Cross skulked through the long hallways of the mansion, constantly on the lookout for any potential forms of danger. So far, he hadn’t encountered any more zombies or zombified dogs, but he knew that he soon might.
He found a small cabinet set in the wall. Inside was some ammunition and a photo of an elderly man with his dog.
The man was smiling, but the dog was growling and snarling at someone outside the photo. It seemed to have some blood around its mouth.
Confused, Cross continued to explore. He came across another zombie crawling along the floor. It looked to be wearing the tattered remains of a butler’s outfit. Cross stabbed his bowie knife into the base of its skull, severing its spine and killing it. On the body he found a silver key and a dog whistle.
He walked down the hallway and saw a door leading to the backyard, but it was locked. He tried using the butler’s key, but it didn’t fit.
Cross turned around and went down the left hallway. Eventually, he came across a door with a dog collar on it.
Cross tried to open it, but it too was locked. He used the key and it worked. The door opened into a massive room.
Carpeted in human bones.
Blood and gore covered every square inch of the floor, and a few zombies mindlessly crawled about, grazing on the old flesh.
Even worse, in the corner of the room, laid a massive, mutated dog. Its skin had sloughed off, and its muscles bulged with unnatural power. Its bones pierced its flesh and formed dangerous spikes, and its maw was covered in dozens of razor-sharp teeth.
It was currently fast asleep, its snores reverberating off the walls and masking any noises Cross had made breaching the room.
The zombie dog had a collar, and from where he stood, Cross could just barely make out the name ‘Corporal’.
Cross was about to close the door when he noticed some things on the other side of the room. A shotgun! And a golden key.
Cross stood there for a few minutes, considering his options and what he should do, before he finally stepped into the room and began to creep towards the shotgun.
The zombies were content to pick and scrape at the scraps of carrion littering the floor, and Cross was careful not to step on any of the bones.
He was nearly across the room and just a few feet away from the shotgun when he made a fatal mistake and stepped in a puddle of blood, causing him to slip and fall on a pile of bones.
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Under his crashing weight, the bones snap loudly, the noise easily carrying over the snores and sounds of chewing. The dog didn’t notice it, but the zombies did.
Half a dozen zombies groaned and yelled as they stumbled to their feet. Some began to shamble towards Cross, while two gave a screech and began to run at him.
Cross grabbed the shotgun and blew off the head of one of the runners, before pumping the shaft and shooting the other down.
The mutated dog woke up with a vicious snarl. It got up to its feet and gave a horribly distorted howl before charging at the closest thing to it, which was luckily a zombie that strayed too close.
Cross got up off the ground and ran to the opposite side of the room, trying to get back to the door. Before he reached it, Corporal leapt in front of him and blocked the door, giving another distorted howl before starting to run at him.
Cross tried to shoot the charging beast with his shotgun, but the buckshot failed to do any major damage, only succeeding in making Corporal angrier.
The dog rammed into him, knocking Cross to the floor. It began to savage his armored vest, tearing it apart. The vest had saved his life, but it was gone for good.
Cross managed to stab his combat knife into Corporal’s eye, failing to penetrate the dog’s brain but causing it to howl in pain and allowing Cross to get back up.
He jumped onto Corporal’s back and grabbed the hilt of the knife, giving himself an anchor to ride the mutated dog.
With his other hand, Cross grabbed his pistol and began to shoot the dog in the back, but he was only able to do so for a few seconds before it bucked him off and he was underneath the blood-slobbering beast again.
The abomination opened its jaws wide and prepared to bite Cross’ head off, only to get shot in the neck, causing it to howl in pain as blood squirted from the gaping hole.
Only Cross didn’t shoot, It was Fauci!
Fauci was standing in the doorway, a trail of smoke coming out of his magnum revolver. He stepped into the room and began to run at Corporal, shooting twice more.
The powerful bullets tore Corporal’s torso apart and flung it off Cross, allowing the man to get up and assist Fauci with shotgun fire.
Fauci reached Corporal and calmly took a needle out of his satchel, injecting it into one of Corporal’s legs before backing up towards Cross.
As Fauci reached Cross the injection went to work. Corporal fell down, convulsing for a few moments before laying still, foam bubbling out of its mouth.
Fauci calmly gazed at Cross through his prescription sunglasses. “Cross, it’s good to see you alive. I have also encountered the zombies and strange mutants that roam these halls. We’ll be better off exploring together from here on out.”
“I agree. Do you have any idea what these things are or even what created them?”
Fauci was silent for a moment, seemingly thinking. “No. I have never seen these things before.”
Cross sighed and went to grab the key and his combat knife. As he tore the knife out of Corporal’s eye socket, he noticed black dots forming across the dead dog’s body. They looked like… blood clots…?
“Hey, what did you inject this thing with anyway?”
Fauci replied immediately. “I’m not sure, I found it on one of those zombies and figured it must be poison.”
“Um, okaaay.” Cross’ forehead crinkled in confusion but now was not the time to question his leader.
The duo exited the room and went back to the locked door Cross had tried to open earlier. Cross used the golden key, which successfully shifted the lock. He cautiously pushed the door open, revealing a staircase that went deep underground.
Cross swallowed his fear and began the descent downward.