Damned Are We

by Durman, Jason

  Prologue

  TWO WEEKS AFTER FIRST INFECTION...

  As night fell over the city of Fairfield, the carnage in the streets continued. The sound of sirens,

  screams and howling echoed in the air. Rubble, wrecked cars and corpses littered the streets,

  painting the grim picture of great catastrophe.

  Four survivors moved silently through the alleyway, alert and cautious, training their guns on

  anything that moved.

  Corvo, the leader of the group, was an old but sturdy war veteran, evident from the army fatigues

  that he wore, and the professionalism with which he handled his M-16 assault rifle. A smoking

  cigarette hung from the corner of his mouth, il uminating his wiry bearded face and the green beret

  donning his greying hair.

  Fol owing closely behind Corvo was Samantha, a petite, young brunette woman. She wore a white

  vest, bright red track jacket with white stripes running down the sides, faded jeans and black and

  white sneakers. Her cautious green eyes scanned the area for any signs of danger, her ponytail

  sweeping through the air. She held an M1911 pistol in front of her with one hand, while her other

  hand grasped a flashlight, lighting up the group's path.

  Markus walked next to Samantha, holding a Uzi close to his side. The submachine gun was in stark

  contrast to the office attire of the thin, black and head-shaved young man; a white collared button-up

  shirt, business slacks and a red tie hanging loosely around his neck.

  Bringing up the rear was Jacob, a stocky biker whose image was bolstered by his black vest,

  tattooed arms and buzz-cut. He brandished a large pump-action shotgun, cursing under his breath.

  What he thought of the man leading their expedition would have made Corvo less than happy to

  know.

  "Why are we going this way, anyway?" the biker asked sourly. "We should stick to the streets; we have a better chance of being spotted by the rescue choppers."

  Corvo scowled, as he did every time Jacob chal enged him. "It's a slaughterhouse, son. Too open.

  And even if a helicopter did spot us, the streets are too hot for them to land. Our best bet is to get to

  a rooftop."

  Jacob grumbled once more under his breath, but he knew when he was beaten. Everyone was

  going to stick with the experienced Vietnam veteran, of course. He reached into his backpack for a

  candy-bar, but scowled when he realised that he had run out. The bag was becoming alarmingly

  empty of supplies. He looked over at Samantha, who was carrying the only other backpack in the

  group.

  "You got any food?"

  "Only some canned stuff left," she said regretful y.

  Suddenly, Corvo noticed something on the floor of the alley. He held up his right palm. "Hold up." He bent down and prodded at a puddle of green slime. "Ain't seen anything like this before."

  Jacob looked down at the fetid puddle and felt his appetite evaporate. "Jesus," he spat, repulsed.

  "Don't let that stop you from smearin' it al over yourself!"

  Corvo turned his head toward him, scowling once more. He col ected his rifle and stood, wiping his

  fingers on Jacob' vest while the latter's attention was diverted by a distant scream.

  "The Infected. They're changing." The war veteran moved off further down the al ey.

  "GODDAMN IT, CORVO!" Jacob roared. He sniffed at the putrid green stain the older man had left

  on his clothes and recoiled in disgust. "UGH, THAT STINKS!" He took a deep breath and somewhat

  regained his composure. "You'd better hope that washes out," he growled.

  Markus could not help but chuckle at the situation. Suddenly, another, most unexpected sound

  pierced the night. Loud, tortured sobbing drifted from somewhere nearby. Corvo looked over at the

  others, and then located the source of the noise. The crying was coming from behind a metal door

  built into the brick wal of the al eyway.

  Samantha looked at the door in surprise. "There's someone stil alive," she said hopeful y.

  Corvo glanced at Markus, who nodded his approval silently. He and Samantha then took up

  positions outside the door. The older man slowly turned the knob and cautiously pushed the door

  open, and then they both pointed their weapons into the pitch blackness inside. The bitter and

  tortured crying continued, louder than before.

