A Cruel, Undead World
~ Chapter 3 ~
HL Stands For Hell
Tervu Infection Outbreak Active for: 0 Years, 0 Months, 0 Weeks, 0 Days, 00:41:27.
The car was silent for a little while until Omar's curiosity got the best of him. "How did you know about the zombies?"
Kenny didn't say anything at first. Impatient, Fiona snapped at him to tell them.
"These zombies…they are extremely dangerous…" Fiona rolled her eyes.
"No shit Sherlock, we kind of already figured that." He glared at her.
"You don't know the full extent of the hell unleashed on us!" he went silent for a moment, in which time Omar glanced at Fiona to keep her from bugging him further. "The virus is named HL—for Hydrogen Lanthanum—"
"Lanthanum is La dumb ass!" Fiona interrupted, but before Omar had a chance to shush her, Kenny answered.
"You are correct, but they when they found a way to combine hydrogen and gaseous lanthanum, the name was changed. Something went wrong though after the samples were contaminated by the common cold, and when people inhaled the gas, major parts of the brain would shut down; some of the brain was still functioning and the body began to mutate, turning them beyond return…the gas never left research facility doors, but it must have gotten into the wrong hands."
"How do you know all this?" Omar asked as they pulled up into the driveway.
"I work for an anti-bioterrorism group called the BSAA who responded to the call when there was a minor outbreak in the research facility...we were told all research related to it was destroyed. I guess that wasn't true."
The three left the car and entered the house, finding only Lana inside. Hearing them come in, Lana looked up from the piles of ammo she was searching through.
"No one else in the neighborhood would believe me, but I see you found someone who would listen?" she questioned, and Omar nodded.
"He knows about the virus that is going around," Omar informed her, and Lana turned from him to the slightly older man.
"Is this true?" Kenny nodded. Lana stood up straight and crossed her arms. "Well then, enlighten us."
Kenny sighed. "Alright, I already told the other two how it was created. In short, it is called the HL virus. Now, I will fill you in on what exactly we're up against…"
The virus comes in a gaseous form—extremely infectious. This gas will linger in the air, even when it doesn't appear to be there.
A pale woman was sitting in a van with the local police insignia. Calm and unhinged by the scenes of death around her, she waited for the van to come to a complete stop at ground zero of the bomb, and for the officer inside to hand her a mask. Then, the officer sitting next to her threw the door open while covered by his buddies who arrived just seconds before, and commanded her to get out with his weapon pointed at her head.
She was lovely; her hair was blonde with pink highlights that almost looked natural, and her eyes sparkled in the smoky gas cloud that covered them. Pink was obviously her favorite color, for both coat and gloves were of a similar shade to the dyed portion of her hair. The winter pants and boots she wore were white. Breathing easily through the mask, she moved slowly so the already tensed officer didn't have any reason to shoot her. Slipping out of the van, she looked around at the scene of chaos, and though they couldn't see it because of the mask—was grinning.
From the side there was a yell for help; someone's mask was malfunctioning and they had breathed the heavy air. All officers but the one guarding the woman ran forward to try to help.
Once it enters your lungs, it's too late, and the infection begins. It takes only four seconds for your brain to shut down, and only sixteen seconds after that for the infection to kick into what some might say: the zombie fever.
The officer collapsed with his hands tightly around his throat, and became limp in his partners' arms. He shouted at the fallen man to stay with him, but he was already gone.
There was no warning when the man struck at his partner, digging his teeth into the flesh of his shoulder. He screamed and fell over as the others tried their best to get him off.
They attract others the moment they attack someone—something about their saliva is like a calling agent, telling the others that there is food.
Stunned, the officer who was supposed to keep his eye on the suspect, didn't notice when a wandering zombie came from behind and jumped him. His pleas of assistance went unheeded, as the others were attacked as well. Busy with their sudden ambush, no one noticed that the woman was no longer in the vicinity.
The worst part is…there's nowhere to hide. Their senses are heightened for the search of food. They will find you, no matter where you are. They are drawn by our scent.
The two teens were panting as they fell against the wall, having jumped and ran through obstacles in the sewers to get to their current position. The girl, Salmon, was beginning to cry. The boy, Alex, was about to comfort her when he heard a noise. Frantically he tries to shush her, and she did once she heard the noises too. Someone had entered through the same way they did. Feeling responsible for his friend, Alex took a deep, shaky breath and made his way toward the entrance again after telling Salmon to stay put.
He pressed himself against the wall and barely leaned towards the edge to peer through the darkness at where the entrance was. He could hear slow, deliberate footsteps. His heart beat quickly, and seemed to go faster with every step he heard. Clueless, he debated on going back to hide or attacking the monster himself. Before he could make his decision, a voice rung out.
"H-hello?" it was a girls voice. With a sigh of relief, he pushed himself off the wall and nearly ran out to greet her.
