Two Choices Pt 2 -- 48hours

Location: Earth Dead Variant 42B, Delta base camp -- the Lower Levels.

------------------------------------------------------48hrs till the Earthquake....

This was a bad idea and Rica knew it. They had been trouncing around this so called Government Facility for about a week and it seemed like no one was going to take them seriously. It didn't matter what information they had for the higher ups and the loot that they could have used to bribe their way was quickly confiscated by the guard on their arrival. Rica had felt that something was up with the place, but the group couldn't resist the idea of a safe place to sleep. Now it seemed like it was going to be where they would have their last sleep. Anymore talk about the rapidly approaching "Horde" that the group had seen on their way to the base would have met them with solitary confinement for "insubordination." However, the group knew what they saw and it was not just a band of "aimless rogues," it was an army of F******* undead and they were coming.

**Thunk***

The sound of the air vent grate falling quickly snapped Rica back to reality. She was currently slinking around the Lower Level air vents in the hopes of getting some answers to their current conundrum. It was actually amazing how minimally staffed this place was, but considering the outside world's circumstance it was understandable. Years of war had tarnished most of the surrounding landscape and when the plague hit the last notable remains of civilized society fell with it. The amount of concrete that had been used to make this place must have put the Roman Colosseum to shame She thought. Metal plates and grates lined the bottom of most of the walls, meanwhile large fans muffled most of the sounds from overhead. So just to be sure she wanted to wait a bit before shuffling out. Luckily, a passing scientist did little to react to the noise and continued on their way mumbling about the base's haphazard state down the left hallway. As he turned the corner Rica headed right not wanting to risk following him into a more populated area.

Her all black get up would do nothing for trying to camouflage here so she had to be quick. A black hoodie with matching black high-waist skinny jeans and ankle work boots would have been a lazy day outfit for this goth girl before the fall, but she had seen accessories be the death of people, the risk wasn't worth it. So she had her waist length black hair in a braided bun and a single break away choker with a locket attached. Her top underneath the hoodie was the only true splash of color, but after it had put a literal target on her back... she stopped taking off the hoodie despite how hot it got. This gave her a unique t-shirt tan over her already tan skin, but sacrifices had to be made.

Looking at the map markings on the walls it was easy to assume that he had just come from the Labs and Rica cursed under her breath. This info meant that she was one level above where she needed to be since the meeting rooms and offices for the higher ups were there. Their respective rooms were even lower than that and there was no way that she was going to be able to just walk in. If she was lucky she could find a keycard in the labs, but if not her next best chance would be the vents again. She saw a wall clock by the map... 1hr before afternoon role call, she was going to have to really hurry if she wanted to get back in time. "It's now or never," she said as she shuffled down the hallway, silently thanking whoever was on cameras for this floor for not setting off the alarm. Just because she could get into hard places didn't mean that she was actually stealthy about it.

After searching a couple rooms on the way she started to regret not following the scientist from earlier. They were mostly lounge rooms to keep the scientists sanity in check or unused briefing rooms full of "classified" documents too pointless to file. It was mostly requests for snacks and time off from the scientists. However, stray lab coats were easy to grab off of the chairs, and even if they didn't have a keycard in the pockets, they had ID codes printed on for the lab. Apparently there had been prior incidents, but it was mostly a problem for the laundry lady... that didn't let new people anywhere near the laundry room.

Turning the corner, she saw the camera room and the lab entrance guard room. *Thump thump* Rica could feel her dread building as approached a visual vantage point. The door was locked from the inside and a note on the door pointed towards a button not to push because it would wake him in bold red ink. Looking though the glass, Rica could see the guard conveniently *asleep* as the sign said, but the rather round man was clearly slouched in a weird position and stiff as a board.

*Thump, thump* Clasping her hands like a finger gun in front of her face Rica could only think 'I really hope that is not a dead body' and moved on. *Thump thump, thump thump* her heart thrummed on as she crept past the door.

**Sssnnnooorre**

She let out a sigh of relief and silently cursed the guard for scaring her half to death. With one last look at the guard she pressed on.