Shades of Gray
#7
Day of the Twilight- Patient Zero
Kristie Lynn Higgins
SHADES OF GRAY: Dawn of the Twilight- Patient Zero
Text Copyright © 2010, 2011 by Kristie Lynn Higgins
Cover Art Copyright © 2010
Smashwords Edition
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The day comes to night when the dead roam and heartache breeds hatred. The sun has long been shunned and hope has come to naught. Vengeance seeps into the heart and lifts its hand to strike what is beloved.
Is night their end? Is there nothing that will save them?
Only love.
But will it even be too late?
From the Assembled Works
Ginn L. Irynkissgthie 525 B.D.C.
Prologue
An Outbreak known as the Chimera Strain spread through the Sphinx Corporation Third Branch Office like wildfire. The building was in the middle of a countdown by the Central Computer, giving those uninfected time to escape before an Integral Quarantine Seal was set in place.
Those infected turned into walking dead known as xombions who, for the most part, were controlled by Anubis, the Jackal of Death. He wanted to bring destruction to the people who hurt him and bring about a mysterious end known as the Twilight.
Kimberly Griffin escaped with Jane Speer, her secretary Amy, and a group of BK-Ms. They left behind Kat, who was infected with the super-virus. Kim's father, the Chairman, also escaped.
Outside the Third Branch Office, biohazard stations were set up by Orthos to contain the Chimera Strain so it wouldn't spread through the Mega-city of Noir. The Head of Security continued with his coup.
Chapter One
Day of the Twilight
The year 32 A.D.C.
October 32...
UnDay...
4:27 A.M...
Hellenistic Sector, Business Vicinage...
Sphinx Corporation Third Branch Office...
Outside the main building...
"Fall back!" a S.C.M. shouted as he opened fire on a crowd of people with his FN SCAR. Blasts from the assault rifle lit up the lieutenant's terrified face in the darkness of the early morning as he and two other soldiers wearing jet-black uniforms backed up across Transgenic Grass. "Don't let them breach the quadrant!"
Frightened workers screamed and ran away as a Pod of twelve Common Xombions lumbered toward anyone uninfected. Dry Clouds rumbled overhead, but the emergency lighting set up on the grounds in front of the Mega-building obscured the view of the massive Harbinger plaguing Noir. The xombions lamented as bloody drool ran out of their mouths.
"Protect those uninfected!" the lieutenant ordered as he aimed at a few of the infected and fired.
Tat-tat-tat. Tat-tat-tat. The xombions turned and the whole Pod started toward the S.C.Ms. A gentle breeze swept through the area, rustling the blades of the modified Kentucky Bluegrass. The Transgenic Plant had been spliced with the extra-genome of a Spongia equina, the bath sponge, giving the grass the ability to absorb Tainted Rain. It had not rained the last few days in the Business Vicinage so the grass was dry. Otherwise the oily residue left by the rain might have caused the S.C.Ms. to lose their footing.
"Aim for their heads," the lieutenant ordered. He took down a female lab tech with one shot, splattering brain matter across the face of a male secretary trudging behind her.
The Pod walked at a snail's stride, advancing on the three S.C.Ms. Four of the xombions were in the front and nearly on top of the S.C.Ms. The other eight, at their slow pace, were over three minutes away. One of the S.C.Ms. tripped on a grouping of cables, allowing the four xombions to attack him. A sentry bit the S.C.M.'s right hand, taking off a chunk. The S.C.M. screamed, removed his side arm with his left hand, and shot the infected sentry in the face. The xombion's head lurched back and red death liquid sprayed the S.C.M. as the bullet impact took off the sentry's nose. Blood poured from the gaping wound onto the S.C.M. as the sentry continued his frenzied assault.
The lieutenant turned to his downed man as he and the third S.C.M. opened up on the xombions attacking their comrade. They killed the four xombions and the third S.C.M. grabbed the downed man by his armored vest as the lieutenant turned on the rest of the Pod. The third S.C.M. dragged his comrade to safety.
The lieutenant touched his earpiece. "This is Lieutenant Gibbs. We have a breach in the North-west Quadrant near the Confinement Cells. We need backup! There are about a dozen xombions. Send reinforcements!"
