Scenario 11: Cardio
Chris awoke in a daze. His head felt as if it had been split in half and he could feel blood oozing out of a wound on his forehead. He groaned and blinked his eyes, trying to bring a blurry world into focus.
"No way." He muttered as his vision cleared.
He was hanging upside down. His seat belt in the GIGN armored van had held fast and somehow the vehicle had rolled over onto its back.
"Aw shit." He groaned.
Across from him, hanging limply from his seat was a GIGN officer, his neck bent at an unusual angle. Chris cursed under his breath and began fumbling with his seat belt. It came undone with a soft click and he fell to the ground, banging his head on the hard metal roof. He gasped in pain rolled over onto his back. He tilted his head back and saw that the doors of the van were hanging open. Outside the sky was dark and he could feel a cold breeze blowing in. Laying on the ground was a road flare, its harsh red light shining brightly in the darkness. Though his vision was blurry he could just make out the form of a GIGN captain pacing back and forth while talking into a radio in rapid french. Sitting on the ground, with his back against the door frame was another officer, his arm was bleeding and Chris could just make out a bit of bone sticking from under the officer's shirt.
"Merde!" The officer muttered through clenched teeth as he fumbled with a bloody cloth, trying to keep the wound from bleeding.
"Fichu!" The captain yelled throwing the radio to the ground. "Le temps est de jouer avec le signal!"
"Qu'allons-nous faire maintenant?" The wounded officer asked the captain.
"Je ne sais pas!" The Captain spat angrily.
He sighed and looked over to the right towards the city.
"Je ne sais pas."
Suddenly, a loud monstrous roar filled the air. The GIGN officers jumped and fumbled for their weapons. The officer raised his rifle and flipped the safety off.
"Elle revient! Merde! Merde!" The injured officer cried as he fumbled for his side arm.
The ground began to shake like an earthquake. The Captain screamed and opened fire with his automatic rifle at something that Chris could not see. There was a blur of red movement as something slammed into the captain and sent him flying through the air. The captain screamed as he flew and there was a crunch and then silence. The second officer screamed as the lumbering terror approached him. He finally got his pistol out of his holster and managed to fire off two shots before the thing picked him up and lifted him high over its head. The officer screamed and kicked as the monster tore him in half, the officer's scarlet blood poured over the monster's body like a rainstorm. The thing dropped the two pieces of cop and roared into the sky. It then cast its eyes down on the van where Chris was laying and watching in silent horror. Chris blinked furiously, trying to clear his vision and he felt around the ground looking for anything he could use as a weapon. He closed his fingers around what felt like a police baton. He turned around expecting to see a large hand reaching out to take him but there was nothing. The hulking horror had vanished, leaving him alone in the darkness and silence. He sat there for several minutes, unsure of what to do next.
"Fuck it." He thought bitterly. "If I'm gonna die, sure as shit ain't gonna be in here."
He carefully crawled out of the back of the van, taking care to avoid the small shards of glass that littered the ground like confetti. He made it outside and stood up, grimacing as his back popped in several places. He looked around trying to get an idea of where they had crashed.
"How the hell did we crash?" He thought. "What happened?"
He closed his eyes trying to think back. He had escaped Alexander with many other survivors and then the blockade got over run by those things and he cut and ran. He met a squad of GIGN officers, they took him in and one of them spoke a little English.
"Kadic." Chris said to himself. "He said Kadic. Tina..."
He heard a pathetic fizzing sound and saw that the road flare was beginning to die. He looked around and staggered over to an olive green duffel bag he spotted laying on the ground a few feet away. It was the bag he had hastily packed before he left the fort. He kneeled down next to the bag and saw that it was open. A box of emergency flares had been torn into and one was missing.
"Could have asked." Chris muttered as he pulled out another flare and ignited it.
He began looking through the contents of his bag, holding the flare high above his head for light. He pulled out a blue bandana and tied it around his head to keep his long blonde hair out of his eyes and to keep pressure on his head wound. He then rummaged a little more and pulled out a Glock 30 with an Olive Drab finish. It was Darren's gun. Darren's father kept it in the barracks in a lock box. Chris had found his way into the barracks and made quick work of the lock figuring he would need the fire power. He pulled out an extra magazine and slipped it into his pocket. He walked over to the corpse of the first officer and knelt down next to him.
