Pandemic

Dual Strain Industries

08:01 Hrs September 13th

Hydra, Sublevel 1

Everybody remained silent in the darkness unsure of what to do next, or afraid to do it. They had breached Dual Strain Industries. Ground zero. The den of Alpha Prime.

The remaining squad captains looked at each other nervously, calculating who was to be the next commander.

"Dean. I think it's you." Michael finally said.

"I guess so." He paused slightly. "It was my idea. I might as well follow through with it. Let's form up and see how many men we have left and figure out a plan."

Several minutes went by as the Guillotine Squad was reorganized and tallied up, flashlights swaying distractedly across the hallway. The captains convened once more. "So," Dean questioned. "How many men?"

"It's not good, but it could've been worse." Steve answered. "Squad C lost its captain and several men, leaving it with 7. Squad B has 10 men, including me, and Squad E is at the full strength of 15. Now we just need to know what to do with them."

"We move as one large group for now." The new commander stated. "We head for the Hydra Main Computer to find out where the Zephron is being kept. Let's go. Oh and have your men check to see if their guns are jammed. That was a lot of sand."

After several minutes of gun maintenance the Guillotine Squad moved out. The hallway was eerily dark, the few flashlights left that worked glided across the walls, searching for a target. It was completely silent. Every room on each side of them held a table, a laptop, and grossly yellowed paper. But there was no sign of life. Even the accumulated dust on the floor revealed no footprints. A faint odor of death seemed to circulate around them. The hallway seemed to go on forever.

"Dean, I think I see something." One of the C Squad soldiers aimed his flashlight at the floor about 50 feet ahead. A strange silhouette close to the floor broke the perfect horizon of the hallway. "What do you think it is?"

Dean squinted at it for a moment. "It's not attacking us so it's not a zombie, Adult, or Alpha Prime. It might even just be something stupid like an office chair. Let's move in and find out."

Everyone cautiously moved closer to the unknown object, every flashlight pinned to its location. Finally they realized what it was.

"It's a bunch of decaying skin." Michael said simply.

"Probably a zombie killed a long time ago. I've never seen their skin decompose after death before." Steve added.

"No time to find out. Let's go."

Again they moved forward, the realization settling in that they were in the jaws of death. Even the children, who were happily chatting while they jogged in the desert, were now silent. Some subconscious instinct told them that this was a dangerous place, and that talking may jeopardize their existence.

Abruptly the endless hallway ended and turned right as a descending staircase. "Squad E in front. If I'm right this should be Laboratory Grid Hydra coming up."

After a momentary shuffling of people, they moved down the stairs. The smell of death seemed suffocating.

"What the hell is that?" One of the civilians cried out as they looked at the stairs. The entire staircase seemed to be covered in a strange brown substance.

The Squad Captains glanced uneasily at each other. They knew that this was where the Dual Strain soldiers were annihilated by a horde of zombies. That was one of the first things the Cytogen spies made clear. None of them said anything. Stealthier than silence itself the Guillotine Squad entered Laboratory Grid Hydra.

The room looked outright threatening. The same brown substance covering the stairs also engulfed this floor. Every single glass tank was shattered, the mutated contents nowhere to be found. The ceiling and walls were riddled with tunnels that were definitely not in the building schematics. On the far side of the room was an elevator, completely torn open with claw marks that indicated Alpha Prime's presence. To the wall on their right was another door, surprisingly untouched by Alpha Prime's destruction. Yellowed paper was strewn across the floor haphazardly, along with all sorts of complex equipment that was irreversibly destroyed. Suddenly the sound of clicking echoed throughout the room.

"Did you hear that?" Michael whispered almost inaudibly.

"Sounded like zombies." Steve replied, just as quiet.

"No, not quite." Dean thought out loud. "Sounded more like little rocks hitting the ground." Suddenly realizing something he tore a flashlight out of one of the soldier's hands, and pointed at the ceiling. A glimpse of movement was caught slipping into a tunnel. "It's an Adult. No zombie would be able to scale a vertical tunnel. Keep an eye out for it. It'll be back."

"But there are so many tunnels." Mike countered as he pointed to one in the wall right next to them. "We can't possibly cover all of them."

"We at least have to try." Steve answered.

The Guillotine Squad moved forward once more to the undamaged door on their right without an ambush.

"Open it Mike. We'll cover you." Dean ordered.

"Yes sir." He slung his rifle over his shoulder and approached the steel door. He twisted the handle but it wouldn't budge. Putting all of his weight against it, Michael tried to slide it open. It refused. "It won't open." He stated redundantly. "It must be magnetically locked or something."

"There is one other way we can get to the seventh sublevel." Dean thought out loud again. "That elevator." He pointed to the doorway torn open by Alpha Prime. "It leads all the way down to the fifth sublevel."

"What of the civilians? You can't possibly expect all of them to climb down the elevator cable."

"That's true." Dean conceded. "I'll take C squad down to reboot the system. E and B squad can stay here with the civilians."

"Only 7 men?" Michael questioned nervously.

"Anymore men would leave everyone else defenseless. Besides, I think that stealth is a better quality than numbers right now. C Squad, let's go." Dean lead them to the elevator shaft. After pocketing his flashlight and slinging his rifle over his shoulder, he jumped, grabbed the steel cable, and began to climb down. Slowly each of his men followed suit and they descended into the oppressive darkness.