Survival or Struggle?

The five men breathed heavily as the moans against the door became more prominent. They needed to move, Ashley and Jake need to have medical attention. Andy stands up first, looking towards the now blocked door with a grimace. They almost didn't make it, and that thought made a shiver go down Andy's spine. He looked towards the others, noting how Jake was clenching his leg. He sighed and nodded, knowing that the sooner the two were fixed up, the better.

"All right, CC, help Ashley. Jinxx, help Jake. Get them into a room and let's see what we can find to help these two." Andy said, looking at the two that were injured and still on the ground.

CC and Jinxx nodded and went to their friends to help them and found a room that somewhat wasn't splattered in gore. Andy hated to think what could have go on in this room. The others seemed to think the same thing, looking around with slight horror on their faces. But they said nothing, medical attention was more important than thinking what could have happened in this room. Andy had CC come with him while Jinxx stayed behind so they could look for supplies. They weren't gone long, because they didn't want to go too far away from their friends. They came back with painkillers, bandages, a brace, and a first aid kit stuffed full of things.

Someone was probably in a hurry to get out and never got the chance to escape. He wondered what happened to everyone, seeing as there were no bodies, but there was blood everywhere. The blue-eyed singer couldn't think of that now as he laid there supplies down on a table nearest them. Jake seemed to let go of his leg now, but pain clearly showed in his eyes. He grabbed some painkillers and a brace and walked towards Jake, who eyed both of those things with an untrustworthy eye.

"We need to check your leg Jake." the singer said softly, eyes full of sympathy. Jake nodded, though clearly not happy about it.

Andy carefully probed Jake's leg, hearing him hiss every time he made contact. Not a good sign, though he hoped it was just a sprained ankle. And he was no doctor, but either way, Jake needed it looked at. He shifted Jake's pant leg a bit, letting him know it needed to check it further. Jake nodded and Andy lifted the pant leg up Jake's leg as carefully as he could. He saw a lot of blood first, not a good sign. He lifted it a little further and had to stop himself from gagging. Jake's leg was bad, a big gash going from his ankle up to under his knee. He could see if becoming inflamed already, and he swears he saw bone through how bad the gash was.

"How did this happen?" Andy asked, horrified.

"Me and Jinxx were...running, and I fell pretty hard. One of the grenades... went off pretty close to us and... I ended up going flying and skidded about twenty feet... on the blacktop of the road. It hurt like hell. I didn't think it was this bad. " Jake said, in between breathes to try and keep the pain down, without much success.

Andy looked to Jinxx, would had given Ashley some pain medication for his head injury. But he had looked over when Jake had started explaining and paled. So Jinxx didn't know it was that bad either. CC was watching the door, listening, though not looking at them. But his tense stature made Andy believe that CC had listened in too. Ashley was busy with his own pain, so he hadn't noticed yet. Andy swiftly went to the first aid kit and brought peroxide, a needle and thread, a towel that had been stuffed in there as well. There were no sedatives, Andy's heart dropped into his stomach. They had to sew up Jake, it was the only way Jake could survive.

And Andy would be damned if he had to kill Jake if he came back as one of those things. He told CC to go get a table where the medical equipment usually lays on for operations, and CC was off. Jinxx told Ashley to watch the door while CC was gone, no sense in leaving the room unguarded. Andy ran his fingers through his hair and sighed. He didn't like what he was about to do. While Andy waited for CC, Andy sterilized the needle and thread as much as he could without wasting too much peroxide. Though Jinxx pointed out that rubbing alcohol works as well. Jinxx then rummaged through the cupboards and found three rubbing alcohol bottles, placing them next to Andy.

Andy nodded and heard footsteps, hand going to his primary weapon by habit. CC ran into the room, the table wheeling inside behind him. Ashley looked to the table, to Andy now placing everything on said table, to Jake's leg and paled, the same as everyone else. Jake shook his head, not liking this predicament at all. CC brought over a cloth, looking down at Jake with a sorrowful and sympathetic expression.

"Sorry dude, this is the only way we can do this." he said softly.

"I know man. I may not like it, but I know." Jake said bravely. Jinxx smiled at his injured friend's courage. Jake took the cloth and nodded to Andy, laying down fully.