"Sorry 'bout this." Chris said.
He aimed at the officer's forehead and pulled the trigger. The bullet blasted open the officer's head like an egg. He tucked the pistol away and began search the wet remains of the officer's corpse. He unclipped a radio from the officer's vest and hoped it still worked. He fiddled with a dial and pressed the call button.
"Hello?" He said quietly. "Is there anybody out there?"
"Hello?" The radio crackled. "Is there anybody out there?"
The radio was laying on the coffee table in the teachers lounge. Jeremie dove at it and pressed the call button.
"Yes!" He exclaimed. "Yes! Who is this?"
Tina nudged a sleeping Darren in the ribs and his eyes opened, his hand fluttering to his handgun in his lap in alarm. She shook her head and nudged a thumb over to where Jeremie was sitting. Everyone else crowded around Jeremie as he spoke into the radio.
"Who is this?" Jeremie asked.
"My name is Chris." The voice replied. "I'm a survivor from Fort Alexander. Who is th-"
Tina jerked the radio from Jeremie's hand.
"Chris? Chris is that really you?"
"Tina! You're safe!" Chris breathed a sigh of relief. "I was worried sick about you!"
"I thought you were dead!" Tina cried.
"It's okay. I'm okay." Chris said. "Where are you? Are you safe?"
"I'm at Kadic. Darren's here along with several of my classmates." Tina explained. "Where the fuck are you?"
"Uh..." Chris looked around though it was too dark to see anything. Many streetlights were out and the flare wasn't much for light. "Give me a second."
He walked around the immediate area, looking for any street signs to tell him exactly where he was. He inspected the remains of the GIGN captain and saw that he had been hurled into a tall iron fence. His body had slammed into a wooden sign with enough force to splinter it but Chris could still make out two words through the smear of blood.
"Kadic Academy." He read aloud.
"Repeat that Chris." Darren's voice came from the radio Chris held in his hand. "We didn't catch that."
"You guys are at Kadic?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I think those GIGN boys brought me to your front door." Chris said nudging the captain's body with his foot.
"You're outside?" Tina asked.
"Yeah... Unfortunately." Chris said looking around the darkness.
"Chris, are there any weapons or supplies laying around?" Darren asked.
"One sec."
He pocketed the radio and began looking through the bodies of the officers. The FAMAS that the Captain was using had been ruined when the large thing had slammed into him and Chris sighed as he tossed it away. He rummaged around and tossed anything of use into his duffel bag.
"I'm back." He said into the radio. "There's two handguns and some loose ammo but that's it. These guys were running dry after the blockade got overrun."
"What?" Jeremie asked. "Overrun? When?"
"We'll talk about that later. Right now we need to get you off the street." Ulrich said.
"No shit." Chris said. "What's the plan? Can I just walk in?"
"No. Courtyards full of geeks." Tina said.
"You start your way to the center and we'll meet you in the middle. Be ready for a fight." Darren said.
"Got it." Chris said clicking the safety off of the Glock. "And Darren? Be careful. There's something... big out here."
"Noted." Darren said. "Over and out."
He handed the radio to Jeremie and checked the magazine of his M9.
"We got to hurry!" Tina said. "Those things won't wait long before-"
"You stay here." Darren said. "I'll go meet him. It's too dangerous for you."
"Bullshit!" Tina snapped. "If it wasn't for me, you'd be zombie food right now!"
"I'm aware. And if I had my way you wouldn't have gone then. There's no point in having an entire classroom running around down there making noise and drawing more attention to ourselves than needed."
"Uh, I don't think you need to worry about the whole class going." Odd said.
"And there's no point in you going down there like you're John fucking Rambo and both of you getting your dumb asses killed!" Tina argued.
"She's right." Ulrich said. "It's dangerous to go alone. Besides you helped save one of our friends. We're going to return the favor."
"But your right." Jeremie said. "We need to keep the people on this rescue mission to a minimum. Those things just quieted down. No need to provoke them again."
"I'll go." Ulrich said.
"You can count me in." Terry said.
"Me too." Odd said hopping off of the couch.
