Alice

A small bug crawling around on my leg woke me from the light sleep I was already in. I brought my hand down and shooed him away. The bug flew off and vanished into the trees in front of us. Above the trees, I saw the City. It was dim in comparison to how it used to be. Hardly any oil lamps were lit up, and most of the City blended in with the darkness of the night.

I heard no more gunfire for quite sometime now, and I wondered when the fighting would resume. If there's even anyone left to fight….Runo, Murucho, and Julie were sound asleep next to me, and decided to take this time to my advantage and walk around. All we had done since the guys left for the City, was sit in that same place on that same log and look at the same trees.

I was much overdue for a change in scenery. I silently got up and disappeared into the trees. I was walking downward, meaning that I would most likely run into the chain link fence sooner or later. Buzzing bugs and the whooping of an owl created a nighttime serenade that I would have never heard if I hadn't left the City and none of this happened.

Twigs snapped underneath my feet with each step I took. I finally came up to the rusted fence, and placed my fingers through the metal chain link. I wasn't sure if this was the place, all the trees looked the same, but I remembered being on the other side of the fence as I said goodbye to Shun as he went off to fight with the others.

It was just like before the Officials went crazy; he was on one side, and I was on the other. A barrier that meant we lived on different sides and could never know each other. But thanks to him, we broke that barrier down, even if things were still a little bit rocky every now and then.

A low grumbling broke the sounds of night, and I placed my hand on my stomach. I was starving from not eating for a day or so. The only thing we had put in our stomachs, was whatever Murucho could identify that wouldn't kill us or incapacitate us.

And those few leaves and plants, weren't a very substantial meal. Leaves rustled in the tops of trees, and I didn't think anything of them other than it being the wind moving them around. I walked down the length of the fence, gliding my hand along the chain link and knocking off rust as I went.

I made sure that I didn't go off too far and not be able to find my way back to the others. I decided it was time to turn back. The trees' leaves were rustling even more now, and I realized that there was hardly a wind blowing. I started to look up, wondering if an owl or some other animal was running around above me.

Several large figures dropped from the trees and stood in front of me. I freaked out and started to back away from them. In the dark, I couldn't make heads or tails out of who or what they were. One of them laughed and said, "What do ya know? That guy wasn't lying."

One of them lifted something up, and I heard a button click. Then, I felt something wrap around me and encase my whole body into a tight little ball. I was trapped in a net. I pulled at the mesh of the net, trying to break my way out. The figures stepped out of the shadows, and into the moonlight that was shining through an opening in a tree's leaves. There were three of them, all Officials that I remembered very well from my time in the City.

Cameron, Jack, and Kat were their names. Kat, the only female Official that I knew of, asked me, "Would you be nice enough to tell me where you're other friends are?" I shook my head and hunkered down away from her. They had the upper hand.

Not like I stood a better chance against them even if I wasn't trapped in a net, but I could at least run from them until they caught me or I tired out. Kat put her hand on her hip and said, "Aw. What a shame. Oh well, we'll just look for them on our own." She pretended to pout, then snapped her fingers and ordered, "Make her be quiet so she can't let her friends know we're here."

The thought hadn't even crossed my mind to yell and warn the others of the danger that was in the forest now. Jack ran over to me with a case in his hands. He sat it down next to me and clicked the locks, revealing several syringes and vials. He stuck one of the needles into the vial and pulled the clear liquid into the syringe. His eyes met mine, and I saw the sadness in them.

It was accompanied by shame. Jack whispered to me, "I'm sorry." He then stuck the needle in my arm and injected me with the serum. Kat said loudly, "Jack, come with me and help me look for the others. Cameron, get her over the fence and wait for us at the rendezvous point. Understood?" They nodded, and Jack got up and joined Kat. I watched as they vanished into the trees.

I decided now I would try and yell and let the others know they were in trouble. But when I opened my mouth to speak, nothing came out. Cameron picked my up, net and all, and started carrying my bridal-style towards their meeting place. I felt my body starting to grow limp and numb.

