Infection - Part I

Chapter 10.

Carefully opening what was left of the door, being wary of the glass, blood and dead bodies on the floor, she entered the merely recognisable reception. She was here, right where she stood, just two days ago. How could it change this much in just a matter of hours?

The darkness caught up to her and Valerie realised she couldn't delve further into the station in such conditions. Her phone came to mind, as it had a flashlight, however, she was also weary that it wouldn't last very long. She cursed herself for not putting the device to charge.

Turning on the flashlight on her phone, she used it as a light source, but she knew she had to leave it on for only so much. She knew she had to make her way around the station quickly.

Pointing her light around the reception, she felt chills course down her spine, as strikes of blood strained the walls here and there. Most of the blood was on the ground. However, what left her even more unsettled was the fact that, from the main puddles of blood, trails of the red, coagulated liquid led to all the doors out of the reception. Most of which were wide open. Another sign that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

A double door to her left made the most sense for Valerie to first venture into. Right ahead, her eyes were met by the darkened vending machine. The power was gone.

Pointing her light source and following the trail of flood that was inside the room, she stumbled across a dead body, lying on the ground, in a puddle of its blood. Or, so Valerie assumed it was theirs.

Ahead of the body was another pair of double doors. It led into the interview rooms, and further down the hall were a few jail cells.

Realising that the present room and the ones that followed it had nothing she was looking for, she returned to the reception. 

Seconds passed before she decided she wanted to go up to where all the offices and conference rooms were. But just as she was about to move, growls from the outside caught her attention. Hiding behind a wall and turning off the light on her phone, she peered out to see a group of five zombies making their way down the street, in a slow, ominous stride.

Once they were far away, only then did Valerie allow herself to move. The shattered glass crunched beneath her feet as she made her way toward the counter. Just as she was to make her way into the hallway and up the steps, a voice stopped her. "Who are you?".

The voice was familiar. So, Valerie immediately turned her light back on before pointing it toward the voice. A person holding a gun. A second later, she recognised the face to be Lisa's.

The little light that was reflected off of Valerie showed Lisa who the person was that she had at gunpoint. "Holy shit...". She began. "Val?...".

"Lisa..." Valerie voiced gently. She saw how Lias's top was covered in blood, as was her neck and her left hand. "What happened?...".

With her left hand pressing a once-white cloth, now drenched in blood, against her neck. When pulling her hand away, the cloth revealed a bite to her neck. "I- I got bitten...".

Valerie widened her eyes. But before she managed to utter a word, Lisa spoke back up. "You were right...". She paused for a second as Valerie's stomach slowly dropped to the ground. "Chief told me everything... and you were right...".

Valerie gulped at Lisa's words. It was those that she wanted to hear the least, given the situation that they were in. She didn't want to be right. She didn't want all of this to be true. Yet she was right and what scared Valerie the most was the fact that all of this was true. All of this was real.

Valerie wanted to say something, anything, but at first, nothing came out. "Where's Chief Raymond?" she finally asked.

Lisa responded with silence, and it caused Valerie to suspect the worst. "There... there were too many of them when they broke inside," Lisa responded.