"Sam and I will watch the entrance." William said.
"So that makes five." Tina said crossing her arms and looking at Darren.
"Fine." He muttered rolling his eyes. "I don't give a shit. Let's move."
"Good." Tina said as they started out of the room. "You always try to fight me but you know that I-"
Click.
Tina stood gaping at Darren who had secured one of the links of a pair of handcuffs on her left hand and the other on the handle of the refrigerator.
"Oh you're a dick." Tina growled.
"I'm aware." Darren said tossing the key to Herb. "Don't let her out."
Ignoring the barrage of colorful curse words, they left the teacher's lounge.
"That wasn't very nice." Odd said. "I mean, it's her brother you know? She should be there to help him."
"She'll get over it." Darren said. "We're going to do this quietly. Don't pull the guns unless we have to."
"Fine by me." Terry said placing the sword on his shoulder.
They went down to the first floor. They quietly eliminated a few zombies, managing to remain silent, and avoided drawing attention to the few stragglers further down the hall.
"Okay on three." Darren said as he and Ulrich took positions in front of the doors.
"Three!" He said.
They pushed open the doors and Odd and Terry ran outside. Terry thrust his sword out and impaled a zombie in the eye socket. He withdrew and kicked the body away as Odd bashed a zombie in the forehead with his frying pan. Ulrich cracked another zombie in the skull with his bat and side stepped a blow from a sprinter. He stuck out his foot and tripped it, letting Darren stab it in the chest with his knife. It growled, trying to work up the energy to let out a scream to alert his undead brothers and sisters, its red infected eyes glowed in rage and then glazed over. Daren let the zombie drop to the ground and then he curb stomped it with his boot, preventing it from getting back up.
"Keep moving." He said.
Ulrich nodded and they took off running towards the center of the courtyard.
Chris ran through the dark forest path towards the school grounds. In one hand he clenched a burning flare, in the other a police baton.
"Shit." He thought. "This place is creepy."
He felt a few rain drops on his bare arms as he ran and he shuddered in the cold night air. Around him he heard the crunching of leaves and twigs. He could see the dark outlines of shapes moving in the darkness. He could hear the moans of those things coming with the wind, as if the darkness itself was coming for him. To strip the flesh from his bones and devour him whole. He saw a figure lurch in front of him and he slid to a halt, his large form slamming into it and knocking it to the ground. The thing moaned and tried to stand back up. It looked up at Chris with its gaze less eyes and let out a low mournful groan. It began to back away as if in fear. Chris started to strike it with the baton but paused. His eyes flickered to the flare and back to the zombie before him.
"What's wrong?" He asked with a smirk. "Afraid of fire ya freak? Huh?"
He kicked the zombie in the throat and continued on his way, grateful that he still had several of the flares in his bag. Up ahead he saw the treeline end and the courtyard of Kadic begin. He stepped out onto the cobblestone ground and saw dozens of shambling horrors lurching around. He could see the outlines of skeletal remains on the ground, a few of which were still moving. A lone shambler staggered towards him, moaning loudly. He lashed out with the baton and caved in its skull. He kicked the zombie away from him and sent it flying into the shadows. The second one that stumbled towards him lost several teeth and got its knee cap shattered with a well placed kick. Chris saw a figure leap over a pile of feeding zombies and sprint towards him. Chris knew what would happen if it let out a shriek. He growled and ran towards the sprinter, tackling it to the ground and shoving his baton into its mouth. It gnawed angrily on the wood, its sharp jagged teeth leaving cruel looking bite marks on the wood. He grabbed it by the hair and bashed its skull into the pavement three times before it stopped moving. Chris stood up and gasped for breath. Up ahead he could see more of those things coming his way.
"Bring it on bitches." He muttered under his breath. "Plenty to go around."
Terry delivered a vertical slash down a zombies chest and round house kicked it into waste bin. It knocked the bin over and rolled away, tripping another zombie in the process. Terry darted forward and jumped off of the tripped zombies skull, impaling the first zombie in the forehead with his blade as he landed. Ulrich jabbed a zombie in the stomach with the tip of his bat and crushed its head with a mighty upward swing. He whirled the bat around and high kicked a second zombie in the chin, shattering the lower half of its rotted skull.
