“She, got, bit.”
“Stay with me Jess. Ethan is there anything we can do?”
“Just wait, give her that much.”
Barry unzipped his uniform, and removed his undershirt, balling it up, and placing it under her head. Her arm burned, heart raced, but she was more comfortable not being alone to die. Wide eyed she said, “Andrew. Shoot me.”
“What?”
“Shoot me when I turn. Don’t let me become one of them.”
“Jess, don’t worry about that right now.”
“Promise.”
“I promise.”
Ethan looked around, turning to Andrew, and explained, “We’ve got to get moving. We don’t have any clue how many more of those things are here with us.”
Andrew yelled at him, “We don’t leave till she’s good, and ready!”
McHale looked at his watch, it hit the seven-minute mark. Cunningham stood behind him and addressed McHale, “Sir, we’re locked, and ready to roll.”
McHale turned around, looked at Cunningham, and his squad. “Kill everything, except this girl,” he said, as he pointed out Jessica on the screen.
“Sir, yes, Sir,” Cunningham replied, and then led his troops out of the room.
McHale goes back to watching the screen, and grinned.
Barry noticed a door opened to the far left. At first nothing came out it, so he waited with gun drawn. Taken by surprise, a pack of flesh-eaters came barreling viciously towards their group. “The time to move is right now,” Barry hollered.
Ethan and Andrew looked up to see what all the commotion was. They witnessed the hungry horde of dead fanning out for an attack. Andrew picked me up, and slung her over his shoulder, where he carried her across the yard, and to the open vent. Barry began to fire round, after round to let us get some room between them and their group.
“Go Jupiter, go,” Barry screamed.
Jupiter lowered his weapon, and made no hesitation as he ran to catch up to them. Ethan was standing shoulder to shoulder with Barry, unloading his pistol. Bullets were slamming the dead, and some were dropping to the ground, but it wasn’t happening fast enough.
Barry knew what needed to be done. He couldn’t let the leader of the rebel army die here in this yard at the hands of some flesh-eaters. Barry knew he had to take one for the cause, and his friends. He quickly grabbed a hold of Ethan’s gun, and yanked it out of his hands. Then he began to use both guns to fire with.
“What the hell are you doing,” Ethan yelled.
“Get out of here!”
“I’m not leaving without you Barry!”
“They need you alive, make sure you take care of her… Now go!”
With great hesitation, Ethan turned, and bolted off towards the open vent, leaving Barry to fend off six flesh-eaters. He was just doing what he knew had to be done. If Ethan stayed not only would Barry die, but he would be killed also.
They all reached the vent, her body was weak, but she knew she had to crawl her way through the vent if she wanted any chance to survive. Andrew and Jupiter lifted her up into the vent, and before she headed in, she turned to see Barry being attacked, and eaten by the pack of zombies. She was very weak, but she thought to herself, poor guy, may he rest in peace. She turned her attention back to the vent, and as she was pulling herself up into it, she heard a single gunshot ring out from behind her. She smiled slightly, knowing that her friend’s death wasn’t for nothing, and that he wouldn’t become one of those creatures.
Her focus was now on the shaft, and making her way through it. She felt hands pushing up on her bottom. It was Andrew, and she sure could use his help right now. After a few shoves, she was in, and slowly on her way. She struggled to move her arms, especially the bitten one, but to make it out of here alive. She had to push through the pain.
From outside, she could hear the sound of a chopper echoing throughout the metal vent. She looked behind her, and she could barely see the courtyard, but she could make out the figures of soldiers landing on the ground just behind her. She turned, and faced forward as she began to hustle up her pace.
Once on the ground Cunningham saw the hordes of zombies. He and his squad opened fire on them, killing each one without prejudice. At the bottom of the pile was Barry, with a gunshot wound to his head, intestines sprawled along his legs, and death in his eyes. Cunningham radioed McHale, “Sir, we’re here. Six zombies down, no sign of the girl.”
“She’s in the vent directly on the other side of the yard where you are standing.”
