"Look I'm not going to hurt you." Scarlett was slowly walking towards what she assumed, and hoped, were innocent prisoners. She dropped her gun and raised both hands so they could see they were empty, stopping about ten feet away from them. "The name's Scarlett, I'm a State Officer from the NYSP and I'm going to get you out of here. We'll get a stretcher in here for your friend in a little bit. For now I'm going to stay with you and keep you safe."
It was hard to see in the room. There were clouds of dust hanging in the room, clearly visible by the sunshine lighting everything up through the two windows on the far wall.
Almost the entire ceiling had fallen into the room, as as part of the hallway she'd come down. There was broken metal and chunks of ceiling tiles strewn across the floor, splattered with drying blood.
Scarlett took all of this in within a second and snapped her attention back to the three girls. Two girls, she noticed. One of them appeared to be at least college age, the other high school, a senior maybe? Both were rising from a crouch, only slightly lowering their guns.
The other was on the ground, breathing heavily, her eyes rapidly fluttering. Scarlett couldn't tell how old this one was, or if she was infected or just injured. Scarlett didn't have time to ask before the girl stopped breathing, she almost went for her gun but remembered it was on the floor about two feet away.
"Natasha? Natasha open your eyes," The younger girl practically shouted and bent over the fallen girl, Natasha, crumpling to the ground next to her. The girl started shaking Natasha none too gently, and Alyxx attempted to pull her away.
Scarlett rushed forward without thinking and practically shoved the two of them out of the way and started preforming CPR on the motionless girl, counting off every push between breaths.
1, 2, 3, breathe
1,2,3, breathe
Come on, girl!
1, 2, 3, breathe
Natasha suddenly jerked upwards and sucked in a gasping breath. She fell back down, unconscious, but this time alive.
Scarlet sat back on her feet and sighed, not unhappily.
Thorne sniffed back tears and mumbled, "She fell out of the ceiling when the -whatever it was- happened."
"It was probably that land mine, it completely shredded one of our trucks. The Rizen placed it too close to the compound, and used way too much of their explosive."
"How many of you are there? Are there other State Officers there? Ones that aren't from around here?" Alyxx asked quickly.
"There were eleven of us in the beginning, and three drivers. There's ten of us now. The transport in front of us hit the land mine, everyone in there was killed. Our driver had parked, but the driver of Alpha team 1, the transport in front of us, kept going." Scarlett thought of Finn, he'd been in the transport of Alpha team 1, and there wasn't even a body to bury. "Alpha team 2 was behind us, they just got rocked back, that transport is still functional. Our's rolled, the axle snapped. The driver and one of my members from back home, Brandon, was killed."
"I'm sorry to hear that." Thorne whispered, not looking at Scarlett. She was still sitting next to her friend.
"We still had plenty of backup, Base had set up camp somewhere out of range and came in to help us, we got three more members from them." Scarlett stood up and made a quick inventory of what she had.
Her Glock? Check.
A hunting knife in each combat boot? Check.
Kevlar vest? Check.
Assault rifle? Check.
A small pack strapped to her vest with assorted dried goods and water? Check.
Sanity? Maybe not, come back in five minutes.
"Someone will probably come find us in a few minutes," Scarlett announced, striding towards the door, Glock in hand, the AR-15 she'd nicknamed Revolution strapped to her back. "But I don't really feel like waiting."
The sound of gunfire had more or less died off, so she held Archangel, her Glock, to the door then quickly turned the handle and opened the door.
There was only one person out there. "Damon!" She whispered fiercely. He was standing at the other end of the hall. He looked up and smiled, then ran 'professionally' to the open door.
"We have almost gathered everyone up, they have found a locked room. We think there may be more persons held captive. Tamara and Jackson were sent to check it out."
Scarlett heard footsteps rushing up behind her. She whirled quickly, gun in hand, to find Alyxx there, extremely pale.
"You can't open that door, you damned idiots!" Alyxx practically yelled at them.
"I do not understand, why may we not?" Damon said slowly in his thick accent.
"That's where they keep the Risen. If you open one of those doors, the rest will automatically open, it's even backed up by the emergency generators. It's pretty much a safe guard so that everyone will be Risen. I can show you the way there, if you want."
"And you were one of them? Why the hell should we trust you?" Scarlett scoffed. This woman had just magically changed sides, and was going to lead them to a super secret room full of walkers? No, thank you.
"Because I know my way around here much better than you, and there's a quick way to that section of the compound." Alyxx stared Scarlett down, which was quite a feat, seeing as Alyxx was two inches shorter than her.
Scarlett eyed her defiantly. Hard green eyes glared into icy blue ones.
"Fine." Scarlett spat, quickly turning about. "But I swear to God or whoever the hell else is controlling this, I will kill you if you try anything. Any thing," Scarlett said harshly. She turned back around and eyed Alyxx for another few seconds before motioning slightly with her head.
"Lead on."
YOU ARE READING
Dead Earth (old version)
Sci-FiThe dead have invaded Earth, the social grid has been destroyed. Anarchy runs hand in hand with chaos and destruction. Thorne's town has been overrun, and she has been forced to go on a road trip that may never end. Along with her best friend, an...
