S8E07:
Third Person POV
"Ah!" Addy cried again in pain as she was forced to lie back down on the floor. Warren had to hold Bailey's shoulders to keep her from running to her friend and 10K could see that Red looked like she wanted to bolt across the room too so she could help her friend and patient.
"Ah. . . how bad is it?" Addy managed to ask as she got used to the pain enough to formulate sentences.
"The bullet hit an artery, if it wasn't for Red you wouldn't have made it." Finn told her as he kept one hand on her shoulder and the other hand over Addy's that was clutching the side of her stomach. She barely had enough strength left but she did lace their fingers together as she panted trying to fight through the pain that had flared up when she tried to lift herself off the floor.
"Did she get the bullet out?"
Finn bit his lip, his face grim, "No, but she did sew the artery. Hey, you hang in there okay?" she nodded, "You're strong I know you are, and you'll get through this." he kissed her forehead. "I love you."
"I love you too -ah!" she gasped in pain again and Finn held her hand tighter.
He turned to Annie, "Can we get her anything for the pain?"
Annie looked around at the bundle of used supplies from Red's surgery, as she did she spoke softly to Addy, "Keep breathing. I know it hurts, but lie still."
"Ah!"
"Shut her up." Estes said fed up and walking over to them.
"How?" Finn asked his voice full of anger, "She needs morphine."
"Does this look like a pharmacy to you?"
"Alcohol will help." Red interrupted making Estes turn to her, "And there's plenty on that bar. If you want to keep her quiet she needs that."
Red and Estes had a long stare down but eventually he turned to Annie and nodded his head. She got up and grabbed several bottles from the bar before returning to Finn and Addy.
"Won't alcohol dehydrate her? She's lost a lot of blood." 10K asked Red quietly. Her eyes stayed on Addy but once the redhead had taken a few sips Red turned and looked at him over her shoulder.
"She's being held together by duct tape, we need to work with what we've got."
Doc POV
Murphy eventually fell asleep and Doc hoped the nap would help his head heal. It was just one thing after another tonight. First Murphy had started seizing, then by the time they made it to Altura this whole kafuffle with the hostages was well underway, Murphy had brain surgery, Addy had been shot and now there was a cure that Murphy had been conspiring with Kurian to sell to thugs before even thinking about helping any of the people who'd been keeping his sorry behind safe all these years.
Doc wandered into the hall as he started to pace, he was just about to take out his Z-weed and light up to calm his nerves when he heard footsteps and turned to see Hastings making her way toward him.
"How is the patient?" she asked when she reached him.
"Seems to be back to his old self." Doc grumbled, right down to the lying and manipulating.
"Good. I've been thinking over at the triage center about this trainee I have in another outpost. He was a cognitive specialist Pre-Z – not exactly the PhD I would have hoped for in one of my protégées but nonetheless – he should be able to evaluate –"
"No." Doc cut her off, "No one else can know about Murphy's condition."
Hastings gave him a questioning look and he took a deep breath.
"Look, there are people out there that would love to hear about Murphy being vulnerable, and it would only bring in more trouble."
"My primary concern is the well being and overall health of my patient –"
"Just. . . wait until this whole thing with the hostages settles down. Once we have George, Rita and Warren here they can decide what's safe to start telling people. But right now," he glanced over his shoulder at Murphy through the glass door before turning back to Hastings, "This needs to stay classified."
Third Person POV
Click. Click. Click. Snap. Snap. Click. Click.
Estes sat at one of the tables opening the chamber of his hand gun, rotating the bullets then snapping the magazine back in and checking the chamber. The echoing sound of the metal snapping in and out of place echoed in the silent room as most hushed conversations had come to an end giving Estes no one to pick on.
Then he sighed, "Well this is boring." He stood, "I know, let's shake things up. You with you. You over there. And in the entertainment section, how about the ladies?"
