End of Days 3

[megav365]

The final story in the End of Days trilogy! I suggest you read these first if you haven't already:
End of Days 1: http://firetopgames.com/threads/end-of-days-story.926/
End of Days 2: http://firetopgames.com/threads/end-of-days-2.1037/

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PROLOGUE

We sat in a room. Three of us occupied chairs, waiting for that one moment.. for the clock to hit 12:00am. It was December 31st, 2039. My dad, and a man named Red all stared at the clock. I am Lilly Kriesberg, and my father is Miles Kreisberg. The other man was a doctor, and was more known as Doctor Red. A.. mishap came upon him and my dad, but I was not told what happened. A freak accident is all I know.. and my dad used to have a great, big hate for him. Twenty years ago.. 2020. That's when it happened. My father was informed of something to happen in the year 2040, and that a person named Jack, and someone else I'm not too sure of named John will be there. According to this other guy he called Sarge. Not sure what his real name is. So, me, him, his friend Frank, and my mother all tried to survive for as long as possible. To stay around to the year 2040. My family was cured.. but there wasn't enough for Frank. He was still infected. The infection took place overnight, a few days after we cured ourselves.. he got to my mother, and.. oh, it was terrible.. after he changed, my dad shot him. He gave me good advice that day. "Always aim for the head.. and they won't come back." is basically what he said. With a tear, however.. I realized why a few minutes later. My mother was going to come back, unless if he made that not happen. He did what he had to. I was only eight years old at the time, but I'm 27 now. Birthday is in Janurary, so I'll be 28 then. My dad, Miles, is 52 years old, and his birthday is a few months after mine. Red is 60, I believe. I don't really know much about him, even if he survived with us for years, I didn't try to get close with him. It's been so long, going from shelter to shelter, weapon to weapon, group to group. We met a lot of people, that we ended up having to leave. One of them was Doctor Red. We met up with him, and decided to take him with us. Apparently, what he did had to happen, and after a while, my dad forgived him. We just had to wait until that minute..

"It's 11:57. Just a few more minutes." my dad said aloud, sitting next to me. "Dad.. what's going to happen? This is the year that supposedly will be.. bad, I guess.." I asked him. I had no idea of what will happen. Over the years, my dad taught me how to shoot, and to defend myself. I might be able to take on a few of the infected, but this year might be bad. The infection was spread out through gas. By now, you'd expect that it would die down quite a bit.. even if it was all around the world. Everywhere you walk outside, there'd be the gas. You would have to wear a gas mask. But now.. well, nothing has changed.. nothing for the better, at least. Everything went downhill, and the gas is even more than I have ever seen. This started happening about three or four weeks ago. If you take a glance outside you would see this giant puff of green smoke and fog that just takes up everything. It's terrible. We still have some gas masks.. got some new ones a few days before the gas came back, and been using them since. If we so much as breathe it in, we'll get infected, and turn almost instantly. We would turn into the monsters that roam the streets.. but far worse. Since the gas got larger, the infection is way worse. The virus will take effect as soon as it gets into your body. And it will change you.. so much. My dad and I literally seen it happen to someone in the last group we were in. I remember every detail. His eyes bulged out of his head, and his forehead grew larger until it was ready to explode. Skin started falling off, and blood was spilling out but he stayed alive.. or dead. Teeth became almost destroyed, leaving little pieces.. sharp pieces. Enough to bite right through our bones. It was such a terrible sight.. "I don't know, honey. I.. just don't know at all. It might be dangerous. You have to promise you'll keep with me at all times, and never do anything on your own unless it is 100% completely neccessary. Okay?" my dad finally responded. I nodded. He gave me a hug with a smile, and glanced at the clock. "Oh.." he spoke. Doctor Red came over, and seen the clock. "It's 12:00am, Miles.. 2040 has started." he declared.

I guess it's time, then.

 

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CHAPTER 1: WELCOME TO 2040

"I don't know about you guys but I'm tired now. I'll see you in the morning.." my dad said to Red and I after seeing it went 12:00. "I think I fancy a sleep right about now as well. Good night, everyone." Red decided to sleep too. He walked over to his room, and closed the door. "You coming too?" my dad asked me. I shook my head. I wasn't really tired.. I'd rather stay up for a little longer. "I'll come to bed in like, 15 to 20 minutes." I replied. He went into our room and closed the door slightly, leaving a small crack for me to open and come to bed. We now lived in an abandoned apartment. Went straight to the top floor, blocked up all ways up, and now we use this one still working elevator to get around. The other ones were shut down, but it seems they forgot about this one. It's pretty slow, looks to be kinda old. Never really trusted it. So, I didn't go out often. My father and Red would take turns going out and getting supplies and I'd usually stay here. Never by myself though. I'd be fine-- but my dad says otherwise. I guess I can't blame him. We locked ourselves up in a random room here, with multiple rooms, including two bedrooms and a bathroom. We had a tiny kitchen, where I was sitting at this moment, and we were running low on food. Because of how terrible everything seems to be outside, it must be more dangerous. All 3 of us will probably have to go. Wasn't looking forward to it. I stood up and took a look outside. All I could see was just this big puff of green-ish gas.. It was hard to even understand that just breathing that will kill you. Things will go back.. Over the years Red has been preparing a new cure. Apparently, he made one more vial for himself, and used it. But now he has to make more..

----[JANURARY 18TH 2021]----

"I can create the cure, Miles. I can create more. I am so, so sorry I could not make any more of the cure.. it's terrible, what happened with Frank. I cannot imagine, how it must feel for you two. To even be here, seeing my face. I will need bigger vials. We will need a plane, or a jet, of some sort, and we can distrubite it like that. I can make the cure slightly different- and once it drops, perhaps out of the plane, it can eliminate the gas. The people who are already infected.. it might work on them. It might.. but it's a very low chance. That day.. I.. I tried to do only what was absolutely necessary. I have a rule, now. I let my friends into harm's way only if it's 100 percent necesssary. I still feel regret however.." I stood next to my father and listened to Red. We just found him again, minutes before. He came back to the shelter with our tents, and whatnot. All three of us were in Red's tent. "Red.. I.. I don't know if I can forgive you man. It's a wonder how I got cured. I don't even know how it was. I can't let crap like that happen again, and I surely can't let you touch my daughter. If you can start a cure now, and keep working on it for as long as possible, perhaps until 2040, then we might have a deal. After whatever happens in 2040 happens, we will use the cure. But how can I trust you?" Miles responded. He wasn't ready to just let him in with us. My dad was destroyed.. he felt like he lost everyone when my mother got bit. I was too young.. it felt bad, of course, I was devastated, but Miles took it harder than anyone ever could. "Yes. Yes, I can do that Miles. All I need is the equipment. It's all here. I can start it tomorrow. And, if we all just stay alive until 2040, I can definitely get enough of the cure for a big, big part of the world. It only took me a few weeks to actually make it. I need bigger containers, and way more of the ingredients. I used all of what we had. If we can get more, then I will start. I can go get it all myself. You can come, or no.. what do you say, Miles?" Red replied to my dad. He looked like he was considering it.. really considering. I was against this idea, at the time. I didn't know who this Red was, but I had a feeling he wasn't a great man. Over time, I realized he was a great help. The biggest.

My father accepted. The hunt for the ingredients started soon after.

--[JANURARY 1ST 2040]--

As you can see, Red was a doctor, and seemed to know what he was doing. Eventually, the first of the cure was complete, and we put it in a few more of the small vials and kept it for ourselves. Red would go every day by himself to get more materials. Whether it was ingredients for the cure, containers, parts FOR a container, or even sometimes he searched for a vehicle. We never did find a plane, though. He'd usually come back with arms full of items we could use. I eventually got used to him and brought up a trust for him. It was good to know he was fine, each time we seen his return. I would never go with him, and the three of us all never went together. He always did great alone, and I didn't know how to defend myself yet. It pains me to think this, but I would just slow us all down, and.. well, probably get infected. All I knew then is that monsters were on the streets, ready to take a bite out of us. My childhood nightmare was true. I was just a scared little girl then.. 8 years old. My father would never let me out of his sights. I loved him for that.. and I still do. He'd protect me at all costs. But I had to learn to protect myself. Throughout the years, I was trained to use a gun. After twenty years, I'm finally ready for anything.

Whilst I was in deep thought, a sound suddenly knocked me out of it. At the door.. a knock. Twice. I jumped back in shock.. who could that be? The knock continued. It got louder, and louder.. to the point where I thought the door was gonna fall in..! I stared at the door, and slowly walked over to my gun. I quietly checked rounds. Ten .22 rounds lay in the magazine of my pistol. A self defense one- the Walther P22. It works. Just gotta aim for the head.. this wasn't one of them, but this shall stay true. I backed away from the door, and aimed through the iron sights of my pistol. Knocks kept going. Louder. Faster. A tiny crack started to appear, and pieces of the wooden door fell. I started sweating, and got really nervous.. how was no one up from this!? Yet, as soon as I thought that, Red slowly creeped open the door, and readied his gun. His was a .44 revolver. "Lilly, what's going on?" he whispered in my ear. "I-I don't know. I'm gonna go get my father. Stay here." I responded quietly. Red nodded. I took a deep breath, and didn't let my guard down. I continued to stare at the door, and creaked open the door to my father's room. I crouched over to his bed. The room was dark, pitch black. I took out a flashlight from my pocket and switched it on. My dad was in a deep sleep.. I didn't want to wake him up, but I had to. I could hear the knocks getting even louder. "D-Dad! Quick, get up! Get your gun!" I whispered to him. His eyes opened, and he looked over to me. "Is everything ok..?" my dad asked me. I shook my head. Things were not okay. As he woke up, he finally realized.. he heard the now-deafening knocks to the door. He quickly stood up and took his rifle. An M16A5 that he kept from the military, from 2019. Brand new gun, came into service in 2018. Fifth generation of the M16 rifles, if I'm correct. We both walked out and went over to a safe distance to the door. "Ah.. w-what are we going to do!?" I attempted to yell over the knocks. Or the smashes, I should call them. I don't think anyone heard me. Red and my father aimed at the door, ready to fire. I got down in cover, and aimed my P22 as well. A hole started to form in the door. Now.. we just have to wait for what comes next.

 

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CHAPTER 2: VISITORS

Our eyes kept watch on the door. The hole kept getting larger and larger, but we could not see anything through it.. still too small, and it was impossible to see anything with the darkness on the other side of the door. The hole now took up about half the door.. and the knocks.. stopped! My dad signaled for us to stay back, and he slowly walked over to the door. "Hello..? Is anyone there? We don't want any trouble.." he spoke through the door. Suddenly a paper of some sort flew in through the hole. My father stepped back, and picked it up. He examined it for a minute or two and didn't put it down or anything. "Miles, what is that?" Red asked him and walked over to see. "Oh my.." he said next. My dad started looking all light-headed. "Dad! W-What's going on!?" I ran over to see the paper for myself. I took it from my father, and he fell to the ground, grasping his head..! "R-Red! Do something!" I yelled to Red. He's a doctor, he has to be able to do something here! The paper was a note, however, and I read it. "Hello.. Welcome to 2040.. It's time for you to get your answers.." was on the note. Answers.. answers to what? My dad suddenly was having trouble breathing. "Ah! Dad! Are you okay!?" I asked while Red attempted CPR on him. "No, he isn't! I know what's going on. I can explain later!" Red responded to me whilst trying to help my dad. I didn't know what to do except watch my father in pain.. which is a terrible thing to see. I stepped away. I shielded my eyes, I couldn't watch.. I just couldn't! I ran into our room and sat on my bed. I could not see anything from the darkness, except for a sliver of light coming in through the slightly open door. I faintly heard my dad.. he was trying to breathe. It sounded like he might be okay, actually. His breathing got more.. normal, I guess. "Miles.. they.. I thought they were gone.." I heard Red speak. I walked to the door and tried to listen through. "I seen.. I seen John kill them.. he took their powers away, and they were shot to pieces.. But.. I think they're back.. again.." my father responded, with small breaks. I still couldn't go see him. "Terrible. Come.. come, you must take a rest, Miles." Red attempted to pick up my dad, at least from what I can tell. I opened the door and walked out.

