The Hot Zone

(Test)

They continued to walk by themselves until Jess her name being called, "Hey! Jess!", she turned around to Michael staring at an area in the bushes, she saw them rustle, but nothing else, "Can you see them?"

Neither she nor Toby answered.

"They were there.. two seconds ago!" he turned his head towards Jess, "Did you see them? There were people, standing in the trees just down there... But..."

Jess wasn't really sure how to react, she saw a bush rustle and even though part of her wanted to just discard it and continue on another part in her head, the part that had kept her alive for five months, said to trust Michael and that there had been people standing there. "Well should we fight or what then?" Jess asked, not stating out right that she believed him, but knew he would have a plan of action either way.

"We need to keep moving... Who knows what kind of crazy is sitting out here in the forest..." Michael had rushed passed Jess as she stood and looked around. Something had changed, she could feel, but she wasn't entirely sure what it had been. It was silent, though she couldn't really know this for sure because she hadn't exactly paid attention to the noise around her when they were walking a few minutes ago. She kept her eyes on the trees getting her shotgun ready to fire, just in case and began to follow Michael. As they continued to walk Jess could hear Michael mumbling to himself, mostly because now she was very aware of the fact that the forest was indeed silent. She began to fidget a little with her gun, her fingers moving worriedly. Then they came to a large gates and a driveway.

"Looks like a private estate out here..." Michael said out loud as if still in his own world and forgetting she or Toby were there with him. They finally came to a building and a small open area in the forest. The building was a big grey cement block, cold and unfeeling. 'A prison', Jess thought and sure enough she heard Toby mumble, "Black Falls State Prison", as they walked by the sign.

As they neared the cement building it seemed Michael's earpiece had something to tell him because he suddenly stopped and Jess could hear a buzzing noise coming from his general direction. "What the hell is going on?" He asked 'HQ', but all was silent. "You might just be right..." Michael mumbled as he looked back to Jess. Jess bowed her head and smirked silently. She knew she was right especially after this 'HQ' person had bombed a town of survivors with no explanation to the person working for them. Though she was trying to hide the smirk because Michael still trusted them and even though they were in a dead society that doesn't mean that respect for others suddenly dies. "Whatever is going on... We have a vehicle in cell block D... come on."

Michael stepped inside, Jess held her shotgun at the ready and followed him in. Inside gave her the creeps she would admit; it was complete chaos inside. There were no lights, all the light bulbs looked like they had been shattered and all along the wall were scratch marks, some just small indents, but others outlined with blood. The only light was coming from the open door and that was slowly fading away from there view, meaning they would have to rely on their hearing and how best their eyes could adjust. Subconsciously, Jess moved forward a couple steps trying to get closer to Michael, though in her head she figured it was just because she tripped on something. In her head she knew this was the part in a horror movie that people would scream out "Don't go in there!", and she wasn't really sure if she should. Though it did give her an adrenalin rush, this rush was different and one she wasn't too fond of. It was less of a thrill and more of a chill. She hoped that they would find the supposed car, if there was one because she highly doubted that there was one, before zombies started attacking them in this little hallway.

"Do you really think this is safe?" Jess asked, to no one in particular, "I mean, can't we just walk the rest of the way, exercise won't kill us..." she looked turned around and walked backwards to see behind them. She kept looking around the silence stronger in here than it was out there and their feet echoing around. Then she heard something rasping, like wind coming and going through small holes. She looked into a room and noticed limbs, at first they didn't move, but then slowly the shifted slightly.

"...but they might," she whispered. Toby ran into Jess, making her stumble and knock some rubble on the ground alerting the zombies who were now standing up. "I think we should run," she said, shoving Toby towards Michael and raising her gun, she stood her ground backing away from the, "Go run! RUN!" she yelled, the zombies were now standing up and walking and running towards them, "I'll hold them off as long as I can, you two run for that car!" she shot a couple fires at the faster zombies, trying to take down as many as she possibly could. She didn't look back to see if they had actually ran, she just stood her ground taking the occasional step backwards and continued to fire. Then there was another problem, she was running low on bullets, her pockets were feeling lighter and lighter even though more zombies piled out of the room.

