Friday 6, February 2015
22:40 Hours
Phoenix, Arizona
“Here.”
Leonard Deep, twelve, was handing his share of food to a girl that was roughly his age. She had been saved from a evil looking woman earlier by Greg Cross, and Leonard had wanted to talk to her since he saw her there. She took his sandwich and quickly ate it, as he sat beside her and drank a bit of water. The scene around them had shifted from a normal hotel to a army-like barracks: The door had been blocked by a lot of furniture while the rest of it had been positioned in a circle around a table, at which Greg and Jane sat.
“How are you?”
“I’m good.” The girl answered. “Considering my parents are those things…”
“Oh… Well, my dad was that loudmouth that left with the crowd.” He said, then added: “I’m Leonard, by the way, but you can call me Leo.”
“I’m Yanai…” She whispered back. “But everyone calls me Spirit…”
“Nice to meet you, Spirit.” Leo said, standing.
“Nice to meet you, Spirit.” Leo said, standing.
He patted her shoulder and went to Greg, besides which he sat. Greg didn’t even move, watching the plans of the building before him as he and Jane spoke in hushed voices. All around them everyone else sat, afraid of leaving to the upper floors in case help arrived. Jane traced a line along the plans, and Leo realized those were the plans of the airport.
“What are you doing?” Leo asked, suddenly really interested.
“We’re checking for possible entrance or exit routes.” Jane said, silently. “As Joshua’s friends, we can’t laze around while he puts his life in the line for us. So we’re devising ways we can all escape in case help doesn’t help.”
“Why not through the lobby?” Leo asked.
“Considering the size of it and how the biggest crowd was held there, there’s a big chance that’s where most of these things are.” Greg pointed out, and Leo realized that Greg’s headphones were around his neck, music coming faintly from them.
“How so?”
“Well, open spaces are good, but we’ll get attacked from all sides.” Jane answered. “Before you ask, Joshua had us learn a bunch of military things to ‘help’ us in our investigative reporting.”
“You’re reporters?” Leo asked.
“Yep. She’s a journalist, I’m a photographer.” Greg said, then proceeded to present himself and Jane. Once Leo presented himself, Greg Said: “Don’t worry, Leo. We’ll get you out of-“
Suddenly, a soft moan was heard. Greg instantly stood and from within his jacket he pulled out a gun Joshua had left with him. Spinning around, Greg noticed the sound came from the back and, cursing at himself, he slowly edged forward. He followed proper protocol when checking hostile areas, keeping to the wall and moving slowly, keeping attentive to all sounds. He found his ears leading him to the bathroom, where a man was standing before the mirror.
“Sir, are you alright?” Greg asked, without realizing he was being watched from behind too.
“I-I-I…” The man before him said, turning to him.
The man’s left eye was dangling from its sockets, his jaw unhindged and also dangling. Greg steeled himself, raised his gun and shot the man straight in the forehead as he lunged at Greg. The body fell to the ground with a stump as Greg quickly checked every one of the stalls to make sure there wasn’t any other infected or survivor around. Finally sure there was no one else, he spun and spotted Leo staring at him.
“You shouldn’t be following me around, or you’ll end up seeing pretty disgusting things.” Greg said, walking past Leo. “Come, let’s join the others.”
Once the two returned to the lobby of the hotel, Greg proceeded to arm Leo with a dagger (Because Leo had decided he’d be Greg’s partner during the whole thing) and headed upstairs, to check every room for any survivors or infected. The first three floors were free and void of anyone, but the fourth floor had several survivors. Once all the floors were scanned for anyone, they ended up with a group of fifty five survivors. Greg thought that the infected one that had found its way into the bathroom had probably entered when the door was opened, so he gave it no more thought. Finally returning to the hotel’s lobby, Greg and Jane went back to talking and Leo went and sat besides Spirit, who smiled softly at his approach.
“What are you doing?” Leo asked, suddenly really interested.
“We’re checking for possible entrance or exit routes.” Jane said, silently. “As Joshua’s friends, we can’t laze around while he puts his life in the line for us. So we’re devising ways we can all escape in case help doesn’t help.”
