We’re almost to the police station
and there hasn’t been one single flesh zombie in sight. This feels so wrong
compared to before where I couldn’t look in a single direction without seeing
one of those things, but the town seems completely empty now. It makes sense because
of what we just fought though it feels like there should be more. This makes things
difficult for me in how I need to get rid of her. I’m hoping that either the
people in the helicopter or in Curaga will change their mind if I can convince
them that she can come with me. They must have seen what happened. They must
know that she can be useful.
She’s sticking close to me while
looking around and looking down at the ground every few seconds. Poor girl just
lost her home and everyone she knew. There has to be something I can do.
“We’re here,” Clarrisa says as we
arrive at the front of the police station.
This place isn’t heavily barricaded
so it’s easy to slip into. The inside of the station barely has any blood in it
and the place is mostly clean with a few things lying around as if someone was trying
to leave after a normal Friday and they just wanted to go home. We pass by the
armory and find that most of the guns are gone, but we do find some ammo and
leftover grenades.
“We should take these just in case,”
I say.
“You don’t think there are more out
there, do you?”
“Better to be safe than sorry.”
“My dad always said that. He always
warned me not to get into danger unless I knew I could get out.”
“He’s a smart man. I told my own daughter
something similar.”
“You have a daughter?”
“Yeah. She has an incurable disease.”
“Is this job to help her?”
“Yes, it is.”
“I have a feeling you know more
about this outbreak of flesh zombies than you let on. Is it true?”
Why does she really have to ask me
this now?
She continues, “I know you’re an experienced
officer, so you must be trained in knowing when someone’s lying, but that also must
mean you know how to lie. You’ve been leaving just enough details in what you
say and enough honesty in your voice to convince me that you’re an honest man,
so be honest with me.”
“Your dad taught you how to be a
good cop. I’m sure he’s proud of you.”
“Dad didn’t raise his daughter to
be an airhead. Give me an honest answer.”
“The honest truth is that I was
sent here to retrieve part of a cure that caused this outbreak, but the people
who worked with us rebelled because they wanted the credit and fame for
themselves. The cure itself can cure millions of people including my daughter,
but when it’s separate, it’s deadly. Don’t blame the cure makers. Just blame
the selfish pricks who didn’t want to cooperate because they weren’t going to
get the credit they wanted.”
“Can you tell me who you work for?”
“You can figure that out on your own.
A helicopter is coming here to pick me up with half the cure, but they don’t
want anyone coming with me because they don’t trust you. That’s why you have to
escape on your own.”
“They’re not much of a company that
wants to help people if they want to leave me for dead.”
“They don’t want you dead. They
just would rather you didn’t know who they were because you might not understand
that it wasn’t their fault.”
“If that’s the way it’s going to be,
then I will figure it out on my own.”
“I know you will. Now, go get a vehicle
and leave.”
“Fine.”
Clarrisa leaves with her weapons.
She’s going to find the answers she wants or Curaga is going to find her. I
just know it. I hope they don’t do anything bad…oh no.
“Watch out!”
A large tendril is about to hit
Clarrisa through a window, so I push her out of the way before it hits her.
“Clarrisa!”
“I’m okay!”
“Get out of here! Hurry!”
“How about you follow your own
advice, old man?!”
Right. I head up the stairs as tendrils
begin to pierce through them. Is that atrocity from before still alive or is this
a different one? Whatever the answer is, I’m sure I’ll find out soon. When I
get up to the roof, I look into the distance to see my helicopter, but when I look
off one ledge I almost get hit with a tendril. I throw a few grenades I have
off the ledge and after they all blow up, I slowly approach the ledge and look
down to see a mess of burnt flesh, body parts, faces, and mouths. It’s definitely
the same atrocity as before, but it’s smaller now and looks as if it cut off part
of itself. Maybe it knew to do that so it could survive. There’s some kind of
heart or core in the center of the mess that has veins connecting it together.
I shoot at it and nothing happens. Even my last couple grenades don’t do
anything.
Suddenly, I hear my helicopter and before
I know it, it’s landing on the roof. When I look back down, I see that the
atrocity is regenerating. My fire bullets are probably the only good weapon I can
use. I then see a police car driving away. She finally gets out, but the atrocity
gets up and runs with its many legs after Clarrisa. My normal bullets don’t do anything
on the charred legs and body, and it’s already too far for my pistol shots to
hit it. Damn it!
“Get in the chopper already!” I
hear someone from the helicopter say.
