"SARAH!" Balling up a fist, Jack slammed it down on the controls. This had no effect whatsoever. Eyes going wide, Jack shook his head. The house had to be right, this couldn't be happening.
"I take it from your tone that something bad is happening." This time the house was more circumspect about the reaction. "How may I be of service?"
"Can you activate the security protocols on the Director's Office?" Swallowing, Jack dared to look back out the window with his flashlight. "Now?"
"I am attempting to do so." There was only silence from the phone for a moment. "I am sorry, Sheriff, but there appears to be an active security firewall still in place. My access is limited to passive systems."
Jack put the back of his other hand to the top of his head. "Well, can't you bypass those? I mean, you are smarter than they are!"
"While it is possible, I am ethically forbidden from doing so. Sorry, Sheriff."
"Oh great. I'm going to die because Fargo gave you a conscience." Swallowing, Jack backed up until his body hit the wall. Through the window his flashlight shown on still more zombies heading his way. They weren't moving very fast, but their number had grown exponentially.
"It appears so. Sheriff, may I say, it has been a pleasure and a honor knowing you."
"You can take your honor and shove it up your microprocessor!" Slapping his phone shut, Jack shoved it back in to his pocket. It was time to get out a more useful tool. Reaching in to his holster, he flipped up the leather strap and pulled out his gun. "God, I hope the movies got it right."
A wet fleshy sound echoed from the hallway leading in to the office.
Jack turned smoothly and took aim. Heart racing, he swallowed down the rising panic. Now was not the time. Flashlight in hand, he shown it down the hallway. He was ready for the attack, and not a moment too soon.
Apparently they had found the way in.
With an electrical hum the room around him came to life. "Intruder alert!" Jack flinched at the loud siren. Lights above blinked on a second before the internal alarm began to blare. He barely had time to react before the door to the office slammed shut and a blast shield came down over the front window.
It was all so sudden that Jack's already pounding heart nearly gave out from the record beats. All the while, though, he held his stance. The only difference was that he shifted it to take in the whole of the office. With the lights on he could see everything more clearly.
Even though he no longer needed the flashlight, he kept it in his hand. He hadn't done anything to do this. That meant an external force had just saved his life. Jack would have called SARAH to see if it had been her, but that would have meant putting down his gun or flashlight. He wasn't ready to do that yet.
There was no telling what was coming next.
~~~~~~~~~~~
Fighting the urge to close his eyes, Jack let his head fall back against the wall. In front of him was the desk. It was the only thing that stood between him and the rest of the office. He knew fundamentally that there was no way those...things could not get in here. Still, the security of the desk made things easier to bear.
According to his watch he had been in the office going on three hours. No one had tried calling him. He knew that the phone still had a signal. How? SARAH kept sending him 'helpful' text messages.
What the hell did he need with a zombie population count? The last scan had revealed fifty shamblers out there. At least the possible ways of dispatching them were amusing. Unfortunately, there were too many for his gun to be useful.
Closing his eyes, Jack decided now would be a good time to take a nap. Of course, with his luck, that was when the world decided to step in again. This time, it came in the form of a falling ceiling tile.
Heart leaping in to his throat, Jack climbed to his feet. His gun was trained on the new hole within the blink of an eye. He tried to discern the cause through the cascade of dust. His trained eyes spotted movement, but it wasn't the clumsy offerings of the horde.
This was something different. It was alive.
"Sheriff. How wonderful to see you."
And it was much, much worse than something that wanted to eat his brain.
Jack instantly recognized the voice and tone despite the modulator. "Zane. How kind of you to drop in."
Gas mask covering his face, Zane's spiked hair stuck out worse than before. It was easy to tell the man was smirking even though his lips couldn't be seen. "You know, I wondered who was up here. Of all the people stupid enough to ignore the evacuation order, I didn't think it would be you."
"Evacuation order?" Jack kept the gun trained on the man throughout their conversation. "What the hell happened here?"
"Crickets." Even through the gasmask Zane's disdain could be heard. "Dr. Innervass created them."
Jack could barely believe his ears. His eyes widened a little in disbelief. "Crickets? As in those tiny little insects that bug the hell out of me on camping trips? They're turning people in to zombies?"
Zane snorted. "Not a chance."
It sounded preposterous even to Jack's ears. Yet, he wouldn't discount anything.
"They're eating people." Shaking his head, Zane pulled it back in to the hole. "Crickets creating zombies. That's just crazy."
And that, that was why Jack hated living here. His gun hand dropped to his side, he stared wide-eyed up at the man as he dropped through to the office below. "If the crickets weren't turning them in to zombies, just what is?"
Standing up from the crouch he had landed in, Zane rolled his shoulders. He stretched his arms over his head and then to the side. He groaned loudly which was translated through the mask. "Something Fargo cooked up for the Halloween competition. I think nanites. Besides, they're not actually zombies, just medical cadavers from level four. I'm surprised they made it this far, though."
"Of course. Why am I not surprised?" Turning away, Jack wiped at the dust that settled over his face. The handkerchief he still wore kept it from getting in his mouth and nose. "How do we get rid of them?"
"The same way we're getting rid of the crickets." As he rolled his shoulders a second time, Zane slid the backpack off them. He caught it before the bag hit the floor and swung it around to his front. "Remember that failed sonic cleansing from last week?"
"Oh, god. We've got to get out of here." The memory of getting trapped before made Jack's pulse pick up again. This jumping about in blood pressure he knew couldn't be good for him.
