VII - Gambit
Jace, Vonda, Clyde, Lana, and Lily continued running ahead in the corridor. The moonlight shined through the windows while the banging and rapid footsteps of the roamers could be heard behind them. They continued running ahead, about to make a right turn before Timothy walked out into the corridor, holding the blade of a combat knife. The children stopped behind him as the footsteps in the distance got louder.
"You're still alive?" asked Jace.
"There was a back door," said Timothy. "Not like it did shit though…"
Timothy held his left arm up and revealed scratches all over it. He then opened up his sleeve and revealed a bite mark.
"Would you look at that… guess my time is running out too."
"We gotta leave!" said Lana. "The roamers are behind us and this place is about to blow up!"
"I got nothing to lose— thanks to Jace Taylor."
Jace lifted up his Px4 and aimed at the cannibal before pressing the trigger. Timothy continued to walk forward while hearing the futile clicks coming from the pistol.
"Forgot to reload?" he smiled as he took out one of Jace's butterfly knives from his pocket. "You didn't even notice these were gone, right?"
Vonda lifted her bow and grabbed an arrow from her quiver though Timothy raised the butterfly knife back and flung it at her, grazing her right hand. She yelped and dropped her bow, reaching for her bleeding hand instead as blood poured into the floor.
Timothy grabbed another butterfly knife from his holster and tossed it up a few inches in the air before it fell down a few inches. He caught it by the blade and pointed at Lana's direction.
"You're gonna fuckin' pay for what you did to my brother," he growled. "You left him bleeding. He wasn't even part of what we did."
"I didn't know that," said Jace. "He was shooting at my friends— that's what I knew. That's all I had to know."
"Well, every action's got a consequence. I'm about to serve justice in the best way… I'm going to kill Lana… very slowly."
Clyde raised his baseball bat as he looked behind him. One roamer revealed himself at the end of the corridor, appearing by the windows. The roamer then began to jog towards him as he placed the bat around his shoulder, ready to swing.
"Your beef is with me!" yelled Jace. "She doesn't need to get involved. If you wanna kill me… that's fine— but let 'em go!"
"You need to feel what I felt. Every drop of pain!"
Timothy tossed his knife across the air. The knife spun forward as Jace moved his hands to cover Lana, but the spin was too swift. The knife was already behind Jace's hands. The sound of flesh tearing and the scream that followed it caused Clyde to turn around, though he quickly faced the roamer again before swinging the bat. The roamer's jaw flew off before Clyde beat it again, crushing its skull this time.
"Lana!" yelled Jace.
Lana hyperventilated as she looked down at the blade stuck in her left kneecap. A stream of tears rolled down her face as her body shook with uncontrollable pain. She fell down the floor, dropping her AK-74u carbine. Lily shrieked as she ran over to Lana, shaking her arms. She looked up at Timothy with fear and tears in her eyes.
"Damn, I wanted to aim for the heart," said Timothy as he took out his own combat knife. "Look at what you made me do! This is all you, Jace! Not me!"
The growls got louder as Clyde swung his bat at another roamer that got too ahead of its group. Timothy approached slowly with his knife held horizontally in his hand.
"I got a confession… my brother did know we were slaughtering people for food— and I being a part of it. But he saw it as a way to survive because that's what I told him that's what it was going to take. Calvin would've killed him if I refused to work for him… so I did what I did without question. All he had to do was do some work around the hospital building— set up beds, help with the generators, the running water. We had what we needed to survive— until you came and ruined everything!"
"I'm sorry," whispered Jace.
"Like hell you are! He was the only person I cared about in this godforsaken world!"
"I'm sorry— I really am. I know what it feels like— to lose a sibling."
"You killed him! You're not standing in front of your sibling's murderer, are you?"
"If you stuck to your good morals, you woulda' been killed by Calvin. He would've butchered your brother and eaten him. And for what? For his own selfish reasons. And you knew that. That led you to a dark path that you couldn't get out of. Somewhere in your heart, you didn't want your brother to do the same… but open your eyes, man. It happened. This damn world… it takes everything from everyone. Your brother was out there shooting at people. He was going to kill someone. How would you feel if he did?"
Timothy kept approaching him with the knife, though he remained quiet.
"I'm not saying he deserved it," said Jace. "Just that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time. And please, you have to understand that I only did what I did to save my friends. My… family."
