A World Reborn: The First Outbreak (21 page)

Melissa crawled towards the edge of the
planter and waited. She wasn’t sure how many more shots she had in her current
clip but hoped it was enough to get to the corner of the sports bar. She
shifted so her knees were under her, allowing her to rise up on them and fire
at the Reborn not engaging the infected, forcing them into cover. A
pain-filled, horrified scream cut through the air, followed by more frantic
yells. Melissa couldn’t see through the throng of the infected, she could only
imagine they’d managed to take a chunk out of the Reborn they’d been dragging.
Melissa quickly took aim at the Reborn she could see and fired at them, making
them hunker down behind cover. The sound attracted the attention of five or six
of the infected who were coming through the broken window, but they soon
refocused on the Reborn when they began firing wildly into the crowd advancing
on them. Melissa stood up and began hurrying towards the fire alarm. The way
the infected were moving, they were soon a wall of cover between her and the
Reborn, so she reached the alarm without any difficulty. She stopped, panting,
and reached for the lever. She snapped it out, then down and the sound of the
alarm, loud and terrifying in its suddenness, exploded through the air. Nearby,
the cacophony of the infected rose as though they were enraged by the sudden,
terrible sound drowning out almost everything else. They attacked the Reborn
with renewed aggression, the smell of blood and screams of whoever had been
bitten providing the fuel for their assault as the noise neutered the lingering
effects of the collars. Her attention was drawn towards a loud clattering that
came from the casino across the way. All of the sounds had driven the casino
infected into a frenzy too, and they had forced the weakened barricade to break
down. Now they were spilling out, shuffling, hurrying as fast as their
seemingly stiffened limbs could carry them. Melissa saw sprays of blood
erupting from their bodies and heads, with some of them dropping down and being
trampled on by those behind, and she knew the Reborn were firing on them. She
looked at Jim, wondering if she had time to reach him. He didn’t deserve it,
but she couldn’t just leave him to be attacked by the infected, so she slung
the weapon to her side on its strap and hurried over to him. She knelt beside
him, glancing up and seeing the approaching horde of hundreds of the infected
before pushing him forward to turn her attention to the binding around his
hands. It was a plastic tie, like the one used on her wrists during her
capture, and she reached swiftly for the knife in the sheath on her vest and
worked to cut him free.

Jim was slowly regaining consciousness,
moaning as he tried to focus, and then jolting suddenly awake when her knife
accidently cut into his skin, drawing blood. This seemed to rile up the closest
of the infected and twelve suddenly seemed to break into a hurried shamble
towards them. Melissa had seconds at best before they were on them. She managed
to snap the plastic tie and he slumped down; screaming aloud.

“Shut up!” Melissa yelled fiercely, still
hoping she could get him away but knowing his cries would attract the infected
and lessen her chance of success. As she feared, two of the infected dropped
low and began crawling towards him. Melissa grabbed his arms and tried to turn
him around to begin dragging him. However, though the infected were dropping
dead nearby from the bullets flying over her head from the Reborn, she still
needed to stay alert to the danger to herself, and it was while she was trying
to keep an eye on her surroundings that Melissa stumbled and fell backwards.
She accidently let go of Jim in the process, who screamed aloud in fear and
pain once more.

Melissa rolled onto her front, now facing
the door to the utility corridor, and getting up onto her hands and knees,
reached back to grab one of Jim’s hands so that she could pull him towards it.
She moved tortuously slowly, inching towards the planter that measured the
halfway point, while bullets flew overhead and the infected dropped dead to her
left, each one dying closer to Melissa than the last. The screaming, flailing
and bleeding Jim was attracting more and more attention, but Melissa gritted
her teeth and carried on... until she came to a sudden, unexpected stop.
Looking sharply over her shoulder, she saw that one of the infected had grabbed
Jim’s leg and was attempting to pull him away from her. Then a second descended
on him, and then a third took a hold of his chest. For the moment, the infected
were more focused on Jim and the meal he represented and were ignoring Melissa,
but she knew that wouldn’t last.

