purposes, it was over. John crawled to his feet, studying the back of his hand. Contrary to how it felt, the skin hadn't melted off. There were a few small blisters forming and the flesh looked scorched, but he wasn't bleeding. "You okay?" Leon asked, standing and brushing at his clothes, his youthful features looking a lot less youthful to John.
I'm not calling him a rookie anymore.John shrugged. "Think I broke a nail, but I'll live."He saw that Cole was still beaming at them, his
body shaking with the adrenaline aftermath; he seemed at a loss for words, and John had a sudden clear memory of how he'd felt after his first battle, the first in which he'd acted bravely. How helplessly elated he'd been. How incredibly alive. "Henry, you're a funny guy," John said, clap-ping his hand on the smaller man's shoulder and smiling. The electrician grinned uncertainly, and the three of them started for Four, leaving the furious squeals of the dying animals behind. When the dust cleared and the three men were still alive, Reston slammed his fist against the console in anger and rising dread, his stomach lurching, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"No, no, no, you stupid shits, you're dead!"
His voice was a little slurred, but he was too shocked to give it much notice, too upset. They wouldn't survive the Hunters, he knew that -
- but they weren't going to survive the Ca6s, either.
Reston couldn't believe that they'd made it this far; he couldn't believe that of the twenty-four specimens they'd encountered, all but one Dac had been left either dead or dying. Most of all, he couldn't believe that he'd let it continue, that his pride and ambition had kept him from doing what he should have done in the first place. It wasn't that he was out of his league, he was in the inner circle, he was past that kind of insecurity, but he should have talked to Sidney, at least, or even Duvall; not for advice, but to cover all of his bases. After all, he couldn't be held totally responsible if he'd had counsel from one of the other, older members... It wasn't too late. He'd put a call in, explain his plan, explain that he had some concerns - he could say that the intruders were only in Two, that would help, he could fix the video times later... and the Hunters had been tested before, after a fashion, not the 3Ks but the 121s. There had been some loosed at the Spencer estate; from the data recovered, he knew that the three men would be killed in Four. Even if they weren't, they wouldn't be able to get out, and with the backup from the home office, he'd be mostly in the clear. Satisfied that it was the right decision, Reston reached under the console and picked up the phone. "Umbrella, Special Divisions and..."... and silence. The smooth female voice at the other end was cut off in mid-sentence, without even a hiss of static. "This is Reston," he said sharply, aware that a cold hand was settling around his heart, squeezing. "Hel-lo? This is Reston!"
Nothing; then he suddenly realized that the quality of light in the room had changed, brightening. He turned in his chair, hoping desperately that it wasn't what it seemed to be...... and the row of monitors that showed the surface were all spitting snow. All seven, off-line - and only seconds later, before Reston could even digest what had happened, all seven went black. "Hello?" He whispered into the dead phone, his whiskey breath hot and bitter against the mouthpiece. Silence. He was alone.
Andrew "Killer" Berman was goddamn cold, cold and bored and wondering why the Sarge had even bothered putting anyone on the van. The bad guys weren't coming back, they were long gone - and even if they did decide to come back, they sure as hell weren't going to try to get to their vehicle. It'd be suicide.
Either they had a backup car or they're frozen solid out on the plain somewheres. This is total bullshit.
Andy pulled his scarf up around his ears, then readjusted his grip on the M41. Fifteen pounds of rifle didn't sound like much, but he'd been standing for a long goddamn time. If the Sarge didn't get back soon, he was going to get into the van for a while, rest his feet, get out of the cold; they weren't paying him enough to freeze his