Apocalypse: Dawn of the Dead
Chapter 8: Medical Emergency
"A hospital alone shows what war is."-Erich Maria Remarque.
Riverside Cave:
Illuzio stood next to a group of twenty Nazi zombies, the ones that survived from fifty years ago and watched from afar as the group walked away from the cave, battered and bruised, but still very much alive. Illuzio sighed, as he didn't want to kill them…yet. But he had orders, and he had to play his part…for now.
"I'll only kill one of them, I suppose," Illuzio said as he held his hand out. The zombie next to him aimed a glowing green rifle at Illuzio's command. Illuzio sighed and waved his hand, and with the silent command the zombie next to him took aim with his rifle.
"One pawn shall fall…but at least your sacrifice will not be in vain, child…" Illuzio whispered as he made a quick gesture with his finger, causing the zombie to fire the rifle.
Ten minutes of walking away from Riverside Cave:
The group decided against going in the truck, as Jess complained there was too much blood on the guys in the group and that'd get the truck dirty, and walked over to the nearby hospital. Judith was letting Liam lean on her shoulder while Andrew was supported by Jax. Nicholas was holding his shoulder, which had stopped bleeding for now, but caused him constant pain.
"How much longer?" Nick whined for the 8th time in ten minutes.
"One minute less than the last time you asked!" Liam said with a growl, clearly wanting to throttle the short teen.
"Why couldn't the Leviathan hit him instead?" Joe asked, earning a nasty look from the teen in question.
"Not sure," John said reloading the Winter's Fury, which was down to its last three shots.
"Sorry guys, but I'm not getting bloodstains in my new truck." Jess said skipping happily ahead of the others.
"Sure, I may die before we get to the hospital from a concussion, but heaven forbid I get a blood stain on the LEATHER SEATS OF A TRUCK THAT YOU STOLE!" Liam yelled angrily, his yell bouncing around the deserted area for a few moments. Jess did an about-face and stuck her tongue out at him, and then turned back around.
She then raised an eyebrow and said, "Uh, I think we may want to duck."
"Why?" Nick asked.
"Because that." Jess said pointing to a truck barreling towards them with both headlights shattered, clearly out of control.
"GET THE HELL OUTTA THE WAY!" the driver yelled.
Everyone jumped to the side to avoid the truck as it spun out of control and slowed to a stop ten feet from the group. The driver got out with an angry grunt and said, "Why the hell did I let them use MapQuest? Just follow the signs! I can't drive for shit, and now look what happens."
"Why did Jess say to duck when the truck was speeding towards you all? That wouldn't have done anything," Samantha asked no one in particular.
"Hey! What the hell was that?" Nicholas yelled at the young man who nearly crashed into them.
"Sorry guys, I was outrunning some zombies when I hijacked this truck. I lost my friends in the process, and they said they'd meet me around here…but… I just lost control of the truck and well, here we are," the teen said as he stepped into the moonlight, scratching his head.
"Oh wow…" Jess muttered, blushing furiously.
The young man was tall, about 6 feet tall and had short jet black hair with ice blue eyes. He had slightly tanned skin and had a few cuts and, dings on him from the Zombies, but he carried what looked like a flamethrower on his back and two old fashioned pistols as his sidearms. He looked about seventeen years old.
"He's…hot!" Jess whispered in Judith's ear, who looked at Jess and giggled.
"By the way, my name's Marcus. Marcus Kross," The teen said, and everyone in the group introduced themselves to the new arrival. Jess however, was still starring awestruck at the teen, who began to notice.
"Gah…" Jess said with her mouth hanging open.
"Uhh…what's with the cute girl with brown hair drooling?" Marcus asked.
Jess started and blushed dark red and said "Uh, I wasn't drooling! I was…just…um…"
Jess then spun around and kicked John in the face. John fell to the ground groaning in pain and Marcus said slowly, "OK…what the hell is going on around here?"
"Your guess is as good as mine," Andrew grunted.
"Yeah…" Marcus scratched his head and said, "Uh, do you guys need a hand? I mean I'm looking for my friends, but…well, safety in numbers and all that."
"I think another teammate would be a good idea for now." Samantha murmured to Jax, who nodded.
"We could use all the help we could get. We just got through fighting and we're a bit roughed up," Nicholas remarked with a painful shrug.
"Yeah, you guys do look a little…hurt." Marcus said with a goofy grin as Andrew flipped him off.
"What gave it away, the bleeding?" Liam asked sarcastically.
"Yeah, kinda."
"Just making sure," Liam replied with a grunt of pain.
"OK, we should probably get going. My shoulder is bleeding again when I had to jump out of the way to avoid the truck," Nicholas said as blood began to stain more of his shirt.
"Come on, then. The hospital is just up the street." Marcus said walking towards the road. Jess ran up to him and immediately began talking to him in a rapid rush, and everyone else looked at each other and grinned.
"Someone's got a crush," Joe said with an evil smirk.
"Should we mess with her about it?" John asked the others.
"Do I say a really annoying amount of Chuck Norris references?" Nick asked in reply.
"Yes. Yes you do," Judith stated, her tone deadpan.
"Then there's your answer," Nicholas said with a grin as he saw his friend jabber away excitedly.
As the duo emerged onto the road, they froze and pulled out their weapons when Marcus muttered something. The rest of the group walked onto the road and saw the hospital in the distance, about three blocks away.
