REINFORCEMENTS

The commotion in the waiting room had subsided. They had stopped shooting. They were no longer beating each other up, arguing among themselves, or throwing threats and insults. Some were wounded, groaning in pain. Others weren't so lucky, their still warm bodies resting lifeless on the floor. However, nobody paid any attention to them. Instead, they stared at one another, bewildered.

"D-Does anyone else hear that…?"

"Where is it coming from!?"

A rumbling noise in the distance. Unrecognizable at first, it quickly sent a chill down everyone's spine when the realization hit them. It was nothing but a reminder of the harsh world they lived in.

"Aren't…? Aren't those screams!?"

"It sounds like shamblers!!"

"Is it coming from outside…?" a man approached one of the windows.

"Stop!" Marcus yelled at the man. "Everyone, get away from the windows!!"

"What… is going on…?" mumbled Stella.

She was still resting in his arms, breathing heavily. The gunshot wound in her abdomen was a nasty one. No vital organs were hit, but the blood loss was significant. She insisted on putting up a tough front, but it was to no avail. She wouldn't survive without proper treatment. Marcus had done everything he could to stabilize the wound and stop the hemorrhage, yet it wasn't enough. All his medical expertise was useless without the right tools.

"Don't talk, please." said Marcus.

'Damn it, the hordes have reached the hospital already…!? They must be piling up down on the street. It won't be long until they climb all the way up here…! Usually, the nest would prevent this from happening, but it won't work if it's agitated!'

"Listen up, everyone! We need to leave this place at once!! We've got to move somewhere deeper, away from the outside walls!"

"Who the fuck are you to be giving us orders!?" almost immediately, someone stood against him.

"A-And what about those soldiers…!?"

"Listen to those sounds, for god's sake!" said Marcus, giving them a frustrated stare. "Do you really think this is the time to be having an argument?"

Nobody disagreed.

"Help the wounded! Come on!" he ordered, while helping Stella stand up.

They seemed to listen to him, assembling around the fallen ones. Marcus couldn't say he wasn't surprised. The shambler threat must have unearthed some specks of common sense.

"Ugh…!" Stella let out a pained grunt. "Fuck… And I was the one who wanted to keep things under control… A goddamn idiot, that's what I am…"

"Seriously, stay quiet."

Lending her his shoulder for support, Marcus walked out of the room and followed the hallways towards the inner areas of the hospital, with everyone else behind him.

The group was met with a new source of noise, this time coming from inside the building. A noise that grew louder and louder as they got closer to the stairs ahead. The big barricade blocking the stairwell seemed to be breathing. It swelled and bulged, shaking back and forth as if something was pushing it rhythmically from the other side. A symphony of banging and scraping seeped from the gaps in the blockage, paired with familiar cries and squeals. A blue aura surrounded it.

"Shit! Everyone, go back! This way is—!!" Marcus' words were cut short by the crushing sound of the barricade falling apart, with pieces of wood and metal spilling around the floor as a wave of dozens of shamblers forced its way into the corridors.

'Already…!? I knew they would reach the upper floors at some point, but isn't this too fast…!? Damn!!!'

As the crowd following him was overcome by panic, Marcus noticed something. The shamblers' veins glowed furiously, as if they were ready to burst into flames at any moment. Their movements were faster and more fluid than one would expect after several months of confinement.

'This reaction… Don't tell me… Has something happened to Lilian!!?'

If the queen had indeed been harmed in any way, the hospital wouldn't just be a shambler hotspot. No, it would become the target of an angry tide of drones, potentially dragging the population of the entire cell towards it.

He needed time to think, but he could afford no such thing. Not with a mob of shamblers about to feast on him. They needed to fight back now that they could, but doing so while caring for the wounded would be a difficult task. Most of the survivors were running away without looking back, leaving their wounded comrades behind. The ones who were still carrying their weapons were hesitant to open fire.

With his free hand, he reached for his pistol. However, before he could pull the trigger, a metallic sound caught his attention.

