CHAPTER 12
Anna and George walked down the stairs. They couldn't hear much, only the storm outside, and that seemed to be dieing down. They reached the bottom of the steps and heard loud gunfire, and both instantly drew their weapons. It took them a few seconds to realize the sounds had been from the television, and they both sighed quietly, putting their guns away and walking into the living room. Henry looked up at them, and shook Lucy. She woke up and looked up, then they both stood up.
"Anything outside?" Anna asked, looking in the direction of the window. Henry shook his head.
"No." he stated. George stopped the video using the remote, and the other two left the room to get some real sleep.
Jake slowed down as he reached a corner of the corridor he was in, hearing voices approaching. He slid along the wall silently to the edge, listening to what sounded like two soldiers walking towards him. Jake remembered he had no weaponry, not to mention much clothing, but felt he could easily overpower the soldiers.
They both turned the corner as Jake grabbed the nearest one by the neck and twisted it, snapping his neck and killing the soldier instantly. The second didn't have a chance to aim his assault rifle and fire in time, as Jake kicked the weapon from his hands, then swung his leg back, kicking the soldier in the face, and knocking him over. Jake jumped over the soldier and picked him up by his shoulders. The soldier suddenly kicked Jake in the kneecap hard, sending him off balance slightly, then smashed his elbow into Jake's head, knocking him onto his back. The soldier raised his foot to stamp on Jake's left foot, but Jake rolled backwards, just avoiding having his foot broken.
Jake jumped up onto his feet with his back to the guard, and spun round, swinging his leg up into the air and catching the soldier in the side of the head. He flew into the wall, giving Jake the opportunity to pull the knife from the guard's belt and slice his throat open.
The soldier slid to the floor against the wall, and Jake stood in silence incase anyone had heard the fight. Nobody had, and Jake quickly grabbed the closet body and started to remove his uniform.
Jake looked at himself in the uniform. Maybe now it'd be easier to pass as one of the enemy. He removed the ammo clip from the pistol, and found out it was fully loaded. He knew the assault rifle would more or less be full, as the soldier never fired a shot. He took the other pistol from the other soldier, but left the remaining assault rifle as he would have more trouble carrying it. Jake then turned around and continued on down the corridor, trying to remember where the helicopters were.
It was now bright outside, and everybody was awake and ready to move. George walked up to Alex. "How's the wound?" he asked, looking at the bloodied bandage wrapped around his arm. Alex looked at it.
"Painful." he replied. George nodded, then opened the door. They all walked out of the house one by one into the deserted street. It was silent outside, except for the slight whistle of the breeze brushing past them. "Where are we gonna go?" Alex asked to everybody around him.
"Well, we've tried the airport, and the secret military base, neither have worked." Anna explained.
"What about a boat or something?" Trevor asked.
"Damn! Why didn't I think of that?" Anna stated suddenly. "That's how we escaped Johnston Atoll!"
"What?" Rachel asked.
"The place where this virus broke out originally." George explained, already knowing the story.
"You where there?" Alex questioned, surprised. Anna nodded.
"That must mean you brought this thing over to America." Trevor realized. Everyone went silent.
"We didn't do it on purpose..." Anna stated awkwardly. "Shit. Stuart must have been bitten before we got back. But God knows how, the boat was empty."
"Maybe he caught it before he got on the boat." Henry suggested.
"Impossible. He would have turned on the boat, and we'd have been killed." Anna said. "But we where told he was dead when we regained consciousness, and shortly after, all this started to happen."
"So if this Stuart bloke didn't have the virus from the island, how the hell did this thing break out here?" Trevor asked, trying to make some sense of the story.
"I don't know." Anna answered, trying to think. "Wait a second. I think I know who might have the answer."
"Who?" Lucy asked her, wondering how she had thought of someone.
"Just after we met George and his team, we got kidnapped by more Marines, right?" Anna started to explain. George nodded.
"That's right. Tried to kill us too." he added.
"They specifically picked out me, Jake and Michelle. We were the only survivors of the Johnston Atoll incident. There's no way that can just be coincidence." Dave and Kylie looked at each other.
