They managed to make it all the way back to the internal entrance without running into any trouble. But as they approached the door to the room where they’d left the dead guard they stopped. From behind the door came sounds like gunshots.
“Are they shooting?” Kass asked with a frown.
“Come on,” Cat tugged her back the way they came.
Kass resisted. “To where? If there’s some other thing in there that’s got them distracted we could use it.”
Cat paused and thought about it. “I think it’s a zombie.”
“What?”
“That guy we killed, on the way in. I managed to enter his dream, I think. I dunno. I sort of did the same with Lily and her mother back when we were here last. I didn’t even know that was a thing but I think whatever magic Lily’s father cast in this place is keeping things from dying, just not the way he intended. Whatever’s through there is probably like the mimics.” She frowned and paused. “Do you think Lily will end up like that? A ravenous monster but unkillable.”
Kass shook her head. “We don’t have time. Zombie or not, they can’t fight us and it.”
“Yeah but even if we make it past them we still have to go up that shaft. And there will be more soldiers coming. We’ll never make it out of there.”
Kass considered it with a glance toward the door. The gunshots had ceased. “Shit.” She gave a nod and the pair of them started running the other way.
“There’s no other way out though,” Kass told her. “And with a camp full of this many soldiers they are bound to to have at least one of a binder or a borrower or a mindwalker or someone who can track us down and when they do we are screwed.” Kass suddenly stopped.
Cat did likewise. Both of them evidently having heard the same thing. Footsteps, coming from both directions.
“In here.” It just so happened they were standing right outside the blue supply closet. This time it was Cat who yanked Kass inside.
They stood there in silent darkness, pressed close together, waiting and hoping that the soldiers would pass them right one by. To their disappointment the two groups ran into each other right outside the supply closet door.
“What’s going on? Who hit the alert?” asked Trick.
“I don’t know. No update from command yet,” replied a new man. “But Derek’s a zombie. I think one of those creatures might have got out and got him. We didn’t see one on the surface so it might still be down here. “
“Shit. Fan out. We’ll help with the search.”
The men could be heard scattering.
“We need to make a move for that shaft before they figure out what’s really going on,” Kass whispered. “The guy who saw you in the dream, will he know where you are physically?”
“No.”
“Good, that force that just came down is probably the group dedicated to inspect this floor. It’ll probably be a minute or two before we get any more.”
“That shaft was pretty long,” Cat whispered as Kass cautiously poked her head out of the supply closet. “Also, there’s no way I’m climbing up that thing with this computer.”
Kass glanced back at Cat and then at the large box that Cat had placed on the floor between them. “Shit. Give me a sec. I’ll take the hard drive out.”
“Do we have time?” Cat asked.
But Kass had already whipped out a miniature screwdriver and was rapidly removing the side panel. She located the hard drive and attached to her belt with some kind of velco strap.
“Ohh, these on the other hand..” While Kass fiddled with the computer, Cat studied the bottles on the shelves that surrounded them. She grabbed an oversized cloth, created a makeshift sack she could carry in one hand, and casually started loading it up with solvents, as well as a few extra rags.
When Kass gave her a frown, Cat replied with a shrug, “Potential distractions.”
“Diethyl ether,” Kass read off the label of one bottle Cat was grabbing. “You don’t even know if that’s flammable.”
“I guess we’ll find out,” Cat replied with a grin.
Kass checked the hallway once more. “Okay, come on.”
Back to the entrance they went. All was quiet now.
Kass opened the door, keeping her body positioned slightly off to the side. She entered the room followed closely by Cat, both of them with their weapons in hand.
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On the far side of the room, wriggling around within restraints was the obviously partially decomposed body of Derek. He looked like he’d been dead for weeks rather than minutes with bloated strips of skin hanging off him. Two guards were standing either side of him. Both of them looked up as Cat and Kass entered the room.
Kass raised her hand to throw them against the wall with her telekinesis but at the same time one of the other men raised his hand.
Nobody moved more than an inch.
Except for Cat who was already raising her gun. She fired a loud shot at the man on the left as he was mid-reach for his own sidearm. Her bullet hit him in the chest and he fell back against the wall with a grunt.
Kass, likewise was faster than the man on the right. With her magic nullified by his borrower powers, she went for her rifle. Her shot hit him in the head.
She then finished of Cat’s guy with another shot to the head. Both of them hit perfectly between the eyes.
“Show off,” Cat quipped with a shake of the head.
Neither of them wasted much time hanging around to see if the men turned out just like Derek. At least if they did, it would slow down anyone who might follow them.
They shut the door to the shaft closed behind them, and in the dark they made their escape. Kass went first, rifle slung over her shoulder but in an easy to reach position least she need to aim up. Anyone who stuck their head over the top of that shaft was getting a bullet to the brain no questions asked.
But no one did.
