Contamination

[Gagadug.]

Waidmanns group did not reach the second corridor before the sound of gunfire slit through the silence. Exactly 5 shots, the last one a bit delayed.
They moved on faster, looking for a sign of Viking more and more desperate when finally the comm channel awoke again.
The message was to evacuate the area or get a gasmask. The latter was standart equipment for them, but this wouldn't save them for long if the entire facility was vacated and they had no way out or replacements for the filters.
The way back to the elevators was too risky, who knew if the man they left there was able to kill the infectees or just ended his misery when he saw he couldn't overcome them.
The only other regular way out was the elevator platform on the other end of the facility but it was a long way to there and they were neither many nor did they have time.

There were tunnels providing fresh air from the surface to the lower levels though.

Once the group found one of the big fans covering the entrances they levered it out and went into the dark tunnel, their helmet lamps beeing the only source of light.
The emergency stairs in the tunnel were narrow, and steep, but it was only three decks to the surface.
Once they reached the end of the tunnel they were in for a bad surprise though. The end was sealed with a massive construction to pump air in the facility when the temperature outside was high enough to not require energy intensive warming up.
They had no choice but to get back into the facility. The least they were on the deck directly below the surface now. Just three corridors to get to the elevator, hopefully on this deck it would be safe.

They reached the surface without any more problems but what awaited them there was far from what they hoped to find. No vehicle was left, no guns in the armoury to restock their arsenal.
All they saw were some corpses scattered over the plane.
But if the area was evacuated hastly certainly no one took care of the guard post halfway up the mountain. There they would be safe for the time of the bombardment and a locker with some rifles was part of the inventory as well.
They hasted over the open field between the first bigger rocks and the facility, hoping to make it up there unseen. When they reached the rocks they felt more secure, it was unlikely that any infectee would approach them unnoticed here, only a few ways were leading through field, any other way would take even an infected human a long time to climb.
When they reached the station, basically a cave carved into the rock with a steel front to make it basically a fortress they saw that the door was not closed.

In their euphoria to have gotten there they did not spend a second thought and guessed the hastly call to the facility made a guard forget the security protocols.
They entered the first room and got to the locker wich was still closed and took all the mags they could put in their pockets. After they locked down the doors to the outside they laid down their gas masks. One of them went to look for rations in the storage room, ideally they would be able to survive in this bunker up to two weeks with this little people.
A few moments after the man went into the storage room a loud cracking sounded through the room. Instantly Waidmann and the other man took up their arms and went to the room, assuming the worst.
When they kicked the door open, their guns ready, they expected everything but not what they saw.
They saw nothing but Erick, the one who searched for rations and pieces of a small ladder that broke under the combined weight of the man and his armor.
The man next to Waidmann, Olaf, began to laugh and helped Erick stand up, after wich they took the remains of the ladder out along a beacon for a distress signal.
They would place it near the bunker once the bombardment was over to let their comrades know where they were.