Chapter 38 - The Standstill

Relena POV

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Her legs were still, but the rest of her body was shaking. She lacked air, her throat was so strangled that she was unable to take a satisfying breath. She felt the ground trembling under her feet, and her ears rang from the excruciating howl of the surrounding infected. Relena had never been claustrophobic, but this time she had the impression that the corridor around her narrowed as if they were to crush her.

The hard wall's resistance was behind her back, and a dozen, if not only a few centimeters in front of her, in the middle of the corridor, four Clickers went wild in a bloodthirsty and frantic rage, trying to break through the rubble from behind which they heard a human voice coming. By some inexplicable, sheer luck, the blind monsters were still utterly unaware that a totally defenseless prey was so much closer, within reach of their jaws and claws.

The thought that she was still breathing, though heavily, that her heart was still beating, though as if after a crazy run... that she was still alive, although she was currently looking at her own death, kept Relena a state of carnal, almost animal, fear.

Because all that meant that the worst was yet for her to suffer through.

"Don't say anything. I know that you can hear me."

His controlled, calm voice reached her through the wall again, teasing Clickers, driving them even more furious of hunger. The monsters kept blindly striking their wounded, almost skinned hands against the debris, the stones that they kept throwing away flew in all directions, bouncing off the floor and wall around Relena.

She could barely breathe - not to mention the scream, but now she felt a hot wave tiding in her chest. How on earth could he be so collected?! Was this man afraid of anything at all? She paradoxically felt anger at him, for his self-control, for his lack of fear…

"Hang in there a little bit longer, Relena. I'll get you out of here. I promise."

Hearing his words, she felt panic flood her chest, but there was nothing she could do. She couldn't tell him or express in any way that she didn't want him to go, that she didn't want to be left behind and alone, all alone with a pack of Clickers. Relena strengthened her senses to hear anything more that he could have said to her… but Heero didn't speak again.

She stared at the monsters in front of her. Their wounded, contorted, covered with rotting skin bodies disgusted and frightened her at the same time, and the sounds she heard froze the blood in her veins. In the darkness lit only by the faint light of the flashlight, which she had dropped to the floor during the collapse of the ceiling, Relena could see fragments of their clothes... shoes... tufts of different colored hair... One of the monsters still had a gold wedding band on his wounded, bloody finger...

Relena froze, realizing that these monsters indeed were humans once… But now… they would tear her in shreds in an instant. Her immunity would in no way save her if they ripped off her windpipe from her throat with one bite…

That moment she felt her legs refuse to obey her. Still leaning against the wall, or rather clinging to it as close as possible, Relena sank to her knees. The Clickers were too busy eagerly attacking the rubble, from behind which came the sound of the falling debris, and thankfully they didn't notice the faint, almost inaudible rustling sound right next to them. Sitting up, Relena drew legs up to her chest and rested her head in the gas mask on top of her knees. She clenched hands around her ears, trying to drown out the nightmare shriek of the infected, which was hurting her brain like a thousand needles.

All she could do... was to wait. And to focus her whole conscience on not to lose her mind before… or worse.

x

Heero POV

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Heero kept climbing.

He reached a few centimeters higher and clenched his hand on the protruding piece of concrete, pulling his body up. He tried to find support for his foot, but the debris kept crumbling under his weight, and he hung solely on the strength of his arms. Climbing in the gas mask was knackering to the limit; he lacked air. To keep his consciousness, he had to take breaks, but they were a waste of precious time, which allowed him to save her...

Suddenly, the aged and soaked concrete crumbled under his weight like powder, and he started falling.

With both hands, he swung desperately forward. His left hand tightened on the protruding pieces of the iron rod that bent under him with a menacing groan but held him. He couldn't find his footing again and hung on the rod like a rag doll. Beneath him, more than five meters downward, he noticed hard stones of concrete and twisted steel rods, sharp as knives.

