IV - Day 10

-Day 10-

At midnight, the moon shined bright on the city of Detroit, stars hovering behind the clouds. Though almost all the Louds were asleep, there were two who weren't.

"Psst. Psst. Psst! Lincoln!" Lynn whispered loudly.

"Ugh. What do you want, Lynn?" Lincoln yawned and whispered.

"Come! Lana and I found something cool!"

"Yeah, you have to see this!" Lana whispered excitedly.

"Why are you guys up?" whispered Lincoln. "It's pitch black in here!"

"Not if you come with us!" Lynn whispered.

Lynn grabbed Lincoln's arm and dragged him while Lana followed. Lynn slowly opened the door, and left it unlocked, while Lana slowly closed the door on her way out. They went upstairs on three set of stairs before they came to a stop. There was a steel door and no staircase to go up to. Lynn opened the door and Lincoln was now slapped awake by the cool breeze and Lynn's palm. They walked further out and Lincoln realized that he was at the roof of Building A.

"Lynn! Lana! Why did you guys come up here! Why are we here?!" Lincoln said, panicking.

"We came up here because we're curious, man!" said Lana. "And we're here now because we wanted to show you something cool!"

It indeed wasn't pitch black. Lincoln stared at the whole city, and found that the moonlight was able to light up the whole place, even the distant parts. He also found a few lamps that shone throughout the night as soldiers patrolled the streets. He could see a few vehicles moving near a couple warehouses, a few blocks away.

"Now, if you're done at staring at the whole place like an idiot, we would like you to come here," said Lynn.

"What! I thought the whole beauty of this place was the cool part."

"No, it's this!" Lana said, pointing at a fire escape.

"What! That was the cool part? I don't see what's so cool about that," said Lincoln with a confused look.

"Just imagine," said Lynn. "We can escape through this anytime at night and borrow some food from the cafeteria. Just look! There are no guards at the bottom of the fire escape!"

"Why would we need to steal food? What if they catch us? We shouldn't even be doing that."

"We could just hang outside, and we don't have to ask Mom and Dad!" Lana said loudly.

"Shh! Don't do that! It's too dangerous to go outside at night!" Lincoln whispered loudly. "There's a curfew too!"

"Don't be such a buzzkill, Lincoln!" said Lynn. "And we're in a safe-zone. There is no crime and there is no danger outside."

"What about the terrorist they caught the other night?" said Lincoln. "There are crazy people."

"I don't know... something was fishy about the whole thing," said Lana. "Mmm. Fish."

"I'm going back to sleep. Please don't try to steal food and don't go down the fire escape. Goodnight, Lynn. Goodnight, Lana."

Lincoln yawned and headed back inside the building. Lana looked up at Lynn.

"What's a curfew?" she asked.

"It's some dumb rule where we can't show our butts at night," replied Lynn. "But forget the rules. What are they gonna do? Kill us?"

Lana shrugged as she and Lynn ran towards the fire escape, giggling.

The sun was high in the sky and the sky was as clear as glass. However, Clyde was in a panic, frantically searching the room and out the building.

"Bobby!" exclaimed Clyde. "Where are my dads? I can't find them anywhere in this room!"

Bobby and Lori woke up from their deep slumber, yawning as they decided to reassure Clyde.

"Good morning, my man," said Bobby. "They're probably downstairs already getting some breakfast. Babe, let's go brush our teeth."

"Don't worry, Clyde," reassured Lori. "We'll go downstairs in a few minutes to check on them. Why don't you brush your teeth too? You don't need a paper bag, right?"

"No, thank you, Lori."

The rest of the Louds and Ronnie Anne woke up. Lynn muttered a couple words and fell back to sleep. Lana stayed asleep. A few minutes later, the family were looking for Harold and Howard throughout the cafeteria, but they couldn't find them.

"Where did they go? Where did they go?!" Clyde panted.

"Relax, Clyde," said Rita. "They probably went to work or volunteer or something. I mean they didn't tell us that they started early."

