Back at the mansion all three of Westcrest’s remaining members—Chatravati, Helena and Marcus—are listening to the mission through loudspeakers. They managed to hear most of the conversation that the youths were having with their newfound ally, Claire, but all three of them wince as a deafening screech suddenly cuts through the speakers.
“What’s happening?” asks Helena once she’s recovered from the noise.
“We’re evacuating the building,” Conor replies and they can tell by the sound of his voice that he’s running.
“This was supposed to be a covert mission, Conor,” Helena tells him, but it’s too late now.
Within the Sanctum everything is lit by flashing red and blue emergency lights. A siren whoops.
“Fire!” Claire calls as they make their way through the police headquarters. “Everybody out!”
Thick black smoke is seeping out of the corridor where they left the smouldering rubbish bin and is coiling up around the columns that support the ceiling. Claire leads them around several corners (for a moment Jeremy is convinced that they are walking in circles) before she stops at an elevator that has a place to swipe a security card beside it.
Claire swipes her ID badge but it makes a noise like something you might hear on a television gameshow when a contestant loses. “I don’t have access,” she says and crinkles her nose.
“Allow me,” says Conor. He steps up beside Claire and brandishes his collection of security passes.
Jeremy stands a little distance away with his hands on his knees. The combination of the smoke and the red-tinged lights is making him feel sick. Then, with a pneumatic hiss, the doors of the elevator spring open.
“Come on,” says Sarra to Jeremy and this time it is her that takes him by the hand. She leads him into the elevator with Conor and Claire.
“Going down!” says Claire enthusiastically as the elevator doors slide closed. The alarms already sound muted behind the metal doors.
Nobody can tell exactly how far down the elevator takes them, but after a few moments the doors slide open again to reveal a junction of white corridors.
“Which way now?” says Sarra as they step out of the elevator. The corridor continues ahead of them as well as branching off to the right and left.
“The red needle is pointing this way,” says Jeremy. He has Chatravati’s pocket watch out in his hands.
They follow Jeremy. The sound of the alarm is barely audible below the Sanctum and their footsteps (especially Claire’s) echo loudly as they walk. Soon they reach a narrow red door and Conor opens it with another keycard.
“What on earth…” says Claire as they step through the door. The new corridor is not as brightly lit as the last, but they can see that it contains dozens of cells. From within the darkness of the cells they can hear a variety of soft noises—slurping, munching and grinding sounds that set all of their nerves on edge.
Claire reaches for the torch at her belt before the others have a chance to warn her and she shines it directly into the closest cell. The circle of light falls directly on a zombie crouched against the back wall of its prison. The undead creature stares blankly into the light of the torch, its jaw hanging open.
All four of them scream as the zombie suddenly leaps to its feet and lurches towards them, swinging an arm between the bars of the cell. Drool swings like ropes from the open mouth of the creature and it rasps something that’s supposed to be words.
That noise is all it takes to break the fugue. Within moments there are zombies moaning and lurching about in all of the cells. Dozens of dead arms stretch out from between the bars and claw at the air.
“This… is what Enforcers are?” says Claire and Conor nods.
“It’s horrible,” says Sarra.
The red needle on the watch is pointing to the far end of the corridor, between the two rows of cells. “Here goes nothing,” says Jeremy and steps forward.
They walk in single file. As they pass each cell the zombies call to them. Some of them spit black phlegm between the bars and Claire in particular takes considerable efforts to avoid stepping on any.
One of the zombies grabs Claire by the arm and pulls her hard against the bars. She screams and kicks backwards at the creature, causing one of her heels to go flying into the cell. This distracts the zombie and it lets her go, scuttling across the floor to inspect the shoe up close.
“I think we’ve established that zombies have a weakness for fashion,” says Claire, wiping the sweat from her brow and giggling nervously. Sarra and Jeremy both grab her away from the cell as the zombie stuffs the shoe into its mouth and begins chewing on it.
“We’re close,” says Jeremy when they finally reach the door at the end of the corridor. “I can feel it,” he places one hand against the cold metal door. The door is reinforced with dozens of complex locking mechanisms—evidence that somebody really wants to protect whatever is on the other side.
“There’s nowhere to even swipe a keycard…” says Claire.
“That’s why I brought this,” says Conor and hefts the universal opener.
“Where were you even keeping that?” asks Sarra, lifting an eyebrow.
Conor winks at her and places the universal opener against the door