Chapter 12: Drains and Zombies
Silence... barely any movement apart from the group occasionally munching on crackers and biscuits they had looted at some point that they couldn't even remember, that was how the four of them had been sitting for around half and hour now... unable to tell exactly what time it was and feeling worse for wear there was little to stop their negative thoughts and emotions from creeping to the surface, anger and sadness were now at the forefront and it was reaching boiling point especially for Francis who grit his teeth and punched the wall kicking over a table in a fit of rage causing the rest of them to scowl and shake their heads, "seriously that doesn't fucking help..." Zoey snapped as he rounded on her aggressively, "we would not be here if you had not shot that helicopter pilot... so why don't you think about that before you get on my back..." he spat as she stood up to challenge the far taller man appalled and furious by his response. "Gee you think the fucking zombie chopper pilot was gonna get us all the way to the safe zone and land the damn thing in one piece... gee I know you dumb but get with it you stupid gorilla!" Zoey snapped as he growled and rounded away from her, Bill continued to ignore the argument puffing away at the cigarette in his mouth as Louis warily watch the other two bicker and shout at each other, "hey come on now we don't know if there is any infected in this building stop making soo much god damn noise!" he finally yelled having enough of Francis pacing back and forward and Zoey yelling back for no good reason, "oh yes Mr positive enlighten us with how humanity is gonna bounce right back and how we are unstoppable and we can get through anything... cus you fucking sunshine beams has got us this far might as well take it all the way to your fucking grave!" the biker spat as Louis lost his temper and stormed up to the biker. "Hey you know what fuck you man at least I try to keep us feeling positive while all you do is biker and tell us how you fucking hate everything you lard arm stupid piece of shit!" Louis managed before Francis picked him up and threw him against the wall Zoey raising a handgun in shock as Francis pressed his shotgun against Louis's head, before any one else could act they were all shaken back to reality by a small burst of gunfire as Bill now stood with his back to them holding his smocking SMG in the air the bullets cluttering to the ground next to him, he crushed his cigarette under his boot aggressively before snapping round to face the three of them, his face in a deep scowl as his eyes burned with rage... all of them knew they were in trouble now.
"Put him down right now you big dumb fuck and then sit your ass down..." Bill said his tone low and dangerous as Francis warily dropped Louis to the floor and sheepishly stumbled back to a pipe which he quietly sat down on, Zoey placed her handgun back in her holster and sat back where she had been sitting the whole time, "you three need to get your asses in check... I did not get your asses all the way here out of Fairfield just for you to go to town on each other like a pack of fucking animals!" he yelled his voice getting louder and more angry as he stomped forward and stopped right next to Louis, "in case you idiots have forgotten there is an epidemic going and on and we may be the only survivors left in a hundred miles... so get your shit together and start acting like it or your on your own..." he finished rounding on Francis angrily. "You better get a hold of yourself punk... you or me or that idiot there could've been the ones to shoot that pilot... Zoey just happened to react first either way that helicopter was going down so get over it and stop complaining like we have no chance... as long as we are alive and have weapons we always have a chance, and you two know better then to respond to his bullshit in that shameless manner, you ain't gonna get anywhere insulting each other like a bunch of pansy school bullies... from this moment on we work together whether you like it or not... you got nothing nice to say to each other then don't say it... but if you can bring yourself to work with the last people left in the world around you... then feel free to take the path of least resistance right here and right now... is that clear?" he finished his tone broking no argument as he lit the last cig in a pack of cigarettes. They all shook their heads refusing to look at each other before Francis finally sighed and nodded his head giving the old man a thumbs up, "right then if you have no more lovers spats to get out of your system it is time to move on... I don't know where we are but we need to find another way of getting to Riverside so cut out the shit and move out" Bill said stomping up to the safe room door that was above them and slid the bar out of place and kicked it open aggressively, turning to motion for the others to follow him out into the room he now found himself in...