The eight xombions continued forward. One of the xombions in the very back and out of sight of the S.C.Ms. screamed and stopped her progression as a second mutation took place in her body. She dropped to her knees, reached one hand toward the heavens, and shrieked in pain as her body expanded like a balloon. Her body swelled three times its normal mass and shredded her clothing. The dress top, shirt, and undergarments fell off, revealing her bloating form. Her skin became smooth, clammy, and hairless. The skin also changed from a dark brown to pale-white with dark blueish-red patterns on her back. Her hair fell off in clumps as her eyes enlarged and moved to the top of her head. The white orbs became as large as small watermelons and her mouth expanded to a third of her body size. She, no it, lost any outward appearance to her gender as her form took on the characteristics of a giant fire-belly toad. The Frogga-mutation croaked as large fox bat like ears appeared on the side of the creature's head. It heard its master's call, to be fruitful and infect, and it would obey that command with undying devotion.
A S.C.M. Unit showed up. The ten soldiers rushed over to Lieutenant Gibbs and stood with him and the third S.C.M. as the Unit's Medic rushed to the downed man. Excited, the Pod moaned as they slowly decreased the distance between them and the pre-hosts.
One of the S.C.Ms. introduced himself, "Lieutenant Kovers."
"Gibbs."
The Medic turned to the Unit's lieutenant and said, "He's dead."
"Hades!" Gibbs cursed. "I lost another."
"Take them out!" Kovers ordered his Unit and questioned Gibbs, "What happened?" He shot an infected male lab tech leading the Pod.
"I'm not sure. When we arrived, the S.C.Ms. escorting a group of people to the Confinement Cells were dead and three xombions were attacking people." Gibbs removed an empty magazine from his assault rifle. "Those three became a dozen. They're turning faster or the incubation period is shorter than the high-ups told us." He inserted a new magazine. "I lost two of my men in the first engagement."
"Puck!" The Medic quickly stood and backed away from the downed man. "He's turning!"
Lightning shaped scars bolted up the downed man's arm and across his face. Blood ruptured and filled the whites of his eyes as his irises went black as a closed coffin.
"Hades!" Gibbs hurried over to his man, looked down at him, and said, "I'm sorry. You were a good soldier." He lifted his FN SCAR and shot him in the head.
"Puck!" the Medic yelled. "That was harsh!"
"Harsh, yes, but once they turn there's no helping them. A bullet to the head is the most merciful thing you can do." Gibbs turned, firing on the Pod that had five members remaining.
Near the Confinement Cells, the Frogga-mutation scanned the area with its huge frog-like eyes and noted the twelve pre-hosts. The S.C.Ms. had not noticed it yet. The Frogga-mutation hopped around the cells, flanking the S.C.Ms. Once close enough for its ten foot appendage, it extended its tongue and struck one of the Unit's S.C.Ms. in the neck with its six inch stinger. As quickly as it had struck, the Frogga-mutation retracted its appendage. The man went down screaming, holding his neck as blood spurted. It struck again, hitting another S.C.M. in the arm as he turned to fire on it. The S.C.M. grunted for the pain and shot.
"What is that?!" Kovers questioned, motioning toward the hybrid-xombion on the other side of the Unit.
"A mutation of the mutation," Gibbs answered. "Watch out for its tongue!" he warned everyone. "It can infect you with it."
The Frogga-mutation leaped about, evading the S.C.Ms.' attempts to shoot it in the head. Bullet wounds littered its pale body as purple blood flowed. The Frogga-mutation struck three more times, infecting more of the Unit.
"Focus your fire on the hybrid!" Gibbs ordered.
The remaining seven S.C.Ms. fired on the Frogga-mutation. It infected one more S.C.M. before Kovers took it out.
Less than two minutes away, the Pod continued their malfunctioning robot plod.
"Those of you the hybrid hit, quickly come here," Kovers ordered. "I want you to lay all your weapons there." He motioned to the ground. "Then I want you to go into the Confinement Cells."
"You've got to be pucking kidding me!" the S.C.M. with the injured arm said. His face looked clammy. "I'm not handing over my weapon. And I'm not..."
Kovers lifted his FN SCAR and shot the man in the head. The S.C.M. fell back dead and everyone jumped, not expecting the lieutenant's reaction. Kovers yelled, "All of you listen! When I give you an order, obey!"
The other infected men glared at him, but laid their weapons on the ground, and went into a Confinement Cell.
Kovers ordered his Medic and two other S.C.Ms., "Cover our men. Once they turn, take them out."
"What?!" the Medic uttered. "I can't do that. They're our men. They're in the cells. We don't need to kill them."
"You!" Kovers motioned to a different S.C.M. "You cover the Medic's man. Once he turns, take him out."
"Yes sir." The female S.C.M. rushed over to the cells.
Gibbs walked over to the other lieutenant, leaned to him, and said in a hushed tone, "The Medic's right. Our orders are to take them to the cells and once there, to leave them alone. We don't have extermination orders."
