Chapter IX: Explication

AN:

Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!

Another two-fer update. This is chapter one of two.

Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.

They found another momentary oasis, a house with an ajar door and closed curtains. They sprinted up the stairs and up to the middle floor and shut the bright red door behind them. Whoever lived here was long gone, emptied draws and spaces on the walls where pictures used to be. "That... was a lot of them."

"No shit." Chloe laughed. "There any big malls in Portland, Juliet? We could get a couple of big armoured trucks and hit all the zombie classics!"

"No but-" Juliet trailed off and stared down at her phone.

"Jules?" Dana prodded, a faintly tolerant amusement in her tone.

Juliet looked up. "Sorry. Uh, we're right near my parents. They're in Homestead, just over the hill. Can we-"

"Hell yeah, dude. You helped me with Rach, we can go grab your folks." For a moment, she was half tempted to suggest they loot the 7-eleven next door, but she quickly disregarded the idea. They needed to move quick and clean and she was still a little while off needing food. And they could do better than crappy snacks from a 7-eleven - Rachel had talked about some great restaurants in Portland. "Where are they?"

"Lowell Lane. It's probably twenty or thirty minutes that way." She pointed.

"Great. Lets get moving."

They headed back out and along the street. There were a few infected spotted around, easily dispatched. They headed south, Dana pointing out a cute little bistro that had somehow survived the devastation. When they turned onto the next crossroads, Chloe laughed.

"What's so funny?" Dana asked.

"We're on the corner of first and hooker."

"Wooow."

Chloe laughed again.

—

Andrea frowns. "What's a hooker?"

The Stranger chuckles. "Ask your parents."

—

Juliet, focused on more important things, interrupted. "We need to get to Terwilliger. If we take the next left, we can cut through the school and over the park. It's a bit out in the open, so if there are any around they will see us, but it'll be so much quicker."

Chloe and Dana looked at each other, then Chloe just shrugged. "They're your folks, Juliet. I think we're following your lead." Dana agreed, and so they moved on.

They turned the left, and found the park on their left. Lair Hill was a mostly kids play area, open green and lots of plant life. They scurried up the stairs into the park and- shit. Chloe blinked in shock. "The fuck..?"

Things fluttered around the garden. They were almost moth-like, if the moth was the size and structure of a tweenage child. Chloe was reminded of this old movie her Dad had tried to show her and Max where this scientist got turned into a half-man, half-fly abomination. She looked back at the school. The windows were bloody. "Oh fuck."

That was enough for one of them to notice her. It reared back and spat a gob of something foul-smelling and spiky in her direction. The thing's aim was terrible and the foul conconction fell far short of her, splattering across the concrete path. It started to melt. Acid?

Flying enemies… maybe that was her logic? Either way, Chloe pulled her gun, and started shooting. That drew the rest of them in, swooping down towards them with an odd clickering noise. With Dana and Juliet on each flank, weapons clutched and swinging, they pushed their way through the park and the mutated schoolchildren.

They made it across, and Dana threw up. The smell was nothing compared to what they'd left behind.

"That was-"

"We are going to need so much therapy if we survive this shit, how could-."

None of them finished their sentences. They continued out of the park in silence, out through the treeline and jumping down the little concrete barriers onto Barbur. Juliet lead them across the road and up a path into a little stubby side street. At the end, a little path of planks and dirt lead off into the woods. "We're nearly there." Juliet said. They continued on without another word.

—

"What is all this shit?" Chloe waved a vague hand at the big white buildings that were almost obscured by the trees coating the sides of the road - it was the first thing any of them had said in a while, but Chloe was curious. Terwilliger, for all it was almost in central Portland, was a verdant green space. That woodland path had almost put them in another place - this wouldn't be out of place back in the Bay, verdant as it was.

Juliet barely spared it a glance. "The Health and Science University. A lot of hospitals and medical students."

Every window on one of the floors suddenly exploded in flame. "Well shit."

They kept moving. A little further along, after another ten minutes or so with nothing but trees, Chloe spotted another target for her eye-spy game, only to slow and then stop. The building up there was being fortified. "Wait! There's people!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah! Definitely! We should check it out!"

