literature

We 4 Dead

Deviation Actions

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Literature Text

There was a cold chill in the air outside. It whispered in though the windows and filled the dark corridor. Inside, there were eight cells, each one a converted animal holding pen. The humans liked to call them “enclosures.” It made them feel better about what they were doing, and made it seem more humane. But nothing could possibly be humane about what had happened here.

Something was up; 04 had been restless all day. This wasn’t un-common, but it wasn’t his usual restless. He seemed worried. He wasn’t growling, he was just pacing up and down silently. He could sense something wasn’t right. From across the hall, in a glass holding cell, 12 watched 04 pace up and down on all fours.

12 wasn’t used to this part of the complex. He’d always been in sector seven, and he liked it there. The humans looked after him there, but this was different, and he didn’t like it here at all. He didn’t really like 04 either. He was no fun, and if 12 tried talking to him, 04 would just growl back at him. 12 wanted to be back at sector seven, where he knew everyone, all the scientists and the other people, but the humans had moved him down here. He couldn’t remember exactly what he’d done to cause this.

Suddenly, 04 stood up. He had heard something, so 12 listened as well, but he couldn’t hear anything. A car light passed along outside the window. 04 fell back on all fours and began pacing again.

12 coughed again, spluttering loudly as gas poured from him. He exhaled gaseous envy from his mouth; a thick, murky, green smoke which hissed from every part of his body, making him look almost ghostly. 04 turned to him from the other end of the room.

“Jesus, can’t you keep quiet for ten minutes?” This was the first time 04 had talked to him in a whole week. Even then, 12 had studied his behaviour for long enough to guess he was agitated.

“Sorry.” wheezed 12. “I can’t help it.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” hissed 04. “None of us can help it.” At last 04 stopped pacing and stood up. “Freakin pink-skins messing with us like we’re animals. They’re planning something.” 12 didn’t reply, but sat down on his bed. “I’d tare the bastards apart if I could.” 04 sat down as well, but leant forward towards 12. “Just you wait, we’ll get out of here!” he whispered loudly, and raised his arms in the air in a majestic fashion, conveying the great meaning of what he was saying.

“Why would you want to leave?” Said 12. “It seems nice enough here.”

There was a period of silence.

04 examined 12 with more detail, raised an eyebrow and ran one of his clawed hands through his messy matted blonde hair. His pale skin was whiter than his hair, which gave him an obscure look. 12 looked closer at him. He could almost pass as a normal human if it wasn’t for the claws on his hands. He was a world away from the monster that 12 had become.

At the same time, 04 scanned the newcomer over. He didn’t look like anyone he’d seen prior to now. His face and arms were covered in greenish lumps and a cloud of gas followed wherever he went.

“You from sector seven, right?” asked 04. 12 Nodded.

“How did you know?” asked 12 in reply, and spluttered again.

“Cause you’re so freakin quiet and polite, that’s why!” chuckled 04. “I heard they try to teach you guys how to “be human.” Yeah, like I’d ever want to be like those things…” He suddenly paused and leaned forward again. “Is it true that they actually let you go outside sometimes up there?” 12 looked confused.

“Of course, only in the yard but…” 12 began, but before he could continue, 04 interrupted.

“That’s bullshit!” 04 screamed. 12 leaned back. “You know why your here? Because if you’re here, then they must think you’re some kinda monster! We’re all monsters down here.” 12 looked unimpressed.

“I’m no monster.” 04 chuckled as 12 said this. “I’m not, I’m really not. I just…” 04 interrupted.

“You may not be a monster, but sure as hell I am.” He cackled. “They let me outside, they wouldn’t see me again!” 12 suddenly picked up on something.

“You guys aren’t allowed outside?” asked 12, suddenly becoming worried.

“Fraid not.” Sighed 04. 12 suddenly became scared. “You’re in the shitter now kid. Us down here, we get the bad end of the experiments.”

“But…but I didn’t…do anything…” 12 began. 04 sensed his advantage.