"…ssshit-" Heero hissed angrily, gazing down, then tilted his head up. In the darkness, illuminated only by the swaying light of his flashlight attached to his jacket, through the steamy goggles of the gas mask, he searched for any other grip before he would lose strength in his shoulder.

…I'm not going to die here.

Hanging on one arm, he swayed his body with all his strength and reached out his hand, clenching his fingers on the protruding piece of floor. He finally felt support, immediately grabbed it with the other hand and, breathing in a quick, shallow breath, pulled himself up with a loud grunt.

As he climbed up, dragging his body on the top of the floor, he slumped on his hands and knees, resting his forehead against the dusty, moldy floor. If the place he had just climbed on was full of infected, he wouldn't even be able to lift his head and look up at them. He was fighting for oxygen, which the gas mask was only merely unable to supply enough at once. The thick filter of the mask could suffocate him, and its removal in these conditions, when the air around him was sticky with floating spores, was tantamount to death. Heero felt cold sweat running down his back, his knees were trembling with exertion, his whole body almost on the verge of shock. His lungs burned with real fire, his head was pounding with blood, while his heart kept telling him to keep going because he simply couldn't afford himself any delay while she was still there...

Never before had he been in such condition. Even having faced the most significant threat, he could act calmly. He had never lacked air when running in the mask. And now he couldn't control his accelerated, almost frantic heartbeat, and he was breathing so fast that it could kill him.

I'm not going to die here. Not before I get her out of here.

Although he was still panting like a dog, after a few more seconds, which seemed an eternity, Heero eventually managed to even out his breath. He slowly rose from his knees, lighting the corridor in front of him. He needed a few more seconds to get his bearings: the creaking of the old floor under his feet, moans of falling division walls, dripping water from the roof, the rustle of falling debris... and the distinct sound of clicking coming clearly from somewhere beneath.

Straightening himself up, Heero pulled his pistol from behind his belt and reloaded it, then sucked in long, controlled breaths walking forward through the dark floor.

The corridor was empty, there were not even dried bodies. Soon Heero reached the empty, narrow staircase and quickly ran down the stairs one floor down, then pulled the exit door handle to the first floor, where the main hall with reception was. But the door didn't even budge.

"Come on...!" Heero muttered, jerking the handle several times, but the door only creaked grimly. They were completely blocked, either by a lock or from the outside. "Fuck!" Heero cursed, hitting the handle with his fist and pushed against the doors with all his strength. In vain.

He turned around, looking at the stairs. There was only one way left.

Lower.

Looking down, Heero realized that it had to be the second entrance to the underground level, to which led stairs down from the reception... the one thickly overgrown with fungus. He drew a deep breath and, without any further hesitation, walked down the stairs one floor down, descending below ground floor level.

Descending step by step lower and lower, the air around him thickened from spores, and every nerve in his body was strained and warmed like burning iron. All his senses sharpened, and his pulse accelerated from the adrenaline seeping into the bloodstream. The passage echoed with the rhythmic drum sound of the dripping water. Although it was cold, or even grave cold like usually in the underground, Heero felt hot, and sweat was running down his neck. The light of his flashlight was ending somewhere far in the corridor, only barely revealing the darkness that spread around him. He could feel the light breeze, and spores were swirling lazily in the air before his eyes. He sensed slippery, wet linoleum under his feet, the plaster partition walls around him were bent from moisture and swollen with mold. Here and there, he saw corpses on which lush and ominous Cordyceps fungus' flowers bloomed. Heero walked slowly forward through the corridor, keeping his rifle in front of him, passing successive entrances to smaller rooms, though his instinct told him to run.

Suddenly the underground corridor trembled with a gloomy, low growl.

Heero held his breath and froze, lighting the space in front of him with his flashlight as the snarling sound repeated. Never before had he heard anything like it. It definitely wasn't a Runner or Clicker - they didn't make such sounds. Then the snarl turned into the throaty gagging. The sound came from the entrance to the right of the corridor. Whether he liked it or not, Heero knew he had to go past that open door.

