Badass

Chapter 2

We walk into a room that looks like a conference room and a war room all in one, there are maps on the walls with pins in them, an communication station in the corner with one of the soldiers manning it, most of the other solders are all present in the room, who is guarding the doors? My thoughts must have shown on my face because the commando says "Don't worry, we have a two man team guarding all entrances to this floor" I sigh in relief, Corporal Lopez stands next to me and addresses the guy that spoke to me in the hallway upstairs "Sir, we have Dr. Amelia Adams here, you know, one of the team members who came back from Libya" The room comes to an holt as all heads turn towards us and people are starting to panic, you can see it in their eyes, they have realized that I could be on the verge of turning "Oh good, we can add her to the missing list that she has been found, the memo said that she showed no signs of getting sick or turning, but keep a eye on here" Corporal Lopez looks at me smiles and motions for me to take a seat at the table. Grateful that this man was a good leader and calmed the room, i was almost scared I would be pushed out the door and told to survive on my own. I sit down and then accept the offered bottled water. Everyone quietens down and faces the leader "Thank you for joining us here everyone "i smile at this, he acts like everyone has an option "Uncle Sam have given us new assignment, get Dr. Adams to HQ, at the moment she is the only known living member of Libya group" my smile falters at this news "and our in-house scientists want know why she has made it"

typical I survive a zombie apocalypse to only become a lab rat. "We leave at 09h00, so sleep, eat and remember your turn to guard" I look around the room and see looks from excited to worried to even a green skinned kid, an obvious newbie. I raise my hand "Just a few questions, What does 09h00 mean? Where do I quard? Do I have time to sleep and probably the most important, do I get a gun?" A smiling Captain turns to me "Corporal Lopez, Please get Dr. Adams an MAA1 Carbine assault rifle and a sig Sauer hand gun then please show Dr. Adams the sleeping units for females after you go to the cafeteria to get your rations, we'll meet you here at 9 tomorrow morning" just to be cheeky I stand up and give a salute "Sir, yes sir" and walk out the room.

At 8:58 the next morning I am dressed, armed and ready to go, but am a little disappointed because everyone has the same idea I do, everyone is at the meeting point and here I thought I would be impressing some people. Oh well, "Ok listen up, we don't know how the outside will be but I need you to stay alert and keep eyes and ears to the ground, Dr. Adams we need you to stay in the middle as we will form a barrier and surround you, that's just to the parking area. Dr. Adams we need you in the second vehicle, we need to pull this off like we've been practising this every day since we could walk, if the unthinkable happens and we get taken down, you need to get to a vehicle and would someone please make sure the good doctor makes it too, ready?" The group all at once shout out, which I will admit after that speech, gave me a little frightened, "Hoorah!" and then we're off.

We look like a crowd in a train station just

trying to make it to the train on time but highly armed, we make it out the buildings doors and down the front steps before we see an infected, which is pretty surprising since we came from the second floor. Someone in the front takes him out, I have a positive feeling come over me but that feeling leaves just as fast as it showed up because it’s like we rung a dinner bell, the infected latterly come out of the woodwork. The guy next to me whispers as we run, I'm glad they didn't expect me to shoot while I'm running because I have had training but I stood still and fired at targets "keep your head down and just keep running" there's gun fire coming from all sides and my box of soldiers are rushing forward, I can't really see any zombies as I'm surrounded but I do notice that our people are thinning out from all directions, all I hear is a cry of pain and then a vacant spot where they were. Just about half way there, our numbers have halved, which is concerning but I need to start helping as it's my fault we are out here. I start firing at the gaps that have become a norm, we finally see the vehicles ahead. I take a sigh of relief and put on extra speed at the last few miles but it becomes parent that this is the most dangerous part as the lead guys are swiped onto the ground and pulled under the cars almost like how a trap door spider operates. It's so bad that we can now fit in one SUV, we run to the lead car and pile in as quick as we can and I can hardly two lung fills of air before we on the move. I tell myself not to look back and it's not my fault but I do and it is.

The infected are all over, it's devastating to realize how bad it is and even out of the city where this institute was located, there they are just milling around, they get animated as we drive past but realize it's a lost cause they just mill around again. I found this disease or virus or whatever it is, I know it's not my fault but it feels like it and I will try make it right again, I silently vowel. We make it through the backs roads, with no problem but when we reach the highway we comprehend how bad it is and how our old world has disappeared forever.

There are a group of cars that are lined up across the road up ahead, almost like it was purposely placed like that, which is a terrifying thought. "This is the plan ladies and gents, Smith and Jones I need you to get those cars out of the way, Lopez and Adams I need you on the roof, lookout and sniper, got me?" it takes a while for me to realize he's talking about me. I reply "Oh s**t!" while everyone gives a "Sir, yes sir!" the car slows then stops and then we're off. It takes a bit of skill to climb onto a cars roof but a bit easier from the windows then from the ground but once we're up there, we can see everything, so we could see that the infected was using the trees as camouflage and when the guys attention are on the cars they step out and run towards them. Lopez speaks into her walkie talkie "Boogies coming in hot, I repeat Boogies coming in hot" she drops the walkie talkie and starts firing, I join her and its rat-a-tat-tat-tat, for everyone but realize as we take down one, two more take its place "Dr. Adams keep firing, I need to report this in" shouts Lopez as she drops to her knee and grabs her walkie talkie "Captain Tyler, sir we need to evacuate immediately, there are too many" I keep firing and it's not helping, we are getting nowhere and just as its starting to become a suicide mission for Smith and Jones, some heavily armed men run out from the trees and get Smith and Jones out of danger just as the swarm reaches the cars, after witnessing this with our hearts in our throats, Lopez and I climb down and jump to the road. We climb into the car and get ready to go but Captain Tyler, turns from the driver's side which he must have climbed over while we were shooting with a grime face, "The car is dead we are not going anywhere ladies" he whispers, I can feel the blood leaving my face.

In two seconds flat it is decided that we will run into the trees and I run with corporal Lopez and Captain Tyler to the side that the other team took our guys. There is no time for

introductions we just start running together, sort of reminds me of two horse herds joining up and run.

I’m running along with these guys who obviously have had cardio training every day since they were born, my lungs and thighs are burning and I think if I trip over one more tree root they will leave me. A guy grabs my hand and helps me to keep up, which will be internally grateful even though I'll never admit it, eventually we reach a lookout tower and as I'm trying to decide if we are going to climb it or not, a bunch of them are rushing up those ladders like they are made for it. I gulp and the guy that helped me run whispers in a urgent voice "I need you to give it your all for this one last part, then you can rest up there, I'll be right behind you, now go!" the order makes me jump but it works and I use the last bit of my reserves as I climb that ladder, the hole time I am thinking, one last step, one last step and finally I'm up and am dragged over, I quickly look back just as the other guy is through the trap door and they lower the it shut slowly and quietly but apparently not a second too soon "They have breached the tree line, we are going silent" I look around then turn a startled gaze to Lopez who puts her finger to her lips and we sit there not saying a word just listening.