Michael stepped further and further down the hallway of the prison, light dimming as they went deeper in. "Was this some kind of high security prison?" Michael asked out loud, "I mean... there are next to no windows." Michael moved a little further, straining his eyesight to see into the blackening abyss of the prison's hallways; that's when Michael noticed why there wasn't any light... Sheets, wooden boards, anything that could block out light had been strung up, nailed over and used to cover any windows or light sources. Michael turned around to Jess who suddenly, it seemed, became much more cautious of the groups situation than before.

"Do you really think this is safe?" Jess asked out loud. Michael could tell this was not a comfortable situation for her, "I mean, can't we just walk the rest of the way, exercise won't kill us..." Jess turned around and walked backwards to see behind them. Jess kept looking around, then something rasping violently could be heard through the halls, like wind coming and going through small holes. Jess looked into a nearby room and noticed limbs, at first not moving, but then slowly shifting, "But they might" she whispered.

Suddenly panic hit Toby as he ran into Jess, making her stumble and knock some rubble to the ground. The infected we alerted immediately, the subdued state now fully gone and their heads propped upwards to locate the sounds origins. "Fuck" Michael hissed as he heard the shuffling through the dim light. Michael fumbled for a moment as Toby suddenly slammed into his body and the shouts of Jess echoed heavily through the prison "Go run! RUN!" Michael got to his feet in a few seconds and remembered the torch he had built into his headpiece. He switched it on and for the first time the reality of what the prison looked like hit him.

Blood splattered the walls, dry and black in colour. Limbs and bodies were strewn and built up in corners of the prison, almost deliberate in appearance... "what the hell?" Michael said recoiling at the sight, but his thoughts were soon cut off when Jess yelled again "I'll hold them off as long as I can, you two run for the car!" Jess fired a few times stopping a few zombies in their tracks. Michael's light provided some relief in the darkness as it showed him exactly where he was treading, but the trade off was the horror sight he saw across the floors and walls.

Michael moved forward down the hall, watching as Toby ran forward off into the darkness, "TOBY STOP!" Michael yelled, "You'll get lost!" BANG! BANG! BANG! Michael stopped running as he turned back to look down the hallway as Jess was slowly stepping backwards, but managing to keep the zombies at bay. Suddenly an ear splitting ringing filled the air as the prison's lockdown alarm began to wail. "What the hell!?" Michael cursed to himself over the din as he clasped his hands over his ears.

The noise was deafening, and Michael knew it would be attracting more zombies at any moment, and that was something Jess wasn't going to be able to handle alone. He looked down towards her, she was still holding them off, but the noise was definitely distracting. Michael looked down the other end of the hallway to see Toby standing there shouting something to him... Suddenly Toby fell to the ground without any sign of what happened to him. "Shit" Michael hissed as he bolted forwards without thinking. Michael was a few feet from Toby when suddenly a barred door slid shut cutting the hallway off and separating Toby and Michael. "Toby! TOBY! Are you ok?" Michael tried to yell over the alarms ringing. Michael clasped his hands around the door trying to slide it back open but it was no use... This was a prison after all and when a prison locks down... it stays locked down.

Michael jumped back though after he reasoned he wasn't getting to Toby through that door. "Hold on Toby!" he yelled, "I'll get you-" Michael was stunned when suddenly two figures stepped into Michael's light's way... Two men stepped out of the dark shadows, dressed in ripped jeans, and t shirts, covered in thick black dried blood, wielding a hand gun, rope and plank of wood. They weren't zombies thank god but it didn't more than a few seconds to realise they weren't here to help. "Leave him alone!" Michael yelled above the noise, but it was useless. "Fuck" Michael yelled as he watched the two men ignore his presence and effortlessly tie up and drag off Toby.

Michael yelled pathetically after the two captors of Toby but when he realised it was no good turned on his heel, withdrew his handgun from it's holster and pelted down towards Jess who by now had seemed to have made it halfway back down the hall. As Michael neared Jess he pulled his handgun up and pulled the trigger once, twice, three times, taking down two of the infected that were dangerously close to Jess. Michael grabbed her shoulder and pulled her around so she faced him as he mouthed "We have to run, Toby is gone!"

Michael turned around, looking for a way out of their situation and grimaced when he looked down the end of the hallway Jess and backed from... His light shone bright enough to see a whole horde of at least twenty infected shuffling - thankfully - not running, towards them. "Shit shit shit" Michael hissed. He turned around again and saw that he and Jess were in fact, standing at a T-Intersection. "Come on! This way!" Michael yelled as he pulled Jess down the hallway and Managed to get them both through another sliding gate just before it closed.

