Not So Typical Zombie Story

I had just awoken from a slumber; I felt the cold sheets against my half-naked body. Still groggy, I rubbed my eyes, unsure of the surroundings and time. Slowly, I reached to remove the white sheet from me. Tan walls kept looking duller and duller with every passing moment. I felt something pricking my hand, I look down there is a needle stuck in my hand. A line, more or less a thin tube, was attached to the needle in my soft bruised skin. I followed the tube with my eyes, to some sort of machine. What's going on here, I thought, and why am I alone, without a single person around?

I called out; my throat was dry and raspy, so the sound was a choked whisper. I finally noticed nothing was being pumped from into me; I ripped it out with a yelp of pain. I tried to get out of bed. I fell. I tried to get back up; my legs couldn't support my weight. I crawled to the closet, hopping my closing might have been in there. There was nothing, except a blue fluffy and warm robe. I pulled it on taking in the warmth from it. I managed to stand up at this point. Taking baby steps, I inched my way over to the sink. Turned on the water and stuck my face into the water cleaning off the dirt and grime. I lapped the water like a dog. Savoring the taste and little bit of nutriment it provided.

"Where is everyone, why am I here, how long was I sleep?" I asked out loud. I was out of the room now, at the nurse's help center. The sign there read "Davisonville Community Hospital." Lights were blinking, like light on a Christmas tree. I ran to the door, pressing my face into it. It was night time, dark and cold out. "Must be New Moon." I muttered to myself.

I didn't want to leave the hospital, but I wanted to find people. I was the only person, far as I knew, who was left in the hospital. No nurses, no patients, not any family members, what was happing? Were they abducted by aliens or worse dead? Thoughts pounding though my mind, I didn't know what to think, but five thoughts where clear. One, I needed to get out of here. Two, I needed to find somebody or bodies (preferably alive). Three, I need clothing. Four, with no one around, weapons in case of an attack would be good. Last true thought, I need to get home, where ever that was.

Outside the sun was beginning to rise. I could slowly make out things as the light let my eyes see. I could make out that street was a mess. Cars, Trucks, Buses, all empty, all a skewed, and an accident. I couldn't believe my eyes. How long have I been out?

I found a police station. If there was anyone left, I'm sure they'd be there and that they'd help. I finally heard the first noise since I've been awake. The sound of birds, crows, cawing. The pitiful, sicking, and sad sound of them filled my ears. I wanted to scream out at them. Tell them to "Go to HELL". But I didn't, I couldn't. A tear silently fell down from my eye onto my blue robe.

One landed on a tree by me. I looked, yet another tear fell. Soon more of the crows landed on the ground; filled the tree and bench near me. I looked at them and they all stared back. At that exact moment I knew something was wrong. Some crows cawed at the same time, others not at all. I wanted to run, but fear had me glued in place. I stared at all the crows. The black, beady eyes were replaced by raised, blood shot, almost no longer alive eyes. Some of their eyes were not even located in the sockets but were hanging by a single thread below.

I found the strength to move; I ran. The door at the police station wasn't locked as I had expected so I ran in closing and dead bolting it behind me. When I turned around I noticed that there was three police standing there just staring. "Ummmm" I said trying to get my breath back to normal "There are a lot of crows that seem to seem blood thirsty."

"We know miss. There are a lot of things that are out of the norm for Davisonville." Said a seemly good looking police offer.

"Well, what besides the crows and empty streets is going on? Where is everyone?" I shot questions like a bullets from a gun.

"Miss, we're still trying to figure it out. Where did you come from? Are you injured or anything at all?"

"I don't remember where I live and no I'm not injured. I woke up in the hospital. I just came from there. Hence the big, fluffy, robe I got on."

"Do you know your name?"

"I, I, I don't remember. I don't remember why or how I was in the hospital or even how long I've been unconscious."

"Okay, well we have some extra clothing, Miss. Kim will direct to the showers and clothing if you would like; which I think you would." Checking me up and down, he said. I knew for a fact I looked terrible. Next, I surprised myself by asking if had anything to eat or drink. I wasn't really hungry, that I knew about, but I was thirsty. They gave me a chocolate doughnut and a cup of coffee.

