Arrival (Planet of Last Resort #1)

Chapter 3

CHAPTER THREE

J eff paused for a long time in the doorway to the little conference room, watching Melly sleep peacefully. He was glad she was getting a respite from the stress they’d all been under. She’d been a trooper, for a civilian, kept her head, shot a few infected, gave Paulson compassionate care. Although he wished he and his men had arrived on Randal Four sooner because perhaps they’d have been able to do something to help with the outbreak, he thanked the Lords of Space he’d been here to save Melly. It didn’t hurt that she was a beautiful woman either. There was definitely a mutual interest between the two of them, despite the chaotic situation. Shaking his head at his thoughts, he retreated from the door quietly and headed for the next stop on his inspection tour.

As he climbed the stairs to the roof, he hoped Melly was right about her family making it through the outbreak unharmed. He’d like nothing better than to arrive at her home and find everyone there healthy and ready to move out under his protection. Realistically though, he figured her relatives had probably succumbed to the virus like 95% of their fellow citizens. Reaching her home was going to be a hard moment for the doctor and he pledged to himself to be there for her. He wanted to protect her from any and all threats, physical and emotional. It was unlike him to become attached to anyone while he was in the midst of a mission. Honestly, he’d never had a deep attachment to any woman before. The nature of his life, going on constant, unpredictable deployments deep in enemy territory, precluded maintaining a successful relationship, no matter how hard the two people tried. Maybe now he was better situated to be a good partner. Scoffing at himself, he had to chuckle. Right, being in the middle of a mass outbreak, with most of the planet’s population turned into some kind of flesh-eating monsters trying to kill him and his men and the lady he was attracted to was surely a better setting for romance than his previous life. Kidding yourself, Pearson. Well, see how things develop and in the meantime exert every effort to keep the doc alive and well.

For all you know she has a hometown sweetheart.

He doubted it since she’d mentioned her family numerous times but never spoke of anyone else. And frankly at the moment Jeff was prepared to face any obstacle to his desire to get to know her better, even an old boyfriend. Melly was a keeper, a woman worth fighting for.

Opening the door to the roof, he forced his mind away from the woman sleeping two floors below and stepped onto the gritty surface. Zach had his blast rifle trained on the doorway and lifted the muzzle in silent salute. Cody ignored him, busy coordinating his flock of tiny airborne drones, currently fanning out over the area to gather intel.

“Anything significant yet?” Jeff asked as he joined them, keeping his voice low. “Any movement from the direction of the terminal?”

“There were a few lone individuals stumbling around outside,” Zach reported, “But once the sun went down they settled in one spot and stayed there. Most of the horde are clustered together inside the spaceport.”

“Inserting drones there now, captain,” Cody said.

“Show me.”

Four miniature holos sprang up on the roof, arrayed in a half circle in front of Cody. Jeff knew he had many more of the tiny robos activated and flying to gather intel, but these were the most relevant to his immediate request. The holos showed the crowd of infected standing inside, in clumps, not moving, not making sound. “Night seems to calm them,” he observed. “Any of your flock at the control tower yet?”

“Ascending the staircase now.” Two more holos activated, displaying the shadowy area in which the robos were flying, rising floor after floor toward the highest point in the spaceport, which was the control tower.

Cody kept one going upward but had the other linger over a dead body sprawled on a landing. “Seen a lot of corpses, sir.”

“So not everyone turns when bitten or scratched,” Jeff said, adding the fact to his small store of knowledge on the outbreak. “I’m assuming most do, however, given the size of the mob.”

Cody had the second drone rush to catch up with the first and a moment later the duo arrived at the top floor and the entry to the tower. The door gaped wide open and when the drones entered the room, lights on to illuminate the scene, Jeff saw a scene of utter destruction. The chairs were overturned, consoles were broken with components strewn all over the floor and there were no bodies. “Find the primary interstellar coms unit and let’s see if we have any hope of broadcasting an alert to the Sectors.”

As the drones moved through the large room, Jeff said, “Hard to tell if the damage was done by the infected or if there was an attack.”