"We're right around the corner from my parent's place, Chloe."

"Exactly! What if they're in there? If they thought they were in danger, from, y'know, the zombies, they'd try to find a safe place, right? They wouldn't know about the bombs and shit, so it kinda makes sense they'd try a hospital."

"She's..." Dana paused. "She's not wrong, Jules. What do you think?"

Juliet stared at Chloe for a long moment, then up to the hospital. Then further down the road, to her parent's place. Then back to the hospital again. "Yeah, alright. We'll check it out. But if they're not there, we go check their place."

"Fine by me." Chloe and Dana exchanged looks, nodded at each other.

"Come on then." Juliet pushed through and started up the stairs to the hospital. Dana and Chloe quietly followed. They circled the building and found the front gate. The moment they walked into view, a shout went up.

"Are you bitten?"

"What?"

"Are you bitten?!"

"No!"

There was a pause. Some muffled arguing, yelling. Another long pause.

"Great, come in!"

The gate slowly eased open enough for them to slip inside. They were quickly greeted by a motley band of medics, townies, and older people who handled firearms with a long-familiar comfort. They had lucked out and found another armed group. But this was a veterans hospital.

The inside of the walls was a hive of activity. People all over, carrying supplies from building to building, and more reinforcing the walls with whatever they could.

And there was also a familiar face. David strode over from one of the open doors. Both he and Chloe made abortive attempts to greet the other, but both stopped mid-sentence, neither willing to say anything particularly nice about being glad to see them. Though they both felt it. So, they both resorted to emotionally repressed nods and a "Hey."

Then something occurred to Chloe. "Wait, where's Rose?"

"She's inside." David gruffed. "Talkin' to one of the director's of this place, trying to get them to believe us about the bombing."

Chloe sighed in relief, and David looked at her curiously. "Imagine if I run into Rach and have to tell her I got her mom killed. Bit fuckin' awkward, right?"

Even David had to acknowledge that one. "You haven't found her, then?"

She shook her head. "We found a note saying they'd left the hotel, but no sign of her yet." She shrugged. "It's a big city, but fuck it, weirder things have happened." She looked back to Dana and Juliet, who were watching the interaction with apparent fascination. "Juliet is looking for her parents, we thought they might be here. Who'd be good to ask?"

David sighed. "I'll take you to find someone. You two check around and see if anyone needs help. They've offered us resources in trade for any work we do - you two'll make it a lot quicker." He stepped back. "Ms Watson." Juliet shrugged and followed him, the two disappearing back through the same door David had left.

Chloe turned to Dana. "Well. That's... good?"

"It seems so. I guess we should go find people to help?"

—

Chloe and Dana had both somehow ended up helping the doctors, sorting through the many, many medical supplies littered about a few major storerooms. When Chloe had asked one of them about how ridiculously well-funded a Veteran's Hospital seemed to be, the doctor had laughed and shook her head. She'd explained that the occupants of the Hospital had been looting the other buildings in the complex for the last day or so. The school, surprisingly, had been incredibly well-funded and that funding had played to their advantage.

They'd settled into sorting quietly. They'd found it oddly cathartic. Cathartic enough that Chloe felt comfortable asking the doctors a question. "Do you know where this zombie shit came from?"

After a raised eyebrow and a quick clarifying question - "The virus, you mean?" - the doctor slowed their sorting and leaned back thoughtfully.

"Well, we're not ultimately sure. There were no warning signs or any worrying publications." The doctor rolled their eyes. "And that Prescott theory is just nonsense. Conspiracy theory nutjobs." They shook their head, and sighed deeply. "I do agree with them on one thing though - my theory is that it was man-made."

Both Dana and Chloe blinked at the doctor. Another one of the doctors in the room scowled and scoffed. "You keep saying their thing is a conspiracy theory, and then you come out with that crap."

The doctor sighed. "I know, I know. I don't have any proof of it. And there's no way I'm going to get the time to prove it, but I've taken a look at the virus' genetic structure. There's enough there to make me think this is likely, if not probable."

"What kind of signs?" Dana asked, partly to keep the conversation going and partly out of just not knowing what else to say.

