The van rumbled a bit as he took a
quick look out of the window to look at the silent street. It was incredibly
desolate, which was nothing new, but there was something odd about this one in
particular. Usually, the streets were piled with bodies so many that by the
time we got back to base; the tires had a new coat of red paint. Except now,
the streets were completely barren, aside from the
occasional broken-down cars, traveling cases, and the discarded food items and
papers from the trash bins. Now, unlike everywhere else, the streets lack any
evidence that people were once here.
Inside the van, were six armed men
with standard military outfitting, each of them most notably wearing gas-masks.
One of them was standing at the front, talking with the van’s driver. Amongst
the group was a factory engineer, who continued stared out the window,
wondering how much longer he would be forced to do this. To be sent out each
day and be reminded of the world they once knew until they were driven into a
massive complex within the Earth, which so many people referred to as “home”. Those with any actual military experience were thought "too valuable assets" to be sent out into the field this often, and were forced to stay back to operate things at "home", but most of the operating they did was very little, thus many people just made their own plans to live, which was fine. He
wasn’t the only one who thought like this, but maybe that’s what happens when
you take away someone’s life, they learn to adapt.
After a moment, the man standing at
the front turned back to them.
“All right everyone,” he began, the gas mask muffling his
voice. “We’re going to be in the
red-zone in a few minutes. You all know the procedure; we stick together,
eliminate all infected individuals, but remember to tag them first.”
At this moment, the engineer handed out scanners to the rest
of the group. Just as he finished handing them out, the van suddenly stopped.
He turned back to the driver and asked what was wrong, who simply gestured to
the blazing wreck before them. The man turned back to the group.
“Okay,
apparently our trip is being cut a bit short.
We’re taking a sweep-and-clear route up the street here until we can
find a way around this blockage.” He pointed to one of the men in masks. “You,
stay with the driver, I don’t want this van missing when we get back.” The man
nodded his head in compliance. “Okay, let’s get going.” The sounds of guns
being cocked and loaded were followed by the back doors flying open. The group
stepped out onto the rather dark street corner. The ground had attracted a
large amount of dust, so much, in fact, that it acted almost as mist going no
higher than their knees. A gust of wind sent a nearby pile of papers flying
before them and down a dark, long street, which forbade a sense of light due to
the rising skyscrapers and lack of street lights.
The group
kept close together in a half-circle formation, moving cautiously down the
street, keeping their eyes open to any dark alleyways and the many open doors
of empty buildings. Eventually, one of them caught movement coming from inside
a nearby hotel. The instructor gestured for them to enter, which they did
rather unskillfully, as one of them tripped on the steps, and they were all
clustered together as they entered. Nevertheless, they entered without much
fault. Despite its fancy architecture, the hotel was not very impressive. It
appeared to only have a few floors, and the breakfast room was visible from
where they stood, and it looked as though it could barley house three families.
After entering, they found a man lying beside a fountain that was centered in
the lobby. He raised an arm and let out a moan:
“Help…” he
said, weakly.
As if he had just remembered his training, the engineer
pulled out the scanner and a flashing blue right ran up and down the man’s worn
out body. It gave off a rhythmic humming noise and a red light from the top of
the device. On a screen beneath this light was the device’s recommended “course
of action” for the user. The engineer turned to his instructor, who simply
nodded his head. He adjusted the barrel of his submachine gun to the man’s
temple, murmuring an almost inaudible “I’m sorry” before squeezing his finger
and seeing the man’s forehead suddenly protrude a red color.
Soon after,
the group was on the move again. They eventually came to an entrance within a
back alleyway that would take them past the wreck. While in the relatively
small building, they heard sounds coming from up the fire escape, supposedly
someone was running. They slowly made their way upstairs and one of them looked
into the hallway before giving the all clear. Eventually, they heard sobbing
coming from a nearby room. The group lined up against the wall and prepared to
enter. The instructor gave the signal for them to enter, and with a swift kick
to the center of the door, it flew open to reveal a women lying on her bed,
crying into her hands. She gazed up at the group as they entered slowly. One of
the members pulled out their scanner. Upon seeing this device, the woman gave a
horrified, then angered expression.
“No…” she
said, her throat still tight from the sobbing. “You’re not taking her, not
now!”
Then, from underneath the messy blankets, she pulled out a
revolver, aiming it at the man with the device.
“Gun!” One
of the group members shouted.
