The wreckage just sat there as more smoke billowed into the high sky. The top of the sun continued to peak over the horizon as night time settled in. Inside, Arnold's eyes began to twitch as he dreamed. But it was not a comfortable sleep. Only images of the accident buzzed through his head as he lay there, struggling to breath under the pile of airplane seats that covered him up. He tried to speak but the smoke and pressure on his chest kept him from barely squeaking a single word. The imagery of the accident only worsened in his head. He remembers a woman screaming, with the voice of his mother, someone screaming a name, a name that started with the jay sound. He remembers a gun firing, he realizes someone got shot, then there was the explosion. As his eyes opened widely, he became fully conscious. He began to realize that whatever made Eduardo's plane go down was not an accident.
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Hey Zombies
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Breach
Taking out the guards was cake. Without Gerald's newfound ability, it might've been a little more difficult but that's just modesty talking in Arnold's head. The group stood over the unconscious guards after they finished dragging both into Arnold's cell. Flashbacks of the plan ran through Arnold's mind like a tape recorder. Arnold, Charlie and Helga waited on one side while Gerald banged on the door to summon the guards. He then proceeded to heat the door handle with his fire touch (what the others decided to call it) as the guards approached. Once one guard's hand made contact, the door burst open with a thrust from Gerald's shoulder, knocking the injured guard down. Arnold and the others charged at the guard who was not harmed and proceeded to bludgeon his head with legs broken off from their cots. It puzzled Arnold to think why was it so easy to escape? Where was their backup? How come nobody else came rushing to their aid after the guard screamed from unknowingly touching a door handle that was heated supernaturally. It all felt like a poorly written movie to Arnold as he pondered in his head. Sid proceeded to pull the words out of Arnold's mouth.
"Well, that felt a little easier than I expected…"
"No kidding, if these are the soldiers protecting us from those things outside, I'm wondering why we're even still breathing." Gerald said.
"Okay, if no one else is coming to check on us, they're all most likely still outside with all that gunfire."
"So what now?" Charlie asked.
"First, we find my parents and whoever else they have locked up here. Then we get out of here."
"How's that gonna work?"
"We'll figure something out." Arnold replied.
Gerald began to think of the others, thinking of what could be happening to Phoebe and them. What if they got attacked? What if they decided to leave the house and try to find them? The thoughts raced through Gerald's mind like a speeding train.
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(Four miles from the house)
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The neighborhood and everything was completely out of sight by then. Phoebe, Harold, Eugene, Stinky, Tai, Mai, and Nadine hit the road with everything they could carry in a small kid's wagon they found in the basement. Mai was still limping with her wounded leg but the continuous shots of bourbon and painkillers were starting to kick in, giving her the ability to at least walk on it some. To be safe, Tai and Nadine were there for support.
Phoebe led the pack as they walked onto a large bridge. She could not keep Gerald out of her mind. Torvald was under orders to bring them to an FTi station. He's a soldier, Phoebe thought, what makes us think that he could guarantee he'll come back for us? If it was still in his agenda, guaranteed it would be extremely low priority…I need my friends…this isn't right…
Phoebe continued to think as she strolled across the bridge. However, her pace began to increase as the thoughts caused her to space out, and she strayed away from the group. The group stood at the end of the bridge, paused, frozen in fear as they watched Phoebe walk further away from them.
"PHOEBE STOP!" Stinky cried. Phoebe snapped out of her consciousness and her vision returned as she looked at what was in front of them. She found herself in the middle of the bridge, gazing across to the other side where just at the end of the bridge, a whole horde of zombies were roaming around. She couldn't tell how far back the horde looked, but it appeared to expand across the entire width of the bridge and beyond on one side. Phoebe froze in fear just as much as the others. She looked back to see them all standing there, Stinky still shaking.
He began to raise his hand and made a gesture for Phoebe to come back in their direction. She looked back at the horde. None of them appeared to notice, but if one did…
She took several steps back, quietly making movement toward the rest of the group on the end of the bridge, opposite the horde. As she reconnected with everybody else, she looked back at the horde and realized, it wasn't enough to have the will to see loved ones again. She had to be smarter. This was not going to be easy…
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(FTi Kappa, in the Control Room)
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Victor was still attempting to maintain the situation. He watched from the cameras as he saw his soldiers firing upon dozens of infected as they continued to swarm the east fence, still standing but barely holding its own.
"Where's the 33rd?!" Victor asked.
Norrington replied, "They're watching the first quadrant, Victor, you've sent every soldier we've got on our roster to defend that gate. They're the only ones keeping the infected out."
"Fine, keep them on suppression and back up as much data as you can to get it on the plane. Put everything in here." Victor said as he patted a silver briefcase sitting on a tabletop file cabinet, "I'm gonna check on the fail safe."