Rita then looked at the clock in the wall above the lunch line.

"Never mind, it is late morning already, we woke up kinda late," she said.

Private Lukeman watched as the Louds grouped up in front of Building A. He knocked on the door to Black's station twice before entering.

"General Black! The dorky kid with the glasses is searching for his two fathers," said Private Lukeman.

"All right, Private. Let's go, Lieutenant! You two! Come with me!" General Black said to his two guards standing outside the station. "I want every man and woman to guard the exits to the buildings. Now!"

General Black grabbed a loudspeaker and headed to Building A. He opened the doors and gave a tense atmosphere instead of a comforting one.

"Ladies and gentlemen! I have a very important message to announce to you all! Two men came up to me, and talked to me about job contributions. I was going to give you all jobs to do sooner or later, but now with depleting resources and such, I want to give you all jobs soon! Tonight, only those who are 18 years or older will come downstairs! The rest will follow me to the basketball court! Now as you know, Harold and Howard McBride came up to me and…" rambled General Black for five continuous minutes.

"Hey, Lincoln, this all seems too suspicious," said Lynn. "Want to go check out his station? I've had bad feelings about this guy since the first day we came here."

"Sure. Something is not right. Howard and Harold wouldn't just disappear like that," whispered Lincoln.

"Lana! Come with us to the roof!" Lynn whispered.

Lincoln, Lynn, and Lana snuck into the stairs slowly before running up the stairs. After reaching the top of the stairwell, they panted and wiped the sweat off their foreheads. They opened the door to the roof.

"Wait! Couldn't we have just stopped at our floor and gotten down from the fire escape from there?" Lana realized.

"Yeah," Lincoln panted.

"Let's go!" Lynn said as they climbed downstairs in the fire escape.

They finally stopped climbing downstairs and crouched behind a dumpster can when they saw General Black heading out of Building A and walking to Building B. As General Black entered Building B with the three soldiers acting as his bodyguards, Lincoln, Lynn, and Lana ran to General Black's station. Lynn opened the door as she, Lincoln, and Lana rushed inside. Lynn slowly closed the door.

"Lana, will you be our lookout?" asked Lynn. "Tell us when someone comes. You can use the high windows up there. Just climb those tables."

"Sure. Hurry, guys!" Lana said.

Lynn and Lincoln searched in his desk and found nothing. Just a wooden sphere that resembled the Earth. Only the northeastern United States and eastern Canada part of the sphere were carved with accurate details. They found his journal and only found logs of his days. Nothing out of place. They opened the door leading to the basement, and walked downstairs.

"Ooh, what is this place?" said Lincoln.

"Lincoln, can you turn on the lights?"

"Yeah, sure, Lynn. Here ya go."

The large lightbulb in the basement lit up the basement. Lynn and Lincoln jumped back and shrieked. Their hairs immediately stood up, and goosebumps appeared all over their body.

"Oh. My. God!" gasped Lynn.

"What happened, guys? I heard you guys scream and AH!" screamed Lana. "Are they… Clyde's dads?"

"Just go back up, Lana," said Lincoln. "Keep an eye out for General Black."

They have seen zombies walking with guts and organs hanging out from their body, but they were zombies. Not people they knew. The children felt their hearts racing and their palms shaking. Lana slowly made her way out of the basement as she shivered.

Lincoln and Lynn looked around the basement. They caught sight of the "terrorist" and saw a gunshot wound on his head. They also saw a USB by the computer. Lincoln grabbed the USB and looked at Harold and Howard one last time before leaving. Lynn turned off the lights and they headed out of the basement.

"Guys! A soldier is coming!" Lana whispered really loudly.

Lana, Lynn and Lincoln quickly hid under General Black's desk, which was covered in the front by wood. Lieutenant Lead walked into the station and headed for the left side of the room. He grabbed a box of medical supplies and headed out the room. Using his left arm, he opened the door and closed it, his footsteps coming to a dead silence.

