IV - Ticking Time Bomb

Gunshots continued erupting outside on the South Lawn as Sam coughed. Luna tilted her to her side and removed her vest.

"Oh my god! Sam! Where's the wound?" exclaimed Luna.

"There aren't any," said David before he stood up, listening to his earpiece.

Sam wiped the saliva from her mouth and exhaled deeply before opening her eyes. She stood up and leaned her ribs forward.

"Jeez," she murmured. "That hurt like a bitch."

"You lucky bloke!" shouted Luna, wiping off a teardrop from her face. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got the wind knocked out of me," said Sam, lifting up her shirt, where she noticed a bruise right above where her heart should be. "Damn. I was that close to being a goner, huh? My heart would've exploded…"

Luna placed her hand on Sam's chest and smiled.

"Your heart is still here," she whispered.

Sam looked with a glint in her eyes. The loud crack of a gunshot then caught her attention as she looked to her left. Jace crouched behind a ballistic shield mounted on the ground and let loose with Sam's AR-15.

In the crosshairs, was an X-Tribe member holding a pair of switchblade knives, hopping from the ground onto the fence. Jace pulled the trigger,recoiling slightly as he watched the cannibal get struck in the chest, causing him to fall from the fence. Jace moved his crosshairs at another cannibal, and aimed slightly higher before pulling the trigger. The cannibal reached the peak of the fence, but was met with a bullet splashing blood out her forehead. She dropped forward, slamming her masked face into the snow as more cannibals continued to charge forward. Jace then moved the crosshairs towards a torch that a cannibal was holding. Jace sniped it off his hands, causing the torch to engulf the cannibal and his masked allies in flames. They screamed silently from the distance as the fire melted through their skin.

Jace moved his crosshairs to the glare in the distance, before he immediately ducked. The bullet flew past the top of the shield, where Jace had been standing.

Luna ran out of the RV, carrying her Ruger 10/22 rifle. She pointed the barrel towards the source of the sniper fire. As her hair blew softly against the wind and the embers in the air, while her face reflected the orange glow of the fire spreading from bush to bush, she held her breath and kept a sharp focus between the iron sights. Giovanni smiled as he had the young woman in his crosshairs. He placed his fingers on the trigger as the soft wind blew against his hair.

A gunshot erupted through the air.

David gasped. His eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Sam felt her heart drop. Blood splattered across Jace's face as he moved away from the body. The body of a masked X-Tribe cannibal dropped to the floor with a knife in her hands as Jace removed the Bowie Knife away from her chest. Almost simultaneously, the body of Giovanni dropped to the ground while blood squirted out of his right eye.

"Holy hell," said Jace. "How the hell did you hit him? Must've been, like, 200 meters away-! And no scope!?"

"Yeah. Saved my skin there," said Luna. "How the hell did this bloody cannibal sneak up behind us?"

"I don't know," said Jace. "But we gotta—"

"Guys!" yelled David. "A bomb's been armed in the White House and is gonna explode in half an hour!"

"A bomb?" yelled Sam.

"How powerful is it?" panted Jace.

"Enough to destroy the entire building. These fuel-air explosives are nothing to mess with. We gotta get everyone out of the building."

"No, you guys stay here," said Jace while placing Sam's AR-15 next to the RV. "I'll get them out. Just keep these assholes away from the entrances."

David turned towards Jace.

"Wait, you'll need this."

He took out the earpiece from his ear and wiped it against his shoulder before handing it over to Jace. He grabbed it and looked at David with immense worry grappling his face.

"Don't you still need this to communicate with Lori?" asked Jace.

"Doesn't work so well," said David. "You can hear— but you can't talk. Mic doesn't work. Not that you need it to, anyways— Calvin would have heard you. And…"

David took out a walkie-talkie from his RV.

"I still have these," said David. "Just go. Go!"

Jace nodded quickly and ran towards the White House, placing the earpiece inside his right ear. Sam walked outside the RV and grabbed her AR-15. Luna ducked as a bullet smacked against the ballistic shield covering her.

"Can you still fight?" asked Luna.

"Yeah," said Sam, placing her shattered vest on. "I figured you need someone to watch your six."

Luna nodded before she faced David inside the RV.

"David! We need to get the edge on them! Can you drive ahead and lay some heavy firepower on 'em?"

David took out Reggie's M16A4, then sat in the driver's seat. He tossed Luna a walkie-talkie. While David fastened his seatbelt, Luna looked down at the walkie-talkie, then looked up to find David now holding Dana's MSR-10.

"Already way ahead of you," he said as he handed the rifle to Luna. "Hold this for Jace. Hope you don't mind knowing I gave him some lessons too."

As Luna headed to the RV to close the passenger doors, David grabbed a beanie while glancing at the young woman.

