Reclamation (Rewritten)

"Raise your guns!" Levi shouted, the infected nearing the barriers. Their clumsy bodies tripped over the objects that littered the hallway.

"Wait until you see the whites of their eyes," Levi said, the grips on everyone's weapons tightening, clutching at their trembling weapons. 

"Closer!" The creatures inched closer, and more poured in from around the corner.

"Closer! Make sure to aim for the head!" he shouted, the details of their faces now clear, now less than ten metres from the barrier.

"Fire!" he said, pulling the trigger. The first shot the domino that toppled the rest. Dozens sounded right after. The infected fell, the wave of gunfire hitting them before they smashed into the barricade. Most bullets missed the infected that thrashed at the makeshift barricade, but Levi alone made up for the lack of accuracy.

He fired with brutal efficiency, every pull of the trigger ending in a death. Their dead bodies slowed the ones behind, but their combined weight made the barricade creak. "Move to the next barricade," shouted Levi, the others not needing much convincing.

Levi remained until the barricade finally fell, letting out a few more shots and taking out a few more until he had to reload. When they did overrun the wall, they kept tripping on the barricade remnants, letting Levi jog behind the next before they could get close.

"Continue firing," he shouted, jolting the group back into action. He counted about twenty remaining, even after they'd killed twelve. It was more than he anticipated, but they'd manage.

The infected slammed into the second barricade, stretching for the survivors behind, saliva spitting from their snarls. Hit by some, Levi wiped it off with disgust and shot the perpetrator, making it slump to the floor. 

They kept firing before the number of bodies pushing against the barrier brought it to the brink of failure once again. But it had done its job, and they'd thinned their numbers, Levi now counting twelve. "Get back to one of the rooms and hide. I'll take care of the rest," Levi shouted, the group leaving Levi, who continued to fire until his pistol ran dry and dropped it, instead pulling his sword from his sheath.

He stepped back and pointed it towards the infected that rushed through the hole they had forced open.

The first lunged at Levi, he sidestepped and with a practised ease took its head from its neck. Soon a group converged on him. Levi manoeuvred using the narrow hallway to slow the creatures, and harvested another head before swivelling from the doorway, avoiding a rogue jumper. Not looking at it, he crushed its head, his eyes not leaving the last of the group. And pointed his blade against its charging head, and watched it impale itself down the length of the blade. 

He had no reprieve and kicked the body loose from the sword towards an incoming group. One knocked to the floor and another was left unsteady.

He pounced on their weakness, slipping his blade in a single thrust into the head of the fallen and kicking the other knocking it back into another, making them both fall. The two flailing infected, tripping another its head slamming onto the floor before Levi. He was happy to oblige and stomped down onto its vulnerable head, a sickening crunch. The coppery smell of blood mixed with the rotting tang almost overwhelming.

The last group of three converged towards him, one tripping over the bodies strewn onto the floor, while the other two smashed over the bodies towards Levi in unison. Levi pulled his body back, one overextended his elbow crisply hitting its head, a crack as it fell to the floor—and at the same time, ducking the second, tripping it, while he moved past. 

The ones that had fallen together earlier were close to getting up, and he moved forward, his sword beheading the one almost on its feet, while his foot kicked the second one, propped on its hands, to the jaw. It was sent flying back to the ground, where his blade slid through its head. Bubbles of pinkish-black liquid coating his blade.

However, he didn't have time to observe, as one he'd tripped earlier grabbed towards him, grasping his wrist. He dropped his sword and grappled with the infected. Its strength surprised him as he pushed back, preventing its teeth from biting into him. He held out though, and hooked its heel with his foot, allowing him to slam it to the ground and pull out his bowie knife.

It flailed helplessly, pinned against the ground. But with the knife in his hand, he stabbed three times into its head. But he had no time to rest, as the two he'd dropped earlier moved towards him, giving him no time to think. He darted for the hole in the barrier, forcing the infected to follow.

He arched a swing into the temple of the first as it pushed through the gap, and shoved pushed it against the one behind, making them both fall. His foot crushed the head of the second a moment later. 

When he backed away, his eyes stared alert for any he'd missed. He relaxed a moment later, his breathing the only sound audible in the corpse-filled hallway.

Seeing no more danger, he moved between the bodies and grabbed his knife still impaled in a skull before he found his sword lying on the floor and the empty pistol. With his weapons back in hand, he looked at the bodies and began stabbing any struggling heads.

When he'd finished, he slumped against the wall and sat amongst the corpses. His hand ran through his hair, and let out a sigh, relaxing as his gaze fell on the three inmates who'd stayed and watched down the hall, Garett, Eric and Ricky, he believed. He smiled. They looked speechless.

He swept his hair from that clung to the sweat of his forehead, before he heaved himself to his feet and said to the men who looked at him with trepidation, "Get the others. After five minutes to catch our breath, we're leaving," three stiff nods as they moved to do their task. When they left, Levi turned in the other direction, listening to the muffled footsteps coming closer.

They weren't infected, they were too light-footed. So he stared with interest until he saw several officers looking back with wide eyes.

They moved closer, and the officer closest to him, a man with a forlorn demeanour, spoke. "Did you do all this?" his narrowed eyes scanned the various corpses either shot, mutilated or beheaded.

"Well, I can't take all the credit, but some of it was my work," Levi responded, placing his sword within its sheath. The man stared back incredulously while the other officers tried not to meet his gaze. 

Another more portly man, the figure of a man who enjoyed his food, spoke up after crouching and observing a body. "Names Mccluskey, you have my thanks for helping us out."

Levi nodded. "I helped myself out. The fact I helped you was just a happy coincidence."

