MARTYR

How many people lived in that shelter? Did Marcus go around taking under his wing every single survivor he found? It felt like the entire damn city was down there, clogging the tunnel, and slowly but steadily closing in on them. The ones at the back seemed to nudge the ones at the front, making them inch forward. And every centimeter of tunnel they lost cornered the group more and more.

William knocked another shambler down and took a quick look behind him. The barricade was still up.

'Damn it…!'

He turned around towards the horde and proceeded to kick and stomp at one of the zombies, who had managed to crawl way too close to him. Sweat poured down his forehead.

Not a single one of those shamblers would've been a threat by itself, not with their lack of energy. But strength in numbers made up for their weakness.

Claire and Jonah yelled and groaned as they kept smashing and beating whatever got too close. Corpses littered the floor, globs of blood splattered the walls, their clothes became messed up and dirty with God knows what… It was there, in the face of adversity, where William's prejudice and bitterness were truly swept away. There was no time for such things anymore. His mind, boosted by adrenaline, focused only on surviving.

Another shove. Another stomp. And another kick. And another shove. He couldn't stop, he couldn't allow exhaustion to grab hold of his limbs until they were either safe or dead.

The piling bodies on the floor caused several shamblers to trip, a chance they took to lunge forward, extending their arms in hopes of grabbing something. And they did. One of them managed to grasp the tool William wielded, which then got caught under the weight of its body. Another one grabbed his left leg.

"Crap…!!" he shouted, while trying to break free from its hold. He kicked its head with his right leg, not with the intention to kill it, but rather to keep its mouth away from him.

"W-William…!!" Claire let out a yelp, followed by her bat crashing down on the shambler's arm. A loud snapping sound reached their ears, and William felt the pressure around his ankle disappearing.

"Watch out!" Jonah rushed towards them and pulled at them, as another group of shamblers climbed over the ones on the floor and subsequently tripped forward like the previous ones did.

The group fell backwards, narrowly avoiding the lethargic but restless flood of zombies. Then, a scream. Jonah let out a howl of pain. William stood up, and saw a shambler hugging Jonah's leg. Its teeth sunk deep into his flesh, fresh blood poured from the wound and pooled on the floor.

"Aaaaaaaaghh….!! Fuuuck…!!!" screamed Jonah.

A swift kick to the head, and William managed to free his leg, leaving the still alive shambler yearning for more.

"O-Oh god…!! No…!!" Claire was still sitting on the floor, dumbfounded and looking at Jonah with a terrified expression on her face.

"Claire!! Give me that bat and go help with the barricade!! Now!!" William gave the order with a thunderous voice. The girl didn't complain, wasting no time in doing as instructed. "And you…! Can you stand…!!?"

"Damn right I can…!" replied Jonah, standing up and readying his weapon, albeit gritting his teeth.

They no longer needed to knock the shamblers down. They were now coming down in waves on their own, crawling over the ever-increasing pile of corpses, both dead and alive. However, in doing so, the horde advanced faster than before. They both swung their bats with all the strength they had left. Beating the crap out of those shamblers was the only thing left to do.

…

"Hey… tough guy…!" Jonah grunted in between swings. "Would you… do me… a favor…!?"

"Yeah…!?" replied William.

"My family… out there…! Just tell them… that I'm sorry… would you…!?"

"Is that all…!?"

"Yeah…! An apology… is enough…!"

…

"Yeah, sure…!" William gave his answer while bashing at yet another shambler.

He looked at Jonah, and even in the darkness, he thought he saw him smile for a brief moment. Coming to terms with his own end, just like that? Many thoughts started to make noise within William's mind, but he shook them away. There was no time to think. He kept swinging the bat instead.

******

"Shit…! Shit…!! Jonah…!! Oh, man…!!" Owen muttered to himself while pulling at the boards.

Claire attempted to pull at something, anything, but it felt like her efforts were doing nothing at all. The jumbled mess of scrap and furniture trembled, but didn't collapse.

'Oh god…! We're going to die here…! I don't want to…! I don't wanna die…!'

The rattling had increased exponentially over the last couple of minutes: more people had arrived on the other side. A heated argument could be heard, the inhabitants of the shelter tried to reach an agreement on what to do.

"Watch your heads!!!" a voice slid through the cracks in the barricade.

Claire and Owen looked up, and saw a thin and long metal object sliding through a hole in the blockage. They stepped out of the way. It fell fast, cracking the floor tiles. A crowbar.

"Use that!! Go for the lower left corner!! You just need to be able to crawl through!!"

"A-Alright…!! Thank you…!!" Claire was about to pick up the crowbar, but Owen beat her to it.

"I'll pry the boards and sheets, you keep pulling and taking them out of the way!" he said.

"S-Sure…!"

Banging noises. Endless rattling. The gurgles and squeals of the approaching shamblers, barely a couple of meters from the barricade. William's and Jonah's screaming. Cracking bones and spilling blood. The macabre orchestra of noises drilled Claire's ears as wood splintered, as metal bent dangerously close to her face, as her nails threatened to shatter while clawing at the pile of boards.