Bailey and Red both followed where he pointed his gun and made their way back to Addy's side. Annie was put with Eric while Finn was moved to stand with Leroy across the room. Kaya took Red's place beside 10K and Ray filled the spot Bailey left at the bar with Warren.
"How's the pain?" Red asked Addy the second she was on her knees beside her.
"I pretty much lost all feeling." She replied her forehead glistening with sweat and her hair sticking to it, "Which is a telltale sign that the vodka is working." She gave a humorless chuckle before she licked her chapped lips and became serious again, "Listen, if I don't make it out –"
"Don't talk like that." Bailey cut her off, "We aren't going to let anything happen to you. Not me or Red, not Warren, or 10K –"
"You and 10K should be thinking about your children." Addy said, "Those kids can't become orphans tonight."
Warren watched their conversation, luckily being close enough to hear even their whispering. She felt the handle of the knife digging into her hip from where it was hidden under her jacket. She slowly reached her hand inside and grabbed the hilt when someone else's hand grabbed her wrist. She looked up to Ray seeing that he'd caught on to what she had been doing. He understood her pain, he knew it was unbearable for her to see her teammates, her friends, her family suffer for hours and not be able to make even the slightest improvement to their situation. He knew she was angry and as much as she respected the man of faith she really didn't want a lecture right now. But Ray was more than just his religion, he was smart and he was a survivor like the rest of them and what he said next proved how intelligent the man was.
"These men are armed with guns." He whispered, "What do you think you're going to do with that knife?" he pointed out, knowing logic would dissolve her anger.
"I don't know." She snapped at him under her breath more upset with herself. She had a weapon, but without a plan it would do her no good. "But I just can't sit around and wait for them to kill us. Estes won't show mercy to anyone here. This is more than the cure Murphy has locked up in that briefcase downstairs. This is Estes' revenge."
Ray looked her dead in the eyes his expression stern, "Don't forget about that detonator. We don't know which one has it and if you attack the wrong henchman another one can set off the explosives and blow us all to smithereens."
"No one has ever saved themselves by giving into fear." She replied, "You survive by fighting back. That's how I've made it, how we've all made it and that's how we'll make it out of this too, somehow."
After the new switch ups had been made Estes took a good look around. He hadn't forgotten the look on these people's faces when they'd all stood up to him – literally. It made his stomach tie up in knots. He knew most of these people in the room, and he knew if he pushed them too far – regardless of the consequences – they'd fight back. Warren, 10K, Bailey, Red, Kaya. He'd seen what they could accomplish together and they'd already ruined his plans once. He wasn't going to risk letting that happen again. He noticed Warren and Ray seemed to be having a pretty serious conversation as they whispered back and forth. Warren, he thought, before he stormed over there and grabbed her by the arm and tugged her away from the bar.
"Hey!" she snapped at him. But D, who was closest, raised his automatic gun to her head and she shut up though that didn't stop her glare.
"It's been a long time Lieutenant. I think you and I should catch up, like old times." He turned to D and tilted his head, silently telling him to follow as he pulled Warren toward one of the halls, "The rest of you, any one of these hostages gets out of line, well. . ." he turned back to the room, "use your imagination." He instructed with a smirk.
D took over for him as they moved down the hall. He kept his gun in one hand and shoved Warren with the other. Estes almost had a sense of nostalgia walking through these halls again after so many years. He found an old office and opened the door letting D shove Warren in before he followed her. Estes closed the door behind him leaving D in the hall just in case Warren overpowered him and tried to get out.
"Interesting company you're keeping these days." Warren began after she'd stumbled and regained her balance from D's shove, "Are any of them as pretty as Pandora was under those masks?"
"Funny." He said with a chuckle, "Like Pandora they all have a purpose to serve. And so far they've all lived up to it."
"Getting you the cure?" She asked and he raised a brow impressed that she knew.
"I'm surprised Murphy told you. Given that he was spreading word through the Black Market I assumed he was acting behind your back."