"The fail safe?!" Norrington asked frantically, "Victor, the fail safe is too dangerous with everyone out there."
"Some die young, Norrington." Victor replied. He turned to the door and walked out, fidgeting with a button on his suit jacket. His dress shoes clobbered the floor with every step, echoing down the milky white hallways. Unknowingly, Victor walked past a corridor where Torvald and Jamie were hiding. Jamie tapped Torvald on the shoulder, signaling him to go. Torvald then lifted his hands, one had a rag and the other had a beige transparent bottle with liquid inside. Quietly, Torvald poured some liquid on the rag, and tip toed up behind Victor where he swung his hand around and slapped the rag on Victor's mouth.
Victor quickly tried to grab Torvald's arm but he was too slow, losing his grip as the chloroform took over his mind and he slowly lost consciousness. Torvald gently set him on the floor. Jamie came out of his hiding spot and walked up to him.
"Go get Norrington in the security room and then get to the barracks and get the others over here." Jamie ordered in a whisper.
"No problem boss." Torvald said as he walked quietly to the security room where he then kicked the door in. Jamie could hear the struggle between Torvald and Norrington as he began to drag Victor by his arms down the hallway.
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(On the deserted highway)
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"Phoebe, we're gonna have to go another way." Eugene said. Phoebe began to question why a detour was necessary until she realized where she was, about twenty five feet from the others who were huddled behind her, and fifty feet from a small horde of maybe six or seven infected individuals in front of her, pacing back and forth blocking the exit off the bridge. Slowly, Phoebe began to back away from them and rejoined the group behind her.
"What makes you say we have to go around? We can take them." Harold suggested.
"We don't know if they're sprinters or not. I'd rather we not find out." Eugene said. Harold stepped forward and looked behind.
"You all may want to stand back a bit." He said. The others complied as they slipped behind a deserted van toppled over on the road.
Harold crouched over the hood of another car to give his arms stability and he took aim with his M4 carbine. He pulled the trigger once, the bullet flew through one of the infected heads. As the body fell to the floor, its companions noticed Harold hoisted on the car and began to walk in his direction. Harold took two more shots and killed two more. The rest began to stagger faster, before long they were sprinting.
Before they got within ten feet, Harold took them all out with head shots. Their bodies lay sprawled on the ground; greenish liquid began to gush from the inflicted bullet holes. Phoebe and the others came out from their hiding spot and walked up to the bodies. Harold let his rifle hang from his shoulder.
"Harold, where'd you learn to shoot like that?" Stinky asked.
"I tried getting Rhonda to go to the range in Hillwood, never got into it. But I did." Harold responded.
"I used to go there all the time with Gerald." Phoebe said.
"Get any better?" Harold asked. Phoebe just shook her head in silence. Harold knew what she was thinking about, realizing who she was missing.
"Gerald's gonna be fine Phoebe." Harold said as he put a hand on Phoebe's shoulder. Phoebe nodded. Harold than looked at everybody else, "Let's find some shelter before that sun goes down." He said as he marched off. Phoebe and the others followed suit.
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(FTi Kappa)
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Jamie dragged Victor's unconscious body to his office where he tied him to his chair behind his desk, just to add irony to the situation. The research building was five stories tall and Victor's office was of course on the top floor. Jamie continued to hope it would be safe enough for the captives to regroup and think of an escape plan.
Meanwhile, in the barracks, Bob paced the floor frantically with everyone else who were crammed in the single quarters. Curly's rustling and taped up mumbling below the bed only bothered everybody's nerves. Phil and Suzie sat on one bed while Stella and Miles patiently waited on the other, "I want to see him. I have to know he's okay." Stella murmured. Miles pulled her in and kissed her on the forehead.
"Soon, Jamie said he and a few of his friends are here. We just gotta get over there and find them, then we can regroup and figure out where we're going next." Miles replied.
"Miles.." Stella began, Miles turned toward her to show she had his attention, "Why does Victor want to go back to San Lorenzo? Why did he start all of this." Miles shuffled in his seated position, realizing very well he couldn't keep it a secret.
"You know how Arnold and his class came to San Lorenzo ten years ago?" Miles reminded her, Stella nodded.
"Victor's going after the Corazon." Miles said bluntly. Stella's eyes widened.
"We made a promise, the three of us when we returned, we wouldn't try that again!" Stella whispered loudly.
"I know, I know. You do realize how ambitious Victor is. He wants the Corazon for more than a cure to this. He knows what it's capable of."
"After what we did to La Sombre?! Is he crazy?!" Stella said, almost in a louder tone. Just then, the door opened, Torvald stood there, his rifle shouldered, and drops of blood were smeared on his vest. Norrington was his target but was nowhere to be found.
