Chapter 7:

            Billy grunted, as there was another pound on the door. The smell of rotting flesh was detectable in the stale air. Hungry moans could be heard on the other side of the large, ornate door. He pushed with all his might on the door, silently praying that the hinges wouldn't give in. His mind raced over about on hundred plans, each of them dead ends. He looked over at Stan, who was gritting his teeth and guarding the other door.

            He heard boots on stone and assumed this was Jackson pacing back and forth. When they had first entered the makeshift prison, Jackson had helped Rebecca take Boris to the back of the room. The older man was now covered in his own blood. He was pale, and he would wince and seize every once in awhile, according to Rebecca. She was obviously worried about him.

            "What's…our…plan…?" Stan asked, between knocks on the door. The infected were now trying harder than ever to get in the door, and Billy put more of his weight into it.

            There was an awkward silence between the group. Jackson spoke first, after letting himself fall to the ground.    

            "We need to prioritize." He paused, and Billy turned his head to see the red haired man, He was pale, and his green eyes were buried in his hands.

            "Let's see…we need to treat Boris' wounds…and we definitely need weapons. We're also gonna have to find a way to communicate with Lex's group and let them know we're stuck." Jackson said, looking up. His voice was calm, but Billy detected a panic deep within him.

            Billy couldn't help but feel this was all his fault. He had led the group into Zion…but now they were stuck. It was true they all had agreed to the plan, but he was the leader…he should have been in control.

            "Let's stay positive, Coen. You've been in worse spots then this, and you'll get out. Just gotta stay focused on the plan." He thought, but was interrupted by another heavy push on the door. It creaked, and everyone (minus Boris) held his or her breath, praying that the door wouldn't give in.

            "How are we supposed to do that, exactly? We're stuck in this room, meanwhile zombies are trying to eat us or whatever the hell they do. We're screwed, why can't you seem to get that?" Stan yelled, surprising both Jackson and Billy.

            "The zombies…they'll give up." Rebecca muttered. Billy assumed she was still looking at Boris by the tone of her voice.                                                                                       "What do you mean, they'll give up? They haven't yet, have they?" Stan muttered angrily. He turned his head to glare at Rebecca.

            "Stan, just calm down, man-" Billy started, not wanting to see the group begin to fight with each other. "If we're gonna get out of here, we need to stick together. If we start fighting, we're definitely screwed." Billy thought.

            "It's okay, Billy. I've been around the infected a lot, and I know that if they will forget after a while. I remember when I was in the mansion, I was able to lock myself in a room and for awhile, they pounded on it non stop, then they gave up for awhile." Rebecca said, almost happily.

            "That doesn't mean they won't be waiting for us as soon as we get out there, and with two knives and a gun with no extra ammo we're not going to be able to hold them off." Stan said, obviously temporarily forgetting about his anger.

            "One thing about them is that they aren't very smart. They are easy to sneak by if you know how to do it. They're also pretty slow, so we can probably run past them." Billy said, remembering some of his experiences from the forest and train.

            The silence fell upon them again, each trying to think up a plan. After about ten minutes, the banging finally stopped. Stan gave a sigh of relief, and slowly moved his hands from the door. Billy slumped in front the door, and let his hands and arms relax.

He then got a decent look of everyone in the room.

            Boris looked worse then ever. His breathing was somewhat relaxed when they had brought him in, but now it was harsh, almost as if he was clinging to life. His hands and caked blood on them, his eyes were closed. Blood had begun to drip onto the stone floor, leaving a small pool of blood surrounding his body. If Billy didn't know better, he would say Boris was probably already dead…

            Rebecca sat, short brown hair cascading into her blue eyes. Her brows were furrowed in frustration as she stared at Boris. The two had obviously hit off since they met, but it was probably because Boris was just that kind of person. He was almost always cheerful and happy, and he loved his family dearly. "Hang in there, buddy. We'll figure this out." Billy vowed, looking from Boris to Rebecca.

            She looked as if she was about to cry, her eyes were glassy. Billy knew she felt helpless. He looked to Jackson, who was also looking at Boris, but his thoughts were clearly somewhere else. He looked scared, among other things.

            Stan had decided to take Jackson's place in pacing. Although Stan was usually quick to anger, he was a competent fighter and soldier, Billy knew from experience.