  Corvo nodded into the darkness. "Over there," he whispered, his voice echoing throughout the dark

  room.

  Samantha promptly sJaguared on her flashlight again, the cone of light il uminating a smal portion of

  the room. However, the source of the crying was obscured by a large desk in the way. Corvo slowly

  crept forward into the room, crouched down, gun held out in front. Samantha followed him, her

  flashlight and pistol trained toward the desk.

  "Hel o?" she cal ed. "Hello?" However, she received no response.

  As they came around the desk, they caught glimpses of the figure. It was an extremely thin woman,

  sitting cross-legged on the tiled floor. Her head was tilted forward, causing her long, knotted hair to

  fal over her face. Her entire body heaved as she sobbed. Samantha noticed several bloodstains on

  the ground and wall.

  "It's okay," she began. "We're going to – "

  A loud rumble of thunder came from outside, and a flash of lightning momentarily lit up the room. To

  her horror, she saw that the bloodstains she had seen earlier belonged to several mutilated corpses

  up against the far wal .

  The flash of lightning lit up the figure sitting on the floor, showing that it was definitely NOT human.

  The figure had white, knotted hair, greying skin and long red claws folded in its lap.

  However, before Samantha's flashlight could il uminate the figure's face, Corvo's hand came up, pushing it back down.

  "Lights OFF," he hissed.

  Samantha quickly complied, and fortunately, the woman ignored them and continued to weep.

  Jacob and Markus stood guard outside the door in a rather uncomfortable silence.

  "What do you think is taking them so long?" he asked presently.

  Jacob grunted. "Do you wanna go in there and ask 'em?"

  Before the other man could reply, a loud snarl from back down the al eyway caught their attention.

  He turned to see a large crowd of people running toward them. However, these people had long lost

  al vestiges of their humanity. They were now Infected; extremely aggressive and mindless animals,

  victims of the virus that had recently developed suddenly and without warning throughout

  Pennsylvania. The effects of the so-cal ed 'Green Flu' were devastating. Entire cities had already

  been lost, and Fairfield was about to become one of them.

  "Oh, shit," Markus breathed, as his compatriot began to fire his shotgun. " Shit. SHIT. SHIT!"

  As Jacob continued shooting, Markus ran into the doorway to see Samantha and Corvo kneeling

  down next to a woman.

  "They're coming!" he yel ed as he brought his flashlight to bear on the three figures. It was then that he saw the hideous figure in the ful light."What the – "

  The gangly woman snapped her head up to face him, her eyes gleaming a sinister red. She stood up

  and let out a bone-chilling scream, causing Markus to cry out in shock and fear.

  "RUN LIKE HELL!" Samantha screamed, and the three of them ran for the do
or, with the hideous

  woman in hot pursuit.

  They barrel ed out of the door, and Markus slammed it shut, leaning against it to stop the infected

  woman from fol owing them. He heard a loud THUMP, and a dent appeared in the metal door.

  Another THUMP and dent followed. A second later, with a terrible ripping sound, one of the woman's

  clawed arms tore through the door. It began to flail wildly, searching for a victim. Markus shouted in

  shock, and unloaded his Uzi into the long, gangly appendage, causing it to reach for him.

  "DO YOU LIKE THAT?" he yel ed and continued shooting the arm, which eventually retracted back

  into the darkness.

  Meanwhile, Samantha, Corvo and Jacob opened fire on the mob rushing toward them. Bodies

  tumbled and fel over each other as blood spurted into the air. Soon thereafter, the last Infected

  toppled to the ground, and the sound of gunfire ceased, leaving a tense silence in its wake. Markus

  cocked his head to the sky when he heard the whir of helicopter blades.

  "D'you hear that?" he cried excitedly.

  A searchlight beam swept through the al eyway as a helicopter flew overhead, blaring something

  through a loudspeaker.

  "HEY!" Markus yelled, running down the alley and waving his arms. "WAIT UP!"

