Sol Grim

The Dead and the Dying

"Romero high school. Home of the Wildcats," Dallen stated. Where Dallen's daughter was, where Erin's father probably was. It was a destination, and it was all that Dallen was focused on at this point. He thought that it was foolish for the others to leave on their own, but luckily the undead in the area had dispersed. They all now knew these things could be killed and how to, and of the various things that distract them, but they were still fast and never tiring.

"I'm heading that way," Dallen said. He lit up a cigarette and started walking.

There were enormous skyscrapers surrounding them, shadowing the entire city within a few miles. The middle school was a few blocks left off of mainstreet, which was entirely possible to reach and get back to the court house building in 24 hours. So long as the dead was in hiding, they might even be able to find a few more survivors, if there were any.

It wasn't long before they heard a scream. Just a block away, they met Ava once again. She locked herself in a random Ford Taurus while a walker scratched at the window from the outside. With a sigh, Dallen approached and killed the thing, using his knife and sticking it through the back of its' head.

"That didn't take long," he said as he freed her from her own cell.

"Guys..." Erin calmly said, her voice faint.

"Sorry, I should've been more careful," she said, taking a quick second to recollect herself. "It just, came at me so fast."

"We should stay together this time," Dallen said. "Help me get my daughter back, and I will help you find whoever you need to find."

"...guys!"

Before Ava could nod her head in agreement, Erin spotted a few of the undead turning the corner. Behind them, a horde. They were roaming through the city at random, some of their faces still fresh while others were covered in blood and gore. As the dead turned the corner, they spotted the group. One of them houled a blood curdling scream deep through the air and city, the message clear: Food.

"Run!" Dallen yelled. He led the way, taking the group through an alleyway and out the other side. They ran through some markets, then through a building, until they came out in town square. Dallen stopped dead in his tracks as he realized he had just led them all to their demise.

The undead were on both sides of them, and soon enough were at the front and back. There was a slight chance for an escape route, however Dallen thought about it too long and the chance was gone. The horde moved in, some running at them, others hobbling or crawling as fast as they could.

Dallen looked at Elizabeth with defeat in his eyes, realizing that this was the end. They were foolish to think they could make it out here, even for just 24 hours. There was no way his daughter had survived this, or anyone for that matter. They were all dead, or close to it. The dead and the dying.

"Look!" Erin said, pointing at the sewer entrance under the curb. It was small, but wide enough for them to slip through one by one. Wasting no time, Dallen ran up to it and stood guard. "Go!" he yelled. Ava joined him and the pair started firing at the oncoming horde.

Erin slipped through the sewer entrance with ease, though her landing on the other side wasn't perfect. She tripped and landed facefirst, scratching up her forearms and a bit of her chin. She ignored her own pain as she turned to help Elizabeth get down the sewer as well.

"Ava, your turn!" Dallen said, he ran out of ammo and tossed the gun. Using his knife, he killed another walker and pushed it aside. Ava was grabbed, she wrestled with the walker a bit, before shoving it off. Another was quickly on her, but before she was bit she still managed to free herself.

Dallen had a choice. Risk his life for Ava, or protect it by going to the sewers. There was only a moment's notice before they were completely surrounded on all sides, town square belonged to the dead. He leapt out of the way of an attack, almost fully sliding into the sewer grain. He pushed with everything he had until he was completely through, falling to the other side with the others.

"Elizabeth-" Ava said as she rushed to the sewer immediately after Dallen. She too made it, reaching her hands through for help as she tried desperately to force her way in. The dead were already on her from the other side, though, as they tore their fingers and teeth into her back. Her body covered the entire sewer entrance, blocking the dead from entering.

Erin watched in utter horror as the poor woman was screaming for her life right in front of them. Blood started pouring out of her mouth as her innerds were devoured. The walkers huddled around her corpse continuously ate and picked at her flesh, ripping it entirely from her back revealing her spine and organs. It was a painful and slow death, one that put Dallen almost into shock. It took him a few moments before he could regain control of himself again, and then he covered Erin's eyes.

