Chapter 25 - Evacuation Part 1

"Coast is clear, but keep it quiet." Zhaire stated.

We managed to get away from the heavy infected without being heard. Zhaire was now leading us to the guards base of operation. He's also been the only person to talk since what we've all just witnessed. Alyssa and Lici cried for a few seconds, but other than that it's been completely silent. Nobody knows what to say, Zhaire probably doesn't know himself. I feel sick.

"Holy shit." Zhaire said with a shocked expression.

We came around the corner and was greeted by an even uglier scene. Dead bodies littered the streets ahead of us. A few of them were infected, but the majority were regular people. Dozens of bodies scattered throughout the street and a lot of them had been mutilated. I feel sick.

"How did this happen?" Regine asked.

"We were sent to deal with the infected." Dameer answered. "Since they got pass us, everyone was vulnerable."

"So it's our fault these people are dead!?" Alyssa asked trying to hold back her tears.

"Hey calm down, this is none of your fault." Zhaire replied. "There was no way we could've predicted something like this happening. We need to hurry, come on."

We ran through the blood soaked street trying to keep our composure, but the morale of this group was already on ground zero. The cheeks of some couldn't stay dry for more than five minutes. Others like Dameer and Regine were visibly shaking and could barely run straight. We can't handle anymore encounters with infected right now.

"How you holding up?" Lj asked me. "And don't tell me never better."

I paused for a moment and told him...

"I feel sick."

"Most of these bodies we're passing now are infected." Liam pointed out.

Just as he said that we were all blinded by a large white light. We all stopped abruptly and were left at the mercy at whatever was behind the light.

"Turn it off, it's Zhaire's team." Said a male voice.

As my vision slowly adjusted back, I started to recognize who that man was. He walked out towards us and greeted us with a smile.

"Welcome back, it's good to know your all safe." Rodney exclaimed.

"What's the situation here?" Zhaire asked.

"We're sending them now." He replied.

"Wait what?"

"Our hand has been forced, to put it simply we can't wait anymore."

"Wait what's happening?" I asked.

"There are some people back there that's waiting to see you guys. Why don't you go greet them."

He completely disregarded my question. Whatever, I assume he was talking about us so I'm guessing we'll find out soon enough. We left him and Zhaire with the other adult guards that were outside, and headed in this fortified building. I don't even know where we are in the city. The sun was still hugging the horizon so for the most part Zhaire led us here blind. Why did he bring us here though? There's hardly any other people, mostly just guards.

"All of you follow along the corridor, and go through the last door on the left. It'll take you outside." Said one of the guards.

"Excuse me but what's happening here?" Alyssa asked.

"Captain Nash will inform you all about the situation." He replied walking away.

"Are they sending us back out to fight?" Regine asked.

"How are we supposed to fight those large ones?" Lici asked.

"Easy. Fight it." Lj replied.

"Ok so why didn't you back then?" Cory quickly responded.

"Out of the question in that situation."

"So your saying Victor wasn't worth the fight?"

"Cory stop." Alyssa said trying to jump in.

"You didn't do anything more than what I did right?" Lj asked walking up to him.

"I'm not the one making killing those things sound so simple." Cory replied.

"It isn't simple, but I know my capabilities."

"If your capable then why didn't you?!"

"Cause there was too much dead weight around."

"Dead weight?! Nobody's stopping you from goin' out there alone. When we come across your corpse then we'll see dead weight."

"Sending someone to do what you're scared to do, I expected nothing less from you."

"Scared of what!"

At that point me and several of the others stepped in and separated them. That spiraled out of control worse than I thought it would.

"Hey, what's up with you?!" I asked Lj pulling him aside.

"I didn't do anything but answer the questions I was asked." He replied.

"I think we could do without all that drama right now."

"You know I don't do drama, just action."

"Calling people dead weight is really only gonna cause problems in this group." I stated.

"They'd only get offended if they think they fit the description. Also I wasn't meaning them in particular, I was talking about you." Lj replied walking away.

Me? How am I..? That pissed me off a bit.

"Hello people." A voice exclaimed from down the hall.

We looked up to find Mali peeling through the doorway at the end of the hall.

"How'd you get here?" Angie asked walking towards her.

"Well me and my squad were supposed to go on patrol but instead they led is here." She replied hugging Angie.

"Who else is here?" Regine asked.

"There's a lot, come on." She replied walking through the door.

We followed behind her and were greeted by several familiar faces and some new ones as well.

"Long time no see!" Miguel said as we walked out.

"Shush boy, ain't they tell us stay quiet?" Nesha said slapping Miguel behind his head.

"I say we sacrifice Miguel right now so he doesn't get all of us killed." Denny stated. "All in favor say "I"."

"I." Liam quickly responded.

"Jah, at least you know now who out to kill you Miguel." Alyssa stated with a laugh.

"How did all of you get here?" Asked Angie.

