Where Do We Go from Here

Fluffy142

A/N: Well, I'm definitely starting to get back into the groove of things. (De-ja-vu) And I REALLY hope that I can find the time to write some more of this epic adventure! I'd like to thank my friends and faithful followers for giving me the courage to keep going with this story, and not to give up. I'd personally like to introduce myself for all of you… JK! Hahahahaha! Got you! That is a lesson to all of you… don't put your personal information on the internet. Sorry, I'm getting sidetracked, this just chapter just didn't want to work the way I wanted it… but, you know, we're only human.

Chapter 17: For All it's Worth

I awoke to the sound of talking, but I couldn't make out any legible words. Tasting the slightest tint of blood, I realize what happened. That fucker KO'd me! Trying to stand up from my position, I'm met with another solid blow to the head.

This time, I can hear someone yelling… giving orders, more like it. I try to open my eyes and I manage with some difficulty. The first thing I see is a blinding flash, and I let my eyes adjust to the bright spotlights surrounding the small room I lie in. Thinking twice about abruptly standing up, but I let out a small grunt to let them know I'm awake first.

"Shit! He's waking up!" A younger voice breaks through the fuzz, and I see him raising the butt of his rifle; a quick movement from another stops him in his tracks.

"I think he's got enough boo-boo's from you, Corporal." This voice was surprisingly female, but the air of authority told me not to play games here. "Hey, are you up yet?" She raps lightly on my cheek to get my attention. I try to speak, but my mouth is bone dry. A slight croak escapes from my lips, and she reaches for a pitcher of water on the stand beside me.

"Here," She hands me a glass, and I gratefully sip it, letting my tongue and throat absorb the moisture instead of gulping it down. "So… Why are you here?" This girl doesn't mess around.

"We've been tracking down the Fireflies for about a year… and we got a lead about them being here in St. Mary's."

"Well, you found them alright," She smiles sarcastically at me, as I take another sip of water. "Sorry about… your head, Peterson is still learning." She indicates the younger man who was about to hit me for a third time. I give him a warning glare, and visually gesture to the rifle in his arms.

"Now… let's try this question: How the fuck did you get here? We went off the grid months ago, and there was supposed to be no trace of where we were heading, or what we were doing. Now, are you some government spy, coming here to get some dirt on us so they can come on in guns blazing, and kill us off once and for all?"

"Now you slow down there for a second. We didn't go cross country for just anything, I didn't lose my best friend to Infected, and I sure as HELL am not a government spy!" My voice is starting to rise, and I try to force it back down. Looking slowly to my left, I realize that Rebecca isn't in the opposing bed beside mine.

"Where is she?" The anger in my voice is none too pleasant.

"She's fine, although you might want to rethink the tone of voice you use around me. I AM, after all, the only one keeping you alive right now. OH! I'm sorry, I didn't introduce myself: I'm Marlene… queen of the Fireflies." She holds out her hand as to have me shake it, but I decline.

"Where is she, I need to make sure she's alright."

"You don't have to worry about her anymore. She's fine."

"No, I DO worry, just let me see her."

"You can't, she's being prepped for surgery." I stop dead in my tracks at the sound of those words.

"Surgery, what the hell do you mean 'surgery.'"

"She's Immune… the doctors say that the cordycepts in her brain have somehow mutated. They say that they can reverse-engineer, a vaccine… A vaccine."

"But the cordycepts grow all over the brain…" Something inside me dies at the thought of what's going to happen.

"Yeah… Yeah they do." That something that just died catches fire and sends its pulses of heat throughout my entire body.

"You know this isn't just about you, this is about the world. We have a chance to DO something about it, and you're just too selfish to realize it." I slowly sink down the wall beside the bed.

"Yeah… you just keep telling yourself that bullshit." She glares at me, and motion for Peterson to come forward. "Escort him out of here, and if he tries anything, shoot him." Peterson steps behind me, and shoves me none too gently.

"Get a move on!" He shoves me again, and I walk slowly out of the room. He walks me down a series of hallways, and as we pass a check in counter, I see my backpack on the stand beside the computer. I stop just after the desk.