Carefully stepping in, holding the loaded weapon in front of him, he approached the door opening, then slowly illuminated the interior. What he saw chilled blood in his veins. In the middle of the room, he saw a tall, potent figure standing sideways to him. All its skin was covered with thick growths of the fungus, dark liquid flowed from the wounds on the floor. The silhouette had no face, just like Clicker, although it seemed that unlike Clicker, it didn't have a neck, and its jaw merged with the upper part body. Just below the huge, fungus overgrown, double-cut head sharp, dark teeth protruded, dripping with black ick.

Heero had never seen a Bloater before. It was the fourth stage of Cordyceps Brain Infection. Very rare. He had only heard about a Bloater from the few who survived the meeting with this monster. All he knew about it was that this kind of infected was unusually strong, though slower. And was also blind, just like Clickers.

Not wanting to confront the giant in the dark underground corridor, Heero moved further on his bent legs, still holding the weapon in front of him. He kept his eyes on Bloater every second. Although he walked noiselessly, he had the impression that he was moving like an elephant in a china shop. Meanwhile, the Bloater's body shook with strange, violent convulsions, it let out a prolonged cough, almost like a choke.

Those were genuinely nightmarish sounds.

Eventually, leaving the monster behind him, just around the corner, Heero noticed a faint light and stairs up, utterly overgrown with fungus. He recognized the stairs - those were the ones that led up to the main hall. Pushing aside stems and fungal plants, Heero slowly climbed up between the rotting corpses.

As soon as he went out into the lobby next to the reception, he immediately heard a familiar clicking sound. He broke through the last row of plants and silently came out of the underground, then cautiously walked toward the corridor he had entered earlier and peered inside.

When the sharp light of his flashlight stopped on the curled figure leaning against the wall, surrounded by four agitated Clickers, he breathed a sigh of relief. Relena was all right, though seemed so terrified that she didn't even look up when he lit her with a flashlight, still keeping her head rested against her joined knees.

Heero held the beam of light on Relena for another moment, trying to get her attention, and eventually, she looked up. Although at this distance, he couldn't see her face clearly through the steamed mask, he was sure she was looking at him; then, he raised a finger to his face and held it at lip level, to keep her quiet. Relena put her hands on the floor and nodded towards him.

Then Heero slipped his backpack from his shoulders and pulled out a glass bottle half-filled with the rest of the benzine, which he took in advance from one of the cars while they were still riding the motorcycle they had borrowed from Wufei. He had already prepared a piece of dry cloth for it. Opening the bottle, Heero soaked the fabric thoroughly and stuck it inside the bottleneck.

Out of the corner of his eye, Heero noticed that Relena, still remaining hidden, was watching him closely. He nodded knowingly at her, then reached for the nearest stone lying on the floor next to him, and threw it at the reception.

The effect was immediate. At the sound of a stone hammering into the granite countertop, all four Clickers turned on their heels and started furiously, almost tripping over their own legs, running to the reception. As soon as they ran out of the corridor, leaving Relena behind, Heero pulled out a lighter. In no time, Clickers reached the exact spot where the stone hit the reception, and there they began to search nervously for the prey. That moment Heero lit a fuse sticking out of the bottle, took a swipe, and threw it.

The bottle, as if carried by some supernatural force, crashed in the very middle of the Clickers' gathering. At that one moment, they all caught fire, and the remains of the glass windows of the spacious hall shook with their deafening, terrifying, painful scream. The scream was so powerful that the earth shook as if the entire building was about to collapse. Four figures burned like torches, running around, screaming.

Heero quickly swung the backpack over his shoulders and ran into the corridor. As soon as he reached Relena, he grabbed her by her hands. "Get up!" he urged her, though he felt that she was still in shock. "We're getting out of here."

"Oh God, Heero," she sighed, relieved, clutching at his shoulder, as they headed toward the exit from the corridor. The cries of the infected were slowly fading out. "I thought…"

He looked into her blue eyes, hidden behind the dirty glass of the mask. "Come on," he murmured. He quickened his pace, running out of the corridor with Relena at his side. "Walk faster. We're not safe here..."

