The moon for the first time in days glowed through the thick layer of clouds. Sarah climbed over a pile of boxes and into a narrow ally. She followed a trail of bodies into a long corridor where an open safe room door stood, covered in blood. The girl collected what ammo she could and sat on the dust covered concrete floor. She pulled a black water bottle from her backpack's side pocket. It was almost empty. She drank the last few drops and sat there, tears rolling down her face.
The trembling girl got on her feet and walked back into the corridor. There was an open door that led into a small storage room. A corpse lay in the corner with an axe buried in its torso. Sarah took hold of the handle and yanked, causing the body to fall forward. The storage room led to another corridor. She crept towards the end of the hall and into a cobweb filled stairway.
The stairs hit a large room full of huge tanks, marked with the word SEWAGE and ten digit numbers. A manhole was open and a bundle of pipes was only a few feet down. Sarah jumped onto the pipes with her pistol at the ready. The sewers were empty, bodies covered the disgusting floor. Who was killed this many infected?
Sarah continued to follow the trail of bodies. It led to an empty doorway. One of the huge metal safe room doors was on the side path across from the doorway. There was a four foot tall wooden spool with a health kid and ammo on top of it. Sarah grabbed a second health kit and put it in her backpack. She followed a claustrophobic path back into the spacious sewer. Sarah looking down the longer route, there was a yellow ladder that probably led to the surface. There was a pile of infected bodies topped with a Smoker.
She emerged from the sewer into pouring rain. The pavement shined against the red and blue flashing lights from an ambulance a few yards away. Sarah had made it to Mercy Hospital. As a smile crept across her face, a bullet flew passed her face. She panicked, looking for the source of the gunshots. A horde of infected was focused on one area in front of the office buildings that surrounded the hospital. She saw the group of survivors from the apartments.
Sarah knew she could run past them, but she would have nowhere to go. She looked around and spotted a graffiti drawing next to the hospital entrance. It was a safe house. Sarah could run past the group, into the safe room and out the other door. The helicopter circled the building waiting for survivors.
Sarah sprung out into the storm and sprinted toward the safe room. She hopped over the hood of a cop can and sliced a smoker with her axe. She dropped the weapon after her attack and continued. Upon entering the hospital, Sarah grabbed another fire axe, pain pills and some extra rifle ammo. She kicked the second metal door open. There was a closet across the hall. The corridor seemed to be empty. She couldn't even here any infected. She hid in the closet, closing the door.
"Everyone got a health kit?" The voice sounded older, maybe a man in his sixties or older.
"This ammo pile look a little small to you Zoey?" The rugged voice again.
"Crap, not enough for my rifle." She didn't recognize the voice. It must have been the other man.
"Same here Louis, here take these pills." The older man's voice again. The voice she didn't recognize was Louis.
The clanking of the enormous metal door smacking against the wall echoed down the hallway. The group left the safe room door and continued down the corridor. A light flickered, making Zoey more nervous than when they had seen the Tank smashing through infected on Holly Street. Bill fired his rifle at a Smoker, his weapon clicked and he hid behind a wheelchair.
Sarah tried to keep quiet once the shooting paused. There were footsteps going up the stairs, and then more shooting. Everything went quiet after a few minutes. She emerged from her hiding spot, pistols at the ready. The hallway was empty, like the sewers. This group was quick and efficient. She made her way to the stairwell. Half a corpse lay against the wall, a chubby one, much like what was left of the one that exploded during the attack at the hotel.
She entered a larger room, there was a large curved desk at the center and another staircase at the opposite end of the room. Sarah walked up the stairs, following the trail of infected that grew large with every corridor. There was another desk and a door that said "emergency" in the next room. When she opened the door, the sounds of gunshots filled her ears.
She jumped over several barricades and ducked under yellow tape. Sarah tilted her head to look down the hallway. The survivors entered an elevator. The girl in the group saw Sarah just as the door closed shut. A tear fell down her cheek. She found the stairs and continued moving towards the roof. There were only a few infected in the stairwell to her relief.
The Bitter cold rain hit her head on when she opened the door to the hospital roof. The survivors were battling the infected next to a mounted gun. There were several Hunters attempting to pounce the group, but to no avail. Sarah ran towards them, hiding behind what she could, to avoid getting shot. She came to a screeching halt. One of the giant infected was taking the same path as her. Sarah watched the creature take blow after blow until one final shot echoed like thunder when it exploded in the massive skull of the infected.
Sarah climbed over the behemoth and next to where the survivors were. They were gone. She turned and saw the helicopter hovering next to the building. Sarah screamed at the top of her lungs but the thunder hid her voice. She ran as fast as she could but the machine was already flying away. Sarah fired her rifle and threw a Molotov next to her.
Zoey looked out of her window and saw a figure shooting next to a glowing fire. "Hey man, put the chopper down, there's somebody down there still.
The pilot turned his vehicle and came in for a second lift. Zoey opened her door and looked at the figure dead in the eyes. It was her cousin, Sarah.
"Sarah lets go, your dad said-." She was cut off by a slab of concrete hitting the helicopter's tail. The machine spun and spun as Zoey screamed. It exploded on the side of the building.
Sarah dropped to her knees, tears pouring down her cheeks. She had now lost her only way out of the city, her freedom, and her cousin, the only family left. The girl stared over the building's edge. Hordes of infected wrecked the landscape of the streets below. She looked around, the Tank was dead and the roof was silent. She breathed in deep and leaned forward, falling.
