Chapter 22: Hostility

Mercury looked up, seeing Kimmy return with several cups of water that she had obtained from a dispenser and a handful of bandages in her hands. She placed them down next to Mercury's array of medicine bottles and pills had had collected. She wondered what would Mercury concoct with this strange bizarre of liquids. She was highly reminded of bartenders mixing cocktails. Mercury seemed to have noticed her apprehensive look.

" You doubt me?" he asked.

" No, it's just that all this looks pretty…" Kimmy started.

" Bizarre, not doubt," Mercury finished.

" It's strange you can concoct an antidote for a virus out of all this nonsense," Kimmy confessed.

" No doubt, it is strange, because I'm not making an antidote, or a cure for that matter," Mercury replied.

Kimmy was totally taken aback. " Wait a minute, if you are not going to create a cure, then…"

" Relax, let me explain," Mercury said. He had emptied a bottle of tablets and was in the process of crushing them with the butt of a glass bottle. " It is practically impossible to make an antidote or a vaccine to destroy the virus. I've already explained earlier, you would need to have a high-tech lab to do that, which we don't have. What I am doing here is making a serum that will inhibit the virus. It does not cure him, it just makes the virus temporary useless in his body. This is only a temporary measure, and a vaccine will need to be administrated when we do get off this island, but this will have to do right now."

Kimmy nodded, not too bothered with whatever method Mercury uses, as long as Max will live. Kimmy saw Mercury start his work. Using small empty bottles, he started pouring the specific fluids into each bottle. It was also mixed with some powder obtained from the crushed tablets. He poured out another bottle and started crushing other pieces of tablets into very fine pieces.

Kimmy looked around. Phoenix was nowhere to be seen.

---

Phoenix did not like what he saw. Crouching behind the dispensary counter and looking from the side where the door had broken apart, he had a good view of the hospitals front entrance.

Five stealthy figures, all armed with rifles and donning Kevlar vests, slowly made their way inside the hospital. They moved quietly along, spreading out slightly to search the area. Phoenix had all the reason to suspect that they had followed them here, and they were not here for a friendly occasion. They occasionally took cover behind walls and pillars once in a while, signaling that they were trying to avoid being shot at. They either had to be very dumb, since zombies don't use guns, or they were expecting another sort of enemy.

Phoenix slowly made his way back to the storage room where Mercury was bending over the floor with an array of bottles surrounding him. Kimmy looked up worriedly as they entered.

" We've got company…" Phoenix whispered.

" God, zombies…" Kimmy gasped.

" Worse, Navy Seals…" Phoenix said. He saw Kimmy's eyes widen in shock. Mercury however looked impassive.

" Why are they here?" Kimmy asked.

" Somehow I think they are here to kill us. Matches your government hostility theory," Phoenix said.

" That was not a theory. It was a fact," Mercury shot back.

" Whatever it is, they aren't here to welcome us. It won't be long before they realize we are here. We can take them by surprise, but we are still slightly out-numbered," Phoenix said.

Mercury did not reply. He just started mixing several solutions together. Phoenix and Kimmy watched as he poured out a pinkish looking liquid into a transparent bottle. He then screwed it tightly with a cap and held it out to Phoenix while saying " Here, take this and throw it at the front entrance. After that, fire and break down the glass door in front."

" And why the fuck would I want to do that?" Phoenix demanded.

" Just trust me. It'll take too long to explain," Mercury said.

Phoenix was far from being convinced, so Kimmy took it up to herself to do the task. Taking the bottle from Mercury's hand, she slowly crawled to the front dispensary desk, closely followed by Phoenix, who kept saying that he did not like this idea. Kimmy took no notice of his words. With one fluid motion, she threw the bottle into the air.

The Navy Seals saw the small bottle sailing in the air and somehow mistook it for a grenade. All five of the dived out of the way as the bottle came crashing down on the floor, shattering to bits and sending the liquid inside the bottle splashing everywhere. Before the Navy Seals could react, Kimmy took this chance to raise her pistol and fire repeatedly at the front door. The glass door shattered immediately, not before the Navy Seals opened fire at them.

Phoenix and Kimmy dropped behind the desk as they opened fire at them. The firestorm was enormous, almost deafening them as the sounds of machinegun fire echoed loudly around them. Bits and pieces of wood and tiles rained down on them as the Navy Seals started to rip the desk to bits.

