Chapter 6
Saturday, October 29th, 1983.
1900. Fifteen minutes post bite.
KV Perkins Office Building
Ice couldn’t believe the situation he was in. Bitten by one of the infected. On the verge of turning into one himself. And taken off the mission because of it.
He wanted to be out there watching Hazard’s back. Needed to protect him from the feral humans roaming the building. Unfortunately, right now he was a danger to Hazard himself.
It broke his heart to see the worry in his mate’s eyes when he’d been forced to go on without him. He didn’t want them to be separated either. But he’d stayed strong in order to do the right thing and send Hazard away. No matter how much it had hurt him to do so.
Now he was stuck here in this room. Waiting.
With nothing to do but think, he wondered if he should shift into his wolf form. According to Dr. Burke, he hadn’t done much research on shifters. Which meant that Ice had no information on how the enhancer would affect him in his other form.
Maybe he would burn off some of the poison with the powerful change that went though his body when he shifted. Or possibly since he burned more energy as a wolf his metabolism would eat up the virus in his system. But then again, his bigger mass as a human might make the progression of the change slower.
Ice scrubbed a hand over his face. There was no way to know what would happen if he shifted.
Before he could decide what to do, he heard a woman’s voice on the other side of the door calling out for someone.
“Jessica! Jessica!”
Ice straightened from the desk. Another survivor in here? Whoever she was, she was at serious risk wandering around the building. His first thought was to go out there and retrieve her. Bring her inside this room where it was safe. But then he remembered that he could be the one to hurt her.
Fuck. It was risky for him to approach the woman. But he couldn’t stand by and do nothing. He would go out and help her as fast as possible. Maybe swap places with her and lock her in this room while he went somewhere else.
Hoping this decision wouldn’t have a shit outcome, he went over to the double doors and unlocked one. But when he tried to push it open he saw the doors were latched together with zip ties. The rage starting to simmer within his mind urged him to slam his body against the doors and break them down. However, the still functioning rational part of his brain remembered that he had bolt cutters on his back. It would be fast and easy to snip the ties.
He did just that, then stepped out and closed the door behind him. Hopefully the room would stay secure and empty of infected while he was gone. Staying aware of his surroundings, he followed the softly whispering voice.
“Jessica! Jessica, come out right now!”
He came upon a woman in a blue suit, her dark hair straggling out of an updo. She was peeking into a room trying to find whoever she was looking for.
Ice slowly and quietly walked up behind her. When he got close, he softly called out to her. “Ma’am.”
The woman gasped and spun around to face him. When she got a look at his face, her eyes went wide. She screamed and stumbled back.
He was sure he looked terrifying to her, nearly bald, the whites of his eyes red, skin waxy and marred with blackened veins. But he couldn’t let her shrieking alert any infected that might be nearby. He leaped forward and slapped a hand over her mouth.
“Sssh! I’m not one of the infected. Not completely. I need you to be quiet and I’ll help you find Jessica. Understand?”
The woman’s eyes were still wide with fright. But she nodded.
“Good. When I take my hand off your mouth only speak in a whisper.” He slowly dropped his hand. “Who is Jessica?”
“My six-year-old daughter. I brought her to work with me because she didn’t want to go back to school after her dentist’s appointment.” Her voice caught on a quiet sob. “I had no idea this was going to happen.”
“How did you get separated?”
“We were hiding in a janitor’s closet. But we were in there a long time and she needed water. I told her to stay put while I went out to get some. But I ran into some of those... things.” She shuddered once before continuing. “They were blocking my way and I had to hide until they moved on. When I finally made it back, she was gone.”
The woman pressed a hand to her mouth to quiet her sobs as tears spilled down her cheeks.
Ice figured the little girl had probably gotten scared waiting so long by herself and went to look for her mother. “Do you have something of hers?”
“Yes. Her sweater is in the closet.”
“Let’s get it.”
He followed her down the hall to the small janitor’s closet where they’d been hiding. Inside, a little orange sweater was tossed over a wet floor sign.
Ice picked up the tiny item of clothing. He brought it to his nose and sniffed, familiarizing himself with her scent. The girl was human so her scent wasn’t as strong as a shifter child’s would be. But hopefully it would be enough for him to find her.
“I’ll track her,” he said as he handed the sweater back. Before he started his search, he prepared her for what they might find. “You know she may not be alive. Or she might have been infected.”
The woman gave a shaky nod, renewed tears welling up on her lashes. “I know.”
“Here.” He withdrew his Colt from its holster and held it out to her. “Do you know how to use this?”
“No.”
“Take it.”
After she gingerly accepted the weapon, he gave her a quick explanation on how to cock and fire it. Ordinarily he would never give a gun to a civilian. And an untrained one at that. But she needed to be able to protect herself.
“I don’t know how much time I have left before the virus takes over. If I do change and I come at you, don’t hesitate to shoot me. In the head so that I go down. And protect yourself from any infected that try to attack you.”