Warren rested her hands on her hips, "Murphy didn't tell me a damn thing. But what else would make you or anyone pull a stunt like this?"
He shrugged, "Good point. The cure is the most valuable thing to hit the world since the invention of bizkits. Something like that shouldn't fall into the wrong hands."
She scoffed, "So you trying to buy the cure from Murphy first was an attempt to keep it out of the wrong hands?"
"You know my views Lieutenant Warren, humans first, everyone else later."
"And yet you're threatening the lives of a lot of humans in the next room."
"It's necessary to get what I want." He replied before turning for the door, then he paused and looked back at her, "You know, it's interesting. If Murphy hadn't tried to double cross you for his own profit, me and my men wouldn't even be here. . . Something to ponder." He smirked at her then left.
«»
Outside the shadowy figure snuck up to a back entrance on the south side of the building. They knew the security lock wasn't going to reset until 11pm but they had a way around that. They took out a small PDA from their pocket and pressed the button that made the screen light up. Disarming the lock on the door would take ten seconds, fifteen tops. As they pressed buttons the small click was heard and they reached for the door handle. Moment of truth, they thought as they turned it in their hand and pulled it open. They couldn't fight the smirk on their face as they hurried inside without setting off a single alarm.
George POV
"What do you mean 'give him Murphy'?" George asked Rita. Half of her couldn't believe what she was hearing while another part of her did agree that it made sense. Obviously, Estes' original plan to get in, steal the cure, and get out had gone down the drain but Murphy had been the one to create the cure, and he was here in Altura. If they offered Estes Murphy he could take him and go and all the hostages would be safe. But was that the right thing to do?
"You're not stupid George, you know exactly what I mean." Rita replied, "Murphy can make Estes more cure, he's valuable we have to consider –"
"I'm not trading someone's life to a madman who I know will torture and experiment on him."
Rita rolled her eyes, "Murphy is the cause of all this. The punishment fits the crime. He started it and now he can end it."
"If he was offering himself it would be different –"
"Murphy doesn't seem the type." Citizen Z muttered from his bench behind them. George and Rita both glanced at him before looking back to each other. Rita crossed her arms knowing what CZ just muttered only helped her case.
George sighed, "Is Murphy even out of surgery yet?"
"I was just there, he was awake and fully coherent."
"I wouldn't call it fully." Doc's voice reached them as he made his way over. They both turned to him and George was surprised at how disheveled and worn down he looked. It really had been a long night for all of them – and it was only half over.
"Does he still 'not remember'?" Rita asked sounding disbelieving.
"What?" George asked out of the loop.
Doc sighed and looked away from Rita as he turned to George, "There were some complications from the injury and the procedure. Murphy's got a touch of amnesia which. . . is only going to complicate this more."
She and Simon groaned at the same time in response to that. More complicated was something they did not need and she didn't know how much more she could take.
"Well what does Murphy remember?" Citizen Z asked.
Doc sighed and George knew it was going to be a long explanation, "Well, he made the cure. But he was going to try and sell it on the Black Market so he could buy more security for Limbo. He was dealing with one group but the deal fell through –"
"Who was the guy?" CZ asked.
"He doesn't know."
"How could he not know?" George questioned.
"He had his right hand man deal with the buyers."
"Wesson?" she asked.
He shook his head, "Not Wesson." He turned to CZ, "Kurian."
Rita looked confused so CZ filled them all in on the last record he had on the constantly plotting doctor. "He was wanted by Interpol for selling bio-weapon technology to North Korea, Iran and Iraq. Pre-Z he was under investigation for the development of battlefield hypnotics. He was a huge reason why the zombie virus happened. Turns out he was experimenting with all kinds of freaky stuff from around the globe. Inner cities, third world countries, you name it."
"I know not a good guy to trust." Doc replied seeing George and Rita's expressions at the record Citizen Z had just rattled off. "Apparently they mericed Kurian when the deal went under and Murphy knew he had to hide the cure so he brought it here in a briefcase."
