by Angel Ramon
She gets right back up and begins to take on the improved Nemesis. Without its heavy black trench coat covering, the creature’s speed increases. She shoots the creature with her standard grenade rounds and in no time Nemesis goes down.
Standard Grenade Rounds: 4
Not risking Nemesis getting back up, she uses the keycard and opens the gate. She runs into the park and hides behind a huge tree. She spots Nemesis getting up aggravated that it has lost Maria.
“OOO MARIA!” Nemesis screams loudly.
Nemesis goes the other way away from the park to Maria’s relief, now her next challenge is to explore and more importantly survive Highland Park.
Act 3 – Secrets
Chapter 12
Maria heads into the baseball field on the higher elevation and she is met with a large horde of zombies. She launches a grenade into the group of zombies to clear out most of them. After seeing the numbers go down, she takes out her handgun to conserve her ammo.
One of the zombies falls on her legs and begins to bite her. She shoots a bullet right into the zombie’s head. The other zombies wearing the green park official uniforms go after her and she shoots all of them in the head. When she gets to the baseball field, she sees a few items on the bench.
Picked up a Blue Herb
Picked up a Green Herb
Picked up +6 Freeze Rounds. Freeze rounds: 12
Picked up +6 Flame Rounds. Flame Rounds: 6
She enters the baseball field and for a moment she senses a moment of silence. The wind blows calmly while the moon shines on the field, the scene should be one of a romantic night not one of pure Armageddon.
Upon further inspection she sees a long gate surrounding what is supposed to be upper Highland Park. She sees a well laid out path to upper Highland and she heads to the path to follow. As she goes through the path, she sees another HBCS solider shooting a strange creature.
“Aghhh no!” The solider screams in pain as the creature bites his head off and Maria can only shake her head in disbelief.
The creature reveals itself as an ivy and the creature spits out its poisonous spit. The spit strikes Maria and she becomes poisoned.
Condition: Poison
The ivy tries to grab Maria, but she dodges the attack. She runs from the creature and hides behind a tree. She quickly realizes that there are two more ivies hiding within the small forest. So she runs again and as she does she loads the flame rounds into the grenade launcher.
“Ok plant freaks, eat this!” Maria says as she kills all three ivies with the flame rounds burning them to ashes.
When she defeats the ivies, she uses the blue herb to heal herself.
Flame Rounds: 3
Condition: Fine
When she gets close to a gate she sees a group of zombies feeding on a dead body. Thinking better of it, she ignores the zombies and keeps it moving. Maria gets to the gate only to find a heavy duty padlock on the gate. She attempts to kick the gate, but with no success. Even climbing the gate proves to be useless as she is shocked with 240 Volts of electricity. Despite the shock, she is able to move still.
“Looks like Hybrid’s secret facility is gotta be behind this gate.” She says.
She tries to take a peek through the gate to see if she sees anything obvious, however all she sees is a single cabin ahead. She decides to head back the other way towards the playground, as she heads back she is met with more ivies. Instead of stopping, she keeps running forward avoiding the creature. Eventually she gets to the toddler playground area where she is met with even more zombies
Pulling out her shotgun, she shoots the zombies. At first she has a good handle on them until the numbers begin to grow and eventually the horde becomes too big for her to handle. She tries to get back to the gate, but zombies are waiting for her on the other side as well.
Shotgun Ammo: 23
“Oh man, this is not good!” Maria says ready to be eaten alive.
Then a grenade is thrown at the zombies blowing all of them up in the playground area. Maria finishes off the rest of the zombies with her pistol as she conserves ammo for her bigger guns. As for the zombies on the other side of the gate, they break through the gate. However, shots from an assault rifle can be heard picking off the zombies.
Between her and the mystery man, they kill off the huge horde of zombies ranging from park employees to police officers. After the coast is clear she sees that the mystery man is Danny.
Pistol Ammo: 125
“Whoa! Thank you Danny, I gotta admit it’s a good thing you had a grenade handy.” Maria thanks Danny.