"Keep moving," he told them. "Just keep moving."

Anyone who knew the area above like he did, knew which direction to take even underground. The pipes all lined parallel with the streets. He still led them to the high school, the three of them quiet as they moved on

The Dead and the Dying

moonfaerie, I left it open so you could choose whether anyone would follow the exit group, or do whatever job if staying...choose your own adventure oooohh ahhhh! lol

Also, couldn't find suitable little Asian girl, so...clementine

The Dead and the Dying

"We got the girl, Dallen's dead," Briggs confirmed into the radio. "Heading back up to you now..."

"-Dallen's alive, he's...killing them-" Steven said back, he was 35 floors above them watching their every move on the security monitors.

"What are his chances?" Briggs asked, a confused look on his face.

"-...He's killing all of them...-"

"Open the door!"

...

Dallen crawled his way out from under the dead bodies, pushing each one aside until he was finally free. As he stood, he noticed none of the undead paid any attention to him. He was covered, suit and tie and all, from head to toe in blood and guts. The scent blended him in with the walkers, allowing him to sneak up behind each one and stab them in the brain.

Briggs came back into the room that just moments ago was seemingly lost. He blew the heads off of a few more walkers, until finally they were all dead. The room was clear.

"Thought you were dead," Briggs said to Dallen, a smirk on his face.

"This hides our scent," Dallen said seriously about his blood and guts camo, not even contemplating the thought of actually being torn apart. Everything happened so fast, he didn't have time to think about any of it. "We can now leave this place, when we need to. The building is ours again."

Steven wasted no time. He quickly switched the comms on and told everyone through the loudspeaker the good news. "We have the building back," he spoke. "I repeat, the building is ours!"

While the many people on the 32nd through the 34th floors celebrated the news, it was time they all had to make a choice. Over the course of the day and night, it was known to everyone that in the morning a split would occur. Judge Williams had deemed this building to be her new home, and most everyone else agreed. Here, they all figured they might last for a long time, scavenging outside when needed. This was to be their base. The few that decided to leave, they would get their chance. The gates would be open for them, and they would be allowed to return with their loved ones if they could. They all had until the next morning after that, 24 hours to return. After that mercy, the Judge stating the doors would be closed for good no matter what. All reserved supplies would be for the people of the court house.

The lawyer cleaned himself up the best he could in a washroom, luckily having the luxury of a shower via the basement generators. He obtained a new suit and tie as well, as many lawyers used to change and leave their belongings stored away. His new suit was all black.

"Dallen, you know what it's like out there," Lucy told him. "I want to find Kelsey too, but it's too dangerous. We need you here, you've already proven your worth to these people."

"You're telling me to abandon my daughter?" was the reply.

"No...it's...we need to think about our own survival now," she said. "Everything changes now."

"You do that, I'm going to find my little girl."

Day 3 10:00 am: Departure

Those who would be allowed to leave all met in the elevator, after saying their farewells. Riley escorted him out down through the hallway, reminding him that he had exactly 24 ours from now to find her and bring her back. With a pat on the back, he entered the lift and they parted ways. The elevator lowered down to the lower floors, stopping to pick up all of those who would also leave.

In the meanwhile, jobs were already given to the people by the third day. Everyone seemed to be on board with each other for the most part, and so those staying here all took part in the various tasks. From the storage of goods, ammo, and foods, to the fortification of the building, the SOS signs painted up on the roof, and other various jobs.

It all had a promise to it, which was why Dallen planned on coming back. The only reason to leave this safe haven, he thought, would be if the military started bombing them. Which was a real possibility, but with the fleeing of all the helicopters from the area, it felt moreso as if this city had been abandoned to its fate.

The Dead and the Dying

Briggs snatched the sidearm from Tyler, an agitated look on his face.  "The hell's wrong with you?"  He holstered the weapon and ordered everyone to wait in place.  When no sounds were heard back, he continued on down the steps.

