Just another day By Daniel Whiston Its getting dark….he looks up into the sky at the dim nothingness its probably gonna rain.. that’s all he needs now. He looks down at the bike that was his ticket home and the flat that was now going to force him to walk…..just another day in his life…but was it to be his last.. its late October and the leaves are a blaze of orange red and yellow as he walks out of the school gates onto the long walk home, but he couldn’t care right now he has to walk and he can already feel the rain starting to fall as if to mock him more with every footstep. Its OK though…not long now and he will be home and out of the gloom and darkness, yet he feels he wont be any better off at there…something doesn’t feel right... something in the air..? it’s nothing he thinks just…another day, another day he could do without. its now 6pm and the darkness has fallen around him the rain continues to spit on him as he walks…not long now only another few streets and he’s home. Although it’s dark he can see a glow in the background...red like the leaves around him as he walks onto the country path leading up to the mansion. oh yeah that …the mansion was a huge house up beyond a dense forest only one path is really visibly leading up to it but its dark and he doesn’t really want to look there anyway, a lot of stories surround the mansion...stuff like it was used as some government testing ground for human experiments ..ha in his own mind it didn’t really matter what it was, you wouldn’t find him anywhere near that place…would you? Not long now…just another street and he’s home…but the glow in the background is now larger...he can see it over the rooftops it’s like a flickering of reds like….fire. he picks up the pace…only another street…as the glowing becomes larger and he can begin to feel the heat, its fire all right probably a house fire his street wasn’t the safest in the area and vandalism was common , just one more corner and he’s home… as he turns the corner there it is at the other side of the street, a mass of flames and metal…it looks like a tanker has turned over or hit another car or something but…there are no fire crews no paramedics?? In fact it is as if no one has even noticed there aren’t any of the “bystanders” you get who watch a burning house and gossip with a neighbour…everything silent…dead all but the crackling of the flames. He runs over to see what is happening, the heat is so intense he can feel his clothes beginning to frazzle he steps back and looks into the wreckage …there is a car to the side of the burning tanker inside he can see someone …are they trapped? Or dead? Or..? god where is anyone?? Why is there no one around to help?, he makes the decision to get to whoever is in that car, he runs around to the other side of the tanker where the flames seem to be least and where he can get a good view of the car….someone is in there. As he makes his way to the car he smells something…something awful, what is that? It smells almost rotten, he looks back at the tanker and there is a faint green gas seeping out of a crack in the mangled frame of the tankers side, what is that? Is that what’s causing the smell? On the side of the tanker is a symbol, round with red and white stripes like an opened umbrella. he turns to the car, the left side of it has been completely crushed by the tanker, he slowly walks to wards the car his heart beating like he’d just run a marathon…the body in the car isn’t moving…dead…or unconscious but no one is here, no one is gawking at the accident . he takes off his coat and wraps it around the handle of the car door he can feel the heat of the steel whether the coat is there or not and he pulls….the door creaks open and what’s inside falls to the floor with a dull thud. Dead…no doubt about it …so why am I still here, why hasn’t anyone come to help…why is it so damn quiet?, so many thoughts running through his head, he cant think .. he doesn’t want to think, he doesn’t want to be here…WAIT……it…moved. Out of the corner of his eye he was sure that the lifeless body moved…although partly on fire now he was positive that it had….what is going on here…is it stress, am I losing my mind?…no…..it moved he steps back as what he thought was a victim of a horrific road accident begins to twitch…there is an awful smell in the air that makes him sick to his stomach but he cant take his eyes from the body…..at first it twitches…then….no….then it moves...begins to pull its self into a sitting position…a hissing sound coming from its open mouth...he sees its face. Black, bloodied lifeless…its eyes cold and pale…staring into nothing…down one side of the body is a slash mark from the neck to the chest…probably where they had been thrown through the windscreen…but they aren’t dead…they?…Is that someone? Its…god…That thing is smouldering on the hot steel of the car frame….but it isn’t dead. The creature pulls its self onto its feet wobbling like a child learning to walk for the first time…stumbling as if its legs were ready to collapse. Still hissing from its gaping mouth, It slowly begins to move forwards, lifting its blood soaked arms towards him…slowly dragging its self forwards. the smell in the air is too intense it’s almost too much, he feels dizzy…sick. He can’t think straight…why is it up? Why is that thing still alive??…he turns and does the only think he can think……run. But it’s coming closer now slowly... dragging its legs along the damp bloodied concrete of the once calm street. He turns and runs from the horror only to be stopped in his tracks…..over there …another body…maybe the driver of the tanker.. he is slumped over the curb….twisted into a horrible bridge shape it looks as if he had been thrown from his cab seat onto the street only to hit the curb, but even now as he looks on, the driver is slowly beginning to rise up out of his broken shape.. the driver slowly stands up…one leg broken into a position that looks as if it has been twisted right around the other side…splints of bone cutting through his jeans from the break he is wearing a heavy grey coat with the same symbol on his arm from the side of the truck….that symbol…what is that? Who is that?…the driver is also now dragging its lifeless form towards him slowly but surely letting out a moan ….his eyes grey and cloudy like the dark clouds above the horror that is unfolding around him……just another day?. The rain continues to spit down on the scene…not enough to put out the flames of the tanker but still rain this is too much now he can’t think he doesn’t want to think….he wants to be home …away from this. He has to get out of here and now, as he turns from the driver the passenger of the car slowly turns the corner from the tanker, it is now on fire down one side but still coming …slowly dragging its self towards him like he is some magnet to it… he runs….he doesn’t look back…he just runs. Its getting darker as he gets to his front door…no lights…no one must be home great that’s all I need he fumbles around in his jeans pockets to find the key but its wet and he can’t get his hands into them behind him he hears the scraping of something…he turns around and the driver of the tanker is still coming…dragging its leg along the floor as it slowly stumbles forwards, the bone from its leg scraping the floor he gets the key out of his pocket and slams it into the keyhole the door opens… its dark inside but it’s his home …where he feels the most safe. He slams the door shut behind him and locks the door….he cant see a thing it’s too dark but give it a minute and his eyes will adjust he feels his way through the hallway to the kitchen to find the light switch …..damn where is it? His eyes are getting used to the dark and he can make out shapes of furniture….where is everyone? It’s late and his family should be home…someone should at least be here… there is a smash from inside the kitchen…..it sounded like it was coming from near him?… his eyes haven’t adjusted enough for him to pinpoint anything…is he alone? The room is in complete darkness as he strains to find the switch…..but….wait….he can hear something there is someone else in here? Maybe it’s his mother…or? he waves his arm along the wall until it touches the switch and flicks it……nothing….?….he tries again and still no light…..there is another smash and something is moving……getting closer but he can’t see …..he can barley focus on what is in front of him……again another smash…the sound of plates or a pot falling to the floor…someone is here with him ..in the dark…something.. in his own home the one place he thinks is safe…is not safe at all. He can hear a shuffling and a sound like something wheezing? He turns for the front door and makes his way back down the hallway….the shuffling getting louder and closer…he starts to jog a little but its too dark….he cant see what is behind him only to run ……he trips and falls on the cold hard floor of the hallway banging his face…he’s disorientated but he pulls himself to stand up something wet is on his lip…blood. His family was not the most rich and most of the rooms didn’t have carpet …there’s no time to think about that now the sound behind him is closer now like they.. “it” is almost on top of him …he runs to the door and turns the handle…..no….he locked the door….damn he feels back into his jeans pocket for the key…come on….damn it…the shuffling is now in the hall with him he can hear the dragging of feet and the wheezing is now more like heavy breathing…its there right in front of him…he can see an outline of a figure ..not standing but slumped to one side….the key! Come on!….he pulls the key from his pocket and fumbles for the keyhole …come on…COME ONE the breathing is so much louder now like its stalking him not attacking but watching …taunting…he is trapped and it is watching for the right moment to end his torture the key slots into the keyhole finally and he opens the door. The light floods the hallway and the creature is exposed…….mother….no…no his mother is standing there in front of him holding her hands to her face…..mom…. for the first time in the day he smiles…its gonna be OK now…he stands for a moment and his eyes get used to the light…..its his mother ….his spirit lifts She lowers her hands to show her milky eyes and blood dripping mouth ..Her throat covered in what looked like teeth marks, torn from one side to the other and hissing blood…….no NO mom?? She lets out a moan and drags her body along the wall of the hallway…one side of her clothes covered in blood….mom….mom! he leaves the house and slams the door behind him and locks it again…throwing the key into the air he can hear his mother…no not his mother!!…That THING scratching on the other side of the door moaning and beating at the glass….mom … just another day?? He begins to cry.. he can’t take anymore of this…he slides down the door into a crouching position still with the body of his mother banging at the other side….hissing and wheezing over the street the driver of the tanker is now gone.. no one is there…the street is empty...and the rain finally falls on him washing the blood from his face…just a cut…on the floor is a faint green mist…probably from the tanker…its making him dizzy and his head aches…he doesn’t want this he wants to be…...home he craws into a ball and cries hitting the ground with his fist….why?….why the rain is getting heavier and he’s gonna catch cold if he stays where he is….his mother used to say that “ you’ll catch your death” he wipes the tears from his eyes and stands up…where now…what now? the blazing glow of the tanker is now dying down in the distance…the rain will put it out the flames the streets are empty but he can hear the screams now…people….like him, probably people he knows are now in this hell too, he can hear screams, …..gunshots? the glow from the tanker is now all but gone like cinders on a campfire, the rain is coming down hard washing the dirt and blood from the street….but the screaming…the shouting…what has happened here? He can still hear the faint hissing from behind the door of his home….fingernails scratching at the woodwork …like the sound an animal would make if it was trapped in a box are these things animals now? Are they still human? He doesn’t want to think about it… he stands up...his legs hurt, his whole body aches …just another day he makes his way down the street away from the carnage if the tanker and his home towards the town…maybe if he can find someone he will be OK …if anyone is around there is still screaming coming from somewhere …where… it doesn’t matter what could he do? He’s just a kid not some super hero, all he can do is……run. run like he did at the tanker …what if that passenger was alive? What if they were just seriously injured? He just ran…no they were dead, they had to be dead, he could see it in their eyes…the blank lifeless stare into nothing…no emotion…nothing. They had to be dead….so how were they up and moving? too many thoughts are running through his head…his mother, his home, the tanker, that passenger….god their eyes…grey…clouded over and ….blank he can feel his lip throbbing and swelling…but he doesn’t have time to stop and check…he can’t stop now he has to find someone… anyone to help, to do something…anything he can’t stop… at the end of the street he comes to a crossing…normally busy with traffic but now….silence. there are empty cars all over…where is everyone? Where?? Just empty cars. Some even with the radios on….wait… he listens to the radio. People are bein…..vised to stay in their hom……eports of ……ead are coming in. do not leav…your home lock all your do….and winodws…….. the radio is cutting out….he cant make out what is being said…and the rain is so heavy that it is getting harder to see.. its stinging his eyes, he can’t stay out here for much longer its making him feel more and more nauseous he looks around him…the cars are empty but…..there are cars that are smashed into each other….like a crash…in fact most of the cars are touching the one next to them like people have just stopped their car and gone…….behind him……he turns around sharply he can hear the dragging of feet ….more?…did they follow him? No there are 4 of them….he can see through the heavy rain the silhouette of at least 4 of those….things they are howling like dogs and dragging their battered bodies through the maze of cars…..to him he turns again and starts to run forwards…splashing in the murky puddles forming around him …around one car and another …..the howling behind him still there, still following he runs around the back of a grey van…the back and bumper smashed and shattered about the floor…a red car to the side must have hit it…as he turns around the van he hits something……it knocks him to the floor and he bangs his head on the wet concrete…the rain beating down on his face like little daggers…what was it? It felt cold….like damp clothing or meat?….he looks up… and it is standing over him….one of them! He has run right into one of those dead things! It reels its head to look down on him… each movement …stiff and painful and opens its mouth to let out its foul breath.. he pulls himself back as it stumbles forwards over him lowering its hands to get hold of him…..the car he tries to crawl under the red car. Maybe it won’t be able to get him under there but it’s over him …its right over him. He pulls himself as far back as he can as the creature falls on him, all he can smell is the sickly rotten flesh and musty clothing of it as he frantically kicks at his decaying attacker, kicking its arms and hands as it tries to claw at him…trying to pull him into it…is eyes staring into him…..through him…no emotion…no anger or effort just blank…staring through him he lifts it up on his feet and pushes.. knocking the creature into the side of the van…it slides down staining the vans once white side with a brownish green smear ..slowly slipping down into a slump on the concrete….is it over…no its head rises again and it pulls its self back to its feet…he cant move…fear…terror.. his legs aren’t moving …all he can do is stare at it as it picks its self back up and slowly shuffles back to him its head on one side ..slumped over…staring through him… he has to move…it stands over him again…looking over its prey…blood and dirt dripping down on him from the rain above. he has to move!…then it falls again…he rolls to the side and it lands with a heavy thud on the concrete … not moving…he pulls himself up over the side of the car and looks down on it…face down on the floor…still twitching…blood coming from under it. The creature is still moving. Still alive…alive….no it starts to pull its self back up, blood trickling down off it onto the concrete from the heavy rain. its just a few feet away from him…slowly pulling its self back up…he has to do something, he can see in the others coming closer now… if he doesn’t do something now they are going to be upon him too and he wouldn’t stand a chance he steps forward a few inches….the stench is awful…almost too much for him…and it is bleeding still from where it hit the floor, the howling from behind growing louder…the wheezing in the air… now….he has to do something now! The body pulls its self onto its knees and stretches one arm out to him….its fingers stretched out and bone like…skin flaking from its arm…but he is just far enough away from it…now…..do something…….anything he takes a step back……and lunges forwards with his boot catching it in the stomach……it almost sticks into its chest…like he had kicked a pillow. The creature does not moan or scream in pain….it just continues to stretch an arm out to him its head turned at an angle staring through him….blood trickling from its mouth ….washed down by the rain. He kicks again……and again… he doesn’t think ….he just kicks at the body…its lifeless body curling at every blow…..this is for mom….this is for that passenger….this is … there is a crack and blood pours from the it’s chest….he has broken something…the smell from it is too much and he vomits…blackish brown blood is pouring through its shirt….and the smell…god but still it reaches out….still the face is blank…emotionless…painless he rears back and swiftly kicks it in the face…knocking it back down into a lying position …but still it raises back….what now?