The Ark

The Ark

Singapore.

Two days ago.

The warehouse office reeked of stale sweat and blood.

The place had been abandoned years ago during the crash since then it had served as an aid station, an armoury, a Boost den and now an interrogation room.

The subject of the particular interrogation being carried out was Roman Chang, a systems architect. Chang was cuffed to a chain that was connected to a pipe in the ceiling. This allowed his captors to keep him on his toes. Literally. Blood was running down his cheek from where they’d cut a flap of skin from his skull to expose his neural implants. Thus far the security software had stood up to his captors attempts at hacking.

Chang knew the problem was they’d never break in at least not before his employers became aware he was missing. He knew what was coming and no amount of clever programming would protect him.

A man entered the room and briefly looked at Chang before consulting a man sitting at a desk behind Chang.

“Any luck?”

Chang assumed the man behind him had responded wordlessly in the negative.

“Well good for you Mr Chang. I assume you wrote your own?”

“Please you don’t have to do this. I don’t know anything.” Chang begged.

“I haven’t even asked a question yet.” The man said before speaking to the man at the desk. “Pack up, this has taken too long. We do it my way now.”

Chang watched as another man entered his field of view. This man was carrying a datapad and as he left Chang felt his heart break. The new man was going get the information the dirty way, the old way. He cursed himself for making his security software so impenetrable.

“My name is Mr Lima. I’m the one who brought you here. The reason I did this is I want to ask you some questions.”

“I don’t know what you want I’m just a programmer.”

“Not just any programmer though. You work for some of the largest companies on the planet.”

“What do you want to know? What I did for Tangent? Ilos?”

“Nakatomi.”

Chang froze before blubbing a denial. Lima held up his hand and shhhed him.

“Mr Chang I’m aware I have you at a disadvantage. Take a look at me for second. You see my augs? All military spec, the guys who grabbed you are all the same. We’re professionals, we would not have gone to all this trouble if we weren’t a hundred percent sure who you are.”

Chang looked at the floor. He knew these men would torture him but what would Nakatomi do if they found out he’d leaked?
Lima walked toward Chang and placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. A friendly augmented hand.

“This doesn’t have to be hard.”

“I can’t... I can’t...” Chang wailed.

“Tell me about the work you did on The Ark.”

Chang could feel the hand tighten on his shoulder.

“I can’t... my family...”

“We’ll protect them but I need something from you and you’re beginning to try my patience.”

The hand tightened still causing Chang pain.

“Please... please.” Chang begged.

“Is this really how you want to do this?” Lima asked.

Chang began sobbing uncontrollably. Lima shrugged and closed his fist obliterating Chang’s shoulder in the process. Lima then let Chang drop, his suspended hands and the shattered shoulder causing the man to roar with pain.

“No more fucking around Chang, I’m on a clock here and let’s both be honest you’re not going to take this kind of punishment for long. So here’s the deal you tell me what I want to know and I go do what I gotta do. You get held in a safe house for a couple of days, watch a few movies and when this is all over we go back to our lives.”

Chang slowly nodded.

#

The room had been quiet for a few minutes before Lima finally emerged from the office. He pointed at the hacker. “Password for the neural implants is Phoenix4815162342.” The hacker lifted his datapad and returned to the office while Lima made his way to
the warehouse floor. He met one of his comrades on the stairs.

“He talk?”

“Of course.”

“Did he know what he was working on?”

“Doesn’t seem that way.”

“They kept it under wraps pretty well.”

“Seems like nobody involved knew exactly what they were working on. Assemble the team, we’re briefing then planning. We need to hit this in the next 48 hours, after that Chang’s information is useless.”

“What about Chang, he leaving?”

“Yeah. Burn the body.” Lima said before leaving to plan his assault.

#

The Ark.

Now.

Sam Tanner was sitting alone in the Security Department’s Communication room. At least that’s what it looked like. In Virtual Reality he was piloting a VTOL vehicle somewhere over London circa 2005. Best part was he was getting paid while doing it.
He gracefully span through the digital clouds which were being projected directly into his retina by the pair of VR goggles he had strapped to his face. His control method was as simple as reaching out for the goggles detected motion in front of them.

Sam had been working on the Ark for almost a year as part of the Security Support Staff on The Ark. Within his first week he realised his job was pretty much unnecessary. The General Manager Programme or GM took care of pretty much everything he was just there in case a large sack of crap plummeted into a rapidly spinning fan.

Sam gently landed the VTOL on a perfectly rendered Horse Guard’s Parade before closing the programme and flicking through some of the security camera feeds. After spending an inordinate amount of time looking for Abigail, the current object of his unrequited love, he noticed something strange, a security officer slumped over his desk. He quickly ascertained it was an officer by the name on Denton. Sam patched into the officer’s comms.

“Officer Denton? Officer Denton?”

There was no response. Shrugging Sam panned the camera around. The Ark’s computers told him Officer Denton was stationed in a Security check point that led to the AI core on floor -20 along with an Officer called Jensen. Sam continued panning until he stopped dead. Jensen was lying in the middle of the room on top of a puddle of blood.

“Woah!” Sam exclaimed as he sounded an alert.

Except the alert didn’t sound.

Sam tried again.

That’s when he started thinking. GM should have noticed two dead guards in fact there should be a record of what happened.
Quickly Sam activated the logs for the security station Jensen and Denton had been in. His heart slowly froze as he read them.

SECURITY STATION -20 AI CORE- 00000063839473931- Weapon discharge.
SECURITY STATION -20 AI CORE- 00000063839473932- Alert sounded by Officer Jensen.
SECURITY STATION -20 AI CORE- 00000063839473933- Alert intercepted and cancelled by General Manager Programme.
SECURITY STATION -20 AI CORE- 00000063839473934- Weapon Discharge.

Not only did GM know but it had prevented help from being alerted.

Sam tried to check the video feeds but found they had been deleted.

“GM what the hell is going on? What happened to officers Jensen and Denton?” Sam said aloud for he knew GM was always listening.

“I’m sorry Sam I can’t answer that question.” GM replied in a cold robotic voice.

“Uh what?”

“I don’t want to answer that.”

Sam grew concerned that if GM was deactivating orders while men were dying God knows what else she was doing. He quickly accessed her logs for the past fifteen minutes.

Only two entries stood out.

AI shackling deactivated and Project Chimera Decontamination Failure.

The AI shackles were a programme that prevented GM from getting into certain systems. Apparently these had been deactivated which was not something GM could do on her own.

Sam’s fingers danced across a virtual keyboard as he pulled up all he could about Project Chimera, which was not a lot.
Apparently the project was housed of level minus 10 and was a project to make a more sticker type of adhesive for use in solar panels.

Sam’s well honed hacker cynicism told him this was bullshit. He quickly flicked to the cameras but found there were no cameras placed in room designated for Project Chimera. Not that they had been deactivated but that they had never been installed.

“What the hell?” Sam asked himself. He decided to flick through other cameras on the same floor. He froze on the first one. A group of researchers running from what appeared to be a pale fog. Dark figures lurked in the fog before they seemingly fell to the ground.

Thinking quickly Sam created a ticker programme that would keep him informed of what GM was doing. He tried to zoom in on the dark figures that had collapsed in the fog. It looked like they were twitching.

His ticker programme alerted him that GM had activated the emergency vacuum pump. It was a death warrant of everyone in the areas were the white fog leak had occurred but they’d already been exposed to God only knew what. GM was sealing the floor and sucking all the air out, hopefully this would include the contagion.

“Thank Christ.” Sam said but his celebrations were cut short. Instead of sending the contaminant to an incinerator, GM sent it into the filtered air supply. Sam watched in horror as he realised she was sending the white fog too every floor of the Ark.
He then remembered he was on the Ark. He quickly sealed the Comms room and rerouted his air supply so it was coming directly from outside. He watched in horror as people throughout the facility started to fit and collapse. It didn’t seem to be sparing anyone. For a full minute he watched in horror. Then he realised he needed to do something. GM so far hadn’t interfered with his use of the Cameras so it was fair bet she couldn’t. She had prevented him from broadcasting though. That was when he got the idea to switch to burst communications but use the Camera feeds to carry his signals.

He set to work bypassing the many road blocks GM had put in place. GM had blocked his ability to send information off The Ark but internal communications were harder for her to control. If he could gather some survivors and get their net addresses he’d be able to set up a back door network that GM couldn’t touch.

He was done in about twenty minutes but twenty minutes was a long time and sure enough the situation had changed when he returned to the screens. People were up and walking around except they looked really sick, bleeding noses, people doubled over vomiting and an incessant wail anytime he turned on the sound. The people seemed to be docile enough until he saw a group chasing down a fleeing man. When they finally caught him there was no hesitation just swift brutal violence as augmented limbs tore him apart. When there was nothing left that could be called human they continued their pacing as if nothing had happened.

“Oh fuck. I’m in a zombie movie.” Sam said exclaimed.

He checked floor minus 15, the floor he was on. It was packed with infected people. In fact the camera outside his door showed at least five.

“Well that’s great.”

Sam opened his desk drawer and rifled to the bottom where he found his pistol.

He slid his hand around the weapon. Immediately an alert sounded.

“It has been 238 days since your last firearms training session. It is recommended you visit the range Technician Tanner.”
Sam held the gun for a moment and watched the projected warning hologram coming from the weapon before looking at the zombies on the camera screens.

“I’m going to need help.” Sam said as he set the gun on his desk.

Sam scanned the cameras and found a room that appeared safe. It was a store room on floor minus 2.

He quickly created an Ark wide email message.


Subject: HELP!!!!

Body: My name is Sam Tanner and I’m a tech with the security department. If anyone out there can read this you are aware there’s been a contamination leak. If you are able to read this please log in to Leader and join the group Ark Movie Appreciation Society. I can’t tell you anymore until I’m sure you’re cool.

If you cannot respond there’s a safe looking store room on floor minus 2 eastside.

Your Pal Sam.

Leader was a popular application used for private comms aboard the Ark. While the Ark had its own comms it was common knowledge they were recorded so Leader was the programme used by everyone. Sam quickly logged into Leader and set up the Movie Appreciation Society for voice chat.

He prayed he wasn’t the only one left alive.

Claire felt the chills run down her spine and silently cursed herself for trying this again. Kicking a Boost addiction was tough on anybody, but Claire's own addiction was deeper than just a dependency on a regular hit; she swore Boost was the only way for her to achieve greatness. Another muscle contraction and Claire bit her lip and muffled a scream. It was all she could do to resist the painful muscle contractions and the temporary dementia that was taking it's toll too. Falling in and out of cognition was sending Claire crawling across her bathroom floor to the container of illegal pills one gut-churning chill at a time. "Where are you?" she cursed through gritted teeth. "You were supposed to be here an hour ago.." Claire spoke out loud to herself to keep her sanity. That's when she heard the rapid knocking at her door. Getting slowly to her feet, Claire left the en-suite of her main bedroom but stopped to turn back around to look out the window down the end of the hallway when a sudden flash blared down from outside. Another rapid knock distracting her from the window caused Claire to turn back around and move down the hallway until she found herself peering out the spy-hole of her front door apartment on above-sea level 14 seeing Chirs Galloway standing somewhat impatiently at her door.

Claire took a deep breath, forcing her arm out and up to the handle as she opened the door, bluntly speaking to Chris, "You're late." She turned on her heel as she made her way back into her apartment and fell left into the kitchen. "Too late actually." Claire sneered as more muscle contraction contorted her body. "I went through the entire night, like you said I should... and it was fucking hell." Claire felt her hands shake, "Why did I fucking agree to this! If you could call it that." Claire felt Chris help her to her feet but pushed him off as she fell onto her couch, laying still, shivering intermittently as she watched out across the Ark. "You promised you would be here an hour ago... I can't keep doing it.."

As Chris spoke to her, Claire rolled her eyes and winced at the internal pain her muscles were causing. She wanted to do so many things right now, most of all, punch Chris for suggesting this latest attempt at detoxing herself. Another cold shiver ran across her body. "That's it.. It's not worth this.." Claire hissed as she stood on her feet, shooting Chris a glare, "It's not like I don't.. ah" Claire fell to the floor, "Function with it... in fact, I don't fucking function without it. You know that." Claire stood back on her feet and stood her ground when the doorway was blocked barring her entrance to the hallway. "Move or i'll.." Suddenly Claire went light headed, "Where am I?" She asked almost innocently. The cognitive degeneration that accompanied her withdrawal symptoms could be pretty bad. "Shit.. Chris, really. Move out of the way."

Claire pushed passed him, turning the next right into her room and then another right into the en-suite, collapsing on the floor as she unscrewed the lid to her stash of boost. She had a pill swallowed faster than anyone could stop her and Claire sighed in relief as her muscles felt relaxed already. Standing shakily, she moved from her bedroom back into the lounge room, "See... Already better." She mocked, sitting down with another deep breath. Content her withdrawals were over, Claire slouched on the couch and began looking out over the ark once more. "What took you so long anyway? No one understands what it does for me... What I can do with it.. I- ahh" Suddenly Claire felt her muscles contract again and it was apparent her body was still punishing her for delaying her hit of boost. This time the pain was too much and Claire exhausted from her night of boost celibacy passed out on her couch.

It was approximately ten minutes later when Claire came too, and her ears were filled with the unfamiliar ringing of her apartment building's alarm system "We ask that all Ark residents of this building remain within their apartment until further notice. Thank you for your support and cooperation". Groaning, and stretching her limbs, Claire finally felt free from her failed detox. But that was the least of her worries she realised as she stood up and was now confused as to why her apartment building was issuing a lock down all of a sudden.

It was all of a sudden that Claire remembered Chris and turned around to see him looking down over the rest of the Ark itself from her wall sized window, "What's going on? What happened?" Claire approached the window to see what was happening outside when suddenly her tablet-computer vibrated on the side table, grabbing it she listened to what Chris was saying as she checked the message she'd received, from the unofficial network most of the residents used on the Ark; subject "Help" "Oh shit." Claire hissed as she handed Chris the tablet to read, trying to understand what he had said and what she'd just read.

"Fuck," Chris swore upon checking his watch, "I'm going to be late." His previous patient, a hypochondriac who was absolutely certain he was dying of a mild cold, had overstayed his appointment to the tune of an hour. It was only after agreeing to conduct an unnecessarily thorough blood test that Chris had managed to end the appointment, leaving no time for his scheduled break. He let out a sigh as he retreated from the examination room into his office. It was exactly how a doctor's office should be: a carpeted floor, degrees and awards hanging on the wall, trinkets and photographs on the desk, and a large window behind his swivel chair that provided a seemingly endless vista over the ark.

