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breath became short with just the images she was creating.
    “I told you, we’re on your side, we’re not selling you out, we’re not working as part of some government conspiracy,” she continued. “And since you don’t exactly have a lot of other options, why don’t you just come inside and let me prove it to you?”
    I shot Dave a look and for a minute we held eyes. All this awesome unspoken communication went between us and finally he shrugged. The shrug told me everything.
    “Okay, why not?” I said, reaching out to thread my hand through the crook of his elbow.
    We followed Nicole and The Kid up to the door. The two military guys didn’t make any moves. One actually smiled at us as we went through the door. A good sign, but I didn’t put my guard down.
    The building still smelled like school. That dusty, sort of wet scent that filled lots of older Seattle buildings mixed with dust from chalk boards and musty books. Nicole led us through the hallways and down a flight of stairs to a big, heavy door. There was a desk beside it and a series of electrical locks next to it that had been busted out.
    “Nice security system,” Dave muttered.
    “Once upon a time, it was,” The Kid said as he pulled the door open and motioned us inside. “But it didn’t really matter, did it? They still all got slaughtered and zombie-fied before it was done.”
    “Thanks, that’s great,” I said, sarcasm my refuge from the massive freak-out I was trying to hold in.
    He laughed as he took us down another hallway, but this one was lit.
    “Generators?” Dave asked.
    The Kid nodded. “Yeah, they run all day, we shut them down at night except for a couple that run refrigerated units. To conserve resources, we have a shower schedule for the people on our team. We’ll put you guys on it, too.”
    I frowned. In Montana, we’d never had to schedule showers. We had a great system for heating water, we could eat and shit and
whatever
when we felt like it without having to raise our hands and ask for permission.
    This felt like camp life all over again. Only with machine gun-wielding soldiers. Of course, they hadn’t taken our guns away… yet. So that was something.
    “Are you living in the university dorms?” I asked.
    “No, they’re pretty far flung from this part of campus and it seems like a risk, so we converted the classrooms above with salvaged dorm furniture. The shower was an emergency unit here in the lab. We like to keep everyone close for the safety of our group.”
    “Or for monitoring?” I asked, still not completely sure if I could trust anyone in the room but Dave.
    The Kid smiled. “Sarah, you never change.”
    He opened the door at the end of the hallway and revealed a huge laboratory. As he stepped in, his grin doubled. “And this is it.”
    “This is what?” Dave asked, staring at the brightly lit room, the back labs we could see through huge windows, the bustling people who looked up as we entered, almost in awe of us.
    “Well, it’s my lab,” The Kid explained. “But it’s also where it all began. This is the lab where they invented the virus. Seems only fair that it’s the lab where we wipe it out.”
    I staggered as the blood rushed to my head.
This
was the very lab where the outbreak had started?
    “Hey, you okay?” Dave asked as he grabbed for a chair from one of the desks in the lab. He pushed me into it gently. “Put your head between your knees and breathe until you don’t feel woozy anymore.”
    I probably would have argued, except for that wanting to puke and pass out thing. After a few moments, both feelings passed and I sat up straighter.
    “Sorry,” I muttered. “It’s just a lot to digest.”
    It was more than that, but that was the easiest explanation at the moment. Dave patted my arm gently and looked around.
    “So everyone is staring at us,” he said, loud enough that the lab could hear. “I guess… hi?”
    I looked up and he was right, there were at least ten