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The same cold damp emanated from the stone, and she felt the same terrible feelings of moving toward unknown danger, exhausted and afraid of screwing up – of not being able to prevent a disaster. The disaster has already happened, she thought helplessly, watching Karen struggle to keep walking.
We're losing her. In another hour, probably less, she'll be too far gone to ever come back.
As it was, John and Steve shouldn't be touching her. In a single, easy movement she could get at either one of them, biting before they had a chance to let go. Even that concept made her sick with sorrow and an aching, heavy feeling of loss. The tu
We'll never find it in time.
The tu
"I don't know, I thought we were already headed southwest and yet none of these is in direct align-ment, and none head directly east, either."
They moved into the rough-hewn cavern, staring helplessly at the smooth tu
"If none of them goes east, then we have to pick the one that looks the most likely to go southwest," Steve said quietly. "Besides, east of here is water." Karen mumbled something unintelligible, and Rebecca stepped forward worriedly to see how she was. Though John and Steve still steadied her, she seemed to have no trouble standing on her own. Rebecca touched her clammy, sweating forehead and Karen's rolling eyes fixed on her, glassy and red, the pupils dilated. "Karen, how are you doing?" she asked softly. Karen blinked slowly. "Thirsty," she whispered, her voice bubbling and liquid sounding.
Still responsive, thank God…
Rebecca touched her throat lightly, feeling the rapid, thready pulse beneath her fingers. It was defi– nitely quicker than before, up in the lighthouse. Whatever the virus was doing to her, it wouldn't be much longer before Karen's body gave out. Rebecca turned, feeling desperate and angry, want– ing to scream for somebody to do something and heard the pounding footsteps, echoing up through one of the tu
Which one, where's it coming from? Griffith? Is it Griffith?
The sound seemed to circle, coming from every-where at once and then Rebecca saw him, appearing from around a comer in the passage second from the right. A stumbling figure, a flapping, dusty lab coat and then he saw them, and even from fifteen meters away, Rebecca could see the stu
"Oh, thank God, thank God! You have to help me! Dr. Thurman, he's gone mad, we have to get out of here!"
He staggered out of the tu
"We have to go, there's a boat we can use, we have to get out before he kills us all…"
David shot a glance back, saw that Rebecca and John still had him covered. He tucked the Beretta into his side holster and stepped forward, taking the man's arm.
"Easy, calm down. Who are you, do you work here?" "Alan Ki
"The radio's on the boat, we can call for help and then get away!" "The laboratory," David repeated. "Listen to me did you just come from there?"
Ki
"The lab is that way…" He pointed back the way he'd come. "…and the boat's down there. These caves are like a maze."
Though he seemed to have calmed slightly as he pointed to the tu
"The radio's on the boat, we can call for help and then get away!"
David's thoughts raced in time with his pounding heart. This was it, this was their chance -
–we get to the lab, make this Thurman give us the cure and then get out of this place, before anyone else gets hurt.
He turned to look at the others and saw the same hopeful looks that he knew he wore, John and Steve both nodding sharply. Rebecca didn't look as en– thused. She jerked her head back, motioning for David to move out of Ki
John nodded, shooting a glance at the wild-eyed
researcher. "And I don't think we should leave this guy alone, he's likely to take off with our ride home."
David frowned, thinking. Steve was a better shot, but John was stronger. If they had to force Thurman to give them the T-Virus cure, John could probably intimidate him more easily.
"We split up. Steve, you take Karen to the boat, keep an eye on Ki
Tight nods, and then David turned, addressing Ki
"We need to get to the laboratory, but our friend Karen isn't well. We'd like for you to take her and an escort to the boat, and wait for us."
Ki