After I ate two doughnuts and finished the cup of coffee, I asked for a shower and change of clothing. The lady, Miss. Kim, led me to the extra clothing and shower area. Once I found my size in the clothing which happened to be the same type of clothing they were wearing. "Oh, before you get your shower, honey, here's all the stuff you need. Also the water takes a few minutes to heat up. Hope it's alright for you." Miss. Kim said in a sweetheart southern accent.

"Oh, yes, that's fine, thank you so much ma'am." I said as politely as possible. Seeming to be pleased that she was able to help me with something she turned and left. Soon after I turned the water off and waited three minutes for the water to get warm. I shrugged of my blue robe, surprised at how cold I instantly got without it on; I hadn't realized it was that cold since the robe had so much fluff. I stepped into the falling water and instantly felt better.

Once done with my shower; I pulled the clothing on and fixed my damp hair. I decided to walk back out to the company I had ran into. What I found though was horrifying. The stuff I had first seen when I entered the place was no longer. In its place was blood splattered walls and broken computer systems. Miss. Kim, the hot cop, and the other person were all lying on the ground. They weren't asleep either, their throats had been ripped out and they were all blood smeared. Then the stench hit me. I gagged; that smell it smelled so familiar. It smelled like rotting flesh with death and despair all around it.

The moan came, filled with death and hunger for fresh flesh. It ran out loud and clear in the big semi-empty room. I spotted a gun lying on a counter. I ran and dove grabbing it. The gun was a typical police handgun 9mm and loaded. I fired at the things limping towards me; five shots, one after another into the things heads. I noticed a box of handgun bullets lying on the table next to where the gun had been placed. I picked them up and stuck them in my pocket. I placed the gun in the holster attached to my pants I'm wearing, and headed for the back door. I started to remember stuff. One was where I lived. I decided to take the back way home.

There was no infected anything on the way home. That was a very good thing. My house sat way from it all. Davisonville has more country than most other towns. The house wasn't big; it was a simple one floor farm house. The old familiar house seemed safe and at ease, but I still want and locked all doors and windows just to be on the safe side, and went to my room. "Pack light, Pack light, Pack light." I repeated over and over till I found a backpack. It was big enough for some food, about two weeks worth of space, another pouch for bullets and another for extra supplies. The bag came from my father. He had gotten it when he was somewhere with the army. The bag is army approved, easy equipped, and light to carry. I went to my dad's room and found his pump action shotgun. "Anything else?" I went thought the mental notes in my head. I had everything possible.

More memories hit me all at once. My name, my age, why I was in the hospital, and why I was alone…for the most part. My name is Claire, Claire Marie Kennedy. My age is sweet sixteen. I'll be seventeen next month. I was in the hospital for abuse. Everyone told me he was bad news. Don't stay with him. You're only going to end up hurt. I should have listened, but I was a rebel, biker, and a red-head. He was the type of guy, girls like me fell for. He seemed perfect. Then one day he had been drunk and came over, we got into a fight and he hit. He hit me till I blacked out; I just now awoke, almost a year later. My family, my mother died when I was eight. Her cause of death is still unknown. My father and I moved to Davisonville PA (mid-western Pennsylvania) when I was thirteen. He was sent overseas a week after my fifteenth birthday.

I went out to the garage and took the soft top jeep out. On my way out of the driveway; I stopped and checked the mailbox. Located in there was just a single envelope. I pulled the letter out that was inside. It was a typed letter that read "Claire, I am sorry for the lost of your father." I just sat there in the vehicle for a good five hours just feeling completely numb. Recovered, partly, I hit the road. I need to find survivors, if there is any. I stopped at a Hess gas station to fill the jeep up. I took the pistol into the gas station with me, no one was the register or in the entire store…alive that is. A zombie then popped up from behind the counter. I uttered a yelp of surprise and quick drew my gun as the zombie tried to get over the counter at me; in the process it knocked the cash register onto the floor in front of me. I steady the gun and BANG! One simple clean shot straight into the skull severing the brain. Head shots, it's there weakest point. Leon told me that, he use to always play them games. Resident evil was his favorite.

Leon had been my older brother, whom is now about the age of twenty-three, if he is still alive. He moved to California when he was twenty looking for a job in the police force. He had always wanted to be on his own. We hardly heard from him, he would send letters from time to time, but I haven't heard from since I've been in a coma and dad was sent overseas. I think I'll travel to California and try to find him. The trip was long and lonely with frequent gas and bathroom breaks. It was also quiet easy, since there was only my car on the road. I must have ran into about just ten zombies on the way; they were easily taken out with a simple bullet to the head.

