Chapter 10 - Reborn

"Everyone gear up... We'll head out soon.

Bill, let's review the plan and directions so we can do this as quickly as possible!" Jane said loading the empty pistol.

"Okay everyone we, have to do this within the last 4 hours, meaning we get our asses back here before night time... Our mission is a bit Tricky, so stay focus guys- I mean... Girls!

Anyway the Professor asked for live animals, we've got cages here... I left the big one in the back, He wanted Rats and Chimps... We're not going for the chimps, they're heavy and hard to catch and we run on time here... From our starting point we'll head down through the sewers to avoid the infected and maybe before reaching the surface, get a few rats captured... I know it's gonna smell like shit so if any of need to fart, do it there and no one will notice - Hahaha ah haha... Okay back to our thing here... tough croud... We need to follow the rail of wiring leading us to the closest zoo in the west side of a small town... We need to gether some of the bigger animals alive there and follow our trail back into the sewers... Any questions?" Bill asked looking at the others with both hands on the table.

"Yeah I got one... what if run into infected down there?" Jane asked.

"Listen... there's a few things I learned from John, we need to keep ourselves hidden and by this I mean not using a gun unless it's absolutely necessary... We go with Melee weapons to keep those off us close by and avoid tracking attention to those in distance and above... Oh and since all of you here are girls I call in a rule of no Screaming... This here ain't no horror movie so scream and we go to time out and leave you behind... so keep to the rules and stay alive and one last thing... Today is the day you girls learn the cool side of Bill...!" Bill bragging and smiling with confidence.

"Oh please... Let's go everyone" Stacy said.

"Maybe if you were Bill Gates..." Jane replied.

"Whatever... I began to think money make people blind... and even now, it ain't worth Shit... Maybe you should scream for help to those with money, oh hey... Maybe a VISA card will rush in to help you... Swipe the hell out of a zombie..." Bill said with sarcasm and a sad face.

"Suck it up big boy... Do you and nothing else boo..." Milla said patting Bill's shoulder and walk passed him.

It wasn't long before the team reached the front gate when they suddenly hear Professor Ivan speak through the system speakers.

"Listen quickly everyone... I'm looking on the monitor right now and the camera shows something you really don't want to see... The front gate is crowded with Infected and if I should open that door, It would mean the end of us all... Luckily there's another way out at the back, but I wouldn't recommend that way..." said the Professor.

"Professor... if that's the only way out, then we have to recommend taking it or we ain't getting nowhere with this..." Jane Suggested.

"Okay everyone... turn back and keep straight down the hallway, Instead of a right turn towards the cafeteria, take a left and the first hallway left again... This way will take you to a T junction saying left for maintenance room and right for Dumping site... Turn right and follow straight where you will find a security door on your left side... I'll open it for you - and just remember something important while at it... Avoid falling in the water, It becomes a risk when you need to walk on the tracks to cross the water site to dry ground outside... Keep on that tracks till you're close enough to reach the grass, then make a jump for it... I'll say it again, Avoid touching the water! Once I opened the doors you'll see masks on the right side wall take those and keep them on till you reach the fence... I'll disable the electricity on the security systems and provide you a 2 minute window to reach the outside... Be sure to make it out in time or be prepared to fry with 5000 volts!

Great! you guys are there, just a sec... I'll open the doors now." Professor Ivan said working in the security main frame room.

Shortly after the door opens and Jane and the others walks out to put on the masks.

"Bill there's a panel to open that glass sealed doors to the dumping lake, open it and make your way behind us to the tracks..." Jane said.

"Why can't we use the dump trailer to move on the tracks? might reduce the risk..." Grace Suggests.

"That would rather increase the level of threat little one, we don't want to prepare a horde outside with noise before we even reach the fence... Besides; you're our only Grace right now, so let's avoid noise as well..." Bill said trying to act cool in front of Milla.

"You really like her don't you?" Stacy asks Bill wearing the gas protecting mask.

"And that's enough talk... Stay focused... I'm about to open a door to your death, so try to stay cool Staysoft..." Bill said with sarcasm and smiled.

"Who you calling-" Stacy asked loudly half way.

"Quiet!" Jane interrupted Stacy's question.

The door finally opens and everyone start to walk towards the tracks.

Bill comes running afterwards as the door close behind him.

the group continues to walk slowly on the tracks.

