CHAPTER 04: DEATH
Near the stage of the cathedral, David sat, his back against the altar as he wound his hands around his legs.
Looking at the two dead bodies, David seemingly became astonished. It was as if he couldn’t comprehend what he had just done. He sat there, seemingly in disbelief at his actions, staring into the void.
“Hey son,” Doctor Richard’s voice cut through the tense atmosphere as he addressed his only son, the only light of salvation left in this accursed world. But David seemed to be looking somewhere, seemingly in a trance.
Doctor Richard’s love for his son reached a level rarely seen in this time and age. And it was reciprocated by his son who also respected him and adored him a lot. The main proof is that he could almost completely understand each other without the need to say even a word.
The Doctor was worried for his son. He didn’t even need to follow David’s gaze to know the object of his son’s gaze.
“David”, Doctor Richard called out once again, this time referring to David by his name. This seemingly caused David to break out of his trance and look at his father, a look of surprise evident on his handsome face, which had now been covered in red blood, which had not dried out yet.
David was probably surprised because his father called him by name only when things were serious. So seeing his father’s attitude, he shook the other thoughts away from his mind as he opened his mouth to ask “Yes Father?”
“Nothing much Just wanted to check in on you. Can’t I do that?”, Doctor Richard replied, giving his soon a calm smile as he gauged David’s expression.
David smiled at his Father’s antics. “I’m alright Father, you don’t have to worry”
“Are you sure?”, Doctor Richard asked in confirmation—a skeptical look plastered on his wrinkled face. He believed that he knew his son best, and according to that knowledge, The Doctor knew that although David acted tough and cold toward others, he cared deeply for them inside. And that he didn’t want to actually kill Jacob and Amir. Even Doctor Richard was surprised when David bluffed into the two brothers' scheme and solved the situation. That’s if the current situation could be called “Solved”.
“Hmm” David nodded and then continued after a slightly tired smile “Not quite, but I’ll be fine as I’ve always been”
Seeing his son’s expression, Doctor Richard felt an ache in his heart. “I would’ve said that you shouldn’t take this all on yourself and let us help, but as you can see, this father of yours cannot do much except be a burden on you. I would’ve been satisfied if you had just left me here and continued on your own—" His words were cut off as David aggressively grabbed both of his shoulders.
“Don’t... ever say that again,” David said in a heavy tone as he looked towards his father with a complex yet angry expression. "If I had to choose between leaving you here or letting the virus run amok—I'd let the world burn with a smile on my face" David stated without even a hint of hesitation on his face. He made it clear to his father that he wouldn't tolerate any further behavior like this.
Doctor Richard simply smiled at his son's concern and spoke "Alright, I won't do this again".
"Good", David replied almost instantly he nodded but noticed his father smiling while looking at him. So he continued, "What is it?"
"Nothing, it's just that I'm proud of the man you've become", Doctor Richard smiled, the tenderness of a proud father visible in his light blue eyes.
"Of the man I've become? Surely you don't mean the one who killed four people in cold blood and was indirectly the cause of more than twice as many?", David inquired, a sarcastic smile creeping up to his face.
"N-no" Doctor Richard was taken aback by David's words. He hurriedly shook his hands in a state of panic to try and explain the meaning of his words but David cut him off once again.
"Or is it the man who curses at everyone and anyone?", David asked once again, doubling down on his previous statement.
Due to this action of David's—for a moment Doctor Richard became even more flustered than he already was but then he realized something and looked at David with incredulous expression.
"You did this on purpose right?", Doctor Richard asked as he looked at David who appeared to be perfectly calm and collected.
"No", A simple reply—But that was all Doctor Richard needed to understand the situation.
"Yes, you did you little rascal", Doctor Richard playfully scolded David as he lightly pressed David's neck under his arm.
For a moment David struggled but then he started laughing, and Doctor Richard soon followed behind.
"Anyways, we should probably get going before the subjects come to us" Doctor Richard stated, knowing full well the consequences of what would happen if they were to meet the subjects as they were now.
"Yes, we should. We shouldn't take any risks since it'll take Ahmed more time to walk in his condition", David nodded, seemingly agreeing to the words of the Doctor without much resistance.
He looked at Ahmed's condition with a meaningful look in his eyes.
