"THROUGH GLASS AND FIRE"
It had been over an hour since the incident. Hallways were trashed and littered with debris. Rooms were lit ablaze leaving it to be the only light source in close by areas. Not even the backup generators could kick on or last long enough for emergencies due to serious amounts of damage. Everything was a mess. Lira was hiding away in a vent, unsure of the events that took place. She could hear scientists screaming, gunshots being fired, or even cries for help. It was frightening even if she could not fully see what was going on. At first, she was afraid to move. She was curled up while keeping her head between her arms and legs as she cried.
Her tears were quiet, but her sniffling drew attention to other things that were close to her. She was unaware they were in the vent with her. Small sounds of metal having pressure applied like small skittering claws got her head to pick up quickly in fear. What she saw puzzled her mind. It was something she had never seen before. It almost had chicken like skin and no eyes to be found, yet it seemed to have hissed. She crawled her only way forward to get away from whatever it was that she slightly saw. She did not care about the noise she was making to get away as quickly as she could. It frightened her. She could hear it chasing after her.
A grate gave way under her as she crossed onto it. She let out a yelp as she fell through. Lira scrambled onto the floor that had broken glass all over. Some windows were cracked, semi broken, blown to pieces as others remained oddly intact. She crawled forward to get away yet still not caring to look behind her if the thing, whatever it may have been was still following. The only surrounding sounds were fire that engulfed nearby hallways and rooms. She got to her feet and made a run for it. The glass shards in her arm and hands did not bother her. Her fear was too strong for her to focus on anything else. Fight or flight.
When Lira stopped at a doorway, she got a look around seeing a brutal mess. One step after another was the sound of glass braking under her shoes. Where was everyone? Where was anyone? She felt alone in a place that used to have bodies occupying computers and white boards. Crying out for anyone would be normal for anyone to do, but her fear left her too choked up to speak. If there was no one around, why call out? She cupped her mouth and tried her best to call out for anyone anyway. She waited for a response. Perhaps someone needed help. There was no response...
Deeper down, scraps of metal were being moved and thrown to the side to reach doors that were broken open. Dr. Richardson crawled through what opening he could create. What he did not realize was a small group of scientists with a parasite on their heads waited for him on the other side. He did not understand what happened to his friends. Why they were now coming after him with long claw like hands and something replacing their heads and their chests ripped open down to their stomach. It was horrifying and confusing. The sounds they made were something from another world. They moved slowly toward Dr. Richardson.
He grabbed a nearby item and used that as a weapon. Never he thought of using a chair, but whatever worked as they tried their best to swipe at him with their claws. He blocked and pushed the chair forward to knock down the zombie being with force. He ran onward. The only thing that was on his mind was if Lira was alive. All he wanted to do was reach the room he left her in and see if she was alright. The other zombies tried their best to follow him. The one shoved to the ground knocked the chair off itself and got back up. Richardson got to the room and did his best to peak through the cracked glass that did not allow the best sight. He called out to her... No response from anywhere...
He looked around, found the zombies moving at him slowly and with no hesitation, used a fist to smash the windows but failed for the glass did not budge. All he managed to do was make his knuckles bleed. He held onto that hand in pain. The door was blocked by concrete that fell from the ceiling and hanging wires snapped off from their main line and sparking. There was only one way through. There was no turning back, nothing to go back to. He saw an open vent. He looked back at the zombies. He knew they would follow. No matter how slow, they would chase him down and anyone else they saw. If Lira was still in there, he would have to keep her safe. He looked at the wires.
They looked long enough to grab and possibly flick in their direction. Would it be safe? How powerful would the current be? Would it even be enough to take them down? Richardson made this attempt anyway. He waited for them to get close enough and grabbed one long piece of wire and swung it at one of them. The tip landed right on its ankle and the zombie cried out in pain feeling the electric surge run through its body. It fell over and the pant leg caught on fire. One down, two more to go, Richardson thought. He grabbed a small chunk of cement and threw it at one of them only to miss. He scolded himself under his breath and ran on into a room close by with no way out.
