by Angel Ramon
“I have no idea where he went. I just hope he wasn’t killed by the monsters. His name is Chief Jeffries. He’s a jolly man most of the time. I met him during a town hall meeting and he paid a visit, a very nice man I have to say. He helped me get power back on when I did. He was acting strange though as he kept going off by himself and didn’t want me to follow him. I really hope he’s ok though.”
“I’m sure he is. He sounds like the kind of guy we need to help us out. By the way, I found the electrical room but I need a key to get in.”
“You’re in luck hun. I have the key.”
“Alright, let's get out of here.”
As the two walk out of the transformer room, they hear a loud monstrous noise.
“What was that?” George asks.
“That’s probably the ManBearPig.” Dawn replies.
The two walk through the hallway as they make their way to the electrical room.
Chapter 9
As they walk to the electrical room, they are met with a small horde of zombies. Between the two of them, they kill the horde rather easily.
Buckshot Shells: 10
“By the time this is all over, they’ll need a meat wagon to get all these bodies out of here.” George says.
“This is genocide right in own backyard. This will be our future if we don’t stop Hybrid.” Dawn replies soberly.
“You got that right.” George responds.
The two bypass the door to the Forever 21 store. They continue to walk until they get to the door leading to the electrical room. When the approach the electrical room door, Dawn uses the key she obtained to unlock the door. Entering the electrical room, the two of them investigate the room carefully.
As they’re walking the two of them hear the same monstrous noise again. They find the circuit breaker box. George grabs the rubber gloves and screwdriver believing that he’ll have to put the main wire back where it was.
Opening the breaker box, George is shocked by what he sees. Upon opening the box, he sees that the box is in good shape and no wires are missing or cut. In fact, all he sees is the breakers for most of the mall turned off.
“Hey Dawn, I smell something fishy here.”
“What is that?”
“This breaker box doesn’t look messed up at all.”
“No offense George, but I don’t get it.”
“If the power really went out due to the zombie outbreak, these wires would have all been removed and this room would be a mess. I’ll also add the door to the room would have been broken and not locked.”
“So you’re suggesting that the power outage was planned?”
“Exactly… I also suspect that this might all be a trap by Hybrid to capture you and me. I don’t want to sound negative but I have a bad feeling our cover might have already been blown even before today. After all, what are the odds we were in the same place during another zombie outbreak and the same monsters we saw before?”
“You know what you make a lot of sense. Is just… I can’t see Stephen being involved in this. He would never betray me like this.”
“Sorry, but who’s Stephen?”
“Stephen used to work with me when I was with Hybrid. However, when he found out that I escaped and quit, he came to me and promised me that he would protect me and we would take Hybrid down. I saw him here, he’s the reason I survived the encounter with the ManBearPig. He’s still working with Hybrid but is playing double agent so he can expose them later.”
“He sounds like a great man, but he’s still working with Hybrid. I hate to say it but as long as he works with Hybrid, he’s a threat to us. Understand that Hybrid has the most dangerous weapon at their disposal, the power of money. It’s the root of all evil and it can transform even your best friend into your worst enemy. I just hope Stephen is strong enough to avoid being manipulated by them.”
“I’m sure he is. I’m sure he was assigned here to take me out, but he helped me instead. That says alot, he had the chance to take me out right there and then. He also decided to stay here instead of running away like the rest of the crew. You see George I think we were supposed to be left here to die.”
“Great point Dawn, I’m just being cynical I guess. Anyway, this has the look of a setup. Nevertheless, I’m ready to get out of here. How about you?”
Dawn nods her head and begins to follow George out of the electrical room. As they go through the hallway, they don’t encounter any creatures or zombies in the hallway. When they reenter the Forever 21, George flashes his light and in one second the light dies out.
“Crap what a time for my light to totally crap out.”
“Don’t sweat it, hun I got a flashlight myself.” Dawn turns on her flashlight.
The two of them walk carefully through the store anticipating more creatures. However, to their surprise, there are no creatures or undead roaming around. Once they get to the side of the store with light, Dawn turns off her flashlight. Once again they hear the same noise they been hearing since defeating Mr. Z.
Unlike before, the noise is much louder suggesting the monster might be next to them. Trying to ignore the noise, the two of them head down the stairs and run towards the door to the security area. Approaching the security area, George and Dawn spot a huge creature jumping down from above. When it falls to the ground, its weight causes the ground to shake violently.
“What the hell is that thing?” George asks.
“That’s the monster I was talking about.” Dawn answers.
A hole appears in the stomach of the creature and tentacles begin to come out. George and Dawn dive out of the way of the tentacles. The monster retracts its tentacles.
The creature is the ManBearPig created by Hybrid. It is a mutation of a pig, bear, and human combined with the use of the Raven Hawk virus. Its face is half pig and half bear. It’s armed with twin bear claws while having the strength of a mutated pig. It can take bullets like a sponge on its front. The ManBearPig is also capable of performing a devastating bull rush tackle.
“So this is the ManBearPig? It’s uglier than even I thought.” George says.