Dallen turned his attention once again to Elizabeth.  "Sure," he told her.  "It's on me."

"You, trigger-happy, you get to hold this door open," Briggs said to Tyler when they passed the doors.  "Think you can handle that one?"
The rest of them headed lower until they reached the ground level.  The groans of the dead could now faintly be heard on the other side of the steel door.  This door was being controlled by Steven, up in the security room.  The security camera moved to look at them all, indicating that he was watching.

"How's it look?" Briggs asked into a handheld radio. 

"-There's only two by the door right now- they aren't aware-"

Briggs gave a confirmation nod to the camera.  "Ladies, stay back and be ready for anything.  Open the door Steven!"

The green light blinked on, turning the door unlocked and also quickly getting the attention of the two dead ones from the other side.  Briggs opened the door while Dallen stood in view.  The infected came forward, still resembling the human it was before.  Its eyes were pale and blood trickled down its mouth as it lunged.

Dallen backed in further to bring it inside the stairwell.  It worked, but as soon as it entered and Briggs tried to close the door, the other one was already slammed up against the other side.  With it came more, and soon Briggs found himself dropping his weapons to put all his strength into keeping them from barging in.

Dallen twisted the walker's arm behind its back, then kicked in its knee to bring it down and somewhat in control.  With his free hand, he continuously started stabbing the thing with his tactical knife all throughout its left body side.  As more blood spilled out, he lost control.  The walker wasn't even slightly fazed by the knife, as it found itself on top of Dallen, trying desperately to eat his face.  The creature was kept at bay with his bent legs between them, and his left hand holding onto its throat. 

"Lock it!" Briggs yelled when the door finally shut.  The door turned locked, as Briggs ran over and grabbed the walker off of Dallen.  He lifted the thing up, then tossed it hard into the wall.  Dallen rolled over and stuck the knife deep into the walker's forehead.  It stopped moving entirely.

Dallen got up, lighting a cigarette in the process.  "So they can die, again," he said.  "Get 'em in the head."

"Time for the distraction," Briggs said in the radio.
On the other side of the door, the elevator started working once again via Steven up in the security room.  He brought it down to ground floor and opened it.  Inside was a strobe light, and next to that was a boom box that was kept for entertaining the long hours of the job, and within it a cassette tape played Ted Nugent's

Stranglehold

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0c3d7QgZr7g

The horde within moved toward the sounds of the rock music blaring loudly as if it were a live show.  The entire room cleared as they all huddled around the elevator entrance, focused blindly on the distraction. 

"You hold this door open for us, the security system might not be fast enough," Briggs said to Ava, giving this task to her as Steven unlocked the doors again.

"-It worked!-" Steven confirmed through the radio.  "-go now!-"

Briggs led the way into the room with his shotgun at the front.  Dallen and Elizabeth trailed behind, all of them immediately being struck with the smell of flesh and death.  The room was a massacre, with body parts lying everywhere.  Some were infected even with having half eaten torsos.  A few crawled without legs, while the rest staggered and huddled together.  The music wouldn't prove to be much of a distraction, though, as the infected quickly found themselves bored from it.  They slowly started to turn back to fill the room again.
Dallen waved for Elizabeth to get low, as they crawled from behind the desks to avoid eye contact.  The cabinet with the little girl still inside was at the far end of the room, but was completely clear of the dead for now.  Briggs leaned in next to Elizabeth, whispering to her, "We stay and cover.  Faster if he goes alone."

Dallen moved quick, slipping and sliding across the floor until he reached the cabinet.  He pulled it open to see the girl inside, a few years younger than his daughter.  She was Asian, scared, and in tears when she saw Dallen.  "It's okay..."
She screamed at the top of her lungs, the pitch of it even surpassing the noise of the music in the background.  Many walkers turned toward them, and after a few snarls, they moved in. 

