Survival or Struggle?

The four men stumbled along the hallway of the floor they were on. Everything was chaotic and Andy wondered how a small amount of people got out at all. They needed a game plan, or at least an idea of one. But first, they needed to sit down, they've been on their feet for so long. Maybe most of the day, Andy didn't know, most of the windows were blocked out. So they were glad they still had the lighting working in the hospital. They came to a room, door open a little. Jinxx went forward and looked at them before putting his hand on the door and pushing it open. They all had their guns up and aimed if something jumped out. The room was somewhat covered in gore, but it seemed whatever had been in here had left. So they filed in and sat down with a groan, Andy in the bed, Jinxx and Ashley in the two chairs that were in there, and Jake was on the floor. They sat silently for a moment.

"So, what's our plan?" Jake asked.

"There is no plan. Probably just making our way through all types of creepy shit." Ashley said, looking out at the door and tightened his hold on his weapon slightly.

"That's not a bad idea actually." Andy said.

"Huh?!" Ashley asked, actually shocked that Andy would agree after what happened a floor below them.

'We got no other choice. And CC needs us." Andy said simply. Well, if you put it that way....

"All right, but at least let's rest a bit. Thought I was going to die down there." Ashley said softly.

The others nodded in agreement. So even though they hated it, they needed a little bit of a rest. Well, they got a rest. The zombies spared them a good ten minutes before making themselves known. The four of them cursed and got up, guns up and aimed. They filed out the door slowly, Jinxx, Jake, Ashley, and last was Andy. Jinxx shot two zombies coming towards them right off the bat. Ashley and Jake took down a few blocking their destination. Andy made sure no stragglers were around his friends and shot any zombies that were around when the guys were making sure that their targets were dead. Once the hallway quieted, the moved quietly, jumping over the bodies surrounding them. Once at the end of a hallway, Andy and Ashley had their guns drawn left and Jinxx and Jake to the right. They needed to make sure they wouldn't get jumped in either direction.

Once they knew nothing would jump out at them, they nodded to each other. They were quiet, not needing to draw attention to themselves. Jinxx pointed in both directions, clearly asking without needing to speak: 'Which way?' Andy shrugged, but seeing as they were already closer to going right, they chose that direction. As they approached the hallway they were on, the lights flickered ominously. They looked at each other before moving forward at a steady pace. No use of slowing down now. CC needed their help. That help would have to wait though, as they began hearing movements. Not like zombie movements. These ones were quicker; more fast-paced. It almost sounded like the thing that had taken CC. And that thought made Their hair on the backs of their necks stand on end. They all listened carefully, needing to pinpoint where the creature was.

Then, just like last time, the lights went out. Jake and Jinxx started cursing under their breathes. Ashley had to make them quiet down so they could hear. What they needed was an alternate lighting source. Like a flashlight, and he couldn't believe they haven't thought about it before. But no time for that, they needed to find someplace to hide. But that didn't exactly work. No sooner did they start moving, the creature seemed to keep up with them. And then Jake was screaming. Ashley spun around and he must have gotten a lucky shot off, because he heard Jake say something along the lines of 'I'm okay!' but with more swearing involved. Once Ashley got an okay from Jake to start running, they did. But blindly, but they made it to a corner and hide there for a moment.

"We...need...flashlights." Ashley said, out of breath.

"Where are we going to find those?" Jinxx asked quietly.

"There's got to be a supply closet somewhere." Andy chimed in.

Seemed like a good place to start. But they had to do it in the dark. And they weren't about to check every damned door in this place. But they started to look around, hands on the walls as they searched. They all probably looked stupid, but they hardly cared at the moment. Ashley and Jinxx went on one side, and Andy and Jake went on the other. They went back and forth every ten minutes, asking if they found it yet. Each time was a very firm, 'No.' So they kept searching, in between keeping either the zombies or the doctor's creatures at bay. They were just about to give up on the idea of flashlights, and more than likely covered in gore as well. But Jake seemed to have a lucky break and found a supply closet. No idea how he found it, but they weren't questioning it. They each got flashlights, getting one extra when they got CC back.

