She stretched out a slim smile and leaned in dangerously close, her knee gently brushing to the inside of his, "What kind of dancer?"
"Um… uh," the man gulped, oblivious to her reach under the computer console.
* * *
Parked just few blocks away, Father Koen sat idle in the driver's seat of his van. Will and Eddy were in the back.
"We're online," said Eddy, and he unleashed a video looping program, "This will replay the last recorded half-hour into the building's video feeds. Alex can go anywhere she wants and security won't have a clue."
Will was watching Alex on a second monitor, "But we can still see her, right?"
"Yup – we're the only ones who'll know what she's actually doing."
Will kept his sights on her as she took the elevator to the upper floors. He couldn't help but worry about her. She was completely on her own in there.
"She's headed to the executive's office," he said.
"How's she gonna get the access card for the restricted room?" asked Eddy.
Will sighed as he leaned back in his seat, "She told me not to ask."
* * *
With her caddy of cleaning supplies in hand, Alex let down her hair and opened the executive's door. He was still at work at his desk.
"Oh, I'm sorry," Alex sweetened her voice as she stood shyly in his doorway, "I can come back later."
"No, no. It's…" he stumbled out kind words as he stood, nervously laughing. "It's okay. I was just finishing up a few things. I usually get stuck in here pretty late."
As Alex went in, the man slipped a few files into his briefcase to get ready to leave. With another one of her coy grins, she finally hooked his toggling view of her. Bending down to clear the coffee table of magazines, she deviously allowed a choice view of her cleavage to show. When she straightened back up with an eye up at him, he quickly pretended not to notice. Still, he couldn't ignore her sensual saunter around the low-set table as she sprayed her cleaner, or the arcing tease of her long reach to wipe it down, slow and thorough. Sneaking a peek back at him, he couldn't take his eyes off her. His gradual strides then took him across the office, their leering stares only on each other as he locked his door. When Alex revealed a flask of whiskey, it lured him to her. He took a few hearty swills while she unbuttoned the top of her uniform dress, exposing the black lace bra underneath. Taking the flask away from him, she let him dive in to mess kisses across her chest and she tolerated his rough hands as he picked her up and put her on his desk. He shoved things out of the way, including his briefcase and the framed photo of his wife and kids. Just as he unbuckled his pants, nearly gasping Alex at the brush of his ego against her thigh, he suddenly slowed. Then, finally, he stopped.
Catching his slumping fall, Alex hurried to drag and plop him in his cushioned swivel chair. Once she slipped on her cleaning gloves, she got right to work. She plugged a flash drive into the computer he had foolishly left logged in and proceeded to access whatever files she wanted. She read as they copied over and saw the same address come up numerous times. It was strangely connected to an organic food company she had never heard of and their shipments to the St. Paul facility were unrealistically large. Their memos only referred to their exchanges as Phase Two.
Once all the data lastly saved, Alex tucked the pinky-sized memory card safely and securely down in her bra. She then took out another half-flask of whiskey from her cleaning tote and dribbled a little over the man's mouth and clothes. Leaving the open bottle in view, she poured the poisoned one into a jug of bleach in her caddy. Again, she clicked away on his computer and she couldn't help but smile.
"When you wake up in the mornin'," she said, nearly giggling, "You better hope no one else sees what a bad boy you've been… sinner."
Her final theft was of his security access card and she left his computer monitor littered with handfuls of pornographic websites. Then, she buttoned up, fixed her hair and grabbed her tote of cleaning supplies. Casually leaving the office, she tossed the empty whiskey flask down the garbage chute and headed back down to the ground floor. When the elevator doors opened, she took a long clearing breath and sprinted down the hallway, leaving the rest of her things behind. She lurked in the shadows until the guard made his last pass of the hour and then slipped through the secured door leading to the restricted level buried below.
