"There's someone else here?" Reese's question hang in the air.
"Yes, I'm sure of it."
"How do you know?"
A sharp snarl echoed throughout the tunnel. Reese and Isaac went silent at the sudden sound.
"Did you hear that?"
Reese couldn't help but glance at Hilde one more time. Her body remained lifeless on the ground.
A part of him hoped that it was her. That she was still 'alive' somehow and he has a chance to save her.
Isaac noticed the hope in his eyes.
That genuine belief that she is going to come back alive.
"Hey." he snaps Reese out of it.
Then they both turn to the end of the dark tunnel. The growling getting louder, accompanied by heavy footsteps dragging on the floor.
They see figures from a distance. It was dark and hard to make out how many they are.
Judging by the sounds the zombies are making, they are a horde shouting in unity.
"They're here!"
Reese and Isaac retreats to the ladder in haste. The zombies coming weren't walking. They are running.
Isaac is the first one up and Reese can't help but keep turning back.
The hesitation to leave Hilde's body still playing at the back of his mind.
Like it would be a crime for him to save his own skin over his beloved team member.
"Screw it." he scoffed and ran back.
Isaac heard him and he turns his head to check on Reese. "Dude! What are you doing?!"
Reese slides on the ground and knelt beside Hilde. Her eyes left open, no sign of her blue glow. Replaced by gray eyes.
He doesn't know why he keeps doing it to himself. To blame and hurt himself for what happened to her.
After mumbling his goodbyes to her, he closes her eyes and gently lifts her head.
"Yo crazy! What are you doing, come on and climb up!" Isaac calls.
Reese traces the silver line around her neck. Each Militia unit just like any other military custom, are given dog tags for their identification.
Even not in actual war, they are still given one and required to wear it at all times.
"Hey if you want to get eaten be my guest! I'm outta here!"
When Reese got her tag, he gently lay her head back down and runs back to the ladder.
The horde is right behind him, a wave of foul odor accompanied them on their arrival.
Reese climbs the ladder like a monkey climbing a tree. The zombies behind him slams on the wall like a car without brakes.
There is a sound of blood and rotten flesh squishing and bones cracking on impact.
Reese does not look back this time.
He locked his eyes forward. Teeth grinding against each other to prevent tears from coming.
"Come on man!" Isaac encouraged him.
When Reese is almost at the opening, Isaac reached for his arm to help him out of the manhole.
They both push the cover over the opening, completely blocking the sounds from the zombies.
"You're both just as crazy, you know that?"
Both panted and gasped for air at the sudden rush for their lives.
Reese scoffed, still breathing heavily. "What makes you say that?"
"She ran back for something too on our short time together."
"What's that?"
Isaac reaches for his pockets and pulled out a dog tag covered in blood and dirt.
"I believe this is something she said she'd give you when she gets out."
He gives it to Reese and the Guisarme team leader immediately takes a good look at the name inscribed on it.
"'Lt. Giles Vosler.'" Reese read.
"Do you know him?"
"Where did she get this?"
"She already had it when I met her. She dropped it in the room I saw her in and she went back to get it."
Reese closed his fingers around the tag. Wanting to relish the last bit of information she had to offer for the team.
"She was crazy but we managed to get it back and escape."
"Come with me for debriefing."
"Sure but where are we?"
They look around and they realize that they are the only people in the area. It was quiet in the city. The howling of the wind accompanied them.
Cars were abandoned in the middle of the streets. They weren't even parked properly or locked. Keys are left in the ignition.
Carts from grocery stores are abandoned at the entrance of the mall. Papers and tissues blown back and forth by the wind.
Shattered windows and burning debris are found on every corner.
"An abandoned city?" Reese thought aloud.
"I don't like the sound of 'abandoned'." Isaac says and got on his feet.
He hugged his shotgun tightly. It was their only source of defense from that point.
"What Zone is this?"
They both search for any signs or landmarks that might signify which zone they were in.
Buildings were blank. No logo or company name printed or painted on its walls. Malls had no names either.
No road signs. No indicators. No building names.
"This is so... weird." Isaac mumbled. "Like we are in some big staged city."
"The Truman Show." Reese joked.
"Ha-ha, don't even begin." Isaac replies.
But the two of them sees surveillance cameras at every angle. Suddenly the joke didn't feel like a joke.
"I doubt that they can pull something like that." Reese suddenly didn't find his own joke funny.
"How far do you think you walked?"
"I don't know. Either way, I was out cold before I woke up in the tunnels. I could have been taken anywhere."
Isaac let his shotgun hang behind his back and he picks up a crowbar from one of the scattered items on the side of the road.
"What are you doing?"
"Testing our theories." Isaac answers.
He approaches one of the surveillance cameras beside a lamp post.
"Of course it's working. What's to test?"
"If they are really pulling a Truman Show on us, the least they could do is hide the frickin' cameras. You get me?"
"It's not even a theory anymore. We know they took us for a reason. This could be it."
"I'm not playing as their puppets and I'm not dying in some abandoned city!"
Isaac climbs the car nearest the lamp post and now that he is close to the camera, he smashes it with his crowbar.
Reese crossed his arms and watched Isaac smash the camera in satisfaction.
"Are you done proving a point?"
Isaac didn't stop swinging until the camera is battered useless. Then he waited for anything to happen.
A trigger. A warning. Anything.
They both waited for a minute in silence, expecting anything to happen.
"Alright fine, assuming this is a stage. Maybe we should walk to the very end of this so-called city." Isaac says and hops off the car.
"Let's go."