The Truth

"We can't stick together if more of those things are around unless you want to end up like those cops outside." Alex told Leon as he checked how much ammo he had left, "It's too dangerous."

"We'll attract more attention together." Leon said as they stood next to the door, "You got back the way we came. It'll be easier to find a way out of here if we split up anyways."

"Yeah." Alex agreed as he felt the muscles in his arm began to spasm and made sure to hide it well enough for Leon not to notice. They slowly opened the door and it looked as if the zombies had moved on. They nodded to each other before going opposite ways down the hall and when Alex was sure Leon was far enough away he rolled his sleeve up.

"Dammit. Alex whispered as he pulled a small case out of one of the front pockets of his armored vest and pulled an autoinjector and small vial out of it. After he loaded the syringe he stabbed it into his neck and the muscle spasms stopped. He took a breath and thought back to when the doctors had given him the case.

"𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘤𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘈𝘭𝘦𝘹." 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘰𝘭𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘮 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘪𝘱𝘣𝘰𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯, "𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘦 𝘥𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘯. 𝘖𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴."

"𝘞𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦?" 𝘈𝘭𝘦𝘹 𝘢𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴, "𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘧𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦."

"𝘠𝘰𝘶'𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘸 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘴𝘺𝘮𝘱𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘭𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦." 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘥𝘰𝘤𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘺𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴, "𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘦𝘯𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘫𝘶s𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘦 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳. 𝘞𝘩𝘰 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘴, 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘭 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰."

"Wake up." Alex heard as someone begin to shake him and he slowly opened his eyes, "Good you're alive. What happened?"

"Claire?" Alex asked as he stood up and saw her holding the case of syringes, "Please give that back."

"Why do you need syringes?" Claire asked as she handed the case to him and watched him put it in his armored vest, "You don't look like the type of person that would need a shot."

"My muscles have issues from time to time and these sedatives help calm them down." Alex explained, "I just didn't know they were that strong."

"Well don't go collapsing on us anymore alright." Claire told him with a grin and he rubbed the back of his head, "Something else might show up next time."

"Probably." Alex agreed with a chuckle before they heard something heavy walking in their direction and he noticed the worried look on Claire's face, "What is that?"

"The something else." Claire told him as he saw the door at the end of the hall open and a large gray hand began to push it open. Alex quickly grabbed Claire and put his finger to his lips as he pulled her into the darkest corner of the alcove he had fallen unconscious in. They watched as the large gray monster wearing a trench coat walked by and they waited until it rounded the corner before releasing the breaths they didn't know they were holding. Alex looked down the hall before motioning for Claire to follow him and they were almost to the door when they heard something behind them. Alex and Claire turned around to see the lumbering gray giant standing behind them with an eerily calm stare.

"Claire run no-" Alex was cut off by the giant hand that grabbed his throat and lifted him off of the ground.

"Let him go you bastard!" Claire yelled as she emptied her clip into the giant's body but they didn't seem to bother him in the least as he pinned Alex against the wall. He clawed at the giant's hand before glancing at Claire and he saw the horrified look on her face as the giant prepared to punch him.

"No!" Claire yelled as the monster swung his fist at Alex's face and she closed her eyes as it connected. She heard grunting coming from the giant and she opened her eyes to see that Alex's right fist was on the monster's jaw. It took Claire a moment to realize that Alex had managed to move just enough for the monster to punch the wall instead and she watched as Alex cocked his right arm back again. She saw that his uniform seemed to be tighter as he slammed his fist into the monster's nose and it dropped him. As it dropped to one knee Alex grabbed Claire's hand and they sprinted out of the hall as fast as they could.

"That thing won't be down long so we need to get somewhere else fast!" Alex yelled as they sprinted up the stairs and into a library before stopping to catch their breaths, "We should be far enough for it to lose us for now."

"What was that?" Claire asked as she leaned against the wall and saw that his body seemed to be back to normal, "Is that why you take those sedatives."

"I take them because I can't control when that happens yet." Alex explained before sitting down and rubbing his throat, "I volunteered for some sort of experiment that is supposed to increase my strength, agility, and durability but I don't know how to on command."

"So you're a defective super soldier?" Claire asked as she shook her head, "I'm not sure if that's good or bad news."

"Me either." Alex admitted with a sigh, "The other volunteers' bodies shut down because of the experiments and I'm the only one that could handle the changes. I don't know if it's willpower or something else entirely keeping me alive and I'm not sure if my body will burn out or not."

"Well you're alive and on our side so that's all that matters." Claire said as she put her hand on his shoulder, "Just try to stay that way."

"No promises," Alex said with a laugh as he stood up and followed her across the bridge and out of the library.