Zombies Vs Aliens: Respawn

Chapter 9.1

Chapter 9

            I had no sense of time. The world filled with smoke and dust, chunks of cement pelted my face and arms. A large section of the wall collapsed on us. I lost sight of Fred, as J.D. kicked back, bracing the slab of concrete to keep it from crushing us, gritting his teeth against the strain. I followed suit, feeling my feet slide across the dirt. The weight was immense, increasing with each second that ticked by, but the wall provided shelter from the majority of the debris whipping around. The sound reverberated through my skull, throbbing beneath my skin. Was it my imagination or was the rubble flying upward? 

            We were going to be crushed, the pressure kept increasing. J.D. and I were nearly bent in half, Wolf Girl curled up in a ball in his lap, when the all-consuming roar abruptly stopped. Chunks of cement, splinters of metal and wood rained down, the last tinkling noise as silence descended. The pressure had stopped increasing, but neither of us could straighten. I felt the wall at my back as J.D. attempted to move, unable to budge it.

            "Now what do we do?" He grumbled, his voice shaky. "Where's the idiot?"

            "I swear we need to put a bell on that kid," I said lightly, refusing to entertain the idea Fred didn't make it. He couldn't survive getting a hole blown through his chest to get taken out like this. My thoughts turned to Wolf Girl, pinned down between us, whimpering softly but still conscious. She sported a few shallow cuts from the storm of debris but was relatively unscathed. How long did I have before she turned? I had to clarify matters with J.D. now, before he had a gun in his hand again.

            "They bit her," I said. J.D. didn't respond. I gave him a sidelong glance since I couldn't turn my head against the weight of the slab. "Did you hear me?"

            "What do you want me to do about it, Li?" He didn't look at me, but his tone was weary. "If you ask me to kill her, I don't think I can."

            "I'm asking you not to kill her, until I figure something out."

            He tensed, jerking his head around to scan my face. "Are you implying what I think you are? You can't be serious." His movement shifted the weight at our backs, but not enough to sit up.

            "I so don't want to get into this with you right now," I grunted, failing to gain more leverage when I shifted my legs. My curiosity got the better of me, my mouth carrying on despite the warning bells going off in my head. "Why are you so against the idea? You want her to be a mindless corpse?"

            "Do you want her to be damned to this existence?"

            "Is this a religious talk? Are we talking immortal souls right now, because, buddy, I don't think you want to hear my thoughts on the subject." Nope, couldn't handle this. Why did I open my mouth?

            "No!" J.D. snapped, "This girl can't even talk, she can't make a choice, and you're going to just force it on her?" A glimmer of understanding hit me. This was a man who'd tried to kill himself rather than live like this; he would have a problem with this course of action.

            "I won't do that to her," I said, and I meant it. Somewhat. I wouldn't force feed her brains, but if she happened to be near an alien and feel the urge come upon her, I wouldn't stop her. Lead the horse to water and all that jazz. I don't know if J.D. believed me or not, but he let the issue drop.

            "Hey," he began, clearly seeking to shift the subject, "any sign of Fred?"

            I ignored the annoying twinge at the mention of our M.I.A comrade. Did I miss the idiot? Crap, I think somewhere along the line Fred grew on me, like a fungus. "No, doesn't mean he's down for the count. He's proved hard to kill."

            "Yeah about that, you notice anything different about him?" J.D.'s voice was hesitant. He didn't know how to broach the subject, which meant he thought it was a doozy. Good grief, what now?

            "Different how?" I said, squinting at him.

            He didn't have a chance to answer as the crumbling wall lifted off us. Scratch that, the wall went flying off us, coming away so fast we both toppled backwards. We looked up at Fred who dropped to his knees beside us, his expression awash in relief. The guy was a mess, coated in ash and grime, sewer water leaving dark streaks on his skin. His face was so filthy his eyes stood out in blazing contrast, wide and panicked.

            "I thought you were all crushed," he said, looking us over. I gaped at him, trying to wrap my head around how fast he pulled the freaking wall off us. "Is, uh, Lannie still alive?"

            "Yes, Wolf Girl is currently among the living," J.D. grimaced, rising to a sitting position. "Now where are my damn guns?" He scanned our surroundings. "Huh."