The woman fired a round into the man’s chest, while the rest
of the squad fired one quick burst of bullets, all of them entering her body.
The man stood up, unharmed due to the protection of his vest. The engineer then
heard more sobbing coming from within a nearby closet. He opened it and found a
beautiful little girl on the ground, her face dug into her knees. She couldn’t
have been more than nine years old.
“Oh my
god…” The engineer let out.
He knelt down and the girl looked up to his eyes through the
gas mask. He quickly pulled out his
scanner and began to take readings. The rest of the squad was busy watching the
doorways, searching the rooms, and taking reading from the woman’s corpse to
pay attention to what else was happening in the room. As the scan continued, an
amazing thing happened, or more what didn’t happen. The device didn’t go off. He looked back at
the little girl to see the tears streaming down her cheeks, but she wasn’t
sobbing anymore.
“It’s
alright. It didn’t go off. You’re not infected.”
She continued to look at him for a while, until she finally
found something to ask him.
“Can I come
with you?” She whispered.
“Why?” He
asked.
She was silent for a moment.
“I think I
might run out of food soon. They don’t want to leave here but…they’re all
crazy.”
“Wait,
you’ve been getting food by yourself. Like…traveling the streets?”
She nodded.
“Then….how have you not-“
“Can I come
with you?” She interrupted him.
“Um…yeah.
Yes, of course. Just let me-“
He was interrupted by yelling coming from the hall.
Gunfire
broke out in the hallway, with the group returning fire.
“The
Hunters!” He heard a man yell. “The Hunters are here!”
The engineer quickly stood up and moved toward the doorway.
He saw every door fly open at once and people run into the halls shouting and
firing their guns at the group.
“Ah, shit!
We’re trapped!” Yelled the instructor.
“This way!”
Came a young, feminine voice from behind.
Behind them a window was open, and on the other side of it
was the little girl, waving the group towards her. Quickly, the group exited
the room and made their way down the fire escape to the street level.
Unfortunately, the attackers continued their purist, as they rushed out the
back door toward the group. The group immediately turned and ran, with the
engineer holding onto the little girl’s hand as they ran. After a hasty
pursuit, the van came into view, with the member they left behind opening the
doors and waving for them to hurry. They piled into the van and shut the door.
“Get us the
hell outta here!” Yelled one of the group.
The driver attempted to turn the wheel, but the van refused
to turn.
“The
hydraulics must be screwed!”
The engineer quickly rushed out of the van to examine it,
and found that the only problem was a piece of debris wedged into the
hydraulic. He attempted to remove it, but it was stuck in far too tight. Behind
him, he could see the crowd emerge from the mist, yelling for the girl back.
“Here!” He
heard the girl yell.
He turned and saw here wielding a wedge tool. She tossed it to him, and using it, was able
to wedge the blockage out. Grabbing hold of her, he helped her back into the
van and shut the door.
“Punch it!”
The instructor yelled.
The van then swerved into reverse, and sped off back down
the road.
A wave of
relief passed over the van and its inhabitants. The engineer sat back down at
looked at the little girl.
“So…you
feel okay?” He asked.
She nodded.
“Everyone
else started feeling really sick. Even my mom. She started talking to my dad,
even though he wasn’t there. A lot of people started bleeding too. From their
mouths I think.” She described.
“But,
you’re alright? You haven’t gotten sick at all? Ever?”
She shook her head.
She shook her head.
“Heh,” he went on “That’s good. Well, were going…somewhere
else. A lot safer. There are no crazy people there. And there’s lots of food.”
She smiled at this, but it quickly faded when a memory
popped into her head.
“What about
my mom?”
Even though it wasn’t noticeable, he frowned very quickly
through the mask. He felt himself become overwhelmed by grief.
“She, uh,
didn’t make it. She wanted us to look after you.”
She looked down at the floor.
“Oh…” She
whispered.
He leaned forward.
“Look, I
know it’s a lot deal with right now, but I’ll take care of you, deal?”
She looked up again and smiled.
“Yeah,
deal.”
The other people within the group looked at them for a
while, and there was a brief silence.
“So…are
there any kids there?”
“Yeah. Not
a lot, but…yeah, a few.”
This put her in higher spirits.
“Cool!”
“You’re
pretty quick to adapt.”
She looked at him for a bit.
“It’s
alright.” She stated, looking out the window. “It just takes a bit of getting
used to.”
The engineer looked out the window with her, as
the dusty ruins of the city trailed off behind them.
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