Chapter seven

Ben shifted his golden-brown gaze towards the end of the street, watching the truck coast to a smoking stop, the bed of the truck the only visible piece of metal.

"Hey-hey Captain! Look!"

Miller glanced over towards him, aware of something at this point. He dropped the communications-link for the moment and issued forth over towards the window. They both stared, trying to process what was going on. Several undead creatures bounded onto the stranded vehicles position, partially obscuring it from view.

"Ben, get to the stairwell. Check to see if they've made it inside!" said Miller.

By this point, the remaining team had became closer, getting to know each other more. Ben Johnson had learned that Jack Miller was once an Umbrella employee, though his specific occupation wasn't discussed on his strict terms. Ben also learned a great deal about his remaining teammates. Brandon Cooper, or 'Coop' was fresh out of high school, only 2 years younger than Ben, 19, not even learned through basic training. Given equipment and a weapon at the last possible moment. Shows a great deal how desperate the U.S. was in trying to contain and find personnel for the disaster. Joey Connor's was an Army Ranger with a invaluable field-combat experience, which was vital to survival situations like this. The sniper, Bill, was a married man with three kids back at his house. He was always voicing his concern about his kids. The last two guys, Dan Eckhart and Jesse Valdez, were regular, blue-collar men just like everyone else, who both maintained desk-jobs in the National Guard on weekdays.

All in all, they grew comfortable with calling themselves by their first names. Captain Miller thought it would ease the stress of the situation a bit since the mission was seriously screwed up now. Ben didn't think it would matter, because he knew that their morale was low to begin with, and that anyone, including himself, could be killed at any given moment. In an odd way, he felt comfort in that, knowing death was the only thing that would come of his demise.

Ben ran out the hallway, to where the body of a young boy sat perched against the wall. Bill put a bullet in his head five minutes ago, tears welling up soon thereafter. He took a left at the three-way hall intersection, and continued his sprint. He reached the stairwell door with a violent shove of his weapon. That's when he saw the two survivors, surprised just as he, his gun aimed towards the nearest.

"Don't shoot, don't shoot!" yelled the kid and the girl simultaneously

"Oh shit!" yelled Ben, eyes growing wide. "Get up here, quick!"

They ran past him, the putrid smell of rotten flesh quickly following their scent. Ben walked out from the doorway and to the top of the 5th floor stairway entrance, his M4 aimed down the stairs. Cooper shuffled out the door right when the first signs of decayed scalp came into view. Ben already had his weapon aimed, locked and loaded. His M4 started to quick violently, bullet casings littering the floor and shattering the silence of the dead apartment. Several more of the creatures crowded the stairway, frenzied with the look of deathly determination glimmering in their once meaningful, hopeful eyes. Cooper, hesitant at first, slowly started firing his M4 in three-round bursts, his bullets hitting the undead and ricocheting off of walls.

Bill ran through the door next and realized the seriousness of the pursuit, popping off a few shots with his 9mm, then finally lobbing a grenade down onto the 3rd floor panel, followed by a "Fire in the hole!"

All three soldiers ran into the hallway of the 5th floor before the loud blast rattled the building, shutting and barring the door behind them. Ben and Coop started to push a couch in front of the door, which now stood ajar, slightly cocked due to the shrapnel from the blast, when Miller came running down the hall.

"Are you guys OK?" he presumed to ask, his weapon ready in his hand.

"We're good. Threw a grenade down to stall 'em. Door's not gonna last forever, Jack. We've got to get moving. Now." Answered Bill, wiping the sweat off his brow.

"Did you see how many of them were there!" stated Coop, obviously still getting through his adrenaline rush. "That was insane!"

Ben interrupted Coop before he was finished, looking towards the Captain. "There are two other survivors. Did you get them?"

Miller nodded, waving his hand in his direction, motioning them to follow.

They walked into the apartment room number seventy-seven, the survivors surrounded by the rest of the team, who was questioning them about their survival. The male survivor looked at Ben with a familiar, friendly look. Ben didn't register who he was at first, but that all-knowing stare of the survivor reassured him who he was.

"Ben?" asked the survivor, shrugging off the questions of everyone else.

Ben's eyes grew even wider, his emotion for the man's survival growing happier.

"Steve!" said Ben, slinging his weapon over his shoulder.

The rest of the group eyed the two, aware of the friendship that the soldier and the male survivor possessed.

"Man, you were the last person I'd expect to see!" said Ben, his face filling with the color of his tan, noting that this was the first sign of post-traumatic stress.