“Why not through the lobby?” Leo asked.
“Considering the size of it and how the biggest crowd was held there, there’s a big chance that’s where most of these things are.” Greg pointed out, and Leo realized that Greg’s headphones were around his neck, music coming faintly from them.
“How so?”
“Well, open spaces are good, but we’ll get attacked from all sides.” Jane answered. “Before you ask, Joshua had us learn a bunch of military things to ‘help’ us in our investigative reporting.”
“You’re reporters?” Leo asked.
“Yep. She’s a journalist, I’m a photographer.” Greg said, then proceeded to present himself and Jane. Once Leo presented himself, Greg Said: “Don’t worry, Leo. We’ll get you out of-“
Suddenly, a soft moan was heard. Greg instantly stood and from within his jacket he pulled out a gun Joshua had left with him. Spinning around, Greg noticed the sound came from the back and, cursing at himself, he slowly edged forward. He followed proper protocol when checking hostile areas, keeping to the wall and moving slowly, keeping attentive to all sounds. He found his ears leading him to the bathroom, where a man was standing before the mirror.
“Sir, are you alright?” Greg asked, without realizing he was being watched from behind too.
“I-I-I…” The man before him said, turning to him.
The man’s left eye was dangling from its sockets, his jaw unhindged and also dangling. Greg steeled himself, raised his gun and shot the man straight in the forehead as he lunged at Greg. The body fell to the ground with a stump as Greg quickly checked every one of the stalls to make sure there wasn’t any other infected or survivor around. Finally sure there was no one else, he spun and spotted Leo staring at him.
“You shouldn’t be following me around, or you’ll end up seeing pretty disgusting things.” Greg said, walking past Leo. “Come, let’s join the others.”
Once the two returned to the lobby of the hotel, Greg proceeded to arm Leo with a dagger (Because Leo had decided he’d be Greg’s partner during the whole thing) and headed upstairs, to check every room for any survivors or infected. The first three floors were free and void of anyone, but the fourth floor had several survivors. Once all the floors were scanned for anyone, they ended up with a group of fifty five survivors. Greg thought that the infected one that had found its way into the bathroom had probably entered when the door was opened, so he gave it no more thought. Finally returning to the hotel’s lobby, Greg and Jane went back to talking and Leo went and sat besides Spirit, who smiled softly at his approach.
“I’m cold…” She whispered. She was wearing her pajamas, which didn’t have much protection against the cold.
“Here.” Rebecca Alison said, handing Spirit her own jacket. “You’ll need it more than me.”
“Why?”
“I’m used to the cold.” She replied, smiling softly. A sudden, soft banging was heard on the door, and everyone went stiff: “What the-“
“Leo, help, we need to get this open!” Greg shouted.
Greg opened the door and three people walked in: All dressed up as military. The two groups, survivors and Soldiers, exchanged situation reports. Leo watched the people, with their rifles and guns, and he felt a sudden feeling of hope. Spirit, sitting beside him, didn’t seem to be affected by them as much. Suddenly, the soldiers turned and left, leaving the survivors once again alone. Before the door closed, a distinct sound of gunfire was heard. Several people asked what was wrong, and Greg answered:
“The military has no desire to help us, per se.” He explained, frowning. Everyone waited for several minutes as he collected his thoughts, and eventually he added: “They have the airport surrounded so none of these things can get out. And they WILL extract us, but we’ll probably end up being sent off to research labs due to our close encounter with these things.”
“What ARE those things?” Rebecca asked, pointing at the door.
“Those things are…” Greg suddenly stopped.
“They’re the result of a bioterrorism attack.” Jane said, placing her hand on Greg and stepping forth to talk using her skill as a reporter to deliver the news: “We’re the unlucky ones to survive, and they know it, so they’ll do everything to find a way to get info out of us.”
“So what do we do?”
“We’ll let them rescue us.” Greg answered. “We’ll prove them we’re not the bad guys. That we’re the victim.”
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