Underbelly
...
The way ahead was blocked. They had made it from the sewers to the subway with barely any encounters and now they couldn't go any further.
"What the hell is it?" asked Kevin.
"A nest," David murmured.
Jim didn't want to meet whatever was capable of making a nest that looked like that. Worse still, he now knew why there had been so few zombies around the platforms – the bodies had been taken here. What looked like mucus and other goo covered the bodies and fused them to the support pillars. It even coated the train tracks, preventing them from riding to safety on the last remaining train.
"We're going to need to clear this if we want to ride the train out of here," said Mark.
"Makes sense if we split up," Alyssa added. "Someone will have to reactivate the power to get the trains going, figure out how to separate our car from the crushed car, and maybe clear this shit up. I nominate Kevin for clean-up duty."
"And I nominate Alyssa. Pretty sure you don't mind getting dirty, do ya?"
"Actually, I should probably be the one to stay," offered George, apparently taking that exchange seriously. "I need to identify the cause of death of these people and perhaps what creature could have produced such secretions."
"Thanks doc, it'll help to know what we're up against," said Kevin, slapping him on the shoulder. "I can stay and help out if you need me."
"I'm sure you boys will have a heap of fun." Alyssa gave them a sarcastic grin.
Jim really didn't like her. It wasn't like he was Kevin's number one fan either, but she was just so snarky to everyone about everything. She thought she was all that, and always talked down to others. He didn't care how fine she might look, he would rather have girls like Cindy and Yoko any day. Both of them had a heart of gold.
"I'll stay down here instead," Mark said. "I'm better off clearing these tracks than running around that tiny rat's maze you call an employee area."
"Wait," Jim cried. "We ain't really splitting up, are we? None of you ever seen horror movies? This is exactly how everyone gets killed off!"
"We can't just hang around here for hours, pinhead," snapped Alyssa. "We need to get out so the military can get us a cure."
"Alright," Kevin said, putting a little authority into his voice. Jim wasn't sure that would work, most of the group didn't like taking orders from Captain America. "I'll take Yoko and go look for a computer for her to work some magic on. That'll sort our power problem. Alyssa–"
"Me and David are going to look for something to help out with this mess," she said.
Jim wondered when that was decided, he hadn't even noticed them speak to each other since they arrived in the subway.
He wondered whether or not he should stay. Jim figured he was generally safer staying with Mark, since the big guy usually looked out for him. Apparently Jim reminded him of his son, but considering he'd also said the same of David, Jim thought the kid must have multiple personalities or something. Staying down here with the slimed up corpses wasn't appealing though, and Jim wouldn't be much help if the scary motherfucker that caused it came back.
When Kevin set off with Yoko and Cindy, Jim reluctantly joined them. The staff quarters were pretty deserted, though he was sick to see a few members of staff he recognised. Most of them were night shift, thankfully, who he didn't know.
The weird angles of the corridors meant way too many surprises.
As he was rounding a corner towards the breaker room, a zombie lunged out, and he was sick to see it was his friend Ricky, the guy's skin haggard and green. His eyes were dead as he clawed at Jim's face.
He fell over backwards, aiming wildly with his gun and shooting at the same time as the others. There was a scream as a fuel canister exploded, and Jim hunched up on the floor, trying to protect his face.
He felt hands on him, and flailed about shouting, trying to stop it from getting him, until he realised he recognised the voice.
"It's ok, you're safe now," Cindy said kindly, smoothing his hair like he was a child. She stopped as he calmed down, and began unpacking some herbs and a bandage. "You burned your arm up a little, but I have a nice paste that should help cool it down and keep it from getting infected."
He glanced up at Kevin and Yoko, who were both regarding him with a mixture of disgust and annoyance. "How about next time you try not to get us all blown up?" the cop suggested. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dipped it in the paste, before turning to Yoko. Jim felt guilty as he spotted the slight burns on her hand and forehead.
Kevin dabbed the paste onto Yoko's wounds, seemingly oblivious to the tender look she was giving him. Jim just sighed and waited for Cindy to finish patching him up. His arm felt sore and hot, but where she was applying the cream, it seemed to leech the heat out.
"Thanks girl," he said. "You're really good at that."
She shrugged, smiling. "I really love plants and nature. I took some courses on herbs and medicine a while back, and I've been tending our garden since I was a little girl."
"Hah, I live up on the sixth floor of my apartment block. Closest thing I've got to a garden is my neighbour's meth lab."
