Something to Die For by Kaye Blue
Fifteen
Lucas
The outpost wasfifteen miles away from Merlin’s compound.
Before we left, I had watched some of the news footage that Merlin had recorded before the broadcasts stopped and saw that whatever epidemic had happened was worldwide.
What we had seen in the infirmary was happening everywhere.
I’d known that. I hadn’t been naive enough to think this was localized. Even still, it was hard to reconcile that reality with this seemingly peaceful night.
It was late now, closer morning than night, and it was still peaceful, everything I imagined a quiet night in the country would be.
Except it wasn’t that, not by a long shot.
And I couldn’t let myself, or Merlin and his guys, get lulled by the illusion that everything was fine.
I grabbed the walkie-talkie Merlin had placed in the console.
“We’re approaching the gates. Remember that we don’t know what we’re going to find, so everybody stay alert. We go in, get the shit we came for, and we go.”
I put the walkie-talkie down and looked at Merlin, saw tightness around his mouth, but disregarded it. I wasn’t interested in taking over and had told him as much.
I’d also told him that I would do whatever I had to do to make this op successful.
And though I hadn’t shared it with Merlin, I had two goals:
- Get the fuck away from here
- Make sure Angel did the same
Merlin’s fuckingfeelings weren’t going to get in the way of that.
“Do you know if there’s surveillance?” I asked Merlin.
“There’s cameras all over the place. But who gives a fuck? Martial law, remember? If there’s anybody here, it’s a skeleton crew. They might see us come in, but they aren’t going to try to do anything about it. And they sure as shit aren’t getting reinforcements,” Merlin said.
“You’d better be right,” I muttered.
I tightened my grip on my assault rifle and focused.
There was a fence around the perimeter, a warning to stop, but the outpost definitely wasn’t a full-blown base.
And much like the prison, the front door was wide open.
Whether that was a good sign or a trap was yet to be determined.
The three trucks creeped through the gate slowly, and I could feel the tension radiating off Merlin.
“The electronics will be there,” I said, nodding at a squat, flat building to the far left of the fence and perimeter.
At first, I thought Merlin had wanted to rob the place for weapons, and while he would no doubt take those, the electronic equipment was the real prize.
Sat phones, radios, maybe even medical equipment. Shit that would get really hard to find as this went on.
The trucks pulled to a stop and everyone rolled out, headed to their respective tasks.
I ran toward the outbuilding, not meeting any resistance, both surprised and heartened by that.
When I got inside the building, I still didn’t see anything, so I forged ahead. With Merlin at my side, I make quick work of grabbing case after case of electronic equipment.
We loaded it all on to a wheeled cart for easy transport and headed toward the door, having grabbed it all in less than ninety seconds.
Merlin pushed the cart, and I covered us with the assault rifle.
We’d closed the door of the building behind us, an effort to be stealthy if anyone happened to come by.
I looked back at Merlin, saw that he was ready, and then pushed the door open.
And stepped into hell.