A yellow gas starts to fog the air over the lake as it becomes hard to see the tracks ahead.

"Everyone watch your step from here... these waters look very toxic..." Jane said walking in front.

"damn... I wish we had ear plugs..." Bill whispered from the back.

"Why?" Milla asked and look back to Bill.

Suddenly the silence break shortly after as Bill farts really hard.

"Augh... you dirty bustard! you're even more toxic than this massive lake..." Stacy said while Milla shake her head and continues to walk forward.

"What?! I couldn't wait for the sewers, so I took advantage of this moment... Besides we're all wearing masks... If you had your plugs you wouldn't complain right now..." Bill said making a silly face.

"It doesn't matter... it's still noisy for those zombie things out there..." Stacy replied.

"It's a camouflage little girl... I keep myself hidden with smell..." He said.

"Bill... We're already on a lake that smells, Stop arguing about a fart it makes no sense...!" Jane whispered out loud.

Milla and Grace starts to laugh softly.

They all continue to walk on the tracks when suddenly Grace miss a step dipping her right leg into the lake and Bill manage to grab her on time and pull her up.

"ahhh! Ugh... I'm gonna die, am I going to loose my leg?" Grace asked panicking.

"You're okay... keep quiet, they'll find us..." Jane said to Grace.

Grace manage to stand up again and the group continue to walk slowly.

they finally arrived at the closest spot to the grass and Jane first make the jump.

The others follow shortly after and they start to walk up a small hill to reach the fence.

They arrive at the fence waiting to climb.

"How will we know when it's safe to climb...?" Jane asked.

"This... Professor Ivan gave me a radio to signal our climb, however we can only use it once... After we exit this ground we're no longer safe... While we wait for the Professor, Jane see if you can find the nearest drain hole to run to... we must get off the street as soon as possible!" Bill said.

"Okay... Bill I see you made it in one piece, on the count of 3 I'll switch to disable and you guys start the climb... 1, 2, 3! Climb... Good luck to you all, make it back in one piece..."

Professor said through the radio.

Milla runs over to start the climb and the others follow shortly after.

they climbed within the 2 minutes gap making it to the outside.

Suddenly 3 infected comes running around the corner straight for them.

"Ahhh Shit... Run!" Bill screamed.

"This way, Hurry!" Jane shouts running in front.

everyone runs towards the drain hole in the middle of the street.

Bill manage to pass all of them and get to the hole first.

"Over here... help me get this open!" Bill shouts.

"Shit... their closing in fast, Milla help us get this open..." Jane said.

"They're coming!" Stacy shouts.

"Oh Fuck they're close!" Milla shouts too.

Just barely the group make it in time with Grace as the last one to make it inside.

The others breath hard while Bill takes out 3 flashlights.

"Holy Shit you can run... The spite being fat, it's nearly impossible to believe you can run so fast..." Jane said out of breath holding on to her knees.

"I told You I was awesome..." Bill bragging with confidence.

The others two girls stands close to Jane while Bill gives Milla and Jane each a flashlight.

The group continues to walk deeper into the sewers.

"You know I never thought life would get so fucked up that I would be desperate enough to walk in this shit hole..." Jane said feeling disappointed.

"It stinks so bad... I'm getting a fucking headache!" Milla said loud enough to hear a small echo.

"The water level is too high right now, we won't find any rats around here... Our only way is to head for the zoo... We head straight and turn right at the T section to head inside the zoo before we head up..." Bill said.

Bill also grabs the bottle of water to drink and pass it on to Milla.

"All this running got me thirsty... We need to move fast, we need to consider we might end up with company inside the sewers as well, but under no circumstances should we fire a weapon... we keep with the Melee weapons.

Jane Darling, take charge... We follow up, you know the route now and what needs to be done... We'll provide back up for you..." He suggested to Jane.

"You know from what I seen, I wouldn't mind having you take the lead..." Jane said smiling at Bill.

"You take point Jane, I'll be a better partner to Bill since we've done this before..." Milla said giving Jane a dirty look.

The Star to move agian with Jane in the lead.

They made it close to the split point ready to turn right when just around the corner one the infected grabs Jane.

Stacy jumps from the back to grab onto Bill leaving him unable to move.

Milla runs to the front stabbing the infected straight in the left eye.