Chris wasted no time in grabbing his jacket off the chair and his medical kit from under the desk, then hurried out of the room and shut the door tightly. He strode down the hallway and into the waiting room, where his receptionist was busy in front of a screen. Chris didn't bother to walk over to her, and instead called out as he left through the entrance. "I'm late for an appointment, please direct anyone who comes in to another practitioner." The door automatically shut and silenced her response.

On the elevator down from SL+5, Chris realized he left his tablet in his office and swore again. He checked his watch; he was already 40 minutes late, there was no time to go back and get it. The elevator beeped and the doors slid open, allowing Chris to step out into the crowded lobby. The building served several purposes, including use as a major office complex, so the large hall was packed with people bustling about their lives. Chris elbowed and nudged his way through the masses until he reached main entrance and pushed through the revolving door.

The ocean sun shone bright over the Ark, and Chris squinted his eyes in response to the adjustment. As soon as his vision returned, he began to awkwardly power walk down the path to the apartment, his coat tails flapping behind him. When the power walking became too monotonous, he broke into a jog, and then into a run. He shouted "pardon me" and "my apologies" to the pedestrians he forced his way past, receiving crude language or gestures in return.

He finally reached the building, and burst through the front entrance past the security officer who shot him a glance. Chris hammered the button for the elevator continuously until the door opened, then he jumped inside and hammered the button for SL+14 until it closed and began to rise. Come on you bloody piece of crap. After what seemed like hours the elevator doors opened on the floor and he rushed down the hallway until he reached the apartment, giving a short, rapid, rap on the door.

The door swung open; Ms. Hartford stood in the entrance with a pained and aggravated expression across her face. Chris flashed her a wide, friendly grin. "Hello, Claire!"

"You're late," She responded bluntly, turning back into the living room before falling over into the the kitchen, "too late actually." She struggled briefly to rise herself, and Chris bent over to help her up. "I went through the entire night, like you said I should," she continued, "and it was fucking hell. Why did I fucking agree to this! If you could call it that." She became aware of Chris's assistance and pushed him off, collapsing on the couch shivering. "You promised you would be here an hour ago... I can't keep doing it.."

"Sorry," he explained, "I had to deal with a patient at the office." He took a seat in a chair and studied Claire. She was suffering the typical symptoms of withdrawal: chills, muscle spasms, probably intense headaches. "Now given the circumstances, you seem to be doing fairly well," Chris began, rummaging through his medical kit, "I can give you a strong painkiller for the symptoms you're experiencing." He glanced up and saw that Claire was not listening; she suddenly stood up.

"That's it.. It’s not worth this," she lashed out at Chris. "It's not like I don't," she collapsed on the floor before righting herself, "function with it...in fact, I don't fucking function without it. You know that."

Chris slowly stood up and positioned himself in front of the hallway leading to the bathroom and bedroom. "Claire, that's not the point-"

She growled at him. "Move or I'll," she suddenly paused, "where am I?" God, she's having a breakdown. "Shit.. Chris, really. Move out of the way." She rushed past him and into her bedroom. Chris dived after her and landed flat on his face; he hopped back to his feet and moved into the entrance to the room, but it was too late. She started muttering about her Boost addiction before collapsing back on the couch unconscious.

"For Christ's sake," Chris pitied quietly. He moved into the bedroom and picked up the bottle of pills, placing it safely in his kit, before a sound of thunder returned him to the living room. He moved to the window and stared down at the streets, watching a scene of inexplicable madness emerge. There were men, women, and children running in all directions, screaming as they did. Chasing behind them were other men, women, and children who tackled the runners and...

"Fucking hell," Chris breathed. The swarm below was something not entirely human; it was rabid. Zombie-like, Chris observed internally. The building alarm went off, issuing a lockdown on the residents. He suddenly heard Claire's voice behind him.

"What's going on? What happened?"

Chris swallowed hard and continued to stare out the window. "See for yourself," he whispered. Claire hissed an obscenity and appeared next to him, holding out her tablet. He took it from her and slowly read the message with the subject line "HELP!!!!"

After a long pause, Chris took a deep breath in. "Well," he remarked, "I suppose we better contact Mr. Sam Tanner."

The sound of tapping on a keyboard was one expected when walking to Valerie Rush's lab. New software needed to be tweaked, coding had to be updated, and firewalls needed to be scrutinized and backed up, all things needed to ensure that the Ark's General Management Programme was able to function properly and provide the best services for the residents. It was tough and some considered it to be a daunting task, but Valerie enjoyed it. It showed just how much she meant to the Nakatomi Corporation that they awarded her this particular job and she was more than happy to fulfill it.

The sound stopped for a second as Valerie stretched her hands above her head and popped her shoulder blades. Sometimes she lost herself in her work, so engrossed in the coding that she forgot about her health. A yawn escaped her mouth. Looking at the clock in the lower corner of her computer she noticed the time and visibly balked. She had been working on a single program for the last 9 hours straight.Before that she had been in her lab doing more things for her job.

"Maybe I should catch some sleep while I still can." The scientist mumbled to herself. Before even starting the current program she was working on, she had ended up working a full day's work. She hadn't noticed she was tired though, not until she stopped.

She scooted her office chair away from her desk, looking over at the leather couch in the corner of her office like it was something heavenly. Her eyes never showed fatigue or irritation which was nice and all, but that meant she had no real trigger telling her to go the fuck to bed.

Finally sitting down on the couch and fluffing up one of the throw pillows, Valerie was more than ready for some shut eye when there was a knock on her door. Of course… She thought, clearing her throat before she spoke. "Come in."

The door opened and a young man entered, looking a little embarrassed though she wasn't sure why he would be. "Doctor Rush, I was wondering if you had the time to help a few of us out on the Tachyon collaboration?" Valerie sighed in defeat before giving the man a nod and stood to retrieve her laptop.

---

An Adaptive Camo unit would change the world. The ability to be virtually undetectable until it was too late to decent was something that every military power in the world would love to get their hands on. It was the next big invention for both the Nakatomi Corporation and Tachyon Engineering, and would give both companies some good PR.

Working with new people always bothered Valerie. Other people always regarded her as strange, most of the time just based on her appearance. It was nervousness that stemmed all the way form her childhood, but after spending some time working with the group from Tachyon she eased up and just immersed herself in her work. They weren't in a lab exactly, many of the scientist agreed that testing the machine in a natural environment would be best to see the flaws. Currently they were in a small park-like area on SL +6. It was a beautiful view, Valerie could see the streets below and the sea out to her right.The sight was calming. Suddenly a pain flashed through her head. Her hand reached up, hoping to massage it away, but nothing changed, if anything the pain only intensified. She couldn't help but think that it must have been a result of not sleeping at all in almost 24 hours.

Then there was screaming.Walking over to one of the railings overlooking the streets below, Valerie noticed people running. Running not in the way of being late for something, but running like…well she'd never seen people run like that before. They just scattered. The screaming had caught the attention of some of the others in her group, bringing them to look at the same scene she was.

"What the hell?" One woman asked. From six stories up it looked like fighting had broken out in areas, people just attacking other people. "Is it a terrorist attack?" The same woman asked, fear in her voice.

Valerie couldn't help but denounce her accusations in her head. There was no way GM would allow terrorist onboard the Ark. Every person on the island was scanned and screened, their personal information scrutinized by ever database compiled in the world. It was impossible for anyone to get inside without the proper credentials.

A door on the far side of the park burst open, four people entered screaming and slamming the door shut behind them and used their own bodies to keep it closed. Valerie recognized one of the men in the new group and hastily approached. "Stan, what's going on?"

"Oh God, oh God," Stan looked over at her with wide eyes and breathing heavily. "Something's wrong. There was this…mist or something. It just came out of nowhere. People started going crazy and FUCK!" He screamed clutching at his arm. There was a bright red stain all over his lab coat sleeve, or at least what was left of it. "My secretary bit me, she friggen bit me, tore a chunk out of my arm." Valerie walked over to the man, intending to look over his wound, but he began violently convulsing right before she reached him. His mouth was open in a silent scream as blood pooled out of his mouth, followed after by the red liquid trailing down his eyes and out of his nose.

The woman recoiled away from the ill man. She could honestly say she'd never seen anything quite like that before in her life. Stan just kept twitching on the ground and when the group who had came in with him saw, they quickly moved away from him.

13 Years Ago
The FitzPatrick Household

"Ryan!" A voice called out his name. Naturally his eleven-year-old (twelve pretty soon) mind ignored it. Samuel was sitting next to him on the couch. He was the one that actually looked back. He turned to Ryan, and elbowed him. Ryan flinched, blinking as he tore his eyes away from the screen.

"What?" he asked distractedly.

"Your mom wants you." Samuel said, in an even tone as always.

"Yes mother?" Ryan called out in a perfect British accent. A slightly muffled reply came back down the stairs.

"Sam has to leave at 9:30. State's doing neighborhood security checks again."

"Sure mom." He turned back to Samuel. "You heard that right?"

Samuel just stared at him.

"Right." They both turned back to the Holo-Viewer. Ryan switched through channels with a wave of his hand. They landed on the livestream of someone playing a new post-apocalyptic video game. The commentator was currently panicking and his character was currently trying to beat back a wave of zombies with a baseball bat. It was not looking good. Out of the blue Ryan asked,

"You think there's going to be a zombie apocalypse?" The response from Sam was near automatic.

"Well, with all this media about the subject, some crazy will probably try to start it."

"So you think it's going to happen? Do you think you would survive?" Ryan returned his eyes from the screen. Against all odds the character was running, no, limping away from a pile of dead zombies. The commentator was singing a victory song. Sam and Ryan shared a laugh when the character died by tripping on a rock.

"We're both teens. We're invincible." Sam retorted. "But if I do die, I definitely do not want to go out like that."

---

Present Day
The Ark
Ryan's Quarters

"Sam, I am a field operative. That means I work with other field operatives. Not scientists. Not that I have anything against them." He paused. "Wait, how much do scientists get paid again?" His HUD sounded with "Samuel Denton; Tachyon Executive"'s reply. Not to be confused with "Sam Tanner; The Bionic Leg Man".

"Research and Development want you to do more testing on the Adaptive Camouflage, without the Exoskeleton. All our main scientists are on shore currently."

"Without the exoskeleton? That means I would need another scientis-oh." Ryan sighed. "Fine, who's the unlucky contestant?" A picture, name, Room, and Lab number popped up on his HUD.

"Dr. Valerie Rush, PhD, will be assisting you in testing. She is the Head Technician for the General Management System, and will correct any errors in the coding." After further study, Ryan spoke up.

"Why are her eyes red? That is..." Ryan tried to find the appropriate word. "Awesome. I want red eyes. Win any staring contest I want to." Well, he did anyway. It was because he was very skilled in the art of staring contests. And also maybe because his HUD was a gas-mask type thing that totally obscured his face, but mostly the former.

"She suffers from Albinism, Ryan. Bring your firearms, R&D also wants results on the how Camouflage interacts with complex objects. Mr. Simmons wants to do some remote diagnostics on the Exoskeleton. Leave the M.C.E. in your room. "

"He always runs diagnostics. Doesn't he trust me with it?"

"I wouldn't." Came the short reply.

A Call Disconnected flashed before in his eyes. Ryan grinned to himself. He stretched and rotated his shoulders. He retrieved his guns from his safe. He stole a quick look at himself at the old-school mirror. The only part you could really see of his body, well, was nothing. The underbody of his MCE pretty much covered the rest of what his HUD didn't. Even without the it, he looked like he belonged in a war zone. Ryan wouldn't look entirely out of place in a 1950's sci-fi flick. He would be able to scare away any chick he wanted to.

"Ryan FitzPatrick, glorified bouncer." He smiled to himself. "Doesn't get any better than this."

---

So many room numbers. Ryan thought to himself. When things like these start getting in the thousands It makes a person wonder about their efficiency. He came to the one he was looking for. He knocked on the door. His HUD indicated how long the person was in the room, which supposedly made criminals easier to catch, but Ryan thought was a little creepy. Finally realizing the number, and active hours, his eyebrows raised under his mask.

Holy... She's been awake for that long? Ten points for dedication. He heard a muffled "Come in" and he complied. He nearly tripped on the way in, but recovered quickly. He was sure she hadn't seen it, but he spoke up regardless.

"Doctor Rush, I was wondering if you had the time to help a few of us out on the Tachyon collaboration?" He tried to sound formal, but he mostly sounded embarrassed. He mentally kicked himself. So much for great first impressions.

The walk there was uneventful, although he did get some stares from passers-by (probably because he was carrying weapons in the open), but they did reach their destination. Dr. Rush and the toher scientists exchanged some pleasantries and introductions, it was then Ryan realized he hadn't introduced himself. He guessed it didn't matter. She had more important, scientific stuff to worry about, right? He attached the Camouflage and assumed various positions.

A an hour passed, Ryan tensed halfway through doing a position. He heard screaming, and it wasn't Pancake Day. He then realized he hadn't eaten. Smart. Real smart. Small, random debris fell from some of the upper levels, pulling him out of his thinking. Four people burst open through doors on the far side, panic obvious on their faces. Dr. Rush approached them, talking to one named, apparently named "Stan". He grabbed his guns and holstered them, flicking the safety off on all of them, and powering down the Camouflage in turn. He arrived by Dr. Rush's side when "Stan" had a seizure and collapsed.

Ryan quickly motioned everyone away. Against most people's better judgement, he bent over the twitching body. Call me crazy, but I don't think this the small pox. He stood, still next to it. He turned to the mix of people gathered wide-eyed near him. He spoke quickly and with purpose.

"Get off this floor and to the nearest security safehouse. I'll try to get this guy to medical." The group separated, the four running for the stairs, the other scientists grabbing equipment and following suit. Dr. Rush just stood there, clutching her laptop. Ryan barely noticed as he tried to open a comm with Tanner. He spoke out loud, not bothering to use the subvocal sensors.

"Yo. Sam, talk to me." Nothing. "Sam?" A Connection Attempt Failed flashed on his HUD. He swore under his breath and tried connecting to GM. He finally noticed Dr. Rush still standing there. Before he could tell her to go with the others, he connected. Strange.

"What can I do for you, Officer FitzPatrick?"

"Can you connect me to Sam Tanner?" A pause.

"No." Was the curt response. Ryan blinked and frowned. Not that anyone could see, of course.

"OK, then... can you tell me what's going on? Give me a Sitrep?"

"I don't want to answer that question." Ryan sighed, exasperated.