…he stamps down on its back but it is still coming…it is still moving he stands back…….what can he do? He has given it all he can….and even now it is still raising back to its knees….no he looks around him, there has to be something he can do…..over there…a pole…probably a piece of a car or something …it doesn’t matter, to him it’s his way out of this hell.. to him it’s a weapon. He walks to the pole and picks it up, it feels cold and hard…like those eyes…hard ..cold….blank, he grips it in his hands and walks back to the body….already it is clawing at the car for leverage…and he swings….a dull thud….he swings again knocking it back down….its crawling now…he brings the pole down hard on its back…a dull thick thud….like hitting a sandbag….but it still crawls…squirming on the blood soaked concrete….again he hits it harder and harder…but nothing ….it still moves…it still… he stands over the creature…like it had to him just a few minutes ago…is this what it felt like to that thing? Watching as its helpless prey could only squirm? Is he as bad as that thing??……no this is survival….this is life…where they have none…no life he raises the pole high over his head…and swings it down over the back of its head there is a crack…and then…nothing blood is squirting from the back of its head, ..onto the already stained floor….but… it isn’t moving now it isn’t even twitching …is it …dead? He feels so sick….he can feel his stomach turning over and over…he wants to be sick…god he wants to be out of this…out of the rain…out of this whole damn thing…out of hell… he drops the pole next to the corpse… the moaning has stopped…..there is no howling…no ….wheezing …god like the sound of someone choking …..but…nothing he turns from the lifeless husk and runs…he knows they are there…he knows they are just waiting…stalking how can something so lifeless, so emotionless do that?….. he knows they are there…but all he can hear is the heavy rattling of rain on the metal maze of cars around him…there shuffling in the background…almost like running….they can run? Of all the ones he had encountered he had noticed that they were so slow…stiff but this sounds like running…..someone else? Is someone else in this hell? He strains his eyes to see through the wall of the rain and fog…someone?… he calls out…..nothing….someone is running over there….he can see a shape through the rain…small like a child but….he calls out again….the sound has stopped now….just the sound of the rain…was that someone? Are there other people in this hell with him? He remembers the screaming and what sounded like shooting when he was on his street but…….again now he is in silence….alone and he knows…god he knows they are there…they are waiting…watching …stalking he turns and runs……….its all he can do….run. over from the crossing is the next street…just a few cars and he can plan his next move from there wait…..the sound….he hears the running again…but now it’s more like a tapping? …more like clicking. And its coming from behind him….is it them? Have they decided to end his torment and finally come from where ever the hell they are hiding?…….no the sound is getting louder….where’s that pole….oh yeah he dropped it….nice he might not need the pole…he might not need to do what he did back there…what made him sick to his stomach….it could be someone….anyone …it could be… but the rain is so heavy…he cant see what it is…click…click…silence. His heart is beating faster and faster, it feels like its going to burst out of him if it beats any harder…he wipes the rain from his face, his lip is still throbbing ….he doesn’t have time…the clicking can still be heard in the background….what is that…its starting to sound more and more like a claw or something clicking on the ground….like some animal.. he stands for a moment listening to the sound…its not getting closer…its just there…clicking, if it was one of them wouldn’t it be getting closer…? he decides to see what this is…slowly walking back in the direction of the horror he had experienced just a few minutes ago by the van…the clicking is louder now and the smell…..god its worse than before now…rotten, musty…a sick…sick smell.. probably from the corpse, but now stronger he can see the van from where he is standing now…..the clicking is coming from there…..could it be back up? After all he did to it? ….no….it didn’t make a clicking noise.. it made a dragging shuffle noise…not this clicking he can hear he walks slowly to the van….he can see the blood on the floor trickling around the van and cars from the rain….was it bleeding that much? He knew it had taken a lot of punishment from that pole but it wasn’t bleeding that bad…. he stands by the van for a moment…the clicking is so close now….but not just clicking…he can hear a tearing sound…like cloth being ripped …..what is that?….it must be up, it has to have gotten back up after al he had done to it….how? the smell is almost too much for him and he can feel his stomach turning again, he feels sick….but he cant make a noise or it will know he’s there, he slowly peers around the van to see….the body is still there on the ground…it isn’t up….but…..to the side of it is a dark figure, small…up to his waste in size probably…is that the clicking? What is that? He watches as the shape moves over the corpse and the tearing and clicking continues…..what is it doing…..its…its some animal feeding on the body? What would do that? Its dead.. what would feed on a corpse?….like a scavenger. To the right of the body is the pole he used to win his struggle with it…still bloodied and bent from the encounter…too far away from him to get to it without whatever that thing this was noticed him then what would he do? He’s just a kid … he didn’t stand a chance against the corpse un till he had used the pole. There isn’t enough light to see what the shape is but it looks small ….maybe it’s an animal that has come from the nearby woods to feed, and has come across the body?…..he doesn’t want to think that it could be anything else ….another one of …them maybe he can get to the pole before it notices….maybe then if it is one of them he will stand more of a chance with a weapon…it does seem to be more interested in what it is chewing into…maybe he can do it. No time, from behind him he hears a pattering of feet…more clicking….claws on concrete….dogs one jumps onto the bonnet of a nearby car and the other is just over from the right of it…their eyes glistening in the light of the street lamps, saliva and blood dripping from their open mouths…..dogs he is pinned up against the side of the van…no time to think now, he has to get that pole…he turns and runs around the van…a third dog is gnawing on the corpse…the shape he could see from before. He runs for the pole …the two dogs now in chase….jumping from the bonnet of the car and splashing onto the blood and dirt soaked floor….the pole, he reaches down and picks up the pole and turns to face the pack of dogs….their eyes red and shimmering…..growling ….he isn’t going to stand a chance at all now…even he can see that….even with this damn pole he isn’t going to survive…… the first dog lunges at him and he swings with all he has catching the dog in the side of the chest, there is a large crack and the dog is launched into front of the van, crashing into the bumper….it struggles to get back onto its paws….the other two dogs circle him as he holds the pole in the air waiting for them to strike…his heart beating faster and faster…is this it?, after all the hell he has been put through this is finally where its going to end?…with his luck probably not. The second dog prepares to pounce and he slowly moves behind the car bonnet…the dogs eyes glowing…on fire from the street lamps, it throws its self at him like the first and he swings again hitting it in the head….the limp body of the dog falls into the front of the car, smashing the headlights …the head….they don’t get up after a headshot… the third dog is still there stalking him and the first is now back up on its paws…snarling and growling, he stands holding the pole out at them, the body of the other dog broken in front of him…its head split down one they are in a crouching position…ready to pounce, he can’t take this …..the tension is too much and he slams the pole down on the front of the car…COME ON! The dogs lunge and he throws the pole and ducks to the floor, the metal catches one of them in the snout and it falls through the air into the windshield crashing into the glass. The second dog lands just by him and he surges his boot into its neck, the dog falls back from the hit and he stands over it. It tries to pick its self back up but he is ready, he kicks again and again until the dog stops….dead. he stands for a moment …his heart is beating…his blood is rushing…he has survived… the bodies of the dogs around him…the rain finally begins to ease…now just spitting on him from above…and his surroundings are becoming more visible…..he isn’t alone….there are bodies almost all around him…when he first came onto the crossing he could only see the empty cars…no one around, but they were here…he couldn’t see them…but they were here….men, women… children in the distance he can see more of them coming….more of those things….he doesn’t want to stay here anymore…death is all around him…at his feet the battered body of the dog, its eyes no longer full of fire and hate, now only….blank and grey….blood all around it from the wounds made on its neck and head. he starts to walk back to the end of the crossing where he heard the clicking in the first place, the town centre is just a few streets from there….but….should he go to the centre? By going there is he only jumping out of the pan and into the fire? ..into hell. He cant think…this is too much for a kid …this is too much for anyone….where to go…what to do , he has to think of something…and fast, he can see them getting closer, weaving their way through the maze of cars and rubble…he has had enough of the…he doesn’t want to do anymore of what he did…he felt sick by it, those were people once…they don’t deserve to die like that…but…they don’t deserve to suffer like they are now…lifeless, emotionless…blank his head is throbbing and he still feels sick….but he is alive…he should be glad, those dogs could have killed him there…he still doesn’t know how he survived the encounter ….or how he has survived this far. But he has and he has to keep going, he has to survive…to find help. He walks onto the street from the crossing and looks around him…buildings are black….probably on fire like the tanker…put out by the rain which mocks him as he walks….spitting on him from above, the street seems empty…at least he cant see anyone…he knows now that he doesn’t have to see them to know they are their…he can hear screaming in the distance….someone. he runs down the street towards the sound….its getting closer, someone in trouble…someone like him…he starts to run faster…the screaming is coming from a house just a little further down the street…just to the left. He gets to front of the house…loud screaming is coming from inside…someone is in there, a woman ..another victim he turns the handle of the door….its locked….he remember the radio saying to lock all your doors…some help that was…he kicks at the front of the door but it wont open so he looks around him…there are a stack of bricks next to the steps leading up to the door, he picks one up and throws it through the front window…putting his hand through to find the lock. .and slowly feeling around the other side of the door until he finds the latch. He slowly unlocks the door and it creaks open…he cant see inside….just like home.. his personal hell but it isn’t going to stop him this time…he is going in and he is going to save this person…he knows he can do this…he killed the dogs…he can do this. He steps into the front porch of the house he can’t see in the house…its too dark. the screaming is coming from somewhere in the darkness…but where, he isn’t going to make the same mistake as in his own home and he feels around the wall next to the door for a switch….running his arm up and down until he finds it…he slowly flicks the switch and the light beams on….now he cant see at all…the light is too bright for him, he hasn’t seen bright light since it was daylight and his eyes strain to see in front of him…the screaming is louder…someone is calling out…. “help me”…his heart is beating fast as his eyes begins to adjust to the light in the hallway… he can see now…blurred shapes but he can see…there is a woman in the corner of the hallway, she is holding her right arm and blood is seeping through her fingers….she looks pale and she is shaking…there is a trail of blood from where she is sitting leading around the corner. He runs to her and tries to comfort her…everything will be OK now…he knows he can help this woman…he can do this she is breathing heavy and coughing….the wound on her arm is deep…serious…he needs to do something to help her….she looks up at him…her eye…they are …blue…he looks into her eyes…she is obviously in shock and she is still screaming…but he almost feels comforted by her eyes…they aren’t…blank or grey…they are full of life, full of terror…. She holds out her hand to him screaming…he cant make out what she is screaming…she is breathing heavy and her words are not making sense…she is looking straight back at him…and she stops screaming…he has to help her and tries to see how bad the wound is on her arm but she is holding on too tightly and he cant get her fingers from around her arm…the blood is streaming from around her fingers and trickling down her arm….she is wearing a cream T-shirt and jeans but the blood has stained one side of her shirt and down her jeans….but she isn’t screaming anymore…she is looking straight at him, she looks so pale…her skin almost white, but her eyes….they are so blue…they stand out from her face…he cant help but look into them…he almost forgets what he is doing when she starts to scream again…he tries to comfort her ..holding her hand….but she isn’t looking at him anymore…she is looking past him now…over his shoulder….behind him. he slowly turns his head and he hears the familiar shuffling sound…she is screaming a name over and over…john…john…her husband.. he stands up looks into the darkness from around the corner…he can hear the wheezing…and dragging of feet….another one…john he looks around him for something…anything, there are stairs leading up to the second floor and a small coffee table by the side of them…he rushes to the stairs and clears everything off the table with his arm, picking it up he walks back to the woman who is still screaming, huddled in the corner of the hallway. He throws the table into the darkness and there is a crash as it hits its target…there is a moan and what sounded like a growl…then silence… and the wheezing starts again….its coming closer now dragging its self along the hallway wall. He turns back to the woman and holds out his hand to her….she stops screaming and looks up at him again….and then slowly reaches out to meet his hand, he helps her to her feet and they walk towards the front door…he cant believe it…he has done it…he has saved someone else from this horror…behind them the wheezing still can be heard…scratching of nails on the wall as it drags its self after them. He gets to the door and drags the woman through with him onto the street, turning around he reaches out to the door and pulls on the handle…just as the creature from the darkness emerges from around the frame….the head coming slowly around the door…mouth open and saliva dripping down the sides, he pulls on the handle but the door wont close…its foot is in the way… he cant get the door closed. A wrinkled and bone like hand comes from behind the door grasping the frame and slowly pulling the door to open….its now a struggle to get the door closed and stop that thing from getting to him at the same time…as its fingers scratch into the door frame ….howling and wheezing from behind the wood…he cant hold on for much longer…its pulling the door slowly open and blocking him from closing it completely. Behind him the woman is sitting on the curb screaming….panic stricken….clutching onto her bloodied arm….he has to stop this thing…his mind races again….what to do, what to do … he looks back at the woman and then steps back a little before kicking the door open. The creature falls back into the house and onto the floor with a dull thud, he walks back into the house and stands over the body…it slowly pulls its self up on the rail of the stairs, he walks to it…kicking its hands from the support…it falls back to the floor and he kicks into its side knocking it sideways….he feels the rage building in him….he looks down on this thing and he doesn’t see another person anymore he sees…..nothing….blank like their eyes….this isn’t a person …it doesn’t feel pain when he kicks its side…it doesn’t call out in pain for him to stop….it just growls at him…wheezing…senseless. He kicks at its side again as it holds out a mangled hand to him…but he wont stop now…he wont stop, that thing isn’t holding its hand out to stop him or to ask him to stop….no….its still trying to get hold of him…to do what it did to the woman outside…who he can still hear screaming.. he kicks again as it begins to crawl towards him…dragging its limp twisted corpse across the bloodied carpet of the darkened hallway…still wheezing from its blood drenched body, he stands back…now his chance…he walks back to the door and back out onto the street…its starting to get back up again…but he is safe for now….he slams the door shut and walks back to the curb where the woman is sitting…she is quiet now…probably still in shock….its a lot to take in…he was her husband or boyfriend…or brother…he was someone she knew and loved….and what is he now?