CHAPTER ELEVEN -- ALL OF YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD

  1

  Inside the Sotanaht Systems containment chamber, Kritt's team carefully finished packing up all the flu virus samples into padded metal cases. Theda watched helplessly, guarded by Toomis.

  “Doctor, don't forget this one,” Toomis said as she grabbed the sample container that Theda was examining when the group first entered. As Toomis delicately handed the sample to Vaught, Theda grabbed Vaught's pistol from his waistband and pointed it at the others.

  “Drop your guns!” Theda yelled at Kritt’s group. Everyone in the room froze. Though surprised to find that Theda had the drop on them, the intruders did not surrender their weapons.

  “You can't stop us,” Morton sneered. “You may get one or two of us, but the rest will kill you.”

  “I don't care, you can’t do this,” Theda said. “Besides, I know you’re not going to let me live.”

  “That’s true. But we can offer a quick, easy death,” Kritt replied.

  “Yes, quick is best,” Theda agreed. Hands shaking, she fired one round in Vaught's direction. Snarling, Toomis shoved her pistol into Theda's abdomen and pulled the trigger twice. Theda cried out and dropped the gun as she collapsed. Two red stains bloomed on her white lab coat.

  Kritt rushed to Vaught’s side, “Doctor, are you alright?”

  Vaught checked himself for bullet wounds and sighed in relief after finding none. “Yes, she missed me. I hope her virus is deadlier than her aim.”

  “She wasn't aiming at him!” Morton pointed past Vaught at Theda's true target. Her bullet had shattered the protective glass of the lab’s cytology system and penetrated the large metal cylinder in the slide preparation processor. Air hissed as it escaped from the compromised container.

  A klaxon wailed and lights flashed as a computer voice announced, “All personnel be advised, breach detected, possible contaminant present. Commencing containment procedures.”

  Kritt yelled, “Everyone, get out of here!” She and her crew grabbed their cases and raced for the exit as the large door began to swing shut with a heavy grinding sound. Nearest to the doorway, Morton dove through as it was closing. His quick reflexes and narrow frame allowed him to barely slip through the opening just before the thick door sealed shut with an airtight hiss.

  Trapped inside, Kritt and the others tried to open the door. They frantically twisted the handle and pounded on the door’s keypad with no success. The chamber’s portal remained secure.

  “Warning! Contaminant purge system activation is imminent,” the computer declared as alarms rang and the ceiling vents hissed.

  “Open the door!” Kritt yelled through the containment chamber’s thick windows at Morton as he watched them from the safety of the lab. He tried the door and tapped on the keypad to no avail.

  “Get us out of here!” Sarn bellowed.

  Kritt ordered, “Vaught, blow up the door!”

  Vaught reached for his bag of explosives and with a look of dawning horror, realized he left it in the lab. “My gear is out there.” He peered through the window to where his bag sat, forgotten.

  Kritt pointed at Vaught’s bag on the table in the lab, “Morton, blow the door open!”

  Morton reached for the explosives but stopped as a voice that only he could hear spoke to him.

  “Morton,” the ghostly presence whispered.

  The group trapped in the containment chamber watched in confusion as Morton cocked his head, listening to something in the empty lab. Anxious with dread, Morton donned his unusual glasses.

  With his glasses on, Morton's hazy red-tinted view of the lab revealed a figure that was invisible to his naked eye. He now could see that he was not alone. The origin of the voice, Angelina, stood before him. But she wasn't the same beatific creature that Morton tried to flatten earlier.

  Angelina looked different, transformed. Her eyes burned with a frightening intensity and an unholy light cast dark shadows across her face, making her angelic features morph into a sinister grinning skull. Petrified with fear, Morton stared in wide-eyed horror at her terrifying visage.

  Kritt's muffled shriek pierced the glass. “Morton, what are you doing? Blow up the door!”

  “All of you are already dead!” Morton screeched back at the others as he fled from the room.

  Panic rising, Kritt and her group watched as Morton escaped. Confused, they peered into the deserted lab, but could see no sign of Angelina.

  “When we get out of here, I'm going to kill him,” Kritt growled. “Shoot the glass!” Moss and Sarn opened up with their rifles, firing at the windows that allowed a view into the lab. Their rounds made dull thudding impacts but didn’t damage the containment room’s thick windows.

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  Another light rapidly flashed overhead, giving the room a red strobing effect. As ceiling vents roared to life, everyone trapped in the containment chamber coughed as a mist filled the room.

