Damned Are We

by Durman, Jason

  Jacob covered him, glancing into rooms that they passed by to check for danger.

  "I real y think we should get back to the others…" he murmured.

  Trev whirled around and glared at him. "And abandon Andy? You can go ahead and go back, if you

  want. I'm gonna keep going."

  With that, he turned back and continued down the hal way. Jacob sighed and started to fol ow him,

  but stopped when he heard something behind him. He could have sworn that he heard the sound of

  running feet, but it was so quiet, he was not sure if he had imagined it. Jacob whirled around and

  aimed his light back in the direction they had come from, but there was nothing to be seen behind

  them. Nothing at all.

  "Did you hear that?" he hissed to his compatriot but received no answer. He looked back to see that Trev was getting too far ahead for his liking. "Goddamn it," he muttered under his breath, and moved off to catch up with the other man, harbouring the unpleasant feeling that they were being followed.

  The two survivors moved careful y through the ward. Samantha had wanted to go back to Markus'

  room to link up with him, Roger and Joe. Corvo, however, had convinced her that their chances of

  survival would be better if they found Trev and Jacob before the Leapers did.

  I hope the Leapers haven't found them already, Samantha fretted.

  Her train of thought was interrupted by the sound of pattering feet coming from down a hal way off to

  her left. She stopped dead and quickly pointed her shotgun down the hal , her light showing nothing

  immediately. However, she could have sworn that she saw a blurred shadow disappearing around a

  corner.

  "Corvo!" she hissed. "I think I saw something."

  He came back to her side immediately and they both held their position for a moment, considering

  the next course of action.

  "Okay, I'm going up there," Corvo whispered carefully. "I need you to hang back a bit and cover me.

  If one of those bastards is around the corner, and he pins me, I'll need you to protect me."

  Samantha nodded silently.

  "Use the M1911," the veteran said, voicing his experience. "A shotgun blast at this range could hit me, too."

  She nodded once more, slinging her shotgun over her back and drawing her pistol. With a final nod

  at each other, they sJaguared off their lights so as to not give away their positions. The old man

  advanced careful y down the hallway and came up to the corner. With a deep breath, he looked

  around it.

  "RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

  The distinct scream of the Leaper exploded in Corvo's ears. He quickly turned on his light to see a

  blurred shadow flying through the air at him. Before he could shoot, he felt a clawed hand strike him

  across the face. He was sent flying across the hallway into the opposite wall and crumpled to the

  ground.

  BLAM! BLAM! BLAM!

  The hal way lit up with muzzle flashes as Samantha fired her pistol at the Leaper. However, the

  creature was much too fast, expertly dodging each shot. It waited patiently for a lul in Samantha's

  fire and then pounced again, col iding with her and knocking her to the floor.

  "Get it off! Get it off!" she shrieked.

  Gunfire erupted as Corvo's M-16 leapt into roaring action. The Leaper managed to leap away from

  Samantha toward a corner, but caught several bul ets to the arm. It shrieked with pain as it

  disappeared around the corner.

  "You get your pansy, prancing ass back here!" Corvo shouted, charging after it. However, when he

  reached the corner, the Leaper had already disappeared. The old man shook his head angrily as he

  ran back to Samantha, who was climbing to her feet. "You alright?"

  She nodded, shaken, but otherwise unharmed. Her partner, on the other hand, had an angry slash

  across his cheek from where the Leaper had swiped at him.

  "You're hurt, Corvo," she said worriedly.

  "Just a scratch, kid," he reassured her.

  Trev and Jacob fol owed the trail forged in Andy's blood for a while longer, Jacob occasionally

  glancing over his shoulder to check for danger that could be creeping up on them.

  "Shit!" Trev suddenly hissed.

  "What?"

  "The trail. It ends here."

  "What do you mean, it ends?" his partner said, pushing forward.

  "The blood. It just stops right here."

  "That can't be good..." Jacob murmured.