"Here they come!!" Briggs yelled, coming out of cover to blast a walker's face off.  He took the heads off of two more, as Dallen forcefully pulled the little girl out from the cabinet.  He had no time to think, as a walker jumped at him and he lost the grip on the girl.  As she ran off, Dallen fell to the floor.  He quickly unholstered his firearm and shot the thing in the brain, causing the corpse to fall on top of him.  He fired a few more clean shots from the ground, nicking off headshot after headshot.  They all fell on top of Dallen, nearly covering him whole.

"Get the girl," Briggs told Elizabeth.  Dallen was already lost to him, so instead he moved to clear the path.  He took down a few more walkers while reloading shells into his shotgun back to back.  "We need to leave!"

As more of the dead started coming toward them, Briggs began to back up and head back the way they came. 

The Dead and the Dying

The only three people to survive the first floor massacre were the only ones willing to go back. It immediately said something about each of their character to Dallen, as he gave a nod for the help. The five of them went back to the armory, each getting a weapon and a short tutorial on how to use them. Or rather, how not to shoot yourself.

"Do not! I repeat, DO NOT shoot me!!" Briggs told them all as distinctly as he could. "Only fire at the dead!! We don't even know if they can be killed yet!"

"That's first," Dallen said. "We lure one into the staircase with us, then we figure out if we can kill it." He already hated referring to the dead walkers as 'it', but they definitely weren't human anymore.

"And if we can't kill it..." Briggs took over. "...we run back to you. You are our back-up. Don't kill us, please!"

Once the group all had their weapons ready, they were granted access through the stairwell, all of them taking their own pace as they descended further down the building and closer to what could easily be all of their deaths. Other than each of their voices, it was dead silent going down the dark stairs.

Briggs led the way down, he kept a slow pace and held an automatic shotgun before him. A flashlight was attached at the end of the weapon, showing the way forward for all of them. He was a silent and loyal man, though has been referred to as a teddy bear to those closest to him. His mind was focused on the task before them, but he couldn't help the thoughts of his family that kept pouring into his mind. So many people were dead, he knew he had to keep his mind sharp and his eyes trained.

Dallen trailed behind him, he took a belt holster and equipped it with a glock 43. In his hand he carried a security baton that extended, while he also took a tactical knife that was stuck on the other end of his belt. He walked nearest to Elizabeth.

"Thank you," he said to her, but really meant that to all of them. He didn't know the little girl he was going to try to help, but it gave him some hope that others out there would help a little girl that was trapped no matter what. He hoped someone was helping his daughter, that she was safe somewhere. "To escape yesterday and volunteer to go back to help someone else, it says a lot. I apparently misjudged you. I thought you were just a wild, drunk party girl." He had dealt with very similar dui cases in the past, and couldn't help his judgements. He spoke plainly because things were different now. "Nice to know which of us has a backbone."

The Dead and the Dying

Day 2 morning

Shifts were taken throughout the night. When it was Dallen's turn, he watched the dead on level 1. He watched them until he noticed a few patterns. They were attracted to the various blinking lights. When no people were around, the undead seemed to just stay in place. He rewound the tape of Elizabeth's escape, clenching his teeth as he saw the chaos unfold again. Then he noticed something he did not expect. He rewound again, just to make sure. There was a little girl, his daughter's age. Her mother hid her into a low cabinet just before she was devoured by the dead. That little girl is still in there!

With the morning came the sun. The fog had seemingly disappeared completely, leaving the building in rays of sunlight. The streets were littered with the dead, a massive amount of infected just wandering around aimlessly. The comms stopped working again, and the group moral was very low.

Dallen showed them all what he had found, and to his surprise he received mixed feelings on the matter. Most thought it would be suicide, but Dallen was persistent. In the end, a plan was made.

Noon

The doors to the lobby had been opened. From the 35th floor, flares were shot out to the streets. A lot of the dead inside the lobby began to follow after the distractrion, and when a good number were through, the doors locked again. The rest would have to be dealt with up close.