A cylindrical lift descended three stories, but the doors opened to show it was empty inside. Alex then popped her head down from above the frame. Seeing the hall clear, she dropped to her feet and started to run, her eyes and ears focused. She passed laboratories lined with large refrigeration unit, but she slowed as she neared a row of small offices. At the end of the corridor was a set of swinging double-doors. She opened them to a giant concrete room. Under its vaulted ceiling, she hurried into a control room and right to the computers. A file entitled Phase Two was opened first and the image was staggering. It was of the Chimeras from last night's ambush.
They were a whole new breed.
Her hands with a slight shake, she printed a few documents to fold and stick down her shirt. She then turned her sight out across the large room, to where a heavy door stood within a wall of thick steel. A bright yellow hazard symbol was painted on the front. Heading over, she spotted a crane in the ceiling, only feeding her curiosity. When she reached mysterious the door, she put the security card through the access panel and it slid open with a light hiss. As neon lights flickered on down a long, massive tunnel, Alex froze with the faint snarls they stirred. Her eyes then went wide as she faced over a dozen Phase Two Chimeras.
The first roar thundered through the hollow room and others rightly followed, before they all charged. The floor quaking, Alex frantically tried to close the door, pressing and scanning anything she could. Nothing was working and their stampede was picking up speed. Finally, a light flashed green and the door slide aside, slamming hard to the stretching limb of a beast as Alex turned fled. They only heaved the door back open and tore off after her. Down the hall and back into the elevator, Alex felt her heart pounding through her as she waited for it to ascend. Then, she heard the doors crash open below and the creatures started to climb up after her.
* * *
Blocks away, in Father Koen's van, Will and Eddy kept watch of the video feed while they waited for Alex to reemerge from the restricted room. Father Koen was reclined in the front seat with a black book in his lap, listening to the local police banter on a scanner. Just then, he heard a dispatcher request a check of a suspicious vehicle and heard his own make and model being described, along with the street they were parked on.
"We have to move," he told the boys, and started up the engine.
"She's still down there," argued Will.
"We'll come back after the cops find something better to do."
Father Koen then turned the van around and drove them away. With still no sign of their leader on the monitors, the signal soon cut out and the video feed was lost.
* * *
Alex could hear them getting closer. Her nerves were teetering on edge by the time the elevator opened and she ran out just as its floor burst apart with ravenous Chimeras. As she scrambled to open the next door, claws swung out only to snag and peel off her cardigan as she nearly fell into the hallway.
Back in the security office, the two guards were startled out of their chairs at seeing Alex dart out of the restricted room. As the arrogant one ran out to go detain her, the more portly one bore witness to what came out of the room after her. He didn't have time to freak out. He just grabbed his shotgun and hustled out to follow his partner.
Alex was rushing through the corridors as fast as she possibly could. Careening around the next corner, she ran right into the arms of the security guard.
"Calm down," he scolded, but she kept struggling to get away.
"Run!" she screamed, "We have to get out of here!"
"You're not going anywhere!" he ordered.
Just as Alex pushed him away, the sheer
ing claws of a Chimera thrust through his chest to spatter his blood to the walls. Alex just stood there, stunned.
"Hey!"
She spun to see the guard with his shotgun ready, so she ran over for him to herd her out a fire exit. They were sprinting across the empty parking lot when a large window shattered and a rash of Chimeras came hurtling after them. As the guard turned with a foray of gunshot blasts, Alex's fright dared her to look back at the creatures catching up to them. With that instant vision of her own demise, she gasped to a sudden gust in front of her and she was snatched from the ground to soar hastily away. She got but a glimpse of the guard being torn to shreds and the swift figures swooping in to slay the demons, before it all fleeted from view. At last, she found Zeke's vacant expression. Feeling his hold of her locked firm, Alex was ridden with guilt for opening that door. It wasn't long before a heavy angst began tightening up inside her.
"Um…" her panting stuttered, daring a look to the impossible heights they were reaching, "Could you… put me down a minute?"
