Free 9.0 - Sanctum by Bobby Adair Page B

and from where they protected the sequestered scientists who were working to bring hope back to the world.
    And now Whites were everywhere, and I couldn’t help but conclude that had I not led the naked horde into battle with the Survivor Army, had I not assassinated their leadership, then maybe the horde would have kept heading north toward Dallas and hiked themselves onto my list of yesterday’s problems.  Instead, the horde had dispersed, and thousands of them were down below on the campus with plenty of Smart Ones among them.  And they’d done what they were best at doing, they’d found the normal humans, and they’d overwhelmed their defenses.
    Over the noise of the helicopter’s rotors, the Harpy’s voice cackled as she insisted that it was my fault.
    Not true.
    But enough of it was.
    Through my desire to get revenge, I’d inadvertently killed mankind’s only hope, their only chance at a vaccine.  As I ruminated myself into guilty despair, a rational thought in my head told me that these couldn’t be the only scientists the whole world over who’d survived and were working on a vaccine, but the irrational part won out.  I knew about the ones who’d been working in the buildings below.  I didn’t know about any others.
    Murphy bumped me again and pointed down at the building.  I looked just in time to see a dark glass curtain wall panel shattering and falling away.  The classroom behind the falling glass held people—normal people—waving to get our attention.
    I said, “They need our help.”
    Murphy groaned.

Chapter 15
    It was time for commands.  “Martin,” I called into the intercom, “take us down, level with the roof.”  I patted Murphy on the shoulder.  “Ok, machine gun boy.  Kill ‘em all.”
    Murphy turned to look at me.  “I can clear the roof from up here.  What’s your plan?”
    I leaned out the side window to get a full look at the situation.  “I don’t know how desperate those people are, but they broke out that window knowing the noise will give every White inside a woody, not to mention the ones running across the grass.  Those people are desperate.”
    “Murphy?” Martin asked. 
    “I don’t know about this,” said Murphy.
    “Look,” I told them, “I’ve been down this road before, at the hospital, we don’t have time to dick around.  Either we get down there and we do it now, or we bail out on these people.  And Murphy,” I pointed, “those might be our friends in that classroom.”
    “Don’t you think I know that?” Murphy shot back into his mic.  He huffed and yelled over the noise.  “As usual, this is stupid.”
    I grinned.  “When has that stopped me?”
    “If you’re going in,” said Murphy, “I am too.”
    “No way,” I told him.
    “Just so you guys know,” Martin interrupted, “we can stay here for an hour, maybe two if we want to push our luck.  But if we go much longer than that, we won’t make it back to Fort Hood.”
    “Can’t we just set down by a convenience store and gas up?” I asked, urgency rushing my words.
    “No,” said Martin.  “She’ll run on diesel, but we’ll only get about four hours of flight time.  After that, we’re done.  We’ll have to get another Black Hawk.  Regular diesel gums things up.”
    “Take us down then,” I ordered again.  “Murphy, you clear the guys off the roof.  I’ll get a couple of rifles, a load of ammo, and as many grenades as I can carry.  I’ll hop off on the roof, run down the stairs, liberally applying my grenades to clear my way.  I need to get down two floors and possibly down a hallway.  If things look too hairy, I’ll turn around and come back to the helicopter.”
    “No you won’t,” said Murphy.
    “No, I won’t.  You know me too well.”  I patted Murphy’s machine gun.  “I need you here.  This is a lot of firepower.  This will make it work.”
    “It won’t do you any good inside the building.”
    “I don’t plan to be in there