Suddenly, light pierced the darkness of the tunnel, pouring from the human-sized hole on the bottom of the barricade. A hand reached inside.

"Hurry!!! Get out!!"

"Aaah...!!! William!!! It's open!!!" shouted Claire.

"Fucking finally!! Go!! We'll follow!!" he replied.

"Okay…!"

She turned to Owen. He grabbed her and shoved her towards the hole.

"Come on, come on…!" he urged her to go first.

She didn't complain. She wanted everyone to be safe and make it out, but she was damn glad she got to go first. She launched herself towards the opening. Her arms hurt like all hell, but that didn't stop her from holding onto the many arms reaching out from the other side. She held onto them for dear life, and let them drag her towards safety.

Still laying on the floor, she looked back, and saw Owen kicking some backpacks through the hole, and then crawling through on his own.

William was still inside.

******

"Hey…!! We need… to go…!!" said William, after delivering a couple more strikes at the incoming shamblers.

"Nah…! You go…!!"

"You sure…!?"

"Yeah…! I won't… hurt anyone… in here…!!"

"Tch…!"

"Go…!!"

A new group of shamblers started climbing over the fallen ones. The barricade was almost within arm's reach. William knew their time was up. In one last adrenaline rush, he turned around and dove towards the hole.

"Thank you…" William grunted one last sentence before dragging himself out.

For an instant, he thought he heard Jonah say something under his breath. "Make it count…", perhaps? Who knows. Might as well have been a random groan from a hungry shambler.

One last choir of growls when the horde fell against the barricade. The sound of a crowd of bodies crashing against the pile of furniture. Muffled screams.

The chaos suddenly came to a full stop, and silence fell upon the subway once again. Shambler arms and heads attempted to peek out through the hole in the barricade.

"Plug that hole!! Quick!!" said someone. Several people flocked to the opening, carrying tools and worn pieces of furniture.

…

"Jonah, he's gone… Shit, dude…"

An unsettling moment of silence ensued. One of the women in the group turned her eyes towards William.

"Did you guys at least manage to get something out…?"

"Yeah… The backpacks have food, drinks… and also the thing Marcus wanted, whatever it is…" he replied.

Many sighed in relief. However, not a single person in the group was free of concern, frustration or distress.

It was almost ironic. As much as William initially hated those people, once thrown into the fray alongside them, once involved with their struggles, the collective desire to survive and push through adversity seemed to take over, one challenge at a time. Perhaps his hatred had been washed away by newfound hopes? That faint light at the end of the tunnel was strangely soothing. But it might as well be a fool's errand. He wouldn't know, until he got the chance to have a talk with Marcus again. And this time around, he'd be the one making questions.

He stared at Claire, and she stared back at him. She looked scared, and her arms and legs were shaking. Exertion, most likely. For someone who had never faced off against the shamblers before, she had done a good job.

He still had mixed feelings towards her. However, he needed to get over it sooner or later. In the end, everyone was the same. She was fighting to protect Nora and Lilian. Before disaster struck him, he himself was fighting to protect his own community. The people in that shelter fought to protect their own families and friends. Even people like Jacobs or that Julien fought for something: for themselves. Everyone fought for a reason, and stayed wary of anything that was perceived as a threat. The circumstances were bitter and unfortunate, but he understood.

He gave Claire a nod. She turned her eyes away from him, towards the floor, and let out a deep breath. Relief? Perhaps. It was probably difficult to find relief in that situation, given the fact that Lilian was captive, and Nora was nowhere to be found.

William thought about Nora. They hadn't seen her even once since she left the apartment building that morning. With everything that had been going on, he hadn't given her any significant thought. Was she even okay…?

"Alright, I'll let Marcus know about what happened… Lock them away for now, and take those backpacks to the storage room, we need to take a look through their contents."

Some members of the shelter grabbed William and Claire and started taking them away.

"Hey, one last thing…" said William, causing the men to stop pushing them and listen. "Jonah's family… He owes them an apology…"

Everyone stayed silent for a while.

"Is that… what he said…?"

William nodded.

"…alright. I'll make sure to deliver the message… Thank you…"

******

The cigarette consumed itself at an accelerated pace from the prolonged puff he took. It left him with an unpleasant bitter aftertaste.

"Bah…!" he proceeded to spit it out of his mouth. "Fucking shitty brand… Can't even enjoy a petty cig in this shithole…"

He grumbled a couple more profanities while he approached the faint light down the hallway. A guard kept watch in silence, right beside a closed double door. His face was sweaty, his eyes opened wide and his legs looked shaky as he saw him getting closer.

"Halt…! Who goes there…?" he asked.

"Easy now…"

"Ah, you're one of the newcomers… Logan, was it…?"

"Yeah, I've been doing some errands here and there. I just got told to relieve you. You can go take a rest."

"Oh, thank god…! Man, this is getting on my nerves…!"

The guard wiped the sweat off his forehead and walked past Logan.

