The Wastelanders

The Wastelanders chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

 Have you ever had one of those nightmares where your in a dark room and you could feel the icy hand of death approaching. That's exactly how it felt. It was pitch black almost except for our flashlights and all that we heard was the howl of the storm approaching. We slowly walked past the counter almost forgetting about the threat of biters. Behind the counter was a door, thick and metal as if it were protecting something important. This didn't feel right the door was cracked open and there were no biters to be found. James grabbed the handle of the door and pulled with all his might. 

CRACK

The handle broke off and we noticed that it was not only rusted but there was a thin layer of ice covering it. James dropped the handle and put his hands through the crack in an attempt to push the door open. It didn't budge

"James what are we going to do now?"

He looked around the room scanning for any ideas.

"stay here i'll be back."

He ran out of the store where we came in and was gone. I stood there in the dark for a while thinking that maybe he left me there alone. It was getting cold and snow was flying through the windows and doors. 

BANG

The door we couldn't open budged a little and a hand came out of the crack. I walked to see who's hand it was 

BANG

The door budged a little more and a head popped out of the crack. It wasn't James. Half of the face was decomposed and falling off, Its arm was very muscular. It was a biter I had never seen before. It let out a roar like a dinosaur that trembled my chest. I slowly walked backward and trip over a piece of ruble and drop my gun on the ground. 

BANG

The hinges on the door give way and there standing in the door is a biter about 7 feet tall and the body of a muscle builder. He walked slowly but every step was a giant step and he was only a few feet away now. I crawled backwards and grabbed my gun. 

BANG BANG BANG

All the shots went into his head and it seemed to not even faze him. I freaked out and missed my remaining shots leaving my gun empty. The giant biter raised his arm about to smash me when

BANG BANG CRACK

James was in the doorway, silver revolver smoking. There was a knife in the head of the biter and he fell to the ground. James ran over to me and hugged me tight.

"Are you OK?!"

"Ya I'm fine i was just startled."

He helped me up and slowly walked into the room the biter came out of. He went into the darkness of the room for a short time and cam back out with a small vial. We walked into the storm and went back home. 

"new kind of biter?"

"Rick it was giant...."

I could hear Rick and James talking in the other room. Carol was sitting in the chair across from me looking at the floor. I heard Rick say

"James this is a drastic change this will delay the project a while because I now need a different ingredient to alter those new DNA strands."

He sounded alot more intelligent since I last talked to him. I looked out the window seeing the snow fly past it at what looked to be a million miles per hour. The storm was getting worse. Rick walked through the door and said

"so we a little set back but I think I know what we need."

I jumped out of my seat and said

"What is it because we need to do this fast, there's a storm brewing outside."

"This is the bad thing....the device requires human tissue."

"Where is this going?"

"If were going to get this up and running were going to need to kill one of us or get a raiders body untouched by biters."

The room went silent. James looked angry and frustrated with the thought of it. He walked closer and said to Rick

"We cant sacrifice one of us....and were are we going to find a raider?" 

"Well then the machines never going to work..."

Carol stood up and said

"......I'll do it."

Ricks eyes looked as if they were going to explode.

"NO I FOUND YOU AND I'M NOT GOING TO LOSE YOU!!!"

"But babe I'm the odd one out here I'm not one of the group."

"NO THAT'S NOT AN OPTION!"

Carol walked over to the machine out int the back yard, snow blowing all over it. 

"I have to do this."

I was dumbfounded and I could tell James was behind his blank face. Rick now in tears.

"NO THAT'S FINAL!"

"Honey all the pieces are in place we just need to tamper with the antitoxin and we will have saved mankind."

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT MANKIND I CARE ABOUT YOU!"

Everything calmed down after that Rick worked on the antitoxin more and we talked to Carol about her decision on sacrificing herself. She was positive on her decision and James seemed to be the least affected by it. He was quite for the next few days and to me.....that was suspicious.