Once in California I seen a gun shop and decided to restock on supplies. I stepped into the entrance of the place and heard the sound of a gun being cocked. I looked up and seen a guy standing there with a gun pointed right at my head. "Don't Shot." I tried to stay claim which is kind of hard when a crazy person has a gun pointed at your head ready to pull the trigger. "I'm not one of them things, I haven't even been bitten. I'm here looking for bullets and my brother." The guy slowly lowered the gun.

"What type of bullets ya need?" He asked I told him the type of bullets I need. Then introduced myself and where I was from. He handed me the bullets I asked for and introduced himself as Steve. He hadn't had a nametag on his shirt, which was dirty from constant wear.

"Do you know of any other survivors or have heard of my brother? He belongs with the police force here."

"No clue. What's your brother's name? I might have heard of him. I use to hack into the police files to get rid of felony I had commented." Steve wasn't all that bad looking.

"My brother's name is Leon Kennedy. He's about twenty-three years of age and belongs, if I am correct, the Rodeo Town police station."

"Never heard of him." Steve said taking some time to sort through his memories. "But, if you'd like we could go the police station and see if he's there." His eyes were playing on my breasts that were slightly notice able with my v-neck top. I didn't really mind. He wouldn't be the first and hopefully isn't the last guy to notice my lovely lady lumps.

"Fine with me, it's important I find him. Hopefully he's still alive. I have vital info for him" I said trying to play it cool and act like I haven't noticed his eyes drifting up and down my body.

"We'll leave now so hopefully we'll be able to get there and find him, alive."

"Alright, well let's get going, but you're not driving. I am."

"I love a girl with attitude." Steve said with a sly smile on his face.

"Well I got plenty of that. My jeeps this way. If you want to change you clothing, which you probably do, there's clothing in the backseat. They were my father's. You look like you'd be able to fit in it." I played a sly look on my face also.

The clothing did fit him, and Steve did look a lot better in cameo. We climbed in the jeep and started down to the police station. "So, Claire, how old are you?"

"I'll be seventeen next month." I said keeping both my eyes on the road and dogging the rummages on the road.

"Oh, I just turned eighteen. How long have you been in that coma you were saying about?"

"Almost a year. I hardly got to be sixteen at all because of something that happened and wound me up in the coma."

"A guy?"

"Yeah. How'd you know?"

"Lucky guess." He said with a shrug. Though I could tell he had an idea just the by the way I acted when I said it. By this time we had reached the police station. I pulled into the parking lot. Glass was shattered everywhere and lifeless body were mangled and a skewed everywhere. What we heard surprised both Steve and me. Gun shots, not to distant but close enough. "That's inside the police station." Steve said running towards the door and opening the door.

"Steve, Look out! A dog!" I screamed a Doberman pincher type dog whose body was mangled up and showing teeth. Ready to attack, I pulled my pistol out and aimed at the dog. I shot him before he could attack. He fell to the ground with a yelp. "Never mind, he's dead…again." I said walking towards Steve. We entered the police station then. What we seen was a good sign. Three people on the second floor. The not so good sign, zombies were everywhere. The two guys had the girl on the inside and had their backs to each other. She was firing shots down at the first floor, taking out as many zombies as she could. The guys were worrying about all the other zombies coming from both sides. "Don't worry about the ones down here! We'll take care of them!" I started firing shots at the zombies crawling over each other trying to get up to the three people who were stranded up top on the second floor over look walk way. I took out all the zombies with as many headshots as possible. Once they were all dead the woman let the emergency latter down and climbed down first, with the two guys close behind her.

"Has anyone been bitten?" The woman asked with a worried face.

"No one's been bitten." The one guy said. He was on the chubbier side and had a bred.

"Good." At that exact moment the same man screamed. There was a zombie biting his leg, at the ankle. He kicked the zombie's head, which flew off the body and rolled over to where I was standing.

