V-Gen

7

When the helicopter touched down on a launching pad a few miles away from Rome, Ebony slowly got off the aircraft. Her skin crawling with the feeling of having imminent danger in the air. Surprisingly everyone was calm, no... Alert but relieved to be away from the warehouse.

As they moved down the stairs in the broken building, everything was quiet. Really quiet. Their footsteps the only noise echoing in the hall, Ebony's eyes were flicking from left to right as they went down eight flights of stairs before reaching the bottom. That's when they pulled out the guns. Their auras now extremely cautious and silent. Jake looked at Ebony and waved her over, quickly pulling her close as he pointed a gun around the corner. "We're in Flare territory so we need to be really silent, and you need to stay close to me" He whispered looking at the others to check if the area was clear. The others nodded and one of them jogged around a corner. They waited in silence

"He's been gone too long" Jake whispered, as he finished a shout was heard as the boy came sprinting back "Mob of Flare's 9:00!" He shouted and they all broke into a sprint. Jake ran over to the boy and hit him on the head "Next time don't shout. We have to move quietly" He growled and the boy nodded "But sir. These are irregulars" He said his face pale. Jake's eyes widened and he readied his gun "We've got irregulars in our hands so any that falter will be left behind. So if you want to die stop running now, if you want to be a chicken and save yourself I will personally kill you." Jake said and they all nodded as a mob of running humans came from the corner.

"They're here! Ready yourselves!" Jake shouted as they all readied their laser guns. "What are irregulars!" Ebony shouted and Jake shook his head "Not the time Ebony!" He said grabbing her hand and running faster.

Ebony stumbled as he pulled her but eventually began to catch up as the running humans came a tiny bit closer. She looked back and almost threw up, these humans didn't look like them. They were deformed, skin hanging off exposed muscles like tape and bones popping out as if they were burned out. "What are those things!" Ebony shouted pointing back to the abominations. "Not now Ebony! Unless you want to die!" Jake shouted not turning back and continuing to run. Ebony sighed and looked forward, until she heard a scream. She looked back to see one of the boys get snatched by a Flare that was hiding.

She watched the horror unfold as the boy was torn to shreds by the mob of hungry cannibals, his shrieks doing nothing but increasing the terror on Ebony's face. "Oh my god... We should help hi-"

"No! We can't risk anymore loss. He knows that for his sacrifice that we might have a chance of getting away." Jake said forcing his emotions down so he wouldn't turn back. Ebony looked at him and realized he was probably going through more pain than she was. She nodded and kept running as the screams finally stopped and the only sound that was heard was the sickening crunch and smack of teeth breaking bones and eating flesh.

After what seemed like hours of non stop running Ebony felt like she was going to collapse. Her running had become sloppy and Jake was just dragging her now. She looked at the other boys and saw they were just fine, "H-hey... Can we please take a break. I might collapse if we don't" she rasped through her dry throat. Jake looked at her exhausted figure and began to slow "Fine. Ten minutes and then we're back on the move. I want to get out of this city as fast as we can. Especially before sundown. If we dont then we're screwed" He said as Ebony dropped to the floor with a relieved sigh. Jake crouched and offered her some water, he hadn't even broken a sweat but she noticed his breathing was a bit heavy. She glad took the water and chugged it all, wiping her mouth after and thanking Jake. She looked around the barren city and sighed realizing that this was just the beginning, and Jake laughed as if to say.

' Oh yeah, welcome to our hell'