12. The Passing Part Three
The building was still standing.
Despite four separate missiles being launched into it from the passing fighter jets, the structure was still stood tall. However the damage was considerable.
Several sections of floors had been blown away. Nearly all of the glass from the windows had shattered. Several unstable areas were already collapsing. The building was still standing but not for much longer.
The first bomb impacted the middle area of the building. The explosion sound was the bang Ruth had heard while she was mourning the loss of Coach on the rooftop. In actual fact, the bomb detonated in the centre of the building just as the falling elevator compartment holding Coach fell past it. The force of the explosion and the power of the shockwave made the compartment crash through the elevator shaft and hurtled through the building, coming to a stop just before the edge of the floor. As Coach got to his feet inside the elevator compartment, he appreciated the irony of a bomb saving his life.
As the elevator compartment crashed through the building, the other three missiles exploded around the building. In the reception area, James looked over Norah's unconscious body and prepared to shoot her in the head. The bang that echoed through the reception did not come from his gun but from the exploding missile nearby. The elaborate sloped glass decorative wall shattered and shards hurtled to the ground. James turned around and looked up in time to see an enormous splinter of glass impale itself into his face, tearing out the back of his head and sending blood everywhere while knocking him back and landing on top of Norah. His corpse protected her from the falling glass and as everything settled, her eyes opened and she pushed him off hurriedly. As Norah retrieved her AK-47, she noticed that there was not a single scratch on her body.
Just above, Nick and Rochelle stumbled forward to each other as the shockwave tore through the building. The glass above them shattered and fell, causing Nick to spin and push Rochelle out of the way while jumping backward as a massive chunk of glass crashed in between them, sending splinters everywhere. Nick's face was cut slightly as he staggered back, now standing where Rochelle had been. They had swapped positions and Rochelle glanced back at Peter who was lying on the ground on the balcony behind her. A large shard of glass had got him in the stomach and he was bleeding heavily. Peter glanced over and saw his handgun a little bit away. He tried to reach for it but found it too painful to move. Rochelle looked back at Nick and raised her gun at him once more.
'What are you doing?' he asked her.
'My job,' Rochelle answered cryptically.
'What does that mean?' Nick shrugged.
'Stop asking questions and just hand it over!'
'I don't believe this...' Nick sighed, feeling betrayed by Rochelle and angry toward Peter who had proven him wrong. 'Peter was right about everything...'
'What did he say?' Rochelle asked.
'What does that matter?' Nick replied harshly. 'Need to maintain your cover for the Director?'
'If I worked for the Director why would I steal what he wants from his own agent?'
'Who do you work for, then?' Nick questioned.
'CEDA isn't the only organisation interested in this flu,' Rochelle informed him enigmatically. 'I work for an agency that has invested a great deal in studying this virus and attempting to obtain a sample of it that doesn't break down as soon as it has left the host body.'
'Why?' Nick asked.
'The politics is no concern of mine,' Rochelle told him.
'So, what? You're just the brainless muscle?'
'In a manner of speaking,' Rochelle nodded. 'I was part of a team investigating the several focal points across the country where the Director had released the virus. A man I worked with was able to obtain a preserved sample of the virus, something which has never been done before. We secured it in that briefcase you're holding along with all of the information research that was collected and the evidence that CEDA was responsible for the outbreak. I personally found that and kept a copy on the memory card in my camera.'
'Why would you need evidence against CEDA?' Nick questioned.
'When your adversary has almost single handily decimated the whole of the United States it helps to have an ace up your sleeve to turn the tables.'
'I can't believe this, Ro...' Nick suddenly choked back emotion, his hands trembling slightly. 'You were using me just to get to my father?'
'I would have found Peter anyway,' Rochelle told him. Her face showed for a brief moment an upset look. 'I found you because you and he were responsible for killing my teammate and taking the case. I then attempted to subtly encourage you to want to find Peter.'
'You used us!' Nick cried. 'You used me! Our friendship; everything, it's all just one big God damn lie, isn't it?'
'That's why I told you to leave without me,' Rochelle yelled back, becoming passionate. 'I didn't want to hurt you. Despite everything I do like you and Coach and Ellis. I don't want to hurt you. I wanted you to escape. I didn't want to drag you all into this.'
'I find that hard to believe,' Nick muttered.
'You wouldn't listen,' Rochelle told him. 'You wouldn't leave me.'
'That's because I...' Nick stopped himself from speaking, the tip of pushed to the roof of his mouth forming a word beginning with "L". He composed himself. 'That's because we are a team. We help each other.'
'Then help me,' Rochelle pleaded. 'Give me the case.'
