Hopeless

A/N: This was inspired by a game, so it may have some similarities. And...well, this was revised and edited. Criticism is accepted, and I hope you enjoy! :D

As he bashed down the infected which lunged at him, the hope in his chest slowly faded away.

The endless hordes were overwhelming, his ammo was nearly depleted, his energy was dying away with each swing of his bat and it felt as though he had ran for hours. The scratches and bruises inflicted on him were finally catching up—never in his life had he felt such pain.

He continued his pace down the road leading to the docks, taking down the ugly things which used to be human. They staggered around the area, murmuring and groaning, their torn clothes splattered with blood. Some of them were missing their arms, whereas others lost an eyeball or a small part of their heads.

With his presence perturbing them, they growled and snarled before scrambling to claw at him. He popped their heads clean from their shoulders, grimacing at how the zombies were like animals. Mindless monsters with the objective to eat firm in mind.

It was then, over the bursting sounds of gunfire and terrorized screams of the horde, Micah heard the excited voice of his brother.

“Holy shit! It’s the boat!”

Micah focused in the direction Cameron pointed at, and relief pervaded his weak frame at the sight of the boat which they had called for rescue. Military officers in protective suits waited for them at the end of the wooden bridge of the docks.

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Lohan released a tired chuckle between his gasps for air, following them from behind, “Let’s go!”

Micah continued bringing his bat down on the zombies which blocked his path, followed by the bursting sounds of his brother’s pistol. Repeated fires from Lohan’s combat rifle killed most of the hungry swarm chasing behind them.

They were so close to the stairs leading down to the docks, they were so close to safety. Time was of the essence…the hordes were increasing in volume and frequency, and he knew the boat was not going to wait forever. It was dangerous to be slow—the zombies were unlike the ones in typical movies. They were quick and could navigate over anything.

Though he knew he needed to hurry, Micah couldn’t help but feel as though something, somehow, was missing.

Suddenly, he stopped on his tracks and whirled around, allowing Cameron to run past him. Noticing his sudden stop, Cameron turned around as well, shooting down an infected which nearly clawed at his brother.

“What the hell, Micah?” Cameron shouted, frustrated at the delay.

“Where’s Lia?” His brother sputtered, azure eyes wide with fear. The two powerful words struck Cameron instantly, sending fear surging throughout his body.

Lohan was behind them, single-handedly taking down the countless infected with his combat rifle. As the horde ceased in number, and as he proceeded to reload, the brown-haired man ran past his two friends.

Realizing the two were frozen, he shouted angrily, “What are you bastards doing?! The docks are right behind us!”

His shout snapped them out of their paralyzed state, and Micah traded his melee weapon for his sniper rifle. Lohan ran back to their side, between the twin brothers, pulling the trigger on the remaining of the mass.

“Where’s Lia?” Cameron stammered, almost incoherently. His blue eyes were wide and his voice trembled with fear.

Nevertheless, despite being distraught, he shook his head violently, switched to his shotgun and proceeded to take down nearby infected.

Upon realizing the meaning of the two words, panic struck Lohan. His two friends were right. Where was Bedelia? He searched frantically among the horde for the woman he loved as a dreadful feeling built up in him.

It was then, in the distance, he heard the loud fires of the AK-47.

“There she is!” Micah exclaimed, his concern replaced with relief. His lips parted into a grin as she came into their view, affectively fending off a new wave of infected with her powerful gun. Using his sniper rifle, he aided his sister by killing off the ones that came from behind her.

She was still quite a distance away, and with the increasing number of monsters, Bedelia was prone to being crowded.

Lohan watched hopefully as she inched closer to them, but he was interrupted when a faint voice screamed at him from behind.

“Hurry and get to the boat!” The military officer shouted from underneath his protective mask, “We are leaving in ten minutes!”

“Damn,” Lohan cursed, his eyes returning to the woman ahead of them. He fumbled around his belt, hoping he still had his pipe bomb and lighter.

“Ah, shit, I’m running out of ammo,” Micah complained to Cameron, who simply smirked tiredly. “I can’t cover her for long.”

“Our sister’s a fast woman,” Cameron said, shoving a zombie back before shooting him in the head. His powerful shotgun caused the head to explode, and he chuckled, “Lia’s coming to us quick. Remember that she won’t die on us.”

Lohan found the pipe bomb on his belt, hastily taking his lighter from his pocket. Quickly lighting up the pipe bomb, all of his energy moved to his arm and he threw it as far as he could, shouting, “Fire in the hole!”

