The nightmare that won't go away chapter 9 - the final test
(A/N – The answer for the Coraline Easter egg in the last chapter was that the infected person Aggie killed was described to look like Wybie Lovat. Congrats to all you readers out there who guessed correctly!)
Silence had just again dawned over the group of four people who had been walking through the forest that held the infected's controller; a puritan girl leading the way with two doctors and a soldier in a hazmat suit following close behind. The reason for the silence was simple – each and every one of these people couldn't help but feel a bit of guilt over what they had just done; even if it was against the man who had partly stared this whole fiasco.
Everyone felt guilt at leaving Byron White for dead.
The guilt had started showing in each person as the mercenary's screams filled the air as infected villagers found the Australian and began to punch him, cut him and hurt him with all sorts of things. However, the guilt had reached its height in each person as the sound of a chainsaw was heard and a few seconds later, the sound of cutting flesh. It was only a few seconds later when the group reached the edge of the forest that Byron's screams stopped and about 20 different cries of victory filled the air; along with a stronger scent of the blood that flows through everyone.
And here they were half an hour later. After much thinking about the matter, Aggie stopped in her tracks; her three guardians stopping behind her. "We shouldn't have done that" she said. "We had to" Crawden stated. "It was him or us; he had a gun pointed at our foreheads." Silent tears began to fall down Aggie's face as she remembered the expression of Byron's face as she and the others closed the gate to the warehouse courtyard. "It doesn't matter; us leaving him... we're no different than... them" Aggie replied.
Suddenly, to the other threes shock, Brendan grabbed the puritan girl by her arms and forced her against a tree whilst Crawden pointed his gun at the doctor; when Aggie saw the look on Brendan's face, she saw anger."Vulka, don't be a fool" Ryder said, trying to get the soldier to let the girl go. "I'll shoot you; don't think I won't! She's our only hope now LET HER GO!" Dr. Crawden shouted whilst pointing his gun at Brendan for effect. A few seconds later, Brendan slowly and calmly released his grip on Aggie's arms. Crawden then lowered his gun and was about to give the soldier a warning when said man pointed in Aggie's face. "Don't you EVER compare us to them" he ordered her. "We are NOTHING like them!" Brendan was practically screaming now. "Do you understand me!? NOTHING!" With the other three silenced by his little outburst, Brendan began walking away from the group but turned back to say one last thing.
"And don't you tell me leaving people behind don't matter."
With that said, Brendan began walking further back from the group so he wouldn't have to speak to the people he left with mixed feelings. Because of his outburst, Aggie was now feeling scared, Ryder was feeling a tad concerned for him and Crawden was feeling still wary but mostly curious about what he had said before proceeding to walk behind the group. Half an hour later, Aggie announced that they were almost at her tree and hoping he had calmed down, Crawden asked Brendan a question.
"Vulka, what did you mean by what you said; about not telling you that leaving people behind didn't matter?" Brendan was silent for a minute before sighing and replying "It doesn't really matter." At this, Crawden tapped Aggie on the shoulder; telling her to stop. When everyone was in their own tracks, Crawden scowled at Brendan. "It obviously DOES matter if you're going to the lengths of hurting the only girl who can save us to prove a point" he said angrily. The soldier scowled back as a response before sitting down on a nearby log; the other three not knowing how long his tale was going to be.
"It all started when my squad was called into action. The boss said that our mission was to rescue a Mr. Byron White from an area that had been greatly affected by an infection so much that it was considered a biohazard. 5 squads were sent in; ALPHA, BRAVO, CHARLIE, DELTA and the one I was in charge of, ECHO. My squad consisted of me, my best friend Andy Muller, my top-ranking soldier Jack Kennedy and his rookie cousin Ricky Redfield.
The squads were all deposited at different locations of the village. ALPHA and DELTA teams weren't lucky at all; they all flat lined within the first five minutes of the search. CHARLIE went next after half an hour and neither my squad nor BRAVO had seen any sign of White. After another hour, BRAVO flat lined; leaving me and my squad as the only ones left. It was then I began to follow the rule that was 'Never leave a man behind'.