"Same here, I live in a tiny apartment." She smiled wistfully. "My folks have a big place out in the country, I go there sometimes to help tend the garden. I should take you some time, it's really lovely."
Jim raised an eyebrow at her. "Sure, it'd be great if we ever get outta here alive."
"We will, we will," she said fervently. Sometimes he wondered if she was all there in the head, she seemed so convinced that everything would be fine. "All better! Try to keep it active though, you don't want the skin to get too tight when it heals."
"No chance of me taking it easy right now." He pushed himself back to his feet, eyeing the charred corpse that had been blown further down the corridor. Automatically he started walking towards it, only to stop at a jerky halt. Part of him wanted to check if it really was Ricky, but he already knew.
"Friend of yours?" asked Kevin.
"Yeah. Ricky." For a change, Jim didn't know what else to say. What were you supposed to say when the guy you'd worked shifts with for four years turned into a monster?
"I'm sorry man," the cop replied, sounding sincere. "That's got to be rough. I'd hate this to happen at the police station."
"Probably already has," Jim said distractedly. Kevin shot him an irritated look and Cindy laid a hand on the other guy's arm.
"Maybe we should keep going?"
Jim decided to lead them to the breaker room by giving Kevin directions and letting the cop go first. He dropped back to apologise to Yoko, but she ignored him. He sighed, beginning to wish he had just stayed with Mark after all. The old man and Cindy were the only ones who didn't treat him like useless baggage.
He knew he could be a coward, he couldn't help it. Who was prepared to deal with a situation like this? He wasn't like Kevin, that dude acted like a hero in a Hollywood movie. And in the movies, the white guy kills the bad guys, gets the girls and gets out alive. The black dude always dies first. Jim had seen enough movies to know this shit.
Real life was even less fair than the movies. He didn't have no special skills to get him through the situation. All the others knew how to use weapons, or treat wounds, or other practical skills like David's ability to make shit out of other shit, or Yoko's computer genius and insider knowledge of Umbrella. What did Jim have? Just his luck.
They filed into the breaker room, and Yoko went over to the large server or whatever it was on the back wall. She only glanced at it for a moment, and tried a few buttons.
"It's not working, there's no power supplied."
"Perfect," Kevin said sarcastically. "Where do we find the power room?"
"Uh, basement level, even further down than this. I've never been down there though, I only know what the maintenance guys have told me."
Jim was a lot more apprehensive about leading them downstairs – and that was saying something, since he was shitting himself just at the thought of leading them through zombie-infested crew quarters. Who knew what was down here? Maybe it was the thing that had slimed up the tunnel.
Kevin groaned as they entered the dimly lit stairwell. "I hate the dark."
"You?" Jim asked, surprised. "You're afraid of the dark? Like 'I need a night-light' afraid?"
"You can't see anything in the dark, you don't know what could happen."
"But I've seen you stare down eight-foot monsters covered in slime, and third eyes, and I don't know what else. The dark's nothing compared to that."
The cop quirked an eyebrow at him. "If I can see it, I can shoot it. In the dark I'm about as useful as you."
Jim gave him a withering look, but the jab still hurt. He knew he wasn't good for much, it's not like he needed reminding.
"The lights are still on without power," Yoko noted, staring up at the dim ceiling lights. "They must've been running on emergency power for some time now."
"So it could run out soon?" Cindy asked anxiously.
"And then we'll be running around here in the pitch black?" Jim squeaked.
"Not so funny now, huh?" Kevin asked, pressing on down the stairs.
Just great. Where was that good luck when he needed it?
Jim decided to pause and flip his coin before heading down the stairs. Heads. Seemed like a good sign. He tucked it carefully back into his pocket, straightened his cap and continued.
Judging from the sound of gunshots, they had encountered some more zombies down there. He popped his head round the door and quickly pulled back as a zombie pounced at him. It was quickly downed by a couple of Cindy's bullets.
He took a deep breath and lifted his gun, ducking into the corridor. A zombie slammed into the ground at his feet, propelled across the room by Kevin's combat boot. Jim shot it in the head before it had a chance to recover.
"Do you hear that?" Cindy asked. "Why is there running water down here, did something flood?"
"That could be why the power cut out," Kevin suggested.
He took off into the water in his typical gung-ho attitude, apparently not caring about what might be waiting under the surface. Jim was sure worried about that. And more than a little pissed off about ruining his new sneakers. These babies had seen a worse time than his gym shoes in high school.
