𝙂𝙡𝙤𝙧𝙮 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙂𝙤𝙧𝙚 ━━ Chris Manawa

The Good Ones are the First to Die

There are soldiers all over the place, running through the halls and shouting to one another. Every couple of feet Strand, Nick, and Alex have to duck and hide behind a wall or open door so they don't get caught outside of their cell.

They go into an abandoned part of the building, where the lights are broken and dangling from the roof. The three of them get to the front entrance where there are bodies, and an infected currently munching on someone.

"Wait here," Strand says.

"What are you doing?" Alex asks, watching as Strand walks over to a nearby body. Alex follows a few steps behind and can make out the uniform and part of the man's face. A few steps to the side reveals his whole face, the face of Melvin, staring blankly ahead as the infected eats him alive. The silence is unnerving, it sends a shiver down Alex's spine.

"It's okay, they're slow."

He goes over to where Melvin is lying down, staying away from the infected eating away at his foot. Alex and Nick are too far way to hear what they're saying, but they notice Strand reach into Melvin's pocket, fabric moving around as he searches him. He pulls out two small pieces of metal that Alex recognized from when they were trying to take Nick. Strand fiddles around with his sleeve, and Alex realizes that they were cufflinks, the light catching on them when he puts his arms down.

The door on the other side of the room bursts open and a horde of infected come stumbling through. "Strand!"

"Melvin was my ride," Strand says, and they run back the way they came. They run down the halls to a double door that Nick goes to push open, but it doesn't budge.

Nick desperately kicks the door. "It won't open, we need a key card," Alex says, causing Nick to slump against it. Alex turns towards the infected to watch them advance, seeming to accept his fate.

"Mom? Mom!" Alex turns to see a blonde woman on the other side of the door banging on the window. Nick is trying to tell her to go, but she won't listen, shaking her head rapidly as she continues to yank at the door. She turns away from them and Alex can see a dark haired lady running towards them, a panicked look on her face.

She's in scrubs and has a key card in her hand, and the sight of her makes hope flood Alex's chest. The woman runs up to the keypad and swiped the card, but it doesn't do anything, the error code beep barely loud enough over everyone's panicked shouting. Nick, Alex, and Strand start banging on the door when it doesn't open right away, pushing the door to try and make it open. The infected are closing in, and Alex doesn't want to get eaten alive like his friends did.

Everyone's yelling over each other, desperate to find some way to get the door open, even though they know the keycard is the only thing that can open the door. After a few more hurried attempts, there's a loud beep and the door swings open with the force of their shoving. Alex, Strand, and Nick come stumbling through the door, colliding with everyone on the other side.

The three of them are barely kept from colliding with the ground, hands coming from all directions to keep them standing. They run down the staircase next to them with the infected following them at a somehow slow, but brisk pace. A couple of them fall down the stairs above them, and Alex snorts in amusement, listening to their bodies tumble over each other and slide down the stairs.

They end up in the kitchens where more zombies are waiting for them, though it's significantly less than the small horde that was upstairs. It's a desperate fight to clear the way but they manage, killing or trapping every infected in the room. They go out the back doors of the kitchen, and Alex puts a mop between the door handles to stop any more from following them through.