What was in that serum that Jack injected into me? A tranquilizer or other powerful drug? Whatever it was, I wasn't liking the effects it was having on me. The trees around me began to bend and twist, the sky turned a sickening maroon. As the trees bent, they had faces form on them.

Mouths with razor sharp fangs emerged of them and they hissed, growled, and even laughed as Cameron hauled me off. My mind felt like a mush inside my skull that jostled with each step my carrier took. It no longer looked like I was in a forest. The whole place had changed into a bad dream.

Would the others experience this when Kat and Jack found them? Or would their minds react differently to the dose of drugs they received? The serenade of owls and bugs had transformed into an altered version where they were screeches and howls of creatures that were no longer normal.

I looked up at Cameron. He looked pretty normal; other than his eyes being like that of a lizard's and his skin turning pale blue against the maroon sky. My mind no longer want to try and decipher what was reality, and what was created by my drug induced state. So, I did all I could, and blacked out.

Shun

We accomplished the knocking out of six more Officials, and were now fairly well armed. I glanced over at the huddled group of Officials that we had knocked out. Thankfully, we found enough material to tie them up and gag them so they couldn't speak or call out for help.

Many of them were still unconscious; the majority of them were knocked out by either Marquis or Feliciana. We took any extra ammo that we could find on them, and I was oddly reminded of when we took the rifles from the dead Officials back in the forest.

Except, these were more heavily armed than those. Maybe it was because they were inside the City. It didn't matter. We now had weapons to defend ourselves with. Feliciana mumbled to herself, "I hate using guns. Wish I had my slingshot back."

I smiled and was completely sure that she would have been more dangerous with a weapon she was comfortable with. But, I knew she would make due with what was given to her. Marquis looked at all of us and asked impatiently, "Are we going to do this thing, or not?"

I looked to Brunswick, who had agreed to lead the group and go through the door first. He said, "I guess so. Is everyone ready?" We nodded, and I began to prep myself for a hailing of bullets that we would surely encounter. Brunswick walked up the stairs, one step at a time.

The rest of us followed slowly behind him. I watched his hand reach for the knob, and he swung the door open. From there on out, it was like a race that just started with the firing of a gun. We ran through, what looked like the underbelly of a building, and found another stairwell when we realized that freedom was a few floors up.

Any Officials we encountered along the way, were gladly shot at. Some of them were just injured to where they couldn't walk or fire back at us, others died from their wounds immediately. Our group of five charged up flight after flight of stairs.

When we reached the next floor, Brunswick pulled that door open, and we were met with Officials. They made a wall with their bodies and had their rifles pointed at us. "Fire!" one of them shouted. Brunswick pushed up back and slammed the door shut. We tumbled down the stairs and stopped falling when we landed on a flat landing that connected two sets of stairs.

The steel door above was being decimated by bullets that the Officials fired. Metal was bent and torn from the force, and I didn't think anything would be left much longer. Feliciana hissed at us, "Wait for them to quit firing!" I thought to myself, Well, duh. Wouldn't want to stand up while bullets are flying over our heads.

The firing ceased either because they ran out of ammo, or they thought we were shot up into a blood mess. I could see their expressions when they only blood they saw was from where I hit my head on a step and busted my lip. When the hole-infested door opened, Feliciana shouted, "Fire at them!"

None of us hesitated; at this point, shooting had become a second nature and an instinctive reflex. Our bullets shot up and spurts of blood flew out of the Officials each time their body was punctured. With their weapons lowered, they had no time to react and aim at us.

They stopped coming, and I saw that we had shot them all down. Brunswick told us quietly, "Let's move before more show up." We left the landing and hurried up the stairs once more, stepping over the bodies of Officials. One was still alive and grabbed my ankle. I cringed as his hands gripped the burns on me.

When I looked down, I found his eyes looking back up at me. Blood covered almost all of his face; there was no telling if it was his blood, or one of his fallen comrades. He mouthed something that looked like, "Thanks." I stared down at him, confused. Thanks?

He was grateful for us shooting him and cutting his life short? That couldn't have been what he said. He mouthed the word again, and it still looked like 'thanks.' I shook my head, unable to understand what was wrong with him. I would never be thankful to somebody who killed me.