Kass stopped when they reached the top and indicated for Cat to climb up next to her, that way, neither one of them would be stuck still climbing up if there were soldiers guarding the entrance.
They got lucky on that front too. But once they were standing inside that small tent on the surface, they could hear the chaos all around them. People were shouting and running about. The entire camp sounded very awake.
“So, we make for the truck again?” Cat asked.
Kass shook her head. “No.”
“You’re not thinking of going through the camp are you?”
Again Kass shook her head. With a thoughtful frown she replied, “It’s chaos out there and not everyone necessarily knows everyone. We should have grabbed the fatigues off those guys.”
“Well, it’s too late now. So, we make a run directly for the fence line then?”
Another head shake. “How fast can you hot wire truck?”
Cat grinned. “Under 30 seconds. How are we going to get in the door? I don’t have a slim jim or anything similar on me?”
“I doubt they leave them locked. It’s in the middle of a guarded camp. Who’s gonna steal it. Worst case, I can probably pull the door off.”
Cat wasn’t convinced Kass could manage that without rolling the whole truck over but she decided to take her chances on the door being unlocked.
Out from the tent they ran. Forget cover. Speed was of the essence.
Cat noticed a few people stop running and look in their direction. She had further to run than Kass, who had gone for the passenger side. As Cat reached for the driver’s door she could see Kass already inside the front cab.
Cat wasn’t sure if the door had been unlocked or if Kass had unlocked it from the inside once she was in. Either way, she was soon inside as well. She dumped her makeshift sack of chemicals on the middle seat then went about pulling out the front cover below the steering wheel. There were two screws to remove which was more than she’d hoped there’d be but less than there could have been. It took her seconds to get them out with her pocket screwdriver. With a forceful tugged, she yanked out the wiring harness next. She located the starter wires, stripped them back with the wire trimmer attached to her screwdriver. She wound the wires tightly together, then located the ignition wires.
“Ready?” she asked Kass. Without waiting for a reply she pressed them together.
The engine of the truck roared into life. Cat gave it a few revs as she pulled the driver’s side door shut and strapped on her seat belt.
Kass was pressed right up against the passenger side door with the window down. She seemed to be using the side pillars for partial cover. She had her rifle on the seat beside her rather than aimed out the window.
Cat could see several people coming their way now.
As truck pulled forward Kass leaned out the window and raised her hand.
Everyone in front of them went flying.
“Floor it!” Kass commanded.
Cat put the pedal to the metal.
The truck roared.
She heard several shouts of, “Stop that truck!” as they pulled through the front gates of the facility.
Cat briefly glanced at Kass to check the woman was wearing her seat belt. She was. She was also holding up Cat’s bag of chemicals with a lighter underneath it. As the bag finally caught fire, Kass twisted the air around it causing the fire to flare. Then she quickly chucked it out of the passenger side window.
“What are you doing? We could have spaced those out.”
“I don’t want any flammable chemicals in the car if we end up crashing this thing, and with the amount of telekinetics that are probably in this camp you can almost guarantee us getting thrown. She was holding her rifle in a way that made Cat think she almost expected a crash.
The massive explosion that sounded behind them a moment later made Cat think that maybe throwing the bag out the window had been a good idea after all.
Kass was right about the telekinetics too for a moment later they found themselves flying through the air in a spinning truck.
Cat tired to relax as the vehicle hit the ground and bounced and rolled along. Relaxation made survival far more likely. Luckily the truck appeared to have been fitted with a very sturdy roll cage and this wasn't the first car accident Cat had been in.
They rolled several times over and soon came to a rest in a pile of currently unoccupied tents.
Cat climbed out of the truck feeling far more nauseous than she normally would have expected. She pushed the feeling down, all too aware there would be people soon hot on their trail. Then she helped Kass climb out the driver’s side window. Both of them seem to have gotten through the crash unscathed but they were still far from safe.
She looked out across the open desert at all the space between here and the hill where her car hid. It was a couple hundred metres at least, with nothing to hide behind, but she knew staying and fighting wasn’t an option. At least they were at the edge of the camp now and all their pursuers were behind them.
With little hesitation the pair of them sprinted into the open desert. Kass still carrying her sniper rifle.
Cat was the faster runner and she didn’t bother waiting for Kass. Kass could handle herself, probably. Either way, there wasn’t much she’d be able to do. She did glance back a few times to check the woman was managing to keep up though.
They got about half way to the hill when the bullets started to stream past them. One kicked up sand not far from Cat’s feet. Another, she heard go flying right past her head.
Another glance back, showed Kass had dropped to the sand. But it wasn’t from a bullet. She’d spun around and dropped down with the intent on returning fire.
“Kass?!” Against her better judgement, Cat turned around, intent on getting the woman to keep moving.
“Keep running!” Kass yelled at her without even a glance back. “I know what I’m doing.” Then she fired her first round.