"Johnston Atoll?" Dave asked suddenly. "You were at Johnston Atoll?" Anna looked at him. She nodded.
"Yeah." she said.
"So where we." Dave stated, nodding his head towards Kylie. "We were captured by those guys as well."
"You where at Johnston Atoll?" Anna asked, not believing them. They nodded. "How'd you escape?" she asked them.
"Helicopter. This Captain Edwards guy helped us, just before flying off to help his team after we got this radio transmission." Kylie explained.
"Christ, that was us!" Anna exclaimed.
"Really?" Dave asked. "What happened to Edwards?"
"He was killed." Anna stated, remembering watching the massive creature from the lab destroy the helicopter, not to mention the only proof of what happened on the island.
"Shit." Kylie muttered.
"Look, as much as this little reunion brings a tear to the eye, I'm sure that we're all a little eager to figure out what to do next." Alex broke in, a little impatient.
"We head back to the base." Anna answered bluntly.
"Are you out of your mind?" Henry asked. "That's suicide!"
"We need to know how this all happened." Anna explained.
"No we don't." Lucy stated. "I'd prefer to just get outta here than find out what started this only to die."
"She's got a point." Trevor said. "There'll be other times to find out. But now isn't one of them."
"Ok. You lot head for the port. I'm going back." Anna said.
"You'll be killed." Henry told her.
"Maybe. But I need to know." Anna replied.
"So do we." Rachel stated. "But we'll do it together, and when it's safer."
"Right now, we need you to help us." Henry told her. Anna stood where she was for a few moments, silent.
"Ok. We'll find out another time." she said. "Now, let's get the hell outta here." Everyone turned around and walked to some parked cars.
"We'll need more than one car. Get into groups." George stated. "The less people, the faster it'll go. I think."
"Right." Henry said. "Who's taking the lead?"
"I will." Alex stated. "I think I know the way, roughly."
"Sorted." George exclaimed. "How many can hot wire?"
"Me." Henry said.
"Me to." Anna added.
"I can." Trevor stated. George looked around at them.
"Right, that's four of us. "What are the groups then?" Everyone moved to a car with the people they were going with. Henry and Lucy, George and Anna, Kylie and Dave, Alex and Rachel, and Trevor by himself. He looked at the others.
"I drive quick. So you all better." he stated.
"I'll hot wire your car." Anna told Alex.
"I'll do that one." Henry added, pointing to Dave and Kylie's car.
"Ok, let's start 'em up." George replied, and they started breaking into the vehicles and hot wiring them.
Colonel Taylor sat at his desk in his office, looking at papers of the test results for the new project. He was busy reading through them, when suddenly a knock came from the door. "Come in." he called, not taking his eyes off the papers. Sargent Davies walked up to the desk and saluted the Colonel. "At ease, Sargent." Colonel Taylor stated.
"Thank you, sir." Sargent Davies replied, standing normally. "Subject 87 has escaped." The Colonel looked up at him.
"When was this?" he asked.
"We've only just discovered the empty chamber. And he's already killed two scientists and two guards." Sargent Davies explained.
"87. Wasn't he that survivor from Johnston Atoll? Foreman?" Colonel Taylor asked. Sargent Davies nodded.
"That's correct, sir." he answered.
"Do these things still have memories?" the Colonel asked.
"The final result shows that no memory of their past life remains. However, Foreman escaped early, it's too hard to tell what has happened to him." Sargent Davies explained.
"Ok. I want him captured and continued to be changed. I do not want him dead. He's too important." Colonel Taylor told the Sargent. "Ok, dismissed." Sargent Davies saluted the Colonel, then left the room. The Colonel sat in silence for a few moments, contemplating on what he'd heard.
Jake squeezed his way through the maze of the secret base's ventilation system, not particularly knowing where he was going to end up. It was safer there than running around the corridors, though, so that was a bonus. Maybe he'd even end up finding where he and his friends had entered the base what seemed days ago.
He turned round a corner, trying carefully not to make much noise. He could hear voices beneath him, and he stopped, listening in to the conversation. "Be careful, he's supposed to be dangerous." said a man, probably a soldier.
