Rebecca aims her pistol directly to the old man's head. She clenches her teeth hard, to the point she was about to break her own teeth. Her hand was shaking furiously, almost losing her composure and about to go insane. Nakoma stood back as she watches the situation nervously. The scientist wasn't even afraid of her. He sat there with an annoyed look in his face. He squinted his eyes at her with aggressive contempt. Her guards were on her side with her emotions. After the bloody horrors they have seen caused by this old man, they were in the right to be angry. They lost good men to this bioweapon.

  "Dummkopfs! Do you not realize the potential and gravity of the situation we are in! We are in the midst of making history! How can you all not see that through your thick heads!"

  They all stood silent, Rebecca was fuming with pure rage and Nakoma could see it. Her face was sweating, and it looked as if her eyes were tearing up in frustration. Nakoma has never seen Rebecca act this way before. She has always been stern and levelheaded, or at least, to some degree. She can see her hand shaking more and her face as if she was about to break down. She slowly walks up to her while still being cautious.

  "Rebecca, take a deep breath, focus."

  "This fucker, all of them. It's these types of people who ruin the lives of everyday innocent civilians. These people, these bastards, none of them deserve to live on this planet!"

  "I get that, I understand. Before you do anything, we need to ask him questions first. Can we do that first, please?"

  Rebeccas lips quiver slightly as her eyes began to become glossy. She gasps for air as if she was holding her breath trying to control herself. She rested her hands on top of her head as she looked away, trying to hide away her face with frustrated tears running down. One of her guards stood by her side and tried to comfort her, resting his hand behind her back. She accepted his comfort and squatted down with her head buried in her hands. Nakoma sighed with worried, this was a new side of Rebecca she hasn't seen before. Nakoma finally stepped forward and kneeled down beside the old scientist.

  "Look, we just have a couple of questions we need answered alight? If you do that, then no harm will come to you."

  He stares at her looking up and down at her hesitantly, "If I answer, you truly will let me go unharmed?"

  Nakoma nodded her head gently. He blinked a few times before giving a defeated sigh, "Very well... what do you want to know?"

  "What are the other things that are lurking around here?"

  "Other things...?" He said with a raised eyebrow.

  "Yes, the other things. We all seen the undead walking, but what we just saw was something else. A woman with a long tongue and unhinged jaw. She looked like demon in human form."

  "Ah, now I understand. You are talking about the variants. That is what I was researching here. It is fascinating. The variants are not random either. They have to have the correct conditions for a mutation to happen. For example, they all started out as a regular infected person ja? If one were exposed to high concentration to the gas, then the mutation can happen. Or if one were to say, has poor immune disease, or a very high testosterone or estrogen. Cancer or a sexual transmitted disease. If the body has any type of condition that affects it one way or another, the mutation occurs. And depending what condition you have affects the mutation process. Nothing is random, that is why it is so fascinating. That women with the large tongue, she could have had Macroglossia. Which is the enlargement of the tongue."

  "So there's more of those Variants out there?"

  "Of course, fr?ulein. Disease and other poor health conditions are bound to be in these infected. Hygiene is the last thing on people's minds in this world when the main priority is to find water and food. I'm impressed you have yet to encounter more of these variants. A majority of them do tend to linger outside the facility. I'm surprised you only saw one."

  "And you said they're weak to fire, yes?"

  "The regular infected yes, the variants, I have not had the pleasure to test it out unfortunately."

  Nakoma sighed as she slowly stood up from her spot.

  "Is that all fr?ulein?"

  "Is there more of this weapon you built in other places than here?"

  He shook his head, "Nein, this is my creation. My plans, you can even say, it's my child. No one else has the mind like I have to create this weapon."

  She closed her eyes as she took a slow and deep breathe.

  "If that is all, let us make haste. I hope this little excursion of yours was worth the information you were after. After all I am-"

  The scientist quickly jolted backwards whipping his head back violently as a gunshot wound can be seen on his forehead. His blood splattered everywhere as he lay flat in a puddle of his own blood that began to form. Nakoma looked back to see Rebecca aiming her pistol directly at the scientist. Her barrel of the gun emitting a slow rising smoke. Her hands shaking as she still aims at the corpse. Nakoma slowly walks towards Rebecca with her hands slightly raised and with caution.