"That's what he had me lock up in one of the secure rooms in the basement level." George finished knowing that part already.
"Anything else we should know?" Rita asked impatiently.
"Yeah, the case is locked and needs a special code otherwise it self destructs and destroys whatever's inside." Doc said, giving them brand new information.
CZ turned to George his face going pale, "So even if Estes gets the briefcase he could still punch in the wrong code and goodbye zombie cure."
"Estes?" Doc asked, "Roman Estes!"
They nodded as George sat down beside Simon, "So needless to say there's more than a few people in there he'd gladly pull the trigger on."
At hearing that Doc swallowed nervously, the stakes getting even higher.
"George!" someone called and she turned to see Brandon running over. She stood from the bench and put on her brave face when he reached her, "Some of the guards saw movement by the south entrance. Someone snuck inside but they don't know who."
She turned to CZ who looked shocked that someone else had been able to hack their way in. He stuttered but didn't get a full sentence out, he looked like a fish trying to breathe with the way he was opening and closing his mouth trying to come up with something to say.
"Check the system again." She ordered urgently and he stopped opening and closing his mouth and shook his head snapping back into the zone and started typing rapidly.
"Everything is still locked up tight." He said seeming puzzled, "Whoever snuck inside must have a deeper understanding of Zona tech then I do. They were able to disarm the system for fifteen seconds prior to the eleven o'clock reset."
"So where does that leave us?" Rita asked.
CZ shrugged, "Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on your point of view – it doesn't get us in any sooner, but it also doesn't set us back."
"So at eleven. . . " George pushed on.
"I'm still going to try and hack my way in using the reset as a cover to hopefully avoid setting off the alarm."
Third Person POV
Warren paced around in her room running her fingers through her hair. She was pissed, pissed at Estes, pissed at herself, pissed at everything. She still had the knife under her jacket but she kept drifting back to Ray's words. She had to be careful who she used it on. Even if she was able to trap Estes when he came back who was to say it would get her anywhere. These ex-bandits who were working for him didn't seem like the loyal type. For all she knew she could kill Estes and they'd still be trapped in here. Any one of those masked henchmen could step up and still demand the cure, it was too big a prize. And even if they did decide that without Estes they were going to take off there was still the explosives to think about. Whoever had the detonator would use it to cover their tracks as they escaped. In the end her people still died.
She huffed and leaned forward resting against the back of a chair while her mind spun in circles. Should she listen to her head or her instincts? Both had gotten her far in the past. Look at the Black Rainbow. She had followed her gut not her head and even though she had been played into triggering the Reset she'd been able to alter it enough that Talkers were born.
But that still didn't mean thinking logically wasn't important too. Her head began to ache as she tried to come up with something until finally she threw the chair over in her anger. The loud bang it caused made that goon 'D' storm in with his gun raised making her slowly lift her hands in the air like a criminal.
"What was that?" he demanded. She looked to the turned over chair a few feet away where it rested on its side. She saw him roll his eyes annoyed with her as he kept his gun aimed at her head. "Do me a favor and save the tantrums for later."
He turned and headed for the door then paused and looked back at her, "If you get a later."
He chuckled as he turned back around and her resolve snapped. She grabbed the knife and ran at him, quickly pulling back his head and dragging the blade across his neck. As the blood spewed out and he dropped to his knees gurgling and trying to breathe she ran for the door and closed it knowing that if someone came now there'd be hell to pay. And odds were Estes would hurt someone else to make her suffer and she wasn't about to let that happen.
She made it back to the goon and muttered, "Have mercy you son of a bitch." then stabbed him through the eye.
She stood back up with the bloody knife in her hand and took deep breaths as the sudden adrenaline rush started to wear off and her blood returned to normal letting her mind take over again. Hide the body, she told herself, hide the body. She looked around and saw a coat closet and grabbed D by the shoulders and started dragging him over. Bastard is heavy, she groaned internally as she worked as fast as she could. Once he was stashed and her back was aching she moved the plush chair she'd knocked over and sat it upright again over the blood stain on the carpet. The chair had no legs and it's box frame sat right on the floor covering the stain completely.