Red had my father's shoulder around him and slowly walked over. "Dad! Are you okay?" I asked him. He did not look very good. Pale. He kind of looked sick, too.. I got no answer. They walked into our room and turned the light on, and Red escorted him to his bed. "Sleep tight, Miles. It's gonna be a big year we're going through." Red whispered from within the room, yet I still heard. He turned off the light and walked out. "I guess you want to know what happened to your father?" he asked me when he seen me. I nodded. I had never seen this happen to him before. Maybe he had a few off-days where he wouldn't be in the best condition to go for supplies or anything, but never this bad. "Take a seat. It's a long story." Red responded and sat down on the couch, in the living room right next to the kitchen, and the rooms. Very small apartment. I walked over and sat next to Red. "It was a long time ago.. Twenty years. Remember when it all started? I can't imagine how it must have been for you.. being so young. It was around then, anyway. A few weeks later. When you were reunited with your dad at that building, you must have seen that man who helped defeat those two people right?" Red started speaking. When I was reunited with my dad.. yes, I remember. A man jumped down from a helicopter and did some weird things I couldn't even comprehend at the time.

----[DECEMBER 30TH 2020]----

"Don't look Lilly.." I stood next to my mother. We were against a wall, and just around the corner, was my father, and Frank, attempting to fight off only what I was told was 'the bad guys'. All I could hear was screaming, and yelling. "Mommy.. what's going on?" I asked my mom. I was scared and confused.. with no idea of what to do. "I don't know.. daddy will come back soon.. he will.." she responded. I felt my mom had as much of an idea of what's going on as I did- and that's none. This went on for several minutes, until out of nowhere a sound interrupted our thoughts. I immediately took a glance around the corner and seen.. a helicopter! The chopper blades swung throughout the air and the door on it opened. "That's messed up. It really is. You guys ready to do something about that?" a soldier from inside said out. From this view, I couldn't see what he looked like, or anyone else inside. "What the f-- I-- Where did you come from!?" Frank yelled back, as he and my dad turned around. I was confused as to who they were myself, and how they got here.. but, my thoughts were soon interrupted again from a terrible, terrible scream. It was two at once.. both sounding as strange as strange can get. Low.. yet loud; at the same time. "JOHN!" they screamed, and jumped onto the ground. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!" my dad yelled, and jumped back with Frank. A man suddenly jumped out of the helicopter. The three of them stood, and stared for a moment. "DO YOUR MAGIC, JOHN!" the same soldier from before yelled, as I watched the three of them all run at each other.. "I've been waiting for this.." I heard someone mutter. Most likely my dad.

"YOU TWO DOWN THERE! GET BACK!" was yelled to Frank and my dad. They ran over to us. "M-Miles!! Who the hell are they!? How'd they find us!?" my mom asked as soon as they walked around the corner. "They're military but--" my dad tried to explain but.. something insane soon happened. I was blinded for these few moments.. but an intense burst of light suddenly came from where the man jumped down. Screams were suddenly heard. This went on for what felt like hours.. until, suddenly, bullets started firing. The miniguns on the helicopter starting firing upon something. The light went down a bit, as my father and Frank ran in. I'm not really sure what happened next..

----[JANURARY 1ST 2040]----

"Yes, I remember that day." I replied. I didn't want that to be brought up again.. but I guess it had to. "Those two people... they were bad, hun. They changed up everything. All we know is that they have gotten powers of some sort, from something, something bigger than us. Much bigger. They aren't.. they aren't gone yet, it seems. Billy and Liz, their names.. they have been messing with your father's mind. 'The voices', he'd call them, he would hear them speak in his head and it's making him go crazy.. I wanted to tell you this before, but, you were too young.. I'm sorry." Red explained. I wasn't sure how to take this. I swear I seen them dead.. how could they still be here!? "What do we do about this, then?" I asked him. I wondered if there's even a way to do something about it. "We shall find who gave Billy and Liz the powers. It will be a hard, and long battle, but we have to defeat them. It's getting late.. why don't you go to sleep, now?" Red answered and stood up. He walked over to his room and shut the door. Did.. did he forget about the giant hole in the door? I wasn't sure if I could even go to sleep with it. But I was getting pretty tired, it was about time to go to bed now. I walked over to my bed and closed the door.

 

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CHAPTER 3: HUNT

Fwump. Fwump. Fwump.

I opened my eyes and awoke to a sound outside our room. My dad was already out of bed, and I could see Red's door open through ours. Must be morning. I got out of bed and walked out. "Hey. Good morning." my father said as he noticed me walking out. It looked like he was working on the door, trying to fix it up. He had a hammer and nails, building planks on it. Red sat on the couch with.. coffee. Yeah, we found coffee last time we went out. "Morning, everyone." I replied. "Hello, Lilly. Good morning." Red said as he took a sip of his coffee. "We're gonna have to go get supplies again today. Problem is, don't know if you noticed, but the gas has gone WAY up. And I'm talking more than what we've been saying for the past few days or whatever. We.. need you to come with us, an extra hand or two is always good, especially in these kinda situations, you know?" my father asked me, as he nailed in another plank on the hole. I thought for a second. He has a point, I should go.. but, what if something happens, we'd all be gone. Still, if I went, I could help prevent this.. "You need to come, we can all protect each other. I don't know what's out there, but we need to work as a team. And you're part of this team." my dad tried to encourage me more. I eventually decided altogether.. I'll just go along with them. I nodded and agreed to come with. "We'll be going in a bit. Would be for the best if you started getting ready now." Red replied as he took one last sip of his coffee, and walked to his room. "Yeah. He's right. I'm gonna finish up fixing this hole here.." my father spoke. I walked over to our room. I have to bring weapons, and be ready for whatever it is to come. I took my P22 that I left on the floor, and put it in my pocket. I had a backpack on the floor here as well- with some items of it's own.

I opened up the zipper and found what's mine. I took out a combat knife we found during a little raid on a factory and put it on the floor. I reached in and grabbed a utility belt. This one was pretty burnt up, we found it next to a flipped over car. It seemed the car caught fire, and this belt was inside it. Red restored it all by himself.. didn't even think to ask for help. It was a great raid that night- after leaving the factory, not too far away we found the car and this belt. I think that night I found the Walther P22 I currently have in there too. I've been using all this for years now. I strapped on the belt, and put the knife in it. I put my pistol in the holster. I continued going through the backpack. I took out a few lockpicks and put it on the side. Red usually handles lockpicking, but I keep some for myself. Just in case. That was it for the backpack, however. I put the lockpicks in my pants pocket, and went over to my shelf. This is where I would keep all my clothes and things like that. I opened it and grabbed my gas mask. I held the gas mask in one hand, and closed the shelf with my other, as I walked out of the room. Red was already waiting for me, and the door was fixed up. "Heh.. did I take a while?" I asked, jokingly. "Haha. No, it's fine. You ready?" my dad replied, and unlocked the door. I nodded. I pulled up my P22 and readied it. Checked rounds, had a full magazine and one in the chamber. My dad opened the door, and aimed his rifle outside. "...Clear." He eventually said after a few seconds. "Let's go, then. We should make this little adventure short, and come back before dawn. Everyone put on their gas masks, and try to stay hidden." Red responded to my father and put on his gas mask, as well as my dad. I put on mine at the same time. My dad took point and we both followed, as he led us to the stairs. We all started walking down, to get to the front door. It was always tiring and long, this staircase. We were on the 20th floor, after all. It went straight down to the parking lot.

We came down and walked to the glass doors at the entrance. My dad turned around and looked us in the eye. "Alright. Listen up. As you can see it's worse than it's been before outside, and it was already hell. We stay right next to each other, and while we are outside, we are NOT splitting up. Whatsoever. No matter the reason, all three of us stay together. Got it?" my father declared, and spun around back to the door. I guess this isn't up for debate. I took a glance outside the exit, and he was definitely correct.. the gas became a heavy fog, spread all around as far as we could see. I couldn't see any of the infected. But they had to be there.. over the years, I have learned that they actually seem to like the gas. If the gas is heavy and potent in one area, then most of them will be there. My dad opened the door and we all walked out. "So. The plan hasn't changed, I'm assuming. Go to the groceries, take what isn't taken, and head out. Right?" Red asked my father. "Yeah. Get ready." he responded.
I was ready, and ready to take them on.

 

[megav365]

Will get back to posting this soon. So sorry for all the delays!

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 4: SUPPLIES

My father walked in front of Red and I, and readied up his rifle. The three of us walked slowly, and went to the direction of the groceries. We've been going here a while, scavenging what we can, but I believed at this time it's almost out. This might be the last time we can go, actually. I wished it wasn't, but perhaps we can take what's left and stay alive for a longer time. Until we find out what's going on at least. Maybe this year we'll see the end of this virus. We still haven't found anything we can use to distribute the cure yet. The idea is find a plane- but that hasn't happened yet, and we've been searching a whole lot. Days would go by and we'd be camping somewhere on the other side of town searching for planes at an airport, or even just parts for one. The three of us have discussed that it may be better to find a different way to get the cure around. Although we haven't found out how sadly..
"I can't see s.h.i.t.e. When we get back, I'm going to see how we're gonna clear this up. We have enough of the cure, and there's no point in waiting. We should have just used it over the years, before now.." Red said through his mask. He sounded very muffled, but, he was wearing a giant gas mask after all. The gas that spread, though, was definitely making it hard to see. It was like a fog.. but not the kind of fog you see now and then on the streets. Something you may need different optics of some sort to see through, perhaps, thermal optics would work well on our masks. Thermal would allow us to see through this if I'm correct, and maybe light up the infected for us to see as well.

We finally came to the front entrace to the groceries. We'd usually just open the door with the handle.. but that was not the case this time. "The glass.." my father acknowledged the entrace.. The glass doors. They were shattered into pieces.. and the gas spread inside, and most likely infected have walked in..! My dad shook his head, and we walked in anyway. "We have to be very, very quiet, everyone. If you so much as make a loud step, we could all be brunch. And that's not something we want to be." he whispered quietly as we walked in. I aimed through the sights of my pistol, and scanned the area. Once again, I couldn't see anything through the gas. The lights were off as well, making it even harder on us. But we knew where to go. At the back, there was a few supplies, last time we left. I had to wonder however.. why did they break the doors? They would only break them if someone was inside, and they tried to get to this person. Or people. After checking our backs multiple times, we eventually got to the back shelf. The place was small, making quicker trips, but not too good for supplies. Sure enough, we found items there.. but not much we can use.. "No.. no.. no no no no.. NO.." my father suddenly said aloud, and grasped his head with his gloved hands. "Miles, no! Fight it! You can't let this happen, no, not now!" Red responded to his acts. I took a look at what was on the shelf. It.. was a paper. With a note on it. I read it. "Sorry.. it looks like you're out of luck. Turn around." were the words on the note, with a little drawing next to it. It looked like a symbol. A circle with a triangle inside it, with strange letters around it. I was.. surprised, to say the least. But I put it down and turned to the door.

It was something anyone could see, even if there was gas.. the infected are coming! They heard the sounds and came in! "LILLY! The horde is coming, and I have to make sure your father is okay, his head is.." Red started saying. "PROTECT HIM! I'll try and fight them off, but they're much bigger now!!" I stopped him in the middle of sentence, and fired off a round into one's head from my pistol. That'd usually stop them dead in their tracks, but not this time. I shot again, and again, but no damage was happening! "That's not going to work anymore, put it away! Take my revolver, here!" Red yelled, and held out his revolver. I quickly put my P22 in it's holster and took his gun. "A--ahh!!" The one I was trying to shoot got right on me, and grabbed me! I tried resisting, and pushed it away with all my strength. It pushed me to the wall, and tried to get to my shoulder. I kicked it in the knee, and pushed it to a safe distance, and fired the revolver. It was my first time shooting it, and the recoil almost made the gun fly out of my hands. This infected fell to the floor, finally dead, but the others came fast. "You have to control the recoil! Control the gun, hold your breath, and keep your bullets accurate! Five more rounds should be in the chambers!" Red yelled over to me as I killed that one, and picked up my father. "I have to take off his mask. I brought some vials of the cure with me, I'll cure him in this room, good luck, you're on your own now!" Red spoke, and moved to an unlocked door. "N-NO! The gas, it, it makes you--" I tried to tell him, but he went in and closed the door. No.. no, how could he do this!? I shot another one in the head, and it was pushed back. I took my knife out, lunged at it, and cut into it's head, killing it. Guess it's time for me to defend..

