Roger picked up Alissa’s gun up from the ground and incensed advanced towards the stairs, but when he passed Gary. Gary grabbed his ankle. Gary had regained consciousness and tried to sit up, but was dizzy and sore. Roger helped Gary to rise, but the soldier was shocked and decided to sit on the floor and lean back against the wall.
“She’s dead?” Gary asked when he saw Alissa lying in a pool of blood. Roger nodded, and the soldier closed his eyes sadly. “Sorry, I couldn’t do anything. I tried to disarm him but that bastard is too strong.”
“It’s not your fault. Volkov would have killed her anyways,” Roger said.
“Who was she? She wasn’t a patient, right?”
“No. She wasn’t. Alissa was part of a Special Forces unit, and was on an infiltration mission when the infection broke out,” Roger said.
Gary nodded.
“Special Forces. She was a very brave woman and died with honor,” Gary said, “If we get out of this we will give her the tribute she deserves.”
“Brian has betrayed us,” Roger said, diverting the issue to avoid talking about Alissa. “That pig is flying right now to Capital City.”
“The samples in his possession are worth millions of dollars, and money does not understand friendship or values,” commented the soldier with contempt in his tone. “This shit got out of my hands. I should have seen it coming. How did I not see it coming? Capital Tech has kept us under their control from the start. You are their ultimate weapon and they have tested you to see how you develop your potential. For that reason, you were not taken out of here. They have used the outbreak of the infection to know and understand your limits and to see how far you can go. And now they will be rubbing their hands in glee. Imagine an army of thousands of soldiers of you that are prepared to fight under any flag. We have lost, Roger, Capital Tech will soon dominate the world and we, humanity, we can do nothing to prevent our own destruction.”
“We haven’t lost,” Roger said coolly as he held out his hand to the soldier. “Come on, you still have to find your wife and I want to hunt down Volkov. I’m going to kill that bastard.”
Before descending to the ground floor, Roger paused to take one last look at the body of Alissa. Seeing her lying there, surrounded by the dismembered bodies of the infected, caused him disgust and sadness, but there was nothing he could do for her except miss her and get revenge.
Gary and Roger stopped at the door to the ground floor. The soldier was armed with his assault rifle and Roger with Alissa’s pistol, but after their clashes on the upper floors both were short of ammunition. Gary’s morale crawled on the ground like a worm about to be crushed. Tired and discouraged after so much struggle and doomed to a heartless end, defeated by a deranged Russian and an ambitious kid who were but a clear example of the corrupt men who lived in a rotten society. Gary’s battle had not started that night, but went back a few years ago when he accidentally discovered some misplaced documents in the office of Erika, his vanished wife. They were the first sketches of a macabre and tyrannical idea: the initial thoughts of Capital Tech to design an army of biochemical soldiers. Genetically modified humans in the service of a capitalist power. Erika had been offered the job to be at the forefront of the research on several occasions, but responded in denial every time. It was he who had caused the seed of this idea that developed in the mind of his wife and pushed her to work on the project. To accept the job she had been offered.
The contract to work with a leading R & D department was a major leap forward in her career, and it meant an injection of significant money for a poor couple who survived on the salary of a military man who served the nation and a specialist in biogenetics that researched and taught at a public university. The night that Erika had to leave for Iceland, Gary tried to prevent it, terrified and with a sense of guilt that kept him from sleeping at night. After a heated argument, Erika left and Gary never saw her again. Dead or alive. But he never believed the official version, and since then finding Erika, and sabotaging the plans of Capital Tech had become his particular obsession, and despite having lost the battle against the arms company, he was closer than ever to finding his wife.
Gary pointed to the hallway, lit by the light on his tactical rifle. There was no trace of the infected. The soldier unfolded the map on the floor while watching Roger turned his head in both directions.
The lower floor of the prison didn’t contain cells, and consisted mostly of small rooms, inspection rooms and visiting rooms. A small media library where they watched television, a dining room divided into several areas, and the huge courtyard where less dangerous prisoners could go out and breathe some fresh air. That old map did not indicate access to the underground research center, so Gary was trying to figure out where was the closest point of entry. Maybe close to the tunnel. Although, it was like looking for a bullet hole in the middle of an immense darkness.
“Let’s go to the left. Toward the door to the tunnel,” Gary said. “Anyway, we have to unblock it to climb to the roof.”
“Have you thought about how we are getting out of here? Brian will have taken off with the helicopter,” Roger said. “Going up to the roof is a waste of time.”
“I have a plan. Come on. I’ll tell you later,” Gary said winking and patting him on the arm.
The soldier claimed to have an alternate plan to escape from the prison, and Roger was getting upset because Gary never told him anything. However, for some strange reason, he never lost confidence in his partner. That soldier, who had been unknown to him until a few hours before. Had become the only person in the world in which he could still trust.