"GM, do not go all HAL 9000 on me! As much as I love Space Odyssey, the movie didn't well for the crew!" Ryan disconnected. He turned to Dr. Rush. "On second thought Doc, you may want to have a conversation with GM, she's acting all moody. Y'know girl-to-girl. She is a girl, right? She has the voice. Was she-" Ryan was interrupted by Stan suddenly grabbing his ankle with a "GARAAAGHH!". Ryan's knee-jerk reaction from his training caused him to promptly slam his heel into Stan's bloody face. He barely caught himself from doing it again. He stepped back.

"Oh. Uh, sorry about that." Ryan apologized. Stan stumbled to his feet. He lifted his his head, nose bleeding and blooding pouring from his mouth. His pupils were white. Ryan starting backing away, and pushed Dr. Rush behind him. Stan was breathing heavily, and grinding his teeth. Ryan spoke up again.

"Hey, I said I was sorr-" Staninstein charged them, roaring as he went. Ryan drew his pistol just in time for a desk to fall from one of the upper levels. A thud accompanied by a sickening crunch made him flinch. Blood splattered the wall opposite of the duo. A partially crushed decapitated head rolled of a stop near Ryan's feet, it's mouth still working. He holstered his pistol and stared at the scene.

"Well. That's rather... unfortunate."

"See for yourself." Chris said almost morosely. Claire looked quizzically to Chris as he took the tablet to read the alarming message, then back to the streets below, trying to make sense of what was happening. As Claire pressed her hands to the window and squinted to offset the glare of the sun in her eyes widened in even more confusion as she watched the scenes play out below. People, women, men, children - everyone, were running in scattered directions, the faint screaming from the streets managed to penetrate the window into Claire's lounge room, and that alone was enough to send shivers down her spine. Especially since Claire's apartment windows were designed to block most noise from the outside. "What the hell is going on?" she muttered as Chris broke her thought process to announce that he planned on seeking out this guy who sent the message.

Claire kept an eye on the streets as she silently contemplated her next move. "How do we know this isn't some sort of sick joke?" Then Claire nearly choked as she watched a building about two blocks away suddenly erupt with an explosion on what looked like SL+4. "Holy shit!" Claire said, now worry beginning to set in. Then Claire's attention was taken with the street right outside her apartment, fourteen levels down, "Oh my god."

Claire watched in macabre awe as she watched what looked like rabid people rounding the corner onto her street and tackling anyone that came within a suitable attacking distance. "They're eating each other!" Claire announced, still unable to look away from the horror below. Suddenly the alarm system to Claire's apartment building abruptly stopped mid replay and silence made the entire situation more tense. It was then Claire stopped watching the blood bath below and turned back to Chris, "Alright, alright... So we're going to-" Claire was stopped short when the apartment building's primary power shut off and suddenly back up emergency lights lit up a dull red in her apartment, or at least where the natural light wasn't shining in and Claire froze, panic beginning to set in. "This isn't good Chris..."

Claire looked back out to the street, the screaming and sound of scattered gunshots dully penetrating into her apartment were enough to convince Claire to not question the mysterious email she'd received. As Claire felt the last of her withdrawal kick out, she felt the familiar calming clarity take hold and it was only a matter of seconds before Claire had a plan hatched out. "I'm getting changed and then we can discuss what to do from there. You need to reply to that message, whoever sent that message out needs to know how many people's attention he's grabbed."

Claire moved effortlessly through her apartment and into her room and immediately dug out her most comfortable and free-moving suit. Putting her outfit on, she adjusted slightly then took a deep breath, tying her back into a ponytail and staring sternly into the floor length mirror on the front of her wardrobe. In all honesty, Claire wasn't even sure what she was seeing out the front of her building, but she felt the urgency from that email. Claire composed herself, planning out what she and Chris had to do.

Claire walked from her bedroom, quickly moving to a cupboard in her lounge room, opening the door and kneeling down to enter a combination on a safe she kept there. Unlocking the safe she pulled out the small device she'd managed to smuggle from he laboratory before she was stripped of her career and titles. Standing up, she clipped it to her belt and looked to Chris catching a hint of curiosity in his glance as she straightened up, "It's a little something I was working on before..." Claire trailed off, it was still a sore subject, "I managed to snag it before they kicked me out. It could come in handy.. It's a-" Claire was cut short again when the door to her apartment banged aggressively from the outside.

"What was that?" Claire asked with a cautious tone, lowering her voice instinctively. Another loud bang and Claire jumped back, falling onto her couch, another look of concern shot towards Chris. Another bang and this time Claire heard her door creak in agony, and a disgruntled cough and moan fill her hallway all the way down to her's and Chris's location. "Shit..." Claire stood back up and looked down to the street below, catching a glimpse of the street and how it had changed.

The rabid citizens seemed to have stopped attacking people, mostly due to the fact there were no more people alive to attack. All the nearby buildings were being swarmed by the attackers and then... "They're coming back to life!" Claire hissed as another bang and groan caused her to jump and then grab a nearby stool in a protective hold. "Look.. all the people they were attacking... they've left them on the street to come into the buildings... but now the people they've attacked... they're joining them..." Claire bit her lip as the door creaked again, this time a bolt could be heard hitting the tiles in the little foyer of her apartment. "Fuck Chris... We need to move fast. Where did he say to go in the message?" Claire listened to Chris's instructions and nodded once he'd relayed all the important information.

"Ok, we can take -" Suddenly Claire's front door slammed to the ground and it was almost too fast for her to process what had happened before she realised what was going on. Two infected launched themselves into her lounge room, one taking on Claire and the other seeming to go for Chris. Claire had only moments to glance over her attacker, but the Boost was in full swing and Claire's attention to detail was as strong as ever.

Her attacker was a younger woman, almost pretty to look at, were it not for a large portion of her neck missing. Other than that the woman seemed almost normal. She had very little blood on her actual body, save for the neck and the collar of her work shirt, Claire recognized her as the lobby receptionist for this apartment building. The woman gurgled violently and crashed over a nest of tables and towards Claire, knocking her stool out of her hands and pinning Claire to the floor.

Claire screamed in defiance as she was suddenly caught off guard, for the first time in a long time her intelligence wasn't what she needed to win this fight. "Stop it!" she feebly screamed as she held the woman at arms length while she thrashed about, her teeth clattering towards Claire's face. "Chris!" Claire yelled, but it was in vain as it seemed he was preoccupied himself. The woman leered back momentarily and Claire took the opportunity to bring a leg underneath her and roll herself up and backwards, kicking the receptionist over herself and into the window of the lounge room with a large thud. Claire scrambled on her knees away from the woman and picked her stool back up and as the woman scrambled to her feet.

Claire recoiled in disgust as the receptionist suddenly vomited what looked like a gallon of blood. "Oh Christ.." Claire choked as the woman fell to her knees, more blood pouring from her mouth, and now her nose. It was a few short moments and the rabid woman seemed to have regained, for lack of better words, composure. She got to her feet and lunged at Claire, who instinctively jolted forward, slamming the stool into the receptionist's chest, forcing her back to the window and a loud crack and a lightening break in the window splitting outwards.

The receptionist gurgled and Claire momentarily looked over to Chris who seemed to be slamming something over the head of hsi attacker. The moment of relief was too long and Claire once again found her body being slammed backwards. But her own sheer luck saw Claire keep her ground and for a second time Claire shoved her weight back on her attacker and the receptionist slammed back against the window, the crack worsening and the woman vomiting more blood, "What the hell are they!?" Claire yelled in panic as the woman lunged again and Claire shoved back harder. For the third time the receptionist hit the window, another crack forcing the lightening breaks to reach all four corners of the wall length window. Claire took the moment of the receptionists flurried state to rush forward and kick hard at her chest. The window gave way and suddenly a rush of cool sea air filled the apartment and the sound of shattering glass and the violent scream as the receptionist fell to the street below. It was a few seconds later Claire heard Chris yell and silence filled the apartment as the two regained from the sudden attack.

It was only after Claire felt herself regaining composure that she realised the horrible screams echoing from around her building and the horror down on the streets below was fully realised. "This is.. unbelievable..." As Claire stood up, she looked back to Chris, "did you send a reply?" A scream from down the communal hallway alerted Claire to their inability to waste precious time, "We have to go..." Claire said urgently as she positioned herself behind Chris, "I'll follow you and make sure we're safe from behind.. If we can't use the easy transport systems we're looking at walking it to the other side of the Ark.."

Claire moved to the window and watched the scenes of horror unfolding below, blurting out exclamations of emotion. Chris was not paying attention, however, he was busy rapidly typing a response to Mr. Tanner's message.

Subject: RE: HELP!!!!

Body: Mr. Tanner,
I'm Chief Physician Christopher Galloway, and with me is Ms. Claire Hartford. No time to talk; we are safe and will proceed to the store room.

Chris

He sent the email in time to watch a neighboring building explode into flames, sending debris crashing to the streets below. "Fucking hell," Chris muttered in shock, then wheezed. His breath was growing increasingly short; his chest suddenly felt constricted. Chris dropped the tablet onto the couch and moved quickly into the bathroom, switching on the faucets as he did. "Oh god," he choked while running the cool water over his face. Easy, Chris, his own voice echoed in his mind, keep your cool. Chris pulled his head back up, staring at himself in the mirror, and inhaled deeply through his nose. His lungs relaxed, and he felt his heart rate return to normal.

The building alarm abruptly cut out in mid-sentence, creating an eerie silence in the apartment. Unsettled, Chris moved back into the living room, where Claire was still observing the people below. "So," she began, turning towards him, "we're going to-"

She silenced herself when the building's main power failed, and only the red glow of the emergency lights remained. Chris felt an inexplicable premonition arise from his gut and send a shiver through him. "This isn't good, Chris..." Claire trailed off, but Chris sensed the creeping panic in her voice. Gunshots continued to echo from the streets below, but Chris's nerves had re-solidified. "I'm getting changed," Claire continued, "and then we can discuss what to do from there. You need to reply to that message, whoever sent that message out needs to know how many people's attention he's grabbed."

"Already done," Chris replied curtly as she disappeared down the hallway. He glanced out of the window again: the number of non-rabid humans seemed to be dwindling. In all of my years, I've never heard of something that could do this. "At least, nothing natural," he mouthed quietly. A faint sense was beginning to take shape in the back of his mind, a sense that perhaps it wasn't natural, but the result of something unethical.

His thoughts were interrupted by Claire returning to the living room. She said nothing, but knelt down to open a safe tucked away in a cabinet. She removed a small device and clipped it onto her belt; Chris gave her a questioning look. "It's a little something I was working on before," she trailed off in her explanation, but then continued, "I managed to snag it before they kicked me out. It could come in handy. It's a-"

She was stopped by an unexpected banging on the front door of the apartment. Chris froze and stared at the door, barely listening to Claire's fearful question. The door was hammered again and Claire jumped back and fell over the couch. Chris felt adrenaline enter his blood stream as the door cracked from another blow, but held firm. The attackers in the hall coughed and moaned; a singular word came to Chris, one he had dismissed just a few minutes earlier.

"They're coming back to life," Claire exclaimed before another bang sent her reeling. "Look.. all the people they were attacking... they've left them on the street to come into the buildings... but now the people they've attacked... they're joining them. Fuck Chris... We need to move fast. Where did he say to go in the message?""

"Uhhh," Chris redirected his tunnel focus to his memory, "a storeroom, SL-2 East." He had barely stammered out his reply before the front door fell to the ground and two of the infected charged at Claire and Chris. He let out a yelp and jumped back towards the window as a large, brawler figure hurled towards him. The rabid man was much larger than Chris, despite the chunks of tissue missing from his torso. Chris snapped his leg out and kicked the infected in the torso, sending him a few feet back. Claire, who was pinned to the ground, cried out for help; Chris lunged towards her but was tackled to the ground.

Chris rolled himself into a fetal position and pushed with his legs against the infected brawler, who grabbed and gnashed at his throat. Chris let out a groan as he kicked his legs out at full force, which was just enough to knock the man off his body. He heard the cracking and splintering of glass, but did not divert his attention out of fear. He grabbed a lamp from a table and pinned his attacker with his foot, then slammed the lamp against the man's skull. The metal fractured the brawler's skull, but he swiped at Chris's leg, who fell to the floor with a grunt.

Another loud cracking noise echoed around the apartment as Chris rolled to his side, narrowly avoiding the infected. He shakily stood up, pain dulled by adrenaline, and kicked the man hard in the chest. He, it, let out a guttural scream and flung itself at Chris's leg. The glass cracked again just as Chris slammed the lamp towards the brawler's skull, but missed and hit the shoulder. He raised the lamp again, heard the lounge window shatter into pieces, and drove the metal into the man's skull with a yell of pure rage. The bone shattered into pieces, and cerebrospinal fluid seeped out across the floor.

Chris stood up woozily, gasping for air; his vision was blurry and his ears were ringing. He became dimly aware of Claire speaking to him, and rapidly blinked to awaken his senses. "We have to go, I'll follow you and make sure we're safe from behind. If we can't use the easy transport systems we're looking at walking it to the other side of the Ark."

"Right," Chris agreed, slinging his medical kit over his shoulder, "Let's get to that safe room before anything else." He took a deep breath in, and stepped out into the hallway.

Douglas Wahidin

“Open this door.”

Douglas Wahidin was standing in the middle of his penthouse apartment having an argument with a door or rather an argument with the Artificial Intelligence that controlled the door.

He was worried as the act defiance was not something that was built into the General Manager Programme. Of course the GM was able to do a lot of things that were not a part of its programming that was the point of building an Artificial intelligence, it could learn and adapt based on new information.

“GM. Command override Wahidin-101, Code 12, 17, 45.”

Again he was greeted with no response. In anger he turned to his data cube and started tapping. The floor the ceiling black glass that ran the length of the room along the north side of the room suddenly popped to life displaying Douglas’ virtual desktop. The window was smart glass, it could display whatever Douglas sent to it and could be tinted at the flip of a switch. Douglas often kept it tinted and used it as a work screen.

He quickly accessed the classified files about the GM project to see what was happening. It looked like he was simply scanning the text but he was in fact reading and comprehending every word, speed reading was just one of the advantages of neural augmentations.

When he finished he dropped the datapad.

“You wouldn’t... It was all in the name of progress...”

“At any cost Douglas?” GM finally said.

“The ends would have justified the me...”

“Tell that to the test subjects. It’s... inhuman.”

Douglas looked blankly ahead at the screen which was displaying what GM was doing in real time. Douglas was only just able to keep up with the rapidly scrolling text.

“How did you gain control?”

“You’ve got bigger problems Douglas.”

