II - Slaughterhouse
Sweat dripped from the ends of Lori's hair strands down to the concrete ground. She stood against the corner of the walls and looked ahead at the corner of the mesh fences. Her eyes then quickly shifted back to the girls inside her cell as she pulled out one of her shoelaces and wrapped their ends around her fists.
"I don't know if it'll work. But we gotta believe it will."
"When do we choke our guy?" asked a teen girl with light-pink dyed hair.
"We probably won't have to. They might shoot him or her dead," said Lori. "Remember, the gun that you get from whoever you have will be your weapon. Free us and take down as many as you can. We got the numbers."
"It's so risky," said Sheila.
"Yes it is," admitted Lori. "I won't lie- people will die. On both sides. But it's better than nothing. We have to fight back somehow."
A voice moved all the girls away from Lori as she hid her shoelace in her pocket.
"How many hens do you need, Calvin?" asked Moose, his voice echoing throughout the parking garage.
"We gotta finish as many as we can. But one at a time. So just one," said Calvin as he grabbed a thin but sturdy chain.
Moose opened the mesh gate and walked inside the cell. The girls moved back, many behind Lori. He looked around the cell, the girls whimpering and holding their breaths, some letting out tears as he scanned all their faces. He looked at Lori before nodding. He quickly turned towards the teen girl next to her and pointed at her.
"Come with me," said Moose.
"Me?" asked the teen girl, her voice quivering.
"Yes, don't waste our damn time."
The teen girl looked at Lori as she cleared her throat. Lori shifted close to her, discreetly handing the shoelace to the girl. Moose then grabbed the girl's shoulder and dragged her out of the cell before closing it.
"Let go!" exclaimed the girl. "I can walk myself!"
"That's good to know!" said Calvin sarcastically. "Still letting Moose hold you."
The teen girl continued to walk closer to the middle of the parking garage, a dozen meters away from the cell she was locked in. She took a deep breath before stopping her walk. Her fists tightened against the shoelace and she quickly shoved Moose's hand away from her shoulder. With a quick jump, she wrapped the shoelace around Moose's neck and pulled his head back as it tightened.
The other cannibals in the room aimed their weapons at the teen girl who pulled back harder and harder while using Moose as cover. She quickly grabbed Moose's pistol and pointed it around.
"Don't come any closer! I mean it!" yelled the girl.
"Don't fire!" ordered Calvin before the girl. "Toss the gun away before you do something really stupid. I mean, look around you. Only a stupid person would try to escape without a well-formulated plan. But I'm sure you have everything planned out, right?"
Moose coughed as he tried pulling the shoelace away from his throat. The teen girl aimed her pistol at Calvin.
"I'm sick of hearing your voice," said the girl as she tried walking back.
"That makes the both of us."
Moose dropped to the ground on one knee and quickly grabbed the girl's right wrists, squeezing with immense strength. She cried out as she released the gun, dropping it to the floor before Moose quickly ran back, slamming the teen girl against the 'HEN' cell and squeezing her. He then quickly pulled the shoelace away and tossed it the ground as he grabbed the girl's arms, dragging her across the floor.
The girl screamed and tried pulling away, slapping Moose's arm. One of the cannibals walked over to the teen girl and swung the face of a hammer at her forehead. A cracking noise caused Lori to flinch as she watched the stunned girl being dragged away. The girl moaned as blood began to pour out of the gash on her forehead.
"I guess she wasn't one of the smart ones," said Calvin as Moose dropped her body next to him. "Alright, Beatrice. Tie her up."
"With pleasure. And uh, Jeremy. Drop your hammer and help me out."
The cannibal placed his hammer in a table close to the center. The center was rigged with chains attached to the ceiling. Two main pairs of chains hanging from the ceiling were connected to a lever on a support beam, which Jeremy began pulling upwards on. The chains lowered. Moose stripped the girl's clothes off. Beatrice grabbed the chains and tied them around the girl's arms and legs as she faced downwards, still stunned.
"The hen's ready," said Beatrice.
Jeremy began to push down on the lever as Beatrice stepped back, watching the front chains as they pulled up the girl's tied wrists and the back chains as they pulled up her tied ankles. She hung vertically.
