Page 4 of Breaking Danger
Fuck. There wasn’t going to be a break in these creatures.
The math was against him. Almost by definition anyone on the street was infected. The few who weren’t—and there was no way to tell how many of the uninfected were left—were locked indoors, frightened and trapped.
Like Sophie Daniels.
It was that thought—of Sophie Daniels trapped and terrified—that galvanized him.
He’d never met her but he’d seen her photograph. She was beautiful but beyond that she had the look of Mac’s wife, Catherine, and Nick’s woman, Elle. Very smart and very kind. The kind of woman who had a glow about her. They didn’t grow women like that on trees.
She’d been kidnapped by the goons of the company that had unleashed this virus, Arka Pharmaceuticals. Before being caught, she’d had the presence of mind and the courage to take a few moments to warn Elle. Elle had escaped, rescued by Nick, but Sophie had been caught. Maybe those moments had been just enough to have her fall into the hands of the fuckers who wanted to test her like an animal. Elle had been scared sick for her friend. The three of them—Mac, Nick and Jon—had gone to Arka’s headquarters to free the people being tested, including Sophie, but she’d gone by then.
By some miracle, Sophie had escaped from the prison lab in the chaos of the infection and instead of immediately getting the hell out, she’d gone back into the offices of a building full of monsters to hunt down and steal the vaccine. On the off chance that her bravery would give humanity a chance.
It was very likely that the fate of humanity rested with one lone, brave scientist trapped on Beach Street.
He looked west, to where Beach street began. It was clogged with infected, looking like crazed cockroaches from his vantage point high on the roof of the Ghirardelli Building.
The salvation of humanity might be on that street.
Jon wasn’t too fond of humanity. To his mind, it was already barreling toward disaster before the infection exploded. Most humans were petty and mean, with streaks of greed and cruelty running through them.
But there were exceptions. To his vast surprise, he’d found out that there were many who were good and brave, talented and selfless. Haven was full of people like that. People who deserved saving.
Okay.
He looked down from the parapet of the rooftop, checking his scanner, checking the writhing masses of red and yellow that appeared on his monitor. They were everywhere. There was never going to be a break. San Francisco was a city of 800,000 people and he had to assume that something like 80%-90% were infected. Maybe more. The city was teeming with infected.
He had to go.
Now.
This was not going to get any better.
Without a second thought, he anchored two steel ropes, threw them over the side, grabbed one and rappelled down the building fast, kicking away a snarling infected before landing lightly onto the paving stones and then taking off at a run for Sophie Daniels.
It was going to be a run for his life. On his side, Jon was a highly trained warrior and bristling with weapons. But he was one man in an area bristling with…meat. Tons of it. Looking down Beach Street he could see at least a hundred people. Say an average of 80 kg a head, he was looking right now at 8,000 kg of lethally deranged humanity that could overwhelm him in an instant.
The only thing that was going to save him was speed.
At first, it was basically a slalom around the infected, at top speed. By the time one of the fuckers realized he was coming, he was past them. He was at the corner of Beach and Jones, sorry to see the Buena Vista Café torched and charred, when he had the first problem. A big motherfucker, watching him coming, light blue eyes filled with empty madness. Dressed like a chef, bloody toque and all.
The guy reached out with a blood-flecked hand as Jon raced past and the hand bounced off Jon’s shoulder. He gave a huge yowl that lifted the hairs on the back of Jon’s neck and then the creature launched after Jon.
This seemed to stir some kind of primitive pack instinct. Soon ten creatures started running after Jon. They might have lost their intelligence and humanity but their muscles worked just fine. They were fuckingfast.
Jon turned, gave a wide blast of his stunner set to lethal, saw the big guy and four others fall dead. The pack instinct didn’t run to helping one’s fellow monsters. The fuckers behind just vaulted over the dead bodies and came after him.
The lethal stunner worked. It worked real well. It’s just that there were so goddamnedmanyof them. One of them reached out, hand sliding over the tough material of his armored suit.
Damn.
He was close now. Sophie Daniel’s apartment building was across the street and ten meters down.
Without looking, Jon tossed a grenade behind him, sprinted across the street to the apartment building, slamming open the street doors, pulling them together and throwing the bolt. It held against the dozens of bodies that piled up against the glass doors.
Most buildings had shatter-proof glass in the doors and Jon sure hoped the building was up to code because the motherfuckers kept slamming against the now blood-smeared glass of the doors, bodies thumping, fists pounding, mouths gaping open, unearthly howls coming out of them.
They looked…astonished. They could see him but not touch him. One man bashed his face against the glass doors so hard his teeth flew out of his mouth.
