The Sacrifice

Keith punched in a code to a room and opened it as soon as they came to a door. Two other guards stood inside, one tall man with dark, olive skin and another with near transparent skin. Their faces were covered with a mask covering only half their faces.

"Hey guys. Remember how Jackie here had Deedee roasted cause she badmouthed him?"

Keith began, earning scoffs.

"Guess who managed to get their hands on him! Little Nicky here and El need guns. We're gettin' out. Jackie wanted t'kill my bro here. Can't let that happen. You with?"

"Would love to, but if you're leaving, we gotta cover your tracks."

The pale man spoke. Keith grinned from ear to ear.

"Y'sure you ain't whistleblowers?"

"Naw, we're your buds. If anyone does, we'll make sure they're dealt with."

The three men all couldn't help themselves from smiling.

"Well shucks, guys…you serious?"

"We owe ya after protecting our asses during the last raid."

The black man spoke, his voice a deep thrum that resonated deeply in the room.

"Jesus guys…"

"Well, stop gawking and take the damn guns!" The dark man thrust a scar in Keith's hands and handed the other two guns as well. Ellis felt a pang of jealousy at the closeness of Keith and the other guards. He wasn't sure of how it happened, and he knew that Keith had changed, but so much in a month or two seemed unfathomable.

A month or two…had it really only been so little time? The days melded together. He had no idea when that happened either but it just did. Another thing he didn't like. And a harsh reminder that winter would soon be upon them. That the battle against the zombies wasn't the only battle they'd have to win.

"You're going to pay."

Jack seethed. The tall male loomed over him and poked his chest.

Put a twinkie in it. The amount of shit coming out of your mouth is worse than the damn apocalypse."

"You'll regret this."

"One hit, Keith? Just once…?"

The tall man pleaded in an almost unnatural sweet tone for such a man. Jack turned to Keith with wide eyes and began begging to the red-head.

"Aw man, I ain't a bad guy. We jus' wanna get outta here."

The black man pushed past Jack's shoulder and picked up a few rounds of ammo and handed it to the survivors.

"We can escort you for now."

"We need to get our friends," Nick began, the pale man finding tie wraps and clipping them around Jack's wrists. "They're in another compound."

"L132."

Keith corrected Nick, earning a confused look from the two of them.

"Well, with Jackie here, we can get you there without worries. Name's Ryan."

"Dick here." The tall man introduced himself first and shorter one second. "Right, then, let's hop to your office, doc."

Nick grinned, slinging on his gun while Ryan held onto Jack.

"You'll be stopped before you reach my office!"

Jack screeched, beginning to trash around again until Ryan tucked him neatly under his arm with a smile.

"Not really. You honestly don't know how many people are against you, do you?"

Dick smiled behind his gas-mask and as he proceeded out the door, allowing Angel to brush up against his leg and ask for pets. Ellis tested his sniper and clicked on the safety, looking over at Nick who began fiddling with a military rifle.

"Well, they're definitely the ones we've been using."

"Yup."

"Let's move it, people. While we're not whistleblowers, there are a few in the vicinity." Ryan reminded them, Keith picking up first aid kits and passing one to the two of them. They were going to have to ensure that all went well and they wouldn't get caught. Keith wasn't sure how they were going to do that successfully, but he'd have to try to save Ellis from the hell he had managed to get himself into.

The group managed to walk down the spiral of different hallways, Ellis's magnum pointed at the doctor the entire way until they reached his office. Ryan had set Jack down so he could make his way to his phone and dialed out with pudgy fingers, Ellis relaxing his arm slightly as he watched. Nick knew that the kid's shot was good enough to shoot a nail through wood from a hundred yards away. He wasn't worried about his shot, though, he was worried if he would actually shoot to kill a man. Nick didn't trust Jack enough to let him carry out the procedure on his own, but there was nothing else that he could do. "Hello, this is Jack from—well, yes…yes…" He looked over at the four other men and turned back to the phone. "There are two people who are new there? How do they look like?"

"A man and a woman. Dark-skinned. Rochelle and Coach."

Nick spoke up, Jack relaying the information.

"Yes, I'll hold…"

Jack turned back to the others and saw Ellis tense up once more, directing his gun straight in his face. Sweat beaded down his temples and he tried looking away from Ellis, not wanting to face the deadly weapon being waved around in his face. Everyone but the doctor remained completely silent. Even Angel sat at the door in silence—waiting for someone to do something or give her a command.

"Y-yes…I'm here."

Jack suddenly spoke, all eyes falling upon him.

