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If the lines are in the same order as the tests, this is the letter and number reversal But what letters, there aren&039;t any
David s his head The nuher than 26; it was a code, and a fairly simple one He picked up the pencil and quickly jotted down the letters of the alphabet, then numbered thembackward; A was 26, B, 25, all the way back to Zed, 1 Glancing back and forth between the plaque and the paper, he wrote down the nue R E X M The final letter was a T, and he stared down at the sentence, then at the chess board It seemed that somebody had a sense of hu"
White always goes first, so
He reached out and touched the white king As soon as his finger contacted the piece, it swiveled in place, turning around to face the back of the board At the same time, there was a soft, musical tone from overhead He looked up and saw a tiny speaker set into the ceiling Nothing else happened, no flashing lights or secret passageways opening up behind the wall Apparently, he&039;d passed
How anti-climactic
It see as supposedly h perhaps the researchers had been ent It was an unsettling thought, and not one he wanted to ponder He stood up and turned toward the front of the room just as the door burst open, Rebecca and Steve hurrying in, wearingexpressions of fear
"What is it?" Rebecca held up a book, talking fast "We found a journal It says that the strain of the virus used to infect the Trisquads is in block D, in roo&039;s fine, but if John and Karen touch anything that&039;s been contao" They turned and he strode past thehts racing They had passed an exit on the far side of the building, he could send Steve and Rebecca to the next block over while he went to D, just as originally planned, onlythe horrible, heavy fear that two of his people ht accidentally uncover the T-Virus
It won&039;t happen, they&039;ll be careful, the chances of one of theerous in a room that&039;s bound to befacts did nothing to ease hisknot of dread settling into the pit of David&039;s stoht corridor at the center of D block, silently listening for a sound that would tell them David had come From their position, they should be able to hear any one of the three external doors being used After securing the building and finding the test rooes that led to the block&039;s exits Karen checked her watch and then rubbed her eyes, feeling a bit worn out froht&039;s events, and still sickened by what they&039;d found in room 101 Even John seemed unusually subdued, and definitely quieter than norle joke since they&039;d walked back to begin their wait
Maybe he&039;s thinking about the gurneys, fixed with bloody restraints Or the syringes Or the surgical equipment heaped in the sink
They&039;d found the test rooe chamber filled with little tables, each ht; Karen had been somewhat disappointed to see that the blue series number seven was just a handful of colored tiles with letters on them, half of them upside down and unreadable All the colors corresponded to a rainbow&039;s, though there were two extra violet tiles in the heaped pile Since they couldn&039;t riskwith it until David had completed the first test, she&039;d reluctantly turned away, suggesting that they check out the rest of the block They&039;d gone through a couple of offices, empty, and a cluttered coffee room, where they&039;d found a box of incredibly moldy donuts and little else It had been the chemical lab that had told them the most about what kind of place Uh Karen didn&039;t believe in ghosts, the roo she&039;d ever experienced before; it was haunted, plain and simple, haunted by the misery of fear and the cold, nazi-esque precision of scientists co about that room?" John asked softly Karen nodded, but didn&039;t say anything John seemed to sense her unspoken desire not to talk about it, for which she was thankful The weight of her good luck charm was the only other coed to take it out, to feel reassured by one by Anything to take her mind off the lab room The outer door to 101 was clearly marked with a biohazard sy in at all, John arguing against entering a possibly contaminated environment Karen had pointed out that neither of theht find so about the T-Virus to take with them The truth was, she couldn&039;t stand to let such an opportunity pass; she wanted to see as behind the closed door, because it was there Because leaving it unopened would get under her skin John had finally agreed and they&039;d gone in, stepping into a small entryway that was draped with sheets of heavy plastic There were shower nozzles overhead and a drain set into the floor; a decon area A s the underfoot A tired smell of anxious sweat beneath the acrid odor of bleach John found the lights and even before the large room snapped into view, Karen felt her heart start to pound There was a dark tension that filled the air, a sense of foreboding that radiated from the very walls It looked like a dozen other lab facilities she&039;d worked in; counters and shelves, a couple of eration unit in one corner with a lock on the handle And somehow, that was the worst, that the environment was so familiar, a place she&039;d always felt at home The few differences were dramatic ones The room was dominated by a stainless autopsy table, fitted with velcro restraints and there were two additional hos- pital gurneys next to it, likewise fitted As she walked over to look at one of them, she saw the dark, dried stains at either end; the thin pad was soaked with blood from where a man&039;s ankles and wrists would be In the back of the rooe walk-in closet, heavy bars surrounding an unpadded bench Next to the cage, several slender poles leaned against the wall, each a th and tipped with hypoder wild aniet within reach Karen looked down at the gurney, lightly touching the long-dried stain, wondering what kind of person could have willingly participated in such an experi- ment The crust of blood was old, powdery, and filled her with thoughts of what the victi as so virus into a helpless hu
It was a bad place, a place of evil deeds They&039;d both felt it, both been affected by the realization of what had gone on there Karen&039;s right eye itched, distracting her fro her back to the pres- ent She rubbed at it, then looked at her watch again It had been only twenty er There was a sound of a door opening, followed by David&039;s excited shout through the corridor He&039;d corinned at her, and she felt a wave of relief; David was okay"Here! Keep walking!" John called back "Take a right at the tee!"
His footsteps pounded through the hall In a few seconds, he appeared at the coht with concern "Is everything" Karen started to ask, but David cut her off
"Did you find the laboratory roo "Yeah, it&039;s back the way you ca? Do you have any cuts, any s?"
Their confusionback and forth between the it as the rooain "Well, no shit We figured that much out in about two seconds"
Karen held out her hands, turning them over for David to see "Not a scratch" David exhaled sharply, his shoulders sagging "Oh, thank God I had the worst feeling all the way over that so had happened We found the researchers in block A; Aht, he killed them and our &039;he&039; has a name now Rebecca seems certain that it&039;s Nicolas Griffith He was the one she recognized from Trent&039;s list, and he has a rather sordid history, she can fill you in e regroup" He shook his head, a wavering sination run wild for a moment" John smiled wider "Jeez, David, I had no idea you cared Or that you thought we&039;d be stupid enough to stick ourselves with dirty needles in a place like this" David laughed, a soft, shaky sound "Please accept ies"
"Where are Steve and Rebecca?" Karen asked "Probably in the next test area by now I saw them safely off to block B before I came here did you find test seven?" "This way," John said, and as they started down the hall, he began to recount their run-in with the Tri-squads Karen followed, rubbing at the ht eye She , it sees off, she felt a headache co She never got headaches unless she was co The swim in the oceanthrob in her head, it was going to be a nasty one