Nobody says a word, the sound of the static from the radio filling the room.
Then the voice comes again, still distorted and off sounding as if whoever is on the other end is struggling to speak. "Can..an-anyo-anyone h-h-hear me…?"
A mutual look of recognition passes between the two soldiers.
"Isn't that Simon?" Angel questions, getting a nod from the other soldier.
"Who's Simon? Max cuts in.
The older soldier looks at him. "He was part of a team that got sent before we did, a few streets over. Signal was lost out of nowhere…I assumed they got killed already. I guess he survived somehow."
Before another word can be said, the radio crackles to life again.
"Please…he-help…inju-injured survi-survivors…h-here…" The voice breaks, the pitch awkward, yet it sounds human.
"We got to help them!" Connor says, his voice laced with worry.
"What if it's bait, though?" Max retorts. "One screech and we'll be swarmed by those things!"
The older soldier grabs the radio and presses the button. "Simon, this is Leon; please state your location."
"Ven-venue ba-basement." Simon's voice responds after a beat.
The group stays quiet, their tired eyes all focusing on the radio before looking at one another.
"Okay, let's go and get them," Leon speaks up, putting the radio on his belt.
Max, who has a suspicious look in his eyes, speaks up. "I don't trust it. I'm staying here; this is how people die in horror movies!"
Luna nods in agreement and adds, "And everything since last night has been a damn horror movie! I'm staying too!"
Leon just nods. "Fine, anyone else who's planning to stay?" he questions, scanning the group.
"I'm going. Not gonna let more people die," Connor answers.
Zephyr eyes him for a moment, surprised that Connor, who's usually a coward, is willing to come along.
Zephyr then nods. "Same here."
Connor raises an eyebrow, feeling concerned. "You sure?"
Zephyr gives a half-hearted shrug. "Could use a distraction."
"I'll come too," Raven speaks up.
Angel loads a full magazine into his rifle. "You're not going alone."
Leon nods. "Okay, stay close together, stay low and silent. Keep your eyes peeled; we won't assume anything is human until we are 100% sure."
Max leans against the wall, a worried look in his eyes. "Just…be careful, yeah?"
Raven looks at Max, giving a reassuring smile. "We'll be fine." She tells him, but Max doesn't seem fully convinced.
Zephyr looks at Max. "Can I have my pocketknife back now? So I can at least defend myself."
Max hesitates for a second, not sure if it's smart to give Zephyr a weapon in his current state of mind but reluctantly pulls it out the pocket of his jacked and tosses it to him.
"Just don't go stab anyone," He mutters.
Zephyr catches it and flips it open to check the blade before stashing it in his hoodie pocket, giving a nod of thanks.
Raven grabs her bass, holding it like a bat while Connor adjusts the grip on the flashlight before signaling they're ready, their hands trembling slightly.
Leon pushes open the door and peaks out of it. The dark hallway is lit only by the early morning sun streaming in through the open emergency exit. The smell of blood and death fills the air but nobody acknowledges it, being used to the smell now by sleeping close to Matt's dead body.
The quiet groans and shuffling still echo as a few stragglers move around the building.
They slowly move through the building, moving carefully not to make a sound. the two soldiers in the front while the others follow them.
Leon eyes the ajar doors, half expecting something to jump out of it any second
They pass the concert hall, lively just hours before, now smeared with blood, overturned chairs and gore. On the stage, drums are knocked over, mic stands and amps lying on the floor along with the barricades.
"Weird to think that we were jamming off just hours ago…" Connor softly comments.
Connor's comment hangs in the air as they move past the bloodied concert hall, when a faint creaking sound stops them in their tracks.
Slow, sluggish footsteps echo throughout the concert hall and the group hides behind a couple of knocked over chairs.
Zephyr peaks over the edge and his breath catches in his throat as he spots the familiar figure of one of the security guards, Adam stumbling around the concert hall, a huge chunk out of his neck missing and his right hand has been torn off. His uniform is torn and covered in blood while his skin is pale and a bit of drool hangs out of his mouth as he kneels down to pick up a leg lying on the ground.
Suddenly Zephyr hears Leon's voice whispering from behind him.
"Take him down."
Zephyr blinks and looks over, a surprised look in his eyes. "Me? Why me?"
"You're the only one with a knife," Leon gestures to the pocket Zephyr stuffed it earlier. "And we don't wanna waste a bullet on him and alert more of them to our location."
Zephyr reluctantly gets up, his grip tightening around his pocket knife as he pulls it out and flicks it open.
He pushes the bangs out of his eyes as he approaches behind the infected Adam while the others watch from behind the chairs. He holds his breath as he gets close, afraid of what might happen if Adam hears him.
Adam is kneeling down, tearing into flesh of a leg, blood covering his face and dripping onto the floor. Zephyr raises the knife, ready to finish the job.
But he can't…
He looks at Adam, and there's something painfully human still inside.
Suddenly, the pocket knife gets snatched out his hand and driven into Adam's skull.
The infected jerks one time before crumpling to the floor as Leon hands the now bloodied pocket knife back to Zephyr.
"You hesitated." he says flatly, not judging or angry, just stating a fact.
"H-he just looked too human." Zephyr responds, unable to meet his eyes.