"Come on, let's go already." Andrew said with a grunt.
"Hold on…there's something up. Doesn't it feel like we're being watched?" Marcus said nervously as he aimed his pistol to his left into the woods. Nicholas paused and looked around at that. He felt it too…as if someone was watching them right now on the deserted street they were now on.
"He's right. Something is off..." Samantha said to Jax, who relayed that to the rest of the group. Samantha was laying low by staying invisible, as ghosts can do that sort of thing, because it would freak Marcus out and lead to weird questions, like why the hell she was real or here in the first place.
A flash of green light then rippled through the area, blinding them. As the light faded, a large horde of zombies suddenly surrounded the group of teens.
"I've got it!" Marcus said with a smirk as his face as he stepped forward, taking aim with his flamethrower and letting loose a huge plume of fire from the weapon. The huge burst of raging flames incinerated the first part of the horde and caused them all to fall to the ground, charred and very dead. The other zombies tried to move around the flames but Marcus, with a fierce grin on his face, waved the flamethrower at the zombies, moving the flames back and forth and allowing no Zombies to get through. As the last one fell to the ground Jess said, "That was seriously hot."
"You don't mean just the flamethrower, do you Jess?" Nicholas asked. Jess walked over to him and slapped him upside the head. Nicholas yelped and said, "Ow…that hurt!"
"Good," Jess huffed.
"So, was that hot enough for ya?" Marcus asked with a grin as he turned around, oblivious to what had just happened.
"Yes," Jess said with a blush.
"And by that, she's really means she wants to-" Nick said before being silenced with a roundhouse kick courtesy of Jess.
"Shut it, or I'll throw that statue in the river!" Jess said.
"Bring it. I can take you!" C.N. said in reply.
"You don't have the guts!" Nick replied.
Jess grabbed the statue from the short teen and punted it thirty yards away into the trees, causing Nick to run after the statue while yelling angrily. When C.N. landed, a small explosion went off, destroying all of the nearby trees in the area.
"What the…never mind, I don't WANT to know." Marcus said, sighing and shaking his head.
"So how have you survived this long?" Andrew asked.
"Well, when it happened I was playing Black Ops with some friends. We heard about zombies on the news, got some supplies from my dad's shed and just kept moving. We eventually stumbled onto this wicked looking lab, which is where I got a hold of this flamethrower."
Marcus then lifted up the flamethrower and said, "The thing is, I'm nearly done with it, especially with that last batch of zombies. I lost my friends a few hours ago, and they're not answering their phones. You guys are the first survivors I've met ever since I lost them."
"Wow, you've been fighting off the zombies on your own?" Jess asked Marcus.
Marcus scratched his chin embarrassedly and said, "Yeah well, you know."
"Come on you two! Stop flirting and let's get to the bloody hospital!" Nicholas said with a small grin.
Both of them nervously blushed and apologized and began walking again. Suddenly there was a loud bang and Marcus grabbed Jess by the hand and pulled her to the side, seconds before a green laser flew by and vaporized the spot where she had been.
"What the hell was that?" Nicholas asked as Jess starred at the vaporized spot with a look of awe and horror.
"Y-y-you saved my life." Jess said in amazement to Marcus.
"I'll take that as a thank you." Marcus said with a grin.
Jess flushed an even darker red when she realized Marcus was holding her hand. Marcus quickly let go and said "All right, let's-BAM!"
Suddenly another laser flew by and hit Marcus in the arm, ripping a fair amount of skin and muscle off. He yelled out in pain and fell to the ground as blood gushed out of the wound. He rose to one knee and hissed in pain.
"Marcus! You OK?" Jess asked worriedly.
"Yeah…I'm fine. Takes more than that to take me down," Marcus grunted in pain, trying to stop the bleeding.
"Come on! Let's get to the hospital!" Jess yelled as she helped him to his feet.
The group went as fast as they could to the hospital, unaware that they were being watched. Illuzio flashed into existence as the doors closed behind the team, smiling to himself.
This was going to be fun.
Hospital:
"OK, this may sting a bit," the doctor said as he cleaned Nicholas's wound with disinfectant.
"AGH! THAT HURTS!" Nicholas yelled out.
"OK, by that I meant it'll hurt a lot," the doctor said with a smirk.
"You son of a…" Nicholas scowled.
"Oh calm down you baby, suck it up." Joe said as he read a magazine.
"Grr…"
The doctor finished cleaning the wound and Jax said, "Hold on, I think I know something that will help."
Jax pulled out a medical kit and pulled out a syringe with blue fluid. He walked over and injected Nicholas's wound with it, ignoring the stunned doctor's face. The wound began to heal as the skin swiftly knitted itself back together, and within moments the massive bloody slash on Nicholas's shoulder was reduced to a small red scratch.
Nicholas grinned and said, "It's an improvement, thanks Jax."
"No prob. You can dress the wound now." Jax said to the amazed doctor.
"So what now?" Joe asked as he set down his magazine.
"I say you all stay here for a little longer. Get any treatment you need before you head out on your way. The zombies stand no chance against all of us, so you're safe for now." The doctor, named Steve, said.
They had arrived at the hospital and had come across a group of about fifty doctors, cops, and teachers hiding in the shelter with several groups of civilians. The injured teens were quickly given treatment and they were able to rest for a little while. Five armed cops stood guard outside, and every survivor left was armed with several guns.