You need a step two, her brain kicked in, what now? She sat in the chair and tried to think. Then she returned to the closet and looked through the weapons D had been carrying. The automatic would be no good, she couldn't conceal it and the only thing she could do with it was charge out there and start raining bullets everywhere. Not only would that get her friends hurt in the crossfire but the other lackeys all had the same guns and the return fire would no doubt take her down quicker then she could take down all of them. No, the automatic wouldn't work. . . but the handheld gun in his belt would. She grabbed it and placed it in the same spot where she'd hidden the knife. She moved the blade to inside her shoe and sat back down as she waited for Estes. She couldn't kill him, not yet. She had to wait for a shift in the atmosphere, something like when they'd all stood up to him. That had made him nervous, if another opportunity like that happened it could be the chance she was looking for. It wasn't a solid plan, but it was a start. Depending on how things played out in the next few hours she'd have to tweak it but it was the best chance they'd had all night.
The door opened maybe twenty minutes after she'd taken out D. Estes walked in, alone, and looked around for his man.
"Where is my guard?" he asked looking at her suspiciously. She tilted her body to look around him like she expected him to still be at his post guarding the door.
"He isn't out there?" she asked in reply. Estes shook his head and rolled his eyes.
"These idiots." He muttered under his breath but she still heard him and smirked.
"Yeah, hard to get good help these days huh?"
He walked into the room and put his gun to her head as he led her back out, "You take what you can get. Besides, it wasn't hard convincing them to follow me instead of their former boss. Especially after that loss at West Park."
"Yeah, manipulating people into doing what you want is something you've got experience in." she snarked as he brought her down the hall and back with the others. Everyone turned and looked at them as they returned and her friends looked relived that she wasn't injured, from what they could see at least. Estes plopped her down at a seat by herself and she looked around the room making eye contact with Bailey, 10K, Kaya and Finn, she nodded once at all of them assuring them she was alright. Red was still helping pour liquor into Addy's mouth since she couldn't sit up and Eric looked at her and gave her a nod and return, reassuring her that things had been calm here in her absence.
Then the phone on the wall rang again causing everyone to turn to look at it. Estes waited a minute – probably to let George get worried – before he strutted over and picked it up.
"Hello." He answered politely. No one heard what it was George was saying on the other end of the line but Estes' continued smirk wasn't reassuring. Whatever George was asking they knew he probably wouldn't give her, not after she'd taken Altura from him. He wouldn't let her have her friends back, if anything he'd hold onto them last just so he could blow them up together and let George lose everyone she cared about. Estes gave a small chuckle before he hung up the phone and turned back to all of them.
"Well this is getting interesting." He said as he began to walk slowly around the room, making eye contact with each and every one of them, "I've just gotten an offer from George. She has a few people who are getting anxious waiting and might break ranks and barge in here. She's willing to talk them down and convince them to hold off, if I release one of you, but. . . which one?"
"It should be Addy." Bailey spoke up from beside her friend, "She's still critical –"
"Oh I won't let Addy go she's been far too entertaining so far. But maybe we should give someone else a turn. Should it be the doctor? The ringleader? Maybe Momma Bear Bailey?" he said pointing his gun at each of them, all of them knowing what becoming the next 'entertainment' meant. At suggesting Bailey 10K got up and began to storm over but only got a few steps before he was stopped by a goon. Estes turned and walked over to him getting in his face and holding the gun under 10K's chin, "Or should I leave Bailey to live to tell your little children Daddy won't be coming home?"
Before Bailey could beg for Tommy's life Eric stood up and in a loud defiant voice called out at Estes, "Alright look! I don't have a history with you like these people do but I know you're not just dealing with George and Warren this time. You don't know Rita, I do, and she's not going to let you out of this mess alive."