“Yeah, leaves a lot of questions open, doesn’t it, sir.” Cody agreed with his assessment.

Now the robos hovered above a particularly damaged console. Clearly there was no hope of sending any kind of com from this station.

“Interesting. Now why would the infected, who appear to be mindless, make such a deliberate effort to destroy the ability to talk to ships or to the Sectors?” Jeff rubbed his chin. The questions being raised by this reconnaissance mission bothered him. “Can we set an automatic warn off beacon?”

“Maybe. My drones have limited field capability,” Cody reminded him. “They’re made to observe, not touch.”

For the next few minutes there was silence as Cody concentrated on directing his drones to circle within the control room, searching for the warn off beacon, which should be a completely separate console with safeguards to prevent any accidental triggering of the device. Jeff watched intently as the robos hovered, directing their lights at the controls. “No joy, sir. Not finding a likely panel. I’d need combat drones to tear the place apart, and we didn’t bring any.’

“I’m kicking myself for not insisting,” Jeff replied. “We’re going to have to get up there and find and trigger the damn beacon manually.”

“Are you serious, sir?” Both of his men gave him incredulous looks.

“Is there a way to access the tower without going through the main area where the infected are gathered?” Despite the knot in his gut, Jeff kept his calm demeanor. This had to be done. No more defenseless passengers dropped onto the landing pad unawares, to take their chances with the infected. Activating the beacon would also send a signal to the nearest Sectors hub and eventually would be investigated. It was the best he could do at the moment, barring any other method of interstellar communication. His team had planned to communicate externally using the planet’s own com systems, which was now impossible, at least from this facility. “I’ll do it myself with one volunteer. Tonight.”

“Hells, you know we’ll all volunteer to go with you, sir.”

“You need to keep gathering intel with the drones, Cody, and you’re on overwatch, Zach. I’ll take Trent if he volunteers.”

“Or gets voluntold,” Zach said with a grin.

“Sound seems to activate the infected,” Cody said, glancing up from his concentration on the holos. “One of my drones made it to the city outskirts and caught a small group of them standing around like mannequins, like the ones here at the terminal, and then a dog barked and they came to life and ran and crawled off after the dog. Don’t think they caught it though. I tracked them with one drone as long as I could and the dog seems to have crossed a stream and then gone to ground. These fuckers definitely don’t like running water. Swept a couple of them right off their feet and downstream. No ability to swim.”

“Another good data point. I’ll want a full sitrep when I get back. I’ll stay in touch with the subaural com if I can while we’re out there.” Jeff nodded and headed to the stairs again, anxious to be on his way to the control tower, carry out his mission and return to the relative safety of the cargo building before dawn. The timing would be tight.

He and Trent geared up and exited the cargo warehouse from a side door, which his men unblocked long enough to allow the two of them to slip outside. The landing pads stretched endlessly before them in the moons’ light, empty. Way off in the distance Jeff could make out two or three of the infected standing rigidly. He nudged Trent to make sure he was aware as well and then they moved out at a trot toward the terminal and the control tower at the west end. They’d secured all their gear tightly to prevent the slightest noise and he hoped their thudding footsteps wouldn’t be enough to alert the horde. They’d taken the precaution of wrapping their feet in rags to help absorb the sound which was the best that could be done.

After ten spine tingling minutes completely out in the open, with nothing to take cover behind if the mob did attack, Jeff and Trent reached the base of the tower. The door gaped open, the interior a dark and ominous hole, although his night vision had been enhanced by the military many years ago in one of their ever-ongoing experiments to make Sectors’ fighting men more lethal.

Nothing alive in the towe r, Cody said in his ear on the subaural com. Clear to the control deck.

Exchanging a hand signal with Trent, Jeff took point and stepped into the gloom of the tower. He wished they dared to close the door behind them but he was afraid of the noise. This level was offices and conference rooms, with a large lobby. The entire place was trashed and torn up, as if a riot had occurred here. As he made his way toward the staircase, he took note of a few bodies. The stench was powerful but he kept his focus on the mission.

