The Alpha Plague 2 by Michael Robertson

Author:Michael Robertson [Robertson, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Phalanx Press
Published: 2015-07-27T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Once inside the lift, Rhys pressed the button for the fifteenth floor.

Nothing.

He pressed it again, harder and repeatedly.

He pressed it to the point where it stung his finger, but still nothing happened. He stared out through the open doors into the foyer; if a group ran at them now and pinned them in the elevator…

The buttons for floors twelve, thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen all looked the same. Embedded in the large gold plate like all of the elevator’s controls, the top four glowed red instead of green.

When Rhys reached up to press the button again, Oscar grabbed his wrist and squeezed hard.

“Ow,” Rhys said.

Sweat beaded Oscar’s brow and he looked pale when he pointed at the card reader below the buttons. He struggled to get his words out. “I’m guessing they’re red for a reason. Maybe you should use your security card and see if that helps.”

A glance out into the foyer and Rhys fumbled for his security card. A need to hurry made his hands shake. His cheeks flushed as he felt Oscar’s cold glare on him. Of course, the card reader would give them access to some of the other floors. It made perfect sense. It wouldn’t be there otherwise. He’d looked like a complete idiot for the entire time he’d been around Oscar. No wonder the big man treated him with such contempt—that and the fact that Oscar was clearly a dick.

As happened with every card reader he’d come across, Rhys swiped Vicky’s card through it and the small red light turned green. Not only did the light on the reader turn green, but the buttons for the higher floors changed to the same colour.

Oscar pressed the button to the fifteenth floor and the lift doors closed.

Just before the doors had shut out Rhys’ view of the foyer, another diseased scream tore through the open space.

The hairs lifted on the back of Rhys’ neck when he saw a solitary diseased appear. Its jaw hung so loose it swung as the creature jerked its head around. Blood streaked its pale cheeks and it had a deep gouge that ran down the side of its face. When it turned to the lift, its mouth stretched wide and it screamed again.

The thud when it collided with the other side of the closed doors made both Rhys and Oscar jump back. Seconds later, the lift rose. Rhys shook his head. “Great, we’ve got to come back down to that.”

Oscar cleared his throat, but didn’t reply. The act of riding in a lift together seemed to quash any idea of conversation. Rhys nearly conformed to that social convention until he looked down at Oscar’s thigh. “What the fuck?”

The patch of blood had been large before, but now the entire top half of his trousers had turned red.

After he’d looked down at his leg, Oscar lifted his head again. Sunken eyes stared back at Rhys and he shrugged. “The fight in the foyer must have torn it open farther.”

“Take your trousers off,” Rhys said.

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