"These must be overflow pipes for Riverside" Louis explained stepping out into the rather large dark room noticing the path ahead was in ankle deep water and that there was two pipes leading out of the room, one to the right and one straight ahead... surprisingly there was no infected in the room at all, "how the hell do you know that?" Francis asked as Louis turned around to face him, "interesting true story in 1975 the local town ship..." he begun before Francis cut him off shaking his head, "you know what I just realised that I don't care lead on" he spat as Louis scoffed shaking his head as Zoey grunted realising they were in the drainage system for Riverside, "oh great from a sewer in the city to a drainage system for a small town nice..." she remarked Francis turned around to look her dead in the eye, "well you are already covered in zombie blood you cant get much worse sweet cheeks" he said before walking towards the pipe on the right, Zoey growled at his remark and blew a loose strand of hair out of her face. "Two paths, lets split up and cover more ground" Bill remarked as he and Francis went in the tunnel to the right, Louis began to make his way across the room to the other tunnel while Zoey stared down at the dirty looking drain water shaking her head, "come on Zoey you are already covered in shit and I'm not gonna wait in here forever for you to finally move your ass..." Louis said quietly making his way into the tunnel as she stepped through the water, detesting every step as she made it to the other side and followed him into the tunnel. She cursed the whole way causing the man to shake his head as he neared a bend in the tunnel, he stopped as the tunnel around the bend had collapsed into a large room below, jumping down into the room out of the pipe he cautiously scanned for infected, seeing some up ahead as the room opened up, gunning them down with a few bursts of his rifle he moved deeper into the room, looking up to see a catwalk high above them with a ladder next to him leading up, in front of him the room led up a large pipe out of a body of water and up into a big tunnel ahead where he could see more infected lurking about, as Zoey brushed herself down behind him clutching the katana in her grasp he went deathly still as faintly he could hear coughing somewhere nearby.
...
Bill and Francis were mostly silent for the most part, only stopping to listen for noise and then say all clear to each other as they advanced up the drain pipe that went a far way down from the room with the safe room, not sure when they would see Louis and Zoey again they moved carefully but quickly as they hoped that either way lead the right way... the tunnel ahead rounded to the left Francis sharply turned the corner training his shotgun and gaining the attention of two commons ahead, blasting them to the afterlife he kept walking seeing a large opening ahead to what looked like a much larger room then the tunnel they were currently in, passing by a gap in the tunnel which led to thick trees and grass above them they stopped momentarily hearing groaning close by, "boomer in the vicinity" Bill said sharply drawing a puff from his cigarette as Francis silently pushed forward to the edge of the tunnel. Looking down he could see they were on an upper catwalk in the top half of the large room seeing a ladder off to the left leading down to the ground area below, Bill moved to join him as he paused also know hearing coughing and growling somewhere above them, "god damn Hunter and Smoker around here as well" he grunted as both he and Bill were caught off guard by a loud thud from behind them, Bill sharply turned finger on the trigger only to recoil in disgust and fall down into the catwalk as a boomer vomited all over him causing him to spit out his cigie and try to wipe the horrid substance from his vision, Francis growled blasting the boomer and blowing it out of existence but the damage was already done...
"God damn horeshit!" Bill cursed as angry screaming and shouting began to echo all around them as infected jumped down from the large open celling above the catwalk and began charging around the side in the direction of the old man, Francis gasped in shock as a solid wall of infected came charging down the tunnel after Bill from the safe room they had just vacated, "where the hell were they all hiding!" he yelled blasting away as he did not have time to go for a Molotov or pipe bomb, taking out large chunks of the horde as the rest tried to rush past him, cursing as he slung his shotgun over his shoulder and raised his Axe yelling angrily with ever swing as he sprayed blood all over his front and face as he removed limbs and dropped attackers, Bill cursed unloading with the machine gun as attackers came from his left, hearing Louis firing below as well as Zoey slashing away with the sword. "Bill having to swing over as attackers also came from his right, firing and firing until suddenly a horrid appendage wrapped around his waist and pulled him against the guard rail of the catwalk his arms being held firmly against his body as the MP5 dropped to the catwalk, he cried out as he was being choked and the common infected began kicking and punching him causing intense pain to flare up all over his body as Louis looked up realigning his aim as a loud scream occurred followed by a hooded figure crashing down onto Zoey and throwing the katana away from her, she cried out as it began trying to slash away at her as she held her arms out, her arms getting slashed in the process as it also caught her stomach drawing blood as Louis grit his teeth and aimed for the smoker first.
