Chapter 23 - Mutations

"That didn't sound like any other infected." Victor said.

"Don't move off of the cars!" Zhaire shouted.

I only could have seen one more infected right in front of us, so I swiftly took it down with one arrow. The fog is still rolling in and at this point, visibility will soon be at 0. Stuck in a thick cloud surrounded by who knows how many infected.

"While we have the chance we should get off the street." Alyssa suggested.

"We still don't know what it was that attacked the Lieutenant." Zhaire responded. "But then again we need to get out of this fog. Dammit."

Before Zhaire could've make up his mind on what we were going to do, something unbelievable happened. An entire car came flying out of the darkness and it was coming straight towards us.

"Get down!" Zhaire yelled. As he dived into the fog.

The rest of us followed right after, leaping out of the back of the truck and diving to the concrete. The sound of the car crashing to the ground was chillingly close to us. It sounded like the car hit the ground and then rolled before sliding to a stop. It came at us quick and with force.

"What the hell was that!" Alyssa yelled.

"Are you guys alright!?" Angie asked from across the road.

"Get down off of the cars!" Zhaire ordered. "Stay where you are and be silent until I give an order.

"Sergeant what's going on?" Regine asked.

RAAAAAAARGH!!!!

A thunderous yell from down the street silenced all of us. We all looked toward the direction of its origin but due to the density of the fog we could've only see about three to four feet in front of us.

"Everyone...be quiet." Zhaire whispered.

Regine placed her hand over her mouth while Victor and Alyssa backed up to the wall of the building right next to us. I glanced over at Lj and he was staring out into the fog. I went to pick my bow up off of the floor when I noticed it shaking. A rumble, reminiscent of heavy footsteps could be felt coming from where the noise came from. Now that I think about, it feels exactly like heavy footsteps. Something large is moving in the fog. An infected? The footsteps got so close that I could've exactly pinpoint where the entity was as it walked pass. It walked up to the other side of the truck from where we were then stopped. The shadow of it could be seen from where we were. At least ten feet tall and it was as wide as the truck next to us. It grunted and even moved the truck backwards a little. I was scared but I was also very intrigued in what exactly am I watching. I turned and looked back towards the others and saw the fear in Regine's eyes. She was shaking heavily and struggling to keep her hand over her mouth. While Lj had a cold look on his face. He seemed angry and looked like he was also struggling but not the sane way Regine was. He was struggling to stay still and not attack whatever is in front of us. After a few seconds passed it continued to walk pass us. Zhaire tapped me and whispered...

"We're crossing to the others. Everyone, form a single file line, hold onto the person in front of you if you have to. I'll take the front, Ejay watch our rear."

"Yessir let's go." I responded.

"I'm sorry but are we just going to ignore what we just saw?" Alyssa asked quietly.

"Of course not, I'll explain it later." Zhaire replied. "Right now, let's focus on getting as far away from that thing as possible."

We formed the line and quickly moved to cross the street. Victor stood directly in front of me and me and him both aimed our weapons into the fog as we crossed.

"Hey, Lici, Dameer." Zhaire quietly called out.

"Yeah we're right over here." Lici replied.

"Did you guys see that thing?" Liam asked.

"Of course, how could we miss it." Alyssa responded.

"There's no way that thing was an infected right?" Angie Asked.

"You would feel better knowing that thing wasn't an infected?" Asked Cory.

"Quiet quiet, yes it was an infected." Zhaire whispered. "Listen to what I'm about to say because we have to quickly move away from here. That thing was a mutated infected. We've recorded several different mutations among the infected population. This one has an extreme growth affect in all of its muscles. It's basically a walking tank with how large it is as you've all just seen. However it is also blind. With or without this fog it couldn't see us even if we were right in front of it. It does have heightened hearing senses though, which is why I told you guys to be silent. We could move right pass it once we stay quiet."

RAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

The scream from the heavy infected echoed from down the street.

"Keep what I just told you in mind because who knows if that's the only one in here or not. We need to try get back and warn others."

"Wait, we still don't know what took the Lieutenant." Liam whispered.

"Just keep an open eye and remember to move quietly." Zhaire replied.

We reformed our line but changed around who was where. Lici took the lead this time because she knows the roads better than any of us and was confident she could get us back quickly, even in this fog. Zhaire was at the very back to protect our rear and I was second in line behind Lici. Looking back I could only see Lj, Regine, Liam and Angie. Everyone else was too far in the fog to be seen. We began jogging to get back where we started and hopefully to exit this fog. We didn't get far before we heard something in the distance.

"I hear voices." Lici whispered back towards us.

She clicked on her flashlight and moved towards the voices. I heard the voices for just a second before it switched to the sound of static.