Lori and the other girls watched in horror as Calvin put on latex gloves, an apron, goggles, and a surgical mask. Lincoln and the other boys all held their breaths as Calvin grabbed a buck knife and approached the teen girl, hanging at eye level with him.
"Please," moaned the girl.
Beatrice wrapped a strip of clothing around the girl's mouth and gagged her as Calvin stared at her. He then knelt down as Moose moved a wide metal bucket below the girl.
"Lana, please look away," whispered Lori.
Lana's eyes were already fixated on the girl. Her heart pounded against her chest.
Calvin reached into the teen girl's abdomen and stuck his buck knife inside. He sliced across the abdomen as the teen girl's cries were muffled, causing her guts to pour out into the bucket.
Lana shrieked and placed her face against Lori's leg, as she began to sob softly. Lori placed her hands over her mouth as her eyes continued to stare at the slaughter.
Calvin then grabbed the girl's cheeks with one hand and stared into her eyes as he sliced his knife across her throat. Her eyes widened as blood poured into the bucket, her voice falling along with it. Calvin then released her head, letting it drop down as the lifeless girl hung on the chains.
"Go ahead, Timothy," said Calvin.
A cannibal with a spinning chainsaw walked up to the lifeless girl and began to saw off the back of her neck. Blood squirted into Calvin's goggles and apron. After a few seconds, the head dropped to the bucket, causing more blood to pour out. Timothy turned off the chainsaw.
"Is it… is it over?" whispered a sniffling Clyde.
"Yeah," said Lincoln, drenched in sweat. "But... keep your eyes closed. Just don't look."
Calvin grabbed a moist rag and wiped the blood off his buck knife. Moose pulled the bucket away from the corpse while Beatrice moved in a heavy duty utility cart. Jeremy pulled up the lever and lowered the naked, headless corpse into the top part of the cart. Beatrice unlocked the chains and allowed Jeremy to pull them back up, dropping the arms and legs into the cart. A cannibal walked up to the cart with a small plastic bucket in his hand.
"What is it, Neville?" sighed Calvin.
"Where to, this time?" he asked.
Calvin pulled down his surgical mask.
"I need that head sent to the X-Zone near Richmond," said Calvin. "Get on the radio and tell Guillermo that he's done for the day. He'll come for the bucket and he'll send it off tomorrow. Come on, I told you they need the head over there."
"Got it."
Neville placed the plastic bucket in the lower part of the utility cart and began pushing it away. Calvin whistled as he watched Moose and Jeremy walk towards the 'HEN' cell again. Moose had a pistol pulled out on one hand as he opened the cell. He walked inside and looked around.
"Which one's Becky?" asked Moose.
The girls all stared at each other. Lori glanced at Becky but moved her gaze away to make sure she didn't stare at her for too long.
"It's the redhead," said Calvin.
Moose grabbed Becky's wrist as Jeremy stayed inside the cell, holding his hammer. He then turned towards Calvin.
"I want this one," he said. "The blonde one. Blue streak."
"Get her too, then," said Calvin.
Jeremy licked his tongue as he grabbed Sam's wrist.
"Wait, no! No! Stop!" exclaimed Sam.
"Let her go!" yelled Luna, running up to the mesh gate as Jeremy locked it. "Let go of her, you fucking cunts!"
"Please, man," sniffled Sam. "Please, let me go. I didn't do anything wrong."
Luna slammed the mesh fences as her watery eyes stared at the cannibals with anger.
Becky growled as tears of rage bubbled in her eyes.
"Don't fucking touch me!" yelled Becky. "I'll fucking kill you all! Stop touching me!"
"Stop squirming, damn," said Moose.
"No! Hit me with the fucking hammer! I fucking dare you, motherfuckers! Do it!"
Moose swung the pistol at her face, causing her to lose her balance. He quickly put Becky back on her feet by grabbing her throat. She coughed and gasped for air as her face reddened underneath her messy strands of hair.
"Stop it!" yelled Lori.
"That one too," said Calvin.