'And then what?' Nick asked. 'I'll never see you again?' Rochelle did not answer his question. Instead she stared at him with very emotional, wet eyes.
'Just hand it over!' she ordered. 'Don't make me shoot you!'
'You're not going to do that,' Nick shook his head. He stepped forward one pace. 'No matter what has happened, even if it has all been a lie, I still care about you.'
'Don't move!' Rochelle cried.
'Don't tell me what to do!' Nick shouted back. 'You're not going to shoot me.'
'I will if you don't hand over that case right now.'
'Do it then!'
'I will!'
'Then shoot me!' Nick shouted louder than he had ever shouted before in his life. 'If you don't care, if this was all just a lie if you don't love me then shoot me right now!'
Rochelle stepped forward, her hand still and her eyes determined. She blocked everything out of her mind. She tried to squeeze the trigger but found it difficult. Her finger trembled, her forehead was damp with sweat and her breathing was halted as she held her breath, trying with all her might to pull the trigger. With Nick stood as an easy target in front of her, she used all of her strength to pull the trigger. She found it so hard, as if she was trying a push a car up a steep hill on her own. She was desperate to shoot him. She had to shoot him.
Tears fell from her eyes and streaked down her face. Rochelle let out a wail as she lowered her gun and leant against the side of the walkway rail. Nick let out a sigh of relief. Rochelle stood there, weeping. She threw the gun over the side of the rail and stood feebly in front of Nick. He placed the case down next to him, freeing his hands. He moved forward slowly to embrace her. Rochelle also stepped forward to go into Nick's arms.
There was a gunshot and a bullet shot into Rochelle's back. She let out a cry of pain, spitting blood onto Nick's white suit and collapsed, spinning as she fell. Just behind her, Peter was lying blood soaked on the floor, aiming his gun at her. Nick caught Rochelle in his arms and pulled out his gun and shot Peter three times, making him drop his gun and lie still. Nick stumbled back as he tried to support Rochelle, kicking the case over and opening it. Resting her on the catwalk, he brushed the hair from her bloody face.
'Rochelle?' his voice was flimsy and creaky. 'No, Rochelle! No, no, no!'
'I've survived worse,' Rochelle told him, before a severe fit of coughing. She was bleeding heavily. Nick took off his suit jacket and wrapped the arms tight around her bullet wound, causing Rochelle to cry out in pain. He looked over to the open case and then to Rochelle. The building was crumbling all around them and they needed to get out. He could not carry both Rochelle and the case.
Not taking a single moment to decide what to do, Nick lifted Rochelle into his arms and began running down the catwalk, leaving the open briefcase behind.
*
The elevator compartment was on its side, with Coach looking at what used to be the ceiling. It was now a wall that had just fallen off and fell down the side of the building. Climbing out and hanging onto the edge, Coach jumped through the broken window and landed on the floor below. Cautiously, he made his way over the unstable floor and arrived in a corridor. One of the doors burst open and Nick ran inside holding Rochelle.
'What the hell happened?' Coach asked, looking at Rochelle.
'We just need to get out of here, fast!' Nick cried. With that, the two men began making their way to the bottom of the building. They had just made it to the stairwell when they were greeted with gunfire. Zach was shooting at them from the floor below in the stairwell. Coach and Nick took cover.
'We could go up?' Coach suggested. 'We can't storm him, we'd be dead. Plus the others are up there with the chopper.'
'I don't reckon they'd be hanging around,' Nick theorised. 'Plus we can't take Rochelle all the way up there.
'The Director wants your blood!' Zach cried tauntingly.
'Oh yeah?' said a female voice from below. Zach looked down and saw Norah who had snuck up on him. 'Tell him to pick a number.' She unloaded an entire magazine of AK bullets into Zach, only letting go of the trigger when the gun went empty. Coach and Nick looked out of their hiding spot. Norah winked at them. 'Got him that time.'
*
The rest of the building was slowly falling to pieces and Edward was preparing to fly away. Eliza was tending to Ellis' wounds.
'We need to get him help, fast!' she told Edward.
'We've not built up enough speed to take off, yet!' he informed her. Just with that, the entire rooftop tilted to one side. The helicopter began sliding across the roof as the building slowly leant over, with upper segments crumbling away causing further damage and the tilt to worsen. 'Shit!' Edward spat.
Lower down as everything shook violently, the walkway where Nick and Rochelle had just been collapsed. The case was still on it and it tumbled to the ground.
However, the virus sample was not in it.