"Maybe for a few hours, but we've got to get to Tallahassee to stop the one who started all of this." Judith said as she sat down on Liam's bed, where he had bandages wrapped around his head.
"Well, if you do...Try to be careful. These are dangerous times, and if you do know what has caused this calamity, then do not take unnecessary risks." Steve said, and the group nodded.
"Hey, where are Jess and Marcus?" Andrew asked the others, as though finally realizing they weren't here.
"Probably outside on the roof, they said they were going to look at the stars." John said with a sly grin.
"Wanna mess with them?" Nick asked the others.
"Finally, something intelligent comes out of your mouth," Liam remarked as he hopped out of bed, earning a disapproving frown from Judith.
"Well, you know, I try and-HEY!" Nick yelled.
"Come on, let's mess with them," Andrew said walking out of the room.
Rooftop:
"Wow, the stars are awesome tonight." Marcus said as he closed his eyes, Jess next to him looking up as well.
"Yeah, I'm glad we finally have a chance to relax. Things have gotten so crazy lately," Jess said with a sigh.
"So…do you have a boyfriend…by any chance?" Marcus said in a casual tone, his face turning red.
"N-no." Jess said with a blush.
"Well, maybe…I was thinking…maybe when this whole thing blows over…maybe you and me could maybe, uh, hang out sometime," Marcus said nervously.
"I-I'd like that," Jess said with a nervous smile.
Suddenly the roof door burst open and Andrew appeared through the door and yelled "HEY GUYS, JESS IS WORKING IT UP HERE!"
"What are you doing?!" Jess yelled as hers and Marcus's blush got redder.
"Embarrassing you," Andrew said with a grin.
Jess walked over to and slapped him upside the head.
"OW!" Andrew said.
"Did that hurt?" Jess asked sweetly.
"Yes!" Andrew yelled at her.
"Good. Now beat it!" Jess yelled as she kicked him in the shin and pushed him down the stairs.
Jess turned around and kicked the door shut and said "OK, where were we?"
Meanwhile:
"So, how did it go?" Nicholas asked as he tried to put a dollar in the vending machine. Andrew stumbled to his feet, limping towards the other teen.
"Jess is working it on the roof." Andrew snickered as the machine spat out Nicholas's dollar.
"Good, so did Jess-WHY WON'T THIS BLOODY THING WORK?" Nicholas yelled as he pulled out a Cobra and shot the machine three times, shattering the glass in the machine. He reached through it and pulled out a bag of BBQ Chips. Nicholas opened the bag and began eating, then looked up and saw Andrew staring at him with his mouth wide open.
"What? I'm hungry." Nicholas said as he ate another chip.
"Move." Andrew said grabbing a pack of cookies out of the machine.
"Guys, come here!" Joe called from the other room.
Andrew and Nicholas walked into a nearby room where they found Joe and John messing around with a machine, eyeing it with similar smirks.
"Is that a defibrillator?" Andrew asked curiously.
"Yeah, it is." John said with a nod.
"Come on, are we really going to do this scene?" Nicholas asked himself.
"Looks like it." Jax said in reply, shaking his head.
"What the hell are you both talking about?" Joe asked the two teens.
"The whole, electroshock thing with the defibrillator, do we really have to do this?" Nicholas asked with a defeated note in his voice.
"You know what FlygonNick would say." Samantha said as she appeared in front of them.
"True. He's adamant on this scene. Go ahead." Nicholas said.
"What the…OK, that was weird. Anyway, let's get this started." Joe said with a grin, judo chopping John in the neck and causing him to collapse onto the ground.
"Help me get him in bed." Joe said to the other guys.
Jax, Andrew, and Nicholas looked at each other for a moment and burst into laughter, and Joe said, "Oh you guys suck."
"You're the one who wants to get John into bed. Who's really doing the sucking?" Jax chuckled as Nicholas fell onto the ground laughing his brains out.
"Whatever, just get on with it." Andrew laughed as Jax lifted John up and put him on the hospital bed.
"OK…AHEM! Attention fellow assistants. Watch carefully on how to awaken annoying little dorks. Step one, charging up the defibrillator." Joe said rubbing the electrical pads together.
"Step two. Administer a healthy dose of pain, to said annoying nerd. Observe." Joe said facing the unconscious John on the bed.
CLEAR!" Joe said as a bolt of electricity passed between the two pads and he pressed them onto John's chest.
"HOLY SWEET ZOMBIE JESUS!" John screamed as he was being electrocuted, his body twitching violently in protest.
Jax, Andrew, and Nicholas began clapping as John collapsed onto the bed and said "I…hate…you."
"I know. Step three, recharge." Joe said rubbing the pads together again.
"You're not doing that again, are-?" Nicholas began to say.
"CLEAR!" Joe yelled as he pressed the pads into John's chest again, shocking him.
"AHHHHHH!" John screamed until he fell onto the bed again.
"You…son of a…bitch-CLEAR!" Joe yelled, cutting John off as he charged the pads and administered another healthy dose of pain to his friend.
"Dude, give him a break for a sec." Andrew said as John collapsed onto the bed once again.
"Fine." Joe mumbled as he backed away, crossing his arms
John needed a full three minutes to recover. He got out of the bed, kicked Joe in the nuts as hard as he could and grabbed both of the pads off the counter.
