Chapter Thirty-Eight:
Tessa threw the empty handgun at one of her attackers and pulled out the pistol, aiming at the growing crowd of the undead. She hadn't seen Adette since they split up to look for a way to the roof and was thinking the worst when someone grabbed her from behind.
"Get off!" she yelled as she drove her elbow into the person's stomach.
"Oof!"
She whirled around and saw the man whose named she didn't know doubled over in pain and clearly still alive. Tessa turned her attention back to the Rots and opened fire. Five were closing in on her and the bullets spraying into their chests seemed to have no effect, so she readjusted her aim and four head exploded in a burst of bullets. The pistol, which had been left on rapid fire, began clicking, signifying that it was empty.
"Shit!" she yelled as the last Rot, dressed in a blood-spattered sundress, advanced toward her. The empty clip clattered on the floor as Tessa ejected it, but she didn't have time to put a new one in.
The Rot leapt at Tessa, who pistol-whipped it in the head. The skull, which had grown weak with malnutrition and decay, cracked and a horrible smell emanated from it, but the Rot kept after her. Tessa thrust the fingers on her bandaged hand into its eyes, feeling the soft tissue give way. Then she held it in place, avoiding the gnashing teeth as she continued to strike it in the head until the skull finally burst and she glimpsed greyed brain matter.
Tessa dropped the gun and stabbed the brain with her free hand, gagging and pulling out large quantities at a time until the Rot went limp and fell at her feet. She pulled her fingers out of its eyes and wiped both hands on her military uniform before picking up the gun and turning back to the man behind her.
He was short, black, and looked to be in his thirties. Tessa pulled another clip out of her pocket and slapped it into the gun before addressing him. "Who are you?"
"Z-Zhen," he answered nervously, eyeing the gun in Tessa's hand. "Please don't kill me."
"Why would I kill you?" Tessa asked angrily with flared nostrils. "Because you could've cost me my life during that fight? You idiot, don't do stupid shit like that. We both could've died."
"I'm sorry," he said as he dropped his head.
"You should be, worthless fucking man."
"What?"
"Unless you know a way out of here, shut the fuck up," Tessa said as she pointed the gun in Zhen's face. "I don't feel like dying today, and this place is filling up with those things."
"I know a way out," Zhen said quietly.
"What?" Tessa screamed at him, echoing his thoughts from seconds earlier. "Pull your head out of your ass and tell me already!"
"You don't have to be so mean!" Zhen mumbled.
"I heard that," Tessa said as she grabbed Zhen's shirt collar. She shoved the barrel of the gun against his temple and a maniacal look crossed her face. "I have the gun, so I can be mean if I want. Now tell me how to get out of here or I'll leave you to get eaten by those things!"
Zhen sighed, resigned to his fate. "Alright, it's the third floor. There's a balcony and, if you go out onto it, there's a ladder that leads up to the roof and down to the ground. But why would you want to go out there?"
"I would rather die on my terms," she answered. She withdrew the gun and extended her hand. Zhen grabbed it and she helped him to his feet. "Now come on, let's go."
They crept along the hallway, waiting for something to jump out and attack. Tessa strained her ears in hopes of hearing Adette or the blast of a shotgun, but it was silent. She couldn't even hear the moans of the Rots anymore.
Did I really kill them all? she thought. No, that's not possible. There had to have been thousands out there.
"What're you thinking?" Zhen whispered.
"Shut the fuck up! That's what I'm thinking. I need to hear if something is coming."
"I'll have you know…" Zhen said loudly as he stood up at full height, but his words were cut off. A Rot had snuck up during their argument.
Yellowed teeth sunk into Zhen's shoulder, and a piece of flesh and muscle the size of pork chop wound its way down the Rot's throat.
"Get it off me! Get it off me!" Zhen screamed as the Rot tore another chunk of meat out of him. The gun in Tessa's hand went off and a bullet tore through Zhen's neck. Before she could take the time to register what she had done, Tessa fired the pistol again and the Rot fell to the floor with half of its face missing.
