Reunion

André helped the rest of the people from the last cell to the exit and waited for the others.

- Okay, everyone went to the exit. Let's go up and find them. - He said holding the pistol.

It was weird. He was so used to seeing that in movies and tv shows, but as soon as he held it he was… scared. It was just an object, but it could end a life if he wasn't careful. It was much heavier than he'd imagined, and the feel of the cold metal on his skin gave him goosebumps. He didn't want to have to get used to that feeling.

- THEY ARE HERE! THE DEAD ARE IN THE BUILDING!

The scream startled everyone. If there were enough walkrs to defeat the soldiers and invade the building, the shots must have attracted more of them.

- Shit, we gotta run.

They agreed with the leader and started running towards the ramp, but got a surprise on the way.

—

- So Kaique is dead?

- Yes, they killed him in front of us.

Amanda, Danilo and Sasha found Igor across the floor in the same position as them; about to be executed for their experiment. Luckily he was alone in the room chained to a pipe.

- Elisa too, but she gave them hell before she died. - He said massaging his wrists. - Are you ok? Did they hurt you? - He asked Sasha taking her face in her hands.

- No, I'm okay. - She said hugging him.

- Seriously, this is really cute, but now we have to find Isa. - Amanda said making the couple separate, both blushing, and went towards the ramp, but stopped when she heard gunfire coming from below.

- What was that? - Igor asked.

- Trouble. Let's go up and-

- Look out André!

Amanda stopped when she heard her brother's name, the voice that shouted sounded very familiar too. It had to be him. Only him to cause all that chaos for her.

- … Do you think— Danilo started to ask, thinking the same thing as the girl.

- Yeah! It's him! - She said running down the ramp to the floor below, the others following her.

The first floor contained the court on one side and more halls with rooms on the other, when Amanda and the others were taken they went up the ramp that was on the side of the court, and were now descending on the one that was on the side of the rooms. Their biggest concern was getting there and encountering more soldiers, but to their surprise it was a walker who approached. She used the knife they used to remove her bonds to pierce the creature's skull, killing it. Up ahead they saw a group of people fighting a few more of them. It was them. Amanda smiled and walked over to help when she was suddenly pushed.

- How did you get out of your cells?! - the soldier who was now pressing the girl against the wall asked.

- Let go of me, asshole!

André had just crushed a walker's head with his foot when he heard his sister's voice. There she was, he found her. And he saw a soldier taking the knife from her hand. He didn't think. He just raised the gun and fired. As he didn't know how to use it correctly the shot hit the ceiling, scaring the man and making him drop the girl. Danilo used the chance to hit his head with the gun and knock him out, while Murilo dealt with the last walker. After picking up the knife from the ground, Amanda wasted no time running to her brother giving him a hug.

- I knew you would come.

- Of course I would, are you okay? Did they hurt you? - The eldest asked moving away from her and looking for injuries.

- Nothing that some therapy sessions won't solve. - She said laughing.

Amanda looked away from her brother and focused on Murilo, who opened and closed his mouth, relieved that his girlfriend was fine and not knowing what to say first.

- Amanda… I-

- Where is Isa? - Gui interrupted the boy when he didn't see his girlfriend.

- Shit! We have to find her! A guy took her upstairs! - She replied heading towards the ramp.

- What?! What did he do to her?!

- I don't know, let's go fast! - She said getting her spear back from Ana.

Everyone followed the girl up the ramp, Murilo tried to hide his disappoint whit himself for not being able to better formulate his words. Now they needed to make sure their friend was okay.

- We don't know where he took her. - Danilo remembered.

- He said he would take her to see the lieutenant, obviously it was a lie, but if the lieutenant has a room it must be the principal's. - Amanda said.

- How are you sure?

- I'm not, it's just a guess. Also, he must have taken her to a quiet place.

- What do you mean by that? - Gui asked scared.

- … There on the court he … - Amanda was very careful with the words she said. - … looked at her strangely.

- Stran… no. Please no. - The brunette with glasses pleaded desperately.

They climbed as fast as they could, checking the nameplates on each floor. On the fifth floor they could see the inscription "Principal's Room: 509" and they ran to the last door, the silence of the floor at the same time calming and worrying them. Gui ran faster, his breathing was uneven and his heart pounding, the fear of what he would see behind the door grew more and more. He threw open the door and felt his heart stop at the sight of a huge pool of blood on the floor. The worst crossed his mind, but then he realized that the blood was coming from the crushed head of a person wearing military uniforms. A soldier.

Looking to the back of the room, he saw a shrunken shadow. The relief he felt was conveyed by the long sigh and the tears that pooled down his eyes.

- Isa, my god, you are… thank god. - The guy said going to his girlfriend.

As he approached, he noticed that something was wrong. The girl showed no reaction to their presence; her eyes, purple and swollen, were wide and staring at her hands… which were stained with blood. It took a few seconds for Guilherme to understand what had happened. Calmly he knelt down in front of her and brought his hands to her face making her turn her eyes to him, the others remained distant.

- Love… look at me, it's okay now.

The voice sounded distant and muffled to the girl, but even so she forced herself to face the person in front of her and, little by little, the red faded, the image came back into focus and her boyfriend's face began to take shape. When she recognized him, she began to cry again, partly in relief and partly because of what she had done.

- I-I t-tried… I-I d-didn't w-want to… - She tried to say between sobs. - I'm s-sorry...

- No, there's no need to apologize. - The boy said pulling her gently to him and hugging her. - You just defended yourself, you didn't do anything wrong… I would have done much worse. - He thought.

The girl continued to cry in his arms as he whispered more words of comfort. Ana and Amanda approached and repeated some of Guilherme's words while Danilo examined the man's body with disgust and Rodrigo, to no one's surprise, took pictures of it. André took a few steps across the room until he stepped on one of the sheets of paper that had fallen to the floor, the words at the top of it caught his attention.

Evacuation Fleets

Evacuation plan from port cities and nearby towns for uninfected civilians.

Evacuation? For civilians?

André took the paper and read it thinking he had misunderstood. But no. According to that document and others that were on the table, the Brazilian Navy had separated ships to accommodate and rescue survivors.

- I can't believe this.

- What is it? - Murilo asked.

- There are rescue ships in port cities.

- What? How so? - Sasha asked not understanding.

- As soon as they heard about the dead coming back to life there was a conference to decide what to do, one of the first decisions was the rescue of civilians. - André read it. - This document was generated just 2 days after the outbreak. - He said showing the dates. - This operation was supposed to start a week after that in a port city and in two it should be informed in big cities.

- How have we never heard anything about it? - Murilo asked.

- Because I didn't allow it.

The voice came from the door and belonged to Lieutenant Roche, who was pointing a pistol at André.