"CLEAR!" John yelled placing the pads on Joe's chest.
"HOLY CRAP!" Joe yelled out pain as the pads shocked him.
"You all are completely stupid sometimes." Samantha said as she face-palmed, shaking her head.
"Something you'll have to get used to. Humans have gotten a little weird over the years same, especially in this day and age." Nicholas said with a small laugh.
"Maybe, but you guys are really strange." Samantha said with a small smile on her face.
"Can't argue with you there." Nicholas said as Joe got to his feet.
"You…asshole. I'm going to-!" Joe began to say when Liam burst through the door and said, "Guys, I think we have a problem."
"Zombies broke in, didn't they?" Andrew asked Liam, earning a nod.
"Yep, the cops are fighting them now. Let's get Jess and Marcus and help them!" Liam yelled running towards the stairs to the roof.
"Should we tell him?" Nicholas asked John.
"Nope." John replied, panting still.
"I give it a minute before he gets sent sprawling down the stairs." Jax replied.
"I concur."
"AHH!" Liam yelled as he fell down the stairs and crashed into a garbage can.
"She slapped me in the head and Spartan-kicked me down the stairs!" Liam yelled as he picked himself up with a wince.
"I could've told you that would happen." Nick said walking up to them with Judith.
"Yeah, well when I have the next opportunity, I'm kicking the damn statue off a cliff!" Liam yelled getting to his feet.
"Try me you mother-" C.N. began to say.
"Whoa! Kids can read this stuff man!" Nick yelled at the statue.
"Stop it, only I can break the fourth wall!" Nicholas said angrily.
"Oh, sorry man."
"It's fine. Just don't do it again." Nicholas said to the shorter teen.
"Guys. Zombie attack." Judith deadpanned.
"Oh yeah. JESS! MARCUS! STOP MAKING OUT AND GET DOWN HERE!" Nicholas yelled.
"…be down in a second!" Jess called down the stairs.
Both Jess and Marcus walked back downstairs with both of their faces rather pink. Everyone was grinning at him and Nicholas said "So…"
"So…" Jess and Marcus said at the same time.
"Get some." Nicholas said with a smirk before walking away.
"GET BACK HERE!" Jess yelled running after the teen.
Suddenly a zombie burst out of the doorway and charged at Nicholas, who let out a yelp and ducked under its first swipe before shooting it point-blank in the face with his Cobra. The zombie crashed onto the ground dead with a thud, a massive hole in its forehead that streamed blood.
"Guys! Let's roll!" Nicholas yelled as he ran down the stairs.
"Should we spilt up?" John asked the others.
"We should check on all of the areas in the hospital, see who we can help out. I'll go with Jax down this hallway. Liam, you and Judith check down that hallway. Andrew, you and Nick go down there. John and Joe, you head down that one. Marcus and Jess, keep it in your pants, and go down the hallway to the left. Avoid the elevators, and don't take any unnecessary risks." Nicholas instructed the teens.
"Gotcha!" everyone said at once as Nicholas pulled out his Raid.
"Meet up in the front of the entrance to the hospital, be ready to run for it." Nicholas said as he began heading down the hallway.
"So do you think its Illuzio again?" Jax asked walking next to Nicholas.
"Possibly, let's not wait around to find out." Nicholas said as a wave of zombies came around the corner.
Nicholas grabbed a nearby cart and kicked it towards the zombies and hurled a frag grenade at the horde. The cart slammed into the first few zombies and the frag grenade exploded next to them, killing seven and leaving the rest without arms and/or legs.
Jax walked over to the remaining zombies and pulled out his machete, killing each one with a stab through the skull. Another few zombies came around the corner and Jax fired twice with his Ray gun and killed them easily, blowing them apart with the Wonder Weapon.
"Come on, and be quiet," Jax said to Nicholas, who nodded.
The two teens quickly made their way down the hall, but suddenly they heard whistling and sound of glass shattering, and they hid inside of a room and quietly closed the door.
Clack…Clack…Clack…
The unnaturally loud steps of someone wearing strange shoes could be heard eerily loudly in the empty hallway. The owner of the footsteps then laughed a bit and said "Oh, I wonder where those kids have gone?"
"Illuzio." Samantha muttered.
"Bingo." Jax nodded.
"Quiet!" Nicholas hissed.
"Hmm…Commander, search for the children who have been a thorn in our side for too long. Kill them on sight. Understood?" Illuzio said.
"Rauuuugh…" the zombie commander groaned in reply as the zombie shuffled away.
"You'd think there'd be actual dialogue for zombies. Jeez, the author is soooo lazy, huh Samantha?" Nicholas said.
"Yes, what a lazy nerd." Samantha said in reply.
"I wonder when we'll stop breaking the fourth wall?" Jax wondered quietly.
Illuzio walked away as the zombie commander began searching the rooms. The door to the room Nicholas and Jax were in opened, and the two teens remained dead still as the zombie walked in, glancing around with a low growl. Nicholas ran up to the commander from his position and bashed him in the head with his shotgun as hard as he could, killing the zombie and sending it toppling onto the bed.
"Shotgun to the face. Contingency plan? Yes!" Nicholas said with a grin.
"Come on! Let's go!" Jax said drawing his second Ray Gun. The sound of zombies groaning suddenly became very loud, and with two sighs of resignation the two teens darted out of the room and into the hallway to hell.
