Chapter 26: Further Into The Unknown

Alpha Team/ Rick

Uhn...Where?...where the Hell am I?

Rick woke up to the sound of rushing water. His head was pounding along with the rest of his body. He vaguely remembered falling, and feeling cold, and wet, and then he banged his head and...Oh yeah! It all came back to him. The aftershock, and his sister's voice screaming over the roar of the river. He recalled falling into the water, hitting his head on the rocky bottom, and barely making it to the surface. He had put his feet out in front of him instead of trying to swim against the strong current. He finally made it to shore, and passed out, but he didn't know how long ago that was.

He struggled to his feet, and almost immediately, a wave of nausea overcame him and he reached for his forehead. He felt the warm, sticky touch of blood, and realized that he must've cut his head on the rocks after his initial plunge into the raging torrent. Suddenly he was wondering if the others were okay. He carefully surveyed his dark surroundings, and realized with dismay that the river had come to a sudden stop at the walls of the cavern he was now in.

"Damn! I must still be somewhere in the caves."

He instinctively reached for his gun holster and found that he had lost his Desert Eagle.

"Shit! It must've fallen out in that God-forsaken river!"

He stumbled around in the dark, and reached into his upper-left vest pocket to find a small, but powerful flashlight. He switch it on, hoping that the water-proof lining of the S.T.A.R.S issue utility/ kevlar vest kept it protected. Unfortunately the water had managed to seep through, but as luck would have it, not enough to damage the flashlight.

"Thank goodness for small favors." He thought out loud, as he switched the small, but potent beam on.

As he scanned his surroundings, he caught a glimpse of something shining in the shallows of the river. He investigated, and realized that it was his gun. He hadn't lost it after all.

"It must be my lucky day!" He said, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He quickly ejected the half-empty clip, to make sure it wasn't water-logged. He checked the chamber and the rest of the gun for the same reason. For the most part, it was dry, and still usable. That's when he realized that he had actually lost some of his extra ammo in the water. He was now down to about two full clips of 7, and one clip of 4 bullets. That meant he had 18 rounds left, so he knew he'd better make his shots count.

"Well, time to try and find the others, if they're still alive."

Alpha Team/ Elsewhere

Liz and Brit were walking together as Joe, Hunter, and Tiff scouted a short distance ahead. The two best friends had both been in shock over what had happened just a little over an hour ago. Liz knew that Rick was gonna cut himself loose before jeopardizing the rest of the team, but it didn't make things any easier.

Brit was beside herself, as she had begun to fall in love with the Alpha Team leader over the course of the last couple weeks leading up to the current situation. Her school-girl crush had developed into something much stronger, and nowthe chance to tell him how she felt was gone. She didn't want to believe that their leader was dead, but how could he have survived? Sure, he was an excellent swimmer, but the current, and all the rocks that had to be everywhere in the river would've surely killed him.

Liz thought about the zombies, and other creatures that might have taken her beloved older brother away from her. What if he had gotten out of the river, only to be ambushed by more flesh-eating freaks than he could handle alone?

Their thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the sound of gunfire up ahead. They heard some unnaturally high-pitched screeches, and rushed to see what was going on. The guttural sounds were unnerving as they made their way ahead, and after sprinting about 25 yards, they could see what looked like some sort of giant, mutated bat. It's wingspan had to be at least 6 feet, and it's blood-red eyes glistened in the little bit of light in the caverns. Each bullet that hit only seemed to anger it more, and it swooped down several times. One of those times connected and the girls saw Hunter's big body fly into the wall behind him. He let out a loud scream as the bat came in for the kill. Then, in the flash of a shotgun blast, the creature's head splattered across the cavern walls. Hunter had carefully aimed his sawed-off at the charging creature and fired. Liz ran over to him to make sure the creature hadn't opened up any wounds. She could see a small cut on his cheek, and immediately checked it out with her Mobile Analysis Kit (MAK), which she had managed to save, in spite of the team losing alot of equipment in the initial earthquake.

"Well, it doesn't look like that thing was a carrier, or at least not an infecter. Lucky for you."

"Everyone, come quick!"

"What is it Tiff?" asked Joe as they approached her.

"There's another path along that river! Maybe we should follow it, and see if we can find Rick?!"

Brit and Liz were both excited and apprehensive. What if they eventually find him, and he's dead, or worse? Of course, nothing would make them happier than finding him alive.

"Sounds good," said Joe, who was the second-in-command. "Check your ammo, and let's go! I just hope we find him alive, and soon."

With that, they headed down the narrow path that ran down alongside the river, hoping they were on the right trail.

A/N

Well, that one was pretty short. Especially compared to chapter 25, but I hope my readers enjoy it anyway. Keep an eye out for the next chapter as well. Alpha loses one of their own! Maybe more! Who will it be? Find out next chapter.