"Okay, Ashley, you keep a lookout, CC and Jinxx, hold Jake down, just in case." Andy instructed. CC swallowed hard but did as he was told, Jinxx doing the same. Ashley didn't move, so Andy knew Ashley was staying where he was.

"I'm sorry Jake, I really am." Andy said before applying the rubbing alcohol to the wound. Jake clenched his teeth so hard that CC that they would break. After getting the wound cleaned out as much as he could, he took the sterilized needle and thread and started sewing him up. Halfway through sewing him up, Jake had Jinxx's help in stuffing the cloth into his mouth, biting down on it when a pull seemed particularly hard and painful. Andy muttered sincere but quick apologies every time he did this. After the sewing, which took a lot longer because Andy's hands shook so back, he cleaned off the blood staining his friend's leg and put bandages around the stitches.

"Just in case they come undone. At least it won't be too much of a mess." the tall singer said.

He would keep the supplies for later if needed. As if on queue, CC pulled out a bag and put everything they could use into it. Andy looked down at their guitarist, who was sweating from the pain and breathing heavily as he spit the cloth out. He nodded to all them, letting his eyes close for a few moments in relief.

"Thanks...guys.." Jake said, between heavy breathing. CC patted him on the shoulder and went to Ashley, who had been stark white and tense the entire time. CC hugged him, Ashley looping one arm around CC and relaxed a little.

"Jake's fine, how are you?" the drummer asked.

"I'm fine, the pain medication actually helped. Though, it probably won't help Jake, with as much pain as he's in right now." Ashley said. The pain medication was almost like headache medication and not much stronger than that either. So it wouldn't have helped Jake in the slightest.

Jake got up after a little rest, gingerly putting weight on his leg before nodding. After that, they all left the room, satisfied that they were all right. CC probed the back of Ashley's head and was relieved that the bump was gone. Just some leftover pain the bass player had to endure. And maybe some dizziness and light-headedness as well. They stopped after the got to the desk where a nurse would normally be at. They needed to think of a plan, but what? They could use the emergency exit. But the noise would attract certain undead things that they didn't want anywhere near them. There was a fire escape staircase, but that probably would be crawling with zombies as well. They could try and search for an ambulance and drive away in that.

"So guys, what do you think? Emergency exit, emergency staircase, an ambulance ride out of here?" Andy asked them, looking at them.

'I'm partial to the ambulance myself." Jake said, Andy couldn't blame him.

"Emergency staircase. One of those leads up to the roof. We could find an escape if we looked around on there." CC said. Everyone thought of something differently. So Andy thought of something childish: straws.

"Whoever gets the short stick, picks our escape route." Andy said simply. The others shrugged, simple enough thing to do.

Ashley ended up winning, which meant that they take the emergency exit. The exit was shortest and provided something of a distraction for the zombies. Everyone sighed and nodded, going towards the emergency exit. That's when the power, what little there was, went out. And CC heard a laugh, a human laugh. Someone probably insane and messing with them; perfect. They couldn't see anything, and Andy was tempted of punching himself in the face for not thinking of actually getting flashlights. So they ambled around, tense and basically blind. They stopped after hearing another noise, one that was closer to them. But it stopped, so they did nothing. They probably should have. Because no sooner did they ignore it, that they heard a scream: CC's scream.

"Guys! Help me! Something's got me!" CC cried out in the dark. They tried to follow, but ended up getting lost in the dark. The lights shot back on, along with a sinister laugh over the intercom.

"Pretty little guinea pigs. You've staged everything the way I want it. And now your friend is mine." said the sinister voice.

"We'll see about that." Jake said through clenched teeth, furious and a bit scared for their friend. But he didn't show it.

"Oh, such confidence. Thinking you can save your friend. You better hurry, his time is going to be up. And very soon." the sinister voice proclaimed. They heard CC scream, the voice laugh, and then the voice was cut off.

"CC..." Jinxx said, his fists clenched.

"I don't know about you, but I'm not leaving this hell hole until we get our friend back." Andy said, the others nodded. They weren't going to leave CC here to be someone's guinea pig. They were going to find CC, and make the man, whoever he was, pay.

Notes