(A/N:) I hope you guys enjoy these occasional special extended chapters. I enjoy really getting into the writing and have to keep going until I am able to leave off at a good point, I like leaving off at super big cliffhangers too! :D
Chapter 4: Just Like Me...
The hospital was already pretty close, it didn't take very long to arrive. Very quickly I realized that this was the tallest building in the city. It surprised me that a city such as this would need a hospital this tall, it was quite outrageous and unnecessary in my opinion. However, the voice in my head kept pointing me towards this hospital for some reason, and I immediately knew why walking through the front door. Posted on the wall was a notice, this notice stated this hospital was being used to evacuate people to safety.
Parents... safe...
Parents? I didn't have parents!... Did I? All I can remember is waking up propped against a tree! I didn't see any parents. Did they leave the food for me? Was their leaving the reason both the main doors to the house were open? The thought suddenly hit me, those monsters used to be people so... was I someone different in the past I couldn't remember? Was my past self the voice in my head? The more I thought about it, the more I believed that this was the case, why else would the voice in my head know so much I didn't ?
I walked through hallway after hallway, the many monsters ignored me. I traversed staircase after staircase. At around the 12th floor, I was exhausted. I could tell I wasn't an athlete in my past life, that's for sure.
I sit down against a wall and look at the ceiling while putting my arms behind my neck. "I don't even know what I am meant to find here, the voice is what told me to come here... is this where it all started?" There were so many things in my head I wanted to be able to talk about to people but I can't speak! It infuriates me so much! I don't even know what infuriates means! It's the voice in my head feeding me these gibberish words! In agitation, I cover my face with my hand, and quickly retreat it as I cut myself slightly. Then I just look at my claws.
They weren't JUST claws, my fingertips bones have become pointy and have broken through the skin. The skin then closed around them and healed up rather smoothly. So now I have a very thick set of claws that cuts like a cleaver.
Then I remember my new jumping ability I found out I had. I look at my legs muscles and practice tensing them up. They moved very weirdly. It didn't look natural for the legs muscles to move like that for me. I guess when I changed, my leg muscles got reconfigured. Very strange. Suddenly, I see the bite mark on my ankle. I examine it and I do confirm it as a bite mark. That was why my foot was hurting when I woke up! That's where I got bit! Now all I had to figure out is where, and how, I got into the small enclosed outside space.
Suddenly I hear a very familiar growl, it sounded like the growl I made when I encountered those survivors yesterday. I turn my head and see a monster dressed in much of what I was dressed in, a hooded zip-up sweater and khaki pants, however, this Hunter had duct tape around their sleeves. I notice the hair first, it was long and the body had a thin frame.
It was a girl... And she looked beautiful. She approached me confidently in her crouched state, and I did the same, we got so close to each other I could smell her fragrant scent emanating from her hair. We sniffed each other while we circled. I liked it, I was actually enjoying it. But suddenly, she backed away. I looked at her eyes and she looked at me with disgust. Then I realize why. The reason the monsters chased me when I woke up was because I had just recently turned AND I had eaten human food. I still had my human scent. She must have smelled that girl Zoey on my lips from when I kissed her on the cheek.
Wanting to smell her fragrance more, I slowly approach her while making a very low and deep growling sound. I wasn't exactly sure how I was able to growl, it came naturally. But the sound I was making was even soothing me, it was very pleasant to the ears. She dropped her hurtful gaze and began to slowly approach me as well. Soon we were in the same position of smelling each other, except she ignored the human smell.
I didn't know why, but I felt a strong attachment to this girl. It wasn't a 'I feel like I knew her in the past' feeling it was more of me simply falling in love with her. She was beautiful, confident, and her scent was intoxicating. She also had a twinkle of intelligence in her eyes.
Me and her touch noses, and then I decide to test something. If I keep moving, will she follow me? Suddenly, I break away and jump up a ledge to an inside balcony. I look in her direction and she's just watching me. I decide to break line of sight, so I run up another flight of stairs and when I reach the top...
She was already there.
I look around and see an open elevator shaft, there was a similar elevator shaft downstairs, she jumped up the elevator shaft to stay with me. She was smart, she knew her way around very well. I went and crouched down beside her and I sniff her scent in deeply again. She then leans forward and... licks me. I jump back a little, surprised more then anything else. She looks at me and smiles a large smile. Then she pounces me and keeps me on the ground, I struggle but I am eventually able to reverse the grapple on her and then she gets me on the ground again. I realized that she was playing with me almost immediately. But I was having fun!
I suddenly feel warm liquid on my face. The playing had opened up the cut I gave myself and had also accelerated the bleeding due to faster heartbeats. She licks my face again to clear the blood and then gets off me. I get up, not knowing why she has freed me. But accepted it nonetheless. She was pretty spontaneous, I liked her randomness, it was entertaining. I was just wondering if she would stay with me forever. Sure she had followed me, but, why exactly? Was it because she knew I wasn't like the other monsters? Or simply because we were both Hunters? Or, other reasons... but that was unlikely in my eyes.