Zhen jerked on the floor, red blood spurting on the wall and staining the carpet. Tessa stood over him with a look of resigned defeat. She pointed the gun at him, trying to avoid his widened eyes as she pulled the trigger. Afterward, she started heaving on the carpet.
Maybe it's a good thing I didn't eat, Tessa told herself. It would've just ended up on the floor anyway. Hyne, what's going on in this city?
Tessa stood up and ran down the hall, wishing she had a flashlight or more Fire spells. All she wanted was to close her eyes and wish that she hadn't woken up. Seven people died by her hand in one day; five who weren't even human anymore. One of her idols was dead because of a shot in the head, after Tessa witnessed her engaging in self-cannibalism.
"Third floor, third floor," she kept repeating to herself as she skulked through the empty building. She put the pistol back in the holster and shook her head. Gore that had clung to her hair flew into her face and caused the young soldier to gag. Tessa wiped it off and slung it against the wall with a shudder.
How long had it been since the Rots had gotten into the Residence? How did they get into the Residence? There was no provocation, and they appeared docile until some prey appears, Tessa thought. Try as she might, though, she couldn't make sense of what was going on around her. I checked the barricades myself. Someone had to have let them in. Either that, or…
She didn't have time to finish her ruminations. A male Rot in a tattered business suit stumbled out of a nearby doorway and had bloody entrails clutched in its filthy hands. Tessa grabbed at her gun and the noise drew the attention of the creature, which lurched toward her.
Tessa screamed and threw up her hands, catching the shoulders of the monster. Her bandaged right hand tore and began bleeding, causing Tessa to cry out in shock and pain. Taking advantage of his prey, the Rot bit at Tessa, catching a mouthful of her hair. It jerked its head back, ripping out the hair and pulling a small piece of scalp with it. She screamed again as the Rot chewed on the hair for a few seconds before spitting it out in disgust.
"Let me go!" Tessa screamed as she pushed on the Rot. "Leave me alone!"
Tough bone met soft flesh as Tessa tried to fend off her attacker, but it seemed to have no effect. Her knee sank into the Rot's midsection and, when she tore it away, the Rot's innards came with it. Even as the organs spilled around its feet, the monster seemed completely unaffected. Tessa, however, freaked out and screamed with her strength failing her.
Nothing more happened to her, though. The Rot's head exploded in a shower of blood and bone, brain matter covering Tessa's face. Something flew past her own head, and Tessa felt the displaced wind brush against her ear.
Gore flew from Tessa as she shook her head and wiped her face with her sleeve. When she finally looked ahead, she saw Rinoa Heartilly standing there with her right hand held up. A red and black "kite", her weapon of choice, was locked onto her arm and aimed at Tessa.
There was something different about Rinoa. The way she held herself, the look in her eyes, everything was different from the way Tessa remembered. She took a long, shuddering breath and stared at Tessa before aiming the projectile.
"What are you doing?" Tessa screamed as Rinoa released the "kite." The younger girl fell to the floor as the weapon flew overhead. A second later a body, minus its head, fell onto Tessa. Black ooze, as thick as oil, spilled out of the orface and onto the fighter.
"We need to get out of here," Rinoa said in a detatched voice. "It's not safe."
Tessa stood up and wiped her face off again before speaking. "I thought you were dead. I saw that man at the Caraway mansion fire his gun."
"My... that man didn't kill me," Rinoa said sharply. She raised her right arm and the projectile landed deftly in place. "He killed Zell. They... I..."
She didn't push for a further explanation, Tessa knew that it would only be a waste of time. Rinoa, it was clear, did not want to discuss what had happened in the Mansion. "How did you know where I was?"
"They kept me in a room with a window," Rinoa explained distantly. Tessa recognized the tone in Rinoa's voice, it was the same as Adette's. Something traumatizing had to have happened to her. "You spent a lot of time on the roof of this building.Lon and I came to rescue you."
"What about Adette?" Tessa said. "We need to get her out of here, too."
Rinoa laughed coldly and looked at Tessa. "I never expected you to care about someone other than yourself," Tessa cringed at the words "but Adette is fine. She's in the vehicle with Lon. They're waiting for us."