Dallen and Briggs came down to the 32nd floor to speak with everyone. It had been awhile since anyone heard word, but regardless, none of them were going to like what was about to be said.

"The situation is still the same," Briggs told everyone. "Worse, actually. We're looking for volunteers." He would use his own security team, but unfortunately he and Steven were the only two not working the floor room.

"For what...?" Buck asked.

"There's a little girl still alive on the first floor," Dallen told them. "She's trapped. We're going to get her, could use some back up."

A small outburst of emotion struck everyone, as an argument was beginning. Briggs held his hands up and gave off a few yells to calm them all back to speaking level again. "Does anyone volunteer, this poor little girl has been in a cabinet this entire time. You think you had it bad, well now we all do. We're not savages people, we were all civilized human beings 24 hours ago."

"It's not about being a decent human being," Buck fumed. "There is a virus down there turning people into creatures! What if it's airborne and you all bring it back up here? The fog came for a reason. It brought the virus."

"I was trapped outside on the balcony when the fog came," Dallen assured the man. "I've breathed it in, and I'm fine. As long as I'm fine, I'm going to try to get that little girl. Will any of you help us?"

They looked around the room, it quickly turned eerily quiet.

The Dead and the Dying

"Not a very good question..." Tyler let slip out.

Dallen gave him a glare, then left the two of them to their own. He started walking back toward the stairwell, but a small group of people stood in his way. At the front of them was the man from the elevators, his steelworker uniform and nametag now clear to see: Buck Harrington.

"Listen mister, we're gonna need more than a 'just wait for help' type of solution," he said. "If we really are trapped, this food situation's not gonna cut it! Who puts you all in charge anyway?"

"I don't have any answers," Dallen replied. He started walking through the people, there was a slight hesitation, but they let him pass through easily enough.

He walked under the security camera, the doors unlocked, and he went back in.

8 pm Day 1

"The entire city is on fire," Judge Williams said. She was staring out one of the large windows that wrapped around the building.

"The city is on lockdown, too," Briggs spoke. "The bridges are raised. This thing might be contained solely to Mecha city."

"Wh--what does that mean?" his fellow security guard asked, a young apprentice named Steven Burwell.

"It means the military might bomb us, any minute now," Dallen said cooly, he was leaned against a desk and smoking a cigarette. "How's that radio working?"

"It's dead, nothing but-" the kid started, he turned the radio on as he spoke, halting when he heard a voice on the other end. He quickly found the frequency, then connected the broadcast to the airwaves of the building. The voice on the other end turned on every loudspeaker throughout. It was a loop.

"...this is happening because we have sinned...we did not listen...the flood has come...when there is no more room left in hell, the dead will walk the earth..."

"The fog is still out there..." Riley told Dallen, a glum look on his face.

"...this is our reckoning...the dead will rule the world..."

"Turn that shit off!" Judge Williams finally shouted. She was clearly having a massive headache, as she then ran off to her quarters for the night.

The broadcast was shut off. Everyone seemed to go their own ways afterward, all staying relatively quiet. They had no choice but to wait it out until tomorrow.

"I'm scared for Kelsey," Lucy said. Her, Dallen and Riley had their own corner of the floor. "...what if..."

"Don't," Dallen said. "Just don't. Get some rest if you can..." He turned himself to lay down on the carpet. The thoughts of his daughter were already burning in his mind. He wanted to think that she was still safe, hiding in her school classroom. A quick look outside the thick windows told otherwise.

The Dead and the Dying

Changing this to a 1 on 1 rp since no one is interested. However, if anyone wants to join just ask. I'm friendly, not so sure about moonfaerie.

The Dead and the Dying

The elevator got up a few floors before shutting off completely. The backup generator allowed a single light to still flicker on.

...

