Chapter 8: The Fall of Indiana University

The monster lunged at him, slashing at Spencer's body with his claws. Luckily, he only sliced into his hoodie, tearing a small bit of cloth off. I then raised my gun, putting my finger on the trigger and unleashing my anger.

*BLAM* *BLAM* *BLAM*

Three bullets shot forward, the first two hitting the monster in the chest and third straight through the neck. It stumbled back, falling to the ground as a thick red liquid burst from its body.

"W-What the hell is that thing?" Hunter asked, shaken by the sudden attack.

"I wonder if it's a rakghoul," Spencer muttered. I glared at him, shoving him aside before approaching the creature. I knelt down over it, looking over its body. Its skin was grey, and at first touch it felt very rough and dry. The creature also had large sharp claws, seemingly capable of cutting through skin enough to draw blood.

But what intrigued me the most were its eyes. No longer did the creature retain any sense of humanity. Its eyes were pure black, faint purple pupils visible within the darkness that represented its blackened brain. There was also blood streaking down across its face, almost like he was crying blood.

I moved my hand forward to observe the blood trickling from its neck when it suddenly reached out to me, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards it. Luckily Hunter was there to bash its head in with his boot before it could grab me.

"Oh god... I think I'm gonna be sick," he exclaimed as he raised his boot up, staring at the smashed remains of its skull, now a pile of thick scarlet blood, brain particles, and skull fragments.

Hunter turned around and vomited in the corner to our disgust, Spencer joining him after eyeing the gory scene. I simply turned around, wiping the blood off of my arm before walking back towards the door. Hunter had managed to get it open just before the mutant attacked.

"If something tries to kill you, never hesitate to shoot," I told them.

I entered the surgical room, being greeted with the classic white tile floors and ceiling, along with four large surgical tables set up in each corner. There were small rolling carts containing tools and other bottles on it as well, each of them set up at each workstation except for one that was spilled onto the floor in the archway leading to the connected presentation room.

Hunter walked behind me and the two of us walked through the room, looking for what Isabella had asked us to find. A white toolbox looking item with a red handle and a cross on the back.

I flicked the light switch on but it didn't work, "the power's out here, but not in the dorms."

"Maybe this part of the school is quarantined or something," Hunter suggested.

Spencer then shook his head after entering the room, "I-I don't think so. If it was then we wouldn't have been able to get in these halls in the first place."

I reached into my pocket, lighting my lighter to use it for a faint source of light. I began searching one of the surgical tables, eventually finding the box below the table in a small compartment. I picked it up, only to hear a low groan from behind.

I spun around, watching as Spencer shined his phone's flashlight at the fallen cart. A small trail of blood drops was leading away from the cart and into the presentation room.

"Who's there?!" I asked as I raised my desert eagle, entering the room slowly.

"J-Just... m-me..."

We both watched as a young doctor stepped out of the darkness, falling to his knees almost immediately. He was alive, but it didn't seem for much longer. He was clutching at his neck, covering a bleeding wound.

"D-Don't worry," he whispered, "it didn't get me that bad... it's just a scratch... just a..."

He moved his hand from his wound, revealing three large slash marks digging deep into his skin. He shot us a crazed smile before falling forward, seizing right in front of us. Spencer jumped back in fear while Hunter knelt down, trying to help him up. But after a few seconds, he froze. He was dead.

"Hey... hey man you good?" Hunter asked.

He reached down, holding the man's head until suddenly it jolted back, revealing the pure black eyes and faint purple pupils. The man's hair began to fall out, his skin slowly draining itself of color and moisture. The man began to crawl back up, forming sharpened claws and fangs to attack with.

The man then stood up, looking at us before giving us a death screech. I jumped back but was grabbed by the creature and tossed aside like a doll. My lighter fell from my hand and slid across the tile floor while I hit the wall, the creature rushing at me.

Without hesitation Hunter rushed to my aid, grabbing a scalpel off the table and stabbing it into the monster's top right shoulder. He screeched, turning around and slashing at Hunter. He fell to the ground, letting out a scream as blood spilled onto the floor.

"Hunter!" I screamed, watching as he fell to the ground.

