Author's Notes: To all of my loyal readers. This chapter is probably going to be on the angstful and depressing side. This is because my works usually reflect how I feel as I write them. As I write this I have "Don't Fear The Reaper" playing by Gus and my parents are fighting just behind me. I'm crying as I write this, my parents are going to get a divorce, so this might not be the best piece I ever write. I'm hoping that all of my emotions might be strong enough to really move people with this chapter, and hope is all that I really have right now. Oh yeah, if you really want to get the full effect of this chapter go out and down load Don't Fear the Reaper by Gus and listen to it as you read. It's a good song and it is how I feel right now. Please enjoy it as best you can.
"In a world where staying dead is a luxury, we really shouldn't fear the reaper; we should embrace him."
Dr. Jones
Chapter 9
Terry's eyes were slick with tears that had been unstoppable. The screen before him displayed a horror that he never thought he would have to suffer. Nicole, his Nicole, was sharing a very intimate moment with Scott. There were no words that could articulate the pain, the anger, the fear, the emptiness that he held in his heart.
Wilkers stood off in the shadows, watching Terry with a smirk on the corners of his mouth. He took much pleasure in seeing the pain that was spread all over the young man's face. Now he knew that he had another ally, and this one could be very valuable.
"You really loved her didn't you?" He said it while trying to hide the glee in his voice. It came out in a caring tone that reminded him of how a father would talk to a hurt child.
"I do love her", he choked out with a crack of his voice. Just speaking seemed like a chore that might break him if he kept on with it.
Keeping his eyes locked on the screen, he felt a strange pull to see how it went from there. He knew what they were doing, he knew that she was enjoying, he knew that he should have looked away, but he just couldn't make himself.
"Then you know what you must do?" Wilkers stepped out of the shadows. At a glance a person wouldn't even be able to tell that he had been smiling just seconds before. In his hand he held a black handgun, safety off, bullet in the chamber.
Terry finally pulled his eyes away from the screen just long enough to look down at the pistol. His glistening eyes beheld the sight of the gun and he didn't understand. At the moment, Terry had checked out and he was running on the lower brain functions. All that he knew was pain, anger, and hurt.
His confused eyes slowly moved up to meet Wilkers', and in that one look he told him that he didn't know what to do. The gun meant nothing to Terry, and he wanted it to be explained to him. So, like a father to a child, Wilkers went into detail.
"This is a very big place, Terry. If something was to happen here and someone got hurt, no one would ever know." He said it as he extended the gun out to Terry slowly, motioning him to take it from him. "Scott is the only thing standing in your way; don't you want to clear the path?" Wilkers stood patiently, waiting for Terry to take the pistol. He brought a small smile to his face as if showing that he wouldn't bite.
The shell of Terry reached out slowly and wrapped his warm fingers around the cold butt of the handgun. An instant chill ran down his spine, and it felt good to feel something other than pain. Once again, his eyes came up to meet Wilkers' and there wasn't another word.
"Listen Nicole," Scott pleaded with her, "you have to talk to me." He looked at the back of her head. Even at that moment he was admiring her. He took in every one of her curves, her scent, and even the color or her beautiful hair. She kept her back turned to him, tears running down her face.
"I think you should just leave." It was all that she could manage to say.
"I just want you to know that what happened before actually meant something to me." He was making his finally case, rather she liked it or not. "I don't know if you feel the same, and I know that you feel guilty because of Terry, but I want you to know that I really care for you."
"You just met me!" She snapped as she spun around.
Kenneth and Ana watched from the corners of the room. Usually Ana would have stepped in and kept the conversation from breaking out into a fight, but she knew that some things just have to happen.
While standing there, watching the heat and passion that connected the two, she spared a thought to Michael. She'd been trying to not think about him since she got there, but she finally broke down and let herself reminisce about him. She truly wished that they could have been that heated, had that much passion. That is impossible now.
She was brought out of her thoughts by the silence that followed. The tension that built up after her words actually hurt everyone in the room.
"Doesn't matter." He said it in a voice just above a whisper. "I'm still fallin' for you rather you like it or not. I don't care if you love Terry or if he loves you, what we did was great and that is all that matters to me."
