The Secret Apocalypse (Book 1) Read online

  I wanted to believe him but I was starting to agree with Kim. I remembered how easy it was for me to get inside the penthouse the other night. I basically just walked in. And even though we had locked the doors and the elevator needed a key to be activated, I still felt vulnerable, especially with so many infected people down stairs.

  "Come on Rebecca, let’s go check the stairwell." Kenji said.

  I was about to suggest maybe he take someone with a bit of muscle like Jack. Or Kim because she knew how to handle a gun way better than me. But then he gave me this weird look and raised his eyebrows. I think he was trying to tell me something but I was too tired to figure out what. At first I thought it was because Kenji wanted to talk about something, like the letter he gave me which I still hadn’t read. But when we were alone in the stairwell he said he thought it would be best if Kim stayed up there just in case Doctor West tried anything. He didn’t trust him at all.

  I hadn’t given it much thought. Not after everything that had happened today with Maria basically on her death bed and then coming back to life in a matter of hours. Combine that with everything else and I felt like my emotions were being pulled in about eight different directions. I think it was easier just to ignore the possibility that Doctor West was dangerous.

  But then again, he did say that he created the Oz Virus. When I found him, he appeared to be drinking. Maybe the guilt of everything that he had caused was too much for him. Maybe staying behind in the heart of the city was his way of punishing himself. Maybe he didn’t want to get to safety. Maybe he didn’t want to be rescued at all? I forced the doubts from my mind.

  We began our descent to the ground floor. It seemed to take forever. I asked Kenji how long it would take for them to find us if they broke through our barricade. He said from what he he’d seen they probably wouldn't be able to find their way off the first floor. People who were infected had lost all of their higher brain functions, so the ability to think and solve problems was impossible. Finding their way through a hotel all the way up to the top floor would be like finding their way through a maze. There was a chance they might eventually stumble to the finish but it wasn't likely. The real danger was if they actually saw us. Once they had something visual to pursue they wouldn't stop.

  Kenji marked the door that led to the gaming floor with a huge red X that he wrote in lipstick.

  "Where did you get that?"

  He shrugged. "Found it in the master bathroom. I figured who ever owned it won’t mind."

  The door that we would need to exit if we were leaving in a hurry was one floor below. We thought it led to the basement or maybe the casino car park. But we weren't sure so we went to check it out. Kenji put his ear up to the door to see if he could hear anything.

  "Should we open it?" I asked.

  "I don't know. I'm not sure that would be wise. I mean, they could be in there. They could be right on the other side."

  "Exactly. I don't want to run out into that."

  "But if we open it and they see us, then it could compromise our whole safety. If they broke through this door, the stairwell would lead them straight to our room."

  "So you're saying when the time comes to leave we should just run out their blindly?"

  "At least we would have a head start."

  I guess it was all we could hope for. But even as he said it I could tell he really wanted to open it. "If we just open it a crack we’d be able to see how far we had to run and if there are any obstacles in our way. It would be a huge advantage."

  "But if they made it inside to the gaming floor that means there’s got to be more of them around here."

  I suddenly realized that when the time actually came to leave, we would have to leave in a real big hurry. If there were more around here and there probably was, we would be lucky to make it out alive.

  "OK. You’re right." I said. "It would be pretty stupid to just open it. We would be putting the whole group in danger."

  We were about to climb the stairs back to the penthouse but then we heard yelling, shouting, and loud running footsteps.

  Someone sounded like they had just run past the door. A voice yelled out for help. They sounded close, like they were just on the other side.

  "We have to open it," I whispered.

  "No way. We don’t know who that is. They could be infected."

  We heard more noises then. A car engine revving to its limit and tires screeching.

  Kenji dropped to the floor and lay flat on his stomach. He was trying to look under the door. "This doesn't lead to an underground car park," he said. "It leads outside. Darling Harbor is just across the road. I think."

  The guy on the outside must have seen the door because he tried the handle but it was locked. He then started kicking it as hard as he could. The noise seemed to reverberate up and down the entire stairwell.

  I backed away but Kenji finally gave in and opened the door. I expected the man on the other side to fall to his knees and burst into tears and thank us both for saving his life. But there was no one there. We stuck our heads out the door and looked around the corner. The man was already running away. He looked back over his shoulder in our direction but he wasn’t looking at us. Back down the street where he had just come from was a military jeep. It was moving fast, swerving all over the road. I couldn’t tell if it was a Humvee, like the one we had driven the other day because at that moment it was covered in people hanging on, infected people. They were trying to smash through the windows, to get to whoever was inside. The jeep eventually swerved violently and lost control. It somersaulted in the air two or three times before rolling to a stop on its roof about five meters from where we were standing.

  Some of the infected people were thrown off when the car flipped, some had been crushed. Amazingly there were a few that had managed to hold on. They never once stopped trying to break through the windows.

  One of the soldiers had actually survived the crash but he must have been heavily concussed, maybe he didn’t know where he was. He tried to crawl out of the passenger window and was immediately set on and ripped apart.

  It all happened in a matter of seconds. Kenji grabbed me and threw me back inside the stairwell. He slammed the door shut and backed away slowly.

