TwentyThree- Ella

He was going to kill me. You know, if zombies or other people didn't get me first. Kyle would definitely be pissed. No, I'm not sure pissed was the right word. He would be livid. He would be hurt.

And there was a good chance he'd been right, I was destined to get myself killed doing this.

But I liked him, though I'm not sure that was a strong enough word either.

I liked all of them.

No one needed to die. And I couldn't even stand the possibility of Kyle being hung up on a cross like Hunter and I had been. Or Joel... Miles. None of them deserved what I had dragged them into. They were quiet it about it, but I had heard them saying that hadn't ever run across other humans that were so horrible, so cruel. They may have been trained soldiers, but they were out of their element too. Just like I knew that if it came down to it, they would do what it took to protect me.

I couldn't let anyone die for me.

So, yes, I was fully aware how stupid I was.

Everyone in the building was trained, well trained. Even Zero who hadn't had a career as a badass was a real asskicker. And I was about to lock them all in the building and go off by myself. But I couldn't do it, I would not drag everyone with me without knowing for sure it was worth it. Besides, it was only a couple of miles. And I knew the way and I knew alternate ways. This was my city and I knew where to go and what to do.

And I was feeling good. If I kept a solid pace, I could get there and back in just a couple of hours. Less, maybe. For the first time on this trip, I was feeling somewhat... confident. I could really do this.

I jotted down a quick note and set it on the floor by the couch where Kyle still slept so that he would surely see it and then slipped out of the room, pulling the door softly closed behind me. Keeping light on my feet, I ran back to the lab and grabbed my shirt and shoes from the floor. I turned to leave but Kyle's stuff caught my eye. He'd taken off his weapons while we wasted time trying to come up with a way to get what I needed. And he'd left them on the table since he hadn't exactly needed weapons for what he had been doing earlier.

I pulled the knife from the sheath at my ankle. He'd given it to me, but one day he'd want it back, I was sure. The knife was special to him. And if something happened to me, I didn't want it to be lost forever, so I set it on the table with his gear and picked out another one, sliding into the sheath. I paused briefly before grabbing the vest-like holster that had two guns attached to it. I'd never fired a gun before. I'd never even held one in my hands, but it couldn't be that hard and I figured it was a good idea to take since I didn't have back up. The was too big and though it had a way to adjust it to fit my smaller size, I didn't bother, slinging it around my arms. I didn't want to waste time fiddling with the holster when I didn't know how much longer Kyle would sleep for.

When I opened the door at the top of the steps on the first floor I peeked around to make sure no one was there and then stepped out. At the security desk in the main lobby, there was a trigger. Like a fire alarm, but it set the entire building on lock down. Quarantine. I'd have thirty seconds from the time the trigger was pulled until the whole building locked. No one in, no one out. It was set as a protocol, since we worked with potentially dangerous substances. You had to have a code to turn it off from the outside of the building. No one in could turn it off.

They would be locked in, incapable of following me. Incapable of dying for me.

I got to the security desk and reached to pull the alarm —

"What are you doing?"

I popped up at the sound of Zero's voice. She was closer than I expected. Where in the heck had she come from? I swear the girl was part ninja. Her eyebrows raised as she took in my appearance. "Are you... leaving?" She asked like she couldn't believe it. I was caught, but maybe I could appeal to her, I knew she didn't want Hunter hurt. I nodded my head, eying her carefully. I didn't know what I would do if she made a move to rat me out - tackle her?

"H-26 isn't here. I think it's in my father's house, a couple miles away."

"And you're going to get it?" Disbelief filled her tone and I thought I saw her lips twitch. She wanted to laugh, just like Kyle had. "They'll follow you."

"They won't be able to. When I pull this, the place will go into lock down. The doors will be sealed until I unlock them from the outside."

Instead of yelling or threatening me herself, Zero stepped closer.

"Why?"

"I screwed up. I thought it was here and it's not. I still need to get it, but I'm not positive it's where I'm going either. I won't drag everyone back into danger because I hope I can find the samples I need."

Zero took in my words and then her lips spread into a smile.

"I'm going with you."

"No—"

"I didn't ask. And unless you want me stopping you right now, you'll take my help."

"Why do you want to help me?"

She shrugged. "I owe you one. If I hadn't dragged you so far off, you would have never been tied up like that. And Hunter's still weak. They beat him pretty badly. One of his shoulders was dislocated from hanging like that. He doesn't need to be running off for anything, but if they know there's a chance this magical thing you need is somewhere else, they'll all want to. He won't hang back just because he should."

"I didn't know," I said quietly. I hadn't seen them beat him at all.

"It's not your fault. Hunter's fine, or he will be." She narrowed her eyes at me. "I'll be right back. If you pull that alarm and lock me in here, I'll kill you when you get back."

I believed her. She hurried up the stairs and returned a minute later with a bag. She grinned at me, it was half crazy. I was terrified to do this, only doing it because I was more terrified of having any of their deaths on my hands. Zero looked... thrilled. Weird girl. She nodded at me and I pulled the alarm. The lights began to flash and a beeping started. It was the count down. The noise would stop in a minute, after the doors were closes, but the safety lights would continue flashing. Zero and I ran for the door, yanking it open and pulling it shut behind us.

"How long before it locks?"

"Less than thirty seconds."

"We're in the clear then. Even if they realize what's going on, they won't make it out in time. They were all sleeping up there so I doubt they realize I'm missing yet. What about Kyle?"

I nodded. "Sleeping."

Reluctant pride filled her expression and with humor and surprise in her tone, she asked, "So you stole his shit and snuck out?" I nodded. "I underestimated the size of your balls."

Despite the fear and adrenaline rushing through me, or maybe because of it, I laughed.

"I left him a note."

