Chapter 8 - THE HARRISBURG ANNEX
The infected attacked the helicopter before it crossed the prison wall.
They could not reach it.
That did not stop them from trying.
Thousands surged toward the sound.
Bodies climbed bodies.
A human mountain formed against the fence.
The Harvest pilot pulled higher.
Too late.
The horde spilled over the outer barrier and into the prison yard.
Gideon’s people screamed.
Sarah watched from the bus.
“We have to go back.”
Mason grabbed her shoulder.
“No.”
“There are children.”
“There were children when Gideon pointed a gun at Emily.”
“That isn’t their fault.”
“No. But going back gets us trapped.”
Emily stared through the rear window.
The infected ignored the people at first.
They followed the helicopter.
Then gunfire started from the towers.
That changed everything.
The horde turned.
Sarah heard screams.
Emily covered her ears.
“Stop.”
Nothing.
“Stop!”
A few infected slowed.
Most did not.
Emily looked terrified.
“It’s too many.”
Sarah pulled her away from the window.
“You are not responsible for them.”
“I opened the path.”
“Gideon opened fire.”
The prison disappeared behind trees.
No one spoke for miles.
Lena had survived surgery.
Barely.
Her leg was braced with scavenged metal.
The prison nurse had removed dead tissue and drained the wound.
She would live if the antibiotics worked.
Marcus drove the bus.
Theo sat beside him with radios.
Naomi studied Emily’s blood.
Mason slept with a rifle across his chest.
Sarah watched the road.
Harrisburg lay ahead.
Smoke marked the horizon.
The state capital was not dead yet.
Military checkpoints surrounded the eastern approaches.
Emergency radio told civilians to shelter in place.
Another channel told them to evacuate west.
A third claimed the bridges were closed.
Nobody knew which voice was real.
Theo found Harvest encryption.
“Vance ordered Ashfall standby for Harrisburg.”
Marcus swore.
“What trigger?”
“Loss of command control.”
“That means whenever he says.”
Naomi looked at the hard drive.
“We need the inhibitor before he burns the annex.”
Sarah asked, “Can he?”
“He has defense authority over HBX sites.”
“Of course he does.”
Emily sat beside Naomi.
“What exactly is the inhibitor?”
“Your childhood vector trained certain cells to suppress the receptor HBX-17 uses aggressively.”
“That sounded almost understandable.”
Naomi smiled.
“We can potentially copy the suppressive protein and deliver it as a temporary treatment.”
“Cure?”
“No.”
Emily’s disappointment showed.
“How temporary?”
“Hours. Maybe days.”
Sarah looked at her.
“Enough time for what?”
“Enough time to prevent conversion after bites. Maybe enough time for researchers to develop something better.”
Mason woke.
“So the apocalypse gets a pause button.”
“Potentially.”
He nodded.
“Better than nothing.”
The Harrisburg Annex was built under a veterinary research complex on the outskirts of the metro area.
By the time they reached it, Ashfall sirens had begun.
Marcus abandoned the bus in a wooded drainage area.
They continued through a maintenance culvert.
The annex perimeter showed signs of recent fighting.
Three Harvest bodies lay near the gate.
One had been torn open.
Another had shot himself under the chin.
Emily stopped beside the third.
His eyes were white.
He was still alive.
No.
Still moving.
His legs were gone below the knees.
He dragged himself toward her.
Sarah raised her weapon.
Emily whispered, “Wait.”
The infected stopped six feet away.
He clicked.
Emily listened.
“What?”
Sarah asked.
Emily stared.
“He’s scared.”
Naomi looked shaken.
“Infected don’t demonstrate fear response.”
“He does.”
Mason muttered, “Maybe nobody asked.”
Emily crouched.
Sarah grabbed her.
“No closer.”
The infected lifted one blood-covered hand.
Emily lifted hers.
He made a broken sound.
“V…V…”
Sarah froze.
“Vance?”
The infected struck the floor twice.
Emily whispered, “He remembers.”
Then the man convulsed.
His body arched.
Black fluid poured from his mouth.
He went still.
Naomi examined him.
A dart protruded from his shoulder.
“Harvest suppressant.”
Theo frowned.
“They shot their own infected?”
Naomi removed the dart.
“This isn’t suppressant.”
