Narrator-

The Test Subjects walked on and on until they made it out of the forest and onto the skeletal remains of an abandoned apartment-style building. Needing to get out of the sun and not having the option of being picky, the Test Subjects entered the unsheltered space through one of the cement passageways which once held a luxurious glass entrance.

Upon entering the lobby, the stench of moldy carpet, rodent droppings, dried urine and other unpleasant aromas greeted the Subjects, like a cheery 1960s doorman. Majority of the windows and doors had been destroyed. Artificial plants were turned over, pieces of ceramic vases were scattered about. The little that remained of the furniture were either flipped sofas thrown in a chaos, or halfway burnt wooden chairs with scorch marks and a pile of ashes underneath. Cigarette butts were the new centerpieces, and there wasn't a trace of electronic devices. Pieces of wood, ceiling platforms, and pink filling sponges filled the inside of cordoned off areas which once served as retail spaces, making it resemble a rainforest with pink cotton for vines and fallen beams for tree bark.

Matthew released a whistle, which echoed into the empty rooms of the old building but failed to return to the ears of its origin.

"Think we could hang here for a while?" Matthew wondered while looking at the rest of the team.

The elevator doors had been pried open, and the metal box was occupied by the light fixture which once illuminated it while it slid up and down the shaft of the building.

"Maybe, but not for too long." Jackson replied, "If Adina is right and we are being tracked, we don't know how long it'll be before they find us."

"Yeah, but until then, at least we'll find a place to sleep." Khairo added, then he said in afterthought, "wonder if this place has a basement."

"Wanna check for one?" Matthew offered/

"Yeah." Khairo agreed.

"Don't wander too far." Jackson yelled after the retreating pair.

"And if you see anything, scream." Khiran added as well.

"Yeah, yeah." Matthew laughed, while Khairo sent a vulgar hand gesture over his shoulder.

"Spread out, see if you can find anything." Adina instructed to the rest of the team, while being sure of holding on to Valerie's hand the entire time.

Lauren wrapped her arms around her upper body, while rubbing the length of her humerus with her palms. She ventured further into the lobby and stepped behind the concierge desk. Valerie sneezed twice then sniffled, while Adina saw to straightening out some of the overturned items.

Khiran stayed close to the exits, monitoring the area outside of the building at every glance, meanwhile Jackson travelled from one retail space to the other, gathering any item he thought could serve them, including an old lighter, a dusty blanket, and a few bags of stale chips which had not yet been penetrated by rodents and insects.

Matthew and Khairo came upon a staircase behind the elevator shaft, which led them down to the underground parking lot. It was empty with only a beige abandoned van towards the far end of the lot.

The guys shared a look and Matthew shrugged towards Khairo, then they began moving towards the van.

The chittering and skittering of rats scurrying to hide at the sound of approaching human footsteps cautioned the boys to move forward carefully. Dust particles flew about in the air, as a small wind picked up outside and whistled through the thick cylindrical support pillars underneath the building. The paint on the beams chipped away and revealed the cracked cement and metal skeleton on the inside the of circular supports. Cobwebs fluttered from the ceiling of the lot, resembling curtains made of thin thread and giant gaps. A mixture of old webs and thick dust coated the metal airducts which crossed beneath the ceiling.

Matthew rubbed his palms together as they finally reached the van. It was an ancient 1967 Volkswagen 12 van. The glossy beige paint rusted around the door handles and silver contrast lines along the length of the oblong body. The tires sported silver round solid rims. The back bumper was secured on the right side, but lopsided towards the left. The car's logo had been violently pried off the body, and two of the side windows had been busted in.

A third window was soon broken when Matthew used his elbow to break the driver's window, so he could open the door from the inside. Once seated in the deflated driver's seat, where the worn leather remained and yet the spongy support had been slowly picked off by birds and the wind, Matthew opened Khairo's door.

The twin hopped in, and Matthew held the classic driving wheel.

"No keys." Matthew pointed out.

"Hot wire?" Khairo wondered.

"It is an ancient model. Still can't believe it's here." Matthew sighed out.

"Warlord's goons probably missed it during the takeover. A lot of people went underground..." Khairo trailed off while caressing the inner leather lining of the vehicle.