Cunningham looked around and saw Ethan, and Andrew making their way into the vent- shaft. He immediately hustled over in that direction. Ethan grabbed Andrew’s gun, and sent shots over in Cunningham’s direction. Cunningham dropped to the ground, and so did his men.
“Andrew go,” Ethan yelled.
Andrew climbed into the shaft while Ethan gave him cover. Once Andrew was in, Ethan was right behind him. Cunningham, and his men got to their feet, and bolted for the vent. Before they could have reached the vent opening in time, Ethan’s feet were gone.
Cunningham turned to his radio, “Where does this shaft lead Sir?”
“To the outside wall, did you lose them damn it,” McHale asked as his voice cracked over the old speaker.
Cunningham ordered the troops to follow him to the outside walls. They did as they were instructed. They make their way towards the front gate, but were stopped by another cluster of zombies, this time Cunningham counts anywhere from ten to fifteen of them. He readied his men by forming a straight line of defense. The beasts charged in their direction, while Cunningham screamed, “Fire!”
Bullets whizzed through the air in a rapid succession. Bodies of the dead dropped to the ground, while many of them made it through the firefight, and reached the men. The creatures of death savagely attacked the defenseless soldiers that are only armed with rifles. Cunningham and his men were now unable to follow after Jessica, and the boys for the moment.
Up ahead she could see the opening of the vent-shaft that led to the outside. She gritted her teeth, and pushed herself to move at a quicker pace. Twenty feet, ten feet, five feet, and then she was out, and free. She hobbled as she moved out of the way so that Jupiter could get out; he was right behind her. She waited for a few moments, and then he slid out. Next came Andrew, and finally, Ethan. Jupiter then bolted the grate back up tightly. Everyone seemed okay, and her arm was beginning to throb, and hurt less. Ethan radioed for two cruisers to come pick them up.
The rain began to pour down again, not as hard as it was earlier, but hard enough to make it difficult to see. With the rain beating down off the ground, it was loud, but she was still able to hear the sound of land-cruisers coming up over the hill.
“I see them,” Jessica called out.
Andrew came to her aid as she dropped to her knees, not from pain, but from something else. Her brain was swirling, and a haze of blackness covered her eyes like a thin film. Soon she was nauseous, and dizzy. No matter how hard she tried, she could not get to her feet. Andrew, and Ethan each took one of her arms, and slung them over their shoulders. She felt them take her weight, and pulled her to her feet.
Although she couldn’t see the cruisers, she could hear them getting closer. They both guided her towards two cruisers, while Jupiter came up the rear. They started to load her in the cruiser, but stopped when they heard someone calling out to them.
“Halt! Don’t make another mover into that cruiser,” Cunningham screamed.
There they were, Cunningham, and his men, battle torn, and guns aimed at them. Ethan and Andrew did the only thing they could have done. They both pushed Jessica up, and into the cruiser with all their might. Ethan then screamed to the driver, “Go! Get her to the farmhouse!” The driver spun the tires in the muddy ground, causing the vehicle to pull a 180, and then took off towards the farmhouse. Through the dark film in her eyes, she could see the silhouette of Andrew, Jupiter, and Ethan, all staying behind. That’s all she could rem
ember, as moments later she would pass out.
Left behind was Andrew, Jupiter, and Ethan. Cunningham, and his men form a circle around them. There was no way out of the predicament, both Ethan, and Andrew lowered their weapons knowing that they were out numbered. Cunningham ordered his men to cuff them, and then take them to the chopper in the courtyard.
Once everyone was finished loading into the chopper, it began to lift off. Ethan, and Andrew looked out the windows, and Andrew could see off in the distance, the cruisers that were carrying Jessica. They knew they did the right thing by getting her to safety. Now it was their turn to figure out their next move to get themselves free.