The doctor thought for a moment. "A lot of the sequencing and engineering techniques we have leave marks on a genome - uh, it can be recognisable bits of code inserted in or little degradations spread in certain patterns. Sometimes it's just similarities to other viruses of their kind. This one shows no similarities to other similar viruses and there's degradation all over the sequence. I'd have to properly sequence the genome to find any recognisable insertions, but I haven't had the time. There's too much to do, and survival doesn't leave much room for experimentation." They hesitated a moment. "And it was probably designed as a weapon - if you could control or harness the infected, they'd be a potent threat."

"Shit."

"Yep."

"Are- Are there any labs in Portland it could've come from? If someone made it, I mean?"

The doctor shrugged. "Any number of labs, honestly. I could probably make something similar with the equipment here in the hospital, for example, and we're barely funded for anything these days."

Chloe suddenly remembered something from her incarceration. A television report. "Would the Prescott Foundation own any of those labs?"

One of the other doctors, returned to their sorting, snorted. At Chloe's look, they rolled their eyes and explained, "They sponsor or outright own about half the research initiatives in the state. That's probably where the paranoia comes from. The people never understand that large scale work like that is the only way to progress anything these days."

"Why? I mean, why are they so invested in science shit? They're an architectural firm, right?" The doctors gave her an odd look. "It's what they're known for back in Arcadia Bay."

"Well, maybe. But they're also a big research funder across the country. They started setting up their own labs, what, about a decade ago?"

"Twelve years." A colleague corrected.

The doctor rolled their eyes again. "Well, sorry. That's why I said 'about'. Anyway. Old Man Prescott's wife died of a genetic disorder. A year later, he started funding research. I've gotten a couple of Prescott Grants for my work in-"

And that's where Chloe stopped following the conversation. Not ignoring them, she just couldn't follow the jargon.

—

It took a few long hours - including some time to eat, drink, and refresh - but the group eventually met up in a quiet storeroom tucked away in the back of the hospital. Chloe had fistbumped a wildly baffled Rose on seeing her again, much to the amusement of Dana and Juliet. The woman had quickly gone quiet, fading back into the background with the easy grace of many years practice.

Chloe presented their winnings. "Me and Dana have been helping out the doctors, and they gave us a bunch of medical shit. I am kinda surprised none of us have needed this kinda shit already."

Dana groaned. "And you undoubtedly just jinxed it, Chloe."

Chloe grinned. "Anyone else got anything?"

"Ammo." David said simply.

"Fair enough."

Before Chloe could ask anything else, David chimed in. "Did you find your parents, Juliet?"

Juliet sighed. "No. I'd like to check out their house. Maybe they just made it out already, or maybe..." She shook her head. "It's nearby, it won't take long."

"We'll help you, girl." David took on that same expression from when they'd had to leave the car he'd built with her mother. "It's worth keepin' a family together." He gave a gruff nod, his little moustache quivering with the (e)motion.

Juliet smiled at him. "Thanks. It's at Lowell Lane, just back down the stairs we took here and then a bit further along the road. Maybe ten minutes, if we walk slowly?"

"Sounds good." Chloe said. "I guess we grab our shit and get moving?"

David nodded, and straightened up. "Meet back here in fifteen minutes, we'll move out then."

The man really was back in his element, military precision and enthusiasm.

—

Adi frowns. "What kind of military was he in?"

"I never got the full details." The Stranger said simply, "But he was in two of the biggest wars of the time. I think he was some sort of engineer - he was always tinkering with cars and other vehicles."

"Huh. That's a lot. I imagine it was probably different to being a guard or something."

"Possibly. I've not been either, so you'd know more than I."

They all go silent for a moment.

"Would you like me to continue?"

They did.

—

Chloe was mid-way through repacking her bag with all the new shit she'd got (including the bag, so technically she was just packing it) when she heard several shouts go up, then screams. She glanced over the remaining stuff and swore, quickly jamming the most important-looking shit on top and zipping up her bag, throwing it over her shoulder as she dashed out the door and back into the main courtyard.

The wall was shaking with the force of the things hitting it.

