James picked up the petite rotted form of Cory and held the undead child under and against against his side. "Come. We can't stay here. Hold tight."
James regretted his instruction since Cory, not knowing the supernatural strength of his zombified arms, squeezed the breath from his ribs, making him grunt in pain. Cory realized his mistake and immediately relented: "Sor-ry. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it!"
James chuckled: "Never mind. I've had worse. Now, keep open your eyes and ears for other survivors."
"Okay." said Cory softly.
They hadn't progressed 10 paces, when they heard what they were searching for.
A thunderous clanking of pipes on metal resounded through the hall, followed by vehement swearing.
"Shit! Outch! Sonofabitch! Hell's fucking bells! Nearly broke my bloody foot on that junk!" came a gruff voice.
"Oh for pity's sake, Lenggries. Will you stop swearing so needlessly? Its barbaric." said a woman.
"Oh I'm sorry, Petrova. Your absolutely right." said the first low voice sarcastically. "Seeing our comrades turned to gore and hellspawn roaming the earth is no cause for not behaving properly in public. Next time I'll act like a gentleman while we try to survive this sh-"
"Your such and ass! Neanderthals have more finesse." retorted the woman.
"Yeah. Least I know how to get-"
"'Shut up, both of you!" came a third voice which held athourity. "Stay focused and keep quiet. You'll bring every imp and demon in a hundred meter radius down on us if you continue to make this racket. Our mission is far too vital for screw-ups. The Gate is a mere half kilometer away to the North. Also, be warned, I sense 2 supernatural entities in the room to our right. Prepare yourselves."
"Fine, I'll take point." said the gruff voice.
James eyed the entrance to the hall nervously and his hand moved to his pistol holster. Colin clutched him, terrified.
3 figures emerged in the bright light of the doorway. They were clearly human, but that was about the only reassuring attribute about them. They were all clad in black leather; all looked unfriendly and intimidating.
The blond, bearded giant in front was the most fearsome. He had a disforming scar running the length of the left side of his face. An eyepatch shielded the left eye. Most notable about the gargantuan man, was that his entire right lower-arm had been converted into a compact 3-barreled minigun; the ammunition belt that fed it, snaked across his right shoulder and appeared to emerge from the metallic backpack the large man wore. He looked the absolute wrong bloke to screw with.
The 2 individuals flanking his sides, didn't appear any less menacing. A woman stood on the giant's right. Her short black hair in a spiky buzz-cut; she had gruesome tattoo's of bats, dragons and scorpions covering her open arms and shoulders. She carried a katana in one hand and a sub-machine gun in the other.
The last man, standing on the blond giant's left, was perhaps the most frightening. He was an albino. He was clad completely, from neck down to his toes and fingers, in dark leather. He looked as if he wore the uniform of a colonel spray-painted black. An ink-black cap was pulled low over his red-pink eyes. His snow white hair and translucent skin was accented by the rest of his body being covered in such dark attire, making his face appear similar to that of a ghost. He held his arms crossed behind his back, like a bored officer inspecting his troops.
An evil grin spread across the blond giant's face as he saw James and Cory: "Oh look! More undead targets."
He raised his minigun right arm, his left going to the firing lever attached to its upper side...
"Wait, Lenggries." said the woman. "The man is still human! Don't kill him!"
"The thing he's holding sure isn't, Petrova."
"Who are you people?!" asked James, finding his voice at this trio of weirdo's. He presumed them mercenaries.
"Sir!" said the woman named Pretrova urgently at James. "Let go of that child, NOW! It's undead, It'll kill you!"
Colin looked at James pleadingly with his sunken eyes: "You promised you wouldn't leave me!!!"
"I won't." James unholstered his .45 colt and aimed it at the giant named Lenggries. "Why don't you put away the gun, friend?"
"Watch it pal, if you don't put away that little peashooter of yours, I'll shred you in half with led!" warned Lenggries darkly.
"I'll do the same once you lower YOUR firearm, friend." said James menacingly.
"Not while that scrap of wormfood in your hands remains in one piece, I will."
"I am not letting go of this kid."
"You either let go of the freak or I gun you both down."
James turned to his side, shielding the zombie todler with his body, from the minigun's line of fire.
"You just try and I'll slug your remaining eye." said the outraged James.
"Please sir." begged the woman, desperate to avoid a bloodbath. "That child is no longer human. You have to let it go!"
"Over my dead body." Colin looked up gratefully at James, who held him close.
"Your wish." said the giant callously.
James sweated profusely. A bloody shootout seemed inevitable.
"Enough!!!"
It was the albino. His sharp voice cut through the air like a knife through a cake. His voice held such a commanding tone, that none dared disobey him. "You will all stand down! Lower your weapons this instant!"
Both James and Lenggries complied.
The albino looked at the blond giant with disdain: "Lenggries, have you succumbed to the level of depravity of the hellspawn? You would kill your fellow man so easily?"
The giant spat back: "I was only bluffing! I just wanted that retard to let go of the undead. Our mission was supposed to ensure that no demon or infected was to escape to the surface, no matter the cost. Wasn't it? To exterminate all the hellspawn down here?"
"You." the albino indicated to James. "Please identify yourself." The way he said it, made it clear it wasn't a request.
"I am Sergeant James Anderson, leader of Echo team. I am part of ATHER, a counter-terrorist unit. I was sent here to stop a cultist terrorist group from-"
"Well your a bit late on that one." said the albino.
"What do you mean?"
"The cultists are all dead, least from what I could tell from the screams...and so is just about everything...humanoid...down here. Still, its refreshing to at least meet another survivor from ATHER in this literal hellhole. One that isn't undead, I mean."
"You're ATHER personal?" asked the surprised James.
"Indeed. We are Omega team...or rather its remainder. I'm Leutenant Blank. The charming fellow over there with the personality disorder is Corporal Lenggries-"
"Up yours." said the giant blond, flipping them off.
"-and the Lady is Corporal Petrova."
Petrova anxiously nodded her head in James's direction, as if to indicate something deathly important.
"Ah, Sergeant. Pardon for my rudeness, but...I strongly, STRONGLY advise you letting go of that child immediately. It is undead."
"I already told you, I am not letting go of the kid."
"I don't know what...personal attachments you have with him..." said the albino.
"IT! It's a bloody rotting corpse!" shouted Lenngries from the side.
The albino ignored him, and continued to talk persuasively to James. "But he's no longer alive. He has no emotion, no recollection. Very soon he will turn feral and most likely attack you. You will probably be bitten, and infected. And then we will be forced to kill you. For no infection may reach the surface. He is no longer human. Let him go now so we can mercy kill him, and let him rest in peace."
James looked down at the pitiful mass of the child he he held in his arm. Colin stared back, petrified. Blank's words sounded convincing. Colin certainly didn't appear to be alive. He stank of decaying meat. His skin looked grey and green in some places. His face was stretched tightly across his bony skull. James could even feel the wet mucus running down his side from the kid. Worst of all he felt cold and clammy. Just like a corpse. No heat emanated from Colin's tiny body. It was evident he was dead, if not undead.
And yet...Colin seemed genuinely scared. Tears ran down his face at the prospect of being given up by James. He looked very lifelike; not like a wild beast at all. No. James would never abandon a child in need, even at the risk of his own life. Even if that child was supposedly undead. And he had promised to keep Colin safe, hadn't he?
Now what?
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