Mark's POV.
"Hey, look over there," I said, pointing over at a building in the distance as we drove down the highway.
"What is that?" Tom asked.
"Is that a building people are using?" Chloe asked me.
"I don't know... It could be Chloe." I was really uncertain though. I didn't want to get Chloe's or my own hopes up incase it wasn't.
"Oh my gosh, really? Like, real, living people?"
"It looks pretty ominous. A little too clean and kept up with to not be of some use to few people." I looked over to my brother. "Hey Tom, stop here."
We pulled over onto an exit ramp close to the building, I grabbed my crowbar and quietly hopped out of the car. I looked behind me and saw Wade, Bob, Molly and Mandy pull up near our car. I walked over and told the four to come with me into the building to see if there were survivors that were overlooked by Safe Zone Recruiters. That's what we called the military/army double team that took people to safe zones against or at their own will. Mandy and Molly said they would stay with Tom and the little girl so they wouldn't worry. Wade and Bob grabbed their small backpacks we kept chuck full of small necessary supplies we used when we went into big buildings like this. They all three grabbed their weapons and I lead the way to the building.
"Mark, why are we going in here again?" Wade asked.
"This place is too tidy and kept up with for there to not to be anyone here. There's people, I'm hoping. We'll need them while we're heading over to Chicago."
"I really hope there's people. No way I'm gonna stay in here if we run into a group of infected." I hit Wade once he said that.
"What are you trying to do, you idiot? Don't jinx it Wade. You do that, obviously we're going to run into them. Don't do that!"
"Jeez, okay. I'm done."
"You'd better be. I've had enough of that dammit," I snapped.
"I swear, you two are such an old married couple." We both glared at Bob for saying that. "You argue like it, I'm just letting you know."
"Don't get off task, let's get into the building now."
(A/N. Play the music on the right! 'Somewhere I Belong' by Linkin Park.)
We walked into the lobby of what looked like a hotel. Drapes on the windows were tattered, torn and stained. The blue and grey carpet was pulling up, lightbulbs were shattered next to lamps, there was a draft through the middle of the lobby, wallpaper was peeling off the walls, papers and documents and files were scattered across the ground and there was a dead body at the front desk. A middle aged man, it seemed like. Then again, I could be completely wrong, half his face was gone. I shuddered at the sight of the body laying limp on the oak desk, his blood seeping into the computers in front of him, causing them to short out and spark. He didn't look like he worked here, nor could he have been dead for more than a few hours.
"Fresh bait. Food probably," I told Bob and Wade who looked as if they were about to hurl everywhere at the sight of the man.
"C'mon guys, there's more floors than this. Let's get searching for people. Live people." It took everything in me not to throw up. I turned my head, coughing a bit from my attempt to keep a strong stomach.
"Should we start from the top?" Bob asked.
"Uh, sure. If that's what you guys want to do. Why though?"
"Well, my own opinion, but wouldn't people want to draw as little attention to themselves as possible? If I was like that, I'd go to the top floor, hoping nobody would care to make it that far up in the building."
"Wow, that makes a lot of sense. Let's go guys. Top floor we go!"
We headed towards the stairs and began our climb to the top floor. From the outside, the top floor looked to of no use by anyone or anything. Like, even when this place was in business. I became numb to how tired I was at the sixth floor. Bob and Wade were going strong too. There were only three floors left to go up, and I was seeing small signs that people either were currently, or had just recently been making this place 'home' in this now helpless state of Ohio. I noticed a few clothing items and food wrappers laying around the seventh floor.
"You see this you two?" I asked them, spirits going up ever so slightly at my findings.
"What? I see broken shit everywhere and wrappers and clothes. Other than that, whatever you're seeing must be hiding in the dark spots of this place," Bob sarcastically answered.
"That's just it! The wrappers and clothes laying around are new! There's gotta be people here at the top. C'mon. Home stretch boys! Hustle!"
We all three ran up the stairs of the last two flights of stairs and stopped at the top floor. I looked around and saw windows everywhere, letting in a lot of sunlight. There were definitely people who stayed here. I bounced up and down slightly, smiling widely, trying to contain my excitement for what we three had found in what seemed to be simply an abandoned hotel. There were blankets, coolers containing a few waters and a little bit of food they'd obviously been savoring, mattresses from rooms downstairs, notebooks and clothes, shoes and paper plates scattered around. Bob and Wade seemed hopeful and grateful as well. The place looked like a makeshift camp. I noticed another room in the back, behind all the supplies the people owned. I caught the guys' attention as they looked around the wide space.
