by Angel Ramon
As she prepares to exit the room, she hears the radio station go off. She heads there to turn on the radio and overhears people talking. However, for the most part it’s nothing but static, she is able to hear people talk. From what she could understand, soldiers from the HBCS are trying to gain communication with the NYPD Special Forces. It appears that they are losing the battle against the zombies and monsters. Maria tries to press buttons in order to talk to the men, but the signal is too poor and eventually gets cut off.
“Damn it, the radio is no good. It looks like it’s going to be tough to get some good help.” She says in frustration.
Finally she leaves the office and begins to head back downstairs. Before she gets downstairs she hears a woman screaming.
“Rita!” She screams but gets no response.
When she gets downstairs the dead body of Rita can be seen on the floor.
“God damn it, who could have done this to you?” She asks.
“OOO… Maria!!!” The voice of Nemesis can be heard.
Out of nowhere Nemesis pops out of a window. Maria finds herself in a small hallway that is not good to fight Nemesis. Instead she decides to run towards the door to enter the locker room and then she rushes to the western office. As she heads for the door to the hallway, Nemesis breaks the locker room door and begins to chase her.
“Oh you gotta be kidding me! What the hell is this thing! Can I even kill this bastard?” Maria screams to herself in complete shock thinking she killed Nemesis already.
Maria is in the hallway of the police station and Nemesis enters the hallway as well. The only difference is that it’s armed with a rocket launcher.
“No way! A rocker launcher? Shit this monster is really trying to take me out!” She says in shock.
Nemesis launches a couple of rockets that Maria is able to barely dodge. The rockets made huge holes on the walls behind her. The wall behind her begins to collapse and she dives forward to avoid being crushed. When she gets up though, she is met with Nemesis right on top of her. The monster attempts to bash her with the rocket launcher, but she’s able to gather the energy to roll out of the way. After that, she shoots Nemesis with a couple of shotgun blasts on its back.
Nemesis quickly turns around and aims its rocket launcher at her. Nemesis fires at her and despite fatigue kicking in she has the energy to dive again to avoid the rocket that destroys the computer. She shoots a couple more shotgun blasts and it goes down on the floor. However, she figures that Nemesis hasn’t given up she prepares her grenade launcher ready to shoot.
Shotgun Ammo: 20
As she thought, Nemesis gets up and stretches while screaming Maria’s name. The creature runs towards her, but she’s well prepared and shoots Nemesis down with a couple of grenades. Then it goes down while screaming Maria’s name before it hits the ground. It leaves another briefcase and she looks inside…
Picked up a First Aid Kit. Contains 3 First Aid Sprays.
Grenade Ammo: 4 Standard Grenades
Maria has met Nemesis twice already and already has trouble surviving so far. Not to mention that her husband is nowhere near the country after reading his journal. She ponders what her next move will be.
September 10, 2013 9 PM
“I managed to survive so far, but the stakes have been raised now that I have met Hybrid’s new puppy, Nemesis. This is indeed my last escape and unless I find someone to help me, Rita might indeed be right. I might just be the lone survivor in all this. May the Lord have mercy on this poor town of mine…”
Chapter 4
After she survives round two with Nemesis, Maria heads out to think of her next move now that the police station is no longer an option. Feeling in her pockets she remembers that the key to the bank is still in her possession. The bank is located close to her childhood home on Linwood and Fulton Streets. So she heads back towards the other side of town. When she re-enters the bookstore, she notices the flea drainers have taken over the store. She decides to simply run out of the store and save herself the headache.
The hordes of zombies become even greater as Maria nears Atlantic Ave. As she approaches Glenmore and Atlantic Ave, a huge group of zombies approaches her from the east and west sides of the street. She sees the entrance to the middle school, IS 302 to her right side.
“Crap what should I do!” She tries to come up with a way to escape the situation.
What should Maria do?