They could barely open the door to the pump room, where all the water seemed to be gushing from.
"Looks like a burst pipe or something!" Kevin yelled over the sound of the water.
"Guess we could use a plumber, yo," Jim said.
The group exchanged a glance and took off for the staff rooms without a word. Jim felt a little salty about the whole thing. Everyone's talents seemed to be coming in handy – even the plumber's – but Jim continued to be nothing more than the team scare-baby. Worst thing was, he didn't think he could stop that. Whenever he tried to think about it, all he could see was the mental image of himself shitting his pants in the corner, waiting for it to be over. He didn't have the kind of guts the others did.
David turned out to be in the break room, putting together a weird collection of items – lighters, pesticide sprays, aerosols, alcohol bottles and newspaper.
"Looking to take up arson?" Jim asked.
"It's for the blockage," David replied simply.
Alyssa elaborated. Jim was slightly annoyed to see that she'd picked his locker open and was rooting through his stuff. "We figure the best way to get rid of all that gunk is to burn it out. This is pretty much everything we've found. Can I take this?" she asked, pulling out his deodorant and giving herself a quick spray before dumping it into a backpack.
"Wait a sec," said Kevin. "David, you're needed down in the pump room. There's some kind of burst pipe and it's short-circuited the power. We need it fixed so that Yoko can get us working again."
"Alright."
"I'll take this stuff down to Mark," Alyssa said, pushing their findings into the backpack and slinging it over her shoulder.
"I'll help," Cindy offered.
The reporter gave her an impatient nod and they set off. Meanwhile Kevin led everyone back downstairs to the B2 level. Jim really hoped they weren't going to go wading through the flood again.
David glanced down the corridor at the water and nodded. "Alright, I'll take care of it. You get to the power room." He turned to go.
Kevin nodded, but Yoko stepped forward. "Wait!"
The plumber paused.
"Please don't go on your own," she said quietly. "It's too dangerous."
"Be careful," he replied, just as soft, before sweeping down the corridor towards the pump room.
Yoko stared after him sadly for a moment, before Kevin urged her on. She really did care about them, her fellow survivors. Alyssa had suggested it was an act – a clever one – to ensure her survival by allying with the strongest in the group. Jim got the impression that it was a lot more than that though. Yoko had it in her to be cold and calculating, but she cared. She was afraid, but she stayed strong, and she'd put her life in danger to protect them. Sometimes Jim wished he was a little more like that.
The group continued to the power room, and waited until Yoko gave the word before flipping the lever to restore power. It didn't trip out again, so they assumed the pipe must have been fixed.
Yoko wanted to head down to the pump room to check if David was alright, but Kevin insisted that they press on to the breaker room.
"He's a tough guy, he'll be fine. He's probably already on his way back to the train, and we don't have time to waste."
"The water's all drained, yo," Jim added. "Looks like he's already done what he needed to."
She nodded, still looking unsettled. Jim wondered what inspired that kind of loyalty. If it was acts of suicidal heroism, then David was welcome to it.
A few more zombies attacked on the way back. There was a strange sense of urgency to it, as though they didn't think they'd get another decent meal anytime soon. Could they sense something that humans couldn't? Jim supposed it was stupid to hope that the virus had run its course and soon they'd just be corpses again.
They sealed themselves in the breaker room and Kevin barred the door handle with a length of pipe. He backed up and trained his gun on the door as Yoko set to work restoring power to the train lines.
A thumping noise started on the other side of the door. The zombies were trying to break through.
"Hurry up over there, Yoko," Jim urged nervously.
"I can't go any faster," she said in an even voice. Why did she always sound so calm? It helped though, the calm logic. Jim exhaled and nodded, readying his own gun. He didn't have much of a choice.
The lock broke, and the pounding intensified as the zombies seemed to realise that a metal pipe was all that stood between them and dinner. Kevin aimed into the gap and started shooting. A few bodies dropped on the other side, but there were more to replace them.
When the pipe snapped, the first zombie tumbled through, getting trampled as the others pressed in after it. Kevin dropped them with precise headshots, while Jim shot wildly into the crowd. He was painfully aware that they were in a small room and the only door to escape to was being flooded by zombies.
Kevin positioned himself so that they would have to get through him to get to Yoko. Jim backed up to the wall, shooting more frantically and ramming a new magazine into the gun when it ran out of bullets.