I can’t do anything to help her now.
Unless…
I get into the helicopter and tell
the pilot, “Chase after that police car! That officer needs help!”
“Okay, but we aren’t stopping. Use
the turret if you really want to do some real damage.”
I quickly get to the turret and
unload whatever I can as we fly over Clarrisa, but I can only land so many shots
that slow the atrocity down by a little. If only I had used my fire bullets on
the core when I had the shot, then she wouldn’t have had any trouble escaping. It
sounds like she’s taking sharp turns as she tries to dodge the atrocity. It’s
on her tail. Come on Clarrisa…
“You still have half the cure,
right?” the pilot asks.
“I got it.”
“It’s amazing that you survived. I
heard that it was Hell on earth down there.”
“It was. I got out by the skin of
my teeth thanks to a group of cops.”
“Is that who was in that car?”
“Yeah. There’s only one of them
that survived.”
“That’s tough. They’re going to
have a slim chance of survival especially with what’s coming next.”
“What do you mean?”
“They didn’t tell you? Here, use this
comm device to ask them.”
The pilot gives me a communication
device and I say into it, “This is Retto. I’m aboard the helicopter a-”
“We’re so glad you escaped, Mr.
Retto. We knew we could rely on you. You’re just in time as well.”
“In time for what?”
“We were going to tell you, but we
thought you already had so much rushing you that we thought it was better not
to tell you about the nuke coming in.”
“Nuke?!”
“That’s the only way to truly clean
the city. Any other way would just risk another outbreak.”
“Delay it! I rescued an officer who
is trying to avoid an abomination of flesh while trying to escape.”
“Then we can only pray and hope
that the officer escapes. We cannot call off the nuke especially since we’ve
already pulled so many strings to get it deployed in the first place.”
I hit the side of the helicopter.
“Damn it! I should’ve brought her
with me. If you only let me bring her with me-”
“Then you would’ve been in greater
danger. We don’t believe in the exchange of lives, but you must think about the
lives that will be saved with what you have. Don’t worry about the woman. If
you think she is capable, she will escape.”
“Tch.”
“We will be seeing you soon with
your reward, Mr. Retto, and don’t look directly into the explosion of the nuke,
otherwise, you’ll be blinded.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
About thirty seconds pass before
the town is nuked. I look at the aftermath and see that everything around the town
is destroyed too. I guess the explosion had to be massive in order to destroy any
infected creatures that might’ve wandered out of the town. Clarrisa is a smart
girl, but I don’t know if she made it. If she did die…I don’t know. I can’t let
myself worry about it now.
In the following days, my daughter
is cured and is now perfectly healthy along with millions of other people. Even
though I didn’t help in making the cure, my name is included with the others
who did make it, which has given me some fame in the industry and government. I’m
also set for life with the amount of money that Curaga has given me along with
free healthcare, which is a nice bonus, however, I can’t get the events I went
through out of my head.
My daughter and I now live in a
nice small house for the two of us filled with all the things she wants.
Pictures of my family, accomplishments, and all her toys and dolls in shelves
for everyone to see. I don’t care for the look of the house, but I put my foot
down when she suggests things such as putting up purple, red, and pink curtains
all over the house to make it look fancier. My daughter goes to a special
school to catch up on what she missed, and she’s doing well. I didn’t expect anything
less from my daughter.
Speaking about daughters, Clarrisa
is still on my mind. My daughter keeps reminding me of her because she wants to
be an officer like me and acts tough and asks questions like how Clarrisa did.
It may just be me being too hard on myself, but I could’ve saved more people if
I actually used my fire bullets. I didn’t because I was afraid of exposing myself
and risking my daughter’s life. Sure, the lives of millions of others were at
stake, but in my mind, if I can’t save a single life, then I can’t save anyone.
I’ve talked to psychiatrists at Curaga and they’ve told me to be easier on
myself and the priests I see tell me the same. I guess I should just let it go,
but I feel like I’m turning my back on my calling since I do nothing nowadays besides
reading theology and philosophy books, instead of looking for guard jobs or at
least trying to get back into law enforcement.
On one normal day, I get a knock at
the door. A man dressed in a casual suit greets me and says, “We at Curaga have
uses for your skills again if you wish to aid in the saving of more lives. What
do you say, Mr. Retto?”
We talk about the pay and who will
take care of my daughter then I say, “I accept, but please, call me Mr. Morte.”
The End
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