An Agent Named Nicolas Flint

Case Three Part 2

I followed a few steps behind Nick as he moved slowly, completely alert and ready. I had my handgun drawn, but pointed down until I needed to fire. I didn't want to risk getting nervous and shooting my partner in the back by accident. We carried on clearing rooms without any more surprises. The building was massive. We finally found a map near a pair of elevators so we could figure out where things were, and so we could make a guess as to how many more surprises we might find based on what we found inside each cleared room. The biggest room on that floor was a cafeteria. We saved clearing that room for last. From my count, Nick had taken down eleven infected. That left a big number that still needed to be taken care of. A large group could be in the cafeteria and we needed to be ready.

Because of Nick's skill, it didn't take us very long to finish the first floor aside from the last large room. We stopped outside the double doors. I made eye contact with him showing I was ready. I had calmed down a great deal since our first encounter with the infected, and I almost felt as if I could handle the rest of our job without any issues.

Slowly, Nick opened the door and slipped inside as I tried to do so as gracefully as he did. The room was colder than the rest of the building. It made me feel a bit chilly because of the sweat on my face that was cooling down. The area still smelled of freshly cooked dinner. At first, I didn't think any infected were inside the room, but soon found out that was a wrong assumption.

I didn't see them at first because of the long tables in the way. Food still remained behind as if these people had been infected in the middle of dinner. Some plates were on the floor and drinks were knocked over. Whatever had happened, it had happened fast. One infected stood up from the floor looking around trying to see us. Then another. The fear of the two of us having to deal with a large crowd of infected suddenly became real.

Nick wasted no time. Instead of running between tables and overturned chairs, he leapt on a table to run towards the swaying corpse. In one swift motion he sliced off its head getting ready to do the same to a second one. I was ready to cover him but a sight made me freeze.

A pile of the infected stood up in the middle of the room where a set of tables had been pushed aside. They were all connected by vines coming from the bulbs on their chests and running through their skin. At least twenty of them all turned their head towards Nick. He was trying his best to avoid other infected swatting at his feet as he darted along the tables.

I raised my gun and fired into the crowd of infected, hoping that I would hit something with them being all so close together. Before my eyes, that small crowd became closer and closer until they turned into an abomination that would haunt my memories for the rest of my life. Vines twisted around bodies as they molded into one mass. I kept firing hoping it would do something. If I killed one out of the crowd, the bulb didn't fade like before. It was still connected to others so it stayed alive as they turned into something else. The final mass looked almost like a worm made of plant matter and human limbs.

"Nick, fall back!" I cried towards my partner.

He made an attempt to do so, but To my horror, a vine came out of the monster in the middle of the room and wrapped around his ankle. It dragged him along while the other infected that were not a part of that huge mass reached out for him. His blade cut through the vine dragging him a second too late. He was free, but another vine came down and pierced his chest as I yelled in shock. I fired until my gun clicked empty. Frantically I dug around in my pocket for the ammo box I was smart enough to bring along. My hands shook unable to even get the box open.

Nick's face twisted in shock rather than pain. The pained expression came after the vine drew back. The hole in his chest didn't appear fatal, but from the look on his face and the way he started to dig at his chest, I could tell he'd become infected. He tore at his shirt exposing the wound that now wriggled with vines digging around under his flesh. The infected didn't appear to care about him now that he was one of them. But the worm looked very interested. More vines came from the creature ready to grab Nick to make him a part of itself. Unable to get my gun reloaded, I didn't even let myself think. I ran towards the mass.