"The building's clear, we have to bolt for it." He said, "Let's go." Everybody hustled out, Bob and Miles were the unfortunate souls to haul Curly by his shoulders and feet.
Bob grunted, "Can someone tell me again why we're hauling this lump of shit?"
"FTi's got a security team sure, but this guy's on his 'secret' payroll. So's Jamie and Torvald." Miles grunted back, struggling with Curly's fidgeting but tied up ankles, "We need answers and Victor's little 'team' is gonna give them to us." Miles replied as the group continued to hustle out of the barracks. The security entrance to the barracks slid open with a metallic grinding noise as the group stepped out onto the compound. Everybody turned towards the gunfire and watched as soldiers fired upon the infected which were all still clinging onto the fences, swinging the barrier back and forth like a flower caught in the wind.
"Come on we gotta hurry!" Torvald cried out over the gunfire. As they ran, Torvald whipped out his walkie-talkie, "Jamie get ready, we're heading across the compound to Research." They all gathered around the door which was locked by the security protocol.
The females of the group could only watch in horror as the rabid infected human beings scrambled to get over the fence to attack their human prey. The group arrived at the entrance to the research building where Torvald began to slam on the glass, signaling Jamie to let them in. Little did they know Jamie was still traversing down the building floors after tying Victor up in his office. Torvald hit the glass door a few more times while Miles glanced around the side of the building to see the east gate, no more than two hundred feet away from them. Miles' eyes widened as he saw the flimsy metallic fence began to collapse as more of the infected horde slammed their body against it. The infected on top of the fence proceeded to pounce on the soldiers whom began to back away, also aware the barrier was giving away.
"Torvald, we're about out of time!" Miles cried. Torvald slammed on the glass even harder, gripping his rifle.
"Just break the glass, you grunt!" Bob cried.
"And leave us open for the whole world to get in?!" Torvald replied, continuing to slam the glass. He frantically grabbed for his walkie-talkie once more, "Jamie where the hell are you!? We gotta get inside now!"
Miles saw as the infected at the top of the fence began to outnumber the infected still on the ground. With a sheer sense of terror stabbing his spine, he watched in horror as the fence flattened on the ground. The gunfire only intensified as the infected plowed into the soldiers who backed away ever so slowly. The compound was breached…the infected coming from the east began to fill the grounds like water pouring into a bottle.
"Torvald!" Miles screamed. Torvald, realizing all bets were off, grabbed and raised his rifle, preparing to break the glass and expose the entire ground floor of the research building to the infected. Just as he prepared to give the first strike, he saw Jamie burst from the entrance to the maintenance stairs. He raised his hands assuring everything was okay and quickly ran to the door which he unlocked with his hands. Thrusting the door open, everybody poured into the building before the infected saw them. Jamie then shut the door, locking it and backing away from it.
"What took you so long?!" Torvald frantically asked as Jamie finished up locking the door. He turned back.
"Victor was difficult to get secure, but I got him up in his office."
"You left him alone?" Miles added.
"If he tries to escape, he won't get very far. We should probably get up there and fast."
"What about the other soldiers outside?" Stella added.
"They're trained military professionals Stella, if anything, they'll go to the barracks and evacuate with the army trucks." Jamie said.
"If they were smart they'd use that damned plane." Torvald said.
"No one's taking the plane, Victor's got the keys." Miles said, Jamie nodded in agreement.
"They're human beings, are we seriously not going to help them?!" Suzie said, on Stella's side with the situation.
"Suzie," Jamie said, approaching his close friend and once very loyal friendly neighbor, "We have been shut out from the world for years now because of Victor's faulty ambition. These guys knew what they were signing up for when FTi employed them…there's nothing we can do for them. All we can do is help ourselves to survive. Okay?"
Suzie, albeit reluctant, nodded in understanding. Bob grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her in close; very aware he was the only one who could really be there for her.
"Did you find Arnold or the others when you guys came here?" Miles asked.
"I never got to check the basement. If anything, they're still locked up. I'll get them when we go back up to Victor's office."
"No, we're going now." Miles demanded. Jamie understood, "Take everybody here upstairs and I'll go find them." The group began to move before they heard a loud slam. It came from the large metal door that sealed off the basement research section from the rest of the building. Jamie being the only one with clearance ran over to the door and unlocked it with his special key card.
Arnold was the one kicking; Helga, Gerald, Sid and Charlie were huddled behind him as he angrily slammed his foot into the door. Jamie opened the door to him revving up for his next kick when he stopped. He looked left and right, his eyes caught Miles, his father, and Stella his mother. Phil was there, smiling at the sight of his healthy grandson, relieved he was alive. Everybody else was stunned. Jamie scanned the group and then looked back, in particular, at Miles and Stella.
With a smirk, he said, "Found him."
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To Be Continued