This is another chapter that contains a picture drawn by COTD. . .I don't know if it works so don't complain to me if it doesn't. Copy and paste, you know the drill.
Dr.William Birkin
The basement hallway finally terminated at a large door with a nuclear trefoil symbol on it, up until now it had been one of David's favorite symbols, now it was just another signpost on the road to death. Calmly opening the door, he stepped into another hallway, lit by red emergency lighting, and leading to a heavy blast door. "The fallout shelter...looks like I'm finally here..." he said, cautiously walking down the subterranean passage, Ingram readied, the thudding of his feet echoing through the tunnels, abandoned since the 50's except for Blair's activities. Walking to the large half open blast door, he cautiously entered. Fluorescent lighting snapped on illuminating industrial and sanitized looking hallways, the extent of the modifications to the shelter were obvious. Another intercom snapped to life, psychopathic laughter echoed off of the reinforced steel walls of the bunker. "Welcome!!!! If you thought you'd had it hard up until now you'll love what we've got set up for you now..." screamed Piers in his mocking voice, "And remember...do not fail or we shall kill the girl..and trust me, I have no problems with doing it..." more laughter spouted from the intercom, just reinforcing David's anger. ..Bastard..I'm going to like putting a bullet in his brain... thought David.
The tank in the basement lab gurgled empty, the embryonic fluid having drained, piers hit another key and the massive, claw fisted creature, dripping in the red preserve began to wake, its enormous heart pounding now, its eternally white eyes blinking open. "Welcome to hell Sunderland..." muttered Piers as he programmed the mission into the creatures waiting brain...
Markenson loaded his glock, the time had come, he needed to eliminate piers, his use had ended and now Sunderland had arrived. "Sir? What's going on, you seem disturbed" remarked the soldier guarding his office. Markenson turned, his eyes cold and merciless, reflecting the homicidal agenda he had. "Oh..I'm just fine...I just have to go correct a mistake...." he said coldly, walking out...
City of the Dead
All of a sudden, an unrelenting barrage of gunshots forever silenced the cries of the zombies. Winsor turned to see three army jeeps turn the corner slowly, several men also marched by them.
"Oh shit!!!!" Nathan said readying his assault rifle.
"No, no, stay calm" Ryan said. He knew it wasn't the cleaners, the Isis troops were moving in.
Everyone nervously stood still as the troops and vehicles came in closer, until a man in his mid twenties walked up to them.
"Well, I see you've found them Ryan, good job" the man said eyeing the other survivors. "Which one of you are Nathan Law and Jarred Orr?" He asked out loud.
"What do you want with us?" Nathan called out.
"Your Nathan right?" He asked. "And I take it the injured one is Jarred, don't worry about him, he'll probably be fully healed by the morning" He said casually.
"What are you talking about? What is going on here?" Vanessa asked.
"Blair is after Jarred because of his unique genetic structure and blood type, he is almost regenerative, he can heal twice the speed of a normal human, almost overnight" He smiled. "And Blair wants Nathan because of the antidote, which he carries in his veins"
"How do you know all this?" John asked.
"Because, I'm part of the Isis Recovery Team, some of us were sent to gather up survivors, others were sent to clean up Blair's mess" the uniformed man said. "Oh sorry guys, I forgot to introduce myself, My name is Kevin Keel, Lieutenant of the Isis Recovery Team" Keel said. "The church is a safe haven, why don't you guys camp out there for the night, and I'll position some men to watch over it" Keel proposed an interesting offer.
Everyone stood still for a second, not knowing what to say, not knowing whether or not to trust Keel and his story.
"Hell, I'm getting sick of walking, let's go on in guys" Jarred's scratchy voice rang out.
"Okay guys, don't you worry, you'll be safe there tonight, but I'm afraid it's goodbye for now, rest easy" Keel said walking away from them. They watched him sprint back to the cluster of military jeeps that had parked in front of the church.
"Well, lets go on in you guys" Ryan said stepping up onto the marble stairwell that lead to the church's entrance. St. Joseph was historic, over a hundred years old. From the outside, it was huge, gigantic twin spires rose up over two hundred feet into the air, both topped with golden crosses. A huge sphere of stained glass sat imbedded into the wall just above the wooden double-doors that led inside.
"I hate church" Winsor said gazing up towards the neo-gothic Romanesque temple. "Nice building though" She added.
Ryan felt a couple of raindrops strike his arms.
Heh, rain, could things get any more difficult?
He shook off the thought and entered the double-doors.
