That I could maybe chalk up to coincidence, but upon further inspection, the zombies also had reinforced plastic protectors around their hands, feet, and necks.
Anti-zombie measures... These people came here knowing how to exploit a zombie’s biology or whatever you wanna call it.
“What would the Americans be doing here? I don’t recall there being a military base nearby.” Shino cocked her head to one side.
Aside from dressing like the Marines, they also looked the part; their faces had “Westerner” written all over them.
Their equipment was unlike that of Japanese forces, but they were also too advanced to have fallen into the yakuza’s hands.
This left us with only one possible conclusion.
“Guess the time machine, or something like it, is real after all.”
It wasn’t that I didn’t trust Shiiko. It was just that a time machine wasn’t one of those things you could just assume existed without any evidence. But the fact that the Marines, or someone with Marine-level equipment, had come here was enough to change my mind.
And then there’s Raven. She seemed to know everything. Could she possibly be...?
“Let’s hurry,” I said quickly.
Trotting onward, the three of us arrived at the front entrance, followed by Tetsuko, who was wheeling Shiiko along.
In front of us stood a double-leaf iron door, and beside it was a small electronic device with a keypad and a slit.
That there’s our way in.
“Think we can open it?” I asked Shiiko.
“Hold on a second... Here, just use this.” I scanned the key card, then punched in the sixteen-digit passcode Shiiko gave me.
Then, we heard a sound.
“There we go.”
The doors swung open.
I instinctively got into battle mode just in case zombies came flooding out... but there was nothing, not a single soul.
“One step closer to victory.”
“What are we waiting for? Let’s get going,” Shino said with a smile on her face.
“Hold on,” I said. “Something wrong, Otoha?” Something about her seemed off. I could almost feel the tension building up inside her as she readied for a fight. “Otoha?” Silence. “Don’t do it, girl.”
Our earlier conversation crossed my mind.
Otoha said she wouldn’t betray us, and she’s not the kind to go back on her word this late in the game. I’m almost completely sure of it.
Otoha shook her head. “Don’t let your guard down. Those zombies? They didn’t reek.”
“Now that you mention it...”
Almost every zombie we’d come across had put out this gut-wrenchingly awful stench, but the guys from earlier hadn’t smelled at all. I was so used to the odor that I hadn’t even noticed.
“What about it?” Shino asked.
“They died recently, they had weapons, they had ammo, and they even wore anti-zombie protection.”
“Oh.” Shino had finally caught on.
Yup, they died very recently, possibly just a few hours ago.
“Why are they dead? They had weapons; they could’ve defended themselves.”
The weapons weren’t broken either, nor had they run out of ammo. They’d even been wearing anti-zombie protection, but they’d still lost.
Maybe one of them had survived, but even if they had, they would’ve probably run off by now. Or would they?
“Let’s just get this over with.” I violently shook my head to drive the bad thoughts away. “We can’t let our guard down, but we can’t just kick back here either. That’d be even more dangerous.”
“I agree,” Shiiko said.
“So do I.” Once Otoha nodded, we bunched up together and stepped into the lab.
We emerged in the lobby, which was identical to the one in lab four—large as a football field, supported by pillars, and reception desk nowhere in sight.
Must’ve seen all kinds of use throughout the years.
Farther down was a hallway leading to the elevators.
“Any idea how we get to this Keith guy?”
Assuming, of course, this isn’t just one big leg-pull courtesy of the health-monitoring system.
“There should be a security terminal on the second floo—”
“I’ve been expecting you, Shiiko.” A voice echoed throughout the lobby. We all braced ourselves for the worst... all but Shiiko.
“Keith? Keith, is that you?!” she called out, a sparkle in her eyes.
“You had me worried sick, you little rascal.”
“Right back at you!” Shiiko yelled. “Why didn’t you call?! Why didn’t you answer any of our... our...” She trailed off as her voice began to quiver.
“Believe me, I tried, but I couldn’t get through; communications were jammed. My apologies,” Keith explained in a calm, collected manner.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. I’m just glad you’re okay.” Shiiko surveyed the lobby, wiping tears from her eyes.
The lobby’s rigged with cameras; he must be watching us.
“Keith, we’re—”
“After the prototype time machine?” Keith finished for her. “To avert the zombie apocalypse by sending a message into the past, I presume? Given your excellent problem-solving skills.”
“Yes, and, correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the latest reports say that the data transfer limits are fairly lenient?”
“That they are.”
Never heard this guy talk before, but there’s something about the glee in his voice, the joy with which he speaks that’s a tad... off-putting. Not to mention incredibly out of place.
Shiiko doesn’t seem to care one bit, though. Maybe I’ve just got the wrong impression.
“We need to get to that time machine,” Shiiko pleaded. “Where is it? Is it here?”
“Alright, alright. I’ll help you find it.” As he spoke, a door at the end of the elevator hall opened.
Is that a passage?
The lights lit up in turns, giving off the illusion of an incrementally growing tunnel, expanding ever deeper.
It’s long. Like, really long. This building rests on the mountainside, so it should lead into the basement, right?
“You’re the best, Keith.” Shiiko sped off, unable to contain her excitement. “Over here, guys!”
I ran up in front of her, nodding to Shino and Tetsuko. Without so much as a word, they positioned themselves on either side of Shiiko.
Otoha ran up beside me. No verbal or nonverbal communication was required.
She and I made up the front guard. Shino and Tetsuko, tasked with protecting our king—scratch that, queen—piece a.k.a. Shiiko, made up the rear guard. Keeping Shiiko safe was our top priority.
Thus, we made our way down the passage slowly and carefully.
After walking about a hundred meters, we stepped into a dome-shaped room roughly the size of two tennis courts. It was smaller than the lobby, but its ceiling was much higher.
Smack-dab in the middle sat a blocky contraption, a plethora of wires piercing it from every side.
It’s like a square head being held up by octopus or jellyfish tentacles.
On a small table beside it was a single laptop—presumably the activation terminal.
That was all there was to the room.
Is this the time machine?
“Go to ‘H. G. Wells,’ then ‘Instruction Manual,’ and you should be good to go,” came Keith’s voice.
“Don’t mind if I do!” Shiiko approached the laptop, scanned her key card, and began rapidly typing away at the keyboard.
The laptop display appeared on the wall; there was probably a hidden projector somewhere. An endless string of letters and numbers could be seen running across at incomprehensibly high speeds.
“I was expecting a DeLorean.” Otoha’s abrupt remark brought a wry smile to my face.
Personally, I half expected us to find a police box here or something. But hey, it is what it is.
“Say, Hiroaki,” Shino said with a suspicious look on her face, “don’t you find it a bit odd how Keith’s not here? Didn’t he say he was ‘worried sick’ about Shiiko earlier?”