  “It's getting hard to breathe!” Moss wheezed as he tried to catch a breath.

  Frantic, Toomis stuck her pistol in Theda's face. “How do we get out of here?”

  Theda smiled wanly, the threat having little effect on the dying woman. “You can't. The containment door won't open until the purge system is finished.”

  “What did you release when you shot that thing over there?” Kritt asked. “Will it kill us?”

  “No,” Theda said, “but if you're not wearing protective gear, the purge system tends to be fatal.”

  “The disease won't kill us, but the cure will,” Vaught gasped, his panic growing.

  Kritt shoved Toomis away and stood over Theda, pleading. “Tell us how to stop it and we'll take you to a hospital. I promise.”

  Growing weak from blood loss, Theda replied, “It's too late. If you don't enjoy having an intense burning sensation in your lungs, I recommend holding your breath for the next three hours.”

  2

  Still wearing his glasses, Morton raced out of the stairwell and onto the lab’s rooftop. He picked up the sledgehammer they used to break into the building and waited, ready to ambush anyone coming up the stairs behind him. After seeing no sign of pursuit, he backed away from the stairwell. Gripping the weapon and keeping an eye on the door, he retreated across the rooftop.

  Just as Morton neared the exterior stairway, Ross hurtled up the stairs and stepped onto the rooftop, blocking his escape. Morton chuckled. “Another foul creature to kill.”

  Ross caught his breath, winded from the exertion, “I'm already dead, thanks to you.”

  Morton swung wild with the sledgehammer. Ross ducked it and landed a solid punch on Morton's jaw. Ross's blow knocked Morton back, but making contact with the living had dire repercussions for Ross. As Ross’s legs buckled, Morton swung his sledgehammer at Ross’s head.

  Dodging Morton’s attack, Ross followed up with a fist to Morton's gut and another to his chin. After more physical contact with his living foe, Ross slumped over as if shot with a tranquilizer.

  Morton made a quick downward strike with his weapon. Still unsteady, Ross was too slow to avoid it. The hammer missed his head, but struck his shoulder with a bone-crushing impact.

  Ross clutched his injured shoulder as he dropped to the graveled rooftop. “Please stop.”

  “Do you filthy beasts actually feel pain like real people do?” Morton slammed the sledgehammer down onto Ross's other shoulder, shattering his collarbone. Ross screamed in agony. Morton grimaced as the dark fluid oozed from Ross's injuries. “Is that black stuff really your blood?”

  3

  Inside the lab’s containment chamber, Kritt and her group struggled to breathe as they frantically searched for an escape or a way to abort the decontamination procedure. Vaught collapsed to the floor, his breathing raspy as he clutched his chest.

  Kritt pointed her pistol at Theda's face. “Where's the emergency override?”

  Theda laughed. “Shoot me again if you want, but you better save a bullet for yourself.”

  Toomis turned her weapon on Kritt, “You've killed us all by agreeing to this mad plan!”

  Kritt found herself looking down the barrel of Toomis's gun. “Wait, we can figure this out.”

  Afraid and unsure, Moss and Sarn followed Toomis's lead and pointed their weapons at Kritt.

  Toomis snarled, “At least I'll see you die first.”

  Shots rang out in quick succession and three bullet holes appeared on Toomis's chest. She looked down to find Vaught on the ground with the smoking barrel of his pistol pointed at her.

  Toomis put a round into Vaught's chest as she toppled over. Kritt immediately drew down on Moss and Sarn and dropped both men with a headshot before they could even react.

  Kritt kneeled beside the fatally-wounded Vaught. “Thanks for saving me, Doc.”

  Vaught coughed up blood as he cackled, “I didn't save you. I just didn't want you going out quick and easy.” Glaring at her, he let out a death rattle as his eyes went glassy.

  4

  Morton crouched down to where Ross writhed in agony on the lab’s rooftop. “You suddenly turned into a marionette with its strings cut. Why? Is this something I should know about before I deal with another one of your kind?” Morton poked Ross with the hammer’s handle.

  Ross desperately lashed out at Morton's face. His wild swing hit Morton’s glasses, causing them to fly off and land near the edge of the roof.

  Deprived of his unique glasses, Ross disappeared from Morton’s point of view.

  Ross followed through by grabbing the head of the sledgehammer and forcing it up into Morton's face. Though he still retained his grip on the hammer, Morton couldn't stop it from striking his face. His mouth instantly filled with broken teeth and blood. He keeled over, howling in pain.

