Survival or Struggle?

Andy stormed his way into the room they had been in before CC had been taken. The others filed in one after another, looking sullen. Andy scoffed and ran his fingers through his hair before speaking.

"Come on guys! We can't be thinking CC's dead already! We need to stay positive. CC won't die, he's too much of a hard-ass." Andy said, earning a few chuckles from Jake and Ashley. Jinxx's mouth quirked up, but that was about as much positivity that Andy could throw around. Andy made sure his weapon was good enough to use, while instructing the others to do the same. He wasn't about to let CC down, CC was their brother, their friend. He deserved more than what was happening to him right now.

Once the others went through the motions of checking their weapons, Andy motioned for them to get back up after a short rest. They didn't have much time to spare. The barricades that had held the door shut were coming off, forcing all of them to re-barricade it. If things were inside the hospital, they couldn't allow the ones on the outside to come in. But they knew all this stuff barricading the door wouldn't hold, no matter how many times it was put back in place. While Andy and Jake put the last pieces of the barricade back up, Jinxx and Ashley came back with CC's weapons: his scythe and sawed off shotgun.

"Better to use them than let them be destroyed." Ashley said, Andy nodding in agreement and taking the scythe while Ashley took the sawed off shotgun.

"We need a plan." Jinxx said, looking at the barricaded doors as they lurched again. "And quickly." he said, shuddering. The others nodded and moved away from the door, the lights flickering as they moved.

Jake narrowed his eyes as the lights flickered. "Didn't the lights go out when-" he said, getting cut off when the lights went out. "-Someone took CC." Jake finished in the darkness.

The others didn't answer, and seconds later, the same sounds from before started up. Andy felt around for a wall, another hallway to go down and made a sound for them to follow. They all managed to get down the hallway, hiding in a cramped space. They heard the footsteps move off and heard the crackle of the loudspeaker. There was an evil laugh before the voice spoke.

"Ah, little guinea pigs. How amusing you are to be crawling around in the darkness. Scared, frightened, not knowing where your friend may be." the voice said. Jinxx growled and Ashley's eyes narrowed in disgust as the rest listened.

"You seem to be under the impression that you'll get your friend back. Well, let me tell you, not one of my little guinea pigs has walked out of here, alive. Well, normal alive in any case. The next time you'll be seeing your friend, is when he is trying to feast on your flesh." the voice said, cackling before the loud speaker went silent.

They stayed in that place for awhile before the lights flickered back on. All of them, stumbled out of the cramped space they were in. "Man, that guy gives me the creeps." Jake said.

"No kidding, if I ever hear that voice again, I'll be busting every loud speaker in this place." Ashley said.

"Yeah, but how will we find CC in all of this? This place is huge." Jinxx said. That made everyone pause, thinking.

"Well, CC couldn't have been taken far. He was only screaming for about a few minutes. But in the darkness, with whatever is around this place, he's probably up only a floor or two." Andy said.

"So you're saying..." Jinxx said, trailing off. Andy nodded, smiling a little grimly.

"Yep, we're shooting our way up there. Zombies and monsters be damned." He said, taking out his gun and heading to the nearest staircase, the others following.

Why go up the next floor you ask? Well, every room had no one in it. Besides blood and gore. And they weren't going to look around every room if CC was still alive and struggling to stay that way. Plus, none of them wanted a zombie jumping out at them. That would be the last thing they needed. They needed to search for CC, top priority. They managed to get half way to the second floor, the elevators weren't going to be used because if the power went out, they were either stuck or dead, so they had used the stairs. But they got to the halfway point and heard the barricade give way.

"Uh-oh..." Jake said. That's the understatement of their freaking week. They heard the pounding of footsteps coming in as the zombies from outside knocked down the barricade more.

"Come on." Andy said, now taking the steps quickly, the others following without question. They made it to the second floor, only for Andy to swept off his feet by a long arm.

"What the--!" Andy said, trailing off once he looked up. Well, maybe he shouldn't have.

This thing, Andy didn't know what it was, but it had long arms to start with. Almost like a spiders legs, which made its legs just as long. Its face was full of razor sharp teeth, and it's eyes had a grayish tint to them. Andy got up shakily.

'Uh, guys...?" Andy asked shakily.

"We know." Jinxx said, aiming his gun and firing. The thing hit the wall, but the gun didn't faze it much. Ashley's turn to shoot didn't yield anything different. So Jake and Andy didn't try it.

"Now what?" Jake asked,stepping back, but upon hearing the footsteps coming up, Jake resumed his position next to the others. There was nowhere to go, unless it was through the spider thing or a horde of zombies coming up. Jake would choose the spider thing. It seems the others thought the same.

"All right, well, if guns don't work. Let's try some explosives." Andy said. The others looked at him, jaws dropped. Which meant they weren't paying attention and almost got sliced in half by the claws this spider thing had.

'Well, throw a grenade down the stairs and get rid of the other problem. The only way to CC is through that." Andy said, pointing to the thing still blocking their way.

Jake cursed and grabbed a grenade from his belt and tossed it as hard as he could down the stairs. The explosion made the floor quake, and the thing lose balance and fall. Upon hearing no noises down the stairs, the others started to back up and get ready to throw another grenade. That is, until the spider thing grabbed Jinxx and hoisted him up into the air, near its face.

"Jinxx!" They all yelled in unison. They started firing at the thing, knowing it wouldn't do anything, but it had to let go of Jinxx. The spider/zombie thing dropped Jinxx, or rather slammed him into the floor and went towards the nearest one of the group: Andy.

"This would be a perfect time to do something." Jake said, clenching his teeth. Jinxx rose up from the floor as they backed away from the spider/zombie thing and tied something around its leg and stuck close to the wall, as well as the floor and made it over to them shakily.

"What'd you do?" Ashley said, looking at the spider/zombie thing, now stuck and frustrated.

"I tied it with some long-ass extension cords. They were all stuck together in a corner." Jinxx said, pointing shakily.

Jake took that as a queue to use a grenade while the others backed down the stairs a ways. Jake was the last one down and they clung to each other as the grenade went off. They got up afterwards, coughing around smoke and dust and make their way back. They grimaced at the now dead spider/zombie thing and made their way past it. As soon as they were all inside the first hallway of the second floor, the intercom turned on. The others gritted their teeth, thinking it would be the man who caused all of this misery for them so far. But they were surprised upon hearing a familiar voice.

"Hey guys." a weak voice sounded.

"CC!" Everyone yelled concerned, and a little bit happy to hear from the man.

"Glad you could make it." CC said, breathing heavily before continuing.

"Look guys, I'm still here. But this doctor guy is crazy. It hurts so bad, what he did to me. I don't know where I am. I got away somehow, but everything hurts. I don't want that doctor guy to find me again. Or those things or his. Please hurry." CC said.

They heard noises over the intercom before hearing CC curse and the intercom shutting off. The others looked at each other. 'Now what?" Jake asked.

"Now I think we're in the right place. Let's get our friend back." Andy said.

Notes