"I know. He's already wasted 4 men, and he was unarmed." said another.
"I thought this place was supposed to be state of the art, and still we allow one of them to escape."
"What do we do, kill him?"
"No. Our orders are still to capture the subject alive with as little damage as possible."
"Better get started then." Jake heard the two guards walk down the corridor, and when everything was silent again, he continued his way through the ventilation system. After a few more turns, Jake came to a dead end, and a grating leading to a large, empty room. Jake peered down and listened carefully, and decided the room was empty. He slammed down on the grating a few times until it fell out of place, and dropped to the ground, the clattering echoing around the room. Jake cringed incase anybody heard the noise.
Moments passed, and he realized he was safe. Jake crawled out of the vent and dropped to the ground, landing on his feet. He looked around, and ran to the wall beside the door. He listened for any noises from the corridor, and heard nothing. He gently opened the door, and took the assault rifle from around his neck, holding it steadily incase he saw anybody. He walked down the corridor, looking around for anybody. He hoped that if he was spotted, the uniform would fool them, and they'd leave him alone.
Jake walked down the next corridor and recognized it almost immediately. He ran to the first door, and looked into the helicopter bay. He was in luck, there was 2 helicopters remaining. He ran towards the nearest one and checked it over. There was nobody in it, so he ran over to the cockpit and jumped in. He threw the assault rifle on the seat beside him and started the helicopter up. He took off, and flew out of the base as guards poured into the room. They fired up at him, but missed. Jake laughed at them as he flew away, out of site. Now he just had to find Anna and the others.
Alex skidded the car round the corner, then punched it, speeding the car down the road. Behind him was Trevor, Henry and Lucy, and at the back was George and Anna. They'd been driving uninterrupted for ten minutes, and everyone hoped Alex knew where he was going. So did he.
"You think we'll make it out of America alive?" Lucy asked Henry, breaking the silence in the car.
"Positive." Henry replied. "We've got this far, be a shame to die now."
"If I turn into one of those things out there, you'll kill me, right?" Lucy suddenly asked. Henry sat in silence for a while, wondering what to say.
"No." he stated. "Because it's not gonna come to that."
"How do you know?" Lucy questioned.
"Just a hunch." Henry answered. "Trust me, we'll be fine." He took one hand of the wheel and took Lucy's hand, holding it gently. "Promise." Lucy looked at him and smiled.
Suddenly, something landed on the bonnet of the car. Lucy screamed as Henry swerved to the side, but the creature was able to clutch onto the car with it's long claws. It looked like a zombie, only more mutated, with no skin and extremely sharp, long fingers. It looked in at the two humans, then raised one of it's claws to swing through the glass at them.
Lucy pulled out her pistol and fired through the glass, hitting the creature directly in the chest. It lost it's grip and flew forwards, promptly getting run over by the wheels of the car. Henry looked at Lucy. "Wonder how many of them there are."
Suddenly, they both noticed at least 8 of the creatures on each side of the road, some running beside the cars along the sidewalk, some on the roofs of buildings. "Too many by the looks of things." Lucy replied.
Anna looked at the new enemies, then at George. "This doesn't look too good." she stated.
"No, it doesn't." George replied. "Don't try shooting them yet, it'll be too hard to hit them, and we have to save ammo. Wait until they try getting closer." he explained. Anna nodded, watching the creatures and holding her gun tightly. Without warning, one of the creatures jumped at their vehicle, swinging it's claws wildly. Anna fired out of the window, punching holes in the creatures body.
Trevor looked to his right and saw one of the pursuing creatures jump at him, and smash through the window. It got stuck half way in, and swiped at him, missing him by less than an inch. Trevor could feel the air hitting him from the attempted attacks, and swerved sideways towards a wall. He smashed the right side of the car along the wall of the nearest building, crushing the creature to death, and leaving a trail of blood along the building. Trevor watched as the remains of the creature finally fell out of the window. "Like a walk through the park." he muttered to himself. Suddenly, the car Alex and Rachel were in exploded into a cloud of flame, sending the car into the air. "Christ!" he yelled, driving straight under the airborne wreckage.