Maybe I had a pleasant scent she could smell like how I could on her? That was more likely. Maybe that scent was so we could find each other to become partners and... 'hunt' together? I honestly didn't know.
I decided to continue moving through the hospital, with my partner by my side. I was going to enjoy another's company, I was feeling alone after leaving the survivors. She helped fill that void, and I was attracted to her.
We found an elevator,and as we got in the voice in my head told me to hit the button at the very top of the panel on the inside wall labeled '49'.
We both jumped as the doors to the compartment closed and we could hear the elevator struggling to power itself in the absence of abundant electricity. It started moving up and I quickly got motion sickness. I saw a trapdoor in the roof and jumped straight through it so I was on top of the elevator. Once we reached the top, the elevator suddenly came to a halt. It hadn't completely reached its destination, however since we were on the roof of the elevator we were pretty much perfectly level with the door to the room ahead. I signal my partner to help me pry the doors open, and with surprisingly little effort we are able to force them open. Once the doors open, one of the monsters see me and mistake me for a human and rushes me. No longer afraid of them, knowing my power, I quickly slash straight at the monsters neck. Severing the head. I then pick up the monster as it is falling and throw it towards the elevator roof. It slides and stops right at the trapdoor, blood spewing from its neck was spilling into the compartment.
My partner growls in joy as I kill the monster. She must not care for them much either. I look around and see a generator. Not wanting to be trapped up here from the elevator not working, I open a panel near the elevator and use cables to attach it to the generator. I turn on the generator and the elevator suddenly jolts and finishes its ascent to the top. Good, now the elevator works again, that's helpful.
This floor was much different from the others, it wasn't finished being constructed, you couldn't really tell from the bottom since the building was so tall. There was a strong breeze blowing throughout the whole place, sometimes it gets very strong and actually pushes me a little. My partner holds me to keep me from moving or falling, and I do the same. Some of the monsters attack us, but most of them get blown off the building by the sudden gusts of wind due to their reckless running patterns. We actually enjoyed watching themselves suddenly lose control and slip, and then slide on their backs as they casually slide off the building.
We eventually reach this red metal door. It was left open. Curiously, we go inside, and I close the door behind us. I look around and see another red door, and upon inspection, I find that I am unable to open with my limited knowledge of human devices, which really surprises me due to the fact I was able to hook up an elevator to a generator. I go to the door we just came from and I wasn't able to open that door either! We were trapped in this room with no way out!
A few hours pass and the sun had set over the city. My partner was fast asleep in a corner, however, I was keeping watch. I didn't feel like we belonged in here, we were sitting ducks!
Another hour later I hear the creaking of the elevator going down, it was pretty close by, and sound echoed heavily in here. About 4 minutes later, I hear the elevator reach the top again, as well as the generator giving out. Someone was coming.
My partner wouldn't wake, even when I shook her. She must be a very heavy sleeper. I hear gunshots, and someone yells, "Reloading!" I could hear their footsteps, and the constant sound of gunfire. I hear one of them yell, "Look, it's a safe house!" And I hear one of them trying to get into the room. Quickly, I hide in the practically pitch black corner my partner was sleeping in, and I wait. The first to enter was a girl.
Zoey!
Had I somehow managed to meet up with the same group once again? As they file in, it confirms my suspicions. What luck! Cautiously, once they believed they were alone. I slowly stand up and growl very softly. Frightened, they quickly look in my direction, one of them yells what I am. But Zoey looks at me and knows immediately who I am.
"Don't shoot! It's our friend!" She tells then quickly.
I nod in agreement, and that helps settle their suspicions. Zoey notices my partner, and they question me about her. I grab my throat to try and tell them I can't speak, and they understand. I am finally able to wake her up and I introduce her to Zoey. She recognizes the smell of her and she instantly accepts her. And with that, she also accepts the rest of the group.
The survivors plug in this box and put cold food objects inside it. Then they press on the buttons of the machine, wait a while, and the food comes out nice and warm. Zoey puts in some meat and heats it up for me. I promptly share half with my partner and we snuggle up together for warmth. Zoey is happy that I have found a friend. I am too, I don't know what I'll do if I ever lose her at this point. But while I have her, I was going to do everything in my power to keep it that way.
Zoey notices the cut on my face, and scolds me for 'getting it so close to the eye.' I had only missed my eye due to me reeling back after beginning the cut, I got cut from my eyebrow to my cheek on the left side of my face. She puts something on it that stings and she said would kill this thing called 'bacteria'. I trusted her, but I didn't like the stinging one bit.
Finally, everyone went to sleep, excluding Francis because he was taking guard.
What events would tomorrow hold? I didn't know, and given the situation, I'm pretty sure the rest of the group wouldn't either. Obviously when they got evacuated we wouldn't be able to come with them, but were they aware of this and not telling us? They knew I could understand them, but they had yet to mention this to me. Maybe they expected me to leave again in the morning. But I was stuck in here until they opened the door.
