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Chapter VII – Collapse
Cerina decided to tag along with her old "friends", though she had completely different reasons for doing so than any normal person would. This way, she had less of a chance of running out of ammo since she could rely more on their bullets, she had bait, and now she had people to boss around. The other four survivors she had been with followed her around like puppies, not knowing that their group was dwindling because Cerina was saving her own life instead of theirs.
After the helicopter flew by she immediately assumed charged. Farrah had an idea but Cerina was too busy thinking about how much prettier she was than the three other girls combined. After Farrah's voice stopped gnawing on her ears she stated her own plan of action and began to follow through it. Why consult it? Her ideas never failed, at least not for her. If she was met with any arguments she would shoot her new pistol(was Ashton's) at a car, setting off the alarm, saying something along the lines of "You don't have a choice now" before walking off in her desired direction, which was down an alleyway.
Aubrey happily tagged after Cerina. She was mesmerized by her beauty, her egocentric attitude and the confidence that seemed to ooze from her. Aubrey knew she wanted to be just like Cerina, and was eager to get on the girl's good side. Although she wasn't sure if she had a good side; she seemed pretty wicked all around.
"So Cerina, were you a model or something before all this happened? You're...you're..." Aubrey struggled to say the words. She had never actually complimented anyone before, "You look good." She had been trying to say 'gorgeous' but couldn't get her mouth to cooperate.
"Good lord," Farrah muttered to Amika, disgusted at the way Aubrey was acting, "Like she needs any encouragement. If her ego gets any bigger, her head will explode." She reluctantly followed the pair, figuring it was better to take the path of least resistance, at least for now. Sooner or later it would lead to trouble though, seeing as Cerina only thought as far as to protect herself.
"Cerina will eventually kill us all or ditch us in a dire situation.. Might as well put up with it for now. Besides you turn into Rambo around her, so you'll have our backs either way." Amika chuckled and stayed close to Farrah, not wanting to get in between Aubrey and her new idol. She loved the relationship Farrah and Cerina had. It turned into some serious horror film where Farrah was Jodie Foster and Cerina was Hannibal Lector. Simply amusing.
"No, I don't like taking orders from some gay man with a camera. My beauty is also worth more than Reegan Enterprises." Cerina kept her eyes forward but didn't seem to mind Aubrey. Her compliment, or attempt at one, rubbed the heartless woman the right way. Always a good impression to make with Cerina. She heard the coughing of a Smoker and her eyes caught billows of the green smoke around a skyscraper to their far right. She raised her sniper rifle and disposed of the special infected right away. It looked like they were headed for a dead end but Cerina knew a shortcut through one of the shops that would get them to the hospital faster.
'At least something about her comes in handy.' Amika joked in her thoughts but was impressed with Cerina's shooting. The streets seemed extremely desolate of infected and it made Amika's stomach become heavy. Usually that meant an omen of some kind but Cerina seemed to know the area, maybe she had come through and picked the place clean. "Where are you taking us?"
"Short cut. Through..." Cerina slowed to a stop in front of a pet shop, "Here. My last team had set a tiny safe house here, one of them also wanted to help the animals for some pathetic reason. Witch showed up and scared them away, but I knew I could take her. First shot alerted her to Ryan. He was good bait and I killed her while her back was turned."
"Using your own teammate as bait? How typical of you," Farrah scoffed, narrowing her eyes at Cerina.
"Uh, is that a.. pet shop?" Aubrey froze in her tracks.
"It's not fucking Best Buy." Cerina was quick to snap back with a comment but she slowly turned to face the three other girls. She could practically smell the fear in the air, though she knew most of it radiated off of Amika.
"Pe- ahem, yeah. Is there another way?" Amika's voice cracked at first but she cleared her throat. She shifted her weight between her feet nervously and tightened her grip on her gun. Her light brown eyes locked on a sole birdcage close to the display window as it swung back and forth in the shadowy depths of the upper corner.
