Chapter 72

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Haskell retook point, bounding up the stairs faster than I could. We could hear screams coming from up above, multiple gunfires erupting, and the alarms still blaring like a banshee. Logan kept close to my heels, while Miguel and Yousef guarded our rear.

"How fast does this spread?" Haskell asked me.

In my head, I tried to think about how fast they would turn between two minutes and eight hours for Mr. Ramirez and Carson. But they were the only two people I knew who got bit and turned. It must have something to do with the brain then and the bite's location, or how gravely injured the victim was. Every person's immune system reacted differently to the plague, perhaps slowing it down, depending on the host's preexisting condition. Jesus Christ, I'm calling us a host now. Fuck.

"Two minutes, at least. Eight hours at most."

"Two minutes," Haskell muttered. "Shit."

I expected to find at least half a dozen of them turning already. We needed to kill them fast.

We reached the top of the stairwell, flanking the door leading to the main ground floor. Haskell pushed it open and stepped through.

Jimmy was hunched over a man's body, and I recognized it was the same cop we talked to earlier on the desk. By the looks of it, he was still alive, twitching as Jimmy cried over him. Jimmy whirled around to face us, covered in blood all over his mouth and shirt. His eyes were all puffy and red from crying. Haskell aimed his rifle at him.

"Help me!" Jimmy exclaimed, reaching out his hand. "Didn't...mean...to...kill..." Jimmy said, sounding like there was a massive lump in his throat.

Haskell stopped. "What the fuck?"

Jimmy's pupils started to split into two. He stared at his bloody hands for a second and screamed, "What is happening to me?"

I aimed my gun at him, but Haskell pushed it down, shouting, "No! Wait—!"

"He's turning!" I said.

Jimmy's head jerked, clutched the back of his skull as if trying to claw something out it. Then, the familiar cry of a vector rang out, piercing and guttural. Jimmy charged toward us. In a split second, bullets littered his body, coming from Logan behind us.

"He's already dead," Logan said to Haskell.

"But he was—"

"Too late," I said. I pointed at the bite mark on his shoulder. Haskell became quiet.

Miguel strode toward the dying cop prone on the ground. The cop hissed at him, his pupils starting to split. "I'm sorry, bud," Miguel said before he shot him on the head.

"Never do that again," I told Haskell.

"I'm sorry."

I faced the others. "Let's do this real slow, people. We don't want to get ambushed."

We continued moving down the hall. I didn't dare cry out for Luke, Miguel, or Margot, knowing that they're smart enough to hide if a vector was nearby. I hoped they got to a safe place.

There was blood all over the walls as we trailed the vector's carnage. We saw a body with its throat and abdomen ripped open, but a quick check determined that he would not turn. His injuries were too severe for that. More gunshots boomed ahead, and I could distinctly hear more of the vectors' shrieks. We were getting closer.

Two more dead bodies slumped near a drinking fountain. A soldier sitting against the wall with his entire lower jaw yanked down, blood still spurting out of his mouth.

Miguel grunted. "Damn."

"Awful way to go," Yousef said.

I froze on the body I saw next. It was a little girl, probably as old as five, lying on her back. There was blood all over her parka coat, her eyes staring at the ceiling, her chest caved in. At first, I thought she would turn into a vector. Haskell lightly kicked her leg, but she did not move. I didn't know how to feel whether I should be relieved that she remained dead.

Leading to the foyer door, A handprint wrapped around the handle.

The girls' bathroom suddenly opened, and we pointed our guns toward the open door. Three women peeked their heads out, but they flinched and screamed and hid behind the door when they saw us. They weren't infected.

"Keep the door close!" Haskell hissed at them. One of the women popped her head back out, mumbling apologies, and shut the door.

"Hey, wait!" I barked. The woman paused. "Are there two men and a French woman in there?" I whispered.

The woman shook her head.

"Anyone bit?" Miguel asked.

The woman, startled, looked around her companions inside, studying them. Then she regarded us once again and shook her head.

I nodded and let her shut the door completely.

I turned to Logan. "Not here."

"We'll keep looking," Logan said.

