Chapter Twenty Two

Beginning of the End

Melody's P.O.V

"What the fuck is that?"

Veins traced every inch of his skin. Running up and down his arms like snakes they gripped to the contours of his monumental muscles. The majority of his clothing was absent, leaving little to the imagination. His skin was nothing but a translucent sheet of flesh, allowing for a generous sight of his blackened, decayed organs.

He towered over the cars that surrounded him, their size seemingly minuscule in comparison. I choked back a scream as I stumbled away from his massive figure. His bare backside facing us I dared not make a noise with the possibility of him turning around. Water mingled with blood atop his hairless head and trailed down the side of his naked body. Alan and Carl walked from the station simultaneously, their gazes both landing on the behemoth mere meters away.

Their reactions a replicant of mine I quickly grabbed both their hands and jerked them back behind a small red convertible.

"What the fuck is that thing!" Alan silently screamed, his hands violently convulsing as he pointed towards the 'thing'. Carl roughly jabbed him in the side.

"Keep your fucking mouth shut!" He seethed. Alan glared at him for several seconds, biting his lip as he tightly clenched his fists. I let my hand rest on his knee. Looking down at my hand his eyes trailed up to mine and he seemed to visibly relax. Satisfied I moved away from him and peeked my head over the convertible.

He stood still in the middle of the road. A jolt agitating his limbs every few seconds and a small twitch rippling across his flesh were the only things that plagued his otherwise motionless demeanor. His toned legs seemed rooted to the ground as his body stretched up towards the sky, his height reaching well over seven feet. He was infected, although I couldn't say that with utter certainty. Whatever he was he must have been a mass body builder or something of the sort before he became what he was now.

"He's right between us and the airport..." Carl's words trailed away with the wind as I slumped down against the side of the car. I really felt like crying and cursing out everything around me, but I knew that I couldn't.

"We can go around, there are enough cars for us to hide behind." Alan stated, slumping down beside me after his prolonged stare at the monster. I didn't like that idea. Once again peeking my head round the side of the small car I doubted we would make it to the airport doors without him seeing us.

"Go that way and move slow." Alan whispered, pointing round the corner of where I was. I glared at him for positioning me in the front before returning my gaze to the thing. Crouched down on my hands and knees I crawled towards the nearest car and pressed my body against its frame. The blazing sun ignited the cars surface in a heat so profound a single touch burnt my skin. Flinching away from the heat of the car I moved over to allow room for Alan and Carl.

Again I crawled over to the nearest car, repeating this process until I was leaning against the car the massive infected man stood beside. I looked back at Alan and Carl crouched beside a small jeep, waiting for me move so that they would have room to come over. Ever so slowly I inched forwards, carefully lifting my knees and ensuring nothing dragged along the ground. In the silence that surrounded his ragged breathing was all that could be heard. I looked back. Carl frantically pointed his hand to the ground, mouthing the words 'get low'. Looking back I lowered myself to the ground until I lay flat on my stomach. I tilted my head until I was facing underneath the car and I had a clear sight of his bare feet. His derelict toenails strangely void of colour pointed directly towards me.

I looked back as best as I could to see Carl begin crawling his way towards me. A sweat broke out on my forehead at the expression that varnished his features. Something wasn't right. In his haste his shoe scraped against the road, dislodging loose gravel and emitting an audible noise of rocks scraping against rough pavement. All movement ceased in an instant. A rush of wind and a small grunt pulled my attention back to underneath the car. I flinched backwards as his expressionless face appeared on the other side. Opening his mouth in a scream he lodged his face between the gap as his blank eyes locked onto me.

"Run like hell!" Carl screamed, his voice less than a whisper over the monsters subjugating roar. He pulled me up from the ground and pushed me forward, the airport tantalizingly close yet so far with the maze of cars before us. Running forwards I looked back just in time to witness the monster fling the car over and off the road altogether. Raising himself to his full height a growl distorted his lips before he began sprinting towards us. The road trembled and the cars shuddered with every leap he took.