Lana snuck out of the desk and looked out the window.

"Coast is clear, guys," said Lana.

Lynn and Lincoln moved away from the desk and headed out of the station. Knowing that the guards were blocking the exits to the buildings, they had to enter through the fire escape.

Lincoln helped Lynn up first into the fire escape. Lynn then grabbed Lana. Then, both Lynn and Lana helped Lincoln get back up. They quickly went up the stairs. They saw General Black head for Building C. Upon seeing him, anger began to grow inside Lynn. She hurried up the stairs.

"Lynn! Please… slow… down!" Lincoln gasped.

They finally reached the roof, and Lynn immediately went down to their room. She turned on one of the desktops of the computers that were on the side of the rooms. Lincoln and Lana entered the room, panting heavily, as the June heat branded them with sweat.

"Lincoln! Give me the USB! NOW!" Lynn said loudly, barely holding in her anger.

Lincoln quickly handed Lynn the USB and she plugged it into the computer. The video started loading, but at a sluggish pace.

"Is this thing not fucking loading?" asked Lynn.

"We gotta give the computer some time to read the video and connect to the internet or something," said Lincoln. "See, it's a link. It'll load even in this nonexistent Wi-Fi connection."

After five minutes, one percent of the video loaded. Lynn looked down to the floor, shaking her fists. She suddenly punched the wall really hard, making her fists bleed. Lana grabbed Lincoln's arm and hid behind him. Lincoln heard Lynn breathing heavily.

"Lynn, calm down," said Lincoln.

"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN! He literally murdered Clyde's dads! And the only lead we have on him is taking forever to fucking load!"

Lynn's voice started to break, though she tried to hide it.

"What are we supposed to tell our sisters!? What are we supposed to tell our parents!? What are we supposed to tell Clyde?"

"Lynn, you know it's okay to let your feelings out," said Lincoln. "It's alright, let it all out. And we don't tell Clyde anything until we find out what really happened with them."

Lynn broke down in tears as Lincoln hugged her, something she hasn't done in front of her siblings. This was very new to Lincoln, but given the situation they were in, he understood.

"Oh, Lincoln! I'm sorry. I'm sorry, Lana. I shouldn't have let my anger out on you guys. It's just... Clyde is all alone now."

"It's okay, Lynn," said Lincoln. "We forgive you. And our parents can watch Clyde for the time being. But for now, we tell no one. Not a thing. Until the video loads. Got that, guys?"

Lynn and Lana nodded and proceeded to lie down in their beds. Lincoln placed a towel on the computer, covering the monitor.

They remained in their beds. They looked out in the windows. They paced back and forth in the room. They remained quiet.

As the day went on, Lynn Sr. and Rita noticed their erratic behavior, but only took it as boredom.

"Think we should play a game for the whole family?" asked Rita.

"LJ's just gonna beat all of us," groaned Lynn Sr. "But why not? What are you thinking of?"

The Louds, Santiagos, and Clyde all sat in a circle. Lori placed a card with the image of a lion on a plastic headband on her head.

"Am I alive?" asked Lori.

"Yes!" said her family in unison.

"Am I large?"

"Larger than a person, yeah," said Luna.

"Have I been in Madagascar?"

"Yeah, you're like the main char–" said Leni.

"Hush, dude!" said Luna.

"I'm a lion, aren't I?"

"We'd be lion if we didn't say you are," giggled Luan.

Lori rolled her eyes as she took off her card. She looked at Lincoln, puzzled by the silence that radiated off of him. She then looked at Lana, who didn't get into any bickering arguments with Lola. And then at Lynn, who couldn't stop looking down at the floor.

"You good, babe?" asked Bobby.

"Oh, um, yeah. I'm good."

Lori glanced at Lincoln, Lynn, and Lana before paying attention to the game.

Hours passed, and Clyde remained in his sleeping bag next to Lori and Bobby's sleeping bag. He heard their soft voices but did not care to join their conversation. He just wanted his parents to come and hug him.