Giving her a brief eye, Zeke landed them atop a tall skyscraper, the city noises far below. Setting her back to her feet, she immediately sat down. He could see she was in a mild state of shock. He could feel a pulse racing inside him as he stood there completely calm. Soon, she regained a bit of her composure, at least enough to speak.
"They were," she got out between breaths, "the same ones that ambushed us."
"We were attacked as well," said Zeke, "I wasn't able to warn you in time."
Alex drove off images of her dead friends as she somberly asked, "Any losses?"
"One," he said, "Wounds all around."
A few slow nods were her only response. She had to overcome her brush with death before she could even consider everything else she had found.
"My scouts had tracked a faint scent of them to that building," Zeke told her, "My clan was holding position when you came running out. I suppose I should thank you for finding where they'd been hidden."
The remark only mocked Alex's shame. Taking a moment, she drew a steady breath and stood up to level her stare with Zeke's.
"Odin's calling them Phase Two," she said, and gravely added, "We have a new enemy."
He had to agree, "That we do."
They remained there. Their silence was not in judge of each other, but of the path they now saw before them.
"I can return you to the church," he said, ever blunt and devoid.
Not surprised he knew where it was, Alex gave him another subtle nod. So Zeke went to her side to take her by the wrist and he draped her arm around his neck to scoop her up in his arms. When he hopped to the granite ledge, her hold of him tightened with the immeasurable height. Then, he sprung to leap impossible bounds over the rooftops of St. Paul. Though stiffened with fright, Alex felt like they were flying, the vista streaking by in brilliant rods of light. As they neared the outskirts of the city, she again saw the silver medallion strung around his neck, dangled over the black t-shirt she had given him. Zeke didn't seem to notice her reach to hold it in her fingers, smoothing them over the exquisite and ancient carvings.
"Fortius quo fidelius," she read aloud with perfect pronunciation, "Strength through loyalty."
He was a bit surprised by her translation, but his sights suddenly snapped ahead.
"I smell blood," he said, and she mirrored his firm stare forward.
When he finally set her down at the tree line of the field, Alex took but a step when Zeke put a halting hand on her arm.
"A lot of blood," he warned.
Alex just pulled away and took off toward the church, her fear unforgivably clenched in her throat. Sprinting to the altar, she slowed with the blood smeared along the wall to the hidden door, which was wide open. She had to force herself down the coiled staircase. Zeke didn't make a sound as he followed her into the fallout shelter. Absolutely everything was destroyed and painted in deep red. The pulse inside him was trembling.
"It's okay," Alex was trying to console someone in the far corner, "Don't be scared."
A girl about her age was cradled in her arms. The flesh of her body had been shredded. She was still conscious, but her breaths were swift and short. Zeke knew her end was near.
"I'm right here, Gwen," Alex tried to stay strong, though her voice was trembling.
When she glanced down the corridor toward the sleeping quarters, so did Zeke. Only a few portions of what was left could've been identified as the greenhorn, Rick. Also among the ruins of the shelter were the remains of at least three Phase Two Chimeras, sliced into various pieces all around them.
"Father Koen…" the usually cheerful Gwen managed to say, "He called… said he had to move the van during the mission. They're… looking for you."
Alex brushed sodden strands of hair from the poor girl's plump face, wishing there was more she could do for her. "What happened?"
"Rick thought… you came back," Gwen fought the fluid choking her lungs to go on, "Went up to see, but…" The young girl couldn't help it and she finally allowed her pain to let her weep, "I'm sorry."
"No," Alex calmly shushed her, stroking her hair as she gently rocked her, "Don't you dare. I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
Just then, Gwen spied the man standing mute near the shadows.
"You… you saved us… at the ambush," she feebly gestured, "Thank you."
Zeke barely had to move to straighten his posture and his head faintly bowed.
A sweet smile grew to Gwen's precious face before she looked back up at Alex.
"A keeper," she whispered.
Then, her eyes went listless. She was gone.