Ahmed now sat in the middle of the stage of the cathedral, his back against the altar. He had been shot twice when Amir and Jacob initially opened fire at them—Once in his right leg, and another in his left hand.
That is the main reason he wasn't able to do much in the previous confrontation.
"Let's go, Father. We'll try to make it out of the Facility in a few minutes—Well, that's if nothing likes to screw us over...like every other damn time", David spoke out with a tired sigh, clearly tired by the cruel jokes fate made on them time and time again.
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"Don't talk like that. We have you so we'll probably figure something out before that", Doctor Richard smiled as he patted his son's shoulder but his smile froze the moment he realized something, "Wait a minute- what happened to the subjects who were making their way here?" The Doctor Asked with a quizzical Expression.
"Don't worry about them. I've gained us a few minutes", Ahmed's raspy voice came from a few meters away.
"Still like to peep in on others' conversations I see.", David made a snarky comment which earned him a glare from his father sitting beside him.
"Heh", Ahmed Chuckled, breaking character for a moment as a smirk similar but not as ferocious as David's appeared on his face, "Best thing I've learned from you"
Both men shared a laugh but Doctor Richard's words shattered their little world of laughter.
"What do you mean "I've gained us a few minutes"?", The Doctor Inquired.
"Nothing much, I've just activated some biohazard warning sirens Infront of the clinical labs near the control center. The subjects would probably make their way to that location and only a few would target our location", Ahmed informed them both, gaining two different reactions—Doctor Richard who had a shocked expression, and David who gave him an approving nod.
David and Ahmed had known each other for more than ten years and during those ten years, never once had they fought or anything of the sort.
The main reason this was because David valued competence over almost anything and he approved of Ahmed and regarded him as one of the most competent people he'd met.
"Well then, I'm quite surprised, to say the least. Well done Ahmed.", Doctor Richard spoke out with genuine praise as he commended Ahmed's actions. "But let's not take any risks."
"Yeah", David Nodded with a firm glance "As we know already, category four's—while not the strongest, have an irrefutable tendency to ignore the natural logic of the subjects. So it's better if we just move out of here in case they arrive"
"Sure"
"Okay"
Both, Doctor Richard and Ahmed spoke in turn as they looked at the door of the cathedral.
They got up- Well, at least Doctor Richard and David did as Ahmed could not due to the bullets in his leg and forearm.
Both the Father and son went to the bodies scattered around the room and gathered what they could. Doctor Richard hesitated while "salvaging" in his own terms from the dead carcasses of his fallen colleagues, while David pulled things off their bodies without any hesitation or discomfort.
It didn't take the two even a minute to gather the necessary things and depart from the room. Not intended to stay in the Fabled cathedral which was the cause of death of at least ten people.
After a minute or so, they moved across two corridors and claimed down a set of stairs, their pace slower than before due to an injured person—Ahmed who walked due the help of David who gave him a shoulder as a support.
But still, their pace seemed to be decent as they expected to reach the entrance to the sewers in a minute or so at most.
"Here we are", Doctor Richard happily stated as he saw the last turn before the door of the sewers. He was about to turn the corner when a hand stopped him, pulling him back and pushing him against the wall with a hand on his mouth.
Doctor Richard tried to struggle but calmed down when he saw it was David.
"Shsssh", David let out a hushing sound as he placed a finger on his lips indicating for Doctor to be silent. Which both of them adhered to.
David slowly and silently placed his forehead against the corner of the path and slowly peaked into the hallway leading to the Sewerage Entrance. He didn't even glance for a moment when he slowly turned his head back into its original position and seemingly initiated a conversation via some sort of hand signals.
David simply raised six fingers and Ahmed understood his words.
That is the main reason David and Ahmed were talking in basic sign language and not using complex signals as to make Doctor Richard understand aswell.
The ferals seemed to look like skinny yet tall human beings with their skin fermented—Almost to the degree that it
David and Ahmed nodded to one another as they came to a mutual agreement as soon after Ahmed pulled out one of the grenades that they salvaged from one of the dead soldiers in the cathedral.
Doctor Richard's eyes widened at the thought as he seemingly understood the intentions of the two. They were intending to blow up the ferals with a grenade.
Ahmed slowly left the support of David's shoulder and limped next to the corner. He slowly and silently pulled out the pin from the grenade and slowly pulled the safety lever off with his hand rather than letting it fall on its own. This was done to mitigate the effect sound of the metallic lever hitting the ground.