Then a terrible roar deafened them. It was clear that it didn't come out of Clickers whose black corpses were already smoking on the hall floor. The majestic and powerful howl came from below, from beneath their feet, causing the whole building to shake. Heero tugged Relena by the hand, stepping away from the fungus-covered stairs down, on which the Bloater he had met before was slowly, sluggishly approaching them.

"Dear God," Relena sighed, terrified, almost stopping out of shock. "Heero… what is that?"

"Relena, run! Don't look back, just run to the exit!"

Hearing their voices, the Bloater turned to face them and disclosed its jaw in its full glory, roaring terribly towards them, and Heero knew that apart from their voices, the monster could easily hear the sound of their feet hitting the wet floor... but the exit was so close...

Flexing his shielded with fungus body, the Bloater roared furiously, and so loudly that the walls of the building trembled, and streams of plaster flew from the ceiling. The monster was standing on their way out of the building - if they wanted to get out, they had to bypass it. Heero stopped in the corner, pulling a shotgun from his shoulder.

"Keep running," Heero told Relena, leaning over and unlocking the shotgun. He lost sight of Bloater for a moment, and when he looked at Relena again, she stood by him, staring forward helplessly. "Relena, go on…!"

"Heero, watch out!"

The Bloater roared again, and Relena threw herself at Heero, knocking him off to the floor when a second later in the exact spot where they stood, something powerful exploded, severely denting the floor. The explosion filled the air with a thick cloud of spores. Landing on the ground, Heero quickly started getting up, dragging Relena with him.

So the Bloater is also able to throw loads of fungus…

In another second, though it was impossible to see it through the cloud of spores, Heero could hear the heavy patter of feet as the monster charged on them.

"Get up!" Heero helped Relena get up, then pulled her by her hand toward the exit. "Now is our chance. To the exit!"

Relena ran as he told her, as quickly as she could, and right behind her, the Bloater emerged from the cloud of spores, frantically waving its fat arms, charging surprisingly fast in their direction. The monster could crush them to a pulp with its muscular arms only. Running, Heero looked back over his shoulder, seeing the monster getting ready for another fungal shot.

"This way!" he grasped Relena by her hand.

They both took a sharp turn, and the fungus load with spores exploded only a few meters from them. This time it hit the wall of the building, which bent severely and shook dangerously. After a second, the floor again began to tremble, and extensive fragments of the vault started falling from the ceiling.

The building was collapsing. One of the inner walls fell inside with a loud bang, followed by a weakened granite wall that was supporting the structure. In the very last moment, Heero and Relena managed to reach the half-open door and get out of the building. They ran through the car park towards the gas station without looking back, without paying attention to the desperate screams of the Bloater and other infected dying under the rubble of granite construction.

Once they ran outside, they both took their masks off their faces. Being finally able to breathe normally, they didn't slow down until they reached their horses. Both the Treaty and Zero that were peacefully resting in the shadow of the gas station seemed surprised at their sudden arrival.

There Heero and Relena finally slowed down, and both fell to the ground on their knees. Soon Heero quickly shifted and sat down, gazing back at a construction disaster left behind them. The whole granite wall of the building collapsed, and now only a cloud of white dust brood over the remaining ashes. The roar of the collapsed structure slowly echoed around the area, but soon there was a grave silence.

Heero caught his breath first and crawled over to Relena. "Relena… Are you all right?"

Relena breathed a few more seconds heavily, then she clenched her teeth, and some inexplicable tension flashed across her face. His heart raced when she looked up at him, her eyes blazing with blue fire.

"Rel-"

Heero didn't even have time to jump back when she packed him a highly accurate and surprisingly painful punch in the face.

The horses jumped in surprise, witnessing the scene in front of them, and the utterly unexpected fight between their riders. Before Heero shook himself entirely out of the shock of the hit, from the corner of his eye, he could see Relena taking the second swing. He managed to grasp her hand by the wrist, but she immediately clenched her other hand into a fist and swung again. He grabbed her other wrist too, stopping the rain of further punches. "Relena, stop."