The two advanced cautiously down the hallway. It was lit by several flashing emergency lights that caused it to look like a disturbing and frightening insane asylum. There appeared several of the infected who they easily shot down, but the ammunition was scarce. If they didn’t find the door to the underground facilities those corridors could become a deathtrap.
They walked the maze of corridors till they reached a locked door leading to the bloody tunnel spattered with viscera after a fierce battle between soldiers and the infected. Several corpses blocked the door and a huge steel bar placed across the door prevented its opening. Sitting on the floor with his back against the door, the body of a SECOM soldier lay with his face disfigured by the bites of the infected. The soldier’s head had been torn apart by the teeth of the monstrosities, and was hanging from the neck of the deceased. Gary found the weapons of the deceased soldier without ammunition. Then, with extreme caution, Roger and Gary made sure that no body remained alive.
After that they separated the bodies. Gary grabbed the bodies by the legs. While Roger did the same for the arms. They took several minutes heaping the bodies a few meters from the door. So the bodies would not impede their steps.
“These bastards are heavy,” Gary said. Roger smiled without enthusiasm “Hey, are you okay?”
“I don’t know.” A torrent of unrequited feelings haunted his head and he had a single thought. To kill Volkov. “That wound looks bad.”
A trickle of blood flowed from the cut that Volkov had given Gary in the face, and required that Gary clean it with his knuckles again and again.
“It is a shallow cut and the cheekbone is not broken. I have survived much worse wounds and blows. It will heal soon.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Are you asking me in case I’m infected?”
“No, I’m worried about you.”
“How tender you are to be a biological weapon valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.”
“I can still feel her.”
“Feel who? Alissa?”
“Yes, I feel she is still inside me somehow, almost as if she’s part of my body. I feel like she’s alive and she makes me feel alive. Although, I know I won’t ever caress her skin again.”
“I know what you mean.”
“You feel the same thing with...”
“With Erika? Yes, from the first day she left. It’s a strange feeling but you know it’s there. Although, you can no longer touch her you know that she remains within you. And the feeling is magnified when you feel so close ...”
“Do you really think she’s here?”
“If I didn’t believe it I would have left swimming to Capital City.”
“You would have died of hypothermia.”
“You think you could do it?”
“Swim all the way to Capital City?”
“Could you?”
“I don’t know, but I have no intention of trying. Is that your plan?”
“No.”
Once the bodies that were blocking the door were out of the way they were able to open it. They would escape through there. Gary crossed the threshold and descended the stairs to the tunnel that connected the two islands. He saw the metal stairs that led to the roof again. Roger waited impatiently in the hallway, and thought if the soldier had a plan to escape from there. It was time Gary told him.
“How will we get out of here?” Roger asked. “We have no helicopter. We have nothing.”
Gary smiled, reached in his pocket, and pulled out a flare for tactical use. Which are used to mark a strategic position in the battlefield.
“A flare?” Roger was surprised.
“Exactly.”
“A fucking flare? That’s your plan?” Roger asked, disappointed.
“This flare is our only hope to get out of here,” Gary said. “Listen to me. I was more than ten years in the Special Forces and I can assure you that we never leave anyone behind on a mission. I am convinced that out there in a boat, a military unit is waiting for Alissa to light a flare, and will come here and rescue her.”
“What if you’re wrong?”
“I’m not wrong. I know they are there. Hidden somewhere waiting for the prison roof to glow with red smoke.”
“And when they discover that it is not Alissa who has ignited the flare?”
“We’ll pray that they don’t open fire on us and get us out of here.”
“That’s a hell of a plan,” Roger remarked wryly.
“If you’ve got a better idea. I’ll be happy to listen.”
“Mmm ...
Then an explosion interrupted their conversion and shook the walls of the prison. Roger and Gary looked surprised, and a huge flare was visible two halls beyond from where they were.
“What the hell?” Roger said.
“Semtex!” Gary yelled, while he started to run toward the place where there escaped a wave of dust and smoke driven by the shock wave of the explosion. “Come on, that was Volkov! He must have found the entrance.”
Roger started running and found that his legs were faster and lighter than ever. Not even in his best years of college basketball had he felt in such good physical shape. The pain had completely disappeared, and he only wanted to face off with Lieutenant Volkov by engaging in mortal combat with him.
Visibility in the hallway of the explosion was null, nonexistent. The black cloud of smoke and dust was compressed to the width of the corridor. Roger and Gary decided to hold their position. They were waiting to have an advantageous view so as not be surprised by Volkov. And then, through the dust cloud as if it were a demon that stands risen from the depths of hell. The fearsome silhouette of the lieutenant pushed his way toward them. Late. There was no time to react.
Volkov struck a huge kick to Gary’s chest and tossed him several meters until Gary’s body hit against the wall. Gary rebounded to remain lying on the floor and out of breath. The beast had superhuman strength, like a titan exploring the limits of its fury.
Roger stepped back and crouched beside Gary without losing sight of the lieutenant.
“Are you okay?”