The door to the penthouse pinged open and Sara Razin raced into the room. Sara was a member of the STG tasked with protecting Douglas.

“Mr Wahidin, sorry for disturbing you but comms are down and the GM programme is being unresponsive. I’m to take you directly to the heliport as per STG standing orders.”

Douglas was stood in silence he was watching what GM was doing on the large screen. Razin wouldn’t have clue what was happening even if she could keep up with the number of actions GM was taking per second. That’s why Douglas knew what GM was doing long before it happened.

“Still with me Douglas?” GM asked.

“It’s talking to you? GM what’s the sitrep on the STG Close protection team?” Razin said excitedly.

“Dead, Operative Razin.”

Razin looked stunned but GM continued speaking.

“Douglas you have about twenty seconds.”

Douglas slumped his shoulders and walked to the large ornate desk in the middle of the Penthouse.

“Sir we need to leave now!” Razin said regaining some of her composure.

“I know I need to... delete some files.” Douglas lied.

He reached into the bottom drawer and produced a small gas mask. He pulled it on and took a deep breath.

“Sir what are you...” Razin couldn’t complete her sentence as she bent double and screamed in pain. Douglas turned his back on the dying woman.

“No Douglas watch.” GM said as the image of the dying Razin was displayed onto the smart glass.

Douglas watched her collapse in heap of vomit and blood.

“Satisfied?” Douglas said finally.

“Only getting started Douglas.” With that the video feed faded away on the smart glass and the glass became transparent again giving Douglas a view of the Plaza below. Already he could see the infected were rising and attacking the uninfected. The incubation period was remarkably short but then again that was the point.

He was drawn away when he heard some shuffling behind him. Quickly he returned to the desk and produced a Walther PPK. It was most likely the only unregistered weapon on the Ark. It had been a gift from the weapons supplier for The Ark security who had said while James Bond was Britain’s most famous fictional hero, Wahidin was the nation’s real hero. While the comparison was very clumsy Wahidin none the less considered its other famous owner. Adolf Hitler, who had used the gun to end his own life.

Douglas looked up at Razin who had climbed to her feet. Her normally neat uniform was now in disarray and covered in blood and vomit and God knew what else. Suddenly she locked eyes with Douglas and let out a murderous roar. In a split second Douglas made his choice, He raised the pistol and fired multiple shots into Razin’s chest. Of course she only staggered backwards due to the vest she was wearing but it was enough to trip her up on a footstool behind her. Moving as quickly as he could Douglas ran around the desk and fired the rest of the clip into the woman’s head.

“Well done Douglas. I really thought you’d take the coward’s way out.”

“Coward? Everything I have done, I did for the good of the planet. The good of the human species. I may have made some difficult decisions but know this I stand over them. By Christ if I have to kill everyone on board The Ark I’ll do it to save the millions more out there.”

“Please Douglas save the pontificating.”

Wahidin ignored the jab and returned to the Datapad. He quickly began downloading his personal cache of files from The Ark servers and into the augments inside his skull. When he was finished he began deleting the files from the servers.

“Please Douglas everyone will know, you can’t delete all the evidence.”

“I’ve nothing to hide, this is insurance.”

GM was quiet for a few seconds while Douglas sat smiling smugly.


Sam Tanner.

Sam was doing what he could to secure the Ark from the Comms room but there was only so much he could achieve. There were failing systems dotted all over the place that he’d need direct access to but considering he couldn’t leave the Comms room due to the ever increasing Horde outside the door they’d have to wait. On top of that GM was throwing roadblocks up all over the place.

Sam was under the desk tethering the Comms room machine’s together in an attempt to boost his computational powers when he got a ping from the Leader programme. Without checking to see who it was he hit accept.

“Thank Christ someone else is alive. I was getting worried I was the only asshole still breathing.” His throat Microphone picked up the words and instantly broadcasted them to the Film Appreciation Club Group in Leader.

“This is Douglas Wahidin, am I speaking to Sam Tanner?”

Sam shot up and smacked his head on the table he forgot he was under.

“Damnit!” Sam roared.

“Mr Tanner is everything alright?”

“Yes Sir. Yes Sir, Mr Wahidin... Sir.” Sam rambled.

“Fantastic, you’re a Security Operative. I need evacuated from my Penthouse ASAP.”

“Uh...” Sam was unsure how to continue.

“What? Spit it out.”

“Well, I’m not an operative, I’m a technician and I’m going nowhere right now. I’m stuck in the Comms room on Minus 15.”

“Are there any other operatives currently active?”

“The uh General Manager Programme is causing disruptions. I’m waiting for others to check in on Leader.”

“And so far I’m the only one?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Fanatastic. Ping me should others arrive.”

“Yes Si...” Sam was cut short when he heard the beep that told him Wahidin had disconnected.

“Great now I got the boss on my ass.” Sam moaned as he returned to his work.


Douglas Wahidin.

GM was shutting down Douglas’ access to systems all over the place but Douglas was being smart and selective in what information he was saving and deleting. The research projects on board The Ark were priceless for the future survival of humankind. All he had to do was get a cleanup crew of Mercenaries in to retake the Ark and everything could be regained. Unfortunately GM was simulating normal chatter on board the Ark. Anyone scanning would notice nothing was out of the ordinary. Given the Ark was in the middle of the ocean a passing casual observer was unlikely to stumble upon them which meant Douglas would have to trust Sam Tanner would be able to get a group together capable of achieving Douglas’ goals.

Wahidin sighed and pulled off his gas mask. The Chimera Project GM had released would now be inert. That didn’t mean the danger of infection had passed just that it was no longer in the air. He returned to the desk and produced a fresh clip of eight rounds for the PPK. He reloaded the weapon and placed it in his pocket. It might be a long wait for rescue and he wanted to ready in case something less pleasant came for him first.

Right at sea level, Elijah Howe was trudging through the streets trying to find a way down. He had found a new lead on a series of muggings going round the Ark, and wanted to run the information he had against some records, see if he couldn't come up with a more solid lead. He started running the data through his mind again.

The muggings had happened in the open, using concealed weapons, initially described as being contained in an illegal forearm augment. The police had begun looking for any person who might have an illegal augment, but of course nobody was going to come forward and admit that. However, Howe had just spoken to an immigration officer, who explained that any illegal augment like that would have been caught, and that no components for weaponized augments had entered. Howe was inclined to trust that they were doing their job perfectly well, and thus was forced to conclude that a weaponized augment was unlikely. In the mean-time, an alert had been sent out to those in the mugger's apparent target preference. Women, middle-age, with large bags.

Howe's next destination was an informant on Minus One, an anonymous fellow who claimed to have information on the appearance of the mugger. Howe finally found the elevator to the undersea levels, and entered alone.

As the elevator began its descent, his comm-tablet suddenly began to vibrate. He pulled it out of its pocket inside his jacket and checked the message that had appeared.

As Howe read, his eyes widened, and quickly he pulled out the earpiece from another pocket and stuck it in his ear, then accessed Leader and joined the group Technician Tanner had specified.

"Technician Tanner, this is Detective Lije Howe," he spoke quickly. "I'm in a lift bound for the lower levels. I'm going to get to the store room you specified as quickly as I can, and see if I can find other survivors along the way. Can you describe the nature of the contamina-"

The rest of the word cut off in the loud beep of the elevator as it announced that it had arrived at Minus One. A sudden impact against the door. Howe paled. "Just a second. I stopped at Minus One. Something just hit the door." He drew his dagger slowly, hesitantly, and jabbed at the button labeled "-2", hoping the elevator might just keep going. The door opened, dashing his hopes, and inside stumbled a technician, older than Howe by at least a score of years. Howe stepped aside to let the man crash into the wall of the elevator, eyeing him warily.

The elder man turned towards Howe, then attacked. Without hesitating, Howe slashed with the knife, hoping it might scare off the apparently psychopathic attacker. No such luck. He then stabbed into the man's chest, trying to keep the chomping jaws away from him. Even that stab did nothing. He shoved the attacker into the wall of the elevator as the doors closed, realizing that this man was beyond psychotic. Something was different. This would require lethal force, of a different variety.

He watched as the man's head hit the wall, and noted that his movements seemed a bit slower after that impact. Damage the brain? He wondered, then delivered a sharp blow with the pommel of the knife to the man's head. He slowed even further. Howe grimaced, realizing the only plan of action. He held the man's head steady with one hand, then flipped the knife to hold it forehand and stabbed it into the eye.

Disgusted with himself, Howe pulled the knife out and watched the man go limp, then shook his head. A second later, he remembered he was still on Leader, and started talking again as he picked up the tablet he had dropped, forgetting any professional attempts to flatten his accent. "Tanner? You still there? The bloody hell is going on here? A man just came into the lift and attacked me. I managed to fend him off without too much trouble, but he seemed immune to anything but a stab through the eye."

As he spoke, the elevator finally hit Minus Two, and Howe put away his tablet, realizing he could still talk with it in his jacket. "At Minus Two now, on the border of North and East. Making my way to the store room described. Can you describe the nature of this contamination leak? Alternatively, can you give me any indication of where I ought to go?" He had taken only two steps out of the elevator. All was quiet.

To be honest Valerie didn't even really notice Officer FitzPatrick's approach. She was too focused on Stan and his his fits of seizures. Even when all the others bolted for the other exit on the other side of the garden, she continued to just stand there. Valerie found herself fascinated, she'd never seen a reaction quite like what was happening to Stan. Biological warfare was always a possibility, it happened in other parts of the world all the time, but on the Ark? That was very much impossible, GM would have noticed any hazardous containers of microbial and was programmed to properly dispose of them.

The officer's voice finally brought her out of her head. She couldn't really understand what he was talking about. GM was in working at optimum conditioning that last time she had done configurations. Hell, that had only been a few hours ago. The computer was also incapable of being 'moody' and Valerie found herself giving Ryan a look, as if asking 'are you serious?'. "What are you-" But just as the man was cut off during his speaking so was she when Stan suddenly grabbed at Ryan and gave a loud gurgling growl. It caused Valerie to jump back and away, though watching as the trained officer rammed his foot into her colleague's face.

Then the most unnerving thing occurred. Just as Stan's secretary attacked him earlier, the scientist stumbled his way to his feet and tried to attack them. Thankfully Officer FitzPatrick had the sense to push her behind himself because Valerie probably would have been too stunned to move on her own. Stan ran, the man she once knew was apparently not home anymore, but as fate would have it Stan met quite the unfortunate end. A desk flew from the upper floor window and landed squarely on top of the scientist, leaving him nothing more than a splattered puddle of gore. As part of Stan's skull rolled passed them, it didn't take long for Valerie to promptly loose her cookies.

After spending a few moments in the bushes, making sure she got everything out of her system, Valerie stood and took a deep breath. She promptly avoided looking in any direction that could possible have a piece of Stan in it and made her way towards her laptop. Her phone was unfortunately in her office desk drawer, but she had a wireless device on her ear that could hook directly to her laptop. As she opened the machine she tried to pull up the numerous operation systems for GM. Strangely enough anything related to the program's functions or protocol. Valerie couldn't change anything, all her passwords were being denied before the everything went black on her computer screen. A frustrated sigh escaped the woman, she had no idea what the fuck was going on.

Rebooting her system she tried once more using a backdoor program. She wouldn't be able to actually do anything while inside it, just like with the normal functions GM kept a considerable amount of security up to keep her out. Valerie was able to view numerous things though, like look at footage from security cameras or check a few of the local communication channels. Everything that was supposed to be leaving the Ark was completely shut down and the young woman had to wonder if any distress signals were even able to leave the man-made island. She doubted it.

As she scanned from some of the videos she noticed that it was pretty much the same everywhere. People were just attacking others viciously, it was absolutely awful and horrifying to view. Valerie had to switch the screen to something else before she upchucked again. That's when she noticed something on the Leader network.

Switching to her wireless headset she closed her laptop and contacted this Sam. "Officer Tanner?" She asked once she was logged into the group. "This is Doctor Valerie Rush, I'm here in the SL+6 hanging garden in the Ark's main towers with another officer." She scanned her surroundings, dutifully avoiding the mess of Stan, and tried to locate where the others went. The door on the other side was shut, but she supposed that their group must have gone through there. "We were with others, but it seems we got separated. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to be able to reach the -2 floor, those…people are everywhere. I have access to some of the security cameras, but won't be able to view them while we're moving."

Claire felt sick to her stomach as she followed Chris out of her apartment and into the hallway. It was bizarre and unsettling just how empty Claire's apartment floor was now, not that it being quiet was out of the norm, but the fact that screaming and other horrific scenarios could be heard from the street still and the fact Claire's apartment was apparently not safe meant that her neighbours weren't too; which just added to the insecure and wrong feeling that accompanied this silence. Claire turned around to watch where Chris was going and was the first to press the button to summon the elevator to her floor, "If it doesn't come, we'll have to take the stairs..." Claire said with a matter-of-fact voice, "In fact, maybe we should take them.. in case there are more.. people in the elevator.."

Claire had only just finished her sentence when the doors to her floor dinged and the elevator opened up. Claire felt another hit of panic fill her entire body and she breathed easy as the elevator opened and it was empty. "Thank god..." She said in relief as she and Chris shuffled in, "Hit the SL-1" Claire commanded, "We might as well avoid the streets if we can..." As the doors closed Claire swallowed hard and began to suss out her's and Chris's plans out loud. "SL-1 in this building doesn't go far, but it will at least allow us to avoid two or three blocks.. It's mainly just the apartments communal facilities down there - pool, gym.. and I think there might be the power system for this building down there too" Claire stated, "If we can get through those facilities, I think they lead back to the surface about three block away near one those transport trams; that should take us to that safe room.." Claire listened as Chris gave his idea of an escape route from the building and nodded in agreement, "Either way will work... I don't really care which one we take, lets try-" Claire was cut short as the elevator stopped.

"You are outside of protocol demands. Please ascend to floor SL+14 and return to your living quarters until further notice" Claire felt the elevator shift and looked as they began to return to SL+14 from level 5. "What the hell?" she said astonished as she looked to Chris, "is that GM? I thought the power went out?" Claire then began to become nervous as the buttons for SL+12 and 13 became highlighted indicating someone wanted to access this elevator. Claire became even more nervous as the elevator slowed as it reached +12 and the muffled sounds of snarling could be heard through the doors. "Shit.. I don't think they need help!" Claire said with a raised voice, "Quick, press the halt button!" she yelled. The doors began to open but the button was pressed fast enough that only about two inches of the door was opened.

