"When those Hunters were on the stairwell, they were going down. They were coming from the fourth floor."
"Oh, great."
Sure enough, there were a few more Hunters on the stairwell.
"I hate to say this, but it was pretty smart of Jessica to take the elevator." Parker admitted.
"Yeah... almost like she knew."
They took the elevator, since they had no idea how many Hunters were waiting for them on the stairwell.
"Raymond! Jessica! Are you here?" Parker yelled.
Teekay thought for a moment.
"What if... What if it's not their radios that are broken? Maybe it's yours." She suggested.
"Let's test it. Radio me."
"Parker man. Testing, testing do you read me?"
"I can't hear anything."
"Then maybe it's your radio with the problem. Maybe those zombies damaged it. Or those Hunters."
"You radio Raymond then."
"Raymond. This is Weak Link. Can you hear me? This is an emergency."
It was another moment before they got a response.
"Weak Link. This is Raymond. I can hear you fine. What's the emergency?"
"It's Keith. He's been shot. We don't know how though. Is Jessica with you?"
"...No. Jessica and I split up. I haven't seen her since we got out of the elevator."
"You haven't?"
"What floor are you on?" Raymond asked.
"Parker and I are on the fourth floor near the elevator."
"We should regroup."
"Ok. Parker'll be waiting for you when you get back here. I'll look for Jessica."
"Wait! You can't look for her on your own! You'll be killed." Parker protested.
"Why? Coz I'm not as strong as you? Coz I'm inferior compared to the great Parker Luciani?"
"Uh... Well, it's not that your inferior it's just... just dangerous for anyone to be on their own really."
"I'll radio you if I find anything."
"But-"
She was already gone.
"Jessica. This is Weak Link. I'm on the fourth floor, looking for ya. We're regrouping. Let me know where you are."
She walked into a room that looked a little like a laboratory and picked up an open journal that was lying on one of the tables.
Rumours of a cure for the T-Virus have been circulating, and I regret to confirm that there is a supposed cure on the market. Naturally, the first thing we were to do was test it to see if it really worked, or if it was just a scam.
Our test subject was infected with a virus via an infection into the bloodstream. He transformed and was injected with the "cure".
He survived.
As much as I would have loved to contain the subject for future experiments, he was executed.
Teekay frowned. A cure? That was great! All they needed to do was bring back a few samples and they could mass produce it!
Currently, more experiments are being carried out on the cure. Soon we will have to try and destroy it. Somehow. Our last few samples are being held in the safe at the back of the lab. The combination has been hidden.
"I have to find that combination. Hey look, another typewriter! These things are all over the place." She whispered. She slipped the journal into her back pocket.
"Weak Link? Jackass here. We've been trying to get in contact with Parker, but we haven't heard anything back. Is everything ok?"
Teekay mentally kicked herself for forgetting to tell the others that Parker's radio was broken.
"This is Weak Link. Everything's fine as far as I know. Parker's radio's been damaged. That's why we couldn't hear anything from Raymond. I got in contact with Raymond in the end. Last I heard, he and Parker were gonna regroup at the elevator. I'm on my way back there now. If you wanna talk to Parker, your best bet would be to contact Raymond."
"K. Jackass out."
She turned to see nine zombies slowly shuffling towards her.
"Oh. Hi. I was just... leaving..."
Pushing past them was impossible. They were stronger than the ones she and Parker had faced on the second floor.
So she contacted Raymond.
"Raymond, this is Weak Link. I need back up. Now."
Silence.
She managed to fight off the zombies so that only three remained, although it cost her all the ammo in her shotgun, and she had to use the handgun she saved for dire emergencies.
With her last B.O.W. decoy, she took down another two. But she had run out of ammo. She knew attacking anything with only a knife was extremely risky, but what choice did she have?
She got to a point where she thought she might be able to dodge past it, but it made a grab for her as she escaped.
It ducked under her improperly fastened bullet proof vest and sank its teeth into her shoulder, tearing flesh and muscle before reaching bone. She kicked it off of her, screaming all the while, and stabbed it a final time, successfully re-killing it.
She whimpered. Blood covered her hands and soaked her hair as well as her shirt.
She forced herself to her feet, leaning against the wall for support.
She didn't think to radio anyone as she staggered down the hall, on her way to the elevator. The pain was excruciating, but she didn't scream. Hadn't she screamed enough already?
As she staggered along, she pulled the journal out of her pocket, knowing that when she sat down, she wouldn't be able to get back up. And she would hate for someone to overlook the journal. Black spots danced before her eyes as she collapsed in front of the elevator. A handgun bullet rested near her feet.
She'd never believed in god, or a higher power, but it seemed to her that at that moment someone was looking out for her.
She picked up the bullet, whimpering in pain, and loaded it into her handgun. Where would be the best place to shoot? The head? No. She could miss. The throat? Not quick enough.
In movies she'd seen them put the gun in their mouths. In her opinion, that was about as sanitary as eating hairy cocktail olives, but it wasn't like she was going to live long enough to find out the repercussions.
She cringed as the barrel made contact with her tongue and trembling hands prepared to shoot. She shut her eyes.
"Teekay! No! What are you doing?!" Parker yelled.