Chapter 6: The First Goodbye

Annabelle Miles

Friday 6, February 2015

22:49 Hours

Phoenix, Arizona

"Watch out!"

In an instant, Joshua Adams pulled his current ally, Special Agent Annabelle Miles, away from one of the infected with his left hand and, in the same movement, pulled out his gun and shot him down. They had, in only a handful of minutes, made their way up through the maze-like rooms all the way to a large group of cubicles. Annabelle had noted this seemed more like an office building than an airport, but said nothing to Joshua. That's exactly when an old man jumped out from the shadows at her. Before she could react, Joshua had brought the assailant down with a well-places bullet to it's head.

"Keep your eyes open, Agent." Joshua said, a hint of annoyance clearly audible in his tone. "One missed step and I'll have to blow your brains out."

"Y-Yes." She stuttered. "Are we close?"

"We can only assume so."

As they headed deeper and higher into the complex, Annabelle began to realize there were very few infected beings around, and that worried her. In such an important airport, why would there be so few travelers? She kept her thoughts to herself, as she knew the two of them had to keep completely attentive to all sounds. Finally, they reached the control tower. Walking in, the first thing that greeted them was a group of infected beings. Annabelle, reacted swiftly and shot them down, while Joshua simply made his way through, slashing their heads off with a big kitchen knife.

"What are you doing?" She asked when she realized he wasn't using his weapon. "You could get killed that way!"

"We need to conserve our ammo. Look." He said, pointing out the window at the plane tracks.

An enormous crowd of infected loitered around, their empty gazes seemed to search for some sign, but this wasn't the time, Annabelle thought. She needed to get out of this infernal place. She turned, only to see Joshua had already begun to work on the radio. He wasn't quite skilled at using technology, but he was making progress, when the door slammed shut. Turning around, both Joshua and Annabelle were startled to see Leonard's father standing between them and the door, holding a knife in hand. His neck was bleeding, and a green goo seemed to be flowing from it.

"You..." The man said, pointing his knife at Joshua. "You're to blame...!"

"What-"

"SILENCE!" The man screamed, clutching his head, as if it were in pain. "I you hadn't been there, I could have led us to victory... I could have saved those people..."

"I have nothing to do with your ineptitude!" Joshua replied, and Annabelle saw his body shift a bit. She knew Joshua was readying himself for a fight. "But, you're bitten. You know what that means-"

"Yes... I'm going to die... And I'm going to turn into one of those... One of those things." He spoke each word faintly, like he was beginning to faint. "But, at least... At least I get to kill you...!"

Leonard's dad lunged forward and struck, but Joshua dodged easily to the side. Bringing his hand up into his attacker's face, Joshua sent his enemy crashing backwards onto a table. Turning, he realized the radio had been broken by the attack he avoided, so he quickly made for Annabelle, when a soft moaning was heard. Turning yet again, Annabelle's heart skipped a beat as a large group of infected began to walk in.

"Steel yourself." Joshua said and, reloading his gun, began to shoot his way out with deadly precision: "Move it!"

Annabelle followed Joshua closely as she could as they shot their way out. Racing down the stairs, several of the infected fell down, making it even harder to traverse. Suddenly, Annabelle tripped. Joshua stopped and turned to help, when he saw the infected grabbing her leg. In an instant, Joshua aimed his gun at it and shot, but it was too late: it had sunk it's teeth into her leg. Crying out in pain, Annabelle kicked the infected woman off and struggled to stand. Their eyes met, and she knew what he was thinking, she knew she was doomed. Nodding, she gestured him to go on without her, and he did so, only after saying, with teary eyes:

"I'm so sorry."

"Go!" She cried, keeping her tears and fears in check. "Save the others.."

"I will."

As she stood there, she shot down any infested that got anywhere near Joshua as he left. When she was all alone, she continue to shoot more and more of the infected as her tears began to flow. Her vision became blurry both with tears and the toxins spreading through her body. Her hand began to shake, and she knew it'd be over soon. She cried out in agony as the poison in her veins spread into her torso, so she did the one thing she knew she should do. She'd spare Joshua some pain. He shouldn't have to kill her when she turned into one of these monsters. Taking a staggering breath, she pressed the gun against her temple. Her life flashed before her eyes as she steeled herself for the task at hand. And her mind sought out one memory. A bright sunset upon a beautiful, Caribbean beach, where she had uttered the fateful 'I do.' She never would have imagined she would die before her marriage. That her soon-to-be husband, who awaited her at home, would never see her again. That he'd hear she died of some random accident. Finally, with her one love in mind, she pulled the trigger. Her last words, unheard by all, were: 'I love you.'