"You better remind yourself that it isn't, if it knew you were there, you would've been torn apart."
Zephyr wipes the blood off on his pants leg before putting it in his pocket. He doesn't say anything, he just nods.
Connor quickly walks over and puts a reassuring hand on Zephyr's shoulder. "Don't worry too much about it, I wouldn't have been able to do it too, it's okay."
Leon turns to the others. "Come on, the basement's not far."
The group nods and starts moving again. Zephyr stops for a moment to look back at the dead body, lying in a pile of blood. This is the first time he has been asked to take a life, even though that life is technically already gone, it still gnaws at him.
Raven notices him stopping and gives Zephyr a silent look of support before both continuing.
At the end of the hall was the basement door, barely cracked open.
Leon reaches for the handle, but pauses to listen first. All he hears is the distant moaning of a few stray infected from somewhere in the building.
He gestures to the group to be careful of what might be on the other side before pulling the door open, a low creak breaking the silence, but no screech follows.
Connor clicks the flashlight on and shines down the stairs, the beam cutting through the darkness like a knife through butter.
Leon goes down first with Connor behind him to light the way, the other three following behind them.
The basement is filled with all types of broken equipment, like amps, extra drumheads, mixers, cables and speakers.
The group starts to explore the basement, but they can't find Simon.
Leon grabs the radio from his belt and quietly speaks up. "Simon? We're here, but we can't find you."
A giggle suddenly echoes through the basement before a reply comes from the radio.
"But I see you…"
A loud BANG echoes nearby as something swings open violently, making the group turn towards the source of the sound, Connor's flashlight shining on a vent on the ceiling that now is open.
Suddenly an agonizing scream echoes through the room and everyone quickly realizes it's Leon's voice. They quickly turn around and, as the light shines on Leon, their eyes almost pop out of their skulls in horror.
There's a gaping hole in his chest as a bloody hand sticks out his chest and is grasping his still beating heart, veins and arteries stretching like roots torn from soil.
Leon stares wide eyed, a half breath catching in his throat. He tries to speak but all that comes out is blood dripping down his chin as blood leaks out the gaping hole and stains his uniform.
His heart spasms once, twice and then stops, his hands loosen on his rifle, letting it clatter onto the ground and his legs buckling as darkness takes over his vision.
The group watches in stunned silence as Leon's lifeless body crumples to the ground. Connor's flashlight still shines in front of them, revealing a soldier of shorter stature and a thinner build, though still possessing a bit of muscle.
His torn, blood-soaked outfit clings onto his frame, his helmet, the chin straps hanging loosely as his face is partially obscured by tangled hair. A bulletproof vest covers his chest, a radio strapped to his shoulder and a M17 sitting in his belt holster. Dog tags are still hanging around his neck and he's missing one of his boots.
His skin is unusually pale, left eye is hanging out of his socket and a part of his jaw is missing. A couple of his fingers have been torn off and his stomach has been ripped open, exposing his intestines.
Leon's heart is clutched tightly with his undead fingers. He then looks from the heart, to Leon's body, to the group, who's still frozen in horror before a twisted smile appears on his face.
"Oh sorry, did this belong to your friend?" He asks mockingly, in the same voice the group heard on the radio before taking a bite of the heart, staining the area around his mouth and his teeth with blood and smacking his lips loudly just to mock Leon's fate.
Angel is the first one to snap out of it and aims his rifle at the thing's head with trembling hands. "That's not Simon…"
Simon tilts his head inhumanly far with a grin plastered across his undead face. "Oh, but I am still Simon, just new and improved."
Angel pulls the trigger, the muzzle lighting up the room briefly, but because of his shaky hands, he misses the infected by just a few inches.
"Awww... Almost got me!" Simon teases, licking blood off his lips like its jam, meanwhile a few loud screeches and footsteps echo from above them.
"Angel, you alerted the whole venue to our location!" Raven shouts in panic.
"Then fucking run!" Angel retorts as he quickly slings his rifle onto his shoulder before he starts to run. The others don't have to be told twice as they immediately start running, too.
Connor trips over an amp, dropping his flashlight in the process, but Zephyr quickly drags him to his feet and they keep running. The dropped flashlight allows the group to see Simon dropping into a crawl and launching towards them.
Angel pulls out his pistol and fires blindly at the figure chasing them, but he misses each time.
As they arrive at the bottom of the stairs, they see a couple of infected stumbling through the door.
"Shit!" Angel shoots a few of his pistol rounds, the bullet shells flying out the ejection port as the infected stumble down the stairs, leaving a trail of blood behind.
The group runs up the stairs and steps over the corpses, hearing Simon hot on their trails. Raven is the last one to get upstairs and slams the door shut. Simon slams into it with a sickening crunch, the door shaking violently on its hinges.
"Hey look!" Connor suddenly calls out and points to the other side of the hallway.
When the others look over to see a group of infected run from the concert hall entrance towards them, growling and snapping their jaws.
The group's breath freezes in their throat as the undead surges from both sides. Simon pounding on the door behind them, the hinges struggling to hold back the threat and a pack of infected running at them, some tripping and immediately getting trampled by the others.
Connor's voice, a trembling whisper, barely breaks the silence.
"We're so dead, aren't we?"