"Not good, I have been bitten." The man that had spoken earlier said. He bent over and checked his wound. Uttered some inaudible sounds and looked at the woman. "Jill, I have to go. I'm bitten and you know what happens once you've been bitten. I'll go and secure the rest of this place while I still have time left." The woman, Jill, started crying. "It's alright, Jill, I'll be fine. You can make it on without me." He turned and ran to a door locking it behind him. The other guy who had been helping shot the zombies brought his arms around Jill while she continued to cry.

"Hey now." Came his reply. "We got guests here."

"I'm terribly sorry." She said in a hiccup type of voice. "He had been our partner. His name was Barry. We're what is left of the Rodeo Town Police Station. In case you don't know, my name is Jill. This is Leon."

"Leon? Leon Kennedy?" I asked astonished

"That's me, but how'd you know my last name?" The guy replied to my question.

"Leon, I'm your sister…do you remember?"

"Claire? Really? Last time I saw you or even heard from you was over a year ago." He pulled me in a hug. I wrapped my arms around him and squeezed back. "You have changed so much since I last saw you. You're what sixteen, going to be seventeen this coming month?"

"Correct, but I haven't had much time to be sixteen. I've been on a coma almost the whole time."

"That scum." Leon knew the exact reason why I had been placed in the coma; there was no reason to explain. "Any ways, how's dad? I knew he was sent overseas, but I haven't heard from him at all."

"He's dead, Leon. He was killed when I had been in that coma."

"Oh." Was all he said. "So there's not a lot to catch up on then I'm presuming."

"Nope, not really."

"God, you have changed so much since I have last seen you. Who's this guy you got with you?"

"I'm Steve. I came with her to help find you." Steve said finally speaking up since we got here. Leon who was still at my side leaned over and whispered in my ear, so only I could hear.

"He's not too bad looking and he's also not a bad guy. Little felonies here and there, but nothing serious."

"Shut up Leon!" I said playfully whacking his chest. "I think, since we are all caught up, we should go look for other survivors." Leon, Jill, and Steve nodded their heads in agreement to me.

Since Rodeo Town wasn't all that big, we managed to search it pretty quick; there were no survivors. There was something that surprised both Leon and Jill. Jill had lived her all her life and Leon almost four years now. What we seen was a building. It wasn't new, but it wasn't all that old either, maybe ten to fifteen years old at the most. It looked to be almost like a warehouse, above it was a huge wooden sign that read "TRI-FARMA NOW AND FOR THE FUTURE." It was wrote in big blue and white letters and the sign was painted black the symbol along with it was a capital T and F with a thin circle boarding it. "Leon, do you remember this place at all?" Jill asked after about five minutes of us just staring at the sign.

"No, do you?"

"No, I haven't even heard of that name."

"Well I haven't either." Steve piped into their conversation.

"Well, even from Pennsylvania, I haven't heard of it." I wanted to join the conversation to, so I did. "I have a feeling that no one has heard of it, then it might have some reason for the outbreak, people missing type thing going on." Leon stared at me, Jill kept his stance, and Steve gave me smirk.

"She does have a point." Jill said after everyone gained their wits back.

"Girl with attitude, knows how to work guns, and has a brain. Starting to like you more." Steve replied when no one else knew what to say.

"Thanks, I want to get in this building and see what we can find out about it." I said heading for the door Leon grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

"Wait, if this place is as bad as you think, Claire. I wouldn't go walking right through its front doors." Leon had a point. "Try the side door over there." He pointed to a different door. We entered though that one. Good thing to because the other door was chained shut.

Inside the place it appeared to be a waiting room. It was a big almost empty space. There was sofas that lined the outer part of the room, like a dentists place and had big screen TVs in corners of the room, and there was space for kids to play. Little block figures still stood collecting dust. In the one part was the reception desk. There was a computer located, so I ran over to it jumping over the desk and looked at the screen. There was a list of eight names with a status behind it. Luis Blake- Dead. Ada Black- In testing. Sherry Black- Alive/ill. Rebecca Coen- Dead. Billy Chambers- In testing. Ashley (there was no last name.)- In testing. Ben Bonviles- Dead. Last on the test was a name that was all too recognizable, Alfred Kennedy- Dead. I whimpered and a tear fell from my both eyes. Leon jumped over the desk and wrapped his securing arms around me. "What's wrong Claire?"

Number eight. Its dad's names." I said and turned into him crying. Steve walked over and placed a securing hand on my shoulder. Jill remained where she was at. "I. Thought. He. Was. Sent. Over. Over. Seas." I said trying to regain my calmness which was proving more difficult.

