Capital Falling | Book 4 | Sever Winkless, Lance (most popular ebook readers TXT) 📖

dunes. Emily dashes out of the dunes and is halfway back to the house by the time Catherine and Stacey appear from in amongst the swaying long grass.

“Here comes trouble,” I tell Josh and Alice.

Emily jumps straight onto my lap when she arrives in the kitchen. She doesn’t say anything, she just sits hugging me tightly around my middle.

“How was the beach?” I ask eventually, after savouring her hug for a while.

“It was okay. A bit boring without you running around like a madman.”

I smile, a smile that widens as Catherine comes into the kitchen, followed by Stacey. Silence ensues for a moment as we all look around the room at each other. All of us probably wondering the same thing. Will we all be here again with each other, in our hideaway on the coast of Devon? I pray that we will, and with any luck, Karen and Jim will have joined us. I try to ignore the shadow that looms in the back of my mind. I struggle incredibly hard not to acknowledge it.

Chapter 7

Major Doctor Stephen Rees’s mind races back to the same time and space it always does when he allows his guard to drop. The horrific images are constantly waiting, knocking on the back of his consciousness to present themselves and to torment Rees’s sanity. He knows exactly what the diagnosis is and what treatment should be prescribed for his sickness, but he won’t allow his PTSD to prevent him from trying to fix the chaos and suffering his negligence has caused.

Once more, as he knows he will for eternity, Rees sees himself desperately pressing his security card against the sensor next to the locked, airtight doors blocking his path. He pants, out of breath, after his panicked scramble from his office two floors above from where Molly is overseeing the loading of equipment in the storage facility.

Not even his top-level security card will override the locking mechanism of the security doors. Not once the facilities computer algorithm has triggered the emergency quarantine procedure. The door remains locked tight, no matter how forcefully he bangs against it. All he can do is stare in terrified panic through the thick glass panel of the airtight door, through to the glass panel in the second airtight door and into the storage facility beyond.

Bright bubbled orange biohazard suits suddenly appear and then disappear from his limited view into the storage facility. Rees feels a glimmer of hope that the situation is being contained, that his trusted Lieutenant and colleague Molly is already following protocol and implementing the facilities decontamination procedures.

On his tiptoes, Rees cranes his neck to try and get a better view through the doors to see what is happening, to see if the protocols are being adhered to. He manages to catch a glimpse of Molly and then all at once, he goes dizzy as dread and terror rip through his entire body. Inexplicably, Molly is outside her biohazard suit and exposed. What is she thinking, Rees panics? She is not following procedure; she could be contaminated, and containment could be lost.

A flash of bright light blinds Rees for a second and he ducks in reflex as a thunderous boom explodes from inside the storage facility. The door in front of him shakes, and the building around him shudders from the shocking explosion. Rees’s panic escalates as he tries to regather himself, looking again to see what has happened inside.

Smoke billows up to the ceiling and light flickers beyond the glass and on the far side of the storage room. There’s a fire, Rees’s mind screams as he waits for the storage facility’s fire suppression system to activate. Why isn’t it kicking in? he thinks as Molly’s panicked face suddenly comes back into his view as she races towards the sanctuary of the decontamination room.

Rees watches dumbfounded in terror as a figure crashes into Molly, knocking her out of view and stopping her from reaching her salvation. Rees only catches a glimpse of the figure as it careers into Molly. Just a fleeting glimpse of the heinous creature’s face as it follows Molly down, its evil eyes fixed on her and its mouth gaping. The beast’s grotesque features are haunting Rees’s mind as they will for the rest of eternity.

“ETA, ten minutes.”

The announcement feeds into Rees’s ears through the headset that adorns the top of his head. Instantly, the beast’s hideous face retreats into the back of his mind, but it doesn’t disappear; it lurks in the background somewhere, watching and waiting for its chance to terrorize Rees again.

Replacing the tormenting creature’s image is the lush green countryside of Devon, dotted with villages, dissected by grey winding roads. Rees turns his head to try and get a bearing on where they are, the sweat from his day terror dampening the clothes against his skin. The city of Plymouth is close enough for him to see in the near distance; they will soon be leaving the green of the countryside behind.

“Are you feeling alright Major?” a different voice asks through Rees’s headset.

“Yes, I’m fine thank you Lieutenant,” Rees replies.

Rees fidgets in the seat of the comparatively comfortable helicopter his superiors laid on for this trip. He is far more used to the unforgiving holds of the standard everyday military helicopter transports he travels in. This cabin’s interior is far more comfortable, almost executive.

“Are you sure, Sir, you look a bit peaky?” the voice insists.

“I’m sure Lieutenant.”

Lieutenant Winters eyes Major Rees opposite him with concern. Despite Rees’s insistence to the contrary, he doesn’t look well; he is visibly sweating and looks quite pale. Winter’s leaves it at that, not questioning the Major any further; perhaps the man suffers from air sickness and it won’t be long until they land.

“Give me your impressions of Captain Andy Richards, Lieutenant,” Rees questions.

“I don’t know him that well, personally, Sir. I only met him for the first time in the run-up to the mission