Chapter 7

Brought Together

It was the day after Sid's bandits attacked the house. Gerald had gotten rid of Chet's body by driving it out of the subdivision. While driving, he noticed the horde Phoebe was watching from their bedroom window. It had surprisingly grown in size. Gerald realized it was only a matter of time before they'd get close to their house and start catching their scent. Gerald had to maneuver quickly through the street which the horde had spilt onto. The runners could barely keep up with Gerald's truck and thankfully Gerald got away scott-free.

After dumping Chet's body in an abandoned parking lot, Gerald prepared to hop back in Stinky's truck to drive back when a faint red light caught his attention. He looked towards it and saw a billowing cloud of smoke climbing into the pale sky. He looked toward the source where he saw a tree, crushed and distorted by Sid's truck which was smashed into the side, it's brake lights still glowing. The morning darkness made it difficult to see inside and Gerald decided to examine it closer.

He drew his pistol and aimed it at the truck, walking around to the side of the driver's seat. Inside, Gerald could see a large mass slumped against the steering wheel. Gerald cautiously reached for the handle and gripped it tightly. He gave it a good pull and thrusted the door open. A lifeless Brig came spilling out of the driver's seat and fell on the ground. He had a stunned look on his face and his forehead was crushed inward. Gerald stepped back in shock and shook his head in disgust.

"Son of a bitch." He mumbled.

Just then, a scream caught his ear, "Someone help!" cried a feminine voice, Gerald looked toward the hill that was adjacent to the truck. He walked over to the top and looked down.

The voice grew louder, "Please!" It sounded foreign. Gerald could see a car, sitting at the bottom of the hill, turned over and its wheels still turning. The voice uttered once more, "Somebody, please! Anybody!" Gerald could hear the voice coming from the car. The driver's seat was empty but Gerald could hear the person struggling on the passenger side. He quickly slid down the hill to go to the person's aid. When he got to the car, he saw the person, a young girl with black hair and a torn red blouse. Gerald grabbed her by the shoulders and prepared to pull.

"Okay hun, I gotcha." Gerald said.

"Oh thank you! Thank you so much!" the voice said.

"No problem miss, you get swiped or something?" Gerald asked.

As Gerald got the injured girl to her feet she said, "Some panicked idiot didn't have his lights on, knocked me off the hill and next thing I know I'm pinned to my seat. Is he dead?" Gerald looked up at Sid's truck at the top of the hill.

"Yeah he's dead alright." Gerald said. The girl was surprisingly taller than him. He looked into her face, blood running down the side of her face.

"Name's Gerald." He said.

"Mai, Mai Hyunh." The girl responded.

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(FTi Station Kappa, West Wing)

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Phil and the others were back in their cell after the latest batch of experiments. Bob was still unconscious, Suzie was curled on her cot, and Phil sat, squeezing his cot tightly, Suzie whispered to him, "Phil, you okay?"

No response, "Phil!" She whispered loudly.

Phil continued to rock back and forth, "They keep my daughter-in-law locked up next to that thing, day…and night." Phil uttered, "What kind of supreme being lets such monstrosity into the human mind?"

"It's gonna be okay Phil. She looked fine to me." Suzie said.

"Fine?!" Phil roared, "She's locked in a cell like us, sure, but there's a god damn zombie right next to her!"

Just then the door swung open, and Victor's voice said as he walked in, "The politically correct term is infected."

"Who the hell are you?" Phil asked.

"Victor Richtofen. Pleased to finally meet the father of one of my brightest." Victor said as he reached his hand out for a handshake from Phil. Phil refused sticking his hand through the bars and kept them crossed on his chest.

"What are you doing here?" Suzie asked.

"Well I've had you guys in here for quite some time so I'd figured I'd get you all acquainted on the situation."

"Where's my son?" Phil interrupted.

"In due time Mr. Shortman, rest assured your family is secure here at my station.

"You ain't a hospital, you're just a greedy superpower who wants to make a buck from millions of people dying."

"Not quite millions. So far we've got reports of infection in the entire East coast and maybe a few states in the Midwest." Victor said very condescended.