Then it happened; we were attacked from all sides. I tried to help them, my squad but I couldn't do anything except one thing. I ran. I ran as fast as I could with a couple of the infected following me until they eventually chased me to the church you guys were in. After I killed the infected that had chased me, I decided to shelter in the church for a while. As I opened the door and saw you guys, I had just promising myself that I wouldn't leave another man behind because the only reason I'm alive is that the infected were too busy killing my friends..."
Brendan Vulka looked up from the ground and saw his three allies; all in shock. He stood and walked in front of the group so they could see him clear as day. "So yeah, Byron White may have been a bad man but that wasn't the point. The only reason I shot him in the leg was so one of you could take his gun. If I were on my own I would've helped him up in a heartbeat and I would've helped him back there but I didn't because of how you would all react but none of you said that we should help him; you all left him for dead just like I did my friends." Brendan turned his head a little to look directly at a sad-looking Aggie. "So now you know why it DOES matter if we left him behind." Seeing that his story and message had changed the vision of his allies, Brendan walked past them and towards the biggest tree in the forest that was about a mile ahead but could still be seen. As the soldier walked on, the doctors and girl followed.
It had been a quiet last few minutes but before the group knew it, they were only a few feet away Aggie's tree. As the group stepped forward with the guardians of Agatha Prendergast having their weapons raised, bolts of green electricity appeared out of thin air. One bolt struck a different nearby tree in its branches whilst three other bolts shot themselves towards the bases of three separate trees. Suddenly, four men, each of them wearing bullet proof vests armed with AK-47 assault rifles appeared from where the bolts of electricity had struck; each had bloodshot red eyes and grey skin like the infected in the village but these people held firearms and seemed to grin evilly as they saw the group; they could only reach the conclusion that these four people were of the other infected, the officers. Out of nowhere, a loud dark voice sounded from somewhere near Aggie's tree.
"You're too late! Soon, I'll be at full power and I'll spread my infection around the entire globe whilst you four are left here to rot!"
Aggie felt tears come to her eyes as she heard this because the dark voice belonged to her crush, Norman. "No" she let out in a wimp. Hearing the wimp, Crawden looked down at the girl and felt his own tears come to his eyes as he realised that it was his nephew who had just spoke with that truly inhuman tone. Suddenly, all at once, the officer infected began at the group, leading them to take cover behind some trees.
Crawden was the first to respond by using his M1911 pistol to shoot the officer in the tree, knocking it from it and causing it to break its neck. Next, Brendan revealed himself to the officers but not giving them a chance to react as he quickly sent flurries of bullets into two of them. As Crawden was about to shoot the last officer, Witch Norman's voice rung out again from Aggie's tree as two YELLOW bolts of electricity struck the ground.
"You think you can stop me!? I have always been superior to you!"
By now, four infected were in place of where the yellow electricity had struck the ground; two officers and two warriors. As the officers began to shoot the hiding heroes with their AK-47s, one warrior ran to where Crawden was and the other towards Prof. Ryder; both armed with military machetes (machete but has spiked teeth as well as an average cutting edge). As Crawden killed the warrior infected that had chosen him and Brendan took care of the two officers, Ryder fought against the second of the infected warriors; Ryder using his tomahawk (the other one is back at Byron White's helicopter) and the warrior using its military machete. The two fought for a little while until the infected warrior stunned Ryder with a kick and then put its machete into the doctor's head.
"RYDER!" Crawden screamed in horror as he witnessed the warrior pull the machete from the man's skull, causing the doctor's body to fall to the ground motionless. In anger, Crawden shot the warrior in the head, killing it before he shot the entire bullet clip into the infected's body. As Crawden knelt down to weep on his best friend, a RED bolt of electricity struck the bottom of Aggie's tree and along with it came Norman's new dark voice once more.
"I have one last card to play! Now, you must face ME!"
Where the red bolt of electricity had struck the tree there was now a black portal in it. As if on instinct, Aggie immediately began sprinting to the portal from where she had been hiding behind a different tree. "AGGIE!" Brendan called. "YOU CAN'T GO ALONE! COME BACK!" He pleaded. At the voice, the puritan girl turned to look at the soldier and said "Don't worry, I'll bring him back; no man gets left behind" she said, quoting Brendan from earlier. Before Brendan could react, Aggie jumped through the portal and into Norman's version of hell...
(A/N – Next chapter will be the last one! I plan to finish this on Christmas Eve (British clock) so you guys can take the conclusion as a Christmas present!)
