Liar, Liar, Pants of Fire

Alyce North traveled through the streets, making sure to pace herself all the way. Her breathing was laborious as she trudged through the pouring rain. Her eyes had become strained as she searched for any signs of infected. She had a six rounds left in her revolver, so she made sure to only use it in a pinch. Otherwise, she decided to sneak past any encountered infected.

However even after slowly making her way through the city, she didn't find a single infected, something she couldn't tell if it was fortunate or not.

She also didn't find any bodies or blood in the street. Her gaze turned upwards to find the city in flames, like it had been since her escape from Grand Councilor Abrams.

The flames that stood defiant before the rain were centered around the industrial district of the city. Her brows furrowed and she took a deep breath through her filtrated gas mask.

She turned her body towards a residential building by her side. She was deep in the city with no signs of life, but she couldn't rid herself of a particular thought.

"What if people were hiding away?" This was the city she grew up in and the last vestige of mankind. She felt it was her duty to find any potential survivors of Abrams' madness.

Alyce's eyes narrowed and she began making her way towards the tall building.

She jumped up the steps and looked at the doorknob. Her body had a brief respite from the rain since she was under an awning, so she slicked back her hair and focused. She raised the revolver and gripped the doorknob.

She twisted it and heard a soft click. She pushed the whining door open with a creak and slowly stepped into the building. The dim ceiling lights flickered as an orange hue flooded in through the windows due to the distant fires.

She glanced around to find her self in a small room. Due to the faulty bulb and distant fires, she could only see the front of the room and a dark hallway beyond the light's reach. She licked her lips as her heart began to bound.

The atmosphere alone was pounding away at her mental state. The claustrophobic nature of the gas mask wasn't helping either.

She took a step forward and a crackle loudly reverberated into the room. She quickly looked down to see an old leather-bound book laying on the floor. Her eyes looked around herself to find chairs littered with abandoned items.

On the farthest chair from her, nearly hidden away in the corner, was a lone doll. It's beady eyes seemed to watch Alyce from a distance with a piercing stare. After Alyce looked at it for a moment, she found it closely resembled her own outfit.

She took a step forward with a grimace and the doll's head tilted to the side.

Alyce paused momentarily but ultimately walked over to it. Her hand reached out and picked up the doll. The doll itself was extremely old due to the materials it was made out of, but the condition was nearly perfect. It was adorned in the same Interrogator outfit as Alyce with all the same minute details. The exact same badges, all the way down to the same gas mask.

Alyce turned back to the black hall with trepidation and looked back at the doll. Her grip around the doll tightened momentarily.

She put it back down on the chair with a trembling heart and raised her revolver. She took a step towards the pitch-black hall. Then another, and another.

Her feet moved slowly to try and mask her movements. If the undead had flooded this place, they might've had some hidden away in the buildings to get any stragglers. However with her fourth step, the hardwood underneath her feet creaked underneath the strain.

Alyce's head quickly shot down towards her foot with wide eyes. She quickly glanced up to see if anything was wrong. To her relief nothing was; the hall was still as dark as ever and the dim light still flickered.

She licked her dry lips once more as her gas mask felt more confining than ever. She stole a look towards the front of the building and saw that nothing was wrong with the door either. As her eyes trailed back, they stopped on the doll from before.

It had fallen over since she had put it down and its gas mask had fallen off. The doll had an identical face to Alyce, including the small mole underneath her eye. She never took off her mask around other people, the rules forbade it.

The doll also laid on a red cloth that wasn't too dissimilar to a pool of blood. Whether that was the natural conclusion to come to or if it was just Alyce's brain seeing things, she didn't know. But then, from the dark hall-

-Creak!

Alyce immediately turned towards the source of the noise at the end of the unilluminated hall and stuck out her revolver. Her breathing increased and the glass lenses hovering in front over her eyes began to fog.

The room returned to silence, but she knew that there had to be a reason for the noise. Her heart rate climbed as she made her way towards the source.

The light from the flames bounced off her back; with each step the orange hue slowly shifted to black as she approached the hall.

She made it to a desk not too far from her starting point and took up a defensive position there. Her eyes were firmly locked on the hall as she steadied her trembling hands. But a sickening thought kept making its way into her mind.

She had to take a look at the doll with a thinly veiled hope, 'Maybe it was some sorcerer's illusion?'

She tried to rationalize it and with a quick turn, she saw it in the same place as before. Nothing was out of the ordinary, it was laying on its side just like before. Alyce exhaled a breath of relief and her chest shuddered in joy.

"Mummy?"

But her chest froze immediately after and she couldn't breath at the sudden word.

"Is that you…? Mummy?"

A little girl with a terrified voice, tears flowing from her eyes. From her voice alone, Alyce could tell.

Alyce slowly turned her head and looked towards the dark hall. Out of the corner of the gas mask she saw a pair of small red shoes underneath an obscured figure. Alyce slowly lifted her head with wide eyes.

"Mum?" The little girl sniffled and softly sobbed.

The room turned to silence but the soft cries bounced off the walls and grew in volume.

"I-I'm not your mother…" Alyce said under her breath.