The Hunter climbed out of the sewers, dodging the horde that filled the streets around Mercy Hospital. He looked up towards the now burning roof, when he heard a familiar scream. A black spot was speeding towards the streets. The Hunter leaped onto the hospital entrance canopy, jumped onto the side of the building and back out into the air to catch the figure. Sarah landed in his arms, unconscious. He hit the ground, cracking the pavement.
Sarah awoke in the soft bed once again. The Hunter sat at the foot of the bed. Sarah rolled out and slid down the edge until she hit the floor. He followed her, crept around the bed until he was next to her. She had tears rolling down her cheeks. Everything was gone. She had no reason to live. Why did the Hunter save her life? He crossed his arm and placed them on his knees. He rested his chin on his arms and turned to see the pale girl whimpering in silence. The Hunter put his hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away. They sat there for a few minutes before Sarah finally spoke up.
"Why? Why save me?" The Hunter did nothing. Sarah looked at him and waved her hand in front of his eyes. Still nothing. Sarah went back to being the quiet and motionless one. The Hunter looked at her as she began to whimper again. He waved her hand in front of her eyes. She caught his hand. Sarah pulled the Hunter closer to her before staring at him. She pushed down his hood and leaned towards him. Her lips made contact with his. The Hunter grabbed her shoulder and the back of her head, cradling her as they kissed.
The kiss broke and they stared at one another. Sarah went to speak again when the door slammed open. "Shit, Donny there's a jumper in here." There were three men and a girl, she was zip-tied. The Hunter stood and faced them, ready to protect Sarah. The man in front held a shotgun while the other two held pistols. The man raised his shotgun and aimed it at Sarah. The Hunter leaped onto him and ripped the shotgun from his hand, throwing it at another man. He grabbed the other man's head and slammed it into the wooden bed frame. Blood spattered across the Hunter's body as he raised his claws to the third and final attacker.
He ran out of the room, pulling the girl behind him. The Hunter went down on all fours and darted for the man. He leaped from wall to wall gaining speed until he made his final jump, landing on the man's back and slamming him into the yellow and white striped wall. He ripped the man apart. The girl was slouched against the wall. The Hunter raised his claws at her, but retreated slowly. He crouched and moved towards her. He clipped the tie and backed away. She wore a name tag, her name was Alice. The girl stood and sprinted away, just like Sarah had done the day before.
Sarah hadn't moved from her position after their kiss. He walked around the room picking up only what was essential and stuffing it into her backpack. He brought it to her and returned to the hallway. Alice was gone now. The Hunter turned to make sure Sarah was ready to go. One of the men held the shotgun at him and with his last dying breath shot the Hunter directly in the chest. Sarah crawled next to the Hunter's broken body. His chest was torn apart and blood had begun to pool around him.
Sarah picked up her backpack and put the Hunter's arm around her shoulders. She walked out into the hall; the body of one of the attackers lay there against the wall, torn apart. She waked down the stairwell into a mess of corpses. The hotel entrance was destroyed and sunlight leaked through, but the air stayed cold. She found a car with its door wide open. There was a single key left in the ignition. Sarah's mouth grew wide and she threw the Hunter into the back seat. She turned the key and the car erupted with the beautiful sound of a working engine.
Sarah pressed the gas and drove the new found vehicle for hours until the road came to a blockade of trees and downed wires. Her smile fell and she pulled the Hunter back on her shoulders. There was a police car parked sideways on the other side of the barricade. The trunk was already open; there was a shotgun, an Uzi, health kits and ammo. Sarah rested the Hunter on a second police car. She grabbed all four health kits and stuffed them in her backpack.
The infected ignored her while she ran past a bridge that was blown apart. She climbed up the Cliffside, pulling the Hunter up after her. Sarah could see a town in the distance beyond what looked like a train yard. She dragged him all the way to the town and into a church. They were not bothered by infected the entire way there.
"Hey, anybody in there?" Sarah knocked on the safe room door inside the church.
"I'll ring this bell; I swear to god I'll do it!" He sounded young. A car alarm swept through the town beyond the church.
"Shit, shit, shit!" There was a metal banging, like the climbing of a ladder. It was hard to hear but it sounded like someone screamed for help, followed by a gunshot and the roar of an engine. The safe room door creaked open and a man laid there, a gunshot in his chest. Sarah pulled him out and closed the door behind her and the Hunter. She climbed up the ladder into what looked like storage for the church.
She secured the second safe room door and put down their sleeping bags. Sarah pushed a cabinet in front of the door and covered it with a black sheet. She organized the boxes in the room to give them more space. She even opened one to find tons of cans of corn and soup. Sarah pulled the Hunter up into the top room. She removed his sweatshirt and t-shirt, revealing a bloody mess. Sarah used up three of the health kits to stop the bleeding and forced him to swallow some pain pills. He rested for the remainder of the night in his sleeping bag.
Sarah ate a can of soup and lit one of the lanterns she found, placing it on a table. She crawled into her sleeping bag and attempted to get some sleep, but she couldn't. The girl paced around the room trying to make herself tired. She reached for the Hunter's sweatshirt and a picture fell out. There was a note on the back.
Dear Cole,
I know I haven't been around much, but I promise I'll be on the first flight out of here when I can. Remember to put flowers to mom for her birthday. See you when I see you man.
Love, Eric
Sarah put the picture back in the sweatshirt pocket. The Hunter had a name, Cole.
