ground. He grabbed a few face masks from his bag and handed them out. "You never know what the air could be contaminated with," he advised as they put the masks on. He handed a pair of googles to Rayne. "You don't have the same contacts as us. The size of them block out particles and bacteria."

They walked down the hall to another door. Drexel grabbed the handle and turned it. The door loudly creaked as he pulled it open.

"Is there no electricity in this place?" Drexel questioned as they stood in silence. The room felt extremely dangerous and ominous. It was so quiet they could hear each other's heart beats. Rayne felt on the walls and found a switch. She flipped it up and the lights came on, first the ones closest to them came on and then the ones further away.

"Everyone spread out, check this place from top to bottom. We don't want any surprises," Geo demanded. They split up slowly. Geo pulled his gun out, looking around everywhere. He heard the teeth chatter as he got closer to another door. He took hold of the rusty handle and slowly pulled it.

A group of scavengers came flooding out, knocking him down. They rushed past him. One fell on top of Geo and tried to bite him. His eyes grew wide with fear as her saliva poured onto his face. He tried to keep his mouth shut so he didn't get it in his mouth.

Geo kept the woman's face away from his as she snapped her jagged teeth at him. He snapped her neck and she fell lifeless on him. The others didn't notice and continued down the hall. Geo threw the woman off and took off after them. He wiped the liquid from his mouth. "Drexel! Be prepared, a ton of them are coming your way!" Geo said into the walkie talkie. Static answered him. He angrily put it in his pocket. He grabbed one of the slower scavengers and pulled him by the hair backwards. He emitted a strange sound, causing the others to stop.

They turned and headed straight for Geo. Geo used the scavenger as a hostage, holding his gun to the others and the knife under the scavenger's throat.

"You want me to kill him? Cuz I'll do it!" Geo shouted cocking the gun and then placing it on the scavenger's head. They stared at him blankly, their eyes blinking quickly. They didn't make a move for him. "I already killed one, I'll kill another!" Geo continued. A tear trickled down one of the scavenger's face. Geo raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like scavengers to have emotions, especially sadness.

"Why you do that?" he whimpered. "Why you hurt her?" he cried looking around. He was trying to find the scavenger that Geo had killed but he knew who it is. Geo shoved his hostage toward them.

"Get out of here," he ordered, waving the gun. The scavenger tried to look past Geo at the dead woman on the ground. Geo released a few bullets, making them jump. They started walking toward the entrance. Geo followed at a distance, his gun aiming between the small group. They got to the ladder and one by one they climbed until they are out in the field. Geo stared at them. "Go away. You come back here and I'll kill you," Geo threatened.

"Can we have her?"

"Why?"

"She my wife," the scavenger uttered sadly. He looked absolutely helpless, his green eyes watering more. Geo went down into the hole. He shortly returned with the woman, pushing her up. The scavengers made a move for her, but he held his gun, up forcing them to stop. He closed the door, watching them through the slot.

The husband fell to his knees, holding his wife in his arms. The tears ran down his face as he kissed her forehead repeatedly. Geo looked down sad and guilty about his actions. He descended the ladder.

"This place is secure," Drexel informed. He stared at Geo's pale face. "What's wrong?" he continued. Geo simply shook his head.

"I need to lay down," he whispered. Drexel grabbed him and Geo twisted his arm, forcing him to the ground, putting the gun to his head.

"Right. You should rest," Drexel muttered quickly, the pain in his arm mounting. Geo looked at the alarmed faces of the women. He pulled the gun away, completely nervous and ashamed.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean... that wasn't supposed to happen," he apologized. He continued down the hall gently tapping the gun on his head muttering, "Stupid, Geo. Stupid!"

"What the hell was that about?" Rayne asked.

"Geo isn't one for violence. He'll do whatever he can to avoid killing someone," Bexley explained. They came to a mess hall. The chairs were on top of the tables. The circuit breaker box door remained open. Drexel went over and messed with the switches. A generator powered up. A blue liquid slowly filling up in a tube on the side.

"What is that?" Bexley asked looking at the liquid. Rayne crouched down to get a better look. The liquid looked exactly like the one holding the worm at the CDC.

"This is an old CDC bunker," she said standing up. "We shouldn't be here. It's not safe."

Drexel stared at her. She was officially panicked. Her hands were shaking. Under her mask her lips trembled.

"Well done, Miss Everwood! We couldn't have asked for a better mercenary," the general's voice echoed throughout the bunker. "We did not want to send someone out to turn the generator on once we had to evacuate and then you showed up. How wonderful," he continued, his voice cheery.

"You filthy piece of--"

"I didn't tip them off, I swear!"

"We have dispatched a few mercenaries to your chip location. It'll be great to have another place to work if our current one ever gets overrun," the general went on to say. Geo rushed into the mess hall.

"How the hell did they find us!?" Geo snapped. Drexel pointed a guilty finger at Rayne.

"It wasn't me! I had nothing to do with this!" she shouted. Helicopter blades sounded above.

"We need to get out of here!" Geo shouted looking around. The only exit was the same place they had entered. "I'm not going back there!" he screamed. The fear was finally taking its course. Drexel shut off the switches. The place went dark.

Geo pulled goggles out of his bag. "Everyone put these on. This is going one of two ways. We can camp it out until they find us and surprise them, or we can find other ways out of this place. What do you want to do?" Geo asked adjusting the goggles on his face. The infrared slowly appeared.

"It'd be best to find a way out. We don't know how many people he has and if they've been here before, they already know the building like the backs of their hands," Drexel suggested. He pulled Bexley in for a kiss. "Could be the last one, you never know," he smiled.

"Stop being such a drama queen," she laughed.

"You never let me have any fun!" he giggled putting a hand to his head dramatically. Geo went first down the hall. Drexel smacked Bexley's butt when she passes. "When we get out of here, I am definitely taking that thing hostage," he whispered. Bexley hit him in the groin hard enough to get a grunt.

"I don't think you can handle it," she whispered back. Light flooded the ladder area. A few gunmen descended. They are heavily armored like swat team members. Their gear was black. They had gas masks on and laser sights on their guns.

"Spread out! Check everywhere!" one shouted.

"Geo, there's an armory down that way. We can check it for suppressed guns. That way we can be stealthy and the shots won't attract anything," Drexel offered. Geo nodded and let him lead. They came to the armory. Guns lined the wall in a cage. Knives and other tactical weapons were below that. Geo used his light to look around. They each grabbed a light machine gun and added suppressors to the barrels. They only took what they needed before leaving.

"Did you guys find any other exits anywhere?" Geo asked. A light shone down the hall. They looked and hurried on. They came to a clearing, looking around. "Damn this is a dead end," Geo hissed. They turned around. A canister slowly rolled in between them.

"Get down!" Drexel shouted grabbing Bexley. He pulled her to the ground, laying on top of her. The canister exploded in a bright light. A high pitched ringing filled their ears. Geo squinted looking around. The mercenaries flooded in. One grabbed Rayne. Two grabbed Drexel as he started swinging at them. He watched them grab Bexley.

"No! No! Bex!" he screamed fighting against them. He head butted one to the ground. Geo stood only to receive a foot in the chest and a gun to the head. Another canister came through. This one released a smoke. The group of four tried to remain awake but the gas was too strong.