In this chapter, I'm going to be introducing a new category for the infected. Look forward to it!
"No..." Naomi breathed. She and Michael were peeking over the edge of the second floor. Tess lay on the stone floor, riddled with holes from bullet entries. Blood had begun to pool around her.
"Target neutralized. Search the area for her accomplices." The guard in charge ordered.
"Yes, sir."
"They're gonna be here soon." Ellie whispered to Joel. They all followed Joel to another wing of the capitol building. As they roamed the halls, Michael caught a glimpse of a flash from a scope.
"Get down!" He yelled as he pulled Naomi back. The .50 Caliber round that was fired from a sniper missed Naomi by a few millimeters.
"They're in the hall!" A guard called out, followed by others.
When Naomi and Michael tried to get to Joel and Ellie, they were stopped by bullets that flew through the opening between them and Joel.
"We have to find another way around!" Michael said over the gunfire.
"Joel!" Naomi said, getting his attention. "We'll meet up with you guys at Tommy's place!"
"What?!" Joel ducked as a bullet pinged by his cover. "No! We fuckin' stay together!"
"If we don't split up, we're all gonna fucking die!" Michael yelled to Joel.
Joel looked at him, at Naomi, then at Ellie. He returned to Michael, "you keep her safe!" He growled before taking Ellie with him.
"Come on!" Michael said to Naomi. They quickly got out of there before the guards found them.
Naomi and Michael had dispatched the guards on the ground floor and proceeded further into the city away from the capitol building. When they thought they were safe, they took refuge in an abandoned restaurant and tried to catch their breaths.
Naomi screamed in frustration as she began to make a mess of the already ruined restaurant. She kicked tables and chairs over and punched out glass from shattered windows.
"Hey, hey!" Michael said, grabbing her. He was expecting her to fight him, but she broke down, sobbing. She turned around and wept into his chest.
"She's gone..." she whimpered, muffling her cries into his shirt. Ever since her mother passed away, Tess was like a second mother to Naomi. She looked out for her and taught her survival skills, often pointing out her flaws.
Michael was caught off guard by this sudden action, but was only reminded of the death of his friends back in the capitol building. He led Naomi into the back of the restaurant and held her close to him as he silently wept for his friends. Remembering the days when they were just recruits for the Fireflies, joking around and having fun.. Now they were gone.
The sun had begun to set when they were finished letting out their sorrow. It was then that Naomi realized how close she was to Michael. It was very intimate and she immediately backed away. "Let's keep moving," she said, drying her eyes.
"Yeah.." he said, leading the way. He knew the way to the hydroelectric dam in Wyoming, but they were very low on supplies. They searched the area for anything they could use from food and water, to common tools. They came up with three fully-filled water bottles and a box of granola bars, some extra ammo for Naomi's pistol and Michael's rifle, and supplies for a make-shift first-aid kit.
"It's amazing how much shit people forget about or overlook." Michael chuckled, trying to liven the mood. He looked at Naomi, who still had a graven expression over Tess's death and immediately felt like he should do something.
"Hey-"
"Shh." Naomi's expression changed in an instant. One moment she was grieving, the next she was alert and ready for a fight. What a woman...
The next moment was filled with ear-splitting screeching. Naomi and Michael covered their ears in vain to try and block out the painful noise. When it finally stopped, they looked at each other. Their ears were still ringing the same way a soldier's ears would be ringing if an explosive detonated near him.
Naomi stared wide-eyed at what she was seeing. Michael followed her gaze and he too stared in shock.
"What is that?" Michael asked, his hearing returning. Not that far from them and standing on a bus was an infected, but this was different. It wasn't a Runner, Clicker, or a Bloater. No... this was different. It was a hooded, infected woman that had two thick and razor sharp bony blades for arms. The hood flew back and Naomi and Michael saw that it's head resembled that of a Clicker, but it's eyes were still present. Which meant that the thing could see them.
Naomi remembered reading about sightings of different categories of infected, some that she hoped she would never encounter. The thing before them was classified as a Siren. And like it's namesake, it screeched really loudly and sharply.
"That's a Siren!" Naomi cried out.
"A what?!" Michael exclaimed. Before she could answer, she drew her pistol and began shooting at it. Michael followed her lead and pulled out his rifle.
They were filled with fear when the Siren just deflected the bullets with it's bone blade arms like it was nothing. It screeched again, and Naomi and Michael dropped to their knees, covering their ears with their hands. Then the Siren charged at them with a primal ferocity.
Naomi barely was able to recover in time and unsheathe her sword before the Siren was only centimeters from her. She faded low to the left under the Siren's swing and brought her sword up for an upward slash. She was shocked to discover that the Siren blocked her attack with it's arm blades.
Does this thing have intelligence?!
Naomi and Michael were in serious trouble if this infected still retained it's ability to think. Not much information was written about the Siren, the only piece of info that was written was this: If spotted, RUN.
"Michael!" Naomi stopped him. She was fending off the Siren's attacks while trying to maintain focus through all the screeching. He was getting ready to attack with his knife. "We have to run!" She said. "We can't fight this thing!"
"What?! But it will kill us!" Michael said.
Naomi tried to come up with a strategy while she blocked slash after slash. Sweat threatened to seep into her eyes and hinder her focus.
"Do you have any pipe bombs?!" She asked.
"Yeah! What do you want me to do?" He asked, pulling it out of his pack. It was amazing how the Siren only focused on Naomi and not Michael.
"Go set up a tripwire at the entrance of the restaurant we were just in! Then get behind cover! Fire off a shot with your gun to let me know you're ready, I'm going to lure this thing over there!" Naomi said, dodging a slash that almost cut her stomach. "Hurry!"
Michael ran like hell. He went back to the restaurant and slid to a stop behind the narrow entrance of the door that was once there. He taped a pipe bomb to one side of the entrance and another bomb on the other. Then he pulled out a long piece of string from a roll of fishing pole twine and tied both ends to the detonator pins. He gently pulled on the string to test its strength. Then he fired off a shot into the air with his pistol and ducked behind the wall in the kitchen.
Naomi heard the shot while she was ducking under a slash. The damn Siren was blocking every attack she made with her sword. She finally saw an opening on the kneecap and slashed there. The Siren screeched and fell back in pain.
So it feels pain too...
Naomi turned around and ran towards the restaurant. When she was almost there, she turned around to see the Siren limping towards her. The slash she made to the kneecap hindered it's movement. She caught the flash of the twine at the entrance and leaped over it.
"Over here!" Michael called out to her from the kitchen. Naomi ran into the kitchen just as the Siren tripped the wire. Michael pulled her behind the protection of the wall just as the deafening explosion rocked the entire building.