Nicholas and Jax ran down the hallway, killing wave after wave of zombies as bullets and lasers flew wildly. Nicholas ducked under a swipe from a zombie and slit its throat with his Bowie Knife and then kicked it to the ground. He then spun around and fired twice with the Raid, killing three more zombies.
Jax cut down wave after wave of zombies with his dual-Ray Guns, blasting each one in the face or chest and killing each one with one shot. After reducing a total of thirty zombies to ashes, Jax grinned and pistol-whipped a Nazi zombie in the face with his Ray Gun and shot it in the back, killing it. Jax reloaded his Ray Guns and yelled "Who else wants some?"
"Jax?"
"Come on! I mean it! BRING IT ON!"
"Jax!"
"I'm going to send you all back to Richtofen with a bullet in your head, I-"
"JAX!"
"WHAT?!"
"They're all dead bro," Nicholas said pointing to the crowd of dead zombies.
"Oh…um…" Jax said embarrassedly.
"Rule 8 bro." Nicholas said.
"Rule 8?" Samantha asked.
"Get a kickass partner." Nicholas said with a laugh.
Jax grinned and said, "Come on, let's keep going."
Meanwhile:
"Watch out, here they come!" Andrew said pulling out Reaper and getting ready.
"OK, I'll take the ones on the left, you get the ones on the right." Nick said.
"There's twice as many on the right." Andrew said with a frown.
"I know. I can count." Nick said with a grin pulling out C.N.
Andrew shook his head in amazement and then lashed out at a zombie in front of him, decapitating it effortlessly. Andrew kicked the zombie to the ground and flipped the scythe in his grip, aiming the end of the scythe at a zombie charging at him. The scythe shuddered, and then Reaper's hookshot shot out of the end of the handle, embedding the sharp spike at the end of the chain through a Nazi zombie's forehead.
As the hookshot retracted, Nick ran forward and began swinging C.N. wildly, killing zombies left and right. Nick bashed a zombie mechanic in the head and turned around to get smacked in the face by a Nazi zombie, sending him falling to the ground with a yell. C.N. fell to the ground with a clatter and Nick ducked to avoid another hit. Andrew jumped forward and sliced the Nazi in half, spraying blood everywhere.
"T-thanks." Nick said.
"No prob." Andrew said with a smirk.
The duo continued on their way, killing zombies left and right as they made their way down the hallway to regroup with the others. Nick put C.N. on his back and switched to the Calamity and began killing the zombies from afar. After clearing the path, the two teens took a quick breather in an empty room.
"So, where do you think the patients are?" Andrew asked Nick.
"Well, they either escaped or were turned into zombies…I hope they got out." Nick said worriedly.
"Yeah, me too." Andrew said looking out of the room.
"Hmm…where could those children be?" a voice asked.
Andrew and Nick looked down the hallway and saw Illuzio, not even thirty feet away looking at them with a grin.
"Dude, run for it. I'll handle the demented clown." Andrew said as he held out Reaper threateningly.
"No way. We'll take him down together." Nick said pulling out his Calamity and aiming it at Illuzio.
"Doubtful." Illuzio said with a chuckle.
Nick opened fire and the bullets bounced off of his skull. Illuzio laughed and said, "You really didn't think that would work, did you?"
"A guy can dream." Nick said with a sigh.
"Hmm…I'll leave you to deal with Richtofen's latest experiment." Illuzio said with a smile and disappearing in a flash of green light.
"What…do you think he meant by that?" Andrew asked.
"Oh crap…" Nick said pulling out C.N. and pointing forward.
A new zombie had just emerged from a hallway thirty feet away from them. It was crouching like a wolf and had webbed hands and feet, each with razor sharp claws attached to them. He had torn, bloody clothes on and his eyes were a pale blue color, and his face was contorted into a snarl.
"Dude…" Andrew muttered.
"Yeah…RUN!" Nick yelled running for his life
"Coward." C.N. said.
"SHUT UP!" Nick yelled.
"Don't tell me to shut up! Just run!" Andrew yelled back.
"I wasn't talking to you! I was talking to C.N.!" Nick yelled.
"Oh, sorry." Andrew replied.
Suddenly there was a smash from behind them, telling them that the new zombie was just as fast as they were, and the duo put on a burst of speed.
Meanwhile:
"GET SOME!" Joe screamed and he fired his Commando at the zombie horde coming down the hallway, some scoring random headshots but mostly just blasting them apart at the chest and shoulders.
"Why do you always say random stuff when you fight zombies?" John asked while firing his MP40, ripping out a clip and stuffing a new one in.
"I don't know, impulse maybe." Joe replied with a shrug.
They kept up the gunfire for a couple more minutes until there was a pile of zombie bodies on the ground and the hall was silent, save for the echoes of similar battles being fought in the hospital.
John and Joe reloaded their guns, and after a moment Joe muttered "We should keep moving."
The two teens kept walking down the hallway, opening different doors to see if they could find anything or anyone that needed help or assistance, since they were in a hospital and not everyone here was in in fighting condition. After a few minutes, John opened a door and saw something inside that made him pause for a moment, and then call Joe over.
"Hey Joe, come here." John called.
"What do you want moron?" Joe replied.