Jeff slipped into the staircase and advanced carefully, weapon at the ready. Although Cody had assured Jeff his drones found nothing alive in the tower nasty surprises were known to happen in combat situations. The control deck was five floors up and the door to the landing stood open, like the others had been.

Still taking point Jeff walked inside the large room and he and Trent did a rapid recon. Any idea where the damn beacon is? He asked Cody over the com.

I didn’t spot it when I did the initial fly through. It would be original equipment though, so probably on an interior, load bearing wall?

They moved as one to the most probable area and split up to search. Each colony was required to have a warn off alarm from the moment the settlers landed on their new planet. The Sectors had had a lot of sad experiences with colonies trying to establish themselves on promising new worlds, only to learn there were hidden dangers. It was rare for an older colony such as this one to need the planetary quarantine alarm although disease outbreaks had been known to occur before. Jeff straightened his back and surveyed the chaos of the usually orderly control chamber. Not on this scale , he thought, returning to his task.

Help me move a console, sir , Trent said over the com. I found a power lead disappearing behind a set of cabinets that definitely don’t require power.

Joining Trent, Jeff winced at the thought of trying to move the furniture without making noise. Any activity in the terminal? He asked Cody.

All quiet was the reassuring answer although the situation could change in the blink of an eye.

Slinging their weapons, he and Trent got a grip on the corners of the first cabinet and shifted it out of the way with a minimum of noise. As he got a glimpse at the now clear wall space, Jeff thought the soldier was right – the warn off alarm would be here. The substantial power feed continued on behind the second, smaller cabinet and there was extremely faded writing on the wall with an arrow pointing in that direction.

Idiots, burying their mandatory alarm setup. Overconfident civilian fools. His feelings toward the long-gone people who had been administering the spaceport and those in charge of the colony weren’t friendly. He and Trent didn’t need to be out here risking their asses to take care of something the authorities clearly should have done weeks ago. And the task shouldn’t have been so complicated either. Remove the cover, slap the button and move on. But no, we’re damn moving men today.

As they moved the second cabinet, one of the doors swung open and a set of mugs spilled out onto the floor. Jeff watched in silent horror as the cups rolled on the carpet and had just heaved a sigh of relief when a glass mug fell, landing on one of the heavier clay ones and shattering with a loud crack that echoed in the chamber.

Hold! Cody’s command was instant.

Jeff and Trent froze, holding the cabinet suspended in midair.

Whatever you did woke a couple of the infected up, Cody reported urgently. Don’t make any more noise and let’s see if they quiet down.

The next few minutes were the longest of Jeff’s life as he and Trent maintained their grip on the piece of furniture, afraid to risk setting it down with the infected stirring. He decided they had to take the chance and complete the job.

As the cabinet touched the carpet, Cody gave them the all clear. Okay, situation nominal inside the terminal again. Clear to proceed.

With a grin Jeff acknowledged the comment and knelt to examine the alarm they’d now uncovered. The red button was under a locked, clear plastiglass cover, so dusty he could barely see it. He tugged at the latch but the cover was locked. He dug a multitool out of one of his pants’ pockets and picked the lock, mentally swearing at the delay. Trent took the cover from his hand and set it aside on the rug. There was a small control panel next to the red button but for his first attempt Jeff ignored the pad. The alarm was supposed to be so easy to use that any of the colonists could trigger it – a tradeoff between security and the need for the Sectors to be warned of impending dire problems. The button refused to depress but the control pad lit up. A couple of the buttons remained dark.

I don’t have time for fucking games, he thought savagely. All Special Forces operators had a code which was supposed to grant access to any and everything in the Sectors and he punched it in now, forcing himself not to bang the keys. A light flashed in his eyes and the word DENIED glowed in the air.

This isn’t good , Trent said.

Tell me about it. Can you disconnect the power to the damn keypad?

Give me room and a few minutes.

They shifted positions and Trent went to work on the power input.

Be sure you don’t disconnect the alarm itself, Jeff said even though his man was a top operator. We don’t want this trip to be for nothing.

There was a quiet little click and the keypad’s lights went out. Have some trust, sir, Trent said reproachfully.

