As soon as I take my first steps, the knife is doing its work; a civilian Rabid that has multiple bullet holes through its legs that weave their way up into its torso, flails its arms towards me. There must be twenty-plus bullet wounds in it. Its body is in ribbons, and even that does not stop it trying to grab me, but my knife does.
Moving deeper into the room, trying to avoid the reaching arms, my knife is in regular use but there are just too many half-dead Rabids in here to deal with in time.
My eyes are now seeking out the faces below me, urgently searching for Josh. The tension in my body is stifling, the sound of the groaning is all around me and it is getting louder. At first, I thought the volume was rising because I am moving farther into it, farther into the room, but it is now undeniable that more Rabids are groaning and groaning louder because I'm in here with them.
Giving up trying to silence a few of the groans with the knife, I put it away and lift up the M4, the reassurance of its firepower giving me some solace.
Now about halfway into the room, the groans are getting too loud and the tension in my stomach is telling me to get the fuck out. I try to bury this feeling as I have before in combat, now with little success. The Rabids are getting more active and agitated, and some that can are moving slowly towards me in any way possible, pulling themselves along by their hands or inching along using their bodies and heads, anything to get to me.
I can’t see Josh anywhere; is he even here?
Looking back at Alice, it is immediately obvious that she is now very nervous, she is holding her ground—but should she be? What am I asking her to do? Then Emily pops into my head and I know it’s time to go, and that Josh is lost to me.
An ear-piercing screech sounds from my left, and my head whips around towards the source. It takes a couple of seconds but then I see it. A Rabid is standing in the shadows of the pillar, at the opening at the far end from where Alice is, out of her line of sight. The screech continues piercing my ears, sending chills bolting down my spine and adrenaline coursing through my veins. The Rabid doesn’t move. It just stands there making this gruesome noise as if it is calling out. My M4 is on it instantly. I fire and the Rabid drops, but it is too late?
Screeches rise towards me from the Rabids that surround me as they answer the call, their dark gaping mouths wide. I shoot a couple in some futile attempt to silence them as I start to back away, moving steadily. This is not the time to rush and make a mistake. Then it hits me and fear rushes through my entire body; the screeching is not just coming from the Rabids on the floor around me. It is coming from the stairwell in front of me, travelling up from the floor below. The calling has done its job.
My urgency increases and I start to move at more speed whilst still watching my steps, keeping my sights on the stair opening, expecting Rabids to burst from there at any second. A shot rings out from Alice's rifle behind me, and I flinch and see a Rabid go down to my right. I hadn't even seen it. We have got to get out of here now.
Just as I go to turn and make a break for Alice and then for the stairs, an old wooden door on the far wall that I had hardly noticed swings open; my M4 swings around as I prepare to fire.
My finger curls around the trigger of the M4 as my brain tries to process what I am seeing. Josh, Josh is standing in the doorway. His helmet throws me for a second, but it is Josh. Infected or not, my son is standing in front of me in the doorway, my whole body a trembling wreck as it sinks in, and then his mouth opens.
"Dad?"
More gunfire blasts out from Alice's rifle, this time aimed at the stairwell, Rabids are coming. I've got to get my shit together and NOW!
"On me, Josh!"
I shout at the top of my voice as I turn away from Josh, back towards the stairs ready for the onslaught. A pair of eyes appear from the murk above the pile of bodies in the stairwell, then another pair. I fire and almost in unison, so does Alice. Both pairs of eyes disappear immediately. Alice shot the one to my left and I shot the one on the right. Alice has been trained well, taking the target on her side.
Where is Josh? He should be with me by now. I look towards the doorway and see that he has gone back into the small room and his back is to me. What the hell is he doing?
“Josh, move now!” I shout at him and turn back to the stairs.
More eyes are visible, maybe five pairs but farther back, waiting for something, waiting for their chance. Then another pair appears. I rip a grenade off from my body armour, pull the pin and throw it. It arches through the air and through into the stairwell.
“Grenade!” I shout.
Straight after my shout, two Rabids fly out over the body pile at incredible speed, and both Alice and I open fire. The grenade goes off, the dulled explosion echoing around the room as do the squeals that follow it, coming out from the stairwell.
Concentrating on my target, I shoot but miss with my first shot, while my second hits its left shoulder knocking the beast sideways. My next two shots hit its body, slowing it more and then finally my fifth shot is