            Billy thanked God for the umpteenth time that the banging and moaning had ceased totally five minutes later. He gathered his thoughts, and began.

            "Rebecca, what does Boris need?" he asked, his tone cold and collected.

            She looked surprised for a moment, and then sighed.

            "I-I'm not sure. My Med-kit doesn't have enough things in it to fully treat him, but that's been confiscated. He probably needs morphine for the pain. I'm going to need to stitch parts of the wound up, because in some places the cut is too wide." She looked down at the wound, and shook her head. "Something to clean the wound. I might be able to pull it off if I had those things. I know it's a lot but-" she started.

            "No." Billy said firmly. "We can get them. I'm sure there are plenty of things in the labs or whatnot. I guess that's what we attend to. Stan, you're going to look for a radio, telephone, fax machine, computer, or whatever we can use to get in contact with Lex. Think you can do that?" Billy asked.

            Stan looked like he was going to object for a moment, then nodded. Billy knew it wasn't like him to back down from anything.

            "Rebecca, you and I are going to look for weapons and ammo, and everything you need for Boris. Okay?" He asked, losing his firm tone.

            "Yes." She replied, squeezing Boris' hand for a moment, then stood.

            Billy looked to Jackson, who stared back at him expectantly.

            "You need to stay here and look after Boris, Jackson." Billy explained calmly. "Just make sure nothing gets in after we leave."

            Jackson sighed, and then nodded.

            Billy took a moment to think about how the weapons and ammo should be distributed, then picked up the handgun. He walked over to Rebecca, and handed it to her. He proceeded to hand the two knives to Stan and Jackson, who nodded in response.

            "Stealth is our mission here, men." He said blankly, before looking to the door.

            "We'll bring back some more weapons and ammo."

            Jackson took a seat by Boris, and held the knife out. Rebecca piped up, deciding to fill the others in.

            "The easiest way to kill a zombie is to sever the spinal cord, or deal a severe blow the head. Be careful, because they will get back up unless you've done this. Be careful around the ones that have fallen, because they will try to bite your ankles." She said, giving them the short version. Billy smirked.

            "Okay then, off we go." He said, putting a sweaty hand on the doorknob. He twisted it slowly and then pushed on it. The door gave a shallow creak, surprising Billy. It took all the nerve he had not to slam the door shut again. He opened the door a crack, and was able to peek outside.  

              The infected outside were slouching, some drooling. Bits of red-colored saliva dripped down their cheeks and landed in pools by their feet. Pieces of half eaten flesh clung to their bodies, their clothes tattered and worn with dirt and blood. They stared dumbly in front of them.

            Billy cringed and began to pen the door. It creaked a tad as it slid open, taking an eternity. He looked back to Rebecca who nodded determinedly. He kept pushing, using more force after every passing moment. He kept his eyes on one of the infected, obviously what was left of a young woman, probably about twenty years old. Her long blonde hair was bloody, and falling out in clumps.

            He motioned for Stan and Rebecca to follow him out through the now fully open door. They obliged and made no noise. He kept his eyes on the zombies, all the while praying they didn't hear or smell them…

            He scanned the horizon for any buildings that were now standing. Not more than a half a mile in front of them was a slightly burned out building. He wasn't sure exactly what it was, but he assumed they could stay there awhile and look for ammo.

            He pointed to the building and hoped Rebecca and Stan got his meaning. They nodded, and looked to the building.

            "On three…one…two…THREE!"

            The three of them took off running. The zombies gave out hungry moans; finally figuring out that their victims had come out. Billy ran directly through the middle of them, Rebecca and Stan right behind him. The zombies began to close in around them, closing in with every step.

            "Keep going!" Billy felt himself scream. He watched has a male zombie in workman's clothes stumbled in his path. He gave a kick with his boot and there was an audible "crunch" sound heard. The infected flew backwards and landed sprawled on the ground, rib bones popping out of his flesh from the force of the kick. Billy didn't look back.

            Rebecca was having problems of her own. A young male zombie, a teenager, grabbed her arms in his decaying flesh. He fell to the ground, bringing the medic to her knees. She struggled to get free as the other zombies hobbled toward her, all the while increasing their speed. The teenage zombie swooped in as she looked for her gun. Billy knew he'd be too late if he ran back towards her. In a split second, Stan had his knife out.