"O-oh…I see…escaped? They…well confound it, man; I've a gun pointed at me asking for their safe return! I'll be shot now!"

"Christ."

Nick unplugged the phone jack from the wall and cut off the signal, pushing Jack up against the wall and saw Ellis swinging his arm up to in his peripheral.

"Don't shoot him, Ellis. He's still our hostage." Nick grabbed him by his bound wrists and yanked him to the ground, the doctor beginning to sob.

"Please don't kill me…I'm begging you…"

"What do we do now…?"

Keith asked almost naively. Dick ran outside the door and looked down both ways.

"You have three minutes, tops, to run out of here."

"Keith is escaping with you, right? He can falsify security clearance and give you codes to doors."

Ryan spoke now; kicking the doctor in the stomach and watching him writhe. The aged man was in a state of self preservation. He was refusing to go down and was going to do whatever necessary to take out the four of them.

"Nuh uh, I ain't leaving none of you."

"Oh hell, ain't you sweet. But unless you want these guys caught again, you're going to have to guide them out. We've got your backs."

Ryan said. Keith seemed to get choked up and coughed a bit, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Guys…"

"This isn't time to get all mushy. We have to move. NOW!"

Nick yelled, helping the doctor to his feet and pushing him out the door. Ellis was stoic-faced the entire time.

"We can't leave him here. He's gonna give the order t' kill my ma."

"He's right." Keith added, looking over at Nick. "We can't take him along either."

"D-Don't kill me!"

He immediately pleaded, earning the butt of Nick's gun in his face. A scowl drew across his face as he watched him fall limply onto the ground.

"We'll bring him with us. If we're lucky, he'll die."

Nick suggested, earning a nod from the group. Dick suddenly cocked his gun and ran into the hall, shooting out in front of him. A hail of bullets tore into him as he kept on marching forwards, blood staining his suit and face mask breaking off his face and tumbling to the ground.

"RICHARD!"

Ryan shouted out his name and darted out, seeing him leveling out a mass of guards in front of him hidden by steam he had produced by shooting a pipeline overhead.

"GO! We've wasted too much time!"

Dick shouted, his blue eyes piercing into the eyes of the others. Keith's throat knotted up and he called to Angel, proceeding to dash out in the opposite way of where Dick was shooting at. Ryan stood his ground beside his smaller comrade but realized that it would be far too late to save him even if he stopped now.

"You dick…"

Dick let out a grin at the swear and peered upwards at him from his aiming position, never lowering his stance.

"I will start with the black jokes…"

He threatened, coughing out a bit of blood and watched Nick steer Jack out first, Ellis following behind while dancing on his feet facing towards the dying man. He was scared. He, too, knew it was over for the guard, but he was still scared. Why? Dick didn't know. He really was a no one to him, but if he was repaying a debt to Keith, and if Keith was willing to risk his life to get these two out, then they had to be someone important to him. "Debt repaid on my part, Ryan…go do yours. I'll make sure no one else comes down this way."

Thick pearly tears formed at the corners of the taller man's eyes, his chest heaving with sorrow.

"Gonna miss ya, bud."

"Now get out of here."

Dick motioned with his eyebrow, the tall man laying a giant hand on his shoulder in comfort before taking off beside Ellis. The mechanic looked down at the man shorter than him and frowned.

"HEY!"

Dick turned his head momentarily.

"What do you want?"

"Thanks man…"

Dick winced as the pain began to set in on him. The only reason why he wasn't moving was because his knees had locked up on him. There was no way he was going to do move without falling over. And what kind of death would that be?

"Take care of Keith, ya hear? He's all tough and shit, but he's really dumb. Like really dumb. Was he hit on the head as a kid?"

Ellis let out a laugh and scratched his head.

"Got into trouble more times n' we could count."

Dick's eye glanced over at Ellis once more and saw the boy shaking. He cursed a bit and shook his head.

"Ain't you ever see a dying man before?"

"Yeah…just…I'll take care of Keith."

With that, Ellis turned and darted ahead, eyes shut tight as he fought back tears. From pain from his wounds or from sadness, he knew that it was something he couldn't control.

And then an explosion resonated throughout the hallway. They all turned back to see the hallway behind them had completely collapsed, the outside world shining through.

"DICK!"

Keith let out a choked yell, eyes brimming with tears. He went to run forwards but Angel stood fast in front of him, growling a bit. Seconds later, the area blew up two more times and really ensured that no one would be able to get out.

"Damn idiot…he used his grenades to cover our tracks…"

Ryan began, Jack's eyes widening. Nick took note and scoffed.