Running through reception, Coach, Nick, Rochelle and Norah narrowly avoided being crushed by the falling walkway and made it outside. They looked back and saw the tilting building. The top suddenly gave way and chunks of concrete and metal fell to the ground. On the roof, the helicopter's rotors were not spinning fast enough to maintain flight as it fell. Ruth screamed as Edward attempted to control the fall. The helicopter fell past the balcony where Peter was lying in a pool of his own blood, breathing heavily. In one hand was the vial that contained the virus sample.
It was empty.
With a loud crash, the top of the building impacted the ground and the helicopter was soon to follow. Edward pulled the nose of the helicopter up as they neared the ground, the rotors being torn off by the building just opposite the hospital where Zach and James had been monitoring the events. With a loud thud, the helicopter crashed on the ground and skidded to a grinding halt. Coach and the others saw the crash and ran to see if anyone had survived.
As they approached it, the door was kicked off its hinges and Edward stepped out, holding Ellis in his arms. Eliza and Ruth joined him outside. In a jovial moment, the survivors ran to each other and tenderly embraced.
'We have wounded!' Nick broke up the reunion promptly. 'We need to get Rochelle and Ellis out of here now.'
'Well we have no way of leaving New Orleans!' Eliza pointed out. Edward looked up at the building he had nearly crashed into.
'You know I thought I saw a chopper on there,' he mused.
On the rooftop of the building, Edward was preparing Zach and James' helicopter for flight. Rochelle and Ellis were already inside being tended to by Eliza and Norah. Coach and Nick were stood outside talking while Ruth looked through Zach and James' belongings. She found a similar device they had used to attract the infected with sound.
'Do you reckon they'll be alright?' Nick asked Coach.
'We need to get them out of here, now,' Coach told him. 'Or else there's no chance.' Ruth loaded some supplies onto the helicopter and Coach and Nick soon boarded. Then the vehicle lifted up into the air and soared majestically over New Orleans. Norah gave Edward the position of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln and they were soon headed on their way.
Back on the balcony, Peter's body began to gently twitch. The twitches became more frequent and then violent. He let out a scream of agony as his body began to suffer a seizure. He writhed on the floor, bashing his head on the ground forcefully. His shoulder blades began to enlarge and tore from his clothes. His shoes ripped and split, revealing claw-like feet. He extended his arms outward to the side and as the rest of his clothes tore apart, soon saw that his arms and large shoulders were connected to each other. They appeared to be forming wings. As his transformation continued, Peter was able to stand and let out an inhuman cry. He then fell off the balcony and hurtled to the ground.
With the use of his wings, Peter pushed himself up through the air and began soaring through the sky. He followed the trail of the survivors.
The survivors were just under ten minutes away from the aircraft carrier, feeling confident. Just then, a massive gust of wind jolted the helicopter, knocking them off course.
'What the hell was that?' Ruth voiced the question on everyone's mind. Nick looked out of the window and saw an infected he had never seen before; the Soarer. The Soarer pushed its wings together, sending a powerful blast of air at the helicopter, knocking it around in the air. The door opened and Nick fell from his seat and through the air. Eliza screamed as she saw him fall to the ground.
Peter, the Soarer, also saw Nick fall and swooped down through the air and caught him. As the helicopter changed course, the Soarer threw Nick onto the rooftop of a building. The coast was visible just in the distance, not that Nick was looking at that. He saw the frightening new infected. He was even more frightened when he saw that the mutated face was that of his father.
'Oh, Peter,' Nick sighed. The Soarer let out a loud cry, deafening Nick. He could not hear as the ringing in his ears lasted for a moment. He took out his submachine gun and used all of the bullets in the magazine against the beast. When that gun was out of ammunition, he simply threw it away and used his M-16. The Soarer was nimble and dodged the shots easily. It opened its arms wide and pushed them together, sending another gust of air toward Nick, knocking him off his feet. The infected moved to try and pick him up once more but Edward arrived, bashing it away with the side of the helicopter. Coach and Ruth leant out of the helicopter. Coach fired his grenade launcher at the Soarer while Ruth threw Nick the device that emitted an infected attracting sound. As the Soarer stumbled across around the edge of the roof Nick ran up to it, the device in his hand and threw it at the infected.
'Say hi to mom for me, dad,' Nick muttered as the device sunk into the Soarer's flesh and made the loud noise. As the Soarer crashed on the ground, it convulsed as numerous infected swarmed all over it, promptly tearing it apart. Nick let out a satisfied sigh and looked back at the helicopter. Coach extended his hand as they got close and pulled Nick onboard.
With that, they continued heading for the aircraft carrier, leaving the infection far behind.
During the rest of the flight, the eight survivors had a chance to reflect on what had happened.
'It's been a hell of a couple of weeks,' Norah told Edward who chuckled, looking over at her.