The metal, cylindrical bomb began beeping loudly, the flashing red light and loud noise catching the attention of the horde. Lohan watched hopefully as the bomb lured them away from Bedelia, unaware the device landed underneath an abandoned car.

With the horde distracted, Bedelia ceased fire and turned around, running as fast as she could toward her brothers and boyfriend. The pipe bomb continued its loud sounds, the mindless infected swarming the car since the device was underneath it.

However, Cameron immediately realized what was bound to happen.

“Oh, shit!” He cursed loudly, his eyes widening with panic, and he screamed frantically, “Stop running, Lia! Stop running!”

Bedelia heard her younger brother, but instead of listening to what he said, she picked her pace and flashed him a confused look. Why would she stop running, anyway? She wasn’t going to die in the mass of walking dead.

Lohan and Micah were confused as well, but before they noticed what Cameron had realized, it was already too late.

The pipe bomb exploded, sending limbs flying into the air as it took out the entire horde. However, with the bomb being directly underneath a car, the unspoken danger manifested itself—to their horror, the car was thrown into the air due to the powerful blast.

“No,” Lohan wanted to scream, but it came out a whisper.

Bedelia’s voice sliced through the air, her shrill scream beating the groans of the zombies and the bursts of bullets, and she was pushed down by an immense weight. Crushed underneath the load, and not quite able to understand what happened, she laid helplessly on the road, blood filling up in her mouth.

A new pain—impalpable pain—overwhelmed her but there was no strength to scream. She faced the gray sky, her vision fading and her limbs aching, as the feeling of her legs died away.

Footsteps increased in volume, and the sound of breaking glass in the distance, followed by the crackling of flames, was heard. Bedelia noticed three figures crowding her.

“That Molotov’s going to hold them back for a while,” Micah panted as Lohan and Cameron made fruitless efforts to lift the car off the dying woman.

Micah soon joined in on his brother and friend, channeling what’s left of his energy into his hands. Their arms trembled as they attempted to lift the weight off of her, but all of them silently knew from the start that it was futile.

After a few tries, Lohan dropped to his knees, horror filling him as the tears swelled up in his grey eyes. ‘What have I done?’

The hopelessness swallowed him. She was bloody and bruised with her legs crushed, all because he couldn’t throw a pipe bomb properly. A small patch of purple underneath her lip, a scratch across her left cheek, her auburn hair dyed scarlet with blood…even in pain, she was beautiful…like a fallen angel.

Bedelia was staring at him, her hooded azure eyes faintly flickering with passion at the sight of her lover. When she forced her lips to tug upwards, Lohan broke down.

The tears streamed down his eyes, the self-hatred flaring with each second ticking by. They were so close to escaping from this hell. Why now?

Micah stared vacantly at his older sister, as though staring would magically heal her. He refused to believe his eyes. Bedelia was not in that position, she had told him she wasn’t intending to die. So why did he feel empty? It was like he was dead, and left behind was the hollow shell of a broken man.

Cameron was crying silently, the tears from his eyes running down his face, his hand in his auburn hair. He, too, refused to believe what he saw.

“I’m sorry,” Lohan murmured between his sobs. Bedelia’s painful smile only widened.

The sadness of the air was broken when the Molotov’s flames died, followed by the shouts of the military officers. Five minutes were all they had to get to the end of the docks and board the boat to safety.

Bedelia heard their warnings, but the three men did not move.

“W-What are you idiots…waiting for?” Her eyebrows furrowed into a small scowl. “Go before…b-before the next horde comes.”

Cameron removed his hand from his hair and stared disbelievingly at her.

“We’re not leaving you,” Micah protested childishly.

A small giggle escaped her lips, piercing the three men in the heart. Despite being critically injured, her laugh was still as melodious as ever.

“Stop being a bastard…and haul ass,” She smiled at them, dark red liquid coughed from her mouth. Her trembling hand reached down to her belt, and as the Magnum pistol was taken into her hand, she said meaningfully, “You did your older sister proud.”

Cameron cried again, this time with a soft sob of dismay.

Lohan hardly believed what he heard, but was dragged out of his thoughts when the screams of a new horde came from the distance.

He gazed into her azure orbs, tears streaming down his grey ones, as he muttered, “I love you, Lia.”

He waited for a reply, but received only a smile. Frustrated at the lack of response, he shouted at her, frustrated with his mixed emotions, “Say it back, Goddammit!”