He flicked his wrist and sliced the zombie across the neck. It recoiled, and coagulated blood splashed across Rebecca's pants. She gasped and fell backwards, only to be caught by Stan. He dragged her to her feet, just as the infected began to form a circle around the three.  

            Just before they hit the building. A zombie launched itself at Stan, tackling him. Billy growled, and Rebecca pulled out her handgun. She tried to take aim, but Billy could tell she didn't have a clear shot. Stan gasped as the zombie edged closer to his neck, teeth bared. Saliva dripped on his padded shoulders.

            "Shoot it!" Stan screamed. Rebecca kept trying to find a shot. The zombie leaned closer, almost reaching his neck. He was inches away now…

            "C'mon, you can do it. You're a better shot then you know." Billy muttered, and a flash of remembrance flashed her face. She squinted on last time, and fired. The zombie's head exploded in a flash of red and pink, and Billy and Rebecca rushed to Stan, picking him up.

            The three ran up to the building, the zombies just behind them. It had stone walls, just like most of the buildings in Zion. The door was painted a rust-colored orange. A bronze plaque read "Residential".

Billy pulled open the door, and shoved a very frazzled Rebecca and a very panicked Stan inside. Billy shoved the door closed, and flipped the lock, ignoring the zombies pounds and horrible moans. The room looked to be a break room. Two sets of lockers lined the black walls; a large oak table took up the middle. Blood was splattered on a pink package of donuts, causing Billy to look away in disgust. Papers were strewn about in a disorganized fashion. A large rubber plant on the side of the room was covered with what looked like human intestines. Rebecca blanched. Chairs were overturned, and the navy blue carpet carried the brown stains of coagulated blood.

"Well that was fun." Stan said, taking a seat in a black chair.

"A little wild, eh, Stan?" Billy asked, smirking.

Stan paled and nodded, new blood now covering his camo uniform.

"Thanks a lot for that back there Stan." Rebecca said, winded.

Stan nodded. He wiped off his knife with a dishtowel, which he immediately discarded.

Two doors stood in the room. After peeking out of both of them, Stan spoke up.

"Okay, I guess this is where we split up. I'll secure the courtyard, you two look through the rooms of the scientists." Stan said, in a tone that explained that it clearly was not a suggestion.

"Okay, be careful, okay?" Billy said, looking at his friend. Stan disappeared through the courtyard door, leaving Rebecca and Billy alone. Billy sighed, and looked around the room, making sure to stay away from the plant and donuts.

"Billy!" he heard Rebecca gasp.

"What is it?" he asked, turning to look at her.

A gray locker was open, and Rebecca was standing by it, holding a long piece of paper. She quickly cleared the table and laid it down.

"A map of the building. It seems this particular building has two floors and housed a little over one-hundred scientists and other staff." She explained, pointing at the map.

"Great, any doctor's offices?" Billy asked, hope in his voice.

She bit her lip, and scanned the map.

"There's a nurses' office in the top floor, end hallway." She memorized the map, and placed it on top of the lockers. Billy hadn't noticed the window above the lockers, until the zombies burst through it, moaning and grasping for them.

Rebecca gasped, and headed for the door, Billy on her heels.

When they emerged through the door, they found themselves in a plain hallway. The black paint had disappeared, and pale, boring, yellow wallpaper traced the wall. The floor was made up of unvarnished brown planks. There were about twelve doors on both sides, each had black numbers painted on them, starting with 14 and going up. A staircase was situated in the back of the room.

Billy shrugged, and said to Rebecca "You take the right and I'll take the left?" She nodded, and the two began to check each of the rooms. Unfortunately, they didn't find anything useful, except a few non-animate corpses and some interesting artwork. Billy found a large pipe made of iron in one of the rooms, and decided to use that as a weapon until he found a more suitable one. Rebecca came out of the last room with something in her hands. She showed him to green plants, side by side in pots.

"These things seem to grow everywhere." She beamed, sitting down and beginning to mash them and put them into two silver plastic bags.

Billy grinned back at her. "She's a lot prettier now, even after everything that's happened to her."

After she was done, she nodded to him, and she headed up the stairs. He held his metal pipe at his side, while she held the gun at the ready. Not surprisingly, the corridor at the top was also empty.