  Their thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of shouting and gunfire from nearby. They listened

  careful y and heard distinct pistol shots, fol owed by automatic gunfire. The sounds of battle lulled as

  quickly as they began, and silence fel over the hospital once more.

  A loud chorus of growls echoed suddenly throughout the hal way, causing the hairs on the backs of

  their necks to stand on end. The noise seemed emanate from the very wal s and ground. Thankful y,

  the fearful sound was gone as soon as it came.

  "It sounds like the Infected downstairs are gettin' riled up..." Trev said slowly.

  A loud screech startled them yet again. A dark shadow burst from around the corner as Trev raised

  his M-16. He fired off a burst, but the creature leapt out of the way, digging into the wall, and then

  diving at him. The large man ducked and held up his rifle to protect himself from the Leaper's claws.

  They screeched and scraped across the cold metal of the gun as the creature flew over him. Just as

  it was directly overhead, Trev let himself fal onto his back, and then thrust his boot upward, kicking it

  in the chest. It growled in pain and toppled to the floor behind them.

  As Trev and the Leaper struggled to their feet, a shotgun blast pierced the air as Jacob blew it off its

  feet. The deafening BOOM was fol owed by a loud wail of pain. Trev climbed to his feet and careful y

  aimed his M-16 at the mangled Leaper lying on the floor. It was stil alive, gurgling and hissing. The

  large man strode right up to it and pressed the barrel of his rifle against its head.

  "This is for Andy, you son of a bitch," he hissed.

  Samantha looked up worriedly when she heard gunshots nearby. "That could be Jacob!"

  She and Corvo advanced carefully through the dark hal ways. The gunshots stopped momentarily,

  before the loud BOOM of a shotgun discharge echoed throughout the corridor.

  "At least we know there are two people out there," Corvo remarked.

  He stopped dead when he heard a low growl right beside him, and turned his light to find himself

  face-to-face with the gaping maw of a Leaper. It screamed and swiped its claws at him. Corvo yelled

  out as he ducked, swinging his rifle butt and whacking the creature in the stomach, causing it to

  stumble back a few steps.

  BOOM!

  A round from Samantha's shotgun at point-blank range annihilated the Leaper's head in a foul

  explosion of blood, which splattered al over the wall behind it. Chunks of flesh slid down the wal , as

  the Leaper's headless body slumped to the ground. Samantha and Corvo aimed their weapons in

  opposite directions down the hallway to make sure that nothing else was coming for them, and

  waited for their hearts to stop racing.

  "Nice shot, kid," he complimented her.

  Soon, the hal way echoed with the sounds of running feet coming toward them. They aimed their

  weapons toward the noise, ready to shoot at a moment's notice. The footsteps stopped just around a

  corner, fol owed by a tense silence.

  "Identify yourself!" Corvo final y cal ed out.

&nbs
p; Jacob' voice came from around the corner. "It's me and Trev!"

  Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief, and reunited in the middle of the hal way. Trev shone

  his light over the grim sight of Samantha's kil .

  "Glad to see you guys got one," he said. "We got the other one."

  "Thank God," Samantha sighed.

  Meanwhile, Jacob shined his light over Corvo's face, seeing the scratch the Leaper had given him

  across his cheek, and he visibly stiffened. Trev was more direct and to the point, aiming his gun

  directly at Corvo's head.

  Chapter 15

  Trev's hand trembled slightly as he aimed his rifle at Corvo. He did not like this one bit, but it had to

  be done.

  "Trev!" Samantha gasped.

  "He's infected," he growled. "I'm sorry, Corvo."

  "Wait! Stop, please!" Samantha exclaimed. "We went through this exact same thing with Markus. But he's immune! So there's a chance that Corvo could be too."

  The tal man did not lower his weapon. "The chances of that are very slim, Samantha."

  "So, what? We should just shoot him without even giving it a chance?"