The only things that could be seen were computers, papers, chairs, some flipped over tables, blood on the floor...and flares. Right away he went for those. He was hoping for a gun, or anything else, something more worthwhile on protection, but it could set things on fire. No reason to complain. He grabbed one and froze after hearing a chitter and a bit of a screech. He looked over to the tables and found something weird crawling his way. This was something he had never seen before. What kind of animal was this? When it reared itself up, showing all the teeth it had at its lower area, he figured out those must be what was on the heads of those scientists. He bolted out of the way once it jumped at him.
He got the flare lit and went right for the vent. He crawled on through, pulled himself up to get to higher levels and went into the room he left Lira in. Again, he called out for her and got no response. He looked around and found no signs of her. They were already crawling in the vents. He was in a room trapped now. He could either wait and see about going around them or take the risk on using the flare to set them on fire. It sounded like as though they struggled to climb up. He let his curiosity get the best of him.
He went on back through and looked down with one of them almost getting at his face with those claws. He dropped the flare on one and it screamed in pain as it was lit. It backed up into the other one and it made a mess of things. There was only one way he could go now. Straight on through on the top level. He would have to move quickly and without a source of light if he wanted to get away from the gross smell of flesh burning. He had to feel his way around and quickly. He wanted out of there fast. He wanted to find Lira and make sure she was safe. He knew better, with her mimicking Freeman and taking the vents like he did. She was inspired by his fun and games along with Barney.
He considered them as bad influence. Richardson did not like Lira being around them. They would sometimes show up drunk to work in the morning, have their laughs and goof offs, angering the rest of the team and so on once in a while. He claimed he would talk to Kleiner about this. He still had yet to and now that the time had passed, he was unsure if any of them were still alive in this mess. What happened? How did this happen? What will be done now? Where was Lira?
His mind stopped racing once he heard a chitter. He covered his head and pressed forth letting his elbows be his guide. He felt the thing jump and its teeth penetrate his hands. They were very sharp and dug in pretty deep. He was able to get it off him and grabbed a hold of its front legs. He saw light up ahead. A room, he hoped. Richardson dropped on down below while still holding the alien. He looked down at it and saw it wince as if it could feel the stare from Richardson. He set it underneath his arm and carried it with him.
Odd enough, the little thing let him. Not once did it struggle. It was like it gave up, thought it was food maybe and the noise it made had it sound sad. Richsardson had no idea what they were or what to possibly call them. All he knew was they jumped on heads and turned whoever into zombies.
"I think I will call you Chicken," Richardson told the creature. "You look like chicken meat. You look edible and if I get hungry enough... I may eat you..." He heard it respond in its chitter sound. "You look like a crab too. No eyes though. No mouth either for what I could see but what's underneath you. Just all them teeth... Still calling you Chicken."
Richsardson kept his eyes open for any possible survivors as well as Lira. All that was on his mind was family. He walked into a room where most of the glass to the windows were broken and all over the place. On a table from a distance close to broken monitors and missing keyboards were candy wrappers. He walked over to them and looked at them better. He started to look hopeful. This was just the same kind of candy Lira really loved. Only she would eat this much without his watch. She was alive, but where could she be now?
Even though he wanted to be happy about this, it more worried him. He wanted to feel relieved, yet it was time to keep pressing on. Things around him was falling apart. He could hear noises from above as if explosions were happening. He wanted to see what was going on. He felt helpless away from everyone else or surrounded by something else he hated to kill just to survive. He kept on walking, the creature he called chicken still holding under his arm. It was impressive how calm it was behaving.
He got an idea. He set it down close by a body that did not have a parasite attached on the head. He sat down and leaned against a wall and watched it feed. He figured they needed a living host to infect and control. Even if they could not, they still had to eat it seems. Would they be able to catch small birds and just use them as small food?