'Couldn't have done it without you,' he told her. Norah smiled and held his hand.
'I couldn't have done it without you,' she told him.
Meanwhile, Coach and Ruth were sat together. She was resting her head on his shoulder.
'I'm going to do things right this time,' Coach told her. 'For you and the baby.'
'I'm just glad you found me,' Ruth told him. 'I guess someone's looking out for us.' Nick was sat with the unconscious Ellis and Rochelle. He stroked Rochelle's cheek while Eliza tested Ellis' pulse.
'They're getting weaker,' she told Nick.
'They have to pull through,' Nick sighed. 'They just have to.'
'Whatever happens,' Eliza told him, taking his hand. 'We can handle it together.' Nick did not respond to her and simply hung his head.
As Ellis dreamt while unconscious, he found himself stood opposite Keith. Ellis was in the same position when he saw Keith back in the remote town, holding a gun under his chin with Keith, ready to pull the trigger. This time, however, Keith pulled the gun away from Ellis and threw it away, winking at him. Ellis smiled as he saw Keith turn around and walk off into the distance. Just ahead was Jimmy Gibbs Jr. who put his arm around Keith as they walked away.
'Son,' Jimmy spoke to Keith softy as they faded away, 'do you know what "suck the heads" means?'
Rochelle had her own dreams as she slept. She saw Nick standing in front of her, smiling. Then, with a single gunshot, his body shattered as if it were glass and fell away. Rochelle started crying and fell to her knees. She felt alone. She was alone.
It was a time of reflection as the helicopter approached the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln for all of the survivors. Norah and Edward reflected on their friendship and how it had come through the whole ordeal stronger than ever, while Rochelle's actions could ensure that she would be alone forever. Nick had realised that he did not need to be alone to get through life, but as Eliza held his hand tenderly, wondered if she was the one he wanted to be with. Coach appreciated the second chance he had got with Ruth and vowed to learn from his past mistakes and grow from them, while all Ellis learnt was that there was nothing more valuable than friendship and teamwork.
The need for other people was made abundantly clear when the helicopter flew over the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln's wreckage. It had been destroyed and sunk before they had arrived. However, nearby there were lifeboats heading to one direction. A cruise ship was positioned a little further ahead and the survivors were granted permission to land on it.
The ship was incredibly huge. To the front were several landed helicopters and other military vehicles. All over the vessel there were people who had been rescued. As Edward landed the helicopter neatly, the survivors jumped out and called for immediate medical assistance. Ellis and Rochelle were hooked up to heart rate monitors and pulled away while the others watched. As soon as Rochelle was taken away, her monitor began flat lining. Nick watched in sickening worry as the medical team attempted to revive her.
They attempted to do so for five minutes...
Ellis was taken away, his injuries treated seriously. The doctors were not optimistic about his condition until a young man named Louis, who was being treated for his own injuries, offered to donate his blood for Ellis. As soon as Louis' blood entered Ellis' veins, he stabilized and was expected to recover fully within a matter of days, much to the shock of the doctors. Rochelle did not come out of the operating room at all.
Some time had passed on and it was night. Nick was leaning over the edge of the guard rails, looking down at the dark ocean water. Eliza soon joined him, leaning on the rails next to him.
'It's been quite an adventure,' she broke the silence. The sound of the waves and wind were almost mystifying and hypnotic.
'Yes, it has,' Nick agreed. He was holding his white jacket in his hand, the one he had tied around Rochelle to stop her bleeding. He was staring at it with a look of pain in his eye.
'It's not your fault,' Eliza held his arm tenderly.
'Yes it is,' Nick sighed. Eliza swallowed hard and shook her head gently.
'You know I thought that...' she paused and then decided to change what she was saying. 'It doesn't matter. What matters is that we are here now, right? You and me?' Nick was unresponsive.
'Nick,' Eliza sighed, making him look at her. 'Are you in love with her?' Nick looked into Eliza's eyes.
'I'm sorry,' he told her. Eliza closed her eyes but a small smile formed on her face.
'It's alright,' she told him. 'Really it is. You're still coping with what happened to her... I know I won't win.'
'Yeah,' Nick sighed.
'Just do one thing for me, yeah?' Eliza pointed at something. 'Tell her.'
Nick looked over and saw Rochelle holding a walking stick, moving across the deck. Nick sighed and looked back as Eliza walked off into the distance.
'I'll catch you later, big man,' she told him. Nick made his way over to Rochelle. He stepped close to her, under the watchful eye of an armed soldier.
'How are you doing?' he asked her.