Dave saw Alex's car explode, and looked up into the sky. He saw two fighter jets fly past them. They must have destroyed the car. "Oh, shit." he murmured.
"Shit, shit!" Anna yelled, looking behind them as the planes started to turn back after them. "What do we do?" she asked frantically.
"Drive fast and hope not to get blown up, I guess." George replied, trying to be calm. Both planes fired their mounted machine guns at the cars, tearing tiny craters into the tarmac beside them. Everyone ducked down as they heard the noise, swerving away from the bullets. A few struck their target on the remaining four cars, but not badly enough to do any real damage.
Kylie looked out of her window and noticed the creatures had vanished, probably scared by the explosion and the sudden, deafening attack. More bullets hailed down around them, and she screamed, ducking down again as more hit the sides of the cars.
Anna smashed her window open, and grabbed an assault rifle. She hung out of the gap slightly and aimed up at one of the planes flying overhead and fired. Her attack did next to nothing to the plane, and it flew past them unaffected.
Suddenly, a missile smashed into the back of the plane, and it crashed into a nearby building, exploding violently, and sending wreckage out onto the road. The humans swerved to avoid it, and Anna looked up again and saw a military helicopter, similar to the one they used to escape the base, fly past and turn around. She didn't know who was helping them, but sure was pleased to see them.
The remaining plane fired at George and Anna's car, striking it badly, shaking it violently and setting it on fire. "Shit!" George said. "Our car's fucked! I can't stop!" he yelled, frantic. The second plane exploded behind them, and crashed to the ground. The helicopter flew over the top of the car. George looked at Anna. She wasn't moving. "Anna!" George shouted. "Can you hear me?" She didn't reply. The helicopter flew down low over the car, and George smashed the sunroof out of the car. He tried to wake Anna up again, to no avail. He knew he didn't have much time before the car smashed into the upcoming corner, which would kill him and Anna, if she was even alive. He stood up and climbed to the roof of the car, and jumped up, grabbing the helicopter. He climbed up into it and jumped up next to the pilot.
"Take the controls!" Jake ordered. George looked at him. He knew it was him.
"You're alive!" He stated, a sense of joy and confusion overwhelming him. Jake opened his side of the helicopter, and hung down. George did as he said, and took over control of the chopper. Jake let himself drop onto the car, and leaned over the side, opening Anna's door. He looked up, and saw the car was about to crash. He ripped the seatbelt apart, and pulled Anna out onto a grassy patch next to them, and she rolled along the ground.
Henry stopped the car and he and Lucy jumped out, seeing the car smash into the building, tearing a hole in it. Soon after, the car engine erupted, sending a fireball out into the road, and the remaining two cars stopped nearby, the passengers jumping out. They all ran over to Anna, and George landed the helicopter opposite them.
Anna regained consciousness, and sat up, groaning. Henry ran over to her. "You ok?" he asked, looking at her face. It was cut slightly, but she looked ok for what had happened to her.
"I'm fine." she answered. "What happened?" George ran over to them. Without saying anything, he looked at the destroyed building. He looked down at the ground.
"Who was that?" Kylie asked, wondering who had saved them all. George didn't know if he should answer them, and stayed silent.
"Hey, look..." Trevor stated, pointing at the wreckage of the building. Someone walked out and started to walk to them. They smoke made it hard to see who it was to start with, then they recognized him.
"Oh my God..." Lucy muttered. Anna looked at the man.
"Jake?" she whispered. He carried on walking, and saw she was ok. Anna jumped up, even though her leg hurt slightly, and ran over to him. "Jake!" she yelled, not caring about the pain, or her injured leg. He ran to her as well, and they hugged each other hard. "I thought I lost you!" she said, crying.
"I couldn't just leave like that." Jake replied, then kissed her repeatedly. The others ran over to them, all wearing smiles on their faces. Jake stopped kissing Anna, and looked at them, smiling slightly. "Hi." he said, not knowing what to say. "I'm back." Trevor coughed slightly.
"I must've missed something." he stated.