Mccluskey's face brightened at his words but didn't follow up as he saw several people emerge from down the corridor. His eyes tightened at the numerous firearms but relaxed upon seeing a small contingent of officers within. They positioned themselves near Levi, their hands close to their guns. Levi gave a slight shake of the head, and most relaxed, besides Eddie, who had to speak with Garett before he stopped acting flighty. 

"Bernie! Vaguez! You're alive. I'm glad to see somebody alive besides us," the forlorn officer said, walking over and hugging the two men. 

"Yeah…" Bernard responded, his voice muted, making the officer squint. When he saw the distant look in his eyes, he looked away giving him a reassuring shoulder grasp—turning towards Vaguez, he noted his pale complexion.

"Vaguez, you okay, you don't look so good?" the officer said, appraising Vaguez.

"I'm fine, Louis... I'll be fine soon," Vaguez responded, while the group of officers muttered to each other, Levi watching with interest.

"Oh god, he's bitten… He'll turn…" they whispered amongst each other, but Levi's sharp hearing overheard. Reaffirming what he'd already believed.

"Maybe we can wait until he dies and then finish him off…" they whispered. At this point, Levi had heard enough and spoke up.

"Enough with the whispering, if you've got a problem, out with it. Or we'll start having problems." Levi's cold tone, breaking the officers' hushed whispering. Mccluskey, was ready to argue but looking at the blood covering Levi's body he thought better of it, instead asking. "Has Vaguez been bitten?" 

Levi didn't respond, but instead turned to Vaguez, who hesitated but nodded. "It would appear so."

"He's dead. He'll turn into one of them things. Demons, undead, cannibals, monsters, whatever you want to call them. He'll turn. He's infected," McCluskey said, the man's words dropping like a peal of thunder. 

Everybody now looked towards Vaguez, who had begun to back away.

Levi took a second to think, Vaguez 'terrified face etched into his mind. "Are you certain he'll become one of them?" 

"I. I don't know. But every turned officer you've seen was bitten," McCluskey responded, kicking one of the bodies near his feet. "They all became ill and died. Not a single one survived a bite," his face pale, almost shrieking.

"I'm sorry to hear that. But that's not good enough for me."

"What? Did you not hear me? Everyone died! Nobody survived!" the man said, flailing his arms at Levi.

"What is it you want me to do then? Kill him? Not unless you can tell me with a hundred percent certainty Vaguez will die. Can you swear it on your life?" Levi asked, ignoring the man's theatrics and standing at him face to face.

"No…" he folded, refusing to meet Levi's eyes.

"But I'm not stupid enough to ignore the evidence, I know his chances aren't high," Levi added, Mccluskey nodding in agreement. "How long did it take for the 'dead' men to change into infected?" Levi asked, making the man think before the other officer; Louis responded.

"A few hours. Some as quick as a few minutes," Levi thoughtful at the answer. "Some of the boys who responded earlier said the infected revived as quick as they died," Louis continued with a grim look.

"Regardless, you won't be killing Vaguez. Not until he succumbs to whatever infection this is. That, or he begs to die. Any complaints?" Levi stated, his placid eyes watchful, but nobody refuted. Nobody dared to complain, though Levi could still see the dissent in some people's eyes, particularly Mccluskey's, but he paid it no mind.

"Now, then officers, I've already got a grasp on what's happening thanks to Vaguez but I would still like to hear what you have to say. So could you kindly tell me what's happening?" Levi asked, but nobody felt as if it was a question. 

"Things have gone to hell," Officer Louis said, eyes despairing. "Last I heard, they drafted the military to take over, but things have already spiralled out of control."

"That bad, huh?" Levi sighed, making Louis nod–the other officers similarly despondent.

"The state governor called a state of emergency less than an hour ago telling people to wait for rescue or evacuate to military-controlled zones; high schools, universities, hospitals and such," he responded, shocking the inmates who couldn't believe things developed to this point so fast.

Levi thought for a moment before asking, "How safe is the city?" getting a blinking look from Louis, who said.

"Some places are worse than others. As long as you're not jumping into hospitals or other hotspots, you'll be fine. The riots and the looting are the biggest problems. People aren't thinking right. People are starting to panic," Levi looked pensive.

"Though it's not only rioters you'll have to watch out for. We aren't softhanded with rioters at the best of times. We will presume, anyone in the area is taking part, especially now. Most officers don't even want to still be out there, especially not trying to calm people and stop property damage," Louis continued.

"If I were out there, I'd start making plans on leaving the city soon. We were the first responders. We've seen how fast this thing has grown. I'd want to grab my family and slip away in the quiet of the night. Some of our officers didn't report for duty this morning after the cases yesterday, I suspect they had the right idea," his hand moving towards a pack of cigarettes in his pocket. He offered Levi one, which he refused, before lighting it with trembling hands.

"We didn't want people to panic, y'know. Most of us didn't know shit anyway. Nobody knew how to deal with this." Louis said, unbuttoning his top button, rubbing his neck caked in sweat.

"We tried. We weren't suppressing it on purpose. We first responders gotta have lost the most trying to keep a lid on this. We fucking tried, goddammit," transitioning into a shout, and thumped his hand against the wall.

"Nobody is blaming you," Levi said, placing his hand on Louis' shoulder. 

"I just... Protected. Even Johnson..." Louis said, his voice becoming fainter as silent sobs began to pour from the man.

"You've performed your duty. I thank you for that," Levi said, releasing the man who'd broken down, the other looking on in discomfort.

---

Discord: https://discord.gg/yaY4fpUTNv

P*treon: https://www.p*treon.com/ForeignSeeker (10 chapters ahead)