Our Undead (63 page)

Gwen:
She's right, guys.

Billy coaxes Margaret along
with comforting rubs to her shoulder, and with one last look up her
at friend, she slowly pulls away from him, and once again, his body
is left alone. His second life ends, abandoned in an underground
laboratory named, D-9.

The whooping sirens are
even louder on the outside of the lab, possibly because the sound
carries better through the open halls. Kerrick, Sharp, and Bernard
are waiting on one cart, and Erika gets into the driver's seat of
the other. Gwen gets into its passenger's side and Billy and
Margaret sit in the back.

Erika:
Here we go!

She honks the horn, letting
Sharp know that she is ready to go, and the lead cart takes off.
The unexpected announcement of the compound's self-destruction has
the entire place in an uproar. Even in this less populated Block-D,
people are scrambling around, running every which way doing God
knows what.

Gwen:
Jesus, if it's this crazy here, it must be total anarchy in
"A"!

Erika:
We'll just have to see when we get there!

Gwen:
The
reason I say so is because the lifts will be impossible to get
to!

Erika:
Well, that's just fabulous… If you have any better ideas,
maybe you should tell us now. You know, so we can tell the guys?…
And
live?

Gwen:
Actually, I do. There's an emergency lift that not many
people know about.

Erika:
Where is it?

Gwen:
It's
also in Block-A, so just keep following them.

Erika:
All
right!
(clicks communicator)
Denver, Gwen just told me that there is an
emergency lift no one knows about. It's also in Block-A so stay on
course. Standby for more information.

Sharp:
*** 10-4, Blaze!… Take lead!***

Sharp's cart slows, and he
lets Erika overtake him. The pair of carts speed through the halls
of the compound at top-speed. Usually, Erika is keen to follow the
rules of the road, but now, she finds herself swerving to avoid
people and other recklessly driven carts and trucks. Her acute
ability to react helps a great deal, and it isn't too long before
they enter Block-A safely. Even on the outskirts of the division,
the pandemonium is so much heavier than it was in "D". With most of
the civilian dormitories and the compound's resources being there,
it is expected, but as Professor Gwen watches the people speeding
by, something feels a little off.

It's something in the
people's faces. They are all afraid, yes, why wouldn't they be when
the place will be going up in about fifteen minutes? But something
about the way they are running. It isn't
to
something or
for
anything. It doesn't look as
though they are running to get anywhere important, to their
families or even to the lifts. Most of them are actually running in
the opposite direction of the lifts.

Gwen:
Where are all of these people going?!
Make the next left turn!

Erika:
Oh,
great. Okay, hang on, guys!

The majority of the people
running are flushing out from the incoming turn. Billy takes heed
of Erika's warning and makes sure to grab on to something, not only
for himself, but for Margaret, who's mind is clearly not in the
present moment. She stares into the unfocused terrain as the cart
speeds over it, caring not to look up at the insanity going on all
around her. Billy holds her tight as Erika takes the cart left into
the heavy influx of crazed evacuees. Sharp and Kerrick are tight on
their tail. Bernard holds on for his life as the back seat swoops
around.

The amount of people in
this corridor is significantly higher. It takes a lot more
concentration on Erika's part to avoid everyone, especially since
most of them are not paying attention to where they are
running.

Gwen grips the roof of the
cart with her right hand and the dash with her left. She looks
around at all of the terrified people and feels a deep sorrow for
them. All of these families, the children, the elderly, young
lovers and heroes will be gone in the next few minutes. Is she a
hero, attempting to leave everyone behind? The people that she had
set out to cure? She feels selfish as though she is abandoning
them, but what can she do for them now? She can only find a cure if
she survives, and that might save the entire planet, so it is what
she must try to do. But all these people still underground, such a
great loss.

For all her thoughts, Gwen
still cannot figure out why more people are not running in the
direction of the main lifts. Do they not want to survive? She can't
understand it. And then, she sees something she finds hard to
believe, two men fighting on the ground with one another. At a time
like this? What could they possibly be fighting about? Further
along, she sees more people fighting. This one is a bit stranger. A
teenaged girl wrestling with an old man, pulling and tugging at his
sweater vest while his old wife tries to beat the teen off with her
cane. She passes them by in the cart thinking, what on earth could
that old couple have done to make that girl so angry? She was
extremely irate, as though possessed.

When she thinks about that
word, "possessed", Gwen's gut sinks into her pelvis. A sickly
feeling comes over her. She remembers General Feleider saying
something about the infection having possibly breeched Alyster's
lab. The possibility slowly becomes a reality. Each fight they pass
in the cart is more vicious than the next, and then the biting and
blood appears. Crying, and growling and the sounds of chaotic
shrieking manifest themselves. It had never truly ended. The
nightmare is now back at full throttle. Soon, they find themselves
driving through a sea of people, half of which have been changed
into desperate killers. Gwen can't believe her eyes. She looks over
at Erika.

Erika:
Yea, I see them!

Erika's demeanor hasn't
changed whatsoever. The Mav-Elite live for chaos, and Blaze feels
right at home. She checks the cart's rear-view mirror to see if
Sharp feels the same way. As she expects, he's still with her.
Kerrick already has his piece out, firing polished rounds into the
crowd. His aim is dead on, sniping zombies with a handgun through a
throng of moving heads. Going strong with a streak of twelve. He
takes a break to reload and looks over at Sharp.

