2.47

"So you're all aware of your orders," Noah stood, loading the armour-piercing bullets into his rifle.

The squad moved around him like worker bees, unloading the other truck to hand out equipment to each of us. I followed Ty around like a shadow, mimicking his every action until we all stood on the outskirts of a town.

"Why did they have to build a research facility in the middle of a bloody city," Tommy cursed, spitting out his gum to the ground.

I recalled Ty saying Lex was a doctor, though he never specified what kind of doctor. I had a feeling it was not medical like himself.

"Don't worry Tommy, our steel stud will protect you," a soldier mocked, ruffling his messy dark hair from behind.

"Hey, I said I don't like that nickname," Will muttered, making both myself and Noah, who stood beside him, laugh.

It was nice to see Will in his own element, flourishing among his teammates.

Noah then continued to explain the multiple routes to the tall skyscraper the facility was built under.

As usual, he even had map printouts to go in our previously prepared backpacks. Extremely organised and prepared for the worst, was the way Noah liked to do everything in both timelines.

When he told me we'd be splitting into groups I thought I'd at least be with Ty. Instead, I was stuck with Noah, Victoria, and Rick.

"What's up with you princess?" Victoria dug her elbow into my ribs, an innocent expression on her face.

"Rough night," I found my voice unfamiliar and weird as if I truly had gone into another body again. Just how powerful was Ty to be able to do this?

Then again, I'd never seen what Ty's ability was, only seeing him use his dimensional space and sword.

"It must be heartbreaking to part with your new lover boy," Rick rolled his eyes, looking bitter. Did he have a crush on the girl I was pretending to be?

"Yes, it aches in longing," I teased, getting a feel for how I imagined Natalie to be from the way her friends had spoken in the truck.

Noah put away his radio and gave us both a stern look, raising his finger to his lips. I tried my best to hold in my giggle, feeling like a pair of students being caught gossiping in class.

I felt uneasy at how differently Victoria treated this colleague of hers, compared to me as Hannah. It was uncomfortably similar to how she had treated Hannah in the other timeline. I couldn't help but be guarded against her, though I did my best to not show it. This poor Natalie was no doubt as clueless as the original Hannah.

The chaos-filled streets seemed absent from all life. Just a graveyard for picked clean bones and cars. Every now and then we spotted the only signs of life, corpses, torn and ragged, walking aimlessly about, and tried our best to avoid them.

Though they looked like the zombies we'd dealt with at the start, their strength, speed, hearing, and sense of smell were all much stronger. Some were even able to faintly see.

The deeper into the city we went the stronger the dead got. Their skin all altered in a slight green tinge, flawlessly free of even blemishes. The stronger ones also had keener senses, able to find us the second we stepped into their territory.

I recalled just how strong the dead mutated in the alternative timeline, these were still weaklings in comparison to the ones Hannah faced before death.

I could vividly remember the way she had let them tear through her flesh without even a cry.

"You alright Nat?" Rick leaned down to whisper in my ear. I nodded, knowing my emotions must be displayed clearly on my face.

"Rick," Noah beckoned him over, leaving me to trail behind in the rear. I'd noticed Noah pocket all the nuclei he dug out. He would also often pause to pull out a notepad and pen to make notes.

A few blocks away from our destination he cursed, tossing his broken pen into a dumpster. Quickly pulling one out of my space I placed it into his hand and took a good few steps back to go back to watch our rear.

Instead of the skyscraper in front of us, we all gathered in the alley between a row of cafes and restaurants. The smell of decay from both food and bodies was overwhelming. It took all my strength not to vomit the quick protein bar I'd eaten on my walk to the west exit.

In time almost the entire squad made it to the alleyway, only one group of four missing. When the sun hit high in the sky Noah relented, writing something in his notebook, then beckoned us over to divide us into two groups, one led by him, the other Will.

There were two entrances to the facility. One was inside the ground floor of the building, the other at the rear where the car park was.

Will's team was to enter the easy route, making note of the condition of the surrounding buildings, whilst Noah wanted to scope the inside of the skyscraper. If all went well we'd meet again underground at the facility's locked and secure entrance.

Unfortunately, I had been pulled into the team with the trickier entrance under Noah's watchful eye. Luckily, this time Ty was with me again.

The inside of the building was eerily quiet and absent of corpses. As if everyone had stepped outside in the middle of the working day. Despite the wide open doors, not a soul had entered back in to collect their belongings.

"Split into two groups under Vic and Rick," he ordered, then rested his hands on both mine and Ty's shoulder, "you two stay and secure this floor with me."

The others obeyed, both going up the two fire exits to check if each floor was clear.

Ty dragged me reluctantly to follow Noah to sweep each room one by one. In the end, we circled back to the main receptionist's desk. I sat my weary ass down on the receptionist's chair to get some rest.

"Put your feet up on the desk," Ty lifted them to rest them up a height without giving me a choice.

"I agreed to you coming, just you," Noah hissed, gripping Ty's top.

Ty shrugged helplessly, "unfortunately she had an appointment with the doctor, what can you do?"

Noah turned to me, his eyes narrowed, "it's Hannah?" He let go of Ty to turn and grab my arm, "you're not Laura?"

"Careful now Romeo," Ty gripped Noah's arm, pulling him off me, "both Hannah and the baby are fine."

Noah shrugged Ty off him to start and pace, holding in his temper.

The relationship between Noah and Ty seemed to be different than I thought. 

"Clear," Rick walked up to us, the others following him. He'd gone down the stairs Victoria's team had gone up. Leaving Victoria to return shortly after with her half of the team.

"Clear," she lazily leaned against the receptionist's desk, "can we rest now?"

"Nope," Noah jumped back to stand straight, then walked back towards the basement entrance, where he fried the circuit and opened the sturdy metal door with ease.