I took her face in my hands again. “It was perfect. I’d die for you.”
“Are you sure?” A smile formed on her lips.
“Yes.”
She used whatever strength she had and flung herself on me. I fell back to the arm of the loveseat, and she kissed me with every ounce of life force she could muster. We made out for some time, and I wished beyond anything that it would last forever. I wanted a lifetime with her.
A sudden scream erupted from the camcorder and Jessie fell back, scooping it up from the floor. “What’s going on?”
The camera showed a room filled with blood.
“The experiment went wrong.” A man’s voice said from behind the lens. “The experiment has gone so very wrong. But what else could I have done? They cut me off. It’s their fault! Not mine! Not mine at all!”
The camera swiveled to show a man, the groom from the wedding. He appeared to be a mess; bearded, crazy hair, and gore-covered clothes.
“It's my wife, Michelle!” He whispered. “Oh, my darling Maggs killed her! I gave Maggs the injection, thinking it would clear up her disease. A disease in her blood passed on from me! I should never have had children! The injection didn’t make her better. I turned her into a monster! Even as I speak, Maggs' is in the other room tearing apart Shannon. My surviving daughter, Wendy, I told her to run. There’s only one hope left. I have to get to my wife to the lab at the base in Houston. If I get there, I can use the cure on her. First, I have to subdue Maggs, then find a way to reverse the damage I have done to her. What kind of father am I? It is I who am the monster!”
The video cut off. Jessie and I exchanged glances.
“A lab in Houston!” I whispered.
“I’ll never make it.” She said.
“Yes, you will. We can find the vaccine!” I grabbed her face and kissing her hard.
“Houston is too far on foot,” Jessie said.
“Yes, on foot!” I laughed. “But there must be a car in the garage!”
“There might not even really be—” She tried, but I kissed her again and cut her off.
“Yes there is, Jessie,” I said. “He said he could cure his daughter.”
And right at that moment, there came a crash from downstairs. The barricade had given way.
LEVEL 24 – ENDGAME
The barricade downstairs shattered, leaving us with only one option; get to the garage, get a car, and get the heck out.
I turned to Jessie. “We gotta go, now!”
She hugged her knees to her chest and slowly rocked back and forth.
“We’re not gonna make it.” She whispered. “We’re not going to make it.”
Not only did had she begun dying physically; she had begun going mentally, as well.
“We'll make it, but only if we move!” I grabbed her hands, and had to jerk back they were so hot.
“Just leave me.” Jessie pleaded. “You go!”
“You have to be there.” I pulled her to her feet. “The cure is for you!”
“Please.” She cried.
I could hear the Corpses dragging themselves up the stairs.
“Let’s hope we can still get out,” I said.
“No!” She cried as I dragged her.
I shoved the couch aside and pulled open the doors. The stench of rotting flesh filled my nostrils, and I nearly gagged. Both of the staircases overflowed with Corpses.
“Please just leave me,” Jessie begged, her eyes wide.
“We’re in this together dammit!” I snapped.
I grabbed her arm again and pulled her toward the far side of the balcony. The floor below went down twenty feet, but somehow we had to jump.
I fought against the burn and grabbed her face in my hands. She now stared, with drooping eyelids. “We’re jumping.”
“No.” She whispered.
“You don't have a choice. You're going to live!” I scolded.
I rushed into the bedroom behind us and tugged the mattress outside. The Corpses were a dozen feet away. The front-runner had a broken foot, which dragged to the side, slowing them down.
With a great heave, I pushed the mattress over the balcony. It landed with a thud and the Corpses on the stairs turned.
“I’m sorry if I miss,” I said.
Jessie cocked her head. I grabbed her, scooping her legs out from under her and dropped her over the railing. The front-runner grabbed my shoulder and lunged forward with jagged teeth. I threw myself backward and tumbled over. The corpse grasped, but couldn’t grab me in time. The ceiling flew away, and I smashed down. Somehow my leg had bent in the air, and all of my weight came down on my ankle.