"Maybe it's a radio." I whispered.

As we moved closer, the noise suddenly stopped. Looking at Lici, it looked like she was fighting herself to not call out to see if anybody's there. She stopped herself from saying anything and continued to walk in the direction of the noise. We moved up a few more feet before Lici paused and gasped.

"What is it?" I asked quietly.

"Li-Li-Lieutenant?" She stuttered.

I walked in front of her to find the Lieutenant's upper body with his intestines pouring out on to the concrete. His lower half was no where in sight.

"Oh my God." Lici said as she covered her mouth.

"What is it?" Lj asked.

"Tell Sergeant come to the front." I responded.

They sent the message down the line and he came running up.

"What's going on...damn." He exclaimed as he noticed the body. "A regular infected wouldn't do that."

"Wait did you guys hear that?" Lici asked looking to her right. "I swear I heard tapping."

I turned my flashlight on and shined it where Lici was looking. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a shadow darting past accompanied by the tapping I'm guessing Lici heard. I quickly turned to shine the flashlight in that direction. Then a shadow ran past where we were looking before. The tapping was coming from all around us now.

"Everyone get close." Zhaire ordered.

We formed a circle and equipped our weapons. It became quiet again as we all aimed into the fog.

"Hello Lieutenant are you there." Said a voice coming over his radio.

The voice spooked some of us and we all turned to it. That's when they attacked. An infected jumped out from the fog onto Zhaire's back, knocking him to his knees.

"Arghhhh!" He groaned trying to wrestle it off.

It wasn't a normal infected, its spine was curved like my bow handle and it had claw like nails.

"Stay still!" Victor shouted as he aimed his gun at him.

He shot the infected once in its side and it flew off of Zhaire. It got back up onto its hands and feet and ran off like a dog would.

"Sergeant are you alright?" Alyssa asked as her and Lici run to his aid.

"I'm good it only scraped me a little." He replied.

While they tended to him me, Cory and Liam noticed more shadows moving in the fog. All of them bent over and moving around like dogs.

"There's a lot more of them." Cory exclaimed while aiming at them.

"Run." Zhaire said.

"What?" Cory asked.

"I said run!"

Cory fired his arrow into the fog and began to move back. I went do the same when one ran out and jumped on me. I fell to my back and tried fighting it off with my knife. A few more of them ran pass me and all I heard was gunshots after that. It scratched and spat on me as I swung my knife at it. Finally I caught it in its neck and pushed it off of me.

"Let's go Ejay." Lj said as him, Victor and Liam helped me up.

The others already began running off and we followed behind in the direction we think they ran in. These mutated infected are fast and there are tens of them. I drew an arrow as we ran and turn around. Right as one tried to jump on me again, I shot it out of the air.

"Ahhhhhh!!!!"

A girl's scream broke through the fog and caught our attention.

"That sounds like Lici." Liam said.

We ran to where we heard her scream and found her holding off one of those things with her bow in its mouth. Me and Lj both shot an arrow at it which immediately took it down.

"My leg!" She cried.

There was bloody scratch marks in her right leg when I examined it. Victor and Liam held off the infected as I tried to treat her wound.

"Doing this here is dangerous we gotta move." I said to her.

"I don't think I can run." She replied.

"Hey let's get inside this van." Lj suggested.

He sprinted to the van and to our luck it wasn't locked. I picked Lici up into my arms and carried her through the side door of the van. Lj followed in while Victor and Liam went into the front seats. We locked ourselves in and I began to bandage Lici's wounds.

"Its quiet out there now." She stated. "What if those things got the others?"

"We can't think like that." I responded.

"Maybe we could hide in here until the sun rises and this fog begins to fade." Lj suggested.

"Thanks for helping me by the way." Lici says looking up to me.

"Who did you ran off with?" Liam asked.

"Dameer and Angie, but Angie fell and Dameer stopped to help her. So I continued on by myself."

"This is crazy." Victor stated. "These things are in the city now, no where is safe."

"What if they've already made it to where the people are?" Liam asked.

"The other guard and searcher units are out across the city preventing that." I replied.

"Yeah but you just saw how easy they got past us. What if its worst for them?"

"Hold on." Lj interrupted. "You guys felt that?"

We paused and tried to see if we felt or heard anything. The car shook lightly. Me and Lj immediately looked at each other in shock. Without warning the entire van violently rocked and tilted forward.

"We're raising up!" Victor yelled as we looked out the front window and road disappeared into the fog.

When we stopped rising an unsettling sight appeared through the back window of the van.

"It's a heavy infected." I whispered as I looked on in shock.

RAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!

I felt Lici grab my arm before the heavy infected flung the van down the street. We were tossed around the back of the van before I was knocked out on impact.