Running forward I jumped over the hood of a car and squeezed between a small gap, sparing another glance towards him. The car in his path failed to faze him in the slightest. Digging his arm underneath his muscles rippled and his veins protruded prominently through his skin as he lifted it in one swift motion and threw it several feet from its original position. My entire body began trembling in fear as I once again began running forward as fast as I could.

The airport grew closer at an excruciatingly slow pace as I continued to slide between cars, ignoring his quickly approaching form. Carl ran ahead of me, reaching the sliding doors before me. Wedging his fingers in between the small gap he pried the doors open until there was a gap just large enough for us to squeeze through. Diving between the doors I looked back to see Alan and Carl follow before shutting the doors after us.

Looking around the dimly lit room I tried to ignore the blood stained walls and piles of corpses that my memory had tried but failed to forget.

"Keep moving!" Alan yelled, running from the door and towards the back of the room. Following his lead I began running. Tripping over the outstretched hand of a body I fell forward atop a patch of dried blood. The shattering of glass spiked fear as I crawled forward and pushed myself up from the floor. Turning around I suppressed a scream as the monster slowed to a walk in front of me. I inched away from him until my back was pressed against the wall. Frozen in fear I watched as his hunched form extended. Raising his arm high in the air I squeezed my eyes shut as my heart beat in my throat. Of all the possible ways I thought I would die I didn't envision this one.

"Mel no!" It crashed against me and shoved me to the ground, my head colliding against the hard floor. Opening my eyes I saw Alan standing in my position, before the thing struck him. His body spiraled through the air and crashed down into a pile of bodies on the other side of the room. Stretching my arm out towards him I screamed his name in vain.

The familiar thrum of drums invaded my senses once more as it looked down at me. His grey eyes contrastingly dark against his translucent complexion. I shrunk away as he stepped towards me. Once again pressed against the wall I looked up at his blank disposition.

"Fuck you." I hissed, pushing myself as close to the wall as I could. His lips twitched as he began to lower himself towards me. A gun shot rang out as his head jolted to the side and a spurt of blood leaked from his skull. Extending himself to his full height he looked to his side as another bullet pierced his forehead, barely fazing him.

I looked to my right as the Lieutenant from the hospital stepped from the shadows, firing another bullet into his skull. He spared me a glance.

"Don't just sit there!" He yelled, pulling a gun from his back pocket and throwing it towards me. Clanking across the linoleum floors I picked it up with both hands and clutched it against my chest, pointing it up towards its head. I squeezed the trigger, the kickback roughly shoving the butt

of the gun against my chest. The bullet whizzed from the barrel and struck him in the shoulder, attracting his attention back towards me.

Pushing myself up from the floor I sidestepped out of the way just as his fist punched a hole in the wall. The Lieutenant fired another shot into his neck as I stepped around his giant body and fired a bullet in the back of his skull. Carl appeared beside me and fired several shots into his head, none of them bringing him down.

Familiar moans invaded as I turned my head to look out the shattered doors at the oncoming horde of infected. The monster turned around to face Carl and I, his sluggish arm swiping at us. We both dropped to the ground before quickly standing up and moving away from him. The Lieutenant fired three shots, each bullet striking a different part of his body.

As the first of the infected began to reach the doors I turned my attention away from the behemoth and towards the countless corpses that surrounded us. A small twitch of movement among the lifeless bodies alerted me and soon my gaze settled on Alan's body. Clutching the gun in one hand I ran towards him and crouched down beside him.

"Alan? Alan are you okay?" I grabbed a tuft of his shirt and shook him lightly before resting my hand on his cheek. I pressed my fingers against his neck and sighed in relief as the thud of his heart greeted me. I combed his hair away from his face with my fingers and watched as his eyes slowly opened. His bright blue eyes stared into mine. My face slowly lowered to his, our lips lightly brushing until I pushed them against his. Everything around seemed to fade into the distance as I deepened the kiss.