Despite the excruciating pain, I had to deal with it; it didn't feel broken at least. From above the front-runner Corpse pushed against the balcony. The railing gave way, and it fell. I dodged forward and found Jessie crawling on the floor. Behind me, the Corpse landed on its neck with a crack and went still. One by one, they fell from above. The staircase Corpses turned and fell as they tried to come back down.
“Come on.” I lifted Jessie to her feet.
As I limped towards the door to the garage, Jessie whine, “You're hurt, Zach!”
“There’s no helping either of us if we stay here,” I said.
She shuffled along beside me as I threw open the door and we scurried into the dark garage. I slammed the door, grabbed a shelf, and brought it down to block the entrance.
I spun to find a Range Rover parked inside.
“I’m driving.” I held open her door and helped her inside.
“Thank gosh,” she said in between phlegm-filled coughs. “I don't have a license.”
I jumped in the driver's seat with a chuckle. “And you think I do?”
Her head lolled back. “Now what?”
“We get this thing going!” I reached for the key but found nothing.
“What is it?” Jessie asked after a moment.
“No key!” I said. The door to the garage crashed down, and Corpses flooded in.
Jessie coughed and stared out the window. “Oh no.”
“Crap.” I pulled down the visor, nothing. I pulled open the glove box, nothing but an ID card on a lanyard.
“Hang on to that!” I told Jessie.
We jumped as a Corpse slammed into the passenger window.
“C’mon!” I cried as the undead flooded in, filling the large garage.
I lifted up the middle divider and searched through the junk. There were tons of papers. The next Corpse slam cracked Jessie's window.
“Hurry.” She wheezed.
“I’m trying!” I said, in full-panic mode.
I stomped my foot in frustration and felt a bump. I ducked and flung the carpet into the back seat. A car key sat there like a shining beacon. I snatched it up and fumbled as I tried to shove it into the key port.
“Zach!” Jessie whimpered as her window spidered, threatening to shatter.
“Got it!” I turned the key.
The engine screeched, and the car didn’t start.
“Dammit!” I pounded in the wheel.
The Corpses were almost through.
“Try again!” Jessie pleaded. “Don’t flood the engine!”
I turned the key again. This time, the vehicle roared to life.
“Yes!” I stomped on the gas. The engine revved, and we didn’t move.
“What now?” I shouted.
Jessie grabbed the gear and shifted it into drive. I felt idiotic, but I would feel sorry for myself later. I stomped the gas again. We flew forward,
slamming straight into the garage door, and bringing it right with us.
The door fell beneath the rover, and we bounced high as we ran over it. I spun the wheel, and we sped into the grass. Dodging past hordes of Corpses, I pulled back onto the road, and we were in the clear. I looked back over my shoulder and took a last glance at the small mansion; we'd escaped.
“Oh my gosh.” Jessie breathed. “My heart is going to beat right out of my chest.
”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “That was intense.”
“We're going to Houston?” Jessie coughed.
“Yes, and we’re going to get you that vaccine!” I cheered.
Jessie smiled. “Do you think so?”
“You can count on me. I’m going to save you no matter what!”
“Thank you.” Jessie leaned over and kissed my cheek.
I grinned. I would do anything to keep her alive. As we drove on towards Houston, the radio crackled.
“Did you turn the radio on?” I asked.
She shook her head. “No, but do you hear that?”
I only heard static. “No? Do you hear something?”
“Yes.”
A further sign her mind had bought tickets to la la land.
“There’s a voice.” She furrowed her brows.
“I can’t make anything out.”
Jessie turned the volume dial. The crackling grew louder, but it did sound like something broke the static. Could it be a voice?
“What’s it saying?” I asked.
She hushed me angrily.
“Maybe we can tune it!” I turned the dial left and right.
“Zach!” She whined. “Why?”
“What’d I do?”