  Still under the crippling effects of contact with his living opponent, Ross crawled over to the glasses and grabbed them. To Morton's eyes, his unusual glasses suddenly disappeared.

  Wincing in agony, Ross clutched his broken shoulder as he tried to bring his arm back to throw the glasses off the rooftop. “Let's see if you can fight blind.”

  “I can still hear you just fine,” Morton smashed down at his unseen foe. The sledgehammer's head missed Ross, but the handle struck his forearm, knocking the glasses from his hand. To Morton, his glasses reappeared as they landed nearby. He grabbed them and put them back on.

  His glasses of true sight back in place, Morton could see Ross once again. “This rooftop will be painted black by the time I'm done with you.”

  5

  Inside Skulton’s office, Dodd and Graves continued to battle, both bleeding profusely from numerous slashes. The doors shuddered as powerful creatures on the other side tried to break in.

  During a lull in the duel, Dodd said, “It sounds like the inspectors want to have a word with us.”

  “I'll tell them you fought Sappert valiantly before he killed you,” Graves quipped as she backpedaled and hooked her scythe around the neck of the Grim Reaper statue. Gaining momentum, she swung around and kicked Dodd in the chest with heart-stopping force.

  Dodd crashed into the weapon display cases, destroying them. He managed to stay on his feet as broken glass flew everywhere and various medieval weapons clattered to the floor around him.

  Following through with her attack, Graves swung her scythe wide and low. Dodd blocked her sweep with his weapon's shaft, narrowly preventing her from lopping his feet off.

  Dodd grabbed Graves by the throat and violently tossed her over Skulton's desk. She crashed hard into some oak bookshelves, losing her grip on her weapon. Her scythe skidded across the floor as she fell to the ground with shelves and hardcover tomes raining down on her.

  Limping around the desk, Dodd swung his scythe in a wide-sweeping arc at Graves as she groggily tried to stand. Though stunned from being thrown, she managed to sidestep his scythe, which sank deeply into the desk. She brought her fist down onto the thick shaft of Dodd's embedded scythe, smashing it in two and leaving him with three feet of useless splintered wood.

  Before Dodd could react, Graves savagely punched at the deep wound in his side, eliciting gasps of pain from him. She then stomped down on Dodd's injured ankle, shattering it completely and causing him to collapse to the floor in agony.

  6

  On the lab’s rooftop, Morton hefted his sledgehammer as he advanced on Ross. Scrambling away on all fours, Ross spotted Theda's old wooden bat lying where she left it. He lunged to grab it just as Morton swung his weapon down on his prone foe.

  Clutching both ends of the bat, Ross flipped onto his back and blocked the attack. He continued to deflect hits as Morton rained blows down on him. Cracks appeared along the length of the bat.

  Morton prepared to make a massive overhand swing, as if planning on driving Ross's head into the ground like it was a railroad spike. Before he could strike, Ross rolled to his feet, swinging furiously. A hard crunching noise followed as Ross slammed Morton's ribs with the bat.

  Clutching his side, Morton staggered back. Ross surged forward, swinging at the man’s head. Morton parried with the handle of his sledgehammer and got some smashed fingers for his effort.

  As the heavy sledgehammer began to slip through Morton's mashed fingers, Ross swung again. Morton feebly raised his arm up in defense. The sharp crack coming from Morton’s forearm as the bat connected brought a grim smile to Ross's face. Ross prepared to swing again.

  “That was your radius. Now your ulna.” Ross struck the other side of Morton's forearm, eliciting a loud snapping noise and a shriek of pain from the man. The sledgehammer slipped out of Morton's weakened grip and bounced once before going over the side of the building.

  Morton collapsed, cradling his shattered arm. “Please stop, I’m sorry.”

  “Sorry? You have no idea the pain you have caused to Theda and me,” Ross raged as dark blood gushed from his nose. His eyes fluttered as he swayed unsteadily. “No, not now. Please give me one more minute,” Ross begged of his weakening body as he struggled to remain conscious.

  Ross dropped and Morton pounced on him. Both men struggled for possession of the baseball bat. Morton grabbed Ross's wrist, causing Ross to convulse. Suffering another seizure from contact with the living, Ross watched helplessly as Morton yanked the bat away and stood up.

  “I can't think of a worse time to have a seizure, can you?” Morton gloated as he struck Ross's kneecap with bone-shattering force. Ross cried out, writhing in agony. Morton hammered the bat down with maximum impact on Ross's other knee. The crushing thud of the blow and the fresh scream from Ross brought a bloody grin to Morton's face.