"Quick everyone in!" Bellowed Coach before slamming the office door shut after everyone had made it into the desolate room. Paper sheets lay all over the floor. Documents had been cast away from the desks in which before the infection began were housed on the polished desks. Rain coats remained draped over computer chairs although the chairs had been flipped upside down and slung across the room. Through the blind covered windows that provided a view unto the infected streets below Rochelle peered. The rain that thundered down unto the broken world reminded Rochelle of the bitter coldness outside. That cold followed Rochelle and the other survivors into their current position in the office block.
" Jesus Christ it's cold" Exclaimed Rochelle.
" You should have put a jumper on to go into the apocalypse in Rochelle hahahah!" Replied Nick.
" No way man, I gotta show these zombie sons of bitches that Depeche Mode are the shit." Suggested Rochelle with a smile on her face.
While Coach single handily dumped a locker in front of the door they entered in to prevent hungry common infected from bursting in on them he looked at the others before chipping in on the conversation at hand
" Good to see there's still some humour in you guys during this shit storm. Gives me hope! Coach spoke this almost in sync to the percussion beat being generated by the common infected as they drummed on the door with their bloodied hands, before continuing. " Hey Rochelle there's a coat over there on the back of that flipped chair. Why don't you grab it?"
"Thanks Coach I'm gonna do that shit straight away, dayum!" As Rochelle eagerly put her hand forward to grab the coat from the defiled chair, she drew it back with pace and flung her hand around to rid it of the substance that had dropped onto her from the coat.
" Ahh shit what the fuck!? Ellis get a flash light on this for me please." Complained Rochelle with a look of disgust on her face.
" I'm on it, what is that shit?" Wondered Ellis.
As the flash light exposed the mystery liquid on Rochelle's hand, the mystery quickly became solved.
" I think we all know what that shit is!" Expressed Coach angrily, before raising his axe to a ready stance. " It's blood!"
" I think you're right." Added Nick before pressing his finger to Rochelle's hand. " It's still warm, our source of the problem is nearby. The four survivors all grabbed desks, chairs and anything weighty and dumped them in front of the door they entered through to ensure no zombies followed them, before Rochelle hurled the blood-stained coat to the ground. The Survivors all readied their weapons as they always did, as they did upon awakening, upon ending a meal, upon finishing a sneeze, or ridding an itch or anything. They always readied their weapons. As they did this they proceeded slowly through the office block. Blinding every corner of the room with their flash lights attached to their weapons. They continued to do this until they heard the sound of struggling through a door they were approaching. Ellis quietly sneaked quickly up to the door and pressed his ear against it to try and hear what was going on. He just heard rustling getting quieter by the second, and occasional coughing and the sound of tears forming. Until finally the sound of someone vomiting in agony.
" Sounds like a Witch and some commons." Whispered Ellis, before he got a nod of agreement from Coach, Rochelle and Nick. Following normal procedure because of the Witch, everybody turned off their flash lights, to lower the chance of the Witch being aggravated. Ellis grabbed the door handle and ever so slowly turned it until it clicked. He then slowly pushed the door open to see what they were dealing with. He poked his gun through the door first as he entered, and continued doing so until the door was fully open. The survivors proceeded and to their amazement nothing stood in their way. They had come out at a corridor and there was nothing. However that all changed when Coach gave the signal for everyone to turn their flashlights back on, lighting up the entire room. When the survivors eyes re-adjusted to the new high level of light, they realized there was not nothing in the room with them. But instead their lay a sleeping bag and a woman who was laying, shaking. She was wearing a pink cardigan and a black skirt, some black high heels and her hair was tied into a pony. The kind of attire someone would be wearing for a day in the office. Tears streamed from the woman's face and dripped down her makeup covered cheek before being destroyed on the ground. The woman was clutching onto her stomach with both hands. The hands appeared crimson. The pink cardigan invaded by another unwanted colour.
" Are you okay? What's happened to you?" Asked Rochelle. The survivors all stepped closer to the woman to get a better look at her without blinding her further with their flashlights. The woman slowly turned her head towards the four others and began to speak a reply, but before she could her face turned red as she began coughing up her blood. She spilt it upon the sleeping bag that covered the top of her legs, and she spilt it upon her torso. Coach went to rush forward to assist her, but was yanked back by Nick.