Noon

It took a few hours to get everything as organized as it could be. The people left still alive on the upper floors of the skyscraper finally realized that nobody was going anywhere. The staircase doors were opened on certain levels, and told by instructions from the intercom, everyone moved together on floors 32, which was a large area with a cafeteria and other offices, and levels 33 and 34. With the generators, the bathrooms still worked and so did the lights. Everyone was forced to stay and wait this thing out. The cafeteria would supply some extra time, but though the space was available, all of the food was under guard already. Judge Williams quickly found herself in the leading role.

"As you all know by now..." the judge started. She was speaking calmly into the intercom for all to hear, safely still in the security room on the 35th floor. "...our city, is under some kind of attack. We believe it to be contagious, whether it is airborne or not, we don't know yet. The entire first floor is contaminated, as our the streets outside. we are all trapped here." She spoke bluntly, not trying to sugarcoat any part of it. "We have no choice but to try and wait this thing out. All connections with the outside are off, so all we have is one another. As far as we can tell right now, none of you are infected with this virus, however, we will still keep our distance as a precaution. We have enough food to last us a few months, which will be given out fairly over the next coming days. We ask that you stay calm, leave the solutions to the military. Thank you-"

"...so that's it?" Lucy said, her arms crossed over her chest. A mixture of sunlight and darkness was fading into the room from the window blinds. "We just wait it out? What if the military doesn't come?"

The judge ignored Lucy's comments and walked off, entering through a door that led to her new quarters. Riley shrugged, then took another look at all of the computer monitors.

"Dal, isn't that your client?" he questioned, pointing at the elevator monitor. It was. Her and two others were trapped inside, the elevator unmoving.

"It is," Dallen replied. "I'll get her."

He turned to leave, but the head of security stood in his way. "We can't turn the power back on-"

"Just give me access to the elevator on this floor, I'll bring them up,"

"We can't bring anymore people here," Briggs told him. "You were a lucky exception."

"Then open level 32, I'll drop them off in there and come back here myself," Dallen said, getting slightly agitated.

Briggs gave a nod, getting out of the way and heading over to the controls. Lucy stopped Dallen once more, but just to give him a kiss on the cheek. Her eyes said everything, and then he was off down the hallway. A green light flickered on the side panel of the elevator doors, indicating that they were on. The double doors opened, revealing the inside of the elevator shaft. The long cables holding it all together seemed distant, with the elevators unmoving some space below. Dallen gave out a deep breath, then lunged forward. He jumped and caught onto the cables, easily sliding down and onto the top of the elevator. Opening the lid, he peered down inside at Elizabeth for the second time this morning.

"Ms. Darling, good morning!" he said, repeating their introduction from earlier. "Excuse me if I'm brief, but you're stuck. Follow me!"

He reached his arm down, offering to pull them all up to where he was. The elevator doors on level 32 suddenly opened, the floor just a few feet above them. As Dallen reached and pulled everyone up to the top of the elevator, a few curious individuals started peeking their heads into the shaft from the 32nd floor.

"Hey! Hey!! The elevators are open!! There's a way out!!" one man called out, and moments later a crowd of people formed at the scene to watch on. "Hey man, let us in!!"

The people were already aggravated and impatient, most of them not understanding what was going on in full detail. All they knew was that they were trapped on this floor, and they wanted out.

"Stay there, sir!" Dallen yelled back at him as he picked up the final person. "I'm just getting these people out!"

The man obeyed, but there was already a mutiny brewing within a lot of these people. Time would only tell how long it would take for it to come to fruition. For now, the small crowd of people helped them all up to the floor, the elevator shutting and locking behind them.

"Make room, move!"

It took awhile to get through the people, all of them curious and confused. Eventually everything settled back down, as everyone found their spots again to be. A group was in prayer by one of the large windows, most were in chairs and couches randomly set out, whether in the cafeteria or the other offices surrounding. There was food for them all here, but the stockpiles of the rest were in lockdown.

Dallen and the three he helped from the elevator all took to an area by an expresso shop.