 

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CHAPTER 5: DEFENSE

The infected ran in like a flood. An entire horde was here.. of the infected, that had the virus fully developed within them. I pushed one back and shot it, making it fall to the ground. The gun kicked back, but I got control of it. I put my knife underneath the revolver in a CQC stance my father taught me, and stabbed the one on the ground through the forehead. Blood spilled out, on to the floor. I turned away from it and sure enough another one was right there, attempting to get to me..! I pushed it, and stabbed it, but the others came in too fast.. I kept the knife in this one's head, and started shooting the others. The recoil was still too much for me- especially since I'm using a single hand. A few of the others were pushed back on the floor, so I took this opportunity to take the knife out and shoot the one I've been trying to kill. I aimed at one trying to get up, and pulled the trigger, however.. instead of a gunshot, I heard a click. That click was familiar.. out of ammo! I ran back to the door Red was in, and slid the revolver under the door quickly. "I-I don't know if you're busy but I need a reload, now!" I yelled through the door, and lunged towards one coming, and thrusted my knife in it. I kicked it away, and lunged it again with the knife. "Here! It's loaded. Keep on fighting, I know you can do it! If anyone can it's you. Just keep defending this area, we can't have them breaking down this door, having your father alive is critical, you do realize right? Come, take the gun." I barely heard Red, but he replied. Must have been a heavy door, and of course, we had the masks on. I kneeled down and grabbed the revolver, and turned around. I was suddenly pushed to the ground, and felt something heavy upon me.. it was an infected! It went in for a bite, and I struggled to get it off me, but to no avail. More came right behind it, ready for backup, probably.. "REEEEDD! HELP!" I screamed, and tried pushing the infected more, but my arms grew tired. Suddenly the door slammed wide open, and Red stood. "BLOODY HELL!" he yelled, as soon as he seen the situation. He pulled the infected right off me, and threw it away. "Lilly, I have no weapons on me, shoot!" he declared, as we backed up into the room. I held my breath and aimed through the sights, and fired off a few rounds, whilst keeping control of the recoil. Red closed the door, and stood up against it.

"Look for something to use as a barricade! We can use that table, over there!" Red yelled and pointed at the back wall, as there was a table. I grabbed one side and pulled it with all my strength, to get it over to him. I put it up on it's side, and Red grabbed it. He pulled off the legs with no hassle, and put the top part of the table against the door. "Some actual planks might be better, but this'll have to do. Find a hammer, and nails, they're in one of the shelves, I was looking through 'em earlier!" he told me to search. I went over to some shelves against a wall, and opened all of them, pulling them right out. He was right, and I did indeed find a hammer and nails. I went over, and started nailing in the plank as Red held it up. I smashed in the nails as fast as I could on one side, and went on to the other. "I got this here, you should check on your father." Red took my hammer and nails, and starting nailing in. I turned around, to see my father on a table with a blanket underneath. This room had a lot, didn't it.. but, there was a problem. The door was opened, and there's a tiny gap underneath. The gas must have gotten in, at least a little.. and he had no mask on! Thankfully, he was alive. "Dad.. dad, are you okay? How are you feeling?" I asked him. He didn't look too good.. face was pale, and eyes were bloodshot. "Not.. not good.." he shook his head and responded. "I can feel it.. the vi.." he attempted to say, but his suddenly closed, and his head fell over. "No.. NO! Red, where's the vials, he needs one NOW!" I yelled over at Red, as he was trying to build up the barricade more. "Agh, this can't be happening.. this is all a bloody nightmare.. Ahem. Sorry.. they're in the plastic bag next to him." I heard him muttering, before finally an actual response. He wasn't able to handle this.. he was starting to get old, which doesn't help as well. His age is 60 years old, after all. This all must be even worse for him. I found the bag next to my father he spoke of, and opened it. Sure enough a few vials were in there, one for all of us.

I took one out and immediately thrusted it into his arm, and pushed down. The yellow cure could be seen going out the vial, and it was just about finally empty. Red walked over and looked down on my father, in what could be his final moments, but I was hoping I had prevented that. "I.. I haven't said anything.. but I slightly modified the cure. It's much.. larger now, to say the least, and it will take a little while to take effect, if using it to save someone from death, like this situation here. It never did cure you on the spot, but, he's going to be out for a little while. We may need to stay here for a bit, perhaps even hours. There's no way in hell we can put him on our shoulder and fight through what's on the other side of that door." Red suddenly declared. No.. this can't be, I thought to myself. Why can't it wake him up now!? What's the reason for him not wanting to tell us he changed the cure, anyway? "I'm going to continue building the barricade. We cannot, by ANY circumstance, let this barricade get taken down! If it is, all three of us are in jeopardy!" he spoke and walked away. I stayed by my father's side, and looked upon him. I'm probably going to need to help Red, I thought. I backed away, and looked around. The room was almost empty now other than Red, me, my dad, and the table he's on. This is a terrible position we're in..

 

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CHAPTER 6: SHADOWS

---[APPROXIMATELY 6 HOURS AFTER THE EVENTS OF THE GROCERY STORE]---

Six hours passed in the room, but we finally escaped. After a few hours the infected started going away from the door, and not trying to destroy the door anymore, so it went from hoping death doesn't come upon us to just waiting for my father to wake up. He opened his eyes eventually and we all walked back together, and he's in bed right now trying to take a nap. Red and I sat next to each other on the couch, getting starved and thirsty, however, we had no supplies. All we know now is someone is out to get us and we have to take extra precautions now. Especially my dad. "We should find out how to approach getting the cure out soon. It's starting to get dark out, I believe it's around... checks his watch.. Fifteen to 6 o'clock. If we find out how to stop the virus, and the biters, it would be for the best. To see actual people walking around the streets, perhaps even driving and going to work and common things like this again, would an amazing feat if we could pull that off. You do realize, Lilly, it's up to us to save.. well, as much of the world as we can." Red spoke to me, and walked over to the door. I got off the couch as well, and scratched my head. "I.. I don't know, Red. I'm pulling a blank here. I haven't even seen the bigger containers yet- where are they, and.. well what are they?" I asked Red in response. To my surprise, he pulled out the door key from his pocket. "Put on your gas mask, and follow." Red replied with a smile. He walked over to the kitchen and put his on. I nodded, although I wasn't sure if I wanted to come.. I went into my room and took my gas mask off the shelf and put it on. "You still have my revolver I believe. Keep it. That old self defense pistol won't do you good anymore. Bring it with you, just in case. You never know." Red spoke through his mask as he seen me come out. We were still only here for a short time, so I had my utility belt on, with the revolver in it. Red gave me 12 rounds, and I put them in my pants pocket.

Red unlocked the door and I followed him, as he told me to. He took me over to the stairs, and we went to the bottom. "The containers are in here, quite obviously. I mustn't leave them anywhere outside, where they could be in danger. Come now, they're back here.. oh dear, watch the dust.. my, is that a spider web? Ah. In here." He led me to the back of the first floor, through what looks like it was never touched in years. Very dark, as well. Red pulled out a different key from his pocket, and unlocked a door. He opened it, and switched on a light. A huge storage room lay before us, with shelves stocked with.. well, the cure! "Here it is. These glass containers have the cure inside. To answer your question from earlier.. it's a liquid. If I am correct, upon spilling this around, it will soak up the virus, and no one else gets infected. To save the victims, we have to inject it into them in some way, and it'll go to work. I know this for a fact. Follow.." Red put his hands behind his back, and declared. He started walking slowly through the room. I walked behind him. I had to question something though, why does he know it works for a fact? I tried to get that thought out of my head, and kept following him. Suddenly Red stopped, and just stared forward. "Hm? Red?" I asked him, and tried to see what he seen. I looked forward.. and noticed.

I spotted a shadow at the end of the room. It stood, and stared us down. No one moved. This shadow.. it wasn't an infected. I couldn't see it very well, but it was definitely a normal human. "Excuse me.. do you.. require assistance..?" Red asked, and slowly stepped forward. The shadow put his hand forward, and signaled for Red to stop. Red put his hands up, and whispered for me to do the same. I put mine up as well. The shadow person put one hand up, holding something.. but as they did that, the lights started to dim, and flash. After a few seconds.. they eventually just died out. The power had went. "Get.. behind me. Now." Red whispered to me, and I did so. I stood behind him, and started hearing footsteps. "Here, take this." I told Red, and gave him the revolver. He took it, and held it by his side. The footsteps got closer and closer. "Mother of god.. you can't be.." Red suddenly said. I peeked out, and seen a man there. He was wearing a leather jacket, with an orange shirt underneath it. A normal pair of pants, except.. blood-soaked. His entire clothing was blood-soaked, in fact. He had white hair, a bit of wrinkles, and a giant white beard as well. He held a pistol looking similar to my P22. This man looked slightly familiar, but I did not know from where.. "Gas masks eh.. Guess it helps. Anyway, who the hell's you? Take off the damn mask." The man responded in a deep voice, and aimed his pistol to Red's head. "Hey! He's a good man, don't hurt him!" I stepped out from behind Red and yelled. "Hm. A female, huh? How many of there is you? Got a group, or somethin'?" he replied. Red nodded. "...Yes... we do.. there's three of us.. all I ask is you put the gun down.. and you can follow me to a safer place, where I can take off my mask. Deal?" he answered, and stepped back. The man nodded. "Turn around. Show me where you're staying." he told us, and raised his pistol. "Okay. Okay.. follow me, John." Red answered.

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 7: BARRAGAN

John.. I knew it. I knew we'd find him. This was him.. "How.." John looked shocked, and stepped back. Red started walking to the door, with no response. I followed, as he opened the door. "If your father was correct.. this man could me much different from the John I used to know. This could be a dangerous confrontation. Stay sharp." Red whispered to me, and we walked to the stairs, with John right behind us. If my father was correct.. I knew what he was talking about. In 2020, my dad made a statement about his thoughts around what really is going on.

---[DECEMBER 30TH 2020]---

My father, Frank, and someone named Texas stood in front of a helicopter and my mother and I were behind them. "I know what's going on. I have my answers, I can explain, I'll do it right now." my dad started saying. Everyone nodded and started to listen. "Liz.. the girl that was up there. She was supposed to already be dead. She died.. 8 years ago, I believe it was. Meaning, in the year of 2012, Liz had died. It was around the time that John broke her necklace. This necklace.. it was important to her. Very. Her.. parents died, when she was really young. And the only memory she had was this necklace, which had a picture of them inside it. So.. Liz died. Now, we haven't figured out exactly why yet, but she came back. She didn't really die. Liz came back, with.. I don't even know. Powers of some sort. Liz was like 10, or 9 I think, when this happened, so as you can see she was pretty young. Had no idea what to do with them. As any curious child would do, she must have used the powers in her own ways. Now, this power, I would assume it makes you.. evil. Especially if you can't control it. I actually knew Liz, from school, she was a few grades before me, but I knew her. She wouldn't do this, never. Not with her own intents. An evil intent however.. would. So there's that, right? But what about Billy? This guy was also in the same school, hell, same class and everything as Liz. This kid would never hurt a fly! What if.. he was forced to; though? Let's take a look at his family. Parents were scientists, in fact. Great ones. They could create tons of whatever, whenever. Liz knew this. So, upon becoming.. evil, she decided, I don't know, some kind of twisted plan to take out the world. Basically what's going on now. Because I wouldn't be surprised if this spread worldwide quite honestly. Anyway. Perhaps she had supernatural powers, but, what if she couldn't just kill everyone like that? Or didn't know how to? It would have to happen another way, wouldn't you agree? That's why she decided that, if perhaps a terrible.. flu spread, it would be the perfect way. But she didn't know how to make it, maybe.. so that's why she went to Billy and his family. Like I said, they were fantastic scientists. She had them develop the infection. Over time.. perhaps, this 8 year gap from then till now, it happened.. and spread worldwide. Billy got powers in return but he knew not to use them. But he had to, recently. He must've. This is all speculation.. but I believe this is what happened." My dad declared to everyone his thoughts. How it started. It sounded like there wasn't much of a.. motive, but they were brainwashed.