"Things will never be the same in this country, right?" said Bobby.

"This is literally the worst thing that happened to America," said Lori. "I don't think our life will ever be the same..."

Ronnie Anne laid down by Lincoln, trying to talk to him, but she saw him lost in his own world.

"Okay, fine," said Ronnie Anne. "I guess I won't bother you anymore."

She just took off her sweater and went to sleep in her sleeping bag.

Luan wrote jokes on her tiny notebook, thinking of new ones and chuckling to herself.

"Where's the punchline?" Luan giggled to herself. "Get it?"

Luna played around with the strings of her acoustic guitar, before falling asleep. Leni stared outside the window and watched the empty city. She sat down on a chair and placed her arms on her laps as she held her head with her hands. Lisa also looked out the window.

"Abandoned," said Lisa. "Interesting."

Lola tried to talk to Lana, but Lana just kept staring at the ceiling.

"C'mon, say something!" exclaimed Lola.

"Something," whispered Lana.

"Ugh. You're so annoying."

Lola jumped to one of the beds and closed her eyes. Lucy worked on her poetry book, taking breaks every five minutes to look around the room. Everyone was in the room, and yet no one lifted up the towel that was covering up a monitor. Lincoln estimated that the video will finish loading at 8 PM, and by that time, they would only have a couple minutes before the sun completely sets down, and General Black will gather the adults.

"Lynn! Wake up! It's eight!" Lincoln whispered.

Lynn dashed to the monitor, took off the towel, and saw that it was at 99%. The Louds, Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Bobby were confused and wondered what was loading.

"Uhhh, dude, what is that?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, Lynn, what the heck?" asked Lola. "What is at 99%?"

"Uhh… Lynn?" Clyde said.

"There is something very important I have to share with you guys," said Lynn. "Lincoln, Lana, and I found this in General Black's station, and I'm guessing it's going to tell us a lot about him! Wait, guys? Where did Mom and Dad go?"

"Mom went downstairs to talk with Dad. We're going to go in a minute, but we want to see what this video is about," said Lori.

The video finished loading and it instantly started playing. Starting with static noises, it showed a strange man in a room. The very same man that was captured and executed by General Black. The quality was that of a late 1980s video camera.

"Hello. My name is Gerald Brooker. I am 48 years old and a retired NSA agent. I hope… that gives me some credibility. If you found this… then it must mean that I must have distributed it to you… or some person found it… hopefully not General Quentin Black. It you are not General Black, then keep on going. If you are, then… I don't mean any of this stuff… okay? Well, who am I kidding– if you're Black, I'm as good as dead. Anyway, first thing I gotta say… don't trust General Black. He works for an organization associated with the spread of this infection. This Safe-Zone he has planned? No… no safe shelter… it really isn't. Remember the name… K.H.A.N. Remember it? Good. Now think about this… how come we were so distracted by news that didn't matter… when the dead started roaming the world? There were test runs that K.H.A.N. played with when it came to the infection. This is not a test run by K.H.A.N. This is the real deal. You think Black is a human being able to be trusted? No. This information might cost me my life… but make sure it stays in good hands. Now, whenever you can… get out. Stay away as far as you can from Detroit. Even the biters trapped in the surrounding buildings should be enough to make you want to go away. I'm sorry for rambling on… too much shit in my head, you know? Haha… also, he's going to unload napalm on the city if you don't leave. He's going to murder as many "weak" people as he can. So only the strong will survive… I don't know why, probably some sick philosophy about survival of the fittest? The places to stay away from would be Detroit, Michigan... Houlton, Maine... Portland, Maine... Baltimore, Maryland... Boston, Massachusetts... New York City..."

Lori gasped as she held Bobby's hands. The Louds looked at each other in surprise.