As he brought the gun back up, a zombie slammed into him, hands trying to pry his arms apart so that its gnashing teeth could find his throat. Jim screamed, struggling to twist the gun so that he could shoot it. He yelled for Kevin and Yoko, but the cop was being swarmed by zombies and she was focused on the computer.
"Done!" she cried.
"Help!" he shouted at her, as a second zombie noticed his helplessness.
She looked around in alarm, apparently not having realised how much danger they were in. Yoko shot three bullets into the zombie that was restraining him. It dropped, but the other one seized its chance and lunged. Jim felt the teeth on his throat.
A bullet slammed into its head, spraying Jim's face with congealed blood. The body crumpled onto him, finally lifeless, and he let it slide to the floor with a strangled cry.
David appeared from the doorway, helping the ragged crew finish off the last of the zombies. With four people circling the monsters, it became significantly easier.
As the last one fell, Jim gave a haggard sigh and slumped against the wall.
"You alright?" David grunted.
He nodded, feeling part relieved, part terrified and part delirious. How was a guy supposed to get through this shit without going insane? Jim couldn't understand the others. Kevin looked like he was having the time of his life, like it was some action movie. David acted like killing and surviving was just a job to take care of, making Jim think the guy must've been in the fucking mob at some point. Even Yoko was way too chill for someone who had been experimented on and was living through an apocalypse. They all thought he was a coward, and true enough he was. But he was also the only sane one around.
"You're alive!" Yoko exclaimed, regarding David with happy surprise.
"I'm not gonna be killed off by a couple of stiffs," he said. All the same, he was looking rough, covered in dirt and scrapes.
"Thanks for the help," Kevin said shortly.
Jim didn't know what his problem was. Avoiding an untimely death seemed to be a pretty good thing. "Can we just get out of here, yo? The others have to have cleared all that slime off the tracks by now!"
They didn't make it to the train.
The moment they appeared in the East gate, Cindy and Alyssa came racing up the stairwell to meet them. The reporter was looking frantic and Cindy was fighting tears.
"What is it?" Kevin asked, urgent but not harsh as he laid a hand on Cindy's arm. "What happened?"
"There's these monsters down there!" she cried. "They took George and Mark!"
"Calm down," Alyssa said, not entirely unkindly. "I'll explain it. We were burning the tracks clear when this giant bug – looked a little like a flea – burst out of nowhere. It slammed Mark against the wall and snatched up George. I think Mark was unconscious, but the doc, the bug looked like it was trying to wrap him up in the slime, like those corpses we saw."
"And you just ran away?" Kevin exclaimed. "You should be down there trying to save them!"
"And get ourselves killed?!" she fumed. "There was nothing we could do on our own, there were bugs pouring out of everywhere, and that thing is the size of a house! All we have are a couple of measly handguns against all of that and you want us to stage some last stand on our own?! It was all I could do just to get me and Cindy out of there alive, you ungrateful piece of–"
"Are they still alive?" David asked said urgently.
"I – I don't know," Alyssa said, deflating. She trailed off, looking a bit ashamed. Cindy made a strangled noise that sounded like a sob.
Jim felt his heart in his mouth. Every instinct to flee was screaming at him, but something kept him from doing it. Some part of him wanted to head straight down to that tunnel and kill that bug-ass motherfucker. He didn't want them to die. George was a decent guy. And Mark... it was painful to think of leaving him to die. Mark protected Jim when nobody else could stomach having him around, he gave Jim the benefit of the doubt, treated him like he was worthwhile. He'd said Jim reminded him of his son.
"We need to go save them," said Jim.
The others regarded him with a mixture of shock and disbelief, but for once, not one of them criticised his idea. Wordlessly, each of them nodded and the decision was made.
"We better get down there quick," said Alyssa.
"Hold up, I got an idea. I just need to get into the storeroom."
"Jim, we don't have time for that," Kevin said. "We've got to get to George and Mark now."
"And you wanna waste all our bullets on some giant bugs to do it? We're gonna need them later for regular zombies. Trust me, I got this."
He didn't wait to see if the others followed, but set off into the employee corridor to the storeroom. The clapping sounds of Cindy's shoes followed him, so at least one person thought he knew what he was doing. Strangely, that gave him a little boost of confidence. The whole thing was strange – him deciding to help mount a rescue for their friends. Who was this guy? Sure as hell not Jim Chapman.