“No problem hot stuff, but I didn’t throw that grenade.” Danny replies.
“You didn’t? Then who did?” She asks.
“I don’t know, but whoever it was wasn’t trying to help you. I saw the projection of that grenade and it was aiming for you. It just hit a zombie’s head and fell short of you.” Danny answers with a grim response.
Who would want to throw a grenade at me?” Maria asks and before Danny can answer she cuts him off. “Wait, just like George wrote in this note. I have to protect it though, but it indicates that Hybrid is going after people they feel might put their mission in jeopardy. Also I read further and it says any supervisor who kills off an enemy of Hybrid is supposed to be paid handsomely.”
“So you’re saying there is a supervisor here trying to kill you?” He asks her.
“That and/or Nicolai is actually a supervisor trying to claim his reward money.” She says sternly.
“But Nicolai is on my team, why would he join our team and risk his life if he’s a supervisor.” He asks confused.
“So he could hide his true identity, perhaps he is risking his life. However, I notice that monster isn’t chasing him around the place, why is that? Not to mention of course, he’s acting very secretive.” She continues to explain her theory.
“True and actually I didn’t finish explaining the hospital situation. You see Nicolai had a key only supervisors were able to carry around. So either he got it from a dead supervisor or we’re facing a real-life snake. I see your point better.” Danny realizes what Maria was talking about.
“Good, anyway you’re on your way where?” She asks.
“I’m exploring the upper portion to see if anything is there.” He replies.
“We better get a moving then.” She says as the two spilt up once again.
She sees a couple of items on the playpen and she heads towards the pen to pick up the items.
Picked up a Green Herb
Picked up a Blue Herb
Maria mixes a Green Herb and Blue Herb to create an herbal mix. This mix of Green and Blue Herbs cures Poison and restores one condition point.
Maria heads out of the playground and enters a bathroom to check if anything is there. When she enters the bathroom, nothing but blood is seen on the mirrors. A flesher is on the ceiling prowling for its next victim. She sees a dead Hybrid employee holding a key. She crawls slowly to avoid contact with the flesher in an otherwise dark bathroom with limited visibility. With the flesher making its strange noise, Maria tries to remain calm and grab the key despite not knowing where the flesher is actually located.
Picked up a Park Key. This key should open the padlocked door.
Picking up the key she crawls out of the bathroom and back outside. A few more zombies appear outside that she kills with her pistol.
Pistol Ammo: 118
When she gets back to the playground, Nemesis enters through the broken gate ready to attack once again.
“Oh come on! You again? I guess you don’t know how to stay down. I get it you want me dead.” Maria responds to Nemesis.
She tries to use her shotgun to attack Nemesis and misses most of her shots except for two. Nemesis runs towards her and tries to grab her, but she’s able to sidestep out of the way. She notices her shotgun needs to be reloaded, so she runs away only to trip on a dead zombie body. Her shotgun falls to the floor and Nemesis grabs her with its tentacles.
Shotgun Ammo: 17
The creature throws her onto the hard rubber floor, which really limits the damage Maria takes. Despite the softer landing, she still has a hard time getting up. Nemesis tries to jump on her, but she’s able to roll out of the way in time. Nemesis picks her up and whips her to the bench hard. Maria’s back is hurt badly, but despite that she gets up and keeps moving. She heads up the playpen to equip herself with her grenade launcher.
Condition: Caution (Level 1)
Nemesis uses its strong tentacles to remove a pole that holds the playpen together. After grabbing the pole, it transfers it to its left hand to use as a weapon. Nemesis comes rushing in and attacks using the pole, she jumps off the playpen to as the pole strike the wooden paneling. As Maria loads the freeze rounds into the launcher, Nemesis breaks through the playpen like nothing to Maria’s shock.
“What the hell? What did Hybrid create here?” Maria asks still in shock.
She shoots the Freeze rounds which freeze the creature, but only for a short amount of time.