The two burst through the the sliding door and Michael tripped and rolled across the ground, slamming against a wall as the door closed, the alarm stopped ringing and the small horde behind them was left trapped. Breathing heavily, Michael looked to Jess wide eyed and confused, "What the fuck just happened?"



“There is no electricity or windows, and this place is pitch black at night.” James said firmly. Sierra shrugged nonchalantly, quietly reasoning with herself that things could be much worse. She followed James quietly, listening to him as he spoke, but couldn't help but smirk coyly as spoke with slight irritation as he showed her around; “This is the cities college. Particularly the Art building.” He pointed to the clay room and said shortly, “This is the clay room.” He walked into the door way of the studio room and said even shorter and more irritated sounding, “Studio room…”

Sierra actually laughed as he showed her his safe haven and for the first time realised she must be sounding rather distant and... Well, like a bitch. James pointed to a mattress, and said “there’s where I sleep…” He paused for a moment. Even though she had been rude to him, her behavior had not shadowed his own innate generosity. So he said rather reluctantly “Your welcome to it.” Pointing to the next door ahead he said, “That’s the sculpture room… my only rule here is don’t touch my things without asking…” Sierra poked her head into the sculpture room, but the dimming light over the city was making it hard to define anything past silhouettes. "You seem talented" she said turning around, that was as good as an apology she reasoned internally if she had sounded brash earlier. He looked rather annoyed at this point with how she acted and said “If your staying I need to trust you… Who was that you spoke too?”

Sierra was honestly a little taken aback at his brazen questioning all of a sudden and for the first time saw a glimpse of why James had stayed alive for so long. "Hmmm" she said with hyperbole as she made a show of contemplation on whether or not she should tell James. She decided it would be ok. "They are my bosses..." Sierra said mysteriously, smirking while she spoke, "I work for the UN.. I'm a special agent, specifically, rescue..." Before James could ask why she hadn't phoned in to have him and herself rescued Sierra continued "UN official rescue and recovery."

Sierra leaned back against a nearby wall, "I'm waiting for an Officer who has been tasked with coming to the city... he's been held up." Sierra shrugged, "Apparently I am to wait in the city for a little while longer than anticipated." She looked sideways to James, "I'll help you out as much as I can..." She pushed off the wall, "But don't expect a-" Suddenly Sierra was cut off by the sound of another voice, "Hello?! Anybody here? I was walking by, and think I could be of use, a little, sort of. I am a doctor, or could be, kind of...I have beef jerky!"

Sierra looked to James, a look of stern concern coming across it suddenly, Sierra was kicking into special agent mode - be wary of everyone and trust nothing.

As Jess was yanked along down a hallway by Michael she shot a couple more zombies, then he tripped and slid across. Since his grip had still been on her, she went down as well; sliding to a stop, the door closing just a couple inches from her feet with a loud heavy thud. She sighed to herself, grateful that she had actually passed the door completely, even if by a couple inches. She got to a sitting position on her knees in order to catch her breath and checked herself for injuries; bruises and scrapes, but thankfully no bites.

"What the fuck just happened?" Michael asked Jess, the look on his face disconcerted her a little, thinking at how calm and straight his face usually was.

"I don't know, a trip wire maybe?" Jess offered, she said this more as a joke to help lighten the mood because she knew it must be more of a rhetorical question than one that he was actually wanting an answer for. Though, it might also be that he really did want an answer that he knew Jess wouldn't have, but still felt the need to ask it as if that would help whatever was going through his mind. Jess gave a short laugh to herself at the thought of all this just being caused by a trip wire, then she remembered what Michael had said about Toby being gone.

"So...um....what exactly happened back there?" she asked tentatively, "Where did Toby go?" Her breath finally caught up, she stood up and dusted herself off. She walked over to Michael offering a hand to help pull him up, her shotgun loosely held in her other hand. She looked around, her eyes adjusting to the near darkness they had wandered into, if it wasn't for Michael's light they would be in complete darkness of that she was sure. What could be seen there wasn't much of, some rubble, the scratched walls, a couple cells. Then there were numbers on top of the cells, she wondered if they could use those to navigate through; to the car in cell block D, to find Toby, or to get the Hell out.