"Not yet you mean." Kovers turned to the last of the Pod and opened fire.
Gibbs removed a grenade. "I'll lead them away from the Confinement Cells, and I'll blow them up." He ran close to the xombions, drawing the Pod toward him. Once he and the Pod were far enough away, he pulled the pin to the grenade and tossed it in the middle of the xombions. Gibbs ducked and covered before the grenade went off, knocking the Pod down. He stood, wiped grass from his pants, and heard several shots. He hurried back to the Confinement Cells, finding they had killed the infected S.C.Ms. "Hades... Such a waste."
Kovers walked over to him. "This is a real mess. I need replacements for almost half of my unit."
Gibbs tapped his earpiece. "North-west Quadrant secured. Part of the group going to the Confinement Cells ran when the fire-fight started. They need to be found. Yes, understood. Will hold this position until a replacement Unit can be sent." Gibbs got off the radio and addressed the other lieutenant, "This is a mess. I'm going to write up a report. In it I'm going to suggest that they walk those going to the Confinement Cells in no more than groups of three and with at least five S.C.Ms. escorting them. I know they're trying to hurry, but that cost us several soldiers." He removed his H.H.C. and started typing.
“You're going to write a report, huh. Like that will do any good.” Kovers then mumbled, “Like the high-ups have time to look at a report.” He removed a piece of candy from his vest pocket and put it in his mouth.
The Pod Gibbs had blown to bits started to rise. At least, most of them did. A few of them had their legs blown off, and they dragged their corpses across the grass with their hands. The Pod, charred and burned, started toward the S.C.Ms.
"They aren't dead!" a S.C.M. yelled.
Gibbs looked up from the H.H.C. “Hades! How hard is it to kill those things?”
The S.C.M. pointed and yelled again, “We've got other problems!”
More xombions walked around the tents and started toward the S.C.Ms. The workers who had run off during the fire-fight carried the Chimera Strain. Once they turned, they infected anyone around them, doctors, nurses, and S.C.Ms. So the handful of people who had ran off had turned into twenty-two Common Xombions. Many of the infected wore bio-hazard suits.
"Puck!" Kovers shouted. "We need to fall back!"
"Where?!" Gibbs looked beyond the North-west Quadrant at the S.C.Ms. set up on the perimeter of the Third Branch Office. "The orders are to shoot and kill anyone attempting to leave the perimeter. And that includes us! We need to hold this line. Our lives depend on it!" He tapped his earpiece as the other S.C.Ms. opened up on the Pod. "This is Lieutenant Gibbs. A larger Pod of about twenty xombions has invaded the North-west Quadrant. There are too many. We need reinforcements!"
From the opposite direction, ten more xombions appeared.
"I'm out of ammo!" one of the S.C.Ms. shouted.
The hodgepodge of undead closed in on the pre-hosts. The xombions could smell the blood of the uninfected and craved it with an unconquerable hunger. A S.C.M. threw the other a magazine for his assault rifle. The seven uninfected fired at the closing walls of xombions. They had no place to go and no hope of surviving.
Behind the Pod, a Latino man in his thirties climbed on top of some crates stacked near a tent. "Did someone call for reinforcements?"
"Yes!" Gibbs yelled, smacking a xombion in the head with his rifle butt. "Help us!"
"My name is Captain Creed. And you need to be flat on the ground in five seconds and stay there."
"What?!" Gibbs kicked back a different xombion and shot it in the head.
Captain Creed turned and motioned with his hand. "Take out those standing!"
Five Proto-Androids marched across the grass in unison. These humanoid bio-mechas were all metal and only slightly resembled a man, unlike the next generation humanoid bio-mechas called the Un-Men. The Proto-Androids were big, bulky, and stood seven foot tall. They lined up and aimed.
"Puck! Down!" Gibbs ordered as he dropped to his face and covered his head. "Everyone get down!"
The xombions reached to grab him.
The remaining S.C.Ms. dropped a split-second before the Proto-Androids opened up on the crowd. They fired from a mounted automatic gun inside each forearm and didn't stop until no one was standing.
“Cease fire!” Captain Creed ordered as a few of his own S.C.Ms. gathered behind him.
The Proto-Androids lifted their Forearm Guns and the weapons retracted back into a metal casing.
Two dozen Furies (an elite group of S.C.Ms. under the Chairman) armed to the teeth moved in and checked over the xombions and dragged the S.C.Ms. out from under them. Fury Medics checked over Gibbs, Kovers, and the others.