The mutant then charged at me once again, raising its claws to cut me down. However, I managed to grab both of its arms, keeping it from killing me too quick. However, the creature began to snap at my neck with its fangs, a bloodlust filling its mind.

I stared forward into the eyes of the mutant, watching as it screeched into my face, splattering flecks of blood onto my face. Meanwhile my hands wrapped around its wrist, trying to hold it back from stabbing into my body and disemboweling me.

The bulge on my waistband was gone, meaning my desert eagle must have fallen on the floor somewhere. I had no weapon nor anyone to help me. I was screwed. Or at least that's what I thought for a few seconds.

With all my strength I held the mutant back, my grip on its arms slowly slipping. My heart raced as I clenched my teeth, praying for a last minute savior. For once, I was at the mercy of another, and it scared me.

"Hunter! C'mon Hunter get up!" I screamed.

*BLAM*

A bullet tore into the mutant's head, splattering blood all over the wall beside my head. Its body became limp so I pushed it off, standing up and using my hood to wipe the blood off my face.

My call to help was answered not by Hunter, but by Spencer. The boy was holding my desert eagle, his body shaking in fear as he held the gun towards my body. He was whimpering softly, his hands shuddering until finally he dropped the gun, falling to the floor as tears formed in the corners of his eyes.

I rushed to Hunter's aid, kneeling down over his body. He groaned, turning over as he pulled his right sleeve down, "you good?"

"Yeah are you? I thought I saw-"

He shook his head, "nah he missed. I would've been up sooner but the fall messed with my gunshot wound."

I smiled faintly, helping him up before looking to Spencer. Hunter knelt down beside him, helping the boy up. He looked at me and I looked away. Not glaring at him was reward enough.

I picked up the small toolbox and my handgun, walking out of the room with the two of us behind me. The two of us exited into the dark hallway, only to see about six of the monsters down the hall on the opposite way of the dorms. Our eyes widened as they turned their heads, giving a death screech like the two before them. Their screech alerted another four on the end of a separate hallway, drawing them all to our location.

"Holy-"

"Run!" I screamed.

The three of us took off down the hall as the mutants did the same, some running on two legs and others running on four. One of them actually jumped onto the wall, crawling along the boarded-up windows before jumping off with the intention to pounce. Luckily I was able to turn and shoot it before it did any real damage.

The three of us dashed towards the end of the hall, only for Spencer to slip on a pile of papers strewn across the floor. He got up, dropping his GameBuddy in the process. Hunter then helped him back to his feet as we reached the door. I grabbed the handle but realized immediately that it was locked.

I reached for my handgun, but it was proved irrelevant as Maddie burst through the door, blasting four of them with a pump shotgun from the RV. I raised my Deagle, firing at another two while Hunter moved in class. He pulled a large knife out of his belt and slashed at one, cutting it across the face before stabbing it in the heart. He shoved the body aside before taking on anther, stabbing this one in the head.

Maddie took down the last two, killing them with shotgun blasts that put them down nearly instantly. I gave a breath of relief, turning to Maddie and asking, "hey you-"

"Fine… I-I think… wow this thing has some kick to it," she said through heavy breaths.

"Told you you should've practiced with us at the range," I told her as she helped me up.

"I never thought I'd ever have to use a gun," she said, "by the way, you better get up. Isabella needs her tools and fast."

I nodded to her, following the young girl through the door. Spencer and Hunter both followed me and together the four of us made our way back to the room. I set the toolbox down on her bedside table, causing her to smile.

"Thank you three," she said, opening the box up, "it won't be long now."

"Are you aware there are monsters in this building?" Maddie asked curiously.

"Monsters?" Axel asked, "do you mean those things from the news?"

Isabella sighed, "the infected. I know that the orchestral building was boarded up last week, why?"

"Downstairs in those hallways, we just killed eight," Maddie told her.

"Ten," I corrected, "including a professor."

Quinn's sister muttered under her breath, "dammit. If they managed to get inside there, then they could get inside the dormitories."

"You mean those things could get inside here?" Axel asked as he stood in front of a scared Julia.

She shrugged as she dug out several surgical tools and rags, "m-maybe! It all depends on the density of the doors and how persistent they are. I've only seen them on the news and some glimpses in public, but otherwise I've never really been in contact with them."

