Godead

LXII

Back in Westview Research Facility, Claude and the others looked on as Hannah gaped at her wound.

"...No. No!" she screamed. "This doesn't mean I'll turn into one of those things, does it?!"

"Sure does! Better kill ya now so we don't have to worry!" Abby said. As the girl calmly moved toward Hannah, Claude stepped forward, blocking her path.

"Not so fast," he said.

"...Huh?" she asked, looking to him in confusion.

"We don't know for sure if she'll change or not. It's unclear exactly what causes people to turn into zombies to begin with. Going by what we've seen so far, though, it seems that the ones who do change change by themselves without having necessarily contacted zombies," Claude said. He then turned to Hannah. "Hannah, Jake, Caroline, and myself are still human, and have remained unaffected so far for unknown reasons. We can't just assume that because a zombie scratched her, she'll also turn." Abby sighed.

"Oh, Claude... I ever so enjoy your naivete. But what do we honestly have to gain by taking that risk? Suppose we take her with us, and out of nowhere, she turns and attacks without warning?" Abby asked.

Claude gave a pause. He knew Abby had a point. Though zombies seemed to appear at random, he still hadn't forgotten what happened with Linda and Andrew long ago. The two of them were human, but soon turned after being attacked by zombies. Unlike Hannah, however, their wounds were fatal to start with. So the question remained: did they turn from having contacted zombies? Or did they turn after falling dead from something other than catastrophic brain injury? Only time would tell, Claude thought, ultimately deciding to give Hannah the benefit of the doubt.

"...That's a risk we'll have to take," Claude said. As Abby rolled her eyes, Caroline nodded.

"I agree. It would be heartless to just kill her without knowing for sure if she'll turn," she said. Jake suddenly fell silent, slowly shaking his head.

"...I don't know about this," he said. "Abby makes a good point. Hannah's a potential threat as long as she travels with us."

"Ha! Finally! At least one of you has some sense!" Abby exclaimed.

"...No...! Please!" Hannah pleaded, shivering with fear.

"Hannah...," Claude said worriedly.

"Looks like we've got ourselves a tie," Abby said. "Two sane votes to kill her, and two bleeding heart votes to let her live. And worst of all, we don't even have a tiebreaker!"

"It's too cruel to kill her. We're taking her with us, and that's that," Claude said.

As Hannah sighed in relief, Abby smirked, suddenly raising one of her hands. In an instant, she grabbed Hannah's head, shoving it into the wall, crushing her skull. As blood splattered everywhere, the others paused, watching in shock as Hannah's body fell to the ground.

"...Oh. That's right. It's my show. Guess I'll be the tiebreaker!" Abby said, cruelly smirking.

As Caroline and Jake looked on at Hannah's corpse, something in Claude snapped. He violently cringed, raising his gun before pointing it at Abby's head.

"...Damn you, Abby. Why do you always do stuff like this?!" he asked fervently. Suddenly, Abby paused, weakly frowning as she looked to Claude in shock.

"Claude...! What are you—"

"I've had it with you! All you do is kill, kill, kill! I'm sick of it!" Claude exclaimed, cutting her short. As Abby looked on with wide eyes, Claude slowly cocked the hammer of his revolver.

"Claude! I... I'm sorry! I won't do it again! Honest! I...," she said, briefly hesitating. "...I love you!"

Claude stood stoic, staring into the girl's frightened eyes. He then looked to Hannah, also recalling Lucy, Charlene, and Zoe. He then gave a brief pause, turning to Abby before shaking his head.

"...You don't know the meaning of the word, vile demon!" the boy exclaimed.

Claude then gritted his teeth, aiming his gun before pulling back the trigger. As a flash of light lit up the hall, a single shot left the chamber of his .44 Magnum. It traveled across the hall, Abby watching in slow motion as it made its way toward her. Suddenly, it struck her in the head, blood flying out as the bullet lodged deep in her forehead. Abby's head flew back, body falling to the ground as the young girl dropped.

And just like that, it was over. Claude, Caroline, and Jake looked on as Abby lay motionless, her dark, black eyes frozen in shock as she lifelessly stared at the ceiling. As Claude looked into her eyes, a sick feeling suddenly washed over him. Though he was glad to have finally avenged Lucy and Zoe's deaths, he couldn't help but feel ill over having just killed a teenage girl. Even though she was a monster. Even though she'd killed so many, he'd lost count, Claude already felt remorse for pulling the trigger. He gave a deep sigh, holstering his gun before slowly turning to Caroline.

"...Let's go," he said, Caroline looking to him in shock before continuing toward the basement.

The three passed several more corridors, lights flickering as they made their way through stacks of bodies and debris. As they traipsed through the dimly lit halls, Claude maintained a cold, dour expression. He thought back to Abby, recalling everything the two of them had been through together. As Jake noticed his weary look, he gave a light frown.

"Hey. Don't be too hard on yourself, man. You did the right thing," he said. Claude turned to him, looking to the floor soon after.

"...Yeah," he replied, voice sullen. After several moments, the trio arrived at a thin metal door.

"We're here," Caroline said, opening the entrance to the basement as the three peered inside.

They warily descended the staircase, making their way through the darkness lit only by a dim, turquoise light. They walked ever downward, the cement stairs spiraling into the darkness as though leading to the pits of hell. As they reached the bottom, they froze, the eery sounds of distant groans greeting them as they arrived, echoing through the dark basement halls.