A girl was standing in a dark alleyway in Manhattan. She wore normal clothes and appeared to be waiting for somebody. She ran her fingers through her short hair while holding onto a laptop with the other hand. Then, checking her watch she looked up with a somewhat worried look on her face.
All of a sudden a figure dropped from the roof above her, landing a few yards behind her. The girl turned quickly. The figure walked up to her, his hood covering up his face. The girl sighed and then said, "Finally. I was starting to think you screwed something up Alex."
Alex turned away. "Sorry, I did get a little caught up. But that doesn't matter. Were you able to find anymore information Dana?"
"Well yeah. That's why I brought this," she answered, lifting up the laptop in her hands. She opened it and was about to turn on the power, but Alex swiftly closed it before she could. "Hey!"
"Not here." Alex said quickly. "The light will bring unwanted attention."
Dana nodded and looked down the alley as if waiting for a military soldier or zombie to appear. Hearing movement behind her she turned to see Alex flip over the top of a building. Sighing, Dana ran out of the ally and onto the sidewalk. Looking around before moving on, she ran around to the entrance of the building of which Alex had jumped up to.
Knowing that there wouldn't be anyone inside, Dana kicked down the boards that were blocking the doorway. Ducking underneath them, she went inside. Looking around, she quickly located the stairs and ran over to them. She took the steps two at a time all the way up the five floors. She then reached the door to the roof.
Opening the door, Dana stepped out into the cold air. Looking around the top of the roof she didn't see Alex. She walked over to the edge of the roof and looked over the street. She sighed again at the sight. Almost everything lay in ruins. She heard footsteps behind her, but didn't turn. She knew it would be Alex. After all, there really wasn't anyone else it could be.
Alex stepped up beside her. Dana turned to look at him. She could partially see his face now that they had left the ally. He still had a harsh look to him, but she could also see sadness in his eyes as he looked out over the streets they could see. "Alex? What's wrong?"
Alex turned to look at her, the hint of sadness gone. "Nothing." He then turned and began to walk towards the door to the stairs. Jumping up onto the roof of the stairwell, Alex sat down still looking over the streets. Dana walked over to him but didn't say anything. She knew that he believed everything was his fault, and that he was the infection that had caused all of this.
Even though the infection had started with him, Dana knew that he was still her brother and that he still cared about her. He was not a monster, or the reason of any of this. He was merely somebody who got caught in the middle of something that should have never happened in the first place.
Dana felt as if she should say something to Alex. She turned up to him. "Alex, I hope you realize I don't blame you for anything, and nobody should. If anything is to blame, it's Blacklight."
Alex glared down at Dana. She then realized she had said something wrong. Standing up, Alex jumped up too high for Dana to see. Looking up, Dana heard the sound of him gliding away. She ran to the edge of the roof. "Alex, wait!"
Dana looked hopefully up to the sky waiting for Alex to turn around and come back, but she knew he wouldn't. looking down at the laptop she was holding, she realized she hadn't gotten the chance to show Alex what she had found. Turning around she began to walk to the door to the stairs, thinking about what she had said to Alex.
Blacklight was the cause for all of this. Alex had taken this the wrong way. Dana assumed that he had thought he was the reason for Blacklight and therefore the reason for everything. What Dana had meant was the whole idea of Blacklight was the cause. Alex was just doing his job and then tried to stop them from doing something horrific. If project Blacklight had never been started then none of this would have ever happened.
Dana opened the door to the stairs. She walked down to the bottom floor and looked around more closely this time. It appeared that it had been a small business building. She walked over to the light switch and clicked it upwards. The lights overhead made a zap sound and there was a spark, but then nothing. "Of course they don't work… At least I know electricity is still running though."
Looking around again, Dana noticed a front desk. She walked over to it hoping to find a computer with internet connection. Moving behind the desk Dana jumped when she saw the dead receptionist sprawled out on the ground. Calming herself down, Dana looked on the desk for the computer. It was there, but its screen was smashed and its wires were broken.
Sighing, Dana placed her laptop on the desk and picked up the knocked over chair from the floor. Sitting in the chair, she then opened her laptop and turned it on. There was no wireless signal. Dana scratched her head with a frown. "I guess I'll have to stick with the Gentech files I already have."
Dana closed her laptop and stood up. Leaning on the desk she looked around once again. The windows were all boarded up, letting in little light. Un-watered potted plants by the windows had shriveled up, turning a dead brown color. Looking back over to the stairs, Dana decided to check the floors above to see if there was an internet cord of some sort.
Leaving her computer on the desk, Dana climbed up the first set of stairs to the second floor. There was a hall on this floor and because there were no windows, it was almost pitch black. She walked down the hall a little ways, and entered a doorway on the right. There was a window in this room, so she could see a little better now.
There was a bed in the room, and a small desk. Dana decided that the people who worked here must have lived there too. She walked right over to the desk and looked behind it for cords. Nothing. You would think that business people all had laptops. Apparently not.
Standing up, Dana looked around the room for other places laptop cords could be, not finding anything that would help her. She was just about to go back into the hallway and try the next room when she realized for the first time how quite it was.
