Genesis - Keith R. A. DeCandido [66]
Drew would never try to fix Kaplan up with his sister. ("Really, Kaplan, she's a babe. Honest. Don't pay any attention to what J.D. says.")
J.D. would never give Kaplan a hard time. ("Man, did girls even talk to you in high school?")
Olga would never complain to him again. ("What's taking so long?")
And One…
For all his life, the only person who ever truly took Kaplan's desire to be a field agent seriously was One. The only person who expressed any kind of confidence in his ability.
The only one who didn't just dismiss him as another computer geek.
Hilariously enough, he never actually encouraged Kaplan. Hell, in his own way he gave him as much shit as Rain and J.D. did. But he never dismissed Kaplan either, and always took him seriously.
"What the hell is this place?" Spence asked as they entered the tunnels. In stark contrast to the clean, metallic corridors and offices above, this place was dark, dank, and dripping. Puddles collected under their feet, all sorts of things that smelled like a cesspool stained the walls, and liquid streamed from the ceiling.
Kaplan tried to keep his temper reined in. It wasn't Spence's fault, after all, but he was a Security Division operative, just like the rest of them—except Matt, anyhow—and he knew the answers to all the stupid questions he was asking. Hell, he should've known about the failsafe and the lack of backup. But that damn nerve gas…
"Utility tunnels," he explained. "They run beneath the Hive for water, gas, power lines." He smiled. "And, uh, waste."
"Great."
They proceeded down 3B. Every once in a while they came across an adjacent tunnel, blocked off by wire mesh that would allow water through, but not people.
Then again, aside from maintenance personnel, people generally didn't come down here. Given the smell, Kaplan could understand why.
When they turned at 9E, Spence said, "We've been in here before."
"Keep moving," Rain said.
"We're going round in circles!"
Kaplan was seriously getting tired of Spence's shit. Actually, thinking it over, he was grateful for it. The more Kaplan focused on how pissed off he was at Spence, the less he focused on his own panic and guilt. "No—this is the route the computer gave us. Through the utility tunnels to—"
Spence brushed past Kaplan. "I don't know why we're listening to her."
Rain suddenly whirled around and pushed Spence against one of the wire-mesh-covered passageways. "Enough already!"
She didn't actually point her pistol at Spence, but its muzzle, Kaplan noticed, was close to his heart.
"We have to keep moving 'cause those things are right behind us. You got that?"
At that moment, Kaplan didn't care how pissed Rain was at him. Right now, Spence needed to be taken down a peg, and nobody was better at that than Rain Melendez. Kaplan had certainly been on the receiving end enough times in his life.
Before Spence could reply, arms reached through the mesh.
Jumping back in shock, Kaplan watched as Rain, with Mart's help, pulled the arms off him. That's when he saw that there were dozens of the damn zombies pushing against the mesh.
It would keep people out, yeah, but not this many…
Alice had the same thought. "That mesh isn't going to hold. Let's move b—"
She cut herself off. Kaplan followed her gaze.
Oh, fuck.
The panic came back full bore as he saw dozens more zombies shuffling down Tunnel 9B toward them.
Alice was wrong about one thing: the mesh did keep the zombies back. Unfortunately, the frame holding the mesh in place had eroded sufficiently that it could not hold the literally dead weight of dozens of people pushing against it.
All thinking as one, Kaplan as well as Rain, Matt, and Spence grabbed the mesh before it could fall and used it as a battering ram to keep the zombies back.
But it was a temporary measure at best.
The Red Queen's final words before Kaplan shut her down the first time came back to Kaplan:
"You're all going to die down here."
Kaplan glanced over to see why Alice wasn't helping them.
It