"Hey! Keep walking!" He jabs me in the back with a pistol.

"That's my backpack." He picks it up off the counter and hands it to me.

"Happy?"

"Yeah…"

"Then keep. Fucking. Walking." He jabs me again, but I don't move. He pulls the gun up and I whip a swift, backhanded stroke and slam the gun against the wall. He tries to fire a shot at me, but brutally misses. Wrenching it from his hands, I pistol whip the 18-year-old across the face.

"The girl… where is she!" He tries to speak, but holds his tongue. "I don't have time for this." I press the gun to his abdomen, and fire a shot. "WHERE IS SHE?!" His silence is met with another shot through his midsection. Finally he manages to choke out something about the top floor, at the end of the hall. Releasing the pistol from his bleeding abdomen, he slides to his knees, leaving a large streak of blood on the wall. "Well, I think this should give my thanks for what you did to me." I put the gun to his head and quickly dispatch him. Shoving the newly acquired weapon in the back of my jeans, I take the ammo from his rifle for my own, and start towards the elevator. As I reach for the "up" arrow, a shuffle of footsteps and the static of radios fill the hallway behind me. Hastily retreating behind the corner, the Fireflies flick on their flashlights. This was a bad move on their part, but staying away from the beams of light was going to be a problem.

"Oh shit! John!" The lead Firefly runs to his fallen friend. Seeing him dead, he slowly rises to full height. "Sargent… Corporal Peterson is down… posting an ABB for the suspect, shoot on sight." All of the three Fireflies look around nervously… searching for me. "Fan out! There's no way he could've gotten far." The ice in his tone is all too apparent, as he slowly stalks through the doorway, and doesn't notice me behind the door. All of these people know I'm coming, but they're all on edge. Perfect for someone to mess with their heads, I think with grim satisfaction.

Crouching, I strafe around the door, and slowly approach the unsuspecting leader. I stand and quickly wrap my arm around his neck, into a most unpleasant hold as I choke him out. Silently dragging his body back around the door I had been hiding behind previously, I take the small dagger from his hip, and test its balance. I've always wanted to try this, I thought to myself.

Adjusting the grip I have on the razor sharp blade, I move my fingers up the cold steel. Since the target is a bit closer, the closer you hold to the handle, the less it spins, thus you reduce the chance of it hitting hilt first. Reaching my arm back, I whip it in a deadly overhand stroke, and I watch as it sails across the hallway, into the side of the Firefly. The blade shreds through the thick straps of his vest, and he yelps in surprise as the knife hits home. Falling to the ground, he yells for his colleague.

"Shit!" He came up behind me, instead of going around. He fires his assault rifle, as I duck under the blazing muzzle. I quickly, sweep his legs out from under him, and stomp him out. I really can't risk using any of my low ammunition, and I guess now's the perfect time to use it. The man I knifed is slowly bleeding out on the floor, and is trying to reach for the radio at his shoulder without disturbing the blade in his side. I walk forward and hold the 9mm from Peterson to his head.

"Well now… what do we have here?" I look down as the pool of red slowly increases around him. "Now, I's gots a proposition for ya." Mocking his ethnic background wasn't necessary, but totally worth the displeasure in his face. "I'm going to fire off a couple of rounds, and after that, I want you to call your little ol' boss, and tell him that the target had been eliminated. You got that?" He yelps through gritted teeth as I drag the blade even further across his penetrated skin. He nods quickly, and grimaces through the pain. I turn the gun from his face, and point it down the hall, firing a quick three shots, to mimic the chest-chest-head routine.

After a few seconds, I unhook his radio, and lay it beside his face. Holding the button, he mutters about the target being eliminated. I smile at him and wrench the knife out.

"Good boy." I quickly change directions, and slam it into his throat. Taking precaution to make sure that they were all done in, I stealth through the doorway from their origin, and survey the scene.