On this day, John used powers of his own, and my father told Red about it.
There wasn't any evidence, but it seemed very likely this is what happened. But.. upon remembering this day, something started to puzzle me. Something that Texas man said. "Yea.. we had a while, as you can see. We took Dr. Red and made him save John. He also finished up a bit of the cure, but that was before he went and died. Got infected. We all are. Just waiting for it to start takin' effect. So we woke up John and Liz came, and she was all 'we want John!' and then some crazy crap started happening, and Liz did something to John.. except I don't know what it was. When Liz left, he went into a small coma. When he woke up, he had powers too. I don't know what Billy and Liz were planning, but whatever it was, it gave John powers and helped the student defeat the master, if you get what I'm sayin'. So anyway, John used his powers to get rid of THEIR powers, and we added the final touch." he had said before.. exactly that. But one sentence had me wondering.. about someone who got infected.

---[JANURARY 1ST 2040]---

We walked to the top floor where we were, and stood in front of our door. Red pulled out a key and unlocked the door, and we all walked in. My dad was up, it seemed, finally. I noticed him sitting on the couch, and he stared as we came in. John and my father locked eyes as they looked at each other. "Private Miles.. is.. is that you? The guy from that 'safe zone'?" John asked, and instantly put his gun away. "John.. it's you." my father stood up and seen him. Red and I took off our masks. "You're that doctor.. but, I thought you died! I could have sworn you got infected for god's sake! Turned and everything! Shot in the head!" John asked as soon as he seen Red. I knew something was wrong here.. "Hell.. he's right. I just remembered. You're supposed.. to be dead, are you not!? Texas said himself, you died, and John can testify to the same thing!" my dad started yelling. I stepped back. Red was looking nervous, and couldn't respond. "J-John.. uh, maybe you should tell us all what you seen? If Red took a lethal shot, and also got infected?" I tried to calm down the situation. I wasn't sure what to think right now, but we need to know if he really DID die. Obviously, he couldn't have died, considering he's right here with us. And he has been ever since 2021. "Y-Yes, I agree with Lilly! I-I couldn't have died if.. if I'm right here. I'm not dead. I am alive. I am.. I am alive..!" Red agreed, but started to get a bit mad whilst more nervous at the same time. John pulled his pistol up again and looked Red dead in the eyes. "I've been going through some crap, alright? The past TWENTY YEARS. Trying to survive. I've seen some stuff, if you get my drift. I will NOT HESITATE, TO PULL THIS TRIGGER, YOU HEAR ME!? There's only three possibility. The guy who we thought died, was not Red. You aren't Red. Or.. something quite worse I'm not even going to say. But.. I will talk. I'm going to say what I know. And you, however? You aren't going anywhere, asshole." John started yelling, and my father walked over to Red. He went into Red's pockets, and took out everything he had. Nothing of suspicion. He was nothing now, unarmed. But at least, that's what we think.
"Johnathon Barragan.. they really did change you, did they. The theory Miles had was correct." Red replied.

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 8: DR. RED
Red started sweating terribly. He was in a bad spot right now. I put my hand on the revolver he gave me, just in case of anything. "Let's start." John declared to everyone. We all were ready to listen. The three of us looked him in the eye. I wasn't sure if I'm ready to hear what happened to Red, honestly. Should I defend him, or go with John? I wasn't sure, as he's obviously not dead, making this a glaring contradiction. I can't see Red being part of anything related to Billy or Liz, but I guess it's about time for us to see.

---[DECEMBER 21ST 2020, JOHN]---

"PROTECT JOHNATHON BARRAGAN AT ALL COSTS!" A soldier yelled, while I was being shielded by a few others. We were at a tiny shelter with three tents. Tons of us were here, however. Alpha and Bravo squad of the near military base were here, a group of 14 together. The infected were attacking us! I did not have any weapons on me to defend myself. I had been miraculously saved by a Doctor Red a day before after I got infected, and about 2 or 3 weeks before that I got into a little accident and lost my P22, knife, and utility belt that was used to carry it. Nobody gave me anything to fight with. I could only assume this was right. I was in a tent with four soldiers right outside it, and Doctor Red was inside as well, sitting at a table. The infected were rushing for a while now, what felt like a half hour. I was not sure the time, sadly. "OUT OF AMMO! PASS ME A MAG!" Suddenly one of the soldiers yelled out to the others. For a reason I didn't know, it sounded kinda familiar. "I-I'm out too! SHII---" I backed up as I heard another soldier. I could only see shadows through the tent, and.. the infected had taken them. I heard the chomps and bites of them, and the blood being splattered. Bullets stopped firing, and I could hear the screams of the infected. More biting. It's just a few empty magazines that can make all the difference.. Anyway. I thought then, this must be it. We're dead, aren't we. Doctor Red was shocked, and scared.. very scared, in fact. I walked over to Dr. Red, and noticed something on the table. It looked like a chipped piece of the wood it was made of. Small. I then remembered the day at what was supposed to be the safe zone, where I used something like this as a weapon. I touched the point of it, and sure enough, it was sharp. Less sharp then the one I had, but it would work for what I wanted to do. "Doc. The infected don't know we're here yet, and we gotta escape. Follow me." I whispered to Dr. Red and stood at the back of the tent. I pulled up the piece of wood, and cut through the tent. It worked without challenge. I cut the entire back, at least enough for us to get through. I ducked through the hole I created, and crouched down. Red followed. I slowly walked around the tent, and seen the infected just eating the life, quite literally, out of all the soldiers. We walked slowly. Until.. Red made a wrong move.. and made a loud step. I quickly crouched lower, and tried to hide in the shadows. Red froze in place, and the infected seen him. They immediately ran over, and pounced on him. I then seen right in front of me.. a man get torn apart and eaten into little pieces. I didn't know what to do.. I started walking away. Still crouching. I had to go, now, even if it is by myself. But, I noticed something behind one of the tents. Shadows, moving. I got a bit closer, and seen it was actually.. people! They were waving for me to come over. I quickly ran over, and it was a few of the soldiers. We all got up together, and they killed the infected that were eating Red. No more came, thankfully. "Well.. he's definitely dead. Got nothin' left in 'im." the Bravo leader, Texas, said. "Eh, I see something. Besides, damn things can come back with missing limbs and eyes and crap." an Alpha member named Shaun replied, as he shot Red in his head with his rifle.

---[JANURARY 1ST 2040, LILLY]---

John had testified to what he seen that night. "What!? LIES! TH-THAT NEVER HAPPENED! THIS MAN IS LYING, HE'S UNDER THE EFFECTS OF THE POWERS! THEY MAKE YOU LIKE THIS!" Red started screaming and yelling, and couldn't control himself. "A LOUD STEP!? THAT'S ALL!? I-" My father pushed Red away and shook his head. "Well.. what I just said is what happened. I didn't know much of you, Red, but right now we can see you're not the one I knew. Why don't you explain? Eh? What's YOUR take on this situation?" John responded to Red's outburst, as my dad held him back on a wall at the kitchen from whatever he may be about to do. "MILES! LET ME GO SO I CAN KILL THIS-!" he started yelling at my father. "THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I DON'T WANT YOU TO DO! NOW CALM THE HELL DOWN BEFORE I DO MYSELF!" they started arguing. They weren't getting out of that anytime soon.. "Nice group you got here, gal." John said to me as he observed the two fight with each other. It wasn't a pretty sight.. they never yell at each other like this! "I THOUGHT YOU CAN CONTROL YOURSELF! YOU MADE US A CURE, YOU NEVER GOT MAD, YOU NEVER EVEN SLIGHTLY RAISED YOUR DAMN VOICE! So, let me ask.. who are you? Are you the Red we know? Did you make what we believe is the cure? What the hell is going on!?" my father yelled at Red, and threw him to the ground. He pulled out a knife and put it above Red's throat.. "Heh. No need for violence. Give us the answers and no one gets hurt, eh?" John suggested, and walked over, holding his pistol. I backed up from the whole scene. I gripped the revolver tighter. Red stopped fussing and kicking, and started just.. breathing heavily. Which soon turned into a psychotic laugh, suddenly. "The hell's your problem?" John questioned Red's acts. "Hahahhahehhhahh.. You idiots never expected a thing.. Hahahahahhh... AHAHAHAEHAHHHAHH! AHAHAHAH!" Red replied, and started laughing louder. "Ahahahah. Yes, Yes I am the Doctor Red! The one you all used to know and love! Ohohoh.. I'd like to inform you guys on something.. IT WAS ALL AN ACT! AHHHAHH! HAHAHHAHH! I was never some nice man only with the intents to cure the place! I was only doing all this to get on your GOOD side, and I decided, now was the perfect time to.. well, show my true colors I guess! That was an actual cure before. But this time? NOT A CHANCE! If you're wondering why I'm still alive, well, you may want to stand back. Ha!" Red declared loudly. No one moved. I was just about ready to get out of the room, in fact. I now had my revolver up and ready, aimed through the sights.

"No.. not you too.." my dad stood up. Red quickly got on his feet, and thrusted his hand toward John, and making him fly back, hitting the wall! "GAHH!" he yelled in pain, and dropped his pistol. "LILLY, GET OUT!" my father yelled, and ran in the kitchen. There was actually a window in the kitchen, facing the building across the street. My dad opened the curtain and started opening the window. "Dad, no!" I yelled, as I seen what he was doing. "GO!" he replied, and.. jumped. The man with small armor on his back standing in this room had disappeared.. and Red followed. He jumped out, and all I could hear from there were grunts and other noises. I put on my gas mask and smashed through the door, and immediately ran down the stairs. I literally jumped at the glass door entrance, and broke through. "Aaaaaaugh!" I screamed in pain, as glass shards cut into my arm. I fell to the ground, but seen one big shard sticking out of my arm. I grasped it.. and started pulling. I pulled as hard as I could, and got it out. "EAAAAAAAGH!" I screamed once again, but got up on my feet, weary. I felt as if I couldn't move, but I had to get out of the area. I looked up, and seen.. my father and Red, still falling! They were fighting it out in the air, and it looked as if Red was winning this fight. Suddenly I heard footsteps behind me, loud and fast. I spun around, and seen John was at my side now. He looked up and seen them. John muttered something under his breath, and crouched his legs. After a few seconds, he extended his legs and did this extremely large jump.. something no normal human being could ever do! He went up about 20 feet, and reached them. He grabbed both people, and flew back down to the ground in an instant. John grabbed my father, and moved him next to me. He flew back to Red, and pushed him back a few meters. Red pulled up both his hands and aimed them at John, but he pulled up his arms, blocking his face, but being slightly pushed back. "Gaaaaaargh..!" Red started shouting, until finally stopping. The two now stood perfectly still, but in a ready stance. "It's been about.. 5 to 10 years since I last used my powers, I think. Can't remember the exact year. I don't even remember you getting them, but I guess you were one of the first.. But I think we're ready for mine. Let's tango." John declared, and put his hands into a fist. "Ah. So you aren't aware. Why, you could call me, Jack's assistant!" Red replied, without hesitation, but a grin appeared on his face. "J-J-J-Ja.. Jack..?" John put down his fists, and his face became pale. "Yes! I know why you're nervous. Jack was your old man's name.. and, believe it or not, we're speaking of the same Jack!" Red responded. Wait... why would he be his father's assistant? "In.. what?" John asked him, and slowly stepped back.

