Necrocide

Chapter 35

FIVE YEARS BEFORE THE OUTBREAK...

Once midnight came, Ares and Atlas sneaked out of their room as Hermes lay fast asleep in bed. The hallways were as dark and dim as they were in the day thanks to the lack of windows, but fluorescent lights kept their paths visible as they ventured to the facility's garage. With the letter clutched in his hand, Ares stepped out of the room followed by a nervous Atlas.

"What do we do if they catch us?" Atlas whispered, shutting the door behind him.

"Sprog, do you have any idea who you're roommate is?" Ares replied with a prideful expression. "I was one of the Army's best hand-to-hand fighters in forever. If I didn't have a gun, I had my fists to finish the job. So don't worry, mate. You're safe with me."

The two of them tiptoed down the hallway, both of them on the lookout for guards. The halls were surprisingly empty. Ares expected a guard or two in position working on night shift, but it seemed like everyone in the facility was asleep. Well...everyone except the suppliers coming in.

Lights would hang from the wall several feet apart from each other, casting a dim white glow on the floor. Whatever exited the radius of visibility created by the light would find themselves shrouded in shadow once more until they made their way to the next one. Ares and Atlas continually went through the repeated process of entering the light before disappearing into the darkness of the hallway, determined to find the elevator.

After passing by a few rooms, the two reached a corner. Ares stopped Atlas and ordered him to back into the wall before doing the same. He slowly peaked his head around the corner to get a glimpse if the coast was clear. It was not.

Three guards carried the corpse of a younger test subject, about a year or two older than Atlas. His neck was caved in, as if someone crushed his trachea with a sledgehammer. His arms were twisted in frightening ways and blood seeped out of bruises scattered across his limbs. His head hung loosely off his shoulders and his face was pale. The scariest thing about his appearance was the fact his eyes were almost devoid of color, as if he had no pupils or irises.

"What the fuck?" Ares muttered.

"So Zeus really thinks this wanker was just too weak to handle the combat droids?" one of the guards said. "He won't admit that his faulty programming turns these machines into damn murderers?"

"I don't think he'll ever admit it," another guard replied. "Not that he cared about this boy's life anyway. He treated the complete destruction of his limbs like it was just a minor cut. And did you see the way he just watched him suffocate to death after the bot punched him in the throat? It was almost unsettling to look at how nonchalant he was throughout the whole skirmish."

"You thought that was disgusting?" a third guard chimed in. "You should've seen Hades. Zeus may have felt nothing, but Hades enjoyed the whole thing. I swear he was grinning from ear to ear as the boy died right in front of him."

"Probably thought his death would make room for the more experienced soldiers," the first one added. "Oh well. Poor lad. I'll mourn him for his family. I just wish there was a more honorable way to commemorate the boy than dumping his carcass down the garbage chute."

"What the fuck?" Atlas whispered. "This place has a garbage chute?"

One of the guards pulled open a slot, sliding out like an oven door. Ares couldn't see what was inside, but he could tell it was dark and deep. And that the boy's body would disappear into the darkness forever. His family would never find out what happened to him.

"All right," one of the guards said. "Dispose of him."

The guards lifted the corpse's legs up so that his head was facing diagonally down the chute. They slowly raised the body above the chute and placed him in head first. They pushed him in until his head completely disappeared into the opening, and the rest of his body slid into the chute like a delivered package. Once his foot had vanished from their view, the guards closed the slot.