Cloridan and Borys went outside to explore. With the zombie swarm dealt with, it would be relatively safe outside for a while, according to survivors.

Sarotheil was sleeping off last night's exertions and the big meal he ate afterwards. I stayed back to interview the survivors and Kyle and Felica stayed back to watch over me.

Or maybe to keep me from killing the survivors. There was no way I was going to, but I was seriously tempted.

“They must have said something,” I insisted.

“I already told you. They didn’t stay long enough to say much of anything,” Travis repeated. “Just that they worked for the folks that were gonna find the cure and save everyone.”

“And that they were headed for their main lab,” Evan added. “Which they didn’t say the location of.”

“They were trying to scrounge some handouts from us,” Travis said. “We didn’t have none to spare, and they didn’t see fit to invite us to go with them. They went that-a-way down the street if that tells you anything.”

“Do you really think there’s some quest to complete?” Felicia asked, distracting me from finding a sixth way to ask the same question.

“Borys did say that some of these are just survival games.”

“If it is a survival game, there’s not much we have to do,” I said. “Just sit here and survive.”

“Sounds a lot better than anything you’ve come up with so far,” Travis interjected. I shot him a look, and he glared back. My relationship with the survivors was deteriorating, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.

“Scouting out the area might find us a clue for what to do next, or it could bring in resources that we need to survive longer. How much do you have in the way of supplies?”

I directed this question to Travis. We’d been living off what we’d brought in with us, so this question hadn’t come up. Frankly, I preferred our rations to the traditional post-apocalypse random can of food, unheated.

“Not much,” Travis admitted. “Couple of weeks. We know where we can find some more, though.”

“Then why aren’t you getting it?” I asked. “It’s the best time right now, isn’t it?”

Travis scowled. “Waiting to see how you lot turn out,” he said. “Not much point gathering food if you’re just gonna steal it.”

“Fair point,” I said. We didn’t expect to be here for a couple of weeks either, and there wasn’t much point to food supplies if they were just going to be reset or despawned or whatever Axel had in mind for them. I didn’t mention this.

“Anyway, we—” I stopped as Rachel made her way up to the roof.

“The others are back!” she said excitedly.

It only took a few moments for the pair to climb up the rope ladder to the second floor.

“Find anything?” I asked.

“You might say that,” Borys answered. “We found a building with power.”

----------------------------------------

The survivors had been doing okay without power. They’d been reduced to cooking oil lamps, and hot showers were a distant dream, but they didn’t need electricity. They just wanted it, a lot.

Travis had insisted on accompanying us when we went to investigate. I tried pointing out that he was just a harmless kitten and we might not be able to protect him if things went wrong. For some reason that just wound him up, and didn’t persuade him at all.

He told us that it was his town and he’d do as he liked, following us if necessary, to ensure that we didn’t do “nuthin”. I didn’t really mind. By my reckoning, we were two warm bodies up and could afford to lose one. Why not the untrustworthy, probably-a-criminal Travis?

From the street, the building didn’t look like much. Just another storefront, notable for having most of its windows still intact. There were no outside lights, but Borys had spotted something when he tried to get inside.

“That is, indeed, a glowing light on the security camera,” I said.

“That’s not all,” Borys said. “This front is a fake, take a look inside.”

It was dark inside, and the window was dusty, but I could see, a few feet back from the window, a featureless dark grey wall. Offset a little from the glass front door, was an equally featureless door.

“Is that a steel security door?” I asked.

“I think so,” Borys said. “How do you want to go about it?”

I reached out with my other senses.

“It’s well-lit inside,” I said. “I can’t jump through. I don’t like the idea of destroying the entrance, though. What if we need to block it off from zombies?”

Borys nodded. “That leaves the sewers, or…” he took a few steps back from the building and looked up. “There might be a way in up there.”

“Cloridan?” I asked.

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

He nodded and pulled out a grappling hook. “Easy,” he said.

----------------------------------------

It didn’t take long for Cloridan to climb his way up. It took him a little longer to work out what was going on. When he pulled us up, I could see what all the confused noises had been about.

The storefront, and the second story above it, were a facade. Behind it, set back enough that you couldn’t see it from the street, was the real building. Three stories tall, windowless and made from a much more modern material than the homey glass and brick of the rest of the town.

“Why do it this way?” Cloridan asked. “It’s such a shoddy way of concealing a building.”

We were standing on the second-story facade, looking up at the third-story of the inner building.

“I think we were supposed to find this,” I said. “It wouldn’t do for the adventurers to not find the building. Do you think those are doors?”

There were no windows, but there were two large squares that looked like they might be doors. They were flush to the walls and had no handles, though.”

“If they are, it doesn’t look like there’s a way to open them from here,” Cloridan said.

“There’s a fire escape around the back,” Borys reported. “It must go somewhere.”

“I guess even mysterious concealed buildings have to follow the fire code,” I said.

The fire escape led to the roof, and there was a door. To my surprise, Cloridan managed to pick the lock.

“I thought modern locks would be a little different from what you’re used to,” I said. Cloridan shrugged.

“Much the same as any dungeon lock, to be honest,” he replied.

