Dead Air (Book 1 of the Biohazard Saga)

Prologue

Loud explosions rocked the building, but the sturdy walls of MAR Labs maintained its structural integrity...for the time being.

Gwendoline Harbinger leaned against the door frame, her right arm bleeding profusely. Her assistant Molly had done the best she could with an old lab coat, but the wound was deep and she knew that without medical assistance, she was at risk at passing out within the hour. As it was, she was feeling very faint and was having trouble keeping her body steady.

Molly stood right beside her, supporting her as she peeked out the door. Most of the screaming had stopped but she knew that she needed to be careful. Her eyes darted down the corridor to the control room at the end. If she could just make it to the room, she might be able to contain the situation before it got any worse.

'Molly...I can't see any of them out there, but that doesn't mean that they aren't lurking around,' Gwen whispered. 'We need to head for the control room. That's our only chance of stopping this mess and putting an end to this madness.'

With one hand supporting Gwen and the other holding a broken broom, Molly nodded and they braced themselves for the dash. On her signal, both of them threw open the door and sprinted.

Half expecting to be pounced on by creatures in hiding, Gwen was surprised to find that they made it to the end without any incident. So far, so good. Molly let out a sigh of relief and quickly swiped her card on the scanner, the door opening with a hiss.

Gwen's eyes opened wide and her blood went cold as standing in the doorway was one of the creatures staring hungrily at them. Scream caught in her throat, the creature sprang at them. In her panic, Molly let go of Gwen and turned to make a dash down the corridor, back to the room they came from. Losing her support, Gwen stumbled and fell to the ground.

Shielding her face with her good hand, Gwen braced for the worst, only to see a large shadow pass overhead and an ear-piercing scream come from behind her. Somehow, the creature had targeted the lab assistant instead of her, and now Molly was hitting the creature with her broken broom, as it bit into her plump arm. Barely even noticing the whacks, the creature ripped into Molly's arm, tearing a huge chunk of flesh off.

Gwen shakily got to her feet, ready to rush over to help when howls could be heard from around the corner. Molly heard it too and frantically pummeled the creature, screaming at Gwen to help through her tears. As the shadows grew along the corridor, Gwen was stuck at a crossroads.

With a sob, Gwen turned away from her assistant and ran into the control room, sealing the door behind. There was a frenzy of footsteps and Molly screamed for two minutes straight, a final bloodcurdling cry, before going quiet. Gwen knew she would never forget the screams as long as she lived.

A loud thump against the door caused Gwen to leap forward in shock. Fear gripped her as what seemed like hundreds of creatures began pounding the door like deranged animals. Steadying herself, she turned to the controls only to see that the entire panel was a mess. Something or someone had wrecked the entire system, destroying her last chance of an emergency lock-down.

Scanning the room, her eyes came upon a bloody mess which, judging from the torn clothes and remains, looked to be one of the security guards. Thankfully, the gun and holster were still intact. Almost gagging at the stench of the remnants of a torso, she slid the gun out from the holster.

As the pounding grew more intense, she rummaged through one of the drawers on the wall until she found what she was looking for. Dragging herself to the wall facing the doorway, she slumped back and clicked "record", whilst her other hand aimed the gun at the door.

'Jer...if you are listening to this, it means I did not make it. Something has gone very wrong and Project Lazarus has failed. I repeat...Project Lazarus has failed. If it spreads outside the facility, it cannot be contained. Get to Langkawi Island as fast as possible and meet with Nakamura. He will know what to do. The boy is the key to stopping all this. Be safe and know that none of this was your fault...'

Gwen's vision blurred and the door began to cave in.

'Honey...I love you.'

In her last moment of consciousness, Gwen set the recorder beside her and aimed the gun to her head. She flinched as the cold barrel of the gun touched the base of her chin. She took a deep breath and said a silent prayer.

And just as the door came crashing down, she pulled the trigger.