"...Washington D.C... all of Cuba, all of the Bahamas, hell– of the Caribbean, and stay away from eastern Canada. Especially Nova Scotia. Not because of biters, but… because of the K.H.A.N. There are other places to stay away from, but it is nearly impossible to reach those places as ships and planes have been immobilized. Hopefully, you find the truth, and share it with others," said the man in the video, as the video comes to a pitch black, and finishes.

Lisa walked towards the windows on the side of the building and looked out. She saw many soldiers entering the building.

"That's not good," said Lisa.

"We have to warn Mom and Dad!" said Lori.

Lynn knew that the fire escape wasn't an option as there were too many soldiers outside. All the kids ran downstairs and hurried to rescue Rita and Lynn Sr. However, when they arrived downstairs, many parents, teenagers, and others were filling the ground floor. Leni held Lily high up in the air and walked outside, forgetting that their parents were inside the building.

"You're going to the basketball court," said Corporal Jade.

Suddenly, the alarms rang.

"MOVE IT NOW! ALL ADULTS REMAIN IN THE BUILDINGS!" shouted the soldiers.

Jade grabbed Leni's back and escorted her and Lily to an underground bunker, by the basketball court. Lincoln and Lucy tried to get Leni back inside the building, but they were grabbed by other soldiers and escorted to the bunkers. Ronnie Anne and Clyde, following Lincoln, were pushed by the enormous amount of people shoving and rushing to get inside the bunker.

"Where's my sister going?" asked Bobby.

"And Clyde?" added Lori.

Bobby and Lori followed Ronnie Anne and Clyde before they both got caught up in the crowd. They found them in the bunker. Lori looked back and found adolescents and children flooding inside the bunker. There were no other exits. Lynn also followed Lincoln, and Lana and Lola were right behind her, thinking she knew what to do. All these attempts at finding each other only caused more confusion. The alarms kept on sounding.

"Dad! Mom! Ugh!" screamed Luna until she was escorted into the bunker.

Lisa struggled to see anything in the ensuing panic among the crowd. They were constantly running in all sorts of directions, and Lisa realized that she was pushed outside somehow. She was then carried by a soldier to the bunker.

"Mom! Dad! You guys! You can't stay here!" yelled Luan frantically. "You gotta go upstairs! Hide in our room! Please! Or come with us to the rooftop! Anywhere that is not here!"

"What's going on? We're supposed to stay here. Go with the others to the court," said Rita.

"No! Don't stay!" warned Luan. "You can't–!"

A soldier placed his hands on Luan's shoulders and moved her into the moving crowd.

"Sorry about this. We'll calm the situation down, soon," reassured Lt. Lead.

Helicopters flew around Detroit. The lights in the alarm were flashing brightly. The streets were flooded with people trying to enter the bunker. The bunker was colossal. It stretched throughout a whole street, though it was underground.

All the Louds found each other.

"What's going to happen to Mom and Dad?" exclaimed Lori.

"What's gonna happen to us?" exclaimed Luna.

All the alarms stopped ringing. The steel door to the bunker closed as the lights inside turned on.

The adults stopped moving slowly among the crowds. Some of the adults headed back to their respective buildings. Lynn Sr. and Rita looked around the cafeteria as they saw the soldiers leaving the buildings. Then, a voice spoke through the loudspeaker.

"Alright, adults! As you can see, there is a change of plans!" announced General Black. "We're not going to give you jobs! The only way some of you can contribute is to be our subjects in this new global experiment. However, we're not going to need all of you. We only require the most capable ones."

The soldiers outside the buildings placed their gas masks on and burst into the buildings, throwing tear gas. They quickly exited the building as one of the soldiers looked at his watch.

"Ten... nine..." said the soldier.

Lynn Sr. and Rita hid in the kitchen, where they found a sweaty Sergei, while all the other adults struggled to breathe and trampled each other. Some ran to the stairs and headed up, and some fell to their knees. The adults who ran outside, in the now empty streets, were tackled, grabbed, and shoved by the soldiers, who forced them into helicopters.

"What's going on?" Lynn Sr. screamed.