Anna and George walked down the stairs. They couldn't hear much, only the storm outside, and that seemed to be dieing down. They reached the bottom of the steps and heard loud gunfire, and both instantly drew their weapons. It took them a few seconds to realize the sounds had been from the television, and they both sighed quietly, putting their guns away and walking into the living room. Henry looked up at them, and shook Lucy. She woke up and looked up, then they both stood up.
"Anything outside?" Anna asked, looking in the direction of the window. Henry shook his head.
"No." he stated. George stopped the video using the remote, and the other two left the room to get some real sleep.
Jake slowed down as he reached a corner of the corridor he was in, hearing voices approaching. He slid along the wall silently to the edge, listening to what sounded like two soldiers walking towards him. Jake remembered he had no weaponry, not to mention much clothing, but felt he could easily overpower the soldiers.
They both turned the corner as Jake grabbed the nearest one by the neck and twisted it, snapping his neck and killing the soldier instantly. The second didn't have a chance to aim his assault rifle and fire in time, as Jake kicked the weapon from his hands, then swung his leg back, kicking the soldier in the face, and knocking him over. Jake jumped over the soldier and picked him up by his shoulders. The soldier suddenly kicked Jake in the kneecap hard, sending him off balance slightly, then smashed his elbow into Jake's head, knocking him onto his back. The soldier raised his foot to stamp on Jake's left foot, but Jake rolled backwards, just avoiding having his foot broken.
Jake jumped up onto his feet with his back to the guard, and spun round, swinging his leg up into the air and catching the soldier in the side of the head. He flew into the wall, giving Jake the opportunity to pull the knife from the guard's belt and slice his throat open.
The soldier slid to the floor against the wall, and Jake stood in silence incase anyone had heard the fight. Nobody had, and Jake quickly grabbed the closet body and started to remove his uniform.
Jake looked at himself in the uniform. Maybe now it'd be easier to pass as one of the enemy. He removed the ammo clip from the pistol, and found out it was fully loaded. He knew the assault rifle would more or less be full, as the soldier never fired a shot. He took the other pistol from the other soldier, but left the remaining assault rifle as he would have more trouble carrying it. Jake then turned around and continued on down the corridor, trying to remember where the helicopters were.
It was now bright outside, and everybody was awake and ready to move. George walked up to Alex. "How's the wound?" he asked, looking at the bloodied bandage wrapped around his arm. Alex looked at it.
"Painful." he replied. George nodded, then opened the door. They all walked out of the house one by one into the deserted street. It was silent outside, except for the slight whistle of the breeze brushing past them. "Where are we gonna go?" Alex asked to everybody around him.
"Well, we've tried the airport, and the secret military base, neither have worked." Anna explained.
"What about a boat or something?" Trevor asked.
"Damn! Why didn't I think of that?" Anna stated suddenly. "That's how we escaped Johnston Atoll!"
"What?" Rachel asked.
"The place where this virus broke out originally." George explained, already knowing the story.
"You where there?" Alex questioned, surprised. Anna nodded.
"That must mean you brought this thing over to America." Trevor realized. Everyone went silent.
"We didn't do it on purpose..." Anna stated awkwardly. "Shit. Stuart must have been bitten before we got back. But God knows how, the boat was empty."
"Maybe he caught it before he got on the boat." Henry suggested.
"Impossible. He would have turned on the boat, and we'd have been killed." Anna said. "But we where told he was dead when we regained consciousness, and shortly after, all this started to happen."
"So if this Stuart bloke didn't have the virus from the island, how the hell did this thing break out here?" Trevor asked, trying to make some sense of the story.
"I don't know." Anna answered, trying to think. "Wait a second. I think I know who might have the answer."
"Who?" Lucy asked her, wondering how she had thought of someone.
"Just after we met George and his team, we got kidnapped by more Marines, right?" Anna started to explain. George nodded.
"That's right. Tried to kill us too." he added.
"They specifically picked out me, Jake and Michelle. We were the only survivors of the Johnston Atoll incident. There's no way that can just be coincidence." Dave and Kylie looked at each other.