Lieutenant Matthews, Lieutenant Simms, and Sergeant Helen Thor gathered around Creed.
“Puck! What's going on?” Matthews questioned. “We're gone a few hours and come back and all Hades has broken loose!”
“According to reports,” Simms started. “An infection called the Chimera Strain or Outbreak-CS has reached Outbreak Class. A Quarantine Seal was set in place and failed. The Head of Security has started a countdown to an Integral Quarantine Seal.”
Thor questioned, “What about the Chairman? Is he safe?”
“Last reports have him and his Security Detail heading for the Main Lobby.” Simms made some calculations. “He should already be in the Lobby if the group didn't run into any problems.”
“We should go meet him.” Creed looked over the infected as the Furies made sure with a bullet here and a bullet there that the xombions were dead. “Matthews, stay here and organize cleanup. Simms and Thor you're with me.”
The three Furies headed for the Third Branch Office's entrance.
Contagion Class: ranking on the severity of a contagion
*Patient Zero Class- patient zero has been established and contagion identified
*Infection Class- infection of others has occurred
*Outbreak Class- the contagion is spreading with a least a hundred cases
*Eleventh Hour Class- contagion has spread through more than half of the population (of a given area)
*Doomsday Class- containment of contagion deemed unattainable, drastic measures are put in place for eradication of contagion
CHIMERA STRAIN REPORT:
4:55 A.M.
527 evacuated out of the building. Infected- 1392. About .0537% of the 25,921 present on the grounds and in the building of the Third Branch Office. When a new day breaks there are still xombions to take. When the sun never shines there are still undead who want to dine. Who will win when everything is at an end?
What can I say? Poetry was never my thing.
Chapter Two
Heartache Turns To...
Orthos Security Brief-
Earlier...
4:57 A.M.
The evacuation is proceeding as planned. There's one hour and twenty-seven minutes left before the Integral Quarantine Seal is initiated. The Glass Cage Protocol has been essential to the success we have had in the evacuations. Considering the Outbreak Class the contagion has entered, we're doing well.
-End of Brief.
*Orthos Personal Log-
5:04 A.M.
My loyal S.C.Ms. are in place. Once the evacuation is done, I'll begin my coup at 6:24 A.M. The time the Seal is supposed to be set in place. By then, all personnel will be out of the building but those working for me. Outbreak-CS could not have been a better distraction for the Chairman if I had designed it myself.
-End of Log.*
5:57 A.M...
Behind Sentry Post Prime (the Post was set up in the middle of the Main Lobby)...
Hurriedly but in an orderly fashion, groups of people exited Staircase AAA, moved through a short hall, rounded a corner, and entered the Main Lobby. The employees were exhausted from hurrying down the stairs of the main levels. Security Personnel herded the employees toward the front doors and outside to waiting doctors and nurses. Most of the workers looked confused, not sure why Orthos evacuated the building. Blood splatter covered a few of them. Some of it was their own blood and some belonged to others. S.C.Ms. kept an eye on the employees till they left the stairwell. Once they reached Level 370, Security Officers and sentries watched them till they exited the front. Deputy Longmeadow ran the evacuation point from the stairwell to the front doors. The noise of the crowd filled the area.
Jane Speer exited the stairs along with her secretary, Amy. A S.C.M. escorted them. Both women wept, and Jane could barely walk. She was overwhelmed by her emotions, so Amy had her arm around her, steadying her employer. So much had happened, and the day had just started. Both women had witnessed co-workers change into xombions and turn their ravenous cravings for blood on others. They had seen the monstrous hybrid-xombions. They had witnessed the Chairman's daughter gun down several infected. They had seen so much horror. They couldn't get it out of their heads. The S.C.M. escorting them ushered them out of the line evacuating the building and into the Main Conference Room that was located past the Post and on the north wall.
MayDae and D-Lay left the stairwell next. She wiped her eyes, trying to hide the fact she had been crying. D-Lay stayed behind her the entire time down the steps from Level 199. Neither of them had said a word, traumatized by what they experienced. The crowd leaving the stairs lessened to only a few and soon less than a dozen employees were standing in the Main Lobby.
South-west of Sentry Post Prime...
Stephanie watched the hundreds of people who evacuated through the lobby. She sat in the Waiting Area where her sister had left her several hours before. She could care less about the people and the contagion. "Where's Ms. Griffin?" Stephanie wondered. "Where's my sister?" She scanned the crowds and became worried when people stopped leaving the stairs. "What's taking her so long?"
Heartache turns to...