"Oh gee, I apologize for being so inaccurate. Tell me, what the hell are you doing with my daughter-in-law locked up next to one of your 'infected' pets?" Phil asked.

"That's classified Mr. Shortman, as bad as I want to tell you, I can say it's a test of mental integrity for future experiments." Victor replied.

"Experiments?! There are dead people rising from the grave out there you moron! You don't need variables to determine that!" Phil angrily hollered.

"Phil," Victor replied, speaking calmly, "This is on a much larger scale than you and even I can fathom. In due time, you'll understand what we're doing. I want to assure you we mean you no harm. The cells are just a precaution because we knew you wouldn't cooperate. I promise when I find some vacancy, I'll have all of you transferred to a nicer place. All I ask for is your cooperation and patience." Victor said as he looked at Phil again, raising his hand for a handshake, "We're the good guys here Phil."

Phil, still unconvinced, reluctantly stretched his hand out through the bar and grabbed Victor's, shaking it up and down a few times.

Out of nowhere, Victor brought out a small syringe with his other hand and poked Phil's wrist with it. Phil attempted to pull his hand back but Victor's young muscles were too much for him. Phil finally obtained freedom of his hand but it was too late. He started to stagger, gasping for breath as he collapsed to the ground, unconscious. Victor turned around and looked at Suzie.

"He's going to wake up with no memory of the last two days. If you're feeling wise you won't bring him 'up to speed' when he wakes up. Understood?"

Suzie just nodded slightly, stiff in her place. Victor then turned and left the room, leaving Suzie nervously pinching the skin on her hand. Meanwhile, Victor walked down to the lab where Stella and their subject were. The lead scientist sat in his chair, writing on a notepad.

"Steiner, send a four man squad east. Think it's time we find our subjects and bring them in." Victor ordered.

"Yes sir, who do you want?" Steiner asked.

"How about the 53rd, Torvald, Gammel, Turner and Granger. Drop them in western Pennsylvania. If our subjects have gotten out of Hillwood, they'll be somewhere around there."

"Yes sir." Steiner responded.

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(At the house)

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The entire group circled the dinner table, each enjoying their slim ration for breakfast. However, Helga sat in the living room, dazed on the couch. Nadine and Tai were upstairs looking at photos of Mai and talking.

Just then, the front door swung open, "I need some help here now!" Gerald hollered, carrying Mai, more bloodied than when he found her. Gerald approached the couch and Helga quickly hopped up. Gerald's legs started to shake but was able to gently set Mai on the couch. Mai grunted in pain, clutching her leg which was bleeding profusely from the thigh. The people at the dinner table came piling into the room, Eugene, Stinky, Harold, Phoebe, and Arnold came circling around Mai on the couch.

"What happened?" Phoebe asked.

"Found Sid's truck, Brig knocked her down a hill and got himself killed."

"Where's Mr. Hyunh?" Arnold asked.

"Upstairs." Eugene answered. As Arnold started to go upstairs to get him, Gerald stopped him.

"Arnold wait." He said.

"Gerald, Mr. Hyunh's been separated from his daughter ever since this happened. He deserves to see her."

"You want Mr. Hyunh to see his daughter like this? Remember how you reacted when you first saw Helga?" Gerald responded, Arnold fell silent. Meanwhile, Sid stood by and drooped his head, realizing what he was responsible for.

Arnold turned and glanced at Helga who saw him but quickly turned her head the other way. He receded down the stairs. "Let's just stay quiet and see if we can clean her up, she's got a cut in her thigh and maybe something wrong with her head. Phoebe get a couple of towels from that linen closet in our room, and Eugene get some alcohol pads and ibuprofen for these cuts." Gerald ordered. With that, Phoebe and Eugene went off to get it.

Arnold looked back over to where Helga was standing but saw she wasn't there. He went into the kitchen but no sign of her there either. Just then he looked out the window where he saw Helga's black ski cap resting on the deck banister and could barely see her slumped on the deck floor. He carefully opened the door and walked over to her. Arnold took a whiff of the cool air and noticed the smell of slop was absent. Arnold walked over and sat down next to her.

