"For your safety, stand clear until the doors are fully open."
It takes a good minute for the doors to rise, with the last one jamming just above our heads. Sparks fly in response. When they're done lifting, we cross under, ducking past the last one. Entering the main lobby of what the robot's voice refers to as "NEST." It must be the lab Annette told us to head for.
The lights come on and we can see inside. "Welcome to NEST, enjoy your visit."
"Hardly," Claire retorts as she steps further into the room, her hands outstretched with her gun aimed. Ready to kill anything that appears, ready to lay her life down, while I hang back with Sherry in my arms.
She'd tied her jacket's sleeves around her waist instead of putting it back on, allowing me to see the toned build of her biceps and shoulders. Claire worked out for sure. Being the little sister of Chris and having him as her only caretaker since their parents had died when they were young, I have no doubt she acted as just as much a man as she did a woman at times. I would also bet she could carry her weight, literally. She did roll that cog wheel to the clock tower back in the station.
The build of the room isn't much different from the Paris facility. The walls and floor are polished, sleek even, and nothing like the décor of any other building I'd found myself in during these last three months. Two potted trees are planted into the corners beside me, a black leather couch seating two is only a foot from them while a large main desk takes up the right wall. Double doors leading elsewhere stand ahead. There's an open door to a small office to the side of the main desk, but it's doubtful anything useful would be found in it.
Claire settles for checking a door along the room's left wall, pushing it open gradually and tiptoeing into the room. "In here," she shouts a moment later, opening the door back up so I can carry Sherry in, "There's a bed right over there."
I'm about to set her down when I see the dried blood staining the white sheets. Claire sidles next to me and sees it too. "Here," she takes off the jacket and I get an idea of what she's thinking, setting Sherry down with her head up so the jacket can be slid on. "She was cold earlier."
I help Sherry lie on the bed's single pillow, she rolls over to face us and I press a hand to her forehead again. She feels the same temperature, "We need to get moving," I state, seeing Claire scouring the room for any information.
"Nothing... Nothing," she scoffs in frustration and looks up, spotting the computer beside the bed and stalking towards it. The wall of monitors behind her are half shut off, and the other half flashing white static from disruption to the feed. "Maybe there's something here," she whispers, voice wishful.
Sherry shivers again and I turn to her.
"You okay?" I ask softly, fidgeting with the jacket's edges to make sure it closed up enough around her small frame.
She nods weakly, "Yeah," the word barely audible.
"Found it," Claire announces loudly, pointing at the computer. "There's an antiviral agent for the virus, that had to be what Annette meant by treating her."
Standing, "Yeah, but where?" I inquire, moving over to the computer to inspect whatever she'd found the information on for myself. Finding an email with a warning about an incident in the North Area, containing instructions on being treated with the "DEVIL" vaccine. One that unfortunately doesn't carry directions on where to go to receive it.
"Shit," I fume at the lack of information.
Sighing unhappily, "There's no way only one of us can search this entire place alone... We both have to go," Claire reasons and after a minute of silent deliberation. I nod in agreement with her. Neither of us appreciate the plan though. Knowing it means leaving Sherry here by herself. Claire hurries to the bed and crouches beside the little girl. Removing the bracelet from her wrist to slide it onto her own, "Sherry? Sherry sweetie we have to go for now, okay? But we'll be back soon, I promise."
YOU ARE READING
The 0714 Files: File #1 Inferno (Remake 2)
Horror"I think you're going to learn a lot of things about this city and the people that you won't want to." Madeleine Sówka has spent the last twelve years of her life believing she knows what monsters look like. They are the people who hide in the backg...