"Mummy?" The little girl called out again.

"I said I'm not your mom." Alyce backed up. Her heart almost could handle pointing a gun at a child, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

The girl quieted when it saw Alyce start backing up. The little girl's feet retreated back into the shadows and Alyce grimaced.

The room became silent again and Alyce instead inadvertently held her breath as her foot tried to find footing behind itself.

"Is that you…? Mummy?"

Alyce's foot stopped mid-step and she squinted.

'Isn't that-?'

"Mum?" The little girl sniffled and softly sobbed.

"Shit!"

Alyce fired her gun blindly into the hall. The resulting muzzle flash illuminated the darkness, briefly revealing a grotesque creature with large bumps covering it's body. Lanky, tendril-like limbs slithered up and into it's body, hiding the red shoes. It's expression contorted as a freakish grin spread across it's mangled face.

Alyce fired another round and the bullet pierced the creature's head. It stumbled wildly backwards and Alyce ran towards the door.

The creature survived the attack and screeched. After turning, Alyce found the doll sitting before the door looking up at her once more.

Alyce ran past the doll and grabbed the handle. She pulled on the door only to find it locked; she then kicked it, but the door stood its ground and was completely unfazed. Alyce turned back and the creature pounced towards Alyce, it's tendrils reaching for her face. Alyce threw herself to the floor and the creature smashed into the door and rolled into the street.

Glass flew wildly into the air as the creature slid across the rain soaked ground. Alyce stood back up and took aim at the creature which was now near the other side of the street.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Alyce pulled her gun's trigger until it clicked. Even then, she pulled the hammer back and tried to fire the gun.

Click! Click! Click!

After a moment she realized she was trying to fire an empty gun. She exhaled as a wave of nerves crashed into her and she almost fell over in exhaustion. She threw her head into her hands and slowly breathed out. She opened her weary eyes and looked across the street.

The creature laid limp without a single sign of movement. Alyce looked down at the doll that was also laying on its side. Without a shred of hesitation, she kicked the doll into the street. Alyce no longer had any intentions of searching the building.

It was obvious what had happened. Even if she did still want to search it, she also ran out of time to do so.

Screeeeech!

Somewhere close in the city, screams echoed and were quickly drawing near. Alyce jumped into the street and looked around with wide eyes. She cursed to herself and began to run in the opposite direction of the noise.

"Mummy…?"

But a weak voice leaked out into the world from behind Alyce.

"H-elp… me…"

Alyce spared a single glance when she heard the faint voice. Near the strange creature, being carried away by the water in the streets, was the pair of red shoes. Alyce shut off her heart and ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Not long after, a sea of undead came crashing into the street looking for another victim.

Alyce slammed her body against a sturdy railcar as she heavily panted. She swallowed her saliva as sweat dripped down her face and settled at the bottom of her mask. She desperately needed fresh air but couldn't risk an infection.

She stumbled away from the railcar and gripped her knees.

"By the forefathers…"

Alyce looked forward with a hung head towards the nearby industrial section. Off into the close distance, she could see groups of undead lingering without a purpose. They shuffled together and walked closer towards the raging fires that could be seen from all over the city.

Alyce bit her lip when she saw a group of Long Legs walking above the rest. She saw one of the creatures she had seen earlier with all the lumps under their skin and the long limbs. There were regular some regular undead too.

She didn't know much about the lumpy undead since they had to have been a new mutation, so she dubbed them Liars.

As for the Long Legs, they have, as their name suggests, long legs. Their speed was horrific and they used their legs to skewer humans like they were food ripe for the taking.

Alyce turned away from the undead and started running down the railroad track, away from the industrial district. She didn't know why the undead were swarming there, but she didn't want any part of it unless she could help it.

***

"What was that?" Auclair turned with a frown at the sudden screeches from somewhere in the city.

"Maybe just the wind…? Yeah even I don't believe that." Jackson said with a down voice while rubbing the back of his neck.

"We should hurry up then." Auclair muttered. "The slums are just ahead."

If they had navigated the streets correctly, they were almost there. When they were scouting, it was a pretty shocking contrast from above. One street was pristine, the next was in shambles with shoddily made houses.

The party turned their final corner and saw a group of undead wandering the streets for the first time since they had been wandering the streets. The undead had blood constantly pouring from their eyes which they clutched fiercely.

Auclair immediately stopped and raised a hand towards the party.

The rest looked on with wide eyes while the undead slowly paced the street. They were walking towards the group but kept their bleeding eye sockets gripped. Seeing that they had yet to react to the group, the group prepared to fight, but remained silent.

The shambling horrors walked right next to the group but had absolutely no reaction. Instead they continued walking past them but left a trail of crimson blood in their wake. They continued on ever so slowly while the group watched with bated breaths.

When the undead reached the end of the street, Jackson exhaled.

"Thank the gods they're blind, right?"

Once he said that, the undead all twisted their bodies backwards. Their hands lifted from their faces, revealing their hollow eye sockets and they screeched at the group of four. The group of undead sprinted forwards towards the party as they prepared to slaughter them.