Six to One

Chapter 3: Fight of Flight

"Pressing the button... NOW!" Recon presses the button at full force and alarms start screaming left and right with a female voice repeating words of warning. "Warning! Warning! Activating Airlock Destruction! Activating Airlock Destruction!" They could hear doors being closed and vents sucking air out of the reactor room. The group starts fleeing as soon as they hear the alarms. However, they weren't the only ones fleeing. They were chasing the group. Several infected Zombies follow their tracks, trying to catch them, coming from left and right. They ran as fast as they could, avoiding and taking out any infected Zombies getting in their way. At one point, Mei screams as she gets grabbed but is quickly freed as Evade shoots the Zombie that captured her. They run without stopping as red lights flash throughout the halls, alarms echoing through the halls, Zombies pushing forward to get them, and defending themselves against them all. "Warning! Warning! Airlock Destructions Begins in 10 Seconds! 10!" They speed up their pace, trying to head towards an open saferoom that was just in their reach. "9! 8! 7!" The countdown only made their anxiety raise higher, but they don't give up. "6! 5! 4!" They finally reach the place and Evade pulls in the door to close it, but a Zombie caught up and grabs it. "3! 2!" In panic, Evade kicks the Zombie hard and repeatedly enough for it to fall over, shuts the door, and seals it. "1! Destruction Imminent! Brace for Impact!" All six of them grab a partner and cuddle tightly for the impact. There was a loud explosion, partnered by an intense earthquake and a blast louder than five planes trying to take off. She shockwave almost teared the bunker apart, but it held just enough to keep everyone inside safe. This continued for ten agonizing minutes straight, until everything seemed to calm down. "Everyone, I'll go first. Keep your masks on just in case." "What if something is out there?" "From this explosion? I doubt there is." Mei was scared to see her brother slowly climb up the ladder and slowly open the hatch. As he sticks his head out the hatch, he sees a thick amount of smoke but it's clear enough to navigate. "Guys, it's safe to come up. Let's get moving." Everyone climbs up and sees the smoke slowly start to clear up. "Look! It's a person! Standing right there!" Botany rushes towards the person, afraid the person was hit by the explosion. "We're here! Over here!" It was a woman and she looked injured. The woman turns around and looks at us in horror. "STOP! Don't come any closer! It'll get you!" Botany and the rest freeze in place, concerned about what this woman is talking about. "I'm sorry, IT?!" "Yes, IT! Get away from here, it-" Before the woman can finish, an enormous, infected Zombie comes and stabs her with its claw from behind right in front of them, killing her and throwing her aside. "What in the world is that?!" Everyone moves back from whatever this creature is.

Everyone is terrified of this sight. It was glowing maroon, ginormous, and somehow survived the explosion. The infected comes after Botany, who was closest from him chasing the woman earlier, and he runs and dodges any swings coming at him. He looks back to see how far he was, but he trips on a big rock that probably fell from the earthquake earlier and finds himself in front of this creature. As the creature raises its claw and attempts to strike, a shout can be heard from Logic as she stabs the creature's claw with her makeshift spear while the rest of the group opens fire at it, knocking it back. Suddenly, a loud noise was getting louder, as if coming closer to them. As it comes close, a fighter jet passes by at a great speed. The fighter jet turns back, noticing the giant creature, and comes in fast to fire a missile, which directly hits the creature, exploding and killing it on the spot. Its maroon blood, flesh, and internal organs spill out and the group tries to dodge all incoming body parts. Botany, exhausted from trauma, lies down in relief. "Up on your legs, we can't stay here. There are probably more somewhere." Botany, still in shock, slowly grabs Logic's hand and stands up on his feet. "That was the most exciting thing in my entire life, change my mind!" He was still his old self after all that, but they all laughed along with him, glad he's staying strong. They scavenged the area, found a few stores to resupply, found a gun store to get more ammo and pick better weapons. Evade and Logic taking mid-ranged firearms, Recon and Botany taking heavier firearms as usual, Kiln and Mei taking long ranged firearms. They were pleasantly surprised to see Mei pick up a bigger gun, but they simply clapped as Mei smiled warmly, more confident than she ever was. They slowly stepped out in formation, ready for a fight or flight from whatever would come at them. After a few minutes of making sure it's safe, they break formation and casually walk through the barren road. As they walk, Logic faceplants in exhaustion, almost ready to pass out. "Guys... I need a break..." "Right, we'll rest here for now. Though, it's dangerous to be out in the open." "I'll search for nearby shelters!" Recon starts walking around, kicking doors, and scavenging anything useful. Mei helps Logic back on her feet, but barely keeps her balance. "Everyone, there's a good place here!" They slowly made their way to a small house that is relatively clean and intact enough to rest in. The house seemed like it belonged to a family, evidence shown with pictures of a happy family with 3 children. Evade looks through the pictures, happily humming to himself. Recon looks through storage and cabinets for anything useful with Kiln. They can be heard arguing which one was the item they found first. Logic sits down on a chair, gulping down water and eating at least two cans of canned beans. Everybody else also does the same, hungrily eating to their hearts content. Some even decided to take a nap, specifically Logic and Botany, especially after what they've been through.