"Cowards way is through that alley, up a ladder, across three roofs, down five blocks, and through a Macy's department store." Cerina laid out the long path. Going through the pet shop and other stores would be only slightly shorter but cover of the building hid them from hordes of unlimited infected. She didn't care where anyone went because her decision was already made.
"Tch! I'm not a coward!" Amika became offensive, not wanting to look weak in front of Cerina. She tried to push down her own phobia as she glared at the other girl.
"Oh, well I just thought that- BIRD!" Cerina suddenly screamed but that soon morphed into a vicious laugh when Amika dropped to the floor as if a drive-by shooting had begun. "Riiiight, you're not fooling anyone."
"Fine, I'll just head that way myself then." Amika tried to stand up with as much dignity as she could, shooting Aubrey a look. She remembered Aubrey's apparent distaste for a certain lap dog and had screamed just as loudly as if a Hunter were upon her. Her gaze stayed upon Aubrey, a little hopeful that she would side with her.
Aubrey had noticed Amika's furtive glances. "Amika, if you're too scared its okay. But you shouldn't separate from the group. I'll come with to protect you," Aubrey offered, hoping her unusual generosity did not give away the real motive for the offer. She shuffled her weight from foot to foot anxiously, the backpack seeming to get heavier with each passing second.
"No, that's okay! I'll go with Amika," Farrah was quick to interject. There was no way in heck she was going anywhere with Cerina alone.
"No really, I think it's better if I go with Amika. I mean, you're so... little. What protection would you offer her?" Aubrey shot back to the blond.
"You're almost as short as her so I wouldn't talk. Here give me your bag." Amika extended a hand to Aubrey for her enormous back pack. She had seen the tiny girl struggle with it long enough and she had packed light enough to carry the extra weight. She also had enough strength to carry both the bag and Aubrey herself, but she didn't want to give the smaller girl any ideas.
"Awww, she your new girlfriend Amika?" Cerina mocked with a sneer. Amika shot her a renewed glare but kept most of her attention on Aubrey's back pack.
"No, but I could be yours if you play your cards right," Aubrey smiled at Cerina seductively, ignoring Amika's previous comments.
"I don't play cards." Cerina brushed off Aubrey's comment. She enjoyed the fawning coming from the shorter girl but not that much.
"Like Amika needs another reason to hate Cerina," Farrah rolled her eyes. Suddenly, Farrah became aware of the ground trembling beneath her feet. "I think we have company!" she cried, trying to spot the direction and proximity of the Tank.
"Wha-AHHHHHHH!" Aubrey turned as she heard Farrah's comment just in time to see a hunk of concrete fly by her face. Her high pitched scream lit up the dusky air as she hit the ground, diving for cover under a nearby vehicle. She panted, trying to catch her breath as the trembling of the ground grew stronger.
"Get out of there!" Farrah yelled to Aubrey. The Tank was already on the vehicle, its meaty paws about to tear Aubrey's hiding spot from above her. Just then the wail of a horde sounded. "Should have fucking known..." Farrah mumbled as the zombies began to pour around the corner of the street.
Amika whipped her gun in the Tanks direction. As it approached Aubrey's 'hiding spot' Amika ran towards him, unloading her shot gun into his side to grab his attention. She ducked as he swung his arm at her and shot him one more time before running.
"Fuck!" She had unknowingly run towards the horde as they poured out into the street. A zombie was flying towards her but was quickly shot down. Cerina's scope moved from Amika's side to her next target.
"Get that bimbo from under the car." Cerina directed Farrah right before she fired her gun again.
"I heard that!" Aubrey cried as she half crawled and was half dragged out from under the car.
"For someone so small you weigh a ton!" Farrah groaned, hauling Aubrey to her feet. Backtracking, she wiped the sweat from her forehead and continued firing at the horde, knocking them back as quickly as she could so they wouldn't get swarmed. "Where's your weapon?" she cried at Aubrey.