"And the world above rotted." Matthew concluded, "but," he drew in a sigh, "at least we have this gorgeous babe."

"Let's go tell the others about it." Khairo expressed, though the courtesy was only done because of his brother.

When the guys entered the lobby once again, Matthew announced, "we found a car."

"We have food." Jackson called back, while they all gathered around the concierge desk to sift through the items Jackson found.

Stale chips, old melting chewing gum, evaporated vegan drinks, and lots of dried nuts.

"Dude, where did you find all these?" Khiran asked, while picking up a bag of Cashews, where each piece of nut sported strange white spots, and Khiran could practically tasted the rancid taste in the back of his throat.

"Be Green," Jackson revealed, "guess it was an all-natural vegan place at one point. They even have bamboo sheets."

"Well we definitely shouldn't drink these." Lauren murmured while picking up a bottle, where the drink had been separated into one giant green blob floating in a lighter, green-colored water.

"Find any water?" Khairo asked Jackson.

"No." Jackson shook his head, "Majority of this place is trashed. Nothing good enough was left behind."

"Should we check the rooms upstairs? Maybe the mini fridges were ignored during the raids." Adina suggested.

"I like the plan." Khiran snapped and nodded towards Adina.

"Okay, but we can't stay too long." Jackson agreed.

"I say we break into teams. I'm going with Adina and Valerie." Matthew declared quickly.

"I'll go with Khiran." Lauren said next before Khairo could get a word in.

Khiran blinked in shock and looked at his twin apologetically. Matthew and Adina shared a glance, meanwhile Lauren acted oblivious to Khairo's glances.

"I guess that leaves me and Khairo." Jackson spoke up after the silence lasted a little too long.

"We'll take the first three floors." Matthew tapped Adina's elbow.

"Yeah." Adina nodded.

"We'll take the next three, come on Khiran." Lauren jumped in again and walked away even before Khiran could say anything.

'I'm sorry.' Khiran apologized to his twin while walking backwards and opening his hands just slightly.

Khairo said nothing, he simply rolled his eyes and invited Jackson to follow him with a low, "come on."

Jackson chanced a look towards Adina, before the rest of the team followed after Lauren and Khiran, who, using the staircase behind the elevator, began climbing to the upper floors.

"Everyone be careful, let's try to meet back here in twenty minutes." Jackson instructed when they reached the second floor, and the first three members of their team would exit onto the second floor.

"And if anything, forreal this time, scream." Matthew added just before he opened the door for Adina and Valerie.

Jackson nodded towards them one last time before the door closed, and the remaining four subjects continued up the stairs.

#

General Charles eventually received the backup requested from the Warlord, and little by little, the army was gaining control over the diseased creatures in the Reserve. The little girl had finally been destroyed after stepping on a detonating grenade. However, as the army focused on the dwindling number of zombies, in another nearby park, a napping couple intoxicated from vaping mushrooms were soon reawakening as the living dead, after being bitten by an infected rat. The couple moved through the family park, biting a homeless man who had been busy piling empty cans of soda and beer in a shopping cart under an oak tree, followed by a breastfeeding mom, an avid jogger, and a trio of bikers, before breaking out into the nearest town square.

"General, You need to see this." One of the soldiers announced while anxiously waving the toothpick murdering man over.

Charles watched with hard eyes the live feed from the Town Square, where unturned humans screamed and ran rampant to escape the infected zombies, who constantly chased, pounced, and bit any healthy person they found. Women screeched, a few random handgun rounds were fired by the local police officers, children were screaming, and cars were swerving into buildings to avoid hitting the running bystanders. The sound of squealing tires, shattering glass, falling bricks and buzz of electricity from light poles being struck by stray drivers added to the chaos displayed on the computer screen. 

Water spouted into the air when a pickup truck drove over a fire hydrant. First responders failed to coordinate who to help first, and by twos and threes, and the hoard of zombies grew across the town. 

The General's left eye twitched. His mustache prickled at the roots, and he grinded his back molars together. His government issued phone rang instantaneously, which earned a tense spasm in his spine. Charles sighed mutely through the orange hairs of his upper lip, feeling more prepared to put his gun and his mouth and pull the trigger, rather than face the wrath of the Warlord, which he knew he would receive the moment he pressed the green button on his cellular device.