Boss: ManBearPig
The ManBearPig moves slowly as George and Dawn try to shoot the biohazard creature. However, the bullets are having little effect on the ManBearPig.
Buckshot Shells: 6
“The bullets are having no effect at all!” George shouts.
“We gotta find its weak spot!” Dawn replies.
The ManBearPig prepares to bullrush the two of them. They both get out of the way from the creature as it crashes into the pet shop. With its back exposed, they see an eye like thing in the back. The two of them begins to shoot the eye causing the creature to scream in pain. After a few shots, the eye closes and the creature regains its composure.
Buckshot Shells: 3
“Uh oh, I think we’ve pissed it off!” George says.
“Probably so…” Dawn replies.
The ManBearPig walks towards George and slashes him. The impact causes him to hit the floor hard and take a decent amount of damage.
Condition: Caution (Level 2)
George is unable to get up and the creature kicks him hard. The kick causes him to roll towards a bench. Dawn sees the eye open up and head behind it shooting it with a machine gun that she acquired in the gun shop. The bullets might not be as strong as the Desert Eagle but it does have rapid fire.
The bullets land on the eye and are enough to grab the attention of the monster. The eye closes and the ManBearPig turns around and begins to walk towards Dawn.
“Come and get me you pig!” She taunts the creature.
George gets a chance to get up and recover slightly. He sees the ManBearPig grab Dawn as it begins to choke her to death. Putting his shotgun on his back, he opts to use the magnum instead as he spots the eye on the back begins to open. He shoots three shots from his magnum until the eye closes quickly.
The ManBearPig drops Dawn on the floor while it screams in pain. Turning its attention to George, it bul
lrushes him trying to tackle him. He’s able to barely dive out of the way of the creature. The ManBearPig hits the storefront of a variety store.
With the ManBearPig being distracted for a few seconds, George checks on Dawn to make sure she’s ok.
“Hey Dawn, are you ok?”
“I’ll be fine, keep attacking. Why did you stop?”
“I wanted to make sure you were fine.”
“Thanks, hun, keep that monster distracted as I get up.”
George misses his chance to attack the ManBearPig. It turns its attention towards him and begins to walk towards him. With Dawn still on the floor, George is left to continue distracting the creature. He takes a misstep and trips on the floor. The ManBearPig kicks George again, sending him close to hitting the pet shop storefront.
Condition: Danger
You have used a First Aid Spray.
Condition: Fine
He doesn’t take any chances and uses the first aid spray right away. Dawn is slowly getting up. George continues to keep the creature busy.
“Come on Dawn, you can get up. I need you.” He says in his head.
The ManBearPig walks up to him and tries to slash him. He manages to roll to his right causing it to miss. He tries to get behind the creature, but it spins around too fast and faces George.
The ManBearPig tries to tackle George again and he’s able to dive out of the way. This time he’s able to get behind the creature when it hits the wall next to the security area door. The eye opens up and George shoots four shots before he’s forced to reload.
Magnum Rounds: 6
“God damn, how many shots does it take to kill this fucker!”
The eye closes up after George reloads his weapon. Fatigue begins to kick in. He might be in good health for his age, but his age does begin to catch up with him regardless. He begins to breathe heavily trying to catch his breath. Looking behind him, he sees the Dawn is finally getting up but is still not up fully.
“Come on Dawn, I can’t keep the sugar high freak distracted forever.” He says in his head.
The ManBearPig gets ready to perform another bullrush tackle as George runs and tries to run. He catches a cramp on his right leg which is common for his age. It causes him to fall to the ground. The biohazard creature hits him dead on and sends him flying. He lands on the fountain lying on top of the water.
Condition: Caution (Level 2)
The ManBearPig lands a critical hit causing George to take more damage than usual. He has a tough time getting up as the ManBearPig begins to walk towards him ready to finish him off. Dawn finally recovers enough to get back into the battle.
Walking gingerly, she spots the open eye and grabs her Desert Eagle. Dawn begins to shoot the creature in the eye causing the creature to cry in pain and kneel down on its knee.
“Come on George, get your arse up!” Dawn shouts on top of her lungs.
Hearing Dawn, George gets up slowly and sees the eye still open. He shoots all six of his magnum rounds onto the eye which deals critical damage to the ManBearPig. The creature kneels down on both knees as both Dawn and George run out of bullets for their respective guns.
“We just need a few more shots, but I’ve run out of bullets.” Dawn says
“No worries I have just the weapon to finish it off!” George replies.
George hosters his magnum and grabs his shotgun loading it with his remaining Dragonfire shells.
“Alright ManBearPig, prepare to meet your maker. This is how Hybrid is gonna go, with a blaze of glory.”
George shoots all five of his Dragonfire shells repeatedly at the creature’s back eye until the flames become overwhelming. The fire grows into an inferno and begins to spread into the nearby supermarket.
“That should take care of that mutant.”
“I’m glad you’re ok George, but we gotta get out of here before that fire grown into anything too big.”
“Good point, let’s go.”
The two run from the inferno as they run towards the security area and run down the stairs. When they reach the hallway, Dawn leads the way to the door that she was talking about. With no zombies in sight, the two are able to run to the door rather fast.