"Johnston Atoll?" Dave asked suddenly. "You were at Johnston Atoll?" Anna looked at him. She nodded.
"Yeah." she said.
"So where we." Dave stated, nodding his head towards Kylie. "We were captured by those guys as well."
"You where at Johnston Atoll?" Anna asked, not believing them. They nodded. "How'd you escape?" she asked them.
"Helicopter. This Captain Edwards guy helped us, just before flying off to help his team after we got this radio transmission." Kylie explained.
"Christ, that was us!" Anna exclaimed.
"Really?" Dave asked. "What happened to Edwards?"
"He was killed." Anna stated, remembering watching the massive creature from the lab destroy the helicopter, not to mention the only proof of what happened on the island.
"Shit." Kylie muttered.
"Look, as much as this little reunion brings a tear to the eye, I'm sure that we're all a little eager to figure out what to do next." Alex broke in, a little impatient.
"We head back to the base." Anna answered bluntly.
"Are you out of your mind?" Henry asked. "That's suicide!"
"We need to know how this all happened." Anna explained.
"No we don't." Lucy stated. "I'd prefer to just get outta here than find out what started this only to die."
"She's got a point." Trevor said. "There'll be other times to find out. But now isn't one of them."
"Ok. You lot head for the port. I'm going back." Anna said.
"You'll be killed." Henry told her.
"Maybe. But I need to know." Anna replied.
"So do we." Rachel stated. "But we'll do it together, and when it's safer."
"Right now, we need you to help us." Henry told her. Anna stood where she was for a few moments, silent.
"Ok. We'll find out another time." she said. "Now, let's get the hell outta here." Everyone turned around and walked to some parked cars.
"We'll need more than one car. Get into groups." George stated. "The less people, the faster it'll go. I think."
"Right." Henry said. "Who's taking the lead?"
"I will." Alex stated. "I think I know the way, roughly."
"Sorted." George exclaimed. "How many can hot wire?"
"Me." Henry said.
"Me to." Anna added.
"I can." Trevor stated. George looked around at them.
"Right, that's four of us. "What are the groups then?" Everyone moved to a car with the people they were going with. Henry and Lucy, George and Anna, Kylie and Dave, Alex and Rachel, and Trevor by himself. He looked at the others.
"I drive quick. So you all better." he stated.
"I'll hot wire your car." Anna told Alex.
"I'll do that one." Henry added, pointing to Dave and Kylie's car.
"Ok, let's start 'em up." George replied, and they started breaking into the vehicles and hot wiring them.
Colonel Taylor sat at his desk in his office, looking at papers of the test results for the new project. He was busy reading through them, when suddenly a knock came from the door. "Come in." he called, not taking his eyes off the papers. Sargent Davies walked up to the desk and saluted the Colonel. "At ease, Sargent." Colonel Taylor stated.
"Thank you, sir." Sargent Davies replied, standing normally. "Subject 87 has escaped." The Colonel looked up at him.
"When was this?" he asked.
"We've only just discovered the empty chamber. And he's already killed two scientists and two guards." Sargent Davies explained.
"87. Wasn't he that survivor from Johnston Atoll? Foreman?" Colonel Taylor asked. Sargent Davies nodded.
"That's correct, sir." he answered.
"Do these things still have memories?" the Colonel asked.
"The final result shows that no memory of their past life remains. However, Foreman escaped early, it's too hard to tell what has happened to him." Sargent Davies explained.
"Ok. I want him captured and continued to be changed. I do not want him dead. He's too important." Colonel Taylor told the Sargent. "Ok, dismissed." Sargent Davies saluted the Colonel, then left the room. The Colonel sat in silence for a few moments, contemplating on what he'd heard.
Jake squeezed his way through the maze of the secret base's ventilation system, not particularly knowing where he was going to end up. It was safer there than running around the corridors, though, so that was a bonus. Maybe he'd even end up finding where he and his friends had entered the base what seemed days ago.
He turned round a corner, trying carefully not to make much noise. He could hear voices beneath him, and he stopped, listening in to the conversation. "Be careful, he's supposed to be dangerous." said a man, probably a soldier.