"You know, the only way to stay protected is to stay indoors at all times." Arnold said sarcastically, with a smirk.

"Funny, football head." Helga responded, not amused. Arnold fell silent.

"What's up with you? Why are you so quiet?" Arnold asked.

"Arnold," Helga sighed, "Don't start this. Don't talk like you don't know what I've been through."

"Maybe I have no idea but at least I'm curious and maybe I can help." Arnold said, "Why did you stake us out? Why not just pop in and say hello?"

"Because I thought you all had changed. You have mindless zombies to outrun and all you can think about is locking your friends up. What is that?!" Helga started to get frantic.

"Helga it wasn't my call…" Arnold said.

"Stop it Arnold! I went through hell and back to rescue that kid from you. To find out that, and all I went through after was for nothing.." Helga started to sob, "They beat us down when they caught us. Sid didn't even pretend to not recognize me…He didn't care. Didn't even do anything when Brig and Chet jumped me and took me back behind the…" With that, Helga choked, and let her head drop into her arms. Her whole body began to shake. Arnold scooted closer, feeling her warmth against his skin. She began to cry harder, Arnold drew her into his arms.

"I'm so sorry Helga. Sorry I wasn't there. I didn't know you went through so much."

Helga just continued to cry into his shirt, her tears getting soaked up by the fabric. Just then, Arnold could hear her mumble, "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too Helga." Arnold responded, Helga squeezed Arnold's shirt tighter.

Suddenly, their moment was cut short when they heard a low growl. They both perked up their heads and looked out, they could barely see anything except for the large horde a mile away from their house. The sound was too close to be from them. Arnold looked over the side of the banister where he saw an infected man in a blue denim jacket, swaying back and forth right underneath them. Arnold quickly ducked, breathing heavily.

"What? What is it?" Helga asked.

"One of them.." Arnold whispered. Helga prepared to scream, but Arnold quickly clapped his hand over her mouth and shushed her, "they don't know we're here, let's keep it that way, alright?" He asked, frantically. Helga nodded quickly.

"Be very still," Arnold said as he pulled his hand away from her mouth, "No sudden movements, and let's get back inside."He said. Quietly, Arnold and Helga crawled back into the house. Helga's shoulder brushed against the door and made it creak a little bit. They could hear the infected man audibly growled but saw no sign of him coming up the stairs. Quickly they shut the door and locked it. Arnold stood up and walked into the commotion of the living room.

"Guys, quiet!" He whispered loudly. The room started to fall silent and everybody looked at Arnold. Mai continued to breath and grunt heavily, her thigh was still bleeding profusely. The blood on her head had been cleaned off. Arnold quickly dashed over to her.

"Mai, I know your thigh hurts, but you need to take the pain or the infected will find us." Mai continued to groan.

"Arnold what's going on?" Eugene asked.

"There's an infected guy right under our deck." Arnold answered. Just then there were several gasps from the group.

"How the hell did they find us?" Harold asked.

"I don't know, but we need to stay quiet."

"Mai?" said a voice from the stairs. Arnold looked over and saw Tai and Nadine standing on the stairs. Instantly he came dashing down the stairs to Mai while hollering her name once more. Everyone tried to silence him as he shouted in tears at Mai, speaking his native language.

"Mr. Hyunh, quiet!" Arnold said. Tai continued to shout as everyone tried to silence him, then all of a sudden, a slam came from the back door. Arnold scooted over to the wall and peaked around the corner. His eyes widened in horror as he saw the infected man wearing a denim jacket standing at the doorway, his eyes a pale green and skin pale and gritty. Arnold snapped back behind the wall and gave everyone the shush signal.

"He's right there!" Arnold whispered. Everyone fell silent, Tai moaned Mai's name in tears, clutching her hand tightly. Nadine stood by and rubbed his shoulder in comfort.

Gerald walked up to Arnold, "Well, what now survivalist?"

"I don't know Gerald." Arnold said as he looked around the corner at the infected man, still standing there, rubbing his hands up and down the door, "I really don't know."

Outside, the horde they have been watching slowly started to creep closer to their house. They knew that if a horde that size found their sanctuary. They'd be done…

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To Be Continued