"It still doesn't feel right that you're breathing," said Timothy.
"I know. It doesn't feel right for me either. But for Lana… it means the world to her."
Timothy's eyes twinkled as a tear rolled out of one of them. He slowly lowered his knife as Clyde continued to take out the individual roamers coming from the corridor.
Suddenly, bullets tore through Timothy's stomach as he grunted. He dropped to the ground as the bullets kept firing upwards before the rain of fire stopped and all that was left was the smoke pouring out of the barrel of the AK-74u.
Jace turned around and saw Lana drop the gun, tears flowing out of her eyes. She could only utter a few inaudible words to Jace before her voice was overwhelmed with hyperventilation. Then her constant inhalation was interrupted by her sobbing as she languished from the pang of the knife blade.
"We have to go now!" yelled Clyde, fighting off two roamers.
"Lily, come here," groaned Vonda. "Grab my hand."
"L-Lana!" she whimpered.
"Yes, I know, but we have to go now. Just grab my hand."
Lily kept staring at Lana in anguish as she reached for Vonda's hand. Jace picked up the carbine and wrapped the strap across his chest before he placed his hand under Lana's back and legs and lifted her up. Clyde kept his back turned away from the roamers in the corridor. Timothy groaned as his lips were wet with blood.
"I… I had a chance… to get away from it all," murmured Timothy. "Sorry, little man. I shoulda' listened to you. How stupid of me. I… deserve this."
Jace turned around and saw the roamers in the distance. Before Timothy's eyes went lifeless, he uttered a few more words.
"Run, Jace. Run before they get ya…"
Jace ran ahead and made a right turn towards the lobby in front of the West Wing entrance. However, there were a few roamers lingering around the doors before they caught sight of the group. They opened their jaws, exposing their infected saliva, and let out a blood curdling screech.
"Oh, shi— this way!" yelled Jace, turning around and making a right.
The roamers to the left in the corridor were consuming Timothy's body while some of them passed by him. The roamers behind Jace's group were catching up. He turned around and found an office at the end of the corridor, next to the lobby. He then knelt down and handed Lana over to Clyde, who grunted upon dropping his bat and carrying the girl.
"You four. Get in that office over there. Don't argue. Just go."
Vonda and Clyde nodded. Vonda handed Jace the butterfly knife that grazed her hand before she took Lily with her, while Clyde took Lana with him, both of them running towards the closet. Vonda placed her bleeding hand on the doorknob and opened it, allowing Clyde to run inside. She then dragged Lily inside and pushed the door closed before locking it.
Jace ran in the opposite direction of the lobby. He made his way to a stairwell, before turning around screaming at the roamers.
"Come on, you big scary freaks! Over here! Over here!"
The roamers ran towards him as he ran up the stairwell. The roamers grabbed the railings and pulled themselves up the steps, essentially climbing up the stairs.
"Fuck!" yelled Jace.
Jace ran up faster up the stairs as the roamers poured into the stairwell. Their growls echoed around the walls and the thundering footsteps resonated throughout the steps.
After a few seconds, the office door opened as Vonda saw a few roamers lingering around. She grabbed a wooden chair with her bleeding hand and released Lily's hand.
"Clyde! Take 'em and leave!"
Clyde nodded quickly and ran out into the lobby, with Lily following him. As the roamers chased after them, Vonda screamed and quickly shoved them out of the way using the wooden chair as a shield. She then kicked the only roamer standing in the knee, dropping it to the ground. She quickly picked herself up and ran towards the door as the roamers quickly pushed the chair away. Her body darted across the lobby as she pushed the door open. She then turned the locks and kicked the door closed, slamming it against the roamers' faces.
"Where do we go?" asked Clyde.
Vonda looked at the roamers swarming the North Lawn. She gulped and turned to her left where she saw the Cadillac One driving down to the South Lawn.
"Follow that car!" yelled Vonda.
The engine of the RV grumbled by the Ash Woods below the Reflecting Pool. Moonlight illuminated portions of the small woods that stood near the Arlington Memorial Bridge above the Potomac River. David remained crouched by a heavy log while his M16A4 was mounted on top of it. Five cars drove to the end of the bridge and moved ahead towards the Reflecting Pool before the first car was engulfed in an explosion. David tossed away a C4 remote detonator and aimed into his iron sights as the X-Tribe cannibals braked their cars and exited them. They scattered around, running forward into the street. Only one member did not wear a mask, and instead, had a long brown beard, a green cap on his head, and a nasty scar across his right cheek. It was Lyndon, one of Calvin's last remaining cannibals.
