To Be A Killer

Chapter 25: Battle Born

What the-

I push myself up, instantly looking around. I'm in a warehouse of some sort-no, not a warehouse. I recognize this. This the armory in Abel. Not the actual armory part, but the underground labs that are hidden and can only be entered by it.

"Good God."

I freeze at that voice, and slowly turn my head. There she stands, tall and proud and alive. How is she-

Oh.

Oh.

I'm in the past.

I'm the first Runner Five.

I'm Sargent Ellis.

Janine nods in agreement. "Yes, I know."

Major De Santa turns to me. "Close the door behind you, Sargent Ellis. This is to stay between the three of us for now."

"Yes, ma'am," I reply, letting out a tiny squeak at hearing my new accent. Apparently Ellis is from Ireland.

"That's two more than my orders allow, you know," Janine says with a scowl.

"I know," She replies as I shut the door. "Your orders never covered the apocalypse, I suppose."

"Nothing short of an apocalypse. I'm a last resort. I suppose that's why your officials allowed you to come here. In the event of a meltdown, we've got everything here-seed banks, DNA samples of most species on earth, laboratories, weapons. We can put it all back together."

"Or tear it apart."

She nods. "You see why we can't tell anyone."

"None of this will be of any use for rebuilding until the situation's more stable, until the war's won."

"And the weapons?" Janine questions.

"Last thing we want is for anyone to get these arsenals. Besides, we might be able to kill the zoms with this, but we'd wipe out all of the humans too."

"So we're agreed?"

She nods. "This isn't here unless and until we hear from Mullins, which I expect won't be for a long while. You got that, Ellis?"

"Yes, Ma'am," I say, knowing that it will be three years until Project Greenshoot is initiated. I'm-the real me-not even in England yet. Won't be for another year.

Static comes through my headset, and I hear a slightly shaky voice come through.

"Hello? Hello? Uh, testing. One. Two. Three."

I have to keep myself from smiling. It's Sam, younger Sam. Seventeen-year-old Sam.

"What the hell?" The Major scowls, and Janine rubs her temples in annoyance.

"Good Lord. I told him not to touch anything. He's a boy from the last sweep of town," She explains. "Picked him up wet and shivering. He'd been hiding in a bin for three nights."

"Um, I-I don't know if this is on, but uh, there's something happening up here," Sam stutters. "A red light's flashing, and-and when I click this button, this happens."

There's more static, and a voice-jumbled, afraid, panicked.

"Inland Park... outing including several children is pinned down by zombies... Anyone, please come. Please."

Major De Santa looks over at me. "Ellis, you're with me." She grabs two pistols and hands them to me. "Here. We'll pick up some others on route."

"But-" Janine starts.