"I know. He's already wasted 4 men, and he was unarmed." said another.
"I thought this place was supposed to be state of the art, and still we allow one of them to escape."
"What do we do, kill him?"
"No. Our orders are still to capture the subject alive with as little damage as possible."
"Better get started then." Jake heard the two guards walk down the corridor, and when everything was silent again, he continued his way through the ventilation system. After a few more turns, Jake came to a dead end, and a grating leading to a large, empty room. Jake peered down and listened carefully, and decided the room was empty. He slammed down on the grating a few times until it fell out of place, and dropped to the ground, the clattering echoing around the room. Jake cringed incase anybody heard the noise.
Moments passed, and he realized he was safe. Jake crawled out of the vent and dropped to the ground, landing on his feet. He looked around, and ran to the wall beside the door. He listened for any noises from the corridor, and heard nothing. He gently opened the door, and took the assault rifle from around his neck, holding it steadily incase he saw anybody. He walked down the corridor, looking around for anybody. He hoped that if he was spotted, the uniform would fool them, and they'd leave him alone.
Jake walked down the next corridor and recognized it almost immediately. He ran to the first door, and looked into the helicopter bay. He was in luck, there was 2 helicopters remaining. He ran towards the nearest one and checked it over. There was nobody in it, so he ran over to the cockpit and jumped in. He threw the assault rifle on the seat beside him and started the helicopter up. He took off, and flew out of the base as guards poured into the room. They fired up at him, but missed. Jake laughed at them as he flew away, out of site. Now he just had to find Anna and the others.
Alex skidded the car round the corner, then punched it, speeding the car down the road. Behind him was Trevor, Henry and Lucy, and at the back was George and Anna. They'd been driving uninterrupted for ten minutes, and everyone hoped Alex knew where he was going. So did he.
"You think we'll make it out of America alive?" Lucy asked Henry, breaking the silence in the car.
"Positive." Henry replied. "We've got this far, be a shame to die now."
"If I turn into one of those things out there, you'll kill me, right?" Lucy suddenly asked. Henry sat in silence for a while, wondering what to say.
"No." he stated. "Because it's not gonna come to that."
"How do you know?" Lucy questioned.
"Just a hunch." Henry answered. "Trust me, we'll be fine." He took one hand of the wheel and took Lucy's hand, holding it gently. "Promise." Lucy looked at him and smiled.
Suddenly, something landed on the bonnet of the car. Lucy screamed as Henry swerved to the side, but the creature was able to clutch onto the car with it's long claws. It looked like a zombie, only more mutated, with no skin and extremely sharp, long fingers. It looked in at the two humans, then raised one of it's claws to swing through the glass at them.
Lucy pulled out her pistol and fired through the glass, hitting the creature directly in the chest. It lost it's grip and flew forwards, promptly getting run over by the wheels of the car. Henry looked at Lucy. "Wonder how many of them there are."
Suddenly, they both noticed at least 8 of the creatures on each side of the road, some running beside the cars along the sidewalk, some on the roofs of buildings. "Too many by the looks of things." Lucy replied.
Anna looked at the new enemies, then at George. "This doesn't look too good." she stated.
"No, it doesn't." George replied. "Don't try shooting them yet, it'll be too hard to hit them, and we have to save ammo. Wait until they try getting closer." he explained. Anna nodded, watching the creatures and holding her gun tightly. Without warning, one of the creatures jumped at their vehicle, swinging it's claws wildly. Anna fired out of the window, punching holes in the creatures body.
Trevor looked to his right and saw one of the pursuing creatures jump at him, and smash through the window. It got stuck half way in, and swiped at him, missing him by less than an inch. Trevor could feel the air hitting him from the attempted attacks, and swerved sideways towards a wall. He smashed the right side of the car along the wall of the nearest building, crushing the creature to death, and leaving a trail of blood along the building. Trevor watched as the remains of the creature finally fell out of the window. "Like a walk through the park." he muttered to himself. Suddenly, the car Alex and Rachel were in exploded into a cloud of flame, sending the car into the air. "Christ!" he yelled, driving straight under the airborne wreckage.