"Why, all this of course!"

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 9: RETURN

Both of them stood perfectly still. My dad muttered something, although I couldn't hear it. "Y-You mean.. you.. and my.. father.. created this infection?" John responded finally, after a few minutes. Red shook his head, and his grin fell flat. "No, no no. Think from the beginning.. this only happened because someone started it using.. powers, correct?" Red answered. Yes.. powers of some sort. That's what we think, anyways. "Exactly. And Billy's family created the virus." my father stepped forward and stood near John. "..You're half correct. It's funny to see these.. theories of yours. The part that you think someone started this using these.. pff, what even ARE these, superpowers? Sure, close enough! Ahahahah.. anyway. Billy did not create anything. He was always part of.. US! AHAHAHHAHAH!" Red replied. But.. as he said this, something caught my eye. Not about Red, or anybody, but an.. object behind him. It was bright, white, and huge.. basically a big light. The darkness of the night soon fell upon us, but much darker than usual, with the only light for us is.. the blinding light. "TH-THE LIGHT! STAND BACK!" John suddenly yelled, and ran away from the light, keeping a safe distance, yet my dad stood still. "MILES, COME HERE! I-It's all happening again.. I seen this before.. it was not pretty afterwards.. please, COME! For the sake of your daughter, or whoever the girl is, man!" John yelled over to my dad, but he did nothing. The blinding light got larger and larger, until I finally had to shield my eyes. I walked over to John, as I wasn't in a safe spot at all. My dad started shaking a bit, and his hands went into a fist, as if he was attempting to resist something. But.. he started to move closer to the light suddenly. "DAD! NO!" I hollered at the top of my lungs, yet he did nothing. I couldn't let him do this.. I started running over to him. "OH GOD DAMMIT! NO! NOT YOU TOO!" I heard John behind me, but I couldn't let him stop me now. I caught up to my dad, and he looked.. confident in something, yet nervous at the same time. "Dad, what are you doing!? Have you lost your mind?" I asked him, and grabbed his arm. I tried to pull him away, but to no avail. He continued moving, even with me tugging on him. "Lilly.. let go. In the face of evil, you mustn't show fear." he finally spoke, and stopped moving in front of the light. I... let go. I dropped his arm. My eyes started to get a bit teary.. I just want to know what's going on. I've been in the dark for too long.

The light started getting less intense. Smaller. It went down bit by bit, and started to vanish. It eventually became out of sight.. but two figures now stood in front of us. It was too dark to see anything, and they were just shadows. One was small, had the body of what looked like a child. A.. girl, perhaps. The other was taller, and a bit more like an adult, but not quite. My dad suddenly looked as if he was struggling for something. He started sweating, and footsteps were heard behind us. I turned my head, but seen nothing, due to the darkness. "THE.. VOICES.." John spoke, from behind.. voices? What voices..? "Lilly.. go.. leave.. you are.. not needed.. here.." a female voice was suddenly heard. But not a normal one. It sounded.. low, yet loud at the same time. Raspy. Gravely.. "We.. must finish.. our business.. Ms. Elizabeth.." another voice spoke. It sounded the same.. but this one was masculine. I stepped away from the two figures. I then remembered something.. I had a flashlight!! I always keep one in my utility belt! I immediately pulled it out and shined it on the figures. I seen who they were finally.. a little girl and a teenage boy. Both infected to hell, missing faces, fingers, eyes.. I finally seen who they were. Billy and Liz. "No.. fear.." my dad said, upon the light being shined. He was struggling even more from what I can tell. "Dad.. what's going on!? Who are they!? Why are you acting like this!?" I started getting a bit angry. I decided.. screw it, I'm ending this! I pulled out my revolver, and pulled the trigger. But.. nothing came out. I flipped open the 6 chambers, and.. nothing! I dropped it on the ground. "They want us to feel fear. They want to defeat us, to see that we die. They will not die, themselves, unless we destroy the source. They return, as they keep the powers. People will change. We cannot trust anyone anymore. They.. are evil. And we do not wish to have revenge. We seek to bring them on the same page as us, to be.. normal again. Billy, Liz, Jack, Red, John.. all have been changed in these different ways. John hasn't been seen to be evil in any way, but we thought the same about Red. He helped create this. I don't even know what John did. But.. they are our enemies. But we don't wish to fight. All we want now is to know the truth. Stay strong, Lilly, and stay with me." my dad said to me. To John. To everyone here. His face grew straight, and his arms by his side. He took a deep breath, and signaled for John to come over. I took the flashlight and seen where John was. He heard all that my father said.. and was walking over.

"...To continue what I was saying earlier.." Red started saying. "Jack didn't create the infection. Do you want the truth? The whole, full, truth, of what really happened?" he asked us all. The three of us nodded. "..Very well." Red said. "They.. have come this far.. they at least.. need to know this.." Billy said, and agreed with Red. "December 21st 2012. You remember this date, don't you? 28 years ago, it made quite a stir. It was apparently the day the world is supposed to end. But that didn't happen, at least, that's not what people thought. But.. Jack.. John's father, he had a job did he not? That started.. on this day? It wasn't your average job, selling sandwiches or something. Oh no, it was much, much more. He had an.. ability, ever since he was born. A small ability, though. He didn't know what it was himself.. but he wanted to know. To have the knowledge of his capabilities. Of which.. were inhuman. Believe it or not, John, he had recieved a call the day before, to meet with someone he didn't know.. so he can get information. Here.. here is exactly what happened." Red declared. My flashlight suddenly died out, and the darkness soon came around us once again. There was no light.. no moon, nothing. The infected haven't even found out about us being here, or they weren't here at all. Now that I thought about it, the gas was not in sight. I wondered if it was safe to take off my mask.. perhaps I would be able to see better. But, I decided it wasn't worth the risk. "...No! No, that.. that couldn't have happened! H-He didn't get any calls on December 20th! I can say that for a fact!" John started denying what Red was saying, and started getting enraged. "I will not hear this! J-Just stop! I don't even care anymore, you brought Hell upon us, and we only hope to.. to make things NORMAL again! But.. why am I even saying this.. you don't give a s**t. Do you. All you want is to kill.. all you want is spilled blood.. all you want is destruction.. but you don't have feelings, nor do you care about anything. I'm done." John started yelling, and just.. turned around. He walked away. His body was now gone, and into the darkness, within just seconds. "John.." my father muttered, but shook his head. Gunshots started going off, and we could hear John struggling.. he must've ran into some of the infected.

"Continue..." my dad said to Red, and tried to disregard what was going on behind him.

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 10: JACK

---[DECEMBER 20TH 2012, JACK]---

Brrring. Brrring. Brrring.

"wh.." I slowly opened my eyes, and looked to the ceiling. I was still in bed.. was trying to sleep. I awoke to a cell phone, ringing. A familiar tone.. it was, well, mine. I glanced over to my drawer, and seen my phone, with my digital clock behind it. In it's bright green type, it read '3:26am 12/20/2012'. Who's calling me at 3 in the morning.. I took my phone and looked at the number. Unknown caller.. no name, number, or anything, just unknown. I had an.. odd feeling about this. I wasn't sure if it was the best thing to do, to answer it. But, the worst it could be is just a prank call, and I decided to pick up the call. "Hel..lo..?" I tried to at least sound awake, but it wasn't really working. What could I have done, I just woke up and it's midnight. "Hello Jack. Listen carefully. Is there anyone who can currently hear the phone, or you speaking in the area?" a person on the line spoke. It wasn't anything I recognized.. no, not at all. It was a dark, deep voice, but something you can easily get with a voice changer. I started to think, do I know this person? Why would they use a voice changer, I already don't know who they are! "Uhm.. well, my wife's here.. sleepin'.. cuz, you know, it's 3 in the morning.." I replied to the person on the phone. Maybe I should get out of the room, I don't want to cause any unnecessary noise in here. "You should get out of the room, then. We don't want to cause any unnecessary noise in there. Tell me when you're out." they responded, with their deep voice and all. Guess I really should get out of the room, I mean, no need for unnessecary noise in here. I stood up, and walked over to the door, and opened it. I was on the second floor of my house, with my child sleeping in the room next to us. The stairs to the first floor, with our living room and all were near our rooms, so I just went down. "Alright.. no one can hear me. Or you." I told the person over the phone. I stayed in the living room, which is, in fact right next to the front door, just in case. "Good. You must not tell anyone of this call. After I hang up, you must erase your call history. Erase any evidence that this call ever happened. Okay?" they replied, and, they sounded serious. If this was a joke, they were doing a great job at it.. I honestly couldn't tell. And was getting a bit impatient. "Alright, cut the crap. Who the hell are you, and what do you want? Nobody will know the call happened, alright? Just get to the damn point so I can go back to sleep." As soon as I said that I realized.. I'm not even tired anymore, so I probably won't be getting back to sleep.. Dammit! I hate people sometimes.

"You may not know me as of right now.. but you do.. trust me. Like I was saying, listen carefully. You are.. different. There is something about you that puts you in a different group from what people would usually call.. 'human'. You know what I'm talking about. I can help you.. unlock the inner you. What is.. within. I can show you what you have, what you can do, why you can do it. Why you were born with this. You must.. it is necessary. Meet me at the new park across the street from that big mansion, tomorrow. Not at sunrise, but on the 21st. I'm sorry but.. there's something else I have to tell you. You have no choice. Us with these abilities have to be.. together, or else.. a terrible event occurs, causing worldwide havoc. You will receive more info at the park. That is all I'm going to say. Goodbye." I got a response, and the caller hung up immediately. I looked at the phone.. 'Recent calls: 3:24 December 20 2012, 098-765-4321'. The number shown up, finally. The number looked slightly familiar.. like I seen someone with that number before, but I wasn't sure where. The area code, 098, rung a bell for sure though. That's the code for the town I live in. What was he talking about? How come I never seen anyone else with the abilities before, yet nothing happened? It wasn't anything enough to.. scare me or anything. But they knew about what made me different, as he said, so what if this really is a big deal.. I decided I'll think about it in the morning, and just went back upstairs to my room, and attempted to go to sleep.

---[DECEMBER 21ST 2012]---

It was after noon, and I just got finished having lunch. I made the decision that I will be going to the park, and to see what this is all about. I was going alone, and in secret.. I was the only one who knew I was different. I told no one else. How the person on the phone knew, I had no idea. I was downstairs, sitting at the kitchen table, with my son and wife. I took a deep breath, and looked at them. "Alright well.. I'm gonna go out for a bit. Something I need to do. I'll be back before you know it, though." I declared, and stood up from my chair. "Oh? Where are you going? Do you need me to come with you or anything?" my wife, asked once hearing me, and stood up as well, with a smile. "No.. no, this is something I have to do myself. I'll try and be quick about it.. but in the meantime, keep an eye on John for me?" I replied, and grabbed my keys, which were on the kitchen table. "Um.. Uh.. Sure, I guess.. can you at least tell me where you're going?" her smile fell flat and she started getting a bit concerned. I just simply shook my head, and started walking toward the front door. "Jack! Wait!" she started calling out to me, but, I couldn't tell her where I was really going. She'd think I'm crazy, and that I shouldn't go.. but.. I feel I should. There's some sort of nagging feeling, telling me to go. Maybe I'll be fine. I unlocked the door, opened it, and closed it behind me as I started walking to the park. It was close, very close in fact, I could just take a short walk. I could see it across the street, and down the road. I was wondering.. what am I about to get myself into? I was having second thoughts.. Should I turn back now? I kept on walking, and made sure to keep my guard up. I wasn't really carrying anything, just wearing normal everyday clothes, keys, and my phone in my pocket. I couldn't.. defend myself if I needed to. But let's hope it doesn't come to that. I only want to know what's the deal with these abilities.. why I'm allowed to do such. What is it that makes me separate from 'human', that's what I want to know. I eventually got to the end of the sidewalk, and the green light for pedestrians to cross was lit, so naturally I crossed. I was now at the entrance to the park, and walked inside. There was nobody in sight.. no one in the park, no one was crossing or on the sidewalk. Very few cars, as well. I took another deep breath, and walked to a fountain located in the middle of the park.