The Truth
Jessica slouched on the front porch of the farmhouse. Everything was eerily familiar about this moment in time, yet there was something different, something that she couldn’t put her finger on; or talk about. Her tired body soaked up the warm rays of the sun as she basked in its glow. The dark film that had masked her eyesight earlier had cleared up. She could now see normally, while her sense of smell, and hearing was elevated. The littlest flutter from a butterfly’s wing echoed in her head like an aluminum can with rocks in it being shook. While off in the distance, she heard a chirping of a cricket in the field, and her pinpoint sight could pick it off like a hawk in the sky.
Then her stomach growled with an insatiable hunger, and just then the front screen door swung open with a loud creak. She almost leapt out of her skin when she saw that it was Andrew. He didn’t notice her at first as he walked over to the porch railing, and looked over the field. Jessica’s stomach made more noises, so loud she thought Andrew would turn around right then, and there; but he didn’t.
She tried to calling out his name, but nothing would come out. This puzzled her, so she took a deep breath, and tried again. This time she tried it louder, but only a soft groan escaped her throat. Andrew didn’t hear her, and he surely didn’t look her way. In fact instead of turning to her, he looked up at the blue skies. She noticed something very quickly; his neck. She hyper focused, and fixated on it. Her mouth was now moist with saliva, while her gut cramped, and pains shot throughout.
The neck… The neck is what she wanted, and there he was not minding her any attention. Then something so powerful took over inside of her, the blackness covered her eyesight again. She found herself not in control of her own body anymore. Instincts took over, and her need to feed kicked in, and blocked out any reasoning her brain was trying to send signals of.
Jessica cautiously got up out of her seat, and looked for the best angle to attack. Then against her will, she attacked Andrew. Mouth opened wide, as I tore into his throat. He tried to fight her off, but she was too strong. Blood spilt out of the wound onto the floor of the porch, down their clothes, and into her mouth. She chomped down again, and again, violently, and without mercy. Andrew dropped to the ground, lifeless while she stood above him drenched in blood.
She was breathing heavily after the attack, and the blackness covering her eyesight was lifted like a filter. She looked at her hands, and saw the blood. She didn’t remember having blood on her hands, and that’s when she looked down. There on the old wooden boards of the porch floor she saw Andrew. Once she put two, and two together, and realized that she had murdered him. She fell to her knees sobbing, and crying.
With her face in her hands, and blood now smeared on her face, she heard a faint whisper. For brief moment she stopped crying, and looked up. It’s Andrew. He held his throat tightly, and spoke softly to me, “You killed me; you killed us all.” He then went limp, his hand released its grip from the gaping hole in his throat; he was gone.
She goes to reach for him, but he moved further away from her grasp. Everything around her began to turn black. She looked around to see nothing by desolation, and emptiness. When she looked back to Andrew, he was gone, and now it’s just her. She could feel herself slipping away, like she was fading away into a deep sleep. Her subconscious was numb, soon she was consumed by darkness, and she cannot see anything…Just blackness.
She tried to open her eyes, but that simple task wasn’t an easy one. She tried again, while they didn’t open fully. She could see light, and blurred silhouettes. The more she tried, the wider they opened, until they just popped open, and stayed open. Her vision was now coming back to her, and she saw a familiar sight. She was in a room, and not any old room. It was her room at the farmhouse, where she had been staying for the past few months. She attempted to sit up, but her arm was throbbing, she looked down, glancing at it to see that it was bandaged.
Then it came back to her, swirling images in her brain that began connecting pieces together to form a memory. She realized that she hadn’t killed Andrew, but it was a vivid dream. The tiny fragmented images that flooded her brain, reminded her of that awful experience at the compound. She thought of Andrew, and the rest of the squad, and she sat up excusing the pain that she felt. Jessica needed to get out of the bed, and find out what happened to them.
She pulled off the blankets, and swung both feet over the edge of the bed. Then she tested one leg at a time by putting pressure on it. The right leg held, now onto the left leg. She repeated the steps, and sure enough the left leg held too. Now she stood, and she was upright. Jessica walked to the window overlooking the field. It was a sunny day out, no clouds in the sky, and the field looked as beautiful as ever. Now she had made it this far, she decided now was a good time to head downstairs, and see if anyone could answer the questions that she had.