"Dallen, thank you," the man from the elevator said. "It's me, Tyler. We worked on that case together, last year."

Dallen nodded to the young man. "We worked against each other."

"Yeah, yeah. Kirkman vs the state," he said. "You won, it was my first case."

"Are you okay?" Dallen turned his attention to Elizabeth. She still seemed a little bit in shock.

The Dead and the Dying

The virus was airborne. It had seemed to be coming from the dark mist that was covering all of Mecha city. It quickly went to work once it was inhaled, bringing a sharp stinging sensation to the insides just before everything gets worse. Much worse. The virus attacked healthy organs, turning those people dead and ravenous within seconds of contact. Once it reached the bloodstream, it was all over. However, it did not turn everybody. Those with weaker immune systems seemed to reject the mist entirely, though they did not know how yet. The streets outside the court house were quickly filled with the undead. Those unlucky enough to die, turned to utter fear and panic as everything changed into a warzone.

The doors locked behind him as he tried to re-enter the building from the balcony. No luck. It seemed all the doors throughout the structure were also on lockdown. He was stuck on the 32nd floor of a 72 floor building...outside. Finishing off his cigarette, he flicked it away into the harsh winds. The mist covered him and the balcony whole, blackening all sight momentarily. He took his suit jacket off and wrapped it around his left arm, using it as a shield to deflect the debris that came along with the dark mist.

He took another look down at the city below him, still barely being able to. The police were already overrun. A massive riot erupted as far as the eyes could see. It looked like a war, but he still couldn't exactly tell what was really happening.

Dallen began pounding on the locked door again, giving a middle finger to a security camera set just above it. The next thing he knew, the door unlocked and he pushed through back to the inside.

"Dallen! Dallen, come on!" came a familiar voice. It was Lucy, his girlfriend. She propped open the stairwell door and waved for him to hurry. Without question he joined her inside, hearing some people from the cafeteria turning the corner to try and get inside as well. The door immediately locked them out.

"What's going on?" Dallen asked.

Lucy didn't answer, she held a pair of scissors in one hand while a hand-held radio was in the other. She rushed a few floors up the stairs and he followed. "We're here!" She spoke into the radio, as the door unlocked. She then brought him to a much quieter floor, higher up in the building. Riley and a few others were here, a few of them familiar faces from court. Judge Williams, security officer Briggs, and a handful of lawyers and other officers. They were in a security room, with a bunch of monitors showing the various places of the building.

"Dal, you okay?" Riley asked, genuinely worried.

"Thanks for getting me," Dallen said.

"I hope it proves to be worth it," butted in the Judge. "Complete anarchy has erupted. It's a battle zone outside."

"We control the entire building from here," Briggs said. "-but if things don't shape up outside, I'm not sure how much longer we can stay inside. Every floor is packed with people, all of us locked in until-"

"Sir, sir!" another security guard spoke up. "The lobby, it's contaminated!"

Everyone in the room turned their heads to the monitor.

“Get her off me! Get her off!”

They watched in horror as an infected woman tackled someone else. She drove her teeth deep into his neck and ripped out a hunk of flesh. The crowd dispersed around them, but there was no where any of them could go. Everything was on lockdown, except the elevators. The man bleeding out from his neck turned very quickly, his eyes bleeding out and pushing out streaks of blood from them. It wasn't long before the next nearest was bitten, and then the next after that. It turned violent all around, as confused and scared people grabbed anything they could to fight back. Shoulder to shoulder, people bumped into one another. Others were trampled, only to be picked apart by the undead. The momentum of the crowd shifted away from the gated front entrance and toward the back of the large room, where a single elevator was still working.

"Shut everything down, now!" the Judge yelled, suddenly feeling the intensity of the moment. "Close off the entire floor, close off every single door! We can't let that disease reach us!"

Lucy grabbed Dallen's hand and turned to him, her eyes tearful and filled with emotion. "...I'm scared."