The ferals were fast with their response time as despite being taken off guard, their response time was phenomenal as they covered half the distance between—which concluded to around 12 meters in nearly an instant.
But the grenade which Ahmed held for two seconds after taking out the pin and the one second it took it to land—exploded amongst the six corroded-looking subjects.
Ahmed, fearing the impact of the blast had already rolled to the corner across the crosssection as soon as he had thrown the Grenade.
He had to roll into the middle of the crosssection to throw the grenade at such an angle that it would engulf every feral present there.
"Is it done?", Doctor Richard inquired without moving much.
David looked over toward Ahmed and both men nodded to each other. Then Simultaneously moved around the corner and pointed their guns in the direction where the explosion occurred—seemingly in a professional manner like trained soldiers, despite Ahmed not having control of one of his hands because of the gunshot.
The explosion was not large, as the average Area of Effect of a grenade was around 25-30 meters but it had gotten the work done as all that remained of the ferals was bits and pieces of charred flesh.
"It's done Father", David stated calmly as he looked back at Doctor Richard. Who got out from behind the corner and stood next to David.
"We got lucky huh?", Doctor Richard asked as a complex expression appeared on his face.
"Yes, we got lucky indeed.", David nodded his head seriously without moving his eyes from the point of explosion.
"What do you think? Could you two have taken them on in an open field? It's a genuine question.", Doctor Richard asked as he looked towards the two.
"Not a chance", Both David and Ahmed stated at once.
"Did you forget Doctor?", Ahmed asked with a chuckle.
Doctor Richard became a bit confused at Ahmed's words and raised his eyebrows but before he could ask anything, David continued where Ahmed left off.
"He's talking about the simulation where 12 ferals decimated 300 Armed soldiers in a forest landscape"
"Ohh", Doctor Richard exclaimed as if he had just come to a revelation. His face showing a clear frown considering what could've happened if they were to face these guys in an open field.
"It's better that you don't think about that. We don't want you to have a heart attack.", David stated with a clear expression. Doctor Richard looked at the two of them who solved this near-impossible situation without not even wavering for an instant. To say that he was impressed would be a massive understatement.
"Besides that, let's go already until we want for the security system to cli-", David had not yet completed his words when rid lights began to flicker inside the hallways and a loud beeping red sound accompanied them as if to announce the sentence of someone or something."Damn it. Let me finish my words!"
David was seemingly shouting back at the emergency system—not for activating and causing them inconvenience but rather for activating in the middle of his words. And this had both Doctor Richard and Ahmed Flabbergasted.
"We can discuss this later. Let's go, now!", Ahmed shouted at David who picked Ahmed up, Flung his Arm around his shoulder, and then started walking at great speed towards the door of the sewers.
"Open it, hurry.", Doctor Richard stated hastily. Sweat accumulating on his forehead.
Ahmed stepped forward and dialed a few commands on the digital touchpad in front of the large 20-foot-high door which opened with a beep a second later.
"Thank God", Doctor Richard exclaimed in relief, thinking that the danger had passed.
"Don't let your guard down yet. Something is coming from the front", David stated calmly and stepped forward, his gun pointed at the darkness at the other side of the door.
Something could be felt running towards them. And by the sound of its footsteps, everyone concluded that it was likely a four-legged animal.
"Shit!", David shouted as he looked at the figure emerging from the darkness at high speeds. It had a body similar to that of a dog, the only difference being the dog Infront of them had bits and pieces of it's skin missing and the bones were sticking out. Some of its organs were also hanging out from the side of its chest.
David clearly understood that hat this was and he knew that he needed to take this one down in one shot. So he aimed the bronze-colored pump action shotgun in his hands toward the dog-looking zombie but didn't take the shot as he knew that the dog would most likely dodge it.
The figure ran towards them and jumped just as it was about three meters away from David, covering the distance in one jump.
"Don't let this one miss!", David shouted as he took the shout and it hit the dog-like zombie clear in its stomach at close range, splattering half of its body into a bloody mess of Guts and Organs which scattered all around them. "SHIT! DUCK!", David didn't look happy by the result and shouted but before he could clock his shotgun once again, the dog-like zombie had already pounced on top of Ahmed who tried to kill it with a few shots of the Assault rifle in his hands which proved to be futile, pinning him to the floor.