" I told you whatever it was it was a fucking bad idea!" Phoenix yelled over the din, although he was not sure Mercury heard it.

" And I told you to trust me," Mercury yelled back through the din, not sounding very alarmed.

---

The two Navy Seals approached the corner with caution. A quick outside check told them that this small corridor where their target was hiding lead to an emergency exit to the outside. Their target was still hiding, since they did not hear the sound of any door opening. They knew they had their target, but they still proceeded with utmost caution, taking one step at a time. Their target was unarmed, and there was no way he could go up against to rifles with his bare fists.

The two Navy Seals stopped when they heard an unfamiliar hissing sound. A second later, a small cloud of white smoke started to fill up the corridor. The Navy Seals started to back up as the smoke threatened to consume them.

However, they realized something. Their target had actually discharged the fire extinguisher, and he was blowing the fumes in an attempt to blind them, although they almost wanted to laugh at his attempt. It was a good, and desperate idea, but unfortunately, the white fumes range was limited. Both the Navy Seals walked backwards and took up positions at the junction of the corridor, staying in the pool area. As expected, the white fumes from the fire extinguisher had a limited range, pouring out into the pool area and disappearing. As long as they kept their distance, the 'smoke bomb' would have no chance to blind them and it also gave them a clear view just in case their target decided to burst out of the white smog.

Soon enough, the hissing sound stopped and the white cover started to disperse. They realized their target was lost. The best weapon he had now was probably the empty fire extinguisher. One of the Navy Seals nodded towards his partner. His partner nodded in reply as the first moved forward to attack while his partner stayed behind to cover his back. The Navy Seal jumped forward, his rifle raised as the emergency exit corridor came to full view. Save for a fire extinguisher left on the floor, it was empty. A belt was tied tightly to the trigger of the object.

" What is it?" the second asked, seeing his partner's hesitation.

" He's gone," the second said. Is this guy some kind of magician skilled in disappearing acts?

" What?"

" He disappeared, that's what I mean," the second replied.

They were so shocked by this that they did not notice a figure rise from the pool area. A large figure rose like a shadow, swiftly emerging from the pool. The second Navy Seal barely heard the sound of dripping water in time as he felt Dalton's arms wrap around his tightly.

The fire extinguisher's range was fortunately enough to reach the swimming pool. Unbeknown to the two Navy Seals, Dalton slipped unnoticed by them and slowly and quietly slipped himself into the pool area. He submerged himself in the water to hide himself as the Navy Seals moved in to what they thought would be a kill. Dalton was quite surprised that he was able to pull this off. Now, with the upper hand, Dalton was not about to blow his chance.

He grabbed the trigger of the rifle and pulled hard, even though the Navy Seal tried to resist him. The rifle fired, several bullets hitting the other Navy Seal. He gave a groan of pain as he dropped to his knees as the rifle stopped firing, out of ammunition.

He was now in his element. Dalton had his own experience in close quarter combat, and he is a rather versatile wrestler. Twisting himself around, he locked his arms around the man with his back towards his. With a surge of strength, Dalton lifted him over his head and tossed him into the pool. The man fell in with a splash, his equipment weighing him down.

Taking a deep breath, he jumped in and landed on the man underwater with such force that he knocked the wind out of the unfortunate fellow. Temporarily stunned, Dalton used this chance to grapple the man and press him under. The man tried to struggle, but Dalton was much stronger than him now after knocking the wind out of him and he had his two feet planted on the pool floor. The man did not struggle for long. He stopped, then the rigors set in for several seconds before he stopped moving altogether. Dalton checked his pulse to make sure before releasing him.

As he released the man, he contemplated his kill. This was not a zombie, but a human being. Dalton had killed once before when he was young, but that was a time when he was still roaming the streets as a vagabond. This was different. However, he just shrugged. After all, this man tried to kill him first and if Dalton did not reverse the order, he knew very well he would be next.

As he was about to pull himself out of the pool, he heard what sounded like Iris's scream.