Then it hit me. Just like back at the prison and when Clay helped me. This Official didn't want to be here, hunting down people and killing them. He just wanted to have things be like they were before everything went to hell and back.

Now when I looked at it from that perspective, I could understand why he was happy that his life was ending. There was no telling how many people he killed, or watched be killed. He would never live through his life without feeling an ultimate guilt with every breath he took.

A bullet zoomed past me and into the dying Official's skull. My head whipped around to see Feliciana standing in the doorway of the stairs. She snapped, "Come on dammit!" The Official's grip on my ankle was now limp, and I lifted my leg. His hand slid off and fell next to him.

He saw this fitting for himself because of all the things he had done, and I didn't chastise him for that. I finally pulled my eyes from him and ran up the stairs to catch up with the others before I was left behind to fend for myself. I caught a glimpse of Feliciana rounding a corner, and I followed her.

I slowed when I saw them all standing in front of one of the rooms that had been used for our interrogations. They were staring into it, wide-eyed and mouths gapped open. I asked, "What's in the-" I felt myself freeze. Marquis was kneeling beside Val, who's skin looked raw and as burned as my wrists and ankles.

Except, his whole body was like that. Water was splashed all over the floor around them, and I saw a bucket beside the two. "What happened?" I asked with only half a breath. My mind couldn't register what kind of torture the Officials put Val through.

Brunswick told me, "Looks like the Officials used chemicals on Val. When Marquis found him, he was still in pain cause he was dowsed in them. So he went looking for water and washed the chemicals off. It's a sick torture if you ask me." Brunswick's hands were clenched into fists as he watched one of his friends grieving, and the other suffering in pain.

Marquis was doing nothing short of crying. He held onto Val's bloody hand and starting ranting. "I told Ma I was would keep you safe. I promised her. You got to hang on Val." Marquis kept going back and forth from the promise and telling Val he would make it and to hold on a little bit longer.

Was this really the punishment that the Officials saw fit for Val? No. It wasn't something the Officials saw fit, but rather Nero saw fit. It wasn't a punishment, but nothing more than a warning to us and what we would go through. Feliciana wiped a tear from her eyes; that was the first time I had ever seen her cry, and I wondered if she was even capable of it.

She raised her gun and said, "Marquis, move out of the way." Marquis turned and looked at her like she had gone mad. "No! Don't shoot him!" Feliciana lowered her gun and looked surprised at Marquis's action. She told him calmly, "He's suffering, Marquis. It'll make things easier on him. You know more than any of us, that he isn't going to make it."

Behind him, I saw Val's hands trembling and his face contorted in pain. I suddenly felt sick as I continued to stare at the horrid chemical burns on his skin, and I began to hear what it must of sounded like as they poured the liquids over him. The sound of burning flesh made me cringe, and I couldn't look at him any longer.

But I did. Marquis looked like a child, unsure of what decision to make. "Do you really think it will ease his pain?" he asked with a shaky voice that can only be produced from crying. We all nodded. I knew Marquis loved the person that he saw as his brother, and that he wanted only the best result for Val.

"Alright," he said. "But I want to be the one who does it." I hadn't even noticed that they took Marquis's gun away from him. Maybe they thought that when he saw Val, he would try and shoot himself or go on a rampage. Dan stepped forward and asked, "Are you sure you want to?"

Marquis nodded and Brunswick handed him back his gun. Marquis took it in his shaky hand and stood over the friend he saw as family. I didn't think he would be able to do it, but he proved me wrong. Marquis told Val, "I don't want to do this, but it's for your own good."

Val looked up at him with glazed over eyes, and slowly nodded. Marquis shut his eyes tightly and pulled the trigger. Val's body jerked up, then remained still. Brunswick walked up behind Marquis and placed a hand on his shoulder. "You did the right thing," Brunswick told him. "Now it's time to keep moving."

no upload tomorrow. i have another banquet to attend to. but there should be one friday unless something else pops up. i also added another choice to my poll list, so check it out and see if you think that would be a fitting title for my zombie sequel. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~