Galen’s voice was back on the line. “Okay, Phoenix. We can’t mount a rescue. The streets are teeming with those things. The sun’s setting and it looks like they come out at night.”
“We don’t have much time left before we need the radiation meds.”
“Yeah. I have a plan. I’m going to send a drone in to you guys carrying enough meds to get through to sunrise.”
They looked at each other. “But each injection loses potency, right?” Nik said. “If we’re still exposed, the antidote won’t work.”
“The antidote won’t work as well as it would on the ship, yes. But the radiation levels are lower here, so that helps. Not gonnalie, you guys are going to be feeling the effects come morning. It’s the best option we have right now. Sit tight.”
And trust Galen to save them. Nik rubbed his brow. Maybe his brothers were right about this mission. He wasn’t going to make it out alive.
Nera pulledfood rations from her backpack. “Kerala Curry or Vegetarian Pizza?”
“Both taste like crap, right?” Niklas said.
“Yes.”
“Fine. The curry. I don’t know how you can call something pizza when it comes in a tube.”
They munched on their replicated food in a silence that was occasionally punctuated by the footsteps of the milling creatures below, and the odd low moan.
Here they were, trapped, and likely to die before sunrise of radiation poisoning or zombie attack, and all she could think about was the man by her side. “I’m glad you’re here.”
He turned his head, his face just shadows in the growing darkness. “Me, too.”
The ledge was quite spacious, several meters wide and it ringed the entire lobby. Farther down she saw a large statue, and several more directly across from them. She figured if the situation wasn’t quite so dire, Niklas would have enjoyed studying them.
She heard the drone before she saw it, a faint buzzing sound, like an annoying insect. It flew in through the front door and then zoomed up, out of zombie reach. It hung in front of them for a few seconds, its multiple rotors spinning. Then it headed toward them.
“Phoenix and Darc, the attached pouch contains the necessary meds. There are also some rations.”
It was Agent Ryant’s stern voice coming from the drone’s speakers. Nera was still a bit surprised the man hadn’t written them off as a lost cause.
“Got it.” Niklas detached the bag. “See you in the morning…hopefully.”
“Stay where you are, and we’ll come as soon as we can. We’ve also included a temporary emergency shelter. It’s the small silver box. Just press the controls to activate it. It will provide some limited protection from the radiation.” A pause. “It’ll be a tight fit, but the drone couldn’t carry two.”
“We’ll be fine,” Niklas said.
Nera watched him fish the shelter out of the bag. It was a small box no bigger than his palm, but she knew with one press of the controls, it would open into a clear protective dome. She’d spent an uncomfortable few hours in one during a poison rainstorm on Digila V.
“Good luck,” Agent Ryant said.
The drone whizzed away, this time rising upward. It maneuvered through a small hole in the dome and disappeared.
Niklas pressed the control on the box and set it on the floor. A clear, flexible bubble appeared. Big enough for one person and pretty damn tight for two.
“I’ll go first.” He climbed in and sat.
Nera ducked inside, the door sealing behind her with a hiss. “Cozy.” She settled beside him, putting her boots up on the curve of the shelter’s dome.
“Well, now it’s just you and me,” he said.
She studied his rugged face. There was no panic, no sheen of perspiration, no nerves. Just calm, steady Niklas. Most people she knew would be having a panic attack by now. “Us and several hundred flesh-hungry zombies.”
“Yes, well…they aren’t the politest of companions, are they?”
With a smile, she looked up through the enviro shelter and the dome, and saw that night had fallen and the stars were coming out. Then she looked down at the stirring mass of monsters.