As soon as it had happened it was over and the kiss ended abruptly as an infected man stumbled towards us. Pulling away, I pointed the gun towards the infected and fired, his body falling and joining the other corpses. Hundreds began filing through the broken doors, quickly filling the space of the large room. Pulling Alan to his feet I roped my arm under his and together we staggered towards one of the gateways that would lead to the runway.

I glanced back at Carl and the Lieutenant who were constantly shooting and dodging the monster. The infected quickly began to approach them.

"Guys we have to go!" I yelled over the gunfire. Not stopping to see if they heard me we kept walking through the airport, following the signs until we arrived at the screen doors that would lead us outside.

"Wait wait wait." Alan huffed clutching his side. I glanced around to ensure there were no infected before leaning him against the wall. Heavily panting he looked at me, a smirk creeping on his lips. "You kissed me."

Clenching my jaw I glared at him before rolling my eyes. "No I didn't." I responded, looking around the room for any distraction.

"Pretty sure you did."

I placed my hands on my hips as I shook my head and looked back at him. His piercing blue eyes were wide as he intently stared at me. His lips tugged slightly to the side created a small smile that complimented his eyes perfectly. I huffed out a breath.

"You saved me and I felt bad." I muttered. His lips parted as a large toothy grin overwhelmed his face.

"You like me." He stated, looking at me with the same gorgeous smile. I clenched my jaw and shook my head. I couldn't exactly deny that, but I sure as hell didn't want to admit it.

"Let's just keep moving." I mumbled, looking away. When I looked back he continued to smile at me, but he seemed content and thankfully decided to drop the topic. The distant shots of gunfire were still audible, but at least it meant that they were alive. For now.

Roping my arm around his back once again we hobbled out of the airport through the glass doors and onto the runway. Looking down both lanes I was able to distinguish the plane we were on so long ago, but no helicopter. I struggled to hold his weight up as we moved further onto the runway. Looking around there was no sight of the helicopter. Maybe he wasn't going to come for us? Is that why the Lieutenant was here? Because they didn't rescue them at the hospital?

My mind reeled with doubts but unlike the times before, I wasn't surprised in the least. In all reality it came as no surprise that there was no helicopter here, pumped with gas and ready to save us. Why would there be? Every other time there was even an ounce of hope it was crushed before it was even able to flower. The Q.V.B was a failed attempt at safety, not to mention the hospital. Maybe there was no way out of this mess. Maybe we should just wait it out. Wait for them all to die? The idea was unlikely but at least it was plausible. A helicopter waiting to save us just seemed foolish to me now.

"We should wait on the plane," Alan panted, raising his arm and pointing a weak finger towards the plane, "it'll be safer." I didn't exactly want to wait on the plane where everything started, but I couldn't exactly disagree. The infected on it had probably gone ages ago. The only thing deadly that resided on that plane were memories.

Readjusting my hold and getting a better grip we walked towards the plane as fast as our weak forms would carry us. With every step the gunshots seemed to fade until they sounded like distant fireworks. With every bang a bullet of guilt would pierce my gut. I didn't even think about staying and helping them, I was merely focused on getting Alan and I out of there. Now they were both probably trying to kill the monster while they were surrounded by the infected that were pouring through the doors.

We finally reached the plane and together we slowly trudged up the steps. The bathroom door where we had contained the man was wide open, it's upper hinges split. The door of the cockpit was also open. I quirked my brows at the site. I sat Alan down on a chair at the front and glanced down the aisle to ensure it was empty, it was. Walking towards the cockpit I stuck my head through the door before stepping inside. It was spotless. Not even a speck of dust tainted its extravagant interior. My brows furrowed further in confusion as a scowl overtook my lips.

This didn't make sense. When we were originally on the plane there was no response from the pilots. I had just assumed that they too were infected. But if they were then surely there should have been at least a small amount of blood? Instead there was nothing. No sign of any life whatsoever.