  "Markus, stop!" Samantha cal ed, but he did not hear her. She quickly ran after him before Corvo or Jacob could object.

  No one saw the dark figure stalking Markus from the rooftops. Another bolt of lightning flashed

  overhead.

  "HEEEEEEY!" Markus screamed, running out into the street after the helicopter. "WE'RE DOWN

  HERE!" If the helicopter pilot noticed the desperate bid for his attention, he did not show it. "WE'RE

  NOT INFECTED!" the former business man yel ed, his voice cracking.

  As the helicopter flew away into the distance, Markus was able to make out some of the words

  coming from the loudspeaker. "If there are any survivors down there, make your way to Jameson

  Hospital for evacuation."

  He cursed his bad luck, not noticing the dark figure hanging down from the rooftop behind, eyeing

  him down hungrily. With an ear-splitting scream, it pounced with incredible speed and agility.

  It slammed into its prey and pinned him to the road, slashing at his chest mercilessly with its claws.

  Markus screamed in shock and pain.

  Suddenly, Samantha threw herself into the figure from the side, knocking it away from her

  compatriot. She stumbled to one knee, and brought her pistol to bear as the hooded figure turned

  back toward her. She fired a shot, hitting it in the shoulder. It recoiled from the impact, roaring in

  anger. It prepared to pounce once more, but Samantha shot it again, hitting it in the stomach. She

  fired another shot, but the infected creature was too fast. It jumped away across the street with awe-

  dropping speed and disappeared into a dark alleyway.

  However, Samantha's stray bul et slammed into a car, triggering the alarm. The mostly-silent street

  echoed with the piercing klaxon. As the alarm screeched, a bloodthirsty chorus of howling and

  screaming rose to meet it. Jacob and Corvo ran out of the alleyway into the street.

  "Damn it!" he cursed furiously. "Who set off the car alarm?" He glared at Markus, who was being helped up by Samantha.

  "Hey man! Don't look at me!" Markus cried defensively. " She did it!"

  Samantha's eyes narrowed. "I just saved your life. You're welcome!"

  The deafening roar of the incoming horde grew louder. Lightning flashed across the sky again and

  momentarily showed countless shadows of people dancing across the buildings as they closed in on

  the four survivors.

  "I know you meant wel , kid," Corvo said slowly. "But by saving this jackass, I think you've just invited every Infected in the city to dinner."

  As if to prove his point, a huge crowd of infected people came running down the street and spilling out of doorways. A heavy rain began to fal at that moment, almost as if it was an omen of things to

  come. The four survivors immediately opened fire, taking down several Infected. But there were far

  too many for them to handle.

  Samantha looked over her shoulder and her heart sank. "Corvo! They're coming from the other

  direction too!"

  "Let's move, people!" he ordered.

  The group ran across the street toward another al eyway, firing as they ran. Markus was heavily

  injured, and had to be helped along by Corvo. Meanwhile, the bloodthirsty horde ran after them. The

  group came to a fire-escape and Samantha and immediately began to scale the metal staircase.

  Jacob, Corvo and Markus turned back to see a solid wall of Infected rushing toward them. He fired

  off a quick burst from his Uzi, and then turned to be helped by Corvo up the fire-escape.

  The dark alley flashed as Jacob fired off one shotgun round after another, exploding heads in

  showers of gore and making large, bloody holes in chests.

  "Yeah!" he hollered. "Come and get some!"

  "Jacob, come on!" Samantha yelled from above him.

  He turned to run up the fire-escape, but cried out in shock when he saw an infected man right behind

  him. Its mouth was open in a roar as it prepared to tear the biker's throat out. However, a hole

  appeared in the infected man's head, and he col apsed. Jacob looked up to see Samantha standing

  above him on the fire-escape with a smoking pistol.

  "GO!" she yel ed. "I'll hold them off!" She continued to gun down Infected as Jacob climbed the stairs.