“What?”
“Accelerant.”
Sarah stared.
Naomi smelled it, then checked the label.
“This compound increases HBX activity.”
Mason’s face hardened.
“Why would they carry that?”
Nobody answered.
Inside the annex, the answer waited.
Security video showed Harvest teams entering four hours earlier.
They removed most research personnel.
Then Colonel Vance arrived.
He ordered certain storage units destroyed.
Others moved.
One clip showed a technician arguing with him.
Vance shot the technician.
Sarah watched twice.
Cold.
Direct.
No infected.
No confusion.
Execution.
Naomi said, “He’s erasing evidence.”
They reached the bioprocessing lab.
Most equipment remained.
Refrigeration units ran on backup power.
Naomi found the countermeasure protocol.
She needed Emily’s blood.
A marrow sample.
Not full extraction.
Emily sat on a table.
Sarah held her hand while Naomi inserted a thick needle into her hip.
Emily bit down on a towel.
Tears ran into her hair.
No screaming.
Sarah hated that more.
Naomi obtained the sample.
Then machines began the process.
Protein isolation.
Viral-vector suppression.
A temporary inhibitor.
It would take forty minutes.
Theo checked the radio.
“We don’t have forty.”
Marcus looked through security feeds.
Harvest vehicles approached from the east.
Mason checked ammunition.
“We make forty.”
Lena insisted on taking a weapon.
Marcus said no.
She ignored him.
Sarah stayed with Emily.
“You okay?”
Emily laughed weakly.
“Fantastic.”
“Lie better.”
“I’m tired.”
“Sleep.”
“I’m afraid if I sleep, I’ll wake up different.”
Sarah sat beside her.
“When you were nine, after the transplant, you slept for almost two days.”
“I don’t remember.”
“I do.”
“You stayed?”
“Mom made me go home.”
Emily smiled.
“So no.”
“I climbed back through a stairwell at midnight.”
Emily looked at her.
“You did not.”
“I absolutely did.”
“How?”
“Security was bad.”
“Apparently Halcyon security stayed bad.”
Sarah smiled.
Then Emily became serious.
“If I turn—”
“No.”
“Sarah.”
“No.”
“You promised.”
“I know.”
“Say it.”
Sarah’s eyes filled.
Emily took her hand.
“Say it.”
“If you stop being you, I won’t let you hurt anyone.”
Emily waited.
Sarah forced the rest.
“And I won’t leave you alone.”
Emily nodded.
That was enough.
The first explosion hit the outer gate.
Harvest entered.
Mason and Marcus took positions in the corridor.
Lena covered a second entrance.
Theo used the annex system to lock doors.
Naomi watched the inhibitor progress.
Twenty-seven minutes.
Gunfire began.
Harvest moved methodically.
They used sonic emitters to push infected ahead of them.
Sarah saw it on camera.
A dozen infected were driven through the east hall as living weapons.
Mason shouted, “They’re herding them!”
Emily stood.
“What?”
Sarah grabbed her.
“Stay.”
“I can stop them.”
“You don’t know.”
“I have to try.”
The east corridor door broke.
Infected flooded through.
Mason fired.
Emily stepped into the hall.
“STOP!”
Three froze.
Four slowed.
The rest charged.
Sarah fired.
Marcus fired.
Bodies dropped.
One infected slammed into Emily.
Sarah screamed.
Emily caught it.
For one second they stood face to face.
The infected woman snapped her teeth.
Emily whispered, “Please.”
The woman stopped.
White eyes stared.
Then she turned and attacked the Harvest soldier behind her.
The others followed.
Mason stared.
“Okay.”
Harvest fire tore through infected and walls.
Vance’s voice came over the intercom.
“Emily, you cannot control this indefinitely.”
Emily shouted, “I don’t need indefinitely.”
The inhibitor reached fifteen minutes.
Theo rerouted power.
Naomi prepared injection syringes.
“We need a test.”
Sarah looked at the infected bodies.
“No.”
Naomi shook her head.
“A freshly bitten human.”
Everyone stared.
No volunteers.
Then Lena shouted.
A Harvest soldier had breached the second hall.
She fired.
He fell.
Behind him, an infected man lunged.
Lena could not move fast enough.
His teeth sank into her forearm.