"I'm not his favorite teacher. You are. I'm proud of you, Luna. You got some real talent and you've been putting it to good use. I never thought I'd see somebody with the potential to outclass me in landing deadly precision shots. Once again— proud of you."

"We can come with," said Luna. "You don't have to go alone."

David put on the beanie and his shades.

"Nah. You deserve to go home. I promise to visit."

Luna nodded once and closed the door as David revved the engine. He drove forward, passing the bodies in the snow and the vehicles and stacks of crates on the South Lawn. Luna and Sam watched as the RV made its way down the Ellipse and towards the Potomac River.

The timer continued ticking down at thirty-three minutes as shots were fired outside the lower sub-basement. Lori and her group ran across the upper level, passing through the rusty pipes and oily walls. A cannibal suddenly popped out from the boiler room and pointed their gun at Preston. Before they could pull the trigger, Preston used his FAMAS to smack the cannibal's gun to his right, leaving the cannibal dazed from firing a stray round. Preston then swung his rifle to his left, causing the cannibal to drop onto their back before Preston proceeded to finish them off with a few burst rounds.

"You good?" asked Lynn.

Preston stared down at the body while lowering his gun, feeling disappointed and stunned. He then raised his head and took a deep breath.

"Yeah. I'm good."

He continued running forward as Lori quickly stepped down the stairs. She aimed her rifle around as her thermal sight did not catch anything. That is until she aimed at the detonator wrapped around a crate of bombs, no bigger than a twin size bed, with a timer on top of it. She saw the thirty one minutes left on the timer.

"Second option for sure, right?" asked Luan. "First is the worst, second is the best…"

"No," said Lori. "No, we got a good thing going with this place. I'm not prepared to lose my home all over again."

"Well, it's not like we can defuse it… right?" asked Lynn.

"That's exactly what's gonna happen. But you're right. Not us."

"Lisa," said Benny. "Can she do it? Oh, what am I saying? Of course she can."

Benny nudged Luan and motioned her to follow him.

"Let's go get Lisa," he said.

"Of course," said Luan. "Time to drop the bomb on Lisa. Blast it, now's not the time."

"Luan…"

"I know, I know, my jokes are always gonna bomb at a time like god, I have a problem."

Lynn and Preston looked up at Lori.

"What do you want us to do? Kick some more cannibal ass?"

"I need all of you to leave," said Lori.

"What?" gasped Lynn. "No way, I can totally help you out."

"Same here," said Preston.

"If this thing blows up randomly, then you guys won't be much of a help. Please, leave. Kick some cannibal ass outside of the White House."

Lynn and Preston nodded. They ran away from the sub-basement as Bobby looked at Lori.

"I'm not leaving you, babe."

"Okay. You know we might die in here, right?"

"I always wanted to spend my last moments with you. If this is it, then at least you're here."

"Bobby…"

Lori grabbed Bobby's hands and leaned her head on his chest, to which he responded by settling his own head atop hers. Her eyes lowered, revealing her messy blue eyeshadow and purple bags under her eyes. Her lips moved softly.

"If it's a boy— Hector. If it's a girl— Amanda."

"Huh?"

"Those are the names I thought about for our kids," said Lori. "For the first time ever since this morning, we have some free time to ourselves."

"I still can't believe the day's not over," said Bobby. "Hector, huh? After my abuelo. And here I was, thinkin' we were gonna have kids with four-letter names starting with an L."

"That's silly. I don't think there are any more names left. What are we gonna name our kid? Loan?"

Bobby chuckled, his icy breath floating in the air. Lori blushed softly as she kept on cuddling with him.

"I mean… there was one other name that could technically carry on that tradition," said Lori. "How's Lina? You know… short for Carolina. I hold a special place in Carol's heart. I want her to know she holds one in mine too."

"I think… that's perfect."

Bobby gave Lori a soft peck on her forehead as the seconds on the timer continued ticking down.

Lincoln's footsteps echoed across the hall as he ran across the ground lobby. He entered the empty red-stained swimming pool with a putrid smell. He gagged as he ran up the stairs, finding himself in the briefing room, before he stopped as he found a cannibal pointing a flashlight at him.

"Stop!" yelled the cannibal.

Lincoln felt his heart sink in the depths of his chest as the cannibal approached him with a submachine gun aimed at him. The cannibal stepped behind the podium, the flashlight pointing down at Lincoln's shuddering eyes.

"Wait, please don't," said Lincoln.

A pair of suppressed gunshots echoed across the briefing room. The cannibal fell to the ground behind the podium with two bullet holes in his chest. Lincoln turned around, a smile forming in his face. He walked up the edge of the room and approached his savior.

"Jace, thank goodness," said Lincoln. "We gotta look for Clyde, Lana, Lily, and Vonda. They're somewhere in this building. We're getting them out of this building."