Well, whatever. We carefully made our way inside. The interior was white walls and light panels in the ceilings.

“How do you think they’ve powered all this?” Borys asked.

“It’s all magic in the end, isn’t it?” I speculated. “Even if Axel made a generator for the sake of realism, he can just conjure more diesel any time he likes.”

Borys grunted in dissatisfaction. “You want a high-tech facility like this to be powered by a nuclear generator.”

I rolled my eyes. “Borys, I’m incredibly glad that we never found out what was behind the bomb on the last floor. Let’s not wish for more trouble.”

“Quiet,” Cloridan ordered. “There are sounds from up ahead.”

We crept forward cautiously. Thus far, we’d passed a few empty rooms that looked like living quarters. The corridor we were following seemed to lead to a new section of the building, which was where the sounds were coming from. As we got closer, we could make out what they were.

A zombie.

Probably. I wasn’t hearing a gurgle, or that horrifying scream. It was a random scraping and shuffling, occasionally interspersed with thuds. The sound of an animate corpse bumping into walls, trying to get out of a room.

Nobody said anything, which I took to mean that they’d figured it out, and didn’t want to attract its attention by making a sound. We came to a door. The sounds were coming from beyond it, but they were too soft, I thought, for the zombie to be right behind it.

What the hell. We, and by that I meant Cloridan and Borys, could take a zombie. I checked to make sure Travis was still behind me.

Borys hit the door panel and it slid aside. Beyond was a scene fairly familiar from movies. An observation chamber, I think you’d call it.

The first thing I checked, only slightly slower than the boys as they secured the room, was that the observation area was empty. That’s where we were. There were two other rooms, separated from us by thick glass walls. From context, I assumed that was where the observed creatures were kept.

One of the chambers held a zombie. That was what we’d heard, stumbling around. He was fairly well-preserved for a zombie and was still wearing a white lab coat that was still mostly white. Or at least a dingy grey.

[Identification]: - Zombie - Threat: 30- Properties: Diseased Bite, Diseased Blood

The other room held several… growths stuck to the walls. They were

[Identification]: - Climber Zombie - Threat: 32- Properties: Diseased Bite, Clinging

Oh, another variant. So were they alive, or?

Even as I had the thought, one of the growths unfolded itself and clambered up onto the glass wall separating us. We all jumped and took a step back, but it couldn’t get through the glass. It hissed in frustration as its teeth slid off. Then it started slowly wandering across the surface, looking for a way in.

After making absolutely sure it wasn’t going to find a way, I returned my attention to the room we were in. It featured a control panel that across the length of the room. It looked like it contained several monitoring instruments and it probably controlled the doors I could see on the other side of the glass.

“So what do we make of this?” I asked. I knew the boys were too smart to touch any of the controls, but I kept an eye on Travis.

“They were doing experiments on the zombies,” Borys said. “Making new types.”

“And it didn’t go well for them,” I said, pointing to the lab-coated zombie. “He’s just a regular zombie, though, so I don’t think he got bit by his creations.”

“Zombie research institutions are notoriously lax with containment proceedures,” Borys said wryly. “He probably brought in the virus from outside.”

“And then put himself in the chamber when he felt it take effect?” I asked.

“Maybe,” Borys agreed. “Should we start going through the computers to find the diary?”

“I’ve got a better idea—don’t touch that!” I yelled. I grabbed Travis and dragged him back, just to be sure.

“What! I was just gonna help by going through the computers!” He snarled.

“Like I’d trust you to know which side of a keyboard to use,” I said. “I said I have a better idea.”

With my free hand (it only took one to restrain Travis) I pointed at the scientist zombie.

“That guy almost certainly knew what they were doing. We get Felica to cure him and he can answer our questions.”

“Ah, good idea.” Borys said. “Should we try the computers as a backup?”

“Lets leave them for now,” I said. “We can always come back to them if it doesn’t work out, but I get the feeling that they’ve been rigged. You know, as soon as we touch the wrong control—” I glared at Travis, “—then the glass comes down and the zombies attack.”

“Threat Thirty-two will be tough,” Cloridan said.

“It will,” I agreed. “And there’s no way Axel put them there thinking we wouldn’t have to fight them.”

“How are we going to get the zombie if we don’t touch the controls?” Borys asked.

I thought about it. “I can make a Phantasmal box through the glass,” I said. “It’ll be dark enough in there that I can jump us through.”

Borys nodded. “We’d better get Felicia then,” he said. “I don’t fancy carting a live zombie through the town.”

He turned to leave and pressed the door panel. The door opened, but th lights all turned to red.

“Emergency Containment failure notice,” a calm female voice announced from nowhere. “Specimen release activated.”

Two large panels opened up in the containment rooms. We could see daylight behind them. I swore.

All of the zombies perked up at the sound of the doors opening. The scientist zombie started shambling toward it. The climber zombies stirred into life and started dashing for freedom.

“Shit!” I looked at Borys.

“We’ve got to get back,” he said urgently. I knew what he meant. Those climbers were going to head straight for the firehouse. The walls wouldn’t stop them. Kyle and Sarotheil might. But eight of them attacking almost guaranteed one would make it through.

We had to get back before someone died.