Run into school courtyard
Fight to the death
Maria has chosen choice #1
She decides to run into the courtyard and loses the zombies. Running across the courtyard, she can see Atlantic Ave nearby.
“I’m almost there, just a little further…” Maria then stops talking as she sees Nemesis walking on Atlantic Ave and says, “Crap it’s him again! I can’t let him see me again. Then again he might just find me anyway.”
Now what will Maria do?
1. Fight Nemesis
2. Head into the School
Maria has chosen choice #2
Not wanting to risk being spotted by Nemesis, she decides to go into the school through an open window in the cafeteria. Upon entering the cafeteria she sees the shutters are closed as they lack power. She sees the disconnect switch has been turned off, probably to keep the zombies out of the cafeteria as it was designated as a safe zone until the HBCS came to rescue them. By the looks of the broken windows and numerous dead bodies on the floor, the zombies were smart enough to use the windows.
Nemesis screams out Maria’s name and it’s louder than before. When she peeks through the window she can see Nemesis in the courtyard. Wanting to avoid conflict with the creature, she hides under the window hoping it doesn’t look down. She lies on the floor and watches as Nemesis says its catchphrase, “Oooo… Maria!!!”
She stays still, pretending to be dead in order to get Nemesis off her back. The creature armed with a rocket launcher looks around and looks through the cafeteria window, but never spots her. After about a couple of minutes the creature walks away figuring the scene is clear. She takes a deep breath and gets up trying to ignore the bloody scene where the walls are blood red. It no longer looks like a cafeteria to serve school kids.
Maria sees the disconnect switch, but it’s too far up for her to reach. She finds a ladder on the floor, picks it up, and puts it up in order to reach the switch. Once she hits the switch the shutters open and a group of zombies enter the cafeteria. She uses her grenade launcher to blast the first wave of zombies. After clearing out the first wave, she heads to the hallway where the kids pick up their food. One of the zombies ambushes her and bites her slightly, but nothing she can’t handle. She pushes it forward and then shoots the zombie in the head. More zombies block her way to the side entrance that leads to Atlantic Ave.
Grenade Launcher Ammo: 3
Seeing a flammable canister not too far from them, she decides to lead them towards it. Before she can use the canister, she has to get to the other side of the hallway where the door is located to lead the zombies towards the flammable canister. Spotting a gas pipe above her, she jumps up on the pipe and grabs it. She gets on top of the huge pipe and begins to shimmy her way through the pipe.
“One slip up and I’ll be a tasty meal for the undead. Relax Maria… you got this.” She says trying to contain her nervousness.
She shimmies slowly on the pipe and when she gets to the middle she sees a hook in her way that she has to negotiate around. With the lack of lighting she has a bit of a hard time seeing, as a result when she tries to go around the hook she loses her grip. The only thing that saves her is that she’s able to hang onto the hook and she uses her lower body strength to get back on top of the pipe. Before she could get her left foot above the pipe, one of the zombies grabs her left foot and begins to pull her down.
She hangs onto the hook as much as she can, but realizes the zombie has a good hold on her. Taking a risk, she let’s go of the hook and pulls out her pistol with her left hand. Ke
eping her right hand holding onto the hook, she shoots the zombie but misses its head. As a result she has to shoot the zombie multiple times to get it off her leg. However, when she gets free, she drops her pistol into the pool of zombies. As a result she quickly gets back onto the pipe and is able to get to the other side.
Pistol Ammo: 108
Once she jumps down towards the door, she pulls out her shotgun.
“Hi there!” She says arrogantly as she blasts the canister that sets all the zombies on fire, which eventually burns them to a crisp.
After burning the zombies to a crisp, she retrieves her handgun and heads for the side door. However, it’s locked and it requires the janitor’s key.
“Shit, I remember the janitor’s room being on the second floor by the gym. Damn it, the longer I stay here the better the chance of Nemesis has of finding me. I can’t go out the window either because that monster is still waiting for me. Could it be, it knows I’m inside and it’s biding its time? I need to remain on my game here.” She says in her mind concerned about Nemesis.