David moved his gun slightly to the left and fired at one of the cannibals before smoothly turning his gun to the right, firing another burst. The cannibals aimed their weapons towards the woods and fired, though David ducked down and dodged the bullets. He then went prone and crawled away from the log.
"By the log!" shouted Lyndon as he placed a cigar into his mouth.
The cannibals scattered across the woods. A pair of cannibals walked towards the log before a two bursts of bullets struck their ankles. One fell forward and the other fell back as David crawled towards them. He took out his combat knife and stabbed one of them in the neck while stabbing the other in the eye. A cannibal ran towards the bodies, before receiving a burst to the chest, quickly tripping him into the ground.
David stood up and placed his knife back into his holster as he ran to the edge of the forest, away from the log. More cannibals arrived by the log, finding bullet cartridges and bodies among the moonlight shadows. Lyndon puffed out smoke from his mouth and looked around, raising his AKM.
"Check the edges!" he ordered.
A cannibal jogged across a pile of snow in between trees as he made his way into the edge of the woods. He darted past an oak tree marked by an X, before David lowered his rifle into a horizontal position and revealed himself from behind the tree, aiming at the clueless cannibal. He fired a burst and dropped him to the ground before hiding behind the tree again. A pair of cannibals shot at the tree with their rifles. Then, they decided to flank David from the left and right, slowly aiming their guns at the side of the tree.
David then moved his back against the left side of the tree, firing a few bursts at the cannibal in the left before the cannibal in the right fired a couple shots at him. However, they all hit the bark and created splinters that stuck out. The cannibal approached the tree before hearing a twig break to his left. He fired his rifle at the right side before David appeared from the left side, firing a burst of three bullets into the cannibal's neck.
Lyndon approached the tree with the X and looked around, finding the corpses of three cannibals by it. He raised his eyebrows as he heard more shots in front of him. He continued moving forward.
A cannibal fired into a shrub before finding a racoon darting out of it. He was then shot in back, one bullet tearing through his ribcage as he dropped forward. David ran through his body, stomping his head further into the hard snow as he approached a cannibal aiming his gun at him. He crouched and fired a burst of bullets into the cannibal's stomach, though the cannibal remained standing, though behind cover. He peeked out of the tree and fired his MP5K at the Marine, though he was not where he was crouching before. A twig snapped behind him, so he turned around and was met with an M9 bullet to the face. David placed his M9 back into his holster and moved back into the direction of his RV.
Lyndon found a cannibal in the ground, blood squirting out of the arteries in his thigh as he cried out for help. He fired his AKM at the cannibal's skull, putting him out of his misery.
Two cannibals fired their mounted weapons from the top of a bench, forcing David to take cover. He fired two bursts from his rifle before finding himself out of ammo. He pressed the magazine release and grabbed a magazine from his body armor vest, knocking the empty magazine out and inserting the new one in. He received a couple shots to his torso, causing him to groan as the bullets caught in the vest still packed a punch on him. He then placed his left hand on the foregrip, his right hand on the pistol grip and his right index finger on the trigger. He fired a shot and took down a cannibal hiding behind cover. The other cannibal then ducked down, remaining behind the cover of a bench. David then fired his rifle at the bench, burst after burst as some of the bullets tore through the bench. He then stood up and walked past the bench, passing by the bleeding corpses in the ground.
Smoke leaked out of Lyndon's cigar as he looked around, remaining low and hidden in the shadows. He then saw David running across the woods as fast as he could while the cannibals continued to scatter around. He smiled and followed him.
David fired another burst at a cannibal, knocking him into the ground. He then spun the rifle around his chest and into his back as he took out his M9 once again. The cannibal struggled to stand back up, pistol in his hand, though he was quickly shot in the head by David, who made his way behind the RV. He stabbed a cannibal standing by it with his knife, leaving the knife inserted in his heart. He then placed the M9 point-blank at the cannibal's forehead and fired it. The body slid out of the knife and dropped to the ground before David reloaded his pistol.