“We’ll probably end up getting dissected eventually…” 04 began, but he was interrupted.

Noises suddenly started coming from down the corridor. It sounded like crying. 12 got up and pressed his tumour ridden face to the glass. He looked to the to the right, and the cell there was empty. To the left, the form of another infected, clawing pitifully at her cell, and wailing as she did.

“Oh shut up you squeaky little bitch!” screamed 04. Her wailing intensified, and with it, her clawing. She rended at the mighty iron bars, but her hands struck ineffective blows against them. “You trying to bring them back down here!? Shut up!!” 12 began to become afraid as other infected suddenly started battering their cages as well. 04 suddenly leapt up with tremendous force onto the bars of his cell. “SHUT UP!” he screamed, over the racket and clattered the bars of his cell like a raging monkey.

A silence fell. A cold, deathly silence. Suddenly, footsteps were heard from down the hallway. All at once, the racket started up again. 04’s eyes widened and he leapt off the bars and back down onto the floor of his cell. 12 turned and a door opened from down the hallway. A man suddenly came into the room; a human outside of the cell. 12 watched him enter the room and look around. 04 slithered back behind his bed, out of sight of the human.

He was a guard, 12 recognised the uniform. He had seen guards before. But he looked different. Something was wrong. There was something about his face, something that worried 12. The guard turned to him, and 12 did what he always did, which was to just stay where he was and not react. He remembered that if he remained calm, the scientists and the guards were nice to him, but this guard wasn’t. He suddenly strode up to the glass and struck on it with a bat. 12 scampered backwards. This wasn’t right! The guard screamed something, in a voice 12 didn’t understand any more. He struck again and 12 retreated back behind his bed like 04.

What had he done wrong?

The guard turned to the cell to the left of 04’s and strode from there towards it. 12 crawled over to the glass on all fours like a cautious animal and looked. He clattered he bat along the bars and the infected inside suddenly retreated as he had. The guard then produced a key of some kind, opened the cell and entered. 12 strained and twisted his head to try and get a view of what was going on, but after a few moments, he heard a scream from inside. The sound tore through the room like a sword tares through flesh, and it made 12 shiver. Then the screaming began to die down and become muffled.

04 crawled up the wall of his cell and placed his head against the wall, trying to hear what was going on. This was surprising, as this cell wall was flat concrete. Suddenly, the infected from inside the cell was almost sent flying out of her cell. The guard followed, and kicked her in the chest as she lay on the floor.

12 was petrified. 04 suddenly lost his sense of calm and started growling again, clawing at the cage. Up till now, the other humans here had been so nice to him. They’d always been there when he was scared, kept him well fed and kept him safe. He’d always looked up to them. But he was scared, and where were they now? Something flashed in his mind, something about a previous life, before all this. He had seen pain and hatred like this before.

12 felt rage as well. Rage he hadn’t felt in a long time. He couldn’t remember being so angry in his short life. He lost his voice and all that came from his mouth was a smoky squeal. The guard ignored him, and kicked her again. She clawed desperately away but he dragged her back. 12 had had enough. This wasn’t how he would spend his life any longer. He was going back to sector 7.

He could see cracks the glass where the guard had struck; cracks the guard couldn’t see. 12 raised his arm and struck the damaged area and the glass shivered down.

Now the guard looked. Everything looked, even the infected on the floor. 12 shuffled from his cell through the hole and turned to the guard. He squealed again and struck the guard, sending him reeling back. The stunned guard flailed his bat around, and caught 12 in the stomach, sending him back. He fell and quickly crawled back onto his feet. The guard was running now, screaming, but in fear now. 12 remembered something. He remembered about his tongue. He took a deep breath in and fired it out of his mouth like a harpoon.

The merciless appendage wrapped around the guards neck, and tripped him onto the floor. He dragged the flailing man back to his grasp, and back to his feet. The other infected cheered him on as he clawed at the screaming form he had ensnared until the guard fell on his knees. He let him go, and he fell to the floor.

Dead.

