Carefully opening what was left of the door, being wary of the glass, blood and dead bodies on the floor, she entered the merely recognisable reception. She was here, right where she stood, just two days ago. How could it change this much in just a matter of hours?
The darkness caught up to her and Valerie realised she couldn't delve further into the station in such conditions. Her phone came to mind, as it had a flashlight, however, she was also weary that it wouldn't last very long. She cursed herself for not putting the device to charge.
Turning on the flashlight on her phone, she used it as a light source, but she knew she had to leave it on for only so much. She knew she had to make her way around the station quickly.
Pointing her light around the reception, she felt chills course down her spine, as strikes of blood strained the walls here and there. Most of the blood was on the ground. However, what left her even more unsettled was the fact that, from the main puddles of blood, trails of the red, coagulated liquid led to all the doors out of the reception. Most of which were wide open. Another sign that something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
A double door to her left made the most sense for Valerie to first venture into. Right ahead, her eyes were met by the darkened vending machine. The power was gone.
Pointing her light source and following the trail of flood that was inside the room, she stumbled across a dead body, lying on the ground, in a puddle of its blood. Or, so Valerie assumed it was theirs.
Ahead of the body was another pair of double doors. It led into the interview rooms, and further down the hall were a few jail cells.
Realising that the present room and the ones that followed it had nothing she was looking for, she returned to the reception.
Seconds passed before she decided she wanted to go up to where all the offices and conference rooms were. But just as she was about to move, growls from the outside caught her attention. Hiding behind a wall and turning off the light on her phone, she peered out to see a group of five zombies making their way down the street, in a slow, ominous stride.
Once they were far away, only then did Valerie allow herself to move. The shattered glass crunched beneath her feet as she made her way toward the counter. Just as she was to make her way into the hallway and up the steps, a voice stopped her. "Who are you?".
The voice was familiar. So, Valerie immediately turned her light back on before pointing it toward the voice. A person holding a gun. A second later, she recognised the face to be Lisa's.
The little light that was reflected off of Valerie showed Lisa who the person was that she had at gunpoint. "Holy shit...". She began. "Val?...".
"Lisa..." Valerie voiced gently. She saw how Lias's top was covered in blood, as was her neck and her left hand. "What happened?...".
With her left hand pressing a once-white cloth, now drenched in blood, against her neck. When pulling her hand away, the cloth revealed a bite to her neck. "I- I got bitten...".
Valerie widened her eyes. But before she managed to utter a word, Lisa spoke back up. "You were right...". She paused for a second as Valerie's stomach slowly dropped to the ground. "Chief told me everything... and you were right...".
Valerie gulped at Lisa's words. It was those that she wanted to hear the least, given the situation that they were in. She didn't want to be right. She didn't want all of this to be true. Yet she was right and what scared Valerie the most was the fact that all of this was true. All of this was real.
Valerie wanted to say something, anything, but at first, nothing came out. "Where's Chief Raymond?" she finally asked.
Lisa responded with silence, and it caused Valerie to suspect the worst. "There... there were too many of them when they broke inside," Lisa responded.
"Where is... where is he?".
Lisa opened her mouth, but seconds later she sealed her lips back together. She turned around before slowly making her way into the small room that was by the polished counter. Valerie followed her.
Inside, to their left, there lay the lifeless body of their Chief. The trauma of his killing came so fast that his eyes remained open even after he was killed.
Valerie's heart broke before anger began running through her veins. "How... how could this have happened?... W-... why didn't I get here sooner...".
"You couldn't have gotten here on time anyway..." another voice interjected. Pointing her light toward the voice, she saw a woman, shielding her eyes with her hands from the bright light. "Right after he finished the call, they began gathering...".
Once Valerie pointed the light elsewhere, seconds later, she managed to see the woman's face. It was Monica Jefferson. She was also bloodied, her white shirt being half red.
"We tried our best... we... both Lisa and I managed to survive, but... we couldn't save Chief Raymond..." Monica spoke out before hissing as she pulled up a legging, revealing a fresh wound, wrapped up.
"You got bitten too..." Valerie voiced quietly. However, it was loud enough for Monica to hear.
"Those fuckers... they're persistent..." Monica began. "Don't let them get to you... it'll be too late. Kill them while there is still space for you to flee.".
Seconds later, from looking at Jefferson, Valerie looked up at the lightbulb. Averting her gaze toward Lisa, Valerie proceeded to ask, "What happened with the power supply?".
"We think a breaker tripped," Lisa began.
"Or..." Monica tried to speak up, however, she hissed as a wave of pain washed over her. "It could be that the main generator needs to be reset...".
"However... both of those things are down in the basement," Lisa voiced next. "And we're unsure how safe the stairway is now... if there are any zombies left that we've yet to kill...".
"So... what now?" Valerie asked, looking around the room. "The end goal is that we need to get the fuck out of here... Right?".
"They've set up some sort of emergency aid. But you need to get to the airport in time before they shut down everything..." Monica mentioned, laying her head back against the wall. "I heard it on the radio before the signal went down. You'll be sent to different safety zones all over the kingdom.".
"How much time do we have?..." Valerie asked.
"That wasn't specified... or... perhaps the signal was cut short before I could hear..." Monica started. "However, I imagine, just like most things, it would be a campaign stretched across a few days.".
"And I am assuming it began at midnight then..." Valerie spoke back up.
"I don't know... could be. I mean, it would make the most sense if it were to be like that...".
"You said 'you' while speaking about the aid..." Lisa broke the mere second of silence.
"I did..." Monica confirmed.
At first, Lisa let out a laugh. "It should be 'us'... We're all getting out of this shithole...".
"I am not... I- I can't..." Monica retorted. "I... I think I sprained my ankle when I tripped down the steps... I can barely walk...".
"We'll help you around..." Lisa responded.
"No.". Monica took a deep breath. "No... because I'll only be slowing you two down...".
"Monica..." Lisa's voice was wary.
"Lisa, you are wasting time here... I got bitten, who knows how this shit spreads..." Monica responded. "Besides, I've made up my mind...".
"Look at me, look at my neck. They bit me too.". Seeing that Monica was not giving in, Lisa spoke back up. "Either way, I've made up my mind too... We're not leaving without you...".
Clenching her jaw, Monica let out a sigh. "Fine!... Fine...".
Valerie felt a lump grow in her throat, she couldn't speak up. So she kept her voice down as her head lowered ever so slightly.
"Good... What do we do now?..." Lisa asked.
"Turn the power back on... and then we will see if there is any squad still around, through telecommunications. That way... they can give us all a lift to the airport.".
"Meaning... Valerie, you and I have to go down into the basement to reset the power," Lisa said, looking at Valerie. With a nod from Valerie, they both looked back at Monica.
"Don't worry about me, I'll be here...". Then she reached from beside her and tossed Lisa a communication device. "I'll keep in contact with you both... I'll tell you what to do when you're in the telecommunications centre.".
"Alright, sounds good..." Valerie responded as she looked back at Lisa. "Should we get going?".
"Yes," she responded before backing out and into the hallways.
With that, the two women turned left and opened the closed door that was ahead of them. "Do you have a flashlight, Lisa?" Valerie asked as she was met with nothing but darkness.
"Yeah...". With a small, sheepish smile, Lisa gave Valerie a flashlight.
Turning the flashlight on, they followed the hallway, walking past the steps that led up to the first floor and instead continued until they reached the stairs that led down into the darkened basement.
Shining the light down the stairs, Valerie looked at Lisa as Lisa looked at Valerie. "Here goes nothing..." Lisa commented.
"Let's get this shit over and done with..." Valerie responded.
And with that, the two women began to make their way down the steps.