She heads upstairs towards the second floor and as she goes up she takes on a few flea drainers on the stairways. Unlike before they are not in packs, so she picks them off easily with her shotgun. When she reaches the second floor stairway level though she is ambushed by a flea drainer from above that hits her with its claw dealing good damage.
Shotgun Ammo: 15
Condition: Caution (Level 1)
The flea attempts to behead Maria with a devastating claw attack, but she’s able to duck under the attack. She uses her shotgun to smack the flea onto the ground and uses the barrel to stab the creature in the heart.
“You flea scum, die!” She screams as she kills the creature.
After dealing with the creature she heads towards the 2nd floor hallway and is met with some rabid zombie dogs. She shoots a couple of them with well placed pistol shots, but the other two come rushing in towards her.
Pistol Ammo: 105
She’s easily able to dodge the attack from the dogs. Maria gets an ingenious idea. She decides to waits for the dogs to run towards her again. As the dogs get close to her, she slams one of the locker doors open. The timing is perfect that the impact of the door hitting the dogs is enough to get them on the floor. She kills the dogs easily once they are down for the count.
Pistol Ammo: 101
After clearing the hallway, she spots the janitor’s closet and she enters. Upon entering the closet she spots a few items…
Picked up a jar Gunpowder A and Gunpowder B.
Picked up a Wrench. Might need this to open a particular shutter…
Picked up +20 Handgun Bullets. Pistol Ammo: 121
Picked up +6 Standard Grenades. Grenade Ammo: 9 Standard Grenades.
The one thing she is unable to find is the key to the side door. Continuing to look frantically for the key, her search ends when she hears a voice.
“Looking for the key?” A monstrous voice says taunting Maria.
“No way, don’t tell me this bastard has the key…” Maria is almost afraid to turn around and when she does, Nemesis shows her holding the key she needs.
“OOO… Maria!!!” Nemesis screams and aims its rocket launcher towards her.
Nemesis shoots the rocket and Maria dives out of the janitor’s closet to avoid being blown to shreds. Maria gets behind the wall in the hallway as she arms herself with the grenade launcher. That is until she hears a voice of a middle-aged male…
“Hey you, no one messes with my school! Come on big guy! Let’s see if you can handle me!” The male screams holding a Colt Python Magnum
“No George! What are you doing that thing is more dangerous than you think!” Maria screams as she comes into help.
George or George Fisher, which is his whole name, has been the school’s main janitor since Maria attended school there. He’s a fearless man close to 55 and he is very protective of the school along with its students. He comes from a hardworking and respected German family in East New York. In fact, all the students love George as he would stand up to bullies. Unlike before though, he isn’t dealing with normal bullies. Nemesis is the ultimate bully and one that has no remorse at all of anyone it kills.
Between George and Maria are able to take down Nemesis quite easily with it saying its catchphrase giving her the idea that he is down for now.
“Hey George thanks for helping me, but what are you still doing here sweetheart?” She asks.
“Listen, it’s going to take more than a zombie invasion to kill me off! I’ll admit though, this old man is ready to get out of this hell hole. You ready?” George says admitting he needs to get out of his hometown.
As Maria picks up George, what they don’t realize is that Nemesis is able to get back up. The fierce creature grabs George from behind and sticks its tentacle into George’s body and through.
“No, that son of a bitch is still alive! Argghhh…” George screams before he dies.
“No! George! Damn you Nemesis, you’ll pay for your sins along with Hybrid!”
Nemesis puts down its rocket launcher and begins to go after Maria. It grabs her and begins to punch her non-stop until she kicks it in the face. She isn’t able to return fire and is forced to run from the creature. Nemesis runs towards her and tries to grab her again, but she’s able to sidestep.
