DISCLAIMER: The "Pitch Perfect" screenplay was written by Kay Cannon and the movie franchise is owned by Gold Circle Films. The song "Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough" was written by Patty Smyth and Glen Burtnik. The author of this fanfiction does not profit, in any way, from the story. All creative rights to the characters and titles belong to their original creator(s).
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Of course they went to the military base. It would not be a horror fic if they did not go there.
Sometimes Love Just Ain't Enough
"Fear is pain arising from the anticipation of evil." – Aristotle
The closer the light armored vehicle got to the military base outside the city, the more zombies it encountered.
"That's odd. There shouldn't be any of those things out here," Mr. Posen muttered.
He was deep in thought when Aubrey screamed, "DAD!" and pointed out the windshield at the horde of zombies heading toward them.
Mr. Posen's military training kicked in and he stepped on the accelerator, "Brace for impact!"
He never let up on the accelerator as the light armored vehicle plowed through the zombies like a hot knife through butter. Only after they cleared the horde did he slow down. As they approached the military base, he sensed something was dangerously wrong.
"DAD! LOOK!" Aubrey yelled and pointed.
Mr. Posen slowly pulled up next to the military vehicle haphazardly parked on the side of the road. His sense of foreboding was confirmed by the sight of Major Smith's body leaning back in the driver's seat, the top of his head blown off.
"What do you think happened? Where is Captain Walp? Do you think he killed Major Smith?" Aubrey anxiously rapid-fired.
"Aubrey, calm down and look. I suspect they encountered a horde like we did, but were taken by surprise. See, the driver's side window is down. It looks like Major Smith was bitten on the arm and decided to take his own life. As for Captain Walp, I can only speculate he was either carried off by those things or he ran off," Aubrey's dad answered.
"Why would Major Smith let his guard down?" Aubrey wondered.
"Because there aren't supposed to be any of those things this close to the base. We put several men in the towers around the base with a "terminate-with-extreme-prejudice" order on those things," Mr. Posen stated.
"Then something has gone wrong at the base," Aubrey surmised.
"Exactly," Mr. Posen agreed.
"I think we should go back to the compound. It's safe there," Aubrey suggested.
"No, I need to find out what happened at the base," Mr. Posen adamantly stated.
Aubrey looked at her father's determined profile and knew she would not be able to change his mind. She sighed and sat back in her seat.
As they approached the front gate of the military base, their suspicions were sadly confirmed. The front gate was wide open and the base was overrun with zombies. Aubrey was terrified and wished she was back at the compound with Stacie. Unfortunately, her father had no such fears and drove onto the base. He drove directly to the command center.
"D…D…Dad," Aubrey stuttered and pointed.
The command center door was splattered with blood. All around them, zombies were eating their victims. Aubrey's father surveyed the situation and decided he needed to get inside the command center, no matter how much Aubrey begged and pleaded for him to leave. He leaned back into the rear compartment of the light armored vehicle, flipped open a side panel door, and removed a semi-automatic rifle.
After confirming the weapon was locked and loaded, he ordered, "Stay here and keep the doors locked. Do NOT exit this vehicle under ANY circumstances! Understand?"
Aubrey nodded and her father handed her the keys. As soon as he deemed the area clear enough, he quickly exited the light armored vehicle and made his way to the command center door. Aubrey could feel her heart pounding in her ears. She watched her father slip inside the command center. As she stared at the blood splattered door, a loud thud scared her. She looked out the window and saw a young man with the right side of his face missing. He pawed at the window, trying to get at Aubrey. Soon, several other zombies were pounding on the windows and shaking the light armored vehicle. She was quaking with fear, so she placed her head between her legs and covered her ears. It felt like hours before the pounding and shaking stopped. She heard the sound of tapping on the window and looked up. Her father motioned for her to open the door. She hesitated and only after visually checking him for bites, did she finally open the door.
"Dad, what happened?" Aubrey asked.
"We took back the command center," Mr. Posen triumphantly announced.
Aubrey stepped out of the vehicle. Zombie bodies littered the area. Several soldiers stood behind her father, securing his safety while he retrieved his terrified daughter. The detail hurried Aubrey and her father back into the command center. As soon as they stepped inside, the still terrified blonde was escorted to a small room, handed a pill and a paper cup of water.
"What is this?" Aubrey asked.
"A sedative," the soldier stated, "Colonel Posen ordered we give it to you."
"I don't want this," Aubrey protested.
"It will help," the soldier pointed to Aubrey's shaking hands.
Aubrey refused and the soldier left her with the sedative. She wandered around the sparsely populated command center and found the medical facility. Aubrey wondered if this was where Chloe had been kept, so she searched it for any evidence. She found a weathered medical backpack and rummaged through it. After finding nothing of use, she emptied it and continued searching. During her search, she loaded the backpack with medical supplies she felt they would need at the compound. When she tried to open the closed door to an adjoining room, she discovered it was locked with a card key lock. She put down her medical backpack and searched for the card key. She found it in a desk drawer and opened the door.
When she saw a file folder with Chloe's photo attached, she knew she found her friend's holding cell. Aubrey stuffed the file folder in the backpack and opened a tall cabinet. Inside, she found hundreds of vials.
"How many of these did they test on Chloe?"
Aubrey grabbed all the vials marked "Z2012" and put them in the backpack, along with a few boxes of syringes. She was searching through another tall cabinet when a passing soldier found her. He escorted her back to the small waiting room.
Back at the compound, Stacie controlled her ever-mounting anxiety by throwing herself into her daily chores. Watching Beca and Chloe in the throes of their new relationship was difficult at best, so the anxious brunette kept her interactions with the couple at a minimum.
One day, while Stacie was in the basement performing a maintenance on "Greased Lightning" and Beca was at her station in the security room, Chloe decided to work on her long-range shooting skills. Even though Beca and Stacie assured her she was a better shot than Aubrey, she honed her shooting prowess every single day, keeping their finite stock of ammunition in mind. She brought Aubrey's sniper rifle outside and challenged herself by shooting at distant objects through the small openings in the fence, from well within the compound yard. She successfully hit everything she shot. After reloading, she looked through the scope, took aim at a tree in the distance, but before she pulled the trigger, something large blocked her scope. She looked up and saw her worst nightmare standing a few feet away from the fence. Chloe felt as if everything was moving in slow motion as she stared at the man who put her through hell.
"Chloe-e-e…," Chicago called out as he looked around.
Chicago turned towards the compound and smiled when he saw Chloe.
"I've come back for you-u-u…," Chicago said in a sing-song voice and walked towards the fence.
Beca bolted out the front door and yelled, "CHLOE!"