The next coming silence was even longer and filled with more tension. Scott turned away from her, leaving her to cry it out, and opened to door. He stepped out as quick as could in an attempt to escape the suffocating tension.
He still had one arm in the door when he spotted the crimson spots on the floor coming from Dr. Moran's room. His door had been left open and there were three sets of bloody footsteps leading out into the hall and down the corridor.
"Guys!" He shouted out to them to get their attention.
Kenneth was the first one to get to the hall. He stood next to Scott, looking at the puddles of blood and he knew that no one could survive that much blood loss. He put it together in his head in a rush and things started to make sense to him.
"Moran's dead." He said. "Well, dead in the sense that he fell down and then got up." He quoted his favorite jackass.
"You mean that there is one of those things loose in the compound?" Ana asked as she stepped out into the hall to stand behind Kenneth.
"I'd say that there are three of 'em." Kenneth announced. As he said it he turned to face Scott.
"Is there a weapons cliche on the compound?" He asked him.
Scott nodded his head as he pointed off in the direction that the footsteps went. "It's past Wilkers' private barracks and if near the corral." He announced.
"Oh God..." Nicole trailed off. "Terry!" She took off in a run down the hall in the direction that the footsteps led off to.
"Nicole, stop!" Scott yelled as he followed behind her, disappearing into the darkness of the cold cavern.
Kenneth looked down at Ana who returned his gaze. He noticed how tired she looked and he felt bad for her. "Listen, go into our barracks, block off tha' doors as best ya can and wait for me to come back and get ya. Tha' shit is about to hit tha' fan." He said it in a cool calm voice.
Usually she would have argued, but she just nodded and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.
Dr. Jones stood looking at "the wall". She had no idea how to fly a helicopter, but she could give it a try. She just had to figure out how to break down the wood and plaster that made up the faux wall.
Keeping her eyes focused on it, she wondered if Wilkers had spotted her on his cameras yet. She had gone A.W.O.L. a while back, so the suspicion had probably already been established.
While looking at the wall she heard the echo of footsteps coming from farther down the hallway. In a quick leap, so hopped a few feet away from the wall so that no one would notice what it was. Trying to keep the helicopter a secret had been hard enough without just giving the key away by standing and staring at the wall.
Straining her eyes to see, she started to make out a moving figure down the corridor. She could tell that it was moving quickly, but she couldn't tell who it was. She leaned against the wall in an attempt to act natural, but it was no use. Her heart was already pounding from the sound of the steps.
She squinted her eyes a little and she could finally see that it was a man, a running man. Whoever it was, he was charging in her direction like a bullet out of a gun. The closer that he got the more she could make out his facial features.
He was too close to her to run when she realized what he was. Bub, one of Moran's trained zombies was only a few feet from her when she tried to get away.
She took a step back in the heels that she was wearing and instantly tripped over a rock that stuck out of the ground. Landing hard on the bottom of her shoulders, she closed her eyes in pain. When she opened them back up again, tears already in her eyes, the beast was standing above her, moving down.
His face was tight with the decaying skin and it was like a living, or non-living nightmare. The monster pulled his face in towards her neck, pushing his teeth through the soft tissue into the meat. With a vice-like grip, he clamped down and ripped a hefty chunk of flesh away.
Her screams fell upon deaf ears as the monster chewed the bits of her muscle, fat, and skin. He let it slide down his throat, ready for another bite. His glazed eyes looked down at the hole that had been left were her beautiful tissue had been. Blood shot out in calculated spurts that corresponded with her heartbeat, which was pounding faster than usual.
Her eyes were filling with tears of pain, her muscles tightened throughout her body, and her voice came out in a harsh whisper as she tried to scream again. The blood and the screams just excited Bub even more, sending him into a feeding frenzy.
He brought his face back down again, but this time he was aiming for her face. He put his bottom teeth up and under her top lip and put his upper teeth just under her nose. This time when he bit down her scream turned into a gurgle of blood and spit. He pulled away in a slow motion, pulling away all of the skin from the nose to the mouth.
Her upper gums and teeth showed as the skin was removed, and her eyes got wider. Not having enough time to go into shock, she was still feeling every last bit of the pain as he ate her alive. He spared a few chews to the tender flesh and then let himself swallow again, turning back to the helpless victim.
