Guilt (A Zero Spin-Off)

TwentyThree- Ella

He was going to kill me. You know, if zombies or other people didn't get me first. Kyle would definitely be pissed. No, I'm not sure pissed was the right word. He would be livid. He would be hurt.

And there was a good chance he'd been right, I was destined to get myself killed doing this.

But I liked him, though I'm not sure that was a strong enough word either.

I liked all of them.

No one needed to die. And I couldn't even stand the possibility of Kyle being hung up on a cross like Hunter and I had been. Or Joel... Miles. None of them deserved what I had dragged them into. They were quiet it about it, but I had heard them saying that hadn't ever run across other humans that were so horrible, so cruel. They may have been trained soldiers, but they were out of their element too. Just like I knew that if it came down to it, they would do what it took to protect me.

I couldn't let anyone die for me.

So, yes, I was fully aware how stupid I was.

Everyone in the building was trained, well trained. Even Zero who hadn't had a career as a badass was a real asskicker. And I was about to lock them all in the building and go off by myself. But I couldn't do it, I would not drag everyone with me without knowing for sure it was worth it. Besides, it was only a couple of miles. And I knew the way and I knew alternate ways. This was my city and I knew where to go and what to do.

And I was feeling good. If I kept a solid pace, I could get there and back in just a couple of hours. Less, maybe. For the first time on this trip, I was feeling somewhat... confident. I could really do this. 

I jotted down a quick note and set it on the floor by the couch where Kyle still slept so that he would surely see it and then slipped out of the room, pulling the door softly closed behind me. Keeping light on my feet, I ran back to the lab and grabbed my shirt and shoes from the floor. I turned to leave but Kyle's stuff caught my eye. He'd taken off his weapons while we wasted time trying to come up with a way to get what I needed. And he'd left them on the table since he hadn't exactly needed weapons for what he had been doing earlier.

I pulled the knife from the sheath at my ankle. He'd given it to me, but one day he'd want it back, I was sure. The knife was special to him. And if something happened to me, I didn't want it to be lost forever, so I set it on the table with his gear and picked out another one, sliding into the sheath. I paused briefly before grabbing the vest-like holster that had two guns attached to it. I'd never fired a gun before. I'd never even held one in my hands, but it couldn't be that hard and I figured it was a good idea to take since I didn't have back up. The was too big and though it had a way to adjust it to fit my smaller size, I didn't bother, slinging it around my arms. I didn't want to waste time fiddling with the holster when I didn't know how much longer Kyle would sleep for.

When I opened the door at the top of the steps on the first floor I peeked around to make sure no one was there and then stepped out. At the security desk in the main lobby, there was a trigger. Like a fire alarm, but it set the entire building on lock down. Quarantine. I'd have thirty seconds from the time the trigger was pulled until the whole building locked. No one in, no one out. It was set as a protocol, since we worked with potentially dangerous substances. You had to have a code to turn it off from the outside of the building. No one in could turn it off.

They would be locked in, incapable of following me. Incapable of dying for me.

I got to the security desk and reached to pull the alarm —

"What are you doing?"

I popped up at the sound of Zero's voice. She was closer than I expected. Where in the heck had she come from? I swear the girl was part ninja. Her eyebrows raised as she took in my appearance. "Are you... leaving?" She asked like she couldn't believe it. I was caught, but maybe I could appeal to her, I knew she didn't want Hunter hurt. I nodded my head, eying her carefully. I didn't know what I would do if she made a move to rat me out - tackle her?