The Hungry (Book 2): The Wrath of God by Steven Booth, Harry Shannon

the super soldier serum. That was what they'd come for and that's what they'd have to bring back for Gifford.
    The air began to chill and the ventilation seemed to be helping with that awful smell. The clock on the wall started ticking again. No one checked the time, but they all reacted to the sense of passing seconds.
    Rat paced the room, her dark hair and eyes flashing. "How long is this going to take?"
    "Lady, there's a lot of data," Sheppard said. "Look, your job is to provide security, not watch us work. Shouldn't you be on patrol or something?" Miller watched their exchange with some amusement. Despite Sheppard's professionalism as a soldier and a medical man, he had also clearly taken a serious dislike to Major Hanratty. And Miller didn't blame him one bit. She wanted a piece of the bitch herself when this was all over.
    While Sheppard was working on the computer system, he assigned Scratch and Terrill Lee to collect specific paper files and some biological samples from other parts of the lab. Meanwhile, Rat ordered Ripper, Psycho, and Brubeck to gather the rest of the things that they needed. To speed things up, she said. Then Sheppard went to work with Miller watching.
    "Karl?"
    "What is it, Penny?" said Sheppard absently.
    "I've been thinking. Are you sure giving Gifford all this data is such a good idea?"
    He smiled at her briefly. "Don't worry, I've got it covered." He leaned over and whispered something into her ear, and what he said made her feel much better.
    "Good enough," she said, and stepped back to let him work.
    Time crawled by. Everyone else had something to do. Miller found herself standing around, feeling as useless as a dick on a brood mare. She began to wonder what the hell she was doing on this mission. So far, all she'd done was witness some of the team get themselves eaten alive. Now she guarded Sheppard as he screwed around with the big computer. Even Scratch seemed to have tuned Miller out. Why was she once considered so indispensable? So dangerous that they were going to threaten her with imprisonment and execution? These military folks had more secrets than a TV preacher. None of this made any damned sense.
    Miller came to stand behind Sheppard's left shoulder. They watched the printer go through reams of paper. Saw soldiers neatly seal the papers in boxes, tape them up and stack them for removal.
    Watching dully, Miller caught snippets of title pages and subheadings of some of the reports. One caught her eye.
    Miller pulled the report out of the pile and began reading.
    "Uh, Sheriff," said Sheppard, attempting to pull the report out of her hand, "that's a classified document."
    Miller turned far enough to escape Sheppard's reach. She read out loud.
    "Subject: Miller, Penelope J."
    Sheppard reddened. He backed away. His face went slack with shame.
    Miller read. "Viral assay positive: Serum two-six-alpha integrated system wide. No negative side effects. Blah, blah, blah." She paused, and looked up at Sheppard. "Introduction of gene expression accelerant Bravo-three-seven. Blah, blah, blah. Metabolism increased one-hundred-sixty percent, plus or minus twenty percent. Awaiting further results."
    "Penny, don't."
    Miller's eyes widened. "Signed: Sgt. Sheppard, Karl R."
    Sheppard looked away.
    "What the fuck does this mean?" Miller demanded. She held out the papers, began crushing them in her hand. "Did you juice me with something?" She came toward him a little. Terrill Lee and Scratch stopped what they were doing to watch. Even Rat held her place, perhaps curious to see what would happen. The air grew thick with tension.
    "It was just a part of the experiment." Sheppard stepped back.
    Miller got in Sheppard's face. " The experiment? Is that all I am to you, Karl? An experiment?"
    "You had been infected by the zombie virus," said Sheppard. "You could have died. I had to give you something that would speed your healing. We had no idea it would accelerate you as much as it did." He sighed. "Penny,