…some “thing”….he knows how she feels…what she must be thinking…..his mother, she is one of those things….back at his home…is she still there? or is she on the streets like the others on the crossing?…doing what they are doing…..he doesn’t want to think what she is doing, she isn’t his mother…..anymore. he can feel the tears welling again but he cant cry…his eyes still sting from the rain, which has now all but stopped…large murky puddles cover the street…rain water washing down into the sewers below…washing the blood and dirt from a street once full of life, families living their lives…children going to school and traffic jams from the crossing…..now just silence…..nothing… he sits down beside her…she is shivering and coughing…he takes of his coat and puts it over her and she twitches as he does…still shocked and jumpy from the horror she has left behind…her home…her loved ones. He looks at her face…she is pale….so pale…she turns her head and looks back at him…her eyes even seem much more dull now…like they have lost their shine to the red around them from where she was crying. he smiles at her and tells her his name….and she slowly attempts a smile back…he looks at her arm…she is still holding tightly to the wound…they have to do something about that before it gets infected, he tears a piece of his shirt arm off and wraps it around the wound and she winces as he does…but she doesn’t seem to be in pain now…maybe its just the shock …maybe he stands up and looks across the street…no one is around but he can hear the screams and shouts in the background and ….howling…there are probably still dogs out there…now hunting in packs like the dead bodies but faster and far more deadly…they cant stay our here for long or they are going to be hunted like wild game, he looks down at her, she is still shivering even with his thick winter coat on and her skin is a greyish white….its the shock…she’s gonna be pale from an experience like that isn’t she? He holds out his hand and helps her to her feet and they start down the street….he doesn’t know where they are going to go and he doesn’t even know if they will be safe when they find somewhere…but they cant stay outside anymore…its starting to rain again now…the droplets coming down like light hail…cold and hard on his skin, now without his coat he is starting to feel the cold of the late October wind as it blows the wind without mercy in to their faces. they walk down the street for a short time…listening to the screams of the innocent.. now plunged into this hell on earth that has formed around them without any warning….there is screaming all around them, shouting and gunshots from one direction….screaming from another….they cant stay outside any longer, at the bottom of the street is another crossing.. to the left leads to the centre of town….over the horizon is a bright blazing glow….the centre of town must be worse than where they are now….to the right is the street leading to the school…maybe it would be safe there…although the school is closer to the hell that he has been through all night….closer to home….they have to make a decision on where to go….the town centre looks like hell on earth…the glow of the flames lighting up the horizon…but the school is just a few streets away from the tanker…he should know he left his damn bike there where to…and will they be safe there….maybe there are emergency services in the centre…fighting the fires and restoring order to this chaos….but….wouldn’t they have seen police on the streets? Or medical crews?……no the centre of town is a no go area now…no one is there to help…no one is alive he turns to her and points to the direction of the school and she nods nervously…she is shivering and coughing slightly….she doesn’t look in pain but defiantly uneasy… the turn right at the crossing and slowly start to weave through the cars again…just like before, although there are fewer bodies lying on the ground here as there were at the other crossing….and most of them are mangled to a point where they couldn’t move if they tried. He stops suddenly…over by one of the cars is a figure…he instantly looks around him for something to use as a weapon…like a reflex…nothing is there…no poles or sticks or anything….damn. the shape moves towards them slowly….one of them?…he stands in front of her to protect her from the advancing figure making its way slowly towards them and she places her hands on his shoulders, he isn’t going to let anything happen to them now…not after all he has gone through….not now. The figure comes into the light…..is a man, he is dressed in uniform…a cop?…yes…again his spirits lift…maybe the emergency services are out there…and maybe he found them…god maybe. The cop calls out to them to show themselves…his voice sounds weak and distant although he is standing just a few metres away….he is holding up something…a gun? He walks slowly forwards into the light so the cop can see him and holds his hands up , the cop walks forwards with his gun pointed ready….you ain’t one of em….he lowers his sidearm and walks towards them….there is a crash and two dogs pounce from the cars behind them….he falls back and the cop lifts his gun up to the lunging dogs only to be knocked into the side of a car…one dog burying its teeth into his arm, tearing through his uniform into the soft surface of his arm…he screams as he fires of shots into the air, the second dog dives onto his chest and sinks its jagged teeth into his throat…the screams turn into gurgling chokes as his neck is torn apart by the ravenous devil dogs….his hand still weaving the gun in the air …although now the gun is out of bullets….all that can be heard over the savage tearing of clothing and choking screams is the clicking of the revolver…the dogs tear into the dead officers body and begin to feed. Shaken but still standing he turns to the woman who is now screaming again and runs towards her…grabbing her hand he pulls her around a car and looks back….the dogs are still feasting on the corpse of the cop….now torn to pieces by the razor sharp teeth of the beasts….blood is pouring from his wounds and splashing over the concrete…mixing with the rainwater and muck from the street. He looks on in horror as they continue to tare chunks of flesh from the body…he feels his stomach turning again….he looks back at her…she is huddled on the floor coughing and shaking….he holds out his hand and helps her back to her feet…she s weak and she doesn’t look stable on her feet anymore…he has to get them inside somewhere….anywhere…they have to get to the school. They start back down the crossing avoiding the dogs…at least the cop will keep them distracted long enough for him to get close enough to the school to stand a chance. The school was a huge building…he always compared it to some kind of prison, due to there being bars on most of the window for security and a huge metal gate at the entrance, a place where they could lock up the delinquents of the neighbourhood for ¾ of the day…if they turned up in the first place. They dodge through the last few cars and leave the crossing onto the school path. Ahead of them the huge metal gates leading into the school…tall and cold…some bars twisted from vandalism, he walks up to the gate and pushes, there is a loud creak and the rusty gate doors open…banging loudly against the walls of the front complex…ahead of them was the reception and science buildings…and safety? Behind them they can hear the tapping once more….the dogs have finished their meal and are coming for more…he drags her through the gate and pulls it closed as the first dog slams into the railings of the gate, he is thrown back but gets back up and rushes to pull the gate doors shut once more…the dog is blocking it from closing completely and he kicks at it to move it out of the way…the dog is shaken from the impact and he slides it out of the way, pulling the heavy metal bar across he locks the gates…the second dog is here now…snarling and foaming through the bars of the gates…its fur is matted and dirty...and blood is dripping from its fangs…but it cant get him….he almost feels like laughing….why?.. this isn’t funny…but to see the dog on the other side of the bars gives him a feeling of relief. The dog throws itself at the gate and it creaks on its old rusted hinges…the dog falls to the floor and pulls itself back up to try again….but it is no good…the gates wont move…he stands for a moment watching the dog…its waiting for them…they are sitting waiting for them to come out…still snarling and barking….waiting. no matter they are safe for now…for now he pushes the main door of the reception and walks in…its dark…but at least no one will be in that darkness…everyone left the building long ago….even any late leavers or cleaners would have left….he was alone, he flicks the light switch and a low hum sets the lights in motion…its silent…no screams…no shuffling…nothing…just the low hum of the over head lamps.. there are chairs turned over and paper is all over the floor…maybe someone was here after all.. he walks over to a chair on its side and picks it up, he takes it over to the woman and she sits down…she is still shivering and coughing…he holds his had to her forehead…she is burning up…not like if someone has a head cold or something…she feels like her head is on fire…he has to do something now or she wont last much longer. He can get something at the nurse’s office….its not far from where they are and there has to be something he can give her like painkillers…anything.. he turns to the reception door and reaches out to turn the handle…when he hears something, they are not alone in the room….but who would be around now?…its late and anyone who would normally be here would have left hours ago….maybe someone else has tried to escape the horror outside by hiding here…or maybe one of those things has gotten in somehow….he has to make sure, he cant leave her alone if there is one of those things close by. The sound is coming from the store room at the end of the reception.. where the cleaners kept all their mops and brushes and things.. it was only a faint sound when he heard it and it was only for a second…maybe it was just the humming of the lamps above their heads, but he had to make sure by the door was a folded up chair he reached over and picked it up, holding it by his side he slowly walked over to the store room door and stood for a moment to listen……nothing. Maybe it was the light after all….maybe after all he has been through tonight he is just hearing things now and expecting them to be another one of those lifeless monsters…maybe all this is sending him crazy…he cant think straight at all…no.. its nothing… he turns back and heads back in the direction of the main door and as he does the store room door bursts open and once living body of the school janitor drags its carcass at him…snarling and wheezing. He has no time to react and as it throws its self at him he only just manages to raise the metal chair in his hands…the creature barges into him and they both fall to the floor.. the only thing separating him and the jaws of the janitor is the chair… he kicks at the body of the creature trying to set himself free but the janitor was a big man and very heavy…he cant move his hands as they are trapped by the chair …he can smell the foul stench of the rotting janitors flesh from behind the chair …..what can he do…its clawing at the other side of the chair and he can’t get it off of him…it’s far too heavy to push off him. he can feel the wet moulding skin of the janitor as it struggles on top of him, the cold wet blood stained jeans of the one living cleaner kicking and struggling with him.. he shouts out to the woman for help….but no reply…he shouts again more desperately but still nothing….he panics and tries to roll the creature onto its back to set him free, he stretches his leg and pushes off the desk beside them and rolls on top of the creatures body…now he is on top and the creature is below the chair….holding the chair in place with his foot the creature struggles and wrives on the spot.. he looks across to the woman….she’s gone….but…he has no time to look as the body of the janitor is wriving and pushing at the other side of the chair…its face and chest covered by the cold steel…he lifts his foot into the air and jumps…his foot comes down hard on the chair and crushes the chest and throat of the janitor…there is a squelch and blood squirts out from around the chair…the body goes limp…no movement…no struggling…no wheezing or snarling. The chair had crushed the soft neck and chest of the janitor and finally laid it to rest…to him anyone who was like that….who was dead and rotting had to be living the same hell as him….and doing what he did seemed the only way to end that hell for them…he felt sick again.. but he had no time, he had to find the woman…she was in no state to go wondering …he needed to find her before it was too late…he didn’t want to think about it but she was slowly becoming one of them…her skin was becoming a greyish colour and her temperature was so high….he had to do something to save her before he would be forced to do what he had done to the rest of them….he couldn’t do that.. he walked back to the reception door and opened it leaving the crumpled body of the janitor…not looking back. He walked back to where the main gates were…the fog was thick now and he could hardly make out the cold steel bars of the main gate…and the shadows that still lingered behind it….dogs, even now they were still waiting for him to come out…how long would they wait…the dead don’t sleep….the dead don’t eat…how long would it take before they forced their way in…or he had to get out? They were still there…he could see the shadows in the mist pacing left and right…stopping now and then to sniff at the grown…tracking …hunting. He turned from the main gate and looked onto the courtyard of the main building, the school had been built long ago and was huge…there had to be at least 5 buildings in total including a sports hall and science facility…the school was famed for its science…and the science labs were the most up to date part of the whole school, most of the funding was spent on the labs and equipment used for various experiments and tests by students, although the funding came from the main education body there was said to be equipment in there that went into tens of thousands of dollars…where did the school get the money for that…..it didn’t matter, he didn’t have time to wonder about school buildings or funding…he had to find her and fast….but where to look…the school was huge and he didn’t even see which direction she went. He didn’t have a choice by the gates the dogs were getting restless and had started throwing themselves at the gate again…the old rusted bars holding fast against the rotten flesh and blood soaked fur as it slammed into the sides…he looked back to the gate and watched as they continued to throw themselves at the gates….relentless, over and over slamming at the bars of the gate. Then to the side of him he heard a loud howl as a dog threw its self up at the wall in an attempt to make it over…just catching the top of the wall and falling back down into the street… his heart began to race again…soon they would be in here with him….there must have been at least 6 or 7 of them out there now…gathering like a feast was about to be unveiled at a dinner table….him. he ran back into the reception building and made his way to the nurses office…treading over the twitching carcass of the janitor….its face still covered by the metal chair, fumbling around in the draws he found the first aid kit and a few rolls of bandages, he ran back outside and into the courtyard….the dogs were still pounding at the gate, howling and snarling, whipped into a fury…trying desperately to get through the thick metal bars of the main gate. He turned and walked in the direction of the library…he would start his search there, as he did the howling came again…and behind him he heard a light thud followed by tapping….he slowly turned his head and looked behind him…one of them had made it over the wall…it slowly pick its self up and shook…pieces of flesh and dirt falling from its bones….its eyes lit up like a blood moon, it stood in a pouncing position…its mouth open and snarling…saliva and blood dripping down from its sharp teeth slowly it moved forwards before lunging into a full pelt attack…he turned his head….and ran. She felt dizzy…and so cold…no matter how wrapped or how much she huddled up she still felt so cold…almost numb, her head felt as if it was ready to explode and there was a terrible throbbing coming from the bite on her arm….although the boy had patched it up for her she could feel each teeth mark stinging like tiny daggers were stabbing away at her skin…she couldn’t move her arm at all now and she could barely twitch her fingers….she felt sick but at the same time so hungry….like some terrible urge to eat…what was happening to her…was it an infection in her arm causing this…she couldn’t think straight to make out what the reason was….she couldn’t think at all. Every time she coughed it sent a shooting pain through her…she felt as if she couldn’t breathe and the pain from coughing was almost too much….but still she sat there….in the corner of a large hall…she sat her legs felt too weak to move anymore…she had given her all just to get this far away from the main reception….leaving him. That boy, who did so much for her…she didn’t even know him, and yet he had saved her…he had come into her home and saved her from her own husband…..the man she loved….the man who attacked her.. when he had stumbled home form work….she thought he was drunk as usual but when she noticed the marks on his neck and arm he lunged for her and bit her arm…why….what possessed him to do such a thing…she was his wife and in all their years of marriage he had never hit her ….yes they had fought but he had never raised his fist ….but he bit her….and now she was sitting in the corner of a school hall…barley alive…barely able to move to breathe. Was this it? Is this the end? Is she just going to sit here and die?