"I don't know!" Aubrey screamed back, still salty over the 'you weigh a ton' comment, "I'm fucking looking for it!" She quickly scanned the area but all she could see were the desperate eyes of the zombies headed towards her. "Fuck it!" she cried and, seeing the Tank was now after Amika and not after her, she bolted for the safest area she could see.
"I don't know what you see in that one," Farrah shouted at Amika, navigating her way to a higher perch.
"She looks like a good lay!" Amika shouted back to Farrah as she rolled away from the Tanks fists. She had done a fairly good job as bait being able to dodge with Tank's thrashing while pivoting around the normal infected that escaped Farrah and Cerina's fire. She slid to a halt a good distance from the Tank, and Cerina had thinned out the crowd, so Amika took the chance to reload her shotgun.
"Shit!" Amika yelled as the blur of the Tank rushed past her vision right as she cocked her gun. He had taken notice of Aubrey as she ran in his line of vision. The beast roared before propelling himself towards her. Amika couldn't do much about it and turned to shoot down an approaching Hunter.
The blond quickly took stock of the situation. Cerina and Amika were doing pretty good at cutting back the horde, but they weren't going to last long against that Tank. Suddenly she remembered the Molotov in her pack. "Cover me!" she yelled as she frantically ripped her pack off her back and began to peruse its contents. "Why did I pack so many freaking band-aids?" she mentally cursed herself. "Aha!" she cried as she found what she was looking for.
Cerina took side steps towards Farrah and shot the heads off the zombies heading towards her. She knelt a small distance from the midget to reload her clip. Her dark eyes flicked over to the blond as she stood with her item.
Aubrey's safe zone had not been as safe as she thought as three zombie heads poked around the mailbox she was huddled behind. "AHHHH!" she shrieked and dove out of the reach of their slimy appendages.
"Take cover!" Farrah cried as she flung the Molotov at the rampaging Tank.
Aubrey rolled into the street, scraping her elbows and knees on the hard concrete. Eyes watering with pain, she stumbled to her feet only to face the massive form of the Tank and his angry, merciless, fiery eyes. In her peripheral vision, she could see the glass bottle of Farrah's molotov as it soared towards the Tank.
Amika watched as the Tank howled in pain as the glass shattered against its muscle and its body was engulfed with flames. Despite the cry of pain it didn't seem like he even flinched from the contact and continued to push himself towards Aubrey.
Eyes wide with horror, Aubrey was frozen with terror. The Tank roared with fury. Its body covered with rolling flames, she could feel the heat from its blaze flicked against her skin. She knew she should do something, anything. As its fists came pounding to the ground she was knocked off her feet. And then it came pummeling towards her. For once in her life, she couldn't even muster enough voice to scream.
Farrah sighed with relief when she realized the Molotov had hit its mark. But then her eyes fell on the fallen form that was now its prey. Why wasn't Aubrey doing anything? "Run, Aubrey! Get the fuck up and RUN!" she cried, reaching for her gun. Quickly she shot back the zombies that were of closest threat and then focused her fire on the Tank.
Aubrey shook her head, Farrah's screaming having broken through the fog around her senses. Heart pounding, she scrambled to her feet and began sprinting away from the Tank. Adrenaline pounding through her veins, she was unaware of anything else around her. Her desperate emerald eyes fell on the open door of a nearby shop and she raced inside, throwing herself over the counter to huddle on the ground behind it.
The Tank followed in after her.
"My ammo!" Cerina hissed before running towards the demolished safe house. Even though she was firing without the scope and from the hip, her shots were hitting the Tank. Her sniper rifle seemed to be doing the most damage to the beast compared to the other two who wielded guns at the moment. She slid in, gracefully missing his bulging arms, and aimed her gun at his face.
Cerina unloaded the rest of her clip into him, fully expecting him to fall to his knees in defeat. Instead, he gave one last thrash and flailed his arms over his head. This caused the roof of the entrance to collapse onto him and Cerina to run deeper into the pet shop for cover.
"Aubrey!" Amika heard the window shatter as the building fell. She killed an infected with the butt of her gun before rushing towards the one place she initially avoided.