"Let's hope you're wrong then," I told her.

Maddie stepped past the kids and opened the window, glimpsing through the shades to see if anyone was outside. Meanwhile I knelt down besides Spencer's backpack sitting against the wall, opening it and taking his laptop out. I powered it on and sat against the wall, waiting for it to load.

The laptop eventually powered on, revealing a password lock. I frowned, trying to think of what his password could be. I took a few seconds before typing in "Pablo123" and watching the computer accept it.

"Idiot," I thought to myself as the computer unlocked.

I was then met with a desktop background of Smash Ultimate and an array of games and programs. Minecraft, Undertale, a Tor Browser, and several folders full of images and ROMs. I eventually found what I was looking for in the bottom left corner. RNG Locater.

I opened up the program, revealing a black and red 3D map of the United States and the rest of the globe. On the map was a glowing blue dot, pulsating over the state of Illinois.

"What'cha got there?" Maddie asked as she sat behind me.

"Nothing," I told her, hoping she would go away.

She looked at the map and all the details listed on the side before asking, "is this a tracker? What are you looking at?"

I didn't answer, instead enabling the picture mode. The red and black outline transformed into a realistic look of the country. I then scrolled in, revealing the blue dot pulsating as it moved down the road at high speeds. At the rate it was going, it would be here by sometime tonight.

"Wait... are you tracking Anikan?" she asked curiously.

I rolled my eyes, "yes Maddie, I'm tracking him."

"Aww, you do care," she said in a teasing voice.

I shot her a glare and she scooted away before asking, "how are you tracking them though?"

"I gave Anikan a knife before he left. Last night at the campsite I hollowed it out and put a bug inside," he explained, "it's untraceable."

"Wow... I'm impressed Andrew. You don't seem to be a very tech savvy kind of person," she said with an impressed grin.

"It doesn't take much to stuff a tiny chip into a tube and open up a program on a computer," I told her, "honestly, you should thank Spencer. If it weren't for him carrying around the most useless shit we wouldn't have this."

"Lighten up on him," she said, standing up.

"Hey, I just asked you to thank you, that's lightening up," I said to her before putting away the laptop.

After putting away the laptop, I watched Isabella set down a scalpel, blood covering the blade. She then reached to the side, picking up a roll of bandages. I approached the bed, standing beside Hunter as Isabella covered his eye with gauze. She then stepped away, staring down at his body, "he should be waking up soon. He may be sore, but he should no longer be in pain."

The three of us watched as his fingers curled, his hand shifting to the left. His entire body rustled and Quinn's working eye slowly flickered open. Hunter smiled and I grinned faintly, watching as Quinn stared up at us with a frown.

He reached up to his face, his hand brushing against the bandage over his eye. He moved his hand beneath the bandage, his other eye slowly widening as he came to realization that his entire right eye was gone. He slowly began to breath faster, and we began to realize he was having a panic attack.

"I… I can't…"

"Calm down Quinn, you're okay! We're all here!" Maddie said, gripping his hand tightly.

A few minutes went by, Quinn slowly calming down with the help of Maddie. She was whispering to him, keeping him from panicking anymore than he already was.

"Let me guess, Andrew crashed the RV and we all perished?" he asked Maddie with a gulp as he relaxed in the bed.

I shook my head, "nope. You may not have confidence in me, but I'm capable of driving that rust bucket."

Quinn sighed, "well the long nap was nice, but I think it is best we get back to work. We have school in the morning after all."

Our feeling of relief faded away quickly, the two of us staring at him in confusion. Quinn looked up at us and asked, "what's wrong?"

"Quinn... what do you last remember?" I asked him.

He put his finger to his chin and took a second to think, "if I am correct, we were at Spencer's house spending the afternoon together. You and Spencer were continuing your incessant arguing and Sarah and I were playing cards. I must have fallen asleep."

Hunter and I gave each other a look, both realizing something had gone wrong. The last thing he had remembered was not the night where he was shot with the crossbow, but the night before that when we were just normal teenagers living a normal life.

"Um... Quinn... we're not at home anymore," Hunter told him.