  "She's tel in' the truth, son," Corvo spoke out. "Jacob here was about to pump Markus ful of

  buckshot, but we managed to convince him otherwise."

  Trev turned to the biker beside him. "That true?"

  Jacob gave a small nod. Trev final y lowered his gun, but he stil looked uneasy.

  "Come on," Samantha said, leading them back toward Markus' room. "Markus can explain it better."

  A short while later, after resetting the door/bucket alarm system, they were al standing in Markus'

  room as he retold his story to the others. Joe came to stand next to Samantha.

  "I'm glad you're alright," he said quietly.

  She gave him a small smile in return. However, she was seriously worried about Corvo. What if he

  wasn't immune…?

  "…and that's it," Markus said as he finished his story.

  "Amazing… Although, I suppose that there are always anomalies with new viruses," Roger mused.

  "How long does it usual y take for someone to turn?" Trev asked.

  The doctor shrugged his shoulders. "I can't say. Everyone's different. Most cases I've seen, the

  patient turns a few minutes after they've been infected. However, I've seen a couple of people take

  as long as an hour or two to turn."

  Corvo turned to face the group. "We've been immune so far, but..." He paused to look at the scratch across his face in the reflection of the window and sighed heavily. "Wel , if I start to turn, promise that you'l shoot me."

  There was a sombre silence.

  "What if just your beard starts to turn? Can I shoot that?" Jacob deadpanned, uncharacteristical y

  trying to lighten the mood.

  Corvo chuckled. "You're an idiot."

  Everyone was startled by a loud howl echoing throughout the hospital ward, and their heads turned

  uneasily toward the door.

  "What the hel was that?" Joe uttered.

  Without another word, Jacob and Corvo grabbed their weapons and moved off to investigate the

  sound. Moments later, a loud metal CLANG sounded – the door/bucket alarm system had been

  tripped. Staccato gunfire erupted a second later.

  "Shit!" Samantha cried, rushing to the bed and helping Markus to his feet.

  Joe and Roger grabbed their Uzis, and everyone rushed out of the room to see Corvo and Jacob

  slowly retreating back toward the help desk, sending a hail of lead down the corridor.

  "What the hel is going on?" Roger yel ed over the noise.

  "The Infected have broken through!" Corvo yel ed. "All that noise we made shooting at those damn Leapers must have attracted their attention!"

  "This is bad, this is real y bad…"

  "Ha!" Trev hollered, raising his M-16 to his shoulder. "Let 'em come! My trigger-finger's been itchin'

  al day!"

  The seven survivors opened fire with their various weapons, their combined efforts tearing through

  the Common Infected as they ran down the corridor. However, Roger caught a flash of movement to

  his left and swung his Uzi around to see more people spil ing around the wal on the other side of the

  help desk.

  "Shit!" he swore, taking down two of them with a burst of gunfire.

  However, there were too many, and Roger was brutal y tackled through a doorway into a side room.

  The other survivors looked back in fear when they heard him start screaming.

  "Nooooo!" Joe yelled, rushing back to the door and blowing away the infected people mauling the

  doctor. However, he was too late. Roger was already dead, his intestines splayed out across the

  floor. "FUCK!"

  Corvo felt a pang of sorrow strike his heart, but did not let up on his stand. "Samantha, Markus,

  cover the other side of the desk!" he yel ed over his shoulder. "We can't let that happen again!"

  The former col ege student swung her shotgun around and blasted a haggard-looking man off his

  feet in a spray of gore, while Markus cut down two more with a withering burst from his submachine

  gun. However, the Infected kept on coming.

  "Fal back!" Corvo final y ordered, motioning them down a corridor behind him. The others complied, with the bloodthirsty horde hot on their heels. "We need to get to the roof!" the war veteran shouted.

  "We can use the elevator!" Trev yel ed back. "It still has power – "

  However, he was cut off when a particularly fast infected man caught up with him and tackled him to

  the ground.