The Inside of the church was about as grand as the outside. At least fifty Stained glass windows each, depicting scenes from the bible, were the only means of outside light to come in, at least whoever was there last was nice enough to leave the lights on. Huge concrete pillars rose at least 80 feet to meet a dome shaped ceiling. The exquisite altar was covered with candles. None of them lit.
"Hold on guys, I'll be right back" Ryan said, hopping over a church seat and running into the door on his left.
Everyone sat down and rested their aching muscles. Jarred laid his head down on Vanessa's lap, he stared up at her with puppy dog eyes, trying to look pitiful.
"Awww, poor baby" She joked.
Jarred smiled and shut his eyes. He seemed to be doing better, he could see again and almost walk on his own.
CRASHHH
Everyone jerked up out of their comfortable positions and prepared themselves for battle. But instead, Ryan came walking out of that room with an armful of snacks and beverages. It was obvious that he had knocked over some candy machine in the other room.
"Come on everyone, dinner is served" Ryan said.
Everyone's mouths watered, they hadn't eaten anything in days, and the sight of food was enough to send them into a stupor, similar to the zombies. Ryan passed out bagged chips and sodas, everyone eagerly tearing into their food.
For the remainder of the night, the exhausted group of survivors would converse and get to know each other a little better. It was a much needed break from the horror that had been going on outside. The rain outside would turn into a storm, and thunder would roar on throughout the night, but inside St. Joseph church, everything was calm...
3:30 A.M.
Vanessa awoke to the sound of earth shattering thunder, surrounded by empty candy wrappers and soda cans. The rain had calmed to a mere drizzle. She shivered and looked around the room. Everyone else was still asleep. She remembered Jarred had fallen asleep next to her, but he was nowhere to be found. After looking around for a minute or two, she saw a light coming from the doorway Ryan smashed the snack machine in earlier. She stood up and went into the lounge room. There was no sign of Jarred, just a smashed vending machine, and a red tinted painting of the church on the wall.
http://www.neotyrannical.8k.com/church.gif
Vanessa sighed and focused her attention towards another trail of open doors and stairways. Eventually, she was lead into the attic. An intricate system of ropes and bells surrounded her like a maze. She felt a chill and saw an open window not too far away. She slowly made her way over to it and looked outside.
"Jarred" She called.
"Over here"
She looked to her left and saw Jarred sitting out on the roof in the rain.
"What the hell are you doing out here?" She laughed.
"Just...looking over the town" He said pointing towards the many lights of the city.
"But its raining" She said back to him.
"It doesn't bother me" Jarred said still staring forward.
Vanessa crawled out the window and carefully made her way to Jarred. He draped his arm around her and they both took in the view. Several streaks of lightning struck in the distance and thunder rolled in soon afterwards. The smell of moisture and a cold wind set the mood.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Jarred asked.
"The town?" She asked.
"Yeah, from up here, you can't even tell anything is wrong" Jarred said.
Vanessa looked upon her town, a cluster of buildings, orange and white lights made up the picture in front of them. He was right, it was beautiful, and the whole town could be seen. Coleman hill clock tower stood high above downtown, along with a few other business buildings. It was hard to believe everything that had happened to Gaines.
"Jarred..." Vanessa said.
"Yeah?" Jarred asked. Vanessa laid her head down on his shoulder and held his hand.
"Promise me, that if...We make it out of town, and we get separated somehow, we'll wait for each other" She said.
"We'll find each other...I know it" She said again.
"I promise" Jarred said holding her close.
5:45 A.M.
"What the hell was that?" Nathan awoke to the sounds of gunfire. It had shocked everyone out of their slumber, and Nathan stood up as another clasp of thunder sounded. Nathan heard screams coming from outside.
"What the hell is that thing?" He heard someone yell, it must have been the guards that Keel spoke of. Whoever it was, something was going on.
Then another barrage of gunshots was heard, followed by a familiar roar.
"Oh no, why now?" John said to himself, still very tired.
Screams, gunfire, and the low wailing of a creature, everyone was too familiar with, was just outside.
Then without warning, the huge circular stained glass window that stood over the entrance door, shattered into a million pieces, hit by an incoming object. Everyone screamed and ducked to the floor. Whatever it was that had flown through the window landed right next to Ryan, he opened his eyes and looked upon the bloody torso of one of an Isis soldier, an expression of pure horror still etched onto his lifeless face. Then, the huge wooden church doors shattered into toothpicks, and in walked the Nemesis, it's purple tentacles flailing wildly. As it walked in towards the group, a door to the left opened, and in came Jarred and Vanessa, weapons in hand. Winsor wanted to say something sarcastic; but then again, this wasn't exactly the time for it, the nemesis slowly walked towards the survivors. Nathan readied himself for a showdown with the hideous creature...
