Fatal | The Second Life I [COMPLETED]

Chapter 15: Progress

We walk upstairs, planks creaking under our feet as we go. This would give us so much more space to expand. Sooner or later, we would rebuild humanity. It was definitely sounding like it would be "later" though.

I kick the door to the second floor open, and we only see 3 Z's. The other three had adopted my language, and soon the whole complex followed. I think we all knew these things weren't zombies anymore.

A Z rushes me, and my sword finds its place in its neck. It gurgles and chokes, presumably suffocating in blood. They still worried me, but I wasn't nearly as affected by them as the start. We had learned more about them, and I had gotten subsequently better at killing them.

Catey's arrow flies through a Z, embedding in the wall behind it. Blood starts seeping from the wound in its heart. It was oddly disturbing of how much mind I payed to this anymore. I would've been petrified of this type of gore and violence before.

My sword found its way into another Z as I thought. I couldn't lose myself. Becoming an emotionless killing machine was not something I wanted. I couldn't do it for myself, Tori, the Complex, anyone.

Tori helped with it. She was like a weight that held me in reality. I'm not the first to admit I'd gotten a little sadistic from all of this. I wasn't hit with depression like the others.

He sliced into another Z. Morale was a huge deal with the settlement. I wager it's Kjrsten's most intensive job as leader, in addition to her personal problems.

She was doing a great job so far. The only incident so far happened a month ago, when a group of scavengers went into Tribeca and were never heard from again. In response, all scavenger teams had a SPEC member guard them. It shifted between us.

A No-Go-Zone has been established for members of the Settlement. Anything inside of State Street and north of Chambers Street was strictly off limits. The only people that went there before the incident had described some really weird things. Their stories were freaky at best - and downright terrifying at worst.

"Alright, clear." I say.

"Just a couple more." Ads says, walking into the stairwell. "This place, man."

"It's going to be great." I say. "We'll probably move in here once we make sure it's safe."

"Just think, guys. How much progress are we making?" Blake asks. "We're really doing it. We're taking this city back, piece by piece."

"I could do without all the stair climbing." I say, and everyone laughs. I then open the door to the next floor. We clear, go up, repeat.

"Slowpoke." Tori jokes, slicing one before I can get to it.

"Oh, just watch." I say, smiling and sprinting up to a Z. Its expression throws me off. I can almost see some fear in it's face. My entire body gets goose bumps as I see it.

My sword swipes through it, not caring f it had fear or not. We were really just chopping up these poor, hungry animals! No, no! These were demented monsters that killed Ashley. You can't sympathize with them. The minute you do, they'll use that opportunity to eat your face right off your head.

And I knew that because I had seen it on a mission before. I was assigned to a group of scavengers that went near the World Trade Center. One of the guys I was supposed to be protecting was jumped out of nowhere by one. A weird one. I remember it all.

His name was Shaun. He was a kid in a similar position to me - trapped by the apocalypse in a foreign state. He was originally from New Hampshire, and he was planning on leaving a week from this trip.

We had entered the 911 Memorial in search for supplies that guards use to keep inside. We weren't originally going to go into the deep, expansive, and open part until we had heard something.

I still remember it.

"Help!"

It was a human scream. It had sounded so real, so punctuated, and so freaky. We were feeling heroic, though, so we ran through into the main memorial.

We had entered the chamber and seen the message "No Day Shall Erase You From The Memory Of Time." It was a great quote on a huge wall. Next to it was the ramp we had ran down. We followed the screams to a big white section with crumpled metal towers surrounding it.

We had cautiously entered the white thing, and the screams had gotten louder. We were getting closer. Then, when we did rush inside, these freakish Z's attacked. They were the creepiest thing I'd ever seen. They looked just like Z's but were.. talking.. just like a normal person.

     Shaun was jumped, and we were forced to flee. The rest of the scavengers knew he was done for.

     The memory drains as we enter the top floor and all surround the last Z. He stands there, eyeing all of us as we take turns. I take a swing with the sword, slicing its chest open. Then Tori takes a swipe at its hand, slicing his arm off. Then Blake, Adam, and Catey all shoot it.

     "That was sadistic." Blake says, looking at the shredded monster. "But the building is clear. Now let's barricade the entrance to the tower."

     "Sure thing." Adam says, and we all stack up whatever we can against the stairway to the upper floors. The building was now secure. We head down, ready to inform the crew.

     Yeah. This is a new life.