A small object came flying into view from one of the corridors that split off the main hallway. It bounced on the floor several times, before stopping in front of Marcus and Stella.

With a soft bang, a cloud of white mist burst out of the object, quickly flooding the hallway. Everyone still on the scene covered their eyes and mouth, caught by surprise by the smoke.

'What…!? Smoke!? No, wait… I know this gas, this smell…!'

Pheromone inhibitor.

A group of three shadowy figures emerged from the mist. Marcus heard the familiar sound of suppressed gunfire, uninterrupted for an entire minute.

As the smoke started to clear, three soldiers became visible. In front of them, the crowd of shamblers had dropped dead, neutralized with deadly efficiency. He recognized one of them. His heart skipped a beat. This was his chance. A risky move, but necessary.

"Captain Isaac!?" he asked.

The soldiers turned around. One of them opened his eyes wide as soon as he saw his face.

"Dr. Marcus…!!?" said Isaac. He immediately pointed his rifle at him. "What's the meaning of this!?"

"HQ! Do you copy!?" said another soldier, speaking on his radio. "We've found Dr. Marcus! Over!"

"Wait! Don't shoot!" begged Marcus. "You must hear what I have to say!"

"You expect me to sit tight and listen to whatever a traitor like you has to say!? Drop your weapon! We'll do the questioning later!"

"Listen to me, damn it! There's a queen here!"

"…what did you just say…?"

"I don't know what your objective here is, but it's imperative that you pay attention to this! She's a small girl, short black hair, very shy and reserved. And not only is she a stinger queen, but she's resistant to the Sting herself! You understand what this means, right, Isaac…?"

After several seconds of hesitation, Isaac grabbed his radio.

"HQ, this is Alpha. We've got a lead on the queen. She might be here, and she might be the resistant target we're looking for." … "Yes, it is." … "Yes." … "Understood." he let go of the radio, and focused his attention back on Marcus. "Where is she?"

"Somewhere on the eastern wing of this floor. Some of my partners were headed that way, they should be keeping her safe."

"Erik, Jameson, this is Captain Isaac!" he grabbed the radio again. "Get to the eastern wing as fast as you can, that's where the target is! A small girl, short black hair, should be easy to identify. Be quick!"

Another wave of shamblers poured from the stairwell. The soldiers opened fire on the horde, dropping them in quick succession.

"Connor! Stay with these people and protect them! Rally everyone and get them ready for evacuation at the exit!" ordered Isaac.

"Yes, sir!"

Marcus threw a quick glance behind him over Stella's shoulder. Although initially skeptical and scared of the soldiers, the survivors had settled down. A sense of relief had been left floating in the air, after witnessing the soldiers mowing down an entire crowd of shamblers without much effort. Of course, Marcus knew it wouldn't always be that easy. Ammunition wasn't infinite, and the worst was yet to come. Still, it was enough to inspire those people to stand their ground and think rationally.

"Dr. Marcus… I don't trust you at all, but apparently Colonel Rowan does. If you can help get everyone out of here, do so. Leave the rest to us." said Isaac. "Paxton, with me! We need to reunite with the others!"

"Wait…! Do you happen to have an inhibitor shot!?" asked Marcus.

Isaac, who was about to bolt away, stopped for a moment.

"…we don't."

"The level of aggression these stingers are displaying is abnormal! I believe the queen must be in some kind of distress! Without an inhibitor injection to hide her presence, they'll never stop coming until we're all dead!"

'Unless… No, no, we can't rely on something like that! The shot is the only surefire way of getting out of this mess!'

"They must have a supply of them around here, somewhere. The hospital wouldn't have been safe otherwise!" he added.

"We don't have time to search the entire building for something so small." Isaac handed him a small radio. "Take this, we'll be in contact. For now, our first priority is to secure the queen. We'll devise a plan later. Hurry, we've wasted enough time already!"

Not wanting to lose another precious second, Isaac and his teammate turned around and left the area in a rush.

