[TheAverageFan]

Holy one-liner Batman, we're already back for more! Yes, because this chapter was finished before the last one was, it's already all edited up and ready to go. Not to mention last time was a bit short, so we're already back in business. I think I'm finally ready to begin uploading chapters at a more reasonable rate, but only time will tell.

In the meantime, here's Chapter 20. Goodness, we're already up to 20.

Spoiler Alert!

20
In The Wake Of The World

____ “Gentlemen. These are the spoils of war. Drink up.” Alex Silvin leaned back against the bar cabinet, holding forth two empty shot glasses between three fingers. It was a toast to whoever was still left of his group.
____ They were in a dingy run-down bar, drinks stale but still left untouched ever since they were hastily abandoned. There had been two others in here, looting. After a short firefight and another man down, Silvin’s group decided they could use the break and the drinks. The dumb Neanderthals of soldiers he commanded only had the patience to grab straight liquor, the blunt idiots. But he'd lost two crews in a single year (both to helicopter attacks no less) so he couldn't expect quality troops to choose from. Silvin meanwhile was willing to take the time. While they rushed to drunkenness he meticulously made himself some strawberry daiquiris. Adib refused to drink anything, but his own men didn’t share his discipline. To each his own, really: they all deserved the respite and a chance to actually celebrate what destruction the zombies had wrought on their enemies.
____ Silvin eyed his soldiers, their attention focused on drinks more than anything. For them the excitement had gradually fizzled out as survivors became increasingly difficult to find. But Silvin didn’t feel that way. It was so sweet to finally have the town to himself, everything for grabs free of charges or consequences. He’d found the cutest black dress and sunhat hanging from a storefront manikin and swiped them. How good it had felt to be able to just walk in and take it. The dress clung tightly to him, carelessly thrown on over his regular uniform. Adib always got mad when he wore women’s clothing, so he made sure to do so at every available opportunity.
____ Sure enough, Adib scowled at him as he ogled himself in the mirror behind the counter, “You’re a shameful disgrace, you know.”
____ “Ooh, you’re normally so jolly.” Silvin mocked him, “I’m surprised you have the time, priorities, or even the taste to judge clothes. For a murderer from whatever backwards desert rock I found you under, anyway. Where was that again?”
____ Adib was used to constant attempts to get under his skin, “I’m from Oman, you bastard. 'Desert rock'... spare me.”
____ “Whatever. Why do you do what you do then, my old friend?”
____ “Is telling you going to make you remember the last thousand times?” He groaned, “We will rebuild the caliphate and rule this world. The West should fear and respect us as they once did! We were one kingdom once. To think the imperialists ever had the nerve to tear us down and carve up our lands, time and time again...! And to think so many of us bent to their will!”
____ Silvin snickered at him, “Ah yes. Revenge: the most worthless of all causes.”
____ “At least I have an end goal. Once your undead demons leave the West in ruins, we will rise again. People will flock back to faith and we will wash over the world. A second golden age.”
____ “Oh Adib... y'know, you're an endlessly fascinating individual to me—you hardcore fundy, you—because your english is so good, and you're so well-read, and yet... your plan is so dumb. Caliphate, pfft... I've heard that joke before. It sounds awfully Ottoman for an Omani man, if you ask me.” Silvin snickered again, biting the tip of his thumb to stifle the laughter. How his boss had managed to convince this idiot that his homeland was somehow going to come out on top of this was an unfathomable mystery. How he’d managed to juggle all manners of terror cells without their separate goals and ideologies clashing. Keep them far away from each other and their darlings, he supposed. There was no other reason he'd be paired with a group from Oman all the way out here in the States. It was almost literally the other side of the planet.
____ Adib frowned at his mocking look, “Short-sighted snake. Do the miraculous signs not rattle your faithlessness? Don’t you care about what will happen after this is over? Or even after you perish?”