  "Rebecca.... you need to-"

  She cut Nakoma's sentence short as she continued to unload the entire magazine in her pistol. Everyone around her watch without removing their eyes. They watched as the old man's body twitch with each shot. Then suddenly a loud click, her weapon was now empty. Yet she still tries to fire the weapon as the trigger is locked in its safety position. She keeps squeezing, making sure her gun was truly empty. Nakoma grab Rebecca's arm by her wrist and snapped at her.

  "You got him! It's over... it's over."

  She lowered Rebeccas arm down as she can see tears coming from her eyes. Rebecca slowly turns her head towards Nakoma as she realizes she was crying in front of everyone. Rebecca yanked her arm away from Nakoma's grip. She quickly rubbed her eyes as she tried to compose herself.

  "I'm fine... I'm fine. Don't worry about me I'm fine."

  "Rebecca, you unloaded your entire magazine into that man. There is nothing fine about this, about all of this. The walking dead, and now apparently new ones are popping up. Like it or not we are all in this together, so don't shy away, we are here for you."

  "Oh my god! There you go again, being a goody little two shoes! Okay yeah, I lost my cool there for a bit but I'm fine now. Why!? Why do you always do that!? Try to comfort people or find some solace. Do you get high for being some righteous woman who thinks she's better than the rest of us?"

  "That's not-"

  " So why do you do that, huh?! You don't know me, so don't try to comfort me like I'm a fucking baby. You may not know how the world works, but I sure as shit do! I learned how to deal with shit like this, this isn't new to me. That goes for everyone here too. We all lived like gutter rats and learned how to suck it up. This situation is all new to us, and this old man got under my skin. It just hit a personal nerve is all. That's all there is to it. I got over it now, it's done."

  Nakoma stands there unphased by her anger. Rebecca and Nakoma look at each other with vicious glaring eyes. Rebecca sighed and ran her fingers in her own hair. She stared at the old man's body as more blood began to pool around him.

  "Look, we got the data pad and more info about this place. Let's burn this whole lab and building down and get the fuck out of here, okay? We can use Tommy's shuttle to head straight to the gate instead of the evacuation building like the soldiers said."

  Tommy rests his shotgun over his shoulder and gave a quizzical look to Rebecca, "Sure I don't mind driving us all over there... but are you sure they won't shoot on sight at us? It be a real pain in the ass to have survive all this and then get gunned down at the end."

  "It's a risk we're all going to have to take. We have to let them know how to kill all these things. Fire, he said fire was their weakness, right? We just got to get over there quickly and they'll send in clean up teams with flamethrowers and incendiaries... probably..."

  Everyone looked around the room nervous on the whole situation. They survived a literal hellscape, so anything to get rid of these things sounded like good news to them. But they were still unsure of asking Jackson's men for reinforcement support. They all stayed silent for a minute until Tommy was the first to break it.

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  "Welp, no point in sulking the consequences. Grab anything you need fellas, let's burn this whole place to the ground and get the fuck outta here!"

  His enthusiastic voice help bring the morale of Rebecca's soldiers slightly up as they nodded. They quickly gathered any paperwork or proof of the bioweapons purpose. Some found ethanol and Isopropyl as they began to douse the walls, fabric and other paperwork that were scattered all over the rooms of the hidden laboratory. Nakoma stood there watching everyone working quickly to set the whole laboratory ablaze. Rebecca also watched and looked back at Nakoma. Rebecca gave another glare towards her but this time her eyes looked...sad.

  Her face showed she was clearly angry at Nakoma but her eyes, they felt lost and frightened. That speech she gave to Nakoma was genuine, but Nakoma senses there was more to her words than she was being led onto. Rebecca snapped away as she went to go assist her men in dousing the lab with the flammable liquids. Now Nakoma stood there alone once again. Thinking to herself if anything she is doing is the right choice. She felt a hand touch her shoulder. Looking to her side, she sees Ellis with a soft comforting smile.

  "Don't worry about it Nakoma. In time, she'll understand that you were only trying to help her."

  "I... thank you Ellis." She softly smiles, feeling just a bit better from his reassurance.

  Her soldiers all gave a signal that they were all ready to head out and evacuate. They quickly all rushed to the elevator and held the doors open for Rebecca. A soldier pulled out a flip top lighter and passed it to Rebecca. She grabs the lighter as she looked out into the hallway of the laboratory. The flammable liquid was all over the floor and the room smelled of alcohol. She stared into the lab with a concerning look as she sighed exhaustingly. She tossed the lighter across the room as she quickly pressed the button to return to the surface. They all see the room engulfed in a fire ball of hell as the doors quickly shut closed. The elevator ride to the surface was quiet. Even the smell of the half torso that was on the floor with them did not bother them. They were all focused on finally getting out of this infected city.

