The Smashing Dead
Episode 5: No Lives Left
Part 1
"What do you want from me?" Ike asked, trying to keep his tone down, "Whatever it is, I'll do it and you can let him go."
"I want you to never hurt anybody again." The voice said, "This isn't a kidnapping, Ike."
"Then what is it?"
"A rescue."
Ike didn't dare to reply, thinking saying anything else would make everything worse.
"He better not fucking hurt him. I swear I'll…" Ike couldn't finish his sentence.
Ike put the walkie-talkie back in his pocket.
"This is bad, but we can deal with it together." Samus said, "We're going to need to hurry."
Douglas looked worriedly at Ike's bite.
"How's that feeling?" Samus asked.
"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Ike replied.
"It wasn't a full chomp…" Douglas said.
"We don't have a lot of time." Samus said
"We're about to have a lot less." Douglas added, pointing towards the door.
A hoard of walkers were making their way through the sewers, travelling towards the room.
"We three will hold them off." Samus said.
Douglas and Little Mac shut the door, and Samus perched behind a table, pointing her gun.
"Ike, find a way out of here!" told Samus.
Ike frantically searched around the room. The only other way out was through an elevator, but there was no power and the door wouldn't pry open.
There was a cabinet full of surgical supplies, and among them was something that looked like a car jack. Ike didn't want to think about it being used on a body. He picked up the spreading device and slipped it into the elevator doors.
"I'll have these doors open in two seconds!" Ike reported.
Ike cranked the device and opened the doors a small bit. He was about to open the door completely until he suddenly felt nauseous.
"Oh no." Ike said to himself.
Ike crashed onto the floor, vision becoming blurry. He could not turn. Not after he's come so far.
Fuzzy voices surrounded Ike, buzzing like flies.
"What the hell happened?" Douglas said.
"It's the bite." Samus replied.
"Well, what can we do?" Douglas asked.
"I don't know." Samus said, "Help me move him!"
Ike strained to hear more, but he couldn't fight anymore. He surrendered and passed out.
"You sure this will help?" Douglas asked, his voice suddenly clear.
"You have any better ideas?" Samus shot back, "It's now or never."
Ike opened his eyes slowly, vision still blurry. As his vision cleared, he noticed the saw held at Ike's arm. They were going to cut his arm off.
"WHOA!" Ike screamed, shooting up.
"Stop!" Little Mac said, "He's awake! He's awake!"
"He's bitten." Douglas reminded, "We've still gotta do something."
"Do we have to cut if off though?!"
"We're trying to save him! Or at least buy him some time." Samus argued.
"But this way?" Little Mac questioned.
"Do we know it works?" Douglas added.
"Of course not." Samus replied.
"Is there going to be a lot of blood?" Little Mac asked.
"A shitload of blood."
"What if he dies?" Douglas considered.
"Then the rest of us go after Ness and get the hell out of here." Samus answered.
"Hey, I'm sitting right here." Ike pointed out."
"Sorry…" Douglas said.
"It's not really our call anymore." Said Samus.
"Yeah, no shit." Ike retorted.
"If we take off your arm and not die from blood loss, maybe you won't die from the bite." Douglas explained.
"What do you think?" Samus asked.
"No. We leave it." Ike said.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. I feel like I've got home. Just keep an eye on me. If I get my hands on that bastard who's got Ness, I'm going to be happy to have them both."
"But, you're going to die." Douglas argued.
"Yeah, I am. But not here." Ike got off of the table, "You guys watch the door, and I'll get us out of here."
"Ike-"
"No. This is what we're doing and I don't want to hear anything else, okay?"
Ike opened the elevator doors until the spreading device broke. Ike shoved the doors to make a wider gap so they could all pass through.
The elevator shaft was eerily quiet, and there was no elevator in sight. The only way up was by a thin, rusty ladder.
"Well, up we go." Ike told the group.
"We're going to have to go as quiet as possible and see if we can make it to an empty floor or even to the roof." Samus said.
"Sounds good." Douglas agreed.
Little Mac climbed up the ladder first, then Douglas, then Samus and finally Ike.
"Nice and quiet everybody." Douglas whispered.
"There's some light up there." Samus quietly reported.
"Good. I gotta get my ass of this ladder." Ike replied.
Ike looked up and saw a figure falling down the shaft. Ike hugged close to the ladder and saw a walker's corpse crash onto the ground, spraying blood everywhere.
"Oh man…oh jeez." Little Mac whimpered.
"Everything okay up there?" Ike asked.
"I think I just peed myself." Little Mac admitted.
"So that's a yes then."
