Chapter 55: A True Monster
2 HOURS UNTIL FAILSAFE
It sounded like the end of the world.
The safe-room door exploded off the wall and flew across the room with astonishing speed. Francis cursed and dodged out of the way.
THOOM.
There it was, standing in the doorway.
The shadowy figure was enormous. Pink and muscle-bound, it took up the space like a gargantuan wraith. It was huge, at least twelve feet tall, and veins bulged from the muscles that covered every inch of its upper body.
"Holy shit!" Zoey cried. "What the hell is that thing?!"
"It looks like the fucking Hulk!" Louis yelled, his shaking flashlight snapping up to its head.
The monster put up a twisted, swollen hand with an irritable snarl, the light blinding it. For a moment, everyone was frozen in place, unsure of what the hell to do.
Bill was the first to react. "Get out of the way!" he yelled, lifting his assault rifle.
The gunfire was deafening, but he did not relent on the trigger, hoping that an entire magazine of 5.56 x 45mm ammunition would be enough to bring the monster down.
No such luck.
It roared in fury, shaking the room as it stormed forward with intent to kill. Bill dove out of the way just as its fist connected with the wall with a deafening crash, smashing completely through.
Francis' Beretta sang as he emptied round after round into the behemoth, his shots doing little more than making it mad. "This thing's built like a goddamn tank!"
"Clear out of the room!" the older man yelled.
No one argued.
Francis sent glancing shots over his shoulder as he followed the others out of the safe-room. They had to get away. "Up the escalators!" he shouted, making his way across the ruined concourse. At least now they knew what had caused such destruction in the terminal.
With a resounding BOOM of crumbling cement and flying debris, the huge infected beast burst out of the safe-room in hot pursuit. The biker's eyes nearly popped out of his head when his pursuer put its fists to the ground, running almost on all fours, like a gorilla. Not only was it strong, it was fast to boot.
Even after the world had gone to shit, there were seldom times when Francis was scared. But he sure as hell was now. This monster was not just going to kill them. It was going to annihilate them.
Automatic gunfire from the side caught their attention as Louis opened fire, having looted an M-16 assault rifle from one of the soldiers' corpses throughout the terminal. However, the aptly-termed 'Tank' shrugged off the bullets as though they were little more than pellets from a pea-shooter. The former office worker's mind was screaming for him to run, but he bravely stood his ground.
"Louis, get out of there!" Zoey cried from the landing at the top of the escalators, ice-cold terror in her voice. She lifted her hunting rifle to her shoulder and lined up a shot at the infected beast as it thundered across the hall toward her friend. Just as it was about to reach him, a shot rang out and struck it in the back of the head.
The Tank screeched in pain, but it appeared as though an increased density of its skull prevented the shot from being fatal.
What it did do, however, was allow Louis to dart around the hulking beast, scooping up another magazine from a soldier's corpse, and join with the others on the second floor.
"That thing ain't going down," Bill said, leading the others down a hallway, cluttered with debris and ruin. "We're gonna need more firepower, which I sure as hell hope the army has."
"You want to lead that thing to Captain Williams?" Louis asked disbelievingly.
A throaty roar echoed throughout the tunnel.
"If you have a better idea, I'm all ears!" the veteran shot back at the younger man.
He did not.
With that, the four survivors ran for their lives through the darkened tunnel. The sound of screeching metal caused Zoey to spare a glance over her shoulder, and her eyes widened in horror. "Look out!" she screamed, pushing Louis to the side.
Moments later, a mangled baggage trolley landed where they had been with an ear-shattering crash. Twisted shards of metal skittered away into the darkness.
"Keep running!" Bill shouted.
The thunderous roar behind them left no room for argument. His team took off with the beast hot on their heels. Just as he thought things could not get any worse, the sounds of pounding footsteps from further ahead drew his attention. The cone of his flashlight showed three dark figures bearing down on them, obviously attracted by all the commotion.
Passing shots were fired, bringing down a couple, but the third fell upon Bill. There was a sickening CRACK as the old man smashed the butt of his assault carbine into its face, sending it toppling to the floor.
However, the slight delay allowed the Tank to catch up, bellowing its bloodthirsty fury.
"Bill, look out!" Zoey cried, her pistol unloading a clip into the monster's flank in a valiant effort to kill it. Such an effort was in vain, it seemed. The Infected being's skin was so thick; the low-calibre rounds could do little to pierce its organic plate armour.
The war veteran shouted in shock and threw himself out of the way as the Tank's mighty fist slammed down where he had been standing, sending up a cloud of dust and debris. Louis' M-16 hammered out a burst of gunfire at its head. It flung up an arm to protect its face, but several bullets hit home and it howled in pain. Bill recovered and added fire from his own Colt M4 to the barrage of sizzling lead.
For their part, Francis and Zoey directed fire from their pistols on several more Common Infected that bore down on them from the shadows, their angered shouts echoing throughout the halls.
Once they were down, Zoey unslung the Winchester from its strap on her shoulder and took a hastily-aimed shot, but its effect was lost in the chaos.
"I need more ammo!" Louis shouted as his rifle clicked dry.