  "TREV!" Joe screamed.

  He stopped dead and resumed shooting at the Infected rushing them. The others stopped as wel

  and fired their weapons down the hallway. Trev came up swinging – he had unsheathed a knife and

  was now fighting for his life. However, more and more Common Infected approached, replacing the

  fal en faster than the survivors could take them down. Trev was surrounded, but he kept on fighting.

  He was eventually lost from view.

  Joe shouted angrily, firing his Uzi until it ran out of ammo. "Die, you bastards!" he yel ed, casting it aside and drawing a pistol.

  "We gotta keep moving!" Corvo yel ed, turning to retreat.

  "Joe, let's go!" Samantha cal ed, turning to follow her group.

  She looked back in horror when she heard him cry out, just in time to see him get overwhelmed by

  several infected people. They bit, scratched, kicked and clawed at him mercilessly, oblivious to his

  screams of agony.

  "JOE!" the young woman screamed, blasting away the attackers with several blasts from her shotgun. She ran over to his limp form lying on the ground.

  "Samantha, what are you doing?" Corvo yel ed angrily. He, Markus and Jacob stopped once more

  and resumed their cover fire.

  She reached Joe to find that he was stil alive, although badly injured. "Come on, we're getting out of

  here together." She put his arm around her shoulder and helped him to his feet.

  The five remaining survivors made their way down the hallway in a fighting retreat, and threw

  themselves into a large, joined dorm. Corvo leaned against the door, and several moments later, the

  incessant pounding began on the other side.

  Samantha gently set Joe down on the bed and looked at him with tears in her eyes. "I'm so sorry,"

  she whispered.

  He smiled weakly. "Don't be... I... I'm not going to make it... But you and your friends can stil

  escape..." He groaned in pain. "I... I'm glad I met you..."

  She choked back a sob, grasping his hand tightly. Joe had already accepted that he was going to

  die. He was such a kind-
hearted man. He did not deserve to die. None of them did. Why was this

  happening?

  "Promise me..." Joe whispered, his vision fading. "Promise me..."

  "Anything," she replied.

  "Promise me... you'l stay safe..." He coughed up some blood, and then fell back to the pil ow. "Good luck... and survive."

  With that said, his eyes rolled back into his skul and his body went limp. Samantha let go of his

  hand and slowly backed away from the bed, raising her pistol. The pounding outside the door

  reverberated throughout the room, and a loud CRACK of splintering wood fol owed momentarily as

  the Infected smashed a hole through the door.

  "They're breaking in!" Corvo yelled as he unloaded a burst from his assault rifle through the hole.

  "RRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

  A strangled scream of animalistic rage erupted as Joe rose from the bed, vomiting blood al over the

  sheets. His eyes were fixed on Samantha, but there was no recognition in them. There was only

  hunger, and a ravenous desire to tear her flesh from her bones.

  BLAM!

  His head jerked back as blood spurted from the single bul et-hole in his forehead. He crumpled back

  to the bed, never to move again. Samantha lowered the stil -smoking pistol, her entire body shaking

  violently. She had seen many terrible things over the past two weeks, but she had never witnessed a

  person turn before her very eyes before. It made her feel sick to her very roots.

  Until now, Samantha had never had to shoot someone she knew or recognised. Aside from her very first kill at the initial outbreak...

  "I'm sorry," she whispered.

  "Shit!" Jacob yelled as he fired another round through the hole in the door at a mangled arm

  reaching for him. "We have to get out of here!"

  Samantha hurtled over to Corvo and grabbed his shoulder. "Help me push the bed in front of the

  door!"

  Together, they ran over to their friend's death-bed and pushed it up against the door.

  The former student looked down at the body on the bed. "Thank you, Joe." She then looked over at

  a door on the far side of the room. "Through there! We'll be able to get around the Infected and make

  for the elevator!"

  Jacob fired off one more round through the hole in the door, before turning to fol ow the others out of

  the room.