Clenching her jaw and gritting her teeth, Alex gently pushed the girl's eyelids closed and refused all emotions as she rested her body to the floor. Slowly, she stood up. She could feel that same heat on her back, but she didn't turn around.
"Remember when I told you about Dr. Cray?" she asked.
Zeke recalled their talks in that tiny cellar room, "You said he disappeared."
"The second those things hit us at the nest, I knew he was the one behind it," she kept her thoughts focused and her memories far from reach, "I found close to a hundred correspondences with an address in northwestern Montana, all related to the large shipments going into that building downtown. That has to be where he's hiding."
Alex finally turned around and Zeke saw her face was as empty as his.
"Cray is way too arrogant to let anyone in on how he makes Chimeras. That makes him the most valuable out of all Odin's shareholders. It won't be easy, but if we can take out Cray, I guarantee Chimera production will come to a complete halt."
Zeke knew that the flesh-eating creatures were Odin's biggest asset to the war against the First. Dr. Cray was indeed a pinnacle player in the pursuit of the annihilation of his people.
"I must go," he suddenly realized, "The sun will rise soon."
"Before you do," said Alex, and she reached into her bra to pull out the papers she had printed off in the restricted room, "You should see this."
She unfolded the documents and reluctantly offered them to him. Her nerves were still wrenching as he reached to take them.
"It actually shows the main ingredient for making a Chimera," she said, watching his movements slow.
Lowering the sheen of his eyes to the pages in his hands, Alex saw their gleam pause in stun, just as hers had. Fighting the weight of it all trying to overcome him, Zeke handed the papers back to her. He then turned his steps away, but stopped.
"My condolences," he said, simply yet sincerely.
A flood of silence filled in around them. Alex could only stare at the thick stitching down the back of his trench coat.
"And thank you," he said, "for all your help."
As he left her there alone, Alex knew exactly what he had just done. It was no different from her. He had buried his fury of what those papers said deep down inside.
Chapter Six
BURYING THEIR COMRADES NEVER got easier. After sc
rubbing the entire shelter clean, Father Koen performed a proper service, just as he had done so many times before. Alex, Will, and Eddy were all that was left of the urban gang. They tuned in and out of the scriptures. Then, they buried Rick and Gwen in the church cemetery, in unmarked graves next to Noah and June. Sadly enough, their intimacy with death refused to let even one tear shed between them. The hours that followed the funeral only dragged on in down that bunker. They hardly spoke or ate and barely slept. Father Koen couldn't get through to them, especially Alex.
"Don't waste your prayers, Father," she just said, and hid in her room.
They were all too tired and stricken with grief to find the hope they had lost.
It wasn't until the next day that the young trio began to show signs of recovery. After dinner, Father Koen sat in his armchair to digest with Thoreau, while Will and Eddy tried to relax with some cards. Still favoring solitude, Alex was upstairs, sitting on the church stoop to watch the sun finally set over the city. That was when she saw the cloaked figure just past the tree line. As twilight wafted across the sky, the stern shadow reached to pull off their hood and gleaming eyes glared back at her. Bravely, Alex stood and went down the steps as Bade marched across the field toward her. Both stopped to stare just a few yards apart.
"Where is he?" Bade sternly asked her.
Alex looked confused. Then, Will and Father Koen appeared atop the church steps.
"I know of your secret meetings," scolded Bade, "I know it was you running from that building. And whatever you told him that night caused him to leave all of us behind!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" argued Alex.
"I had never seen him so angry," said Bade, his rage searing, "As soon as night returned, he took up his sword and ordered us not to follow him – so tell me why! Why would he keep such secrets from me?"
The men watching from the bottom of the stoop were now wondering the same of Alex.
"I know where Zeke went," Alex finally said, hardening the air around them.
Bade felt his rage reach a boil just as his hand latched around her throat in a blink.
"Tell me!" he demanded.
Will and Father Koen ran out with weapons ready, but Alex's simple gesture stopped them.
"I'm the only one who can help you, so why don't ya' just chill out and listen?"