  "We have to go," he said quietly, almost to himself. "We have to get the others and get the hell out of here."

  As soon as we began running up the stairs, the banging and the thumping started. The noise echoed all the way up the stair well. It seemed to fill the entire building. Now that they knew we were inside they wouldn’t stop.

  Chapter 35

  We ran so hard I was sure my lungs had actually caught on fire. My legs were so full of lactic acid I thought they were going to burst. I tripped over the last step because I couldn’t lift my feet anymore. Kenji picked me up.

  Kim was waiting at the top of the stairs. "What is that noise?"

  "They’re here," Kenji gasped.

  We shut the door and I collapsed on the floor. Kenji was doubled over trying desperately to catch his breath. I tried to stand but my legs were too shaky. It felt like we had just sprinted to the top of a never ending staircase.

  The room began to spin. I crawled over to the kitchen and dragged myself up on the bench so I could throw up in the sink.

  "What the hell happened down there?" Jack asked. "Are we in trouble?"

  Kenji seemed to finally get his breath back. "We have to leave."

  Maria looked worried. "What? Right now?" she asked.

  "Yes. Right now."

  "But we haven’t planned this. We’re not prepared!"

  "We don’t have time. They’re going to break through that door down there any second. And when they do, they’ll be coming right for us."

  They all slowly came to the realization that we had to go. I was worried about Maria. She still looked weak. But she would have to cope. There was no alternative.

  "OK, so how do we get out of here?" Kim asked.

  "I figured we can
take the elevator down to the basement levels, to the car park and go from there."

  "What if the elevator doesn’t work?"

  "Then we can take the stairs."

  "Are you crazy? With those things running around, I don’t think so."

  "They haven’t broken through yet. We can take the stairs to a lower floor. Take it as low as we can go. If they break in, we’ll be able to hear it. If they break through, then we get out on whatever floor we’re on."

  "And then what?"

  "And then we can make our way to the elevator shaft and climb down the rest of the way. I figure the lower we can get before we start climbing the better."

  The idea certainly wasn’t perfect and I really did not want to climb down an elevator shaft but there were just no other options. I think Kim was mad because no one listened to her earlier when she tried to warn us about coming up here. And now we were trapped.

  Suddenly I noticed the Doctor had slipped away. "Hey, where's Doctor West?" I asked.

  But no one answered me because they were all arguing about what to do and where to go.

  I went looking for him and found him in the master bedroom. He had a phone up to his ear. He hung up when he saw me.

  "Phone networks are down," I said.

  "I’m sorry, Rebecca."

  "What for? What did you do? Who did you just call?"

  The phone in his hand didn’t look like a normal mobile. It was slightly larger. The antenna was definitely larger.

  "I had to tell them," he said.

  "Tell who? What did you tell them?"

  "Maria is immune. They need her. We can make an anti-virus. We can find a cure."

  "So we’re being rescued?"

  He shook his head. "They’re coming for her," he said. "The rest of us are expendable."

  "You’re joking right? You’ve been drinking again and you’re acting all weird, right?"

  He looked away. He didn’t answer me.

  "You could’ve given us a warning! You could’ve given us time!"

  "Rebecca, I'm sorry. I haven't done much right in my life. But this could make it all better. I could save the human race. I could be the savior, the hero. I needed to do this."

  "But they'll kill us! They'll kill us just for being alive, just for knowing what we know! They'll chop us up into little pieces just to make sure we don't talk."

  "I couldn’t risk you running off out there, trying to get as far west as possible. It’s a suicide mission. She’s too valuable."

  I must admit he had a point. But there had to be a better way. Why didn’t he tell us what he was doing? We could’ve figured something out. We would’ve had time. Now we had no time. How long would it take the military to get here? Five minutes? Ten minutes? We were screwed.

  I ran back out to the living room. "Guys we're in serious trouble."

  But again no one was listening because just then the light above the elevator, the little light that was shaped like an upward arrow lit up, indicating that someone or something was coming this way.

  "Wait a minute. How is that possible?" Maria asked.

  "I don’t know," Kenji said.

  "Everyone hide!" Kim shouted.

  There was no time. The elevator had arrived, the doors slid open. Kenji dropped to one knee and raised his shotgun. Kim did the same with her handgun. I didn’t know what to expect so I moved as far away from the elevator as possible, making sure Kim and Kenji were between me and the elevator. Jack held onto Maria and followed my lead. A few seconds passed but nothing happened. It appeared to be empty.

  "What the hell?" Jack said.

  I relaxed slightly. Maybe it was just a glitch in the elevator system? Maybe one of us had accidentally pressed the button without realizing? But then something slid along the floor of the big open-plan living room and came to a stop at the edge of the Alpaca throw rug. Before I could see what it was, a loud bang and a bright flash sent me momentarily blind and deaf and I fell flat on my ass. I squinted, my vision was fuzzy and it was hard to focus but I managed to see two men in black move out of the elevator. They paused for a second and signaled something to each other. One of them threw something further into the room. This was followed by another bang, another flash. And then a gunshot. I could hear Kim screaming in pain and the men in black yelling, "Down! Now! Get down!"