Lyndon found David about to enter the driver's seat of the RV. He removed the cigar from his mouth and tossed it into the ground before raising his AKM.
A few bullets flew above David's head as he quickly dropped down to the ground. The AKM bullets moved down as David lay on his side and aimed his pistol towards the log, attempting to hit Lyndon. The cannibal then fired more bullets from his rifle, causing David to seek cover behind his RV. Lyndon ran ahead, letting off a few rifle bullets into the RV.
David then popped out from the back of the RV and fired off a few pistol bullets into Lyndon's chest, knocking him into the ground. He released the magazine from his M9 as he approached Lyndon. However, Lyndon picked up his AKM and fired off the last two remaining shots at David's leg, dropping him into the ground.
The bullets grazed his leg and completely tore the armor loose. He quickly lunged towards Lyndon with his knife, though Lyndon took out a knife of his own. He sliced David's chestplate loose. He swung the knife back, though David quickly dodged it. Lyndon grabbed David's wrist and sliced the knife onto the top of his wrist, causing David to let go of his own knife. David then kicked away Lyndon's knife.
Suddenly, Lyndon grabbed David's leg and pulled back, dropping David into the floor. He stood up on his knees and placed his hands around David's neck, choking him out as he punched him in the jaw. David then dug into the snow and grabbed a ball of ice. He slammed it across Lyndon's face, the ball shattering upon impact. Lyndon groaned in pain as David stood up and stomped his head into the snow.
David then knelt down and wrapped his bleeding hands around Lyndon's face. Lyndon groaned as David twisted his head to the right. Lyndon screamed before David noticed the dog tags wrapped around the cannibal's neck. He released his hands and placed them on his hips before putting one of them on the snow, helping himself up.
"Damn… I'm too tired," he panted.
David stood up and reloaded his M9. Lyndon tried crawling away, though David aimed his M9 at his head.
"Semper fi…"
Lyndon turned his head slightly, though his eyes avoided David. He then continued to crawl away. David sighed before pressing the trigger.
"Fuck you too," said David.
David then turned around and saw the Cadillac One approaching the Ash Woods. David stepped inside his RV and drove it out of the woods, moving to the Reflecting Pool. He then parked it next to the Pool and stepped outside. The Cadillac One also parked next to the Pool, with Jeffrey and Preston stepping outside of it.
"I thought Carol was driving that thing," panted David.
"She went back to the White House to drive something else…" said Jeffrey.
"She's gonna turn Vanzilla into a weapon," said Preston. "Something like that."
David then heard sirens in the distance getting louder. He peered towards the Ellipse and noticed red flashing lights as a fire truck was driving across the South Lawn.
"Who the hell is driving that thing then?" he asked.
The red and white sirens blared across the Ellipse, lighting up the smoky lawns like a lighthouse in a foggy shore. The remaining cannibals ignored the fire truck as they tried fighting off the swarms that were engulfing the North and South Lawn. Some of the roamers moved away from the cannibals and the White House, moving toward the red truck instead. However, there were still large groups of roamers that stuck around to fight and prey on their potential meal, and the cannibals were struggling to defend themselves from these groups.
"Jesus…" muttered Becky as she pressed her legs on the brake. "I gotta look for Carol and Lori."
Becky unstrapped her seat belt and opened the driver's door. Hana's wide eyes then faced Becky, who was hopping off the fire truck.
"Becky! Where you going?"
"There are still some of those man-eating assholes out there," said Becky, grabbing her fire axe. "And I'm not talking about the roamers."
"I lead these roamers away," said Hana, moving to the driver's seat. "If I not come back in an hour, leave. Save yourself."
Becky nodded before she closed the door. She then whistled as the fire truck moved away from her. The sound of the siren rang throughout the capital, alerting every roamer for miles to its location. With the fire truck moving closer to the White House, Hana made a sudden right turn and steered sideways parallel to the building, running over the corpses that lay in the ground, both warm bodies and cold bodies. Then, the wheels of the fire truck drove off the South Lawn and into the driveway that led to the fences outside the property, and the roamers followed soon after.
Her green eyes stared in astonishment as she saw the roamers being led away from the White House. She looked at the dying flare on the roof, the torches in the ground, the bushes and shrubs on fire, the vehicles with bullet holes riddled on them. She then found a cannibal in the distance. Her hair was black and tied up in a bun, and the woman wore yellow glasses. She was swinging her knife around, killing the roamers approaching her.
