To Be A Hero

Chapter 41: Another Brick In The Wall

"You know, it's strange. I-"

"Runners," Janine interrupts, clicking back to us, "Mr. Yao has returned. We have a plasmapheresis machine standing by. Runners, I'm sorry to have to tell you that Dr. Cohen has been taken to quarantine. Miss Bailey is with her to... take the final action when the time comes."

"We're still looking for away in, Colonel," Steve says.

"Well, I do have the key-" I start.

"Yes, well, I will leave the coms to you, Mr. Yao. My brother... needs some attention."

I hear the click of the door opening and then shutting, signaling her being gone.

There's a beat of silence.

"How are you doing, Sam, love?" Steve asks.

"Well, Veronica's got me hooked up to some kind of machine," He answers.

"I'm sampling your blood," Veronica says. "I have some ideas based on my tests, but we have to be quick."

"Yeah, because-because I... I-I'm going to die soon."

"Oh, uh, no. If you do start to turn, I'll sever your cranial nerves. So you have no need to worry." She says it so calmly, it almost scares me.

"Right. Well, no. I think I've uh, gone through worry."

"We are halfway around the building, now," Kefilwe says. "We cannot see any obvious entrances. However, we will continue to investigate. We will make a plan and find a way in."

"Why don't you use the keycard I gave Five?"

They both look at me with wide eyes, and I shrug. "I've been trying to tell you, but I keep getting interrupted. There's a keycard that Sam gave me. Said he swiped it from the zombie who stole my look. Only problem is the zombie used a code to get through the door along with the card, and we don't know what the code is."

"Then what's the use of it? We don't have time to figure out the code," Steve says.

"Why not?"

"Because it's a guessing game that could take hours to crack, probably longer."

"Definitely longer," Veronica adds.

I huff. "Fine. We'll continue circling around, but if that one door is the only entrance, then we'll have to figure out something. Also, what kind of school needs a freaking security pass and a code? Pretty sure America was the country with all the school shooters, so why would this place be on such high alert?"

"Maybe it was just supposed to look like a school," Steve says with a shrug, and I pull the keycard out of my pocket, to examine it.

I blanch.

"Uh, Sam, did you actually look at this keycard after you swiped it?"

"No. I mean, I couldn't, really. There wasn't any light in the dumpster I was in."

"Well, this is weird. It's not just a keycard. It's an I.D. My I.D. No name, but my picture, and numbers. 5572148."

There's a small gasp. "Those were the same numbers on the I.D. we found in your helicopter after it crashed."

"Yeah. This zombie wasn't just meant to look like me. I think it was meant to be me... but why?"

"Excellent question," Kefilwe says. "Hopefully we'll find some answers inside, although I'm not seeing any other entrances. I believe we'll have to find a way through the front door, and we have no code to help us."

"But we do have you," I say, turning to Steve and grinning. "And you have explosives."

He cocks a brow at me. "What are you suggesting?"