"Keep moving... and stay alert!" Jane said after throwing the infected's body in the water.

The group advanced forward once again getting closer to the zoo.

Meanwhile at the Research Facility...

Professor Ivan works on the research to examine John's blood further to enhance the blood vessel's project.

"Wow... with this type of tests I can reduce the time taken to half a day probably... I'm getting excited here talking to myself... I just wish the others Hurry back so I can start, Bill... be safe! everything rest upon your shoulders right now..." The Professor thought out loud inside the lab.

It wasn't long before Professor saw a plant died inside the glass chamber and started closing the vents.

The Professor walks to the back of the chamber to attach a pipe set and run back to the computer so oxygen could fill the room.

It wasn't long before the Professor realized that the breathing space John is in are no longer safe to non-infected breathers.

"I need to analyse this air as well maybe I'll get better insight on what changes he's going through..." The Professor whispered to himself.

Back to the Sewers...

"Okay we're here... we need to move slowly and keep an eye out for any infected..." Jane climbing the stairs to the top.

Milla climbs up to help lift the plate.

"Coast looks clear... Oh wait, I see 3 infected, but it seems to be walkers... No runners, so I suppose it's clear for now... scout animals fast, we're split up in 2 groups groups.

Girls come with me, Milla... You and Bill take the right... be back here in 10 minutes, when you run into trouble, shoot and run back here immediately... now Go!" Jane said.

the group split into two groups and began the search.

"Milla... I feel kinda uneasy here... the place looks terrible, but it's the quietness that makes me feel this way..." Bill said.

"We just have to- wait... look, there's a few animals in that cage still alive, let's take them quickly..." Milla said.

"Great let's find a way inside the cage..." Bill said looking around the cages.

Jane and the two girls head deeper in the zoo north area.

"Keep your eyes peeled... we need to stay focus and-"

"What is that?" Grace interrupt's Jane.

"Oh shit... it's a lion and it seems to be infected, back away slowly... It didn't see us yet, keep very quiet..." Jane said.

Before the lion could see Jane and the girls a group of tigers and crocodiles pitch up.

It wasn't long before Jane prepared her gun to fire.

Grace starts to cry softly.

"We're okay... I'll keep you girls safe no matter what..." Jane promised both girls.

"It's my leg Jay... it hurts really bad..." Grace whispered and hold her knee cap.

"Let me see..." Jane said and slowly cut the pants on her leg.

"Oh God... it's really infected bad, I can tell with the yellow and red blisters... Hang on we need to move much more careful without getting caught, especially with Grace unable to run now..." Jane Suggested.

Stacy helps Jane with Grace when she accidentally crush a dry branch with her left knee.

One of the infected tigers heard and slowly starts to walk towards them.

As the 3 of them keep still, the tiger continues to walk slowly getting closer to them.

Just before he could enter the bush they hide behind, a hard knock of metal sound echoes throughout the park and the tiger jumps off running with the other dead animals towards the right.

"What was that noise?" Stacy asked Jane.

"I don't know... Maybe it was Bill and Milla having trouble, even so... we need to do something... Stacy help Grace, prepare to move! I'm gonna make the shot... Bill and Milla have no idea what's heading their way... prepare to run like hell...!" Jane shouts with fear breathing hard.

She quickly take out the pistol and shoot two shots in the air.

"Get up...! We have to go now..." Jane said helping up Grace.

"Ah Fuck! Some of the runners were close, we need to move now!"Jane shouts grabbing Grace and run.

Stacy trips and falls to the ground.

"Get the Fuck up Stacy You wanna die!?" Jane shouts at her feeling paranoid.

Before they reached the drain, Bill and Milla shows up.

"We got a few dead animals coming out way..." Milla said.

"Runners closing in from our side we need to hurry..." Jane said putting Grace down.

The group rush to climb down the drain and right after Milla went down first, a tiger jumps out from the bushes behind a tree and grabs Grace by the neck.

Jane starts to shoot with Bill following after.

Another Infected runner runs from behind and grab Stacy and pulls her back while biting a chunk of meat out of her right arm.

Bill completely jumps into the hole without using the stairs and ends up falling into the sewer water.

"Jane come on! We need to go... It's too late to save the others get in here!" Milla shouts at Jane from inside the sewer.