---

The Navy Seals continued their barrage of fire, making sure to keep their attack constant. Both Phoenix and Kimmy cringed as the Navy Seals continued to pour heavy fire towards them, smashing the desk they were covering themselves with to bits. Splinters of wood and small pieces of tiles rained down on them as the sound of gunfire roared all around them.

" Whatever you had in mind doesn't seem to be working!" Phoenix reminded. He just hoped that the Navy Seals would not use grenades to snuff them out. He badly wanted to return fire, but with the intense barrage of bullets flying his way, he could not get the chance unless he risked the chance of getting shot at.

" Just a little longer…" came the reply from the storage room, although Mercury's voice sounded very soft among the din.

Kimmy wondered how much longer could they wait when all of a sudden, the firing stopped. The hospital suddenly kept quiet, a rather eerie sepulchral feeling. Phoenix knew better than to think the Navy Seals thought they had hit their targets. Either they were just waiting for a reaction, or something else caught their attention. Almost as soon as they stopped firing, they started again, but it was to Phoenix's and Kimmy's surprise that their attack this time was not aimed at them. No bullets came flying their way. Phoenix slowly looked up from his cover to take a look at what was happening.

At the entrance of the hospital were Kimmy had shot down the automatic glass door, a whole load of zombies came rushing in, their arms outstretched and their teeth gnashing furiously. It was this group that the Navy Seals are concentration fire at. The first line of zombies fell from the attack of the Navy Seals , but there were more than enough zombies behind the first line to keep them busy.

Kimmy remembered Mercury mentioning that the zombies' olfactory senses were still working, and whatever he had asked them to throw attracted the zombies like moth to a flame. Mercury's plan in using the zombies to their advantage was a good plan, but Kimmy could not see how they were going to escape from this area when the zombies were surrounding the place.

" Nice plan, but how the hell are we going to get out of here?" Phoenix yelled at Mercury, having the same thoughts as Kimmy. Mercury did not reply, so he called out again. Still not reply.

" You better check and see if he is alright. I'll keep and eye on the proceedings here," Phoenix said. Kimmy nodded and slowly, she crawled back inside, mindful to keep her head low as she returned inside the storage area.

" Mercury…? Hey, answer me, damn it!" Kimmy cried. She could see Mercury behind one of the shelves, his back slightly jutting out from the corner. However, at this distance, he should have heard her. Her mind immediately assumed the worse as she ran up to him.

" Mercury!" she exclaimed, running in front of him.

" Huh? What?" Mercury asked, looking up at her with a rather dazed look. Kimmy immediately saw why. Having found a small knife somewhere, he had used it to slit his wrist and from the wound, he was pouring out his blood the best he could into a bottle. His face seemed to have lost some colour and the lost of blood probably affected his senses.

" Are you crazy? What are you trying to do? Kill yourself?" Kimmy yelled, shocked. She tried to stop him, but Mercury shook her off.

" You don't understand. I need to do this. If I wanted to commit suicide, I would have chosen a much less painful way to do so," Mercury said. He winced as he spoke, his vision blurring slightly. Deciding he had enough blood, he stopped himself. He started to cleanse his wound and when he looked up, Kimmy was back with a roll of bandages.

" Thanks…" Mercury said softly, as Kimmy quickly bandaged his wrists. She did not do it properly. The bandage was folded over each other, making the cloth look bulky on Mercury's arm. He did not mind it though, as he cut off the end and made a tight not.

" What was all that for? You can't seriously tell me that's to make a serum!" Kimmy demanded.

" Well, you are half correct actually…" Mercury said weakly.

" Half correct?"

" I already told you that I'm rather resistant towards the virus. By mixing it with these stuff here, I hope that somehow that my blood can sort of inhibit the virus for a while. These crummy medicine that is being stocked here can only prolong his life for a few hours. This is the quickest and surest way to help him. There is about a one in a million chance that my blood can completely neutralize the virus in him, but I'm not hoping for that," Mercury explained. He was now mixing his blood into several bottles he had prepared.

" What about blood type compatibility?" Kimmy asked.

" Relax, I'm a universal donor," Mercury calmly replied.

" What's the other half?" Kimmy asked.

" Strange thing is, when blood is burned with some chemicals, strangely enough, it will deter zombies from approaching," Mercury replied.

" You plan to burn this stuff along with your blood to keep zombies away?" Kimmy asked.