Bringing the black touchscreen box to his red-tipped left ear, the General's eyes twitched again before he spoke.

"This is Charles."

#

In the lab, Frank, Sarah, Jonathan and the Scientist all stared at Mateo, Victor and his team of soldiers.

"Frank, meet your new general." Archer began his speech, as the command center all stared on like hypnotized monkeys. 

Frank and the other three creatures turned their eyes to Mateo, who kept his face hard and strong while staring down the steroid-induced creatures. His fingers couldn't grow any tighter around his gun, and he avoided showing any signs of stress or ticks in the muscles of his face and arms. 

Archer then snapped at Mason, who projected the pictures of the seven runaway Test Subjects on the television screen.

"These are your assignments." Archer then turned the group's attention to the television screen, where the faces of Adina, Jackson, Valerie, Matthew, Khairo, Khiran and Lauren were all displayed.

Mateo turned his eyes to the screen, and the chemically enhanced soldiers followed his actions. Vivian watched Mateo closely across the glass. His jaw was hard, his eyes serious. He held his gun firmly, his shoulders broad and his spine straight in pure confidence and strength. The general was aware of the secretary's glances his way, but he suppressed the urge to look at her. He was now in assignment mode and couldn't risk exposing his relationship with Vivian to Archer.

"Bring them back to me alive." Archer concluded with his hands behind his back, then the screen switched off.

Mateo faced his new recruits again, and he addressed them in a strict tone, "Let's go."

Mateo headed the line, followed by two other human soldiers, then Frank, Sarah, Jonathan and the scientist all dressed in black, fell in line as well, and Victor played the caboose. The enhanced hunters were not given any weapons, for their speed and agility would be the only tool Archer needed them to use. Vivian kept her eyes on Mateo until he was no longer in her line of sight. The soldiers headed to the underground lot and boarded the military van. The two human soldiers were tasked to drive, while Mateo and Victor kept eyes on Frank and his friends.

In Mateo's hands, he held a tablet which displayed the green dots signaling the Subjects' current location. The dots were still close to each other but had now broken into a cluster of three green dots, and a pair of two green dots, each within considerable distance of each other. This was still good news for Mateo, since it meant that the Subjects were still altogether. 

Back in the lab, Archer also kept eyes on both the green dots, and the four red dots which represented Frank and his friends. For the team who remained behind in the lab, Archer had them working around the clock for a fresh batch of Test Subjects, unaware of the chaos which was reeling miles away from his experiment.

The Warlord's army was deploying by hoards to slow the spread of the deadly infection which turned the dead into unkillable, infested creatures. Charles' eye twitched more and more, and he was running out of toothpicks. There was a spiking pain in his left temple, and the stiffening of his muscles gave the general's body a statue-like appearance. 

Once again, screams, gunfire, explosion of grenades and the stench of dirty blood all rose in the air, as the small town of Piranis became the epicenter of the zombie outbreak. With the risk of spread through wildlife, the Warlord's goons stood no chance of truly containing the infection, and still they fired ammo into bleeding trunks and cracked skulls, and built barricades. Sirens howled when suddenly helicopter rotors began to whirl over the city.

Charles looked up and noticed the Channel 36 News helicopter flying over the city, while a cameraman filmed from an opened door of the helicopter. 

"Crap." Charles muttered under his breath, before ripping out a half-chewed toothpick and slamming it on the ground. 

"Get those nosy press bastards out of here!" He barked loudly as the soldiers performed damage control.

"What do you want me to do, shoot it down?" Preston asked Charles with a harsh tone of his own. 

"Shoot them down, arrest them, I don't care. Just don't let that footage leave the area." Charles yelled and pointed towards the helicopter, before getting sidetracked by the next issue.

Gathering a team, Preston ordered to have the helicopter's system hijacked by a drone, so the bird could be brought down and the footage confiscated.

#

In the distance, a few miles West of the epicenter, Jackson and Khairo stood on the building's roof and took notice of the rising smoke in the east, along with the circling helicopter.

The echoes of explosion, sirens and gunfire were carried by the wind and brought directly to the two Subjects' ear canals.

"What do you think's happening over there?" Khairo asked Jackson while they stood almost shoulder to shoulder.

Jackson shook his head, "I have no idea."

_________________________________________

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-Tania.