"Hey," I whispered, pointing at the door. "Look, in there. Let's check it out."
Bob and Wade agreed and we slowly made our way to the door. Midway, I heard a shot go off. A rifle. Shattering a window by where we were, scaring the living hell out of me and my two friends standing right beside me. We ducked down the very split second we heard the shot, staying as much out of the way from the shattered window. I heard the door open and three people came rushing out to see what was going on. I heard someone yell a 'sorry' from a rooftop outside. Fabulous, a freaking sniper almost killed us, thinking we were the infected. I stood up, along with Wade and Bob, taking notice of the weapon wielding survivors who were glaring at us at first, then softened up and lowered their guns and steel pipes when they realized we were harmless, aside from our own weapons. My crowbar, Bob's bat and Wade's switchblade.
"Goddamn it Devin," The tallest man of the four said, smacking his hand against his forehead. He took out a radio and began to speak again. "Yo, Devin, you don't shoot the humans. Remember?"
"They were looking a hell of a lot like zombies from my perch on the rooftop, across the street from you all. Don't blame me," A voice from the radio spoke back. "Sorry, Jack."
"Don't let it happen again dude. Get your ass over here. We've got three of them. Guys."
"On my way. Be there in a few."
The four people walked over to us and introduced themselves to Wade, Bob and I. For the first time, the two of my friends were utterly speechless.
"Sorry there, you guys. Devin doesn't usually do that. I'm Jack," The tallest of the group told me, shaking my hand. He looked to be my height, blond hair, muscular and wore a white t-shirt, cargo pants and black hiking boots, along with a Northface jacket. "These are my friends." He pointed behind him. "Trace, our scavenger. He's friendly to actual people. That's Stacy, our lady like badass defense system. Also my little sister. Then there's our rooftop prowler, Devin." I looked behind me to see a man, about 17 or so, jumping through the skylight in the roof with a rifle on his back. Wade and Bob and I flinched hearing the thud of his six and a half foot tall figure hit the concrete floor. "Say hello Devin."
"Hey, I'm Devin. All natural badass and ass-kicker of the undead." Boy, this guy was confident in himself. "Uh, sorry for almost blowing your brains out just there. I swear I thought you all were one of those things."
"Yeah," I breathed. "Lucky for us three, you missed."
"Holy shit," Bob let out under his breath. "I thought I was dying today." Wade nodded in agreement.
"If you don't mind my asking, who are you three?" Trace asked. He was average height, around my build and had black hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a 'Black Veil Brides' long sleeve shirt, tattered grey jeans and lime green Vans.
"I'm Mark. Mark Fischbach. These are my friends Bob and Wade." I gestured to my friends standing close beside me. "There's four others out on the exit ramp. My brother Tom, Wade and Bob's girlfriends Molly and Mandy, and a nine year old, Chloe."
"There's more of you losers?" The girl, Stacy asked harshly. She was skinny, brown hair, average height, wearing beige military combat boots, black tank top, military issued uniform jacket and pants.
"We aren't losers, for one," I snapped.
"Oh yeah?" she hissed. "What'd you do before all of this?"
"I'm a YouTuber under the name 'Markiplier', Wade's a caretaker of sorts and Bob's, well, Bob's still in law school."
"Like I said: losers."
"Stace," Jack snapped at her. "Quit this. Now." He turned to us. "Can we meet these other four you've got waiting outside?"
"Sure. Follow us," I said. The four complied and Trace grabbed his 'My Chemical Romance' jacket. We then all began walking down the nine flights of stairs to the other part of my group waiting for our return at the exit ramp, next to the highway.
(A/N. Hey guys! New part! Yes, yes, yes! Finally! Thanks for reading chapter seven 'New Recruits' for 'The Damage Has Been Done'! Go ahead if you'd like and vote, comment, share or add this to your library for updates and new chapters! Thanks for the great support so far as well! I've been receiving awesome feedback virtually every chapter! If you have any ideas as to how this story or chapter could be better, let me know in the comments! And until the next part, Buh~Bye!!! ~Melynda! Aka Luxor.)