The DOOM Chronicles

Chapter 19: Entering Devastation

They made sure to each grab StimPacks on their way out. Jack would've liked to grab a full Medikit, but it was too big to attach to his belt, so he had to settle for the smaller StimPack that contained the bare basics of an emergency medical kit.

"Where should we start?" Jennifer asked, studying the large antechamber.

Jack looked around, then pointed at the offices. "There's as good a place as any, I guess," he replied.

They struck off towards it, crossing the desolate metalwork area. Somewhere, he heard the groan of a zombie, and that strange clicking-gurgle sound that he'd come to associate with Imps. No signs of fighting, though. No shouts, no running footfalls, no gunshots. Did anyone else make it? Surely they weren't the only two left?

They hit the office complex and found themselves among a field of cubicles. Jack could see zombies lurking, their heads sticking up over the tops of the cubicle walls. The place was a wretched mess, just like everywhere else.

"Let's get to it," Jack said, raising his pistol.

They cleared out the offices. He felt good, better than he had for awhile, since hitting Phobos at least, as he hunted down the zombies. No Z-Secs here, thankfully. Though that meant much less chance of finding any ammo. The food, the shower, and the sex had revitalized him. He made his way between bloody cubicles, scattered with office supplies like a particularly bad storm had blown through, and put holes in zombie skulls.

They were fairly easy targets and he managed a one shot, one kill policy the whole way through. Only took up one whole magazine to do so, though, unfortunately, they couldn't find any more ammunition. He reloaded his last magazine and they proceeded to search the office a bit more thoroughly, but there was nothing worth taking. Suppressing a heavy sigh, some of his, well...good cheer wasn't the right phrase, but his zeal, seeped out of him.

"Where to now?" he murmured as they left the complex.

Jennifer began to respond, but it was decided for them when they heard gunshots. Jack felt his pulse spike. Another survivor. The shots were coming from the power station. The two of them took off running, boots banging hollowly on the metal deckplates. They were pistol shots. Jack realized, as they hurried in through the big metal collar that ringed the entrance, that it could just be a pissed off zombie shooting at an Imp or Demon that had bumped it, but he didn't think so. His instincts told him otherwise, for whatever reason.

It was the gunshots themselves, he realized as they passed into a bloody, sparking antechamber and broke left, plunging into a dim tunnel, lit mainly by broken power junctions sporadically spitting blue-white sparks. The shots were too measured, too deliberate. The zombies all just popped off, pray and spray, even the Z-Secs.

They pounded down the doorway and hit a T-junction. The gunshots had stopped. He skidded to a halt, looking left and then right indecisively.

"Hello?" he called out in frustration. "Is anyone there?!"

"Jack?!" came the reply.

It was Jenkins. The voice came from the left.

"We're coming to you!" Jack called, running off. Jennifer followed after him. They passed several offshoot alcoves, glancing down each, looking for hostiles. He didn't see any, but most of the alcoves were pitch-dark.

They found Jenkins, half-naked and bloody, in a control room with smashed consoles, walled by smashed equipment, amid a small collection of dead zombies and Imps. He had on a torn, bloody pair of pants and blood-spattered boots, a pistol in hand.

"Christ it's good to see you," he whispered, then he looked disappointed.

"What?" Jack asked as they walked into the room. "You look disappointed."