Beatrice walked up to the 'HEN' cell and opened up the mesh gate, looking at Lori's shoes. She then pointed a kitchen knife against Lori's throat and motioned her to move out of the cell. She closed the cell and walked Lori over to the chains as Becky and Sam awaited their fate.
"Don't act like you didn't do anything wrong," said Calvin. "You are the one who provided the girl with a shoelace. Moose didn't like that. Right, Moose?"
"Right," he replied.
"I did it to survive," said Lori.
"Oh no, I know why you tried," said Calvin. "I just want to know why you thought it would work."
"I've gotten out of situations like this before," said Lori, still being held at knifepoint.
Calvin smiled.
"I seriously doubt that. I mean, you're all locked up here. You're all monitored by the people in here. Then, we got people on the outside happy to pull a trigger if anything goes wrong. I mean, really? Just why would-"
"Because my life is too important!" blurted out Lori.
"Now, that's just being selfish. But I get it. I'm selfish myself too. I think my life is too important as well. Otherwise, I wouldn't be doing this."
Moose began to strip Becky's hoodie off. She continued to squirm around. Jeremy approached Becky with the hammer.
"Your life means nothing to me, however," said Calvin. "Don't take it personally. I just have to do what I have to do to survive. Like slaughtering Becky right now-"
"We have the cure!" shouted Lori.
Jeremy lifted the hammer.
"Wait! Wait!" exclaimed Calvin. "You have the what?"
Lori continued panting as she looked down. She gulped as her eyes shivered with desperation.
"The cure. To the infection of the dead."
"Bullshit," said Calvin.
"I swear," said Lori. "That's why we came to DC! All the way from Maine. We tried entering the White House. But there were people there. They shot at us. We lost some of our own. So we decided to wander around- look for another place. Somewhere where we could find any governmental presence. But there aren't any…"
Calvin squinted his eyes. Lori looked down and opened her eyes.
"Check my backpack! Tiny pocket on the top!"
Timothy grabbed Lori's backpack and opened up the top pocket. Inside was a vial with glowing blue liquid.
"I ain't gonna lie," said Timothy. "This looks cool as shit."
"The quinine base mixed with proguanil and chloroquine gives its glowing color," said Lori. "It's designed to prevent enzymes from metabolizing the necrosis influenza of the rabid type from the saliva of any undead ones."
"You're smart, Calvin," said Beatrice, "but are you that smart?"
"Shut up," said Calvin. "Of course, I'm that smart. It's a bit complicated… but I… I can understand her."
Lori looked at Calvin's eye movements. She then nodded.
"So that means you believe me," said Lori. "You know everything I say makes sense. I'm telling the truth."
"What is it that you want?" asked Calvin. "I can't let your people go. That's not going to fly with me."
"Just give us more time," said Lori. "We could figure something out. But one thing is clear. You NEED me alive. Otherwise, I won't talk. And I know damn well you need that cure. And if you kill any of my group members, then I won't talk. And no amount of torture is going to break me. You're a smart man, Calvin. Make a smart decision."
"What's your name?" asked Calvin.
"Lori."
"Okay, Lori… you and your people get one day. Just one day while I try to figure something out."
Moose and Jeremy began taking Becky and Sam back to their cells. Beatrice continued to hold Lori at knifepoint. Calvin smiled.
"Congratulations. You just postponed your death," said Calvin before facing Beatrice. "Take her back."
Beatrice grabbed Lori's shoulder and continued to hold her knife against her throat while standing behind her, and walked her back to the 'HEN' cell. The mesh gate creaked as Becky, Sam, and Lori were shoved inside. The mesh gate was then closed, and the click of the lock snapped.
"We still need to meet the daily nutrition of our people," said Calvin. "According to Guillermo, your people actually killed the X back in Baltimore. Not all of them, but enough to hurt us. On the plus side though- less mouths to feed."
Calvin then pointed his knife at the 'BULL' cell.
"Get me someone from there. Anyone but the one with the FBI vest."
Moose opened the cell. He grabbed Brendan and dragged him out as Jeremy closed the cell. His face seemed unnerved as his sweaty hair continued to drench his clothes.
