Author's Note: Ahhh, some of you would be wondering why it took me so long to update, well, it was Christmas, and I got two new games, which pretty much consumed all of my free time. They still do, actually, but that's beside the point.

Chapter 22: Bad to Worse

Robles

"All clear."

Paccone nodded, and the rest of the motley group of Marines and civilians scrambled out of the abandoned building they were hiding and made a dash for the next one down the street. Though slow going and time consuming, it was the best way to avoid the ambush tactics that the zombies had seemingly mastered. Also, they were getting close to the landing pad anyways.

Leo reached the building first, did a quick check of the interior through the windows, and gave the "all clear" signal. Paccone opened the door, and Mann and Kumi moved in, covering the flanks while Siler went right down the middle. The two civilians, who had yet to reveal their names, followed close behind. After a quick spot check, Mann shouted, "Clear!"

From the interior, Kumi responded, "Clear!"

And finally, Siler came last with another, "Clear!"

Paccone and Leo both scanned the street, and, after making sure there were no immediate threats outside, backed into the building and closed the door.

As it turned out, they ended up a funeral home. Leo was about to make a limp joke about the irony of their situation when Paccone suddenly snapped to attention.

"Quiet. I think I hear something."

They all went silent, and strained to hear any noise out of the ordinary. It was faint, but it was there. It sounded like someone moaning in pain or sorrow, and it was coming from…

"The basement." Said Paccone.

Omega

Before he knew it, Holy and Karla were back in the garage area, where the other Marines had placed the sole surviving scientist, who was still unconscious. Karla quickly walked over to the scientist, knelt down close to his face, and began to smack it lightly until he began to wake up. The scientist moaned a little and slowly got up. Seeing that he was conscious, Karla asked him in a very flat voice, "Okay, now that I've got your attention, who the hell are you and what just happened back there?"

The scientist, however, regained only his consciousness and not his nerve. He started screaming and blubber again. Karla shook her head and stood up.

"We're not going to get anything out of this guy." She glanced over and thought about her next move. "Okay. Richards, you and first squad stay up here and hold the fort." She nodded in the direction of the scientist, "and try to get anything you can out of that guy." Karla then turned around and started check her rifle. "Meanwhile, I'm taking second squad down to check out those sublevels. For some reason, there's more of them than the blueprints say, and I suspect we can find the other survivor down there-"

Williams then cut in: "Whoa, whoa! Wait a minute there, Cap. Other survivor? I though we found him already?"

First Lieutenant Tarin Richards then replied, "The guy we found here was locked in the freezer for God knows how long, and we only heard that comm message half an hour ago. I doubt this guy here could get out of the freezer and make a call, much less talk in a coherent sentence."

"Oh yeah." Williams muttered, with an abashed expression on his face.

Karla smiled at the little exchange. Tarin Richards was Karla's replacement as CO of 2nd Platoon. She was fairly thin, with average height and long brown hair. Her face showed little, if any, emotion, and it was always kept under a mask of seriousness. Karla thought that if the girl would brighten up her expression and show a little feeling once in a while, she would look quite attractive, though it was really her eyes that caught Karla's attention. The deep and unwavering intensity of them suggested great intelligence and initiative inside, if only she would get the nerve to show it. Karla seriously hoped her replacement would, since it would be such a waste for a girl like that to spend the rest of her Marine career as a platoon leader.

Karla went off in the direction of the elevators, and Holy and 2nd squad followed deeper into the bowels of the Omega Installation.

Robles

"Damnit!" Kumi cursed as she stumbled into knee deep water.

"Watch your step there, Marine." Muttered Paccone as he surveyed the basement. He strained his ears again and pinpointed the faint sound.

"Carter, get a light over there" He pointed over to the left of the basement.

Leo nodded and pointed his rifle in that direction. The rifle's flashlight illuminated a small, raised concrete platform that was just above the water level. On it, it looked as if a severely wounded man was lying there.

Paccone quickly motioned for Leo and Kumi to follow him, and rushed over to the wounded man.

The man rolled over and gurgled, "N-no! Get out of here!" He tried to wave them away, but winced in pain instead, "Me and my friends tried to hide in here from those things… but we had no idea the entire place was infested with them!"

Leo suddenly realized that this place was no longer safe anymore.

"Sarge, maybe we should-"

But before he could finish his sentence, a zombie burst out of the water behindhim and tackled him. Leo felt himself falling forward, and ended up pinned facedown in the water. Leo began to panic and struggle. If the zombie didn't kill him, the water would.

Just under one kilometer away…

Once again, Sam found herself lying against a wall, badly wounded, and constantly flitting in and out of consciousness. She didn't have anything to treat the massive wound on her left shoulder, but she didn't really want to anyways. Just the sight of it usually caused her to faint again.

So she merely sat there, hoping for somebody, anybody, to come.