"The same way all of y'all got here. We walked." Nesha replied.

"I should slap you yanno." Dameer exclaimed.

"I wanna see you try it big stupid." She swiftly replied.

"Ain't Victor in y'all squad?" Mali asked.

"Yeah I was waiting for the kid to get back so I could tell him happy birthday." Shea added.

A sheet of silence covered our group for a short while. Nobody knew how to tell them what happened. Or at least nobody wanted to say it.

"Wait, what happened?" Asked Mali.

...

"Victor isn't joining us." Lici answered.

"What do you mean?" Asked Khiara.

"She mean Victor is dead." Cory stated.

...

"Your joking right. Cory you wouldn't joke around like this." Mali stated trying to keep a smile up.

...

"Someone say something!"

"Hey calm down." Captain Nash said walking out with Rodney. "Everyone settle down and listen, because we need to do this as quickly as possible. There should be six guards in this group, please move to my far left. Twelve searchers should be here, please move to my far right. The five hunters please move beside the searchers. Four cooks, beside the guards please and here in the middle let me see the four medics."

We all shuffled into place without questioning anything. Thirty one of us in total. I guess after Miguel got injured he switched over to medic training.

"Behind each of your groups you will find colored bags. Red for the guards, green for the cooks, white is medics, black for hunters and blue for our searchers. These bags contain the numerous items that may be needed to carry out your designated duties."

"Sorry for interrupting sir, but are we going somewhere?" Asked Dameer.

"Yeah, all of you in a few minutes will be leaving this city, hopefully never returning." Nash answered.

"Huh?"

"What?"

"What do you mean?"

"Quiet quiet." He responded.

"I don't know how much time we have but I'll try my best to give you a quick summary. This was supposed to happen at a later date but our hand is being forced right now. Basically we have reason to believe that in a few weeks time, this city and all of our neighboring cities will be destroyed. I'm sure most of you know about the San Andreas disaster that happened all those years ago. Long story short that event forced the hands on the doomsday clock to turn. That quake was so intense that it tilted the entire Earth even more on its axis. We've discovered that around the world there has been a spike in earthquakes and volcanic eruptions ever since that day. One geothermal scientist however believes that the worst is going to be more hellish than we could even imagine. The largest volcano on the planet is actually located in Yellowstone National Park. Moreover the park itself is the volcano. Before it was expected that it would've remained dormant for several thousand more years, but the San Andreas event changed that."

"But Yellowstone, isn't that on the west coast?" Lici asked. "Aren't we far enough away to not worry about it?"

"I don't expect you all to understand how serious this situation is but believe me when I say, we are far from out of harm's way. While the initial blast itself may not be of a concern, the ash from the volcano will bury this place. That and I'm sure some of you know that because of the San Andreas event, a new fault was formed that stretches across the north American plate. When Yellowstone eventually erupts, it's going to trigger that fault line. Worst case scenario, the entire north American plate will be torn in half. And I'm sure none of you will want to be here for that."

"The entire plate?" I asked. "If that's the case then where are suppose to go."

"This city and a few other neighboring cities have been working on a plan now named 'Project Genesis'." There's an airstrip approximately 90 miles southwest of here, there you will find a large plane that has been in development for years now. That plane will carry you and groups of kids like you all from the other cities, to South Africa."

"Africa?"

"What?"

"What about our families?"

"Why us?"

"Quiet, please just give me a bit more time. We trained you to be the ones that will carry on hope for the human race. This was our only option and we're sorry that is what it had to be. Most of your parents were opposed to it at first, but quickly realized that you were the ones that are being handed a future. If you don't want to take that future then stay, but trust me you don't want to know what other infected rolled in with that mist. If your ready to seize this opportunity and become the pioneers in the new chapter of this world, then you will follow Sergeant Bootle here and your other escorts."

"Your one of our escorts right?" Angie asked the captain.

A silence came over our group as we all watched on. The captain immediately swallowed his words and was seemingly struggling to answer her.

"I'm going to stay here and protect everyone else for as long as I can." He replied.

"No..."

"Angie." Mali said holding her.

"Don't leave me too." She said softly.

The captain went to say something when we all felt the ground shook. It shook again and again and again.

"It's coming." Lici said.

A series of gunshots were heard from the front of the building as the shaking became louder and stronger. It was running directly for us.

"Everyone move to the side lay down and stay quiet!" Captain Nash ordered.

We all dispersed and hid behind trees and bushes. We stared on as the point of origin of the shaking was seemingly right out front of the building. Then...

BOOM!!!!

A loud explosion followed by a yell that shook the foundation of the building itself. I looked over at Lj and Khiara, then over to Dameer and Nesha. It seemed as if everyone was frozen. Then finally the heavy broke through the back wall of the building sending concrete and glass flying through the air. It stomped the ground and announced its presence with a deafening roar right before all of us.