"Right. Got a knife on you? We gotta be stealthy."

"No. Just this loud pistol."

Jace reached into his back pocket.

"Here."

Lincoln shuddered as he looked at the Bowie knife that Jace handed him. He hesitated as Jace moved the knife closer to him.

"Take it," said Jace. "You're gonna need it."

"Okay," Lincoln said, taking the knife with great reluctance.

"I'm gonna check if any of the cannibals heard us," said Jace.

Jace walked up from the edge of the room, as Lincoln walked up to the podium, placing the Bowie knife into his knife holster. Suddenly, a door creaked and Jace tossed himself in between the chairs, as Lincoln crouched beside the body.

"Drop your guns!" yelled Raphael.

Lincoln dropped the cannibal's submachine gun as the flashlights from the cannibals all whitened his face. He peered at the cannibal in the center, as he placed his hands up, trying to shield his eyes from the bright flashlights.

"Killing at a young age," said Calvin, lifting up his NVGs. "What an assassination you did there. Never expected someone with the name Lincoln to be on the safe side of the barrel. Told you no one is a saint in this world."

"You!" yelled Lincoln. "What is wrong with you?"

"Get the hell up," said Calvin. "Guillermo, you can go and leave. Kill Becky."

"Fuckin' finally," said Guillermo, walking out of the briefing room.

"No, wait!" yelled Lincoln. "I was gonna warn my friend and my sisters about the bomb! We were gonna leave! That's good for you!"

"I told you, Lincoln," said Calvin. "I told you what was gonna happen."

Calvin aimed the barrel of his assault rifle at Lincoln's head and whistled.

"Walk back to the Situation Room."

The cannibals aimed their flashlights around the room, the beams of light hovering over the dark chairs as Jace remained prone. He looked at his Px4 pistol on the floor outside the chairs, prompting him to slowly crawl towards the edge as he reached his hands out for the pistol. Nora aimed her flashlight at the floor near the podium before making her way to the floor by the chairs. Jace grabbed the pistol as the beam approached him. He quickly pulled back his arms as the beam passed by where the pistol was. Then, Nora walked past him, instead focused on exiting the room with the other cannibals. Jace remained invisible to the cannibals.

"What's the girl's name?" asked Calvin. "The one in the Situation Room?"

Lincoln's breath shuddered.

"Answer me!"

"Ron— Ronnie Anne."

Calvin looked up at the cameras, growing a devious smile before it quickly disappeared.

"Ronnie Anne! If I don't find you in the Situation Room, I'm putting a bullet in Lincoln's skull!"

Lincoln then looked up.

"Ronnie Anne Taylor, please stay. Don't try to save me. Please."

Calvin smiled.

"Ronnie Anne Taylor?" he muttered. "The girl is related to Jace?"

Lincoln nodded sheepishly before Calvin shoved him out of the briefing room. The door closed.

Jace let out a deep sigh as he wiped the sweat off his face. He held up his suppressed Px4 and took a step towards the exit door, though he stopped himself. He lowered his head and placed his hands over his face.

"Shit," said Jace to no one in particular. "You're gonna make me regret this, dude."

He turned around and headed for the stairwell in the opposite direction of the exit doors. He walked up, leaving the briefing room empty with the exception of the corpse by the podium.

Lynn and Preston ran past the paintings on the wall by the stairwell. As they reached the Ground Floor, they found a couple glowing eyes and a mouthful of saliva on the faces of the roamers that were roaming around. Lynn placed her bow around her chest and took out her PPK/S pistol, her eyes fixated on the roamers.

"Shit, shit, shit," she whispered.

She fired off a couple bullets at the roamers before hearing her pistol click again and again.

"Lynn! There's more upstairs!" exclaimed Preston.

"Shit, I gotta reload."

Preston lifted his pocket knife and screamed as he ran towards one of the roamers, slamming it against the wall, before jamming the pocket knife into the roamer's skull. He removed the knife before hearing a large snap. His eyes grew wide as he stared at the handle of his knife on his hand. The blade was gone. It was inside the roamer's head.

"Lynn! My knife broke!"

Lynn placed the magazine inside the pistol and racked the slide before she aimed at a roamer behind Preston. She quickly shot it with two bullets, pushing the roamer away from the young man and into the floor, but it wasn't dead yet.

Lynn quickly turned around and swung her pistol at a roamer behind her. She then looked up the stairs and saw more roamers stumbling down.

"Yeah, we're not gettin' up there," said Lynn before running inside the Ground Floor. "This way."

Preston followed her before Lynn paused. She turned around and aimed her pistol down at the roamer in the floor and shot it dead, smoke flowing out of the barrel as she returned to running away from the roamers.