As we crept toward the foyer door, I saw another man (not infected) huddled under a desk. He watched us with tears running down his eyes, but he did not dare make a move. We passed by an emergency exit door, but when Yousef tried to open it, but it wouldn't budge.

The building was under complete lockdown.


——


I first reached the foyer door, waited for the others to take a position, and opened it. My heart quickened.

The screams grew louder, and I was shocked to find that someone had popped a smoke grenade because I could not see shit clearly.

"Ah, hell," I muttered, putting the top of my shirt around my nose and mouth. I was glad it wasn't tear gas, else I'd be hacking and running far away from the foyer by now.

Chaos filled the foyer lobby. Dead bodies lay scattered on the ground, some dead, some turning. People were running around, merely shadows behind the smoke, fighting off and trying to escape the vectors closing on their heels. I saw a man got thrown out of the mezzanine, landing a foot away from me. I heard his neck snapped, blood pooling out where the bone had pierced through his skin.

A vector jumped from the mezzanine, landing as effortless as a cat right in front of me. I let out a yelp, startled.

The vector started to shriek, but I cut him off by a quick smack of my cane. Once he was on his knees, I shot him on the face point-blank. The gunfire caught the attention of the other vectors to us.

"Alright! Let's do this smart and quick!" I shouted.

Never again, I thought. I glanced up the mezzanine, hoping no vector was going to jump on top of me as I stepped further into the lobby. The coast up high was clear. Putting one foot behind the other, I started moving forward, the alarms masking the echoes of our boots against the marbled floor.

A vector came rushing toward me. I wheeled around, slamming my cane just below his ankle. The vector pitched forward, landing right in front of Yousef. The vector shrieked, hands shot out and grabbed Yousef's right ankle. Yousef roared a battle cry, raised the ax to the side, and swung. The blade cleanly sliced through the vector's neck, its head keeled over and rolled along the marbled floor.

Miguel, walking by, accidentally kicked the vector's head and sent it rolling to another direction like a soccer ball.

By the grand staircase, a man in a black suit screamed before I saw him tumbling down the stairs, each impact broke his bones, and he was dead before he reached the final steps. Two vectors came running down the stairs after him, but their course changed when their gaze landed on us, charging instead toward us.

Logan and Miguel quickly shot at them, the first landed right on the first vector's head, but Miguel only managed to hit the second vector on the leg and stomach. The vector tripped and rolled down the stairs to where the dead man in the suit was. Yousef dashed toward the fallen vector, stepped his stepping on his spine (and thereby pinning him to the ground), and slammed the ax over his head in a sickening squelch.

Two soldiers fought off two infected men in the middle of the lobby, but I could already tell that they were bit. Another woman pounded against a closed door at the far corner, begging to be let in, but I could hear the shouts of the people inside to block the entrance. A vector jumped on her back and started gnawing at her shoulder as she screeched.

The two soldiers stopped fighting suddenly, the battle with the two vectors already lost. Haskell fired upon the pile, riddling the two vectors in a hail of bullets (and the two soldiers) before Haskell's rifle clicked empty. Haskell was panting, could see tears running down his face after having to kill his own brothers-in-arms.

I turned toward the man hunched over the still screaming woman. The vector stopped his attack on her, went still for a moment as his eyes found me. He cocked his head slightly to the side and watched me.

I swiftly shot him on the neck.

He went down, convulsing next to the woman, putting his hands around his throat. He went still. The woman got up with a shocked look on her face, realized she was still alive. She stared at me for a second before she ran away, screaming and hollering, drawing more vectors to her. I realized she was bitten.

"What now?" Logan shouted behind me.

More vectors bellowed, but I could not see far in the smoke, coupled with how grating the alarms were against my ears. A vector jumped out of a corner, but Miguel quickly stepped forward and shot at him, his chest and head exploding in bloody spews.

We backed away, not daring to be separated from our huddle if a vector snatched an opportunity to drag us out into the dark corners. We found ourselves on the lobby's entrance, my back pressing against the glass doors all shut and locked. We're trapped. How am I going to find Luke and the others?

Suddenly, a panel of the glass doors shattered, and Margot's face popped in from the outside, screaming at us. "Through here!"