"Aubrey! Cover me Farrah!" Amika yelled over her shoulder to her friend. They had dwindled the horde down to a dozen, so she felt Farrah was more than capable of handling it.
"I've got your back!" Farrah cried out in response, quickly altering her position to take on the remaining zombies.
Cerina coughed as the debris settled and fixed her hair. It didn't look as bad from the inside then it did the outside. She used her rifle to stand up and went to check on her ammo stash, ignoring Aubrey as she walked by the counter that had missed the Tank and bigger pieces of building.
Aubrey was trembling with shock. She had never encountered a Tank before. She had only known of their existence due to posters she had seen in the safe house. As its prey, she had thought for sure she would be killed. But then Cerina had come to her rescue, a beautiful dark angel. Slowly she pulled herself to her feet, leaning on the counter for stability.
Eyes wide with admiration, she watched Cerina thinking she was the most beautiful creature she'd ever seen. "You-you saved my life," she said when she had found her voice.
Cerina sighed in relief when her ammo was untouched. She reloaded her gun and looked around for a bag to pack the rest of her ammo in. Her dark eyes laid on Aubrey as she came to a stand, ignoring anything that came out of her mouth.
"Come here." She demanded of the smaller girl.
"Okay," Aubrey replied and headed towards her savior, positively glowing with admiration.
As soon as Aubrey got close enough Cerina snatched her up and started strapping pieces of ammo to the other girl's body. She had lost her big bag in her scurry to get away from the Tank so her body was open for baggage. Cerina was fast enough that Aubrey couldn't really fight her if she tried.
If it had been anyone else invading her space and taxing her body, Aubrey would be flipping out but she didn't seem to mind that Cerina was doing it.
"Let's go see how Amika and Farrah are doing." She walked off expecting Aubrey to follow her, whimpers of dogs and mewls from cats in her wake.
Knees buckling with the weight, Aubrey stumbled after Cerina hoping she wouldn't fall and set all the ammo off. "How are we going to get back out?" Aubrey wondered aloud realizing just how much damage the pet shop had endured. Among the other damage, the entryway had completely collapsed. Feeling something soft brush her ankle, she squealed with fear and collided into Cerina.
"Upstairs to the roof-" Cerina started before Aubrey fell into her. Her reflexes kicked in and she swirled around as she pulled out her pistol. Her finger had pulled the trigger before her mind registered it. She stared at the pile of mush that lay at Aubrey's feet that used to be a puppy.
"You almost made me shoot you with all that ammo on and kill myself.. Don't do that again."
"Yea, like I've ever been able to control my animal magnetism," Aubrey rolled her eyes then grew quiet as she noticed Cerina's expression. "Sorry," she mumbled.
Having taken care of any immediate threats, Farrah went to investigate the Pet Shop.
"This doesn't look good," she noted grimly, turning to Amika.
"God damn it!" Amika kicked the rubble and threw her shot gun at the ground. During the two weeks Aubrey had been in her care Amika vowed to protect her. Now here she was looking at the ruined remains of the pet shop mingled with the Tanks body and possibly Aubrey's.
"Fuck, I was supposed to protect her..." Amika's fist shook and she paced back and forth for a few moments.
"The girl has the IQ of a squirrel. You can only protect that so long before it ends up under the tire of a car," Farrah uttered before she could stop herself. Seeing the misery on her friends face, she tried to be more helpful. "Amika, you did your best. Chances are she's still in there moaning about all the dust and animal feces. Let's work on finding another way in."
Amika didn't pay heed to Farrah's regards of Aubrey and started to find a way in. She grew frustrated when the rubble held no signs of an entrance. There weren't any windows low enough for them to reach either.
"What now?" Amika's sad eyes cast over to her short friend. As if on cue a helicopter sounded in the distance and the announcement was repeated.
"If they're alive I'm pretty sure Cerina's going to head there." Amika tried to sound hopeful.
"You're right. I'm sure they must have heard the helicopter. We can reunite at Mercy," Farrah agreed, smiling reassuringly. After reloading her gun, she slung her pack over her shoulder and began to lead the way down the street.