'I'll live,' she told him. 'The only reason I'm keeping this cane is because it makes me look pathetic. I'll need all the help I can get to avoid being arrested.'
'I don't see why you'd be arrested,' Nick leant on the rails. 'It's not as if you...'
'Corporate espionage?' Rochelle interrupted him. 'Fraud? Identity theft? Come on, Nick. They'll put me away.' Nick went silent while Rochelle sighed. 'But I'm alright with that.'
'Really?'
'Well I've done some bad things,' she told him. 'I need to make amends. I need to pay for what I've done.'
'It's not as if you're responsible for the whole virus,' Nick insisted but Rochelle shook her head.
'Look, we're not going to have a whole lot of time,' she said. 'Let's talk about something else.'
'Alright,' Nick stepped close to her and put his hands on her shoulders. 'Back when you were shot... I just... I couldn't think. I couldn't bear the thought of losing you.'
'Even though you don't really know who I am?' Rochelle joked.
'I knew you wouldn't shoot me,' Nick told her. 'I know that you wanted to risk your life to save Ellis. I know you went with Coach to do something that was important to him.' He squeezed her shoulders gently. 'I know that you've changed me, Ro.' Rochelle blushed and smiled. She moved forward into Nick's embrace and appreciated the warmth of his body. He smelt awful as he had not showered in days but Rochelle did not care. She was just happy to be in his arms. Rochelle's thoughts of the future and the past had vanished. There was only right now. Nothing else mattered.
*
Elsewhere on the cruise ship, Norah Hanham and Richard Jaeger met in a conference room. There was a large television screen on one of the walls that was showing the global position of the cruise ship. They were still off the coast of America.
'We need to talk about the Director,' Jaeger told her.
'He is a menace,' Norah said passionately. 'A threat to the entire world. We need to find him and bring him to justice.'
'It won't be that simple,' Jaeger raised his hand. 'We both know what he has done but the evidence of his guilt was lost back in New Orleans. We need a different strategy to bring him down.'
'I'm open to suggestions,' Norah leant back in her chair.
'We picked up four survivors just before the Director destroyed the Abraham Lincoln,' Jaeger explained. 'They're called Bill, Francis, Louis and Zoey. They each seem highly adept at combat.'
'So are Coach, Nick, Ellis and Rochelle,' Norah told Jaeger while at the same time, Zoey was walking across the deck of the ship and noticed someone she thought looked familiar. In a shocked state, Zoey ran up to Rochelle.
'Is it really you?' Zoey asked her.
'Oh my God, Zoey!' Rochelle cried. 'I thought you were dead!'
'I thought you were dead!' Zoey chuckled, glancing over to Nick. 'Hey, have we met before?'
'This is spooky,' Nick muttered.
Back in the conference room, Norah held her hand up.
'We're not using these civilians to fight,' she told him.
'From what I hear, Rochelle is a spy working for one of CEDA's competitors.'
'We're not using them,' Norah was firm.
'Look, I know Avery Ingram,' Jaeger spoke candidly. 'He will hide behind CEDA. When he does that he will be untouchable. We need to think about this another way.' He and Norah thought for a moment. Their brainstorm was interrupted as the image on the monitor turned into one of the Director, grinning at them.
'Hello Madam Secretary,' he spoke to Norah before nodding to Jaeger. 'Admiral. It is so nice to see you all again.'
'How the hell did you get access to this channel?' Jaeger asked. 'I promise you this, Avery, I am going to hang your ass out!'
'I'm so delighted to hear that you two made it out alive,' the Director spoke with a false smile. 'And how you masterfully destroyed all of my plans.'
'Your scheme was evil,' Norah spoke up. 'It needed to be stopped.'
'You,' the Director said angrily to her. 'How did you manage to destroy everything I had worked for?'
'You were flawed,' she answered plainly. 'In so many ways.'
'That's nonsense,' the Director spat.
'No it's not, it's the truth!' Norah insisted. 'Do you know what the biggest flaw in your whole evil plan was, Director? You based it around a fucking zombie apocalypse!'
'I wanted to save the world and you have ensured that more people will die in order to achieve my goals, staring with that spy you were working with.'
'Rochelle?' Norah asked.
'Yes,' the Director nodded. 'Then I will take out the rest of you and then I will save the world from its own stupidity!' The Director began to laugh menacingly as Norah and Jaeger exchanged glances.
Outside, some soldiers interrupted Nick, Rochelle and Zoey by forcing Rochelle away by gunpoint. They pulled her inside, leaving Nick and Zoey watching hopelessly. Norah disconnected the Director's transmission and looked at Jaeger.
'This is no longer a vendetta for justice,' she told him. 'This is war.'
