The squad made their way to the second floor. Strangely enough, they could hear the groans of the undead, but were yet to find one.
As usual, Alaric remained in the center of a 3x3 file formation. It was to protect him and also to restrict his movement so he wouldn’t dash out after spotting a ’subject of curiosity’.
Carr and Mika, his right-hand man, led the group through the winding corridors, heading towards the research lab as Alaric wanted.
"What is it?" Carr asked.
"I think I have found something you’d be interested in," the soldier responded, pointing outside the window.
Carr walked to the window. A dozen or so zombies were standing around the bulky undead they had seen before. Even peculiar was the fact that they just stood there doing nothing.
"So many walkers won’t just appear out of nowhere," Carr said.
They all knew walkers were slow. Back when they were on the ground, there wasn’t a single one in sight. So, how come there were so many of them there now?
The obvious answer was they were waiting for something.
But walkers can’t plan ambushes. Their brains are as slow as their feet.
"Someone could be controlling them," Alaric chimed in, fixing his cracked glasses. "It will explain how a mighty zombie like the one we saw ended up dead."
After saying his piece, Alaric returned to his spot as if the matter didn’t concern him. All the while, the soldiers kept staring at one another, and then back at Alaric.
"Someone who controls the undead."
All of them had seen people with strange powers, but the power to control the undead somehow seemed fictional, even with all that had happened.
"Focus on the task," Carr said, trying to instill bravery in his soldiers. "We grab the equipment and we leave."
The soldiers nodded. They wanted to leave as well, but Carr wasn’t done speaking.
He pointed at two soldiers and continued, "You two, man the ground floor doors."
The soldiers hesitated. They wouldn’t have minded obeying the order before they saw the walkers and heard Alaric’s comment. But now, they were afraid that it might actually be an elaborate scheme to kill them.
"Either go down, or I’ll send you up to heaven. The choice is yours."
Carr couldn’t hold back and threatened the soldiers themselves. Having no other choice, the two sprinted down the stairs.
That wasn’t all. Carr deployed two soldiers on each floor they climbed. He didn’t tell them, but the soldiers were his alarms.
If Alaric’s observation was correct and someone wanted to swarm them, at least Carr would know about it. All of a sudden, the lives of his soldiers were as important as his own.
By the time they reached the fourth floor, only Carr, Alaric, and Mika were left in the group.
"At last," Alaric said, panting. "We are here."
"Alright, be quick," Carr reminded Alaric. "We have to leave fast. We’ll guard the exit."
Alaric rolled his eyes and entered the lab only to see a surprise waiting for him.
"Lieutenant, someone is in here!" he yelled.
Carr and Mika rushed inside, their rifles raised, ready for a fight. They thought it was a zombie. Instead, they saw a human. A weak and pale-looking guy, but definitely human.
The man remained sitting on the floor, with a table leg supporting his weight. His skin was pale, his cheeks sunken, and his clothes were torn and covered in dust and dried blood.
If not for their wooden torch, Carr would have put several bullets into his head, thinking he was a zombie. After all, everything about his malnourished physique screamed zombie.
"W-Wait," he said. "I’m... I’m human. Don’t shoot..."
Carr lowered his gun, but Mika held firm, just in case the man suddenly turned into a zombie.
"Stand back, doc," Carr said, pushing Alaric back. "Let me take a look first."
With that, he kneeled beside the man, noticing the ID card around his neck.
"Dr. Elliot Voss. It seems he worked here," Carr said, looking at Alaric.
"I have heard of him, but it’s the first time we’ve met," Alaric said, offering his hand to Voss. "But I’m glad we did. I have heard a lot about your work, Dr. Voss. I hope we can continue—"
"Sorry to cut your reunion short, but we are on a time constraint," Mika reminded them. "Let’s get what we need and move, with all due respect."
"You do not have to be a broken record—"
Alaric had barely said the words when Voss suddenly grabbed his collar.
"You... you have to leave," he said. "He’s here... he was waiting for more people to show up!"
Carr wanted to ask more about what was waiting, but gunshots tore through the silence, stopping him mid-sentence.
"They sounded from the ground floor!" Mika said, hurrying outside.
They had barely reached the stairs when more gunshots rang out. This time, from the first floor, along with the soldier’s screams.
"What’s going on down there?" Carr asked, hoping someone would respond, but all he heard were gunshots.
Within seconds, the gunshots lessened. His soldiers had stopped firing, which meant one thing.
Carr’s heart dropped as he grabbed Voss by the neck.
"What the hell is going on here!?"
"He-He’s here! He’s hunting them, hunting us!"
"Who is he? A human, a zombie, or a mutant? What!?"
"...he’s everything."
Carr threw Voss aside. His answers made him almost want to kill the brain-dead scientist.
"We need a path out," Alaric said, shaking Voss. "Do you know of a way?"
Voss pointed above with a shaky finger.
"T-The terrace should be safe... we can hide and wait it out."
As much as Carr didn’t like the plan, he didn’t have a choice in the matter. His soldiers were already dead, which meant fighting them was out of the question.
"Come on! GO! GO! GO!"
The four of them climbed the stairs. Within minutes, they reached a heavy door that led to the terrace.
"There’s a lock on it!"
Carr pushed Alaric away and began hitting the padlock with the butt of his rifle. Mika saw it and joined in. After three hits, the lock broke open.
They pushed the door and stepped into the night, but didn’t forget to close the door before falling on their asses.
While Alaric checked on Voss, Carr and Mika looked around for a ladder or a way down. However, there were none. They were trapped on the terrace.
"Looks like we’ll have to hold out until morning," Carr mumbled as he sat down against the railing.
"That won’t be necessary..."
A hoarse voice escaped Voss’s lips. It wasn’t his own. They knew that, but only Alaric reacted as if he had seen a ghost.
"This voice... Blaze...? How is it possible?!"