Becky looked down at the ground and picked up a suppressed Glock 17— the one that Jeffrey dropped yesterday— and grew a malicious smile as she whistled the same sinister tune as earlier, though slowed and dragged out as the wind carried her agonized vocals across the air.
The somber moon looked down at Vanzilla parked on the driveway by the West Wing entrance. Inside of it was Carol, who removed her cracked helmet and tossed it outside the van. While she groaned from rubbing her bleeding temple with the hand holding her revolver, she shifted through the glove department and placed the items she found there inside her backpack. She then exited the van and refused to look back as she walked away from it. She then saw Vonda and Lily together, as well as Clyde carrying Lana, all four of them running away from the building. She then jogged after them.
Six cannibals climbed down the ladder from the roof of the West Wing to the driveway, finding their cars overrun and destroyed in the distance. Some of the cars were ablaze while others were shot to the metal bone. They looked at Vanzilla and entered it.
"Drive damn it!" yelled one of the cannibals.
"I can't find the keys!" yelled the driver.
"Hotwire the shit!"
Underneath the van was a C4 covering up half of a hole that was leaking fuel. Smoke lingered around the engine, which had a fair share of bullet holes.
"Got the wires? Alright, get these two and connect them."
"Ow! Fuck!"
"Not those wires! These— the black ones!"
"Alright, alright, Christ!"
The cannibal grabbed the two wires and moved them closer to each other.
Carol panted as she removed her kneepads. Suddenly, a massive boom followed by a giant fireball appeared from the West Wing. Vonda, Clyde, Lana, and Lily turned around, showing the fear struck across their faces. Then, they saw Carol running towards them.
"Just keep going!" shouted Carol. "Go!"
Becky looked at the fireball in the distance before quickly ignoring it. The cannibal looked at the fireball before hearing Becky's ominous whistle. She raised her knife.
"Put down that knife, Anastasia," said Becky with her raspy voice.
"How do you know my name?"
Becky raised her pistol and fired a bullet into Anastasia's chest, dropping her to the ground.
"Your daughter told me to spare you… before I stabbed her to death… repeatedly."
Anastasia groaned as she held her chest with her hands.
"W-What? What'd you— what'd you do to my girl?"
"I just told you what I did," said Becky. "Listen!"
Becky walked closer to Anastasia.
"You monster… you're getting a sick kick out of killing us?"
"I certainly did when I killed Elizabeth. I'll enjoy taking you out too."
Anastasia crawled back as she began to weep.
"Please… please don't do this. Stay away from me!"
"And let you live without your only glimmer of hope in the world? I think not. We both know you're not gonna stop going after my people."
"I don't even—"
Becky fired two bullets into the stomach of the cannibal. Anastasia flailed for a second before falling into the ground. Becky then walked past her, wasting another bullet into the cannibal. She then walked away and headed straight towards the cloud left over by the fireball, leaving Anastasia where she died. Alone in the grass with a bullet in her head.
"Drop it!" yelled a cannibal, aiming his pistol behind Becky.
She raised her arms and whistled as she walked away. Not once turning around, she then dropped her arms and continued to walk ahead as the cannibal remained standing, stunned by what he was seeing.
"Stop right there! If you move one inch farther, I'll kill you myself!"
Becky sighed as she looked at the White House.
"The hell happened here?" she asked.
"The hell you do to Damien?" asked the cannibal. "Elizabeth? Anastasia?"
Becky looked at the fire burning around the White House before a smile grew on her face.
"Can I at least wipe my face?" she asked.
"Wipe that smile off your face— that's what you can do."
Becky let out a soft giggle before a loud crack thundered across the air. The cannibal quickly turned to the direction of the White House before a bullet snapped his head back, dropping his body on the ground. Becky laughed as she approached the body, raised her pistol, and fired a couple shots into his corpse.
"Nice shot," she whispered.
Becky continued whistling before she peered into the distance. She wiped the blood off her lips and looked at each group member running away from the White House. She saw Lori, Bobby, Luan, Benny, Lynn, Luna, Sam, as well as Kimi catching up. Behind them was Vonda, Lily, Clyde, and Lana. Behind them was Carol.