Freeze rounds: 8
She tries to use the time to escape from the playground, but Nemesis thaws out and jumps in front of Maria. Her launcher jams up on her and she can’t shoot the freeze rounds. Nemesis takes a swing at her with the heavy pipe and she ducks under the swing. Nemesis then take a hack at her and she’s able to back away with the pips barely missing her legs. When Nemesis picks up the pipe, she runs away from the creature to somewhere where she can unjam her gun.
As she goes behind a tree she bangs her launcher to get the pin out of the stuck position and after a few bangs she is unable to unjam her gun. Before she can celebrate though, Nemesis literally cuts the tree down using the pipe exposing Maria who was hiding. The tree falls over the gate to Maria’s luck.
“OOO MARIA!” Nemesis screams ready to pounce.
Nemesis lifts the pipe ready to destroy Maria with it. She says a quick prayer and shoots most of her freeze rounds at the creature with her eyes closed. When she opens them, she is shocked to see Nemesis frozen. When she sees Nemesis frozen she decides to go on the offensive with her shotgun. After four shells, Nemesis goes down to the floor dropping a briefcase. She looks inside the briefcase.
Freeze Rounds: 3
Shotgun Ammo: 13
Picked up Shotgun Parts. These look like add-ons for the shotgun.
Maria combines the parts with the shotgun and gets the Upgraded Remington Shotgun.
Upgraded Shotgun- This shotgun has been upgraded to shoot more powerful blasts with a tighter spread for longer ranged targets at the cost of high recoil.
After getting her new upgraded shotgun, she heads towards the gate. However, she has to run gingerly as her back is beginning to hurt her badly after being thrown onto the bench by Nemesis. She sees the ivies up ahead, but realizes with her bad back she’s unable to run past them. Realizing the ivies are plants, she loads the flame rounds onto launcher. She sneaks up on the poisonous creatures and shoots two of the three ivies.
Flame Rounds: 1
She is unable to find the last ivy and doesn’t realize that it’s behind her ready to bite her head off. Somebody shoots the ivy in the back grabbing its attention and Maria looks behind her seeing the ivy. She dives backward while shooting the ivy with her last flame round.
“Damn it!” A mysterious man says while running from the scene. Could it be Nicolai trying to kill Maria or another assassin looking for an easy kill for Hybrid?
Maria looks for the person who shot the ivy, but sees no one ahead or anywhere for that matter. She has no idea that she was the intended target of the assassin. Regardless she keeps moving towards the gate and when she reaches the gate she uses the park key to open the padlock. She opens the gate and heads towards the cabin to see what’s inside.
Heading towards the cabin she is ambushed by a couple of Lizardas who jump in front of her. She slips on a rock and the creatures get some good slashes on her dealing a large amount of damage. She falls onto the floor and one of the Lizardas jumps on her attempting to finish her off. With the little bit of energy she has she grabs her knife stabbing the creature on its heart killing it.
Condition: Danger
She grabs her new upgraded shotgun with the creature in the attacking position. She fires and a powerful blast comes out of the shotgun killing the creature. Despite killing the creature the recoil sends her back onto the floor due to her weakened state.
Shotgun Ammo: 12
“Argghh, damn it! I’m hurt badly…” She says weakly.
Holding her body and limping, she heads into the cabin not knowing what is inside waiting for her. She sees a bed and falls on her back onto the bed. She tries to get up and recover, but her injuries are too severe. She sees the doorknob begin to turn and she pulls out her pistol ready for anything.
“Either it’s Danny or I’m a dead bitch…” She says weakly knowing the end of her life could be approaching if it’s anybody other than Danny.
As the door opens a shadow can be seen of a human, which gives Maria a little comfort. Despite that she keeps her pistol on hand just in case it’s a zombie. The shadow begins to get close to Maria and she keeps her eyes peeled. With her finger on the trigger, she prepares for the worst…
Chapter 13
Keeping her eyes open she continues to hold her gun until she sees that it’s not a zombie.
“Wait don’t shoot, it’s me!” It’s Danny coming through the door.