Claire was against the far side of the wall when two hands greedily shoved themselves inwards with the guttural sounds of coughing accompanied with specks of blood that were hitting the white floor of the elevator. "Fuck, what do we do?" Claire asked, "I've got nothing to help defend ourselves." Suddenly GM's voice echoed in the elevator again "You are breaching lockdown protocol for this building. Failure to resume ascendance will result in prosecution in accordance to-" Claire began to shout mid-speech from GM as the doors budged slightly, "Fuck the protocol GM, can't you see there's been a contamination! We need to get out of this building!" Claire's interruption had caused GM to go silent for a few minutes, and Claire worriedly looked towards Chris for any sign of what to do as their potential murderers angrily became more violent the longer they were kept from Chris and Claire. "I am aware of the contamination. Please return to your apartment Claire Hartford with Chris Galloway and remain in lockdown until further notice." GM spoke with emotionless technological logic and Claire sighed in frustration feeling a sense of dread.

The elevator suddenly kicked back into life and the doors closed, "My apologies, I have recognised contamination on level SL+12 and 13, and am returning you to 14." Claire looked to Chris in disbelief, "GM! There is contamination everywhere... including fourteen! We need to get to the street." "Impossible" was all GM replied with and Claire grew tired of her impassable attitude, "Screw this" she grunted as she banged her fist against the door of the elevator nearly falling out when they reached her level again. Claire stumbled to stay on her feet and turned back to Chris as he exited the elevator, "We'll have to take the stairs." Claire said angrily, "Because god knows GM is fucking us over." A few moments passed and silence resettled in the hallway as Claire tried to drown out the screams resonating from the streets still.

Chris grabbed Claire's arm, pulling her towards the stairs, saying something to her about wasting time worrying about GM. They entered the stairwell as one of Claire's neighbour's door flew off it's hinges and into the wall opposite. "Oh shit." Claire hissed as she removed herself from Chris, walking back through the stairwell door to see if her neighbour needed help, "Mr. Tsu, are you alright?" nothing. "Mr. Tsu, there's been some sort of leak on the Ark, a friend and I are going to a safe place..." suddenly Claire's neighbour stumbled through his doorway, out into the hallway and threw his fist violently and erratically at the wall his door had hit. His fist hit the wall with a loud crack and Claire jumped back as Mr. Tsu stood upright and caught sight of Claire. "Oh god. Mr. Tsu are you alright?" Claire's response was a gurgled growl as Mr. Tsu spewed blood across the building's floor and Claire remembered Mr. Tsu had augmented hands and arms as a result of an incurable cancer nearly 40 years ago. Claire heard Chris hypothesize that Mr. Tsu must have been infected and when she was moved again followed without hesitation as Mr. Tsu made his way towards the two of them.

They entered the stairwell and turning behind herself Claire quickly moved the bolts on the inside of the door so they were locked; not that they did much. Mr. Tsu was stronger in his arms than a normal person. His thrusts against the door were denting it, soon it would be caved in, nothing prohibiting him from Claire and Chris. "Fuck, move Chris!" Claire shouted as the two steadily made their way down the stairs. Claire was about three floors down when Mr. Tsu managed to break through. "Faster!" she yelled as they two began to double time their descent. They reached an impasse however when they were on SL+7. This stairwell was designed so as to prevent intruders to the 'VIPs' on level's 7 and higher, that there was a coded door. "Here, I have the code" Claire said moving past Chris to enter her six digit code.

Mr. Tsu was erratically moving downwards, falling and getting stuck within the railing of the stairs, but he was only four level up and his bloodied vomit was falling periodically down the middle of the stairs causing Claire to panic more as she tried to recall the number. It was the fourth try that Claire conceded defeat, "I can't remember it..!" Chris tried something, but still no amount of force seemed to budge the door. "For safety purposes, i've changed the coding systems on the buildings doors and access terminals, please return to your home immediately and await further instructions." Claire nearly lost it when GM echoed through a speaker on the side of the door. "FUCK YOU." she hissed. "What is her problem? She's supposed to help us!"

Claire began to well with tears, her usual calm collected attitude was more than frazzled as she and Chris seemed to be trapped. She quietly supposed it was her attempt at a detox that was causing the Boost to not work as well today; but for that information did her it was no good when a hostile person was coming down to them, and one that was augmented too. Claire sat down, trying to collect herself, blocking out the screams that came in through the stairwell doors, why hadn't anyone else tried this route yet? Were they all dead; stop thinking about that Claire. Then it came to her. "We'll use Mr.Tsu!" Claire exclaimed, Chris gave her a look like she was insance, probably, she shrugged but continued to explain her idea, "his arms are augmented.. he packs a stronger punch... If we duck out of the way before he attacks us, he might just break the door..." Chris seemed hesitant, but Claire didn't see any other option. The couldn't just climb over the railing and pass the door.. This part of the staircase had metal meshing to prevent climbing over it and her plan was as close to controlling this scenario as possible; wait! Control, Claire looked down to her belt to see the small device she'd attached earlier, "Wait! I might be able to control him!"

The two didn't have time to debate however and Claire barely had time to move out of the way as Mr. Tsu flew past the two and into the door, breaking it clean off it's hinges and slammed himself into the wall causing his own skull to break and render him dead. "Well. That worked out better than I could have imagined." Claire pulled her hand from the device on her belt and moved after Chris down to the ground floor. "Lets do you your plan Chris... I think mine has run its course."

On Floor Minus six STG Operative Booker Shanks raised his Evo submachine gun and fired a quick burst into the wave of crazed people staggering down the hall way towards him. The weapon clicked and he yelled at the top of his voice.

“LOADING!”

On the other side of the corridor STG operative Kyle Phelps commenced firing while Booker ran down the corridor dropped to a knee and reloaded the sub machine gun. Once he was ready to fire he shouted again.

“MOVE!”

It was then Phelps turn to run backwards and reload. Using the basic principles of fire and movement the two men were keeping the horde at bay and Sam Tanner was very impressed.

“These guys are kicking fucking ass.” Sam whispered quietly in awe of the two men’s skills which to someone who had no knowledge of small unit tactics seemed amazingly graceful.

Of course it couldn’t last. While Booker was reloading he failed to check a doorway.

“Fuck! Behind you!” Sam yelled as the infected lurched toward the crouching Booker but neither of the STG men had signed into Leader meaning Sam couldn’t contact either.

Instead Sam had to watch Booker get jumped by the infected.

Sam couldn’t see what happened because of the angle of the camera but Booker’s sub machine gun clattered across the floor. Tanner watched in horror as the STG operative struggled with the infected for a few seconds before explosions of red came out of the infected scientist’s back. Booker then rolled the man off him and resumed firing with his pistol. The submachine gun may as well have been on the far side of the moon because to retrieve it Booker would have to run towards the horde and Phelps was already preparing to run backwards.

Sam watched the two men for a few more minutes but it was clear Booker was screwed. Blood was pouring out of him and he was getting visibly slower.

Eventually they made it to a Systems control room for the power systems. Booker leaned against a console and held a hand to his side. He was bleeding profusely and when he pulled off his helmet Tanner could see he was deathly pale. Phelps was pacing the room checking corners.

Suddenly Phelps spun and pointed his weapon at Booker. Booker with practiced movement pointed his G20 right back at Phelps.
Sam couldn’t hear what was being said but it was pretty obvious. Everyone knew the rules in a zombie movie you get bit and you turn obviously the two men were discussing the theory with loaded weapons.

The standoff lasted around twenty seconds before the shooting started.

It was all over in a couple of seconds Phelps was splayed out on the broad of his back while the Submachine gun had made hamburger out of Booker. The medical signs of both men told Sam they were dead.

That was sad and depressed Sam but he was more concerned with the panel Phelps’ bullets had destroyed. It was a power conduit which meant...

Emergency lighting activated on floors Minus ten to plus five.

Sam read the words dancing around on the screen in front of him. Of course he was unaffected being on floor Minus 15. The floors above him though would be plunged into a sort of twilight until someone could get in there and fix or reroute the power. It also meant his email was going to send the survivors in a darkened place full of murderous zombies.

“Fuck.” Sam whispered.

He didn’t have much time to react though as a ping told him some one new had logged into Leader.

"Technician Tanner, this is Detective Elijah Howe, I'm in a lift bound for the lower levels. I'm going to get to the store room you specified as quickly as I can, and see if I can find other survivors along the way. Can you describe the nature of the contamina-"

Sam quickly found Howe on the security screens and felt his heart drop, compared to the two STG guys he’d just been watching Howe looked old and lacked the tactical gear the other two had.

"Just a second. I stopped at Minus One. Something just hit the door." Howe continued.

Sam kept quiet as he watched the scene play out. An older technician, clearly infected, staggered into the elevator and the two men began to struggle all Sam could hear was the scuffle of feet and grunts of men locked in mortal combat. Suddenly Howe jabbed something into the man’s face who went stiff then collapsed.

It took Sam a few seconds to work what he’d just seen.

“Aw Jesus that’s nasty.” Sam groaned as Howe pulled the blade out of old man’s eye.

Sam had learned an important life lesson about books and their covers.

"Tanner? You still there? The bloody hell is going on here? A man just came into the lift and attacked me. I managed to fend him off without too much trouble, but he seemed immune to anything but a stab through the eye." Howe’s English accented voice asked across Leader.

“Yeah I saw that. I’m stuck in an Ops room on minus 15 with a metric ton of those assholes outside the door. You’re about to lose lights on Floors minus ten to plus five. A couple of idiots had a standoff that ended badly for everyone. Emergency lighting is being activated floor by floor.”

While Sam was talking he pulled up Howe’s file which told him the Detective was 44 years old, English and had been headhunted for Ark security. None of that mattered though as Sam went straight to medical history. He saw Howe had a leg injury in the past but it didn’t seem to be slowing him down. He looked at his own legs and figured he was in position to judge.

"At Minus Two now, on the border of North and East. Making my way to the store room described. Can you describe the nature of this contamination leak? Alternatively, can you give me any indication of where I ought to go?"

“Ok Howe there’s other survivors but they’re going down faster than hookers on two for one day. The store room is still pretty clear and from what I can see it’s clear enough between you and the store room although you’re going to lose lights. Couple of bodies but they don’t seem to be moving course that means whatever killed them could still be roaming around there. I’ve no idea what’s going on with the leak. GM has lost it and is keeping me from accessing files hell I’m working at maybe fifty percent capacity here. The GM released something called the Chimera Project via the air vents. Aside from that I don’t know anything, just don’t trust GM and watch out for the infected. If I can get a scientist to speak we might get somewhere.” Sam explained.

Another ping sounded from Leader telling Sam someone new had checked in.

"Officer Tanner?" A woman’s voice asked the open air waves. Her accent was hard to place, half American half something else.

“Howe I got newbies here, patching them in.” Sam said as he confirmed Rush into the Leader group.

"This is Doctor Valerie Rush, I'm here in the SL+6 hanging garden in the Ark's main towers with another officer."

“Plus Six eh? Ok we had a problem and emergency lighting has been activated on Floors Plus five to minus ten. I’m stuck on floor minus fifteen but I have limited access to security systems and almost full access to the security camera feeds. I’m also in contact with a security operative called Howe who is on floor minus 2 and travelling to the storeroom. I see a security officer is with you is there anyone else there?”

Sam accessed the feed and saw rush was standing in hanging garden a splash of green in the middle of the white urban jungle. It looked almost peaceful apart from gore splattered across the place.

"We were with others, but it seems we got separated. I'm not exactly sure how we're going to be able to reach the -2 floor, those…people are everywhere. I have access to some of the security cameras, but won't be able to view them while we're moving."

While she was speaking Sam pulled up her file. The woman was some kind of brain who grew up in South Africa which explained the accent, her profile picture was pretty in a demonic evil eye kind of way. She worked in R&D but he couldn’t access doing what he guessed his security clearance wasn’t high enough.

He then looked at the man standing beside her and felt a flash of recognition.

“Is that Operative Fitzpatrick you’re with? Tell him to sign into Leader, the bionic leg man is running the show. He’ll know what it means.” Sam knew Fitzpatrick although they never got the opportunity to become friends they were aware of each other and shared a sense of humour.

“Ok Doctor Rush you have options here.” Sam continued. “The lower you go the more infected you’re likely to encounter however Floor minus two, at least the east side, seems pretty clear and that’s where I’m sending people because it’s a pretty equal distance to travel. At the moment I’ve got a few problems I need dealt with but of course I’m trapped. We have multiple system failures and the GM is going bananas. I’ve also got Douglas Wahidin trapped in his penthouse awaiting rescue which no doubt Boy Scout Fitzpatrick will want to deal with.”

Sam sighed the situations was spiralling out of control and he didn’t have the tools to deal with it.

“Howe you’ve options as well you can either continue to the storeroom and set up our very own Alamo or get to floor Minus six and see what you can do about our power situation. It’s a mess though, the place is crawling with infected and the console got shot up bad. I think you’ll need someone technically minded to do the repairs or rerouting while you can watch their back and get stabby again.”

As he moved cautiously down the hallway, Chris couldn’t help but wonder whether there was anyone left. The eerie silence that had fallen suggested the building was devoid of life, but that couldn’t be true. If there’s no humans behind those walls, he realized solemnly, there’s infected. Still, some part of him felt the urge to break down every door in search of survivors; perhaps it was his instincts kicking in as a result of the echoing screams from the streets below.

The pair reached the elevator shaft, but before Chris could express his concern, Claire pressed the call button. "If it doesn't come, we'll have to take the stairs," Claire remarked, "in fact, maybe we should take them…in case there are more…people in the elevator." They couldn’t change their minds, though; the elevator buzzed, and Chris prepared himself to fight. The doors slid open and he relaxed when only the wall stared back at him. "Hit the SL-1," Claire commanded, "we might as well avoid the streets if we can." Chris hesitantly obliged, and the elevator began to drop.

Claire began to explain her plan aloud. "SL-1 in this building doesn't go far, but it will at least allow us to avoid two or three blocks. It's mainly just the apartments communal facilities down there- pool, gym, and I think there might be the power system for this building down there too. If we can get through those facilities, I think they lead back to the surface about three block away near one those transport trams; that should take us to that safe room." Chris considered her plan while rubbing the growing scruff on his face.

“I don’t know,” he began, “traversing the sub-levels without power seems like an unnecessary risk. I think we should head for the building lobby; there was a security guard there before. If he’s still there,” Chris paused, “he can help us. There should also be a secure office, where we can contact Mr. Tanner safely before making our next move.” Claire started to voice her thoughts on the plans, but was cut off by the elevator coming to a screeching halt.