AUXILIARY MODE flashed in the air in big yellow letters. SENIOR COLONY AUTHORITY REQUIRED TO ACTIVATE.

Yeah, I bet if I push this big juicy red button now the alarm is going to kick in regardless, like it’s meant to do. Taking a deep breath, Jeff exchanged looks with Trent and then pushed the button, which yielded to the pressure of his gloved finger. Green lights sprang up all around the red button.

Sir, I’m tracking a signal going out now , Samms said over the com. A general warn off.

“Activated,” said a loud female voice.

A shrieking alarm sounded in the empty chamber.

Jeff and Trent recoiled.

Oh you’ve done it now, sir, Cody said over the com, urgency in his voice. The mob is awake and on the move in your direction. You ain’t gonna be able to get down the stairs and out the door in time. You two gotta move now.

Jeff could hear the moaning and growling of the infected growing closer. He shot out the nearest two speakers set into the wall, which diminished the sound of the alarm considerably. Trent moved away to disable a few others and then joined him at the huge window overlooking the landing pads. Jeff shot out the glass, which exploded as his blaster beam struck it. He and Trent took a few running steps and made it through the shattered framework and onto the tiny ledge outside.

“Here goes nothing,” Jeff said and stepped into thin air, Trent at his side.

They each had a personal antigrav unit attacked to their boots and floated in midair, moving slowly away from the tower. Jeff wished they’d packed full on combat mode antigrav units but no one had foreseen the need for such serious equipment when they were gearing up to come to Randal Four to run a ranch. The unit he was using now would get him some distance from the tower and land him on the ground, after which he and Trent would run like hell.

Trent was right next to him as the gradual descent began.

Jeff risked a glance back at the tower and saw a wave of the infected plunge through the broken window, heedless of the wounds they took from the shattered glass and jagged metal and then plunge five stories to the ground. Despite the broken bones and other injuries the individuals took from hitting the pavement, the wrecked corpses struggled to follow them. More infected continued to fall from the ledge high above.

The pavement was coming closer and closer so Jeff prepared himself for landing. As his boots struck the firm surface, he was already running, Trent at his shoulder.

Better pour on the afterburner, Cody advised over the com, his voice tight. The ones falling out of the tower now are cushioned by the infected who fell first and they’re going to be on your tail in a minute or two. Some of them can move pretty fast.

Coming in hot, Jeff said, twisting to shoot an infected who was coming at them from the left in a lumbering run. The infected, dressed in a torn and badly stained mechanic’s uniform, must have been one of the solitary individuals already outside.

We’ll be ready for you, sir.

He and Trent were both in excellent physical condition but he’d never run so hard in his life before. The horde of infected moved faster than he’d remembered from the day before and shots went arcing over his head as one of his men stood sniper watch on the roof of the cargo warehouse. He was nearly bowled over by a pair of infected women, who clawed and grabbed at him as he ran. Trent killed one with a knife through the skull and Jeff managed to shoot the other under the chin with his blaster but the encounter slowed them down and as he sprinted again, the question beat in his brain whether he’d been scratched. With his adrenaline pumping right now he didn’t feel any pain.

The door of the warehouse opened partially. Cody was waving them on even as more sniper fire took care of the closest infected. Jeff fired a knee high barrage of blaster fire at the wave of predators coming for them and when they fell, literally cut off at the knees, the ones behind them tripped and became tangled. More were coming, however, from an angle where his impromptu barricade wouldn’t affect them. Trent made it through the open door with Jeff on his heels and the slam of the closing portal was the sweetest sound he’d ever heard.

There were muffled bangs and pounding as the first wave of the infected reached the wall.

“Will it hold?” he asked, rising from his knees.

“Reinforcing the portal now,” Zach replied.

Samms clattered down the stairs from the roof and ran to help. Jeff wasn’t able to take a deep breath until the four of them dragged more crates and random pieces of machinery over to block the portal and prevent it from being breached.

He turned to see Melly standing there, watching, eyes wide in disbelief. “You went out there?”