“You lost the signal.” She let her head fall against the dashboard.
As I watched the road, I said, “I never heard anything anyhow.”
“Well, there was something!” She shouted.
I sealed my lips. She hadn’t ever yelled at me like that. It had to be the virus affecting her mind. I pushed harder on the gas and forced us down the road at eighty miles per hour, swerving around the wrecked cars.
“I did hear something,” she said. “It was an emergency service announcement coming out of Houston.”
I went along with her delirium. “What did it say?”
“It was President Luigi,” she said. “There’s a survivor camp in Houston.”
“It makes sense. If this scientist had a lab there where a vaccine is, then why wouldn’t they have the President there?”
“There was more,” Jessie said.
“What else?”
“The camp is for those who are not infected,” she said.
“Anyone found with infection should not arrive or be executed.”
A heavy feeling fell over my heart. Anyone could see Jessie had the virus in her veins.
“Shot on sight?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Crap,” I whispered. “We’ll figure something out.”
She sighed. “I knew we wouldn’t get the vaccine.”
“I’ll get that vaccine. If I have to go into the base and find it on my own, I'll sneak in! I’ll join the army! Whatever it is I have to do.”
“Thank you, Zach.” She whispered.
We drove on in silence again for several more minutes.
“Take a look at that ID we found,” I said.
She reached to her side and scooped up the badge. I watched her in quick glances as she studied it, flipping it over and feeling it. She started picking at a bright orange sticker on the back.
“Find something?” I asked.
“It’s got an address under this parking sticker.” She said.
“This is too easy!” I smiled. “We’ll have that cure in no time.”
She continued picking at the sticker, finally pulling up the corner and peeling the rest off.
“Found it.” She said. “The building—is G.O.D. Mode Games.”
I sucked in my breath.
“Isn't that--”
“Yes,” I said. “Back at Epic Impossibilities Games, there was a game made by G.O.D. Mode Games.”
“Oh? Did it look good?” She smiled with bluing lips.
“That’s beside the point,” I said. “Governor Wayne worked for them, remember? And Wesley was connected to them too. They’re behind all of this; I’m pretty sure.”
“So what do you think?” Jessie asked. “We’re going to find monsters there?”
“Maybe,” I said. “But for sure no President or survivors. It’s a trap I’d wager.”
“Does that deter you from sneaking in?” She asked.
“I’ll sneak in even if they have multiple Lv02s and even Lv03s,” I replied.
“What about Lv04’s?” she asked with a slight chuckle.
“Look,” I replied. “They could have Lv100’s. I’m still finding that cure!”
She smiled, despite her bouncing head. “You'd do it for me?”
“What else?” I said, feeling nothing could break my good mood.
We exited the freeway and in the distance the tall buildings of Houston became visible.
“What do we do after?” I asked. “With the vaccine in hand, we could repopulate.”
I'd meant it as a joke, but Jessie stared at me from under her hood, I could feel it. I shouldn't have been thinking about things like that. Although the prospect of being with Jessie excited me, I didn’t mean it like that. My face flushed red.
“Maybe.” Jessie still smiled.
The warm feeling of butterflies invaded my stomach and anxiety filled me. She had said maybe. She hadn’t been disgusted by the idea of having children with me; of making the world a habitable place again.
“So,” I said.
“So?” she asked.
I continued. “We’re partners then? In it till the end?”
“Why would I want to be with anyone else?” She giggled.
“That makes me happy.”
“I’m glad too.” She replied.
I held her hand as we continued to Houston. Even at the end of the world, Jessie made me happy. I'd make her survive; I'd save her. Jessie, my one, and only love.
As we closed in, a morbid scene splayed itself across the skyline. The buildings had shattered windows, and some were even burning. Wrecked cars clogged the freeway. Finally, we came to a wall of wreckage, and we were forced to stop.
“It looks like we’re on foot from here,” I said.
“Okay,” Jessie replied.
I helped her out of the rover, and we walked to the pileup.