“Kill me! Please!” Jim pleaded as the first
one sank its teeth into his broken leg, ripping free a chunk of bloody flesh
and fabric. It didn’t seem as if he was going to turn, and the second infected
also sank its teeth into his leg, Melissa froze for less than a second, trying
to decide what to do. She hadn’t wanted to kill him, despite what he’d done,
but she didn’t want him to be left to be eaten alive either. She realized the
only thing she could do was to give him the mercy of a quick end, and so she
snapped back into the moment. Releasing Jim’s hand she rolled onto her back and
pulled free the pistol on her leg, and after a fraction of a second’s
hesitation, fired one clean shot into the top of his head, just as another
infected began ripping into his thigh and another into his neck. Jim died
instantly, blood pouring from his wounds, and the infected immediately lost
interest in him. Now, they were focused on Melissa, who represented a source of
sound, and smelled of blood and fear. As they directed their attention towards
her, the ones who had been consuming Jim crawled over his twitching, dead body
in an attempt to reach her. Three were almost standing over her as she
scrambled quickly backwards, having no time to stand up. They were advancing
quickly, and the Reborn were no longer firing on them as consistently as they
had been, no doubt distracted by the overwhelming force coming from the sports
bar.

Melissa knew she had to get to her feet and
run. There was no point in fighting them here, not now and not from this
position. She continued to retreat until she felt her arm brushing up against
the planter, which told her that although she had moved as quickly as she
could, she had barely outpaced them as they weren’t much further away than they
had been. The encroaching infected horde was rabid and she wondered if her plan
had perhaps worked too well. Swiftly, she rolled onto her side and hoisted
herself up in one, smooth motion. She heard gunfire behind her and just hoped
to be fast enough to avoid it as she sprinted straight for the door to the
utility corridor. With less than a few feet to go, she felt an impact hit the
armoured vest on her right side. She was winded, knocked slightly off balance
and hit her shoulder against the bullet-marked doorframe. Hastily, she
scrambled through the doorway and slammed the door behind her; hearing as she did
so fresh bullets impact against the door. Breathing hard, Melissa leaned
against the wall and checked herself, making sure the vest had caught the
bullet as she hoped and she wasn’t in fact bleeding. Relieved to be unharmed
she reached for the radio to inform Roy what had happened.

“Roy? I set off the alarms.”

“So I hear. Did everything go to plan?”

“As best it could.”

“What happened to Jim?”

Melissa swallowed hard before she answered.
“He’s dead. I tried to drag him with me, but the infected got to us before I
could get him back to the corridor. They were eating him and he pleaded with me
to kill him. So, I shot him.”

“Understood.” Roy said simply. She wasn’t
sure how to interpret his hollow response, but didn’t want to deal with it just
then.

“I’m continuing on. I’ll get back to you.”
Melissa concluded and clipped the radio back onto her belt. She brought the
assault rifle up and ejected the clip. It had less than five shots left in it,
and she decided to not waste her time with just a few shots. She tossed it to
the floor, pulled a fresh clip from a pocket on the vest, slammed it into the
weapon then proceeded down the corridor towards, she hoped, the backstage of
the theatre.

When she arrived at a pair of doors marked
“Backstage” Melissa was breathing more steadily. She’d overcome the exertion of
reaching the fire alarm and the gun battle she’d endured, although her side
still hurt where the bullet had hit the vest, as well as owning a nagging,
stinging pain in her bitten leg. She was almost certain there’d be some Reborn
on the other side of the doors so she carefully pressed her ear against the
right one, listening intently for signs of habitation. It was difficult, as the
fire alarm was loud - as were the sounds of gunfire nearby - but she was certain
she heard movement of some kind. Melissa wasn’t sure what to do next. There was
some kind of conversation happening, plus a number of men moving about, but she
couldn’t get a clear insight on how many there were inside the room. Charging
in would likely be suicide, but on the other hand, she couldn’t wait forever.
Eventually, the Reborn would decide to execute the hostages or, worse, they’d
retreat and leave them for the infected. Melissa looked back up the corridor
and saw a utility closet and briefly wondered if there were some supplies she
could use in there, something that would be suitable for a distraction. Then
the answer presented itself. The other door was pulled open and the Reborn
soldier with the computer tablet stepped out. He was distracted, focusing on
the screen, and didn’t notice Melissa pressed against the right-hand wall. She
froze, held her breath, and waited for him to pass, and once the door swung
shut behind him, lunged. She let the assault rifle fall from her hands, to hang
from the strap across her shoulder, wrapped her left arm around his neck and
yanked hard. The tablet computer clattered the floor and his hands flew up to
wrap around her arm. As he struggled against her arm-lock, she pulled the
pistol from her holster and jammed it into his back under the armoured plate of
the ballistic vest.

