The Divine Infection

Chapter Five: The Relentless

I hear several gunshots, and the smell of decay hits me in an instant as I edge into the room. I see a bullet hit the rope binding Barrone's feet together, and the rope breaks, freeing the sandy-haired man and allowing him to retrieve his sword from the floor. I grip my knife tightly, taking a deep breath before rushing into the room, planting the small blade into a zombie's throat and then ripping it out again. The creature drops to the ground quickly, blood spraying up and spattering my face.

"Leigh! Duck!" Barrone yells. I do as he says without the slightest hesitation, and then see his hammer fly across the room and smash into a headless zombie's chest, forcing it back against the wall. Blood splatters behind the decayed form on the white wall, and I retch slightly, before pushing to my feet and proceeding to grab the hammer. I feel something grab my waist, and I scream, before I'm spun out of the way and into Kier's waiting arms. His arm winds firmly around my waist as he shoots at another zombie, the last of those with heads on, and I close my eyes tightly, trying to block everything out as I hear gunshots, shrieking, and Kier's low and sadistic chuckles.

It feels like an eternity has passed by the time everything goes quiet, and I nervously open my eyes, looking around the room. Eight decayed bodies are sprawled on the floor, all now headless; blood is everywhere, on the floor, the walls, even sprayed across the ceiling, and Barrone is soaked in the gruesome stuff; the seven jugs of petrol are under the table beneath the window, out of harm's way.

"Headless?!" Kier exclaims. "How the fuck were they still moving if they were headless?!" Yeah, that's what I'd like to know...

"Simple." Barrone says, monotone, as he kneels down beside a zombie's headless, bloodied body. I grimace in disgust as he digs his fingers into the creature's neck, not fazed by all the blood as he digs around and then eventually smiles. Eventually, of course, meaning it takes a damn long while. And then he pulls out a small computer microchip. "Programmed by a third party to fight back, even when headless. A trap, you might say; when someone kills one of these fuckers, they let their guard down, and that's when these things come back and take a swing for them. Help me remove these." He commands as he proceeds to remove the microchip from a second body.

"How's about you fuck off, mate? No chance." Kier snorts. I just shake my head. And so Barrone, by himself, removes each and every microchip from the corpses on the floor.

"What'd I miss?" I hear Alex ask from behind us, and I turn to see that he's cradling two large cardboard boxes full of food. "A bloodbath?"

"And a world-changing discovery." Kier adds.

"Exaggerated." Barrone grumbles.

"And a...pairing, by the looks of it?" Alex cocks an eyebrow, smirking; it takes Kier and I a second to realise that Kier's arm is still around my waist, and we quickly jump apart, grimacing at the though.

"Eugh-"

"Ahem. The chips have a weird symbol on them." Barrone pipes up.

"Chips? Where? Can I have-" Alex starts.

"Microchips." Barrone mutters.

"Yum."

"Shut up, Alex. Microchips for computers." Barrone sighs at Alex's obvious lack of intelligence. "Or, in this case, for bloats."

"Wow, really?" Alex blinks in surprise. "Can I-"

"No." Barrone slips the computer chips in the pocket of his muddied black jeans, and then begins to tug out the jugs of petrol. "Assistance?"

Kier and I both cross the room, grabbing two jugs of petrol each. Barrone juggles three in his arms with ease, and we all head down the stairs, before waiting in the hallway with the front door slightly ajar. When everything seems to be peaceful enough, we all creep outside, and make our way down the eerily-quiet street.