12 stood there for a moment. He couldn’t believe what he had done. Now he was no better than they were. Worse. Nothing made sense any more.

He shuffled over to the infected on the floor and kneeled down next to her. She started back up at him. She was covered in bruises and bled from her mouth. For a moment, 12 thought he’d seen her before. Then, his cold eyes widened.

He had seen her before.

Then it all came flooding back. The rumours, the guesswork, the years of lonely comfort, they weren’t his life. He was human. He always had been. All those faded memories and visions of violence were real.

“Shitting…” 04 hissed. “He’s dead.” 12 Turned to him.

“You wanted to be free?” he wheezed. “Then be free.” 12 picked up the key and looked it over. It wasn’t like any key he had seen before. It looked like some kind of strange mobile phone that the scientists used sometimes. He pressed the buttons on it inquisitively, and then with a sudden clicking noise, all the cells in the room fell open. For a moment, each infected from within stood, stupified by the event. But one by one, they sprinted from their cells and disappeared down the corridor the guard had came from. 04 crawled up to 12.

“How did you break the glass?” 04 hissed.

“The guard broke it. I just opened it.” Replied 12. 04 cackled at the irony. 12 kneeled down next to the infected on the floor again, extended a tumour covered arm and helped her up. “We’re going to sector seven. It’s safe there.”

“You kidding, this whole place is hell!” 04 screamed. “Can’t you see? This is all a lie!” 12 turned to him.

“Well, where else can we go?” 12 said in reply. He lent his shoulder to the injured infected and she leaned onto him.

“I know one place we can go. Somewhere where even the humans are afraid to go…”

***

Delta squad were used to break outs, but nothing like this.

Guns roared around them as they pushed past the horde that charged towards them. They punched flailing grey forms away from them and opened their heads with their weapons, painting the walls with their brains.

Finally, they came to block 24, the sight of the incident. On the floor lay the body. A quick scan of it revealed the cause of death: asphyxiation aided by blood loss due to obvious attack marks. It was as if one of the infected had strangled him.

The cleanup job would take months, but at least they had cleared out the bulk of the escaped infected and Alpha squad were already on their way to pick off any scavengers or stragglers. The squad leader was satisfied with a job well done, when suddenly he got a radio call. Thee infected has been sighted by security cameras heading in the other direction, towards Cell 125.

The squad leader was suddenly taken back by all this. First the infected escape with relative ease, using tools that they showed no skill in using during tests. Now they were heading into a dangerous place, as if they knew the humans would fear to follow them. Could it be possible that these creatures weren’t as stupid as they looked?

Well, he knew one of them had to be smarter than the average zombie, or they wouldn’t have escaped in the first place.

Then he noticed the glass on cell 12. He had heard of Subject 12. He was familiar with him in fact, and had seen him at a distance. He knew that he was forever examining objects and messing with things that were given to him. If there was an infected capable of causing this much damage, it was him.

And so he set off with his squad to finish what they had started.

***

12, 04 and the infected girl came up to a massive set of double doors. The doors were already open, so they scuttled inside. Inside the room was a massive holding cell. Heavy breathing could be heard from inside. 12 set the girl down on the floor and 04 leapt up onto an overhanging walkway to get a better view of what was inside the cell.

“Why are the humans scared of coming in here?” asked 12 naively.

“Come up here and see!” called 04. 12 looked at him with an un-impressed glare.

“Do you think we can all jump around like you, frog legs?”

“Use the ladder, tongue face!” replied 04. 12 wandered round to the back of the room and used the ladder to crawl up to the upper walkway. From here he could stare down into the pit that held only a single infected. And now he could see why.

At first, 12 was sure that there was nothing in the cell. But then, he saw something move. Something massive. The enormous creature strode out of a dark corner of its cell, and into the pale light. It must have been the size of a car, and its huge upper body gave it a gorilla like appearance. It was an infected, but looked so monstrous that it looked like it was never human.

“What is that?” 12 asked with a metaphorical lump in his throat.