Several minutes later, four men left the stairs. They surrounded Kim and almost seemed to be dragging her. Two of the men, Streak and Barefoot, released her once they stepped out and reached the safety of the lobby. Streak hurried over and joined MayDae and D-Lay. Barefoot lingered by Kim, searching for the right words to say. He wanted to say something that would help ease her pain. Nothing came to his mind. Feeling incapable of helping her, Barefoot slowly walked away and joined the other BK-Ms. A Security Officer ushered the four of them outside.
"Let go of me!" Kim jerked her arms free of the S.C.Ms. who still held on to her. “Let me go,” she sobbed.
The S.C.Ms. released her and stepped back. They didn't say anything. They didn't know what to say. The S.C.Ms. returned to Staircase AAA and went back on their patrol.
Kim went and leaned on a wall with one hand. "Why didn't you let me..." All she could think about the whole way down from level 199 was Kat. "We abandoned you. Left you behind." Tears streamed down her face. She pounded her fist on the wall. "Why didn't you let me save her?!"
Two facets of her personality wrestled with one another as Kim thought, “I shouldn't feel this way, but I do. Hades! I'm a Life Closer. I've been trained to care for no one. So why? Why did it break my heart to see Katharine suffer and to see her turn into one of those things?” She put her hands to her face to hide her shame. “Why do I keep seeing flashes of her? The awkward hug when I first told her we were sisters. The day I painted her fingernails. Hades! I can also see us sitting at the kitchen table drinking tea. For Ares' sake! What's wrong with me?!" Kim dropped her hands, raised her head, and stared at the ceiling. "I've known Katharine less than a month, yet it feels like I've known her forever.” She wiped her eyes. “Hades! I'm a mess. I hate it..." She dropped her gaze to the floor. "No." Kim made a fist again. "I hate her! I hate her for making me feel this way!" She hit the wall again with her fist. "How could she sacrifice herself like that?! Her and her noble way of thinking. She's selfish! Idiot! Why did you leave me behind? I need you. You were supposed to help me find my mom's murderer. But all you did was leave me feeling empty inside. Hades... I hate you! I hate you...”
A woman's voice distracted Kim from her thoughts.
“There you are!” Somewhat happy to see her, Stephanie rushed over to her older sister. Actually it was more relief that she didn't have to wait anymore. “Where have you been? What did you do? Forget that I was here?” She pointed over to the couches she ran from. “Do you know how bored I was? Do you have any idea what I went through wondering if you were ever going to come and get me?”
Mentally exhausted from the ordeal with Kat, Kim faced her sister. She was a woman who was as much a stranger as the S.C.Ms. that dragged her down the stairs. Kim muttered, "What you went through?" She couldn't believe what was coming out of this woman's mouth. “What you went through?”
“Yes. What I...” Stephanie tilted her head. “Have you been crying? Ah-hah, you have. Your eyes are all red and puffy.” She smirked. “What's a matter, you and Pandora have a fight? Did she finally tell you she's tired of you showing up and trying to get her to come back? Did she tell you that she's tired of you interfering? She probably got all freaked out thinking you're some sort of stalker. Am I right?”
Kim didn't reply as she tightened her fist. It trembled as Kim tried to control her emotions wanting to strike out at the annoying woman. She thought, "If I had my PPK I would..."
“You did, didn't you? You freaked her out! Hah!" Stephanie jumped up and down like a little girl who had received a new doll. "See what you get. See what you get for leaving me here all alone. You've alienated Pandora. What she say? Did she tell you that she never wanted to see you again?”
Kim glanced at one of the sentries at the Post then at his sidearm. Kat had her PPK and now Kim was weaponless, helpless, and full of rage. She continued thinking, "If I had my PPK I would... I would shut her up!"
“So you aren't going to tell me?” Stephanie folded her arms as if hurt, dropped them, circled her sister once, and stopped in front of her. “The fight must have been a dosey. You look like you've bawled your eyes out. Boo-who. Pandora doesn't want anything to do with me. Boo-who." She rubbed her eye with her hand, mocking someone crying. "Boo-who." She pointed at Kim. “See what you get for coming here. You look like you're about ready to collapse to your knees and bawl. You should have listened to me. You should have let Pandora go.”
Kim didn't reply as she coldly stared at her sister. "If I had it, I would shut her up."
"I really don't understand why you came to see her," Stephanie said. "Kat isn't your sister." She pointed to herself. "I am." A smidgen of jealousy seeped into her heart. "I'm your sister. Me. And you treat me like someone you just met the other day."