"Two... one... zero. Go! Go! Go!"

The soldiers in the gas masks grabbed their assault rifles and burst inside the buildings, firing at the adults. The gas lingered as people were being shot at, and the gas caused atrocious pain to the bullet wounds. Benny's father was shot in the neck, causing him to collapse and cough heavily. People screamed as bullets tore through their lungs, chests, hearts, faces, limbs. Blood continued to splatter onto the floor.

The back door in the kitchen led Lynn Sr., Rita, and Sergei out of the building. The gunshots kept roaring, and more blood poured on the floor.

"I think… we finally… escaped," panted Sergei.

Five soldiers grabbed the three adults, and held them tightly.

"What the–?" groaned Rita.

The soldiers shoved the three adults into the helicopter and left.

"What's going on, men?" asked Sergei. "I don't understand what's happening."

Lieutenant Lead, who was in the helicopter, bashed the back of Sergei's head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him unconscious. Lynn Sr. and Rita stared in shock.

As the helicopters started hovering above Detroit, Lynn Sr. and Rita witnessed one final glimpse of the city, noticing that adults were being slaughtered in the other buildings too. The soldiers put a bag over their heads as they disappeared into the sky.

Dozens of red headlights glowed outside the gate, as the gunfire continued to roar in the distance.

"What's going on?" Mr. Yates said as he waited outside the entrance gates in his car.

He turned his head as the sound of a jet flew above the city. Suddenly, the roof of one of the buildings erupted into a giant fireball as long flame tails fell down to the ground.

"Holy–" said Beau.

Some soldiers popped out from the entrance gate and fired their guns at the cars, hitting windows, mirrors, seats, people. Many families exited their cars and ran away in panic, while some people, like Mr. Yates, hid under their seats.

The children and adolescents murmured among each other. Confused, they tried to find a way out of the bunker.

"Hey, Luna!" exclaimed Sam. "I've been meaning to talk to you. About the letter… I–"

The children's attention was caught by a muffled explosion.

"What the– Lisa, can you hack into any of the traffic cameras?" asked Lori.

"Already did. Look at this," responded Lisa, as the Louds, and the Santiagos, and Clyde surrounded her phone.

There were dozens of helicopters in the air, and the presence of soldiers in the city were not felt. The planes and jets were dropping napalm on the buildings surrounding Building A, Building B, Building C, and Building D. The flames spread, and melted down some of the structures in the buildings. Finally, the last planes dropped the remaining napalm right on top of the buildings near the bunker, which shook the bunker. The camera went static.

"I lost connection," gulped Lisa.

"Oh no," whispered Lincoln.

"Dudes, they killed everyone!" yelled Luna. "They killed Mom and Dad!"

"What do we do now, Lori?" asked Leni, tearing up.

Lori looked at her siblings as panic ensued in the bunker. She realized that the state of Michigan fell prey to the infection and its madness. Detroit burned down, and the zombies were let loose from the surrounding buildings, heading towards the fire. The last place in the world to escape the madness as far as she knew, fell.

Lori teared up and hugged her siblings.

"I don't know."

End Credit Song

Panic Room - Au/Ra

FUTURE

Despair. Unlike anything she ever felt in the past years.

The reflection in her pupil revealed a person being dragged to a wooden table. However, deeper beyond the reflection was despair in the young girl's eye as she watched the scene unfold before her.

The pyretic and humid room only added to the stress that was inflicted on the young girl as she was forced to truly witness the horrors of the new world once more.

"Come here, Lily… time to teach your sister a lesson. Most importantly, time to show you something," hissed the large man, the dictator of his people in some area in Cuba.

She stood frozen, unable to utter a single word as she watched him grab a machete. He swung the machete on the young girl's sister's hand. Her sister screamed in agony, and Lily couldn't help but break down in tears. Her mind was racing with an infinite amount of thoughts and all she could truly focus on was how life was before the moment she lost hope and was broken.