____ “I’m not going to die.” Silvin denied, “Not now, not ever.”
____ “You’re delusional.”
____ “‘We all go a little mad sometimes. Haven’t you?’” Silvin replied, clearly emulating someone in his manner of speaking. He looked to each member of his group as he said it, looking for some kind of reaction. When there wasn’t one he frowned hard, “Norman Bates, anyone? Psycho? You have seen it, haven’t you? Anyone?”
____ Again no reaction, people mostly confused at his twisting his answer into movie trivia.
____ Silvin leaned back and swept his arm across in disdainful dismissiveness, shouting at all of them, “C’mon!! Where do you get these guys!? You call yourselves men?”
____ “Sorry we’re apparently not ‘man’ enough to watch movies, sir. At least we can manage more than some p*ssy drinks.” One of the soldiers muttered, earning a few snickers from his fellows.
____ Silvin frowned at him, a sudden change from lighthearted teasing to dead-serious in an instant, “Oh, funny guy, huh? Hold on, Adib. You there. Come here.”
____ The man in question glanced over, a little taken aback by his boss’ sudden humorlessness, “What? Who, me?”
____ “Yes you. Come here.”
____ At first the soldier in question didn’t move, unsure of what his boss was planning; ideas formulating in his head only growing increasingly dreadful. He slowly pried himself from his chair and approached as commanded. Dread slowed his steps as he drew near, unable to see where Silvin’s other arm or his gun were behind the counter. Still there was no disobeying orders, so he gradually walked up to the bar.
____ “Good.” Silvin said, “Now say what you said again.”
____ The soldier said nothing.
____ Silvin smiled and egged him on, “Go on, don’t be shy. Say it to my face, is all I ask.”
____ “…I said you couldn’t manage more than a p*ssy drink, sir.” The soldier replied.
____ His boss craned his neck, “Sorry, I’m a little deaf in this ear. One more time?”
____ “I said you couldn’t manage more than a p*ssy drink, sir!”
____ “How clever. Good.” Silvin waved him off, “You’re dismissed.”
____ The man turned and slowly returned to his seat, stopping to look back at Silvin every few steps, just waiting for the inevitable. But Silvin did nothing—just sat still and smirked—so he went ahead and took his place at the table again in silence.
____ Silvin grinned at the shamed look on his subordinate’s face and the awkward silence that lingered after their talk, sipping at his drink in gleeful quiet victory, “That feeling you had when you walked back: it’s far more pathetic than any preconceived notions about drinks.”
____ “Yes sir…”
____ “Remember that.”
____ “Yes sir.”
____ Silvin maintained his smile, setting the glass down on the counter and pushing it aside carelessly. It slid off and satisfyingly shattered on the floor, a loud startling noise amidst the silence. And still after that the quiet persisted, all but ruining any feeling of relaxation any of them had hoped to muster during this break.
____ Noise didn’t return again for a minute or two, Silvin’s flip phone ringing. He immediately flicked it open and answered, maintaining eye contact with his men as he talked, “Allô? C’est Silvin. Merci de votre appel. Pour l’anglais, presses deux.”
____ Silence for everyone else, only privy to a one-way conversation.
____ Silvin continued, “Oh, it’s you. What do you want? …Yes, what of it? …Huh? What about 'im? …What?... Since when? Well who told you that? …Okay...?”
____ He swiveled around on the barstool, his manner turning from a sneering confidence to a low growl rather quickly, “What!? You are aware we’re sort of stranded here? I have been! …Can you send someone to pick us up?”
____ He leaned back and rolled his eyes, probably listening to some long-winded explanation. His free hand stuck one finger out and twirled it around, as if he were some tween girl from decades past playing with an invisible phone cord while on the line.
____ “Look, I ain’t your lap dog. I’m here for one reason: to kill people. I have no stakes in this race; I don’t run stupid errands. Yeah…? Oh yeah? Okay. Well here’s an idea: why don’t you take care of it? …Yeah. I do. I will! Love you too. Ta ta now.” He hung up, scowling and throwing his sunhat in frustration, “This is why I never do contract work, Adib! Nothing good comes from partnering up. It’s a waste of my talents.”
