Beyond the Horizon

53. Heathens

Assistant Chief Officer Ishikawa Hoshitake had fled for the emergency elevators as soon as the VCs flooded the cafeteria. Terror shot through him like bolts of electricity, but he had retained enough of his wits not to run for the main exit with its bright red lights, which would have put him right in the enemy's line of sight.

          He'd watched the entire procession of men and women in their green uniforms storm into the large domed room from behind the massive pillar that supported the ceiling. When the VCs busted the door down, pouring into the room and catching the agents and scientists off guard, Ishikawa had slowly risen from his table and ducked behind the pillar, neatly out of sight.

          The emergency elevator nestled into a section of the wall that slid away with a keypad entry code that only Ishikawa and Chief Officer Masahiro knew by heart.

          Near the front of the cafeteria, away from the elevator, gunshots echoed as the guards tried to scramble to their feet and suppress the wall of VCs. Shrieks of pain erupted behind him, followed by the stench of iron. Ishikawa's stomach churned at the sick wrenching sound at his back; he tried not to vomit as he slowly lowered himself to the floor and began to crawl in the direction of the hidden elevators.

          "Son of a bitch," Ishikawa muttered under his breath as he crawled beneath the thin protection of the cafeteria tables, weaving through the suspended seats. A top-notch facility like Horizon Laboratories had cafeteria tables no different than those in a local elementary school. He'd always hated that.

          He trembled as something heavy thumped on the table directly over his head. It rolled over the side and crumpled onto the floor with a wet smack. Morbid curiosity forced him to peek in his periphery; a broken body dressed in a guard's black uniform lay beside the metal and plastic seat, face twisted in a terrified, permanent scream.

          Ishikawa closed his eyes and swallowed the lump in his throat. Sanity had begun to trickle away, leaving behind a cold realization that he might not make it across the room before one of the VCs ripped him to pieces.

          How many of them had he seen? Ten? Two hundred? He could only remember seeing a wall of green before he'd dropped beneath the table to hide. Their faces blended into a single entity, scowls and sinister sneers blurring into furious renditions of hatred. At one point, Ishikawa had known most of their abilities. He'd always had an impeccable memory for such things; it'd helped him rise through the ranks of Horizon Labs and carve out a comfortable niche for himself as an assistant chief officer in Sections M and P.

          Ishikawa steeled his nerves and scuttled across the floor, ducking from beneath one of the tables to another. The panel of wall where the emergency elevator sat gleamed before him, less than ten yards away from where he lay hidden from the screaming chaos at his back.

          He could hear gunshots still ringing, and a few screams he hoped were from the VCs. A flash of the broken guard's face drifted in his mind's eye, and Ishikawa whimpered.

          Enough discipline and training had returned for Ishikawa to urge himself to move forward quickly, clearing the second table. He was less than one table away from making a break for the emergency elevator. His hands trembled, muscle memory tracing the path the keypad would require in order to open the elevator and close it before any of those VCs noticed him escaping. Once the emergency elevator door closed, Ishikawa could lock the door and wait for the guards to quell this uprising.

          Among the short waves of panic, he thought: The others should be on their way soon. The guards scheduled for secondary lunch breaks would likely be on their way to offer backup. The alarms wailing would have alerted them to the breach. All Ishikawa had to do was get to the elevators and lock himself inside.