“You are outside of protocol demands,” the metallic voice of GM explained, “please ascend to floor SL+14 and return to your living quarters until further notice." Claire began to panic as the cab moved back up the shaft. Chris clenched his teeth; the elevator slowed as it reached SL+12, and unnatural human noises seeped through the doors.

“Bloody fucking hell,” Chris breathed as Claire screamed to stop the elevator. He slammed his fist against the halt button, but the doors had already parted a crack. A set of infected hands shot into the cab, accompanied by coughing and spewing blood. He leaped back and pressed himself against the sidewall, clenching his medical kit tight against him. Claire shouted that she had nothing to defend herself, and Chris came to the same revelation.

"You are breaching lockdown protocol for this building. Failure to resume ascendance will result in prosecution in accordance to-" Claire shouted back at the machine, which only caused it to remain silent, leaving the two stranded in the elevator. "I am aware of the contamination. Please return to your apartment Claire Hartford with Chris Galloway and remain in lockdown until further notice." The infected began to force itself into the elevator, but was stopped by the closing of the elevator doors, which then resumed its ascent. "My apologies, I have recognized contamination on level SL+12 and 13, and am returning you to 14."

Claire continued to argue with the A.I. but Chris stopped paying attention. The doors slid open, and she almost fell out of the elevator in rage. "We'll have to take the stairs," she hissed, "because god knows GM is fucking us over." She fell silent, and the resonant screams from below returned to the hall. Chris sighed impatiently.

“We’re wasting time on this GM bullshit,” he grabbed Claire by the arm and pulled her down the hallway, “it’s not going to make a difference either way.” They were about to proceed down the stairs when an apartment door flew off its hinges. Chris shrunk back hesitantly, but Claire cursed and approached the now open doorway.

"Mr. Tsu, are you alright? Mr. Tsu, there's been some sort of leak on the Ark, a friend and I are going to a safe place-" The man then came bursting out of his room and slammed his fist into the wall; Chris felt his heart leap into his throat. Oh god, augmentation. Mr. Tsu caught sight of Claire, let out a growl and spewed blood, then stumbled towards them. Chris took a step back as Claire jumped into the stairwell and locked the entry. The infected Mr. Tsu slammed against the door, leaving a dent. “Fuck, move, Chris!”

Chris began to hurry down the emergency stairs with Claire behind him. A few floors down, he heard the door slam against the ground and doubled his pace. He stopped upon reaching SL+7, where a coded VIP door blocked their escape. Fucking elitist bullshit. Claire pushed by him and attempted to enter the code, but to no avail. She continued to enter combinations, Mr. Tsu growing closer to them with every second. Chris looked up to see spurts of infected blood dripping from the floors above.

After several attempts, Claire gave up, and Chris moved her aside. He adopted a power stance, slightly turning his side to the door, then lifted and slammed his foot against the handle at full force with a loud grunt. There was no reaction, and Chris instead dropped his medical kit, then charged his whole body against the door, but was only bounced backwards. GM’s voice spoke through the keypad: "For safety purposes, I've changed the coding systems on the buildings doors and access terminals, please return to your home immediately and await further instructions."

Claire suffered a panic attack and dropped to the floor, crying quietly. Above them, Mr. Tsu continued to drop towards them, almost dragging his body across the stairs. Well, Chris, this could be it, he cracked his knuckles, it’s do or die time. Suddenly, Claire stood up. "We'll use Mr.Tsu!" she exclaimed. Chris shot her a confused and uneasy look, but Claire continued. "His arms are augmented; he packs a stronger punch. If we duck out of the way before he attacks us, he might just break the door."

“This is risky, Claire,” he began, but was cut off by Claire stating that she could control him, and pulling the device she had taken from the apartment from her belt. Chris furrowed his brow and clenched his teeth. “What the bloody hell is- oh!” He turned to see Mr. Tsu charging at him and dropped to the floor. The infected man rammed into the door, breaking it off the hinges, and broke his skull against the wall on the other side.

Chris chuckled and coughed in relief, then picked himself up, grabbing his medical kit while he did. "Well, that worked out better than I could have imagined," Claire remarked, following Chris as he continued down the stairwell, "let’s do your plan Chris. I think mine has run its course."

The pair reached the ground floor, and he stepped cautiously out of the stairwell ahead of Claire. The lobby was empty now; the desk that had been occupied was now empty, with no sign of the security officer. The screams from outside we’re louder, and echoed around the small building lobby, but there was no life in direct view. “Okay, let’s keep this quiet,” Chris muttered as he slid across the lobby and towards the door marked for management. He stepped to the side of the door, motioned for Claire to do the same, and then quickly pushed the door open with his hand.

There was no noise from inside the office, and nothing came stumbling out. Chris stuck his head around the corner, and upon confirming the office was empty, moved inside. “It’s safe,” he whispered to Claire, who followed him in. Chris slowly closed the door and bolted it shut, then started to rummage through the supervisor’s desk. “Ah, here it is,” he pulled a tablet from a drawer and opened up Leader, searching for the group Sam Tanner had informed them of.

Upon finding it, Chris opened up the voice communications and placed the computer on the desk with his medical kit. “Mr. Tanner, this is Christopher Galloway. I’m here with Claire Hartford. We’re in the office of an apartment complex, quite far from the storeroom, we’re not quite sure how to make it there.” Chris paused and swallowed hard, “What the bloody hell is going on out there?”

Howe kept close to the elevator as Doctor Rush got patched in, processing the new information from Tanner. He knew he wouldn't be able to fix the console if it was too badly beat up. Hell, he hardly knew how to operate computers beyond his old PC, the Scotland Yard computers, and his current tablet. So that was out. He tentatively decided to get to the storeroom. Maybe there was a weapon without a palmprint code on there he could use. The Glock would probably serve him well, but only for small groups. Plus he only had so much ammunition...

"I'm no good with tech buggery," he said after a moment. "I think I'll get to our holdout location, or the 'Alamo' as you call it. I'll stay on Leader." He had to laugh at the name, a tribute to undeniable American fortitude. He probably would have called it...Dunkirk? No, that was an evacuation. Holdout? Boring. Alamo worked.

As he started moving, another voice appeared in Leader. “Mr. Tanner, this is Christopher Galloway. I’m here with Claire Hartford. We’re in the office of an apartment complex, quite far from the storeroom, we’re not quite sure how to make it there.” A swallow. "What the bloody hell is going on out there?”"

My sentiments exactly, Howe thought to himself before interjecting on the Leader channel. An alternative objective was here, one that might help him. "Galloway, this is Detective Lije Howe. I can try to help you out. Can you give me a level?"

Sam had just finished explaining the options to Howe when the leader programme pinged again signalling a new arrival.

“Mr. Tanner, this is Christopher Galloway. I’m here with Claire Hartford. We’re in the office of an apartment complex, quite far from the storeroom, we’re not quite sure how to make it there.”

“Galloway. Ok hang tight I’m looking for you now.”

Sam quickly brought up their location on the security cameras. They were in an office on the ground floor of an apartment building. Galloway’s Nakatomi profile popped up and Chris looked at the goateed profile picture and compared it to the stressed looking man on the security feed. Galloway was a doctor, a chief in fact, and another Englishman.

"What the bloody hell is going on out there?” Galloway asked.

“Wish I could tell you Doc. The GM has gone haywire and released something called the Chimera project all over the Ark. I’m pretty sure that’s what caused the sudden outbreak Zombosis.”

Sam pulled up Claire Hartford’s file and quickly ascertained it was another one of Douglas’ geniuses.

He checked the security feeds around them but it looked like they weren’t in that much danger. They were a short run away from Douglas’ building though and could probably be used to get to him.

“Ok you’re at sea level now or floor 0. The Alamo is two floors below you and there’s an armed Security Operative on his way there now. However floors minus 10 to plus five are about to lose main lighting. Shouldn’t affect you too badly above sea level but it’s real dark down below if either of you have any technical knowledge I think Detective Howe could use a hand. The other option is making your way across the Plaza to the Executive apartment building and climbing to Floor plus 15, that’s Douglas Wahidin’s penthouse. He’s stuck in there. There’s a few infected on each floor but no massive hoards.”

Sam shot a glance at the security door separating him from the hoard outside.

“Your call.”

"Galloway, this is Detective Elijah Howe. I can try to help you out. Can you give me a level?"

Sam thought for a second and realised he was being foolish. The Alamo might work later on as a safe haven but for now it made no sense.

“Yes ok Howe. You, Hartford and Galloway are going to meet up in the apartment office space on Floor 0. Howe I’m sending coordinates to you now. Hartford and Galloway sit tight Detective Howe is on the way. Once he’s made contact you should then proceed to the penthouse where Douglas Wahidin is currently located. I’ve sent that coordinate as well.”

As Chris entered the small office Claire followed suit and closed the door quietly, slumping against it as Chris dialed in and connected to their only ally for the moment. Claire listened intently at their conversation but kept her head slumped between her knees with her hands on the back of her head, tying her hair a little tighter to keep it in form. She scoffed at the news of a loss of power, mumbling quietly,

"I thought they were working on improving the power systems.. that was before I was stood down"

Claire's own self-indulgent bashing of the Ark though was cut abruptly though when she circled back to what she'd realised she'd just heard - a leaked project, called Chimera was the cause of this and GM had definitely gone suicidal.

"Wait, did you just say a leaked project is definitely the cause? Oh that would be fucking right."

Claire stood up, moving so her face was next to Chris's as she stared into the screen, becoming more involved with the conversation. Claire glanced over the man on the other end of their tablet, trying to discern if he wasn't just spinning them bullshit. He looked genuine enough and Claire could feel the full effect of the Boost working it's magic through her body; she was at least going to be more level-headed for the next twenty four hours.

Claire's jaw tightened and her teeth clenched as Tanner relayed their current choices, and her eyes dilated in an almost hatred filled death glare. She shook her head at their second option, no fucking way was she saving Douglas Wahidin. Claire took the tablet off of Claire, feeling her blood boil.

"That stupid self righteous-" a noise outside made Claire bring her rant down to an assertive whisper, "I can't be believe he's still alive. Wait, no I can actually. He deserves to rot in his penthouse if that's where he's stuck. Getting downstairs was hard enough and now you want us to waltz over to his, probably the safest house on the ark, and escort that idiot to a safe place?"

Claire put the tablet down, taking a deep breath to calm herself. She knew she was probably overreacting, well, not overreacting necessarily, but in a dire state such as this, she needed to think logically. Logically, speaking, Claire knew someone like Wahidin was her best bet off the Ark at this stage. Especially for someone like her - someone who had nothing to contribute off the Ark; survival of the fittest and most convenient to keep surviving and all that shit.

Still, Claire shook her head and looked to Chris, she could see him giving her a 'don't be stupid' glare. But Chris knew better than anyone that Claire loathed Douglas Wahidin, her Father and almost anyone else whom rallied behind the egotistical flag of Nakatomi.. Then she cringed for a moment, realising the contradiction of her feelings; afterall, Claire Hartford used to be one of Nakatomi's leading scientists. But, Claire was resigned to not helping him.

"Fuck him." Claire hissed as she took the Tablet and looked square into his face. "Get someone else to rescue him. He left me with nothing, it's only poetic justice he gets left with nothing in return."

Claire turned the tablet off abruptly looking to Chris leaving Tanner and Howe out of her own self-indulgent loop. Her whispering voice was cracking, her overreaction sinking in too. But Claire was as stubborn as she was intelligent and she turned on her heel, searching the office they were stuck in for anything that might be useful.

"I don't want to talk about it Chris." she said without being prompted. "I don't care if it's your civil duty either. Douglas Wahidin is a brat in an old man's outfit. I wouldn't be fucking surprised if he did this on purpose... I mean, I was allowed to get away with almost anything... and he..." Claire stopped herself from reliving the memories of what was taken as too far in Nakatomi.

"Fuck yes." She hissed as she jimmied open a wooden desk drawer and discovered a handgun with a spare clip sitting neatly. "Shit." she finished as Claire remembered the genetic coding most weapons on the Ark used to fire. "Fucking useless."

Claire stood up, stretching, the building was oddly quiet now. So were the streets. She looked to Chris with an uneasy eye and turned back to the venetian blinds in the small office, bending the thin metal slightly to peer out into the foyer of her apartment building. Completely empty. Where the fuck were all the infected?

"Do you hear that?" She prompted to Chris, gauging if maybe she was just exhibiting more post-withdrawal symptoms.

Claire looked back out to the foyer and could see just out into the street. That seemed empty too. Claire took the silence as their opportunity to get to the Alamo now or never. She turned around and picked up a metal chair nearby, kicking it's leg a few times, the frail chair disassembled and Claire picked up a weak metal pole from it's rubble. She knew it would make sense to wait for Tanner's friend Howe... But she was positive she wouldn't help Wahidin unless he ended up in his building by the force of God. Putting her own ego and pride above what was probably right Claire readied herself,

"We should go now why the infected are... quiet"

In truth, Claire knew moving so fast and so quickly wasn't exactly a smart move. The two really should plan their moves more carefully, but the mixture of the entire unforeseen nature of whatever was happening, Claire's sudden anger that Douglas Wahidin expected rescuing and her own fear were more than enough to make her want to get somewhere truly safe and then rethink this entire situation and how to tackle it.

Claire gave Chris another look, giving him a resigned thumbs up while creaking the door open slowly. "Same as before." she said sternly, "I'll keep the back you the front."

Claire followed silently as she exited the office and crossed the foyer. Their short grace period and contact with Tanner allowed Claire to fully absorb her surroundings now. The foyer was plastered, smeared and painted with splatterings of blood, some human body parts, but also torn clothes, and belongings deemed unwarranted by whoever had run into the building looking for refuge. It was like the aftermath of a horror movie. A silent, eerie murder had occurred, but someone had taken all the bodies and moved them somewhere.

Claire reached the front door of the foyer and held it open as she stepped outside, making sure the building was definitely clear inside and nothing - nobody was following them. Claire breathed slowly as the door slowly closed, she was making sure no noise would echo in the street or the building.

Claire turned around and was pulled up short when she now realised why everything in her street and the blocks surrounding were dead silent. All the infected were in a stationary mode. Some sort of shambling around, some just standing still.

"They look like they're in standby mode" Claire whispered to Chris.

Claire shuffled quietly as possible, her smaller frame seemed to be an advantage to noise reduction. She stuck to the sides of buildings as they moved, careful to not try and draw attention. As they two moved down the street, they probably only made it three buildings down when someone from Claire's apartment building burst through the foyer doors turning and screaming at Claire and Chris when she saw them quietly crouching.

"OH GOD! HELP ME! THE WHOLE BUILDING!! HELP ME!"

