Necrocide

Chapter 38

FOUR YEARS BEFORE THE OUTBREAK...

"Seriously?" Atlas said as he and Ares made their way through the corridor. "After all this, you're still gonna try and get what you want?"

"Atlas, shut up!" Ares hissed. "Unlike your little brother, wherever the hell he is, my daughter has actually managed to send letters back. And I feel bad for Artemis since she's our only link."

"So that's how you're gonna justify stealing a laptop?"

"You don't have to join me. I don't even know why you're here. You're not a part of my family. Hell, you're not even my friend."

Even though Atlas's expression didn't change, Ares could sense in his eyes that he was hurt by that comment. "You're right, mate," Atlas replied. "Or should I even call you that anymore?"

"Call me whatever the hell you want. Call me Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth if you want. You're just the wanker I'm bunking with until I see Sarah again. Your feelings don't mean much to me anyway. I'm just here to get this science shit done with and I'm out of here."

Ares walked away, leaving Atlas standing in the middle of the hallway with a broken heart. Atlas was never good at making friends. Nothing discouraged him from making friends, but both this facility and the military project made it difficult for him to care about other people since they always seemed to be a bunch of pricks. He only wanted to join the British Army to leave his parents behind, not his brother. And sometimes he felt like his brother was his only friend, the only person in the world who would acknowledge his existence.

"I understand why you're a cunt, y'know!" Atlas shouted from down the hall. "When you're separated from the one you love, anywhere can feel like a prison!"

"Shut up, lad," Ares replied, not bothering to look back as he continued to trek down the hall. "You've got a way with words, y'know. Seriously, I prefer that last quote over any of Shakespeare's plays. But you're not gonna change my mind."

"But can I at least change your heart?"

Ares chuckled. "I'm gonna need a heart first before you can change it."

Not another word followed. Atlas had given up on Ares and trudged back to the quarters while Ares continued his journey down the corridor to the facility's electronics storage. If everything went as planned, Artemis would be there waiting for him.

"Evening, miss!" Artemis's voice echoed around the next corner. Ares paused for a moment. The two of them were no longer alone.

"Artemis, what are you doing?" another woman's voice replied, more mature and less amicable. Hera. "The supervisors are in bed. Even Colonel Schae—er, Zeus, I mean—is asleep, and he never sleeps."

"I could ask you the same thing, ma'am. Why aren't you asleep?"

"Abigail, don't manipulate the situation. I asked you a simple question."

"Actually, Zeus says we can only call each other by our codenames, remember? So I'm not Abigail right now. I'm Artemis."

"Don't make me remove you from your position. You wouldn't want to become part of the test subjects, would you? Or worse: the garbage men who have to clean the corpses out of the sub-level?"

Artemis paused for a moment. "You make a good point, miss. Plus, every time a janitor goes down to clean out the rubbish, I never see them again. Why is that?"

Ares raised an eyebrow. He knew many of the test subjects would disappear without a trace, but the custodians? It seemed like hardly anyone cared about the test subject deaths, but no one would ever bat an eye if something happened to the custodians. Or at least until now.