_____________
Just miles away, at The United Front’s headquarters, in a six-by-six cell sat Andrew, Jupiter and Ethan. They were handcuffed with their hands behind their backs. Andrew turned to Ethan, and asked quietly, “What do we do now?” The guard at the desk looked up from his paperwork, and turned his attention back to the papers in front of him.
Ethan replied in a whisper, “We do what it takes to keep us alive. Whatever they ask you to do, you do. We just have to protect Jessica; she’s has got the Reversal Gene they’re looking for. She didn’t change. If they find her, then their plan will begin. At the same time, most likely killing her in the process.”
The guard got up, and walked towards the holding cell. He fumbled with his keys, finally landing on the correct one. He unlocked the door, and moved out of the way. Standing behind him was Cunningham. He moved into the cell, and looked the situation over. Then instructed them to follow him. Ethan, Andrew, and Jupiter did as they are instructed.
Cunningham led them down the hallway to another room. It appeared to be an interrogation room, complete with a two-way mirror, five chairs, a metal table, and a video camera.
“Sit,” Cunningham directed.
The three of them sat in the chairs, and awaited their next orders, while Cunningham stood next to the door with three folders. The door opened up, and in walked General McHale; he looked the three of them over, and turned his attention to Cunningham. He took the folders from McHale, and thumbed through each one. His stone cold face wasn’t giving away any tells to Ethan, Barry, or Jupiter. They were just as confused as they were nervous.
McHale pulled out his chair, and sat down. He slid out a picture of Andrew in a U.F. uniform, and then he spoke up, “Andrew my boy… One of our very own soldiers for the United Front, what happened to you?” He thumbed through the next folder, and asked, “And which one of you two is Juniper, I’m sorry Jupiter?”
“I, am, Sir,” Jupiter said, as he looked McHale in the eyes.
Finally McHale turned to Ethan, “That must make you Ethan Drake. This is my lucky day Cunningham, who we have here, is Ethan Drake, leader of the Central Rebel Army.”
“I’m not that important, really,” Ethan replied.
“Oh don’t flatter yourself, you’re plenty important. Without you leading those savages, they won’t find their way out of a paper bag.”
“What do you want,” Andrew asked firmly.
“What is it I want? I think it’s something we both want
. You tell me where the girl is, and I let you live.”
“Not happening, what else?”
“Nothing else… The girl, or you die, it’s very simple.”
“We know what you want to do,” Ethan said calling him out.
“Oh do you?”
“Yeah, and we know what you’re after, and you’ll never get it.”
“You think that I’m the one pulling the strings? I’m just another puppet in their game, just like Cunningham over there, and you three here. The difference is that I know my place, and where I stand in this whole thing. Now, give me the girl, or else,” McHale demanded.
Ethan combatted the threats, “Or else what, are you just going to kill us?”
McHale removes his pistol from his holster, and answered. “Yes,” he said, as he pulled the trigger, and with a loud BANG that echoed throughout the tiny cement room. Jupiter slouched over, in his chair. Andrew looked at Jupiter’s chest as red blood soaked through his shirt, and pooled on his lap.
“You shot him,” Andrew screamed, “Jupiter, Jupiter!”
“I didn’t kill him, you both did. Just give me the girl, and you walk away. It didn’t have to be this way,” McHale reasoned.
“You’re a monster,” Ethan screamed.
“I’m running low on patients. Now give me the location of that damn girl!”
Andrew answered him in a stern tone, “You kill us, and she’ll never be yours.”
“Fine… Cunningham.”
“Sir?”
“Take them to pit, and dispose of them. If they decide to have a change of heart, and tell us where she’s at, bring them back.”
Cunningham stood both Andrew, and Ethan up, and forced them to the hallway. They began to make their way to the pit. The pit was just what it sounded like. A hole in the floor, except this pit came equipped with flesh-eaters. They tossed prisoners down there when they were no longer useful to them, and the flesh-eaters finished the rest.
A Regressive World: Book One Page 13