Once they had flashlights, they turned them on an sighed, able to see at least a little bit. They got out of the supply closet in a single file line, ready to face their enemies. Or not....
Ashley held in a scream and was looking off in the other direction, so the others followed suit. And what showed up was none other than a creature of the crazy doctor's variety. It noticed them, but it stayed still. Kind of trying to pick out which was to take. It had already taken Jake, or at least tried to. But they could feel the creature's eyes roaming over them, like a meal. The creature was muscly, looked like it had a tail as well. From here, the teeth looked sharp enough to pierce through metal. The skin looked oily, almost shiny, and black welts were all over it, oozing this slime that made the stench of a skunk seem tame. Andy nearly gagged at the smell, the others probably weren't too far behind him. But they had to get moving, the more important rooms were through that creature, however. And they didn't like that one bit.

"How do we go about this?" Jake asked, still looking at the creature.

"Well, that creature is in front of us for a reason. Maybe looking for a meal, but it hasn't moved either. So maybe it's guarding the room where CC had been. Or maybe he's hiding in." Andy said quietly. Though it didn't make any difference if he whispered or shouted, the creature still heard.

They all aimed the guns at the creature once it started making noise. It looked like it was making noise intentionally. The zombies would no doubt hear it soon. That had to do something, but everything they would do would make more noise. So, in realizing there was no way around it, they shot it. Slime went everywhere when the welts were pierced, getting all over them and causing them to groan at the stench. The creature roared and charged them, they all sent themselves crashing into something. Andy was picked up by the throat, causing him to choke, hands around the creature's hand(though it looked more like claws), to try and make it let go. They kept shooting it to try and get Andy free. Once the creature had enough, he threw Andy into one of the glass windows in one of the labs, smashing him through it and sent Andy to the floor of the lab, unconscious.

"ANDY!" The rest of them yelled in unison.

They couldn't do anything at the moment, the creature was there and the zombies started coming through. Jake and Ashley took care of the zombies, and Jinxx tried to get the creature away from Andy by himself. There wasn't a thing he could do about it. Zombies came in droves and Jake and Ashley were having a hard time keeping up. Plus, they were running low on ammo. Jinxx had actually gotten the creature away from Andy, but the creature hit him and was sent into a wall, severely stunned. Now Ashley and Jake were the only ones fending off everything. They didn't know what to do. So while dodging the creature, they shot as many zombies before running out of ammo and using their close range weapons; the machetes(Ashley) and the scythe(kept it safe for CC). They were cutting down a lot of the zombies, telling themselves silently that everything would be okay.

Then, in a moment of distraction, the creature swung and sent Ashley flying into a framed picture, slumping over in unconsciousness. Jake looked at the creature and the zombies with a look of, not fear, but acceptance. He knew that maybe this was it for all of them. He was ready to fight, and die protecting his friends. So he starts fighting with a surge of protectiveness for his fallen band mates, slicing through the zombies before him and dancing around the creature, which roared in frustration. After a little bit of fighting the creature got the upper hand, again, and smacked Jake hard enough to slam him into a wall, just a deep dent where he was. The creature barred down on him and roared. Jake closed his eyes and waited to be killed. The creature roared again, but didn't attack him. Confused, he opened his eyes to have Jinxx back up and about, distracting the creature.

"Jinxx!" Jake shouted.

"Don't worry, I have a plan." Jinxx said. Jinxx distracted the creature enough to where he didn't attack Jake and made his way over to a window. The creature charged and Jinxx dodged the creature sent itself to the wall, falling to its death, Served it right. Jake ran up to Jinxx and hugged him. They nodded to each other, checking to see if the other was okay. Then they each went to one of the friends: Jinxx to Andy, and Jake the Ashley. Jake bent down and tapped Ashley on the cheek firmly. Ashley woke up slowly, blinking and Jake helped him up. Jinxx seemed to have a still unconscious Andy, with the man's arm thrown over his shoulders. They both made their way slowly, slicing any zombie that appeared. They heard a banging on a door and they aimed their weapons at the door, as ready as they could be.

"Don't shoot me." a voice said inside. It made they drop their weapons and Jinxx put down his weapon and pried open the door, causing a disheveled CC to fall out.

"CC!" they both said in shock. Ashley walked towards CC slowly and sunk down to the floor with him, hugging him. CC hugged back and they helped each other up.

"What's up guys? Long time no see." CC said, joking. Were they ever so glad to hear his voice right now.

Notes