My plan did the trick, most of the Fireflies are leaving their posts, and this only made things easier for me. There were only 2 guards left in the small network of booths, offices, and more hallways. I easily sneak by the first, and take down the second with the military knife. I scrounge up some rubbing alcohol from one of the offices in the storage cabinets.

After repeating this process of ducking under guards, taking out a stubborn Firefly here and there… I finally make it to the top floor. I can see the lights on in the room at the end of the hall. I start to walk quickly down the hall. After I pass a few rooms, I disregard all stealth, and start sprinting. The light is getting closer. Damn, this hospital was big. As I finally reach the door, I kick it open. And the surgeon stops, her scalpel inches away from Rebecca's head.

"NO! I've waited too long to get this close to changing the world. I didn't spend 10 years at Harvard to have it all wasted!" He grabs a bone saw, and bars my way from her. "Don't come any closer! I will hurt you!" He makes a threatening motion with the large blade. Clumsily, he almost drops it, and hastily tries to recover his mistake. I chuckle as I step forward. "I warned you!" He hastily tries a backhanded stroke across my chest, and I block the stroke with a small, semicircle movement, and easily knock the blade from his hands. He stares with petrified eyes as I grab him by the collar, and toss him to the side. The second tries to stop me as well, but a solid punch to the throat sends him reeling backwards. The third doctor, female, shrivels into a ball under the desk behind her.

"You fucking MONSTER!" She starts sobbing as she thinks that I'm going to kill her as well, but I focus on carefully taking out all of the wires and tubes connecting Rebecca to all of this hospital shit.

"Alright, come on. Let's get the hell out of here." Picking her up, and with some difficulty, I start towards the door. As I reach the end of the hall, all hell breaks loose. Sirens blare, lights flash, and Marlene's voice appears over the intercom. It's rather scratchy and incomprehensible, but her purpose is clear: kill me, keep the girl alive.

"No, no, no, NO, NO!" A line of fireflies blocks my return hall way. They all raise their guns in unison, and fire a few shots around my leg and foot areas as a warning. Looks like I'm taking the long way, I think, as I turn the left at full tilt and start in the opposite direction of the exit.

"He's running! No fire restrictions requested… 10-4! Fire restrictions disarmed, shoot to kill!" Rounds fly by my head as I take the next right, and head for the stairs. If I can lose them around the swirling steps, I might be able to make it out alive. Reaching for the handle, it's locked. I can hear the Fireflies coming from all sides, and I've run out of options. Placing my friend behind a large crate, I open up my backpack, and check my loadout. Seeing all of the memories in one place is almost overwhelming. I work the action in the 300, and line up my sights with the closest Firefly. Slightly holding my breath to steady myself, and releasing it as I slowly squeeze the trigger, and I watch with delight as the high powered round hits home in a gap in his face shield. Without taking my head away from the scope, I rework the action and take aim at the next one, another bullet, earns me another dead Firefly. I put the rifle away, and pull out El Diablo.

The hefty scoped revolver was the cause of Jessika's death, and the smooth stock glides across my hands as it take aim and hard scope, just waiting for someone to make a move. A flash of movement to my right brings me to my third victim. Quickly reloading the hand cannon, I pick off another Firefly. They're not as smart as it seems, they're trained to fight as a unit, and not this spread out strategy. They have entered my area of expertise, and they will learn the error of their ways. I sprint from cover to cover, all the time dodging bullets and flashlights alike. Soon, the next firefly is met with a solid blow to the head from the tire iron from all those months back. After another hard blow to the back, he's down. My dad's revolver slides from the holster like it has a mind of its own… the open sights easily lining up with the last of the small party of Fireflies.

"Any last requests before I leave here like none of this shit every happened?" All he could do was stammer, and he attempts to raise his rifle, but to no prevail. I easily shoot the rifle from his shaking hands. I take another step forward, and another. He pulls out a 9mm, and again it's met with another round placed so close to his ear that he jumped back in surprise, and all hell breaks loose. He jerks his finger, and the round slams into my shoulder. Almost surprised in himself that he actually might have a chance to best me, he starts to get brave. He lines up the last shot… Where did this all go wrong?

