Apocalypse

Chapter 14 - The Core

"We're not there just yet," Pamela smiled, holding the sword to my face, "We still have to get to - what's his name again?" She pulled the sword away and stabbed at one of the monsters trying to enter our mini-dome.

"Zhormii," Mr White remembered. Zach's panted, speechless, beside him. "I'll go ahead, and you guys can follow behind once I give the okay."

"Why would you do that?" I asked, "We should stay together to keep each other safe."

"Okay," he sighed, "But I really need to go. I'll be right back. I just need to see if the men's room if free in there."

I raised my eyebrows, but before I could respond, Pamela cut in, "That's disgusting! Are you kidding me, at a time like this?!"

"He'll be safe," I argued, "You've seen him fight."

"And what if he gets zombified?!"

We looked over at Mr White, but he had already left. Pamela stomped her foot and screamed.

"Of all the idiots-!" Zachary finally caught his breath and took her arm before she ran after him.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, "He's already gone, so let's just wait for him to come back!" Pamela tried to keep running, but gave up. She sat down with a huff and we waited.

And waited.

And waited.

All the while the zherti continued to pound and scratch at the mini-dome I had created when I slashed through the main one. They made me flinch, but Zachary made faces at them. He stopped when one nearly tore his eyes out as he clumsily stuck his head out for a moment.

"He's taking forever," Pamela moaned, still sat down.

"You don't think the zombies got him?" Zachary asked me worriedly, "That's my dad."

I yelped as one of them lunged from behind me, being repelled back. I caught my breath and looked back at Zachary.

"No, he-" but I was cut off my Pamela before I could comfort him.

"Of course he's dead!" she shrieked from her spot on the ground, "I told him not to go, and now he's dead!" Zachary stifled a sob. "We should go without him and kill off these monsters' leader while we still have a chance!"

"What if-"

"If he comes back, he can sit in this stupid safe spot and wait for us to save the world!" she cried, wiping a hand across her face.

"Okay," I said, trying not to upset her again, "Let's - let's go, then." We took a breath and stepped outside the mini-dome, sprinting towards the highest debri-filled building, from which the zherti were spitting out.

But soon after we did, the world became warped. We were - uh, teleported, I think - to the core building, and we were in a grossly atmosphered room. Zherti were climbing out the windows, being newly formed.

"We reached the core!" I shouted.

But before we could celebrate, we were face-to-face with Mr White, who had a huge grin on his face.

The zherti were coming from him.