I let out a smile when I also saw Felipe and Luke standing behind her. They managed to run outside, after all. "Everyone! Out!" I roared.

Margot grabbed the trash bin again and slammed it against the door, shattering another panel of glass. I heard Haskell shooting from behind me. The vectors probably heard the loud smash, gauging our location for an attack. We were fortunate that none of them was a child, they'd coordinate an effective assault by now, and we'd end up dead.

Yousef went through the small gap, squeezing in until he was outside. Miguel followed after him.

"Bren! You're next! We'll cover you!" Logan bellowed.

I nodded, squeezing into the gap. Out of the corner of my eye, a man in a police uniform leaped, tackling me to the ground. I screamed, pushing his chest back before his teeth could reach my neck. I looked down and saw his name tag: LESTER. Low growls emanated out of his chest. At least we found him.

I caught sight of Betty on the ground within arms reach. Lester was a heavy motherfucker, and I knew that if I tried to pull my hand off his chest to grab the gun, my other arm alone could not support his weight.

Logan stepped to the side and grabbed Lester's head with both hands. In one swoop, he smashed his head against the glass, cracking it. He then gripped a handful of his hair and slammed him against the push bar, blood exploding against the metal handle. Lester let out a muffled croak before his mouth slacked, eyes rolling upward.

Logan reached his hand out for me. "Come on!"

More vectors were coming.

I bolted toward the panel again, grabbing Betty off the ground, and then catapulted myself through the gap. Margot and Luke pulled me out through the door. Haskell and Logan soon followed. Logan whirled around to the vector, trying to squeeze out, and shot him on the head at point-blank. The vector yelped and disappeared into the smoke.

"Are you okay?" Luke asked me, checking for bites.

"I'm fine. He didn't bite me," I said, pushing back up to my feet. Luke pulled me into an embrace, snaking his arms around my waist as he gave me a kiss. "I thought I lost you again."

"I owe you a date, remember?" I said.

Yousef jumped in, pulling both us into an embrace. "I'm glad you're alive, fool!" Yousef exclaimed, patting Luke on the back.

"Easy with the ax, man!" Luke said, pushing the blade away from his shoulders.

"Oops. Sorry. Is Aria here with you?"

"No. We're gonna go get them in the apartment."

"Is now really a good time? Vectors are coming!" Logan yelled and ran past us. Inside the building, more vectors shrieked. "Let's move, people!"

Sirens clamored down the streets, and we followed Logan down the steps. I saw people running away from city hall, cars now clogged the roads, tires squealing along the sidewalk in a desperate attempt to escape. Three police officers and a squad of soldiers were escorting some of the people away who had stayed back, filming the building through their phones.

Humvees and military trucks sped along the road, and when they reached the intersection, a platoon of soldiers quickly jumped out of the trucks and formed a perimeter. A helicopter flew overhead. Four soldiers came running toward the stairs as two vectors climbed out through the exposed panel. The squad didn't hesitate to shoot them down.

We kept going until we reached East Capitol Park, passing more people filming on their phones, watching both in awe and horror as the soldiers battled the vectors who managed to get out. A group of boys, maybe a couple of years younger than me, were daring each other to go near and film a good view. I was too busy running to warn them or smack them some common sense. People should be running away.

A humvee hurtled up out of the street and skidded onto the sidewalk, the driver pushing down on the breaks hard, heard them squealing until the vehicle drifted to a stop right in front of us. Peter climbed out of the driver's side door.

"Get in!" Peter shouted.

I didn't know if we would all fit, but we managed to pack ourselves inside the humvee like sardines, me climbing into the passenger seat. Haskell hopped onto the turret and handled the machine gun while the others clamored into the back.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"I have some bad news," Peter said.

I froze, preparing myself. "What is it?"

"The university. Half of it is gone, lost to those freaks."

Haskell cursed from up the turret. "Are you fucking kidding me?"

I gasped. "Clemons..."

"—is still alive," Peter said. He looked back to see everyone made it inside, locked eyes with Logan for a split second before he stepped on the gas. He clenched his jaw, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the wheel, making sideways glances at the rear-view mirror.