“Our first duty is to protect the Sectors,” he said. “We took an oath. I had to activate the warn off alarm before anyone else lands here.”

“Will someone come to help now then?” she asked, hope stirring in her voice.

He hated to ruin her mood but shook his head. “Randal Four is pretty remote and not too consequential in the galactic scheme of things. Eventually the report will reach the right people and a task force will be sent but it’s not likely to be any time soon. We’re on our own, doc.” Setting his weapon aside, he triggered a control on his body armor and the gauntlets protecting his arms and legs fell away from his body, condensing themselves into neat black cubes. Beside him, Trent was going through the same routine. Jeff shrugged out of his shirt and unfastened his pants as soon as he had his boots off.

“What—what are you doing?” Melly asked, eyes wide.

“Either or both of us might have gotten bitten or scratched out there,” Jeff said, more calmly than he felt. "It got pretty intense toward the end."

"But you had your armor on," she protested.

He shook his head. “Even so. The risk to all of us is too great. If we’ve become infected, then my guys know what to do. We can’t take a chance on any of us turning.”

When he was wearing nothing but his skivvies, Jeff said with a wry grin, “I know you’re a doctor so you’ve seen it all but you haven’t seen all of me or Trent here, doc. Fair warning, you’re about to.”

Surprising him, she stepped closer with a deeply serious expression on her face. “No, you’re right it’s a good precaution. We need to be thinking about these things now, as insane as it sounds. I’ll do the visual inspection for you both.”

Jeff spread his arms and widened his stance. He wished he was getting naked with the doc under other circumstances and not in front of four other men but deep inside he wanted the reassurance he hadn’t gotten infected. Paulson’s gruesome transition was fresh in his memory. The corpse still lay upstairs because after putting the man out of his misery with one shot to the head, Jeff had refused to let anyone touch the body. “We’ll be leaving tomorrow night. We can deal with the smell till then,” he’d said.

Completely in professional mode, Melly did a body check, not touching him. He had a hard time controlling his cock, which was convinced this was time to celebrate, being almost skin to skin with her.

“You’re clear,” she said, moving over to do the same check on Trent.

Relief mixed with jealousy. He really didn’t like the idea of her being so up close and personal with his teammate, despite the necessity for the exam. And what the seven hells is the sudden possessiveness about? We’re in a life-or-death situation here and I barely know the woman. Dressing in fresh clothes as fast as he could, Jeff berated himself for the way he was feeling toward Melly but she certainly was a special woman.

Trent received his passing grade and clearly embarrassed, he grabbed the fresh set of utilities Zach handed him and stepped away to dress with a mumbled “Thanks, doc.”

“The body armor was effective then,” Cody said, breaking an awkward silence.

“I wish we had full battle suits,” Jeff replied. “And combat antigrav lifts and about a ton of other gear no one expected us to need on this peaceful little planet.”

“Gotta make do with what we have,” Zac said philosophically.

“I’d better go check on Paulson,” Melly said.

Jeff caught her elbow and kept his voice soft. “He’s not there anymore, doc. He turned completely around midnight and I dealt with it. Body’s still upstairs though—I’m not risking having anyone touch it.”

Plainly taken aback by the news, Melly chewed her lip before saying, “I’m not a pathologist and I don’t have the proper equipment here but I can do a limited postmortem on the body if you want. Anything we learn might be helpful.”

“Much as I appreciate the offer, I’m going to say no. We can’t risk you and no offense but I’m sure the authorities had the best medical minds on the planet working on the problem before everything went to the seven hells.” She opened her mouth clearly intending to protest so he added, “I know you want to help but you’re the only doctor we have—maybe the only one on the entire planet—and I have to keep you safe. Trent is a combat medic with a ton of experience but he’s not a doctor.”

She nodded, eyes downcast. “What’s the plan then?”

“You should get more shuteye while you can. It’s still night.”

“I’m too keyed up to sleep and I hate sitting and waiting.”

“You’d hate being in the military then,” Zach said with a chuckle. “It’s always hurry up and wait.” He took his blast rifle and headed up the stairs to the roof again.