"That son of a bitch still isn't going down!" Bill growled. "This is just ridiculous!"
"How much ammo you got left?" Francis shouted over to him as they continued running.
"Still got plenty, but it's not gonna be enough! But I have an idea. We need to lead this fucker into a tight space."
"Lead the way then!"
The laboured grunting of the monster in pursuit echoed all around them. Even with the adrenaline and sense of self-preservation coursing through them, everyone's bodies ached, their chests tight and their joints creaking with abuse. But they had to keep on running. If they stopped, even for a second, that thing would annihilate them.
So they ran harder.
Zoey clutched the hunting rifle to her chest, tears of frustration stinging the corners of her eyes. She could not believe it. After everything they had been through, after coming so close to rescue, the universe had thrown them a curveball they just could not overcome. Namely because said curveball was a fucking Hulk Hogan on steroids.
As fast as their pursuer was, and as exhausted as the survivors were, they gradually managed to put some distance between themselves and it. After what felt like an eternity, although in reality, it was probably no more than twenty seconds, they emerged into another large concourse.
"Down there," Bill said, motioning toward a smaller tunnel on the far side of the ground floor. "We should be able to trap it."
A number of ambling Common Infected on the ground level turned their gazes up at them, but a burst of gunfire from Bill's M4 felled several where they stood, while Francis raised his pistol and took out the others as they advanced up the escalators toward them.
A sickening slurping sound caught Zoey's attention.
"SHIT!" Louis cried, struggling against a tentacle-like tongue that ensnared him around the waist. Both of his hands clutched the railing for dear life as he hung over the void, the Smoker threatening to pull him off.
The fiery young woman traced the unnatural appendage back to its source on the far side of the second floor void, raised her rifle and lined up a headshot. She was vaguely aware of someone yelling that the Tank was catching up, but this was not a shot that she could afford to miss.
BLAM!
The Winchester cracked and a bullet whizzed across the room, sending up a puff of dark green smoke an instant later.
"Help me!" Louis cried, his grip on the railing slipping fast. "I'm gonna fall!"
Zoeu moved forward, but Francis beat her to the punch, grabbing Louis arm and hauling him back over the railing.
"LOOK OUT!" Bill yelled.
The biker looked over his shoulder to see a wall of flesh filling his vision, a vast hand pulled back for a bone-breaking punch. He jerked out of the way, the blow missing him by the skin of his teeth.
The Tank howled as its unstoppable momentum was turned against it, sending it crashing through the railing and over the edge, where it fell to the floor with a chilling CRUNCH.
"Is it dead?" Louis ventured meekly, peering over the edge. No sooner were the words spoken did the monster stir.
"Thanks, Louis," Francis spitefully expressed.
He turned and rounded on him. "WHAT?! What the hell did I do?"
"Optimism. You jinxed us."
"Let's GO!" Bill's solemn command spurred everyone back into action. They barrelled down the escalators two at a time and across the concourse. The Tank was almost on its feet, fixing them with a glare that promised retribution.
The tunnel they flew down was narrower than before, seemingly for the employees of the airport. That did not matter now. All that mattered to the war veteran was that the ceiling was lower.
Just a little further... he said to himself.
"Run faster, old man!" Francis bellowed from further ahead. "It's gaining on you!"
Bill ignored him and pulled an object from his belt – the same object that he had picked up back in the Harbour View Hotel.
The grunting and growling of the beast behind drew ever closer.
"Bill!" Zoey shouted, her voice filled with anxiety.
The Tank was almost upon him.
Now!
Bill pulled the pin off the grenade, tossed it up against the wall, and then turned and raised his gun, unleashing hell upon the creature as he backed up. It roared in pain, its thunderous advance halted momentarily as it swatted at the lightning-fast projectiles in vain.
A moment later, the hallway was lit up like fireworks on the fourth of July.
The grenade exploded, its bellow deafening as the wall crumbled before it. The groan of the ceiling was even louder as the stress on the masonry became too much and it collapsed, unleashing an unstoppable torrent of concrete and steelwork onto the unfortunate Tank.
Francis and the others shielded their eyes from loose debris as a section of the ceiling caved in. It sounded like the end of the world. Presently, the chaos subsided, and he looked back to see a wall of rubble before them. Fortunately, the rest of the tunnel had held up.
"Ha! You did it, old man!"
There was no answer.
"Bill?" Zoey looked around the tunnel, but the eldest of her team was nowhere to be seen.
Her eyes widened in the horror of understanding a moment later.
"BILL!"
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
I am so sorry for the long wait between this chapter and the last. I've been incredibly busy with a new job, and what little writing time I did have was focused on my other fanfiction stories. But I've been inspired to continue working on this, mostly due to watching an LP of The Last of Us (which was like watching a 6 hour zombie movie – awesome).
Oh, and guys and girls, this is it. A couple more chapters until Dead Air is wrapped up, and then Blood Harvest, the final (normal) campaign of the game.
I hope you enjoyed our favourite survivors' first encounter with a Tank. It certainly won't be their last. Let me know what you think in a review, and I'll see you next chapter!