"He was sent overseas, Claire. I don't know why his name on here. It's alright." He tightened his grip on me, more tears fell. I tried harder to get my calmness back.

There was a voice from behind. A woman's voice and a sound of a gun once again being cocked. "PUT YOUR HANDS UP!" Her voice boomed in the nearly empty room. I slowly raised my hands up and behind my head, everyone else followed my movements. "What are you doing here?" I started to answer and she fired a shot into the air. "Your trespassing are you aware of that?"

"Yes, Yes, I am aware of that. We're terribly sorry, but what's going on here? Is there testing of some sort happing?" I asked, probably not a good idea since she fired another shot into the air. She proceed to scream then.

"I'll ask the questions. So you can address me properly, my name is Annette, Annette Black and I worked here." She lowered her voice. "What are all your names?"

I spoke again taking for everyone. "I'm Claire, This is Leon; he's my brother. This is Steve and that over there is Jill." Addressing everyone in the order in which they were standing.

"Very well, you mean no harm to me or anything here. You and your friend are still mere children yet, and all of you people are still naïve and trying to find place in this messed up world." She had a point; she was just taking guesses but was getting very close to being correct. "This is an accident it wasn't to get this far. I can't let it break out. It needs to stay contained in our labs. We only were trying to find a cure for the influenza outbreak and to restore America and perhaps the world. Something went terribly wrong though. People who had died in the labs that hadn't been infected by the flu…didn't stay dead, but if we don't keep it contained we'll have created a new outbreak. My husband had became obsessed with his testing he wanted to get it figured out, save the rest of the people. He became so bad he began testing on his daughter, his sister, and even went as far as testing on himself."

"Who was your daughter, if it's alright for me to ask?"

"Sherry, Sherry Black. His sister was Ada Black. Ada happens to be dead though, she stayed dead though."

"Our father is dead, did he stay dead?"

"Who was your father?"

"Alfred Kennedy."

"Yes, I am sorry for your lose and yes he had stayed dead."

"How did you manage to get to him for testing? He had been overseas."

"While overseas, our researchers were looking for American citizens who had a big possibly of being infected by this influenza were asked to leave before battle started and to return home. Your father was one who was at great risk of this flu that had sprung up. So we brought him here and work on tests. He was almost though the process, but it over took him. The last injections was just too strong for his body to handle. I am sorry for the loss of your father, he was a strong guy. I am sorry to cut this short, but I have some business that I need to finish and an ill child to attend to. Good bye, I suggest you all leave this place. It's not safe." She turned and scampered off to a door. By the time I opened my mouth to say wait she was already gone and had the door locked behind her.

" I don't know what is up with people and locking doors behind them, but it's starting to get old." Steve was the first to speak after all the talking I have done. "I'm not leaving; we came all this way I'm not leaving, I want to know more I want to know what types of tests were going on here. I'm not satisfied."

"I'm with Steve on this one. Leon, Jill? What do you think?" I looked at Leon, he gave one solemn nod. I looked around and didn't see Jill anywhere. "Jill. Jill?" I called out. Then Jill popped up. It she wasn't the same as she had been though. She let out a moan; and started to limp her way over to the three of us. "Leon."

"I got it. Jill, I'm sorry." He spoke softly and then pulled the trigger. "I'm sorry." She fell to the ground with a sickening thud.

Steve walked to a door, it was a different door than we had entered and also different than what Annette existed from. "It's not locked, we can go this way." Leon and I walked over to where Steve was standing. He opened to door once we had our guns readied for an attack if there was to be any. There weren't any zombies in the next room. Instead there were broken test tubes a skewed everywhere and carts knocked over. Rooms were empty, dark rooms there was a window on each door.