Morning came, and I was the first to rise again. Bored, I begin examine the various objects located on the tables, but find them either too complex or too weird to figure out what they were. It took a few hours for the others to rise from their slumber. The first to rise was my partner and Zoey, at practically the same time if not just a few seconds apart. Followed by the rest shortly after due to Zoey yelling at them to get up. They all got mad at Francis for falling asleep on watch and I couldn't understand half the words the old man Bill said, but Francis kept saying them back at him and they started to progressively get angrier and angrier at each other, Zoey assured me that they did this every morning, so I accepted it as a daily thing with them and moved on.
Me and my partner took point, I made a growl whenever I saw a moderate to large group of monsters that could potentially take them by surprise if I didn't alert them. There were a lot more here then anywhere else in the building. Did these guys get left behind by the evacuation vehicle? I wasn't sure. The others didn't question it one bit, they just kept moving on without asking questions, I guess it was like this everywhere for them.
There was another elevator shaft, a part of the same elevator we had taken previously except it wasn't finished yet, and we had to go around on the service path and take a ladder up. I went first up the ladder, followed by Zoey, Francis, Louis, Bill, and my partner last.
Looking around, we saw many, many infected scattered and roaming over every square inch of the roof. Some got pushed off, to which Francis chuckled every time he saw one fall. I looked towards Zoey and she looked towards Bill. Bill looked back at her and said, "Don't worry, we've been through worse, we can clear them out from up here. If they try to climb up we shoot them before they get to the top." Myself, being more impatient then anything else, decide to dive straight into the biggest group of monsters I could find, I wasn't scared of them anymore. I slashed, ripped, and tore through neck after neck. They all started to surround me, and I let out a scream and continue to slash, rip, and tear until there are no monsters left standing. The fighting had caused my hoodie to tear at the seams of the sleeves, I had to replace it the next chance I could.
The group carefully got down the ledge and headed towards the sound of a guy giving messages on a radio. He was the guy who was gonna airlift the group out of here and to the nearest safety compound.
Bill told the pilot to get here quickly, and upon pressing the button to reply to him coming in about 10 minutes. We could hear an alarm erupt from downstairs. The monsters were coming.
We quickly got set up. Zoey gave me a pistol, much to the disapproval of the other survivors, and told me to sit back and stop any other special monsters from harming them. I nodded and took refuge on a tall radio antennae to get a good vantage point of the area.
Suddenly, monsters burst out of seemingly nowhere and everywhere. It was hard keeping track of where the survivors were in the commotion. Suddenly, I was able to make out a figure silhouetted by smoke. It was generating smoke. I got ready to dive for it, but it spotted me. I saw something extend out of its mouth and felt it wrap around my neck. He pulled me off my vantage point and I hit the cement ground with a large thud. He continued or drag me towards him until he was within arms reach of me, and once there he lifted me off the ground and used his rope like tongue as a noose. I was loosing air quickly. I started to violently scratch at his tongue and was able to, luckily, sever it.
I then proceed to pounce the strange monster and rip it to shreds. Besides his tongue his claws were his only defense, but they weren't half as strong as mine, not even close. After ending the monsters life, I look around to see how my friends were doing. My partner was currently trying to keep a morbidly obese fat monster off of Louis and Francis, while Zoey and Bill did their best at trying to stay away from the fat man. The fat man exploded after being popped by gunfire, luckily nobody was hit by the explosion. Suddenly I was pounced upon by another Hunter like me. Except this Hunter was... different. This Hunter had no eyes, the eye sockets were empty. How did it manage seeing things? I quickly shove it off and it looks at me in confusion. It knows I was like it, so it didn't attack me. Instead, it immediately dived for one of the survivors, Bill to be specific. Bill turns upon hearing the scream and shoots it right out of the air. I begin to hear the helicopter in the distance, but the survivors don't take notice. Maybe different levels of hearing? I didn't know.
The fighting continued for 8 minutes, and then we could see the helicopter in the distance. Then, I felt the ground beneath me shake.
Something was coming, and it was big.
A door leading downstairs into the building was torn off its hinges violently and out of it came. A giant, hulking monster. Louis was the first to spot it and yelled, "Tank!" Immediately the survivors killed all of the smaller infected around them and began to focus the Tank. I circled around the Tank and jumped on its back and began clawing at his eyes, it gets angry and attempts to body slam into the ground to stop me. I jump off before his back hits the ground, and the tank falls through the roof. It quickly heaves itself up again and focuses me. I very barely dodge it's plethora of punches and I jump away. I look back at it and it tears a chunk of building out of the wall and hurls it at me. I'm not able to move out of the way in time as it hits me square in the chest.
"Please... Be safe..." I think as I lose consciousness, and a Tank is running towards me. Closing in for the killing blow.