"Loud ass helicopter..." Cerina griped as she climbed down the fire escape.
"It's going to get dark soon we should hurry." Her dark eyes scanned the alleyway before resting on Aubrey as she stepped on the ground. The flight of stairs leading to the roof had been boarded up, and Cerina didn't want to put forth the effort and see if Amika and Farrah were still alive.
"What about Amika and Ferret?" Aubrey reminded her, wondering what Cerina had in mind. "Shouldn't we look for a way around? I'm sure they're worried about me."
"Amika did seem pretty attached... Oh well. We still need to get to Mercy Hospital." Cerina made sure her ammo was strapped on securely and patted Aubrey in the shoulder before leading the way.
Aubrey hurried after Cerina, not wanting to be left on her own. "Yeah, I see what you're saying. They're headed the same way so we'll meet up with them there," she replied, hoping that's what Cerina had meant. She hoped they didn't have too far to go; running with all the ammo on was really wearing her out. With Cerina taking charge there wasn't a lot of pausing or time spent on Aubrey. Usually Amika would let her take a break or listen to her babbling with a few interjections, but not Cerina.
"Could you... could you just... SLOW DOWN!" Aubrey gasped after they completed yet another city block at the same insane pace. Cerina seemed to never tire or slow, not even when cutting down approaching infected.
Cerina turned a corner, ignoring the short woman, and continued walking until she noticed her ammo wasn't following her anymore. She rolled her eyes and walked back.
"You need a break? It's getting dark and I think we're close to the hospital.." She looked at the weary girl in front of her. Aubrey looked exhausted, out of breath, and sweaty. This did not tug at Cerina's heart strings.. if the alleged killer even had a heart. She noticed a building over Aubrey's shoulder that looked like it had potential for supplies.
"Of course I need a break! I've been carrying this ammo while trying to keep up with your inhumanly fast pace for the last twelve blocks. What am I, your donkey?" Aubrey snapped. Any admiration she had felt towards Cerina was quickly fleeting. It was becoming clear that she did not care about Aubrey's well being. Aubrey found it rather shocking. Most people she knew would go to the ends of the earth to make her happy. It was unsettling.
"I am so tempted to cut your tongue out of your mouth." Cerina stated bluntly with a chilly and serious expression. She marched past Aubrey towards the building across the street.
"Fine, stay here. I'll be right back." The thought that Aubrey didn't have a weapon didn't cross her mind.
Shivers crawled up Aubrey's spine at the comment. Cerina was really starting to scare her. Her beauty was fascinating, but mixed with her personality she seemed more like a demonic angel. Aubrey was almost relieved when Cerina disappeared into the building. Catching her breath, she studied the desolate area around her anxiously. She had no weapons. What would she do if an infected spotted her? She found herself longing for the protection and company Amika had offered. Amika would never have left her alone on the street, unable to defend herself.
"Get it off, get it off!" Amika flailed while laying on her back. She was using her shot gun to guard herself from the maniacal and violent zombie in a hoodie. His cry caused her ears to pop and he was making huge dents in her gun as she held it up against him.
Farrah didn't reply as she sprinted ahead to help her friend. Tossing a pipe bomb over her shoulder to keep the other infected at bay, she then whipped out her pistols and began firing round after round into the stubborn zombie assaulting Amika.
"What the fuck Farrah! HELP ME!"
"I'm trying!" Farrah shouted. Given Amika's luck the creature fell to the ground limply as soon as she called for help the second time.
"You alright?" Farrah called as she turned to attack the zombies that the pipe bomb had left over. Then she spotted the Boomer.
"God damn it.." Amika sprinted past Farrah and used her gun to shove a Boomer away from Farrah. Right as she pulled the trigger she realized she needed to reload. She cursed loudly and shoved him again before alerting Farrah to shoot him as she reloaded. It was obvious she was off of her game.