  He reached her, and they both turned and climbed up the rest of the fire-escape, with the infected

  crowd right behind them. They both tumbled onto the roof of the building and Samantha looked back

  to see Corvo casual y toss a grenade over his shoulder onto the fire-escape. It tumbled down a few

  steps, and then exploded, sending up a spray of blood. The fire-escape screeched and groaned

  horrendously. It soon tore away from the building completely and fel back into the al ey, crushing a

  large amount of infected people who happened to be below it. A cloud of dust and debris rose into

  the air as relative silence descended once more.

  Samantha col apsed to al fours, struggling to catch her breath, while Jacob and Markus sat down at

  the edge of the roof.

  He started to laugh, but it just caused the injuries that he had sustained to hurt even more. Instead

  he just smiled. "We made it... I can't believe we made it!"

  "Son, we just crossed the street," Corvo said. He was sitting down on a step with his back to the rest of the group as he cupped his hands to his mouth to light up another cigarette. "Let's not throw a

  party 'till we're outta the city."

  He stood up and walked over to the far edge of the roof. Jacob joined him and they looked out over the city, being laid to waste by its own frenzied citizens. Fires and smoke could be seen in every

  direction, and the air echoed with the sound of howling. The city was never free of the howling.

  Chapter 1

  Lightning flashed again as the rain continued to fall over the city of Fairfield, soaking the four

  survivors.

  "Damn it!" Samantha cursed. She pointed across the roof to the stairwell doorway. "Let's get inside before we freeze to death."

  "Do you mean before or after the Infected tear us limb from limb?" Jacob remarked sarcastically.

  The former col ege student ignored him and helped Markus to his feet. Corvo came over and draped

  Markus' other arm over his shoulder, and the group made their way across the rooftop to the door.

&nb
sp; Samantha tried to open it, but it was locked.

  Jacob stepped forward. "Allow me."

  He pointed his shotgun at the doorknob and fired, blasting a large hole in the door in a flash of light

  and flying wooden splinters. He pushed the door open roughly, and the others made their way into

  the murky stairwel , gently lowering Markus down onto the steps.

  "Ah, shit, that hurts," he groaned.

  "You shouldn't have run off on your own like that," Samantha said pointedly. "That thing would have kil ed you."

  "Hey, I managed to catch some valuable information," he replied defensively. "I heard the helicopter pilot saying over his loudspeaker for any survivors to get to Jameson Hospital. They're evacuating

  people from there."

  "Jameson Hospital, huh?" Corvo grunted. "That sounds like our best bet."

  "Question is; how are we going to get there?"

  However, Corvo now had the time to get a good look at Markus' injuries. "You look pretty torn up,

  son," he said. "Let me have a look."

  Samantha suddenly realised how red and bloodstained Markus' shirt was. "Oh, shit..."

  Corvo knelt down, grabbed Markus' red-soaked shirt and tore it open. There was blood everywhere.

  Samantha cupped her hands to her mouth in horror, while Jacob grunted in annoyance.

  "How bad is it?" Markus asked timidly.

  "…I can't tel ," the old veteran said, keeping his expression guarded. He turned his head to the

  others. "I need some water to clean the wounds to get a better look. Samantha, you stay here with

  him. See if you can wrap his shirt around his chest to slow the bleeding." She nodded silently.

  "Jacob, you come with me downstairs. We need to find a bucket or something."

  The man in question glared back in silence.

  Corvo narrowed his eyes. "Is there a problem?"

  It took a moment for Jacob to respond. "Nope." With that, he hefted his shotgun, turned and walked

  away down the stairs.

  Corvo sighed and stood up, turning to the others again. "Stay sharp." He turned to fol ow Jacob

  downstairs.

  "Corvo, wait," Samantha said suddenly.

  He turned back to her. "What is it?"

  "Before, you said that the Infected were... changing."

  He nodded slowly. "Why? What did you see?"

  "The thing that attacked Markus, it wasn't like the Common Infected. I've never seen anything like it