"Well, thank you, Jace," she whispered.
She grew a smile as she limped towards them, using her fire axe as a crutch.
Lori smiled before Bobby tapped her shoulder. She faced him before turning around, finding Lana in Clyde's arms, wounded in her front thigh. She placed her hands over her mouth and quickly ran over to her. Everyone gathered around Clyde and Lana, while Luna grabbed Lily and lifted her up.
"It's gonna be okay," Luna whispered. "Don't worry 'bout a thing, Lily. Everything's gonna be alright."
Lily whimpered and placed her face onto Luna's chest, ignoring the blood on the armor. Lori picked up Lana and continued to walk away from the White House. Becky walked towards Carol, who quickly hugged her before releasing herself just as fast.
"I'm really sorry," said Carol. "I gotta help Lana first. Just stay with us."
Becky watched as the group walked past her, with Carol grabbing items from her backpack. Kimi sniffed Becky's foot before licking her boots. The dog panted before running away to catch up to the group. Becky then followed them as Carol cleaned up some of the blood surrounding the knife wound.
A cannibal fired off a shotgun in the distance, causing some members of the group to crouch down while others reached for their weapons. Then, a hole was shot in through the cannibal's neck as he raised his arms, reaching for it before falling back.
Lori looked back as she squinted towards the White House.
Jace aimed into Luna's M110, the jammed magazine laying next to him on the floor. There was fresh blood and rotten flesh in the sleeves of his jacket. He then fired off another shot.
Lori looked down and saw a cannibal dropping to the ground face-down. Some other cannibals hundreds of meters away tried to catch up to the group, though one by one, they were quickly sniped away by the teenager that mounted himself on the roof of the West Wing.
Lori turned around and kept on running ahead with her group as the cannibals ran in their direction. Luna looked at the roof of the West Wing with the MSR-10 that Dana and Jace used. She looked into her scope and saw a dark figure holding a rifle in its hands. She then looked down and saw the cannibals continuing their chase.
"Come on, Lunes!" yelled Luan.
Jace continued to snipe the cannibals, not knowing whether they were running towards the group or running away from him.
The red numbers on the timer continued to tick down. The doors in the upper level of the sub-basement were slammed and scratched upon by the dead ones trying to enter. The wire cutters that Lisa held rattled and waved as she nervously moved it towards a white wire in the clutter of wires inside the bomb charges. The wire cutters moved their jaws closer to each other, the gap between the white wires and the jaws decreasing. In the second before the white wire was cut, the wire cutters mistakenly bit on a red wire as well.
Lisa's eyes burst open. She kept the wire cutters closed with one hand as she moved her nervous left hand to the red wire. She held the wire on both sides of the wire cutter together before she opened up the teeth, revealing the cut that was made on the red wire. The insulators were snipped, though there were a few fibers stuck together, which could easily be ripped by the pull of a finger.
"Oh, no."
She kept the red wire together with both of her hands, pressing the tip of the red insulators together so that the fibers wouldn't rip apart. She felt her pulse pumping through her fingers, and gasped in a partially relieved, partially horrified way.
Lisa turned around and wiped the sweat off her glasses as she looked at the cage in the ground, finding out that the white mouse vomited a mysterious blue substance in the floor of his cage. Lisa placed her left hand fingers around the two separate pieces of the red wire and used her right hand to open the cage and reach inside of it.
"Are you feeling well?" asked Lisa, grabbing the mouse gently. "Is the roamer bite hurting?"
The white mouse lay its head on Lisa's palm as it blinked softly, purple rings circling its eyes and its tail becoming paralyzed. It lowered its ears and looked somberly at Lisa as she placed it on her shoulder, using her fingers to feel the mouse's pulse.
"I'm so sorry," whispered Lisa. "I can't take the pain away. Not anymore. But it will go away. I promise."
There were two minutes left on the timer and a clutter of wires left to be defused. Lisa let out a small chuckle and sighed deeply before pressing her fingers against her glasses and thenher earpiece.
"Lori… can you hear me?"
Lori opened up the fences and turned around, looking at the White House. She gasped softly while the other group members looked at her.
"Yes! Yes, I hear you! Can we finally come back inside?"
"Negative. You will never be able to return to the White House."
"W-What?"
"I failed. One minute and thirty seconds left. There is a lack of time to defuse. There is a lack of time to escape."
