Zero Cell ✓

Chapter 14

As a group, everyone meandered out into the brightly lit hallway. However, despite the pleasantry of clear vision, it didn't bring ease. Alex's shoulders remained tensed, his body sore. But he kept his guard up, using the stillness in the air to his advantage. He stayed on Lyra's right, letting her lead instead. With Keaton at the rear, they were pretty much unstoppable—

—A stalker slid from around the corner and shrieked.

"Ah!" Jesse screamed; everyone gasped and glanced back to see the boy had fallen. But there was no time to help, Alex and Lyra had to deal with that thing first.

They both opened fire, sending a couple of rounds flying through the air. They didn't even give the stalker a chance to move. The ear-piercing gunshots drowned out its dying shrieks. Finally, the monster collapsed onto its back and spasmed as blood leaked out of wounds; it pooled underneath as the stalker finally ceased all movement. Alex breathed and lowered his gun. Finally, he could address the boy. He turned again and found Jesse clutching onto Keaton's pant leg; Keaton also shared a firmer grip on the kid's shoulder. At least they're safe. That's all that mattered. Alex crouched down to eye level. He gave a subtle pout, concerned.

"You okay?" Alex asked.

Jesse nodded but was hesitant to leave Keaton's side. Who could blame him? That was likely the first time he'd seen the rat monster.

"Well, at least we killed the second one," Lyra said.

Alex turned his head. "One before?"

"Yeah—I've noticed they always come at you in pairs. Sneaky bastards."

Alex stood back up, and the group moved on. They followed the halls back to the previous open room. Keaton helped and lifted Lyra onto the blocking shipping container while Alex did the same with Jesse. Once they were clear, Keaton prompted Alex up next. He didn't refuse; there was no way he'd be able to do that to Keaton; he'd have to get help from Lyra to pull that strong man up. And so they did. The four of them made their way up to the largest container and looked down at the other side.

Alex blinked slowly and then opened his eyes. The zombies, all of them, were up and wandering. He clenched his jaw; he hoped they wouldn't, but even as he huffed, Alex had a gut feeling they'd screw them over. Great, he thought. Now we gotta waste bullets.

"Well?" Lyra folded her arms. "How're we gonna get by?"

"Let's take out as many as possible," Keaton stated. He lifted his gun, took careful aim at the farthest zombie, and—

POW!

—a rupture of brain matter splattered against the floor with dark blood; the zombie collapsed within a second.

Keaton glanced over to Lyra. "And we fucking book it."

And so it began; the room exploded in gunfire as the three made careful shots. The echoing sound pounded against Alex's eardrums. He felt bad for Jesse, who'd cupped his ears and sat curled up in a ball.

Keaton shot the least, though his aim was annoyingly exceptional. Lyra followed suit, constantly firing in bursts of two. But as far as Alex could tell, she never missed either. He sighed, bringing up the rear. Out of the remaining bullets, he only managed to down three zombies. His stomach rolled over at Keaton and Lyra, who cleared most of the ones in the center. But even so, there were still too many that surrounded the sides. From the look of it, they had to run down the middle.

The last standing zombie in the middle collapsed with a loud thud; now was their chance!

"We cleared a path!" Alex shouted.