"First off," John then slapped Joe across the face. "Second, what do you think is in those boxes?" John said as he pointed to 5 giant boxes in the middle of the room. Joe shoved down the urge to slap John back, he would get his revenge later, and walked over to the boxes. He opened the first one and looked inside, and after a brief moment of confusion nodded slowly.
"I've seen these before." Joe said after a minute.
"What are you talking about?" John asked, more curious than annoyed.
"Shut up for a sec man…" Joe muttered as he pulled out the plans had gotten from the cave and started looking them over, then looked back at the stuff in the box.
"Oh yeah, this is exactly what I need." Joe said with a grin.
Suddenly, Joe heard an eerily familiar buzzing noise coming from behind him. Joe suddenly realized what was going on and turned around quickly, grabbed John by the wrists and pressed the defibrillators that were on his hands into his chest.
"AHHHHH!" John screamed, then fell to the ground and stared shaking in pain.
"If you're done trying to get your revenge, I could use some help. I could also use these." Joe said picking up the defibrillator unit and put it in his backpack that he picked up in one of the rooms.
John struggled to get up, and then asked, "Why? What's in the boxes?"
"Look for yourself."
John looking into the box that was open and pulled out one of the things. "Light bulbs, why do you need light bulbs?"
Joe snatched the bulb out from his hand and, then said, "They're not light bulbs moron, they're gas tubes. They conduct electricity and power anything they are connected up to a hundred fold." Joe said as he began putting the bulbs in his bag and wrapping them in a towel to protect them from being damaged.
"But what possible use could you have for something like that?"
"You'll see." Joe said with a small smile.
The pair then heard more moans of the undead heading towards them from somewhere outside in the hallway. John and Joe pulled their guns back out and walked outside of the room, eyeing the undead horde with distaste. A Screecher zombie was at the front of the group, screeching at the duo with its fanged mouth dripping blood.
"Come on, let's go find the others." John said with a grimace as the duo opened fire on the horde, which surged forward.
Meanwhile:
BAM!
The Nazi zombie fell to the ground as its head exploded in a shower of blood and gore.
"Good shot." Liam said with a laugh as he flipped the knife in his hand in his grip.
"Thanks!" Judith said reloading her L115 Isolator.
Judith and Liam walked to the end of the hallway and stopped just before they came around the corner. Judith aimed her L115 Isolator down the hallway and aimed at a few zombies who were walking towards them. Liam kept watch while Judith fired at the zombies, killing each one with a headshot.
"You're getting better." Liam noted, causing Judith to blush. It was the small things that mattered, and Liam always had a way of making her feel stronger or special.
"T-thanks." Judith replied, brushing her hair out of her face.
"Let's get down to the next floor." Liam said pulling out his AK74fu2 and walking into the next hallway.
"REEEAAAAH!" a voice screeched from the other end of the hallway.
Judith and Liam turned in surprise and saw the new zombie that Andrew and Nick were fighting earlier.
"I hereby dub this new zombie, the Screecher zombie!" Liam proclaimed.
"GET DOWN!" Judith yelled as the zombie grabbed a medical cart and hurled it at the two teens. Judith and Liam ducked and the cart flew by and slammed into the wall and shattered.
"Judith, I'll distract it. When it's attacking me, blast it in the skull." Liam said as he flipped the knife in his grip once more.
"Be careful." Judith said as she readied the L115 Isolator.
Liam reloaded and began firing at the Screecher, who screamed again and charged at Liam. The Screecher swiped at Liam, who jumped back and fired at the Screecher's skull, but the bullets didn't seem to be doing nearly as much damage as they would do to a regular zombie.
"Judith!" Liam yelled as the zombie slashed downward, causing Liam to throw himself to the side.
"Ready!" Judith called as Liam got to his feet and threw his knife at the zombie, which took the blow like it was nothing and lunged at Liam again.
"NOW!"
BAM!
The Screecher's skull exploded and it fell to the ground with a whine of pain, twitching as life left its body…again.
Liam sighed with relief and smiled at Judith, and after a moment said, "Nice work."
"Thanks, so now what?" Judith asked as she lowered her rifle.
"You die."
The couple yelled out as a blinding flash of green lighting rippled through the hallway, blinding them. When the light dimmed, the looked up and saw Illuzio standing at the end of the hallway with a smirk on his face. He slowly walked towards the couple and Liam stepped forward and began firing at Illuzio.
As the bullets raced towards he jester, but as the bullets neared him the bullets stopped in their tracks and bounced off a green barrier of light that flashed into existence.
"Did you really think that would work against me?" the jester smirked at Liam, who scowled as Illuzio raised a hand that began to glow white.
"How about this?" Judith asked aiming at Illuzio's head with her L115 Isolator.
BAM!
The bullet soared past where Liam's bullets had been stopped as Illuzio moved his head an inch and the bullet shot by and bounced off of metal cart and down another hallway. After a series of bouncing noises, there was a colossal explosion that came from a nearby hallway. The temperature began to rise and Judith and Liam could smell smoke.
"Well done, you just hit a series of propane tanks. I'll leave you to this…hot, situation." Illuzio chuckled as he warped away.
"Come on! Let's go!" Liam said grabbing Judith's hand and running down the stairs.
"Why do we blow up every place we go to?!" Judith yelled angrily.
"I don't know, but let's get the hell out of here!" Liam yelled pulling out his AK74fu2 and firing on a group of zombies ahead of them.
