[Chapter Eight]

"Major", a man in uniform suddenly came called major Isao's name. The major halted in his mid-step to see who had called him. A tall man with blue orbs and sporting a poker face, a letter was pinched stiffly between his fingers. His arms were strictly at either side of him as he stood there unmoving.

"Major Louis", major Isao calmly greeted the other man. He was still disheveled, his attire was not properly fixed and blood had dried off on his clothes. His face had dried streaks of sweat which was a contrast to the black stains on his exposed flesh.

"They want you in the headquarters." Major Louis's eyes bore straight into the other man. His neither cold nor warm gazing brought no comfort to the dirty major. He held out the neatly folded paper that was lightly pinched between his thumb and index finger. He watched the other major's reaction as the other accepted the letter, the other man was not as good as he is in keeping his emotions reigned. He quickly left as his task was already accomplished. We are bound to leave in a few more days after their return. It seems that I must carefully plan this mission. Major Louis thought to himself seeing as how the other major looked like when he returned. There were quite a lot of casualties this time, he knew they can't afford more losses.

"Copy", Major Isao stood up as straight as he can as he went to see off the other men. The footsteps of Major Louis rang through the bustling corridor as the medical professional rush to treat the wounded soldiers, these men had only received an almost appropriate basic first aid treatment despite the ordeal. Isao did not delay any further and left the hospital with his messy attire, he did make a detour to the military camp to gather his uniform from the wardrobe and take a quick shower before heading to the headquarters.

Meanwhile, Second Lieutenant Minori had ordered for personal protective equipment. He did not want to carry the specimen without properly equipping himself, the jeep they were riding on proceeded to a research laboratory instead of the hospital. He had received the command from the major when they reached the outskirts of the safe zone, the wounded were transferred to another vehicle.

The entrance of the research laboratory is the only thing built normally like all the other buildings, the

rest were built underground for certain reasons. On the outside, it seemed quite a bit peculiar that the

size of the building was not that of other research facilities, it was smaller than the average building. The

interior of the building was very simple, a couch to accommodate people and a few plants to liven up

the place, and the corner for the receptionist. Aside from those, another noticeable thing is the elevator.

Second Lieutenant Minori hurried as he carefully dawned the equipment given to him before

climbing the jeep again and retrieve the specimen they had drugged and tied up.

When they got inside the receptionist reached for something below her, another door opened beside the elevator. Second Lieutenant Minori did not hesitate to walk inside it. When the doors closed, there was a slight shift in the atmosphere, he felt his innards moving up since this elevator moved downwards not upwards at an incredibly fast pace. He clutched the sack, his knuckles turning white as he felt nauseous whilst holding his breath. In his entire time serving as a military doctor, this is the third time that he was ordered to go to this place and each time the elevator ride was what he dreaded the most.

Ting

The familiar sound rang out, Minori took his time stabilizing himself before he walked out of the fast-moving metal box. He thought he would die today and became the joke of the employees and his colleagues in the military. Despite still feeling weak, he knew he had to carry his task out as there were no rooms for complaints.

"Hey Lieutenant Barf!" A voice he had dreaded to hear called to him. The ranking mistake was deliberate and the barf, well that came from his previous visits there. Auburn hair swayed as the owner jogged towards him. "Well, what do we owe this visit of yours?" The inquisitive and teasing tone from the chubby woman in front of him, made him swallow up his retort as he remembered what his purpose was.

"The major needed the docs to see this thing." He raised a sack as if showing the woman, the material. Having seen the sack when the man had exited the elevator a few moments ago. She looked back at him seemingly disinterested.

"So… There's nothing special about a sack lieutenant." Her deep voice came out calmly as if the one he was presented to her was quite insignificant and a waste of time. He didn't give it much thought, shoving the sack onto the woman, who in turn hastily caught it after nearly dropping the sack containing something big. Minori straightened himself back, returning to his militarily schooled feature.

"We caught something worth the interest of the research department, it might help create a big through", he said thoughtfully. “This thing had some level of intelligence, our men have died to ensure this specimen would reach you. We have bounded its limbs and had shoved a mouthguard in the mouth. Goodbye then Lucy, I hope to never have to ride that elevator again after this." He passively saluted, barely caring if the woman had fully understood what he had just said. When he saw, the woman nod he then boarded the elevator, steadily paling before the doors slowly closed.

Lucy, the woman, very smartly just took the sack containing the specimen to the superior overseeing their research. While she walked, she felt little bits of movement misleading her to presume that the thing inside would have been an animal that they had never seen before.

“Mister Aberly”, her voice not too soft and not too loud called the attention of the man sitting beside a table full of different colored vials. “A package came for our department”, she pointed to the sac that she had nearly dragged inside the laboratory if she didn’t fear destroying the specimen. The old man wearing a white laboratory coat frowned, his gloved hands stilling their action of reaching over to pick up a pen.

“A package… Were we expecting one today?” He mumbled to himself still frowning disapprovingly at himself. He looked at the brown sack that had dried mud sticking on it. “Open the top a bit,” he said and Lucy followed his instruction carefully after putting on much-needed equipment. When the thread, the military used to tie the top of the sack to seal it became undone, what the sack contained greatly surprised and made the two move back in fear.

“A zombie!” The man hissed dejectedly at first, fear became evident as his innards jumped with nervousness. “A zombie”, he had stated a bit calmer now than a while ago but Lucy had remained shell-shocked from seeing one personally after six long years. Seeing that this undead specimen seemed unmoving yet still breathing, his mind reacted quickly.

“I’ll handle this, you go tell the others and prepare the tube number 89347 for this specimen”, his hands shook as he quickly tied the opening of the sack again. He did not know what the military personnel was thinking, bringing a living one here still intact but he needed to act quickly. This infection spread by encountering the saliva of the ones infected. After a few minutes have passed, he had dumped the drugged specimen after connecting it to a breathing tube and securing it against its head into the tube he had told Lucy to prepare.