No Turning Back

Chapter Fourty-Eight: Creeping Doubts

We all looked around to see the barricades being torn down around us. The undead had descended upon the room as their screams of agony echoed against the concrete walls. The sounds sent shivers up my spine as I tried to stop my teeth chattering in my mouth. Every hair seemed to stand in end as I tried to ignore their visceral cries and regain my composure.

"Quick! Zhe next shtep!" Richtofen announced as we all regained our focus.

"Ve must all get to zhe rocket room now!" He commanded knowingly whilst pointing in the general direction with one of his imposing long arms.

The barricades continued to break down around us as we continued to try to ignore the ear-piercingly shrieks of the undead. Their bellowing wails reverberated through our very being - rocking me to my core. Primis stood close to me as he tried to calm me down. He then bent down towards my ear.

"Try to ignore it. Zhey are no longer human", His voice directly projecting into my ear against the noise around us.

"They are no longer human..." 

But they were once human, I thought to myself. Primis' words had been intended to put me at ease yet it had backfired and only set my mind on a collision course of overthinking and overanalysing. 

The group began to assemble and make their way after Richtofen who had started off in the direction towards the juggernog machine. It was the quickest way to reach the rocket yet my mind anticipated the claustrophobicly narrow corridors with dread. Primis and I ran side by side after them before my legs began slowing in their pace.

As my mind began to tick over uncontrollably, I made the mistake of locking eyes with an undead soldier on the other side of the nearby barricade to my right. His glowing amber eyes narrowed at me in seething malice. The hate and loathing which coursed through his veins seemed to only add to his strength. With ease, he ripped one of the heavy wood planks leaving the thick iron nails standing upright - still impaled in the wall.

But as I stood there within the mesmerising hold of the trance - I felt something in the pit of my stomach. A deep welling sadness which threatened to spill over at any second. The undead had been remarkably absent so far since I arrived in this universe but with the ever closer proximity and frequency of their presence it finally began to hit me about the whole sorry state of affairs.

These men, Richtofen, Dr Maxis, all these scientists had brought such a truly horrific fate upon the world. 
They had set aside any semblance of morality they once had just to create something monstrous - "in the name of science". There had been no thought or consideration for the impact or effects their projects would have. It made me think of Oppenheimer, Einstein and all the scientists who could only ever feel regret for their actions after seeing the destruction their efforts had inflicted upon humanity - like the atomic bomb.

Their fervent petitions to President Franklin D Roosevelt, the impassioned speeches and letters all making the case that such a cause was noble and the only way to beat Hitler. Despite all their knowledge of science; they failed to see that such weaponry was destructive regardless of which side was using it. In fact, the Allies were no better than the Axis powers as they became the first to create such devastating weaponry. They were the ones to build it and use it creating the same devastation they claimed they wanted to prevent. 

This concerning lack of common sense by such supposedly intelligent minds had echoed the feelings I had when I was a student. But it was only now that I found myself doubting Richtofen, his lack of common sense and the true hopelessness of it all as we now tried to escape yet another horde. What on earth could I actually say or do to stop him? How could I even begin to correct this mess? And most importantly, how could I make Richtofen see sense?