"Good point, let's go!" Judith said pulling out her EPC-WIN and opening fire as well
Meanwhile:
Marcus and Jess bolted down another hallway as another group of zombies burst from a hallway behind them, arms slick with gore. Jess looked back and hurled a symtex grenade at the horde, effectively reducing a good number of them to crawlers.
"Nice one!" Marcus said pulling out both of his pistols.
Marcus began firing into the horde, scoring three headshots and killing five zombies before reloading. Jess pulled out her R115 Resonator and began mowing down the rest of the horde with a flurry of laser-bullets. When the horde was eliminated, Jess and Marcus began running back down the hallway to meet up with the others.
Suddenly a Screecher zombie burst out of the hallway and screamed at them, causing the hairs on the back of the two teens necks to stand up as it crouched low on the ground, it's elongated arms and legs coiled back and claws gleaming I the harsh light of the hospital.
"Sic em!" Illuzio's voice called to the Screecher zombie, who obeyed and lunged at the duo.
Jess fired at the zombie, but it simply ducked under the bullets and tackled Marcus to the ground. The Screecher lifted its arm to slice Marcus's throat when Jess kicked it in the side of the head, sending it sprawling onto the ground with a growl.
The Screecher rolled to its feet and charged at Jess, only to be shot point-blank in the face by Marcus. The zombies stumbled and screeched at the duo and charged again, only for Jess to unload the rest of her clip into the zombie, leaving it a blood broken mess on the floor growling softly.
"Nice work." Marcus said with an approving smile.
"Thanks." Jess said with a blush.
"No prob. Let's keep going." Marcus said with a as he glanced around.
BOOOOOM!
Both teens fell onto the ground as the building shook violently, with the screams of the other hospital survivors following a few moments later. After a few moments, flames appeared at the end of the hallway and slowly began making its way towards Jess and Marcus.
"Come on, we've got to get out of here!" Marcus said as he looked around, spotting the stairs, which Jess caught as well.
"Quick, down the stairs!" Jess said shooting the lock on the stairway and kicking in the door.
Jess and Marcus took to steps down the stairs when they saw twenty zombies slowly making their way up the stairway, effectively blocking their escape route as two Screecher's hung off walls, growling loudly.
"Now what!?" Jess said with a nervous laugh.
Marcus grabbed Jess's hand ran back into the hallway and ran away from the fire. The duo continued to run as zombies burst into the hallway and went after them, with flames closing in from behind them.
"Now what!? Again!" Jess asked as she tried to keep up with the other teen's longer stride.
"Why are you laughing?" Jess asked.
"Because this seems like something out of a bad fanfic!" Marcus yelled, causing Jess to laugh in reply.
Both teens then stopped as they reached a ledge, with five stories separating them from the bottom floor. Marcus and Jess turned around, where the zombies were slowly getting closer to them.
"Jess, I've got an idea." Marcus said after a moment.
"Yeah, what?" Jess said pulling out her MPK5 and firing at the zombies, trying to fend them off.
Marcus took a look at the glass barrier separating them from the ledge and said "It may just work."
Marcus was looking at a massive aquarium that sat on the first floor, filled with all sorts of colorful and exotic fish on the first floor. Though it was a sixty foot drop or so, if they landed in the aquarium they'd be safe…more or less.
"Jess, if we jump into that fish tank down there we'll be safe." Marcus said after a beat.
"Are you crazy?! That's a sixty foot drop." Jess said nervously as she glanced down at the floor below.
"Well, we've got another thirty seconds before the zombies get here, and then an extra ten before the fire gets to us! Do you have a better plan?" Marcus said setting up a ramp out of a broken cart, looking at the other girl after a moment.
"…Alright, let's do it at the same time." Jess said, taking a deep breath.
Jess and Marcus looked at each other and said, "One…two…three!"
Jess and Marcus dashed up the ramp and leapt off of the ledge, a wall of roaring flames closing in behind them. Jess let out a small scream as Marcus yelled "BOOOOYAAAAAAH!"
Meanwhile:
"Jax!" Nicholas yelled reloading his Dual-Python's.
"On it!" Jax yelled firing at the horde of zombies blocking the stairway.
After the side of the building exploded, the duo ran down the stairs, killing what they had to. They had encountered a Screecher zombie and after getting a nasty cut on his stomach, Nicholas was able to kill it with a stab in the face from his Bowie Knife.
"RAAAAH!" a Nazi zombie screamed as it rounded the corner. Nicholas ducked and decapitated the zombie with his Bowie Knife, painting the stairway wall with crimson.
"We've got to get out of here!" Nicholas coughed as smoke began to come through the stairway.
"How about we let in some fresh air?" Jax said pulling out the Thundergun and blasting a group of 15 zombies out of the way as they stormed towards the duo.
"Let's roll!" Nicholas yelled putting back his Bowie Knife and pulling out his Galil.
The duo took only a few steps when Andrew and Nick came sprawling down the stairs with a Screecher zombie climbing down the walls, shrieking as it made its way towards them. Andrew crashed onto the ground and slammed into the wall hard, but Nick was zable to catch himself on the railing. Andrew looked up at the Screecher climbing down the wall, right towards him.
"Andrew!" Nick yelled aiming carefully and unloading a full clip at the Screecher, which was already covered in bullet holes and slash marks.