In her mind, Kim had killed Stephanie seven different ways. Each of them was a very painful death. Kim took a deep breath, controlling the rage that shook her balled hand and made it tremble with mounting fury. She spoke, "I did just meet you the other day."
"Oh... Right...” Stephanie put a finger to her chin. “It was only a few days ago.” She shrugged. “But still, I'm your sister.” She grabbed her left hand. "Come on. Let's go."
Stephanie then thought, "I'll come back later and finish off Pandora. Make her feel a little extra pain for making my big sister cry."
"I can't." Kim wouldn't budge. She looked to the Express Elevator behind the Post. "There's something I still need to do."
"Do? Oh come on! Don't tell me you're going to make me wait here again." Stephanie dropped her hand and huffed. "It's her! Right? You're still thinking of Pandora! She made you cry and you're thinking about going back up to see her. Right?"
Kim replied, "No. I won't be seeing her again. I... She's..."
“Then what can there be left to do that can't wait? I want to leave."
"I'm not leaving yet," Kim insisted.
Stephanie stomped her foot. "I want to leave. I want to leave now!"
Kim shook her head.
"Fine! Then I'm..." Stephanie pointed to the ceiling. "I'm going to march right up there and kill her. If you're not going to see her anymore then you won't mind if I finish my mission." A devious grin spread across her face. "You won't mind if I make her die oh so slow."
"Don't you dare." Kim's eyes watered. "Don't you..."
"Don't I dare!" Stephanie paced, throwing her hands about her own head. "I shouldn't have listened to you. I should have never stayed down here. I'm going!" She paused and looked around the room, spotting the staircase a lone worker exited. "I'm going to go kill her! I'm going to go before one of those xombions they talk about does the job for me." Stephanie laughed. "Wouldn't that be my luck? Some infected person infects Pandora and ruins my chance of killing her. I mean...”
Without premeditation, Kim slapped Stephanie across the face, and the smack echoed throughout the lobby. The slap was so loud that the Security Personnel in the room quieted and turned to see what was going on. Kim didn't realize she had acted so rashly until she felt the sting in her hand from the forceful contact.
The outrage filled blow turned Stephanie's face to the side and reddened her cheek. She put a hand to her burning face and slowly turned to her sister.
Kim expected to see rage in her eyes and expected her to slap her back or worse. All Kim found in the blue-green eyes that mirrored her own was shock and hurt. She grabbed Stephanie's shoulders and shook her. “She's dead! Katharine's dead!” Kim's lips trembled. “She's dead...” A tear trickled down her face as she whispered, “Do you hear me? You can't kill someone who's already dead.”
Stephanie held her face, unsure how to react to the assault. Normally, she would slit the person's throat or find some horrible way for them to die. But she froze, unsure how to respond to the outward abuse and the emotional rape. It was as if someone plunged their hand into her chest and ripped out a part of her heart. "You hit me?" Stephanie felt something she had never felt before. She felt... She felt betrayed. "You hit me!" Once the shock wore off, she saw how devastated her sister looked and how fragile and meek of spirit. Her outrage and feeling of betrayal trickled away as she dropped her hand from her face and looked into Kim's as another emotion materialized for the first time. It was compassion. She felt bad because her sister did. “I... I didn't know. I wouldn't have said... I would have... I didn't mean...”
Kim didn't expect this out of Stephanie. Cerberus, an experiment like Pandora, had been raised to believe she had no family and that she was something created in a lab. Because of this, Kim believed Stephanie had no attachments, that she only cared about herself, and that she needed to please the Council. Whether she meant her apology or not, Stephanie's words tore apart the last of Kim's barriers that kept her from breaking down. Distraught, Kim wrapped her arms around Stephanie, buried her head in her sister's shoulder, and sobbed. She couldn't control it and tears poured out. More images of Kat flooded her mind. Kat always smiled. It wasn't a big bright teethie smile, but a small content one. The joy wasn't there when they met, actually Kat was a very dismal wretch when they first sat at the kitchen table. But since their ordeal at the Factory and nearly dying at the hands of the T-3s, Kat seemed very content with her life. She was even happy sleeping on the living room couch.
Unguarded by this new type of attack, Stephanie didn't know what to do as her sister wept on her shoulder. And as Kim continued to sob unrelentingly, Stephanie's chest hurt as if she couldn't breathe. “What's happening to me?” she wondered. “Why do I feel so bad? Is it because I wasn't the one who killed Pandora? Is it because I failed to prove to the Council I'm the superior project?” She pulled from her thoughts, realizing she was stroking Kim's head. “Or am I feeling bad for some other reason? Do I really feel bad for Ki... for Ms. Griffin? No... That can't be it. I'm not wired that way."