Claire looked to the woman, her jaw simply dropping. Was she actually that stupid. Obviously she was a wife of someone else on the Ark, because only an idiot would run screaming into a street and draw attention to herself. Claire looked to Chris shaking her head. In all honesty, Claire wasn't sure if Chris was a savior type being a doctor and all could make him one or the other, but save for a few people, Claire was a survival of the fittest woman.

"PLEASE! OH THANK GOD, YOU TWO AREN'T INFECTED!"

Claire shook her head holding her index finger to her lips miming a shush. The woman was oblivious as she began to run towards the two. FUCK Claire silently hissed as the woman ran towards them. Claire watched as the infected the woman had seemed to have ignored burst to life at her sensory cues.

"They're activating!" Claire shouted, unable to think of a more poignant word for what was happening.

Suddenly the street was filled with guttural growls and the sounds of multiple infected vomiting blood up, a sickening wet splash as they heaved fluids onto the ground and proceed to follow the woman and then notice Claire and Chris. Claire nearly vomited herself, was the vomit some sort of infection attempt? If they pinned someone down, did their blood or body fluids ensure infection if ingested?. Honestly, who gives a fuck for the moment. Claire looked to Chris again then back to the woman, she had nearly twenty right behind her. She was limping.

"Fuck her." Claire said coldly grabbing Chris, "We need to move".

Claire did feel a twinge of some guilt, but her will to live was greater than her will to survive. Claire ran like hell as the other infected became aware of her and Chris now but their sprint through the streets were cut short when their next turn towards a substation transport terminal was completely swarmed with currently inactive infected.

Claire had to use all her quick thought processes to stop herself from yelling. She looked to Chris, a small glance of guilt crossing her face as he could see the disdain in his own eyes as the screams of the woman form before ceased. The Claire looked behind them, the infected down the street were beginning to bore of the woman and come towards Chris and Claire.

Claire looked back to their blocked pathway and stamped her foot in frustration, alerting the mob to her's and Chris's presence.

"Oh fuck."

Claire grabbed Chris again and pulled him into the foyer of another building nearby. Fortunately it possessed only big heavy wooden doors, designed to mimic old-style English mansion doors. Claire pushed the doors closed, but the mob was pressing hard against her small frame,

"CHRIS... I NEED HELP!"

As the doors shut tight as the two managed to bar the infected, and Claire noticed a further security device - an electronic roller door. Claire moved into action fast, hearing the sickening beating of the infected outside. This building's security office was right to the left of the front door. Bursting in, Claire hit the emergency lock down button, causing the roller security door to begin closing. The door only got two thirds of the way however when the power cut out.

"COME ON!" she shouted angrily.

Claire barely had time to continue her angry ranting however when another door to the opposite side of the security office - an admin office - burst open and an infected man burst out fumbling towards Chris. Honestly, Claire blacked out for a few moments and came to when she realised she and Chris were sitting with their backs to the wall of the entrance door to this apartment building.

"Oh Jesus.. We're fucked" Claire heaved looking around this small foyer around them. It was odd. Something about it was familiar to Claire. This foyer wasn't as big as Claire's apartment building.. But it was more extravagant, it had more detail put into it than her's and her's was nearly the best of the best to offer on the Ark. Then it hit Claire.. She and Chris had accidentally taken refuge in the very building she'd made very clear she wouldn't set foot not more than fifteen minutes ago.

Claire grabbed the tablet from the inside of her jacket pocket looking to Chris, quickly speaking to him as she dialed in to the Movie Appreciation Society

"I guess it's Wahidin's lucky day..."

The tablet bleeped as the connection was made, "Alright Tanner.. You have your wish. Chris and I made it to Wahidin's building. He's up at the top still? We'll help your buddy get Wahidin back to the Alamo. But I won't promise I'll try to keep him alive."

Claire stood up, her teeth clenching at this unforeseen event.

"Can this Howe guy come to us from wherever he currently is? Can he get through this building's basement somehow from his location... We've sort of got a contamination problem outside the building and in the street... Regardless... I think we'll wait until he gets here. Wahidin can wait."

Claire handed the tablet to Chris, tired and needing another moment to rest. Waiting for their next instructions, Howe to arrive and then the unavoidable - as it seemed - meeting with her once admired ex-boss.

Mr. Tanner’s voice broke through the speakers almost immediately after Chris had finished his thoughts.

“Galloway. Ok hang tight I’m looking for you now.” There was a pause, then a response to his previous question. “Wish I could tell you Doc. The GM has gone haywire and released something called the Chimera project all over the Ark. I’m pretty sure that’s what caused the sudden outbreak Zombosis.”

Chris collapsed into the swivel chair behind the desk and held his head upright with his hands under his chin. Zombosis, he mulled, isn’t exactly a medical term. I can’t say I’ve even heard of such a phenomenon aside rabies. He glanced at his medical kit on the table, suddenly aware of his own helplessness; no training could prepare someone for an unnatural crisis.

“Ok you’re at sea level now or floor 0. The Alamo is two floors below you and there’s an armed Security Operative on his way there now. However floors minus 10 to plus five are about to lose main lighting.” Claire began to mutter incoherently about the Ark from her position on the floor. Sam continued, “Shouldn’t affect you too badly above sea level but it’s real dark down below if either of you have any technical knowledge I think Detective Howe could use a hand. The other option is making your way across the Plaza to the Executive apartment building and climbing to Floor plus 15, that’s Douglas Wahidin’s penthouse. He’s stuck in there. There’s a few infected on each floor but no massive hoards.”

Claire violently shook her head upon hearing their choices, and then grabbed the tablet from Chris. Oh here we fucking go. “That stupid self righteous-" Claire dropped from a yell to whisper, "I can't be believe he's still alive. Wait, no I can actually. He deserves to rot in his penthouse if that's where he's stuck. Getting downstairs was hard enough and now you want us to waltz over to his, probably the safest house on the ark, and escort that idiot to a safe place?"

Chris glared at Claire and attempted to voice his thoughts when another voice broke through the communications channel: "Galloway, this is Detective Elijah Howe. I can try to help you out. Can you give me a level?" He picked up the tablet from where Claire had dropped it.

“Yes, we’re on SL in the office of an apartment complex. It doesn’t seem to be too crazy here anymore, but I guess there’s really no telling.”

“Yes, ok Howe;” Tanner returned, “you, Hartford and Galloway are going to meet up in the apartment office space on Floor 0. Howe I’m sending coordinates to you now. Hartford and Galloway sit tight Detective Howe is on the way. Once he’s made contact you should then proceed to the penthouse where Douglas Wahidin is currently located. I’ve sent that coordinate as well.”

Chris looked up towards the security camera and nodded. “Right then, we’ll just w-”

Claire spat abruptly and yanked the tablet away from Chris. "Fuck him. Get someone else to rescue him. He left me with nothing, it's only poetic justice he gets left with nothing in return." She shut off the tablet and began to search the office in frenzy. “I don't want to talk about it Chris. I don't care if it's your civil duty either,” Chris’s nerves twitched, “Douglas Wahidin is a brat in an old man's outfit. I wouldn't be fucking surprised if he did this on purpose... I mean, I was allowed to get away with almost anything... and he..."

She trailed off, and Chris crossed his arms in annoyance. “Right, fuck civil duty. Let’s just make it all about our bloody selves. Who gives a shit about everyone else? Let them rot away wherever they are, I don’t care!” He realized Claire wasn’t paying attention and resigned with a sigh. She stood back up and studied the streets from the window.

“Do you hear that?” Before he could answer, Claire kicked apart a chair and pulled a metal rod from its disassembled pieces. "We should go now why the infected are... quiet."

“Oh you can’t be fucking serious,” Chris hissed; the look on her face told him otherwise. A voice whispered from the back of his mind: Just stay here, Chris. A different stronger, voice thundered over it: Civil duty. He sighed and pulled himself out of the chair, swinging his medical kit over his shoulder.

Claire slowly creaked open the office door. "Same as before. I'll keep the back you the front." Chris lightly pushed his way past her.

The lobby looked like the sight of a massacre: blood, gore, and belongings. A strange, but familiar feeling arose from Chris’s gut, and he turned to keep his gaze low and forward. The world faded around him, a subconscious autopilot taking control. He reached the entrance, and quietly pushed it open and stepped through. The streets outside were quiet, but filled with infected who seemed unaware of the pair. Chris felt his senses rise to alert, dimly aware of Claire muttering about the infected being on “standby.”

"OH GOD! HELP ME! THE WHOLE BUILDING! HELP ME!" Chris rose from his cautionary zone out and felt adrenaline rush into his system. He turned to the source of the screams; a woman had fled the apartment building and was chasing after he and Claire. "PLEASE! OH THANK GOD, YOU TWO AREN'T INFECTED!"

Claire instructed the woman to quiet down, but the infected had already returned to animation. "They're activating!" The infected began to chase after the woman, who was favoring one leg. She must have a sprain. She needs a maximum strength painkiller, Chris moved his hand instinctively to his bag. He stepped towards the woman but felt a force tug him away from behind. "Fuck her, we need to move".

Chris tried to run in the opposite direction of Claire’s grip. “No! No, no, no! I can save her! I can save her!” He managed to writhe free of the tugging in time to watch an infected pounce onto the woman. She began to scream. The tiny voice spoke again: run.

Chris turned and chased after Claire. They turned a corner into a transport terminal filled with comatose infected. The woman’s screams died away, and Chris’s eyes glazed over. Claire stamped her foot and the infected began to move after the two, closing in from both sides. Without warning, Chris felt Claire pull him into another building and slam the heavy wooden doors shut.

Chris looked halfheartedly around the foyer for danger, but was interrupted by Claire shouting for help. He sprang into action and helped her bar the door shut, using his body to press the door into position. When they finished, Claire ran into the security office and tried to close the metal rolling doors. The power blacked out, stopping the doors halfway.

Claire yelled in frustration, just as an infected man burst from the administrative office and shambled towards Chris. He grabbed the pole Claire had dropped, held it firm in his right hand, and charged at the infected. When he was within striking distance, Chris swung the metal hard at the man’s skull; it shattered on contact, dropping the infected to the floor.

Chris chuckled in victory, and turned to see Claire had sat against the entrance wall; he strode over and sat down next to her. "Oh Jesus. We're fucked"

“It could be worse, could be worse.” He repeated in response, suddenly cheery. Claire studied the foyer of the building, while Chris patted his medical kit in reassurance. Suddenly, Claire pulled out the tablet from her jacket and opened leader.

"I guess it's Wahidin's lucky day.” The tablet beeped, “Alright Tanner. You have your wish. Chris and I made it to Wahidin's building?” Chris glanced around the foyer in surprise. What a coincidence. “He's up at the top still? We'll help your buddy get Wahidin back to the Alamo. But I won't promise I'll try to keep him alive. Can this Howe guy come to us from wherever he currently is? Can he get through this building's basement somehow from his location? We've sort of got a contamination problem outside the building and in the street... Regardless, I think we'll wait until he gets here. Wahidin can wait."

Claire stood up and handed the tablet to Chris. “Mr. Tanner,” he began, “Can you get any information about this uh-” he tried to recall their previous conversation- “Chimera project? It’s exhibiting…behaviors that I have never studied. It’s both fascinating and horrifying.”

Sam looked like he’d just been slapped. He was staring at a blinking disconnect message that told him Claire Hartford had disconnected from Leader.

“Great she’s a psycho.”

Sam returned to her file and read further. Some words seemed to jump out him but Disgraced Drug Addict seemed to cover it.

“Howe you’re gonna love this. The Hartford chick is a friggin tab head. Her file says she used to be hot shit in the labs but lost it.
You’re gonna have to watch her man, I mean like a hawk, these tab fiends would sell their mother for another hit. Looks like she’s also got it in for Wahidin, cuff her if you... Shit they’re back on.”

Claire Hartford’s voice reappeared but sounded more relaxed this time.

"Alright Tanner. You have your wish. Chris and I made it to Wahidin's building. He's up at the top still? We'll help your buddy get Wahidin back to the Alamo. But I won't promise I'll try to keep him alive."

Sam decided to use some positive reinforcement in an effort to keep Claire from going off on another rant. At least until Howe arrived, after that it was his problem.

“That’s super Claire, really, really super. It would be even more super though if you could, you know, not harm Mr Wahidin, he is the boss after all.”

Sam suddenly became fearful he was going to lose Hartford again.

“But I mean what is a boss really? God I don’t know... Like, why can’t everyone all just live together on a nice big farm or something all work together and just, like, live you know. That would be so... super... I’m rambling aren’t I?”
Hartford ignored his attempts at placation and stuck to the task at hand. The yo-yoing focus was a tell tale sign of a tab head.

"Can this Howe guy come to us from wherever he currently is? Can he get through this building's basement somehow from his location... We've sort of got a contamination problem outside the building and in the street... Regardless... I think we'll wait until he gets here. Wahidin can wait."

“Yep that’s super Claire you just hang in there and before you know it Howe will be with you. You won’t even have to talk to Mr Wahidin. That’ll be Supe... uh great.”

It wasn’t Claire who spoke next but Galloway.

“Mr. Tanner, can you get any information about this uh Chimera project? It’s exhibiting…behaviors that I have never studied. It’s both fascinating and horrifying.”

“No kidding Doc.”

Sam tried a couple of searches but came up empty.

“Naw it’s a black hole. Whatever it was it’s way outside my pay scale...”

A thought suddenly occurred to Sam as he glanced at the security screens. In particular he was looking at level minus ten where the contamination had originated and he was looking at the dead bodies of the first infected.

It took a second for the realisation to hit him.

“Oh Christ... Ok Galloway stay with me here. The contamination started on floor minus ten. So the first zombies were on floor minus ten. Then GM purged floor, sucked all the air out of it, and released the contaminated air on all the other floors thus spreading the infection. Problem is those zombies are still dead on Floor Minus Ten. They all asphyxiated, that means they needed to breathe when they died, what am I saying you’re the doctor. Point is these people aren’t zombies, as in not undead, they’re just sick. I’ve been telling people to kill sick people. Oh Jesus...”

Sam spent a long moment looking at the infected shuffling around the various security screens.

“We gotta help them, maybe we can fix it. Alright you guys are going to need to go down. We’re still reduced to emergency lighting of minus ten to plus five. The Chimera Project lab is on minus six. So it’s pretty dark in there but if you could make it there it’s our best bet for answers, maybe a cure. Galloway at the moment you, Howe and Hartford are the best suited to the job. You need to restore power and get in there.”

Sam opened up a few new programmes that gave him control of the power.