….she had to do something…she felt so weak and numb but she had to move…to go back to the boy…she had to help him…after everything he had done for her she had left him for dead with that thing……..that thing…what the hell was that?…why did it attack them like that….like her husband….she didn’t even feel she had the strength to cry anymore…her tears were all used up. She tried to pull herself back to her feet and the shooting pain began again…a terrible pain running through her…but she slowly managed to drag herself back onto her feet…resting against the wall to hold herself from falling…her legs felt so weak…she was barely standing…but she was up. She slowly walked forwards…stumbling as she did, like she was taking her first steps…her legs felt so numb like she was walking on stilts…she couldn’t feel her feet touching the floor…but she wasn’t going to stop now…she had to get back to him and help…maybe she was to late…maybe he was already dead.. too much was running through her head that she couldn’t think straight but she had to keep moving…she didn’t know what would have happened if she had just lay there she already felt like she had used up all of her energy just taking these few steps forwards. Her eyes felt heavy and her sight was blurred but she could still see the exit from the main hall…that would take her back out to the courtyard and back to him…if she could make it that far… he watched it from behind the desk…the mangled corpse of what used to be someone’s household pet….mans best friend?…almost laughed to himself but this wasn’t the time for fun…that thing was hunting him…its skinny blood drenched head pressed to the floor…trying to pick up a sent? But that thing is dead…he could see the bone of its skull showing through the torn fur and flesh….it was dead…how could it smell?…how could it follow him like it is…what was driving that thing to do what it is….? The dog lifts its head up into the air and its jaw drops slightly…blood and saliva dripping from its fangs…had it found him?….he frantically looked around him for something to use as a weapon….he was in the old science room….before the main science complex was built this was used for science classes…nothing like what went on in the newer building…now this room was more of a store room than a science lab….the old desks still had their Bunsen burners and gas taps built into them….the gas probably wasn’t even connected anymore….unless….he peered back over the desk at the dog…still sniffing at the air…a pool of blood and mud forming around its tattered paws. He looked back at the Bunsen burner on the desk to the side of him…if the gas was still working maybe he could find some way to burn that thing…this room was a store room maybe there was something flammable he could use?…anything at all the dog slowly began to move forwards…each paw making a light tap on the concrete floor…he could hear its snarls through its clenched teeth…it was moving to the left of where he was crouching …still too close for comfort…being in the same room was too close for him. he looked around him for anything he could use, on the wall was shelves with old bottles of chemicals and various pickled rodents and frogs….maybe he could use something on there….looking back at the dog he slowly crawled towards the wall with the shelf to get a better look at the bottles….most of them seemed to be empty ….but one was half full…it had some long scientific name and the liquid inside was a light blue colour…this would have to do ….if it didn’t work he would just have to run again….he had ran from that thing long enough…it was time to end the game of tag. The dog was now by the desk he had been crouching behind…perfect, the Bunsen burners were on that desk and all he had to do was light one and that would be all he needed to set that thing alight. He slowly crept back to the opposite side of the desk and set the bottle next to the burners….they were self lighting so he wouldn’t need to go finding a match or lighter or anything…at least this was the easy part. he slowly stood up and looked over the other side of the desk….the dog was down sniffing at the ground again…now was his chance….he threw the bottle at the beast, the bottle smashing into the skull of the dog, knocking it to the floor…the liquid spilling over the head and body coating it like he had hoped…the dog lay for a moment dazed and then slowly picked it self up snarling loudly….he flicked the Bunsen and ran as fast as he could……nothing…..no flame….no gas. The dog lunged up onto the table…its eyes red and bloodied…staring through him, its mouth wide open and saliva and blood pouring onto the concrete floor below….he was trapped now…he had run into a corner of the room hoping to set the thing on fire…but he had failed…and now he was trapped like a rat in the corner of the room. The dog lowered its front legs as if it was about to pounce on him….its eyes reflecting fire…he couldn’t do anything…he was trapped…this was it… after all he had gone through this was the end…he would be torn apart like the cop outside the school gates…he closed his eyes and began to pray. He just stood there for a moment…waiting…there wasn’t anything he could do now, he was trapped in the corner of the room….no time…no options…nothing He had come so far and now he was going to end up like everyone else in this hellhole. Like that cop and the janitor and….his mother. After everything he gone through….after he thought they were safe it was going to end like this….just another day….his last. The dog let out a loud scream and lunged off the desktop…there was a bright bluish green flash and a dull thud as the carcass of the dog fell beside his feet….although his eyes were closed he could feel the heat and smell the burning of fur and flesh….what happened? He slowly opened his eyes and looked down at his feet…the dog was laying crumpled beside him…burnt and smoking from the chemical reaction with flame….but….the gas was off… He looked up across the room to see the woman standing by the gas mains…she was slumped down beside the lever used to turn on the main gas supply and wasn’t moving…at the last second she must have turned on the gas and set the Bunsen off. He slowly stepped over the burning remains of the dog and walked towards her….she seemed unconscious…she had saved him…she had used all she had to get back to him and save him…her eyes were closed and she was barley breathing…he had to do something now. He could feel the tears coming again…he had cried enough today….his mother…the whole situation was to much for him…everything he had gone through throughout the whole day…it was all too much, And now the woman he had saved from this hell was going to end up with the same fate as the rest of those…things He had to do something to save her…he couldn’t let her die like this…not after everything they had done….he slowly picked her up and tried to carry her over to the desk…she was too heavy and her skin felt so cold but at the same time her face was burning up…almost all the colour had drained from her and she looked a pale grey…maybe he was to late…no he had to do something. He lay her by the desk softly and began taking off the bandage on her arm, he should at least change that to stop any infection or anything. He stepped back in shock… the bite on her arm was black and swollen…it looked like it was rotting, a faint smell of off meat was in the air…he couldn’t tell if it was from the wound or from the smoking corpse of the burnt dog. He only had light pain killers and they wouldn’t do much to help her…although she didn’t seem to be in pain…she had been much calmer than him the whole time…when he saved her in the house she was panicking and didn’t even know what was going on around her …but now she was more docile… Maybe he could find more powerful drugs to help her….maybe if he could get her to the main science complex he could find something there….he had to get her there, but she was so heavy he was only able to move her a few feet to the desk she was now propped against…her eyes closed and a look of peace on her face…for now. He decided maybe it would be best to leave her here for now…he couldn’t risk trying to drag her across the courtyard with those things charging at the gate…if they broke through he wouldn’t be able to make it back to the room with her in time…it would be best for him to go alone and find what he needed to help her…there had to be something in there for if an accident occurred in one of the labs, he was positive. He slowly got back to his feet, taking one last look at her he turned back to the main door and headed back out into the courtyard….the crashing sound of rotting flesh on metal had stopped…maybe the dogs had given up and gone to prey on other victims…maybe they were waiting for him in the shadows…although they were dead they still had their dangerous sense of hunting and stalking prey…he was sure he’d seen collars on some of them with markings of the local police department….trained attack dogs for swat teams and k9 units….although they were dead they were still fast…faster than the stumbling “zombies” that plagued the once busy streets of the city. The huge storm clouds that had heaved over head all night were now beginning to fade and stars could be seen through patches of the night sky….the pale moonlight of a heavy full moon shone over the courtyard giving it a dull grey look…the street outside was still, shadow thrown over part of the road from the huge school walls that lined the buildings…the streetlights that dotted the pavements were out…the electricity was probably out….not a good sign…the main power plant was in the centre of town, probably over run by those things...although the school had its own generator he didn’t think it would last that long….if they even survived that long. He looked around the courtyard for a moment…watching shadows dance on the road of the street…there was a light breeze in the air that blew through trees and bushes surrounding the main gate…everything was deadly quiet…no sounds of shouting or screaming…no barking or gunshots…it was dead quiet… he turned in the direction of the science building…it towered over the other older school buildings, it was at least 3 stories high and probably had a basement or something…he wasn’t sure…over the past few weeks the building had been off limits to most of the students in the school…all but A* pupils “ the top in their class” were allowed into the off limit areas…god knows why…the school wasn’t some centre of excellence….it was a regular school for god sake…for kids like him…dumb ass degenerate kids.. he slowly walked towards the main doors of the science building…his footsteps causing echoes in the empty dead courtyard. He’d only actually been in the building once when it was first opened and the whole school was taken for a tour of their wonderful new science labs…well most of them anyway from what he remembered there were elevators running the 3 stories and a stairway used in case of fire, so getting around wouldn’t be difficult…the hard part was finding what he wanted, something…anything to help her. He pushed the main doors open and walked into the large white room that was the main reception, it was furnished in white leather waiting chairs and there were pictures on the walls of various doctors and science teachers that had served at the school over the years….served…he though back to the idea that the whole place was just a prison to keep kids off the street and out of trouble…the teachers just acting prison wardens from 9-315 everyday….but not today…there wouldn’t be classes tomorrow…there wouldn’t be crowded halls of kids shouting and screaming as they went to class, he walked up to the main desk and peered at the visitors book…mainly just supplies and medical equipment delivered…although the same name would pop up over and over…Umbrella….the name was down maybe 3-4 times a day…various deliveries of chemicals and equipment. He frowned, picking up the log book and sitting down on a nearby chair…it felt nice and comfortable…a welcome change from running through the streets of hell being chased by the walking dead. He flicked through the pages of the book… Monday 8:15am - umbrella - delivery of chemicals….Monday 9:30 am - umbrella - second delivery of chemicals… it seemed harmless…umbrella must have been a medical and scientific supply company or something.. still frowning he flicked back to the start of the log…it seemed like umbrella was more than just some medical supplier…there were logs of deliveries of equipment ranging from the lab gear to machines and things he hadn’t even heard of… could umbrella have been the ones that coughed up the money to even build this place? His mind was wondering as he heard a ruffle behind him….he froze for a second and slowly looked behind him…from the shadows a talk figure was moving in his direction…slowly pulling one foot forward at a time…dragging its lifeless body out of the dark unforgiving shadows. he stood for a moment looking the creature up and down…it was what used to be a lab tech…or so he though…it was dressed in a long white lab coat…stains down the front and soaked in black blood down one side…the other sleeve was torn and he could see brown and green coloured flesh poking out through the ripped, stained cloth of the coat.. it slowly dragged itself towards him…one foot turned slightly sideways...its trousers stained with dark oily blood…its eyes were in shadow showing only deep and dark eye sockets…skin peeling from its face and lips…one of its arms were out stretched….its long bone like fingers clutching at the air in front of it, blood and dirt dripped onto the white polished floor as it slowly shuffled towards him…its mouth slowly opening as if to scream in rage or pain…its lips tearing as it ground what was left of its teeth, saliva and blood dripping down from its gaping mouth. It was pathetic….now that he had got a better look at one of those things he could see they were only a threat if they were in packs or confined spaces…in the open room of the reception he could have easily walked away and it would never have caught up with him…HA he could hop on one leg backwards and that thing would still be as far away from him as it was now. Suddenly and completely taking him off guard it threw it self at him with a hideous moan.. he lost his balance jumping backwards and fell to the cold hard floor, hitting his head…for a moment everything was dark.. he felt sick and dizzy…opening his eyes the ceiling above him was spinning, he pulled himself up into a sitting position and in horror looked down at his feet…the creature was feet away from him… dragging its corpse across the floor.. leaving a dragged stain of black and brown blood…its long fingers cutting into the polished floor as it pulled its weight towards his feet… he quickly scrambled backwards in panic until he hit the siding of the front desk…raising his arms up he frantically yanked himself to his feet and stood for a second, his heart beating a thousand times a minute, his vision still a little blurred and dizzy from the bump on the back of his head. Stupid…stupid ..STUPID ……..he had acted so careless…almost mocking the creature as it slowly shuffled at him…and all the time he had forgotten how bad those things were…he had learnt a lesson here…..no matter how slow and docile these things were he couldn’t play around like that. Again the feeling of pity for the corpse came over him…that used to be a human being…a guy with a job and probably a wife….kids…now he was nothing…a corpse dragging its lifeless husk around the reception looking for flesh….his pity soon turned to rage and hate…..that wasn’t human anymore….that wasn’t a human being, that thing wasn’t even alive! He slowly walked towards one of the white leather chairs and picked it….he walked back to the zombie standing just far enough away from its stretched out arms, ragged and withered…skin and muscle hanging from its hands, the creature was still on the floor….it probably couldn’t get up now anyway. He lifted the chair as high as he could hold it and slammed the base down over the creatures scabby bolding head, there was a huge crack and the body went limp, he stood for a moment watching the pool of black oily blood seep from under the chair staining the finely polished white floor like storm clouds on a summer day…he stood back as not to be caught in the river of blood oozing from the corpse…a sick rotten smell had filled the room….he had been out side almost all night and this was the first time he had come in contact with the smell…..of rotten dead flesh and muscle….it was almost too much, it smelt like off meat or milk that had been left out for too long, a sour smell that made him feel like he was going to me sick. He walked quickly away from the bloody mess towards the entrance into the labs, he would start on the ground floor and work his way up until he could find the medical supplies he needed to help the woman…and with any luck he wouldn’t run into anymore doctors working overtime….he wanted to laugh at the thought…but he couldn’t, he felt drained from the night and non of this was funny. He pushed open the main doors to the first set of labs, they looked nothing like the old store room he was in before….the room was large with several rows of large desks, each with their own set of gas taps, bunsons and various other science kits…towards the front of