Chapter Twenty-four

(Dennis)

It was so hot, but we were too far into the city to turn back now. What we hoped to find? I'm not really sure, but it's never good to just sit around and wait.

The sound of the cars engine purring, the rocks crushing beneath us on the road as we drove was all we could here. Thankfully we havent encountered any of the dead, yet. Tom and Daniel are finally starting to get along, at least to the point where they both arent glaring at each other constantly.

Dipper was quiet per usual, I needed to ask him if he'd like to train with me sometime. Now that I know he has something similar to what I do, itd be best if we can find out all that he can before we start sparring and stuff.

Ahead in the road, I noticed a group of people finishing off a few zombies on the ground. I hadn't had time to reel of and pull away before they spotted us. A look of fear crossed their faces and they just ran of in a different direction.

"What was that?" Daniel asked

"No idea, should we follow them?" I asked

"No let's just keep moving, if this place has a hideout just like the others, there will be markings and we need to look out for that" Tom inquired.

I nodded and continued off in a opposite direction then where the group went. The buildings in this area were more ran down, indicating that this part hasnt been occupied longer then when the apocalypse started.

"You guys see that to right?" I pointed out

"What, the buildings being more shit then usual? what about it?" Tom asked.

"Well, if you noticed everytime we stumbled upon a hideout like the others, it was always in a ran down area I guess because they usually weren't so occupied" I explained.

He nodded, urging me silently to continue. "Well, I believe if we keep going this way maybe we'll find markings like before" I told him.

"Alright, that checks out. Let's get going then." I put a little gas into the pedal and continued down the street, we looked out of the windows and visibly searched every inch we could, coming up with nothing for the first half of it.

Turning a corner, Dipper then squeaked suprising all of us, "over there!" he shouted, "I see a marking in the shape of an arrow, that may be what were looking for!" I whipped the car in that direction and drove to where Dipper was pointing.

"You see?" he said, "yeah good looking out Dipper, alright gang let's get out and start looking around" I told them

We got out of the car and begin searching in the enclosed area, Dipper spotted arrow inside the smaller room of a abandoned store. The arrow was also pointing inside of the store meaning our search would have to continue inside.

"Let's move in, theres nothing here" Tom said. "Yeah but be careful, dont want to turn into zombie chow do we?" I said trying to warn them enthusiastically.

My attempt worked as they smiled a little before heading inside, me right beside them.

When we had made into the inside, we noticed how oddly clean the entire store was for something that has been abandoned. Usually most of the other areas were dirty, so how come this one isnt?

"Keep your guard up, something isnt right here..." I told then warily.

I looked around more and saw a figure in the shadows, they spotted me and ran quickly into a room off the slide slamming the door behind them.

"After that guy! Watch out for any monsters" I instructed.

They nodded and followed after me as we hurried to the door, opened it, and ran down its narrow hallways. I had my claw out as I aimed for as much as mobility and flexibility I could get in such a tight place.

I could feel the power Dipper exerted meaning hes gotten some what acquainted with his powers.

Once we had reached the end of the hallway, we were faced with a ton of doors. They all had labeling that seemed to be similar to what you would label a science based facility.

"Should we split up into pairs and check out each of these rooms? That person could have boobie trapped them so still be alert" I said.

They nodded in agreement to what I said, "ok, Dipper with Daniel, and Tom you're with me. Remember please be careful, we don't know what's going on here and I have a feeling it's something much deeper then what we could of ever imagined" I said.

"Let's hope we can put and end to it right here, right now, or at least improve on it. I miss video games..." Tom sighed. I giggled at his thought but regained my serious demeanor and signaled them to move out.

Me and Tom took the room labeled 'information' while Dipper and Daniel took 'utilities'. As we walked in we were immediately attacked by two zombies waltzing into us unexpectedly. I dodged to left and let the zombie fall, the other falling ontop of Tom landing him halfway into the hall way.

"Shit" I hissed as I kicked the first zombie away from Tom, and helped get the one attacking him off. I was quit to Decapitate the first, and immobilize the second before bashing in its skull with my foot.

I admit, it was a little excessive but I hate these damn things so much.

"You ok?" Tom asked me, "yeah I'm fine, but are you ok? No bites right?" I replied.

"Yeah no bites" He sighed after patting himself, "Ok, let's look around" I said turning back into the room.

It was definitely more spacious then the hallway, I didnt get a good look at how big the entire building was because this hallway went far.

The room was a signature white, as were most of the hidden hallways and passage ways were. It had brown box shaped drawers agaisnt the walls and black-greyish marble tops.

I nodded Tom into one side of the room and told him to look for anything important. He did as he was told and I got straight to looking eager to find any information I could.

The papers stack up piles on piles filled into these drawers. Each having information on random people not only in the US, but also from all over the world.

The status of some of them said deceased, either from failed experiment or turned by zombie.

Others were alive, and some even said "Project Delta" which is something I fixated my attention on.

I looked for more papers explaining what exactly project delta is. After reading through many papers I've found some stuff out that I needed to tell the rest.

"Woah, Dennis come look at this" Tom said holding up a few papers while looking down at more on the desk top.

I walked over holding the information I found in the other condiments, aiming to share our new knowledge.

"Look at this, its us again, but this time where we've recently been" Tom said.

I looked closely on the paper and he was right, the overgrown city, the food vault, even up until here, now.

"How? Who's tracking our every move and sending it to these people?" We looked at each other quizzically. We brained stormed ideas for a moment and I couldn't help to think about how Daniel and Dippers progress has been going.

And then it hit me, but it was too late.

A gunshot was fired off in the room Daniel and Dipper were both in, a cry being heard after. It was too faint for me to figure out which one of them it was, but I needed to tell Tom who it might be.

I turned around, "Tom I think it might be one of the other two, let's go!" I yelled grabbing his hand and rushing out into the hallways. I slammed open the room door that inhabited both of the boys and slapped my hands across my face in horror.

There sat Dipper with a bullet wound in his chest, barely alive. The red crimson liquid and the orange virus leaked out and mixed into a weird substance all over him and on the ground, it smelled absolutely terrible, like death.

He reached out to us in pain, begging us to desperately save him. "Help me please, I dont want to die, im scared" He cried.

Tom's eyes welled with tears as he dropped down and cradled the Ill-written Dippers body. In the back of the room I didnt even notice Daniel standing there, a cold look on his face and a gun aimed at my forehead.

"Hello, Project Delta" He smiled wickedly

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