Every single bullet slammed into the Screecher's throat and it detached itself from the wall and crashed onto the ground next to Andrew. Nicholas walked up to it to make sure it was dead and fired once with his Galil to be sure as Nick got to his feet.
"You guys all right?" Jax asked quietly.
"Y-yeah, thanks Nick." Andrew said as he got up, brushing himself off.
"Come on, let's find the others and get the heck out of here." Nicholas said reloading his Galil and kicking open the door to the first floor.
Liam and Judith were holding off a group of zombies heading towards them with a barrage of bullets, and they didn't realize the group was there at first. Judith blasted zombie after zombie's skull off with her EPC-WIN while Liam blasted away with his AK74fu2.
Nicholas grinned and said, "I guess we should announce ourselves."
"Allow me." Jax said with a grin as he reloaded the Thundergun and promptly blasted through a horde of zombies.
"Oh, hey guys! What took you so long?!" Judith called as the group ran up to them.
"How did you get down here so fast?" Andrew asked.
"Well we-" Judith began to say before another explosion rocked the building.
"We've got to get out of here! This place is going to collapse soon" Liam said anxiously glancing around.
"Not without the others." Nicholas said as fire shot from the third story.
"Where are all of the patients and cops?" Jax asked.
"Most got overwhelmed, though some managed to escape through the rear exits." Judith said after a moment.
Suddenly Joe and John burst out of a nearby hallway and yelled, "Guys, we've got to get out of here!"
"No dip Sherlock!" Liam said as the building shook some more, with some of the roof collapsing down and crashing onto the first floor about sixty feet from the teens.
"Where's Jess and Marcus?" John asked.
"Not sure, though I-" Andrew began to say before his jaw dropped.
The others looked at where he was looking at. The group saw Jess and Marcus leaping off of the fifth floor, sixty feet above the ground.
"BOOOOYAAAAAAH!" Marcus yelled.
"SWAN DIVE!" Jess yelled doing several back flips.
"What the-?" Nicholas began to say before both teens fell into the giant fish tank.
"What next?" Joe asked.
Suddenly there was another explosion and pieces of metal rained down, along with candy bars. The snack machine had exploded on the 3rd floor.
"It's Candy Rain!" Liam yelled as she grabbed a bag of Reese's.
"If only we had our instruments, I love playing that song!" Judith said grabbing a pack of Skittles.
"Jess, Marcus! What the heck was that?" Nick yelled to the two teens.
"Getting away from…the fire!" Jess gasped as she swam to the edge of the tank. Jess and Marcus climbed out of the tank and down a ladder to the ground. Both were soaked to the skin, but grinning from excitement at what they had just done.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Marcus said with a laugh.
"Did…did you guys-" Nicholas began to say.
"Come on, let's go!" Judith said.
"They, they just-" Nicholas stammered.
"Yeah, let's roll." Joe said taking a few steps towards the door.
"Did they just jump off five stories into a fish tank?" Nicholas asked, still stunned.
"No time! Let's go man!" Andrew said as the building shook again.
"Nothing makes sense anymore." Nicholas said as he shook his head.
The group ran out of the front of the building and watched from the outside as the building collapsed in a fiery pile. The other survivors had begun to organize into other groups, but the teens from Bradburn walked a short distance again from the others.
"OK, so what the hell was that?" Nicholas asked again.
"We got cornered and we had to jump for it." Marcus said with a shrug.
"So you jumped five stories into a giant fish tank?" Andrew said to Marcus.
"That is correct." Jess said with a nod.
Andrew shook his head and Nicholas said, "Come on, we've got to get to the truck. We can go to Tallahassee from there."
The group walked back towards the woods and about twenty minutes later, and found Marcus's truck. Marcus suddenly stopped and said "Hey, do you guys hear that?"
Everyone remained silent and could hear the faint sound of someone talking. Marcus ran over to the truck and pulled out a wireless radio and said, "Jake, is that you?"
"Yeah man! We've been looking all over for you bro. Where are you?" Marcus's friend said over the radio.
"Not sure, where the heck are you guys?" Marcus asked.
"Gainesville, we're hiding in a 7-11 out on Eagle Street." Jake said breathlessly.
"I know where that is. Sit tight, I'll be there as quick as I can." Marcus said.
"Gotcha, stay alert, these guys are everywhere." Jake said as his walkie-talkie shut off.
"Any chance of you guys tagging along?" Marcus asked.
"Sorry, but we've got to stop the guy who started this mess. We're the only ones who can do this." Andrew said as he crossed his arms.
Nicholas then said, "Hey, get a hold of us if anything comes up, all right?"
"Sure. I guess I'll see you later." Marcus said walking up to Jess, who blushed dark red.
"See you around. Stay safe." Marcus said kissing Jess on the cheek.
"B-bye Marcus." Jess said with a shy grin.
Marcus hopped in his truck and fired it up, pulling out of the woods with a loud yell.
Jess sighed and said, "Come on, let's get to Tallahassee."
"I agree, maybe we can come up with a strategy on the way there." Samantha said through Jax. The group walked a little further to the truck and hopped in and drove through the forest to the road and headed to the capital, unaware that a man was watching them from atop the ashes of the hospital.
"Soon children, you will face the demon that you seek. But can you slay him, the master of the undead?" Illuzio mused before warping away in a flash of green light.
"We shall see."
End of Chapter:
Another chapter down.
Until next time, FlygonNick out!