She stared at the gun in her hands then looked up at him.
“Okay.”
“All right. Let’s go.”
They set off with her at his back. Mindful of the timeclock he was on, Ice moved in a steady jog, searching for the scent from the sweater. It wasn’t long before his senses discovered it below the smells of death in the building. He followed it down a short hallway.
In the last room on the left, Ice heard the snarls of an infected. And just below that, the sound of a child crying. That had to be Jessica.
“She’s in there. Wait here,” he directed the mom.
Ice leaned around the doorframe to scope out the situation inside. The room was some kind of lab. There was an infected wearing a white lab coat trying to get at something on top of a cabinet.
Its target was a little girl dressed in a pair of orange overalls and a white turtleneck printed with pumpkins and black cats. Her raven black hair was in pigtails tied with orange and white yarn ribbons. She’d managed to climb on top of the cabinets above a long counter and had wedged herself into the small space between the top of the cabinets and the ceiling.
Thankfully the infected’s brain was too fried to realize it could climb up on the counter to get to the girl. It just kept jumping and swiping at her.
Ice hated to kill in front of a child, but he didn’t have a choice. He took aim and fired, hitting the infected in the back of the head. It jerked forward then crumpled to the ground.
Ice holstered his weapon then rushed over to retrieve the little girl. He held his arms up.
“Jump down.”
The little girl nodded. She scooted to the edge of the cabinet and pushed off.
Ice caught her then set her on her feet. “Come on, your mom is waiting for you.” Shielding her from the corpse on the floor, he led her out to the hall where the woman was anxiously waiting.
“Mommy!”
The little girl let go of Ice’s hand and ran to her mother.
“Oh, Jessica!” The woman swept her daughter up into her arms, squeezing her in a tight hug. “Sweetheart, I told you to stay put!” she scolded her daughter even as she cried.
“I thought you needed my help to fight the monsters so I went to find you.”
“Brave girl,” Ice said. As sweet as their reunion was, they couldn’t afford to stand there and celebrate. An infected could pop up at any moment. And he was holding on by the skin of his teeth. Through sheer force of will, he’d managed to hold back the change by focusing hard on the very important task of rescuing a child. But he couldn’t hold it back for much longer.
“We need to get you both to a secure location.”
He remembered the other group of survivors in the bathroom on the floor below. A bathroom would be the perfect place for the mother and child to hide. Ice took them to the nearest restroom. He checked first to make sure there weren’t any infected inside. Once he verified it was clear, he held the door open for them to go in.
“Now you’ve got all the water you want,” he said. “Stay here. My team is coming back to get me. I’ll send them for you as soon as they do.”
“Are you sure they’re coming back?” the woman asked.
“Yes.” He knew his mate and his pack would do everything in their power to get back to him. “If I turn before they come for me I won’t be able to let them know you’re here until I’m cured. So don’t be alarmed if it takes a while.” He took out the protein packs from his tac vest and handed them to the woman. “Here’s some food. Ration it.”
Now it was definitely time for him to get out of there. His blood burned lava hot under his skin and pinpricks of light were starting to creep into the edges of his vision.
“Stay safe,” he said as he turned to go.
“Thank you, Mr. Monster,” the little girl piped up.
“Yes. Thank you,” the woman said with deep gratitude.
Ice looked back at them. They clung to each other, but both were smiling. He was glad he’d taken the chance and helped. He nodded in acknowledgment of their thanks then directed them to close and lock the door.
Once they were secure, he returned to the room he’d been in before so his team didn’t have to waste time searching for him. Inside, he relocked the door. Too restless to lean on the desk again, he paced back and forth, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck.
His head was so hot it felt as if the inside of his skull was on fire. He clenched his hands into fists, trembling as he tried to resist the change. The anger coursing through him was unlike anything he’d ever felt before. He wanted - needed - to bite someone.
As he fought not to give in to the violent urge, his Instinct screamed at him over the red-hot rage slowly drowning out his rational thoughts. Shift . Shift . Shift !
Ice obeyed the insistent demand beating in his chest. He hurriedly stripped out of his gear and uniform, carelessly letting everything fall to the floor. Naked, he stretched and let the shift happen. A burst of power went through him and then he dropped down onto all fours, transformed into a big, white wolf.
In his wolf form, the heat and rage eased off. His mind cleared for a moment, the urge to bite fading into the background. Ice shook himself, thankful for the respite. He realized shifting had been the smart move. With paws instead of hands, he wouldn’t be able to get the door open and escape to possibly harm someone.
Unfortunately, the respite was brief. Soon the heat was boiling his insides again. And the rage...
Lips pulled back from his fangs, Ice growled deep in his throat. He wanted to attack someone. Something. Anything . But there was no one there. Frustrated, he prowled up and down the room, futilely searching for a target. He needed to bite .