Terry heard the screams from down the hall. First he heard Nicole yell his name, then he heard Scott yell Nicole's name, and then he heard a separate female scream. For all he knew, it could have been Nicole crying out in pain. Without another thought he took off down the corridor heading away from the Corral and from Wilkers, pistol in hand.
As he ran he thought about Wilkers' words, he thought about them a lot. He had said that the only thing standing in his way was Scott, and that was true, but was he really thinking about killing him?
Coming at him from down the hall was Nicole. She was in an all out sprit towards him, and he didn't know what was going on. As far as he knew everything was supposed to be going to plan.
She approached him, but she didn't slow down. She hopped out and hugged Terry, wrapping her arms around his neck. She pulled him close, as close as she could. Closing her eye tight, she wished that they'd never come to the silo. She wished that they could have just stayed at the Crossroads Mall.
"I'm so sorry, Terry. I love you so much." She said it though tears, realizing that he wasn't hugging her back. One hand was hidden behind his back and the other was at his side. He kept his face blank as he thought about the video. "Please forgive me."
Just as she finished her plea, Scott came running up from the darkness. He had a worried look on his face, and Terry knew why. He cared about Nicole the same way that he did. For all he knew he might have loved her more than him.
Standing there, looking at Scott while Nicole hugged him around the neck, he didn't know what to do. He had the gun in his hand, ready to go, and he could do it if he wanted.
Wilkers walked out of the shadows; he had seen enough. The plan was simple, make Terry hate Scott enough that he was willing to take his life. After he had killed a man, Nicole would never forgive him, there for he wouldn't be able to live with himself. Terry would hate himself enough that he wouldn't ever be a problem anymore, Nicole would hate Terry enough that she wouldn't be a problem anymore, Ana and Kenneth would shun them both and before the day was over he would have made them all turn on each other. But Terry just stood there, looking at Scott.
"Just do it!" He shouted, startling everyone.
All eyes turned towards Wilkers, and then back to Terry. Slowly the young man pulled the gun out and moved Nicole out of the way. She didn't realize what was happening, so she just moved away. Wilkers smiled at the sight of what he'd created, what chaos he'd caused.
The barrel of the pistol came up and pointed at Scott with Terry's finger on the trigger. But then, without warning, he froze. Wilkers' face froze with no expression as he watched.
"What are you waiting for, kid? Just do it!" He shouted it once more.
"Do whatever it takes", Terry whispered to himself. All the faces that watched him showed the curiosity. Scott's face was twisted with fear as he realized that Wilkers had traded him it and that Terry had a gun pointed at him. "Do whatever it takes to get Wilkers out of the way, even if that means you have to kill him." Terry repeated the last part of Kenneth's plan to himself. He turned the gun at Wilkers and, with no hesitation, he pulled the trigger.
The explosion at the tip of the barrel was extremely bright in comparison to the dim lights that they been living in for the past few days. The sound echoed through the halls with a great force, cause everyone's ears to ring a little.
The bullet soared through the air and landed in Wilkers' shoulder, knocking him back a step and then to his knees. He yelled out in pain as he brought his hand up to grasp his shoulder. "Son-of-a-bitch!" He shouted into the air.
Not knowing how to load the next bullet into the chamber, Terry let his arm drop to his side. He let the gun slide out of his grasp and fall to the ground with a small thud that he couldn't hear due to the ringing.
With expert speed, Moran reached down, pulled out his own handgun, sighted it on Terry and pulled the Trigger. His aim was a little off because he was firing with his bad hand, putting the bullet in Terry's upper thigh.
With a scream and a splatter of blood, Terry fell to the ground. Scott rushing to his side, followed by Nicole.
"Oh my God! Get tha' hell outta' here!" Wilson's voice could be heard coming from the direction of the Corral. Sounds of footsteps and then Wilson and Phil came into everyone's sight. They were running full speed away from the Corral with fear all over their faces.
"That fucka' just opened the fuckin' doors!" Phil yelled as he ran past the fallen men. "Frankenstein just let all of those damn things into the compound; we gotta get to the fuckin' barracks!"
