The Last Mission of the Living (The Last Bastion #2)(121)

The main floor of the building was so completely packed with the undead, Lindsey wondered how the building didn’t burst at the seams. Teeny hoisted her through several large rooms until it reached the stairwell leading up. The drone dropped her onto the wide, cement railing that edged the stairs, where her pack and the remote generator waited for her. Hooking the helmet onto the armor, Lindsey shrugged on the pack and slung the remote generator over one shoulder.

The Scrags filling the stairs constantly shifted about, clawing at the walls and each other. Lindsey managed to edge up as Teeny flew just ahead of her. The bodies crammed into the stairwell actually helped her keep her balance as she scooted up the handrail.

At every floor, she found the massive metal doors on the landing standing open with Scrags crowded inside, and she remembered how Solomon had said the Gaia Cult had helped the Scrags overrun the rescue center.

When she neared the top floor, Lindsey set down the remote generator and activated it. Instantly, the controls next to the massive security door lit up. She pulled her pad out of the pouch in her armor and activated it. “Teeny, remember to shoot anyone who is not Dr. Curran or Torran.”

“Or you, Mother?”

Lindsey eyed the aerial drone. Was it joking? “Yes, don’t shoot me.”

Unable to drop to the floor, Lindsey instead crawled on top of the Scrags to the door controls and pressed her pad against the wall. Within seconds she had the door hacked and unlocked. Activating it, she scrambled back over the Scrags and ducked down.

The massive door let out a warning beep as it started to yawn open.

Disengaging her weapon from her armor, Lindsey aimed over the heads of the increasingly excited Scrags. As the long hallway came into view, she caught sight of a soldier rushing toward the door, holding their weapon aloft.

The Scrags also spotted the human.

Screeching, the undead pushed their way through the entrance. Teeny sped past toward Dr. Curran’s lab. Lindsey leaped down as soon as she saw a bit of the floor and was swept along with them. Shouts of fear rose over the shrieks of the dead. Gunfire erupted, a sound that sent shivers down Lindsey’s spine. The front edge of the horde fell under the barrage of bullets. Lindsey attempted to cautiously circumvent the limbs of the fallen, but the crowd pressed forward, carrying her with them.

Up ahead, a blast door started to descend. Teeny dodged under it, but Lindsey grasped that to get through it before it closed, she’d have to break free of the Scrags and risk being shot by the Cultists.

Shooting the Scrags in front of her, she cleared a path for herself and ran toward the descending door. Someone on the other side saw her coming and stooped to spray the corridor with bullets in an attempt to cut her down. Several hard thumps against her armor caused her to stumble, but she dove under the barrier and rolled. She was almost on the other side, when the strap on her weapon caught on the body of a Scrag. Bullets ricocheted around her and Lindsey tugged on her firearm one more time, but it didn’t shake loose. With a cry of frustration, she released the strap and abandoned the weapon as she scrambled away.

Another shot hit her side, but the armor held. The sting slowed her down, but she aimed for a doorway to take shelter. The soldier at the end of the hallway continued to shoot, determined to kill her. Fear spurring her on, Lindsey rushed toward safety. Another bullet slammed into her arm, bounced off, and hit the wall.

There was a sharp cry then the person firing at Lindsey slumped to the floor.

Teeny spun about in the air over the fallen soldier and a smoldering remote generator. “I got her, Mother! And the generator!”

The screech of the Scrags grew louder behind Lindsey.

Looking over her shoulder, Lindsey realized the barricade had stopped descending. Without the remote generator powering its controls, the blast door had stopped.

“Uh, hitting the generator was bad, Teeny.”

“Oh. Sorry, Mother.”

Scrags scrambled under the barrier, their predatory screams filling the air.

“Teeny, get to the lab and protect Torran and Dr. Curran,” Lindsey screamed.

A second later, Yates stepped into the hallway from the command center, followed by aerial drones.

Lindsey ducked into a room as they opened fire.



*



Torran instantly woke the second he heard gunfire. Rising to his feet, he looked sharply toward Dr. Curran. The scientist froze at her workstation, her expression hopeful, yet frightened. Evins immediately pushed off the wall he’d been resting against and hurried to the doorway.

“What the f*ck is going on?” Evins shouted.

A second later, Torran heard the shrieks of the Scrags.

“We have a breach,” Solomon said over Evin’s wristlet, her voice small and tinny. “I’m heading to the lab. Wait for me, Evins!”

“I need to lock the door!” Evins protested.

“Wait!” Solomon ordered, sounding much louder over the wristlet speaker. And maybe a lot more desperate.

Torran pressed his hands against the glass while straining to see into the corridor past the open doorway. How had the Scrags infiltrated the upper floor? Was someone else sabotaging the plans of the Gaia Cult, or was it something much more fantastic?

“Close the door,” Dr. Curran shouted at Evins.

“I have to wait for Solomon,” he snapped.

“Close it or we’ll die! The Scrags are inside!”