"Sorry, no can do." Zane dropped the bag. After making sure he kicked it out of the way, he turned around and picked up the ceiling tile. "Even if we could get out of GD in time, the entire valley is sealed off. They didn't want any of those blood thirsty pests getting out. Don't worry, though, this office is shielded. After last month's incident the new Director made it a priority."
"Fantastic. Cannibalistic Crickets and Techno Zombies. Are you people really this starved for attention?" He heard the other man snicker, but didn't turn around to see. This was no laughing matter. People were dying out there, or, they were. A thought suddenly came to him. "Hey, how come the crickets didn't eat me?"
"They're after a certain type of person." Stretching up, Zane replaced the ceiling panel. He released it as it automatically snicked back in to position. "If you had a diet high in polyunsaturated fat, you would be on the menu."
"And that would be..." Jack wandered back over to his place against the wall. It wasn't like he was really interested, but it was something to talk about. He stuck his gun back in its holster before sliding down the wall to sit.
"Whole grain wheat, fish, cereals, you know, stuff you tend to avoid if you can. Look at it this way, eating like a pig probably saved your life." Picking up his bag again, Zane walked around the desk. He dropped it beside Jack. "Fargo, he was a walking candy cane to them." This earned him a chuckle. "You should have seen him every time a cricket chirped."
"This shouldn't be funny. It wasn't too long ago ancient flies almost ate him." Jack sobered pretty quickly after that.
"Actually, they only wanted his water. The rest of him held very little interest to them. In that way they had a lot in common with every woman he's ever met." Going down on one knee, Zane spun to put his back against the wall. That done, he stretched his legs out in front of him with a sigh of relief.
Jack groaned and shook his head. "Zane, it was almost a month ago. Can't you put it to rest already?"
"Nope. I figure I still have a good two weeks left on my jealous boyfriend card." With that, silence descended between them. Zane took advantage of this to stretch out a little further. This time he spread out his arms, one of them over Jack's shoulders.
Jack shoved it away before it had a chance to land. "Are we really stuck here for forty-eight hours?"
"Yep." The younger man tugged his arm back with a grin. "Just you and me."
"Great." Looking down at his lap, Jack fingered the hemline of his pants leg. "I knew something like this was going to happen. I could have bet you anything." He held up a hand to forestall the other's response. "Don't."
Closing his mouth, Zane looked out over the desk with an amused smirk.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Staring up at the ceiling, Jack allowed his eyes to lazily trace the pattern on the tiles. He had never noticed how they all seemed to flow in to one another in a never ending loop. Well, all of them except the one under the vent.
The reason for that was busy sitting on the desk fiddling with something.
His thoughts drawn in that direction, Jack looked over to Zane. What he saw did not feel him with much confidence for his sanity.
Sitting on center of the desk in the classic lotus position, Zane played with a handheld game. It wasn't what he was doing so much as how that was unusual.
The situation was so absurd that Jack said the first thing on his mind without even thinking about it first. "I don't think Allison is going to like having an impression of your bare ass on her desk when she gets back."
Without pausing in his game play, Zane smirked over his shoulder at Jack. "You never know. She might surprise you." His game beeped and he looked back to it.
Groaning, Jack closed his eyes. For several heartbeats he lay there listening to Zane's playing. He tried to put the image from his mind. "Here's a silly question. Why are you...au natural?" Just thinking of the word naked and Zane in the same context caused his mind to reboot.
"Why not? It's comfortable and I've got nothing to be ashamed of." Zane frowned at the came. Tilting it a little, he used his left hand to press the controls harder. "Besides, it's not every day I get to sit on the Director's desk naked."
"So it's a thrill thing?" Closing his eyes, Jack had to shake the mental image from his head. "Oh, god, don't answer that. Please."
This caused the younger man to snicker. He waited a beat then responded. "You know, there's nothing keeping your clothes on."
Jack actually shuddered. There was no way in hell he was having this conversation. "Zane. I'm armed."
"We're going to be stuck in here for another fourty-five hours, Jack." This time he shifted the game to the other side. "You'll want to get comfortable some time."
"I might as well get used to being locked up then." Opening his eyes just a bit, Jack glared over at Zane's ass. "Because I'm going to kill you before this is over. I can see it so clearly now."
Snicker morphing in to a chuckle, Zane shook his head. "We'll see."
____________________
Epilogue - Coming Clean...Again.
The deep, vibrating hum of the power coming back on filled the Director's Office through the walls. Slowly, the lights above came up to full illumination. This was followed quickly by the sound of a motor kicking on.
Hearing this disturbed Jack enough that he twitched. Twitching a second time, he groaned and shifted. The soft body in front of him pushed back against him seeking his warmth. Jack obliged by dropping an arm over the lean stomach.
Heat pulled in his groin when the curve of a taut ass pushed back against him. He couldn't stop the involuntary thrust of his hips forward, driving his morning wood up between those inviting cheeks. A soft groan made him smile.
"Ahem!" The word was followed by the clearing of a definitely feminine voice.
Jack's eyes popped open. The first thought to come to mind was that was definitely not SARAH's voice. He raised his head to peer about them. This was not his bedroom was the second thought. When he spotted Tess standing in the doorway, he froze. "Uh, hi!"
Crossing her arms, she glared death at him. "Have fun?"
Wincing, Jack dropped his gaze to the floor. Before he had a chance to respond, though, loud footsteps echoed down the hall to the office.
She appeared in the doorway a second later. "Hey, did you find..." Jo's voice quickly trailed off. The sight in front of her registered for only a second before her hand automatically went to her holster.
"Hey, babe." The smile was evident even in Zane's voice. "This isn't what it looks like."
Jo cocked the gun.
THE END.............................