“We’re staying here through the daylight hours,” Jeff said. “Cody found out the infected tend to be more active, roaming around during the day. We’ll be leaving after sunset and heading into the city. Our first destination is the central police complex, which I calculate we can reach in one night’s march.” He gave her a smile. “Even with our favorite civilian.”

Melly poked at his statement a bit, and he wondered if she had suspicions the soldiers were very much on active duty of some sort. “Aren’t we all civilians technically? You’re retired, remember?”

Now wasn’t the time to have a discussion of their exact mission status, even if he’d wanted to open the Pandora’s box. “Sure didn’t feel like it tonight, not out there.”

“Why the police headquarters? Are there other survivors there?”

Jeff bitterly regretted the necessity to dash her hopes. “We haven’t seen any but it was probably one of the last places to hold out and I’m hoping there will be valuable intel there on the course of the outbreak and if anyone on the planet is safe. We’ll need an eventual destination to aim for.”

“My parents?—”

“Yes, your place is currently on my list as our second stop. I gave you my word. Unless circumstances change drastically. There’s another thing I want at police HQ and that’s armored transportation. It appears from our drone surveillance the Planetary Guard sent at least a few units into the city to render aid and there are vehicles we can use parked at HQ.”

“Why don’t we take a groundcar or two from the spaceport parking lot?” she asked, clearly puzzled. “Why do we have to walk for miles and take all these risks?”

“You missed the holos from the drones Cody sent over there but the parking lot and the freeway beyond are a mess. Groundcars crashed all over the place—there’s no way to drive through the congestion unless we had a tank and maybe not even then.” He hoped his next remarks would project more confidence than he felt. She’d been stalwart so far but how much more could she take? “We’ll be okay heading for police HQ on foot tonight. We know enough about the infected now to take the right precautions and Cody will do recon with his drones as we go. Am I happy about the need for the hike? No, but the risks are acceptable. Staying here isn’t an option. There’s no help coming and we’ll run out of food and water eventually. We need to stay mobile.”

“All right, I’m convinced.” She grinned. “Do you have a set of handy battle armor to fit me?”

Relieved she was getting with the program, he nodded. “Actually yes, we do. It’s lightweight but effective. What I need you to do today is go through your cargo container and pull out the things you want or need to take with us.”

“Did you find my stuff?” Excitement flared in her eyes and she stared past him to the large cargo holding area as if she wanted to dive into unpacking immediately.

“We did. I made it a priority right after our own gear. We won’t be coming back here so if there’s anything you absolutely have to have, take it but remember we need to be able to move fast so nothing heavy. Whatever medical gear or supplies you have I can portion out amongst the five of us but your personal effects are your own to lug on the march.” He glanced at her pretty but not terribly sturdy sandals. “If you have a pair of walking shoes, grab those.”

Brow wrinkled in a frown, Melly protested. “But surely I’ll be able to come back here for the rest of my things eventually, once this is all over.”

“From what we saw in the drone holos, the outbreak devastated the planet. Remember the newscast said 95% mortality rate. And then once the infected turned into those things outside, they killed anyone who’d survived who couldn’t run fast enough. We think we may have spotted one survivor moving through the city but we’re not sure.”

“One person out of all the millions?” Tears glimmered in her hazel eyes and he wanted to take her in his arms and offer comfort but restrained the impulse. Before she could say anything, she flicked away the droplets on her eyelashes and straightened resolutely. “Well I’m sure we’ll find others, including my family. Makes sense no one would linger in the city with all this going on. I did tell you my house is in the suburbs, right?”

Was she being deliberately blind to reality? Jeff hated to burst her bubble but he couldn’t let her continue to be so overly optimistic. Before he could utter the words, she glared at him and held up one hand. “Don’t” she said in a commanding, no nonsense tone. “Don’t give me any pessimistic military opinions. My family are survivors, you’ll see. I need to have hope to get through this, do you understand?”

“Got it, doc. Whatever it takes. Just be prepared for what we may find when we get there. May I show you where your cargo container is now?”

Melly made a regal gesture for him to precede her into the actual warehouse, which he did.