Indeed they did know each other. Ben had attended the same school as Steve, although he was a few years older. Ben was a senior when Steve was a freshman, and the only way they knew each other was from the relationship their parents held. They had became good friends over the years, but their friendship was questioned when Ben was sent off to basic. Off to pursue an honest life and job, the American dream. Their meeting couldn't be anymore sweeter, due to circumstantial evidence.

"Okay people, we need to figure out how we're getting out of here." Said Miller, bringing them back to reality. "I've recognized in one of the rooms that there's a balcony leading into another building, and we need to get there."

Just then the soldiers' radio's spouted to life with transmission, an unknown voice talking from the other end.

"Delta four, come in Delta 4. What is your current situation? Over."

Miller narrowed his gaze, trying to concentrate on the radio.

"This is Delta 4, radio. We are surrounded by hostilities and minus twenty-one. We need immediate evac, over."

"Negative Delta 4, your mission remains the same. Rendezvous with Alpha 6 in the district 34. Destination Gamma-Romeo-Omega."

"I can't do that! Did you not hear me! I've lost more than half my men!"

Miller was answered with static, following a click that issued from the other end. The radio operator on the other end cut them off.

"What the hell… As of now, our mission is survival. We will head for the blockade in the district 34, however, the location of the city officials is a miss."

Down the hall, a loud bang sounded out, following a loud yell.

"They're here. Captain, we gotta go!"

Captain Miller walked towards the door. He looked out of the peep-hole and saw the ingrown hair of one of the undead, drunken with the spell of zombification. He knew that their escape would be more difficult than he thought. Miller looked around the room towards his men and the two survivors.

"You two," he motioned towards the survivors, Aya and Steve. "Follow closely behind. Ready?"

The group nodded, their heads bobbing up and down out of rhythm. Miller pulled a grenade off of his harness and pulled the pin. He cracked the door and lightly tossed the grenade down the hall. As he went to shut the door, an arm was shoved through the crack. The decay of flesh left a smudgy impression on the burgundy wall, adding to the color of the wallpaper. Miller fought to close it, the door's edge sinking into the flesh of the undead human and cracking the bone.

BOOM!

The grenade sounded off, shaking the 5th floor with minor damage. The arm fell limp onto the ground, no animation coming from the amputated limb. Jack Miller threw the door open and ran out into the hall, flanked by Bill and Connors, their weapons trained in both directions of the hall. The corpses closest to the blast laid on the ground in an unrecognizable mass. The ones not in the immediate area began to stand up, shaking themselves free of the resulting stun. They began to move towards the end of the hall, Dan leading the way with Miller and Cooper covering the rear. The rest of the party was in between, Johnson directly behind Jesse who in turn was behind Dan.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Connors' shotgun sounded off, his weapon being the most effective in the small spaces. Dan increased his speed to a lengthy jog, nearing the window that had a balcony adjacent from it, connecting the building to another.

Crash!

Room door number eighty-two burst open with the sickly smell of decay, quickly in par with an undead couple who shuffled out of the door and onto Dan and Jesse.

"Oh my god!"

Johnson raised his rifle and shot at the beings, trying to free his two comrades of their assailants. Dan kicked the man off of him, who recoiled from Ben's bullets with a violent jerk. Jesse lay on the ground, screaming until his vocal chords were no more. The creature on top of him ignored the bullets and continued biting into his neck with devastating results. It wasn't until Ben to kick the middle-aged woman in the head did she fall off, rolling towards Dan, who in turn caught her with his boot and ejected a bullet into her forehead.

The party ran towards the window, finally reaching it at the cost of one man. Ben's heart raced quickly, pushing Steve and Aya through the window. Miller reached the window sill when he yelled for him to go through. Ben came out onto a balcony with a metal walkway that ran onto the roof of another building with everyone else, the opposite building being no more than five stories high. The group ran across it, reaching the roof of the adjacent building and looking back at their pursuers. A hundred zombies seemed to be spilling out onto the balcony, and the sight was almost of laughter. The undead crowded themselves so mindlessly onto the balcony that some of them began to fall of the side and onto the ground.

Bill held his arm, which leaked a dark crimson fluid, and Ben already new it was too late. Doing some quick thinking, Ben reached for his harness and took out a grenade. He threw it onto the walkway 15 feet across and ducked, followed by the same motion as everyone else. The grenade went off with successful results. The walkway was rendered useless as the smoldering metal fell onto the street below, smashing a bright red sports car and a white limousine.

The remaining survivors stood on the rooftop, paying their last respects to the soldier that didn't escape…