Marcus screamed.
He shot the infected.
Lena looked at the bite.
Then at Naomi.
“Well.”
Marcus grabbed her.
“No.”
Lena smiled grimly.
“Looks like you got your test.”
Naomi checked the timer.
Nine minutes.
Black veins began around Lena’s bite.
Too fast.
Accelerated strain.
Sarah looked at the clock.
“Can she last?”
Naomi did not answer.
Lena began shaking.
Marcus held her.
“Stay with me.”
“I am.”
“Stay.”
“Marcus.”
“Stay.”
She slapped his face.
“Listen.”
He froze.
“If I turn before the drug is ready—”
“No.”
She looked at Sarah.
Sarah understood.
Another promise.
No.
Too many promises.
Naomi shouted, “Five minutes!”
Harvest breached the west door.
Mason went down.
Blood sprayed from his shoulder.
Theo dragged him behind equipment.
Sarah returned fire.
Vance appeared through smoke wearing body armor.
He fired at the ceiling above Emily.
Not trying to kill her.
Trying to drive her back.
“Enough!”
Sarah aimed at him.
He moved behind cover.
“You’re destroying the only organized response left in Pennsylvania!”
Sarah shouted, “You mean your cleanup crew?”
“I mean the people preventing this from reaching the Midwest!”
Emily stepped forward.
“You infected people on purpose.”
Vance’s face hardened.
“The trial was authorized.”
“You delayed the warning.”
“To prevent panic.”
“Philadelphia is burning.”
“So are twenty other cities now because people ran.”
Sarah saw it.
He believed himself.
That made him worse.
Naomi shouted, “Ready!”
She held the first inhibitor syringe.
Lena was convulsing.
Her eyes clouded.
Marcus pinned her shoulders.
Naomi injected into her neck.
Nothing.
Lena screamed.
Her back arched.
Black veins reached her jaw.
Sarah lifted her gun.
Marcus yelled, “Wait!”
Five seconds.
Ten.
Lena snarled.
Not human.
Sarah aimed.
Then the veins stopped.
Her body collapsed.
Marcus checked her pulse.
“Lena?”
Her eyes opened.
Brown.
Human.
She gasped.
“I hate needles.”
Naomi laughed and cried at the same time.
“It works.”
Vance heard.
His face changed.
Not relief.
Calculation.
“Secure the formula.”
Harvest soldiers advanced.
Theo grabbed the server drive.
Naomi filled four more syringes.
Sarah pushed Emily toward the rear exit.
Mason staggered after them.
Vance shouted.
“Do not let them leave!”
Then infected poured through the damaged east corridor.
Hundreds.
Emily turned.
Sarah saw exhaustion on her face.
“I can’t hold them.”
“You don’t have to.”
Emily looked at Vance.
Then at the horde.
She whispered, “Him.”
Sarah did not know whether infected understood.
But they looked toward Vance.
He saw it.
For the first time, Colonel Adrian Vance looked afraid.
He fired at Emily.
Mason threw Sarah aside.
The bullet struck Mason in the chest.
He fell.
Sarah screamed.
The horde surged.
Harvest formation broke.
Vance retreated.
Emily dropped beside Mason.
Blood bubbled at his lips.
“No.”
Mason smiled faintly.
“Not Jack.”
Sarah pressed her hands to the wound.
“Shut up.”
“Not staying.”
“You’re coming.”
His eyes moved to Emily.
“Make it mean something.”
Then he stopped breathing.
Sarah bowed her head.
One second.
That was all the apocalypse allowed.
Naomi pulled her up.
They ran.
Behind them, Harvest soldiers screamed as the horde overwhelmed the annex.
Vance escaped through another corridor.
Sarah saw him go.
She hated him for surviving.
They reached the surface carrying three things.
The Blood Dawn evidence.
The countermeasure formula.
And six doses of inhibitor.
Theo checked the files.
“We can reproduce it.”
Naomi nodded.
“If we reach a real lab.”
Marcus looked toward Harrisburg.
Sirens echoed across the valley.
Ashfall countdown transmissions had begun.
Sarah stared at the city.
“How do we stop Vance from bombing everyone before we can tell them?”
May you like
Theo looked toward a communications tower on the ridge.
“By making it impossible for him to hide why.”