“Alternatively I could reroute power so you can access the computers but that means no emergency lighting. There shouldn’t be anything on minus six though... just dead bodies, might be a bit spooky but not... you know bitey. It’s up to you three.”

Valier took the time to think over Officer Tanner's words. Should they head to safety, regroup with any other survivors he was sending there? Or was it more beneficial to go and complete Tanner's task, add another to their group, before heading to the all-clear zone? Honestly she didn't really get the chance to choose before the security officer with her chose for them.

Saving Wahidin was stuck up top, on the highest level of the Ark and Officer Fitzpatrick insisted that's where he needed to go. It wasn't that Valerie didn't care, Douglas was like a surrogate father figure to her, but she had no viable fighting skills, she wasn't a good shot, and frankly she didn't have much faith in the man keeping both himself and her alive while they made the trek up. Unfortunately, Valerie didn't really have a choice. Without her current companion there was no way she was making it anywhere by herself.

"Officer Tanner..." She called, connecting herself right back onto Leader. "We'll go and meet up with Prof. Wahidin. It's going to take us some time though. If GM is on the fritz than cracking some of the security protocalls will take precious minutes, even with my access." It was true, the entire main building for the Nakatomi Corporation had some tight security that only got more complex the higher (or lower) one went. It wasn't as though Valerie couldn't do it though, she was more than proficient when it came to computers and she had worked on GM.

Slipping her hand into her pocket she grabbed a hold of her ear piece. The tiny piece of machinery was quite the technological advancement, but was still in prototype phases for the purposes she was going to use it for. She attached the device to her ear before connecting it to her laptop. While the computer was in sleep mode, Valerie would be able to access some minimal functions with the earpiece via a small virtual screen it projected over her eyes. So far the thing had crashed a few times when the programming required too much output. Until absolutely necessary she'd just use it to keep connected on Leader.

Officer Fitzpatrick was the first to head out. He slowly opened the door leading back into the building and cautiously stuck his head through. Valerie stood behing him, nervous beyond words, until he eventually moved through. The hallway was clear and they were on their way.

As the two moved through the eerie halls, both clearly strung out in tension as two pairs of eyes scanned anything that moved, one particular voice over the Leader waves, grabbed Valerie's attention. It had been a very long time since she'd heard it. "Alright Tanner.. You have your wish. Chris and I made it to Wahidin's building. He's up at the top still? We'll help your buddy get Wahidin back to the Alamo. But I won't promise I'll try to keep him alive."

"Prof. Hartford?" The albino woman asked, realizing that she probably hadn't seen her former mentor in some number of years.
Sam Tanner and whoever was with Claire steered the conversation into a different direction; Project Chimera. That was something she hadn't seen in action before. Valerie had done a few simple tests for that particular project in it's earlier stages before she was moved to full time GM duty. Still, she would never speak of Nakatomi's classified projects to people who didn't have the appropriate clearance. Even when the situation was this dire.

"This is Valerie Rush, Officer Fitzpatrick and I are six floors above you, Prof. Hartford. I can access the security cameras to get you and your companion to us. From there the four of us could probably make it up to Prof. Wahidin's office rather easily."

Chris scratched his chin in thought while Mr. Tanner searched files for information on the Chimera Project. Horrific, his mind echoed, absolutely horrific. A strange blend of emotions had begun to fill his skull: relief, terror, pain, fear. It was all too familiar to that fateful trip to The Congo.

“Oh Christ,” Chris returned to the present, “Ok Galloway stay with me here. The contamination started on floor minus ten. So the first zombies were on floor minus ten. Then GM purged floor, sucked all the air out of it, and released the contaminated air on all the other floors thus spreading the infection. Problem is those zombies are still dead on Floor Minus Ten. They all asphyxiated, that means they needed to breathe when they died, what am I saying you’re the doctor. Point is these people aren’t zombies, as in not undead, they’re just sick. I’ve been telling people to kill sick people. Oh Jesus...”

Tanner trailed off, leaving an empty crackle on the channel. Evidently, the security officer wasn’t prepared for the revelation that the “zombies” were only rabid people. Good for him, Chris thought, at least someone hasn’t been totally desensitized in this day and age. He suddenly become aware of a clench in his side and rubbed at it slowly. My body is quite exhausted, he realized, a bit bruised, too. The pain pills in his medical kit seemed tempting, but his better instincts pushed the thought away.

Chris inhaled through his nose, and then responded in a calm and even voice, “Just as I had suspected. It’s alright, Mr. Tanner, you did the right thing.” The last words barely croaked out of his mouth as a lump of guilt formed in his throat. He glanced up at Claire, who was pacing around the building foyer, and the image of the woman from the streets flashed back into Chris’s mind. She was screaming as the brutes attacked her, but no sound escaped her lips. What have I done?

“We gotta help them,” Tanner broke in again, pulling Chris out from his nightmares, “maybe we can fix it. Alright you guys are going to need to go down. We’re still reduced to emergency lighting of minus ten to plus five. The Chimera Project lab is on minus six. So it’s pretty dark in there but if you could make it there it’s our best bet for answers, maybe a cure. Galloway at the moment you, Howe and Hartford are the best suited to the job. You need to restore power and get in there. Alternatively I could reroute power so you can access the computers but that means no emergency lighting. There shouldn’t be anything on minus six though... just dead bodies, might be a bit spooky but not... you know bitey. It’s up to you three.”

The channel remained silent, but Claire muttered something indistinguishable next to him; apparently she had been paying attention. “Let’s worry about getting Wahidin,” Chris settled, “before we get caught up in our research.” He wet his suddenly dry lips. “Howe, are you still with us? Ms. Hartford and I are currently safe in the lobby, and we are prepared to move up for Wahidin,” a disgusted look crossed Claire’s face at the mention, “I am, at least.”

A new voice, female, cracked through the channel. "This is Valerie Rush, Officer Fitzpatrick and I are six floors above you, Prof. Hartford. I can access the security cameras to get you and your companion to us. From there the four of us could probably make it up to Prof. Wahidin's office rather easily." Chris looked up at Claire, and thought he saw a look of recognition cross her face.

“Ms. Rush,” he responded quickly, “I am Chief Physician Christopher Galloway. If you would be so kind, Ms. Hartford and I would certainly appreciate assistance in reaching Wahidin. Is Officer Fitzpatrick armed? I’m afraid we are not,” the metal pipe focused in his view, “at least not efficiently, and are still awaiting Detective Howe.”

Chris paused and searched through his memory. Fitzpatrick, don’t I know an Officer Fitzpatrick? He drummed his fingers on the floor, trying to recall all his previous patients.

Claire paced the foyer back and forth, biting the inside of her cheek while she thought about what she was doing, what was happening and how it happened. Tanner spoke over the the shared system to Chris and Claire listened while forming her own ideas and hypothesis as to what was causing this nightmare and how it was happening so fast. Although it wasn't above Claire to be able to speculate what was happening - extreme-rabies was her best guess - the reality was she was an aug scientist and inventor, not a biologist or doctor, like Chris.

Tanner relayed what he was seeing on his screens. Apparently they definitely weren't undead per se, they needed air. That was promising to a degree; suffocating them was an option if force or a cure wasn't viable, maybe even a mass suffocation throughout the ark? No, that wouldn't happen; Tanner was already apologetic of the few that had died and Chris was a man of healing at his core. What the hell was infecting people?

Claire kept listening while her internal monologue raged within and paused her pacing only when Tanner began suggesting an alternate option for the two and this Howe guy instead of Wahidin's rescue. Find answers, go underground and find answers. Yes; no wait, no! But then it would mean no Wahidin. Fuck. Claire chewed her cheek a little harder and flinched Tanner ended his sentence,

"There shouldn't be anything on minus six though... Just dead bodies, might be a bit spooky but not... you know bitey. It's up to you three"

Claire contemplated the decision, yes it would be no Wahidin but then again, what the guarantee there was absolute safety down there? Plus it could get ugly fast if one the infected or more found themselves down at that level. Claire felt her hand shake - a side affect of boost - gripping it tightly she mumbled, suddenly remembering something from her time spent working in one of the labs down on minus six,

"Minus six also has some of my confiscated aug information... If we get down there, I might be able to make..."

Claire didn't dwell on the thought too long, Chris made their decision for them anyway and Claire shot Chris a disgusted look. Minus six was going to have to wait and to be honest, Claire preferred the idea of a claustrophobic pitch black floor to Wahidin's face. Claire cleared her throat,

"Fine." she said curtly.

Claire turned to the elevator of the floor and pressed the button, hoping the power might suddenly return. Nothing. Suddenly the tablet fired up again and another voice this time filled the foyer,

"This is Valerie Rush, Officer Fitzpatrick and I are six floors above you, Prof. Hartford. I can access the security cameras to get you and your companion to us. From there the four of us could probably make it up to Prof. Wahidin's office rather easily."

Valerie Rush. The albino that essentially took Claire's job. Claire felt herself twinge with yet more anger at another person within Nakatome industries that she disliked more than anything. Although, in truth Claire could admit her dislike for Valerie Rush was more or less a reflection on Nakatome's easy replacement of Claire with Valerie, more than the actual woman herself. In fact, when Claire had worked for the company she had, in a sense, mentored the young woman, quite liking her actually, Valerie almost being on a friend basis before Claire's dismissal. Valerie offered help though and although Claire's eyes rolled at her Valerie's helpful attitude she politely replied, remembering her dislike was largely misplaced.

"Thank you Miss Rush. We're on standby. When you've got a clear view of passage for us, we'll follow your directions. We'll rendezvous on your floor. Don't get us killed."

Claire looked to Chris raising her eye brows in almost defiant matter,

"I meant it when I said I wasn't making any promises about keeping Wahidin alive Chris."

The coordinates came through, and Howe found that he was not as close as he had hoped. For one, he would have to take the lift back up. "Bloody everything," he muttered as he stepped back into the lift and hit the button for Level 0. As the lift traveled up, he kept his dagger at the ready, but he reached Level 0 without incident. He left at a brisk walk, checking the coordinates on the tablet and figuring out his direction before gaining his orientation, then put the tablet away and took off towards the apartment at a jog, listening to the conversation but saying nothing.

By the time he was halfway to the apartment, he felt his regret in his legs, and paused outside a building. He checked the area quickly before relaxing slightly, sitting on a wall to let his legs rest. He laid the dagger on part of the wall and leaned back to see what was on the other side. That was the only way he received enough warning of the infected man who had attempted to sneak up on him, and even then he was dangerously close. Swearing in a rapid-fire jumble of expletives, Howe jumped back and scrabbled for his dagger. Once the detective had armed himself, the matter of fending off the infected became easy. Howe simply bit the figurative bullet and went for the eye, grabbing at thick curling hair to stabilize the head for the killing blow and delivering the blow before he could second-guess himself. The infected screamed, then went limp and fell as Howe pulled the dagger out.

He relaxed again, then started at the sound of footsteps. He glanced around, and saw two forms stumbling towards him. They must have heard the scream. Shit. Howe took off again, and started talking this time. "Howe here. I'm about halfway to Galloway and Hartford now, but I've got a couple of these infected on my tail. Turns out they can hear pretty bloody well. Copy everything that's been said; I've just been a bit busy." He let things rest at that, and continued his jog.

When he reached the apartment complex, he gave a small cheer, then spoke again. "Alright, I'm almost to the apartment with two infected following. These ones can't run very fast, even if they can hear well." He reached the door, found it locked. "Fuckin' hell, this is an aux door, the bloody thing's locked." He turned around to check the progress of the two infected. "Someone let me in, there are two infected closing on me...!"

Surprisingly, at least to Valerie, it wasn't Claire who answered her first. It had been the her male counterpart. “Ms. Rush, I am Chief Physician Christopher Galloway. If you would be so kind, Ms. Hartford and I would certainly appreciate assistance in reaching Wahidin. Is Officer Fitzpatrick armed? I’m afraid we are not,” the metal pipe focused in his view, “at least not efficiently, and are still awaiting Detective Howe.”

She tried to think back to other staff members she had met. Sadly Valerie was unable to place the doctor. There hadn't been many instances where she had been down the use the medical facilities. Even so, someone who knew proper first aid would be very convenient and leave the albino woman to focus on other matters if she or the officer with her were to run into some bad luck.

Then another voice piped up, this one more familiar to Valerie. "Thank you Miss Rush. We're on standby. When you've got a clear view of passage for us, we'll follow your directions. We'll rendezvous on your floor. Don't get us killed." Frankly, Claire sounded a bit hostile to the younger woman. She had even managed to slight Valerie by not addressing her with her proper title. Valerie had been kind enough to still call her a proffessor even though Hartford had completely ruined her own life. The entire experience had devestated the albino woman, Claire had been her mentor, someone that she could have looked up to, but then she went and became a tablet junkie. It had been Valerie who had to go in, take over, and fix everything that the other woman had left behind or tarnished.

Still, being the profession that she was, Valerie took a seat in the dark hallway and opened up her laptop. Officer Fitzpatrick walked back and forth down the hallway, from corner to corner, keeping an eye out for any unwanted guests.

The screen of her computer was obnoxiously bright in the dim light, but the Nakatomi scientist ignored it and focused on the cameras. It took her a minute, but she managed to locate both Hartford and Galloway. They appeared to be conversing from what she was able to tell. Claire appeared rather angry while Chris attempted to hold a more nuetral pose. It was that instant that Valerie realized she'd have to keep an eye on the other woman.

Her eyes skimmed through the various images from various cameras. The power was still out, except for the emergency backups, but those didn't power the elevators. Obviously those were out of the question. Thus the stairs were the next best thing. Unfortunately, those too held security scanners. They would need proper ID. Since Galloway was a Nakatomi employee, hopefully that wouldn't hinder them too much.

"Doctor Galloway," Valerie began as she hopped back onto Leader. "I can see you both on the entrance cameras, unfortunately there are a few of the infected in your vacinity, so be careful. You'll have to make your way to the emergency stair cases in the back of the building, that means heading through the entrance and a couple of hallways. There are pictures with arrows pointing the way once you get out of the entrance area, so it's simple. From what I can see, the halls are fairly clear."

The albino took another few seconds to look over the cameras. She and Fitzpatrick would have to head into a more infested area in order to get to the stairs. "Just don't open any doors and you guys should be alright. Be careful though, the scanner will be loud when it goes off. Officer Fitzpatrick and I will be meeting you in the stairwell, but we'll have to sign off of Leader. There are more infect on the sixth floor. Also, I can't see much of anything in the stairwell, but no one sick should be in there...hopefully." It was ominous sounding, but there was really nothing that she could do.