"Don't let those fast ones alert the others!" He called out as loud as he dared. "If they bring the horde down on us we're done for!"
"Yeah whatever you do don't alert the horde!" Odd said with a slight grin as he smashed a zombie in the face.
"I get it!" Terry called over his shoulder.
"Keep moving!" Darren said pulling his knife out of a zombie's gut.
He let the corpse fall to the ground and the group continued running.
Chris struck another flare and held it before him, keeping many of the zombies at bay. He struck down the few soulless brave enough to come near him with his baton and continued through the courtyard. Ahead of him he could see a fountain where many of the undead had gathered to find scraps. Further ahead he could hear what sounded like fighting.
"Getting close." He thought.
Sam and William stood by the open doors to the science building.
"Think they can make it?" William asked.
"I know they can." Sam said.
She spotted a shambler staggering towards the door. She quickly strung an arrow and let it fly, catching the zombie just above the temple.
"Nice shot." William said.
Out of the corner of his eye he saw a blur of movement in the trees.
"Did you see that?" He asked quickly shouldering the shotgun.
"What?" Sam asked pulling another arrow.
"Something in the woods." William said. "Stay here."
"Are you crazy? You can't go alone!" Sam hissed.
"I'll be fine. I'm just going to look. Wait here for the others." William said.
Ignoring her he jogged into the forest and out of Sam's line of sight. She cursed and glanced around worriedly. She shut the doors to the science building and followed William into the forest.
Chris saw movement ahead of him. There were three or four shapes moving in the shadows. Not spastic and erratic like the monsters he had been slaying but careful and precise. Sentient.
"Better let'em know what's up." He said.
He jumped into the fountain and into the water. He climbed up the fountain and shoved a flare into the open hand of the philosopher that stood on the stone platform. He lit it and dropped down into the water with a splash. In the dim red light he could see dozens of rotting faces illuminated in the darkness.
"Crap."
Darren wrenched the knife free from the eye socket of an infected and he saw the blade had broken in half. Ahead of him he saw a red light coming from the top of the fountain. Beneath it he could make out Chris' tall form.
"Over there!" Darren called.
He rammed the knife into a zombie's neck and let it drop. He drew his handgun and they all broke into a run towards the fountain. Ulrich and Odd bashed down whatever stood in their way and they all leapt into the waters of the fountain forming a circle with their backs to each other.
"'Bout fucking time!" Chris said to Darren over his shoulder.
"So what do we do now?" Terry asked.
They were surrounded on all ends. Dozens of corpses waited in morbid anticipation, the flare the only thing keeping them at bay. But the flare wouldn't hold out forever. Ulrich drew his revolver and pulled back the hammer.
"Light'em up!" Ulrich shouted.
Sam and William stopped in their tracks.
"Gun shots." Sam said. "Maybe we should head back?"
"Just a bit further." William said.
Behind them they heard the snapping of a limb.
"There!" William said raising the shotgun.
There was more movement. Something was coming towards them. William blasted both barrels into the trees making Sam jump.
"Jesus!" She snapped. "What the fuck?"
"I think I got something." William said.
He broke open the shotgun and loaded two shells into the barrels. Suddenly there was a low growling. Something big stepped towards them and bared its large teeth.
"O-Oh no!" William cried.
"RUN!" Sam yelled.
Blam! Blam! Blam!
Chris fired three rounds from the Glock into a crowed of the undead. He pistol whipped a sprinter in the face and knocked it away from Darren's back. Ulrich fired two rounds from his own revolver, dropping two shamblers in their tracks.
"I'm almost out!" He called.
"Same here!" Darren yelled back.
"I got-" Chris paused to blow a hole in a sprinter's gut. "I got ammo in the bag!"
"Shit!" Darren said through gritted teeth. "Where can we go? We won't make it to the classrooms!"
"There's a storage shed! To the left!" Odd said.
"Let's go!" Ulrich shouted.
"Home this is away team!" a voice called through the radio.
Jeremie picked the radio up and pressed the call button.
"Go ahead Darren." He said.
"We've rendezvoused with Skull Face and we're falling back to a storage shed!"