Micah clamped a hand on Lohan’s shoulder, weary of his sudden outburst. However, instead of being angry, Bedelia chuckled, her pleasant voice filling their ears, calming the tense situation.

“I don’t have to say it…you know I already do.”

Lohan froze at her unexpected words and flinched when she started firing in the opposite direction with her pistol. The three looked up and found a swarm of zombies running towards them.

Cameron pulled Lohan from his kneeling position, triggering a frantic run for their lives.

Their footsteps were loud against the wooden bridge as they approached the military boat, which was just preparing to sail off. Officers stood by the boat, holding their hands out for the survivors barking at them to hurry. The three men accepted the helping hands that were offered, before being pulled to the safety.

As Lohan found himself stumbling onto the shiny surface of the boat, he thought he heard Bedelia’s hearty laugh of relief as she drowned in the sea of infected.

.

Almost six hours later, the three men were escorted by a few soldiers to an unknown location in the safe-zone base camp.

A small grunt came from Lohan as he recalled the events upon arriving at the safe zone.

He and the twins were ushered into an infirmary, blood samples were taken, their blood was tested, and they were pushed around like prisoners, getting orders barked at them every now and then.

Even with all the tests were complete, the doctors said nothing. All the three could do was glance curiously at each other as the doctors discussed with each other quietly.

To Lohan, it was obvious: he and the Saunder twins were immune to the infection. They had been clawed and bitten by the monsters out there and they’ve lived with those wounds for three weeks without transforming. There was no other explanation, other than they were unaffected by the disease.

Lohan knew they were trying to find a cure for the sickness, and by the grave expressions worn by nurses and doctors after testing their blood, he expected the worst.

Micah and Cameron had tears in their eyes, slowly building up at the edges. The way they were escorted was not normal. With a M16 cradled in each soldier’s hands, the twins suspected something bad was about to happen.

And a few minutes later, Lohan’s expectation was confirmed.

His handsome face twisted into a grimace as they were ordered to face the concrete wall, which was splattered with blood. His heart wrenched at the horrified cries of the twins as they got to their knees. His rage flared when they were told to put their hands behind their heads.

“So…it all comes down to this, huh?” Micah tried his best to smile, his eyes red with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Cameron’s lips tugged upwards sadly, as the brothers glanced at each other from the corner of their identical blue eyes.

He murmured, his voice quavering, “Yeah…turns out our blood didn’t have the cure…and they just couldn’t…they couldn’t take the risk…”

A strong voice came as a presence appeared behind each of the men. “Ready!”

A soft clink of metal, followed by a dangerous and familiar click, sent fear surging through their bodies and the twins shed more tears.

Lohan remained emotionless, lost in thought. Although they were immune to the sickness, it didn’t mean others were. They still carried the infection in them and they could still infect others…which meant they needed to go. The cure was not in their blood, so what use do they have for them now?

They had gotten so far. They risked their lives walking through hell for the past three weeks to get to rescue. To describe the situation as unjust was an understatement. The days and nights fighting for survival…they were meaningless now.

‘It’s so unfair…’

“Lohan, too bad the infection hit before you could pop the big question to Lia,” Cameron chuckled, inhaling unsteadily, “You would’ve been an awesome brother-in-law.”

A warm smile came from the brown-haired man. “I could say the same thing to you. I love you boys… you know I wouldn’t be here without you.”

“Start on three!” The strong voice came again.

“Don’t you think…it was better Lia went the way she did?” Micah slowly asked, receiving small, sad smiles from the other two. The dark-haired man shrugged as a tear escaped his eye. “I mean…at least she didn’t have to feel the disappointment…”

Cameron chuckled, exhaling with a shudder. “I agree with you...”

“One!”

The men did not tense at countdown. The sky above them was as blue as Bedelia’s eyes, the clouds fluffy and white, and the sunlight warm and gentle against their skin. A soft breeze blew, whistling into their ear, faintly bringing fond memories of Bedelia’s wonderful laugh.

“Two!”

Lohan inhaled deeply, his lips curling upwards into a relieved smile. He felt serene, contrasting the fear and anger he thought he’d feel. Everything felt right…as though a heavy burden was lifted off of his shoulders.

“Three!”

‘Enough of this hell,’ He thought to himself, listening to the faint tweeting of the birds. What a beautiful song they were chirping. It reminded him of Paradise...

“Fire!”