"We got to close the lid..." Bill said to Milla.

"There's no time!" she replied.

the two prepared to run when Jane fell in the sewer with one of the infected.

Bill swiftly pulls out his pistol and make a clean shot through the infected's head.

Milla pulls Jane from the water and they start to run.

A few seconds after, A few runners fall through the hole into the sewers and start to run with one the lions coming from behind.

"Shit... running in this water is really hard!" Bill said running in front.

"Just keep running...!" Milla said.

The continued to run taking the left turn from the T junction.

"We're almost there!" Bill shouts.

The sound of the infected echoes throughout the empty sewers.

Finally after a long struggle of run, the manage to get to the exit.

"Ah shit this is really heavy to open Ahhh!" Bill screamed trying to open the hatch of the sewers.

"Hurry! I can already see them coming Bill..."

Jane shouted.

"Fuck! Yes... it's open, Hurry so we can close the lid... Bill said out loud sweating all over his face.

The other two manage to get out in time closing the lid.

"Ah thank God we made it..." Milla said breathing heavy with her eyes close.

"No we did not...!" Bill said looking near the fence at lot of runners.

"Son of a Bitch...! I don't think we're surviving this one, take what you have and kill as many as you can..." Jane said with a stressed look.

"Here they come..." said Bill with a calm voice.

The runners start to sprint towards the 3 when all of a sudden one of the infected falls down.

Someone from behind the infected brings them to stop.

The man runs towards two of the runners bashing the first one in the face with a brick and swing towards the second one's head.

The brick breaks into two parts and the man catches the other piece of brick about to fall and throw both piece towards the other two infected close to Bill bashing their skulls open.

"What the Fuck just happened?!" Milla asked.

"Unbelievable..." Jane said holding her forehead.

"Wow dude... Did You just kill 5 runners with a single brick?! Who the fuck do you think you are making surviving look easy?" Bill asked the man.

"I guess you wouldn't recognise me old friend... I know I look a bit different, but it's still me..." The man said.

"That's impossible... Your hair is green and you have yellow eyes... I don't think I know anyone with grey skin buddy..." Bill said with surprise.

Ah well let's get you guys inside... we need to get off the street... climb the fence now, where's the two girls?" The man said.

"They're dead... didn't make it! How do you know of them?" Jane asked with a sad voice.

That's not important right now, first we get over the fence.

"I don't trust this weird looking guy..." Jane said.

"Maybe the Professor sent him?" Milla said.

"I don't want to be picky here but he just save our lives in a really awesome way, so let's get to it right now!" Bill said.

The start to climb the fence when just about the last one over Milla shocks swiftly from the start of the fence.

"Oh no she's not breathing... get back I'll save her..." Jane said rushing over to do CPR.

after a few tries, Milla manage to get breath.

The man lead them into another entrance inside the Facility.

The enter the lab to find Professor Ivan standing there.

"Professor... we manage to find 3 animals at the cost of two lives, We almost died back there... I sure hope you can complete your work with these!" Bill said with anger.

"Where's John?" Jane asked.

"Here I am! Jane..." The man with the grey skin and yellow eyes said grabbing a piece of his green hair.

"What?" Bill asked with surprise.

"Professor explain before I loose my cool and pop this gun up your ass!" Milla said.

"Okay... John was infected with the gas and had a tumour on his brain giving me time to figure out what to do... You guys were supposed to bring to animals for the testing, but you took too long and John was dying, So I took a chance to save him and it worked... John now is Imune to all diseases including OMEGA! He has a new blood type I call H+... I'm afraid all hope is with this man now..." The Professor said.

"What about the cure Professor?" Jane asked.

"It's unfortunate for me to say this, but-"

"There's no cure!" Bill interrupted the Professor's sentence.

"You mean those girls died just to wake him up? No fuck this...! I'm leaving..." Jane said.

"Jane wait...!" Milla said.

"Let her go... millions of people out there depend on our survival... We need to reach them before the undead does! She isn't going anywhere without dying and she's smart enough to know that... we have a new mission right now... We need to find someone who can fly a plane, it's time to head pass the borders... it is only a matter of time before the infected finds a way! I'm not gonna give you false hope but I'll tell you this... For those of you who may not recognise me anymore... I'm Still John Richards, And I'm a man Reborn!"

To Be Continued...