____ Adib grinned haughtily, “I thought you Americans were comfortable with trading your principles for funding.”
____ Silvin pointed at him, using his middle finger instead of his index, “I’m not an American by choice, you bearded bastard. Assert upon people as people, not cultures. Now then, let’s get going. I’ve got to make the most of my newly earned free-time before my associates get back to me. They’ll be making me do more boring odd jobs before I know it. Just not today. Let’s go.”
____ He wrenched his dress off and threw it onto the booze-stained floor without a second thought, grabbing his pistol from behind the counter and holstering it with a kind of careless haste. He’d had his way on the phone but was still clearly grumpy.
____ What a spoiled child, Adib figured grimly as he shouldered his rifle and prepared to leave. A brilliant mind when it came to inventive insurgency yes, but he just had to be a diva on top of that. Yet still he was on Silvin’s side over the matter. He too was wary of their masters. There was a strange cause to be discouraged. The vile lands around them were in ruin and they had free reign to do as they pleased in the wake of it. And yet somehow they still felt like they were being overshadowed by something greater, a different kind of heel against their necks. There was a void in the world fashioned by the risen dead, but men like Silvin and himself weren’t going to fill it. So who was?

____ Thomas woke up, staring at the car ceiling above him. The limo’s fancy pattern was a constant weave of diamond-shapes, as if someone was dangling a leather couch right above his head. He could barely see it because it was still very dark out. Couldn’t quite act surprised: it wasn’t terribly comfortable sleeping cramped in a car, especially after getting used to beds again during the stay at VACC. He’d even settle for sleeping outside as usual, but it was terribly cold tonight, so no one felt keen on braving the sharp icy winds while trying to get some simple shuteye. Yup, it was back to business as usual.
____ Thomas felt no urge to go outside anyhow, but the smell of smoke from the open sunroof caught his attention. Yet Header was still in the car, helmet tipped down over his eyes, the Sergeant fast asleep. If not him then who? Ah yes, the thief. Thomas couldn’t care less about that ordeal, but curiosity and sleeplessness urged him to go on outside.
____ He carefully and quietly slipped out of the car. Brrr. He shivered a bit at the biting cold, watching his breath and wishing it’d be either a short winter or a short journey. At least it was pretty out, silhouetted empty trees moving in the wind and the distant lands beyond well-lit by the damn winged moon. They’d parked on higher ground—smarter than the alternative should any undead pay them a sudden nighttime visit—so the limo had a nice view.
____ The smoking culprit sat on the roof of the car, Brooke staring longingly out at the scenery, letting the cigarette between her lips slowly waste away. Thomas stared at her, not terribly surprised, and alerted her to his presence, “I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but as an adult you are entitled to not having to feel guilty for stealing cookies off the top of the fridge.”
____ “Huh, what?” She glanced over to him and then down at the smoke, “Oh, this. No, I’m not feeling bad. Just didn’t feel like taking a pack for myself before leaving, is all. I’m quitting anyhow.”
____ Cute. “Since when?”
____ “Since right now.” She replied, “I’m always quitting. But somehow the stress always demands just one more.”
____ “I think your staying sane is driving the Sergeant insane.” Thomas climbed up onto the car next to her, “Some view, here, isn’t it?”
____ “Do you smoke, Thomas?”
____ “Count the number of times you’ve seen me do so and get back to me.”
____ “You don’t mind?” She offered to put it out, Thomas shaking his head returning it to her lips, “I know some people who can’t stand to be around it.”
____ “Compared to Sgt. Header and those indoor-smoking VACC scientists, you’re perfectly fine.” Thomas argued, “If anything’s going to get to me, it’s this weather.”
____ Brooke tapped ashes off the cigarette, nearly depleted, “It’s cold weather all right but at least it’s clear. I’d tear my hair out if we did find this cure only to get stuck in snow on the way back. Still, I think it’s worth weathering the weather, wouldn’t you say?”
____ “I think we’d endure it better sitting in the car, not on top of it.” Thomas pointed out.
____ “I didn’t want to wake anyone else. Besides, I’m keeping an eye out.” Brooke nodded to the landscape before them, “Maybe it’s needless paranoia, but I can always feel the zombies’ presence out there. It feels like an ever-beating drum. Now’s one of the rare times I can see them too.”