Nothing happened.. for about 5 minutes. I was about to just get up and leave, but, then something.. caught my eye. I glanced inside the fountain, and found what looked like a piece of paper. With writing on it. No one was looking.. I picked it up. Who would leave a note or something in the fountain? The ink was a bit messed up due to being in water, and it was hard to read.. but.. the note read 'The First Trial Begins Now'. The first trial.. what..? I dropped the paper and stood up. Suddenly, something purely unexpected happened.. darkness started to surround me. It was now.. midnight!? I couldn't see anything whatsoever, no street lights were on or anything. I looked above, but, not even a moon was present to give any sort of light. I immediately pulled out my phone and tried to call for help, but to my surprise, it was dead! I pushed the power button repeatedly but to no avail. I couldn't use it for light, or to call anyone.. I put it back in my pocket, and tried to look around. I hoped that I could find the exit and get back home but.. a voice stopped me.
"THE.. FIRST.. TRIAL." a familiar voice spoke, but, not anywhere around me.. in my head! I heard it in my head! The voice.. it was the same one from on the phone! I stepped away.. I tried to leave. I was here long enough.

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 11: TRIAL

---[?? ?? ????, JACK]---

Darkness was, as before, still surrounding me. There was no way I could be able to see anything. All I knew is that I was in the park.. I could feel that. I just knew. As I thought that however.. a rush of confidence suddenly went through me. "Aauugh.." I yelped a bit. It was.. odd, a feeling I never felt before.. pure confidence. I was 100 percent sure that nothing bad was going to happen, all of a sudden. "TURN AROUND." the voice spoke, in my head again. I did what the voice said.. and turned around. A park light in the area suddenly turned on, and I seen a person.. someone stood in front of me. This person wore a full black suit, tie, jacket, vest, of course pants as well, and a mask. The mask was white and eyes were drawn on top of it with probably a marker or something. But not detailed eyes or anything, just.. tiny black dots. He looked like a man, as well. His arms were at his side, and he stood straight, and tall. At first I was slightly startled, but, that feeling was soon replaced. My hands started feeling warm and fuzzy, not like wearing gloves, and not like they fell asleep, but they start tingling and feeling just overall very weird. I raised them and looked at them, and noticed something.. my palms had a blue design on them. A circle with a dot in the middle, and it was lit up, as if there was a light in them. "This is what defines us.. what shows who we are. Now.. chin up, look ahead. Extend your arms, and.. become it. Defeat.. him." the voice spoke to me again, once I had observed the symbol on my hands. Defeat.. how? How would I go about doing that!? I started losing that confidence I had, and started to get nervous. I stared into him, and my vision got blurry, and I suddenly starting to lose my hearing. I looked away, and fell to the ground, as I felt.. lightheaded. I backed away, and tried to look back at him.. he was closer. He stood above me, as I was on the ground, helpless. I then knew, I have to do something now! I extended my arms, and held my hands open, as I concentrated on just.. getting out alive and in one piece. The light from the symbol got more intense, and my hands started hurting, like never before. The pain spread out through my arms, but, I resisted. That was all I could have done. I kept my hands forward, until.. the symbol's light eventually died out, and my arms felt numb. I started to feel lightheaded again. I closed my eyes.. and just fell asleep.

"THE FIRST TRIAL.. IS COMPLETE. You have.. defeated him.. that is all you need to know about what you can do.. but.. why? Why can you do this? I.. can answer this. I created these.. abilities.. or whatever you may call them. You.. Jack.. are the chosen one. You can bring the world to it's knees.. I can let you do that. You have control.. power.. you can kill in an instant.. you can raise without trouble.. change how the world works.. in the blink of an eye. I gave you this.. because I know you can.. I have faith in you.. but why do I have faith..? Look ahead.." the voice spoke inside my head once again. I slowly awoken from the sound of it, and opened my eyes. I was on the ground, still in the park from when I passed out. I looked at my hands, I still had the blue symbol, but it had no light. I struggled, but, I tried to get on my feet. I crawled to the nearby fountain, and used it for support. After a few tries, I eventually stood on my feet, dreary. I was still using the fountain for support. I raised my chin and looked forward. Another man stood in front of me.. but I didn't feel what I felt before. This time.. I was calm when I seen him. He was a familiar face, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. He had a straight face, no mask on thankfully. The man wore a large white robe. I then stood up straight, and walked a bit closer to him and got a better look. I finally realized at that point who this was.. it was someone quite close to me. My son's uncle.. in other words, it was my brother that stood before me..! We were seperated years ago.. about eight, due to an incident with him. No one knew what happened, he just.. disappeared. Several search groups went looking for him over the years, but, he just fell off the face of the earth suddenly. No contact could have been made, nothing from him and nothing to him. His name was.. Alex. Before he vanished, he used to be a military soldier, an expert at that. I think he was the leader of a squad, but I'm not sure which. Wasn't told much about that. "Alex.. where have you been..?" I spoke to him, and he just stared blankly in return. There was silence, for.. minutes. "That is not important, my brother. My powers are getting weak.. I've done many things while I was gone. All.. for you. I helped your son in school. One of his friends is a couple grades above him, now. I helped him get through life. Tons of other tiny things you may not have noticed at the time.. but now, they grow weak, but a certain event happened and I need you to help me. You know my daughter.. your niece, Alice, correct?" Alex finally responded. I thought about what he said.. his.. powers are getting weak, what does that even mean? Ugh..

"Of course I do. How could I forget?" I answered his question. Alice was, indeed, my niece. I haven't seen her in a while though, not since November. "The other day.. she went missing, Jack. I used what was almost the last of what I can do to check something.. where she is. She's.. *sigh*.. dead.. I couldn't bring myself to see the cause of death. From what I know she ran away, and.. well, she didn't come back. I don't know why she did this. I.. I can't live without my little girl. And on this night, I've found I am just about.. gone, from this. That's what happens, Jack, you die, when you use the power too much. But you are still able to use a lot. So.. I.. I must ask you, a favor.. bring her back. Use your new abilities. Remember how you concentrated on getting out alive? On defeating that man? Do it again, but.. save Alice. Please. And, also, I'm kinda.. passing the torch to you. I'm not going to live much longer. When you save her, give her powers. Do you understand?" Alex told me, as his eyes stared into mine. He sounded nervous as he was talking, but now I can tell he was definitely serious. He really wanted me to do this. He, himself, was about to.. die, but all he wants is his little girl. I wasn't sure if I could do this. "I.. I don't know man. Sh-She's gone.. that's.. that's something we might need to deal with.. I don't think I'm ready to do something on such a large scale." I responded to his request. Suddenly, his eyes started to glow, quite literally, and he stepped forward. "YOU MUST DO THIS! IT IS THE SECOND TRIAL! YOU'VE NO CHOICE, DAMMIT!" he started screaming, both in my head, and as a normal person..! He put his hand in a fist, and pointed it toward me. I started feeling.. tight, as if something was grabbing me. The grip got tighter and tighter until I couldn't breathe! I gasped for air, but none could be gotten. I tried to breathe, just any little bit, but I couldn't. My neck, my entire body, was being grasped and ready to be squished.. The grip only grew tighter. My shirt started ripping, and I tried to resist. "O-ok-! I-I'll... I'll do.. auuaghhh.." I couldn't resist, however.. I just gave in. Alex put his arm by his side, and I fell to the ground. I immediately started taking deep breaths, before attempting to stand up. "You'll do it?" he stood above me, and asked. I nodded. I stood on my feet. How could he do that.. I never asked for this..

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 12: IT CHANGES YOU [PT. 1]

---[?? ?? ????, JACK]---

I backed away from Alex. I walked backwards, in hopes that I would perhaps find the exit. I need to go. I shouldn't have came here. Maybe this never would've happened. Why was I born with this!? He's like three years older than me! When he was 3, and he seen I was born, did he think "Oh, he's the chosen one, I have faith in him!", while playing catch with his powers and a ball? What's that all about? "Good. You must wait, though.. you're right, you can't do something on such a large scale. You must wait.. until it recharges full. It will take.. years, to do something like this. That's why I came back now, I had to wait.. for my powers to recharge. To revive someone, to do something like this.. is a seven year wait. 2019. Wait for this year.. and you can do it. If you don't.. then, remember that worldwide havoc I told you about? That will happen. It goes in a form of virus. It won't just suddenly spread, it will be a gas contained inside barrels. These barrels will be dropped out of a helicopter, and the gas will then spread. Whoever breathes in the gas, will be infected, and it will get them almost immediately infected. They will change, into things.. creatures.. that you could never imagine. It won't be your average cold. There.. will be no cure. No doctor will be able to make one. If there is one.. it won't do anything. At most it will delay the turn. But, the world ENDS if you don't do this for me. You must know what you're dealing with. Don't obey my orders.. and death. You have until November 21st 2020." Alex warned. If I don't revive his daughter.. then it's all over. But.. how!? How am I supposed to just do something like this!? I don't even think I should, if I were confident I was able to revive her I still wouldn't do it. "NO! Screw you, why should I listen to you! I don't even know how I'm supposed to trust you!" I declined. I wasn't sure what was about to happen.. but I declined his offer. I couldn't do this. I turned back, and start running. Except.. that didn't really work out. I tried moving my legs once my back was turned, but it felt.. stuck. I could move it, but it was stuck. Like it was in mud or something. I tried moving my arms but.. same thing. I started moving at a snail's pace, until finally I just stopped. I couldn't even move my mouth to speak. But now.. I felt lightheaded, blurry vision, and I couldn't hear once again. No sounds could make it into my ears, and no grass could be spotted by my eyes. I tried to resist, and I could.. barely. As it was the only thing I could do, I looked ahead. I seen something once again.. a black suited man.. he made his presence here, with his arms still at his side, and his white mask still on. He moved forward. Except not with his legs, but he was just suddenly.. closer. No.. no! I was nervous, and.. scared. I couldn't feel my limbs, or body.. and on top of that I wasn't able to see or hear a single thing, whilst being lightheaded to the point that.. I just closed my eyelids, surprisingly enough I was able to indeed, and.. passed out once more.

---[NOVEMBER 18TH 2020, JACK]---

It's been 8 years.. since I met with Alex again. I haven't seen him since. I woke up a day later, on the 22nd, in my house, after passing out. He warned me of what will happen if I don't save his daughter.. the world will fall from a fast-spreading virus. Once you're infected with it, that's it.. you turn almost instantly. I hadn't used the powers after that night, in which I completely depleted the usage of my abilities. When I woke up, everything was back to normal, the moon was up, people were walking, driving. I started wearing gloves more often, to hide the symbol. I felt.. different, after that night, like I started not to care about much anymore. My family.. I would decline them after almost every request, and not feel guilt. They would hate me, and I would hate back. Yelling and arguments happened way more often. I still hadn't seen the errors of my ways yet. My son and I.. we sat in his room, as he still lived in our house. We were talking.. had a discussion. I had to open up about that night in the park. I haven't even told my wife yet. "John.. you're a big man now. 18 years old. You gotta get your own house soon now, eh. I would say.. you gotta kickstart your life soon, and all, but.. sadly, I dunno if it'll happen. Anyway.. I want to talk to you about a few years ago, when I left you and Mom by myself, and I didn't come back till the next day. And then after that I started actin' all.. jerk-like to you. Is.. that alright?" I started our 'discussion'. There was something important that I had to tell him. "Dad.. of course, I would love to know. Can I go get Mom? Or did you tell her already?" he responded, looking a bit happy. He made a request that was only normal.. but once again, I had to deny. "Son.. I can't let ya do that. There's something about all this only you can know. Perhaps another time we'll tell your mother. Anyways.. there's something I never told anyone about. I can.. do things, that normal people usually wouldn't be able to, basically. You know how I always wear gloves? Well, take a look." I answered him, and he frowned.. which only makes sense. I raised my hand out, and took off the glove. I showed him my palm, and the symbol on it. "O-Oh.. Dad what is that!? Why didn't you tell anyone about this!?" he started yelling and shouting, and in general was very surprised about the symbol. "It's what defines me. I was born with something.. that I never really knew about. That day I got a call, and it was to find out what it was all about. But I thought it'd be fine, because whoever it was knew about this thing, so I hoped they were trusted. They weren't. Do.. you remember Uncle Alex? And your cousin Alice?" I asked him. I started getting sort of sad at this point.. "Y-Yeah.. Alex has been missing since.. I can't even remember.. and Alice hasn't shown up anywhere either.." he responded, getting slightly nervous. I took a deep breath. "Well.. I found Alex that day. He was alive. But different.. way different. Somethin' you can't imagine. Still can't believe it myself. He had this big robe.. kinda like what you'd see on a wizard. And that's kinda what he was. He can do things.. he had special.. ways of doing things. I'll just tell it to you straight. He had.. powers. But he was about to die, he didn't have a long time. He gave me these powers.. I already had them, but he gave me more. Alice.. she.. died, John.. and Alex wanted me to revive her, as he couldn't. He.. really, really wanted me to do this, basically. At the time, it was something I had to deny. But there was a consquence. On the 21st, this year, there will be an apocalypse. The world will go into ruins. He will start it, if I don't save Alice. I still had to deny though. In case this really DOES happen.. which at this point is likely.. I want to make sure you're all good for the ride. Okay?" I told him, ready to do something that will risk many, many lives.