Condition: Caution (Level 2)
She shoots Nemesis with the shotgun and it actually backsteps. However, she has to reload the shotgun and that gives time for Nemesis to grab her again. She tries to smack the creature with the shotgun, but it grabs the weapon from her hand and throws it away from her reach. Once Nemesis has Maria in its grasps, it throws her onto the rubber protected wall hard and Maria is unable to get up.
Condition: Danger
“OOO… Maria!!!” It screams loud again.
Nemesis walks slowly as Maria is still down and prepares to finish her off with a double-axe handle punch. As Nemesis prepares to finish Maria off, she begins to have a flashback.
She remembers her first day in IS 302 and the first friend that she made was George Fisher. He and she became rather close, not to mention that she met Angel because of George. So the fact she lost George triggers her intuition and a fire in her that she gets a second wind. Sensing Nemesis ready to crush her with its double-axe handle, she rolls to her right just in the nick of time. Pulling out her pistol, she aims for Nemesis eye and head. As a result, Nemesis holds its eyes. Maria continues to get up and shoot until it goes down dropping another briefcase.
Picked up a First-Aid Kit. Contains three First-Aid Sprays.
Maria uses a first aid spray. First aid kit contains 2 sprays.
Picked up +10 Shotgun shells. Shotgun ammo: 20
Picked up side door key to school.
After picking up the key for the side door, she heads towards the body of George and realizes he’s dead. She doesn’t bother trying to help George as his heart has been taken out of him.
“George! I’m sorry you had to go out like this. I promise I’ll avenge you. Damn it Hybrid, you have gone way too far. Corporate cowards too scared to face justice. They rather slaughter millions of people just to “cover-up” their misdoings. Angel, when I get out of here I promise to join you in Croatia and end Hybrid once in for all!” Maria promises vengeance towards the Hybrid Corporation.
She recovers her shotgun and heads back down after a near-death experience. Using the key, she opens the side door and sees Atlantic Ave that she is ready to cross in order to get to the bank. The only question in her head is, where and when will Nemesis strike again? Only time will tell…
Chapter 5
Maria finally manages to cross Atlantic Ave, back to the Cypress Hills section of East New York. She realizes the bank is not too far from her location. When she gets down on Linwood Street and close to the bank she notices a huge car fire is blocking her way.
“Shit a fire, gotta find a way around it or shut it off. Just something else to throw me o
ff I guess.” She says flustered.
She heads back to the motel on the corner of Elton and Atlantic to see if she’s able to find a hose to fit on the fire hydrant that is open. When she gets back she sees a group of six zombies in front of the hotel. However, machine gun fire is heard and three zombies go down. Maria gets a peek at the man who was shooting before he ran away in fear. She kills the three remaining zombies with relative ease and she continues to the hotel.
When she arrives at the hotel she sees the building has been condemned and is all boarded up. Deciding to go to the back of the building she sees three more zombies, but they all get taken down by the mystery man.
“Hey! Wait up. I wanted to thank you…” She tries to get the attention of the man, but he runs away.
Maria spots an emergency hose that she can remove and it fits in perfectly on the pump. She uses the wrench that she got from the school to remove the hose. Despite its slightly heavy weight, she carries it towards the fire. Installing the hose on the running pump, she turns off the fire using the water from the pump. The fire is off and now the path is open. She goes through the burning rubble and finds herself next to the Key Food supermarket and the bank in across the street.
As she’s walking towards the bank, an out of control police van heads for her. However, she is pushed away from the van and it crashes into the supermarket. The van is large enough to block the path to the bank and there is no way around as Elton St. is blocked with debris of a fallen apartment building.
“Thank you! I owe you my life, but why were you running away from me?” Maria asks the stranger.
“Sorry… I was scared and running for my life, these zombies are everywhere.” The man replies.
“That makes sense. Anyway I’m Maria and who are you?”
“I’m Danny, corporal of the Hybrid Biohazard Countermeasure Service.” Danny introduces himself.