____ Down below, about a mile or less out, a horde of zombies could be seen shambling about. An empty highway stretched on across the land, only a few of its lights still sputtering life, illuminating the migrating undead. Thomas watched them nervously, relieved to see them apparently moving in another direction. He was sick of being hounded down by the monsters, but even if it wasn’t a direct confrontation knowing they were in the area didn’t ease his concerns.
____ He sighed, “Even if the people at VACC wanted to, I just couldn’t get myself to forget.”
____ “Forget what?”
____ “How ruined everything is.” He clarified, “I know it’s just not that kind of world, but I’ve got to at least attempt to restore it to some semblance of normality. Maybe there’s a chance.”
____ “Getting hopeful again?” She asked.
____ “Just giving it a try. Not optimism, just searching for certainty. Montag’s probably got much better chances of being right than I do, but I just can’t hide from this.”
____ “It’s a noble goal, and there’s a good reason you got more than half of us to agree to go with you on it.” Brooke said, “There’s always hope. Really that’s all we need to keep us going.”
____ “You say that, yet you still need to comfort yourself with those.” He nodded to the cigarette.
____ She frowned at it, trying to think of an explanation before instead just forfeiting the smoke, “I told you I quit. Keep watch with me?”
____ “In this cold?” He scoffed, not giving in so easily.
____ She caught his drift, “I’ll give you a kiss.”
____ “But then you’ll get one too. Zero-sum game.” He was only teasing, of course. Trouble sleeping was easier worked through when one had company.
____ “Give me a break. You’re one of the most dry people I ever met!”
____ He smiled a bit at that—nobody had ever quite put it that way before—and dismounted the car, opening the passenger door, “Sure I’ll stay with you. Someone’s got to do it, and it’s not like I can’t sleep on the road tomorrow.”
____ “True that.” She followed him into the car, taking the driver’s seat, “I hate day-long drives anyhow. It gets so cramped and boring.”
____ “You should’ve stayed at VACC then.” Passenger side door shut.
____ “You can’t get rid of me that easily.” Driver side door shut.

____ It was another couple days’ travel, lack of eventfulness only mounting nerves. Thomas dedicated himself to keeping the group on the right track to their supposed destination, hoping their find wouldn’t disappoint. Maybe it was just seeking a purpose, that deadly human fallacy. But he couldn’t pass the chance up, and not knowing was killing him more and more with each passing day.
____ And then suddenly, surreally, there they were. The coordinates matched up and a building came into view. Not quite so secluded as VACC but out in the middle of nowhere nonetheless. And they’d arrived upon it.
____ “Holy sh*t.” Thomas just stared, “Is this it?”
____ It was actually kind of hard to believe, but there it was. A large, dim facility with few windows, assembled like a jumbled collection of short, wide boxes. There were only two entrances on this side, no doors but openings like garages or truck docks. One was shuttered, the other only halfway so. This had to be the place, right? It was in the exact spot the coordinates pointed to. It looked practically abandoned, but as long as the so-called cure was still there, it didn’t matter.
____ Header pulled up to the halfway-shuttered entrance and parked, rolling down the window and cautiously examining the situation. Seeing no immediate danger, the Sergeant slowly opened the door and crept out, Thorn exiting from the opposite end of the limo and covering his fellow soldier.
____ They were finally here, but it was quiet and dark, almost eerie. Suddenly it was difficult to leave the car, most everyone just looking out the windows at the building before them. There was a sort of “what now?” mentality that paralyzed the drive to continue onward from here.
____ “…So is this another VACC lab?” Stacey asked.
____ Jaxson eyed the building up and down, unable to ascertain an answer for her, “I don’t know… It doesn’t look like the other one.”
