The Garden

Rebecca and Linda finished descending the steps leading down into the underground gardens, their shoes settling onto the damp, mossy soil covered in thick, greenish vines and roots. As they took their first steps, one of the roots near Linda's foot suddenly contracted with a wet slurping sound, making her jump.Rebecca looked around uneasily. "Have you been to this place before?""A few days ago," Linda replied, gazing around at the overgrown foliage crawling up the walls and across the floor. "But it wasn't nearly this...lively."Up ahead, a corpse lay propped against the wall, completely enshrouded in roots and leaves that blended it into the surrounding vegetation. Suppressing a shudder, they moved past rusted double doors, now held fast shut by the invading greenery. Gardening tools lay abandoned and forgotten beside them.Approaching the body ahead, Linda was distracted by a vibrant purple flower hanging from a nearby tree. It seemed strangely out of place in this forgotten underground space. As Rebecca stared in morbid fascination at the corpse—which she now recognized as Carla's—Linda gasped as slender vines snaked around her ankles.The exotic flower abruptly released a puff of pollen into Linda's face, making her recoil. At Linda's startled cry, Rebecca whirled around, only to feel the vines tangled around her legs constrict and yank her to the hard ground. Her gun slipped from her fingers, skidding away across the uneven floor.Before she could react, the corpse of Carla reanimated with a violent spasm and hurled itself at Rebecca. She grappled desperately with the ravenous infected woman, her hands slipping over Carla's mottled skin and tangled hair."Help!" Rebecca choked out through gritted teeth.Linda scrambled for the fallen gun and took aim at Carla's thrashing form."Be careful where you shoot!" Rebecca warned urgently, not daring to take her eyes off the snarling infected woman's teeth snapping perilously close to her throat.Linda spun around at the sound of low moans behind her. Three more infected shambled out of the foliage, their bodies covered in the same invasive roots and fungus. Gripped by panic, Linda fired wildly as she backpedaled away from the approaching horde.Rebecca managed to wedge her elbow pad into Carla's mouth, the rabid teeth clamping down uselessly on the hardened material. Taking advantage of the distraction, Rebecca yanked out her knife and plunged it deep into Carla's neck. Dark blood spurted out as she withdrew the blade.Maintaining her grip on the hilt, Rebecca used the embedded knife to maneuver Carla's head to one side. But while Rebecca was focused on controlling the infected woman's snapping jaws, one of the strong, ropy vines encircled her throat and began to tighten. Gasping for air, Rebecca thrashed in its viselike grip, finally managing to kick Carla's body away. The knife remained embedded in her neck.Rebecca clawed desperately at the constricting vine, her face turning red as she fought to draw breath. Abandoning her attempts to pull it loose by hand, she fumbled hurriedly in her fanny pack with her free hand. Carla had already begun dragging herself back to her feet, dark blood streaming from her mutilated neck.Just as Rebecca's vision started to darken, her fingers closed around a bottle of isopropyl alcohol she saved as an antiseptic . With great difficulty due to the choking vine, she managed to uncork it with her thumb and splash the contents directly onto the vine. It immediately began smoking and slackened just enough for her to tear it away from her throat.Rebecca collapsed to her hands and knees, drawing in ragged breaths. But she had no time to recover before Carla lunged for her once more. This time Rebecca rolled out of the way and yanked the knife from Carla's neck, ending the infected woman's undead existence with a final stab through the eye socket.As Rebecca regained her feet, coughing violently, a panicked scream rang out from deeper in the underground garden. Clutching her knife, Rebecca sprinted toward the sound. She arrived to find Linda suspended from another vine, kicking futilely at the three Shamblers tearing at her clothes as they tried to drag her down.Spotting Linda's discarded gun on the ground nearby, Rebecca knew she needed to find another way to deal with the infected horde. Her eyes landed on a dusty glass-paneled cabinet on the wall. Within was coiled a heavy red fire hose."Hang in there!" Rebecca shouted to Linda. Keeping a wary eye on the ravenous infected, she smashed the cabinet glass with the pommel of her knife. Grabbing the hose, she hurried over to angle the heavy nozzle at the shambling figures.As soon as she turned the squeaking metal handle, the powerful jet of water nearly knocked Rebecca off her feet. She struggled to control the recoil as she began picking off the infected like rows of gruesome bowling pins. Once all three were washed away in the deluge, she hastily shut it off again.Rebecca helped the soaked and shaking Linda down. "Come on!" she urged, grabbing the discarded gun off the floor.A thought struck her. "The briefcase!"Linda doubled back to snatch up the metal case holding the plans they had come for while Rebecca provided cover. As they turned to hurry back the way they had come, their path was blocked by yet more vine-wrapped shamblers emerging from the foliage."Where are they coming from?!" Linda cried, panic edging back into her voice."There!" Rebecca spotted the double doors they had passed earlier. She sprinted over and threw her shoulder against them, but the tangle of vines only allowed the heavy doors to budge open a couple inches."They're getting closer!" Linda warned, glancing back at the approaching horde.Grunting with effort, Rebecca scanned the area until she spotted the pair of pruning shears lying a few feet away. "Use those shears, I've got your back!" she yelled.Linda gave her a bewildered look. "What?!""Now!" Rebecca barked, firing at the nearest shambler to keep them at bay.Trusting her judgement, Linda ran for the shears while Rebecca provided covering fire. She squeezed through the narrow gap of the doors and began hacking at the first wiry vine she saw. With each cut, the doors opened fractionally wider.Rebecca's gun clicked empty after taking down only one of the relentless infected. "is it done?!" she shouted over her shoulder."Not yet!" Linda called back. Her hands were slick with vine sap as she chopped through another one. With no ammo to reload, Rebecca holstered her gun and pulled out her knife again as the shamblers closed in. "Linda, I'm out of bullets!" she warned urgently.The first gnarled hands grasped at her clothes from all sides, foul breath washing over her face. Rebecca slashed desperately with her blade, but she was dangerously outnumbered."Linda!" she screamed.With one final snip, Linda cut through the last fibrous vine. "Done!"Together they scrambled through the newly opened passage, slamming and barring the doors shut behind them against the furious pounding and clawing of the creatures outside. Panting, they leaned against the mossy wall and looked at each other with stunned relief."Are you all right?" Rebecca finally asked between gulps of air.Linda nodded, still too shaken to speak. They had survived another perilous encounter, but who knew what other nightmares this strange, overgrown place held in store?