Chloe called out, "What the hell is it?" But her shout went unheard in the tumult of voices and screams.

And then, the wall cracked. The survivors went almost silent, before a swift barked order launched the veterans into action. Half of them kneeled and half of them stood in a sort of firing line as they waited patiently for the wall to break.

Chloe stared at that wall with mounting dread, as the thumping bass of the horde outside sent more and more cracks through it.

Eventually, it shattered and the horde came pouring in.

A beat passed, and then one of the veterans called out, "Fire!"

The guns lit up as they fired rattling bursts into the horde. For a moment, it looked like they'd hold the dead back. Then one of the infected bit into the neck of the veteran on the left flank - an older man, he went down quickly, taking the infected with him into a roll. The one behind him, a tall woman with hair like steel, jammed a knife into the neck of the infected and twisted, dropping it to the ground and shoving it off of him.

The older man was already turned, and launched himself at her, tearing a chunk out of her arm. Another couple of swipes of her knife, and he joined the zombie that had infected him on the ground.

The infected were spreading, and the remaining veterans were falling back, a running retreat of dashes and bullets. Chloe took in the situation with a resignation. From the horde, a single, taller figure strode. It was clad in a long leather coat and hat, and for a moment Chloe thought she was going insane. A man in the horde?

And then a hand landed on her shoulder and she almost jumped out of her skin. She whirled to push off the infected, only to find David grabbing her hand mid-swing. "We have to go now."

She glanced back into the horde, and the figure was gone. "No fucking shit. Where are the others?"

He glared at her for her language before dragging her off to the doors. She quickly shoved him off and repeated her question - as she followed him at a run, of course. There were zombies killing people a few meters from them. Dana, Juliet, and Rose were helping some of the doctors guide several veterans out towards the back halls. Chloe presumed there'd be some sort of ambulance bay or something they were planning to use.

They could hear screams of pain behind them intermixed with the horde. Though surprisingly few - the veterans were doing whatever they could to delay or distract the horde, and for the moment it was working.

Chloe ran to help the doctor they'd talked to before, the one who'd told them about her biological weapon theory, with a patient. Unlike the doctor's kindly approach, Chloe yanked the man to his feet and bodily dragged him along like an uncooperative hostage. Given Chloe's attitude, this was exactly what the man was.

He began to babble desperate requests for the other doctor, but she had already gone to see to another patient. He was stuck with Chloe now.

Their little convoy ran along the corridors, the gunfire and zombie screaming following them along, until they ended up in the garage. A few of the stronger veterans moved back to hold the doors, while the doctors began guiding patients forward to a set of large buses. The doctors and nurses were working quickly as they could, guiding people in and strapping them down. Several injured seemed to require special treatments that caused running delays.

Chloe could hear the veterans outside start to fire. They were yelling commands, directions, all over a thundering chorus of the screams of the dead.

They tried to hurry without screwing things up - more haste, less speed. Some things couldn't be rushed. They'd filled one bus and were partway through the second.

And then the wall exploded inward, and two of the mysterious large figures Chloe had seen stepped through. Both were wearing the same imposing trenchcoats. One had a grenade launcher clutched in a single meaty hand, the other was wielding a minigun like it was a toy pistol. Both of them sighted on one of the buses with an alien precision. Then they fired their weapons.

The bus was torn apart.

Chloe knew there'd be no survivors.

Suddenly, the corpse of the bus lurched forward and slammed into the one next to it, sending everyone inside to the floor . The minigun wielding monster stopped firing, quickly reloaded, and then began firing again, tearing through the second bus to destroy the first. Whatever was in that bus, they hated it.

And then the third bus gave a lurch of its own and bolted into motion, charging at the monsters like a rampaging rhino. It collided with a staggering crash, knocking out a vital support and burying the entire pile of metal and monster in rubble.

There was a pause.

Rose's voice was quiet but clear. "Maybe some of them are still alive?

Then the bus exploded.

The gas tank had apparently been nicked during the monster's attack, as the explosion sent a line of fire back to the other two buses. It took a lot to get the few survivors out, but eventually the two-dozen survivors left through the now-open garage door and ran for it.