Page 34 (1/2)

A blast of static, and Richards heard the first screaunshots, and more screams-the screams men made when they died

"Holy fk!" Another blast of static "They’re all loose down here! The fking sweeps let theo!"

Quickly Richards called up the monitor for the sentry post on L3 A broad mural of blood was on the wall; the sentry, Davis, was slumped on the floor below it, his face pressed to the tiles, as if he were probing the ground for a lost contact A second soldier stepped into view and Richards saw that it was Paulson, holding a 45 Behind hiht into the carenade fro his teeth, and rolled them into the elevator Then he took one more look at Richards, who saw his empty eyes, drew the 45, raised it to the side of his head, and pulled the trigger

Richards reached for the switch to seal the level, but it was too late He heard the explosion, ripping through the elevator shaft, and then a second blast of sound as as left of the car went sailing to the bottoast didn’t knohat he was hearing; the sound of the alarm was so sudden, so coht He rose from his chair beside Amy’s bed and tried the door, but of course it wouldn’t open; they were sealed inside The alar A fire? No, he reasoned, over the din in his ears, it was so worse He looked up at the caoddamnit! Open this door!"

He heard the pop of autoh the thick walls For an instant he thought hopefully of rescue But of course that was out of the question; ould rescue theht, there was a great concussive bang, and a terrible roar that ended in a second bang, louder than the first, bringing with it a deep, sonorous treed into darkness

Wolgast froze The blackness was total, an overwhel The alare to run, but there was nowhere to go The roo in upon him, all at once

"Aast drew a deep breath and held it "A"

He heard, behind hi hard, trying to calibrate the distance and direction "Do it again I’ll find you"

Hisway to a sense of purpose, the task at hand Cautiously Wolgast took a step forward toward her voice, then another A second moan, barely audible The room was small, not twenty feet square, so how could it be that Amy should seeunfire, no sounds at all fro, suast had reached the foot of her bed and was feeling his way along its hts ca over the door Barely enough to see by, but enough The roo outside, it had yet to reach them He sat by Amy’s bed and felt her forehead Still warm, but her fever was down, her skin a little damp With the power out, her IV pump had stopped He wondered what to do, and decided to disconnect her Perhaps this rong, but he didn’t think so He had watched Fortes and the others change the drip enough ti off the flow of liquid, and withdrew the long needle from the rubber stopper at the top of the tube buried in the skin of her hand With the IV disconnected there was no reason to leave the port in place; he reently away The wound didn’t bleed, but to be sure, he covered it with gauze and tape from the supply cart Then he waited

The minutes passed A Wolgast had the curious intuition that somehow, if he could see her drea outside But part of hiround, sealed away They ast had all but resigned himslf to their abandon pressure His hopes soared; so open to reveal a solitary figure, backlit, his face draped in shadoearing only street clothes As the ast saw so hair, wild and unkeray, and a coarse beard that climbed halfway up his cheeks; his lab coat was rumpled and stained He approached Amy’s bedside with the preoccupied air of an accident victim, or the bystander to so so far even to acknowledge Wolgast’s presence

"She knows," heat Aoing on out there?"

Still theseemed to radiate off his entire person, an ale," he said after ahis eyes over the barren room "All of this Is thiswhat I wanted? I wanted there to be one, you see Once I saw, once I knehat they were planning, hoould all end, I wanted there to be at least one"

"What are you talking about? Where’s Sykes?"

At last the stranger seeast closely, his face tightening with a sudden frown "Sykes? Oh, he’s dead I rather think they’re all dead, don’t you?"

"What do you one, in pieces probably The lucky ones, anyway" He gave his head a slow shake of wonder "You should have seen it, the way they swooped down from the trees Like the bats We really should have seen that coast felt completely lost "Please I don’t knowwhat you’re talking about"

The stranger shrugged "Well, you will Soon enough, I’ain "My ast It’s been a while for ave a rueful se around here Or not Under the circue anyast searched his"I heard an explosion-"

"Quite right," Lear interrupted "That would have been the elevator Now, uess would be it was one of the soldiers But I was locked in the freezer, so I didn’t see that part" He sighed heavily and cast his eyes around the rooent Wolgast, locking myself in the freezer? You know, I really wish there was another chair in here I’d like to sit down I can’t tell you how long it’s been since I sat down"

Wolgast shot to his feet "Jesus Takeon"

But Lear shook his head, his greasy hair swaying "There’s no ti It’s all over, isn’t it, Aently touched her hand "Over at last"

Wolgast could stand it no more "What’s over?"

Lear lifted his face; his eyes were full of tears

"Everything"

Lear led the Amy in his arms The air smelled burnt, like molten plastic As they turned the corner toward the elevator, Wolgast saw the first body

It was Fortes There wasn’t much left His body looked se Pooling blood glistened under the throb of the east thought It took hi at more of Fortes, just a different part of hiast did his best to cover the her face to his chest Beyond Fortes lay two more bodies, or three, he couldn’t tell The floor was slick with blood, so rease of husparks of broken wiring Its heavyin the opposite wall Under the angular light of the east could see two more dead men, soldiers, crushed by pieces of the door A third was propped against the wall, seated like ain a pool of his own blood His face was drawn and dessicated; his unifore

Wolgast tore his gaze away "Hoe get out of here?"

"This way," Lear said The fog had lifted froency and purpose now "Quickly"