____ “…Right… Okay…” She leaned over and opened the car door, “You’ve got a gun; you go first.”
____ Thomas brushed off their stage fright, knowing the best way to approach would just be to get out and do it, together. He got out of the limo and followed the soldiers, pistol at the ready. VACC lab or not, being in this much a state of disrepair could probably only mean one thing: the undead would be nearby. And as much as he disliked the concept of scouring this big building while it could be chock full of zombies… well, they’d come this far knowing they were going back into the world ruled by the undead. Can’t exactly stop now.
____ The more people were willing to get out and approach the building, the more everyone got that idea through their heads, the whole group abandoning the limo and sticking together as they guardedly entered.
____ As it looked from the outside, it was very dim within. The ground here was cracked concrete—this room did look like a indoor truck dock but the floor was unmarked by tire tracks, as if nothing had come or gone in quite some time. An acute-angled ramp ran up the right side, leading to a pair of heavy closed iron doors. More industrial looking than the exterior of the building would have you believe. Other than that, there wasn’t a damn thing in here.
____ Thomas examined the room, feeling like missing something could potentially lead to death if they weren’t careful. This was unknown territory they were treading, so excessive caution felt well-earned. Still, he couldn’t see anything worth noting, and as such moved on carefully to those closed doors, hoping zombies wouldn’t burst out of the other side upon opening them.
____ Apparently Header and Thorn felt much the same way, the two soldiers approaching the doors and aiming their weapons at them. Header tactfully covered the Corporal as he listened for movement and slowly pried the door open. Thorn silently slipped in, M4 at the ready, and vanished into the hall within. Thomas could tell when they were being seriously efficient with their work—both of them dropped any jest or attitude and became very quiet when they did so—and tried not to get in their way as he followed.
____ Finding nothing of worth in this first room, everyone gradually kept up, moving in a group and trying not to bunch together or thin out too much. Really it got very quiet for everyone, quiet as this mysterious place was.
____ The hall beyond those doors was wide and spacious but even more decrepit. The tiled floor was torn at places and worn down with neglect and even smears of blood. The ceiling was in an equal state of disrepair, multiple ceiling tiles having fallen to the floor long ago and leaving the vents and wiring above exposed like wounded flesh showing innards within. Yes, this whole scene wasn’t unlike a rotting corpse. Not like any other building left unattended after the virus outbreak; this place felt long dead, as if it’d been abandoned even before the zombie infection had struck.
____ In spite of all this, there was no immediate danger to be found. Just the unsettling nature of the place being so ravaged yet silent. The blood on the floor at the very least was an indicator of potential undead. Whether or not they’d left a long time ago or stayed ever since was yet to be seen.
____ The only sign of human personality left on the place was something written in blood on one of the walls. Big, smeared capital letters spelled out “BLOODLETTER” in a vague statement lost to the group wandering in.
____ Cpl. Thorn pointed his gun at the message, “Cryptic. No body nearby either. Whoever lent their guts to write this is long gone. Whaddaya think it means?”
____ The best answer anyone could give him was a shrug, “Idunno.”
____ Stacey shivered and rubbed her arms, “How hideous. This place gives me the creeps. How can the fix to the virus really be here?”
____ Thomas thought it through, “It doesn’t matter a whole lot what this place looks like. Someone was in contact with Nazar, and they were here. As long as they’re still here, there’s a chance. If nothing else they might have some answers for us.”
____ “I know, but did they have to pick such a creepy place to meet?”
____ “Maybe they wanted to meet here because the cure was made here.” Jaxson hypothesized, glancing around curiously, “This place is some sort of lab, right?”
____ Header kept up the lead, slowly moving further down the hall, “It looks to be a pretty big place. I’m sure if we have a good look around, we’ll find our own answers.”
____ Shelley was a bit less enthused, “Don’t you see the blood? This place is dangerous. And what’s more, it looks like it’s been abandoned for who knows how long. How do we know anyone’s even still around here?”
____ The Sergeant answered by pointing upward, where the dim fluorescents struggled to light the hall without flickering, “Lights’re still on. Somebody’s still here, or was recently, at least.”