Sharp:
Yea, I know. You wish you had a bigger gun!

Kerrick:
Damn right!

He pops a magazine in and
adds another headshot to his streak. Bernard is still holding on
for dear life in the back seat. Sharp's precision driving requires
some close calls, and the English doctor finds himself having to
dodge swiping zombies and clingy people who only want their chance
to escape. A desperate woman grabs on to the cart's bumper rail
with one hand and hangs on with everything she has. She screams at
the doctor for help, to pull her up. He hesitates for a moment, but
then realizes his skinny frame will never be able to pull this
woman up into the seat. If he tries, he himself would surely go
tumbling off and get left behind. He makes a difficult decision,
but the one he feels is best and starts stomping down on the
screaming lady's hand. Each blistering stomp is harder to do than
the last through the woman's begging and pleading, but the doctor
gets some relief after she finally lets go. It takes seven stomps
for him to watch her disappear back into the crowd from where she
had come. He breathes a sigh of relief. Kerrick and Sharp are none
the wiser.

In the lead cart, Billy
too, is slightly thrown off by what is going on. He had expected
groundbreaking things to happen today, but not so horrific and not
as literal as this. He and Margaret have the best seat in the house
when it comes to watching Kerrick pick off zombies. Billy watches
him shoot and watches Sharp drive, his face serious and alert. He
wishes there was something he could do to help, but there isn't
much room to move on the cart's small rear-facing backseats,
especially with Margaret and his knapsack taking up
room.

He looks at Margaret, and
her eyes are still lost in space. Billy knows she is upset, but
she'll die if she doesn't start coming back to reality, and soon.
He can do his best to watch out for her, but things are already
unpredictable enough, they'll only get worse. He needs her
back.

Billy:
Margaret, are you seeing this!

Margaret:
(unresponsive)

Billy:
Margaret, I know you're upset, but I need you to be
here
right now,
so we can get out of this together. I don't want to lose you,
too.

She remains unresponsive,
but at least she raises her head to take a look around. For the
first time, she takes it all in and studies the scene. It reminds
her a lot of the hostel, of all the people running for their lives,
and her family trying to escape with the others. Thinking about
these things would usually upset her, fill her with depressing
emotions and make her want to cry, but now she feels nothing. She
looks out into the crowd and sees nothing but zombies being beaten
by humans, humans running from and being eaten by zombies. It is
what it is. People get wiped out. Whether it's a disease, or
ignorant leadership, or mother nature, people will always get wiped
out. Maybe this would be the epidemic to finish the job, but to
Margaret, it doesn't matter either way. Billy can't tell what she
is thinking as she looks, almost drowsily, out into the craziness,
but he is just glad she is doing something.

Erika:
Aw,
ssshit! Mooove!!

Erika slows the cart down.
The crowd becomes too thick to avoid hitting anybody. She tries,
letting it crawl through, but the cart soon begins getting rocked
back and forth.

Erika:
We're gonna have to get out and walk!

She looks back for the
other cart. Sharp and Kerrick are already out and walking toward
them, followed closely by Doctor Bernard.

Sector333-3:
***ALERT.. PURGING WILL COMMENCE IN.. TEN
MINUTES..***

Sharp:
We're gonna have to walk!!

Erika:
I
know!

Gwen:
We'll never make it! The emergency lift takes about five
minutes to warm up, and it takes around five minutes to get to the
surface!

Sharp:
How
far away from here is this lift?!

Erika:
Lemme guess.. approximately five minutes?

Gwen nods in
confirmation.

Erika:
That's fifteen minutes, Denver!

Sharp:
We
have to try! Take us there, professor!

Gwen:
Okay! We have to make it to Suhh-Suhh, there's a
room.

Sharp:
I
know where that is! Everyone stay in between us!

Billy:
Come on, Margaret.

Erika draws her gun and
joins Sharp and Kerrick with providing some first-rate cover fire.
Billy and Margaret keep tightly packed in between the three-pointed
shield of protection, along with Gwen and Bernard. The three super
soldiers are quick to down any threat within six feet. Nothing
crosses that imaginary line.

Sharp:
Up
ahead!

The group looks up ahead
and sees one of the facility's trucks stopped in the middle of the
path.

Erika:
That's the same truck that was parked outside
D-9!

Gwen:
It
must be the General's! He must be heading for the same lift! We
have to hurry!

Sharp:
Wait a minute! You think there might be some guns in
there!?

Gwen:
It's
possible!

Sharp:
Then we have to check!

Gwen:
There's no time!

Sharp:
We're running low on ammo! If we wanna make it, we have to
look! No arguing! Quickly, this way!!

He takes point in leading
his group closer to the back opening of the truck, wherein, they
will search for extra ammunition. When they get to it Sharp barks
out more orders.

Sharp:
How
are we on ammo!?

Erika:
Two
mags!

Kerrick:
One and a half!

Sharp:
Matthew, get in there and check for
weapons!

Kerrick:
Right!

Kerrick breaks from the
three-point shield leaving Sharp and Erika to defend everyone by
themselves. They fend off any incoming zombies with just as much
efficiency. Kerrick jumps into the back of the truck to look
around.