I shook my head, stepping out of the cockpit panic settled as I found no sign of Alan where I had left him. Staring down the aisle I sighed as I saw him sitting in his original seat, smiling at me. As I walked towards him he quirked a brow.

"I wonder what would have happened if we actually managed to get to New York." I shook my head as he lay back in his seat.

"I don't even want to think about that." I stated looking around the seats. The sound of gunshots had distinguished the second we stepped foot on the plane, but that didn't stop me from thinking about it. Pulling the gun from my back pocket I weighed it in my hands. It felt heavy, so I could only assume it had a substantial amount of bullets left. I shook my head, pushing myself away from the seats. I needed to help them.

"Stay here, I'm going back for Carl." I stated, walking towards the front of the plane.

"Wait, what! You can't go on your own!" He argued, pushing himself up from his seat with a significant amount of effort. Pain etched his features and clouded his eyes but it was obvious he was trying to suppress it.

"You need to stay here and rest," I told him, pronouncing each word carefully as I moved back towards him and gently pushed him back into his seat, "I'll be back soon." He glared at me from his seat but he didn't look like he was going to go anywhere. I sighed in relief as I walked towards the door and skipped down the steps. The familiar sound of gunshots greeted me as I began running across the runway. Every step I took the shots grew louder until I finally reached the glass doors. Squeezing through the small gap that was left I ran down the hall until I found them.

There backs were facing me as they slowly backed away from the horde approaching them. Every shot they fired an infected would fall, only to have another one take their place. There bodies were crammed so close together that they imitated a wave of bodies and shooting at water was useless. Above the hundreds of heads the monster stood near the back of the swarm, his body compressed by the bodies that surrounded him. He stood seemingly still but I could see that he was slowly gliding towards us. Moving with the current of the other bodies.

I rushed forward to stand beside Carl and began firing into the mass of bodies. There agitating limbs and twitching disposition blurred their bodies together. Every bullet pierced a limb, emitting a spurt of blood but it was impossible to tell what body part was hit. Shooting at them was a waste of bullets. At most we were making a minuscule amount of difference.

Carl looked over to the Lieutenant before glancing at me. He jerked his head back and yelled over the gunfire. "Retreat!"

I lowered my gun and ran back down the hall, leading them both outside. We each squeezed past the screen doors before closing them as best we could and making our way towards the runway. We looked back as the infected reached the doors, there bodies pressed against the glass and smearing blood across its surface. The monster couldn't reach the doors past all the bodies, so he wouldn't be able to break them open.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I looked over at Carl who was glaring at the Lieutenant, his fingers tightly wrapped around his gun. The Lieutenant returned his glare with a curl of his thin lips.

"Those fuckers got into the hospital and killed everyone. Fucking pilot refused to land." I instantly evaded their stares by slowly walking behind them. A severe dose of guilt injected itself into my blood stream as I leant forward, clutching my chest.

"You turned us away! Give me one reason why I shouldn't shoot you right now!" Carl roared, raising his gun and directing it towards his forehead. It failed to faze him in the slightest which only seemed to anger Carl more as his face turned a darker shade of red.

"Carl don't," I groaned, moving forward and resting my hand atop his arm, slowly lowering it down, "just don't."

He scowled at me but lowered his gun nonetheless. I tore my gaze from his and carefully glanced at the Lieutenant who seemed less than interested. I looked down at the ground and tried to ignore the aching muscles, the hunger and the thirst. A small pinch of hope was given to me when the Lieutenant mentioned that the pilot had at least arrived. So maybe he would arrive here too.

"Look." I looked over to Carl as he stared up at the sky. Following his gaze I saw a speck of black rise over the buildings in the distance. Growing larger the closer it came. A massive smile broke across my lips.

He was here.

We were actually going to be rescued. It was actually going to happen this time. As it grew closer it began to take the form of a helicopter. It's black body a beacon against the white clouds. I raised my arms and jumped in the air, screaming out a croak of joy.