Dave saw Alex's car explode, and looked up into the sky. He saw two fighter jets fly past them. They must have destroyed the car. "Oh, shit." he murmured.
"Shit, shit!" Anna yelled, looking behind them as the planes started to turn back after them. "What do we do?" she asked frantically.
"Drive fast and hope not to get blown up, I guess." George replied, trying to be calm. Both planes fired their mounted machine guns at the cars, tearing tiny craters into the tarmac beside them. Everyone ducked down as they heard the noise, swerving away from the bullets. A few struck their target on the remaining four cars, but not badly enough to do any real damage.
Kylie looked out of her window and noticed the creatures had vanished, probably scared by the explosion and the sudden, deafening attack. More bullets hailed down around them, and she screamed, ducking down again as more hit the sides of the cars.
Anna smashed her window open, and grabbed an assault rifle. She hung out of the gap slightly and aimed up at one of the planes flying overhead and fired. Her attack did next to nothing to the plane, and it flew past them unaffected.
Suddenly, a missile smashed into the back of the plane, and it crashed into a nearby building, exploding violently, and sending wreckage out onto the road. The humans swerved to avoid it, and Anna looked up again and saw a military helicopter, similar to the one they used to escape the base, fly past and turn around. She didn't know who was helping them, but sure was pleased to see them.
The remaining plane fired at George and Anna's car, striking it badly, shaking it violently and setting it on fire. "Shit!" George said. "Our car's fucked! I can't stop!" he yelled, frantic. The second plane exploded behind them, and crashed to the ground. The helicopter flew over the top of the car. George looked at Anna. She wasn't moving. "Anna!" George shouted. "Can you hear me?" She didn't reply. The helicopter flew down low over the car, and George smashed the sunroof out of the car. He tried to wake Anna up again, to no avail. He knew he didn't have much time before the car smashed into the upcoming corner, which would kill him and Anna, if she was even alive. He stood up and climbed to the roof of the car, and jumped up, grabbing the helicopter. He climbed up into it and jumped up next to the pilot.
"Take the controls!" Jake ordered. George looked at him. He knew it was him.
"You're alive!" He stated, a sense of joy and confusion overwhelming him. Jake opened his side of the helicopter, and hung down. George did as he said, and took over control of the chopper. Jake let himself drop onto the car, and leaned over the side, opening Anna's door. He looked up, and saw the car was about to crash. He ripped the seatbelt apart, and pulled Anna out onto a grassy patch next to them, and she rolled along the ground.
Henry stopped the car and he and Lucy jumped out, seeing the car smash into the building, tearing a hole in it. Soon after, the car engine erupted, sending a fireball out into the road, and the remaining two cars stopped nearby, the passengers jumping out. They all ran over to Anna, and George landed the helicopter opposite them.
Anna regained consciousness, and sat up, groaning. Henry ran over to her. "You ok?" he asked, looking at her face. It was cut slightly, but she looked ok for what had happened to her.
"I'm fine." she answered. "What happened?" George ran over to them. Without saying anything, he looked at the destroyed building. He looked down at the ground.
"Who was that?" Kylie asked, wondering who had saved them all. George didn't know if he should answer them, and stayed silent.
"Hey, look..." Trevor stated, pointing at the wreckage of the building. Someone walked out and started to walk to them. They smoke made it hard to see who it was to start with, then they recognized him.
"Oh my God..." Lucy muttered. Anna looked at the man.
"Jake?" she whispered. He carried on walking, and saw she was ok. Anna jumped up, even though her leg hurt slightly, and ran over to him. "Jake!" she yelled, not caring about the pain, or her injured leg. He ran to her as well, and they hugged each other hard. "I thought I lost you!" she said, crying.
"I couldn't just leave like that." Jake replied, then kissed her repeatedly. The others ran over to them, all wearing smiles on their faces. Jake stopped kissing Anna, and looked at them, smiling slightly. "Hi." he said, not knowing what to say. "I'm back." Trevor coughed slightly.
"I must've missed something." he stated.