" What are you doing? This woman needs help!" Shouted Coach into Nicks sorrow filled eyes.
" You can't go near her. She's... She's infected. She's turning right now. This is what happens. You fall ill and your body destroys itself over a number of days, before being resurrected as one of them. Explained Nick to Coach before looking to the woman and simply saying " I'm sorry." With tear filled eyes.
" Surely there's something we can do?" Pleaded Ellis.
" Nothing, she probably doesn't even recognise us as human anymore." Responded Nick, a tear in his eye.
Ellis, Coach, Rochelle and Nick all turned to face the woman, to witness her final moments. The tears had stopped and her shaking intensified. Her clutch on her wounded stomach loosened, as her hands fell to her side. Blood began to pour out of her wound and mouth, and fall down her cheek, combining with the smeared makeup and tears, combining to make a cocktail of pure sadness. The sound of the woman's struggle became silence. The only sound to remain would be the sound of Rochelle weeping. As Coach put his arm around her to comfort her, the infected on the other side of the door they came from and barricaded continued to drum on the door, trying infinitely to break the door down. The survivors knew they would not stop. The now dead woman layed in front of the survivors. All of them knew she would come back, and they had to deal with it however they did not realize she would return as a zombie so quickly. Her skin had turned so pale and empty looking. Coach readied his Chrome shotgun as she sat up on her sleeping bag, and aimed in her direction.
"I'm so sorry this had to happen. It's for the best, better being dead than being a freak like those."
The woman stumbled to her feet and the click of the shotgun grasped her attention. The now re-born zombie used it's empty glaring eyes to stare at the survivors before beginning a unwinnable charge at Coach and the others. She ran five steps in her new form, screaming violently as she did, before Coach pulled the trigger and blew another infected off the face off the face of the earth. Blood splattered everywhere, covering the sleeping bag the poor woman spent her final days in. Her corpse was sent back into the bedding she layed. When silence dominated the room again, Rochelle pointed out
" We didn't even know her name. We NEVER know their names. We just kill and kill and kill."
Coach once again comforted Rochelle and hugged her as Rochelle had never witnessed a corpse turning before, and understandably it was a hard thing for Rochelle or any survivor of the apocalypse to witness.
" We survive Rochelle. That's what we do we survive. And goddamn it gets tough out there, but one day we will make it for good, and this will all be over. You are doing so well let me tell you. You too Nick, you as well Ellis. We're a team, and I promise you, were gonna make it out alive! I know it." The words of inspiration from Coach's mouth were just what everyone needed. Some inspiration. Some recognition. Some attention. Because in the apocalypse all you have is each other. And the bullets that keep you safe.
Before Coach signalled Ellis to shut the door from which they had came, he looked directly into Rochelle's drowning eyes, and smiled, and readied his shotgun once more, for what may lie ahead. Nick, Ellis, and Rochelle and began moving down the corridor, each stepping over the unknown office workers body, and Coach followed. As he did he knelt down beside the body and realized a note was hanging out of one of the pink and crimson cardigan's pockets. It read...
" Scott, I'm so sorry this had to happen, but I've been infected. I was bitten on the way to the mall to your groups location. There is nothing I can do about it now. I just want to say that I love you so much and I know you will get out of this. If you ever receive this note then use it to remember me by. And when you feel there is no hope. Remember that I still love you, even on the other side. Thanks for an amazing life Scott. You made every second worthwhile! Always remember that! I love you so so much! Xxx
, Jenny."
" Jenny... I'll get this note to Scott for you. I promise that I will. I'm sorry that we didn't get here sooner. Just keep partying up there alright?" Whispered Coach to the woman now known as Jenny, before grabbing the note in his hand. And proceeding along the corridor to catch up with the others, to tell them about Jenny, Scott and the note they had to deliver.
The rain would not stop pounding the office block the survivors were currently positioned. The infected would not stop running rampant around the streets relentlessly. But neither would the survivors stop surviving. They wouldn't give up today, tomorrow or any other day in history. Because they were fighters. They were survivors of a world that had left them for dead, but they didn't give up. They never gave up. And they never would give up.