He yelled firing away and hitting the infected in the stomach but also cutting its tongue around Bill, he flopped down to the catwalk screaming as the infected continue to punch and kick him as Louis turned around and rammed into the side of the hunter knocking if off Zoey as it did a backflip to steady itself, she cried in pain as blood seeped from her injuries as the hunter adjusted its gaze to Louis who raised his rifle an angry scowl on his face, he fired twice but to his horror the infected monster was quicker... lunging to the side and jumping over the second burst of fire it landed beside Louis and he hissed in pain as it rammed its claws into his gut, ripping them back out and drawing blood as he collapsed to his knees, Francis dropped down and killed all the infected surrounding Bill the old man bruised and bloodied and weakly staring up at Francis as he picked up the MP5 and fired at the hunter hitting it in the head from a diagonal angle and causing it drop from the platform next to Louis into the murky water below which turned blood red, Louis then fell onto his back clutching his stomach and hissing as Zoey whimpered next to him, he arms and stomach bleeding as her body was racked with pain. Francis pulled Bill up to his feet however it was obvious the old man was in bad shape, his eyes were black and his face bruised and cut, his left knee bleeding and pants cut open from the attack, "Bill Zoey and Louis need us come on we have to get down to them!" Francis said pulling the old man along as he handed him some pills which he weakly downed half the bottle as his limp was bad, Francis ignored him and rushed down the ladder holding Zoey in his arms as she sobbed the blood from her stomach was heavy and the wound was big... she was in pain and hurt badly, "just hold on Zoey I'm gonna get you patched up" he said taking the first aid kit off her back he began to clean up her arms, she hissed and whined with ever moment as he sprayed the disinfectant on causing her to cry out as he then began to bandage them up, Louis pulled himself to his knees as his stomach bleed heavily... they were ambushed by special infected that used a co ordinated attack... and it fucked them up big time, "shit... I need some water to get this blood out of the way hold on" Francis said pulling a bottle of water out of Louis's backpack and pouring if over Zoey exposed stomach she hissed and winced as it washed away the excess blood showing a deep cut on her stomach through her hoodie and shirt which had both been torn.
He disinfected the wound determining it was not life threatening even if it was rather large and began dressing it thoroughly, "that's gonna sting a bit, sorry but its the best I can do with the supplies we have we are gonna have to find some more" he said rubbing the back of his head as she gingerly climbed to her feet picking up her sword, she looked away for a moment breathing heavily as her body still ached like shit, before she rushed forward and buried her head in the man's shoulder, to her surprise he placed his arm gently around her back, "sorry for what was said back there in the safe room... you complain and say you hate everything all the time... but I couldn't imagine surviving the zombie apocalypse with out the three of you..." she said her voice full of warmth and genuine pride in her words as he chuckled pulling away... Bill gingerly slid down the ladder wincing as his bloody knee made contact with the floor and collapsing to the ground. Zoey used water to clear Louis's injury and proceeded to use their rapidly diminishing medical supplies to treat the wound in the same manner as her own, "thanks girl I'm sorry I couldn't get that thing of you sooner... but Bill was in trouble and Francis couldn't help..." he said quietly as she gently hugged him for a few moments, they turned around eyes filled with concern as Francis carefully tended to Bills knee, "sorry I was killing a bunch of them in the tunnel..." Francis tried to protest his innocence only for the old man to scoff and wince as his knee was dressed, "kid you did good, if it wasn't for you we would all be dead... nothing could of prepared us for how quickly that shit went to hell in a handbasket... those specials were waiting for us to separate and get distracted by the commons... that's the most organised I've seen the infected since this shit started... their changing" he said lighting up a cigarette from his last pack as his words dawned on the rest of them.