He raised his eyebrow, obviously confused. He then looked around, scanning the room around him with his one good eye. Quinn finally spotted his sister behind him, sitting up, "Isabella?"

Quinn looked back at me and asked, "what is going on?"

"Do you remember the internet post?" Maddie asked.

He took a second to think before nodding, "yes... yes I do. The details regarding a nuclear attack on the United States via the Russian and North Korean government, correct?"

"Yeah... uh..."

"It was correct?" he asked.

"Sorta," Maddie told him, "Greenbrooke was destroyed."

He frowned, asking us, "and... what if the others? Is it just the four of us?"

"Do you remember the movie theater? Remember when that guy drove the car off the ramp and kamikazed the attack jet? Or when that Mexican dude chucked a turtle at the Russian with a bomb taped to it?" Hunter asked, describing some of the scenes in the movie.

Quinn nodded, "I do... god that movie was horrendous. The action scenes were visibly inaccurate."

"After the movie we left to get something to eat. There was a bombing and we had to escape the city," I told him.

Quinn frowned, rubbing his hand over the bandaged cuts on his arm.

"We stayed the night a campsite to try and cool down, but some junkies tried to rob us," Maddie continued.

"Junkies? Well I'm sure that wasn't much of a problem for you and Luis was it?" Quinn asked Hunter.

He opened his mouth to reply, but nothing came out. We all took a second to think, exchanging looks to figure out who would be the one to tell him.

"What? Is something wrong?" he asked.

I sighed, tapping my foot, "Quinn... Luis is dead."

Quinn stopped, taking a brief moment to think. He then spoke, "that is… unfortunate. Am I to assume Anikan, Sarah and Spencer have all perished as well?"

I shook my head, "they're fine. Anikan and Space broke off to do something in Chicago and are on their way here, and Spencer is..."

I turned around to look for him, but he was gone. He wasn't even in the room. Hunter was standing beside me fiddling with a box of cigarettes, Axel and Julia were watching the news reports on the TV, and Maddie was eating a chocolate bar while sitting on the other bed.

"Where is he?" I asked Maddie immediately.

She looked at me and shrugged, "the bathroom, I think. Probably back on his GameBuddy I think."

I cursed under my breath, turning around and bolting out of the room. I dashed down the hallway, remembering the GameBuddy had fallen from his pocket. Hunter followed behind me, the two of us rushing down the hallway and into the stairwell. We managed to make it downstairs just to see Spencer pick up his GameBuddy, wiping blood off of the side of the device.

"Where the hell did you go!?" I asked him.

"Sorry I dropped my GameBuddy earlier. All the monsters were dead so I thought it'd be fine just to run down here and get it," he explained.

I scoffed, "yeah I know I saw you drop it. But that doesn't mean you can run off without telling us-"

"Wait you saw me drop my GameBuddy and you didn't tell me?" he asked.

"Yeah, so? It's just a dumb video game," I shouted at him before turning around, "I was hoping without that thing you'd actually contribute for once."

"I don't care what you think! Just because I don't go around killing everyone that looks at me wrong doesn't mean I'm not contributing!" Spencer shouted.

"Guys," Hunter interrupted.

"You know what, I am fucking sick of you! When Quinn is up and ready, we're leaving. Either you leave that stupid video game here, or you stay with it," I shouted, "I will not hesitate to let you die!"

"Oh shut up edgelord! All you do is make empty threats and act emo all the time," Spencer shouted.

"Guys!"

Before I could take a step forward to shut him down, Hunter shouted. The three of us topped, filling the room with silence. We then heard ganging coming from the door on the left that lead to the front lobby. Spencer turned around and approached the door, opening it before we could stop him.

"Spencer no!" Hunter shouted.

A woman was pushed into the room, blood gushing from her neck. A monster was grabbing her from behind, sinking it's fangs deep into her neck. We watched in shock as it tore a large chunk of flesh from her body, spilling blood all over the carpeted floor.

The woman's body fell to the ground and we watched as several more mutants burst through the door, all of them coming towards us. I reached for my gun as one of them threw me back, my body slamming against the wall. The desert eagle clattered to the floor, one of the mutants stepping over it to grab Hunter, who was struggling to grab his knife from his belt.

We were pinned down, trapped, and disarmed.