“Oh good, for a moment I thought it was another creature.” Maria says relieved.
“You don’t look good. It looks like those creatures did a number on you.” Danny sees the extent of Maria’s injuries.
“Yeah… aggghh… they did. I’m bleeding pretty badly on my stomach area… It’s not bad enough to kill me instantly, but if I continue to lose blood I… could…” Maria says weakly before she faints.
“Looks like I have to find something to help her or she’ll die of her injuries.” He says to himself.
He leaves the cabin and heads outside to see if he spots a first-aid station along the way.
***
Danny’s Playthrough
As he leaves the cabin he spots a map of the middle part of the park between the lower and upper parts of Highland Park.
Picked up a map of MIDDLE HIGHLAND PARK
Upon reviewing the map he spots the first aid station is close upper Highland where the old reservoir is located along with another cabin. The flower garden is also located close by. He sees a shortcut through the forest to avoid the main road where he could waste too much valuable time. Although the shortcut could be more dangerous as well, it’s a chance he has to take.
He heads to the dirt path and turns on his flashlight on the assault rifle as the dirt path is away from any lighting that is present on the main path. As he goes into the dangerous dirt path, he spots several zombies popping out from the bushes. Danny kills them with no problem with his assault rifle and looks around carefully.
He sees something by the bushes.
Picked up two Green Herbs
He goes up the path and notices the path is rather steep. One false step could mean the end of his life and quite a painful one at that. He gets on his knees and begins to crawl up the slippery rocks trying to maintain his balance. Once he gets to the top he hears the hissing of what sounds like fleshers close by to his location. He begins to become nervous as any noise will give his position away. Although it’s dark, the fleshers don’t track their victims through sight but through sound similar to bats.
“Talk about being quiet or else.” He says in his head as he crawls.
Danny crawls ever so slowly and keeps his light on to see anything ahead. The dirt gets on him and he becomes uncomfortable, not to mention that it’s giving off a foul smell. He can care less, as he has to survive even if it means getting a foul smell on himself. He continues to crawl until he begins to hear the hissing going away. Before he can get up though, he spots a snake ready to bite.
However, he’s able to grab the snake by the body and stab it.
After reaching the end of the path he sees the flower garden ahead and enters. He knows he’s not too far from the first aid station. The flower garden is rather big and covers about a normal city block. The flowers consist of mostly Tulips, Lilies, and Lavenders. On occasion though during the spring roses and other seasonal flowers can be seen as well.
He spots a couple of ivies and begins to shoot at them. His bullets don’t have much of an effect though and the creatures don’t go down. One of them tries to spit its toxic spit at him, but he gets out of the way. The other whips its vines at Danny dealing a little bit of damage. He attempts to outrun the two ivies, but one grabs him with its vines and the other whips him down to the floor.
Both ivies head towards him and begin to open their mouths ready to devour him. In a last ditch effort, he shoots them in their mouths and they begin to scream in pain. Noticing that his shots are having an effect, he continues to shoot them in their mouths until they go down. Both ivies are dead spilling blue blood on the floor, which is signature of plant life infected with the Broken Arrow virus.
Assault Rifle Ammo: 93%
He spots the exit to the flower garden and the first aid station not too far away. He begins to run until a huge tentacle grabs him and begins to choke him. The pressure is great and he only has a few seconds to get out of the hold before he runs out of breath. He grabs his knife and with all his might he stabs the tentacle. The tentacle moves out of control and it let’s go of him, but not before throwing him down to the dirt hard.
Condition: Caution (Level 1)
Getting up slowly, Danny sees more tentacles growing out of the fountain and realizes his path to the exit is covered by the strange unidentifiable creature. He shoots the creature with his Assault Rifle only to see no effect on the creature at all. He thinks and tries to see if he can go around the creature, but once he gets too close the creature becomes aggressive. However, he does see the water supply that goes into the fountain. Right now the creature is being fed special artificial nutrient water, which is feeding its bio-weapon attributes.