"Alright, listen up, everyone!" Private Connor began giving orders to the survivors. "We'll head towards the exit! We need to stay away from stairs and outer windows! Follow my lead and stay calm! Anyone able to use a weapon, get ready in case we encounter more of those things! We're getting out of here! Come on, come on!"

With renewed encouragement, the survivors started moving as a group.

"Seems like your friends weren't as evil and heartless as that Julien described them to be… Your gut feeling was right, as usual, huh…?" huffed Stella.

Marcus ignored her, since giving her an answer would only drive her to keep talking.

As he followed the rest of the group, he spotted a small person walking towards him. He recognized him. Was his name Ethan? Marcus thought it was impressive that he hadn't run away at the first sign of danger.

"Um… Excuse me, sir…?" said the boy.

"Yes?"

"Well, I k-kinda overheard your conversation with that soldier, sir."

"…and?"

"I know there's a tiny briefcase with syringes in the storage room. I ran into them by chance while stealing food. It looked weird, and it was kinda hidden." he stared at the floor, probably trying to hide the embarrassment and guilt painted all over his face. "I don't really get it, but I just realized it could be, well… important?"

Marcus' jaw dropped a bit.

"Listen, are you sure of what you saw? What did they look like? Do you remember if they had any labels on them? Anything!?"

"I-I don't. I didn't pay much attention to it."

"I think I grasp what this is all about…" said Stella. "I'll find some other shoulder to lean on… Go!"

He knew what he needed to do. It didn't matter how much Alpha team struggled, or how much support they got from HQ. They didn't have the resources to stop the call of a distressed stinger queen.

"Can you lead me to this storage room?" he asked.

******

"What's that sound!?" asked Claire.

William had been hearing it for a while. Ever since they left the basement, to be precise. A faint rumbling, coming from everywhere and nowhere at once. But now it was getting closer, and louder.

It was the sound of dozens of footsteps, the sound of a wailing crowd, of furniture toppling over, of glass cracking and breaking. It reminded him of a nocturnal horde, only lacking its violence and brutality.

The blue glow emanating from a doorway on the opposite side of the lobby signaled its arrival. Slowly but relentlessly, the corridor began spewing out shamblers into the room. Their entire bodies were covered in fiery blue veins, and their faces were twisted with a mix of horror and pain.

"Ah!! No…!! Stay away!!!" screamed Julien.

He grabbed Lilian and yanked her back on her feet, before quickly dragging her away from the shamblers. He still held the detonator in his left hand. Once his back was nearly against the wall, he grabbed his pistol and started unloading it on the zombies.

A couple of seconds later, the weapon stopped responding. He kept pulling the trigger in disbelief. Having wasted or missed most of the shots, he was left with nothing to defend himself with. His panic outburst was, however, very effective at catching the attention of the entire crowd.

"Claire!!!" William raised his voice and took aim with his rifle.

She looked at him, and seemed to understand without needing further explanation. She grabbed her pistol and mimicked him.

William centered the sights as accurately as he could on the nearest shambler head, and pulled the trigger. He was tempted to go full auto, but he was aware of how useless such a thing would be against zombies. He took single shots in quick succession instead.

He heard Claire firing her gun by his side. He hoped she remembered something about the couple of shooting lessons he had given her. At the very least, she seemed to have gotten over her reluctance towards handling a weapon.

Despite taking losses, most of the shamblers insisted on crawling towards Julien and Lilian. William screamed at the top of his lungs in an attempt to shift their attention. To some extent, it worked, and a large chunk of the horde looked in their direction, suddenly finding them more appetizing.

"They're with us!! Fall back!!" said William.

"O-Okay…!! Nora, get out of there!!" replied Claire.

"But…! Lilian!!!" Nora followed them as they retreated into a nearby hallway, with her worried eyes focused on her sister.

"That bastard still has the detonator! All we can do for now is prevent him from getting them both killed!"

More shots were fired as the horde closed in on them.

"Ah! I don't have bullets left…!!" yelled Claire.

"Reload! I'll keep them at bay!!"