She gave me a wry look and bit back a laugh. "I'm sure that'll soften him up."

I shrugged. "Not much he can do about it now."

She nodded. "Hunter's gonna be pissed," she admitted. I got the feeling that it didn't sit well with her. Of course not. She loved him. She didn't want to worry him, she just felt like she owed me something and like she needed to protect him.

"We should probably drag this out for a couple of days so that when we make it back alive, their relief at seeing us outweighs their anger that we ran off."

She laughed, but then quickly sobered. "Say we don't make it back. They locked in there forever?"

"The quarantine ends after seventy-two hours," I said. All the viruses in there had quick incubation times, symptoms would show within a day or two of contracting anything in that building. So after three days anyone sick would be transported and anyone safe would be released after examination. Anything that might have taken longer to show symptoms wouldn't have been dangerous enough to need quarantine. It never seemed like a fool-proof plan to me, since a lot of what was worked on was experimental, but I didn't make the protocol, I just memorized it.

Zero nodded and looked around. "That noise will have drawn creeps in. We should go before we're trapped."

"You think anyone else heard it?"

"Maybe," she said honestly and I appreciated that though it didn't stop a shiver of anxiety. "Too late to take it back though. Unless they were within sight, I doubt they'll pinpoint it. Too many things around here. So the guys will be fine, but if they heard it, we need to be careful."

She gestured for me to lead the way and hesitantly, I did. We stuck to the shadows, which was easy to do in the cover of night. Surrounded by trees and city. Zero had been right though, thirty seconds of blaring alarms had attracted zombies. The noise had stopped but they were wandering toward the direction of the the sound. We moved quickly though and without sound. Mostly we went unnoticed, or if we didn't, we moved quicker than the zombies. Zero paused to kill one only when it was entirely necessary. I didn't tell her, but after watching her take the first zombie down without any trouble, I was thankful she came along.

I wasn't as scared as I had been. Not of the zombies anyway. There were worse things out here and I meant it when I told Kyle I could handle them if I had to. I wasn't freezing like I had before. I didn't feel paralyzed with fear. I'd killed two before. I could do it again. Zero was quick though. She moved faster than should have been possible for a human. And even when I stepped forward, ready to take out a zombie that I couldn't avoid, she beat me to it.

"It's how I work out stress," she explained and then smiled at my expression. "Don't worry, you're not the only one to think it's fucked up."

"I don't think that."

"Yeah, you do," she said. "So does Hunter. He likes to tell me I have a death wish. Atlas thinks I should seek therapy, but well, that's not really possible. Anyway, this is what works for me."

"I put on lipstick to fool myself into having confidence," I confided. "I'm not judging you."

I really wasn't. I definitely did not have a problem with her taking care of the zombies. Not even a little. Before all this people worked out and punched each other and punching-bags to work through their issues as much as they talked about their feelings. Killing zombies was just a modified version of that, I figured. Of course, watching her kill them all made me that much more determined to stay on her good side.

"Listen," she said. "If we get separated and your cornered - by living or dead - run for building. You want your back against a wall and you point and shoot the fucking gun. Don't give them even a second because no one is coming to rescue us, okay?"

I nodded.

"It's just past the other side of the high way."

"If they have people in the area, they'll be on the highway."

"How do you know?"

"People, like to stick to the big roads. It's easy not to get lost and you have access to everything and signs pointing your way so it's real hard to get lost."

Made sense, though honestly I was nervous she brought it up. The way she said it, glancing around carefully, made me think that she was nervous about running into these people again. And this time, she was right, there wouldn't be a rescue. Not for at least three days. And by then, we'd be dead. Her words were a reminder that we were really on our own and though that was my intention, it did nothing to ease the worry in my stomach.

The overpass of the high way came into view and Zero quickly pulled me off the street.

"Lights."

I hadn't noticed any light, but when I carefully glance back out, I saw it. The dim glow of flashlights bounced around the highway.

"What do we do."

Zero squinted to look at the bridge. "They're not paying attention. They aren't patrolling, just waving around the lights. We could probably sneak past them."

I looked at the girl next to me that I'd somehow struck an odd partnership with. I saw it. The look in her eyes that had her friends, her love, convinced that she had a bit of a death wish sometimes. Something was going through her mind and I was pretty sure I was going to regret asking, but I did.

"But you don't want to sneak past them?"

She shook her head. "I'm not very forgiving."

"You want revenge."

"You don't?"

I thought about what they did to me. How I felt. Unable to move. Trapped in my own body. Feeling every ounce of pain. The fear as zombies closed in on us. Thinking I was going to die. I was giving up. I was tired and I hurt so bad. I was going to give up. Hunter kept me alive. Kyle showed up before I was bit. But I had felt hopeless. I had wanted to die.

Because of them.

Maybe not those exact men, but they were part of it. They'd done it to others. They'd do it again.

They would do it again.

If not to to me or Zero, or one of ours, then to some other innocent person or people who were unlucky enough to happen upon them.

I didn't want to be tied up like that again. The fear of that would have had me shaking my head, begging Zero to stay with me and let us just sneak by. But the nagging thought that if they were allowed to live they would kill others wouldn't get out of my mind. Could I live with myself knowing what they would do?

"We don't even know how many there are."

Zero pursed her lips and for a second I thought she was going to ditch me and do whatever she wanted but then she nodded. "Getting what you need is important. We play it as we go and assess the situation when we know more."

I let out a relieved breath that she didn't plan on going all G.I. Jane on their asses and we started moving, Zero leading the way with a basic sense of the direction we were headed.

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AN - Sorry it's a little late! Got distracted yesterday and didn't have time to post. Hope you enjoyed!!! What do you think?? Excited Zero went with her? Mad she left without the guys?