Alaric’s mind flipped. It was clearly his son’s voice, but it was coming out of Voss’s mouth.
"Blaze?" Carr asked. "You mean the zombie—?"
Carr realized what he had just said and covered his mouth before he said more, but it was too late. Alaric stood up and grabbed Carr by the collar.
"Blaze is a zombie? What do you know about my son?!"
Mika tried to intervene but was grabbed by Voss, who watched the action eagerly.
"Get your hands off me!" Carr yelled, pushing Alaric back. "We can talk about it later. Can’t you see we have an issue at hand?"
Just then, Mika tossed Voss off his shoulder before pinning him to the ground. Voss’s shoulder snapped from the rough landing, but instead of pain, he kept laughing.
Carr took his rifle, pointed it at Voss’s head, while Alaric slumped to the ground, clutching his head. The realization that Blaze had turned into a zombie, and one that others knew about, dealt a blow to his mind.
"Blaze, tell me where he is!" Carr yelled, pushing the barrel against Voss’s forehead.
Despite the obvious threat of death, Voss kept laughing. In his mind, he was part of the rot, part of the dead. Why would he fear something he already belonged to?
Despite his bold stance, Carr was scared shitless. They had had multiple debriefings about Blaze back on the base.
He was one undead they were told never to cross paths with. Everyone sent to collect information about him had disappeared, assumed dead, to be honest.
Carr couldn’t believe his rotten luck to have stumbled upon that same entity.
To make things worse, he can now control humans?
He looked at Voss, and as he suspected, he didn’t have any sign of rot on his body. Yet, somehow he was following the will of a zombie.
Carr looked at Mika, and the two understood the implications of such a power.
The humans had barely begun getting a sense of normalcy back in their lives. While they were skeptical of one another, they had a common enemy to align against.
Now, if a human controlled by a zombie entered a settlement, then one could only imagine the chaos that would unfold.
No one would trust the other. Their unified goals would shatter overnight, and they’d be too busy fighting one another to fight the undead. Carr could only imagine what would happen then.
"We must inform the higher-ups about this," Carr said. "If possible... we should take him with us. For... studying."
Mika nodded, but it was easier said than done.
They were locked on a terrace in a building full of zombies. There was no way to go down, and it was unlikely the base would send more people to rescue them.
The lack of long-distance communication devices had become a bane to them.
"Let’s restrain him first," Carr said, taking off his jacket and turning it into a makeshift straitjacket for Voss.
Mika took his handkerchief and covered Voss’s eyes with it. If Blaze could control his mouth, it was likely he could also use his sensory organs.
After ensuring Voss couldn’t move, the two soldiers began looking for a way to escape. However, all they saw was a broken fire escape. Voss had brought them there knowing they’d be trapped.
"The fucker has been working with Blaze since the beginning!"
Enraged, Carr kicked the railing, and it broke right away. Only then did he realize one important thing they had forgotten.
While they only had physical reinforcement skills, it was enough to do something stupidly dangerous.
"Mika, help me out here," Carr said and began dismantling the railings.
Once they had gathered enough material, the two sat down and began twisting and linking the broken railing into a chain-like structure to help them climb down.
Engrossed in their work, they didn’t notice the sudden silence that had shrouded the building. The gunshots had ceased, and so were the snarls of the undead.
They realized something was wrong, but kept working as they didn’t have time to waste.
Until... they heard a crack.
"What was that noise?" Mika asked.
"Fuck, get your gun," Carr said, shoving the chain down.
It wasn’t enough to take them to the ground safely. The chain was dangling at the end of the fifth floor. They would have to either climb the rest of the way down using the window ledges or jump.
For Carr and Mika, it didn’t really matter. Even if they jumped from the fifth floor, they’d only get a sprain at worst. Thanks to their enhanced physiques. However, it wasn’t such a simple matter for Alaric.
The soldiers would have to carry both Alaric and Voss on their backs. It was the obvious thing to do.
"Grab that guy! I’ll take the doctor with me."
Mika nodded and flung Voss over his shoulders, but convincing Alaric wasn’t so easy.
The news about Blaze had certainly affected him. He had gone completely silent after the incident and didn’t respond to anything Carr did.
"I don’t have time for this."
Saying so, Carr hit Alaric in the back of the head, knocking him out. He did it partially to vent his frustration with the man and partially to protect him.
"What are you looking at?" Carr said to Mika. "Let’s get going now!"
The two grabbed the chain and began their descent.
As they climbed down, they noticed fresh blood splattered on all the floors, as seen through the broken windows.
"Lieutenant..." Mika mumbled. "That’s their blood, isn’t it?
Carr didn’t reply, finding no need to state the obvious. It was the blood of their squad members. Yet, surprisingly, there were no corpses.
"What could have happened to them?" Mika asked.
"You’ll find out if you don’t keep moving," Carr replied, with a light kick on Mika’s head.
They reached the next floor, but something felt strange. It took them longer to reach there compared to the other three floors. It was almost as if the floor was larger than the rest, but that couldn’t be true.
Then something even stranger happened.
"Wait... didn’t we climb this floor already?" Carr said, confused.
They were back on the previous floor!
Carr panicked and looked up, only to see someone standing on the railing, pulling the chain up.