Guilt (A Zero Spin-Off)

TwentyFour - Kyle

I rolled over, realizing I was alone before I registered the alarms blaring through what I assumed was the entire building. I jumped to my feet, searching first the room for Ella though in my gut I already knew it was pointless.

"Shit," I muttered as I dragged on my pants. I sung the door open hard enough that it slammed into the wall loudly though it's crash was obscured by the still ringing alarms. Ignoring everything else, pushed as fast as my legs could carry me back to the lab we'd spent most the day in, hoping beyond hope that she was in there looking for something or, hell, making a mess of the whole place again. My gut crashed with disappointment when I saw just how painfully empty the room was, even if I wasn't surprised by it's lack of Ella. Shaking my head, I left the lab we'd made our own hideaway for the last couple of days and jogged back up the stairs until I reached the lobby.

She wasn't there, but I didn't expect to see her. What I did see instead was Joel and Miles at the top of the stairs looking equal parts confused and ready for a fight. Joel yelled something that I couldn't make out because of the alarms so he opened his mouth to yell again. "What—" his scream filled the lobby as the alarms shut off. Glancing around curiously he tried again without the yelling. "What the hell was that? We need to be ready for assholes trying to kill us?"

I shook my head. There was a chance, I supposed, that someone could have been trying to break in, but I really didn't think that was the case. I'd bet my life on.

"Any chance Ella's up there?"

He looked around, clueless. "Naw, man. We thought she was with you?" He scratched his head, looking to Miles questioningly.

Miles grunted. "No. Did she cause the damn alarm? I was having a really good dream— bro, what were you doing?" He said suggestively, noticing my state of undress. Ignoring the remark, because, come on, we didn't have time for this shit, I quickly buttoned my pants.

"God damn it," I said more to myself than anyone else. "She left. Two minutes and we leave." We all had to get our things because there was a good chance we weren't coming back here, but we had to do it quickly. I didn't want Ella getting too far ahead because who knew how quickly she'd run into trouble. And she would run into trouble. She wasn't prepared to go out there by herself. I'd be pissed as hell later, but right then, I was just concerned about stopping her before she got too far.

"What do you mean she left?" Joel asked.

"Z's not here either," Hunter's voice shouted and he appeared at the top of the stairs moving slower than everyone else due to the fact that he was still injured. So was Ella for that matter, of course that hadn't stopped her from running off like a damned idiot on a suicide mission. Maybe I would be a little pissed right then after all. Hunter already had his shoes on nearly ready to go, as if he knew exactly what happened. I doubted he did, but the fact that Zero was gone had set off his own alarms and he knew his girl well enough to know... It probably made me a douche-bag since I could see the worry in Hunter's expression, but his announcement that Zero was missing as well was relieving. I had assumed Ella was entirely alone. I had pictured her stuck somewhere, terrified or worse, being torn apart by zombies... worse still, having God knows what done to her by other people. Knowing she was with Zero eased an ounce of the worry weighing me down. "She took her bag, but we're not more than a couple minutes behind them."

With a quick explanation, I ran back down stairs to the lab where all my gear was left. I grabbed my shirt from the floor and laced up my boots as quick as my fingers would move before reaching for my gu— well, shit. No guns. My bag was exactly where I'd left it and next to it were the knives I had—No, not the knives I'd set there when I disarmed myself. Two of them I'd carried with me the entire time, the third was missing, replaced with the one I had given Ella. She'd given the knife back and taken the guns. My stomach dropped, not because I would be going out there without guns, I wasn't worried about that at all. Actually, I was impressed, surprised, but impressed and thankful she'd thought to take a weapon she could use without being intimately close with someone, zombie or otherwise. No, my gut sank because she gave me back the knife and I had a feeling it was because she didn't think she'd see me again.