Chapter 52

Voronov’s compound was a series of concrete and metal buildings, some the size of large warehouses, surrounded by a tall chain link fence with razor wire along its top. There was an access gate on one side with numerous guards stationed all around it. A small, dirt road ran from the gate down the middle of the complex. There was a small airstrip on the far side with several planes parked in covered stalls. The entire place was sparsely populated, mostly with guards and other types of workers, but also with numerous men in white overcoats who appeared to be scientists or technicians of some sort.

Kiana, Michael, and Christine crouched on a distant hill behind a large, moss covered log, where they could see the complex clearly but at the same time could not be seen by its guards. Michael was using a camera to photograph as much of it as possible, and Kiana and Christine were using their sunglasses, with their built-in telescopic lenses, to zoom in and scan the place for anything of interest.

Christine pointed at the largest of the buildings. “That far building looks like a research facility of some sort, maybe a laboratory. The majority of the men who enter it are wearing those white overcoats.”

“What type of laboratory?” Kiana asked.

“No idea. Since we’re in Latin America I’d guess drugs but you never know.”

She pointed at another building, one that was much smaller and appeared to be a residence of some sort.

“The building to the side of it, that’s probably Voronov’s residence. The rest of the people here probably live in barracks, but of course the leader has got to have something nice.”

Kiana nodded. It was clear Christine had done this type of surveillance work before. Probably many times.

Not to be outdone, Michael added to Christine’s assessment. “There’s something odd about that airstrip. Usually an airstrip like it would only have a few planes and no more than ten at most. I wonder why Voronov needs so -”

He never got a chance to finish his sentence. Kiana interrupted him. She had zoomed her glasses in on a spot on the compound’s far corner, directly across from them, and she couldn’t believe what she had found.

“What in the world is that?”

She was looking at what appeared to be a holding pen of some sort. It was made of chain link fence and numerous tall, metal posts. Inside, milling aimlessly about, appeared to be at least fifty different people. At first Kiana thought they might be prisoners, maybe people Voronov had captured and was holding for some unknown reason, but then she zoomed in on them a little closer and her heart stopped.

They weren’t people. They were monsters. They looked like something straight out of a horror movie. They were rotting corpses, in various states of decay, and one was missing his left arm (upon closer examination, Kiana realized he was carrying it in his right hand). The creatures wandered aimlessly around the cage and they hissed menacingly whenever they got within a few feet of one another.

“How is this possible?”

“It’s got to be Zander,” Christine said. “Beckman told us he had found a way to reanimate a dead body. He must be here and he must be doing it.”

“Why?”

“I have no idea. But it’s really freaking me out.”

“You’re not the only one. I think I’m about to get sick.”

Much to their surprise and disbelief, Michael’s response was completely different. He didn’t seem fazed in any way by the creatures’ grotesque appearance. If anything, he seemed curious. “I’ve got to take a closer look at this. I’m going down there so I can get some better shots to send to Beckman.”

“Knock your socks off,” Kiana said. “But I’m staying up here as far away from those things as I can.”

“Me, too,” Christine said.

“That’s fine,” Michael said. “Keep an eye out for me and send word if anyone heads my way.”

They nodded and he made his way down the side of the hill, just out of sight of the nearest guards. Once he got to the fence’s edge, he made his way along it and actually disappeared from view for a few seconds as he entered an area where the foliage had grown all of the way up to the fence’s edge.

“What do you think Voronov and Zander are doing in there?” Kiana asked. “You don’t think they’re making more of those things, do you?”

She looked back at the creatures and actually got goose bumps on her arms as she watched one of them stumble its way along. Its leg had been damaged in some way and it was dragging it along as it walked. Undoubtedly, it was the scariest, most grotesque thing she had ever seen. Another of the creatures came into view and it appeared to be in the process of gnawing on its own hand.

“I’m not certain,” Christine said. “They could be –”

She never got a chance to finish her sentence.

“Don’t move. Raise your hands, now. Both of you.”

Kiana couldn’t believe it and she couldn’t explain how, but a pair of the compound’s guards had spotted them, circled around, and snuck up on them from behind. She felt the barrel of a gun as it was pressed against the back of her head.

Much to her chagrin, they had been captured.