Relena's eyes clouded with tears, then she dropped her gaze, breathing heavily. He could hear her let out a quiet sob, she unclenched her fists in surrender, and he loosened his grip on her wrists too, slowly lowering her hands down to his lap. "Stop it. We survived. It's okay."

"It's not okay! You're an IDIOT!" Relena suddenly cried, but without looking up at him. Her face was covered by a curtain of her golden, tangly hair. "What the hell were you thinking of going inside?! You mustn't risk your life like that! Do you realize what would happen if you... if...!"

He felt her hands tremble under his touch and felt terrible for making her cry so bad. Her shoulders shook with each sob, tension, and fear that she experienced in that dark corridor were slowly leaving her body. Ever so naturally, Heero opened his arms for her to let her nestle against his chest.

"You mustn't die!" he heard Relena's breaking voice, while her tears were soaking his shirt and she pounded with her fist against his chest. "You now have someone to live for... you get it…?"

He let out a sigh, holding her closer, and gently stroking her back, musing her words in silence. Of course, she was someone he wanted to live for. He realized that. Now that she was crying in his arms, there was no point in explaining himself and upsetting her even more. He knew, however, that if something threatened her, he would still never hesitate to take every risk needed.

"I'm sorry," Heero whispered eventually, kissing the top of her head, feeling her body slowly relaxing under his touch.

When Relena finally stopped crying, he lifted her chin slightly up and brushed the tangled golden hair from her tearful face, stroking her delicate, moist cheek. Her beautiful oceanic eyes were filled with fatigue, but also a relief.

"You were extremely brave, back there. I am so proud of you."

Relena smiled sadly back at his nontypical kudos, then dropped her gaze with a weary sigh. "Just don't make me do this anymore."

"Deal."

They rested a little bit longer in the shade of the gas station, gazing at the ruins of the granite building on the other side of the street, regaining their strength. When they both mounted the horses, the sun already began to set, and a pleasant evening's chill was filling the air. Beetles started to make noise in the bushes nearby, and the birds' sounds died down. A magical aura of dusk embraced the world.

Heero directed Zero to the middle of the intersection, where he looked high above, at the road signs hanging over the boulevard. Among the green boards with the names of the coastal towns, one caught his attention.

"Which way now?" he heard Relena's voice from behind as she approached him on Treaty.

Eventually, taking his eyes off the road signs, Heero looked over his shoulder at Relena and sent her a gentle look from behind his messy bangs, feeling a mysterious, shy smile forming on his face.

"What?" Relena asked, amused, smiling back.

"Want us to take the scenic route?"

x x x

Meanwhile, in Evergreen

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"Look what the tide dragged in!"

"Fall in! Don't open the gates without order!"

The guys of Evergreen that were now on their watch duty quickly filled passage on the top of the high wall. Climbing two steps at a time, Trowa Barton also ran after them, and once he reached the top, he looked at the driveway in front of the gate.

In the moist and intense heat of the noon, an emaciated animal, which once could be called a horse, was slowly approaching the gates. The creature acted as if it was losing strength and was soon to fall over. An equally wrecked-looking rider rode on the horse's back, resting against its neck. The rider's arms and legs hung loosely on both sides of horses' body... in fact, only one arm and two legs... The horse's front left leg was covered with dried blood, a flock of flies was buzzing around.

It was indeed a demonish, portentous image.

"What the hell?" one of the guards muttered, startled.

"It's a corpse? Corpse on the horse?"

Suddenly the corpse shifted and, with only one hand, lifted up the upper part of its body on the horse's back, looking up at the gates. Trowa shuddered as he looked directly into the rider's bloodshot eyes sticking out of the bony face...

"Help..." the corpse whispered with a fatigued, but so alive voice.