“That was the final infected to be made here. God knows what the humans did to him.” Sighed 04. The creature looked up at them and let out an almighty bellow which shook the room before picking up something in its cell and tossing it at the two of them. It smashed into 04 and sent him reeling backwards. 12 Looked down and saw that it was in fact only a teddy bear. “Jesus! He has a good throwing arm.” Puffed 04, after being winded by the attack. The creature kept staring up at them, battering the floor underneath it. Then, all of a sudden, it fell silent. 04 and 12 heard footsteps. They were too regular to be another infected, and they were outside, coming down fast.

***

The squad silently advanced into the dark room, shining their flashlights around, scanning for infected. Almost instantly, the squad leader sighted one. She was female, and was huddled up in the corner of the room, and very quietly, sobbing.

“The others must have left her here…” thought the squad leader. All guns pointed to her, aiming for the kill.

A sudden squeal ripped through the room and everyone turned their guns to the sound, but not quickly enough. An infected leapt from the overhang and onto one of the group, not only pinning him to the floor, but sending others flying back. One of them stumbled back onto a light switch.

The room was filled with dazzling, blinding light. For a few moments, the humans stumbled around in the white, firing guns and trying to find their opponents. The squad leader heard a scream, and before he could react, he felt long, cold talons tare through his chest.

As the world faded back into view, the last thing he saw was another of his men getting dragged away into a corner of the room by subject 12, and the bruised, screaming face of the female infected tearing him apart.

***

First they came into his room without his permission, then they wake him from his rest and now they have brought angry humans with them and have hurt his eyes with their blinding lights. Subject 125 was enraged that he could be treated with such indignity by these tiny little insects around him.

He made a rush for the door of his holding cell. It didn’t break at first, but after a few more charging strikes, it was torn open. He stumbled along on all fours out into the open. The infected who woke him and brought the humans here were now fighting each other. It mattered not, none were worthy of his presence, and he would kill them all if they stood against him.

And so he advanced forward, making a dash for the doorway. One of the humans saw him and fired a few shots at him.

***

“This is it! Our train out of here has arrived!” cried 04 as he leapt from the corpse of the human he killed.

The monstrous subject 125 turned back to one of the remaining guards and in a single swipe, smashed him flat against the wall. He then turned back to one of the others, this one being strangled by 12. Before he could react, 125 was upon them both, and while he struck mainly for the human, his blow passed through them both, sending them both back over each others heads.

“Hey, watch who you’re throwing around!” shouted 04. 125 turned to him and suddenly came for him. “Woa, we’re on your side!” 125 didn’t stop, but 04 wasn’t stupid, and had a plan. He waited until the final moment and leapt to the side, like a master bullfighter, avoiding the thunderous charge. 125 had built up so much momentum that he couldn’t stop himself, and he shattered down the concrete walls as easily as 12 had shattered down the glass.

12 crawled from the pile of dead bodies; he was badly injured and limping, but still alive. 04 stood beside him and the other female infected followed up behind. They all stared in wonder at the open hole; the portal to another world. Outside there was grass, cars, trees and roads. The world, the real world, was outside. 125 stopped and looked around dumbly. The other three slowly walked though the hole out into the fresh air.

“This is it, this is freedom.” Sighed 04 dreamily. 12 looked to him. A few feet ahead of them, 125 smiled through his broken mouth and lifted his gargantuan arms in the air, cheering in a way only an infected could.

All around them, other infected were bursting though doorways, windows and walls. The complex was falling apart as each infected freed another. Before alpha team could arive, they were gone. The once residents of the building were dashing over fields and across roads.

In the chaos, 04, 12, 125 and the girl joined the race. They were separated, but they didn’t care because they were free. They just ran with the masses. One day, they might meet again. But it hardly mattered. Mercy City stood on the horizon, and they were all heading there. This was no organised attack; it was a charge, a riot…a horde.
The day the world died, and the infected took over what was left.
© 2009 - 2024 Yohan-Gas-Mask
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lotusdaniellily's avatar
This story is awesome! Btw I like how the tank smiled after he punched that hole in the wall of that building