Pandemic Spy School

Chapter Twelve

Okay, quick note, I wrote a part of this chapter in Erica's point of view, so please tell me if I should keep it or not. I know it's unorthodox, but I like change. I know others don't, so please tell me what you think. Thanks! 

Chapter Twelve - Infiltration

CROATOAN headquarters

Montreal Quebec

December 31

2300 hours

I had to fight to hold in my scream of terror.

I knelt on the ground next to Erica, and then listened to see if her heart was still beating. Thankfully, it was. Then I placed my hand on her forehead. It felt like it was 1000 degrees. A definite fever; I knew I would have to continue on without her. Once that fact settled in, I knew there was now a super high probability that our mission would fail.

I took Erica's hand, and tried to recall her giving me good luck. My brain was too rattled for that usually settling thought to help. I knew I couldn't leave her out in the open. If anybody came, and they saw her there, they would know somebody was infiltrating the building. And then I'd be a sitting duck.

So, I took both of her hands and dragged her around the building. Then I dug around the snow for a bit until I found a few decent sized branches and covered her.

From there, I went back around the corner and into the building. I didn't want to do it. I wanted Erica to wake up and come with me. Actually, I wanted Erica to do it all. I glanced furtively around me, took a desperate look at the corner around which I could find Eric, and then stepped through the doorway. I gulped in the hallway beyond.

The lights in the ceiling were out, casting everything in a shadow. I heard something crunch under my foot, so I glanced down.

Broken glass.

I gulped in fear, and then continued on. I felt hollow inside, despite the feeling of all my guts twisting and squeezing. My heart had seemingly disappeared, which made me realise how nerve wracking this was. At the beginning, the hall was just four sides. Two walls, a floor and a ceiling. But once I was deeper, doors started appearing. Every once and while, there was a ladder leading up to a trap door in the ceiling. All openings gave no extra light. Until I saw a light ahead. Then the doors on either side were open, and the lights were on.

I chanced to look into one. It was newly furnished, with a mahogany coffee table in front of a leather couch and a tv. The walls were painted faint blue, almost white, and there were pot lights in the ceiling. The floors were stone tiles, and there was an animal skin carpet in the center of the room. There were no windows, I couldn't see a remote anywhere in the room and anything connecting to life was gone. But nevertheless, it was homey.

More than the wet cement hallways at least. I turned away from the room, and continued down the hall. I didn't know exactly what I was looking for. But when I came to it, I would probably know that it was what I was looking for.

And that was exactly what happened.

I glanced into every room, making sure no one else was in there. But even so, I made sure to keep my footsteps as quiet as possible. The end of the halway breached off into other hallways, and I couldn't tell which to take. Trying all of them would take hours, and I could get lost. But there was still one more door in the first hallway to try.

It looked just like all the other doors. Wood, a metal doorknob, and a plate with a name at the top. All the other rooms had names like 'Room 228', which could mean anything. But this one was different. The plate said 'Testing Center #1'. And the door was closed. On the wall hung a bag of masks and gloves. Above that was a shelf with 10 different types of hand sanitizer. And a sign telling the people who go in to put on a mask, sanitize their hands, put on gloves, and then sanitize the gloves.