Even the smallest movement was too much for the horse. The animal suddenly let out a grunt, then sank to its knees and fell over sideways. The rider fell from the horse's back, bouncing against the ground with a quiet groan of pain, while the poor animal fell forever silent. The figure of the rider was slim and delicate - it was now apparent to the Evergreen guards that the rider… was a woman.

"We should help her…"

"She doesn't look good…"

Trowa looked down, gritting his teeth. Just like many times before, now again, opening the gates for a newcomer was a considerable risk that he shouldn't take so carelessly. At the same time, refusing help would mean that the woman would surely die at their doorstep...

Then suddenly, the wounded woman sat on her knees, and trying to stand up, looked at the top of the wall. Her face was barely visible from behind the curtain of tangled, sweaty hair.

"I'm begging you... Help me..."

"Who are you, and where do you come from?" Trowa shouted over the wall barrier.

The woman staggered on uncertain knees, clutching at her still covered with dirty, bloody bandage arm's stump. "I'm not infected... I came here... all the way from Houston..."

Trowa felt a cold shiver run through his body. "What… happened to you?"

"Please… water…"

Trowa immediately ordered a bucket of water to be lowered down on the rope for a woman and sent somebody for Quatre. After a short moment, when the woman slaked her first thirst, Quatre already reached the top of the wall, brushing his sweaty blonde bangs away from eye line.

"What's going on?" Quatre asked, frowning down at the woman as he took his place next to Trowa. He was visibly shocked by her condition and shuddered involuntarily. "What do we know so far?"

"She didn't say almost anything yet," Trowa muttered hesitantly.

Quatre's hands clutched the wooden barrier, and then he concentrated his gaze on the woman again. "I am Quatre, the leader of this community. We will only be able to let you in if we are sure that you are not infected. We will help you, but you must tell us where you came from... and what happened to you."

The woman lifted her face from a bucket of water that already turned red of her own blood, then she gazed absentmindedly towards her cut left arm. "They took it... Later they were supposed to take my brain…"

These words evoked a murmur of terror and disbelief between the men above. Quatre frowned at Trowa with horror in his eyes. "Do you understand anything about this?"

Trowa narrowed his eyes. "She said earlier... that she came here from Houston."

At those words, Quatre's face went white with fear, then he leaned over the wall, shouting in the woman's direction.

"Who did this to you?! Where in Houston?!"

The woman barely raised her head again, looking up with black eyes. "Please… I'm tired..."

"Talk!" Quatre shouted, his voice now visibly nervous. "Were you in the laboratories in Houston?!"

The woman staggered on her knees, slumping on the backs of her feet. She had no longer the strength to keep her hand over her stump. When she nodded, Quatre narrowed his eyes. "The Fireflies?" he asked. "Were there the Fireflies?"

The woman's pupils widened in fear, her breath visibly accelerated.

"They killed everyone who objected... a few agreed to cooperate with them... but we were also... eventually..." The woman clutched her cut arm again. "Please… help me…"

Then she fell over on the ground, losing consciousness.

Trowa turned around to face his men. "Choose a volunteer from among you. You have to go down to her and, while she is unconscious, dress her wound. We cannot let her in today... we don't know exactly what they did to her..."

The guys from Evergreen didn't have to be told more than once, and they immediately spread out to their duties.

Trowa turned back to Quatre, clenching both fists so hard that his knuckles were almost turning white. "They carry out experiments. On living people," Trowa summed up in a grim voice.

"Dearest God…" Quatre sighed, covering his face with his hands. "Relena…! Heero…!"

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TBC

Heero's experiences with masks were based on my experiences with the mask during the Coronavirus pandemic. I had a couple of occasions when I had to speak a long speech while wearing a mask, and it was excruciating for me.

"The Last of Us - Part II" is finally out! I have been doing nothing all weekend but playing! It's definitely an outstanding game… if you didn't play it yet, I highly recommend it (but ONLY after playing the first part).

For the next chapter, I'm planning a short piece of fluff. Stay tuned.

Thank you, my dear readers, and reviewers.

~enelle