Down from them toward the front, a door opened and a man exited.
“Kimberly?” The Chairman left the Main Conference Room with one of his escort after a doctor checked him, Barbra, and Johnny over. He had security escort the brother and sister outside. The Chairman hurried toward her and his escort followed. “Kimberly!”
At hearing her father's voice, Kim turned. “Dad?” She wiped her eyes and left her sister's embrace.
“Kimberly, what are you doing here?” He noticed his other daughter. “What are both of you doing here? You shouldn't be here.” The Chairman motioned for the Deputy to come to him then turned back to his older daughter. "You're crying. What's wrong?"
Longmeadow walked over, and she said, “Yes, sir. How may I help you?”
“I want my daughters escorted beyond the perimeter. I want to know that they are safe.”
"Yes, sir. It can be arranged," Longmeadow said. "A doctor will need to check them out first."
“Wait... No. I can't leave." Kim fought back a sob. "I came to see Katharine and...”
“Katharine?” the Chairman uttered as an object in his pocket vibrated. "Why are you still associating with the stray?" He reached into his pocket and removed the Music Box.
Stephanie walked over and grabbed her father's arm. “Hi daddy.”
“Hello Stephanie.” The Chairman smiled.
"Don't call Katharine the stray. She's..." Kim recognized the chest he held. “That's her Music Box. Where did you get it?”
“This belongs to Katharine?” The Chairman eyed the device. “I'm not sure how it came to me. I only know it saved our lives.”
Still teary eyed, Kim shook her head. “I don't understand.”
“A group of us were attacked by hybrid-xombions, and they were going to infect us." He thought of Johnny and Barbra. "This fell through the escape hatch of the elevator, and the melody it plays scared away the hybrid-xombions. They fled before infecting us."
Without activation, the hologram of Theresa Griffin materialized above the chest. “It's been too long,” the hologram stated. “The Music Box needs to be returned to Katharine.” The hologram scanned the faces looking at her till she found Kim's. "You must return me to Katharine."
“Who's that?” Stephanie pointed at the blonde woman with her hair pulled back in a bun. “She looks like you.”
“It's the image of our mom,” Kim replied.
Stephanie ran her hand through the image of projected light. “Mommy?”
The hologram asked, “Who is this woman? She isn't in my database.”
Kim replied, “This is Stephanie Griffin. She's my sister.”
“You have a sister?" the hologram uttered.
At the front...
Captain Creed, Lieutenant Simms, and Sergeant Thor entered through the double glass doors. A sentry at the entrance scanned Creed's ID badge then let them in.
“Chairman.” Creed walked over to him.
“Captain,” the Chairman said.
“Do you have any orders for the Furies?” Creed questioned.
Joe, Head of the Chairman's Security Detail, exited the Main Conference Room. “Chairman.”
He turned to the Japanese man. “Did you find anything?”
“Yes.” Joe joined the group. “Your hunch about sound paid off. I had one of my people see if they could find anything. They discovered that there's music playing over the intercom system. It's actually playing right now, but the volume's so low we can't hear it. The sound has some interesting properties.”
Everyone looked up at one of the speakers in the ceiling.
“Why are we talking about music?” Simms questioned.
Joe stated, “We encountered a group of Frogga-mutations and when they heard the melody the Music Box plays they released us and fled. It was like the sound hurt them. A few S.C.Ms. experimented with sonic, loud, and other types of sounds, but only what this box plays seems to affect them.”
“Since that was the case,” the Chairman said. “I wondered if the melody may be disrupting a link the xombions had with something. It's why I had Joe's people see if they could find anything.”
“We aren't sure what the sound is doing," Joe stated. "It's on a loop and when I listened to it off of a recording my man made..." He scratched his head. "It isn't like anything I've heard before. It's like... How can I explain it? You ever heard anything that made you cringe? That's the sound."
“Now you have your assignment, captain,” the Chairman said. “I want you to take a few of your Furies and go to the Communication Room and shut it down."
At Staircase AAA...
A group of people exited, escorted by S.C.Ms. One of the employees, a manager, started to change.
“Back away from him!” a S.C.M. ordered. "He's turning!"
In front of the Main Conference Room...
Kim watched. “A xombion,” she thought. “It's who killed Katharine. A xombion. They took her away from me.”
Near Staircase AAA...
The S.C.M. aimed his gun and shot the manager in the head before he completed his transformation. A woman in the group screamed.
In front of the Conference Room...