As the sound of gun fire came from the radio, Jeremie looked up at Tina and mouthed the words "Skull face?"
"Chris." Tina whispered.
"Right." Jeremie said. "Keep safe. We'll think of something."
Ulrich lowered a crossbar over the door to the shed. He turned around and saw Darren and Chris each light a cigarette. Darren turned on a flashlight and shined it around the shed. It was about the size of a classroom if not a little bit bigger. It was once the home of a groundskeeper before he passed away and it was turned into a gardening shed in his "honor". It smelled of gasoline and dirt and housed tools, crates and an old riding lawnmower covered in a blue tarp.
"Clear." Darren said letting out a long sigh.
Chris placed his bag a crate, unzipped it, and began rummaging through its contents.
".357." He said taking it and tossing a clip to Ulrich. "Just take the rounds out of the clip."
He tossed an extra pistol to Odd and a fresh magazine to Darren.
Clatter!
"Fuck!" Darren said. "There's something in here!"
There was the sound of four guns cocking. Darren and Chris shined their lights over to a corner of the shed. Ulrich ran a tongue over his lips, his finger shaking, almost touching the trigger.
"Wait!" a voice cried. "Please! Don't shoot us!"
"What the fuck?" Chris asked.
Two small, timid figures stepped out of the darkness. They looked hungry and scared, but Milly and Tamia were alive.
"M-Milly? Tamia?" Ulrich exclaimed, his gun hand dropping quickly.
"Ulrich!" They cried as they ran towards him and embraced him.
"It's okay." He said. "You're safe. What are you doing in here?" He asked.
"It was Milly's idea!" Tamia exclaimed.
"Oh don't go blaming me!" Milly cried. "I didn't hear you protesting or anything until those monsters showed up!"
"What are you talking about?" Ulrich asked.
"We heard about the riots going on down town." Milly said. "Tamia wakes up earlier than any of us and she read about it online."
"We thought we could get a big scoop. Get some footage and sell it to a news channel and get some money for a new camera for the newspaper."
"Well it's a good thing you did." Ulrich said.
"What do you mean?" Milly asked.
"They rounded us up in the cafeteria." Odd explained. "They were trying to keep us safe. Not long after that we got overrun."
"By what? What are those monsters out there?" Tamia asked.
"Zombies." Ulrich said feeling like he was getting used to saying that at last.
Milly and Tamia let out shrieks of terror.
"Hey it's okay. Jeremie and the others are back in the science building. We'll get to them."
Ulrich felt something shine inside of him. He felt something like hope grow inside of his heart. Milly and Tamia. Alive. Before he had already counted them among the dead. He had wondered if he had shot or bashed them down without realizing it. But they had survived. Of all people two timid little school girls had survived. There was hope.
"Can I see the radio?" Ulrich asked Darren.
Darren tossed Ulrich the radio. He pressed the call button and held it to his mouth.
"Jeremie? It's Ulrich. We're holed up in the storage shed."
"Roger that Ulrich." Jeremie replied. "Are you pinned down?"
"Yeah." Ulrich said looking out the window. "You could say that."
"Just how many students are at this school?" Odd asked. "You'd think we could have wiped them all out by now."
"Many of the automatons outside probably came from the city. The gate doesn't encompass all of Kadic after all." Jeremie pointed out.
"The what?" Ulrich asked.
"Zombies." Jeremie said.
"Oh."
"We'll send you some reinforcements." Jeremie said. "Yumi, Thomas and Desmond are mobilizing now."
"Great. Just be careful." Ulrich said.
"Roger that. Over and out." Jeremie said.
Ulrich tossed the radio back to Darren.
"Some of the others are on their way but I don't think they can take all of those things by themselves."
"Hey guys." Chris called.
They turned to look at him and saw that he was standing in front of an open tool cabinet. He turned to face them. He took a drag from his cigarette and through a breath of smoke said.
"These should work."