Ending Notes: Listen guys, I'm really sorry about this chapter. It's rushed and it's no good, I already know this. I just can't help but let my personal life interfere with my writings. I hope that everyone can forgive me for now because I will probably go back and do it again later. Also, I'd like to do something kind of fun with this chapter. If you decide to review tell me what you think will happen or what you want to happen. Might be fun.
"In a world where staying dead is a luxury, we really shouldn't fear the reaper; we should embrace him."
Dr. Jones
Chapter 9
Terry's eyes were slick with tears that had been unstoppable. The screen before him displayed a horror that he never thought he would have to suffer. Nicole, his Nicole, was sharing a very intimate moment with Scott. There were no words that could articulate the pain, the anger, the fear, the emptiness that he held in his heart.
Wilkers stood off in the shadows, watching Terry with a smirk on the corners of his mouth. He took much pleasure in seeing the pain that was spread all over the young man's face. Now he knew that he had another ally, and this one could be very valuable.
"You really loved her didn't you?" He said it while trying to hide the glee in his voice. It came out in a caring tone that reminded him of how a father would talk to a hurt child.
"I do love her", he choked out with a crack of his voice. Just speaking seemed like a chore that might break him if he kept on with it.
Keeping his eyes locked on the screen, he felt a strange pull to see how it went from there. He knew what they were doing, he knew that she was enjoying, he knew that he should have looked away, but he just couldn't make himself.
"Then you know what you must do?" Wilkers stepped out of the shadows. At a glance a person wouldn't even be able to tell that he had been smiling just seconds before. In his hand he held a black handgun, safety off, bullet in the chamber.
Terry finally pulled his eyes away from the screen just long enough to look down at the pistol. His glistening eyes beheld the sight of the gun and he didn't understand. At the moment, Terry had checked out and he was running on the lower brain functions. All that he knew was pain, anger, and hurt.
His confused eyes slowly moved up to meet Wilkers', and in that one look he told him that he didn't know what to do. The gun meant nothing to Terry, and he wanted it to be explained to him. So, like a father to a child, Wilkers went into detail.
"This is a very big place, Terry. If something was to happen here and someone got hurt, no one would ever know." He said it as he extended the gun out to Terry slowly, motioning him to take it from him. "Scott is the only thing standing in your way; don't you want to clear the path?" Wilkers stood patiently, waiting for Terry to take the pistol. He brought a small smile to his face as if showing that he wouldn't bite.
The shell of Terry reached out slowly and wrapped his warm fingers around the cold butt of the handgun. An instant chill ran down his spine, and it felt good to feel something other than pain. Once again, his eyes came up to meet Wilkers' and there wasn't another word.
"Listen Nicole," Scott pleaded with her, "you have to talk to me." He looked at the back of her head. Even at that moment he was admiring her. He took in every one of her curves, her scent, and even the color or her beautiful hair. She kept her back turned to him, tears running down her face.
"I think you should just leave." It was all that she could manage to say.
"I just want you to know that what happened before actually meant something to me." He was making his finally case, rather she liked it or not. "I don't know if you feel the same, and I know that you feel guilty because of Terry, but I want you to know that I really care for you."
"You just met me!" She snapped as she spun around.
Kenneth and Ana watched from the corners of the room. Usually Ana would have stepped in and kept the conversation from breaking out into a fight, but she knew that some things just have to happen.
While standing there, watching the heat and passion that connected the two, she spared a thought to Michael. She'd been trying to not think about him since she got there, but she finally broke down and let herself reminisce about him. She truly wished that they could have been that heated, had that much passion. That is impossible now.
She was brought out of her thoughts by the silence that followed. The tension that built up after her words actually hurt everyone in the room.
"Doesn't matter." He said it in a voice just above a whisper. "I'm still fallin' for you rather you like it or not. I don't care if you love Terry or if he loves you, what we did was great and that is all that matters to me."
The next coming silence was even longer and filled with more tension. Scott turned away from her, leaving her to cry it out, and opened to door. He stepped out as quick as could in an attempt to escape the suffocating tension.
He still had one arm in the door when he spotted the crimson spots on the floor coming from Dr. Moran's room. His door had been left open and there were three sets of bloody footsteps leading out into the hall and down the corridor.