"I'll report back when I rejoin the others. Watch out for—" his sentence was suddenly interrupted by a swift blow to the nape.

The man's limbs went limp, causing him to drop like a rag.

"Welp, that was easy." murmured Logan.

He turned his attention towards the door. A metal bar kept it sealed shut. Through the reinforced glass windows, a human-shaped silhouette thrashed and scratched at the door. A shambler. Its bloodshot eyes shined with an intense blue shimmer, which branched out under its skin, following the veins all over its body. It was foaming at the mouth; and his raging, muffled gurgles demanded feeding.

"You must be the dude who died earlier… What a sad sight."

He crouched down beside the fallen guard. He felt around his pockets, stealing a couple of snacks, a knife and some other utility items. Once he was satisfied, he stood back up, lifting the guard's body with him.

"Alright, let's do this…"

******

"Hey…" William talked to the darkness.

"Yes…?" Claire's voice answered. She sounded really tired.

"…you did a good job back there…"

…

"Thank you…" she stayed silent for what felt like an entire minute or two. "I feel like shit."

"…"

"I can't get it out of my head… I feel like we should've talked to you earlier, we should have been more open about things… Especially after you went out of your way, even risking your own life, to help us…"

"…"

"I'm sorry…"

"Stop beating yourself because of that. It won't help anyone… Listen… I still don't know where I stand in all this. I don't know if I want to keep helping you, or If I want to part ways and keep struggling on my own… I just know I can't really bring myself to hate you."

"I see…"

More silence ensued. William couldn't see anything, he could only hear their own breathing. He thought he heard some strange noises in the distance, most likely coming from the rest of the shelter outside the restroom.

"Hey, can I ask you something…?" said Claire.

"Yeah?"

"When I told you about what happened to us, you know, before we met… Well, you said it helped. Can I ask how…?"

"…you wouldn't understand. And I'm probably a fool myself for clinging to things like this. I just need to confirm something with that Marcus first."

"Hmmm…"

William didn't want to touch that subject. Not with Claire, nor with anyone else, unless necessary. And at that moment, it wasn't necessary.

"A-Ah, right…!" before he could say anything else, Claire yelped on her own. "There's something I should let you know! I found something, something about Marcus…!"

"Huh…?"

"I think he's—!"

*Bang* *Bang*

Those noises, although distant, sounded familiar. Too familiar to not recognize them. Gunshots. Both heard them, and both became silent, sharpening their ears.

"Something's up." said William.

"Oh god, you think someone started a fight…?"

The distant noise became increasingly loud. More gunshots. Muffled screams. Out of instinct, William started fighting with his bindings, trying to break free. Claire heard him struggle, and in a panic attempted to break free herself.

Frenzied footsteps could be heard outside the door, approaching it at a rapid pace.

"Shit…! Someone's coming!" he yelled.

The door was busted open, the light of a flashlight seeping into the restroom. The sudden flash blinded William, who grunted and turned his eyes away from its source. The noises outside kept increasing in volume. Some of them didn't sound human.

"U-Um… Oh…!" the person in front of the door stuttered. It was a male.

William knew that voice. It rang a bell inside his mind, a bell that he wished had stayed silent. He stared through the light, squinting his eyes in an attempt to make out who the intruder really was.

"Ah… W-Will…?"

"No fucking way…! Desmond…!!?"

The man let out a scared squeal and rushed to Claire's side. He started cutting through her bindings with a small pocket knife.

"Is that you, Desmond!!? I don't believe it!! Show me your face, you piece of shit…!!!"

"N-No…! I-I… Oh god…!" he kept mumbling incoherent words.

"W-Who are you…!? What's going on…!?" Claire asked the newcomer, unaware of the circumstances.

"T-There's shamblers in the shelter…! You need to get out…! U-Um…! Girl, you untie him, okay…!?" he let her free and handed her his knife. "Your friend… your friend told me about you…"

"F-Friend…!? Lilian!?"

"N-No, not that one… She's a g-grown woman… Her name is N-Nora…"

"Nora is okay!!?"

"Stop talking and get me free already!! Do you have no shame, you fucking coward!!?" William screamed at Desmond from his corner.

More gunshots and screams emerged from the corridors outside.

"Aaah…! There's no time, I have to g-go…!! The c-concourse should be s-safe…!" Desmond turned around and bolted towards the door.

"W-Wait, please…!! Where's Nora…!!!?" Claire stumbled while trying to stand up. "Is she okay!!? I beg of you, take care of her…!!!"

Desmond gave her one last panicked look, nodded, then disappeared out into the hallways, towards the choir of noises.

William couldn't believe his eyes. His blood boiled in his veins. Had Claire followed him out, she would probably be able to reunite with Nora, but she obviously didn't want to leave him behind like that. Desmond could have easily untied him as well, but he probably didn't have the guts to approach him, and for a good reason. Claire was entrusting Nora to that fucking traitor, out of all people. Talk about bad choices.

"Hurry up, Claire!! Cut these up, we need to go!! Now!!!"