A zombie brushed against the wooden door to the shed. It groaned and walked into the door, the stupid thing oblivious to the obstacle in its path. Suddenly a sputtering sound came from behind the door. Then another. And another. Then a loud whirring sound. The zombie placed its head against the door and grunted. There was a splintering of wood as a chainsaw blade pierced through the door and into the zombies face. The blade moved down and nearly sawed the zombie in half. The door exploded as someone on the other side kicked it down and knocked several zombies away. In the doorway stood Chris, Darren, Ulrich and Odd. Chris and Darren had put on their paint ball masks to block any blood, Chris' mask was painted to resemble a red skull and Darren's resembled a pale gray jackal. Chris held the chainsaw in his large hands, the blade rotating and purring like a hungry lion. The other boys each held a flare along with a weapon they had recovered inside the shed. Darren had found a hatchet, Ulrich was using a machete and Odd had received a small folding trench shovel from Chris. Ulrich, Odd, and Terry each were wearing one of Chris's extra bandanas over their mouths to keep blood off of their faces.
"Let's cut a path." Chris said.
They charged forward, swinging their weapons and forming a circle around the two girls, keeping them out of harms way. Blood spattered everywhere as the team hacked, chopped and sliced their way through the crowd of zombies. Milly and Tamia screamed and covered their eyes, holding onto Ulrich and Odd's shirts with their other hand.
"THIS! IS SO! FUCKED!" Odd yelled as he split a zombies head open with his shovel.
"KEEP FUCKING PUSHING!" Darren yelled back.
"Jesus." Jeremie said. "They're cutting through them like butter."
He, Sissi, and Aelita were on the roof using the telescope to track the progress of the two teams.
"Come on Ulrich..." Sissi said under her breath.
Sam ran through the trees. She wasn't sure what had happened. She had gotten turned around somewhere and had ran away from the school instead of towards it. Whatever that thing was it was huge. She and William had been split up and she had no idea where he was. She slowed her pace and looked around. The woods were dark and it was starting to rain. She took a few steps through the trees and came out onto a path.
"Okay..." she said to herself. "Okay there's the park bench. So..."
She turned left on the path and began jogging back towards the school. She ran down the path in the darkness. She heard a rustle from the brush up ahead to her left. She paused and drew an arrow. She held her breath and waited for whatever it was to show itself. The brush broke and she gasped.
"William?"
"Let's go!" He said.
Yumi let out a fierce cry and decapitated a zombie with a single swipe. Just ahead and to the right of them she could see Ulrich and the others moving towards them. Thomas split a head open with his ax and Desmond right hooked a zombie into the air and kicked it away.
"I bring the pain baby!" He hooted as one more staggered towards him. He hit it with a uppercut and followed his blow with a double axe handle.
"Come on!" Yumi said. "We're almost there!"
"Ok!" Aelita said looking through the telescope. "Both teams have regrouped and they are en route to the classrooms!"
"About time!" Sissi said.
"Let's go and tell the others." Jeremie said.
The three kids left the roof top and returned to the teacher's lounge. As they neared the door it burst open and Tina ran out into the hallway holding the shotgun and the pistol.
"What are you doing?" Aelita asked. "How'd you get out."
"Not the first time Darren's handcuffed me." Tina said. She turned and started to run away but paused. "That sounded wrong." She said.
And she ran away. The three children dashed into the teacher's lounge and saw that it was in a state of disarray. The coffee table had been flipped over and snack cakes and wrappers littered the floor and an armchair was laying on its side. Nicholas and Herb were handcuffed together and Herb was rubbing the back of his head grimacing in pain.
"I- OW! I just turned my head for a second and- OW!" He exclaimed.
"We were just sitting here and then Tina escaped!" Caroline explained helping Nicholas to his feet. "She clocked the geek and then swiped the key."
"Locked us together before we knew what was happening." Nicholas grumbled. "Took the guns and then hauled off."
"We saw her." Jeremie said. "What was she doing?"
"What else?" Aelita said. "She's going to help her family."
"Come on!" Ulrich said twirling his blade and giving his fingers a flex. "We're so close now!"
All they needed was a final push. The science building was in sight. Soon they'd be safe and could finally rest.
"We got this! We got this!" Odd panted.
Up ahead of them two figures came out from the forest. Sam and William were covered in sweat and panting, their eyes wide in fear.
"Sammy? What are you doing?" Odd called.
"ODD!" She screamed. "RUN!"