"Over here!" he shouted. The girl was hard to see in the darkness, but her platinum blond hair was so bright it almost illuminated the walls around them. Her eyes must have been dark, because they looked like mere shadows and blended with the pitch black. Her skin could clearly be seen, for it appeared pale but blotchy. He could tell he had frightened her, because she nearly screamed at the sight of him, but calmed once she realized he wasn't going to attack.
"Oh thank goodness, I didn't know if anyone else made it out!" she said, her voice trembling and speaking quickly because of fear.
Afore they were able to say anything further to one another, they heard loud growls and blood-curling shrieks, making them both jump.
Your only hope is to either stand and fight or run where they can't get you.
"Come with me!" the boy barked and they both took off back in the direction Alex had come. Quickly grabbing Salmon, the three teens ran from the voices and noises to a small shaft that can be reached only by a ladder. Having done this before, Salmon left them for a minute to grab an abandoned ladder they had adopted for this purpose and Alex helped her set it up. The two girls clambered up quickly, and Alex followed, barely having enough time to kick the ladder back down again before the flesh-eating monsters could follow.
They travel quickly once the virus completely sets in with high endurance to pain…what might take about an hour for an average person to walk takes them twenty minutes.
The city was popular for its K-12 school campuses; it was the only type of school there was in the entire place. One of these campuses was called Washington Whales, where a tan-skinned boy sat quietly to himself in the 7th grade class room. He was close to being a ginger, for he had all the features but the pale skin and brown eyes. He was new to this school, but not the city or state. The boy was a foster child, originally born in Tervu, Washington but had to be placed in so many homes at a young age it was almost as if he had never been here before.
The regular chatter of the children had drone out the yells and screams of the outside for the first few minutes. However when the teacher noticed something wrong and told them to quiet, it was clear that people were being attacked. Over the speaker, the school principle came on to say there was a lock down in place and no one was to leave where they were. This did not sit well with the thirteen year old.
The boy stood up and started heading towards the door.
"Travis Arraham, sit back down!" the surrounding students murmured quietly, and some agreed and whispered "Yeah Travis, sit down". Travis didn't listen though, and simply unlocked the door and walked out, closing the door behind him.
The environment changed drastically. Teachers and students alike that were stuck in the dangers of the hallway were running like and screaming while being chased by what looked to him—sick people. Taking no time to stop and stare, Travis began running towards the other side of the school, where he knew his little eleven year old brother was having band.
What extreme scientists predict is soon after initial infection, their bodies begin to adapt strange mutations that make them stronger, faster, and deadlier.
Suddenly, the boy stopped in his tracks. This half of the hallway was empty, while in the main hallway behind him, people were running both in and out of the doors. In front of him stood a man twice his size and boils erupting randomly all over his body. He could clearly see vicious and brutal bite and scratch marks covering the man's body, but they looked as if the skin was starting to pull itself together like a rapid process of scabbing. The arms on the monster were highly muscular and the muscles in his legs were also bulging. Travis' eyes widened.
"Mr. Yoshi…?" he tested quietly. It made no confirmation or negation to the inquiry and simply stared at the child with his clear, white eyes. A loud scream from somewhere else in the building seemed to snap the being out of its stupor, and it roared angrily at Travis and ran at him, his tall legs carrying him twice the distance of a professional basketball player would be able to leap. Luckily, Travis' size was perfect for the space in between its meaty legs, so he slipped through and sprinted to his brother's classroom. Once he finally reached there, he banged on the door, yelling for his brother. On the other side, he could hear the teacher hysterically arguing with his brother, but before long the door opened to reveal the little dark haired child who looked nearly identical to his older brother. Travis took him by the arm and ran to the cafeteria that was nearby, dodging grownups that were being attacked. Inside were huge windows, large enough for the two to climb through. Travis boosted his brother up to the sill and waited for him to slide over, then he jumped onto the ledge and with a surprisingly amount of strength from his weak arms, pulled himself over as well.
We have to leave! Now! The red headed woman shrieked after Kenneth was done with his vivid descriptions of what is to come. He sat there with vacant eyes, as if he was a million miles away.
It's too late.
Near the border of town, a car jam was taking place at a gate that somehow was erected within the timespan of the ordeal starting. Michael, Jodie and Maja had abandoned their car to try and get through, with no luck. No one was letting them pass, and people were warning others that the entire city was blocked off. Knowing where this would go, Michael grabbed the two girls and led them away, back to the car where they made a U-turn away from the site. The three of them flinched when they started to hear rounds after rounds of machine guns being fired, at what they could guess was the angry mob below trying to get to safety.
A/N: So this is Chapter 3! A couple notes is I definitely need to update the character signup sheet, so because of this I am NOT accepting new characters for Chapter 4. You can still send them in, but current situations are going to be the main change so don't be surprised that in Chapter 5 if you don't update it, they will end up in a different place then you originally planned. This will only be for Chapter 4 so I can 1. Update the sheet and 2. Get everything organized between the characters I already have! Plus, don't forget that Chapter 4 is the first chapter that I will be rolling the die to see who lives and who dies! Anyway, thanks for reading! Write a review to help me be better! BYE!