THE CURE: Chapter Six-Operation Deep Breath
Sam,
Riddick, and the rest of the guards were sent to their bunkhouses after
receiving their orders for tomorrow. They were to report to duty in the morning.
“I’m
in Bunkhouse D”, said Sam thru her clenched teeth.
“I’ll
meet you outside after lights out.”, Riddick and Sam went their different
ways. Sam lay in her bunk starring at the ceiling waiting for night to fall.
“Lights
out.”, called the commanding officer. A thin woman with not much of a figure.
All the lights in the bunkhouse went out. Sam rolled out of her bunk and onto
the cool floor. She walked briskly past the other bunks and over to the window.
Waiting outside was Riddick.
“I
found out from one of the other guards that sector 13-V is located in that main
building we saw when we first came in.”, Riddick spoke in a hushed voice.
“That’s
all the way on the other side of the compound.”, protested Sam. Riddick
clasped his hand over Sam’s mouth. Sam tried to mumble to him, but Riddick
simply pressed his finger to his lips and then pointed in front of them as two
night watchmen walked by the truck they were crouched behind. As soon as Riddick
figured they were out of earshot he removed his hand from Sam’s mouth.
“Sorry.”,
said Sam in an apologetic tone.
“We’ve
got a long trip.”, Riddick and Sam headed across the compound. Not only did
they have to be careful of the watchmen, but the guard towers as well.
Spotlights roamed over the compound every two minutes. By
clinging to walls and hiding behind vehicles they’d finally made their way
over to the main building. The main building was the largest in the compound and
had an armed guard at the door. Riddick and Sam would have to kill him, grab his
security pass, and get into the building before the spotlights made their next
sweep. That gave them two minutes. The spotlight passed over the building.
“Now!”,
Riddick grabbed Sam’s arm and made a mad dash for the building. The Guard
wasn’t looking; Riddick grabbed him from behind and snapped his neck just as
he had the two guards from earlier. He stood the guards body next to the door,
and searched him for his security pass.
‘What’s
taking so long?”, Sam questioned Riddick.
“I
can’t find his Pass Key.” Riddick continued to search the guard’s pockets.
“Riddick
spotlight!”
“Found
it.” Riddick slid the pass thru the slot and he and Sam slid thru the door
just as the light swept by.
“That
was close.”, Sam breathed a sigh of relief. “Won’t they notice the
guard?”
“I
stood him up against the wall, they won’t notice he’s dead. Trust me.”
They were in a very small room with nothing but a metal elevator in it. Riddick
slid the security pass thru and the door opened. Inside the same dull metal, but
no buttons. The doors closed and the elevator began to move down.
Sam
and Riddick stood on opposite sides of the doors so that when they opened the
elevator car would look empty. The doors slowly opened to reveal a blue-lit
hallway. Riddick checked the hallway. No guards in sight he signaled for Sam to
come out. The elevator doors closed behind her. A large cargo like door at the
end of the hall marked “13-V”, was all there was. Sam and Riddick walked
cautiously towards it. Riddick again slid the passkey thru the security lock.
The door opened to reveal a large lab. Glass tubes and containers with boiling
and bubbling substances littered the tabletops. A gray haired man sat on a stool
in the back far corner of the lab. Sam pulled out the gun she’d stuck in her
boot, while Riddick fished out the one he’d stuck in his back pocket. They
walked slowly towards the man at the end of lab. Sam pressed the canon of her
gun to the back of his head.
“Dr.
Gradlings?”, Sam’s finger was at the ready to squeeze the trigger.
“Yes,
I’m Dr. Gradlings.”, the man spun around on the stool to meet Sam’s gun
pointed at his forehead. Sam was to ask him a question. If he answered it the
correct way he was the doc. If he answered it the wrong way he’d have a killer
headache. The code was an ancient children’s rhyme from the 20th
century.
“Roses
are red.”, Sam cocked the gun in readiness.
“Violets
are blue. You must be Sam?”, the doctor looked over his coke bottle framed
glasses. Sam lowered her pistol. He was an older man with a weathered face
wearing a long white lab coat over a green jumpsuit.
“Nice
to finally meet you Dr. Gradlings. Where’s the disk?” he pulled out a
Compact disk from his lab coat pocket and handed it to Sam.
“Right
here.”
“I
hate to mention this doc”, Riddick addressed Dr.Gradlings.“But how do we get
outta’ here?”
“Follow
me.”, Dr. Gradlings lead them thru a hidden door in the laboratory wall that
led to a long staircase. “There’s an unguarded back door in the mess
hall.”, said Dr. Gradlings as they climbed the stairs “About twenty feet
away is a chain link fence. I’ve disconnected the power to it, and cut thru
the links enough so that a person can fit thru.”
“I
hope for your sake this works doc.”, the doctor gave a hard gulp as Riddick
spoke these words. The top of the stairs led to another corridor. This corridor
was lined with more Cargoesque doors. At the end was one marked Laboratory Mess
Hall. The doctor slid his security pass thru, and went to walk in when Riddick
grabbed his shoulder and pulled him back. Riddick entered the room with his gun
at the ready.
“Looks
clear.”, Riddick signaled for them to enter. “Lead the way doc.” They made
their way to a back preparation area. No door insight.
“Where’s
the door Dr. Gradlings?”, Sam asked while still looking for it.
“Right
here.”, the doctor pointed to a small hatch labeled “Waste Shoot.”
“That’s
the door!”, said Riddick.
“Did
I say door?”, the doctor looked around innocently
“Yes!”,
Both Riddick and Sam said at the same time.
“Well
let’s go. Doc you first then you Sam.” Dr.Gradlings and Sam both jumped down
the shoot. It was dark, slimy, and smelled of rotten eggs. Sam drooped out into
a huge pile of garbage, a second later Riddick landed on her.
“Watch
it.”, said Sam in a harsh whisper.
“Sorry.”
, said Riddick. The three of them
got up and dusted them selves off.
“Where’s
the fence?”, Sam asked the doctor as she pulled garbage out if her long blonde
hair.
“Right
over there.”
“Lets
do this and get the hell out of here.”, said Riddick. They darted towards the
fence when out of nowhere the spotlight swooped over them.
“Freeze.”,
a loud voice said thru a speaker attached to a nearby building. The doctor froze
in his tracks. Sam realizing the doctor was gone looked back. Suddenly, laser
shots filled the air and Dr.Gradlings body fell to the ground.
“NO!”,
Sam yelled as she ran back towards the fallen Dr, Gradlings. One more shot thru
the darkness. It hit Sam.
“Riddick
I’m shot!”