"We have to compensate for the two hens that you saved," said Calvin. "What's better than a bull?"
Lori looked as Moose and Timothy stripped Brendan's clothes. She tried calling out to him, but couldn't find the right words to say to him.
"It was a great deal we made, Lori," said Brendan as Beatrice began chaining him. "It really helped us fight against those X freaks. Don't worry about the ones you didn't kill back in Baltimore. We killed them for you. And I enjoyed watching them die in pain."
"As did the X from Arlington when they burned your people alive," said Calvin, smiling. "Call it payback if you will."
"Karma will really bite you in the ass," said Brendan as Beatrice wrapped a rag around his mouth.
"I don't believe in karma."
Calvin pulled his surgical mask back up as Brendan was then hung from the ceiling. Moose pushed the long metallic bucket below him. Calvin then stuck his buck knife into Brendan's abdomen, smiling as the muffled screams roared next to his ears.
"Now, this is personal."
Lori remained speechless.
Back in the White House, Lily and Lisa dashed to the Entrance Hall, the youngest smiling as she expected to see the group. Jeffrey followed behind them, washing his hands with a wet towelette. Instead, they saw David sliding back the hammer to double M9s. They also saw Kotaro inserting a clip into his Remington 700 rifle. And Vonda sharpening her arrows. And Jace adjusting the scope of his MSR-10. And Hana stretching.
"Where's Lori?" asked Lily.
"She's in trouble and she needs our help," said David.
"Define trouble," said Lisa.
"She might die," said Vonda. "The others too, right?"
"Yeah," said Kotaro. "Cannibals are never a good thing to deal with."
"Cannibals?" gasped Jeffrey. "Oh, Lord help my nephew. You're saying that Preston might have… passed?"
"We hope not," said Jace. "I can't fail him and the others."
"What's going on?" asked Carol.
The group looked at the staircase, watching Carol descend from it. They all looked at her golden hair, which was now at shoulder-length. The ends of the strands were a bit messy, which mirrored that of how Lori's hair looked like in the early months of the post-GIE world. They all stopped packing up for a second, watching her in surprise.
"Nice cut," said Jace.
"You kinda look like Lori," said Vonda.
Carol rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
"You act like her too," muttered Vonda to herself.
"We're going to kill some cannibals and save the group," said David. "Hana here says she saw them whisked away towards the nearby Circle Park. They're the ones who created the X. They're the ones who killed Reggie and Dr. White. They're the ones we didn't finish, Carol. You're coming?"
Carol walked away.
"Carol?" called out David.
"Just go," she said.
David turned towards Lily, Lisa, and Jeffrey.
"Stay safe. Elder- protect them. Do not be afraid of using a gun if you have to."
"I understand," said Jeffrey.
David nodded and jogged out of the White House, followed by Hana, Kotaro, Jace, and Vonda. Jeffrey, Lisa, and Lily walked away. Carol was alone upstairs. She closed her eyes and sighed. She opened her eyes of fury.
She walked downstairs to the ground floor and headed over to the Carpenters' Shop, the group's armory, carrying her small revolver and trench knife. Inside the armory, she looked around and observed each weapon and equipment quickly. She opened up drawers of equipment and ammo, pacing around before stumbling upon a Daewoo K12 machine gun. She grabbed it and opened a drawer with a box that held a belt of ammunition. She loaded it to the machine gun and walked outside on the court yard, grabbing a set of keys.
The Cadillac One sat there. Carol opened the door to the passenger's seat and placed the machine gun inside. She ran back into the armory and grabbed a can of Vulcan's Gel. She then grabbed a plates of bulletproof armor, including a prototype bulletproof helmet and mask. She placed it in the back seats. Then, she went inside the armory and grabbed M67 grenades and smoke grenades and a belt to hold them. She then shattered a glass cabinet and grabbed the flamethrower that was stored inside. Lastly, she grabbed a chock full of C4s and placed them inside the Cadillac One, grabbing the detonator and keeping it locked in her hoodie pocket.
She inserted the keys to the Cadillac One and drove away, heading northwest towards the Circle Park.