Miroslava of the Tempest

On open field

At the moment we heard a sound, behind us, it was that thing, that grey thing.

- Maddie, watch out!-

I ran to the scared little girl and took her in my arms, took Robert´s gun, but when I turned around, it was too late for me, I tried to shoot, but the gun was empty. It was so close to me, I prepared for what was coming. The thing moved like a predator, not taking its eyes from me. Whatever that thing was, it was no longer human.

- Don’t move- Robert commanded me- don’t make a single move.

I saw dad moving slowly behind the thing, with a metal bar in his hands. When he was about to hit it, the thing turned around to my dad, he hit it on its back and it fell. Dad hit it again and it stopped moving.

- Dad, are you ok? Are you hurt?- Nick asked- Do you need something?

- Water?- dad said- please, I need it.-

Dr Morozov gave him some water and two of the other men helped him to reach a sofa placed on the right side of the room. He fell asleep immediately.

Dr Sokolov, one of the men, looked at the wall clock, it was 9:15 pm.

The other two men were Dr Novikov and Dr Vito; the other two women were Dr Diaz and Dr Belov and the old man was Dr Fyodor Oblonsky, the most famous scientist in the country.

At that moment we heard Madeline screaming, but she wasn’t in the room. The door of the corridor to the subbasement was open and the lights were on.

We ran to the subbasement. There was the girl, crying on the floor.

She was kneeling, next to the corpse.

- Why won't he wake up?- she asked crying.

- Oh honey, he is gone, he is no longer with us.

- Is it true mommy?- she was still crying.

- Yes, Maddie.- said Dr Morozov- I´m sorry, honey-

She stopped crying and got up, she walked to me and hugged me.

- Now, let’s get some rest- said Dr Diaz – it would be good don’t you think?

- We’ll need to be well rested for tomorrow- said dad who’d suddenly appeared from nothing.

- Why?- asked Nick- what will happen tomorrow?

- Just sleep- dad replied.

But I couldn’t, I tried, but I couldn’t. I could only think about “them”, that people who must be thirsty of blood…our blood.

- We have to get out of here.- said, Dr Diaz.

They were talking about how to escape from the base to go to that supermarket, there must have food, water and clothes, we must leave and quickly.

- What can we do?, we are nothing if we step outside- said Frodirick.

If they discussed the topic any further, I didn´t know. I fell asleep.

The next morning dad woke us up.

They’d been talking. We would escape, it was decided… How? I ignored it.

- Take this backpack Carlysia.- said dad – we are leaving-

When everyone was awake dad spoke.

- I’ll go first.-

They explained to us that we would go out by the small elevator, dad would go first and secure mom’s office.

- In the backpacks, you have dehydrated food and water for two weeks, just in case, a radio and a gun. Every radio is on channel 3- said Dr Novikov.

Dad got into the elevator and pressed the button.

After two minutes dad spoke on the radio.

- Ok, I’m ready… send Maddie first.-

We put her in the elevator and she pushed the button.

- Madeline has arrived.- said dad – send another one-

Nick was supposed to be next, but he and Robert pushed me into the elevator, giving me no choice but to press the button.

Everything went dark and after a minute, maybe two, I was with my dad.

I’d never been in my mother’s office, as improbable as it may sound.

It was small, and it only had a window and a door and over the desk was a picture of two kids… but those weren’t Nick and me.

- Next- said suddenly dad by the radio, taking me out of my daydream.

- Who are they?- I asked.

- Those were your mother and me – I raised an eyebrow – we… we knew each other since we were kids-

At that moment we heard the elevator… Robert and Nick went out of it.

- We have to hurry- said Robert- those things are trying to breach into the lab-

- That’s why we both came at the same time- said, Nick.

We heard the elevator again. Dr Morozov and Dr Diaz went out now.

- We must hurry. They will get in at any moment- said Carmen.

We heard the same noise.

Those were Dr Novikov and Dr Belov now.

We heard a commotion and a scream, and the sound of the elevator moving once again. Now were Frodirick and Dr. Vito.

- Sokolov and Fyodor are coming- said Dr Vito while he was stepping out of the elevator.

The elevator moved for the last time and we helped Dr Sovolov out.

- Fyodor sacrificed himself-he said, we all looked at him- he said we needed a distraction to go out.

At that moment we heard someone screaming.

- We must hurry- said Dr Morosov – Fyodor won’t be able to hold them for long-

Dad turned around to Dr Diaz

- Carmen, give to me the gun- and she did.

- Now listen, everybody- said Carmen- we must protect Madeline because she’s the youngest of us-She is OUR responsibility.

- There are some more guns in Nicholas backpack- said Dr Sokolov– anyone who can shoot, take one-

We took the guns and dad opened the door slowly, quietly and carefully to not be heard by the dead ones.

- Come on – he muttered.

He began to walk to the door.

I still don’t know how, but after two minutes we were beside some cars and we were getting in them.

- Where’s the mall- dad asked Frodirick.

- It’s the Community Loop Area on Washington and 10th street- said Frodirick.

Dad was driving a black jeep wrangler, there were Madeline, Frodirick, Robert, Nick, Dr Ekaterina Morosov, Carmen and me.

In the car behind us were Dr Igor Novikov, Dr Andrew Vito, Dr Anya Belov and Dr August Sokolov driving.

- Is everyone ok in there? – asked Ekaterina by a radio.

- Yeah, we are alright- said a voice that I recognized as Andrew’s voice.

After 30 minutes we arrived at the CLA, which is just ten minutes away from the underground lab, but the streets were so destroyed that we had to take some detours.

When we were almost by the parking lot’s entrance dad stopped the jeep abruptly.

There, close to the main door of the CLA, there were a lot of those non-dead people.

Dad opened his window, took a gun from the backpack and shot it three times in the air.

Immediately the non-dead ones began to run towards us.

Dad closed his window.

- Tell the others to wait for my sign.- he said calmly.

Ekaterina did as he asked. The non-dead ones were getting closer and closer, but dad did not move an inch.

He was waiting for something.

They were like three feet away from us, just as we thought we were goners, we heard three gunshots, but those weren’t from us, nor at us. They came from the CLA.

Suddenly, dad accelerated and went faster and faster, running over everything on his way.

It made me believe that I’d left my stomach in the parking lot entrance.

We arrived at the CLA’s main door. They were coming back, slowly at first, but then a little bit faster.

I got furious; a gang of undead was not going to take down my family.

- Robert- I screamed – give me your gun, take Madeline and wait for us inside-.

- Come on Nick- I said after Robert and Maddie were inside – let’s take some undead down, Come on dad! –

- Carmen- Nick commanded- take them inside…I’m going to get some dead b*stards down-

Dad seemed almost proud.

The Undead ran towards us, we had not much time.

I shot first, Nick and Dad did too…one, two…ten times, but bullets were not eternal and sooner than we expected they ran out.

We began to run to the building, we got in and closed the door…a guy with a key closed it.

When I felt secure I hugged my dad and began to cry, hysterically, I must say. All the ferocity I had displayed had evaporated.

- You were very brave- dad told my brother and me – both of you were.

Of course, after such a spectacle I was faithful to my character and passed out.