There was a bellowing roar as something large broke through the treeline behind them. It roared again and swung an arm, batting away Sam like a rag doll. She flew through the air and slammed into a column that supported the portico over the entrance to the science building.
"SAM!" Odd yelled.
"Die you fucker!" William yelled firing his shotgun at the monster.
The buckshot blasted it in the chest and tore off a few layers of skin but other wise didn't seem to bother it. It grabbed the shotgun from William and tossed it away before it slammed a fist into William's chest and knocked him into the air and back onto the ground.
"That's it! It's that thing from before!" Chris shouted.
"What the hell is that thing?" Ulrich cried.
"TANK!" Odd cried.
"Holy shit." Yumi said looking the creature over. "Guys... that thing is Jim!"
Whatever poison was turning people into zombies had effected Jim differently. He had grown in size but he wasn't nearly as big as a "tank" from a certain video game series by a certain company that has trouble counting to three. He had grown two feet taller and now towered over the students and even Chris. His muscles had swollen far beyond what any athlete could ever hope to achieve even with the use of steroids. His jogging suit, which thankfully was elastic, was clinging to his body for dear life. His eyes were glowing red like the others and his skin seemed to be splitting in some areas, as if his muscles were bursting to get out. It looked over at them and growled.
"Run or shoot?" Ulrich asked Darren.
The goliath's growl increased in tone.
"Run or shoot?" Chris asked.
"Both!" Darren yelled as Jim roared and broke into a run.
The group scattered like flies as Jim ran through them, swinging his arms wildly. Odd ran right past him to Sam.
"You okay?" He asked.
"S-stop the world." Sam gasped.
She was dazed and she had a cut on her forehead but otherwise she was okay.
"Come on! We gotta go!" Odd said.
Odd pulled the spare pistol Chris had given him and snapped off three shots at a group of sprinters that rushed them. Jim slammed his fist down intending to bring it down on Yumi's head. She side stepped and his fist hit the ground, cracking a rock in the stone work into several pieces. Yumi let out a battle cry and brought her blade down on Jim's arm just below his massive elbow. She gasped as the blade bounced off, leaving behind a mark that looked like the wound one might receive from a paper cut. Yumi could see a few chips in the blade of her sword.
"Oh god!" Yumi gasped.
Jim roared and belted her away, sending her rolling on the ground.
"Hey ugly!" Darren yelled.
Jim turned and growled. Darren and Chris raised their handguns and they both opened fire, both boys emptying their magazines into the juggernaut. The hail of forty-five caliber and nine millimeter gunfire knocked Jim back a little and the two waited for the giant to fall. Jim lifted his head back up and looked at them, growling and baring his bloody teeth. In his forehead the two could see a bullet smashed nearly flat on impact with Jim's skull.
"Well fuck." Chris said.
"Run!" Ulrich called helping Yumi to her feet.
No one was going to argue. There was nothing in their arsenal that could hurt that monster. Everyone turned their backs and ran back towards the science building. Up ahead Ulrich saw the doors open and Tina run out.
"Chris!" She called. "I-"
She screamed at the sight of Jim's mutated form.
"God damn it!" Chris roared. "Run! For fuck's sake run!"
Everyone ran through the doors. Chris scooped Tina up in his arms and shielded her from any possible harm as Ulrich and Darren slammed the doors shut and shoved their weight into it. A second later the doors bucked as if a car had hit them. If the doors had been made from anything other than steel they would have been destroyed. There was a roar followed by a shattering as the "shatter proof" glass in the window exploded and a massive hand burst through.
"Kill it kill it kill it kill it kill it kill it!" Odd cried.
Thomas let out a cry and buried the spike end of the axe into the arm. Jim roared in anger as Chris grabbed the chainsaw and revved it up. He buried the blade into the flesh and closed his eyes as he felt hot blood spatter on his clothes. There was a high whining noise as the chain became tangled in flesh and blood and sputtered. Jim roared and pulled his arm out of the window. The door bucked two more times and then ceased.
Everyone stood in place and panted. The door had several inward dents on it and probably couldn't take much more damage. With a trembling hand Ulrich reached forward and bolted the door's lock. Desmond used his chain to tie the two door handles together.
"We need to get the hell out of here." Ulrich said quietly.
