Seeds Of Hunger

Chapter 14: Rally

Mirado had just gotten into the second room and was looking around, trying to see if he could find anything about the plants. Carter didn't see anything in the first room, it was another officer space. There weren't any bodies either which struck Carter as odd. Its possible that the scientists that worked here had already left or just didn't come in. Hell at this point if Santa Claus came down the north pole with Rudolf and told me I've been a good boy this year I'd believe it, Carter thought to himself as he checked the counter tops. There were papers on the counters surrounding microscopes that talked about the plant but not giving anything to their location. Hopefully Casey or Jameson is having better luck than I am. Carter set the papers back down and walked to the next door. He pulled out his map and check his location. Satisfied he hadn't made a circle, he opened the door with his foot, shouldering his MP5.

There were bodies on the ground that twitched but Carter had to be sure, "Baltimore Police! Hands were I can see them!" The body on the ground stood itself up and Carter saw the chuck of flesh missing from the carrier's throat, exposing bone and the esophagus. Carter aimed at the creature's head and pulled the trigger, the round entering the head and mushrooming in the brain as the submachine gun made a soft pfft. The body fell backwards, hitting the stool by the counter and spilling paperwork that absorbed the blood. Useless now, Carter wanted to read the papers to see if they provided a clue as to where the plants were. Frowning, he encountered a few more bodies on the ground, a few that had to have been dead for days they were so shriveled up. He shot them all in the head before exiting the room. He didn't want any followers. Let's see what's behind door number 3! Carter chuckled to himself, as he opened the next door.

Jameson wasn't having any luck either. He had made it to the last room before the Examination Room and hadn't found anything except some dead people that were still walking around and he had put a round in each of their heads before getting here. How can we miss basketball sized flowers that look like they're covered in yellow flour? Jameson asked, slightly angry that he hadn't found anything. Jameson pulled the magazine out of his M4 and inspected the ammunition still inside of it. He had expended eleven rounds so far and still had nine more fully loaded in his chest rig. Eleven out of thirty isn't bad but its more than I wanted to put down, Jameson thought as he reinserted the magazine into the magwell. Jameson sighed and walked to the door that led to the Examination Room. He was wasting time just standing here while the others might have found them by now. He entered the room surprised to see Carter there.

"Anton, glad to see ya. Did you find anything?" Carter asked as he stepped closer. Jameson shook his head before replying.

"Negative. Nothing over there except office spaces, a small lab, a few more dead bodies, and just a lot more questions than answers." Jameson replied allowing his frustration to show. Carter understood; they felt like they had wasted their time.

Carter checked his watch for probably the thousandth time, "We still have ten minutes before we're supposed to meet up. Let's take a look around here while we wait for Casey."

BANG, BANG, BANG

Jameson looked at Carter before sprinting down the door that Casey was supposed to come through, "Jack's in trouble, let's go!"

Casey kept firing his Glock, he rifle empty. The thing kept coming and Casey had shot it multiple times since it screamed at him. The thing had sharp fangs, long claws on its hands, and was slimmed down, skinny like a teenager but it moved fast. Too fast.

It lunged at him and Casey leapt out of the way, firing his pistol until the slide locked back, indicating the magazine was empty. He hit the magazine release, let the empty fall onto the floor, and slapped in a new one.  He pressed the slide release, chambering a round and kept firing. The infected moved with surprising agility, bounding from desk to desk as it got closer to Casey. Casey lined up the sights and waited for it to land close to him. The infected landed on a desk a few feet away from Casey, barring its teeth and tapping its claws against the wood of the desk. Casey fired, sending a round right into the eye of the creature and it reeled backward from the impact. The creature gushed blood as it knocked over things. Casey kept firing at it as Carter and Jameson entered the room.

"SHOOT IT!" Casey yelled over the gunfire. Carter and Jameson both shouldered their weapons and fired. The creature jerked with each impact and finally slumped towards the ground, smoking, blood spouting from the holes in its body.

"What the hell is that?!" Jameson asked his rifle still aimed towards the monster. The creature still moved and Jameson fired a few rounds into its head and it lay still for the final time. Jameson changed magazines and put the empty mag back into his vest. Carter also changed mags and put the empty back into his vest. Casey took a few seconds to catch his breathe. He hadn't expected anything worse than the Leech and Carter's Behemoth. Now they have this thing, whatever it was, Casey thought as he switched out mags. Casey holstered his pistol and grabbed his M4, grateful to have the added firepower with him.

"Casey, did you find anything besides our friend here?" Carter nodded to the dead thing in the floor. Carter was surprised to see Casey nod.

"Yeah, someone kept a record of what happened. Seems like when the initial panic set, the flowers got transported to a freezer and they froze. The reports also says that the remainder of the plants have been dead for awhile. No one was taking care of them. Guess that solves one problem for us." Casey said as he looked at the thing laying in the floor.

"Is this the Leech you were talking about?" Carter asked Jameson and Casey. Jameson shook his head.

"No, I don't know what this thing is. The Leech has a puckered face like a fish. What about your Behemoth?" Jameson asked in return.

"No way. The Behemoth is built like a truck and extremely strong." Carter looked down at the creature too and worried there might be more evolved infected than the three they've seen so far.

"Leeches, Behemoths, and Runners, oh my!" Jameson laughed. Casey and Carter joined in as well, letting the stress of the moment bleed off of them.

"We might as well head back up and head back to Baltimore. There's nothing else for us to do here." Carter hefted his M4 and together they started heading back up to the main lobby. Carter, Casey, and Jameson looked around the lobby and noticed something was off. Where are the bodies? Carter thought to himself and the hair on the back of his neck started to stand up. Carter lead the others outside and the bodies of the infected they had shot earlier were missing too. The blood puddles were still there but the air was eerily calm, as if it was waiting for something to happen. What the fu-

"INCOMING!" Jameson shouted as he and Casey ran from the building. Carter joined them as a loud crash and a heavy object landed where they were just at. Carter turned and saw that it was the SWAT truck, crushed and mangled beyond belief; something no human can do. A monstrous roar filled the silence, the birds in the trees startled into flight.

Jameson was able to summarize the situation the best, "Out of the friggin' fire pan."