"I got a bad feeling about this." I said in a voice that didn't sound like my own to my ears. We went to the door at the end of the corridor and though that one it looked the same as the last one but there was also a bloody mess. There was also dead mangled bodies lying in every direction and doors to the rooms were broken open. What had once been white lab suits were now stained red from all the blood in the corridor. The stench of blood was clean in the air like a fresh cut apple, only it didn't smell sweet. I covered my mouth up with my hand, wanting to turn around and leave the place, I didn't though. I wanted answers and to get though all this. I wasn't going to be weak. Then a new sound came, it was a growl type moan. There was a hideous creature that stood up. It was missing one arm and part of its skull wasn't even there anymore the brain was showing. The other arm ended with a huge claw. "I don't think a head shots going to for this guy!" Its chest wasn't a chest, in its place there was a huge heart. It was beating, so it had to be alive though I don't understand how something like that could even be alive. "Shot at its heart!" I was screaming and firing shots with my pump action shotgun. He just grunted like nothing could affect him. Leon was shooting at him with a pistol also; Steve found his semi-auto which he was going crazy with firing non-stop at the heart.

The thing fell to his knees. "Run!" I screamed taking off down the corridor trying not to slip on all the blood that was lying on the floor. We didn't stop running till we came to a staircase. "Let's go." We climbed up the stairs for what seemed to take forever. We finally made it to a different floor, it read floor three. We stopped to catch our breaths. "Think. He'll. Follow?" I asked trying to harder to catch my breath.

"I. Don't. Know." Steve equally as breathy as me.

"What was that?" Leon asked his breath had returned by the time he decided to speak.

"I have no idea." I spoke my breath came back to me at this point. "But its heart was its whole chest."

"Yeah, he was big and quiet fugally." His breath was returning slower than both Leon and mine.

"It's like a horror movie." Leon spoke almost choosing his words carefully. "No one left alive but the three of us and things that have been dead are no longer dead, but quiet hungry for our flesh."

"Leon, this seems like the games you use to play. Resident Evil, I believe, was your favorite." As I spoke the word favorite right as the door was busted down.

"Hey! It's our company." Steve said "And he doesn't seem to be very happy with us for leaving him behind."

"I wouldn't be either, but I still say RUN!" I practically screamed one and ran through the next door with the guys close on my tail. Once through the door I dead bolted it. Once through the door we saw someone. "Hey! Stop!" She turned around; it was Annette.

"I thought I told all of you people to leave this place."

"Well, we were going to but something with a huge claw that's missing half of his head and one arm was after us." I spoke a tiny little lie, simple white lie, nothing major, it was mostly true.

"Oh My God." She said stammering. "It's William, he's mutated again. The influenza cure had gotten out of control. If we can't contain it we'll make matters worse. You really should have just left."

"Annette, I told we were going to but that thing, William, was trying to attack us." I spoke hoping she wouldn't draw her gun and try to shot us.

"You must leave this place, figure a new way out." She turned and hurried off behind another door, we heard her heels on the metal stairs.

"Should we follow her?" Steve asked. "I'm starting to get tired of her scampering off like a tiny mouse every time we see her." He had a point she was hiding something and also scampered when we seen her.

"Maybe she's trying to take care of her daughter." Leon suggested

"You could be right Leon, except she doesn't seem like the type to care too much about her daughter. I mean, she didn't even try to stop William from testing on the poor innocent child." I spoke keeping my voice a little above a whisper.

"Claire's right, I say we follow her. Hoping she doesn't shot us trying to get to the bottom, we'll just let you do all the talking, you're pretty good at talking your way and ours out of this mess." Steve was looking at me the whole time he was talking.

We took off the way Annette went. We walked in silence; all our conversations seemed to just be hanging in the air. There was a door, it wasn't locked so I opened and passed through it. In the center of the room was a bunch of test tubes filled with a liquid, looked much like water, and hideous looking creatures inside the cases, some looking much like William, others looking uglier. "Testing gone wrong." I muttered more to myself than anyone though both the guys nodded their heads in reply.

"She had said that there was a failure while trying to find the cure. I didn't know it was THIS serious." Leon was the next to speak.

"These things are really bizarre." Steve spoke; there was a hint of fear in his voice as he spoke his words almost like he didn't want to talk but his mouth held no concern to it.

"Oh, here's a computer." I walked over to it trying not to cause too much noise. It was smashed, the screen was broken and the monitor was covered in what seemed almost like slime. "Let's just get to the next room and hope it's less creepy than this one." We walked over to the door at the other end of the room. This door was an automatic open and close door, and when it moved it made a zip type of noise. We walked though it, there was someone sobbing. We just listen closely, trying to figure it out. It didn't take long to figure out who it was.