" Yes, and now since you are here, you can help me stuff those bandages into those bottles," Mercury replied, pushing towards her several empty bottles.

" What for?"

" Just do as I say, will you?"

---

Phoenix fired several shots , aiming carefully before firing . His shots most of the time hit their marks: the middle of the zombie's forehead.

Phoenix carefully weighed his actions. The zombies were coming in an on-coming storm, and it would not be long before the Navy Seals would be overwhelmed as they run out of ammunition. It surprised Phoenix at first when the Navy Seals did not back off and run towards the back of the hospital to escape the zombies. Phoenix guessed that they were afraid that Phoenix would take a shot at them, since running towards the inner areas of the hospital gave Phoenix a clear shot of them if they moved in the open.

He decided to take off some pressure of the Navy Seals by killing off some zombies. If they really needed to get out of here, Phoenix would just need to hit them in the back. Leaving them alone will only quicken the entry of the zombies, something he was eager to avoid.

Reloading a fresh clip into his rifle, he raised his rifle once again, but he stopped himself from firing as he saw a familiar figure walking across the hospital lobby. It was hard not to miss the tough, black leathery exterior of the hunter.

The hunter had not noticed Phoenix behind the counter, but it has sure noticed the five Navy Seals firing at the zombies. It moved slowly, dragging its feet along the way as it stealthily moved across the floor. It looked like it was contemplating its kill, five people with their backs towards it was just a moment to savour for the hunter, and it just seemed to be doing that. It stretched its claws slightly, then gave a low growl, which the Navy Seals were to preoccupied to hear.

Just as the hunter was about to pounce, Phoenix gave a loud yell. The hunter spun around, surprised as it saw Phoenix behind the counter. Before it could decide what to do next, a Navy Seal had spotted its presence. Warning his other fellow compatriots, all five turned around and fired at the same time. The hunter lurched backwards as it got hit by bullet after bullet, flying in the air and falling down in a heap, dead.

It was not the end of their problems. A couple of hunters came out from behind the back, followed by several others from all over. Phoenix even noticed one, surprisingly, coming out of the female toilet. All of them gave a tremendous howl as they swarmed in for the attack.

The Navy Seals saw a no-win situation when they saw it. As soon as the hunters charged, the scattered into all directions while continually firing their weapons. One of them was in such a panic, he turned 180 degrees around and ran into the open arms of the zombies. He screamed in horror and pain as the zombies converged around him for a feast. His machine guns chatter stopped after it was empty.

Another made his way down the lobby, which was a stupid move as three hunters moved in around him. With superb accuracy, two of them leaped at him and sank their claws into his elbow joints before pulling it away, ripping his arm way from his joint. Phoenix watched without flinching as they cut off his arms, blood rushing around from the severed joints. He did not get to scream in time as the third lobbed his head off. Even before the body dropped to the floor, the hunters savagely ripped his body to shreds.

All the other Navy Seals made their way to safety, running into other areas and rooms with at least a hunter close behind. The rest of the hunters launched themselves towards the zombies, cutting them down like logs. The head of the decapitated Navy Seal bounced and rolled to where Phoenix was. He merely looked at it, seeing the man's eyes opened in sheer terror and his mouth wide open for a scream.

A howl made him look up. One of the hunters had spotted him and was running towards him. As it leaped up with its arms stretched backwards, Phoenix fired, pulling the trigger hard and exhausting half his load into the creature. It gave a sort of muffle gasping sound, which made Phoenix chuckle, before crashing down on the floor right in front of where Phoenix was hiding.

He dropped back down, hoping no other hunter had caught him in the act. There was the sound of the hunters ripping out flesh, and it sounded very gruesome in his ears, expect there was no screaming in pain since the zombies were dumb dead beings. He heard a loud howl somewhere which was silenced halfway, signaling that another Navy Seal had succumbed to the claws of the hunter.

Phoenix then wondered if the hunters' sudden intrusion was caused by Mercury. The stuff they threw probably attracted the zombies, but it might have caused the hunters to arrive as well. " That guy is insane…" Phoenix said under his breath.

At that very moment, a hunter leaped over the desk he was covering himself with landing a feet in front of Phoenix. He wasted no time in emptying his gun into the hunter.