Tristan Harlow:
"Shit," I say when I hear another infected somewhere. Looking around in the pitch-black, I make out some covers. Grabbing Rebecca and Bailey, I pull them toward it. As we approach the covers, they turn out to be trash cans. I throw the two behind them before joining them on the floor.
"Shh," I whisper, pointing at the dark as the infected snarl again. Thankfully, there's only one infected. Through the darkness, I can see it come close to us. It runs for a bit before stopping. It drops to its knees and starts hitting the floor. Pounding the floor with its fists, a rat runs from a hole in the wall. It scurries across the floor for a bit before the infected reaches out and grabs it. Biting down and ripping out a chunk of meat, the infected starts eating the rat.
"Stay here," I whisper, carefully getting up. Getting up to my knees, I stay low and peek over the trash can. The infected is facing us, but it's looking down at the rat in its hand. Checking to make sure it really is alone, I move fast, running out from behind the cover. The infected looks up as it hears my footsteps, but I tackle it to the ground, wrapping my arms around its waist.
It screams and yells as I keep it on the floor, making sure to keep its mouth away from me. Slamming my hand onto its head, I push down and pin its head against the floor. Pushing myself up, I wrap my arm around its throat and pull it up. The infected snarls as I choke it, eventually dying. Throwing its body to the side, I motion for Rebecca and Bailey to come.
"The lights in this hallway are broken," I say, looking up at all the broken lightbulbs. "We can use this."
"How," Bailey whispers.
"As long as we hide in the dark and don't make too much noise, we can get out this way."
Looking at Rebecca and then back at Bailey, we nod and quietly crawl into the dark hallway.
"Can you see anything," Bailey asks.
"Not really," Rebecca replies. "Hey, Drifter? What's the plan? Do you have a pair of night vision goggles you're not sharing?"
"No," I answer. "Just feeling my way around."
With one hand on the wall, I look around the best I can. Despite there being no light, I can still see a little. Since it doesn't look like there are any other turns in this hallway, it must be a straight path. Assuming there are no other infected, or at the very least, only a few in this hallway, we might be able to get the stadium alive.
Still following the wall, I stop when I almost tip over.
"What," Rebecca says, bumping into me. "What's up?"
"There's no wall," I reply, waving my hand around. Adjusting my eyes and leaning forward, I see some knocked-over chairs and tables. Also, there's a register on the counter.
"This must be some sort of store," I think, turning my head when I hear some noises coming from ahead. It sounds like a bunch of infected are coming toward us. I motion for Rebecca and Bailey to get inside the store. The two hide behind the counter while I hide behind a table.
As expected, a small group of infected stumbles through the dark hallway. They groan, and moan, and bump into each other as they walk by, but a few stop in front of the store.
"Fuck," I say as three of the infected walk right in.
Rebecca:
"Fuck," I say, watching from behind the counter as three infected walk into the store. Stopping only a few feet from Drifter, the infected start hitting the floor.
A few seconds later, rats crawl out from the wall. They run around in the dark.
"Rebecca," Bailey whispers.
Turning around, I see a rat nibbling at Bailey's shoes. With her hand on her mouth, she tries to kick the rat away, but the rat won't stop. It nibbles on Bailey's shoes before moving up. Now, the damn rat is eating the end of Bailey's pant.
"Son of a," I say, looking over the counter and seeing two of the three infected eating rats. The third is now slowly crawling toward us. Dropping back onto the floor, I think fast and grab the rat eating at Bailey's pants
Squeaking as I grab it, I throw it over the counter and listen as the infected snarls.
Tristan:
The infected catches the rat in mid-air and immediately starts to eat it, dropping to its knees and biting down on the rat.
Watching the infected eat, I note how close it is to me.
"If I move quietly and quickly, I can kill it before the other two see. But what about the groups on the outside?"
I look toward the store windows and see a few shadows moving here and there.
"They're not leaving," I say, hitting my knee. "Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. We can't shoot them without drawing much more attention, but there are too many to fight head-on. What the hell are we going to do?"
Thinking it over and looking for anything useful, I notice some empty glass bottles behind the counter.
Bailey:
"Rebecca," I say, tapping Rebecca on her shoulder. "I think Tristan is trying to get our attention."
"Uh?"
Pointing at Tristan, we look at him as he keeps waving his hand left and right. At this point, Tristan is snapping his arm. As he snaps his arm, he then points at something behind us.
Looking at where he is pointing, Rebecca and I see some empty glass bottles on top of the shelves behind us. Realizing what he wants us to do, I reach over the counter to grab the glass bottles. As I extend my arm, I also check behind to make sure the infected aren't looking. They're all still eating, so I quickly grab three bottles.
"Here," I whisper, handing Rebecca two of the bottles. Rebecca takes them, and the two of us peek over the counter once more.
"Well, kid," Rebecca says. "Here goes everything."
The first to throw a glass bottle, Rebecca's bottle, hits a wall and shatters everywhere. The sound of it breaking echoes throughout the dark hallway. It doesn't even take a second before we hear a bunch of infected growling and snarling, their noise filling the hallway.
Almost immediately, the infected in the store stop eating. They look at where the bottle hit the wall. Tossing down their rats, they all run to the wall.
"Holy shit," I say, nudging my head as some infected from the outside starts to wander it. They stumble around, snap their heads, and sniff at the wall.
"Throw the next one outside," I say.
"Not yet," Rebecca replies, "There's one standing in the doorway. We need him to move first."
There's an infected standing in the doorway, blocking Rebecca's shot. I look around for something else to throw and grab his attention. As I look around, I see Tristan reaching out. He reaches out and grabs a half-eaten rat by its tail.
Tristan waves his hand again, grabs our attention. He starts to count down using his finger.
"Three," he signs three fingers up. "Two. One."
He throws the rat at the infected standing in the doorway. It hits the infected in the head. The infected forgets about being hit when it sees the rat. It drops to its knees and starts eating the rat. The second it does, Rebecca throws her second bottle.
It shatters once it hits the floor outside, drawing all the infected around it. The last of them to leave the store, the three of us crawl out of hiding and gather near the door.
"Give me the last bottle," Tristan says, "And stay back."
I hand him the final glass bottle before Rebecca and I step back. Tristan slowly moves toward the door and peeks his head outside, despite all the infected right there.
"He's crazy," I whisper.
"Yeah, he is," Rebecca says, "But he's also the reason we're going to get out of here alive."
Tristan raises his hand with the bottle high into the air, tossing the bottle back down the hallway we came from. Ducking back inside, he watches the group of infected all run down the hallway, chasing the noise.
Holding his hand up, he then waves at us.
"Come on," he says. "Come on. Come on, let's get out of here! Before they get back."
Stepping to the side, Tristan checks and makes sure everything is clear while Rebecca and I run out of the store.
"You two go first," he says, "I'll stay in the rear. Make sure we don't have any stragglers. Remember, stay quiet and stay low. Put your hand on the wall and follow it."
"Got it," Rebecca says, nodding. Taking the lead, Tristan looks behind us.