The churchbell stopped ringing, powering down with a horrible noise as the voice that screamed behind the safe room door dissolved into gutteral growls and choking. The waves of zombies kept coming for some time, and the four survivors beat them back as best they could with what they had. The fires from the gas cans and the molotovs still burned outside, but the fire wouldn't last forever and Francis was convinced the zombies would find another way around it.
Louis looked behind them, running for the safe room door while still firing at the advancing horde. His shouting was lost in the noise of gunfire and the screaming of the zombies, but the high pitched, inhuman sound of the hunter was not. It flew out at Louis as soon as the door opened, but he managed to duck out of the way just in time, eyes wide.
The hunter landed heavily in the middle of the room, then dove behind the organ in the middle of it just as Bill spun to open fire on it. Zoey shouted from the broken wall they had been defending, hurrying into the safe room herself at Louis' indication, and Bill moved slowly towards the room with his back to it, gun poised to fire if the hunter showed itself.
Francis watched carefully as well. He was farthest from the safe room, but closest to the organ, and from here he could easily hear the growling of the hunter as it waited once more to pounce.
"Francis!" Bill shouted. "Get your ass over here!"
The hunter screamed again, and Francis grunted as he ran forward, delivering one heavy booted kick to the side of the organ to send it flying across the room on its broken wheels, the hunter leaping easily out from behind it as it moved.
"C'mon, little wussy!" Francis snarled at it, and it bared a mouth filled with blood stained teeth in a grin as it crouched and circled.
"Francis!" Zoey's frantic voice cried, the sound of another horde coming from behind the walls that surrounded the church. "Please, come on!"
The hunter pounced at him, but Francis swung his gun just in time, catching it in the face with the heavy butt of it and sending it stumbling backwards. It leapt away from him to avoid another blow, and he ran as quickly as he could for the safe room. Behind him, the hunter screamed, and he felt bullets rip past him as the others fired on it. He made it into the room and turned in time to see the hunter flying towards him, a strong hand bracing against his shoulder and shoving him out of the way just as it was about to land on him.
Instead, as he stumbled back, the hunter ploughed into Bill, driving him to the ground heavily and raising its clawed hands to tear at him. Swinging his gun around quickly, Francis put a round through the hunter's head and it slumped sideways, limp, the other two rushing forward to pull it off of Bill.
Louis looked up while Zoey got Bill back on his feet, his blood stained and filthy face twisted in fury.
"What the hell, man? Why didn't you come when we got the door open, while that hunter was still hiding?"
"We couldn't just leave it out there. It would have gone around and waited for us on the other side. It had to be dealt with!" Francis replied, and Louis made a sound of disgust.
"Well, you sure dealt with it, didn't you?" The smaller man growled, and Zoey's voice from below them drew their attention away from one another.
"Guys… Bill's not looking so good."
Guilt began to gnaw at Francis' gut as he looked down at them, seeing how difficult it was for Bill to stand without assistance, the amount of blood that stained Bill's clothing and the labored way the old man was now breathing.
The hunter had to be dealt with… but maybe if he had just shot it when it was circling him, Bill wouldn't be in such bad shape.
Zoey pulled out the first aid kit she had found on their way here, but Francis put his hand on her shoulder and shoved her out of the way, making her blink up at him in confusion.
"Lemme do it." He muttered, and Louis spoke from behind him.
"Let Zoey do it. You've done enough for one day."
"Shut the hell up, all of you." Bill suddenly spat, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand. "Fightin' like this isn't going to make anything easier for us. If we're going to make it out of here alive, we need to stick… stick…" Bill began coughing heavily, blood splattering Francis' vest, and the younger male put his hands on Bill's shoulders to steady him. "Stick together, damn it."
"We're not going to be able to go anywhere with Bill like this." Zoey said quietly. "We're going to have to wait here for a little while."
"We've got ammo and med kits here, but there's no food." Louis murmured back. "We can only stay long enough to determine whether or not Bill's going to be able to keep going, then we have to move."
"The girl's right." Francis growled, looking over at Louis. "We gotta stay here for a little while. Maybe you two can go and find some food, I'll patch Bill up. I owe him that much, after all." The last bit came out very quietly, and Bill turned his eyes up to look at Francis.
Louis and Zoey exchanged glances, then Zoey moved back towards Francis, also looking up at him.
"We're all pretty tired." She murmured. "We'll stay here for awhile, too. Then, when we've rested, we'll go and find some food."
"Yeah." Louis agreed, seating himself by the door with his assault rifle still in his hands, a sigh escaping him. "We're gonna be okay. Maybe resting is a good idea after all."
"I'm going up to the top, okay?" Zoey managed a smile. "I'll see if I can keep watch and pick off the ones I can get to from up there."
As she ascended the ladder, Francis began tugging Bill's jacket off, drawing a grunt of discomfort and a glare from the old man.
"Careful." Bill growled, and Francis offered him a murmured apology, taking his med kit out and beginning to pull out bandages. Bill shrugged his jacket off, pressing one hand to his side with a grimace and a hiss but not daring to actually look down at the wound.
He felt better off not knowing the extent of his wounds.
Francis tried to be gentle, but it wasn't exactly his area of expertise. The entire time he patched Bill up, the room was filled with angry cursing, shouts of pain, the looks on the other survivors faces making Francis feel worse about this than he already did.
Louis went up after a time to join Zoey, the sound of their guns firing sporadically almost a comfort to Francis as he worked.
However, when it came to bandaging the larger wound on Bill's side inflicted by the hunter attacking, Francis paused, putting his hand over it for a moment and closing his eyes. The sound of gunfire from above wasn't enough to drown out the whisper pitched for Bill's ears only, and the old man swallowed when he heard it, a chill running through him.
"Damn it, Bill…"
"Don't say it." Bill muttered in return, and Francis looked up at him sternly. "I ain't finished yet, kid."
From the look of it, Francis found himself thinking, Bill didn't have much time left. And he certainly wasn't in any shape to go running around, not anymore.