"Guys!" He shouted out to them to get their attention.
Kenneth was the first one to get to the hall. He stood next to Scott, looking at the puddles of blood and he knew that no one could survive that much blood loss. He put it together in his head in a rush and things started to make sense to him.
"Moran's dead." He said. "Well, dead in the sense that he fell down and then got up." He quoted his favorite jackass.
"You mean that there is one of those things loose in the compound?" Ana asked as she stepped out into the hall to stand behind Kenneth.
"I'd say that there are three of 'em." Kenneth announced. As he said it he turned to face Scott.
"Is there a weapons cliche on the compound?" He asked him.
Scott nodded his head as he pointed off in the direction that the footsteps went. "It's past Wilkers' private barracks and if near the corral." He announced.
"Oh God..." Nicole trailed off. "Terry!" She took off in a run down the hall in the direction that the footsteps led off to.
"Nicole, stop!" Scott yelled as he followed behind her, disappearing into the darkness of the cold cavern.
Kenneth looked down at Ana who returned his gaze. He noticed how tired she looked and he felt bad for her. "Listen, go into our barracks, block off tha' doors as best ya can and wait for me to come back and get ya. Tha' shit is about to hit tha' fan." He said it in a cool calm voice.
Usually she would have argued, but she just nodded and stepped into the room, closing the door behind her.
Dr. Jones stood looking at "the wall". She had no idea how to fly a helicopter, but she could give it a try. She just had to figure out how to break down the wood and plaster that made up the faux wall.
Keeping her eyes focused on it, she wondered if Wilkers had spotted her on his cameras yet. She had gone A.W.O.L. a while back, so the suspicion had probably already been established.
While looking at the wall she heard the echo of footsteps coming from farther down the hallway. In a quick leap, so hopped a few feet away from the wall so that no one would notice what it was. Trying to keep the helicopter a secret had been hard enough without just giving the key away by standing and staring at the wall.
Straining her eyes to see, she started to make out a moving figure down the corridor. She could tell that it was moving quickly, but she couldn't tell who it was. She leaned against the wall in an attempt to act natural, but it was no use. Her heart was already pounding from the sound of the steps.
She squinted her eyes a little and she could finally see that it was a man, a running man. Whoever it was, he was charging in her direction like a bullet out of a gun. The closer that he got the more she could make out his facial features.
He was too close to her to run when she realized what he was. Bub, one of Moran's trained zombies was only a few feet from her when she tried to get away.
She took a step back in the heels that she was wearing and instantly tripped over a rock that stuck out of the ground. Landing hard on the bottom of her shoulders, she closed her eyes in pain. When she opened them back up again, tears already in her eyes, the beast was standing above her, moving down.
His face was tight with the decaying skin and it was like a living, or non-living nightmare. The monster pulled his face in towards her neck, pushing his teeth through the soft tissue into the meat. With a vice-like grip, he clamped down and ripped a hefty chunk of flesh away.
Her screams fell upon deaf ears as the monster chewed the bits of her muscle, fat, and skin. He let it slide down his throat, ready for another bite. His glazed eyes looked down at the hole that had been left were her beautiful tissue had been. Blood shot out in calculated spurts that corresponded with her heartbeat, which was pounding faster than usual.
Her eyes were filling with tears of pain, her muscles tightened throughout her body, and her voice came out in a harsh whisper as she tried to scream again. The blood and the screams just excited Bub even more, sending him into a feeding frenzy.
He brought his face back down again, but this time he was aiming for her face. He put his bottom teeth up and under her top lip and put his upper teeth just under her nose. This time when he bit down her scream turned into a gurgle of blood and spit. He pulled away in a slow motion, pulling away all of the skin from the nose to the mouth.
Her upper gums and teeth showed as the skin was removed, and her eyes got wider. Not having enough time to go into shock, she was still feeling every last bit of the pain as he ate her alive. He spared a few chews to the tender flesh and then let himself swallow again, turning back to the helpless victim.
Terry heard the screams from down the hall. First he heard Nicole yell his name, then he heard Scott yell Nicole's name, and then he heard a separate female scream. For all he knew, it could have been Nicole crying out in pain. Without another thought he took off down the corridor heading away from the Corral and from Wilkers, pistol in hand.
