Chapter 10 :THE BREACH

The black-suited man stumbled into the room, rifle raised.

I fired.

The bolt to my crossbow found it's mark in his throat, and he crumpled, dropping his rifle with a gurgled curse.

"Two more!" Adrian yelled.

Another soldier from the syndicate came barreling into the room, shooting wildly.

He fired off a round that barely missed Martha's head, ricocheting off the stone wall to the left of the entrance.

Adrian fired two rounds, and the soldier staggered back, falling against the doorframe.

"Trent, the door!" I yelled.

Trent stood, frozen, his hammer still in his hands.

He stared at the corpses on the ground as though mesmerized.

"Trent!" I screamed.

His eyes locked with mine.

For a brief moment, I saw the arrogant jackass I had known walk the halls of my old high school, a smug grin plastered across his face.

But that look was gone, replaced with something else.

Something deeper.

Trent looked like a cornered animal.

"I think I saw the future," he said, almost to himself, before dropping the hammer.

"Push the shelf in front of the door!" I yelled.

He grabbed the shelf, and using all his might, shoved it with a mighty heave.

With a loud squeal, the heavy shelf collided with the broken door as another body came through the breach.

"That won't hold for long," Adrian said, reloading his pistol.

"It doesn't have to," I told him.

I closed my eyes and reached for the part of me that could conjure a distraction powerful enough to get us all out of this situation.

I found it, nestled deep inside, and willed it to come forward.

Two things appeared in my hands; a box of flares, and a canister of bear spray.

"When I open the door, shoot at their eyes," I told Martha, tossing her the bear spray.

She caught it, eyes wide.

I lit one of the flares, and the red glow stretched and twisted against the walls of the cellar.

Once the next loud thud of the battering ram against the shelf sounded, I kicked the shelf out of the way and tossed the flare through the opening.

It burnt a glorious red as it rolled across the backyard.

"NOW!" I yelled.

Adrian kicked the door open, and Martha went first, hissing a stream of bear spray right into the eyes of the third soldier.

He gave a pained howl and dropped his rifle, clutching at his peirced corneas.

Adrian shot him in the chest, ending his misery.

Now there was only Marcus.

From the treeline, I spotted him, rifle discarded at his feet, his suit smoking, and a fresh bandage on his arm.

The fire had caught him unaware.

He looked up at me and smiled, a sad, angry smile.

"You're a lot better than I expected," he rasped.

The syndicate never expected this," I said, walking slowly towards him.

He reached into his coat, and I instinctively tensed, ready to fire.

Instead he pulled out a small, black radio.

"It doesn't matter if you kill me," he said, his voice rough.

"The syndicate has deployed the second wave of the virus.

The airborne kind.

It'll kill every civillian in the area by the end of the month."

My blood ran cold.

"You're lying," I said.

He chuckled wetly.

"Check the radio," he said, holding it out to me.

He hit a button and static filled the air as a voice bled through it.

"casualties in the southern cities.

The airborne strain is highly contagious.

All survivors are urged to make their way to the mountains...

to the mountains!

The syndcite safe zone is open to all who can pay the toll..."

Marcus dropped the radio, laughing.

"You can kill me, Sarah, but I'll be dead before that gas burns through your lungs.

Your precious little stockpile won't save you from the air."

That was true.

A stockpile of food and guns wasn't going to save us from an airborne virus.

We needed a cure, or at the very least, a vaccine.

I raised my crossbow.

"You're right," I said.

It won't save me.

But it'll save them."

I pulled the trigger, and Marcus fell, his body falling against the grass.

Martha was sobbing, Chloe with her hands over her face, Trent staring at me with something akin to fear on his face.

Adrian came over to me.

"Did he mean it?" he asked.

"He meant they'll be airborne soon enough," I said.

"There's still one option left," I told him, staring towards the distant mountains.

"What is it?" Adrian asked.

"We take the Syndicate safe zone," I said.

"us."