June 24, 2075

1100 CDT

On in a Rooftop in Central Winner, South Dakota

Sonya Grey's Point of View

Damn it. What’s taking them so long?! Ugh! Sixty stories high or not, they should know better than to fall behind by now. At least we’re safe for now. The only thing up here is us, the rooftop door, and endless rainwater. Our urban camouflage-colored ponchos aren’t shit, so continuous pacing will help with the shivering. The others are, understandably, exhausted, so they’re content with sitting down and catching a cold.

“Do you think they’re ok, Lieutenant?” Billy asks as he fires the flare.

“Yes,” I say.

“How do you know?” Drew asks.

“Because I do,” I say.

“Well, that’s convincing,” Drew replies with a snarky tone.

I’m sick of his shit!

“Drew! It’d be in your best interest to stop testing me,” I warn.

“'ere, they come!” Rachel announces as she peeks through the door crack. “Hola, welcome to casa de oh my lord!”

Teresa! Oh no.

“What happened?!” I ask.

“Teresa?!” Rachel shrieks in concern as she closes the door.

“Wha?!” Ruby yells in horror as she checks on Teresa.

“A ton of zombies tipped over a semi-truck, and her legs got caught in the crash!” Duy explains.

Teresa…

“What? Those things weigh several tons. H-how did you save her?” I ask.

“Yeah, about that,” Duy says as she reaches for his gun and aims it at Luke.

“What the hell, Duy?!” Luke yells out.

“Shut the fuck up, Luke, or whoever you are!” Duy screams out in anger.

“Duy, calm down! What are you talking about?!” I ask.

“You wanna know what the fuck happened?!” Duy says in disbelief. “Luke here suddenly gained fucking s-superpowers and turned that semi-truck into a bowling ball, and the countless zombies were the pins!”

Huh?

“And then, get this, his eyes turned blood red, just like a zombie!” Duy explains.

What?! N-no. No. Duy must have been seeing things, but…Teresa’s legs and Luke is looking pretty woozy himself.

Still…

“Move your ass, Sonya!” Duy orders as I stand in his line of fire.

“No,” I say.

“Lieutenant Sonya Grey of Squad Zeus, I’m ordering you to move out of my line of fire.” Duy threatens with a determined glare.

“I refuse. You’ll just have to shoot me for disobeying orders,” I say.

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“I’m feeling more and more tempted to do that as each second passes by. Besides, for all I know, you’re in on this little fucking monster’s conspiracy,” Duy replies.

“You’re crazy,” I say.

“I don’t give a shit what you say. I know what I saw! You, Luke, and Doctor Shinka all have shady ass fucking pasts. Not even someone as intuitive as you can deny that fact, so yeah, you being a suspect in this conspiracy makes complete fucking sense. Especially with the undeniable truth that the three of you came into the capital together!” Duy shouts. “You know what I think?! I think Luke was bitten by some kind of unknown mutated zombie, and it gave him superpowers!” He astutely theorizes.

“You’re being ridiculous, Duy. You’ve been reading too many of Teresa’s books,” I say.

“For all I know, you and Veronica are exactly like him!” Duy threatens.

“That’s bullshit,” I say.

“I don’t know what the fuck is going on with Luke, but I’ll prove he’s infected. Luke, throw me your Thunderbolt, slowly,” Duy angrily orders.

“Fine, Duy!” Luke promptly complies.

“Let’s see what we got,” Duy says as he opens Luke’s Thunderbolt. “Well, would you look at this?” He says as he displays the device for us to see. “It's been tampered with. It's been made to say that the user is fine, no matter what! Scorpius lacks technological resources, so it must have been Veronica’s doing!”

Luke? It can’t be.

“Ok,” Duy says as he removes his own Thunderbolt. “Try on mine, Luke. Let’s see what happens,” Duy says as he throws Luke his bracelet.

“Fine!” Luke says as he puts on Duy’s bracelet…

Duy was seeing things! Luke can’t be infected!

“What? That’s, there’s no way!” Luke cries out in disbelief as the Thunderbolt buzzes.

“You better start talking, Luke, before I fucking pull the trigger!” Duy rightfully threatens.

I… Sh-should I move?! Is Luke a mutated? No. He can’t be. He’s a human, not a zombie, but he’s infected!

“I’m so stupid,” Luke chuckles in pain. “I-I didn’t want to believe, I wanted to forget what happened at The King’s Mansion!”

“What the fuck happened at the mansion, man?!” Duy continues to threaten.

“Veronica and I got bit,” Luke explains as he reveals that scar. “We ran and hid inside a safe room where she then… injected herself with some kind of syringe and then injected me with a similar needle. Next thing I knew, we… we were safe. No enemies, no zombies, and… no bite. Just a scar,” he calmly reveals. “This means that Sonya has nothing to do with this!” He asserts in rage. “So, if you’re going to shoot someone, shoot me!”

“What are you, Luke?!” Duy asks as Luke crumples to the ground and cries.

“I, I don’t know, Duy.”

Fuck this shit.

“Listen! In case you forgot, we still have a mission to complete!” I say. “That loud machine-like rattling among the thunder is obviously the Deathbringers! Luke isn’t the priority, and Teresa needs a doctor!”

“Huh?! Sonya, wait!” Duy uselessly orders.

*

The 59th Floor of the Building

*

Well, this is a spectacular sight. The door at the end of the hallway leads into the building’s main stairwell. Except now, there’s five shrieking Headhunters in the way.

Here comes the opening two! The closest one will strike with its right blade first!

An easy backstep to evade it! Now to dispose of it!

Blood splattered on my uniform and the walls. A nasty, and yet clean decapitation. But how I feel is irrelevant. All that matters is the kill. Now to deal with Headhunter two!

I was forced to block its attack! Shit! I forgot how strong these fuckers are! Gotta end this quick, but I need space! Another backstep from me!

Your shrieking is so loud. I get it. You want to eat me but don’t worry. I’ll give you something to chew on in a minute. It’s going to come in for two more swipes!

Two more backsteps from me, but I have to be careful, so I don’t corner myself!

I blocked both of its blades with my own!

“HAH!” I shout.

One powerful push with my legs gives me enough strength to leave this fucker wide open for a leg sweep! Now to finish it with a stab to the head!

Here comes Headhunter three! Dodge its swipe, Sonya!

Too easy. Now to jump over its body, using its head as a base.

I need to make a safe landing…

…and then roll under Headhunter Four’s blade.

Then use all of my arm and leg muscles to deliver a robust handspring kick aimed directly at Headhunter Five’s ugly fucking chest!

“Eat this,” I say.

A quick stab to its head from my blade ends its life.

Shit! My leg! How did I not notice this little zombie fuck?! I need to quickly stab it!

Damn it! The Headhunter is coming!

“Sonya, duck!” Billy and Rachel alert in unison as they open fire.

They killed them. They…

“Are you ok?” They ask in unison.

“I didn’t need your help! I had everything under control!” I say.

“It didn’t look like it,” Rachel says in worry.

“We came to help because, like you said, the mission isn’t over yet, ok?” Billy explains. “And it’s way too tense up there! Luke passed out, and Teresa is still unconscious! Ruby promised to watch over them and said she’ll make sure nothing happens to them, while the captain and Drew stand guard.”

“We’re a team, and nothing will ever break our bond, k? Just like Teresa said, remember?” Rachel reminds me with a soft smile.

“Billy, Rachel I, I don’t know how to feel about Luke…”