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 12: IT CHANGES YOU [PT. 2]

"U-Uh.. Wow.. O.. kay.. *sniff*.." he replied, tearing up, at the sound of all this. I shook my head, and it might not have been right, but.. "John, I want to let you have powers of your own. I want you to be safe in the coming time. And I'm going to clear your memory of this chat.. it's better you don't remember now that I think about it.. but you will know to use the powers. I have faith in you. Just.. be safe, because now.. comes the end of days." I declared, and stood up from my seat.

He seemed in shock, and stood up as well. He backed up, and looked me in the eye. "I-I don't know about that! Are.. are you sure it'll be fine? Is that safe? How do I use these.. uh.. things you're talking about? Why do I need them.. why do they exist!?" he started going against me with a pack of questions. "There's some things I can't answer, son." was all I responded with. I extended my left arm, and the symbol lit up. This was the first time it ever happened in a long time. I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes. I had to concentrate now.. I focused on giving him some of what's mine. My hand started getting that weird fuzzy feeling again. I extended my right arm, and continued to try to give him what already makes me.. special. A sound started entering my ears, but it was something I couldn't hear nor care for. It sounded like a voice.. but I couldn't listen, I couldn't hear what it had to say. It had to have been John.. but I couldn't hear a thing. I took another deep breath and continued to focus on spreading the.. well, powers. It's still hard calling it that. My hands started feeling less.. fuzzy all of a sudden, started to be slightly back to normal, and my arm was folding in. But I thought, I can't let this bother me. I extended my arms once again, and my hands felt.. nothing. They were.. normal again. I finally opened my eyes, and immediately looked at my hands. The symbol was darker now, and had almost no light. Just a little tiny shine. The blue from the symbol had faded out, it was starting to show a slight grey in it. Upon seeing this, I felt a bit of anger enter me. I shook my head, and put my hands down. John was still standing in front of me, staring at his palms, in pure shock. A light came from them, and that's when I knew.. it worked! I have to act fast, now. I felt the only thing to do now was clear his memory of the chat. I extended my arms once again, before he can say anything, closed my eyes, and started to concentrate once again, on removing his memory from the past ten minutes. I wasn't sure if I could even do this, not with how little I have left. There was no way of knowing if this will work.. but all I wanted is my son to be safe, to be okay. I had to do this. Within mere seconds, my hands just stopped. My arms fell to my side, and I felt light-headed once again. I opened my eyes, and again my vision was blurry. I ran out of the room, and tried to keep my balance, but this was something I couldn't do.. I ran to the balcony near the stairs that look down upon the first floor, and fell on it. I tried to use it for support but.. the unexpected happened. I started to hear cracks, coming from one end of the balcony, and they grew louder and larger until finally.. it gave in. The side of the balcony fell, and I was holding on to it still! The only way the balcony was still up was from the other end, that hasn't fell. I looked down and seen the far floor, which I knew at this point I was going to reach. My son walked out of the room finally, but no expression on his face.. after a few seconds, he thrusted his arm forward, and suddenly the balcony.. it fell! I started falling, and before I fell to the ground, I extended hand toward him. The symbol was now fully grey and lit up. I focused.. for this last second.. to erase his memory, again. But.. I still don't know if it worked.

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 13: THE REAL HUNT BEGINS NOW

---[JANURARY 1ST 2040, LILLY]---

"..And thus, the consequences happened. He was warned. But Jack didn't save his dear brother's daughter, he instead gave you the powers, John. You have your own. Alex couldn't let anyone know it was him of course that really started this worldwide distaster.. so he made up a story. By the time 2020 came, his powers were charged, although just a bit. He needed to blame it on someone. Billy was a great candidate, with parents being scientists and all. And he needed someone to pressure him into making the virus. Elizabeth, someone who wasn't quite a known person, was good for this. No one knew her, and it was known she died. It would be unexpected if she came back, no? Alex had to decide whether his daughter or Liz to revive, and made the hard choice of saving Liz instead, a nobody to him, over his own family. He gave her and Billy what we simply call 'powers' as of right now. As we should all know.. they make you evil, dammit. It changes you. It really does. They became evil as well.. and were falsely blamed for this. They were told to just act along. And so they did. Why am I here, though? What did I do to support this? Haha... hahaha.. perhaps that's something you need to find out yourself. If you wish to seek the rest of the truth.. the whole truth.. the end to all this.. just go forward. We're getting the hell out of here, are you coming with us?" Red finally declared some of the answers we seeked. The origins of the infection. Within mere seconds of finishing, Red, Billy, and Liz vanished without a trace, and suddenly light came from above. I looked up, and the moon was actually there this time.. we can see! The three of us just looked forward, and seen a huge.. building not too far from us, riddled with what looked like a horde of the infected.. It was never there before. It kind of looked like a barn, but much larger than your average sized barn. We looked around and realized.. we're not even in the town anymore! Just.. nothing, surrounded us. Air. The gas.. it wasn't even present. My revolver was missing from the ground where I dropped it, but I still had my knife on me. My dad had his M16A5 on his back and John stood next to him with his pistol. "The hell.. I.. I ran, but I could still hear what he was saying.. I ran into infected, I had to.. what.. I.." he started to talk, but nothing that we could actually hear clearly. John seemed shocked. "Alright team. There's only one thing we gotta do now, and that's finish what we started! We came here to find the truth and that's what we're gonna GET! HOORAH?" my father declared, and readied up his rifle. John and I both nodded. My dad started running at the infected, with us right behind him.

The horde was gigantic. Possibly hundreds. Their stench spread to where we were as we ran. There was no getting around them. We had to kill them to get through. It was the only way! My father pulled something out of his pocket or something, and handed it to me as we were getting close. It was a pistol, currently the only firearm I could use. He took a deep breath. "Okay.. okay.. EVERYONE! OPEN FIIIREE!" he yelled, and aimed through the sights of his rifle and started pulling the trigger. The noise of the rounds being shot rang throughout our ears, but the infected were dropping.. and started spotting us. They turned, and ran toward us. "COME ON, YOU DAMNED ****HEADS!" John screamed, and started shooting his pistol at them. I aimed my pistol, and started firing at their heads, taking them out. Each one took a few bullets, but I killed a few. This is for all the lost lives.. my mother, Frank, Sarge, all the corrupted people.. this is their retribution! I continued pulling the trigger and shooting the infected. I was used to this now, shooting continuously. I could control the recoil, I could aim at the dome. Not for long though.. I finally noticed after a few seconds something. I was pulling the trigger for my pistol, but all that came out was.. a click. No ammo! "I'M EMPTY!" just as that second passed, John declared his ammo was depleted too. "No! No, no no no! I'm out! Reloading! Lilly, protect us!" my father yelled, and dropped the magazine out of his rifle. "I need ammo too! I have no other magazines!" I yelled back, and put the pistol in my holster as.. the horde started swarming us. I pulled out my knife, quickly, and thrusted it into one's head. Okay, got that one. I pulled it back out, and kicked it away, but there was just too many! "SH-- RUN! FALL BACK!" my dad said, and turned away. John followed. I was ready to turn, but something caught my leg.. I couldn't move, something was tugging at me.. I looked, and seen an infected had grabbed my leg! I fell to the ground, and one fell right on top of me. I felt the heavy body of the infected on my back, breathing into my face. I tried crawling away, but couldn't.. "HEEEEEEEEEEELP!" I screamed at my father and John, as they just ran into the distance. They didn't hear. Suddenly.. a sharp pain appeared through my right shoulder. I screamed in pain, but couldn't look, I knew.. I.. I must have got bit.. My right arm just died out and I couldn't use it, so I attempted to just crawl away with my left arm, but that one infected was still on me. The horde had already passed us and continued chasing my dad and John. I had to get this thing off me.. I spun around, and got on my back instead of stomach. The infected fell off, but got back up. It jumped at me, and attempted to gnaw at my neck! I kicked its knee, and then its stomach. I got it off me, and I pulled out my knife with my left hand and stabbed it. "Aaauuugh!" The pain was still there, no way in hell could it have been gone. I continued stabbing it in the head, to make sure it was dead.. I wasn't letting this one get away alive.

I grabbed my shoulder with my arm, and tried to walk. This intense pain I had however was doing it's best to stop me. I walked slowly away, but to the building instead. I had made a hard, hard choice. I could've went back for my father.. but the horde was too massive. They were too far by now. The barn was right in front of me, so I just walked to that. There was a big, barricaded door blocking me from getting in. I couldn't open it though.. I just fell to the ground at the door, still gripping my shoulder. I could feel the blood leaking out onto my hand, and down my arm.. it wasn't a great feeling. I was going to die if I don't treat this, I started thinking. But I had no idea how I could go about doing that. I'm alone at a door I can't open, seperated from my family and another survivor. I closed my eyes, and slumped over. At that point.. I must have passed out. I don't remember much after that.

---[SOMETIME LATER]---

"Oh god.. no.. no no no no no.. alright, John, get that god damn door open, NOW! I want it open within the next 5 seconds, got it!? This girl could be de.. arrghh, just get it open."

"Holy ****.. Y-Yeah, got it!"

"Lilly.. stay with me.. don't you die on me, dammit!"

Krrrrrsch. Fssh. Tsssssh.. fwoom.

"It's done, Miles, it's open!"

"Okay, good, help me carry her in!"

I started hearing blurred out voices suddenly. They were familiar, but I couldn't even think. I couldn't open my eyes, or anything. I felt two people picking me up suddenly, and being transported somewhere fast. I was put down somewhere, but it didn't seem like it was on a floor, but a higher surface. Probably a table. "Nooo.. aaaaaugh.. m-my head.." one of the two men spoke, but still I could not figure out who it was. "Miles? Are you okay? What is that you have there..?" the other one replied. Miles.. the name rung a bell, but yet I couldn't figure out who. My memory was really messing up right now. "A note.. The third.. trial.. begins.. AAAAUGH! The fu-- ARRREAAAGGHH!" the same person started yelling and screaming. What's going on? I attempted to open my eyes. I felt like I was more awake now. "THE.. VOICES..!" he yelled again. My eyes finally opened, and I was indeed on a table as I thought. My vision was extremely blurry and I felt lightheaded. My shoulder still had a terrible pain, and seemed to be bleeding still. I looked over and seen two people on the floor, both screaming and freaking out. What's up with them..? I couldn't see their faces, but I just closed my eyes once more. Their screams started fading out.
"This is what you wanted.. it's over. She's dead. Now.. we gotta get out of here.."