  They quickly speedwalked down the corridors they came through as soon as they arrived at the ground floor. They made their way to the entrance now trying to figure out a way out of the building. Two soldiers had an idea as they quickly ran off towards the side. They both grabbed and dragged a vending machine that was just off to the side of them, several in fact. The other soldiers helped them as they tried to make a makeshift staircase towards the hole they entered. They finally got everything in place as they reached for the hole. One by one they helped each other out and they were finally back onto the pavilion. The infected had finally ignored them but were still surrounded the area by the hundreds. They spotted the shuttle sitting perfectly on the sidewalk as it was surrounded by more infected.

  One soldier took a knee and loaded a device into the underbarrel grenade launcher of his m4 rifle. He took aim and with a loud thump, he shot the device. It was a fast strobe like road flare that arch all the way across the street. He loaded another strobe device and fired several. The other infected began to notice the flashing loud strobes of light as they screeched and sprinted towards them. The entrance way was finally clear, and they all quickly hopped down from the pavilion. They ran past the infected as their attention was diverted. They quickly reached the shuttle as they jumped through the back door that was left opened by them. They all stood ready, holding onto the bar as Tommy jumped into his seat.

  The engine stalled a few times as some infected turned around to see what the noise was.

  "Um... Tommy! You better hurry up! Please!" As Nakoma shouted, anxious as she saw the infected one by one turning away from the strobe lights and began looking towards their direction.

  "I'm trying woman! I'm trying!"

  The shuttle kept stalling until finally the engine roared with a fierce echo. The infected began to screech as they finally ran towards the shuttle.

  "HIT IT!"

  As Rebecca shouted at Tommy with authority. He shifted the handle as the tires spun in place. He quickly turned the shuttle and drove past the infected hitting a few in the process.

  "Try to go to El Dorado Freeway. Well drive on the freeways instead of these streets. Hopefully there aren't that many infected bastards on those roads. Then make your way to highway ninety nine!"

  As Rebecca said with a firm statement. Tommy nodded and gave a two finger salute as he drove like hell. He saw the entrance to the freeway as he quickly hit the brakes almost drifting into the turn. Everyone held onto the bars as he drove like a mad man. The whole freeway was filled with abandoned and rusted cars left untouched for the prewar era. It appeared that all the cars were trying to escape. Tommy dodge and weave nearly striking every other car. He saw the exit but shouted in anger as the entrances to get highway ninety nine was blocked off by cars and debris. Someone placed it their intentionally.

  "Fuck! We have to go all the way down the next interchange if we want to use the freeways still!"

  Tommy shouted as he pushes the gas pedal down to the floor. Everyone was getting anxious now. They were being force into downtown near the evacuation center they were supposed to go. Everyone held their breath as they kept inching closer and closer to downtown. Without warning, Tommy hit the brakes immediately forcing everyone to fall to the floor again. They were directly above the interchange of the freeway. Cars blocked the road, even leading to the next exit. Someone placed all these cars somehow forcing people to not use the freeways. Nakoma looked to the right side of the shuttle and saw the downtown area. A building slowly flashing red lights on the roof could be seen. They were close to the evacuation sight, and it was starting to look like the only option left.

  "Rebecca over there, you see the tower. We can just use the original escape plan and evacuate like that soldier said."

  Rebecca looked at Nakoma with annoyance but sighed, "You're probably right. With how far we traveled and if those things are still following us, we have no choice but the tower. Alright... let's get off this exit here and go towards the-"

  "HOLY SHIT LOOK OUT!!!"

  Nakoma and Rebecca looked back to the guard who screamed in terror and pure despair. Within that split second the whole shuttle was thrown violently. Glass and metal shards flew inside as the whole shuttle began to flip constantly. The side of the vehicle showed a large indent as if something struck it with pure force. Everyone screamed as they were thrown all around inside. The shuttle was hit with such force that they flew to the other side of the overpass bridge. everyone was in pain, as they all tumbled inside like clothing in a dryer. They shuttle fell off the bridge and finally landed on its side on ground level. They were back on the highway on I-5 leading towards the original evacuation point. Everyone was disoriented and in pain but surprisingly, no broken bones. They all groaned in agonizing pain but tried to orientate themselves. Tommy was the first to crawl over everyone and reached for the emergency hatch on the ceiling. The top popped off and instantly crawled out, helping the others out of the shuttle.