The subway had always had a problem with bug infestations, whether roaches or fleas from the rats that lived in the tunnels. Though if the fleas were now inflated, where were the house-sized rats? That's what Jim wanted to know. Not that he was in any hurry to meet giant rabid rats.
To deal with the bug problem though, the subway workers kept a huge supply of bug spray, and that was exactly what Jim had come for. He opened the storeroom door to the rows of spray on the shelves and grinned at Cindy.
"This is how we're gonna deal with our little pest problem, yo."
Cindy beamed at him, and started collecting the cans, piling as many into plastic bags as she could and handing them out as others came in through the door.
"Alright," said Kevin. "Yoko, I want you to go guard that train car. Make sure none of those bugs get on board, cause we're going to need that to escape once we've gotten George and Mark back." She nodded. "Cindy, you and Jim guard the mouth of the tunnel and make sure none sneak up on us from behind. That way we should have a clear exit route back to the train. David, Alyssa, you're with me. We'll go in and get them back."
"What!" Jim exclaimed. "Hell, no! I'm not psyching myself up so I can wait around for you guys. I'm going in there!"
"You don't have to," Cindy said kindly. "No one would blame you if you guarded the tunnel entrance, that's dangerous too."
"It's not about that! I owe Mark, girl. I can't just leave him in there while everyone goes in because I'm too chicken."
Kevin was giving him an assessing look now, perhaps deciding if it was worth taking a chance on a self-confessed coward. Jim wasn't sure he would. Yoko and David were both watching with a silent, measuring look.
"For God's sake, let's just get on with it," Alyssa snapped. "I'll stick with Cindy, while you boys go show those bugs how big your balls are, huh?"
That settled it, and the group was tearing down to the platform with their new weapons. Yoko broke off first to throw herself into the train car, yanking the doors shut and prepping the engine. Then Cindy and Alyssa stopped, whirling around to shoot down the fleas that were following them. Some were the size of small dogs, but some had even grown as huge as a cow.
The tunnel was worse than they expected. George and Mark had managed to clear all the gunk and mucus from the tracks, but they were now cocooned – along with corpses – on the iron girders that supported the tunnel roof. They were close enough to be reached from the ground... but there was no way to safely reach them. Blocking their way was the biggest motherfucking flea Jim had ever seen. He'd seen apartment blocks smaller than that thing.
"Holy fuck," Kevin hissed. He looked railroaded for a second, before he got his mind together. "Alright, I'll distract it and you two get them the hell out of here!"
David didn't even waste a second before taking off for the side of the tunnel, attempting to slip past as Kevin opened fire. Jim followed, trying to keep close to the wall.
"Watch out!" Kevin yelled.
Jim ducked out of the way as a huge, spindly leg smacked down in front of him, the giant flea inching from side to side as Kevin drew closer in his fire. Jim aimed both his canisters up at the flea and sprayed.
Damn, but spraying a bug had never felt so good. The flea writhed and screeched, giving Kevin an opening to dart forward and use his own spray on it.
Jim hurried over to his friends, taking a quick look at George's bleary-eyed face, before giving Mark a slight slap on the cheek. It seemed to help bring the big guy back into consciousness, but he looked in danger of drifting off at any moment. Had they been poisoned or something?
"Don't worry, man. I'll have you out of here in no time. I hope."
He tore at the cocoon, but it was welded tight. David was using a knife on it, but Jim didn't have anything like that. He cast around for something on the ground that could help, and spotted a piece of broken glass. This was really going to suck.
Wrapped in his jacket sleeve, it still managed to cut into his hand, but it was working on the cocoon too. Jim sliced through all the remaining bindings, just as the flea emitted a piercing wail, writhing and curling up on the ground. If it wasn't for the size, it would've looked like any other bug.
"D'you hear that?" David asked sharply.
It was a train horn blaring. Was Yoko in trouble? A light bloomed at the dark end of the tunnel, just as Kevin came running towards them, yelling at them to move and bring the others. As he and David managed to drag Mark to his feet, the train car appeared out of the darkness, wheels screeching as Yoko applied the brakes. He could see her frightened face in the driver's window.
Alyssa and Cindy slammed the doors open, hauling them onto the train as quickly as possible. "It's getting pretty damn hairy in there!" the reporter yelled.
Jim collapsed into a seat next to Mark as the train took off again, building up speed quickly. He grinned as the old man started to come around, still looking a little dazed. They'd all made it out. For a little longer, they were all safe. And for once, Jim had helped make it happen.