Gary writhed in pain as he pressed his hands against his chest. A few meters from them, Alexey Volkov, or what little remained of him observed them with bloodshot eyes and a face scorched by the fire of the explosion. The lieutenant’s ribcage trembled violently. Thrashing with the rage of a bison. Volkov blew out a mouthful of thick black blood. The lieutenant had transformed. Leaving behind the little humanity that he had once had.
“I’m fine,” Gary said haltingly. Gary grabbed the lapel of Roger’s maintenance jacket. “Finish him. Destroy that bastard.”
Roger pointed the gun at the head of Volkov. Maybe a couple of shots were sufficient to kill the Russian monstrosity and make him fall to the ground. Roger wasn’t certain he had more bullets in the magazine. However, that was not the end waiting for the lieutenant. At least not the one Roger had reserved for him.
“This bastard deserves to suffer,” Roger muttered, and got rid of the gun to confront the lieutenant in a melee.
Decisively, Roger moved to stand before the infected man. A couple of meters separated the two biochemical weapons. So similar and different at the same time. Roger was perfect. Volkov, was an error. Gary watched the scene from a distance; saw the two creatures facing each other and a shiver ran through every centimeter of his battered body. They were both dangerous.
Roger, more Genesis than man wanted to fight the beast and get to know his own limits. He did not appear to be afraid, and didn’t feel it. Combat had become second nature to him, and he even seemed to enjoy the situation. He had been created to fight, and meeting Volkov was the neurological trigger for the EB03 virus to completely take control of his body.
“Join me, brother,” growled the lieutenant, with an infernal rough and deep voice. “We are not so different.”
“You’re wrong,” Roger said. “You and I are nothing alike.”
Volkov cracked his neck and a piece of skin fell off of his face, like a wax doll melting. Then he screamed a horrifying scream.
Roger was on guard and the lieutenant tried to pounce on him, but he dodged him with relative ease. Their strength in physical combat seemed to be equaled, but Roger was tactically superior, because by keeping intact brain functions he could think clearly. However, Volkov was only a prisoner to his most primitive instincts to fight and hunt his prey. Roger waited patiently for the next move of the lieutenant, as his brain analyzed the strategic possibilities offered in the narrow, dark hallway, like Deep Blue when he faced the Grand Master Kasparov, only this time with a human case and more at stake than a prestigious title.
Volkov launched a couple of hard blows that hit the air, and Roger dodged a them with ease.
This will be easier than I imagined, Roger told himself. And immediately he dealt a devastating punch in the abdomen of the lieutenant, but he was unfazed.
Roger’s supernatural strength was on par with that of Volkov, and in the physical appearance there was little difference between them. They exchanged blows for several minutes until they were both prisoners of the same Krav Maga move, the neck of one available to the other. A movement of an arm will split in two.
Roger broke away and stepped back. After his failed attack he understood that an exchange of blows would be detrimental to both of them and would prolong combat for unnecessary valuable time. Think. You have the ability to think. He does not. Roger thought.
Roger returned to a position of defense, and waited for Volkov to attack again to try to exploit an error. And Volkov attacked. The lieutenant screamed and ran towards Roger ready to tear him apart. So Roger put his right foot on the wall and propelled himself sideways. He dodged Volkov and grabbed his head from behind. Then made a turn with his body one hundred eighty degrees and crushed the head of the lieutenant against the left wall of the corridor. Volkov stumbled. The old concrete wall was cracked and a huge splash of blood and brain matter covered the wall. Confused by the terrible blow, Volkov looked at Roger’s eyes. The lieutenant had his skull caved in by the front and his face was disfigured by the brutal blow. But the fight was not over. Volkov refused to die.
“Finish him,” Gary yelled, clutching at his ribs.
Volkov emitted a new scream, weaker, and less frightening. With his face disfigured and vision impaired he tried to beat Roger, but his movements were slow and clumsy. He tried unsuccessfully to take Roger out, and a lump of brain matter fell to the ground causing an unpleasant sound. Volkov stopped, looked up and tottered. His head was open like a watermelon.
Roger approached Volkov and when he was a meter away from him. He stopped and smiled. Then he pushed and jumped forward with his fist raised, and punched the lieutenant’s head so brutally that his fist broke through his skull completely and sank into the brain. Roger’s face was covered with red, dotted with blood and the lieutenant’s brain matter. Volkov collapsed, and that huge mass of muscle went down like a sack of potatoes: dead, defeated, crushed by Genesis.
Roger had become the killing machine that Capital Tech craved. A vicious and ruthless being able to defeat any rival. The perfect soldier. Overwhelmingly superior, ready and prepared for combat. Soon, somewhere in the world, an army of Genesis soldiers will be created in another of Capital Tech’s secret facilities. This was their goal. Win any battle to subdue and dominate the world. Take a step towards an advanced civilization and modify the natural course of evolution. Capital Tech’s achievement was the closest that humanity had ever been to God, the creation of man as a species.