She began fiddling with the pistol, and her trembling hands managed to eject the magazine. She pulled a new one from one of her jacket's pockets, and it almost slipped out of her hands as she struggled to slot it into the weapon.

She attempted to fire again, but the only thing that came out was an awkward clicking noise.

"Huh…!? It's not working!?" she said.

'Shit, did it jam!? This is the worst fucking moment to have a jam!'

William's own weapon stopped responding as the magazine emptied. The floor in front of them was littered with corpses, but more kept creeping out of the lobby. From somewhere in the distance, he heard Julien's voice whimpering.

'Do not panic. Follow the steps. Eject the magazine. Insert a new one. Take aim. Fire.'

One man alone couldn't possibly overcome such a big crowd, he knew it wasn't possible. But what else could he do? He kept screaming and pulling the trigger.

A metallic sound rang in his ears as a small object rolled across the floor next to his feet, coming from somewhere behind him. Then, a cloud of white smoke filled the hallway. The three of them started coughing.

"Step aside!! Everyone, step aside!!"

He looked back, and he saw two figures advancing towards them. Instinctively, he hugged the wall.

"Claire, Nora! Get out of the way!!" he yelled.

The muffled sound of automatic fire flooded the air, as the unknown newcomers plowed through the horde with unbelievable ease.

"Reload! Cover me!"

"Watch your nine! Stingers coming from the northern corridor!"

"This side is clear!"

When the smoke thinned out, William spotted the pair of soldiers, with the weapons still ready, surrounded by dead shamblers.

'Seriously…?'

He rushed back into the lobby, followed by the girls. As soon as they did, one of the soldiers pointed his rifle at them. In shock, they stopped.

"Halt! Stay back and keep your hands in the air!" ordered the soldier. "We're looking for someone! A small girl, with short, black hair! If you have information about her whereabouts, speak!"

"Wha…!? She was just here a moment ago!" said William. He took a look around the lobby. There was nobody in sight. "She's a hostage! She has been strapped with an explosive belt!" he tried to deliver the most crucial information first.

In all fairness, he didn't really trust those soldiers. To him, they were no different than any other stranger. But he had vowed to cooperate with them since a while ago.

"What did you say!? Explosives…!?"

"Yes. Her captor might try to get her out of the hospital! They can't have gone far!"

"Alright…! Captain Isaac, this is Erik! We've got a lead on the target!"

******

So close. It was so close. He could see the exit already. He just needed to step outside and leave that wretched hospital behind. Those people wanted the girl at all costs, they wouldn't just give up on him. They'd send someone else. They'd find him. And he'd make them save him as well.

So close, yet so far away.

Sitting on the floor, Julien gritted his teeth and tried to grab his left arm. An unfathomable jolt of pain shook him to the core. It was broken. Or, at the very least, dislocated.

Donovan stood beside him, with the detonator in his hands. Lilian was a couple of meters away, crouching down and covering her ears.

'Why…? Why!? How did I end up like this!?'

"There!! I spotted them!!!" a voice came from the end of the hallway.

The two soldiers, followed by the other three fools, emerged into the outer corridor and began sprinting in their direction. Donovan had the detonator now, so they'd have to abide by his command. However, Julien no longer played a role.

Donovan stared at him for a moment, and his face contorted in disgust. He pulled out a knife, and approached him.

'So, that's it? Haha… Not even gonna say anything, you goddamn asshole!?'

Just as Donovan was preparing to lunge for the kill, he raised his eyes and looked outside through the window. Julien realized it too. A peculiar thumping sound, rhythmical, getting gradually louder.

There was an instant of silence.

A second later, the entire world seemed to spin and fall to pieces.

A powerful crash threatened to rupture his eardrums. Julien witnessed Donovan get engulfed by an avalanche of debris and dust, an instant before a piece of rubble hit him right in the head.

He dropped like a rag. His sight was blurry; he felt dizzy. He could barely recognize anything in front of him. All he perceived was the cloud of dust, moving in winding patterns.

Moments before blacking out completely, he thought he noticed something strange within his field of vision. Something big.