Michael pulled himself up and into a standing position, cracking his neck to the side and heaving heavily as the horde of undead moaned and gurgled at him and Jess through the barred off door. As Michael moved around the new uncharted hallway, Jess offered small anecdotes that Michael half acknowledged as he looked down and up the hallway, spying the blood smeared across the hallway, dried, blackened and tar-like in viscosity. Michael turned around and faced back to where they had come from, the horde was clawing longingly out to them. Michael shivered in repulse at their insatiable hunger.

Then Jess broke his train of gruesome thought with "So...um...What exactly happened back there?" Michael shook his head and rid it of all the worst outcomes possible that could happen at this very moment. "The powers not out... Someone is controlling the prison" Michael said matter-of-factly as he motioned Jess to follow him. "Look up at the ceiling..." He said pointing up towards the lights. As the two passed each one they could see how the lights were all smashed or missing... Every single one. "Whoever is here... they've set this place up to be a maze..." Michael moved towards an intersection and suddenly as he went to turn right a sliding door abruptly shut blocking his and Jess's path, "And whoever it is took Toby and they're pushing us towards somewhere..." Michael kicked the recently closed door and pushed on with Jess, "They took Toby..." Michael said morosely, "And the people who took him... they sort of looked like the people I thought I saw down the road..." Michael moved towards another door and as he passed through it another alarm rang and suddenly he and Jess were separated.

Michael turned around suddenly and a loud "FUCK!" echoed through the hallway. "What the hell! What do you want!?" Michael yelled outwards down the hallway. Michael shone his light down past Jess and before he could properly communicate why she should run the two men behind her began to shout "Don't move and we won't we kill you" they said angrily. Michael looked down the hallway and began to panic for Jess, although he somewhat suspected that being the thrill junkie she seemed to be would probably enjoy a little more action... Michael was about to yell instructions to Jess as he unclipped his torch from himself and handed it through the bars of the door, but suddenly an ear splitting screech filled the entire prison followed by a solid thud and loud boom.

The two men who were on their way to Jess stopped to listen to the sound and Michael cocked his head to the side to try and determine the sound, swearing for a moment he could hear the distant whirring of a helicopter. Michael turned to Jess and quickly hissed "Go down that way, we'll meet up at cell block D! I'll find Tob-"

Suddenly a loud crash and the sound of rubble collapsing filled the air too and down the hall where Jess's would be pursuers stood a hulking great beast burst forth through the wall, allowing daylight to dimly light down the hallway. "What is that?" Michael said in awe, his jaw dropping at the monster that Jess now faced. It lumbered at first, the effort in breaking the wall must have temporarily stunned it... "Jess... You need to move!" Michael shouted, alerting the monster suddenly.

It turned slowly in the direction of Michael's voice. Slackjawed with human like teeth, it bellowed a loud growl down the way towards Jess. It's body couldn't be seen from their position, but the creature was jaundice in colour and thick veins pulsed around it's skin. It had sallow eyes and gaunt cheeks. It's eyes were swollen but it was clear it could see well. The creature was clothed - barely - in some sort of leather, although that only covered it's lower half.. But most strangely, the creature had a small metal plate across the back of it's head, that had a small glass dome over it, with a small red light illuminating gently in the partial darkness as it began a slow jog towards Jess.

Michael yelled again, as it seemed Jess was momentarily shocked by the raucous on her side of the hallway, "RUN JESS!" Michael shouted as he turned himself and made a run down his hallway and turned the corner, hoping Jess would do as Michael urged, and that she'd survive whatever had just made their shitty situation shittier.

Simon remained waiting for a moment. It was not only rude to be kept waiting, but also insane to not want beef jerky. this was the stuff empires used to be made of, and now, of all times, was the perfect piece of history to begin swarming all over the dehydrated food market. Simon stopped this conjecture, and decided to step in. It was against his better judgement, but he would rather invite himself in, and decided to explore a little as well. The entire area was well-fortified. It was like a spider, who would continue building the same web more and more and more, if left alone. Simon smiled. This was someone who could probably help rebuild society. They already looked like they were doing a great job, at the moment. Simon moved towards the various areas, observing them. He enjoyed how they looked. School was a great memory for Simon. Good times of great things. He was not very artistic, though. He just couldn't take the effort to create something from scratch. This area seemed dedicated to artistic pursuits. The voices he heard speaking in this area seemed to have come from the nearby studio room. Simon waved his hand into the doorframe, waving in what appeared to be a hello, but the axis seemed to be from the side of the door frame, before stepping into the room. The woman he saw earlier looked like a professional. But he doubted she was actually trigger-happy. People who did not practice excellent gun safety wouldn't survive easily...usually. Welp, whatever. His hand appeared before him, and he made sure to enter the room slowly, hands raised to the sides, his suitcase full of supplies hanging from one hand.

