apocalypse

Chapter 4: The Cure

The rest of the day is rather tense. Anyone I pass in the hallway keeps their eyes firmly towards the ground, and if I try to join a conversation, they suddenly go quiet. Being on the run was worse than this. Eventually, though, Ethan calls me up to his lab. Says he wants to 'show me around'. The lab is up the stairs, and I'm greeted by a caution sign. Despite this, I open the doors to beakers, tanks, and test tubes galore. Perfect for someone like Ethan. "Ah, welcome!" Ethan says. I flinch; I didn't see him. "You seemed like the scientist type, so here we are!" I don't know what made him think I was into science. "At first I thought that I would simply ask if I could study your condition, but I didn't think you'd agree..."

"You'd be right..." I mutter as he jabbers on and on. I was just about to pick up a test tube filled with a chemical-smelling liquid when...

"..so after that, naturally, I came to ask you to work on the cure!"

"Wait, what?" I ask. "What about a cure?"

"A cure for the zombie plague, of course! I have reason to believe that one of the ingredients is zombie blood... and I don't know if you would apply. We might have to ask one of the others to get it."
"I'll get it," I say immediately, walking out. The constant talking and chemical smell is getting irritating.

"But it's too dangerous!" Ethan calls after me.

"I thought I was dangerous already," I said, grabbing a vial from the counter and slamming the door.

Walking back to town, I feel as though I haven't been outside in months. I find myself walking along the same old path that I've been walking for a while. The way to my home. It wasn't much; I often had to move to keep away from the soups, but this was my most recent 'home'. An alley. Raided, by the looks of it. Barely anything left. For the first time, I walk past my home, and into the city. Or what's left of it. I happen to know exactly where to go though most of the landmarks were rubble. Just follow the banners. Red, with a black picture of soup. They put up banners wherever they go. It makes them pretty easy to follow. To be honest, the banners would be rather silly if you didn't know what they symbolise. I don't have to walk far to find the site of their last 'sacrifice', just down the block. I walk into the alley to a disgusting scene. Bashed their skull open, by the looks of it. Seems pretty recent. With them, it's either join or die, zombie or not. "Oh. Oh gross." I say, uncorking a vial. I forced myself not to look while I carefully gathered some of the blood. Somehow, it's even more gross when it's a zombie corpse. Gagging, I resealed the now-full vial, and quickly backed out of the alley. "SOUP!" I look behind me. Not now. I ran back to the bunker as fast as I could.

"I.. did it... I got.. The blood.." I gasped, bursting through the laboratory doors. Sitting down on a table, I paused to catch my breath.

"Wonderful! This is precisely what we need! Now, if I could just process this...." Oh, great. 1% complete. We're going to be here a while. Suddenly, a loud noise, not unlike that of a fire alarm, filled the room. BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! "What did you do?!" I yelled over the noise.

"That wasn't me! That's the zombie alarm!" Oh no. Ethan pulled out a walkie-talkie. "Wesley! What's going on up there?! Why'd you sound the alarm?!" Static and mumbling from the walkie-talkie, but what scared me was the way the colour drained from Ethan's face.

"What? What is it? What did he say?" I ask, panicking.

"Zombies, thousands of them. They appear to be in an organised formation, more advanced than any zombie I've ever heard of. Wait.." He put the walkie-talkie back up to his ear. "Banners. Red with some sort of symbol on it." I'm certain they followed me.

"The Soups," I mutter. Ethan relays the confirmation from Wesley. "We need to get everyone out. They will stop at nothing to kill us all, specifically me! Do you hear me?! We all need to GO!!!!" I push Ethan out the door. "I'll look after the progress. GO!" Ethan grabs a few vials and runs out. I wait for a few minutes, cursing. Of course they followed me. A few more minutes pass. There's the sound of yelling outside. The sound of hands banging on metal. The moans of the zombies. Don't think about it. Stay focused. 50%. 60%. "Keep going, I'll hold them off!" I hear someone yell. Was that Jimmy? "Like you can hold anyone off!" Kazuki yells after him. The sound of a sword being drawn. Gunshots. 70%. 80%. This never would have happened if it weren't for me. The cries of "SOUP!" grow louder. The sounds of fighting. Yelling. 90%... The noise is broken by a small "beep". Please. Please. Please. I look at the readout. Incapable of producing a cure. Invalid variant of ingredient. My face fell. All that, for nothing... Invalid variant...? But that means...

Outside, all is pure chaos. Jimmy and Wesley are firing pistols, Ethan's throwing test tubes, and Kazuki's decapitating zombies with his katana. "Are you okay? Is everyone okay?" I ask when I approach. "What are you doing out here?!" Jimmy yells when he sees me. "Where were you?!"

"Long story short, Ethan sent me to find zombie blood for a supposed "cure" for the zombie plague. Found a dead zombie, got the blood, got followed back here by the Soups. And..." I sighed. "We need the blood of a live zombie, Jimmy." He gave me a worried look.

"But..."

"I know. But as of right now, I've got a plan. We're going to the top of that treehouse."

It didn't take long for the rest of the group to catch on to what we were doing. Within minutes, everyone was climbing the ladder, with Wesley taking the lead. "Ha-ha!" yells Wesley tauntingly once we reached the top. "You'll never get up here!" Then, one put their foot on the ladder. "What"?! They can climb?!" Jimmy asks, agitated.

"Just like every horror movie," I say. "Yeah, it wasn't obvious that that would happen at all," Ethan says. "Quick, use the zipline!" We slide down one by one, but there isn't a handlebar left for me. "There's none left!" I yell to them across the gap. "Use a tree branch!" I hear Wesley say. I do, but I guess that it wasn't built for the jagged branch that I pull off. Halfway across, I hear a sickening snap, feel the wire fall, feel the branch slip out of my hands. With a gasp and the horrible feeling of free fall, I plummet into the sea of zombies. "VIOLET!!" I hear someone scream. I don't know who. I shut my eyes before the horrible crunch of impact.

"Well, what have we here?" With a moan, I open my eyes. A face is swimming before me. I'm lying on the ground. "Are you human?" She gives me a sniff. "Don't smell nearly as good as one. What's that stuff on your face?" She pulls my head towards her. She's a zombie, no doubt about it, but an intelligent one. I begin to take note of the scars on her wasted face, the blood-red eyes, the matted grey hair. But then I notice the paint. I know enough about the Soups to know that the ones with high ranks paint their faces. Judging by the patterns, she's the leader. Fear begins to overtake my muddled mind. I try to sit up, but she puts a foot on my chest. "Please..." I whisper. She pretends not to notice, tilting my head from side to side. "You.. You're a..." she mutters, taking in the zombified splotches on my face. "A mutant. And not one of mine." She releases me, and I fall back on the ground. "No matter. Even a half-zombie can still be converted." She starts towards me. "Let's see how your little friends deal with this!"

"Please.. No.." I mutter. I try to back away, but her followers hold me down. She opens her mouth. I scream as her teeth sink into my shoulder, as the venom spreads. As I become soup.