It had been much quieter since the infection spread, but even then you could hear the sound of zombies gurgling and the sound of Hunters roaring in the distance. Dana walked back to the window. There were two boards over it, but there was a gap in between. She peered out over the street. There was nothing at all. Complete silence.
Dana half wondered if Alex had finally ended everything somehow. She decided she should continue to search for an internet cord nevertheless. Stepping back out into the hallway, Dana walked a few steps down the hall to the next doorway. She was about to enter when she heard a noise coming from the bottom floor of the building.
Swinging around to face the stairwell door Dana listened for another noise. There was silence again for a few seconds, but then there was a thunk; the sound of wooden boards being smashed. After that, there was then a loud shuffling sound of broken building remains being pushed aside. Telling herself it was just Alex; Dana inched down the hall towards the stairs. Knowing better, but ignoring instinct, Dana opened the door and moved to the top of the stairs.
Slowly beginning to make her way down the stairs, Dana made sure she was as quite as she could be. Strange shuffling noises continued to be heard as Dana reached the lower door. She put her hand on the doorknob and slowly began to turn it. A bellowing roar of a Hunter came from the other side of the door and Dana pulled her hand away and began to run up the stairs. The roar continued for several seconds and then stopped. Dana stopped running.
She stood in the stair well waiting to hear if it was pursuing her. If it hadn't heard her while it was roaring, then she didn't want it to hear her now. She waited what felt like five minutes to her. She knew it was shorter than that, but it was definitely long enough to be sure it wasn't following. More shuffling came from behind the door below her, but it wasn't anywhere near the door.
Realizing that she had to get out of the building before the Hunter scented her, Dana started to slowly make her way up the stairs as quietly as she could. Going up each step as the Hunter shuffled around downstairs and stopping whenever it stopped. Eventually she reached the roof.
She ran silently over to the edge of the roof, hoping to cross over to another roof or go down the fire escape. Then she realized she had made a fatal mistake. She had left her laptop on the receptionist desk where the Hunter now was. With all of the important Gentech files and other essential findings she had on it, she couldn't afford to lose it.
Dana turned around and sprinted over to the stairs. She ran down them as quietly as she could mange. She reached the bottom floor door and approached it carefully. There were no longer any shuffling noises coming from the other side, but there was a hushed slurping sound along with the occasional snort.
Dana turned the handle on the door and this time slowly began to open it. She opened it just enough to stick her head out and look over to the desk with her laptop on it. The Hunter was standing right next to the desk. The slurping sound Dana had heard had been coming from it, standing over the dead receptionist's body, ripping and gulping at the flesh. The slimy purple skin of the Hunter shown in the light from the boarded up windows as it ripped off more flesh, swallowing another mouthful with another loud slurp.
Dana then realized why the Hunter had come here. It had smelled the receptionist's rotting flesh. The reek of decaying corpses was common now and Dana hadn't noticed how strong the receptionist's stench was.
Analyzing the situation, Dana realized that there was no way she could get to the desk, pick up the laptop, and run away without the Hunter killing her first. Looking around the room and thinking quickly, she noticed how many chairs and desks there were.
Taking in a deep breath and making a quick decision, Dana threw open the door, running out from behind it, and picked up a nearby chair. The Hunter immediately turned away from its meal and faced Dana, disturbed by her noise. She threw the chair at the four legged monster, hitting it square in the head. Ignoring the hard wood of the chair as it smashed into its head, the Hunter jumped towards Dana and forced her to dive underneath a nearby desk. The Hunter Crashed through the wall behind where she had been standing. Dana took this chance to run over to the desk and grabbed her laptop.
As she turned, she caught a glimpse of the bloody remains of the receptionist on the floor, realizing that could be her if she didn't do something in a few seconds. The Hunter was running towards her again, lunging in for the kill. Dana grabbed for the desk chair behind her and pulled it up in front of her just in time, shoving it into the Hunter's mouth.
As the Hunter stumbled and struggled to remove the chair from its oversized mouth, Dana took cover under another desk. Yanking open her laptop, she jammed her finger on the power button. Luckily it powered up quickly. Dana opened the file that she had meant to show Alex earlier. Turning up the computers volume as high as it could go, she pressed the play button just as the Hunter broke the chair into pieces with its teeth.
A high pitched screeching sound came out from the speakers. The Hunter started to come after Dana again, but then stopped in its tracks. It started to make strange sounds and stumbled backwards. Holding its head with its hands, it toppled over onto its back. Writhing in pain, the Hunters ears started to ooze blood.
Dana stood up from under the desk, holding the laptop and continuing to play the sound. Staring down at the Hunter, she realized it was unable to do any harm to her now. As she looked down at the dying monster, she heard painful cries from other nearby Hunters outside. "So, it really does work. Lucky for me." Dana commented to herself as the Hunter's movements came to a stop. "It works better than I had guessed."
Turning off the sound, Dana walked to the entrance of the building. She looked back at the now dead Hunter on the ground before turning and ducking under the broken boards once again.