"How do you propose we get out of here?" Tessa asked as she removed her pistol from the holster. She popped the clip out, counted the number of bullets, 32, and slammed it back in place. Then she reached in her pockets and felt two clips left. "Sorceress power?"
"Don't be stupid," Rinoa said. "I still can't control my powers, so I prefer to not use them. This is how we get out."
A Whirlwind flew out of Rinoa's right hand and hit the wall beside her. It exploded at the force of the spell, chunks of cement and drywall falling to the grounds below. Rinoa stuck her hand out the hole and Tessa saw a flash of lightning, so she guessed it was a Thunder spell. Seconds later the sound of metal grinding on metal filled the air.
Tessa remembered reading about a situation in Dollet about 18 months before where a giant robot resembling a spider had blown up on the beach, causing hundreds of millions of Gil in damage. Now, another giant robot resembling a spider was storming down the grounds toward the Residence, crushing Rots and leaving eviscerated piles of gore in its wake. Tessa could see its hulking form through the hole.
The robot stopped outside of the Residence and raised itself on its legs so that the top was level with Rinoa's makeshift window. The Brunette jumped out of the hole and landed on top of the robots "head." A red visor, or windshield, opened and Rinoa climbed inside the metal contraption. The visor was blocking Tessa's view and she couldn't make out what was going on. Someone yelled for her, but it was something in the corner of her eye that had caught her attention.
"Holt!" she yelled as she dashed away from the hole in the wall. Her pistol found its way into her hand and Tessa raised it as she rounded the corner. Two Rots were bent over something and Tessa could hear someone screaming.
She fired and hit a Rot in the back, but the creatures didn't seem to notice. When she reached them, Tessa was running on pure adrenaline. Booted foot met decayed skull and one of the Rots fell back, clawing at the air. The gun was raised and fired, the truly dead person falling to the ground.
Rounding on the second one, Tessa grabbed it by a tattered shirt collar and pulled it to the ground before shoving the pistol against its temple, spraying the wall and herself with blackened blood and brain matter as she pulled the trigger. She wasn't bothered as she wiped the gore from face and slung it to the floor, her digits so sore that they were almost numb.
A man sat on the floor, staring at her and holding his hand. Red blood seeped through his fingers and ran down his arm, spreading out like a delta before dripping to the floor. Tessa smiled. Even though he was pale and his eyes were wide with fright, she immediately recognized Holt.
"Let's go!" she yelled at him as she heard more moaning. "Come on!"
Holt stood up and Tessa grabbed his shirtsleeve. She pulled and he slowly followed, stumbling but never falling. They ran into another Rot, but Tessa killed it with three wild shots. Eventually they reached the hallway where the hastily made exit was, but it was blocked by a group of four or five Rots trying to get out and to the living that waited in the metallic spider. Tessa couldn't remember how many bullets she had, but it didn't matter.
Jerking free of her grip, Holt ran at the dead screaming incoherently. He leapt on them, knocking two to the side and spilling onto the metal surface with the rest. Tessa followed, ignoring the two on the floor and diving through the hole and onto the "spider."
Chaos was opening as Holt pushed one of the Rots over the edge, only to have another one grab hold of him and bite his arm like it was a drumstick. Holt screamed and thrashed about, trying to get loose from the dead thing's grip. Tessa remembered the day in the cafeteria, how the dead SeeD was latched on her leg and it took decapitation to get free.
She shook her hair and narrowed her eyes, aiming for the Rot's head. By that time, she had figured out that the only way to kill them was by damaging the brain, even if she didn't know why. The recoil caught her by surprise and Tessa fell on her butt cursing.
When she looked up, she saw Holt teetering on the edge of the robot, a bloody hole in his chest. He grabbed the Rot and they both tumbled to the ground below.
Tessa tried to scream, tried to move, but her body seemed disconnected from her brain. Instead, the visor popped open and Rinoa stepped out. She walked to Tessa and helped the distraught teenager inside the cockpit/bridge where the others were. All the redhead could do was close her eyes and try to hold back the tears.