“I understand now," Kim thought as she wiped her eyes dry. "I don't hate Katharine. No. I hate them." Her eyes narrowed. "I hate the xombions." The heart broken Kim, the one who was helpless to save her friend left and the Life Closer returned. "And now I know. I know what I need to do." She let her training take over as she looked around to see if anyone was watching her. “I need to make them pay. I need to destroy all the xombions.”
Kim said, “I'm going with you, Captain Creed.”
“What?” the Chairman uttered.
“I'm going with the captain.” Kim had made up her mind. “I'm going to help him exterminate the xombions."
“You're going to do no such thing.” The Chairman pointed to his daughters. “You and your sister are leaving.”
Sensing a possible situation, Deputy Longmeadow waved over a few S.C.Ms. They walked over. “Please escort these two women to the main doctor outside and then the Chairman wants them taken beyond the perimeter.”
“Yes ma'am,” the S.C.Ms. replied.
“This way ladies.” One of them motioned to the front.
Kim grabbed the S.C.M.'s other hand, twisted his arm, and forced him to the floor. She removed his assault rifle, kicked him in the head, and turned to her sister. “What do you think, Stephanie? I know you've been bored. You want to go up stairs?”
The second S.C.M. aimed his FN SCAR and Longmeadow drew her side arm.
“Kimberly,” the Chairman yelled. “Put that gun down.” He turned to the Security Personnel. “Everyone put your guns down. These are my daughters."
“Up stairs?” Stephanie knew her sister was up to something. “Will there be people to kill?”
Kim knew the right words to say. “Yes, lots of xombions. And you can kill as many as you like.”
“Okay. I'm in.” Stephanie elbowed the other S.C.M. in the face and took his weapon. She also took his sidepack.
“Drop your weapons,” Longmeadow ordered. "Drop them or I'll..."
“Don't shoot them!” The Chairman stepped between Longmeadow and his daughters. “And that's an order.”
Kim and Stephanie backed up and headed for the open Express Elevator. They got in, the doors closed, and the cab sped up to Level 1.
“Stop the cab!” The Chairman motioned to a sentry.
The man at Sentry Post Prime replied, “Sorry, I can't recall the elevator till it has stopped on Level 1. Part of the security protocols you set up.”
"Hades!" the Chairman cursed. "What's Kimberly thinking?"
Heartache turns to hatred.
Chapter Three
The Summons
*Orthos Personal Log-
5:13 A.M.
Outbreak-CS continues to spread through the building. I can't believe Zero Hour occurred not that long ago at 12:06 A.M. It seems more like days not five hours.
On other matters, there are no signs that the Chairman suspects the coup. He is still in the building and my spy states he saw him talking to Captain Creed. He is the leader of a S.C.M. Division ( a hundred S.C.Ms.) called the Furies. The Furies are under the Chairman's direct command. I nor the Deputies have any authority over them. They could turn out to be a problem.
-End of Log.*
Earlier that morning...
During Book Six...
Level 277...
A Common Xombion lumbered through an empty hallway relentlessly searching for pre-hosts. Smoke filled the area from a room still smoldering after the sprinkler system put out a fire. The smell filled his lungs and overwhelmed his sense of smell for a few moments. The Chimera Strain souped-up the olfaction of xombions, creating specialized sensory cells of the nasal cavity that were blood sensitive. He walked by the demolished door, hanging only by one of its hinges. The xombion couldn't detect any pre-host nearby and was frustrated. He had not infected anyone in more than fifteen minutes and the Hunger drove him to focus on only that objective.
The male lab tech had lost his Pod in a battle with a S.C.M. Unit. Alone, he felt unsure if he could complete his master's will. The xombion once had a name. It was Painsworth. He still wore his splattered white lab coat with different shades of drying blood. His light blue dress shirt was shredded by claw marks and dark blue pants bore the purple blood stain of an injured hybrid-xombion he'd encountered before turning. The eating machine he was now had been born almost two hours ago at about 2:34 A.M. (The author of the Chimera Strain Report would later call the birth of a xombion its neo-germination.) Most likely, he would further mutate into a hybrid, but there was no set time for the secondary-germination to occur after the neo. It could be seconds or days.
Painsworth lamented, calling to locate a new Pod to join. There were none nearby. He moaned again, but still heard no reply outwardly or in his diminished brain that was connected to the Hive Cognizance. He continued his aimless plod and his unending quest to satisfy the Hunger. He passed many dead, infected, and pre-host alike. These pre-hosts would never become xombions. Their deaths had been too quick for Arcamedes' Cacophony the Closing Of Days to take hold and complete the transformation.