the room was a large pull down screen with a projector pointed in its direction just in front of it, there was a thick smell of bleach in the air…which, happily to him had dampened down the smell of the rotting lab tech slumped on the floor of the reception to the far end of the lab was the elevator, and to the side of that another door leading out onto the stairway, he wasn’t in the mood for jogging up flights of stairs so the elevator would suit him fine, he slowly walked towards the elevator door, weaving through the desks and stools of the room….there didn’t seem to be anything useful on the ground floor so he decided to check the next level…hoping to find what he needed in time… he pushed down on the button and listened to the light hum of the elevator sturring into motion…the light above the door was set at the top floor and he waited impatiently for the light to change, still looking back to the reception door waiting for something else to crawl from the shadows craving for his blood. The humming of the elevator grew slightly louder as the car moved slowly down into position on the second floor….and then down again to him, he stood back expecting it to be full to bursting with dead rotting corpses, ready to spill out onto him as soon as the doors were open. There was a light ping from the controls and the elevator doors opened slowly, sliding apart to show what looked like an empty car….he walked slowly towards the opened doors trying not to make noise on the bleached tiles of the lab, he stood for a moment at the entrance, his heart beating out of his chest…slowly he walked in, and threw himself at the side wall in terror….leaning slumped against the control panel of the opposite wall was another corpse, dressed like the one in the reception, a long white lab coat stained down the left side….although….this one didn’t look like the one in the reception, this one looked less deformed and rotten….its arms were down by its side and clutched in its right hand was a gun……a…..berretta, he remembered the model from a TV show he used to watch, a standard issue weapon for most of the cops in the area, 15 rounds of .9mm ammo. The creatures face was pale and blotchy, its eyes wide and glassed over, blood covered the left side of its head….it had…..the guy had shot himself…..that definitely looked like he had….from the look of the blood and the gun in his hand….it was like the guy knew what was going to happen to him and had killed himself before he could become on of those things………but how would he know? He slowly walked towards the body, the smell in the air was awful and he gagged as he got closer….in the corpses other hand was a small green card, it looked like a credit card or something… he laughed to himself, maybe the guy was trying to withdraw all the money he had before he died too… it wasn’t really funny but he had to keep his spirit up or the whole situation would emotionally and mentally crush him, he kneeled down by the body, its mouth wide open and dry…its lips dark grey, cracked and splitting….the smell was almost too much for him, reaching slowly forward, still with an eye on the creatures head…he tried to pry the gun from its withered bone like hand, its fingers clutching tight around the handle making it difficult for him to get a grip on. Riggamortis must have set in fast on this guy…he didn’t want to let go of the gun at all, and then finally with a light crack of bone and skin the gun came away and his heart lifted…..this wasn’t a pole, this was a gun!. He felt more safe now than he had all night, at least now he could protect himself without having to get physical….unless, a fresh wave of fear came over him….quickly he ejected the clip from the base of the gun and hoped and prayed there would at least be a bullet, even if he would have to use it on himself like the tech……..he pushed the thought away and looked into the clip, he slowly smiled as he counted the rounds.…..9…10. yes!!! There was enough there to keep him going long enough to maybe find more…..what’s a gun without a supply of ammo……maybe there were more clips or boxes of .9mm in the other rooms…….but……this is a school building, his heart began to beat fast again…..what the hell was going on here?…..this is a science building of a damn school…why is there a lab technician walking around with a loaded hand gun?….. he wanted to push that thought away too but he was beginning to wonder more and more about what the hell they were doing in this place….and was that company involved? Umbrella? Maybe the chemicals they were supplying were toxic or maybe something had gone wrong…..too many thoughts were running through his head, he couldn’t think straight……no……this is a school, this is a science building of a school, one of those things got in here and did this to the other techs….. that had to be it. He looked back at the card, slowly pulling it from the icy stiff grasp of the tech, on closer inspection it just looked like an ordinary credit card, there was a metal strip from end to end and “B1” etched in black in the corner, he had no idea what this was or where to use it…..it could be a damn library card for all he knew…still it wouldn’t hurt to keep hold of it in case he found a way to use it, like to jimmy open a locked door….not that he knew how to do that, or maybe rent out a book on how to get the hell out of this horror……he chuckled to himself again, the gun had calmed him down dramatically, he almost felt relieved holding it in his sweating hand, it was heavy and no doubt would kick him hard when……if he fired it, when he was younger he remembered shooting cans with an old bb gun he had…..it was nothing like a real gun but it still had the kick back and would make his arm and shoulder ache like hell, he imagined this would kick back and ache 10 times as hard and probably hurt him as much as it would for whatever he shot at …..but still this was protection……this felt good. He tucked the heavy gun into his jeans and slowly stood up, his legs ached and he felt so tired…all he had done all night was run through this hell, he could really do with a rest and time to collect his thoughts on what was going on around him but he knew he didn’t have time….he had to find something for the woman and help her. He wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans and looked down on the corpse lying below him, quietly thanking whoever that used to be for the gun and card, his hands were shaking although he felt much calmer now than through the whole night. He looked at the control panel for the elevator, it was a plane metal sheet with three buttons for the floors, an emergency stop and what looked like an intercom…probably hooked up to reception, below the levels was what looked like another button but was covered over by another sheet of metal. Since he was on the ground floor the only way seemed up so he pushed down lightly on the button on the first floor watching the doors come together beside him…a light hum and he was moving upward. The elevator came to a light stop and there was a ping from the controls, the doors slowly shifted open to show the first floor, slowly he stepped out into the doorway….not taking his chances with just walking right out there….any number of those techs could be out there and he didn’t want to waste the ammo in the Beretta. Looked around the room it seemed empty, almost identical to the ground floor but this one seems advanced slightly…there were shelves around the room stacked with flasks of chemicals and huge thick medical and science textbooks…..this was probably for higher grade students or something. He stepped out into the room trying to make as little noise as possible on the polished floor as he could…the room was dark, all but the light shining in from the elevator door casting long shadows through the room from the high desks…anything could be in the shadows….anyone. there had to be a light switch some where on the wall beside him and he held his hand slowly to the side of him…feeling for the switch, fresh memories flooding back into his mind of his own home….the darkness and feeling for a light switch….the whole time his own mother was stalking him ready to tear into his flesh and kill him, not even a thought of the fact he was her son… the whole night hadn’t properly set in on him, he hadn’t had time to think through anything….or mourn for his mother, he had been too shocked, too terrified to do anything but run and try to survive…he wanted out of this, and as soon as he could find what medical supplies he needed he would help the woman and they could hold up in one of the rooms till morning and wait for help….there had to be help coming…people do not just ignore the dead walking…although it had happened so fast those things were everywhere before he even knew what was going on, those……zombies…he felt stupid saying that, zombies are in video games and horror films….zombies aren’t your neighbour, or your friends or…or… he felt tears welling again and he tried as best as he could to push the thoughts away. Someone had to come to help…that’s if there was anyone left alive to help… His hand met with the cool feel of the plastic switch…and he slowly flicked it on, the room lit up with brilliant white light and his eyes strained to focus on the room…..quickly scanning for the shuffling corpses he had expected…he was alone. at least he had a chance to search the room without having to kill any of those things in the process, as with downstairs the room was set with a projector and screen at the far end of the room and desks lined in rows of 5 facing toward it, although this room had a lot more advanced scientific equipment on the desks and surrounding tables…on the walls were tables and charts for various chemicals and materials…most of which had made no sense to him whatsoever ….not that it mattered, science was never his strong point. He walked slowly to the shelves lining the near wall for anything he could use, there were flasks of liquids of all different colours and sizes each marked with symbols and names he couldn’t even start to pronounce…..each one marked with a circle carved in red and white…..he had seen that somewhere before but…..he couldn’t remember where but he was sure he had seen that symbol somewhere before, there didn’t seem to be anything he could use on the shelves unless he had 6 or 7 years worth of chemistry in his head and he knew he was running out of time……there had to be a first aid kit somewhere or at least something like morphine……would that even help her?……he pushed the thought aside and continued to search alone the shelves of the room, there were various textbooks with titles of various medical and scientific studies and practices……but nothing useful….he was still hopeful, there was another 2 floors to search and they had to at least have some form of first aid or this place would be one hell of a health hazard. He finished his search of the shelves and looked towards the far side of the room, there were windows lining the back of the room looking out into the black glumness of the night…he slowly walked towards the window and peered out, even from the first floor he had a good view of the surrounding streets….those things were everywhere…even in the pale moonlight he could make out the shadows and silhouettes of rotting walking corpses littering the streets, from where he was looking he could see at least 15 or 20 bodies walking aimlessly through the streets, more and more emerging from the shadows of the tall houses that lined the street…..what had happened here…how had it spread so fast and…….why had he not been affected, he hadn’t been bitten by any of those things and he had only had a few scuffles with the dogs…..so how else could it have affected the whole town like this??. He slowly stepped away from the window shaking away the shock, he had much more searching to do before he could sit and ponder what had happened here. Turning away from the window he walked back to the elevator and calmly stepped back inside…the corpse still dumped beside the controls, the stench coming from it was so intense…..the smell of decaying rotting flesh and muscle was too much for him to bear and he felt it would be best not to take the corpse alone with him for the ride up to the next floor…so slowly edging his foot to the creature he tried to slide it away from the wall and get it out of the doors completely, the creature lurked forwards and fall to the floor with a wet crunch causing him to jump backwards…..it was dead, but then so was everything else that had attacked him that night he couldn’t blame himself for being jumpy of even the smallest thing. Standing behind the creature he placed his foot on its rotten back and pushed its limp body out the elevator doors a black stain of blood trickling out from under the corpse as he forced it out onto the polished floor of the lab, the thick smell of death still filled the car and the sooner he was on the second floor the better for his lungs….the smell was awful and he could feel his stomach knotting, he pushed down on the cool metal button for the second floor and the doors closed blocking out the slumped corpse of the tech, taking short breaths he impatiently waited for the car to come to a stop at the second floor so he could get out of the cloud of death around him…the stench was making his eyes water. After a short time the hum died down and the door slowly shifted open…a fresh wave of rotten air filled the car and he felt his stomach turn….it was ten times as worse as before…….and from the darkness of the room came the first low moan…then a gurgling wail came from the other side and light shuffling of shoes on the hard polished floor…..he wasn’t alone. He stood as far back in the elevator car as he could, squinting into the darkness of the second floor lab, listening carefully for the sounds of the shuffling…trying to gage in his mind where and how far they were away from him on the still darkness….he could hear gurgling chokes and slight movement to the left of the open doors…maybe 4 or 5 feet away from him….soft strokes of its shoes scraping the floor as it slowly dragged it self forwards, stopping for seconds and then dragging another step, slowly moving closer towards the door…lie it already knew he was there…like he was some beacon for those things, giving of something that drew them to him, the need for blood. He reached down into his jeans pulling out the heavy Beretta, his heart was thumping out of his chest, firmly holding the handle in one hand he pulled down the chamber, loading the gun with a faint click. His hands were shaking but he could hold the gun steady enough to get a shot off at whatever was dragging it self towards the open doors, he remembered their weaknesses…..the head….no where else seemed to have any affect on them….most that he had seen were rotting on the spot they stood on, flesh and bone torn and broken, but out of all the ones he had killed it was the head every time….he shook himself out of his thoughts as he heard the heavy wheezing from just behind the elevator doors, his heart was racing….the sound was like someone was trying to clear their throat….a sick wet choking sound…and the awful smell of rotting meat, he waited as slowly a curled, mangled set of bone like fingers stretched around the frame of the door, the choked wheezing sound louder and the smell almost unbearable, he held the gun out in the direction of the withered hand and waited, it felt like time had stopped for a moment…..just waiting for the rotting carcass to stumble in to view so he could blow its brains all over the room…..could he even do that?……the most he had ever shot at was birds and he could remember feeling guilty as hell if he actually hit one…….could he shoot this thing?…….could he even aim straight enough to hit the thing in the head?