“Here goes nothing. I hope the door opens or our goose will be cooked.” Dawn says.
“Good way of putting it…” George replies.
Dawn pushes the door and to her relief, it opens.
“Yes it’s open, let’s go!” Dawn says happily.
They run through a narrow pathway hoping there are no creatures or zombies. To their luck, all they see are dead bodies on the floor. They ignore the dead bodies and just keep running through the pathway.
“You think we’re in the clear?” Dawn asks.
“I wish I knew sweetheart. However, I feel like there is a light at the end of this tunnel considering we killed ugly back in the mall.” George answers.
George begins to feel the fatigue start to kick in big time as he has to take in big deep breaths and his legs are starting to burn. He is unable to run any faster due to the cramp that he got during the ManBearPig battle. After another minute of running, they see a door with an exit sign on top of the door.
When they open the door they find themselves in the underground parking lot.
“Your car should be here, right?” George asks.
“It was down here, but I told you that debris crushed it when that monster in the red jacket came chasing me.”
“Crud, I remember now.”
They take a look at Dawn’s car and see that it’s totaled. Dawn points George to a way she found to get back outside. They run towards the ramp leading up to the outside parking lot. When they get to the ramp, a shaft is seen blocking their way.
“Wait a minute. I thought you said we could get out this way. What gives?” George asks.
“Fuck! This shaft wasn’t here blocking our way. It was open the first time I and the chief found it. We were going to use this as one of our escape routes, all we needed was the keycard for the shaft for the second shaft upstairs, which I have.” Dawn replies.
The two realize that they might have to find another way out after all and the fire in the mall is probably getting bigger. Dawn decides to try her keycard on the reader. The reader spits out the card after she inserts it saying that it’s invalid.
“No… don’t tell me we’re trapped here.” Dawn says.
“No, we’re not. Let’s try to lift this puppy up.” George responds.
The two try to lift up the gate but the shaft is simply too heavy for them to lift.
“It’s a no go, I guess.” George says.
“Where’s the EMP device you had?” Dawn asks.
“Ah… good idea.” George says as he searches for the device.
Looking for the device in his pocket, he is unable to find it.
“Oh no… I must have lost it when we were fighting that ManBearPig. Crud and it’s too dangerous to go back now.”
“Damn it, the door leading back to the mall from here is also locked. Now I’m convinced we’re trapped.”
“Don’t give up Dawn, there’s gotta be a way.” George says.
The two try to figure out another way out of the parking lot until Dawn hears her name being called.
“Dawn!?” A male voice calls her.
The male reveals himself as Chief Jefferies, the chief of the Brewster Police Department.
“Chief Jefferies? Boy, it’s good to see you.” Dawn says happily.
“You must have been a brave woman to escape this mess all by your lonesome.” The chief replies.
“What?” Dawn asks confused.
Chief Jefferies appears out of the darkness. He is a middle-aged man in his upper forties who is rather chubby. He has gray hair and is wearing a vest that covers his shirt and tie. He has a clean gray mustache and looks like he keeps himself well groomed. He was born and raised in Brewster, New York. The chief is normally a soft-spoken man, but this time he appears to be acting weird.
After a short pause, Chief Jefferies says, “On the ground, hands behind your head.”
“You can’t be serious chief…” Dawn replies while laughing.
“Wait a minute we’re on your side…” George follows.
Chief Jefferies pulls out his magnum and shoots at the car behind them.
“On the ground. Now.” The chief says while pointing his gun at Dawn who stops laughing.
“I guess he isn’t joking after all.” George says.
“Why are you doing this?” Dawn asks.
“Shut up!” Chief Jefferies answers.
George reaches for his shotgun when the chief is not watching but the chief turns his head for a quick second towards him.
“No, you don’t. I would keep my hands away from that shotgun if I were you. Stephen, come here.”
“Stephen?” Dawn says.
“Surprise, surprise...” George says sarcastically.
“No, George could not have been right. Could he?” Dawn says in her head.
A male in tactical Hybrid Corp. gear comes into the garage behind the chief holding a UMP45 submachine gun. Upon further review by Dawn, it proves to be her best friend from her childhood, Stephen.
Stephen is a blonde headed man from Britain and is from the same neighborhood as Dawn. He’s in his 30’s just like Dawn. He was Dawn’s childhood friend and love interest growing up. However, they grew apart when Stephen moved to the United States after High School. Stephen wears glasses just like Dawn. He is close to six feet and is considered average weight for his age. He was an aspiring author before he decided to work for Hybrid as a mercenary.
“Cheshire? But why?” Dawn asks.
Stephen puts on an evil smile as he’s ordered by the chief to handcuff George and Dawn.
“For starters, call it human endangerment. In your case, your friend Stephen was just doing his job.” The chief replies.
“So that means Stephen got paid off?” Dawn asks.
“You can say that…” George says.
“Shut up!” Stephen yells while slapping George with his sub-machine gun.
“You see Dawn this was indeed a setup to catch you. Did you really think Stephen was your friend?” The chief asks.