“I don’t think I can climb this.” She said.
“I’ll help you.” I offered my hand.
Together we made our way across broken cars. Someone had clearly piled up the cars with intentions. Heavy machinery had to have been used to form the wall.
We finally reached the peak and stood atop a yellow taxi. My eyes went wide as I scanned the city to see the devastation in every direction. Wrecked and burnt cars, lampposts broken in half, the fronts of businesses fallen apart, no hope, existed in this land.
“Houston isn’t safe.” I breathed. “We were right.”
Jessie looked around and sighed. “The message was on December 11th.”
“Tiffany's birthday,” I muttered. “I'm glad she never had to see this.”
A feeling of doom washed over me. The city had seen better days. Corpses wandered in the distance, shambling around in search of food.
“Can it be?” She asked. “Is this really the end?”
“This is it,” I said. “Endgame.”
LEVEL 25 – DELVING DEEPER
Jessie grabbed my hands and looked me in the eye. “Let’s just find somewhere safe to spend my final hours.”
I pulled away. “No! The vaccine is here in Houston! It's at G.O.D. Mode Games!”
“If we run into the military they’ll shoot me,” Jessie argued. “I want you to do it.”
“Nobody is shooting you!” I snapped.
“That isn’t an option.” She said, and coughed hard, falling to her knees and gripping her chest. In the distance some Corpses took notice.
I kneeled next to her. “Please, hang on!”
“I—don’t—think—I—can!” she wheezed between each word.
Scraping came from the bottom of the wall. I looked down and spotted a trio of corpses climbing towards us.
“Damn you!” I picked
up a sharp piece of scrap metal and stomped toward the closest one. “Damn you!”
The rotting monster held out its arms, grasping. I lunged and stabbed the Corpse in the head. I pulled the impromptu blade back as the undead fell. The next grabbed at me. I waited for it to get close and stepped back, watching it trip. When it landed, I stomped into its skull, crushing its brain.
I screamed at the third, “Come on!”
It stared, slapping its hands on the cars as it climbed.
“Hurry up!” I shouted. “Get your damn meal! Work for it!”
Jessie pleaded, “Zach, stop!”
“No!” I spun, screaming. “Every. Last. One. Of. These. Bastards. Deserve. To. Die!”
“Look out!” she cried.
The Corpse tackled me. We slammed down into a windshield; it sunk in under our weight. I locked my forearm under its chin, holding it back, but my strength waned. I couldn’t hold it back.
I spit into its face. “Do it!”
It hissed and snapped at me.
“Do it!” I yelled again.
A gun went off, and the Corpse fell dead, icy blood splattering my face. I looked up to find Jessie standing by my side. Breathing heavily, she held my pistol, which I must've dropped.
“I had him!” I snapped, throwing the body off.
“We need to find shelter,” Jessie whispered. “I don’t think—I—Can—”
She dropped the handgun and collapsed on top of me.
“Oh my God.” I gasped.
Her temperature had somehow managed to get worse. I couldn't believe her brain hadn’t fried in her skull. I sat up and held her in my lap.
“Wake up!” I pleaded. “Just wake up. We’re so close!”
Her breathing had grown shallow.
“I won’t allow this,” I whispered to her. “I won’t allow you to die.”
I looked around at all of the nearby buildings. One a couple blocks away didn’t look as damaged as the others. The higher levels seemed to have their windows intact.
“Hold on.” I held her up on my shoulder. “I’ll get you to safety. Then I’ll find that vaccine!”
Corpse groaning echoed through the streets. The gunfire and shouting had likely drawn the undead from all around. I had to hurry.
“Please wake up.” I carried her forward.
Although a small girl, she still weighed more than a weakling like me could carry. Jessie dropped limply to the ground. Shadows came from around the corner ahead. Quickly, I grabbed Jessie under her arms and dragged her into the building to the right. We hid around the corner and in the shadows. I kept my head just below the low window.
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