____ It was the same logic he’d used to find Shelley and Stanley in the first place. Someone was conserving power long enough to have it still working. Or at the very least someone was maintaining the power infrastructure to keep it functional. If everyone had died when this place was apparently abandoned, then it would have fizzled out a long time ago. The Sergeant grinned grimly. This place didn’t look so good, but it was actually a good sign for Thomas’ theory. Maybe they would find someone here.
____ The group moved down the hall, slowed to a crawl with wariness. It was a long passage, only the occasional door popping up to the left or right. Thorn peered into each one, finding no zombies but nothing terribly useful either. Just the odd cramped office or supplies room, all trashed and useless just the same. The Corporal bit his lip—they hadn’t run into such a wrecked place since the initial outbreak. And things got trashed so quickly back then for one simple reason: lots of zombies. Either the undead were long gone, or further in the facility, hiding and waiting for prey. He didn’t have the luxury of assuming it’d be the former.
____ “Keep your eyes peeled.” He warned the others as he headed back into the hall, “No sign of zombies yet, but there are signs of them here. If that makes any sense.”
____ “So far this cure of yours doesn’t seem too effective, Thomas.” Reed jeered as they finally reached the end of the hall, where yet another doorway stood.
____ “Look, I don’t know about this place any more than you do.” Thomas replied, “But this is where they said it’d be.”
____ He opened the door, finding only more halls ahead: three directions to go in a perpendicular crossing. Still no zombies, nor any clues about where to head next. Ugh. It was clear from outside that this was a big place. They could be lost in here for hours. No way around it, he supposed, but to just search high and low.
____ Thomas took the first step forward, keeping his pistol off safety and at the ready more than ever now that potential undead could come from multiple directions. The first sign of trouble didn’t come from any of the doors, however.
____ CRASH!!!
____ It only took one foot forward, the floor beneath Thomas’ shoe suddenly giving way completely out of nowhere. A large swath of floor caved in, Thomas having approximately zero seconds to even register what was happening. He turned as he fell and reached out to hang onto anything—a wall, a door, an arm—but there was nothing within reach and no one’s reflexes were fast enough to catch him. He fell.
____ “Thomas!!” Thorn was the first to react, reaching out to grab his falling friend’s collar. But he wasn’t fast enough, the Corporal stepping back, scarcely evading a similar fate himself, and then peering down the hole. Just darkness down there. It wasn’t terribly unreasonable to think that there could be a basement level to this place, but if there was it was far deeper underground than Thorn could make out. He turned on his flashlight, but it only illuminated a tunnel of collapsed flooring, ceiling tiles, and jumbled vents and wires. Thomas was nowhere to be seen, “Sh*t!”
____ “What’s going on!?” Reed demanded, catching up to the commotion and peering down, “The hell?”
____ “Thomas fell.” Thorn explained, glancing over his shoulder at the others as everyone gathered around with morbid curiosity, “Thomas fell. Don’t get too close.”
____ Brooke ignored him, squirming past Reed and Header at the doorway and shouting down the hole, “Thomas! Thomas! Can you hear me!? Thomas!!”
____ No reply.
____ “Sh*t.” Thorn tried to pull her back, “Be careful! The floor is unstable!”
____ She still didn’t listen to him, “Thomas! Thomas!! Damn it! Can’t we get down there?”
____ Thorn just shone his light back down the hole, the inability to see where it led even under such a bright light saying more than enough about that idea. It was a steep drop on all sides to boot, no easy way to climb down. Or up for that matter. Brooke just sighed—long, defeated—and hung her head low. Even when zombies attacked their fate was still at least in part in their own hands. But Thomas had just been snatched away from them in an instant.
____ “What do we do?” Reed asked, breaking the silence before it developed too strong a hold over them all.
____ “This hole wouldn’t just be here.” Thorn figured, “There’s got to be underground floors of some kind. Maybe if we can get down there, we’ll find him.”
____ “Well, we’d better get started then.” Gene said, “If he’s alive he’s going to be in trouble.”
____ “Yeah.” Brooke looked back up, looking more determined than broken, “Deep trouble. Let’s go.”

Well aren't things suddenly getting interesting again? What will happen next??? What happened previously? You probably don't know either! STAY TUNED!!!

~TAF