"I contacted your uncle," Peter added. "There's a scheduled rally point for VIPs at the Hilton Hotel. Is this everyone?"

"A few are staying in the apartment. We're going to get them."

"Point the way. Downtown is breaking from its seams already."

"How much time do we have?"

"Not enough. I caught a lot of radio chatter calling for two platoons for each gate. Troops have been sent out to pied-piper missions to draw the infected away from the walls."

"On all the gates?"

"On everywhere. It seems to me like those infected children are spreading us out thin along the walls and across downtown, testing our defenses. It's only a matter of time until they find something they'll exploit. You weren't kidding when you told me that they're hella smart. The snipers and the scouts are given the go-ahead to shoot and hunt all infected children outside the walls."

I gritted my teeth. I hoped the tactic would work, but I could already tell from the hesitation in Peter's words that it didn't go over very well with the troops. This was the military's significant encounter with the vectors, a full-on assault, and they still saw them as one of us, people who could be reasoned with, who could think and even feel. That was further from the truth.

"The airport is being sieged, too," Peter continued. "They're already flying out people from there. The helicopters coming will be the last ones out, so we need to get to them quickly. There's no guarantee that they're going to come back from where they're evacuating."

"I heard Pittsburgh's the closest city from what Faraday said," Luke recalled.

Pittsburgh was at least 350 miles away, a four or five-hour round-trip by helicopter, which included refueling. If we did not make it to the helicopter, we'd be caught by nightfall. Clemons and the rest of the top brass would be gone by then, the disease would spread inside downtown, and the nerve gas would be deployed.

They might include downtown to gas all the vectors...and all the innocent people in it.

Radio chatter on the dashboard echoed across the interior. I did not know what the numbers meant, sector this and that, but I realized they were sections of the wall. Millennium had been sending a lot of troops in certain parts, three or four platoons-worth. I could only imagine what was happening.

Peter turned off the radio. "Enough of that," he said.


——


We drove past the Times Union Center, the main shelter, a crowd of thousands begging to be let in as the military tried to hold them back. A lone soldier standing on a raised platform had a megaphone, ordering people to head back to their homes or find another shelter. On the next street, I saw a woman covered in blood, walking around on the plaza in a state of stupor, eyes blank, dragging a baby carrier basket. There was no baby inside.

The apartment was only five blocks away from City Hall, but I could already tell the military was escorting people back into their homes. We parked the humvee by the building's parking garage, right next to the Jeep. Peter and Haskell kept watching over the car as the others and I ran up to the apartment. The lobby and the stairwell were crowded with people hauling their luggage out of the building, trying to flee. I had no idea where they would go with the vectors waiting outside the walls.

We reached the fourth floor of the apartment. Logan knocked two times, paused, then knocked twice again—a pattern. A few seconds later, Aria opened the door.

"Holy shit! It's you!" Aria rushed out and hugged Logan. "How'd you get out—?" Then Aria's eyes landed on me, and she started laughing. "Well, I figured."

"Glad everyone's okay," Steve said from behind her.

Aria untangled her arms away from Logan and pulled Yousef into an embrace and kissed him. We entered the apartment. Everyone was there sitting around the living room. Henry bounced out of the sofa and ran up to me, hugging my waist, squealing, "Bren! You're alive!"

I hugged him back. "I am, bud. How are you doing?"

"I wanted to go and rescue you, but Logan doesn't think I can fight, or I don't know how to shoot a gun. I mean, we have no gun, but I've used a knife before! I thought I can do that again."

I looked at Logan, but he merely gave me a shrug. "That's because you're little," Logan said. "Them army boys will walk over you."

"No, They won't. I won't let them!" He said confidently. "I can fight like Bren!"

Logan ruffled Henry's hair. "Of course you can. Someday."

Henry slunk back on the couch and crossed his arms, scowling at Logan.

"No one's hurt?" I asked around.

Everyone started talking at once, telling about seeing an infected running on the street. Some swore the building across from us was having an outbreak since more soldiers were going in and out of the place. Alfie then showed me the homemade weapons he made, knives mostly at the end of broomsticks like makeshift spears.

"I made these,

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