Necrocide

Chapter 82

Several minutes ago, Kat abandoned her position down in the Commons. Shaw recommended she find that evidence Aaron found from the Ambrosia Project to show the citizens of Lovecraft Babel Tower once they arrived. It was a dangerous journey just to reach the stairwell, as she had to take out nine Deadmen and watch four of her fellow DZI get ripped apart by them. Fortunately, her quick reflexes and sniper rifle kept her alive.

She considered for a moment taking the elevator since most of Matheson's citizens had evacuated to the buses, but there were too many worse-case scenarios if it went wrong. Deadmen could pile up inside the elevator with her. There could be some waiting for her on the seventh floor where her flat was located. The cables hoisting the elevator up could give out at any second. So she bolted up the stairs with her guns at the ready.

"Please still be there," she told herself in reference to the evidence.

There was blood all over the stairs the farther she went up. A Deadman or two would occasionally jump out at her, but she always took them out. Since they were always up close, she could only use either her handgun or her bare hands, which she used twice to send two Deadmen flying over the rails to their deaths. She was too determined to find that evidence.

Eventually, she reached the seventh floor. After gunning down two Deadmen, both of whom she recognized as her old neighbors, she ran down the hallway to her flat. Apartment 713. The door was left ajar.

Kat slowly nudged the door further open, gun in hand. Her old flat was a mess. The settee was overturned in the middle of the room. Her bedsheets and mattress were thrown about and dangling off the frame. A dead DZI soldier lay at the edge of the bed frame, his head wading in a pool of blood. Kat turned him over and found a bite mark on his neck and his skull depleted of eyes, instead revealing bloody sockets. He used his MercyMark.

"Rest in peace, Unwin," she said, placing her hand on her heart to offer her condolences.

The moment was ruined when a Deadman, revealed to be another dead DZI, leaped from the shadows and tackled Kat to the floor. The undead DZI soldier had a crude bite mark on his shoulder and a long slash across his throat. Kat also spotted a bloody razor on the floor in the bathroom.

"Don't worry, mate," she told the Deadman as she held him back. "You'll get your rest." Then she shot him in the head and pushed him off. Her old comrade wouldn't suffer any longer.

Now that her enemies were out of the way, she stood back up and studied the floor to find the case of evidence. Once she found it, she opened it up to make sure nothing was lost. The binder, the recorders, and all the papers were still there. She closed it shut and walked out of the room, never to enter it again.

Before she could return to the Commons to take her last stand against the Deadmen, she heard a loud clatter echo through the tower, like metal slamming against metal. She placed the suitcase down against the wall and leaned against the rails. She gazed up at the sky, the sun not even fully out yet.

And then Schaefer came into view, holding Aaron by his neck above the ten-story drop.

"It was a pleasure knowing you, O'Connor," Schaefer told Aaron.

"Shit!" Kat whispered as she brought out her sniper rifle. She aimed it up at the two of them and pressed her eye into the scope.

"I'd shake your hand if you still had the physical ability to move your limbs," Schaefer continued. "And I'll make sure to remember you once I see your corpse splattered across the pavement of the Commons."

As Kat aimed her rifle at her former colleagues, she couldn't decide where to fire. If she shot Aaron, he'd be put out of his misery and wouldn't have to suffer from the infection any longer. However, she'd be filled with guilt for killing one of the greatest friends she's ever had. If she shot Schaefer, she could be ridding the world of one of the most dangerous people in recent history but ultimately tarnish her loyalty to the DZI. Plus, there was the fact he was the closest thing she had to a father before meeting Aaron and his friends.