Chapter 13 :THE ESCAPE

Adrian yanked open the top drawer of the heavy oak desk. Papers flew everywhere.

"Where is it? Where is it? Where is it?"

"It’s in the bottom draw." Vance replied coughing while still pinned under my knee, "There’s a biometric safe in there. Just scan your thumb."

I grabbed him by the collar and dragged him along the floor. I forced his thumb over the sensor. A green light flashed and the heavy steel door opened.

Ten glass bottles were inside with a clear blue gel inside. They were all kept in a fridge foam case.

"The vaccine!" Adrian exclaimed.

"Take it!"

Adrian grabbed them all. His elbow hit a large red button on the console.

A loud blaring siren sounded throughout the command centre. The emergency lights turned red.

"Unauthorised entry detected on the top floor. Initiating lock down."

"JASON!" He screamed from the corner of the room with a pale face, "You’ve got us all doomed!"

"Don’t you dare."

Looking down at Vance, who was laughing.

"You’ll never make it to the gates." He choked out. "My guards will rip you to pieces."

I didn’t waste any bullets. I hit him with the butt of my crossbow. His eyes rolled back and he went limp.

"We need to go." I said grabbing the duffle bag. "We need to get to the others."

We bolted out of the office. There were guards flooding down the hallway. Adrian pointed his gun and shot three times taking out the first two. I pointed my crossbow and took out another.

"Take the stairs!"

We ran down the emergency stairs. Jason was struggling to keep up. His expensive shoes slipped on the concrete steps.

"Wait for me!"

"Just keep up or get left behind!"

We made it down to the ground floor. We bolted out into the main square. Complete chaos, people running in all directions. The guards were trying to calm everyone down but everyone was going crazy because of the lock down.

I could see Martha, Chloe and Trent were grouped together at the crates. Martha was holding her toddler and looked terrified.

"SARAH!"

"MOVE!" I shouted. "WE’RE GETTING OUT!"

We ran through the crowd. Using the chaos to our advantage. However as we got closer to the east wall, a group of heavily armed guards came from behind the supply tent.

"FREEZE!" The leader shouted pointing his riffle, "Drop your weapons!"

Adrian and I came to a screeching halt. We were out numbered.

"We’re stuck." Adrian whispered.

I looked around. We were surrounded by guards. Jason was shaking next to me muttering prayers.

I spotted the gas tank.

It was parked near the wall. It was a large silver tank used to power the Syndicates generators. No one was guarding it.

"Adrian, cover your ears."

I reached into my space and grabbed my final flare. I lit it and tossed it towards the gas tank.

"DOWN!"

The flare hit the metal tank. For a second nothing happened. Then everything turned white.

A loud bang echoed through the air. An explosion shot into the sky. The shock wave hit us all causing us to fall to the ground. The guards flew backwards. The wall we had climbed over crumbled into rubble.

"WE NEED TO GO!" I screamed. "GO THROUGH THE HOLE!"

We jumped to our feet and ran. Martha was carrying her child. Chloe and Trent were right behind. Adrian and I were in the back shooting randomly.

We made it through the hole in the wall and ran into the dark forest. The Jeep was exactly where we left it. Hidden behind the branches.

We piled in. Adrian pressed his foot down on the gas. The tyres screeched on the dirt and caught. We shot down the mountain road.

Looking back, the safe zone was on fire. Flames were licking the sky. Thick black smoke was rising into the night. The Syndicates fortress was ruined.

After driving for 2 hours, Adrian finally stopped. We were deep in the mountains surrounded by trees.

He turned off the engine and leaned back. Taking a long breathe.

"We actually did it."

Looking down at the duffle bag. Ten bottles of vaccine. Enough to save our group and maybe a couple more.

Martha was crying softly whilst holding her sleeping child. Chloe was staring blankly out the window. Trent was sat in the back holding his head.

Jason was sat in the very back looking at me with a mix of fear and amazement.

"What now?"

I turned to look at him. "Now you work for me."

I reached into my space and grabbed a bottle of water. I chucked it to him. He caught it with shaky hands.

"I need you to help us find somewhere new to settle." I said. "Somewhere far away from the Syndicate where we can start anew."

"What if I don’t?"

I smiled coldly.

"Then you can walk. There are plenty of infected around. I’m sure they’d love to meet you."

He gulped and unscrewed the lid.

"Okay, okay." He said softly. "I’ll help."

I turned back to the front. We had a long way to go. The world was ruined. The Syndicate were still out there probably regrouping. The airborne virus was spreading. But we had the vaccine. We had our stockpile. We had survivors that were finally trusting me.

"Go to sleep." I told Adrian. "I’ll keep watch."

He nodded and closed his eyes.

I stepped out of the Jeep with my crossbow over my shoulder. Looking up at the stars. The world was over but I was still here. And I was just getting started.