Steel Virus (2017)

4

Loud storks and geese suddenly flew in and honked at John in his dreams. It wasn't a great dream before, but now there were millions of big, goofy birds all over the place. And then the sky went red.

John twisted awake as the cable to his music player failed to choke him. He'd learned not to sit up suddenly after making a decent dent in his head a few times too many. The solid rock ceiling did not care that he slept two feet away.

***

"How long do you think it will take for whoever this guy works for to show up?" Emry asked nervously.

Catherine replied with a sigh, "Maybe a day more. Probably within twelve hours."

"Or," George mused, "They could be here in the next half hour. You who knows, really. And we've gotten zero directions from our sponsor on what to do about him or ourselves."

Catherine looked back at her phone for any notifications. "Yeah. Not yet..."

"Fuck this, I'm getting my stuff." George opened the door and left.

The light from the hall was bright and still flashing red. Catherine closed the door to try and focus again.

Emry leaned on the desk in the small security office to look closer at the monitor. "We should just blow this place up and run..."

Bailey coughed from the chair behind them. "I wouldn't suggest blowing this place up. Maybe just the elevator shaft. But scattering the 'Project' would be a very bad idea."

"So they won't be destroyed by the explosion? Can we destroy them some other way?" Emry asked, turning around to lean on the desk and face Bailey.

"Not easily. There are so many iterations packed away in storage right now, locked away in different vaults. We're only working with the latest dozen batches; most versions including the ones we have in the lab right now will require 28 hundred degrees to melt down safely."

Catherine interjected, "Ah, and we only have two furnaces that get that hot. Two small furnaces."

"Exactly." Bailey frowned. "Which means we either abandon the place or take it all with us."

Catherine shook her head. "No, we can't take it all with us. It'd be too dangerous."

"So..." Emry looked around the small, dim room only half lit by the dozens of screens surrounding them. "Do we lock the door behind us and pray nothing happens? I'm not participating in that; I'm leaving, too."

"Wait, don't leave. You'll get caught, I'm sure...let's," Catherine rubbed her eyes out of exhaustion. "Let's just surrender and try to talk to them. What else can we do? Our sponsor hasn't sent me anything. That spy, or whatever he is, must have spooked them real bad."

"We're really being left to get thrown into some secret hell hole or just shot and dumped in the river. Great." Emry walked to the door and fell down onto the floor, leaning against the only exit. "Or, really, we're all just going to die because this stuff will make it out at some point..."

"I'm not going to let that happen." Catherine walked two steps before reaching the door. "Could you move, Emry? I need to stay here and go down with the ship."

"Go down? What about the rest of us?" he asked as he stood up.

"Just run away, if you must. If that even helps."

Bailey coughed. "Yeah, we're already screwed. They could track every last one of us down. It's not that hard to do in this day and age. It's just not worth the time unless you know you're a problem."

Emry threw his fist into the wall, just below the desk. "Fuck!"

"Move, Emry. I need to tell everyone what to do."

He rolled aside and let Catherine out, curling up with his hands on his head.

"Sitting there won't make it better, Emry..." Bailey said as he went through the door.

***

A helicopter flew ahead of several others. Inside sat Rodger, a private. He knew there was a chance for a scrub footman like him to die. But Rodger figured he could live if he did as he was trained. And did as he was ordered, as long as the command wasn't suicide.

Rodger looked up from his rifle and stared at the sergeant across from him. She was busy reading orders on a phone from the commander, ignoring Rodger.

The noise of the blades and engine churning together became calming to him when he'd otherwise feel uneasy. But eventually, they stopped. Rodger didn't even think that they had landed until his lost his peace. The world slowly came back in place of the noise: It was time to go.

***

"Stop anyone else trying to leave!" Catherine yelled at George through the speaker. "LOCK THE DOORS IF YOU HAVE TO!"

And then she cut off. George looked at his phone. The call had ended. And soon, everyone else left underground would come to some kind of end. It'd be unlikely to be a good end, though.

It might take some time, but once the armed forces above broke into the entrance, there'd be nowhere to go but back with them.

He begrudgingly opened the mic on the facility speakers. "Cease all operations and return to your respective quarters until further notice. Do not resist the incoming military. Again: Return to your quarters and do not resist. Thank you."

***

Just a few halls away, John sat down in his metal chair a few feet from the bunk bed.

It took only five minutes for him to become restless again.

"This is stupid." he said to no one. "I'm going to look for Catherine...if she's here, still."