"No! You have time! Just run! Run, Lisa!"
"Lori—"
"Stop talking! Just get outta there!"
"There are roamers at the door. I can't leave. Plus, holding this red wire together with my hands is the only thing keeping me alive."
Lori was left speechless as Bobby walked up to her.
"What's going on?" asked Bobby.
"I guess now would be the right time to pray to the imaginary figure in the heavens. But frankly, I don't have the time for that. But I do have to say— the cosmos does work in strange ways. I mean, think about it— would this not be a sort of punishment for me?"
"For what?" said Lori, her voice breaking down. "Punishment for what?"
"You already know. Carol can't stand to see me, knowing every day I breathe is every day robbed from her infant daughter. It's my fault. It was selfishness that drove me to commit such an atrocious act. I wanted to be the sole creator of such a cure— I don't even want to think about how much I wanted to be left alone from Dr. Steven White. I wanted to come here and present a cure to the government so that I could be recognized as the inventor of the cure that saves the world. But then… there was no cure. There was no government. There was no one left to help out with such a cure. It was my selfish desires that brought about this situation. One of the worst things that will come to light is… and whether you tell Carol about this or not is up to you… there was a high possibility that Zoey was immune to the necrosis influenza bite. But that's not even the worst of it."
Lori grit her teeth as she tried to hold back her tears.
"I created this strain of the necrosis influenza. I made it airborne. I infected us all. All so I could get grants. Money. Recognition. Granted, it was only meant to advance research. It was never meant to escape a lab. But I shouldn't have created it in the first place. I knew what could have been done to it… how people could have weaponized it… but I was too blinded by what I wanted. So this is my punishment."
Lori cupped her mouth. Tears bubbled in her exhausted eyes. The thoughts that raced across her mind overwhelmed her. She could not say anything.
"Woe is the days to come. Forgive me for not being present to accompany you on those days. Forgive me for everything, Lori. I love you and the entire family. Farewell."
"Lisa… no, don't! Lisa! LISA!"
There was a low tremble in the ground. Jace looked down as tears built up in his eyes. He then looked out into the group, a smile growing on his face.
In an instant, the fires around the dark building were overshined by a bright flash of light from inside, as the ground trembled. Time appeared to slow down. A large stream of fire combusted everything in its path as it moved up the floors. Bodies were consumed. The roamers instantly disintegrated. The vases fell almost motionless to the ground. The shattered glass pieces from the window were slowly being sent out as shrapnel. The walls were being marked by slow-moving fire. The marble roofs cracked until the pressure of the fire ripped them apart, as well as the floors beneath them. The fireball escaped the windows, as the building began to collapse on itself, and eventually blew apart every hole in the building, expanding upwards into the air.
Lori could only stare in shock.
And just like that, the Residence Building was gone.
Luna looked into the scope of the MSR-10, seeing the body armor of the figure reflect the fireball of the Residence Building. She then gasped softly before screaming out Jace's name.
In a matter of seconds, a huge fireball erupted in the West Wing, destroying the entire section. The building crumbled and a large fireball appeared below the roof as Jace fell down with the rubble before sinking out of sight. Then, another in the East Wing. Everything crumbled downwards and broke apart as a large plume of ash and smoke replaced the fireball in the air.
Luna looked out of the scope and cupped her mouth, letting the rifle fall down with only a strap holding it up. Bobby looked around the group and noticed his sister was not present. Lana's cries were paused as she was taken aback by the explosions. Lily held Luna tightly as she kept her eyes closed. Sam placed her hands over her head while Lynn had an angry glare. Luan and Benny held each other, their eyes reflecting the embers and fires lingering in the remains. Clyde kept his hands over his eyes as he sniffled. Vonda looked away and knelt down. Becky raised her eyes and let out a sigh before looking at Carol, who could only stare at the building with a trail of tears down her cheeks.
Lori's legs shook before giving away, causing her to fall to her knees. She pressed the earpiece again.
"Lisa? Jace? Ronnie Anne? Lincoln! Anyone!"
Becky looked around the fences, finding roamers approaching from the distance. She walked over to Lori and helped her up, along with Bobby.
"We gotta go," she whispered. "Let's go."
Lori grabbed Bobby's hands as she shook her head, her eyes unblinking and wet.