  I’d fallen behind the white leather couch and they hadn’t seen me yet. Jack and Maria were crouched there with me. "Oh my God. I think they just shot Kim," I whispered.

  "Where are the others?" One of the men in black said. "Check the rooms. We’re out of here in ninety seconds."

  They were good. They were disciplined. Coordinated. Each move was executed like clockwork. They showed the same ruthless precision they displayed yesterday when they blew up the bridge and the tunnel and all those people.

  I was lying on the floor with a face full of Alpaca fur or Snow Leopard fur. I could hear Kim crying. She had definitely been shot. I could see under the couch she was holding her arm. The blood from her wound was splattered across the expensive throw rug. Kenji was nowhere to be seen.

  "What about her?"

  "Bring her with us."

  The men in black were wearing gas masks so you couldn’t tell them apart. They kind of looked like aliens.

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Kenji. He stepped out from behind the Kitchen bench. He raised his shotgun in one fluid motion. I closed my eyes because I did not want to watch what happened. The blast from the shotgun sounded like a cannon going off. He must have caught them both with the one shot because two bodies dropped to the ground with a thud.

  "Guy’s let’s go," he said calmly. "There’ll be more here soon."

  Jack moved over to Kim to help her up.

  "I think I’m all right," she said. "It’s just my arm. Nothing serious."

  I looked at her arm. It was bleeding heavily.

  "So where do we go? Should we try the elevator?" Maria asked.

  "No they’ll have reinforcements down there. We could try the stairs but that’s risky as well."

  "We have to pick one or the other!" I screamed.

  A voice spoke from one of the dead soldier’s radios. "Delta one, report."

  "Oh God," Maria said. "They know something is wrong."

  "Come in Delta one."

  "We have to try the stairs," Jack said.

  Kenji agreed. "OK, let’s do it," he said as he relieved the dead soldiers of their guns and ammunition. "We go down as low as possible," he continued. "If anyone or anything gets in that stairwell with us, we get out on the floor that we’re on. If we run into any soldiers we'll need to take cover behind something solid."

  Kenji went to hand Jack a rifle but he saw that he was helping Kim stand up so he handed it to me. "Just like we practiced, remember?"

  I nodded my head even though after my last effort in the morgue I was still unsure of myself.

  Kenji moved over to the door to the emergency stairwell. This was definitely an emergency, I thought. He opened the door and as soon as he did we could hear the relentless bashing from the infected all the way down on the ground floor.

  "Wait," Maria said. "What about Doctor West?"

  "Forget him," I said.

  "We can’t just leave him here!"

  Maria turned to go and get him. She took maybe two steps before something, a grenade or a rocket blew open the door to the penthouse. The whole door was blown off its hinges and we were all knocked off our feet. Jack and Kim fell into the stairwell and Maria had been thrown almost to the other side of the room.

  For a heartbeat I thought she’d been blown to bits. But through all the dust and smoke I could just see Maria rubbing her head and coughing. She was one tough girl. She was immune to killer viruses and miniature explosions.

  Before I could breathe a sigh of relief another man in black stepped into the penthouse. He walked over to Maria pointing his gun directly at her.

  "Stay down!" he shouted.

  Another so
lider joined him. "She matches the description. Hold your fire."

  Kenji pulled me into the stairwell with the others. The men in black hadn’t seen us yet.

  "There’s too many of them," he whispered. "We have to go."

  We knew we had to leave right then and there but no one moved. We couldn’t just leave Maria. I could see the anguish in Jack’s face. There was no way he was leaving, not unless someone physically pushed him down the stairs.

  Luckily, Kenji has this amazing ability to think clearly in life or death situations. Like I said before, it simplifies matters for him. Basically our options were leave now and at least have a chance of surviving or stay and try and rescue Maria, where we would be outnumbered, butchered and left to rot.

  Kenji slammed the door shut as loud as he could to get the soldiers attention. The noise scared the hell out of us and forced us to move.

  "But what about Maria!" Jack shouted

  "They won’t kill her," I said. "They know she’s immune. They need her alive."

  Kenji was pushing us down the stairs. Jack reluctantly began to move, helping his sister who was looking worse and worse by the minute. Her arm was still bleeding heavily and it looked like she was about to faint. Kenji told us to keep going as fast as we could. He paused near the top of the stairs. He crouched and aimed his gun directly at the door he had just slammed shut. He waited.

  He didn’t have to wait long. Maybe the soldier didn’t realize we were armed. Or maybe he didn’t realize he was going up against another trained solider. Whatever the reason, I don’t think he expected to get shot and I don’t think he expected to get shot through the door. As soon as the door handle began to move, I covered my ears and shut my eyes and Kenji pulled the trigger.

  When I looked I saw three bullet holes in the wooden door and blood seeping underneath on to the concrete stairs.

  "That should buy us some time," Kenji said. "Let’s go."

  Chapter 36

  We made it to the ground floor. Jack and Kim had stopped. I think Kim had completely passed out. She was slumped over on Jack's shoulder.