"These things can't actually think can they... I mean CEDA was telling us all on the radios that this shit was like rabies it drove them mad... how the hell can rabid zombies think?" Louis asked as they took a moment of respite sitting around on the ground area of the chamber they were in, "maybe they don't think as me and you do... but we know this virus can adapt and change to be airborne or ground at any moment... hell chances are its changing to make the infected smarter more like animals that hunt in packs..." Bill said quietly as Zoey found herself looking to the celling hearing coughing faintly nearby, "and to top it all off the smoker is still out there..." she said as they all looked up as well Bill frowning as he could also hear the coughing faintly, the son of a bitch had taken him by surprise... it would not get soo lucky again not now that it's special colleagues were dead. "We rest here for a few minutes let the medicine and pills kick in and then we need to continue up that tunnel over there, we need to get out of these drains and find a way back topside and get out asses of to Riverside" he finished quietly smoking as Francis ate some stale crackers with Louis and Zoey, "hey you know what despite everything I'm feeling confident we will get to Riverside, I don't think we are gonna see a witch from here on who wants to bet me?" he said as Bill chuckled and Francis scoffed Zoey looking at the man with an amused smile, "your an optimist ill give you that Louis" she said quietly as he laughed although he secretly hoped he was right... if the infected were getting smarter and more dangerous then the last thing they needed was an even smarter witch...
...
The group had spent a few minutes patching up dosing up on pills and had made their way up the tunnel ahead of the room they were in and were now overlooking a room that had two possible exits the one they were standing in and one high up on a catwalk to their left, to the right of the room was a lower catwalk with a control panel of some kind up along the catwalk with some kind of flood gates that were raised in the middle of the room, the whole middle area of the room was filled with dirty drainage water which they would look to avoid if possible, jumping down onto a walkway right beneath them they followed it right and up a ladder into the catwalk looking around at the rest of the room in front of them, "we need to get up to that tunnel on the other side of the room that will lead us back towards the surface" Louis said quietly looking around for some way to lower the flood gates as the rest of the group remained fairly quiet. Bill glancing around at a few entry points behind them where infected could poor into the room on their flank as well as the fact they would most likely come from the two tunnels if the floodgates were loud, he was on edge knowing that in the event of a horde rushing in that bastard smoker would try to get another cheeky hit on them, thankfully they would be prepared for it this time and the room would be much easier to defend, "look that control panel must be used to lower the bridge" Francis said as they crossed over the catwalk to a corner near the tunnel entrance that was away from the possible access points, "this would be a good place to defend until we can get across that bridge" Zoey said wincing as her stomach was still fiery and aching from the hunter attack.
Bill glanced around at the three of them, Francis for the most part was unscathed, covered in blood from using the fire axe to smash through a horde of infected sure but he was fine, Louis had a rip in his shirt where the Hunter had gutted him in the stomach that was smearing the white shirt with dry blood, he also had a tear on the right side of the trousers but otherwise he was fine, Zoey looked worse for wear, her jacket had two holes on her fore arms that smeared the light red jacket with dark blood, down the middle of her jacket and shirt was a tear exposing her bandaged stomach which still burned with pain like a bitch but he was certain like Louis she would recover now that she had been treated... she would just be sore for a while which she would just have to put up with, as for himself his trouser leg was torn at the knee exposing a bandaged knee with blood smeared on it and two swollen eyes as well as his jacket being torn a bit on the arms, but he would get over it, if they could survive a 12 ton monster punching cars at them they could survive the rest of the lesser pests that plagued their world with death. Nodding he pushed his thumb down on the button, within seconds the flood gates rumbled shaking the while room as two bright orange lights on the railings above the gates light up as a shrill alarm blared out followed by wailing and screaming and shouting echoing off the walls around them, "so much for the easy option..." Francis grumbled sarcastically over the noise as infected began to pour in from the tunnel they had entered from as Gunfire rose up to send them all back to hell as the flood gates began to lower down to their level which they hoped would form a bridge across, Zoey stood at the edge of the catwalk katana raised as she was ready to strike down anyone who would try to climb up to them, her colleagues opened fire dropping attackers into the sludge water which began turning red as attackers also jumped in from the access points on their flank charging across the catwalk towards them screaming like banshees. Zoey gritted her teeth as she swung over and over into the grey clammy flesh that ran towards her spraying blood everywhere as limbs and organs fell off the catwalk into the dirty water below making it more and more red as the gunfire continued over the shrill beeping alarm as the gates lowered down with a heavy rumble, Francis lit a Molotov and tossed it into the mouth of the tunnel they had come in from infected screaming and wailing in agony as they were burnt till their skin was thick black, Bill and Louis concentrating on the catwalk with Zoey while Francis took out any stragglers as the horde streaming into the room began to diminish as the alarm stopped and the lights went off the bridge across had been made... "we made a path get ready to move it people!" Bill yelled slamming another mag into his gun as he opened fire again, as soon enough the last infected fell collapsing into the water below which was now mostly red with bits and pieces floating around in it.