"That's Annette." Steve whispered

"Stay here. I'll go see what's wrong." I started to creep slowly over. What I heard was upsetting to me. I wanted to cry also, but I was going to be strong and not let any tears fall from my eyes.

She was talking and sobbing at the same time. "Ohhhhhh, Sherry I'm sorry. I'm sorry sweetie. I tried my best. I failed you as a mother and researcher. I'm sorry. I love you." I inched closer; she put her head down on the child's still and lifeless body crying over her. The child could not have been older than the age of eight and nothing younger than the age of five. She was wearing a white dress with blue vertical lines on it; there was a locket hanging around her neck. I am assuming it held a picture of Annette and William on the inside. Annette, finally noticing that someone was watching her, looked up; fresh, ready to fall tears glowed in her eyes. "She, she, she's dead." She said chocking on the word dead. I walked the rest of the way over to her and placed a hand, in attempt to comfort her, on her shoulder. She just shrugged it off. "I. Thought. I. Told. You. To. Leave." She said between sobs.

"Like I said before, we tried to but that thing had us trapped and we don't know our way around here and couldn't find the way out. We came in search of you hoping you could tell us how to get out of her."

"I. Should. Have. Told. You. How. To. Get. Out. Either. Way. I. Called. A. Rescue Chopper. For sherry and I." In a bit stronger voice she continued. "Here's the commutation for it. Radio the chopper and tell him that there are three people who need to be rescued."

"What about you Annette?"

"I'm not going."

"There's no need for me to ask why, you got your reasons and you can keep them to yourself. How do we get out of here now and how much longer till the chopper comes?"

"Go out that door over there." She pointed to the door on the other side of the room of where we were standing/kneeling, the one three us hadn't entered to room from. "Take the third door on the left side of the hall. There will be stairs there. Go till you get to the top of the staircase. There's a door there labeled 'Roof Access'. It requires a pass code. The hint for the pass code is 'LOVE will open the door to set you free'. I radio for the chopper about ten minutes ago. It should be here in half an hour. Now if I may, I'd rather be alone with my child." She put her head back down on the lifeless body of what use to be her child leaving out a horrible sob.

"Thank you we'll be out of your way, Annette. Take care. Leon, Steve, let's go."

Hurrying out of the door I radioed the helicopter and gave what information Annette told me to give. A voice cracked over the speaker in response to what I had told them. "This is Chris; I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Copy, we'll be on the rooftop waiting; over and out." I spoke just like I had heard so in many o movies. We got to the third door on the left side of the hall and as soon as my hand was on the handle we heard one single gun shot sound; it came from the room we had just left not even three minutes ago. "Oh my." Leon and I spoke at the same time, my hand fell off the handle and I turned.

"Claire, let's just go; probably the safest thing to do at this moment in our lives." Came Steve's shaky voice from behind me.

"Steve's right, let's just get to the rooftop and wait for the chopper to get here to get out of this God for shaken place. We can't do anything about Annette at this point anyways. Besides who knows where that thing is at." Leon this time reached for the handle and tugged hard on the door. He had to try to this almost five times before the door would open. "It was stuck." Leon gave a sheepish smile. We went through the door and up the stairs. We were one flight of stairs from getting out on the rooftop when the door two floors below us bust down.

"Run! Get up the stairs. Leon take my gun, I have to enter the pass code to get the door open." Handing my gun over to Leon I took off up the stairs to the door I tried to remember the pass code Annette gave me to get the door open. Tried once, nothing, tried another time, again nothing. "Leon, do you remember the pass code?"

"Try LOVE."

"Right, 'LOVE will open the door to set you free.' was what she said to remember to open to door." Four-digit-code was required to open the door. There was letters under the numbers like a phone. 'LOVE will open the door to set you free.'

"Claire, hurry up. He's not giving up." I typed a pass again; still nothing. I paid attention to the letters under the numbers; right the letters under the numbers spell a word. I typed the numbers that had the letters LOVE. 5, 8, 6, 3; that's what the code was, should have known. This time the door opened.

"Let's go." We ran though the door closing it behind us. As soon as we were outside the radio was all static. "Chris, how much longer till your here?" I asked though I'm sure it was hard to hear with all the static.

"Give me." Static. "About five minutes." More static. "Yet."