"They must have had an evacuation when we planted the bombs." Billy figured.

The two continued down the hallway.

 This hallway looked exactly like the first, except much smaller. Only four doors were stationed on the sides. At the end of the hallway was a plain brown door with a gold plaque.

When they reached the door, the now visible plaque read "Nurse's office" and under that, "Nurse Janelle Avery". Billy twisted the doorknob, and opened the door slowly.

            The room was surprisingly tiny. The wallpaper in here too was pale yellow, but underneath it at about waistline was different wallpaper with small blue birds and bees. On both sides of the room were two yellow curtains; the same color was the wall. They were obviously used as privacy for changing patients. Behind those curtains came the white of linen bed sheets. On the left white, a long vertical stain of blood ran towards the ground.

            Billy walked toward the ovular desk in the middle, and rifled through some papers. A memo that read the day's date jumped out at him.

-Nurse Avery,

Today a new prisoner has been brought in. Interestingly enough, she is a woman. I heard she is part of one of those rebel S.T.A.R.S groups that has been causing so much trouble. Things have been such a mess since the Arklay incident.

            Anyway, that Richcoumbe girl has been causing so much trouble lately, snooping around where she doesn't belong. I swear, if Dr. Richcoumbe doesn't take care of his daughter, I'll have to talk to Madame Vargas about dealing with her. Permanently.

            There is a key that blocks off the newly dug tunnel in the courtyard. I know you were so upset that you have to take care of two sets of apartments, but I wrote to tell you where the key is.    

            There are three keys, all hanging by the tunnel doors. Only one will work, and if you use either of the other two, they will break off in the door, making it useless. Please make sure to use the RED key, and only the RED key. Madame Vargas says that whoever breaks the door will be dealt with for their ignorance. I think it's silly myself. See you tonight at 8:00.

                       

                        -Dr. Jonsey Avery.

                       

            Billy read over the letter and shoved it in his back pocket. Behind the counter, a Beretta 9mm lay with matching bullets. He smiled to himself and picked them up. The Beretta had 14 shots in it, and there were 14 in the box. He checked over the pistol once, and then grinned.

            Rebecca watched him, smiling.

            The curtain near the bloodstain shook. A beat. A hollow groan came from the bed.

            A zombie wearing a hospital gown shuffled toward them. Billy was quicker than Rebecca and fired a shot, which hit the zombie straight between two white eyes. It groaned once more before falling backwards. Another groan, this time more feminine, rose from the same side of the room.

            A woman, blood staining her white uniform, stood up, her hands grasping towards Billy. He started to raise his gun, but was surprised when two bullets came straight toward the zombie. One hit her in her neck, which was already covered in blood and teeth marks from bites. The other flew through her shoulder, blood spraying from the exit wound.

            Billy looked at Rebecca, whose gun was still at the ready. She smiled at him and muttered, "Just like old times?".

            He gave a dim smile and nodded. "Just like old times."

            They thoroughly searched the Nurses' office. They found everything, from band-aids to hydrogen peroxide. Rebecca even found her Med-kit.

            "I guess they decided to empty it up here." She said, while strapping it to her waste. She muttered something about missing morphine. He watched as she picked up a plain brown bottle of hydrogen peroxide and some gauze and bandages.

            "The hydrogen peroxide should clean the wound pretty well." Rebecca said, smiling.

            "Yeah, my mom swears by the stuff" Billy said, and they both turned simultaneously towards the exit.

            As soon as Billy opened the door, he stepped back in surprise. Four new zombies were loitering in the hall. The four turned towards them mouths wide open. The smell from the now open rooms was awful. Billy fired three times, hitting one zombie. It hit the floor with a dull thud. Rebecca struggled with a second zombie. She had hit it twice in the chest, blood and pus seeping through the wounds. When it got close enough to her, she was able to grab it by the chin and fire one shot into its head.

            Billy dispatched another zombie in one shot, and Rebecca finally took a shot at the last, hitting it and sending it down the stairs of the hallway. The two breathed a sigh of relief and sighed.

            "Well, looks like we got this part done with. Let's go see if we can meet up with Stan." Billy said, heading down the stairs.