  Nakoma finally came out confused what just happened. She looked up to see they had fallen off the top of the overpass of the highway bridge. It was a miracle they had survived that fall. Rebecca groaned and went to the soldier who yelled.

  "What the...fuck was that... what did you even see...?"

  He rubbed his head as he looked up, but his eyes nearly busted out of his sockets. He pointed up as he fell on his rear crawling away in pure terror.

  "THERE!!! THAT THING!!! THAT FUCKING THING!!!"

  They all looked up to see a massive humanoid shaped monster. It looked human but it was massive. Nearly standing at ten feet tall. It has inhuman muscle mass and looks like a giant body builder. Its fingers were rotted away as the bone showed, making it look like claws as well as its feet. Not a single strand of hair was seen, only pure rotted meat. Its spine was protruding almost giving it a hunch like back. The only clothing visible on this monster looking creature was its pants. Even then, for its massive size the regular pants made it look like it was wearing shorts. It yelled a massive roar that filled the night sky with dread. It bellowed so loud and deep that it shook everyone to their very core. Nakoma was reliving the stories her tribe had told her about, the demons from the great beyond. How they were disfigured monstrosities that devoured mankind. That their roars filled the sky with eternal damnation and fire.

  The huge monster continued to roar as it echoed into the night sky.

  "Holy shit what the fuck is that thing?!?!"

  "It's fucking massive!!!"

  "Oh god no... please no!"

  Rebecca's soldiers were panicking, unsure what to do.

  "Stay calm guys there's only one solution for this..." said Rebecca as she tried to calm her men.

  The monster leaped from the bridge of the highway and landed on top of the shuttle. It's massive weight and size crushed the shuttle like it was stepping on a soda can. It slowly stood up growling with a low deep demonic rhythm. It almost sounded like an alligator bellowing very slowly.

  "RUN!!!!"

  Rebecca yelled as she bolted down I-5 towards the evacuation building. Everyone soon followed and ran like never before. The monster roared loudly again making every one's chest vibrate from the sound. It was a little slow, but it pushed and threw any car that was in its way out like they were toys. Cars were being flipped away, flung in the air as it barrels towards them. Two unlucky souls were right in its path as they both screamed in terror. They turned around and began to fire their entire magazines into the face of the creature. The monster didn't even flinch or reacted at all, even when the shots hit it directly in its face. The monster lifted its giant clawed hand and swung down at the two.

  It sliced the younger soldier clean through like he was paper. The other soldier was grazed by its claw but severed his own arm. The man yelled in fear and pain as he clutched on to his missing limb. The other young soldier lay in the street as his face was stuck in a yelling emotion. His mouth barely gasping for air as his life slipped away. The monster tossed the cars aside where the injured man was crawling towards. He pleaded for help, but the others kept running. Nakoma heard his plea, but Ellis stopped her.

  "No!!! Let me go!!! He needs our help!!!"

  "He's dead Nakoma!! C'mon!!!"

  She struggles but saw what the creature was doing. The man tried to crawl away as he left a trail of his blood. Crying and begging to stop. The monster walked slowly towards him on all fours almost like how a gorilla walks. It places its giant claws directly on the man, crushing his ribs. It flipped him over forcing him to face the monster. The man was crying now face with death itself. The monster began to burp and dry heave. Until finally it vomited directly onto the man's face. He yelled in pain as he clawed at his own face trying to remove the bile. It's acidic bile sizzling away at his skin as it also stains his clothes. He gasps for air as he violently twitches, and projectile vomits as well. Nakoma stared in horror on what was happening to him. He convulses aggressively and begins to gargle and soon turns into a screeching noise.

  He soon gets up, his face melted, and his black hair now stained and tainted yellow from the acidic bile. He has turned quickly into the infected. He runs towards the group yelling and screeching like one of the infected. The monster yells again as more infected climb over the concrete barriers chasing the group. Nakoma rejoined the others as more and more infected joined the chase, hearing the roar of the giant. Their life now hangs to fate as all of downtown Sacramento knows they are all here.

  It sliced the younger soldier clean through like he was paper. The other soldier was grazed by its claw but severed his own arm. The man yelled in fear and pain as he clutched on to his missing limb.

  He convulses aggressively and begins to gargle and soon turns into a screeching noise. He soon gets up, his face melted, and his black hair now stained and tainted yellow from the acidic bile. He has turned quickly into the infected. He runs towards the group yelling and screeching like one of the infected. The monster yells again as more infected climb over the concrete barriers chasing the group.