While they were asleep, the rest kept themselves awake, though also resting from traveling and getting into action all day. The sun was about to set and there were no lights in the roads, the house they were in, or anywhere. All they had was a generator they found nearby and their flashlights. All they needed was some fuel, which they thankfully found while scavenging through the house. They used the gas from the stove in the kitchen to bring back some power, but they had to put the power low to not only keep it running for the night, but also to not attract anything. Besides, they're two members down, they cannot risk anything since they're vulnerable. They laid down some planks and blankets they found in the attic of the house, which was found after pulling a rope down near the kitchen, and filled some cloth with stuffed toys or anything they could find squishy enough for their pillows. As they all laid down in the makeshift beds, taking turns in waking up and staying guard. Each of them took two hours each to stay guard and make sure nothing came close, and this kept going until sunrise. "Rise and shine, sleepyheads!" Botany slams a metal spatula into a frying pan, waking everyone up instantly. "Oh, you big dummy!" Logic grabs his head, rubbing his hair playfully with her elbow, and he tries to resist, but also having fun himself. "Get him!" Everyone starts tickling him until he runs out of breath from laughing and trying to escape. Once they're done and set to leave, they walked out to see that the city is awfully quiet. The jet from yesterday was nowhere to be seen, no more creatures lurking around, and it was just water drops and suspicion in the air. It was strangely and awfully quiet, and nobody liked it too quiet or too loud. "Where are we heading this time?" "I don't know..." Kiln looks around, hoping to see a way to go, but everything looks the same, just road, rubbles, and half destroyed buildings, waiting to fall. The air was full of a light haze and the road was littered with debris. They kept walking, listening to any incoming dangers or signs that they were getting somewhere. Each quiet step they took raised their anxiety by a mile. They walk through the barren road, water drops, crumbling, and wind slowly and faintly fills their ears, haunting them. Each of them starts imagining, overthinking, and hearing things as their nervousness climbs on their backs. Breaking the silence, a cargo plane approaches them, blasting the air with its loud propellers, filling the noise with its roaring engines. They team not only heard the plane, but uncontrollable screaming and shouting of gibberish. They froze as they saw hundreds of infected Zombies rushing towards the plane, more than they ever saw in their lives. They kept calm and turned the other way to leave, but they instead saw zombies coming for them.

Panic fills their faces being trapped in between hordes. If they went forward, they'd take the attention of the Zombies following the cargo plane. If they turn back, the Zombies behind them will catch them. They start running towards the horde chasing the plane since they had nothing to lose. While running, a ladder moving at their pace lowers itself. "Grab on, I'll pick you up!" A helicopter comes to their rescue, with a pilot severely injured. They had just about a hundred meters before intersecting with the Zombies in front of them, so they wasted no time and climbed on the ladder, one by one. As soon as they all hurried up, each of them gets seated in the helicopter and the pilot pulls away from the ground. "Are you kids alright? It's a minefield out there-" Before the pilot finishes, screaming and stomping can be heard from the helicopter's roof as something gets torn up, rolling the helicopter to the right. A Zombie had grabbed on and is now tearing up the rotors and mechanics as the pilot struggles to fight for control. "Brace for impact!" The pilot does his best to fight, trying to get them on the ground safely, but too many alarms are screaming in their ears. The helicopter is now flying at an extreme angle to the right, barely keeping itself from falling midair. As they approach just several feet above the ground, the helicopter's tail rotors lock up, sending it into an uncontrollable spin, finally crashing into the ground nose first. During the impact, Kiln is sent flying forward while Botany gets sent flying out the aircraft itself. Everybody groans in pain, trying to recover from the accident. Kiln tries to wake up the pilot, but he doesn't respond. When looking at the pilot's condition, the lower part of his body is cut from the top part, recognizing him as dead. Everyone slowly steps out of the aircraft, injured and exhausted. Kiln and Botany were mostly fine aside from scratches and bruises but Evade and Recon sprained some of their muscles. Evade on his right shoulder and Recon on his left ankle. Mei had a small but deep cut on her left arm while Logic was completely knocked out on her seat. As they all rest near the wreckage of the aircraft, Mei gets first aid treatment from Botany since he found a few first aid kits in the helicopter's trunk. Evade watches over Logic's unconscious body, Recon and Kiln scavenging through their bags, checking how much food and water they had left.