……how many rounds would it take? Too late to think, the creature slowly stumbled into view…the sickening stench wafting in around it. It was dressed in a brown stained lab coat….red and brown stains covered its legs and chest….blood slowly oozing from its clothes….its skin was grey and flaking and there were blisters and torn skin down each arm….he froze on the spot…the site of the thing was so much for him he felt numb….its grey face flaked and torn…its eyes sunk heavy in its eye sockets like black pools of oil…there was blood and spit dripping down its chin from its gaping mouth…wheezing heavily and rotating its jaw as if to scream in pain……..but no sound…….just the wet thick gurgling sound from its withered rotten throat. It slowly dragged it self into the doorway its feet dragging a smear of blood from around the corner of the doorway. Still holding the Beretta in front of the creature he looked into its eyes, blank and glassed over with a milky white film….staring through him as it slowly pulled it self towards him…wheezing and gurgling as its hands slowly raised up in a motion to grab at him, he aimed the gun as straight as he could, lining the sight up with the creatures head…its mouth gnashing and spluttering a blood drenched foam, almost rabid….he squeezed back on the trigger and the gun leapt in his hand. BANG again it felt like time had stopped, there was the shooting pain up his arm from the kick of the weapon, a huge echo as the noise of the shot filled the car making it sound twice as loud, the empty case of the bullet bouncing off the side wall of the car landing at his feet…and the creature reeling back, standing for a moment……the bullet had pierced its left temple splitting the side of its skull open, blood and grey matter gushed from the wound and with one last gurgling sigh the corpse fell to the floor in a crumpled heap, twitching slightly before laying still. His heart was racing and his hand and arm felt numb…he had never fired at a another living….well although he knew they were no longer living the shock was still there, he had fired a gun on another person and hit them in the head…a fatal shot to anyone whether they were the living dead or not.. he stood for a moment waiting for the shock to end and his heart beat to return to anywhere near normal. His arm still ached but it didn’t feel as bad now, he could hear more moaning from inside the room…the shuffling and dragging of feet coming closer again, the shot must have attracted the others towards him…and he didn’t even know how many others there were in there. he kicked at the corpse to get it out of the way of the elevator doors…this floor was not safe and even if there was a first aid kit in there he had to be alive himself to get back to the woman, running into a pitch black room with god knows how many more of them in there and limited ammo would be as good as going back outside and playing fetch with the dogs. With the corpse out of the way of the doors he pushed down on the button for the third and final floor…if he didn’t find anything on that floor he could always come back here and try to lure them like the first one…although he felt that was just pure luck that he had killed that thing so easily, and he didn’t think that doing it again would be as simple. The doors slowly began to close as the moaning came again…much closer than before, a stretched out torn arm came from out of the darkness grasping at the closing doors, there were chunks of flesh and muscle hanging down from its skeleton arm, and three of its fingers were missing on its hand….just small stumps of skin and bone, the door finally closed and the car jerked into action, the “zombie” was too slow to get into the car in time anyway……lucky. The car finally came to a stop on the final floor of the science building, holding the gun out he waited for the blood stained doors to shuffle open and then listened carefully for any noise… surprisingly the lights on this floor were on and from the angle he was looking the room seemed to be empty, it was much different to the labs below, there was a large table in the centre of the room covered in papers and files that had been knocked over and spilled over the floor surrounding it….like someone had been searching for something….chairs had been knocked down and there was a large desk to the right side of the room with its draws open and various pieces of paper and files thrown around it. He walked slowly to the table in the centre of the room, the gun still pointed out in front of him…there were bookshelves lining the walls of the room and four large filing cabinets on the left, the room was more of an office or research room than a lab and he didn’t see anything out of the ordinary…apart from the mess, like someone had torn the place apart looking for something. On the table was stacks of files and paper knocked into each other, most of the files had blank covers and seemed to be full of gibberish….talking about various chemicals and affects and stuff that made his head spin, he looked over towards the desk and a faint smell hit him, not like the rotten decay that was everywhere else in the building, but more of a burnt smell….beside the desk was a small steel waste paper bin and from where he was standing he could see faint trails of smoke coming from inside. Puzzled he slowly walked towards the desk….it was a huge thing with four draws on either side and a large central middle draw….all if them were open and the contence spilt out onto the floor and chair surrounding it, he set the gun down on the desk top and peered in to the bin…it was blackened and he could see paper and file covers in the ashes….why would someone burn medical files? Why not just use a shredder? Or just throw them away? He kicked the bin over with his foot and stood back as small embers of fire and ash fell out across the floor, he picked the gun back off the desk and began to prod through the burn remains….someone had done a good job of getting rid of whatever it was. Using the barrel of the gun he nudged the remains of a file from the turned over bin and out onto the floor, it was still smoking slightly but it was probably the least damaged, picking it up slowly he blew away the ash and dust from the cover and looked down at the small symbol he had seen on the bottles of the labs below him….and thinking about it…..he knew he had seen the symbol before…the tanker! He could remember seeing a symbol on the side of the tanker, a circle with red and white stripes like an upturned umbrella…things were starting to make horrible sense but he still wasn’t sure what the hell was happening here…maybe the file could help. He opened the crumpling cover of the file and began to read, it looked like a log of something, maybe an experiment or something like that ….there were various dates and entries dating back to around the same time as the log book downstairs, Monday 28th x month x year: first shipment arrived along with the stasis equipment for housing the new M121 I’m proud to say that the strand of “T virus” we are using on this one will work like no other and as long as the labs cover isn’t blown we will be able to get on with things without any further delays. Thursday 31st x month x year : the work on the M121 is underway and he is responding well to the “T virus” everything is running as smoothly as expected and the final stages of mutation should occur within the week and my promotion out of this dump will follow no doubt. Friday 1st x month x year: we have run into a minor set back, the M121 has stopped responding to the virus and now seems to be in a dormant “still life”…probably something wrong with the bloody stasis tube…those techs don’t know shit about what they are doing or how important this experiment is…my promotion can wait for now I guess… Monday 4th x month x year : a late start today, first the damn lift wont accept my card and then we have a power outage in one of the control consoles, the techs can deal with that I have more important things to think about….the M121 has started to tumour around its shoulders and head, what looks like thick red bubbles of tumour are formed around the skull and collar bones, although worrying this is also an exciting find as the “T virus” seems to be acting differently in this one…interesting. Tuesday 5th x month x year: more problems, last night the school janitor came close to blowing the cover of this whole operation…a few words of warning and some cash should keep him from causing anymore problems. I stood by the stasis tank this morning just watching my creation….just watching the beauty I have formed with my sweat and blood…the tumours seem more of growths now, over its skull and shoulders are large bulbous mass of red muscle like bubbles, and apart from a small amount of decay that can be compensated for, everything is going superbly to plan…my promotion looks back on track. Thursday 7th x month x year : more problems have arisen, after an inspection from one of the pencil pushers back in HQ the funding for this experiment is being cut…umbrella have deemed my work a failure and a waste of funds and effort…my beautiful creation is not to standard and as far as those bastards care I should just pull the plug now….I just need a little more time and the final stages will be complete…still there are a few more shipments to come before they close me down…we shall see. Friday 8th x month x year : the final shipments arrive today by tanker, since they wont be making any further trips here they have decided to post minimum safety protocols on the tanker and are just sending it for what is probably another weeks worth of research and experimentation before they send in a clean up crew and close this lab down…..my precious creation will no doubt be terminated without question and my research dubbed as a waste of resources and time…bastards…they wont take this from me, the work is almost complete on the M121 and if needs come to it I wont hesitate in setting it free from its cryo stasis… the rest of the pages are badly burnt and only small parts can be made out as he squints to read the charred sentences, ………………accident………lab tech………infest…………t virus……….. the rest of the file is too scorched to make out but what he had read had spoken for it self……this science building was just a cover over for a secret lab being run by a medical and pharmaceutical company experimenting with some virus…and from reading the file it had seemed that some sort of accident had happened and whatever the T virus was it had escaped and infected the workers…probably the techs he had been killing since he had entered the building. He stood back up and dropped the charred file back into its burnt grave, he wasn’t going to stay here any longer…he would find the medical kit and get the hell out of this place, as he turned he noticed a small piece of paper stuffed in between the middle draw of the desk, he slowly prised it from its hiding place and strained to read the shaky written stained and blotchy ink, “To whomever reads this note….know that I am now probably dead….I evacuated the lab and did what I could to shut down the main systems….most if not all of my research is lost….one of those god damn techs released the T virus into the lab and subsequently through the air conditioning into the main building it self…I, no doubt am now infected along with anyone else in this building….I have locked down the basement and only my card can reopen the lift controls to get down there, also any research and data on the experiments have been burnt or destroyed to cover any tracks. by now the virus would have spread to a short distance to the areas around the school and infected anything and anyone who came in contact with it, although by now it would have burnt it self out and become harmless…in short this is a disaster…I have armed myself and shall try to find a way to contact the tanker on its way here with another supply of T virus chemicals to avoid any further disaster although it looks dire….I was forced to put an end to several of the workers in the lab due to the advanced stages of the virus and my precious M121 is now welling in life support and will surely perish if left unattended. The situation has worsened I cannot reach the tanker and it way past its checkpoint there for I can only expect that something has happened and that things are going to get much worse….even now I can feel the dizzy spells and itchy rashes that show the first signs of infestation by the T virus…..I shall haul up in the elevator until help arrives, it looks too late for me and I shall probably be forced to turn my gun on myself….. tell Margaret I love her and i'm so sorry Dr john Payne” he dropped the note and turned back towards the elevator…..basement lab, secret elevator, a virus and an M121 what the hell was that?…what were they hiding down there? it was now blatantly obviously that this horror had started here and that umbrella was responsible for it all, he felt mixed emotions of rage and sadness at once….hate for what happened here and for the bastards that had caused this horror, and at the same time sadness for the people that worked here, they were normal people too…they had loved ones and friends like anyone else and they were only doing their jobs, he expected the techs working down there didn’t even know what it was they were working on never mind what could happen. He stood for a moment staring into the elevator, a million thoughts running through his head like a huge puzzle… how did the virus spread like that when the guy in the note said it would have only travelled a short distance before it would burn it self out and become harmless….the creatures roaming around outside….they are probably carriers of the virus and the decay and rot must be caused from exposure, it was slowly coming together all apart from one thought that suddenly dawned on him. his eyes lit up wide with shock….he never even considered it……was he infected? The spill started in the science building of the school…..the school he had been in the whole day…..if it had all started here and spread through the surrounding buildings then he had to have been infected too….although he hadn’t felt sick or dizzy or any of the symptoms described in the note, or had he suffered like the woman he had saved….bitten by a carrier of the virus. Maybe the spill had happened after he had left the school…..he wouldn’t be infected but……shit the tanker…he felt his heart beating faster again as a new wave of horror came over him….the tanker was full of virus chemicals……if he had just missed the spill in the school then he would definitely have been infected by the gas seeping from the tanker…if that hadn’t gotten him then he was impossibly lucky. He was suddenly jerked from the worried thoughts in his head when he heard a low hum over the still of the dead night, he turned back to the window and strained to see out into the darkness of the dead city, a faint light was piercing through the shadow of the night sky down onto the streets in front of the school, veering left and right from somewhere above the light cloud that had begun to form around the cold pale moon…a silhouette could be seen slowly moving forwards from over the rooftops of the houses, its only give away being the light hum of an engine…a helicopter. He watched as it slowly came from the shadows, the search light lighting up the street in front of the school revealing the bodies of the walking dead, stumbling and raising their arms, attracted by the sudden burst of light. He couldn’t make out the size or shape of it but he knew it was a helicopter from the sound of the engine and propellers gently whirling in the cold night air….help had arrived, it had to be help…the government had sent in the army to save the city and kill everyone of those flesh eating monsters….to come and save him and the woman….he could feel the horror of the night coming to an end. The chopper slowly came into view, it was long with a sleek black shell, almost invisible in the dark of the night, the moons rays lighting up the spinning blades like some bizarre windmill, it was getting closer and closer to the school, the hum of the engine still faint but slowly growing louder as it crept through the night towards the school, getting closer and closer Then the searchlight cut and the chopper began to set for a landing inside the school grounds, by the courtyard, it dropped into position within seconds and slowly touched down on the courtyard grounds, leaves and dirt picked up and whipped around the rotors of the choppers blades, sets of small wheels coming from under the base and touching the concrete with ease. The second that the helicopter hit the ground the hatch opened and maybe five or six marines dived down to the concrete securing the area with what looked like machine guns…the good guys. The chopper then slowly picked up and lifted back into the night sky, .......and as it faded away into the night so did his feelings of excitement and hope….printed on the side of the lifting chopper was a small circle carved in red and white…..Umbrella. The chopper slowly came into view, it was long with a sleek black shell, almost invisible in the dark of the night, the moons rays lighting up the spinning blades like some bizarre windmill, it was getting closer and closer to the school, the hum of the engine still faint but slowly growing louder as it crept through the night towards the school, getting closer and closer Then the searchlight cut and the chopper began to set for a landing inside the school grounds, by the courtyard, it dropped into position within seconds and slowly touched down on the courtyard grounds, leaves and dirt picked up and whipped around the rotors of the choppers blades, sets of small wheels coming from under the base and touching the concrete with ease. The second that the helicopter hit the ground the hatch opened and maybe five or six marines dived down to the concrete securing the area with what looked like machine guns…the good guys. The chopper then slowly picked up and lifted back into the night sky, .......and as it faded away into the night so did his feelings of excitement and hope….printed on the side of the lifting chopper was a small circle carved in red and white…..Umbrella. The squad split in to groups of two and began to sweep across the courtyard securing the entrance points to the buildings and the main gates, each man was dressed in a dark uniform and carried a machine gun which glittered in the pale moonlight. After securing the courtyard the umbrella marines returned back into a group and stood for a moment in the centre of the courtyard….from what he could see the squad leader was issuing orders by the way the marines were huddled, the silver moon shining down over their suits giving them an eerie outline, outside the gates the swarm of bodies had begun to form, attracted by the sudden movement and sound of the helicopter, dragging their lifeless bodies from every dark alleyway and street corner, there had to be 50 or 60 of them slowly shifting down the small streets towards the gates, moaning and growling as they crawled and limped, although the marines didn’t seem to notice this…or they didn’t care. There was a nod all round from the squad and they slowly started for the medical buildings entrance, scanning the courtyard with their weapons…one carried a heavy looking shotgun and the rest machine guns, it wouldn’t be long till they were at the entrance and on their way up to him, he had to get out of the building before he was caught and no doubt killed by the cleanup squad. He couldn’t go down since they would no doubt spot him or hear the elevator, and it was too far to drop from the windows, he would be dead the second he hit the floor….he was trapped….unless he could try and hide down in the lab that was somehow hidden in the lower level of the building, at least then he could hide until they had finished their search…thoughts were racing through his head….what if he didn’t get there in time?