"Never had friends do that for you, Jackie!" He yelled. "This is all because you weren't holding up your end of the bargain!"

"I-I…"

There was no room for Jack to answer. A loud siren went off, chilling Nick and Ellis to the very core.

"Christ in a hand basket…"

Ellis swore, looking over at the others. Ryan, Jack, and Keith had no idea what was happening. They looked over at the survivors and saw them picking up the pace.

"I hope you guys have enough ammo to fend off zombies."

Just as Nick said that, as if on cue, a ghastly wail echoed through the compound.

"You okay to fight, Overalls?"

"Never better."

He grinned and stood up as straight as he could, clutching onto his shirt.

"What's going on?"

"Well, doc, those wails? No, not the siren, the other one. That was the sound of zombies coming. And whoever set off that alarm is the stupidest person ever."

"We…never actually had to use it…"

Jack paled considerably, almost matching his white coat. Ellis checked his gun and looked over at Angel, seeing her dropping low to the ground and growling at the open space in the ceiling.

"They're comin', let's get outta here."

Ellis began climbing over the rubble and emerged into the bleak sunlight, staring out into the distance to see a haze of yellow hanging over the horizon—and thousands of tiny, fast-moving figures. Nick grunted as he hauled himself over the rubble and gazed upon what Ellis saw. In a burst of fury, he grabbed the doctor's jaw and forced him to face the horizon.

"You see that, idiot? THAT is what your men just attracted. Are you prepared for that!"

"What…are they…there's so many…"

"Zombies, man…"

Ellis breathed out the words, looking down at the gun in his hands. Definitely not enough ammo for them all.

"What in the hell…"

Keith and Ryan joined them, their eyes widening.

"Angel, find us a way out."

At Ellis saying the word 'out,' Angel darted ahead and began scouting. They began scrambling off the side of the building and onto solid ground when a force stopped them. Police batons beat Ryan to the ground, Keith's eyes widening as he raised his gun and shot the guards off the tall man.

"Come on, get to your feet!"

He helped him stand and realized that he had blood falling from the side of his head and trickled down his neck. Jack let out screams at the sight and now knew for sure that they weren't afraid to shoot. He tried scrambling away from Nick but the conman kept a firm grip on him, the collie darting back to the others. Her front paws and chest were brown with dirt and merited confused looks from all of them.

"Let's move it!"

Ellis commanded, now going to follow the collie to wherever she was taking them. Ryan stopped at the sounds of guns, and turned to see that they were coming from behind a concrete building.

"Uh, Keith…"

"NO! Don't you dare think about it, Ryan!"

"Aha ha, since when did you become so controlling?"

"RYAN!"

Keith shouted out the name as the large man barreled past the red-head and began shooting wildly in front of him, alerting the guards of where he was so he wouldn't catch himself in an ambush around the corner. Though, he knew that there would be no two ways about it. There'd be trouble for him in the end.

"Keith, c'mon!"

Ellis had to get over the fact that people were going to end up dead. He wished it wouldn't have to happen with all his heart, but unfortunately, life during an apocalypse wasn't so easy. He scowled as he reached over to Keith and took hold of his forearm and proceeded to drag the stunned man over to where Angel was bringing them. Keith, at one point in time, gathered his bearings and began running to the chain-link fence that Angel was at, sitting patiently but urging them to move quicker nonetheless. Jack stumbled along frantically, now putting all his trust in the three men that had threatened his life. Nick came to the fence beside Keith and saw Angel squeezing through under the fence and safely on the other side.

"Goddammit, only a dog could think of this..!"

He cursed loudly, Angel panting on the other side almost happily. Gunshots resonated now behind them and they all turned to see Ellis running towards them, his head ducked behind a raised arm.

"Move, man, move!"

He yelled at them, three grenades exploding near him. He let out a grunt and tumbled to the ground, rolling to a stop and groaning softly. "ELLIS!" Keith screamed out his name as he ran towards him, watching his friend push himself up off the ground and reach out for his gun, CEDA units beginning to descend upon him. Keith fired off his gun into the units before they could reach the hick.

Fear.

Keith, the man who got sick and lost more blood than a normal human probably should, the man who took on more dares that were life-threatening than stupid, felt a chill of fear wrap its bony fingers around his heart and sent prestone-like fluid to replace his blood. He wasn't a runner like Ellis was, but by normal standards, he was still pretty good. But as the seconds egged onto minutes and his bullets slowed to the speed of which Superman could see them, he knew that he wasn't going to reach Ellis in time.

And that is what scared him.

AN: I rather like this chapter…no idea why, but I just do. I hope you do too!