As soon as the Boomer was out of puking range she fired. Guts and puke sprayed in a fifteen foot radius from the big guy, but thankfully missed the pair. The stench however still reached them.
Dry heaving from the smell, Farrah cut down the remaining zombies and then paused to catch her breath and reload. "When will they learn not to mess with us? They should be the ones running."
"No one learns.." Amika chuckled, "Hopefully we get a small break. We're only a couple blocks away now." Amika and Farrah had blazed through the distance towards the hospital. Any zombies in their way had been dispatched quickly and special infected were no different. They had a good system down, mainly taken from their video game tactics.
"You think Aubrey's okay?.." Amika had been aiming her gun as she walked down the barren street. She lowered her weapon and looked over to her best friend. "I'm pretty sure Cerina is fine but she would throw Aubrey to the wolves at any given moment."
"Cerina is virtually indestructible, or she'd have been murdered by now," Farrah replied. She knew it was too much to hope for that Cerina was dead, Aubrey's fate she was less sure of, but she didn't want to break Amika's spirit by saying so. "Aubrey may have been far enough inside already to not be injured by the collapse. Hopefully she has enough sense not piss off Cerina and she just might survive the journey to Mercy."
Farrah glanced up at the cloud darkened sky, shivering as the sun disappeared. The hospital garb she was wearing didn't offer much warmth. "We'd better keep moving."
Amika nodded as she become serious again and pushed forward.
Cerina indeed didn't take long to stifle through shelves and dead bodies in her search for supplies. Anything she found would be tucked into her bag swiftly. She came out of the store at a leisurely pace, loving the expression on Aubrey's face as she stood in the darkness. She inhaled deeply as if she could consume the fear right out of the air. A distant howl caused her to turn her head.
"Fuck me." Cerina sighed and turned to walk towards Aubrey, her pace picking up. Even though Cerina didn't seem to mind, Aubrey could see a huge flock of zombies coming towards them looking like fire as they tore down the street destroying everything in their path.
"I hope you have a plan!" Aubrey trembled with terror and turned her frightened gaze to Cerina. The zombies were getting closer every second. No weapon in hand, her only thought was to get away. Without waiting for Cerina's reply, Aubrey forced her fear leaden feet to move and stumbled into a sprint. She knew the general direction of the hospital. Maybe she could make it. With the pack on her back, she wasn't moving very fast but she had no other plans or ideas.
Cerina was running backwards at this point and was firing her rifle at the oncoming horde, with Aubrey still running ahead of her. The hospital was only half a block away and the killers face lit up into a dark smile. She slung her rifle back around her body and pulled out her pistols. A few zombies towards the entrance didn't have a chance and were shot down by her.
By the time they reached the doors she was in front of Aubrey and pushed them open. She had done it with enough force for Aubrey to slip in as well, though it was unintentional. Once inside she led Aubrey past the waiting rooms and towards a bigger room. There was a flight of stairs that Cerina got to. She turned and shot down a dozen zombies as she waited for Aubrey.
Once Aubrey started running up them she reloaded and was on her heels. All of a sudden, as Aubrey reached the floor, a Tank burst though the wall with a mighty roar. The force of his appearance caused Aubrey to stumble and scream. She was sent over the railing but grabbed onto it as the Tank stampeded over the top. Cerina fired at him a few times, but when it was certain he was out of her reach she kept moving forward.
"Whaa- wait! Cerina where are you going? HELP ME!" Aubrey cried as she dangled from the railing.
Cerina slid to a halt and looked back over her shoulder. Her dark eyes widened and her full lips parted in surprise, then a determined look etched into her features and she shot down some zombies that were coming up the stairs. She reached Aubrey in record time, though instead of reaching for the young girls hand or arm she reached over her. She detached what ammo she could from Aubrey and threw it over her shoulder.
"It's funny that you're thinking.. 'Amika would never do this to me'." Cerina mocked with an evil expression and kicked Aubrey off of the railing. Her sinister eyes drank in the fear on Aubrey's face the split second she had been betrayed before turning to continue her course.