Chapter 23 - Death

Thunder roared and lighting flashed and struck. Lights flickered and alarms blared, zombies growled and people screamed as I walked by. The rain pelting harshly on my skin.

I couldn't use the ID watch to warp yet, apparently I wasn't within distance. Not sure why that mattered when the whole point of warping was to get somewhere quicker.

People called me a monster when I ignored their cries for help, some even cursed me. 

I came to a stop as the ID watch finally said warp ready and searched for my destination coordinates.

D1 gate, coordinates 37.2348° N, 115.8089° W.

I tapped warp and was instantly transported to a warp station directly in front the D1 gate.

"Get out of the way!!" A man desperately yelled at me.

I looked in his direction only to find him being chased by an unusually fast mutant zombie with multiple mouths. I took a slight step back and put out my foot.

The man didn't expect it and tripped. He looked at me in horror as he said his last words, "Why would you-"

The mutant pounced, it's multiple mouths ripping into the man as he screamed in agony, attracting any nearby zombies.

I tripped him because a status window prompted me to do so. True to her words, The End only walked with me. After her help in the car she didn't say anything, all she did was stare at me. I wasn't sure if she could see the arrows or status windows as well but I had to depend on those as guides.

I bent down to pick up a key that fell from the man's pocket and his phone. D1 most likely didn't have any zombies, it was a heavily guarded government district after all. 

The man's phone lit up as I took his severed finger and scanned it. Today was Thursday, that meant I had been asleep for four days when I awoke in that parking lot, and three hours from when Demi left. And from what I'm seeing on the news the government wasn't able to push back the zombies that flooded this area. The last notice was aired two days ago. It looks like they've given up on this place.

I walked around the still feasting zombie to a part of the gate that the arrows pointed me to. It was hard to see and I normally wouldn't have noticed anything like it any other day, but there was a small keyhole on the gate. I doubt that it could've opened up the entire thing, but then I recalled Demi telling me about a secret passage. Figures that the guy who I tripped was some high ranking person.

Wasting no time, I slid the key into the keyhole and it turned with a click. A few seconds later it made whooshing kind of noise, went back slightly and then raised up. 

I let out a beath, turned the music all the way up on the phone and threw it through the gate.

"What the hell?" Someone said, but soon zombies flooded the gate. 

Screams, gunshots and growls filled the previously eerie silence as I stared at the status window counting down. I wonder what Lia would say if she saw what I was doing. She knew I would do anything for her and Demi, but maybe she thought I had lines I would never cross. 

I blinked the thought away, I didn't want to think about if she'd be disappointed in me or not.

As the count down hit zero I walked into the mayhem I caused. This district was a strack contrast to the previous. Everything was so...white. All the buildings, cars, even the plants and clothing worn by the guards. It all seemed so lifeless. Though that's ironic considering all the screams that filled the air.

Tanks were rolling in, helicopters, fighter jets, the whole shebang. It resembled those war zones that I've always read about in school. 

Normally it'd be impossible to even try to find cover in this chaos. But I've been doing the impossible this entire time. I followed the arrows as they directed me towards an extremely tall white tower in the centre of the city.

There weren't any guards in sight. They must've sent everyone to subdue the zombies that got through the gate. I guess they didn't want to take any chances.

I started wondering how I'd get inside the tower, when the doors opened and a guard walked out. He died instantly as I shot him in his head, his body fell at the doorway holding the door open.

Whatever this synchronisation thing is, it was helpful. I was able to run for longer and I shoot a gun and not worry about recoil.

I stepped over his body and took a cautious look around. There weren't any people in sight, strange.

I followed the arrows for a long time, up many flights of stairs and through many doors. Though on the outside the building looked like a simple tower, when you stepped inside it was a huge labyrinth. I was questioning why all the doors were unlocked when I came to a stop.

Checkpoint, that's what the status window said.

Main laboratory, read the door plate.

I took a step forward and the door slid up. "Demi!" I exclaimed as soon as I entered the room.

He turned to me, a plateau of emotions on his face, surprise, relief, confusion and something else that I couldn't name.

"What-" 

Before he could even form a full sentence that man's voice interpreted, "Stop right there."

I heard the stomping of boots and suddenly, I was surrounded, guns pointed at me from every direction.

"This was an unexpected surprise. You were supposed to transported here by my men, not waltzing in on your own," he said, scrutinising me.

I gave him a sickeningly sweet smile as I responded, "Next time you'll be sure to inform your men to tie up the person they're kidnapping."

"Noted. Now let's make this easier on the both of us, you've become a valuable research subject, unfortunately. So I'd prefer if I didn't have to use force," he gestured to the guards.

"I'll have to decline your offer, father," I spat the last part out mockingly.

"Don't you dare call me that you unwanted child!" He seethed angrily, "Do you how many years of research I put into that serum? Out of everyone why did you have to be a potential success? To think our survival depends on a useless child!"

"Don't talk to her that way, you bastard," Demi defended.

He raised his hand and someone fired at him, "That's returning the favor from earlier."

Demi let out a curse and held his bleeding shoulder. My eyes widened as I was a minutes away from panicking, if we weren't surrounded I would've ran to him already. But I forced myself to calm down, I couldn't put him in anymore danger.

"I'll come along as soon as you treat him," I gritted out.

"No!" He said immediately, "It's just a scratch...if I knew he was lying earlier I wouldn't have....I'm sorry May..."

"Sorry for what?" I asked, worried.

Silence fell and the man who's supposed to be my father said in disgust, "All this soft nonsense is going to make me throw up. Your boyfriend and I struck a deal, he gives me the codes to a certain project and I give you the antidote to serum 079....there is no antidote by the way."

"What project?" I asked as dred filled me, the status windows weren't showing up and there weren't any arrows either. The End was quiet too.

"The mechanization project of course, being a human I was vulnerable and had to cower in fear of everyone above me. Now I was the one above everyone...except that person but I'm fine with that. I get to do my experiments and they get what want," he said in elation as he hugged himself. 

"And in response to your ultimatum," he paused, his high simmering as he walked over to me, "No."

I heard a squelching sound and felt something warm run down my stomach followed by a stinging sensation as he walked passed me.

"Huh?" I looked down, a gaping whole in my stomach as I slumped to the ground.

"MAY!!!" I heard Demi yelling but he sounded distant. There was a loud ringing in my ears and I felt so cold too. I couldn't feel my limbs, I couldn't feel...anything.

Ah...I was dying. Slowly, painfully. I could feel my blood run out of my body. Unlike common knowledge my life didn't flash before my eyes. It was only a second, after I had slumped to the ground I had only breathed for a second more.

I had died.