Memories and images flash before my eyes… Jessika, James, Debra, Alyssa, Kaitlin, Ashlyn and Bransin… The QZ… that first night, all the regrets I still have, all the mistakes I've made… all for nothing. This whole trek across the entire country… all for nothing. Now, we're both about to die… I made a promise, and now… no. It's not going to end like this.

Whipping out the knife, it arcs across the close distance between the two of us, and suddenly appears in the middle of his forehead. He stumbles to his knees, and slowly sinks to the floor face-first. I jump back, and sprint back down the hall to where Rebecca is safely hidden behind the crates. No time to take it slow, I think to myself. Another patrol of Fireflies is about to round the corner, a quick Molotov into the doorway should hold them off for a while. Picking her up once more, its double time through the corridor.

Reaching the stairs, they're locked. I try kicking the door in, but my precious cargo, and exhaustion aren't helping with the steel and glass door. Seeing no other option, the elevator is my new best friend. I smash the "down" button repeatedly, just hoping that it will call the lift faster. They start closing in on both sides of the hallway, and I can hear the elevator just on the other side of the steel walls.

"There he is!"

"He's got her, Sir! What do we do?"

"If you've got the shot, take it! But it you hit that girl I will plant one right between your eyes!"

Suddenly about a dozen bullets are flying down the corridor, and a slight bing! Sounds the arrival of the elevator, and as the gate opens and I step inside; frantically pressing the B2 button to send me to the bottom parking garage, I breathe a sigh of relief. All of this wasn't for nothing! We're going to make it out of here! The gate opens once more and we step out into the underground garage. I quickly hit the fire button to stop the fireflies from coming down the lift after me, and I scan around for an escape vehicle. Seeing the gray SUV, I start towards it.

"You can't save her." Marlene was standing in the darkness beside a support pillar. She steps into the light now, and she slowly starts toward me.

"Yes I can-"

"Then how long… how long until she's raped and murdered? Or ripped apart by a pack of clickers?" She opens her hands in a gesture of peace. "It's what she'd want…" I'm torn between losing the one person I've risked my life for, or saving the world. I've lost everything, what's left to lose? She's all I have left… Marlene takes another step forward and I watch her eyes dart nervously between me and Rebecca.

She makes a lunge for me, and she's instantly met with a round to the thigh. The smoke of the overheating pistol supporting Rebecca's legs is rock steady. I run back over, and gently place her in the back seat. I walk back over to where Marlene is writhing on the ground, the bullet had embedded itself into her femur, and all she could do was slowly writhe in pain. She looks back up at me, and attempts to reach for her own weapon, but comes within centimeters from the bullet I send to stop her from trying. I train the sights on her.

"Wait! Let me go, please!" She looks at me with pleading eyes, but I can see right through that pained grimace.

"You'll just come after her." Suddenly a hole appears in her forehead, and it's all over. I almost fall backward in relief. Then that's when the pain came: my head throbs horribly from all the hits it took, my calf is bleeding profusely, and I'm so tired. I stumble back to the SUV, and hastily staunch the bleeding in my leg. I find the keys under the seat, and I hopefully turn over the engine. It roars to life in the deserted lot, and I try and drive carefully as to not jostle Rebecca in the backseat. I drove… and I only stopped for siphoning gas from other cars or "other reasons" as you would call them. After about 4 hours of this grueling routine, I hear a stirring from behind me. Looking in the rear-view, she's starting to sit up.

"Take it easy, the drugs are still wearing off." She looks around and takes in the surroundings.

"What the hell am I wearing?" I pull over and step away from the vehicle so she can change out of the hospital gown. Rebecca honks the horn to signal she's finished, and I walk back to the SUV and climb into the driver's seat, and we set off down the road.

Well, I guess that I'm going to be a jerk and cut this chapter short from the end. HA! I apologize for the MAJOR delay, and I really hope that I can get this story finished off in the next week or so. I can't believe that it's been almost a year since we started this adventure, and I really have to thank my good friends in school for encouraging me to get back into this story.

Fluffy142