…what if they were going to go down to the lab in the first place?…but he had the card key ….what if they had one too??…he was starting to panic as he watched the silhouettes of the marines disappear beneath the window and into the main reception of the science building…first two securing the door and then the others slowly moving inside…they would find the body of the creature he killed with the chair and no doubt be extra cautious of someone else being in the building…damn He felt into his pocket and pulled out the small credit card shaped key and turned back to the elevator…he was going to go down and hide there until they had gone….it wasn’t the best option but it was the only one he had…they would no doubt tear each floor apart looking for any small scrap of evidence that there was a spill here and he was hoping and preying they wouldn’t know how to get down into the lab…the main problem now was….what was down there….what was the M121 and how many more of those dead techs were crawling through the lab…maybe there was a cure down there…they had to have some kind of a cure incase something like this happened…he could search for it while he was there and hide out until they had gone…then he would come back and save the woman and take her back down there with him, they could hide there until all this shit was over and then get the hell out of this place, the idea was starting to sound promising but weather it would all be as peachy as he was hoping was another matter all together….still he had no options and he was not about to take on a trained squad of killers with a Beretta and maybe 8 or 9 bullets, this was his only option and his only hope of making it out alive, with his heart beating out of his chest he slowly walked into the elevator and looked down on the control panel. Under the main set of buttons, besides the sheet of metal was a slit into the main panel it self…probably where the card would go, still with his heart beating he slowly slotted the key card into the opening and stood back for a moment watching the sheet of metal slowly slide down out of view. Inside the small hole was another button clearly marked "B1"…the lab, he pushed down on the button and the lift slowly jittered back into movement, he stood back again clutching the gun nervously in his hand…it felt more heavy than ever as he held it in his hand…he had 8 bullets left in clip even though he was sure there would be more ammo in the room he had searched, still it was better than a pole or nothing at all. The lift continued its decent, as it passed the second floor he heard the moaning and wheezing of the creatures inside…there must have been 5 or 6 of them in there, it had been a very good idea to leave that room well alone…but maybe now he could use it to his advantage, when he would get to the lab he would just simply hit the button for the lift to raise back to the second floor and hope that the light of the elevator would attract enough of the creatures to enter it, then when the marines tried the lift they would have a surprise to deal with and hopefully get him some extra time to hide somewhere until they had gone. The lift came to a stop on the ground floor and to his surprise the doors started to slide open, he quickly pressed himself against the side wall as the ground floor lab came into view, in the reception ahead he could hear the faint voices of the marines…did they hear the elevator? He slammed the button to close the doors with his shaking palm and prayed they would close before anyone noticed…his heart was beating and he felt sick, as the doors took what felt like hours to close again…he was safe again, for now. The hum if the lift finally died down and the doors opened again….he was in the basement, the minute the doors opened the car was filled with a rotten musty smell…the same smell as the other rooms but this one was much worse, stronger, there was a smell like rotten eggs and meat and death in the air, the air was cold and dead, and although he was dry from the rain he was beginning to shiver. Slowly he walked out into a long hallway lit with overhead lights built into the ceiling, on the walls and floor were large arrows painted in an industrial yellow and caution signs etched below the, on the signs were large carved biohazard symbols and various codes and numbers that made no sense to him. The hallway stretched off into the dim lit distance to the right and seemed to come to a dead end just feet away from him on the left. He leaned back into the car and pressed down on the button for the second floor, praying that at least 2 or 3 of those things would crawl in and give him time to find somewhere good to hide, stepping back out he started down the long cold hallway, his footsteps echoing all around him. At the end of the hallway was a large metal door, from the distance he had walked down the stretching hallway he wasn’t sure if he was under the school anymore…the door was huge and probably 6inches thick, on one side of the door was a metal box set into the wall, there was a small control panel etched into the middle with a slit…just like the lift. He took out the key card once more and pushed it gently into the slit, there was a low hum and the sound of heavy locks moving and the door slowly slid open on metal runners in the ceiling and floor, a fresh wave of rotten stench wafted into the stale hallway making him feel sick again, slowly raising the gun he walked into the lab, his heart beating and his hands shaking. The hallway he was now in branched off into a T junction, the lights were low and the smell was unbearable, there was a puddle of dark liquid towards the right turning of the hallway and a bloodied handprint on the wall beside it, something terrible had happened here, he remembered the note and how the doctor had locked off the lab… he had no idea how many people had worked down here, but he knew that they had all been left to die…locked away underground with those things that used to be their fellow workers and friends. He walked slowly towards the puddle…aiming his gun between the junction at the end of the hall…he could hear a chomping sound and what sounded like a grinding of teeth, there was an awful smell coming from around the left corner and he could see that the blood was trailing in that direction…maybe someone was dying back there…if only he was that lucky, avoiding the blood he pushed himself slowly against the wall and listened to the sound….a grinding sound followed by silence and then another chomp like someone biting into a huge hamburger…he could feel the sweat building up on his forehead….it was too hot in this hallway, compared to the cold dark hall connected to the elevator….the air in this hall was hot and sickening…they probably shut the air conditioning off to stop anymore contamination. Eventually he gained the courage to peer slowly around the corner to see what was making the noise…and he suddenly felt numb, slumped just feel from him was an arm…jagged teeth marks could be seen across the wrist and there were at least three fingers missing…blood was seeping from the bite wounds and a ragged bone was showing from where it should have been connected to the rest of some ones body. He had to turn back away for a moment, concentrating on not throwing up all over the hall… the skin of the arm was blistered and grey, seeping a dark scarlet blood. After a short moment he felt calm again and slowly looked back around the corner….he heard the chomping sound again and a loud crack like someone breaking a chicken bone, from further up the hallway a small trickle of blood began to form from the shadows…the light was low but he could make out the shadow like form of someone…thing, leaning over another body…the chomping sound continued and the slow grinding of bone…one of those things was eating another, he didn’t wasn’t to believe it and for a moment it didn’t register in his brain that someone was chewing on the remains of another human being. Then the sound stopped and he saw though the shadows the figure raise up slowly and walk from the darkness, a dirty bloodied lab coat was the first thing he saw from the shadows…drenched in dark blood, then the creature came into the low lights of the over head lamps…its head was withered and wrinkled….its eyes sunken deep into its eye sockets…its whole face and mouth covered in blood….the creature opened its mouth and wheezed, blood dripped from its cracked withered lips and it slowly dragged itself towards him from its shadowed meal. He stepped back a few paces and raised the gun, aiming roughly where its head was, hoping his lucky aim would last…and fired a shot, the bullet smacked into the creatures neck just below its bloodied chin, causing it to fall sideways against the cold concrete wall, blood spurted from the wound splashing down, decorating the wall in a dark red. It slumped against the wall with a wet slap and slowly began to drop to the floor, blood still gushing down over its stained coat and the floor surrounding, its arms stretched out into the air clawing at nothing with its long rotten fingers. He stood for a moment watching the creature thrash its arms through the stale air…unaffected by the fatal shot to the neck that would have caused it to bleed to death if it was anything close to human, it slowly reared forwards and fell onto its bloodied chest, face down on the bloodied cold floor in a growing stagnant pool of its own blood, it began to wheeze and groan and slowly lifted its self into a crawling position, blood and flesh dropping down from its stained coat and chest, slowly raising one arm in front of the other and dragging its lifeless body over the concrete floor of the hallway…leaving a dark red stain of blood behind it. It was too slow to reach him even if he stood around for a minute…but after the experience in the reception of the science building he wasn’t going to take any chances, he walked slowly to the groaning corpse and aimed the gun down on its balding scabby head, he could see the blistered skin under what was left of its thinned hair, then without a thought or remorse he pulled the trigger once again…this time he couldn’t miss, the bullet hit its skull at almost point blank range and shattered the top of its head like a mini explosion, blood and bone lifted into the air and fell around the hallway with a light patter and the lifeless husk fell still and limp, It wasn’t going to crawl anymore As he stepped over the body he looked down the hallway towards the shadowed darkness where the creature had come from…the overhead lamp was off and small sparks could be seen flickering from inside the cover…the end of the hallway was in almost complete darkness but as he squinted to adjust to the light he could see the faint outline of a door and a large shadowed body slumped against the wall beside it…most probably the owner of the arm…he couldn’t make out anymore from the darkness surrounding it and he thought it would be best to leave it to his imagination. He turned back around and walked towards the other side of the hallway, stepping carefully over the twitching corpse of the creature he had killed just moments ago, back to the T junction…he could hear something from when he had originally entered the lab a light hum and then a familiar ping sound…the elevator… but he had the key they wouldn’t be able to get in without that…he pressed himself against the wall of the T junction and watched for the heavy steel door at the end of the hallway to suddenly open and marines pour into the hall…but for a moment …nothing. He heard faint voices from the other side of the door, they were low and he could only just make out what one of the marines were saying…something about a torch? As he watched there was a bright blue flash from the bottom corner of the door…bright blue sparks lit up the darkness of the hallway as a thin line of blue formed at the corner….they were cutting through the door!…so much for his key card… Within second the blinding blue light had carved through half of the left side of the door and it wouldn’t be long before they could start on the other side…he had to move and get out of there. He turned and began to jog down the hallway…away from the corpse and the marines towards another heavy door…there was a marking on the side of the wall, large yellow letters spelling out “resource room”….he would head for there and hide until they had gone…or maybe they would go right and he could go back up the elevator and trap them down there….his heart was beating and his legs felt numb but he couldn’t stop now or he would be caught and killed for sure. The door leading into the resource room was identical to the one that had led him into this hallway with a small metal box to the side for a key card, he slammed the card into the slot and for a moment there was nothing…behind him he could hear the torch cutting through the last feet of the thick metal door and it felt like forever before the door finally began to shift open on its metal runners letting out a low creek as it did. The room ahead was dark and the smell was less intense, he quickly darted inside and slammed down on a button on the opposite side of the metal panel, slowly the door shifted back and as it was almost closed he heard the crash of the door in the hallway…they had finally cut through and even now he could hear the sounds of heavy boots echoing through the hallway. The door closed and the heavy “clunk” of the bolt set across the frame…at least he had time before they would start to cut through this door, the room was dark and he could only just make out a table in front of him just a few feet away…he felt around the near by wall for a switch or something to light up the room and his fingers touched a small panel…he could feel two small switches which he pressed hoping they would be for the lights. The room lit up with the low hum of over head spotlights…two large bulbs at the front and back of the room...he waited for a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light and scanned his new surroundings, there were large cabinets from wall to wall each stacked with various tubes flasks and bottles of chemicals of different colours and amounts, there was a large metal table in the centre of the room and a flip chart set on the wall behind it…to the left was a door, not like the others but a plane wooden door. On the table was a stack of files and spilt coffee mugs, their contence dried and stained on the dull metal. In the corner of the room something caught his eye, something was propped against a cabinet of chemicals in the shadows of the overhead lights, a dull shine of light reflecting off metal in the darkness of the corner, he slowly walked towards the object…the echo of his shoes filling the small room, behind him he could hear sounds of light gunfire, a sharp peppering sound coming from the opposite hallway…the marines had missed him completely and gone in the other direction… at least that would buy him some more time, and by the sound of the gunfight it wouldn’t take them long to sweep through the area and double back to him. He focused his attention on the object and kept on walking. The sweep had been as simple as planned, textbook drop from the chopper and standard sweep of the courtyard before moving into the surrounding buildings, only one survivor was found in a storage building next to the charred remains of a Cerberus class carrier but was too far gone to be considered for extraction. One of the men had thought he had heard the elevator sound as they had entered the main entrance of the science building but nothing suspicious…now they were inside the underground lab of umbrella, their main objective to obtain the sample of the T virus and destroy any evidence of umbrellas work along with any test subjects and infected workers, also if Dr Payne was still alive to return him to the extraction point for further investigation into the spill. Of the 6 man team there had been one casualty but he would pull through…when they had called the elevator somehow one of the carriers had gotten in and attacked Johnson when the doors had opened. The sweep of the lab had been easier than they had expected, the effects of the virus on the workers had reduced most of them to walking bags of puss and despatching them was simple. The squad commander was a large dark man, experienced in these kinds of missions, and although he had only read reports of the carriers he had handled the sweep to the best of his abilities…sweep and destroy any carriers with a shot to the head…aim high and what ever happens do not come into contact or be bitten due to the virus ability to cross from one person to another through blood and saliva. Johnson was the rookie of the squad and he had been bitten on the shoulder by one of those things when he was securing the elevator, although his temp was through the roof he seemed to be coping well and as long as they didn’t spend hours down in this dump he would get medical attention in time before the virus set in. The squad was currently regrouping in the second set of labs after an encounter with several of the infected workers after cutting through the main security doors, any evidence had to be destroyed along with any surviving test subjects locked away in cold storage…who knows what mutated freaks were being developed down here… The report had said that doctor Payne had thrown all his efforts into a hunter class and somehow mutated it further, increasing its strength, size and probably killing instinct…the hunters were not a class to play around with, they were already fast and very efficient killers in all field reports and tests with other subjects, and although Payne had made a breakthrough the pen pushers at umbrella had felt it was too expensive and time consuming to continue on just one subject. The