"I know. I know what happened to you. You inhaled the gas.. and now you're infected. I can feel it. You're tough, you survived a lot of stuff, but it's all coming to a close."

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 14: ARISEN

Vrrrrrrooom. Rrrrrrrrrr....

My eyes opened with no struggle. I looked around, I was no longer on the table. Still in the barn though. The table was flipped over with blood spilled all over. The pain from my shoulder was less, but still recovering. I took a look at it, it seemed to be bandaged up. I sat in a chair.. of what seemed to be a car in fact..! A jeep I assumed it was. No roof, though, probably a convertible. I was in the back seat, and a man sat in the passenger seat in front of me, looked to be asleep. I finally realized.. it was John. My father.. he wasn't sitting in it. But I seen him at the back wall, attempting to do something. It looked like he was trying to open something perhaps? I couldn't see. It kind of seemed if he was pushing some buttons or something.. in a keypad? "107.." I heard him mutter. I thought maybe I should help? I wasn't sure what I could do though. I didn't know any keypad numbers. "10 numbers.." he muttered again, and put in some more numbers. "098-765-4321..." he spoke aloud this time, and a click was heard. "Access granted." a voice suddenly spoke through a speaker. A computerized voice. The back wall.. it started opening. It was a door! Slowly, the light from outside started to peek in. "It's the same guy.." he muttered again, and turned around to the vehicle. "Lilly.. you're awake?" he noticed me, and just opened the door with no emotion. "Yes." I responded. He nodded. "Good. Here's what happened.. you were... b.. bit.. *sigh*.. and passed out. When that happened.. we were in here.. John and I.. got attacked, mentally. Voices.. I.. I don't know.. I can't remember what they said. We were unable to do anything for god knows how long and I just woke up. John hasn't yet. Turns out this place is a damn gold mine or something.. Found a ton of supplies. Including things that treat bites, this damn car, and also, look next to you. A note was also in here.. it made us hear the voices. I decided to read it again. And.. our enemy isn't even infected anymore. Normal humans. Alex.. I don't know WHERE the hell they came from but he has his own private army, and.. they're leaving. They're gonna escape the city, and they have a plane to do so. They're gonna go and we gotta make sure they don't make it anywhere basically. And if we look ahead of us.." the door was now wide open, and what seemed to be a runway lay before us. The sun looked like it was about to go down, and perhaps it's almost actually night. "By the way, look on the ground." My father turned to me and said. I did just that, looked on the ground. A rifle was there! I picked it up. It was a bolt action rifle, fitted with an ACOG scope. Not as large as a sniper scope, but bigger than an EOTech holographic, which is still pretty big itself. "Sounds like a challenge. What do I think? Challenge accepted." John suddenly spoke from his seat, and raised a rifle of his own, which looked like an automatic. "Let's get this party started!" he followed up, looking at my dad with a smile.

My father put his foot on the pedal, and pushed down on it. Looked like he started the car beforehand. Which I guess was a good idea. The car started moving forward. "If you're right, and this is a challenge, not a trap, the plane should be moving on this runway here. I see somethin' in the distance.." he declared. Sure enough, there was an object down the runway, moving. "How're you doing back there?" my father said to me as we left the building. "My stomach isn't feeling too good.." I replied. I wasn't sure if I can shoot a rifle, let alone even aim it. But I'll try. "****. Right. You.. ah. I completely forgot." John looked behind him at me, and noticed my wrapped up shoulder. "Is.. that feeling any better? I can't imagine that you'd already be recovered or anything but.." he asked. "A little.. not much though." I responded to him. Considering how it was my shoulder that got bit, I'll definitely have trouble holding up this rifle.. "Oh hell. I've spotted four vehicles. All with three spots, driver, passenger, and a turret on the back, with what seems to be a trunk behind it. They're all full. I can't really see, but I think I see the plane, and the back door is open, slightly above ground. I think those other vehicles are supposed to get on it." my dad suddenly said to us, worried. I looked ahead, and he was right.. there was four other vehicles, looking kind of like the one we had, except they had turrets. They were heading toward the plane, two on the left side of the runway, and two on the right side. "Lilly, um.. you got that rifle. We're gonna need to take these guys out. I know.. I know, it's not pretty, shooting.. people, but they will kill us with no hesitation whatsoever. This is self defense, not anything more. Just.. keep that in mind. Tell me when you're ready. Miles, you gotta play a big part here too. Don't get yourself shot, cuz then we have no driver. And also, drive GOOD. Just try and dodge bullets if you HAVE to, and we can't." John told me and my father. We both nodded. I tried to aim the rifle around John and to the car on the far right. I thought to take out the turret gunner first, John would take out the driver, and one of us might be able to take out the passenger. Then we could move on to other cars. My arm was getting tired already from holding the rifle. It was pretty darn heavy, much heavier than any other weapon I held before. Then, I remembered something that usually causes noticable weight.. "Uh, Dad, did you check if these things are loaded?" I asked my father, as a fully loaded weapon will make it much heavier to hold, and of course, it's something important to know. "Of course! It's full. Eight rounds." he responded. I took a deep breath, and looked at John. "Well okay. I'll take out the gunner. You get the driver. Ready? Let's go." I spoke to him, and put my finger on the trigger.

I aimed the scope on the gunner's head as our car continued to get slightly closer. At first I hesitated.. I couldn't do this..! I can't shoot a person.. but, my thoughts were immediately wiped by a sudden sound ringing through my ears. John! He started shooting! The driver fell out of the car, and it swerved almost in front of us. I knew now, I have to shoot! The gunner turned around, and aimed at us. He started to spin up the gun.. I held my breath, and quickly pulled the trigger. A bullet fired, and hit the gunner, but the recoil made the gun bounce back at me, and I dropped it on the floor. "****! OPEN FIRE, THERE THEY ARE!" the driver of another car yelled, as John shot a round at the passenger from the first car. The gunner slumped away from the machine gun, and fell off onto the road as we continued driving forward. I picked up my rifle, and pulled back the bolt causing the cartridge case to fall out. I closed the barrel back by pushing in the bolt, and held up my rifle. During all this, bullets started surrounding us, as my father attempted to swerve around them. Although still, bursts of possible .50 caliber bullets zoomed past our heads, as we tried to get an aim on one but it couldn't be done.. I popped out from behind John, and closed my eye as I looked through the scope. The plane was getting farther away, and the cars were still shooting at us! They seemed to be hitting our engine, and tires.. There was one straight in front of us. I held my breath, aimed the rifle at its gunner's head.. and pulled the trigger all too late.

"JOHN!"

 

[megav365]

CHAPTER 15: IT'S OVER

It felt as if time had slown down at that very moment. It just seemed.. as if things had changed, as if now it's a bigger thing than we could've ever expected. We were in the car, attempting to defeat our enemies, but they did something we could never forgive.. something they'll never pay for enough. At least, in my father's eyes. John slumped over ever so slow.. arm out of the car, the vehicle coming to a stop, and.. a bullet hole through his upper chest. The bullet went through the chair, but I got out of the way. Blood started to spill through the hole, and down his arm. The metal weapon he once wielded fell from his grip and on to the road, causing a large crash. A hurricane of bullets still were flying around the car, in hopes that wasn't their only.. kill.

They had shot John.

"Hell yeah! Got one! About time.. get your damn accuracy straight, boys! Get those tires shot out!" one man yelled. Hot cartridges firing from miniguns all over in the area, and the tires fell flat. We had come to a complete stop.. and it could be our last. "Jo.. John.. John.. John, oh no.. no no no no..." my father took his hands of the wheel, and looked over, tears filling his eyes. "Overheated!" a gunner yelled. This is my time.. they were getting away, they were going far.. but I can get back at them. I stood up on my chair, rifle in hand. I pulled back the bolt, and pushed it right back in. I aimed through the ACOG scope sights, at a fleeing gunner. I held my breath, and raised the rifle slightly. I put my finger on the trigger, crouched a bit, and fired a round. The sound once again rung throughout our ears, but I disregarded it. The gunner quickly fell right off and on the road. I immediately pulled the bolt, and put it back. I aimed to the next gunner, who was spinning up his minigun from quite the distance, and did the same process. Held my breath. Aimed for the head. Fired. He fell off, just like the others. "Lilly.. stop.. we've lost.. we gotta accept that.. our man is dead. Our teammate. The guy who was gonna help us stop his father, and uncle. We NEEDED him.. we can't do this.." my father looked up and seen me shooting. I didn't even respond. I used the bolt again, and aimed. There was only one gunner now, and I wasn't ready to back down now. I couldn't see him too well, however. We needed to keep moving, so I could get a better shot. We gotta go! "Dad! We.. we have to leave him.. Come on, let's go! We'll take one of their cars!" I yelled to him, and jumped out. The other cars also had no roof, so that was convenient. I ran over to one of the cars, and started climbing on to the gunner seat. Thankfully it was quite close. My dad.. he was still there, above John. I can't blame him.. how are we going to get anything done now? "No, Lilly. Let them go. Even if Jack, if Alex, if Elizabeth were on that plane.. there's nothing we can do now. We can't make Alex realize his problems. We can't make Elizabeth the normal little girl we all want her to be. To live a normal life.. We can't even stop the infection. I know.. all we need to do is take that car, and just drive. But what about when we get there? We can't reason with them. Maybe the truth isn't this huge thing that we really need. What if it's just.. survival now? There's no way we can get them to be normal people now, to get the world back to how it was. That's another life. So, we need to live the current life we have. We didn't deserve this.. no one did. I don't know why it started. I don't know who started it. I don't know what made it happen. I don't know how it started.. I don't know jack about this. I wanted to know.. but I've come to realize it's not something we need, and it's not worth it. If we're going to lose lives like this.. then no.. I can't go on. I'm not letting you go on by yourself. We're going to just escape.. okay? Without John there's nothing we can do..!" he responded, from the same car.

I got down from the car, and stood. "NO! What the hell are you saying! We've came THIS FAR, WE HAVE TO FINISH THIS! We're so close! Please! We can do this together, as a family! I'm not leaving you, but this is just something we have to do. Don't you want to know why we're in hell right now? Don't you want to give whoever started it what they deserve? It sounds like something impossible, and just a thought, but IT'S SOMETHING WE CAN DO GOD DAMMIT! You're.. you're being a coward! We can protect ourselves.." I started yelling, and walked over. He was in tears, over John's.. dead body. I still couldn't really comprehend it.. Sure, maybe I didn't know this person that much, but.. seeing all this death, it changes you. I think it finally kicked in for my father.. "Lilly.. no.. means.. no.. listen to.. your father.." he tried to say, holding back from just letting it out. He shook his head, yet just slumped over on top of John. He's giving up.. he never does that.. no, this is something different. He can't be for real about this.. this isn't him. Then I remembered finally.. the voices.. "Dad! Is.. is this even you? It's not is it? You're hearing the voices again aren't you!?" I asked, nervously. He didn't look too good. Like.. he was struggling for something. He started grunting, and he grasped at his head. Wait.. no! I ran over to the car, he was almost acting like he was in the building! He started hitting his head on the steering wheel, and mostly just.. freaking out. I opened the door, and grabbed his leg. We're getting out! I dragged him out, and put his arm around my shoulder. He tried kicking me, and pushing me away! He just.. looked at me. Not even blinking. His eyes turned from normal, teary.. to a cold stare. I backed away, slowly. I was.. just in complete shock.. what was he doing? I turned away. I didn't want to do this.. I got in the driver seat of the other car, and took a look at my father. He continued to just.. give me this stare. "Dad.. you've got one chance to get in here. Come on! Y-You can fight it.. right!?" I yelled over to him. No response. No emotion. Until finally.. after what felt like minutes, he suddenly just.. fell. He just collapsed for no reason and fell flat on his face. "Um.. Dad? Are you okay?" I asked, still sitting. Why did he do that..? I was scared.. and don't think I could've been ready for what I'd have to do next.

 

[megav365]

In case you haven't seen yet: http://firetopgames.com/threads/end-of-days-hub.1406/