            He prayed that Stan hadn't used one of the keys on the Tunnel door in the courtyard. If he had, then the door might be sealed off from them, which means they'd have to find a new entrance. That would mean they'd have to waste time, and Boris wasn't getting any better.

            Rebecca crept along behind him, her footsteps fast and steady. The lower hallway had been untouched, except for the zombie corpse which they both side stepped. The continued through to the break room, which was calm, unlike the way that had left it.

            Billy headed through the door to the courtyard, which was much bigger than he thought. It was like a maze…

            The grass was thick, at least up to Billy's ankles. Straight in front him was a stone wall with ivy growing all the way up it. Layers of green were seen covering stone gray for what seemed like about a mile.

            A hedge maze.

            "Any good with mazes?" Billy asked with a sigh.

            She nodded. When I was a little girl I would play in the mazes in an amusement park near our houses. I was too scared to go on any of the rides." She replied, starting down the path.

            "Yeah, that sure does seem like something you would do." He said, chuckling.

            Rebecca rolled her eyes and hit him hard on the shoulder.

            "Hey, when I rescued you, I got rights on making fun of you, so don't hit me!" he said with mock-hurt.

            She laughed, until they hit a dead end.

            "This may be a little harder than I thought. Got any bread crumbs?" Billy asked, laughing at his own joke.

            She sighed, before pulling him along. "Let's try this way."

            They walked around for what seemed like hours. Finally, they made it to what Rebecca figured what was the middle of the maze.

            "Can we rest? I think I memorized the pattern. Right, left, right, right, left…" she kept going.

            Billy was incredibly happy she had a good memory. Stan had obviously made his way through the maze. Knowing the ex-Soldier, he probably had repeated so many curses the flower around him started dying…

            Rebecca finished her pattern recap. "Okay, I'm okay now, let's go."

            They tried the left path first, which led to a dead end. Billy was getting frustrated.

            "How did they not lose employees in here?" he half shouted to his companion.

            She shrugged, ad they headed down the right path. The walked on for a little while before Rebecca asked,

            "Do you think Stan made it out of here all right? I mean, I hope he's not lost or anything."

            "I'm sure he's fine. He knows how to use that knife. Plus if all he had to do was wander around a stupid stone maze for an hour, I'd say he's lucky." Billy said, looking calm.

            She nodded, before tripping over a tree root.

            "Oopph!" she muttered, hitting the ground hard.

            As Billy bent down to help her up, he noticed it was beginning to get dark. The sun was almost down behind the stones, which was definitely NOT a good thing.

            An almost inaudible sound played through the maze. It was like footsteps, rapid ones that moved like a wind through the tunnels of the maze. Rebecca let out a gasp as a shadow dove toward her prone form…

A/N: Cliffhanger!!!! Woooo… anyways, thanks for reading so far. Hope you like the new chapter. School has been mean to me, and I already have homework! UgH.. Anyway, I'm probably gonna start the new chapter tomorrow, so you guys might get it sooner than you expect.

Daishi Mk2: Thanks! Hopefully the chapter was all you were hoping for!

Lady Frost1: I love Billy/Becca stories too…there are so few out there. Hopefully I'm contributing a good one. Sorry about Leon, but the others won't in the fic very long anyway.

Ice: Thanks, I'll try!

Goth w/ morals: Thanks, I rewrote that at LEAST 100 times .; Yeah, I was afraid of him being out of character, but…I'll try to make it better in the future.

Mina Aino: No, but is it EVER good for them? Lol, if umbrella makes you a zombie well…I'll just run…REALLY FAST!

Spider-bear: Thanks, I thought I got Billy's humor just about right. And blue and gray camo is just so cool!

Karategal: Thanks, I was beginning to believe it was becoming unrealistic…Thanks for the review!

CutieCherrie: Thanks!

JoJo10: Thank you! I've been reading some of your stories as well, now I just have to make sure to review.

Dramaqueen: Making my OCs was definitely fun. I'm attached to them as well!

To all my reviewers: Thank you for reading my story. I appreciate it immensely. I'm going to finish this, no matter what! Hopefully all of you will stick with me as well! Now, remember I DO ACCEPT FLAMES! If anyone has read this story and feels it is horrible, please tell me. I want to make myself the best writer I can be! Thanks,

                                                                                                                  -Artemis