Carlos Oliveira
Steadying himself Nathan pulled the stock close to his shoulder and depressed the trigger. The room was alive with the sound of gunfire as Nathan watched the rounds peppering it's face. Winsor started firing alongside him as did Ryan and John. Vanessa and Jarred stood their ground by the door and jumped in firing a deadly barrage of fast, hot, metal. Nemesis howled and dropped into a crouch.
"GET THEM OUTTA HERE RYAN!! NOW!!" screamed Nathan as he reloaded.
"Not this time Nath! We all go home or nobody goes home!" Ryan replied as he held his ground firing again.
Nemesis charged forward from his position with lightning speed. John yelled to get out of the way but Nathan and Ryan were already moving. Nathan grabbing Winsor's arm pulling her from her feet to the side and Ryan ducking and rolling left. Nemesis blew by in a rush tearing the floor where they once stood.
"LETS GET THE HELL OUTTA HERE!!" yelled Jarred as he grabbed Vanessa's arm and started running to the now shattered door. John was a step behind him as was Winsor. Ryan started but stopped when he saw Nathan standing his ground.
Winsor turned and screamed at Nathan to get out. She started back towards him.
"What the hell are you doing?" she yelled.
"Saving your ass now get out!!" Nathan replied as he dropped the rifle and drew the twin 9's and started drawing Nemesis away from the others. Ryan started towards Nathan when suddenly Nathan was aiming at.....him!
In a quiet voice Nathan spoke,..."Ryan. Get them out now please. I'm counting on you. Get Winsor out."
Ryan stopped and stared at Nathan knowing full well what he was thinking. Turning he grabbed Winsor and started dragging her out.
"No! Stop! Let me go! Nathan no!!" she screamed as Ryan dragged her back to the door.
"Let's go now!" yelled John as he started up one of the jeeps.
"No we can't leave him! No! Nathan please don't do this!!" Winsor screamed again. She saw him mouth the words 'I love you' before Nemesis was blocking her view. She fought against Ryan but he was stronger then her. Pulling her into the jeep they sped off leaving Nathan alone.
"Why are we leaving him? We have to go back! What's wrong with you people!?!?" she screamed.
No-one answered for a moment. Ryan finally spoke up. "He's tougher then he looks Winsor. He's gotten out of tighter spots then this he'll be ok."
Nathan reloaded as Nemesis started howling again. He turned and ran up to the roof. Hearing the doors behind him being torn apart scared him nearly to death but he kept running. Reaching the roof he slowly crept along the top to the center of the twin bell towers. Nemesis a step behind him.
John stopped the jeep and hopped out staring at the church.
"Look! There he is!" John yelled pointing.
They all looked up and saw Nathan traversing the rooftop as Nemesis stumbled behind. Nathan was aiming again and firing. Nemesis seeming not to notice started towards him again.
"Why is he doing this?!?" Winsor cried through tears.
"Because,...he can't be infected, but all of us can." Replied Ryan in a quiet voice as he watched the drama unfold before his eyes.
Nathan missed a step and slipped from view. Vanessa gasped as Jarred held her face to his shoulder. John turned away not wanting to see another die. Winsor stood transfixed as she watched Nemesis continue walking to where Nathan was standing.
Nathan's foot slipped and he was suddenly falling. Reaching over he managed to grab a roofing tile. One of the 9's falling away. Nemesis was standing above his suddenly. Its white eyes staring in victory as it reached down for him.
"Go ahead you piece of shit! Kill me!" Nathan yelled.
As Nemesis reached for his arm Nathan brought his other arm around and started unloading the clip into it's ankle. The bones shattering into pieces as it started to slip. It fell hard and tumbled down beside him. Nathan didn't wait to hear it hit the ground, instead he started pulling himself up.
As they watched Nemesis reach down suddenly it was falling as the sound of gunfire erupted again. Ryan shouted in victory as Nemesis fell and Nathan climbed into view. Nathan scaled the rooftop back to the tower and disappeared into it. A few moments later he sprinted to a halt before them gasping for air. Winsor ran up and smacked him hard. Then suddenly she was hugging him tightly. His own arms came around embracing her right back.
"Don't you ever leave me like that again or I'll kill you myself." she whispered into his ear. Pulling back she let herself go and kissed him deeply.
John let out a low whistle as he watched with the rest as Winsor planted one on him.
"Well what d.." He was cut off as Ryan clamped a hand over his mouth telling him this was not the time. John seemed to understand and kept quiet.
When she let him go Nathan felt like he was in another world. Jarred's voice brought him out of it.
"Well now where do we go?"