Eric's interruption made Estes turn away from 10K and lower his gun, the sniper forgotten about.
"That so?" he asked Eric who stood tall. It looked a bit ridiculous, if Estes didn't have his men and fought Eric hand to hand the bigger stronger man would easily break him in two. Sitting around for hours at the mercy of such a scrawny weasely man must have been hard for Eric. Hopefully what he said this time would be as helpful as when he'd convinced Estes to let them find supplies for Addy's operation.
"Your best chance is doing what she and George ask and hope it's enough to persuade them to go easy on you afterward. So pick who you're going to pick and get on with it because we all know you've made up your mind and just feel like screwing with us."
Estes paused, the hard stony look in Eric's eyes seemed to make him nervous. Then he smirked, "You're right. You're right. I already know who it's not going to be."
Then he turned his gun to his right and fired in 10K's direction.
«»
Now that they'd gotten inside they made their way through the halls as quickly and quietly as they could. The hostages were in the lobby with their kidnappers which meant running in there unprepared would be stupid and deadly. They decided to start checking the rooms they passed as they went until finding one where something caught their eye.
They walked in and shut the door behind them. There was a chair that looked out of place in the room and when they pushed it aside they found a deep red blood stain. Crouching next to it and pressing the pad of their finger into the fabric it felt like a wet sponge and dyed the ridges of their fingerprint red. This was fresh.
Looking around slowly the closet drew their eye, it would be a perfect hiding place – they knew from experience. And lo and behold they found exactly what they needed, the body of one of the henchmen lying mercied on the floor. They smirked and pulled off the man's mask sliding the black over their head and hiding their identity as they continued to strip the corpse and put on their clothes.
«»
Kaya screamed as she clutched her shoulder and fell back against the wall. Red moved to get up but Warren shouted at her to sit down knowing Estes would probably shoot her too if she tried to help their newest injured friend. Since 10K had been sitting with Kaya he rushed back and helped her up off the floor as she sat up, the blood from her shoulder flowing through her fingers and dripping down her hand.
"Oh I'm so sorry about that." Estes said walking over to her, "There's nothing too exciting about a shoulder wound. Here, let me try to correct my aim."
He lifted the gun back on 10K and this time Warren took the initiative to be the distraction.
"You're starting to lose it." She accused which made Estes turn, "You start putting bullets in our heads and one by one you lose all the reasons why George and Rita have not stormed in here and taken you out. Maybe you don't need us for anything more then bartering chips and human shields but you still – to some degree – need us alive."
Estes sighed, "You're no fun, but you make a fair point." He stood and moved away from 10K letting him return his attention to trying to help Kaya. "You know I haven't forgotten your M.O. Lieutenant. Which is why. . . you'll be leaving us."
"It should be Addy. Or Bailey, or 10K or –"
"Exactly." Estes interrupted holding his gun to her, "They all have excellent reasons to leave, but you. . . you are a leader. And don't think I haven't noticed your attempts to start trouble. I also know you'd gladly take a bullet for any of these people and you wouldn't bleed a single drop so really what fun is that? So you will be joining George and this 'Rita' outside to wonder what is going to become of your friends locked in here."
He looked over his shoulder at one of his lackeys, "G get a sniper rifle and get ready to return fire if they decide to try anything when we open the door." He turned back to Warren, "Go on Lieutenant, your freedom is calling."
Warren glared at him as she moved across the room and toward the door. With her eyes on Estes and 10K tending to Kaya neither noticed they were on a collision course with the other until Warren bumped into him. He quickly stood to help her regain her balance, placing an arm around her as she grabbed his shoulder. Estes chuckled at Warren's stumble and 10K felt a tug on his belt as he helped her up. He looked at her confused as she walked away from him and headed to the door, another goon opening it for her and she raised her hands and walked out.
"And with her gone," Estes said turning back to the rest of them, "let's see how the followers do without their leader."