The group continued the climb up the ladder. Ike suddenly felt nauseous again.
No. Not again. Not on the ladder. Ike's hands slipped from the rungs and he swung backwards, head slamming on the rungs below.
"Ike, Ike!" Samus quietly called, "Are you alive? Get up!"
Ike found himself hanging upside-down on the ladder, staring down the deep chasm that was the elevator shaft.
"I'm alive." Ike said.
"You have to pull yourself up." Samus told him.
Ike grabbed the rung above him and resumed climbing. Each floor they passed was overwhelmed with walkers.
Soon, the group reached the roof. Down below, the streets were also infested with walkers.
"Wasn't this city empty not too long ago?" Douglas asked.
"I guess HH did one thing right…" Samus replied.
"There's thousands…"
"Did they follow us here?" Little Mac asked.
"It seems like it but it can't be, can it?" Douglas considered.
"Ness is out there somewhere. Gobbled up in all of it." Ike said.
"We'll get to him, Ike. We'll do whatever we have to." Samus replied, "Look, let's get our bearings and see if we can figure out a way to make it across town. Good?"
"I, uh, don't think we can just ignore what just happened to Ike." Douglas said.
"I just lost my footing." Ike replied, "I'm fine."
"Just let us know if you're feeling funny. Like, if things are happening." Said Samus.
"I know. It's just dizziness. I'm all good."
"As good as you can be."
"Yeah."
"Well, now what?" Douglas asked.
"We go down there and find a scared little boy." Samus planned, "Let's try to get our bearings."
Douglas and Samus went to different parts of the roof, while Little Mac and Ike stayed still. Ike noticed something about Little Mac, as if he were thinking.
"Are you alright?" Ike asked.
"I think I'm staring at my worst nightmare." Little Mac said, "Just a dust haze of death."
"Try to keep yourself together. We got to get off this roof."
"I know. I just…" Little Mac trailed off.
Ike could tell Little Mac was thinking back to HH. His confessions, his regrets, his mistake. His plead for death.
"Do you still want to die?" Ike asked out loud.
"I'm more afraid of getting someone else killed."
"I'll make sure that doesn't happen. As well as I can."
"Thanks…including me?"
"Getting bitten is not that bad."
"Really…?"
"No. It's a death sentence. It's horrible. But try not to worry about it."
Ike walked away, ending the conversation. There was nothing around the building that could help distract the walkers except for a bell tower on the next building. Ike picked up a ladder and made his way towards the tower. Ike gently lowered the ladder on the gap between buildings.
"The bells?" Samus guessed.
"Yeah. It should buy us some time." Ike explained, "Draw as many walkers as we can this way, get down off the roof on the opposite side and bust our asses getting back to the house."
"You shouldn't be the one to go." Samus said.
"My leg's feeling better, let me do it." Douglas offered.
"I'll do it." Little Mac said.
"If we have to decide who takes a risk like this, it should be the one with the least to lose." Ike replied, "What's the worst that can happen? I get bit again?"
Everybody said no reply.
"Good. We're decided then." Ike said.
Ike began climbing up the ladder. Only a few creaks broke the silence. Suddenly, the hatch on the ladder snapped off, the ladder slowly falling off of the building.
"Shit!" Ike exclaimed.
Without thinking, Ike jumped for the bell tower, nearly missing the fall. The ladder shot down to the ground, crushing a walker when it landed.
"Holy shit, man!" Douglas yelled.
"Are you okay?" Samus asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Ike replied.
"Try to find another way out of there?" Douglas suggested.
The only exit off the bell tower was a hatch, but it was locked. He was stranded. Ike ignored his trouble and rung the bell. The sound resonated through the alleyways and buildings. It could be heard for miles.
"There coming this way!" Samus reported.
"There's tons of them!" Douglas exclaimed.
"Now, come back here!" Samus said to Ike.
"I think I have to jump!" Ike said.
"Be careful!"
Ike backed up and sprinted towards the edge of the bell tower. At the last second, he leaped forward, barely clearing the gap.
"Nice." Samus said, helping Ike up, "Now let's get the hell out of here."
The streets were now clear. Clear so the group could run through them.
[Back at the house…]
The four made it back to the house safely with no problems. The yard was quiet, and Link was nowhere to be seen. Ike heard a rattling sound coming from the shack. The door was propped close with a shovel.
"YOU MOTHERFUCKERS." Link screamed from the inside.
Ike quickly removed the shovel and swung the doors open. Link stood there, arms crossed and an angry expression. Angrier than before. Ike suddenly noticed what was wrong.
The shack was empty.
The boat was gone.