"I know I might be interrupting, but you obviously do not know the value of beef jerky."

Jess grabbed the bars of the door that separated her and Michael, huffing, her grip tightening around them as if she were trying to break them through pure strength alone. She heard footsteps coming up behind her and knew that some unwanted company had arrived and judging by Michael's reaction they were ones to keep an eye on.

"Don't move and we won't kill you," a man said behind Jess, she just smiled cockily as if she were planning to do just the opposite out of spite alone. A loud screech, something like a woman being murdered and a crow cawing its warning, could be heard in the distance. Jess could feel the people behind her hesitate, it was human nature after all, and Michael took this chance to give her his torch and instruct her to find Cell block D. Then a smash, louder this time as if it were in the hall with them, came. Michael freaked out and began yelling at her to run before running off himself. Jess's eyes widened, expecting the absolute worst, and when she turned around what she saw was beyond what she could even come up with. What now stood in front of her, beginning its charge, looked like Frankenstein's monster and the Hulk child got turned into a zombie.

"Well, fuck," Jess breathed, not believing her luck. She tried to come up with a way out that would avoid the Hulk monster, but the only way she could see was right behind it. So she took a deep breath, held it in and charged towards the monster as well then at the last second she bent down and leaned back, letting her body slide beneath the monster and like she hoped it ran right above her, letting her pass without a scratch. Well a scratch from the monster, the rubble on the ground having fully chewed her knees up. She took a running position and was off before the monster could even turn around. The two men must have found a place to hide or ran off because they were nowhere in sight as she ran down the halls; a left, a right, two more rights, a left, and finally a dead-end. She could hear the the Hulk monster charging somewhere in the halls and so she clicked the light off, hooking it onto herself, and raised her gun towards the only entrance that she could see. Her breath became silent, her eyes focused in the dark, unblinking, and her whole body stiffened up. Her shivering stopped, her nerves shut down, and she became a statue, just waiting for a monster to show its ugly face before it was blown off. Time passed slowly and Jess could here the Hulk monster making its way past, but she didn't even think about starting to move until she couldn't hear it anymore.

Her gun lowered and the light clicked back on, her breath came out in a big rush as if she had been holding it that entire time. Then with one small step after the other she began to make her way through the maze some more. Like before she was keeping track of the numbers on the cells around her. Judging by the numbers she was in Cell block B division, meaning she had a ways to go before she could make it to where the car supposedly was. After a while of just walking and deducing, a thought accord to her that when the numbers go smaller than she was headed to the Cell block A division and that she would have to find a way to get the numbers to get bigger. Though she remembered that they were getting bigger where she and Michael got separated and that that path was blocked off so she needed to find a way around it. Her sigh was harsh and her eyebrows furrowed, she maybe good at figuring out tactics to win a race, and even then not so much considering how many times she actually won. So she made her way back to where the door had slammed in her face, this wasn't the first time either that a situation like this had happened, though last time it happened it was more metaphorical than an actual door slamming closed in front of her. She remembered when she was in high school and planning for the future, sure school wasn't really her thing and she knew all too well that her dad didn't have enough money, but she liked having the option of going to college even if it was just a fantasy. But when she brought the subject up with her dad, his only answer to her was a "No, you're not going to college." That door closing was hard for her to face because it meant saying goodbye to her friends and hearing whispering jeers about her being too stupid to go to college by the bullies in high school. This situation was almost like that, the door slamming in her face cutting off even a fantasy of going through it and then having to run from it by monsters that mocked her.

As she approached the door, she could feel what the bullies had said back then coming back to her, weighing her heart and optimism down. The light around her grew as she approached and she found the wall that the Hulk monster had beat down. The light from outside was coming, though it didn't lead to the outside it was just windows that hadn't been blocked. She poked her head through and looked both directions checking for zombies or the love child of Frankenstein's monster and the Hulk. There was nothing there except disturbed dust floating through the light back to the ground. There were no cells to label the direction she should go, but she figured going to the right would be best as that was the general direction she wanted to go. She stepped in, clicking the light off the preserve the batteries energy since she didn't need it in this hall, raised her gun in a defensive position and headed down the hallway towards Cell block D.