"Ok, that's fine, thanks. Claire, over and out." I turned towards the two guys standing behind me. "Ok guys, we got five minutes till the chopper lands. We got William to take care of before this chopper lands. We need bigger guns." Steve nodded and went walking around the perimeter of the roof. The door broke down. "Fire, remember at the heart." As I raised my shotgun; I fired at the heart. "He seems to be getting weaker. Keep firing at him!" Steve ran over to me.

"I found a supply place. It says in case of an outbreak extra supplies located here. It requires a code. I don't know it." I handed my gun once again over to Leon and ran to the door. I tried the same code as before. It didn't open I tried it again; again it didn't open. So I tried 'guest' to see if it would open. There some sort of sound, like a door unlocking.

"I think I got it." I screamed over to Leon and Steve. Steve ran over with my shotgun and went into the room. William was down on his knees still. I ran over to Leon and fired William's heart, knocking him over onto his back. Steve returned after a few moments with a huge rocket launcher in his arms.

"Get behind a wall or something while I take this thing out." Steve cried out as Leon grabbed my arm dragging me behind a wall with him and sitting down waiting for the sign of its safe to be known. The sound of a rocket launcher firing and then the sound of the rocket hitting an object were both clearly known. "Got him!" Was what we heard Steve shout; once it was all over. Now let's ask Chris if he's here yet so we can get out of here." The sound of a helicopter gave us the answer. We saw him coming over the one building right after all the other sounds were over. I ran over and throw myself on Steve, wrapping my arms around him.

"You're alive!" I shouted squeezing his skinny body with as much force as I could muster.

"Of course I am pretty girl. As long as there was still a chance with a good looking, sweet hearted thing like you, I wasn't going to give up without a fight."

"I'm glad, really glad." I said into his shoulder. He pulled me away from him and just stared into my eyes. I wanted him to kiss me so badly. I think he might…or not since at that same moment static and a voice came over the radio.

"Claire, I need room to land." Steve pulled me out of the way over to where Leon was standing was standing. We watched the as the helicopter landed.

The door slide open. A guy with a helmet on his head and what seemed like some sort of flight suit stood there. "I'm Chris. I'll be flying you to your safe haven."

"There's a safe haven?" I asked surprised. "Free of infection you have got to be kidding me."

"That's right, Claire. A place free of infection. Now how about we get on this helicopter and get out of here. I got orders to blow this place up." We all piled into the helicopter; Leon first, then me, and then Steve climbed in behind me closing the door and taking a seat beside me. I looked at Leon and he looked back.

"Thank God, Finally out of there."

"Yeah, I know and we'll be able to get a place free of infection and filled with survivors who have managed to make it this far. Hey Chris, happen to have any food with ya?"

"There's a box under your seat, Claire, which should have food and drinks in there."

"Thanks." I reached under the seat and pulled a box brimming with junk food and sugary drinks. I found a box of Vanilla Wafers and a Diet Dr. Pepper Everyone chose something that they had like to eat. Leon found a bag of Funions and a Mountain Dew, Steve on the other hand found Chips ahoy chocolate chip cookies and a coke. I slid the box back underneath the seat I was sitting on. I hungry ate and finished the box of Vanilla Wafer and my Diet Dr. Pepper. Leon was just finishing up his bottle of Mountain Dew when I looked over, we both smiled and I whispered "We made it."

"Yeah, Claire, we made it." He said equally as quiet. I rolled my head over to the other when I felt an arm around my shoulders. Steve seen me looking at him and his face lit up at the exact moment our eyes met, which caused me to smile.

"Hey, since we made it out of here alive, I was just wondering…" He stopped short because the sound of a huge explosion. Then we heard Chris's voice from the front of the helicopter "Tri-Farma is no longer."

"Tri-Farma and all that can be forgotten, we should get on with our lives." Steve then looked back at me. "Claire, since I have met you, my life has been changed, for the better. You make me feel complete. Claire once we get where we're going…would you stay with me?"

"Steve, of course I will. I'll never leave you."

"Good, I'm glad for that." He kissed my forehead. "Good." The last word I heard, because I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep in Steve's arms.

Epilogue

The year is 2008. Exactly a year after the flu outbreak happened. Claire Kennedy had been in a coma since the outbreak began. Tri-Farma had tried to find a cure, but they almost created a big outbreak. The safe house in which Chris was saying about was in Alaska; it is said to be infection free and the population is about 1,000.