As he ran he thought about Wilkers' words, he thought about them a lot. He had said that the only thing standing in his way was Scott, and that was true, but was he really thinking about killing him?
Coming at him from down the hall was Nicole. She was in an all out sprit towards him, and he didn't know what was going on. As far as he knew everything was supposed to be going to plan.
She approached him, but she didn't slow down. She hopped out and hugged Terry, wrapping her arms around his neck. She pulled him close, as close as she could. Closing her eye tight, she wished that they'd never come to the silo. She wished that they could have just stayed at the Crossroads Mall.
"I'm so sorry, Terry. I love you so much." She said it though tears, realizing that he wasn't hugging her back. One hand was hidden behind his back and the other was at his side. He kept his face blank as he thought about the video. "Please forgive me."
Just as she finished her plea, Scott came running up from the darkness. He had a worried look on his face, and Terry knew why. He cared about Nicole the same way that he did. For all he knew he might have loved her more than him.
Standing there, looking at Scott while Nicole hugged him around the neck, he didn't know what to do. He had the gun in his hand, ready to go, and he could do it if he wanted.
Wilkers walked out of the shadows; he had seen enough. The plan was simple, make Terry hate Scott enough that he was willing to take his life. After he had killed a man, Nicole would never forgive him, there for he wouldn't be able to live with himself. Terry would hate himself enough that he wouldn't ever be a problem anymore, Nicole would hate Terry enough that she wouldn't be a problem anymore, Ana and Kenneth would shun them both and before the day was over he would have made them all turn on each other. But Terry just stood there, looking at Scott.
"Just do it!" He shouted, startling everyone.
All eyes turned towards Wilkers, and then back to Terry. Slowly the young man pulled the gun out and moved Nicole out of the way. She didn't realize what was happening, so she just moved away. Wilkers smiled at the sight of what he'd created, what chaos he'd caused.
The barrel of the pistol came up and pointed at Scott with Terry's finger on the trigger. But then, without warning, he froze. Wilkers' face froze with no expression as he watched.
"What are you waiting for, kid? Just do it!" He shouted it once more.
"Do whatever it takes", Terry whispered to himself. All the faces that watched him showed the curiosity. Scott's face was twisted with fear as he realized that Wilkers had traded him it and that Terry had a gun pointed at him. "Do whatever it takes to get Wilkers out of the way, even if that means you have to kill him." Terry repeated the last part of Kenneth's plan to himself. He turned the gun at Wilkers and, with no hesitation, he pulled the trigger.
The explosion at the tip of the barrel was extremely bright in comparison to the dim lights that they been living in for the past few days. The sound echoed through the halls with a great force, cause everyone's ears to ring a little.
The bullet soared through the air and landed in Wilkers' shoulder, knocking him back a step and then to his knees. He yelled out in pain as he brought his hand up to grasp his shoulder. "Son-of-a-bitch!" He shouted into the air.
Not knowing how to load the next bullet into the chamber, Terry let his arm drop to his side. He let the gun slide out of his grasp and fall to the ground with a small thud that he couldn't hear due to the ringing.
With expert speed, Moran reached down, pulled out his own handgun, sighted it on Terry and pulled the Trigger. His aim was a little off because he was firing with his bad hand, putting the bullet in Terry's upper thigh.
With a scream and a splatter of blood, Terry fell to the ground. Scott rushing to his side, followed by Nicole.
"Oh my God! Get tha' hell outta' here!" Wilson's voice could be heard coming from the direction of the Corral. Sounds of footsteps and then Wilson and Phil came into everyone's sight. They were running full speed away from the Corral with fear all over their faces.
"That fucka' just opened the fuckin' doors!" Phil yelled as he ran past the fallen men. "Frankenstein just let all of those damn things into the compound; we gotta get to the fuckin' barracks!"
Ending Notes: Listen guys, I'm really sorry about this chapter. It's rushed and it's no good, I already know this. I just can't help but let my personal life interfere with my writings. I hope that everyone can forgive me for now because I will probably go back and do it again later. Also, I'd like to do something kind of fun with this chapter. If you decide to review tell me what you think will happen or what you want to happen. Might be fun.