#DeadLives4Ever

21 - Rosa

I don't know how long I had been driving for, but the city blocks now turned to open desert. At first, I thought I was going the wrong way, but the beeping of my detector led me on. Where the hell was Ryan going to?

I still didn't want to believe that Ryan would steal evidence. Sure, he was a little bit – rebellious as a cop, but even he wouldn't break the Law.

Would he?

Then again, he did like to wear his Dead Lives 4 Ever armband on duty – I had to tell him to stop that one time. Sometimes I actually wondered why Ryan wanted to be a cop in the first place. Even so, I couldn't bring myself to believe that Ryan could be involved in something. He was a good kid, naïve maybe, but his heart was in the right place.

Either way, whatever Ryan was involved in, I had a feeling he might have been in over his head. I just hoped I could get to him in time to help. And, for my own sake I hoped I was overthinking. But the further out I got from the city, the less likely that seemed to be.

The beeping became stronger – the signal more powerful than before. I was close.

In my mind, I kept on running through what Ryan could have gotten himself into. Maybe he had gotten in with some Mafia types and he owed them money.

Nah, even Ryan wouldn't be that naïve.

I drove on, drawn to the signal like a moth to a flame. The signal did become weaker at one point, as if I drove past it. Turning around and backtracking to where it was stronger, I noticed that there were no roads, only open desert. Looked like I was going to have to go off-road. It would be hell on the tires, but what other choice did I have?

I kicked up dirt as I zoomed off down the sandy planes. My stomach kept turning in knots the stronger the signal became. I wasn't just thinking of Ryan now, but of my own situation. I must have been at least an hour or two away from the city, so if things went south and I needed backup, it would take a while for them to arrive. I just had to hope it didn't come to that – but having watched a lot of cop dramas in my time, these things usually went to shit quickly.

Imagine that – me referencing a cop drama! The irony wasn't lost on me, I can tell you that.

I drove down the sandy planes for about five klicks or so and happened upon a run-down building that looked as though it was going to fall apart any second. The fact that it was even standing was a miracle in and of itself, it looked like a desert breeze would knock it down like it was a straw house from The Three Little Pigs. I passed a signpost that was in equally as terrible state of disrepair, but I could just about make out the name Mare Industries.

Mare Industries. Yeah, I vaguely remembering hearing about them. They were a medical group set up in the UK that moved to the US – but not sure why. Story goes that they were working on a new miracle drug that was supposed to help the body recover faster, something that was supposed to help athletes train harder – a safer and legal version of steroids. Not sure what happened to them after that – they seemed to disappear when the outbreak started.

The detector started beeping wildly the closer I got to the building. But then again, I didn't need the detector to tell me this – I had already seen two cars outside the building – one of which was a police car.

Of course, it made sense. Even looking at this building it screamed "Secret meeting place!" My heart started beating faster and the butterflies in my stomach were doing Gangnam Style now. I parked my car, hoping they wouldn't hear my engine, and then made sure I had a clip loaded in my gun. With all the carefulness of a ninja about to sneak up on their target, I bowed low and headed towards the building. In hindsight, I probably could have called for backup, but as I previously said it would have taken too long to get to me, and I needed action now. Looks like I was going to be one of those dumb cops that went in without waiting. I just hoped I didn't end up getting killed.