The horde had been dealt with and Bill quickly led the way across the bridge out to the other side grabbing some pills from a cabinet in a small room to the right they proceeded into the tunnel quickly moving along as everyone was now eager to get out of the horrid smelling drains, Zoey cursing under her breathe as her converse will now filthy leaving mud tracks with every step as the tunnel turned right Francis seeing a room at the other end, "we gotta be getting close to a way out of here, keep your eyes peeled" Bill said quietly as they emerged into the room beyond, seeing a ladder to their right and a room beyond in the middle, "lets get up there" Bill said pointing for Zoey and Francis to explore the room beyond, he and Louis quickly got up the ladder entering some kind of warehouse room beyond while Francis and Zoey climbed up a hole in the celling with stairs falling down it, climbing up and looking left a window finally gave them access to the outdoors again as insects cricketing and the wind could be heard, "finally fresh air again... no more sewers... I hope" she muttered as Francis nodded his head stepping out into the cool night air as Bill and Louis emerged behind them from an open door. "Thank Jesus that shit is over now let's get out of here" Bill said as Francis led the way through a dark alley with trees to their right everyone being glad the trek through the drainage plant was now over, they were now in a carpark overlooking the entrance to a train depot straight ahead where Francis could see a white house symbol on the wall, "safe room let's go" he said as they warily crossed the empty car park with nothing but left behind cars listening for any noise, using his Axe to break open a glass window Zoey could see dead ahead a safe room had been integrated into a train car, "into the caboose" she said as Francis chuckled following her inside as Louis and Bill climbed through the window only for Louis to jump in shock as a whirling noise occurred as something slammed into the wall where he stood moments earlier and collapsed to the ground.
He ran back to the window looking up at the roof of the warehouse to see the smoker quickly move out of sight, coughing away as it went, "bitch I have your numbed!" he cursed as Bill chuckled they entered the safe room closing and barring the door behind them as they sat around on various places around the train car, "we have to be getting close now bet its just a little further" Louis said with a positive smile on his face as Zoey chuckled and the two men shook their heads.
...
At the edge of the town of Riverside a church granting access to the town was devoid of non infected lift safe for one, infected stumbled around the graveyard and the interior of the church... but a safe room built into the church contained a man laying against the wall with tears streaming down his face as he whimpered clutching his left arm which had a bleeding bite mark, looking at a corpse next to him... a woman he had let into the safe room and trusted was immune only for her to turn and attack him and bite him for his troubles... better safe then sorry... but it was ok he was immune... right... better safe then sorry... he would not be fooled again... this was his safe house and he would survive no matter what... better safe then sorry... he would not make the same mistake twice he had the safe house and he was safe... BETTER SAFE THEN SORRY!
End Chapter
Authors notes: Well that was a fairly long one as I added conflict to an otherwise fairly easy chapter but none the less soon we will be meeting our favourite church guy, thanks for reading and see you again soon.
Have a great day