AM13 Outbreak Shorts

Crackdown - Seventeen

My heart pounds against my rib cage, my breaths fall short before they can leave my mouth, my blood is absolutely icy cold. What the hell is going on here? In a world that's falling apart, where it's humans against the monsters, why would someone have a gun in my back? I'm one of the good guys.

"I...I..." I raise my hands above my head in a surrendering gesture. "I, erm..."

"Come with me." The voice behind me is gruff. Do I recognize it? I try to rack my brains but I don't know enough. "We need to talk."

I do as commanded. I mean, what else am I supposed to do? I have a freaking gun digging into me. Even being a cop, this isn't something I'm used to. All I can concentrate on is keeping the whole situation as calm as humanly possible.

"Where are we going?" I ask quietly, mainly because I want to hear his voice again.

"In here, where it's safe."

Immediately, it becomes clear that the person with the gun isn't alone. In this dark shed-type building I can see the shadows of other people. Of course I'm freaked. It doesn't matter if I'm the strongest person in the world, if this is a bunch of people who want to take me down then I'm screwed. I can't even make a run for it because that's a surefire way to dive into death.

I'm trying my hardest not to end up with a bullet in my brain.

"Oh, my God!" someone else declares, and it's a voice I definitely recognize. "Is that Oliver? Thank God."

He comes into view and my entire body fills with relief. "Rhys!" I gasp, glad that I've found the group without even really trying. "What happened to you guys? I've been really worried."

"Worried?" As the person behind me sneers, I turn to see Jordan with a cocky attitude flooding from him. "Why would you worry about us? I haven't seen you care about anyone but yourself."

"Jordan, stop it!" Rhys rolls his eyes dramatically. "You dragged us all out here, convincing us that Oliver didn't have our best interests at heart because the prison is getting too crowded. You told us that we would do better on our own, and we've failed. We've failed so hard. It's only been a few hours but already we're all cold, hungry, and bitching at each other like nobodies' business. Oliver is here now." He indicates towards me as if to highlight his point. "He's come here for a reason, to find us. I think it's time for us to give up this bullshit mission and go back home."

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Jordan drags the gun out of my back, allowing me to breathe a little easier, but he waves it in the air dangerously. "We can't go back now!"

He has mad eyes, I only need to look at him to see that. I didn't know him before, I haven't known him too much now, but he seems to be tilting towards the edge. The apocalypse is crushing his spirit and transforming him into something that he probably never thought he would be.

Since I'm the only freaking adult here, it's up to me to sort it. "You can come back," I say softly. "Everyone wants you to come back. No one wants you to be out here in danger." I look around at the others, all of them look terrified. "It's much worse than you thought it was going to be, isn't it?"

Jordan folds his arms across his chest, almost as if he's trying to keep the gun close to him. Not that I want it particularly, I just feel like it would be better away from him.

"No, I don't think it is worse actually."

"Oh right...so you didn't see that massive crowd of infected congregating around the prison?" I take one step closer to him. "You haven't been running scared forever?"

"We have," Rhys intercepts before Jordan can say anything else. I guess he doesn't want his friend to deny it again. "That's why we couldn't come back in. It looked so bad. How did you get out? How are you planning to get back in?"

I don't take my eyes off of Jordan, but I speak mainly to Rhys. He seems to be the most reasonable one here right now. "I don't know yet. But one way or another, I'm going to do it. There's no way in hell I'm going to let all the people in there die. Not when the human race is dwindling so badly. But to make it happen, I think I'm going to need your help. What do you say guys? You in?"