next step of the objective was to set C4 charges in the main labs and resource rooms and any other area which could be traced back to umbrella after this hell was over with…there was already steps being taken to quarantine the town and stories were being made up to cover umbrella and blame some kind of tropical virus or contaminated water supply…anything but umbrellas fault, after the charges were set the squad was to pull back to the extraction point and await the chopper back to a secret base located outside the city for debriefing. He couldn’t make out what had caught his attention un till he was almost on top of it, the room was dimly lit from the overhead lamps and shadow was cast in every corner, making it easy for anyone….anything to lurk waiting for some unexpecting kid to walk along…he didn’t like the thought and quickly pushed it out of his head…if there was something in here with him it wouldn’t have spent all this time just standing there….those things out in the streets were drawn to him…like he had free buffet stamped to his forehead, they were driven to follow him even when their limbs were broken and they were literally dragging them selves across the floor… He slowly reached out into the shadows waiting to feel the cold wet feel of damp clothing or rotting flesh but his hand touched something hard and cold…like wood, he grasped the shape and pulled it from the shadows…it was a long piece of wood that felt like it weighed a ton, and as the object lit up so did his face…it was an axe, on the end of the wooden handle was a large, slightly rusted blade…still sharp enough to cut into one of those things…and even if it wouldn’t cut, the sheer force would cleave through anything in his way, and at least now he didn’t have to worry about finding ammo for the handgun…he was down to maybe 5 bullets although he wasn’t sure…he hadn't kept count. Holding the axe in his hand he slowly walked towards the wooden door at the end of the room, feeling a little better about his situation.. The door was just a plain wooden one which only held up to two blows from the hefty axe before spitting in half spraying dust and splinters into the hallway behind, the hall was dark and the light from the lamps on the door cast jagged shadows across the hallway walls, the sickly warm smell of rot seeped in making him feel sick again. He stepped out into the darkened hallway, checking both sides for any surprises that may be lurking in the shadows…for now he was alone, since he had no idea where he was going or what he would find he decided to turn left down the hallway to a silhouette of a door at the back of the hall... there had to be medical supplies somewhere and as soon as he could find them he would be out of this place faster than lightning. The door was another large thick slab of metal with a small square window in the centre and a key card slot on the right hand side…at least he had the key card and if he could get through as many of these as he could, just maybe he could put some distance between him and the squad of the marines He swiped the card through the slot and the door hummed into life slowly sliding across into a gap in the wall, whoever had built this complex had planned it well and the fact that this place was hidden under the city was another thing entirely…how did they manage to build a lab under a school of all places? Without anyone knowing?….or at least probably on a payroll not to know.. The door finally opened and another wave of stagnant air filled the hall mixing with the already rotten cloud over his head, it must have been hours since he had last breathed clean fresh air and breathing this stuff was making him feel more and more sick by the minute The room opened out from the hallway, it was pitch black all for a small green light at the back of the room, he could see a row of tables in front of him but it was too dark to see any further. Still holding the axe he slowly stepped into the room, running his arm across the wall to his side for a switch or anything to give him a better look of his surroundings…his hand brushed a box and he felt his way around to the switch, he slowly flicked it and the room filled with light from two large lights built into the ceiling, he was in a lab….not unlike the labs that were on the upper levels of the science building but this one was a mess…there were smashed test tubes and various equipment strewn across the tables and paper littered the floor, at the back of the room was a large console with various multicoloured wires and pipes coming from the back and sides….to the left of that was a raised piece of metal…what could be best described as some kind of a manhole cover, it was set in the floor, a raised platform with a circular piece of metal in the centre. He stood for a moment and looked around him….the place was trashed…someone had defiantly made sure no one could get any evidence of anything here but lab, on the left hand side of the rooms were filing cabinets knocked to one side their contence spilt across the floor which crumpled as he walked across the room…towards the console, when it was dark he could see it from the door…there was a green light coming from a screen built into it and various other screens around it were either off or smashed, on the screen was a small timer set at 05:00 and a small box below for what could have been a password…...maybe they were working on an antidote for what was happening here…after all he read they were working on some virus? T virus…maybe he could find a cure and get out of this place.. but there was a password…and he was hardly a computer nerd…he thought back to the letter that the doctor had written…he was the leading scientist so he was bound to have been the one who knew it…since he was dead he wasn’t going to be much help…but he could have used something like his wife’s name?, It was a shot at least, he reached down and tapped the keys on the console….and quietly prayed inside. The screen lit up and the counter sprang into life 04:59 and counting…there was movement to the side of him and he jumped back startled….the raised metal plate at the side of the console began to hum and there was a light vibration as the circular centre of the plate began to move, it slowly raised up from the floor until it was almost touching the ceiling, it looked like a huge metal test tube….maybe that’s where they kept it in a freezer or something…he began to feel excited…he would find the antidote and save the woman and get the hell out of here and not once would he look back…. There was a click and the metal casing dropped back down into the ground reviling a glass tube…and he no longer felt excited….he suddenly felt very numb, very sick….and terrified. The tank was clouded in a green liquid…labelled on the front of the tank was "M121beta" and inside was a huge shape clouded in green mist….what had he done… 02:00 the counter flashed as he turned form the room and ran faster than he thought he could, behind him the sound of water draining and something inhuman beginning to stir and wake, his hell was about to get a lot worse… he ran back through the hallway, to the entrance of the resource room, his only thoughts to be as far away from what he had just seen, a huge dark form floating in a cloud of green, like a man but much larger and looked like it had been pumped with steroids of something. He reached the door and turned blindly inside, still terrified by what he had seen…and hit something solid, knocking him down onto the cold floor…..the squad. He was dazed by the knock but it didn’t take his eyes long to refocus on the gun pointed at him. The marines had backtracked to the hallway and cut through the door he had used the key card on, and how were hauled up in the resource room regrouping….and he had charged in without even thinking about it…he was lucky he hadn’t already been blown away by a trigger happy marine, but he would have preferred that than what was stirring in the lab ahead. The marines were dressed all in black and wearing gas masks covering their faces, the marine pointing the gun in his face said something but it was muffled and his head was pounding from running into them, another said something from the far side of the room and the gun was slowly lifted from his face…the marine walked from the back of the room and slowly took off his gasmask, " who are you, how did you get down here, are there any others?", his mind was racing he didn’t know what to say or what to think…they were from umbrella, they were here, like the doctor said, to clean up the place so no one could find out…and he was positive they wouldn’t let anyone leave the labs to tell the tale…but that thing, when he was running he could hear the liquid draining…he could hear it beginning to move… The marine asked again “are you alone? How did you get down here?" and then they heard it… A high pitched scream… a sound made by no animal you could imagine…a roar of some creature only existing in nightmares or stories, and then the sound of glass smashing and a heavy thump that could be felt on the cold concrete floor, the marine signalled 2 others and raising their weapons they slowly moved into the hallway, sweeping the area with their weapons, the others staying inside the resource room waiting for the all clear, "there!" there was a rapid burst of gunfire and the thumping sounds began to get louder and heavier "kill it", he could just hear them shouting over the bursts of automatic fire…and then that scream again, a high pitched screech of anger, and then a lower sound like something pushing off the ground…and the marines screamed. He watched as the creature suddenly appeared at the doorway, one huge arm extended out piercing through one of the marines like he was made of putty, blood sprayed from his chest as it tore through his body armour like a knife through butter, the second marine was screaming and fumbling for a clip to reload his weapon, the creature towering over him its massive arm still cut through the first marine, and then in seconds it pulled one huge talon of razor sharp claws from the marines body and threw its arm sideways hitting the second marine in the shoulder, the force throwing him against the wall, blood slashing over the wall and floor as it cut through his arm and body armour…..the marines lay dead in the hallway and the creature threw back its mutated head and screamed again. It had happened so fast that all he could do was stare at the huge form blocking the doorway, it was a dark muddy green colour, and its skin was plated like tiny shields, it had to be at least 7ft tall although it seemed to be slumped over due to what could only be described as a huge red blotched tumour pulsing on its back and shoulders and the creature was much wider than the frame of the door. Its head seemed too small for its huge shoulders and veins pulsed from the blotches on its skin, he could see the yellow flash of its eyes but worst of all was its hands, its fingers were replaced by claws, at least 1 or 2 feet long and sharp…he had watched it rip 2 marines packed with armour to pieces in seconds without even making an effort, then he felt an arm on his shoulder and he was dragged out of the room by one of the marines as another laid down cover fire, pelting the creature with rounds from a Remington shotgun…the creature screaming again as they pulled out of the room. The ran down the hall back to the T junction and continued forwards, to the door he had left alone when he had first entered the lab, one marine fell back and began to fire into the darkness behind them, the bursts echoing in the small hallway, behind them the sound of smashing metal and lab equipment and the chilling scream of the creature, "move, move" the group entered the second lab and began to close the door, the final marine emptying his clip and turning back to join the group, and then the sound from before, a sound of something heavy cutting the air and the creature was on top of him, its huge form dwarfing the marine as its huge talon cut through his torso, cutting him cleanly in two, blood spraying across the hallway. The door closed as the creature lunged again, it was as fast as it was big, and it slammed its weight into the metal door which began to bow under the pressure. The lab was much larger than the other rooms there were several smashed test tubes the size of people and bodies were spread across the room, there was a door at the opposite side of the room which seemed to be the only other way out. Bang The M121 slammed into the door again, another like that and it would be inside in seconds. The thick steel literally bending inwards with each hit, he had already made his way to the other side of the room when he looked back and saw the remains of the squad take position behind tables and cabinets, reloading their weapons and preparing for the attack…this would be it. There was a scream and the door launched across the lab hitting one of the broken test tubes, causing pieces of glass to skim across the floor around it, as one large talon made its way around the remains of the door, the creature pulling its huge frame into the lab. "fire!" the remains of the marine squad opened fire with all they had, the bullets peppering the creatures thick armour, not affecting it in anyway….if it was feeling pain it wasn’t showing it at all, its small yellow eyes darting left and right, marking out its new surroundings, turned over tables and smashed lab equipment strewn about the room and the flashes from the mussels of the machine guns, the creatures thick plated armour would protect it from more than a few bullets. from the corner of the room he watched as the huge creature fixed its eyes on the closest marine and slowly lumbered towards him , the flash from the machine gun flickering in the corner of his eye, at the same time the second marine emptied his last clip into the M121, he was out of ammo and they were now out of options, the first marine signalled to the second to try for the door as he moved back still peppering the creatures armour with his automatic weapon, trying to distract it long enough for them to escape the second marine shouldered his weapon and dived over the table-barricade making his way to the door while the first marine finished his clip aiming at the m121`s head, the second marine turned back and saw he was still in the corner of the room, too scared to move as he watched the dramatic escape unfold, he shouted back over for the boy to run for the door, as he did the creature turned its huge frame around to him and prepared to lunge... the first marine now out of ammo pulled his combat knife from his shoulder and dived at the creatures back, plunging it as hard as he could into it, but its armour was just too think, the knife only penetrating an inch or so deep, the creature threw its arms back knocking the marine off its back, its mouth open wide screaming that unearthly noise, not in pain...but rage. he ran with all he had in him, if he was going to get out of this alive he would have to move now, to the right of him the m had turned its back on the door and was now moving back to the second marine who was picking himself up from his fall. the marine was back on his feet and quickly ran towards a large cabinet to the side of him and pulled it down hoping to hit the creature, the cabinet crashed into its shoulder and fall to the floor, glass smashing as it did, one huge talon from the monster launched forward and the marine was fired into the wall, the huge claw through his stomach and smashing through the wall behind him. It pulled back its huge claw and threw the body of the marine across the room, turning itself once more towards the second marine and their only route of escape. It was now or never, if he didn’t get out now he wasn’t going to get out at all, he jumped over the last table, once a barricade for the final stand off with the Hunter, the second marine waving his arm franticly for him to get to the door before the creature turned its attention back onto them…and then it was like time had slowed down, out of the corner of his eye he saw the huge shape of the M121 launching itself at them, its size not even slowing it as the shadow of the creature engulfed the corner of the room. He watched as the creature landed a few feet from him and the door, its huge talons crashing down on the marine, shredding him into pieces, his screams stopping as he sit the floor, splashing blood over the door and walls, its eyes darting left and right before focusing on him. He threw himself at the creatures feet, aiming for the gap between its huge frame and the doorway, narrowly missing its claws as they smashed into the concrete floor, sending pieces of rubble and dirt into the air, he was back on his feet before the dust had settled and through the doorway, behind him the ear piercing scream of frustration from the M121. He ran as fast as he could to the elevator, slamming into the back wall and hitting any button he could, the sound of the creature’s heavy plodding just feet behind him, the doors closed and then it hit….the doors buckling inwards, throwing him off his feet as the elevator slowly lifted him to safety, the howling slowly slipping away. He walked out of the medical building, every inch of him ached from head to toe, the sun had started to rise in the background, he decided would go back to where he had left the girl and hope that she had made it too, then from there try to find a way out of the town…. It was over, he has survived….just another day, but the terror had only begun.. The End. For now... If you have comment about this Fan Fiction, Please e-mail to Daniel Whiston MORBID CREATIONS All rights reserved 2002 - 2004 This fanciction all rights reserved by Daniel Wiston Author's written permission required to re-use text All art rights belong to doughboy, must have written permission to use.