“Stop!” Melissa hissed into his ear, and he
froze.

“Witness.” He stated softly.

“What’s your name?” Melissa demanded.

“Sebastian.” He replied, seemingly
unruffled.

“How many Reborn are in the theatre?”

“A few. Some of my brothers have gone to
battle the infected you unleashed from the casino.”

“Care to be a little more specific?”
Melissa asked. Sebastian laughed without humour.

“Not particularly.” He answered.

Melissa forced him to turn and walk towards
the backstage door.

“Don’t try anything. I don’t want to have
to kill you or anyone else.”

“They won’t care. Our cause is more
important than any one person’s life.”

Melissa gritted her teeth and hoped this
wasn’t truly the case.

“Open it.” She commanded, and Sebastian
calmly reached out and pushed open the door, then the pair stepped forward
awkwardly into the backstage area. Immediately, Melissa saw three Reborn
soldiers. Their weapons were raised, aiming straight at Melissa and Sebastian.

“Drop your weapons!” Melissa yelled, but
the Reborn ignored her, and instead moved to spread around the room. She
quickly surveyed her surroundings. On her left were three offshoot rooms that
were signed male dressing room, green room and female dressing room, from
closest to furthest. On her right a small staircase led, presumably, to the
stage floor. Various lights, crates and pieces of decor were stacked here and
there, but there was no sign of the hostages.

“I said, drop your weapons!” Melissa yelled
again, more dominantly this time. “Do it, or I’ll kill him!”

“You’ve a lot to learn about threats,
Witness.” One of the Reborn called back. “You need to have the will to carry
them out.”

“He’s right, Witness.” Sebastian taunted.
“Perhaps you’re not strong enough to see what’s coming. And perhaps we’ve made
a mistake placing our faith in you.”

Melissa felt her plan deteriorating
quickly. The fact that they were openly mocking her suggested they would soon
attack. Fortunately, she had kept the door open with her heel, and made a quick
decision. In one, smooth swift movement she took her arm away from Sebastian’s
throat and grabbed the pin on the stun grenade on his vest, which she’d noticed
when she first saw him, and pulled it out, leaving the grenade still attached
to his chest. She heard the grenade click as the safety bar broke away, and
then reared back, kicking Sebastian forward and using that momentum to dive
back through the door. She heard gunfire as she scrambled through, followed by a
very loud, disorientating blast, which was followed by a horrified, agony-laden
scream. The sound of the grenade made Melissa’s ears ring a little but she
wasn’t as deeply affected by it as the people on the other side of the doors,
so she got rapidly to her feet, snatched hold of the assault rifle at her side
and forced her way back into the room. The three Reborn who had been waiting
for her had been disorientated by the stun grenade: one had dropped to his
knees, one was waving his weapon wildly - so Melissa dropped low just in case
he began firing blind - and the third had ducked partially behind cover. On the
floor, bloodied and writhing in pain, lay Sebastian, his body smouldering
slightly.

Melissa quickly started moving, heading
into the doorway of the male dressing room for cover. As she did, she fired at
the soldier behind cover. The first few shots hit his body armour, and a fourth
clipped his shoulder. Seemingly less dazed by the stun grenade than his
comrades he raised his weapon and shot in her direction. Meanwhile, the central
soldier began firing erratically, his shots blasting holes in the walls and
imbedding in doors as Melissa slipped fully into the cover of the doorway. She
leaned around the corner and, lining up a quick headshot, executed the first
soldier as he tried to get tucked back into cover. She waited as the central
soldier completely emptied his weapon, firing at thin air. Hearing the telltale
click of the empty gun, Melissa lunged out and fired a single kill shot,
dropping him where he stood. She saw the final soldier aiming in her direction,
and reacted instinctively, firing a pair of shots at the upper thigh of his
left leg, causing him to cry out. As he collapsed, he dropped his weapon and
instead took hold of his wounded limb. Melissa saw a rapidly expanding pool of
blood forming beneath him and realized she’d clipped an artery. She walked over
to him, took aim, and fired a single round at his head, ending his suffering
and preventing his return as one of the infected.